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Jamestown is seen as the first permanent settlement in North America. Jamestown was known for creating the first representative government in North America and growing tobacco. The leader of this Colony was John Smith commonly associated with Pocahontas who apparently from his reports saved his life and had a loving bond. This is most likely not true. By 1699 was replaced as the capital of Virginia by the neighboring town of Williamsburg. -
The Massachusetts Bay Company was given a charter by King Charles the first to set up a colony in the New England area. The Settlement became one of the most populous settlements during that time. The Charter was unfortunately revoked in 1684 but a new charter made in 1691 joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Plymouth Colony, and the Main colony together. This colony gave Puritans the chance to practice their own views on government and education without royal oversight. -
New Netherland was the first Dutch colony in North America. It consisted of parts of what is now New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware. New Netherland became one of the popular cities for trade in New England with colonists traveling from all over Europe for its many Opportunities. It became the hub between New England and the Caribbean so as it gained increasing value Britain stole the land in 1664. Dutch influence remained strong there even after it was taken. -
In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, several girls began experiencing strange phenomena that they claimed were possessed by the devil. These young girls accused three women of witchcraft and out of pressure, these women named others who also committed witchcraft under a false confession. A special court was set up led by the Massachusetts Bay colony governor to conduct trials. They ended up hanging 19 witches and imprisoning 150 others. -
The Great Awakening was a religious movement from the 1720s to the 1740s. The Puritan power had waned over at the end of the 17th century but the great awakening led by Johnathan Edwards and George Whitefield rejuvenated the power of religion in the colonies. The revival of religion was brought on by the increase in methods of transportation allowing ministers to travel around spreading the word of god. -
This Act created by the British government was to purely control the American sugar market to make sure the colonies were only purchasing from the British West Indies sugarcane growers and not the other foreign sugar cane producers who owned more fertile land, especially the French. The law imposed a tax on molasses, rum, and sugar imported from companies in non-British foreign colonies. The molasses act was one of the least effective acts with many just smuggling the products in. -
The French and Indian war began in 1754 over a dispute over Northern American lands. The British had stayed on the east coast throughout most of the settlement while the french had traveled down west of the Appalachian mountains to safely trade with Natives and not form permanent settlements. Britain and France were already rivals due to the 7 Years' War. By 1762, Britain had also declared war on Spain. Britain was able to secure a victory but with a cost that would affect the colonies greatly. -
The proclamation of 1763, was a law created by Britain after the French and Indian War that prohibited whites to settle in Native Territory. This meant anything west of the Appalachians and south of Hudson Bay was not allowed to have white settlers in. It formally confirmed that the lines of Native American territories were but were later replaced with the Treaties of Fort Stanwix after the American colonists objected to the Proclamation. -
The Stamp Act was to created by British Parliament to raise money after the costly French-Indian war. The Stamp Act taxed all forms of newspapers, cards, dice, pamphlets, and legal papers in the American Colonies. There was a massive uproar in the colonies over this act. The sons of liberty were formed in 1765 to oppose this act by destroying stamps whenever they came across them and attacking the warehouses and homes of the wealthy. Bowing to pressure parliament repealed the Act in 1766. -
The Boston Tea party is one of the most memorable protests in early American history. British Parliament had made the East India Company a monopoly by giving it exclusive rights to transport tea to the colonies. So on the night of December 16, 1773, 60 of the sons of liberty, donning Indian headdresses, boarded the ships in Boston harbor to dump 342 chests of tea into the Harbor equal to about 9,659 Pounds (money) or about $1,700,000 in today's money. -
The Declaration of Independence is considered the founding document of the United States. On July 2nd 12 of the 13 colonies voted that the colonies were "Free and Independent States.” While the vote was on the 2nd, it wasn't until the 4th that it was adopted. About a month later Congress signed an engrossed version at Independence Hall. 56 of the delicates go to sign the document with John Dickinson and Robert R. Livingston not signing. -
America needed a document to govern itself after the Revolutionary War was over. One representative from each colony was sent to the committees in order to properly assess what each state found important to include in the Articles. After the Articles were taken into effect there were many issues uncovered with states at the edge of economic disaster and lopsided control. James Madison and George Washington both agreed the Articles were not working and the Constitution was written. -
The Revolutionary War was coming to a close and to do so peacefully diplomats were sent out to Paris in hopes of coming to an agreement. The diplomats of America were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. While the fighting had officially ended since the treaty was signed in Paris it took a few months for the news to reach America and the fighting continued. Britain had to completely leave the American territories but took months to do so. -
