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Western Dime Novels
After the Civil War, Americans created and bought millions of short paperbacks, costing only 10 cents depicting paint-daubed Indians and quick-triggered gunmen and scenarios from the "Wild West" and other American tales. One of the most famous dime novels is called the "Buffalo Bill Cody", the novel that popularized Wild West shows, it consisted of a former Pony Express rider and Indian fighter (mostly popular towards children). This romanticized the West and the life of the cowboy. -
Bessemer Process
This was the first method to mass produce steel. Sir Henry Bessemer took the idea of converting molten pig iron into a heat furnace to create strong steel. By putting a blast of oxygen through the pig iron it was reducing its carbon content and converted into steel. It was meant to remove impurities, as well as the carbon contents. Therefore, the Bessemer Process was named after the man who created it. It cut the prices in half drastically and it was so inexpensive that its use was widespread. -
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Transforming the West
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Homestead Act
This act was passed by the Congress, offered one hundred sixty acres of free land to any citizen or intended citizen who was head of the household. They allowed the settlers to live on the land for five years by paying a small with a fee of $1.25 per acre before they were allowed to permanently receiving ownership. At the end of the Civil War 15,000 homestead claims had been made, and more after the years.The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900. -
Morill Land Grant College Act
This was a law passes by Congress to transfer substantial public acreage to the state governments, and sell the land to use those funds to finance public education. (Led to many land-grant institutions). Became a major boost to higher education in America. This act was first created by a congressman from Vermont names Justin Smith Morrill, he wanted to make sure that education is available to all social classes such as the agricultural, home economics and/or mechanical education. -
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Becoming an Industrial Power
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Knights of Labor
They were founded in 1869 as a secret society of garnet workers in Philadelphia they believed that fraternity was harnessed to labor reform, and intended to set up factories and shops that would lead to a cooperative common wealth. Grew rapidly because of a combination of their open-membership policy, and the growth of urban population; welcomed unskilled and semiskilled workers, including women and African Americans. They believed they could get rid of conflict between labor and managements. -
John Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller, founder of the Standard Oil Company, became one of the world’s wealthiest men and a major philanthropist. Born in New York, Rockefeller's second oil refinery was established in Cleveland, Ohio. Once Rockefeller had monopolized the oil industry, it provided 90% of the nation's oil. It achieved important economies both home and abroad by it's large scale methods of production and distribution. He also organized the trust, Holding Companies and started the Horizontal Merger. -
Telephone
This invention was created by Alexander Graham Bell. His invention was important because it created a way of quicker communication for people who were far away from one another. The telephone was an improvement from the telegraph because you could speak words to communicate rather than just with dots and dashes. Also, the telephone prevented people from having to go to a telegraph office to send message but instead allowing them to just pick up the phone and deliver their message. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
Also called Custer's Last Stand, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills Indian Reservation in South Dakota, whites invaded the Indians' lands and drove them on the warpath. The war started in June 1876, when Colonel George A. Custer and all his men were killed by Sioux Indians at the Battle of Little Bighorn in southern Montana. This battle was marked as one of the major Native American victories and one of America's worst major defeat in the long Plains Indian War. -
Social Gospel Movement
The Social Gospel was a response to the problems that were formed by the rapid urbanization in the United States of America. This movement founded by Washington Gladden and led by Protestant ministers, which taught how religion and human dignity would help the poor overcome problems of industrialization. They used religious doctrine to demand better housing and living conditions for the urban poor, and the movement even preached the Sermon on the Mount and became Christian Socialists. -
Phonograph
The phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison. Edison was trying to improve the telegraph transmitter when he noticed that the movement of the paper tape through the machine produced a noise resembling spoken words when played at a high speed. The device recorded and produced sound. The phonograph functioned by working on a central membrane that was coated in foil. A stylus would move on this membrane corresponding to the sounds entering the mouth piece with produced cylindrical discs. -
Hard Money
Hard money is known to be a metallic or species dollar (usually gold or silver). People who supported only coinage (hard money), rejected all banks that issued paper money including the national bank. The people opposed of the "greenbacks" and "folding money". Soon "greenbacks" was printed too much, which depreciate the value and caused inflation and later formed the Panic of 1973. Therefore, the people looked for a new type of currency by using hard money, taking away the "folding money". -
