-
Bessemer Process
The Bessemer process was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel from molten pig iron before the development of the open hearth furnace. The key principle is the removal of impurities from the iron by oxidation with air being blown through the molten iron. The oxidation also raises the temperature of the iron mass and keeps it molten. The modern process is named after its inventor, the Englishman Henry Bessemer. -
Period: to
Transforming the West
-
Central Pacific
The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a rail route between California and Utah built eastwards from the West Coast in the 1860s, to complete the western part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It later became part of the Union Pacific Railroad. The government and the railroads both shared in the increased value of the land grants, which the railroads developed. The construction of the railroad also secured for the government economical safe and speedy transportation -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. After six months of residency, homesteaders also had the option of purchasing the land from the government for $1.25 per acre. The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900. -
Union Pacific
The original company, the Union Pacific Rail Road was incorporated on July 1, 1862, it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union.It was constructed westward to meet the Central Pacific Railroad line, which was constructed eastward from San Francisco Bay. The combined Union Pacific-Central Pacific line became known as the First Transcontinental Railroad -
Period: to
Becoming And Industrial Power
-
Knights of Labor
The first effective labor organizing that was more than regional in membership and influence. The K.O.L. believed in the unity of the interests of all producing groups and sought to enlist in their ranks not only all laborers but everyone who could be truly classified as a producer. Under the leadership of Terence V. Powderly, they won a variety of causes, sometimes through political or cooperative ventures. Labor Day became a national holiday because of this organization. -
Promontory Point, Utah
It is where the First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States was officially completed. By the summer of 1868, the Central Pacific had completed the first rail route through the Sierra Nevada mountains and was now moving down towards the Interior Plains and the Union Pacific (UP) line. More than 4,000 workers had laid more than 100 miles of track at altitudes above 7,000 ft. In May 1869, the railheads of the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads finally met at Promontory Summit -
Laissez Faire
It was an economic system in which transactions between private parties are free from government intervention such as regulation, privileges, tariffs, and subsidies. The phrase laissez-faire is part of a larger French phrase and basically translates to "let (it/them) do", but in this context usually means to "let go". Basically, the term became very popular among businessmen so that they could do as they please with their companies without little to no government involvement. -
John D. Rockefeller
Rockefeller formally founded his most famous company, the Standard Oil Company, Inc., in 1870. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared and he became the richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak. Oil was used throughout the country as a light source until the introduction of electricity. Furthermore, Rockefeller gained enormous influence over the railroad industry, which transported his oil around the country. -
Red River War
The Red River War was a military campaign launched by the United States Army in 1874 to remove the Comanche, Kiowa, Southern Cheyenne, and Arapaho Native American tribes from the Southern Plains and forcibly relocate them to reservations in Indian Territory. Lasting only a few months, the war had several army columns crisscross the Texas Panhandle in an effort to locate, harass, and capture highly mobile natives. Most of the engagements were small in which neither side suffered many casualties. -
Telephone
The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.The classic story of him saying "Watson, come here! I want to see you!" is a well-known part of the history of the telephone. This showed that the telephone worked, but it was a short-range phone. Bell was the first to obtain a patent, in 1876, for an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically", after experimenting with many primitive sound transmitters and receivers. Bell was also an astute businessman . -
Period: to
The Gilded Age
-
Light Bulb
In 1878, Thomas Edison began serious research into developing a practical incandescent lamp and on October 14, 1878, Edison filed his first patent application for "Improvement In Electric Lights". However, he continued to test several types of material for metal filaments to improve upon his original design. Despite developing and receiving a patent, success was not discovered until months later in 1789 which then led to them being mass produced in 1880. -
Exodusters
Exodusters was a name given to African Americans who migrated from states along the Mississippi River to Kansas in the late nineteenth century, as part of the Exoduster Movement. It was the first general migration of blacks following the Civil War. The movement received substantial organizational support from prominent figures, Benjamin Singleton of Tennessee and Henry Adams of Louisiana. As many as forty thousand Exodusters left the South to settle in Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado. -
Assassination of President Garfield
