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Bacons Rebellion
Armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers from 1676 to 1677. Led by Nathanial Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley. Bacon wanted to remove all Native Americans from the colony. Berkeley wanted to trade with them along with other reasons such as low prices for tobacco and pique against special privileges given those close to governor Berkeley. They organized raids against native american groups in 1676. It was the first to unite black and white indentured servants with black slaves -
The Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of 20 people, 14 of them women and all but one by hanging.The Salem witch trials contributed to changes in court procedures, which included instituting rights to legal representation, cross-examination of accusers, and the presumption that one is innocent until proven guilty. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation is a document that set out guidelines for European settlement of Aboriginal territories in what is now North America. The Royal Proclamation was initially issued by King George III in 1763 to officially claim British territory in North America after Britain won the Seven Years War. It required those who had already settled in those regions to return east in an attempt to ease tensions with Native Americans. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act is also known as the American Revenue Act. The Sugar Act reduced the amount of tax that colonists had to pay on molasses by half but increased the enforcement of the law. This made smuggling of illegal molasses from non-British territories a lot harder. It also taxeds other foreign products, including wine, coffee, textiles, and banned the direct shipment of several important commodities such as lumber to Europe, upsetting the balance of trade for merchants in Northern seaports. -
Currency Act
The Currency Acts of 1764 was one of the causes of the Revolutionary War. The Acts were an attempt by Parliament to limit the colonies' ability to create their own currency. It was both an attempt to solve possible inflation and control the colonies. It prohibited the printing and issuance of paper money by Colonial legislatures. It also set up fines and penalties for members of Colonial government who disobeyed, despite the long-standing currency shortage. -
Stamp Act
Parliament's first direct tax on the American colonies, this act was enacted to raise money for Britain. The British needed to station a large army in North America as a consequence and in 1765 the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which sought to raise money to pay for this army through a tax on all legal, official papers and publications circulating in the colonies.The phrase "taxation w/o representation" showed the colonists' anger at not being represented by the lawmakers taxing them. -
Quartering Act
Quartering Act required colonial authorities to provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or villages.This new act allowed royal governors, rather than colonial legislatures, to find homes and buildings to quarter or house British soldiers. This only further enraged the colonists by having what appeared to be foreign soldiers boarded in American cities and taking away their authority to keep the soldiers distant. -
Townshed Acts
The Townshend Acts, passed in 1767 and 1768, were designed to raise revenue for the British Empire by taxing its North American colonies (taxed for glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea). They were met with widespread protest in the colonies. The resentment over the Townshend Acts divided American colonists into patriots and loyalists. The subsequent boycotts and protests forced the British government to send and quarter more troops in American cities like Philadelphia, New York and Boston. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this helped to unite the colonies against Britain. What started as a minor fight became a turning point in the beginnings of the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre helped spark the colonists' desire for American independence, while the dead rioters became martyrs for liberty. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773,at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts.It was an act of protest in which the Sons of Liberty threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea(which had been an example of taxation without representation)and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. It fueled the tension that had already begun between Britain and America. This is what ultimately led to the Revolutionary War. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for it. The Intolerable Acts closed the port of Boston so that goods could not be shipped in or out, and it took power away from leaders in Massachusetts. it also provided a motivation for the first meeting of the colonies, the First Continental Congress, and ultimately lead to the Revolutionary war. -
Battle of Bunkerhill
Early in the Revolutionary War, the British defeated the Americans. New England soldiers faced the British army for the first time in a pitched battle. Bloody fighting took place throughout a hilly landscape of fenced pastures that were situated across the Charles River from Boston.Despite their loss, the inexperienced colonial forces inflicted significant casualties against the enemy, and the battle provided them with an important confidence boost during the Siege of Boston. -
