-
18th Amendment
The movement reached its apex in 1920 when Congress ratified the 18th Amendment, prohibiting the manufacture, transportation and sale of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition proved difficult to enforce and failed to have the intended effect of eliminating crime and other social problems–to the contrary, it led to a rise in organized crime, as the bootlegging of alcohol became an ever-more lucrative operation. -
Department Stores
Department stores first opened in 1846. It was called a department store because goods were organized into different "departments". They had fixed prices with no bartering. Also, They had a money back guarantees if you didn't like the product. They had free deliveries too. Most people howeve, only shopped fo the experience, not just for the deals. -
Bessemer Process
Bessemer process, the first method discovered for mass-producing steel. he Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten. -
Period: to
Transforming the West
-
Homestead Act
Signed into law in May 1862, the Homestead Act opened up settlement in the western United States, allowing any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land. By the end of the Civil War, 15,000 homestead claims had been established, and more followed in the postwar years. Eventually, 1.6 million individual claims would be approved; nearly ten percent of all government held property for a total of 420,000 square miles of territory. -
Period: to
Becoming an Industrial Power
-
Robber Barons
a term applied to powerful, wealthy industrialists, the captains of industry who monopolized the railroads, the steel industry, the oil industry and the financiers who controlled the banks and used unfair business practices. The Robber Barons emerged during the United States Industrial Revolution of the 1800's. The Robber Barons changed the lives of Americans forever, bringing about complex social and economic changes that led to riots, strikes and the emergence of the unions. -
Monopolies
Monopolies are a few or one powerful individual controlling a sector of the economy. Railroads were some of the first. The railroad men would bribe elected officials so they could prosper. Also, they would manipulate stock prices to gain more money. -
Red River War
The Red River War was a military campaign launched by the United States Army in 1874 to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Native American tribes from the Southern Plains and forcibly relocate them to reservations in Indian Territory. Lasting only a few months, the war had several army columns crisscross the Texas Panhandle in an effort to locate, harass, and capture highly mobile Indian bands. Most of the engagements were small skirmishes. -
Exploitation
Employers placed strict rules on the employees. An example would be that they expected the workers to work in silence with no communication. They would enforce these rules upon the workers. If the workers were non-compliance it resulted in fines or termination. Employers circulated a list called the "blacklist" with "bad" workers so they would not be hired again. -
Granges
It was to promote the social and economic needs of farmers in the United States. The financial crisis of 1873, along with falling crop prices, increases in railroad fees to ship crops, and Congress’s reduction of paper money in favor of gold and silver devastated farmers’ livelihoods and caused a surge in Grange membership in the mid-1870s. Grangers gave their support to reform-minded groups such as the Greenback Party, the Populist Party, and, eventually, the Progressives. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
The battle took place between the U.S. Cavalry and northern tribe Indians, including the Cheyenne, Sioux, and Arapaho. Prior to the battle of Little Bighorn in Montana, the tribal armies, under the direction of Sitting Bull, had decided to wage war against the whites for their refusal to stay off of tribal lands in the Black Hills. In the spring of 1876, Sitting Bull and his tribal army had successfully battled the U.S. Cavalry twice. -
Great Uprising
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 started on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in response to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad cutting wages of workers for the third time in a year. Striking workers would not allow any of the trains, mainly freight trains, to roll until this third wage cut was revoked. The labor unions became better organized and the national guard was created as a result -
Slums
Slums is an overcrowded division were very poor people live in. They are tightly compacted (334k per sq. mi) These tightly packed houses were basically stacked upon each other. A lot of families did not make enough money to live so they had to settle to live in slums so they would at least have a roof over their families heads. Most families had 5 memebers staying in that small place. -
Period: to
The Gilded Age
-
Exodusters
The Exodusters was the name given to thousands of African Americans, from the southern states along the Mississippi River, who migrated to Kansas. The mass migration was organized in 1879 by Benjamin "Pap" Singleton a former slave. The newspapers called it “an Exodus" comparing it to the Hebrews in the Bible who escaped from Egyptian bondage. -
Tenements
Multiple family dwellings (4-6 stories). Dozens of families live in each. It was poorly ventilated as well as poorly lit. Many diseases were being spread in tenements as well. Rents soared due to overpopulation. Families will be evicted for falling behind. A lot of crime activities happened here because of the low lighting. There was a lot of prostitution and young single men and the anonymity helped crime go up -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation’s population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.” -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation’s population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white “racial purity.” -
