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Period: Jan 1, 1491 to
Period 1 (1491-1607)
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Period: to
Period 2 (1607-1754)
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The beginning of the Seven Years' War
The British believed that the French had caused the war by building a chain of forts in the Ohio River Valley. The French had done so, hoping to prevent the English from expanding west. -
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Period 3 (1754-1800)
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The end of the Seven Year's War
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Proclamation of 1763
The British setup a porclamation that prevents the colonlists from setting up west of the Appalachian Mountains, in the hopes of preventing the Native Americans from starting more despites. Although this event resulted in anger from the American colonists, who had hoped to gain more land after the seven Years' War. -
sugar Act
Declared a strict tax on foreign sugar and luxuries. The purpose was to raise money for the Crown and it also enforced strict regulations on smuggling. -
Quartering Act
Required the colonists to provide British soldiers with food and living spaces. -
Stamp Act
The Act required that required revenue stamps be placed on almost all printed paper. (including legal documents, newspaper, etc). This was the first direct tax placed on the colonists by the British and every colony reacted differently. -
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Period 4
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Louisiana Purchase
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Missouri Compromise
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Guadalupe-Hidalgo
ends Mexican-American War -
Blaine and the Pan American Conference
In 1889 the first Pan-American Conference was held in Washington to discuss forming closer ties between the US and the Southern parts of the western Hemisphere. Although Blaine had wanted for a reduction in tariff rates, this did not happen, but the foundation did establish cooperation on both an economic and political issues. -
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Period 7 -death of us all
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Overthrow of Hawaii
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Sinking of the Maine
US battleship, the Maine, was anchored in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, where it suddenly exploded and killed the 260 Americans aboard. The Yellow pages were convinced it was the Spanish to blame. -
Spanish-American War
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De Lome Letter
This involved a letter from the Spanish minister to the US’s Dupuy De Lome, the letter was highly critical of McKinley and many Americans were insulted. -
Teller Amendment
On April 20th Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing war. Part of this Amendment had said that the US had no interest in taking political control of Cuba, and then once the war was over Cuba would be free to govern itself. -
Boxer Rebellion
Chinese people have a rebellion against American missionaries. American troops stepped in to protect American lives and property -
Platt Amendment
American leaves Cuba as long as this amendment was put into theri government -
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The Progressive Era
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Assassination of McKinley
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Building the Panama Canal
The building of the canal began in 1904 and ended ten years later. The working conditions were harsh and hundreds lost their lives during its construction. -
Russo-Japanese War
Soon imperialist rivalries between Russia and Japan led to war in 1904. Japan was winning and Roosevelt arranged for a treaty to be signed, the Treaty of Portsmouth. Japan believed that the US had not given them all that they deserved from Russia. -
Trust Busting
Roosevelt also used the Sherman Antitrust Act when he attempted to break up a trust known as the Northern Secretaries Company, which was for railroads. He also used to the same approach when taking antitrust action against Standard Oil. Overall he broke up many bad trusts which caused for prices to lower. -
Child and Woem Labor
One of progressives biggest concerns was child labor. While the National Child Labor Committee proposed child labor laws, states overall decided to create attendance laws that kept children in school and out of factories and mines. Meanwhile women labor also became a focus by Florence Kelley and the National Consumers’ League are eventually able to establish some state laws that limit the work hour for women, etc. -
Root-Takahira Agreement
In 1908 an agreement was made between Japan (Ambassador Takahira) and the United States (Secretary of State Elihu Root) that they agreed to mutually respect each other's Pacific possessions and support the Open Door Policy in China. -
Howard Taft's presidency
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Payne-Aldrich Tariff
Taft had promised during his campaign in 1908 to lower taxes, but then conservative Congress members had passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff in 1909 which raised taxes on most imports. -
Australian, or Secret, Ballot
