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On May 26, 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the forced relocation of Native American tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River. This legislation led to the Trail of Tears, during which thousands of Native Americans suffered and died while being moved to designated territories. The act set a precedent for U.S. government policies toward indigenous populations and exemplified the expansionist mindset of the era, reflecting a darker time in American history that underscores the severe impact of such policies on Native American communities.

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Cherokee Chief John Ross
Library of Congress

In the 1830s the United States government forcibly removed the southeastern Native Americans from their homelands and relocated them on lands in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). This tragic event is referred to as the Trail of Tears. Over 10,000 Native Americans died during removal or soon upon arrival in Indian Territory.

Since its inception, the United States government struggled with a problem: greedy citizens and politicians in the southeast were bent on acquiring the valuable lands occupied by the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, and other Native American nations. After the Louisiana Purchase (an enormous acquisition of territory west of the Mississippi in 1803), President Jefferson presumed that the Native Americans could be persuaded to give up their homes in exchange for land further west.

Following Jefferson's lead, President Andrew Jackson pushed for the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The act provided funds for the United States government to negotiate removal treaties with tribes. The federal government coerced tribal leaders to sign these treaties. Factions arose within the tribes, as many opposed giving up their land. Cherokee Principal Chief John Ross even traveled to Washington to negotiate alternatives to removal and pleaded for the government to redress the injustices of these treaties. The United States government listened, but did not deviate from its policy.

Although President Jackson negotiated the removal treaties, President Martin Van Buren enforced them. The impact of the removal was first felt by the Choctaw. Starting in 1831, they were forced off their lands in Mississippi. The years 1836-38 saw the Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Seminoles forced from their homes and removed to Indian Territory.

Some United States citizens disagreed with the actions of the government. Congressman David Crockett of Tennessee sided with the Native Americans. Christian missionaries also opposed the Indian Removal Act. They denounced the injustice of the policy. "Will not the people in whose power it is to redress Indian wrongs awake to their duty? Will they not think of the multitudes...swept into Eternity by the cupidity of the 'white man' who is in the enjoyment of wealth and freedom on the original soil of these oppressed Indians?" wrote Lucy Ames Butler to her friend Drusilla Burnap in 1839. Lucy's husband was the noted missionary Elizur Butler. He accompanied the Cherokee and served as their doctor and estimated that over 4,000 (a fifth of the Cherokee population) died along the trail.

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Stories of the Trail of Tears - Fort Smith National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)

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In the 1830s the United States government forcibly removed the southeastern Native Americans from their homelands and relocated them on lands in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). This tragic event is referred to as the Trail of Tears. Over 10,000 Native Americans died during removal or soon upon arrival in Indian Territory.

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May 10, 1869: Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad

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May 10, 1869: Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad

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The ceremonial "Golden Spike" was driven at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, marking the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. This monumental achievement connected the East and West coasts of the United States, revolutionizing transportation and commerce. It facilitated westward expansion, accelerated the movement of goods and people, and played a crucial role in the economic development of the American West, symbolizing technological progress and the nation's industrial growth.

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One of the greatest technological achievements of the 19th century, the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. Visitors to the park can see the location of the Last Spike Site, 1869 railroad construction features, walk or drive on the original railroad grade, and get an up close view of Victorian era replica locomotives. Read More

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Golden Spike National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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One of the greatest technological achievements of the 19th century, the completion of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States. Visitors to the park can see the location of the Last Spike Site, 1869 railroad construction features, walk or drive on the original railroad grade, and get an up close view of Victorian era replica locomotives.

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June 25, 1876: The Battle of Little Bighorn

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June 25, 1876: The Battle of Little Bighorn

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On June 25, 1876, the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand, took place between the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry, led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and a coalition of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. The Native American forces decisively defeated Custer and his troops, marking a significant victory for the tribes resisting U.S. expansion into their territories. Despite this victory, the battle ultimately led to increased military efforts by the U.S. government to subdue the Plains tribes, resulting in the loss of their lands and way of life.

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Story of the Battle - Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)

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Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

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December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person, as required by city law. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement. Lasting over a year, the boycott led to a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional. This successful protest was a significant victory for civil rights and propelled Martin Luther King Jr. into national prominence as a leader for social justice and equality.

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The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute

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On 5 December, 90 percent of Montgomery's black citizens stayed off the buses. That afternoon, the city's ministers and leaders met to discuss the possibility of extending the boycott into a long-term campaign. During this meeting the MIA was formed, and King was elected president.

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On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. This incident eventually led to the Watergate scandal, which uncovered widespread political espionage and corruption within the Nixon administration. The scandal came about in President Richard Nixon’s resignation on August 8, 1974, following instances of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Watergate resulted in significant political reforms aimed at increasing transparency and restricting executive power and highlighting the importance of accountability in American democracy.

https://flip.com/s/gGNny8G7u8Pn

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Table of Contents

1. The Watergate Break-In

2. Nixon's Obstruction of Justice

3. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein Investigate

4. The Saturday Night Massacre

5. Nixon Resigns

The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crimes, but when Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein revealed his role in the conspiracy, Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974. The Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leaders and think more critically about the presidency.

