SAT, English Section - Historical Essays

SAT, English Section - Historical Essays

As you wend through the SAT Reading section, take notice of the dates at the top of all historical essays. The dates help set the context. Here are some reference dates in United States history.

Declaration of Independence - July 4, 1776

Inauguration of the first President of the United States - April 30, 1789

Burning, but not Destruction, of the White House - August 24, 1814

End of Civil War - April 9, 1865

Abolishing Slavery and Involuntary Servitude - December 6, 1865

Plessy v Ferguson decision at U.S. Supreme Court - May 18, 1896

U.S. Women Get the Right to Vote - August 18, 1920

Brown v Board of Education (Topeka Kansas) overturns Plessy decision - May 17, 1954

Civil Rights Act of 1964 - enacted July 2, 1964

AIDs Epidemic, Notice of the U.S. medical establishment - 1981

IBM PCjr - first shipments in January 1984

The Human Genome Project - completed in April 2003