Pre-Columbian refers to the peoples and cultures of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus and his European successors.
Long before the white man set foot on American soil, the American Indians, or rather the
Native Americans, had been living in America. When
Columbus landed on the island of San Salvador in 1492 (On 12th October 1492 the Pinta first spotted what Columbus called San Salvador. It is now known as the Bahamas) he was welcomed by a brown-skinned people.
Facts On October 12, 1492, Columbus and a handful of the excited but weary voyagers set foot on land after 36 days of sailing. Columbus raised the royal standard, claiming the island for Spain, and two of the captains carried banners decorated with green crosses and letters representing Ferdinand and Isabella. Soon the curious islanders, with some trepidation, came out of their hiding places and greeted the visitors.
The location of the actual landfall site is still in question. Called Guanahaní by the Taínos, the island was renamed San Salvador (“Holy Savior”) by Columbus, but no one today knows for sure which island it was. Most favor either Watling Island (renamed San Salvador in 1926 to honor Columbus) or Samana Cay in the Bahamas. Ten or more islands in the Bahamas fit the physical description as recorded by Columbus in his journal, which described the island simply as large and flat, with bright green trees and a great deal of water.
The islanders were friendly and open to trade with the sailors. They traded anything for anything: balls of spun cotton, parrots, and spears for the sailors’ glass beads, red caps, and trinkets. Called Taínos by the Spaniards, the islanders belonged to a larger language family called the
Arawak . The Taínos showed neither fear nor knowledge of Spanish swords and cut themselves while examining the weapons. Most interesting to the explorers, however, was the fact that the islanders had small pieces of gold pierced in their noses. In addition, they told Columbus that the inhabitants of other islands wore gold bands around their arms and legs. They also described countless islands, all like theirs. The Spaniards, believing that they had arrived in the Indies, soon called all islanders “Indians.”
More on Christopher Columbus.
When the
Europeans came here, there were probably about 10 million Indians populating America north of present-day Mexico. And they had been living in America for quite some time. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last ice-age, approximately 20,000 - 30,000 years ago through a land-bridge across the Bering Sound, from northeastern Siberia into Alaska. The oldest documented Indian cultures in North America are Sandia (15000 BC), Clovis (12000 BC) and Folsom (8000 BC)
Although it is believed that the Indians originated in Asia, few if any of them came from India. The name "Indian" was first applied to them by Christopher Columbus, who believed mistakenly that the mainland and islands of America were part of the Indies, in Asia.
Native American History Native Americans in the United States Colonial America - Thirteen British Colonies in 1775: 
The
first colonies in North America were along the eastern coast. The first European settlers from Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, and England claimed land beginning in the 17th century. The two countries with the largest presence were England and France. The two nations fought for control of North America in what Americans call the
French and Indian War (1754-1763). England won the war and got control of Canada, as well as keeping control of all the English colonies. By this time, the English colonies numbered 13. They were Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Definition of colony - a group of people who leave their native country to form in a new land a settlement subject to, or connected with, the parent nation.
The
Thirteen Colonies were
British colonies in
North America founded between 1607 (
Virginia), and 1732 (
Georgia). Although Great Britain held several other colonies in North America and the
West Indies {the region of the Americas consisting of the Caribbean sea and its islands (most of which enclose the sea), and the surrounding coasts}, the colonies referred to as the "thirteen" are those that
rebelled against British rule in 1775 (
August 22) and proclaimed their independence on
July 4, 1776. They subsequently constituted the first 13
states of the
United States of America.
Map of the West Indies:
NOTE: rebelled against British rule in 1775...The
American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the
Thirteen Colonies that became the
United States of America gained independence from the
British Empire.
NOTE: North America occupies the northern portion of the earth's landmass generally referred to as the
New World, the
Western Hemisphere,
the Americas, or simply America (which is sometimes considered a single
continent).
NOTE: The British colonies that formed the original 13 states of the United States are: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
American Revolution [1763-1789] refers to the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies of North America overthrew the governance of the British Empire and then rejected the British monarchy to become the sovereign United States of America. In this period the colonies first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them without representation, and formed self-governing independent states. Continue United States and the drawing and ratification of its new government. In an attempt to gain autonomy (independence) and freedom from the
Kingdom of Great Britain, the Americans started a revolution, which grew into a war. The Americans eventually won the war and took control of the land now known as the
Eastern United States (the states east of the
Mississippi River).
