I. Introduction

• Recorded human history is only one small portion of earth history
• European explorers “stumbled” on the Americas, altering the course of history in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa

II. The Shaping of North America

• Geologic forces and climate change created the distinctive No. American continent

III. Peopling the Americas

• Ancient Americans probably crossed the Bering “land bridge” from Asia between 35,000 and 10,000 years ago (25,000 year window). Receding ice and rising oceans eliminated the bridge.
• These peoples slowly migrated and inhabited both continents, perhaps numbering up to 54 mill. by 1492 AD (4 mill. In No Amer)

IV. The Earliest Americans

• Corn/maize was the central agricultural crop that sustained many of the Indian cultures, moving them from nomadic hunters toward settled agricultural societies
• Complex maize culture spread slowly from Mexico north and east into No. Amer, reaching the southeast as late as 1000 AD – Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees – three-sister farming: corn, beans, squash
• Iroquois developed their confederacy as late as the 1500s
• Most American societies were small & migratory – women farmed, men hunted – women often held political and cultural authority
• Though Americans did not dominate the land, they still manipulated it to meet their agricultural needs

V. Indirect Discoverers of the New World== 

• Despite early settlements in NE NoAmer @ 1000AD, norse explorers lacked the social organization to maintain them
• European expansion and connections with Africa and Asia were the catalysts for “discovering America
• Crusades familiarized Europe with exotic and desirable goods that they were now willing to take risks to trade for
• Expense of trade through middlemen in Asia led Euros to search for alternative routes they could control

VI. Europeans Enter Africa

• Development of the caravel in 1400s and a new route home by Portuguese allowed Europeans to sail south to sub-Saharan Africa
• Portuguese merchants set up posts in Africa to trade in gold and slaves, both of which were already established markets in Africa
• Portuguese also set up plantation agriculture systems for sugar in Atlantic/African islands – commercial crops, dependent upon enslaved labor
• Dias (1488) rounded So Africa & Da Gama (1498) sailed to India, establishing a direct water route to Asia
• Newly unified Spain (Isabella & Ferdinand) sought to compete with Portugal by finding an alternate route, looking west

VII. Columbus Comes Upon a New World

• Many factors set the stage enabling Columbus’ achievement to become a momentous historical shift:
• European desire for more Asian and African products – at a cheaper price
• African systems of enslaved labor were adopted by the Portuguese & Spanish for plantation agric.
• Long range ocean navigation by Europeans was now possible with better technology, inluding the compass
• New Spanish nation-state provided the money, political will and power to undertake exploration & colonization
• Renaissance nurtured a spirit of optimism and human achievement
• Printing press enabled spread of knowledge & ideas
• Columbus sought a new route to Asia – his discovery of America was not his goal
• 1492 changed the Atlantic world forever – Europe (markets, $, technology) Africa (labor) Americas (raw materials)

VIII. When Worlds Collide

• An ecological exchange complemented the social exchange between Euro, Africa and Amer.

New World Provided:	Old World (Europe) provided:	Africa provided:
gold, silver
corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, chocolate	wheat, sugar, rice, coffee
syphilis	smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, etc
	Horses, cows, pigs
		Enslaved labor

• New World foods became dominant foods for modern world & fed pop growth in Euro and Africa
• Old World diseases devastated Indians who had lowered or no resistance to them: killed up to 90% of population

IX. The Spanish Conquistadores

• Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) gives Spain bulk of American claims (Portugal can claim Brazil) – becomes dominant in exploration and colonization
• God, Gold and Glory fuel the conquistadores
• New World gold and silver created wealth in Europe and set off inflation (500% ca. 1550-1650) & laid foundation for modern banking, money and capitalism
• Carib. islands were jump-off pints for conquests of Americas
• Encomienda – a system of enslaving Indians – gov’t would give Indian populations to landholders in exchange for promise to Christianize them

X. The Conquest of Mexico

• Hernan Cortes was able to use his own men, weapons, Indian allies and devastating diseases to gradually overcome the Aztec Empire (in Mexico), beginning in 1619 and culminating in August 1621
• Spanish rule was marked by the introduction of Spanish culture and customs and intermarriage with Indians

XI. The Spread of Spanish America

• By the 1550’s, hundreds of Spanish towns and cities flourished in Amer. – est. Cathedrals, converting Indians, est. colleges
• Spain sought to protect its empire from encroachments by other Euro. countries (Eng., France) further north by establishing provinces
• New Mexico est. in 1609; est, settlements in lower Miss. and Texas (1716); California missions (1769+)
• Subjugated natives and suppressed their culture
• Popé’s Rebellion (1680) – native reaction to Spanish rule and religious suppression in New Mex – Spain did not regain full control until 1720s
• “Black Legend” – exaggeration of Spanish rule perpetuated by other Europeans - that the Spanish only tortured the Americans, stole their gold; but Spanish rule was marked by a more full cultural fusion between Spain, and Indians

 

I. Introduction

• By the 1600s, the New World was profoundly altered by Spanish colonization with a changed ecology, disease, conquest and enslavement
• North America was about to be further transformed by Spanish, English and French colonization

II. England’s Imperial Stirrings

• Domestic religious and political conflict meant limited English interest in colonization in the 16th Cent
• Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne (1558) brought stability, and a new rivalry with Catholic Spain, leading to a new interest in imperialism
• Ireland was the first object of English imperialism as the British conquered the “savage” Irish

III. Elizabeth Energizes the England

• New English efforts at expansion – pirates/buccaneers raided Spanish ships and colonies – Francis Drake
• Newfoundland (1583) and Roanoke Island (1585) were two early attempts at settlement – both failed
• Defeat of Spanish Armada by England in 1588 marked the beginning of the end of the Spanish dominance – Sp. began losing its vast empire – too large to manage
• 1588 a “red-letter” date in American history – started England on its way to naval dominance, which in turn secured prosperity for American colonies

IV. England on the Eve of Empire

• Many factors contributed to England’s colonization
  • Large population growth – 3 mill (1550)  4 mill (1600) --- provides people
  • Enclosure of land forced many farmers off the land, looking for a place to be (some turned to Puritanism) --- provides people and motive
  • Primogeniture also left younger sons with a need to find some other avenue to wealth – provides people and motive
  • Joint-stock company allowed several investors (“adventurers”) to pool money for a larger “pot” of capital – provides financial capital
  • Relative peace permitted exploration and colonization without distraction

V. England Plants the Jamestown Seedling

• Virginia Co gets charter to colonize in N. America – investors sought gold and trade routes, viewed as a short term investment
• Charter guarantees to settlers same English rights as if in England
• Jamestown est. May, 1607
• Many settlers suffered from disease and failures to properly prepare/provision the colony
  • By 1610 only 60 of 400 settlers survived
• Lord De La Warr assumed “command” of Virginia in 1610 and developed it into viable colony
  • Still, by 1825 only 1200 of 8000 settler survived

VI. Cultural Clash in the Chesapeake

• Conflict with N. Americans centered on competition for land – desire of colonists for it and desire of Indians to protect it (conflict not based on trade, or labor/enslavement)
• Colonists call for “perpetual war” in 1620s
• First Anglo-Powhatan War (1610-1614) ends in truce; Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1644-1646) ends with British victory – separation of populations
• English initially saw little or no role for Nat. Americans in colonial economy, but rather as a competitor for land and resources

VII. The Indians’ New World

• As in rest of new World, disease wreaked havoc on Native populations and cultures, weakening abilities to effectively cope with colonizers
• Many nations lost their histories, traditional lands and economic foundation tied to land, flexible movement and trade networks
• Inter-tribal competition increased with introduction of European communities – Nat. Americans and Europeans gradually increased trade relations and became an important part of the Atlantic economy
• Inland nations (Algonqians in Grt. Lakes) were able to exploit British and French competition, but not permanently

VIII. Virginia: Child of Tobacco

• Tobacco, initially cultivated by Rolfe became the key economic commodity of colonial Virginia --- created demand for land and helped push settlements upriver and westward (more conflict with Nat. Americans)
• Labor intensive commodity economy
• Enslaved Africans brought in 1619, but enslaved labor was limited until end of 1600s – instead relied on indentured servitude
• House of Burgesses est. 1619 – first representative assembly in America
• Became a Royal Colony in 1624 (James I revoked charter)

IX. Maryland: Catholic Haven

• 4th colony est. 1634 – Lord Baltimore (Catholic) – proprietary
• Small number of large landholders (Catholic) surrounded by small farmers (Protestant)
• Tobacco main crop; indentured servants/small landholders main labor force
• Act of Toleration (1649) meant to protect religious rights of all Christians and Catholic minority. Protections not extended to Jews or atheists
• Representative assembly part of gov’t

X. The West Indies: Way Station to Mainland America

• Spain lost, England gained Caribbean island colonies by mid 1600s
• Economy based on sugar cultivation – required large amounts of land, extended time to properly cultivate a crop, large amount of labor to plant, grow and process for trade – meant large wealth/capital required to invest --- plantation system
• Staple crops imported from other colonies
• Labor needs were met by importation and enslavement of Africans – 250,000 between 1640-1690 – and Nat Americans
• Massive enslavement called for social and legal controls – brutality and “slave codes” that limited the rights African and Afro-Caribbean slaves – Barbados Slave Code. These ideas for controlling enslaved peoples were later brought to American South

XI. Colonizing the Carolinas

• Colonization efforts in America gained ground during the Restoration period (1660s)
• Carolinas developed trade connections with Caribbean colonies, including an Indian slave trade – rice became a key staple crop
• Africans also imported for labor and agricultural skills
• Frequent conflicts with Nat. American and Florida Spanish

XII. The Emergence of North Carolina

• Populated by migrant from Virginia – typically poorer, owning small farms, not a religious community
• Frequent wars with Nat. Americans – drove out Tuscaroras
• Separated from Carolina (So. Carolina) in 1712

XII. Late-Coming Georgia: The Buffer Colony

• Est. in 1733 – much later than other 13 in No. America, population remained small
• Intended to be a haven for debtors/prisoners as well as a buffer to Spanish antagonists from Florida
• Slavery initially outlawed, permitted after 1750

XIV. The Plantation Colonies

• Common traits:
  • Commercial agriculture – tobacco & rice
  • Enslaved labor used
  • Large landholders dominated social structure (less in No Carolina and Georgia)
  • Slow development of cities; spread out sparse populations; few community institutions (schools)
  • Anglican/Episcopalian church dominant religion
  • Expansive – westward penetration

 

I. Introduction

• Distinctive differences in the process of colonization between northern and southern colonies shaped each region’s culture

II. The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism

• Calvinism evolved from the Protestant reformation and became the dominant theology for the northern colonies
  • God is all powerful and all knowing; who is going to heaven (elect) and hell has been predestined
  • Humans are not God and cannot know if they are among the elect – start looking for signs of conversion/grace. If a person realizes they are among the elect, they are expected to live their life accordingly, be a “visible saint”
• Calvinists in England sought to go further than Henry VIII and actually “purify” their church – connected well with the socially displaced “victims” of economic changes in England, like the woolen districts, who sought order in a now disordered world
• Some Calvinists/Puritans became increasingly selective – suggested that only the “visible saints” should be members of the Church of England. These Separatists would break from the Ch of Eng to prove thier point
  • James I was happy to let them do so – just in America

III. The Pilgrims End Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth

• Pilgrims sought a refuge from both religious and cultural harassment – agreed to settle in Virginia
• Sailed with other non-Separatists in 1620, but missed Virginia, ended up squatting in Cape Cod
• All eligible signed the Mayflower Compact, agreement to form a gov’t based on majority-rule
• Difficult winter was followed by a prosperous harvest in 1621
• Colony quickly became stable socially and economically, though small
• William Bradford important governor
• The mixing of Separatists and non-Separtists prevented colony from become the true religious model the Pilgrims intended

IV. The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth

• Massachusetts Bay founded by more moderate Puritans in 1629, same year Charles I abolished Parliament and began persecuting Puritans
• Began settling in 1630, well-provisioned and populated (1,000 colonizers) and became an outlet for more Puritan migration through the 1640s (~20,000 to Mass Bay, while almost 50,00 migrated to W. Indies)
• Also quickly develop a strong diversified economy and a stable society of like-minded colonists who sought a new community as well as wealth and prosperity
• “City upon a hill” – an model for others – the right blend of faith, work, social structure

V. Building the Bay Colony

• “Democratic” governance a basis for community
  • Town meetings – all property holders could have a say
  • Colonial government elected – though only Church members (“visible saints” or freemen) could vote, still large proportion (2/5ths) of population than in England
  • Government was supposed to enforce the authoritative religious ideas, and impose them on all colonists, including the non-believers. All colonists supported both the gov’t and the Church with taxes
  • Congregations could hire/fire ministers, clergy barred from holding political office
• Protestant ethic – celebrated work
• Although recognized physical/wordly desires and needs, Puritans sought to repress indulgence in pleasure – “blue laws” imposed strict social mores

VI. Trouble In The Bible Commonwealth

• Mass Bay was not a homogeneous society – non-believers and other forms of Protestant belief existed in the colony, challenging the authority of both the Congregational Church and gov’t
  • Quakers openly challenged Puritan othrodoxy – punished by gov’t
  • Anne Hutchinson – antinomianism – the elect had no need to live a pious life – banished for beliefs in 1638
  • Roger Williams – a separatist who pushed the moderate Mass. Puritans; sought a firmer separation between church and gov’t – banished for agitation in 1636

VII. The Rhode Island “Sewer”

• Colony est. by banished Williams 1636, chartered 1644 – developed a very liberal organization
  • True freedom of religion and toleration
  • No compulsory attendance at worship
  • No tax supported church
  • Broad voting rights (though eventually adopted property qualification)
• Characterized as independent and individualist society

VIII. New England Spreads Out

• Several small settlements throughout New England were established and attracted migrants from Mass as well as England
• Connecticut/Hartford wrote Fundamental Orders (1639), a constitutional document using democratic principles
• New Haven (west of Conn R.) modeled after Mass – forced to merge with Conn in 1662
• Maine & New Hampshire– initially fishing outposts (before Plymouth), peppered by small settlements – NH joined Mass 1641, separated in 1679; Maine joined Mass 1677

 

I. Introduction

• Development of permanent settlements
• Cultures adapting to each other
• Strong ties to the economy of the Atlantic

II. The Unhealthy Chesapeake

• Life was brutal for early settlers
• Diseases like malaria, dysentery, and typhoid ran rampant
• Life expectancy was greatly reduced compared to England
• Settlements grew slowly as starting a family was difficult due to the lack of young women
• Eventually people gained immunity and Virginia started to grow

III. The Tobacco Economy

• The Chesapeake was so hospitable to tobacco that settlers planted it before corn to eat
• Settlers pushed into virgin territories to find fresh soil
• Tobacco farms grew so rapidly there was a shortage of labor
• Help came in the form of indentured servants who worked in exchange for passage and ‘freedom dues’
• Virginia and Maryland employed the headright system where the master that brought over servants gained extra land
• Indentured servants eventually made up ¾ of immigrants

IV. Frustrated Freedmen and Bacon’s Rebellion

• The number of landless, single young men grew rapidly
• A group of rebels led by Nathaniel Bacon attacked Indians and burned the capital in response to the Governor’s inactions
• The Rebellion was quelled but it illuminated a division between the gentry and frontiersmen
• Without the prospect of future indentured servants, the tobacco empire looked toward Africa

V. Colonial Slavery

• In 1698 the Royal African Company lost its monopoly on the slave trade
• Americans cashed in, bringing cheaper slaves to the colonies in much greater number than before – Africans made up half Virginia’s population by 1750
• Most slaves were captured from tribes of the west coast of Africa, brand and bound and transported over the middle passage
• Survivors of the journey were put on auction blocks in the colonies
• Slaves codes were enacted to regulate slave life

VI. Africans in America

• The South was the harshest on a slave’s well being
• The tobacco farms were easier due to their organization
• With the growth of native born African-Americans, a distinct culture developed

VII. Southern Society

• Social structure widened and a hierarchy became defined
• At the top were rich, hard working planters; following them were the small farmers; and third were the servant class

VIII. The New England Family

• Cooler climate limited disease
• Life expectancy actually increased for NE settlers
• Families were commonplace and the center of life
• Women had children every two years for 20+ years leading to large families and a steady growing population
• Differences in social structure and life expectancy of males led to differences in the legal rights of women

IX. Life in the New England Towns

• Based on small villages and farms
• People clustered due to Indians, the French and Dutch, and tenants of unity of Puritanism
• Growth was orderly; towns were legally chartered, distribution of land was closely regulated by proprietors
• Many towns had a meeting house and elementary school – education was important (Puritans founded Harvard)

X. The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials

• Puritan beliefs were strong but church control was fading
• To address the declined in conversions and membership, ministers created the Half-Way Covenant
• The Half-Way Covenant reduced restriction of church membership making the church less exclusive in hopes increase membership
• In 1692 hysteria swept through Salem, Massachusetts as 20 young girls were killed after being accused of being bewitched

XI. The New England Way of Life

• Stony soil led New Englanders to a hardworking lifestyle
• Immigrants were uncommon due to the lack of easy profit
• The climate and geography led to a diversifies agriculture and industry
• Europeans sought to improve the land by clearing wood, building roads, and settling
• The English brought a myriad of livestock
• The rocky soil led New Englanders to focus on the harbors – timber and shipbuilding became a major industry

XII. The Early Settlers’ Days and Ways

• Life was ruled by the seasons – planting in the spring, tending in the summer, harvesting in the fall
• Early to bed and early to rise
• Women undertook household labor while men tended to outdoor labor
• Frontier life did not see a division of classes
• Attempts to recreate stratified societies like Europe proved futile

 

 

I. Introduction:

• Britain controlled 32 colonies in North America but only 13 get the distinction of rebelling

• Distinct social, economic and political structures played a major role

II. Conquest by Cradle

• The colonists doubled their numbers every 25 years

• In 1700 there were 20 English subjects to every one American subject; by 1775 that advantage had fallen to 3 to 1

• Most of the population settled east of the Alleghenies while only a few pioneers ventured into Kentucky and Tennessee

• The most populous states were Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Maryland

• The only cities were Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Charleston

III. A Mingling of Races

• America had the reputation of a ‘melting pot’ from the outset

• Germans made up 6% of the population and settled largely in Pennsylvania

• Scots-Irish made up 7% of the population, settling in Pennsylvania and pushing west into the frontier

• Numerous European groups made up another 5%

• African accounted for 20%

• All of these groups mingled and intermarried creating a national identity not found anywhere in Europe

IV. The Structure of Colonial Society

• While seventeenth century America was marked by general equality with a lack of a noble class, eighteenth century America began to “Europeanize”

• Merchant elites were class, as were widows and orphans, wage laborers, and public charity cases

• A lower class of paupers and criminals formed

• The lowest class were slaves

V. Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists

• Christian ministry was the most honored profession

• Physicians and doctors were not held in high esteem; remedies were bizarre

• Lawyers were not held in high esteem

VI. Workaday America

• Agriculture was the leading industry, involving 90% of the population

• Fishing and whaling were profitable ventures

• Triangular trade developed between America, Europe, and the Caribbean

• Manufacturing took a backseat to agriculture and trading

• Lumbering was most important among manufacturing fields

• The American colonies built up so many overseas trading partners that Britain began to take notice and become involved

VII. Horsepower and Sailpower

• Roads were horrible and land travel took immense amounts of time

• To avoid roads, people tried to rely on rivers for transport

• Establishments such as halls and taverns sprang up along major routes

VIII. Dominant Denominations

• The Church of England , or Anglican Church, was the official faith of Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and part of New York

• The Congregational Church, which had grown out of the Puritan Church, was established in the New England colonies

• Churches were hurt by not having a resident bishop but were wary of strengthening the king’s hand in America

IX. The Great Awakening

• The Puritan churches had two burdens: their elaborate theological doctrines and their compromising efforts to liberalize membership

• Many followers began to loosen up on the Calvinist idea of predestination

• Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield were masterful orators who spread messages of baptism, human helplessness, and the need for divine omnipotence

• Many effects = emotive spirituality undermined older clergy, increased competitiveness between churches, encouraged missionary work, led to founding of colleges

X. Schools and Colleges

• Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth

• Education focused on making good Christians before good citizens

• Colonial schools emphasized religion, classical languages, doctrine and dogma

• Colleges were needed to produce new ministers

XI. A Provincial Culture

• Art and culture was still modeled after European tastes

• Architecture was all modeled after the Old World

• Literature and art was undistinguished

• Ben Franklin made strides as the first “civilized” American

XII. Pioneer Presses

• Hand-operated printing presses cranked out pamphlets, leaflets, and journals

• Around 40 newspapers were in circulation in the late 1700’s

• News lagged weeks behind

• The Zenger Trial paved the way for freedom of the press after John Peter Zenger criticized New York’s governor

XIII. The Great Game of Politics

• Colonial governments took various forms

• Some were royal governors, proprietors, and elected governors

• Every colony used a two-house legislative body

• Voting was done by men that owned property

XIV. Colonial Folkways

• Food was plentiful although plain

• Churches were not heated, homes were drafty, there was no running water

• Amusement and social gatherings were sought after and welcomed in many forms

• Despite differences, the colonies bore striking similarities in language, customs, religion

 

Deep Roots ot Revolution

 

• 2 main ideas of government had started to form in the colonists' minds
  - Republicanism and "radical" Whigs

 

Mercantilism and Colonial Grievances

 

• Every colony, besides Georgia, wasn't formally founded by the British government
• Mercantilism - the British theory that justified their control over the colonies
• The Navigation Law - 1650, the first law Parliament passed to regulate the colonies

 

Merits and Menace of Mercantilism

 

• Benefits - tobacco planters and other colonies, protection of the English navy
• Burdens -  liabilities, colonies felt used

 

 The Stamp Tax Uproar

 

• Prime Minister George Grenville - the main man that enforced the Navigation Laws

• 1763 - Navigation Law
• 1764 - Sugar Act
  -raising the tax revenue on sugar
• 1765 - Quartering Act
  -required to provide food and lodging to British soliders, even private homes
• 1765 - Stamp Act
  -tax on info. papers, legal documents etc

Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act

 

• The Parliament was forced to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766 becuase of the continuous rebellions of the colonies

 

The Townshend Tea Tax and the Boston "Massacre"

• 1767 - "Champagne Charley" Townshend passed teh Townshend Acts

  -taxed on glass, white lead, paper, paints and, most importantly, tea

• The British sent troops over to the colonies in 1768 that were "drunk"
• March 5, 1770 - A rebellion was started in Boston against the "red coats"

• *1772 - Samuel Adams formed "Committees of Correspondence" in New York ---> spread spirit of resistance
• *1773 - Virginia formed the House of Burgessed
• *1773 - British East India Company was about to go out of business and was going to see tea to the colonies cheap but with a hidden tax ---> infruated colonists
• *1773 December 16 -  The Boston Tea Part

 

The "Intolerable Acts"

-1774 -  named by the colonists, the intolerable acts were a British made series of acts designed to mock America

 

• Boston Port Act
  - closing of the Boston harbor till all damages of the Boston Tea Party were paid for   

• Quartering Act
  -the power to lodge British troops anywhere, even private colonist homes

•  Quebec Act
  -gave the French their Catholic religion adn old customs
   

Bloodshed

• 1774 - forming of the Continental Congress

  ---> 55 men, most significant action was the creation of The Association

• The Association - complete boycott of British goods
• 1775 April - British troops were sent to Lexington and Concord
  --->resulting the Lexington Massacre

 

Imperial Strength and Weakness

• Strength - population, professional army, wealth
• Weakness - soliders were needed at other areas around the globe besides the colonies, distance, lacking leaders, lacking food
   
   
   

 *1781 - The Articles of Confederation were written

Chapter 8
America Secedes from the Empire
1775-1783

Congress Drafts George Washington
The Second Continental Congress selected George Washington to head the army besieging Boston.

Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings
From April 1775 to July 1776, the colonists were both affirming their loyalty to the king by sincerely voicing their desire to patch up difficulties while at the same time raising armies and killing redcoats. In May 1775, a tiny American force under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured the British garrisons at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. There, a store of gunpowder and artillery was secured. In June 1775, the colonists captured Bunker Hill. The British took it back with a large number of soldiers. In July 1775, the Second Continental Congress adopted the "Olive Branch Petition", which professed American loyalty to the king and begged to the king to stop further hostilities. The petition was rejected by the king. With the rejection, the Americans were forced to choose to fight to become independent or to submit to British rule and power. In August 1775, King George III proclaimed that the colonies were in rebellion. He then hired German Hessians to bring order to the colonies.

The Abortive Conquest of Canada
In October 1775, the British burned Falmouth (Portland), Maine. In the same month, colonists made an attack on Canada in hopes that it would close it off as a possible source for a British striking point. The attack failed when General Richard Montgomery was killed. In January 1776, the British set fire to Norfolk.

Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense
The Americans continued to deny any intention of independence because loyalty to the empire was deeply ingrained; many Americans continued to consider themselves apart of a transatlantic community in which the mother country of Britain played a leading role; colonial unity was poor; and open rebellion was dangerous. Thomas Paine released a pamphlet called Common Sense in 1776. It argued that the colonies had outgrown any need for English domination and that they should be given independence.

Paine and the Idea of "Republicanism"
Thomas Paine called for the creation of a new kind of political society, specifically a republic, where power flowed from the people themselves.

Jefferson's Explanation of Independence
On July 2, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia's resolution of declaring independence was passed. It was the formal declaration of independence by the American colonies. Thomas Jefferson was appointed to draft up the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence was formally approved by Congress on July 4, 1776. It was an explanation of everything the king had done to the Americans.

Patriots and Loyalists
During the War of Independence, the Loyalists were called "Tories" and the Patriots were called "Whigs." Tory: "a thing whose head is in England, and its body in America, and its neck ought to be stretched." The Loyalists made up 16% of the American population. Many people of education and wealth remained loyal to England. Loyalists were most numerous where the Anglican church was strongest. The Loyalists were well entrenched in New York City, Charleston, Quaker Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. They were least numerous in New England. The Patriots were numerous where Presbyterianism and Congregationalism flourished-mostly in New England.

The Loyalist Exodus
Before the Declaration of Independence, the Loyalists were treated relatively mild. After, though, they were hanged, imprisoned, and roughly handled. They Loyalists were forced to leave because the Patriots had to eliminate their weaknesses.

General Washington at Bay
The British concentrated New York City as a base of operation due to the fact that Boston was evacuated in March 1776. In 1776, General Washington and his men were overpowered by the British at the Battle of Long Island. Washington and his men escaped to Manhattan Island. General William Howe was General Washington's adversary. On December 26, 1776, Washington surprised and captured 1,000 Hessians who were sleeping.

Burgoyne's Blundering Invasion
London officials had an intricate scheme for capturing the vital Hudson River valley in 1777. It would sever New England from the rest of the states and paralyze the American cause. The main invading force, lead by General Burgoyne, would push down the Lake Champlain route from Canada. General Howe's troops in New York, if needed, could advance up the Hudson River to meet Burgoyne near Albany. The 3rd force was commanded by colonel Barry St. Leger, who would come in from the west by way of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk Valley. General Burgoyne was forced to surrender his entire command at Saratoga on October 17, 1777 to American general Horatio Gates (Burgoyne's Blunder). This win made it possible for the urgently needed foreign aid from France. (Turning point in war.)

Strange French Bedfellows
After the shooting at Lexington in April 1775, French secretly provided arms to the Americans. The British offered the Americans home rule after the Battle of Saratoga. The French didn't want Britain to regain its colonies for fear that Britain would seize the sugar rich French West Indies. In order to stop this, the French made an open alliance with the Americans in 1778, offering all the British did with the exception of independence.

The Colonial War Becomes a World War
Spain and Holland became allies against Britain in 1779. The British decided to evacuate Philadelphia and concentrate their strength in New York City.

Blow and Counterblow
General Benedict Arnold turned traitor against the Americans in 1780. General Nathaniel Greene succeeded in clearing most British troops out of Georgia and South Carolina.

The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix- (1784) the first treaty between the United States and an Indian nation; signed with the Iroquois. George Rogers Clark- conceived the idea of capturing the British of the wild Illinois country in 1778-1779. John Paul Jones is known as the father of the navy. He employed the tactic of privateering. Privateering- when privately owned and crewed vessels were authorized by a government during a wartime to attack and capture enemy vessels, men, cargo, etc; it diverted manpower from the main war effort; it brought in needed gold, harassed the enemy, and raised American morale by providing victories in a time when victories were few.

Yorktown and the Final Curtain
From 1780-1781, the U.S. government fell nearly bankrupt. British General Cornwallis fell back to Chesapeake Bay at Yorktown to await seaborne supplies and reinforcements. This time in war was one of the few times when British naval superiority had been lacking. Admiral de Grasse offered to join the Americans in an assault of Cornwallis via the sea. George Washington, along with Rochambeau's army, and Admiral de Grasse cornered Cornwallis. He was forced to surrender on October 19, 1781.

Peace at Paris
In 1782, a Whig ministry replaced the Tory regime of Lord North. Conditions of the Treaty of Paris of 1783:

• British formally recognized the independence of the United States.
• Florida is given to Spain.
• Britain granted generous boundaries, stretching to the Mississippi on the west, to the Great Lakes on the north, and to Spanish Florida on the south.
• Yankees were to retain a share in the priceless fisheries of Newfoundland.
• The Loyalists were to no longer be prosecuted.
• Congress was to recommend to the state legislatures that confiscated Loyalist property be restored. The states vowed to put no lawful obstacles in the way of Loyalist property collection.

Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay negotiated the peace terms with Britain.

 

  I.    The Pursuit of Equality

1.     Declaration of Independence - "All men are created equal"

2.     Fight for separation of church and State

oCongressional Church established in New England States

oStrongest in Virginia

o1786 Thomas Jefferson won passage of Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom

3.     1775 - Philadelphia Quakers Founded 1st antislavery society (in the world)

4.     1774 - Continental Congress tried to abolish slave trade (Some northern states did)

oLaws still discriminated against slaves

oNo state south of Pennsylvania abolish slavery

oAfraid slavery might break union

5.     1776 - Abigail Adams advocated for women’s rights

oWomen keeps of the nations conscience ( republican motherhood)

II.    Constitution Making in the States

1.     1776 - Continental Congress called to draft new constitutions

2.     Massachusetts created a special convention to creates its constitution

oDirect ratification by the people

o1780 - Mass. adopted Constitution that could only be changed by constitutional convention (later limited to federal Constitution)

3.     British - Constitution is a cummulation of laws

4.     Most documents had a Bill of Rights

5.     All states made executive and judicial branches (weak in comparison to today)

III.    Economic Crosscurrents

1.     Loyalists large land holdings were taken and divided into small farms

2.     America mostly made of farming

3.     Britain cut off good imports

4.     Americans could trade freely with foreign nations

5.     1784 - Express of China carried ginseng to China

6.     Wide divide in rich and poor class

IV.    A Shaky Start Toward Union

1.     1786 - Hard times hit bottom

2.     13 states had similar gov't

3.     Political leaders of time:

oGeorge Washington

oJames Madison

oJohn Adams

oThomas Jefferson

oAlexander Hamilton

 V.    Creating a Confederation

1.    States:

oCoined money

oraised armies and navies

ohad tariff barriers

2.    1778 - Virginia ratified treaty of alliance with France (alone without others states being involved)

3.    1776 - Articles of Confederation

onot ratified by all 13 states until 1781 (last Maryland)

4.    1787 - Northwest Ordinance

5.    Public land handed to Federal gov't (bond of Union)

VI.    The Articles of Confederation Americas First Constitution

1.    Joint action was to be taken by states

2.    No executive branch

3.    Each state had one vote in congress

4.    9 States needed for bills to pass

5.    2 Weaknesses of Congress:

1)    Congress was weak - no power to regulate commerce

2)    Congress could not enforce tax-collection programs.

6.    1783 – Penn soldiers marched to Philadelphia and made threatening demonstrations on Independence Hall

7.    Articles of Confederation acted as a model

oThomas Jefferson claimed it to be the best one exsisting

oWeak

oStepping Stone for current constitution (today)

VII.    Landmarks in Land Laws

1.    1785 – Land Oridinence – acrage of the old Northwest should be used to pay off national debt.

2.    Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – government of the old Northwest

oSolution: judicial compromise

1.    2 evolutionary stages

2.    When it has reached 60,000 inhabitants it could be admitted as a state

VIII.    The World’s Ugly Ducking

1.    Foreign relations with London remain troubled

2.    British believed they would win Americas trade back

3.    Spain unfriendly to new republic in America

4.    1784 – Spain closed river commerce to American trade

5.    Spain claimed large area north of Gulf of Mexico granted to US by British in 1783

6.    Dey of Algiers took American commerce and enslaved Yankee Sailors

IX.    The Horrid Specter of Anarchy

1.    Public debt rising – credit evaporating in foreign nations

2.    States had quarrels

3.    States printed own paper money

4.    Shay’s Rebellion – 1786 in Massachusetts

oBackcountry farmers were loosing farms through mortgages

oLed by Captain Daniel Shay

oThey demanded states issue paper money, lighten taxes, and suspend property takeovers

oMass. responded with small army at Springfield where the movement collapsed

oMass. Legislators soon passed debtor-relief laws

5.    Fear of Mobocracy

6.    need for stronger central gov’t

 X.    A Convention of “Demigods”

1.    1786 – Virginia called for convention in 1786 at Annapolis, MD

o9 States appointed delegates

oOnly 5 states were represented

2.    Alexander Hamilton asked congress to summon a convention for 1787 inPhiladelphia for speaking of Articles of Confederation

oEvery state except RI choose a delegate

o55 state delegates from 12 states met May 25, 1787

oJefferson called the attendants “Demigods”

3.    George Washington elected as chairman

4.    James Madison known as Father of the Constitution

5.    Hamilton wanted a super powerful gov’t

XI.    Patriots in Philadelphia

1.    No delegate represented the poor

2.    Young group and men and interested in nationalism

3.    Lord Sheffield - also a founding father in a sense

4.    Delegates wanted to preserve union and restrain states

5.    Washington - who seen Shay’s Rebellion - was a founding father

XII.    Hammering out a Bundle of Compromises

1.    Completely get rid of Articles (instructions were to revise it)

2.    Virginia – “large-state plan”

oRepresentation in both houses should be based on population

3.    New Jersey – “small-states plan”

oRepresentation in both houses should be equal

4.    “Great Compromise”

oHouse of Representatives- based on population (larger states)

oSenate- equal representation (smaller states) each state having two

oEvery tax bill or revenue measure must originate in the house

5.    President - broad authority

oMake appointments to domestic offices

oVeto legislation

oPower to wage war – Congress (only) could declare war

oMethod of electing president – Electoral College

6.    Slaves counted as 3/5 a person

7.    Slave trade could continue till 1807

oStates already forbid slave trade (except Georgia)

XIII.    Safeguard for Conservationism

1.    3-branches of gov’t

oChecks and balances among them

2.    Federal judges appointed for life

3.    President elected indirectly by Electoral College

4.    Senators indirectly elected by State Legislator

5.    House of Rep. elected directly by citizens

6.    2 principles

o1. Gov’t based on consent of governed

o2. Powers of gov’t should be limited (limited by written Constitution in Americans case)

7.    Convention lasting from May 25 – September 17, 1787

oOnly 42 out of 55 delegates stayed to sign the Constitution

o3 out of the 42 refused to sign

oDelegates returned to states for ratification

XIV.    The Clash of Federalists and Antifederalists

1.    Adopted scheme where only 9/13 states had to ratify the Constitution

2.    Antifederalists opposed strong federal gov’t

oAt odds against federalists who favored it

oKey Antifederalists: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee

oWanted attachment of a Bill of Rights

3.    Federalists – Washington and Franklin

oControlled press

oWealthier

XV.    The Great Debate in States

1.    4 small states accepted Constitution quickly

2.    Officially adopted June 21, 1788 by 9 states

oExcluding Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island

XVI.    The Four Laggard States

1.    Virginia had fierce opposition by Antifederalists

oRatified by 89 to 79

2.    James Madison

o“The Federalist” – book of essays commenting the Constitution

3.    New York ratified

oDecided it could not prosper without the union

o30 to 27

4.    North Carolina and Rhode Island

oBoth unwillingly ratified after new gov’t was in effect

XVII.    A Conservative Triumph

1.    American minority triumphed twice

oAmerican Radicals vs. British Motherhood

oMinority Conservatives overthrew Articles of Confederation

 

States in order of Ratification of the Constitution		Vote #
Delaware	Dec. 7, 1787	Unanimous
Pennsylvania	Dec. 12, 1787	46/23
New Jersey	Dec. 18, 1787	Unanimous
Georgia	Jan. 2, 1788	Unanimous
Connecticut	Jan. 9, 1788	128/40
Massachusetts	Feb. 7, 1788	187/168
Maryland	Apr. 28, 1788	63/11
South Carolina	May 23, 1788	149/73
New Hampshire	Jun. 21, 1788	57/46
Virginia	Jun. 26, 1788	89/79
New York	Jul. 26, 1788	30/27
North Carolina	May 21, 1788	195/77
Rhode Island	May 29, 1790	34/32

 

 

 

Major Themes

• Fundamental disagreements over the functions and policies of the new national government laid the foundations of the American political system.
• Defining a foreign policy based on self-interest was crucial to the survival of the new nation.

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Major Questions

• How critical was George Washington to the early years of the republic?
• What practical & philosophical issues and concerns led to the formation of national political parties?
• What were the overall aims of American foreign policy during the early years of the republic?

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Pre-Reading

• Are there any issues left over from the Revolutionary and Critical periods that might suggest continued conflict under the new Constitution?

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Growing Pains

• when the constitution was launched in 1789, the republic was continuing to grow at an alarming rate
• America's population was still about 90 percent rural, despite the flourishing cities
• People of the western waters in the stump studded clearings of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio were loyal

 

Washington for President

• 1789 Washington was drafted as president by the electoral college
• Washington commanded his followers by strength of character rather than by the arts of the politician.
• April 30th, 1789 Washington took office on a crowded balcony overlooking Wall Street.
• Washington established a cabinet, at first only having three department heads serving under him: Thomas Jefferson (Secretary of State), Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of the Treasury), and Henry Knox (Secretary of War).

The Bill of Rights

• Many anti-federalists criticized the Constitution written in Philadelphia because of it's failure to guarantee individual rights such as freedom of religion and trial by jury though many states had ratified the Constitution under the understanding that those guarantees would soon be included in the Constitution.
• Amendments to the Constitution would be proposed in either of two ways-by a new constitutional convention requested by two thirds of the states or by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress. James Madison determined to draft the amendments himself due to the fear that a new convention might unravel the narrow federalist victory in the ratification struggle.
• 1791, the first eten amendments to the Constitution (Bill of Rights) safeguard some of the most precious American principles. Protected freedom of religion, speech, press, the right to bear arms, right to be tried by jury, and the right to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. It also prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and the arbitrary government seizure of private property.
• Madison inserted a crucial ninth amendment, declaring that specifying certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people
• The first congress also created effective federal courts under the judiciary act of 1789. The act organized the supreme court with a chife justice and five associates as well as federal district and circuit courts and established an office for an attorney general.

Hamilton Revives the Corpse of Public Credit

• Alexander Hamilton: a native of the British West Indies whose genius was unquestioned, loved his adopted country more than his countrymen. He regarded himself as a kind of prime minister in Washington's cabinet and on occasion, became involved into other affairs of different departments, including his arch-rival Thomas Jefferson.
• Hamilton set out immediately to correct the economic vexations that had crippled the Articles of Confederation. His plan was to shape the fiscal policies of the administration to favor wealthier groups in order to receive support from them.
• His first objective was to bolster the national credit. he urged congress to fund the entire national debt at par and to assume completely the debts incurred by the states during the recent war
• Funding par meant that the federal government would pay off its debts at face value plus accumulated interest.
• 1790, congress passed Hamilton's measure, causing buying of paper holdings of farmers, war veterans, and widows.
• 21.5 million assumed debt of the states
• States burdened with heavy debts, like Massachusetts, were for Hamilton's plan unlike states with small debts such as Virginia, were more against. Virginia did not want the state debts assumed. The District of Columbia would gain commerce and prestige.

Customs Duties and Excise Taxes

• The national debt had swelled to $75 million owing to Hamilton's insistence on honoring the outstanding federal and state obligations alike.
• Hamilton's objectives were as much political as economic. He believed that national debt was positive in a way, the more creditors to whom the government owed money, the more people there would be with a personal state in the success of his ambitious enterprise. He wanted to make debt an asset for vitalizing the financial system as well as the government itself.
• Hamilton used tariffs to pay interest on debt. Tariffs revenues depended on a vigorous foreign trade.
• The first tariff law, imposing a low tariff of about 8 percent on the value of dutiable imports, was speedily passed by the first Congress in 1789 even before Hamilton was sworn in. Revenue was by far the main goal, but the measure was also designed to erect a low protective wall around infant industries which wanted more. Hamilton had the vision that the industrial revolution would soon reach America and argued for protection of well to do manufacturing groups, vital to his economic program.
• Congress dominated by the agricultural and commercial interests
• 1791, Hamilton secured from congress an excise tax on a few domestic items, notability whiskey. It was 7 cents a gallon.