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Gilded Ages
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Lightbulb
The first long-lasting lightbulb was created by Thomas Edison with a carbon-filament bulb. Before light bulbs were invented humans could only work at day or by the light of candles or oil lamps, so people longed for a cheap, efficient, and long-lasting light source. His light bulb was made with a carbonized bamboo filament which lasted over 1,200 hours, and functioned by passing electricity through a thin platinum filament in the glass vacuum bulb, which delayed the filament from melting. -
Exodusters
The Exodusters is a label for freed African Americans who came from the states near the Mississippi River after the Civil War and migrated to Kansas during the Reconstruction era. They fled the Southern U.S to get away from the racial oppression such as the KKK, Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws, and liked Kansas because that state was always a free state. Their name is the "Exodusters" because the Exodus, the book of the bib;e that tells about how the Jews were escaping from slavery in Egypt. -
Assassination of President Garfield
As President, he strengthened Federal authority over the New York Customs House. After four months of being elected president in 1881, President Garfield was assassinated. The person that murdered the president was Charles Guiteau. He murdered Garfield to make civil service reform a reality, and He shot Garfield because he believed that the Republican Party had not fulfilled its promise to give him a government job. In the end, His assassination led to the Pendleton Civil Service Reform of 1883. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This act was signed by Chester B. Arthur. Outlawed Chinese immigration for 10 years and denied the rights for Chineses to become U.S citizens. The purpose was to protect jobs for whites because Chinese were willing to work for much lower wages. Started when people of the West Coast attributed declining wages and economic troubles to the hated Chinese workers; In order to stop them, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.Chinese originally immigrated during the Gold Rush and to build railroads -
Farmer's Alliance
The farmer's alliance was an organization that united farmers at the statewide and regional level. The policy goals of this organization included more readily available farm credits and federal regulation of the railroads. This led to the creation of the populist party, and they sponsored social gatherings, were active in politics, organized cooperatives, and fought against the dominance of the railroads and manufacturers. One of the goals was to adverse the effects of the crop-lien system. -
Sears & Roebuck
Established by Richard Sears in Chicago in 1887. The bulky catalogs from Sears changed the lives of many isolated people—introducing them to new trends of fashion and home decoration as well as making available new tools, machinery, and technologies for the home. The catalog allowed the rural areas to get manufactured goods and introduced cheaper items. By 1907, Sears had become one of the largest business enterprises in the nation; the Sears catalog helped create a truly national market. -
Kodak Camera
Before 1880, photographers had to coat a plate with fresh, wet chemicals each time they wanted to take a picture.George Eastman created his first camera, which consisted of a box camera with 100 exposures that gave circular images 2 5/8" in diameter. In 1889 Eastman introduced roll film on a transparent base, which has remained the standard for film. The advertising slogan was "You press the button – we do the rest." By 1927, Eastman Kodak was the largest U.S. company in the industry -
Andrew Carnegie
A Scottish-American industrialist, business manager and philanthropist, but most importantly he was the owner of the Carnegie Steel Corporation, the largest of its kind in the world and led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry. One of his two great innovations was in the cheap and efficient mass production of steel by adopting the Bessemer process for steel making. By using Bessemer process, in 1900 the Carnegie Steel Company was producing one-third of the nation's steel. -
Cowboys
Most cowboys were young and are hard-working men in need of quick cash. The years of cowboys only lasted twenty years between 1880 to 1900. This time period was the years before railroads were established in the West there was no efficient way of getting large herds of cattle to the East and the market demand for beef. By 1900 the arrival of farmers, the establishment of barbed wire fencing, and the increasing number of railroads made the use of cowboys unnecessary and physically impossible. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
This was the first act to be passed by the Congress to prohibit trust and limit the monopolies. The Sherman Antitrust Act was based on the power of the Congress to regulate the interstate commerce and control business monopolies that conspire to restrain the United States trade. They wanted to create a more fair competition in the work area and to restrain any take-over's of department of merchandise. The act was formed by John Sherman (Senator of Ohio) and wanted to stop monopoly businesses. -
Ghost Dance
This dance was originated by the Paiute Indians and began to become popular in 1889 when shaman Wovoka had a vision during a sun eclipse. This was a Native American movement that called for a return to traditional ways of life and challenged white dominance in society (whites thought it was a threat) Gathers together to call the spirits of past warriors to inspire the young braves to fight. The dance has led to the Dawes Severalty Act and was later crushed in the Battle of the Wounded Knee. -
