1. MAJOR ERAS IN U.S. HISTORY

2. Reconstruction Period

3. Civil War Ends- 1865

4. 13 th Amendment: Abolished slavery in U.S.

5. 14 th Amendment: everyone citizens regardless of race

6. 15 th Amendment: everyone can vote regardless of race (except women)

7. Homestead Act: head of household receives 160 acres of free land.

8. U.S. Indian Policy: move Indians to reservations, expect assimiliation

9. Transcontinental Railroad: connects the east coast to the west coast.

10. Cattle Industry Boom: Sale of Texas longhorns in Midwestern cities. Cattle trails and railroads

11. Gilded Age

12. Growth of big business: Carnegie (Steel) Rockefeller (oil), Vanderbilt (railroad) (Monopolies)

13. Growth of Labor Unions: organization for workers- better pay and working conditions

14. Urbanization: growth of cities

15. New Immigrants: from southern and eastern Europe.

16. Political Machines: gave jobs and housing in exchange for votes.

17. Populism: People’s political party. Becomes part of Democratic party.

18. Social Gospel Movement: Movement to help the poor mainly new immigrants.

19. Interstate Commerce Act: regulations of railroads in the United States

20. Anti-Trust Acts: regulations of big business.

21. Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act: civil service exam for government jobs. Jobs based on performance.

22. Spanish-American War (1898) U.S. goes to war with Spain. Gain: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Philippines as a result. Causes: Yellow Journalism, U.S.S. Maine blows up, DeLome letter- calls McKinley “weak”

23. Progressive Era: (Try to fix the ills of society)

24. Theodore Roosevelt: served in the Spanish-American War as a “rough rider”, became President. Environmentalist, Trust-buster, built Panama Canal

25. Building Panama Canal: creates shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. Eliminates the need for a two ocean navy.

26. Great Migration: African Americans migrate from the South to the North in the years between the wars.

27. Susan B. Anthony: leader for women’s suffrage

28. W.E.B. Dubois: founded the NAACP, wanted immediate integration for African Americans

29. 16 th (Sixteenth) Amendment: income tax

30. 17 th (seventeenth) Amendment: direct election of senators

31. 18 th Amendment: Prohibition, sale, consumption, manufacturing of alcohol illegal in the United States.

32. 19 th Amendment: women’s right to vote

33. Pure Food and Drug Act: all foods must be labeled correctly and meet federal standards

34. Initiative: citizens can put an issue on the ballot. Referendum: vote on the initiative, recall: remove a corrupt political person

35. World War I:

36. German Submarine Warfare: Unrestricted sub warfare- sinking of American ships, cause for U.S. involvement in WWI.

37. Zimmermann Telegram: intercepted telegram from Germany asking Mexico to invade the United States. Another cause for U.S. involvement in WWI.

38. American Expeditionary Force: U.S. troops in WWI.

39. General John J. Pershing: U.S. General went to Mexico to capture Pancho Villa, served U.S. in World War I.

40. Stalemate on western front: WWI trench warfare; neither side making any progress

41. Battle of Argonne Forest: Major battle in WWI.

42. Wilson’s Fourteen Points: President Wilson’s plan for peace at the end of WWI; including the League of Nations.

43. Treaty of Versailles: Treaty that ends WWI. Blames Germany for WWI.

44. League of Nations: President Wilson plan for an organization to prevent future wars. U.S. refuses to join.

45. Roaring Twenties:

46. Red Scare: Fear of Communism in the United States

47. Nativism: fear of foreigners

48. Social Darwinism: “Survival of the Fittest”. The strongest will survive. Same in business, the strongest businesses will survive.

49. Prohibition: 18 th Amendment- no more consumption of alcohol. Led to organized crime.

50. Harlem Renaissance: Surge of music, writing and arts by African Americans in Harlem, neighborhood in New York.

51. Henry Ford: Assembly line production. Makes the automobile affordable to most Americans.

52. Assembly Line: form of production, product moves not the worker. Makes factories more efficient.

53. Clarence Darrow: Defense attorney for Biology teacher, John Scopes. Accused of teaching the Theory of Evolution.

54. William Jennings Bryan: prosecuting attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial. Populist Party candidate. ran for Presidency three times. Lost all three times.

