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Section 1: Experimenting with Confederation

In 1779, John Dickinson returned to the Continental Congress, working hard to help create a new government, whose two rules became guiding principles for the leaders who faced the formidable task of starting new nation. The self-governing colonial system created a challenge to balanced the interests of the several states with those of the nation because most people's allegiance was the colony in which they lived.Then,Republicanism was purposed to decrease too much government power towards citizens and be implemented for years to ensure civil right. Athens, Rome and The English commonwealth's precedents all inspired U.S. Also,the continental congress debates for two questions, whether representation was by population or by state; can supreme power be divided or not. The advantage of articles of confederation is that it gave new national government power to declare war, but disadvantage is that it created no separate executive department to carry out and enforce the acts of congress and no national court system to interpret the meaning of laws. There was a serious problem that the country under the Confederation lacked national unity. Besides that, the economic problem was the huge debt that the Congress had amassed during the Revolutionary War. Lacking the power to tax, the Congress requested the states' approval to impose a tariff, or tax on imported goods. There was another problem that the the creditors and debtors had a struggle. They also disagreed over the usefulness of paper money. On the other hand, the lack of support from states for national concerns led to foreign-relations problems for the Congress.

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Section 2&3: Drafting the Constitution & Ratifying the Constitution

In 1787, when a group of Massachusetts farmers revolted against the state, government was too weak to resolve the national problem, triggering the Shay’s rebellion, which was led by farmer Daniel Shays. They accused the state government of taxing them too much. The result is armed protesters clashed with the state militia, and four farmers were killed. After the rebellion, delegates from all states except Rhode Island came to the Philadelphia convention. An immediate issue facing the delegates was how to give fair representation to both large and small states, finally settled on a compromise plan developed by delegate Roger Sherman, which was known as Great Compromise. It means that Each state would have two members in the Senate; in the House, the number of representatives from each state would be based on the size of the state’s population, allowing each state to count three-fifths of their slaves as part of the population. The new system of government was a form of federalism in which power was divided between the national and state governments. Delegates used the method of checks and balances to gave the legislative branch—the Senate and House of Representatives—the power to make laws, in order to ensure that including judicial branch had certain power and limit the authority of the federal government.

Since the new government appeared, controversy also inevitably came. The

delegates to the Constitutional Convention decided on a plan for ratification, or

official approval.Voters in the state would elect delegates to the convention.

The delegates would then vote to accept or reject the Constitution. If at least nine

states approved the Constitution, it would become the law of the land. Disagreement between federalists, who were the supporters, and antifederalists included a fear that the government would serve the interests of the privileged minority and ignore the rights of the majority. Madison and other Federalists published The Federalist, a series of essays defending the Constitution. The essays provided an analysis and explanation of the Constitution that remain important today. During the exploration, many Federalists eventually admitted that the Constitution needed a Bill of Rights to protect the nation’s citizens.They promised to add a Bill of Rights if the states ratified the Constitution. By July 1788, New York and Virginia, two most important states finally ratified the Constitution. The Constitution became the basis for the new government in 1789.  In September 1789, Congress approved 12 amendments. The government then sent them to the state legislatures for approval. By December 1791, the states ratified ten of the amendments. As a result, they became part of the Constitution, giving all powers not granted to the federal government to the people and the states.

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Section 1: Washington Heads the New Government

The first president of the country under the new government was George Washington. One of the first steps Washington and Congress took was to create a judicial system. The Judiciary Act of 1789 established a national court system. This law allowed state court decisions to be appealed to a federal court when constitutional issues were raised. Hamilton, the secretary of Treasury convinced Congress to pass his plan for a national bank. He won support from the Southern lawmakers by agreeing to build the nation’s new capital in the South, in Washington, D.C. Soon, the secretary of state,Thomas Jefferson disagreed with Hamilton about which direction the nation should went on , thus appears the nation’s first political parties. Hamilton and supporters of a strong central government were called Federalists. Jefferson and those who believed that state governments should be stronger than the federal government were called Republicans. As the nation’s two political parties formed, Congress passed two important taxes. One was a protective tariff, bringing in a great amount of revenue for the federal government. However, since Hamilton wanted more money, he passed  an excise tax, or sales tax, on whiskey, triggering the Whiskey Rebellion.

