History Notes: 1850 - Post WWI

Compromise of 1850

• Aimed to resolve disputes over slavery in newly acquired territories.

Bleeding Kansas

• Violent confrontations (1854-1861) over the slavery issue in the Kansas Territory, prefiguring the Civil War.

John Brown

• A radical abolitionist known for violent actions, including the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, aimed at initiating a slave revolt.

Abraham Lincoln

• 16th President of the United States, led the Union through the Civil War and abolished slavery.

The Civil War

• (1861-1865): A war fought between the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South) over slavery and states' rights.

Robert E. Lee

• Confederate general during the Civil War.

Ulysses S. Grant

• Union general during the Civil War and 18th President of the United States.

Emancipation Proclamation

• Issued by Abraham Lincoln in 1863, it declared the freedom of slaves in Confederate territories.

Battle of Gettysburg

• (1863): A crucial Union victory and turning point in the Civil War.

Reconstruction

• The period after the Civil War focused on rebuilding the United States, especially the Southern states.

Radical Republicans

• A faction of the Republican Party that advocated for equal rights and harsh treatment of the former Confederate states.

Johnson's Impeachment Trial

• President Andrew Johnson's impeachment in 1868, initiated by Radical Republicans due to disagreements over Reconstruction policies.

Sharecropping vs. Tenant Farming

• Systems of agriculture in the South after the Civil War where farmers worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crops (sharecropping) or rent (tenant farming).

Transcontinental Railroad

• Completed in 1869, it connected the East and West coasts of the United States, facilitating trade and development.

Compromise of 1877

• Resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election and effectively ended Reconstruction.

Sitting Bull

• A Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led Native American resistance against the U.S. government.

Battle of Little Bighorn

• (1876): A significant Native American victory led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse against General Custer's forces.

Massacre at Wounded Knee

• (1890): The killing of hundreds of Lakota people by the U.S. Army, marking the end of major Native American resistance.

2nd Industrial Revolution

• A period of rapid industrial growth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, characterized by new technologies and industries.

Thomas Edison

• A prolific inventor known for inventions such as the light bulb and phonograph.

Nikola Tesla

• An inventor and engineer known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electrical system.

Alexander Graham Bell

• Inventor of the telephone.

John Rockefeller/Standard Oil

• A leading figure in the oil industry and founder of Standard Oil, which dominated oil production, refining, and marketing.

Andrew Carnegie/Carnegie Steel

• A major figure in the steel industry, known for vertical integration.

Knights of Labor

• One of the first major labor organizations in the United States, advocating for workers' rights.

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• A national federation of labor unions founded in 1886.

Homestead Strike

• (1892): A violent labor dispute between workers and the Carnegie Steel Company.

Pullman Strike

• (1894): A nationwide railroad strike that affected much of the country.

New Immigrants

• Immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe who arrived in large numbers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Ellis Island

• The primary immigration station in New York Harbor, processing millions of immigrants.

Gilded Age

• A period of economic growth but also characterized by significant corruption and inequality.

laissez-faire

• An economic policy of minimal government intervention.

William McKinley

• 25th President of the United States, serving from 1897 to 1901. His presidency was marked by the Spanish-American War and economic prosperity.

Segregation

• The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country or community.

Jim Crow Laws

• State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States.

Plessy v. Ferguson

• (1896): A Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.

Imperialism

• A policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Anti-Imperialist League

• An organization that opposed American imperialism, particularly the annexation of the Philippines.

Jingoism

• Extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy.

Spanish-American War

• (1898): A conflict between Spain and the United States, resulting in the U.S. acquiring territories such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Progressive Era

• A period of social and political reform aimed at addressing problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption.

17th Amendment

• Established the direct election of U.S. Senators by the people rather than by state legislatures.

Wisconsin Idea

• A philosophy emphasizing the use of academic expertise to address social problems.

Jacob Riis

• A muckraking journalist and photographer who documented the living conditions of the poor in New York City.

Muckraking

• Investigative journalism that exposed social and political corruption.

Upton Sinclair/The Jungle

• Upton Sinclair wrote "The Jungle", a novel that exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking industry.