Less than four months into his term as President, and ended in his death 79 days later on September 19, 1881. He was shot by Charles J. Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C., and died in Elberon, New Jersey. Guiteau's motive was revenge against Garfield for an imagined political debt. Garfield would go on to be the second president assassinated in United States history and was succeeded by Chester Authur. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. The act followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration.The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the United States. It would be repealed later on but only after being renewed and made permanent in 1902. -
Pendleton Act
The act established that positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political affiliation. It also provided the selection of government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation. It also made it illegal to fire or demote government officials for political reasons. Lastly, the act also allowed for the president, by executive order to decide which positions could be subject to the act and which would not -
Time Zones
American railroads maintained many different times. Each train station set its own clock making it difficult to coordinate train schedules. Time calculation became a serious problem for people traveling by train . Every city in the United States used a different time standard. Operators of the new railroad lines needed a new time plan that would offer a uniform train schedule for departures and arrivals. Four standard time zones for the continental United States were introduced -
Coca-Cola
Originally intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton and was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coca-Cola to its dominance. The drink's name refers to two of its original ingredients, which were kola nuts (a source of caffeine) and coca leaves. The current formula of Coca-Cola remains a trade secret, although a variety of reported recipes and experimental recreations have been published. -
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States founded in Columbus, Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers of the Cigar Makers' International Union was elected president at its founding convention. Unlike the K.O.L. the AFL did not welcome people of all backgrounds and only spoke up for those who were considered skilled and not of color. -
Sears' Catalog
In 1888, Richard Sears first used a printed mailer to advertise watches and jewelry. Under the banner "The R.W. Sears Watch Co." Sears promised his customers that, "we warrant every American watch sold by us, with fair usage, an accurate time keeper for six years". The time was right for mail order merchandise. Fueled by the Homestead Act of 1862, The postal system aided the mail order business by permitting the classification of mail order publications. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law (or "competition law") passed by Congress in 1890 under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. It allowed certain business activities that federal government regulators deem to be competitive, and recommended the federal government to investigate and pursue trusts. The law attempts to prevent the artificial raising of prices by restriction of trade or supply that lead to monopolies at the time. -
Period: to
Imperialism America
-
Wounded Knee
U.S. Cavalry troops went into the camp to disarm the Lakota. A deaf tribesman named Black Coyote was reluctant to give up his rifle. Simultaneously, an old man was performing a ritual called the Ghost Dance. Black Coyote's rifle went off at that point, and the U.S. army began shooting at the Native Americans. The disarmed Lakota warriors did their best to fight back. By the time the massacre was over, more than 150 men, women, and children of the Lakota had been killed and 51 were wounded. -
Populist Party
The party was an agrarian-populist political party in the United States. For a few years, 1892–96, it played a major role as a left-wing force in American politics. It was merged into the Democratic Party in 1896; a small independent remnant survived until 1908. it was established as a direct cause of the populist movement that gained much popularity prior to the formation of the party. William Jennings Bryan ran under the party in his loss against Mckinely in the presidential election. -
City Beautiful Movement
A urban reform planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. The movement, which was originally associated mainly with Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Washington, D.C., promoted beauty not only for its own sake, but also to create moral and civic virtue among urban populations.Advocates of the philosophy believed that such beautification could promote a harmonious social order. -
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy and produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley. It can be directly traced back to a dispute over gold currency or silver currency being used for the economy. Silver for the poor and gold for the upper class. -
World's Colombian Exposition
The exposition featured nearly 200 new (but deliberately temporary) buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, canals and lagoons, and people and cultures from 46 countries. More than 27 million people attended the exposition during its six-month run. Its scale and grandeur far exceeded the other world's fairs, and it became a symbol of the emerging American Exceptionalism, much in the same way that the Great Exhibition became a symbol of the Victorian era United Kingdom. -
Pullman Strike
The strike and boycott shut down much of the nation's freight and passenger traffic west of Detroit, Michigan. The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages.Debs decided to stop the movement of Pullman cars on railroads. The over-the-rail Pullman employees (such as conductors and porters) did not go on strike.Thirty people were killed in response to riots and sabotage -
