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The Jamestown Settlement
Colonists from England were sent to the "New World" in search for gold, and silver mines. After a 4-month long journey the colonists arrived and created an intended long-term settlement called Jamestown, Virginia. It was the site of the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, creating new wealth for London investors and recreating English society in North America. -
First Slaves in America
Angolans from Africa were captured by the Portuguese and were taken to Jamestown, Virginia. In Jamestown the Portuguese sold and traded the Angolans to the English Colonists in exchange for supplies. This is seen as the beginning of slavery in America. -
The Indian War of 1622
The colonists and the Indians were in a conflict over the influx of migrants. Opechancanough and some other Powhatans led an attack on the English. This started a war and the English killed Opechancanough, and Pocahontas. The English forced the Indians to move inland away from their traditional river valley homes taking their corn, and killing the inhabitants. Conflict resulted in the destruction of Indian Power. -
Virginia Becomes a Royal Company
James 1 was shocked by the Indian uprising and revoked the Virginia's Company charter. This made Virginia a royal colony meaning the colony's governor was appointed by the crown and served according to the instructions the Board of Trade. Under direct control of King, troops and settlers sent to strengthen the colony and to conquer the Powhatan. Virginia becoming a royal colony would also cause some future conflicts between the crown and the settlers. -
Settlers in Maryland
James successor was sympathetic towards the Catholics in England and he granted them lands in America bordering Chesapeake Bay. Protestants' wanted to worship freely as Catholics and live in peace and harmony with their neighbors and when they moved to Maryland it became a refuge for Protestants'. In England this appealed others like Quakers and Puritans who also disagreed with the Church of England. -
Roger Williams and Rhode Island
The Puritan minister from Salem, Roger Williams advocated 'toleration' and questioned the Puritans' seizure of Indian lands. Magistrates banished him from the colony, Williams and his 50 followers followed him to a place where he founded the town Providence. This town and other towns nearby obtained a corporate charter from Parliament and Rhode Island was created. Rhode Island had no legal church and people could worship God as they pleased. -
New Netherland
Dutch Merchants were looking for navigable routes to the East Indies. Henry Hudson found probed rivers in America and they settled there. In 1621 the Dutch government chartered the West India Company, which founded the colony of New Netherland. This colony didn't thrive and encountered some problems with native Indians. New Netherland was weak and England invaded the colony calling it New York with about 5,000 residents under English control. -
Metacam's War
Europeans outnumbered the Indians by 3 to 1. Indians didn't like this and would kill wandering hogs in English territory, and they were prosecuted for it. The colonists ended up killing three of Metacam's men by the colonists, this caused a long bloody battle between the Wampanoag, and the English colonists. The battle ended when King Philip was hung, thousands of Indians were killed, wounded or captured and sold into slavery or indentured servitude. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Nathaniel Bacon held a position in the governor’s council, and was in constant conflict with Berkley and his Indian policy. Bacon wanted military commission but the governor refused to grant it to him. Mad, Bacon gathered neighbors and attacked all Indians he could find. Bacon was arrested and expelled from the council, but Backed by 400 armed men, Bacon demanded the removal of Indians and an end to the rule of wealthy. Bacon and his army burned Jamestown to the ground and suddenly Bacon died. -
William Pen and Pennsylvania
Charles II granted Pennsylvania to William Pen due to a large debt Charles owed Pen's father. William was part of the Quakers, which like the Puritans the Quakers sought to restore Christianity to its early simple spirituality. William designed Pennsylvania as a refuge for his fellow Quakers, they were being persecuted in England because they refused to serve in the military or pay taxes to support the Church of England. Because of this thousands of Quakers fled to Pennsylvania. -
The Dominion of New England
The new King, James II wanted stricter control over the colonies and targeted New England for his reforms. the Lords of Trade revoked the charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island and merged them with Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth to form a new royal province. Two years later, James II added New York and New Jersey to the Dominion, creating a vast colony that stretched from Maine to Pennsylvania. The Dominion extended to America the authoritarian model of colonial rule. -
A New Royal Colony
Puritan leaders and 2,000 militiamen seized Andros and made him go back to England. Taking notice of American complaints of authoritarian rule, the new monarchs broke up the Dominion of New England but they refused to restore the old Puritan-dominated government, instead creating a new royal colony. The new charter empowered the king to appoint the governor and customs officials, gave the vote to all male property owners and eliminated Puritan restrictions on the Church of England. -
English Demand Payments
In 1704, Creek and Yamasee warriors destroyed Franciscan missions in northern Florida, attacked the Spanish settlement at Pensacola, and captured a thousand Apalachees. In 1715 English traders demanded payment for trade debts. The Creeks and Yamasees revolted, killing 400 colonists before being overwhelmed by the Carolinians and their new Indian allies, the Cherokees. Native Americans also joined in the warfare between French Catholics in Canada and English Protestants in New England. -