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Imperialism
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Period: to
Progressive Era
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City Beautiful Movement
This movement was led by Daniel Burnham and inspired by the "Great White City". The movement in environmental design that drew directly from the beaux arts school. Architects from this movement wanted to place an order on the chaotic industrial centers by creating urban spaces that give off a sense of harmony and virtual pride, which many people have thought was forever gone from the chaotic new industrial world. They began to build monumental and buildings, welcoming parks, grand boulevards. -
World's Columbian Exposition 1893
The World's Columbian Exposition was a fair that took place in Chicago that featured the progress of American civilization such as industrial technologies, represented through the grand architecture that shows an ideal urban environment. It was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World, and the architecture of the fairgrounds was referred to as the White City. The fair honored art and science and the fair reflected all the ideals of the city at the time -
Depression of 1893
The depression was known for being the worst economic disaster in the 19th century. The panic started after railroad companies over-extending themselves, overbuilding, speculation, agricultural depression, labor disorder, ongoing labor depression, free silver, damaged American credit abroad, government running out of the gold reserve, and caused bank failures. The people blamed the Sherman Silver Purchase, and Cleveland had to borrow money from J.P. Morgan in order to stabilize the economy. -
Pullman Strike
This strike took place against the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago and was caused by upset railroad workers who had drastic wage cuts. The strike was led by a person named Eugene Debs, and the nonviolent strike shut down western railroads. In the end, the strike failed due to the president's interference with the mail system, brought a bad image on unions, comprehensive injunction essentially forbidding all boycott activity and then dispatched regular soldiers to Chicago and elsewhere. -
Klondike Gold Rush
This gold rush was an attempt by an estimated of one hundred people to travel to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold. Majority of the settlers though have found nothing because the place has been cleaned out before they came. But about four thousand miners were able to discover very rich deposits of gold and became immensely wealthy. Ending in 1899, after gold was discovered in Nome, prompting an exodus from the Klondike. -
Election of 1896
This U.S presidential election was considered one of the most dramatic campaign in American history. This election showed the Republican William McKinley (supported Gold standard act and was encouraged by industrialists, bankers, and other business leaders) defeat the democratic Willian Jennings Bryan (supported free silver and was encouraged by farmers in the south and west) Overall, McKinley had 271 electoral votes and 7,104,779 popular votes, and Bryan had 176 electoral and 6,502,925 popular. -
Cross of Gold Speech
This was spoken by William J. Bryan at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. While Bryan supported bimetallism, he thought that the free silver would bring the nation prosperity. Bryan started off his speech by saying that it was "not a contest among persons" but rather "the cause of humanity". He opposed the gold standard, and had a famous quote in his speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold". The speech helped put him on as the Democratic presidential nomination. -
Henry Ford
Ford was the American captain of industry, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and the sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production.This man has developed and mass-produced the car called the Model T, which sold at an affordable price, unlike the other expensive cars that were already invented. His invention sparked the start of the assembly line, and greatly increased his worker's wages and instituted many modern concepts of regular work hours and job benefits -
Battle of Manilla Bay
This battle occurred at Manila Bay in the Philipines when the US destroyed the Spanish Pacific Fleet with their Asiatic Squadron in the Spanish-American War. Under Commander George Dewey, the US victory won with American steel ships versus Spanish wooden ships. Dewey sailed from Hong Kong to the Philippine to defeat the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay, and he open fire with the command, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." No US ships were lost, and the US gained the Philipines. -
Siege of Santiago
Is one of the most important battles of the Spanish American War that ended the Spanish fleet. The Spanish fleet was led by Admiral Cervera on the island of Cuba, and to protect his fleet from the Americans, he took shelter in the Santiago Harbor. After the American army took the city of Cuba, Cervera tried to escape. The American superior force destroyed every single one of Cervera's ships, which ended the Spanish control in Cuba, and I marked the defeat of the Spanish fleet in Cuba. -
Treaty of Paris (1898)
A conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, resulted to this treaty that brought a formal end to the Spanish-American war. Commissioners from the U.S. were sent to Paris to produce a treaty that would bring an end to the war with Spain after six months of hostility. As a result of the treaty, Spain surrendered to America Guam, Puerto Rico and the United States had paid twenty million dollars for the Philipines. Then Spanish finally recognized Cuba's independence. -
