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Jamestown
Established in 1607 by young men of the Virginia Company in search of Gold. Jamestown was the first permanent settlement in the New World by colonists. At first they were plagued by disease, hunger and war with the Natives but John Rolfe's marriage to Pocahontas and the discovery of Tobacco as a cash crop quieted these issues. The Headright System attracted much needed new settlers by offering 50 acres to any man who would pay their way to Virginia. -
Pilgrims/Puritains
The Massachusetts Colony Puritans saw their colony to be a "City Upon a Hill", one watched by all, so they must be perfect citizens. John Winthrop led them to found Boston. Separatists, left Europe in search of religious freedom, however only wanted to be with fellow Puritans. Ended up in Massachusetts, before landing they signed the Mayflower Compact, the first formal government in the New World. The Halfway Covenant was an attempt to draw people back into the church after the first generation. -
Mercantilism/Salutary Neglect
The British Crown created a trade system whereby Americans provided raw goods to Britain, and Britain used the raw goods to produce manufactured goods that were sold in European markets and back to the colonies. Avoided strict laws and policy to keep the colonies obedient to the Crown. -
Bacon's Rebellion
The first rebellion in the Americas led by Nathaniel Bacon against William Berkeley, the governor of Virginia. They rebelled due to Berkeley's shoddy leadership and neglect of Indian attacks It mostly consisted of discontented frontiersmen along with indentured servants and slaves. The presents of slaves and indentured servants rebelling scared ruling class, tightening racial tension. -
Great Awakening
The spread of the evangelical and revitalization movement across America in the 1730s and 1740s. Salvation from Jesus Christ became very important. It caused divides in the Puritan church, establishing the Congregational church and the Presbyterian church. It didn't really affect non Puritans. It increased the number of slaves converted to Christianity. -
Deism
The belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and George Washington were all Deists. -
French and Indian War Effects
The Navigation Acts called an ending to Salutary neglect by the Crown and the beginning of American resentment of their overlords. The Proclamation of 1763 restricted settling pasted the Appalachian Mountains. This infuriated colonists because they just fought the French and Indian War for the right to settle those lands. Most colonists ignored this and settled there anyway. The Crown began enforcing Acts such as the Stamp Act on colonists, adding taxes and further angering them to revolution. -
Revolutionary War
This war was fought between the 13 American Colonies and Great Britain over the Colonies' independence. The colonists famously used Guerrilla warfare to combat the better trained British force. While this helped, they still stood no match against the superior British army and their better funded campaign until the French joined in. They brought finance, a Navy to compete with the Brits and strong Generals like Rochambeau & Lafeyette. -
Declaration of Independence
Claimed independent sovereignty in the Thirteen Colonies, separate from the British Crown. They formed a new nation: The United States of America. It gave us our basic freedoms and rights to be protected for time to come and is widely considered to be our most important document to date. Held many of the ideals of famous Enlightenment figures, such as John Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau & Adam Smith. -
Articles of Confederation
Made it very difficult to get things done; 9/13 states to pass legislation, 1 house body of delegates, no president or judiciary, and could only declare war, conduct foreign affairs and make peace. Couldn't tax. No amendments made because it was nearly impossible. Very weak form of government. Shay's rebellion made the problems in society more clear and enlightened people to the flaws of the articles. -
Land Ordinance of 1785; Land Ordinance of 1787
1785: Congress was unable to tax under the Articles of Confederation, so they had to find other ways. The Ordinance of 1785 allowed settlers to purchase land in the unsettled West, giving us the revenue needed in lieu of taxes. 1787: Created the first organized territory, the Northwest Territory, pushing Westward expansion and eventually adding 5 new states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. -
Constitution
Strengthened the federal government through establishing balances of power, via the Judicial, the Legislative (further divided into the House of Representatives and Senate) and the Executive branches. Put federal government's say above States. More centralized power and government. Consisted of a bill of rights. This divided the Nation into Federalists and Anti-Federalists (Democratic-Republicans). Beginning of North/South divide & States/Federal. the next amendments safeguard important rights. -
Founding Father's Attitude Toward Political Parties
Founding Fathers did not anticipate or desire the existence of political parties, viewing them as "factions" dangerous to the public interest, especially George Washington, who lamented the danger of dividing the Nation in such a way. Were they right? I think so. Exhibit A: Donald Trump. -
Hamilton Economic Policies
As Treasury Secretary, Hamilton designed a financial system that made the United States the best credit risk in the western world. The paramount problem facing Hamilton was a huge national debt. He proposed that the government assume the entire debt of the federal government and the states. -
Bill of Rights -- Purpose and Timing
