-
Making Trade with Japan
Commodore Matthew Perry from America went to Japan with four battleships to reopen trade with Japan. He sort of threatened Japan with the big new battleships and they could be used against Japan if they didn't start trading with the U.S. Japan was isolated from the western world, and they had things that the U.S. didn't have, so opening trade up with them was great for America. -
Start of the civil war
The civil war is the bloodiest battle in American history, and is the war that had the most American deaths. Ironically, it started with a raid on Fort Sumter, and in that battle only a horse died. This war changed the course of history, and eventually ended slavery in America. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 was an act that entitled 160 to any citizen of America, and that they had to live on it, improve it, and pay a small registration fee. This encouraged more movement out west, so people would have land out there and the place could be well explored. -
Birth of Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells is a very well known reformer, and was most known for marching against lynching. She first started fighting against the Jim Crow laws when she was kicked off her pre-paid seat on a bus because it was in the white section. She fought for women's rights, and black people's rights as well. -
Pickett's Charge
Pickett's Charge was the climax of the deadliest battle in all of American history. It was the 3rd day of the battle of Gettysburg, and the North was still fighting for Pennsylvania. Robert E. Lee ordered the charge but Pickett lead it, and the charge ended up being a huge blunder for the South, and it caused them to fail to win Gettysburg, changing the course of the war. -
End of the Civil War
The Civil war had sort of a civil ending. Robert E. Lee understood that he had lost, and he and Grant casually talked at Appomattox Courthouse about the terms of the South's surrender. The South did pretty well in the war, and put up a pretty good fight, but due to lack of resources, they lost. The North overall just had more resources, and more access to trading and things for war. This war changed a lot, and most importantly it ended slavery in the United States of America. -
14th Amendment Signed
This Amendment ensured that everyone in the United States no matter what race, was a citizen of America. This helped make sure that freed slaves had rights, and that all black people could have an equal chance in America. -
15th Amendment Signed
This Amendment guaranteed the right for freed slaves, and African American males to vote. It sadly didn't guarantee women to vote yet, and it would take over 50 years for women to be able to vote. This Amendment was still a great step in making everyone equal in America, and helped more people decide who was in their government. -
End of Reconstruction
The End of Reconstruction was decided through the compromise of 1877. This compromise was that the Republicans get a president from their own party, and the Democrats got the North out of the South. This officially ended reconstruction, and the South got rid of the North helping them in their land by giving up the presidency. -
Brooklyn Bridge Opening
The Brooklyn Bridge was the longest bridge of its time by over double. It was one of the first major suspension bridges, and was really the start to the new age of buildings and bridges. -
Statue of Liberty Established
The Statue of Liberty was the highest statue of its time, and is a gift from the French. It is one of the many tall buildings and statues that would be built in America at the time. People can still go inside of it today, and was a great technological advancement for its time. -
Oklahoma Land Rush
The Oklahoma Land Rush was a day where people raced to get the land they wanted. Some people went early, which was illegal, and were called the 'Sooners', and because of that Oklahoma is now known as the 'Sooner State.' About 50,000 people raced for the land they wanted, and it was pretty crazy with everyone running off at the same time. -
Ellis Island Established
Ellis Island is the island that was in-between immigrants and America. Immigrants had to go through a lengthy process to be able to step foot in America, and be able to live there. During its time as a Bureau of Investigation on immigrants, it helped 12 million immigrants pass into America. -
Three Black Men Lynched
These 3 black men were taken out of jail by a white mob, and all three were lynched because their grocery store was competition for the white grocery story across the street. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson Date Decided
The Plessy vs. Ferguson case was one where Plessy wanted to sit in the train car for white people, but he was 1/8 black so they kicked him out of the white car. He then sued them and it was brought all the way to the supreme court. Eventually the court decided that black people and white people should be "separate, but equal." -
The Maine being Blown Up
The Maine being blown up was known as the spark that started the Spanish-American war. Even though Spain never really blew the Maine up, America was already mad at Spain for how they treated their civilians, and people at the time said that the Spanish did this. Almost half the people on the ship were killed, and it was a horrible tragedy, and started one of the shortest wars in American history. -
Battle of Manila Bay
