-
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention held in the United States. The convention fought for the rights of women. During the convention came the Seneca Falls Declaration, which closely modeled the Declaration of Independence. -
Matthew Perry Sails into Tokyo Bay
Matthew Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay with a bunch of warships and tried to open trade with Japan. The combination of the threat of gunship boats and showering the Emperor with gifts finally got the Japanese to sign a trade agreement with America. -
Railroad Sleeping Car Invented
In 1864, George Pullman designed a railroad sleeping car. This sleeping car helped the way of traveling because this allowed people to sleep while they were traveling overnight. This way people had a more comfortable way to sleep. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment was what actually freed the slaves. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. -
Military Reconstruction Act
The Military Reconstruction Act was to restart reconstruction in the 10 southern states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. The plan was to divide the 10 "unreconstructed states" into 5 military districts. Military would control these different areas. -
President Johnson's Impeachment
Johnson removed Stanton and fired generals in the field. This went against the Tenure of Office Act. The House impeached him on February 24, 1868, before even drawing up charges and voted 126-47. He ended up finishing out his term but he was very weak and had little control. -
Indian Territory
Indian Territory was one of the territories that the federal government began moving Indians too. In Oklahoma was one large nation called "Indian Territory." There was another one in the Dakota Territory. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment provided a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of freed people. It guarenteed the rights of all people. This made sure that every citizen would remain free. -
Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad was finished on May 10, 1869. The Central Pacific laid 360 miles in a year. The most track laid in a day was 10 miles in 12 hours. When they met up they met at Promotory Point, Utah. -
Air Brake Invented
In, 1869, Westinghouse invented the new air brake. This new brake allowed for much safer travel and faster. Travel was made safer because every train was able to be stopped at once by the same person -
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge at the time. The bridge has a main span of 1,595.5 feet and a height of 133 feet above Mean High Water. The bridge took 14 years to build. It started in 1869 and ended in 1883. -
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to United States. It was designed by Frederic Bartholdi. The statue was built out of copper. The copper oxidized and turned green. -
Gospel of Wealth
Promulgated by Andrew Carnegie. It developed a justification for big businesses. Employed themes from Social Darwinism. The rich had moral responsibility to reinvest Wealth into larger society and into philanthropic organizations. But don’t give charity, that won’t help anyone. -
Gibson Girl
The Gibson Girl was created in the 1890s by Charles Gibson in drawings that appear in popular magazines. These pictures set the standards for women’s appearance for the time. -
Ellis Island
Ellis Island was picked as the site of the new immigration station for port of New York. It was opened from 1892-1954. In those years 12 million people passed through. Peak years were 1892-1924. 11,747 processed on one day 1907, the most processed in one day. The doors closed in 1954. -
Ida B. Wells Crusades Against Lynchings
Ida Wells had 3 friends who were killed in lynchings. She then crusaded against lynchings. She tried to start boycotts and started a newspaper against lynchings. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy was 1/8 black and was sitting in the white only section of the train car. He told the train conductor this and he was asked to move, but he wouldn’t. This case went to trail. It was ruled segregation was legal as long as “Separate but Equal.” -
Klondike Gold Rush
About 30 years after the purchase of Alaska, gold was found, starting the Klondike Gold Rush. This got Seward off the hook for buying Alaska, because many Americans did not like the purchase. Out of the 100,000s people who set off for gold fields in Yukon, in a six month period, only about 30,000 people finished the trip. -
USS Maine
The USS Maine exploded in Havana, Cuba Harbor. The USS Maine was spent there to protect American citizens and property. Most Americans believed it was Spain’s fault. This was the spark that started the war. -
Battle of Manila Bay
The Spanish navy was trapped inside Manila Bay, unable to escape or get help. The Spanish fleet was destroyed May 1, 1898. Commodore George Dewy defeated Spanish navy after just 6 hours of battle. -
