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The Homestead Act
This what passed by the federal government and it gave a federal land grant to anyone 21 years or older who never went against the U.S. government. You also had to be a citizen. If your were by myself , you would get 160 acres, but if your married, you get 320 acres. This act really helped poor families. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was fought along Antietam Creek, at Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862. General Robert E. Lee and George McClellan both commandeered on different sides during the bloodiest day in American history. After many hours of fighting, the south withdrew, meaning the union claimed a victory. All though the union won they suffered losses of over 12,000. With this many men dead Lincoln felt he had no choice but to fire McClellan. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Procalmation was a document written by Abraham Lincoln. This was made to free all the slaves living in the south. This document was bacically pointless because the south had all ready seceded so they didn't follow northern laws.The only thing that happened as a result of this doucument was the south was fueled and more upset. -
Assassination of President Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Fords Theatre in Washington D.C. This attack came only five days after the end of the Civil War. He was shot in the head and died the next day. Booth escaped but was captured shortly after the murder. -
Black codes created in Mississippi
The black codes in Mississippi were a series of laws limiting the rights of African Americans after the CIvil War. The black codes gave them certain rights, but denied them the right to testify against whites, perfrom jury duty, vote, and publicly express legal concerns. It also forced African Americans to sign yearly labor contracts. -
President Andrew Johnson Impeached
Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House due to a long struggle between him and his bureau and Congress. His biggest offence was the replacement of Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War, whose removal from office broke the Tenure of Office Act. Andrew Johnson's trial was then held in the Senate, where he was nearly removed from office but only missed it by one vote. -
Ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment stated that all those born or naturalized in the United States were United States citizens and their rights, including life, liberty, and property, could not be taken away without due process of law. The amendemt granted full citizenship to all those born within the U.S. This Amendment was quickly ratified in the North and reluctantly ratified in the South with urges from Andrew Johnson. -
Standard Oil Trust
John D. Rockefeller’s company had a monopoly on the oil refining industry through the use of horizontal integration. Rockefeller came to represent the enormous gap in wealth between America's social classes. John reformed it and dominated 95% of production. -
Susan B. Anthony arrested
Susan B. Anthony attempts to vote for Ulysses S. Grant in the presidential election and is arrested and brought to trial in Rochester, New York. Fifteen other women are arrested for illegally voting. This event is important because Anthony wanted to take a stand and vote. Her decision influenced other women and caused others to realize how serious this suffrage was. -
Little Bighorn
This battle is when Sioux forces led by Chief Sitting Bull defeated a U.S. Army troop led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armystrong Custer. Custer divided his men and led a direct charge against an Indian encampment over 4,000, but he was stopped before he crossed the Little Bighorn River. He and his men ended up get trapped and they all died. The only survivor was a horse named Comanche. -
Jim Crow
Jim Crow refers to practices, institutions, or laws that discriminated against African Americans. The term came into common use in the 1880's. At that time, racial segregation was legal in many parts of the southern United States. The term originally referred to a black character in a popular song composed in the 1830's. Jim Crow laws required the separation of races in many public places. -
Asian immigrants on their way to Angel Island
The experience for Asian immigrants in this period was quite different. In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, severely restricting immigration from China. Since earlier laws made it difficult for those Chinese immigrants who were already here to bring over their wives and families, most Chinese communities remained "bachelor societies." -
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge, a wonder of design and engineering, opened. True story, P.T. Barnum led a parade of 21 elephants back and forth across the bridge, to demonstrate its sturdiness to skeptics. -
Voting Restrictions for African Americans
In the 1890s, starting with Mississippi, most southern states began more systematically segregate black males by imposing voter registration restrictions, such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and the white primary. These new rules of the political game were used by white registrars to deny voting privileges to blacks at the registration place rather than at the ballot box, which had previously been done by means of fraud and force. -
