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Settling of Jamestown
Virginia Company dispatched an all-male group with no ability to support itself in hope of English expansion and gold, but there was none. Arriving in Virginia after an four-month voyage, they settled on a swampy peninsula, which they named Jamestown to honor the king. There the adventurers lacked access to fresh water, refused to plant crops, and many died due to disease. War followed as the relationship between Powhatan and Jamestown became uneasy as the settlers wouldn't be dependent on them. -
Settling of Plymouth and the Mayflower
Searching for religious freedom, English Protestants landed at Plymouth. Led by William Bradford, the Pilgrims, different from Puritans, sailed to America aboard the Mayflower. They created the Mayflower Compact using Puritans’ self-governing religious congregation as the model for the political structure. 1/2 of the 1st migrant group survived until spring, but Plymouth thrived. They established a representative self-government, broad political rights, property ownership, and religious freedom. -
The Dutch fight with Algonquians
New Netherland was as a fur-trading enterprise. Trade with the Iroquois slowly improved. The Dutch settlers had less respect for the Algonquian neighbors. They seized prime farming land and took over their trading network. The Algonquians launched attacks that nearly destroyed the colony. To defeat them, the Dutch waged vicious warfare and formed an alliance with the Mohawks. After the Indian war, the West India Company ignored New Netherland and expanded to African slaves and Brazilian sugar. -
Bacon's Rebellion
William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia refused to grant Nathaniel Bacon a military commission. So Bacon mobilized his neighbors and attacked any Indians he could find. Berkley arrested Bacon, but his army forced to release Bacon and held legislative elections. The newly elected House of Burgesses enacted reforms that restored voting rights to landless freemen. In the wake of this, planters were switching from indentured servants to slaves. The colonies were searching for a viable foundation. -
Salem Witch Trials
Like Native Americans, Puritans believed that the world was full of supernatural forces. In Salem, several girls who had experienced strange seizures accused neighbors of bewitching them. Accusations spun out of control. Massachusetts Bay authorities tried 175 people for witchcraft and executed 19 of them. Shaken by the number of deaths, government officials discouraged legal prosecutions for witchcraft. Moreover, many influential people embraced the European Enlightenment like Ben Franklin. -
Johnathan Edwards "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Jonathan Edwards, a minister in Northampton, Massachusetts, encouraged a revival that spread to towns throughout the Connecticut River Valley which was part of the First Great Awakening, in which there was a greater emphasis on individual religious experiences and a relationship with God. One of his famous sermons was the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". This emphasized God's wrath upon unbelievers after death to a very real, horrific, and fiery Hell giving Pietism much of its vitality. -
Benjamin Franklin’s Albany plan
In response to the Seven Years' War which lasted 9 years and was between France and Britain, Franklin suggest that the colonies unite as one meaning they have a common defense/militia. In essence, an attack on one colony, is an attack on all the colonies. Though this plan failed, it was the first time unity was brought up. This was the first time the colonies had considered to be one and it "planted seeds" for the future where/when the colonies would unite in the American Revolution. -
Proclamation of 1763
It took the British army nearly 2 years to reclaim the posts it had lost some by military expeditions near Fort Pitt. They were still in debt from the French and Indian War and didn't want to start another war. In a peace settlement, Pontiac and his allies accepted the British as their political father. The British learned how expensive it was to control the trans-Appalachian west and declared it off-limits to colonists. This angered them and it would help start the American Revolution. -
Townshend Act
Charles Townshend had sought restrictions on the colonial assemblies and strongly supported the Stamp Act. So, he created a British law that established new duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painters’ colors imported into the colonies. The Townshend duties led to boycotts and heightened tensions between Britain and the American colonies. It revived the constitutional debate over taxation. Townshend then created the Revenue Act. With taxes, he intended to undermine political institutions. -
Boston Tea Party
The East India Company planned to distribute its tea directly to shopkeepers, excluding American wholesalers from the trade’s profits. The Sons of Liberty enraged, prevented the company from delivering their cargoes. Artisans and laborers disguised as Indians boarded ships and broke open 342 chests of tea and threw them into the harbor. The King was angry and Parliament passed four Coercive Acts, closed Boston Harbor to shipping, prohibited most town meetings and enacted a new Quartering Act. -
First Continental Congress formed
In response to the Coercive Acts, Patriot leaders formed the Continental Congress. 12 mainland colonies sent delegates. Florida, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Georgia refused to send delegates. The delegates demanded the repeal of the Coercive Acts and that British control be limited to matters of trade. If Parliament did not repeal the Coercive Acts by September 1775, the Congress vowed to cut off virtually all colonial exports to Britain, Ireland, and the British West Indies. -
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
As military conflicts escalated, Americans were divided in their opinions of King George III. John Dickinson persuaded Congress to send the Olive Branch Petition but John Adams opposed. Uniting the country, Thomas Paine published "Common Sense," a call for independence and a republican form of government. Written so all could understand, he blasted the British system of “mixed government” that balanced power among three estates. This inspired colonists to declare independence from England. -
Declaration of Independence
