1865 to Present

The era begins with the reconstructing of the nation after the Civil War.  By the late 1860’s there was a “New” south as a result of the Civil War.  Between 1865 and 1890, the American West began to play a significant role in American history.  Around 1873 the Gilded Age and the politics of corruption began.  Between 1870 and 1900, America became an industrial power.  Beginning in the 1890’s southern blacks migrated to the West and North and changed the demographic structure of the nation.  America’s first international conflict, the Spanish–American War, began in 1898. 

Under Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, American imperialism began.  The Women’s Movement began at the beginning of the twentieth century and in 1919, women were given the right to vote through the 19th Amendment.  In the 1920’s along came prohibition and a short-term culture of consumerism. The Great Depression began in 1929. 

Franklin Roosevelt’s administration brought the New Deal, which attempted to bring America out of the depression. But, it was our entry into World War II following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that truly brought an end to the Great Depression. As World War II was ending in 1945, Harry S. Truman succeeded Roosevelt as President.  World War II ended but the Cold War began in the late 1940’s.

The civil rights movement began during World War II. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed, “I have a dream…” which called for the end of racial segregation. President Kennedy proposed The Civil Rights Act of 1963 which ensured every American’s right to vote, to go to school, to get a job, and to be served in a public place without arbitrary discrimination. Before it would become law, President Kennedy was assassinated.

Under President Johnson, the Vietnam War became the longest and most costly conflict in American history.  The 1970’s brought the resignation of President Richard Nixon because of the Watergate scandal.

The 1980’s saw President Ronald Reagan’s leadership bring an end to the Cold War by declaring, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”  In the 1990’s, under President George H. W. Bush, America fought a war in Iraq known as Desert Storm.  During his second term, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives, but was not removed from office by the Senate. 

On September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda terrorists attacked America using commercial aircraft as weapons.  On March 20, 2003 President Bush authorized the invasion of Iraq, which some call the Second Gulf War.