Major Events

In US History

Jamestown Is Established
Jamestown was the

first permanent
European colony
established in North
America
It was founded by a
group of INVESTORS,
who hoped to
make?
MONEY
By discovering
GOLD!

Jamestown Finally Turns a Profit

There is NO GOLD in

Virginia
And the Virginia Company
(the group of investors who
had founded Jamestown)
Were going BROKE.
Luckily, tobacco was
becoming wildly popular in
Europe
And Virginia has a perfect
climate for tobacco
production.
The production of tobacco
SAVED Jamestown.

The Settlement of New England

New England (the Massachusetts

Bay Colony) was founded by a

group of religious separatists
called the
PURITIANSor the
PILGRIMS
Who believed that the PROPER
practice of Christianity had become
impossible in England
And that North America was the
place to found a new, PURE church.
The Puritans society had very
strict rules against swearing and
adultery
And church attendance was
MANDATORY.

Some Puritans Are Permitted To Go Halfway

Membership in the Puritan Church required

a verifiable mystical experience

Wherein a person had DIRECT contact with

God.

As the population of New England began to

grow

Many of the newly-arrived could not claim

such an experience

And were not allowed to join the Puritan

Church

Which made them second-class citizens.

Eventually the Halfway Covenant was

established

Which allowed for people to halfway join

the Church, without having to verify contact

with God.

Many people felt, however, that this

agreement undermined the strict religious

framework upon which the colony had been
founded.

The Salem Witch Trials

The high standard of living in

New England attracted LARGE

numbers of people
Many of whom did not share the
Puritans strict religious beliefs.
In February of 1692 a group of
young children claimed that
they had been bewitched
And accused several members
of the Salem community of
practicing witchcraft
Most of whom were eventually
executed.
Historians now attribute this
hysteria to a feeling that the
religious PURITY of New
England had been undermined
by the arrivals of so many new,

The Dutch Settle New Amsterdam

The Dutch (from the

Netherlands) were the

first to settle a region of
North America that they
named New Amsterdam
The colony quickly
became a major center of
COMMERCE
And was later taken over
by the BRITISH
Who renamed the
colony
NEW YORK.

The French Settle Quebec

The first North

American settlement
of the French Empire
was in Canada
In a region known as
Quebec.
The French were
active in the FUR
TRADE
And generally had very
good relations with the
Indian population.

The New England Colonies Develop the Triangle Trade

Raw Materials were

produced in the
AMERICAS
Shipped to EUROPE
And turned into
MANUFACTURED GOODS
(guns, pots & pans,
furniture)
Which were traded in
West Africa for
SLAVES
Who were used to
produce RAW MATERIALS
in the AMERICAS
Etc., etc.

The Great Awakening Occurs

After a hundred years of

declining religious feeling in

the colonies
There was an EXPLOSION in
religious feeling
Called the Great Awakening
Travelling ministers roamed
all over the colonies
Preaching to huge outdoor
crowds
And promoting the idea of
personal salvation
Which was possible without
the assistance of church
membership.

The Proclamation of 1763

Protecting the American colonists

from Indian attack was

EXPENSIVE
And the colonies continued to
expand westward, which brought
them into ever-greater contact
with angry Indians.
Unwilling to take the
responsibility of paying for
military protection for the
expanding colonies
King George III OUTLAWED any
further colonial expansion west of
the Appalachian Mountains.
The proclamation INFURIATED the
colonists.

The Stamp Act is Passed

In 1764, the British passed a tax on

all PRINTED material in the colonies

Pamphlets, books, newspapers,

deeds, contracts, birth certificates,

etc.

It was a DIRECT tax on the American

colonists

The colonists felt they were being

taxed without their consent

The phrase No Taxation Without

Representation was coined

The Sons of Liberty were established

to terrorize tax collectors

And Committees of Correspondence

were formed to coordinate protest

movements throughout the colonies.