Written by influential Thomas Jefferson, he justified independence and republicanism to Americans and the world by vilifying George III. He proclaimed we posses the “unalienable rights” of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". By linking these doctrines of individual liberty, popular sovereignty, and republican government with American independence, Jefferson established them as the defining political values of the new nation. This document announced America's freedom. -
Valley Forge
During the Revolutionary War, Howe’s army captured Philadelphia, while Washington’s army retreated to Valley Forge after severe losses. Soldiers suffered and winter here took as many American lives as 2 years of fighting. They had low moral, were ill-equipped, and had a lack of training. Baron von Steuben instituted a strict drill system and emerged a tougher and better-disciplined Continental Army. Here, American forces became a true fighting unit and had a huge increase in moral. -
Articles of Confederation Ratified
As Patriots embraced independence, they proposed a central government with limited powers so the Articles of Confederation was written. In this, the Union was a confederation of equal states, with no executive and limited powers, existing to aid a common defense. It lacked the power to tax the states which led the central government to be nearly bankrupt. Patriots tried to expand authority by chartering the Bank of North America. Ultimately, the Articles failed and the Constitution was created. -
Battle of Yorktown
In the Revolutionary War, Washington secretly marched General Rochambeau’s army from Rhode Island to Virginia. Simultaneously, the French fleet took control of Chesapeake Bay. By the time the British discovered Washington’s plan, Cornwallis was surrounded, his 9,500-man army outnumbered on land and cut off from reinforcement or retreat by sea. The French alliance the Patriots formed after they had won Battle of Saratoga, helped Washington win Yorktown which was the last major battle of the war. -
The Great Compromise/Connecticut Plan
At the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, Madison presented the Virginia Plan which had a powerful three-branch government, with representation in both houses of the congress tied to population (benefits larger states). The New Jersey Plan, drafted by delegates from small states, proposed a one-house legislature congress with one vote per state. Connecticut delegates proposed that the Senate have two members from each state, while the House of Representative be apportioned by population. -
First Bank of the United States
In a 20 year charter, the bank was owned by private stockholders and the national government. Alexander Hamilton claimed it would provide stability to the economy by making loans to merchants, handling government funds, and issuing bills. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson along with James Madison opposed it. Jefferson, a strict constructionist, said Hamilton’s national bank was unconstitutional. Hamilton, loose constructionist, deemed it "necessary and proper" and President Washington agreed. -
Proclamation of Neutrality
President George Washington declared U.S. citizens could trade with all nations in the war between France and Great Britain. Neutral, U.S merchant ships claimed a right to pass through Britain’s naval blockade of French ports. American firms quickly took over the sugar trade between France and its West Indian islands. The U.S profited greatly. Most Americans welcomed the French Revolution, but the First French Republic was more controversial as it embraced the democratic ideology of Jacobins. -
Creation of the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney built the cotton engine/gin which separated the seeds in a cotton boll from the delicate fibers, work previously done slowly by hand. This led to increased demands for slaves in the South, reversing the economic decline that had occurred in the region as it made cotton more profitable. He also designed and built machine tools that could rapidly produce interchangeable musket parts. Technological innovation swept through American manufacturing which led to the Industrial Revolution. -
Alien and Sedition Acts
During John Adams presidency, the Naturalization Act lengthened the residency requirement for citizenship, the Alien Act allowed the deportation of foreigners, and the Sedition Act banned the publication of insults/attacks on the president or Congress. This limited individual rights and threatened the party system. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions declared states could judge the legitimacy of federal laws and nullify them. The conflict over Sedition Act set the stage Revolution of 1800. -
Marbury v. Madison
During Thomas Jefferson's presidency, James Madison refused to deliver the commission of one of Adams's midnight appointees, William Marbury. John Marshall claimed Marbury had the right to the appointment, but the Supreme Court didn't have constitutional power to enforce it. This case established the principle of judicial review. It found parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional. For the 1st time, the Court assumed legal authority to overrule acts of other branches of the government. -
Louisiana Purchase
Napoleon feared an American invasion of Louisiana. He offered to sell the territory of Louisiana for $15 million which nearly doubled the size of the U.S and opened the way for future U.S expansion west. This required President Jefferson to exercise powers not explicitly granted to him by the Constitution, going against his belief of strict construction. It increased party conflict and secessionist schemes. Jefferson wanted information about Louisiana leading to the Lewis and Clark expedition. -
Embargo Act of 1807
Napoleon cut off commerce with Britain and seized American merchant ships that stopped in British ports. Jefferson pursued the Embargo Act prohibiting U.S. ships from traveling to foreign ports and effectively banned overseas trade to deter Britain from halting U.S. ships at sea. It cut the U.S gross national product by 5% and weakened the entire economy. Voters still elected Republican James Madison to the presidency in 1808 who advocated for the Constitution and wrote the Bill of Rights. -
Battle of New Orleans
Though the Treaty of Ghent was signed before, colonists didn't know the War of 1812 was over. General Jackson ordered every weapon and man to defend New Orleans. He widened the canal into a defensive trench and used the excess dirt to build a 7ft earthen rampart. 700 British men and very few Americans dead, the victory made Jackson a national hero, redeemed the nation’s battered pride, and undercut the Hartford Convention’s demands for constitutional revision, and led to his presidency. -
Erie Canal
