US History

By Awelch620

  • George Washington Elected President

  • Judiciary Act of 1789– Established the Supreme Court

  • Rhode Island becomes 9 th state to officially ratify the Constitution

  • Alexander Hamilton creates Bank of the United States (opposed by Jefferson)

  • Proclamation of American Neutrality (by George Washington) –keeps America neutral after France declares war on Britain, Spain, and Holland (example of U.S. foreign policy)

  • Whiskey Rebellion

    1 st time U.S. Government uses Federal troops to subdue domestic issues (Farmers did not like
    new excise taxes)

  • Treaty of Greenville–

  • John Adams (Federalist) defeats Thomas Jefferson (Republican) in first contested Presidential Election; Jefferson becomes Vice President

  • XYZ Affair

  • Alien & Sedition Acts

  • 2 nd Great Awakening

  • Thomas Jefferson defeats John Adams (controversy); Aaron Burr is VP

  • John Marshall becomes first chief justice of the Supreme Court -Judiciary Act/Midnight Judges

    Adams attempt to
    secure the Federalist party days before he is to leave office by appointing Federalists into office
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    Westward Expansion and Strained Neutrality

    -1803- Marbury vs. Madison establishes Judicial Review
    -1803 – Louisana Purchase – not known to Jefferson if it was constitutional to annex land, Congress approves purchase from
    France, doubles the size of U.S.
    -1807 – Embargo Act – placed by Jefferson on Britain/France; – hurts U.S. economy
    -1808 – James Madison elected President
    -1809 – Tecumseh establishes union of Native Americans to resist westward movement of U.S.
    -1811 – William Henry Harrison attacks on Tecumseh at Battle of Tippecanoe
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    War of 1812

    -Congress declares war on Britain (issues – impressments, blockades, economy, Native Americans)
    -Native Americans begin attacking U.S. settlers (weapons provided by Britain)
    -Treat of Ghent ends War of 1812
    -Harford Convention – New England’s states threaten secession; Federalist Party is no more
    -‘Era of Good Feelings’ (one party politics) begins in the U.S.
    – U.S independence finally confirmed – Good relations with Britain begins (i.e. sharing of Oregon Territory)
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    Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Economic Expansion Pt 1.

    1816 – Underground Railroad provides Northern escape for slaves
    -1816 – James Monroe elected 5 th President (reelected in 1820)
    -1817 –Erie Canal– construction begins (connects Great Lakes to Atlantic Ocean)
    -1819 – McCulloch vs. Maryland – ruling confirms Congresses’ right to found the 2nd Bank of the United States
    -1819 – Spain cedes Florida to the U.S.
    -1820 – Missouri Compromise – sets dividing line between free and slaves states
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    Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Economic Expansion Pt. 2

    -1821 – Stephen F. Austin establishes first U.S. Settlement in Texas
    -1823 – Monroe Doctrine– claims western hemisphere closed to European intervention (first major U.S. foreign diplomacy)
    -1824 – Gibbons vs. Ogden – establishes federal control of interstate commerce
    -1826 – Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on same day (50 th anniversary of Dec. of Independence)
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    Andrew Jackson Pt 1.

    -1828 - Andrew Jackson elected 7thPresident
    -Two party system fully emerges in U.S. politics for first time
    -Indian Removal Act– authorizes forcible westward relocation of Native Americans
    -Cyrus McCormick – invents mechanical reaper – transforms agriculture
    -Ralph Waldo Emerson – transcendentalism (individualism)
    – Thoreau – Civil Disobedience
    -Spoils System – giving government positions to friends or colleagues (Andrew Jackson)
    -Horace Mann – reforms in education
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    Andrew Jackson Pt 2

