Gilded Age

The Emergence of a Modern Industrial Economy:

  1. The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869. Tied country together, creating a “coast-to-coast” marketplace.
  2. New inventions: the Bessemer process (for making steel), sewing machines, typewriters, telephones, oil wells, and electricity, all contributed to America’s economic progress.
  3. The free enterprise system encouraged entrepreneurs to develop new industries and expand them. Population growth, the rise of corporate form of business, and the skills of entrepreneurs also contributed to America’s economic growth.
  4. Andrew Carnegie (steel), John D. Rockefeller (oil), and other successful businessmen helped organize and increase production.

Rise of Organized Labor:

  1. Workers faced long hours, low pay, and often dangerous working conditions.
  2. Workers tried to bargain collectively by forming unions, which occasionally went on strike. The Knights of Labor tried to unite ALL American workers, both skilled and unskilled, into one union but this was not successful. The American Federation of Labor founded by Samuel Gompers recruited only skilled workers and was more successful.

Urbanization:

  1. In the 19th century, Americans moved from the countryside (rural) to cities (urban) and the nation became more urbanized. The use of farm machinery meant fewer workers were needed on farms, while demand for labor in factories and cities expanded.
  2. Urbanization brought many problems. Cities lacked adequate public services for their growing populations. Streets were noisy, dirty and congested. Many newcomers lived in crowded tenement buildings.
  3. Political “bosses” ran “political machines.” The most famous was Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall in New York City. Bosses provided basic services to the poor in exchange for their votes. They then gained control of city governments and made vast personal fortunes.

Immigration:

  1. “Push factors” that caused immigrants to leave their country: oppression, poverty, war, religious and ethnic persecution.
  2. “Pull factors” that attracted immigrants to the United States: freedom, economic opportunity, cultural ties, free land.
  3. Immigration to the United States grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Most of the “New Immigrants” were from Southern and Eastern Europe. Many of their children were “Americanized” in public schools as a way for these immigrants to assimilate into American society.
  4. Nativists opposed immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first federal law restricting immigration. It prohibited Chinese immigration for ten years.

Settlement of the West:

  1. The Homestead Act gave farmers free land for settlement and farming in the Great Plains and Far West.
  2. Miners were attracted to the West by the strikes of precious metals including the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the Klondike (Alaska) Gold Rush of 1896.
  3. Indian Wars led to the defeat of American Indians who were sent to reservations. The Dawes Act gave tribal lands to individual Indians, who often sold these lands. American Indians did not become citizens of the United States until the American Indian Citizenship Act was passed in 1924.

Progressive Era

What is the Progressive Era?:

  1. During the Progressive Era, Americans adopted important reforms to meet the new problems posed by industrialization and urbanization.
  2. Progressives sought reform. They were mainly educated members of the middle class. They sought to correct abuses of big business, such as exploiting workers. They also sought to reform the corrupt practices of government.
  3. The roots of the movement were with the Populists, muckrakers, and Social Gospel Movement.

Important Progressives:

  1. Jane Addams – leader in the settlement house movement; founded Hull House
  2. W.E.B. Du Bois – African American leader who helped found the NAACP
  3. Ida B. Wells – African American leader who fought against lynching
  4. Upton Sinclair – muckraker; wrote The Jungle, exposing abuses of meat-packing industry
  5. Jacob Riis – muckraker; photographs showed poverty in urban areas

Progressive Presidents:

  1. Theodore Roosevelt believed in a strong Presidency, and used his powers to safeguard the public interest. He used anti-trust laws to curb the unfair practices of business. His Square Deal program passed laws protecting consumers.
  2. Woodrow Wilson furthered Progressive reforms with his New Freedom program. He lowered tariff duties and created the Federal Reserve System to control the nation’s money supply. To control unfair practices of big business, he passed the Clayton Anti-Trust Act, creating the Federal Trade Commission.