Shot Heard Around the World
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, the famous 'shot heard 'round the world', marked the start of the American War of Independence.Politically disastrous for the British.Neither side expected to actually fight, but in the midst of the confusion a gunshot went off forcing the British to attack. Some of the colonists were killed and the rest fled. The gunshot was the first shot of began the American Revolutionary War and led to the creation of the United States of America. -
Declaration of Independence
Signed on August 2, 1776, it announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. It was the last of a series of steps that led the colonies to final separation from Britain. It explains why the colonies should break away, that people have rights that cannot be taken away, lists the complaints against the king, and argues that the colonies have to be free to protect the colonists' rights. At the bottom of the document, the delegates signed their names. -
Articles of Confederation
the Articles established a weak central government and placed most powers in the hands of the states. Under the Articles, the US economy faltered, since the central government lacked the power to enforce tax laws or regulate commerce. Delegates gave the Continental Congress the power to request money from the states and make appropriations, regulating the armed forces, appointing civil servants, and declaring war. -
The Battle of Saratoga
A turning point in the Revolutionary War,the American defeat of the superior British army lifted patriot morale, furthered the hope for independence, and helped to secure the foreign support needed to win the war.The battle of Saratoga took place on the fields of upstate New York, 9 miles south of the town of Saratoga.In accordance with British plans, General John Burgoyne was attempting to invade New England from Canada with the goal of isolating New England from the rest of the United States. -
Battle of Yorktown
Proved to be the decisive engagement of the American Revolution,the British surrender forecast the end of British rule in the colonies and the birth of a new nation, the USA.Outnumbered and outfought during a three-week siege in which they sustained great losses, British troops surrendered to the Continental Army and their French allies.This last major land battle of the American Revolution led to negotiations for peace with the British and the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. -
The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there. It also formally recognized the United States as an independent nation, and established borders for the new nation. -
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The point of the event was decide how America was going to be governed. Although, not only did they reject the Articles of Confederation altogether, but they would produce the first written constitution for any nation in the history of the world.The three major compromises were the Great Compromise, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Electoral College. -
The Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States was signed on September 17, 1787, by delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. First it creates a national government consisting of a legislative, an executive, and a judicial branch, with a system of checks and balances among the three branches. Second, it divides power between the federal government and the states. And third, it protects various individual liberties of American citizens. It created a limited government. -
Bill of Rights
On June 8,1789, Representative James Madison introduced a series of proposed amendments to the newly ratified U.S. Constitution. The House of Representatives debated Madison's proposal,and on August 24 the House passed 17 amendments to be added to the Constitution.It spells out Americans' rights in relation to their government.They put limits on the national government's right to control specific civil liberties and rights,many of which were already protected by some of the state constitutions. -
Whiskey Rebellion
In 1794 farmers of western pennsylvania protested against the whiskey tax. this was an "excessive" tax that passed a few years before to raise additional funds for the national government.can be called the first large scale protest demonstration after the federal government was organized under the constitution. The whiskey rebellion was significant because washington showed that the federal government had the strength to enforce its law; his reaction attracted supporters to the federalist cause. -
Eli Whitneys Cotton Gin
In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber, helped to boost productivity and increased cotton usage.helped to increase production of cotton in the United States, made cotton into a profitable crop,& helped to strengthen the United States' economy and laid the foundations for the slave trade. -
XYZ Affair
The XYZ Affair (1797-1798) involved an American peace delegation in France, three agents of the French Foreign Minister (labeled as X, Y, and Z in President John Adams’ initial communications with Congress), and the French Foreign Minister’s demand for a bribe from the American delegation. The Affair played a major role in the adoption of the Alien and Sedition Acts & the Jay Treaty between the US and Great Britain. -
Alien and Sedation Acts