Battle of San Juan Hill
This battle was won by the Rough Riders. They were led by Theodore Roosevelt. This fight was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the war. -
President Roosevelt becomes the youngest President
President Roosevelt became the youngest president at 42 years old. While he was President he set aside 140 million acres of forest reserves. He also busted trusts. -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was started in 1904, when America took over control of building the canal, and finished in 1914. America wanted control of the call, so they payed $10 million and an annual rent of $250,000 for control of the canal. The canal cut of 8,000 miles from the trip. -
Sinking Of The Lusitania
On May 7, 1915, Germany torpedoed the Lusitania sinking it with 1,200 passengers and crew on board. Found out it was carrying 4,200 cases of ammo. One of the reason why America joined the war. -
NWP Picketing the White House
The NWP started to picket the White House. They used "Kaiser Wilson" as a strategy while picketing the White House. This was using Wilsons own used against him. -
Treaty of Versailles
On November 11, 1918, the Treaty of Versailles was signed between the Allied Powers and Germany. It took away land from Germany, dismantled Germany’s army, forced Germany to pay reparations to the countries it harmed in the war, and forced Germany to take all the blame. It destroyed Germany’s economy and morale, eventually causing WWII in 20 years. -
Scopes Trial
Scopes was a biology teacher who taught his students that man derived from monkeys. But he taught in Tennessee, where it was illegal to teach evolution. The ACLU promised to defend any teacher who broke that law. So they hired Clarence Darrow, the most famous trail lawyer. The prosecution countered with William Bryan, 3 time Democratic presidential nominee. At the end of the trial, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. -
Buck v Bell
Supreme Court case. The courts decision, “Three generations of imbeciles are enough.” This line was delivered by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. -
Black Tuesday
The official crash of the stock market. Over 16 million shares sold in massive selling frenzy. It was just a one day crash. The crash was a system not a cause of the Great Depression. -
Dust Bowl
Farmers experienced one of the worst, longest droughts in U.S. history. This created a Dust Bowl of unproductive, eroded farm land. This was caused by overgrazing of cattle, loose soil, and droughts. -
Smoot-Hayley Tariff
This was the greatest mistake of the political decisions made during the beginning of the Great Depression. This raised the tariffs on U.S. imports up to 50%. They believed that raising trade barriers would force Americans to buy American goods, which would keep Americans employed. But they ignored the principle of international trade being a 2 way street. It virtually closed our barriers to foreign goods and ignited a viscous international trade war. -
Al Capone Arrested
Al Capone was a famous gangster who smuggled liquor. He took control of Chicago by killing of his competition. He was the reigning gangster for 7 years until finally he was convicted of tax evasion charges in 1931. -
Bonus Army
In 1932, over 20,000 jobless veterans protested in D.C. to be paid their bonus now. The government would pay them until 1945, the earlier agreed upon date. Tanks and Calvary were brought in to remove the bonus army. In clashes with police, 4 veterans were killed. This lowered Hoover’s popularity even more. -
21st Amendment
The 21st Amendment repealed prohibition. This was something that many people were happy about. Many felt prohibition caused more problems then it solved and by the mid-1920s only 19% of Americans supported it. -
Court Packing Plan
FDR made a plan to appoint new judges and expand the Supreme Court by 6 judges. He argued that changes were needed to make the courts more efficient. Most observers saw it as an effort to pack the court with “yes” men who argued to whatever he said. The plan did not pass but the Supreme Court did make some ruling in FDRs favor. -
Germany Invades Poland
Germany invades Poland, which was the start of WWII. Then France got taken over by Germany. The word blitzkrieg which means lightning war because Germany moved so quickly. -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. Navy Base at Pearl Harbor. This brought the U.S. into the war against Japan and Germany. When Churchill found out, he said, "After all we have won." Showing that because the U.S. was joining the war, the Allies would win the war. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was the turning point in the Pacific Theater. Admiral Chester Nimit was the Commander of American Naval forces in the Pacific. Soon after this battle the Allies were island hopping toward Japan. -