Newspaper in the Colonies
Until 1695, the British government had the power to censor all printed materials. In that year, Parliament let the Licensing Act lapse, and the floodgates opened. Dozens of new printshops opened in London and Britain’s provincial cities. All this material crossed the Atlantic and filled the shops of colonial booksellers. The colonies also began printing their own newspapers. In 1704, the Boston Newsletter was founded and by 1720, Boston had five printing presses and three newspapers. -
Protecting the Mercantile System
South Carolina had a valuable rice-growing colony. Walpole provided a parliamentary subsidy for the new colony of Georgia. Georgia’s trustees envisioned the colony as a refuge for Britain’s poor, Walpole had no interest in social reform. Walpole subsidized Georgia to protect the rice-growing colony. This didn't work the way he planned. Britain’s expansion into Georgia outraged Spanish officials, who were already angry about the rising tide of smuggled British manufactures in New Spain. -
Stono Rebellion
Society in South Carolina was changing with large numbers of new slaves being brought to the colony. This influx put whites in fear of slave rebellions and led them to implement stricter controls on slaves. September 9, 1739, 20 black slaves met in secret near the Stono River in South Carolina to plan their escape to freedom. Minutes later, they burst into Hutcheson's store at Stono's bridge, killed the two storekeepers, and stole the guns and powder inside. -
Currency Act of 1751
Merchants in G.B were forced to accept the depreciated currency from colonists for payment of debts. The Bills of Credit caused confusion as there was no standard value common to all of the colonies. The Act forbid the colonies from using any future bills for payment of all public and private debts. Meaning, the only way the colonies will repay their debts to Britain was with gold or silver. Colonists insisted that without their own paper money they couldn't maintain economic activity. -
The War Hawks Win
In Parliament, the fight for the Ohio prompted a debate over war with France. Two rising British statesman William Pitt and Lord Halifax, persuaded Pelham to launch an American war. In June 1755, British and New England troops captured Fort Beauséjour. Soldiers from Puritan Massachusetts forced nearly 10,000 French settlers from their lands, and deported them to France, the West Indies, & Louisiana. English and Scottish Protestants took over the farms the French Catholics left behind. -
Pontiac's Attack
At the end of the French and Indian War the British took control of Fort Detroit and imposed a number of changes that dissatisfied the Native American tribes that inhabited the Great Lakes region and had allied with France. British attitudes and actions provoked the distrust and hostility of the tribes in the area. In 1763, Pontiac, a leader of the Odawa tribe, led a force of 300 members of tribes in an attack on Fort Detroit, attempting to wrest it from the British. -
Quartering Act of 1765
In response to greatly increased empire defense costs in America following the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. The British Parliament passed the Quartering Act, one of a series of measures aimed at raising revenue from the British colonies in America. It stated that Great Britain would house its soldiers in American barracks and public houses. This further enraged the colonists by taking away their authority to keep the soldiers distant. -
Townshend Acts 1767
The British wanted to get the colonies to pay for themselves. The Townshend Acts were specifically to pay for the salaries of officials such as governors and judges. The acts taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. The British sent troops to America to enforce the unpopular new laws, further rising tensions between Great Britain and the American colonies. -
Boston Massacre
The passing of the Townshend Acts caused growing tensions, and in Boston in February 1770 a patriot mob attacked a British loyalist, who fired a gun at them. As the mob insulted and threatened them, the soldiers fired their muskets, killing five colonists. It was widely publicized, it contributed to the unpopularity of the British regime in much of colonial North America in the years before the American Revolution. -
Committees of Correspondence
American patriots of the 1770s didn't have modern means of communication at their disposal. To spread the power of the written word from town to town and colony to colony committees of correspondence were created. The first committee was organized by Samuel Adams. The spread of these committees across urban centers happened quickly. These lines of communication connected Boston's radical leaders to the towns and were used regularly for two years. -
First Continental Congress
In response to growing tensions between the colonies culminating in the passage of the Intolerable Acts by the British Parliament The First Continental Congress was comprised of delegates from the colonies, they met in 1774 in response to their resistance to new taxes. The primary accomplishment of the First Continental Congress was a compact among the colonies to boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774. -
Declaration of Independence
The Battles of Lexington and Concord initiated armed conflict between Great Britain and the 13 North American colonies. It was necessary for the colonies to assert independence in order to secure as much French aid as possible. The document claimed that Parliament never truly possessed sovereignty over the colonies. The Declaration helped unify the colonies so that they all fought together instead of trying to make separate peace agreements with Britain. -
Battle of Saratoga
