-
Oregon Dispute
A territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had to compete for territorial and commercial aspirations over the region. -
Annexation of Texas
Annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America as the 28th state. -
Manifest Destiny
It was the belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents (mainly the west) was both justified and inevitable. -
Oregon Territory Treaty
This agreement set the boundary between the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel as the border between the two countries. -
Wilmot Provisio
Wilmot Proviso prohibited the expansion of slavery into any territory acquired by the US from Mexico as a result of the Mexican American war settlement. -
Mormon trek ends
Future immigrants were able to travel by rail, and the era of the Mormon pioneer trail came to an end. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
This ended the war between the United States and Mexico. It gave Mexicans the right to remain in United States territory or to move to Mexico. -
Seneca Falls Convention
First women's rights convention. This group launched the women’s suffrage movement which later led to women gaining the right to vote. -
California Gold Rush
The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad led on by the belief of becoming wealthy from gold. -
Compromise of 1850
Package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress that dealt with the issue of slavery and territorial expansion. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. Stowe’s main goal was to convince the large Northern readership of the necessity of ending slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Repealed the Missouri Compromise and created the territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska -
Bleeding Kansas
A series of violent civil confrontations in the United States between 1854 and 1861. -
Sumner-Brooks Affair
Brooks beat Sumner with a cane on the floor of the United States Senate in retaliation for an anti-slavery speech in which Sumner verbally attacked Brooks's second cousin, Sout. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom. -
John Brown's Raid in Harper's Ferry
This was an initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. -
Lincoln Election
Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth President of the United States. He is remembered as a civil rights leader and abolished slavery. -
South Carolina Secedes
South Carolina held a secession convention in Columbia, then moved to Charleston. Almost everyone voted on secede from the Union or no longer be part of the United States. -
Crittenden Compromise
Crittenden Compromise was an unsuccessful proposal to permanently enshrine slavery in the United States Constitution -
Fort Summer
The confederate government told the Union soldiers to leave Fort Sumter, which was in the Charleston harbor. United States army refused to leave, so confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter before the supply ships could arrive that President Lincoln has sent. -
Homestead Act
This act provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The proclamation declared by Abraham Lincoln states "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Gettysburg
Started when Robert E. Lee planned to get some leverage in the North by forcing Northern politicians to stop prosecuting the war. This was considered the most important engagement of the American Civil War. -
Copperheads
Opposed the American Civil War and wanted an immediate peace settlement with the Confederates -
Battle of Vicksburg
This battle was a decisive Union victory during the American Civil War. It gave control of the Mississippi River, the main water transportation source to the Union. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
A military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia. -
Transcontinental Railroad Act
A series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" -
Indian Massacre at Sand Creek, Colorado
Massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars. Caused by the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of Eastern Colorado. -
Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse
Robert E. Lee surrenders to Grant. This was one of the last battles of the American Civil War. -
Freedmen's Bureau
An agency created by the government that helped protected newly freed African Americans find jobs, homes, education. Basically to help them seek a better life. -
Black Codes
Prevented blacks from serving in state military, prohibited interracial marriage between whites and blacks, mandated and regulated labor contracts between whites and free blacks. These laws basically restricted Africans from certain actions. -
Reconstruction Acts
divided the South into five military districts governed by previous Union generals. This was to put officers in charge of making sure states rewrote their constitutions. -
Andrew Johnson Impeached
He was impeached due to "high crimes and misdemeanors," which were detailed in 11 articles of impeachment. -
Knights of Labor Founded
Was the first major labor organization held in the US. It organized unskilled and skilled workers. It operated in the United States as well in Canada and had chapters also in Great Britain and Australia. -
Standard Oil Founded
Founded by John Rockefeller, it was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, a marketing company. -
Tweed Ring Exposed
Tweed Reign was a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Tweed was arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud. -
Ku Klux Klan Act
Brokedown its power temporarily in parts of the former confederacy. No serious effort was made to stop the KKK in the black belt. -
Credit Mobilier Exposed
It was involved in a scandal in which high government officials were accused of accepting bribes. The bribery arose from the fact that Credit mobilier was used to overcharge the price of constructing the railroad massively. -
Battle of Little BigHorn
Native American forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the US army troops near Southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. These proved Natives were stronger than US forces at this time. -
Ruthford B. Hayes Election
Republican majority, chose to award the disputed electoral votes to Hayes. He attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and began the efforts that led to the civil service reform. -