    -Trail of Tears – Cherokee tribes sent on forced removal to Oklahoma, 4,000 die on way
    -1841 – First Jim Crow Laws established (legal segregation)
    -1845 – Manifest Destiny – U.S. destiny and duty to expand and conquer the west
    -1847 – William Lloyd Garrison – wants immediate emancipation (he was white)
    -1848 – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – ends Mexican War, Mexico cedes Texas and all land north of the Rio Grande to U.S.
    (creates modern border of the U.S. with
    Gadsden Purchase)
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    Antebellum Period

    -Compromise of 1850 – North gets California as free states, ban of sale of slaves in D.C.
    -1856 – “Bleeding Kansas” – John Brown leads antislavery massacre at Pottawatomie Creek, fight over slavery in Kansas
    -1857 –Dred Scott vs. Sanford– ruling effectively nullifies Missouri Compromise, declares that slaves are property
    -1858 –Lincoln-Douglas Debates– Stephen Douglas wins Illinois Senate seat.
    -1859 John Brown leads attack on arsenal at Harper’s Ferry; later captured and hanged
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    Civil War pt 2

    1863 – Emancipation Proclamation – frees slaves in only Confederate states; foreign diplomacy!
    1864 – William Sherman – ‘March to Sea’ – Atlanta to Savannah – destroys everything!
    1865- 13 th Amendment – abolishes slavery
    1865 – Gen. Robert E. Lee (confederacy) surrenders at Appomattox Court House to Union Gen. Ulysses Grant
    1865 – Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth; Andrew Johnson now President
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    Civil War Pt 1.

    1860– Abraham Lincoln elected 16 th President; South Carolina secedes the Union = Civil War
    1861 – Confederate States formed , Jefferson Davis – 1 st and only President
    1861 – Fort Sumter (S.C.) – confederates attack Union – war starts
    1862 –Homestead Act– 160 acres to each farmer willing to cultivate land in West
    1862– Battle of Antietam – bloodiest battle of the Civil War
    1862 – Battle of Gettysburg – turning point of Civil War; South never recovers
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    Reconstruction

    1865 – South establishes Black Codes– limits rights of freed blacks
    1866 – Civil Rights Act of 1866 – grants citizenship to all people born in U.S. (14th
    Amendment)
    1867 – Tenure of Office Act– used to impeach Andrew Johnson (said he had violated it)
    1867 – U.S. purchase Alaska from Russia (becomes 49 th state in 1959)
    1869 – Transcontinental Railroad– connects the coasts of the United States; greatest transportation achievement
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    Reconstruction pt 2

    1870 – 15thAmendment – grants protection of voting rights to black males
    1870 – Hiram Revels– first black senator – Mississippi
    1873 –Slaughter House Cases – authority of state governments over individuals
    1875 – Whiskey Ring Scandal– corruption in Grants administration & Republican party
    1876 – Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse lead Sioux to crushing victory of General George Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn
    1876 – Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
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    The Gilded Age

    1879 - Susan B. Anthony – gets women’s suffrage vote to Congress – leads to 19 th Amendment
    1879 – Thomas Edison creates the electric light
    1881 – President James Garfield assassinated
    1881 – Booker T. Washington – gradual approach to equal rights – prove yourself W.E.B Dubois – changes in civil rights
    now; founds the NAACP
    1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act – bans Chinese immigration for 10 years
    1882 – John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil Trust; Andrew Carnegie – Steel
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    The Gilded Age Pt 2

    1887 – Dawes Severalty Act – denies tribal rights, advances forced assimilation, opens lands to whites
    1890 – Wounded Knee – Federal forces massacre 200 Sioux Indians
    1890 – Sherman Antitrust Act – outlaws monopolies, price-fixing, other trade restraints
    1891 – Populist Party – formed specifically to give farmers a voice in government
    1895 – Yellow Journalism – journalism that features unethical or unprofessional practices by news media
    organizations or individual journalists.
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    The Gilded Age Pt 3

