Homestead Act - 1862 Any adult citizen, or intended citizen, could claim 160 acres of land. Claimants were required to “improve” the plot by building a dwelling and cultivating the land. After 5 years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and clear, except for a small registration fee.

Dawes Act - 1887 "An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands to Indians on Reservations," Emphasized treatment of Native Americans as individuals rather than as members of tribes. Goal was to eliminate the reservation system.

Anti-Trust Acts

The main statutes are the Sherman Act 1890, the Clayton Act 1914 and the Federal Trade Commission Act 1914. These Acts restrict the

formation of cartels and prohibit

other collusive practices regarded

as being in restraint of trade.

They restrict the mergers and

acquisitions of organizations

which could greatly lessen

competition.

They prohibit the creation of a

monopoly and the abuse of

monopoly power.

16th,17th,18th,19th,21st,24th amendments

16th- Income Tax 17th- Direct Election of Senators 18th- Prohibition of Alcohol 19th- Women’s Suffrage (Vote)

21st- Repealed Prohibition 24th- Eliminated the Poll Tax

Pure Food and Drug Act - 1906 The first of a series of consumer protection laws Led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Banned foreign & interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products, Directed the U.S. to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors. It required that active ingredients be labeled on a drug’s packaging

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty that ended World War I Negotiated by the "Big Three" - David

Lloyd George of Britain, Clemenceau of

France and Woodrow Wilson of America

Germany had to accept blame for starting war

Germany had to pay over $33 billion in

reparations

Germany was forbidden to have an army

over 100,000 men, no submarines, & no air force

Germany lost territory and colonies

Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empires

were broken up

Russia lost territory

League of Nations would be created. U.S.

didn’t join

New nations created in Europe

Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan Wilson's Fourteen Points became the

basis for a peace program after World War I 1. No more secret agreements.

2. Free navigation of all seas.

3. An end to all economic barriers between countries.

4. Countries to reduce weapon numbers.

5. All decisions regarding the colonies should be impartial

6. Russia should be left to develop her own political set-up.

7. Belgium should be independent like before the war.

8. France should be allowed to recover Alsace-Lorraine

9. Italy's borders are to "along clear lines of nationality."

10. Self-determination allowed for all those in Austria-Hungary.

11. Self-determination and guarantees of independence

should be allowed for the Balkan states.

12. The Turkish people should be governed by the Turkish

government. Non-Turks in the old Turkish Empire should

govern themselves.

13. An independent Poland should be created

14. A League of Nations should be set up to guarantee the

independence of all states.

Civil Rights Act 1957 Included a number of important

provisions to protect voting rights.

It established the Civil Rights Division

in the Justice Department, &

empowered federal officials to

prosecute individuals that conspired

to deny or abridge another citizen’s

right to vote.

Created a U.S. Civil Rights Commission

charged with investigating allegations

of voter infringement.

Signaled a growing federal

commitment to the cause of civil rights.

Civil Rights Act 1964 Landmark civil rights legislation that

outlawed discrimination based on

race, color, religion, sex, or national

origin. Barred unequal application of

voter registration requirements. Required that voting rules be applied

equally to all races

Outlawed discrimination based on race,

color, religion or national origin

Encouraged desegregation of public

schools & authorized the U.S. to enforce it.

Made it easier to move civil rights cases

from state courts with segregationist

judges & all-white juries to federal court

Voting Rights Act 1965 Landmark federal legislation that prohibits discrimination in voting. The Act prohibits any state or

local government from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting ... which results in a denial or abridgement of the right to vote on account of" race or language minority status.

It also specifically outlaws literacy tests and similar devices used to disfranchise minorities.

Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act 1883

Government jobs should be

awarded based on merit. It provided

political candidates with

competitive exams, instead of being

required to have political ties.

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

First major law restricting

immigration to the United States.

Enacted in response to

economic fears that blamed

Chinese workers for high

unemployment & declining wages.

Effectively halted Chinese

immigration for ten years and

prohibited Chinese from

becoming US citizens.

Open Door Policy Statement by the United States

that all nations should have

equal access to any of the

ports open to trade in China,

and support Chinese territorial

integrity. The statement was

issued to Great Britain,

Germany, France, Italy, Japan,

& Russia. It was a cornerstone

of American foreign policy for

more than 40 years.

Dollar Diplomacy The goals were: Create stability and order

abroad that would best promote American commercial interests.

To improve financial opportunities,

Use private capital to further U.S. interests overseas.

PATRIOT Act - 2001 An Act to deter and punish

terrorist acts in the United

States and around the world,

to enhance law enforcement

investigatory tools, and for

other purposes.

Allows roving wiretaps,

searches of business

records, and conducting

surveillance of individuals

suspected of terrorist-related

activities not linked to

terrorist groups.