Hamilton Battles Jefferson for a Bank

• Hamilton proposed a Bank of the United States: powerful private institution--->gov't=major stockholder, federal Treasury-deposit is surplus monies; print urgently needed paper money, provide stable national currency
• Jefferson insisted no authorization existed in Constitution for such a bank; powers not specifically granted to central gov't belong to states; states not Congress had power to charter banks
• Hamilton argued national bank was proper and necessary; "implied power" by Constitution; evolved "loose construction" by invoking the "elastic clause" of Constitution
• Washington agreed with Hamilton and signed bank measure into law;
• Bank of U.S. created in 1791; stock open to public sale; lots of supporters

Mutinous Moonshiners of Pennsylvania

• The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 strongly challenged national gov't--->quite minuscule
• Hamilton's high excise tax was a burden on an economic necessity and a medium of exchange for pioneer folk
• Alcohol sold more cheaply than bales of grain; distillers erected whiskey poles, and tarred and feathered revenue officers
• Washington called together militia of several states to stop rebels

 

The Emergence of Political Parties

• Hamilton's financial successes created some political liabilities; his schemes encroached on states' rights
• Personal feud between Hamilton and Jefferson developed into full-blown and bitter political rivalry
• Newspapers spread Jefferson's and Madison's oppositional ideas among the people--->political parties began to emerge
• two-party system has existed ever since
• competition for power proved to be among ingredients of a sound democracy
• Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans and Hamiltonian Federalists

The Impact of the French Revolution

• American people overjoyed with upheaval of French people against Louis XVI
• Federalists not happy
• 1792: France declares war on Austria...hurls back invading foreigners...proclaims itself a republic...news reaches America, many Americans rejoice
• French guillotine, Reign of Terror->Federalists frightened of Jeffersonian masses; Jeffersonians understood a few thousand aristocratic heads were a cheap price for freedom
• earlier battles of French Revolution did not directly affect America, but then Britain became involved
• conflagration spread to New World affecting the expanding young American Republic

Washington's Neutrality Proclamation

• The Franco-American aliiance of 1778 was still in place.
• Neutrality Proclomation issued in 1793.
• This document proclaimed the government's official neutrality in the widening conflict but sternly warned American citizens to be impartial toward both armed camps.
• Washington's method of announcing it unilaterally, without consulting Congress, infuriated the pro-French Jeffersonians, while pro-British Federalists were heartened.

Embroilments with Britain

• Britain retained the chain of northern frontier posts on U.S. soil, which was in defiance with the peace treaty of 1783
• British agents openly sold firearms and fire-water to the Indians of the Miami Confederacy, and alliance of eight Indian nations who terrorized Americans invading their lands
• British ignored America's rights of neutrallity and siezed aroung three hundred ships, impressed scores of seamen into service on British vessels and threw hundreds of others in dungeons.

Jay's Treaty and Washington's Farewell

• Washington sent Cheif Justice John Jay to London in 1794, in a last attempt to avert war with Britain.
• British promised to evacuate the chain of posts on U.S, soil, although the British had said this before in 1783.
• British also consented to pay damages for the recent seizures of American ships, but said nothing about the stopping of future maritime seizures and impressments, or about supplying arms to Indians.
• Jay's Treaty outraged Jeffersonians because it seemed like an abject surrender to Britain.
• Pickney's Treaty of 1795 granted everything the Americans demanded of Spain, including free navigation of the Mississippi and the largely disputed territory north of Florida.
• In his Farewell Address, Washington stongly advised the avoidance of "permanent alliances" for "extaordinary Emergencies."

John Adams Becomes President

• Alexander Hamilton was the best known member of the Federalist party, now that Washington had left, but his financial policies made him so unpopular that he couldn't hope to be elected.
• Federalists turned instead to John Adams and the Jeffersonians rallied behind Thomas Jefferson.
• The issues of the campaigns focused heavily on personalities, but the Jeffersonians assailed the too-forecful crushing of the Whiskey Rebellion and the negotiation of Jay's Treaty.
• John Adams won the election, and Thomas Jefferson, as runner up, became vice-president.

Unofficial Fighting with France

• French infuriated by Jay’s treated- condemned it as the initial step toward an alliance with Britain- violation of Franco-American Treaty of 1778
• French warships seize American merchant vessels
• President Adams tried to reach an agreement with the French
• War hysteria swept through the United States- slogan “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.”
• Federalists- delighted, Jeffersonian- shamed
• War preparations pushed along even with Jeffersonian resistance in Congress- Navy Department created/expanded, Marine Corps established, new army of ten thousand men authorized
• Bloodshed confined to the sea- 1798-1800 80+ armed French vessels captured, several hundred Yankee merchant ships lost to the French

Adams Puts Patriotism Above Party

• France didn’t want war with the US, would only increase their enemy list
• Because the conflict with the French was pushing the US and Britain closer, France stated that if Americans sent another minister, he would be received with proper respect.
• Early 1799 Adams the name of a new minister to the Senate, enraging Hamilton and his faction, though favorable opinion- Jeffersonian and reasonable Federalists- wanted to try again for peace.
• Convention of 1800 signed in Paris. France agreed to annul the 22-year-old marriage of inconvenience, US agreed to pay damage claims of American shippers

The Federalist Witch Hunt

• Federalists capitalized on anti-French frenzy to push laws through Congress designed to minimize Jeffersonians
• First law raised the residence requirements for aliens who wanted to become citizens from five to fourteen years- violated the traditional American policy of open-door hospitality, and speedy assimilation
• Two additional Alien Laws- president empowered to deport dangerous foreigners in time of peace, and to deport or imprison them in the time of hostilities
• Sedition Act- anyone who impeded the policies of government or falsely defamed its officials would be liable to a heavy fine and imprisonment- violation of freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.
• Jeffersonian editors convicted under Sedition Act by packed juries and prejudiced Federalist judges
• Supreme Court, dominated by Federalists, didn’t declare the Sedition Acts unconstitutional- law made to expire in 1801 so it couldn’t be used against Federalists if they lost the next election
• Alien and Sedition Acts commanded widespread popular support- Federalists, riding a wave of popularity, scored the most sweeping victory of their entire history in the 1798-1799 congressional elections.

The Virginia (Madison) and Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions

• Jeffersonians feared that in Federalists wiped out free speech/press, then they would then wipe out other constitutional guarantees- could lead to Jeffersonian party being wiped out- country might slide into dangerous one-party dictatorship
• Jefferson wrote a series of resolutions, approved by the Kentucky legislature in 1798 and 1799, Madison drafted a similar, less extreme, statement adopted by the Virginia legislature in 1798
• Jefferson and Madison stressed the compact theory- the thirteen sovereign states, in creating the federal government, had entered into a “compact” or contract, regarding its jurisdiction- states were final judge of whether the federal government had broken the “compact” by overstepping authority- the resolutions claimed federal regime had overstepped authority, and Alien and Sedition acts should be nullified
• No other state legislatures agreed with Kentucky- some refused to endorse the Virginia/Kentucky resolutions
• Federalists argued that people, not states, made the original compact, and the Supreme Court should be the one to nullify unconstitutional legislature passed by Congress

Federalist Versus Democratic-Republican

The Two Political Parties, 1793-1800
Federalist Features					Democratic-Republican Features
Rule by the "best people"					Rule by the informed masses
Hostility to extension of democracy					Friendliness toward extension of democracy
A powerful central government at expense of state's rights					A weak central government so as to preserve states' rights
Loose interpretation of Constitution					Strict interpretation of Constitution
Governments to foster business					No special favors for business; agriculture preferred
Protective tariff					No special favors for manufacturers
Pro-British					Pro-French
National debt a blessing, if properly funded					National debt a bane; rigid economy
An expanding bureaucracy					Reduction of federal officeholders
A powerful central bank					Encouragement to state banks
Restrictions on free speech and press					Relatively free speech and press
Concentration in seacoast area					Concentration in South and Southwest; agricultural/backcountry
A strong navy to protect shippers					Minimal navy for coastal defense

 

 

Federalist and republican Mudslingers

• Hamilton, a victim of arrogance, privately printed a pamphlet that attacked the credibility of President Adams. The Jeffersonians soon got a hold of this and published it to the masses.
• The most damaging blow to the Federalists was the refusal of Adams to give them a rousing fight with France. Their feverish war preparations had swelled the public debt and had required disagreeable new taxes, including a stamp tax. The war scare died out. The military preparations now seemed not only unnecessary but extravagant. the seamen for the new navy were called "john Adam's jackasses :0. And John Adams himself was known as "the Father of the American Navy"
• The Federalists concentrated their fire on Jefferson himself, who became the victim of one of America's earliest "whispering campaigns". He was accused of robbing a widow and her children of a trust fund and of having fathered numerous mulatto children by his own slave women.
• As a liberal in religion, Jefferson had earlier incurred the wrath of the orthodox clergy, largely through his successful struggle to separate church and state in his native Virginia.
• Although Jefferson did believe in God, preachers throughout New England, stronghold of Federalism and congregationalism thundered against his alleged atheism. Old ladies of Federalist families, fearing Jefferson's election, even buried their Bibles or hung them in wells.

The Jeffersonian "Revolution of 1800"

• Jefferson won by a majority of 73 electoral votes to 65. In defeat, the colorless and presumably unpopular Adams polled more electoral strength than he had gained four years earlier- except for New York.
• The Empire state fell into the Jeffersonian basket, and with it the election, largely because Aaron Burr, a master wire-puller, turned New York to Jefferson by the narrowest of margins. The Virginian polled the bulk of his strength in the South and West, particularly in those states where universal white manhood suffrage had been adopted.
• John Adams suffered the fate of being the last Federalist President. The Federalist party soon dissapeared in the days of Andrew Jackson.
• Although a change of 250 votes would have deemed Adams victorious, Jefferson claimed it to be another Revolution and a return to the original spirit of the Revolution.

Responsibility Breeds Moderation

• Jefferson was inaugurated president on July 4, 1801 in the swampy village of Washington
• Jefferson's inaugural address, beautifully phrased, was a classic statement of democratic principles. "The will of the majority is in all cases to prevail", Jefferson declared. But, he added, "that will to be rightful must be reasonable; the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression". Seeking to allaay Federalist fears Jefferson ingratiatingly intoned, "we are all Republicans, we are all Federalists"
• Jefferson practiced Pell-Mell, seating without regard to rank or class at official dinners.
• Jefferson was forced to reverse many of the political principles he had so vigorously championed. Jefferson was scholarly private and was harrassed by citizens

Jeffersonian Restraint

• Jefferson was determined to undo the Federalist abuses begotten by the anti-French hysteria. The hated Alien Sedition Acts had already expired. The incoming president speedily pardoned the "martyrs" who were serving sentences under the Sedition Act, and the government remitted many fines.
• Shortly after Congress, the Jeffersonians enacted the new naturalization law of 1802. This act reduced teh unreasonable requirement of fourteen years of residence to the previous and more reasonable requirement of five years.
• Jefferson actually kicked away only one substantial prop of the Hamiltonian system. He hated the excise tax, which bred bureaucrats and bore heavily on his farmer following, and he early persuaded Congress to repeal it. His to principle thus cost the federal government about a million dollars a year in urgently needed revenue.

Jefferson, A Reluctant Warrior

• One of Jefferson's first actions as president was to reduce the military establishment to a mere police force of twenty five hundred officers and men.
• the united States would set an example for the world, forswearing military force and winning friends through "peaceful coercion". Also, the Republicans distrusted large standing armies as standing invitations to dictatorship.
• Pirates of the North African Barbary States had long made a national industry of blackmailing and plundering merchant ships that ventured into the Mediterranean. Preceding Federalist administrations, in fact, had been forced to buy protection. At the time of the French crisis of 1798, when Americans were shouting, "Millions for the defense but not one cent for tribute".
• The pasha of Tripoli, dissatisfied with his share of protection money, informally declared war on the United States by cutting down the flagstaff of the American consulate.
• After four years of intermittent fighting, marked by spine-tingling exploits, Jefferson succeeded in extorting a treaty of peace from Tripoli in 1805. It was secured at the bargain price of only $60,000-a sum representing ransom payments for captured Americans.

The Louisiana Godsend

• 1800, A treaty between the King of France and Napoleon, granted Napoleon the territory of the trans- Mississippi region of Louisiana, which included the area of New Orleans.
• Jefferson knew that when the time was ripe, American could dislodge Spain from the territory, but he also knew that if France moved into the area, a huge amount of bloodshed would be required to dislodge France. And even then he knew he would need the help of their former enemy Britain to do it.
• Jefferson sent Robert Livingston to haggle with the French for the purchase of the Lousiana Territory for a maximum of 10 million dollars.
• France unexpectedly was willing to sell the territory for 15 million.
• France wanted to sell it because Napoleon wanted to focus on the struggles closer to home, and with Britain naval dominance, doubted that it would be of any use to him. Plus the previous use to him was to provide the sugar rich west Indies with food, but since disease had pushed his forces from the islands it was now useless to him.
• Jefferson accepted the land although the right was not granted in the Constitution because of the impatience of the French. 828,000 square miles of land were gain for about 3 cents an acre.

Louisiana in the Long View

 

• Jefferson sent out his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and a young army officer, William Clark to explore the Northern region the the Louisiana Territory with the aid of a Sushoni woman named Sacajawea.
• Lewis and Clarks two and a half year trip brought back stories of abundance, promises for the future, and of the lands out West.
• Lewis brought back his near death experiences along with information of the Indian tribes out west, and of the grazing buffalo on the never ending plains.
• Pioneers and missionaries would wind their way down the new trails in the decades to come and to plant American claims on the Oregon region.

The Aaron Burr Conspiracies

• The ability of the government to control this vast new expanse of land was doubted by many.
• Aaron Burr, Jefferson's first term vice-president (He was kicked out the second term), joined a group of Federalists to plot the secession of New England and New York. Luckily, Alexander Hamilton foiled the conspiracy and saved the republic!!!!
• More was to come though. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, and concerned of his honor Hamilton accepted the duel. Unwilling to fire, Hamilton was killed by Burr's first shot.
• Burr's political career died as did Hamilton. He turned his attention to a greater prize.
• He allied with General James Wilkinson, the military governor of the Louisiana Territory in a plan to seperated the western U.S. from the Eastern U.S.
• Although much of their planning is shrouded and a mystery, it is know that just as they were to meet and go on with their plan, Wilikinson learned that Jefferson had found out about the plan and betrayed Burr before fleeing to New Orleans.
• Burr, being tried for treason, fled to Europe where he unsucessfully tried to convince Napoleon to ally with Britian to conquer the U.S.

America: A Nutcracked Neutral

• Jefferson was reelected in 1804; 162:14 electoral votes
• The London government, beginning in 1808 issued a series of Orders in Council, which closed the European ports under French control to foreign shipping, including American, unless the vessels first stopped at a British port.
• Impressment of American seamen was still a major threat from not only Britain

The Hated Embargo

• America's navy and army were too weak to fight Britain and France, due to Jefferson's anti-navalism and his love of peace.
• The warring nations in Europe depended heavily on America's trade, and so Jefferson drew up the Embargo act of 1807, which Congress hastily passed. This act forbade the export of all goods from the United States, whether in American or in foreign ships.
• An enormous illicit trade began in 1808, where bands of armed Americans on loaded rafts overawed or overpowered fedaeral agents.
• Congress repelled the Embargo on March1, 1809, and provided the Non-Intercourse Acts as a replacement. These acts formally reopened trade with every nation but Britain and France.
• During the months the Embargo act was in place, New Englands floundering economy led to the reopening of of old factories and the creation of new ones.

Madison's Gamble

• Madison took the presidential oath on March 4, 1809.
• The Non-Intercourse Acts expired in 1810, but Congress made Macon's Bill No. 2, which reopened American's trade with the entire world. If either Britain or France repealed its commercial restrictions, America woulkd restore its embargo against the non-repealing nation.
• In August 1810, word came from Napoleon's foreign minister that French decrees might be repealed if Britain also lifted its Orders in Council. but Napoleon's true purpose was to maneuver the United States into resuming its embargo against the British, thus creating a partial blockade against his enemy that he would not have to raise a finger to enforce.
• Madison knew better than to trust Napoleon, but he gambled that the threat of seeing the United States trade exclusively with France would lead the British to repeal their restrictions.
• The terms of Macon's Bill gave the British three months to live up to their implied promise by revoking the Orders in Council and reopening the Atlantic to neutral trade. Britain didn't, as they had a firm contol of the seas and London saw little need to bargain. American could either trade exclusively with Briatin, or no one at all.
• Madison reestablished the embargo with Britain alone, which he knew meant the end of American neutrality.

Tecumseh and the Prophet

• War Hawks pushed for America's involvement in the war and the extermination of the renewed Indian threat to the pioneer settlers who were streaming into trans-Allegheny wilderness.
• Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa, the Prophet, formed a confederacy of all the tribes east of the Mississippi, inspiring a vibrant movement of Indian unity and cultural renewal.
• In the fall of 1811, William Henry Harrison gathered an army and advanced to Tecumseh's headquarters. Tecumsehs was recruiting supporters in the South, but the Prophet attacked Harrison's force with a small band of Shawnees, who were routed and their settlement was burned.
• This battle discredited the Prophet, and drove Tecumseh into an alliance with Britain. When America's war with Britain came, he fought with the British till he died in 1813 at the Battle of Thames.

Mr. Madison's War

• By the spring of 1812, Madison believed war with Britain to be inevitable. He turned to war to restore confidence in the republican experiment.
• Madison and the Republicans believed that only a vigorous assertion of American rights could demonstrate the viability of American nationhood, and of democracy as a form of government.
• Madison asked Congress to declare war on June 1, 1812. Congress obliged him two weeks later.
• Support for the war came from the South and West, but also from Republicans in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
• The bitterness of New England Federalists against "Mr. Madison's War" led them to treason or near-treason.

 

I. On to Canada Over Land and Lakes

1. Due to widespread disunity, the War of 1812 ranks as one of America’s worst fought wars.
2. There was not a burning national anger, like there was after the Chesapeake outrage; the regular army was very bad and scattered and had old, senile generals, and the offensive strategy against Canada was especially poorly conceived.
3. Had the Americans captured Montreal, everything west would have wilted like a tree after its trunk has been severed, but the Americans instead focused a three-pronged attack that set out from Detroit, Niagara, and Lake Champlain, all of which were beaten back.
4. In contrast, the British and Canadians displayed enthusiasm early on in the war and captured the American fort of Michilimackinac, which commanded the upper Great Lakes area (the battle was led by British General Isaac Brock).
5. After more land invasions were hurled back in 1813, the Americans, led by Oliver Hazard Perry, built a fleet of green-timbered ships manned by inexperienced men, but still managed to capture a British fleet. His victory, coupled with General William Henry Harrison’s defeat of the British during the Battle of the Thames, helped bring more enthusiasm and increased morale for the war.
6. In 1814, 10,000 British troops prepared for a crushing blow to the Americans along the Lake Champlain route, but on September 11, 1814, Capt. Thomas MacDonough challenged the British and snatched victory from the fangs of defeat and forced the British to retreat.

II. Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended

1. In August 1814, British troops landed in the Chesapeake Bay area, dispersed 6,000 panicked Americans at Bladensburg, and proceeded to enter Washington D.C. and burn most of the buildings there.
2. At Baltimore, another British fleet arrived but was beaten back by the privateer defenders of Fort McHenry, where Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”
3. Another British army menaced the entire Mississippi Valley and threatened New Orleans, and Andrew Jackson, fresh off his slaughter of the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, led a hodgepodge force of 7,000 sailors, regulars, pirates, and Frenchmen, entrenching them and helping them defeat 8,000 overconfident British that had launched a frontal attack in the Battle of New Orleans.
4. The news of this British defeat reached Washington early in February 1815, and two weeks later came news of peace from Britain.
5. Ignorant citizens simply assumed that the British, having been beaten by Jackson, finally wanted peace, lest they get beaten again by the “awesome” Americans.
6. During the war, the American navy had oddly done much better than the army, since the sailors were angry over British impressment of U.S. sailors.
7. However, Britain responded with a naval blockade, raiding ships and ruining American economic life such as fishing.

III. The Treaty of Ghent

1. At first, the confident British made sweeping demands for a neutralized Indian buffer state in the Great Lakes region, control of the Great Lakes, and a substantial part of conquered Maine, but the Americans, led by John Quincy Adams, refused. As American victories piled up, though, the British reconsidered.
2. The Treat of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, was an armistice, acknowledging a draw in the war and ignoring any other demands of either side. Each side simply stopped fighting. The main issue of the war, impressment, was left unmentioned.

IV. Federalist Grievances and the Hartford Convention

1. As the capture of New Orleans seemed imminent, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island secretly met in Hartford from December 15, 1814 to January 5, 1815, to discuss their grievances and to seek redress for their wrongs.
   • While a few talked about secession, most wanted financial assistance form Washington to compensate for lost trade, and an amendment requiring a 2/3 majority for all declarations of embargos, except during invasion.
2. Three special envoys from Mass. went to D.C., where they were greeted with the news from New Orleans; their mission failed, and they sank away in disgrace and into obscurity.
   • The Hartford Convention proved to be the death of the Federalist Party, as their last presidential nomination was trounced by James Monroe in 1816.

V. The Second War for American Independence

1. The War of 1812 was a small war involving some 6,000 Americans killed or wounded, and when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 with 500,000 men, Madison tried to invade Canada with about 5,000 men.
2. Yet, the Americans proved that they could stand up for what they felt was right, and naval officers like Perry and MacDonough gained new respect; American diplomats were treated with more respect than before.
3. The Federalist Party died out forever, and new war heroes, like Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison, emerged.
4. Manufacturing also prospered during the British blockade, since there was nothing else to do.
5. Incidents like the burning of Washington added fuel to the bitter conflict with Britain, and led to hatred of the nation years after the war, though few would have guessed that the War of 1812 would be the last war America fought against Britain.
6. Many Canadians felt betrayed by the Treaty of Ghent, since not even an Indian buffer state had been achieved, and the Indians, left by the British, were forced to make treaties where they could.
7. In 1817, though, after a heated naval arms race in the Great Lakes, the Rush-Bagot Treaty between the U.S. and Britain provided the world’s longest unfortified boundary (5,527 mi.).
8. After Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo, Europe sank into an exhaustion of peace, and America looked west to further expand.

VI. Nascent Nationalism

1. After the war, American nationalism really took off, and authors like Washington Irving (Rumpelstiltskin, The Knickerbocker Tales such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and James Fenimore Cooper (The Leatherstocking Tales which included The Last of the Mohicans) gained international recognition.
2. The North American Review debuted in 1815, and American painters painted landscapes of America on their canvases, while history books were now being written by Americans for Americans.
3. Washington D.C. rose from the ashes to be better than ever, and the navy and army strengthened themselves.
4. Stephen Decatur, naval hero of the War of 1812 and the Barbary Coast expeditions, was famous for his American toast after his return from the Mediterranean: “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong!”

VII. “The American System”

1. After the war, British competitors dumped their goods onto America at cheap prices, so America responded with the Tariff of 1816, the first in U.S. history designed for protection, which put a 20-25% tariff on dutiable imports.
2. It was not high enough, but it was a great start, and in 1824, Henry Clay established a program called the American System.
   • The system began with a strong banking system.
   • It advocated a protective tariff behind which eastern manufacturing would flourish.
   • It also included a network of roads and canals, especially in the burgeoning Ohio Valley, to be funded for by the tariffs, and through which would flow foodstuffs and raw materials from the South and West to the North and East.
   • Lack of effective transportation had been one of the problems of the War of 1812, especially in the West, and in 1817, Congress sought to distribute $1.5 million to the states for internal improvements, but Madison vetoed it, saying it was unconstitutional, thus making the states look for their own money to build the badly needed roads.

VIII. The So-Called Era of Good Feelings

1. James Monroe defeated his Federalist opponent 183 to 34, and ushered in a short period of one-party rule.
2. He straddled the generations of the Founding Fathers and the new Age of Nationalism.
3. Early in 1817, Monroe took a goodwill tour venturing deep into New England, where he received heartwarming welcomes.
4. A Boston newspaper even went as far as to declare that an “Era of Good Feelings” had began.
5. However, seeds of sectional troubles were planted. Notably, the South did not like the tariff saying it only benefited the North and made the South pay higher prices. And, the South disliked the internal improvements linking the North and West—the South didn’t see any benefits in paying taxes for roads and canals in other states.

IX. The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times

1. In 1819, a paralyzing economic panic (the first since Washington’s times) engulfed the U.S., bringing deflation, depression, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment, soup kitchens, and overcrowded debtors’ prisons.
   • A major cause of the panic had been over-speculation in land prices, where the Bank of the United States fell heavily into debt.
   • Oddly, this started an almost predictable chain of panics or recessions. An economic panic occurred every 20 years during the 1800s (panics occurred during 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893).
2. The West was especially hard hit, and the Bank of the U.S. was soon viewed upon as the cause.
3. There was also attention against the debtors, where, in a few overplayed cases, mothers owing a few dollars were torn away from their infants by the creditors.

X. Growing Pains of the West

1. Between 1791 and 1819, nine frontier states had joined the original 13.
2. This explosive expansion of the west was due in part to the cheap land, the elimination of the Indian menace, the “Ohio Fever,” and the need for land by the tobacco farmers, who exhausted their lands.
3. The Cumberland Road, begun in 1811 and ran ultimately from western Maryland to Illinois. And, the first steamboat on western waters appeared in 1811.
4. The West, still not populous and politically weak, was forced to ally itself with other sections, and demanded cheap acreage.
5. The Land Act of 1820 gave the West its wish by authorizing a buyer to purchase 80 acres of land at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash; the West demanded and slowly got cheap transportation as well.

XI. Slavery and the Sectional Balance

1. Sectional tensions between the North and the South came to a boil when Missouri wanted to become a slave state.
2. Although it met all the requirements of becoming a state, the House of Representatives stymied the plans for its statehood when it proposed the Tallmadge Amendment, which provided that no more slaves be brought into Missouri and also provided for the gradual emancipation of children born to slave parents already in Missouri (this was shot down in the Senate).
3. Angry Southerners saw this as a threat figuring that if the Northerners could wipe out slavery in Missouri, they might try to do so in all of the rest of the slave states.
4. Plus, the North was starting to get more prosperous and populous than the South.

XII. The Uneasy Missouri Compromise

1. Finally, the deadlock was broken by a bundle of compromises known as the Missouri Compromise.
   • Missouri would be admitted as a slave state while Maine would be admitted as a free state, thus maintaining the balance (it went from 11 free states and 11 slave states to 12 and 12).
   • All new states north of the 36°30’ line would be free, new states southward would be slave.
2. Both the North and South gained something, and though neither was totally happy, the compromise worked for many years.
   • Monroe should have been doomed after the 1819 panic and the Missouri problem, but he was so popular, and the Federalist Party so weak, that he won in 1820 by all but one vote (unanimity was reserved for Washington).

XIII. John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism

1. Chief Justice John Marshall helped to bolster the power of the government at the expense of the states.
2. McCulloch vs. Maryland (1819): This case involved Maryland’s trying to destroy the Bank of the U.S. by taxing its currency notes. Marshall invoked the Hamiltonian principle of implied powers and denied Maryland’s right to tax the bank, and also gave the doctrine of “loose construction,” using the elastic clause of the Constitution as its basis. He implied that the Constitution was to last for many ages, and thereby was constructed loosely, flexibly, to be bent as times changed.
3. Cohens vs. Virginia (1821): The Cohens had been found guilty by Virginia courts of illegally selling lottery tickets, had appealed to the Supreme Court, and had lost, but Marshall asserted the right of the Supreme Court to review the decisions of the state supreme courts in all questions involving powers of the federal government. The federal government won, the states lost.
4. Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824): When New York tried to grant a monopoly of waterborne commerce, Marshall struck it down by saying that only Congress can control interstate commerce, not the states themselves; it was another blow to states’ rights.

XIV. Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses

1. Fletcher vs. Peck (1810): After Georgia fraudulently granted 35 million acres in the Yazoo River country (Mississippi) to privateers, the legislature repealed it after public outcry, but Marshall ruled that it was a contract, and that states couldn’t impair a contract. It was one of
2. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward (1819): Dartmouth had been granted a charter by King George III, but New Hampshire had tried to change it. Dartmouth appealed, using alumni Daniel Webster to work as lawyer, and Marshall ruled that the original charter must stand. It was a contract, and the Constitution protected those and overruled state rulings.
3. Marshall’s rulings gave the Supreme Court its powers and greatly strengthened the federal government, giving it power to overrule state governments sometimes.

XV. Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida

1. The Treaty of 1818 put the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase at the 49th parallel and provided for a ten-year joint occupation of the Oregon Territory with Britain, without a surrender of rights and claims by neither Britain nor America.
2. When revolutions broke out in South and Central America, Spanish troops in Florida were withdrawn to put down the rebellions, and Indian attacks ravaged American land while the Indians would then retreat back to Spanish territory.
3. Andrew Jackson swept across the Florida border, hanged two Indian chiefs without ceremony, executed two British subjects for assisting Indians, and seized St. Marks and Pensacola.
4. Monroe consulted his cabinet as to what to do against Jackson; all wanted to punish him except for John Quincy Adams, who demanded huge concessions from Spain.
5. The Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819 had Spain cede Florida and shadowy claims to Oregon in exchange for Texas. The U.S. paid $5 million to Spain for Florida.

XVI. The Menace of Monarchy in America

1. Monarchs in Europe now were determined to protect the world against democracy, and crushed democratic rebellions in Italy (1821) and in Spain (1823), much to the alarm of Americans.
2. Also, Russia’s claims to North American territory were intruding and making Americans nervous that Russia might claim territory that was “rightfully American.”
3. Then, in August 1823, the British foreign secretary, George Canning, approached the American minister in London proposing that the U.S. and Britain combine in a joint declaration renouncing any interest in acquiring Latin American territory, and specifically warning the European despots to keep their hands off of Latin American politics.

XVII. Monroe and His Doctrine

1. Sly and careful John Q. Adams sensed a joker in the proposal, correctly assumed that the European powers weren’t going to invade America anytime soon, and knew that a self-denouncing alliance with Britain would morally tie the hands of the U.S.
2. He knew that the British boats would need to protect South America to protect their merchant trade, and presumed it safe to blow a defiant, nationalistic blast at all Europe.
3. Late in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was born, incorporating non-colonization and nonintervention.
4. Dedicated primarily to Russia in the West, Monroe said that no colonization in the Americas could happen anymore and also, European nations could not intervene in Latin American affairs.
5. In return, the U.S. would not interfere in the Greek democratic revolt against Turkey.

XVIII. Monroe’s Doctrine Appraised

1. The monarchs of Europe were angered, but couldn’t do anything about it, since the British navy would be there to stop them, further frustrating them.
2. Monroe’s declaration made little splash in Latin America, since those who knew of the message also recognized that it was the British navy and not America that was protecting them, and that the U.S. was doing this only to protect its own hide.
3. Not until 1845 did President Polk revive it.
4. In the Russo-American Treaty of 1824, the Russian tsar fixed the southern boundary of his Alaskan territory at 54°40’ and it stayed at that.
5. The Monroe Doctrine might better be called the Self-Defense Doctrine, since Monroe was concerned about the safety of his own country, not Latin America.
6. The doctrine has never been law, a pledge, or an agreement.
7. It was mostly an expression of post-1812 U.S. nationalism, gave a voice of patriotism, and added to the illusion of isolationism.
8. Many Americans falsely concluded that the Republic was in fact insulated from European dangers simply because it wanted to be and because, in a nationalistic outburst, Monroe had publicly warned the Old World powers to stay away.

 

Major Themes

• A new spirit of mass democracy, symbolized by Jackson’s election to the Presidency, swept through American society, bringing new energy as well as conflict and corruption to public life
• The growth of the Whigs signaled the emergence of the second American political party system

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Major Question

What were the advantages and disadvantages of the politics of mass democracy?

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Pre-Reading

What were the basic tenets of “Jeffersonian democracy?”

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Outline

Intro

• Economic distress and the issue on slavery raised the political stakes in the 1820's and 1830's
• New political campaigning parties emerged and new ways of campaigning were used as politicians tried to sway the minds of the voters.
• Poeple no longer viewed political parties as corrupt but instead as a vital part of the checks and balances of the American democracy.
• 1828, the democrats came to be and faced opposition from a party in the form of the Whigs.
• People started voting, while in 1824 only 25% of the population voted, that number increased to 78% in 1840.

The "Corrupt Bargain" of 1824

• Four candidates towered above the others: John quincy adams of Massachusetts, henry Clay of Kentucky, William H crawford of Georgia, and Andrew jackson of tenessee all ran 1824
• All four rivals professed to be Republicans but Andrew Jackson had the strongest appeal especially in the West where his campaign against the forces of corruption and privilege in government resonated deeply.
• 1825 Adams was elected president and Henry clay was the new secretary of state
• Angry Jacksonian protestors complained about the corrupt bargain between Adams and Clay.

A Yankee Misfit in the White House

• It was difficult for John Adams to win support because people thought he lead with corruption. he also did not possess many arts or qualities of a politition.
• Much of the nation was turning away from post-Ghent nationalism and toward states rights and sectionalism.
• Adams urged the construction of roads and canals. He renewed george washintons proposal for a university.
• The public reaction to these proposals was prompt and unfactorable. observatories seemed like a waste of money to the American public
• Adams land policty agonized the westerners and they clamored for wide open expansion.

Going Whole Hog for Jackson in 1828

• Republicans had spit into two parties for Jackson and political mudslinging exaterated both parties. 1828 opposing parties described how Jacksons mother was a prostitute and his wife as an adultress
• Jackson also participated in the mudslinging and described how Adams was a gambler and won a slave girl in a bet.

"Old Hickory" as President

• Jackson was brought up as an early orphaned brawler who fought more than he looked to learn and read.
• Once he found to express himself in writing he moved "up west" to Tenessee.
• He became a member of the Congress, became involved in many duels and arguments because of his temper and passion.
• 1832 he was nominated as president, second president without a college education (Washington was the first)
• His election symbolized a rising of the masses and people from all over the backcountry traveled to see him inaugarated and perhaps get a political office themselves.
• He opened the White house to the public and the masses rushed in, breaking everything and some even threatening the president.
• Many shuddered for these were the opening seens for the bloody French Revolution.

The Spoils System

• Jackson designed the spoils system to reward supporters of the democratic party.
• The system gave high ranking positions in government to the people who had helped the democratic party no matter how incompetent they were.
• There hadn't been a big political overturn since the fall of the Federalist party in 1800.
• The spoils system led to corruption when many of the men in office were illiterate and incompetent and took the position is office for the spoils not the toils of the office.
• Samuel Swarthout, who was appointed as the collector of customs in the port of New York, was the first politician to steal money from the government in the sum of 1 million dollars.

"Old Hickory" Wallops Clay in 1832

• During Jackson's running for second term, Jackson recieved fierce opposition from Henry Clay.
• For the first time, a third party entered the field, the party was known as the anti-Masonic party.
  • The anti-Masons were a group that was opposed to the influence and fearsome secrecy of the of the Masonic order, condemning them as the citadels of privelege and monopoly.
  • The party attracted the support of the Protestants, looking to use political power to influence the effect of religious morals and reforms.
• Henry Clay and the National Republicans enjoyed ample funds supplied by the Bank of the United States in the sum of $50,000.
• Jackson, idol of the masses, overswept the Henry Clay in a lopsided vote of 219 to 49 in electoral votes.

Burying Biddle's Bank

• The Bank of the Unites States was due to expire in 1836.
• In 1833 Jackson decided to bury the bank for good by removing federal deposits from its vaults. By slowly siphoning off the government's funds, he would bleed the band dry and ensure its demise.
• The president's closest advisors opposed this policy. Jackson was forced to reshuffle his cabinet twice before he could find a secretary of the Treasury who would bend to his iron will.
• Surplus federal funds were placed in several dozen state institutions called "pet banks"

 

The Election of 1836

• Jackson carefully rigged the nominating convention so that Martin Van Buren would win.
• The Whigs couldn't nominate a single presidential candidate. Their strategy was to instead run several prominent "favorite sons." They hoped to scatter the vote so that no candidate would win a majority. However Van Buren still won.

Big Woes for the Little Magician

• Martin Van Buren was the 8th president and the first to be born in America. He had great experience in legislative and administrative life, which put him ahead.
• He had many enemies such as the Democrats and the ones who hated Jackson
• Canadian rebellion against Britain causing toil in the northern frontier.
• Van Buren also entered at the beginning of a depression

 

Politics for the People

• The election of 1840 demonstrated some major changes in American politics since the Era of Good Feelings. One change was the triumph of a populist democratic style.
• The common man was now moving to the center of the national political stage.

The Two-Party System

 

 

Major Theme

Improvements in technology, finance and changes in population had far reaching effects on American society and the United States' role in the world.

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Major Question

What is the relationship between the transformative effects of economic and industrial change and the concomitant political changes during this period?

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Pre-Reading

Characterize the American economy and economic structure following independence.

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Outline

Introduction

• Numerous Americans pushed west in search of cheap land and opportunity
• Immigrants also went west and made their way to fast growing cities
• New machinery quickened cultivation of crops and manufacturing of goods; workers laboring under new, more demanding expectations
• Better roads, faster steamboats, farther-reaching canals, and railroads all helped move people, raw materials, and manufactured goods from coast to coast and Gulf to Great Lakes by mid-nineteenth centruy
• All this led to more dynamic, market-oriented, national economy

The Westward Movement

• Andrew Jackson exemplified westward march of American people
• Life was grim for pioneer families: poorly fed, ill-clad, living in hastily erected shanties, victims of disease, depression, premature death, and loneliness(esp. women)
• Frontier life tough on women and men
• Jacksonian politics aimed to emancipate the lone-wolf, enterprising businessperson
• Pioneers were very individualistic except for the occassional tasks that were beyond their own individual resources

Shaping the Western Landscape

• Pioneers exhausted the land in tobacco regions and pushed on, leaving behind barren and rain-gutted fields
• "Kentucky bluegrass" thrived after cane in Kentucky bottomlands was burned off-->ideal pasture for livestock and lured thousands more into Kentucky
• The American West felt pressure of civilization-->1820s:furtrappers setting traplines all over; many animals(bison, beaver, otter) brought to point of near-extinction; exploitation of West's natural bounty
• However, Americans still revered nature and admired America's beauty and wilderness
• Wild, unspoiled character of land became distinctive characteristic of U.S. and inspired literature and painting and eventually kindled a powerful conservative movement
• George Catlin was one of the 1st Americans to advocate the preservation of nature as a deliberate national policy-->led to creation of a national park system, starting with Yellowstone Park in 1872

The March of the Millions

• As the people expanded westward, population size increased at a dramatic rate.
• When population increased, so did the problems of slums, feble street lighting, inadequate policing, impure water, foul sewage, rats, and improper garbage disposal.
• A high birthrate accounted for most of the increase of population, but by the 1840's, immigration was adding hundreds of thousands.

The Emerald Isle Moves West

• A potato famine swept through Ireland, leaving around 2 million dead. Irish left their homeland for America to start anew.
• Almost all the Irish settled in large seaboard cities like Boston and New York, becasue they didn't have enough money to go West.
• Irish immigrants were looked down upon, and many were turned away when they came looking for jobs. (No Irish Need Apply.)
• The Irish tended to remain in low-skill jobs, but they slowly improved their lot(usually by acquiring modest amounts of property). they soon began to control powerful city machines, like New York's Tamamany Hall. Many became police officers as well (Paddy Wagons.)

The German Forty-Eighters

• German's came en masse, due to poor farming conditions and seeking political refuge.
• Unlike the Irish, many Germans possessed a large amount of material goods. most pushed out to the Middle West, and like the Irish, formed an influential body of voters.
• Germans tended to be more educated than Americans, and strongly supported public schooling.
• Conestoga wagon, the Kentucky rifle, and the Christmas tree were all German contributions
• Germans fled from militarism and constant wars of Europe

Flare-ups of Antiforeignism

• Fear that the immigrants would outbreed, outvote, and overwhelm the old "native" stock led to strong feelings of predjudism.
• most immigrants were Roman Catholic, and due to the vast amount of immigrants, Catholics became a powerful religious group im America.
• Older-stock Americans were alarmed by the amount of Catholics, and began the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, or Know-Nothing party. They demanded strict restrictions on immigration and naturalization and for laws authorizing the deportation of alien paupers.
• Mass violence came about because of the harsh prejudism.

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine

• Samuel Slater considered the father of the factory system

The Iron Horse

The Iron Hourse were trains. They were cheap, fast, and relatively reliable. Unlike the first railroad made in 1828, these could be used in all seasons. By 1860 the United States had roughly 30 thousand miles of railroad.

Cables, Clippers, and Pony Riders

• A cable was stretched between Newfoundland to Ireland in 1858. The cable went dead after 3 months, but a heavier cable laid in 1866 permanently linked the American and European continents.
• Clipper ships were the fastest ships of the time, built in the 1840's and 1850's. They sacrificed cargo space for speed. They were beat out by the British iron tramp steamers ("teakettles").
• The Pony Express was established in 1860 to carry mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. Trips could be made in 10 days, in any season or weather conditions. They folded after 18 months.

The Transport Web Binds the Union

During the 1830's and 1840's, new, faster forms of transportation allowing the connection of the east and west. Trade routes shifted more western through Buffalo, instead of New Orleans. The United States economy was split into three sections; Western grain and livestock, Southern cotton, and Eastern machine and textiles. These economic patterns tied the east and the west together.

The Market Revolution

This Revolution changed the way the economy worked. Now people were working for wages and bought what they beeded. This new economic system fuurthered the gap between the rich and poor. Cities were consequently filled with drifters, people who "drifted" around doing thankless jobs for low wages. With all the new opportunity in America, a surge of immigrants was seen. On average, there was a 1% raise of wage for nonskilled workers each year.