During the Transportation Revolution, New York legislature’s financed the Erie Canal. Many of the workers were Irish immigrants. Connecting the Hudson River and Lake Erie, it brought prosperity to the Great Lakes region. Farming and market communities sprang up and trees were cut down to open land. It prompted civic/business leaders in Philadelphia and Baltimore to propose canals to link their cities to the Midwest. Railroads also joined canals as the core of the national transportation system. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
This key case gave broad power to the national government. The Maryland legislature imposed a tax on notes issued by the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank. The bank refused to pay, claiming that the tax infringed on national powers and was unconstitutional along with the bank. Marshall Court claimed the Second Bank was constitutional. The Marshall Court again asserted the dominance of national over state statutes in Gibbons v. Ogden which gave the government rights interstate commerce. -
Waltham-Lowell System
Samuel Slater introduced the 1st water-powered cotton mill to the U.S. British and American textile industries now competed. Americans used cheap labor, women. The Lowell system used young women recruited from farm families to work in factories in Lowell and other sites. The women lived in boardinghouses with strict rules and attended church. More than 40,000 women were working in textile mills. The waged work gave women a sense of freedom. It created the 1st union of working women in America. -
Election of 1824
3 of 5 Republican candidates: John Quincy Adams who enjoyed national recognition, Henry Clay used his created of the American System, and Andrew Jackson who won at New Orleans, didn't receive an absolute majority. So the 12th amendment was used and Adams won. Jackson's supporters accused Clay and Adams of making a corrupt bargain as Adams appointed Clay as his secretary of state, the stepping-stone to the presidency. Clay used his influence as Speaker of the House to elect Adams over Jackson. -
Tariff of Abominations
Van Buren hoped to win farmer support in NY, OH, and KY but enraged the South with 0 industries needing tariff protection. He passed the Tariff of 1828 raising taxes on raw materials, textiles, and iron goods. This helped Jackson win the presidency against Adams, but South Carolina(SC) adopted an Ordinance of Nullification declaring tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null/void. Congress passed a Force Bill to force SC to obey federal laws. The Compromise Tariff of 1833 reduced rates to the levels of 1816. -
Nat Turners Revolt
During Abolitionism, Nat Turner, a slave, staged a bloody revolt. Turner and a handful of people rose in rebellion and killed at least 55 white people. The white militia dispersed his force and took revenge. A Virginia assembly debated a law for emancipation, but failed. The South would never end slavery voluntarily. Instead, they toughened slave codes, limited black movement, and prohibited teaching slaves to read. They would meet Walker’s radical Appeal with radical measures of their own. -
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
The Indian Removal Act directed the mandatory relocation of eastern tribes to territory west of the Mississippi. Cherokees had claimed the status of a “foreign nation” in response. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall denied that claim and declared that Indian people were dependent nations. However, in Worcester v. Georgia, the Court held the states did not have the right to impose regulations on Indian land. The government still took land and led the Trail of Tears. -
Invention of the Reaper
A “mineral-based economy” of coal and metal began to emerge. Manufacturers increasingly ran their machinery with coal-burning stationary steam engines rather than with water power. In Chicago, Cyrus McCormick used steam-driven machines to make parts for farm reapers. This revolutionized the way we harvested wheat and other grains. The machine increased crop yields and decreased the number of farmhands needed so many went to factories. This allowed farms to become larger and more productive. -
Battle of Alamo
Mexico's new constitution created a stronger central government so the war and peace party were created. The war party declared independence of Texas. President Santa Anna led an army that killed the Texan army defending the Alamo including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Furious, General Sam Houston's army fought in the Battle of San Jacinto winning de facto independence. Texans voted for annexation from the U.S, but President Van Buren refused. This battle would lead to the Mexican-American war. -
Dorothea Dix Enlarge the State Hospital
Dorothea Dix, a women's right activist, published "Conversations on Common Things." Discovering insane women were jailed alongside male criminals, she persuaded Massachusetts lawmakers to enlarge the state hospital to house indigent mental patients. Dix began a national movement to establish state asylums for the mentally ill. She prompted many states to improve their prisons and public hospitals. As reformers and teachers, other northern women transformed public education led by Horace Mann. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Female abolitionists asserted traditional gender roles resulted in the domestic slavery of women leading to advocating for their own rights. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized a gathering of women’s rights activists called the Seneca Falls Convention. This launched the women's suffrage movement. The reformers rejected the inferiority of women and the ideology of separate spheres. Susan B. Anthony worked closely with Stanton would form the National Woman Suffrage Association. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
During the Mexican-American War, which was aggravated by President James K. Polk, the U.S seized the capital of Mexico in less than a year. The new Mexican government signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in which they ceded Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah to the U.S. The Rio Grande would be the border of Texas and Texas was U.S territory. Fighting also broke out in California, but U.S forces secured control of it despite Mexican resistance. -
Compromise of 1850
California qualified for statehood issues over slavery arose. John C. Calhoun believed slavery follows the flag. Others wanted to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean. Stephen Douglas introduced popular sovereignty. Henry Clay introduced a compromise which had a Fugitive Slave Act, admitted California as a free state, resolved a boundary dispute that favored New Mexico, and abolished slave trade in Washington D.C, created New Mexico and Utah, and invoked popular sovereignty. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