Boxer Rebellion
Another name for it was the Boxer Uprising. The Boxer Rebellion was the popular peasant uprising in China that blamed foreign people and institutions for the loss of the traditional Chinese way of life. China started by a secret society of Chinese who opposed the "foreign devils" basically despised western intervention in China. Resulted in deaths of thousands of converted Chinese Christians, missionaries, and foreign legions and the rebellion was finally ended by British troops. -
Platt Amendment
This created a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress that replaced the earlier Teller amendment. This restricted Cuba's sovereignty and gave the US the right to intervene if Cuba got into trouble. Cuba pledged not to make treaties with other countries that might compromise its independence, and it granted naval bases to the United States, most notable being Guantanamo Bay. This defined the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops from Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American war -
Teddy Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States and became an advocate of the Progressive reform. He believed that reform was an important factor in remaking American Society than protecting it against more radical challenges. He allied himself with the supporters of progressives who urged regulation of the trusts, and At the heart of Roosevelt's policy was a desire to win for the government the power to investigate the activities of corporations and publicize the results. -
Russo-Japanese War
The war was a military conflict where Japan forced Russia to get rid of its expansionist policy, and competing for the dominance of Korea and Manchuria. The first war began when the Japanese fleet launched a surprise attack and seige on the Russian naval at Port Arthur. And in the very last war in Mukden, with 333,000 Russian forces and 270,000 Japanese forces, there was a long battle, but in the end, Russian commander withdrew his forces. The battle resulted to the Treaty of POrtsmouth. -
Meat Inspection Act
The inspection was a large reaction to the book Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, which portrayed the filthy conditions in Chicago's meatpacking industry. This act required strict cleanliness for meat packers and created a program of federal meat inspection to ensure sanitary conditions. The American law makes it a crime to adulterate or misbrand meat and meat products being sold as food, and ensures that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The act was a key piece of Progressive Era legislation. It was created because education and exposure from Muckrakers and researchers brought ideas. This was the first law to regulate the manufacturing of food and medicines. It forbid the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs and gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and effectiveness of drugs in order to get rid of the patent drug trade. Soon the act began the FDA, known as Food and Drug Administration. -
Gentleman's Agreement
An agreement with Japan where Japan agreed to limit emigration into the United States and Theodore Roosevelt agreed to talk with the San Francisco School Board about the segregation of Japanese children in school so it could be stopped. The reason why Roosevelt wanted to implement this agreement was that he wanted to stop the growing tension between the United States and Japan over the immigration of Japanese workers. A final Japanese note made the Gentlemen’s Agreement fully effective. -
Muller vs Oregon
This case was about limiting the workday for females in places such as laundrymats, factories and machine manufacturer. The case started when the laundromat owned by Curt Muller, required women to work for more than the legal maximum of ten hours. When the state inspectors charged him with violating a law, Culler went to court with the state. But Louis D. Brandeis persuaded the Supreme Court to protect women workers by showing the harmful effects of factory labor on women's weaker bodies -
Big Stick Policy
The policy was created by Theodore Roosevelt who thought it was unnecessary to use force on foreign policy goal. He proposed a new foreign policy approach, that is based on the African quote, "speak softly, and carry a big stick, and you will go far.” The "big stick" in the quite symbolizes the power and readiness to use military force if necessary. Which was a way to intimidate other countries without actually harming them and was the basis of U.S. imperialistic foreign policy. -
Angel Island
The Angel Island is an island in the San Francisco Bay, which is the main immigration processing station, mostly for the Chinese. Between the years of1910 and 1940, 50 thousand Chinese immigrants entered through Angel Island. The island had lots of questioning and, the conditions at Angel Island were much harsher than Ellis Island in New York because Angel Island was more of a prison, that held people for up to several years for interrogation, while most went through Ellis Island in a few hours. -
Election of 1912
In this election, the Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson, which he gave a strong progressive platform called the "New Freedom" program. On the other hand, the Republicans were split between Taft and Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party with its "New Nationalism" program. With the split between Taft and Roosevelt, the Republican vote was split and a Democratic victory was ensured. Woodrow Wilson won the election, and the Republicans were thrust into a minority status in Congress for the next six years. -
Bull Moose Party
