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Boss Tweed
William Tweed, Boss Tweed, was born April 3, 1823. He worked in strengthening his position in power where he controlled all Democratic Party nominations. In 1860, he opened a law office, not being a lawyer, and received large payments from corporations, known as Tweed ring. The Tweed ring began to drain the city of New York through faked leases, false vouchers, and extravagantly padded bills. In 1876, he was captured and sent to the United States, where he was confined to a New York City jail. -
Bessemer Process
The Bessemer Process was developed by Henry Bessemer in an attempt to create steel from iron which produced steel cheaply and efficiently. The prices dropped more than 80% between 1867 and 1884.This process was one of the most important processes because it helped make stronger rails for railroads. It also helped make stronger metal machines for new architectural structures like skyscrapers. Because of this, the United States Industrial Revolution moved from the Age of Iron to the Age of Steel. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act was enacted during the Civil War. This act allowed any American, including free slaves, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government, to claim 160 acres of federal land. The Homestead Act continued for another 100 years until its final claim for 80 acres in southeastern Alaska, approved in 1988.Most of the land went to speculators, cattlemen, miners, lumbermen, and railroads.Of 500 million acres dispersed between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders -
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Transforming the West
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Cornelius Vanderbilt
Cornelius Vanderbilt was a self-made American multi-millionaire investor. In his early age, he operated a boat with his dad that ferried cargo between Staten Island, New York and Manhattan. After working as a steamship captain, Vanderbilt went into business for himself in the late 1820s, and eventually became one of the country’s largest steamship operators. In the 1860s, he shifted his focus to the railroad industry, where he helped make railroad transportation more efficient and easy. -
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Becoming an Industrial Power
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Susan B. Anthony
Susan B. Anthony grew up in a politically active family that worked to end slavery in what they called The Abolitionist Movement and also the Temperance Movement. As Anthony grew up, she was inspired to fight for women's rights while campaigning against alcohol. Anthony gave speeches about allowing women to vote. Even when she died in 1906, she did not have the right to vote. It wasn't until 14 years after her death that the 19th amendment was passed, giving all women the right to vote. -
Frances Willard (suffragette)
Frances Willard was an American educator, reformer and founder of the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union.Besides all of this, she was a leader of the national Prohibition Party.She believed women could gain political power through the temperance crusade.As president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, she supported women's suffrage.Willard was one of the most famous women.To this day, Frances Willard continues to be “re-discovered” as the model of the modern, forward-thinking woman. -
South Dakota Gold
This gold rush occurred when General Custer led a group of men into the Black Hill Territory, in the search for gold. On the first day that Custer and his men saw the territory, they would only find small pieces of gold but getting closer to 1875, they began to find great amounts of gold. Although the hills belonged to the Sioux Indians, the white people could not stay away from there. However, like any other gold rushes, this one also slowed down as there was no more gold to look for. -
Strikes
At the end of the 19th century, the average worker in the United States was unemployed for three to four months each year. Men made only four hundred to five hundred dollars each year, and both women and children often had to work so a family could survive. Factory work was usually repetitive and pressured, and work in the mines and on the railroads was often dangerous and dehumanizing. The stage was set for conflict with strikes and the greatest of them was the Great Railroad strike of 1877. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also called Custer's Last Stand, marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The passing of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty Unaware, Custer and his forces were outnumbered at what became known as, Custer's Last Stand. This was the most successful action fought by the American Indians against the United States Army. -
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The Gilded Age
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Assassination of President Garfield
This tragic event occurred on July 2, 1881 when a wanderer named Charles Guiteau shot newly inaugurated President James A. Garfield in the back at a downtown train station in the nation's capital. In Guiteau's pocket, a letter that adressed, "The president's tragic death was a sad necessity" was found after his arrest. For 80 days straight, Garfield would cling on to an agonizing life, but a severe infection would bring him to death on September 19, 1881, lasting as president for only 200 days. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was an act that stopped the labor of Chinese and their immigration into the United States. The Chinese were wage workers that often faced racism and violence from the white community because they would take the white's jobs. Therefore, they were exploited, discriminated, and pushed around areas of danger out of envy and hatred. This led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese migration, and not only they, but many other immigrants fell under the act. -
