U.S History 1877-2008

By symone.mitchell
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    Early American History

  • Declaration of Independence signed

  • Constitution written

  • Bill of Rights ratified

  • Period: to

    Civil War/Reconstruction

  • Homestead Act

    provided 160 acres to anyone willing to settle on land in the west

  • 13th Amendment

    Abolished Slavery

  • 14th Amendment

    Citizenship and Due Process

  • Transcontinental Railroad Completed

  • 15th Amendment

    Voting for all Male Citizens

  • Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell

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    The Gilded Age

    1.Rockefeller/Carnegie (Captains of Industry vs. Robber Barons)- industrialists who used questionable practices to amass their wealth. -amassing a fortune and contributed positively to the country.
    2.Philanthropy-The desire to promote the welfare of others.
    3.Monopoly-The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
    4.Jane Addams-American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, etc.
    Laissez-Faire- Hands off government economic plan

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    prohibited immigration of skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers, first US national immigration act

  • Pendleton Civil Service Act

    Awarded government jobs based on merit

  • Interstate Commerce Act

    Ensure railroad set “reasonable and just” rate and the first time government stepped in to regulate business

  • Dawes Act

    Gave individual ownership of land to native Americans instead of the tribe owning things collectively

  • Hull House founded, first of many settlement houses

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    outlawed business monopolies

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    Outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness
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    The Progressive Era

    Muckrakers-Journalists in the Progressive Era in the United States who exposed established institutions and leaders as corrupt.
    Initiative, Referendum, Recall-Cancel, revoke
    The Great Migration-6 million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest and West
    NAACP-Interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans
    Immigration Issues (Assimilation and Nativism)-Policy of favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants

  • Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)

  • Plessy vs. Ferguson

    legalized segregation, established “separate but equal”

  • USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba, starting the Spanish American War

  • Hawaii is annexed as a territory of the United States

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    Imperialism

    Theodore Roosevelt-American statesman, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer, who served as the 26th president of U.S.
    Rough Riders-The 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry
    Foreign Policy-Government's strategy in dealing with other nations.
    Immigration Quotas-The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota.
    Yellow Journalism-Journalism based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration.

  • Open Door Policy

    Initiated free trade with China

  • Roosevelt Corollary

    Addition to the Monroe Doctrine

  • Panama Canal Built

  • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is published

  • NAACP Founded

  • Meat Inspection Act

    Law that makes it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat

  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    Regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines

  • Dollar Diplomacy

    Taft’s policy of paying for peace in Latin America

  • 16 Amendment

    established the federal income tax

  • 17th Amendment

    direct election of U.S. Senators

  • Federal Reserve Act

    Established the Federal Reserve, which helped stabilize the banking industry

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, starting World War I

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    World War I

    Alvin York-Sergeant York was one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I.
    Homefront-The people who stay in a country and work while that country's soldiers are fighting in a war in a foreign country.
    M.A.I.N. (Causes of WWI)- Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism.
    Sussex Pledge-Promise made by Germany to the United States in 1916, during World War I.
    American Expeditionary Forces-Formation of U.S Army on the Western Front of World War I.

  • Sinking of the Lusitania

  • National Parks System created

  • Zimmerman Telegram intercepted by the British, warned the U.S. of a proposed ally between Mexico and Germany

  • The United States enters WWI on the Allied side

  • Bolshevik Revolution in Russia begins, causing Russian troops to exit the war

  • Battle of Argonne Forest, considered the turning point of the war

  • Germany surrenders to the Allied Powers

  • President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points

    Statement of principles for peace after World War I, included no colonialism, freedom of the seas, and a League of Nations

  • Treaty of Versailles

    Peace treaty that ended World War I, required Germany to accept full blame and pay war reparations as well as demilitarize

  • 18th Amendment

    Prohibition is enacted and alcohol is illegal

  • 19th Amendment

    Women are given the right to vote
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    Roaring Twenties

    Social Darwinism-The theory that individuals, groups, and peoples are subject to the same Darwinian laws of natural selection as plants and animals.
    The Red Scare-Fear of a potential rise of communism
    Assembly Line-series of workers and machines in a succession of identical items is progressively assembled.
    Return to Normalcy-return to the way of life before World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic
    Harlem Renaissance-Intellectual revival of African American art and literature

