The inauguration of Barack Obama as the president, occurred on January 20.

The nation, still recovering from the Great Recession, received various economic stimuli through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and similar legislation, which most notably gave Americans tax credits.

The year also saw the roots of various movements which would come to define the next ten years, including the Tea Party movement, and the beginning of the legalization of same-sex marriage.

The Democratic Party gained a filibuster-proof supermajority of seats within the Senate, enabling the passage of the Affordable Care Act the following year.

Culturally, the nation was wracked by the death of Michael Jackson, which triggered an immense response around the world and caused some websites to crash due to an overflow of traffic.