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show
Buffalo Bill's Wild was a former scout and buffalo hunter. He started his own western show in eastern United States in 1883. He showed Indians fights, cowboys and cattle drivers lassoing. A show about the Wild West wouldn't be complete without some Indians, and Buffalo Bill had some very talented ones. Native American Sioux Indian dancers in full war paint and war costumes performed the Sioux Ghost Dance. Today, many Americans get a chance to view the west throughout the show that continues. -
Coca Cola
Coca- Cola began its history in 1886 when the Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton led him to create a distinctive drink that could be served at soda fountains.He created a flavored syrup, took it to his neighborhood pharmacy, where it was mixed with carbonated water and declared excellent by those who tasted it. In 1923 Coca-cola began expanding to more places. Today, the company offers over 500 brands and serves in over 200 countries worldwide including Asia, Europe, Latin America, etc. -
Great Upheaval of 1886
The Great Upheaval of 1886, also known as The Great Railroad Strike, was a wave of strikes and labor protests. The revolts lasted until the end of the Revolution it brought many workers of the union and other revolts about the quality of work. It began on the Baltimore and Ohio with a 10% pay cut. Disorganized mobs ran the strikes and President Hayes ordered federal troops to quell the riots and protect the mail. After all, the economic theory determined wages and prices for goods and services. -
Dawes Severalty Act
The Dawes Act, also referred to as the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, was a federal law that was approved on February 8,1887. It was passed by Grover Cleveland. This act was passed to protect the property rights of Native American Indians but the provisions of the law was organized in such a way that tribe members would be assimilated and integrated into American society and culture, leaving their lands behind. Over 90 million acres of land were taken from Native Americans and sold to non-natives. -
Kodak Camera
In 1888, George Eastman invented the flexible roll film Kodak camera. This flexible camera took 100-exposure rolls of films that gave images 2 5/8' in diameter, circular images. It sold for $25, which covered the camera, a roll of film, and a leather carrying case. The company slogan was "You press the button, we do the rest," which meant the camera was sent in to the company after the 100 exposures on the roll of film had been used. After, they developed it and sent it back to the customer. -
Ghost Dances
The Ghost Dance religion, or movement, was an answer to the overpowering of Native Americans by the U.S. government. This movement began by the apocalyptic preaching of "Fish Lake Joe".It was an attempt to revive traditional culture and to find a way to face increasing poverty, hunger, and disease, all representing the reservation life of the Native Americans in the late nineteenth century. The Ghost Dance movement came to a tragic end on Sioux reservations in South Dakota during 1890-1891. -
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Imperialism
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Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first legislation enacted by the United States Congress to curb concentrations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition. It was one of the first laws to limit monopolies in the United States. This allowed injunctions which were court orders either required or forbid an action of one party against another. After all, the act was successful and some cases and others were not over time it took years to decide. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S. government. 1890 massacre left about 150 Native Americans dead, in what was the final clash between federal troops and the Sioux. The massacre at Wounded Knee was the last major battle of the Indian Wars of the late 19th century. This was significant event in the depiction of Native American capitulation and defeat. -
Sears & Roebuck
Sears & Roebuck, today known only as Sears, is an chain of department stores founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck. In 1886, Sears founded the R.W. Sears Watch Company in Minnesota to sail watches by mail order. In 1887, he hired Roebuck to repair watches, and established a mail- order business. In 1889, Sears sold his business but founded years later, next to his "co-worker" Roebuck and Company. For several years, they sold enormously until the company became Sears again. -
Andrew Carnegie
During the 19th century Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish American industrialist. He led the expansion of the American steel industry and has been identified as the richest person.By 1889 he owned Carnegie Steel Corporation, the largest of its kind in the world. At 65, Carnegie decided to spend the rest of his days helping others.While he had begun his philanthropic work years earlier, Carnegie expanded his efforts in the early 20th century.In 1919, Carnegie had completed his work, dying at age 83. -
