U.S. History: 1877-2008

By brittmcgee
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    Early American History

  • Declaration of Independence

    The Declaration of Independence was signed on this day, declaring America's freedom from Great Britain.

  • Constitution

    The Constitution was written on this day.

  • Bill of Rights

    The Bill of Rights were ratified on this day.
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    Civil War/Reconstruction

  • Homestead Act

    This act gave all present and future citizens up to 160 acres of public land provided they live on it, improve it, and pay a small registration fee

  • 13th Amendment

    This amendment officially abolished slavery in the United States.

  • 14th Amendment

    This amendment granted citizenship to all who were born or naturalized in the United States. It also provided equal protection under law for all.

  • Transcontinental Railroad

    The Transcontinental Railroad was completed this year.

  • 15th Amendment

    This amendment granted voting rights to African American men.

  • Creation of the Telephone

    Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
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    The Gilded Age

    1. Rockefeller/Carnegie- rivals in the steel industry
    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 reformer who advocated for immigrants, poor, women, and peace
    5. Laissez-Faire- an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from or almost free from any form of economic interventionism such as regulation and subsidies

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    This act prohibited immigration of skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers. This was the first US national immigration act.

  • Interstate Commerce Act

    This act ensured railroad set “reasonable and just” rate, This is the first time government stepped in to regulate business.

  • Pendleton Civil Service Act

    This act awarded government jobs based on merit.

  • Dawes Act

    This act gave individual ownership of land to Native Americans, instead of the tribe owning things collectively.

  • Hull House

    The settlement of the Hull House was the first of many more settlement houses.

  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    This act outlawed businesses from "monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize."

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    This act outlawed trusts in order to promote economic fairness.
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    The Progressive Era

    1. Muckrakers- reform-minded journalists in the Progressive Era
    2. Initiative, Referendum, Recall- voters can adopt a change in law, disapprove a law passed by the Legislature, or remove an elected official from office
    3. The Great Migration- the movement of 6 million African Americans out of the South
    4. NAACP- a civil rights organization
    5. Immigration Issues- minority resembles majority, policy prompting the interests of native inhabitants against those of immigrants
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    Klondike Gold Rush

    This took place in Alaska.

  • Plessy vs. Ferguson

    This court case involved "separate but equal", which allowed for racism and segregation to run rampant in the United States.

  • USS Maine Explosion

    USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba, which starts the Spanish American War.

  • Annexation of Hawai'i

    Hawaii is annexed as a territory of the United States.
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    Imperialism

    1. Theodore Roosevelt- 26th president of the U.S.
    2. Rough Riders- 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry
    3. Foreign Policy- using diplomacy to solve international problems
    4. Immigration Quotas- limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota
    5. Yellow Journalism- terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate news

  • Open Door Policy

    This policy initiated free trade with China.

  • Roosevelt Corollary

    This was an addition to the Monroe Doctrine.
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    Building of the Panama Canal

  • Meat Inspection Act

    This act made it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat.

  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    This act created regulations of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines.

  • NAACP Founded

  • Dollar Diplomacy

    Taft’s policy of paying for peace in Latin America.

  • 16th Amendment

    This amendment established the federal income tax.

  • 17th Amendment

    This amendment established the direct election of U.S. Senators.

  • Federal Reserve Act

    This act established the Federal Reserve, which helped stabilize the banking industry.

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

    Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, which started World War I.
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    World War 1

    1. Alvin York- reportedly kills over 20 German soldiers and captures an additional 132
    2. Homefront- covers the domestic, economic, social and political histories of countries involved in that conflict
    3. M.A.I.N. (Causes of WWI)- militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism
    4. Sussex Pledge- adequate warning before sinking ships, and provide for the safety of passengers and crew
    5. American Expeditionary Forces- American troops serving in Europe during World War I

  • Sinking of the Lusitania

  • National Parks System

  • Zimmerman Telegram

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

  • U.S. Enters WWI

    The United States enters WWI on the Allied side.

  • Bolshevik Revolution

    The beginning of this causes Russian troops to exit the war.

  • Battle of Argonne Forest

    Considered the turning pint of the war.

  • Germany Surrenders to the Allied Powers.

