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Industrialization and Progressivism
A variety of responses to the economic and social problems rapid industrialization introduced to America. Progressivism began as a social movement and grew into a political movement. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The ruling in this Supreme Court case upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races." -
Annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States
In the 1890s, the efforts of the Hawaiian people to preserve their national sovereignty and native heritage ran headlong into the unstoppable force of American expansionism. -
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Foreign Affair from Imperialism to Post WWI
The industrial and territorial growth of the United States fostered expansion overseas. Greater involvement in the world set the stage for American participation in World War I and attempts to preserve post-war peace. -
Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
On a national level, progressivism gained a strong voice in the White House when Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901. TR believed that strong corporations were good for America, but he also believed that corporate behavior must be watched to ensure that corporate greed did not get out of hand. -
McKinley Dies
President McKinley dies from complications relating to his shooting and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th president of the United States. -
16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Federal Income Tax
Passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified February 3, 1913, the 16th amendment established Congress's right to impose a Federal income tax. -
World War I
Progressivism ended with World War I when the horrors of war exposed people's cruelty and many Americans associated President Woodrow Wilson's use of progressive language with the war. -
President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points
In this January 8, 1918, address to Congress, President Woodrow Wilson proposed a 14-point program for world peace. These points were later taken as the basis for peace negotiations at the end of the war. -
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Prosperity, Depression, and the New Deal
The Post-World War I period was characterized by economic, social and political turmoil. Post-war prosperity brought about changes to American popular culture. However, economic disruptions growing out the war years led to worldwide depression. The United States attempted to deal with the Great Depression through economic programs created by the federal government. -
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From Isolationism to World War
The isolationist approach to foreign policy meant U.S. leadership in
world affairs diminished after World War I. Overseas, certain nations
saw the growth of tyrannical governments that reasserted their
power through aggression and created conditions leading to the
Second World War. After Pearl Harbor, the United States
entered World War II, which changed the country’s focus
from isolationism to international involvement. -
National Labor Relations Act
Also known as the Wagner Act, this bill was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board and addressed relations between unions and employers in the private sector. -
Social Security Act
On August 14, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped. -
President Franklin Roosevelt's Radio Address unveiling the second half of the New Deal
In this radio address, President Franklin Roosevelt announced a second set of measures to combat the Great Depression, which become known as the Second New Deal. These included a series of new relief programs such as the Works Progress Administration. -
President Franklin Roosevelt's Annual Message (Four Freedoms) to Congress
This speech delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, became known as his "Four Freedoms Speech," due to a short closing portion describing the President's vision in which the American ideals of individual liberties were extended throughout the world. -
Lend-Lease Act
Passed on March 11, 1941, this act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." -
Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan
On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt delivered this "Day of Infamy Speech." Immediately afterward, Congress declared war, and the United States entered World War II. -
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The Cold War
The Cold War was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States with NATO and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its allies in Warsaw Pact). -
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Social Transformation in the United States
Social Transformations in the United States (1945-1994)
A period of post-war prosperity allowed the United States to undergo fundamental social change. Adding to this change was an emphasis on scientific inquiry, the shift from an industrial to a technological/service economy, the impact of mass media, the phenomenon of suburban and Sun Belt migrations, and the expansion of civil rights. -
Containment and the Truman Doctrine
By 1947, US president Harry S. Truman's advisers urged him to take immediate steps to counter the Soviet Union's influence, citing Stalin's efforts (amid post-war confusion and collapse) to undermine the US by encouraging rivalries among capitalists that could precipitate another war. In February 1947, the British government announced that it could no longer afford to finance the Greek monarchical military regime in its civil war against communist-led insurgents. -
Marshall Plan
In early 1947, Britain, France and the United States unsuccessfully attempted to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union for a plan envisioning an economically self-sufficient Germany, including a detailed accounting of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure already removed by the Soviets. -
Berlin Blockade and airlift
The United States and Britain merged their western German occupation zones into "Bizonia" (January 1, 1947, later "Trizonia" with the addition of France's zone, April 1949). As part of the economic rebuilding of Germany, in early 1948, representatives of a number of Western European governments and the United States announced an agreement for a merger of western German areas into a federal governmental system. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
Civil Rights Act
This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. -
Gulf War
The considerable dependence of the industrialized world on oil starting in the 1930s, with much of the proved oil reserves situated in Middle Eastern countries, became evident to the U.S., first in the aftermath of the 1973 world oil shock and later in the second energy crisis of 1979. Although in real terms oil prices fell back to pre-1973 levels through the 1980s, resulting in a windfall for the oil-consuming nations -
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United States and the Post-Cold War World (1991 to present)
The Post Cold War era is the period in world history from the Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to the present. It has mostly been dominated by the rise of globalization (as well as seemingly paradoxically, nationalism) enabled by the commercialization of the Internet and the growth of the mobile phone system. The ideology of postmodernism and cultural relativism has according to some scholars replaced modernism and notions of absolute progress and ideology -
Conflicts in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Middle East
In December 1992, President Bush sent troops to join the UN Operation Restore Hope, a multi-national effort to restore order and provide humanitarian aid in Somalia, which was torn by civil war, famine, and warlords. -
Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four airliners were hijacked by 19 members of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda. The first hijacked airliner, American Airlines Flight 11, struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:46 A.M. in New York City; with a second, United Airlines Flight 175, striking the South Tower less than twenty minutes later. The third hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into The Pentagon.
