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America remained neutral until the bombing of Pearl Harbor when it declared war on Japan and fully engaged in World War II.

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Joining in 1917, America supplied over 4 million Americans to aid the Allies in the fight agains the Central Powers.

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On April 6, 1917, the United States of America officially entered World War I. Over the next year and a half, millions of Americans served overseas and supported the nation's war effort at home. Their contributions helped win the war and shaped both America and the world for generations.

How the War began

For decades, tensions had been growing between the nations of Europe. In the summer of 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was assassinated, setting off a sequence of events that eventually drew most of Europe into full-scale war. The Central Powers (led by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire) fought the Allies (led by France, Great Britain and Russia) as the conflict spread from Europe to the Middle East and then to other parts of the world.

U.S. Neutrality

The United States remained neutral at the beginning of the war. Individual Americans supported one side or the other, although the majority were sympathetic to the Allies. Many contributed to relief efforts; others volunteered as ambulance drivers or nurses, or even as pilots and soldiers. However, most agreed with President Woodrow Wilson's commitment to keeping the U.S. out of the fighting.

Overseas, the war continued through 1915 and 1916. On the Western Front (in France and Belgium) the fighting bogged down into trench warfare, with combatants on both sides living and dying below ground in squalid, filthy conditions. Most of the other battlefronts also remained deadlocked. The opposing armies threw millions of men at each other in massive battles, and technological advances provided new ways of inflicting death and damage, but neither side was able to gain the upper hand.

Some Americans felt that their country had a duty to step in to stop the slaughter, but most believed that the pointless carnage proved that the U.S. had been right to stay out of the war.

America enters the War

However, in early 1917, a series of events changed American attitudes. Earlier in the war, Germany had prohibited its submarines from sinking civilian and neutral ships, due largely to U.S. protests. In February 1917 it resumed unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships in the war zone. Shortly afterward, an intercepted German telegram revealed a plan offering Mexico territory it had lost to the U.S. during the Mexican-American War (1846-48) in exchange for its support.

These events finally brought the U.S. into the war on the side of the Allies on April 6, 1917. In the months that followed, over four million Americans of all backgrounds entered military service and prepared to go overseas. The U.S. government took an active role in mobilizing American industry and society in support of the war effort. In France, General John "Black Jack" Pershing led the effort to organize millions of incoming American troops into an effective fighting force. Meanwhile, German successes on other battlefronts allowed them to focus their efforts on the Western Front.

Winning the War

In the spring of 1918, the Germans launched a major series of attacks, finally breaking the stalemate and advancing all along the Western Front. U.S. forces were thrown into action, and helped turn back the German assault. Over the summer and into the fall of 1918, the Americans played an emerging role as the Allies finally pushed back the Germans on the Western Front. The Allies also advanced on other battlefronts. One by one, the Central Powers surrendered, until Germany stood alone. Finally, on the morning of November 11, 1918, Germany signed an armistice that brought the fighting to an end.

Peace and aftermath

At least 8.5 million soldiers had been killed and over 20 million wounded. In America's relatively brief involvement, it suffered over 116,000 military deaths and 200,000 wounded. In addition, more than seven million civilians died worldwide, and countless others had been injured, starved, or made homeless. On top of this devastation, a global influenza (flu) pandemic in 1918 - 1919 struck down tens of millions more.

Against this backdrop of loss and suffering, the nations of the world came together in Paris to negotiate the post-war peace treaties. People around the globe hoped that the peace conference would lead to a new era of justice and cooperation.

Unfortunately, the resulting Treaty of Versailles and its related agreements failed to capture this spirit, and in fact planted the seeds of World War II and other future conflicts.

Legacy

World War I marked the end of the old European order and the beginning of an era that would be dominated by other forces, including the eventual rise of the United States as a global power. The mobilization of the U.S. economy and society and the service and sacrifice of millions of Americans helped bring an end to the war, and laid the foundation for the emergence of the U.S. as a world superpower later in the 20th Century.

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On April 6, 1917, the United States of America officially entered World War I. Over the next year and a half, millions of Americans served overseas and supported the nation's war effort at home. Their contributions helped win the war and shaped both America and the world for generations.

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The case in which segregation was not considered unconstitutional under the concept of "separate but equal."

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Plessy v. Ferguson - Segregation, 14th Amendment, Jim Crow

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Plessy v. Ferguson - Segregation, 14th Amendment, Jim Crow: Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Henry Billings Brown rejected Plessy's arguments that the act violated the Thirteenth Amendment (1865) to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted full and equal rights of citizenship to African Americans.

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The third and final Reconstruction Amendment that gave citizens of any race or color the right to vote.

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In 1857 the Supreme Court denied black citizenship in America and thus upheld slavery.

