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History of the United States
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See also: Outline of United States history
History of the United States
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Pre-Columbian period
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Diplomatic history
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The first known inhabitants of what is now the United States are believed to have arrived over a period of several thousand years beginning sometime prior to 15,000–50,000 years ago by crossing Beringia into Alaska.[1][2] Solid evidence of these cultures settling in what would become United States territory is dated to around 14,000 years ago.[3] Research has revealed much about the early Native American in North America. Christopher Columbus' men were the first documented settlers from the Old World to land in the territory of what is now the United States when they arrived in Puerto Rico during their second voyage in the year 1493.[4] Juan Ponce de León, who arrived in Florida in 1513, is credited as being the first European to land in what is now the continental United States,[5] although some evidence suggests that John Cabot might have reached what is presently New England in 1498.[6][7]

The arrival of Europeans began the colonial history of the United States. The Thirteen Colonies, British colonies that would become the original US states, were founded along what is now the country's east coast beginning in 1607. Various other European powers also founded settlements in what would become US territory, both before and later. Due to growing dissatisfaction with British rule, the thirteen British colonies fought the British army in the American Revolutionary War of the 1770s and issued a Declaration of Independence in 1776. In early 1781, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union of the States were established, six months before the end of hostilities in the Revolutionary War. Two years later, Britain officially recognized the sovereignty and independence of the United States in the Treaty of Paris.[8] After the nation split along state lines in 1861, the Civil War—the deadliest war in US history—reunified the country. In the nineteenth century, westward expansion of United States territory began, encouraged by the belief in Manifest Destiny, in which the United States would occupy all of North America east to west, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. By 1912, with the admission of Arizona to the Union, the US reached that goal. The outlying states of Alaska and Hawaii were both admitted in 1959.

Ratified in 1788, the US Constitution serves as the supreme law in organizing the government; the Supreme Court is responsible for upholding Constitutional law. Many forms of social progress started in the nineteenth century; those advancements have been widely reflected in the Constitution. Slavery was abolished in 1865 by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; the following Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments respectively guaranteed citizenship for all persons naturalized within US territory and voting for people of all races. In later decades, civil rights were extended to women and African-Americans, following effective lobbying from social activists. The Nineteenth Amendment prohibited gender discrimination in voting rights; later, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed racial segregation in public places.

The Progressive Era marked a time of economic growth for the United States, advancing to the Roaring Twenties. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to the Great Depression, a time of economic downturn and mass unemployment. Consequently, the U.S. government established the New Deal, a series of reform programs that intended to assist those affected by the Depression. The New Deal had varied success. However, once the US entered World War II in December 1941, the economy quickly recovered, so much that the US became a world superpower by the dawn of the Cold War. During the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union were the world's two superpowers, but with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States became the world's only superpower.
Contents
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* 1 Pre-Columbian period
o 1.1 North America's Moundbuilder Culture
* 2 Colonial period
o 2.1 Spanish colonization
o 2.2 Dutch colonization
o 2.3 French colonization
o 2.4 British colonization
o 2.5 Political integration and autonomy
* 3 Formation of the United States of America (1776–1789)
o 3.1 Foundations for American government
* 4 Westward expansion (1789–1849)
* 5 Civil War era (1849–1865)
* 6 Reconstruction and the rise of industrialization (1865–1890)
* 7 Progressivism, imperialism, and World War I (1890–1918)
* 8 Women's suffrage
* 9 Post-World War I and the Great Depression (1918–1940)
* 10 World War II (1941–1945)
o 10.1 Battle against Germany
o 10.2 Battle against Japan
* 11 The Cold War begins (1945–1964)
* 12 The Civil Rights Movement (1955–1970)
* 13 The Women's Movement (1963–1982)
* 14 The Counterculture Revolution and Cold War Détente (1964–1980)
* 15 The end of the Cold War (1980–1991)
* 16 The "World Superpower" (1991–present)
* 17 See also
* 18 Notes
* 19 References
* 20 Further reading
* 21 External links

[edit] Pre-Columbian period
Main article: Pre-Columbian

The earliest known inhabitants of what is now the United States are thought to have arrived in Alaska by crossing the Bering land bridge, at least 14,000 – 30,000 years ago.[9] Some of these groups migrated south and east, and over time spread throughout the Americas. These were the ancestors to modern Native Americans in the United States and Alaskan Native peoples, as well as all indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Many indigenous peoples were semi-nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers; others were sedentary and agricultural civilizations. Many formed new tribes or confederations in response to European colonization. Well-known groups included the Huron, Apache Tribe, Cherokee, Sioux, Delaware, Algonquin, Choctaw, Mohegan, Iroquois (which included the Mohawk nation, Oneida tribe, Seneca nation, Cayuga nation, Onondaga and later the Tuscarora tribe) and Inuit. Though not as technologically advanced as the Mesoamerican civilizations further south, there were extensive pre-Columbian sedentary societies in what is now the US. The Iroquois had a politically advanced and unique social structure that was at the very least inspirational if not directly influential to the later development of the democratic United States government, a departure from the strong monarchies from which the Europeans came.[citation needed]
[edit] North America's Moundbuilder Culture
A Mississippian priest, with a ceremonial flint mace. Artist Herb Roe, based on a repousse copper plate.

Mound Builder is a general term referring to the original inhabitants who constructed various styles of earthen mounds for burial, residential and ceremonial purposes. These included Archaic, Woodland period (Adena and Hopewell cultures), and Mississippian period Pre-Columbian cultures dating from roughly 3000 BC to the 16th century AD, and living in the Great Lakes region, the Ohio River region, and the Mississippi River region.

Mound builder cultures can be divided into roughly three eras:

Archaic era

Poverty Point in what is now Louisiana is perhaps the most prominent example of early archaic mound builder construction (c. 2500 – 1000 BC). An even earlier example, Watson Brake, dates to approximately 3400 BC and coincides with the emergence of social complexity worldwide.

Woodland period

The Archaic period was followed by the Woodland period (c. 1000 BC). Some well-understood examples would be the Adena culture of Ohio and nearby states and the subsequent Hopewell culture known from Illinois to Ohio and renowned for their geometric earthworks. The Adena and Hopewell were not, however, the only mound building peoples during this time period. There were contemporaneous mound building cultures throughout the Eastern United States.

Mississippian culture

Main article: Mississippian Culture

Around 900 – 1450 AD the Mississippian culture developed and spread through the Eastern United States, primarily along the river valleys. The location where the Mississippian culture is first clearly developed is located in Illinois, and is referred to today as Cahokia.
[edit] Colonial period
Main article: Colonial history of the United States
The Mayflower, which transported Pilgrims to the New World

After a period of exploration by people from various European countries, Spanish, Dutch, English, French, Swedish, and Portuguese settlements were established. Christopher Columbus first landed and encountered indigenous peoples, mainly the Arawak natives, on what is now the Bahama Islands. The natives were extremely friendly and were frequently remarked by European observers for their hospitality and belief in sharing. The Arawaks had lived in village communes, and had an advanced agriculture consisting of maize, yams, and cassava. They spun and wove textiles, however they had no work animals for labor. Columbus would later describe his initial encounter in his captain's log,

"They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features... They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."[10]

Columbus was the first European to set foot on what would one day become US territory when he came to Puerto Rico on November 19, 1493, during his second voyage.

In the 16th century, Europeans brought horses, cattle, and hogs to the Americas and, in turn, took back to Europe maize, potatoes, tobacco, beans, squash, and slave natives, many of whom died enroute.
[edit] Spanish colonization
Coronado Sets Out to the North (1540) by Frederic Remington, oil on canvas, 1905.
See also: New Spain

Spanish explorers came to what is now the United States beginning with Christopher Columbus' second expedition, which reached Puerto Rico on November 19, 1493.[11] The first confirmed landing in the continental US was by a Spaniard, Juan Ponce de León, who landed in 1513 on a lush shore he christened La Florida.[5]

Within three decades of Ponce de León's landing, the Spanish became the first Europeans to reach the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon[12] and the Great Plains. In 1540, Hernando de Soto undertook an extensive exploration of the present US and, in the same year, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led 2,000 Spaniards and Native Mexican Americans across the modern Arizona–Mexico border and traveled as far as central Kansas.[13] Other Spanish explorers include Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón, Pánfilo de Narváez, Sebastián Vizcaíno, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Gaspar de Portolà, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Tristán de Luna y Arellano and Juan de Oñate.[14]

The Spanish sent some settlers, creating the first permanent European settlement in the continental United States at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565.[15] Later Spanish settlements included Santa Fe, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Most Spanish settlements were along the California coast or the Santa Fe River in New Mexico.
[edit] Dutch colonization
Main article: New Netherland

Nieuw-Nederland, or New Netherland, was the seventeenth century Dutch colonial province on the eastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to Buzzards Bay, while the settled areas are now part of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Its capital, New Amsterdam, was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on the Upper New York Bay and was renamed New York.
[edit] French colonization
See also: New France and Fort Caroline

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River, by Jacques Cartier in 1534, to the cession of New France to Spain and Britain in 1763. At its peak in 1712 (before the Treaty of Utrecht), the territory of New France extended from Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The territory was divided in five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland and Louisiana.

Also during this period, French Huguenots, sailing under Jean Ribault, attempted to found a colony in what became the southeastern coast of the United States. Arriving in 1562, they established the ephemeral colony of Charlesfort on Parris Island in what is now South Carolina. When this failed, most of the colonists followed René Goulaine de Laudonnière and moved south, founding the colony of Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River in what is now Jacksonville, Florida on June 22, 1564. Fort Caroline was destroyed in 1565 by the Spanish under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, who moved in from St. Augustine, founded to the south earlier in the year.
[edit] British colonization
In 1607, the Virginia Company of London established the Jamestown Settlement on the James River, both named after King James I
Main article: British colonization of the Americas

The strip of land along the eastern seacoast was settled primarily by English colonists in the 17th century, along with much smaller numbers of Dutch and Swedes. Colonial America was defined by a severe labor shortage that gave birth to forms of unfree labor such as slavery and indentured servitude,[16] and by a British policy of benign neglect (salutary neglect) that permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders.[17] Over half of all European migrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants.[18]

The first successful English colony was established in 1607, on the James River at Jamestown. It languished for decades until a new wave of settlers arrived in the late 17th century and established commercial agriculture based on tobacco. Between the late 1610s and the Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 convicts to its American colonies.[19] One example of conflict between Native Americans and English settlers was the 1622 Powhatan uprising in Virginia, in which Native Americans had killed hundreds of English settlers. The largest conflict between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century was King Philip's War in New England,[20] although the Yamasee War may have been bloodier.[21]

The Plymouth Colony was established in 1620. The area of New England was initially settled primarily by Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630.[15] The Middle Colonies, consisting of the present-day states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were characterized by a large degree of diversity. The first attempted English settlement south of Virginia was the Province of Carolina, with Georgia Colony the last of the Thirteen Colonies established in 1733.[22] Several colonies were used as penal settlements from the 1620s until the American Revolution.[23] Methodism became the prevalent religion among colonial citizens after the First Great Awakening, a religious revival led by preacher Jonathan Edwards in 1734.[15]
[edit] Political integration and autonomy
Join, or Die: This 1756 political cartoon by Benjamin Franklin urged the colonies to join together during the French and Indian War.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a watershed event in the political development of the colonies. The influence of the main rivals of the British Crown in the colonies and Canada, the French and North American Indians, was significantly reduced. Moreover, the war effort resulted in greater political integration of the colonies, as symbolized by Benjamin Franklin's call for the colonies to "Join or Die". Following Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 with the goal of organizing the new North American empire and stabilizing relations with the native Indians. In ensuing years, strains developed in the relations between the colonists and the Crown. The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, imposing a tax on the colonies to help pay for troops stationed in North America following the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the expense. The colonists did not share this view. Rather, with the French and Indian threat diminished, the primary outside influence remained that of Britain. A conflict of economic interests increased with the right of the British Parliament to govern the colonies without representation being called into question.
Nathaniel Currier's 1846 depiction of the Boston Tea Party.[24]

The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a direct action by colonists in the town of Boston to protest against the taxes levied by the British government. Parliament responded the next year with the Coercive Acts, which sparked outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies. Colonists convened the First Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance to the Coercive Acts. The Congress called for a boycott of British trade, published a list of rights and grievances, and petitioned the king for redress of those grievances.

