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Jim Crow Laws
The Jim Crow laws were racial segregation laws enacted between 1876 and 1965 in the United States at the state and local level. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Signed by President Chester A. Arthur. It was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in US history, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. -
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World War I
Also referred to as the Great War prior to the outbreak of World War II. -
The Lusitania Sinks
The British ocean liner was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew. The sinking caused a storm of protest in the United States, as 128 Americans were among the dead. It also influenced the decision by the U.S. to declare war in 1917. -
Zimmerman Telegram
A diplomatic proposal from the German Empire for Mexico to join the Central Powers, in the event of the United States entering World War I on the side of the Entente Powers. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence. Zimmermann sent the telegram in anticipation of the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany on 1 February, an act which Germany presumed would lead to war. -
Sedition Act
Extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses, notably speech and the expression of opinion that cast the government or the war effort in a negative light or interfered with the sale of government bonds. It was signed by President Wilson. -
18th Amendment
Established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport and sale of (though not the consumption or private possession of) alcohol illegal. The police, courts and prisons were overwhelmed with new cases; organized crime increased in power, and corruption extended among law enforcement officials. -
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Red Scare
A period during the early 20th-century history of the UU.S. marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism. At its height in 1919–1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of communism and anarchism in the American labor movement fueled a general sense of paranoia. -
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Prohibition
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19th Amendment
Prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. -
Immigration Act of 1924
Limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890. The law was aimed at further restricting immigration of Southern Europeans, Eastern Europeans, and Jews, in addition to prohibiting the immigration of Arabs, East Asians, and Indians. It was signed by President Coolidge. -
Scopes Trial
A substitute high school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-funded school. The trial publicized the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy, which set Modernists, who said evolution was not inconsistent with religion, against Fundamentalists, who said the word of God as revealed in the Bible took priority over all human knowledge. Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. -
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The Great Depression
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20th Amendment
Moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the President and Vice President from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no President-elect. -
21st Amendment
Repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is unique among the 27 Amendments of the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a previous Amendment, and for being the only one to have been ratified by the method of the state ratifying convention.