Recent Event Highlights: World War II, World War I + Interwar Period, Civil War/Reconstruction, Pre-Civil War, and 11 more...
Created by jvalentine on Aug 30, 2009
Last updated: 10/05/09 at 11:43 AM
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Presidents: Richard Nixon (1969-1974) Gerald Ford (1974-1977) Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) George H.W. Bush (1989-1993) Events: 1970: Kent State and Jackson Shootings 1971: pentagon papers printed 1971: 26th Amendment (lowers voting Age to 18) 1972-1974: Watergate June 1972: Burglars caught at DNC offices at Watergate Hotel May 1973: Senate committee opens hearing on Watergate Affair October 1973: VP Agnew resigns: "Saturday Night Massacre" August 1974: Richard Nixon resigns from Office 1973: US Ends Direct Intervention in Vietnam 1979: Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident 1979-1981: Iranian Hostage Crisis 1983: SDI ("Star Wars") Missile Defense System Proposed 1985: Iran-Contra Affair 1989: Berliners tear Down Berlin Wall America at the end of the 20th century. Ronald Regan was the Republican president for eight years. After weak presidencies in the late 1970s, Americans were ready for a president who would stimulate the United States to become a world leader in industries such as technology, economic, and military strength. While the United States dominated not only the Internet and computer software and hardware, but also cultural and social ways of life, the United States was also faced by new threats, especially from terrorist organizations, demonstrated by 9/11. Picture: http://www.granitegrok.com/pix/Nixon.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) Events: 1960: first televised presidential debate 1960: “New Left” starts 1960: SDS 1960: "sit-in" movement begins 1961: Kennedy is now President 1961: Inaugural address 1961: peace corps 1961: U.S. launches its first astronaut 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis 1963: U.S signs a treaty stopping nuclear tests 1963: Kennedy assasinated 1963: Lyndon B. Johnson 1964: 24th Amendment 1964: Supreme Court decides "one man, one vote" 1964: Civil rights act 1964: Free speech movement 1965: The United States bombs North Vietnam 1965: Immigration act 1965: Water quality act 1965: Voting rights act 1966: Malcolm X and the black panthers 1967: Detroit riots 1967: Kerner Report 1968: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launch the Tet Offensive 1968: My Lai Massacre 1968: Martin Luther King assassinated 1969: Nixon is president The 1960’s - The beauty of the Constitution is that it is elastic. It can grow and change as society grows. The federal government to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination in public facilities and employment, and the 24th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing voting rights. Various groups protested for rights: African Americans, women, gays, Mexican Americans and Native Americans all wanted changes that would make life better for them as Americans. Picture: http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/getty/9/5/3289695.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) Events: 1945-Germany Surrenders 1945-United States drops atomic bomb 1946-Iron Curtain Speech 1946-Baby Boom 1947-Truman Doctrine 1947-Jackie Robinson Breaks color barrier in MLB 1948-Marshall Plan 1948-Berlin Blockade 1949-NATO is established 1949-Communists take over in China 1949-Soviet Union explodes a bomb 1950-Korean War begins 1950-Chinese troops enter Korean War 1951-22nd Amendment passed 1951-MacArthur relieved of Duties in Korea 1951-US detonates H bomb 1952-Eisenhower elected President 1952-U.S. ends Japanese occupation 1953-Korean War Ends 1953-Stalin Dies 1954-Senate condemns McCarthy 1954-Brown vs. Board of Education 1955-Montgomery bus boycott 1955-Warsaw Pact 1956-Suez Crisis 1956-Hungarian uprising 1957-Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1957-Little Rock desegregation 1958-NASA is founded 1958-National Defense Education Act 1959-Castro takes over in Cuba 1959-Alaska Hawaii admitted to U.S. Post War America - Democracy was tested in the turbulent post war time. Americans lived in fear of foreign enemies. The government stepped in to take a hard line against them to calm society’s fears. The United States and the Soviet Union were racing to have the first man on the moon. Television presented situation comedies of happy families living the “American Dream”. African Americans fought for civil rights, while poets, artists and writers stretched the boundaries of creativity to show their first amendment rights. Picture: http://blogwaybaby.com/H-Bomb%20Explosion.