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Australian/secret ballot; direct primaries, initiative, referendum, recall
This was a new ballot system and it would allow for people to not been seen when casting their vote which allowed the political machines to have less power over others. -
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Scientific Management
This was an idea to help factory work even more efficient. Every worker would be timed and then recommendations would be made to save time and increase productivity and profit. -
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Muckrakers
A group of journalist who raked up the muck of American corruption for all to see. -
Atlanta Compromise
This was a speech given by Booker T. Washington where he advocated for African Americans to focus on vocational education and economic self improvement rather than immediate social and political equality. -
Spanish-American War
The US wanted to expand so when one of their ships blew up in the Cuban harbor, they decided to blame it on Spain. The US would win and we would gain more territories. -
Annexation of Hawaii
We needed some islands in the Pacific. We found Hawaii and we our American settlers overthrow the Hawaiian monarch. So after we had taken the Philippines we annexed Hawaii too. -
Open Door Policy
John Hay sent a note to the European powers that were in China where he asked them to observe an open door trading privileges in China so that the US could trade with China. -
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Philippine-American War
After the Spanish American war we got the Philippines. We did not give them rights so they revolted and we fought a war against the. -
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Square Deal
Teddy Roosevelt would try to have a fair deal for both sides of an issue. In the past most presidents would side with big business. Now Roosevelt would work for both to reach a deal. -
Roosevelt Corollary
Foreign policy that stated that the US would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors. -
Niagara Movement
A movement led by W.E.B. DuBois who organized a group of black intellectuals who met frequently to plan protests and acts that would secure right for the black population. -
Meat Inspection Act
This was a law passed by Congress after The Jungle was written and it assured customers that meat packing plants would conform to a minimum standard of sanitation. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
This act assured customers that their meat was thumbless. -
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Dollar Diplomacy
This was a foreign policy where the US would increase its influence through economic investment and loans to other countries. -
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Great Migration
During the Great Depression, thousands of the southern black population left the south in order to settle in the North and Midwest in order to find better jobs and opportunities and escape racism. -
Election of 1912
In this election Woodrow Wilson defeated Theodore Roosevelt to win the presidential election. -
Seventeenth Amendment
This amendment transferred the responsibility of electing senators from the state legislators into the hands of the people. -
Federal Reserve Act
This act reestablished the Federal Reserve System, which was the Untied States' central banking system. -
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Moral Diplomacy
The system in which support is given only to other countries whose beliefs aligned with the other country. -
Clayton Antitrust Act
This act was to help increase the strength of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This was to help break up even more trusts. -
Federal Trade Commission
This was a commission set up to help regulate trusts and monopolies. -
Panama Canal
The US needed a quicker way to get ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific so they bought a stretch of land in Panama to build a canal through it. -
Lusitania
A passenger ship called the Lusitania was traveling around the British Isles and a German sub sank it. On this ship there was 128 Americans that were killed. This enraged the American people but we were not in the war just yet. -
Zimmermann Telegram
A note sent to Mexico from the Germans who asked Mexico to attack the US so that the US would not interfere with the War over in Europe. -
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American Expeditionary Force
This was a group led by John J. Pershing and at first they just helped to fill in any gaps in the French and British lines. Later on the Americans would take over operations in Europe due to the amount of troops we had over in Europe. -
Eighteenth Amendment(Prohibition)
The eighteenth established American Prohibition. The sale of alcohol was illegal now. -
Schenck v. United States
This case said that some first amendment rights could be taken away and limited depending on if there was a clear and present danger. You cannot scream fire in a crowded theater. -
First Red Scare
After WWI there was anxiety that the Communist would start spreading radical ideas into the US, so they decided to try to weed out any suspected communists they found. -
Treaty of Versailles
WWI was officially ended at this treaty. At this treaty the League of Nations was set up to help avoid any future problems. -
Nineteenth Amendment
This gave women the right to vote. -
Lost Generation
This name was in reference to a group of writers whose main themes were focused on the pervasive materialism that plagued American culture and the waste of life and resources from WWI -
Ku Klux Klan
During this time the Klan had reached their peak and they were discriminating against everyone. They opposed immigrants, African Americans, Jews, Catholics etc. They only wanted whites that were born in America. -
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Jazz Age
During the Harlem renaissance, Jazz is born with the help of musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. -
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Harlem Renaissance
This was a revival of the arts and intellectual pursuits that occurred in Harlem New York after the Great Migration. -
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
They were a pair of Italians who were convicted of murdering a guard and robbing a shoe factory. Many believed that the two were framed due to the fact that they were immigrants and also anarchists. -
