semester exam - events

Sherman Antitrust Act

First federal action against monopolies, it was signed into law by Harrison and was extensively used by Theodore Roosevelt for trust

Chinese Exclusion Act

Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate.

Social Gospel Movement

A social reform movement that developed within religious institutions and sought to apply the teachings of Jesus directly to society

Jim Crow Laws

Laws designed to enforce segregation of blacks from whites

Plessy v. Ferguson

a Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal

Sinking of the U.S.S. Maine

sunk by Spain off of the coast of Cuba; led to eventual declaration of war against Spain (Spanish

Pure Food and Drug Act

Forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs, it gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs in order to abolish the "patent" drug trade. Still in existence as the FDA.

Roosevelt Corollary

Roosevelt's extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in South And Central America by using military force

Zimmerman Note

Germany sent this to Mexico instructing an ambassador to convince Mexico to go to war with the U.S. It was intercepted and caused the U.S. to mobilized against Germany, which had proven it was hostile

Sinking of the Lusitania

Cruise ship that was sunk by German submarines and helped bring the US closer to involvement in WWI

War Industries Board

Agency established during WWI to increase efficiency & discourage waste in war

Great Migration

movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities

Fourteen Points

A series of proposals in which U.S. president Woodrow Wilson outlined a plan for achieving a lasting peace after World War I.

League of Nations

an international organization formed in 1920 to promote cooperation and peace among nations

Treaty of Versailles

the treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans

Teapot Dome Scandal

A government scandal involving a former United States Navy oil reserve in Wyoming that was secretly leased to a private oil company

Harlem Renaissance

A period when African-American achievements in art and music and literature flourished

New Deal

A series of reforms enacted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1942 with the goal of ending the Great Depression.

Atlantic Charter

Pledge signed by US president FDR and British prime minister Winston Churchill not to acquire new territory as a result of WWII and to work for peace after the war

D-day

Led by Eisenhower, over a million troops (the largest invasion force in history) stormed the beaches at Normandy and began the process of re-taking France. The turning point of World War II.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe

38th Parallel

Dividing line between North and South Korea

Korean War

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

Hollywood Ten

Group of people in the film industry who were jailed for refusing to answer congressional questions regarding Communist influence in Hollywood

Strategic Defense Initiative

Popularly known as "Star Wars," President Reagan's SDI proposed the construction of an elaborate computer-controlled, anti-missile defense system capable of destroying enemy missiles in outer spaced. Critics claimed that SDI could never be perfected.

Great Society

President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

Vietnam War

A prolonged war between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Woodstock

3 day rock concert in upstate N.Y. August 1969, exemplified the counterculture of the late 1960s, nearly 1/2M gather in a 600 acre field

Miranda v Arizona

Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self incrimination prior to questioning by police.

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka

1954, The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage

Equal Rights Ammendment

Equality of rights under the law shall note be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Pentagon Papers

Government documents that showed the public had been lied to about the status of the war in Vietnam

Watergate Scandal

A break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washington was carried out under the direction of White House employees. Disclosure of the White House involvement in the break-in and subsequent cover-up forced President Nixon to resign to avoid impeachment.

Camp David Accords

A peace treaty between Israel and Egypt where Egypt agreed to recognize the nation state of Israel

Iran Contra Affair

scandal including arms sales to the Middle East in order to send money to help the Contras in Nicaragua even though Congress had objected

Operation Desert Storm (Persian Gulf War

an action by the US to keep Saddam Hussein from taking over a large part of the world's oil supply.

NAFTA

North American Free Trade Agreement; allows open trade with US, Mexico, and Canada.

Oklahoma City Bombing

Bombing of Murrah Federal Building. The blast, set off by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, killed 168 people, including 19 children in the building's day-care center.

Y2K

A computer glitch that only showed the year by the last two digits. It was feared that when the year changed from 1999 to 2000, computers would think it was really 1900 as it only read the last two digits.