This Supreme Court decision ruled the Missouri Compromise and the Northwest Ordinance unconstitutional. The Court ruled against slave Dred Scott, who claimed that travels with his owner into free states/territories made him free. This denied the federal government the right to exclude slavery from the territories and declared African Americans were not citizens. Taney endorsed Calhoun’s interpretation of when settlers wrote a constitution and requested statehood could they only prohibit slavery. -
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Abandoning the Whigs, Lincoln ran for the U.S. Senate seat held by Douglas. In 7 debates. Douglas declared his support for white supremacy, but Lincoln argued free blacks should have equal economic opportunities but not equal political rights. In Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, he claimed states would be all free or all slave. Douglas believed in the Freeport Doctrine where a territory’s residents could exclude slavery by not adopting laws to protect it and was reelected to the Senate. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Tensions between the North and South states over slavery, states' rights and westward expansion started secession. Lincoln gave the South a choice: return to the union, or face war. When Lincoln dispatched an unarmed ship to resupply Fort Sumter, Jefferson Davis and others in the Confederacy seized the fort. The Confederate forces opened fire and 2 days later the Union surrendered. This was the start of the Civil War. The Middle States now had to choose between the Union and the Confederacy. -
Homestead Act
This act granted Americans 160-acre plots of public land for the price of a small filing fee. It led to Western expansion and allowed citizens, including former slaves, women and immigrants, to become landowners. The law required that they live on the land, must farm the land for 5 years, and improve the property. Native Americans were forced from their lands and onto reservations for homesteaders. This led African-Americans to make their way to Kansas and Western states in the Great Exodus. -
Ten Percent Plan
Near the end of the Civil War, Reconstruction had started. Lincoln proposed the 10 Percent Plan. It granted amnesty to most ex-Confederates and allowed each rebellious state to return to the Union as soon as 10 percent of its voters had taken a loyalty oath and the state had approved the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery. Congress didn't like this plan and proposed a stricter one, the Wade- Davis Bill, but Lincoln vetoed this. Lincoln was assassinated before his plan was implemented. -
Ulysses S. Grant appointed as general of U.S Army
During the Civil War, the U.S was going through a series of terrible generals. From General George McClellan to Burnside to Hooker back to McClellan to General Meade, Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant. He capture Fort Donelson and Fort Henry. As Grant moved south toward Mississippi, he seized critical railroad lines, and relentlessly committed troops and forced a Confederate withdrawal. He commanded us to victory with the help of William Tecumseh Sherman who accomplished the Marsh to Sea. -
Transcontinental Railroad
The Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies to build the transcontinental railroad that would link the U.S from east to west. Competition arose as the government gave them money/land for each mile of track. Over 7 years, the 2 companies would meet at Promontory, Utah. Connecting the two coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier. It helped westward expansion and rose conflicts between Indians and settlers. -
Boss Tweed brought down
Political machines like Boss Tweed acted as a social service agency. Cities offered flagrant opportunities for bribes and kickbacks. William Marcy Tweed made Tammany Hall a byword for corruption, until he was brought down by flagrant overpricing of contracts for a city courthouse. After, machine corruption became more secretive. Middle-class reformers condemned immigrants for supporting them but immigrants could rely on them for jobs, emergency aid, and public services they could hope to obtain. -
Election of 1876
Democrat Samuel Tilden had won the popular vote, but votes from Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana were uncertain. Evidence of fraud and intimidation, Republican officials certified all 3 states for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. When Congress met, it faced 2 sets of electoral votes from those states. The Constitution did not account for this type of crisis, so they appointed an electoral commission and Hayes won. Troops were removed from the South and this marked the end of Reconstruction. -
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Steep wage cuts imposed by railroad managers amid a severe economic depression beginning in 1873 led to a nationwide strike of thousands of railroad workers/labor allies who protested the growing power of railroad corporations. It brought rail travel and commerce to a halt and left more than 50 people dead and caused $40 million worth of damage, mostly to railroad property. Many workers were fired and blacklisted and the U.S. government created the National Guard to enforce order not protection. -
Frances Willard becomes the Leader of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
The WCTU advocated for suffrage and a host of reform activities and launch women into public life. It was the first nationwide organization to identify and condemn domestic violence. As Willard investigated alcohol abuse, she increasingly confronted poverty, hunger, unemployment, and other industrial problems. She helped WCTU find soup kitchens and free libraries, introduce kindergarten, and investigate prison conditions. They had taught women how to lobby, raise money, and even run for office. -
President James Garfield shot
James Garfield was shot at a train station in Washington, D.C. by Charles Guiteau. After several agonizing months, Garfield died. Most historians believe the assassin, Charles Guiteau, suffered from mental illness. But reformers then blamed the spoils system. He was a vocal supporter of Garfield giving speeches during the election. This would give him a government job, but he was angry for not being awarded and killed Garfield. In the wake of Garfield’s death, Congress passed the Pendleton Act. -
Haymarket Square Riot
