Civil war The area of the present-day United States of America is populated by Indian tribes, now usually named Native Americans. The European colonization of the Americas changes the lives and cultures of the Native Americans. After the discovery by Europeans, European nations colonize the area in the seventeenth century. England, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden establish colonies. Britain conquers the Dutch and Swedish colonies in 1664 and add them to the United KingdomBritish colonies at the east coast. During the 17th and early 18th centuries, the colonies develop traditions of popular self-government. When Britian tries to raise taxes on the colonists, this isn't accepted by them. A congress of the colonies meet in 1775, in the aftermath of armed clashes between Massachusetts militia and the British Army. This Second Continental Congress organizes itself as a federal government. The independence war starts. The colonies proclaim independence as the United States of America. The United States become a presidential federation of states that defeats Britain.

The United Kingdom recognizes the independence in 1783. All colonies accept a federal constitution in 1788 and in 1789 this constitution is put into operation. George Washington is elected the first president of the United States. The struggle over the ratification of the constitution, suggests the first outlines of the system of political parties, which is to later emerge. The Federalists come to power. In 1797 the Federalist John Adams becomes president. The supporters of a weaker federal government join the Democratic-Republican Party (DRP). This party takes control of the federal government in 1800, with the election of Thomas Jeffeson as president. Gradually the USA enlarges the area and purchases the French colony of Louisiana in 1803. Jefferson is succeeded in 1809 by James Madison. After the American-British war of 1812, which was not an Amerian succes, James Monroe is elected president in 1816, and reelected in 1820. Under his presidency the United States purchase Florida from Spain in 1819. Monroe is succeeded by John Quincy Adams in 1824. After these elections Andrew Jackson forms the Democratic Party. He swins the elections of 1828. After the re-election in 1832, he is succeeded in 1837 by Martin van Buren.

A new party, the Whig Party, an offshoot of the DRP wins with William Henry Harrison the 1840 elections. Harrison dies shortly after his inaugaration ans is succeeded by John Tyler. The Democratic candidate James Knox Polk wins the 1844 elections. In 1845 the independent state of Texas joins the federation and in 1848 the Pacific Coast is annexed. The 1848 elections are won by Whig candidate Zachary Taylor, succeeded after his death by Millard Fillmore. The Democrats take over in 1853 with Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) and James Buchanan (1857-1861). With the emergence of the United States Republican Party as the nation's first major sectional political party by the mid-1850s, politics becomes the stage on which conflict over the expansion of slavery is played out. The party embraces free-labor industrial capitalism and anti-slavery policies. The Republicans win the 1860 elections, bringing Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. In 1861 11 southern states secede from the United States as the Confederate States of America. This leads to a huge civil war until 1865, when the confederate states are re-incorporated.

After the re-election of Lincoln in 1864, he is assassinated. This brings the Democrats with Lincolns vice-president Andrew Johnson to the presidency, but after the 1868 elections the Republicans dominate the country with the presidents Ulysses Simpson Grant (1869-1877), Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1877-1881) and Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885). In 1884 the Democrats win the elections with Grover Stephen Cleveland. The Republicans regain power in 1888 with Benjamin Harrison, but in 1893 Cleveland becomes president again. The 1896 elections bring the Republicans for a long period to the presidency, with William McKinley (1897-1901), Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) and William Howard Taft (1909-1913).

The 1912 elections are won by Democratic candidate, Woodrow Thomas Wilson, who is re-elected in 1916. During his rule the United States enter World War I and play a decisive role in defeating Germany. Despite the war victory a new period of Republican rule starts with Warren Gamaliel Harding (1921-1923), John Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) and Herbert Clark Hoover (1929-1933). Under these presidents America choses isolationism. After the stock market crash of 1929 the Great Depression starts: a world-wide depression, which leads to deflation and a great increase in unemployment. This crisis gives the Democrats a new chance. Under Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945) the New Deal policy is introduced to combat the crisis. The New Deal is based on an opposition to monopoly and a move toward government regulation of the economy. Roosevelt enters World War II in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Under his leadership the United States play again a decisive role to defeat Germany and Japan. After his death in 1945, Harry S. Truman takes over. He is re-elected in 1948.

Between 1953 and 1961 World War II hero Dwight David Eisenhower is president for the Republicans. 1960 brings the election of the liberal Democrat John Fitzgerald Kennedy. He is assassinated in 1963 and succeeded by Lyndon Baines Johnson. He is re-elected in 1964. The conservative Republican Richard Milhous Nixon wins the 1968 and 1972 elections, but he is impeached in 1974, bringing Gerald Rudolph Ford to the presidency. The Democrats win the 1976 elections and James Earl Carter becomes president. He is succeeded in 1981 by the conservative Republican president Ronald Wilson Reagan. After two terms he is succeeded by George Herbert Walker Bush. The Democrats regain the presidency in 1993 with William Jefferson Clinton. He is re-elected in 1996. Despite less popular vote than the Democratic candidate Al Gore, George Walker Bush, son of former president Bush, wins the presidential elections of 2000.