Top 10 Historical Events to know

In order to do well on the US history and Government regents exam you must have a knowledge of historical events and be able to show how these events are examples of important themes in American history. This can at times seem overwhelming in that many things have happened in the over 400 years of American history. There are however some specific events that can be used effectively to show an understanding of the major themes of American history. In order my top ten things to know to succeed on the US history and Government regents.

  1. Reconstruction – Civil War amendments and Jim Crow Laws

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

  • Checks and Balances
  • Reform movements
  • Amendment process (how the constitution can change to changing times)
  • Power of the president
  • Civil Rights

Below is a good explanation of Reconstruction. The underlined terms are examples of the information that graders are looking for and can be the difference between receiving a 5 or a 3 on your regents essay.

Although the civil war was not fought to end slavery at it’s conclusion many people in the north wanted to free the slaves and try to protect their liberty. The radical republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens began to pass legislation designed to help former slaves and protect them from acts of punishment and revenge. Abraham Lincoln believed that the south should be readmitted easily and supported his 10% plan, Lincoln may have been able to achieve his goals had he not been assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. His Vice President Andrew Johnson became president with many obstacles. He was a southern democrat working against a congress made up almost entirely of Northern republicans. Johnson vetoed many pieces of legislation including the freedman’s bureau. The Congress overrode most of Johnson’s vetoes including the freedman’s bureau which attempted to help former slaves. Eventually this conflict between Andrew Johnson and the congress led to Johnson being impeached for violating the tenure of office act. Andrew Johnson was impeached but was one vote shy of being kicked out of office. The congress had thoroughly weakened Johnson’s presidency and was able to run reconstruction as it wanted. Several amendments were passed during this period. The 13th amendment freed the slaves a long time goal of abolitionist like Frederick Douglas and William Lloyd Garrison.The 14th amendment provided for equal protection and due process for all citizens and the 15th amendment that gave African American men the right to vote. Although these amendments tried to protect freed slaves in the south Jim crow laws, literacy tests, grandfather clause and poll taxes as well as the KKK worked to deny African Americans their rights for the next 100years.

  1. The Treaty of Versailles ratification debate

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

  • Checks and Balances
  • Foreign Policy
  • The Role of the President

Below is a good explanation of the debate over the treaty of Versailles. The underlined terms are examples of the information that graders are looking for and can be the difference between receiving a 5 or a 3 on your regents essay.

The world had never seen a war quite like World War One. The use of new technology like tanks, planes and hand grenades had many believing that this was to be the war to end all wars. At the wars end Woodrow Wilson hoped to negotiate a treaty that would help create a lasting peace. Woodrow Wilson’s plan for peace included 14 points, his major points included freedom of the seas, self determination for European nations, and a league of nations. Of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points only the League of Nations was adopted in the Treaty of Versailles. Far from creating a lasting peace the treaty punished Germany with large reparations. Despite the refusal of European leaders to accept a majority of Wilson’s proposals Woodrow Wilson believed that the league of Nations would compensate for the other short comings of the Treaty of Versailles. As president it was Woodrow Wilson’s job to negotiate a treaty but our constitutional system of checks and balances gives the Senate the power to ratify or approve the new treaty. Many in the United States wanted to return to America’s isolationist policy following World War One. Even though the League of Nations was President Wilson’s idea in became the focus of republican opposition to the treaty of Versailles. Led by senatorHenry Cabot Lodge the senate was able to defeat the passage of the treaty of Versailles ushering in a period often referred to as the return to normalcy.

3.Plessy V. Ferguson and Brown vs. The Board of Education

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

  • Checks and Balances (Supreme Court)
  • Presidential authority as commander in Chief
  • Civil Rights Movement
  • Interpretation of the Constitution

Plessy vs. Ferguson ruled in 1896 that segregation was constitutional as long as facilities were separate but equal. This landmark decision legalized a practice that had been going on in the south since the end of the civil war. Separate schools, restaurants, bathrooms and water fountains. Although the supreme court called for separate but equal facilities that was rarely the case. Almost 60 years after the Plessy decision the supreme court ruled in the court case Brown v. Board of Education that segregation was inherently unconstitutional. This is a good example of how the constitution can be interpreted in different ways at different times.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision to enforce the Supreme Court's desegregation order serve as a good example of domestic use of a president's Commander-in-chief powers. Following the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) all US schools were to end racial segregation with "all deliberate speed".