General Burgoyne elected to hold what ground he had and fortify his encampment, hoping for assistance from the City of New York. With supplies running dangerously low and options running out, Burgoyne attempted another move. The expedition was noticed by the Rebels who fell upon Burgoyne’s column. Through the fierce fighting the British and their allies were routed and driven back to their fortifications. The Americans won and it furthered their hope for independence. -
The Philipsburg Proclamation
British Army General Sir Henry Clinton intended to encourage slaves to run away and enlist in the Royal Forces. He issued the Proclamation which granted freedom to the enslaved in rebel states whether or not they fought for the British, and it and stated that the American patriots had betrayed the Crown. The Virginia Convention drafted its own declaration saying, enslaved fugitives would forgo punishment if they returned to their captors in 10 days but would face consequences if they didn't. -
Northwest Ordinance
The members of Congress knew that if their new confederation were to survive intact, it had to resolve the states' competing claims to western territory. 3 years later, the ordinance proposed that 3 to 5 new states be created from the Northwest Territory. Instead of adopting the legal constructs of an existing state, each territory would have an appointed governor and council. The ordinance provided for civil liberties and public education within the new territories, but didn't allow slavery. -
Judiciary Act of 1789
The Constitution mandated a supreme court, but the Philadelphia convention gave Congress the task of creating a national court system. The Federalists wanted strong national institution and they created this act. The act established a federal district court in each state and 3 circuit courts to hear appeals from the districts, with the Supreme Court having the final say. This provision ensured that federal judges would have the final say on the meaning of the Constitution. -
Bill of Rights
The Federalists kept their promise to add a declaration of rights to the Constitution. James Madison, submitted 19 amendments to the First Congress and by 1791, 10 had been approved by Congress and ratified by the states. These ten amendments, were known as the Bill of Rights. The amendments safeguarded fundamental personal rights, including freedom of speech and religion, and mandated legal procedures, such as trial by jury. -
Whiskey Rebellion
Hamilton had issued a tax on spirits. This tax had cut demand for the corn whiskey the farmers distilled and bartered for eastern manufactures. In 1794, western Pennsylvania farmers mounted the Whiskey Rebellion to protest the tax. the Whiskey Rebels assailed the tax collectors who sent the farmers’ hard-earned money to a distant government. The Rebellion demonstrated that the new national government had the will and ability to suppress violent resistance to its laws. -
XYZ Affair
In the election, John Adams became president. Adams continued Hamilton’s pro-British foreign policy and strongly criticized French seizures of American merchant ships. When the French foreign minister Talleyrand solicited a loan and a bribe from American diplomats to stop the seizures, Adams charged that Talleyrand’s agents, which he dubbed X, Y, and Z. The incident led the United States into an undeclared war that curtailed American trade with the French West Indies. -
Louisiana Purchase
In 1801, Napoleon coerced Spain into signing a secret treaty that returned Louisiana to France & restricted American access to New Orleans. To keep the Mississippi River open to western farmers, Jefferson told the American minister in Paris, to negotiate the purchase of it. Napoleon feared an American invasion of Louisiana, and he offered to sell the entire territory for $15 million. The Purchase doubled the size of the U.S & forced Jefferson to reconsider his interpretation of the Constitution. -
The Embargo Act
America found itself caught between a French and British war. French ships targeted American merchants. To protect American interests, Jefferson pursued a policy of peaceful coercion. The Act prohibited American ships from leaving their home ports until Britain and France stopped restricting U.S. trade. The embargo devastated American shipping exports and cost the American economy about 8 percent in decreased gross national product in 1807. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
In November 1811, when Tecumseh went south to seek support from the Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks, Harrison took advantage of his absence and attacked Prophetstown. The governor’s 1,000 troops and militiamen traded heavy casualties with the confederacy’s warriors at the Battle and then destroyed the holy village. The U.S. victory broke Tecumseh's power and ended the threat of an Indian confederation. -
The Battle of Queenston Heights
After Major General Isaac Brock & Tecumseh's victory against the US forces at Detroit, the capture of Detroit led US and British authorities to agree to a temporary ceasefire. The Battle was one of the most famous battles of the war, it was the struggle for a portion of the Niagara escarpment, where more than 1,000 American soldiers crossed into Canada. The defeat of the Americans undermined American morale throughout the U.S. and led General Dearborn to reject his plans of invading Canada. -
The Battle of New Orleans
The British hoped to seize New Orleans in an effort to expand into territory acquired by the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. Referred to as the greatest American land victory of the war. American troops, led by future President Andrew Jackson, defeated the much larger British force, which bolstered U.S. hopes for a speedy end to the war. The American victory forced the British to recognize U.S claims to Louisiana and West Florida and ratify the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war. -
The Second Bank of the U.S
The War of 1812 had left a formidable debt. Inflation surged ever upward due to the ever-increasing amount of notes issued by private banks. For these reasons President Madison signed a bill authorizing the 2nd Bank in 1816. The Bank was created to help the national treasury out of its uncomfortable financial situation and to regulate the currency. Although foreign ownership was not a problem the Second Bank was plagued with poor management and fraud. -