NOTE: The Kingdom of Great Britain also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a
state in
Western Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800. It was created by the merger of the
Kingdom of Scotland and the
Kingdom of England, under the
Acts of Union 1707, to create a single kingdom encompassing the whole of the island of
Great Britain. A new single parliament and government, based in
Westminster in
London, controlled the new kingdom.
History of the United States (1789–1849) :
After the
election of
George Washington as the first
President in 1789,
Congress passed the first of many
laws organizing the government and adopted a
bill of rights in the form of ten amendments to the new
Constitution—the
Bill of Rights. During much of early America, there was no popular vote count in presidential elections.
Washington took action to establish the
Executive Branch of the United States Government [[The federal government of the United States of America is the body that carries out the roles assigned to the federation of individual states established by the Constitution. The federal government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial.]] . The executive branch of government is responsible for the day-to-day management of the state. The legislative branch is a type of representative deliberative assembly
with the power to adopt laws. The judicial branch is the system of courts
which administer justice in the name of the sovereign
or state
, a mechanism for the resolution of disputes
.
Congress passed the
Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the entire
federal judiciary, including the
Supreme Court [[ The Supreme Court of the United States (sometimes colloquially referred to by the
acronym SCOTUS) is the
highest judicial body in the
United States and leads the
judicial branch of the
U.S. federal government .
The Court consists of nine Justices: the
Chief Justice of the United States [[ The
Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the
judicial branch of the
government of the
United States, and presides over the
U.S. Supreme Court. The highest judicial officer in the country, the Chief Justice leads the business of the Supreme Court and presides over the Senate during
impeachment trials of the
President. In modern tradition, the Chief Justice also has the duty of administering the
oath of office to the President, but this is not required by the
Constitution or any other law. The seventeenth and current Chief Justice is
John Roberts, who was nominated by President
George W. Bush, and took office on
September 29,
2005 upon confirmation by the
U.S. Senate. ]] and
eight Associate Justices [[ The number of Associate Justices is determined by the
United States Congress and is currently eight, as set by the
Judiciary Act of 1869. Associate Justices are nominated for service by the
President of the United States. Their nominations are then referred to the
United States Senate for confirmation. If confirmed then, like other
federal judges, they serve for life and can only be removed by death, resignation or
impeachment. The current associate justices are (in order of seniority):
John Paul Stevens,
Antonin Scalia,
Anthony Kennedy,
David Souter,
Clarence Thomas,
Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
Stephen Breyer, and
Samuel Alito ]]
The Justices are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. As federal judges, the Justices serve during "good behavior", meaning they essentially serve for life and can be removed only by resignation, or by impeachment and subsequent conviction.
The Supreme Court is the only court established by the
United States Constitution (in
Article III); all other federal courts are created by
Congress:
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. ]]The Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, gave
Western farmers use of the important
Mississippi River waterway, removed the
French presence from the western border of the United States, provided United States farmers with vast expanses of land, and furthered American leaders' vision of creating a "Great Nation".
[[ NOTE: The
Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the
United States of approximately 530 million
acres (828,000
sq mi or 2,100,000
km²) of
French territory in 1803, at the cost of about 3¢ per acre (7¢ per
ha); totaling
$15 million or 80 million
French francs. Including interest, America finally paid $23,213,568 for the Louisiana territory.
.
The land purchased contained all of present-day
Arkansas,
Missouri,
Iowa,
Oklahoma,
Kansas,
Nebraska,
Minnesota south of
Mississippi River, much of
North Dakota, nearly all of
South Dakota, northeastern
New Mexico, northern
Texas, the portions of
Montana,
Wyoming, and
Colorado east of the
Continental Divide, and
Louisiana on both sides of the Mississippi River, including the city of
New Orleans. (The Oklahoma Panhandle, and southwestern portions of Kansas and Louisiana were still claimed by
Spain at the time of the Purchase.) In addition, the Purchase contained small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of
Alberta and
Saskatchewan.
]]
The
War of 1812 between the United States and the
United Kingdom established the United States as a
sovereign nation, fully capable of handling its own affairs without interference from the United Kingdom.
History of the United States (1849–1865):The
History of the United States (1849-1865) covers the
American Civil War and the turbulent years leading up to it.
