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Period: to
The Industrial Age
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Commodore Perry Opens Japan
Commodore Matthew Perry landed 3 ships near Tokyo, beginning negotiations that would open Japan, which had previously maintained complete isolation from the outside world, to American trade. -
Burlingame Treaty
This treaty, signed in Washington by American and Chinese officials, encouraged trade and, ironically, immigration between the United States and China, and also outlined trade regulations between the two countries and the rights of Americans living in China. -
Standard Time Proposed
Sir Sandford Fleming proposed to the Royal Canadian Institute that the world should be divided into 15 standard, universally accepted time zones to better coordinate international trade and travel. By 1929, most of the world's country's had accepted a system similar to Fleming's. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act banned all immigration from China to the United States. It was supported mainly by lower middle class workers in the West, who resented the competition for wages. Though only written to last 10 years, it was renewed every decade until 1943. -
McKinley Tariff of 1890
Representative William McKinley framed this law, which pushed up tariffs on foreign imports to unprecedented levels, in an effort to protect American industry from ruinous competition. It was widely unpopular, and probably lost Benjamin Harrison the presidential election of 1892. -
Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act of 1894
This act repealed the McKinley Tariffs and levied the first peacetime income tax on American civilians. -
Cuban Revolution Begins
The Cuban Revolution begins after years of discord between Cuba and Spain. Eventually, supposed atrocities committed by the Spanish would lead to the Spanish-American War. -
USS Maine Explodes
The USS Maine, a ship sent by the American navy to evacuate and protect Americans living in war-ridden Cuba, exploded and sunk in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. Although the explosion was almost certainly accidental, yellow journalists such as William Randolph Hearst exaggerated the incident to gain readers. -
Spanish-American War Begins
Thanks to the USS Maine, growing imperialistic tendencies in America, and the efforts of newspaper owners such as Joseph Pulitzer, the Senate declared war on Spain, supposedly for its atrocities in Cuba and the Phillipines. It also served to show the world America's new status as a world power. -
Commodore Dewey Captures Manila Bay
Despite claims that the war was only being fought over Cuba and Puerto Rico, Dewey's sailors and Filipino revolutionaries under Emilio Aguinaldo captured Manila Bay from Spain. -
Senate Ratifies Treaty of Paris
After much negotiation, the Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Spanish-American War. The treaty was controversial due to its granting the Phillipine Islands to the United States. -
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
This nullified the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, as the British gave the United States permission to build a canal in Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. -
Hay-Buana Varilla Treaty
Panama gave America a lease on land to build the Panama Canal. -
World War I Begins
The Austro-Hungarian Empire invaded Serbia, causing a ripple effect that plunged Europe into the First World War. -
Panama Canal Completed
The Army Corps of Engineers completes the Panama Canal, and the first ships are able to go directly from the Atlantic to the Pacific. -
United States Enters WWI
Breaking with its idealistic isolationism, the United States joined World War I after the sinking of several American ships by the Germans. -
Standard Time Act
This act established the six time zones still used in the United States today, making it easier to coordinate railroad commerce and travel. It also established daylight savings time, though it was not widely followed until World War II. -
Treaty of Versailles Signed
The treaty ended World War I, although it was resented by many Americans.
