-
Homestead act of 1862
This act was enforced and put into place to allow people to get land that were poor or unable to. The purpose of this was to give land that was previously the governments to people in need. It stated that any person over the age of 21 will get 160 acres and married couples can get 320. In order to get this you need to live on land for 5 years. It also gave more jobs to people that need it. -
Sandcreek massacre
The Cheyenne tribe performed many raids on the travelers of the wagon trains and settlements. The Colorado governed took advantage of the peace campaigning going on by the leader called black kettle. He was not a good man and had ban intentions. He used them when he promised protection. A group of soldiers attacked them on Nov. 29 and killed all of this group. About 150-500 people in this massacre. -
13th amendment ratified
Because of the hardships that had just occurred and were still occurring relating to slavery, the government finally decided to do something about it. The 13th amendment was created and ratified for the sole purpose of outlawing slavery. Some slavery was still going on in the form of sharecropping and other things, but because of the 13th amendment is was outlawed from there forth. -
Reconstruction begins
Military starts in the southern states that refused to ratify the 14th amendment. They then divided the remaining states into 5 military districts. The president gave these instructions through the military commander which caused a lot of people to become unhappy. This was a punishment of sorts for the south not cooperating with the north in the civil war, and it all eventually ended in 1877. -
Alaska is bought
William Seward bought the “territory” of Alaska from the Russians for 7.2 million which was about 2 cents an acre. The check was issues on August 1, 1868. Everyone thought it was a mistake buying this land, until the Klondike gold rush occurred. -
Johnson’s impeachment
Johnson has done some sketchy things which caused the house to become on edge. Soon after this new feeling I’m the house, they decided to impeach him with a vote of 126-47. The senate tried him for 11 weeks and he was then acquitted 35 to 19 which was one one short of the (2/3) needed to get him out of office, so he finished out the rest of his term and was not re-elected. -
14th amendment ratified
This amendment guaranteed the rights to vote for all citizens. There was a lot of conflict surrounding the rights of people to vote. Whites would intimidate and persecute the blacks in some towns when they tried to vote. This allowed all men to have equal voting rights. While this was s good thing for men, women were still upset that they could not vote, and this action caused more and more feminist groups to arise. -
Transcontinental railroad is finished
The transcontinental railroad was one of the biggest achievements in US history. In 1862 the government gave two groups of people, the Union Pacific and central pacific companies some money to start building this railroad, starting from Omaha and Sacramento. They raced to the end to be the side with the more tracks. In May of 1869 they finally finished in promontory point in UT. -
Enforcement act
The government tried to control the violence but ultimately they could not. Lunching became very popular among the people of that time. It was recorded somewhere that almost 5000 people were lynched in a time period of about 60 years. The corrected behavior lapsed and people couldn’t do anything about it. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
This battle is also known as clusters last stand. There was a lot of gold found on the area where the Sioux were living in the black hills. Custer sent his people get them to move, but instead Custer and all of his man died because the natives killed them. -
Compromise of 1877
During the period of time sometimes associated with the phrase Jim Crow, the segregation was becoming more and more popular. By the time of the election in 1876 so many people were on edge about their stance in argument. They all had an opinion. This compromise resulted in a couple of states not allowing blacks to vote. This was due to the recent roar of “laws” in response to the end of the civil war. -
First immigrant through
A girl by the name of Annie More, from a place in Ireland was the first person to immigrate through Ellis island. It was her 15th birthday that day and many accounts say she was well taken care of. She was questioned and checked out just like everyone else who would come through would be. -
Brooklyn bridge built
America had a large accomplishment at the beginning of the year 1883. John A. Roebling was the person who designed this bridge. He started with it but died before it was finished so his daughter in law took over for him and saw it built til finish. At that time it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. It showed just how advanced America was in their engineering. -
Gifted Statue of Liberty
Frederic August Bartholdi is a French architect who designed the Statue of Liberty. He wanted to give America a gift for the 100 year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It showed just how close the two countries were. -
The Gibson girl
The Gibson girl was created as the new look, or new image for women and what their idea shape was. This helped chaps what girls look like now and how it go to that point, this as well as the bike helped women become more independent. -
Declaration
On this day, America declared war on Spain. There had been so many things leading up to this one event. Some of which are the yellow journals. All the exaggerated stories and articles pumping people up for a war. Then with the explosion of the USS Maine, America finally decided to go to war with with Spain. -
Marina Bay Victory
The Spanish navy was trapped in Marina Bay when Commodore Dewey attacked. He won in only 6 hours. This event lead to American then being more we’ll known as a World Power and getting America the win they needed for this war to be settled. -
