-
Communication between the cultures of Europe, the Americas, and West Africa built a new world on a North American continent dominated by American Indians.
-
Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World (North America) in 1492 In Search of a trade route to Asia. Only to Find new land that he thought was uninhabited. -
Now that the New World was found, the Spanish sent Conquistadors in the early 16th century to conquer land. -
The Colombian Exchange was a time where the Spaniards traded lots of goods to the Native Americans, where culture and new foods rapidly spread across the new world. Disease was a negative effect, which wiped out a lot of the Native Americans and brought famine. -
As the Spaniards got more wealthy from the support of Monarchs, they saw that the Native Americans could be useful as slaves to do work for them. The Spaniards grouped them by the masses, which led to more disease and overwork. -
The first slaves exported from Africa. Nearly 3% of all slaves were exported to work for the Spaniards. -
With tobacco, English pioneers at long last tracked down a New World product that functioned admirably in the commercial framework. Spanish explorers previously had extraordinary accomplishment with gold and silver finds and the French made a good market for animal hides in Europe.
-
The monarchs were getting so rich off of land from the New World that it caught the British attention. This led Queen Elizabeth to start attacking the Spanish. The British wanted land of the New World as it would greatly expand their nation. and bring geographical locations to British jurisdiction.
-
Sir Francis Drake led a raid against Spanish settlements in the Caribbean, including Santiago, Santo Domingo, and Cartagena, as well as St. Augustine
-
The first English colonists wanted gold and silver. Instead they found sickness and disease. And a way of about 1,200 colonist arrived.
-
In North America, Europeans and American Indians maneuvered and battled for dominance, power, and stability, resulting in distinct colonial and indigenous societies.
-
Slaves of the New World were growing labor intensive crops, such as sugar, made for Jamestown to start.
-
Pilgrims were seeking religious freedom arrived in New England aboard the Mayflower. On November 11, 1620, they signed the Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony. -
uprising against the Spanish at many settlements dissipated across many miles. The Indians annihilated structures and holy places and slaughtered in excess of 400 Spaniards.This was the most successful effort done by the American Indians to drive the Europeans out from their land. -
Allegations of witchcraft prompted arraignment in Massachusetts Bay Colony.And in the end eighteen people were seen as liable and hung.And most allegations of witchcraft were normal -
seventeen-week voyage to New York due to a shortage of food. Four-fifths of the people brought to the New World between 1492 and 1820 were from Africa and enslaved. Of the ones enslaved 15% of slaves died. -
The West Indies, or Caribbean islands, where slavery predominated, had many slave take overs, and intense uprisings.
-
As families were grown when in slavery, the youth would now be taken away from the mother and be acquired as another individual to work on the plantations. And this was in a contract. -
British imperial attempts to reassert power over its colonies, as well as colonial responses to these attempts, resulted in the formation of a new American republic, as well as disagreements over the new nation's social, political, and economic identity.
-
The Albany Congress, also known as the Albany Convention of 1754, was a gathering of delegates sent by the legislatures of seven of British America's thirteen colonies: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
-
The British and the French at war for the struggle of more rich land. The French, determined to secure the territory against encroaching British and American traders and land speculators, built a chain of forts along Pennsylvania’s Allegheny River. -
After the British victory, North America created a new nation, named The United States. Giving land and new ways for the American Colonists and the American Indians.
-
To issue the French land to Britain which was in North America. After the French and Indian war, the land could now be claimed by the British West of the Appalachian mountains -
Following the French and Indian War, American Indians in the Great Lakes area were unhappy with British rule. Warriors from various tribes banded together to drive out British soldiers and settlers from the region. -
Parliament voted to levy duties on colonial trade in order to fund the army and pay off war debts. It passed the Sugar Act, which levied duties on imported foreign wines, coffee, textiles, and indigo, as well as expanding the customs service. British colonial ships were also expected to fill out paperwork describing their cargo and destination. -
Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay for British troops serving in the colonies. The act allowed colonists to pay a tax on different types of papers, documents, and playing cards, which was expressed by a stamp. It was a direct tax levied by the British government without the consent of the colonial legislatures, and it was paid in difficult-to-find British sterling rather than colonial currency. -
Nine colonies sent people to the Stamp Act Congress to protest "no taxation without representation." Everyone was on a tax protest, Sons of Liberty making threats and violence to make tax collectors quit. -
By the beginning of 1770, 4,000 British soldiers were stationed in Boston, a city of 15,000 people, and tensions were running high.