For a long time political parties had the power to manipulate the voters by watching voters vote on election day. Then in 1888 Massachusetts was the first to adopt a system of having the federal government print the ballots and voting secretly, and by 1910 all states had adopted this system for voting. -
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The Great Migration
This was a form of internal migration from African Americans moving from the South to the North in 1910 to 1930. Their main motivating factors to leave the South were: deteriorating race relations, destruction of crops, and job opportunities in the north in factories when whites began to go off to war at the start of WWI. -
Election of 1912
Due to the split in the Republican party Woodrow Wilson was able to win the election and the democrats also gained control of Congress. Although because many Progressives had lost the support on a local level they still hoped Wilson’s idea of freedom would cause for some reforms to still take place. -
United States declares neutrality
At the start of the war trouble arose from the belligerent powers. Great Britain had the strongest navy was the first to declare a naval blockade and even began seizing American ships, which violated the neutral rights of freedom to the seas. -
Tariff Reduction
On Wilson’s first day of Presidency he called for a special session of Congress to lower to tariff, even going and addressing them in person about the issue. The Underwood Tariff in 1913 lowered tariffs for the first time over 50 years and his bill included a graduated income tax with rates from 1 to 6 percent. -
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World War I and its Aftermath
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Public Opinion on the war
Like the President, many Americans favored the British and in August of 1916 American newspapers described the German armies marching ruthlessly through Belgium and they described them as cruel bullies with a terrible ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm. The sinking of the Lusitania only added in this fire. -
Temperance and Prohibition
The movement to abolish alcohol was a widely divided issue for the progressives, people in urban communities believed that saloons were the headquarters of political machines, meanwhile rural reformers thought morals and politics could be cleaned. By 1915 these reformers had convinced the federal legislature to prohibit alcohol. -
Lusitania Crisis
On May 7th 1915 a German torpedo hit and sank a British passenger liner, the Lusitania and most of the passengers drowned, including 128 American. Wilson responded by threatening the German’s for being held strictly accountable if they continued to sink unarmed ships. -
The Election of 1916
Wilson was aware that he would not likely be reelected because previously the Republican party had been divided, but now they were supporting Theodore Roosevelt, although he rejected renomination and Charles Evans Hughes was put as the Presidential candidate. -
Marcus Garvey
In 1916 the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) was brought to Harlem from Jamaican immigrant, Marcus Garvey. He advocated the idea of “back-to-Africa” movement. Along with that he also established an organization for black separatism, and economic self-sufficiency. Although other African Americans reformers during this time was shocked by his back to Africa idea, which had emphasized racial pride and self-respect. -
Making Peace
Wilson never lost his view that America should shape the peace settlement and at the end of the war he presented congress with a detailed list of war aims, known as the Fourteen Points, which were designed to prevent another world war.
The Fourteen Points: Wilson’s point had many different issues highlighted including land and arms, but the most significant ones were: recognition of freedom of seas, an end to the practice of secret treaties, reduction of national armaments, impartial adjustment -
Zimmermann Telegram
On March 1st, US newspapers wrote of a secret telegram that had occurred between Mexico and Germany, promising that if Mexico allied with Germany they would in return give them Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. This telegram stirred increase amounts of nationalism and convinced the American people that war with Germany was unavoidable. -
Puerto Rico citizenship
In 1917 Congress granted US citizenship to all the people in Puerto Rico and provided for limited self-government. -
Mobilization
The US had to make quick on their involvement in the war because of the German’s preparing to make a striking blow and end the war on German terms. -
Selective Service Act
Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker developed a new system in order to do the draft. Wanting to keep it fair to all, every man between age 21 to 30 was required to register.
African Americans: African Americans were still forced to serve in segregated units during the World War, only a few were permitted to officers, and none were allowed to serve in the Marine Corps. -
Russian Revolution
Wilson applied the principle of preserving Democracy when the war was being fought. And it bothered him that one of the Allies was Russia, which was a nation governed by an autocratic czar. Although on March 15th Russian Revolutionaries overthrew the czar’s government and proclaimed a republic. -
Start of WWI
In April 1917 Wilson went before Congress asking for a declaration of war against Germany, going completely against everything he had said during his reelection.
