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Key Events in U.S. History and Their Impact

Learn about important events in U.S. history, their causes, and their impact on the nation. Explore topics such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitutional Convention, Westward Expansion, Civil War, Industrialization, and more.

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Key Events in U.S. History and Their Impact

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  1. SWBAT discern key events in U.S. History by completing the graphic organizer and answering the regents questions.

  2. Important Events in U.S. History • Declaration and American Independence – July 4, 1776 • Constitutional Convention – 1787 • Westward Expansion – 1800 – 1900 • Civil War – 1861 – 1865 • Industrialization – 1800’s • The Progressive Era (1890-1920) • World War I – 1914 – 1918 (U.S. enters in 1917) • The Roaring Twenties (1920s) • The Great Depression (1929-1941) • World War II (1941-1945) • The Cold War (1945-1991)

  3. Declaration and American Independence – July 4, 1776 • What is it: A document which list the grievances (complaints) against the British King and officially declares the colonists independence from Great Britain. • What caused it: “Taxation without Representation”, Tax on tea, East India , British East India Company • Impact: The Declaration of Independence gave birth to what is known today as the United States of America. The document is symbolic of American democracy and one of the free charters of freedom. 

  4. Which two key principles of government are included in the Declaration of Independence? majority rule and minority rights universal suffrage and judicial independence direct democracy and equality for women consent of the governed and natural rights The Boston Tea Party was a demonstration of the opposition of colonial merchants to a high tax on tea taxation without representation the British East India Company monopoly all of the above

  5. Constitutional Convention – 1787 • What is it: a representative body meeting to form and adopt a new constitution or to form, consider, and adopt amendments to an existing constitution.  • What caused it: a weak Articles of Confederation with a single branch of government and no Bill of Rights. • Impact: The Constitution of the United States established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. It was signed on September 17, 1787.

  6. What principle of government is found both in the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States? • The right to vote must be guaranteed to all Americans • Supreme court justices should be elected by the people • Governing power should be divided between different levels of government • States have the right to secede from the union Anti Federalists opposed ratification of the United States Constitution until they were assured that a bill of rights would be added to the original document to protect citizens from a tyrannical Federal government their supporters would receive a fair share of federal government jobs the president was given increased powers senators would be elected directly by the people

  7. Westward Expansion – 1800 – 1900 • What is it: movement of settlers into the American West, began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny." • What caused it: Like Thomas Jefferson, many of pioneers associated westward migration, land ownership and farming with freedom. • Impact: The size of the U.S. states grew but this process involved many conflict with Native Americans and other countries.

  8. One result of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory (1803) was that the United States           (1) acquired California from Spain (2) gained control of the port of New Orleans           (3) ended border conflicts with British Canada           (4) annexed Florida Which action of President Thomas Jefferson was in conflict with his belief in a strict interpretation of the Constitution?            (1) protesting the impressment of United States sailors  (2) purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France            (3) pardoning violators of the Alien and Sedition Acts            (4) using the United States Navy to subdue the Barbary pirates

  9. Civil War – 1861 – 1865 • What is it: The Civil War was America's bloodiest and most divisive conflict, pitting the Union Army against the Confederate States of America. The war resulted in the deaths of more than 620,000 people, with millions more injured and the South left in ruins.  • What caused it: The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’ rights and westward expansion.  • Impact: After the Civil War ended, three important Amendments were added to the Constitution – the 13th, 14th, and 15th.

  10. Following Reconstruction, the passage of Jim Crow laws in the South limited the effectiveness of (1) the 14th and 15th amendments (2) the Freedmen’s Bureau (3) Black Codes (4) tenant farming and sharecropping

  11. Industrialization – 1800’s • What is it: manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production.  • What caused it: Natural Resources, railroads and abundant labor. • Impact: urbanization, over-population, child labor, pollution, robber barons, unions, tenement housing, triangle shirtwaist factory fire, muckrakers.

  12. Many of the business trusts created in the late 1800s were eventually declared illegal primarily because they (1) eliminated competition by forming monopolies (2) combined companies that manufactured different products (3) donated large sums of money to political candidates (4) allowed children to work under unsafe conditions A major cause of antagonism toward the “new immigrants” who came to the United States after 1880 was the belief that they (1) were better educated than native-born Americans (2) had a higher standard of living than most Americans (3) adapted easily to American culture (4) competed with Americans for jobs as unskilled laborers

  13. The Progressive Era (1890-1920) • What is it: Social reformers of the Progressive Era wanted the government to fix many of the problems. • What caused it: rapid industrialization and urbanization. Child labor, low wages, long hours, unsafe working and living conditions, business corruption. • Impact: Consumer protection, muckrakers (Jacob Riis and Upton Sinclair), new minimum wage laws, new building safety laws, Clayton Antitrust Act, 19th Amendment passed in 1920 (women’s right to vote).

  14. The term muckraker was used during the Progressive Era to describe (1) dissatisfied workers who went on strike (2) Northerners who went South following the Civil War (3) investigative journalists who exposed societal problems (4) women who supported the Prohibition movement In 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed in an attempt to (1) ensure the safety of American consumers (2) establish price controls on the cattle industry (3) limit the power of Congress (4) give big business greater control over the economy

  15. World War I – 1914 – 1918 (U.S. enters in 1917) • What is it: On April 6, 1917, the U.S. joined its allies--Britain, France, and Russia--to fight in World War I. The allies had already been fighting for three years. The United States was no longer following a foreign policy of isolationism or neutrality. • What caused it: Germany continuing with unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking of the ship Lusitania, the Zimmerman Note. • Impact: the entrance of America’s well-supplied forces into the conflict marked a major turning point in the war and helped the Allies to victory. 