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Section 2: Foreign Affairs Trouble the Nation

In 1789, the French overthrew their monarchy. Then the French went to war against Britain. The United States had a treaty with France. Democratic Republicans wanted to honor the treaty and support France. Federalists wanted to back the British. Washington decided on neutrality—which is to support neither side. In April 1793, the French sent a diplomat, Edmond Genêt, to the United States to win American support. Genêt, however, did not present himself to President Washington but he tried to get Americans to help the French against Great Britain. Washington was outraged that the French did not respect his country’s neutrality. In 1795, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pinckney negotiated a treaty with Spain. Under the agreement, known as Pinckney’s Treaty, Spain gave up its claims to the land east of the Mississippi River. Spain also agreed to open the Mississippi River to American traffic. This treaty paved the way for American expansion west of the Appalachian. As American settlers moved in, Native Americans there grew angry. Conflicts eventually broke out between the Native Americans and the white settlers. One notable clash occurred in 1790. Under the leadership of Little Turtle, a chieftain of the Miami Tribe, Native Americans defeated American troops as they fought for control of what would become Ohio. In 1794, the American general defeated Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This defeat ended Native American resistance in Ohio. That same year, U.S. diplomat John Jay negotiated a treaty with Britain. Under the Jay Treaty, the British agreed to give up their forts in the Northwest Territory but not stop its harassment. After George Washington’s two-year working, Federalist John Adams was elected president in 1796, Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican became vice president. The election highlighted the dangers of selectionalism—placing the interest of one region over those of the nation as a whole. Shortly after the election, America faced yet another foreign affairs crisis. France had begun to interfere with American shipping. During negotiations to resolve the matter, three French officials demanded bribes from the Americans in order to help them. This incident became knows as the XYZ Affair. Republicans cheered Adams’s handling of the XYZ Affair. However, they criticized him on numerous other issues. As a result, Adams and his party considered Republicans a threat to the nation, thus pushed through Congress the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, handing out harsh punishments for people who criticized the government.

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Section 3&4: Jefferson Alters the Nation's Course & The War of 1812

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams faced each other again in the presidential election of 1800. Thomas Jefferson and his followers accused President Adams of making the federal government too powerful. They also claimed he put the people’s liberties in danger. However, Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, received the same number of electoral votes. The House of Representatives had to decide the winner. Alexander Hamilton quickly stepped in. Hamilton, who disliked Burr, persuaded his supporters in the House to vote for Jefferson. This controversy revealed a problem with the election system. The nation solved it by passing the Twelfth Amendment. The amendment called for electors to vote separately for president and vice-president.  Jefferson’s inauguration signaled the first time in the new nation’s history that power was transferred from one political party to another.  He took steps to limit the power of the central government. For example, he reduced the size of the federal army. He also rolled back Hamilton’s economic program by reducing the influence of the national bank. Just before he left office, President Adams pushed a law through Congress called the Judiciary Act of 1801. This law increased the number of justices on the Supreme Court to sixteen. Adams quickly filled the positions with Federalists. These judges were called midnight judges because Adams signed their appointments late on the last day of his presidency. During Jefferson’s presidency, many more settlers moved west. The population in the western territories grew rapidly. In 1803, Jefferson purchased a large amount of western land from France. It was called the Louisiana Purchase. It stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. With the Louisiana Purchase, the United States doubled in size.

In 1804, Jefferson won a second term as president. Shortly after his victory, Britain and France went to war. In 1806, France began refusing to allow British goods to come into Europe. In turn, Britain decided to blockade Europe—or prevent ships from entering or leaving its ports. The British also practiced impressment. This was a practice in which British forces seized American sailors and forced them to serve in the British navy. In 1807, Jefferson asked Congress to declare an embargo, a ban on exporting goods to other countries. Jefferson hoped the embargo would hurt Britain and other European countries and force them to respect American neutrality. Rather than hurting Britain, however, the embargo hurt American businesses. As a result, Congress ended the embargo. The call for war against Britain grew louder in the wake of an incident involving Native Americans in the Northwest Territory. In 1809 General William Henry Harrison, the governor of the Indiana Territory, persuaded several Native American chiefs to sign away millions of acres of tribal land to the U.S.  After the battle, Americans discovered that the British had supplied the Native Americans arms. As a result, the two nations grew closer to war. American anger at Britain steadily grew. Some leaders demanded war against Britain. They were known as war hawks. They were led by legislators John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay. James Madison became president in 1808. By 1812, relations with Britain were more strained than ever. That year, Madison asked Congress to declare war on Britain. Congress approved the war declaration. The Treaty of Ghent, signed in December 1814, declared an armistice, or end to the fighting.