The
California Gold Rush of 1849 brought the issues raised by the
Wilmot Proviso to the forefront of discussion. The admission of
California into the Union was settled by the
Compromise of 1850 whereby the status of the rest of the territory acquired from the
Mexican-American War was to be determined by
popular sovereignty. Debates over the
Fugitive Slave Law and
Sectionalism were common.
In 1854, the proposed
Kansas-Nebraska Act abrogated the
Missouri Compromise by providing that each new state of the Union would decide its stance on slavery. The settlement of
Kansas by pro- and anti-slavery factions, and eventual victory of the anti-slavery camp, was fuelled by convictions signalled by the birth of the
Republican party. By 1861, the admission of Kansas to the Union signalled a break in the balance of power. It also gave rise to various sundry movements which occasioned many anti-abolitionist and pro-slavery sentiments that still exist to this day.
After the election of
Abraham Lincoln, eleven
Southern states seceded from the union between late 1860 and 1861, establishing a rebel government, the
Confederate States of America on
February 9,
1861. The
Civil War began when Confederate General
Pierre Beauregard opened fire upon
Fort Sumter in
South Carolina.
The next four years were the darkest in American history as the nation tore itself apart over the long and bitter issues of
slavery and
states rights. The increasingly urban, industrialized
Northern states (the
Union) eventually defeated the mainly rural, agricultural Southern states (the Confederacy), but between 600,000 and 700,000 Americans on both sides were killed, and much of the land in the South was devastated. In the end, however,
slavery was abolished, and the Union was restored.
The American Civil War was the deadliest war in American history, causing 620,000 soldier deaths and an undetermined number of civilian casualties, ending slavery in the United States, restoring the Union, and strengthening the role of the federal government. The social, political, economic and racial issues of the war decisively shaped the reconstruction era that lasted to 1877, and continue into the 21st century.
History of the United States (1865–1918):The
history of the United States (1865–1918) covers
Reconstruction and the rise of
industrialization in the
United States.
At the conclusion of the
Civil War (1861-1865), the United States remained bitterly divided. Reconstruction and its failure left the
Southern whites in a position of firm control over its
black population, denying them their
Civil Rights (also see
Universal Declaration of Human Rights ) and keeping them in economic, social, and political second class status.
An unprecedented wave of immigration, 37 million people between 1840 and 1920, served both to provide cheap labor for American industry and to create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas, such as
California. The expansion of industry and population had a substantial cost as well.
Native American tribes were generally forced onto small
reservations so that white farmers and ranchers could take their lands. Abusive industrial practices led to the rise of the
labor movement in the United States, which was sometimes violent.
The United States began its rise to international power in this period with substantial population and industrial growth domestically, along with numerous imperialist ventures abroad. By the late nineteenth century, the United States had become a leading global industrial power, building on new technologies (such as the
telegraph and the
Bessemer process), an expanding
railroad network, and abundant
natural resources to usher in the
Second Industrial Revolution.
During this period, the United States helped liberate
Cuba from
Spanish rule and annexed
Hawaii and
Puerto Rico. At the end of the
Spanish-American War, it acquired the
Philippines, and after suppressing an
independence movement it began modernizing the islands, especially in terms of public health measures to stop epidemics that killed hundreds of thousands. Deciding not to permanently keep the Philippines, it promised independence in 1946.
The United States late (1917) entry in the World War I (1914-1918) on the side of the
Allied Powers shifted the balance of the war and made the United States a major military, as well as financial power.
World War I a.k.a the Great War - 1914 - 1918: Causes: 1. British and Germany in competition to be the most powerful navy in the world, this caused tension in Europe.
2. European countries tried to get as many colonies as they could, which led to conflicts around the world. They were scrambling for Africa.
3. Nationalism - Countries competing to be the strongest.
4. A desire for independence - many people in Europe lived in countries that were part of empires and they didn't like being ruled by people with different languages and religions and this led to conflicts involving other nations.
More than 9 million soldiers and civilians died. The fighting stopped on Nov. 11, 1918 but it didn't officially end until June 28, 1919 when after the Germans were defeated had to sign a
Versailles Treaty. This was a peace treaty between the allied and associated powers and Germany.
This peace treaty required Germany and its allies to accept full responsibility for causing the war and to pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the allies. Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty Germany had to pay for damage caused by the war. These reparations amounted to 38% of her national wealth.
WW1 ends on November 11, 1918 with German defeat (they started the war). The British, Soviet Russia, France, and USA armies and others allied and caused the German army to surrender. The war also ended due to starvations, political unrest, mutiny in the navy, and mounting defeats on the battlefield.
