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Alexis de Tocqueville
-Tocqueville set to work on a broader analysis of American culture and politics, published in 1835 as “Democracy in America.”
-As “Democracy in America” revealed, Tocqueville believed that equality was the great political and social idea of his era, and he thought that the United States offered the most advanced example of equality in action -
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The Gilded Age
A period of expansion, industrialization, immigration and urbanization with significant effects on
Native Americans, workers, immigrants, and the rise of big business in the late 19th century. -
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Age of Imperialism and Reform
During the early 20th century the U.S. entered a new historical era: an Age of Expansionism
beyond our natural borders as the country moved from isolationism. U.S. imperialism led to
involvement in the Spanish-American War, changing policies in Latin America and Asia and
eventually to World War I. At home, reformers made efforts to correct economic and social
abuses of the Gilded Age. -
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World War I
This was an era in which the global conflict of World War I and its effects had an impact on all
Americans. -
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The Roaring 20s
This was also an era of significant prosperity and social change as Americans became more
isolationist and responded to significant change in social norms, consumerism, technological
advances and artistic achievement. -
Warren Harding
- The 29th U.S. president, Warren Harding (1865-1923) served in office from 1921 to 1923 before dying of an apparent heart attack.
- As president, he favored pro-business policies and limited immigration.
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Great Depression
Beginning with the Stock Market Crash in 1929, this era is marked by severe depression and
the increasing role of the Federal government to improve the economy -
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Rise of Dictators and World War II
The rise of totalitarian governments in Europe and East Asia led to World War II and
involvement of the United States in that conflict. -
Harry S. Truman-Bombing in Hiroshima
- Harry Truman (1884-1972), the 33rd U.S. president, assumed office following the death of President Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945).
- In the White House from 1945 to 1953, Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, helped rebuild postwar Europe, worked to contain communism and led the United States into the Korean War (1950-1953).
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Civil Rights
This era highlights the issues of emerging rights for minorities and the leaders and critical
events of the modern 20th century civil rights movement. -
Rosa Parks-Montgomery Bus Boycott
- By refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus in 1955, black seamstress Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States.
- The leaders of the local black community organized a bus boycott that began the day Parks was convicted of violating the segregation laws.
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Cesar Chavez-National Farm Workers Association
- Hardened by his early experience as a migrant worker, Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962.
- His union joined with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee in its first strike against grape growers in California, and the two organizations later merged to become the United Farm Workers.
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Martin Luther King Jr.- March on Washington
- a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices African Americans continued to face across the country.
- Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Betty Friedan
- With her book The Feminine Mystique (1963), Betty Friedan (1921-2006) broke new ground by exploring the idea of women finding personal fulfillment outside of their traditional roles.
- She also helped advance the women’s rights movement as one of the founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
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Cold War
This post-war era is marked by issues of communism vs. democracy in Europe and America
after World War II. It includes the United States and the Soviet Union as competing
superpowers in the balance of power. The escalation of the Cold War from containment to the
outbreak of the Korean War and foreign policies of the Kennedy / Johnson years including the
growing conflict in Vietnam as well as the ending of the Cold War in the 1980s. -
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Late 20th Contemporary Issues
An era of change as the U.S. experienced the end of the Cold War, new conflicts in the Middle
East, the impeachment of a President and a controversial election to begin a new century. -
Sandra Day O'Connor-Appointed Supreme Court
- Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006, and was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. A moderate conservative, she was known for her dispassionate and meticulously researched opinions.
- For 24 years, Sandra Day O’Connor was a pioneering force on the Supreme Court and will always be remembered as acting as a sturdy guiding hand in the court’s decisions during those years—and serving a swing vote in many importan
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George Marshall
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John J. Pershing
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Chester Nimitz