Miranda v Arizona - 1966 A landmark Supreme Court decision. The Court held

that statements made in response to interrogation by a

defendant in police custody will be admissible only if

the defendant was informed of the right to consult with

an attorney and of the right against self-incrimination

prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant

not only understood these rights, but voluntarily

waived them.

Brown v Board of Education - 1954

A landmark Supreme Court case in

which the Court declared state laws

establishing separate public schools

for black and white students

unconstitutional. The decision

overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson

decision of 1896.

Plessy v Ferguson - 1896

A landmark Supreme Court decision, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal".

Roe v Wade - 1973 A landmark Supreme Court decision on the

issue of abortion. The Court ruled that a

right to privacy under the due process

clause of the 14th Amendment extended to

a woman's decision to have an abortion,

but that right must be balanced against the

state's two legitimate interests: protecting

prenatal life & protecting women's health.

Gideon v Wainwright - 1963

A landmark Supreme Court case.

the Supreme Court ruled that state

courts are required under the

Fourteenth Amendment to provide

counsel in criminal cases to

represent defendants who are unable

to afford to pay their own attorneys.

Mendez v Westminster - 1946 A federal court case that challenged racial

segregation in Orange County, California schools.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth

Circuit, ruled that the segregation of Mexican and

Mexican American students into separate

"Mexican schools" was unconstitutional.

Delgado v Bastrop ISD - 1948 In 1948, LULAC filed suit against the Bastrop ISD and three

other districts. The suit charged segregation of Mexican

children from other white races without specific state land in

violation of the attorney general's opinion.

The court agreed and ordered the cessation of the separation

of Mexican children from other white races. However, the

court did allow separate classes on the same campus, in the

first grade only, for language-deficient or non-English-

speaking students.

Edgewood ISD v Kirby - 1984 A landmark case concerning public school

finance. The plaintiffs charged that the state's

methods of funding public schools violated the

state constitution, which obligated the state to

provide an efficient and free public school system.

In 1989 the Texas Supreme Court delivered a

decision that sided with the Edgewood plaintiffs

and ordered the state Legislature to implement an

equitable system by the 1990-91 school year.

Sweatt v Painter - 1950 A U.S. Supreme Court case that successfully

challenged the "separate but equal" established by the

1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. Heman Marion Sweatt,

was refused admission to the School of Law of the

University of Texas, on the grounds that the Texas State

Constitution prohibited integrated education.

The Supreme Court ruled that the equal protection

clause required Sweatt's admission to the University of

Texas School of Law. Sweatt enrolled at the beginning

of the 1950–51 school year, as did several other blacks.

Hernandez v Texas -1954 A landmark Supreme Court case that

decided that Mexican Americans and all

other racial groups in the United States had

equal protection under the 14th Amendment

of the U.S. Constitution. The court ruled

that members of non-Caucasian races must

be allowed on jury-selecting committees

Korematsu v United States - 1944 A landmark Supreme Court case concerning

the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066,

which ordered Japanese Americans into

internment camps during World War II

regardless of citizenship. The Court sided with

the government, ruling that the exclusion order

was constitutional.

Tinker v Des Moines - 1969 One of the most groundbreaking trials in the history

of the United States. The case involves 3 minors

who were each suspended from their schools for

wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.

The court ruling allowed individual schools to

prohibit students from protesting if the protest has

the chance to influence a disruptive response.

Wisconsin v Yoder - 1972 United States Supreme Court case in which the

Court found that Amish children could not be placed

under compulsory education past 8th grade. The

parents' fundamental right to freedom of religion

outweighed the state's interest in educating its

children. The case is often cited as a basis for

parents' right to home school their children.

White v Regester - 1973 Supreme Court case challenging the Texas 1970

legislative reapportionment plan. The Court

invalidated the use of multimember legislative

districts in two Texas counties because the

redistricting plan had operated to cancel out or

minimize the voting strength of Black and

Mexican American communities.

Taft-Hartley Act - 1947 Amended much of the federal law regulating labor

relations of enterprises engaged in interstate

commerce, & established control of labor disputes

by enlarging the National Labor Relations Board.

The government could obtain an injunction against

any strike that it deemed a peril to national health

or safety. The act also prohibited jurisdictional strikes

& secondary boycotts, outlawed the closed shop,

& permitted the union shop only on a vote of a

majority of the employees. The act also forbade

unions to contribute to political campaigns. Although

President Truman vetoed the act, it was passed

over his veto. Federal courts have upheld the act with the exception of political expenditures.

E pluribus unum “In God We Trust”

E pluribus unum - Latin for "Out of

many, one" is a phrase on the Seal of

the United States, considered a de

facto motto of the United States until

1956 when the United States Congress

passed an act adopting "In God We

Trust" as the official motto.