NOTE:From 1865 to about 1913, the U.S. grew to become the world's leading industrial nation. The availability of land and labor, the diversity of climate, the ample presence of navigable
canals,
rivers, and coastal waterways filling the
transportation needs of the emerging industrial economy, and the abundance of
natural resources all fostered the cheap extraction of energy, fast transport, and the availability of
capital that powered this
Second Industrial Revolution.
History of the United States (1918–1945):The
history of the United States from 1918 through 1945 covers the post-
World War I era, the
Great Depression, and
World War II. After World War I, the
United States signed separate peace treaties with Germany and her allies. The U.S. sponsored a successful world naval disarmament conference, became the world's leading lender, and stabilized Germany and Europe through the
Dawes Plan and the
Young Plan.
In 1920, the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol was prohibited by an amendment to the United States Constitution.
During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of sustained prosperity. Most sectors did very well, except for agriculture, which suffered after the bubble of high prices and skyrocketing land prices burst in 1920. Prices were stable, and the
gross national product (is the total value of all final goods and services produced by a country's factors of production and sold on the market in a given time period), grew at an annual rate of 3.2% from 1918 to 1945.
The
Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression led to government efforts to re-start the economy and help its victims. The recovery, however, was very slow. The nadir of the Great Depression was 1933, but the economy showed very little improvement through the end of the decade, and it remained grim until the increase in U.S. military spending leading up to World War II. Real wages did not surpass 1929 levels until 1941.
By 1939,
isolationist sentiment in America had ebbed, but the United States at first declined to enter the war, limiting itself to giving supplies and weapons to
Britain,
Nationalist China, and the
Soviet Union.. After the sudden
Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States quickly joined the British-Soviet alliance against
Imperial Japan,
Fascist Italy, and
Nazi Germany, known as the "
Axis Powers". With U.S. participation, it took nearly four more years to defeat Germany and Japan.
World War 2 --- 1939-1945
Causes:Failure of the Treaty of Versailles - The treaty signed after World War I - treated Germany very harshly and was greatly resented by the German people.
Germany was not allowed to have a military. German ships used for trading were given to the Allies.
Germany was forced to give up territories in Africa, Pacific, and Europe.
Germany was ordered to pay $33 billion in war damages to Britain and France.
This started a chain of events. It helped put Germany into a huge depression. Unemployment was at terrible levels. Hitler made it his responsibility to defy all of the charges made on Germany through the treaty. He re-armed his nation, re-occupied the Rhineland, threatened neighboring states, and built up a massive army. It was obvious he was preparing for war.
Hitler was convinced he was choosen to rescue Germany - a humiliated nation from the shackles of the Versailles Treaty.
Hitler, the German leader invades Poland on September 1, 1939 to start the war. Germany invaded Poland without warning. By the evening of Sept. 3, Britain and France were at war with Germany & within a week, Austria, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa had also joined the war. Also, the Italians fought the Americans and the Japanese fought the Australians. 60 million people died.
Hitler gave the National Socialist German worker's party (Nazi party) the symbol SWASTIKA (8/7/1920) and its greeting "Heil!". The symbol represented German Nationists and pride. Today, this is a symbol associated with hate.
Hitler strongly felt the Jews were the cause of all chaos, corruption and destruction in culture, politics and the economy. So his ultimate goal was the total removal of the Jews. He was the cause of
WW2 (1939-1945) and the
Holocaust (1942-1945) --- the genocide of the Jews. 6 million died.
History of the United States (1945–1964):This article covers the
History of the United States from 1945 through 1964,
Cold War Beginnings and the Civil Rights Movement.The period of U.S. history is seen as a period of active foreign policy designed to rescue Europe from the devastation of World War II and from
Communism .
On the domestic front, after a short transition, the economy grew rapidly and evenly. Also, the political division of the United States took its modern shape during this time, with
Hawaii becoming a state in 1959.
Socially it was a conservative era dominated by suburban family ideals. Education grew explosively due to a very strong demand for high school and college education.
The Cold War between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union ran through the 1950s. As the decade began, both countries had
atomic bombs, but lacked delivery systems that could get through to drop the bombs. By the early 1960s ballistic missiles were being built that could not be stopped and the threat of a devastating nuclear war hung over the world. A race began to overawe the other side with more powerful weapons. Allied soldiers were sent to Korea to fight the forces of
Communism. The Soviets formed the
Warsaw Pact of Communist states to oppose the American-led
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance.