The Congress also called for a another meeting in the event that their petition was unsuccessful in halting enforcement of the Coercive Acts. Their appeal to the Crown had no effect, and so the Second Continental Congress was convened in 1775 to organize the defense of the colonies at the onset of the American Revolutionary War.
[edit] Formation of the United States of America (1776–1789)
Main article: History of the United States (1776–1789)
Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, one of the rebels' first successes in the Revolutionary War

The Thirteen Colonies began a rebellion against British rule in 1775 and proclaimed their independence in 1776. They subsequently constituted the first thirteen states of the United States of America, which became a nation state in 1781 with the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The 1783 Treaty of Paris represented the Kingdom of Great Britain's formal acknowledgement of the United States as an independent nation.[8]

The United States defeated Britain with help from France, the United Provinces and Spain in the American Revolutionary War. The colonists' victory at Saratoga in 1777 led the French into an open alliance with the United States. It is a matter of debate which state was the first to recognize the United States, but the claim extends to the Republic of Ragusa (now the city of Dubrovnik), the Netherlands and Morocco.[25]

In 1781, a combined American and French Army, acting with the support of a French fleet, captured a large British army led by General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The surrender of General Cornwallis ended serious British efforts to find a military solution to their American problem.[8] In effect, "the United States was the first major colony successfully to revolt against colonial rule. In this sense, it was the first 'new nation'."[26]
Trumbull's Declaration of Independence

Side by side with the states' efforts to gain independence through armed resistance, a political union was being developed and agreed upon by them. The first step was to formally declare independence from Great Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, still meeting in Philadelphia, declared the independence of "the United States of America" in the Declaration of Independence. Although the states were still independent entities and not yet formally bound in a legal union, July 4 is celebrated as the nation's birthday. The new nation was dedicated to principles of republicanism, which emphasized civic duty and a fear of corruption and hereditary aristocracy.[8]

A Union of the states with a constitutional government, the Congress of the Confederation first became possible with the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The drafting of the Articles began in June 1776 and the approved text was sent to the States on November 15, 1777 for their ratification. While most States passed laws to authorize their representatives in Congress to sign the document by 1778, Maryland refused to do so until a dispute between the states concerning Western land claims had been resolved. After Virginia passed a law ceding its claims on January 2, 1781, Maryland became the 13th and final state to pass an Act to ratify the Articles on February 2, 1781. The formal signing of the Articles by Maryland was completed on March 1, 1781 in Philadelphia[27] and on the following day Samuel Huntington became the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled.[28] However, it became apparent early on that the new constitution was inadequate for the operation of the new government and efforts soon began to improve upon it.[29]
The territory of the newly formed USA was much smaller than it is today. A French map showing Les Etats Unis in 1790

A series of attempts to organize a movement to outline and press reforms culminated in the Congress calling the Philadelphia Convention in 1787. The structure of the national government was profoundly changed on March 4, 1789, when the American people replaced the confederation type government of the Articles with a federation type government of the Constitution. The new government reflected a radical break from the normative governmental structures of the time, favoring representative, elective government with a weak executive, rather than the existing monarchical structures common within the western traditions of the time. The system of republicanism borrowed heavily from the Enlightenment ideas and classical western philosophy: a primacy was placed upon individual liberty and upon constraining the power of government through a system of separation of powers.[29] Additionally, the United States Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791 to guarantee individual liberties such as freedom of speech and religious practice and consisted of the first ten amendments of the Constitution.[30] John Jay was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, whose membership was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789; the first Supreme Court session was held in New York City on February 1, 1790.[31] In 1803, the Court case Marbury v. Madison made the Court the sole arbiter of constitutionality of federal law.[32]
[edit] Foundations for American government
Treaty of Penn with Indians by Benjamin West painted in 1827.

Native American societies reminded Europeans of a golden age only known to them in folk history.[33] The idea of freedom and democratic ideals was born in the Americas because "it was only in America" that Europeans from 1500 to 1776 knew of societies that were "truly free."[33]

Natural freedom is the only object of the policy of the [Native Americans]; with this freedom do nature and climate rule alone amongst them ... [Native Americans] maintain their freedom and find abundant nourishment . . . [and are] people who live without laws, without police, without religion.
—Jean Jacques Rousseau, Jesuit and Savage in New France[33]

The Iroquois nations' political confederacy and democratic government has been credited as one of the influences on the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.[34][35] However, there is heated debate among historians about the importance of their contribution. Although Native American governmental influence is debated, it is a historical fact that several founding fathers had contact with the Iroquois, and prominent figures such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were involved with the Iroquois.

As powerful, dense [Mound Builder] populations were reduced to weakened, scattered remnants, political readjustments were necessary. New confederacies were formed. One such was to become a pattern called up by Benjamin Franklin when the thirteen colonies struggled to confederate: "If the Iroquois can do it so can we", he said in substance.
—Bob Ferguson, Choctaw Government to 1830[36]

[edit] Westward expansion (1789–1849)
Main article: History of the United States (1789–1849)
Economic growth in America per capita income
Territorial expansion of the United States, omitting Oregon and other claims.

George Washington—a renowned hero of the American Revolutionary War, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and president of the Constitutional Convention—became the first President of the United States under the new US Constitution. The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794, when settlers in the Pennsylvania counties west of the Allegheny Mountains protested against a federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks, was the first serious test of the federal government.[37] At the end of his second presidential term, George Washington made his farewell address, which was published in the newspaper Independent Chronicle on September 26, 1796. In his address, Washington triumphed the benefits of federal government and importance of ethics and morality while warning against foreign alliances and formation of political parties.[38] His vice-president John Adams succeeded him in presidency; Adams was a member of the Federalist Party. However, the Federalists became divided after Adams sent a peace mission to France despite ongoing disputes with that nation. Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, defeated Adams for the presidency in the 1800 election.[39]

The Louisiana Purchase, in 1803, removed the French presence from the western border of the United States and provided US settlers with vast potential for expansion west of the Mississippi River.[40] Slave importation from Africa became illegal in 1808, despite a growing plantation system in many southern states such as North Carolina and Georgia.[41] In response to continued British impressment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, the Congress declared war on Britain in 1812.[42] The United States and Britain came to a draw in the War of 1812 after bitter fighting that lasted until January 8, 1815, during the Battle of New Orleans. The Treaty of Ghent, officially ending the war, essentially resulted in the maintenance of the status quo ante bellum;[43] however, crucially for the US, some Native American tribes had to sign treaties with the US government because of their losses in the war.[42] During the later course of the war, the Federalists held the Hartford Convention in 1814 over concerns that the war would weaken New England. There, they proposed seven constitutional amendments meant to strengthen the region politically, but by the time the Federalists delivered them to Washington, DC, the recent American victories in New Orleans and the signing of the Treaty of Ghent undermined the Federalists' arguments and contributed to the downfall of the party.[44]

The Monroe Doctrine, expressed in 1823, proclaimed the United States' opinion that European powers should no longer colonize or interfere in the Americas. This was a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States.[15] The Monroe Doctrine was adopted in response to US and British fears over Russian and French expansion into the Western Hemisphere. It was not until the administration of Theodore Roosevelt that the Monroe Doctrine became a central tenet of US foreign policy. The Monroe Dotrine was then invoked in the Spanish-American War as well as later when Nicaragua sought aid from the Soviet Union.[45]

In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to negotiate treaties that exchanged Native American tribal lands in the eastern states for lands west of the Mississippi River. This established Andrew Jackson, a military hero and President, as a cunning tyrant in regards to native populations. The act resulted most notably in the forced migration of several native tribes to the West, with several thousand people dying en route, and the Creeks' violent opposition and eventual defeat. The Indian Removal Act also directly caused the ceding of Spanish Florida and led to the many Seminole Wars.[46]
Settlers crossing the Plains of Nebraska

In its mission to end slavery, the abolitionist movement gained a large following from both black and white races. The American Anti-Slavery Society was politically active from 1833 to 1839 for the government to abolish slavery, but Congress imposed a "gag rule" that rejected any citizen's request against slavery.[47] William Lloyd Garrison, formerly associated with the Society, then began publication of the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator in Boston, Massachusetts in 1831, and Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, began writing for that newspaper around 1840 and started his own abolitionist newspaper North Star in 1847.[48]

The Republic of Texas was annexed by president John Tyler in 1845.[49] The US army, using regulars and large numbers of volunteers, defeated Mexico in 1848 during the Mexican-American War. Public sentiment in the US was divided as Whigs[50] and anti-slavery forces[51] opposed the war. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded California, New Mexico, and adjacent areas to the United States, about thirty percent of Mexico. Westward expansion was enhanced further by the California Gold Rush, the discovery of gold in that state in 1848. Numerous "forty-niners" trekked to California in pursuit of gold; land-hungry European immigrants also contributed to the rising white population in the west.[15] In 1849 cholera spread along the California and Oregon Trails. It is believed that over 150,000 Americans died during the two cholera pandemics between 1832 and 1849.[52]
[edit] Civil War era (1849–1865)
Main article: History of the United States (1849–1865)
The Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle and turning point of the American Civil War

In the middle of the 19th century, white Americans of the North and South were to reconcile fundamental differences in their approach to government, economics, society and African American slavery. The issue of slavery in the new territories was settled by the Compromise of 1850 brokered by Whig Henry Clay and Democrat Stephen Douglas; the Compromise included admission of California as a free state and the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act to make it easier for masters to reclaim runaway slaves.[49] In 1854, the proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act abrogated the Missouri Compromise by providing that each new state of the Union would decide its stance on slavery.[53] After Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 Election, eleven Southern states seceded from the union between late 1860 and 1861, establishing a rebel government, the Confederate States of America, on February 8, 1861.[54]

