General Interest
Historical Eras

TIME PERIOD	HISTORICAL ERA
To 1630	Early America Pre-contact. Native American Origins and Cultures. Early Exploration. The Spanish. The French. The English. Roanoke Island. Jamestown. Leif Ericksson. Christopher Columbus. John Cabot. Sir Francis Drake. Jacques Cartier. Henry Hudson.
1630-1763	The Colonial Period Original Inhabitants. King Philip's War. Bacon's Rebellion. Mayflower Compact. First Thanksgiving, Wampanoags. Marquette and Joliet. Plymouth Colony. Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cotton Mather. Benjamin Franklin. French and Indian War.
1763-1783	Revolutionary America Stamp Act. Boston Massacre. Sons of Liberty. Boston Tea Party. Taxation and Representation. Phillis Wheatley. 1st Continental Congress. Common Sense. American Revolution. 2nd Continnental Congress. Paul Revere's Ride. War for Independence. Yorktown. Treaty of Paris.
1783-1815	The Young Republic Articles of Confederation. Constitutional Convention. Washington. Hamilton and Federalists. Shays' Rebellion. Jefferson and Republicans. Eli Whitney. Samuel Slater. Whiskey Rebellion. Battle of Fallen Timbers. Alien and Sedition Acts. Revolution of 1800. Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark. Battle of Tippecanoe. War of 1812. Treaty of Ghent. Battle of New Orleans.
1815-1860	Expansion, Political Reform, and Turmoil Era of Good Feelings. First Industrial Revolution. Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise. Monroe Doctrine. Jackson and the Revolution of 1828. Nat Turner Rebellion. Panic of 1837. Emerson. Longfellow. Whitman. Manifest Destiny. The Alamo. Frederick Douglass. California Gold Rush. Compromise of 1850. Dred Scott. Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
1830-1876	Sectional Controversy, War, and Reconstruction Slavery. Underground Railroad. Bleeding Kansas. Lincoln. Civil War. Gettysburg. 13th Amendment. Radical Republicans. Reconstruction. Disputed Election of 1876. Little Big Horn.
1871-1914	Second Industrial Revolution Railroad Era. Thomas Edison. Nikola Tesla. Henry Ford. George Westinghouse. Immigration. Labor Movement. Sherman Antitrust Act. Closing the Frontier. Wounded Knee Massacre. Spanish-American War.
1880-1920	Political Reform II Populist Party. Free Silver. Jim Crow Laws. Harry Houdini. Progressive Party aka the Bull Moose Party. Mark Twain. Theodore Roosevelt. Taft. Wilson.
1914-1933	War, Prosperity, and Depression "Big Stick" Diplomacy. Panama Canal. World War I. Versailles. The Negro Leagues. League of Nations. Black Sox Scandal. Harding Scandals. Charles Lindbergh. Stock Market Crash. Babe Ruth. "Satchmo" Armstrong. Amelia Earhart.
1933-1945	The New Deal and World War II Franklin D. Roosevelt. First One Hundred Days. Albert Einstein. Manhattan Project. J. Edgar Hoover. War in Europe. Adolph Hitler. The Holocaust. Jesse Owens. Pearl Harbor. World War II. War in the Pacific. Rosie the Riveter. Truman and the Bomb.
1945-1960	Postwar America Marshall Plan. Berlin Airlift. Korean War. McCarthy. Hollywood Blacklist. Cold War. Eisenhower. Brown v. Board of Education. Rosa Parks. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Elvis. Buddy Holly. Space Race. Nixon and Kennedy.
1960-1980	The Vietnam Era Bay of Pigs. JFK Assassination. Lyndon B. Johnson and Civil Rights. Martin Luther King Jr.. Muhammad Ali. Hank Aaron. Nixon, Kissinger, and Vietnam. Roe v. Wade. Watergate. Oil Embargo. Carter. Iran Hostage Crisis. Reagan and Conservatism.
1980-2000	End of the Century Marines in Lebanon. Iran-Contra Scandal. Fall of Berlin Wall. Persian Gulf War. Clinton and Impeachment. Election Turmoil in 2000.
2001-	The New Millenium September 11, 2001. Terrorism. Afghanistan and Iraqi wars. Election of 2004. Bush. Economic downturn. Illegal Immigrants.