The Intolerable Acts Are Passed

After the events of the

Boston Tea Party

The British government
undertook to PUNISH the
colony of Massachusetts.
The ELECTED government
was dismissed and replaced
by military rule
And Boston Harbor (the main
source of revenue for the
colony)...
Was closed down until the
colony issued repayment for
the destruction of the tea.

Common Sense is Published

A pamphlet, published by

Thomas Paine in 1776

Common Sense argued for
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
from Britain
It was written in clear, simple
language that everybody could
understand
It was WIDELY read throughout
the colonies
And most people who read it
came away CONVINCED that
revolution was the only
solution to the problems
between the colonies and the
British government.

Independence Is Declared
The Declaration of Independence

was officially adopted by the

CONTINENTAL CONGRESSS on

July 4, 1776.
It was written by
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
It contained ideas that had been

developed by John Locke

Including the idea that natural

rights include those to

Life, Liberty and Property

A phrase that was changed by

Jefferson to

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of

Happiness.

The Articles of Confederation are TOO WEAK

This was the first

governing document of the

United States (before the
Constitution).
It provided for
No army
No president
And no way for Congress
to levy taxes.
The events of Shays
Rebellion convinced people
that changes were
NECESSARY.

The Great Compromise Is Developed

The major disagreement in

developing a new constitution

was REPRESENTATION
Small states wanted EQUAL
representation
Large states wanted
PROPORTIONAL representation.
The Great Compromise created a
two-house (bicameral)
legislature
With a Senate (equal
representation)
And a House of Representatives
(proportional representation).

A Bill of Rights is Required

A strong faction of powerful

Americans distrusted the

Constitution
Because they felt it created
a federal government that
was TOO POWERFUL
In order to secure their
support
A Bill of Rights was added
Which was designed to
protect INDIVIDUAL
LIBERTIES
And which became the first
ten amendments to the
Constitution.

Political Parties Form

The earliest political parties formed as

a result of the rivalry between Thomas

Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Jefferson
Believed that our central government
should be WEAKthat a WEAK
government was necessary if individual
freedoms were to be guaranteed
Hamilton
believed our central government should
be STRONGthat a STRONG
government was necessary to provide
peace and stability.
Jeffersons party became known as the
Democratic Republicans
Hamiltons party, the Federalists.

The Northwest Ordinance is Passed

As the nation grew, this

question was posed:

Do we grow by increasing
the size of EXISTING
states
Or do we grow by adding
NEW states?
The Northwest Ordinance
decided that we would
ADD NEW STATES
And that slavery would be
ILLEGAL north of the Ohio
River.

Louisiana is Purchased
The US wished to buy the

French-owned city of New

Orleans
The French government
instead offered to sell the
entire Louisiana territory
For $15 million dollars.
President Thomas Jefferson
was reluctant to authorize
the purchase
Because he did not think
the Federal Government had
the power to purchase land.
Luckily, he overcame his
reluctance.

Lewis & Clark Are Dispatched

With the Louisiana

Purchase, the US DID

NOT KNOW what it had
bought
So a team of explorers
led by Lewis and Clark
were sent to survey the
territory.
Mostly travelling on
foot, they made it to the
Pacific and BACK
In an expedition that
took nearly two years.

1825: The Erie Canal Is Finished

If western farmers wanted

to sell their goods on the

international market
They had to get them to the
EAST COAST
And the length of the trip
made spoilage a problem.
The Erie Canal connected
the Great Lakes to New
York
Cut transport costs by
95%...
And made NYC the US
center of INTERNATIONAL
commerce.

The Monroe Doctrine Is Issued

Was issued in 1823
And said two things:

All colonies in the Western

Hemisphere currently owned by
European nations would be left
alone by the United States
2. But ANY FURTHER
COLONIZATION of the western
hemisphere by any European
nation would be viewed as an
ACT OF WAR.
. The Monroe Doctrine eventually
ensured that the United States
would be PREMEIR POWER in
the Western Hemisphere.
1.

