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Period: to
The Progressive Era
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Plessy vs. Ferguson
Homer Plessy was arrested in Louisiana for sitting in a “White’s” car. Plessy argued that the Separate Car Act violated the 13th and 14th Amendments. Judge John Howard Ferguson stated that Louisiana could do what they wanted, so Homer went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Louisiana said that Louisiana did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment, and the United States Supreme Court declared that Homer was guilty. -
The Lattimer Massacre
Over 300 striking immigrants marched to the Lattimer coal mine to support the United Mine Workers. After they were told many times to stop, law enforcement officials joked about how many immigrants they would shoot. When the strikers got to Lattimer, Sheriff Martin and 150 other deputies were waiting. The police started to shoot after the sheriff started to fight with the lead marcher. After the massacre, 19 miners were dead and almost 50 were wounded. -
U.S. Citizenship of the Chinese Born in America
The United States Supreme Court ruled that a man named Wong Kim Ark was allowed to enter America. Wong Kim Ark was allowed to enter America because he had been born and raised in the United States by his Chinese immigrant parents. The Supreme Court realized that it was wrong to exclude American- born Chinese people because America is their home also. The Supreme Court declared that the Chinese Exclusion Act did not apply to any Chinese people born in America. -
The Literary Digest comments about horseless carriages
During this time period, horseless carriages were only for wealthy people and everyone used bicycles. The Literary Digest wrote, "The ordinary horseless carriage is at present a luxury for the wealthy; and although its price will fall in the future, it will never, of course, come into as common use as the bicycle.” The Literary Digest made this comment so that everyone knew what the future had in store for transportation. -
The Population Amount at the Turn of the Century
At the turn of the century, the population finally reached 75,994,575 people. Texas accounted for 3,048,710 people out of the total population. In this year, the U.S. had 18,000,000 horses and mules spread throughout the country. The amount of bicycles, which was 10,000,000, was much higher than the amount of automobiles, 4,000. -
The Death of President William McKinley
An anarchist named Leon Czolgoz shot President McKinley in Buffalo, N.Y. on September 6th. The President died on this day with his wife by his side. The cause of death was gangrene of both walls of his stomach and pancreas after a gunshot wound. After the President's death, his Vice President ,Theodore Roosevelt, became the new president. -
The United Mine Workers Strike
The United Mine Workers of America went on strike for better wages, workdays, and recognition for their union. The workers worked in the anthracite coal fields of Eastern Pennsylvania and if the strik didn't end, people in major cities would not be able to heat their houses or apartments for the winter. Theodore Roosevelt came up with a fact-finding commission that ended the strike. The workers never went back on strike because they recieved more money for fewer hours. -
The Republic of Panama
During this month, the United States tried to help Panama build a canal but the Columbian government interfered and did not allow it. On November 3, Panama was finally independent. On November 13, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama, and France recognized the Republic of Panama on November 14. The United States Secretary of State and Phillippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla signed the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty. -
Control of the Panama Canal
The Panamanians rewarded the United States, for their help in making them the Republic of Panama, with the control over the Panama Canal Zone. A smal formal ceremony took place on May 4, when the French presented Lieutenant Jatara Oneel of the U.S. army with the keys to the Panama Canal Zone. After the area was catalogued, America had acquired 2,148 buildings. The area was severely decayed, but the U.S. was able to find useful equipment. -
"One Big Union for All"
A group of Socialists and labor radicals came together to form the International Workers of the World. This group wanted to make a large labor union for every worker. They did not have the same restrictions as the American Federation of Labor. The group accepted every wage earner and did not care about their job, race, or sex. -
San Francisco Earthquake
The epicenter of the earthquake was offshore 2 miles near Mussel Rock. The shakes were reported from Oregon to Los Angeles and reached inland to Nevada. The quakes and fires where the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. The number of death's from the natural disaster were over 3,000. -
A Gentleman's Agreement between Japan and the U.S.