The Watergate Break-In

The origins of the Watergate break-in lay in the hostile political climate of the time. By 1972, when Republican President Richard M. Nixon was running for reelection, the United States was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and the country was deeply divided.

A forceful presidential campaign therefore seemed essential to the president and some of his key advisers. Their aggressive tactics included what turned out to be illegal espionage. In May 1972, as evidence would later show, members of Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President (known derisively as CREEP) broke into the Democratic National Committee's Watergate headquarters, stole copies of top-secret documents and bugged the office's phones.

Did you know? Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein deserve a great deal of the credit for uncovering the details of the Watergate scandal. Their reporting won them a Pulitzer Prize and was the basis for their best-selling book "All the President's Men." Much of their information came from an anonymous whistleblower they called Deep Throat, who in 2005 was revealed to be W. Mark Felt, a former associate director of the FBI.

The wiretaps failed to work properly, however, so on June 17 a group of five burglars returned to the Watergate building. As the prowlers were preparing to break into the office with a new microphone, a security guard noticed someone had taped over several of the building's door locks. The guard called the police, who arrived just in time to catch them red-handed.

It was not immediately clear that the burglars were connected to the president, though suspicions were raised when detectives found copies of the reelection committee's White House phone number among the burglars' belongings.

In August, Nixon gave a speech in which he swore that his White House staff was not involved in the break-in. Most voters believed him, and in November 1972 the president was reelected in a landslide victory.

Nixon's Obstruction of Justice

It later came to light that Nixon was not being truthful. A few days after the break-in, for instance, he arranged to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in "hush money" to the burglars.

Then, Nixon and his aides hatched a plan to instruct the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to impede the FBI 's investigation of the crime. This was a more serious crime than the break-in: It was an abuse of presidential power and a deliberate obstruction of justice.

Meanwhile, seven conspirators were indicted on charges related to the Watergate affair. At the urging of Nixon's aides, five pleaded guilty to avoid trial; the other two were convicted in January 1973.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein Investigate

By that time, a growing handful of people-including Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, trial judge John J. Sirica and members of a Senate investigating committee-had begun to suspect that there was a larger scheme afoot. At the same time, some of the conspirators began to crack under the pressure of the cover-up. Anonymous whistleblower " Deep Throat " provided key information to Woodward and Bernstein.

A handful of Nixon's aides, including White House counsel John Dean, testified before a grand jury about the president's crimes; they also testified that Nixon had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office. If prosecutors could get their hands on those tapes, they would have proof of the president's guilt.

Nixon struggled to protect the tapes during the summer and fall of 1973. His lawyers argued that the president's executive privilege allowed him to keep the tapes to himself, but Judge Sirica, the Senate committee and an independent special prosecutor named Archibald Cox were all determined to obtain them.

The Saturday Night Massacre

When Cox refused to stop demanding the tapes, Nixon ordered that he be fired, leading several Justice Department officials to resign in protest. (These events, which took place on October 20, 1973, are known as the Saturday Night Massacre.) Eventually, Nixon agreed to surrender some-but not all-of the tapes.

Early in 1974, the cover-up and efforts to impede the Watergate investigation began to unravel. On March 1, a grand jury appointed by a new special prosecutor indicted seven of Nixon's former aides on various charges related to the Watergate affair. The jury, unsure if they could indict a sitting president, called Nixon an "unindicted co-conspirator."

In July, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes. While the president dragged his feet, the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal cover-up and several violations of the Constitution.

Nixon Resigns

Finally, on August 5, Nixon released the tapes, which provided undeniable evidence of his complicity in the Watergate crimes. In the face of almost certain impeachment by Congress, Nixon resigned in disgrace on August 8, and left office the following day.

Six weeks later, after Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as president, he pardoned Nixon for any crimes he had committed while in office. Some of Nixon's aides were not so lucky: They were convicted of very serious offenses and sent to federal prison. Nixon's Attorney General of the United States John Mitchell served 19 months for his role in the scandal, while Watergate mastermind G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent, served four and a half years. Nixon's Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman spent 19 months in prison while John Ehrlichman spent 18 for attempting to cover up the break-in. Nixon himself never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, though he did acknowledge using poor judgment.

His abuse of presidential power had a long-lasting effect on American political life, creating an atmosphere of cynicism and distrust. While many Americans had been deeply dismayed by the outcome of the Vietnam War, and saddened by the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and other leaders, Watergate added further disappointment to a national climate already soured by the difficulties and losses of the previous decade.

HISTORY Vault: Nixon: A Presidency Revealed

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The Watergate Scandal - Timeline, Summary & Deep Throat

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A June 1972 break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters led to an investigation that revealed multiple abuses of power by the Nixon administration and a vote by the House Judiciary Committee for impeachment.