United States' Culture and Institutions

By Paula Gómez Lacal

  • Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin

  • Fulton's paddle was the first economic steamboat, making its first trip up the Hudson River from New York to Albany.

  • Starting point of mass immigration to the USA.

  • Completion of the Erie Canal, linking Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

    It was the first fully public project.
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    The biggest influx of immigrants in American history.

  • Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act

    It upheld the principle of popular sovereignty, allowing the territorial assemblies to vote on whether to permit slavery within their borders.

  • Abolitionist opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act founded the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln won the presidential elections.

  • Confederate forces bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, forcing the commander to surrender.

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    American Civil War

  • Battle of Gettysburg

  • Opening of the London Underground

  • General Lee and his Confederates were forced to surrender at Appomattox, Virginia.

    Lincoln was assassinated in Washington 5 days after.
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    13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.

    Gave blacks freedom, making them citizens of the USA and giving them """the same rights""".
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    Theodore Roosevelt as President

  • Henry Ford launched the Model T.

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    Woodrow Wilson as President

  • Henry Ford cut the working hours from 9 to 8 and introduced the 5-dollar day.

  • Bolshevik Russian Revolution

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    The 18th Amendment prohibited manufacture, sale and import of alcohol.

  • Wall Street Crash

  • F.D. Roosevelt closed the banks for 3 days straight.

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    Franklin D. Roosevelt as President

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    New Deal programs

  • Social Security Act.

    Provided protection against unemployment, illness, accidents and old age.

  • Economy turned down again.

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    World War II

  • Japaneses attack American naval base of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

  • Lend-Lease Act enabled the USA to lend or send needed war equipment to the Allies.

  • D-Day Landings at Normandy.

  • Atomic bombs dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

  • The Germans surrender.

  • Emperor Hiroito of Japan finally surrendered.

  • The Truman Doctrine.

    Truman asked Congress for funds to support "free peoples" in the face of totalitarian threat, moved by the fear that Greece and Turkey fall behind the Iron Curtain.

  • National Security Act

    Foundation of the Pentagon and the CIA.

  • Foundation of the NATO.

  • Mao Tse-tung founded the People's Republic of China (Communist State).

  • North Korean troops invaded South Korea.

  • Chinese troops pushed UN troops back.

  • U.S. troops led by MacArthur landed before enemy lines and pushed towards Seoul and then into North Korea, trying to re-unify the whole country.

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    Korean War

  • Peace agreement that left Korea divided.