US History timeline & concept chart: 1900-1940

US History timeline & concept chart: 1900-1940

Objectives:

• to help students to
  • associate timelines with events, persons, themes & concepts
  • associate presidents with timelines, themes & concepts
  • identify timelines with BIG IDEAS across periods of US history
  • find connections and common themes across US history
  • easily find relevant details for larger comprehension
• to help teachers to
  • quickly review US History content for lesson planning
  • provide students with easy and complete reference source for US history

Click EXPAND for a note for mobile phone users

• these timeline & concept charts use tables in order to connect ideas, timelines, and major concepts
• tables are not mobile-friendly (they do not wrap to a single column)
• when these charts are complete, we will in the future convert the charts to mobile-friendly format as an alternative file
• we encourage you to use a tablet or larger monitor in order to see the charts here

Index

• Major concepts & themes across US History
• Category:US History timelines & concept charts pages list

Page structure & format guide

• US History timeline & concept chart page structure format guide

U.S. History course pages:

• US History
• AP US History

1890-1910s: Progressive Era

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
1890s-1910s Progressive Era Jacob Reis photographs NYC tenements Teddy Roosevelt becomes NYC police commissioner >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS progressivism = urban, middle & professional class reformers felt that big business and corrupt government had endangered the country sought greater government control of the economy Direct democracy "initiative, referendum & recall" Economic & labor reform labor laws government control of monopolies Muckrakers >>	Progressive Era 1890s-1910s Middle class & professional class, urban reformers as opposed to 1890s Populist movements which were mostly farmers and rura Progressive issues/ agenda: anti-corruption (local, state and national) “scientific approach” to public policy = public policy should be removed of politics and informed by experts electoral reform limiting expenditures (known today as "campaign finance reform" direct election of Senators the Constitution allowed states to decide how to select US Senators progressives wanted the voters and not the legislatures to decide led to the 17th Amendment anti-trust/ anti-monopolies especially railroads and banks public safety clean cities municipal ownership of utilities (electricity, sanitation, trolleys, etc.) honest policing safe housing workplace / labor reforms, especially ban child labor limit work hours minimum wages retirement pensions access to health care “direct democracy progressives believed that government corruption would be fixed by more “direct” participation of voters in laws and government = voters to decide "directly" by-passing legislatures = initiative, referendum & recall initiative = voters can propose laws to be voted on by popular vote (majority vote) referendum = voters can veto or block existing laws by popular vote recall = voters can "recall" or fire elected officials, including governors & judges anti-court / anti-judicial review progressives believed that the courts had too-strictly interpreted the Constitution and thereby blocked necessary laws progressives wanted the popular voter to essentially replace judicial review other issues: forest and park management truthful advertising rules railroad price regulations for passengers and freight Progressive Era personalities Robert LaFollette: WI Senator, progressive movement leader Theodore Roosevelt WEB DuBois: founder of the NAACP Margaret Sanger: womens’ suffrage & rights, promoted contraceptives and abortion 1890s Progressive Era legacies food safety and child labor laws workplace regulations regulatory bodies composed of "experts" 17th Amendment direct election of senators primaries (electoral) Federal Reserve Board in its ultimate form it was not a central bank a compromise between public and private banking (see below) main job = to regulate the money supply the Progressive agenda was more fully enacted in federal law under the 1930s Depression-Era New Deal Progressivism and women’s suffrage was advanced during progressive era although it was not central to mainstream progressivism it took WWI for the 19th Amendment to pass to protect the right of women to vote (1920) Progressive Era legislation Constitutional amendments: 16th Amendment, 1913: federal income tax 17th Amendment, 1913: direct election of Senators (states previously selected Senators by vote in the legislature; by the time of this amendment, most states had already allowed for “direct” or “popular” election of Senators by the public 18th Amendment, 1919: banned sale of alcohol 19th Amendment, 1920: guaranteed right to vote for women Laws/ Agencies: Pure Food & Drug Act, 1906 (following publication of “The Jungle” exposing meat industry conditions) Federal Trade Commission Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 Federal Reserve Act

1900s: McKinley, (T) Roosevelt & Taft administrations

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
timeline here 1897-1901 McKinley 1st term 1900 McKinley reelected defeated Democratic and progressive candidate William Jennings Bryan 1901 McKinley assassinated by an anarchist 1902 Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes the presidency 1902-1905 Roosevelt first term 1903 Coal strike << confirm date 1904 Roosevelt "corollary" to Monroe Doctrine 1905-1909 Roosevelt 2nd term 1907 Panic of 1907 1909-19313 Taft presidency 1910 recession >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS McKinley popularity high with strong economy and Spanish-American War victories<br "Theodore Roosevelt presidency known was "Teddy" and "TR" gained fame as "Colonel Roosevelt" in Spanish-American War led "charge up San Juan Hill" a minor battle but highly publicized progressive populist "Bully pulpit" = exercised rhetorical powers of the presidency (publicity, speeches, setting national agenda) effective self-promoter "strike buster" "progressive reformer" Taft presidency was TR's Secretary of War and appointed successor was expected to carry on "Roosevelt legacy" governed more conservatively than Roosevelt Taft-Roosevelt break: falling out "Payne-Aldrich Tariff" Panama Canal started 1903 completed 1913<< subsection >> subsection >>	=== subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
timeline here 18xx xxxx >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS subsection >> subsection >> subsection >> subsection >>	=== subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details