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) Events: 1940: Battle of Britian 1941: Lend Lease 1942: Wansee Conference 1942: Bataan Death March 1942: Battle of Midway 1943: US puts a withholding tax 1943: Zoot Suit Riots 1943: Detriot Riots 1944: D- Day 1944: GI Bill of Rights 1944: Battle of Leyte Gulf 1945: Truman is President 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide 1945: V-E Day 1945: US drops atom bombs on Japan 1945: Japan surrenders 1945: Nuremberg trial Picture: http://www.britsattheirbest.com/images/f_wwii_firemen.gif "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) Herbert C. Hoover (1929-1933) Franklin D Roosevelt (1933-1945) Events: 1917- Espionage act 1917- Service Act 1917- 3 war revenue act 1917- US and Austria Hungary at war 1918- Sedition Act 1918- Shank Vs. US 1918- Adams Vs. US 1918- 14 points 1919- coal miners strike 1919-Steal Strike 1919-Boston Police Strike 1919- 3rd international 1919- Treaty of Versailles signed 1920- Red scare- Palmer raids 1920- election- Harding wins World War I - The war allowed the United States to become the world's leading creditor and industrial power. Because the United States population was made up of immigrants from nearly every country, President Wilson knew he needed to create a sense of nationalism. A swelling American pride contrasted with the large Anti-German feeling. The United States boasted an army of five million men. At the end of the war, it was the American forces that played a huge role in stopping the German offensive and ending the war. Picture: http://parisparfait.typepad.com/paris_parfait/images/flag_1.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893) Grover Cleveland (1893-1897) William McKinley (1897-1901) Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) William Howard Taft (1909-1913) Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) Events: 1901- President McKinley is shot 1901-Theodore Roosevelt 1901- Steel becomes major business in the US 1906- Health reforms 1906- San Francisco Earthquakes 1908- Bath Tub incident 1909- Taft 1909- Niagara Movement 1910- Roosevelt offers a commitment to a higher income tax, regulation of trusts, and rights of labor reforms 1912- Roosevelt is shot 1912- election taft vs. Wilson 1912- Wilson is President 1912- "New nationalism" 1912-New Freedom-limit federal government power.Through open competition, businesses will regulate themselves.He wants to get rid off all regulations 1912- Titanic 1913- 16th amendment ( permits income tax) 1913- Federal Reserve is made (this makes central power over the new nation's money and credit) 1914- Federal Trade Commission 1916- 8 hour act (for railroads) 1916- draft 1918- international shipment of child labor goods was stopped 1919- 18th ammendment - Stops Alcohol 1919- Wilson dies 1920- Women's rights- constitution is ratified Imperialism/ Progressivism - The United States had always welcomed immigrants and this period showed its willingness to accept people into its borders. United States annexed Hawaii and acquired the Philippines, Puerto Rico, parts of the Samoan islands and other Pacific islands. The rights of these new citizens would show true democracy. The government sought to provide reforms to help citizens in social, moral, economic and political ways. The United States wanted to provide for the welfare of its people by regulating labor, food, and business. The people had more of a voice in elections through nominating primaries and women’s suffrage. Picture: http://images.chron.com/blogs/txpotomac/Archives%20we_can_do_it.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) James A. Garfield (1881) Chester A. Arthur (1881-1885) Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) Events: 1877-Hayes is president 1877- Interstate commerce act 1877-federal troops are starting to be with-drawled from the south 1878- Women's suffrage acts defeated 1879- women are able to be attorneys 1880-president Garfield 1881- Garfield is assassinated 1882- Chinese Exclusion Act 1883- Pendleton Act 1883- Civil service act 1883-Supreme Court decides that the Civil Rights Act from 1875 excludes individuals or corporations 1886-Grover Cleveland is now president 1886-Statue of Liberty is unveiled 1886- American Federation of Labor 1889-Benjamin Harrison 1890- Sherman Anti- Trust act 1890- Wounded knee massacre The Gilded Age developed democracy as the United States moved away from its agrarian society to an urban society. Through this development, more capital was able to be generated and people became greedy. This was also a time of reform to curb corruption through the Civil Service Act, the Interstate Commerce Act and the Sherman Antitrust Act. The United States was ready to mold its government around the needs of its changing society. Picture: http://www.cerritos.edu/soliver/Student%20Activites/StAct_Reconstruction_files/image002.