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The California Gold Rush was catalyzed by the discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley. This led to a surge in westward immigration, creating boomtowns like San Francisco. This fast rise in population enabled the U.S. to further westward expansion by adding California as a state. The influx of gold and people resulted in the rise of industrial and service industries, as many entrepreneurs capitalized on the rising need for mining equipment, lumber, clothes, and transportation. -
Slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished under the Thirteenth Amendment in all locations subject to U.S. jurisdiction, except when applied as punishment for a crime for which an individual has been lawfully convicted. The Thirteenth Amendment was the first of three Reconstruction Amendments which sought to preserve the rights of newly liberated slaves and guarantee that states provided due process and equal treatment under the law to all people.
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This law imposed a 10-year ban on Chinese laborers entering the country, with the exception of diplomats, educators, students, and tourists. It substantially reduced the amount of Chinese immigrants allowed into the country and outlawed their return by excluding them from U.S. citizenship. It marks the first time that federal legislation prohibited the immigration of an ethnic labor group on the premise of race. -
Homestead was a steel factory owned by Andrew Carnegie in Pennsylvania. Tension between workers and management began to rise over the new wage decrease given to the workers. The workers went on strike, effectively shutting down the factory; this resulted in Carnegie hiring the Pinkertons to get rid of the strikers. A conflict that lasted days broke out, leaving several dead and a national guard presence to break up the fight. -
The Pullman Strike began with a walkout of Pullman Palace Car Company factory employees following the failure of negotiations over declining wages and poor working conditions. Members of the American Railway Union representing the strikers succeeded in crippling the American railroad network west of Chicago by refusing to operate the widely used Pullman cars. This initial boycott resulted in widespread strikes by train workers across the country.
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This war brought an end to Spain's colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and established the United States as a Pacific power. Following U.S. victory, the Spanish were forced to surrender their territorial claim on Cuba and relinquish sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The U.S. also annexed the independent state of Hawaii. As a result, America was able to solidify its power in the Caribbean area and pursue strategic and economic interests in Asia. -
In 1906, Congress approved the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act, which were signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt. The legislation, beginning in 1907, required hygienic conditions in factories, inspection of animals and meat, and proper labeling to prevent misbranding.
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During an official visit to Sarajevo, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Austria-Hungary's recent annexation of Bosnia infuriated Serbian nationalists, who believed the territory belonged to Serbia. A few young nationalists plotted to assassinate the archduke on his visit; one managed to shoot the royal couple, killing both instantly. The assassinations catalyzed a series of events that resulted in the outbreak of World War I. -
Lasting about 60 years, approximately six million African Americans relocated from the American South to Northern, Midwestern, and Western states. They began this migration in search of better economic and social opportunities. Migrants and their children introduced the Harlem Renaissance, transformed the music industry with the blues music they brought north, desegregated sports, and embraced politics. This migration directly supported the civil rights movement as well.
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The treaty was one of several that formally ended World War I. The Treaty of Versailles established the terms of peace between Germany and the victorious Allies, which included the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The agreement stipulated that Germany would pay financial reparations, disarm themselves, lose land, and relinquish all overseas territories. At the same time, it laid the foundation for the Second World War by bankrupting and enraging Germany. -
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees women's right to vote, often referred to as women's suffrage. The amendment makes it illegal to deny any citizen the right to vote based on their gender, effectively granting women their right to vote. -
The Scopes Trial, also called the Scopes Monkey Trial, was the 1925 trial of science instructor John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school, which had been made illegal by a recently passed bill. William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, two of the most well-known speakers at the time, argued against one other in the trial as opposing attorneys. The trial represented the intense conflict between traditional and modern ideologies characteristic of 1920s America. -
Before Wall Street crashed, millions of individuals invested their savings or loans to purchase stocks, driving prices to unsustainable levels. By the end of October 1929, panic beset the stock market and people started selling excessively large amounts of stock causing the DOW to plummet. Black Monday and Black Tuesday were the two days when the market fell to its lowest point. The crash triggered a series of events that led to the Great Depression. -
The Second New Deal was a set of government initiatives enacted to combat the effects of the Great Depression. While the first new deal sought to restore fundamental economic functions, the second was an attempt to improve people's lives. It focused on ensuring that Americans had protection against unemployment and poverty. It featured policies to safeguard unions, the Social Security Act, and programs to help tenant farmers and migrant workers.
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On December 7th 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, one of America's most important and useful naval bases. Up to this point in World War II, America had stayed out of the conflict. Yet, the Japanese were worried this neutrality would not last; in a effort to weaken the United States capabilities in the Pacific, they attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii where they believed many of the US aircraft carriers would be. The attack killed over 2,000 soldiers and directly led to the US joining the war. -
In an effort to force a surrender from the Japanese, President Truman tasked J.Robert Oppenheimer with heading the Manhattan Project - a secret program set out to create a weapon capable of doing so. Once two bombs had been successfully created and tested, Truman ordered them to be dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When both bombs dropped, thousands were killed instantly and Japan officially surrendered a few days later. -
In this landmark decision, the Supreme Court declared racial segregation of students in public schools to be unconstitutional. It overturned the "separate but equal" clause established in Plessy v. Ferguson, marking the end of legal racial segregation in American schools. -
After being president for a little over two years John F. Kennedy was getting ready to run for reelection. Even though he had not formally announced his reelection bid, Kennedy and his campaign were going around the United States to speak at events. On November 22, 1963 the President was scheduled to go to Texas and ride around In a topless motorcade where he would eventually be assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight mission that marked the first time humans stepped foot on the Moon. It signified the culmination of the Apollo program and the United States' profound national commitment to beating the Soviet Union in the Space Race. It accomplished the late President Kennedy's goal of sending American astronauts to the surface of the Moon, and safely returning them to Earth by the end of the decade. -
After Congress had discovered President Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal, they planned on impeaching him for obstruction of justice, and abuse of presidential power. Before any of these hearings and a subsequent vote to impeach happened, Nixon Resigned and issued Gerald Ford a full pardon.