1798 Acts passed by a Federalist-controlled Congress passed four laws, known collectively as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws raised the residency requirements for citizenship from 5 to 14 years, authorized the president to deport "aliens," and permitted their arrest, imprisonment, and deportation during wartime. Therefore, this restricted those who may oppose John Adam's and the federalists. -
The First Peaceful Transfer of Power
The transition from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson in 1801 was considered an important milestone for the United States' fledgling democracy. From then until 2020, the losing party in every presidential election "willingly and peacefully" relinquished power to the opposition. Jefferson's inauguration and the Democratic-Republican takeover of Congress set an important precedent. It marked the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties in American history. -
Louisiana Purchase
The U.S., under Jefferson, bought the Louisiana territory from France, under the rule of Napoleon, in 1803. The U.S. paid $15 million for the Louisiana Purchase, and Napoleon gave up his empire in North America. The U.S. gained control of Mississippi trade route and it contained what would be equivalent to 15 states in the US and 2 Canadian provinces. Napoleon sold it because Frances financial situation was a wreck and France needed money for the Great French war. -
Marbury v. Madison
Marbury v. Madison resolved the question of judicial review. The case involved a dispute between outgoing President John Adams and incoming President Thomas Jefferson. Chief Justice John Marshall sided with Jefferson, his political rival, in the Supreme Court's decision. The significance of Marbury v. Madison was that it was the first U.S. Supreme Court case to apply "Judicial Review", and it allowed the Supreme Court to rule laws unconstitutional. -
Lewis & Clark Expidetiton
Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–06) was a U.S. military expedition, led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark, to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. Lewis and Clark's team mapped uncharted land, rivers, and mountains. They brought back journals filled with details about Native American tribes and scientific notes about plants and animals they'd never seen before, and generated American interest in the fur trade. -
Embargo of 1807
In an attempt to avert war,the United States imposed an embargo on foreign trade.The embargo was an unpopular and costly failure.It hurt the American economy far more than the British or French and resulted in widespread smuggling and unemployment,highlighted American weakness,lack of leverage,and sharply increased domestic political tensions.It was one of the major factors leading up to the War of 1812,it ended up increasing the hostilities that already existed between America and Britain. -
Battle of Thames
As the United States expanded into Ohio Territory the soldiers and settlers met with resistance native groups. Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader, and his brother Tenskwatawa, known as a prophet, forged a confederation to resist white incursions. In 1811, Tenskwatawa's forces were defeated by General William Henry Harrison in the Battle of Tippecanoe. Tecumseh fought for the British during the War of 1812. He was killed at the Battle of the Thames in October 1813. -
Treaty of Ghent
A meeting in Belgium of American delegates and British commissioners ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. Great Britain agreed to relinquish claims to the Northwest Territory, and both countries pledged to work toward ending the slave trade.the two countries were so similar in terms of their military strength, the treaty essentially ended the war in a draw. -
Battle of New Orleans
On January 8, 1815, Andrew Jacksons and a ragtag group of soldiers successfully repelled against a superior British force whom marched against New Orleans, hoping that by capturing the city they could separate Louisiana from the rest of the United States. Jacksons hastily assembled army won the day against a numerically superior British force & soon it became a symbol of American democracy triumphing over the old European ideas of aristocracy and entitlement. -
McCulloh V. Maryland
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) is one of the most important Supreme Court cases regarding federal power. In a unanimous decision, The court decided that the Federal Government had the right and power to set up a Federal bank and that states did not have the power to tax the Federal Government. Marshall ruled in favor of the Federal Government and concluded, “the power to tax involves the power to destroy." -
Missouri Compromise
This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana TerritoryThe main issue of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was how to deal with the spread of slavery into western territories. The compromise divided the lands of the Louisiana Purchase into two parts. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in December 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs.Monroe stated the Doctrine in negative terms,what the United States would oppose in the New World and what it would avoid doing in the Old,but he did not commit the United States to take any action to deal with impending or future European encroachments. -
Manifest Destiny
