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Eugene V. Debs
•5 times the candidate of the Socialist Party of America for President •elected as a Democrat to the Indiana General Assembly in 1884 •key in the founding of the American Railway Union (ARU) •boycott became the nationwide Pullman Strike •convicted, served 6 months in prison •founding member of the Social Democracy of America, the Social Democratic Party of America, and the Socialist Party of America •speech against U.S participation in WWI led to second arrest in 1918 -
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Jim Crow Laws
•state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South enacted after the Reconstruction period •segregated public schools, spaces, and transportation, and restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains •The military and federal workplaces were also segregated •Segregation of public schools declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education •remaining laws overruled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -
Chinese Exclusion Act
•US federal law signed by President Chester Arthur •prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers •followed the Angell Treaty of 1880, a set of revisions to the US-China Burlingame Treaty of 1868 that allowed the US to suspend Chinese immigration •initially intended to last 10 years, but was renewed in 1892 with the Geary Act, made permanent in 1902 •first law implemented to prevent a specific ethnic group from immigrating to the US •repealed by the Magnuson Act on December 17, 1943 -
Sinking of the Lusitania
•occurred during the WWI, as Germany waged submarine warfare against the UK •the ship was identified and torpedoed by the German U-boat U-20 and sank in 18 minutes •the vessel went down 11 miles (18 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland •killed 1,198 and left 761 survivors •the sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany •contributed to the American entry into WWI •became an symbol in military recruiting campaigns of why the war was being fought -
Zimmermann Telegram
•internal diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office •proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico in the event of the U.S. entering WWI against Germany •the proposal was intercepted and decoded by British intelligence •revelation of the contents enraged American public opinion, especially after Zimmermann publicly admitted the telegram was real •helped generate support for the U.S. declaration of war on Germany -
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First Red Scare
•first Red Scare began following the Bolshevik Russian Revolution of 1917 •Newspapers exacerbated political fears into anti-foreign sentiment because varieties of radical anarchism were becoming popular as possible solutions to poverty, often by recent European immigrants -
Sedition Act of 1918
•extended the Espionage Act of 1917 to cover a broader range of offenses •forbade negative language about the U.S. government, flag, armed forces or that caused others to view the U.S. government or its institutions negatively •those convicted were generally imprisoned for 5-20 years •allowed the Postmaster General to refuse to deliver mail that met the same standards •applied only to times of war •U.S. was in a declared state of war at the time (WWI) •repealed on December 13, 1920 -
18th Amendment
•prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. •declared production, transport, sale of alcohol illegal •Volstead Act set methods for enforcement, defined which alcoholic beverages were/weren’t prohibited •first to set a time delay before it would take effect, first to set a time limit for ratification by the states •amendment took effect on January 16, 1920 •repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, only time a constitutional amendment was completely repealed -
19th Amendment
•prohibits any U.S. citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex •result of the women's suffrage movement in the U.S. •overruled Minor v. Happersett, when the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment didn’t give women the right to vote •first introduced in Congress in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent •Tennessee's ratification was the final vote needed •In Leser v. Garnett, the Supreme Court rejected claims that the amendment was unconstitutional -
Immigration Act of 1924
•limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country •2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the U.S. in 1890, down from the 3% cap set by the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921 •primarily aimed at restricting immigration of Southern Europeans and Eastern Europeans •severely restricted the immigration of Africans and banned that of Arabs and Asians •set no limits on immigration from Latin American countries -
John Scopes - The Monkey Trial
•accused John Scopes of violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which outlawed teaching human evolution in a public school •deliberately staged to attract publicity to Dayton, Tennessee •Scopes purposely incriminated himself so the case had a defendant •found guilty and fined $100 but the verdict was overturned •William Jennings Bryan argued for the prosecution •Clarence Darrow argued for Scopes •publicized the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy -
20th Amendment
•moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the president and vice president from March 4 to January 20 •Moved beginning and ending of the terms of members of Congress from March 4 to January 3 •Included provisions that determine what is to be done when there is no president-elect -
21st Amendment
•repealed the 18th Amendment, which had mandated a nationwide prohibition on alcohol •only amendment of the 27 to repeal a prior amendment •ratified by state ratifying conventions -
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Second Red Scare
•second Red Scare occurred after WWII •popularly known as "McCarthyism" after its most famous supporter, Senator Joseph McCarthy •McCarthyism coincided with increased popular fear of communist espionage consequent to a Soviet Eastern Europe, the Berlin Blockade, the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, and the confessions of spying for the Soviet Union by several high-ranking U.S. government officials