Emergency Quota Act
This was an act that limited the immigration into the United States. This was in response to fears that Eastern European Immigrants would bring radical ideas into the US. -
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Washington Conference
This was an international conference where world powers agreed to limit their naval armaments and this was to address tensions in the Pacific after WW1. -
Dawes Plan
This was a set of recommendations that helped Germany pay reparations to the Allies after WW1. -
National Origins Act
This was a federal law that significantly reduced immigration from Asia. This effectively bared Asian immigration. -
Scope's Trial
John Scopes of Tennessee wanted to teach kids about Darwin's theory of evolution. He was arrested and then was defended. Scope's ultimately was found guilty but he only had to pay the minimum punishment. -
Kellogg-Briand Treaty
This was an international agreement that outlawed war and it would also be known as the Pact of Paris. -
Wall Street Crash
During this time the stock market was artificially inflated because many people bought stocks on credit so they couldn't really pay for it. At some point everyone started to sell more and more of their stocks which lead to its crash. -
Dust Bowl
This was a period of severe dust storms and droughts that devastated the American midwest. -
Bonus March
This was a march by WW1 Vets who marched on DC to demand an early payment of their promised bonuses. They were not successful and Hoover looked bad for sending in the police and Army to take care of the Vets. -
Election of 1932
This election was between Hoover and FDR. FDR would go on to win this election. FDR was also the first democrat to win the presidency by a majority vote in 80 years. -
AAA
The agricultural adjustment act and it was created to help farmers during the Great Depression and it offered farmers subsidies to limit crop production and raise prices. -
CCC
The Civilian Conservation Corps which employed young men between the ages of 18-24 to manage soil conservation and forest projects. -
NRA
This was the National Recovery Administration who worked to help increase employment by limiting hours and starting public works acts. -
TVA
The Tennessee Valley Authority which hired people to run electric power plants which did not work to control flooding and erosion. -
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Good Neighbor Policy
This was a foreign policy that encouraged US cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the Western Hemisphere. -
WPA
The works progress administration that employed millions of people to work on public works during the Great Depression. -
Wagner Act
This act helped protect and guaranteed worker's rights to form unions and bargain with employers. -
Social Security Act
This law provided a safety net of income for workers over the age of 65. Part of the worker's wages were held back and then returned back to them after they had reached retirement age. -
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Neutrality Acts
This was a plan to keep the US out of foreign conflicts and to keep the US neutral. -
Court Reorganization Plan
This was a proposed plan from FDR and he wanted to add more justices to the Supreme Court so that he could keep his New Deal policies alive since the Supreme court was trying to say that the New Deal policies were not constitutional. -
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Recession of 1937-1938
This was a severe economic recession that occurred during the Great Depression and it was the third worst recession of the 20th century US. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
This established minimum wage, overtime pay, and child labor protections. This was to help protect workers. -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7th 1941, the Japanese navy sent aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor. This was the main cause of why the US became involved in WW2. -
Four Freedoms
During FDR's state of union address where he talked about the four freedoms that everyone should have such as the freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. This was to help encourage the American people to help join in the war effort. -
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Double V Campaign
This was a new campaign that was created by the NAACP which encouraged black Americans to work together for victory in the war and victory against racism at home. -
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Braceros
This was a program that federally sponsored labor programs that would that was to help address the US labor shortage caused by WW2. It was to help bring in migrants, mainly men, into the US from Mexico to work on short contracts in the US. -
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Manhattan Project
A scientific form of experiments that was to help develop a Nuclear Bomb. This would allow for the US to have an Atomic Bomb to help end the war if needed. -
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Island-Hopping
This was a military strategy used by the US during WW2 in the pacific theater where the US selectively captured important islands and jumped from island to island to help beat the Japanese. -
Korematsu v. United States
Korematsu was a Japanese American who was ordered to go into a Japanese interment camp. He choose not to comply and he was therefore arrested. The Supreme court rule that the Japanese Relocation was constitutional on the grounds that it was a necessity that arose rom the danger of espionage and sabotage. -
D-Day
The D-Day invasion was when the US, Britain, and Canadian forces invaded France. This was to make the war a two front war. It was the largest amphibious invasion in history and it was to allow for the allied powers to push the Germans back to Berlin. -
G.I. Bill
This was a bill that would help US vets from WW2 that would help vets gain financial aid and educational opportunities in order to help them transition from military life back into civilian life. -
Hiroshima
The first city to be attacked by a nuclear bomb. The city was destroyed. -
Truman Doctrine
This was a plan by the US after the war and it would be where the US would offer money to the European nations. -
Nagasaki
The second city that was nuked. The city was obliterated. -
Yalta
