History 136 final

Question 1

What was the Homestead Act? When was it?

Answer 1

1862: Gave away 160 acres of land to anyone who paid a small fee, and agreed to live on and improve the land for 5 years

Question 2

What was the South Dakota Gold Rush? When was it?

Answer 2

1874-1877: thousands of people flooded the area, but this was the Natives land, so U.S tried to get Natives out→ Violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty (this was in 1868 which closed off the Black Hills to white settlement)→ led to Battle of Little Bighorn (this was in 1876 and a battle between the U.S and Native Americans)–> Natives won, killing all U.S soldier

Question 3

What was the Chinese exclusion act? When was it?

Answer 3

1882: Preventing Chinese laborers and their wives from immigrating for 10 years, Keep out poor Chinese, and prevented them from gaining citizenship, Originally sent through congress every 10 years, but made permanent in 1902

Question 4

What was the Dawes Severalty Act? When was it?

Answer 4

1887-1924: federal government break up tribal lands and distribute them among individual Native Americans, with the aim of creating responsible farmers, and to assimilate indigenous people into U.S and white culture, they were given 160 acre and if they farmed it for 25 years then they were granted US citizenship

Question 5

What was the Interstate Commerce Act? When was it?

Answer 5

1887: Made railroads subject to federal regulation, railroads must be “reasonable and just” and tried to stop discrimination against small businesses and farmers→ banned secret deals for big shippers, charging different rates for similar services, and unfair pricing practices→ Created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce the regulations

Question 6

What was the Sherman Antitrust Act? When was it?

Answer 6

1890: illegal to prevent trade or eliminate competition in an industry→ largely ignored until Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency (1901-1909)–>standard oil forced to break up its monopoly in 1911

Question 7

What was the Clayton Antitrust Act? When was it?

Answer 7

1914: strengthened, expanded, and closed loopholes in the Sherman antitrust Act, protected small businesses and labor unions, clearly identified unfair practices

Question 8

What was Brown vs. Board of education? When was it?

Answer 8

1954: all public schools must desegregate

Question 9

What happened with the Little Rock Nine? When did this happen?

Answer 9

1957: 9 students went to Little rock high school to integrate it, but the national guard was called in to prevent them from getting in. Eventually Eisenhower helped protect the students and desegregate the school (only for show)

Question 10

What were the freedom rides? When was this?

Answer 10

1961: Organized by CORE: goal was to show that it was unconstitutional to segregate transportation systems→ JFK signs a law to desegregate the interstate busses and their terminals

Question 11

When did LBJ sign the Civil Rights Act? What was it?

Answer 11

1964: prohibited discrimination in public places, mandated the integration of school and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal

Question 12

When did LBJ sign the Voting Rights Act? What was it?

Answer 12

1965: aimed to overcome legal barriers that prevented African Americans from exercising their 15th amendment right to vote

Question 13

What was the Truman Doctrine? When was it?

Answer 13

1947: tried to prevent the spread of communism. Provided political, military, and economic assistance to countries resisting communism

Question 14

What was the Marshall Plan? When was it?

Answer 14

1948: gave economic aid to rebuild western Europe after WWII→ tried to prevent the spread of communism by helping with economic stability→ strengthened U.S. allies and western democracies

Question 15

What was NATO? When was it formed?

Answer 15

1949: military alliance composed of western nations→ this was a defense against the USSR→ first peacetime military alliance for the U.S.

Question 16

What was the Red scare/McCarthyism? When was it?

Answer 16

1950-1955: During the early years of the Cold War, increasing fear of communism spreading, and taking over, (McCarthyism/2nd red scare): intense anti-communist attitude/view. Individuals suspected of being communist or having a connection to communism were persecuted. It was named after Senator Joseph McCarthy who was the leading person associated with the movement

Question 17

What was the Space Race? When did it occur?

Answer 17

1955-1960→ Space race: competition between the U.S and the USSR for new space exploration/accomplishments; big factor in which side (communism or democracy) was better/superior by who went into space/went to the moon first

Question 18

What was the Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act)? When was it?

