APUSH Timeline

1600-1650

1607: British establish Jamestown Colony

• Bad land, malaria, rich men, no gold Headright System - land for population - people spread out

1608: French establish colony at Quebec.

1614: Tobacco cultivation introduced inVirginia. - by Rolfe

1619: First African slaves brought to British America.

• Virginia begins representative assembly - House of Burgesses

1620: Plymouth Colony is founded.

• Mayflower Compact signed - agreed rule by majority :

• 1629 Mas.BayCoundedCtyUpeakir" - Gov. Winthrop

• Bi-cameral legislature, schools 1630: The Puritan Migration

1632: Maryland - for profit - proprietorship

1634 - Roger Williams banished from Mass. Bay Colony 1635: Connecticut founded

1636: Rhode Island is founded - by Roger Williams • Harvard College is founded

1638 - Delaware founded - 1" church, 1* school

1649 - Maryland Toleration Act - for Christians - latter repealed

1650-1700

• 1650: Navigation Acts

• 1660: Halfway covenant - get ppl back in church, erosion of puritanism

• 1670: King Charles II grants charter for Carolina colonies, restoration colonies

• 1676: Bacon’s Rebellion - Bacon wants frontier protection from royal Gov Berkeley, first uprising against British

• 1682: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn

• 1686: Dominion of New England - Royal Gov Andros attempted to unify Northern colonies to curb independence - failed

• 1692: Salem Witch Trials

1700-1750

• 1700: Enlightenment - reason, natural rights, deism, John Locke, Adam Smith, Rousseau

• 1720-1740: Great Awakening - George Whitefield = salvation for all

• 1733: Georgia colony founded as buffer state against Spanish

  • Molasses Act - import tax on molasses, sugar to curb trade w/ French West Indies

• 1735: Zenger Trial - victory for freedom of press bc Truth is not libel

• 1754 - 1763: French and Indian War

• 1754: Albany Plan of Union - for defense, fails and shows disunity of colonies

1760s

• 1763: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War, French lose all territory

  • Paxton Boys Rebellion - dissatisfied abt frontier protection in PA

  • Proclamation of 1763 restricts settlement west of Appalchian

  • Pontiac Rebellion - tribes organize against British Movement (Fueled by dissatisfaction with British policies following the French and Indian War, the conflict saw Native American warriors from multiple tribes besieging British forts and attacking settlements)

• 1763: Sugar Act (The Sugar Act also included measures to crack down on smuggling and strengthen customs enforcement)

• 1764: Stamp Act

  • Sons of Liberty enforce non-importation

  • Stamp Act Congress

• 1766: Quartering Act

• 1767: Townshend act on lead, paint, paper, glass tea

  • Colonists react by non-importation

1770:

• 1770: Boston Massacre

• 1772: Samuel Adams organizes Committees of Correspondence

  • Gaspee Incident - British ship burned when trying to collect taxes

• 1773: Tea Act - gives England Monopoly

  • Boston Tea Party

• 1774: The Intolerable Acts to punish boston

  • Boston port closed

  • Mass. gov = no town meetings, no trial by jury, quartering act

  • Quebec Act - Quebec added to Ohio River Valley

  • 1st continental Congress

• 1775: Battle of Lexington & Concord

  • 2nd continental congress

• 1776: The Declaratory Act, passed by Parliament on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed, stated that Parliament could make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever.

  • Declaration of Independence

    • Thomas Paine’s COmmon Sense

• 1777: Battle of Saratoga - turning point in Revolution

  • Articles of Confederation

• 1778: Treaty of Alliance btwn US & France

1780s

• 1781: British surrender at Yorktown

• 1783: Treaty of Peace sighed

• 1785: Land Ordinance of 1785, gov responsible over territory

  • The Land Ordinance of 1785, enacted by the Confederation Congress, established a standardized system for surveying and selling public lands in the Northwest Territory. This ordinance divided the territory into townships and sections, creating a rectangular survey system that is still used today. The land sales were intended to generate revenue for the government and encourage westward expansion

• 1786: Shay’s Rebellion - farmers poor, don’t have currency, no market, wanted Mass. Gov to print more money. Articles of Confederation fails bc couldn’t form an army

• 1787: Constitutional convention to revise Articles

  • Great Compromise (bi-cameral legislature)

  • 3/5 compromise

  • Northwest Ordinance prohibits slavery in West, provides for state to be admitted on an equal status

• 1789: George Washington inaugurated

  • Judiciary Act - establish courts beneath Supreme Court

  • French Revolution

1790s:

• 1791: Bill of Rights ratified

  • First bank of US established

  • Hamilton’s program of debt to keep the interest of rich, promote home manufacturing

• 1793: Eli Whitney invents Cotton Gin

• 1794: Whiskey Rebellion - poor farmers don’t want to pay excise tax

  • During the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, Pennsylvania farmers refused to recognize a federal tax on liquor and took action to prevent federal officials from collecting the tax. Rebellions challenging the authority of the federal government threatened to undermine the new federal government, and President Washington ended the rebellion with a display of military force that intimidated the rebels into ceasing their actions without further violence.