  • Teapot Dome Scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal

  • American Indian Citizenship Act

    Granted citizenship to any Native Americans born within the United States

  • Scopes Monkey Trial

  • Charles Lindbergh makes history by making a nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris

  • Stock Market Crash

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    Great Depression

    Hooverville's-Shantytown built by unemployed and destitute people
    The New Deal-Series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, etc. enacted by President Roosevelt
    Causes of the Great Depression-Stock Market crash, monetary contraction, gold standard, International Tariffs, and overproduction
    Court Packing-Filling the court with judges that will vote in your favor
    Eleanor Roosevelt-First Lady of the United States and was an American political figure, diplomat and activist
  • Period: to

    Dust Bowl

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt elected

  • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established

  • 20th Amendment

    Adjusted the dates of the presidential terms

  • 21st Amendment

    Repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibition ends

  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established

  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established

  • Works Progress Administration (WPA) established

  • Social Security Act

    Established the Social Security Administration, which provides unemployment insurance, aid to the disabled, old age pensions, and insurance for families

  • Adolf Hitler invades Poland, starting WWII

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    World War II

    Island Hopping-Travel from one island to another
    Liberation of Concentration Camps-Freeing of millions Jews
    Dwight Eisenhower-34th president of the U.S
    Douglas MacArthur-American 5 star general
    Chester W. Nimitz-Fleet admiral of the U.S Navy
    Navajo Code Talkers-secrets code messages
    Tuskegee Airmen-African-American military pilots and airmen
    Flying Tigers-Group of the Republic of China Air Force
    The Manhattan Project-Made 1st nuclear weapons
    Rosie the Riveter-Cultural icon

  • Attack on Pearl Harbor

  • Battle of Midway

  • Bataan Death March

  • Executive Order 9066

    Incarceration of Japanese Americans for the duration of WWII

  • “D-Day” - Invasion of Normandy

  • G.I. Bill

    Gives military veterans financial and educational benefits

  • The atomic bomb, “Little Boy” is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan (August 6)

  • The atomic bomb, “Fat Man” is dropped in Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II (August 9)

  • United Nations formed

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    Early Cold War

    Containment- U.S policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism
    Arms Race/Space Race-Competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities
    The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics-Federal socialist state in Northern Eurasia
    Communism-Political and economic system that seeks to create a classless society
    Domino Theory-Suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers

  • 22nd Amendment

    Prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again

  • Truman Doctrine

    U.S. policy that gave military and economic aid to countries threatened by communism

  • Berlin Airlift

  • Marshall Plan

    Program to help European countries rebuild after World War II

  • NATO established

  • Sweatt v. Painter

    ruled the separate law school at the University of Texas failed to qualify as “separate but equal”
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    Civil Rights Era

  • Period: to

    Korean War

  • Rosenbergs trial

  • First H-Bomb detonated by the United States

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

    overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and mandated desegregation

  • Hernandez v. Texas

    Mexican Americans and all other races provided equal protection under the 14th Amendment
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    Vietnam War

  • Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

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    Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks’ arrest

  • Interstate Highway Act

    Authorized the building of a national highway system

  • USSR launches Sputnik

  • Little Rock Nine integrated into an all-white school in Little Rock, AK

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba

  • Berlin Wall built to prevent people from leaving communist East Berlin

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” at the March on Washington

  • John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, TX

  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    begins the undeclared war in Vietnam

  • 24th Amendment

    Abolish poll tax

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Made discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin in public places illegal and required employers to hire on an equal opportunity basis

  • Medicare and Medicaid established

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Eliminated literacy tests for voters

  • Martin Luther King is assassinated

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

  • Tet Offensive

  • First Man on the Moon

  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    defined the First Amendment rights for students in the United States Public Schools

  • Kent State University shooting

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    End of the Cold War

  • Pentagon Papers leaked

  • 26th Amendment

    moved the voting age from 21 years old to 18 years old

  • Title IX

    protects people from discrimination based on gender in education programs

  • War Powers Act

    law limited the President’s right to send troops to battle without Congressional approval

  • Watergate Scandal, which leads to Nixon’s Resignation

  • Fall of Saigon, marks the end of the Vietnam War

  • Camp David Accords

  • Three Mile Island Disaster

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    Iran Hostage Crisis

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    Iran Contra Affair

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    1990s-21st Century