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George Washington Elected President
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Judiciary Act of 1789– Established the Supreme Court
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French Revolution – Federalists oppose it, Anti-Federalists support (U.S. Neutral)
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Rhode Island becomes 9th state to officially ratify the Constitution
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Alexander Hamilton creates Bank of the United States (opposed by Jefferson)
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All states unanimously ratify the Bill of Rights
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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)
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Fugitive Slave Act– illegal to help slaves escape
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Whiskey Rebellion – 1st time U.S. Government uses Federal troops to subdue domestic issues (Farmers did not like new excise taxes)
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Eli Whitney invents Cotton Gin - ** Creates massive increase of slaves in the South
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Treaty of Greenville– U.S. cheaply pays 12 Native American tribes for Ohio territory
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Pinckney Treaty– Spain gives U.S. navigation rights on Mississippi River, New Orleans
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John Adams (Federalist) defeats Thomas Jefferson (Republican) in first contested Presidential Election; Jefferson becomes Vice President
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- XYZ Affair – French try to extort U.S. for diplomatic meetings – public wants war
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Alien & Sedition Acts – expands Gov’t power, limit dissent and weakening of Gov’t, ruled unconstitutional -Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions – increase state rights over Federal rights, written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
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2nd Great Awakening – major religious reform movement; helps increase abolition
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Thomas Jefferson defeats John Adams (controversy); Aaron Burr is VP -Alexander Hamilton suggests U.S. capital moves to Washington, D.C. (move helps gain Southern support for Hamilton’s economics)
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– 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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Marbury vs. Madison establishes Judicial Review
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– Louisana Purchase – not known to Jefferson if it was constitutional to annex land, Congress approves purchase from France, doubles the size of U.S.
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Westward Expansion and Strained Neutrality
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Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel
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Lewis and Clark Expedition sets to survey land of Louisana Purchase (Sacagawea guided)
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Embargo Act – placed by Jefferson on Britain/France; fails – hurts U.S. economy
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James Madison elected President
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Tecumseh establishes union of Native Americans to resist westward movement of U.S.
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William Henry Harrison leads attack 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 (1816-1817) Pt. 1
-Westward Expansion across North America – transportation revolution
-Sectional Tension between North and South increases over Slavery
-Major economic differences develop b/n North and South related to slavery
-1816 – Underground Railroad provides Northern escape for slaves
-1816 – James Monroe elected 5th President (reelected in 1820)
-1817 –Erie Canal– construction begins (connects Great Lakes to Atlantic Ocean) -
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Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Economic Expansion (1818-1823) Pt. 2
-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 at
latitude 36’30’ o Above line (free), Below line (slave)
-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) -
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Nationalism, Sectionalism, and Economic Expansion (1824-1827) Pt. 3
-1824 – Gibbons vs. Ogden – establishes federal control of interstate commerce
-1826 – Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die on same day (50th anniversary of Dec. of Independence) -
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Age of Jackson (1828-1840) 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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Age of Jackson (1841-1849) Pt. 2
-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)
Frederick Douglass – creates North Star abolitionist newspaper, writes Narratives of...
-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 (pre-civil war) (1850-1859) Pt. 1
-Compromise of 1850 – North gets California as free states, ban of sale of slaves in D.C.
South gets stricter enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act, $10 mil to Texas
-1852- Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin
-Kansas-Nebraska Act– repeals Missouri Compromise, popular sovereignty to determine slave/free states
-1856 – “Bleeding Kansas” – John Brown leads antislavery massacre at Pottawatomie Creek, fight over slavery in Kansas -
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Antebellum Period (pre-civil war) (1850-1859) Pt. 2
-1857 –Dred Scott vs. Sanford– ruling effectively nullifies Missouri Compromise, declares that slaves are property – cannot sue.
