-
De Lome Letter
The De Lome Letter was a letter written by Senor Don Enrique Dupuy de Lome who was a Spanish Ambassador. This was written to the U.S. and in the letter, President McKinley was stated as weak and cowardly. This increased to the idea of war with Spain. Americans viewed this as an attack, leading to more nationalism within the country. -
The Annexation of Hawaii
The Annexation of Hawaii was a result after Queen Liliuokalani surrendered all the lands in Hawaii to the United States. Once she was overthrown, Hawaii became part of the U.S.. This resulted in economic growth, and more Pacific power for the United States. -
USS Maine
USS Maine was a U.S. battleship that exploded in harbor. The reasons for the explosion are unknown, however it sparked the beginning of the Spanish-American War. Americans viewed this explosion as another attack by the Spanish, creating a higher sense of nationalism. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy was for the protection of equal privileges in all countries that trade with China, it was initiated in 1899 to 1900 by the U.S. It also called for the support or both Chinese territorial and administrative integrity. This was significant, because it was to help establish international protocol of equal privledges. -
The Square Deal
The Square Deal was a domestic program by Roosevelt. It had three main goals, they were the conservation of natural resources, the control of corporations, and lastly the protection of consumers. This deal had the mindset to help prevent any labor abuse in the future and as well as put a priority on the improvement of workplace safety, the protection of natural landscape, and not only the health but well being of the nation. -
Platt Amendment
This act was to help protect the independence of Cuba from any foreign intervention. This treaty was between the United States and Cuba. It helped with the U.S involvement in the affairs of Cuba's international and domestic. This helped with Cuban's independence. -
Muller vs. Oregon
This Supreme Court case stated that women needed to be provided less work compared to men. This limited women to ten hours of labor in laundries and factories. This lead to agruements on how it was unconstitutional for women not being able to choose their employment. Later on in 1908 this case is overturned. -
NAACP Founded
The National Association of the Advancement of Colored people was formed by W.E.B Dubois. This organization helped play a key role in the civil rights movement. It was formed with the goal of ending racial discrimination, and was a result from lynching that was occuring at the time. Other goals of this organization was also equal rights under law and ending violence due to racism. It helped bring others together under an organization and fight for civil rights. -
16th Amendment
The 16th Amendment allowed Congress to levy income taxes. It played a key role in helping the building of a powerful government. It madie it possible to collect a nationwide income tax from every American. This helped the government build a stronger army, roads, bridges, and other important actions. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles enforced Germany, as well as other Central Powers take blame for WWl. It was one of the main treaties in history that caused controversy. In effect, there were a loss in territories, decrease in military, amd payments toward the Allied Powers. It also made Germany give up their colonies overseas. -
Quota Law of 1921
The Quota Law of 1921 was passed to reduce the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S. This established the first limits on immigrants that were allowed into the nation. In this laws first year, immigrantion numbers dropped to almost 500,000. However, this act let people from Northern Europe to enter more. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was the biggest ecological disaster of the 20th century. States dealt with economic and environmental disaster, these included Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, different parts of different states. It lead to overproduction and single crop farming. The weather lead to soil exhaustion and soil erosion due to the droughts and strong winds this event caused. Many homes were buried and fields blew away due to the strong winds. -
Bonus March
The Bonus March was a march with over 43,000 people. This included WWl veterans and as well their families. This event occured in Washington D.C. during the summer. They demanded for payments in cash for their service certifications. This helped shape a nationwide response to WWll as well as the Great Depression -
The National Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act was passed by Congress in 1933. This was to regulate industry by attempting to raise costs after the Great Depression. As well as to help stimulate economic recovery within the nation. This act however was not successful as it rose wages and caused the employment to lower. -
The Social Security Act of 1935
This act was to help provide system of Federal benefits for benefits for older workers, as well as those who were injured in industrial accidents, unemployment, to help with dependent mothers and their children, and the disabled. -
The Resettlement Administration
The Resettlement Administration was part of the New Deal. This was to help the nation deal with the Great Depression. Not only would this help Americans deal with the Great Depression, but it also would help end the economic downturn, as well as prevent any other depression later on. This administration helped restore hope, farms were saved, and new communities were creatived. -
The Judicial Reorganization Bill
The Judicial Reorganization Bill was proposed by President Roosevelt.This bill was to add supreme justices to the Supreme Court. This became known to be Roosevelt's so called "court-packing plan." It failed to become a law, due to a majority view as it unconstitutional. -
The Selective Service Act
