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US purchases Alaska from Russia
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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
There is much controversy over whether or not Edison actually invented the light bulb. He did certainly patent it. However, historians say that over 20 individuals can be credited with the invention of a light bulb before Edison. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed by President Chester A. Arthur. The law made it very difficult for immigrants from Asia to enter the US and banned the Chinese entirely. Immigrants from Asia would be locked up in cells for days or months until their paperwork had been examined, and even then they were often sent home. -
Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
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Sherman Antitrust Act
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Ellis Island opens
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Carnegie Steel Homestead Strike
The workers at Carnegie Steel decided to go on strike because of small wages and long working hours. Frick, who had been put in charge of the plant while Carnegie was away, called in the Pinkertons and let the situation get out of hand so that the state militia would get called in. The event ended up being the third most violent in the labor history of the US. -
Plessy v Ferguson
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The U.S. declares war on Spain
When Spain colonized Cuba and the Philippines and mistreated them, the Philippines looked to the US for help, hoping for the US to be for them what France had been to the US during the Revolutionary war. However, the US refused to get involved until the sinking of the Maine. To this day no one truly knows what caused it, but the US blamed Spain. -
Hawaii is annexed
When the US put a tariff on sugar, citizens who owned sugar plantations in Hawaii were naturally upset. Some formed a group and overthrew the queen, their leader declaring himself the King of Hawaii. He then proposed a deal to the President: lift the tariff and the US could have a naval base there. The President agreed, not wanting to look like he couldn't control his own people. -
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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President 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 declared the U.S. right to intervene in the Western Hemisphere
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Upton Sinclair releases “The Jungle”
Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" describes the horrors of the meat packing industry. It was written in such a way that people at first thought it was fiction. President Roosevelt set up an investigation, only to find that Sinclair's accusations were accurate. -
Pure Food & Drug Act and The Meat Inspection Act are passed
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Peak of immigration through Ellis Island
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Henry Ford produces his first Model T
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Creation of the NAACP
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The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The workers were locked in the factory to prevent them from taking breaks and from stealing, so when the fire started, they couldn't get out and started to jump from the windows. 146 workers, mostly women, died. This tragic event led to more safety laws and inspections. -
The Assassination of Austria’s archduke Franz Ferdinand starts WWI
Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by the a member of the Black Hand during a parade in Serbia while there to discuss peace between the two countries. His wife, who was later found out to be pregnant, died as well. Germany then declared war, not Austria. -
The Panama Canal is completed and opened for traffic
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The United States enters WWI
The US didn't get involved in WWI for years mostly because they didn't feel it was their problem. Then two things sparked their involvement: the sinking of the Lusitania and the Zimmerman note. When the Germans sunk the Lusitania, they broke their promise made in the Sussex pledge. Germany also sent a letter to Mexico saying they would support them in a war against the US to regain their territory so the US would be busy. -
Ratification of the 18th Amendment (prohibition)
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Women got the right to vote
Women had been fighting for the right to vote for decades. Leading up to the ratification of the 19th amendment, women picketed the White House with quotes from President Woodrow Wilson about democracy; proving him a hypocrite. He finally gave in because he was worried about his reputation with other world powers.