In 1793, France went to war with Britain while America stayed neutral. During this time Britain and America created Jay's treaty to resolve former conflicts. France was angered by Jay's treaty stating that it violated other treaties formed. France became seizing ships and John Adams sent 3 men to Paris to restore peace. France asked for a large bribe for the ships which the American Negotiators refused. Their refusal sparked conflict which was later settled at the Convention of 1800. -
In 1762, France ceded the area west of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains to Spain which was in hands of Napoleon, and the area was returned to French control later on. In fear of France gaining more control in North America Thomas Jefferson threatened to form an alliance with the British. Napoleon sold Louisana to America in 1803 for $15 million which doubled the land area of the U.S. -
The War of 1812 can be perceived as the second revolutionary war. The British had made attempts to restrict U.S. trade and given out weapons to hostile Native Americans. The British secured many great victories at the beginning of War but later with the death of Tecumseh the tables were turned. The Battle of New Orleans is seen as the final battle and by the American soldiers battle that won the war even though the peace treaty had already been signed. -
In the Election of 1824, there were 4 candidates John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, William Crawford, and Andrew Jackson. The Election overall was fair but the votes tied and forced the election to be determined by the House. It just so happened that the Speaker of the House was Henry Clay. Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams were recorded having a private conversation in a room. After Henry Clay selected Adams as president and Adams made Clay secretary of State. -
The American Temperance Society was founded in Boston in 1826. It was formed by ministers with the goal of ridding the world of evil alcohol. The Temperance movement had good intentions but the ATS was corrupt and racist. ATS went from a movement that called for a decline in alcohol usage to a movement calling for the ban of alcohol. Within 10 years of its creation, there were over 1,500,000 members and 8,000 local groups. -
The Tariff of 1828 is better known as the Tariff of Abominations. The Tariff sought to protect northern and western agricultural products from the competition with foreign imports. While it was effective in the North and West, it raised the cost of living in the South and cut profits in New England. It was this decision to approve the bill by John Quincy Adams to help secure the loss of the 1828 election to Andrew Jackson. John C. Calhoun created a doctrine of Nullification later that year. -
Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. The new president of Mexico had African roots one of his first acts was outlawing slavery. While slavery was outlawed in Mexico, Texas was a Mexican territory that dislike the outlaw of slavery. Many of the Texans who lived there were immigrants who moved to Texas to seek out new land opportunities. -
In 1830, Andrew Jackson signed a law stating that the president would be able to grant lands west of the Mississippi river in exchange for land in the South. Many tribes were forced out of their lands with little belongings. Most of the removed were forced from 1838 to 1839 and were mostly the Cherokees. This march became known as the trail of tears as the Cherokees had to march from southern states all the way to Oklahoma with over 4,000 Cherokees dying along the way. -
After years of arguments over the Tariff of 1828, it was Clay in 1833 who proposed a compromise where he, Calhoun. and Jackson could coexist in the Union. The first part of the Tariff provided a gradual reduction of duties to the revenue level created by the Tariff of 1828. The second part was the Force Bill authorized the use of military force to put down nullification in South Carolina, if necessary. -
The AASS or American Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1833 to immediately abolish slavery. The founders James Forten, Robert Purvis, Arthur Lewis Tappen, and William Lloyd Garrison created the AASS based on London's Anti-Slavery Society which had gotten all slavery removed from all British colonies. Working with prominent figures like Fredrick Douglas, the AASS wrote articles, books, and other writings. They had thousands of members but by 1870 the Society had dissolved. -
In 1836 Texas formally declared independence from Mexico over issues with what the Texans described as "property." The Texas Declaration of Independence was declared during the middle of the revolution. In 1835 the Texans captured the town of San Antonio when the Mexican troops came to retake the city the Texans refused to leave and fought in the Alamo to defend it. The Republic of Texas won its Independence in April 1836 but not without forming an alliance with the United States. -
The Liberty Party was a national party from 1840 to 1849. It was created by abolitionists to further push antislavery goals. The Liberty Party nominated James G. Birney for president. The Liberty Party figured the South would not abolish slavery through politics. They firmly pushed for slavery to be Abolished in American territories and the slave trade to be removed. After their candidate John. P Hale drew from the 1848 election the party dissolved. -
Texas gained independence from Mexico in 1836 but the United States was worried about adding another slave state to the Union. Polk was the man who coined manifest destiny and he believed it was America's duty to expand to the westcoast. Polk perposly sent soldiers into unsettled land so that when Mexican troops attacked he could report to congress that Mexico had invaded the United States. When United States won the war Mexico had to give up territories north of the Rio Grande and $15 million. -
