U.S. History 1887-2008

  • Period: to

    Early American History

  • Declaration of Independence

  • Constitution written

  • Bill of Rights written

  • Period: to

    Civil War/Reconstruction

  • Homestead Act

    This act provided 160 acres to anyone willing to settle on land in the west.
  • 13th Amendment

    This amendment abolished slavery.
  • 14th Amendment

    This amendment granted citizenship and due process.
  • Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

  • 15th Amendment

    This amendment granted voting rights to all male citizens.
  • Telephone Invention

  • Period: to

    The Gilded Age

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    This act is the 1st U.S. national immigration act and prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers.
  • Pendleton Civil Service Act

    This act awarded government jobs based on merit.
  • Interstate Commerce Act

    This act was the 1st time that the government stepped in to regulate a business and to ensure that railroads set "reasonable and just" rates.
  • Dawes Act

    This act gave individual ownership of land to Native Americans instead of tribes owning things collectively.
  • Hull House founded, 1st of many settlement houses

  • Period: to

    The Progressive Era

  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    This act outlawed business monopolies.
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    This act outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness.
  • Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    This court case legalized segregation and established "separate but equal".
  • Period: to

    Imperialism

  • Explosion of the USS Maine

    The USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba, causing the start of the Spanish-American War.
  • Hawaii annexed as a territory of the U.S.

  • Open Door Policy

    This act initiated free trade with China.
  • Roosevelt Corollary

    This act was an addition to the Monroe Doctrine.
  • Meat Inspection Act

    This act established a law that makes it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat.
  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    This act established the regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines.
  • "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair is published

  • Dollar Diplomacy

    This act was President Taft's policy of paying for peace in Latin America.
  • The NAACP is founded

  • 16th Amedment

    This amendment established the federal income tax.
  • 17th Amendment

    This amendment established the direct election of U.S. Senators.
  • Federal Reserve Act

    This act was established to help stabilize the banking industry.
  • Period: to

    World War 1

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand leads to World War 1

  • Completion of the Panama Canal

  • Sinking of the Lusitania

  • The National Parks System is created

  • Zimmerman Telegram interception

    The Zimmerman telegram is intercepted by Britain and shared with the U.S. to warn them of a proposed allyship between Mexico and Germany.
  • The United Sates enters World War 1 on the Allied side

  • Bolshevik Revolution

    The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia begins, causing Russian troops to exit the war.
  • President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points

    This act is a statement of principles for peace after World War 1 that included no colonialism, freedom of the seas, and a League of Nations.
  • Battle of Argonne Forest

    The Battle of Argonne occurs and is considered the major turning point of World War 1.
  • Germany surrenders to the Allied forces

  • 18th Amendment

    This amendment established prohibition and made alcohol illegal.
  • Treaty of Versailles

    This act is a peace treaty that ended World War 1, required Germany to accept full blame for World War 1, pay reparations, and demilitarize.
  • Period: to

    Roaring Twenties

  • 19th Amendment

    This amendment gave white women the right to vote.
  • Teapot Dome Scandal is uncovered by the Wall Street Journal

  • American Indian Citizenship Act

    This act granted citizenship to any Native Americans born within the U.S.
  • Scopes Monkey Trial

  • Charles Lindbergh solo flight

    Charles Lindbergh makes history by making a nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris.
  • Period: to

    Great Depression

  • Stock Market Crash

  • Dust Bowl

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected

  • 20th Amendment

    This amendment adjusted the dates of presidential terms.
  • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established

  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established

  • 21th Amendment

    This amendment repealed the 18th Amendment and ended prohibition.
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established

  • Works Progress Administration (WPA) established

  • Social Security Act

    This act established the Social Security Administration which provides unemployment insurance, aid to the disabled, old-age pensions, and insurance for families.
  • Period: to

    World War 2

  • Adolf Hitler invades Poland, causing the start of World War 2

  • Attack on Pearl Harbor

  • Executive Order 9066

    This executive order called for the incarnation of Japanese Americans for the duration of World War 2.
  • Baatan Death March

  • Battle of Midway

  • "D-Day" - Invasion of Normandy

  • G.I. Bill

    This bill gives military veterans financial and educational benefits.
  • United Nations Formed

  • Period: to

    Early Cold War

    1.Containment: An American policy made to help stop the spread of communism
    2.Arms Race/Space Race: A weapons superioty competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union during the Cold War
    3.The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: A federal socialist state in power of Northern Euroasia from 1922 to 1991
    4.Communism: A form of government where the government owns everything and distributes property as they see fit.
    5.Domino Theory: A political theory that events in one nation will happen in others
  • The atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan

  • "Fat Man" atomic bomb

    The atomic bomb "Fat Man" is dropped in Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War 2
  • Truman Doctrine

    This act is a U.S. policy that gave military and economic aid to countries threatened by communism.
  • Berlin Airlift

  • Marshall Plan

    This act created a program to help European countries rebuild after World War 2.
  • NATO Established

  • Korean War

  • Period: to

    Civil Rights Era

  • Sweatt v. Painter

    This court case ruled the separate law school at the University of Texas failed to qualify as "separate but equal".
  • Rosenbergs Trial

  • 22nd Amendment

    This amendment prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again.
  • First H-Bomb detonated by the United States

  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

    This court case overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and mandated desegregation.
  • Hernandez v. Texas

    This court case ruled that Mexican-Americans and all other ethnicities should be provided equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
  • Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks' arrest

  • Interstate Highway Act

    This act authorized the building of a national highway system.
  • USSR launches Sputnik

  • Little Rock 9 integrated into an all-white school is Little Rock, AK

  • Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba

  • Berlin Wall built to prevent people from leaving communist East Berlin

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

  • MLK Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington

  • JFK is assassinated in Dallas, TX

  • 24th Amendment

    This amendment abolishes the poll tax.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    This act made discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin in public places illegal and required employers to hire on an equal opportunity basis.
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    This act begins an undeclared war in Vietnam.
  • Medicare and Medicaid

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    This act eliminated literacy tests for voters.
  • Tet Offensive

  • MLK Jr. is assassinated

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    This act prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing.
  • First man on the Moon

  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    This court case defined the 1st Amendment rights for students in the United States Public Schools.
  • Period: to

    End of the Cold War

  • Kent State University shooting

  • Pentagon Papers Leaked

  • 26th Amendment

    This amendment lowered the voting age from 21 years old to 18 years old.
  • Title 9

    This act protects people from discrimination based on gender in educational programs.
  • Wars Power Act

    This act limited the President's right to send troops to battle without Congressional approval.
  • Watergate Scandal

    A scandal that leads to Nixon's resignation.
  • Fall of Saigon, marks the end of the Vietnam War

  • Camp David Accords

  • Three Mile Island Disaster

  • Iran Hostage Crisis

    Lasted 1979-1981
  • Iran Contra Affair

  • Period: to

    1990s-21st Century

  • Persian Gulf War

  • Fall of USSR; End of the Cold War

  • Creation of NAFTA

  • Attack on World Trade Center & Pentagon

  • USA PATRIOT Act

    This act tightened national security, particularly as it was related to foreign terrorism.
  • Hurricane Katrina