Period: to
Progressive Era
-
Cross of Gold Speech
In the address, Bryan supported bimetallism or "free silver", which he believed would bring the nation prosperity. He decried the gold standard, concluding the speech, "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold".Bryan's address helped catapult him to the Democratic Party's presidential nomination; it is considered one of the greatest political speeches in American history. He would go on to lose to McKinley who would enforce the gold standard during his presidency. -
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada. Gold was discovered there by local miners and when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain.To reach the gold fields, most took the route through the ports of Dyea and Skagway in Southeast Alaska which proved to be hard and treacherous for those traveling -
Election of 1896
Former Governor William McKinley, the Republican candidate, defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. The 1896 campaign, which took place during an economic depression known as the Panic of 1893, was a realigning election that ended the old Third Party System and began the Fourth Party System. This was a crucial election as at the time the panic of 1893 was in full effect and the need for new political guidance was needed to do something about the suffering economy, the panic would end in a year -
Spanish-American War
This brief war was fought between the United States and Spain. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence.The main issue was Cuban independence. Revolts had been occurring for some years in Cuba against Spanish rule. The U.S. later backed these revolts upon entering the Spanish–American War. America and Cuba would go on to win and Spain was left to pick up the pieces -
Battle of Manila Bay
This battle took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines and was the first major engagement of the Spanish–American War. The battle was one of the most decisive naval battles in history and marked the end of the Spanish colonial period in Philippine history. The battle was one-sided and lead to only one American losing their life (heatstroke), and 9 wounded and over 77 Spaniards, and over 270 wounded. Thus bringing an end to spanish colonization in the Phillipines -
Battle of San Juan Hill/San Juan Heights
The battle for the San Juan Heights was a decisive battle of the Spanish–American War. This fight for the heights was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the war. It was also the location of the greatest victory for the Rough Riders, as claimed by the press and its new commander, Theodore Roosevelt. Although the Americans won this battle, they suffered more fatalities than the Spanish and more wounded, totalling over 200 plus dead and over 1500 captured, missing, and wounded. -
Treaty of Paris 1898
The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was an agreement made in 1898 that involved Spain relinquishing nearly all of the remaining Spanish Empire, especially Cuba, and ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. The cession of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million from the United States to Spain.The Treaty of Paris marked the end of the Spanish Empire. It marked the beginning of the age of the United States as a world power. Many supporters of the war opposed the treaty. -
Philippine-American War
Fighting erupted between forces of the United States and those of the Philippine Republic. The Filipinos saw the conflict as a continuation of the Filipino struggle for independence; the U.S. government regarded it as an insurrection.The conflict arose when the First Philippine Republic objected to the terms of the Treaty of Paris under which the United States took possession of the Philippines from Spain. The result was an American victory and the occupation of the Phillippines by America. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy is a term used to refer to the policy established in the late 19th century.The policy proposed to keep China open to trade with all countries on an equal basis, keeping any one power from total control of the country, and calling all powers, within their spheres of influence, to refrain from interfering with any treaty port or any vested interest, to permit Chinese authorities to collect tariffs on an equal basis, and to show no favors to their own nationals. -
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Many see the novel as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic, and social events of America in the 1890s. The following metaphors can be inferred from the novel: Scarecrow as a representation of American farmers and their troubles in the late 19th century, the Tin Man representing the industrial workers, especially those of American steel industries, and the Cowardly Lion as a metaphor for William Jennings Bryan. Lastly, Dorothy being the United States walking on gold in silver shoes -
Platt Amendment
The Platt Amendment was passed as part of the 1901 Army Appropriations Bill. It stipulated seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish–American War, and an eighth condition that Cuba sign a treaty accepting these seven conditions. It defined the terms of Cuban–U.S. relations to essentially be an unequal one of U.S. dominance over Cuba.Cuba later on amended its constitution to contain, the seven applicable demands of the Platt Amendment. -
Big Stick Policy
The Big stick policy refers to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy: "speak softly, and carry a big stick." Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis.The idea of negotiating peacefully, simultaneously threatening with the "big stick", or the military in order for America to continue to be strong and even develop into a world superpower. -
Russo-Japanese War