The Selective Service Act was passed and this required men within the ages of 21-45 to draft into war. This created a system known as the Selective Service System. This system was able to draft around 2.8 million men into the war within two years. It was an important step at this time, because it helped provide a larger number of troops that were greatly needed during this time. -
The Fair Employment Practice Committee
The Fair Employment Practice Committee was created by Roosevelt. It had the goal to end discrimination and take action against these complaints in the workplace. It required any company with government contracts to not racially discriminate within the workplace. -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, a strike from the Japanese hit the U.S. naval base. Pearl Harbor was the most important naval base to the United States in the Pacific. It was also where the U.S. Pacific place was located. This attack sparked a big wave of nationalism within the nation, it helped remind Americans what was important. It lead to the U.S. entry into WWll. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the final stage of WWll. The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to their surrender. These bombs killed thousands of people, destroyed the cities, but helped win the war. This was the first time atomic weapons were used in war. -
United Nations Formation
The United Nations was formed to help bring together nations, with the goal of stopping any more wars in the future. This helped maintain peace and security globally. It protects human rights, humanitarian aid, the promotion of sustainable growth and the international law. The United Nations was founded after WWll by 51 countries that are committed to following the organizations main goals. -
Yalta Conference
This confrence held FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. The main objectives on this conference was the future of Europe after the war and economic assistance for Russia. The conference was to help shape peace especially after the war, which brought up the idea of creating United Nations to help keep the peace. -
The National Security Council
The National Security Council was created due to policymakers feeling that the State Department was no longer in the position to contain the Soviet Union. It is one out of the six principal organs of the organization United Nations. It works as an advisory group for the president, and works with national security, military and foreign policy matters. -
McCarthyism
McCarthyism was a campaign that was led during 1950-193 by Joseph McCarthy. During this time period, people were being accused of being allegedly Communist spies. This led to many people being falsly accused and then getting blacklisted. It sparked mass hysteria and fear within the U.S.. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a Supreme Court case that was one of the major impacts that occured during the Civil Rights Movement. This case banned and stated that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. This helped make an equal opportunity in education in the U.S. However there was a lot of resistence in the South, this included riots, and blocking African American children from entering school, as well as calling them slurs and other racial comments. -
Montogomery Bus Boycott
The Montogomery Bus Boycott occured after Rosa Parks challenged the Jim Crow laws when she refused to give up her seat on a bus. She was then arrested, after her arrest African American leaders organized a boycott against the buses, where they made up 75% of their business. This boycott lasted 382 days and had 40,000 participants. After their boycott, the Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal for there to be segregation in public transportation. -
Little Rock Nine
After the Supreme Court illegalized segregation in schools, nine African American students attended Little Rock's Central High School. This caused intense protests and harrassments. White people protested and threatened lynchings, as well as threatened to take their children out of school. Troops of the 10th Airborne division were ordered by Eisenhower to make sure they made it to school. -
The Highway Act of 1956
The Highway Act enacted the building of 40,000 miles of interstate highways in the span of 10 years. This law was the biggest public works project at the time. This project needed a large amount of workers to help build and maintain the highways. It not only helped an increase in jobs, but it increased the use and buying of cars. Highways made traveling easier and sped up the growth fo the suburbs. -
Sputnik
Sputnik the first ever man made satellite and was made by the USSR. It was put into orbit, which sparked a fear in the U.S. that the Soviets had surpassed in both science, technology, as well as the arms race. In resonse, Eisenhower sped up NASA, resulting in the launch of Explorer 1. This sparked the beginning of the space race, leading to the first man on the moon. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first civil rights legislation that was enacted since Reconstruction. This act helped establish a permanent commission on civil rights. It however did not promise a ballot for African Americans. This act was not support by southern whites, but was very supported by most non-southern whites. -
Election of 1960
The two running opponents were Nixon and Kennedy. Nixon was the current president with a proven track record. While Kennedy was young and was a senator from Massachusetts. This had the first televised presidential debate, and was beneficial for Kennedy. This election was extremely close as Kennedy got 118,000 more votes than Nixon during this election. -
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a wall that surrounded West Berlin in Germany. This was built to prevent East German citizens from escaping into West Germany. This wall symbolized the Cold War. When it fell in 1989, it signified that the end the war was approaching. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a major and large political rally. During this rally, MLK deliviered his "I Have a Dream" speech. His speech spoke on racial harmony and peace. This helped the creation of the !964 Civil Rights Act as well as the 1965 National Voting Rights Act. This rally helped unify eveyone fighting for civil rights, and helped pave the way for more freedom. -
