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Woman Take Control
In Salem, Ohio, women take complete control of their women's rights convention, refusing men any form of participation apart from attendance. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a "homestead.” -
The Transcontinental Railroad is Started
The Central Pacific broke ground on this date. The transcontinental railroad allowed for the transportation of goods over long distances. This was especially helpful for the industrial north at the time -
The Ten Percent Plan
Specified that a southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10 percent of its voters (from the voter rolls for the election of 1860) swore an oath of allegiance to the Union -
Freedmen Bureau Established
The temporary Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (known as the Freedmen's Bureau) is established within the War Department -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
While watching a play at Ford's Theatre with his wife, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head by actor John Wilkes Booth. He died the next day April 15. Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be assassinated -
The First Department Store Opens
Macy's open in New York City. One of the biggest departments stores -
13th Amendment Ratified
The 13th Amendment is ratified, prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude -
The Transcontinental Railroad is Finished
The last track was laid to complete the transcontinental railroad which made travel across the country much faster -
Ulysses S. Grant Re-elected
The United States presidential election of 1872 was the 22nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1872. Despite a split in the Republican Party, incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant defeated Liberal Republican nominee Horace Greeley. -
Brooklyn Bridge Is Finished And Opened
The Brooklyn Bridge is famous because there had never been a bridge like it before. When it was finished in 1883, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and the longest suspension bridge in the world. -
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty, a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States. This showed immigrants where they were and gave them hope -
The Dawes Act
Authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments in order to transfer lands under Indian control to white settlers and stimulate assimilation of them into mainstream American society -
Oklahoma Land Rush
The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land rush into the Unassigned Lands. This developed the American Frontier exponetially -
Plessy v Ferguson
the United States Supreme Court established the "Separate but Equal Doctrine," holding that legal racial segregation does not violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. -
War on Spain
The U.S. Congress declares war on Spain. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris is signed by representatives from the U.S. and Spain. After extensive debate, the treaty is ratified by the U.S. senate on February 6, 1899. Under the treaty, the U.S. acquires control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. -
Teddy Roosevelt Elected
The United States presidential election of 1904 was the 30th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1904. Incumbent Republican President Theodore Roosevelt defeated the Democratic nominee, Alton B. Parker. -
Roosevelt Corollary
Addition to the Monroe Doctrine and stated that the US would intervene in any social affairs as a last resort in the Western Hemisphere. -
Ellis Island Most Immigrants Received
This year was the year Ellis Island received the most immigrants. The all-time daily high was on April 17th of this year when a total of 11,747 immigrants were processed. -
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was a sixteen battleship fleet that sailed on a world voyage from December 16, 1907 - February 22, 1909. Its primary purpose was to showcase American naval power. -
Archduke Assassination
His death is the event that sparks World War 1 -
Start of World War 1
Germany invades Belgium -
First Tanks Used In Battle
The first use of tanks on the battlefield was the use of British Mark I tanks at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette -
Submarine Use Comes Back
Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare in European waterways. This act, more than any other, draws the United States into the war and causes the eventual defeat of Germany. -
U.S. Enters WW1
Congress authorizes a declaration of war against Germany. The United States enters World War I on the side of France and Britain -
Woman's Party
In response to public outcry and jailers' inability to stop the National Woman's Party pickets' hunger strikes, the government unconditionally releases the pickets. -
President Wilson Supports Woman's Suffrage Amendment
President Wilson first states his public support of the federal woman suffrage amendment. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote. -
World Series Broadcast on the Radio
Baseball's World Series is broadcast on radio for the first time. The New York Giants defeat the New York Yankees, five games to three. -
Yankee Stadium Is Finished
Yankee Stadium, the "House that Ruth Built," is constructed in the Bronx, New York -
Ford Motor Company
The market capitalization of Ford Motor Company exceeds $1 billion -
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby -
Unemployment Low in 1929
Unemployment averages 3.2% for the year -
Indochinese Communist Party
Ho Chi Minh founds the Indochinese Communist Party at a meeting in Hong Kong -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
Congress passes the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, steeply raising import duties in an attempt to protect American manufactures from foreign competition. The tariff increase has little impact on the American economy, but plunges Europe farther into crisis -
Roosevelt Elected
Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency -
Roosevelt Inauguration
Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated into office as 32nd President of the United States -
Treaty Of Munich
Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier of France and Mussolini of Italy met in Munich and agreed that Hitler should have the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. The Czechs were not represented at the meeting and realizing that no country would come to their aid were forced to surrender the Sudetenland to Germany. Hitler assured those at the meeting that this was the extent of his ambitions for expansion. Chamberlain returned to England with a piece of paper signed by Hitler, proclaiming ‘peace in our time’ -
Hitler Invades Poland
Adolf Hitler invades Poland -
Britain And France Declare War On Germany
Britain and France declared war on Germany. Neville Chamberlain broadcast the announcement that the country was at war -
Blitzkrieg
Hitler launched his blitzkrieg (lightning war) against Holland and Belgium. Rotterdam was bombed almost to extinction. Both countries were occupied -
Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo)
The British commander-in-chief, General Gort, had been forced to retreat to the coast at Dunkirk. The troops waited, under extreme fire, to be taken off the beaches. A call went out to all owners of sea-worthy vessels to travel to Dunkirk to take the troops off the beaches of Dunkirk. More than 338,000 men were rescued, among them some 140,000 French who would form the nucleus of the Free French army under a little known general, Charles de Gaulle -
Mobilization Lifts Economy
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor draws United States into World War II. Mobilization for war finally lifts the American economy permanently out of the Great Depression -
Vietnam Independent
Japanese troops occupying Indochina carry out a coup against French authorities and announce an end to the colonial era, declaring Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia independent. -
Independent North Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh declares an independent North Vietnam and models his declaration on the American Declaration of Independence of 1776 in an (unsuccessful) effort to win the support of the United States. -
Hitler Commits Suicide
The German leader, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bombproof shelter together with his mistress, Eva Braun, who he had, at the last minute, made his wife -
Korean War
On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded the south pushing all the way to the tip of the peninsula in a matter of months. The U.S. soon intervened by landing in Incheon, not too far south of the 38th parallel. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education, a consolidation of five cases into one, is decided by the Supreme Court, effectively ending racial segregation in public schools. Many schools, however, remained segregated. -
Vietnam War Start
This is about when the Vietnam War started -
Rosa Parks Refuses To Give Up Her Seat
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her defiant stance prompts a year-long Montgomery bus boycott. -
"Little Rock Nine"
Nine black students known as the “Little Rock Nine,” are blocked from integrating into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. President Dwight D. Eisenhower eventually sends federal troops to escort the students, however, they continue to be harassed. -
Civil Rights Act
Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law to help protect voter rights. The law allows federal prosecution of those who suppress another’s right to vote. -
The Sputnik Crisis
The Sputnik crisis was the American reaction to the success of the Sputnik program. It was a key Cold War event that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. -
U-2 Incident
The U-2 Incident was one instance where the Soviets shot directly at a U.S. soldier. On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane and called the flight an aggressive act. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
On October 14, 1962, a U-2 spy plane flying over Cuba discovered nuclear missile sites under construction. These missiles would have been capable of quickly reaching the United States. -
Breaking The News
The CBS network interrupts TV soap opera 'As the World Turns' and Walter Cronkite announces to America the president has been shot -
NYT Publishes the Pentagon Papers
The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers, the Defense Department's secret history of the Vietnam War. The Washington Post will begin publishing the papers later in the week -
Soviet-Afghan War
The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. It was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national rebel groups called the mujahideen.
