US History: 1887-2008

By Isabelle Silence
  • Period: to

    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 & due process

  • Transcontinental Railroad Completed

  • 15th Amendment

    voting for all male citizens

  • Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell

  • Period: to

    The Gilded Age

    Rockefeller/Carnegie (Captains of Industry vs. Robber Barons)-
    Philanthropy-
    Monopoly-
    Jane Addams-
    Laissez-Faire-

  • 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 Antitrust Act

    outlawed business monopolies & trusts to promote economic fairness
  • Period: to

    The Progressive Era

    Muckrakers-
    Initiative, Referendum, Recall-
    The Great Migration-
    NAACP-
    Immigration Issues (Assimilation and Nativism)-
  • Period: to

    Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)

  • Plessy v. 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

  • Period: to

    Imperialism

    Theodore Roosevelt-
    Rough Riders-
    Foreign Policy-
    Immigration Quotas-
    Yellow Journalism-

  • Open Door Policy

    initiated free trade with China

  • Roosevelt Corollary

    an addition to the Monroe Doctrine
  • Period: to

    Panama Canal Built

  • Meat Inspection Act

    law that makes it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat

  • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is published

  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    regulation 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

    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
  • Period: to

    World War I

    Alvin York-
    Homefront-
    M.A.I.N. (Causes of WWI)-
    Sussex Pledge-
    American Expeditionary Forces-

  • National Parks System created

  • Period: to

    Roaring Twenties

  • Period: to

    Great Depression

  • Period: to

    World War II

  • United Nations formed

  • Period: to

    Early Cold War

    •Containment - US attempts to stop the spread of communism
    •Arms Race/Space Race - A competition to Stockpile and advance military tech and to gain the ability to travel to space first
    •The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - The USSR and communist national power
    •Communism - Classless economic society where all property is public, pay equal, and people work for the common good
    •Domino Theory- Political event in one country will cause neighbors to have the same event

  • 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

  • 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”
  • Period: to

    Civil Rights Era

  • 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 v. 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

  • 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 undeclared war in Vietnam

  • Civil Rights Act

    Made discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin in public places illegal and required

  • 24th Amendment

    Abolishes the poll tax

  • Medicare and Medicaid established

  • Voting Rights Act

    Eliminated literacy tests for voters

  • Tet Offensive

  • Martin Luther King is assassinated

  • Civil Rights Act

    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

  • Period: to

    End of the Cold War

    OPEC
    Sandra Day O’Connor
    Community Reinvestment Act of 1977
    AIDS Epidemic
    Star Wars (NOT the movies)

  • 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

  • Period: to

    Iran Hostage Crisis

  • Period: to

    Iran Contra Affair

  • Period: to

    1990s-21st Century

    Barack Obama
    al-Qaeda
    No Child Left Behind
    President Clinton’s Impeachment
    Presidential Election of 2000
  • Period: to

    Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)

  • Fall of the USSR - Official end of the Cold War

  • NAFTA created free trade between Mexico, the United States, and Canada

  • Attack on World Trade Center and Pentagon

  • USA Patriot Act

    tightened the national security, particularly as it was related to foreign terrorism

  • Hurricane Katrina