North
America
By
Eric Garcia
Political: The US entered World War I in
1917 as General Pershing goes to Paris to lead American Forces. After the end
of the War in 1918, US President Woodrow Wilson issues the Fourteen Points for
Peace. In 1920, the US votes against joining the League of Nations. The 18th
Amendment is passed enacting Prohibition and the 19th amendment is
passed giving American women the right to vote. In 1924, the US grants Cuba its
independence. The Pan American Treaty is signed to prevent conflicts between
nations. President Harding dies after the Teapot Dome Scandal. In 1927 Canada
was voted into the League of Nations Council. President Hoover in 1930 signed
the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that caused a worsening of the Great Depression. In
1939 Roosevelt passed the Neutrality Bill, which permitted Britain and France
to purchase arms from the US. In the same year, Roosevelt demanded assurance that
neither Mussolini nor Hitler would attack the US states. Pearl Harbor is bombed on December 7 1941.
The following day, the US declares war on Japan. General Eisenhower is the
commander of all US forces. The US participated in WWII fighting the Nazis in
Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific. The US sends Cuban exiles in the Bay of
Pigs invasion, it is a failure. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs and it is the
closest the world came to nuclear war. JFK is assassinated on November 22, 1963
in Dallas. The US fights Vietnamese communist forces in Vietnam. US troops
invade Panama and arrest drug lord Manuel Noriega. The US sends troops to the Middle
East to fight terrorists.
Economic: The Panic of 1907 causes a
bank run which is stopped by J. P. Morgan’s importation of $100 million in gold
from Europe. The US experiences the Great Depression after WWI it is the worst
economic crisis. In 1913, the Federal Income Tax is introduced in the U. S. with
the 16th amendment. World War II gets the US out of the Depression.
The Depression was caused by the US producing more items than it could sell.
The Smott-Hawley Tariff Act is passed to combat the Great Depression. The
Lend-Lease Act is passed as it offers aid to any country whose defense the
president deems vital to the defense of the United States. Canada institutes a
National Unemployment Insurance Program to which employees and workers
contribute. Civilian workers are employed during World War II to produce the
equipment for the war, women especially work in factories. A pay as you go
income tax system is instituted in the US. The Marshall Plan goes into effect
in 1948 as it provided more than $13 billion in aid to rebuild war torn Western
Europe. The US produces automobiles, and
other manufactured equipment as it becomes the world’s economic superpower. In
1989, President George H. Bush authorized $300 billion to bail out the
scandal-plagued US savings and loan industry.
Religon: In 1905, the Social Gospel
Movement in the US embodies Christian progressive ideas about ameliorating the harshness
of individual capitalism. The main religion of North America is Christianity in
the branches of Protestant and Catholicism. In 1931, the Jehovah’s witnesses
formed. In 1976, the Episcopal Church approved the ordination of women as
priests and bishops. In 2002 the Catholic Church was scandalized by revelations
of child molestation by priests and cover-ups by the Church. The Catholic Church remained strong in America and it did not lose influence because of the Protestant Church.
Society: Gender relationships in North
America got better as time progressed. Jobs for women became more equal to
those of men, and women played an important part in shaping the US as they
worked the factories during WWII and they made the planes and weapons. Families
were closely woven as the children went to school since school became an option
for all as free public education became prominent in North America. Racial
inequalities were prominent in the US in the 50s and 60s what with segregation,
but segregations became illegal as figures like Martin Luther King brought out
the unfairness and inequality of US systems. Typically, both the husband and
wife worked while the kids would go to school. There was still a widening gap
in money as the middle class was getting smaller and still is. The postwar baby
boom occurs causing families to move to the suburbs.
