U.S. History: 1887-2008

By william.nash
  • 1776 BCE

    early us history

    1776 1860
    July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence signed
    September 17, 1787: Constitution written
    December 15, 1791: Bill of Rights ratified
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    Civil War/Reconstruction

    1869: Transcontinental Railroad Completed
    1876: Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell
    13th Amendment: abolished slavery
    14th Amendment: citizenship & due process
    15th Amendment: voting for all male citizens
    Plessy v. Ferguson: legalized segregation, established “separate but equal”
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    The Gilded Age

    Rockefeller/Carnegie (Captains of Industry vs. Robber Barons)
    Philanthropy
    Monopoly
    Jane Addams
    Laissez-Faire
    1889: Hull House founded, first of many settlement houses
    1896-1899: Klondike Gold Rush (Alaska)
    Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): prohibited immigration of skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers, first US national immigration act
    Interstate Commerce Act (1887): ensure railroad set “reasonable and just” rate and the first time government stepped in to regulate business
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    The Progressive Era

    Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890): outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness
    Meat Inspection Act (1906): law that makes it illegal to adulterate or misbrand meat
    Pure Food and Drug Act (1906): regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines
    Federal Reserve Act (1914): established the Federal Reserve, which helped stabilize the banking industry
    16th Amendment: established the federal income tax
    17th Amendment: direct election of U.S. Senators
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    Imperialism

    1898: USS Maine explodes off the coast of Cuba, starting the Spanish American War
    1898: Hawaii is annexed as a territory of the United StatesOpen Door Policy (1899): initiated free trade with China
    Roosevelt Corollary (1904): an addition to the Monroe Doctrine
    Dollar Diplomacy (1909): Taft’s policy of paying for peace in Latin America 1904-1914: Panama Canal Built
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    World War 1

    1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated, starting World War I
    1915: Sinking of the Lusitania
    1917: Zimmerman Telegram intercepted by the British, warned the U.S. of a proposed ally between Mexico and Germany
    1917: The United States enters WWI on the Allied side
    1917: Bolshevik Revolution in Russia begins, causing Russian troops to exit the war
    1918: Battle of Argonne Forest, considered the turning point of the war
    1918: Germany surrenders to the Allied Powers
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    Roaring Twenties

    1922: Teapot Dome Scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal
    1925: Scopes Monkey Trial
    1927: Charles Lindbergh makes history by making a nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris
    1922: Teapot Dome Scandal uncovered by the Wall Street Journal
    1925: Scopes Monkey Trial
    1927: Charles Lindbergh makes history by making a nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris
    American Indian Citizenship Act (1924): granted citizenship to any Native Americans born within the United States
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    Great Depression

    1929: Stock Market Crash
    1930-1936: Dust Bowl
    1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt elected
    1932: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established
    1933: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) established
    1934: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) established
    1935: Works Progress Administration (WPA) established
    Social Security Act (1935): established the Social Security Administration, which provides unemployment insurance, aid to the americans
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    World War II

    1939: Adolf Hitler invades Poland, starting WWII
    1941: Attack on Pearl Harbor
    1942: Battle of Midway
    1942: Bataan Death March
    1944: “D-Day” - Invasion of Normandy
    1945: The atomic bomb, “Little Boy” is dropped in Hiroshima, Japan (August 6)
    1945: The atomic bomb, “Fat Man” is dropped in Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II (August 9)
    Executive Order 9066 (1942): incarceration of Japanese Americans for the duration of WWII
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    Early Cold War

    1945: United Nations formed
    1948: Berlin Airlift
    1949: NATO established
    1950-1953: Korean War
    1951: Rosenbergs trial
    1952: First H-Bomb detonated by the United States
    1955: Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine
    1957: USSR launches Sputnik
    22nd Amendment: prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again
    Truman Doctrine (1947): U.S. policy that gave military and economic aid to countries threatened by communism
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    Civil Rights Era

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    Vietnam War

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    End of the Cold War

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    1990s-21st Century