US History 1887-2008

By roselyn.figueroa

  • July 4, 1776

    Declaration of Independence signed
  • Period: to

    Early American History

  • September 17, 1787

    Constitution written

  • December 15, 1791

    Bill of Rights ratified
  • Period: to

    Early American History

  • Homestead Act (1862)

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

  • 13th Amendment

    abolished slavery

  • 14th Amendment

    citizenship & due process

  • 1869

    Transcontinental Railroad Completed

  • 15th Amendment

    voting for all male citizens

  • 1876

    Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell
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    The Gilded Age

    Rockefeller/Carnegie (Captains of Industry vs. Robber Barons)- name for industrialist who got their wealth in suspicious ways but captain of industry's where people with money who used their money to affect the country positively
    Philanthropy- giving voluntarily to the community for the common good
    Monopoly- when a specific person or enterprise are the only suppliers of a specific good
    Jane Addams-A progressive social reformer and activist
    Laissez-Faire- free market, no gov. interferes

  • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

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

  • Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)

    awarded government jobs based on merit

  • Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

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

  • Dawes Act (1887)

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

  • 1889

    Hull House founded, first of many settlement houses

  • Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

    outlawed business monopolies

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

    outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness
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    The Progressive Era

    Muckrakers- group of American writers identified with pre-World War I reform and exposé writing
    Initiative, Referendum, Recall- voters can adopt a change in law (an initiative), disapprove a law passed by the Legislature (a referendum), or remove an elected official from office (a recall)
    The Great Migration- movement of 6 mill. African Americans from the sound to north/north west us
    NAACP-The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
    Immigration Issues

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    legalized segregation, established “separate but equal”

  • 1896-1899

    Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)

  • 1898: USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba, starting the Spanish American War

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

  • 1898: Hawaii is annexed as a territory of the United States

    Hawaii is annexed as a territory of the United States
  • Period: to

    Imperialism

    Theodore Roosevelt- 26th president of the United States
    Rough Riders- nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry
    Foreign Policy-
    Immigration Quotas
    Yellow Journalism-American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate news

  • Open Door Policy (1899): initiated free trade with China

  • 1904-1914: Panama Canal Built

  • Roosevelt Corollary (1904): an addition to the Monroe Doctrine

  • 1906

    The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is published

  • Meat Inspection Act (1906)

    law that makes it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat

  • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

    regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines

  • 1909

    NAACP Founded

  • Dollar Diplomacy (1909): Taft’s policy of paying for peace in Latin America

  • 16th Amendment 1913

    established the federal income tax

  • 17th Amendment

    direct election of U.S. Senators

  • Federal Reserve Act (1914)

    established the Federal Reserve, which helped stabilize the banking industry

  • 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, starting World War I

  • Period: to

    World War I

    Alvin York- one of the most decorated United States Army soldiers of World War I
    Homefront- covers the activities of the civilians in a nation at war
    M.A.I.N. (Causes of WWI)- militarism, alliance, imperialisms, nationalism
    Sussex Pledge-a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, allowing armed merchant ships but not passenger ships to be torpedoed without warning
    American Expeditionary Forces- formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I

  • 1915: Sinking of the Lusitania

  • 1916: National Parks System created

  • 1917: Zimmerman Telegram intercepted by the British, warned the U.S. of a proposed ally between Mexico and Germany

  • 1917: The United States enters WWI on the Allied side

  • 1917: Bolshevik Revolution in Russia begins, causing Russian troops to exit the war

  • 1918: Battle of Argonne Forest, considered the turning point of the war

  • 1918: Germany surrenders to the Allied Powers

  • President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points (1918):

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

  • Treaty of Versailles (1919):

    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

  • Period: to

    Great Depression

  • Period: to

    World War II

  • United Nations formed

  • Period: to

    Early Cold War

    Containment- united States policy using different strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad
    Arms Race/Space Race- competition between the US and the soviet union on who could build more weapons. Space race was to see who could launch something into space.
    The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics- Russia, Belorussia,U kraine
    Communism- no private property, what's your is ours and what's ours is theirs
    Domino Theory- the theory that if one nation fell into communism others will too

  • 22nd Amendment

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

  • Truman Doctrine (1947)

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

  • Berlin Airlift

  • Marshall Plan (1948)

    program to help
    European countries rebuild after World War II

  • 1949: NATO established

  • 1950-1953: Korean War

  • 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 (

  • 1951: Rosenbergs trial

  • 1952: 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
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • 1955: Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks’ arrest

    After Rosa parks was arrested, Buses were boycotted to take a stand against the discrimination

  • 1957: USSR launches Sputnik

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

    ^^

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba

    failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution.

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

    Berlin Wall built to prevent people from leaving communist East Berlin

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

    The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, 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

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

  • John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, TX

    John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, TX

  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    begins undeclared war in Vietnam

  • 24th Amendment: Abolishes the poll tax

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    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

    Medicare is a federal program that provides health coverage if you are 65+ or under 65 and have a disability, no matter your income. Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health coverage if you have a very low income.

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Eliminated literacy tests for voters

  • Tet offensive

    a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam.

  • Martin Luther King is assassinated

    Martin Luther King is assassinated

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

  • Tinker V. Des Moines

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

  • First man on the moon

    First Man on the Moon

  • Kent State University Shooting

    The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre, were the killings of four and wounding of nine other unarmed Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard on May 4
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    End of the Cold War

  • Pentagon Paper Leaked

    commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June of 1971, small portions of the report were leaked to the press and widely distributed.

  • 26th amendment

    The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.” It prohibits states from discriminating among voters based on age, for people who are at least 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

  • Water Gate Scandal

    The Watergate scandal was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of U.S. President Richard Nixon from 1971 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation

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

    The South Vietnamese stronghold of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) falls to People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975.

  • Camp David Accords

    pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States in Maryland.

  • Iran Hostage Crisis

    group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The immediate cause of this action was President Jimmy Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s deposed Shah, a pro-Western autocrat who had been expelled from his country some months before, to come to the United States for cancer treatment. However, the hostage-taking was about more than the Shah’s medical care:

  • Three Mile island Disaster

    accident was a partial meltdown of reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg, and subsequent radiation leak that occurred.

  • Iran Contra Affair

    The Iran–Contra affair, popularized in Iran as the McFarlane affair, the Iran–Contra scandal, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration
  • Period: to

    1990s-21st Century