James Madison is the primary author, and is considered the father of the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was added to the United States Constitution to guarantee the protection of the people from a strong central government. It served as a compromise between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists to achieve the ratification of the Constitution. -
Washington's Neutrality Proclamation
Washington declared the the US would be Neutral between all European powers, due to their small military and new country with greater issues at hand. Jefferson agreed peace was necessary but didn't want to make a proclamation stating it. Federalists were for it. -
Eli Whitney
Invented the Cotton Gin, making the cotton industry more efficient and successful. This increased the demand for the slave trade and made slavery continue past what it probably would have lasted. interchangeable parts made production and fixing broken things easier. -
British Violations of Treaty of Paris
In the Northwest territory, the British did not give up control but instead maintained a force in Detroit. They used their influence with Native Americans to destabilize the region - even buying scalps of American colonists killed by the Indians - especially in Kentucky. Britain retained control in this region arguing that Americans had failed to live up to their bargain to compensate Loyalists for confiscated property. -
Washington's Farewell Address
Washington urged Americans to avoid excessive political party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances with other nations. The speech was very brief and to the point. -
Alien and Sedation Act
A series of laws known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and signed into law by Federalist President, President Adams. These laws included new powers to deport foreigners as well as making it harder for new immigrants to vote. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison also secretly drafted the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions denouncing the federal legislation. Many other state legislatures strongly opposed these resolutions. -
Cult of Domesticity
The cult of domesticity is an opinion about women in the 1800s prevalent among the upper and middle classes. They believed that women should stay at home and should not do any work outside of the home. There were four things they believed that women must have: piety, purity, domesticity, and submissiveness. The idea was that the woman being the center of the family. Very sexist and bigoted. -
Election of 1800, Significance
he first peaceful transition of political power between opposing parties in U.S. history and really World History, however, the election of 1800 had far-reaching significance. Jefferson appreciated the momentous change and his inaugural address called for reconciliation by declaring that, we are all Republicans, we are all Federalists. This sentiment of unity is one that deteriorated for 60 years, until it was too much to settle with words. Also known as the Revolution of 1800. -
Marbury v. Madison
A very important Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the government. -
Louisiana Purchase
Thomas Jefferson feared the French coming back, so he spent 15 million on America's largest land grab yet. This also settled some debts to France. But before the purchase was finalized, the decision faced Federalist Party opposition; they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory. Jefferson agreed that the U.S. Constitution did not contain explicit provisions for acquiring territory, but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient. -
War of 1802
The immediate causes of the War of 1812 were a series of economic sanctions taken by the British and French against the US as part of the Napoleonic Wars and American outrage at the British practice of impressment, especially after the Chesapeake incident of 1807. -
American System/Clay-Whig Policies
The system featured three parts: a tariff to protect and promote American industry; a national bank to foster commerce; and federal subsidies for roads, canals, and other "internal improvements" to develop profitable markets for agriculture. the Whigs supported the supremacy of Congress over the Presidency and favored a program of modernization, banking, and economic protectionism to stimulate manufacturing. -
Hartford Convention
Meetings by Federalist leaders in Hartford Connecticut about their grievances over the war of 1812 and he political problems arising from the federal government's increasing power. They discussed succeeding from the union. Discussed removing the 3/5th compromise. This got out and was overshadowed by Andrew Jackson. This was the end of Federalists as a major political party. -
Lowell System
The Lowell system was a labor model employed in the United States, particularly in New England, during the early years of the American textile industry in the early 19th century. The system used domestic labor, often referred to as mill girls, who came to the new textile centers from rural towns to earn more money than they could at home. Importantly employed women. -
Compromise of 1820/Mo. Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri for admission as a slave state. States were evenly divided. Congress passed a bill granting Missouri statehood as a slave state under the condition that slavery was to be forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36th parallel, which runs approximately along the southern border of Missouri. -
Andrew Jackson