Equal Pay Act of 1963
The Equal Pay Act was an addition to the Fair Labor Standars Act. It required equal pay for both men and women who had the same work. This act helped prohibit discrimination based on gender. -
Kennedy Assasination
After a little past noon, President John F. Kennedy was shot when he was in a presidential motorcade in downtown Dallas in the Dealy Plaza. The perpatrator was concluded as Lee Harvey Oswald. He was pronounced dead at 1 p.m shortly after. This lead to a culture and political shock throughout the nation. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 illegalized segregation in public areas, allowed the federal government the ability to fight racial discrimination. This act as well created EEOC, this was to help prevent any discrimination in the work place. Since Reconstruction, this was the strongest civil rights legislation. This act also made the Southern Caste System invalid. -
Medicare
Medicare was created to help give health coverage, as well as an increased financial security for the elderly. Not only did it help the elderly, it provided for the disabled as well. It provided a government payment for those who needed health care, it was supplied by hospitals and private doctors. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1965
The Civil Rights Act of 1965 banned the usage of literacy tests as part of the registration process to vote. This was a method to stop the black community from voting during the 1920s.. By passing this act, it gave the power to vote to those who were oppressed. -
The Voting RIghts Act
The Voting Rights Act illegalized any disciminating voting practices that were used in southern states. This included things such as literacy tests and other things that discriminated African Americans from voting. This act was aimed to help defeat the legal barriers that both state and local governments had overcome. This allowed those who were discriminated the ability to vote with no discrimination. -
The ERA
The campaign for the ERA, Equal Rights Ammendment, promoted the equality of both sexes. It was an american activist organization and the biggest feminist group in the nation. It was designed to guarantee equal rights for all Americans. This amendment sought to end all legal distinctions that occured between men and women. This included any terms of divorce, property, and other things such as employment. -
The Election of 1968
The Election of 1968 was at the end of a year filled with violence. Richard Nixon was the Republican canidate, and appealed to the nation with the idea of "law and order" within the country. He promised to end the Vietnam War, as well win the war with "peace and honor." However his running candidate Hubert Humphrey had a sense of the common and old politics. Because of the large amount of violence, Nixon won in the end. -
MLK Assasination
Martin Luther King Jr. was an activist that delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech. He was shot on a balconey in Memphis, Tenessee. He was shot by James Earl Gray. This lead to a rise in fury within the black community, as MLK was a big part and hand within the Civil Rights Movement. -
The Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers were detailed classified documents that were about the decisions leading to the U.S. getting involved in Vietnam. They also onctained the history of U.S. involvemend in Indochina from WWll all the way till May of 1968. The papers contained more classified information that harmed to the nations defense.They were obtained by the Times. Once they got them, they instantly were published. This made the Pentagon paranoid about even more information getting leaked. -
Title IX
Tittle IX is important because it required no one being excluded based on sex, denied, or discriminated in any education program, as well as activity that received money from the government. This law helped increase the population in womens sports. It was a landmark gender equity law that helped ban sex discrimination. -
Paris Peace Accords of 1973
The Paris Peace Accords helped remove the United States from the conflict that was occuring in Vietnam. This armistice agreement included that the U.S. would withdraw their troops from Vietnam. As well as get back over 500 POWs and cease-fire and free elections. With the intent to establish pease and end the Vietnam war, it ended any direct United States military combat, with the partial stop of conflict between North Vietnam and South VIetnam. -
Roe v. Wade
The Roe v. Wade was a Supreme Court case that established a legal right to abortion. This ruled that state laws were not able to restrict abortion in the first three of pregnancy. The case was based on the rights in the 4th Amendment that states that you have a right to be secure in your body. This had a divide within the nation out of any other issue that was in the womens movement. -
The War Powers Act
The War Powers Act gave the ablilty to go to war under certain circumstances to the president. However, this act required that the president could only go to war for 90 days. After 90 days they were required to bring it to Congress. This act required that the president needs to bring before Congress before using military force. As well as a mandated withdrawal of any forces once it reaches 60 days, but if Congress gives an extension or declares to go to war. -
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet Invasion of Afganistan occured due to the Soviet Union wanting to spread their influence and also to protect what they wanted in Afghanistan. This included natural resources, such as oil, coal, and iron. This invasion led to a significant effect on the Soviets ecoonomy as some countries stopped trading with them. Once the war ended, the Soviet Union was in horrible shape. Their ecoomy was terrible, and were then viewed as a strong military that killed many innocent people.