Depression of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a national economic crisis set off by the collapse of two of the country's largest employers. Following of the failure, a panic erupted on the stock market. Hundreds of businesses had overextended themselves, borrowing money to expand their operations. When the financial crisis struck, banks and other investment firms began calling in loans, causing hundreds of business bankruptcies across the United States. Banks, railroads, and steel mills especially fell into bankruptcy. -
World's Columbian Exposition 1893
During 1893, the World Columbian Exposition was the Worlds fair to celebrate another year of anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World. Over 12 million individuals traveled Chicago's fairgrounds and gleaming white building.The Exposition was an influential social and cultural event. It had a profound effect on architecture, sanitation, Chicago's self-image, and American industrial optimism. The Columbian Exposition has celebrated many anniversaries since the fair in 1893. -
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Progressive Era
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Klondike Gold Rush
In August 1896, gold was found in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory. Beginning in 1897, an army of hopeful gold seekers, unaware that most of the good Klondike claims were already staked, boarded ships in Seattle and other Pacific port cities and headed north toward the vision of riches to be had for the taking. The great Klondike Gold Rush ended as suddenly as it had begun. Towns such as Dawson City and Skagway began to decline. Other, disappeared altogether. -
Election of 1896
During the Election of 1896, voter turnouts were unprecedented, Republican William McKinley defeat Democrat William Jennings Bryan in a campaign considered to be one of the most dramatic. During this time the Populist party formed when farmers experiences several problems they addressed a list of problems that farmers were experiencing. After all, the populist party gained national attention and played a huge role in the election of 1896. McKinley won as he was backed by business leaders. -
Yellow Journalism
Yellow journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts.It was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines,leading to the acquisition of overseas territory by the United States.The peak of yellow journalism came in early 1898, when a U.S. battleship, the Maine, sunk in Havana harbor.The rise of yellow journalism helped create climate to outbreak international conflict, but it didn't cause war itself. -
U.S.S. Maine Incident
A huge explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship U.S.S Maine in Cuba’s Havana harbor, killing about 260 members aboard. An official U.S. Naval Court said the ship was blown up by a mine. Much of Congress and a majority of the American public expressed little doubt that Spain was responsible and called for a declaration of war. In 1976, a team of American naval investigators verified that the Maine explosion was caused by a fire and not by a Spanish mine or act of sabotage as believed. -
Battle of San Juan Hill/ San Juan Heights
The Battle of San Juan Hill was the most significant U.S. land victory, and one of the final battles, of the Spanish-American War. It was one of the most important battles of the Spanish-American War.The charge up Cuban hill was a pivotal point in Theodore Roosevelt's political career.The Rough Riders led by Roosevelt defeated Spain. The battle was the high point of the war as it placed America at an advantage. Two days later, American ships destroyed the Spanish fleet in Cuba achieving victory. -
Treaty of Paris (1898)
The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was an accordance that involved Spain to abandon nearly all of the remaining Spanish Empire. The war ended officially, when the U.S. and Spanish governments signed the Treaty of Paris. The treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States and ending the Spanish-American War. Conflict stopped and Spain recognized Cuba's independence. Furthermore, the U.S. occupation of the Philippines was recognized in the final arrangement of the islands. -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door policy was a statement of principles initiated by the United States in 1899 and 1900 for the protection of equal privileges among countries trading with China and in support of Chinese territorial and administrative integrity. The statement was issued in the form of circular notes dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay to Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and Russia. The Open Door policy was received with almost universal approval in the United States. -
Angel Island
Angel Island Immigration Station was the principal immigration facility of the United States from 1910-1940. It has an area of 740 acres and is located in San Francisco Bay, California, near Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. It functioned as both an immigration and deportation facility, at which some 175,000 Chinese and about 60,000 Japanese immigrants were detained under oppressive conditions, generally from two weeks to six months, before being allowed to enter the United States. -
Tenements
During the 19th century, big amounts of people began crowding in to the American cities, including immigrants looking for a better life that the ones they had at their hometowns. In New York, the population doubled every decade from 1800-1880. The single-family residences were divided into multiple living spaces for the growing population. They were narrow, low-rise apartment buildings that were often too cramped, poorly lit, and lacked indoor plumbing and proper ventilation, known as tenements. -