Progressive Laws:

  1. Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act
  2. 16th Amendment: government has power to collect tax on income
  3. 17th Amendment: citizens elect Senators directly
  4. 19th Amendment: women get the right to vote

Imperialism/American Expansion

Spanish-American War:

  1. Causes: humanitarian concerns for Cubans, protect US interests in Cuba, Yellow Journalism, sinking of the USS Maine
  2. Results: US defeats Spain; gets to keep Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Cuba wins independence (sort of)

Reasons for a Colonial Empire:

  1. Need for raw materials and markets
  2. Colonies would help strengthen US Navy—show other countries how powerful US was
  3. Spread Christian religion to rest of world

US in Asia:

  1. Open Japan to Trade: Commodore Matthew Perry open Japan to trade (by force?), ending Japanese isolation
  2. Philippine-American War: Filipinos do not want to be US colony and rebel; US puts down rebellion at great cost
  3. Open Door Policy: All countries should be allowed to trade with China
  4. Hawaii (and other islands): US begins acquiring Pacific islands for refueling stations and naval bases

US in Latin America:

  1. Roosevelt Corollary: US has right to act as “police” power in Latin America
  2. Panama Canal: built on isthmus of Panama to connect Atlantic and Pacific US fleets (no Panamanians approved of plan)
  3. Cuba under indirect control of US (not really independent)

World War I (aka The Great War)

Causes:

  1. In Europe, Militarism, Alliance System, Imperialism, and Nationalism (MAIN)
  2. Spark: the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
  3. US Involvement: came about because of economic ties with England and France, the Zimmerman telegram, and unrestricted submarine warfare

World War I Highlights:

  1. New Weapons: machine guns, poison gas, air planes, tanks all lead to trench warfare
  2. Selective Service Act (the Draft) used to build US Army
  3. Germany defeated

World War I Results:

  1. Wilson’s Fourteen Points: plan for global peace (ignored by other nations)
  2. Treaty of Versailles: officially ended war; Germany blamed and punished severely
  3. League of Nations, global organization to promote peace and cooperation, is formed

The “Roaring Twenties”

Adjusting to Peace:

  1. The Red Scare: fear of communist revolutions in the US (because of communist revolution in Russia) leads to arrest and detention of thousands of immigrants and “radicals”
  2. Sacco and Vanzetti put on trial, found guilty of robbery, and executed (because they were immigrants) (oh, they were probably innocent)
  3. Fears of immigrants and Radicals leads to emergence of the “new” Ku Klux Klan

20s Culture and Values:

  1. Prohibition: alcohol now illegal (but everyone keeps drinking it anyway)
  2. Scopes Monkey Trial: John Scopes arrested for teaching evolution, trial becomes symbol for traditional values vs. modern values
  3. Eugenics: pseudo-scientific belief that human race could improve through breeding
  4. Immigration from Asia, Latin America, and southern and eastern Europe restricted (because of eugenics)
  5. Flappers: women who enjoyed social freedom (smoking, drinking, dancing, etc.)
  6. Harlem Renaissance: an awakening of African American music, art, literature, dance, culture centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City
  7. Pop Culture Heroes: Charles Lindberg (flew across Atlantic non-stop), Babe Ruth (baseball), Jack Dempsey (boxing)

20s Presidents and the Economy:

  1. Three Republican Presidents: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover
  2. Republican Economic Policies: Lower taxes on wealthy (trickle-down economics), relaxed enforcement of laws and regulations, high tariffs (taxes) on foreign goods
  3. Automobile: Henry Ford used assembly line to mass produce cars; led to lower prices and more sales
  4. Radio: nation-wide broadcasts created an “American” experience (same programs heard everywhere)
  5. Advertising: created demand for new products
  6. Credit: Americans went into debt to buy new products

Great Depression and New Deal

Causes of the Depression:

  1. Overproduction: more products (farm and factory) manufactured than people could buy
  2. Speculation: people made risky investments (in the Stock Market and real estate) hoping to strike it rich
  3. Republican Economic Policies: Lower taxes on wealthy (trickle-down economics), relaxed enforcement of laws and regulations, high tariffs (taxes) on foreign goods
  4. Uneven Distribution of Wealth: rich get richer, poor get poorer
  5. Shaky Banking Practices: banks invested depositor’s money in stock market
  6. Stock Market crashes and millions of people are affected

Human Impact:

  1. No safety net: high unemployment, bank failures, home and farm foreclosures
  2. Dust Bowl: drought and high winds created dust storms which buried homes and destroyed farms; farmers leave looking for better life (Okies)
  3. President Hoover’s Response to the Depression: people need to suck it up

Franklin D Roosevelt Takes Over:

  1. Roosevelt’s Background: governor of New York, in a wheelchair because of polio
  2. “The Brian Trust:” FDR’s advisors (from all political ideologies) who helped create the New Deal
  3. Fireside Chats: Roosevelt used the radio to speak directly to the American people
  4. The New Deal: FDR’s plan for beating the Great Depression, focused on Relief, Recovery, and Reform

Relief:

  1. Definition: Short-term actions to help people until the economy recovers
  2. Example: Bank Holiday: closed all banks and only reopened “healthy” banks
  3. Examples: Civilian Conservation Corp, Public Works Administration, Works Progress Administration: jobs programs to get people back to work.

