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Sep 26, 1492
Chrisopher Columbus is in the New World
Christopher Columbus lands in the New World and ushers in an era of slavery, torture, imprisonement and death for the local natives. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers fired on a group of mostly unarmed civilians, killing 5. -
No taxation without representation
The British tax and govern the American colonists without any form of governmental representation on the colonists part. -
Period: to
AMERICA
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British Impressment
Biritsh Capture and force American sailors into their navy. -
Slavery
Many Africans are captured and shipped out of Africa as part of the triangle trade. They are then shipped to the US, where their lives are governed by their masters. They are beaten, tortured and worked hard for most of their day hours, and are given no rights in politics or society. -
Reservations
The american government starts putting Indians on reservations. Many agents incharge of these reservations were corrupt which lead to very poor living conditions for the Indians. -
US v Reese
This supreme court case upheld the poll tax, literacy test, and grandfather clause that helped to undermine the voting privledges of the blacks. -
Carlisle Indian School
Carlisle Indian School was founded to teach Native American kids how to be white. -
White Man's Path
Some people wanted to convert the Indians to be more like white men. "Kill the Indian but save the man," was a popular term. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese Immigration is outlawed. The Chinese in America are not allowed to become citizens. It would not be repealed for over 50 years. -
Sun Dance
Religous zealots outlawed the Sun Dance. -
Haymarket Riot
Labor Unions and Anarchists striking and protesting start a riot. A unknown person throws a bomb, and that, as well as gunfire from police, kills 8 police officers and an unknown number of civilians. 8 anarchists are tried for murder: one commits suicide, and four are convicted and executed. The defense believes that known of those convicted actually through the bomb. -
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act was passed and gave Indians a chunk of land to farm. This attempted to destroy the tribes. -
Gilded Age
Unions striked for better wages and were delt with harshly by the government. People were jailed and shot for strikeing. -
Wounded Knee
Soldiers massacred Indians at Wounded Knee Creek. -
Lynching
Illegal killings commited by mobs in the name of justice, especially in terms of blacks, called lynchings, occured frequently from reconstruction until the mid 20th century. Most political and law officals turn a blind eye on lynching, while some even participate or help cover up. 1892 was the year with the most lynchings in America. -
Homestead Strike
A strike at Homestead Steel Works, in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Henry Clay Frick, of the Carnegie Steel Mill calls in private detectives and requests troops. The Pinkertons were given rifles and attempted to break up the strikes. Shots were fired on both sides and a firefight began, killing some of the workers. -
Coxey's Army
Coexy lead a group of unemployed people to go protest on the white house lawn. The leaders of this protest were arrested. -
Pullman Strike
A strike between railroads and Labor unions that began on May 11, 1894, where 3000 employees of Pullman Pallace Car Company, in Pullman, Illinois, began a strike due to reduction of wages. President Cleaveland ordered troops and federal marshals in to resolve the situation: 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Supreme Court rules that states that segregate blacks and whites are constitutionally allowed to as long as the segregation is "Seperate but Equal". This leads to years of racial segregation well into the mid 20th century. -
Philippine-American War
During this war, American soldiers used brutal turture methods on the natives. -
TR Calls in Troops
Theodore Rosevelt calls in troops to end the coal miners strike in Pennsylvania. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Firewas the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York. The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers, most of them women and young girls, many being immigrants, who either died from the fire or jumped from the fatal height. Most of the workers could not escape the burning building because the managers locked the doors to the stairwells and exits to keep them from leaving early. -
Womans Suffrage
Women all across the country were protesting and wanting to vote. The National Woman's party, led by Alice Paul, protested the war. The larger part of the suffrage movement, represented by the National American Woman Suffrage Association, supported Wilson's war. They had not yet been able to vote, except for a few states out west. Women were arrested for protesting, crimes against the suffragists were often neglected by police and courts, and many women were jailed, in which many were abused. -
selective service act of 1917
A draft was issued to for men ages 18-45 that met the physical requirements. There were only so many recruits and the U.S. needed to raise an army fast. No one could purchase a subsitute. Many were jailed for refusing to go to war and obey the draft. -
Espionage Act of 1917