But for many people in the U.S., international tension was balanced by home comfort. Particularly after 1955, they enjoyed high wages, large fancy cars and home comforts like vacuum cleaners, washing machines, toasters, food mixers, electric irons--which were all made for labor-saving and to make housework easier. Inventions familiar in the early 21st century made their first appearance during this era. The live-in maid and cook, common features of middle-class homes at the beginning of the century, were virtually unheard of in the 1950's. Householders enjoyed centrally heated homes with running hot water. New style furniture was bright, cheap, and light and easy to move around. The key word for the postwar home was efficiency.
History of the United States (1964–1980):Civil rights
The
assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 changed the political mood of the country. The new president,
Lyndon B. Johnson, capitalized on this situation, using a combination of the national mood and his own political savvy to push Kennedy's agenda; most notably, the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 [ To enforce the constitutional
right to vote, to confer jurisdiction upon the district courts of the United States to
provide relief against discrimination in public accommodations, to authorize the Attorney General to institute suits to
protect constitutional rights in public facilities and public education, to extend the Commission on Civil Rights, to prevent discrimination in federally assisted programs, to establish a Commission on Equal Employment Opportunity, and for other purposes. was landmark legislation in the
United States that outlawed segregation in the US schools and public places. First conceived to help
African Americans, the bill was amended prior to passage to protect women in courts, and explicitly included white people for the first time. It also started the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . ] In addition, the 1965 Voting Rights Act had an immediate impact on federal, state and local elections. Within months of its passage on August 6, 1965, one quarter of a million new black voters had been registered, one third by federal examiners. Within four years, voter registration in the South had more than doubled. In 1965,
Mississippi had the highest black voter turnout — 74% — and led the nation in the number of black leaders elected. In 1969,
Tennessee had a 92.1% voter turnout,
Arkansas 77.9% and
Texas 77.3%.
The War on Poverty and the Great SocietyMany federal assistance programs for individuals and families, including
Medicare, which pays for many of the medical costs of the elderly, were begun in the 1960s during President
Lyndon Johnson's (1963-1969) "War on Poverty." Although some of these programs encountered financial difficulties in the 1990s and various reforms were proposed, they continue to have strong support from both of the United States' major political parties. In addition, the
Medicaid program finances medical care for low-income families. Additionally, during the 1960s the federal government provided
Food Stamps to help poor families obtain food, and the federal and state governments jointly provide welfare grants to support low-income parents with children.
The
Vietnam War, also known as the
Second Indochina War, the
American War in Vietnam and the
Vietnam Conflict, occurred from
1959 to
April 30,
1975 in
Vietnam (
Southeast Asia). The reasons for US intervention in Vietnam were tied to the
cold war and fears of
communism. The
domino theory - if one nation in a region became communist, others would follow.
Cold War (1964–1980)The crises of 1968 and the election of Richard Nixon
In 1968, President
Lyndon Johnson began his reelection campaign. A member of his own Democratic party,
Eugene McCarthy, ran against him for the nomination on an antiwar platform. McCarthy did not win the first primary election in
New Hampshire, but he did surprisingly well against an incumbent. The resulting blow to the Johnson campaign, taken together with other factors, led the President to make a surprise announcement in a March televised speech that he was pulling out of the race. He also announced the initiation of peace talks in Paris with Vietnam.
Seizing the opportunity caused by
Johnson's departure from the race,
Robert Kennedy then joined in and ran for the nomination on an antiwar platform. Johnson's vice president,
Hubert Humphrey, also ran for the nomination, promising to continue to support the South Vietnamese government.
Kennedy was assassinated that summer and McCarthy was unable to overcome Humphrey's support within the party elite. Humphrey won the nomination of his party, and ran against Republican
Richard Nixon in the general election. Nixon appealed to what he claimed was the "silent majority" of moderate Americans who disliked the "
hippie"
counterculture. Nixon also promised "peace with honor" by his "secret plan" to end the
Vietnam War. He proposed the
Nixon Doctrine to establish the strategy to turn over the fighting of the war to the Vietnamese, which he called "Vietnamization". Nixon
won the presidency, against the divided opposition.