Recovery:

  1. Definition: Restore incentives to produce to help the economy recover
  2. Example: National Recovery Administration: asked businesses to follow standard pricing, production limits, and minimum wage
  3. Example: Agriculture Adjustment Acts: government actions meant to stabilize the farming industry

Reform:

  1. Definition: fix the problems so that the Depression never happens again
  2. Example: FDIC: insured bank deposits to restore confidence in banks
  3. Example: SEC: watchdog agency to protect from another stock market collapse
  4. Example: Social Security Act: provided a safety net for older and disabled workers

World War II

Causes of World War II:

  1. Rise of military dictatorships in Europe: Benito Mussolini in Italy, Adolf Hitler in Germany
  2. Failure of Appeasement: concessions made to Hitler for peace were unsuccessful in stopping Germany’s expansion
  3. Japanese aggression leads to expansion in Pacific: invades Manchuria (1931), China (1937) and Indochina (1940)

US in the War:

  1. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) causes US to enter the war
  2. US uses rationing to conserve scarce resources
  3. Japanese-Americans put in internment camps (fear of spies and sabotage)
  4. Women and African Americans take a larger role in the workforce; production rises
  5. President Roosevelt dies during war, Vice President Truman takes over

Fighting in World War II (Europe):

  1. Holocaust: killing of Jews and other minority groups
  2. Battle: Stalingrad—Russian city targeted by Germany, heavy casualties on eastern front
  3. Battle: D-Day—Allied invasion of Normandy; opened a second (western) front in Europe; turning point in the war!

Fighting in World War II (Pacific):

  1. Bataan Death March: US prisoners in the Philippines forced to march 60 miles to prison camp; 5,000 soldiers died on march
  2. Battle: Midway—US stopped Japanese advance in the Pacific, turning point in war!
  3. Island Hopping: jumping from island to island to reach Japan
  4. Battle: President Truman decides to drop atomic bombs on Japanese cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki); Japan surrenders, war comes to an end

Cold War and 1950s America

Differences Between the US and Soviet Union:

  1. US is a democracy and believes in the free enterprise system
  2. Soviet Union was a dictatorship and believed in communism

Origins of Cold War:

  1. Soviet Union occupied countries in Eastern Europe after the war and set up local communist governments
  2. Iron Curtain: the Soviets “cut off” Eastern Europe from Western Europe
  3. Germany divided into east and west
  4. Berlin also divided; Soviet Union blocks US access to Berlin; US airlifts supplies until blockade ended
  5. US decides to use “containment” to stop the spread of communism

Examples of Containment:

  1. Truman Doctrine (1947): help Greece and Turkey resist communism with $400 million dollars in aid
  2. Marshall Plan (1948): help rebuild Western Europe with $17 billion dollars in aid
  3. NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization; military alliance pledged to defend Western Europe form possible attack
  4. Warsaw Pact created by Soviet Union to counter threat of NATO

Korean War:

  1. Communist North Korea invades South Korea
  2. UN and US pledge troops to support South Korea led by General Douglas McArthur
  3. China enters the war to defend against possible attack
  4. President Truman fires General McArthur after McArthur criticized Truman’s decision to NOT use atomic bombs
  5. War ends in a stalemate (tie) as borders remain the same as before the war

Cold War at Home:

  1. Senator Joseph McCarthy claims there are communist spies in government; holds hearings, ruins peoples’ lives (McCarthyism = witch hunts)
  2. Launch of Soviet satellite Sputnik leads to massive US spending on math and science education and creation of NASA

Life in 1950s America:

  1. GI Bill provides returning soldiers money for homes or college
  2. Housing boom as new homes are built; millions move to suburbs
  3. Period of great economic Prosperity