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

• (1911): A deadly fire in New York City that highlighted the need for better workplace safety regulations.

Booker T. Washington

• An influential African American educator and leader who advocated for vocational training.

W.E.B. DuBois

• An African American sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist who advocated for full civil rights and helped found the NAACP.

Theodore Roosevelt

• 26th President of the United States, known for his "Square Deal" domestic policies and conservation efforts.

Square Deal

• President Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program aimed at protecting consumers, controlling corporations, and conserving natural resources.

16th Amendment

• Allows the federal government to collect income tax.

Big Stick Diplomacy

• President Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy, which advocated for the use of military power to achieve diplomatic goals.

Panama Canal

• A ship canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through Panama, built by the United States.

Woodrow Wilson

• 28th President of the United States, led the country during World War I and advocated for the League of Nations.

Trench Warfare

• A type of warfare common in World War I, characterized by long ditches dug into the ground.

Lusitania

• A British ocean liner sunk by a German submarine in 1915, contributing to the United States' entry into World War I.

Zimmerman Telegram

• A secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany.

Sedition Act (WWI)

• Legislation that restricted freedom of speech and expression during World War I.

Schenck v. United States

• A Supreme Court case that upheld the Espionage Act and ruled that speech that presents a "clear and present danger" is not protected by the First Amendment.

Selective Service Act

• Authorized the federal government to raise a national army for the American entry into World War I through conscription.

Dogfights

• Aerial battles between fighter planes during World War I.

14 Points

• President Woodrow Wilson's plan for peace after World War I, advocating for self-determination and the League of Nations.

Treaty of Versailles

• The treaty that ended World War I, imposing harsh terms on Germany.

Carrie Chapman Catt

• A women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the 19th Amendment.

Alice Paul

• A suffragist and women's rights activist who advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment.

19th Amendment

• Granted women the right to vote.

1st Red Scare

• A period of intense anti-communism in the United States after World War I.

Henry Ford

• Pioneer of the assembly line and mass production of automobiles.

Jazz Age

• A period in the 1920s characterized by jazz music and a spirit of rebellion against traditional values.

Flappers

• Young women in the 1920s who challenged traditional gender roles through their dress and behavior.

Teapot Dome Scandal

• A bribery scandal involving the Harding administration and oil reserves.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

• A 1928 international agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them".

Prohibition/18th Amendment

• A nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933.

Sacco and Vanzetti

• Italian immigrants who were controversially convicted and executed for robbery and murder.

Scopes Monkey Trial

• (1925): A trial that challenged the teaching of evolution in schools.

Black Tuesday/Great Crash

• October 29, 1929, the day the stock market crashed, triggering the Great Depression.

Great Depression

• A severe economic downturn that lasted from 1929 to the late 1930s.

Hoovervilles

• Shanty towns built by homeless people during the Great Depression, named after President Herbert Hoover.

Dust Bowl

• A period of severe dust storms that damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

• A high tariff enacted in 1930 during the Great Depression, which further stifled international trade.

New Deal

• President Franklin D. Roosevelt's program to combat the Great Depression through government spending and job creation.

Pearl Harbor

• A surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, just before 08:00 on Sunday, December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower

• Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War II and later President of the United States.

D-Day

• June 6, 1944, the day Allied forces invaded Normandy, France, marking the start of the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.

Battle of the Bulge

• (1944-1945): A major German offensive campaign launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in eastern Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg on the Western Front toward the end of World War II in the European theatre.

Nuremberg Trials

• Post-World War II trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes.

Yalta Conference

• A 1945 meeting between the heads of state of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to plan the postwar reorganization of Europe.

Bataan Death March

• The forcible transfer in April 1942 of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army from Mariveles and Bagac, Bataan, Philippines, to Capas, Tarlac, Central Luzon.

Battle of Iwo Jima

• A major battle in which the United States Marine Corps landed on and eventually captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

Manhattan Project

• A research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• The two Japanese cities that were targets of atomic bombs dropped by the United States in August 1945, leading to Japan's surrender and the end of World War II.