• 1795: Jay Treaty - with Britain - Britain will leave ports and allow US to trade in Asia

  • Pinckney’s Treaty - with Spain - free navigation of Mississippi river

• 1796: Washington’s Farewell Address - isolationist

  • John Adams (Federalist) elected, Jefferson (rep) VP

  • XYZ affair: The XYZ Affair was a diplomatic incident between French and United States diplomats that resulted in a limited, undeclared war known as the Quasi-War

• 1798: Alien and Sedition Acts - illegal to publish anything against gov or president

  • VA / KT resolutions gave states right to nullify if unconstitutional

1800s

• 1800: Jefferson elected, gov changes to Democratic-Republican

• 1803: Louisiana Purchase - established loose construction of Constitution

  • Marbury V. Madison: Establishes judicial review

• 1804: New Jersey ends slavery

  • 12th amendment: separate ballot for Prez & VP

  • Essex Junto - Federalist organization in New England attempts to secede

  • Lewis and Clark expedition

• 1805: Defeat of barbary pirates

• 1807: Robert Fulton invents steamboat

  • US ship Leopard sunk by Britain for refusal to be searched

  • Embargo Act - stop all exports

• 1809: Nonintercourse act - resumes trade with all but France and Britain

1810s

• 1810: Fletcher v. Peck.- action of state can be declared unconstitutional

• 1811: Charter for Bank of US rejected

  • Battle of Tippecanoe: Harrison defeats Tecumseh who made an alliance of Native Americans in defense

• 1812-1814: War of 1812 (warhawks, Federalists against war)

• 1814: Treaty of Ghent ends war w/ status-quo

  • Hartford convention - Federalists against war of 1812, Federalists destroyed

• 1816: 2nd bank of US created

  • American Colonization Society - relocate free Africans to Liberia

  • Madison (Rep) elected

  • Henry Clay’s American system - federally funded domestic improvements and protective tariff

• 1817: Rush-Bagot disarmament btwn US and Britain on Canadian border

• 1819: Adams-Onís Treaty, was a 1819 agreement between the United States and Spain. It defined the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase and resulted in Spain ceding Florida to the United States. In exchange, the U.S. recognized Spanish sovereignty over Texas

  • McCulloch v Maryland - enforced constitutionality of 2nd bank of US

  • Darthmouth v. Woodward - broad interpretation of contract

1820s

• 1820: Missouri Compromise - Maine admitted as free state and missouri a slave state but no slave state north of missouri

• 1823: Monroe Doctrine

• 1824: John Quincy Adams (rep) elected

  • Gibbons v Ogden - interstate trade controlled by Fed courts

  • Jackson’s “corrupt bargain”

• 1826: Panama Conferance - US doesn’t go

• 1828: Tariff of Abominations

  • South Carolina Exposition and Protest - by Calhoun - reaffirms right of state to nullify

  • Jackson elected - fills cabinet with friends = “kitchen cabinet”

1830s:

• 1830: 2nd Great Awakening

• 1831: Nat Turner Rebellion

  • Trail of Tears - to Oklahoma

• 1832: Tariff of 1832 raises tariffs

  • SC nullifies tariff

  • Force Bill - allows prez to do what is necessary to enforce tariff

  • Veto of bank of US recharter

  • Department of Indian Affairs established

  • Seminole War begins

  • Cherokee Nation v Georgia- Fed gov negotiates w/ tribes,not states

• 1833: Roger Taney removed fed funds from bank of US

• 1835: Texas war for independence “lone star republic”

• 1836: Specie Circular - western land must be paid by hard currency

  • Van Buren (Dem) elected

• 1837: Charles Bridge vs. Warren Bridge - strict interpretation of contract

  • Panic of 1837: bc of withdrawal of funds from Bank of US and Specie Circular

• 1838-1839: Aroostook War

1840s

• 1840: Independent treasury System - vaults hold fed money

  • Harrison (Whig) elected —> John Tyler

• 1842: Tariff Bill - raised tariffs back to 1832 status

  • Dorr Rebellion: Rhode Island rebellion against land qualifications for voting

• 1844: Polk (Dem) elected

• 1846: Mexican American War - Taylor provokes Mexicans by moving into disputed Rio-Grande / Nueces River

  • The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, formally ended the Mexican-American War

    • Wilmot Proviso - no slavery in new states from Mexican land

    • 54'‘40’ or Fight - Get Oregon below 49th parallel

    • “54°40' or Fight!” was a slogan used by American expansionists in the 1840s who demanded that the United States claim the entire Oregon Territory, which extended up to latitude 54°40′—the southern border of Russian Alaska. The slogan reflected the belief in Manifest Destiny and a willingness to go to war with Britain over the land. However, the dispute was peacefully settled in 1846, when the U.S. and Britain agreed to divide the territory at the 49th parallel.

• 1848: Seneca Falls convention

  • Taylor (whig) elected -→ Millard Fillmore

1850s

• 1850: Clay’s Compromise of 1850

  • California is free state

  • Other areas = popular sovereignty

  • Slave trade banned in Washington

  • Fugitive Slave Laws

• 1852: Pierce (dem) elected

• 1853: Gadsden purchase - buy land for Mexico to build railroad

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin - Stowe - antislavery

• 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act slavery in states determined by popular sovereignty

  • Bleeding Kansas - Topeka (Free soilers gov) vs Leecompton (slavery)

  • Ostend Manifesto - by Buchanan to take Cuba

• 1856: Buchanan (dem) elected

• 1857: Dredd Scott - slaves are property, allows for slavery in north, overturn Missouri Compromise

• 1859: John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s ferry

1860s

• 1860: Crittenden compromise - unreasonable compromise by southerners abt slavery - fails

  • Lincoln (rep) elected

• 1860-1865: Civil War

• 1861: Ex parte Marryman - Lincoln suspends habeas corpus

• 1862: Homestead act

  • The Homestead Act of 1862 was a landmark piece of legislation that allowed American citizens and immigrants to claim 160 acres of public land in the West, provided they lived on and cultivated the land for five years. This act played a significant role in the westward expansion of the United States and the development of the American West