    1896 - **Plessy vs. Ferguson – ‘Separate but Equal’ is constitutional (overturned by Brown vs. Board of Education)
    1898 – Grandfather Clause – voting rights of blacks challenged with literacy tests and poll taxes
    1898 - Spanish-American War – Teddy Roosevelt leads Rough Riders, U.S. crushes Spain’s Navy
    1898 – Treat of Paris – ends the Spanish-American War
    1899 –Open Door Policy
    – U.S. attempt to gain foothold in Chinese markets
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    Progressive Era

    1901 – President McKinley assassinated, Teddy Roosevelt now 26 th President
    1904 – Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine – U.S. in Latin America
    1906 – Pure Food and Drug Act, set food quality standards
    1906 – Panama Canal – connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
    1908 – Henry Ford introduces the Model T car, assembly lines introduced
    1913 – 16 th Amendment – establishment of income tax , 17th Amend.– direct election of senators
    1914 – World War I begins in Europe
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    US in WW1

    “The War to End All Wars”
    1915 – German U-Boat sinks British passenger liner Lusitania, Americans killed on board
    1917 – Germany unrestricted submarine warfare
    1917 – Zimmerman Telegram – intercepted by British, asks for alliance against U.S.
    US. Enters WWI
    1917 – Selective Service Act – establishes the draft
    1918 –Fourteen Points– by Woodrow Wilson, calls for League of Nations
    1919 – Treaty of Versailles – ends WWI; calls for heavy reparations on Germany
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    Roaring 20's

    1919 - 18 th Amendment– outlaws purchase,sale,and transport of alcohol
    1920 – 19 th Amendment – women’s suffrage
    1924 – Teapot Dome Scandal – exposes massive corruption
    1924 – Dawes Plan – ease war reparations on Germany
    1925 – Scopes Monkey Trial– popularizes debate over teaching evolution in schools
    1927 –Charles Lindbergh – completes world’s first solo flight across Atlantic
    1927 – Sacco and Vanzetti– executed for murder; politically
    motivated and unjustified
    1929 – Stock Market Crash
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    Great depression pt1

    •1932 – Bonus Army (WWI vets) march on Washington demanding compensation – forced out
    •1932- Franklin Delano Roosevelt elected President
    •1933- U.S. unemployment rate reaches 25%, FDR claims Bank Holiday to fix banks
    •1933- Fireside Chats – FDR address public on radio – continues to 1944 – gives public hope
    •1933 –1st 100 Days – creation of countless jobs, most productive of any president’s 1st 100 days
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    Great depression pt2

    •1933 - Unemployment Relief Act and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to employ public works
    oAAA – controls crop production, compensates farmers for cooperation
    oTVA – established to construct dams in to generate electricity
    oNIRA – sets nationwide business practices
    oNRA – manage industry recovery
    oPWA – employ jobless
    •1934 –Huey Long– criticizes FDR, “Share Our Wealth” proposes large tax burden on wealthy
    • 1935- Social Security Act – establishes funds for unemployed and elderly
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    WW2 Pt1

    •1940 – FDR elected for unprecedented 3rd Term
    •1940 – Lend-Lease Act – provides U.S. loan aid to Britain, USSR & allied powers
    •1940 – Atlantic Charter– agreement b/n U.S President FDR and Britain Prime Minister Churchill
    •1941- Propaganda– motivate U.S. citizens to support war efforts
    •1942- Battle of Midway – U.S. defeats Japan, seen as turning point in the war in the Pacific
    •1942- Interment of Japanese Americans– imprisonment of Japanese
    •1942 – Manhattan Project–Atomic Bomb
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    WW2 Pt2

    •1944 – Allies invade Normandy, France on D-DAY, June 6, 1944
    •1944- Battle of the Bulge – begins to break down Axis position on western front
    •1945 –Allies liberate Nazi concentration camps
    •1945-FDR dies, Harry Truman becomes President; Adolf Hitler commits suicide
    •1945 –Germany surrenders on V-E-DAY
    •1945 –U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug 9)
    •1945 – United Nations created with 51 nations
    •1945 – Nuremberg Trials – prosecute Nazi war criminals
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    Cold War Pt1