On March 5, crowds of day laborers, apprentices, and merchant sailors started throwing snowballs and rocks at British troops.
A shot was fired, followed by several soldiers firing their guns.
Crispus Attucks, an African American merchant sailor who had fled slavery more than twenty years ago, was among the five civilians who died or were dying when the battle ended. -
To save the East India Company from bankruptcy, Parliament passed the Tea Act, which allowed the company to sell a large amount of tea surplus to the general public without paying duty.
Developed tea merchants were angered by the decision, which effectively gave the East India Company a monopoly.
Protests erupted, ranging from women's boycotts to the infamous Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. -
In retaliation for the Boston Tea Party in March 1774, the British Parliament passed the Port Act. The Port Act, the first of the "Intolerable Acts," closed Boston harbor to all ships until the destroyed tea was paid for. In May, two further "Intolerable Acts" were passed, prohibiting public meetings in Massachusetts unless they were approved by the royal governor and transferring any capital case involving a British official to England or another colony. -
The “shot heard 'round the world” signaled the start of the American Revolutionary War. Seventy-three British soldiers were killed and 200 were wounded or missing in action during the battles of Lexington and Concord. -
Common Sense is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 to encourage citizens in the Thirteen Colonies to declare independence from Great Britain.
Paine marshaled moral and political arguments in concise and convincing prose to inspire ordinary citizens in the Colonies to battle for egalitarian government. -
Congress proclaimed independence from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence was adopted two days later.The Declaration of Independence was then printed and distributed to the new "Free and Independent States." -
The Articles of Confederation were drafted by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress to determine the relationship between the thirteen new states. From June 1776 to November 1777, the representatives collaborated on a draft that was submitted to the states for ratification. Virginia was the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on December 16, 1777. Maryland was the last to surrender, and it did so on March 1, 1781. -
First President of the United States -
Second President of the United States -
In 1800, the country had an option between incumbent John Adams and vice president Thomas Jefferson.
Adams' popularity had dwindled as a result of his decision to remain neutral in the French-British war and the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The House of Representatives voted Thomas Jefferson as the third president of the United States after six days and 36 ballots. -
In the face of rapid economic, territorial, and demographic shifts, the new republic struggled to define and spread democratic values.
-
Third President of the United States -
The case of Marbury v. Madison developed the concept of judicial review in the United States, which means that American courts have the right to overturn legislation, statutes, and other government decisions that they deem to be in violation of the United States Constitution. -
During Thomas Jefferson's first term as president, the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803 more than doubled the size of the United States. The next step for Jefferson was to learn everything he could about the United States' new territories. Meriwether Lewis, a retired army captain who also served as his personal assistant, was chosen to lead the expedition. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. -
The United States placed a trade embargo on other countries.
The embargo was a public relations disaster that cost a lot of money. It harmed the American economy much more than the British or the French, leading to widespread smuggling and unemployment. -
This broadside, titled "Injured Humanity," was first distributed in 1805 to inform the public about the treatment of slaves. It was intended to offend readers and called on citizens' consciences to "reject, with horror, the smallest involvement in such infernal transactions."
Congress voted on March 2, 1807, to outlaw the commercial slave trade as of January 1, 1808. -
In 1812, the United States declared war on the United Kingdom for interfering with American shipping and the imposition of American seamen. Jefferson and Madison preferred economic sanctions to war, which they believed would give leaders too much influence. -
Manifest destiny was a common theory in nineteenth-century America that American immigrants were doomed to spread throughout North America. -
In the aftermath of the War of 1812, the Era of Good Feelings was a time in American political history that represented a sense of national intent and a desire for unity among Americans. -
After the War of 1812, the Tariff of 1816 levied a high tax on imported products to protect American industry. “The disruption of our intercourse with England has made us one important service in planting radically and firmly coarse manufacturers among us,” (Thomas Jefferson) -
fourth President of the United States -
Slavery was the most contentious of antebellum political topics, and a brave group of Northern congressmen and senators opened discussion on it in 1819. Rufus King, a Federalist US senator from New York, led the fight to stop slavery from spreading through the United States. The team was defeated. Except in Missouri, which was admitted to the Union as a slave state while Maine was not, the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery north of 36°30' N. -
The Monroe Doctrine was first declared by President James Monroe. He declared the Western Hemisphere off limits to further European colonization and threatened to use force to prevent further European involvement in the Americas. -
-
Andrew Jackson, a Democrat, defeated incumbent John Quincy Adams in the 1828 presidential race. Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans is depicted on this campaign poster. Pro-Jackson propaganda often depicted Jackson as a common man, while John Quincy Adams was presented as a well-educated member of the New England elite. -
-
The Indian Removal Act, signed by President Andrew Jackson, approved concerted attempts to open Indian lands to whites and offered financial compensation to tribes that agreed to relocate west of the Mississippi River. -
A group of anti-Jackson political parties united to form the Whig Party, which was concerned about President Andrew Jackson's use and misuse of presidential power. Educators and professionals, merchants, business-minded farmers, British and German Protestant settlers, upwardly aspiring manual laborers, free blacks, and committed members of Presbyterian, Unitarian, and Congregational churches were among the Whigs. Henry Clay became the party's most famous face. -
-
-
-
Regional tensions, particularly over slavery, arose as the country developed and its population grew, leading to a civil war whose course and aftermath changed American society.
