U.S. Citizenship Civics Test: Recent American History Concepts

Overview

This chapter covers American history from 1900 to today. You will learn about the wars of the 1900s and why the United States entered them, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the civil rights movement, and the September 11 attacks. It also includes American Indian tribes and American innovations.

The United States entered World War I because Germany attacked U.S. civilian ships. Women got the right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. The Great Depression, the longest economic recession in modern history, started with the stock market crash of 1929. Franklin Roosevelt was president during the Great Depression and World War II, and the United States entered World War II after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Dwight Eisenhower was a general in World War II and later the 34th president.

During the Cold War, the main rival of the United States was the Soviet Union, and the main concerns were communism and nuclear war. The United States entered the Korean War and the Vietnam War to stop the spread of communism, and the Persian Gulf War to force the Iraqi military from Kuwait. At home, the civil rights movement fought to end racial discrimination, and Martin Luther King, Jr. worked for equality for all Americans.

On September 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States. After the attacks, the United States fought the War on Terror, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many American Indian tribes live in the United States, such as the Cherokee, Navajo, and Sioux, and American innovations include the light bulb, the airplane, and landing on the moon.