Battle of San Juan Hill
This battle took place in the midst of the war between America and Spain. Teddy Roosevelt led a ground called the rough riders. They claimed the victory of this battle. Their regiment was made up of only volunteers. -
Manufactured Goods
The Gilded Age was a strong influence in the Industrial sense. People became self made millionaire of the companies they had grown themselves. These companies grew and finally by 1900 2/3 of manufactured goods were by corporations and this set the new way of life for decades to come. -
Mckinley is Shot
President Mckinley was assassinated 6 months into his presidential term, and Teddy Roosevelt took over his position and started his long train of improvements to the society around him. He was greatly recognized for his Square Deal and having the "Big Stick". -
1912 election
The election of 1912 was one people will remember for a long time. This was the time when Teddy Roosevelt decided to split from the republicans and start his own party called the progressive party or the Bull party. Taft and Wilson also ran against him and unfortunately Wilson won, but this shaped the way elections were viewed for a long time. -
Panama Canal finished
The US took control of the area where the Panama Canal would be built and finished it. They then took control by paying Panama 10 million and then 250000 every year to rent it. It took them 10 years and helped people everywhere shorten their trips. -
sinking of the lusitania
The British were in control of the sea with their marine warfare, and happened to sink a German ship which had some American people on it. Then America got really mad. This was one of the reasons that America got involved in the war. -
Zimmerman note
The Germans were getting desperate in their war and so they tried to get Mexico on their side by sending them a letter telling them to turn on America. This letter was then intercepted by the British and given to the US to tell them to look out. This was another reason that the US joined the war and started escalating from there. -
Picketing the white house
Once America got involved in the war, Alice Paul and her ladies didn’t quite know what to do to continue fighting for their cause. Ultimately the began picketing the White House holding banners quoting the president himself. This was fairly affective to get the attention they needed, but they were unfortunately arrested once the president had enough of their endeavors. They were tortured in prison, force fed and treated like animals, but that didn’t stop them. -
18th amendment passed
The Government in the time of the 1920s thought it would be a good idea to ban all alcohol. They decided that keeping alcohol around and letting it destroy the economy wasn't good so they made an amendment to ban all alcohol; which did not work and people started doing more and worser things. The illegal activity skyrocketed and people were hurt all the time. -
TN joins
These ladies worked so hard and when it came time for the states to vote on the passing of the 19th amendment, at the last minute Tennessee decided to change its vote because of one guy, and the 19th amendment was passed. -
KKK march
Washington DC was the place where the kkk had their alley. They had about 3 million members at that point in time and it really just took up a lot of society. They were trying to keep the world pure and white and they targeted immigrants, African Americans, and catholics hoping that this would purify the world in their own way. -
Leaving america
There was a time when a man named Marcus Garvey was a very influential person. He presented the people with the idea of all the African Americans going back to African “where they were from”. He tried to get a bunch of people to go back with him and he was very convincing for a while but after a little bit of time people did not comply and they thought what was happening was weird and a bad idea. This shaped the opinions of a lot of people from that point on. -
Al Capone is caught
Al Capone was one of the worst mobsters of the 20s. After the 18th amendment was passed more and more people became part of the ever growing illegal activity. He was known for killing his competition in bootlegging. He was finally caught but was only charged with tax evasion because they could not prove he was a part of anything else. -
Bonus Army Marches
Some of the WW1 vets agreed to get their money from the service in 1945. When the Great Depression hit though they decided they wanted their money then, so they marched on Washington DC and rioted in front of the white house asking for that money, which turned into a huge legal matter. They ended up never getting their money. -
FDR elected
While Hoover was president, he did and created a bunch of things that hurt the economy. He was blamed for a lot of the reasons why the Great Depression started. When FDR was elected as president, he immediately took action and started changing the US for the better. He came in with a positive attitude and helped change the lives of so many people. -
21st amendment passed
Since the time that the 18th amendment was passed the economy surrounding alcohol became a lot worse than it had been. A lot more people did more illegal things, more people went to jail, more people were caught up into gangs, speakeasies opened. Then the government finally decided to make a new amendment repealing the 18th that made the consumption and possession of alcohol legal. -
The new deal
The new deal was one of the best things that could’ve happened to the US and it was used a lot. Then the Supreme Court stopped passing as many of FDR laws and they used to. This along with court packing both played a role in the new deal coming to an end. The lives of the people were starting to turn around and once the war started people got better and the economic depression started going away. -
Invasion of Poland