-
-
The invention of the sewing machine changed the lives of many women and propelled the United States to the forefront of low-cost, ready-to-wear clothes. -
In 1846, President Polk sent a US delegate to Mexico to make an offer to purchase California and parts of New Mexico, as well as to resolve territorial disputes in Texas. He offered $25–$30 million in return for the land, plus an additional $3 million in debt relief from Mexico owed to American citizens. The Mexican government denied the representative's request to meet with him. As a result, Polk ordered the US Army to enter the contested territories. On April 25, 1846, fighting erupted. -
80,000 men arrived in California in 1849, seeking to strike it rich in the mining industry.
The gold rush lasted less than a decade because few people struck it rich. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War a week after gold was found in California. California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and portions of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming were all purchased by the United States. -
-
-
The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to join the Union as a free state while allowing slavery to continue in other territories gained from Mexico. -
As part of the 1850 Compromise, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act. Northerners were compelled to participate in the return of escaped slaves to the South by the constitution. -
-
-
The American Civil War formally began when Confederate forces invaded Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
After thirty-four hours of bombardment, Union forces at Fort Sumter surrendered. -
The American Civil War was fought between northern and Pacific states and southern states that voted to secede and establish the Confederate States of America. The Union/North side argued that the secession was illegal because the states' union was permanent.
-
At Bull Run Virginia, Union forces were defeated in the Civil War's first major campaign. Both the Union and Confederate armies were made up of inexperienced volunteers. After this catastrophic experience, the Union realized that the battle to keep the country united would not be easy or fast to win. -
The 1860 election exposed the country's deep divisions. There were effectively two separate sectional campaigns: one in the north, pitting Abraham Lincoln against Stephen A. Douglas, and one in the south, pitting Douglas against Lincoln. In the final balloting, Lincoln won only 39.9 percent of the popular vote, but received 180 Electoral College votes, fifty-seven more than the combined total of his opponents. -
The Federal Homestead Act was signed by Abraham Lincoln.
The act allotted 160 acres of public land in the West to those willing to cultivate the land for five years. -
Slavery was outlawed in the United States territories, which stretched from New Mexico to Washington and Dakota. In 1862, Lincoln made his feelings regarding the slave trade known by refusing to offer clemency to Nathaniel Gordon, a convicted slave trader.
-
The formal Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln, declaring “all individuals kept as slaves within any State or declared part of a State... in revolt against the United States. thenceforward and forever free.” The declaration did not free slaves in loyal areas because Lincoln felt he only had the authority to issue it as a war measure. -
General George Meade's 90,000-man Union forces reached Lee's 75,000-man army. Lee attempted attacks on Union positions from the left and right flanks, but was repulsed. The Union bolstered its flanks, but Lee launched a frontal assault on Union lines in the middle. General George E. Pickett led a force of 15,000 Confederate troops through a hail of Union fire. At a cost of 51,000 casualties, Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. -
Lincoln remembered the fallen and related their sacrifice to the survival of a country "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" at the dedication of the new national cemetery at Gettysburg, four months after the war. -
-
Significant economic, political, diplomatic, social, environmental, and cultural changes occurred as the United States transitioned from an agricultural to an increasingly industrialized and urbanized society.
-
On April 14, 1865, days after the Confederate capital of Richmond fell, resident Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC, during a production of Our American Cousin. Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on April 15. -
Following the American Civil War, the Reconstruction period, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, was a watershed moment in the history of civil rights in the United States.