Pendleton Act
federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation. The act provided a selection of government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation.The Act also allowed for the president, by executive order to decide which positions could be subject to the act and which would not. A crucial result was the shift of the parties to reliance on funding from business since they could no longer depend on patronage hopefuls. -
Great Upheaval of 1886
When leaders of the BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY ordered this second reduction in less than eight months, railroad workers in MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA decided they had had enough. On July 16, 1877, workers in that town drove all the engines into the roundhouse and boldly declared that no train would leave until the owners restored their pay. The local townspeople gathered at the railyard to show their support for the STRIKERS. A great showdown was on. -
Dawes Severalty Act
Dawes Act, was introduced by Henry Dawes. The Act broke up previous land settlements given to Native Americans in the form of reservations and separated them into smaller, separate parcels of land to live on. More importantly, the Act required Natives to live apart from their nations and assimilate into European culture.Dawes felt that the law, once fully realized, would actually save Native Americans from the alternative, which was their total extermination. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The first of these major measures declared illegal all combinations that restrained trade between states or with foreign nations. This law, known as the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed by Congress early in July. It was the congressional response to evidence of growing public dissatisfaction with the development of industrial monopolies, which had been so notable a feature of the preceding decade. -
City Reform
They wanted to make the country better so they started enforcing and building new things to do this. They started the sanitation business to keep the street clean. They started to build public parks. They even started the condemnation of the slums. They made it mandatory to attend public schools. Even immigrant children had to attend because they wanted to "Americanize" immigrants. They also made the pledge of allegiance mandatory as well. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act was named after its primary supporter, Ohio Senator John Sherman and dated July 2, 1890. The purpose of the Sherman Antitrust Act was to maintain free competition in business and made it a crime to monopolize any part of trade or commerce. It allowed certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be competitive, and recommended the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts. -
Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota,was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S. government. An 1890 massacre left some 15 0Native Americans dead, in what was the final clash between federal troops and the Sioux. In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days to protest conditions on the reservation. -
Horizontal Integration
Horizontal integration describes the merging of two or more companies at the same point in the production process in the same or different industries. If the products offered by the companies are the same or similar, it is a merger of competitors. Companies that bought out their competition achieved greater efficiency. Carneige is a man that accomplished this. He bought all the supply sources and competition, hired the best management, and cut secret deals with the railroads -
Period: to
Imperialism
-
World's Colombian Exposition
Was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, the large water pool, represented the long voyage Columbus took to the New World. The Exposition was an influential social and cultural event and had a profound effect on architecture, sanitation, the arts, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism. -
Depression of 1893
The Panic of 1893 during the 'Gilded Age' and was a financial crisis that triggered a depression that lasted for four years leading to economic hardships, civil unrest, demonstrations and labor action such as the Pullman Strike. The crisis led to the national unemployment rate approaching 20%. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley. -
Vertical Integration
Vertical integration and expansion are desired because it secures the supplies needed by the firm to produce its product and the market needed to sell the product. Vertical integration and expansion can become undesirable when its actions become anti-competitive and impede free competition in an open marketplace. Vertical integration is one method of avoiding the hold-up problem. Carneige allowed for his company to control all phases of production. -
Period: to
Progressive Era
-
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, often called the Yukon Gold Rush, was a mass exodus of prospecting migrants from their hometowns to Canadian Yukon Territory and Alaska after gold was discovered there in 1896. The idea of striking it rich led over 100,000 people from all walks of life to abandon their homes and embark on an extended, life-threatening journey across treacherous, icy valleys and harrowing rocky terrain. -
Election of 1896
The United States presidential election of 1896 was the 28th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1896. Former Governor William McKinley, the Republican candidate, defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System. -
Battle of Manilla Bay
On May 1, 1898, at Manila Bay in the Philippines, the U.S. Asiatic Squadron destroyed the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first major battle of the Spanish-American War (April-August 1898). The United States went on to win the war, which ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. -
