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U-boats created
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars -
The Bessemer Process
Made it possible to produce steel as ingots. -
Gold found at Pikes Peak
When gold was found in Pikes Peak Colorado it started the "Colorado gold rush" which was a boom in gold prospecting and mining. -
Homestead Act
Allowed any adult citizen who would farm the land to have 160 acres of federal land. -
Morrill Land grant act
A law that gave millions of acres of western land to the state governments to fund state agricultural colleges. -
Transcontinental railroad completed
The Transcontinental railroad was the first continuous rail road line across the U.S. -
Battle of little bighorn
A battle between the Lakota and Cheyenne tribes against the U.S. army in which the native Americans actually won. -
Farmers alliance created
Farmers' Alliance, an American agrarian movement during the 1870s and '80s that sought to improve the economic conditions for farmers through the creation of cooperatives and political advocacy. -
Thomas Edison invents light bulb
Edison built the first high-resistance, incandescent light that worked by passing electricity through a thin platinum filament in the glass vacuum bulb, which delayed the filament from melting. -
Carlisle school established
The United States founded the Carlisle school in 1879 at the site of an old military base, used during the colonial era and the Civil War. Soldiers also used it as an army training school from 1838 to 1871. The same buildings were used for the Indian Industrial School. -
Chinese exclusion act
It was a set of laws that prevented Chinese immigrations and Chinese people already in America from becoming citizens. -
Edison lights up NYC
The first electrical lighting in New York City signaled a new era of urban illumination -
Statue of Liberty built
The Statue of Liberty was built in France between 1881-and 1884 and was then reassembled in America in 1886. The statue was built to honor the United States' centennial of independence and its friendship with France. -
American federation of labor founded
The American Federation of labor was a national umbrella trade union organized in support of labor reform -
Interstate commerce act passed
The act was designed to regulate the railroad industry, particularly its monopolistic practices. -
Dawes act
A law allowing the federal government to break up tribal lands. -
Jacob Riis published his book of photos
A book that stimulated the first significant New York legislation to curb poor conditions in tenement housing. -
Alfred T Mahan writes his book on sea power
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, a lecturer in naval history and the president of the United States Naval War College, published The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783, a revolutionary analysis of the importance of naval power as a factor in the rise of the British Empire. -
Sherman ant-trust act passed
This Act outlaws all contracts, combinations, and conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate and foreign trade. -
Wounded knee massacre
A massacre of nearly 300 Lakota people by the U.S. army. -
Fredrick Jackson Turner writes essay of settling the west
The Superintendent of the Census of 1890 had declared that all the frontier lands had been settled. This pronouncement led Turner to consider the impact of the frontier and the effects its closing would have on the national identity. -
Pullman strike
The most famous and farreaching labor conflict in a period of severe economic depression and social unrest -
Plessy v Ferguson
A trial that essentially established the constitutionality of racial segregation. -
Holden v hardy
The US Supreme Court held a limitation on working time for miners and smelters as constitutional. -
Spanish American War begins
The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain's colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. -
Hawaii is annexed
The Hawaiian islands were officially annexed by the United States. -
Phillipines islands are annexed
The United States paid Spain $20 million to annex the entire Philippine archipelago. -
Newlands Reclamation act
a pioneering environmental law that defined the federal role in western water distribution -
Sinclair’s the Jungle written
When Upton Sinclair set out to write his 1906 novel The Jungle, he was trying to bring attention to the dismal living and working conditions for immigrants working in the meatpacking industry -
Lochner v New York
the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York state law setting 10 hours of labour a day as the legal maximum in the baking trade. -
Pure Food and drug act passed
prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation's first consumer protection agency -
Muller V Oregon
was a U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court considered whether a state could limit the amount of hours a woman could work while not also limiting the hours of men -
Founding of the NAACP
The nation's largest and most widely recognized civil rights organization -
Hepner act
That case was a civil action to recover a penalty for importing an alien into the United States to perform labor -
17th adm
Allowing voters to cast direct votes for U.S. senators. Prior to its passage, senators were chosen by state legislatures. -
Ford Motor company's first full assembly line starts
The Ford Motor Company team decided to try to implement the moving assembly line in the automobile manufacturing process. After much trial and error, in 1913 Henry Ford and his employees successfully began using this innovation at our Highland Park assembly plant. -
Federal Reserve act
Created the Federal Reserve System. -
Beginning of the first world war
the Great War began with the assassinations of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, while they were visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia, a country recently annexed into the Austrian Empire. -
Panama Canal is built
Serves as a maritime shortcut that saves time and costs in transporting all kinds of goods. -
Clayton Antitrust act
The foundation of antitrust laws in the United States and are codified in Title 15 of the United States Code. -
Lusitania Sunk
The Lusitania became a focus for British and American propaganda and was used to bolster recruitment efforts. However, Germany claimed that the sinking was justified because munitions were being carried on board. -
Lusitania Sunk
The Lusitania became a focus for British and American propaganda and was used to bolster recruitment efforts. However, Germany claimed that the sinking was justified because munitions were being carried on board. -
US enters WWI
with the toll in sunken U.S. merchant ships and civilian casualties rising, Wilson asked Congress for “a war to end all wars” that would “make the world safe for democracy.” A hundred years ago, on April 6, 1917, Congress thus voted to declare war on Germany, joining the bloody battle -
Selective Service act
Authorized the Federal Government to temporarily expand the military through conscription. The act eventually required all men between the ages of 21 to 45 to register for military service. -
WWI ends
In 1918, the infusion of American troops and resources into the western front finally tipped the scale in the Allies' favor. Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies on November 11, 1918. World War I was known as the “war to end all wars” because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused -
18th adm
prohibited “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquours” but not the consumption, private possession, or production for one's own consumption. -
19 adm
Granted women the right to vote. -
Immigration quota act
Limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. -
National origins act
limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. -
Scopes trial
was an American legal case in which a high school teacher, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which had made it illegal for teachers to teach human evolution in any state-funded school.