Creation of the Common Wealth System
Following Jefferson’s embargo of 1807, the New England states awarded charters to 200 iron-mining, textile-manufacturing, and banking companies, while Pennsylvania granted more than 1,100. State governments had created a republican economy. State governments created the system where states funneled aid to private businesses whose projects would improve the general welfare. The system helps member countries improve their export competitiveness, diversify their exports & secure better trade deals. -
The Election of 1824
In 1824, John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson by garnering more electoral votes through the House of Representatives, even though Jackson originally received more popular and electoral votes. When Adams named Henry Clay as his Secretary of State, it confirmed Jackson’s suspicions that the two men had reached a “corrupt bargain” and deprived the American people of their popular choice for president. The election marked the final collapse of the Republican-Federalist political framework. -
Tariff of 1828
Tariffs in the U.S provided operating revenue for the government, they were designed with the additional goal of protecting manufacturing enterprises from low-priced imports, particularly from Great Britain. The Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations), raised rates to as much as 50% on manufactured goods and also targeted items imported in New England. However, the resulting tax on foreign goods raised the cost of living in the South and cut into the profits of New England's industrialists. -
Indian Removal Act
Some northern tribes were peacefully resettled in western lands, in the Southeast, members of the 5 Civilized Tribes refused to trade their cultivated farms for the promise of strange land in the Indian Territory. The act authorized the president to grant tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their territories within state borders. 100,000 tribesmen were forced to march westward under U.S. military coercion. Thousands of Indians perished from the consequences of relocation. -
Destruction of the Second Bank
Jackson objected to the bank’s unusual political and economic power and to the lack of congressional oversight over its business dealings. The Bank War was a political struggle that developed over the issue of rechartering the Second Bank of the United States during his presidency. The affair resulted in the shutdown of the Bank and its replacement by state banks. Jackson removed all federal funds from the Second Bank of the U.S redistributing them to various state banks. -
Panic of 1837
The Bank War had a profound effect on the future of the United States. The destruction of the Second National Bank lead to the panic of 1837. The Panic was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, profits, prices, and wages went down, Westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abounded. The panic had both domestic and foreign origins. The Panic lasted until the mid-1840s but started in 1837. -
Wilmot Proviso
Soon after the war began, President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty. Fearing the addition of a pro-slave territory, Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed his amendment to the bill. The proposal was to ban slavery in territory acquired from the Mexican War. the Wilmot Proviso was never passed, but out of the attempt by both Democrats and Whigs to compromise the slavery issue grew the Republican Party. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The desire to address this inequality and challenge the country to live up to its revolutionary promise led to a two-day convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention in the United States. 300 women and men gathered to debate Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Declaration of Sentiments The meeting launched the women's suffrage movement, which more than seven decades later ensured women the right to vote. -
Compromise of 1850
In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. The compromise said, California was admitted to the Union as a free state, the remainder of the Mexican cession was divided into the two territories of New Mexico and Utah, the claim of Texas to a portion of New Mexico was satisfied by a payment of $10 million, and the Fugitive Slave Act was put in place. This expanded the U.S territory. -
Gadsden Purchase
Pierce pursued an expansionist foreign policy, he sought extensive Mexican lands south of the Rio Grande. Ultimately, a treaty was signed where Mexico sold the United States 29,000 square miles of territory in the area that would eventually become southern Arizona and New Mexico. Purchased by President Franklin Pierce for the purpose of building a transcontinental rail line from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The purchase was controversial, and intensified the simmering conflict over enslavement -
The Freeport Doctrine
In 1858 Lincoln and Douglas held a series of debates as they campaigned for the U. S. Senate seat, Lincoln asked Douglas whether the people of a territory could lawfully exclude slavery prior to the creation of a state constitution. Douglas reasserted his idea that residents of a state or territory could decide for themselves whether they would allow slavery, no matter what the Supreme Court had said. (Freeport Doctrine). The Freeport Doctrine caused the South to demand a Federal Slave Code. -
Election of 1860
Following the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the election of 1860 was sure to further expose sectional differences between those, especially in the North. Lincoln received less than 1 percent of the popular vote in the South and only 40 percent of the national poll, he won every northern and western state except New Jersey, giving him 180 electoral votes and an absolute majority in the electoral college. Although Lincoln's election was fair, it nonetheless pushed the Deep South toward secession. -