The Campaign of 1972 and WatergateIn 1972, Nixon won the
GOP nomination and faced Democratic nominee
George McGovern, who ran on platform of ending the Vietnam War and instituting guaranteed minimum incomes for the nation's poor. Between difficulties with his running-mate,
Thomas Eagleton (who he eventually dropped and replaced with
Sargent Shriver), and the
Republicans' successful campaign to paint him as unacceptably radical, he suffered a 61% - 38% defeat to sitting President
Richard Nixon.
Nixon was eventually investigated for the instigation and cover-up of the burglary of the
Democratic Party offices at the
Watergate office complex. The
House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opened formal and public
impeachment hearings against Nixon on
May 9,
1974. Rather than face impeachment by the House of Representatives and a conviction by the
Senate, he resigned, effective
August 9,
1974. His successor,
Gerald R. Ford, a moderate Republican, issued a pre-emptive pardon of Nixon, ending the investigations of him.
Watergate is a general term for a series of political scandals, which began with the arrest of five men who broke into the
Democratic National Committee headquarters at the
Washington D.C. office/apartment complex and hotel called
the Watergate on June 17,
1972. The attempted cover-up of the break-in ultimately led to the resignation of
President Richard Nixon. Investigations conducted by the
FBI,
Senate Watergate Committee,
House Judiciary Committee and the Press revealed that this burglary was just one of many illegal activities authorized and carried out by Nixon's staff. They also revealed the immense scope of crimes and abuses, which included campaign fraud, political
espionage and
sabotage, illegal break-ins,
wiretapping on a massive scale, including the wiretapping of the press and regular citizens, and a secret money fund laundered in
Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations. This secret fund was also used as
hush money to buy silence of the seven men who were indicted for the June 17 break-in.
[2] President Nixon and his staff conspired to cover up the break-in as early as six days after it occurred. After enduring two years of mounting evidence against the President and his staff, which included former staff members testifying against them in a Senate investigation, it was revealed that Nixon had a tape recording system in his offices and that he had
recorded many conversations. Undeniable evidence, spoken by Nixon himself and recorded on tape, revealed that he had obstructed justice and attempted to cover up the break-in. This recorded conversation later became known as the
Smoking Gun. After a series of court battles, the
United States Supreme Court unanimously
ruled that the President must hand over the tapes; he ultimately complied. With certainty of an
impeachment in the
House of Representatives and of a conviction in the
Senate, Nixon resigned ten days later, becoming the only US President to have resigned from office.
The Ford and Carter administrations
United States presidential election, 1976
The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President
Richard M. Nixon in the wake of the
Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent
President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former
governor of
Georgia,
Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate. Ford was saddled with a slow
economy and paid a political price for his
pardon of Nixon. Carter ran as an honest Washington "outsider" and
reformer and won a narrow victory. He was the first presidential candidate elected directly from the
Deep South since
1848.
History of the United States (1980–1988):Ronald Reagan and the elections of 1980
In addition to the growing appeal of conservative sentiment, President
Carter's prospects for reelection in the
U.S. presidential election of 1980 were strengthened when he easily beat back a primary challenge by liberal icon Senator
Edward Kennedy of
Massachusetts. Against the backdrop of economic stagflation and perceived American weakness against the USSR abroad,
Ronald Reagan, former governor of California, won the Republican nomination in 1980 by winning most of the primaries. After failing to reach an unprecedented deal with Ford, who would be a sort of co-president, Reagan picked his chief primary rival ,
George H. W. Bush, as the vice-presidential nominee. During Reagan's campaign, he relied on
Jeane Kirkpatrick as his foreign policy adviser to identify Carter's vulnerabilities on foreign policy.
Reagan promised an end to the drift in post-Vietnam U.S. foreign policy and a restoration of the nation's military strength. He also promised an end to "big government" and to restore economic health by use of
supply-side economics, a policy that his own vice presidential running mate had once deried as "voodoo economics." However, all these aims were not reconcilable through a coherent economic policy.
Supply-side economists led the assault on the welfare state built up by the
New Deal and
Great Society. They asserted that the woes of the U.S. economy were in large part a result of excessive taxation, which "crowded out" money away from private investors and thus stifled economic growth. The solution, they argued, was to cut taxes across the board, particularly in the upper income brackets, in order to encourage private investment. They also aimed to cut government spending on welfare and social services geared toward the poorer sectors of society, which had built up during the Vietnam era.