Eli Whitney Invents the Cotton Gin

Cotton is full of tiny, prickly

seeds

That had to be picked out by

hand

Until Eli Whitney invented a

machine that did the job

mechanically.

The cotton gin allowed for cotton

to be produced much more

QUICKLY

And made it much more

PROFITABLE to grow.

After its invention, the southern

states shifted almost entirely to

cotton production

And became entirely dependent

upon the use of slave labor.

Eli Whitney Invents Interchangeable

Parts
Guns were one UNIQUE and HAND MADE
And if one broke, it had to be taken to a

gunsmith

Who would handcraft replacement parts

Which took a LONG TIME and was very

EXPENSIVE.

Whitney devised a system wherein gun

parts were mass produced in a FACTORY

And advertised his invention by taking

about ten rifles

Putting all the parts into a box and

shaking up the box

And then removing the parts and

reassembling the parts in a matter of

minutes.

The fact that most weapons factories

were eventually established in the North

was a huge advantage to the Union Army
during the Civil War.

Our Destiny becomes Manifest

The word Destiny refers to

ones ultimate outcome

And Manifest is another
way of saying obvious.
By the 1840s, it had become
clear that the US Manifest
Destiny
Was to take control of all
territory between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
This was finally
accomplished at the
conclusion of the Mexican
War.

Reforms are Urged

The mid-19th century saw the rise

of many REFORM movements

Which sought to IMPROVE
American society.
The TEMPERANCE movement
Promoted abstinence from
alcohol
The ABOLITION movement
Demanded an end to slavery
The PUBLIC SCHOOL movement
Sought to make basic schooling a
fundamental American right
The SUFFRAGE movement
Fought for womens voting rights.

Jacksonian Democracy Expands Suffrage

Prior to the advent of

Jacksonian Democracy
Voters had to be..
White
Male
21 year-old...
Property owners.
With Jacksonian
Democracy (named after
President Andrew
Jackson)
The requirement that
voters own property was
eliminated.

The Missouri Compromise

In 1820, there were an EQUAL

number of free states and slave

states

And then Missouri applied for

statehood

As a SLAVE STATE.
The FREE STATES objected
And a compromise was reached
Missouri would enter as a SLAVE

STATE

The state of MAINE would be

carved out of northern

Massachusetts; it would be a
FREE STATE

And the 36-30 line would become

the new boundary between free

states and slave states.

Nullification is Threatened
In 1832, the state of South Carolina

declared an unpopular tariff to be

NULL and VOID.

Doing so is ILLEGAL under federal

law

But they did it anyway

And were SUPPORTED by Andrew

Jacksons former Vice President, John

C. Calhoun.

President Andrew Jackson threatened

to INVADE South Carolina

The South Carolinians began

preparing a military DEFENSE

And a compromise was reached which

REDUCED the tariff.

But this was the first hint that one of

the states might try to LEAVE the

union.

The Wilmot Proviso is Issued

After the Mexican War, a

proposal was issued

That sought to BAN slavery in
ANY TERRITORY taken from
Mexico as a result of the war.
The measure was
SUPPORTED by northern
voters
And strongly OPPOSED by
southern voters.
And it illustrated the growing
SECTIONALISM that was
developing in the United
States.

The Compromise of 1850 is Reached

1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

Became necessary after

Californias application to
the union as a FREE state.
Drafted by Henry Clay.
Five separate laws
California would be admitted
as a free state.
The people of the New
Mexico and Utah territories
would decide the slavery
question by voting (popular
sovereignty).
The slave trade was
abolished in Washington,
D.C, but
Slavery remained legal in
Washington, D.C.
The Fugitive Slave Act was
passedmade harboring or
assisting runaway slaves a

The Kansas-Nebraska Act is Passed

Upon the organization

of the Kansas and

Nebraska territories
A debate arose over
whether they would
be
SLAVE OR FREE.
The Kansas-Nebraska
act stipulated that the
issue would be decided
by POPULAR
SOVEREIGNTY
By VOTING.