The Seneca Falls convention was a meeting centered around the rights of women. The first day was only open to women. Five women organized the event: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, Jane Hunt, and Lucretia Mott. It was here that this group of women signed the Declaration of Sentiments, which stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal." This declaration later led to the creation of the 19th amendment. -
The free soil party was a small party before the civil war. It exposed the extension of slavery and called for the prohibition of slavery in the southwestern lands claimed from Mexico. The Free Soils' slogan “free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men” attracted small farmers, debtors, village merchants, and household and mill workers, who resented the prospect of black-labor competition in the territories. By 1854 the party had fallen apart but the remains formed the republican party. -
The Gold rush began in Califonia in 1849 after the discovery of Sutter's Mill. It was at Sutter's Mill that James W. Marshall discovered gold flakes in the stream. Sutter's was overrun with those wishing to strike it big. These forty-niners poured in by the thousands and were able to extract $2 billion in Gold. The living conditions were primitive. There were those who lived in permanent settlements but became ghost towns after the gold was depleted by the end of the 1850s. -
The Know-Nothing Party was a party that lasted from 1851 to 1856. The Party was strictly anti-immigrant and anti-Roman-Catholic. The Party started as a secret organization and when the members were asked about it they would say they knew nothing. As the group grew the official name became the American Party. The Party called for restrictions on immigration and a 21-year limit on when an immigrant could apply for citizenship. They spilt in 1856 over the morality of slavery. -
During the 1850s former Democratic, Whig, and Free Soil members joined up to make the Republican party oppose the extension of slavery to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They rapidly replaced the Whigs. In the 1860 election, the Democrats were split over the issue of slavery so both Northern and Southern Democrats nominated different candidates allowing the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, to secure his victory. The Southerners had a fear of Lincoln and seceded from the United States. -
The Election of 1860 had three candidates Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell. Abraham Lincoln only secured 140 percent of the votes but won the majority in the electoral college. Douglas won 30 percent of the votes and only 12 electoral votes. By the time Lincoln was inaugurated in March, seven southern states led by South Carolina seceded from the United States in fear of slavery being taken away. This action sparked the Civil War. -
Bull Run was the first major battle in the Civil War. While the first was technically when Confederate troops shelled fort sumpter in April, the fighting didn't start until Bull Run. It was Lincoln who pushed McDowell to capture Richmond but the troops were stopped at Bull Run by Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard. The battle ended in Confederate victory and Gen. Irvin McDowell was relieved and replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan. -
the homestead act passed in 1862 gave any head of the household could claim 160 acres of land out west. Those who did claim the land had to live on the land, improve the land, and use the crop growing or animal herding. The Act was created to push for westward expansion but was no match for poverty. Many farmers could not afford the necessary equipment and most of the land did not make it to the hands of homesteaders but instead cattle owners, miners, loggers, and railroads. -
The Morrill Act was an Act that donated public lands to states which provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the Mechanic arts. The land was key to this plan so many of the "public lands" were taken from Native American tribes by treaties, agreements, and seizure. These treaties were not respected and the lands given to the states were rarely used for education purposes. For those public colleges built most excluded people of color from educational opportunities. -
To this point in the Civil War, Lincoln's main was to unite the states once more. Due to rising pressure though, Lincoln agreed to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. The document outlawed slavery in the southern states. The Emancipation Proclamation did much more than declare the slaves as free but also allowed the Union to recruit African American soldiers into all-black regiments. While people question its authority, the document was the base of the Thirteenth Amendment. -
It was at the beginning of July when the battles of Gettysburg were fought and was a great but deadly victory for the union. The Gettysburg address was a speech made by Abraham Lincoln at the new cemetery dedicated to those who died during the Battles. The main address by Edward Everett last over two hours but it was Lincoln's short speech that became one of his most famous and most extraordinarily recognized. -
The Sand Creek Massacre was a surprise attack on the Cheyenne and Arapaho people in the Colorado territory. The camp contained 750 Native people. Upon the conflict, 30 tribal heads brought their people to Sand Creek, and even though the Natives held a white flag more than 230 native Americans were massacred including 150 women, children, and the elderly. Thirteen Cheyenne chiefs and one Arapaho chief were killed. The natives were attacked by 675 U.S. troops led by John M. Chivington. -
Black codes were laws enacted by former confederate states after the Civil War. They restricted the freedom of former slaves to assure white supremacy. They came from Slave codes which stated slaves were property. These Black codes targeted unemployed blacks, made black orphans available for hire to whites, excluded blacks from certain trades, and restricted them from ownership of property.