A phrase coined in 1845, is the idea that the United States is destined,by God,to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent. The idea of Manifest Destiny arose in response to the prospect of U.S. annexation of Texas and to a dispute with Britain over the Oregon Country. The rapid expansion of the United States intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, leading to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 allowed the addition of some free states and some slave states, strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act, and outlawed the slave trade, but not slavery in the nation's capital. It failed to settle the tensions that continued to divide the nation during the next decade and left the overall issue of slavery unsettled. Extremists in both sections were displeased with the Compromise. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Franklin Pierce signed An Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas into law on May 30, 1854. Written in an effort to arrest the escalating sectional controversy over the extension of slavery, the Act ironically fanned the flame of national division. It repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. -
Anaconda Plan
A military strategy proposed by Union General Winfield Scott early in the American Civil War to strangle the southern states by cutting off any imported supplies and halting cotton exports, They would surround the southern borders, keeping out supplies.Then the army would split the South in two, taking control of the Mississippi River.The plan called for a naval blockade of the Confederate littoral, a thrust down the Mississippi, and the strangulation of the South by Union land and naval forces. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act encouraged western migration by providing settlers with 160 acres of land in exchange for a nominal filing fee.Among its provisions was a fiveyear requirement of continuous residence before receiving the title tothe land and the settlers had to be,or in the process of becoming,US citizens.The main purpose was to help develop the American West and spur economic growth.Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862,which distributed millions of acres of land to individual settlers. -
Emancipation Proclamation
From the first days of the Civil War, enslaved people had acted to secure their own liberty.It confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. t added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened it both militarily and politically. Lincoln issued it on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
Battle of Gettysburg
T he Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point.This battle was significant because it allowed for Lincoln to release the Gettysburg Address. The First Battle of Bull Run was fought on July 21, 1861. This was the first sizeable engagement of the civil war. -
10% Reconstruction Plan
In December, President Lincoln proposed a reconstruction program that would allow Confederate states to establish new state governments after 10 percent of their male population took loyalty oaths and the states recognized the permanent freedom of formerly enslaved people.President Lincoln's 10 Percent Plan was not successful. The plan was unpopular with some Abolitionists, opposition from Radical Republicans. -
Wade-Davis Bill
Led by the Radical Republicans in the House and Senate, Congress passed the Wade-Davis bill on July 2, 1864—co-sponsored by Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Davis of Maryland—to provide for the admission to representation of rebel states upon meeting certain conditions. At the end of the Civil War, this bill created a framework for Reconstruction and the re-admittance of the Confederate states to the Union. -
14th Amendment
addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. The amendment was bitterly contested, particularly by the states of the defeated Confederacy, which were forced to ratify it in order to regain representation in Congress. The Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship, overruling the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott. -
Ghost Dance Movement
The Ghost Dance was associated with Wovoka's prophecy of an end to colonial expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans.Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance. Scholars interpret the end of the dance as a result of the US government forcing tribes to stop,fears of white settlers who saw it as a threat and tribes losing interest as the prophecies were not coming to pass. -
Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was a union founded in 1869-1949. Members consisted of skilled and unskilled workers, who rallied for 8 hour work days, equal pay for men and women, the abolition of child labor, improved safety in work factories, and compensation for on the job injury. Its founding marked the beginning of union activism in the era -
The Transcontinental Railroad
First train route across the United States that was finished in 1869. The route connected the east and west regions of the U.S. by rail for the first time in history. The transcontinental railroad began construction after the Pacific Railway Act was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before.The railroad also escalated conflicts between Native American tribes and settlers -
Standard Oil Company
John D. Rockefellers company, formed in 1870, came to symbolize the trusts and monopolies of the Gilded Age. By the turn of the century it had become a target for trust-busting reformers, and in 1911 the supreme court ordered it to break up into several dozen smaller companies. By 1877 standard oil controlled 95% of the oil refineries in the US & was one of the first multination corporations. At time it distributed more than half of the production outside the US. -