He was the 7th president of the United States. He was very harsh towards Indians, relocated them to OK in an event called the Trail of Tears. He also made it so all white men could vote, not only land-owners. He sought to destroy the second bank of the US because he thought his policy on it had gotten him elected. This started Pet banks, state banks that received deposits of federal money. This led to the Panic of 1837. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is the best known U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in December 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs. Its stated objective was to free the newly independent colonies of Latin America from European intervention and avoid situations which could make the New World a battleground for the Old World powers -
19th Century Authors
Featured Writers such as Emerson Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe, Jack London, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville and Mark Twain. They were the beginning of the Romance movement, focusing on self discovery and our relationship to nature. They tackled social issue of the time too, for example, Mark Twain's Huck Finn was sympathetic to Blacks and showed that they are equal to whites. -
Irish Immigration
They often became precinct leaders in the Democratic Party Organizations, strongly opposed abolition of slavery, and generally favored preserving the Union in 1860, when they voted for Stephen Douglas. After secession in 1861, the Irish Catholic community supported the Confederacy and 20,000 served in the Confederate Army. the Know-Nothing Party, later called the American Party, aimed to restrict immigration and prevent Roman Catholics from holding public office. -
Tariff of Abominations/Nullification Crisis
The "Tariff of Abominations" was a protective tariff designed to protect industry in the northern United States.Industries in the northern United States were being driven out of business by low-priced imported goods; the major goal of the tariff was to protect these industries by taxing those goods. The Nullification Convention declared the tariffs unconstitutional and unenforceable within the state of South Carolina. They said collecting taxes for the tarif would lead to the state's secession. -
Transcendentalism
an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures. -
William Lloyd Garrison
A prominent American abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer, the editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He promoted "immediate emancipation" of slaves in the United States until his dream came true. Then he fought for women's rights -
Manifest Destiny
the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. The Democrats embraced this idea and enforced it (ie Jefferson & Polk). The Whigs opposed territorial expansion because they were fearful of spreading out too widely and they adhered to the concentration of national authority in a limited area -
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. The convention's Declaration of Sentiments was a turning point for Women's Rights. Historic figures such as Elizabeth C. Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Frederick Douglass attended. -
Mexico
Democrat James Polk won the election of 1844, Polk favored the annexation of Texas and Clay opposed. He believed in Manifest destiny and his greedy land grabs led to the American-Mexican War. This was the beginning of the Whig decline. -
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
The treaty that ended the Mexican-American War. The U.S. to pay $15 million to Mexico and to pay off the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to $3.25 million. It gave the United States the Rio Grande as a boundary for Texas, and gave the U.S. ownership of California and a large area comprising roughly half of New Mexico, most of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. -
Popular Sovereignty
the principle that the authority of a state and its government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People), who are the source of all political power. This idea was used in America during the slave vs. free state crisis, leading to Bleeding Kansas. -
Compromise of 1850
Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished, and California was admitted as a Free State. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to decide the issue of slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. Kansas with slavery would violate the Missouri Compromise, which had kept the Union from falling apart for the last thirty-four years. The long-standing compromise would have to be repealed. -
Dred Scott Case
a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on US labor law and constitutional law. It said that an african american, whose ancestors were imported into the U.S., and sold as slaves, whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States. -
John Brown
John Brown was an American abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. He took his sons to the Armory at Harper's Ferry and tried to take the guns and arm the blacks there. This failed and he was murdered after killing militia members. The south sees him as a terrorist and the north sees him as a Martyr. -
Lincoln/Republican Policy on Slavery in 1860
Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States and the first Republican. The Republican party was the theoretical update of the Whig party but was founded to combat slavery and the growing Democratic party. After his election the South succeeded, forming the confederacy and starting the Civil War. -
Civil War
The civil war was fought between the Union states (Northern states) of the United States and the states of the Confederacy (Southern States). Causes of the civil war, include differences between northern and southern states on the idea of slavery, as well as trade, tariffs, and states rights. The North had more people, more money, more supplies and better transportation. The South had better Generals and fought on their home turf. The Brits helped the South at first but then backed out. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Issued by Abraham Lincoln after the Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, two decisive Union victories, Stating that all slaves held in the Confederacy are free. The Emancipation Proclamation led the way to total abolition of slavery in the United States. With the Emancipation Proclamation, the aim of the war changed to include the freeing of slaves in addition to preserving the Union. -