-
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed over President Johnson’s veto. The act defined all persons born in the United States as citizens. -
In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward arranged the United States' purchase of Alaska from Russia. For $7.2 million, the United States gained 586,412 square miles, about one-fifth of its current size. The purchase was initially dubbed "Seward's Folly," but the property turned out to be rich in natural resources. -
With 214 of 294 electoral votes, Ulysses S. Grant was elected the eighteenth president of the United States of America. -
-
When the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met, the first transcontinental railroad was completed. To help lay 1800 miles of track, Chinese and European laborers were enlisted. The project's funding costs were too high for a single group of investors to afford. -
In 1870, John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in Ohio. The corporation had expanded into an empire by 1880, controlling about 90% of oil refining in the United States. -
Between 1871 and 1880, more than 2,812,191 refugees, many from Europe, arrived in the United States. The majority of these newcomers were from Western Europe.
-
In the late 1800s, American Indian policy started to emphasize the erasure of a distinct American Indian identity. The Indian Appropriation Act, which ended the tradition of recognizing tribes as separate, sovereign states, was enacted by Congress to undermine tribal leaders' authority. -
Republican nominee Rutherford B. Hayes faced Democrat Samuel J. Tilden
-
-
-
-
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first legislation in the country to prohibit immigration based on race or nationality.
The act, which was renewed and implemented until 1943, imposed a ten-year ban on Chinese immigration and barred Chinese people from becoming citizens -
-
-
Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr founded Hull House in Chicago, which provided services to the poor, working class, and immigrants. In 1887, there were 74 settlements in the United States, and by 1890, there were more than 400. The movement aided in the professionalization of social work. -
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 is a US antitrust law that establishes the rule of free competition among commercial entities. It was approved by Congress and is named after its principal author, Senator John Sherman. -
An increasingly pluralistic United States faced profound domestic and global challenges, debated the proper degree of government activism, and sought to define its international role.
-
-
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson codified the constitutional doctrine for racial segregation laws.
African-Americans could be treated separately from the white population as long as the segregated services were of similar standard, according to the court. -
In front of the ships "trade" and the factories "civilization," this Republican Party presidential campaign poster depicts William McKinley carrying the US flag and standing on the gold coin of "sound money" held up by a group of men. The print was meant to contrast the benefits of the Republican Party's protectionist policies with the negative consequences of the Democratic Party's free-trade policies. -
-
The Spanish-American War, fought between the United States and Spain in 1898, ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and culminated in the United States gaining territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. -
-
Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist son of Polish immigrants, shot President William McKinley twice. On September 14, 1901, McKinley died eight days later. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took over as his successor. -
The Roosevelt Corollary, which expanded the Monroe Doctrine and claimed the United States' right to police the Caribbean, was declared by President Roosevelt. -
-
Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Party's nominee, defeated three other candidates in the presidential election: Republican incumbent William Howard Taft, Progressive Party nominee Theodore Roosevelt, and Socialist Party nominee Eugene V. Debs. -
The Federal Reserve System was established under the Federal Reserve Act to serve as the country's central bank.
Twelve regional federal reserve banks were founded and staffed by mid-November 1914.
The US will launch a new currency structure with their launch, aimed at strengthening and controlling the country's currency and financial system. -
The Ford Motor Company perfected the assembly line and introduced the $5 per day wage, double the industry standard. -
The Great War began when Austria, assured of Germany’s support, declared war against Serbia, and Russia mobilized on Serbia’s side. President Woodrow Wilson issued a declaration of American neutrality in the European war.
-
The influenza (or Spanish influenza) epidemic that swept the world in 1918 and 1919 claimed the lives of up to 50 million people.
A quarter of all Americans, including President Woodrow Wilson, were sick at some point, and nearly 675,000 people died from influenza in the United States. -
President Woodrow Wilson gave his "Fourteen Points" address, outlining a post-World War I peace strategy.
The Fourteen Points program called for a reduction in military spending, national self-determination, and the creation of a league of nations. -
Fears of Bolshevism expressed themselves in the 1917 Espionage Act and the 1918 Sedition Act, which resulted in deportations of foreigners, vigilante brutality against alleged communists, and the removal of Socialists from power. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer launched an anti-Red movement after extremists delivered hundreds of bombs to influential government officials and American businessmen.
-
The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I by imposing harsh surrender terms on Germany, establishing territorial mandates, and laying the groundwork for the formation of the League of Nations. Wilson, on the other hand, will come to regard the treaty as essentially a disappointment. Congress declined to ratify it, citing concerns about ceding individual authority in order to join the League of Nations. -
In 1920, the Constitution's Nineteenth Amendment was adopted, giving women the right to vote.