Emancipation Proclamation
From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. Lincoln understood that slavery was important to the South's success in the war; abolitionists were calling for emancipation. The Proclamation freed slaves in 10 states. It applied to slaves in the states still in rebellion. It confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. -
The Palmito Ranch Battle
The Union returned in the morning moving toward their destination of Palmito Ranch. The Confederate troops attacked, again forcing the Union troops to evacuate for good, but this time with a good number of casualties, it was officially the last battle of the Civil War. After four bloody years of conflict, the United States defeated the Confederate States. In the end, the states that were in rebellion were readmitted to the United States, and the institution of slavery was abolished. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
In the wake of the Civil War, to protect the civil rights of persons of African descent born in or brought to the United States, Congress passed the Act, although it was vetoed by United States President Andrew Johnson. The act declared all persons born in the United States to be citizens, "without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude." This legislation allowed Black people to rent or own property, enter contracts and bring cases before courts. -
Fourteenth Amendment
After the war, southern states began passing laws that restricted the rights of former slaves after the war. Congress responded with the 14th Amendment, designed to place limits on states' power as well as protect civil rights. It granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S, including formerly enslaved people, and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws." For many years, the Supreme Court ruled that the Amendment didn't extend the Bill of Rights to the states. -
Fifteenth Amendment
The abolitionist Frederick Douglass argued that African American men who had fought in United States Colored Troops Regiments during the Civil War had earned the right to vote. Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the amendment guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” It was successful in encouraging African Americans to vote, many were even elected to public office during the 1880s. -
Panic of 1873
As a result of over-expansion in the industry and the railroads and a drop in European demand for American farm products and a drop off of European investment in the US, the panic was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America. Investors began to sell off the investments they had in American projects, particularly railroads. A total of 18,000 businesses failed in a mere two years. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
The court ruled that neither the Thirteenth Amendment nor the Fourteenth Amendment was infringed by the existence of uncodified racial discrimination, which therefore could not be constitutionally prohibited. The decision nullified the Civil Rights Act which affirmed the “equality of all men before the law” and prohibited racial discrimination in public places and facilities. The act led to greater access to resources for women, religious minorities, African-Americans, and low-income families. -
The Exodusters
A group of black communities left Mississippi and Louisiana in a quest to escape poverty and white violence. Some 6,000 blacks departed together, most carrying little but the clothes on their backs and faith in God. They called themselves Exodusters, many settling on farms in Kansas in hopes of finding peace and prosperity. The black population of Kansas increased by some 26,000 people during the 1870s. New settlements were founded, such as Nicodemus in Kansas. -
Pendleton Act
Following the assassination of President James A. Garfield by a disgruntled job seeker, Congress passed the Pendleton Act, known as the "Magna Carta" of civil service reform. The act provided that Federal Government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit and that Government employees be selected through competitive exams. This made job positions based on merit or ability and not inheritance or class. It also created the Civil Service Commission. -
Dawes Severalty Act
Pressured by reformers who wanted to "acclimatize" Native Americans to white culture, the most important motivation for the Dawes Act was Anglo-American hunger for Indian lands. Congress passed the act, that outlawed tribal ownership of land and forced 160-acre homesteads into the hands of individual Indians and their families with the promise of future citizenship. As a result of the Dawes Act, over ninety million acres of tribal land were stripped from Native Americans and sold to non-natives. -
Wounded Knee
When a group of Lakota Sioux Ghost Dancers left their South Dakota reservation, they were pursued by the U.S. Army, who feared that further spread of the religion would provoke war. This was known as the Wounded Knee Massacre that left some 150 Native Americans dead, in what was the final clash between federal troops and the Sioux. Hundreds of arrests were made, and two Native Americans were killed and a federal marshal was permanently paralyzed by a bullet wound. -
Depression of 1893
Set off by the collapse of two of the country's largest employers, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. Following the failure of these two companies, a panic erupted on the stock market. It deeply affected every sector of the economy and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley. Reduced international trade due to the McKinley Tariff of 1890 also contributed to the Panic of 1893. -
The Teller Amendment
