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Revolutionary Struggle
President Lincoln issues the final Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in territories held by Confederates and emphasizes the enlisting of black soldiers in the Union Army. The war to preserve the Union now becomes a revolutionary struggle for the abolition of slavery. -
The U.S. Congress
The U.S. Congress enacts a draft, affecting male citizens aged 20 to 45, but also exempts those who pay $300 or provide a substitute. "The blood of a poor man is as precious as that of the wealthy," poor Northerners complain. -
The Union Army
The Union Army under Gen. Hooker is decisively defeated by Lee's much smaller forces at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia as a result of Lee's brilliant and daring tactics. Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson is mortally wounded by his own soldiers. Hooker retreats. Union losses are 17,000 killed, wounded and missing out of 130,000. The Confederates, 13, 000 out of 60,000. -
Reconstruction (Congress Passes)
Congress Passes
1867 Congress passes First and Second Reconstruction Acts Congress passes Tenure of Office Act -
Reconstruction (Representatives)
House of Representatives impeaches Andrew Johnson Senate acquits Johnson Fourteenth Amendment is ratified Ulysses S. Grant is elected president -
Gilded Age (Grant Elected President)
Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeats Democrat Horatio Seymour and is elected president of the United States. Grant receives 214 of 294 votes in the Electoral College. But his margin of victory in the popular vote is only 306,000 out of 5.7 million votes cast. The support of 500,000 recently enfranchised southern black voters accounts for Grant's victory. -
Gilded Age (Standard Oil)
John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company is incorporated in Ohio. Rockefeller has been active in the oil business since 1863. Standard Oil was first formed as a partnership in 1868. -
Reconstruction (Fiftheenth Amendment)
Fiftheenth Amendment
13 Oct 1870 1870 Fifteenth Amendment is ratified -
Gilded Age (Curtis Heads Civil Service Commission)
President Ulysses S. Grant names George William Curtis to head the Civil Service Commission. Curtis, as editor of Harper's Weekly, has condemned political corruption and advocated imitation of the British system of awarding government positions on the basis of performance on a written test. The commission's recommendations will be disregarded and Curtis will resign in 1875. -
Industrialization (Steel Mill)
With the completion of a steel mill in America, a cheaper,stronger steel could now be used buildings, equipment, and transportation. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama all became industrialized states during this period and people began rapidly moving to the cities due to an industrial boom. -
Industrialization ( Connecting Industry)
During this period many new inventions were taking industry by storm. Over 440,000 were granted in the US. One notable invention was the telephone which allowed an Industrial Headquarters to contact a smaller branch in a matter of seconds. This greatly increased the efficiency and profitability of a company. -
Industrialization (Immigration)
During the period from 1880 to 1900, a flux of immigrants came over to America and was called the age of mass immigration. Due to this immense population increase, industrial employers could now pay lower wages and make more profits, allowing companies to expand. -
Imperialism (Tariff)
enacted by Congress which created a crisis by ending Hawaii’s favored position in the sugar trade. The law permitted all countries to ship sugar duty-free to the United States. It also gave sugar producers in the United States a subsidy of two cents per pound. This caused sugar prices to drop, and the Hawaiian economy suffered. -
Imperialism (Spanish American War)
the journal published a letter written by Spain’s minister to the United States, which was intercepted by a Cuban spy and sold to Hearst. This letter ridiculed McKinley as “weak, and a bidder for the admiration of the crowd.” The nation teetered on the brink of war until a tragedy in Cuba pushed it over the edge. The battleship USS Maine had been sent to Havana to protect US lives and property. On February 15 the Maine blew up, killing 260 -
Imperialism (Teller Amendment)
stated that once Cuba won its independence from Spain, the US would “leave the government and control of the Island to its people.” -
World War 1 (Germany Declare)
Germany declared war on France and invaded Belgium. Germany had to implement the Schlieffen Plan. -
World War 1 (The war Still Goes On)
Britain declared war on Germany -
World War 1(Trench warfare)
Turkey entered the war on Germany’s side. Trench warfare started to dominate the Western Front. -
Roaring 20's (Prohibition Begins)
Prohibition in the United States, was the period from 1920 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol was banned in the US as said in the 18th Amendment. Prohibition was aimed to lower crime and corruption, reduce social problems, and improve health and hygiene in America. However, Prohibtion made alcohol more dangerous to consume. Organized crime increased and corruption of police and public officials occurred. -
Roaring 20's (Conference)
Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes initiated talks on naval disarmament, hoping to stabilize the size of the U.S Navy relative to that of other powers and to resolve conflicts in the Pacific. -
Roaring 20's (Five Power Naval Treaty)
The leading Post-WWI naval powers of Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the United States concluded a landmark agreement that was intended to slow the Naval arms race and reduce the possibilities for future wars by limiting the naval armaments of its five signatories. The results of this treaty were significant as major world powers voluntarily reduced their navies. -
Great Depression (Unemployment Low)
Unemployment Low in 1929
Unemployment averages 3.2% for the year 1929 -
Great Depression (Wall Street Crash)
The American stock market collapses, signaling the onset of the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average peaks in September 1929 at 381.17—a level that it will not reach again until 1954. The Dow will bottom out at a Depression-era low of just 41.22 in 1932. -
Great Depression (Major Bank Collapse)
New York's Bank of the United States collapses in the largest bank failure to date in American history.[M31] $200 million in deposits disappear, and the bank's customers are left holding the bag. -
World War 2
October 25–November 1, 1936
Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25; on November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced. -
World War 2 (Communist Movement)
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement. -
World War 2 (Agreement)
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including the key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany. -
Cold War
First East European Communist government set up in Albania. -
Cold War (Nato)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established. Aug. Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb. Oct. Communists win Chinese Civil War. -
Cold War (SEATO)
U.S. sponsored coup overthrows Guatemalan government.
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed. -
Civil Rights Movement (Greensboro sit-ins)
four young African-American men, students at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College, go to a Woolworth in Greensboro, North Carolina, and sit down at a whites-only lunch counter. They order coffee. Despite being denied service, they sit silently and politely at the lunch counter until closing time. Their action marks the start of the Greensboro sit-ins, which sparks similar protests all over the South. -
Civil Rights Movement (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Martin Luther King, Jr., joins a student sit-in at a whites-only restaurant inside of an Atlanta department store, Rich's. He is arrested along with 51 other protesters on the charge of trespassing. On probation for driving without a valid Georgia license (he had an Alabama license), a Dekalb County judge sentences MLK to four months in prison doing hard labor. -
Vietnam War (First US Combat Death)
An American serviceman dies in Vietnam, the first combat death reported. For many Americans, the death will mark the beginning of the Vietnam War. -
Vietnam War (Military Assistance Command Vietnam)
The MAAG is replaced by the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). United States military advisors are authorized to fire if fired upon. By the end of the year, the U.S. military presence in Vietnam will reach 11,000. -
Civil Rights Movement (King's Announcement
King announces that he is leaving Albany. The Albany Movement is generally considered a failure in terms of effecting change, but what King learns in Albany allows him to be successful in Birmingham, Alabama. -
Vietnam War (South Vietnamese Protests)
South Vietnamese police fire shots into a crowd of Buddhist monks demonstrating against President Diem's regime. The event will inspire others to protest.