Election of 1900
The United States presidential election of 1900 was held on November 6, 1900. It was a rematch of the 1896 race between Republican President William McKinley and his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. The return of economic prosperity and recent victory in the Spanish-American War helped McKinley to score a decisive victory. President McKinley chose New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt as his running mate after Vice President's Garret Hobart sudden death from heart failure in 1899. -
Platt Amendment
The Platt Amendment was passed as part of the 1901 Army Appropriations Bill. It demanded seven conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish American War. An eighth condition came into place therefore Cuba signed a treaty accepting seven conditions. This amendment outlined the role of the U.S. in Cuba and the Caribbean. It also permitted the U.S. to lease or buy lands for the purpose of the establishing naval bases and stations in Cuba. -
Teddy Roosevelt
After the assassination of William McKinley, Republican politician Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th president of the United States. Roosevelt became the youngest president in history, and brought a new energy to the White House. In 1904, he won a second term by his own merits. He became known as the great "trust buster" for his offers of breaking up industrial combinations under Sherman Anti Trust Act. He also was conservationist, setting aside land for national forests and wildlife refugees. -
Schlieffen Plan
The Schlieffen Plan, a battle plan first proposed in 1905 by Alfred von Schlieffen, chief of the German general staff, was designed to allow Germany to wage a successful two-front war, one against France and the other Russia. The plan was heavily modified by Schlieffen’s successor, Helmuth von Moltke, prior to and during its implementation in World War I. Moltke’s changes, which included a reduction in the size of the attacking army, were blamed for Germany’s failure to win a quick victory. -
Meat Inspection Act 1907
During 1906, the Federal Meat Inspection Act was passed by congress to prevent unfit meat products for human consumption from being sold as food. It also ensured that meat was slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. Theodore Roosevelt supported the meat inspection act and signed it. This meant that the preparation of shipped meat would be inspected throughout the process. Overall, the Federal Meat Inspection Act has improved and has changes appetites of the American People today. -
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the powerful U.S. Navy battle fleet that completed a journey around the globe by the order of President Theodore Roosevelt. Its purpose was to make friendly courtesy visits to numerous countries, while displaying naval power. This was an important show of America’s naval power to the rest of the world.It was an important event in the presidency of T.R.The Great White Fleet’s successful return and completion of its mission added luster to Roosevelt’s presidential career. -
Populist Party
The People's party, more commonly known as the Populist party, was organized in St. Louis in 1892 to represent the common folk, especially farmers, against the entrenched interests of railroads, bankers, processors, corporations, and the politicians in league with such interests. At its first national convention in Omaha in July 1892, the party nominated James K. Weaver for president and ratified the so-called Omaha Platform, drafted by Ignatius Donnelly of Minnesota. The party ended on 1908. -
Muller v. Oregon
The Muller v Oregon court case was a law that prohibited and limited women to working only 10 hours a day.Curt Muller, a laundry owner, was charged with permitting Mrs. E.Gotcher to work more than 10 hrs. and was fined $10. The case established a precedent in 1908 to expand the reach of state and enabled the Court to approve some state reforms.It also showed that making the justices aware of social and economic conditions could help win their approval but overall, helped women expand work reach. -
Social Gospel Movement
The Social Gospel Movement was a religious movement that arose during the second half of the nineteenth century. Ministers,especially ones belonging to the Protestant branch of Christianity, began to tie salvation and good works together.They argued that people must emulate the life of Jesus Christ. To honor God, people must put aside their own earthly desires and help other people, especially the needy. During the 1930s many labor reforms constituted the Social Gospel’s most prominent concerns. -
Model T
Before the Model T, cars were a luxury item. At the beginning of 1908, there were fewer than 200,000 on the road. Though the Model T was fairly expensive at first it was built for ordinary people to drive every day. It had a 22-horsepower, four-cylinder engine and was made of a new kind of heat-treated steel, pioneered by French race car makers, that made it lighter and stronger than its predecessors had been. It could go as fast as 40 miles per hour and could run on gasoline or hemp-based fuel. -
Dollar Diplomacy
The Dollar Diplomacy was a foreign policy created by U.S. President William Howard Taft and his secretary of state, Philander C. Knox, to ensure the financial stability of a region while protecting and extending U.S. commercial and financial interests there. It grew out of President Theodore Roosevelt’s peaceful intervention in the Dominican Republic. The Dollar diplomacy has come to refer in a disparaging way to the heedless manipulation of foreign affairs for strictly monetary ends. -
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910, ended dictatorship in Mexico and established a constitutional republic.A number of groups, led by revolutionaries including Francisco Madero, Pascual Orozco, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, participated in the long and costly conflict. Many historians regard 1920 as the end of the revolution, but sporadic violence and clashes between federal troops and various rebel forces continued.Carranza was assassinated and General Álvaro Obregón rose to power. -
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment popular in the United States that occurred from the mid 1880s to early 1930s. It consisted of 10 to 15 individual unrelated acts, featuring magicians, acrobats, comedian, trained animals, jugglers, singers, and dancers. This entertainment was used to describe a device employment by professional actors to avoid the dramatic monopoly. By the 1890s vaudeville was family entertainment and exhibited high standards of performance. -
Election of 1912
During the election of 1912, the nominates were Woodrow Wilson, Taft, and Roosevelt. Wilson had a strong progressive platform known as the "New Freedom" program. Roosevelt supported the creation of a Federal Trade Commission to keep a watchful eye on unfair business practices. Taft and his people disagreed and he left for the delegates to decide. Some Republicans were unhappy with William Howard Taft and ended up splitting the Republican vote which made Woodrow Wilson to win the election. -
17th Amendment
The 17th amendment was passed in 1912 and ratified in 1913.This amendment gave citizens the right to elect freely the senators that would represent their state. The problem with letting representatives choose senators was corruption because many of the Senators that were "elected" by state legislatures had struck corrupt bargains with legislature. This caused for many people to become angry with the lack of choice they had. The 17th amendment popularity helped it survive all the way to today. -
Ludlow Massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack of striking coal miners and their families by Company guards at Ludlow, Colorado. The attack was on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families. This attack was between the miners and company, over two dozen individuals dead during this time event in 1914.They fought for higher wages and workers safety. However, the Ludlow Massacre is now a ghost town and erected a granite monument in memory of the miners and their families who died that day. -
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World War 1
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Central Powers
WWI is a conflict between the Central Powers and the Allies. The Central Powers of WWI consisted of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, the “central” European states that were at war from August 1914 against France and Britain on the Western Front and against Russia on the Eastern Front. The Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Central Powers on October 29, 1914. Bulgaria came in on October 14, 1915. Germany had the largest army and was the primary leader of the Central Powers. -
Allied Powers
After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 countries begin to form allied powers as a defense against Germany and the Central Powers. Great Britain, France, Serbia Russia, Japan, Italy, the United States and several others were all allied powers during World War I. After all, the Allied powers were defense agreement among other nations. They were also known as the Entente Powers because they began as an alliance between France, Britain, and Russia called the Triple Entente. -
National Park System
The National Park System is a federal government that manages all national parks in the United States.The role that the system plays is to establish a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to management.Some of its creators were Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt. This continues on today and has reflected its political, social and economical parts in a successful way for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations. -
Mustard Gas
Toxic smoke has been used occasionally in warfare and in 1912 the French used small amounts of tear gas in police operations. At the outbreak of World War I, the Germans began actively to develop chemical weapons. In January 1915, the Germans fired shells loaded with xylyl bromide, a more lethal gas, at Russian troops at Bolimov on the eastern front. Because of the wintry cold, most of the gas froze, but the Russians nonetheless reported more than 1,000 killed as a result of the new weapon. -
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
In WWI, the psychological distress of soldiers was attributed to concussions caused by the impact of shells. This impact was believed to disrupt the brain and cause “shell shock”. Shell shock was characterized by “the dazed, disoriented state many soldiers experienced during combat or shortly thereafter”.Even soldiers who had not gone through this were experiencing it. At the time, doctors soon found that many men suffering the symptoms of shell shock without having even been in the front lines. -
Women's Suffrage
The women’s suffrage movement was a decades-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States.It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy.But in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.November 2 of that year, more than 8 million women across the United States voted. -
18th Amendment
The 18th Amendment was passed in 1920 and it banned the sale and drinking of alcohol. This amendment however was a failure because not only did people find other ways to get alcohol but also criminals made a lot of money by selling alcohol illegally. Before this amendment was passed, alcohol was already banned in many cities. The abuse of alcohol was inflicted devastation in the life of many, especially in a time when women and were dependent on their husbands for support and sustenance. -
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire ruled a large portion of the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Leader Osman established a formal government and allowed for religious tolerance over the people he conquered. Religion played an important role in the Empire. The Ottomans themselves were Muslims, however they did not force people they conquered to convert.They allowed for Christians and Jews to worship without persecution.This kept the people they conquered from rebelling and allowed them to rule for so many years. -
Robber Barons
Robber Barons were shady business men who became rich by stealing many from the poor and was involved in unethical practices.These greedy capitalist grew rich by shady business practices, political manipulation and worker exploitation.The men who were called robber barons were sometimes portrayed in a positive way, as “self-made men” who had helped build the nation. This created many jobs for American workers. Some of the well-known robber barons were Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, etc. -
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1920s
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Treaty of Versailles
The World War I ended officially with the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. After strict enforcement for five years, the French assented to the modification of important provisions. Germany agreed to pay reparations under the Dawes Plan and the Young Plan, but those plans were cancelled later in 1932. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment was passed in August 18, 1920 which granted women the right to vote, forbidding any American citizen from being denied the right to vote based on their sex. This movement that allowed women to begin voting is known as the Suffrage Movement. Furthermore, the 19th amendment also unified suffragettes across the United States. Overall, this amendment to the constitution gave women the right to vote in 1920 and caused women to come out victorious from this time period. -
Tea Pot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal was a bribery incident that took place in the United States during the administration of Warren G. Harding. During the Teapot Dome scandal, Albert B. Fall was found guilty of accepting a bribe. Fall was the first individual to be convicted of a crime committed while a presidential cabinet member. Many men were associated with the Teapot Dome Scandal and were cabinet members such as Albert B. Fall and Edwin C. Denby, Harry F. Sinclair, Edward L. Doheny and Warren Harding. -
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong was born in Louisiana in 1901 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Armstrong played a big role in the 1920s, influencing countless musicians with both his daring trumpet style and unique vocals. His charismatic presence not only impress the jazz world but also all of popular music. Throughout his career, he recorded many songs, including the famous song he is known for, "Star Dust," "La Vie En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World." Armstrong died at his home in Queens, NY, on July 6, 1971. -
Dead in Numbers
World War one was one of the deadliest wars in history. The number of estimated people that died were 37 million people, including both civilian and military.The Allies counted around 6 million deaths and the Central Powers had nearly 4 million.Many of the people that died did not die because of combat, but because of diseases caused by the war.Two of three soldiers died in battle, and the rest to diseases. Today, it is still hard to determine the actual number of deaths during this time period. -
Vacuums
The history of the vacuum cleaner began in 1860, invented by an American inventor, Daniel Hess. He called his invention "carpet sweeper" instead of "vacuum." His first machine had a rotating brush, and two "water chambers" in order to capture the dust and dirt. Developing in the mid-1920, vacuum cleaner became more efficient and more successful in an average house. Vacuum cleaners in the 1920s made easier for the women and children. They didn't need to use a broom anymore making cleaning easy. -
American Indian Citizenship Act
Before the Civil War, citizenship was often limited to Native Americans of one-half or less Indian blood. In 1888, most Native American women married to U.S. citizens were conferred with citizenship, and in 1919 Native American veterans of WWI were offered citizenship. In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act, an all-inclusive act, was passed by Congress. This law gave full citizenship in the U.S. including the right to vote but it wasn't until 1948 that they were allowed to vote in every state. -
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art. Some of the famous figures of this era include Langston Hughes, Ella Fitzgerald, and Josephine Baker. -
Pollution
By the 1920s they were producing 98 percent of the world's cars. Between 1920 and 1929 alone, the production of motor vehicles soared from 2.2 to 5.3 million. A study estimated that fabricating one car produced 29 tons of waste and 1,207 million cubic yards of polluted air. Extracting iron ore, petroleum, copper, lead, and a variety of other raw materials to process steel, rubber, and other products necessary to construct automobiles uses great amounts of energy, leading to great pollution. -