This battle was won by Commodore George Dewey for America, and America destroyed the Spanish Naval fleet in a couple hours. Us destroying them really showed the world how powerful America has become by this time. -
End of Spanish-American War
This war was a very short war, but was still very important long-term for America and Spain. Cuba became an American territory, and America became a major world power. -
Alice Paul's March on Washington DC
This march on Washington DC was important to try and bring light to the public eye about women's rights. The National Women's Party was a new party that had a goal for bringing votes for women, and the first major thing they did was this march on DC. The march was pretty successful, but men came into the march and started messing up the march, while the police hardly did anything to stop them. This is still good for getting people to see the unfairness towards women during this time. -
Start of WW1
World War One, or The Great War, was the start of the 20th century. It started soon after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, even though it should have been a local event, and with the alliances of the world at the time, the whole world ended up fighting in the war. It was the Central Powers vs. the Alliances, and it was going to be a long and tiring war for the whole world. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The Sinking of the Lusitania was an attack on a British ship that had American citizens on it by Germany. Germany claimed that the ship had guns and ammunition on board, but America mostly believed that they attacked them just because we traded with the Allies more. Even though they were found to be right many years later after the war, they still killed around 1200 people and 123 Americans, so it was another reason for the U.S. to join the war later on. -
Death of Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill was one of the most iconic characters of the American Wild West. Known most for his famous show, he was a part of many things in the wild west, like the army, and also shot a lot of buffalos. -
America Joins WW1
America is getting used to being a world superpower, and they want to be isolated from the drama in Europe. But Germany and the Central Powers keep on annoying America and killing American citizens. The U.S. traded more with the Allies as well, and it was basically unavoidable to not join the war against the Central Powers. America was a pretty good help to the Allies by giving troops and supplies to them. -
End of WW1
The war was a long an demanding one that the Central Powers couldn't handle, while the Allies could handle it. The Armistice was signed and fighting was supposed to stop on November 11th at 11 A.M. The war started with Russia with the Allies, but then at the end America took their place, and the Allies ending up winning. The punishment for Germany after the war was pretty harsh, and laid the groundwork for an even more deadly WW2 only about 20 years later. -
18th Amendment
The 18th amendment started the time period in history known as 'Prohibition'. It was a time where the selling, producing, or transporting alcohol was illegal. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment allowed all women on a federal level to vote. It was a hard battle to fight for the suffragettes and faced many tribulations in trying to get votes for women. Women have been fighting for rights for almost 70 years at this point and still have some left to do to make men see that women are equal to men. This Amendment was a great step towards total equality for women, and gave women more freedom to choose who was in control of the country. -
Steamboat Willie
Steamboat Willie was the first true animation and is about 8 minutes long, and was created by having many pictures drawn to make the images seem like they are moving. It was made by Walt Disney Productions, which ended up becoming very popular later on. -
Start of the Great Depression
The Great Depression was a big disaster for the economy, and it was the longest lasting and more dreadful economic event in history, that affected America as well as the rest of the world. It started because of overproduction of goods, poor government decisions, different banking policies, and stock market actions. This event caused unemployment to rise to 25% of the work force in 1932 and 1933. -
Smoot-Hawley Tariff
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff was a bill passed by Herbert Hoover that increased the Tariff on international trade. It was one of the worst political decisions during the Great Depression, and basically ruined international trade with the already broken economy. -
The Revenue Act of 1932
The Revenue Act of 1932 was passed by Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression, and increased income tax by almost double than what it was before. On top of the Great Depression, people became even more brought down with the increased taxes and money to go to the government, which makes no sense when we look at the decision from the present. -
FDR's Start of Presidency
Franklin D. Roosevelt became president during the Great Depression, and ratified The New Deal to help give new jobs to workers and help try and end the depression. Many people liked him, and his first lady was known as his 'eyes and ears,' and she was very involved in different things. -
End of Prohibition (21st Amendment)