Answer 18

1952: revised the National Origins Act→ allowed for some Asian immigrants to enter the U.S. Although it slightly increased immigration from Asia, other parts of the world were still restricted.

Question 19

What was the Hart-Celler Act? When was it?

Answer 19

1965: abolished the national origins quotas that had been in effect since the 1920’s. It resulted in a more diverse set of people immigrating to the U.S. For example, there was an increase in immigration from other countries like Asia and Latin America rather than just predominantly Europe

Question 20

Describe immigration to the suburbs, when it happened, and what its effect was.

Answer 20

1980-1982→ more people moved and lived in suburbs than ever before mostly wealthy and middle class people→ led to lower class living in poverty in urban areas→ a depression which led to many people losing their jobs and Reagan repealed the mental health systems act (1981) which funded mental health centers→ drug abuse, and more mentally ill people not getting the right treatment/ not being able to afford it→led to more crime happening within that community

Question 21

What was the Crime Bill? When was it?

Answer 21

1994: signed by Bill Clinton→ largest crime legislation→ expanded law enforcement, increased prison funding, harsher laws regarding sentencing, strengthened VAWA (violence against women’s act), strengthened border control, increased funding for youth and gang crime prevention

Question 22

What was the Watergate Scandal? When was it?

Answer 22

1972-1974: led to resignation of Nixon→ people that were close to Nixon’s reelection campaign broke into the Watergate office complex and tried to wiretap phones and steal documents→ Nixon and his administration tried to cover it up→ but when the tapes came out it revealed that Nixon had a secret recording system and that he was involved in the coverup→ resigned before he was impeached–> increased skepticism towards government and significant reforms in campaign finance and political accountability.

Question 23

Who was Randy Weaver? What were important years of his life?

Answer 23

1989: sold two sawed-off shotguns to an undercover ATF informant, this person charged Randy with a weapon violation and tried to make him into an undercover ATF informant but Randy refused→ he missed a court date mostly because of a miscommunication and was treated as a fugitive, 1992→ U.S Marshals surrounded his cabin and tried to arrest him→ (Ruby Ridge) shootout lead to the killing of a U.S Marshall, Randy’s son, dog, and wife→ this led people to criticize how the government handled this situation

Question 24

What was the Oklahoma City bombing? When was it?

Answer 24

1995→ Oklahoma City bombing→ Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building because he thought that the federal government needed to be stopped

Question 25

When did the world wide web come out? What was it's effect on society?

Answer 25

1993: families started to get technology for their home like laptops and cellular technology, world wide web→expand global economy/ companies rising over seas (able to work with other countries now that we had internet)

Question 26

Describe the technology crisis that happened in 2000

Answer 26

January 1st people feared that the way that the calendar was set up on computers, it would revert back to 1900 instead of 2000 (used the last 2 digits of the year) and they would lose all of the progress in technology built the century

Question 27

What was meant by terrorism by mail? When did this happen?

Answer 27

1978-1995→ Terrorism by mail→ related to technology because of Ted Kaczynski→ really smart man, taught as professor, hated idea of technology changing the world, quit, went off grid, and started building and bombing people (mad, and targeted the government to try and scare them into re-examining technology and its effects)

Question 28

What were some 1970s presidencies and scandals? When did these occur?

Answer 28

1972-1974→ Watergate scandal→ led to resignation of Nixon→ people that were close to Nixon's reelection campaign broke into the Watergate office complex and tried to wiretap phones and steal documents→ Nixon and his administration tried to cover it up→ but when the tapes came out it revealed that Nixon had a secret recording system and that he was involved in the coverup→ resigned before he was impeached 1974→ Ford→ one month into his presidency, Ford issued a full pardon to Nixon, which was controversial and caused suspicion 1976→ Carter energy crisis→ informal speech to US saying that people are the reason for the energy crisis, 1979-1981→ Iran Hostage Crisis→ Carter→ 52 Americans were held hostage in Tehran for 444 days, all over headlines and made Carter look bad