This presentation provides a brief overview of the eras we will study this semester.

Westward Expansion technically starts in 1803 with Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. For the purposes of our course, we will explore the second wave of Westward Expansion (in the 1860s) where the government attempts to populate the land gained in the first 50 years of the 1800s.

The major themes of this era are Manifest Destiny, Native American relations, and migration.

The Gilded Age occurs simultaneously with Westward Expansion and is the urban version of the changes going on during this period. This era is prompted by the second Industrial Revolution which spawns a series of inventions and innovative business practices.

Think of the Gilded Age as an apple coated with shiny gold on the outside but rotten to the core on the inside. This time period is characterized by unprecedented wealth and poverty simultaneously.

Major themes include industrialization, immigration\nativism, laissez faire, urbanization, social Darwinism, political corruption, and child labor

If the Gilded Age is characterized by major problems, the Progressive Era is the time period where Americans find solutions.

Important themes in this era include muckrakers and political and social reforms.

American Imperialism occurs simultaneously with Gilded Age and Progressivism. it's a foreign version of the Gilded Age where territories and resources are taken to increase a nation's wealth.

World War I is a global conflict that arises as a direct result of the Imperialism era. This conflict is noted for the high casualty rate, 10 million people, and the sheer destruction of modern weaponry including tanks, planes, mustard gas, and submarines to name a few.

As a result of WWI, America enjoys a decade of great prosperity. However, everything is not as it appears. The twenties are a decade of contradictions. Prosperity eventually leads to financial collapse. Technological advances and modern innovations make their way into the common household only to contribute to the collapse.

Rooted in poor financial practices in the prior decade, the Great Depression is an era where America's prosperity wanes. Large percentages of everyday Americans lose their jobs, property, and must scrape by to survive. This decade directly challenges both the believe in American excpetionalism and the laissez faire practices in place since the Gilded Age.

World War II arises out of the unresolved conflict at the end of World War I. As Hiter rises to power and challenges democracy worldwide, Americans try to stay isolated. The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor changes all that and propels Americans directly into the conflict. It is this war that helps American emerge from the Great Depression.

The Cold War emerges out of the end of World War II as a result of tensions between Stalin and Churchill\Roosevelt. As Stalin attempts to grab axis territory to create a protective buffer, Americans worry about the spread of communism. What results are decades of distrust, an arms race, a space race, and two proxy wars - one in Vietnam and another in Afghanistan. This era does not end until the fall of the USSR in 1991.

Though the Civil Rights movement truly began after the Civil War, it picks up momentum following WWII and the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. This era is characterized by a push to achieve a more accurate version of our founding documents and differing views on how to protest.