Popular Sovereignty Fails

As the time approached for

Kansas to make a decision

The state was flooded by
outsiders
Northerners who had
traveled to Kansas to vote
AGAINST slavery
And Southerners determined
to vote FOR slavery.
The two groups engaged in
violent clashes all over the
state
These events divided the
country and were a preview
of the Civil War.

Dred Scott Loses His Case

Dred Scott was the personal

slave of a US Army captain

Who, in the course of his career,
traveled all over the countryto
free territory and slave territory
And brought Dred Scott with him.
Upon the death of his owner,
Scott sued for freedom on the
grounds that he had become
legally free upon his many
travels to free northern territory.
The Supreme Court ruled that
Dred Scott was propertyand not
a citizen
And, as such, could not file
lawsuits.

John Brown Raids Harpers Ferry

Furious about the Dred Scott decision

and determined to end slavery

Anti-slave activist John Brown led an
attack on the federal arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859.
His goal was to capture a supply of
weapons
Bring them to slaves in the
surrounding countryside
And lead a general slave uprising
across the South.
The raid failed and Brown was
hanged.
However, the raid was one more step
closer to the Civil War.

Lincoln Suspends Habeas Corpus

Habeas Corpus refers to the

right of the accused to appear

before a judge
And to hear the charges.
Anxious to keep order in the

border states between the

Union and the Confederacy
Lincoln exercised the so-called

Emergency Power
And suspended the right of

Habeas Corpus
Meaning that arrested

individuals could be held

indefinitely, without a trial.

Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation

In the early years of the Civil War,

a great fear in the North was that

Great Britain would join on the
side of the Confederacy

But in January of 1863, Lincoln

issued an order freeing all the

slaves in the Confederacy.

Although Lincoln had no control

over the Confederacy at the time

And thus did not actually free any

slaves

The Proclamation defined the war

as a war to end slavery

And consequently removed ANY

possibility that the South would be

assisted by Great Britain (whose
people were strongly anti-slave).

Lincoln Delivers the Gettysburg Address

Considered one of the

greatest speeches in
American history
It uses the phrase new
birth of freedom
And connects the events
surrounding the Civil War to
the principles upon which
the nation was founded.
The speech is seen to offer
the American promise to
ALL citizens, not simply to
free white males.

Lincoln Delivers his 2nd Inaugural Address

The speech was

delivered on March 4,
1865
Within days of the end
of the Civil War.
The speech urged
forgivingness for the
defeated South
And called for
RECONCILIATION
amongst Americans.

Reconstruction Begins
Upon the conclusion of the

Civil War in 1865, the South

needed to be rebuilt
Much of it had been
destroyed, and its people
were wounded and starving.
The period between 1865
and 1877 is known as
Reconstruction
And refers to the physical
rebuilding of the south as
well to the rebuilding of a
united America.

Lincolns Plan for Reconstruction

Lincoln wished for

Reconstruction to be a
period of national healing
And instead of punishing the
South, he argued that
efforts should be
undertaken to promote a
PAINLESS reunification.
Opponents to this idea
Called Radical
Republicans
Called for harsher measured
to be taken against the
South.

Johnsons Plan for Reconstruction

Lincoln was assassinated

shortly after the conclusion of

the Civil War
And his Vice President, a
southerner named Andrew
Johnson, took office.
He vowed to continue Lincolns
gentle treatment of the south
And his attitude so enraged the
Radical Republicans that they
led an effort to have him
removed from the presidency.
Although successfully
impeaching him, they were not
able to secure a conviction
And he remained in office.

The Freedmans Bureau is Established

Upon the conclusion of the

Civil War, several million

former slaves were promptly
set free.
They lacked education,
employment, shelter, food, etc.
The Freedmans Bureau was
established in March of 1865
With the goal of providing
basic services, job training
and education to freed slaves.
An effort was also undertaken
to provide higher education
And Atlantas Morehouse
College was established as a
result.