The beginning of WWII started on September 1, 1939 when the Germans decided to Invade Poland. Soon after this happened Germany took over most of France very quickly. This became known as one of the Germans strengths, speed. Great Britain was without supplies so the US started supplying them with things to help but were not a part of the war yet officially. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic started just 2 days after Germany invaded Poland. Germany put a bunch of U-boats into the Atlantic to prevent Great Britain and other Allies countries from receiving the help of the US. The Germans took out many US ships as well as other countries as well. Then the US started using sonar and planes to locate these U-boats and took a lot of them out. All of this officially finished on May 8, 1945 -
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
The Japanese knew that America would be a huge threat if given the chance to attack first and cause damage first. So on Dec. 7th the Japs attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and sunk a lot of ships at the naval base that is in Hawaii. This was the event that caused America to become part of the war and really start an effort to win with the Allies. -
Battle of Stalingrad
For weeks the Germans were stuck in Stalingrad after their failed attack. Their whole mission started sometime during the summer of 1942 and lasted into the winter. Their lack of supplies and clothing caused them to suffer greatly and they lost a lot of men. This was one of the first major turning points of the war for the Allies. -
D-Day
Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day was one of the worst battles of the war. The US, Great Britain, and Canada all landed on different beaches in France, America in Normandy to try and defeat the Germans. This was the largest land-sea-air operation and it left quite some damage for both sides but more so for the Germans. The Allies took back France. -
Bombing Hiroshima
Further into the war the US knew they had to do something in Japan to end the war. MacArthur predicted that an invasion would be another D-day catastrophe and the damage would be too much. Truman knew the Japanese honor was too high, so they came to the conclusion that bombing them would be the only way to really defeat them with the least amount of damage. So they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and then 3 days later another on Nagasaki. Shortly after this Japan surrendered. -
Truman Doctrine
In March 1947, U.S. President Harry Truman proclaimed the Truman Doctrine. He felt threatened by soviet forces in Turkey and Greece. He said that it provided aid to countries so that they could recover and be stable so to not be influenced by communism. This marked a new level of commitment of America in the Cold War. -
The Marshall Plan
Communist influence was still growing and economic aid was provided to all European countries as a type of recovery program. 17 billion dollars was given to Western Europe. The Soviets refused and the blame for dividing Europe fell on the Soviet Union. The Marshall Plan was proved crucial for the rebuilding of Western Europe. -
Election of 1948
Harry Truman ran for reelection against the Governor of New York, Thomas Dewey. There was a scandal surrounding who really won in the newspaper, but it was soon made clear that Truman had won again. This gave Truman even more confidence in himself which lead partly to his downfall. -
Closing
Ellis island and angel island both were a success for the most part. While some people were sent back from where they came from and some complain of the hardships they went through to get there, ultimately it helped so many people to a new and better life. 12 million went through from 1892-1954. -
Hawaii and Alaska
President Dwight Eisenhower singed the proclamation admitting these two states or the US. One was on Jan 3 and Aug 21. Both were fought for. Hawaii has a long ride to get here with their queen being overthrow and the temp leaders. -
NLF forms
The National Liberation Front was formed in 1960. Communists supported creation of broad-based unites to mobilize southerners to government in South Vietnam. It brought together communists and non-communists. Anyone could join to oppose Ngo Dihn Diem and to unify Vietnam. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
This was a 13 day catastrophe. US recon pictures showed that the Soviets had missiles in Cuba. Kennedy declared a naval quarantine of Cuba. Khrushchev demands US remove missiles from Turkey before they take away from Cuba. US plane shot down over Cuba, people are frantic and are really close to finally nuclear attack. A lot of families bought bomb shelters and kids had bomb drills in schools. -
US joins Vietnam War
America joins the Vietnam war to stop spread of communism, part of Truman doctrine - to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and national integrity against totalitarian regimes. They tried to stop North Vietnam, so they joined the South and even though they helped the south for a while, they ended up backing out and the whole country of Vietnam fell to communism. -
Tet Offensive
In late January north Vietnam and the NLF launched coordinated attacks against major southern cities. These attacks are known as the Tet Offensive - designed to force johnson admin to bargaining table. 67000 attacks on 100 cites, bases, and the US embassy in Saigon. The US and south Vietnam push back and defeat the North and destroy Vietcong. However media in America did not present it that way and Johnsons votes were dropped. -
US lands on the moon
The first man on the moon was Neil Armstrong. This meant that the Americans finally beat the Russians to touch the moon first and it was televised. This is very important in the Space Race because while the Russians were the first people in space America had beat them to touching the moon. This helped America gain a little more ground and feel safer because they feared Russia would put missile launchers in space. -
Paris Peace Agreement signing
This was the final draft ending open hostilities between US and North Vietnam. This then lead to ceasefire and the last of the US troops left South Vietnam March 29, 1973.