The Northern reactions led to the creation of the radical reconstruction and 14th and 15th amendments. -
John Wilkes Booth was a confederate sympathizer and had already been plotting to abduct Lincoln months before that night in the theatre. On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln traveled to Ford's Theatre to watch Our American Cousin. Booth was a regular performer so the people of the theatre saw nothing suspicious about him. Booth shot Lincoln from behind, jumped onto the stage breaking his leg, and lincoln was carried to house across the street where he later died. -
It was 1863 when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation but he knew it would take an amendment to abolish slavery. The Senate easily passed it in 1864 but the house did not. Lincoln came to a resolution with the house to allow the bill to pass through Congress. The necessary number of states ratifed it by December 6, 1865. The amendment stated that slavery nor involitary servitude, except for a punishment of crime, shall not exist within the United States or any territory. -
The KKK was created by Ex-confederates after the civil war in 1866. They quickly became the leading power of white supremacy in the South they did so through violence and intimidation. They dressed in robes designed to scare superstitious African Americans and met in Nashville Tennessee where they killed freedmen. The KKK peaked in 1970 by restoring white rule to North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. After the "grand wizard" stepped down the KKK fell out of power and into separate branches. -
The Fetterman Massacre was a battle on December 21, 1866, between the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the United States Army. The whole point of the U.S. Military Mission was to protect those tribes who traveled on the Bozeman Trail. A group of 10 Natives lured the U.S. Soldiers into an ambush where all of the men were killed by Native American warriors. The Lakota were doing this on land owned by Crow Indians and attacking without consent from those Crow Indians. -
The reconstruction Acts were conditions for the Southern States to be readmitted to the United States. After the Civil War ended there was harsh debate over how the southern states were allowed to reenter the Union. Andrew Johnson persuaded a more lenient view on how the conditions should be written however Republicans were strongly anti-slavery and wanted the conditions to reflect that. The Acts called for the states to be divided into districts and the states had to ratify the 14th Amendment, -
The 14th amendment was ratified on July 28, 1868. This Amendment granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans who had been emancipated after the American Civil War. This included them under the phrase, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” The Amendment forbids the states from removing, “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and also prohibited former Confederate officeholders from holding state or federal office permanently. -
The transcontinental railroad was a 1,911-mile railroad that connected the eastern railroads to the Pacific coast. The western and central pacific railway company built 132 and 690 miles. The Union Pacific railway company built 1,085 miles. The companies started at the ocean and eastern railroads to meet between Sacramento and Omaha on May 10, 1869. To finish off the railway they tapped in the Golden Spike which they then removed. The companies were paid with the land they built railways next to -
The 15th Amendment passed in 1870 gave those who before the civil war were unable to vote due to their race or color. It passed right after the 13th and 14th Amendments. All though it gave all African American men the right to vote it denied women of all colors the right to vote. This angered many women of the time as they had supported the Abolition movement as it believed it would support their movement as well. Women were unable to vote until the 1920s. -
The Panic began in Europe, when their stock market crashed and the people began selling off their investments to American projects. Back then new inventions like the railroad borrowed using bonds. When Europeans started selling their bonds their were more bonds than people wanting to buy them. Due to this many railroads went bankrupt. When the Jay Cooke & Company went bankrupt people began running to their smaller banks asking for their money back. -
The Battle of Little Bighorn happened in the Montana Territory between federal troops and a group of Sioux and Cheyenne Native Americans. The U.S. Government had ordered the Natives those tribes to return to reservations and sent troops to enforce the orders. When some so the troops led by Alfred H. Terry traveled to surround the camp, Cluster and his men led a surprise attack and were easily defeated. This caused Terry to force the rest of the Natives to surrender. -
The Sherman Antitrust Act was based on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. It was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act authorized the federal government to institute proceedings against trusts in order to dissolve them. The act was designed to restore competition, but it was loosely worded and failed to define critical terms. -
The Wounded Knee Massacre was a slaughter of 150 to 300 Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota by United States Troops. It is seen as the final spike in the resistance against reservation life and assimilation. This massacre crushed the Natives so much that the next time the Natives would bring attention to the site wasn't until 1973. The troop's motive was efforts to crush the Sioux Ghost Dancers, a peaceful movement against assimilation into white American culture. -
