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Philippine Organic Act
The Philippine Insurrection, or the Philippine-American War, was a brutal conflict of occupation and insurgency. Contemporaries compared the guerrilla-style warfare in challenging and unfamiliar terrain to the American experiences in the Indian Wars of the late nineteenth century. President Theodore Roosevelt declared the war over in 1902 to which this Act was enacted by Congress to give the Philippines back to it's people. -
Hepburn Act
in 1906, Roosevelt signed the Hepburn Act, allowing the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate best practices and set reasonable rates for the railroads. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It is one of the most infamous incidents in industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable–most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous sweatshop conditions of factories and led to a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers. -
Income Tax - Ratification of the 16th Amendment
The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, played a central role in building up the powerful American federal government of the twentieth century by making it possible to enact a modern, nationwide income tax. Congress passed the resolution in 1909, and the amendment was ratified four years later; Congress enacted a nationwide individual income tax on February 3rd, 1913. -
Woodrow Wilson elected President
Woodrow Wilson, the 28th U.S. president, served in office from 1913 to 1921 and led America through World War I (1914-1918). An advocate for democracy and world peace, Wilson is often ranked by historians as one of the nation’s greatest presidents. Wilson was a college professor, university president and Democratic governor of New Jersey before winning the White House in 1912. -
Federal Reserve Act
It took many months and nearly straight party-line voting, but on December 23, 1913, the Senate passed and President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act. The need for a central bank became painfully evident during the financial panic of 1907 when the stock market collapsed, banks failed, and credit evaporated. -
United States enters World War I
On May 7th, 1915, the British Ship “Lusitania” was destroyed, which killed 1201 passengers including 128 Americans. Germans went on the defense and declared the ship was bringing in a munition to the British Army. President Woodrow Wilson sent a message to German officials stating they would not tolerate any further attacks on unarmed merchants. April 2nd, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. April 6th, America was at war. -
The 18th Amendment - Prohibition
In 1917, after the United States entered World War I, President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition in order to save grain for producing food. The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 17, 1920, and in October 1919, Congress passed the National Prohibition Act, which provided guidelines for the federal enforcement of Prohibition.