Womans Christian Temperance Union
Founded in 1874, this organization advocated for the prohibition of alcohol, using womens supposedly greater purity and morality as rallying point. Advocates of prohibition in the United States found common cause with activists elsewhere, especially in Britain, and in the 1880s they founded the World Womens Christian Temperance Union, which sent missionaries around the world to spread the gospel of temperance. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn,marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst US Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War.The demise of Custer and his men outraged many whites and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty.Custer was defeated because he made a lot of fundamental errors.He acted alone even though Gibbon's last words to him were "Custer, don't be greedy. Wait for us. Instead of going round the Wolf Mountains". -
The Gilded Age
"The gilded age", coined by Mark Twain, was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1896, which was between the reconstruction era and the progressive era, was a time of unprecedented growth of industry and technology in the united states following the civil war and lasting until the beginning of the 20th century. New communication gave rise to industrial production never before seen in the modern world and was a time of rapid economic growth, -
Chinese-Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplomats.Congress later extended the Act indefinitely. In China, merchants responded to the acts by organizing an anti-American boycott in 1905.Though the movement was not sanctioned by the Chinese government, it received unofficial support in the early months. -
Pendleton Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Act in 1883 reformed the civil service and established the united states civil service commission. It was passed by congress to prevent the constant reward to loyal party members. It provided that federal government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit other than political affiliation and that government employees be selected through competitive exam. The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons. -
Election of 1884
On November 5, 1884, democrat Grover Cleveland defeated Republican James G. Blaine ending a particularly a bitter and harsh campaign. The outcome of the presidential race was ddetermined by the electoral vote of New York, which Cleveland won with a plurality of just 1,047 votes. This election saw the first democrat elected president sin 1856. -
The Panic of 1893
The panic of 1893 was a depression set off by the failure of two of the largest employers in the country. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. The stock market plummeted as businesses that had borrowed heavily to invest in railroads went bankrupt. It deeply affected every sector of the economy. Unemployment and homlessness skyrocketed as workers were laid off putting nearly half the labor force out of work. Congress repealed the serman silver purchase act. -
The De Lome Letter
The De Lome letter was written by a spanish minister in washington, whereby he personally criticized president McKinley by calling him weak and concerned only with gaining the favor of the crowd. this angered americans and they became enraged and pushed hard for war. When the explosion of the USS Maine happened Americans pointed fingers at the Spanish, which gave them a reason to go to war. -
square deal
The square deal was theodore roosevelts domestic policy based on three basic ideas: protection of the consumer, control of large corporations, and conservation of natural resources. The deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government from one that was largely hands-off in temperament to one that took a much more active role in regulationg the excesses of many businesses and industries. It established a precedent that the President could establish legislative goals for his office. -
The Panama Canal
The United States built the Canal to have a quicker passage to the Pacific from the Atlantic and vice versa. It cost $400,000,000 to build. Columbians would not let Americans build the canal, but then with the assistance of the United States a Panamanian Revolution occurred. The new rulers allowed the United States to build the canal. It reduced shipping costs by cutting more than 7,000 miles and helped extend US naval power by allowing the fleets to move between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. -
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
IWW is an international, radical labor union that was founded in June 1905. The philosophy and tactics of the IWW are described as "revolutionary industrial unionism" with ties to both socialist and anarchist labor movements. They sought to organize workers along the lines of industrial unions rather than specialized trade or craft. They succeeded in organizing a group of workers who on the surface seemed to have very little in common. -
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair wrote the jungle to expose the appalling working conditions in the meat-packing industry. His description of diseased, rotten, and contaiminated meat shocked the public and led to new federal food safety laws. It did not change the lives of immagrant workers as Sinclair had hoped. However, the novel still played an important role in the Progressive movement. It raised public awareness of the unsanitary conditions in food processing plants and the resulting danger of tainted food -