-1858 –Lincoln-Douglas Debates– Stephen Douglas wins Illinois Senate seat. Lincoln a household name
-1859 John Brown leads attack on arsenal at Harper’s Ferry; later captured and hanged -
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The Civil War (1860-1865) Pt.1
•1860– Abraham Lincoln elected 16th President; South Carolina secedes the Union = Civil War
•1861 – Confederate States formed , Jefferson Davis – 1st 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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The Civil War (1860-1865) 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- 13th 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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Reconstruction (1865-1877) Pt 1
•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 49th state in 1959)
•1869 – Transcontinental Railroad– connects the coasts of the United States; greatest transportation achievement -
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Reconstruction (1865-1877) Pt. 2
1870 – 15thAmendment – grants protection of voting rights to black males
•1870 – Hiram Revels– first black senator – Mississippi
•1871 – William “Boss” Tweed – greatest example of a political machine (NYC)
•1873 –Slaughter House Cases – authority of state governments over individuals -
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Reconstruction (1865-1877)
•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 (1878-1900) Pt. 1
•1879 - Susan B. Anthony – gets women’s suffrage vote to Congress – leads to 19th 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 (1878-1900)
•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 (1878-1900)
•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 – (1901-1914)
1901 – President McKinley assassinated, Teddy Roosevelt now 26th President
1904 – Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine – increases U.S. presence in Latin America
1906 – Muckraker – writers who expose big business corruption
1906– Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection – set food quality standards
1908– Henry Ford introduces the Model T car, assembly lines introduced
1913– 16th Amendment – establishment of income tax , 17th Amend– direct election of senators
1914– World War I begins in Europe -
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U.S. Involvement in World War I (1915-1919) Pt. 1
•Woodrow Wilson wins reelection on campaign of keeping U.S. neutral during war
•1915 – German U-Boat sinks British passenger liner Lusitania, Americans killed on board
•1917 – Germany continues unrestricted submarine warfare – gets warning from U.S.
•1917 – Zimmerman Telegram – intercepted by British, asks for Germany/Mexico alliance against U.S.;
US. Enters WWI
•1917 – Selective Service Act – establishes the draft -
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U.S. Involvement in World War I (1915-1919) Pt. 2
•1918 –Fourteen Points– by Woodrow Wilson, 14th pt most important – calls for League of Nations
•1919 – Treaty of Versailles – ends WWI; calls for heavy reparations on Germany, disarmament, and creation of League of Nations; U.S. Senate rejects it -
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The Roaring Twenties (1920-1929) Pt. 1
•1919 - 18th Amendment– outlaws purchase, sale, and transport of alcohol
•1920 – 19th Amendment – women’s suffrage (right to vote)
•1924 – Teapot Dome Scandal – exposes massive corruption in Harding Administration
•1924 – Dawes Plan – ease war reparations on Germany
•1925 – Scopes Monkey Trial– popularizes debate over teaching evolution in schools – outlawed -
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The Roaring Twenties (1920-1929) Pt. 2
•1927 –Charles Lindbergh – completes world’s first solo flight across Atlantic – seen as a hero
•1927 – Sacco and Vanzetti– executed for murder; controversial because the were anarchists, politically
motivated and unjustified
•1929 – Stock Market Crash– ‘Black Tuesday’ – launches Great Depression -
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Great Depression and New Deal (1930-1939) Pt. 1
•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
•1933 - Unemployment Relief Act and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to employ public works -
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Great Depression and New Deal (1930-1939) Pt. 2
•20thAmendment – shifts presidential inaugurations from March to January
•21st Amendment – repeals 18th amendment (prohibition)
•1934 –Huey Long– criticizes FDR, “Share Our Wealth” proposes large tax burden on wealthy
•1935 – Wagner Act– supports union rights, protects collective bargaining
• 1935- Social Security Act – establishes funds for unemployed and elderly -
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World War II – (1940-1945) Pt. 1
•*Germany (led by Adolf Hitler) invades Poland; WWII begins
•*U.S. attempts isolationism from war in Europe
•*December 7, 1941 – Japan bombs Pearl Harbor – U.S. enters the War
•*Axis Powers– Germany, Italy, Japan;
Allied Powers– Britain, France, China, U.S., USSR
•*Battle of Stalingrad – seen as wars turning point for allied victory
•1940 – FDR elected for unprecedented 3rd Term
•1940 – Lend-Lease Act – provides U.S. loan aid to Britain, USSR & allied powers -
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World War II – (1940-1945) Pt. 2
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 in California
•1942 – Manhattan Project– creation of the Atomic Bomb
•1944 – Allies invade Normandy, France on D-DAY, June 6, 1944 (largest land/sea invasion) -
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World War II – (1940-1945) Pt. 3
1944-Battle of the Bulge–begins to break down Axis position on western front
1945–Allies liberate Nazi concentration camps in Eastern Europe
1945-FDR dies, Harry Truman becomes President; Adolf Hitler commits suicide
1945–Germany surrenders on V-E-DAY(victory in Europe day)
1945–U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug 9)–Japan surrender
1945–United Nations created with 51 founding nations
1945–Nuremberg Trials – prosecute Nazi war criminals Baby Boom, Economic Prosperity -
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The Cold War (1946-1960) Pt. 1
•* Soviet Union emerges as only major U.S. rival, creating intense, prolonged standoff between superpowers, known as the Cold War
•1946 – “Iron Curtain” – describes division of Communist Eastern Europe from Western Europe
•1947 – Truman Doctrine – U.S. intent to fight Communism by helping free nations resist it.
