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Alaska is purchased from Russia
U.S purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The treaty was signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister Eouard de Stoeckl. Alaska is a land mass of 586,412 square miles. -
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
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John D. Rockefeller starts 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
Created in Menlo Park, NJ, the light bulb kickstarted a change in the economic structure of society. Before the light bulb, people used gas and oil lamps. The light bulb was a safer alternative since gas and oil were known to explode and start fires on people's homes. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
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Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
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Sherman Anti-Trust Act
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Ellis Island opens
This was the first immigration station to welcome immigrants to America. Ellis island is located in New York. Seven hundred came through the first day and 450,000 followed that year. -
Carnegie Steel's Homestead Act
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Plessy V Ferguson
Supreme Court case that ended with the decision to uphold the constitutionality of racial segregation. The incident involving Homer Plessy fell under the "separate but equal" doctrine. This incident happened in 1892 when Homer refused to sit in a train car for African Americans. -
The U.S. declares war on Spain
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Hawaii is Annexed
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Rudyard Kipling published "The White Man's Burden" in The New York Sun
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The Start of the Boxer Rebellion
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Tenement Act
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Pres. McKinley is assassinated and Progressive Theodore Roosevelt becomes president
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The Philippine Insurrection comes to an end
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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"
Sinclair wrote this book to portray the harsh conditions and the exploited lives of immigrants in industrialized cities.When Roosevelt read this he was horrified. This book was key in the drive behind the Pure Food & Drug act. -
Pure Food & Drug Act and The Meat Inspection Act are passed
These were the first federal laws that regulated the food and drug industries. These required that all the food and drugs used for human consumption had to pass strict tests to assure they were clean and safe. Theodore Roosevelt was a main force behind these. -
Peak year of immigration through Ellis Island
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Henry Ford produced his first Model T
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Creation of the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was created after the race riot in Springfield. The NAACP aimed to secure the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments for all people. "The Crisis" magazine id the official publication and articulate partner of the NAACP for the struggle for equal rights. -
The Triangle Shirtwaste Fire
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Assassination on Austria's archduke Franz Ferdinand starts WWl
Franz and his wife were murdered by Bosnian revolutionary, Gavrilo Princip. This event was one of the MANIA reasons for the start of WWI. MANIA stands for Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism, and Assassination. -
The Panama Canal is completed and opened for traffic
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The U.S. enters WWl
On this date, U.S joined its allies Britain, France, and Russia in world war 1. More than 2 million U.S soldiers fought on the battlefields of France. Some Americans did not want to join the war because they wanted to stay neutral. -
Ratification of the 18th Amendment - Prohibition
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Women get the right to vote
Passed by Congress in 1919, the 19th amendment granted women their right to vote. The woman's suffrage lasted for decades before the amendment was added. Some of the suffrage advocates included Susan B Anthony and Alice Paul.
