US History: 1887-2008

By evan.arnold
  • Period: to

    Early American History

  • Declaration of Independence signed

  • Constitution written

  • Bill of Rights ratified

  • Period: to

    Civil War/Reconstruction

  • Homestead Act

    Provided 160 acres to anyone willing to settle on land in the west

  • 13th Amendment

    Abolished slavery

  • 14th Amendment

    Citizenship & due process

  • Transcontinental Railroad completed

  • 15th Amendment

    Voting for all male citizens

  • Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell

  • Period: to

    The Gilded Age

    1.) Rockefeller/Carnegie (Captains of Industry vs. Robber Barons): Created great fortunes and wealth support
    2.) Philanthropy: Voluntary giving by individuals or groups to promote the common good
    3.) Monopoly: Full control of an entire supply of goods in a certain market
    4.) Jane Addams: Advocate of immigrants, the poor, women and peace
    5.) Laissez-Faire: Economic theory that opposed government intervention in business affairs

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    Prohibited immigration of skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers, first US national immigration act

  • Pendleton Civil Service Act

    Awarded government jobs based on merit

  • Interstate Commerce Act

    Ensure railroad set "reasonable and just" rate and the first time government stepped in to regulate business

  • Dawes Act

    Gave individual ownership of land to Native Americans instead of the tribe owning things collectively

  • Hull House founded, first of many settlement houses

  • Period: to

    The Progressive Era

    1.) Muckrakers: Reform-minded journalists who exposed established institutions and leaders as corrupt
    2.) Initiative, Referendum, Recall: Allow US citizens to place new legislation on a popular ballot
    3.) The Great Migration: The movement of 6 million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northwest, Midwest and West
    4.) NAACP: Group that ensures equality of US minorities
    5.) Immigration Issues (Assimilation and Nativism): Poor housing, sanitation and health care

  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    Outlawed business monopolies

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    Outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness

  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    Legalized segregation, established "separate but equal"

  • Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)

  • Period: to

    Imperialism

    1.) Theodore Roosevelt: 26th President, championed the Square Deal
    2.) Rough Riders: The First US Cavalry under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt
    3.) Foreign Policy: A government's strategy in dealing with other nations
    4.) Immigration Quotas: The limited number of immigrants allowed entry into the US
    5.) Yellow Journalism: Newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism and crude exaggeration over facts

  • USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba, starting the Spanish American War

  • Hawaii is annexed as a territory of the United States

  • Open Door Policy

    Initiated free trade with China

  • Roosevelt Corollary

    An addition to the Monroe Doctrine

  • Meat Inspection Act

    Law that makes it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat

  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    Regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines

  • The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is published

  • Dollar Diplomacy

    Taft's policy of paying for peace in Latin America

  • NAACP founded

  • 16th Amendment

    Established the federal income tax

  • 17th Amendment

    Direct election of US Senators

  • Federal Reserve Act

    Established the Federal Reserve, which helped stabilize the banking industry
  • Period: to

    World War I

    1.) Alvin York: A decorated US Army soldier
    2.) Homefront: Systemic mobilization of the US population and economy
    3.) M.A.I.N. (Causes of WWI): Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism and Nationalism
    4.) Sussex Pledge: Promise made by Germany to the US
    5.) American Expeditionary Forces: Formation of the United States Army on the Western Front

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, starting World War I

  • Panama Canal built

  • Sinking of the Lusitania

  • National Parks System created

  • Bolshevik Revolution in Russia begins, causing Russian troops to exit the war

  • Zimmerman Telegram intercepted by the British, warned the U.S. of a proposed ally between Mexico and Germany

  • The United States enters WWI on the Allied side

  • Germany surrenders to the Allied Powers

  • President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points

    Statement of principles for peace after World War I, included no colonialism, freedom of the seas, and a League of Nations

  • Battle of Argonne Forest, considered the turning point of the war

  • 18th Amendment

    Prohibition is enacted and alcohol is illegal

  • Treaty of Versailles

    Peace treaty that ended World War I, required Germany to accept full blame and pay war reparations as well as demilitarize
  • Period: to

    Roaring Twenties

    1.) Social Darwinism: Theory that humans are subject to the same laws of natural selection as plants/animals
    2.) The Red Scare: Promotion of widespread fear of a rise of communism/anarchism by a society/state
    3.) Assembly Line: Series of workers & machines in a factory by which a succession of identical items is progressively assembled
    4.) Return to Normalcy: Return to the way of life pre-WW1 & Spanish flu pandemic
    5.) Harlem Renaissance: Intellectual revival of African American art & literature

  • 19th Amendment

    Women are given the right to vote

  • Teapot Dome Scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal

  • American Indian Citizenship Act

    Granted citizenship to any Native Americans born within the United States

  • Scopes Monkey Trial

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

  • Period: to

    Great Depression

    1.) Hoovervilles: Shanty town built by the homeless
    2.) The New Deal: Series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms and regulations
    3.) Causes: Stock market crash, banking panics, gold standard, decreased tariffs & monetary contraction
    4.) Court Packing: Roosevelt's attempt to pass a bill that would allow him to appoint new justices
    5.) Eleanor Roosevelt: First lady, women's advocate

  • Stock Market Crash

  • Dust Bowl

  • 20th Amendment

    Adjusted the dates of the presidential terms

  • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established

  • Franklin D. Roosevelt elected

  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established

  • 21st Amendment

    Repeals the 18th Amendment and prohibition ends

  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established

  • Works Progress Administration (WPA) established

  • Social Security 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 II

    1.) Island Hopping:
    2.) Liberation of Concentration Camps:
    3.) Dwight Eisenhower: 34th President
    4.) Douglas MacArthur: Chief of Staff of the US Army
    5.) Chester W. Nimitz: Fleet admiral of the US Navy
    6.) Navajo Code Talkers:
    7.) Tuskegee Airmen: First Black military aviators
    8.) Flying Tigers:
    9.) The Manhattan Project: US government research project that produced the first atomic bombs
    10.) Rosie the Riveter: Media icon associated with female defense workers during WWII

  • Adolf Hitler invades Poland, starting WWII

  • Attack on Pearl Harbor

  • Executive Order 9066

    Incarceration of Japanese Americans for the duration of WWII

  • Bataan Death March

  • Battle of Midway

  • D'Day - Invasion of Normandy

  • G.I. Bill

    Gives military veterans financial and educational benefits
  • Period: to

    Early Cold War

    1.) Containment: Policy used to prevent the spread of communism
    2.) Arms Race/Space Race: Informal competitions between the Soviet Union and the US to achieve firsts in spaceflight capability.
    3.) The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: Consisted of Russia and 14 surrounding countries
    4.) Communism: Political and economic system that seeks to create a classless society
    5.) Domino Theory: Policy that suggested a spread of communist takeovers

  • The atomic bomb, “Little Boy” is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan

  • The atomic bomb, “Fat Man” is dropped in Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II

  • United Nations formed

  • Truman Doctrine

    US policy that gave military and economic aid to countries threatened by communism.

  • Marshall Plan

    Program to help European countries rebuild after World War II.

  • Berlin Airlift

  • NATO established

  • Period: to

    Civil Rights Era

  • Korean War

  • 22nd Amendment

    Prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again.

  • The Rosenberg Trial

  • First H-Bomb detonated by the United States

  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

  • Interstate Highway Act

    Authorized the building of a national highway system

  • USSR launches Sputnik

  • Period: to

    End of the Cold War

  • Period: to

    1990s-21st Century