U.S History 1887-2008

  • Period: to

    Early American History

  • Declaration of Independence

  • Constitution was 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 became avaliable for all male citizens
  • Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell

  • 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.
  • Dawes Act

    gave individual ownership of land to native americans instead of the tribe owning things collectively
  • Period: to

    The Gilded Age

  • Interstate Commerce Act

    ensure railroad set “reasonable and just” rate and the first time government stepped in to regulate business
  • Hull House founded, first of many settlement houses

  • Period: to

    The Progressive Era

  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    outlawed business monopolies
  • Sherman Anti-trust Act

    outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness
  • Period: to

    Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    legalized segregation, established "seperate 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

  • Period: to

    Imperialism

  • Open Door Policy

    initiated free trade with China
  • Roosevelt Corollary

    an addition to the Monroe Doctrine
  • Period: to

    Panama Canal Built

  • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is published

  • 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
  • NAACP Founded

  • 16th 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

  • Period: to

    World War I

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, starting World War I

  • 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
  • 18th Amendment

    prohibition is enacted and alcohol is illegal
  • Treaty of Versailles

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

    Roaring Twenties

  • 19th Amendment

    prohibition is enacted and alcohol is illegal
  • Teapot Dome Scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal

  • American Indian Citizenship Act

    repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibition ends
  • Scopes Monkey Trial

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

  • Stock Market Crash

  • Period: to

    Great Depression

  • Period: to

    Dust Bowl

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt elected

  • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established

  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established

  • 20th Amendment

    adjusted the dates of the presidential terms
  • 21st Amendment

    repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibition ends
  • 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

  • Period: to

    World War II

  • 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
  • United Nations formed

  • Period: to

    Early Cold War

  • The atomic bomb, “Little Boy” is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan

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

  • Truman Doctrine

    U.S. policy that gave military and economic aid to countries threatened by communism
  • 22nd Amendment

    prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again
  • Marshall Plan

    program to help European countries rebuild after World War II
  • Berlin Airlift

  • NATO established

  • sweatt vs painter

    ruled the separate law school at the University of Texas failed to qualify as “separate but equal”
  • Period: to

    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
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka

    overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and mandated desegregation
  • Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

  • Period: to

    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

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    was a 1 month, 4 day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union
  • 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 undeclared war in Vietnam
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    begins undeclared war in Vietnam
  • 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
  • 24th Amendment

    Abolishes the poll tax
  • Medicare and Medicaid established

  • Medicare and Medicaid established

  • Voting rights act of 1965

    Eliminated literacy tests for voters
  • Tet Offensive

  • Martin Luther King is assassinated

  • 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
  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    defined the First Amendment rights for students in the United States Public Schools
  • Kent State University shooting

  • Period: to

    End of the Cold War

  • Pentagon Papers leaked

  • Pentagon Papers leaked

  • 26th Amendment

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

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

  • Camp David Accords

  • Three Mile Island Disaster

  • Period: to

    Iran Hostage Crisis

  • Period: to

    Iran Contra Affair

  • Period: to

    1990s-21st Century