In 1957 a stand off over the issue occurred in Little Rock Arkansas, as the Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus refused to allow 9 black students to attend Central High School. He called out Arkansas National Guard troops to block the students from attending the school on opening day.

President Eisenhower used his power as Commander-in-chief, deciding to place the Arkansas National Guard under his federal authority. The result was Eisenhower using the National Guard to enforce the order, accompanying the 9 black students into a now integrated Central High.

Others would challenge segregation. Most notably Rosa Parks, who refused to sit in the back of the bus which led to the Montgomery bus boycott. Martin Luther King Jr. who organized marches, sit ins and non violent protests against segregation and discrimination.

  1. The New Deal and The Rise of Government

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

  • Power of the President
  • Role of Government in the economy
  • Expanding role of Federal government
  • Checks and Balances

Franklin D. Roosevelt became president during the heart of the Great Depression. Unemployment in 1933 was topping over 25% and there were no signs of improvement. FDR had been elected on his promise of a "New Deal" to the American people, a program under which the government would begin to actively attack the problems of the depression.

FDR promised in his inaugural address that, "our primary is to put people to work" and that is exactly what his early direct relief programs sought to do. From after his inauguration in March 1933 until June Congress passed a flurry of FDR's proposals, a period that became known as the "first 100 days". Never before or since has the Congress passed so many new, sweeping reforms in such a short period of time, the severity of the problem and FDR's mandate from the people spurring Congress into action.

New Deal programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) put men to work building roads and planting trees, others such as the Federal Emergency Relief Act offered direct relief in the form of food, clothing and money for the unemployed. Other programs from the 100 days, such as the first Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) attempted to strike at the problem of overproduction by paying American farmers not to grow certain crops. Additionally, the "bank holiday"closed the nation's banks in an effort to curb "runs" on the banks and a widening banking crisis. Some of FDR’s laws were declared unconstitutional. FDR submitted a plan to add judges to the supreme court. Many saw this Court Packing Scheme as a corruption of the principle of checks and balances. Despite FDR’s immense popularity his plan was not accepted by the congress. This is a great example of checks and balances.

While the successfulness of the New Deal programs in combating the Great Depression remains open for debate, there is little doubt that the relief programs offered during the first 100 days served to feed, house and employ millions of Americans who would have otherwise gone hungry, homeless or idle

5. New and Old Immigrants

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

  • Immigration
  • Racism and discrimination
  • Reformers and Intellectual movements

Old ImmigrantsThese settlers came to the Americas mostly from western and northern Europe, predominantly from England and English territories during the colonial period.

These early immigrants came to the United States for economic, political and religious freedom. The earliest roots of Nativism or anti-immigrant feelings in American society surfaced during this era. While not as severe as during the wave of "new immigration" this nativist thinking can be seen in the anti-immigrant platform of the Know Nothing Party of the mid 19th century. The reality of the immigrants life was far from the roads paved with gold many envisioned. Industrial jobs paid low wages, demanded long hours and offered no benefits or security. The tenement housing most immigrants could afford in the near-bursting American cities proved crowded, expensive, dangerous and unsanitary. This experience is best chronicled by photographer and reporter Jabob Riis in his expose of New York City "How the Other Half Lives". Another good example of muckracking uncovering these poor conditions would be Lincoln Steffens The Shame of the Cities.

New Immigrants
These immigrants came to America from areas that had not traditionally supplied settlers to the US. The lands of southern Europe andeastern Europe such as Italy, Russia, Poland and Greece, as well as Asian locales such as China and Japan. Many actions were taken to restrict immigration of new immigrants.