It prohibited any attempt to interfere with military operations, to support America's enemies during wartime, to promote insubordination in the military, or to interfere with military recruitment. -
Workers and Laborers
Workers were discouraged from striking by the War Department's decree in 1918 that threatened any unemployed male with drafting. The Industrial Workers of the World were victims of some of the worst working conditions in the country. At the end of the war, the American Federation of Labor membership had more increased drastically. -
Sedition Act of 1918
The Sedition Act of 1918 forbade the use of "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the United States government, its flag, or its armed forces or that caused others to view the American government or its institutions with contempt. -
Schenck v US
Schenk v US was a United States Supreme Court decision that upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 and concluded that the defendant did not have a First Amendment right to freedom of speech against the draft, the government and the military during World War I that they would otherwise. Ultimately, the case established the "clear and present danger" test. -
Steel Strike of 1919
The greatest strike in American history hit the steel industry. More than 250,000 steelworkers walked off their jobs in an attempt to force their employers to recognize their right to organize and bargain collectively. The steel companies resisted and refused to negotiate. The companies brought blacks to keep the mills running. After several deadly confrontations, the strike collapsed, marking large setback that crippled the union movement for 10 years. -
Red Scare
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer rounds up suspected communists. Threats are then made against his life. -
The Nineteenth Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each state and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's gender. -
New KKK
The KKK became anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti-pacifist, anti-Communist, anti-internationalist, anti-revolutionist, anti-bootlegger, anti-gambling, anti-adultery, and anti-birth control. At its peak it reached about 5 million members. -
Prohibition
Starting January 1st, 1920, the sale, purchase, production, and transportation of alchohol is made illegal. Many, who had been in a legal business months before, were now considered criminals and could either leave their trade or operate in secrecy, with fear of arrest. This lasts from 1920 to 1933 with the passing of the twenty first amendment, a key part to FDRs party platform. -
Bonus Expeditionary Force
World War one veterans, and their families, marched on washington D.C. demanding their veteran's bonus payment. Over 20000 people were there. They made campsights; President Hoover ordered the military to break them up. Riots ensued, and campsights and belongings were destroyed and burned. Shots were fired, and two veterans were injured and later died of their injuries -
Bataan Death March
American and Filipino military and civilian personel captured by the Japanese were forcibly transfered by marching a 60 mile trail. The Japanese, who never agreed to the Geneva convention's international law, tortured and brutally killed anyone who resisted, fell down, or was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Over 6000 men were killed, a starvation and dehydration was high. There were accounts that many went without food and only a sip of water in about a week. -
Japanese American Internment
Franklin D. Roosevelt passes an executive order allowing military personel the ability to round up citizen and non-citizens, such as the Japanese Americans, and put them in camps in designated military districts. They were held there from 1942 to the end of the war, due to fears of espionage and sabotage. Very few were a threat to America, but were held anyway. -
Korematsu v US
Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American man who resisted internment, attempted to change his identity and was caught. He brought his case to the supreme court argueing that Japanese internment was unconstitutional. In a 6-3 decision, the constitutionality of Japanese internment for the nation's security was upheld. -
Holocaust
General Eisenhower's troops, closing in and surrounding Germany, for the first time uncovered the horrors of the six million jews and other that were put in Nazi concentration camps. Nearly all of these people were innocent, and were only targeted for their religion, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. They were forced out of their homes and into camps, where many suffered through hard labor, little food and disease. Those that managed through those conditions were often shot or gased in mass. -
Loyalty Oaths
Truman passes a law that required government employies to swear an oath to the United states against communism. -
McCarran Internal Security Bill
Congress passes this bill, allowing the government to arrest and detain suspicious persons on grounds of internal security. -
Senator Joe McCarthy
Senator Joe McCarthy begins an anti communist campaign that blacklists all suspected communtists, ruining their careers and social standing, without any evidence. -
Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Supreme court case that rules against segregation in schools, finally reversing the previous case,. Plessy V Ferguson. -
The Vietnam War Draft
The Vietnam war started, and young men were drafted into the military to fight an unpopular war agianst their will.