Chicago was a hotbed of anarchism. Local anarchists, many German immigrants, held a protest at Haymarket Square. When police tried to disperse the crowd, a bomb was thrown killing several policemen. Officers responded with gunfire killing workers. The violence damaged the American labor movement. Employers took the offensive and tied up the Knights of Labor in court proceedings and forced workers to sign contracts pledging not to join labor organizations. Industrialists and workers were divided. -
Ghost Dance Movement
This movement taught Indians that they would be reunited with the dead and whites would disappear. It included ceremonial dances and provided a hopeful message to Indians, especially the Lakotas. Settlers viewed this as a threat to U.S Indian policy and as intention to start war. The government sent the U.S. Army and arrested key leaders like Sitting Bull and Big Foot. It died out among the Lakotas after Wounded Knee, but survived. This was a resistance to U.S Indian policy and American culture. -
Hull House
The social settlement investigated the plight of the urban poor, raised funds to address urgent needs, and helped neighborhood residents advocate. The most famous, and one of the first, was Hull House on Chicago’s West Side, founded by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. It bordered saloons in an Italian and Eastern European neighborhood. It served as a spark plug for community improvement and political reform. It was typical in offering a bathhouse, playground, kindergarten, and day care center. -
Depression of 1893
When Cleveland took office in March 1893, hard times prompted European investors to pull money out of the U.S as a Pennsylvania railroad went bankrupt, followed by several other companies. The stock market crashed and many banks and business had gone under. The unemployment rate in industrial cities was above 20%. This looked familiar to Americans who lived through the 1870s. During this, there were labor uprisings like a Pennsylvania coal strike, a Pullman railroad boycott, and Coxey's army. -
Cuban Patriots and War with Spain
Wanting independence, Cuban patriots mounted a major guerrilla war against Spain, which had lost most of its New World territories. The Spanish commander rounded up Cuban civilians into concentration camps, but many died from poor conditions. In the U.S, yellow journalists like William Randolph Hearst turned this into controversy and fed a surge of nationalism. Congress called for Cuban independence. This would be led to the Spanish American War along with the U.S.S Maine and the De Lomé Letter. -
Open Door Policy created
U.S. officials/business leaders had a keen interest in East Asian markets, but Japan, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain divided coastal China into spheres of influence. Fearful, Secretary of State John Hay sent them a note saying that all nations seeking to do business in China should have equal trade access. As U.S troops were sent to stop Chinese nationalists’ siege, Hay claimed China should stay as a “territorial and administrative entity” letting U.S have an equal access to the market. -
Anthracite Coal Strike
During Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, miners striked for higher wages, shorter workdays, and recognition of their union. It threatened to shut down the winter fuel supply to major American cities. Roosevelt demands that the owners negotiate or he will use the U.S military to take over the mine. Many think of this as misuse of power. This signals a big shift as for the 1st time the government sides with labor over business. This was part of many reforms that happened during the progressive era. -
"The Jungle" was published
In an effort to support socialism, Upton Sinclair, a muckraker, writes "The Jungle". Instead it shines a light on the abuses and conditions in the meatpacking industry. It led to the Meat Inspection Act ensuring that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. It would lead to the Pure Food and Drug Act regulating the conditions in the food and drug industries to ensure a safe supply of food and medicine. The FDA would be created to oversee compliance of this. -
Muller v. Oregon
Lochner v. New York, laid out grounds on which states could intervene to protect workers. It divided women’s rights activists but some saw its provisions as discriminatory. Overturned by Muller v. Oregon, it upheld an law limiting women’s workday to ten hours, based on the need to protect women’s health for motherhood. Louis Brandeis, the lawyer, cleared the way for use of social science research in court decisions. This decision encouraged women’s organizations to lobby for further reforms. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
This devastating fire that quickly spread through the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City killing 146 people, many were young immigrant women. Panicked workers discovered that, despite fire safety laws, employers had locked the emergency doors to prevent theft. In the wake of the tragedy, 56 state laws were passed dealing with issues as fire hazards, unsafe machines, and wages and working hours for women and children. The fire also provided a national impetus for industrial reform. -
Election of 1912
Roosevelt, angered with William Howard Taft's decisions during his presidency, decides to run for president again. He announced himself as a Republican candidate, but the Republican convention chose Taft. Roosevelt led his followers into the Progressive Party, offering his New Nationalism directly to the people. There were 4 candidates: Roosevelt, Taft, Woodrow Wilson, and Debs. Republicans’ division between Taft and Roosevelt led Wilson to win. This would led to many economic reforms. -
Panama Canal opened
Colombia rejected the proposal to build a canal, so the U.S lent covert assistance to an independence movement which led to a new nation of Panama. The U.S gained a renewable lease on a canal zone. The building required Spain, Italy and West Indians immigrant workers. It connected trade between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it gave U.S. naval vessels quick access to the Pacific and provided us with a commanding position in the Western Hemisphere. -
Clayton Anti-trust Act
Wilson reformed trusts with Louis D. Brandeis, believing in vigorous competition in a free market. Amending the Sherman Act, the Clayton Act strengthened federal definitions of “monopoly” and gave more power to the Justice Department to pursue antitrust cases. It said labor unions could not generally be prosecuted for “restraint of trade,” ensuring that antitrust laws would apply to corporations rather than unions. The Federal Trade Commission received broad powers to decide what was fair. -
