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Homestead Act
encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. -
Transcontinental Railroad Competed
a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, signaling the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. The transcontinental railroad had long been a dream for people living in the American West. -
Industrialization Begins To Boom
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Boss Tweed rise at Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall was a New York City political organization that endured for nearly two centuries. ... Although its popularity stemmed from a willingness to help the city's poor and immigrant populations, Tammany Hall became known for charges of corruption levied against leaders such as William M. “Boss” Tweed. -
Telephone Invented
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Reconstruction Ends
With the compromise, the Republicans had quietly given up their fight for racial equality and blacks' rights in the south. In 1877, Hayes withdrew the last federal troops from the south, and the bayonet-backed Republican governments collapsed, thereby ending Reconstruction. -
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Gilded Age
The Gilded Age in United States history is the late 19th century, from the 1870s to about 1900. -
Light Bulb Invented
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3rd Wave Of Immigration
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Chinese Exclusion Act
It was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. In the spring of 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur. This act provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration. -
Pendleton Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (ch. 27, 22 Stat. 403) is a United States federal law, enacted in 1883, which established that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 is a United States federal law that was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. The Act required that railroad rates be "reasonable and just," but did not empower the government to fix specific rates. -
Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth
"Wealth", more commonly known as "The Gospel of Wealth", is an article written by Andrew Carnegie in June of 1889 that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. -
Chicago's Hull House
Hull House was a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, Hull House opened to recently arrived European immigrants. -
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act (Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1–7) is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law (or "competition law") passed by Congress in 1890 under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. -
How The Other Half Lives
How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York is an early publication of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. -
Influence of Sea Power Upon History
In 1890, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, a lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, published The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, a revolutionary analysis of the importance of naval power as a factor in the rise of the British Empire. -
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Imperialism
a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. -
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Progressive Era
The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to the 1920s. -
Homestead Steel Labor Strike
The Homestead strike, also known as the Homestead Steel strike, Pinkerton rebellion, or Homestead massacre, was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892 -
Pullman Labor Striked
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States on May 11, 1894, and a turning point for US labor law. It pitted the American Railway Union (ARU) against the Pullman Company, the main railroads, and the federal government of the United States under President Grover Cleveland. -
Annexation of Hawaii
America's annexation of Hawaii in 1898 extended U.S. territory into the Pacific and highlighted resulted from economic integration and the rise of the United States as a Pacific power. For most of the 1800s, leaders in Washington were concerned that Hawaii might become part of a European nation's empire. -
Spanish American War
the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy is a term in foreign affairs initially used to refer to the United States policy established in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, as enunciated in Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Note, dated September 6, 1899 and dispatched to the major European powers. -
Assassination of President McKinley
On September 6, 1901, William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. -
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Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, and naturalist, who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. -
Panama Canal U.S. Construction Begins
Building the Panama Canal, 1903–1914. President Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the realization of a long-term United States goal—a trans-isthmian canal. Throughout the 1800s, American and British leaders and businessmen wanted to ship goods quickly and cheaply between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. -
The Jungle
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) For preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes. -
Model-T
The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie, Leaping Lena, or flivver) is an automobile produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. ... With 16.5 million sold it stands eighth on the top ten list of most sold cars of all time as of 2012. -
NAACP
Founded Feb. 12. 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest, largest and most widely recognized grassroots-based civil rights organization. Its more than half-million members and supporters throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, campaigning for equal opportunity and conducting voter mobilization. -
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William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft served as the 27th President of the United States and as the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, the only person to have held both offices. -
16th Amendment
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. -
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act (ch. 6, 38 Stat. 251, enacted December 23, 1913, 12 U.S.C. §§ 221 to 522) is an Act of Congress that created and established the Federal Reserve System (the central banking system of the United States), and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes -
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Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American statesman and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. -
17th Amendment
The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established the popular election of United States Senators by the people of the states. -
Assissination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when they were mortally wounded by Gavrilo Princip. -
Trench Warfare, Poison Gas, and Machine Guns
Chemical warfare first appeared when the Germans used poison gas during a surprise attack in Flanders, Belgium, in 1915. At first, gas was just released from large cylinders and carried by the wind into nearby enemy lines. Later, phosgene and other gases were loaded into artillery shells and shot into enemy trenches. -
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World War I
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The sinking of the Cunard ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred on Friday, 7 May 1915 during the First World War, as Germany waged submarine warfare against the United Kingdom which had implemented a naval blockade of Germany. -
National Parks Systems
National Park Service. The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note or Zimmerman Cable) was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the prior event of the United States entering World War I against Germany. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917 which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. -
U.S. entry into WWI
