-
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 permitted settlers to buy plots of 160 acres for a small fee if they occupied the land they purchased for five years and improved it. This attracted settlers to the west along with the gold and silver deposits to be found. -
The Morrill Land Grant Act
This initiative was and act in which the federal government would donate public land to states for the establishment of colleges and universities. The “land-grant” institutions were mandated to specialize in teaching agriculture and engineering. -
Wages and Working Conditions: Knight of Labor
Headed by Uriah Smith Stephens and James L. Wright, seven members of the Philadelphia tailors’ union established a secret union under the name the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor. This was the first major effort to create a national labor organization focusing on an eight-hour workday and a long-range reform for the economy. -
Alexander Graham Bell: The First Telephone
In 1876, at the age of 29, Alexander Graham Bell invented the the first telephone. After many experiments and test, Bell and his assistant Thomas Watson was able transmit overtones on a metal reed which were needed in order to transport speech. -
Garfield Assassinated
Garfield's short-lived presidency had a huge impact on how many members of office are appointed today. Because of his push for a civil service reform, a couple of political groups, the Stalwarts in particular, were angered and eventually lead to his assassination. On July 2, 1881 an unsuccessful office seeker shot Garfield twice while shouting, "I am a Stalwart and Arthur is president now!" Ironically, after vice president Arthur became president, he still supported the civil service reform. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
As Chinese communities grew larger and more conspicuous, anti-Chinese sentiment among white residents intensified and became violent. In 1882, Congress responded to the political pressure and the growing violence by passing the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Act banned Chinese immigration into the U.S. for ten years and barred Chinese already in the country from becoming naturalized citizens. -
The Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 was introduced as a way to decrease the growing violence between Native American Indians and White Settlers. The act provided for the gradual elimination of most tribal ownership of land and the allotment of tracts to individual owners. -
Period: to
The Panic of 1893
In March of 1893, the United States began to suffer its worst depression yet. It began because the Philadelphia and Reading Railroads were unable to meet their loan payments and had to declare bankruptcy. In the following months another major company, the National Cordage Company, also failed. These major companies failing eventually lead to a stock market collapse. During the panic, up to 1 million workers lost thier jobs. Conditions improved slightly in 1895, but not fully until 1901. -
The Automobile: The New Transportation Railroad
The creation of the automobile is one of the biggest impacts in United States inventions. Charles Edgar Duryea and James Frank Duryea are credited with building and successfully driving the first gasoline driven automobile in the United States. -
Maine Explosion
On February 15, 1898 a terrible explosion of the American battleship, Maine, killed over 260 people. This explosion, which was wrongfully blamed on the Spanish, helped spark the Spanish-American war. -
The First “modern” World Series
This was the first series to be played between the American League’s Boston Americans (Red Sox) and the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates. The series was a burying of the hatchet between the two rivalry leagues. Baseball at the time was the most popular sport followed by football. -
NAACP founded
In 1909, after many movements by people like W.E.B Du Bois and others, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed. Du Bios and his followers believed that they should not wait for civil rights to be granted but they should fight for them, and this was a mojor step towards that. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
On March 25, 1911 a terrible fire took over the Triangle Shirtwaist Company's building. In the fire, 146 workers were killed, most of which were women. In the following years legislators began to pass strict regulations on work places. -
Public Health Service
The federal government created the Public Health Service which had the task of preventing occupational diseases. Its goal was to create common health standards amongst factories which would then lead to the workforce in general. -
Trench Warefare
Trench Warefare is a form of occupied fighting lines. Much of the fighting during the First World War was done from Trenches. Trench warfare has proved to be one of the most horrific to participate in and is an area of the First World War. -
Liberty Bonds
A type of bond issued by the U.S. government during World War I. Liberty bonds were introduced as a means of financing the war effort in Europe. Liberty bonds were issued as a means of financeing the war effort in Europe. -
Post war Recession
An economic recession that hit much of the world in the aftermath of WW1. In many nations espesially in North America. After the war ended the global economy began to decline. -
18th Amendment passed
In January of 1920 Congress passed the 18th Amendment, outlawing the consumtion of alcohol. It was a law that was decades in the making. The main advocates of the Amendment were the women of the Women's Christian Temperance Act (WCTU), which was formed in the late 1800's and by 1911 had 245,000 members. -
Prohibition Begins
Prohibition had gone into effect on January of 1920. When it went into effect, it had the support of most of the middle class and the progressives. It was originally started to improve society as a whole. It would not take long however, to realize that it was not going to work. Not long after it did go in effect, people who making bootleg alcohol and selling it in what was called a “speak-easy” bar. To get in, you would have to say some sort of password, thus the name “Speak-easy.” -
Warren G. Harding dies.
