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The inauguration of President William McKinley
Chief Justice Melville Fuller administering the oath to McKinley as President in 1897. Out going President Grover Cleveland stands to the right. The first inauguration of William McKinley as the 25th President of the United States took place on Thursday, March 4, 1897. -
The Spanish American War begins
On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. -
The Spanish American War End
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. -
The passing of the Platt Amendment
The Platt Amendment was introduced to Congress by Senator Orville H. Platt on February 25, 1901. It passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 43 to 20.The amendment also demanded that Cuba sell or lease lands to the United States necessary for coaling or the development of naval stations. -
President McKinley is assassinated
September 14, 1901, Buffalo, NY. William McKinley was the 25th President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897, until his assassination on September 14, 1901, after leading the nation to victory in the Spanish-American War and raising protective tariffs to promote American industry. -
Cuba declares independence from U.S.
After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the 1898 Treaty of Paris, by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of $20 million. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on May 20, 1902, as the Republic of Cuba. -
The first Major League World Series of Baseball
The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the American League (AL) champion Boston Americans against the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates in a best-of-nine series, with Boston prevailing five games to three, winning the last four -
The Wright Brothers make their first flight
On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk with their first powered aircraft. The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane. The Wrights used this stopwatch to time the Kitty Hawk flights. -
United States acquired the Panama Canal zone
The Canal Zone came into being on May 4, 1904 ("Acquisition Day"), under the terms of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 (see below) by which Panama granted to the United States, in return for annual payments, the sole right to operate and control the canal and about 5 miles (8 km) of land on each side. -
President Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated for the second time
The second inauguration of Theodore Roosevelt as President of the United States, took place on Saturday, March 4, 1905. The inauguration marked the beginning of the second (only full) term of Theodore Roosevelt as President and the only term of Charles W. Fairbanks as Vice President. -
The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair is written
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. -
The San Francisco earthquake occurs
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, the people of San Francisco were awakened by an earthquake that would devastate the city. The main temblor, having a 7.7–7.9 magnitude, lasted about one minute and was the result of the rupturing of the northernmost 296 miles of the 800-mile San Andreas fault. -
The Antiquities Act is passed
The Antiquities Act of 1906, (Pub.L. 59–209, 34 Stat. 225, 54 U.S.C. §§ 320301–320303), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. -
Oklahoma is admitted as a state
On September 17, 1907 the people of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories voted favorably on statehood. The vote was certified and delivered to the President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt and on November 16, 1907, Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation 780 admitting Oklahoma as the forty-sixth state -
The NAACP is established
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as a biracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington and Moorfield -
The inauguration of William Howard Taft
The inauguration of William Howard Taft as the 27th President of the United States was held on Thursday, March 4, 1909 in the Senate Chamber at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. -
The RMS Lusitania makes its FIRST voyage
British ocean liner, the sinking of which by a German U-boat on May 7, 1915, contributed indirectly to the entry of the United States into World War I. The Lusitania, which was owned by the Cunard Line, was built to compete for the highly lucrative transatlantic passenger trade -
The U.S. currency is placed on the gold standard
No country currently backs its currency with gold, but many have in the past, including the U.S.; for half a century beginning in 1879, Americans could trade in $20.67 for an ounce of gold. The country effectively abandoned the gold standard in 1933, and completely severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971.