U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917. On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. ... The United States later declared war on German ally Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. -
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, since it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. -
Battle of Argonne Forest
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also known as the Maas-Argonne Offensive and the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from 26 September 1918 until the Armistice of 11 November 1918, a total of 47 days. -
Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. -
Red Scare
The fear of communism, known as the Red Scare, led to a national witch hunt for suspected communist supporters, which was known as McCarthyism. Learn about the rise of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, the impact of McCarthyism on American society and the legacy of the short-lived fear campaign. -
President Harding's Return to Normalcy
Return to normalcy, a return to the way of life before World War I, was United States presidential candidate Warren G. Harding's campaign promise in the election of 1920. -
Harlem Renaissance
Known as the New Negro Movement during the time, it is most closely associated with Jazz and the rise of African American arts. Know about the 10 most famous people associated with the Harlem Renaissance including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas, WEB Du Bois and Duke Ellington. -
18th Amendment
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution effectively established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol illegal. -
19th Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was adopted on August 18, 1920. -
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Roaring Twenties
The 1920s was an age of dramatic social and political change. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. The nation's total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into an affluent but unfamiliar “consumer society.” -
Teapot Dome Scandal
Albert B. Fall. Albert Bacon Fall (November 26, 1861 – November 30, 1944) was a United States Senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, infamous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal. -
Joseph Stalin Leads USSR
Joseph Stalin led the country known as the Soviet Union for about 25 years. He made the Soviet Union into a world power, but he was known for his harsh rule. (1879-1953). -
Scopes "Monkey" Trial
the Scopes Monkey trial began in Dayton, Tennessee. High school teacher John Thomas Scopes was charged with violating Tennessee's law against teaching evolution instead of the divine creation of man. -
Mein Kampf Published
Mein Kampf is a 1925 autobiographical book by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. -
Charles Lindbergh's Trans-Atlantic Flight
On May 21, 1927, the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Lindbergh was just 25 years old when he completed the trip -
St. Valentine Day Massacre
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Seven men are killed in a garage on the North side of Chicago. Ordered by Al Capone, who is conveniently away in Miami at the time. Planned by McGurn and members of the Circus gang, imported hired killers are sent in the Moran warehouse to kill George "Bugs"Moran. -
Stock Market Crashes "Black Tuesday"
Black Tuesday refers to October 29, 1929, when panicked sellers traded nearly 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange (four times the normal volume at the time), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell -12%. Black Tuesday is often cited as the beginning of the Great Depression. -
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Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, originating in the United States. -
Hoovervilles
A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States of America. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States of America during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
ch. 4), otherwise known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff or Hawley–Smoot Tariff, was an act implementing protectionist trade policies sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley and signed into law on June 17, 1930. The act raised U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods. -
100,000 Banks Have Failed
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Agriculture Adjustment Administration (AAA)
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Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation providing deposit insurance to depositors in US banks. -
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Public Works Administration, part of the New Deal of 1933 was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. -
Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany
On this day in 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg names Adolf Hitler, leader or fÜhrer of the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi Party), as chancellor of Germany. -
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. -
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New Deal Programs
The New Deal was a group of U.S. government programs of the 1930s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the programs to help the country recover from the economic problems of the Great Depression. -
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The Holocaust
he Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, was a genocide during World War II in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany -
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s -
Social Security Administration (SSA)
The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefits -
Rape of Nanjing
The Nanking Massacre was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, then the capital of the Republic of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. -
Kristallnacht
November 9-10. That night in Germany, thousands upon thousands of Jews were subject to terror and violence by the Nazis. Over 1,000 Jewish synagogues and over 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed, and approximately 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and taken to concentration camps. -
Hitler invades Poland
Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring Lebensraum, or “living space,” for the German people. -
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World War II
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. -
German Blitzkrieg attacks
Germany quickly overran much of Europe and was victorious for more than two years by relying on a new military tactic called the "Blitzkrieg" (lightning war). Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. -
Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name of a group of African-American military pilots who fought in World War II. Officially, they formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces. -
Navajo Code Talkers
bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by the Cherokee and Choctaw peoples during World War I. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. -
Executive Order 9066
Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. -
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was when the Japanese forced 76,000 captured Allied soldiers (Filipinos and Americans) to march about 80 miles across the Bataan Peninsula. The march took place in April of 1942 during World War II. Bataan is a province in the Philippines on the island of Luzon. -
Invasion of Normandy (D-day)
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings. -
Atomic bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima
During the final stage of World War II, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. -
Victory over Japan/Pacific (VJ/VP) Day
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps
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Victory in Europe (VE) Day
Victory in Europe Day, generally known as V-E Day, VE Day or simply V Day, was the public holiday celebrated on 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. -
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Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was an American statesman who served as the 33rd President of the United States, taking the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that took place in 1945 and 1946. Judges from the Allied powers—Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals. Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death.