• 1863: Battle at Antietam

  • Banking Acts establish fed. charted banks

  • Emancipation Proclamation

  • 10% plan

• 1864: Lincoln reelected

  • Wade-Davis Bill - a radical Reconstruction plan that aimed to set stricter conditions for Confederate states to rejoin the Union. It was a direct response to President Lincoln's more lenient "Ten Percent Plan," requiring a majority of voters in each state to take an Ironclad Oath (swearing they had never supported the Confederacy) before rejoining the Union. The bill was passed by Congress but was pocket vetoed by Lincoln

  • Sand Creek Massacre - Chivington attacks defenseless Native American village

• 1865: Civil war ends

  • Freedmen’s Bureau established - education and food

  • Lincoln assassinated -→ Johnson

  • Johnson’s amnesty plan for confederates

  • 13th amendment

• 1866: Ex parte Milligan - military courts can’t try civilians when civil courts are open

• 1867: Alaska purchased

  • Reconstruction acts - divide south into 5 military units, protect black voting

• 1868: Tenure of office act - pres can’t remove any appointed official without senate consent - declared unconstittutional

  • 14th amendment

  • KKK begins

  • Carnegie Steel Company founded

  • Grant (rep) elected)

• 1869: Transcontinental RR completed form Union Pacific and Central Pacific

  • Knights of Labor founded in secret

1870s

• 1870: 15th amendment

  • Standard Oil founded

• 1872: Credit Mobilier scandal - stockholders of RR construction

  • Grant reelected

• 1873: Slaughterhouse cases - 14th amendment doesn’t place fed gov under obligation to protect basic rights concerning monopolies

• 1874: Farmers alliances - anti-RR, pools, rebates, pass granger laws

• 1875: Civil Rights Act gave Black ppl equal rights

• 1876: US v Reese - allows voting qualifications like literacy tests, poll tx, grandfather clause

  • Bell invents telephone

  • Hayes (rep) elected

• 1877: Munn v Illinois - if in interest of public good, then states can regulate prices reasonably

  • The Munn v. Illinois case, decided in 1877, is significant because it affirmed the power of state and federal governments to regulate private businesses, particularly those that affect the public interest. It established the principle that businesses with a public interest are subject to government control, even if they are privately owned. This landmark ruling paved the way for subsequent regulations of industries like railroads and utilities. 

    • Compromise of 1877 - Hays becomes prez, troops withdraw from south, end of reconstruction

• 1879: Edison invents lightbulb

  • Knight of Labor go public

1880s

• 1880: Dust bowl begins

  • Garfield (rep) elected → Arthur

• 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act + European Restriction Act

• 1884: Cleveland (dem) elected

• 1886: Samuel Gompers founds AFL for skilled workers - used strikes (no women, black ppl)

  • Interstate Commerce Act - regulate RR and private business

  • Haymarket incident - peaceful turned violent, ppl blamed labor unions

• 1887: ICC - forbid long haul/short haul practices

  • Dawes Severalty Act - government break up tribal lands into individual lands

• 1888: Harrison (rep) elected

• 1889: Jane Addams founds Hull House

1890s:

• 1890:North American Women’s Suffrage Association founded

  • Sherman antitrust act (weak)

  • 1890-1900 Black ppl deprive right to vote

  • Wounded Knee - Last native american war where they were attacked for the ghost dance

  • Sherman Silver Purchase - directed the US government to purchase a large amount of silver bullion (4.5 million ounces monthly) and issue Treasury notes in exchange. The act was a response to concerns about deflation and the plight of farmers and miners, particularly those in the silver industry. However, it ultimately contributed to economic instability and was repealed in 1893 bc ppl exchanged treasury notes for gold instead of silver, thus depleting the treasury’s reserves

  • McKinley Tariff Act - raises tariffs

• 1892: Homestead Strike at carnegie steel - Pinkerton guards and troops put down strike

  • Populist Omaha Platform - 8hr workday, nationalization of RR, inflation, coinage of silver, decrease tariff

    • Bimetallism: Bryan supported the free coinage of silver alongside gold to increase the money supply.

    • This would help farmers and workers who were burdened by debt and deflation, as silver would cause inflation, making debts easier to repay.

    • Bryan opposed the Gold Standard, which he argued favored industrialists, bankers, and the wealthy elite at the expense of common people.

  • Cleveland (dem) elected

• 1894: Pullman Strike → Pullman decreases wages → american railrway union strikes

  • Coxey’s army marches on washington for unemployment relief bc of 1890 panic

• 1895: Booker T. Washington argues that Black ppl have to focus on self improvement, gradual equality

• 1896: Plessy V. Ferguson - “separate but =”

  • McKinley (rep) defeates Bryan (dem)

  • Cross of Gold Speech by Bryan

• 1898: Spanish-American War

  • Yellow journalism by Pulitzer and Hearst galvanizes American support against Spanish

  • Maine Explodes “remember the maine”

  • De Lome Letter - criticizes McKinley

  • We get Hawaii

  • Peace of Paris: Gives CUba independence and US gets Guam, Philippines, Puerto Rico

• 1899: Teller Amendment - resolution of the US Congress that declared that the United States, after winning the Spanish-American War, would not annex Cuba but would instead grant it independence. It was intended to disavow any intention of the US to control Cuba and to support Cuban independence.

  • Open Door Notes - US enters trade in China but keep china’s territorial integrity

Imperialism

1. From Continental to Overseas Expansion

• Before 1880: U.S. expansion primarily focused on westward movement across North America (Manifest Destiny).

• After 1880: The U.S. increasingly looked beyond its borders, particularly to the Pacific and Caribbean, for strategic and economic opportunities.

  • Concept of the “closing frontier” in Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis produced fears that natural resources were dwindling

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2. Economic Motivations

• Industrial Growth: Rapid industrialization created surpluses in goods and capital, prompting a search for new markets and raw materials.