  • 14 Points

    President Woodrow Wilson gives a statement of principles for peace after World War I, included no colonialism, freedom of the seas, and a League of Nations.

  • Treaty of Versailles

    This is the peace treaty that ended World War I. It required Germany to accept full blame and pay war reparations as well as demilitarize.

  • 18th Amendment

    This amendment enacted prohibition and alcohol is illegal.

  • 19th Amendment

    This amendment gave voting rights to women.
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    Roaring 20's

    1. Social Darwinism- human groups and races are subject to the same laws of natural selection
    2. The Red Scare- promotion of a widespread fear of a potential rise of communism
    3. Assembly Line- sped up the manufacturing process dramatically and allowed factories to produce products at a remarkable rate
    4. Return to Normalcy- Warren G. Harding's campaign slogan for the election of 1920
    5. Harlem Renaissance- intellectual revival of African American art and literature

  • Teapot Dome Scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal

  • American Indian Citizenship Act

    This act granted citizenship to any Native Americans born within the United States.

  • Scopes Monkey Trial

  • Charles Lindbergh

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

  • Stock Market Crash

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    Great Depression

    1. Hoovervilles- shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless
    2. The New Deal- series of programs and financial reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
    3. Causes of the Great Depression (5)- Roaring 20s, Global Crisis, stock market crash, Dust Bowl, and Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
    4. Court Packing- change in size to the Supreme Court
    5. Eleanor Roosevelt- political figure, diplomat and activist that served as the first lady
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    Dust Bowl

  • Election of Franklin D. Roosevelt

  • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established

  • 20th Amendment

    This amendment adjusted the dates of the presidential terms.

  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established

  • 21st Amendment

    This amendment repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibition ends.

  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established

  • Works Progress Administration (WPA) established

  • Social Security Act

    This act established the Social Security Administration, which provides unemployment insurance, aid to the disabled, old age pensions, and insurance for families.

  • Start of WWII

    Adolf Hitler invades Poland.
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    World War 2

    1.) Island Hopping- targeting key islands
    2.) Liberation of Concentration Camps
    3.) Dwight Eisenhower- 34th President
    4.) Douglas MacArthur- U.S. General
    5.) Chester W. Nimitz- fleet admiral
    6.) Navajo Code Talkers- 29 men for communication
    7.) Tuskegee Airmen- African American pilots
    8.) Flying Tigers- pilots recruited under FDR
    9.) The Manhattan Project- research and development for nuclear weapons
    10.) Rosie the Riveter- built the machinery necessary to fight and win WWII

  • Attack on Pearl Harbor

  • Battle of Midway

  • Bataan Death March

  • Executive Order 9066

    This order is the incarceration of Japanese Americans for the duration of WWII.

  • D-Day

    Invasion of Normandy.

  • G.I. Bill

    This bill gives military veterans financial and educational benefits.

  • United Nations formed

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    Early Cold War

    1.) Containment- prevent the spread of communism
    2.) Arms Race/Space Race- race between USSR and the US for spaceflight capability
    3.) The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics- treaty between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia
    4.) Communism- political governing where the government has complete control to create a classless society
    5.) Domino Theory- states if Vietnam falls to communism, the countries around it would as well

  • "Little Boy"

    The atomic bomb is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan.

  • "Fat Man"

    The atomic bomb is dropped in Nagasaki, Japan. This marks the end of World War II.

  • Truman Doctrine

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

  • 22nd Amendment

    This amendment prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again.

  • Berlin Airlift

  • Marshall Plan

    This program was made 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

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    Korean War

  • Rosenbergs trial

  • First H-Bomb detonated by the United States

  • Hernandez v. Texas

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

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

    overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and mandated desegregation

  • Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

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    Montgomery Bus Boycott

    After Rosa Parks' arrest

  • Interstate Highway Act

    This act authorized the building of a national highway system.

  • USSR launches Sputnik

  • Little Rock Nine

    Integrated into an all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas.

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

  • 24th Amendment

    Outlawed poll taxes.

  • "I Have a Dream"

    At the March of Washington

  • JFK Assassination

    Dallas, Tx.

  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    Begins undeclared war in Vietnam.

  • Civil Right 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

  • Tet Offensive

  • MLK Assassination

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

  • 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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    1990-21st Century

  • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair