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Reconstruction
Abraham Lincoln started planning for Reconstruction of the South during the Civil War. The administration under Andrew Johnson, new southern state legislation passed “black codes” to control the behavior and labor of former slaves and other African Americans. Newly enfranchised blacks gained a voice in the government. Although the abolition of slavery was not a goal of the Union war effort, slaves pushed the issue themselves. -
New Immigration
Many immigrants came to America seeking greater economic opportunity. Prior to the new immigration wave, many African Americans were forced against their will to come to America as slaves. The U.S. felt it was necessary to regulate immigration with acts because of how many people were flowing into America. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
An act signed by President Chester A. Arthur to set in a 10 year prohibition of Chinese immigration into America. This act also placed new requirements on Chinese who already entered the country. This made State and Federal courts to refuse the Chinese granted citizenship. The Chinese Exclusion Act ended in 1892, but was extended 10 more years with the Geary Act, which forced Chinese to register and obtain a certificate of residence. -
Dawes Severalty Act
This act reversed the long-standing American policy of allowing Indian tribes to maintain their traditional practice of communal use and control of their lands. It gave the president power to divide Indian reservations into individual, privately owned plots. Men with families would receive 160 acres of land, single men would receive 80, and boys would receive 40, whereas women received none. -
Panic of 1893
A national economic crisis set off by the collapse of two of the country's largest employers, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. Unemployment rates increased to 25%. Homelessness skyrocketed and people were laid off their jobs which resulted in incapability of paying rent and mortgage. -
Americanization
Americanization is the process in which immigrants assimilate into American culture, including customs and traditions. This idea does not give immigrants American citizenship, but allows them to believe they are an American. This was an important idea in this time because of all the new immigrants between 1880 and 1920. -
Assembly Line Created
Henry Ford installs the first moving assembly line for mass production of a whole automobile. The creation of the assembly line reduced the time of producing an automobile from 12 hours to 2 hours and 30 minutes. -
War Declared on Germany
President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to send in troops in battle against Germany. Wilson asked Congress to do this in order to make the world safe for democracy. He set in the Selective Service Act in order to recruit enough troops to go into battle. -
The Treaty of Versailles
This treaty was the end to World War I. It negotiated among the allied powers with little participation by Germany. The treaty included 15 parts, in which the first one created the Covenant of the New League of Nations. -
Isolationism
Isolationism is a policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries. The combination of the Great Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. Isolationists did not want to be involved in European and Asian conflicts and did not want to be involved in international politics. -
Socialism
Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Many businessman accused Franklin Del Roosevelt of being a socialist. They recruited a U.S. Marine General in attempt to overthrow him. -
Battle of the Bulge
Adolf Hitler attempted to separate the Allied Armies in northwest Europe by surprise blitzkrieg. Allies moved across northern France to northwestern Belgium. It is called the “bulge” because the Germans created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest and pushed through the American defensive line. -
The Cold War
The Cold War began when the military expansionism of Stalin caused America to defensively act. As the Soviets wanted Communism, the West had no choice but to surrender to the conflict. -
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is a campaign against communists in the U.S. government and other institutions under Senator Joseph McCarthy. Many of the accused communists were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although not all accused were truly under the Communist Party. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act ended all segregation in public places and banned unemployment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It survived strong opposition from southern members of Congress and was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy’s successor. Congress further expanded the act and passed additional civil rights legislation. -
Feminism
Feminism is an idea that began in 1963 when Betty Friedan’s best seller, The Feminine Mystique, was published. Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. -
Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty
This act required that the U.S. and the Soviet Union eliminate and permanently forswear all their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges 500 to 5,000 km. These powers agreed to reduce nuclear arsenals, eliminate a category of nuclear weapons, and utilize extensive on-site inspections for verification. -
Information Age
This was a historic period in which was characterized by the rapid shift from traditional industry to an economy based on information technology. The phenomenon is that the digital industry creates a knowledge-based society surrounded by a high tech global economy that influences how manufacturing and service sector operate in efficient and convenient ways. The information age led to a driving force of social evolution. -
Operation Desert Storm
Operation Desert Storm began after Iraqi forces who had invaded neighboring Kuwait refused to withdraw. Desert Storm started as an air campaign with Operation Senior Surprise. Hussein realized he couldn't defeat the military forces and international political will represented by the coalition, so he tried to divide it. -
North American Free Trade Agreement
This agreement established a free-trade zone in North America. It was signed by Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. It eliminated tariffs on the majority of goods produced by the nations that signed. It also eliminated most of the remaining barriers to cross-border investment and to the movement of goods and services among the countries.