Warren G. Harding was elected to the presidency in 1920 as a senator from Ohio. During the summer of 1923, Harding left Washington for a speaking tour in the West. However, while in Seattle speaking in late July, he suffered from what he said was sever pain. The doctors had diagnosed him with food poisoning. They could not have been more wrong. A few days after that, Harding passed away. It was then known he had suffered from two heart attacks. Calvin Coolidge then took over as president. -
Scopes Trial
In the 1920's, religion in modern society was being challenged. A 24 year old biology teacher named John Scopes started teaching the theory of evolution in his class. This issue went to court, and all the way up to the Supreme Court, because the biblical story of creation was what was to be taught. After a week and a half long complicated case between science and religion, it was dismissed due to a technicality. -
Stock Market Crashes
On October 29 of 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, the Stock Market crashed, starting the Great Depression. The causes for the Stock Market crashing was around 16 million shares of stock were traded and the industrial index fell 43 points stocks in companies became almost worthless, and the Great Depression had started. -
1932 Presidential Election
During 1932, one of the most important elections was to take place. In the midst of the Great Depression, an election between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt was happening. FDR won in a landslide, winning in both the Electoral and Popular vote, taking 45 out of the 50 states. -
First New Deal
When FDR got into office, he had a plan for the country. This included a drastic amount of new programs. He launched the AAA, FDIC, SEC, NRA, PWA, TVA, FERA, CWA, and CCC. All programs were meant to get money pumping into the economy. -
Prohibition Ends
After a 13 year battle, the Noble Experiment had finally come to an end. On December 15th of 1933, the 18th Amendment was appealed and FDR declared, "What America needs now is a drink." -
Second New Deal
In the spring of 1935, FDR launched this second New Deal. More programs were put into place, to help the citizens of America. The biggest plan that was put into place was Social Security. This helped the elderly, unemployed and handicapped with a cash grant. -
FDR Court Packing
FDR had a plan that would help him in his process of helping the country. The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, or court-packing plan was a legislative initiative proposed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to add more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. What he wanted to do was have a favorable chance of having his New Deal legislation being passed. -
Period: to
The manhatten Project & atomic bomb
Atomic BombOver the course of six years, from 1939 to 1945, more than $2 billion was spent during the history of the Manhattan Project. The formulas for refining uranium and putting together a working atomic bomb were created and seen to their logical ends by some of the greatest minds of our time. Chief among the people who unleashed the power of the atom was Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the project from conception to completion. -
Germany attacks Poland
On September 1, 1939, Hitler launched a full scale attack on Poland. Prior to his attack, Hitler staged an incident that made it look like Poland had attacked Germany on the border of Poland. Because Great Britian and France had assured to the Polish government that they would both assist Poland in the event of an attack, this brought much of Europe into WWII. -
Period: to
women and children in wartime
women and childrenMost of women workers during the war were in the military and had to combine work with childcare. Women had no choice but to leave their young children home alone of often known as “latchkey children” or “eight hour orphans” while they worked -
Roosevelt Reelected
In 1940, it was unsure if Franklin D Roosevelt would run for a third term in office. Until this point no president had served more than two terms. In July of 1940 he announced he would run again, and later in the year won decisively against the Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie. -
Period: to
The Holocaust
PictureThe Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. -
Pearl Harbor attacked
On December 7, 1942 The Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbor Naval base. This event is widely regarded as one of the most devastating events in American history. It also introduced the United States into World War II. -
The Election on 1948
The U.S presidential election of 1948 was known by most historians as the greatest election t in American history. Most people predicted that President Harry S. Truman would be defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey. However Truman won by a three way split in his own party. -
The Fair Deal Revived
The fair deal called for an expansion of social security benefits, the rising of the legal minimum wage from 40 to 65 cents an hour. A program to ensure full employment, through aggressive use of federal spending, and investment. -
Period: to
The Korean War
The Korean War also known as the "Forgotten War, began June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea. About 37,000 American troops lost their lives in three years; most of the losses came in the first year. The war ended in 1953. The Korean War represented an important shift in the US Cold War policy -
Brown V. The Board Of Education at Topeka.