The public, particularly the middle class in the
Sun Belt region, agreed with Reagan's proposals, and voted for him in 1980. Critics charged that Reagan's attacks on federal assistance programs were designed to appeal to a middle class supposedly insensitive to the problems facing poor families and minorities. They also pointed out international economic factors in the troubles of the 1970s, such as the breakdown of the
Bretton Woods international monetary order and the
oil shock of 1973, that were beyond any
president's control.
The
presidential election of 1980 was a key turning point in American politics. It signaled the new electoral power of the suburbs and the Sun Belt; moreover, it was a watershed ushering out the commitment to government anti-poverty programs and
affirmative action characteristic of the
Great Society. It also signaled a commitment to a hawkish foreign policy.
A third-party candidacy by Representative
John B. Anderson of Illinois, a moderate Republican, did poorly. The major issues of the campaign were the economic stagflation, threats to national security, the
Iranian hostage crisis, and the general malaise that seemed to indicate America's great days were over. Carter seemed unable to control inflation and had failed in his rescue effort of the hostages in
Tehran. Carter dropped his detente-oriented advisers and moved sharply to the right against the Soviets, but Reagan said it was too little, too late.
Reagan won a landslide victory with 489 votes in the electoral college to Carter's 49. Republicans defeated twelve Democratic senators--many of them quite senior--to regain control of the Senate for the first time in 25 years. Reagan received 43,904,153 votes in the election (50.7 % of total votes cast), and Carter, 35,483,883 (41.0 %). John Anderson won 5,720,060 popular votes.
History of the United States (since 1988):This article covers the
history of the United States from 1988 to present.
The George H. W. Bush administrationRepublican President Ronald Reagan's vice-president
George H. W. Bush ascended to the presidency, defeating
Democratic Massachusetts governor
Michael Dukakis in the
1988 election. His 1988 election was the last presidential election until 2004 in which the victor won a clear majority in both the popular and electoral vote.
End of the Cold War (1980–1991)History of the United States (1991 - present):After the fall of the
Soviet Union, the United States emerged as the world's sole remaining superpower and continued to involve itself in military action overseas, including the 1991
Gulf War. Following his
election in 1992, President
Bill Clinton oversaw unprecedented gains in securities values, a side effect of the
digital revolution and new business opportunities created by the
Internet (see
Internet bubble). The 1990s saw one of the longest periods of economic expansion. Under Clinton
an attempt to universalize health care, led by
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton failed after almost two years of work on the controversial plan.
In 1998, Clinton was
impeached for charges of
perjury and
obstruction of justice that arose from an inappropriate sexual relationship with White House intern
Monica Lewinsky and a sexual harassment lawsuit from
Paula Jones. He was the second president to have been impeached. The
House of Representatives voted 228 to 206 on December 19 to impeach Clinton,
[86] but on February 12, 1999, the
Senate voted 55 to 45 to acquit Clinton of the charges.
The
presidential election in 2000 between
George W. Bush (R) and
Al Gore (D) was one of the closest in the U.S. history, and helped lay the seeds for political polarization to come. Although Bush won the majority of electoral votes, Gore won the majority of the popular vote. In the days following Election Day, the state of
Florida entered
dispute over the counting of votes due to technical issues over certain Democratic votes in some counties.
[88] The Supreme Court case
Bush v. Gore was decided on December 12, 2000, ending the recount with a 5-4 vote and certifying Bush as president.
At the beginning of the new millennium, the United States found itself attacked by
Islamic terrorism, with the
September 11, 2001 attacks in which 19 extremists hijacked four transcontinental airliners and intentionally crashed two of them into the twin towers of the
World Trade Center and one into
the Pentagon. The passengers on the fourth plane,
United Airlines Flight 93, revolted causing the plane to crash into a field in
Somerset County, PA.
According to the
9/11 Commission Report, that plane was intended to hit the
US Capitol Building in Washington. The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, destroying the entire complex. The United States soon found large amounts of evidence that suggested that a terrorist group,
al-Qaeda, spearheaded by
Osama bin Laden, was responsible for the attacks.
The Presidential Election of 2008 was largely seen as a referendum on the unpopular Bush Administration. Though Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate tried to distance himself from Bush, Senator Barack Obama ran on a campaign slogan of "Change" and continually compared McCain to Bush. This coupled with the September 2008 economic crisis allowed for Obama's victory. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. He is also the only racial minority to be elected the Head of State of any western government.