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Section 1: Regional Economies Create Differences

America’s government had transformed greatly by 1800. By then, other changes had taken place in America as well.  In 1798, Whitney found a new way to make goods by using interchangeable parts. These are standardized parts that can be used in place of one another. In factories, powerdriven machinery and many laborers made mass production possible. These changes in manufacturing brought about an Industrial Revolution. This was the name given to the massive changes—to both the economy and society—that resulted from the the growth of the factory system. What farming there was in the North was changing by 1800. Farmers began to raise livestock and crops for sale. Farmers then used the cash to buy goods made in Northern factories. The South was an entirely different story. The South’s economy had long been based on agriculture. In 1793, Eli Whitney helped to further promote agriculture by inventing the cotton gin. The machine helped to clean the cotton and increased cotton production, which led to the establishment of large cotton plantations. The North and South appeared to be growing apart. As a result, the nation’s leaders focused on making sure the country stayed unified.  In 1815, President Madison presented a unification plan to Congress. It called for establishing protective tariffs. It also called for strengthening the national bank. In addition, the plan promoted the development of national transportation systems. The plan received support from many members of Congress, includingSpeaker of the House Henry Clay. He called the plan the American System. In 1811, the government began building the National Road to carry settlers west. The road extended from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois. As part of the plan, President Madison proposed the Tariff of 1816. The tariff would increase the cost of foreign-made goods and thus make American goods more attractive. People from all regions supported strengthening the national bank. A national bank would provide a national currency. In 1816, Congress voted to set up the Second Bank of the United States.

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Section 2: Nationalism at Center Stage

As the states were strengthening their economies, the federal government was increasing its power. Two significant Supreme Court decisions paved the way. In 1824, the Supreme Court ruled in, Gibbons v. Ogden, that Congress—not the states—had the power to regulate interstate trade. On the international front, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams established a foreign policy that was based on nationalism. This is a belief that national interests as a whole should be more important than what one region wants.  In 1817, Adams worked out a treaty with Great Britain that reduced the number of both countries’ navy ships on the Great Lakes.Two years later, Adams turned his attention to Florida. Adams convinced the Spanish minister to the United States that Spain should give up Florida before impatient Americans simply seized it. Spain responded by handling over Florida to the United States in the Adams–Onís Treaty. Under the terms of the treaty, Spain also gave up any claims it had to the Oregon Territory. In 1823, President James Monroe warned European nations not to interfere with any nation in the Americas. In return, the United States would stay out of European affairs. This statement is called the Monroe Doctrine. As a growing number of Americans settled there, the West became more populated.  In order to appease both the North and the South, Congress tried to keep an even number of slave and free states, or states where slavery was prohibited. In 1819, Missouri asked to enter the union. At that time, the nation consisted of 11 free states and 10 slave states. Southerners expected Missouri to become the 11th slave state. However, the House of Representatives passed a statehood bill that would allow Missouri to gradually free its slaves. A crisis was averted when Henry Clay crafted a series of agreements known as the Missouri Compromise. Under the compromise, Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. This preserved the balance between slave and free states.

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Section 3: The Age of Jackson

Andrew Jackson, a hero from the War of 1812, ran for president in 1824 against John Quincy Adams.  Neither candidate received a majority of electoral votes and the House of Representatives had to decide the winner. Speaker of the House Henry Clay disliked Jackson. He used his influence to help Adams win the election. Jackson’s followers accused Adams of stealing the election. They formed their own party—the Democratic-Republican Party. For the next four years, the new party attacked Adams’s policies. The 1828 presidential election signaled how much the nation’s voter rolls had grown. In the election of 1824, about 350,000 white males voted for the presidency. In 1828, more than three times that number voted. However, certain groups still lacked political power. Free blacks and women did not enjoy the freedoms and privileges of white males. Andrew Jackson appealed to many of these new voters. The practice by incoming political parties of removing old workers and replacing them with their supporters is known as the spoils system. It comes from an old saying that in war “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy. By the early 1800s, some Native American groups in the Southeast began to take on the culture of their white neighbors. Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The law ordered all Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River. In 1830, Jackson pressured the Chocktaw to sign a treaty that required them to move from Mississippi. In 1831, he ordered U.S. troops to forcibly remove the Sauk and Fox from their lands in Illinois and Missouri. In 1832, he forced the Chickasaw to leave their lands in Alabama and Mississippi. The 800-mile trip was made partly by steamboat and railroad but mostly on foot. As the winter came, more and more of the Cherokee died. Along the way, government officials stole the Cherokees’ money, while outlaws made off with their livestock. The journey became known as the Trail of Tears because more than a quarter of the travelers died on it. When they reached their final destination, the Cherokee ended up on land far inferior to that which they had been forced to leave.