Post Civil War Southern Society
The Southern Economy shifted from agrarian to more industrial due to the lower demand for cotton since India became a United Kingdom colony and productive producer of cotton. Blacks, now freed, work as Sharecroppers which isn't much better than slavery. In the United States, the Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866, after the Civil War. These laws restricted African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt. -
Transcontinental Railroad
This massive public works project provided jobs for many Americans and also connected the new West with the rest of the nation. This led to an influx in westward expansion and settlement along with a massive rise in their economy. Now transcontinental trade is possible. -
Gilded-Age Business Cycles
The period after Reconstruction, the last few decades of the nineteenth century, The Gilded Age was a period of transformation in the economy, technology, government, and social customs of America and an era of corruption, conspicuous consumption, and unfettered capitalism. -
Republican Reconstruction
During Reconstruction, Radical Republicans increasingly took control, led by Sumner and Stevens. They demanded harsher measures in the South, and more protection for the Freedmen, and more guarantees that the Confederate nationalism was totally eliminated. Following Lincoln's assassination in 1865, Andrew Johnson, a former War Democrat, became President. They were in charge of the "Corrupt Bargain", electing Rutherford B. Hayes and effectively ending the reconstruction period. -
Social Darwinism
Ideas of Scientist Charles Darwin stolen and repurposed by white supremacists and racists to justify their poor treatment of minorities. This is used to justify slavery first then segregation later. Groups such as the Klu Klux Klan say this is justification for their horrid acts. -
Southern and Eastern Europe Immigrants
A new wave of immigrants, from eastern and southern Europe, frightened Americans because of the emigrant's customs, different faiths, illiteracy, and poverty.They were a new group of immigrants coming into the United States that consisted of Italians, Slavs, Greeks and Jews. There was tension due to their different religious background (mostly Catholic while old world Americans were protestant). -
Laissez Faire Economics
This principle is that the less the government is involved in the economy, the better off business will be – and by extension, society as a whole. Laissez-faire economics are a key part of free market capitalism. "A Conservative Approach to the Industrial Revolution". -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. Those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted United States citizenship. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891, in 1898 by the Curtis Act, and again in 1906 by the Burke Act. This was one of the first acts to give natives rights as opposed to stripping them from them. -
Gospel of Wealth
The Gospel of Wealth", is an article written by Andrew Carnegie in June of 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. Carnegie proposed that the best way of dealing with the new phenomenon of wealth inequality was for the wealthy to redistribute their surplus means in a responsible and thoughtful manner. Other rich Americans follow this doctrine and tie it to their religious duty to society. -
Titans of Industry
The work of the early American business titans, Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan and Henry Ford led to American prosperity and economic dominance. They managed either as a tall company, where they were the only people selling something, buying out competition or they own all levels of production, some even achieving both. Carnegie - Steel, Rockefeller - Oil, Vanderbilt - railroad, Henry Ford - car, Morgan - banking. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law passed by Congress in 1890. Passed under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison, it allowed certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be competitive, and recommended the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts. The law forbade any "restraint of commerce" across state lines, and courts ruled that union strikes and boycotts were covered by the law. -
Populism
Populism is a political doctrine that proposes that the common people are exploited by a privileged elite, and which seeks to resolve this. Its goal is uniting the uncorrupt and the unsophisticated "little man" against the corrupt dominant elites and their camp of followers. It is guided by the belief that political and social goals are best achieved by the direct action of the masses. When they supported William Jennings Bryan as their presidential candidate they alienated Blacks, losing steam. -
Frederick Douglass Compared to Du Bois
Both were famous abolitionists who came out against slavery out against slavery in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Du Bois is more focused on creating a community and having better education, while Douglass wanted equality by law and fought more for all peoples rights, even appearing at the women civil rights rally in Seneca Falls. -