Reviving Religion

• Christian Religion
  • Many people (3/4 of the 23 million people pop.) still attended church regularly
  • Orthodoxy softened greatly by the rationalist ideas of the French Revolution
• Deism
  • Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason
    • All churches were "set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"
  • Liberal ideas (Deism) embraced by many of the Founding Fathers
  • Deism supported science and reason rather than the Bible and revelation
  • Rejected concept of sin and Christ's divinity
  • Believed in one Supreme Being
  • Helped inspire the unitarian faith (God existed in only one person)
• Second Great Awakening
  • Reaction to the liberalism
  • Effects of the Second Great Awakening
    • Many converted souls across America
    • Shattered and reorganized churches
    • Many new sects
  • Camp Meetings
    • Thousands would gather in encampment in order to "get religion"
    • Boosted church membership
    • Humanitarian reforms
  • Peter Cartwright
    • Traveling preacher
    • Converted 1000's to Methodist beliefs
    • "Muscular" conversion
  • Charles Grandison Finley
    • Trained as a lawyer
    • Pungent message
    • Abolitionist and Revivalist for Oberlin College
  • Feminization of Reilgion
    • First and most fervent enthusiasts of revivalism
    • Made up majority of new church member

Denominational Diversity

• "Burned-Over District"
  • Western NY, where the desendants of the New Engalnd Puritans settled
• Millerites and Adventists
  • Rose from Burned Over District in the 1830's
  • Interpreted (Bible) that Christ would return to Earth on 10/22/1844
  • Failure of revival of Christ did not destroy the movement
• Second Great Awakening
  • Widened lines between classes and religions
  • Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congressionalists, & Unitarians still wealthier and more educated
  • Methodists, Baptists,and new sects were less prosperous, learned, and sprang up in the South and West
• Slavery divides churches
  • Religious diversity divides churches

Desert Zion in Utah

• Joseph Smith found "golden plates," which translated into a Book of Mormon (Church of Latter-Day Saints)
• Ohio, Missouri, Illinois all were not happy with this new religion, and Smith ended up being murdered by a mob in 1844
• Brigham Young took up the religion leading and led the followers to Utah, where they used irrigation to make the desert flourish
• Mormons practice polygamy, and ignored Congress's antipolygamy laws of 1862 and 1882. This delayed Utah's statehood until 1896

Free Schools for a Free People

• There were very few tax-supported primary schools, so many poor people were uneducated
• However, higher classes began to realize that these undereducated poor would eventually become voters
• School taxes were started so that public education was available for all
• 1825-50: and increase in # of schools, but many teachers weren't better educated than their students and had crappy wages
• HORACE MANN: secretary of Mass. Board of Education worked towards better wages and education for teachers
• NOAH WEBSTER: made better textbooks that promoted patriotism, and also made the Dictionary
• WILLIAM H. MCGUFFEY: made "grade-school" readers that taught morality, patriotism, and idealism

Higher Goals for Higher Learning

• New denominational, liberal arts colleges were academically poor, usually used to satisfy local pride than to advance learning
• Curriculums in the new colleges included mainly
  • Latin
  • Greek
  • Mathematics
  • Moral philosophy
• First state-supported universities sprang up in the South
• Women's higher education was frowned upon due to the beliefs and prejudices of the time
• However, women's secondary schools gained respectability in the 1820's
• Those who wanted more knowledge often went to libraries or read magazines
• Traveling lecturers also helped

An Age of Reform

• Reforms grew with the country
• Most ideal reform was the end of slavery
• Reform movements brought women out of the household
• Punishments for debt and crimes were softened as the poor gained the vote
• The mentally ill were treated better due to reforms caused by Dorothy Dix
• Peace was another wanted reform

Demon Rum - the "Old Deluder"

• Drinking too much was very common due to custom and the lifestyle
• 1826- American Temperance Society founded in Boston. Used many methods (songs, pamphlets, pictures...) to get heavy drinkers to sign the Temperance Pledge
• T.S. Arthur wrote Ten Nights in a Barroom and What I Saw There (2nd only to Uncle tom's cabin)
• Many supported idea of strengthening willpower to avoid the drink, while some supported illegalizing alcohol (Neal S. dow)
• Dow, the "Father of Prohibition," sponsored the Maine Law of 1851, which prohibited the making or selling of intoxicating liquors
• Other northern states followed, but usually these laws were repealed within a decade

Women in Revolt

• At the open of the nineteenth century women...
  • were expected to take care of the home only
  • could not vote
  • could be legally beaten by her overlord
  • when she was married she couldnt retain title to her property, it passed to her husband
• american women were treated much better than those in europe
• As the decades unfolded they increasingly gained freedom and self-determination
• Compared to women in colonial times 10% of adult women remained "spinsters" at the time of the Civil War
• women were respected as the "moral backbone" of society
• Female reformers gathered strength and while demanding rights for women they joined in the reform movement, fighting for temperance and the abolition of slavery
• The women's rights movement was mothered by
  • Lucretia Mott: a sprightly Quaker
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton:mother of 7, insisting on leaving "obey" out of her marriage ceremony, advocated sufferage for women
  • Susan B. Anthony
  • Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell:the first female graduate of medical college
• The Women's Rights Convention at Senaca Falls, NY launched the modern women's rights movement.."Declaration of Sentiments">"all men AND WOMEN are created equal" [1848]
• The crusade for women's rights was eclipsed by the campaign against slavery in the decade before the Civil War.

Wilderness Utopias

• "communitarian" communities became all the rage in this age of reform
  • Robert Owen [1825] started one in new Harmony, Indiana..tho it started w. "hard-working visionaries" many different kinds of people that threw-off the "perfect society" were attracted to this utopia, causing the idea of perfection to crumble.
  • Brook Farm in Massachusetts [1841] was "brotherly and sisterly intellectuals" that believed in the philosophy of a superior society...they prospered until a building burnt down and they plunged into debt.
  • The Oneida Community in New York [1848] was more out there w. free love or "complex marraige" practices, use of birth control, parents trying to produce superior kids...the community flourished for approx. 30 yrs bc they were skilled artisans.
  • The Shakers lived the longest [about 1770-1940ish] led by Mother Ann Lee, started in 1770 w. some religious communities, got about 6,000 followers in 1840, but bc of their ban against marriage & sex they were virtually extinct by 1940.
• most of these communities tried and failed or changed their methods

Dawn of Scientific Achievement

• Americans were interested in gagets, not pure science, and usually borrowed and adapting Euro findings, commendable ppl were:
  • Nathaniel Bowditch[1733-1838] mathematician who wrote about pracitcal navigation and of oceanographer Matthew F. Maury[1806-1873] on ocean winds and currents
  • Professor Benjamin Silliman[1779-1864] scientist: pioneer chemist & geologist who taught @ yale for 50yrs
  • Professor Louis Agassiz[1807-1873] french-swiss immigrant who was a path-breaking biologist @ harvard for 25yrs
  • Professor Asa Grey[1810-1888] @ harvard, "Columbus of American botany" published over 350 books,monographs,papers & his txtbooks set new standards for clarity & interest
  • John J. Audubon[1785-1851] American bird lore/naturalist, painted wild fowl in natural habitat, Audubon Society for protection of birds named after him [obviously]
• Medicine in America was still primitive.."Bring Out Your Dead!"
  • smallpox plauges, yellow fever epidemic, "rheumatics", the "miseries", the chills, decayed or ulcerated teeth[pulling often practiced by the brawny town blacksmith]
  • life expectancy still very short & even less so for blacks
  • self-prescribed medicines = common, fad diets, rubbing dead toads on tumors, doctor-prescribed medicines were harmful
  • no anesthetics until early 1840s w. laughing gas and ether

Artistic Achievements

• America contributed little of note architecturally in the first half of the century.
• About midcentury strong interest developed in a revival of Gothic reforms, with their emphasis on pointed arches and large windows.
• Thomas Jefferson was probably the ablest architect of his generation, he brought a classical design to his Virginia home, Monticello.
• The art of painting suffered from the lack of a wealthy class to sit for portraits and then pay for them.
• Some of the earliest painters were forced to go to England, America exported artists and imported art.
• Painting also suffered from the Puritan prejudice that art was a sinful waste of time.
• Painters nevertheless emerged
  • Gilbert Stuart: produced several portraits of Washington
  • Charles Willson Peale: painted some sixty portraits of Washington, Washington sat for 14 of them.
  • John Trumbull: recaptured the Revolutionary War's scenes and spirit
• Music slowly shookoff the restraints of colonial days also.

Blossoming of a National Literature

Trumpeters of Transcendentalism

• started in 1830s Boston known as "the Athens of America"
• liberalization of Puritan theology
• happenings brought about by foreign influences
  • German romantic philosophers & Asian religions
• Transcendentalists disliked prevailing theory(knowledge comes to mind through senses)
• believed that truthfulness "transcends" senses, & cannot be found through observation alone
• Every person has an "inner light" that can put him/her in direct contact w/ God("Oversoul")
• Doctrines of transcendentalism defied definition, but underlay concrete beliefs
• in religious & social matters, individualism=most important, followed by self-discipline & self-culture
• these traits of independence lead to hostility towards authority, formal institutions, & conventional wisdom
• humanitarian reforms brought about for blacks & whites
• Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882):
  • most well known of transcendentalists
  • trained as a Unitarian minister
  • favorite as a lyceum lecturer
  • in 1837, urged American writers to seek their own heritage & ditch European traditions during his speech, "The American Scholar" which he delivered at Harvard College
  • influential poet & philosopher, he enriched the lives of many
  • he stressed self-reliance, optimism, self-improvement, freedom, & self-confidence
  • a critic of slavery by 1850 & supporter of the Union
• Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862)
  • hated governments that supported slavery & refused to pay Mass. poll tax
  • believed in reducing bodily wants to gain time to pursue truth through meditation & study
  • his writings encouraged Gandhi to resist British rule & Martin Luther King Jr.'s ideas of nonviolence
• Walt Whitman(1819-1892):
  • loved by expanding America & caught enthusiasm of Americans
  • Leaves of Grass (1855) used lots of different emotions; at first it was a flop but then spread to Europe & gained fame for Whitman

Glowing Literary Lights

• Professor Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1807-1882): one of the most popular poets from America
• taught modern languages at Harvard College for many years
• Urbane & handsome, he live a pretty good life aside from the fact that 2 of his wives died
• wrote for the genteel classes, liked by the less cultured
• most of his poems were based on American traditions
• popular in Europe, he was the only American to be honored in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey
• John Greenleaf Whittier(1807-1892): Quaker, Anit-slavery crusade
  • importantly influenced social action; his poems fought against inhumanity, injustice, & intolerance
  • one of the moving forces in his generation(morally, spiritually, humanitarian)
  • "...the poet of human freedom."
• Professor James Russel Lowell(1819-1891):
  • literary critic, essayist, editor, & a diplomat
  • Biglow Papers, dealt w/ political satire, especially in 1846 (the Mexican War), used poems in Yankee dialect, papers talked about alleged slavery-expansion of Polk administration
• Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes(1809-1894):nonconforming conversationalist
  • taught at Harvard Med. School
  • prominent poet, novelist, lecturer, essayist, & wit
  • wrote about Boston, Boston Tea Party, Boston Tea Partiers, etc.
• Louisa May Alcott(1832-1888): grew up in Concord, Mass.
  • father=philosopher, Bronson Alcott
  • she wrote Little Women & other books to support mother & sisters
• Emily Dickenson(1830-1886): lived in solitude as a recluse
  • explored themes of nature, death, love, & immortality
  • never published poems during life, but after death almost 2000 poems found & published
• William George Simms(1806-1870): novelist
  • wrote 82 books
  • "the Cooper of the South"
  • themes dealt w/ South during the colonial & Revolutionary War periods
  • married into elite & became slaveowner

Literary Individualists & Dissenters

There were several writers during this time period who did not show the human goodness and social progress that other writers of the time were.

• Edgar Allan Poe had a ghostly style and wrote several good horror stories
• Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville both wrote about the struggle between good and evil

Portrayers of the Past

As well as writers several distinguished historians emerged from this time period.3 great historians were George Bancroft, William H. Prescot and Francis Parkman. Many of the great historians were from New England

 

"Cotton is King!"

• The Cotton kingdom developed into a huge agricultural factory, pouring out avalanches of the fluffy fiber. Quick profits drew planters to the virgin bottomlands of the Gulf States causing cotton farmers to buy more slaves and land.
• Northern shippers earned a large part of the profits, loading and bulging bales of cotton to southern ports, transporting them to England, selling their fleecy cargo for pounds sterling, and would buy needed goods to sale in the United States.
• To a large degree, the prosperity of both North and South rested on the bent backs of southern slaves.
• Cotton = for ½ the value of all Americans exports after 1840, holding foreign nations in partial bondage. Britain's single most important manufacture in the 1850's was cotton cloth, and about one-fifth of its population, directly or indirectly, drew it's livelihood from this industry.
• South produced more than ½ of entire world’s supply of cotton and about 75% of cotton supply of fiber came from white-carpeted acres of the South
• In their eyes “Cotton was king”: the gin was his throne and the black bondsmen (slaves) were his henchmen.
• Cotton was a powerful monarch = if war broke out between North and South, northern warships would cut off the outflow of cotton therefore causing the British factories to close their gates and starving mobs would force London gov’t to break the blockade and the South would triumph.

The Planter "Aristocracy"

• 1850, only 1,733 families owned more than 100 slaves--> this group led politically and socially
• these planter aristocrats enjoyed a large share of southern wealth: educated their children in finest schools, money provided leisure for study, reflection, and statecraft, felt obligated to serve the public
• dominance by favored aristocracy=undemocratic-->widened gap between rich and poor, hampered tax-supported public education(b/c rich planters sent their children to private institutions)
• Southern aristocrats idealized a feudal society and tried to bring back a type of medievalism (author Sir Walter Scott helped them with this)
• plantation system shaped lives of southern women: the mistress commanded a large household staff of mostly female slaves, gave daily orders to cooks, maids, seamstresses, laundresses, and body servants
• relationships between mistresses and slaves ranged from affectionate to atrocious: slavery strained bonds of womanhood-->virtually no slaveholding women believed in abolition

Slaves of the Slave System

• plantation agriculture was wasteful-->cotton spoiled the good earth, quick profits led to excessive cultivation which led to a heavy flow of population to the west and northwest
• economic structure of south became monopolistic:small farmers sold to more prosperous neighbors and went north or west
• plantation system financially unstable: temptation to overspeculate in land and slaves caused planters to plunge in beyond their depth
• slaves were a heavy investment of capital: some injured, run away, wiped out by disease, etc.
• dangerous dependence on a one-crop economy-system discouraged healthy diversification of agriculture and manufacturing
• southern planters resented the north growing at their expense, pained by heavy outward flow of commissions and interest
• Cotton Kingdom repeled European immigration which added to manpower and wealth of north
• immigration(german, irish) to south discouraged by competition of slave labor, high cost of fertile land, and ignorance of cotton growing
• white south became the most Anglo-Saxon section of the nation

The White Majority

• Only about one-fourth of white Southerners owned slaves or belonged to a slave owning family.
• The smaller slave owners did not own a majority of the slaves, but they made up a majority of the masters.
• By 1860 the number of whites who didn't own slaves had reached 6,120,825. This was three-quarters of all southern whites.
• Many of the poorer whites were hardly better off economically than the slaves, but they took comfort knowing that they outranked African-American slaves.

Free Blacks: Slaves Without Masters

• Throughout the South were some free blacks who had purchased their freedom with earnings from labor after hours.
• Free blacks were prohibited from working in certain occupations and forbidden from testifying against whites in court. They were vulnerable to be taken back into slavery.
• Free blacks were also unpopular in the North. Several states forbade their entrance, most denied them the right to vote, and some barred blacks from public schools. Anti-black feeling was frequently stronger in the North than the South.
• Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and self-educated orator of rare power, was several times mobbed and beaten by northern rowdies.

Plantation Slavery

• Legal importation of slaves being ended in 1808, slaves were still smuggled to the South because of their high value to the farmers. But most of the slave pop. came from reproduction
• Slaves became so valuable that risky jobs were given to paid Irishmen to spare the slave's life
• Slaves were being sent into the deep south bc of the cotton boom and the Old South getting soil-exhausted.

Life Under the Lash

• White southerners exaggerated slave life
• Actual slave life varied between each southern region, though hard work, ignorance, and oppression was associated with slavery everywhere.
• Some laws of protection, but hard to enforce due to the fact that slaves were forbidden to testify in court.

The Burdens of Bondage

• Slaves were deprived of the dignity and sense of responsibility that comes from independence and the right to make choices.
• Slaves were denied an education, because reading brought ideas, and ideas brought discontent. Many states passed laws forbidding their instruction, and perhaps nine-tenths of adult slaves at the beginning of the Civil War were totally illiterate.
• In 1800 an armed insurrection led by a slave named Gabriel in Richmond, Virginia, was foiled by informers, and its leaders were hanged. Denmark Vesey, a free black, led another rebellion in Charleston in 1822. It too was betrayed by informers, and Vesey and more than thirty followers were publicly hanged. in 1831 Nat Turner led an uprising that slaughtered sixty Virginians, mostly women and children.
• slavery fostered brutality of the whip, the bloodhound, and the branding iron
• defenders of slavery were forced to degrade themselves, along with their victims

Early Abolitionism

• 1817 American colonization society was founded and in 1822 the republic of liberia was established for former slaves. fifteen thousand blacks were transported there over the next few decades.
• By 1860 cirtually all southern slaves were no longer Africans but native born African Americans with thier own history and culture, colonization idea appealed some antislaveryities including Abraham lincoln until the time of the civil war
• 1830, teh abolitionist movement took on new energy and momentum, mounting to the proportions of a crusade. 1833 american abolitionists took heart when their british counterparts unchained the slaves in the west indies.
• Dwight Weld, inspired by Finney, was aided by merchants in new york Arthur anda Lewis Tappan, and preached antislavery gospel . one of his compelling arguments made it to Harriet beecher stowe's uncle toms cabin.

Radical Abolitionism

• New Years day, 1831, 26 year old Wiliam Lloyd garrison published in boston the first issue of his militantly antislavery newspaper , THE LIBERATOR. caused uproar.
• in the paper he claimed that he would not tolerate the poisonous gases weed of slavery and he will be heard.
• other abolitionists acted as well, 1833, teh american antislavery society was founded. Many black americans viewed themselves as monuments for abolitionists
• Fredrick douglas, escaping slavery in 1838, ran into abolitionists in 1841 and gave an inspirational speech involving antislavery in massachuesetts. despite threats against him, he published a book about himself in 1845,

The South Lashes Back

• After a Virginian legislature debated and defeated various slave emancipation proposal, the south would tighten down on its slave codes and moved to prohibit emancipation.
• The Nullification crisis of 1832 caused Southern whites to respond with reasoning that the Bible and Aristotle supported slavery, and that working conditions were better for Black slaves than Black factory workers.
• Pro-abolitionist executed freedom of speech with the press and petitions, which upset the southern slaveholders.

The Abolitionist Impact in the North

• Abolitionists, especially the extreme Garrisonians, were unpopular for a long time in many parts of the North. Garrison’s talk of secession grated harshly on northern ears.
• The North had a heavy economic stake in Dixieland. By the 18050’s southern planters owed Northern bankers about $300million.
• Textile factories in the North were fed by cotton from labor systems of slaves, and it these labor systems were disrupted then the supply would be cut off and unemployment would occur in the North. Because of this strong hostility developed in the North against the boat-rocking tactics of the radical antislaveryites.
• Mobs were provoked by tongue-lashings by extreme abolitionists. Lewis Tappan’s New York house was broken into in 1834 while a crowd cheered from the street. In 1835 Garrison was dragged through the streets of Boston by a rope.
• By the 1850’s abolitionist outcry had made a deep dent in the northern mind. Citizens had come to see the South as the land of the unfree. Not many Northerners wanted to abolish slavery outright, but a growing number opposed extending it to western territories.

What was the True Nature of Slavery

• Economic historians report that slavery was in fact very profitable for the owners of the plantations
• Some would compare the treatment to the slaves like that of the treatment of the Jewish peoples put into Nazi concentration camps.
• Slavery was like that of a paternal system, owners coaxing work and controlling reluctant slaves like they were machines and not people.
• The veiw of a slave as a noneducated working machine was wrong, for they kept their culture and wit about them and merely put on a front of an immature mind.

 

Major Theme

American expansionism gained momentum in the late 1840s, leading to the acquisition of Texas and Oregon, and then to the Mexican War, adding vast southwestern territories to the United States and igniting political conflict over the slavery issue.

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Major Questions

• Was American expansion across North America an “inevitable” development?
• What were the costs and benefits of the Mexican War both immediately and in the longer run of American history?
  • Costs:
  • Benefits:

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Pre-Reading

• What were the attitudes of Americans during earlier periods of expansion (i.e.: Pinckney’s Treaty, Louisiana, Florida)?
• Recall the status of Texas in the late 1830s.
• What were the attitudes of the major parties (Democrats and Whigs) toward expansion?

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Outline

The Accession of "Tyler Too"

• After Presidents Harrison’s short four week administration, John Tyler, a Virginia gentleman, took over the presidency. He had earlier resigned from the senate rather then accept distasteful instructions from the Virginia legislature.
• Tyler’s enemies accused him of being a Democrat in Whig clothing, but this charge was only partially true. Tyler belonged to the minority wing of the Whig party, which embraced a number of Jeffersonian states’ righters. Tyler was in fact put on this ticket to gain the vote of this fringe group of whom many were influential southern gentry.
• Tyler should never have joined this group though, because on almost every major issue he was at odds with the majority of the Whig party, which was pro-bank, pro-protective tariff, and pro-internal improvements.

John Tyler: A President Without a Party

• After their hard-won victory the Whigs introduced their not-so-secret platform out of Clay’s waistcoat pocket. It outlined a strongly nationalistic program.
• Financial reform was first. The Whig Congress hurried to pass a law ending the independent treasury system, and President Tyler agreed and signed it. Clay next drove a bill through Congress for a “Fiscal Bank” which would establish a new Bank of the US.
• Tyler flatly vetoed the bank bell on both practical and constitutional grounds. A drunken mob gathered at night near the White House shouting insults at Tyler.
• The Whigs tried again, but this time to pass a bill for a “Fiscal Corporation” but the still unbending president vetoed the substitute.
• Whig extremists dubbed Tyler as “His Accidency” and as an “Executive Ass”. Tyler received numerous letters threatening him with death. Tyler was kicked out of the Whig party, and a serious attempt to impeach him was approached in the House of Reps. His entire cabinet resigned in a body, except the Secretary of State Webster.
• Tyler reluctantly signed a law for a protective tariff in 1842.

A War of Words With Britain

• Hatred of Britain came during the nineteenth century came to a head periodically and had to be lanced by treaty settlement or by war. The poison had festered ominously by 1842.
• Anti-British passions were composed of bitter memories of the two Anglo-American wars, and the genteel pro0British Federalists had died out, yielding to Jacksonian Democrats.
• British travelers wrote acidly of American tobacco spitting, slave auctioneering, lynching ,eye gouging, and other unsavory features of the rustic Republic. These travel books stirred angry outburst in America. British magazines added fuel when they launched attacks on American shortcomings. American journals struck back, starting the “Third War with England” which was fought with paper.
• In the nineteenth century America needed to borrow money for internal improvements and Britain had the money to lend.
• Insurrection in Canada in 1837, although doomed to fail, was supported by hundreds of hot-blooded Americans who furnished military supplies or volunteered for armed service.
• In 1837 a ship, the Caroline, was attacked by the British bringing supplies across Niagara Falls to Canada, and set on fire. This brought passions to boil. This had alarming aftereffects. Washington officials logged complaints.
• Three years later in New York, a Canadian was arrested and indicted for murder in connection with the Caroline incident. The London Foreign Office regarded the Caroline raiders as a sanctioned armed force, so if the Americans killed McLeod it would be an act of war. McLeod produced an alibi and was released, though, alleviating tensions.
• Tension snapped taut again in 1841 when British officials in the Bahamas offered asylum to 130 Virginia slaves who had rebelled and capture the American ship Creole.

Manipulating the Maine Maps

• Early 1840s controversy involved the Maine boundary dispute
• The British were determined to build a road from seaport of Halifax to Quebec but the route ran through disputed territory claimed by Maine under peace treaty of 1783
• Lumberjacks from Canada and Maine entered the disputed no-man's-land of the Aroostook River Valley-->ugly fights=Aroostook War
• 1842: London Foreign Office sent a nonprofessional diplomat, Lord Ashburton, to Washington, who established cordial relations with Secretary Webster
• These two statesmen finally agreed on a compromise on the Maine boundary: Americans were to retain 7000 of the 12000 square miles of wilderness in dispute...the British got less land but won the Halifax-Quebec route.
• During negotiations, the Caroline affair was patched up by an exchange of diplomatic notes

The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone

• Mexico refused to recognize Texas's independence and threatened war if America helped Texas
• Texans forced to maintain a costly military establishment
• Texas was driven to open negotiations with Britain and France in the hope of securing the defensive shield of a protectorate: 1839&1840, Texans concluded treaties with France, Holland, and Belgium
• Britain wanted an independent Texas to check the southward surge of the american colossus...then foreign powers could move into America and challenge the Monroe Doctrine----France intereseted in same thing and hoped fragmentatioin and militarization of America would occur
• British abolitionists hoping to free the few blacks in Texas then move on to freeing nearby slaves in the South
• British merchants regarded Texas as potentially important free trade area, British manufactureers perceived that the vast Texas plains constituted one of the great cotton-producing areas of the future

The Belated Texas Nuptials

• Texas was leading issue in presidential campaign of 1844: foes of expansion assailed annexation....southern hotheads cried "Texas or Disunion"
• proexpansion Democrats(James K. Polk) triumphed over Whigs(Henry Clay)
• Tyler arranged for annexation by a joint resolution-->required simple majority in both houses of Congress...passes in 1845=Texas formally invited to become the 28th star on the flag
• Mexico angry and charged that the Americans had despoiled it of Texas
• Continued existence of independent Texas threatened to involve U.S. in a series of wars in both America and Europe
• Achieving annexation was a good idea and came at a good time

 

Major Themes

• Sectional conflict over the expansion of slavery erupted after the Mexican War, was quieted by the Compromise of 1850, and erupted again with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
• American expansion of the 1850s was resolutely tied to the question of slavery.

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Major Questions

• Was the practice of compromise on slavery issues good politics or ignorant of reality?

• At the roots, what were the causes of sectionalism in antebellum America?

disagreements on slavery, territory, as well as fugitive slave laws (ex. Texans, Southern slave owners)

Pre-Reading

How did the Whigs and Democrats deal with the issue of slavery in during the 1830s and 1840s?

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The Popular Sovereignty Panacea

• Each of the two great political parties was a vital bond of unity, for each enjoyed powerful support in both North and South; therefore they agreed that it was strategy to ignore the issue of slavery.
• President Polk got sick and only could serve ne term so democrats selected General Lewis Cass, a veteran of the War of 1812, to be the new leader.
• Cass supported expanding slavery and was well known as the reputed father of “popular sovereign.” The public liked popular sovereignty not just because it had a persuasive appeal but that it accorded with the democratic tradition of self-determination. Politicians liked it because it seemed a comfortable compromise between the abolitionist bid for a ban on slavery in the territories and southern demands that Congress protect slavery in the territories.
• Popular sovereign had one fatal defect: it might have helped spread the disease of slavery.

Political Triumph for General Taylor

• Whigs favored Zachary Taylor over Clay, due to Clay's large amount of speeches.
• Whigs focused campaign on opponents flaws not real issues such as slavery in the territories
• Anti-slavery men in the North, disgusted with Taylor and Cass, organized the Free Soil Party. Which wanted no slavery in territories, advocating federal aid for improvements internal improvements and urging free government homesteads for settlers
• this new group gained support from those unhappy with Polk and northerners.
• Free-soiler Van Buren diverted votes from Cass in New York caused Taylor to win election.

"Californy Gold"

• The discovery of Gold in Cali in 1848 sent a high fever to go mine gold.
• Only a few people struck it rich mining while most would've made more money staying at home.
• People who were best off were those who businessed off of the miners to wash clothes and other services
• High percentage of settlers were lawless men followed by women, which caused an outburst of crime with robbery, claim jumping, and murder
• Taylor privately encouraged Cali to outlaw slavery and apply to become a state, skipping the territorial stage.
• California entered as a free state

Sectional Balance and the Underground Railroad

• The south in 1850 was relatively well off, The south had seated war hero Zachary Taylor in the white house, planter from Louisiana. If outnumbered in the house, the south had equality in the senate, where it could alteast neutralize northern maneuvers.
• North and South believed slavery was seriously threatened where it already existed below the Mason-Dixon line. The fifteen states could easily veto and proposed constitutional amendment.
• The south was worried, there were fifteen free states as well as slave states and the admission of California would destroy the delicate equilibrium in the Senate, slave territory under the American flag was running short.
• Texas claimed a huge area east of the Rio grande and north of forty-second parallel, embracing half of present day New Mexico. Federal Government proposed to detach this prize, while Texans wanted to claim what they thought was rightfully theirs.
• Many southerners also complained of the nagging of the abolitionists from the north and suffered a loss of many runaway slaves, many of whom were assisted by the underground railroad, which consisted of a series of stops and safe houses for slaves to hide and travel to places free of slavery.
• One famous "conducter" who helped runaway slaves was Harriet Tubman, she rescued more than three hundred slaves including her aged parents, and earned the title "Moses"
• By 1850 southerners were demanding a new and more stringent fugitive slave law. The old one passed in 1793 had been proven inadequate. The south estimated about 1,000 runaway slaves a yar out of its total of 4 million

Twilight of the Senatorial Giants

• Congress was confronted with catastrophe in 1850, Free sould California was banging on the door for admission and fire eaters in the south were voicing ominous threats of secession. The crisis brought into congressional forum teh most distinguished assemblage of statesmen since the constitutional convention of 1787, teh old guard of the dying generation and the young gladiators of the new.
• Henry Clay, 73 years old, played a crucial role. He was still eloquent , conciliatory, and captivating. He proposed and skillfully defended a series of compromises. He was ably seconded by thirty seven year old senator Stephen A Douglas whose role was less spectacular but even more important. Clay urged with all his persuasiveness that the North and South both make enacting more feasible fugitive slave law.
• Daniel Webster, took the senate spotlight to uphold clays compromise measures in his last great speech. As for slavery he asked, why legislate on the subject?

Deadlock and Danger on Capitol Hill

• The debate of 1850 in Congress was not yet finished for the Young Guard from the North were yet to have their say. This group, the north, were more interested in removing and cleaning it than in patching and protecting it.
• William H. Seward was one of the main northern speakers who seemed not to realize that compromise had brought the Union together and that when the sections could no longer compromise, they would have to part company
• Seward argued that Christian legislators must obey God’s moral law as well as man’s mundane law therefore appealing to a “higher law” then the Constitution. He used this as a reason to stop slavery from spreading. This phrase may have cost him the presidential nomination and the presidency in 1860.
• President Taylor agreed with Seward and his “Higher Law.”

Breaking the Congressional Logjam

• In 1850 the deadlock in Congress ended when President Taylor dyed and Millard Fillmore took over. Fillmore signed the series of compromise measures that passed Congress after seven long months of stormy debate but the Compromise of 1850 was delicate in the extreme.
• The northern states “Union savers” accepted these compromises but the southerners “fire eater” were still against. The north and the south came together as the Second Era of Good Feelings starts which didn’t last long.

Balancing the Compromise Scales

• California, as a free state, tipped the Senate balance permanently against the South. The territories of New Mexico and Utah were open to slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. The southerners urgently needed more slave territory to restore the "sacred balance."
• Most alarming of all, the drastic new Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 stirred up a storm of opposition in the North. The fleeing slaves could not testify in their own behalf, and they were denied a jury trial.
• The Underground Railroad stepped up its timetable, and infuriated northern mobs rescued slaves from their pursuers.

Defeat and Doom for the Whigs

• Meeting in Baltimore, Tthe Democratic nominating convention of 1852, startled the nation. Hopelessly deadlocked, it finally stampeded to the second dark horse candidate in American history
• Franklin Pierce, lawyer-politician, was trying to be pushed back by the whig party with the cry, who is Franklin Pierce? Pierce was a weak and indecisive figure.
• Luckily for democrats, the whig party was slpit. Antislavery Whigs of the North swallowed Scott as their nominee but deplored his platform, which endorsed the hated Fugitive Slave Law
• General Scott, victorious on the battlefield, met defeat at teh ballot box. His friends remarked whimsically that he was not used to running, actually he was stabbed in teh beack by his fellow whigs.
• The election of 1852 was fraught with frightening significance, though it may have seemed tame at the time. It marked the effective end of the disorganized whig party and whthin a few years its complete death

President Pierce the Expansionist

• Pierce was willing to be a tool for the southerners to gain more slave territory.
• William Walker became president of Nicaragua in 1856 by force and opened it up to southern slavery. Soon the central American nations united and overthrew him.
• Great Britain took control of Greytown, which was at the eastern end of the proposed Nicaraguan canal root to prevent the Americans from gaining that vital trade artery.
• Threat of an armed conflict was on the horizon.
• 1850, the Clayton Bulwer Treaty stopped the possibility of armed conflict by stating that neither America or Britain would fortify or secure exclusive control over any future isthmian waterways.
• This proved to be a ball and chain for American canal promoters in the future.
• America became a Pacific power with the acquisition of California and Oregon. This made it so the trade with the Far East began to flourish.
• After 200 years of isolation, Japan opened up to the world because of the Russian menace on their doorstep.
• America sent a fleet of warships to flex the muscles of America and to convince Japan to sign a trade treaty. 1854 a commercial treaty was signed.

Coveted Cuba: Pearl of the Antilles

• Cuba was the prime objective of Manifest Destiny in the 1850s. Supporting a large population of enslaved blacks, it was coveted by the South as the most desirable slave territory available.
• During 1850-1851 two "filibustering" expeditions, each numbering several hundred armed men, descended upon Cuba. Both feeble efforts were repelled, and the last one ended in tragedy when the leader and fifty followers were summarily shot or strangled. Now was the time for President Pierce to provoke a war with Spain and seize Cuba.
• Norther free-soilers, already angered by the Fugitive Slave Law and other gains for slavery, rose in an outburst of wrath against the "manifesto of brigands." Confronted with disruption at home, the red-faced Pierce administration was forced to drop its brazen schemes for Cuba.

Pacific Railroad Promoters and the Gadsden Purchase

• Acute transportation problems were another legacy of the Mexican War. Feasible land transportation was imperative of the newly won possessions on the Pacific Coast might break away.
• Railroad promoters, both North and South, had projected many drawing-board routes to the Pacific Coast. But the estimated cost in all cases was so great that for many years there could obviously be only one line. The favored section would reap rich rewards in wealth, population, and influence.
• Another chunk of Mexico now seemed desirable, because the campaigns of the recent war had shown that the best railway route ran slightly south of the Mexican border.
• James Gadsden negotiated a treaty in 1853, which ceded to the United States the Gadsden Purchase area for $10 million.

Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Scheme

• 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois long to break the North-South dealock over westward expansion and spread a line of settlements across the continent. He was also a heavy investor in Chicago and the railroad industry.
• Douglas proposed to that the new territory be sliced into 2 new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. The issue of slavery in these new territories would be settled by popular sovereignity.
• The Missouri compromise of 1820 had forbidden slavery in the Nebraska territory. So for popular sovereignity to take its course, the compromise had to be repealed.
• Pres. Peirce threw his full weight behind the Kansas-Nebraska Bill with the "help" of his southern advisors.
• The repealing of the Compromise was not taken lightly because it had been around for so long. But with Douglas's political wit and quick mind he shoved the Bill through Congress.
• Northerners were furious over the repeal of the Compromise and now viewed Douglas as a traitor. Although he still gained strong support from the democratic party.

Congress Legislates a Civil War

• The Kansas-Nebraska Bill made it so that the Northerners would no longer give any more ground to the south. And where there is not compromise, there is war. (Dude good quote, remember that!)
• The Fugitive slave law plus the Kansas-Nebraska left the Northerners and Southerners throwing more and more hostility across the continent.
• The Republican party sprang up in the west. It was a combination of all of the opposing politicians to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and spread to the East like a roadrunner being chased by a coyote.
• The rift was started at the Mason Dixon line after the start of the Republican party. The Union was in dire peril, for what is a country when it is 2 countries?

 

Major Themes

Major national crises in the late 1850s culminated in the election of the Republican Lincoln to the presidency in 1860, resulting in the secession of seven states and the formation of the Confederate States of America

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Major Questions

Why was sectional compromise impossible in 1860, when such compromises had previously worked in 1820, 1833, and 1850?

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Pre-Reading

What issues, including slavery, seemed to divide North and South by the mid 1850s? List them.

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Chapter Outline

Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries

• Harriet Beecher Stowe published her novels Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Upset about the Fugitive Slave law, she was determined to awaken the North to the wickedness of slavery by laying bare its terrible inhumanity. Millions of copies of her book were sold at home and abroad. It was also put on stage. The book actually helped to start and win the Civil War. Uncle Tom left a profound impression on many in the North. Thousands of readers declared they would have nothing to do with enforcing the Fugitive State Law after reading it. Millions of youth that read it became the Boys in Blue who volunteered and fought in the Civil War.
• The Impending Crisis of the South was written by Hinton R. Helper, a nonaristocratic white man from North Caroline, five years after Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Being against slavery and blacks, he tried to statistically prove that nonslaveholding whites were the ones who suffered most from the millstone of slavery. His book was banned in the South but thousands of copies, in condensed form, were distributed as campaign literature by the Republicans.

The North-South Contest for Kansas

Newcomers to Kansas were mostly westward-moving pioneers in search of richer lands beyond the sunset. A small part of the inflow was financed by groups of northern abolitionists or free-soilers. The most famous of these antislavery organizations was the New England Emigrant Aid Company, which sent about 2000 people to the troubled area to forestall the South, and to make a profit. Southern spokesmen raised cries of betrayal. They had supported the Kansas-Nebraska act, with the unspoken understanding that Kansas would become slave and Nebraska free. The northeners were now out to "abolitionize" bothKansas and Nebraska. In 1855, proslavery border ruffians flooded Kansas to vote for a proslavery government, which won. Antislaveryites set up their own government in Topeka.

Kansas in Convulsion

John Brown came to Kansas, dedicated to the abolitionist cause. In retaliation for the attack on Lawrence, he led a band of followers to Pottawatomie Creek in May 1856, and hacked five men who were suspected to be proslaveryites to pieces.

Civil war in Kansas continued intermittently until it merged with the large-scale Civil War of 1861-1865. The Kansas conflict destroyed millions of dollars worth of property, paralyzed agriculture in certain areas, and cost scores of lives.

By 1857 Kansas had enough people, mainly free-soilers, to apply for statehood on a popular sovereignty basis. The proslaveryites created the Lecompton Constitution. People were not allowed to vote for or against the constitution as a whole, but for either slavery or antislavery. If they voted against slavery, all the owners of slaves already in Kansas would be protected, thus ensuring that whatever the outcome, slavery would be present in Kansas. Antislaveryites boycotted this, so the proslavery forces approved the contitution with slavery late in 1857.

Buchanan threw his weight behind the Lecompton Constitution, but Douglas fought for fair play and democratic principles. The compromise was that the entire Lecompton Constitution was submitted to a popular vote.

 

"Bully" Brooks and His Bludgeon

• "Bleeding Kansas" also spattered blood on floor of Senate in 1856. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was a leading abolitionist and one of the most disliked men in the Senate. Made a speech,"The Crime Against Kansas" after miscarriage of popular sovereignty. He condemned the proslavery men and referred insultingly to South Carolina and its Senator Andrew Butler.
• Congressman Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina resented the insults to his state and its senator. On May 22, 1856, he approached Sumner and pounded him with an eleven-ounce cane until it broke. Sumner fell bleeding and unconscious to the floor.
• Counteroutrage put Brooks in the wrong, the House of Representatives couldn't muster enough votes to expel Brooks, but he resigned and was triumphantly reelected.
• Sumner was forced to leave his seat for 3.5 years and go to Europe for treatment for injuries to head and nervous system. Meanwhile, MA reelected him, leaving his seat empty. Bleeding Sumner joined Bleeding Kansas as a political issue.
• Free-soil North mightily aroused against "Bully" Brooks, copies of Sumner's speech were sold by the tens of thousands, each blow that struck the senator made thousands of republican votes-->south angered at Sumner's speech and at the North applauding it.

"Old Buck" Versus "The Pathfinder"

• Democrats met in Cincinnati to nominate their presidential standard-bearer of 1856-->shied away from Pierce and Douglas, finally chose James Buchanan, not tainted by the Kansas-Nebraska uproar but in a crisis "Old Buck" Buchanan was mediocre, irresolute, and confused. Democrats pushed popular sovereignty.
• Republicans met in Philadelphia and decided on John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder of the West, without political experience but wasn't tarred with the Kansas brush. platform came out vigorously against the extension of slavery into the territories.
• Antiforeignism was injected into the campaign: recent influx of immigrants from Ireland and Germany had alarmed "nativists". They organized the American party, known also as the Know-Nothing party because of its secretiveness. In 1856, the antiforeign and anti-catholic nominated the ex-president Millard Fillmore and adopted the slogan "Americans Must Rule America."
• Mudslinging bespattered both candidates. "Old Fogy" Buchanan was assailed because he was a bachelor, Fremont reviled because of his illegitimate birth and the allegation that he was a Roman Catholic.

The Electoral Fruits of 1856

• Buchanan, polling less than a majority in popular vote, won handily. tally in Electoral College was 174 to 114(Fremont) and Fillmore getting 8. Popular vote: 1,832,955=Buchanan, 1,339,932=Fremont, 871,731=Fillmore
• Republicans go down to defeat b/c doubts of Fremont's honesty, capacity, sound judgement and treats of southern "fire eaters" that election of a sectional "black republican" would be a declaration of war on them, forcing them to secede.
• many northerners, anxious to save union and business connections with south, intimidated into voting for buchanan-->innate conservatism triumphed
• fortunate for Union that secession and civil war did not come in 1856 following a republican victory, Fremont was no abraham lincoln and north was more willing to let south depart in peace than in 1860
• Republicans in 1856 rightfully claimed a "victorious defeat", the new party had made an astonishing showing against well-oiled democratic machine

 

Chapter Themes

• The North used its advantages of industrial and human resources to wage a successful total war against the South
• Lincoln's skillful handling of domestic politics and foreign policy was an important aspect of the Northern success

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Major Questions

• How justified was Lincoln's wartime abridgement of civil liberties and his treatment of the Copperheads?
• What made Lincoln a great President?