Meat Inspection Act of 1906
This act was a piece of US legislation, signed by TR on June 30, 1906. It prohibited the sale of adulterated or misbranded livestock and derived products as food and ensured sanitary slaughtering and processing of livestock. The main purpose of this was to prevent and detect public health hazards such as foodborne pathogens or chemical contaminants in meat and gave the US department of agriculture the right to inspect and monitor slaughtering and processing operations. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
The fire killed 146 workers and injured dozens more. While trying to escape the fire, they encountered locked doors, broken fire escapes, and large machines. Many chose to leap from the building in desperation instead of succumbing to the blaze and smoke. The fire at Triangle Waist Company is widely considered a pivotal moment in history, leading to the transformation of the labor code of New York State and to the adoption of fire safety measures that served as a model for the whole country. -
Keating-Owen Act
The Keating-Owen Act limited the working hours of children and forbade the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. The Supreme Court later ruled it unconstitutional. Since the federal government did not have direct power to regulate working conditions in the states, Congress used its authority under the Commerce Clause to try and indirectly impact child labor. Thus the Keating Owen Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Zimmerman Telegram
February 1917 telegram sent by the German foreign secretary, Arthur Zimmermann, to the German minister in Mexico.The telegram suggested that in the event that Germany and the US went to war, Mexico would regain "lost territories" in the southwest if it declared war on the US. The British intercepted the telegram and passed it on to the US, leading to an escalation of tensions between the US and Germany. -
The Alien & Sedition Act of 1918
The Act was passed in preparation for an anticipated war with France, the Alien and Sedition Acts tightened restrictions on foreign-born Americans and limited speech critical of the government. It was a crime to convey information intended to interfere with the war effort. Later, the Sedition Act imposed harsh penalties for a wide range of dissenting speech, including speech abusing the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution, and the military. -
The Volstead Act
The Act specified that "no person shall manufacture, sell, barter, transport, import, export, deliver, furnish or possess any intoxicating liquor except as authorized by this act." It did not specifically prohibit the purchase or use of intoxicating liquors, (WW), implemented the 18th Admendment. It established illegal alcohol at above .5%, but then comes the speakeasies, The act that was passed to define what "Hard Liquor" was and set up the law enforcement apparatus to police prohibition. -
Red Scare
Most instense outbreak of national alarm, began in 1919. Success of communists in Russia, American radicals embracing communism followed by a series of mail bombings frightened Americans. MItchell Palmer led effort to deport aliens without due processs, with widespread support. Did not last long as some Americans came to their senses. It cut back on free speech for a period and helped businessman to stop labor strikes, since the hysteria caused many people to want to eliminate any Communists. -
Palmer Raids
A 1920 operation coordinated by Attorney General Mitchel Palmer in which federal marshals raided the homes of suspected radicals and the headquarters of radical organization in 32 cities, series of controversial raids by the U.S. Justice and Immigration Departments from 1919 to 1921 on suspected radical leftists in the United States. Palmer authorized the raids and arrested and jailed suspected communists. Often times innocent immigrants who had not committed a crime were arrested and jailed. -
Ku Klux Klan
The KKK was formed as a social group in Tennessee in 1866 but didnt become popular until 1920s. The name probably came from the Greek word kuklos, meaning "circle." The Ku Klux Klan was a loosely organized group of political and social terrorists during the Reconstruction, whose goals included political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance of absolute white supremacy in response to newly gained civil and political rights by southern blacks after the Civil War. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was created after the First World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. It was formed to prevent a repetition of the First World War, but within two decades this effort failed. Economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation (particularly in Germany) eventually contributed to World War II. -
Dust Bowl
The dust bowl was a period of severe dust storms that contributed to the Great depressions bank closures, buusiness losses, increased unemployment, and other physical and emotional hardships of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. the dust bowl was caused by farmers poorly managing their crop rotations, causing the ground to dry up and turn into dust. the dust bowl caused many who lived in rural america to move to urban areas in search of work. -
Smoot Hawley Tariff
A high tariff enacted in 1930 during the Great Depression. By taxing imported goods, Congress hoped to stimulate American manufacturing, but the tariff triggered retaliatory tariffs in other countries, which further hindered global trade and led to greater economic contraction. -