1910s: Taft & Wilson administrations

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
timeline here 1909-1913 Taft presidency 1913-1917 Wilson 1st term 1914-18 World War I 1917 US entrance to WWI 1917-1921 Wilson 2nd term 18th Amendment put into law the long temperance fight to ban alcohol >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS subsection >> World War I American neutrality “Foreign War” protest/ dissent suppressed subsection >> subsection >> see World War One (Westpoint)	World War I (WWI) breaks out in Europe in 1914 American neutrality = official US policy at beginning of the European war English blockade of US ports to block shipments to Germany Germany responded with U-Boats (submarine) attacks on ships supplying Great Britain Zimmerman telegram German ambassador to Mexico tried to get Mexico to declare war on U.S. his telegraph was intercepted by British and sparked anti-German outrage in U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI) ran anti-German and anti-Russian propaganda during the war Congress passes laws prohibiting dissent against U.S. involvement in the War: Espionage Act, 1917 Sedition Act , 1918 = reminiscent of Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798 selective Service Act of 1917: authorized draft of soldiers Spanish Flu, 1917-18 massive pandemic exacerbated by wartime preparations with concentrations of young solders post-War peace agreements and peace efforts Treaty of Versailles Wilson's Fourteen Points Worldwide attempts to prevent future wars: Washington Conference (limiting arms stockpiling) 1929? Kellogg-Briand Pact: international agreement to outlaw war U.S. radicalism in US 1917 Red Scare in response to Russian Revolution and its support within radical segments of the U.S. used to justify Sedition Act bombs, strikes socialists and anti-war radicals demonstrated and led strikes during the War, which they saw as a capitalist enterprise many radical leaders were immigrants, who were often blamed for those movements following WWI and anti-war agitation, public turned anti-immigrant and immigration was largely shut down through 1920s until after WWII bombings: during 1918-1920 a series of bombs were set off by radicals, including the Wall Street Bombing, which killed 30 Palmer Raids, 1920s US government responded to bombings and agitations by arresting 10,000+ people under suspicion of anti-American and pro-Russian sympathies FBI created to investigate radicals during WWI and was used to enforce prohibition laws FBI's jurisdiction came from the Mann Act of 1910 that authorized federal policing (enforcement) of anti-prostitution laws, known as "white slavery" J. Edgar Hoover ran the agency, led it like his own kingdom === subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details