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Chapter Outline

The Menace of Secession

• Lincoln's inaugaral adress said there would be no conflict unless the Sout provoked it. secession was impratical because we can't physically separate.
• uncontested secession would create new controversies:what share of national debt should south be forced to take, what portion of federal territorites, if any, should confederate states be allotted, how would fugitive slave issue be resolved
• underground railraod would redouble its activity-->would only have to transport its passengers across ohio river instead of canada
• European nations would be delighted if powerful democracy of united states broke into two hostile parts-->transplant to america their ancient concept of the balance of power, divide and conquer, colonies of european powers in new world safer, european imperialists could more easily defy the monroe doctrine and seize territory in americas with no unified republic to stand in their way

South Carolina Assails Fort Sumter

• Major issue of divided Union was federal forts in South-->as states left they had seized unitied states' arsenals, mints, and other public property within their borders.
• Two significant forts left in south still flying stars and stripes-more important=Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor had only provisions lasting a few weeks, if no supplies could come commander would have to surrender.
• Lincoln notified South Carolinians that an expedition would be sent to provision the garrison, not to reinforce it, but to southerners provision meant reinforcement
• a Union naval force was started on its way to Fort Sumter, southerners saw this as an act of aggression-->April 12, 1861 carolinians opened fire on fort, after 34 hour bombardment, which took no lives, the garrison surrendered
• North electrified, some thought south should leave, but assault provoked north to fight. Lincoln issued a call to states for 75,000 militiamen, volunteers sprang to the colors. on April 19 and 27, the president proclaimed a leaky blockade of southern seaports
• call for troops aroused the south, in southern eyes Lincoln was now waging a war-->Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina reluctantly joined embattled seceeded sisters(7 states became 11) Richmond, Virginia replaced Montgomery, Alabama as Confederate capital

Brothers' Blood and Border Blood

• Border states that did not leave the Union included Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and eventually West Virginia. The population of all the border states was more then half the confederacy.
• Missouri would be doubled the South's manufacturing capabilities and nearly 50% of the South's horses and Mules.
• Kentucky and West Virginia held the strategic Ohio River.
• Lincoln dealth with the border states by only putting Union soldiers where they needed to be, and nowhere else.
• An anti-slavery war was extremely unpopular in the Butternut region of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
• Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminole Indians joined the Confederacy. They thought that since they had slaves they should join. To secure their loyalty, the Confederacy gave them delegates in the Confederate Congress.
• The Civil War was a "brothers' war". Volunteers from the North went South, and vice versa. The loyal slave states gave the North 300,000 men. There were many brothers who were separated, one joining the Union and the other the Confederacy.

The Balance of Forces

• When the war broke out, the South had several advantages. They could fight defensively on their own turf, the North had to invade the vast Confederate territory, conquer it, then force it back into the Union. The South did not have to win the war to gain independence, it just had to fight the Union to draw. The South had more talented military officers such as Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The South were bred to fight (managing guns and horses from birth) and were able to get ahold of sufficient weaponry.
• The South had several major disadvanteds though. As the war dragged on they had major shortages of food, clothes, and supplies. They lacked and adequate transportation system, and they had a weak economy.
• Advantages of the North were the economy, which had aout 3/4 of the nations wealth and railways, they controlled the sea, and had more manpower. (22million men in the north, with 800,000 immigrants coming in. 9million men in the South, 3.5milling of those being slaves.)
• Disadvantages of the North was the men were not prepared for military life, and they were less fortunate in choices for commanders, but eventually found Ulysess S. Grant.

Dethroning King Cotton

• Europe's ruling classes were sympathetic towards the Confederate's and their semifuedal, aristocratic order.
• Working people supported North, read Uncle Tom's cabin. with the gov't not wanting a revolt South didn't get the support they were hoping and needed.
• King Cotton wasn't able to sway factories, logically textile mills would support south for cotton, but the south was so successful the pre-war years that Britain and france had a stockpile of cotton and wouldn't need more until a year and a half later when Lincoln had already anounced his slave-emancipation.
• "cotton-famine in Britain struck and left workers out of jobs and food. relieved by...
  • Americans sent over cargoes of foodstuffs, and cotton the Union Army would capture of buy from land in South.
  • Confederates were also able to send some to Britain
  • Egypt and India responded to higher cotton prices by increasing their output
• Wheat and Corn proved to be King over Cotton.
  • During the war the north produced bountiful crops of grain while British suffered from bad harvests.
    • Britain had to import large amounts of America's cheap and bountiful grain.

The Decisiveness of Diplomacy

• European rulers schemed to take advantage of America's distress
• Trent Affair: a Union warship cruising north of Cuba stopped a British mail steamer, the Trent, and removed two Confederate diplomats heading to Europe.
  • Britain was outraged and sent troops for Canada, demanding surrender and an apology.
    • bc of slow communications both sides got chances to cool and no war was fought.
• Alabama: Britain built a commerce-raider for the Confederates called, Alabama this was not a warship bc it left British ports with no guns and picked them up somewhere else. This was officered by confederates but manned by Brtions and never entered a Confederate naval base, making Britain the chief naval base for Conderacy
  • Alabama destroyed over sixty vessels, angering the North, they diverted attention from their blockade to wild goose chases after the Alabama. When they caught up to it, Alabama was quickly destroyed.
  • 1863, London openly violated its own leaky laws and seized another raider being built for the south and confederate commerce-destroyers seized more than 250 ships, severely crippling the American merchant marine, which never fully recovered

Foreign Flare-ups

• In 1863, two Confederate warships were being built in the British shipyard of John Laid and Sons. Their large iron rams and large-caliber guns would have destroyed the Union blockade. They were far more dangerous than the swift but lightly armed Alabama. If delivered to South, would have sunk squadron and brough Northern cities under fire and North would have invaded Canada and a full war with Britain would have erupted. To avoid infuriating the North, the London government bought the ships for the Royal Navy.
• Britain repented its sorry role in Alabama business-->agreed in 1871 to submit Alabama dispute to arbitration, 1872 paid American claimants $15.5 million for damages caused by wartime commerce-raiders.
• The British established the Dominion of Canada in 1867. It was partly designed to strengthen the Canadians against the possible vengeance of the United States.
• Emperor Napoleon III of France dispatched a French army to occupy Mexico City in 1863. The actions of Napoleon were in direct violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Napoleon was counting on the Union not retaliating due to its weakness. When the Civil War ended in 1865, Napoleon was forced to abandon Mexico City.

President Davis Versus President Lincoln

• The one defect of the South was that its own states could secede. Some state troops refused to serve outside their borders.
• President Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy often had disputes with his own congress. Davis's task as President proved to be beyond his powers.
• Lincoln and the North enjoyed a long-established government that was financially stable and fully recognized at home and abroad.

Limitations on Wartime Liberties

Due to the fact that Congress was not in session when the war broke out, President Lincoln proclaimed a blockade, increased the size of the Federal army, directed the secretary of the Treasury to advance $2 million without appropriation or security to 3 private citizens for military purposes, and suspended the habeas corpus (stated that a citizen could not be held without the due process of a trial) - all of which were required to be approved by Congress.

Volunteers and Draftees: North and South

• 1863, congress passed a federal conscription law for the first time on a nationwide scale in the United States. They were unfair to the poor,rich boys, including John D. Rockefeller, could hire substitutes to go in their places or purchase exemption outright by paying 300$ hence 300 dollar men. Drafteens who did not have the cash complained about the policy and said its either 300 dollars or your life.
• 1863, a riot broke out in ny city from irish americans who shouted, down with lincoln and down with the draft,
• more than 90 percent of the Union troops were volunteers, since social and patriotic pressures to enlist were strong. Bounties for enlistment were offered by federal, state, and local authorities. A volunteer might pocket 1000 dollars.
• the government offered much to get people to enlist. But the Rolls of the Union army counted about 200,000 deserters of all classes, and the Confederates were also dealing with this problem.

The Economic Stresses of War

• The North dealt with financial problems better than the South, Taxes on alcohol and tobacco were substantially increased by congress.
• early 1861, after enough anti protection, southern members had succeeded, congress passed the moral tariff act
• 1863, national banking system issued by congress which allowed the establishment of bank note currency, banks that joined the national banking system could buy government bonds and issue sound paper money backed by them.
• taxing in the south caused revenue to dry up, to where the confederate dollar was worth only 1.6 cents. when lee surrendered, the war had inflicted a 6,000 dollar inflation rate on the south.

The North's Economic Boom

• Newly invented laborsaving machinery enabled the North to expand economically. Mechanical reapers (farm machines used to harvest grain) allowed for men to leave the farms for the war and provided grain that contributed to Northern profits.
• The discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1859 led to a rush of people known as the "Fifty-Niners."
• The Civil War opened up many jobs for women that were originally occupied by men.

 

Chapter Themes

The Civil War evolved into a total war to end slavery and transform the nation

Major Questions

What made Lincoln a great president?

Although Abraham Lincoln made and proceeded with many unconstitutional decisions and actions, they were made in order to save the Union. He understood that he might encounter opposition in his decisions but he knew he must do whatever was needed in order to save the precious democratic Union. Abraham Lincoln was a great president because he understood the importance of situations and knew how to act, whether or not it was constitutional. He was a great public speaker and he could relate situations to the people and he would act any way possible in order to preserve and to save the Union itself- Amanda - Becky

Why did the North win the Civil War?

The North won for many reasons: they had the majority of the populations, black men were able to enlist, and the blockaded of the Southern port. Because the North had the majority of the population that meant they had more men to fight therefore having an endless and expendable amount of troops. It also helped that 10% of the Union army were black men. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 declared “forever free” the slaves not only in the North but to the Confederate states still in rebellion. Because black men were free they began to enlist in the Union Army and Lincoln defended his policies toward blacks’ enlisting, in a letter stating: “You say you will not fight to free Negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you....” Lincoln’s other actions, like the blockade of Southern ports which caused the North to have better feed to maintain its troops while Southern troops lacked even shoes, help win the Civil War. 

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Chapter Outline

Bull Run Ends the "Ninety-Day War"

• Summer of 1861, a Union army of thirty thousand men drilled near Washington. Lincoln concluded that an attack on a smaller Confederate force at Bull run might be a try. If the attack is successful, it could demonstrate the superiority of Union arms and it may lead to the capture of Richmond. If Richmond fell, secession would be discredited, and the Union could be restored without economic and social system of the South
• July 21st, 1861, Yankee recruits swaggered out of Washington toward Bull run Congressmen and Spectators followed with lunch baskets to witness the fight not knowing that it could result and true violence/ At first, the battle went well for the yankees, but then Stonewall Jackson gray-clad warriors stood like a stone wall and confederate reinforcements arrive unexpectedly. Panic seized the Union troops and they fled in shameful confusion. The confederates themselves feasted on captured lunches
• The battle of bull run caused political conflict. Victory for the South was almost worse than defeat because it led to over-confidence.

"Tardy George" McClellan and the Peninsula Campaign

• In 1861 General George B, McClellan was given command of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan had seen plenty of fighting, first in the Mexican War and then as an observer of the Crimean War in Russia.
• He was like by his men and given the nick name “little Mac” because he was an excellent organizer and drillmaster injecting good morale into the Army of Potomac. But he was a perfectionist not getting the war isn’t perfect, didn’t like to run risk, his reports from head of Pinkerton’s Detective Agency were unreliable, and he was overcautious therefore getting call a “baboon” by the general.
• McClellan would drill his army without moving but toward Richmond until Lincoln demanded him to advance. He took a waterborne approach to Richmond, which lies at the western base of a narrow peninsula formed by the James and York Rivers (hence the name Peninsula Campaign).
• In 1862: he and about 100,000 men took to capture Yorktown (which took two month). When they were close to Richmond Lincoln sent reinforcements to chase “stonewall” Jackson. At halt to further Richmond, McClellan had “Jeb” Stuart’s Confederate horse soldiers rode completely around this army on reconnaissance while Robert E. Lee lunched a shocking counterattack – The Seven Days’ Battle (June 26- July 2, 1862)
• McClellan was drove back to the sea and the Union forces abandoned the Peninsula Campaign because it was a costly failure and Lincoln temporarily abandoned McClellan as commander of the Army if the Potomac. But in McClellan defense he had 10,000 casualties Lee had 20,000.
• If McClellan had succeeded in taking Richmond and ending the war in mid 1862- the Union would have probably have been restored with minimal disruption to the “peculiar institution” and Slavery would have survived, at least for a time.
• Lee had ensured that the war would endure until slavery was demolished and the Old South thoroughly destroyed, so Lincoln had no choice but to turn toward total war. Northern military plan had six components:
  1. Suffocate the South by blockading its coasts
  2. Liberate the slaves and undermine the very economic foundations of the Old South
  3. Cut the Confederacy in half by seizing control of the Mississippi River backbone
  4. Chop the Confederacy to pieces by sending troops through Georgia and Carolinas
  5. Decapitate it by capturing its capital at Richmond
  6. (Ulysses Grant’s idea) try everywhere to engage the enemy’s main strength and to grind it into submission.

The War at Sea

• The North attempted for a blockade but of course is impossible to cover entire coast, so they focused on major ports, using boats from warships to ferries
• Even though blockade was poor Britain stayed away from South to prevent future war
• Blockade skyrocketed prices and swift steamers were able to sneak past the blockade to make a high profit.
• Yankee ships stopped British freighters going to a midpoint with reasoning that the goods were intended to go to South
• Southerners rebelled with a iron coating an old wooden ship and took some Union ships, but Union responded with their own small ironclad and beat the south.
• Britain and France had already built several ironclads, but this was the first battle-testing of these new craft. these powerful ironclads became the future of naval battles and made the old wooden ones obselete.

The Pivotal Point: Antietam

• Robert E. Lee got a victory over General John Pope at Second Battle of Bull Run(August 29-30, 1862)
• Lee moved into Maryland hoping to strike a blow that would encourage foreign intervention and get the Border State and its sisters to withdraw from the Union-->marylanders did not respond
• Critical battle at Antietam Creek, Maryland: McClellan ("Little Mac") was restored to active command of main Northern army, got lucky with finding Lee's battle plans, succeeded in halting Lee at Antietam on September 17, 1862, in one of the bitterest and bloodiest days of the war
• more or less a draw militarily: but Lee retired across Potomac, McClellan-removed from his field command for the 2nd and final time
• most decisive battle of the Civil War-->Jefferson Davis never again so near a victory as on that day, the British and French gov'ts on the verge of diplomatic mediation:a form of interference sure to be resented by the North
• long-awaited "victory" that Lincoln needed for launching his Emancipation Proclamation-->preliminary on September 23, 1862, final on January 1, 1863
• Civil War became more of a moral crusade, since fate of slavery and the south it had sustained was sealed

A Proclamation Without Emancipation

Blacks Battle Bondage

• Blacks mostly enlisted in the Union armies, most of the from the slave states, but many from free soil North. Blacks accounted for a bout 10 percent of the total enlistments in the Union forces on land and sea and included two Massachusetts regiments raised largely through the efforts of the ex-slave Frederick Douglas.
• With reasons of Pride and Prejudice and Principle, the Confederacy could not bring itself to enlist blacks in the army a month before the war ended. Meanwhile, thousands were forced into labor battalions the building of fortifications the supplying of armies and other war connected activities. slaves were the stomach of the confederacy, they kept the economy and plantations going while the white men fought.
• tens of thousands of blacks fled their plantations and revolted against arriving union armies with or without an emancipation proclamation. Twenty five thousand joined shermans march through Georgia in 1864 and it caused problems in supply and discipline.

Lee's Last Lunge at Gettysburg

• After Antietam Lincoln replaced McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac with General A.E. Burnside, whose over-elaborate side-whiskers came to known as “burnsides” or “sideburns.”
• Burnside launched a rash frontal attack on Lee's strong position at Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1862, on December 13, 1862. More than ten thousand Northern soldiers were killed or wounded in casualties nicknamed “Burnside’s Slaughter Pen."

• During the battle at Chancellorsville, Virginia on May 2-4, 1863, Hooker was badly beaten, but not before Jackson was mortally wounded. Hooker was replaced by General George G. Meade.
• As Lee moved his Confederate force to the north again (this time to Pennsylvania), he was met by Meade's force at Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863.
• The failure of General George Pickett's magnificent but futile charge finally broke the back of the Confederate attack.
• Pickett's charge has been called the "high tide of the Confederacy." It defined both the northernmost point reached by any significant Southern force and the last real chance for the Confederates to win the war.

The War in the West

• Ulysses S. Grant became Lincoln's general for the North.
• His first major victory came when his troops captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the Tennesse and Cumberland Rivers in February 1862.
• this victory riveted kentucky more securely to the union and opened the gateway to the strategically important region of tennesse, as well as georgia and the heart of dixie.
• After this victory, grant tried to capture the mississippi valley at corinth, but was defeated at Shiloh. the battle at Shiloh showed that there would be no quick end to the war in the west.

Sherman Scorches Georgia

• General Grant transferred to east Tennessee theater, where Confederates had driven Union forces from Chickamauga into Chattanooga, then laid siege.Grant won a series of desperate engagements in November 1863(Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mountain) Chattanooga liberated and way opened for invasion of Georgia.
• General William Tecumseh Sherman in charge of conquest-->captured Atlanta in September 1864 and burned the city in November.
• left supply base, lived off country for 250 miles, weeks later emerged at Savannah
• Sherman's "Blue Bellies" cut a 60 mile swath of destruction through Georgia: burned buildings, tore up railroad rails, bayoneted family portraits, ran off with valuable "souveniers"
• one of Sherman's major purposes was to destroy supplies destined for Confederate army and to weaken the morale of the men at the front by waging war on their homes
• Sherman was a pioneer practitioner of "total war", his success attested by increasing numbers of Confederate desertions
• after seizing Savannah, Sherman's army moved into South Carolina, destruction worse, many Union soldeiers believed this state, the "hell-hole of secession" had provoked the war-->capital city, Columbia, burst into flames-->army continued north, deep in North Carolina by war's end

The Politics of War

• The election of 1864 fell right in the middle of the war. The Congressional Committee on the Conduct of War tried to keep Lincoln out of office becuase they resented the expanding power of the president.
• Lacking a leader due to the death of Stephen A. Douglas, the democratic party split into two seperate parties. The War Democrats who supported Lincoln and his office and the Peace Democrats who did not. At the extreme were copperheads who obstructed the war through attacks on Lincoln and against emancipation.
• Clement L. Vallandigham was part of the copperheads party. He spread the word that the war was cruel and wicked and that it should be ended. Lincoln banished him to Confederate lines claiming that if he liked them so much he should go join them.
• Vallandigham fled to Canada and ran for governor of Ohio there. He did not win. He later went back to his home state before the war ended but was not further prosecuted. He inspired Edward Everett Hale to write the book "A Man Without a Country".

The Election of 1864

• As the election approached, Lincolns authority depended on his retaining Republican support, while spiking the threat from the Peace Democrats and Copperheads. Republican party executed a clever maneuver. Joining with the War Democrats, it proclaimed itself to be the Union party. Thus the Republican party passed temporarily out of existence.
• Lincoln was accused of lacking force, of being over ready to compromise, of having not won the war, and shocking many sensitive souls by his ill timed and earthy jokes. Lincoln ran with Andrew Johnson, a loyal war democrat from Tennessee,who had been a small slave owner when the conflict began. He was placed in the Union party in order to attract War democrats and the voters in the border states.
• Lincoln was in Jeopardy of losing his presidency against McClelan but when Lincoln Triumphed, desertions from the South increased sharply. 

Grant Outlasts Lee

• President Lincoln chose General Grant to lead the assault on the Confederate capital of Richmond.
• Grant had 100,000 men and engaged Lee in a series of battles in the Wilderness of Virginia (Wilderness Campaign).
• On June 3, 1864, Grant ordered the frontal assault on Cold Harbor.
• Thousands of Union soldiers were killed within a matter of minutes, but Grant's strategy of losing two men and killing one Confederate worked.
• He captured Richmond and cornered Lee.
• On April 9, 1865, Lee was forced to surrender the Army of Northern Virginia (a significant portion of the Confederate army) at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.

The Martyrdom of Lincoln

• Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865
• His death caused his good parts to shine through and he was seen even better.
• Southern supporters rejoiced due to Lincoln's will to keep at was, but later realized that it made tensions worse between North and South than if he was alive.
• The southeners recognized that lincoln'skindliness and moderation would have been the most effective shields between them and vindictive treatment by the Union.

The Aftermath of the Nightmare

• Over 600,000 men died in action or of disease, over a million were killed or seriously wounded
• Direct monetary costs totaled $15billion, does not include continuing expenses(pensions, interes on national debt), intangible costs cannot be calculated(dislocations, disunities, wasted energies, lowered ethics, blasted lives, bitter memories, burning hates)
• National gov't emerged unbroken, nullification and secession laid to rest
• Civil War=supreme test of American democracy, proved itself-->great English Reform Bill of 1867:Britain=true political democracy
• African-Americans in a position to claim their rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
• Nation united politically again, danger of unleashing the slave power on Caribbean neighbors and transformation of area from Panama to Hudson Bay into an armed camp averted

 

Chapter Outline

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The Problems of Peace

• After the war, many confederate war leaders were captured and a popular Northern song was "hang Jeff Davis" and even the children sang it. Davis was temporarily clapped into irons during the early days of his two-year imprisonment but he and his fellow conspirators were release because the odds were that no Virginia jury would convict them. All rebel leaders were pardoned by President Johnson as sort of a christmas present in 1868.
  • Although Congress did not remove all remaining civil disabilities until 30 years later and fully restored Davis's citizenship more than a century later.
• The South had collapsed because of the war economically and socially. The "Old" confident south had perished and the South needed to rebuild. Good looking cities such as charleston and Richmond had been reduced to rubble strewn and full of weeds. Inflation ruined local business. Banks and factories had been shut down and the transportation system had been broken down completely, Agriculture, the economic lifeblood of the south was hopelessly crippled, the fields were filled with weeds and livestock have been driven away by plundering yankees and the slave labor system had collapsed, the south was left in peril.
• Many southerners were angered shouting "damn Yankees" and spoke out against government. Southern aristocrats were humbled temporarily reduced from proud to poverty

Freedmen Define Freedom

• Emancipation took effect unevenly in different parts of the Confederacy.
• Many thought that African Americans were ‘incapable of accepting “freedom” in any sense’ because:
  1. Some slaves resisted the liberating Union armies due to their loyalty to their masters.
  2. Freed blacks had no idea what to do now since they’re free and all they know how to do is labor work causing whites to resume leadership/control.
• Education arose for the blacks due to the emancipation proclamation. Blacks were now able to learn to how to read and write.
• Church became the main focus of black community life; they formed their own churches pastured by their own ministers.
• Many ex-slaves: sought families, organized society around churches, sought education, as many remained poor.

The Freedman's Bureau

• Freedman's Bureau was created to help the newly freed slaves who were considered less experienced at life
• Kind of life welfare; provided clothing, food, medical care, edu.
• Greatest achievement was the education mostly cause blacks wanted to be closer to whites and read the word of God
• Bureau was week in other departments, little land was given to blacks that was promised, land was captured from Confederate

Johnson: The Tailor President

• Johnson was born into an extremely poor family and therefore never went to school. instead he became the apprentice to a tailor at ten. he taught himself how to read, and later his wife taught him how to write and do simple arithmetic.
• Johnson was a champion of the poor whites against planter aristocrats, although he did own a few slaves. elected to Congress, he became favored by the north when he refused to secede with his state. after Tennesse was partialy reclaimed by union soldiers, he was appointed war general.
• Johnson then moved into the vice presidency-->Lincoln's Union party in 1864 needed support from War Democrats and other pro-southern elements and Johnson seemed to be ideal. Unfortunately, he arrived at the vice-presidential inaugural ceremonies in a scandalous condition-->he had been recently afflicted with typhoid fever and had been urged by his friends to take a stiff bracer of whiskey, he did.
• "Old Andy" Johnson was intelligent, able, forceful, gifted with honesty, devoted to duty and people, dogmatic champion of states' rights and Constitution. However, he was a misfit-->Southerner did not understand the North, a Tennessean had earned distrust of the South, a Democrat who had never been accepted by Republicans, a president who had never been elected to the office, not at home in a republican white house. wrong man in wrong place at wrong time-->a Reconstruction policy would have failed in his hands.

The Baleful Black Codes

• The first of the new Southern regimes sanctioned by Johnson were the Black Codes.
• The Black Codes were designed to regulate the affairs of the emancipated blacks.
• Mississippi passed the first law like this in Nov 1865, with other states soon following.
• The Black Codes varied in severity from state to state, Mississippi being the harshest and Georgia the most lenient.
• The Black Codes were aimed to create a stable subservient labor force.
• Consequences for "jumped" labor contracts were usually one year service under the contract holder at pittance wages. Violators could be made to forgeit back wages, or could be dragged back to work by a paid "Negro-catcher".
• Blacks freedom was recognized, and they had the right to marry, but could not serve on a jury, and in a few stats could not rent or lease land. They could be punished for "idleness" by forced servitude on a chain-gang. They were not allowed the right to vote.

Congressional Reconstruction

• blacks could dismantle the economic program of the republican party by lowering tariffs, rerouting the transcontinental railroad, repealing the free farm homestead act, possibly even repudiating the national debt. President Johnson thus deeply disturbed the congressional republicans when he announced on December 6th, 1865, that the recently rebellious states had satisfied his conditions and that in his view the union was now restored.
• Among those who presented themselves at the Capitol in Dec 1865, there was four former Confederate generals, five colonels, and various members of the Richmond cabinet and Congress who tried reclaiming their seats.. The presence of these "whitewashed rebels" infuriated the Republicans in Congress.
• While the South had been "out" from 1861 to 1865 the Republicans in Congress had enjoyed a relatively free hand. They had passed much legislation that favored the North, such as the Morrill Tariff, the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Homestead Act.
• Before the war a black slave had counted as three-fifths of a person. Now the slave was five-fifths of a person. Because of this, a full counting of free blacks showed that the rebel states were entitled to twelve more votes in Congress and twelve more presidential electoral votes.

Johnson Clashes with Congress

• the clash came out into the open in february 1866 when Johnson vetoed a bill, extending the life of the Feedmen's Bureau.
• the Republicans, in March 1866, passed the civil rights Bill. this conferred on blacks the privilege of American citizenship and struck at the black codes.
• Johnson veteod this bill, but Congress ignored his veto, something they repeatedly did henceforth. Congress assumed the dominant role in running the government,
• Republicans now wanted to rivet the principles of the Civil Rights Bill into the constitution as the Fourteenth Amendment(they were afraid southerners might one day get control of Congress and repel the law), the amendment as approved by Congress and sent to the states in June 1866 (1)conferred civil rights, including citizenship but excluding the franchise, on the freedmen;(2)reduced proportionately the representation of a state in Congress and electoral college if it denied blacks the ballot;(3)disqualified from federal and state office former Confederates who as federal officeholders had sworn to support the Constituiton;(4)guaranteed the federal debt, while repudiating all Confederate debts
• radical faction disappointed that 14th didn't grant right to vote, but all republicans agreed no state should be welcomed back into Union without first ratifying the 14th
• president Johnson advised southern states to reject it, all except tennessee defiantly spurned amendment

Republican Principles and Programs

• Republicans now had a veto-proof Congress and unlimited control of the Reconstruction policy, but moderates and radicals still disagreed on the path to take.
• The radicals in senate were led by Charles Sumner; he fought for black freedom and radical equality.
• The most powerful radical in the house was Thaddeus Stevens, he was a strong supporter of black freedom and was known for defending runaway slaves in court without fee and even asked to be buried in a black cemetery when he died. He was a leading figure on the Joint Committee of Reconstruction.
• Radicals wanted to keep the south out for a time and use federal power to bring about aneconomic and social transformation in the South.
• Moderate republicans preferred policies that restrained states from abridging citizens’rights rather than policies that involved the federal government directly in individual lives.
• One thing both groups did agree on was the necessity to enfranchise black voters.

Reconstruction by the Sword

• Viscous and bloody race riots had erupted in many Southern cities. congress passed the reconstruction act on march 2nd 1867. supplemented by later measures, this drastic legislation divided the south into five military districts, each commanded by a union general and policed by blue-clad soldiers about twenty thousand
• Congress laid down stringent conditions for the readmission of the seceded states. the wayward states were required to ratify the fourteenth amendment which gave slaves their right to freedom.
• The only fear was that once the states had been readmitted into the Union they would take away suffrage from the black males so 1869, the fifteenth amendment was passed granting black suffrage and it was ratified by the required number of states in 1870.

No Women Voters

• The passage of the three reconstruction era amendments (thirteenth, fourteenth and the fifteenth) delighted former abolitionist but deeply disappointed Feminists. Although women played a huge role during the civil war, many were still discouraged. It was unfair for the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to give rights to black males, but not none to the women. The fight for black freedom and the fight for women's rights were one in the same in the eyes of many women.

 

The Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the South

The Ku Klux Klan

• southern whites resorted to savage measures against radical rule, many resented success and ability of black legislators
• founded in Tennessee in 1866, besheeted nightriders would approach cabins of an "upstart" black and attempt to scare them, if fright didn't produce desired effect, force was employed
• many ex-bondsmen and white carpetbaggers took the hint and shunned the polls, but others who persisted were flogged, mutilated, or murdered
• became a refuge for numerous bandits and cutthroats
• Congress, outraged, passed the harsh Force Acts of 1870 and 1871, federal troops able to stamp out much of the "lash law" but by this time the Invisible Empire had already done its work of intimidation
• many outlawed groups continued tactics in the guise of "dancing clubs", "missionary societies," and "rifle clubs"
• white resistance undermined attempts to empower blacks politically, south openly flouted 14th and 15th amendments, wholesale disfranchisement achieved by intimidation, fraud, and trickery
• literacy tests, unfairly administered by whites to advantage of illiterate whites-->justified by goal of white supremacy

Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank

• Radicals annoyed by Johnson's obstructions, wanted to remove him by constitutional processes-->"Bluff Ben" Wade of Ohio would become president
• Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867 which required the president to secure the consent of the Senate before he could remove his cabinet members once they had been approved by the Senate.
• Its purpose was to keep the secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton, in the president's cabinet.
• When Johnson dismissed Stanton in 1868, the House of Representatives voted 126 to 47 to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors," charging him with various violations of the Tenure of Office Act
• two additional articles in Constitution related to johnson's verbal assaults on the Congress

A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson

• The now radical-led Senate sat on a court to try Johnson on impeachment charges. The House conducted the prosecution.
• On May 16, 1868 the Senate voted with only one less than needed for a 2/3 vote, that Johnson should be not removed from office.
• Several factors shaped the outcome; fear of setting a precedent, and political considerations.
• Johnson tried remaining in office by stating, through his lawyer, that if allowed to remain in office, he would stop obstructing Republican policies.
• Radicals were furious for not being able to muster the 2/3rd vote required.

The Purchase of Alaska

• Johnson's administration, largely reduced to a figurehead, achieved it's most enduring success in the field of foreign relations; the purchase of Alaska from Russia.
• The Russians by 1867 were in a mood to sell the vast and chilly expanse of land, Alaska, because they were already overextended in North America. They preferred the United States to any other purchaser, primarily because they wanted to strengthen further the Republic as a barrier against their ancient enemy, Britain.
• In 1867 Secretary of State William Seward signed a treaty with Russia that transferred Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million. But Seward's enthusiasm for these frigid wastes was not shared by his ignorant or uninformed countrymen.
• It is speculated that America bought Alaska not for it's usefulness, but due to that fact that Russia and the tsar and been friendly during the Civil War, and they didn't want to turn their backs on that.

The Heritage of Reconstruction

• Many white Southeners saw reconstruction as worse than the war itself. they hated the upending of their social and racial system, political empowerment of blacks, and the federal intervention in their local affairs.
• republicans wanted to protect freed slaves and to promote the fortunes of the Republican party. their efforts actually backfired. reconstruction gave only fleeting benefits to the blacks and extinguished the Republican part in the south for one hundred years.

Varying Viewpoints: How Radical was Reconstruction?

• Reconstruction provoked sectional, racial, and constitutional questions about which people felt deeply about and remain deeply divided even today.
• In the early 1900s students of William A. Dunning, a Columbia University historian,published a series of histories of the recanstruction South. Dunning and his students were influenced by the turn-of-the-century spirit of sectional conciliation as well as by current theories about black racial inferiority. because of the racial attidues still present, they sided with white southeners, and called Reconstruction as a national disgrace. if the south had wronged the North by seceding, the North had wronged the south by reconstructing.

 

 

Major Themes

• Political life in the Gilded Age was marked by ineptitude, stalemate, and corruption. Despite similarity at the national level, the two parties competed fiercely for offices and spoils, while doling out “pork-barrel” benefits to veterans and other special interest groups.
• The serious issues of monetary and agrarian reform, labor, race, and economic fairness were largely swept under the rug by the political system, until revolting farmers and a major economic depression in 1893 created a growing sense of crisis and demands for radical change,

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Major Questions

• What conditions seemed to promote the ineptitude, stalemate and corruption that seemed so prevalent in politics in the Gilded Age? Civil-service reform, tariffs, currency, divisions within the separate political parties, and the tendencies for people to hop to a different party when they didn't like their own.

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Pre-Reading

Coming out of the Reconstruction period, characterize each of the two major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. Reflect on the philosophy of each party regarding government, economics and finance, civil rights, constituencies, issues of concerns, etc,

	REPUBLICANS	DEMOCRATS
TARIFF	High rates	Low rates
GOV'T ACTION	Intervention (where necessary)	States rights; limited activity
GOV'T SPENDING	High spending	Low spending
CURRENCY	Mixed- pro-gold, deflation	Mixed- pro-silver, inflation
REFORM	Mixed- support reform	Mixed- anti-reform

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The "Bloody Shirt" Elects Grant

• The People did not want a professional politician as President during Reconstruction. They felt that a good general would make a good president. General Grant was the most popular Northern hero to emerge from the war. He was a greenhorn in the political arena. His one presidential vote had been cast for the Democratic ticket in 1856. The Republicans nominated Grant for the presidency in 1868. Their platform called for continued Reconstruction of the South, under the North. Republicans gained popularity for Grant by "waving the bloody shirt"; reviving gory memories of the Civil War.

 

The Era of Good Stealings

• Post-Civil War, the majority of businesspeople and government officials continued to do their jobs with decency and honor, but the whole postwar atmosphere was fetid. People went as far as to say that the Man on the Moon had to hold his nose when passing over America. Free wheeling railroad promoters scammed investors. Many people scammed the stock-market with price manipulation. Judges and legislators put their powers up for higher.
• Notorious in this new financial world was a pair of partners, "Jubilee Jin" Fisk, the brass, and Jay Gould, the brains. They convinced Grant through his stepbrother not to sell gold through the Treasury, then raised the price themselves by buying out all available gold. Contrary to his promises, Grant had the Treasury sell gold.
• Another example was Burly "Boss" Tweed who scammed New York City citizens out of as much as 200million. He was stopped when the New York Times secured damning evidence in 1871.

Depression, Deflation, and Inflation

• Crash in 1873:promoters had laid more railroad track, sunk more mines, erected more factories, and sowed more grainfields than existing markets could bear--bankers made toom many imprudent loans to finance these enterprises--profits failed to materialize and loans went unpaid, causing credit based house of cards to fall
• more than fifteen thousand businesses went bankrupt
• black americans hard hit:Freedman's Savings and Trust Company made unsecured loans to companies that went under
• "folding money" issued during the war depreciated b/c of popular mistrust and legality
• by 1868, treasury had already withdrawn $100 million of the "battle-born currency" from circulation: "hard money" people excited for total disappearance, "cheap money"(debtor groups) wanted a reissuance of the greenbacks-->more money=cheaper money=rising prices and easier to pay debts
• creditors want deflation, debtors want inflation
• "hard money" advocates get Grant to veto a bill to print more paper money in 1874 and Resumption Act of 1875(pledged gov't to further withdrawl of greenbacks from circulation and redemption of all paper currency in gold at face value)
• debtors looked for relief in silver, wanted coinage of more silver
• Hard money Republicans pushed "contraction":treasury began to accumulate gold stocks agains tthe appointed day for resumption of metallic-money payments coupled with reduction of greenbacks-->deflationary effect:amount of money per capita decreased(1870-1880--$19.42-$19.37)
• contraction worsened the impact of depression, but did restore the gov'ts credit rating and brought embattled greenbacks up to full face value
• republican hard-money policy helped elect a democratic HofR in 1874 and spawned Greenback Labor Party in 1878

Pallid Politics in the Gilded Age

• political seesaw delicately balanced--every presidential election was close and majority party in HofR switiched 6 times in 11 sessions between 1869 and 1891-->only 3 sessions had the same party controlling the house, senate, and white house
• democrats and republicans saw nearly eye to eye on questions like tariff and civil-service reform, and currency---however, quite competitive, tightly organized and commanded fierce loyalty from members
• nearly 80 of eligible voters cast their ballots in pres. elections, and "ticket splitting"(failing to vote the straight party line) was rare
• republican voters tended to adhere to creeds that traced their lineage to Puritanism, stressed strict codes of personal morality & believed gov't should play a role in regulating economic and moral affairs of society
• democrats, mostly immigrant lutherans and roman catholics, more likely to adhere to faiths that took a less stern view of human weakness, professed toleration of differences in an imperfect world, spurned gov't efforts to impose a single moral standard on entire society
• differences produced raucous political contests at local level, issues like prohibition and education loomed large
• democrats had solid electoral base in south and in northern industrial cities, republicans had strength in midwest and rural northeast and got votes from grateful freedmen in the south and members of the Grand Army of the Republic
• both parties disbursed jobs in return for votes, kickbacks, and party service
• fighting within republican party in 1870s&1880s:"Stalwart" faction led by Roscoe Conkling embraced system of swapping civil-service jobs for votes, opposed to Conklingites were the Half-Breeds(led by James G. Blaine) who wanted civil service reform--stalemate

The Hayes-Tilden Standoff, 1876

• Grant runs for 3rd termin 1876, but Housed derailed bandwagon-->two-term tradition
• Republicans turn to Rutherford B. Hayes("The Great Unknown")
• Democrats turn to Samuel J. Tilden

The Birth of Jim Crow in the post-Reconstruction South

• White democrats resume political power in South & exercised it ruthlessly-->blacks who tried to assert their rights faced unemployment, eviction, and physical harm
• Blacks and poor whites forced into sharecropping and tenant farming
• "crop-lien" system: storekeepers extended credit to small farmers for food and supplies and in return took a lien on their harvests
• Merchants manipulated the system so farmers remained in debt

The Blaine-Cleveland Mudslingers of 1884

• James G. Blaines persistence finally paid off in 1884. He was a politician from Maine blessed with almost everything except a reputation for honesty. He was the clear choice of the Republican Convention in Chicago. Reform-minded Republicans found evidence against Blaine in the "Mulligan letters" connecting him to a corrupt deal involving federal favors to a southern railroad. Some reformers, unable to swallow this, joined the Democrats. They were referred to sneeringly as Mugwumps.
• Democrats turned towards Grover Cleveland, who was a solid but not brilliant lawyer of 47. He had gone from the mayor's office in Buffalo to the governorship of New York and the presidential nomination in three short years. Republicans digging for some dirt against Cleveland found that he had been involved in an affair with a Buffalo widow. She had an illegitimate son who was then 8, that Grover had made financial provision for, implying that it was his. Democratic elders hurried to Cleveland with this news and tried to get him to lie like a gentleman, but he told the truth.
• Few fundamental differences separated the parties in 1884. Cleveland swept the South and squeaked into office with 219 to 192 electoral votes and 4,879,507 to 4,850,930 popular votes.

Cleveland Battles for a Lower Tariff

• during Civil War tariff schedules jacked up to raise revenues for military, american industry profited from this protection
• but high duties continued to pile up revenue at customshouses, by 1881 treasury was running an annual surplus of $145 million
• congress could reduce surplus in 2 ways: 1)squander it on pensions and "pork-barrel" bills, &thus curry favor with veterans and other self-seeking groups.2)lower the tariff(big industrialists opposed
• Grover Cleveland-interested, lower barriers=lower prices for consumers and less protection for monopolies, end to treasury surplus
• tossed an appeal for lower tariffs into lap of congress in late 1887, divided the 2 parties as 1888 presidential election loomed
• democrats=Cleveland, republicans=benjamin harrison-->tariff=main issue
• republicans raised a war chest of some $3million out of nervous industrialists, money used to line up corrupt "voting cattle", or "repeaters" and"floaters"
• Harrison nosed out Cleveland:233 to 168 electoral votes, cleveland polled more popular votes(5,537,857 to 5,447,129)
• Cleveland became 1st sitting president to be voted out of his chair since Martin Van Buren in 1840

The Billion Dollar Congress

• Republicans under Harrison were excited for federal offices but in HofR, they had only 3 more votes than necessary
• Democrats preparing to obstruct all House business by refusing to answer roll calls, demanding roll calls to determine the presence of a quorum, and employing other delaying tactics
• New Republican Speaker of the House, Thomas B. Reed-->intimidating
• 1st Congress in history to appropriate a billion dollars

Cleveland and Depression

• With the Populists divided and the Republicans discredited, Cleveland took office again in 1893, becoming the only president ever reelected after defeat. He was the same old man, with just a little more polish. Cleveland had just seated himself in the chair when the depression of 1893 burst. Lasting for about four years, it was the most punishing economic downturn of the 19th century. The causes were the splurge of overbuilding and speculation, labor disorders, and the ongoing agricultural depression. The pinch on finances began when European banking houses began to call in loans from the United States.
• About 8,000 businesses collapsed in six months. Soup kitchens fed the unemployed, while gangs of hobos wandered around. The Federal government, bound by the let-nature-take-its-course philosophy, saw no legitimate way to relieve the suffering masses.
• Cleveland summoned Congress into extra session in the summer of 1893 to try and repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1840 to try and stop the Federal Treasury from being bled dry. This act was eventually repealed.
• Another complication was occurring behind Americans backs. Cleveland had a malignant growth on the top of his mouth. He had to removed by a surgeon on his private yacht, to keep it secret. In 1894 the gold reserve sank to $41 million. The United States was in grave danger of going off of the gold standard. Early in 1895 Cleveland turned to J. P. Morgan for help. The bankers agreed to lend the government $65 million in gold.