55. Charles Lindbergh: aviator who flew across the Atlantic in the 1920’s. Became a national hero.

56. Great Depression:

57. Stock Market Crash (1929): Black Tuesday. Over speculation leads to crash of stock market.

58. U.S Tariff Policy: Raised U.S. tariffs to keeps foreign goods out of the United States and promote American goods.

59. Federal Reserve Policies: refuse to put more money in circulation. Regulates U.S. banking industry.

60. Bank Failures: “run on the banks”. Consumers demanded money, banks invested money in the stock market, couldn’t meet the demands and closed.

61. Widespread Unemployment: Production goes down, companies lay off employees.

62. Dust Bowl: High winds, drought, loose soil in the Midwest blows dust as far as NYC.

63. New Deal: FDR’s programs to bring the United States out of the Great Depression.

64. Social Security Administration: create security of the retired, and disabled citizens of the United States.

65. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): federal government insures bank deposits up to $100,000.

66. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): watchdog agency over the stock market.

67. Court Packing Scheme: FDR’s plan to pack the Supreme Court to insure the survival of his New Deal programs. Ruled unconstitutional.

68. World War II:

69. Rise of Fascist Dictators: Hitler, Franco, Mussolini. Failure of democracies in Western Europe led to their rise in popularity.

70. Attack on Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941. Japan attacks the United States. Reason for U.S. entrance into WWII.

71. Pacific and European Theaters: Two fronts of World War II.

72. Battle of Midway. U.S. defeats Japanese Navy. Turning point in WWII.

73. Invasion of Normandy: D-Day (June 6, 1944) Allied invasion of France. Opens western front for the Allies in Europe.

74. The Holocaust: Nazi systematic killing of 11 million people during WWII.

75. Food Rationing: conserving resources in the United States during WWII. Food Rationing coupons were used.

76. Victory Gardens: growing own gardens to conserve food supplies for the U.S. troops.

77. Japanese Internment: Japanese- Americans forced to relocation camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

78. Tuskegee Airmen: African-American fighter pilots during WWII.

79. Flying Tigers: Volunteer Fighter pilots, flew supply missions to China.

80. Navajo Code Talkers: created unbreakable code in the Pacific during WWII.

81. Atomic Bomb: U.S. drops nuclear bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII. Controversy forms over use of the bomb.

82. Early Cold War Era:

83. Soviet Aggression in Europe: Occupied countries in Europe install Communist governments.

84. Truman Doctrine: plan that U.S. will defend any country resisting Communism. Created due to threat of Communism in Greece and Turkey.

85. Marshall Plan: U.S. help rebuilds western Europe after WWII.

86. Berlin Airlift: U.S. and Britain fly supplies into Berlin after roads are shut down to the city.

87. McCarthyism: Communist “witch hunt” – bullying of a witness without evidence

88. Korean War: North Korea invades South Korea. U.S. defends South Korea under the command of General MacArthur.

89. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Alliance between U.S., Canada, and western European countries defending themselves against an attack.

90. G.I. Bill: provides money for college, low interest loans for those who serve in the military.

91. Baby Boom: largest population boom in U.S. History during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

92. Sputnik I (1957): Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite into space.

93. Cuban Missile Crisis: U.S. discovers missile bases in Cuba. Missiles provided by the Soviet Union.

94. Civil Rights Movement:

95. Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Reverses Plessy v. Ferguson decision of “Separate But Equal” desegregates schools in the United States.

96. Hernandez v. Texas: Mexican Americans cannot be systematically excluded in practice from juries.

97. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968): civil rights activist promoted non-violent resistance. Believed in integration. Assassinated in 1968.

98. Cesar Chavez: United Hispanic Farm Workers. Used non-violent means of protesting such as boycotts.

99. Great Society Programs: LBJ’s programs to end poverty and promote equality in the United States.

100. Civil Rights Act 1957: first civil rights act passed by Congress. Primarily dealt with voting rights.

101. Civil Rights Act 1964: outlaws discrimination in the United States.

102. Voting Rights Act 1965: outlawed voting rights discrimination in the United States.

103. 24 th Amendment: eliminates poll taxes

104. Vietnam Era:

105. Domino Theory: if one country falls to communism the rest will fall.

106. Gulf of Tonkin: gave the President broad military powers in Vietnam.

107. Tet Offensive: large scale counter- strike by Vietcong during Vietnamese New Year 1968.

108. Vietnamization: slow withdraw of U.S. troops from Vietnam.

109. Fall of Saigon: 1975, U.S. troops withdraws troops from Vietnam. South Vietnam falls to North Vietnam.

110. Silent Majority: mainstream America who still supported the Vietnam War quietly.

111. 26 th Amendment: lowered voting age from 21 to 18.