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Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as president
He proclaims it his duty “to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, to correct the evil without impairing the good, to purify and humanize every process of our common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it.” -
The !7th Amendment to the Constitution is enacted
The 17th Amendment made it so that senators would be elected through direct popular election instead of through state legislatures as was previously the norm -
The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law
Consisting of a Federal Reserve System, made up of a Federal Reserve Board, twelve regional reserve banks, and the beginnings of a sophisticated central banking system, the Federal Reserve Act was an attempt to safeguard the American economy and finances. -
Congress establishes Mother's Day
Mother's Day is to take place on the second Sunday of every May -
The Great War Begins
The U.S. declares its neutrality as Germany attacks Great Britain, Belgium, and France, starting the Great War -
The first U.S. birth control clinic is opened
The clinic, in Brooklyn, is opened by Margaret Sanger, Fania Mindell, and Ethel Burne. -
Woodrow Wilson is re-elected as POTUS
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The first woman in the house of representatives is seated
Jeanette Rankin, a Republican from Vermont -
The United States declares war on Germany
German U-boat aggression and the Zimmerman telegram force Congress and the President to abandon the U.S.'s neutral status and join the war -
An armistice is reached by both sides
German and Allied military leaders agree to an armistice while the new German government established after the overthrow of Kaiser Wilhelm reach out to President Wilson in an effort to negotiate for peace -
The 18th Amendment is ratified
The 18th Amendment banning the sale, production, and, distribution of alcohol throughout the nation is ratified, going into effect on January 16, 1920 -
The Prohibition begins
The period in United States history where the sale, distribution, and production of alsohol is banned nation-wide.