By 1860, there were nearly four million slaves residing in the United States, nearly eight times as many from 1790; within the same time period, cotton production in the U.S. boomed from less than a thousand tons to nearly one million tons per year. There were some slave rebellions – including by Gabriel Prosser (1800), Denmark Vesey (1822), and Nat Turner (1831) – but they all failed and led to tighter slave oversight in the south.[55] White abolitionist John Brown tried and failed to free a group of black slaves held in Harpers Ferry, Virginia and was therefore executed for his actions.[56] Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of minister Lyman Beecher, published her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852 in response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. The novel intended to express her views of the cruelty of slavery and sold nearly 300,000 copies during its first year of publication and was regarded by many, including President Lincoln[citation needed], to be the book that started the Civil War.[49] Numerous slaves also escaped their masters through the Underground Railroad, a term defining secret routes where abolitionists confidentially transported runaway slaves to "free state" territory; its most famous leader was Harriet Tubman.[57]
The Union: blue, yellow, gray; The Confederacy: brown

The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a US military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.[58] Along with the northwestern portion of Virginia, four of the five northernmost "slave states" did not secede and became known as the Border States.[54] Emboldened by Second Bull Run, the Confederacy made its first invasion of the North when General Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River into Maryland.[59] The Battle of Antietam near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest single day in American history.[60] Following the highly successful battles at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Lee attempted to invade the North again, but during the invasion encountered once again the Army of the Potomac. In the devastating 3-day, Battle of Gettysburg, Lee suffered his greatest loss in what would turn out to be the bloodiest battle in the war. On the following day in the west, Union forces under the command of General Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the Mississippi River at the Battle of Vicksburg, thereby splitting the Confederacy. At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln made General Grant commander of all Union armies. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta, Georgia,[54] and from there started his "March to the Sea" that laid waste to about 20% of the farms in Georgia, until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Savannah in December 1864.[61] Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House.[54] Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South.[62]
[edit] Reconstruction and the rise of industrialization (1865–1890)
Main article: History of the United States (1865–1918)
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (1869) at First Transcontinental Railroad, by Andrew J. Russell

Reconstruction took place for most of the decade following the Civil War. During this era, the "Reconstruction Amendments" were passed to expand civil rights for black Americans. Those amendments included the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment that guaranteed citizenship for all people born or naturalized within U.S. territory, and the Fifteenth Amendment that granted the vote for all men regardless of race. While the Civil Rights Act of 1875 forbade discrimination in the service of public facilities, the Black Codes denied blacks certain privileges readily available to whites.[63] In response to Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) emerged around the late 1860s as a white-supremacist organization opposed to black civil rights. Increasing hate-motivated violence from groups like the Klan influenced both the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1870 that classified the KKK as a terrorist group[64] and an 1883 Supreme Court decision nullifying the Civil Rights Act of 1875; however, in the Supreme Court case United States v. Cruikshank the Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as regulating only states' decisions regarding civil rights.[65] The case defeated any protection of blacks from terrorist attacks, as did the later case United States v. Harris.[66] During the era, many regions of the southern U.S. were military-governed and often corrupt; Reconstruction ended after the disputed 1876 election between Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden. Hayes won the election, and the South soon re-entered the national political scene.[15]

Following was the Gilded Age, a term that author Mark Twain used to describe the period of the late nineteenth century when there had been a dramatic expansion of American industry. Reform of the Age included the Civil Service Act, which mandated a competitive examination for applicants for government jobs. Other important legislation included the Interstate Commerce Act, which ended railroads' discrimination against small shippers, and the Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlawed monopolies in business. Twain believed that this age was corrupted by such elements as land speculators, scandalous politics, and unethical business practices. By century's end, American industrial production and per capita income exceeded those of all other world nations and ranked only behind Great Britain. In response to heavy debts and decreasing farm prices, farmers joined the Populist Party.[67] Later, an unprecedented wave of immigration served both to provide the labor for American industry and create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas. From 1880 to 1914, peak years of immigration, more than 22 million people migrated to the United States.[68] Abusive industrial practices led to the often violent rise of the labor movement in the United States.[69] Influential figures of the period included John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.
[edit] Progressivism, imperialism, and World War I (1890–1918)
Main article: Progressive Era
Mulberry Street, along which Manhattan's Little Italy is centered. Lower East Side, circa 1900.

After the Gilded Age came the Progressive Era, whose followers called for reform over perceived industrial corruption. Viewpoints taken by progressives included greater federal regulation of anti-trust laws and the industries of meat-packing, drugs, and railroads. Four new constitutional amendments—the Sixteenth through Nineteenth—resulted from progressive activism.[70] The era lasted from 1900 to 1918, the year marking the end of World War I.[71]

U.S. Federal government policy, since the James Monroe Administration, had been to move the indigenous population beyond the reach of the federal frontier into a series of Indian reservations. Tribes were generally forced onto small reservations as farmers and ranchers took over their lands.
Ellis Island in 1902, the main immigration port for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The United States began its rise to international power in this period with substantial population and industrial growth domestically and numerous military ventures abroad, including the Spanish-American War, which began when the United States blamed the sinking of the USS Maine on Spain. Also at stake were U.S. interests in acquiring Cuba, an island nation fighting for independence from Spanish occupation; Puerto Rico and the Philippines were also two former Spanish colonies seeking liberation. In December 1898, representatives of Spain and the U.S. signed the Treaty of Paris to end the war, with Cuba becoming an independent nation and Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines becoming U.S. territories.[15][72] In 1900, Congress passed the Open Door Policy that at the time required China to grant equal trading access to all foreign nations.[15]

President Woodrow Wilson declared U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917 following a yearlong neutrality policy; the U.S. had previously shown interest in world peace by participating in the Hague Conferences. American participation in the war proved essential to the Allied victory. Wilson also implemented a set of propositions titled the Fourteen Points to ensure peace, but they were denied at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Isolationist sentiment following the war also blocked the U.S. from participating in the League of Nations, an important part of the Treaty of Versailles.[15]
[edit] Women's suffrage
Main article: History of women's suffrage in the United States
Alice Paul stands before the Woman Suffrage Amendment's ratification banner. She immediately went on to write the Equal Right Amendment, whose passage would become an important goal of the Women's Liberation Movement half a century later.

These years of the early 20th century also saw the strengthening of the Woman Suffrage Movement. The movement had begun with the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, and the Declaration of Sentiments demanding equal rights for women. The women's rights campaign during "first-wave feminism" was led by Mott, Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, and Julia Ward Howe, among others. By the end of the 19th century only several states had granted women full voting rights, though women had made significant legal victories, gaining rights in areas such as property and child custody. In 1875 the Supreme Court ruled women, too, were American citizens (but this did not give them the right to vote).

Around 1912 the Feminist Movement, which had grown sluggish, began to reawaken. Protests became increasingly common as suffragette Alice Paul led parades through the capital and major cities. Paul split from the large National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), which favored a more moderate approach and supported the Democratic Party and Woodrow Wilson, led by Carrie Chapman Catt, and formed the more militant National Woman's Party. Suffragists were arrested during their "Silent Sentinal" pickets at the White House, the first time such a tactic was used, and were taken as political prisoners. In prison they were tortured and force-fed while on hunger strikes led by Alice Paul. Finally, the suffragette were ordered released from prison, and Wilson addressed the Congress on woman suffrage, urging them to pass a Constitutional amendment enfranchising women, which they did in 1919. It became constitutional law on August 26, 1920, after ratification by the 36th required state. NAWSA became the League of Women Voters and the National Woman's Party began lobbying for full equality and the Equal Rights Amendment which would pass Congress during the second wave of the women's movement in 1972. Following ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, a U.S. Court ruled the arrests of the over two hundred suffragists as unconstitutional, and the amendment was upheld by the Supreme Court after a legal challenge.
[edit] Post-World War I and the Great Depression (1918–1940)
Main article: History of the United States (1918–1945)

Following World War I, the U.S. grew steadily in stature as an economic and military world power. The United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles imposed by its Allies on the defeated Central Powers; instead, the United States chose to pursue unilateralism, if not isolationism.[73] The aftershock of Russia's October Revolution resulted in real fears of communism in the United States, leading to a three-year Red Scare and the U.S. lost 675,000 people to the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.[74]
Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol in Chicago, 1921

In 1920, the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol was prohibited by the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Prohibition encouraged illegal breweries and dealers to make substantial amounts of money selling alcohol illegally. The Prohibition ended in 1933, a failure. Additionally, the KKK re-formed during that decade and gathered nearly 4.5 million members by 1924, and the U.S. government passed the Immigration Act of 1924 restricting foreign immigration.[75] The 1920s were also known as the Roaring Twenties, due to the great economic prosperity during this period. Jazz became popular among the younger generation, and thus was also called the Jazz Age.

During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of unbalanced prosperity: farm prices and wages fell, while new industries, and industrial profits grew. The boom was fueled by an inflated stock market, which later led to a crash on October 29, 1929.[76] The Hawley-Smoot Tariff, the Dust Bowl, and the ensuing Great Depression led to government efforts to restart the economy and help its victims with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The recovery was rapid in all areas except unemployment, which remained fairly high until 1940.
[edit] World War II (1941–1945)
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Main articles: World War II and United States home front during World War II

As with World War I, the United States did not enter World War II until after the rest of the active Allied countries had done so. The United States's first contribution to the war was simultaneously to cut off the oil and raw material supplies needed by Japan to maintain its offensive in China, and to increase military and financial aid to China. Contribution came to the Allies in September 1940 in the form of the Lend-Lease program with Britain.

On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on the American naval base in Pearl Harbor, citing America's recent trade embargo as justification. The following day, Franklin D. Roosevelt successfully urged a joint session of Congress to declare war on Japan, calling December 7, 1941 "a date which will live in infamy". Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 11, Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, drawing the country into a two-theater war.
[edit] Battle against Germany
Further information: Europe first

Upon entering the war, the United States and its allies decided to concentrate the bulk of their efforts on fighting Hitler in Europe, while maintaining a defensive position in the Pacific until Hitler was defeated. The United States's first step was to set up a large airforce in Britain to concentrate on bombing raids into Germany itself. The American Air force relied on the B-17 Flying Fortress as its primary heavy bomber. Britain had ceased its daylight bombing raids, due to heavy casualties inflicted by the Luftwaffe. The USAAF suffered similar high losses until the introduction of the P-51 Mustang as a long range escort fighter for the bombers.
Landing at Normandy at Battle of Normandy, by Robert F. Sargent, United States Army

The American army's first ground action was fighting alongside the British, Australian and New Zealand armies in North Africa. By May 1943, the British 8th Army had expelled the Germans from North Africa and the Allies controlled this vital link until the end of the war. The American navy also played an active role in the Atlantic protecting the convoys bringing vital American war material to Britain. By midway through 1943, the Allies were fighting the war from Britain with unbroken supply lines, while at the same time Hitler's armies were very much on the back foot, with heavy bombing taking its toll on production.

