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Eugene V. Debs
Head of the American Railway Union and director of the Pullman strike; he was imprisoned along with his associates for ignoring a federal court injunction to stop striking. While in prison, he read Socialist literature and emerged as a Socialist leader in America. -
Jim Crow laws
in U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation between blacks and whites. The name is believed to be derived from a character in a popular minstrel song. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Halted Chinese immigration to America; Started when people of the West Coast attributed declining wages and economic troubles to the hated Chinese workers; In order to appease them Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. -
Sinking of the Lusitania
The Lusitania was a British passenger ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat on May 7, 1915. 128 Americans died. The unrestricted submarine warfare caused the U.S. to enter World War I against the Germans. -
Red Scare
Retroactively applied to two distinct periods of intense anti-Communism in United States history: first from 1917 to 1920, and second from the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. Both periods were characterized by the suspicion of widespread civil-service infiltration by Communists and Anarchist and fears of communist influence on U.S. society and infiltration of the U.S. government. -
Zimmerman Telegram
A coded telegram dispatched by the Foreign Secretary of the German Empire, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckardt, at the height of World War I. The telegram instructed the ambassador to approach the Mexican government with a proposal to form a military alliance against the United States. It was intercepted and decoded by the British and its contents hastened the entry of the United States into World War I. -
Sedition Act
Brought forth under the Wilson administration, they stated that any treacherous act or draft dodging was forbidden, outlawed disgracing the government, the Constitution, or military uniforms, and forbade aiding the enemy. -
18th Amendment
The need for nationwide Prohibition was formally introduced in Congress and passed by both houses in December 1917, agreeing to making the motion a Constitutional Amendment. By January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment was ratified by 36 of the 48 states. Only 2 of those states, Connecticut and Rhode Island, failed to ratify it. -
19th Amendment
to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. The Constitution allows the states to determine the qualifications for voting, and until the 1910s most states disenfranchised women. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the United States, which fought at both state and national levels to achieve the vote. -
Immigration Act of 1924
legislation that blocked Japanese immigration and set quotas for other nations based on the 1890 census; favored immigrants from northern and western Europe. -
John Scopes - The Monkey Trial
Teacher John Scopes on trial for teaching evolution; raised countrywide debate on whether people believed in evolution or creationism -
20th Amendment
This is the amendment that sets the dates at which federal government elected offices end. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January. -
21st Amendment
The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, effectively ending the ban on alcohol in America. It is the only Amendment that repeals a previous Amendment.