Spanish American War
The Spanish-American War was a conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. The war originated in the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain, which began in February 1895. Spain’s brutally repressive measures to halt the rebellion were graphically portrayed for the U.S. public by several sensational newspapers. -
The Battle of San Juan Hill
in May 1898, one month after the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, a Spanish fleet docked in the Santiago de Cuba harbor after racing across the Atlantic from Spain. A superior U.S. naval force arrived soon after and blockaded the harbor entrance. In June, the U.S. Army Fifth Corps landed on Cuba with the aim of marching to Santiago and launching a coordinated land and sea assault on the Spanish stronghold. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was an agreement that involved Spain relinquishing nearly all of the remaining Spanish Empire, especially Cuba, and ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. The session of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million from the United States to Spain. The Treaty of Paris came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the documents of ratification were exchanged -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy was an American solution to the maneuvering among all countries to secure China. It basically said the best way to avoid a conflict over China was to keep it an open market for all. Just like the example of the toy store, the Open Door Policy was put in effect to keep China's 'door' open to trade from all countries. -
Election of 1900
The United States presidential election of 1900 was the 29th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1900. In a re-match of the 1896 race, Republican President William McKinley defeated his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. McKinley's victory made him the first president to win consecutive re-election since Ulysses S. Grant had accomplished the same feat in 1872. -
Boxer Rebellion
a Chinese secret organization called the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists led an uprising in northern China against the spread of Western and Japanese influence there. The rebels, referred to by Westerners as Boxers because they performed physical exercises they believed would make them able to withstand bullets, killed foreigners and Chinese Christians and destroyed foreign property. -
Platt Amendment
On March 2, 1901, the Platt Amendment was passed as part of the 1901 Army Appropriations Bill. It stipulated seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish–American War, and an eighth condition that Cuba sign a treaty accepting these seven conditions. -
Philippine-American War
was an armed conflict between the First Philippine Republic and the United States. The Filipinos saw the conflict as a continuation of the Filipino struggle for independence that began in 1896 with the Philippine Revolution; the U.S. government regarded it as an insurrection. The conflict arose when the First Philippine Republic objected to the terms of the Treaty of Paris under which the United States took possession of the Philippines from Spain, ending the Spanish–American War. -
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War developed out of the rivalry between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria. Military conflict in which a victorious Japan forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the Far East, becoming the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power. -
Meat Inspection Act
Meat Inspection Act of 1906, U.S. legislation, prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured that livestock were slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. The law reformed the meatpacking industry, mandating that the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspect all cattle, swine, sheep, goats, and horses both before and after they were slaughtered and processed for human consumption. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
Its main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products, and it directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors. It required that active ingredients be placed on the label of a drug’s packaging and that drugs could not fall below purity levels established by the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. -
Muller vs. Oregon
was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court. Women were provided by state mandate, lesser work-hours than allotted to men. The posed question was whether women's liberty to negotiate a contract with an employer should be equal to a man's. inequality was not a deciding factor because the sexes were inherently different in their particular conditions and had completely different functions usage of labor laws -
Square deal
Roosevelt reflected three basic goals: conservation of natural resources, control of corporations, and consumer protection. These three demands are often referred to as the "three C's" of Roosevelt's Square Deal. Thus, it aimed at helping middle-class citizens and involved attacking plutocracy and bad trusts while at the same time protecting business from the most extreme demands of organized labor. -
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910, ended dictatorship in Mexico and established a constitutional republic. A number of groups, led by revolutionaries including Francisco Madero, Pascual Orozco, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, participated in the long and costly conflict. Though a constitution drafted in 1917 formalized many of the reforms sought by rebel groups, periodic violence continued into the 1930s. -
Election of 1912
held on Tuesday, November 5, 1912. Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated Former President Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party ("Bull Moose") nominee. Roosevelt remains the only third party presidential candidate in U.S. history to finish better than third in the popular or electoral vote. -