The 13th Amendment is Passed

Was the first of

the
Reconstruction
Amendment
And it ABOLISHED
SLAVERY in the
United States of
America
It was ratified in
January of 1865.

The Ku Klux Klan is Established

The KKK was

established by veterans
of the Confederate
Army
Was intent upon
terrorizing the free black
population
And intimidating
potential Republican
voters.
Only with the passage of
the 1870 and 1871 Force
Acts did Klan activity
begin to die down.

The 14th Amendment is Passed

Was the second of the

Reconstruction
Amendments
It provides for EQUAL
PROTECTION UNDER
THE LAW
To ALL people under
the jurisdiction of the
US Constitution
And was responsible
for providing all the
protections of US
CITIZENSHIP to
former slaves.

The 15th Amendment is Passed

The last of the

Reconstruction
Amendments
It provided the
right to VOTE
to ALL MALES
over the age of
21.

The Black Codes are Established

The

Black Codes were a series of

laws that were designed to keep
former slaves as CLOSE to the
condition of slavery as possible

They

required that black citizens

continue to live on plantation
property

They

outlawed gatherings of more

than three individuals

They

required one-year labor

contracts

And

imprisonment was the

punishment for unemployment.

They

were finally REPEALED after

the 1866 elections and the
placement of the South under
military rule.

The Election of 1876

Pitted Republican Rutherford B.

Hayes against Democrat Samuel

Tilden
Tilden WON the popular vote
But did not win a sufficient
number of electoral votes to win
the Presidency
According to the Constitution,
the House of Representatives
chooses the President under
these circumstances
And they selected Rutherford B.
Hayes.
However, Hayes had to agree to
the tenets of the Compromise of
1877.

The Compromise of 1877

Stipulated that the US

military had to
WITHDRAW from all
former Confederate
states
When the Army left,
so did most
Republicans
And the Democratic
Party took power in
the South.
This is seen as the
END of the
Reconstruction Era.

Railroads Change the US Economy

The development of railroads

allowed for RAPID

TRANSPORT of farm
produce
Livestock, finished goods and
steel.
And the US economy began
to shift away from small,
localized business
Towards big business
companies that had branches
in dozens of cities
And conducted sales across
hundreds of miles.

Railroads Open the West

After the Civil War, the nation

saw a HUGE increase in railroad

construction
Much of it happening across the

western territories.
The transcontinental railroad

was completed in 1869

And much of the work on the

western half was completed by

Chinese immigrants.
The railroad brought hundreds of

thousands of settlers into the

western territories
Where they had increasing

conflicts with the Indians.

Westward Expansion Destroys Native Populations

As the nation continued its westward

expansion

Conflict with the native population

resulted in the era of the Indian

Wars.

The US most dangerous opponent

was the Lakota Sioux

Who were led by Chief Sitting Bull.

Sitting Bull was eventually shot to

death by US Agents during an arrest

attempt

And the Wounded Knee massacre

Where hundreds of unarmed natives

were shot to death by the US Army

Is seen as the definitive end of the

Indian Resistance to US expansion.

John Rockefeller Gets Rich

The biggest of the Big

Business tycoons was

John D. Rockefeller
Whose company, Standard
Oil, operated as a trust
Which is very similar to a
monopoly.
In many areas of the
country, if you wanted to
buy oil, you HAD to buy it
from Standard Oil
And this lack of
competition often kept
prices artificially high.

Ellis Island Opens Its Doors

The early part of the 20th Century

saw a dramatic increase in

immigration to the United
States
Most of the immigrants were from

Southern and Eastern Europe

Tended to be very POOR
And entered the US through the

processing facilities at Ellis

Island, NY.
From there, they typically

progressed to whichever area of

the city that was dominated by
their particular ethnic group
These areas became known as

ghettos.

