1809
February 12: Abraham Lincoln is born in Hodgenville, Hardin County, KY.

1818
October 5: Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, dies at age 34.

1819
December 2: Lincoln’s father remarries, to Sarah Bush Johnston.

1828
January 20: Lincoln’s sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, dies from complications of childbirth at age 21.

1842
November 4: Lincoln marries Mary Todd in Springfield, IL.

1843
August 1: Robert Todd Lincoln, first child of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln, is born.

1846
March 10: Edward Baker Lincoln (Eddie) is born to Abraham and Mary Lincoln.

1846 – 1848
Lincoln serves Illinois as a representative to the U.S. Congress.

1850
February 1: Eddie Lincoln dies of diphtheria at age 4.
December 21: William Wallace Lincoln (Willie) is born to Abraham and Mary Lincoln.

1851
January 17: Lincoln’s father, Thomas, dies at age 75.

1853
April 4: Thomas Lincoln (Tad) is born to Abraham and Mary Lincoln.

1854
May 30: Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act sponsored by Senator Stephen Douglas, which nullifies the Missouri Compromise and allows for the expansion of slavery. This spurs Lincoln’s abolitionist sentiment and his senatorial ambitions.

1858
August – October: Lincoln debates Stephen Douglas during the campaign for an Illinois seat in the U.S. Senate, which Douglas wins.

1860
November 6: Lincoln is elected President.
December 20: South Carolina secedes from the Union.

1861
March 4: Lincoln is inaugurated as 16th President of the United States
April 12: Firing on Fort Sumter, SC, initiates the Civil War.
July 21: First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas), the first major battle of the Civil War and a Union loss that killed hopes of a quick end to the war.

1862
February 20: Willie Lincoln dies of malaria at age 11.
June - September 2nd: Bull Run Campaign
July 13: Lincoln reads initial draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to Secretaries Seward and Welles.
July 22: Lincoln discusses the draft of the Emancipation Proclamation at a Cabinet meeting.
September: Antietam Campaign, a Union victory that allows Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
September 22: Cabinet discussion of Emancipation; first printing of preliminary version of Emancipation Proclamation.

1863
January 1: Lincoln signs the final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation.
April-May: Chancellorsville campaign.
June-July: Gettysburg campaign, a Union victory often considered the turning point in the war.
November 19: Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.

1864
May-December: The Union march toward Richmond.
May 5-7: Grant's Wilderness Campaign.
May 7-20: Battle of Spotsylvania.
June 1864-May 1865: Petersburg Campaign.
September 1: Fall of Atlanta.
November 8: Lincoln is re-elected President.

1865
January 31: Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery across the nation, is proposed by the Congress for ratification by the state legislatures.
March 4: Lincoln’s second inauguration.
April 9: General Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, VA.
April 14: Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre.
December 6: Thirteenth Amendment is ratified.

1866
June 13: Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is proposed by Congress, providing a broad definition of citizenship that does not exclude African Americans and equal protection under the law for all persons.

1868
July 9: Fourteenth Amendment is ratified by three quarters of the state legislatures, making it part of the Constitution.

1869
February 26: Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is proposed by Congress, dictating that governments in the United States may not prevent a citizen from voting because of his or her race, color, or previous condition of servitude (i.e., slavery).

1870
February 3: Fifteenth Amendment is ratified by three quarters of the state legislatures.

1871
July 15: Tad Lincoln dies of pleurisy at age 17.

1882
July 16: Mary Todd Lincoln dies at age 64.

1911
February 11: Lincoln Memorial Commission signed into existence by President Taft.

1922
May 30: Lincoln Memorial is dedicated and opens to the public.

1926
July 26: Robert Lincoln dies at age 83.

1939
April 9: Marian Anderson performs an Easter concert for 75,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial, after she is kept from performing at Constitution Hall because of her race. 

1963
August 28: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.