Women’s Suffrage The right of women to vote

and to stand for electoral office.

The Nineteenth Amendment,

which prohibited state or

federal sex-based restrictions

on voting, was ratified in 1920.

Scopes Trial - 1925 A famous American legal case in 1925. A high

school teacher, John Scopes, was accused of

violating Tennessee's Butler Act, which made it

unlawful to teach human evolution in any state-

funded school. William Jennings Bryan, argued

for the prosecution, while Clarence Darrow,

spoke for Scopes. Scopes was found guilty and

fined $100, but the verdict was overturned on a

technicality. The trial publicized the

Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy.

Federal Highway Act of 1956 Originally authorized 25 billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System supposedly over a 10-year period, it was the largest public works project in American history through that time.

Prohibition The legal act of prohibiting the manufacture, storage,

transportation and sale of alcohol and alcoholic

beverages. Alcohol consumption was never illegal

under federal law. Nationwide prohibition began in

1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into

effect, and was repealed in 1933, with the ratification

of the Twenty-first Amendment. Sale of alcoholic

beverages remained illegal during Prohibition, but

alcoholic drinks were still available. Large quantities

of alcohol were smuggled into the United States from

Canada. Criminal organizations controlled the sale of

liquor to over 10,000 speakeasies, & also controlled

the supply from Canada to Florida.

Truman Doctrine With the 1947 Truman Doctrine,

the United States would provide

political, military and economic

assistance to all democratic

nations under threat from external

or internal communist forces. The

U.S. supported Greece and Turkey

with economic and military aid to

prevent them from falling into the

Soviet sphere of influence.

Marshall Plan A program that would help the

nations of Europe recover and

rebuild after World War II. It

aimed to stabilize Europe

economically and politically so

that European nations would not

be tempted by communism.

Camp David Accords Agreements between Israel and Egypt

signed on September 17, 1978, that led in

the following year to a peace treaty

between those two countries, the first

such treaty between Israel and any of its

Arab neighbors. Brokered by U.S. Pres.

Jimmy Carter between Israeli Prime

Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian

Pres. Anwar el-Sādāt and officially titled

the “Framework for Peace in the Middle

East,” Sādāt and Begin were awarded the

Nobel Prize for Peace in 1978

New Deal A series of laws & agencies established

to help the US during the Great Depression

FDIC Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

SEC Securities and Exchange Commission

SSA Social Security Administration

AAA Agricultural Adjustment Act

TVA Tennessee Valley Authority

CCC Civilian Conservation Corps

NRA National Recovery Act

A multilateral agreement regulating international

trade. Its purpose was the "substantial reduction

of tariffs & other trade barriers & the elimination

of preferences." GATT was signed in 1947 &

lasted until 1994, when it was replaced by the

World Trade Organization in 1995.

GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)

GI Bill of Rights - 1944 Legislation that provided benefits to

World War II veterans. The bill

provided grants for school and

college tuition, low-interest

mortgage and small-business loans,

job training, hiring privileges, and

unemployment payments.

War Powers Act An emergency law that increased

Federal power during World War II.

The act was signed by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt and put into

law on December 18, 1941, less than

two weeks after the Japanese attack

on Pearl Harbor., and increased the

powers of the president's Executive

Branch. The act gave the President

enormous authority to execute World

War II in an efficient manner.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of

Tonkin Incident. It gave President Lyndon Johnson

authorization, for the use of "conventional'' military force

in Southeast Asia. It authorized the President to do

whatever necessary to assist "any member of the

Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty". This included

involving armed forces. Pres. Johnson relied on the

resolution to escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

Affordable Health Care Act - 2010 "Obamacare", is a US federal law signed into law by President Obama

in 2010. The most significant overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system

since Medicare & Medicaid in 1965. It has the goals of increasing quality

& affordability of health insurance, lowering uninsured rate, & reducing

costs of healthcare. It introduced mandates, subsidies, & insurance

exchanges, meant to increase coverage & affordability. Requires

insurance companies to cover all applicants & offer the same rates

regardless of pre-existing conditions or sex. The US Supreme Court

upheld the individual mandate in

National Federation of

Independent Business

v Sebelius

Sacco and Vanzetti Case Controversial murder trial in Massachusetts, extending over seven

years, 1920–27, & resulting in the execution of the defendants,

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. The trial resulted from the

murders of a paymaster of a shoe factory, & the guard accompanying

him. Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian anarchists were arrested for the

crime. In 1921, they were brought to trial & found guilty. Socialists &

radicals protested the men’s innocence. Many people felt that the trial

was not fair & that they had been convicted for their radical, anarchist

beliefs rather than for the crime. The state Supreme Court refused to

upset the verdict. The two men were sentenced to death in 1927.