Scopes Monkey Trial
In Dayton, Tennessee John Scopes, a high school science teacher, is accused of teaching evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law. Representing Scopes was the famed trial lawyer Clarence Darrow. The prosecution was by William Jennings Bryan who was a Christian who lobbied for an amendment banning the teaching of evolution throughout the nation. The trial turned into a media circus. Entrepreneurs sold everything from food to Bibles to stuffed monkeys. In the end Scopes was fined $100. -
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), America’s 31st president, took office in 1929, the year the U.S. economy plummeted into the Great Depression. As the Depression deepened, Hoover failed to recognize the severity of the situation. A successful mining engineer, the Iowa-born president was widely viewed as callous and insensitive toward the suffering of millions of desperate Americans. As a result, Hoover was soundly defeated in the 1932 presidential election by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
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The Great Depression
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Valentine's Day Massacre
Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution. This rash of gang violence reached its bloody climax in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, when seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen known as the Valentine's Day Massacre -
Black Tuesday
Black Tuesday was the fourth and last day of the stock market crash of 1929. It took place on October 29, 1929. They lost $14 billion on the New York Stock Exchange, worth $199 billion in 2017 dollars. After the crash, stock prices continued to fall. They hit their 1929 bottom on November 13. By then, more than $100 billion had disappeared from the American economy. Black Tuesday kicked-off the Great Depression. What followed was a complete loss of confidence in the U.S. financial system. -
Thomas Shipp
Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were two African American men who were lynched on August 7, 1930, in Marion Indiana, after being taken from jail and beaten by a mob. They had been arrested as suspects in a robbery, murder and rape case. Another suspect 16 year old James Cameron had also been arrested but escaped execution by the intervention of an unidentified source.The photo of the lynching inspired the poem “Strange Fruit” which was later put to song and popularized by Billy Holiday. -
Election of 1932
The presidential election was held on November 8, 1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt beat Herbert Hoover in the election. Roosevelt's victory would be the first of five successive Democratic presidential wins. The election was the first held during the Great Depression, and it represented a dramatic shift in the political alignment of the country. The effects of the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression were serious. The depression and Stock Market were issues of consequence in the campaign. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions. -
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was passed by congress in June 1933 and served as a way that President Franklin Roosevelt would assists the nation's economic recovery during the Great Depression.Its purpose was to bring industry, labor, and government together to create codes and set prices. In addition, the Act was a labor law and consumer law passed by the Congress to authorize the President to regulate industry for fair wages, prices, and quotas.No businesses were forced to join. -
Glass-Steagall Act
The Glass Steagall Act was passed in 1933 by the United States House of Representatives.The law was originally enacted as part of President F.D.R New Deal program.It separated investment from commercial banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Glass-Steagall made commercial banks lower-risk and made it safer for the government to back those banks with deposit insurance, which would, in turn, prevent another Depression. This became permanent in 1945 but was repealed in 1999. -
20th Amendment
Ratified on January 23, 1933, the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20. It moved the start and end dates for members of Congress from March 4 to January 3.In both cases the start and end time is at noon. It also gives the procedure to follow if for some reason there is no president-elect. It is also important because it tried to eliminate presidents and legislators. -
21st Amendment
Prohibition, created by the 18th Amendment in 1919 and enforced by the Volstead Act of the same year, had progressed for a decade with mixed results. For a variety of reasons, including a stark decline in government revenues from a tax on alcohol and a marked rise in illegal activity of the very sort the legislation was created to prevent, Congress decided to get rid of the 18th Amendment altogether. The Twenty-first amendment was an admission of the terrible failure of prohibition. -
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a relief administration that was enacted during the Great Depression.President Franklin D. Roosevelt received many letters from people that did not have the basic necessities of life.One of the main goals was to alleviate household unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local and state government. FERA gave states and localities $3.1 billion and provided work for over 20M people and developed facilities.FERA closed on December 1935. -