Innovation: In 1900, R. A. Fessenden
transmitted human speech via radio waves. The hormone adrenaline was isolated
in 1901. In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright flew a powered airplane at Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina. In 1906, the first US radio program of voice and music
was broadcasted by R. A. Fessenden. Charles f. Kettering in 1911 developed the
first practical electric self-starter for cars. In 1915, the first
transcontinental telephone call was placed by Alexander Graham Bell in New York
to Dr. Thomas A. Watson in San Francisco. In 1918, Harlow Shapley discovered
the true dimensions of the Milky Way. In 1920, Dr. Harvey Cushing developed new
technology for brain surgery. In 1920, John T. Thompson patented his submachine
gun the Tommy Gun. In 1921, biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan postulates the
chromosome theory of heredity. Electrola a new electric recording process was
developed. Pluto is discovered in 1930. In 1933 a refrigerator process for meat
cargoes was first used. The first jet engine was built by Frank Whittle in
1937. In 1939, Igor Sikorsky built the first helicopter. Edward McMillan and
Philip Abelson discovered neptunium, the first transuranic element. Atomic
research begins on the Manhattan Project making the first atomic bomb in world
history, this gives the US an advantage in WWII as it brings about the defeat
of Japan. Enrico Fermi split the atom. The first automatic computer was developed
in the US. Otto Stern makes advances in molecular beam theory and proton
movement. DNA is discovered in 1944 by Oswald Avery. In 1947, the sound barrier
is broken by pilot Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1. Traffic lights begin to appear
in 1952. The US launches its first nuclear powered submarine the Nautilus in
1954. In 1954, RCA introduced the first color TVs. In 1959, American Airlines
launched the first transcontinental Boeing 707 flight launching the jet age.
Pacemaker is developed in 1960. The Measles vaccine was developed in 1963.
Apollo 11 in 1969 lands humans on the first time in world history. The first
pocket calculator is introduced in 1971 by Texas Instruments. IBM introduced
the first personal computer in 1981. In 1998, the Google Internet Search engine
went online. The US Human Genome Project was completed in 2003.
Arts: Regtime Jazz developed in the US.
The Roaring 20s brings about an era of a new kind of music called Jazz into the
US. In 1917, George M. Cohan composed the American war song “Over There”. Jazz
began to sweep the US in 1916. The Museum of Modern Art opened in New York in
1929. Grant Wood painted American Gothic in
1930. The Empire State Building is constructed in New York City. Skyscrapers
become a prominent North American architectural style with big cities and tall
buildings. Edward Hopper in 1941 painted Nighthawks.
The Harlem Renaissance takes place bringing about various artwork forms from
music to paintings. Elvis Presley becomes a popular music figure of the 1950s.
The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan show and dominated the 1960s with
their music. Woodstock takes place as more than 300,000 rock and roll fans
attend it in 1969. The Sears Tower became the tallest building in the world in
1974. The St. Louis arch was constructed.
Near Geography: North America is
bordered by Latin America to the south and to the north lies the Arctic Ocean.
North America was isolated from the rest of the world which protected it in a
way. To the east lies the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west the Pacific Ocean and
to the southeast lies the Caribbean. People tended to settle towards big cities
in the suburbs and people moved to where work opportunities were. North
Americans used their land and its natural resources to build their economy. The
Appalachian mountain lie in the eastern half of the US while the Rockies start
in Canada and end in the Sierra Nevada in Mexico. The Mississippi River became
an important water way route to the US.
World War I brought new war technology. https://www.google.com/search?biw=1440&bih=783&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=us+in+world+war+one&btnG=#q=us+in+world+war+one+the+american+soldiers+in+the+presence+of+gas&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=8MX0N-_rATTrLM%253A%3BiRV2nXVgcvT5HM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%252F236x%252Fcd%252F80%252Fe4%252Fcd80e4ca20d49380c76a3c86f6d20db7.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.pinterest.com%252Fjfptak%252Fworld-war-i-photography%252F%3B236%3B161
The JFK assassination was a huge shock to the nation. http://media3.policymic.com/NGQ4YzVjNjc0MCMvSkZkSTNEdHNrU2puckxDeGN2V1hCN29iaXE0PS8weDE5OjUzOHgzNTgvODQweDUzMC9zMy5hbWF6b25hd3MuY29tL3BvbGljeW1pYy1pbWFnZXMvMTE5ZGZlYWVlMWI4YzFkMjVmMDA2MmIwZjY0ZmQ1OTUwOTI3YzUxY2UzZDBhM2Q2MjNjMzdkY2QyZTc2NWE2Yi5qcGc=.jpg