This war was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. Russia suffered multiple defeats by Japan, but Tsar Nicholas II was convinced that Russia would win and chose to remain engaged in the war. However, Russia would go on lose to Japan and the war concluded with the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt. The complete victory of the Japanese military surprised world observers. -
The Jungle
This 1906 novel written by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel to portray the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in the United States in Chicago and similar industrialized cities. His primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers were more concerned with his exposure of health violations and unsanitary practices in the American meat industry -
Meat Inspection Act
The American law that makes it a crime to adulterate or misbrand meat and meat products being sold as food, and ensures that meat and meat products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. These requirements also apply to imported meat products, which must be inspected under equivalent foreign standards. Unlike previous laws ordering meat inspections, which were enforced to assure nations from banning pork trade, this law was strongly motivated to protect the American diet. -
Gentlemen's Agreement
The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 was an informal agreement between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan whereby the United States would not impose restrictions on Japanese immigration, and Japan would not allow further emigration to the United States. The goal was to reduce tensions between the two powerful Pacific nations. The immediate cause of the Agreement was anti-Japanese nativism. President Theodore Roosevelt, who had a positive opinion of Japan, accepted the Agreement -
Muller V. Oregon
This court case was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court. Women were provided by state mandate, lesser work-hours than allotted to men. The posed question was whether women's liberty to negotiate a contract with an employer should be equal to a man's. The law did not recognize sex-based discrimination in 1908. The ruling was criticized because it set a precedent to use sex differences, supporting the idea that the family has priority over women's rights as workers. -
Ford Model T
Ford's Model T was successful not only because it provided inexpensive transportation on a massive scale, but also because the car signified innovation for the rising middle class and became a powerful symbol of America's age of modernization, with 16.5 million sold. Automobiles had already existed for decades, they were still mostly scarce, expensive, and unreliable at the Model T's introduction in 1908. Positioned as reliable, easily maintained, mass-market transportation, it was a success. -
Bull Moose Party
The Bull Moose Party or "Progressive Party" was a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former President Teddy Roosevelt after he lost the presidential nomination of the Republican Party to his former protégé, President William Howard Taft. The party's platform built on Roosevelt's Square Deal domestic program and called for several progressive reforms, that "dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day" -
Election of 1912
Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey Unseated incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft and defeated Former President Theodore Roosevelt.Backed by William Jennings Bryan and other progressives, Wilson won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination on the 46th ballot, defeating Speaker of the House Champ Clark and several other candidates.Wilson's "New Freedom" platform called for tariff reform, banking reform, and a new antitrust law that would see to modernizing America -
Federal Reserve Act
Congress created and established the Federal Reserve System or the central banking system of the United States, and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes which is commonly known as the US Dollar as legal tender. The Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. With the passing of the Federal Reserve Act, Congress required that all nationally chartered banks become members of the Federal Reserve System. Members entitled to have access to discounted loans -
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when they were mortally wounded by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was one of a group of six assassins coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a member of the Black Hand secret society. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. -
Period: to
World War I
-
Women’s Temperance Christian Union
This group was an active temperance organization that was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far-reaching reform strategies based on applied Christianity." It was influential in the temperance movement and supported the 18th Amendment. It operated at an international level and in the context of religion and reform, including missionary work and woman's suffrage. -
Shell Shock
Shellshock is a phrase coined in World War I to describe the type of posttraumatic stress disorder many soldiers were afflicted with during the war in 1917 by Charles Myers. It is a reaction to the intensity of the bombardment and fighting that produced a helplessness appearing variously as panic and being scared, or flight, an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk. Cases of 'shell shock' could be interpreted as either a physical or psychological injury, or simply as a lack of moral ability. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the prior event of the United States entering World War I against Germany. The proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence. It later helped generate support for the United States declaration of war on Germany in April as it was not favorable in the eyes of the American public who saw war as best. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917 which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire collapsed with the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II and the old regime was replaced by a provisional government during the first revolution. Alongside it arose grassroots community assemblies (called 'soviets') which contended for authority. The new Russian empire was there forth known as the Reds and had the Red army. -