Civil Rights Movement

Court cases:

  1. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): made segregation (separate but equal) LEGAL in the US
  2. Brown v. Board of Education (1954): made segregation in school ILLEGAL in the US

Leaders:

  1. Martin Luther King, Jr.: African-American; believed in non-violent resistance
  2. Malcolm X: African-American; believed in black self-determination and self-defense
  3. Betty Friedan: White woman; wrote The Feminine Mystique about the unhappiness women faced (as housewives); started the women’s liberation movement
  4. Cesar Chavez: Hispanic labor leader; fought for the United Farm Workers

Highlights:

  1. For African-Americans: Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955), Integration of Little Rock High School (1957), Sit-In Movement (1960), Freedom Rides (1961), Birmingham Campaign (1963), March on Washington and “I Have a Dream Speech” (1963)
  2. Civil Rights Act of 1964: bans discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
  3. Voting Rights Act of 1965: ended tactics used to prohibit minority voting like poll taxes and literacy tests
  4. Black Power Movement: sought African-American control over their own communities to free themselves from domination of white culture
  5. Chicano Movement: sought to end discrimination and racism against Mexican-Americans
  6. Women’s Liberation Movement: sought economic and social equality for women
  7. American Indian Movement: sought compensation for lost land and to raise respect for Native Americans and improve conditions on reservations

Presidencies of JFK and LBJ

Kennedy Highlights:

  1. Challenged Americans to land a man on the moon
  2. Started Peace Corps: volunteer program to promote peace and friendship
  3. Bay of Pigs Invasion: plan to start revolution in Cuba; was a total failure
  4. Cuban Missile Crisis: when nuclear missiles are discovered in Cuba, JFK orders naval blockade; peaceful outcome avoids nuclear war with Soviet Union

Johnson Highlights:

  1. Passed Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act
  2. Great Society: Johnson’s plan to improve the quality of life for all Americans
  3. Escalates war in Vietnam

Vietnam War

  1. Vietcong, with North Vietnamese support, attack government of South Vietnam
  2. US supports South Vietnam because of containment and the Domino Theory
  3. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) gives president authority to take “all necessary action” to defeat Vietcong
  4. President Johnson escalates war with constant bombing and over 500,000 troops
  5. Battle: Tet Offensive (1968): massive attack by Vietcong; US barely defeats them
  6. War on TV: people see firsthand horrors of war; support for war drops
  7. US pulls out of Vietnam in 1975; South Vietnam conquered by North Vietnam one month later
  8. War Powers Act (1973): Congress limited president’s war making powers

Nixon and Watergate

  1. Created Environmental Protection Agency
  2. Signed Endangered Species Act into law
  3. Opened friendly trade relations with Communist China
  4. Followed détente (relaxation of tensions) with the Soviet Union; SALT treaty signed
  5. Orders break-in and cover-up of break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in Watergate Office Complex
  6. Cover-up exposed; Nixon refuses to release tapes or testify; claims executive privilege
  7. Nixon going to be impeached (accused of a crime); resigns before vote could take place

Presidencies of Ford and Carter

  1. Ford only president appointed, not elected
  2. Ford pardons Nixon; very unpopular
  3. OPEC oil boycott = energy crisis in US; prices on goods go up
  4. Carter elected President in 1976
  5. Must deal with Stagflation: prices go up (inflation), wages go down
  6. Moral leadership: Returned Panama Canal to Panama; helped create peace accords with Israel and Egypt; boycott of Moscow Olympics
  7. Iran Hostage Crisis: Americans taken hostage by Iranian revolutionaries for 444 days; Carter unsuccessful in getting them released

Presidencies of Reagan and Bush

  1. Reaganomics (aka supply-side or trickledown economics): tax cuts on wealthy and deregulation on industries to promote economic growth
  2. Appoints Sandra Day O’Connor to Supreme Court (first woman on court)
  3. Iran-Contra Affair: sold arms to Iran to earn money to support the contras in Nicaragua; both of these things were illegal!
  4. Bush Presidency faces growing budget deficit; Bush forced to raise taxes to pay deficit
  5. Cold War ends when Soviet Union collapses; Berlin Wall torn down
  6. Persian Gulf War: US sends forces to protect Kuwait after Iraqi invasion

Presidencies of Clinton, Bush and Obama