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Johnson’s Impeachment
On February 21, 1868, Johnson decided to rid himself of Stanton once and for all and appointed General Lorenzo Thomas, as secretary of war. Stanton refused to yield, barricading himself in his office, and the House of Representatives, which had already discussed impeachment after Johnson’s first dismissal of Stanton, initiated formal impeachment proceedings against the president. On February 24, Johnson was impeached, and on March 13 his impeachment trial began in the Senate. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, says: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” -
Grandfather Clause
The grandfather clause aloud you to vote if your grandfather could vote. This was another way you could vote if you couldn’t pass the literary test or have money to pay a poll tax. They created this clause to include one more way for black men to not be able to vote. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States; including former slaves; and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” One of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for black Americans, it would become the basis for many landmark Supreme Court decisions over the years. -
Transcontinental Railroad
In 1862, the Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies, tasking them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies would race toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment, granting African-American men the right to vote, was adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870. Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s discriminatory practices were used to prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied blacks their right to vote under the 15th Amendment. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839-76) against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native American lands. -
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal, that settled the intensely disputed 1876 U.S. presidential election. It resulted in the United States federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and formally ended the Reconstruction Era. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was approved on May 6, 1882. It was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. In the spring of 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur. Too many of them were coming so they had to cut them off. -
The Brooklyn Bridge
Upon its completion, Emily Warren Roebling rode the first carriage across from the Brooklyn side, carrying a rooster as a symbol of victory. The bridge's opening day, May 24, 1883, was marked by much celebration and was attended by Pres. Chester A. Arthur. The bridge was designed by John A. Roebling. -
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was given to the United States as a gift from France in celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It stands for freedom and democracy. The statue was designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. -
Homesteaders stake their claim
Homesteaders line up at territory border to stake a claim. People called boomers and sooners were cheaters. Sooners were go ahead of time to steak their claim for the land. Boomers would do some other stuff but they cheated too. -
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 150 Native 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. -
Annie Moore Goes Through Ellis Island
The First Immigrant Landed on Ellis Island. When 15-year-old Annie Moore arrived here from Ireland on this day in 1892, she was the first person to enter the United States through Ellis Island. -
Spanish Surrender at Manila Bay
The Spanish navy was trapped and surrendered at Manila Bay. Commodore George Dewey defeated the Spanish navy within 6 hours at battle. They surrendered after being totally destroyed. -
The Explosion of the USS Maine
USS Maine entering Havana harbour, January 1898, on the night of February 15, 1898 the United States battleship Maine, riding quietly at anchor in Havana harbour, was suddenly blown up, apparently by a mine, in an explosion which tore her bottom out and sank her, killing 260 officers and men on board. -
Philippines Gain Independence
In 1935, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established with U.S. approval, and Manuel Quezon was elected the country's first president. On July 4, 1946, full independence was granted to the Republic of the Philippines by the United States. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
Korean War Truce
The Korean Armistice Agreement is the armistice that brought about a complete cessation of hostilities of the Korean War. Finally ending the war. Everyone pulled out and everyone is happy. -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. -
Sputnik 1 Launch
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. -
Gulf of Tonkin incident
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War -
My Lai Massacre
The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people, women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai. -
America pulls out of Vietnam
The Paris Peace Accords of January 1973 saw all U.S forces withdrawn; the Case–Church Amendment, passed by the U.S Congress on 15 August 1973, officially ended direct U.S military involvement.