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in Cuba. Yellow Journalism played a big role, inciting anger and outrage among Americans. This led to the acquisition of the Philippines as an American colony. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy is a term in foreign affairs initially used to refer to the United States policy established in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, as enunciated in Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note, dated September 6, 1899 and dispatched to the major European powers. -
Growth of Cities
The increase of the percentage of the population living in cities rather than rural areas. It is closely linked to industrialization. Cities provided a supply of labor for factories and a large market for factory made goods. serious industrial overhaul occurred during the late 19th and early 20th century in America. By 1920, more Americans were living in urban areas rather than rural areas for the first time. -
Frederick Jackson Turner Thesis
The Frontier Thesis or Turner Thesis, is the argument advanced by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 that American democracy was formed by the American frontier. He stressed the process—the moving frontier line—and the impact it had on pioneers going through the process. -
Progressivism
Progressivism is a philosophy based on the Idea of Progress, which asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development, and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition. Reformers like Teddy Roosevelt or muckrakers like Jacob Riis do this by capturing the essence of the poor and in need. Local governments try to combat the issues raised by them, such as housing and unemployment. -
Ford/Model T/Assembly Line
Ford revolutionizes production with the assembly line, making things far more efficient. He sold his cars at a more affordable price, so people who worked for him could buy them, essentially paying him back their wages. The car makes transportation easier and more accessible and reasonable. -
League of Nations
A International organization established after WWI. The US refuses to join due to its lack of a military to enforce its decisions despite Woodrow Wilson's insistence on its importance and support for world peace. Congress denies. Mostly just Western Europe. -
Post WWI Attitude of Americans
Americans felt like they were on the top of the world and invincible, leading to the downfall of our economic boom in the twenties to the depression of the 30s. There was an economic boom in the twenties that led to the financial success of the country in this time. -
Naval Building Limitations
The Washington Naval Treaty was a treaty among the major nations that had won World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Naval Conference, held in Washington, D.C., from November 1921 to February 1922, and it was signed by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, France, and Italy. -
Mellon Economic Politics
The Mellon Plan was economic legislation passed by Congress in 1924 reducing taxes on the wealthy and businesses, advocating high tariffs and cuts in government spending and corporate taxes. Warren Harding was the 29th American President who served in office from March 4, 1921 to August 2, 1923. This is part of the Laissez-Faire politics of Republicans of the time. -
Scopes Trial and Cultural Conflict
The Scopes Trial was an American legal case in July 1925 in which a substitute high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. William Jennings Bryan, three-time presidential candidate, argued for the prosecution, while Clarence Darrow, the famed defense attorney, spoke for Scopes. This rose the debate of religion v. science. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact is a 1928 international agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them." Parties failing to abide by this promise "should be denied of the benefits furnished by this treaty." Parties failing to abide by this promise "should be denied of the benefits furnished by this treaty." It was signed by Germany, France, and the United States in August 1928 -
Great Depression
The Great Depression was an economic slump in North America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. It was the longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. The Laissez-Faire economics led to the stock market crash in 1929 that led to a long period of financial upheaval. -
1920s Literature
F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway were among the most popular writers of the decade. Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby remains an American classic. This period of writers were called the Lost Generation because they lost many of their youth to the war.In 1930, Sinclair Lewis became the first writer from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. -
1930s Isolationism
Due to the European debt, America tried to steer clear of conflict abroad. We gained this policy from Woodrow Wilson and his management of the US in WWI. It worked for us so we kept it up. It makes financial sense too, until war economy booms. Our isolationism made WWII last longer and allowed more horrid things to happen under Hitler. -
Hoover Attitude Toward Welfare and Handouts
He thought they were cheap and was cheating the government. People should fend for themselves. He wanted more job opportunity and to help out the rich so they could make jobs for the unemployed -
FDR
The 32nd president of the United States. FDR had a record breaking productive 100 days. Herbert Hoover, a conservative who believed in limited government and a laissez-faire economy. FDR was the opposite. He doubled the size of the government with the New Deal. He attempted to add members to the Supreme Court to give Dems an edge but it failed. Good Neighbor Policy was a warning to the world not to mess with the New World. Lend-Lease allowed us to remain neutral while helping the war effort. -
