Early 20th Century America

The early 20^th century was a time of great change in America and the world.  In 1900, it had only been 35 years since the end of the Civil War and there were many citizens who lived through or participated in it or were the children of those who did. Congress was still dealing with legislation regarding pension benefits for former Union Army soldiers and their survivors.  Yet now they would soon confront a foreign enemy in another ruinous conflict that would be called World War One.  The Constitution was amended nine times from 1865 (the thirteenth amendment abolishing slavery) to 1933 (the twenty-first amendment repealing the eighteenth amendment, which began prohibition).  There have only been six amendments since 1933.  The world also saw the assassination of a United States president, a worldwide disease pandemic that killed tens of millions of people, the beginning of the U.S. federal income tax, the first automobile, the first airplane, the first over-the-air broadcast, the first commercial movies, the federal right of women to vote and hold elective office, and the prohibition of beverage alcohol and the subsequent repeal.