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"The Southern opinion upon the subject of Southern slavery," trumpeted one Georgia newspaper, "is now the supreme law of the land," and opposition to it is "morally treason against the Government." The view that Southern ideologues such as John C. Calhoun had promoted for more than a decade-that the federal government had a positive, indeed a constitutional, obligation to defend slavery-had apparently triumphed.

Not surprisingly, the North exploded in denunciations of Taney's opinion. Several sober appraisals in the Northern press decimated the chief justice's tortured legal reasoning. The Republican editor Horace Greeley published Justice Curtis's dissent as a pamphlet to be used in the elections of 1858 and 1860. The press and pulpit echoed with attacks on the decision that were as heated as Southern defenses of it. Taney's hopes of settling the issue lay smashed. If anything, Scott v. Sandford inflamed passions and brought the Union even closer to dissolving.

For all practical purposes, Northern courts and politicians rejected Scott v. Sandford as binding. In an advisory opinion, Maine's high court declared that African Americans could vote in both state and federal elections. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that any slave coming into the state with his master's consent, even as a sojourner, became free and could not be reenslaved upon returning to a slave state; the New York Court of Appeals handed down a similar ruling in Lemmon v. The People (1860). In several states, legislatures resolved to prohibit slavery in any form from crossing onto their soil and enacted legislation freeing slaves passing within their borders.

Taney is remembered now almost solely for the blatantly pro-slavery decision he wrote and for his demeaning comments about African Americans. When he died in 1864, he was roundly denounced and vilified in the North. Republican Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts predicted that "the name of Taney is to be hooted down the page of history." Whatever else he may have done, his name will always be linked with that of a slave who wanted nothing more than his freedom.

Dred Scott did, in fact, get his freedom, but not through the courts. After he and his wife were later bought by the Blow family (who had sold Scott to Emerson in the first place), they were freed in 1857. Scott died of tuberculosis in St. Louis the following year. Harriet Scott lived until June 1876, long enough to see the Civil War and the Thirteenth Amendment (1865) abolish slavery in the United States.

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Dred Scott decision - Reception and significance

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Dred Scott decision - Dred Scott decision - Reception and significance: "The Southern opinion upon the subject of Southern slavery," trumpeted one Georgia newspaper, "is now the supreme law of the land," and opposition to it is "morally treason against the Government." The view that Southern ideologues such as John C.

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President Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon, which doubled the size of the country for a relatively small price of $15 million.

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The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution written by James Madison.

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The commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and the First President of the United States.

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John Adams was the first Vice President and eventual second President of the United States who served in diplomatic roles during the Revolutionary War.

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He is known for his unwavering opposition to American independence and eventual loss of the colonies during the revolutionary war.

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George III was born on 4 June 1738 in London, the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

He became heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding his grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch and the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first language.

George III is widely remembered for two things: losing the American colonies and going mad. This is far from the whole truth.

George's direct responsibility for the loss of the colonies is not great. He opposed their bid for independence to the end, but he did not develop the policies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend duties of 1767 on tea, paper and other products, which led to war in 1775-76 and which had the support of Parliament.

These policies were largely due to the financial burdens of garrisoning and administering the vast expansion of territory brought under the British Crown in America, the costs of a series of wars with France and Spain in North America, and the loans given to the East India Company (then responsible for administering India).

By the 1770s, and at a time when there was no income tax, the national debt required an annual revenue of £4 million to service it.

The declaration of American independence on 4 July 1776, the end of the war with the surrender by British forces in 1782, and the defeat which the loss of the American colonies represented, could have threatened the Hanoverian throne.

However, George's strong defence of what he saw as the national interest and the prospect of long war with revolutionary France made him, if anything, more popular than before.

The American war, its political aftermath and family anxieties placed great strain on George in the 1780s. After serious bouts of illness in 1788-89 and again in 1801, George became permanently deranged in 1810.

He was mentally unfit to rule in the last decade of his reign; his eldest son - the later George IV - acted as Prince Regent from 1811. Some medical historians have said that George III's mental instability was caused by a hereditary physical disorder called porphyria.

George's accession in 1760 marked a significant change in royal finances. Since 1697, the monarch had received an annual grant of £700,000 from Parliament as a contribution to the Civil List, i.e. civil government costs (such as judges' and ambassadors' salaries) and the expenses of the Royal Household.

In 1760, it was decided that the whole cost of the Civil List should be provided by Parliament, in return for the surrender of the hereditary revenues by the King for the duration of his reign.

The first 25 years of George's reign were politically controversial for reasons other than the conflict with America. The King was accused by some critics, particularly Whigs (a leading political grouping), of attempting to reassert royal authority in an unconstitutional manner.

In fact, George took a conventional view of the constitution and the powers left to the Crown after the conflicts between Crown and Parliament in the 17th century.

Although he was careful not to exceed his powers, George's limited ability and lack of subtlety in dealing with the shifting alliances within the Tory and Whig political groupings in Parliament meant that he found it difficult to bring together ministries which could enjoy the support of the House of Commons.