Labor Unions
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is a national trade union center and the largest federation of unions in the United States. The AFL–CIO engages in substantial political spending and activism. John Lewis was the dominant voice shaping the labor movement in the 1930s. Samuel Gompers was another union leader. The Wagner Act established the National Labor Relations Board and addressed relations between unions and employers in the private sector. -
Neutrality Act
The Neutrality Acts were laws passed in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 to limit U.S. involvement in future wars. They were based on the widespread disillusionment with World War I in the early 1930s and the belief that the United States had been drawn into the war through loans and trade with the Allies. -
WWII Draft and Difference from WWI Draft
There were however some issues (as I remember from my American history class). WW1 saw great difficulty in getting the draft procedure working correctly. This was greatly due to the fact that the US did not participate for very long in WW1, and time to perfect the system was not allotted. There was also a problem with recording exactly who was required to sign up, as it was much easier then to dodge the draft than it was during WW2. -
Truman
Truman ended WWII and dropped the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He continued the work of FDR with the Fair Deal, advancing some of the New Deals programs and banned racial discrimination in gov. He fought with a Republican congress who made it their job to keep him from getting things done. He got us involved in the Korean War and had a policy of containment of communism. He maneuvered the Berlin Airlift, narrowly avoiding war. Truman Doctrine gave money to anti communist greeks. -
World War II
World War II led to an economic boom in America but not without cost. We lost a lot of men and became so paranoid that with executive order 9066, we put Japanese Americans in work camps. Women, however, got opportunity to work with all the men away and gained respect as capable workers. This wouldn't remain once the men get back but they don't go back to where they were before. America has become very racially charged, leading up to the civil rights movement. -
1950s
The 1950s was a time of prosperity in America, a calm before the storm. People started moving to suburbs and commuting to cities so they could start families, causing the baby boom. This was enabled by the GI Bill and the affordability of a house and car. People bought without fear of the market crashing, trusting their society. The latter half rock and roll is born by Chuck Berry, and popularized by Elvis. -
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. This came from the fear of communism in America, leading into the Cold War. The was a time of fear and insecurity in America, bringing out our dark side. It is named after senator Joe McCarthy due to his speech at Wheeling and the HUAC. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, was a landmark constitutional law case of the US Supreme Court. It upheld state racial segregation laws for public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal", while Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. Brown v Board swung the pendulum in the opposite direction: toward change. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was an unmanned satellite the soviets sent into space. They beat the US in the space race with the first unmanned and manned mission to space. However, in 1969 the US landed on the moon. This began the space race and gave science a greater emphasis in schools. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, ending in a stalemate. JFK was concerned with the armament of Cuba by the Soviet Union, fearing their intent was to nuke America. At the brink of nuclear war the soviets turned their ships around and returned to russia -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Assumes the presidency after JFK's assassination. He dedicates his presidency to JFK's legacy, getting his civil rights bill passed posthumously. He also was a big fan of FDR, passing the Great Society. This added Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps among other things. -
Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights movement of the mid to late 60s was in response to the unfair treatment of blacks in America at the time. The Civil Rights act was passed in 1964, followed by the voting rights act in 1965. This progress was achieved by sit-ins, boycotting and marches (i.e. March on Washington) led to school segregation and law changes. Martin Luther King Jr. was the main leader of black civil rights, organizing peaceful protest. Malcom X was another leader who was more militant than MLK. -
Vietnam War
We had been applying arms and funds to South Vietnam to fend off the communist North. LBJ enacted the Gulf of Tonkin, allowing US troops to fight in Vietnam without declaring public war. Nixon takes over and promises "Honorable Peace" but instead continues war. Eventually protests at home become to harsh and he enlists a policy called Vietnamization, training the South Vietnamese arm with American Troops then with drawing. It fails and the North quickly wins after we leave. -
1960s Protests
Students protested the Vietnam war in schools, famously starting in UC Berkley. Other violent protests were in Kent and Jackson state. The Weathermen were a violent group of radical students associated with the movement. This anger was channeled into the counterculture movement with rock and roll, different clothes like jeans and even commune life. People protested the "establishment" and want to distance themselves from it. Women fight for rights, attempting to pass the ERA but falling short.