By early 1944, a planned invasion of Western Europe was underway. What followed on June 6, 1944, was Operation Overlord, or D-Day. The largest war armada ever assembled landed on the beaches of Normandy and began the penetration of Western Europe that eventually overthrew Hitler and Nazi Germany. Following the landing at Normandy, the Americans contributed greatly to the outcome of the war, with dogged fighting in the Battle of the Ardennes and the Battle of the Bulge resulting in Allied victories against the Germans. The battles took a heavy toll on the Americans, who lost 19,000 men during the Battle of the Bulge alone. The allied bombing raids on Germany increased to unprecedented levels after the D-Day invasion, with over 70% of all bombs dropped on Germany occurring after this date. On April 30, 1945, with Berlin completely overrun with Russian forces and his country in tatters, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. On May 8, 1945, the war with Germany was over, following its unconditional surrender to the Allied forces.
[edit] Battle against Japan
Main article: Pacific War

Due to the United States commitment to defeating Hitler in Europe, the first years of the war against Japan was largely a defensive battle with the United States Navy attempting to prevent the Japanese Navy from asserting dominance of the Pacific region. Initially, Japan won the majority of its battles in a short period of time. Japan quickly defeated and created military bases in Guam, Thailand, Malaya, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Burma. This was done virtually unopposed and with quicker speed than that of the German Blitzkrieg during the early stages of the war. This was important for Japan, as it had only 10% of the homeland industrial production capacity of the United States.
Douglas MacArthur lands at the Battle of Leyte, by U.S. Army Signal Corps

The turning point of the war was the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Following this, the Americans began fighting towards China where they could build an airbase suitable to commence bombing of mainland Japan with its B-29 Superfortress fleet. The Americans began by selecting smaller, lesser defended islands as targets as opposed to attacking the major Japanese strongholds. During this period, they inadvertently triggered what would become their most comprehensive victory in the entire war.

The Pacific war became the largest naval conflict in history. The American Navy emerged victorious, after at one point being stretched near to the breaking point, with almost complete destruction of the Japanese Navy. The American forces were then poised for an invasion of the Japanese mainland, to force the Japanese into unconditional surrender. On April 12, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and Vice President Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the 33rd President of the United States. The use of atomic weapons against Japan was subsequently authorized. The decision to use nuclear weapons to end the conflict has been one of the most controversial decisions of the war. Supporters of the use of the bombs argue that an invasion would have cost an enormous numbers of lives, while opponents argue that the large number of civilian casualties resulting from the bombings was unjustified. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. On August 15, 1945, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
[edit] The Cold War begins (1945–1964)
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Main article: History of the United States (1945–1964)
President Kennedy's address on Civil Rights, June 11, 1963.

Following World War II, the United States emerged as one of the two dominant superpowers. The U.S. Senate, on December 4, 1945, approved U.S. participation in the United Nations (UN), which marked a turn away from the traditional isolationism of the U.S. and toward more international involvement. The post-war era in the United States was defined internationally by the beginning of the Cold War, in which the United States and the Soviet Union attempted to expand their influence at the expense of the other, checked by each side's massive nuclear arsenal and the doctrine of mutual assured destruction. The result was a series of conflicts during this period including the Korean War and the tense nuclear showdown of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Within the United States, the Cold War prompted concerns about Communist influence, and also resulted in government efforts to focus mathematics and science toward efforts such as the space race.

In the decades after World War II, the United States became a global influence in economic, political, military, cultural, and technological affairs. Beginning in the 1950s, middle-class culture had a growing obsession with consumer goods.

John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. Known for his charisma, he is so far the only Roman Catholic to be President. The Kennedys brought a new life and vigor to the atmosphere of the White House. During his time in office, the Cold War reached its height with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald.
[edit] The Civil Rights Movement (1955–1970)
Main article: African American Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther King gives his I Have a Dream speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Meanwhile, the American people completed a great migration from farms into the cities and experienced a period of sustained economic expansion. At the same time, institutionalized racism across the United States, but especially in the American South, was increasingly challenged by the growing Civil Rights movement. The activism of African American leaders Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which launched the movement. For years African Americans would struggle with violence against them, but would achieve great steps towards equality with Supreme Court decisions, including Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which ended the Jim Crow laws that legalized racial segregation between Whites and Blacks. Martin Luther King, Jr., who had won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve equality of the races, was assassinated in 1968. Following his death other leaders led the movement, most notably King's widow, Coretta Scott King, who was also active, like her husband, in the Opposition to the Vietnam War, and in the Women's Liberation Movement. Over the first nine months of 1967, 128 American cities suffered 164 riots.[77] The late 1960s and early 1970s saw the strengthening of Black Power, however the decade would ultimately bring about positive strides toward integration.
[edit] The Women's Movement (1963–1982)
Main article: Feminist Movement in the United States
Gloria Steinem at a meeting of the Women's Action Alliance, 1972.

A new consciousness of the inequality of American women began sweeping the nation, starting with the 1963 publication of Betty Friedan's best-seller, The Feminine Mystique, which explained how many housewives felt trapped and unfulfilled, assaulted American culture for its creation of the notion that women could only find fulfillment through their roles as wives, mothers, and keepers of the home, and argued that women were just as able as men to do every type of job. In 1966 Friedan and others established the National Organization for Women, or NOW, to act as an NAACP for women. Protests began, and the new "Women's Liberation Movement" grew in size and power, gained much media attention, and, by 1968, had replaced the Civil Rights Movement as the U.S.'s main social revolution. Marches, parades, rallies, boycotts, and pickets brought out thousands, sometimes millions; Friedan's Women's Strike for Equality (1970) was a nation-wide success. The Movement was factioned early on, however (NOW on the left, the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL) on the right, the National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) in the center, and more radical groups formed by younger women on the far left). Along with Friedan, Gloria Steinem was an important feminist leader, co-founding the NWPC, the Women's Action Alliance, and editing the Movement's magazine, Ms. The proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, passed by Congress in 1972 and favored by about seventy percent of the American public, failed to be ratified in 1982, with only three more states needed to make it law. However many federal laws (i.e. those equalizing pay, employment, education, employment opportunites, credit, ending pregnancy discrimination, and requiring NASA, the Military Academies, and other organizations to admit women), state laws (i.e. those ending spousal abuse and marital rape), Supreme Court rulings (i.e. ruling the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applied to women), and state ERAs established women's equal status under the law, and social custom and consciousness began to change, accepting women's equality. The controversial issue of abortion, legalized in 1973 is still a point of feminist debate today.
[edit] The Counterculture Revolution and Cold War Détente (1964–1980)
Main article: History of the United States (1964–1980)

Amid the Cold War, the United States entered the Vietnam War, whose growing unpopularity fed already existing social movements, including those among women, minorities and young people. President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society social programs and the judicial activism of the Warren Court added to the wide range of social reform during the 1960s and 1970s. Feminism and the environmental movement became political forces, and progress continued toward civil rights for all Americans. The Counterculture Revolution swept through the nation and much of the western world in the late sixties and early seventies, dividing the already hostile environment but also bringing forth more liberated social views.
United States Navy F-4 Phantom II intercepts a Soviet Tu-95 Bear D aircraft in the early 1970s

Johnson was succeeded by President Richard Nixon in 1969, who intitially escalated the Vietnam War but soon was able to negotiate a peace treaty in 1973, effectively ending American involvement in the war. The war had cost the lives of 58,000 American troops and millions of Vietnamese. Nixon used a conflict in the Eastern Bloc between the Soviet Union and China to the advantage of the United States, bolstering relations with the People's Republic of China.[78] A new era of Cold War relations known as détente (cooperation) was begun.[79] The OPEC oil embargo led to a period of slow economic growth in 1973. Nixon's administration was brought to an ignominious close with the political scandal of Watergate in August 1974. During the years of his successor, Gerald Ford, the American-backed South Vietnamese government collapsed.

Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976 on the notion that he was not a part of the Washington political establishment.[80] The U.S. was afflicted with a recession, an energy crisis, slow economic growth, high unemployment, and high inflation coupled with high interest rates (the term stagflation was coined). On the world stage, Carter brokered the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. In 1979, Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage. Carter lost the 1980 election to Republican Ronald Reagan, whose campaign message advertised that his presidency would bring "Morning in America."[81]
[edit] The end of the Cold War (1980–1991)
Main article: History of the United States (1980–1991)
Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate challenges Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall in 1987, shortly before the end of the Cold War

Ronald Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980, the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democratic losses in most social-economic groups. "Reagan Democrats" were those who usually voted Democratic, but were attracted by Reagan's policies, personality and leadership, notably his social conservatism and hawkish foreign policy. Reagan's economic policies (dubbed "Reaganomics") and the implementation of the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 lowered income taxes from 70% to 28% over the course of seven years. Reagan continued to downsize government taxation and regulation.[82] The U.S. experienced a recession in 1982; unemployment and business failures soon entered rates close to Depression-era levels. These negative trends reversed the following year, when the inflation rate decreased from 11% to 2%, the unemployment rate decreased to 7.5%, and the economic growth rate increased from 4.5 to 7.2%.[83]

Reagan took a hard line against the Soviet Union, proclaiming it to be the Evil Empire. Reagan ordered a massive buildup of the U.S. military, incurring a costly budget deficit. Reagan introduced a complicated missile defense system known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (dubbed "Star Wars" by opponents) in which the U.S. could, in theory, shoot down missiles by means of laser systems in space. Though it was never fully developed or deployed,[84] the Soviets were genuinely concerned about the possible effects of the program[85] and the research and technologies of SDI paved the way for the anti-ballistic missile systems of today.[86] The Reagan administration also provided covert funding and assistance to anti-Communist resistance movements worldwide. Reagan's interventions against Grenada and Libya were popular in the U.S., though his backing of the Contra rebels was mired in controversy.[87] The arms-for-hostages scandal led to the convictions of such figures as Oliver North and John Poindexter.[88] He shared many common views and goals with friend and ally Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[89]

Reagan met with Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who ascended to power in 1985, four times, and their summit conferences led to the signing of the INF Treaty. Gorbachev tried to save Communism in the Soviet Union first by ending the expensive arms race with America,[90] then by shedding the East European empire in 1989. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ending the US-Soviet Cold War.
[edit] The "World Superpower" (1991–present)
USAF aircraft fly over Kuwaiti oil fires during the Gulf War
Main article: History of the United States (1991–present)

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States emerged as the world's sole remaining superpower and continued to involve itself in military action overseas, including the 1991 Gulf War. Following his election in 1992, President Bill Clinton oversaw unprecedented gains in securities values, a side effect of the digital revolution and new business opportunities created by the Internet (see Internet bubble). The 1990s saw one of the longest periods of economic expansion. Under Clinton an attempt to universalize health care, led by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton failed after almost two years of work on the controversial plan, however Hillary Rodham Clinton did succeed, along with a bipartisan coalition of members of congress, to establish the Children's Health Insurance Program.[91]

The regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq proved a continuing problem for the UN and Iraq's neighbors in its refusal to account for previously known stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, its violations of UN resolutions, and its support for terrorism against Israel and other countries. After the 1991 Gulf War, the US, French, and British militaries began patrolling the Iraqi no-fly zones to protect Iraq's Kurdish minority and Shi’ite Arab population – both of which suffered attacks from the Hussein regime before and after the 1991 Gulf War – in Iraq's northern and southern regions, respectively.[92] In the aftermath of Operation Desert Fox during December 1998, Iraq announced that it would no longer respect the no-fly zones and resumed its efforts in shooting down Allied aircraft.[93]

During the 1990s the al-Qaeda terrorist network and other Islamic fundamentalist groups attempted terrorist attacks against the United States and other nations. In 1993, Ramzi Yousef, a Kuwaiti national, and suspected al-Qaeda operative, planted explosives in the underground garage of One World Trade Center and detonated them, killing six people and injuring thousands. Later that year in the Battle of Mogadishu, US Army Rangers engaged Somali militias supported by al-Qaeda in an extended firefight that cost the lives of 19 soldiers. President Clinton subsequently withdrew US combat forces from Somalia (there originally to support UN relief efforts)[94]. Terrorist attacks occurred in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, and the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. There was an attempted bombing at Los Angeles International Airport and other attempts of acts of terrorism during the 2000 millennium attack plots. In Yemen the USS Cole was bombed in October 2000, which the government associated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network.[95]

US responses to terrorist attacks included limited cruise missile strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan (August 1998), which failed to stop al-Qaeda's leaders and their Taliban supporters. Also in 1998, President Clinton signed the Iraq Liberation Act which called for regime change in Iraq on the basis of Saddam Hussein's possession of weapons of mass destruction, oppression of Iraqi citizens and attacks upon other Middle Eastern countries.[96]

Al-Qaeda and other Islamic fundamentalist groups were not the only groups responsible for terrorism during this time. In 1995, a domestic terrorist bombing took place at a federal building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, and was the biggest terrorist attack on US soil since World War II at the time. The perpetrators, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, objected to the federal government and in particular sought revenge for the sieges at Ruby Ridge (1992) and Waco (1993).[97]

In 1998, Clinton was impeached for charges of perjury and obstruction of justice that arose from lying about a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He was the second president to have been impeached. The House of Representatives voted 228 to 206 on December 19 to impeach Clinton,[98] but on February 12, 1999, the Senate voted 55 to 45 to acquit Clinton of the charges.[99]

The presidential election in 2000 between George W. Bush (R) and Al Gore (D) was one of the closest in the U.S. history, and helped lay the seeds for political polarization to come. Although Bush won the majority of electoral votes, Gore won the majority of the popular vote. In the days following Election Day, the state of Florida entered dispute over the counting of votes due to technical issues over certain Democratic votes in some counties.[100] The Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore was decided on December 12, 2000, ending the recount with a 5–4 vote and certifying Bush as president.[101]
New York under attack in the September 11 attacks
George W. Bush in a televised address from the USS Abraham Lincoln.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the United States found itself attacked by Islamic terrorism, with the September 11, 2001 attacks in which 19 extremists hijacked four transcontinental airliners and intentionally crashed two of them into the twin towers of the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon. The passengers on the fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, revolted causing the plane to crash into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, that plane was intended to hit the US Capitol Building in Washington. The twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, destroying the entire complex. The United States soon found large amounts of evidence that suggested that the terrorist group al-Qaeda, spearheaded by Osama bin Laden, was responsible for the attacks.

In response to the attacks, under the administration of President George W. Bush, the United States (with the military support of NATO and the political support of some of the international community) launched Operation Enduring Freedom which overthrew the Taliban regime in Afghanistan which had protected and harbored bin Laden and al-Qaeda. With the support of large bipartisan majorities, the US Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. With a coalition of other countries including Britain, Spain, Australia, Japan and Poland, in March 2003 President Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom which led to the overthrow and capture of Saddam Hussein. Using the language of 1998 Iraq Liberation Act and the Clinton Administration, the reasons cited by the Bush administration for the invasion included the spreading of democracy, the elimination of weapons of mass destruction[102] (a key demand of the UN as well, though later investigations found parts of the intelligence reports to be inaccurate)[103] and the liberation of the Iraqi people.[104] This second invasion fueled protest marches in many parts of the world.

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded parts of the city of New Orleans and heavily damaged other areas of the gulf coast, including major damage to the Mississippi coast. The preparation and the response of the government were criticized as ineffective and slow.[105]

By 2006, rising prices saw Americans become increasingly conscious of the nation's dependence on supplies of petroleum for energy, with President Bush admitting a U.S. "addiction" to oil.[106] The possibility of serious economic disruption, should conflict overseas or declining production interrupt the flow, could not be ignored, given the instability in the Middle East and other oil-producing regions of the world. Many proposals and pilot projects for replacement energy sources, from ethanol to wind power and solar power, received more capital funding and were pursued more seriously in the 2000s than in previous decades. The 2006 midterm elections saw Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi become Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government.[107]

In addition to military efforts abroad, in the aftermath of 9/11 the Bush Administration increased domestic efforts to prevent future attacks. A new cabinet level agency called the United States Department of Homeland Security was created to lead and coordinate federal counterterrorism activities. The USA PATRIOT Act removed legal restrictions on information sharing between federal law enforcement and intelligence services and allowed for the investigation of suspected terrorists using means similar to those in place for other types of criminals. A new Terrorist Finance Tracking Program monitored the movements of terrorists' financial resources but was discontinued after being revealed by The New York Times.[108] Telecommunication usage by known and suspected terrorists was studied through the NSA electronic surveillance program.

Since 9/11, Islamic extremists made various attempts to attack the US homeland, with varying levels of organization and skill. For example, in 2001 vigilant passengers aboard a transatlantic flight to Miami prevented Richard Reid from detonating an explosive device.

After months of brutal violence against Iraqi civilians by Sunni and Shi’ite terrorist groups and militias—including al-Qaeda in Iraq—in January 2007 President Bush presented a new strategy for Operation Iraqi Freedom based upon counter-insurgency theories and tactics developed by General David Petraeus. The Iraq War troop surge of 2007 was part of this "new way forward"[109] and has been credited by some[who?] with a dramatic decrease in violence and an increase in political and communal reconciliation in Iraq.

As of 2009, debates continue over abortion, gun control, same-sex marriage, immigration reform, and the ongoing war in Iraq. Although the new Democratic Congressional majority promised to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, Congress continues to fund efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan (however a withdrawal agreement has been agreed upon between the US and Iraqi governments). In the area of foreign policy, the U.S. maintains ongoing talks, led by United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, as well as with Israel and the Palestinian Authority over a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the Palestinian-Israeli talks began in 2007, an effort spearheaded by United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.[110] The George W. Bush administration also increased allegations implicating Iran, and more recently Syria, in the development of weapons of mass destruction.

In December 2007, the United States entered the longest post-World War II recession,[111] which included a housing market correction, a subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and a declining dollar value.[112] In February 2008, 63,000 jobs were lost, a 5-year record for a single month.[113][114] In September 2008, the crisis became much worse beginning with the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.[115] This economic crisis was considered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.[116][117] By the end of 2008, the U.S. had lost a total of 2.6 million jobs.

In the presidential election of 2008, Senator Barack Obama, having narrowly defeated Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, ran on a platform of "Hope and Change". This, coupled with the economic crisis, helped aid his and running-mate Joe Biden's victory against the Republican ticket of Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. On November 4, Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States; he was sworn into office as the 44th President on January 20, 2009.

bermuda triangle

Bermuda Triangle
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For other uses, see Bermuda Triangle (disambiguation).
Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle.png
Borders of the Bermuda Triangle
Classification
Grouping: Paranormal places
Description
Also known as: Devil's Triangle
Country: International waters, The Bahamas
Status: Urban legend

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean in which a number of aircraft and surface vessels are alleged to have mysteriously disappeared and cannot be explained as human error, piracy, equipment failure, or natural disasters. Popular culture has attributed some of these disappearances to the paranormal, a suspension of the laws of physics, or activity by extraterrestrial beings.[1]

A substantial body of documentation reveals, however, that a significant portion of the allegedly mysterious incidents have been inaccurately reported or embellished by later authors, and numerous official agencies have stated that the number and nature of disappearances in the region is similar to any other area of ocean.[2][3][4]
Contents
[hide]

* 1 The Triangle area
* 2 History
o 2.1 Origins
o 2.2 Larry Kusche
o 2.3 Further responses
* 3 Supernatural explanations
* 4 Natural explanations
o 4.1 Compass variations
o 4.2 Deliberate acts of destruction
o 4.3 Gulf Stream
o 4.4 Human error
o 4.5 Hurricanes
o 4.6 Methane hydrates
o 4.7 Rogue waves
* 5 Notable incidents
o 5.1 Flight 19
o 5.2 Mary Celeste
o 5.3 Ellen Austin
o 5.4 USS Cyclops
o 5.5 Theodosia Burr Alston
o 5.6 Spray
o 5.7 Carroll A. Deering
o 5.8 Douglas DC-3
o 5.9 Star Tiger and Star Ariel
o 5.10 KC-135 Stratotankers
o 5.11 SS Marine Sulphur Queen
o 5.12 Raifuku Maru
o 5.13 Connemara IV
o 5.14 Carolyn Cascio
* 6 Triangle authors
* 7 See also
* 8 References
* 9 Other sources
o 9.1 Newspaper articles
+ 9.1.1 Flight 19
+ 9.1.2 Raifuku Maru
+ 9.1.3 SS Cotopaxi
+ 9.1.4 USS Cyclops (AC-4)
+ 9.1.5 Carroll A. Deering
+ 9.1.6 Wreckers
+ 9.1.7 S.S. Suduffco
+ 9.1.8 Star Tiger and Star Ariel
+ 9.1.9 DC-3 Airliner NC16002 disappearance
+ 9.1.10 Harvey Conover and Revonoc
+ 9.1.11 KC-135 Stratotankers
+ 9.1.12 B-52 Bomber (Pogo 22)
+ 9.1.13 Charter vessel Sno'Boy
+ 9.1.14 SS Marine Sulphur Queen
+ 9.1.15 SS Sylvia L. Ossa
o 9.2 Website links
o 9.3 Books
* 10 External links

The Triangle area
The area of the Triangle varies by author

The boundaries of the triangle cover the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas and the entire Caribbean island area and the Atlantic east to the Azores; others[who?] add to it the Gulf of Mexico. The more familiar triangular boundary in most written works has as its points somewhere on the Atlantic coast of Miami, San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the mid-Atlantic island of Bermuda, with most of the accidents concentrated along the southern boundary around the Bahamas and the Florida Straits.

