A Trip Through Time
Proud or Shame in America
Edison's Lightbulb
The conditions of Labor
A Jump into Communication
Ellis and Angel Island
Pull factors
Chinese Exclusion Act
In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress, stopping the Chinese immigrants (except students, teachers, merchants, tourists, and government officials) from coming to the States for the next ten years. After the ten years were up, Congress banned them for ten more years, then eventually decided the ban was permanent. The ban was finally removed in 1943, but it is a shame that America did that in the first place because of the issue of jobs being hard to come by.
Mass Transit
Skyscrapers
The concept of skyscrapers was to use the most of small amounts of ground permitted for the buildings. Instead of spreading out and covering more land or making multiple buildings, the idea of building up instead of out was created. This allowed people to put more in one building and didn’t have to pay for more land. The skyscraper was America’s greatest contribution to architecture, which is definitely something to be proud of.
Political Machines
The 17th Amendment
In 1912-1913, the 17th amendment was passed, making it so the people vote for their senators, rather than each state’s legislature. This was a good change because it gave the people more power to chose who represented them. Congress approved it in 1912 and it was ratified in 1913. This is something to be proud of because it gave the people more power and choice in who represented them.
Eugene Debs and the American Socialist Party
Eugene Debs helped organize the American Socialist Party in 1901, calling out how unbalanced the government and businesses are and stuff. Debs believed that capitalism was the root of social problems and the evils of society and that we didn’t need reform, we needed revolution. For the most part, progressivists stayed away from socialism, but many agreed with Debs opinions about society and business being corrupt.
The 19th Amendment
Panama Canal
Platt Amendment
Cuba, finally free from Spain after the U.S. stepped in and helped, wrote their constitution of their independence. The Platt amendment was added to it, by the U.S., basically saying that Cuba couldn’t make treaties with anyone else, that the U.S. could use their land for naval and refueling stations and other stuff. After we freed them from Spain’s control, we pretty much replaced them and controlled Cuba ourselves. It is kind of hypocritical that we did that.
Roosevelt Corollary
Roosevelt added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine in 1904. The Monroe Doctrine warned the European powers to stay out of Latin America. The Roosevelt Corollary added that if anything happened to disturb peace in Latin America, America would act as an international police power and that we would use force if necessary to protect our economic interests in Latin America.
Treaty of Versailles
After the 1st World War was over, the Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty hoping to restore peace throughout Europe. The treaty established 9 new nations and demanded Germany pay reparation and take full responsibility for the war. There were a bunch of concerns with the treaty from the Americans and in the end, we didn’t join the League of Nations and signed a separate treaty with Germany.
Selective Service Act
The Selective Service Act was passed in May of 1917. It required men to enlist with the gov. to get picked randomly to serve in the military to fight in WW1. Before 1918 ended, 24 million men had enlisted because of this act, but only 2 million actually reached Europe and only 3/4ths of them fought.
Zimmerman Note
The Zimmerman Note was a telegram sent to Mexico from Germany trying to form an alliance. Germany did this as a precaution for if the U.S. entered the war and supported the Allies. Germany offered Mexico the territory they lost to the U.S. in exchange for an alliance, but Mexico said no. Ironically, when they sent the telegram, the States intercepted it and this lead to them joining WW1, doing exactly what Germany was trying to protect against.