The 21st Amendment ended prohibition, and finally made alcohol legal again after over 10 years of it being illegal. Organized crime had a big upbringing with the start of the prohibition, and continued to happen even after Prohibition, making it so prohibition did more harm than good. -
Start of WWII
The start of WWII happened because of Nazi Germany, lead under Adolf Hitler. It started because of Germany's invasion of Poland, and Europe had to react to Hitler blatantly taking over countries. It was the start of a dark era in the 20th century, and gave way to new horrors, like mass murdering of a race, and the atom bomb, and is the most deadly war of all time. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor from Japan was a surprise attack, and a pretty deadly one, killing over 2000 Americans. Japan's goal was to completely immobilize the U.S. navy and air forces, and have a better chance at defeating America in the World War. This attack got America to fight with Britain against the Axis Powers, and Japan "woke a sleeping giant." -
Start of Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a very important win for America, and turned the tide against Japan in the war of the Pacific. America was out shipped in the sea and out planed in the air, but still managed to win the fight for Midway, and started an offensive against Japan. The Battle lasted for 3 days, and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor didn't seem to do much to America, because now they had a weaker navy. -
"Operation Overlord" - D-Day
This battle was an important part in the war for the Allied Forces, and was an operation set to retake France from Nazi Germany. American forces faced heavy retaliation from Germans at Omaha Beach. Later in September of that year, the Allied Forces are able to regain control over France. -
Start of Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was taken place at the end of WWII, and included Britain, America, and Russia. The countries talked about what to do after they defeated Germany, and how to split up Germany between them. One side of Germany was split between America, Britain, and France, and the other side was controlled by Russia, and it was the same thing for the city of Berlin. -
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
The Atomic Bomb was the most deadly weapon in history ever used on a country in that point in time. It killed about 80 thousand people instantly, and gave another 35 thousand people injuries. Unfortunately, Japan did not surrender, and we had to drop another atomic bomb in order for them to surrender, because a full scale invasion against Japan would have killed millions instead of the hundreds of thousands that these bombs killed. -
VJ-Day
The last day of WWII, the win against Japan for America was an amazing victory, and helped set America to be a huge superpower on the world stage in the following years. Sadly, America had to drop nuclear bombs on Japan to make sure that they surrendered, because they had absolutely no intentions on surrendering, and were willing to fight to the last willing person in Japan rather than surrender against the U.S. -
Formation of NATO
NATO is a formation of countries that is basically was team against the Soviet Union, and is today in opposition against Russia. It was made up of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, and other European Countries. -
Ellis Island Closing as Immigration Center
Ellis Island was the part of America that got people into the United States, and most people made it in. It had it's problems over the years with excepting more people from countries America likes and denying other countries more people. Overall it was very efficient at getting immigrants fairly safely into the country. Ellis Island is now a National Park and can be visited today so we could sort of see what coming to America was like. -
United States making Hawaii a State
Hawaii was taken over by America by mostly force over the people living there at the time. America wanted the Hawaiian islands because it was a good stopping point for trips across the pacific, and they had good resources like sugar. Hawaii is still a state today even though its making of a state is still controversial today. -
Rise of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a way of keeping people inside of a country, because of the Soviet ideals of Communism. Communism is not good for a country, but it gave the people in power a lot of power over their people, and they don't want people leaving the country to go to a place with Capitalism. The wall took away the freedom away from the people in East Berlin. -
Destruction of the Berlin Wall
After over 27 years of oppression from the Soviet Government to its own people, the Berlin Wall finally fell. This was able to happen because of Russia not dealing with other countries outside of their own, so that they no longer had any control over other countries. This meant that the wall that separated a country could be destroyed and Russia wouldn't do anything, so obviously people went to town on destroying the Berlin Wall. -
End of the Cold War
The Cold War lasted for over 40 years, and was a time where it was Communism vs. Capitalism, and nuclear war was very close to happening, which would have been very bad. The Cold War ended because the Soviet Union ended, the leader of Russia disbanded the Soviet Union, and because the United States had no enemy anymore, there was no more Cold War.