Bonus March
Group of WWI veterans who were supposed to be given economic relief from the government due to their involvement in the war. However, in 1932 the deadline for the veterans was pushed back by the government to a latter date thus causing the group to march onto Washington to demand their money. Excessive force was used to disband these protesters, and because they were veterans and heroes of this country, Hoover's popularity plummeted because of it. -
Glass-Steagall Act
A 1933 law that created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insured deposits up to 2,500 (and now up to 250,000). Also prohibited banks from making risky, unsecured investments with customers' deposits. -
Public Works Administration
The PWA was a large scale public works construction agency in the US. It was created by the national industrial recovery act in june 1933 in response to the great depression. the administration created the PWA in an attempt to help the US economy recover after the great depression. Its major objective was to reduce unemployment, which was up to 24% of the work force. furthermore the pwa also aimed at increasing purchase power by making new public buildings and roads. -
Federal Housing Administration
1934, Insured loans made by banks and other private lenders for home building and home buying. The goals of this organization are: to improve housing standards and conditions; to provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans; and to stabilize the mortgage market. -
Indian Reorganization Act
The Indian Reorganization Act, reverses the U. S. policy favoring Indian assimilation and becomes the basis for United States policies that recognize the right of self-determination for Native Americans. it conserved and developed Indian lands and resources; to extend to Indians the right to form business and other organizations; to establish a credit system for Indians; to grant certain rights of home rule to Indians; to provide for voca- tional education for Indians; and for other purposes. -
Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1936
During the 1930s, the United States introduced several Neutrality Acts in response to the growing threat of war in Europe and in Asia. The main objective of these Acts was to keep the U.S. out of another world war. it barred Americans from lending money to warring nations or selling them arms. The laws did not differentiate between aggressive nations and the countries they invaded, enforcing complete neutrality. -
Lend-Lease Act
Passed on March 11, 1941, this act set up a system that would allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States." The lend-lease program provided for military aid to any country whose defense was vital to the security of the United States. The plan thus gave Roosevelt the power to lend arms to Britain with the understanding that, after the war, America would be paid back in kind. -
Executive Order 8802
In June of 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, banning discriminatory employment practices by federal agencies and all unions and companies engaged in war-related work. While it ensured African Americans could receive fair employment, it often failed to provide the same protections to Mexican Americans because of America's foreign policy in regard to Latin American nations. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor was the unprovoked aerial attack on the United States by Japan. Before the attack, many Americans didnt want to become involved in the war in Europe. This all changed when the US declared war on Japan, bringing the country into World War II.Following the attack, Congress declared war on Japan, bringing America into World War II. All of the Pearl Harbor battleships save three, were raised, rebuilt, and put back into service during the war. -
World Bank
The original goals of the World Bank were to support European and Asian countries needing financing to fund post-war reconstruction efforts. the World Bank outlasted the collective international monetary system which was central to the Bretton Woods Agreement. Based on Great Britain's national bank, Hamilton wanted the government to develop bank branches in major cities, a uniform currency, and a place for the federal government to deposit or borrow money when needed. -
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
The IMF works to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of its 190 member countries. It does so by supporting economic policies that promote financial stability and monetary cooperation, which are essential to increase productivity, job creation, and economic well-being. The IMF was established in 1944 in the aftermath of the Great Depression of the. 44 founding member countries sought to build a framework for international economic cooperation. -
D-Day
The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the allied armies in what became known as the largest invasion force in human history. After D-Day, the days of the German resistance were numbered. Paris was liberated in August 1944 as the Allies pushed slowly eastward. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was moving into German territory as well. Hitler, at the Battle of the Bulge, launched a final unsuccessful counteroffensive in December 1944. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting of the Big Three in February 1945,to decide what would happen to Europe and Germany after WW2 (Germany wasn't defeated yet).