\ In the 1830s, the sugar industry was introduced to Hawaii, and in 1840 a constitutional monarchy was established, stripping the Hawaiian monarch of much of his authority. In 1891 Liliuokalani refused to recognize the constitution of 1887 and replaced it with a constitution increasing her authority. Sanford B. Dole staged a coup against Queen Liliuokalani. In 1900, Hawaii was organized into a formal U.S. territory. -
The United States had long since held an interest in the sugar plantations of Cuba. In the 1890s Cubans began to agitate for their freedom from Spain. In 1896, President Cleveland declared that the United States might intervene should Spain fail to end the crisis in Cuba. After the explosion of the U.S.S. Maine on February 15, President McKinley orders a blockade of Cuba, and four days later the U.S. declares war. -
The Socialist Party was a powerful party growing before World War 2. At one point in 1912, it was the largest socialist movement in the world. It gained its followers through new media and involvement with local officials and councils. The founding of the communist parties and the Red Scare that began in 1917 caused an increasing downturn in followers, but the movement continued well into the 1920's and 1930's. -
France was the first country to attempt to build the Canal but was an overall failure. The United States purchased the French assets in the canal zone for $40 million in 1902. In 1903, the United States recognized the Republic of Panama and granted America exclusive possession of the Panama Canal Zone. The Panama Canal officially opened on August 15, 1914, although the planned grand ceremony was downgraded due to the outbreak of WWI. -
In 1894, Congress enacted a 2-percent tax on income over $4,000 that was almost immediately struck down. In 1909, progressives in Congress attached a provision for an income tax to a tariff bill so Conservatives proposed a constitutional amendment enacting the tax, believing an amendment would never receive ratification by the states. Due to generous exemptions less than 1 percent of the population paid income taxes at the rate of only 1 percent of net income. -
In 1866 Congress passed a law to regulate the time and procedure for electing senators but left intact election by state legislatures. In the 1890s, many states started holding direct primaries for Senate, some even using the Oregon System which states legislative candidates were required to state on the ballot whether they would abide by the results of a direct election for a U.S. Senator. State legislatures passed resolutions calling on Congress to pass the amendment. -
Even though America was not involved in the war Germany had placed unrestricted submarine warfare in the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Germany also sent a telegram to Mexico promising that an alliance would allow Mexico to gain land stolen for the US. In April 1917, the U.S. Senate and House voted in support of the measure to declare war on Germany. The United States later declared war on Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. -
The Espionage Act made it a crime for any person to convey information intended to interfere with the U.S. armed forces. the Sedition Act imposed harsh penalties on anyone found guilty of making false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war by insulting the U.S. government, constitution, military, or flag. Those who were found guilty of such actions were punished with a fine or imprisonment. -
In July 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention launched the women’s rights movement Two organizations were formed in 1869: the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association. In 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt ran for president, his party became the first national party to adopt a plank supporting a constitutional amendment. 15 states extended equal voting rights, and the amendment was supported by both parties and by the president. -
The temperance movement advocated for complete abstinence from the consumption of alcohol. The temperance movement began amassing a following in the 1820s and ’30s, bolstered by religious revivalism. Woman suffragists were anxious about the deteriorative effects alcohol had on the family unit and industrialists were keen on increasing the efficiency of their workers. millions of Americans were willing to drink liquor illegally, which gave rise to bootlegging and speakeasies. -
Senator Albert Fall convinced Harding to transfer oversight of the petroleum reserves from the Navy to his Interior Department. In 1922 Fall leased exclusive drilling rights to the entire Teapot Dome site to the Mammoth Oil Company. By April 1922, rumors of a shady deal began swirling and the Wall Street Journal broke the news about the deal in an April 14, 1922 article. Albert Fall was charged with accepting bribes from oil companies for exclusive rights to drill for oil on federal land. -
National origins act drastically cut the total number of immigrants allowed each year and effectively cut off all immigration from Asia. It favored immigrants from northern and Western Europe to preserve the homogeneity of the nation and also required immigrants to apply for and receive visas before arriving and established the U.S. Border Patrol. William Dillingham set a system based on the nationalities in the United States as recorded in the 1910 census. -