The area is one of the most heavily-sailed shipping lanes in the world, with ships crossing through it daily for ports in the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. Cruise ships are also plentiful, and pleasure craft regularly go back and forth between Florida and the islands. It is also a heavily flown route for commercial and private aircraft heading towards Florida, the Caribbean, and South America from points north.
History
Origins

The earliest allegation of unusual disappearances in the Bermuda area appeared in a September 16, 1950 Associated Press article by E.V.W. Jones.[5] Two years later, Fate magazine published "Sea Mystery At Our Back Door",[6] a short article by George X. Sand covering the loss of several planes and ships, including the loss of Flight 19, a group of five U.S. Navy TBM Avenger bombers on a training mission. Sand's article was the first to lay out the now-familiar triangular area where the losses took place. Flight 19 alone would be covered in the April 1962 issue of American Legion Magazine.[7] It was claimed that the flight leader had been heard saying "We are entering white water, nothing seems right. We don't know where we are, the water is green, no white." It was also claimed that officials at the Navy board of inquiry stated that the planes "flew off to Mars." Sand's article was the first to suggest a supernatural element to the Flight 19 incident. In the February 1964 issue of Argosy, Vincent Gaddis's article "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle" argued that Flight 19 and other disappearances were part of a pattern of strange events in the region.[8] The next year, Gaddis explanded this article into a book, Invisible Horizons.[9]

Others would follow with their own works, elaborating on Gaddis's ideas: John Wallace Spencer (Limbo of the Lost, 1969, repr. 1973);[10] Charles Berlitz (The Bermuda Triangle, 1974);[11] Richard Winer (The Devil's Triangle, 1974),[12] and many others, all keeping to some of the same supernatural elements outlined by Eckert.[13]
Larry Kusche

Lawrence David Kusche, a research librarian from Arizona State University and author of The Bermuda Triangle Mystery: Solved (1975)[14] argued that many claims of Gaddis and subsequent writers were often exaggerated, dubious or unverifiable. Kusche's research revealed a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies between Berlitz's accounts and statements from eyewitnesses, participants, and others involved in the initial incidents. Kusche noted cases where pertinent information went unreported, such as the disappearance of round-the-world yachtsman Donald Crowhurst, which Berlitz had presented as a mystery, despite clear evidence to the contrary. Another example was the ore-carrier recounted by Berlitz as lost without trace three days out of an Atlantic port when it had been lost three days out of a port with the same name in the Pacific Ocean. Kusche also argued that a large percentage of the incidents which have sparked the Triangle's mysterious influence actually occurred well outside it. Often his research was simple: he would go over period newspapers of the dates of reported incidents and find reports on possibly relevant events like unusual weather, that were never mentioned in the disappearance stories.

Kusche concluded that:

* The number of ships and aircraft reported missing in the area was not significantly greater, proportionally speaking, than in any other part of the ocean.
* In an area frequented by tropical storms, the number of disappearances that did occur were, for the most part, neither disproportionate, unlikely, nor mysterious; furthermore, Berlitz and other writers would often fail to mention such storms.
* The numbers themselves had been exaggerated by sloppy research. A boat listed as missing would be reported, but its eventual (if belated) return to port may not have been reported.
* Some disappearances had in fact, never happened. One plane crash was said to have taken place in 1937 off Daytona Beach, Florida, in front of hundreds of witnesses; a check of the local papers revealed nothing.
* The Legend of the Bermuda Triangle is a manufactured mystery, perpetuated by writers who either purposely or unknowingly made use of misconceptions, faulty reasoning, and sensationalism.[14]

Further responses

When the UK Channel 4 television program "The Bermuda Triangle" (c. 1992) was being produced by John Simmons of Geofilms for the Equinox Programme, the marine insurer Lloyd's of London was asked if an unusually large number of ships had sunk in the Bermuda Triangle area. Lloyd's of London determined that large numbers of ships had not sunk there.[15]

United States Coast Guard records confirm their conclusion. In fact, the number of supposed disappearances is relatively insignificant considering the number of ships and aircraft which pass through on a regular basis.[14]

The Coast Guard is also officially skeptical of the Triangle, noting that they collect and publish, through their inquiries, much documentation contradicting many of the incidents written about by the Triangle authors. In one such incident involving the 1972 explosion and sinking of the tanker SS V. A. Fogg in the Gulf of Mexico, the Coast Guard photographed the wreck and recovered several bodies,[16] in contrast with one Triangle author's claim that all the bodies had vanished, with the exception of the captain, who was found sitting in his cabin at his desk, clutching a coffee cup.[10]

The NOVA / Horizon episode The Case of the Bermuda Triangle (1976-06-27) was highly critical, stating that "When we've gone back to the original sources or the people involved, the mystery evaporates. Science does not have to answer questions about the Triangle because those questions are not valid in the first place. ... Ships and planes behave in the Triangle the same way they behave everywhere else in the world."[17]

Skeptical researchers, such as Ernest Taves[18] and Barry Singer,[19] have noted how mysteries and the paranormal are very popular and profitable. This has led to the production of vast amounts of material on topics such as the Bermuda Triangle. They were able to show that some of the pro-paranormal material is often misleading or inaccurate, but its producers continue to market it. Accordingly, they have claimed that the market is biased in favour of books, TV specials, etc. which support the Triangle mystery, and against well-researched material if it espouses a skeptical viewpoint.

Finally, if the Triangle is assumed to cross land, such as parts of Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, or Bermuda itself, there is no evidence for the disappearance of any land-based vehicles or persons.[citation needed] The city of Freeport, located inside the Triangle, operates a major shipyard and an airport which annually handles 50,000 flights, and is visited by over a million tourists a year.
Supernatural explanations

Triangle writers have used a number of supernatural concepts to explain the events. One explanation pins the blame on leftover technology from the mythical lost continent of Atlantis. Sometimes connected to the Atlantis story is the submerged rock formation known as the Bimini Road off the island of Bimini in the Bahamas, which is in the Triangle by some definitions. Followers of the purported psychic Edgar Cayce take his prediction that evidence of Atlantis would be found in 1968 as referring to the discovery of the Bimini Road. Believers describe the formation as a road, wall, or other structure, though geologists consider it to be of natural origin.[20]

Other writers attribute the events to UFOs.[21] This idea was used by Steven Spielberg for his science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which features the lost Flight 19 as alien abductees.

Charles Berlitz, grandson of a distinguished linguist and author of various additional books on anomalous phenomena, has kept in line with this extraordinary explanation, and attributed the losses in the Triangle to anomalous or unexplained forces.[11]
Natural explanations
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Compass variations

Compass problems are one of the cited phrases in many Triangle incidents. While some have theorized that unusual local magnetic anomalies may exist in the area,[22] such anomalies have not been shown to exist. Compasses have natural magnetic variations in relation to the Magnetic poles. For example, in the United States the only places where magnetic (compass) north and geographic (true) north are exactly the same are on a line running from Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico. Navigators have known this for centuries. But the public may not be as informed, and think there is something mysterious about a compass "changing" across an area as large as the Triangle, which it naturally will.[14]
Deliberate acts of destruction

Deliberate acts of destruction can fall into two categories: acts of war, and acts of piracy. Records in enemy files have been checked for numerous losses; while many sinkings have been attributed to surface raiders or submarines during the World Wars and documented in the various command log books, many others which have been suspected as falling in that category have not been proven. It is suspected that the loss of USS Cyclops in 1918, as well as her sister ships Proteus and Nereus in World War II, were attributed to submarines, but no such link has been found in the German records.

Piracy, as defined by the taking of a ship or small boat on the high seas, is an act which continues to this day. While piracy for cargo theft is more common in the western Pacific and Indian oceans, drug smugglers do steal pleasure boats for smuggling operations, and may have been involved in crew and yacht disappearances in the Caribbean. Piracy in the Caribbean was common from about 1560 to the 1760s, and famous pirates included Edward Teach (Blackbeard) and Jean Lafitte.[citation needed]
False-color image of the Gulf Stream flowing north through the western Atlantic Ocean. (NASA)
Gulf Stream

The Gulf Stream is an ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, and then through the Straits of Florida, into the North Atlantic. In essence, it is a river within an ocean, and like a river, it can and does carry floating objects. It has a surface velocity of up to about 2.5 metres per second (5.6 mph).[23] A small plane making a water landing or a boat having engine trouble can be carried away from its reported position by the current.
Human error

One of the most cited explanations in official inquiries as to the loss of any aircraft or vessel is human error.[24] Whether deliberate or accidental, humans have been known to make mistakes resulting in catastrophe, and losses within the Bermuda Triangle are no exception. For example, the Coast Guard cited a lack of proper training for the cleaning of volatile benzene residue as a reason for the loss of the tanker SS V. A. Fogg in 1972[citation needed]. Human stubbornness may have caused businessman Harvey Conover to lose his sailing yacht, the Revonoc, as he sailed into the teeth of a storm south of Florida on January 1, 1958.[25] Many losses remain inconclusive owing to the lack of wreckage which could be studied, a fact cited on many official reports.
Hurricanes

Hurricanes are powerful storms which are spawned in tropical waters, and have historically been responsible for thousands of lives lost and billions of dollars in damage. The sinking of Francisco de Bobadilla's Spanish fleet in 1502 was the first recorded instance of a destructive hurricane. These storms have in the past caused a number of incidents related to the Triangle.
Methane hydrates
Main article: Methane clathrate
Worldwide distribution of confirmed or inferred offshore gas hydrate-bearing sediments, 1996.
Source: USGS

An explanation for some of the disappearances has focused on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates (a form of natural gas) on the continental shelves.[26] Laboratory experiments carried out in Australia have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water;[27] any wreckage consequently rising to the surface would be rapidly dispersed by the Gulf Stream. It has been hypothesized that periodic methane eruptions (sometimes called "mud volcanoes") may produce regions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning.

Publications by the USGS describe large stores of undersea hydrates worldwide, including the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast.[28] However, according to another of their papers, no large releases of gas hydrates are believed to have occurred in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 15,000 years.[15]

It should also be noted that other areas of undersea methane hydrates are not reported to give rise to similar incidents as the Bermuda Triangle, also that bubbles of underwater gas would not account for aircraft disappearances.
Rogue waves

In various oceans around the world, rogue waves have caused ships to sink[29] and oil platforms to topple.[30] These waves are considered to be a mystery and until recently were believed to be a myth.[31][32] However, rogue waves don't account for the missing aircraft.
Notable incidents
Main article: List of Bermuda Triangle incidents
Flight 19
US Navy TBF Grumman Avenger flight, similar to Flight 19. This photo had been used by various Triangle authors to illustrate Flight 19 itself. (US Navy)

Flight 19 was a training flight of TBM Avenger bombers that went missing on December 5, 1945 while over the Atlantic. The squadron's flight path was scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that would return them to the naval base, but they never returned. The impression is given that the flight encountered unusual phenomena and anomalous compass readings, and that the flight took place on a calm day under the supervision of an experienced pilot, Lt. Charles Carroll Taylor. Adding to the intrigue is that the Navy's report of the accident was ascribed to "causes or reasons unknown." It is believed that Taylor's mother wanted to save her son's reputation, so she made them write "reasons unknown" when actually Taylor was 50 km NW from where he thought he was.[33]

Adding to the mystery, a search and rescue Mariner aircraft with a 13-man crew was dispatched to aid the missing squadron, but the Mariner itself was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion at about the time the Mariner would have been on patrol.