1920s: Wilson, Harding, Coolidge & Hoover administrations

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
timeline here 18xx xxxx >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS subsection >> subsection >> subsection >> subsection >>	=== subheading >>details 1910-1920s Court Cases “Incorporation” of the Bill of Rights into state law Expanding federal jurisdiction over states - Supreme Court began to apply the protections of the Bill of Rights to state law > process called “Incorporation” > BOR originally applied only to federal government > 14th amendment opened door to “incorporation” > cases tended to be >> freedom of speech, especially regarding protests during WWI >> protections against illegal search and seizures Cases: - Schenk v. US: socialist agitator arrested for violating Espionage Act of 1917 that prohibited “interference” w/ War effort >> court ruled that some speech can be regulated if it endangers others (presents a “clear and present danger” such as “yelling fire in a crowded theatre”) 1920s Themes: - return to normalcy after WWI - economic boom - consumerism / consumer loans - technology spread, esp. autos, telephones, radio - women’s expanding roles in economy, politics - Great migration: black social & economic change - Economic boom - business oriented governance > Republican presidents reduced income taxes but kept tariffs, including to enact the disastrous Smoot-Hawley tariff, which was “protectionist” or “protectionism” > labor unions lost favor, growth of “welfare capitalism” under which businesses offered workers benefits in exchange for not forming unions or striking - consumer culture: > expansion of consumer credit fueled consumer purchases, esp: > automobiles, appliances, radios, suburbs growth > “labor saving devices” < freed women from many household tasks - Jazz Age: > flappers > jazz > “Lost Generation” writers: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, O’Neill Also: - Prohibition era > bathtub gin (home-made alcohol) > gangster era (Al Capone, rum runners) - Stock market frenzy > stock market crash, 1929 - restrictions on Immigration: Emergency Quota Act of 1924 - Scopes Monkey Trial: over teaching evolution 1929-32 Stock Market Crash of 1920 Leads to Great Depression Stock Market Crash causes over-speculation overly optimistic investor reaction to strong economic growth in early 1929 (net profits of traded companies in first 6 months of 1929 rose 36.6% over same period prior year) stock buying on margin (using borrowed money) called "margin buying" Oversupply of "winter wheat" over the winter of 1928-1929 led to drop in prices stock prices reacted with a drop in June, 1929, but "stags" -- amateur investors" jumped in over the lower prices speculation exploded as of Aug, 1929, brokers loaned up to 2/3rds the stock price more money was loaned for the market than the amount of currency circulating in the U.S. meanwhile, wheat prices continued to decline Average P/E ratio hit 32.6 n Sept. 1929 "Circular money" or "trading" led to increase in prices without any real increase in actual funds or new inflows of capital (outside of loans) "circular trading" leads to "speculative bubbles" By mid-1929, autos, houses, steel and other production benchmarks commenced to slow or decline, as overproduction begam to impact inventories part of the overproduction was caused by a drop in overseas sales due to the collapse in bond markets in Europe (banking sector) 16% of American households had investments in stocks In October, 1929, in response to a 1928 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report on fraud and unfair trade practices among electrical companies, which were controlled by holding companies (trusts), Congress proposed legislation to regulate the public utilities industry; as a result, the sell-off commenced, forcing margin-buyers to cover loans by selling at lower and lower prices. In August 1929, the Federal Reserve raised rates from 5% to 6%, which made it more expensive to take loans as the market declined, a "liquidity crisis" followed, under which investors were unable to secure new loans or cover the value of existing loans, i.e., their portfolios were "not liquid" and could not be easily converted into cash without selling at lower and lower prices. see https://time.com/5707876/1929-wall-street-crash/ - Hoovervilles: shantytowns of unemployed, named for President Hoover - Bonus Expeditionary Force (protest in DC by impoverished veterans) - Dust Bowl - New Deal > “ABC” Agencies: created to respond to every aspect of life > see FDR for more > Workers Progress Administration (WPA): to put people to work, including artisans, artists, writers === subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details

1930s: Hoover & (F) Roosevelt administrations

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
timeline here 18xx xxxx >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS subsection >> subsection >> subsection >> subsection >>	=== subheading >>details New Deal Restoring confidence in banks and in America Federal intervention in economy Regulations, Social Welfare FDR administration “relief” and interventions > see Franklin Roosevelt in Presidents timeline New Deal laws included: > Emergency Banking Relief Bill (to stop panics), 1933 > Banking Act of 1933 >> authorized the > Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure/ guarantee individual deposits in banks > Agricultural Investment Act (AAA) > Farm Credit Act > National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) >> which created the Public Words Administration (PWA) to build roads and other projects for employment and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to support similar programs in states >> under the NIRA, FDR seized control of the Tennessee Valley Authority (which built dams and electrical plants) > National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) > Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - New Deal legacies: > Alphabet Agencies: federal agencies, many with abbreviations (AAA, CCC) that were created and led to huge federal increase in regulatory powers > Social welfare programs became permanent part of federal role in people’s lives > enacted much of the agenda of the 1900s progressives and 1890s populists WWII, 1939-45 US: 1941-45 Total Mobilization - Nye Commission of 1936: Senate investigation into arms sales by US companies that led up to WWI, including making bribes to foreign leaders, led to the: - Neutrality Acts (1935-37) > barred sale of weapons to nations at war > official US neutrality as war became inevitable in Asia and Europe > “isolationism” : anti-war sentiment === subheading >>details === subheading >>details === subheading >>details

1940s (F) Roosevelt & Truman administrations

PERIOD / TIMELINE	Major Events, Concepts & Themes	Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
timeline here 18xx xxxx >> >> note spacing between lines using <br><br> code	BIG IDEAS subsection >> subsection >> subsection >> subsection >>	=== subheading >>details - U.S. preparation for war, including > Selective Training & Service Act, 1940: 1st peacetime military draft > Hollywood propaganda movies > Lend-Lease Act, 1941: authorized “loans” of military equipment to Britain > Atlantic-Charter Conference: Pres Roosevelt and British PM Churchill met to declare mutual agreement and goals for defeating Nazis - Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941: Japanese attack on US Naval base in Hawaii led to U.S. Declaration of War against Japan and Germany - Internment of Japanese Americans, 1942 === subheading >>details WWII Home Front - total mobilization for war - civilian efforts to support military via rationing, “victory gardens” buying US gov bonds to finance the war - women and minorities apart of mobilization - Manhattan project: race to build the atomic bomb European Theater: v. Germany, starting in N. Africa, working up through Italy, then Normandy Invasion of France > Germany surrendered June 1945 after US closed in on West and Russians from the East Asian Theater v. Japan, starting w/ Pearl Harbor, loss of Philippines, then working up towards Japanese mainland via “island hopping” - Atomic Bomb, Aug, 1945 ended the war === subheading >>details === subheading >>details