While a number of important agreements were reached at the conference, tensions over European issues—particularly the fate of Poland—foreshadowed the crumbling of the Grand Alliance that had developed between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union during World War II and hinted at the Cold War to come. -
Truman Doctrine
A U.S. foreign policy, established in 1947 by President Harry S. Truman, providing economic and military aid to countries that were attempting to resist communism. Truman Doctrine committed the US to a foreign policy based on Kennan's strategy of containment. Truman hoped to stop the spread of communism, limiting the system to countries in which it already existed. Underlying his policy was the assumption that the Soviet Union sought world domination. -
Taft-Hartley Act
Passed in 1947, the act rolled back many rights that labor unions had won from the FDR administration. It was condemned by labor leaders as a "slave labor law". It outlawed the "closed" shop, made unions liable for damages that resulted from jurisdictional disputes among themselves, and required union leaders to take a non-communist oath. -
American GI Forum
The American GI Forum was created by Dr. Hector P. Garcia because of the discrimination in South Texas towards the Mexican-American with employment, education, and Veteran hospital treatment. Most of the discrimination was towards Hispanics, but the American GI Forum was focused on the Mexican-American veteran.In the same decade the forum helped thousands of Mexican Americans in the Rio Grande valley to register to vote, and incidents of police brutality were confronted in forum efforts. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
NATO was an organization created in 1949 to assist in providing protection against the Soviet Union. The organization was originally established by The United States, Canada, and some Western European countries but has expanded over the years. NATO's fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies' freedom and security by political and military means. NATO remains the principal security instrument of the transatlantic community and expression of its common democratic values. -
Sunbelt Migration
Following World War II, the U.S. pop. began to shift from older northern cities and toward the Sunbelt, a region consisting of 15 states in the south and southwestern US. People started moving because the gov. provided low interest mortgage rates, the interstate highway act, and the baby boom. New types of businesses and industries, aerospace, defense and military, and oil moved from the North to the Sun Belt as the region was cheaper and there were fewer labor unions. -
Brown V. Board of education
Supreme Court decision that overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision (1896); led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court ruled that "separate but equal" schools for blacks were inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. The decision energized the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal. -
Sputnik
In October 1957, the Soviet Union surprised the world by launching Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. The resulting outcry in the United States, especially fears that the Soviets were ahead in both space exploration and military missiles, forced the Eisenhower administration to increase defense spending and accelerate America's space program. -
Sit in 1960
4 students at NC college sat down at whites-only lunch counter. The black students remained seated and would not move. They believed that the Supreme Court's Brown decision of 1954 should have ended the indignities of racial ldiscrimination and segregation, but it didnt. Six months later, after prolonged sitins, boycotts, and demonstrations, and violent white resistance, Greensboro's white civic leaders grudgingly allowed blacks to sit down at restaurants and be served. -
Bay of Pigs
CIA operation to overthrow Fidel Castro by landing 1200 disgruntled Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs. Fails miserably and is a huge embarrassment for Kennedy, who then vows to bring down Castro. Forces Cuba ever further into the arms of the USSR. -
Freedom Rides
The Freedom Rides of 1961 was a revolutionary movement where black and white people refused to sit in their designated areas of buses to protest segregation. Blacks sat in the front of the bus and whites sat in the back, opposite of the usual arrangements. There were multiple different rides from several different locations and a variety of people. At every stop, the freedom riders would use the opposite segregated facilities such as bathrooms, restaurants, and water fountains. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
enabled the federal gov. to prevent racial discrimination and segregation based on race, color, religion, or national origin in a number of areas such as in private businesses and public facilities. These included restaurants, transport, parks, swimming pools, libraries, and theaters. The law also gave the federal gov more power to bring lawsuits to force school desegregation. The law established the EEOC and provided the commission on civil rights with additional powers regarding civil rights -
Young Lords Organization
The Young Lords Organization in NYC modeled the Black Panthers. They staged street demonstrations to protest the high unemployment rate among the city's Puerto Ricans and the lack of city services in Latino neighborhoods.