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The Mexican American War
The Mexican American War began mainly due to the United States entering a part of Texas known as the Rio Grande, that they believed to be their own. However, Mexico claimed that the U.S. territory actually fell more north, near the Nueces River. This dispute was the beginning of the war, when the United States declared war on Mexico in May of 1846. The end of the war resulted in Utah,Texas,California,Arizona,New Mexico,Nevada, and West Colorado all becoming apart of the United states in 1848 -
California Gold Rush
In 1848, a sawmill was being built on the American River in Coloma CA, when a worker found gold flakes on the bed of the River. The find resulted in the mass emigration of over 300,000 people to California who were seeking wealth. Over $2 billion in gold was said to be extracted in the area between 1848 and the 1850s, when by the end of the decade the gold and resources had dried up. -
The Civil War
The Civil War broke out when the culmination of 11 states left the Union and joined the confederacy, as disputes over slavery, states vs federal rights, and the state of the economy had the North and the South opposing each other. The war started at Fort Sumter, South Carolina when Confederate soldiers attacked Union soldiers. The Civil War would become the bloodiest in American History. April 12 of 1865 Confederate leader Robert E. Lee would surrender to Union leader Ulysses S. Grant. -
The Industrialization Era in the United States
The Industrialization of the US occurred directly after the end of the Civil War. With the completion of the Transcontinental railroad, it opened up opportunities for economic development and new settlements. The founding of standard oil, steel mills, the creation of the telephone, and the invention of the lightbulb all were huge parts of the Industrialization Era. Big businesses and factories began to pop up across cities in the United States as more workers left rural farms. -
Ratification of the 14th Amendment
After the surrender of Confederate forces at the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln pushed forward the 14th amendment as part of the reconstruction period that declared equal civil and legal rights to Black Americans. The amendment gave formerly enslaved people the right to citizenship. -
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
In May of 1869 the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad leaders met in Utah to connect both ends of the Transcontinental Railroad from California all the way to new york. Allowing the transportation of goods and trade across the nation. -
Urbanization in the United States
The United States was becoming a huge industrial nation in the late 19th century, with the creation of new technology and powerful machinery creating the need for thousands of workers in factories in the cities. With the agriculture era declining, people uprooted their lives to major cities seeking job opportunities and the appeal of city life. By 1920 about 50 million people moved to urban areas of the country. -
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The Gilded Age
The Gilded age represented a time in American History where there was huge economic growth, the need for skilled laborers, and increased wages. However, this time period was not prosperous for many. As rampant political corruption was occurring in the government, low wages and hazardous work was commonplace, industrialization was huge, while political leadership was nearly non existent. The urbanization of cities made them unable to accommodate the masses of people which increased poverty. -
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Mass European Immigration to the United States
After the start of urbanization, over 20 million European immigrants traveled to the United States between 1880 and 1920, fleeing famines in their countries, and to escape racial, political, and religious persecution. They were also drawn to the industrialization of the United States, where many jobs were in demand and the idea of consistent work and wages was desirable. -
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The Great Migration
During the reconstruction era, many black Americans wanted to flee the south and seek new opportunities in the North and the West. Driven by racial hatred and racial persecution, this mass exodus resulted in 2 million black Americans leaving the South. -
World War 1 and the Treaty of Versailles
World War 1 arose for a few reasons, imperialism, militarism, nationalism, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This war can be most notably marked by trench warfare, poison gas, and machine guns. The war ended June 28th 1919, when Germany was forced to surrender due to depleted resources and Allied powers destroying German troops.The treaty of Versailles was signed and required Germany to take full responsibility for the war and pay $269 billion, collapsing their economy. -
Passing of the 19th Amendment
In January of 1918, 15 US states extended their voting rights to women. However, in the Senate of that year, the amendment failed to reach majority. The following year both the House and the Senate met the requirements to pass the amendment. The Southern states still weren’t for women voting, but Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify their constitution allowing women to vote, ensuring a federal adoption of the 19th amendment -
Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression
October 28th 1929 saw the New York Stock Exchange drop by 13 percent, and the following day drop another 12 percent. While the crash wasn’t the only cause of the Depression, it caused people to panic and pull all of their money out of the banks. Banks also invested a lot of customer assets that they had in the stock market, and when it crashed they lost the money. This period of time saw the unemployment rate sky rocket, as homelessness, poverty, and lack of resources prevailed. -
The New Deal
The New Deal was President FDRs way of combatting the issues that arises in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The program offered public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations. Many new organizations were created, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, Social Security Administration, National Housing Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act. The New Deal created opportunities for people to go back to work and established a sense of security in a time of instability -
Bombing at Pearl Harbor and the beginning of WW2 in the US
The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor Naval Station in Hawaii on December 7th 1941. The US was a neutral country before the attack, and had not been involved in the war. However, after the attack, the aunties States joined the allied powers and declared war on the Axis Powers, officially joining WW2. This would only be the start of a grueling and heinous war, that saw the worst mass genocide with the Holocaust. -
Start of the Cold War
The Cold war sparked shortly after WW2, when the Allied powers created NATO, a military alliance between countries, and they made containment of communism their global policy. This War was entirely a proxy war because it had no large scale fighting that was directly between the United States and the USSR. -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
This was a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1954, that stated it was a violation of the 14th amendment for there to be racial segregation in public schools. The fight was brought about by the NAACP in the 1940s. The decision came to a ruling unanimously with (9-0) -
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The Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement was a campaign that worked to abolish racial segregation and discrimination in the US. The Movement sparked many landmark Supreme court decisions such as Loving V. Virginia in 1967, which banned segregation in public settings such as schools, it also took away all state laws that had a ban on interracial marriages. -
The Watergate Scandal
In 1974 president Richard Nixon resigned after being involved in a political scandal when his administration tried to cover up the involvement they had in a break in at the Democratic National Committee building in 1972. The U.S Senate Watergate Committee was created in response to the scandal coming out, and later on in their investigation they were able to get the House of Representatives to begin the process of impeachment on Nixon. -
Supreme Court Decision of Roe V. Wade
The Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment right to privacy in response to state laws that criminalized abortion.