Turning Points in US History
APUSH Overview
Colonial Period 1607-1763
• Jamestown-1607
• First African Americans, 1619
• French and Indian War 1754-1763
1763-Treaty of Paris ends French/Indian
War
• No foreign enemies
• Brits need $ to pay war costsnew TAXES
• Begins clash that leads to Revolution
1776-Dec of Independence
• First colonies to demand independence
• Must win war to make real
• “all men created equal” challenge for future
generations
Jefferson
Paine
American Revolution
•
•
•
•
1775-1783
American Victory or British loss?
Inevitable?
Was it really a revolution? Why?
1789-Ratification of
Constitution
•
•
•
•
•
No more Articles…
Federalism
Separation of powers
Foundation of growth
3/5’s clause
1800-Revolution of 1800
• Jefferson’s victory ushers out Federalists
(Business), for Democrat-Republicans
(agrarian) w/o violence
• Midnight appoints of Adams’ sets in motion
Marbury v. Madison
1803-Louisiana
Purchase/Marbury v. Madison
•
•
•
•
Purchase
Jefferson moves towards ‘loose’
interpretation of constitution
Expands size of union, downfall of
Federalists, control MS
Marbury
Judicial Review
Supreme Court=presidency and Congress
Treaty of Ghent (ends War
1812)
• War increased nationalism-though no war
victory
• Encourages American industry and
westward movement (Indians lose British
allies who may have helped resistance)
• Strengthens isolationist mood-no foreign
war for a century
1848-Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo (ends Mexican War)
• US gains more land
• Revives debate over slavery
• Lasting resentment towards US in Latin
America
1861-Civil War
• Slavery cannot be settled peacefully-“all
men created equal?”
• Lincoln expands power of presidency
1865-Civil War ends/Lincoln
Assassinated
• (Easy) Presidential Reconstruction gives
way to Radical Reconstruction
• Congressional Republicans expand political
power (and freedom?) by expanding
opportunities for Blacks, before southerners
(Democrats all) return
• Increase tension between N and S (all men
created equal?)
1877-End of Reconstruction
• Pres. Hayes (R) agrees to remove troops
from South
• End of Reconstruction
• Troops leave Jim Crow enters
1914-Great War
• Progressive reform gives way to military
readiness
• Great MigrationHarlem Renaissance
1919 Treaty of Versailles
• Failure of US to join League isolationism
• Split between President (D) and Congress
(R)
1929-Stock Market Crash
• Signaled start of global Depression
• FDR’s New Deal introduces welfare statemove away from laizze-faire
1941-Pearl Harbor
•
•
•
•
US enters global conflict w/ Axis powers
Military spending ends Depression in US
Expansion of presidential powers
Size and scope of federal government
expands significantly
1945-end of WWII
•
•
•
•
Atomic Age
Cold War
Beginning of the end of Colonialism
US/USSR as sole world powers
1954
• Brown v. Board of Education Plessy
overturned…separate but equal
• Direct US involvement in Vietnam begins
when French lose Dienbienphu
• 1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott, emergence
of King, SCLC
"My activism did not spring from
being black...The racial injustice that
was present in this country during my
youth was a challenge to my belief in
the oneness of the human family." Bayard Rustin
1960-First sit-ins in
Greensboro, NC
• Election of JFK (D)
• Rising expectations for African Americans
• Executive branch pushed by Civil Rights
movement
1964-Passage of Civil Rights
Act
• Outlawed segregation in public facilities
• Banned discriminatory practices in hiring,
voting and education
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution-allowing
president to use force in Vietnam (blank
check)
1968-King and RFK killed
•
•
•
•
500,000 soldiers in Vietnam
Tet Offensive
Streets and campuses in a boil
Nixon (R) electedbeginning of
conservative resurgence
1973 Paris Peace Conference
• US out of Vietnam
• Congress passes War Powers Act-attempt to
reign in executive branch ability to enter an
undeclared war
1989-Berlin Wall dismantled
• Solidarity wins in Poland
• Eastern European economies collapsesignal end of USSR in 1991
• New era in US diplomatic relations w/
world. Uni-polar world?
1994-Republicans win both
houses of Congress
• Voters express dissatisfaction w/ longstanding welfare legislation
• Contract with America
• Return of power to state governments
(states’ rights?)
September 11, 2001
•
•
•
•
•
World Trade Center and Pentagon attacked
War in Afghanistan
Axis of Evil
2003: War in Iraq
Is this a Turning Point in History