In March 1925 the Tennessee legislature passed the Butler Act, which declared unlawful the teaching of any doctrine denying the divine creation of man as taught by the Bible. A High-school teacher, John T. Scopes, was charged with violating state law by teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Scopes was convicted and fined $100 on July 21. the state legislatures of Mississippi and Arkansas passed their own bans on the teaching of evolution in 1926 and 1928. -
On April 15, 1920 F.A. Parmenter and Alessandro Berardelli were murdered. On May 5 Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested for the crime. Even with the lack of evidence both were found guilty by the verdict of the jury as they were openly anarchists. Many people felt that the trial had been less fair and On November 18, 1925, Celestino Madeiros confessed that he had participated in the crime. The court refused to upset the verdict and The two men were sentenced to death on April 9, 1927. -
During the 1920 millions of people invested their savings or borrowed money to buy stocks, pushing prices to unsustainable levels and there was an increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in August 1929 and a mild recession. Over the course of four business days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped, a decrease in stock prices of 25 percent. The Crash was a large factor in the creation of the Great Depression which lasted 10 years. -
Dust Bowl was a drought in the Great Plains that lasted from 1930 to 1936. Because of World War I, millions of acres were plowed in order to grow wheat. The over-cultivation, poor land management, and an average rainfall of less than 20 inches a year caused the drought. The exposed topsoil, with no native grasses, was carried off by heavy winds. Thousands of families were forced to leave the Dust Bowl, many undertook the long journey to California. -
The Bonus Army was 10,000 to 25,000 World War I veterans who camped at Washington in 1932, demanding immediate bonus payment for wartime services due to the Great Depression. Compensation certificates had been approved by Congress in 1924 but were not scheduled for full payment until 1945. converged on the nation’s capital in the spring of 1932, led by Walter W. Waters. Gen. Douglas MacArthur drove out the demonstrators and destroyed their encampments using tanks and tear gas. -
The New Deal was a program of FDR between 1933 and 1939, to bring about immediate economic relief and reforms. The height of the new deal was in FDR's First Hundred Days. The Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps were established as well as the NRA, FDIC, SEC, AAA, and TVA. Part of the New Deal included FDR's Fireside chats used to calm the nation over the problems caused by the Great Depression. -
German people claimed frustration with dismal economic conditions, still-festering wounds inflicted by defeat in the Great War, and the harsh peace terms of the Versailles treaty but Hitler channeled popular discontent with the post-war Weimar government into support for the Nazi party. In an election held in July 1932, the Nazis won 230 governmental seats. Hitler ordered a rapid expansion of the Gestapo composed entirely of Nazis and dedicated to stamping out opposition to his party. -
The Indian Reorganization Act increased Indian self-government and responsibility. Congress in 1924 authorized the Meriam survey on the state of life on the reservations and spurred demands for reform. The act curtailed the future allotment of tribal lands and provided for the return of lands to the tribes. Services were provided in health and education, with more than half of all Native American children in public schools by the 50s. -
The Wagner Act established the legal right of most workers to join labor unions and to bargain with their employers. It set up a permanent National Labor Relations Board with the power to hear and resolve labor disputes. The act prohibited employers from engaging in such unfair labor practices and barred employers from refusing to bargain with any such union that had been certified by the NLRB. The Wagner Act was weakened by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. -
The Social Security Act established a national old-age pension system as a response to the Great Depression. In the early 1930s, Francis Townsend set up a program demanding a $200 monthly pension for everyone over the age of 60. In 1935 Congress enacted the Social Security Act, providing benefits to be financed by a payroll tax. The Social Security Act has been adjusted to keep pace with inflation. Railroad employees were covered separately under the Railroad Retirement Act of 1934. -
By May 1938 it was known that Hitler and his generals were planning to invade Czechoslovakia. In September, Chamberlain offered to discuss with Hitler over his impending actions. Chamberlain proposed that there would be a four-power conference to settle the dispute. Chamberlain and Hitler signed a paper declaring their mutual desire to resolve differences through consultation to assure peace. Chamberlain’s policies were later discredited as Hitler annexed the remainder of Czechoslovakia. -
World War II created millions of new jobs in defense industries in the United States but African Americans gained little from this, only getting only low-end jobs. A. Philip Randolph fought for African American rights in employment opportunities but Roosevelt wanted to appease the powerful Southern Democrats. Randolph threatened to organize a large march on Washington, D.C. so Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which stated that there would be no discrimination in the U.S. defense industry -
By WW2 the United States had severed all economic relations with Japan and was providing support to China, Japan's long-time enemy. Japan believed that taking Pearl Harbor would claim the sea as theirs. While damages caused by the attack eliminated a large number of Navel ships, the harbor’s infrastructure was mainly ignored. The attack marked the Pacific War but Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. -
