A timeline of significant events about the exansion and industrialization of the United States
Created by rkohn on Dec 3, 2009
Last updated: 12/10/09 at 01:20 PM
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On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first satelite, Sputnik I, into orbit of earth. This act provoked great fear and lowered the morale of American citizens who believed that with the ability to launch an object into space with jet propulsion, the Soviets were further ahead in their technology, particularly missle and rockets. Despite President Dwight D. Eisenhower's attempts to convince the public otherwise, the fears were only hieghtened when on Dec. 6, 1957, the american project Vanguard, which was supposed to counter the previous two successful sputnik missions, had failed. Other politicians like Senator John F. Kennedy used the issue of a "missle gap" in his election in 1960. The US army created the first Explorer mission which fulfilled a scientific function of discovering the Van Allen radiation belt. As a result of this project, congress approved the creation of NASA in order to help compete. Other succesful missions from the Soviets had forced the US to work even harder. Leading to both sides placing a man into orbit and eventually the Apollo misions. On July 20, 1969, the United States successfully placed a man,Niel Armstrong, on the moon and planting a US flag onto the moon. This is significant because the space race represented the first attempts to bring expansion beyond the limits of earth and into space. This also represented the breaking of two Frontiers, first the physical frontier of space, and secondly the industrial Frontier of creating new technologies that benefited the US in numerous economic, political, military and social aspects.
After viewing the advanced systems of transportation that the Germans used in World War 2 to rapidly transport supplies. The United States military decided to model the German Autobahn system in the United States. President Dwight Eisenhower authorized the Department of Public Works to begin building a system of highways over 41,00 miles in length over a period of 20 years that would span the country. This new program would make it much easier to span the country by the use of the newly popular car and allow for much more rapid transportation. this also allowed for more access to rural areas allowing the creation of the suburbs and small towns that could all be place near the highway. This is important to expansionism because it allowed greater access to the nation and it allowed for new industry to take place.
The United States had participated in World War Two on a number of levels. The initial strategy was support, but not combat under the Lend Lease Act, which allowed the United States to loan and trade goods and supplies to Britain and other allied nations for naval bases. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States got directly involved in the combat and started adopting total war policies. The United States producito capacity itself nearly tripled that of all Axis powers combined. The United States industrialism reached it's height when it dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end the war.This is important because it proved that the United States was a true super power in the world and had the role of defending the other nations. It also demonstrated that the US had reached the height of it's production standards and inustrialization during this time.
The roaring twenties was a time when new "Laise e Faire" economics were prominent and was a time of economic explosion. Because of the increased demands and productivity of World War One, the citizens started recreating their lives after the war in many aspects. The younger generation became more rebellious and broke many of the social traditions that had been held in place for many years. The introduction of Laise e Faire economics meant that the government would do as little as it could to regulate the growth of businesses, leading to a short-lived era of prosperity. It is for both of these reasons that people started moving away from rural areas into the cities in order to look for jobs. This led to the expansion of cities. The increased demand for products led to several key inventions that would mark as a trademark for the time. Gadgets like the automobile, refrigerator, microwave oven and the assembly line all made their mark. This era is vastly important because, despite the lack of physical expansion, the industrialization, economic change and the breaking of a social frontier were all very prominent and probably most prominent in this era.
On December, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright, after many years of trial and error, successfully test flew the first airplane over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their invention was monumental because it was the first time that fully controlled air travel was accomplished. The brothers had immediately begun perfecting their design and making public demonstrations. This is important because it represents the industrialization to the point of air travel and it broke the frontier of the sky.
In order to gain access to a military base in the middle of the pacific, the US annexed Hawaii as a state. In the early 1800's sugar planters, whalers, and missionaries made the voyage to the islands. The United States soon became interested in the island because of it's strategic position and began making large trade agreements. The United States kept Hawaii as a territory until 1956 when Hawaii was accepted as a state. This is one of the first footholds in the pacific that the United States gained. It also was a very tropical island that offered many goods for the rest of America.
In order to protect The United State's economic and military interests in Cuba, President Mckinnley sent the USS Maine to cuba in order to demonstrat support for the revolting natives. On Feb 15, an explosion on the battleship caused the media to falsely claim that the battleship hit a spanish mine leading to the United States to declare war on Spain. The importance of this is that it gave the United States control of most of the Carribean with the control of Cuba and expansion into the pacific with the conquest of the Phillipines. This is also one of the first wars that the US was seen as an invader by the natives of lands they liberated, leading to a war in the Phillipines. This also confirmed the dominance of the US navy.
In mid april, 1868, Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated with the Russian government for the purchase of Alaska. The United States was interested in this purchase because it opened the Pacific-north to the United States. Alaska also had a great deal of raw materials that would be highly beneficial to the United States' industry and economy. The United states also wished to gain a greater foothold in the Pacific. These actors led to the first purchase of territory that was separated from the mainland. This is very significant in terms of expansion and industrialization because it is the first purchase of land that far away from the mainland and it provided a large amount of raw materials like wood, metal, silver and oil.
In the 1830's, Mexico and the United States had disputes over which side had controlled the state of Texas. The United States had supported several rebellions of American settlers, including the rebellion at the Alamo, and even supplied weapons and soldiers to aid. The rebellions succeded, but Mexico still didn't recognize the claimed borders and commenced raids on the United States. On May 13, 1846, war was officially declared. The US won ths war and recieved the territorries of Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona. This allowed for open settlement into the southwest US and the aqcuisition of many raw materials for industry.
During his seventh State of the Union adress, president James Monroe announced that it was the duty of the United States to police and protect the Americaa from european colonizing powers and would intervene with any colonization in that region. The Roosevelt Corolary was added which announced that the US would stop the spread of european influence in Latin America militarily. This has a heavy significance beacause it announces that the US has control and responsibility over the rest of the hemisphere. This also models the policies that were created in the 20th century based on containment like the Truman Doctorine. It is also expansionist because it shows how the US claims the hemisphere.
Due to the indian raids from Spanish-held Florida, Secretary of war, John C. Calhoun ordered General Andrew Jackson protect the southern border of the United States. After the battle of New Orleans, Jackson had invaded Floridia and held the region and removed the Spanish Governor from power. The importance of this event is that it demonstrates the expansion of the United States into Floridia, thus completely controlling the eastern seaboard.
President Thomas Jefferson was interested in purchasing the port of New Orleans and all lands east. He sent James Monroe to negotiate a deal with the French in France. The French, because of their desperation to recieve cash to fund the Napoleonic Wars, decided to sell the port with all territory westward for around the same price. Monroe accepted the offer initially without President Jackson knowing because of the great deal that was offered. This is important because it nearly doubled the size of the nation for a relatively cheap price. It was also important in the terms of industrialization because the addition of a major chunk of land meant that technologies had to be created and used in order to transport the meny settlers west and the newly acquired resources to the factories.
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