Early America

Most authorities believe that the Western hemisphere was populated at the end of the last ice age when a lowered ocean level exposed a land bridge that Asian peoples traversed to North America.

Later, the arriving European settlers discovered the existence of extensive civilizations. In the southern reaches of North America (present-day Mexico and Central America) the Mayan civilization built sophisticated stone structures, developed an advanced numerical system and maintained extensive agricultural complexes. The Aztecs established a far-reaching empire that controlled much of present-day Mexico.

In the northern portions of North America the early native peoples are commonly divided into the following regional groups:

• The Eastern Woodland culture was located in the drainage area of the Mississippi River east to the Atlantic Ocean and south from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Various groups of mound builders existed in this region.

• The Plains culture existed on the open expanses of present-day Canada and the United States.

• The Southwest culture occupied areas in present-day northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Notable within this grouping were the Pueblo societies in present-day New Mexico and Arizona.

• The Far West culture ranged from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

• The Northwest culture inhabited the coastal regions of the northwestern United States and western Canada

• The Subarctic culture stretched across Canada north of the Great Lakes and south of the Arctic tree line, and across much of Alaska

• The Arctic culture occupied the treeless expanses in the extreme northern portions of Alaska, Canada, and Greenland

Europe lacked the technological skills and motivation to immediately follow the Vikings into the New World. Conditions changed, however, during the 1400s. Portugal emerged as the first nation-state to engage in an organized effort to reach the lucrative Far Eastern markets by means of an all-water route.

Next, Spanish exploration of the New World followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus, 1492-1504. Settlements were established in the hope of finding mineral wealth, converting the native populations to Christianity, and for the thrill of a great adventure.

England and France followed Spain into the Americas in the early 17th century, later to be joined by Holland and, briefly, Sweden.

Northern European interest in exploration was fueled by the search for a Northwest Passage. Later, attention was turned to the establishment of permanent colonies. The English failed in an effort at Roanoke Island in the 1580s, but succeeded at Jamestown in 1607. In 1620, a Pilgrim colony was established at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts, followed in 1630 by the Puritan colony of Massachusetts Bay.

The white settlements in New England sparked interaction with local Native Americans, notably the Narragansett and the Pequot. The ultimate failure of the relationships was seen in the Pequot War (1637) and King Philip’s War (1675-76).

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Colonial Period

The following are the 13 original colonies, plus Maine, listed alphabetically with the generally recognized founding dates in parentheses:

• Connecticut (1636): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Thomas Hooker, New England Confederation, Dominion of New England, Connecticut and the American Revolution

• Delaware (1638): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Delaware and the American Revolution

• Georgia (1732): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Georgia and the American Revolution

• Maryland (1634): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Maryland and the American Revolution

• Massachusetts (1620): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Great Awakening, Massachusetts and the American Revolution.
  Maine (developed as part of Massachusetts and was not an original colony): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Maine and the American Revolution

• New Hampshire (1630): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, New Hampshire and the American Revolution

• New Jersey (1660): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, New Jersey and the American Revolution

• New York (1626): Original Inhabitants, Exploration, the Dutch in New York, the English in New York, Leisler's Rebellion, John Peter Zenger, New York and the American Revolution

• North Carolina (1653): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Culpeper’s Rebellion, Tuscarora War, Blackbeard, Regulator Movement, North Carolina and the American Revolution

• Pennsylvania (1682): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, New Sweden, William Penn, Society of Friends, Early Pennsylvania, Warfare with Native Americans, Pennsylvania and the American Revolution

• Rhode Island (1636): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Roger Williams, Rhode Island and the American Revolution

• South Carolina (1670): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Regulator Movement, South Carolina and the American Revolution

• Virginia (1607): Original Inhabitants, Exploration and Settlement, Jamestown, the slave trade, the West, Patrick Henry, Virginia and the American Revolution

Britain ruled her worldwide empire, including the American colonies, under the terms of an economic theory known as mercantilism. It was the attempt to enforce this system that provided fuel for the American Revolution.

All of the colonies were to some degree impacted in the 18th century by a Contest for Empire, which pitted the great world powers, France and England, against one another. The most significant North American phase of this conflict was the French and Indian War (1754-63).