While the basic facts of this version of the story are essentially accurate, some important details are missing. The weather was becoming stormy by the end of the incident, and naval reports and written recordings of the conversations between Taylor and the other pilots of Flight 19 do not indicate magnetic problems.[33]
Mary Celeste

The mysterious abandonment in 1872 of the 282-ton brigantine Mary Celeste is often but inaccurately connected to the Triangle, the ship having been abandoned off the coast of Portugal. The event is possibly confused with the loss of a ship with a similar name, the Mari Celeste, a 207-ton paddle steamer which hit a reef and quickly sank off the coast of Bermuda on September 13, 1864.[34][35] Kusche noted that many of the "facts" about this incident were actually about the Marie Celeste, the fictional ship from Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (based on the real Mary Celeste incident, but fictionalised).
Ellen Austin

The Ellen Austin supposedly came across a derelict ship, placed on board a prize crew, and attempted to sail with it to New York in 1881. According to the stories, the derelict disappeared; others elaborating further that the derelict reappeared minus the prize crew, then disappeared again with a second prize crew on board. A check from Lloyd's of London records proved the existence of the Meta, built in 1854 and that in 1880 the Meta was renamed Ellen Austin. There are no casualty listings for this vessel, or any vessel at that time, that would suggest a large number of missing men were placed on board a derelict which later disappeared.[36]
USS Cyclops

The incident resulting in the single largest loss of life in the history of the US Navy not related to combat occurred when USS Cyclops, under the command of Lt Cdr G. W. Worley, went missing without a trace with a crew of 309 sometime after March 4, 1918, after departing the island of Barbados. Although there is no strong evidence for any single theory, many independent theories exist, some blaming storms, some capsizing, and some suggesting that wartime enemy activity was to blame for the loss.[37][38]
Theodosia Burr Alston

Theodosia Burr Alston was the daughter of former United States Vice President Aaron Burr. Her disappearance has been cited at least once in relation to the Triangle.[39] She was a passenger on board the Patriot, which sailed from Charleston, South Carolina to New York City on December 30, 1812, and was never heard from again. The planned route is well outside all but the most extended versions of the Bermuda Triangle. Both piracy and the War of 1812 have been posited as explanations, as well as a theory placing her in Texas, well outside the Triangle.
Spray

S.V. Spray was a derelict fishing boat refitted as an ocean cruiser by Joshua Slocum and used by him to complete the first ever single-handed circumnavigation of the world, between 1895 and 1898.

In 1909, Slocum set sail from Vineyard Haven bound for Venezuela. Neither he nor Spray were ever seen again.

There is no evidence they were in the Bermuda Triangle when they disappeared, nor is there any evidence of paranormal activity. The boat was considered in poor condition and a hard boat to handle that Slocum's skill usually overcame.[14]
Schooner Carroll A. Deering, as seen from the Cape Lookout lightship on January 29, 1921, two days before she was found deserted in North Carolina. (US Coast Guard)
Carroll A. Deering

A five-masted schooner built in 1919, the Carroll A. Deering was found hard aground and abandoned at Diamond Shoals, near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on January 31, 1921. Rumors and more at the time indicated the Deering was a victim of piracy, possibly connected with the illegal rum-running trade during Prohibition, and possibly involving another ship, S.S. Hewitt, which disappeared at roughly the same time. Just hours later, an unknown steamer sailed near the lightship along the track of the Deering, and ignored all signals from the lightship. It is speculated that the Hewitt may have been this mystery ship, and possibly involved in the Deering crew's disappearance.[40]
Douglas DC-3

On December 28, 1948, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, number NC16002, disappeared while on a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Miami. No trace of the aircraft or the 32 people onboard was ever found. From the documentation compiled by the Civil Aeronautics Board investigation, a possible key to the plane's disappearance was found, but barely touched upon by the Triangle writers: the plane's batteries were inspected and found to be low on charge, but ordered back into the plane without a recharge by the pilot while in San Juan. Whether or not this led to complete electrical failure will never be known. However, since piston-engined aircraft rely upon magnetos to provide spark to their cylinders rather than a battery powered ignition coil system, this theory is not strongly convincing.[41]
Star Tiger and Star Ariel

G-AHNP Star Tiger disappeared on January 30, 1948 on a flight from the Azores to Bermuda; G-AGRE Star Ariel disappeared on January 17, 1949, on a flight from Bermuda to Kingston, Jamaica. Both were Avro Tudor IV passenger aircraft operated by British South American Airways.[42] Both planes were operating at the very limits of their range and the slightest error or fault in the equipment could keep them from reaching the small island. One plane was not heard from long before it would have entered the Triangle.[14]
KC-135 Stratotankers

On August 28, 1963 a pair of U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft collided and crashed into the Atlantic. The Triangle version (Winer, Berlitz, Gaddis[8][11][12]) of this story specifies that they did collide and crash, but there were two distinct crash sites, separated by over 160 miles (260 km) of water. However, Kusche's research[14] showed that the unclassified version of the Air Force investigation report stated that the debris field defining the second "crash site" was examined by a search and rescue ship, and found to be a mass of seaweed and driftwood tangled in an old buoy.
SS Marine Sulphur Queen

SS Marine Sulphur Queen, a T2 tanker converted from oil to sulfur carrier, was last heard from on February 4, 1963 with a crew of 39 near the Florida Keys. Marine Sulphur Queen was the first vessel mentioned in Vincent Gaddis' 1964 Argosy Magazine article,[8] but he left it as having "sailed into the unknown", despite the Coast Guard report which not only documented the ship's badly-maintained history, but declared that it was an unseaworthy vessel that should never have gone to sea.[43][44]
Raifuku Maru

One of the more famous incidents in the Triangle took place in 1921 (some say a few years later), when the Japanese vessel Raifuku Maru (sometimes misidentified as Raikuke Maru) went down with all hands after sending a distress signal which allegedly said "Danger like dagger now. Come quick!", or "It's like a dagger, come quick!" This has led writers to speculate on what the "dagger" was, with a waterspout being the likely candidate (Winer). In reality the ship was nowhere near the Triangle, nor was the word "dagger" a part of the ship's distress call ("Now very danger. Come quick."); having left Boston for Hamburg, Germany, on April 21, 1925, she got caught in a severe storm and sank in the North Atlantic with all hands while another ship, RMS Homeric, attempted an unsuccessful rescue.[45]
Connemara IV

A pleasure yacht found adrift in the Atlantic south of Bermuda on September 26, 1955; it is usually stated in the stories (Berlitz, Winer[11][12]) that the crew vanished while the yacht survived being at sea during three hurricanes. The 1955 Atlantic hurricane season lists only one storm coming near Bermuda towards the end of August, hurricane "Edith"; of the others, "Flora" was too far to the east, and "Katie" arrived after the yacht was recovered. It was confirmed that the Connemara IV was empty and in port when "Edith" may have caused the yacht to slip her moorings and drift out to sea.[14]
Carolyn Cascio

A Cessna piloted by Carolyn Cascio, on June 7, 1964, with one passenger, attempted to travel from Nassau, Bahamas to Cocburn, Grand Turk, Island. The plane was witnessed by many air traffic controllers in Cockburn's airport to circle the island for 30 minutes, after which, it flew away apparently for another island. All attempts from the ground to raise Cascio on the radio failed.

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Texas MCLE can be done easily, conveniently, quickly and completely over the Internet, thanks to companies that have designed websites for these professionals to use. The best ones collect all of the information that professionals need to know in order to stay in good standing with the state bar.
There are many different requirements that professionals have to abide by, and they are all different for different states so you must make sure that you are very familiar with your individual states demands. Even though in the past, professionals could only take their courses by going to a classroom for many hours, today they are able to fulfill their requirements completely online. This is great for those who are super busy, those with many family obligations, and those who do not want to take more time away from their careers than they have to.

To get enough Texas MCLE that you need in The Lonestar State, you will need to go online and find one of the websites that offer it all. The best websites will be able to not only offer the courses but will also offer all of the information about the requirements that a professional needs. The more information that a site contains, the better it will help you. Any and every website must be approved and certified by the TX Bar in order for your efforts and courses to be counted as legitimate. The best websites not only make it easier to successfully complete the requirements but they also reduce the amount of stress and time that are required to complete them. There is no traveling involved, no time constraints, and no suit and tie are required. The number of Continuing Legal Education hours that states require varies, and while TX requires a total of 15, but other states are different. Florida requires 30 hours, but New York only requires 24. Some of the states have different options or electives for attorneys to choose from, and they also have specialty certification requirements that are part of the total required credits. Texas requirements include a specialty certification in Legal Ethics or Professionalism.

Usually those states that only have 15 or so hours required make professionals repeat those hours more often. For example, While New York requires 24 continuing legal education hours, they only have to be taken every two years. Texas MCLE requirements involve only 15 hours much less than New York, but those must be repeated every year.

Posted by ☺ Baiiu bLog ☺ at 11:30 PM 0 comments
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Sunday, November 1, 2009
How To Choose The Best Online Assessor Training Course

If you are in the education field you need to make sure that you keep up to date on all your credentials. This could affect your employment. You want to make sure that any training you need to get is up to date, passes all standards, and prepares you for your job. Sure you can go to a classroom and learn this material, but why would you if you can take the course online?

Coaching

Does the organisation provide one on one coaching to its students? This is imperative. As you will not be in a classroom you need to be able to have individualized contact with someone should you have any questions, concerns, or problems in your study.

Time Frame

How long does the course take? Does the course has a set schedule or can you work at your own pace? Most classes teach to the majority of the students and if you aren’t picking up the material as fast as everyone else you might never catch up.

Cost

The cost to improve oneself shouldn’t make you sign your life away for the next five years. It should be relatively inexpensive and within your budget. The whole point of taking the course it to improve yourself so that you can make more money. You don’t want to put yourself in outrageous debt before you’re even qualified.

Curriculum Qualifications

Any company that you pick needs to be able to support the field that you are working in. You don’t want to pick an organisation that is only qualified to teach secondary schools when you work in the private sector. You might not be able to get a refund. So make sure you verify before you buy.

Credit

If you have training already, but need a refresher course can they offer this to you? Or is this the same course you’ve already taken? If you already have a basic understanding and they have a course that will suffice, will they provide you with credit towards their program?

You should be commended for improving yourself. Whether you are concentrating in the private sector, polytechnics, secondary school, or a private training establishment. You need to make sure that you select the best company that will provide you with plenty of options. If you already have experience you’ll want to make sure the company provides you with credit but proper training if you don’t. And you don’t want the course to make a huge dent in your wallet. You need to ensure that you will get the proper training and additional help if needed. This company needs to be qualified in the area that you work in. If you have a deadline and need to finish the course in one week or 90 days you need to be able to choose what is best for you and your situation. And even if they are an online course, do they provide an option to have classroom training if you aren’t computer savvy?
Posted by ☺ Baiiu bLog ☺ at 11:28 PM 0 comments
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Generate Fresh MLM Leads: Online Marketing Strategies

What makes an online business successful? Is it the amount of money it makes or how many customers it has, maybe the amount of distributors in it’s downline. Nope, none of these things are what makes a company successful. What makes a company successful in the amount of leads it can generate and convert.