Wilson had come into office as an opponent of women's suffrage, but after seeing women's contributions to the war effort, he and many others in Congress changed their minds. -
-
-
-
The Great Depression was a serious worldwide economic depression that began in the United States in the 1930s and lasted until 1945. The Great Depression began in 1929 in most countries and continued until the late 1930s in others.
-
On October 24, the recession began, and on October 29, the stock market suffered the worst crash in history. The average price of a share dropped 12% as trading volume soared to an all-time high of 16,410,030 shares. Brokers and speculators lost everything in the crash, which sparked a long period of economic panic.It also signaled the start of the Great Depression, which wreaked havoc on the economy and left millions of Americans jobless.
-
With the Great Depression looming over the 1932 presidential election, Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Herbert Hoover. -
New Deal policies provided jobs and funds for federal projects through a number of “alphabet soup” agencies. -
The Agricultural Adjustment Act was enacted to aid poor farmers by reducing overproduction and compensating inactive farmers.
The Land Conservation and Domestic Allocation Act of 1935 was also passed by Congress to reduce the cultivation of soil-depleting crops. -
Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, rose to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, rearmed the nation, and signed strategic treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world dominance. The invasion of Poland by Hitler in September 1939 prompted the United Kingdom and France to wage war on Germany, starting off World War II.
-
The American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was struck by Japanese aircraft. The surprise attack badly weakened naval forces, and over 2,300 Americans were killed. -
Allied forces landed along a fifty-mile stretch of the Normandy coast in France. The landing was the largest amphibious invasion in history, with over 160,000 troops taking part. They were backed up by over 5,000 ships and 13,000 planes.
On the beaches of Normandy, Allied forces fought the Germans and suffered 9,000 casualties. They forced the Germans back, allowing them to begin their march across Europe to Berlin. -
The Serviceman's Readjustment Act, or GI Bill, was passed by Congress to provide veterans with "government issue" educational and financial benefits.
Unemployment benefits, college financial assistance, and low-interest home loans were all included in the bill. -
-
After WWII, the United States struggled to live up to its values when dealing with growth and new international obligations.
-
The bomb leveled most of the city and instantly killed about a third of the population. Thousands more were hospitalized as a result.
Residents continued to be affected by radiation-related illnesses for several years. -
McCarthyism is the practice of accusing people of subversion or treason, especially in the context of communism.
The phrase refers to U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, and it originated during the Second Red Scare in the United States, which lasted from the late 1940s to the 1950s. -
Following World War II, the Cold War was a time of cultural and strategic conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as their respective allies, the Western and Eastern Blocs.
-
The Truman Doctrine, a strategic strategy to prevent Communism from spreading to politically unstable nations, was declared by President Truman on March 12, 1947. Fearing that poverty and other problems caused by World War II would make Europe vulnerable to Communism, the United States funneled about thirteen billion dollars into Western Europe through the Marshall Plan to rehabilitate and stabilize countries.
-
On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea in an attempt to bring the two countries together. The United Nations and the United States quickly intervened, seeking to prevent Communism from spreading to the South. After securing the 38th parallel boundary, the United States sought to “liberate” North Korea from Communism rather than simply restore the two countries to pre-war conditions. The United States and the United Nations failed to unite the countries under South Korean control.
-
With 442 electoral votes and 55.2 percent of the popular vote, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was comfortably elected president of the United States in 1952.
The Eisenhower Doctrine, which expanded the Truman Doctrine, was adopted by Congress in 1957. -
The Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson "separate yet equal" decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that segregation of public school children based on race was unconstitutional. -
The Montgomery bus boycott began on December 6, 1955, in response to Rosa Parks' arrest five days prior for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. To oppose segregation in public transit, the boycotters, led by Martin Luther King Jr., marched and carpooled. They were harassed and assaulted by white cops and people.
-
The US Commission on Civil Rights was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1957 to investigate voter restrictions.
It also created the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. -
Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated Republican Richard Nixon in a tight election to claim the presidency.