 

Major Themes

• America accomplished heavy industrialization after the Civil War, marked by the growth of the transcontinental railroad and large-scale industrial consolidation
• Industrialization transformed American labor, but workers failed to develop effective labor organizations that could match the corporate organization of business

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Major Questions

• A third of this chapter (9 of 28 pages) is devoted to the railroad industry. Why?

Because the industrial advances were blooming and the building of railroads were increasing (transcontinental), railroads at this time was a main source of transportation not only for goods but people too. 

• What were the costs and benefits of the post Civil War industrial transformation? (see The Impact of the New Industrial Revolution on America for overview)

• Why did American workers have such trouble responding to the new industrial condition of labor? Why were business and the middle-class public generally hostile to unionization?

 

Outline

The Iron Colt Becomes an Iron Horse

• after 1865, the establishment of railroads began to increase as business and Industrialization in the west increased. Transcontinental building was very risky in it required government subsidies. Congress, impressed by arguments pleading military and postal needs, began to advance liberal money loans to two favored cross continent companies in 1862.
• land grants were made in broad belts along the proposed route within these belts the railroads were aloud to choose alternate mile square sections in checker board fashion. the railroads withheld all the land from other users. 1887 Grover Cleveland put and end to this and threw open to settlement the still unclaimed public portions of the land grant areas.
• In 1865 there were only 35,000 miles of steam railways in the US, by 1900 it increased to 192,556 miles.
• Granting land was a "cheap" way to subsidize a much-desired transportation system, because it avoided new taxes for direct cash grants.

Railroad Consolidation and Mechanization

• Cornelious Vanderbuild promised lower prices for railroad costs and thus secured himself 100 million dollars to invest into the industry.
• He was one of the first ones to replace the iron rails with steel rails which was a sound economic investment because steal rails could carry more weight and were safer. A standard gauge of track also came into use which eliminated the cost and inconvenience of numerous changes from one track to another.
• The Westinghouse air brake was also a major contribution to the safety and efficiency of railroads.
• The Pullman Palace car was described as a luxury hotel on wheels, although the safety was questionable because of swaying kerosene lamps.
• Accidents continued to be almost daily tragedies, despite safety devices like the telegraph, double-tracking, and the block signal

Revolution by Railways

• Railroads opened up fresh markets for manufactured goods after the civil war and sped raw materials to factories. the building of the railroads themselves made up most of the steel industry. railroads stimulated mining and agriculture, especially in the West.
• Railroads were the boon for cities and completely encourage business and they are considered the main spark for industrialization.

Wrongdoing in Railroading

• In order to increase the weight of cows, "stock watering" was employed. It entailed forcing a cow to bloat itself with water before it was weighed for sale. This technique enabled railroad stock promoters to inflate their claims about a given line's assets and profitability and sell stocks and bonds in excess of the railroad's actual value.
• Railroaders, feeling they were above the law, abused the public by bribing judges and legislatures.
• Railroad kings were manipulators of a huge natural monopoly and exercised too much direct control over the lives of people.
• Many rail barons granted bribed powerful shippers in return for steady traffic.
• The earliest form of combination was the “pools”--an agreement to divide the business in a given area and share the profits.

Government Bridles the Iron Horse

• The depression of the 1870s caused farmers to protest against being "railroaded" into bankruptcy. Under pressure from organized agrarian groups, many midwestern legislatures tried to regulate the railroad monopoly.
• In 1886 the Supreme Court decreed that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce.
• The Interstate Commerce Act prohibited rebates and pools and required the railroads to publish their rates openly. Most important, it set up the Interstate Commerce Commission to administer and enforce the new legislation.
• The new legislation provided an orderly forum where competing business interests could resolve their conflicts with peace. Avoiding rate wars.

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Miracles of Mechanization

• Republic became number one in manufacturing nations of the world by 1894
• Liquid capital was now abundant, Civil War created immense fortunes, customary borrowings from foreign capitalists
• Natural resources of the nation now fully exploited-->coal, oil, iron
• Massive immigration helped make unskilled labor cheap and plentiful (eastern and southern europe)
• American ingenuity played a vital role-->techniques of mass production being perfected, tons of patents issued
• Business operations facilitated by cash register, stock ticker, typewriter
• Urbanization speeded by refrigerator car, electric dynamo, electric railway
• Telephone=major by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876
• Thomas Alva Edison=most versatile inventor: phonograph, mimeograph, dictaphone, moving picture, perfection of electric light bulb

Carnegie and Other Sultans of Steel

• After accumulating some capital, Carnegie entered the steel business. He was not a monopolist and disliked monopolistic trusts.
• By 1900 he was producing one-fourth of the nation's Bessemer steel.
• J. Pierpont Morgan had made a legendary reputation for himself by financing the reorganization of railroads, insurance companies, and banks.
• Carnegie and Morgan crossed pathes. Carnegie, looking to sell his business bartered with Morgan until they finally came to the agreement of 400 million dollars.
• Carnegie spent 350 million of the 400 million on libraries and charity means.
• Morgan went on to buy other businesses and develop the first 1.4 billion dollar business.

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Government Tackles the Trust Evil

• After prolonged pulling and hauling, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was finally signed into law. The Sherman Act forbade combinations in restraint of trade, without any distinction between "good" trusts and "bad" trusts. It contained legal loopholes through which clever corporation lawyers could wriggle. Contrary to original attempt, It was used to curb labor unions or labor combinations that were deemed to be restraining trade.
• More new trusts were formed in the 1890s under President McKinley than during any other like period.
• Not until 1914 were the jaws of the Act tightened and monopolies were seriously threatened for the benefit of the public good.

The South in the Age of Industry

• 1880's Southern agriculture received a welcome boost when machine made cigarettes replaced the roll your own variety and tobacco consumption shot up James Buchanan duke took full advantage of the new technology to mass produce the dainty coffin nails in the 1890 by creating the American Tobacco Company. In what was becoming a familiar pattern he absorbed his main competitors into the American Tobacco Company.

The Impact of the New Industrial Revolution on America

• During the decades after the Civil War, economic miracles increased the standard of living in the United States. The industry of agriculture declined to manufacturing.
• The only group that was affected by the new industrial age was woman.
• Women found jobs as inventions arose; the typewriter and the telephone switchboard gave women, “hello girls”, new economic and social opportunities. One woman, Charles Dana Gibson, created the “Gibson Girl” which is a magazine image of an independent and athletic “new women”.
• The nation of farmers and independent producers was becoming a nation of wage earners. By the beginning of the 1900s, the vast majority of the nation's population earned wages.

In Unions There is Strength

• Factories became less centered around workers since, their jobs became simple such as pulling a lever. Bosses stopped showing interest in individuals, less value placed on manual skills than ever before
• New machines provided many new jobs but hurt the manual worker in the short run. Railroads came in handy to ship new employees to factories. Immigration increased
• Employers power over workers was high, they could bring in strikebreakers (scabs), or employ thugs to beat up labor organizers. They could also take workers to court, call in police, make workers sign "yellow dog" contracts that they wont join a labor union, employers could lock their doors against rebellious workers "lockout", the starve them into submission, put names of agitators on a "black list" and circulate it to fellow employers
• Middle-class public annoyed by strikes, became deaf to outcry of the worker-->Carnegie and Rockefeller battled to the top, the laborer could do the same
• Strike seemed like a foregin importation-->unpatriotic

Labor Limps Along

• Labor Unions given strong boost by Civil War-->more of a premium on labor, mounting cost of living provided an urgent incentive to unionization
• The National Labor Union-organized in 1866, represented several workers, lasted six years and attracted some 600,000 members--> skilled, unskilled, farmers, but not chinese, small efforts to include women and blacks
• Blacks organized their own Colored National Labor Union, the two labor unions unable to work together due to racism
• National Labor Union wanted 8 hour workday, eventually got it for government workers
• depression of 1870s hurt labor, but never completely toppled
• Wage reductions in 1877 caused disruptive strikes on railroads that nothing short of federal troops could restore order
• Knights of Labor was created in 1869 as a secret society, secrecy continued until 1881-->sought to include all workers, barred only "nonproducers":liquor dealers, professional gamblers, lawyers, bankers, stockbrokers-->broad goals:economic and social reform-producers' cooperatives, codes for safety and health, frowned upon industrial warfare, wanted an 8 hour work day
• Leader of Knights of Labor=Terence V. Powderly, Knights won a number of strikes for the 8hour day
• Staged a successful strike against Jay Gould's Wabash Railroad in 1885, membership mushroomed

The AF of L to the Fore

• The elitist American Federation of Labor, born in 1886, was largely the brainchild of squat, square jawed Samuel Gompers. this colorful Jewish cigar maker born in a London tenement and removed from school at age ten was brought to America when thirteen. Taking his turn at reading informative literature to fellow cigar makers in New York, he was pressed into overtime service because of his strong voice.

• Significantly. the American Federation of Labor was just what it called itself, a federation. It consisted of an association of self governing national unions each of which kept its independence with the AF of L unifying overall strategy. No individual laborer as such could join the central organization.

• It's purpose was to gain better wages, hours, and working conditions.

Varying Viewpoints:Industrialization: Boon or Blight

• While the nation began to industrialize, more people who became successful were usually self made and had connections with transportation and were involved in lots of companies and businesses. little changes occurred in peoples lives that would effect there overall economic status whether it was inflation or deflation. never the less, people still strive to earn a living whether or not the American class system was completely equal when involving the economy.

 

 

Outline

 

The Urban Frontier

• Cities grew massively in and out-->skycraper and transit lines; different districts for business, industry, and residential neighborhoods-->segregation by race, ethnicity, and social class
• Industrial jobs drew people off their farms and into factory centers; Other Attractions=glitter of city lights, electricity, indoor plumbing, telephones, engineering marvels(skyscraper, Brooklyn Bridge)
• Department stores attracted urban middle-class shoppers and provided urban working-class jobs, many for women, heralded consumerism and widened class divisions
• Move to the city introduced Americans to new ways of living
• Crimnals flourished, sanitary facilities could not keep up with explosion of population, impure water, uncollected garbage, unwashed bodies, droppings from draft animals caused nasty stench
• Cities monuments of contradictions-->full of constrasting styles
• Slums worst of all-->really crowded, filthy, rat-infested(esp after perfection of "dumbell" tenement), several families sardined together

Southern Europe Uprooted

• The population of Europe nearly doubled in the century after 1800 due to abundant supplies of fish and grain from America and the widespread cultivation of Europe.
• Many Europeans left Europe because the population was vastly increasing and there was basically no room left.
• They did this because American was seen as a land of great opportunity.
• This was beneficial to profit-seeking Americans because they wanted low-wage labor, passengers in the steamboats, and states wanted more population.
• Europeans also seeked religious freedom.

Reactions to the New Immigration

• Trading jobs and services for votes, a powerful boss might claim the loyalty of thousands of followers.
• One woman who was deeply dedicated to uplifting the urban masses was Jane Addams, who was one of the first generation of college-educated women. She established Hull House, the most prominent American settlement.
• The women of Hull House successfully lobbied in 1893 for an Illinois antisweatshop law that protected women workers and prohibited child labor.

Narrowing the Welcome Mat

• The new immigrants have came for mostly the same reasons as the old, to seek new opportunity, escape poverty and squalor of Europe. Nativists viewed these new waves of europian immagrants as a horde and often gave them a rude reception. The new wave came as a surprise as the birthrate increased and many became upset.
• Native Americans voiced additional fears. they blamed the immigrants for the degradation of urban government. trade unionists assailed the alien arrivals for their willingness to work for starvation. wages that seemed to them like princely sums and for importing their intellectual baggage such dangerious doctrines as socialism. communism and anarchism.
• Many business leaders, who had welcomed the flood of cheat manual labor began to fear that they had embraed a frankeinstiens monster.
• Many unions were created and many argued that if business recieved rights, so should its workers because after all, they are people. people protected by the constitution.

Churches Confront the Urban Challenge

• Protestant churches suffered significantly from the population move to the cities, where many of their traditional doctrines and pastoral approaches seemed irrelevant.
• Many churches suffered heavily from the switch to cities, where their preachings seemed irrelevant.
• Larger houses of worship became mere forms of entertainment with their stained glass windows and pipe organs.
• A new generation of urban revivalists stepped into this spreading moral vacuum. Dwight Lyman Moody, a Protestant evangelist, proclaimed a gospel of kindness and forgiveness. He contributed to adapting the old-time religion to the facts of city life. The Moody Bible Institute was founded in Chicago in 1889 to carry out his work.
• Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths were gaining enormous strength from the New Immigration.
• By 1890, there were over 150 religious denominations in the United States. (YMCA-Young Men’s Christian Associations and YWCA- Young Women’s Christian Association)
• The, Church of Christ Scientist was founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy who preached that the true practice of Christianity heals sickness.

Darwin Disrupts the Churches

• Charles Darwins theory on evolution created many rifts in the church. Old clergymen being thrown out of office and biology teachers being fired for teaching evolution.

The Lust for Learning

• public education continued its upward climb. the ideal of tax-supported elementary schools, adopted on a nationwide basis before the civil war, was still gathering strength. Americans were accepting the truism that a free government cannot function sucessfully if the people are shackled by ignorance.
• 1870, more and more states were making at least a grade school education compulsory and this gain helped check the frightful abuses of child labor.
• 1880's and 1890's the spread of high schools developed. before the civil war, it was common to have private schools and tax supported schools were rare. now a grade school education was the birthright of every citizen.
• Free textbooks being provided by taxpayers, teacher-training schools expanded, kindergartens gained support, New Immigration brought vast new strength to private Catholic parochial schools
• public schools however excluded millions of adults-->partially remedied by the Chautauqua movement:organizers achieved success through nationwide public lectures, extensive courses of home study
• Crowded cities provided better educational facilities
• illiteracy rate fell from 20% to 10.7%

Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People

• The South lagged far behind other regions in public education, and African-Americans suffered the most.
• The leading champion of black education was ex-slave Booker T. Washington. He taught in 1881 at the black normal and industrial school at Tuskegee, Alabama. His self-help approach to solving the nation's racial problems was labeled "accommodationist” because it stopped short of directly challenging white supremacy. Washington avoided the issue of social equality instead he grudgingly acquiesced in segregation in return for the right to develop the economic and educational resources of the black community.
• George Washington Carver taught and researched at Tuskegee Institute in 1896. He became an internationally famous agricultural chemist.

• Black leaders, including Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, attacked Booker T. Washington because Washington condemned the black race to manual labor and perpetual inferiority. Du Bois helped to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910.

The Hallowed Halls of ivy

• After the Civil War many new colleges sprung up and more women and blacks went to college
• The Morril Act of 1862 was much to blame. it provided grants.
• Hatch Act of 1887 extended this, providing federal funds for establishments of agricultural experiment stations.
• philanthropy richly supplemented federal grants to higher education.
• there was an increase in professional and tech schools

The March of the Mind

• Demand for "practical" courses and specialized training in the sciences
• Elective system(students choose more courses in cafeteria fashion) gaining popularity
• Medical schools and medical science prospered-->improved public health
• New health-promoting precautions led to life expectancy at birth to increase
• William James-->many writings, made deep mark on many fields(religion, psychology, pragmatism, history of philosophy)​​

Apostles of Reform

• Magazines partially satisfied the public appetite for good reading.
• Possibly the most influential journal of all was the New York Nation. Started in 1865 by Edwin L. Godkin, it ccalled for civil-service reform, honesty in government, and a moderate tariff.
• Henry George, another journalistic author, wrote the book Progress and Poverty in 1879.

Literary Landmarks

• more writers began relating their literary work to some of the realism of an industrial society. such as mark twain, stephen crane, bret harte, william dean howells and chopin

Families and Women in the City

• The stress of urban life on families led to the "divorce revolution"
• In the city more kids meant more mouths to feed so the average family size decreased rapidly and the birthrate went down.
• Charlotte Perkins Gilman called for woman to leave there roles of dependency and to go out and become an active part of the economy.
• Women had been fighting for womens suffrage since before the Civil War, in their newest fight they said that women needed to be able to vote because they ran the household and who better to know what was needed for the people when they took care of the people.
• The womens suffrage movement however excluded black females because they were afraid it would compromise there efforts if blacks were to join.
• Black women created their own womens movement.

Prohibition of Alcohol and Social Progress

• temperance reformers doubled and many blamed alcohol for society's wrongdoings and believed it should be banned. liquor consumption had increased during the nerve racking days of the civil war and immigrant groups acccustomed to alcohol in the old country, were hostile to restraints on it. whisky loving foreigners in boston would rudely hiss temperance lecturers.
• The national prohibition party organized in 1869, polled a sprinkling of votes in some of the ensuing presidential elections. among the favorite songs of these sober souls were "ill marry no man if he drinks", "vote down the vile traffic", and "the drunkard's doom"
• Woman's Christian Temperance Union organized in 1874 by Frances E. Willard, Carrie A. Nation=deranged, carried a hatchet smashing saloon bottles and bars
• AntiSaloon League formed in 1893
• statewide prohibition temporary triumph in 1919 by 18th amendment
• The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was created in 1866; American Red Cross launched in 1881

Artistic Triumphs

• Music and portrait painting was gaining popularity. The phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison, enabled the reproduction of music by mechanical means

The Business of Amusement

• The circus, coming from the American demand for fun, emerged in the 1880s. 
• Baseball was also emerging as the national pastime, and in the 1870s a professional league was formed.
• Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith.

 

Chapter Themes

• After the Civil War, whites overcame the Plains Indians’ resistance and settled the West, bringing to a close the long frontier phase of American history
• The farmers who populated the West often found themselves the victims of an economic revolution in agriculture and in the 1880s turned to political action to address their concerns

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Chapter Questions

• Was the federal government biased against workers and farmers in the late 19th century? Huizinga Yes, they were. The government was unsympathetic for the plight of the worker, and racial conflicts. With the big trusts above and restless immigrants working for cheap labor from below them, they "squeezed" middle-class citizens. There were also many corrupt deals between big businesses and the government.

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Outline

Bellowing Herds of Bison​

• Tens of millions of bison covered the western prairies when white Americans arrived
• These bison were the staff of life for Native Americans-->flesh provided food; dried dung provided fuel; hides provided clothing,lariats, and harnesses
• When Civil War ended 15 million were still grazing
• Railroad construction caused the massacre of the herds-->slain for hides, tongues or other meat, or just for amusement
• This wholesale butchery left fewer than a thousand buffalo alive by 1885-->in danger of complete extinction
• Shocking example of greed and waste

The End of the Trail​ 

• Humanitarians wanted to treat Indians kindly & persuade them to "walk the white man's road"
• Hard-liners insisted on current policy of forced containment and brutal punishment
• Neither side showed much respect-->Christian reformers sometimes withheld food to force Indians to give up their tribal religion and assimilate to white culture-->1884-Sun Dance outlawed
• "Ghost Dance" cult stamped out in 1890 by the army at Battle of Wounded Knee: 200 Indian men, women, and children killed; 29 soldiers

The Farmers' Frontier

• The Homestead Act seemed like a blessing to farmers, farmers could gain up to 160 acres in the West as long as the improved the land and payed a fee of 30 dollars.
• However, the Homstead Act soon got said to be a hoax. For 2 out of every 3 farmers had to leave their farms because of the inadequate land for farming.
• The farmers claimed that the land was useless because it was hard and dry because of the millions of buffalo that had trampled it down and the lack of forests and rain water.
• When the broke the ground with an iron plow they soon discovered that the land was in fact very rich.
• In the west, farmers imported resistant strands of wheat from Russia that could survive in the harsh Western conditions and began to grow more resistant crops.
• A method of shallow farming was developed that worked great in the West. This made the top of the soil very fine and light which contributed to the Dust Bowl.
• The government soon funded massive irrgation that practically moved rivers and made the West a bountiful land.

The Far West Comes of Age

• 1870's to 1890's the west experience a massive growth in population. a parade of new western states proudly joined the union. boomtown colorado, offspring of the pikes peak goldrush was greeted in 1876 as teh centennial state.
• 1889-1890 a republican congress eagerly seeking more republican electoral and congressional votes admited in a wholesale lot six new washington idaho and whyoming. 1890 the mormon church banned polygamy not sure what that is but i will look it up, polygamy: multiple marraige btw dont look it up bad things happen. so anway in 1890 it was banned by the mormon church however in the state of utah it was not deemed admission into the mormon church until 1896
• The federal government made vast open land of fertile soil available to settlers what a nice thing to do but the land was also inhabited by native americans and it was in oklahoma!! MANY greedy sooners jumped the gun as the book refers to it and charged into oklahoma to take a advantage of the land and do what you think they do since they are greedy. they had to be maintained by federal troops who would shoot these intruders horses.
• April 22, 1889, Oklahoma was opened for settlement and 50,000 boomers rushed into the territory. In the night a lonely spot in the prarie land showed the tent city of Guthrie, with some 10,000 people camping there. By the end of the year Oklohoma had 60,000 inhabitants and was declared a territory. It was admitted as a state in 1907 as the "Sooner State"

The Fading Frontier

• In 1890, the head main guy superintended of the census announced that the for first time in America's experience, a frontier line that divided the frontier was no longer evident; all unsettled areas were now broken up by isolated bodies of settlement. {Whoa!}
• The "closing" of the frontier inspired one the most influential essays written in American history! {How exciting!!} This essay was written by Fredrick Jackson turner and it was named "The Significance of the Frontier in American History". I would assume that it would be about why the frontier is important. 
• Many people were upset that their frontier free land was disappearing and the secretary of war had prophesied in 1827 that five hundred years would be needed to fill the West.
• This land was not limitless and seeds were planted to preserve the vanishing resource. Many parks were randomly created to preserve the vanishing resource too- the first Yellowstone in 1872, followed by Yosemite and Sequoia in 1890.
• The frontier was seen as a "safety valve" and a place of new opportunity and peace. The free land did lure immigrant farmers to the West.
• Western migration may have actually caused urban employers to maintain wage rates high enough to discourage workers from leaving to go farm the West.
• Cities of the West began to grow as failed farmers, failed miners, and unhappy easterners sought fortune in cities. After 1880, the area from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast was the most urbanized region in America, measured by the percentage of people living in cities.

The Farm Becomes a Factory

• The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a settler to acquire as much as 160 acres of land by living on it for 5 years, improving it, and paying a nominal fee of about $30. Instead of public land being sold primarily for revenue, it was now being given away to encourage a rapid filling of empty spaces and to provide a stimulus to the family farm.

• One effect if the Homestead Act was high prices which caused farmers to change from being self-reliant, to growing one cash crop and use that money to buy their food instead of growing it.
• The Homestead Act also turned out to be a cruel hoax because the land given to the settlers usually had terrible soil and the weather included no precipitation. Many homesteaders were forced to give their homesteads back to the government.
• Along with bad land, the expensive machinery made farming quicker and easier but was risky due to costs.The new technology caused some farmers to leave farming and others to prosper into large farms.

• After the shocking 6-year drought in the West in the 1880s had destroyed farmers' crops, "dry farming" took root on the plains. Its methods of frequent shallow cultivation were adapted to the dry western environment, but over time it depleted and dried the soil.
• Once wheat was introduced to the West, it flourished. Eventually federally-financed irrigation projects caused the Great American Desert to bloom.

Deflation Dooms the Debtor

• Farmers turned to a one crop economy, either wheat or corn. This was a very competitive industry because the price of their product was determined in a world market by the world output. Due to deflation, the price of crops dropped. The new technology caused production to increase but due to the increase of crops farmers were digging themselves into a bigger hole where they caused their own prices to drop. This was bad for farmers, because thousands of farms had mortgages, and mortgage rates were rising higher and higher. 

 

The Farmers Take Their Stand

• Prices sagged in 1868, host of farmers sought relief from low prices and high indebtedness by demanding an inflation of the currency with paper money
• The National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, organized in 1867, led by Oliver H. Kelley​--> 1st objective was to enhance lives of isolated farmers through social, educational, and fraternal activities.
• Farm men and women found all the Grange's activities a godsend, farmers receptive to mumbo-jumbo and hierarchy(men:Laborer to Husbandman, women:Maid to Matron)
• 1875:claimed 800,000 members-->chiefly in midwest and south, met in red schoolhouses
• Grangers raised goals from individual self-improvement to improvement of the farmers' collective plight-->established cooperatively owned stores for consumers and cooperatively owned grain elevators and warehouses for producers-->most ambitious experiment was an attempt to manufacture harvesting machinery(financial disaster)
• Grangers moved into politics-->through state legislation strove to regulate railway rates and storage fees charged by railroads and operators of warehouses and grain elevators
• Many state courts were disposed to recognize the principle of public control of private business for the general welfare
• Grangers' influence fades-->organization lives on
• Farmers' grievances found vent in Greenback Labor party(combined inflationary appeal with program for improving labor)
• 1878- Greenback Laborites polled over a million votes and elected 14 members of Congress-->1880- presidential election: Greenbackers ran General James B. Weaver(an old Granger and was a favorite but only polled 3% of total popular vote)

Prelude to Populism

• Rural discontent came through the Farmers' Alliance--> farmers came together to socialize and break grip of railroads and manufacturers through cooperative buying and selling
• Alliance weakened by plight of landless tenant farmers, sharecroppers, and farmworkers & exclusion of blacks
• 1880s: Colored Farmers' National Alliance emerged for black farmers
• Out of Farmers' Alliances emerged new political party: the People's party, known as the Populists-->called for nationalizing railroads, telephones, telegraph; instituting a graduated income tax; creating a new federal "subtreasury"; free and unlimited coinage of silver

Class Conflict: Plowholders Versus Bondholders

• In the election of 1896, Bryan went around campaigning for silver. He hoped to gain the votes of the farmers and masses to win the election.

• The big business owners however back McKinley and thus payed off their workers to vote for McKinley, with rewards and sometimes threats.
• Bryan campaigned vigorously, giving more than 600 speeches and going through 27 states. He once have 36 speeches in one day.
• The McKinley campaign treasure broke a record with 16 million dollars stored within its vaults compared tot he 1 million in the hands of the Democratic party.
• In the end it came to who had the most money. McKinley had the backing of the big business owners and the money to pay them off. And Bryan and the few farmers who supported inflation.
• This was the last campaign where one of the candidates ran purely fromt he support of the farmers, from now on candidates had to depend on the blooming cities with their influx of immigrants in order to have any chance of getting into office.

Republican Stand-pattism Enthroned

• 1897 MCKINLEY TOOK THE INAUGURAL OATH AND HE WAS SEEN as a conservative man who usually went with the majority. CONSERVATIVE NATURE CAUSED HIM TO SHY AWAY FROM THE FLAMING BANNER OF REFORM. BUSINESS WAS GIVEN A FREE REIN AND HE TRUSTS WHICH HAD TRUSTED THEM IN 1896 WERE ALLOWED TO DEVELOP MORE MIGHTY MUSCLES WITHOUT SERIOUS RESTRAINTS

• ALMOST AS SOON A MCKINLEY TOOK OFFICE THE TARIFF ISSUE WHICH HAD PLAYED SECOND FIDDLE TO SILVER IN THE BATTLE OF 96 QUICKLY FORCED ITSELF TO THE FORE. THE CURRENT WILSON GORMAN LAW WAS NOT RAISING ENOUGH REVENUE TO COVER THE ANNUAL TREASURY DEFICITS AND THE REPUBLICANS TRUSTS THOUGHT THAT THEY HAD PURCHASED THE RIGHT TO ADDITIONAL TARIFF PROTECTION BY THEIR LUSH CONTRIBUTIONS TO HANNA'S WAR CHEST IN DUE COURSE THE DINGLE Y TARIFF BILL WAS JAMMED THROUGH THE HOUSE IN 1897.
• THE PROPOSED NEW RATES WERE HIGH BUT NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO SATISFY THE PATCHY LOBBYISTS WHO ONCE AGAIN DESCENDED UPON THE SENATE. OVER 850 AMENDMENTS WERE TACKED ONTO THE OVERTURNED BILL. THE RESULTING PIECE OF PATCHWORK FINALLY ESTABLISHED THE AVERAGE RATES A T 46.5 PERCENT SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER THAN THE DEMOCRATIC WILSON GORMAN ACT OF 1994 AND IN SOME CATEGORIES EVEN HIGHER THAT THE MCKINLEY ACT OF 1989
• Prosperity flooded throughout America with the end of the Depression. And Republicans politicians liked to take credit for bringing the prosperity about whether it was true or not.

 

Varying Viewpoints: Was the West Really Won?

After reading the article I completely agree with Tyler’s statement that the west was more conquered by suppressing the Native American people rather than the American and European settler actually winning it. When the American settlers moved west, off the back they were bad news spreading disease, taking over their land too by signing treaties with the “chiefs” of various “tribes”, and ruin their culture (like the buffalo). Those examples along with others are reasons why the West was definitely not won but taken over by force =o


In a way, the west was shaping the settlers liking based on how they lived. So in a way it was sort of "tamed" but not really more changed. As an example of the very strange thing i just said it would be like picturing the life style of Native American peoples. They live off of nature and respect it, usually they try to conserve so there is no need to build massive cities. the American settlers on the other hand, do live by building and changing as much as possible in order to for-fill their needs of imperialism and in order to do this they need natural resources and they would sort of suck the land dry of what is has to offer. The frontier is seen as an American icon because of the fact that it helped settlers advance and explore for their lives and merely for entertainment from discovery.
*??? I don’t agree with this statement because when they used “tamed” they meant they controlled and restrained the Native Americans not in the sense of way of living.

In conclusion and to make sense of all this, the west wasnt really won

 

 

Major Themes:

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• Expansionism beyond North America
• Causes of, nature of, and consequences of the Spanish-American War
• A new foreign policy: imperialism instead of isolationism
• Conflicting beliefs: the imperialist debate
• What is the role of the executive in determining foreign policy?

Major Questions:

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• Compare/contrast “imperialism” of the 1890s with earlier periods of American expansion. Instead of Imperialism involving other countries, the United States was more focused on what was going on internally instead of others. During this time, many small businesses became large businesses, and many other businesses as well started to rise up into the great sale competition. By this time, the true meaning of imperialism began to change as competition arose, leaving weaker company's and products in peril. 
• In what ways were the US and European brands of imperialism during this period similar and different?
• How was the Spanish-American War justified and how did it reflect American politics and culture? 
• Has America always been an expansionist nation? 
• What are the roots of imperialism? 

Pre-Reading

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• Identify and briefly characterize at least two periods of expansion prior to the Civil War:

• Following the Civil War, what was the one area of expansion described in the text prior to ch. 27?

• Attitudes toward foreign regions are not likely formed overnight. Describe the typical white American attitude toward “others” expressed in the late 19th century – Afr.Americans, N. Americans, immigrants.

• Restate the aims and goals of the Monroe Doctrine.

Outline

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America Turns Outward

• Farmers and Factory owners began to look for markets beyond American shores as agricultural and industrial production boomed. Many Americans believed that the United States had to expand or explode. Their country was bursting with a new sense of power generated by the robust growth in population, wealth, and productive capacity and it was trembling from the hammer blows of labor violence and agrarian unrest.
• Other forces also whetted the popular appetite for overseas involvement. the lurid yellow press of Joseph's Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst described foreign exploits as manly adventures the kind of dashing derring do that was the stuff of young boys dreams.

Dewey's May Day Victory at Manila

• The American People plunged into the war lightheartedly, like schoolchildren off to a picnic. Bands blared incessantly "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight and Hail, Hail, the gangs all here. leading some foreigners to believed that those were national anthems. The war got off to a giddy start for American forces. Even before the declaration of war, on February 25th, 1898, wile navy secretary john d long was a way from the office, his hot blooded assistant secretary Theodore Roosevelt took matters into his own hands. Roosevelt commanded the American Asiatic Squadron at Hong Kong to descend upon Spain's Philippines in the event of war. Mckinley confirmed these instructions.
• May 1, 1898: George Dwey carried out his orders sailing boldly with 6 warships into the harbor of Manila, trained his guns the next morning on the 10 ship Spanish fleet. Nearly 4,000 Spaniards killed and wounded, no loss of a single life in Dewey's fleet

Perplexities in Puerto Rico and Cuba

• Many inhabitants in Puerto Rico lived in poverty, population grew faster than economy
• Foraker Act of 1900, Congress accorded Puerto Ricans a limited degree of popular government and in 1917, granted them U.S. citizenship
• However, many inhabitants still wanted independence, no matter what America did for them
• 1901: Insular Cases decreed that the flag did not outrun the Constitution and that the outdistanced document did not necessarily extend with full force to the new windfalls-->Filipinos and Puerto Ricans subject to American rule but not all American rights
• An American military government set up in cuba under General Leonard Wood wrought miracles in gov't, finance, education, agriculture, and public health; frontal attack on yellow fever
• U.S. honored Teller Amendment of 1898 withdrew from cuba in 1902
• Americans afraid of power of countries like germany forced cuba to write into their own constitution of 1901 the Platt Amendment
• Platt Amendment: bound themselves not to impair their independence by treaty or by contracting a debt beyond their resources, agreed that the U.S. might intervene with troops to restore order and to provide mutual protection, promised to sell or lease needed coaling or naval stations to U.S.

Imperialism or Bryanism in 1900?

• President McKinley's renomination by the Republicans in 1900 was a foregone conclusion. He had won a war and acquired rich, though burdensome, real estate and he had safeguarded the gold standard and he had brought the promised prosperity of the full dinner pail. An irresistible vice presidential boom developed for Theodore Teddy Roosevelt.
• After putting Roosevelt into the vice presidency, he sported a western style cowboy hat that made him stand out sstick a white crow at the republican convention. To cries of We want teddy, he was handily nominated. A wary mark hanna reportedly moaned that there would now be only one heartbeat between him and the presidency of the united states

Building the Panama Canal

• After the Spanish-American war, American began to see the benefits of canal across the American isthmus.
• Legal means were blocking the Americans from building there canal because of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty stating that the Americans could not secure exclusive control over an isthmian route.
• British yielded ground and consented to the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in 1901 that allowed the Americans to build and fortify a canal.
• June 1902 the Panama Canal was decided to be built, but the Panama senate refused to give up any land to the Americans.
• November 3, 1903, the Panamanians revolted thinking that the building of the canal would bring prosperity, the US navy prevented Columbian troops from crossing the isthmus to quell the rebellion.
• Roosevelts "SHaking of the big stick" worsened relations with Latin America.
• 1914, the Canal was finished just as WW1 was beginning

TR's Perversion of the Monroe Doctrine

• Latin American debt defaults prompted further Rooseveltian involvement in affairs south of the border. Nations such as Venezuela and the Dominican Republic were chronically in arrears in their payments to European creditors. Germany actually bombarded a town in delinquent Venezuela in 1903.
• Roosevelt feared that if the Germans or British got their foot in the door as bill collectors, they might remain in Latin America, in flagrant violation of the Monroe Doctrine. He therefore declared a brazen policy of preventive intervention. better known as teh Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. He announced that in the event of future financial malfeasance by the Latin American nations, the United States itself would intervene, take over the customs houses, pay off the debts, and keep the troublesome Europeans on the other side of the Atlantic.
• This new brandishing of the big stick in the Caribbean became effective in 1905 when U.S. took over management of tariff collections in the Dominican Republic
• TR's rewriting of the Monroe Doctrine promoted the "Bad Neighbor" Policy
• new corollary used to justify wholesale interventions and repeated landings of the marines
• shadow of big stick fell on cuba in1906, revolutionary disorders brought an appeal from the cuban president U.S. marines landed-->police forces withdrawn temporarily in 1909, but in Latin American eyes the episode was another example of the power of the Colossus of the North

Varying Viewpoints:Why Did America Become a World Power

Other countries around America were expanding and becoming larger and more industrialized. Therefore the United States had an obligation to do so as well or it could fall to other world powers.

Increased industrial output required more raw materials and overseas markets

Race and gender: conquest of "inferior" peoples seemed natural, needed to restore nation's masculine virility, race fueled militarism

 

 

Major Themes

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• A new foreign policy: imperialism instead of isolationism
• Conflicting beliefs: the imperialist debate
• What is the role of the executive in determining foreign policy?

Major Questions

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• Has America always been an expansionist nation?
  • No, for quite some time, America was not an imperialistic nation, but an isolationist country. America wanted to European nations to stay out of their affairs, in return the US stayed out of their affairs.
• What are the roots of imperialism?
  • Imperialism is often started by a need or want for more natural resources. A new colony can also be a greta source of income as well. Some nations feel that it is their duty to help others as well (White Man's Burden).
• What questions does the Philippines War raise about America’s new overseas involvement?
• What role does Asian immigration and the fear of the “yellow peril” play in shaping America’s relations with East Asia in the early 20th century?

Pre-Reading

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• Restate the aims and goals of the Monroe Doctrine.

It forbid European powers from interfering in the affairs of Latin American countries. This was done to protect the American interests in the Western Hemisphere.

Chapter Questions

Pages 646-651

• What does the “white man’s burden” refer to?

The white mans burden refers to the idea that American culture and customs were superior to those of less fortunate and poorer countries so the felt that it was their duty to help those people. They thought that taking over these people and "americanizing" them was the proper thing to do. It also has to do with social darwinism and the idea that the best and strongest countries will prosper and it was their duty to help the less fortunate. This was also caused by American exceptionalism.

• Why was the Philippine-American War such a brutal affair and why is it not as well remembered as the less costly Spanish-American War?
  • The Philippine-American War was so brutal due to the barbarous methods of guerrilla warfare. America also outgunned the Filipinos as well. Forcing water down peoples throats until they provided info was known as "water cure." it is not remembered as highly due to the American investment of millions of dollars in the Philippines.
• Describe McKinley’s “benevolent assimilation.”
  • Millions of American dollars were poured into improving the infrastructure of the Philippines. Economic stimulation was provided through the trade of sugar. Americans also provided education and made English a second language.
• Why did it take so long for the US to grant the Philippines its independence (July 4, 1946)?
• What role do American missionaries play in shaping US foreign policy in Asia?
• Briefly describe the “Open Door” and comment on the reaction of various European nations.
  • The Americans saw that Europeans were interested in China after its defeat against Japan. Americans were afraid that the Europeans would monopolize the trade through China. This would hurt the American trade greatly. The Open Door policy said that all spheres of influence would obey the Chinese trading rights. Britain, Germany, France, and Japan all accepted this policy.

==Pages 652-661

• Read the highlighted quotes from Senators Beveridge and Hoar (p. 653). What is the essence of their arguments for and against imperialism?

The arguement for imperialism basically says that the Philippines are ours and that we should not abandon them or the markets in China. And it also says that we can not renounce our mission of civilizing the world.

The argument against it says that even though we are a republic if we deprive any other nation their rights then we become just as bad as they are.

• Why did the US want to see a canal built across Central America?

The US wanted to see a canal built across Central America for a few different reasons. It would inrease the strength of the navy by increasing its mobility, allowing ships to go from one coast to the other without having to go all the way down around the tip of South America. It also would make defense of acquisitions, such as Puerto Rico, and Hawaii, much easier. It would make trade easier as well.

• How was the Monroe Doctrine modified by the Roosevelt Corollary? What were the consequences of its application in Latin America?

The Monroe Doctrine orignally stated that European powers were not to interven in Latin American affairs but the Roosevelt Corollary went one step further by saying that Amercia would intervene to prevent them from intervening. Latin Americans cursed the Monroe Doctrine mistakingly as a result of the Corollary and thought that instead of providing a shield the Monroe Doctrine just hid the fact the the Americans were trying to take over.

• Explain “preventive intervention” and how it conflicts with or supports American principles.
• Compare TR’s role in both the Russo-Japanese War and the Panamanian Revolution.
• What message did the parade of the Great White Fleet in the Pacific send? Was it effective?

 

Major Themes

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• Progressivism was a reform movement aimed at using government power to correct the social and economic problems associated with industrialization
• Progressivism had both local and national focal points, and was large enough to include several competing theories

Major Questions

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• In what ways did progressivism set the stage for modern government?
• In what ways was progressivism a source for beneficial reform and in what ways was it a harmful movement?
• What are the major characteristics of the progressive movement?

---

Pre-Reading

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• Identify, briefly, earlier reform movements (abolition, labor, women’s rights, etc), their time period, and their major characteristics

Outline

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Progressive Roots

• The government could no longer practice a laissez-faire policy
• Populists considered trusts as corrupt withh a lot of wrongdoing
• Jocob Riis shocked middle class Americans with How the Other Half Lives
  • Exposed the New York City Slums
• Socialists began to register strength at the ballots
• Messengers of social gospel promoted progressivism from their Christianity
• Feminists added social injustice to their list of needed reforms

Progressivism in the Cities and States

• Progressives scored some of their most impressive gains in the cities.
• Frustrated by the inefficiency and corruption of city gov't many localities followed the pioneering example of Galveston, Texas.
  • In 1901 it had appointed expert staffed commisions to manage urban affairs.
• Other communities adopted the city-manager system, also designed to take politics out of municipal administration.
• Some of these "reforms" obviously valued effeciency more highly than democracy, as control of civic affairs was further removed from the people's hands.
• Urban reformers attacked "slumlords", juvenile delinquency, and wide-open prostitution which flourished in red-light districts unchallenged by bribed police
• City dwellers also moved to halt the corrupt sale of franchises for street cars and other public utilities.
• Progressivism naturally bubbled up to the state level notably in Wisconsin
  • The governor, Robert M. La Follette, was an overbearing crusader who emerged as the most militant of the progressive Republican leaders
    • He wrested considerable control from the crooked corporations and returned it to the people.
    • He also perfected a scheme for regulating public utilities while laboring in close association with experts on the faculty of the state university at Madison
• Other states marched steadily toward the progressive camp, as they undertook to regulate railroads and trusts, chiefly through public utilities commissions.

