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Jim Crow Laws
These laws included all laws dealing with racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction and the beginning of the civil rights movement. Separate but equal was a common phrase during this time. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
This law was the first significant one to restrict immigration to the US. This was caused by Americans believing that because of Chinese labor workers that there was a decline in wages and economics. Congress passed this exclusion law to let there be "racial purity." This later lead to the Geary Act of 1892 which extended the provisions of the act for another ten years. -
Sinking of Lusitania
The British ship was torpedoed by a German submarine and after 20 minutes the ship sunk. Because of the 128 Americans that died on that ship, President Wilson was angered and was feeling the pressure to enter the war. -
Zimmerman Telegram
This was a secret diplomatic communication from the German Foreign Office to the US. This was a proposal for an alliance between Germany and Mexico only if the United States were to enter the war. -
Sedition Act
This act made it a crime to speak of, write, print, or publish any disloyal or inappropriate language about the form of govt. of the US or to advocate for the restriction of the production of things. It extended the Espionage Act to cover a broader range of offenses and expression of opinions that show the govt. or the war in a negative light. -
Red Scare
The Red Scare was the promotion of fear by a state or society about the potential rise of communism, anarchism, or radical leftism. The first Red Scare took place right after WW1, everyone thought that there was a potential threat from the American Labor movement, anarchist revolution, and political radicalism. This then lead to witch hunts for communism supporters which was known as McCarthyism. -
Immigration Act of 1924
This act limited the number of immigrants allowed to enter the US through national origins quota. The quota is what allowed immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people of each nationality into the US. This was to slow down the flood of immigrants entering the US. -
John Scopes- The Monkey Trial
This was a trial between John Thomas Scopes and a high school teacher he is accusing the teacher of teaching its students about evolution. This was a problem because Tennessee had a law prohibiting teachers from teaching anything that denies the Theory of Divine Creation of Man which was taught in the Bible. This trial set the stage for one of the most famous trials in US history. -
Eugene V. Debs
Debs was an Assembly Man for Indiana. He organized the American Railway Union which then later waged a strike against the Pullman Company of Chicago in 1894. He later became the socialists party standard-bearer in five presidential elections. Later i his life he was sentenced to ten year in prison for his hostility against the US's involvement in the war.