The McKinley administration defeated a congressional attempt to recognize the rebel government. In response, Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado added an amendment to the war bill, disclaiming any intention by the United States to occupy Cuba. The amendment reassured Americans that their country would uphold democracy abroad as well as at home. It placed a condition on the United States military's presence in Cuba. -
Open Door Policy
The US had recently gained a foothold in East Asia, and they were afraid they'd be forced out of the Chinese market by countries who had been there longer than them, so they created the policy to ensure they wouldn't lose their ability to trade with China. This policy was proposed by the US, under which ALL nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China. This policy increased foreign influence in China, which led to a rise in anti-foreign and anti-colonial sentiment in the country. -
Platt Amendment
Tasked with balancing Cuban independence with American desires to control Cuban politicians deemed unfit for self-governance, they established The Platt Amendment, it was a treaty between the U.S. and Cuba that attempted to protect Cuba's independence from foreign intervention. It permitted extensive U.S. involvement in Cuban international and domestic affairs for the enforcement of Cuban independence. -
Treaty of Portsmouth
In 1905 Russia had suffered severe defeats and Japan was in financial difficulties. Combination of these losses and the economic cost of financing the war led both countries to seek an end to the war. The treaty was signed and it affirmed the Japanese presence in south Manchuria and Korea and ceded the southern half of the island of Sakhalin to Japan. The Japanese were embittered by the settlement, which gave them a smaller amount of territory and financial indemnity than they expected. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
When Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle revealed food adulteration and unsanitary practices in meat production, public outrage prompted Congress to establish federal responsibility for public health and welfare. The Act prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation's first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many people urged Congress to curb abuses of the food industry. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers. The Fire Marshal concluded that the likely cause of the fire was the disposal of an unextinguished match or cigarette butt in the scrap bin, which held two months' worth of accumulated cuttings by the time of the fire. The tragedy brought widespread attention to the dangerous conditions of factories, and led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of workers. -
Federal Reserve Act
Banks needed a source of emergency reserves to prevent the panics and resulting runs from driving them out of business. Ultimately in 1913 Congress wrote the Federal Reserve Act. The Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve System, consisting of twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks jointly responsible for managing the country's money supply, making loans and providing oversight to banks, and serving as a lender of last resort. It regulated banking to help smaller banks stay in business. -
Keating-Owen Act
By the early 1900s, census figures estimated that nearly two million children were employed in manufacturing, stores, etc. Most of these workers were under age 14, child labor committees emphasized reform through state legislatures. Congress created the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act as an attempt to regulate child labor. The Act banned the sale of any product made by children under a certain age -
Women Gain Right to Vote
While women were not always united in their goals, and the fight for women's suffrage was complex, the efforts of women like Ida B. Wells and Alice Paul led to the passage of the 19th Amendment. The amendment granted women the right to vote. It helped millions of women move closer to equality in all aspects of American life. Women advocated for job opportunities, fairer wages, education, sex education, and birth control. -
Immigration Act of 1924
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 established the nation's first numerical limits on the number of immigrants who could enter the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the National Origins Act, made the quotas stricter and permanent. The act provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census. Because of this act a record number of Mexican immigrants entered the United States. -
McNary-Haugen bill of 1927 & 1928
With the agricultural sector facing hardship, Congress sought to aid farmers with the McNary-Haugen bills of 1927 and 1928. The bills proposed a system of federal price supports for major crops, to keep food prices fair for farmers and consumers, ensure an adequate food supply, and protect and sustain the country's vital natural resources. Congress passed the bill twice, in 1927 & 1928, but each time President Coolidge vetoed it. -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
As the global economy entered the first stages of the Great Depression in late 1929, the main goal of the US was to protect its jobs and farmers from foreign competition. It increased tariffs to historically high levels on foreign imports to the U.S. by about 20%. At least 25 countries responded by increasing their own tariffs on American goods. Global trade plummeted, which led to greater economic contraction contributing to the ill effects of the Great Depression. -
Bonus Army
In the summer of 1932, the Bonus Army, a determined group of 15,000 unemployed World War I veterans, hitchhiked to Washington to demand immediate payment of pension awards that were due to be paid in 1945. Hoover called out regular army troops under the command who forcefully evicted the marchers and burned their main encampment to the ground. When newsreel footage showing the U.S. Army attacking and injuring veterans reached movie theaters across the nation, Hoover’s popularity plunged. -
Securities and Exchange Commission
