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In 1883, Congress passed the
Pendleton Act, which established a
merit system to ensure that federal
positions would be filled based on
merit, or qualification, rather than
political affiliation.
Progressives viewed the Pendleton Act
as a means to combat the spoils
system because it prevented officials
from appointing individuals based on
political benefit -
By the 1890s, some Americans wanted to
start expanding globally. These
individuals were known as either
expansionists or imperialists.
The U.S. government increased its
military spending and soon became the
world’s third-largest naval power -
Hawaii was annexed, or added, to the United States in 1898 despite protests from some Hawaiian
natives. Hawaii’s annexation allowed the United States to secure a presence in the Pacific Ocean -
The Spanish-American War, one of the United
States’ shortest wars, started in April 1898
and lasted only three months. By August 1898, the United States and Spain agreed to stop fighting; shortly after, the Treaty of Paris was signed, which officially ended the Spanish-American War. -
The Jungle, written by muckraker Upton
Sinclair, exposed unsanitary conditions in the
meatpacking industry.In response to The Jungle, and as part of his Square Deal, Roosevelt worked with
Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug
Act, which protected consumer health and
safety by increasing federal regulation over
the food and drug industries. -
Under the Organic Act of 1916,
President Wilson established the
National Park Service to ensure that
federally protected land and its
resources were conserved so they
could be enjoyed by the public. -
During the Great Migration, which lasted
from 1916 to the 1970s, millions of African
Americans left the rural South and
relocated north. Unfortunately, life in the North was not free of discrimination or segregation as African Americans had hoped. -
The United States remained neutral
during the first three years of the war. Germany caused the United States to reconsider their neutrality
by violating peace treaties and attacking neutral zones. In 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to declare war against the Central Powers. -
In 1917, Congress passed the Espionage and
Sedition Acts, which made it a crime to
interfere with the war effort or to criticize
government leaders and U.S. war policies. -
Germany surrendered in 1918; the
following year, the Treaty of Versailles
was signed, which officially ended World
War I. -
In 1919, Congress voted to reject the
Treaty of Versailles and refused to join
the League of Nations. The United States entered a period of isolationism until 1939 when World War II began. -
In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment
was ratified, prohibiting voting
discrimination on the basis of gender;
in other words, women gained
suffrage, or the right to vote. -
Due to the Great Migration, New York City’s
Black population doubled in the 1920s and
the Harlem neighborhood in Manhattan
became the center for the Harlem
Renaissance, a literary and artistic movement
that celebrated African American culture. -
Throughout the fall of 1929, stock
prices steadily declined until October
29th, when the sharpest drop
occurred and the stock market
collapsed. This day is called Black
Tuesday. Many people who had purchased
stocks on credit lost a significant
amount of money and were unable to
repay their loans. -
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected
president. He believed the government had a
responsibility to help pull the United States out of
the Great Depression. One of Roosevelt’s first moves as president was to declare a bank holiday, which temporarily closed all banks. They were only allowed to reopen once approved as financially stable, which
helped restore public confidence in the banking
system. -
On December 7, 1941, Japan retaliated by
attacking the Pearl Harbor naval base,
located in the Pacific. The attack destroyed
U.S. military vessels and killed thousands of
Americans. The next day, President Roosevelt asked
Congress for a declaration of war, which
they quickly approved. -
By 1942, Germany controlled nearly all of
Europe. Hitler then began an invasion into the Soviet
Union. The United States worked closely with its
ally, Great Britain, to plan an invasion of
Europe with the goal of having Germany
fight on multiple fronts—the Soviet Union
and Europe. -
On June 6, 1944, General Dwight
Eisenhower led the invasion of the
Normandy coast. Despite heavy Allied casualties, D-Day was a success. By late August 1944, the Allies had regained control of most of France and were prepared to advance into Germany. -
The Beat Generation was a group of writers and
artists in the 1950s who challenged traditional
values and helped spark a cultural shift toward
greater individual freedom and self-expression.
Rock and roll, a new music genre with roots in
African American, country, and gospel music,
brought people from diverse backgrounds
together. It also caused young generations to
rebel against their parents, who argued it was
disruptive and challenged traditional values. -
In 1957, the Soviets successfully launched the
first satellite, Sputnik I, into space; this began the
space race between the Soviet Union and the
United States. To keep up with the Soviet Union, the United States increased funding for math, science, and technology education in hopes of creating a new
generation of engineers.