• 3. 1890s depression encouraged businessmen to look overseas for new markets

• Trade Expansion: Access to Asian markets (especially China) became a priority, influencing policies like the Open Door Policy (1899). US aware of European imperialism & Europe’s partitioning of Africa and China

• Americans feared they would be left out

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3. Military and Strategic Interests

• Alfred Thayer Mahan's Influence: His book The Influence of Sea Power upon History argued that countries’ greatness was determined by their naval power

• Naval Expansion: The U.S. modernized its navy and sought coaling stations and naval bases (e.g., Pearl Harbor, Guam, Philippines).

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4. Territorial Acquisitions

• Spanish-American War (1898): Marked a turning point; the U.S. gained control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.

• Annexation of Hawaii (1898): Gained strategic importance for Pacific trade and military.

• Panama Canal (Started 1904): Facilitated naval and commercial mobility between oceans; increased U.S. influence in Latin America.

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5. Ideological Justifications

• Social Darwinism & Racial Superiority: Used to justify imperial rule over "lesser" nations.

• "White Man’s Burden": A belief that the U.S. had a duty to civilize non-Western peoples.

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6. Policy Shifts

• Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904): Asserted the U.S.'s right to intervene in Latin America to maintain stability if they were unable to meet international obligations. It was issued in response to a debt crisis in the Dominican Republic, where European powers, especially Germany and Britain, threatened military intervention to collect unpaid debts. Concerned that such actions would violate the Monroe Doctrine and invite European influence in the Western Hemisphere, Roosevelt asserted that the U.S. would act as an “international police power” to prevent foreign involvement and protect regional stability.

• The U.S. acquired the Panama Canal Zone in 1903 after supporting Panama’s independence movement from Colombia. In exchange for U.S. military and political backing, the new Panamanian government granted the U.S. rights to build and control the canal through the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty. The canal was strategically and economically important, allowing faster naval and commercial travel between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

• Dollar Diplomacy was a U.S. foreign policy under President William Howard Taft that aimed to extend American influence abroad by using economic power—specifically, encouraging U.S. banks and businesses to invest in foreign countries, especially in Latin America and East Asia—rather than relying on military force.

  Example: In Nicaragua (1909–1912), the U.S. supported a new government and arranged for American bankers to refinance the country's debt, giving the U.S. financial control and justifying military intervention to protect American interests.

  Treaty of Paris (1898) 

  • Formally ended the Spanish-American war and solidified the terms of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines

• Anti-Imperialist League

  • Campaigned in resistance to ratification of the treaty

    • 1. Imperialism = immoral, repudiation of America’s commitment to human freedom

    • 2. Darwinism = ppl feared “polluting” the American population with inferior Asians

    • 3. Labor = Industrial workers feared being undercut by a flood of cheap laborers from the new colonies

    • 4. Conservatives = Worried a large standing army + entangling foreign alliances imperialism would require  would threaten American liberties

    • 5. Sugar growers = Feared unwelcome competition from the new territories

• Pro-Imperialists

  • Theodore Roosevelt & others

    • 1. Ppl saw imperialism as invigorator for the nation

    • 2. Businessmen saw opportunities to dominate Asian trade

    • 3. Republicans saw partisan advantages in acquiring valuable new territories through a war fought and won by a Republican administration. 

    • 4. Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of annexation, however, was that the United States already possessed the islands.

Cuba

• Cubans had been resisting Spanish rule for decades by the time they revolted again in 1895

• Pulitzer New York World & Hearst New York Journal (Yellow journalism) ruthlessly circulated articles abt the war & abt Spanish atrocities

• 1898: Cuban agent stole a letter written by Lôme, the Spanish ambassador in Washington, in which he insulted McKinley → created popular anger

• American battleship Maine blew up in Havana harbor to an electric malfunction, killing 260 Americans, which the press had reported to be a Spanish attack → War hysteria + Congress appropriated money for military

• Teller Amendment = US won’t annex Cuba

• Platt Amendment

  • When Cuba made a constitution w/out reference to US, US passed Platt Amendment (1901) barring Cuba from making treaties w other nations (US control over foreign policy) + gave US the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve independence, life, property + required Cuba to allow US naval stations → destroyed Cuban political independence

Open Door

• The Open Door Policy, introduced by U.S. Secretary of State John Hay in 1899, was designed to ensure equal trading rights for all foreign nations in China and to prevent any one power from monopolizing Chinese markets. At the time, several European nations and Japan were establishing spheres of influence in China, threatening to shut out American trade. The United States, lacking territorial claims in the region, promoted the policy to protect its growing commercial interests and maintain access to China’s vast consumer markets. Additionally, the policy aimed to preserve China’s territorial integrity and prevent further colonial division, which aligned with American ideals of fair competition and non-colonial economic expansion.

Phillipines

• d

Puerto Rico

• Foraker Act (1900) - Ended American military rule and established a formal colonial gov (Americans in the upper chamber and Puerto Rican-elected officials in the lower) - Americans could veto or amend anything the Puerto Ricans passed

• Jones Act (1917) = Declared Puerto Rico a territory and made Puerto Ricans American citizens to 

• Sugar Economy

  • American market open to them w/out tariffs (similar to Hawaii)

  • Growing emphasis on sugar as a cash crop & transformation of farmers into paid laborers

Progressivism

• Jacob Riis

  • Work: How the Other Half Lives (1890).

  • Impact:

    • Exposed the poor living conditions in urban tenements.

    • Influenced housing reforms and Progressive activism.