When the stock market crashed, so did public confidence in the U.S. markets. Congress searched for solutions then later passed the Securities Act of 1934. The mission of the SEC was to protect investors; maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation. The SEC dismantled crucial parts of the regulation established to protect investors and the markets and it failed to detect and stop widespread abuses by securities firms, costing investors billions of dollars. -
The Neutrality Act of 1935
Responding to overwhelming popular pressure, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1935. This act was a legislation that sought to avoid entanglement in foreign wars while protecting trade. It imposed an embargo on selling arms to warring countries and declared that Americans traveling on the ships of belligerent nations did so at their own risk. Congress repealed the Neutrality Acts on Nov. 13, 1941. The neutrality legislation of 1935–37 had minimal impact on U.S. defense planning. -
Munich Conference
The Munich Conference came as a result of a long series of negotiations. Adolf Hitler had demanded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) tried to talk him out of it. At the conference British and French prime ministers signed the Munich Pact ( permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia) with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The agreement averted the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German conquest. -
Lend-Lease Act
Due to war going on in Britain they were no longer able to pay cash for arms. Because of this Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act. The act enabled Britain to obtain arms from the United States without cash but with the promise to reimburse the United States when the war ended. The United States was able to supply military aid to its foreign allies during World War II while still remaining officially neutral. -
Pearl Harbor
After Japan signed mutual defense pacts with Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union, the U.S. froze Japanese assets and forbade all exports into Japan. Admiral Isoroku spent months planning an attack that aimed to destroy the Pacific Fleet and destroy morale in the U.S. Navy. The attack destroyed nearly 20 American ships and more than 300 airplanes, 2,403 sailors, and about 1,000 people were wounded. This led to the end of isolationism and the U.S was forced to enter the war. -
D-Day
At the Washington Conference, Britain and the US agree a strategy of 'Europe first' (they will concentrate on the defeat of Germany before turning to deal with Japan ). On June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada, and France attacked German forces on the coast of Normandy, France. With a huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, the Allies broke the Atlantic wall which was thought to be unbreakable and allowed the Allies to successfully complete the liberation of Western Europe. -
The United Nations
An international body agreed upon at the Yalta Conference, and founded at a conference in San Francisco in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries, consisting of a General Assembly, in which all nations are represented, and a Security Council of the five major Allied powers. They were committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations allegedly threatened by Soviet communism and established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The Truman Doctrine became the foundation of American foreign policy, and led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance that is still in effect. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an effort to prevent the economic deterioration of postwar Europe this plan allowed the U.S. To remake the European economy in the image of an American economy. World war 2 completely destroyed Europe's economy so they created the Marshall Plan which generated a resurgence of European industrialization and brought extensive investment into the region. It was also a stimulant to the U.S. economy by establishing markets for American goods. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
A case involving Linda Brown, a black pupil in Topeka, Kansas, who had been forced to attend a distant segregated school rather than the nearby white elementary school. The Supreme Court ruling overturned the “separate but equal” precedent established in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The Court declared that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal and thus violated the Fourteenth Amendment. Schools were then being forced to integrate and stop being segregated. -
Rosa Parks defends herself
Rosa Parks, a civil rights activist in Montgomery, Alabama and a longtime NAACP member, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. She was arrested and charged with violating a local segregation ordinance. Called "the mother of the civil rights movement", after Rosa Parks' arrest, King endorsed a plan proposed by a local black women’s organization to boycott Montgomery’s bus system. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was also inspired by other similar boycotts. -
Sputnik
The fact that the Soviets were successful fed fears that the U.S. military had generally fallen behind in developing new technology. As a result, the Sputnik was launched. The successful launch came as a shock to experts and citizens in the United States. It had a major impact on the Cold War and the United States. Fear that they had fallen behind led U.S. spurred the US to make considerable federal investments in research and development, education, and national security. -
Bay of Pigs
