Section 3 – The U.S. on the Brink of Change. In the late 1800’s there were a few people who had made it rich in industry, but most of the people who.

Section 3 – The U.S. on the Brink of Change

CHAPTER 7

In the late 1800’s there were a few people who had made it rich in industry, but most of the people who were their workforce were struggling to get by

Many of these people were immigrants who didn’t speak English

They lived in slums of the cities in awful conditions and were paid very little

Children often worked around dangerous conditions because families needed the money

Reformers: Jacob Riis, Jane Addams, and Mary Harris “Mother” Jones tried to help make life better for these people

FROM 1865 - 1914

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Many people left the cities and headed west with the offer of “free-land” from the government in the Homestead Act of 1862

Many also went west for opportunities created by railroad expansion

The country grew further when we bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 and took control of Hawaii in 1898

We fought the Spanish-American War in 1898 and gained the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines making the U.S. a growing empire

MOVING TO THE MIDWEST

World War I began in Europe in 1914 and President Wilson tried to keep us out of it as long as he could

The Germans kept sinking American ships and we were forced to defend ourselves in 1917

We fought on the Allied side with Great Britain & France

We fought against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey

The Allied Forces won in 1918, but Europe punished Germany severely and this leads to another war 20 years later

THE WORLD AT WAR

After WWI the economy of the 1920’s boomed as more people had the ability to buy cars, refrigerators, and radios

Women won the right to vote 1929 the economy of the world

crashed People lost their jobs, farms, and

all their money when banks failed

1933 F.D.R. becomes president and creates the New Deal

His ideas did not fix the problem, but did provide help to many struggling Americans

Social Security on example that still exists

1920’S & 1930’S

We finally came out of the Great Depression because of World War II

Began in Europe in 1939 U.S. entered the day after Pearl

Harbor on December 7, 1941 U.S. fought on Allied side again

with France, Great Britain, and many others

Germany, Japan, and Italy were the main powers of the Axis Powers and they finally lost in 1945

At the end of this war people all over the world were sickened by the learning of the Holocaust (6 million Jews, and 5 million others)

WORLD WAR II

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The term Cold War refers to a period of history from 1945-1989

The United States and the Soviet Union, the worlds two “superpowers”, were at odds with one another but really never faced off against each other in an actual war

Democracy vs. Communism The Korean & Vietnam Wars

were fought mostly over the fear that Communism would take over the world

COLD WAR

The economy boomed in the 1950’s

However, in the South blacks were still under Jim Crow Laws

Through peaceful means Martin Luther King Jr. along with others fought long and hard in the 1950’s & 60’s for Civil Rights

Many victories were won and this gave hope to other minority groups for the future against discrimination, like women and Mexican Americans

CIVIL RIGHTS

America still has its problems such as homelessness, hunger, & pollution

The economy set record highs in the 1990’s partly because of the Internet

The economy cooled off in the early 2000’s and is still trying to recover

September 11, 2001 is a day Americans will always remember

Terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers in New York City, the Pentagon, and one final target was thought to be The White House

The United States responded by dealing with countries who were known to harbor, or encourage terrorism, such as Iraq and Afghanistan

AMERICA IN THE WORLD TODAY

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