Espionage Act
The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law passed on June 15, 1917, shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I. It was intended to prohibit interference with military operations or recruitment, to prevent insubordination in the military, and to prevent the support of United States enemies during wartime. In 1919, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled through Schenck v. the United States that the act did not violate the freedom of speech of those convicted. -
Mustard Gas
This mustard agent was first used effectively in World War I by the German army against British and Canadian soldiers and later also against the French Army. Mustard agent was dispersed as an aerosol in a mixture with other chemicals, giving it a yellow-brown color and a distinctive odor. The mustard agent has also been dispersed in such munitions as artillery shells, and rockets. Exposure to the mustard agent was lethal in about 1% of cases. Its effectiveness was as an incapacitating agent. -
Trench Warfare
Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied fighting lines consisting largely of military trenches, in which troops are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery. The most famous use of trench warfare is of course in World War I. It has become a byword for stalemate, attrition, sieges, and futility in conflict. The area between opposing trench lines (known as "no man's land") was fully exposed to artillery fire from both sides. -
Spanish Flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It was later given the nickname of the Spanish Flu as many speculated it was its country of origin. It ended up infecting over 500 million people around the world.The 1918 pandemic predominantly killed previously healthy young adults who were in their prime as opposed to the young and elderly, that other cases flu has affected. This disease was a worldwide epidemic. -
Murder of the Romanov family
Tsar Nicholas and his family were killed by Bolshevik troops led by Yakov Yurovsky under the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet and according to instructions by Lenin, Yakov Sverdlov, and Felix Dzerzhinsky. Their bodies were then stripped, mutilated, burned and disposed of in a field called Porosenkov Log. This was due to the ongoing Russian revolution that called for the nation to go in a new direction. This being achieved by murdering the royal family and assuming new leadership for Russia. -
First Red Scare
The First Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included those such as the Russian Revolution and anarchist bombings. At its height in 1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of communism and anarchism in the American labor movement fueled a general sense of concern if not paranoia. -
Car Ownership Explosion
The 1920s saw tremendous growth in automobile ownership, with the number of registered drivers almost tripling to 23 million by the end of the decade.The explosion was due to Henry Ford making the useful gadget accessible to the American public. Ford used the idea of the assembly line for automobile manufacturing. He paid his workers an unprecedented $5 a day, hoping that it would increase their productivity. Furthermore, they might use their higher earnings to purchase a new car from Ford. -
Period: to
Roaring 20s
-
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required "Germany to accept the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage" during the war. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, make huge territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries -
18th Amendment
United States Constitution effectively established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring the production, transport, and sale of alcohol (though not the consumption or private possession) illegal. The Eighteenth Amendment was the result of decades of effort by the temperance movement in the United States and at the time was generally considered a progressive amendment. It would also inspire new bonds between men and women and believed they would be happier -
Volstead Act
The Prohibition or Volstead Act, was enacted to carry out the intent of the 18th Amendment, which established prohibition in the United States. The Anti-Saloon League's Wayne Wheeler conceived and drafted the bill. While the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibited the production, sale, and transport of "intoxicating liquors", it did not define "intoxicating liquors" or provide penalties. It granted both the federal government and the states the power to enforce the ban. -
Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian-born American anarchists who were convicted of murdering a guard and a paymaster.The men were believed to be followers of Luigi Galleani, an Italian anarchist who advocated revolutionary violence, including bombing and assassination. After a few hours' deliberation the next year, the jury convicted Sacco and Vanzetti of first-degree murder and they were sentenced to death by the trial judge. However, many important figures felt they were innocent -
19th Amendment
