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President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth in Ford's Theatre.
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Lincoln dies from the injury in his head.
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Lincoln was buried in Springfield, Illinois. His procession included 1/3 of the country standing outside to watch his hearse go by, traveling through 180 cities on the way to Springfield.
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The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, was founded in Tenessee 1865 by Nathan Bedford Forrest and was later formed in 1866- many Confederate soldiers joined.
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Ulysses S. Grant becomes the new President.
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The 14th Amendment was ratified.
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The 15th Amendment is ratified.
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Yellowstone National Park is created.
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The Panic of 1873 was caused by many things and countries all over the world were affected by it. Some believed that post war depression, the loss of property in the Chicago and Boston fires, and the strain on bank reserves were some of the main reasons for depression in the U.S.
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The Civil Rights Act is passed and signed by President Grant. This allows African Americans to have equal treatment in public accomidations and transportation, and prohibits them from being excluded the right to jury services.
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The Battle of Little Big Horn begins. Also known as Custer's Last Stand, or to the Lakota, as the Battle of Greasy Grass.
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The Battle of Little Big Horn ends with 268 casualties and 55 severely wounded American soldiers. Custer is killed.
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Rutherford B. Hayes (Northerner and Republican) ran against Samuel J. Tildon (Southerner and Democrat). The vote was extremely close, but Hayes wins because the people didn't want a "Southerner" to be president.
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Starting in Martinsburg, West Virginia, many workers went on strike because they were angry that they had their 3rd wage cut that year. They wouldn't allow trains, mainly freight trains, to roll until the cut was evoked.
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The U.S. population exceeds 50 million between 38 states.
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James A. Garfield (republican candidate) wins the election over Winfield S. Hancock (democratic candidate).
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Sitting Bull leads the last group of his tribe and surrenders to the U.S. at Fort Buford, Montana.
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The Brooklyn Bridge is opened after 14 years of building.
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Pearl Harbor Naval Base is leased by the U.S. Navy with the approval of the U.S. Senate.
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The Washington Monument is officially open to the public.
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People didn't put their hand over their heart when the Plegde of Allegiance was first introduced. Francis Bellamy, the creator of the first edition of the Pledge, described his perfect ideal of a salute to be used during the recital, later to be called the "Bellamy Salute". It ended up resembling that of the German salute to Hitler (shown in the picture) -both were a version of an old Roman salute.
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The first time the Pledge of Allegiance is recited in U.S. public school, marking the 400th anniversary of Colombus Day.
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The New York Stock Exchange collapsed, starting a financial panic, and leading to a four year depression.
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Women in Colorado are granted the right to vote.
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The first U.S. automobile patent is given to George B. Selden for his two stroke automobile engine.
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Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discovered gold near Dawson, Canada. This led to the organization of the Klondike Gold Rush, which caused a boom in travel and gold fever all the way from Seattle, Washington up to Skagway, Alaska.
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William McKinley (Republican) wins with 271 Electoral College votes against William J. Bryan (Democrat) who only had 176.
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Oil is discovered for the first time on Indian territory, leased by the Osage tribe, leading to a hasty growth in population near Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
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The first underground public transportation system in North America, the subway, is created in Boston, Massachusetts.
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The US battleship Maine explodes for unknown reasons in Havana Harbor, Cuba, killing 252 seamen.
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A hurricane in Galveston, Texas had winds of 135 miles per hour. It killed 8,000 people and, today, would have been a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
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Benjamin Holt invents the first successful field tractor.
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Charles Curtis takes office as the first Native American Senator.
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The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People group is formed during the National Conference of the Negro meeting.
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Boy Scouts of America is founded.
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The first and only flight the Wright brothers took together was at Huffman Prairie Flying Field in Dayton, Ohio.
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The first time cargo was hauled by air-craft. It was hauled from Huffman and delivered to Columbus, Ohio.
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Eugene B. Ely lands his plane on USS Pennsylvania in the San Francisco Harbor. This was the first time a plane was landed on a ship.
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The American Girl Guides is formed. One year later it is renamed Girl Scouts.
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Woodrow Wilson, a democrat, wins the election against former President Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft.
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The 16th Amendment is ratified, allowing the Federal government treasury to impose an income tax.
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There would now be direct election of US Senators.
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The 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg is commemorated.
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The first moving assembly line is introduced for mass production by Ford Motor Company. This allowed production time to decrease by nearly 10 hours per vehicle.