Chinese Exclusion Act
(1882) / Many on the west coast of the US (California) feared a "yellow peril" of Chinese immigration. As more and more Chinese immigrated to work on the western railroads, many feared competition for jobs . / This law severely limited Chinese immigration into the US, it made provisions for types of workers allowed and barred families from joining existing immigrants."
Gentleman's Agreement
(1907) / In the wake of the "yellow peril" and the barring of Chinese immigration, the Japanese and American governments reached an agreement barring further Japanese immigration into the US. / While not a formal law, the agreement did curb Japanese immigration into the US, as much a desire of the Japanese government as the US government.
Literacy Tests
(1917) / Many believed that allowing non-English speaking immigrants into the US was a threat to assimilation, as language and loyalty was still tied to the immigrant's "homeland". / The literacy tests denied admission to any immigrant who could not pass a basic reading/writing test.
National Origins Act also known as quota laws
(1924) / The nativist reaction to the immigration of the Gilded Age was a call to not only limit the number of immigrants allowed into the US, but also restrict the country of their origin. This was as much a racist reaction against the increase in southern and eastern Europeans and Asian immigration as a call for increased isolation from world affairs. / The National Origins Act further restricted immigration by basing the numbers of immigrants allowed from a specific region of the world. The effect was a severe bias towards the northern and western European nations that had been the "traditional" areas of immigration during the era of "old" immigration.

6. The Unwritten Constitution

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

The role of Government

  • The ability of the United States Government to Change
  • Presidential Power
  • Checks and balances

The "Unwritten Constitution" refers to the ideas and processes that are accepted as a needed part of American government, regardless of the fact that they are not actually in the Constitution. These ideas and processes came about through the custom and precedent. Many aspects of the unwritten Constitution are so ingrained into our system that many do not even realize that they are not laws or provisions of the Constitution.

President's Cabinet
George Washington was the first to have a cabinet of advisors to aid him in making decisions for the nation. Today, the president's cabinet consists of the secretaries/heads of the 14 major departments of the executive branch (a few examples include: The Attorney General of the Justice Department, The Secretary of Defense of the Defense Department and The Secretary of State of the State Department).

Political Parties
Political parties are as old as the Constitution itself, however the document makes no rules to govern them. The first political parties arose from the debates over Constitutional ratification (the Federalists Party lead by Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic-Republicans headed by Thomas Jefferson). It quickly became clear that political parties were to be the major forces in shaping American politics and by necessity rules and laws were established for their regulation, with no basis in the Constitution.

Judicial Review
The most important power of the Supreme Court, that of Judicial Review or the ability to declare laws unconstitutional, is not in the Constitution. The power of Judicial Review was a precedent set in the 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision. Regardless, it has become one of the most fundamental concepts in American government. It also serves a check and balance on the laws passed by Congress and the actions and treaties of the President.

7. Imperialism

This is a great topic for students to understand because it can be used for many themes in American history. For example this topic would be great for the following essays.

  • Foreign Policy
  • Power of the President
  • Influence of the Press

At the dawn of the 20th century technology was shrinking the globe and expanding the industry of the United States. Immigrants had fueled the fires of industrial development and pushed the nation westward in a fulfillment of manifest destiny's call. The markets and resources of lands overseas called to the hearts and minds of a growing nation sold on social Darwinism and desiring to share her bounty with the world. War with Spain proved the opening of a fifty-year window during which the US's reach would extend around the world.

Causes of the Spanish-American War:

Cuban Revolution - The Spanish suppression of an on-going Cuban revolution gave the cause of war an air of independence and freedom. Aiding the Cubans, who's suffering was exaggerated by the Yellow Press of the day, became a reason for war with the Spanish.

Yellow Press - The newspaper circulation war had already begun long before a shot was fired in 1898. William Randolph Hearst (pictured at right) and Joseph Pulitzer used hyperbole, lies and sensational violence in order to increase sales of their NY papers. The often times untrue stories of the Spanish brutality in Cuba served to outrage many Americans and increased the call for war.

Sinking of the USS Maine - The US warship USS Maine was stationed in the harbor of Havana, Cuba when it exploded, killing over 260 Americans. The Yellow Press ran immediate headlines blaming the Spanish for the explosion, however a conclusive reason behind the Maine disaster is still unknown. Regardless, the act was clearly sparked an immediate call for war with the Spanish.