After the Pearl Harbor Attack, Japanese Americans grew under increasing suspicion from locals and the U.S. Government. Most of the population of Japanese Americans were in proximity to war assets along the Pacific coast so U.S. military commanders called for Government action. Executive Order 9066 ordered Japanese Americans to vacate their homes and settle in internment camps. More than 110,000 Japanese Americans spent the rest of the war in these camps. -
The Allies knew that if they were to change the course of the war they would have to retake France from the Germans. To do so they would have to launch an invasion of Normandy. General Dwight Eisenhower was appointed commander of the operation. There were more than 5,000 ships and landing craft carrying troops and supplies and 11,000 aircraft. 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the invasion but on June 11 the beaches were fully secured. -
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available, and covered tuition for veterans attending college. The Veterans’ Administration offered insured loans until 1962 and the Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended these benefits to all veterans. Nearly 9 million veterans received close to $4 billion from the bill’s unemployment compensation program. -
After World War ll, World leaders met at the Bretton Woods Conference to establish a new international economic system, The World Bank. The World Bank is comprised of the IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA, and ICSID. It is affiliated with the United Nations and is the largest source of financial assistance to developing countries. The Headquarters is in Washington, D.C., and is designed to finance projects that enhance economic development and provide technical assistance. -
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin to decide what to do with Germany. German military industry would be abolished and major war criminals would be tried before an international court. They agreed that the Lublin committee would be broadened to include representatives of other Polish political groups but Stalin failed to keep his promise that free elections would be held in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. -
Japan held an unwillingness to surrender unconditionally. Japan refused to surrender after multiple firebombing campaigns. The United States would have to commit itself to a land invasion, which could have claimed many American lives. To avoid the land invasion the United States chose to drop its Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima after years of development. Days after the Soviet Union would declare War on Japan and to keep Communists out of Japan, the U.S. dropped another Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki. -
The United Nations is a multipurpose international organization to replace the League of Nations that maintains peace and security and develops friendly relations among countries. It maintains international peace and security and is committed to economic and social development. The First 45 years of its existence were tense due to the cold war. It started with 26 members and was originally used to denote the countries allied against Germany, Italy, and Japan. -
As cities grew so did the pollution, crime, and poor neighborhoods. With cars now being affordable to common consumers, more middle-class workers began living outside the cities and driving into cities for work. Abraham Levitt created a planned community with identical houses to cut down on costs and made the houses more affordable. The affordability allowed the middle to live secluded from the city neighborhood that continued to grow in crime and poverty. -
The Truman Doctrine immediate economic and military aid to the governments of Greece and Turkey in order to halt the spread of communism in Southern Europe. Great Britain could no longer afford to aid Mediterranean countries in danger of falling under Soviet influence. The Truman Doctrine emphasized the broader consequences of a failure to protect democracy in Greece and Turkey and Congress responded by sending $400 million to support Greece and Turkey. -
The Marshall Plan was a plan to rehabilitate the economies of 17 Western and Southern European countries. It is also called the European Recovery Program. The plan was offered to all European counties but many refused because they were claimed by the Soviet Union that refused United States assistance in order to not appear vulnerable. The United States feared that the poverty and unemployment of the post-World War II period were reinforcing the appeal of communist parties. -
By 1948 The Zionist militias had gained control of an area of the Middle East they would declare Israel. The Declaration of Independence was quickly recognized by the United States, the Soviet Union, and other governments. Nations in the surrounding area strongly disagreed with the forming of the Nation such as Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. leading to the War of 1948 which Israel won but not without years of attacks from the bitter Arabs. -
After World War 2 new communist parties began springing up in European politics. To combat this the United States launched the Marshall Plan in 1948 which gave economic aid to the countries of Europe. The United States took steps to demonstrate that it would resist any Soviet military expansion by creating NATO led by Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. NATO is a military alliance made to create a counterweight to Soviet armies. -
