U.S History 1887-2008

  • Period: to

    Early American History

  • Declaration of Independence signed

  • Constitution written

  • Bill of Rights ratified

  • Chinese Exclusion Act

    Prohibited immigration of skilled or unskilled Chinese laborers, first US national immigration act.
  • Period: to

    Civil War/Reconstruction

  • Homestead Act

    provided 160 acres to anyone willing to settle on land in the west
  • 13th Amendment

    abolished slavery
  • 14th Amendment

    citizenship & due process
  • 15th Amendment

    voting for all male citizens
  • Period: to

    The Gilded Age

  • Interstate Commerce Act

    Ensure railroad set “reasonable and just” rate and the first time government stepped in to regulate business.
  • Dawes act

    Gave individual ownership of land to native Americans instead of the tribe owning things collectively
  • Period: to

    The Progressive Era

  • Sherman Antitrust Act

    outlawed business monopolies
  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    Outlawed trusts to promote economic fairness
  • Plessy v. Ferguson

    legalized segregation, established “separate but equal”
  • Period: to

    Imperialism

  • Open Door Policy

    Initiated free trade with China
  • Roosevelt Corollary

    an addition to the Monroe Doctrine
  • Pure Food and Drug Act

    regulation of the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines
  • Dollar Diplomacy

    Taft’s policy of paying for peace in Latin America
  • 16th Amendment

    Established the federal income tax
  • 17th amendment

    Direct election of U.S. Senators
  • Period: to

    World War I

  • Federal Reserve Act

    Established the Federal Reserve, which helped stabilize the banking industry
  • Period: to

    Roaring Twenties

  • Period: to

    Great Depression

  • Period: to

    World War II

  • Period: to

    Early Cold War

    Containment- To prevent the spread of communism abroad.
    Arms Race/Space Race Competition for supremacy in nuclear weapons between the US and the Soviet Union. Competition between US and SU to achieve spaceflight capability first.
    The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics- Russia USSR
    Communism- Economic system belief that property should be owned by workers together.
    Domino Theory- A political event in one country will cause similar events in others.
  • United Nations formed

  • Truman Doctrine

    U.S policy that gave military and economic aid to countries threatened by communism.
  • 22nd amendment

    prohibits anyone who has been elected president twice from being elected again.
  • Marshall Plan

    Program to help European countries rebuild after World War II.
  • Berlin Airlift

  • NATO established

  • Sweatt v. Painter

    ruled the separate law school at the University of Texas failed to qualify as “separate but equal”
  • Period: to

    Civil Rights Era

  • Korean War

  • Rosenbergs trial

  • First H-Bomb detonated by the United States

  • Hernandez v. Texas

    Mexican Americans and all other races provided equal protection under the 14th Amendment
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

  • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

    overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and mandated desegregation
  • Jonas Salk invents the Polio Vaccine

  • Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks’ arrest

  • Little Rock Nine integrated into an all-white school in Little Rock, AK

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba

  • Berlin Wall built to prevent people from leaving communist East Berlin

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

  • Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” at the March on Washington

  • John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, TX

  • 24th Amendment

    Abolishes poll tax
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Made discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin in public places illegal and required employers to hire on an equal opportunity basis
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    begins undeclared war in Vietnam
  • Medicare and Medicaid established

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Eliminated literacy tests for voters
  • Martin Luther King is assassinated

  • Tet Offensive

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

    prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing
  • First Man on the Moon

  • Tinker v. Des Moines

    defined the First Amendment rights for students in the United States Public Schools
  • Period: to

    End of the Cold War

  • Kent State University shooting

  • Pentagon papers leaked

  • 26 amendment

    moved the voting age from 21 years old to 18 years old
  • Title IX

    protects people from discrimination based on gender in education programs
  • Wars Powers Act

    Law limited the President’s right to send troops to battle without Congressional approval
  • Watergate Scandal, which leads to Nixon's Resignation

  • Fall of Saigon, marks the end of the Vietnam War

  • Camp David Accords

  • Three Mile Island Disaster

  • Iran Hostages Crisis

  • Iran Contra Affair

  • Period: to

    1990s-21st Century