This was a conference before the end of the war and here the allied powers decided on how they were going to split up Germany after the war. This would include the division of Germany and the establishment of the UN. -
United Nations
This was to solve the problems of the League of Nations. The UN was more powerful now and it would help to avoid any problems in the future. -
Potsdam
This was a meeting that was held with the allied leaders where they would determine how they would run Germany after the war was over. -
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Cold War
This was a "war" that was over differing economic ideologies over capitalism and communism. The US and the USSR emerged as the superpowers after WW2 and they were diametrically opposed. -
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Globalization
This is when regional societies, economies, and cultures became joined together through international trade, transportation and communication. -
Taft-Hartley Act
This act was passed as a response to massive labor strikes and this act made it harder for workers to strike. -
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Baby Boom
After WW2 when the vets got home they started getting married and started having a lot of kids. The US population increased by over 50 million people. -
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Second Red Scare
After WW2 there was another red scare where the US was afraid that Soviet Communism would invade into the US, so the US was afraid that Communism was spreading. So they would arrest anyone that they accused of Communism. -
Marshall Plan
This was a plan where the US would spend almost 13 billion dollars into European countries to help them rebuild after WW2. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization where they would enter a military alliance in order to resist any aggressive actions of the Soviet Union. -
Sunbelt
This is when the Southern and Southwestern states had economic growth and demographic growth. -
Beatniks
The Beatniks or the beat generation who challenged the cultural conformity of the age. -
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Korean War
Korea used to be a Japanese colony and after WW2 the USSR and the US split Korean down the middle on the 38th parallel. The North Koreans pushed into South Korea and almost conquered the entire peninsula but the South Koreans with the help of the US and the UN were able to push the North Koreans back to the 38th parallel. -
Levittown
These were towns that were created by the William J. Levitt and these "towns" helped to set up the modern suburban community. Now more people could afford housing and they could live outside of the city now. -
Operation Ajax
This was a US and British instigated Iranian army led coup. Its objectives were to were to help protect British oil interests in Iran. -
Brown v. Board of Education
This was when Oliver Brown whose daughter had to attend a black school that was over a mile away from her house rather than a white school that was around the corner. This case would overturn Plessy v. Ferguson and it made segregation illegal now. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
This was a boycott that was in retaliation to Rosa Parks being arrested. The boycott was to pressure the city bus system so that they would end the policy that black passengers would yield their seats. -
Interstate Highway Act
This was an act created by Eisenhower and it created highways that allowed for people to travel quickly from suburbs to urban areas. -
Sputnik
This was the first blow in the space race. The Russians launched a satellite into space and they were the first to a satellite into space. The satellite was named Sputnik. -
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
This was an American Student organization that flourished in the mid to late 1960s where they advocated against the Vietnam war. -
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Sit-In Movement
This was when African American students would sit at segregated lunch counters in public places and refuse to leave when asked. -
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Counterculture
This was a social and cultural movement that rejected mainstream American values and advocated for peace, love, and social change. -
Farewell Address (Eisenhower)
In Eisenhower's farewell address he warned the American people about the growing influence of the military-industrial complex. He expressed concern about the potential for excessive power and influence wielded by the defense industry. -
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Flexible Response
This gave the president the ability to select from nonmilitary options as well as military options when responding to a crisis. -
Silent Spring
This is a book written by Rachel Carson and it was a landmark in environmentalism that examines the detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment and human health. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The US found out that Cuba had nuclear missiles so the US imposed a blockade on any such weapons to block them from entering the country. The crisis was averted after the US agreed to take out their nukes from Turkey and to not invade Cuba. -
March on Washington
This was the crowing moment in the civil rights movement where more than 200,000 civil rights activists gathered on the lawn of the Washington Monument in front of the Lincoln Memorial and it was where MLK delivered his I Have a Dream speech. -
The Feminine Mystique
This was a book written by Betty Friedan and it officially launched the second-wave of feminism. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
This was a congressional resolution passed in 1964 and it authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to take military action in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act made discrimination on the basis of race religion or sex illegal. -
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Great Society
This was a set of domestic programs that were launched in the 1960s to address poverty, inequality, and racial injustice. -
Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965
This act would go on to abolish the national origin quota system that was set up after WW1. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
This act prohibited racial discrimination in the voting booth by outlawing literacy tests and poll taxes. -
Malcom X