brown-vs-board-of-education.htmThe events of May 17, 1954 are a direct result of why I can sit here in this class today. The Brown V Board Of Education of Topeka decision (which was handed down by the Supreme Court) unequivocally declared the segregation of public schools on the basis of race unconstitutional. This triumph was not immediately celebrated especially in southern states but the “win” ignited much needed confidence for African Americans. -
Rise of the Civil Rights Movement
On December 1, 1955 Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was arrested for not relinquishing her bus seat to a while passenger. Although Rosa was not the only African American to take such a stand, her arrest was most infuriating due to her being an upstanding, married, employed citizen as well as the secretary for the NAACP. The arrest of Rosa Parks sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott which eventually led to the desegregation of the Alabama bus system -
Kennedy Elected
[rare-and-unseen-jfks-inauguration.htm](http:///www.life.com/gallery/54511#index/20)November 8, 1960 winning by a very small margin, John Kennedy became the youngest man to ever win the presidency. The campaign was hard fought and bitter. For the first time, presidential candidates engaged in televised debates. Many observers believed that Kennedy's poised and charming performance during the four debates made the difference in the final vote. -
March On Washington for jobs and freedom.
One of the most memorable demonstrations of the Civil Rights Movement was the march on Washington. On August 28, 1963 over 250,000 people, 60,000 being white peacefully converged on the nation’s capital. The demand was for legislation banning segregation and racial discrimination. The demonstration in part was successful; most notable the Martin Luther King “I have a dream speech” but it would take another year before the passage of the Civil Rights Act. -
Period: to
Assassinations of the sixties
On November 22, 1963 one of the nation’s most beloved presidents was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald. Almost two years later Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little), a major figure in the African American community was brutally murdered. The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a revered leader of the Civil Rights Movement is probably the most memorable death in African American history. -
Voting Rights Act
August 6, 1965 President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, also known as the Civil Rights Act into law with Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and other civil rights leaders in attendance. This Act provided federal protection to African Americans attempting to exercise their right to vote and is widely considered a landmark in civil-rights legislation. -
Period: to
National Organization For Women (NOW)
June 28-30, 1966 symbolizes the formation of NOW, National Organization for Women. Uniting with the goal of "taking action" to bring about equality for all women NOW is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States. With the combined efforts of Betty Friedan, a writer for women magazines and author of “The Feminine Mystique” and other feminist women’s rights were gradually granted. -
Stone Wall Riots
June 27, 1969 marks the “Stone Wall Riots”. Full of resentment for arrests and mistreatment of patrons of a local gay night club, bystanders taunted and soon attacked police officers instigating a riot. That uprising awakened gay men and lesbians to the idea that they were being attacked as a group. Therefore they needed to organize as a group. Since 1970, the Stonewall uprising has been celebrated with an annual gay pride march down Fifth Avenue and across Christopher Street. -
Roe V Wade
Pressured by the demands of the innovative women’s movement and the relentlessness of Ms. Norma McCorvey (at the time she was known as Jane Roe), the decision in Roe v. Wade was handed down legalizing abortion in the United States, which was not legal at all in many states and was limited by law in others. To date the subject of abortion is still an issue that causes division amongst people.