• Conservation of Natural Resources:
  Roosevelt believed in the responsible use and preservation of the nation's natural resources. He established national parks, forests, and monuments to protect public lands and wildlife.

  • Notable accomplishments:

    • Created the U.S. Forest Service (1905)

    • Expanded national parks, increasing protected lands by millions of acres.

• (1910) Mann-Elkins Act empowering the Interstate Commerce Commission to suspend railroad rate hikes and to set rates. The act also expanded the ICC's jurisdiction to cover telephones, telegraphs, and radio.

• • Muckrakers to bring corruption, etc into public view (Ida Tarbell’s study on Standard Oil), The Jungle

  • Social Gospel (The application of (Protestant) Christian principles to remedy social problems) = Salvation Army

  • Reforms

    • Child Labor Laws:

      • Laws were passed to restrict child labor and mandate school attendance, recognizing the exploitation of children in factories and mines.

      • Example: The Keating-Owen Act (1916) sought to prohibit the interstate sale of goods produced by child labor (later struck down but set a precedent).

  • Women

    • Women’s Trade Union League

      • The Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), founded in 1903, was a U.S. organization that aimed to improve the lives of women workers by organizing them into trade unions and advocating for better working conditions. It played a significant role in the fight for labor rights, including the establishment of the 8-hour workday, minimum wage, and the abolition of child labor. The WTUL also supported strikes and public safety investigations, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire,

    • Suffragists

      • National American Suffrage Association (2M members in 1917)

  • Tackling Corruption

    • Increase power of electorate in order to circumvent boss rule (tammany hall)

    • Initiative  =  Submitted new legislation directly to voters in general elections (many adopted)

    • Referendum  =  Legislature can be returned to the electoral for approval (many adopted)

    • Direct Primary  =  Take selection of candidates away from the bosses and give it to the ppl (everyone adopted)

    • Recall  =  Allowed voters to remove a public official from office (few states adopted)

    • Secret ballot 

      • Printed by the gov & distributed at the polls helped chip away at the power of parties of voters. Before the secret ballot, political parties printed ballots w/ the names of the party’s candidate, making it easy for bosses to monitor the voting behavior of constituents

    • Direct Election of Senators (17th Amendment, 1913): Shifted the election of U.S. Senators from state legislatures to direct popular vote, reducing corruption and increasing democratic accountability.

    • Women’s Suffrage: Progressives laid the groundwork for the 19th Amendment (1920), granting women the right to vote.

  • African Americans:

    • DuBois “In The Souls of Black Folk" advocated Black ppl to fight for civil rights, contrasting Booker T. Washington’s ideas of gradually achieving equality over time by focusing on-self improvement rather than social change

    • Niagara Falls movement

    • 1909: NAACP founded, used lawsuits in Fed courts as its chief weapon against segregation & discrimination - successful

    • Guinn v. U.S. 1915

      • Banned the grandfather clause in Oklahoma law

  • Economic Reforms:

    1. Regulation of Trusts and Monopolies:

       • Progressives sought to limit the power of big businesses, which dominated industries and stifled competition.

       • The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and later the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) were used to break up monopolies and regulate unfair business practices.

       • President Theodore Roosevelt became known as a “trust-buster,” targeting companies like Standard Oil and the Northern Securities Company.

    2. Consumer Protections:

       • The Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) and the Meat Inspection Act (1906) were passed to ensure food and medicine safety following public outrage over unsafe practices exposed in works like Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

    3. Banking Reform:

       • The Federal Reserve Act (1913) established the Federal Reserve System, creating a central bank to stabilize the economy, regulate credit, and manage inflation.

  Prohibition (18th Amendment, 1919):

  • Banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.

  • Prohibition was driven by the belief that alcohol caused social problems like poverty, domestic violence, and workplace inefficiency.

  • Groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League pushed for this reform.

1900s

• The Square Deal was President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic policy framework, focusing on providing fairness and equal opportunities for all Americans. Roosevelt aimed to balance the interests of labor, business, and consumers to ensure that no one group could dominate the others.

• 1900s: TR elected & Progressive Era

  • cure corruption, anti-monopoly, temperance, help immigrants and labor, building codes, public utilities

  • Boxer Rebellion - Chinese nationalists rebel against foreign nations

  • Conservation of Natural Resources:
    Roosevelt believed in the responsible use and preservation of the nation's natural resources. He established national parks, forests, and monuments to protect public lands and wildlife.

    • Notable accomplishments:

      • Created the U.S. Forest Service (1905)

      • Expanded national parks, increasing protected lands by millions of acres.

• 1901: US Steel founded

  • Platt amendment = US controls Cuba’s foreign affairs

  • Insular cases - Ppl in US territories don’t have constitutional rights

• 1903: (1910) Mann-Elkins Act empowering the Interstate Commerce Commission to suspend railroad rate hikes and to set rates. The act also expanded the ICC's jurisdiction to cover telephones, telegraphs, and radio.