Without leads an online business wouldn’t make any money. Without leads it won’t have any customers or distributors either. Leads are the key ingredient in a successful online business. In this article you will learn how to generate fresh mlm leads for any business with four online marketing strategies.

Google Adwords

Google Adwords marketing campaigns are the best way to generate tons of fresh MLM leads for your online business. Google Adwords are the ads that you see on the right side of Google when you search for things. In a nutshell you are paying to compete for keywords. So, this strategy does cost money. However if you can afford it, it is well worth the investment.

Tip: Before jumping head first into adwords and invest thousands of dollars. Do some trial runs and also make sure to learn everything you can.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is exploding all over the web. More and more people are seeing the benefits to this online marketing strategy. Video marketing is the best way to generate fresh MLM leads in the organic search rankings. Not only do people prefer a video over reading, but Google also loves video. Google will rank video higher and quicker then most content online. If your building your business on a budget. Video marketing is a must.

Tip: Once you have finished your video. Upload it to as many video sharing sites as possible. Great automated uploading tools for videos are Tubemogul or Traffic Geyser.

Article Marketing

Article marketing is the second best online marketing strategy to generate fresh MLM leads in the organic search results. This strategy involves writing your opinions, reviews or just writing what you know or learned. This online marketing strategy is great for those who are building on a budget because it is free. Article marketing is also a great way to get your website ranked high in the search engines because of the quality one way back links.

Tip: In order to maximize your efforts and receive tons of traffic. Submit your article to as many article directories as possible. A great automatic article submitter is
“Article submitter”. It’s free

Banner Ads

People are bombarded by ads everyday. Whether it’s T.V. or billboards. Everywhere we look in this world we see ads. You can’t escape them. The same is true online. Every website you visit has advertising space. This is why banner marketing is a great way to generate fresh MLM leads. People are drawn to ads, especially if they are catchy and well written. A great aspect of this strategy is once you find a banner ad that works you can set if and forget. That banners will continue to bring your site traffic, while you do other things.

Tip: Use Alexa rankings to find websites that get lots of traffic. Also put your banners on websites within your chosen niche.

Most entrepreneurs don’t understand how crucial leads are to their business. Leads are the life blood of your business and ultimately your success. With these few online marketing strategies listed above. You now have the knowledge to generate tons of fresh MLM leads and also gain ultimate success and longevity in the online marketing industry. Here’s to your success!
Posted by ☺ Baiiu bLog ☺ at 3:00 AM 0 comments
Labels: Marketing
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Online College Degrees the New Requirement in the Workplace


It seems that more and more people these days are going online to attain the education that they need to excel in life. Used to be, that all you needed to make it in life was common sense and a desire to succeed. These days however there is a new trend emerging, that of the college degree employee.

In years past you had to miss work in an effort to get a college degree in an effort to make it in the workplace. However with the arrival of the Internet getting a college degree is as easy as ordering your favorite pizza. This article is designed to give you an overview of the world of online degrees and aid you in the decision that you need to make when selecting a college.

One thing that you need to keep in mind is that these days adult students make up half of the students that are going online to attain their degree. More schools as of late are considering the adult students when they design their class offerings as well as the schedule of those classes. Most online classes today can be taken in the evening after you have got home and spent some time with your family. One thing that many employees need to consider is that these days many employers will compensate an employee if they attend a higher learning institute, to further their education. The simple fact is this having a degree is no longer a luxury it is more of a necessity that many people need to consider if they want to advance in their job.

Many of the bigger colleges offer a distance learning option that allows students to earn the same degree that they would if they attended class on campus. People today live in a minute by minute life and are constantly on the go. Online college degrees offer them the convince of getting their college degree in their own time that is easy for them to find the time.

No matter if you are just starting out or have been in the workplace for years, an online college degree will carry you farther in the world than if you are in the same job without a degree. When you are looking at a school there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. First find out if they offer financial aid, if they do then you will want to make sure that you qualify before you go to get signed up for a bunch of classes you won’t be able to pay for. Second research the school and make sure that it is a school that has a solid history and will not be here today and gone the next with your money. The last thing that you need to make sure of is that the degree you receive is actual worth the paper it is printed on. The last thing that you want to do is pay for a degree to find out that it has more value as a piece of toilet paper.
Posted by ☺ Baiiu bLog ☺ at 11:27 PM 0 comments
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Online Computer Science Degrees: What Everyone Needs to Know

Do you really love computers? Do you wish to know how computers function, how they really work? If you possessed a computer science degree, you would have knowledge encompassing all about computers and more. How could you possibly be able to receive a computer science degree while you barely are hanging on financially with your present job and impending financial obligations? The answer is rather easy. You are able to receive an online computer science degree by learning, studying and working in just your spare time. In just a little time, you may be able to give your notice at that dead end job you now hold and you ought to be able to acquire your dream job of working with computers.

At the time you locate a good school, and know that there are many available, you simply need to sign up for classes and get to studying. If you happen to be worried about finances, you will be pleased to learn that many online computer science degrees can be reached by obtaining financial aid with the school, a bank or even a student loan company, such as Sallie Mae. To locate a good school, a mere internet search will come up with a long list and you can begin to start comparing the schools you locate. With a little time and research, you will find a school program that suits you and your lifestyle and you can proceed to work on your online computer science degree.

It ought to be voiced that merely as and just because you are taking classes and embarking towards an online computer science degree does not mean you are able to slack off. No one will be there to verify and ensure that you are paying attention, studying or even doing your homework. You must therefore be very self-disciplined. Set your goals, recall them often and work toward them. Study at the times it states and complete your work and turn it is as directed and at the time when you finally earn and receive your online computer science degree, you will certainly be able to say you that it has been earned, just as if you were to have attended an actual college.

There exist a lot of advantages with obtaining an online computer science degree. First off, you are able to work towards your degree at the same time as holding a full time job. This will allow you to support yourself and/or family while you attempt at bettering yourself. Secondly, it will allow you to study at any location you have a computer, laptop and an internet connection. This means you are also able to travel and earn your degree simultaneously, assuming that you are also still working hard at studying and learning the materials as needed. Finally, laboring towards your online computer science degree will provide you with a immense sense of accomplishment and enhanced self worth. You should be able to apply for different and better paying positions with a confidence in the knowledge that you have improved your life by way of your own hard work, studies and dedication. Obtaining an online computer science degree is quite an accomplishment that you will be proud of.

So locate a school program that fits and begin your progression towards an online computer science degree. You never know the doors that may open for you and you if you do not try. The ultimate career opportunity may present itself, often while in school and working on internships or even after a few classes, positions in your field of study quickly open up for you.
Posted by ☺ Baiiu bLog ☺ at 11:26 PM 0 comments
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Online Biology Degrees: Educate Yourself

One of the many branches of study within the field of Science is Biology.

The free web dictionary defines Biology as: “The science of life and of living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution. It includes botany and zoology and all their subdivisions. It is also the life processes or characteristic phenomena of a group or category of living organisms: the biology of viruses. And it is also the plant and animal life of a specific area or region.”

The majority of students discover this field to be a very interesting field of study. The area is one overflowing with learning possibilities and can also be very exciting as it involves the vibrant world of plants and animals. These can be very interesting to observe and learn. How much more can a student observe it not merely by books but also by online biology videos? You can educate yourself in this field by online Biology degrees.

Children of varying age brackets can learn information online from the website of The National Biological Information Infrastructure. It is one of many sites on the World Wide Web that is able to serve with a wealth of information for the learning of Biology. This site is able to be a great guide for teachers who are introducing and teaching: Aquatic Biology, General biology, Biodiversity and Environment, Botany, Birds, Insects, Mammals, Arachnids and Annelids, Microbes, or even Reptiles and Amphibians among many others. For students using this site, there exist age and level brackets from which they could choose pick. You can also search to educate yourself on further your interest to obtain an online biology degree.

These online videos for Biology can really be an effective media tool for learning and education. Different from others such as a conventional book, videos are able to encourage the children to understand more of the lessons. They no longer will have a difficult time imagining how particular animals or plants appear as they will see it in action. Although, there often are pictures in books, videos are in action and it will appear more “real” to the eyes of the students-viewers. You never know if you are aspiring one to become the next Jane Goodall. They may use these as a catalyst to reach great heights and even receive an online biology degree to save the planet Earth one day.

This type of video information has the ability to make Education easier and learning more fun while students are learning and absorbing new facts presented to them. As any teacher or parent is well aware, kids have a stage in their life where they appear to pay less attention to studies. As they would much rather play or meet up with their peers. To utilize videos for this type of student is a great way of capturing and keeping attention focused on the subject matter.

One of the best things about Education by way of videos for Biology is that it is able to set a good model for children. Children constantly imitate. When videos represent the conservation of Earth, in the manner of planting of trees, recycling or other helpful activities, it will teach children to do the same and act in the same manner. Learning will never be boring. Attempt to use and view these videos at this time for yourself and you will see the big difference. You may even be aspired yourself to progress and reach for an online biology degree.

Biology is a fundamental subject to learn- so learn and teach it in the best way possible that will keep the attention and interest of the student. Online education for biology is at its most accurate and most up to date which is advantageous of our time. Learn to take advantage of online biology degrees, courses and classes!
Posted by ☺ Baiiu bLog ☺ at 11:24 PM 0 comments
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Monday, October 26, 2009
Educational Leaders in Public Schools

Public schools are well known for careful stratification and segregation of age groups. Public schools are so poorly run (take DPS for example) that all of those kids run across the county line to attend any school that will accept them. These kids are so far behind academically because of the crap that DPS taught or didn’t teach, that they will never be academically successful.

Public schools are not required to answer to parents, but they do need to heed the words of politicians and school boards-all of whom have their own political agendas. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these agendas are weakening the entire system.

Public schools are operated at the state level through departments of education, and locally by school districts and publicly elected or appointed school boards. Approximately 15,000 different school districts operate in the United States, and most are run by counties.

Educational leaders have focused in recent years on providing safe and disciplined school environments for students and teachers. Many schools have increased expulsions of violent students by adopting “zero tolerance policies” toward serious offenders. Education outcomes become irrelevant. Educators and parents can post a “viewpoint” page on the site that acts as an online profile, and they can participate in discussion forums, share links and resources, and review teaching materials.

Education reformers and policymakers who consider higher academic standards a centerpiece of their movement should not count on teachers to be a driving force, added Wadsworth. It may be that the academic energies of even the most motivated teachers are sapped by what they consider to be the stressful day-to-day demands of the classroom. Education costs have been rising faster than inflation. Many parents want, but cannot afford, these private alternatives. Educating for citizenship, work and the public good has been replaced with models of schooling in which students, especially poor minority youth, are viewed narrowly either as a threat or as perpetrators of violence. When not viewed as potential criminals, they are positioned as infantilized potential victims of crime (on the Internet, at school and in other youth spheres) who must endure modes of governing that are demeaning and repressive.

Educators must recover their higher motivation, a spirituality that comes from faith not in religion but in civilization, humanity’s sanctuary from the cruel vortex of nature. Educational alternatives would be unlimited. It would be the source of enormous progress, and a model for the nation.