Major dates in American History Flashcards
1862
The Homestead Act gives any settler 160 acres of public land if he promises to live on it and farm it for five years.
1867
The USA buys Alaska from Russia.
1869
First Transcontinental railroad, which helps to create cohesion between the states and which accelerates the movement westward.
1870-1920
Second large wave of immigration, mainly from southern, Central and Eastern Europe, and from China and Japan.
1876
General Custer is defeated by the Sioux (led by Sitting Bull) at the Battle of Little Big Horn. This is just one event reflecting the growing resistance of the Indians to their conditions of life and the loss of their lands. Indeed, all through the 19th century, the Indians are gradually forced into reservations, administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where they are not allowed to develop their own culture.
1879
Edison invents the electric light bulb. The last decades of the century (called the Gilded Age) are marked by industrial growth and the emergence of some captains of the industry who accumulate enormous fortunes (e.g. Rockefeller, Carnegie), often using part of their money to fund educational or artistic programmes. The United States becomes increasingly urbanised.
1886
Creation of the American Federation of Labor, a union made necessary by the rapid growth of industry and big businesses during the last two decades of the century.
1890
Indians massacred at Wounded Knee. This marks the end of their resistance. The frontier is officially closed.
1901-17
The Progressive Era: under the presidencies of Roosevelt and Wilson, reforms are introduced, aiming at fighting social inequalities, developing higher education, regulating big businesses and preserving natural sites.
1903
First flight of the Wright Brothers.
1908
Ford starts producing his Model T car and develops efficient plants with assembly-lines increasing the output.
1917
After US ships are sunk by German submarines, the USA enters WWI. It helps win the war, but over 100,000 American soldiers lose their lives in the conflict. The US becomes a major power internationally.
1920
Women get voting rights. Prohibition, until 1933 (making or selling alcohol is prohibited) leads to bootlegging.
1920-29
The Jazz Age (also called the Roaring Twenties). This decade is a period of prosperity, during which consumerism reaches a climax: electrical appliances, cars, the radio, advertising become very popular. This is reflected in literature by the writings of the Lost Generation (Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dos Passos) who expose the concern with materialism. Corruption and bootlegging add to the decline of morals.
1924
Indian Citizenship Act (the Indians are given American citizenship).
1927
Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic Ocean.
1929
Increasing speculation leads to the collapse of the Stock Exchange or Wall Street Crash (Black Thursday). Beginning of the depression years, when many banks and businesses go bankrupt and millions become unemployed.
1932
Roosevelt’s New Deal to boost the economy, create jobs, thanks to a programme of public works, and helped the poor and the unemployed. Roosevelt’s reforms are also economic (the Agricultural Adjustment Act, to help farmers with subsidies, the Tennessee Valley Authority, to use water for agriculture, the Banking Act ) and social (right of workers to belong to a union, social security). All these measures will be effective although unemployment will remain high until the US enters the war against Germany.
1933
Many German Jewish refugees start arriving in America.
1941
The USA (which has so far maintained an isolationist policy) enters the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (a US navy base) by the Japanese. America starts mass-producing tanks, planes and all kinds of military equipment.
1944
The allied forces land in Europe (on June 6, D-Day).
1945
Germany surrenders (VE-Day). The US drops atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrenders (VJ-Day). Altogether, over 400,000 Americans have been killed in the conflict. The United Nations Organization is created as an international organization to prevent future conflicts.
1947
The Marshall Plan brings financial and material help to countries fighting communism. The relationship between the USA and the USSR becomes increasingly tense. This will lead to the Cold War in the 1950s.
1949
Creation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) - an alliance between the US and Western European countries in case of Soviet aggression.
1950-3
Korean War, between North Korea (communist, helped by the USSR) and South Korea (helped by the Americans).
1952
McCarthyism: Senator McCarthy leads a which-hunt against communists in America. Many like Arthur Miller see a parallel with the trials of witchcraft in Puritan New England (see his play The Crucible). An atmosphere of paranoia takes hold of America, with denunciations, trials and even executions, as in the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, accused of spying for the USSR.
1954
Segregation in public schools becomes unconstitutional.
1956
Montgomery bus boycott (black people protest against segregation of buses). It will lead to the desegregation of buses.
1960-63
Kennedy President. He starts a social policy called “the New Frontier”: its aim is to put an end to segregation and help the poorest in the country through welfare measures.
1961
Kennedy tries to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro , but fails. The following year, Soviet missiles are found in Cuba, which leads to a new crisis.
1963
Johnson becomes president after Kennedy is assassinated. He introduces extensive reforms to fight poverty, including Health insurance and aid to education. Martin Luther King leads a Civil Rights march on Washington to protest against segregation and inequality.
1964
The Civil Rights Act abolishes segregation.
1965
In spite of the Civil Rights Act, riots erupt in a number of larger cities.
1964-73
The Vietnam War, between the North (communist) and the South, helped by the Americans. Almost 60,000 American soldiers are killed and the US finally has to retreat after growing dissatisfaction at home (anti-war demonstrations, draft dodgers).
1968
Martin Luther King assassinated.
1969
First man on the moon.
1972
President Nixon signs the strategic Arms Limitation Treaty with the USSR.
1974
Nixon resigns after the Watergate scandal (he had ordered that the head-quarters of the Democratic Party be broken into).
1980-88
Presidency of Ronald Reagan, who introduces conservative and liberal policies.
1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall. End of the Cold War.