  16. Which action by Germany prompted the United States to enter World War I? (1) attacking British shipping (2) forming an alliance with Austria-Hungary (3) resuming unrestricted submarine warfare (4) invading France • The United States Supreme Court in Schenck v. United States (1919) ruled that freedom of speech may be limited during national emergencies when the speech • (1) threatens the principle of States rights • (2) conflicts with national economic policies • (3) interferes with a presidential campaign • (4) presents a clear and present danger to the nation

  17. The Roaring Twenties (1920s) • What is it: a surging economy created an era of mass consumerism, as Jazz-Age flappers flouted Prohibition laws and the Harlem Renaissance redefined arts and culture. • Consumerism: the consumption of goods (radio, toaster, electronics) at a higher rate.  • What caused it: people happy to move on from World War I, women having been in the factories and slowly gaining independence, Americans lived in cities than on farms. • Impact: Prohibition (he prevention by law of the manufacture and sale of alcohol), Great Migration of African Americans from the Southern countryside to Northern cities and the increasing visibility of black culture bothered some white Americans.

  18. The prosperity of the United States in the mid- 1920s resulted in part from • (1) increased demand for new consumer goods • (2) high-wage contracts negotiated by labor unions • (3) record-high farm prices • (4) increased government regulation of the economy • The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s expanded the influence of African Americans by • (1) financing the construction of apartments in New York City • (2) gaining passage of civil rights legislation • (3) helping elect African Americans to high political offices • (4) promoting the artistic contributions of African Americans

  19. The Great Depression (1929-1941) • What is it: the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929. • What caused it: overproduction of consumer goods and farm crops, too much credit and speculation on the stock market –people got rich in the 1920s buying risky stocks “on margin” (with credit); when the stock market crashed, many lost their life savings. • Impact: Many people were hungry, they did not have money for food; bread lines formed in order to feed people, thousand of Americans were homeless, Dust Bowl, New Deal programs.

  20. All of the following were causes of the Great Depression EXCEPT (1) A weak foreign trade (2) an overextension of credit (3) agricultural overproduction (4) establishment of public works projects • During the 1920s, installment buying, income inequality, and stock market speculation contributed to the • (1) introduction of supply-side economics • (2) return of laissez-faire economic principles • (3) economic weaknesses that helped bring about the Great Depression • (4) decision to lower tariff rates

  21. World War II (1941-1945) • What is it: World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies defeated Nazi Germany and Japan in 1945. • What caused it: When WW II broke out in Europe in the late 1930s, the US maintained a policy of neutrality – Congress passed a number of laws called the Neutrality Acts which said the US couldn’t take sides in the war. But slowly the US began to take the side of England against Germany – the Lend-Lease Act and “cash and carry were all signals that the US was moving away from neutrality. • Impact: WW II ended when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.  Two rival superpowers–the United States and the Soviet Union–that would soon face off against each other in the Cold War (Communism vs. Democracy).

  22. In the United States, one result of World War II was that A) Americans became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world B) minorities were granted full civil rights C) industrial wages decreased D) the number of women in the work force increased • Prior to United States entry into both World War I and World War II, United States foreign policy changed from isolationism to involvement mainly because • A) the United States felt obligated to honor its commitments to its allies • B) United States interests were threatened • C) the public had elected Presidents who supported expansionism • D) American manufacturers lobbied for sales to belligerents

  23. The Cold War (1945-1991) • What is it: During the Cold War, the main US foreign policy was called containment – its goal was to stop the spread of communism. Some examples of how containment was used are: the Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War. • What caused it: At the end of WW II there were two superpowers: the US and the Soviet Union. The USSR was a communist dictatorship, while the US was a capitalist democracy; the Cold War involved these 2 countries competing to see whose way of life would rule the world. • Impact: Space was an important arena for the Cold War and even led to the creation of NASA. Millions of people were killed in the proxy wars between the US and the USSR during the Cold War. The "hot" parts of the Cold War included the Korean War, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion into Cuba, and the Vietnam War.

  24. The terms containment, domino theory, and massive retaliation are most closely associated with United States foreign policy efforts to (1) maintain neutrality during World War I (1914–1917) (2) avoid conflict with Germany and Japan in the 1930s (3) wage the Cold War in the 1950s (4) increase trade with Latin America in the 1970s • Which statement about the Vietnam War is an opinion? • (1) President Lyndon B. Johnson’s escalation of the war was a mistake. • (2) United States forces withdrew from Vietnam during the presidency of Gerald Ford. • (3) Disagreement over the war divided the American public. • (4) The Vietnam War had been the longest military conflict in United States history.

  25. The U.S. Since 1970 • What is it: Impeachment proceedings to remove president from office, the House of Representatives impeached President Nixon; but before the Senate could vote to expel him, Nixon resigned (the first & only president to do so) • The Patriot Act is legislation passed in 2001 (President Bush) to improve the abilities of U.S. law enforcement to detect and deter terrorism. • What caused it: Watergate – scandal involving President Richard Nixon when he tried to cover up a burglary committed by people working for him; when Nixon refused to hand over tapes he made of his office conversations to Congress (as the Supreme Court ordered him to in United States v. Nixon). • Hyper vigilance after 9/11 • Impact: The Patriot Act sparked an on going debate regarding the privacy of Americans.

  26. The Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Nixon (1974) upheld the principle that the president • (1) is not above the law • (2) can be allowed greater powers during national emergencies • (3) must accept limits on his veto power • (4) can freely dismiss members of his cabinet

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