Labor Begins to Organize

Factory life in the early 20th Century was

BRUTAL
Workers faced dangerous conditions, low

wages
And if they complained (or were injured)

management could replace them INSTANTLY

(because jobs were in short supply and there
were so many people willing to work).
In reaction to these circumstances, workers

slowly began to ORGANIZE

And to make demands as a GROUP, rather

than individually
Upon the theory that management would be

reluctant to fire its ENTIRE work force.

This is called COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, and

it slowly led to many improvements in the

lives of American workers .

Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of Labor

Gompers was a union organizer

who dreamed of uniting all skilled

workers into a SINGLE large union.
That Union, the AFL, eventually

became one of the largest in the

United States
And was responsible for increasing

pay and shortening work hours for

tens of thousands of workers.
He also turned his union into a

political force
Working to elect labor friendly

politicians and defeating those

identified as enemies of labor.

The Pullman Strike of 1894

Began when railroad workers

went on strike in protest of

wage reductions
And quickly brought the entire
national railway network to a
halt.
The strike ended when
President Grover Cleveland
called in the US Army
An action which resulted in the
deaths of more than a dozen
workers.
This episode was part of a
larger pattern of the US
Government supporting
business OWNERS at the
expense of WORKERS.

Upton Sinclair Publishes The Jungle

Upton Sinclair was a

muckraking journalist
Who went undercover as
a worker at meatpacking
plant in Chicago.
The Jungle, which
revealed the filthy and
enormously dangerous
conditions in which meat
was processed
Led to the passage of the
Meat Inspection Act
And the Pure Food and
Drug Act.

Jane Addams Opens Hull House

By the beginning of the 20th

Century, urban areas were

bursting with newly-arrived
immigrants
Most of whom lived in desperate
poverty.
In response, Jane Addams
opened Hull House
A Chicago community center
that provided training in basic
skills to immigrants
Day care, cooking lessons,
English lessons, etc.
It was so successful, dozens of
similar facilities were opened in
cities around the United States.

Ida Tarbell Takes Down Standard Oil

Tarbell, another

muckraking journalist,
published The History of
Standard Oil in 1904
It detailed the ways in which
John Rockefeller had
artificially manipulated oil
prices
At the expense of regular
Americans
In order to maximize his
profits.
The publication of her book
eventually led to the
breakup of Standard Oil.

Progressives Reform the Political System

The Progressive Era is seen as a

period wherein great effort was

made to improve the social and
political structure of the US.

Some of the political improvements

of the Progressive Era were

Initiativewhereby voters gather

signatures in order to get proposals

on the ballot

Referendawhereby voters are

allowed to vote on particular pieces

of legislation

Recallwhereby voters are allowed

to remove elected officials from

office

Direct election of Senatorswhereby

voters (and not state legislators) are

responsible for electing senators.

Working Conditions Improve

The Progressive Era also saw

tremendous improvement in
working conditions
An 8-hour workday became
standard
As well as a 5-day workweek
Fire marshals began doing
safety inspections
Business owners began
providing workers
compensation to employees
injured on the job
And child labor was
OUTLAWED.

Teddy Roosevelt Promotes Conservationism

A Conservationist is

another word for an

environmentalist
And Roosevelt was the
first US President to make
the protection of the
environment a priority.
He set aside hundred-ofthousands of acres for the
creation of national
parks
And greatly restricted the
access of logging
companies to our national
forests.

The Chinese are Excluded

During the construction of the

transcontinental railroad

Thousands of Chinese laborers

immigrated to the US.

Upon completion of the railroad,

they STAYED

And this attracted additional

Chinese immigrants.

These immigrants were willing to

work for VERY LOW wages

Which caused unemployment

among the white population

And great anger.

Eventually, the Chinese Exclusion

Act was passed

Which limited Chinese

immigration.

Roosevelt Issues His Corollary

The Monroe Doctrine

(1823)
FORBID further European
colonization of Latin
America.
In 1904, President
Theodore Roosevelt issued
his corollaryan
ADDITION to the Monroe
Doctrine.
It stated that if any Latin
American leader engages
in UNACCEPTABLE
behavior
The US will take steps to
REMOVE that leader.

