| Timeline |
| 1843 |
Born in Niles, Ohio on 4 March |
| 1852 |
Family moves to Poland, OH; William attends Poland Academy |
| 1859 |
Attends Allegheny College |
| 1860 |
Briefly works as a teacher and postal clerk |
| 1861 |
Enlists as a private in the Union Army: Twenty-third Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry under the command of Rutherford B. Hayes |
| 1863 |
Receives commission as First Lieutenant |
| 1864 |
Promoted to Captain |
| 1865 |
Studies law with Judge Charles Glidden |
| 1866 |
Enters Albany Law School |
| 1869 |
Serves as prosecuting attorney of Stark County until 1871 |
| 1871 |
Marries Ida Saxton on 25 January; daughter Katherine born in December |
| 1873 |
Daughter Ida born, she only lives 6 months |
| 1881 |
Chairman of the Committee on Revision of the Laws (Forty-seventh Congress) |
| 1883 |
Member-elect to the Forty-eighth Congress and serves until May, 1884 |
| 1884 |
Delegate to the Republican National Convention |
| 1885 |
Elected to the Forty-Ninth Congress |
| 1887 |
Elected to the Fiftieth Congress |
| 1888 |
"Open Door" policy in trade relations with China; delegate to the Republican National Convention |
| 1889 |
Runs for House speaker leadership of the Congress and is defeated by Democrat Thomas Brackett Reedin |
| 1890 |
McKinley Tariff Act |
| 1890 |
Supports Sherman Anti-Trust Act |
| 1891 |
Elected Governor of Ohio |
| 1891 |
Elected to the Fifty-first Congress; Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means |
| 1892 |
Delegate to the Republican National Convention |
| 1893 |
Re-elected Governor of Ohio (serves until 1896) |
| 1896 |
"Front porch campaign", defeats William Jennings Bryan in presidential election |
| 1896 |
The Tariff in the Days of Henry Clay and Since published |
| 1897 |
Assumes presidency with Garret Hobart as vice-president |
| 1897 |
Supports the Dingley Tariff |
| 1898 |
25 April - Proclaims war with Spain |
| 1900 |
Signs the Gold Standard Act; sends 5,000 troops to help put down the Boxer Rebellion in China |
| 1900 |
With Theodore Roosevelt as running-mate, McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan again and takes a second term in office |
| 1901 |
Is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz on 6 September, dies of complications 14 September |