Bull Moose Party
The Progressive Party was a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former President Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. The new party was known for taking advanced positions on progressive reforms and attracting some leading reformers. After the party's defeat in the 1912 presidential election, it went into rapid decline, disappearing by 1918. -
Federal Reserve Act
It is an Act of Congress that created and established the Federal Reserve System (the central banking system of the United States), and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes (commonly known as the US Dollar) as legal tender. The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
17th Amendment
to the United States Constitution established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states. The amendment supersedes, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held -
Period: to
World War 1
-
Great Migration
Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that first arose during the First World War. During the Great Migration, African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, actively confronting racial prejudice as well as economic, political and social challenges to create a black urban culture. -
Espionage Act
Enforced largely by A. Mitchell Palmer, the United States attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson, the Espionage Act essentially made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces prosecution of the war effort or to promote the success of the country’s enemies. Anyone found guilty of such acts would be subject to a fine of $10,000 and a prison sentence of 20 years. -
John J. Pershing
U.S. Army General John J. Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson selected Pershing to command the American troops being sent to Europe. Although Pershing aimed to maintain the independence of the AEF, his willingness to integrate into Allied operations helped bring about the armistice with Germany. After the war, Pershing served as army chief of staff from 1921 to 1924. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. The violent revolution marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. -
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. General Headquarters, AEF was responsible for all actions related to the command and control, organizing, training, sustaining, and equipping of all the American troops in Europe during WWI. The When Congress declared War on Germany in 1917, the United States did not have the organization necessary for the deployment of the enormous numbers that would be required. -
Great Migration
The Great Migration was the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from about 1916 to 1970. Driven from their homes by unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws, many blacks headed north, where they took advantage of the need for industrial workers that first arose during the First World War. -
Sedition Act
On May 16, 1918, the United States Congress passes the Sedition Act, a piece of legislation designed to protect America’s participation in World War I. Along with the Espionage Act of the previous year, the Sedition Act was orchestrated largely by A. Mitchell Palmer, the United States attorney general under President Woodrow Wilson. -
14 Points
The Fourteen Points speech was a statement given to Congress on January 8, 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson declaring that WW1 was being fought for a moral cause and calling for peace in Europe. President Wilson's Fourteen Points became the basis for a peace program, suggesting that a League of Nations should be established to guarantee the political and territorial independence of countries. Fighting in WW1 ceased when the armistice went into effect on November 11, 1918. -
Trench Warfare
Trench warfare is resorted to when the superior firepower of the defense compels the opposing forces to “dig in” so extensively as to sacrifice their mobility in order to gain protection.During World War I, the western front in France was fought using trench warfare. By the end of 1914, both sides had built a series of trenches that went from the North Sea and through Belgium and France. As a result, neither side gained much ground for three and a half years. -
Treaty of Versailles
World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts, and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. After strict enforcement for five years, the French assented to the modification of important provisions. Germany agreed to pay reparations under the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan. -
League of Nations
It was an international diplomatic group developed after World War I as a way to solve disputes between countries before they erupted into open warfare. A precursor to the United Nations, the League achieved some victories but had a mixed record of success, sometimes putting self-interest before becoming involved with conflict resolution, while also contending with governments that did not recognize its authority. The League effectively ceased operations during World War II. -
Temperance Movement
The temperance movement was an organized effort to encourage moderation in the consumption of intoxicating liquors or press for complete abstinence. The movement's ranks were mostly filled by women who, with their children, had endured the effects of unbridled drinking by many of their menfolk. In fact, alcohol was blamed for many of society's demerits, among them severe health problems, destitution, and crime. At first, they used moral suasion to address the problem. -
19th Amendment
