President Truman had a serious tone to Congress in this address. The Truman Doctrine was a piece of foreign policy legislation that was a response to the rise of Soviet Russia and communism post World War II. Its aim was to prevent the spread of communism to free nations, or nations that were still suffering from the effects of the war. The U.S. saw the evils of communism and how it would take an already destroyed nation and plunge it into utter chaos. So they pledged political, economic, and even military assistance to nations who were susceptible to the rise of foreign or domestic authoritarian forces looking to use communism as their trojan horse to power. All of this was in an effort to contain communism to the nations it had already consumed (USSR, China, North Korea, etc.)
British Parliament implemented the Coercive Acts, known to the American colonists as the Intolerable Acts, to punish the residents of Boston for the Boston Tea Party and strengthen British control over Massachusetts. The British hoped to use strict martial law to isolate Boston and New England from the other colonies.
Women began to fight for more equality and freedoms, one being the right to vote and more freedom regarding work.
A rivalry developed between Spain and Portugal over the exploration of the seas. When King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain heard of King Manuel's plans to send ships west to claim for Brazil, they asked him to wait until it was decided to whom the seas and conquests belonged.
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI established the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the world in two. Portugal could claim lands East of the Line of Demarcation, and Spain could claim lands West of the line.