•1947 – Marshal Plan – postwar economic recovery to help Western Europe; largest relief aid given by the U.S. in U.S. history -
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The Cold War (1946-1960) Pt. 2
1948–Berlin Blockade–USSR blocks all aid into West Berlin; Berlin Airlift–U.S. drops food and supplies by air to West Berlin
1948–Harry Truman orders desegregation of military
1949–NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) created 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; hurt when he accuses military of having communists; alcoholic -
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The Cold War (1946-1960) Pt. 3
1950–Communist Fear in U.S.–Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for espionage
Alger Hiss convicted of perjury–1991 Soviet documents confirm their guilt!
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 or it will spread all over the world
1954-Geneva Peace Accords–temporally divides Vietnam at 17th parallel -
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The Cold War (1946-1960) Pt. 4
•1955 – Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up seat on bus to whites; sparks Montgomery Bus Boycott
•1955 – Jonas Salk – creates polio vaccine
•1957 –USSR launches first satellite in space – Sputnik
•1960 – 1st televised Presidential debate – JFK vs. Nixon (JFK wins); JFK president 1960
•1960 –JFK launches New Frontier platform to help America
•1960 –Lunch Counter “Sit-Ins” spark waves of civil rights protest; SCLC created by MLK, Jr. -
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Civil Rights, Nixon, and Vietnam (1961-1973) Pt. 1
•1961 – Bay of Pigs– failed invasion of Cuba by U.S. (CIA) trained military
•1961 – Berlin Wall– divides East and West Berlin
•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” program to end poverty and racism -
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Civil Rights, Nixon, and Vietnam (1961-1973) Pt. 2
1964 – Civil Rights Act of 1964 – bans discrimination in education, employment, & public places
1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Resolution– broadens LBJ’s military powers in Vietnam – no declare war
1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965– bans literacy tests for voting
1965 – Malcom X (Nation of Islam) – blamed whites for African American problems; assassinated
1966 –Miranda vs. Arizona - police must read suspects their rights
1967 – Thurgood Marshall – first black justice of the Supreme Court -
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Civil Rights, Nixon, and Vietnam (1961-1973) Pt. 3
•1968 – Tet Offensive launched by North Vietnamese Army – turning point of U.S. in Vietnam
• 1968 – James Earl Ray assassinated MLK, Jr. – hurts Civil Rights movement
•1968 – Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Robert Kennedy, JFK’s brother; Richard Nixon voted President
•1969 – Apollo 11 lands on the moon, Neil Armstrong first to walk on moon
• 1969 – My Lai Massacre – U.S. soldiers kill 200 innocent men, women, and children -
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Civil Rights, Nixon, and Vietnam (1961-1973) Pt. 4
•1971 –Pentagon Papers– 7,000 page document outlining U.S. government plan in Vietnam; shows gov’t was not telling truth to public.
•1972 – Watergate Scandal– Nixon authorizes break-in and wiretapping of Democratic National Committee headquarters in Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
•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; North Vietnam overtakes South after departure -
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1974 – Present Pt. 1
•Richard Nixon resigns to avoid impeachment; Gerald Ford President – pardons Nixon; Ford is only President never voted into office.
•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. -
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1974 – Present Pt. 2
•1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative (a.k.a. STAR WARS) – space based missile defense proposed
•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 -
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1974 – Present Pt. 3
• 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; appoints Janet Reno first female attorney genera