Kennedy was elected with just 117,000 votes in the popular vote. -
US-backed Cuban anti-Castro forces landed at the Bay of Pigs in an invasion organized by the US Central Intelligence Agency and authorized by the Kennedy administration, but were defeated by Castro's troops. In a humiliating defeat, over 1100 men were captured. In exchange for food and drugs, the inmates were finally ransomed and returned to the United States. -
On November 22, 1963, assassin Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President John F. Kennedy while traveling in a motorcade through Dallas, Texas. Following Kennedy's death, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president. -
-
To oppose police intervention in voter registration, Martin Luther King Jr. coordinated a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama. When Alabama state troopers stopped and beat protestors at Pettus Bridge, the march came to a halt. On March 21, the march was resumed with 3,200 protestors. The National Guard escorted them on President Johnson's orders. On March 25, the march arrived in Montgomery with over 25,000 protestors.
-
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Immigration Act of 1965, which abolished the national origins quota system, in a ceremony at the Statue of Liberty. -
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by James Earl Ray outside King’s room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The assassination sparked mourning and riots across the country. -
Republican Richard Nixon ran against Democrat Hubert Humphrey and American Independent Party nominee George Wallace in the 1968 presidential election. Nixon seemed to pledge peace and order at a time when there were deep tensions among Americans and violent demonstrations over Vietnam, the Cold War, and race. -
The Nixon administration sent special agents known as the "Plumbers" to the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in order to win the 1972 presidential election. They hoped to copy papers and listen in on phone conversations.
A hotel security guard apprehended the plumbers.
The Nixon administration was able to conceal the incident for a while, but the scandal was eventually exposed.
Nixon was forced to resign in the end. -
The Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that abortion was protected by the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Supreme Court required federal protection for abortion during the first trimester while allowing state laws to restrict it during the second and third trimesters. -
In a tight race, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter, a former peanut farmer and one-term Georgia governor, defeated Republican incumbent Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election. Carter outlined his vision for a "modern foreign policy" focused on "constant decency in principles and hope in historical vision." Carter faced rampant inflation and a serious oil crisis in addition to international crises. -
When the United States entered a new century, it faced new ideological and cultural debates, tried to redefine its foreign policy, and adjusted to economic globalization and transformative advances in science and technology.
-
Ronald Reagan, a Republican, defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter in the 1980 presidential election. The weak economy helped Reagan's effort, as did Carter's inability to end the Iranian hostage crisis successfully. -
US Marines invaded Grenada after a military coup and the overthrow of the Grenadian prime minister by Communist hardliners in order to save 800 American students studying at St. George's School of Medicine. The fight resulted in the deaths of 19 Americans and the injuries of 119 others. After the invasion, Grenada was given an elected government, putting an end to the possibility of a Communist takeover. -
George H.W. Bush was elected president over Democratic Party candidate Michael Dukakis, promising "no new taxes."
Faced with a weak economy, President Bush proposed raising taxes for the first time in June 1990. -
Bill Clinton, the Democratic nominee and the governor of Arkansas, defeated incumbent Republican George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot in the presidential election. Despite Bush's use of the Persian Gulf War's success as a campaign point, Clinton's reliance on the economy propelled him to victory. -
President Bill Clinton was impeached by the US House of Representatives for lying under oath about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On February 12, 1999, the Senate acquitted him, claiming that his conduct did not constitute the "high crimes and misdemeanors" required by the US Constitution for impeachment. -
-
Terrorists carry out a series of attacks orchestrated by Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. A hijacked plane collided with the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City at 8:46 a.m. a second plane collided with the South Tower.A third plane struck the Pentagon in Washington, DC, at 9:37 a.m. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at 10:03 a.m., Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the conflict. -
President George W. Bush launched an assault on Baghdad in the hopes of deposing Saddam Hussein and his regime.
Bush proclaimed the war to be over on May 1, 2003, and declared “Mission Accomplished.” The fighting in Iraq persisted, prompting concerns from Congress and the American public about the administration's justification for the war. -
Hurricane Katrina. Residents attempted to flee the city after being overwhelmed by catastrophic floods, but many were stuck in their homes or crowded into the Superdome shelter. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. -
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, a Democrat, became the first African American to be elected to the presidency on November 4, 2008. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the Republican candidate, was defeated by him with 365 electoral votes to McCain's 173. -
In March 2010, President Barack Obama signed a major health-care bill into law. Long-standing market policies such as denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions were modified by the law, which also contained a contentious coverage mandate.
Some elements of the law have already been decided by the Supreme Court, and it will be revisited in the 2015 session. -
Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan, according to President Barack Obama. Operation Neptune Spear was the codename for the secret operation, which was carried out by Navy SEAL Team 6.