• 1904: Panama Canal acquired

  • Roosevelt corollary - made US a police force to take over Dominican customs duty + arbitrates in Venezuela dispute w/ Germany

• 1905: Industrial Workers of the World formed

  • Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle in meat-packing industry → Meat Inspection Act

  • TR negotiates Treaty of Portsmouth of Russo-Japanese War where Japan gets port

  • Hepburn Act - strengthened power of ICC

  • Pure Food and Drug Act - established FDA

• 1908: Taft Elected

  • Muller V Oregon - limited numbers of hours for women

• 1909: NAACP founded

  • Dollar Diplomacy in Haiti and Nicaragua

  • Payne-Aldrich Tariff lowers tariffs

  • Ballinger-Pinchot controversy, where Sec of interior Ballinger was dismissed for not following nation’s conservation policy

1910s

• 1912: Wilson elected

• 1913: 16th amendment = income taxes

  • 17th amendment = direct election of senate

  • Underwood tariff = lowered duties

  • Federal Reserve act created fed reserve system

• 1914: Federal Trade Commission (FTC) established

  • Clayton Antitrust Act strengthened sherman anti-trust act

• 1915: USS Lusitania sunk by German sub

• 1916: War Industries Board - coordinate production and mobilize industries

• 1917: Zimmerman Telegram

  • US enters WWI

  • Great Migration: back ppl move from South to North→ causes race riots, Harlem Renaissance, Garvey’s back to Africa movement

• 1918: National War Labor Board to prevent strikes

  • Treaty of Versailles - Germany loses all colonies, pays reparations

  • Wilson’s 14 points of disarmament, form poland, league of nations, free trade

  • Espionage and Sedition Act - suppress criticism

• 1919: Falmer Raids

  • Shenck v. US - open opposition to war will undermine war effort

  • Senate rejects Versailles treaty and League of nations

  • 18th amendment

  • Volstead act = enforced 18th amendment

WW1

🇺🇸 U.S. Neutrality and Entry into WWI

• Neutrality (1914–1917):
  President Woodrow Wilson initially kept the U.S. neutral, following a tradition of isolationism.
  

• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare:
  Germany’s policy of sinking ships (including civilian ones) without warning (e.g., Lusitania sinking, 1915).
  

• Zimmermann Telegram (1917):
  Germany proposed a military alliance with Mexico against the U.S., further inflaming American opinion.
  

• Economic Ties:
  U.S. traded heavily with Britain and France, making neutrality difficult.
  

• "Make the world safe for democracy":
  Wilson’s justification for U.S. entry into the war (April 6, 1917)

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🪖 Fighting the War

• Selective Service Act (1917):
  Required men to register for the military draft.
  

• American Expeditionary Force (AEF):
  Led by General John J. Pershing; U.S. troops fought separately from European forces.
  

• War Industries Board:
  Regulated production and distribution of war materials.
  

• Committee on Public Information (CPI):
  Government agency led by George Creel that produced propaganda to encourage support for the war.

• Fundraising

  Raised funds through Liberty Bonds ($23B) (with patriotic appeal)  & new income/inheritance taxes ($10B)
  

• Espionage Act (1917) & Sedition Act (1918):
  Limited free speech during wartime; punished criticism of the government or war effort.
  

• Schenck v. United States (1919):
  Supreme Court upheld restrictions on free speech during wartime ("clear and present danger" test).

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🏠 Homefront Changes

• Great Migration:
  Large movement of African Americans from the South to northern cities to fill factory jobs. → race riots,
  

• Women’s Role:
  Women entered industrial workforce, supporting war effort — helped lead to 19th Amendment (women’s suffrage, 1920).
  

• Victory Gardens, War Bonds:
  Citizens were encouraged to grow their own food and buy bonds to support the war financially.

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🌎 Treaty of Versailles (1919)

• Wilson’s Fourteen Points:
  Wilson’s plan for postwar peace, emphasizing:

  • No secret treaties

  • Freedom of the seas

  • Self-determination for ethnic groups

  • Creation of the League of Nations

• Treaty Terms:

  • France & GB wanted reparations

  • Germany was blamed for the war (war guilt clause).

  • Harsh reparations were imposed on Germany.

  • League of Nations was created.

• U.S. Senate Rejection:

  • Led by Henry Cabot Lodge, many Senators opposed joining the League (feared loss of U.S. sovereignty).

  • U.S. never joined the League of Nations.

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⚡ Effects of WWI

• Shift to Isolationism:
  U.S. returned to a policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.
  

• Economic Boom:
  Postwar economic expansion during the Roaring Twenties.

• Race Riots

  • Returning white soldiers displaced black factory workers → 1919 Chicago race riots (Angry Black people marched into White neighborhoods, Whites formed even larger crowds and shot, stabbed, ppl destroyed homes etc - lost of violence)

  • Marcus Garvey’s Black Nationalism gained popularity → promoted African heritage, rejection of assimilation, return to Africa
    

• Red Scare (1919–1920):
  Fear of communism after the Russian Revolution influenced domestic policies + Postwar instability (industrial warfare, racial violence)  fueled fears of radicalism & communism

• Palmer Raids (1920): Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer orchestrated crackdown on suspected radicals - to no ultimate result - most ppl were freed

• Sacco & Vanzetti Trial (1920-1927): Two immigrant anarchists convicted & executed, reflecting anti-radical biases
  

Social Changes:
Acceleration of the women's suffrage movement and civil rights discussions.

1920s

• 1920: Harding elected & 19th amendment

• 1921: Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League

  • Postwar depression

  • Immigration act = restricts immigration

  • Fordney McCumber Tariff = high increase in duties

• 1923: Teapot dome Scandal - Sec of Interior Fall sells oil reserves to private industry

  • Harding dies → Coolidge

• 1924: McNary-Haugen Bill - vetoed - would have been Parity

  • Dawes Plan = provide loans to Germany to help pay reparations

  • Peak of KKK

• 1925; Scopes “Monkey” Trial

• 1927: Charles Lindbergh flies from NY to paris

  • Sacco and Vanzetti executed

  • “The Jazz Singer” = first talking movie

• 1928: Hoover elected

• 1929: Kellogg-Briand Pact: condemned war as an instrument of national policy and renounced it as a means of settling disputes.