The Panama Canal Is Constructed

The Spanish-American War

highlighted the need for a quick

sea-route between

The Atlantic & the Pacific

Oceans.

The Isthmus of Panama was

selected as the perfect location

to construct a canal

And after assisting Panama in

its struggle for independence

from Colombia

The land surrounding the canal

was leased to the US in

perpetuity by the Panamanian
government.

The canal was completed in

1914.

The 18th Amendment is Passed

In 1919, the 18th Amendment

was ratified
Making the sale, transportation
and manufacture of alcoholic
beverages ILLEGAL in the
United States.
However, Americans continued
to drink heavily
And liquor sales were taken up
by organized criminals (the
Mob).
In 1933, Prohibition was
REPEALED
With the 21st Amendment.

The 19th Amendment is Passed

In 1920, the 19th

Amendment was
RATIFIED
Which PROHIBITS any
US citizen to be denied
the right to vote upon
the basis of
GENDER.
It established
UNIVERSAL FEMALE
SUFFRAGE in the
United States.

The Red Scare Strikes

In 1917, Communist revolutionaries

overthrew the government of

Russia
And established the Soviet Union
(USSR).
Their stated goal was WORLDWIDE
COMMUNIST DOMINATION.
And many people in the US became
concerned that communist agents
were seeking to overthrow the
American government.
This led to severe limits on
immigration from Eastern European
and communist-dominated nations.

The Stock Market Crashes

In the period before 1929, the US

economy had TWO PROBLEMS

1. Overproductionwe were making TOO

MUCHand

2. Underconsumptionwe were not

BUYING enough.

. Also, thousands of Americans were

SPECULATING in the stock market,

hoping to..

. GET RICH QUICK.

. In October of 1929, people suddenly

lost confidence in the value of stocks

. Which led to a huge SELL-OFF

. And the collapse of the stock market.
. This was the first sign that the nation

was entering the

. GREAT DEPRESSION.

The Great Depression Strikes

The Depression lasted from 1929 until

well into the 1950s in many regions of

the country.
Unemployment rates reached 25%...
Homelessness, hunger and despair
became commonplace
In order for the economy to recover,
President Herbert Hoover believed the
government should do
NOTHING
And await the invisible hand of the
free market to bring about a recovery.
Americans were dissatisfied with this
response
And Hoover was voted out of office in
1932.

Roosevelt Introduces a NEW DEAL

President Franklin Roosevelt was elected in

1932

And immediately implemented a plan of

economic recovery known as the NEW

DEAL

The New Deal involved

A tremendous increase in government

control over the economy

Numerous works programs designed to

create jobs (the TVA; the CCC)

And the passage of the Social Security Act,

which provides a form of old-age insurance

to American retirees.

Although the New Deal programs increased

Americans hope

They did little to bring about an economic

recovery.

World War Two Begins

WW2 began in 1939

with Germanys
attack on Poland
With Congress
having passed the
Neutrality Act, the
US stayed on the
sidelines
Until the Japanese
attack on Pearl
Harbor.

The US Prepares for War

On the home-front, the US

economy shifted into war-mode

Millions of men were drafted and
mobilized to the Pacific or to the
European front
Food was rationed
Millions of women went to work
for war industries
Thousands of Japanese-American
families were forcibly evacuated
and placed into internment
camps
And the Manhattan Project was
started
To build an atomic bomb.

The Allies Are Victorious

The turning point battle of the

Pacific War was the

The Battle of Midway
The beginning of the end of
Hitlers regime in Nazi Germany
came with the
D-Day Invasion
And the Germans finally
surrendered after the Soviet
takeover of Berlin
And the Japanese Empire
surrendered after
The atomic attacks on the cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Cold War Begins

The Truman Administration

introduced the Marshall Plan in

1947

To rebuild western Europe and to

dissuade that region from embracing

communism

Truman introduced the policy of

containment

Which describes the US commitment

to prevent the spread of

communism

The Cold War turned hot with the

outbreak of the Korean War

China fell to communism

And Senator Joseph McCarthy stoked

Americans paranoia during the

Second Red Scare.