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Revolutionary America

The government of George III introduced a plan of imperial reorganization in 1763. These reforms were not welcomed in many parts of America, where the cry of “no taxation without representation” was heard.

Beginning in the mid-1760s, Britain attempted to fine-tune its colonial control through the Stamp Act (1765), the Quartering Act (1765), and Townshend Duties (1767)—all of which tended to inflame public opinion rather than dampen it. Boston became the focus of colonial opposition in the Boston Massacre (1770), the Boston Tea Party (1773) and the Parliamentary response in the Coercive Acts (1774).

Further colonial resistance was put up by the Sons of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence. Formal opposition came from the First Continental Congress and the Second Continental Congress.

America and Britain entered the conflict with differing strategies and strengths. Hostilities erupted at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. (See chronology of the War for Independence.) George Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army in June 1775. Public opinion was coaxed to acceptance of independence by Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in early 1776. The formal break with the mother country came in the Declaration of Independence (July 1776), largely the work of Thomas Jefferson.

Early military engagements occurred at Bunker Hill (June 1775), in the Canadian campaign (1775-76) and in the South. Later, action shifted to the New York campaign (1776). Washington temporarily reversed a series of defeats at Trenton and Princeton (late 1776 and early 1777), but British forces succeeded in taking Philadelphia in late 1777.

The turning point of the War came at Saratoga (1777), a victory that enabled American diplomats to negotiate a French Alliance (1778). Hostilities continued in the Western Theater and the Southern Theater. The main British force surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781.

Peace was achieved in the Treaty of Paris (1783) with Benjamin Franklin playing a prominent role.

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The Young Republic

Following independence, the American states began the process of drafting new state constitutions, many of which reflected increased democratic elements (women and slaves excepted).

The nation’s governing document was the Articles of Confederation whose weaknesses led to a “critical period” in the 1780s. Conservative elements in the country were especially disturbed by Shays' Rebellion in western Massachusetts.

The end of the War for Independence led to rapid settlement in the West.

Desire for a strong central government led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The completed document was submitted to the states for ratification. The Federalist, largely the work of Alexander Hamilton, remains the most cogent analysis of the U.S. Constitution.

George Washington’s election in 1789 ushered in the Federalist Era, which witnessed the process of translating the Constitution’s ideas into actual practice. A Bill of Rights was drafted by Congress and submitted to the states. Other early activity included the Tariff of 1789 and consideration of Hamilton’s economic program.

Much to Washington’s disapproval, partisan politics emerged, pitting the Federalists against the Jeffersonian Republicans. A challenge to the new government was posed by the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794.

Foreign affairs under Washington found the nation proclaiming neutrality, but seeing it threatened by French minister Edmond Genêt. Outstanding issues with Spain and Britain were addressed in Pinckney’s Treaty and the controversial Jay’s Treaty.

Washington provided advice for his fellow citizens in his Farewell Address in 1796.

The Election of 1796 brought John Adams to power; his administration was marred by problems in the relationship with France and the divisive Alien and Sedition Acts.

The Election of 1800 exposed a weakness in the constitutional provision for electing a president. Thomas Jefferson’s triumph is sometimes regarded as the Revolution of 1800. The Jefferson administration dealt with far-reaching issues involving the Supreme Court, a war with the Barbary pirates, further westward expansion, the Louisiana Purchase, and diplomatic issues with Britain and France.

The Election of 1808 ushered in the administration of James Madison, who grappled with neutral rights issues, culminating in the War of 1812.

Young authors began to emerge with a style that said "Americana": Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Louisa May Alcott embraced Transcendentalism, Edgar Allan Poe, James Fenimore Cooper, Washington Irving, and others made their marks in the "Golden Age of American Literature."

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Expansion, Political Reform, and Turmoil

Following the War of 1812, there existed a superficial “Era of Good Feelings” in which partisan issues declined. The Election of 1816 brought in James Monroe, who made his major mark in foreign affairs. Much of the country’s energy was channeled into westward movement. Postwar prosperity ended abruptly in the Panic of 1819. Henry Clay and others touted an “American System” that was supposed to unite the country, but probably shortchanged the South.

A Transportation Revolution was under way, featuring a canal craze, the first railroads and steamboats. America also was experiencing the beginnings of its First Industrial Revolution.