The Nineteenth (19th) Amendment to the United States Constitution granted women the right to vote, prohibiting any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920 after a long struggle known as the women’s suffrage movement. It was first drafted in 1878 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton 30 years after the Seneca Falls Convention, where the idea of women’s suffrage gained prominence in the United States. -
Women's Suffrage
It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: Disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once. But on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. -
Volstead Act
The Volstead Act, officially known as the National Prohibition Act, was enacted by Congress to enforce the 18th amendment on Prohibition. The Volstead Act became effective on January 1920. The Volstead Act defined "intoxicating liquors" and provided penalties for abuse of the law. Andrew J. Volstead, the Representative from Minnesota, sponsored the bill and lent his name to the act. The Volstead Act was rendered inoperative by the passage of the 21st Amendment. -
Period: to
1920's
-
Teapot Dome Scandal
The scandal involved ornery oil tycoons, poker-playing politicians, illegal liquor sales, a murder-suicide, a womanizing president and a bagful of bribery cash delivered on the sly. In the end, the scandal would empower the Senate to conduct rigorous investigations into government corruption. It also marked the first time a U.S. cabinet official served jail time for a felony committed while in office. -
Charles lindbergh
an American aviator, made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 20-21, 1927. Other pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him. But Lindbergh was the first person to do it alone nonstop. Lindbergh's feat gained him immediate, international fame. -
The Lost Generation
Lost Generation, a group of American writers who came of age during World War I and established their literary reputations in the 1920s. The term is also used more generally to refer to the post-World War I generation. The generation was “lost” in the sense that its inherited values were no longer relevant in the postwar world -
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art. -
American Indian Citizenship Act
Before the Civil War, citizenship was often limited to Native Americans of one-half or less Indian blood. In the Reconstruction period, progressive Republicans in Congress sought to accelerate the granting of citizenship to friendly tribes, though state support for these measures was often limited.In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act, an all-inclusive act, was passed by Congress. The privileges of citizenship, however, were largely governed by state law. -
Anti-Saloon League
The Anti-Saloon League (ASL) was the leading organization promoting National Prohibition in the U.S. It was a non-partisan political pressure group that began in 1893. A single-issue lobbying group, it had branches across the country. It worked with churches in marshaling resources for the prohibition fight. The League’s main base of support was among Protestant churches in rural areas and the South. -
Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924 made the principle of national origin quotas the permanent basis for U.S. immigration policy. The Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson-Reed Act) restricted the number of immigrants from a given country to 2% of the number of residents from that same country living in the United States. The percentage quotas were strongly biased towards to the "Old Immigrants" from North-Western Europe as as opposed to the "New Immigrants" from South-Eastern Europe. -
Ku Klux Klan
Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and black Republican leaders. Though Congress passed legislation designed to curb Klan terrorism, the organization saw its primary goal–the reestablishment of white supremacy–fulfilled through Democratic victories in state legislatures across the South in the 1870s. The Klan in the early 20th century, burning crosses and staging rallies, parades, and marches -
Valentine's Day Massacre
Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution. This rash of gang violence reached its bloody climax in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, when seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, one of Capone’s longtime enemies, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen. -
October 29, 1929
On October 29, 1929, Black Tuesday hit Wall Street as investors traded some 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression (1929-39), the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world up to that time. -
Period: to 1239
The Great Depression
-
Glass Stegall Act
Separated investment and commercial banking activities. At the time, "improper banking activity," or was deemed the main culprit of the financial crash. According to that reasoning, commercial banks took on too much risk with depositors' money. Additional and sometimes non-related explanations for the Great Depression evolved over the years, and many questioned whether the GSA hindered the establishment of financial services firms that can equally compete against each other. -
Election of 1932
The election of 1932 highlighted key differences between Republicans and Democrats over the federal government's role in the economy. By fall 1932, the United States had been in the grips of the Great Depression for three years, and conditions did not seem to be improving. Hoping for change, Americans went to the polls to vote for president in November, and a majority chose to elect Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt over Republican Herbert Hoover. -
Emergency Relief Act
The Federal Emergency Relief Act, passed by Congress at the outset of the New Deal on May 12, 1933. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a federal government relief agency that was created by the law to provide relief support to nearly 5 million households each month. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Harry L. Hopkins as director of FERA which was allocated an initial fund of $500 million to help those in need. -