Cold War Setbacks

The Soviet Union

launched Sputnikthe
first artificial satellite
beating the US into
space
US efforts to remove the
communist regime of
Fidel Castro in Cuba
failed miserably
With the Bay of Pigs
invasion
And US efforts to prevent
a communist takeover of
South Vietnam were also
unsuccessful.

America Changes in the 1950s

The Baby Boom began
Levittown was established
The interstate highway

system was constructed

Kennedy and Nixon
participated in the first
televised debates
Computers started
becoming a part of everyday
life
And air conditioning led to a
population boom in the
South and Southwest.

The Civil Rights Movement Begins

President Truman ordered the

integration of the US military

Jackie Robinson broke the color line

in Major League Baseball

The Supreme Courts decision in the

case of Brown v. Board of Education

DESEGREGATED public schools in the

US

I
Have a Dream speech in Washington,
D.C
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed
institutional discrimination on the
basis of race
And the Voting Rights Act of 1965
extended voting rights to millions of
black southerners.
Martin Luther King delivered the

Social Movements Bring Change

Civil Rights organizations such as

the SNCC and the SCLC brought

about advances in civil rights
through

Sit-ins
And the freedom rides
The National Organization of

Women fought for gender

equality

Caesar Chavez improved the lives

of Latino farm workers

With the United Farm Workers

movement

Rachel Carsons publication of

Silent Spring started the

environmental movement
Leading to the first Earth Day and
the establishment of the EPA.

Richard Nixon Blows Up

Richard Nixon was responsible for

reestablishing relations between

the US and China
But his presidency was destroyed
by the
Watergate scandal
When members of his reelection
committee were caught breaking
into the headquarters of the
Democratic National Committee
Impeachment proceedings were
started
But he resigned before being
removed from office
And he was pardoned by this
successor, Gerald Ford.

The Supreme Court Ignites Controversy

In the 1970s, the US

Supreme Court issued two

of its most controversial
decisions:
Roe v. Wade
Legalized abortion in the
United States
And University of
California v. Bakke
Allowed that minorities
could be admitted to
universities
Under lower standards
than white students.

Jimmy Carter is Elected

Carter was the first president

elected from the deep south

since 1848

His presidency suffered from his

perceived mishandling of the

Iranian Revolution and the

subsequent hostage crisis

Where US embassy workers were

held hostage in Iran for 444

days

And during which several

members of the US Special

Forces died in a botched rescue
attempt

He was defeated in the 1980

election by

Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan is Elected

Reagans presidency was notable for

REAGANOMICS
And economic recovery plan that was
focused on
TAX CUTS.
His commitment to sharply increased
funding for the US military is thought
to have quickened the collapse of the
Soviet Union
And his presidency barely survived the
Iran-Contra scandal
During which the CIA sold arms to
Iran
In exchange for hostages and money
And then used the money to fund anticommunist guerrillas in Nicaragua.

Bill Clinton is Elected

Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was often

able to find common-ground with

the Republican-controlled
Congress
And during his presidency, NAFTA
The North American Free Trade
Agreementwas established
Which eliminated tariffs between
the US, Canada and Mexico.
However, his Presidency was
greatly damaged after it became
evident that he had lied under oath
about an extramarital affair
Upon which he was impeached
But not convicted, so not removed
from office.

George W. Bush is Elected

In the 2000 election,

Democratic candidate Al
Gore won the POPULAR
VOTE

But lost in the electoral

college

Wherein Bush won more

states.

Early in Bushs presidency,

the US suffered the attacks

of 9-11-01

Which led to the US

declaration of a War on
Terror

The invasion of Afghanistan

to remove the Taliban

And the invasion of Iraq to

remove dictator Saddam

Hussein.