Zimmerman Telegram intercepted
During World War 1, Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare so Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with them. German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman urged Mexico to join the Central Powers and start a war at the Southern borders of the U.S. Germany would help Mexico recover land lost in the Mexican Succession. Published by U.S newspapers, the telegram outraged the American public. The U.S considers this an act of war and enter the war on the side of the Allies 2 months later. -
Treaty of Versailles
It gave Germany sole responsibility for the war and a debt of $33 billion in war damages. Rearranging the map of the world, Germany was disarmed and stripped of its colonies in Asia and Africa. Territories were taken by the Allies, independence was given to 5 nations, and 2 countries were created. Signers would join the League of Nations, an international peacekeeping organization. Its long-term impact in the world, including the creation of British and French imperial mandates was catastrophic. -
Schenck v. United States
In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a socialist, Charles Schenck, who was jailed for circulating pamphlets that urged army draftees to resist induction during World War 1. It upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 and said that a defendant did not have a First Amendment right to express freedom of speech against the draft. The justices followed this with a similar decision in Abrams v. United States ruling that authorities could prosecute speech if it is a danger to the country. -
Palmer Raids
Postal workers discovered/defused 34 mail bombs addressed to government officials. A bomb detonated outside the house of attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer, but he was unharmed. He used the incident to fan public fears, causing the Red Scare. The raids peaked in January 1920. Federal agents invaded homes and meeting halls, arrested 6000 citizens/aliens and denied the prisoners access to legal counsel. As he was wrong about a conspiracy to overthrow the government, the Red Scare began to abate. -
Scopes Monkey Trial
Tennessee’s legislature outlawed the teaching the theory of evolution. The ACLU, formed during the Red Scare to protect free speech rights, challenged the law’s constitutionality. They intervened in the trial of John T. Scope, a biology teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, imprisoned for violating his state’s ban on teaching evolution. He was declared guilty though it was overturned later. The trial created a nationwide media frenzy and came to be seen as a showdown between urban and rural values. -
Stock Market Crash
Consumer lending had become the 10th business in the country. Increasing numbers of Americans bought into the stock market with unrealistic expectations. The stock market finally crashed. The nation entered the Great Depression. Over 4 years, industrial production fell 37%. Construction plunged 78%. Prices for crops and raw materials, already low, fell by half. By 1932, unemployment reached a staggering 24%. A cycle of falling demand and forfeited loans was created leading to banks going under. -
Bonus Army
Layoffs and wage cuts led to violent strikes. Veterans staged the most publicized and tragic protest. The Bonus Army, a group of 15,000 unemployed WW1 veterans, went to Washington to demand immediate payment of pension awards that were due to be paid in 1945. The army set up Hoovervilles near the Capitol. Hoover had the regular army forcefully evict the marchers and burned their main encampment and his popularity plunged. What Americans applauded when done to Coxey in 1894 was condemned in 1932. -
Election of 1932
As the 1932 election approached, most Americans believed something new had to be tried. The Republicans unexcitedly nominated Hoover. The Democrats elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt whose state had been taken relief actions. Roosevelt won easily as Hoover was extremely hated. Unemployment climbed, private charities and public relief agencies reached few of the needy, the national banking system was close to collapse, and several states were approaching bankruptcy, their tax revenues too low. -
Public Works Administration (PWA) formed
During the 1st 100 days of FDR’s administration Congress focused on banking failures, agricultural overproduction, the business slump, and soaring unemployment. The PWA, a New Deal construction program designed to put people back to work, was formed for unemployment relief. They built the Boulder Dam, Grand Coulee Dam, and others. This provided jobs for millions of Americans as they repaired bridges, build highways, and constructed public buildings helping earn money in the Great Depression. -
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) formed
During the depression, farmers fled the dust bowl of the Great Plains. The most extensive New Deal environmental undertaking was the TVA, an agency funded by Congress that integrated flood control, reforestation, electricity generation, and agricultural and industrial development in the Tennessee Valley area. It was the 1st step to modernizing the South and won praise in the world. The dams and hydroelectric plants provided cheap electric power for homes/factories and recreational opportunities. -
Social Security Act
With the depression, Roosevelt started a Second New Deal. The Social Security Act was passed and had 3 provisions: old-age pensions for workers; a joint federal-state system of compensation for unemployed workers; and a program of payments to widowed mothers and the blind, deaf, and disabled. It was a milestone in the creation of an American welfare state. Never had the federal government assumed such responsibility. It became one of the most popular government programs in American history. -
Munich Conference
Hitler grew aggressive and sent troops to annex Austria and had intention to seize part of Czechoslovakia. At a conference, Britain and France agreed to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland in return for Hitler’s pledge to seek no more territory. Prime minister Neville Chamberlain, declared “peace for our time". In 6 months, Hitler’s forces overran Czechoslovakia and threatened to march into Poland. The agreement had failed. Britain and France warned Hitler that further aggression meant war. -
Executive Order 8802
African American leaders demanded the government require defense contractors to hire more black workers but no action was taken. Roosevelt wanted to avoid public protest and disruption to war preparations so he signed an order that prohibited discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries/government due to race, creed, color, or national origin and established the FEPC. This did not affect segregation in the armed forces but helped lay groundwork for the civil rights movement. -