The Election of 1824 was another disputed contest; the House of Representatives supported John Quincy Adams, which enraged Andrew Jackson's followers. The Election of 1828, sometimes referred to as the “Revolution of 1828," was Jackson's revenge, ushering in the age of the common man. Major issues included problems with the spoils system, the tariff, the nullification crisis, and the Second Bank of the United States.

Martin van Buren entered office after the Election of 1836; major occurrences included tensions with Britain, the Panic of 1837 and an ongoing dispute with John C. Calhoun.

The Election of 1840 ushered in the short term of William Henry Harrison and his successor John Tyler. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1843) was the leading accomplishment. The Manifest Destiny passions helped sweep James K. Polk into office, where he faced issues regarding Texas, the Oregon boundary, and the Mexican War (1846-48).

War hero Zachary Taylor emerged as the victor in the Election of 1848. His shortened term in office nevertheless yielded positive diplomatic results in the negotiation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) with Britain. Taylor did not support the Compromise of 1850, but his successor, Millard Fillmore, signed its provisions into law.

A spirit of reform was evident in America during the first half of the 19th century, touching such areas as religion in the second Great Awakening, women’s issues, educational reform, the temperance movement, utopianism, and abolitionism.

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Sectional Controversy, War, and Reconstruction

The institution of slavery changed from an economic issue to a political issue in the first half of the 19th century. Particularly perplexing was the question of extending slavery into the new territories. Southern partisans attempted to justify the existence of slavery.

Various events and issues sharpened the controversy: the Fugitive Slave Act; the novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854); the Dred Scott case (1857); and the actions of John Brown.

The Election of 1860 and Abraham Lincoln's victory led many wavering Southerners to support secession. Compromise efforts failed and a crisis developed at Fort Sumter.

The Union and the Confederate States of America each had advantages at the inception of the conflict and each side had an initial war strategy. Both sides attempted to exert diplomatic pressure to influence the course of the war.

The military aspects of the Civil War were conducted primarily by ground soldiers in the Eastern and Western theaters with some ancillary naval action.

The year 1865 brought the end of the war, and thus, slavery; the death of a president; and extremely grave postwar conditions in the South. The great peacetime challenge was the nation's reconstruction with various political factions advancing widely differing reconstruction plans. Union hero U.S. Grant won the Election of 1868 and headed an administration marred by scandals.

The disputed Election of 1876 brought Rutherford B. Hayes to office and an end to reconstruction.

The Battle of Little Big Horn, also known as "Custer's Last Stand," was fought in Montana in 1876.

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Second Industrial Revolution

American politics in the last third of the 19th century was dominated by the spoils system and the emergence of political machines and bosses, particularly in the burgeoning urban areas. Political abuses set the stage for reform efforts.

The Election of 1880 brought the short tenure of James A. Garfield, who was succeeded by his vice president Chester A. Arthur, whose administration was noted for the passage of the Pendleton Act (1883).

The Election of 1884 ushered in the first administration of Grover Cleveland. The Interstate Commerce Act was passed in 1887.

Benjamin Harrison took office after the Election of 1888 and oversaw the enactment of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and the McKinley Tariff, all in 1890.

Cleveland returned for a second term following the Democratic victory in 1892, making him the only president elected to non-consecutive terms.

Major labor strife erupted in the Homestead Strike (1892) and the Pullman Strike (1894).

The post-Civil War years witnessed a new industrial era with advances in industrial technology, the building of the transcontinental railroads, and the development of the corporation. The growth of the industrial society depended on the cheap labor of the poor and the immigrants, groups that turned to unions to improve their lives. Opposing sides debated the relative merits of the new capitalism.

The new industrial age featured such titans as John D. Rockefeller, who organized oil trusts to ensure greater profits and less competition; Henry Ford, "father of mass production and the assembly line;" Andrew Carnegie, who built the modern steel industry with the integration of all phases of the process; and J.P. Morgan, who marshaled financial resources to form the world’s first billion dollar corporation.

As the railroads began to tie the continent together, the West experienced unparalleled growth that featured mining booms, the growth of a cattle culture and plains farming. The relentless westward push increased friction with resident Native Americans. The Wounded Knee Masacre (1890) became the last major uprising of American Indians.

