U.S. Capitol Historical Society

1774-1799 | 1800-1824 | 1825-1849 | 1850-1874 | 1875-1899 | 1900-1924 | 1925-1949 | 1950-1974 | 1975-Modern

1900	January	9	Senator Albert J. Beveridge spoke to the Senate about America's policy regarding the Philippines: "The Philippines are ours forever, 'territory belonging to the United States,' as the Constitution calls them. And just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either. We will not abandon our opportunity in the Orient."
1901	March	2	The Platt Amendment, giving the United States special rights in Cuba, was passed as part of an army appropriations bill, and appended to the Cuban constitution.
	March	4	William McKinley inaugurated for a second term as president, having once again defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. His vice president was Theodore Roosevelt.
	September	14	President McKinley died in Buffalo, New York, having been shot a week before by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition. He was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, who became the 26th president.
	November	18	In the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty with Great Britain, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 was abrogated, allowing the United States to built an isthmian canal on its own. It was ratified by the Senate on December 16.
1902	July	4	Fighting officially ended in the Philippines with the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo. America retained control of the Philippines until 1946, when the nation became independent.
1903	February	19	Elkins Act empowered the ICC to act against discriminatory rebates, discounts for preferred or powerful customers, in the railroad industry.
1903	November	18	Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the U.S. the right to build the Panama Canal. The Canal was finished in 1914.
1904	November	8	Theodore Roosevelt, Republican, became the first man who succeeded to the presidency to be elected as President in his own right, defeating Alton Parker, Democrat. His Vice President was Charles W. Fairbanks.
1906	June	29	Hepburn Act gave the ICC the power to set and put into effect maximum rates for the railroad industry, authorize examination of railroad books, and prescribe a uniform bookkeeping method.
1906	June	30	Congress enacted the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
1909	March	4	William Howard Taft, Republican, was inaugurated the 27th President, having defeated William Jennings Bryan, Democrat. His Vice President was James Sherman.
1909	April	9	Congress passed the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, lowering tariff duties to an average level of 38%, but raising tariffs on some items, generally disappointing free trade advocates.
1910	June	18	Congress passed the Mann-Elkins Act, placing telephone, telegraph, cable, and wireless companies under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
1910	June	25	Congress passed the Mann Act, which prohibited the interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes.
1912	June	22	The Republican Party split at its national convention in Chicago, with the conservative majority of the delegates nominating President Taft, and a gathering of progressive Republicans calling themselves the Progressive party and nominating former President Roosevelt.
1913	February	25	The 16th Amendment passed establishing income taxes.
	March	4	Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, was inaugurated as the 28^th President defeating Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive and William Howard Taft, Republican. Wilson's Vice President was Thomas Marshall, Democrat.
	May	31	The 17th Amendment arranged for Senators to be elected by the people rather than by state legislatures.
	October	3	The Underwood Tariff Act lowered tariff rates.
	December	23	The Federal Reserve Act established a government-controlled banking system, dividing the nation into 12 districts with a Federal Reserve Bank in each.
1914	August	4	President Wilson declared neutrality in the First World War, which had just erupted in Europe, urging Americans to be "impartial in thought as well as in action."
	September	26	Federal Trade Commission Act gave the FTC broad powers to issue "cease and desist" orders to companies found guilty of violating anti-trust laws.
	October	15	Congress passed the Clayton Antitrust Act, which strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act by prohibiting price discrimination, tying contracts, and interlocking directorates, and exempted labor unions and agricultural groups from antitrust law.
1915	May	7	A German U-boat sank the British liner Lusitania, killing 1200 people, including 128 Americans. This led to serious strains in German-American relations.
1916	June	3	Congress passed the National Defense Act as a preparedness measure in case of American involvement in the First World War. It increased the regular army and authorized the creation of a National Guard and Officers Reserve Training Corps.
	September	1	Keating-Owen Act, setting a maximum of ten-hour workdays, was the first federal law regulating child labor.
	November	7	Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to Congress.
	November	7	President Wilson was re-elected for a second term in the presidency, on the slogan "He kept us out of the war." His opponent was Republican Charles Evans Hughes.
1917	February	3	Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany in response to the German resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare.
	March	1	The Zimmermann telegram, in which the German foreign minister told his ambassador to Mexico to propose an alliance on the basis of a return to Mexico of "the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona," in case of an American declaration of war on Germany, was released to the press.
	March	8	The Senate adopted the Cloture Rule, permitting a majority to terminate debate.
	April	2	Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany "The world must be made safe for democracy."
	April	6	Congress voted to declare war on Germany. Only 6 senators and 50 representatives voted against the war, including Representative Jeannette Rankin of Montana, who stated: "I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war."
	June	15	Espionage Act of 1917 imposed heavy fines and stiff jail terms on those convicted of spying, sabotage, or obstruction of the war effort.
	June	15
1918	January	8	Wilson appeared before Congress to present his 14-Point plan, which Wilson incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles.
	November	5	In the midterm Congressional elections, the Republicans won control of both houses of Congress, in spite of President Wilson's plea to the country to return a Democratic Congress.
	November	11	The First World War ended by an Armistice.
	December	4	President Wilson became the first sitting president to leave the United States, as he sailed aboard the George Washington to Europe to participate in the Versailles Peace Conference.
1919	January	16	The 18th Amendment was ratified prohibiting the sale/consumption of alcohol.
	June	28	Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending the First World War.
	July	10	Wilson presented the Treaty of Versailles to the Senate.
	October	28	Congress passed the Volstead Act over President Wilson's veto, providing for enforcement of the 18th Amendment.
	November	19	The Senate, led by Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, voted to reject the Versailles Treaty due to opposition to American participation in the League of Nations. Senator William E. Borah spoke in opposition to the League of Nations saying, "It imperils what I conceive to be the underlying principles of this Republic. It is in conflict with the right of our people to govern themselves free from all restraint, legal or moral, of foreign powers."
1920	August	18	The 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."
1921	March	4	Warren G. Harding, Republican, was inaugurated as the 29^th President defeating James Cox, Democrat. His Vice President was Calvin Coolidge.
1921	May	19	Congress passed an immigration act, which established a quota system by which annual immigration from any country could not exceed 3% of the number of persons of that nationality who had been in the U.S. since 1910.
1922	February	6	The Washington Naval Armament Conference concluded, having negotiated 9 treaties, all of which would be ratified by the Senate.
	April	7	Albert Fall, Secretary of the Interior, urged President Harding to transfer control of the naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, WY, and Elk Hills, CA to the Interior Department. Fall then leased the reserves to two wealthy businessmen, Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny, for half a million dollars. Fall was ultimately convicted of bribery and sentenced to a year in jail.
	November	22	Rebecca Latimer Felton, the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, gave her farewell address to the Senate, after serving only two days: "Let me say, that when the women of the country come in and sit with you, though there may be but very few in the next few years, I pledge you that you will get ability, you will get integrity of purpose, you will get exalted patriotism, and you will get unstinted usefulness."
1923	August	2	President Harding died in San Francisco, while returning from a trip to Alaska. He was succeeded by Calvin Coolidge, who became the 30th president.
1924	May	26	The Immigration Act of 1924 halved the 1921 immigration quotas, and limited immigration in any year to 2% of the Census of 1890, in order to reduce the quotas from Eastern and Southern Europe.