G.I Bill
After the end of WW2, American soldiers anxiously awaited their return to civilian life. The government passed this bill to back home loans( increasing home ownership), gave veterans a year of unemployment benefits, provided for veterans' medical care, and provided free education for college. This helped veterans return to a normal life with some stability. The bill was a huge success, propelling Americans to new heights of education, fueled the prosperity and expanded the middle class. -
D-Day
D-Day was the largest amphibious assault in world history where the armada moved across the English Channel under the command of General Eisenhower. American, British, and Canadian soldiers hit the beaches of Normandy suffered terrible casualties but secured a beachhead. Over a few days, over 1.5 million soldiers and thousands of tons of military supplies and equipment flowed into France. The invasion opened a second front against the Germans and moved the Allies closer to victory in Europe. -
Bombing of Japan
After Pearl Harbor and during the war with Japan, President Truman ordered the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan’s military leaders would never surrender unless their country faced national ruin. The deaths prompted the Japanese government to surrender unconditionally Fascism had been defeated. Peace would strain and destroy the West and the Soviet Union. Even as the global war came to an end, the early signs of the coming Cold War were apparent. -
Yalta Conference
President Roosevelt, Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met, in which the leaders discussed the treatment of Germany, the status of Poland, the creation of the UN, and Russian entry into the war against Japan. The UN, would have both a General Assembly and a Security Council with the 5 members having veto power over decisions of the General Assembly. The 3 leaders divided Germany into 4 zones and did the same with Berlin leading to tensions and conflict between future President Truman and Stalin. -
Truman Doctrine
London informed Truman that it couldn't support the anticommunists in the Greek civil war. Truman worried a communist victory in Greece would lead to Soviet domination of the eastern Mediterranean and embolden communists in France and Italy. So he announced the Truman Doctrine, a commitment to support free people resisting subjugation by armed minorities/outside pressures. Applied 1st to Greece and Turkey, it became justification for U.S. intervention into several countries during the Cold War. -
Hollywood Ten
After the WW2 the fear of communisms increased with suspicion of spies in the government. HUAC helped spark the Red Scare by holding widely publicized hearings on alleged Communist infiltration. In the movie industry, the Hollywood Ten, went to jail for contempt of Congress after they refused to testify about their past associations during their HUAC inquiry. Hundred of others whose names were mentioned in the investigation were unable to get work and blacklisted having careers ruined. -
Shelley v. Kraemer
Levitt revolutionized suburban housing by applying mass-production techniques building homes quickly. His houses came with restrictive covenants prohibiting occupancy to anyone not Caucasian. A Supreme Court decision than outlawed restrictive covenants on the occupancy of housing developments by African Americans, Asian Americans, and other minorities. Not actually prohibit racial discrimination in housing, unfair practices against minority groups continued until passage of the Fair Housing Act. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
After Stalin blockaded traffic to West Berlin, the crisis persuaded Western European nations to forge a security pact with the U.S: NATO. This was a military alliance with the U.S, Canada, and Western European nations to counter possible Soviet threats. They agreed an armed attack against 1+ of them in Europe/North America is an attack against all. In response, the Soviet create COMECON and the Warsaw Pact. This had institutionalized the Cold War through a massive division of the continent. -
NSC-68
With the USSR had atomic bombs Truman went to the NSC. The NSC-68 described the USSR wanting absolute authority and domination of Europe. it warned that national survival required a massive military buildup including the development of a hydrogen bomb and dramatic increases in military forces. Americans would need to pay higher taxes. Filled with doubt, events in Asia convinced Truman to go follow the report. This militarized the approach to the Cold War, which had used economic measures before. -
Truman ordered U.S. troops to Korea
North Korea launched a surprise attack across the 38th parallel. Truman ordered U.S. troops to Korea. General Douglas MacArthur was in command and his surprise attack at Inchon gave UN forces control of Seoul and almost all the territory up to the 38th parallel. Truman’s decision to commit troops without congressional approval set a precedent for future undeclared wars. Not releasing atomic bombs set rules for Cold War. Expanding American involvement in Asia, containment became a global policy. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Linda Brown, a black pupil in Kansas, was forced to attend a distant segregated school instead of the nearby white elementary school. In Brown v. Board, Thurgood Marshall, a lawyer of the NAACP, argued this as unconstitutional. It denied Brown the “equal protection of the laws” guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court agreed, a unanimous decision, overturning "separate but equal” precedent in Plessy v. Ferguson. It declared that integration should proceed with all deliberate speed. -
Allen Ginsberg "Howl" Published
This poem explains the Beatniks. They were a small group of literary figures in New York City and San Francisco who rejected mainstream culture and celebrated personal freedom, often including drug consumption and casual sex. It laments what Ginsberg believed to have been the destruction by insanity of the “best minds of [his] generation.” It became a manifesto of the Beat generation and would help inspire a new generation of young rebels disenchanted with the political and cultural status quo. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