TR's Square Deal for Labor

• Roosevelt feared that the public interest was submerged in a sea of indifference
• Demanded a "Square Deal" for labor, capital, and the public
  • Embraced control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation of natural resources
• A strike in the Pennsylvanian coal mines began in 1902
  • Workers wanted a 20% pay increase, and a reduced work day
  • The strike caused a decreased supply of coal, this caused factories to and schools to shut down
  • Roosevelt summoned representatives from each side to the White House
  • Threatened seizeure of the mines by federal troops
  • Workers got a 10% pay increase and a shorter work day
• Roosevelt urged Congress to create a new Department of Commerce and Labor
  • In 1903 it passed and the Bureau of Corporations joined the President's cabinet

TR Corrals the Corporations

• The Interstate Commerce Commision couldn't stop the railroads
• Elkins Act of 1903 provided heavy fines to the railroads who gave rebates, and to the shippers who used the rebates
• Hepburn Act of 1906 restricted free passes and bribery
• The Commerce Commision was extended to include companies and pipelines
• Roosevelt attacked the Northern Securities Company in 1902
  • This trust was ordered to dissolve by the Supreme Court in 1904
• The Beef trust was found illegal (1905) and so were those of sugar, fertilzer, harvesters, and other key products
• Roosevelt wanted the government to run the company, not business

Caring for the Consumer

• Some American meat was claimed to be tainted
  • Foreign nations threatened to ban the US imports
• The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (1906) appalled the public with the exposure of the unsanitary products
• Roosevelt appointed an investigative commitee
  • Piles of poisoned rats, rope ends, splinters, and other debris were being canned as potted ham
• Meat Inpection Act of 1906
  • The preparation of meat shipped oveer state lines would have to be subject to federal inspection
• Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
  • Designed to prevent adulturation and mislabeling of foods and drugs

The "Roosevelt Panic" of 1907

• Roosevelt was elected president "in his own right' in 1904 and entered his term with enormous personal popularity.
• Yet the conservative Republican bosses considered him dangerous and unpredictable.
• They grew increasingly more resistent as he called ever more loudly for regulating the corporations, taxing incomes, and protecting workers.
• Roosevelt suffered a setback in 1907 when a short but punishing panic descended on Wall Street.
  • the financial flurry featured frightened "runs" on banks, suicides, and criminal indictments against speculators.
• The financial world blamed Roosevelt for the storm and said that he had unsettled industry with his boat-rocking tatics.
• Conservatives damned him as "Theodore the Meddler" and named the current distress "Roosevelt Panic"
• The president lashed back at the critics when he accused "certain malefactors of great wealth" of having deliberately engineered the monetary crisis to force the gov't to relax its assaults on trusts.
• The panic of 1907 paved the way for long-overdue fiscal reforms.
• It laid bare the need for a more elastic medium of exchange.
• In a crisis like this, hard-pressed banks were unable to increase the volume of money in circulation and those with ample reserves were reluctant to lend to their less fortunate competitors.
• In 1908 Congress passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act which authorized national banks to issue emergency currency backed by various kinds of collateral.

Taft: A Round Peg in a Square Hole

• William Howard Taft at first inspired widespread confidence.
• The saying goes "Everybody loves a fat man," and Taft was personally popular
• He graduated second in his class at Yale and had established an enviable reputation as a lawyer and judge.
• He had been a trusted administrator under Roosevelt in the Philippines, at hom, and in Cuba
• But he suffered from lethal political handicaps.
  • Roosevelt had led the conflicting elements of the Republican party by the sheer force of his personality, in contrast, Taft had none of the arts of a dashing political leader.
  • He generally adopted an attitude of passivity toward Congress.
  • He was a poor judge of public opinion and his candor made him a chronic victim of "foot-in-mouth" disease.

The Dollar Goes Abroad as a Diplomat

• Use American investments to boost American political interest abroad, "dollar diplomacy"
• Washington encouraged Wall Street bankers to invest extra money into strategic, foreign areas, esp. in Far East & areas important to the security of the Panama Canal
  • NY bankers would strengthen US defenses & foreign policies & bring in more $ for US & themselves by displacing investors from rival powers like Germany
• Manchuria= object of Taft's biggest effort to force in the $ to Far Eastern theater
  • US Rivals: Russia & Japan controlled railroads of Manchuria
  • Taft saw RR monopoly as a possible execution of Chinese economic interests & a slamming of the Open Door in US merchants' faces
  • 1909, Secretary of State Philander C. Knox proposed that US & foreign bankers should buy the Manchurian RRs & then give them to China under a self-liquidating arrangement
  • Russia & Japan refused Knox's offer & Taft was ridiculed
• Caribbean: revolution, "Yankee Lake"
  • Washington pushed Wall Street bankers to pump $ into financial vacuums in Honduras & Haiti to keep out foreign $
  • US under Monroe Doctrine didn't let foreign nations intervene & felt obligated to prevent political & economic instability
  • Necessity brought armed US to Caribbean intervention
  • Restoring order & protecting US investment in Dominican Republic, Honduras, & Cuba brough US forces in
  • 1912 , revolutionary upheaval in Nicaragua---->landing of 2,500 marines(remaining there for 13 years

Taft the Trustbuster

• Taft managed to gain some fame as a smasher of monopolies.
• The ironic truth is that Taft brought 90 suits against the trusts during his 4 years in office compared with some 44 for Roosevelt in seven and a half years.
• The most sensational judicial acts by Taft came in 1911
  • In that year the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of the mighty Standard Oil Company
  • Even more explosively in that year Taft decided to press an antitrust suit against the U.S. Steel Corporation.
    • This infuriated Roosevelt who had personally been involved in one of the mergers that prompted the suit

The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture

• Uprising in Republican ranks now a full on revolt
• In 1911, National Progressive Republican League formed w/ the Senator of Wisconsin, La Follette as leading Republican candidate for presidential nomination, assuming that Roosevelt would not run again
• Roosevelt changed his "anti-3rd termer" views as Taft decided to discard "my policies"
• Feb. 1912, Roosevelt formally wrote that he was willing to accept Republican nomination to 7 state governors
  • Reason being that the 3rd term tradition applied to 3 consecutive elective terms
• Roosevelt raged through the pres. primaries claiming the pres. had fallen under the thumb of reactionary bosses & that Taft was trying to do good but was doing so in a feeble manner
  • Taft fought back saying Roosevelt supporters were "emotionalists and neurotics"
• 1912, Republican convention in Chicago
  • Rooseveltites 100+/- delegates short of nomination, challenged 250+/- Taft delegates to be seated
  • Most contests settled in favor of Taft
  • Roosevelt adherents refused to vote & Taft was victorious
• After losing nomination, Roosevelt didn't give up & was now ready to lead a 3rd-party crusade

 

Major Themes

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• Role of third parties in American politics
• Wilson’s domestic economic and social reform
• Failure of Wilson’s missionary diplomacy

Major Questions

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• Compare and contrast Wilsonian progressivism with Rooseveltian progressivism.

Wilsonian:

• Called the "New Freedom" program
  • Stronger antitrust legislation
  • Banking reform
  • Tariff Reductions
  • Small businesses
  • Laissez-faire
  • No social welfare
    • "Man on the make" (as in Self-made)
  • Crush big industries with antitrust laws

Rooseveltian:

• Called the "New Nationalism"
  • Followed ideas of Herbert Croley (The Promise of American Life, 1910)
    • More trustbusting
    • Grouping labor unions
    • More regulatory agencies
  • Woman Suffrage
  • Social welfare
    • Minimum Wage
    • Social Insurance
• "...activist welfare state..."

Both: They agreed on these things, but differed in strategy:

• More active gov't (in economic/social affairs)
• Trustbusting

• In what ways was Wilson’s “moral” foreign policy a departure from established foreign policies of the Republicans and in what ways was it similar?

Wilson hated aggressive foreign policy imperialism. He didn't like Roosy's big stick (ooohh, that sounds dirty) or Taft's "dollar diplomacy." Although he didn't approve of imperialism, he did take some imperialistic actions. His imperialism was usually forced, though, either by foreign anger or by a wish for complete control of the Caribbean.



SEE NEW DIRECTIONS IN FOREIGN POLICY

• Assess America's neutrality in the early years of the war.

Although America claimed it was neutral, it carried on trade with the Allies but not the Central Powers. This was kosher (or as Farley would say, "organic") because America was open for trade with anyone. Unfortunately for the Centrals (namely Germany), Britain controlled the seas with their Almighty and Dominating Navy (ADN for short.) The ADN refused to let German ships pass to America (or back) and adopted a harrassing policy with American ships, in which the ADN "herded" into British ports to prevent them from going to German ones. America was "neutral" legally, but biased towards the Allies.



 

Outline

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The "Bull Moose" Campaign of 1912

• Democrats nominated (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson in 1912
  • gave him a strong new platform to run on called "new freedom"
    • called for stronger anti-trust legislation, bankiing reform, and tariff reductions
• "Progressive Republican Party" (third party) nominated Roosy
  • Roosy said he felt "as strong as a bull moose" and hence the "Bull Moose" party
• Republicans nominated Fatty Tafty (they have the same letters!!!!!)
  • Republican vote would be split between Roosy and Fatty (see excellent cartoon at top of 688)
• Main question was which type of Progressivism would win (Roosy Vs. Wilson)
  • See Main Question # 1
• Roosy got shot in Milwaukee but finished his speech (I only put this in here because it reminds me of K-Dog'sbonus about McK) Hope you enjoy you're new Nickname Mr. Kanoff (see K-Dog reference)

Woodrow Wilson: a Minority President

• Wilson wins:
  • 435 electoral, 6,296,547 popular
• Roosy had:
  • 88 electoral, 4,118,571 popular
• Fatty had:
  • 8 electoral, 3,486,720 popular
  • Weird how America didn't like the Fatty then, but is all fatty now
• Wilson had only 41% of popular
  • Not very big, hence "minority president"
  • had less votes than his predecessor, Bryan had amassed in any of his defeats
• Eugene V. Debs was nominated by Socialist party
  • Had 900,672 popular, and was excited about it
  • This leads me to conclude the Socialists are (metaphorically) equal to the kids in the Chess Club in HighSchool (no friends)
• Republicans were now the minority in Congress (for 6 yrs.) and no president (for 8 yrs.)
• Fatty stayed happy and became a Supreme Court Justice (1921)

Wilson: The Idealist in Politics

• First president from one of the seceded states since Zachary Taylor, 64 years earlier
• He was greatly influenced by his being from the South
  • Sympathized w/ the Confedracy
    • Inspired his ideal of "self-determination" for people of other countries
  • Believed in Jeffersonian democracy (faith in the well-informed masses)
• Son of a Presbyterian minister, therefore spoke religiously
  • Wasn't all about the arm-waving like Roosy was
• Believed president should be dynamic and lead
  • Felt the President should act as a kind of "Prime Minister"
  • Often appealed directly to the people instead of to Senators
• Suffered personality defects:
  • Could be cold and standoffish in public
  • Very stern
  • Preferred humanity in mass rather than as individuals
  • Somewhat arrogant
  • Hated journalists and stupid senators
  • Stubborn and unwilling to compromise
• He had a strong sense of "moral righteousness"
  • More stubborn than Roosy in the sense that when he felt he was right, he wouldn't compromise
  • Check out chapter 31 with his League of Nations-ized Treaty of Versailles and the whole "my way or the highway" attitude

Wilson Tackles the Tariff

• Few presidents have gone into the White House w/ a clearer vision than Wilson
  • called for an assault on "the triple wall of privelege": tariffs, banks, and trusts
• Tackled the tariff first
  • talked to Congress in person
  • passed the Underwood Tariff bill
    • reduced tariff rates
    • reduced import fees substantially
  • when tons of lobbyists tried to stop thee bill, Wilson gave a message to the people urging them to hold their representatives in line
    • the move worked
  • under the 16th Ammendment, a gratuated income tax was made for those who made more than $3,000 a year (more than most)

Wilson Battles the Bankers

• Attacked banking next, w/ its biggest problem being that the money was not elastic
  • in June 1913, Wilson gave another speech in front of Congress, this time asking for reform in the banking system
    • for a decentralized bank in gov't hands versus a strong private bank like the Reublicans had envisioned
• Victory again as the Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913
  • Federal Reserve Board (appointed by the pres.) oversaw a system of 12 regional reserve districts, each w/ its own central bank
  • had a good measure of public coontrol
  • could issue paper money- "Federal Reserve Notes"- backed by commercial paper money
  • helped during WWI

The President Tames the Trusts

• Finally, w/ another speech, Wilson went after the trusts
• Another victory as the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 was passed
  • it empowered a presidentially appointed commision to investigate industries engaged in interstate commerce
  • the commision was suppossed to stop monopolies at their source
• Clayton act passed
  • helped out labor
    • held labor exempt from anti-trust prosecution
    • legalized strikes and peaceful picketing

Wilsonian Progressivism at High Tide

• After dealing with the triple wall of privilege Wilson made many other reform acts
  • THe Federal Farm Loan Actof 1916-made credit available to farmers at low rates
  • The Warehouse act of 1916 authorized loans on the security of staple crops
  • He passed the La Follette Seamen's Act in 1915 to help sailors
  • He also helped workers with the Workingmen's Compensation Act of 1916 which assisted workers when they were injured
  • passed many other acts to help workers
• did not deal with better treatment of blacks at all
• For the 1916 election he knew he needed to woo the progressive voters

New Directions in Foreign Policy

• Wilson recoiled from aggresive foreign policy- anti imperialism
• He was also anti dollar diplomacy
• He repealed the Panama Canal Tolls act in 1914 and granted the Philipines territorial status
• Wilson also defused a possible crisis with Japan by sending William Jennings Bryan to make California let Japanese have land
• twice Wilson had to send troops to protect American interests once in Haiti and once in the Dominican Republic
• In 1917 Wilson bought the Virgin Islands

Thunder Across the Sea

• In 1914 a serb patriot killed the heir to the throne of Austria Hungary which started a chain reaction of nations being pulled into the war
• the sides were the central powers-Germany Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria and the Allies-France Britain Russia Japan and Italy
• American thought themselves safe with the barrier of the sea

A Precarious Neutrality

• Wilson really didn't want to go to war so he told everyone we were staying neutral
• Both sides of the war tried to woo America by both talking crap about each other
• Germans and Austro-Hungarians depended on sympathy from their many countrymen in America
  • lots were, others were just happy to be away from the mess
• most Americans were anti-German from the begining
  • not many were a fan of Kaiser Wilhelm II
  • Gtown struck innocent Belgium
  • G's restorted to violence in American factories and ports
  • USians found a German operative's plans for industrial sabotage
    • this really made Americans angry
• Still the majority of the US wanted to stay neutral

America Earns Blood Money

• US was pulled out of hardtimes by the Brit and French war-orders
• J.P.Morgan advanced the Allies $2.3 billion
• Gtown could trade w/ US but Brits had an air-tight trade blockade against Gtown so we went to Britain's ports instead
• Gtown said "fine, we're going to put a submarine war area around the British Isles"
• Berlin officials said we'll try not to sink you guys but mistakes will occur
  • we said fine but you're fully responsible for your actions
• Uboats sank 90 ships in first months
• Lusitania was a controversial sinking bc it killed 128 Americans
  • this really made Americans angry but Wilson still said NOOO.
• then the Arabic sunk w/ 2 American lives
  • we raised an eyebrow and Berlin said fine we won't sink unarmed and unresisting passenger shipswithout warning
• Then they sunk the Sussex
  • they said we'll stick to our word this time if you tell the allies to modify what we regard as their illegal blockade
  • US couldn't do that

Wilson Wins Reelection in 1916

• 1916: bull moose Progressives and Republicans met in Chicago
• Progressives renominated TR, but he declined, not wanting to split the Repub. party again [with was the death call of the Progressive party]
• Progressives nominated Supreme Court justice Charles Evan Hughes
• The Republican platform vied for the Democratic tariff, assaults on the trusts and Wilson's wishy-washiness in dealing w. Mexico and Germany
• Hughes straddled the line between not taking action against the Kaiser and being isolated
• TR unsurprisingly campaigned for war
• Wilson's campaign slogan "He Kept Us Out of War"
• Hughes swept the East expecting the presidency
• but everyone else voted for wilson
  • 277 to 254
  • 9,127,695 to 8,533,507

 

 

Major Themes

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• America’s war effort produced profound economic, political, and social changes
• Practicality of Wilson’s Fourteen Points

 

Major Questions

---

• How did the US mount a “total” war effort? What measures were necessary top accomplish this?
• What circumstances led to the defeat of the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations by the US Senate?

Outline

---

War by Act of Germany

• To defend American interests short of war, the president asked Congress for authority to arm American merchant ships.
• A band of midwestern senators launched a filibuster to block the measure and Wilson denounced them as a "little group of willful men" who were rendering a great nation "helpless and contemptible", but their obstruction was a reminder of the continuing strength of American isolationism.
• The Zimmermann note was intercepted and published on March 1, 1917 infuriating Americans especially westerners.
  • The German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann had secretly proposed a German-Mexican alliance, with veiled promises to Mexico of recovering Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
• Following the Zimmermann notes German U-boats sank four unarmed American merchant vessels in the first two weeks of March.
  • The President lost a gamble that America could pursue neutral trade without being sucked into maelstrom
• Wilson at last asked Congress for a declaration of war on the evening of April 2, 1917.
• In later years a myth developed that Americ was dragged unwittingly into war by munitions makers and Wall Street bankers who were desperate to protect their profits and loans.
• The weapons merchants and financiers though, were already thriving uneffected by wartime gov't restrictions and heavy taxation.
• America declared war on April 6, 1917
  • Held the trademark "Made In Germany"

Wilsonian Idealism Enthroned

• It fell to the Scholarly Wilson who was deeply respectful of American traditions, to shatter one of the most sacred of those traditions by entangling America in a distant European war.
  • Posed a threat to the leadership skills of Wilson
• For more than a century Americans had prided themselves on their isolationism from the periodic outbursts of militarized violence that afflicted the Old World, and now German U-boats had roughly shoved America into the abyss.
• Many in Congress had voted against the war resolution
• Wilson could not get any enthusiasm, especially in the Midwest, by fighting to make the world safe from the submarine.
• Wilson would have to claim more glorified aims, he declared the twin goals of "a war to end war" and a crusade "to make the world safe for democracy"
• He won over the nation with his lofty ideals. He contrasted the selfish war aims of the others with America's shining altruism.
• Wilson genuinely believed in the principles he so eloquently intoned.
• Probably no other appeal could have successfully converted the American people from their historic hostility to involvement in European squabbles.
• Wilson's appeal worked-perhaps too good.
  • He fired up the public mind to a fever pitch

Wilson’s Fourteen Potent Points

• Wison quickly came to be recognized as the moral leader of the Allied cause.
• He delievered his famed Fourteen Points Address to an enthusiastic Congress on January 8, 1918.
• Although one of his primary purposes was to keep reeling Russia in the war, his vision inspired all the Allies to make mightier efforts and demoralized the enemy gov'ts by holding out alluring promises to their dissatisfied minorities.
• The first 5 of the Fourteen Points were broad in scope.
  • 1- A proposal to abolish secret treaties pleased liberals of all countries.
  • 2- Freedom of the seas appealed to Germans, as well as to Americans who distrusted British sea power.
  • 3- A removal of economic barriers among nations was comforting to Germany, which feared postwar vengeance.
  • 4- A reduction of armament burdens was gratifying to taxpayers everywhere.
  • 5- An adjustment of colonial claims in the interests of both native peoples and the colonizers was reassuring to the anti-imperialists.
• The other points proved no less seductive.
• They held out the hope of independence to oppressed minority groups, such as the Poles.
• Point number 14 forshadowed the League of Nations- which was an international organization the Wilson dreamed would provide a system of collective security.
  • Felt that the League of Nations would create worldwide political independence and territorial integrity for all nations
• Wilson's appealing points were not everywhere applauded.

Creel Manipulates

• Mobilizing people's minds for war was an urgent task facing the Washington authorities.
• The Committee on Public Information was created for this purpose
  • It was headed by journalist George Creel who was gifted with zeal and imagination and whose job was to sell America on the war and sell the world on Wilsonian war aims.
• The Creel organization employed some 150,000 workers at home and overseas, proved that words were indeed weapons.
• It sent out 75,000 "four-minute men", who often were longer-winded than that, to deliver speeches containing much "patriotic pep"
• Creel's propaganda came in varied forms.
  • Posters were splashed on billboards.
  • Leaflets and pamphlets
  • Propaganda bookelets.
• The entire nation catching the frenzied spirit of a religious revival burst into song.
• Creel typified American war mobilization, which relied more on aroused passion and voluntary compliance than on formal laws.
• But he oversold the ideals of Wilson and led the world to expect too much.

Enforcing Loyalty and Stifling Dissent

• German-Americans numbered over 8 million, on the whole the proved to be dependably loyal to the US
• Rumormongers thought, were quick to spread stories of spying and sabotage.
• A few German-Americans were tarred, feathered, and beated and in one extreme case a German Socialist was lynched by a drunken mob.
• As emotion mounted, hatred of Germans and things Germanic swept the nation.
• Orchestras found it unsafe to present German-composed music, German books were removed from library shelves, and German classes were cancled in high schools and colleges.
• The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 reflected current fears about Germans and anti war Americans.
• Especially visible among the 1,900 prosecutions undertaken under these laws were antiwar Socialist and members of the radical Industrial Workers of the World.
• Virtually and critiscism of the gov't could be censored and punished.
• Some critics claimed the new laws were bending, if not breaking, the First Amendment.
• In Schenck v. United States, the Supreme Court affirmed the laws legality arguing that freedom of speech could be revoked when such speech pased a "clear and present danger" to the nation.

The Nation’s Factories Go to War

• The nation was not ready to go to war
• Wilson had only mild preparations that were from 1915
  • Council of National Defense
  • Ship building program
  • Addition of 100,000 to the army
• Ignorance was a big roadblock
  • No one knew how much steel or gunpowder the nation could produce
• In March 1918 Bernard Baruch was appointed to head the War Industries Board
  • Had to be disbanded days after the armistice

 

Suffering Until Suffrage

• Women were forced to take up various roles in society during the War
  • This caused a delay in the women's movement
  • Most of the women were pacifists and were inclined to the war altogether
• The majority of the women were represented by the National American Women's Suffrage Association which supported the war
  • They argued that women must have a role as a way to shape the Peace
  • Winning democracy abroad was the best way to own democracy at home for women
• Wilson endorsed women's suffrage due to their hard work
• In 1920 the 19th amendment was ratified giving them suffrage
• After the war many women gave up their jobs and returned to their normalcy
• The Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act of 1921 gave financial aid and health care

Forging a War Economy

• preperation for war was primarily derived from inspiring a sense of partiotism instead of implementing law
• Hoover, head of the food administration set an example of using propaganda to rally support
  • used posters, billboards, newspapers, etc
  • soon delcared "meatless tuesdays" and "wheatless wednesdays" all on voluntary basis
  • led to an increase in self restraint due to voluntary rationing<- helped prohibition
  • voluntary approach proved very effective
• other departments adopted this method of propaganda
• gov't also put extreme pressure on citizens to buy war bonds
• Wilson administration primatily relid on voluntary means of war support but did occasionally use gov't power

Making Plowboys into Doughboys

• most americans did not initally want to enter the war despite their support for the allies' cause
• in 1917 the allies requested american military intervention
• the american gov't needed to amass a quick army was fjorced to pass a conscription law
  • draft was fair and could not bo bought out of
• army grew drastically in only a few months
• though recruits were supposed to recieve 8 months of training many recived very little

Fighting in France – Belatedly

• with the removal of russian troops from the allied force american soldiors became even more essential
• american troops often were undertrained
• shipping proved a challenge for the allied powers
• Americans primarily served in france however they also served in belgium,italy, and russia

The Fourteen Points Disarm Germany

• germans, now ready to admit defeat turned to wilson to garuntee a fair treaty
  • they counted on a treaty based on the fourteen points, which did not happen
• Wilson demanded that the Kaiser be removed before any formal negotiations would begin
• This was done and the German's quickly ceased fighting
• Americans primarily contrubuted by was of supplies rather than military action, however the prospect of seemingly endless American troops had a strong demoralizing effect on the Germans

Wilson Steps Down From Olympus

• Expectations were high for Wilson's plans for reshaping the peace after success in the war
  • At the end of the war, Wilson was at the peak of his popularity & power
  • Wilson was cherished by some Europeans, no other man ever occupied such a pinnacle as moral leader of the world
  • Wilson had prestige of victory, & economic resources from mightiest nation behind him
• Then he began making tragic fumbles-
  • "Politics Is Adjourned" kept partisan political strife out of view during war
    • Wilson broke the truce by appealing for a Dem. victory in Congress election(Nov. 1918) in hopes to strengthen his hand at the Paris peace table
    • Plan backfired when voters put Republican majority back in Congress
    • Wilson went to Paris defeated & the only one that didn't control a legislative majority at home
  • Wilson ticked off the Republicans:
    • Republicans enraged that Wilson went to Paris in person to help make peace bc no pres. had ever gone to Europe & his trip looked like a "flamboyant grandstanding" to critics
    • Snubbed Senate during assembly of his peace delegation & didn't include any Republican senators in his official party

An Idealist Battles the Imperialists in Paris

• the common people belived wilson a hero of morality, but politicians kept him at arms length fearing that his presance might sow the seeds of revolution
• representatives of America, France, Italy, and Britian had the most influence over the treaty
• efficiency was very important due to ensuing anarchy after the war
• Wilson's primary goal was to establis the League of Nations
• he also wasnted to prevent any biased distrobution of Germany's colonial holdings
  • in this he failed b/c though the territories were not colonies per se the mother nathion sill treated them as such
• in Feburary 1919 most European diplomats agreed to join the League of Nations

 

The Peace Treaty That Bred a New War

• The Treaty of Versailles was given to the Germans in June of 1919
• Germans had believed that peace would be granted based on the Fourteen Points
  • Only a few of these points were actually honored
• Compromise was needed at Paris because the Allied Powers were torn by secret treaties and individualistic goals
  • Wilson was forced to give up a few of the points in order to protect his more important
• Wilson was not happy with the results of the treaty because the League of Nations was not powerful
• though Wilson did not achieve many of his goals and recognized the injustice of the treaty it was still much fairer b/c of him

The Domestic Parade of Prejudice

• Returning for the second time to America, Wilson sailed straight to political typhoon
  • Isolationists protested the treaty, especially the US atmitance into the League of Nations
  • Critics also abused him about the Treaty of Versailles
• The pact was criticized due to its harshness, while others thought it was not harsh enough
• Many Americans of recent forgien descent opposed the treaty for not benefitting thier own nation enough
• Irish-Americans denounced the League as well
  • They felt that Britain was given power that was not needed or deserved

Wilson's Tour and Collapse

• The President had a reason to be optomistic even with the mounting discontent
  • The people still seemed favorable and the "Wilson League" was strongly stable in Part I
• Senator Lodge was not able to defeat the Treaty at this time, he wanted to "Americanize It"
• Wilson went on a tour of speeches in order to appeal to the confused public about the treaty
  • Began in September 1919
  • His campaign was undertaken by protests by physicians and friends
  • People wanted to impeach him after angry Senators presented a few days later
  • The reaction in the West was much warmer and welcoming
• Wilson was forced back to Washington when a stroke paralyzed half of his body

The Solemn Referendum of 1920

• Wilson proposed to settle treaty issue in the upcoming 1920 pres. campaign by appealing to the people for a "solemn referendum"
• June 1920, Republicans met in Chicago, creating a vague platform that could appeal to pro-League-ers & anti-League-ers w/in the party
• Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding was favored & nominated
  • Harding was a prosperous, small-town newspaper editor
  • Mass. Governor Calvin Coolidge nominated for VP
    • gained conservative support by breaking up a police strike in Boston
• Democrats nominated Ohio Governor James M. Cox
  • Dem. VP nominee was Assisstant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt of NY
• Democrats attempted to make the campaign a referendum on the League but Harding challenged efforts by issuing contradictory statements on the issue
• Both pro- & anti-League Republicans claimed Harding's election would propel their cause, but Harding suggested that he would work for a vague Association of Nations, not the League
• Harding won w/ over 7million votes, 16,143,407 to 9,130,328 for Cox, the electoral count was 404 to 127
  • W/ 919,799 votes, Eugene V. Debs, a federal prisoner, won the largest amount of votes ever for a left-wing Socialist party
• People were tired of pro. high-browism, star-reaching idealism, do-goodism, moral strain, & self-sacrifice
• Eager to get back to normal & accept a 2nd-rate pres. but got a 3rd-rate one
• Republican isolationists successfully turned Harding's victory into death for the League

The Betrayal of Great Expectations

• The inablility to spawn the League of Nations as a powerful Worldwide Peace organization showed America's shortcomings
  • There is no way to tell is this would have averted WWII
  • America was blamed for the failure by the rest of the Allied forces
• The failure of the Treaty of Versailles was also blamed on America
  • The American aspect of the Treaty was never put into place,allowing for the failure of the Treaty
• The Senate formed a treaty with France fearing that the new generation of Germans would form arms illegally

 

Major Themes

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• New technologies, mass-marketing, new forms of entertainment fostered rapid cultural change along with the early development of a consumer lifestyle.
• Changes in moral values and uncertainty about the future produced anxiety as well as intellectual critiques of American culture

Major Questions

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• What were some of the cultural developments that were “conservative” in nature? Which developments were “liberal” in nature?
• What were the economic and social consequences of the emerging mass-consumption economy
• In what ways were the 1920s a reaction against the progressive era?

Outline

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Seeing Red

• Fear of communism rose in America after the Bolshevic Revolution in Russia in 1917
• The "red scare" of 1919-1920 caused by hatred of left-wingers whose American ideals were suspect
  • Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer rounded up 6,000 suspects and earned the name, "Fighting Quaker"
    • doubled his efforts after a bomb went off in his home in June 1919 and was redubbed the "Quaking Fighter"
  • another highlight was the deportation of 249 people to the "workers paradise" of Russia
  • also, in 1920, another unexplained bomb went off in Wall Street and killed 38 people and wounded several hundred others
• Laws were made to prevent the mentioning of any other form of government
  • 5 lawfully elected members of the New York legislature were denied their seats because they were socialists in 1920
• Red Scare was good for conservative business people because they could denounce labor unions as Communist and evil while their plans were American and right
• "Judicial Lynching"
  • Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were both accused of the murders of a paymaster and his guard in 1921
  • the jury and the judge were all prejudiced against them because they were both Italians, atheists, anarchists, and draft dodgers
  • case dragged on 6 years and then they were electrocuted
  • became martyrs for the Communist cause
  • probably would have only of been given a jail term if the environment wasn't as prejudiced

Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK

• with the introduction of even stronger xenophobic feelings than ever before in American history, the KKK rose again as a strongly nativist group
• this radiacally minded right wing group advocated racism on all front and a return to the ideals of a protestant society
• the Klan became very large, including as many as 5 million members
• quickly fell apart in the late 1920's as more moral people recognized the attrocities of the Klan's methods

Stemming the Foreign Flood

• In 1920-1921 800000 immigrants came to America
  • This caused a nativist stir in America calling to stem the flow of immigrants
• This was done by The Emergency Quota Act of 1921
  • this let only 3% of immigrants per nationality in the US get in
• This act was replaced in 1924 with the Immigration Act of 1924
  • This limited the immigrants allowed to 2% and used an earlier census than the Quota Act
  • This act was worse for southern and western Europeans
  • This act limited all Japanese immigration
• First time in American history that America was filling up and needed a stopper

 

The Prohibition Experiment

• Alcohol was made illegal in 1919 by the 18th ammendment
• This law was very popular in the south and west
• There was very strong opposition to the law in eastern cities
• Opponents of the law thought that if they violated it enough it would change
• Prohibition may have gone better if there were more officials
• Really the law had no teeth... many people drank and there were thousands of saloon replacements called speakeasies
• This was not a complete failure... less alcohol was consumed and bank savings went up

The Golden Age of Gangsterism

• with the prohibition of alcohol came the illegal and immensely profitable business of smuggling or "bootlegging"
• this was typically done by gangs who practiced widespread organized crime throughout the 1920's
• despite the widespread criminal activity and gang wars, few convictions were made
• Chicago was the center of most gang activity
• Gangsters also partook in other illegal ventures: prostitution, narcotics,gambling

Monkey Business in Tennessee

• Education continued to improve
  • more states required young people to stay in school until 16 or 18
  • amount of 17 year olds who graduated school almost doubled in the 1920s to more than 1/4
• Professor John Dewey created progressive learning or "learning by doing"
• Advances in health care increased the life expectancy from 50 years in 1901 to 59 in 1921
• Progressive learning and science both subjected to criticism from Fundamentalists
  • said that teaching Darwinism was destroying faith in God and the Bible and the moral breakdown of youth in the jazz age
  • attempts were made to stop the teaching of evolution, espcially in the Bible Belt South
• "Monkey Trial" held at Dayton, Tennessee in 1925
  • John T. Scopes found guilty and fined $100
  • against him was former presidential candidate Bryan who died of stroke 5 days later
  • hollow victory for Fundamentalists, looked sort of silly
  • Bible ended up still being the main source of America's spiritual life

The Mass Consumption Society

• Prosperity came to the US in the 1920s
• There was rapid expansion of capitol investments and ingenious machines were made
• Henry Ford invented the assembly line which sparked the huge automobile business
• a new arm of American commerce was made-advertising
• Sports also became big business
• several games entrance fees made a million dollars+
• The idea of paying on credit also came about now

Putting America on Rubber Tires

• The invention of the automobile was the most influencial of the 1920s w/ it's assembly-line methods and mass-production techniques
• Europeans acutally invented the car but Americans adapted it
  • Henry Ford and Ransom E. Olds [Oldsmobile] were the main developers of the auto industry
• 1910: 69 existing car companies annually produced a total of 181,000 units
• They were slow and unreliable, stalling frequently
• Detroit was the motorcar capital of America
• Frederick W. Taylor, inventor/engineer, introduced many useful efficiency techniques
• Henry Ford contributed most to America's automobile-ization
  • Model T was cheap, ugly, rugged, reasonable reliable, rough, and clattering
    • behavior of the car was so eccentric that it was made fun of a lot
  • Henry was an ill-educated millionaire & his empire was based on his associate's organizational talent
  • Devoted himself to the gospel of standardization
  • Sold a total of 20 million Model T's by 1930
• By 1929, 26 million motor vehicles were registered in the US; averaging 1 for every 4.9 Americans
  • [more cars in US then in the whole world at that point]

The Advent of the Gasoline Age

• This industry depended on steel but displaced steel from its kingpin role
  • 6 Million were employed by 1930
  • Others were created by supporting roles
    • Rubber, Glass, Fabrics, and highway construction all contributed to jobs
  • America's standard of living also increased
• The petroleum industry boomed with development of oil derricks throughout the nation
• The railroad industry took a signifigant hit due to the widespread use of cars, busses, and trucks
• There were many positive effects
  • Speedy marketing of perishable foods
  • Farms could get their goods to the market faster, cheaper, and fresher
  • The need for roads caused America to build the finest network of hard surfaced roads in the world
• The new cars also allowed for more leisure time
• Less attractive states lost population at an alarming rate
• By the late 1920s Americans owned more cars than bathtubs
• Busses consolidated school districts
• The need for speed made citizens statistics
  • By 1951, 1 million had died on the road
• Crime was aided by cars because it allowed for a quick get away
• The automobile contributed to a notably improved air quality, despite its later noteriety as a polluter

Humans Develop Wings

• Gasoline allowed people to fly
  • The Wright brothers stayed airbourne for 12 seconds in their plane on December 17, 1903
  • This spanned 120 feet
• The world slowly shrank as avaiation got off the ground
  • Planes were used for various purposes during the Great War (1914-1918)
  • The first transcontinental airmail route was established from NY to San Francisco in 1920
• Charles Lindbergh flew his plane from NY to Paris in a couragous 33 hour 39 minute flight
  • Seeked prize of $25,000
• This gave birth to an giant new industry
  • The accident rate was high, though only slightly higher than that of the railroads
  • By the 1930's travel on airways was signifigantly safer than on a highway
• Took many of thee passengers of railroads greatly hurting the RR industry
• Ariel bombs made some consider the planes as a curse
• Made travel much quicker, it "shriveled the world"

The Radio Revolution

• thank you!
• Guglielmo Marconi invented wireless telegraphy in the 1890s and his creation was used for long-range communication in WWI
• Next the voice-carrying radio came along, baffling many
• Other miracles were the transatlantic wireless phonographys, radiotelegraphys and television
• Radios at first only reached local areas but by the late 1920s technological improvements made long-distance broadcasting possible
  • National commercials took over local programming
  • commercials made radio a vehicle for American free enterprise
  • Radios drew families back to the home and helped knit together communities and neighborhoods and THE NATION once more
• The radio was a large contribution educationally and culturally
  • Sports were stimulated
  • politicians had to adjust to the millions as opposed to thousands
  • world events effected people more personally
  • music of various artists and symphony orchestras were more widely listened to and known
  • the radio helped people who couldn't go experience these kind of events

Hollywood's Filmland Fantasies

• Many inventors made the movie (including Edison)
  • 1890s: Started out in the "naughty peep-show penny arcades"
  • 1903: The Great Train Robbery airs
    • First story sequence (not quite a movie) played in 5cent theaters called "nickelodeons"
  • The Birth of a Nation by D.W.Griffith (1915) was about the old KKK and how great it was
• Hollywood was sunny and such, so was the movie capital
  • First producers starred sexay naked ladies called "vamps" until people complained
  • Used "anti-kaiser" movies during WWI to sell bonds and boost morale
• 1927: "Talkies" came to be
  • The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson had sound
  • Theaters were set up to play movies with music and voices
  • Color movies were being made
• Movies were the new entertainment of the era
  • Movie stars made more than the Prez.
  • People knew movie star names better than political ones
    • Sort of like today
• Had profound effect of assimilation on immigrants
  • Young immigrant children tuned into radios and movies instead of listening to parents and following old world customs
  • Helped them learn the culture/language and fit in
  • Led to working-class bridge of language barrier
    • Helped them get reforms (strikes more effective because can talk to one another now)

The Dynamic Decade

• Census of 1920 showed that most lived in urban areas
• Women were finding (crappy) jobs in cities
  • These jobs had low wages
  • Often not good (retail clerks, office typing...)
    • These jobs were deemed "women's work"
  • Margaret Sanger: Attempted (and succeeded) a Birth-Control Movement
  • Alice Paul: Started National Women's Party (1923)
    • Wanted an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution
    • Succeeded 70 yrs. later
• Churches were changing
  • OLD: Fundamentalists, Hellfire and Brimstone, Don't Sin or You Will Burn Forever
  • NEW: God is your friend and the world is a "chummy" place
  • Some made "wholesome" movies for the young'uns
  • Some had advertisement
    • "Come to Church: Christian Worship Increases Your Efficiency"
• America is at "sex o'clock"
  • Advertisers used sex to sell everything
  • Women were more free
    • Flappers had short hair and short dresses
    • More makeup
    • One-piece Bathingsuits
  • Freud helped
    • Argued that "sexual repression" led to mental illness
    • "Health demands sexual gratification"
• Teens got into the sexy stuff too...
  • OLD: Kissing = marriage proposal
  • NEW: Jazz dancing (close and sweaty kind of like something else....), Cars (wheeled prostitution houses), Dark movie theaters...
• Jazz was the tunes of the era
  • Moved up from New Orleans during WWI with the migrating Blacks
  • W.C.Handy wrote "St. Louis Blues" and it became a classic
  • "Jelly Roll" Morton, Joseph "Joe" King Oliver, Paul Whiteman were all famous
• Racial pride developed in the North
  • HARLEM: one of the largest black communitites anywhere
  • Langston Hughes wrote The Weary Blues (1926)
  • Marcus Garvey was a political leader
    • Founded United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
    • Hoped to help blacks return to Africa
    • He sponsored all-black businesses to put "black money in black pockets"
    • Eventually deported (1927)
    • UNIA helped new-comers to the north establish racial pride, even after the deportation

Cultural Liberation

• The writer's of the previous era were dying out
  • Henry James died 1916
  • Henry Adams died 1918
  • William Dean Howells died in 1920
• Some managed to carry through
  • Edith Wharton and Willa Cather were still popular
• New writers became well-known
  • Most came from culturally different backgrounds
  • Gave American literature "...a new vitality, imaginativeness, and artistic quality."
  • H.L.Mencken was "Bad Boy of Baltimore"
    • Wrote in American Mercury about marriage, patriotism, democracy, prohibition, Rotarians, middle-class America, the South, and Puritans
    • Criticed heavily
    • "Puritanism was the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might be happy."
• The war affected many new writers
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald
    • This Side of Paradise (1920), was called a bible for the young. Flappers read it.
    • The Great Gatsby (1925)
  • Theodore Dreiser
    • An American Tragedy (1925) had a similar theme to Gatsby
  • Ernest Hemingway
    • Fought in Italy in 1917
    • The Sun Also Rises (1926) told of the expatriates in Europe
    • A Farewell to Arms (1929) told all about the war experience
    • Killed himself with a shotty in 1961
• Some writers turned to small-town life
  • Sherwood Anderson
    • Winesburg, Ohio (1919) told about a wide array of characters
  • Sinclair Lewis
    • Main Street (1920) was about a woman's war against provincialism
    • Babbitt (1922) explored the life of George F. Babbitt
  • William Faulkner
    • Soldier's Pay (1926) was about the war
    • The Sound and the Fury (1929) and As I Lay Dying (1930) were both about the South in the past
• Poetry was obviously different
  • Ezra Pound
    • Had a "Make It New" doctrine
    • Strongly influenced T.S. Eliot
  • T.S. Eliot
    • "The Waste Land" (1922) was very influential
  • Robert Frost
    • Wrote about New England
  • e.e.cummings
    • Used new diction and typesets to get interesting effects
• Plays were changed, too
  • Eugene O'Neill
    • Made a play about sex called the Strange Interlude (1928)
    • Had more than a dozen productions
    • Wone the Nobel Prize in 1936
• Artists (painters) rose up in Greenwich Village
• Harlem had some outstanding black artists
  • Writers
    • Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston
  • Jazz Artists
    • Louis Armstrong, Eubie Blake
• Architecture changed
  • Instead of flashy Greek, people like Frank Lloyd Wright supported making the building "grow from their sites"
  • Empire State Building was a great achievement at 102 stories tall

Wall Street's Big Bull Market

• Signs pointed to a crash of the economic joyride in the 1920s, several hundred banks failed annually
• "Something-for-nothing" craze
  • Real estate speculation
• Stock exhange
  • Speculations ran wild, boom-or-bust trading pushed market up great peaks
  • Stock market=gambling den
  • Practically everyone was buying stocks "on margin"(small down payment)
  • Rags-to-riches Americans
  • Few responded to warnings that the prosperity couldn't last forever
  • Little was done by Wash. DC to slow down $-mad speculators
  • 1914, national debt=$1,188,235,400→ $23,976,250,608 in 1921
    • Conservative principles of $ management pointed to surplus funds to reduce financial burden
  • 1921, Republican Congress made a businesslike move toward economic sanity by creating Bureau of the Budget
    • Bureau's director→assist president in preparing estimates of receipts & expenditures for submission to Congress as the annual budget
      • This new reform was set to prevent haphazardly extravagant appropriations
• The taxes inherited from the war were especially distasteful to Secretary of the Treasury Mellon as well as to his fellow millionaires.
• Their theory was that such high levies forced the rich to invest in tax-exempt .rather than in the factories that provided prosperous payrolls.
• They also argued that high taxes not only discouraged business but, in so doing, also brought a smaller net return to the Treasury than moderate taxes.
• Mellon helped engineer a series of tax reductions from 1921 to 1926
• Congress followed his lead by repealing the excess-profits tax, abolishing the gift tax, and reducing excise taxes, the surtax, the income tax, and estate taxes.
• In 1921 a wealthy person with and income of $1 million had paid $663,000 in income taxes, in 1926 the same person paid about $200,000.
• Secretary Mellon's spare-the-rich policies shifted much of the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle-income groups.
• Mellon reduced the national debt by $10 billion but many believe he should have reduced the debt even more.