  • Stock Market crash

  • Great Depression - bc of easy credit, overproduction, Fed reserve does nothing, speculation and margin buying

1930s

• 1930: Smooth-Hawley Tariff - protective, makes Great Depression worse

• 1931: Japan invades Manchuria

• 1932:

  • Stimson Doctrine = United States would not recognize any treaty or agreement taken by aggression - in response to japan & manchuria

  • Fed Home Loan Bank Act - help w/ mortages

  • Reconstruction Finance Corporation - trickle-down economics lent money to companies and banks, failed

  • Bonus Army - marches on DC to receive veterans’ bonus - Hoover sends in troops

  • FDR elected

• 1933: New Deal Begins

  • WPA = Works Progress administration = employed writers, painters, artists

  • CCC = civilian conservation corps

  • NIRA = National Industrial Recovery Act - sets up NRA, minimum wage

  • Glass Steagall Banking Act = created FDIC, insures deposits against bank runs

  • SEC = Securities and Exchange Commission = police stock market

  • AAA = Agricultural Adjustment Act = paid farmers not to overproduce, declared unconstitutional and replace w/ Free Soil Allotment Act

  • TVA = Tennessee Valley Authority = bring electricity and compete w/ private industry

  • CWA = Civil Works Administration

  • NYA = National youth Administration

  • “Good Neighbor Policy” repudiated Roosevelt Corollary

• 1934: NYE investigations - determine causes of WWI

  • Indian Reorganization Act - restored tribal ownership of lands, recognized tribal constitutions and gov, provided loans for economic development

  • Share our Wealth movement - Huey Long called for distribution of wealth

• 1935: Schecter Poultry Corp vs. US: NRA unconstitutional - put legislative power under executive administration

  • Wagner Act: Set up National Labor Relations Board, labor unions can legally organize and collectively bargain

  • Fair Labor Standards act = set min wage, 40 hour work work, no child labor

  • CIO = COngress of Industrial Organizations

  • Social Security = benefits to old and unemployed

  • Revenue Act - tax the wealthy

  • 1st Neutrality Act: Stop selling munitions to belligerants

• 1936: 2nd Neutrality Act - no lending money to belligerant nations

• 1937: Cash and Carry = Britain can buy from US, but they have to transport it

  • Quarantine Speech = isolate belligerent nations

• 1938: End of New Reforms

• Stenbeck’s Grapes of Wrath

1940

• 1940: Selective Service = peace time draft

  • Destroyers for bases

  • Smith Act -made it a crime to advocate the violent overthrow of the government or to organize or be a member of any group advocating such actions

• 1941: Japan attacks Pearl harbor

  • Lend-lease = lend materials for war

  • US enters WWII

  • Relocation camps for Japanese (Manzanar)

  • Atlantic Charter = a joint declaration issued by the United States and Great Britain in August 1941, outlining their shared goals for World War II and the post-war world.

• 1942: CORE (Congress of Racial Equality)

  • Revenue Act of 1942: increase taxes to cover cost of WWII

• 1943: OPA = seals prices, rations food

  • Detroit Race riots

  • Casablanca Conference = FDR and Churchill meet in Casablanca to settle the future strategy of the Allies

  • Tehran Conference = FDR, Stalin, Churchill discuss strategy against Germany

• 1944; GI Bill = benefits for veterans, money for education, mortages

• 1945: Yalta Conference = Allies meet to decide on final war plans

  • Battle of the Bulge = last German offensive

  • Okinawa = deadly military campaign in Pacific

  • US joins the UN

  • Truman Elected, drops A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  • Postdam Conference = Truman, Churchill, Stalin meet to set up zones, argue over fate of Poland (stalin wanted communists while truman and churchill didnt")

• 1946: Kennan Containment = prevent spread of communism

  • Phillippines get Independence

  • Churchill’s “iron Curtain” speech in response to Russian aggression

• 1947: Marshall Plan = economic aid to reconstruct Europe after WWII

  • Taft-hartley Act = restricts the activities and power of labor unions. It was enacted to balance the rights of management and labor, limiting the scope and impact of the earlier National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act).

  • Truman Doctrine = financial committment to nations fighting communism

  • Federal Employee Loyalty Program = anti-communist oaths

  • National Security = created CIA

  • Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier

• 1948: Truman reelected

  • Truman desegregates armed forces

  • berlin blockade → berlin airlift

  • Alger Hiss convicted of perjury

  • Nuremberg trials

• 1949: NATO

  • Russia’s 1st Atomic bomb

  • Mao Zedong exiles Chiang Kai Shek to Hong Kong

  • Department of Defense created

  • West and East Germany created

  • Fair Deal: Most don’t pass

  • Orwell’s 1984

1950s

• 1950: Korean War begins = enter bc of containment and NSC-68, which said that US can’t rely on allies to containment, US has to take an active role → massive defense spending

  • McCarren Internal Security Act = required registration of Communist organizations and individuals, and allowed for emergency detention of those suspected of espionage or sabotage.

  • McCarthyism

• 1951: 22nd amendment = prez can only serve 2 terms

  • Catcher in the Rye - Salinger

• 1952: Eisenhower elected

• 1953: Rosenbergs executed

  • Armistice in Korea = 38th parallel

  • CIA elevates Shah of Iran to power to keep Iran from becoming communist

• 1954: McCarthy hearings brought him down

  • Brown v Board of Education overturns Plessy v Ferguson

  • Fall of Dien Bien Phu = French lose in Vietnam

  • Geneva Conference = reduction of nuclear weapons, divide Vietnam

  • US einstate Diem in Vietnam

• 1955: Montgomery Buss Boycott - Rosa Parks

  • AFL and CIO merge

  • Warsaw to pact NATO

• 1956: Eisenhower reelected

  • Suez Crisis - Egyptian prez nationalizes canal

  • Interstate Highway Act - builds fe roads,movement into rural area, creation of suburbs

