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Alaska is purchased from Russia
Alaska was purchased for $7.2 million. This marked the end of Russia's presence on the Pacific coast. Russia was afraid Britain would seize Alaska or it would be invaded by America. Americans saw this as an opportunity to further its tade in China and protect the West Coast from the British. -
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
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John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil
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Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
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Thomas Edison brings light to the world with the light bulb
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Chinese Exclusion Act
President Chester A. Arthur prohibited all Chinese laborers through this federal law. This was the first time Federal law prohibited any type of immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act ended 10 years later. Congress repealed all exclusion acts in 1943. -
Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
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Sherman Antitrust Act
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Ellis Island opens
This became the first and largest immigration station. Around 12 million immigrants came through Ellis Island. Immigrants helped with America's economic production. Annie Moore, from Cork County, Ireland was the first immigrant to processed. -
Carnegie Steel’s Homestead Strike
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Plessy v Ferguson
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The U.S. declares war on Spain
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Hawaii is annexed
A group of small businessmen overthrew the Queen to acquire Hawaii. It was a territory until 1959 when it became a state. Hawaii was important to the U.S. because it is a valuable coaling station and naval base. -
Rudyard Kipling published “The White Man’s Burden” in The New York Sun
"The White Man's Burden" is a poem about the Philippine-American war. Kipling wants the U.S. to accept the "burden" of taking over the empire. This poem is an example of imperialism. -
The start of the Boxer Rebellion
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Peak year of immigration through Ellis Island
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The Philippine Insurrection comes to an end
The insurrection began when the First Philippine Republic rejected the Treaty of Paris. The treaty's terms included the United States taking possession of the Philippines from Spain. There were at least 200,000 Filipino civilian deaths that resulted from mostly famine and disease. -
Tenement Act
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The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe doctrine declares the U.S. right to intervene in the Western Hem
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Upton Sinclair releases “The Jungle”
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Pure Food & Drug Act and The Meat Inspection Act are passed
The Pure Food & Drug Act prohibited the sale of misbranded or tainted food and drugs in interstate commerce. This also was the foundation for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Meat Inspection Act prohibited degrading or misbranding meat products being sold as food. It also ensures that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under strictly regulated sanitary conditions. -
Creation of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the oldest and largest civil rights organization. The NAACP wants to ensure equality through all aspects of life for minority groups in the U.S. The NAACP helped with abolishing segregation. -
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
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The Assassination on Austria’s archduke Franz Ferdinand starts WWI
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The Panama Canal is completed and opened for traffic
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The United States enters WWI
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Pres. McKinley is assassinated and Progressive Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
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Ratification of the 18th Amendment - Prohibition
The 18th amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes. Prohibition failed because there was an increase in crime, corruption, and violence, which prohibition was trying to decrease. This amendment was repealed in 1933. -
Women got the right to vote.
The 19th amendment allowed women to vote. People who fought for the women's right to vote were called suffragists. Some famous suffragists include Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Ida B. Wells. World War I helped women win the right to suffrage because President Wilson saw the importance of women during the war.
