Period 14 · 2001–present
The United States in the Twenty-First Century
The twenty-first century began with the September 11 attacks and two long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Great Recession of 2007–2009 shook the economy, and Barack Obama became the first African American president. Same-sex marriage became law nationwide, smartphones and social media transformed daily life, and the COVID-19 pandemic killed more than a million Americans amid deepening political polarization.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people. President George W. Bush launched a war on terror: the war in Afghanistan, which became the nation’s longest, and the Iraq War, begun in 2003 on claims of weapons of mass destruction that proved false. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 exposed failures of government and deep racial and economic inequality.
The bursting of the housing bubble brought on the Great Recession. In 2008 voters elected Barack Obama, the first African American president, who won an economic stimulus, the Affordable Care Act, and financial reform, while the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street reflected anger on the right and left. In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry, a milestone for the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
Smartphones and social media transformed how Americans communicated and got their news. In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and businesses and killed more than a million Americans. In 2021 the last U.S. troops left Afghanistan, and the Taliban returned to power. In 2022 the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade. These events are recent, and historians’ interpretations of them are still taking shape.
Highlights
Events and wars
People
Documents and court cases
Movements, institutions, and ideas
Sources for this overview
- The American Yawp, “The Recent Past” — The American Yawp (eds. Joseph Locke and Ben Wright; Stanford University Press)
- Executive Summary — The 9/11 Commission Report — National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States
- The Great Recession — Federal Reserve History (Federal Reserve System)
- Barack Obama: Life in Brief — Miller Center, University of Virginia (Michael Nelson)
- CDC Museum COVID-19 Timeline — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Obergefell v. Hodges — Oyez (Cornell LII, Justia, Chicago-Kent College of Law)
- Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — Oyez (Cornell LII, Justia, Chicago-Kent College of Law)
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