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: James Buchanen (1857-1861) Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865) Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) Events: 1861: Jefferson Davis is president of the Confederate States lincoln is still president 1861: Ft. Sumpter 1861: start to tax real estate and personal income 1861-62: South wins major battles with general Robert E. Lee 1862:Homestead act 1863:emancipation proclamation (frees slaves) 1863: Gettysburg (north wins) 1863: draft riots 1863: national banking act 1864: Lincoln re-elected 1864: Grant is commander of army 1864: battle of the Crater 1864:Battle of Mobile Bay 1865: slaves are allowed in military 1865: 13th ammendment (abbolish slavery) 1865: Ku Klux Klan 1865: 10% plan 1865: Lincoln Assassinated 1865: Johnson is now President 1866:Civil Rights Act 1866:radical/ congressional reconstruction 1865: abolished slavery (13th amendment) 1866: citizenship to former slaves (14th amendment) 1867: first reconstruction act- splits southern states into five areas and gives them restoration of civil government 1867: tenure office act 1867: Second reconstruction act 1867: third reconstruction act 1867: Alaska is now part of the US 1868: Johnson is impeached for violating tenure office act 1868: grants citizenship to anyone who is born in the United Sates (sets the stage for applying all the rights to everyone which the constitution states) 1870: voting rights (15th amendment) 1872: Susan b. Anthony and others fight for women's voting rights 1873: financial panic 1875: Civil Rights Act 1876: election between Tilde and Hayes 1876: Hayes is President 1877: Great Railroad strikes 1877: Compromise Civil War - Reconstruction - During the Civil War, Congress adopted the Homestead Act which offered free land. A transcontinental railroad was built and new taxes and banks were established. The number of soldiers killed in the Civil War was more than World War I and II combined. The 13th amendment was ratified ending slavery. Socially the Civil War had many consequences changing the relationship between the states and the government. Reconstruction following the Civil War furthered democracy in ways that are still relevant. Those 12 years were a blueprint for future race relations in the way the government should help promote racial equality. Picture: http://www.masonicsourcebook.com/civil_war_soldiers-union_confederate.GIF "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Martin Van Buren (1837-1841) William Henry Harrison (1841, died one month into office) John Tyler(1841-1845) James K. Polk (1845-1849) Zachary Taylor(1849-1850) Millard Fillmore(1850-1853) Franklin Pierce(1853-1857) James Buchanan (1857-1861) Major Events: 1845: Texas admitted to Union as slave state 1864-1848: Mexican-American War 1848: Seneca Falls Convention 1850: Compromise of 1850 1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1855: Kansas-Nebraska Act 1855-56: Bleeding Kansas 1857: RedScott v. Sanford 1859: ohn Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected 16th POTUS Pre Civil War - To reiterate that all men are created equal, during the years leading up to the Civil War, programs were created that helped those people who perhaps couldn’t help themselves: education was reformed, schools for the deaf and handicapped were created and temperance put into effect. Slavery actually pushed our country forward because the slaves provided a labor force that helped create the United States economy. The United States increased its size by 1/3, which created many new opportunities for settlers, but increased north/south tensions over the slavery issue. The Kansas Nebraska Act and the Dred Scot decision added fuel to the smoldering ashes of slavery. Said about the Civil War, “It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces." Picture: http://chnm.gmu.edu/declaration/images/thelen2.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) Martin Van Buren (1837–1841) Events: 1824:Election between jackson, clay and John Quincy Adams 1824: Corrupt Bargain 1825: American system 1828: Andrew Jackson 1828: center of population move west 1830's: whig party develops 1837: Martin Van Buren 1840: Two central governments 1840: voting records reach an all time high The Jacksonian Era - To encourage more voting, states made it easier than ever before to vote: getting rid of property qualifications, residency requirements and voice voting. However, women and blacks were still not able to vote. The Jacksonian Democrats and the Whigs were new political parties that were supported across the United States. Andrew Jackson won the election of 1828 in bitter campaign, increasing voter participation. Jackson enhanced the Democratic power of the presidency, creating the “spoils system”. Picture: http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/images/uploaded/posts/screen_44240df0de50c.