Japan and the United States entered a Gentleman's Agreement about the recent immigration of Asian people to America. The agreement was meant to lessen the number of Japanese people immigrating to America. The Japan did not like the agreement at first because they saw that the U.S. was segregating Asian children. Eventually Japan agreed to the agreement and the San Francisco school board stopped segregating the Asian children. -
The Monongah Mine Disaster
The explosion occured in Monongah, West Virginia in mines 6 and 8. The mine exploded due to the ignition of coal dust by the ignition of methane. The rescue crew was only allowed in the mines for 15 minutes and even then, some of the crew died because of suffocation caused by methane inhilation. The total amount of workers that died were 362, and some of them were children. The death's of the workers left 250 widows and over 1,000 children without fathers. -
The Springfield Race Riot of 1908
On this day in Springfield, a mob of white men formed outside of a prision to lynch two black men that were in jail for crimes against white women. The white community became enraged with the current problems and took it out on the black community. The end result of the riot was 7 deaths, a large amount of injured people, and the destruction of 40 homes and 24 businesses that were owned by blacks. Over 100 indictments were brought against the rioters, but only one man was convicted of a crime. -
The NAACP
After the Springfield riot, Mary White Ovington, William English Walling, and Henry Moskowitz met and formed the NAACP. The NAACP was founded on the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The group that founded the NAACP was very diverse. The NAACP was origanally called the National Negro Committee. -
Population Count of 1910
The U.S. population finally reached 91,972,266. New York made up 9,113,614 people of the total population. The farming population accounted for 32,077,000 people out of the 91,972,266. Farmers made up 31% of the entire work force and the number of farms were 6,366,000. -
The Mann Act
This act is also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act. It originally stopped white slavery and the transportation of women through states. It was against human trafficking, prostitution, and immoral acts, The act's wording allowed many people to get away with things for many years. -
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Disaster
About 500 immigrant women worked in the Triangle Waist Company in its Asch Building. The conditions were terrible; their were long work days and weeks, small quarters, and very low money. The factory even had young women at the age of 13 or 14 working for it. In the after noon on this day, a fire started in the 8th floor. The fire that day killed 146 workers, but that fire also gave America a glimpse of the horrible working conditions. -
American Woolen Company strike
The strike took place in Lawrence, Massachusetts and was led by the Industrial Workers of the World. The workers striked because a mill owner lowered peoples' salaries when a law forced him to make work-weeks shorter. The strike lasted for over 2 months and was successful. The union nearly disappeared the next year and any progress made by the strike was lost. -
Assassination Attempt of Theodore Roosevelt
The day of the attempt, he was set to give a campaign speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. John Schrank, a saloonkeeper, shot Roosevelt in his chest. The bullet became lodged in his chest after it went through his steel eyeglass case and through his 50 page speech in his pocket. Theodore determined that the bullet wound was not deadly because he was not coughing blood. He gave his speech while he seeped blood onto his shirt, and later he found out that taking out the bullet was more deadly. -
The 16th Amendment
The 16th Amendment was created to permit income taxes. The federal income tax has a 1% tax on salaries over $3,000 for single people and salaries over $4,000 for married people. There is also a 1% surtax on salaries over $20,000 that reaches 6% on salaries over $500,000. -
The 17th Amendment
The 17th Amendment was ratified on this day. The 17th Amendment states that Senators would be elected because of voting in the state, and not state legislature. The amendment also says that if there is an open senator seat for any reason, the governor can elect a temporary person to fill the postion until a new vote for senators can be held. This Amendment was finally used in 1914. -
The Ludlow War
A group of Colorado National Guardsmen shot the tent colony of 1,200 mine strikers. The National Guard had a machine gun and 200 armed men that day and they killed 25 people, 3 of the guardsmen, 12 kids, and 1 passerby that was not involved. The majority of the workers were Greek, Italian, Slav, and Mexican immigrants. The Governor of Colorado and John D. Rockefeller sent the National Guard there because they were on strike from Rockefeller's Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. -
The Lynching of Leo Frank
Leo Frank was the superintendent of the National Pencil Company in Atlanta. Leo was convicted of the murder of a female factory worker, Mary Phagan, who was only 13 years old. Mary was stangled one day and found dead the next day, and Leo was the last person to see her that day. On August 25, 1913 Leo was charged with death in prison and it was later changed to life in prison. A group of people kidnapped Leo 2 months after he recieved life in prison and on August 26, 1915 he was hanged. -
Adamson Eight-Hour Act
This act set up 8 hour work days and overtime pay for the interstate railroad workers. The act was the first federal law that made working hours regulated for private companies. The Adamson Eight- Hour Act was passed to prevent strikes across the nation. The railway unions started to strike because the railroads disagreed with the law, but the Supreme Court eventually make them consent. -
The U.S. decalres war against the Central Powers
Presidnet Woodrow Wilson wanted permission, from the Senate and House of Representatives, to declare war on April 2nd. The Senate approved Woodrow's plan on April 4th with 82 votes to 6. The House of Representatives approved his plan on April 6th with a vote of 373 to 50. The U.S. declared war on the German government, not their people. The U.S did not declare war on Austria-Hungary until December 7th, 1917. -
Infulenza Pandemic
The pandemic happened in the beginning of June and ended in December of 1920. The flu spread all through the world, and even went to the Artic and small Pacific islands. The estimated number of deaths were between 50 and 100 million deaths, and 50 million people account for 3% of the population. About 500 million people were infected, and 500 million people account for 27% of the population -
The 18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment stopped people from making, selling, and transporting alcohol. This amendment was ratified on this day and it was the start of Prohibition. The 18th Amendment went strong for 200 years until it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933. The 18th Amendment is the only Amendment that has ever been repealed. -
Population Increase
The population finally reached 105,710,620 people. The life expectancy reached 54 years after it being 49 years since 1901. Some of the common questions asked on the census were address, name, sex, race, age, marital status, literacy, school attendance, ability to speak English, and etc. The state that had the highest population was New York and the state that was the lowest was Nevada. The number of states were 48. -
The 19th Amendment
On this day, this amendment was ratified. The 19th Amendment says that Citizens of the United States have the right to vote and they can not be denied because of thier sex. Also, the Congress will have power to enforce the amendment with correct legislation. The final vote for the passing of the law was cast by Harry Burns of Tennessee because he had gotten a letter from his mom that told him to be good and vote for women sufffage.