Wounded knee massacre
This took place by Wounded Knee Creek on Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Troops went into this camp to disarm the Lakota. One indian refused to. So he was shot by a troop which caused an open fire by both sides. This was the last major confrontation in America’s conflict with the Plains Indians. -
Yellow Journalism
Yellow Journalism is a type of journalism that is very littlely based on fact and is very extraggerated. When General Weyler was forcing Cubans into concentration camps, newspapers like 'The New York Journal' and 'New York World' were publishing stories about Cuba that were exaggerated and horrifying to get more circulation of there newspapers. The creators’ are Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
By the 1890s, whites had once again retaken full control of the South through segregation. In this case, the United States Supreme Court accepts segregation by mandating that blacks were "seperate but equal." This law would stand for the next 70 years. -
Accident at Ellis Island
On June 15, 1897, with 200 immigrants on the island, a fire breaks out in one of the towers in the main building and the roof collapses. Though no one is killed, all immigration records dating back to 1840 and the Castle Garden era are destroyed. The immigration station is relocated to the barge office in Manhattan’s Battery Park. -
The U.S.S. Maine
The United States Navy ship station Havana Harbor, the U.S.S Maine exploded at random. It is unknown whether Spanish enemy exploded it but, American press blamed it on them. This explosion was cause of the Spanish-American War. -
Spanish-American War
Cuba was revolting against Spain because they wanted their independence causing the Philippines to then decide to fight Spain also. The U.S. decided to aid Cuba and the Philippines against Spain because they were looking to gain territory from Spain. After a couple of months Spain surrendered and gave up a large amount of territory. -
San Juan Hill
The battle of San Juan Hill was a decisive battle of the Spanish-American War. It was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the War. It was also the location of the greatest victory for the Rough Riders as claimed by the press and its new commander, the future Vice-President and later President, Theodore Roosevelt. -
Teddy Roosevelt as a President
Under Theodore Roosevelt's presidency and his Square Deal, several Progressive reforms for the American public were outlined, the number of national parks doubled, and 50 wildlife santuaries were established. Roosevelt stepped into power after President William McKinley's, a strong advocate for expansionism, was assassinated. He was popular among the people rather than political figures because of his social push for change in the working class and immigrant communities. -
17th amendment was ratified
This replaced the selection of the U.S. senators by the state legislatures with a provision for a direct election of senators. It was ratified on April 8th, 1913. The progressive era helped make this new ammendment because they were constantly looking for change and the want for reform helped push this amendment. -
Dollar Diplomacy
President Taft and Secretary of State Knox followed the foreign policy known as dollar diplomacy. Its goal was to create stability and order abroad that would best promote American commercial interests. Dollar diplomacy was evident in the Caribbean and Central America, especially in measures undertaken to safeguard American financial interests in the region. In spite of successes, dollar diplomacy failed to fight economic instability and the tide of revolution in China and Latin America. -
Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand Assassinated
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian Empire, was killed along with his wife during a drive while visiting Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia. This event is generally accepted by historians as being the immediate cause of the First World War, though tensions had been previously building. This was a short-term cause to the start of the war. -
The Sinking of Lusitania
The RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner owned by Cunard Lines. It was attacked by a German U-boat and sank in eighteen minutes. 1,198 of the nearly 2,000 passengers aboard died. Many of the passengers were American citizens. It is considered the second most famous civilian liner disaster, following the sinking of the RMS Titanic. These events did a lot to turn public opinion of several countries, including the United States, against the Germans. -
Women’s suffrage parade
The suffrage parade was a new development in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States. Some embraced the parade as a way of publicizing their cause. The parade united women of different social and economic backgrounds. All women supported each other to accomplish their goal. -
America joins the war