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: Thomas Jefferson(1800-1808) James Madison(1808-1816) James Monroe(1816-1824) John Quincy Adams (1824-1828) Major Events: 1800 Election of 1800 1800 Washington DC capital 1803 Louisiana purchase 1803 Marbury vs. Madison (establishes Judicial Review) 1804 Lewis and Clark 1804 12th Amendment 1808 Ban of trade slave in Africa 1812 War of 1812 1820 Missouri Compromise 1823 Monroe Doctrine 1825 Erie Canal 1826 Jefferson and Adams die- both on same day The Jeffersonian Era - “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principal” stated Thomas Jefferson in his inaugural address. His presidency was a cry to return to the principals of the Constitution and to basic republican principals. Vice President Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel and was charged with treason. Britain and France tugged the United States into war by seizing ships, cargoes and even sailors. The United States took Britain to war once again. Picture: http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/TJ%202%20436X500.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: George Washington1789-1797 John Adams 1797–1801 Events: 1791: Bill Of Rights added to Constitution 1793: Jefferson resigns from Secretary of State 1796: election of 1796 1797: XYZ affair 1798: Quesi War 1798:Alien and Sedition Act 1799:Virginia and Kentucky Resolution Democracy developed during 1789 - 1800 as the new nation created the Constitution, Bill of Rights and political parties. The nation built the White House in Washington DC. Without fear of a strong central government taking individual rights, elections became an integral part of the peaceful transition of power and political party. With the sizable growth in the population, came significant economic growth as a result of a financial program that secured the nation’s credit and stimulated the economy. The new nation grew to three times the size of the original 13 colonies. Diplomatically, Washington and Adams kept the United States from any wars. Picture: http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3g00000/3g01000/3g01700/3g01799r.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Presidents: George Washington (1789) Events: 1781: Articles of Confederation ratified 1783: Peace Treaty with Britain 1786: Escalating debate between Federalists, and Anti-Federalists 1787: US Constitution written at Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 1788: US Constitution ratified by 9 states and becomes a law 1789: George Washington elected first President of the USA + First Congress met in New York, NY (then the nation’s capital) The American Constitution is a fundamentally democratic document. After all, America has long been an example of democracy in action. It has the wisdom to divide the governmental powers into three branches - which serve as checks upon each other. The document furthered democracy in that it endorses a strong national government, yet gives states individual rights. The United States was the first modern nation to achieve independence through a successful revolution against colonial rule. Because of the Bill of Rights and amendments, the constitution is a living document. Picture: http://www.cqpress.com/incontext/constitution/images/Scene_at_the_Signing_of_the_Constitution_of_the_United_States.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
Events: 1754- The French and Indian War 1765- Stamp Act 1770- Boston Massacre 1773- Tea Act and Boston Tea Party 1774- First Continental Congress 1775- Lexington and Concord battles start revolution 1776- Decleration of Independence 1783- final Treaty of Peace signed The Revolutionary War was the first movement toward democracy. The colonists were tired of the king using them to finance his war by imposing taxes and unfair tariffs. The colonists didn’t even have a say in how they were being governed. To have the courage to fight a war against their once revered king and to win that battle was the defining moment in the colonist’s road to a true democracy. Without the Revolutionary War, the colonists would still be under the thumb of some ruler, other than one they voted themselves. Picture: http://anashistorychannel.com/revolutionary-war-minutemen.jpg "The Gilder Lehrman Institute. Modules on American History." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2009. .
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