    •1946 – “Iron Curtain”
    •1947 – Truman Doctrine – U.S. intent to fight Communism
    •1947 – Marshal Plan – postwar economic recovery to help Western Europe
    •1948 – Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift
    •1948 –Harry Truman orders desegregation of military
    •1949 – NATO – alliance system of 26 countries in North America and Europe
    •1950 –Korean war begins ; U.S. aids South Korea against North Korea; Peace Treaty in 1953
    •1950 – Joseph McCarthy – begins rabid anti-communist campaign;
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    Cold War Pt2

    •1954 - * Brown vs. Board of Education – overturns Plessy vs. Ferguson; says separate but equal is unconstitutional
    •1954 – “Containment”-(Truman) must stop spread of all communism; “Domino Theory” (Eisenhower) – fears that Indochina must not go communist
    •1954- Geneva Peace Accords – temporally divides Vietnam
    •1955 – Rosa Parks arrested
    •1957 –USSR launches first satellite in space
    •1960 – 1st televised Presidential debate – JFK vs. Nixon ; JFK president 1960
    •1960 –Lunch Counter “Sit-Ins”
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    Civil Rights, Nixon, Vietnam pt 1

    •1961 – Bay of Pigs– failed invasion of Cuba by U.S. (CIA) trained military
    •1961 – Berlin Wall– divides East and West Berlin (East was communist)
    •1962- Cuban Missile Crisis– standoff b/n U.S. and USSR after Soviets placed missiles in Cuba pointed at the United States; no fighting incurs
    •1963 – “I have a dream” speech given by MLK – speech for civil rights
    •1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates JFK in Dallas, TX
    •1963 Lyndon Johnson President– launches “Great Society”
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    Civil Rights, Nixon, Vietnam pt 3

    •1969 – Apollo 11 lands on the moon, Neil Armstrong first to walk on moon
    • 1969 – My Lai Massacre – U.S. soldiers kill 200 innocents
    •1971 –Pentagon Papers– 7,000 page document outlining plans
    •1972 – Watergate Scandal– Nixon authorizes break-in and wiretapping of Democratic National Committee
    •1973 – Roe vs. Wade – legalizes abortion
    •1973 – U.S. Energy Crisis– fuel shortage in U.S. due to OPEC raising prices
    •1973 – U.S. withdraws from Vietnam;
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    Civil Rights, Nixon, Vietnam pt 2

    •1964 – Civil Rights Act of 1964 – bans discrimination
    •1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Resolution– broadens LBJ’s military powers in Vietnam
    •1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965– bans literacy tests for voting
    •1965 – Malcom X (Nation of Islam) – blamed whites
    •1966 –Miranda vs. Arizona - police must read suspects their rights
    •1967 – Thurgood Marshall – first black justice of the Supreme Court
    •1968 – Tet Offensive launched by North Vietnamese Army
    • 1968 – James Earl Ray assassinated MLK, Jr.
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    Current day pt 1

    1976 – Jimmy Carter elected President
    •1978 – Camp David Accords – Carter negotiates peace between Egypt and Israel
    •1979 –Three Mile Island – nuclear power accident causes concern of nuclear safety
    •1980 – Ronald Reagan elected 40th President
    •1981 – Iran releases U.S. embassy hostages released after 444 days in captivity.
    •1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative (a.k.a. STAR WARS) – space based missile defense proposed
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    Current day pt 2

    •1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on takeoff, crew killed; space program never the same
    •1986 – U.S. bombs Libya for supporting Palestinians
    •1988 – Osama Bin Laden founds Islamist group Al Qaeda
    • 1989 – Chinese government crushes pro-democracy revolt in Tiananmen Square
    • 1989 – Berlin Wall falls (Reagan feels its U.S.’s great est accomplishment of the era)
    •1990 – Saddam Hussein orders invasion of Kuwait; starts Operation Desert Storm
    •1992 – Bill Clinton President;