Unrestricted submarine Warfare:In January 1917 the German High command made the decision to continue with unrestricted submarine warfare. Although the Germans knew the risk they believed that if they cut off supplies to the allies they could win the war, and that had meant taking out the US. After Germany had informed the American gove -
Espionage and Sedition Acts:
Throughout the war time a few socialists and pacifist spoke out against the US government, and as a result the Espionage Act (1917) was passed which allowed for 20 year imprisonment of anyone who either tried to incite rebellion in the arm forces or obstruct the operation of the draft. The Sedition Act (1918) went as far as jailing anyone who made offensive remarks about the US government and the war. -
Fourteen points
Making the Peace: Wilson never lost his view that America should shape the peace settlement and at the end of the war he presented congress with a detailed list of war aims, known as the Fourteen Points, which were designed to prevent another world war.
The Fourteen Points: Wilson’s point had many different issues highlighted including land and arms, but the most significant ones were: recognition of freedom of seas, an end to the practice of secret treaties, reduction of national armaments, im -
Strikes of 1919
In February 1919 the first major strike occurred when 60,000 unionists joined shipyard workers in a peaceful strike for higher pay. Then in September police went on strike in boston to protest the firing of a few police officers who had tried to unionize. -
Business Doctrine
In 1919 Roosevelt died and the Republican party stepped away from their progressive approach to the country and back towards conservatism, although Republican leaders during this time did take a limited approach towards regulations on big business. -
Prohibition
The 19th amendment was widely debated during the 1920s. It had originally been created because of wartime concerns and conserving grain, along with growing pressure for Congress to maintain a sober workforce. (ratified in 1919). -
Nineteenth Amendment
The dedication of these women on the homefront of the World War finally persuaded Congress to grant women’s suffrage. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920 and guaranteed women the right to vote in all elections at local, state, and national levels. -
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The Modern Era of the 1920s
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The Election of 1924
In the 1924 election Coolidge was chosen as the Republican presidential candidate. Meanwhile the Democrats chose a conservative lawyer from West Virginia, John W. Davis, although progressives were unhappy with these choices and nominated Robert La Fallette from Wisconsin. -
Quota Laws
The first quota act was created in 1921 and limited immigration to three percent of the number of foreign-born persons from a given nation counted in the 1910 census. In 1924 a second act was passed that set quotas on two percent based on the Census of 1890. These policies brought about the end of unlimited immigration, as all people except Canada and Latin Americans were restricted. -
Harlem Renaissance
Only around 20 percent of African americans lived in the North and although they still faced racial discrimination in housing and jobs there were some improvements in working conditions and material standard of living. A large group of African Americans resided in Harlem, New York City, and became popular for its concentration of talented actors, musicians, artists, and writers. -
Fundamentalism and the Scopes Trial
The differing ideas of the fundamentalists of the rural south and modernists of the northern cities caused issue when several schools outlawed the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in public schools. John Scopes, a Tennessee biology teacher, was persuaded by the American Civil Liberties Union to test the constitutionality of this law when he taught the theory to his high school class. (1925). -
Japan
Meanwhile in Japan nationalists and militarists increased their power in the 1920s-30s by convincing the emperor that the best way to ensure access to basic raw materials was to invade China and Southeast Asia. Leaders claimed this to be the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. -
Wallstreet Crash
The United States economy was on the rise in the 1920s and stocks were a major cause, which continued to rise from March 1928 to September 1929 and the Dow Jones Industrial average declared that the major stocks had reached an all time high on September 3. Millions of people invested and millions would lose all their investments the following year. -
Black Thrusday and Tuesday
Although prices had been fluctuated for several weeks the crash did not occur until Thursday October 24th when their was a large amount of selling of stocks. That Friday a group of bankers bought millions of dollars in stocks in an attempt to save the market. Although the following Tuesday more investors attempted to sell their stocks but no one was buying. From there their prices continued to fall drastically. -
Federal Farm Board
Although the Farmer Board had been created in 1929 it was not strengthened until after the economic crisis. The board's job was to help farmers stabilize prices by temporarily holding surplus grain and cotton in storage. Unfortunately the program was too small to leave a lasting impact and handle the overproduction of farm goods. -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
In June 1930 he signed a law that created the highest tariffs in history, The Hawley-Smoot Tariff was ratified by the Republican congress. In response European nations enacted their own tariffs on American goods, which caused for all nations involved to sink farther into the Depression. -
Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
This cooperation was created in 1932 as a means of propping up failing railroads, banks, life insurance companies, and other financial institutions. While Hoover had believed that by aiding these business the economic effect would later trickle down and aid smaller business although democrats believed that this would only help the rich. -
The Election of 1932
In 1932 to the Republicans renominated Hoover, and they warned that if a democrat took office the economic hardship would only worsen.