 

 

Major Themes

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• The Republican administrations of the 1920s pursued conservative, pro-business policies at home and economic unilateralism abroad.
• The great crash of 1929 led to a severe prolonged depression that devastated the American economy and spirit and which resisted Hoover’s limited efforts to fix it.

Major Questions- I'll do 2, someone else do some also!!

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• In what ways were the 1920s a reaction against the progressive era?
• Was American isolationism of the 1920s linked to the rise of movements like the Ku Klux Klan?
• To what extent did the policies of the 1920s contribute to the depression?

Because the '20's were the years of consumption in America, the Americans themselves didn't understand all of the consequences of their actions. By buying stock "on the margin," the people contributed to the collapse of the stock market. Using credit cards and other forms of credit led to businesses going bankrupt when people didn't pay their bills. Banks were failing all over the place, and so many people lost their life savings (this was before FDIC). The idea of "have now, pay later" was the major influential factor.

• How did the depression challenge the traditional belief of Hoover and other Americans in “rugged individualism?”

Many Americans were still under the impression that if a select few could do the "self-made man" thing, everyone should be able to. However, with the coming of the Depression, more and more laborers became unemployed. It became nearly impossible to find work, and there was no government welfare agency. Therefore, in order to survive in society, people needed help. The "rugged individualism" theory hurt the starving, destitute poor, who could no longer do it by themselves. Eventually, Hoover had to give out a "stimulus" type thing to the "top of the economic pyramid." He gave money to the RR's and other corporations, hoping that it would trickle to the lower classes. After this more or less failed, he gave money to the lower classes, and hoped it would trickle up.

Outline

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The Republican "Old Guard" Returns

• Warren G. Harding looked presidential, but was often overwhelmed with his presidency
  • He was unable to detect how bad his evil associates were
• Harding did promise to bring the "best minds" together
  • Charles Evans Hughes- Secretary of State
    • Masterful, imperious, incisive, and brilliant
  • Andrew Mellon- Secretary of Treasury
    • Multimillionare and a collector of art
  • Herbert Hoover- Secretary of Commerce
    • Brought his second rate cabinet post to a first rate importance
    • Brought up foreign trade for the US manufacturers
• These "best minds" were offset by two of the worst
  • Senator Albert B. Fall- Secretary of Interior
    • Scheming anticonsevrationist
  • Harry M. Daugherty- Attorney General
    • Was supposed to prosecute wrongdoers

GOP Reaction at the Throttle

• Harding was a perfect "front" for enterprising industrialists
  • old order came back into being
  • hoped to improve the business of laissez-faire
    • gov't would help guide business to greater profits
• Made courts and administrative bereaus more friendly to their cause
  • Harding lived less than three out of four years in office, but apointed four out of nine justices
  • some of his choices ended up going against popular currents for the next two decades
  • a fortunate choice was Taft who performed his duties and was more liberal about them than his associates
• Supreme Court killed some progressive laws in the early 1920's
  • reverseed its own reasoning in cases like Adkins v. Children's Hospital and Muller v. Oregon (which stated that women were in need of protection in the workplace)
  • invalidated a minimum wage law for women
    • because women now had the vote, they were now equal to men and therefore could no longer be protected in special legislation
  • caused controversy
• Corporations were better off under Harding
  • anti-trust laws were often ignored, circumvented, or feebly enforced
  • encouraged to regulate themselves rather than be regualted

The Aftermath of War

• Wartime government controls on the economy were swiftly dismantled.
• The War Industries Board dissappeared and with that progressive hopes for more government regulation of big business disappeared.
• Washington returned the railroads to private management in 1920.
• Congress passed the Esch-Cummins Transportation Act of 1920
  • encouraged private consolidation of the railroads and pledged the Interstate Commerce Commision to guarantee their profitability.
• The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 authorized the Shipping Board, which controlled about fifteen hundred vessels, to dispose of much of the hastily built wartime fleet at bargain-basement prices.
• Under the La Follette Seaman's Act of 1915 American shipping could not thrive in competition with foreigners.
• Labor was suddenly deprived of its wartime crutch of friendly gov't support.
• A bloody strike in the steel industry was ruthlessly broken in 1919, partly by exploiting ethnic and racial divisions among the steelworkers and partly by branding the strikers as dangerous "reds"
• The Railway Labor Board ordered a wage cut of 12% in 1922 provoking a 2 month strike.
• Unions wilted in the hostile political environment and membership decreased by nearly 30% between 1920 and 1930
• In 1921 Congress generously created the Veterans Bureau, authorized to operate hospitals and provide vocational rehibilitation for the disabled.
• Veterans quickly organized into pressure groups.
  • The American Legion had been founded in 1919. The legion soon became distinguished for its militant patriotism, conservatism and zealous antiradicalism.
  • The legion also became notorious for its aggressive lobbying for veterans' benefits. The former servicemen demanded compensation to make up for the wages they had "lost" when they fought.
    • In 1924 Congress passed the Adjusted Compensation Act which gave every former soldier a paid-up insurance policy due in twenty years- adding about $3.5 billion to the total cost of the war.

America Seeks Benefits without Burdens

• U.S. rejects Treaty of Versailles & therefore still at war w/ Germany, Austria, & Hungary almost 3 yrs after the armistice
• July 1921, Congress passes a joint resolution declaring the war officially over
• Harding
  • Isolationism
    • Harding administration continued to regard the League of Nations as unclean, refusing (@ 1st) to support the League's world health program
    • As a rivalry between Britain & U.S. in the Middle East over oil-drilling concessions hightened, Harding couldn't keep his back turned to the rest of the world completely
      • experts realized that oil would be as much needed for victory in battles of the future as it was during WWI
      • Secretary Hughes secured the right to share in the exploitation of Middle East for U.S. oil companies
  • Disarmament
    • Harding was pushed by businesspeople that were unwilling to pay out of their pockets for $ to finance the naval building program started during the war

Hiking the Tariff Higher

• A comparable lack of realism afflicted foreign economic policy in the 1920s.
• Businesspeople sought to keep the prosperous home market to themselves by putting up insurmountable tariff walls around the US
• They feared a flood of cheap goods from recovering Europe, esp. during the brief but sharp recession of 1920-1921
• Congress passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law in 1922
• Schedules were boosted from the average of 27% under the Underwood Tariff of 1913 to an average of 38.5%
• Duties on farm produce were increased and the principle was proclaimed that the general rates were designed to equalize the cost of American and foreign production.
• The president was authorized with the advice of the factfinding Tariff Commission to reduce or increase duties by as much as 50%
• Presidents Harding and Coolidge were far more friendly to tariff increases than to reductions.
• In 6 years they authorized 32 upward changes.
• The high-tariff course set of a chain reaction.
  • European producers felt the spueeze. An impoverished Europe need to sell its manufactured goods to the US if it hoped to achieve economic recovery and to pay its huge war debt.
  • America needed to give foreign nations a chance to make a profit from it so that they could buy its manufactured goods and repay debts.
• The American example spurred European nations to pile up higher barriers themselves

The Stench of Scandal

• 1923- Colonol Charles R. Forbes was head of the Veterans Bureau but had to resign when caught embezzling
  • Had once deserted the army
  • Appointed by Harding
  • Took about 200 million, mostly from hospitals
  • Got 2 yrs. in fed. penitentiary
• 1921- Teapot Dome Scandal
  • There were 2 naval oil reserves
    • Teapot Dome, Wyoming
    • Elk Hills, California
  • Albert B. Fall was secretary of navy
    • Got these reserves transferred to the Interior Department
    • Leased the lands to oilmen (Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny)
    • First got about $400,000 of "loans" from the two men
  • Details got out in 1923 and all three were taken to court in '24
    • Decision dragged until '29
    • Fall got 1 yr. in jail for taking a bribe
    • Sinclair and Doheny got off scott-free
  • Acquittal of Bribe-Givers killed the trust in the courts
    • "Rich people don't go to prison"
• Att. General Daugherty was selling pardons and liquor permits
  • He was tried in '27 but got away with it after 2 hung juries
• Harding didn't have to hear all about the scandals because he died
  • Bonus Maybe???
    • Went on a speech-making trip across the country
    • On the way back, he died in San.Fran. (August 2, 1923)**
    • Had pneumonia and thrombosis
    • Harding just wasn't strong enough to be the president

"Silent Cal" Coolidge

• Veep Calvin Coolidge was visiting family in Vermont
  • "Justice of the Peace" Daddy swore his son in on the family Bible
  • He didn't talk much, so was known as "Silent Cal"
  • Believed strongly in the status quo
  • Loved Big Business
    • "The man who builds a factory builds a temple..."
• Because of his Laissez-faire policies, people like Cal
• He was "thrify" so agreed to lowering taxes and debts
• Got rid of scandalous admin's from Harding's time
• People got over the scandals because of the "good times" going on in the economy department

Frustrated Farmers

• Farmers in a boom-or-bust cycle in the 1920's
  • end of war brought an end to gov't assured high prices and an end to mass purchases by other nations
  • tracters was increasing the amount of their crops making them less profitable
• Many schemes to help the farmers
  • Capper-Volstead Act which exempted farmers from antitrust prosecution
  • McNary-Haugen Bill
    • sought to keep agricultural prices high by authorizing gov't to buy up surpluses and sell them abroad
    • losses were to be made up by a special tax on farmers
    • bill was passed and vetoed twice
• Farm prices stayed down

A Three-way Race for the White House in 1924

• Republicans:
  • "Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge"
  • "Silent Cal" gets a repeat nomination
  • Got 15,718,211 popular, 382 electoral
• Democrats:
  • Had a more difficult time deciding
  • Had many tensions:
    • "Wet" vs. "Dry"
    • Urbanites vs. Farmers
    • Fundamentalists vs. Modernists
    • Liberals vs. "Stand-Patters"
    • Immigrants vs. Old-Stock Americans
  • Finally picked John W. Davis
    • Not much different the Coolidge
  • Got 8,385,283 popular, 136 electoral
• Non-Party:
  • Bob La Follette (Senator) decided to run for Presidents
  • He got the support of the AF of L, the Socialst Party, and the "New" Progressive party (not to mention Farmers)
  • Had only a presidential ticket
  • Wanted Gov't ownership of RR's, relief for farmers, no monopolies, wanted to limit Judicial Review for laws
  • Got 5 million popular, 13 electoral

Foreign Policy Flounderings

• isolationism remained the main forgien policy throughout the time period
  • congress still would not allow US involvement in League of Nations
  • the exception to this was the armed intervention in the Carribean
• overshadowing all foriegn policy issues was the problem of international debts
  • European nations ovwed US $16 billion
  • they couldn't pay this sum
  • argued that it should be conunted as war expenses
  • said that their war fueled american economy
  • also claimed high us tariffs prevented trade necessary to get the $

Unravleing the Debt Knot

• America wanted its money back from its war allies
  • Allies pressured Germany to pay $32 billiion in war reparations
  • Germany allowed rampant speculation
    • 480 million marks for a loaf of bread or about $120 million preinflation
• Sensible statesmen called for reduction or even cancellation of war debts, many others against
  • Coolidge asked, " They hired the money, didn't they?"
• Reality came in the form of the Dawes Plan created by Charles Dawes, Coolidge's running mate
  • it rescheduled German reparation payments and allowed America to lend money to Germany
    • America lends to Germany who pays Britain and France who pays back America
  • idea caused by credit which died in 1929
    • Hoover called for suspension of debts for one year in 1931
    • all countries in debt soon stopped paying all together except "honest little Finland" which payewd off its debt in 1976
• US never got its money and Europeans disliked America

 

Predient Hoover's First Moves

• prosperity was predominant in the late 1920s
  • but unorganized wage earners & esp. disorganized farmers weren't getting their share of the wealth
• Agricultural Marketing Act helped wounded farmers
  • designed to "help farmers help themselves" mainly thru producer's cooperatives
  • set up Federal Farm Board w. $ 1/2 million at their disposal for buying/selling/storing
• Federal Farm Board creat the Grain Stabilization Corporation AND the Cotton Stabilization Corporation
  • goal: bolster decreasing prices by buying up surpluses
  • prices soon fell tho, suffocating the two agencies
  • farmers hoped the tariff would save them
• Hoover had promised to call Congress into special session to consider agricultural relief & to bring about "limited" changes in the tariff
  • these hope-giving promises had def helped him win votes in the mid-west
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930
  • started in the House as a pretty reasonable protective measure to assist the farmers
  • whin it came out of the lobbyist Senate it had about 1000 amendments, turning it into the hightest protective tariff in the nation's peacetime history
    • 38.5% to nearly 60% (est. by Fordney-McCumber Act of 1922)
  • foreigners felt it was a "blow below the trade belt"
  • reversed a promising worldwide tredt toward reasonable tariffs
  • plunged America & other nations deeper into the Depression
  • increase internation financial chaos
  • force US further inot economic isolationism

The Great Crash Ends the Golden Twenties

• On March 4th 1929 everything looked peachy for Herbert Hoover- no one saw the coming crisis
• The Crash came in October 1929 when foreign investors and domestic speculators started to sell
• After they sold everyone else started to sell and 16,410,030 stocks were sold
• loses were some 40 billion for stockholders by the end of 1929
• America was hit the hardest of all the countries by this depression
• by the end of 1930 more than 4 million were out of a job
  • 2 years later that number tripled
• over 5 thousand banks collapsed in the first three years
  • Thousands lost there savings because of this
• Families felt alot of stress blame was sometimes placed on the father

Hooked on the Horn of Plenty

• There were several cause for the great depression
  • The nations overproduction of goods
  • Too much money going to to few people
    • not enough money going into salaries and wages
  • The debt and installment system was also at fault
  • The economic weakness of Europe and other areas was felt in the US
  • There was also a drought in the Mississippi valley
  • Farm tenancy was also spreading in the south
  • Many of the citizens who were not at fault at all were out of a job

Rugged Times for Rugged Individualists

• The Great Depression basically made Hoover look really bad
• He was not able to engineer a way to fight the great depression
• He did not believe in government handouts-weakens the national fiber
• As America sunk deeper into depression Hoover decided to give money to the Railroads bank and rural credit corporations. Hopeing that wealth would trickle down to the lower classes
• critics sneered at his attempts-they wanted money now for the poor
• Honestly Hoovers policys did help prevent a further sinking into depression

Herbert Hoover: Pioneer for the New Deal

• recommended Congress vote lots of $ for useful public works
  • he secured from Congress $2.25 billion for such projects
• Hoover Dam on the Colorado River
  • started plans during Coolidge, beginning in 1930 under Hoover, completed in 1936 under FDR
  • used for irrigation, flood control, & electric power
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)
  • became a gov't leding bank w/ it's initial working capital of $1/2 million
  • designed to provide indirect relief by assisting insurance companies, banks, agricultural organizations, RRs, & even hard-pressing state & local gov'ts
  • no loans were given to individuals
  • was v. veneficial but came a little too late for max. usage
  • giant corporations benefitted form this
  • acutally had a stroy New Dealish aire
• Norris - La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act in 1932
  • benefited labor
  • outlawed antiunion contracts
  • forbade federal courts from issuing injuctions to restrain strikes, boycotts, & peaceful picketting
• tho he started out w/ a 19th century bias, by the end of his term he had started puching toward gov't assistance for needy citizens
• Hoover suffered from a critical Congress
  • 1st 2 yrs, Repub majority was v. uncooperative
  • 2nd 2 yrs, Dems almost controlled both houses
  • Repubs and Dems tag-teamed to harass Hoover

Routing the Bonus Army in Washington

• veterans were hard-hit victims of the depression
  • wanted their payment for their service early eve tho it had been deferred by COngress in 1924 to be paid in 1945
• The "Bonus Expeditionary Force" (BEF)
  • had about 20,000 members
  • went to Washington in 1932
  • set up a giant unsanitary Hooverville, disturbing the public health
  • the bonus bill failed in Congress by a little, so Hoover paid off 6000 vets to leave while others stayed, defying Hoover's orders
• Riots followed so Hoover called in the army to evacute the vets
  • Gen. George Douglas MacArthur came in w/ bayonets and tear gas
    • harsher than Hoover wanted
  • "Battle of Anacosita Flats"
• Hoover's popularity dropped a lot
  • he "ditched, drained, & damned the country"
  • helped Dems (FDR) win support in upcoming election

Hoover Pioneers the Good Neighbor Policy

• The arrival in the White House was good for the United States's southern neighbors
  • Most Americans had less money to invest and pulled out of Latin America after the stock market crashed
  • Hoover was a major advocate of good will
• Hoover wanted to abandon the Roosevelt Corrilary
  • Negociated a new treaty with Haiti that provided the complete withdrawl of US platoons by 1934
  • Early in 1933 the last group of Marines left Nicaragua (Had been stationed there for last 20 years)
• Hoover returned America to the "Good Neighbor" policy
• Returned to this policy after attempting to repair the damage that was caused by those before him

 

Major Themes

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• The New Deal was a massive federal program generated by the Roosevelt administration designed to bring about relief, recovery and reform and ultimately ushered in a new age of federal supremacy.
• The New Deal, while popular, had numerous liberal and conservative critics.

Major Questions

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• How did the New Deal represent efforts at relief, recovery and reform?
• What were the legacies of the New Deal?
• How did the New Deal represent both liberal and conservative characteristics?

Pre-Reading

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• What were the causes of the Great Depression?
  • The stock market crash
  • The poor lifestyle of the "roaring twenties" Americans
  • Buying stocks on the margin
  • Too little money in the banks
  • Credit cards
  • Drought and farm issues
  • Panic among stockbrokers, bank-users, and American public in general

Outline

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FDR: Politician in a Wheelchair

• FDR's paralysis humbled him, and taught him:
  • patience
  • tolerance
  • compassion
  • strenth of will
• Eleanor Roosevelt was one of FDR's greatest political assets
  • was FDR's legs, she traveled countless miles w/ or on his behalf
  • most active First Lady
    • lobbied
    • gave speeches
    • had a newspaper column
  • battled for the impovershed and oppressed
  • against segregation
• Had massive political appeal
  • commanding presence and great speaking voice despite accent
  • for big gov't spending to relieve those out of work
  • preferred to spend little but believed that money, and not humanity, was expendable
  • thought of as a traitor to his class (coming from a rich family)
• Quickly nominated by democratic convention in Chicago
  • promised a balanced national budget and new, sweeping social and economic reforms
  • accepted nomination in person
  • "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people."

Presidential Hopefuls of 1932

• Roosevelt took the offensive and was eager to show that he was ready and wanted to show himself off to as many people as possible
  • preached the New Deal for the "forgotten man" repeatedly
    • somewhat vague and contradictory
    • written by a small group of reform-minded intelectuals who later wrote much of the New Deal legislation
  • promised a balanced budget andd scolded deficits created by Hoover
  • very optimistic
    • "Happy Days Are Here Again" was the theme song and it fit FDR's smile
• Hoover's campaign was much different
  • very grim, supporters poorly assured voters that "The Worst Is Past," "It Might Have Been Worse," and "Properity Is Just Around The Corner"
  • when speaking, Hoover only reaffirmed his faith in American free enterprise and individual initiative, and gloomily predicted that if the Hawley-Smoot Tariff was repealed that grass would grow "in the streets of a hundred cities"

Hoover's Humiliation in 1932

• Hoover brought in during great prosperity and was kicked out during the great depression
  • 22,809,638 for FDR and 15,758,901 for Hoover
  • in e.college it was 472 to 59
    • only carried 6 republican states
• Black people switched from being Rep.s to being Dem.s b/c they were the worst sufferers of the depression
• All Dem.s had to do was harness the grudge against the Rep.s
  • most people wanted a new deal not the New Deal
  • almost any Democratic candidate could have won
• Still 4 months left of Hoover after election
  • coldn't try to make any long term goals w/out FDR
    • FDR was uncooperative
    • only arranged 2 meetings w/ FDR to discuss the war-debt problem
    • FDR didn't want to assume responibility w/out authority
  • Hoover confessed to trying to bind FDR to an anti-inflation policy which would prevent many New Deal experiments
  • depression worsened
    • 1/4 of workers were unemployed
    • banks closed all over the nation
    • Hooverites accused FDR of letting the depression worsen, so he could come out as the hero

FDR and the the Three R's: Relief Recovery and Reform

• Inauguration of March 4, 1933, Franky (we already used Roosy) made his famous quote:
  • "Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'
• Step 1: Banking holiday
  • From March 6-10
  • Franky called the Hundred Days Congress which made a ton of legislation to dael with the issue at hand
• The New Deal was based on 3 R's:
  • Relief
  • Recovery
  • Reform
• Came in 2 Varieties
  • Short Range goals (esp. first 2 yrs.)
    • Relief
    • Immediate recovery
  • Long Range goals
    • Permanent recovery
    • Reform
  • Usually overlapped and contradicted
• Because most of the Congress was new, they shared the panic of the country and passed whatever Franky wanted
• He often did things "off the cuff"
  • Felt that any movement was better than none
• Many movements came from the Progressive era
  • Unemployment insurance
  • Old-age insurance
  • Minimum-wage regulations
  • Conservation
  • Child labor restrictions
• Lots of European nations had already made many of these reforms
  • USA seemed backwards for not having them

Roosevelt Tackles Money and Banking

• The Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933 invested the president with power to regulate banking transactions and foreign exchange and to reopen solvent banks.
• Roosevelt next turned to the radio to deliver the first of his thirty famous "fireside chats"
  • He gave assurances that it was now safer to keep money in a reopened bank than "under the matress'. Confidence returned and banks began to unlock their doors.
• Congress enacted the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act.
  • This provided for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which insured indevidual deposits up to $5,000.
  • The epidemic of bank failures ended
• Roosevelt then sought to protect the melting gold reserve and to prevent panicky hoarding.
• He ordered all private holdings of gold to be surrendered to the Treasury in exchange for paper currency and then took the nation off the gold standard.
• Congress responded to his recomendation by canceling the gold-payment clause in all contracts and authorizing repayment in paper money.
• The goal of Roosevelts "managed currency" was inflation, which he thought would relieve debtors' burdens and stimulate new production.
• His principle instrument for achieving inflation was gold buying.
• He instructed the Treasury to purchase gold at increasing prices.
• This policy did increase the amount of dollars in circulation as holders of gold cashed it in at the elevated prices.
• In Feb. 1934 FDR returned the nation to a limited gold standard for purposes of international trade only.

Creating Jobs for the Jobless

• high unemployment rates called for immidiate action
  • 1 out of every 4 workers were jobless when FDR stepped in
  • FDR easily used federal $ to assist the unemployed & "prime the pump" before the flow
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
  • most popular "alphabetical agency"
  • provided employment in the fresh air on gov't camps for 3 million uniformed young men who might have resorted to/ developed crimial habits
  • reforestation, fire fighting, flood control, swamp drainage
  • had to send home most of their pay to parents
  • human resources & natural resources were conserved
• Federal Evergency Relief Act
  • helped unemployed adults
  • was more for immidiate relief then long-term recovery
  • Federal Emergency Relief Administration est. to advise
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
  • many millions of $s were given to farmers to meet their mortgages
• Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC)
  • refinance mortgages on nonfarm homes
  • assisted about 1 million need households
• Civil Works Administration (CWA) 1933
  • branch of FERA
  • provided temporary jobs during the winter emergency
  • "boondoggling" (not lanyard-making like during summer rec) < easy tasks that gave ppl atleast some form of income

A Day for Every Demagogue

• unemployment still soared; temporary fixes weren't enough
• danger signal appeared: rise of demagogues
• Father Charles Coughlin
  • started broadcasting in 1930; slogan: "Socail Justice"
  • preached anti-New Deal to some 40 million listeners
  • fans became so anti-Semetic, fascistic, & demagogic that he was silenced by his ecclesiastic superiors
• Senator Huey P. ("Kingfish") Long of Louisiana
  • publicized his "Share Our Wealth" program, promising to make "Every Man a King"
  • every fam would recieve $5000
  • fear of Long becoming a fascist dictator ended when he was assassinated in Louisiana in 1935
    • (presidential conspiracy anyone?? like the murder of Marylin Monroe...lol)
• Dr. Francis E. Townsend of California
  • retired physician whose saving had been wiped out
  • said everyone 60 and older should recieve $200 a month
• partly to quiet these quacks, Congress issued the:
• Works Progress Administration (WPA) 1935
  • objective: employment on useful projects
  • spent about $11 billion on 1000s of public buildings, bridges, and hard-surfaced roads
  • wan't all about infrastructure
    • 1 controlled crickets in Wyoming
    • another built a monkey pen in Oklahoma City
  • over a period of 8yrs, 9 million ppl were given jobs
  • also found part-time jobs for needy high school & college students as well as actors, musicians, and writers
    • John Steinbeck was a recipient
    • millions of pieces of art were created

A Helping Hand for Industry and Labor

• The NRA was a major step to help the comeback
  • National Recovery Administration (not Rifle!)
  • Was most complex
  • Had a 3-barrel approach:
    • Industry
    • Labor
    • The Unemployed
• Individual industries were ordered to make "codes"
  • Set labor hour maximum
  • Minimum wage levels
• Labor got benefits
  • Workers could bargain through a representative THEY chose
  • Antiunion contracts were illegalized
  • Child labor was restricted
• The "fair competition" codes would be tough on industry
  • Needed sacrifice from labor and management
  • Had mass meetings in the streets to rouse people to the cause
  • Made a Blue Eagle as the symbol
• The self-sacrifice became an issue, and the Eagle lost followers
  • Some people displayed the stickers that showed they were members but they violated the codes in secret
  • In Sup.Court case Schecter ("sick chicken"):
    • Congress can't "delegate legislative powers" to the Prez
    • Congress can't apply interstate commerce control to local (fowl) business
    • Franky wasn't happy, but this actually benefitted him
• Public Works Administration was also meant for recovery and unemployment fixing
  • Lead by Harold L. Ickes
  • $4 billion was spent for about 34,000 projects
    • Public buildings
    • Highways
    • Parkways
    • Grand Coulee Dam (on Columbia R.)
  • This dam seemed foolish
    • Millions of acres can be irrigated
      • Government trying to reduce surplus
    • More electrical power
      • Area had little industry
      • No market for more power
  • Dam would become important during WWII
• Gov't tried to raise $ for itself (to help more people) by stimulating liquor industry
  • 3.2% alcoholic drinks were legalized
  • Tax of $5 on every barrel
  • Drys were unhappy and called Franky names
  • 1933 saw the repeal of the 18th Amendment through the 21st one

Paying Farmers Not to Farm

• since 1918 farmers had suffered from overproduction
• During the depression conditions worsened and many morgages were foreclosed
• the emergency Congress made the AAA which stopped the farmers from producing as much to increase prices
• the AAA paid the farmers not to produce crops
• Some of the crops had already been planted when the AAA was made and was wasted
• In 1936 the AAA was taken down by the supreme court
• The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment act was passed instead of the AAA
• This act paid farmers to plant soil conserving plants like soybeans

Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards

• many factors contrubuted to the dust bowl
  • severe drought through the 1930's
  • extreme winds
  • overfarming
  • poor irrigation methods
• many midwest farmers moved west to work as migrant workers
• the New Deal worked to help these farmers
  • Fraizier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act suspended mortgage forclosures for 5 years (voided by supreme court)
  • Resettlement Administration helped farmers find better land
  • CCC planed trees to hold soil and prevent wind
• Native Americans were also granted the right to form thier own tribal governments

Battling Bankers and Big Business

• The Hundred Days Congress passed the "Truth in Securities Act" (Federal Securities Act)
  • Required promoters to transmit investors info regarding stocks and bonds
• Further measures were taken in protection
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission was authorized
    • Was an administrative agency that made stocks operate more like a trading mart and less like a casino
• The Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935 prevented bloated growth, except when it was good for the economy

The TVA Harnesses the Tennessee River

• The Electric Power Industry had grown from nothing to an investment of $13 Billion in a few decades
  • Accused by the New Dealers of excessive rates
• The Tennessee River would allow the federal government to break up the electric monopoly through the development of hydroelectric power
  • Would bring many jobs (short term)
  • Would reform the power industry (long term)
• An act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority was passed in 1933
  • Mainly due to Senator George W. Norris (Nebraska)
• The TVA was determined to discover the actual cost f electricity
  • Set up to test the fairness of the rates
• Electric companies argued that the discovered rates were so low because of dishonest bookkeeping and an absence of taxes
• The TVA brought full employment, cheap power, low cost housing, abundant cheap nitrates, restoration of eroded soil, reforestation, improved navigation, and flood control

Housing Reform and Social Security

• Roosevelt set up the Federal Housing Administration as early as 1934 to speed recovery and for better houses
• In 1937 Congress authorized the United States Housing Administration
  • Designed to lend money to states of communities for low cost construction
• The Social Security Act of 1935
  • Provided for federal-state unemployment insurance
  • Security was provided for retired old timers
    • Specific groups recieved regular payment from Washington
    • This was to be paid for by a payroll tax
  • The American system was inspired by the European sections

A New Deal for Unskilled Labor

• The NRA blue eagles were a godsend to organized labor, as New Deal brought decrease in unemployment

Landon Challenges "the Champ" in 1936

• Democrats:
  • Obviously nominated Franky for Round II
• Republicans:
  • Didn't know how to win
  • Decided on Senator of Kansas
    • Alfred M. Landon
  • Was moderate, but had accepted some New Deals
    • Not the Social Securities idea though
  • Hoover backed Landon and the whole group insulted Franky and his ideas for reform
• Democrats:
  • Got 16,674,665 popular, 8 electoral
• Republicans:
  • Got 27,752,869 popular, 523 electoral
• Many people switched from R's to D's after this battle
  • Needy groups turned to Franky
  • Blacks esp. changed to Democrats
    • Lincoln was finally dead
• Franky appealed to the "forgotten man"
  • Reliefers obviously voted D because they were getting gov't aid
  • The South, Blacks, Urbanites, and the poor all started working together
    • New Immigrants (Catholics and Jews) were also treated more fairly under Franky

 

Nine Old Men on the Supreme Court

• In 1937 Roosevelt was reelected
• He saw victory as a reason to continue the new deal
• He thought that the primarily conservative judges on the supreme court were impeading progress
• Early in 1937 he proposed legislation that would add another judge for every judge over 70
• This was a bad idea
• Supreme Court was seen as a sacred part of America

The Court Changes Course

• Roosevelts idea of packing the court was protested against greatly
• He was accused of being a dictator
• The court in response to this idea became more liberal and changed their ruling on womens minimum wage and began to be more friendly to the new deal
• Later during his presidency he did appoint several judges and his proposed legislation did make the court more friendly to the new deal but it made the people less friendly to him
• Few reforms were passed after 1937

The Twilight of the New Deal

• Roosevelts 1st term from 1933 to 1937 did not banish the depression.
• Unemployment persisted in 1936 at about 15%, down from the 25% of 1933.
• The country seemed to be inching its way back to economic health.
• In 1937 the economy took another sharp downturn.
  • Gov't policies had caused it, as new Social Security taxes began to bite into payrolls and as the administration cut back on spending out of continuing reverence for the orthodox economic doctrine of the balanced budget.
• In April 1937 Roosevelt announced a program to stimulate the economy by planned deficit spending. This abrubt policy reversal marked a major turning point in the gov'ts relation to the economy.
• Roosevelt had been meanwhile pushing the remaining reform measures of the New Deal.
• Early in 1937 he urged Congress to authorize a sweeping reorganization of the national administration in the interestsof streamlined efficiency.
• In 1939 in the Reorganization Act, Congress gave Roosevelt limited powers for administrative reforms including the key new Executive Office in the White House.
• The New Dealers were accused of having the richest campiagn chest in history
• Congress adopted the Hatch Act of 1939 which barred federal administrative officials, except the highest policy-making officers from active political campaigning and soliciting. It also forbade thee use of gov't funds for political purposes as well as the collection of campaign contributions from people receiving relief payments.
• The Hatch Act was broadened in 1940 to place limits on campaign contributions and expenditures but clever ways of getting around it were found that on the whole the legislation proved dissappointing.
• By 1938 the New Deal had lost most of its early momentum.

New Deal or Raw Deal

• Foes of the New Deal called Roosevelt incompetent
  • They felt that he had don e nothing and an earthquake could have done better
  • Some felt that he was good because he was doing something at least
• The federal government was gaining power and causing the states to fall into the background
• The national debt was growing greatly
  • In 1932 it was $19,487,000,000
  • In 1939 it was $40,440,000,000
  • US stood for "unlimited spending"
• Conservatives felt that laborers and farmers were getting too much help
• Roosevelt was also accused of trying to purge Congress of all of his opposers in order to get his way
• The New Deal failed to cure the depression
  • Just a band aid
  • There was still a large gap between production and consumption
  • More surplusses than under Hoover
  • Millions still lacked jobs
• WWII solved the problem, not the New Deal

FDR's Balance Sheet

• democrats needed to defend their enormous spending
• they admitted to some waste but defended this by saying that they needed to act quickly
• they argued that the new deal helped to relieve the crisis and paid for it self in human capital
• they cliamed it was the governments responsibility to protect its citizens

 

Major Themes

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• Despite strong desire for isolationist neutrality, the US eventually moved toward an interventionist foreign policy, culminating in its assistance to Great Britain and entry into World War II.

Major Questions

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• What events and attitudes caused the US to assume a larger role in world affairs leading up to its entry into WW II?

SEE America's Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent FOR AN EVEN BETTER OVERVIEW



There were quite a few different events and such that allowed the US to join the War. At the beginning, everyone wanted to maintain their isolationist policies. No one wanted to get involved in foreign affairs, whether it was for Britaina and France, the Allies of the previous war, or for Germany, the enemy of the previous war. However, as Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland, and then France fell, America realized that it was only Britain standing against Germany, Russia, and Italy. No one wanted Britain to fall, so Congress passed acts that assisted Britain. Japan was showing agression towards China and sympathy with Germany, and so eventually the US felt obligated to end trade with them. Japan retaliated with an attack on Pearl Harbor. This riled the American "Fighting Spirit," and led to the USA joining the war. You could say that Pearl Harbor was the straw (more like bale of hay in this case) that broke the camel's back.

Pre-Reading

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• What are the historical roots of American neutrality and isolationism leading up to the 1930s?