This was a nickname for the new Progressive third Party, which was created to support Roosevelt in the election of 1912. The Republicans were badly split in the 1912 election, so Roosevelt broke away forming his own Progressive Party/ Bull Moose Party. He chose to nickname his party "Bull Moose Party" because he believed he felt "fit as a bull moose". The third party called for direct election of U.S. senators, woman suffrage, reduction of the tariff, and many social reforms. -
Federal Reserve Act
This act intended to stop bank panics and was created by a man named Woodrow Wilson (under his progressivism). They created a new Federal Reserve Board with a nationwide system of twelve district banks. Each district bank had the power to issue paper money (also called Federal Reserve Notes). It was an attempt to stabilize the bank, provide the United States flexible currency and made it easier to fund all future wars without specifically going to Congress to ask for war funds. -
Trench Warfare
The trench warfare was a type of military conflict strategy in which the opposing sides fought one another from the holes of trenches facing one and other. By hiding in the trenches troops are significantly protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. The trench warfare reached its highest development on the Western front during the World War 1 when men from Belgian coast through northeastern France and Switzerland using trench warfare as a tactic. -
Ludlow Massacre
In the state of Colorado, mine workers walked out of coal mines owned by Rockefeller and they began to strike even after evicted from company housing. The state militia was called to protect mines and the violent outbreak occurred. The Colorado National Guard troops set fire to the tents and attacked 1,200 striking coal miners and their families. The result of the violent event was 20 deaths, 11 were children.The rebellion lasted ten days until the President ordered the US Army into the region. -
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was the Archduke of Austria-Este. Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated on June 28, 1914, while paying a state visit to for good-will mission in Sarajevo. The Archduke was assassinated by the Black Hand who was a Serbian terrorist group that vowed to take action because Serbians viewed Austrians as foreign oppressors. The person who killed Ferdinand was Gavrilo Princip. In the end, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand became a factor to the start of World War 1. -
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World War 1
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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
This disorder is when a person has a difficulty in recovering from being in or experiencing a traumatic event like a car crash, murder, and even in a war. In WWI, the distress of soldiers came from the concussions they had during the impact of shells. The symptoms included panic and sleep problems and were one of the first thought to be a result of damage to the brain after the impact of large guns. Treatment varied, and Soldiers received a few days rest before returning to the war zone -
Mustard Gas
Also known as sulfur mustard, the gas was the poisonous gases created by Fritz Haber, a Professor at the University of Karlsruhe. During a mustard gas attack, the effects are very gradually, and after a few days or hours, there will be red spots on your skin that will quickly turn into painful blisters and cause second or third-degree burns. If you inhaled the mustard gas, then you would get swelling in your nose and throat as the blisters developed, sealing your airway. Was used in WWI. -
Espionage Act
This act was reinforced by the Sedition Act shortly after the World War 1. The act made it a crime for a person to mail or print information that inspired the disagreement against American war effort or if they promoted their enemy's success. The Espionage Act was passed at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson, who was scared that any widespread dissent in time of war, thinking that this was a real threat to an American victory. In other words, this punished people for helping the enemy. -
Spanish Flu
The flu became an unusually deadly influenza pandemic. The pandemic has caused more dead people than those who died in World War 1, with a number of 20 and 40 million deaths. More people have died from this disease than the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. The flu was first spotted in Europe, the United States, and Asia but is unknown how it came to be a pandemic. Victims died within hours or days of developing symptoms, their skin turning blue and their lungs filling with fluid -
Sedition Act
The sedition act made it illegal to criticize the government. This legislation attempted to silence criticism of the John Adams' Administration and weaken the many politically active Democratic-Republicans foreigners who had recently come to America from Europe. The legislation punished by fining or imprisoning people if they publicly spoke out, wrote critical articles or conspired against the government. Extended by Espionage Act, it reflected current fears about Germans and anti-war Americans. -
American Expeditionary Forces
The United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. An American force of 14,500 that landed in France under the command of General Pershing. Both women and blacks including the regular army, the National Guard, and the new larger force of volunteers served during the war, mostly under white officers. In the United States, in World War I the American Expeditionary Forces fought in France alongside French and British allied forces in the last year of the war, against German forces. -
18th Amendment
