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Wilson's Presidency term
Woodrow Wilson was an advocate for democracy and world peace. Once in office, he worked on progressive reform that included the establishment of the Federal Reserve and Federal Trade Commission. After WW1, he helped negotiate a peace treaty that included a plan for the League of Nations. Although the Senate rejected U.S. membership in the League, Wilson received the Nobel Prize for his peacemaking efforts. -
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World War 1 timeframe
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire were called the Central Powers. They fought against Great Britain, Russia, France, Italy, and Japan, who were called the Allied Powers. The United States joined the Allied Powers in 1917. When WW1 ended and the Allies won, over 9 million soldiers had been killed and 21 million more were wounded. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
Less than a year after World War 1 erupted across Europe, a German submarine sunk the RMS Lusitania, which was a British ocean liner travelling from New York to Liverpool, England. -
First woman elected to Congress (Rankin)
Jeanette Rankin was born in Montana. She successfully fought for a woman's right to vote in Montana and Washington State, and she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. During her two separate terms, she helped pass the 19th amendment and was the only Congressperson to vote against both WW1 and WW2. She died in 1973. -
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Great Migration
The Great Migration was the relocation of over 6 million African-Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest, and West. They moved because in the South, they had unsatisfactory economic opportunities and harsh segregationist laws. During the Great Migration, African Americans began to build a new place for themselves in public life, by confronting economic, social, and political challenges. This had an enormous impact on the decades to come. -
Lenin led a Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the eventual rise of the Soviet Union. -
Selective Service Act
This act gave the U.S. president (who, at this time, was Woodrow Wilson) the power to draft soldiers. -
Espionage Act
This Act made it a crime for any person to interfere with the U.S. armed forces or to promote the success of the country's enemies. -
Influenza (flu) epidemic
The influenza epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people. One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history. -
Wilson's 14 points
The 14 points was a statement of principles for peace that was used for peace negotiations in order to end World War 1. -
Sedition Act
This Act was designed to protect America's participation in World War 1. The Sedition Act was aimed at socialists, pacifists, and other anti-war activists. This Act imposed harsh penalties on anyone who made false statements that interfered with the prosecution of the war, or insulting or abusing the U.S. government, the Constitution, the military, or the flag. Anyone who was found guilty of such actions was penalized with a fine of up to $10,000, imprisonment of up to 20 years, or both. -
Schenk vs. US
The Court ruled that the freedom of speech protection guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented a "clear and present danger" to society. -
US Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles
The U.S. rejected the Treaty of Versailles due to the opposition of a group of senators called the Irreconcilables, who believed that under the terms of the treaty, the United States would lose too much of its freedom to the League of Nations. -
U.S. rejects League of Nations membership
The U.S. did not join the League of Nations because the Senate was afraid that by signing, they would lose power over U.S. internal and external affairs. -
19th amendment ratified
The 19th amendment granted American women the right to vote. -
Congress passes Fordney-McCumber Tariff
This law raised American tariffs on many imported goods in order to protect factories and farms. Congress displayed a pro-business attitude in passing the tariff and in promoting foreign trade through providing huge loans to Europe. This, in turn, bought more American goods. -
President Warren G. Harding dies
As president, Harding favored pro-business policies and limited immigration. Some of his cabinet members and other government officials, but he himself was not involved in any wrongdoing. Harding died suddenly of a heart attack and was succeeded by Vice President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933). After Harding’s death, the Teapot Dome Scandal and other instances of corruption came to light, damaging his reputation. -
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby
This book was a fiction classic story about a wealthy man named Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. -
Herbert Hoover is elected president
The Great Depression was occurring during Hoover's presidency, and he bore much of the blame in the minds of the American people. As the Depression deepened, Hoover failed to recognize the severity of the situation. Hoover was widely viewed as callous and insensitive toward the suffering of millions of desperate Americans. As a result, Hoover was soundly defeated in the 1932 presidential election by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Stock Market Collapse
On this day, billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression (1929-39), the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world up to that time. Some causes of the stock market collapse were low wages, debt, a struggling agricultural sector and an excess of large bank loans that could not be paid.