The New Deal
Was a series of programs and policies of Relief, Recovery and Reform to combat the effects of the Great Depression during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The New Deal fell into two stages relating to the dates the programs were initiated. The First New Deal encompassed national planning laws and programs for the impoverished from 1933 - 1934. The New Deal programs helped all Americans and provided jobs for millions of people. Many New Deal programs still continue today -
Public Works Association
President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Harold L. Ickes, his secretary of the interior, to administer the scheme. The PWA awarded construction contracts for large-scale public works projects such as building bridges, dams, irrigation systems, sewers, roads, and airports. The PWA projects aimed to improve the nation's infrastructure and invigorate America’s "core industries" and at the same time providing work for the unemployed, although the PWA did not directly employ workers. -
Neutrality Act
On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act, or Senate Joint Resolution No. 173, which he calls an “expression of the desire…to avoid any action which might involve [the U.S.] in war.” The signing came at a time when newly installed fascist governments in Europe were beginning to beat the drums of war. -
German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. With Europe on the brink of another major war, the Soviet leader viewed the pact as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the Soviet military. German Chancellor Adolf Hitler used the pact to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed. The pact also contained a secret agreements. -
Period: to
World War ll
-
Battle of Britain
In the summer and fall of 1940, German and British air forces clashed in the skies over the United Kingdom, locked in the largest sustained bombing campaign to that date. A significant turning point of World War II, the Battle of Britain ended when Germany’s Luftwaffe failed to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force despite months of targeting Britain’s air bases, military posts and, ultimately, its civilian population. Britain’s decisive victory saved the country from a ground invasion -
Angel Island
Angel Island Immigration Center, was located in San Francisco Bay and opened on January 21, 1910. It served as a detention center for immigrants from China, Japan and Asia who entered the United States of America from the east. Ellis Island in New York was the immigration center in the west and processed European immigrants. The exact number of people who passed through the Angel Island Immigration Center is unknown. . -
National Socialist German Workers' Party
the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party, grew into a mass movement and ruled Germany through totalitarian means from 1933 to 1945. Founded in 1919 as the German Workers’ Party, the group promoted German pride and anti-Semitism, and expressed dissatisfaction with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler joined the party the year it was founded and became its leader in 1921. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, and was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. -
2nd Battle of El Alamein
The Battle of El Alamein marked the culmination of the World War II North African campaign between the British Empire and the German-Italian army. Deploying a far larger contingent of soldiers and tanks than the opposition, British commander Bernard Law Montgomery launched an infantry attack at El Alamein on Oct. 23, 1942. German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel returned to battle from illness and tried to halt the tide, but the British advantage in personnel and artillery proved too overwhelming. -
Battle of Moscow
The Soviet defenses made the Germans unable to attack on Moscow, the Soviet capital, which was one of the Axis's primary military and political objectives in the invasion of the Soviet Union.The German strategic offensive named Operation Typhoon was planned to attack Moscow from the north and south. The Soviets reacted by sending in more reserve from the Far East. Shortly, German attacks were stopped, and the Soviets began counter-attack and forced to push the Axis back. -
Executive Order 9066
Ten weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable.” The military, in turn, defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps -
Battle of the Bulge
In December 1944, Adolph Hitler attempted to split the Allied armies in northwest Europe by means of a surprise blitzkrieg thrust through the Ardennes to Antwerp. Caught off-guard, American units fought desperate battles to stem the German advance at St.-Vith, Elsenborn Ridge, Houffalize and Bastogne. As the Germans drove deeper into the Ardennes in an attempt to secure vital bridgeheads, the Allied line took on the appearance of a large bulge, giving rise to the battle’s name. -
Battle of Anzio
The 1944 Battle of Anzio stemmed from the Allied attempt to draw German troops off the Gustav Line during Operation Shingle. An expeditionary force commanded by U.S. Major General John P. Lucas secured a beachhead near Anzio and Nettuno on Italy’s west coast, but his divisions were quickly contained by German Field Marshall Albert Kesselring. A succession of attacks resulted in heavy casualties on both sides, though no budge in the stalemate for four months. -
Anti-Japanese
Racial prejudice against Asian immigrants began building soon after Chinese workers started arriving in the country in the mid-19th century, and set the tone for the resistance Japanese would face in the decades to come. Anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States has existed since the late 19th century, during the Yellow Peril. Anti-Japanese sentiment peaked during the Second World War and again in the 1970s-1980s with the rise of Japan as a major economic power.