Democrats: Meanwhile the Democrats nominated governor Franklin D. Roosevelt for President and Speaker of the House John Nance Garner as Vice President. Roosevelt promised americans a “new deal” by ending the prohibition, aiding the unemployed and cutting government spending.
Results: The main concern for voters was which president could do better at lessening t -
New Deal
Franklin’s campaign in 1932 had been vague although he promised to end the depression but never offered a plan on how. Despite this he was willing to experiment with political solutions to put an end to the economic problems.
The Three R’s: In his acceptance speech of 1932 Roosevelt promised to pay attention to even the people at the bottom of the social pyramid. His new Deal programs promised relief for the people out of work, recovery for business and the economy, and reform for the American -
Bonus March
In the summer of 1932 thousands of unemployed veterans from world war I marched through Washington DC and demanded their bonus promised to them at a later date. These people were later joined by their families and camped out in impoverished towns near the capitol. After Congress had refused to pass the bonus bill two veterans were killed in a clash with the police. Hoover then ordered the army to break up the camp. General Douglas MAcArthur brought in tanks and even used teargas against the vete -
First Hundred Days
With the economic hardship Roosevelt was eager to make changes. Right after taking office in March 4, 1933 Roosevelt called for Congress to go into a hundred day long special session in which Congress passed into law every request of the president. Many of these new laws and agencies were referred to by their initials. -
Repeal of the Prohibition
The President also kept his promising on repealing the Prohibition in 1933 with the Twenty-First Amendment. and even raised needed tax money by having Congress pass the Beer-Wine Revenue Act, which caused for taxation on beer and wine. -
Good Neighbor Policy
In his first inaugural address Roosevelt promised a policy of the good neighbor towards other nations in the Western hemisphere, this was mostly because US interested no longer made economic sense by the Great Depression and the rise of other militaristic movements that promoted the US to protect their region. -
Pan-American Conferences
The seventh Pan-American Conference (1933) was held in Montevideo, Uruguay. During which the US promised never to intervene in the internal affairs of Latin America, which pretty much disapplied the corollary of the Monroe Doctrine. Another Conference was then held in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1936) where Roosevelt actually attend the conference and said that if Germany and other European nations committed any acts of aggression the US would aid the Latin American country. -
Germany
In the 1920s economic conditions in Germany worsened after the war and more people were opposed to the Treaty of Versailles. Therefore it was easy for the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, to rise up by bullying Jews(anti-semitic) and encouraging unemployed German workers to join the party. In 1933 he used his “brown shirt” army to gain control of the German legislature. -
Fireside Chats begin
On March 12, 1933 Roosevelt offered his first fireside chat to the American people. In which he assured them that the banks would reopen after the bank Holiday. Once they did open many americans deposited money in the reopened banks at a higher amount than what was being redrawn. -
Nulllify Platt Amendment
1934 Roosevelt convinced Congress to nullify the Platt Amendment, which many Cubans had resented, making only the stipulation that the be able to keep its naval base at Guantanamo Bay -
Philliphines
In 1934 Roosevelt convinced Congress to pass the Tydings-McDuffie Act which gave the Philippines independence by 1946 and then eventually the removal of American troops from the islands. This was because running the area was costly. -
Italy
In 1922 a new regime had seized power in Italy led by Benito Mussolini led Italy’s Fascist party(black shirts) on a march through Rome where they installed Mussolini as “Il Duce”. the party as made up of dissatisfied war veterans, nationalists and those afraid of the rising popularity of communism. -
National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (1935)
Created in 1925 this law replaced the labor provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act once that law was declared unconstitutional. It promised workers right to join a union and union's right to bargain collectively. Along with banning business practices that were unfair to labor. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). -
Social Security Act
The social Security Act was passed in 1935 and created a federal insurance program based on the automatic collection of payments from an employee and employers throughout people's working careers. People were allowed to withdraw their money at age 65. -
