Unit 6: 1865-1898
This 1869 achievement connected the eastern and western United States by rail for the first time.
What is the Transcontinental Railroad?
This 1898 explosion sparked the start of the Spanish-American War, which would net the U.S. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
What is the U.S.S. Maine?
This 1947 doctrine marked a shift toward global containment by committing the United States to support nations resisting communism, beginning with aid to Greece and Turkey.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
This economic approach, associated with Ronald Reagan, emphasized tax cuts, deregulation, and reducing government spending to stimulate growth.
What is Reaganomics (or supply-side economics)?
This 1896 Supreme Court case upheld racial segregation under the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
What is Plessy v. Ferguson?
This 1890 legislation reflected growing concern over the concentration of economic power in trusts like Standard Oil, marking the first federal attempt to regulate big business.
What is the Sherman Antitrust Act?
This 1961 event, a failed U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, strengthened Fidel Castro’s position and pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union.
What is the Bay of Pigs Invasion?
This 1994 agreement created a free trade zone between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, reducing tariffs and increasing economic integration.
What is NAFTA?
This 1887 law aimed to assimilate Native Americans by dividing tribal lands into individual allotments.
What is the Dawes Act?
What is a return to submarine warfare (breaking the Sussex Pledge) and the Zimmerman Telegram?
This 1950 NSC report called for a significant expansion of U.S. military spending and a more aggressive stance against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
What is NSC-68?
This 2001 legislation expanded federal surveillance powers in response to the September 11 attacks, raising concerns about civil liberties.
What is the USA PATRIOT Act?
This late 19th-century movement, supported by farmers, called for government regulation of railroads, a graduated income tax, and the free coinage of silver.
What is the Populist Movement (People’s Party)?
This muckraker exposed the meatpacking industry’s unsanitary conditions, helping lead to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Who is Upton Sinclair?
This 1978 agreement between Egypt and Israel, brokered by President Jimmy Carter, marked a major diplomatic success in the Middle East.
What are the Camp David Accords?
This 1980s scandal involved secret U.S. arms sales to Iran, with profits illegally funneled to support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
What is the Iran-Contra Affair?
This 1893 essay argued that the closing of the American frontier marked a turning point in U.S. history and shaped American democracy.
What is the Turner Thesis?
This 1945 conference determined the postwar division of Germany and highlighted growing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
What is the Yalta Conference?
This 1946 diplomat authored the “Long Telegram,” which argued that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist and laid the intellectual foundation for containment.
Who is George F. Kennan?
This 1991 conflict, launched in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, marked a major display of U.S. military power in the post-Cold War world.
What is the Gulf War?