Eisenhower concerned about Soviet's influence in the Middle East, he created the Eisenhower Doctrine. American forces would assist any nation in the region that required aid against armed aggression from any nation controlled by communism. He helped Jordan put down a Nasser-backed revolt, creating a pro-American government in Lebanon. This doctrine showed the U.S extending the global reach of containment and emphasized the strategic need to protect the West’s access to steady supplies of oil. -
Freedom Rides
SNCC’s sit-in tactics encouraged CORE to organize a series of rides on interstate bus lines throughout the South calling attention to violations of recent Supreme Court rulings against segregation in interstate commerce. Beatings on the news forced Attorney General Robert Kennedy to dispatch federal marshals. Civil rights activists learned the value of nonviolent protest that provoked violent white resistance. Groundwork had been laid for a civil rights offensive, would transform the nation. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
After the Bay of Pigs incident, Kennedy revealed U.S. reconnaissance planes spotted Soviet bases for ICBMs in Cuba. If launched, they would target all major U.S cities. He announced the U.S would impose a blockade on all military equipment on its way to Cuba. Kennedy’s threat to intercept Soviet missile shipments with naval vessels caused ships carrying Soviet missiles to turn back. After negotiations Kennedy pledged not to invade Cuba and Khrushchev promised to dismantle the missile bases. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
After the Battle of Birmingham, Kennedy promised to create a new civil rights bill, but was killed. Lyndon Johnson assumed presidency. With moral leverage, the death of JFK, and politics, Congress approved a bill. It outlawed discrimination in employment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, and sex, guaranteed equal access to public accommodations/schools, granted new enforcement powers to the attorney general, and established the EEOC for the prohibition against job discrimination. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
During the summer of 1964, the president got reports that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had fired on the U.S. destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. So a resolution passed by Congress between the United States and North Vietnam. It gave the president virtually unlimited authority in conducting the Vietnam War. This effectively launched America's full-scale involvement in the Vietnam War. The Senate terminated the resolution in 1971 following outrage over the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
James Bevel of the SCLC called for a march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capital to protest the murder of a voting-rights activist. Mounted state troopers attacked marchers with tear gas and clubs. Johnson passed an act which outlawed the literacy tests so African Americans could register to vote, and authorized federal examiners to register voters in counties where registration was less than 50%. With the 24th amendment, millions of African Americans could vote since the Reconstruction era. -
1968 Democratic National Convention
Before their deaths, MLK Jr. and Robert Kennedy spoke against the Vietnam War. To antiwar activists bold speeches/marches hadn't produced the desired effect. In a convention in Chicago, political divisions generated by the Vietnam war consumed the party. Protesters staged the Siege of Chicago. Many antiwar demonstrators outside were tear-gassed/clubbed by police. Inside delegates were divided but approved a policy that endorsed fighting in Vietnam but urged a diplomatic solution to the conflict. -
Watergate
With reelection, there was a break-in at Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., by men working for Nixon’s campaign. Nixon arranged hush money for the burglars and instructed the CIA to stop an FBI investigation into the affair, a criminal offense. An investigation led to Nixon resignation and Gerald Ford become president. The War Powers Act, Freedom of Information Act the Ethics in Government Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were passed. -
Roe v. Wade
Women’s movement had identified a major goal: winning reproductive rights. Activists pursued legislative and judicial paths. In Roe v. Wade, nullifying a Texas law, the Supreme Court ruled the Constitution protects the right to abortion. States cannot prohibit in the early stages of pregnancy. The decision galvanized social conservatives and made abortion a controversial policy issue for decades to come. For conservatives was a bitter pill as abortion was viewed as the taking of a human life. -
Jimmy Carter becomes President
Trading on Watergate and his down-home image, Carter pledged to restore morality and played up his credentials as a Washington outsider. Ford might have won, but his pardon of Nixon cost him. His inexperience began to show. He responded to feminists by establishing a new women’s commission, but later dismissed the commission’s concerns. His outsider strategy made for chilly relations with congressional leaders. He relied heavily on inexperienced advisors and failed to reignite economic growth. -
Proposition 13
Proposition 13 rolled back property taxes, capped future increases for present owners, and required that all tax measures have a two-thirds majority in the legislature. It was created due to a tax revolt in California and inspired similar movements across the country. Californians voted overwhelmingly for this. It hobbled public spending in the nation’s most populous state, benefitted middle-class and wealthy home owners at the expense of less-well-off citizens, and business came out ahead. -
Election of 1980
President Carter’s approval rating was historically low as many felt the stagnant wages, high inflation, crippling mortgage rates, and an unemployment rate of nearly 8%. In international affairs, the U.S blamed Carter for his weak response to Soviet expansion and the Iranians’ seizure of American diplomats. Reagan(Republican) appealed to many who felt financially insecure leading to his victory. The Republicans gained control of the Senate signaling a new political alignment in the country. -
Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA)
To achieve its economic objective, President Regan advanced a set of policies to increase the production of goods. The Republican control of the Senate approved the ERTA, a massive tax cut that embodied supply-side principles. This was the largest reduction in taxes in the nation’s history. The act slashed estate taxes, levies on inheritances, and trimmed the taxes paid by business corporations. As a result, by 1986 the annual revenue of the federal government had been cut by $200 billion.