The Neutrality Act
prohibited arm shipments from US and stopped all Us citizens from traveling on ships of the belligerent nation. -
Quarantine Speech
Although Roosevelt knew the dangers of the rising fascist regimes he had little power as most of America remained sentiment to the idea of isolationism. When Japan invaded China in 1937 Roosevelt made a speech encouraging Americans to act together to “quarantine” the aggressor, although the American response was largely opposed and Roosevelt dropped the idea. -
Declaration of War
Roosevelt addressed Congress the day after the attack and announced that a state of war had been created through the attack. On December 8th Congress accepted the declaration of war. Then three days later Germany and Italy honored their treaty to Japan and declared war on the United States. -
Fair Labor Standard Act
Congress enacted the Fair Labor Standard Act in 1938 that established regulations on business in interstate commerce. A minimum wage was created, a maximum workweek of 40 hours, and child-labor restrictions on children under the age of 16. -
The Election of 1940
As wartime uncertainty continued the presidential election approach and Franklin Roosevelt announced that he would not turn down the Democratic nomination if it were offered.
Wendell Willkie: Meanwhile the Republican nominated a new comer to office, Wendell Willkie. Despite Willkie's criticism of the New Deal he did agree with Roosevelt’s approach to wartime preparedness and giving aid to Britain. Although his strongest criticism for Roosevelt was his decision to run for more than two terms of -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, the US navy had been anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Early that morning Japanese planes from aircraft carriers flew over Pearl Harbor bombing every ship in sight. The attack lasted less than two hours, 1,2000 Americans were killed, around 1,2000 were wounded, 20 warships were sunk or severely damaged, and around 150 airplanes were destroyed. -
Wartime Conference
Wartime Conferences: Throughout the war the Big Three (US, Britain, and Soviet Union) met secretly to created military strategies and created peace terms and postwar involvement.
Casablanca: On January 1943 Roosevelt and Churchill had created a master plan to win the war, beginning with invading Sicily and Italy and demanding unconditional surrender from the Axis powers.
Teheran: The Big Three all met on November 1943 where they agreed to the US and British driving to liberate France in the Sp -
The Election of 1944:
As more people were focused on wartime efforts the election of 1944 was less of a concern.
Again, FDR: Many people thought that with the continuing war there shouldn’t be a change in leadership, and Roosevelt received the Democratic nomination for a fourth time, although they did chose a different Vice President. Party members considered Henry Wallace too radical and unmanageable, and therefore with Roosevelt's agreement replaced him with Harry S. Truman. (A Missouri senator). Although Roosevel -
From D-Day to Victory in Europe
On June 6, 1944 the Allies made a drive to obtain France in the largest invasion by sea in history. Allied troops from Britain, Canada, and America, secured several beaches along the Normandy coast under the direction of General Eisenhower. After they gained control of the beaches Allied troops were quick to force the Nazi army and by the end of August Paris was liberated from Nazi control. Although the Allies had made it to the German border in September the German army made a final push in Bel -
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The Cold War
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German Surrender and Discovery of the Holocaust
After the Allies had begun bombing raids on Germany their industries were unable to produce a large majority of wartime materials. And as the tides of war began to shift the Nazi army recognized that the end was near. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945 and a week later, on May 7th the Nazi party surrender. As Allied troops had advanced into Germany they witnessed the German concentration camps and were horrified by the discriminatory and inhuman acts committed within the camps -
Atomic Bombs
Atomic Bombs: If the US did invade Japan they feared there would be heavy casualties, although at this time the US had created a largely destructive weapon. The atomic bomb (a-bomb) was created under the top-secret Manhattan Project that had begun in 1942. (director physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer). The US first asked Japan to surrender or face utter destruction and when they gave an unsatisfactory answer Truman and his advisors agreed to drop the a-bomb on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima (August