-
Freedmans Bureau
It was a relief agency that only lasted until 1869 yet gave out clothing, medical supplies, and millions of meals to both black and white war refugees. Also because of the agency 250,000 African American students received their first formal education. -
Andrew Johnson President
When he became president after Lincoln died congress was at recess so he made up his own reconstruction plan. His plan was to parden southerners who swore allegiance to the union, allow each state to hold a constitutional convention, states had to void sucession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the confederate debt, and then states could hold elections and rejoin the union. -
Fourteenth Amendment
The south had been resisting reconstruction and finding ways around the laws congress was passing to free the slaves. Congress released the fourteenth amendment which stated that anybody born or raised in the US was a citizen and no state could set a law to undo that. -
Fifthteenth Amendment
It stated that no citizen is allowed to be denied the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This was put in place to allow colored people more rights that the south was keeping from them. -
Transcontinental Railroad Finished
The Transcontinental Railroad was started in 1862 and had to be run from the Mississippi River to California. In order to cut down on time the Central Pacific Railroad which consisted mostly of Chinese immigrants started at Sacramento and moved eastward. The Union Pacific Railroad which consisted mostly of Irish immrigrants started in Omaha and moved westward. The two finally came together at Promontory Summit where the final spike was placed. pg 460 -
Enforcement Act of 1870
It banned the use of terror, force, or bribery to prevent people from voting because of race. It was one of many laws put into effect to stop the KKK from terrorizing colored people and people who supported them. The military had to be placed on protection for those who voted and the voting places to protect those who voted and arrested thousands of Klansmen. -
The battle of Little Bighorn
The government found out that there was gold in the land that the Sioux "owned" and tried to make a compromise for it. They finally decided to move them by force but when they got there they got sloughtered by the large amount of indians. They then got a larger force and forced the indians back to reservations after learning from the first time. -
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
The strike was caused by a 10% wage cut by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad after there had been cuts in previous months. In order to keep the rioters from totally destroying the railroad company there had to be federal troops sent to keep control. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
It kept chinese laborers from entering the country because they were accepting low wages and affecting the rates of other americans. They began anti-slavery movements to make the government make a law that they could not come to the US. -
Period: to
Progressive Erra
There were reforms during the progressive erra of nativism, prohibition, purity crusades, electoral reform, charity reform, social gospel philosophy, and settlement houses. The different reforms were caused by a rapid growth in industrialization, immigration, and urbanization. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
Congress placed the act to keep companies from combining that could then restrain interstate trade of commerce. It had to be put into effect because companies were buying up all the rest and then setting high prices since they had little to no competition. -
Spanish American War
The Spanish American War was started by the US by creating a dislike for the Spanish. They got a letter from a spanish ambassador saying bad things about McKinley and the papers took and ran with it. Then the U.S.S. Maine blew up for an unknown reason and blamed upon the spanish causing an extreme dislike toward them. -
Treaty of Paris
Spanish government reconized that Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and the Island of Guam were territories of the US. The treaty was the outcome of the Spanish American War when the Spanish finally gave up. -
Open Door Policy
The policy made it so that the US had equal access to China's consumers along with Russia, Germany, Britian, France, and Japan. The Chinese instead wanted to stay isolated and formed a secret group called the "Boxers." They started a rebellion in 1900 and massacred 300 foreigners and Christian Chinese. -
Rosevelt Corollary
Rosevelt said that the US did not want to take more territory but instead play the role of self-defence when another country came too close. He wanted to keep neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. An example of this is when the small Carribbean island of Santo Domingo went bankrupt and when the European countries were going to forcefully take money he stepped in and placed financial advisores for them and payed their debt. -
Federal Reserve Act
The act divided the country into 12 different districts each with their own federal reserve bank. These banks were then able to borrow from the Federal Reserve to meet short-term needs. They also became able to give loans to farmers at lower rates so that they could start a farm. -
Panama Canal Finished
The canal was built to make global shipping cheaper and faster and also to allow navy ships a quicker route between the two oceans. The project was originally started by a French company lead by Ferdinand de Lesseps but after ten years had to quit because of yellow fever and mismanagement. The U.S. then forcefully gained control of the project from Colombia and five miles on either side of the canal. -
Selective Service Act
The act authorized a draft for young men into military services. By Nov. 1918 more than 24 million men had registered to be drafted and a lottery picked 3 million from that. That along with the volunteers and National Guardsmen made up the American Expeditionary Force.