Section 1 of the amendment declares, "After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited". Overall, the amendment banned the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol. The amendment also became the midpoint of a growing women's rights. -
Henry Cabot Lodge
Lodge was an American Republican Congressman and historian and received his degree from Harvard University. He was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was a leader in the fight against participation in the League of Nations because he wanted to protect the sovereignty of the United States. He opposed the Treaty of Versailles and did not like the idea of commitments that would affect the American freedom. He notices the League of Nations would change American imperialism. -
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty was what officially ended the World War 1. The treaty was mostly written by the Allies power with barely any participation of the Germans, and the Germans were forced to accept the treaty. The Treaty of Versailles had 15 parts with 440 articles. Since France wanted to be harsher to Germany, so they split up Germany to prevent any future wars with Germany. The treaty got rid of Germany's army, Navy, and Airforce, then prohibited Germany to create or possess certain types of weapons; -
Speakeasies
This was an illegal bar, also called blind pig or blind tiger, where alcohol were sold to people during the time of prohibition. The name Speakeasy was named this because people literally had to speakeasy so they were not caught drinking alcohol by the police. Some of the speakeasies were similar to today's club because there were singing and jazz performances, and to enter the bar they had to say a password to the door person. They provided the customers gambling, alcohol, and prostitution. -
19th Amendment
The amendment from the U.S Constitution extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections. In other words, established that no citizen can be denied the right to vote on account of sex. The amendment states "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." It was ratified after a long women's suffrage movement. -
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, he dropped out of Princeton University and joined the U.S. Army. He was one of the 20th century's literary stars, and his novels were written during the Jazz Age. He married a woman named Zelda who had a mental illness, and they were the couple of the decade. He wrote the greatest novel, the Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise, during the roaring 20s. The Great Gatsby was considered a masterpiece about a gangster's pursuit of an unattainable rich girl. -
Anti-Saloon League
The league was founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio by representatives of temperance societies and evangelical Protestant, and became popular in the 1920s. The Anti-Saloon league was one the most successful political action group that forced the prohibition of alcohol and Increased the public awareness of the social effects of alcohol on society. Their supporters viewed the saloon culture as corrupt and ungodly. They represented themselves through speeches, advertisements, and public demonstrations. -
Volstead Act
Also known as the National Prohibition Act, this law established under the Prohibition Bureau within the Treasury Department. The act was under-budgeted and largely ineffective, especially in strongly anti-prohibition states. The Volstead Act asked that "no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act." It was said to forbid liquor and was implemented by the 18th amendment. -
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The 1920s
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Tea Pot Dome Scandal
This scandal shocked the Americans by revealing the greed and corruption of the federal government. It was a bribery incident during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. The Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall had leased the government's oil reserves, which were meant for the navy, to private oil companies in exchange for financial compensation. The event became the subject of a sensational investigation, and Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies -
Tin Pan Alley
The Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The was named by a place onWest 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and a plaque on the sidewalk on 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth. The group started around in 1885, when a number of music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan. -
Margret Sanger
Sanger was an American birth control activist, sex educator, writer, and nurse. She was an early feminist and women's rights activist who worked with the birth control towards legalization. In 1916, she opened the first birth control clinic in the U.S. She wrote a column about the world of sex to women called "What Every Girl Should Know." She was a nurse in the poor sections of New York City, where she had seen the suffering caused by unwanted pregnancy. And she founded the Planned Parenthood. -
American Indian Citizenship Act
On this day, the Congress has granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. The main reason for the whites to finally grant citizenship to Native Americans is because they wanted to absorb the Indians into white culture (also known as assimilation). Before the Citizenship Acts, getting Natives to have citizenship was almost impossible. Despite the Native Americans being able to become citizens in the United States, the Native Americans were still able to vote. -
Billy Sunday