United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. The women suffrage movement had gained popularity in the mid-1800s behind the likes of Susan B. Anthony who pushed for women's suffrage and their ability to vote and exercise their right as American citizens. This came as a shock as many times in the past, women suffrage cases were not looked upon with serious intent for ratification. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States from 1921 to 1922, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall had leased Navy petroleum reserves at Teapot Dome in Wyoming and two other locations in California to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. Fall was later convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies and became the first Cabinet member to go to prison. -
Vacuum Cleaner
In 1924, a Swedish inventor, Gustaf Sahlin, introduced the Electrolux tank vacuum cleaner to the United States. Two years later, Hoover, the vacuum company developed a positive agitation vacuum that increased the dirt removal efficiency. Vacuum cleaner in the 1920s made easier for the women and children. They don't need to use a broom anymore. Developing in the mid-1920, vacuum cleaner became more efficient and more successful in an average house making chores easier for women and children. -
Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian, the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity".But though the Act aimed at preserving American racial homogeneity, it set no limits on immigration from the Americas -
Scopes Monkey Trial
The Scopes Trial was a legal case in which a school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evolution in state-funded schools. Scopes was unsure whether he had ever actually taught evolution, but he purposely incriminated himself so that the case could have a defendant. Scopes was defended by Clarence Darrow and was prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan. Scopes lost the case and was fined $100 by the judge as punishment. -
Charles Lindbergh's Flight
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator & officer. At age 25 in 1927, he went from obscurity as a U.S. Air Mail pilot to instantaneous world fame by winning the Orteig Prize–making a nonstop flight from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, to Paris, France. He covered the 33 1⁄2-hour, 3,600 statute miles alone in a single-engine monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis. This was the first solo transatlantic flight and the first non-stop flight between North America and mainland Europe. -
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is the name given to the 1929 murder in Chicago of seven men of the North Side gang during the Prohibition Era. It happened on February 14, and resulted from the struggle between the Irish American gang and the South Side Italian gang led by Al Capone to take control of organized crime in the city Former members of the Egan's Rats gang were suspected of a significant role in the incident, assisting Capone. A total of seven men were killed in the massacre. -
Black Tuesday
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as Black Tuesday was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States (acting as the most significant predicting indicator of the Great Depression) when taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its after effects. The crash, which followed the London Stock Exchange's crash of September, signalled the beginning of the 12-year Great Depression that affected almost all industrialized countries up until World War II -
Period: to
The Great Depression
-
Hoovervilles
A "Hooverville" was a shanty town built during the Great Depression by the homeless in America. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States of America during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. There were hundreds of Hoovervilles across the country during and hundreds of thousands of people lived in these slums. Most people resorted to building homes out of wood from crates, cardboard, scraps of metal, or whatever materials were available. -
Election of 1932
This election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. Incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Governor of New York. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans. It is also known as the first modern presidential election as FDR would set the mold for the presidents after him with things such as the "First 100 days" that measure their productivity. -
20th Amendment
The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20, and of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3. It also has provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no president-elect. Congress is also to meet at least one time a year and if said president-elect was to die then the Vice-president elect is to become president unless the House approves of another candidate. -
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression. TVA was envisioned not only as a provider, but also as a regional economic development agency that would use federal experts and electricity to more quickly modernize the region's economy -
Glass-Steagall Act
The Glass-Steagall Act effectively separated commercial banking from investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things. It was one of the most widely debated legislative initiatives before being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This was a strategy used to try and combat the growing Great Depression and to make citizens stop making runs on the banks and withdrawing all of their money and life savings. It showed to be somewhat effective -
21st Amendment
