American history 2

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• Middelbare school
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The history of the United States

• How did the United States become the country it is today?

Civil War

• Tensions between the North and the South
• Abolition of
    slavery
• Abraham
   Lincoln

Tensions between the North and South

The South was very dependent on the products that were made at the plantations. In the North, industrialization took place. The North wanted to end slavery. The South didn't want to end slavery, so they formed the Confederate States of America. They wanted their own rules.

Civil War

Started in 1861. They fought for years until 1865. It was the bloodiest war the United States ever fought. Eventually, the Northern troops were too strong, and the South had to surrender.

Abraham Lincoln

Was president between 1861-1865.
He supported the ending of slavery
greatly. He proposed the 13th
Amendment: this Amendment would
abolish slavery by law. Sadly, he was
assassinated in April of 1865.

Growth of the United States

• Immigration
• Industrialization

Ellis Island

Immigration

From 1840 until World War I, many Europeans and Asians came to the United States, hoping to find better opportunities. This is how the United States became a "melting pot" of cultures. Many first settled on the East Coast, because that is were the ships would arrive. Many immigrants came from Ireland, Germany, Eastern Europe, Italy, China and England.

Fun fact

Many travellers on the Titanic were planning to immigrate to the United States. 

Industrialization

Partly because of the new immigrants, the working culture of the United States changed. Factory work became more common. The American economy became the world's largest!

The United States from 1900-1950

• World War I
• Great Depression
• World War II

World War I

The United States tried to stay
neutral in the war. Eventually
they joined the Allies. They

had a great navy army. American
factories helped making weapons
 for the war. Eventually, the war was
 won by the Allies in 1918.

Great Depression

In 1929, the stock market crashed.
Many banks went bankrupt.
Many people lost their jobs.

The economy didn't recover

until the late 1930s and 

early 1940s.

World War II

The United States joined in World War II after a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan supports Germany. After the attack, Hitler declares war on the United States. The United States created nuclear bombs and used them to attack the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although for Europe, the war ended in the spring of 1945, for the United States the war ended when Japan surrendered in September of 1945.

Americans fighting the Germans:

The United States from 1950-2000

• Cold War
• Vietnam War 
• Civil Rights Movement

Cold War

The United States and the Soviet Union (now Russia) fought for power and influence. Western Europe was influenced by the United States and Eastern Europe was influenced by the Soviet Union. This created the Iron Curtain. The United States "won" the war when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Vietnam War

A result of the tensions between the
 Soviet Union and the United States.
The Soviet Union was helping the
northern part of Vietnam and the
United States was helping the
southern part. Many Americans
citizens were against the war and protested against it.

Civil Rights Movement

A movement for equal rights for
Afro-Americans in the 1950s and

1960s. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act

was created, which ended racial

segregation in school, work places

and public services.

The United States from 2000-now

• 9/11
• Barack Obama 

9/11

On September 11th in 2001, hijacked
planes flew into the Twin Towers and
the Pentagon. Al-Queda and its leader
Osama bin Laden were held responsible. 

Barack Obama

Barack Obama became the
first African-American president
of the United States in 2009.

He was president from 2009

until 2017. 

Now you know something about the US... but do they know anything about what's not the US?