His problem was solved first by the long-lasting ministry of Lord North (1770-82) and then, William, from 1783, by Pitt the Younger, whose ministry lasted until 1801.

George III was the most attractive of the Hanoverian monarchs. He was a good family man and devoted to his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for whom he bought the Queen's House (later enlarged to become Buckingham Palace). They had 15 children, 13 of whom reached adulthood.

However, his sons disappointed him and, after his brothers made unsuitable secret marriages, the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 was passed at George's insistence. (Under this Act, the Sovereign must give consent to the marriage of any lineal descendant of George II, with certain exceptions.)

Being extremely conscientious, George read all government papers and sometimes annoyed his ministers by taking such a prominent interest in government and policy.

His political influence could be decisive. In 1801, he forced Pitt the Younger to resign when the two men disagreed about whether Roman Catholics should have full civil rights. George III, because of his coronation oath to maintain the rights and privileges of the Church of England, was against the proposed measure.

One of the most cultured of monarchs, George started a new royal collection of books (65,000 of his books were later given to the British Museum, as the nucleus of a national library) and opened his library to scholars.

In 1768, George founded and paid the initial costs of the Royal Academy of Arts (now famous for its exhibitions).

He was the first king to study science as part of his education (he had his own astronomical observatory), and examples of his collection of scientific instruments can now be seen in the Science Museum.

George III also took a keen interest in agriculture, particularly on the crown estates at Richmond and Windsor, being known as 'Farmer George'.

In his last years, physical as well as mental powers deserted him and he became blind.

He died at Windsor Castle on 29 January 1820, after a reign of almost 60 years - the third longest in British history. His son, George IV - who had been Prince Regent since 1811 became King.

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George III was born on 4 June 1738 in London, the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He became heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding his grandfather, George II, in 1760.

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Hailed as one of the most famous speeches in human history, President Lincoln delivered this speech on November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with a message that ideals are worth dying for and that it is up to the living to carry on the work of those who died to protect ideals.

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An amendment to the Constitution passed on July 9, 1868 that addressed the citizenship of persons "born or naturalized in the United States," including formerly enslaved people, and provided all citizens with “equal protection under the laws.”

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An amendment approved and passed by February 1, 1865 to the Constitution that abolished slavery in the United States.

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A presidential proclamation ordered by president Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863 nearly three years into the Civil War that called for the freedom of slaves in the rebellion states of the South.

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A four year war in 1861-1865 between the Union (Northern states) and Confederacy (Southern states) that sparked after decades of debate regarding the legality of slavery in the United States resulting in the defeat of the South and unification of all the states.

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A legislative action that repealed the Missouri Compromise, added the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed for popular sovereignty when deciding whether slavery was legal or not in the new territories.

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An agreement between the United States and Mexico that brought the Mexican-American War to an end in 1848 following Mexico's defeat and fall of their capital. The treaty added some of the previously owned territories from Mexico under the United States control.

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A war between the two powers in 1846-1848 following the annexation of Texas by the United States but Mexico still considered the state part of their territory thus conflict arose between the disputed land.

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Federal legislation passed in 1820 that was an attempt to balance the power in congress between slave states and free states with a line deviating this separation.

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The Industrial Revolution brought rapid urbanization or the movement of people to cities. Changes in farming, soaring population growth, and an ever-increasing demand for workers led masses of people to migrate from farms to cities.

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From their inception, schools serving students of color received significantly less funding than schools serving white students and faced overcrowding, inadequate supplies, and insufficiently paid teachers.

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An era following the end of the Civil War (1865-1877) in which the country was picking up the pieces from the war, grappling with putting the country back together, and debating the legal status of slaves in the country.

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Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.

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The American Revolution effected fundamental changes in the political and socio-economic spheres of the 13 American Colonies. It turned into an independent nation from a combination of colonial dependencies under British rule. This was indeed a fundamental change.

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The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that signifies the callousness of American policy makers toward American Indians. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government, and Indians had to agree to removal to preserve their identity as tribes.

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Major Ideas of The Articles of Confederation

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Major Ideas of The Articles of Confederation

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It served as the first constitution, declaring that the confederacy of the former 13 colonies would be called “The United States of America.” The Articles of Confederation consisted of 13 articles that gave powers to a national government, which was led by Congress.

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He created the “Join or Die” 1754 - Suggests the colonies come together than depend on British. He is best known as the only Founding Father who signed all three documents that freed America from Britain.

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President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring the slaves free in many parts of the South. In 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery in the country.

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The Constitution not only designed a government but also placed limits on it to prevent arbitrary rule. Particularly through its amendments, the Constitution guarantees every American fundamental rights and protection of life, liberty, and property.

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Jamestown became the first successful English colony in North America. Colonist John Rolfe brought the seeds of sweeter tobacco to Jamestown in 1610