• 1957: Eisenhower Doctrine= extends Truman Doctrine to Middle East

  • Domino Theory = if 1 country falls to communism, others would too

  • Civil Rights Act = create permanent civil rights commission

  • Little Rock school desegregated

  • Space Race

• 1958: NASA

• 1959: Cuban Revolution = Castro invades

1960:

• 1960: U-2 Incident when a US spy plane goes down in USSR

  • Greensboro sit-ins

  • Kennedy (dem) elected

  • National Liberation Front - Viet Cong formed

• 1961: Bay of Pigs to overthrow Castro fails

  • trade embargo on cuba

  • Berlin Wall built to stop crossing

  • Peace Corps = encourage US citizens to help 3rd world countries

  • Coup regime in Vietnam - Diem assassinated

  • OPEC - oil

• 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis, USSR sends missiles Cuba, US removes missiles from Turkey and USSR removes them from CUba

  • Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson

• 1963: Kennedy Assassinated → Johnson prez

  • March on Washington, MLK I have a Dream speech

  • The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan

  • Gideon v. Wainwright = court decide that state and local courts must provide counsel for defense in felony cases

• 1964: 24th amendment outlaws poll tax

  • US enters Vietnam war, Tonkin Gulf

  • Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution = Johnson can invade Vietnam

  • Economic Opportunity Act = Job Core for youth training

  • Civil Rights Act: public places cant be segregated, and nobody can be denied access to public accommodations on the basis of race

  • Great Society - Platform for LBJ’s campaign stressed the 5 P’s, Peace, Prosperity, anti-Poverty, Prudence Progress

• 1965: Medicare and Medicaid

• 1966: Department of Transportation & Department of Housing and Urban Development established

  • Miranda V Arizona: the accused must be read their rights

• 1968: Nixon Elected

  • “New Federalism” = return power to the states

  • TET = Viet Cong Attacks during Vietnamese holiday

  • War extended to Laos and Cambodia

• 1969: Vietnamization begins - slow withdrawal of troops from Vietnam

  • Nixon Doctrine = It shifted the primary responsibility for the defense of allies, especially in combat, to those allies themselves. The United States would still offer support through diplomacy, financial aid, and military training, but not undertake the defense of all free nations.

  • US bombed North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia and Laos, technically illegal bc they were neutral

1970s

• 1972: Nixon reelected

  • Nixon visits Red China and Russia, eases tensions

  • Salt 1, nuclear arms limitation agreement

  • Watergate

• 1973: VP Agnew resigns, Ford replaces him

  • Treaty of Paris: Ends Vietnam war, troops withdrawn, Vietnam temporarily divided again

  • Roe v Wade

• 1974: Nixon resigns

  • Ford pardons nixon

• 1975: Fall of Saigon

• 1976: Carter elected

• 1978: China and US diplomatic relations

  • Fuel Shortage → stagflation

  • Camp David Accords: Peace btwn Israel and Egypt

  • Shah expelled from Iran: American embassy taken hostage → carter’s rescue mission fails (444 days)

  • SALT II = Strategic Armys Limitation Treaty w/ Russia, removed after Russia attacked Afghanistan

1980s

• 1980: Reagan elected

  • “Reaganomics” = reduce taxes and spending, “supply-side” and “trickle-down” economics

  • Iran hostage released

  • Olympic boycott, when US withdrew from competition held in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

• 1981: First PC

  • AIDS

  • Economic Recovery Tax Act based on “supply-side economics” cutting taxes and regulation, reducing taxes

• 1983: Military invasion of Grenada to stop Communism

• 1984: Taxes increase

• 1987: Iran-Contra Hearings

  • Members of CIA and National Security Council found guilty of supporting and arming the anti-Communist rebel Contras in Nicaragua w/out Congress’s knowledge using profits sold to Iran

• 1988: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty limiting intermediate range nukes w/ Russia

  • George H.W Bush elected promising “no new taxes”

• 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall

  • US invaded Panama to restore a democratic gov

1990s

• 1990-1991: Persian Gulf War

  • After Iraq (Saddam Hussein) invaded Kuwait, Bush headed a coalition to set a deadline for Iraqi withdrawal → bomb Iraq → ceasefire and Iraq leaves

• 1991: World Wide Web goes public

  • Collapse of Soviet Union under Gorbachev’s resignation

  • Eastern countries became independent and autonomous

• 1992: Bill Clinton Elected

  • NAFTA btwn Mexico and Canada, free trade

• 1933: Dont Ask Dont tell = a U.S. policy that prohibited openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals from serving in the armed forces. The policy, in effect from 1993 to 2011, stated that service members did not have to disclose their sexual orientation, and the military would not investigate. However, those who violated the policy by openly disclosing their orientation or being found to have engaged in "homosexual conduct" faced discharge

• 1995: Dayton Peace Accords end the conflict in Yugoslavia

• 1996: Defense of Marriage Act allowed states to refuse recognition of same-sex marriage

• 1998: Clinton impeached for affair w/ White House intern Monica Lewinsky → acquitted

2000s

• 2000: George W Bush Elected

  • Tax cuts

• 2001: 9/11

  • US operations against Al-Qaeda and Taliban

  • Bush established Department of Homeland Security to counter terrorism

• 2003: US invasion of Iraq

• 2005: Hurricane Katrina

• 2007-2009: The Great Recession bc of collapse of housing market

• 2008: Barack Obama elected

2010s

• 2010

  • Affordable Care Act, prohibited healthcare providers from denying coverage to ppl based on existing conditions

  • Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

• 2011: Osama Bin Laden Killed

  • US troops leave IRAq

• 2013: Defense of Marriage Act struck down