On this day, the U.S. formally declared war on Germany. The main reason why was becuase Germany was trying to secretly attack the U.S. with the Zimmerman telegram, as a proof. Another thing was this was going to be another big thing that would be influenced by earlier problems with Germany, when they sank the Lusitania. -
Wilson’s 14 Points
Wilson's Fourteen Points was President Woodrow Wilson's peace plan after WWI. His Fourteen Points included free navigation of the seas, an end to secret treaties, discussed the rearrangement of borders, and the independece of countries. His most influencial point was the idea of a peace group called the League of Nations. -
The 18th Amendment is passed
The 18th Amendment is the ban on making and selling of alcohol. When this went into effect saloons were forced to close down. People who liked alcohol didn't like the government interfering, and found ways to get a hold of it. An example was going to speakeasies, illegal nightclubs. Other people made their living by selling alcohol they were known as bootleggers. Another result of the amendment was high crime levels. The most notorious criminal was Al Capone. -
The Treaty of Versailles
The treaty of Versaillies was the official end of WW1. The terms of this treaty were how Germany and the other central powers would be able to continue their lifestyles now that the war was over. In the treaty Germany lost much of its land, and its military was reduced to only 100,000 men. Their navy was stripped of its submarines and it could only haul 10,000 lbs of cargo. All in all Germany was severly punished. -
Women gain the right to vote
The 19th Amendment was passed in 1920 to let women have the right to vote. Alice Paul and Carrie Chapman fought for years to try to gain the right to vote. After a long time of fighting, finally the 19th Amendment was passed to give women the new freedom of voting. -
The 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote and it was adopted into the U.S. Constitution. During the 20th century, women's role changed in American society from upkeeping the house to becoming a part of the industrial revolution. Women worked more, broadened their education and gave birth to fewer children. Women became an active part in moving America forward. -
Scopes Trial
John Scopes created a national conflict by breaking a law caused by fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is the belief of the word-for-word interpretation of the Bible. The fundamentalists didn't believe in the theory of evolution, therefore they did not want it taught in public schools. They convinced 12 states including Tennessee to ban the teaching of evolution. John Scopes broke the law in Dayton, Tennessee. This attracted national attention. -
KKK March in Washington
Ku Klux Klan known as the KKK preached Americanism based on racism, anti- Catholicism, anti- Communism, nativism, and anti-Semitism. At it’s peak in the 1920 approximately 4 million people were members of the KKK. The march on Washington demonstrated the public acceptance of the KKK and it’s views.
Ku Klux Klan members march to show support for the KKK. -
Black Tuesday
The crash of the stock market was when the stock market began to decline and continued to decline. The crashing of the stock market was a key event in the Great Depression. Many people lost everything because they had all of their money in stocks. -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
The Hawley-Smoot Tariff was a factor in the Depression spreading around the world. This tariff raised prices on foreign goods to historically high levels, which caused other countries affected to retaliate and make tariffs of their own. This limited trade between countries. -
Empire State Building
The Empire State building was completed in 1931 and was the tallest building for 40 years until the world trade building was built in 1974. It stand at 1,250 feet in the air. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a time period in the 1930s when huge dust storms came across the Great Plains. Crops were covered in dust and animals died. This was an important event because many farmers and other people had to leave the area because their crops and animals were gone so they could not make any money. Jan 5, 1930, Banks started to fail -
Ending of the Great Depression
The United States is almost forced into the war which was partially a good thing. Taking these chances and defending the country also brought an end to the Depression that the Americans were suffering. This happened because of the jump start of the industries which made war supplies and such. -
FDR creates New Deal
He promised to create federal government programs to end the Great Depression. Within 100 days, he signed the New Deal into law. It created 42 new agencies. They were designed to create jobs, allow unionization, and provide unemployment insurance. Many of these programs still exist. They help safeguard the economy and prevent another depression. -
President FDR tried to pack the court
A lot of FDR's New Deal Legislation was getting blocked by the Supreme Court. Thus, FDR wanted to appoint 6 new justice in order to tip the court in his favor. However, this caused Democrats to vote down his legislation and was a taint to his legacy.