Bland-Allison Act
An act of the United States Congress requiring the U.S. Treasury to buy a certain amount of silver and put it into circulation as silver dollars. -
Tuskegee Institute (Booker T. Washington)
Tuskegee Institute was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881 under a charter from the Alabama legislature for the purpose of training teachers in Alabama. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Was an immigration law passed in 1882 that prevented Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States. It was the first major act restricting immigration to the US. -
Social Darwinism
the theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals. -
American Federation of Labor (Samuel Gompers)
A labor union formed in 1886 by Samuel Gompers in order to voice the working class. It fought against labor forces and debated work conditions for skilled workers. -
Dawes Severalty Act
An act that removed Indian land from tribal possession, redivided it, and distributed it among individual Indian families. Designed to break trivial mentalities and promote individualism. -
Hull House (Jane Addams)
A settlement house location in Chicago founded by Jane Addams; Hull House became a model for settlement houses around the country. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
United States antitrust law that regulates competition among enterprises. It was the first major legislation passed to address oppressive business practices associated with cartels and oppressive monopolies. -
How the Other Half Lives (Jacob Rils)
Stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb poor conditions in tenement housing. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
A domestic massacre of several hundred Lakota Indians, almost half of whom were women and children. -
Populist Party Organized
promoted collective economic action by farmers, as well as the Greenback Party. -
Homestead Steel Strike
Homestead massacre, was an industrial lockout and strike. It was one of the most violent strikes in US history. It was against Homestead Steel workers, which was a part of the Carnegie Steel Company, in Pennsylvania in retaliation against wage cuts. -
Pullman Strike
A nationwide nonviolent strike brought about a shutdown of western railroads, which took place against the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities. -
Yellow Journalism
journalism that exploits distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers. -
Spanish American War
armed conflict between Spain and the United States in 1898. Main contributions: Yellow Journalism, Sinking of the U.S.S Maine, Protection of American business interest in Cuba -
Teller Amendment
The amendment was an amendment to this declaration which declared that when the United States had overthrown Spanish rule of Cuba it would give Cubans their freedom -
Open Door Policy in China
European powers that stated each of those countries should have equal access to Chinese trade. -
Theodore Roosevelt becomes president (starts Progressive Era)
Roosevelt had served as president from 1901 to 1909, becoming increasingly progressive in the later years of his presidency. -
Platt Amendment
An amendment between the US and Spain, stating that US would end military occupation of Cuba. -
Big Stick Diplomacy
Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy of threatening the use of military force in Latin America. -
Ford Motor Company Founded
American multinational automaker. The ford motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and his 11 investors. -
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
nations of the Western Hemisphere not open to colonization by European powers, but that the United States had the responsibility to preserve order and protect life and property in those countries. -
Niagara Movement (W.E.B. Du Bois)
African civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of civil rights activists, led
by WEB Du Bois. -
Pure food and Drug Act
Act to protect the public against adulteration of foods and from products identified as healthful without specific support. -
Meat Inspection Act
The act was passed to set strict standards of cleanliness in the meat packaging industry. -
NAACP formed
civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a bi-racial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans. -
Dollar Diplomacy
form of American foreign policy to minimize the use or threat of military force. -
Bull Moose Party Formed
Progressive Party was a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former president Theodore Roosevelt. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
act that defines unethical business practices, such as price-fixing and monopolies, and upholds various rights of labor. -
U.S. Neutrality Proclaimed
proclaims neutrality in World War I. As World War I erupts in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson formally proclaims the neutrality of the United States, a position that a vast majority of Americans favored. -
Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith
Film in the belief that the US emerged from the American Civil War and Reconstruction as a unified nation. It portrayed the Civil War with both dramatic and battle scenes and tells the story of two families on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line. -
Sussex Pledge
Pledged not to attack a merchant ship without warning. -
Keating-Owen Act
address child labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods produced by factories that employed children under fourteen. -
U.S. Declares war on Germany
declaration of war against the German Empire because of the Zimmermann Note and the unrestricted submarine warfare. -
Bolshevik Revolution
key event that pitted the United States and the Soviet Union against each other for the next seventy years. It was the foundation for a face off between the two nations that would emerge as the world's superpowers. -
Wilson's Fourteen Points
a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. -
Worldwide Influenza Epidemic
killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. -
League of Nations debated in U.S.
League of Nations- idealism versus pragmatism, the responsibilities of powerful nations, the use of force to accomplish idealistic goals, the idea of America.