The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which had mandated nationwide Prohibition on alcohol on January 16, 1919. It is unique among the 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution for being the only one to repeal a prior amendment and to have been ratified by state ratifying conventions. The repealing of the 18th amendment led to lower crime rates and less organized crime activity that came during prohibition. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty 30s, was a period of severe dust storms that damaged the ecology and agriculture of American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon. Farmers had conducted extensive deep ploughing of the topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. -
Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a United States government agency created in part by the National Housing Act of 1934. The FHA sets standards for construction and underwriting and insures loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building. The goals of this organization are to improve housing standards and conditions, provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans, and to stabilize the mortgage market making homes much more affordable. -
Social Security Act
The Social Security Act of 1935, created Social Security in the United States and is relevant for US labor law. It created a basic right to a pension in old age and insurance against unemployment. In the Second New Deal, the Social Security Act laid the groundwork for the modern welfare system in the United States, with its primary focus to provide aid for the elderly, the unemployed, and children. It was among many in the Alphabet Soup that sought to ocmbat the depression that swept the nation. -
Invasion of Poland
The Invasion of Poland was a joint invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, the Free City of Danzig, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the beginning of World War II as Germany and the Soviet Union fought over the small country of Poland for various diplomatic reasons. After a little over a month of fighting, the campaign ended on October sixth with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole country of Poland under the terms of the German-Soviet Frontier Treaty. -
Period: to
World War II
-
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by the German Air Force. It has been described as the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The primary objective of the Nazi German forces was to compel Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. In July 1940 the air and sea blockade began and despite the blockade, the British were able to defend Britain. -
Allied & Axis Powers
The main Allied powers were Great Britain, The United States, China, and the Soviet Union. The leaders of the Allies were Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin.The common purpose of the Allies was to defeat the Axis powers and create a peaceful post-war world.The main Axis powers were Germany, Japan and Italy. The Axis leaders were Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito. Which they stood for territorial expansion and "purpose to establish a new order of things" -
Navajo Code Talkers
Navajo Code talkers are people in the who used obscure languages as a means of communication during wartime. It is usually associated with the United States service members who used their knowledge of Native American languages to transmit coded messages. Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service improved the speed of encryption of communications at both ends in World War II. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The attack also led to the United States' entry into World War II. Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions that were planned in Southeast Asia. Over the next seven hours, there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held islands such as Guam. -
Germany Declares War on U.S.
Four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States declaration of war against the Japanese Empire, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a series of provocations by the United States government when the US was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, apparently offhand, almost without consultation. Later that day, the United States declared war on Germany. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major confrontation of World War II in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Russia. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in August 1942. The attack was supported by intensive bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The fighting degenerated into house-to-house fighting; both sides poured reinforcements into the city. By mid-November 1942, the Germans had pushed the Soviet defenders back. -
Little Boy Bomb
"Little Boy" was the codename for the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II. The Hiroshima bombing was the second artificial nuclear explosion in history, after the Trinity test, and the first uranium-based detonation. It was the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare and The bomb caused significant destruction to the city of Hiroshima and its occupants.This and the Fat man Bomb would ultimately lead to an end of the Japanese involvemnet in World War II -
Fat Man Bomb
"Fat Man" was the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States. The name Fat Man refers generically to the early design of the bomb, because it had a wide shape. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the first being Little Boy, and its detonation marked the third-ever man-made nuclear explosion in history. It was built by scientists and engineers at Los Alamos Laboratory using an entire plutonium core. -
The Japanese Surrender!
The surrender of Imperial Japan was formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the British Empire and China, the U.S. called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces. The outcome of the war seemed certainly decided thereafter the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.