As wars ragged on in Asia, Representatives from the world powers came together in April 1954 to discuss the issues being raised in Asia. One of the most present issues was surrounding the Veiatam war that was currently dividing the nation into two completely differentiating sides. At the meeting, it was decided that France would leave Vietnam and Vietnam would hold elections within two years to choose a new president. The U.S. refused and established an anti-communist government in Vietnam. -
In the 1940s NAACP began to challenge the segregated school systems. The NAACP filed a class-action lawsuit with the main argument that segregation by its nature was a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. It was argued on December 9, 1952, with attorney Thurgood Marshall and again on December 8, 1953. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment. -
When Till was 14 years old, he took a trip to Mississippi to spend the summer with relatives. On August 24, Till and a group of other teens went to a local grocery store and It was reported that Till then whistled at Carolyn Bryant as he was leaving. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam invaded Emmett Till’s great-uncle’s home and abducted the boy at gunpoint. They beat and lynched him. When his body was recovered has was unrecognizable. The all-white jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of all charges. -
On December 1, 1955, seamstress Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white passenger on a city bus. She was taken to jail and bailed out by a local civil rights leader. Parks was a member of an NAACP branch and her arrest was planned by local civil rights leaders. After the first day of successful protest, the boycott was extended indefinitely. Martin Luther King was elected president of the MIA and the Boycott continued for more than a year. -
During World War II Dwight D. Eisenhower became impressed with the German autobahns. In 1954, he proposed an American interstate highway system, that could be used for transporting troops and for evacuating cities in case of nuclear attack. Tennessee Senator Albert Gore, Sr. stated that the new interstate highways should feature cloverleaf exits and entrances. Louisiana Representative Hale Boggs included a Highway Trust Fund and taxes on tires, buses, and trucks. -
Ezell Blair, Jr., Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond organized a sit-in on February 1, 1960, Woolworth’s general merchandise store dining area. Their orders were refused by the waitstaff and the next day they were followed by 20 other Black university students. media coverage of the protest led to sit-ins across the country. By July 1960 the lunch counter at the Greensboro Woolworths was serving Black customers. -
After World War 2, Berlin was split equally between the Soviet Union and the other Allies. To prevent members of East Berlin from escaping to West Berlin the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall. Before the wall was built 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany which also lead to the fall of East Germany. The Wall was constructed at 15 feet with barbed wire. The wall would last until November 9, 1989, after years of anti-communist routing. -
On August 28, 1963, 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to demand equal justice for all citizens. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave an address known as the “I Have a Dream” speech in which he stated that he hoped that one day his children would live in a nation where they would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The march was one of the largest factors contributing to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
On the morning of November 22, Kennedy flew to Dallas and boarded an open limousine. At 12:30 PM, President Kennedy was struck by two shots fired from an open window on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at 1:50 PM. Two days after Kennedy’s assassination, Oswald was shot to death by Jack Ruby. The assassination was broadcasted publicly on TV causing a shocking experience for many Americans and an end to the optimism about the country’s future. -
The Civil Rights Act was proposed by Pres. John F. Kennedy in 1963. The Act was intended to end discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin in the United States. It was signed into law on July 2, 1964, by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Title I of the act guarantees equal voting rights, Title II prohibits segregation or discrimination in places of public accommodation, and Title VII ban discrimination by trade unions, schools, or employers. -
After the 15th Amendment was passed Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, whites-only primaries, and other measures were used to disqualify African Americans from voting. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act was passed abolishing poll taxes for voting for federal offices. Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act that suspended literacy tests in order to protect voting rights. The act saw a steady increase in African-American voters and the number of African American elected officials. -
As the Vietnam War effort began to rob funding from Johnson’s Great Society plan, King became a more vocal critic. The Sanitation workers in Memphis conducted a strike for better wages and King was invited down to make a speech. On April 23, 1967, James Earl Ray escaped Missouri State Penitentiary. At 6:01 PM on April 4, King was mortally wounded by a bullet. Over the next several days, more than 100 cities experienced significant outbreaks of rioting, arson, looting, and violence.