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Babe Ruth makes his big debut in Major League Baseball.
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Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson conducted the first telephone conversation between San Francisco and New York.
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The U.S. Coast Guard is established which replaced the former responsibilities of the U.S. Life-Saving Services.
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A German U-boat submarine sinks a British ship, the Lusitania, which killed 128 Americans that were on board. Germany apologized to the U.S. and promised them payments for the incident.
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The Rural Credits Act is passed which would give financial aid to farmers.
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The United States buys the Virgin Islands for $25 million dollars from Denmark.
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Another bill, the Warehouse Act, is passed which helped strengthen the Rural Credits Act.
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Woodrow Wilson wins his second term as President over Republican nominee Charles E. Hughes.
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The U.S. Congress declares war on Germany, joining forces with the allies, beginning WWI.
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The 18th Amendment is passed, prohibiting any alcoholic beverages from being drank or made throughout the entire U.S.
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The United States Post Office Department begins delivering mail by aircraft. Airmail was regularly delivered between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington.
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World War I is officially over after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
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Women are granted the right to vote when the 19th Amendment is ratified. It is also referenced as the Susan B. Anthony Amendment because of how much effort she put into making the amendment happen.
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The first ever election is held where women have the right to vote. Warren G. Harding had a huge win over James M. Cox with 16 million popular votes to 9 million and 404 Electoral votes to 127. This brought the Republican Party back into the White House.
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Reader's Digest is established and the first one is published by Dewitt and Lila Wallace.
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The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
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Time Magazine is published for the first time.
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Warner Brothers Pictures, aka Warner Bros., is incorporated.
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Calvin Coolidge, current Vice President, steps into office to take the place of President Warren G. Harding when he suddenly dies from an illness.
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All Indians are designated citizens by legislation passed in the U.S. Congress and signed by President Calvin Coolidge. The Indian Citizenship Act granted this right to all Native Americans that had been born within the territory of the United States.
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Work on the gigantic sculpture of Mount Rushmore begins and is completed 14 years later.
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The first appearance of Mickey and Minnie Mouse on film occurs with the release of the animated short film, Plane Crazy.
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In Chicago, Illinois, gangsters working for Al Capone kill seven rivals and citizens in the act known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
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Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food with his quick-freezing process and patents the concept.
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The Star-Spangled Banner, by Francis Scott Key, is approved by President Hoover and Congress as the national anthem.
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Democratic challenger Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent President Hoover in the presidential election.
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The Civilian Conservation Corps is authorized under the Federal Unemployment Relief Act. It would provide work for 2.5 million men during the next 9 years, and help construct many national parks and other projects across the United States.
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Prohibition ends when the 21st Amendment is passed.
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FDR issues a presidential proclamation that designates Fort Jefferson National Monument, now known as Dry Tortugas National Park.
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Babe Ruth, the greatest hitter in the history of baseball, retires from MLB.
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William Henry Hastie is appointed to the federal bench, becoming the first African-American to become a federal judge.
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The Appalachian Trail, which is two thousand miles long, from Mount Katahdin, Maine to Springer Mountain, Georgia is completed.
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The final reunion of the Blue and the Gray is held, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
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The United States declares neutrality in the European war (WWII).
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The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited park in the National Park Service today, is officially dedicated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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The U.S. Congress approves and enacts the first peacetime conscription draft.
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President FDR continues his dominance in presidential politics winning his third presidential election, becoming the first man to hold office for three terms.
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Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese. In a matter of 2 hours, 3,581 people were dead, 18 ships were sunk and 174 planes were destroyed.
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The day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the US declared war, officially joining WWII.
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Executive order 9066 is signed into law by President FDR, confining 110,000 Japanese Americans, including 75,000 citizens, on the West Coast into relocation camps during World War II, lasting 3 years.
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Race riots in Detroit and Harlem cause forty deaths and seven hundred injuries.
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The Normandy Invasion, D-Day, occurs when one hundred and fifty-five thousand Allied troops, including American forces and those of eleven other Allied nations land in France, storming the beaches and begin the World War II invasion of Europe that would lead to the liberation of Paris. Operation Overlord gained footing quickly, pushing through the Atlantic Wall in the largest amphibious military operation in history.
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President Roosevelt dies suddenly leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman to assume the presidency and role as commander in chief of World War II.
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President Harry S. Truman gives the go-ahead for the use of the atomic bomb with the bombing of Hiroshima. Three days later, the second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.