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Political Reform II

Rural America attempted to better the lot of the farmer through such organizations as the Grange and a series of farm alliances. Farm concerns took on a clearly political cast in the rise of Populism. Conditions for all elements of society worsened during the Panic of 1893.

The silver question dominated economic discussions and led to the rise of William Jennings Bryan, a frequent presidential contender. However, the Election of 1896 was a conservative victory, bringing William McKinley to power. His first term was dominated by the war with Spain and the second was cut short by assassination.

A national reform movement known as Progressivism emerged and included advocates of women’s suffrage, municipal reform, state reform, temperance, immigration reform and a host of social reforms. The need for these changes was often expressed in terms of the “Social Gospel” or in the vivid prose of the muckrakers.

McKinley’s assassination in 1901 brought the American hero, Theodore Roosevelt, to the presidency. Breaking with his party, TR pursued a startling array of domestic reform legislation. The Election of 1908 brought in a more conservative leader, William Howard Taft. His domestic policy featured succcessful trust busting, but Taft broke with his predecessor over conservation issues. This split led to the emergence of the Bull Moose Party in the Election of 1912.

Woodrow Wilson benefited from the split between Roosevelt and Taft and continued with Progressive legislation: Federal Reserve Act (1913), Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) and Federal Trade Commission Act (1914).

The Supreme Court acted to counter the Progressives' liberalism in such decisions as Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Lochner v. New York (1905). However, Muller v. Oregon (1908) revealed a Court more willing to challenge its laissez faire past.

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War, Prosperity, and Depression

In the years following the Civil War, the United States played an increasing role on the world stage. Motivation for foreign involvement was largely for trade and profit, but Social Darwinism also offered a rationale. Early steps involved America in Samoa, Hawaii and the Caribbean. More serious problems developed with the Spanish in Cuba, culminating in the Spanish American War (1898).

Emerging from the war as a hero, Roosevelt followed an activist foreign policy, reinterpreting the Monroe Doctrine and engineering the independence of Panama. Taft continued the interventionist policies by sending soldiers to Nicaragua in 1912, in a display of Dollar Diplomacy. Wilson also was a foreign affairs activist, intervening in Santo Domingo and coming close to war with Mexico.

In the Far East, the United States proclaimed an "Open Door" policy for trade with China and mediated the Russo-Japanese War (1905).

The U.S. also dabbled in European affairs by participating in the Algeciras Conference in 1906.

War erupted in Europe in August 1914. The U.S. attempted to remain neutral, but its resolve was tested by German submarine warfare. Wilson was returned to office in the Election of 1916, reluctantly using the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” Nevertheless, the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, and more than 1.4 million American soldiers served in Europe.

Wilson proposed his "Fourteen Points" as the basis for peace and personally attended the conference, which drafted the Treaty of Versailles. The U.S. Senate, however, rejected the Treaty and American membership in the League of Nations.

The U.S. sent soldiers to Russia during a civil war following the Bolshevik Revolution.

Postwar efforts were made by the major powers to secure disarmament and extract reparations from the defeated powers.

On the home front, America experienced a Red Scare and the Palmer Raids. Warren G. Harding assumed office after the Election of 1920, an administration tainted by the Teapot Dome Scandal. Calvin Coolidge became president upon Harding’s death and was elected in his own right in 1924. Major trends and events included efforts to limit immigration, the growth of American industry, the Roaring Twenties, and the stock market crash of 1929.

Herbert Hoover was victorious in the Election of 1928 and preached “rugged individualism” as the cure for the country’s economic woes.

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The New Deal and World War II

Franklin D. Roosevelt won the Election of 1932 and promised a “New Deal” for the American people. In the administration’s first One Hundred Days, a series of measures was presented dealing with banking, unemployment, farm policy, and business reform.

Later programs were enacted to deal with social security and collective bargaining. The Election of 1936 was regarded as a referendum on both FDR and the New Deal. In 1937, the President was engaged in a Supreme Court fight.

The New Deal provoked critics and admirers, both in the 1930s and in the years thereafter.

In foreign affairs, Roosevelt pledged the United States to be a “good neighbor” to Latin America while strong sentiment for isolationism grew as problems deepened in Europe and Asia. Pacifism was effectively ended by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and Japanese Americans were faced with internment.

America's entry into World War II necessitated mobilization efforts on a massive scale. Military action occurred in the Pacific, North Africa, Europe and the North Atlantic.