He was an American fundamentalist minister and a preacher. Sunday is known to use a creative language and sermons to give off the message of salvation of Jesus to oppose radical and progressive groups. Billy liked to teach people about the evils of alcohol, meaning he was a very powerful person who supported the Prohibition movement. He also was part of the Fundamentalist revival of the 1920's. His nativist and anti-radicalism views soon shaped the model of American politics after World War I. -
Valentine's Day Massacre
During the streets of Chicago in the late 1920s, gang warfare ruled the streets. A chief gangster, Al Capone, was looking forward to controlling by eliminating his enemies that were in the prostitution, gambling and bootlegging. On February 14, 1929 in the garage on the city’s North Side, seven men who were involved with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran (One of Capone's rivals), were shot to death by men who were dressed up as policemen, and this became the Valentine's Day Massacre. -
Susan B. Anthony
Anthony was a Quaker, and lecturer for women's rights and the women's suffrage movement. She was a strong believer in equal rights for both men and women. She helped Elizabeth Cady Stanton in finding the National Women's Suffrage Association. She even convinced the congressional supporters to create a Constitutional amendment so women can have the right to vote. Anthony was arrested later in life because she had voted illegally. She has sentenced a fine that she never ever paid in her lifetime. -
Herbert Hoover
Hoover was an American engineer, businessman, and politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933 during the Great Depression. He promised the American people prosperity and attempted to first deal with the Depression by trying to restore public faith in the community. Hoover attempted to combat the ensuing Great Depression with the strategy of volunteer efforts, but his tactics were useless which produced no economic recovery during his term. -
Black Tuesday
The Black Tuesday was named after the day New York Exchange crashed. The day of the crash was a result because of inflated stock prices, they were too costly and much higher than their worth. With the products becoming worthless, people started to lose their money. Investors were willing to sell their shares for pennies on the dollar. People also had to borrow money to hold high-priced stocks, that the people became bankrupt. The Black Tuesday marked the beginning of the Great Depression. -
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The Great Depression
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The Dust Bowl
This event, also known as the DIrty Thirties, was referred to the drought in Southern Plains region of the United States after a severe dust storm formed in the 1930s. The dust and high winds spread from Texas to Nebraska, and people and livestock died, and crops failed to grow everywhere. With the Dust Bowl taking place during the Great Depression, the economic depression intensifies and it made many farming families to migrate somewhere else for better living conditions and to find work. -
Election of 1932
In this election, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democratic) ran against the Herbert Hoover (Republican). The election happened as the effects of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as voters felt he was unable to reverse the economic collapse or deal with prohibition. In the end, Frankin D. Roosevelt won 472 electoral votes and 22,821,857 popular votes. White Hoover lost with 59 electoral votes and 15,761,841 popular votes. -
Huey Long "The Kingfish"
This man was a politician from Los Angles and was one of Roosevelt's biggest threat. He increased the share of state taxes paid by corporations and also began on the public works projects including new schools, highways, bridges, and hospitals. He had a plan to take away from the rich to give to the poor called "Share Our Wealth." He controlled all government officed in Louisiana, both state and local. But in 1935, he was assassinated by a bullet by Louisiana State Capitol by Dr. Carl Weiss. -
20th Amendment
Was known as the Lame Duck Amendment and written by George Norris, which changes the date on which the terms of the President and Vice President (January 20) and Senators and Representatives (January 3) end and begin.This was an amendment that shortened the time between Presidential election and inauguration. In short, the amendment cut the lame-duck period down to 6 weeks so that FDR began his second term a month and a half early. It also said Congress must assemble at least once a year. -
The Brain Trust
The trust was coined by James Kieran, a New York Times reporter. The Brain Trusts was a group who helped Roosevelt during his presidential candidacy continued to aid him after he entered the White House. They were more influential than the Cabinet. The trust consisted of Raymond Moley, Rexford Guy Tugwell, and Adolph A. Berle, Jr. They were specialists in law, economics, and welfare, many were young university professors. The government needed to regulate soon became the first new deal. -
Glass-Steagall Act
This act forbade commercial banks from engaging in excessive speculation, added $1 billion in gold to the economy (bank reforms) and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This was a reaction of U.S. government to cope with the economic problems which followed the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The $750 million that was kept in the government gold reserve was now able to be in use from the creation of loans. It took the U.S off the gold standard, and gave government power over banks -
21st Amendment
The amendment was based on the recommendation of the Wickersham Commission that Prohibition had lead to a vast increase in crime. The amendment repeals the 18th Amendment. "The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed." After this amendment, state and local prohibition no longer required by law. As a result, crime was reduced, more jobs, Americans were less healthy, corruption and more revenue were made since taxes were placed on beer. -