Leopold and Loeb Case Richard Loeb, an 18-year-old graduate student, was smart, handsome,

charming and wealthy. His friend and lover, 19-year-old Nathan Leopold,

was a brilliant law student, a published ornithologist, and the heir to a

manufacturing fortune. But, the duo — who considered themselves

Nietzschean "supermen" to whom laws did not apply — became obsessed

with pulling off the perfect crime. They proved sloppy criminals, however.

The two men kidnapped and murdered Loeb's 14-year-old cousin, Bobby

Franks. While dumping the body near their Chicago homes, Leopold

dropped his glasses. The perfect plot came undone; within 10 days, both

had confessed to the heinous crime. Super-lawyer Clarence Darrow could

not save them from conviction, though the pair escaped the death penalty.

National Defense Education Act 1958 Provided funding to United States education at all

levels. A science initiative inaugurated by President

Eisenhower, to increase the technological

sophistication and power of the US. It followed a

growing national sense that U.S. scientists were falling

behind scientists in the Soviet Union, because of early

Soviet success in the Space Race, notably the launch of

the first-ever satellite, Sputnik, the year before.

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) The North American Free Trade Agreement

between the United States, Canada, and Mexico

(NAFTA) is designed to eliminate trade barriers

between its members. NAFTA created the world's

largest free trade area, which now links 450 million

people. Trade between the United States and its

NAFTA partners has soared since the agreement

began.

Fair Deal An ambitious set of proposals put

forward by President Truman. The term

has also been used to describe the

domestic reform agenda of the Truman

Administration. The most important

proposals were aid to education,

universal health insurance, the Fair

Employment Practices Commission, and

repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act. They were

all debated at length, then voted down. A

number of smaller and less controversial

(but still important) items passed.

New Frontier A slogan used by President John F. Kennedy to describe

his goals & policies. Amongst the legislation passed by

Congress during the Kennedy Administration, unemployment

benefits were expanded, aid was provided to cities to

improve housing & transportation, funds were allocated

to continue the construction of a national highway

system started under Eisenhower, a water pollution

control act was passed to protect the country’s rivers &

streams, the Clean Air Act (1963), & an agricultural act

to raise farmers’ incomes was made law.

Great Society A set of domestic programs launched by

President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Two

main goals of the Great Society social

reforms were the elimination of poverty &

racial injustice. It spawned dozens of

programs, among them the Job Corps,

Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA),

Upward Bound, the Food Stamp Act of 1964,

Project Head Start, Elementary & Secondary

Education Act of 1965, Higher Education

Act of 1965, authorized Medicare & Medicaid,

the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, & more.

Reynolds v Sims - 1964 A U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled

that state legislature districts had to

be roughly equal in population. The

eight justices who struck down state

senate inequality based their decision

on the principle of "one person, one

vote". In his majority decision, Chief

Justice Earl Warren said "Legislators

represent people, not trees or acres.

Legislators are elected by voters, not

farms or cities or economic interests."

O.J. Simpson Trial - 1995 A criminal trial held in Los Angeles, California, from 1994 to

1995. The former professional football star & actor O. J.

Simpson was tried on two counts of murder after the deaths of

his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, & a waiter, Ronald Lyle

Goldman. The case has been described as the most publicized

criminal trial in American history. Simpson was acquitted after

more than eight months. Simpson's celebrity & the lengthy

televised trial riveted national attention on the so-called "Trial of

the Century".

American Recovery and

Reinvestment Act - 2008 An economic stimulus package enacted by

Congress in 2009 & signed into law by President

Obama. To respond to the Great Recession, the

primary objective for ARRA was to save & create

jobs almost immediately. Secondary objectives

were to provide temporary relief programs for

those most impacted by the recession & invest in

infrastructure, education, health, and renewable

energy. The Act included direct spending in

infrastructure, education, health, & energy,

federal tax incentives, & expansion of unemployment

benefits & other social welfare provisions.

The unofficial name for legislation

introduced by President Lyndon B.

Johnson during his State of the

Union address in 1964. This

legislation was in response to a

national poverty rate of around

nineteen percent. The speech led

Congress to pass the Economic

Opportunity Act, which established

the Office of Economic Opportunity

(OEO) to administer the local application

of federal funds targeted against poverty.

War on Poverty

Affirmative Action Affirmative action refers to equal opportunity employment

measures that Federal contractors and subcontractors are

legally required to adopt. These measures are intended to

prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for

employment on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national

origin". Examples of affirmative action include outreach

campaigns, targeted recruitment, employee and

management development, and employee support

programs

Title IX Title IX is a portion of the

Education Amendments of

1972, It states (in part) that:

No person in the United States

shall, on the basis of sex, be

excluded from participation in,

be denied the benefits of, or be

subjected to discrimination

under any education program or

activity receiving federal

financial assistance.