Determined to keep Cuba out of the Soviet orbit, Kennedy followed through on Eisenhower administration plans to dispatch Cuban exiles to foment an anti-Castro uprising. The invaders, trained by the CIA, were ill-prepared for their task. On landing at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs, the force of 1,400 was crushed by Castro’s troops. Kennedy prudently rejected CIA pleas for a U.S. air strike. Accepting defeat, Kennedy went before the American people and took full responsibility for the fiasco. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The crisis was a major confrontation that brought the U.S and the Soviet Union close to war. When the Soviet Union began to install nuclear missiles in Cuba, the U.S refused to allow this and, after 13 tense days and many secret negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles. This event strengthened Kennedy's image domestically and internationally. It also helped mitigate negative world opinion regarding the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
After the Birmingham police reacted to a peaceful desegregation demonstration in May 1963 by using fire hoses and unleashing police dogs to break up thousands of demonstrators, President Kennedy introduced the Civil Rights Act in a June 12 speech. This Law that responded to demands of the civil rights movement by making discrimination in employment, education, and public accommodations illegal. Was the strongest measure since Reconstruction and included a ban on sex discrimination in employment. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The murder of voting-rights activists in Mississippi and the attack by white state troopers on peaceful marchers in Selma, Alabama, gained national attention and persuaded President Johnson and Congress to initiate meaningful and effective national voting rights legislation. The act outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. It provided federal oversight of state voting. -
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women was founded by a group of activists who wanted to end sex discrimination. They were inspired by the failure of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. NOW's actions have helped put women in political posts; increased educational, employment, and business opportunities for women; and enacted tougher laws against violence, harassment, and discrimination of women. -
Tet Offensive
Major campaign of attacks launched throughout South Vietnam in January by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong. It exposed the credibility gap between official statements and the war’s reality, and it shook Americans’ confidence in the government. The Tet Offensive ends as U.S. and South Vietnamese troops recapture the ancient capital of Hue from communist forces. In 1968 after the offensive, 57% of Americans turned against the war because they realized it wasn't being won. -
Stonewall Inn
Police had raided gay bars for decades, making arrests, publicizing the names of patrons, and harassing customers simply for being gay. Then a local gay bar called the Stonewall Inn was raided by police in the summer of 1969. The event contributed to the rapid rise of a gay liberation movement and riots. Though the Stonewall uprising didn’t start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanizing force for LGBT political activism, leading to numerous gay rights organizations -
Earth Day
Because there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act. There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment. In spring 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force this issue onto the national agenda. He said We only have one earth, so we need to take care of her. Earth day was celebrated when 20 million citizens gathered in communities across the country to express their support for a cleaner, healthier planet. -
Title IX
A law passed by Congress in 1972 that broadened the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include educational institutions, prohibiting colleges and universities that received federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex. By requiring comparable funding for sports programs, Title IX made women’s athletics a real presence on college campuses. The groundbreaking gender equity law made a lasting impact by increasing the participation of girls and women in athletics -
War Powers Act
Congress passed the War Powers Resolution of 1973, intending to limit the President's authority to wage war and reasserted its authority over foreign wars. President Nixon vetoed the bill. However, Congress overrode his veto, and the resolution became law following the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in early 1973. This law limited the president’s ability to deploy U.S. forces without congressional approval and gave the president the unlimited right to commit US forces to action as necessary. -
Vietnam War ends
Having rebuilt their forces and upgraded their logistics system, North Vietnamese forces triggered a major offensive in the Central Highlands in March 1975. On April 30, 1975, NVA tanks rolled through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, effectively ending the war. The country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year. The American combat troops withdrew from the South and signed the Paris Peace Accords, which resulted in two separate governments in Vietnam. -
Ethics in Government Act
Act created after the ethical violations of President Nixon involving the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached and the new president Jimmy Carter signed this bill into law October 1978. This act forced political candidates to disclose financial contributions and limited the lobbying activities of former elected officials. Government ethics applies to the processes, behavior, and policy of governments and the public officials who serve in elected or appointed positions. -
Three Mile Island
Environmentalists, publicized dangers of nuclear power plants, they feared a reactor meltdown and the dumping of the radioactive waste, which would generate toxic levels of radioactivity for 100's of years. These fears grew in March 1979, when the reactor core at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, came close to meltdown. More than 100,000 people fled their homes. A prompt shutdown saved the plant, but the near catastrophe enabled environmentalists to win the battle over nuclear energy