Harry S. Truman, who assumed the office of the presidency when Roosevelt succumbed to a cerebral hemorage in April 1945, faced a critical decision regarding the use of the atomic bomb.

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Postwar America

In 1945, the United States participated in conferences at Yalta and Potsdam, which exerted profound effects on the postwar world. Congress created the Atomic Energy Commission, the president proclaimed the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan was proposed for rebuilding war-torn Europe.

The Election of 1948 saw Truman elected in his own right and attempts were made to revive the Fair Deal.

International tensions were heightened in the Berlin Blockade and by the announcement that the Soviet Union had detonated an atomic bomb of their own. In 1950, the Korean War erupted and Truman dismissed General Douglas MacArthur.

Domestic highlights included the Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenburg cases and the anti-communist campaign of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

The Election of 1952 brought the Republicans and Dwight D. Eisenhower to power. Segregation and an emerging civil rights movement captured headlines throughout the nation, while the Suez Crisis, the launch of Sputnik, the triumph of Fidel Castro and the U-2 Spy Plane Incident were the prominent foreign affairs issues.

The Election of 1960 returned the Democrats to power with John F. Kennedy narrowly defeating Richard M. Nixon.

In sports, Jackie Robinson broke the "color barrier" in baseball (1947), the Negro Leagues were severly hurt by the drain of talent headed to the major leagues (see also Significant African Americans).

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The Vietnam Era

President Kennedy faced foreign crises in the Bay of Pigs invasion when it became a fiasco, the erection of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In November 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated and was succeeded by Lyndon B. Johnson, who launched a war on poverty and worked for the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution preceded the build up of American forces in Vietnam, the emergence of an antiwar movement and the Tet Offensive. In 1968, both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. Civil Rights issues came to a head. The Election of 1968 brought Richard M. Nixon to power with a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam. "Ping Pong Diplomacy" opened the door to China.

Despite anti-war turmoil in the colleges and universities, the war dragged on. Cambodia was invaded and peace talks were opened. Nixon visited China and negotiated the SALT I treaty with the Soviet Union. The Watergate burglary occurred with little initial notice, and Nixon retained office after the Election of 1972.

U.S. forces were withdrawn from Vietnam and the Arabs imposed an oil embargo. In August 1974, Nixon resigned from the presidency to avoid being impeached and was followed in the office by Gerald R. Ford. Also in 1974, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record.

Jimmy Carter defeated Ford in the Election of 1976. The Panama Canal treaty (1977) and Camp David Accords (1978) were signed. American citizens were seized and held hostage in Iran. China and the U.S. restored relations after a long break. The Election of 1980 brought Ronald Reagan to power with an anti-communist, conservative agenda.

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End of the Century

In an effort to wind down the Cold War, Ronald Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who had been promoting "Glasnost" (Openness), at home. 1983 saw two major crises in foreign affairs: the U.S. invasion of Grenada and the Beirut Bombing. The proposal for a Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”) drew mixed reviews in Congress. The Iran-Contra Affair erupted in 1986, and the United States bombed Libya in retaliation for an earlier bombing in West Berlin.

George H.W. Bush was the victor in the Election of 1988 and presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the communist regimes, ending the Cold War. In 1991, Bush organized a broad coalition that forced the invader Iraq from Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War. Bush also sent American soldiers to Panama to remove General Manuel Noriega.

The Election of 1992 brought Bill Clinton to the White House. He surfed the wave crest of the country’s greatest bull market, but was politically hobbled by the Monica Lewinsky and other scandals. The resulting impeachment by the House of Representatives was followed by a vote for acquittal in the Senate, thus leaving Clinton to finish out his term of office.

The Election of 2000 was hotly contested due to voting irregularities and required the involvement of the U.S. Supreme Court to select the President.

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The New Millenium

With the coming of the new millenium, the United States was greeted on September 11, 2001, by the worst attack by a foreign country on American soil. The terrorist group al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the destruction of the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York City and lesser damage to the Pentagon. George W. Bush called for the invasions of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003).

The National Museum of the American Indian opened in 2004, in Washington, D.C. Corporations increased outsourcing jobs to elevate profits. Influence of labor unions on political and economic policy continued to decline. The "middle class" began to disappear.

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