He was another Civil Rights activist where he said that the only way to equality was to counter white violence with black violence. -
Black Panthers
This was a black militant group that were formed to secure black rights through violence if necessary. -
Tet Offensive
This was a massive surprise attack carried out by the North Vietnamese and this inflicted heavy casualties. -
Election of 1968
This is the election where Richard Nixon won and he became the president of the US. -
Stonewall Riot
These riots were a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ rights and it helped to spark the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement. -
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Vietnamization
This was a policy that implemented by President Nixon during the Vietnam war, where the US would start to gradually withdraw its troops from South Vietnam while also training the South Vietnamese and giving them supplies. -
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Détente
This was a policy of easing tensions between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. -
Kent State
This was shootings that occurred when the Ohio national guard killed four students that were protesting the US invasion of Cambodia. -
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers that had top secret Department of Defense study that detailed US involvement in Vietnam from 1945-1967. -
Watergate
This is when a group associated with Nixon's reelection broke into the Democrat National Convention and they planted listening devices in there. -
Equal Rights Amendment
This was a proposed constitutional amendment that aimed to guarantee equal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. -
War Powers Act
It is a law that limits the president's ability to start or increase military action outside of the US. -
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
President Nixon signed the EPA into law and it was set up to address inefficient environmental laws. -
Roe v. Wade
This was a landmark Supreme court case that established a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion based on the right to privacy, effectively legalizing abortion nationwide. -
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Stagflation
This was a term coined by a Washington Post Columnist Joesph Kraft to describe the simultaneous occurrence of high inflation, high unemployment, and stagnant economic growth. -
Indian Self-Determination Act
This allowed Native American Tribes greater autonomy by allowing them to contract with the Federal government to operate programs serving their communities. -
Regents of California v. Bakke
This was a Supreme court case centered around the issue of affirmative action and the ruling was that while the white race can be considered as a factor in college admissions, universities cannot use strict racial quotas to reserve spots for minority students. -
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Reaganomics
The economic policies implemented by President Ronald Regan and it was based on the theory of supply side economics and it advocated for large tax cuts, deregulation, and a reduced goverment spending and the idea was that it would help stimulate economic growth. -
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Iran-Contra Affair
This was a political scandal during the Reagan administration that involved secret weapon sales and funding for the Contras. -
Breakup of the Soviet Union
This event was when the Soviet Union broke up and this event officially marked the end of the Cold War and Europe was redrawn due to former Russian territories being released. -
Persian Gulf War
This was the first major conflict after the Cold War and it marked a new era of military engagement. It was because Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and gained control of its oil. This war was to liberate Kuwait. -
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
This was a trading pact between the US, Canada, and Mexico where they aimed to eliminate trade barriers and boost economic cooperation. -
Contract with America
It was a legislative agenda advocated by the Republican Party and it detailed the actions the Republicans promised to take if they became the majority leaders in the House of Representatives and it reduced the size of the government. -
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Dot-Com Boom
This is when there was a rapid rise of internet based stock prices due to the assumption that they would increase. -
Bush v. Gore
This was a Supreme court case that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. -
9/11
This is when there was a terrorist flew planes into the World Trade Towers in NYC and it changed the world as we knew it. Security became much stronger. -
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War on Terror
This is the global campaign launched by the US following 9/11 and it was focused on combating terrorist groups. -
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War in Afghanistan
This was a US led military campaign launched in 2001 and it followed the 9/11 attacks and it was focused on stopping the Taliban regime. -
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Iraq War
This was a US lead military invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime. -
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Great Recession
This was a great economic downturn during 2007 to 2009 and it was after the burst of the US housing bubble and the gloal financial crisis. -
Obamacare
This was an act to help expand health insurance coverage, protect consumers, and reformed the health insurance market. -
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Arab Spring
This is a series of pro democracy uprisings and protests that swept across the Middle East and North Africa. -
Death of Osama Bin Laden
On May 2, Navy Seals raided a compound in Pakistan and killed Osama Bin Laden who was the leader of Al-Qaeda. -
Tea Party
This was a movement that focused on a significant reduction in the size and scope of the government. This movement also advocated for a national economy operating without government oversight. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
This Supreme court case legalized same-sex marriage in the US. -
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Covid-19 Pandemic
This was a global pandemic that originated in China and spread throughout the world. Millions died from it.