D-Day
June 6, 1944 was D-Day. This operation was originally called Operation Overlord. The plans was to have an amphibious landing on a couple different beaches to liberate Europe. This was the largest land-sea-air operation in military history. -
V-E Day
On May 8, 1945 was victory in Europe day. This was the day that the war in Europe was finally over. Now, they could turn the attention only to the war in the Pacific. -
Atomic Bombs Dropped on Japan
On August 6, 1945 the 1st atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. On August 9, 1945 the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The decision to drop the bombs was made because it was predicted that this would save more lives than invading Japan. The U.S. also warned Japan with leaflets that were dropped in the cities that were possible targets for the bombs. Japan surrendered days after the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped. -
Truman Doctrine
They made the Truman Doctrine because they felt threatened by Communist influence in Turkey and Greece. Financial aid “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation.” There was the belief that countries that were recovering and had stable economies would be able to better resist communist influence. Sent $400 million worth of war supplies to Greece and helped push out Communism. The Truman Doctrine marked a new level of American commitment to a Cold War. -
Operation Vittles
All of the necessities for the city’s 2.5 million residents -- an estimated 4,500 tons of food, coal, and other materials each day -- had to enter the city by air. On its biggest day the ‘Easter parade’ of April 16, 1949, the airlift sent 1,398 flights into Berlin -- one every minute. Before it was all over, more than 278,000 flights would carry 2.3 million tons of relief supplies. -
The Policy of Containment
Formulated by George F. Kennan as a way to stop Soviet expansion without having to go to war. The idea was that by applying firm diplomatic, economic, and military counter pressure, the U.S. could block Soviet aggression. The Containment Doctrine would later be expanded in 1949 in NSC-68, which called for a dramatic increase in defense spending. NSC-68 served as the framework for American policy over the next 20 years. -
December 1961 White Paper
In 1961, President Kenedy sent a team to Vietnam to report on conditions in the South and to assess future American Aid requirements The report, known as the “December 1961 White Paper,” argued for: An increase in military, technical, and economic aid and the introduction of large-scale American “advisors” to help stabilize the Diem regime and crush the NLF. -
Bay of Pigs
The U.S. organized invasion force of 1,400 Cuban exiles is defeated by Castro’s government forces on Cuba’s south coast at the Bay of Pigs. Launched from Guatemala in ships and planes provided by the U.S., the invaders surrender on April 20 after three days of fighting. Kennedy takes full responsibility for the disaster. -
Gulf of Tonkin Attack and Resolution
August 1964, North Vietnam launched an attack against the C. Turner Joy and the USS Maddox, two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin. First attack occurred on August 2, 1964. This lead to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Johnson administration used the August 4 attack to obtain a congressional resolution, now known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, that gave the President broad war powers. “The Blank Check. ” The Resolution was followed by limited reprisal air attack against North Vietnam. -
Tet Offensive
By 1968, things had gone from bad to worse for the Johnson administration. In late January, North Vietnam and the NLF launched coordinated attacks against major southern cities. N. Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong attack South simultaneously. Took every major southern city. US and South Vietnamese beat back the offensive.
Viet Cong destroyed. N. Vietnamese army debilitated. But, it’s presented as an American defeat back home in America -
U.S. Lands on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to reach the moon. The Americans finally beat the Russians. Armstrong touched the moon first. The first steps on the moon was televised. “One small step for man, One giant leap for mankind.” -
Paris Peace Agreement
In early January 1973, a peace accord was agreed on. US and Vietnamese argued for 5 months over the size of the conference table. Finally, the final draft was initiated, ending open hostilities between the US and North Vietnamese. The Paris Peace Agreement did not end the conflict in Vietnam, however, as Saigon continued to battle Communist forces. -
Ellis Island Museum
Ellis Island was opened as a museum in 1990. Now people can go and see Ellis Island. They can see the names of the people who passed through Ellis Island.