Mexican Repatriation
In 1929, the United States of America ends legal immigration. Therefore, during this time, nearly 415,000 Mexican immigrants voluntarily and involuntarily leaved the country to go back to their homelands. This movement lasted throughout the entire Great Depression. This affected Americans both positively and negatively. Although it protected American jobs from being taken away, farmers were left without workers because they depended on the Mexican workers and Americans refused to do their jobs. -
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz is an American musical produced in 1939 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This is an economic fairy tale about America in the late 1800's. The Farmers in the west (Scarecrow) had mortgages. The yellow brick road, or gold standard was believed to fix everything. Industrial workers (Tin Man) couldn't work. Will Jennings Bryan (Cowardly Lion) was the face of the Free Silver movement. In the end Dorothy silver shoes save her, which represent an inflationary measure. -
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World War 2
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Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill is one of the best-known statesmen of the 20th century. Though he was born into a life of privilege, he dedicated himself to public service. His legacy is a complicated one, he was an idealist and a pragmatist, an orator and a soldier, an advocate of progressive social reforms and an unapologetic elitist, a defender of democracy as well as of Britain’s fading empire, but for many people in Great Britain and elsewhere, Winston Churchill is simply a hero. -
Hitler (Adolf Hitler)
Adolf Hitler was serving as dictator and leader of the Nazi Party, or National Socialist German Workers Party, for the bulk of his time in power. He initiated fascist policies that led to World War II and to the well known genocide of today that is known as the Holocaust, which resulted in the deaths of nearly six million Jews and another five million noncombatants. With defeat on the horizon, Hitler committed suicide with wife Eva Braun on April 30, 1945, in his Berlin bunker. -
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was the mass murder of some 6 million European Jews by the German Nazi during the Second World War. To the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitler’s “final solution”–now known as the Holocaust–came to fruition under the cover of world war, with mass killing centers constructed in the concentration camps of occupied Poland. -
Pearl Harbor
The Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. This was a scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces in Dec. 7, 1941.Hundreds of Japanese fighter planes on that Sunday morning descended on the bay where they managed to destroy nearly 20 naval vessels, including 8 battleships and over 300 airplanes. Over 2,400 Americans died in the attack and another 1,000 were injured. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. -
Executive Order 9066
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, initiating a controversial World War II policy with lasting consequences for Japanese Americans.The document ordered the removal of resident enemies from parts of the West vaguely identified as military areas.More than 110K Japanese were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S military.For the next two and a half years, many endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II. Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of a city in Russia. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning point of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualties of almost 2 million and was a great humiliation for Hitler. This battle was the first major German loss during World War II. -
D-Day
Codenamed Operation Overlord, the battle began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and required extensive planning. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. -
Newspapers
During the WWII, most Americans followed the news of the war through three sources: radio broadcasts, newsreels, and the greatest of all, newspapers. In total, there were more than 11,000 newspapers in the country. These newspapers played such an important role because they connected the home front with the war front and kept Americans informed about the progress of the war. During this time, almost everyone could get a hold of the newspaper and other informative news sources. -
Death of F.D.R
On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away leaving Vice President Harry S. Truman in charge of a country that is still fighting World War 2. It all happened as he sat in the living room with companies,as an artist painted his portrait. According to the presidential biographer, it was mid-day, when Roosevelt complained of terrific pain and fell unconsciously. According to doctors, he had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage. By 3:00pm that day, Roosevelt was pronounced dead. -
Atomic Bomb
In 1940, the U.S. Government began funding for an atomic weapons development program. Over the next several years, the program's scientists worked on producing materials for the first Pu-239. It wasn't however until August 6, 1945 when an American B-29 dropped the first deployed atomic bomb ever over Hiroshima.It wiped out 90% of the people. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, killing about 40k With this, Japan's Emperor announced unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945.