Outline

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The London Conference

• The London Economic Conference (66 nations) showed how thoughtful the foreign policy of FDR was
  • The delegates wanted to organize a global attack on depression
  • Also wanted to establish rates that national currencies could be exchanged at
    • Exchange rates needed to be set in order to resume international trade
    • Essential to world trade
  • Roosevelt first agreed to send an American delegate to the conference
    • However he was unwilling to sacrifice the domestic recovery for international cooperation
    • Wanted to be able to change the American dollar in order to stabilize economy as he had been doing for the New Deal
  • Sent a message to London scolding conference for trying to establish currencies and signaled America's leave from the conference
    • The unwillingness for American involvement ended all hopes at the conference
  • The planet plunged further into depression due to this move
• This also set up international feelings of extreme nationalism
  • Made a worldwide conference even harder to establish

Freedom for (from?) the Filipinos and Recognition for the Russians

• FDR as well as most other Americans wanted to withdraw their funds from Asia
  • Organized labor disliked the low-wages of the Filipino workers
  • American sugar producers also wanted to get rid of Philippine competition
• Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act in 1934
  • Was concerned about the fact that freedom had been promised to the Philippines at some point
  • Provided independence to the Philippines after 12 years of economic tutelage (ended in 1946)
  • U.S. naval bases stayed however
• America was freeing itself from the Philippines rather than giving freedom to the Filipinos
  • Isolationists rejoiced
  • Japan was calculatinging that they had little to fear from an inward looking U.S. giving up its principal possession in Asia
• FDR recognized the Soviet Union in 1933
  • Anti-communists weren't happy
  • Motivated by the hope of starting trade w/ the Soviet Union and that he might be able to start friendly relations to counter-balance the possible threat from Germany and Japan

Becoming a Good Neighbor

• FDR extended his hand to being a good neighbor to Latin America
  • suggested America was contented w/ only being a regional power
• The Great Depression had cooled off interest in Latin America for economic reasons
• Tied to swing Latin America to our side by endorsing noniterventionism (at Pan-American conference in Montevido, Uruguay)
  • last marines left Haiti in 1934
  • Cuba was released from U.S. intervention in 1934
    • Guantanamo Bay remained U.S. property
  • Panama was alsom released from a tight American grip
• Mexican gov't seized American oil properties in 1938
  • investors were angered greatly and wanted armed intervntion
  • settlement reached in 1941, even though oil companies lost most of their claims in the process
• Good Neighbor policy a grand success
  • America looked on as more kind now
  • FDR was held in high esteem
    • "traveling salesman for peace"
    • was in the Inter-American Conference at Buenos Aires, Argentina

 

Secretary Hull's Reciprocal Trade Agreements

• Secretary of State Hull was associated with Good Neighborism (such as many other New Dealers) and believed in a low tariff
• The Reciprocal trade agreements Act of 1934 was designed to lift American export trade (relief and recovery)
  • Amended the Hawley-Smoot law laws
  • Roosevelt was empoweref to lower tariff rates by as much as 50%, as long as the other country would do the same
• Hull had succeded in negociating pacts with 21 countries by the end of 1939
  • US trade increased greatly
• Reversed the traditional high tariff policies that had damaged economies around the world after WWI
• There was now an American-led free-trade international economic system that greatly increased international trade

Impulses Toward Storm-Cellar Isolationism

• After 1918, Totalitarianism began to spread in Europe.
  • The Great Depression had a big part in it
    • People felt helpless and wanted some kind of cure
    • Turned to the Government and Strong Leaders
      • US turned to FDR/New Deal while Germany turned to Hitler
  • USSR started the spread with Communism
    • Joseph Stalin was dictator
  • Italy goes to Fascism
    • Benito Mussolini is leader
  • Germany becomes Nationalist
    • Adolf Hitler is dictator
• Hitler was the "Most Dangerous"
  • Born in Austria, tried to be a painter
  • Had great public speaking skills
  • Was leader of the Nazi Party
  • Hitler/Mussolini made an alliance:
    • Rome-Berlin Axis
• Japan was also dissatisfied
  • Was a "have-not" power
  • Needed more space for the population
  • Japan started building the navy, stepped out of the Naval Treaty, left conferences
• Mussolini wanted Africa
  • Attacked Ethiopia (1935)
  • Used Bombers and Tanks against the Spears and Old Guns of Ethiopians
• League of Nations was useless
  • Could have stopped Mussolini if made an oil embargo, but didn't
• America held even tighter to Isolationism
  • Didn't like dictators, but didn't want to get involved
  • Felt that by "owning" the western hemisphere, they would be safe
  • Thought that WWI was a bad idea, and weren't eager to do a repeat
  • Didn't like that some hadn't paid their war debts
    • Congress makes the Johnson Debt Default Act (1934)
      • Any nation that didn't pay its debts can't borrow from the USA again
• America didn't realize the power of the dictaors
  • The "have-nots" wanted to "have"
  • America was more worried about being drawn into the war than about totalitarianism
  • The People made a movement to forbid war declarations from Congress except for invasions or public approval

Congress Legislates Neutrality

• Lots of books and magazine articles were writen about the Merchants who were making money off of the war by selling goods
• Senator Gerald Nye (North Dakota) led a committee meant to investigate this "profitable business" (1934)
  • Using a form of yellow journalism (exaggerating), this committee placed blame for WWI on American bankers/gun makers instead of Germany
  • People (somehow) felt that since the manufacturers made money from the war, they made the war happen
  • Therefore, if profits were killed, America could avoid the war (majorly twisted logic)
• Congress started passing Acts
  • After Ethiopia/Italy Conflict, the Neutrality Acts of 1935, '36, and '37 were passed
    • They said that when THE PRESIDENT acknowledged a foreign war:
      • No Americans can sell/transport munitions, sail on "belligerent" ships (as in those belionging to people in the war) or make loans to a belligerent
  • Killed the "freedom of the seas" idea
  • The Neutrality Acts were aimed at keeping America out of the war
• All of this was referred to as "Storm-Cellar" Neutrality
  • People hide in a storm cellar during really bad storms (hurricanes, tornadoes....)
• People thought that America could decide whether or not to go to war
  • They didn't consider outside events might force them in
• This neutrality was not very morally sound
  • America wasn't going to treat aggressors and victims differently
  • Since it wouldn't help the weak, the strong could totally p'own

America Dooms Loyalist Spain

• Spain had a Civil War going on (1936-1939)
  • Turned out to be a really mini-version of WWII
• Spanish rebels were fighting against their republican government
  • Led by Fransisco Franco
  • Hitler and Mussolini helped him
  • Wanted to overthrow the Loyalists (who currently led Spain)
  • Got even more help from Stalin, and Americans didn't support the revolution because of the communist ties
• It used to be that the Loyalist Government would have been able to buy munitions from America, but:
  • Congress changed neutrality acts so that there was an arms embargo to Loyalists and Rebels
  • Franco appreciated this (that's not a good thing)
• By not acting, Spain was doomed, and the dictators got more power
  • Nice going America
• America wouldn't join the war, and also wouldn't build the military
  • No way to fend off aggressors (if there were any)
  • Thought that big fleets/navies led to big wars, and didn't want tax-payers to have to build ships during Depression
  • 1938 was the year Congress passed the naval construcion act

Appeasing Japan and Germany

• 1937 Japanese militarists bombed the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing that led to a major invasion of China
  • Curtain Raiser of WWII
• FDR didn't consider this war so no invoking of neutrality legislation
  • for 1, it would cut off the munitions that China really depended on
  • BUT Japan could stil buy lots of war supplies from us
• FDR delivered "Quarantine Speech" in autumn 1937
  • inspired by aggressions of Italy & Japan
  • called for "positive endeavors" to "quarantine" the aggressors (by economic embargoes)
  • isolationists & other anit-involements loudly protested b/c they feared it would lead to a "shooting quarantine"
    • this startled FDR so he sought less direct means to curb the dictators
• December 1937 Japanese aviators bombed & sank an American gunboat Panay in Chinese waters
  • killed 2, wounded 30
  • would've led to war buy TOkyo apologized & paid an indemnity
  • Japanese militarists humiliated Amreicans in China [slappings & stippings]
• Adolf Hitler started defying the Treaty of Versailles
  • 1935 he introduced military service in Germany
  • then he marched into demilitarized German Rhineland
  • then he prosecuted then exterminated the Jewish population in the areas under his control, wipieng out 6 million innocent victims in gas chambers
  • March 1938 Hilter occupied Germany
• the democratic powers stood back & watched in indecision hoping he was done
• Hitler wanted more & more, proceeding to demand for Sudentenland of Czechosolvakia
• This was where Britain & France wanted a conference, ready to appease Hitler
  • FDR also sent many messages to Hitler and Mussolini urging a peaceful settlement
• In Munich, Germany @ the conference, the Western European democracies [& US] hoped Sudentenland was Hitler's last claim & he said it was
• He lied & 6 months after the agreement he took all of Chzechosolvakia

Hitler's Belligerancy and US Neutrality

• summer of 1939 France & Britian tried to negotiate w/ Joseph Stalin a mutual-defense treaty; he declined
  • and instead on August 23, 1939 he signed a nonaggression treaty w. foe Hitler, stunning everyone
• This meant that Hitler now could attack Poland and the Western democracies w.o Soviet Union "stabbing them in the back"
  • everyone knew they were plotting agianst each other
• Germany demanded a return of the areas in Poland taht were takend from them in WWI
  • they invaded Poland @ dawn on Sept 1, 1939
• WWII was finally declared, ending the truce of 1919-1939
  • Britain and France aided Poland & declared war
  • they weren't able to do anything really due to lack of army/military and the fact that it only took Hitler 3 months to claim Poland
• FDR again enforced neutrality, hoping good would triumph over evil
  • Britain and France needed aid but the Neutrality Act of 1937 sternly forbid it
• so FDR went to Congress to make some exception to the Act and after 6 weeks the Neutrality Act of 1939 emerged
  • it said European democracies could buy Am. war materials on a "cash-and-carry basis"
    • they had to transport their own munition in their own ships, paying in cash, this way America avoided: loans, war debts, and torpedoed american arms-carriers
  • FDR also included danger zones where American merchant ships were forbidden to enter
• Th Neutrality Act of 1939 intentionally favored the democracies [own controlled the Atlantic so America could only trade w. them] & sparked Am. economy, helping solve the decade-long unemployment crisis

The Fall of France

• "phony war"- the months after the fall of Poland, a quiet time for Europe
  • Hitler moved his army from Poland to France
  • The quiet period ended when the Soviet Union attacked Finland in order to protect precious and strategic buffer territory
    • Finland granted $30 million by an isolationist Congress for nonmilitary supplies
    • Despite their resistance, Finland fell to the Soviets
• April 1940, a quick end to the "phony war" came when Hitler attacked Denmark & Norway w/o warning & the next month he attacked the Netherlands & Belgium w/ a blow at France afterwards
• By June 1940, France was forced to surrender
  • The British managed to evacuate (& save a bulk of their army) from the French port of Dunkirk
  • The evacuation inspired P.M. Winston Churchill
  • Americans were shocked at France's collapse
• If Britain fell to Hitler, then he would have the "workshops, shipyards, & slave labor of Western Europe" at his disposal & possibly the British fleet
• Roosevelt summoned the debt-burdened nation to build huge airfleets & a 2-ocean navy (to check up on Japan)
  • Congress appropriated $37 billion, which was more than the whole cost of fighting in WWI & 5x the cost of any New Deal budget
  • Sept. 6, 1940(date approved), Congress passes a conscription law
    • under this law, 1.2 million troops & 800,000 reserves are trained each year
• The Netherlands, Denmark, & France adopted colonies in the New World & worried they too would fall to Germany
  • At the Havana Conference of 1940, the US decided to share the responsibility of upholding the Monroe Doctrine w/ its 20 New World neighbors

Hitler's Assault on the Soviet Union Spawns the Atlantic Charter

• Two globe-shaking events marked the course of World War II before the assault on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
  • One was the fall of France in June 1940
  • The other was Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941
• Hitler and Stalin didnt trust each other.
• They engaged in prolonged dickering in a secret attempt to divide potential territorial spoils between them, but Stalin balked at dominant German congrol of the Balkans.
• Hitler decided to crush his coconspirator, seize the oil and other resources of the Soviet Union and then have two free hands to snuff out Britain.
• On June 22, 1941 Hitler launched a devastating attack on his Soviet neighbor.
  • Roosevelt immediately promised assistance and backed up his words by making some military supplies available.
  • he extended $1 billion

US Detsroyers and Hitler's U-boats Clash

• American convoys under the lend lease act were easy targets for German attack
• In July 1941 FDR decided to allow American destroyers to protect the convoys as far as Iceland, where protection would be taken over by the British
• Despite Hitler's orders not to attack American merchant ships several u-boats did
• FDR permitted American war ships to attack German boats on sight
• neutrality quickly lost support as agressive actions and preperation ensued

Suprise Assault on Pearl Harbor

• Since Sept. 1940, Japan had been a military ally of Nazi Germany
• Japan-still down & out after the "China incident"
• Japan depended on shipments of scrap iron, steel, oil, & aviation gas from the US
• Despite being highly unpopular in US, Roosevelt held off an embargo against Japan out of fear for the weak, oil-rich Dutch East Indies
• In late 1940, Washington imposed the 1st of its embargoes on supplies to Japan
• 1941, US froze Japanese assets in the US & a cessation of all gas shipments & other necessary war items
• Japan had 2 choices:
  • Give in to US demands
  • Break embargo by attacking oil supplies & other riches of Southeast Asia
• Nov. / Dec. 1941, final negotiations w/ Japan took place in Washington
  • The State Department told Japan to leave China & offered to renew trade relations on a limited basis
  • Japan refused to leave China
• Officials in Washington "cracked" the Japanese code & knew the Japanese were going to wage war
  • US could not attack 1st bc of its democratic philosophy & had to wait/listen to public debates & Congress
• Roosevelt was misled by Japanese ship movement & no one (including Roosevelt) expected the Japanese to come after Hawaii 1st
  • While Japan was prolonging negotiations in Washington, Japanese bombers attacked w/o warning on "Black Sunday" (Dec. 7, 1941)
  • 3,000+/- US casualties, many destroyed aircrafts (luckily, the 3 priceless aircraft carriers were outside the harbor), all 8 battleships were sunk or immobilized & many small vessels were destroyed or damaged
• The next day, Congress recognized that war was "thrust" upon the US
  • roll call in the Senate & House was only 1 vote short of unanimity
  • Germany & Italy(Jap. allies) declared war on Dec. 11, 1941
    • a unanimous vote in Senate & House
• The unofficial war was now official

America's Transformation from Bystander to Belligerent

• the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor paid off only in the short run
• it unified Americans as no other event had
• It was not the only cause of American involvement in WWII
• Americans had consistantly followed a series of events that would inevitably lead them to war

 

Major Themes

---

• Unified by Pearl Harbor, America effectively carried out a war mobilization effort that produced vast social and economic changes within American Society..

Major Questions

---

• How did America’s domestic response to WWII differ from its reaction to WWI?
• What was the significance of the use of the atomic bomb in 1945? Does its use have relevance today?

Outline

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The Allies Trade Space for Time

• Americans wanted to "Get Japan First!" but Britain and America had already agreed to "Get Germany First"
  • This was smart, because once Germany was out of the way, everything else wouldn't be as hard
  • Also, if the US was attacking Japan and Germany overran Europe, there would be no stopping Hitler
• The Allies needed time to get supplies, men, and munitions across the ocean and such
  • The Allies had a bigger population
  • The USA had the best military (potentially)
• America had to set itself up for war production all over again
  • Had to worry about the Allies in Europe being smushed by Germany
  • Germany could develop new weapons, changing the rules of the war
• There wasn't help from foreign nations this time:
  • America would have to supply its own troops with necessities (food, clothes, transportation, munitions)
    • It also had to give all of this stuff to its Allies

The Shock of War

• America was completely unified this time around
  • Communists in America had disagreed with the sar, but after Germany turned around on USSR, they wanted total war against the Axis Powers
  • Immigrants (Italian-Americans, German-Americans) supported America
    • The Immigration Limits had helped these groups assimilate, so there was less worry about Hyphen Americans
  • The exception was Japanese-Americans
    • There was a history of Japanese immigrant hatred, and it flared during the war
    • About 110,000 J-A's were put in "internment camps" which was a fancy way of saying concentration camps
      • 2/3 were American born citizens
    • There was a wide-spread fear that the J-A's would spy for their home country
    • Supreme Court upheld the Internment Camps in the Korematsu v. U.S. (later apologized and paid $20,000 to each survivor)
• The "new" Conservative Congress killed lots of New Deal Programs (CCC, WPA...)
  • The New Deal was done and the new goal was to Win the War
  • The government made a little propoganda, ubt mostly focused on action (lack of time)
    • 9/10 Americans didn't know any of the Atlantic Charter
    • A majority didn't know what the war was about
  • All the same, America pushed hard and got down to work
    • They were mondo-efficient

Building the War Machine

• The economy was healed by the War
  • About $100 billion in military orders was made in 1942
    • This took up the overproduction of the G.Depression
  • War Production Board was created and American Factories made:
    • 40 billion bullets
    • 300,000 aircraft
    • 76,000 ships
    • 86,000 tanks
    • 2.6 million machine guns
  • Henry J. Kaiser (strange the people would trust that last name in a time like this, but put the Japanese in camps...)
    • Sir Launchalot made tons of ships
  • The WPB stopped production of nonessential things (passenger cars)
    • Made a priority idea
    • When natural rubber supplies died, it made 51 synthetic rubber plants
  • Farmers also increased output (gotta feed the hungry and all that)
    • They had less workers, but better fertilizers and machines allowed for increased output
• There were also economic strains
  • 1942 saw serious inflation
  • The Office of Price Administration made regulations to stop the upward climb of prices
    • There was rationing (butter, meat...) but there was black markets that killed these ideas a little bit
    • The WLB made "ceilings" on wages
  • Labor Unions got angry about the wage-ceilings
    • Membership went from 10 mill. to 13 mill.
    • There were many violations of the no-strike pledges
      • United Mine Workers (led by John L. Lewis) were especially prominent
    • The government was concerned that strikes would lower production and therefore jeopardize victory hence:
      • Passed the Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act
        • Government could take over "tied-up" industries
        • Strikes against gov't owned industries were illegalized
        • Gov't took over the mines and RRs for a little while
  • Despite the strikes, American workers in general put out a great effort

Manpower and Womanpower

• The armed services enlisted nearly 15 million men in World War II and some 216,000 women who were employed for noncombat duties.
• Best known of these "women in arms" were the WAACs (army), WAVES (navy), SPARs (coast guard)
• The US exempted certain key categories of industrial and agricultural workers from the draft in order to keep its mighty industrial and food-producing machines humming.
• But even with these exemptions thedraft left the nation's farms and factories so short of personnel that new workers had to be found.
• An agreement with Mexico brought thousands of Mexican agricultural workers across the borderto harvest the fruit and grain crops of the West.
• More than 6 million women took up jobs outside the home, over half of them had never before worked for wages.
• Many were mothers and the gov't was obliged to set up some 3,000 day-care centers to care for their children.
• The war foreshadowed an eventual revolution in the roles of women in American society.
• The war's immediate impact on women's lives has frequently been exaggerated. the great majority of American women did not work for wages in the wartime economy but continued in their traditional role.
• In Bri. and the Soviet Union a far greater percentage of women, including mothers were pressed into industrial employment.
• A poll in 1943 revealed that a majority of American women would not take a job in a war plant if it were offered.
• At the end of the war two-thirds of women war workers left the labor force.
  • Many were forced out of their jobs by employers and unions eager to re-employ returning servicemen.

Wartime Migrations

• During the war many people moved into boomtowns that had war industries
• about 1.6 million blacks migrated west and north leaving the south to seek war jobs
• After this migration race became a national issue
• In 1941 Roosevelt issued an executive order forbidding discrimination in the armed forces
• After the war millions more blacks migrated north
• The war also brought about an exodus of the Native Americans from reservations to cities
  • Several native americans also served in the armed forces
• A few race riots occurred in various cities caused by the influx of new people

Holding the Home Front

• Americans were the lucky few who saw no action on the home front
• the war boosted our economy & brought us out of the Great Depression
• businesses greatly benefitted from the war, doubling product $$ in 5 yrs
• income increased despite wartime taxes
  • resulting in price controls being lifted (1946) & Am. consumerism raising prices to 33% in < 2 yrs
  • Europe struggled along due to the damages of war
• the war ushered in major gov't interventionism
  • the rationing system
  • ppl working for the armed forces
  • ppl working for the defense industries (employers & unions monitered by FEPC& WLB)
  • ppl's need cared for by gov't-sponsered:
    • housing projects
    • day-care centers
    • health plans
  • Office of Scientific Research and Development
    • gov't & universites working together for scientific research, foreshadowing Am's technological & economic leadership in the postwar era
• 1941-1945 are looked back as the origins of a "warfare-welfare state"
• WWII war costs: $330 billion
  • 10x more than WWI
  • twice as much as ALL federal spending since 1776
  • income-tax net expanded to include 4x more ppl
  • max. tax rates rose as high as 90%
  • 2/5ths war costs paid from current revenues, the rest was borrowed
  • Nation debt 1941: $49 billion; 1945: $259 billion
  • once production started running, the war cost $10 million per hour!

The Rising Sun in the Pacific

• Japanese militarists realized they had to win quickly or lose slowly
• At the same time as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese launched other assaults on various Far Eastern places inluding:
  • U.S. outposts of Guam, Wake, & the Philippines
  • Hong Kong (British-Chinese port) & British Malaya
  • Burma-the U.S. was was trucking munitions over the Burma Rd. to a Chinese army under Jiang Jieshi
  • Dutch East Indies (oil-rich)
• The Philippines succeeded in slowing down the Japanese mikado's warriors for 5 months
• The Japanese then landed a small & effective army
  • Gen. MacArthur w/drew to Bataan to be on the defense
    • there 20,000+/- US troops & a bigger force of untrained Filipinos held off Jap. attacks until April 4, 1942
  • Before the US surrendered, MacArthur, w/ orders from Washington, secretly left Australia to head the resistance against the Japanese
    • After surrendering, the remaining army was treated terribly in the 80-mile Bataan Death March to POW camps
  • Corregidor(an island fort in Manila Harbor) held out until May 6, 1942
    • it then surrendered to the Japanese giving the complete control of the Philippine archipelago to Japan

Japan's High Tide at Midway

• The Japanese pushed southward
  • They invaded New Guinea, north of Australia, & landed on the Solomon Islands
• May 1942, Japanese onrush was checked by a naval battle fought in the Coral Sea
  • a US carrier task force w/ Aussie support=heavy losses for Japan
  • for the 1st time ever, fighting was done completely by carrier-based aircraft, neither side fired directly at one another
• Then, Japan decided to seize Midway Island 1,000+ miles northwest of Honolulu
  • Could attack Pearl Harbor more
  • Hoped to negotiate a cease-fire in the Pacific with USA
• Battle of Midway:
  • June 3-6, 1942
  • Americans led by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
    • Used a smaller fleet than the Japanese, but the Japanese lost 4 major carriers and retreated
• Midway and Coral Sea were important
  • US had halted the Japanese
  • However, Japan took over Kiska and Attu (islands near Alaska)
  • Americans sent troops to defend Alaska
• Japanese were overextended, and so it was easier to dislodge them later on

The Allied Halting of Hitler

• Hitler entered the war with a fleet of ultramodern subs
  • Ship destruction far outran ship construction for Allies
• Was a hard and slow battle turning the tides in subsea war
  • Tactics were strengthened by the use of air patrol and radar
  • Allied submarine tactics improved greatly when Britain broke the German code
    • Allowed the Allies to pinpoint German U-Boats
• In the spring of 1943 the Allies first gained an advantage over the U-Boats
  • The Battle of the Atlantic was close, but the Allies won
• The turning point for the land-air war had come late in 1942
  • The British were joined by the Americans in August 1942 and bombed many German cities
  • In late October the Germans were pushed back to Tunisia
• On the Soviet front, the red army gave the Allies a new lift
  • In Sept. 1942, the Russians stalled the Germans at Stalingrad
  • The Russians launched a resiliant attack and never let up
  • Stalin had regained about 2/3 of the Soviet land that Hitler had taken

A Second Front from North Africa to Rome

• Soviet losses in 1942 were terrible millions had already died
• The soviets wanted the allies to open a new front to give them cut them some slack
• The Americans wanted to assault Frances coastline
  • Britain thought that would fail so the allies postponed an invasion of Europe
• They did start a new front though in November 1942 about 400000 men invaded North Africa which they took finally in may 1943
• Roosevelt and Churchill meeting in Morocco decided to issue the terms of unconditional surrender
  • This move was partly to appease the soviets who still wanted a larger second front
• The allies soon after took Sicily in August 1943
  • Italy also surrender around this time
• However hitlers troops were still in Italy and they fought bitterly against the allies
• The allies stalled out for many months in Italy and after D day it became a sort of sideline war

D-Day: June 6, 1944

• The Soviets had constantly pused for a second front agains Germany
• FDR, Stalin, and Curchill agreed to meet in Iran
  • they agreed on a two front assault on Germany
  • Elaborate plans were made for an invasion of Normandy
• The assault was to be sent from England
  • millions of primarily American soldiors as well was munitions flooded the island
• General Eisenhower was selected to be in charge of the assault
• French normandy was chosen due to its reletively weak german defenses(still very strong)
  • allies already had control over the air and prevented reinforcement
  • a feint made Germans think the attack woiuld be farther north
• the allies at first secured only a small beachead, but quickly spread on a relentless assualt twoard Germany

FDR: The Fourth-Termite of 1944

• the Presidential Campaign of 1944 couldn't have come at a worse time i.e. the climax of the war
• Repubs nominated Thomas E. Dewey, the 42 yr old, short, liberal, "mustachioed", dapper, NYC prosecuter of grafters & racheteers from New York
  • he wan't very worldly so the convention nominated isolationist Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio for Vice President
  • platform: prosecution of the war & creation of new international peace organization
• Dems obviously nominated FDR, the "indispensible man" of the Dems
• He was oddly forgotten & lots of attention was forcused on the Vice President nominee [lucky for FDR]
  • Henry A. Wallace, secretary of agriculture, desired a renomination but conservative Dems saw him as ill-balanced & an unpredictable liberal
  • major "ditch Wallace" campaign emerged
  • nomination went to smiling Harry S. Truman of Missouri
    • had recently conducted and investigation of wasteful war espenditures as the chairman of the Senate Commitee conducting that investigation
    • no one had much against him or on him

Roosevelt Defeats Dewey

• Dewey took the offensive because Roosevelt was too busy directing the war
  • Republicans feared the "lifer" in the White House
• In the closing weeks Roosevelt left his desk finally
• Roosevelt won 432 to 99 in the Electoral college
  • 25,606,585 to 22,014,745 in the pop vote
• Roosevelt won primarily because the war was going well
• Foreign policy was also a decisive factor in the winning of FDR
• Experience again played a role in the election of FDR

The Last Days of Hitler

• In mid-December the Third Reich was crumbling, allied bombers had decimated almost all German factories and cities and the Western Allies were striking repeated heavy blows
• At one last bid for the survival of Nazi Germany, Hitler through all of his reserves ( which he had been secretly building up) at the Western Allies on December 16th, 1944
  • struck in the Ardennes Forest with the hope of reaching and capturing the key Allied supply point of Antwerp, Belgian (a port)
  • somehow caught the Allies (mostly Americans) off guard and drove them back
  • the ten day penetration was finally stopped after the 101st Airborne Division had held their ground at Bastogne
• In March 1945, the Americans reached the Rhine River where by incredibly good luck, they found one key bridge undemolished
  • soon reached the Elbe River in April and met up with their Soviet comrades
• Found concentration camps where the Jews had been killed
  • the Washington Government had known about Hitler's campaign of genocide, but did not know how serious it was
• Soviets reached Berlin in April 1945
  • pillage and rape
• After marrying his long time mistress (Eva Braun), Hitler commited suicied on April 30th
• Roosevelt died in Georgia on April 12th
• V-E (Victory in Europe) Day on May 7th, 1945

 

The Atomic Bombs

• Strategists had been planning the invasion of the Japanese homeland
  • it was expected to cost hundreds of thousands of American lives (and many more Japanese)
  • Japan still wouldn't surrender unconditionally and had no outward intention to
• Potsdam Conference gave Japan an ultimatum: surrender or be destroyed
  • warning was showered over Japan by bombers
• America had the a-bomb
  • had made it due to Einstein's pleas that America make one before the Germans did
  • Germany had lost before it got used, Japan became the next target
  • first a-bomb tested in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16th, 1945
• A-bomb used on Hiroshima first on August 6th, 1945
  • 180,000 died, 70,000 instantly
• Japan would not yield, so on August 9th a second a-bomb was used on Nagasaki
  • 80,000 died instantly
• Japan finally surrendered on August 10th, 1945 under the condition that their Son of Heaven, Hirohito, remained on the throne
  • allies accepted on August 14th
  • official surrender on September 2nd, 1945
    • ceremonies conducted by General MacArthur on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay
    • V-J Day celebrated at home

The Allies Triumphant

• America suffered nearly a million casualties
  • reduced greatly by advances in health care
• America was one of the few nations not utterly destroyed by the war
• Americans became known as the military power of the world
• Won primarily through miricles of industry
  • America simply had more supplies
  •  

 

Major Themes

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• America emerged from WW II as the world’s strongest economic power and started a postwar economic boom that lasted two decades.
• A bulging population migrated to the suburbs and sunbelt leaving cities increasingly to minorities and the poor
• The end of WW II left the US and Soviet Union as the two dominant world powers. They became locked in a Cold War confrontation – a global ideological conflict between democracy and communism.

Major Questions

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• Was the primary threat from the Soviet Union a military or an ideological one?
  • The threat from the Soviet Union was more of an ideological threat than a military threat. It was an ideological threat because there really wasn't an actual military conflict between the US and the USSR, like physical combat or other military attacks taken against the United States. There were, however, a lot of threats from either side with a military build-up and an on going arms race to back up the threats.
• Assess the impact of each of these changes in American society: increased affluence, suburban growth, growing women’s presence in the workforce, the “baby boom”.

Outline

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Postwar Economic Anxieties

• Many Americans were still concerned with the Great Depression, and now the relations between them and the Soviets were degrading
  • There were many residual effects of the Depression
    • Increased suicide rate
    • Decreased Marriage/Birth Rates
    • Sexual Depression
• The economy was shaky to start
  • "Gross National Product" (how much the country produces) decreased from Wartime Production
  • Prices rose
  • Strikes rampaged
    • Strikers couldn't afford what they were making because of increased prices
• Organized Labor had issues with the conservatives
  • 1947- The first Republican Congress in 14 yrs. passed the Taft-Hartley Act
    • Killed "closed" all-union jobs
    • Unions became liable for damages
    • Union leaders had to take noncommunist oaths
  • The North had experienced a growth in numbers of Unions
    • Wanted to bring around the South and the West
    • However, the Southern textile/steel mills wouldn't be unionized due to residual racism
  • Union membership hit a top in 1950, and then kept decreasing
• Democrats tried to prevent the "economic downturn"
  • Sold war factories and government owned sections of industry
  • Made the Employment Act of 1946
    • Was now a gov't policy "to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power."
    • Act also made an Economic Advisors Council for prez. that would help him make this policy happen
  • Servicemen's Readjustment Acts of 1944
    • Also called GI Bill of Rights
    • Reacting to fear that the GI's wouldn't be able to find work at home
    • Hoped to send former soldiers to school
    • $14.5 billion was spent
    • Also allowed the Veterans Administration to guarantee $16 billion in loans
      • Vet's could use these loans to buy homes, farms, small businesses...
    • The GI Bill definetly made a huge contribution to keeping the economy afloat

The Long Economic Boom, 1950-1970

• GNP (gross nat'l prod.) started to get higher in 1948, and by 1950 was super strong (like Superman, but better)
  • National income doubled in the '50's, then doubled again in the 60's
  • Americans were 6% of planetary population, with 40% of wealth
    • This prosperity would later help the civil rights movement
    • Helped with welfare programs like Medicare
    • Allowed America to assert leadership during this time period
  • Those who had suffered during the Depression wanted to float to the top now
    • The Middle Class made up 60% of population now
      • Majority of people owned a car and washing machine
      • About 90% owned a TV (invented 1920's, used 1940's)
      • 60% owned their own homes (compared to >40% in the 20's)
  • Women got the most of the Postwar Prosperity
    • Urban offices and shops had places for women to work
    • The service area of the economy grew, and many jobs went to women
    • 25% of the workforce was women
    • However, tradition still held women responsible for keeping home and children
      • This tension would lead to the Feminist Movement of 1960's

The Roots of Postwar Prosperity

• Many things factored into the P.P.
  • WWII
    • USA used the war to help fix the economy, while other countries suffered fighting
    • Other countries couldn't "hold a candle" to the US
  • Military Budgets
    • Some feared a "permanent war economy"
    • Economic goodness of 50's was due to money laid out for Korean War
    • Defensive spending = 10% of GNP until 60's
    • Pentagon drained money into aerospace, plastics, and electronics industries
      • We were better in these areas than any one else
    • Scientific research and development also sparked by military $
  • Cheap Energy
    • America and Europe controlled petroleum in Middle East
      • Prices stayed low
    • America doubled oil consumption in 25 yrs after war
      • Made highways
      • Installed Air-conditioning
      • Electricity-Generating Capacity increased by 6x in 25 yrs.
    • Electrical cables also helped
      • The powers of oil, gas, coal, and water were used in the factories
      • Were carried by these cables
• Power of Nature (sounds like a Hippy theme song) helped productivity
  • Productivity increased at a rate of 3%/year for 20 years
  • Work force was becoming more educated
    • By 1970, 90% of school-age population (5-18 I'm guessing) was in a school setting
  • Standard of living rose significantly
• The Economic Structure of the economy changed and helped the postwar production
  • Work force moved out of farming
    • The gains in productivity here were the highest
    • Lumping of "family farms" allowed "agribusinesses" to use machinery
    • One farmer could now feed 50 people vs. 15 from the 40's
    • Only 2% of the population was farming now, but still fed most of the world

The Smiling Sunbelt

• For about 3 decades after 1945 an average of 30 million people changed residences every year.
• Families especially felt the strain as distance divided parents from children, and brothers and sisters from one another.
• One sign of this stress was the phenomenal popularity of advice books on child-rearing, especially Dr. Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care. It was first published in 1945 and it instructed millions of parents during the ensuing decades in the kind of homely wisdom that was once transmitted naturally from grandparent to parent, and from parent to child.
• In fluid postwar neighborhoods friendships were also hard to sustain.
• The Sunbelt - was a 15-state area stretching in a smililing crescent from Virginia through Florida and Texas to Arizona and California.
  • This region increased its pop. at a rate nearly double that of the old industrial zones of the Northeast.
• In the 1950s California alone accounted for one-fifth of the entire nation's population growth and by 1963 it had outdistanced New York as the most populous state.
• The South and Southwest were a new frontier for Americans after WWII. Modern pioneers came in search of jobs, a better climate, and lower taxes.
• They found jobs in abundance especially in the electronics industry of California, the areospace complexes in Florida and Texas and in the huge military installations that powerful southern congressional representatives secured for their districts.
• Federal dollars accounted for much of the Sunblelt's prosperity, though southern and western politicians led the cry against gov't spending.

The Rush to the Suburbs

• Most of the Americans fled from the cities to the suburbs
  • This movement was encouraged by government policies
    • The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) & The Vetrans Administration (VA)
      • Made owning a house in the suburbs economically atractive than an apt. in the cities
    • Tax deductions on mortgages also provided financial incentive
  • Highways allowed transportation to work in the cities
  • By 1960 one in four lived in a suburb
• This movement caused a boom in the construction industry
  • The Levitt Brothers revolutionized the housing industry
  • Builders...
    • Errected hundreds of houses in a single project
    • Specialized crews
    • Factory assembled framing
    • put on roofs
    • strung wires
    • plumbed
    • and made all aspects cost effective
• Blacks migrated to the North and moved to suburbs
  • Imported poverty to the Northern cities and suburbs
• Taxpaying business also fled to the suburbs and formed malls
• Sometimes there was segregation due to these policies
  • Blacks were denied loans due to the "risk"
  • Others strove to keep minorities out of their neighborhoods

The Postwar Baby Boom

• "Baby boom"- an increase in the birthrate in the decade & a half after 1945.
• Men and women "tied the nuptial knot" in record numbers at war's end and then began to "fill the nation's empty cradles."
• They added more than 50 million babies to the nation's pop. by the end of the 1950s.
• The birthrate reached its peak in 1957 & from there began to drop.
  • By 1973 fertility rates dropped below the point necessary to maintain existing population figures.
• If the downward trend continued, only further immigration would lift the U.S. population above its 1996 level of some 264 million.
• As the oversize postwar generation grew it was destined to change many aspects of American life.
  • Elementary-school enrollments increased to nearly 34 million pupils in 1970, then began a steady decline as that age group grew up, leaving schools closed & teachers unemployed.
• Babies and toddlers in the 1940s and 1950s made up a profitable market for manufacturers of canned food and other baby products.
• As they became teenagers in the 1960s, they spent an estimated $20 billion a year for clothes and recorded rock music.
• In the 1970s the consumer tastes of the baby boomers changed again and the most popular jeans maker began marketing pants with a fuller cut.
• In the 1980s the generation "bumped and jostled" each other in the job market, trying to secure a spot on the ladder of social mobility.
• In the 90s the began to enter middle age- raising its own "secondary boom" of children.
• Eventually, the children of the baby boom will retire(21st century/now) & put a huge strain on the Social Security system.

Truman: The "Gutty" Man from Missouri

• Truman was considered the "Accidental President"
  • Lacked confidence and looked inexperienced
    • "the average man's average man"
  • Lacked a college education
• Gradually gained confidence, to the point of cockiness
• Permitted his old associates of the "Missouri Gang" to gather in office
  • Truman was stubbornly loyal to "Missouri Gang"
• Tried to show off his decisiveness & power of command to a skeptical public by going off not completely prepared to a wrongheaded notion
  • "To err is Truman"
• Was often small on small things, but was also big on big things
  • Had old-fashioned characteristics: moxie, authenticity, few pretensions, & rock-solid integrity
  • Didn't dodge his responsibility

Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal?

• Much was unresolved between US and the Soviets about the postwar fates of Germany, Eastern Europe, and Asia
• The Big Three met at Yalta in Feb 1945
  • final plans were made for smashing and capturing Germany
  • Though he later broke this promise, Stalin had agreed that Poland, w/ revised boundaries, should have a representative gov't based on free elections
  • Bulgaria and Romania were also to have free elections, but in the end they also did not.
  • Plans were announced for est.ing the United Nations [not called that at the time]
• America was concerned about having major casulaties from the assult on Japan, so we asked Russia to put some troops in Manchuria and Korea to lighten the death load, but Moscow needed pursuations, i.e. troops, to bring them into the Far Eastern conflict
• Stalin finally agreed to attack Japan after Germany was defeated for 3 months, but of course we had to give a little to get a little
  • Soviets were promised:
    • Sakhlin Island [lost to Japan in 1905]
    • Japan's Kurile Islands
    • joint control over the railroads of Manchuria
    • special privileges in the 2 key sea ports: Dairen and Port Arthur
  • this would give Stalin control over v. important industrial centers of America's weakening Chinese ally
• Critics claimed that the conference gave Stalin a bunch of control over China and that this control seriously contributed to Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) 's fall to communists 4 yrs later
  • they also attacked Stalin for selling out on agreements about Poland and other Eastern European countries
• Roosevelt appologists said that Stalin's ambitions were really held back at the conference and obviously things would have been different if he had just kept his promise; plus a war w/ the spread out Europe-occupied "red army" was unthinkable
• The Yalta conference wasn't really a peace settlement but more of a testing of one another w. the other's intentions
• Despite broken promises, Roosevelt clamied that the agreement was "so elastic that the Russians can stretch it all the way from Yalta to Washington without ever technically breaking it."
• All were just waiting for peace

The US and the Soviet Union

• Mistrust btwn the 2 powers was ancient; communism and captialism never had warm and cozy feelings for each other
  • US had refused to recognize the Bolshevik revolutionary gov't until 16 yrs after it was est. [1933]
  • Soviets were skeptical about US and Britain's delay to enter the war, leaving Russia w/ WAY more casulaties
  • US and Britain didn't include the USSR in their project for developing atomic weapons
  • Washington gov't spontaneously terminated vital lend-lease aid to bruised USSR in 1945, making Moscow beg for $6 billion; at the same time Washington was approving a similar $3.75 billion loan to Britain in 1946
• Stalin's views were that the USSR's security was put above all
  • it had twice before been betrayed by surrounding countries and he had made it clear from the beginning of the war that he would have friendly gov'ts on the western border esp Poland
  • These spheres of influence would protect the soviets and help them strengthen its revolutionary base as the world's leading communist country
    • Americans saw this "sphere of influence" as an EMPIRE [Bolshevik call for world revolution]
    • Plus this clashed w. FDR's dream of an "open world", demilitarized, decolonized, democtratized and the UN
• America and the USSR acutally scarily resembled each other
  • both had been largely isolated b4 WW2 [Am. by choice, USSR was just left out]
  • both had history of "missionary"-like dipolmacy [give the whole world their revolutionary views (ideology) and say it's the best]
• Both wanted to influence the battered and broken Europe-after-WW2
• it seemed as tho confrontation was unavoidable
• the Big Three were only friends until their common enemy was destroyed
  • rivalry btwn Russia (communistic, despotic) and US (capitalistic, democratic) was inevitable
  • The Cold War had begun
• the following 4 1/2 decades shaped Soviet-American relations and overshadowed the postwar international order all over the world and molded societies, economies,and lives of individuals also all over the world

Shaping the Postwar World

• Meeting at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944, the Western Allies established the International Monetary Fund, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  • encouraged world trade and economic growth in war-torn and under-developed areas
  • Soviets declined to participate
• United Nations opened on April 25th, 1945
  • Roosevelt choseboth Republican and Democratic senators for the U.S. delegation
  • representatives from 50 nations met at the San Fransisco War Memorial and made the UN Charter
  • had a Security Council, dominated by the U.S., U.K., the U.S.S.R., France, and China
    • each had a veto
  • Assembly which would be controlled by the smaller countries
  • Senate approved the document warmly on July 28th, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2
  • set up in New York City
• Had some gratifying initial success
  • helped preserve peace in Iran, Kashmir, and other spots
  • played a large part in creating Israel
  • the U.N. Trusteeship lead former colonies to independence

The Problem of Germany

• The Allies wanted to completely eliminate Nazism and to punish those convicted of war crimes
  • Held the Nuremburg Trials, which were important to history because they were the first time that individuals were punished for specific war crimes and held responsible
  • Some of the crimes were Crimes Against Humanity or the Laws of War, Plotting Aggressions Contrary to Peace Treaties
• The Nuremburg version of justice was harsh
  • 12 people were sentenced to death, 7 to long term jail.
  • Many complained against it using the excuse that the crimes had not been defined at the beginning of the war
• The Allies were somewhat undecided as to what to do with Germany
• It was agreed by all the other Allies but the Soviets that Germany's industry should not be destroyed
  • The other Allies also thought that Germany should be reunited, but Stalin destroyed that idea by tightening his grip on Eastern Germany
• East Germany was one of many countrys that became the Soviet's satelites
• Berlin was deep in East Germany and the Soviets wanted the Allies out of it, so they tried to starve them out
  • They erected the Berlin Wall and enforced a blockeade
• Did not work:
  • America organized the Berlin airlift dropping thousands of supplies to Berliners

Crystallizing the Cold War

• In 1946 Stalin broke his agreement to remove troops from irans northern province
  • Truman protested this and Stalin backed off
• After many remarks from Truman to Stalin the Containment doctrine first evolved
• Truman accepted this doctrine and started to employ it in 1947
• His first move was to ask congress for 400 million dollars in aid for Greece and Turkey
  • He also said that the US must support free people who are being subjugated by an outside force
  • became known as the Truman Doctrine
• Another problem for Truman was the economic chaos that still engulfed western Europe
  • Communist parties could use this chaos against those countries to gain power
• Secratary of State Marshall proposed that the European nations make a joint recovery plan that would be helped by the US
• The Marshall plan ended up calling for about 12.5 billion dollars in aid
• Congress agreed to this in April 1948 after Czechoslovakia was rocked by a communist coup
• The Marshall plan was one of Trumans great accomplishments
  • It revived the European economy
  • It also made the communist parties in France and Italy lose ground
• In 1948 Truman made another decision as oil resources dwindled in the US
• He recognized the Jewish state of Israel which pissed off the Arabs
• THis decision severly complicated foreign policy with the middle east

America Begins to Rearm

• though the period of the cold war was not open war it was not truly peace either
• the constant soviet threat maintained a large military investment by the american government
• the National Security Act was passed creating the National Security Council and the CIA
• the Soviet threat also unified western Europe
  • the American gov't decided to join this pact (NATO)
  • this was very different from previous american forgien policy

Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia

• Reconstruction in Japan was much more smooth than reconstruction in Germany
  • run almost entirely by McArthur
  • introduced western democracy
  • japanese were very cooperative
  • quickly became a world industrial power
• Chinese reconstruction was a failure
  • America failed to fully support chinese nationalists who soon fell to communist revolutionaries
  • nearly one quarter of the population of the world became communist
• Soviets developed a nuclear weapon in 1949
• this began a dangerous arms race between the two superpowers that led to both sides developing weapons with the potential to destroy the world

 

Democratic Divisions in 1948

• In 1946 Republicans won control of Congress
• Republicans Nominated Thomas E. Dewey for president
• The Democratice party became extremely divided as Truman is renominated,
  • A states rights party is formed nominating J. Strom Thurmond
  • A new progressive party nominates Henry A. Wallace
  • So the Democrats are split 3 ways and victory seems certain for Dewey
• Dewey became very overconfident by the polls and really did not campaign effectively
• Truman Traveled the country by train to deliver many speeches and improved support by speaking on improving civil rights
• Somehow Truman wins the election and the democrats regain control of congress
• In his inagural address Truman calls for a new program
  • THe plan was to lend money to weaker peoples to keep them from becoming commis
  • This plan greatly assisted impoverished countries

The Military Seesaw in Korea

• September 15, 1950, MacArthur succeeded w/ launching an amphibious landing behind enemy lines at Inchon instead of fighting his way out of the southern Pusan perimeter
  • w/in 2 weeks, the North Koreans went back to the "sanctuary" of the 38th parallel
  • The UN authorized a crossing by MacArthur (as long as there was no Chinese/Soviet intervention)
• Americans now considered Korea to be another potential enemy
• Chinese communists already publicly warned that they would take action if hostile troops approached the strategic Yalu River boundary between China & Korea
  • MacArthur dismissed the Chinese threats
• November 1950, Chinese "volunteers" came across MacArthur's overextended lines & sent the UN's forces back down the peninsula
  • fighting became a stalemate near the 38th parallel
• MacArthur pressed for retaliation
  • He wanted a blockade of the Chinese coast & bombings on Chinese bases in Manchuria
  • Washington policy makers refused to enlarge the expensive conflict
    • the Joint Chief of Staff decided that a bigger clash in Asia would be all wrong
      • Europe, not Asia, was the 1st concern of the administration & the USSR, not China, was the biggest threat
• MacArthur felt restricted & hated the concept of a "limited war"
  • April 11, 1951, Truman removes MacArthur from command
• July 1951, discussions for a truce began near the firing line but the issue of prisoner exchange caused the discussion to drag on for almost 2 years while men kept dying