Emergency Relief Act
This was relief effort founded by Harry L. Hopkins for the unemployed people with immediate relief goals looking for immediate relief rather than long-term alleviation. The act fought for adult unemployment, they gave money away and provided a short term solution to unemployment. The relief included giving state and localities $3.1 billion and soon 20,000,000 people got jobs. Its purpose was to provide immediate relief until the economy was able to recover. Sadly, it only lasted for two years. -
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Navajo Code Talkers
These were Native Americans served the country by enlisting in the armed services and working in thousands of factories across the United States, and there were more than 400 Navajos who were eventually recruited as Code Talkers The Native Americans were those who translated U.S. code into the Native American language so that enemy forces could not decipher the content. One of the majors, Howard Connor, said, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” -
Axis Power
Also known as the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis. These were the countries that opposed to the Allies during the World War II. The three major Axis Powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan were part of an alliance. The Axis Powers ruled empires that dominated large parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Pacific Ocean, but the Second World War ended with their total defeat. They all signed the tripartite pact, which vowed they will help each other in any events of attacks. -
Allied Power
This was an alliance of Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, and France during World War II. The leaders of the Allies were Franklin Roosevelt the United States, Winston Churchill Great Britain, and Joseph Stalin the Soviet Union. Their main purpose was to destroy the Axis powers so that they can create a peaceful post-war world. They wanted to prevent Germany from rising again, end the fascist regimes of Germany, crush Germany and gain influence over Europe. In the end, Allied Powers won -
Battle of Moscow
Also known as "Operation Tycoon". In October 2nd, 1941, Germans were closing in on the Russians in Moscow. The Russians dig trenches around the city with no plans of retreat. Hitler thought that if believed when the Moscow had been cut out of Russia, the whole nation would collapse.To defend Moscow, the Russians had under 500,000 men, less than 900 tanks and just over 300 combat planes. The Red Army counterattacks the German forces and they are the ones who are forced to retreat. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. On December 7, 1941, the harbor suffered from a surprise attack by Japanese forces. Over a hundred Japanese fighter planes got near the base and destroyed about twenty American vessels, along with eight enormous battleships, and over 300 airplanes. As a result, over 2,400 Americans died in the attack, while 1,000 people were wounded. After this attack from Japan President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Scorched Earth
This was a military strategy of burning or destroying buildings, crops, or other resources that might be of use to an invading enemy force. Hitler also ordered a scorched earth policy. 28,000 villages were burned by the retreating Germans, and all their resources that could be used by the advancing Red Army were either evacuated or destroyed. Even though the scorched earth deprived armies of valuable resources, the civilian population left behind would suffer enormous privation and misery. -
D-Day
This day (known as the turning point of the World War II) was the long-promised invasion of France. The invasion was led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower with over a million troops going to the beaches at Normandy crossing the English Channel began the process of re-taking France. With 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops. By the end of June, the Allies had 850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles in Normandy and were grateful to continue their march across Europe. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign in World War II over for the control of the ocean. The battle lasted from 1939 to 1945. In this battle, Germany's naval attempt to cut off British supply ships by using U-boats. In the end, the battle caused Britain and the US to officially join the war after their ships were sunk, and Allies won control of the seas. Germany suffered from heavy losses due to the innovations of radar and codebreaking from the Allies. -
Fat Man Bomb
In 1945, the United States Army Air Force created atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for a nuclear attack. The Fat Man bomb was the last bomb to land in Japan during World War II. The bombings ended the war months sooner, saving many lives that would have been lost on both sides if the planned invasion of Japan had taken place. The bomb weighed 10,300 pounds, had a filling weight of 14 pounds, and 60 inches in diameter. The bomb was ten times stronger than the other bomb, Little Boy. -
Adolf Hitler
Hitler was born in Austria, and he was a Nazi leader. After World War I, Hitler rose into power in the National Socialist German Workers Party and took over the German government. He created concentration camps for the Jews and other groups that he believed was a threat to Aryan supremacy. The result of his dictatorship resulted to more than 6 million deaths. Later in 1939, Hitler attacked Poland and started World War II. After World War II ended Hitler killed himself before Germany’s defeat.