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section 1:Religion Sparks Reform & Section 2: Slavery and Abolition

The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement that swept across the United States after 1800. It relied on emotional sermons in meetings called revivals.The revivalist movement—with its message of salvation—attracted numerous African Americans. In the South, slave owners feared that African American slaves would use the message of salvation as a call to revolt. In Philadelphia, Richard Allen started the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Many people sought an alternative to traditional religion. One philosophical and literary movement was based on the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a New England writer and philosopher. Emerson led a group practicing transcendentalism.Transcendentalists believed in the dignity of the individual. Thoreau believed in civil disobedience. This meant he believed that people should protest and not obey laws they considered unjust.

Free African Americans had urged the end of slavery for years. Gradually, more and more whites began to support abolition, the movement to end slavery.One of the more significant abolitionists was William Lloyd Garrison, a newspaper publisher. In his newspaper, The Liberator, Garrison called for immediate emancipation, or freeing of the slaves. David Walker was a free black who moved from the South to the North. He urged African Americans to fight for their freedom. Another important abolitionist was Frederick Douglass, a former slave. As the debate over slavery grew, the number of slaves in the United States also increased. The nation’s slave population doubled between 1810 and 1830—from 1.2 million to about 2 million. The institution of slavery had changed substantially since the 18th century. By 1830, however, the majority of slaves had been born in America and spoke enough English to communicate with other slaves. The rise of the plantation system brought further changes to slaves’ lives. In 1831, a Virginia slave named Nat Turner led a violent slave rebellion.  Virginia law makers introduced a bill that abolished slavery in the state. After a heated debate, the bill was defeated by a close vote. That loss ended the debate on slavery in the antebellum, or pre-Civil War, South. Northern legislators tried to introduce bills in Congress to abolish slavery. Southern representatives responded by getting Congress to adopt a gag rule in 1836. Under this rule, legislators could limit or ban debate on any issue—including slavery. The rule was repealed in 1845. But until then, Southerners were able to limit the debate over slavery in Congress.

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Section 3: Women and Reform& Section 4: The Changing Workplace 

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Section 3: Women and Reform& Section 4: The Changing Workplace 

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American women in the early 1800s had few rights. Social customs required women to restrict themselves to caring for the house. This idea came to be known as the cult of domesticity. Despite such limits, many women actively participated in the important reform movements of the nineteenth century. Sarah and Angelina Grimké worked for the abolition of slavery. Mary Vaughan and other women joined the temperance movement. This was an effort to ban the drinking of alcohol. Women’s work on behalf of others

eventually prompted them to improve their own lives. Some women began to campaign for greater women’s rights. Two such women were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Both had been abolitionists. In 1848, they organized a women’s right convention in Seneca Falls, New York. It became known as the Seneca Falls convention. More than 300 women and men attended. They called for laws that guaranteed equal rights for women. One of the more controversial rights women called for was suffrage, or the right to vote.The women’s rights movement involved mostly whites. For the most part, African American women found it difficult to draw attention to their plight. One exception was Sojourner Truth. A former slave, Truth became famous for speaking out for both abolition and women’s rights. The increase of factories in the 1800s changed the way Americans worked.  This was known as the cottage industry system in which manufacturers provided the materials for goods to be manufactured at home. By the 1830s, factories had replaced the cottage industry system. This was known as the cottage industry system in which manufacturers provided the materials for goods to be manufactured at home. By the 1830s, factories had replaced the cottage industry system.The most experienced artisans were called masters. They were assisted by journeymen.  This way of producing goods also changed with the growth of factories. New machines allowed unskilled factory workers to make goods that skilled artisans once made. In the mills of Lowell,Massachusetts, most factory workers were young, unmarried women.  These women were known as “mill girls.” In 1834, the mill owners cut wages for workers. In response, 800 “mill girls” went on strike. A strike is a work stoppage in order to force an employer to respond to demands. The workers demanded to be paid their old salaries. The women eventually lost their strike and were forced to return to work. Two years later, the “mill girls” struck again—over what amounted to another pay cut. Twice as many women participated as had two years earlier. Like the previous strike, however, the company prevailed. There were dozens of strikes for shorter hours or higher pay in the 1830s and 1840s. Employers won most of them. One reason was that owners could hire strikebreakers, or replacement workers. To increase their power, workers joined trade unions, or unions specific to each trade. These unions eventually joined together to form the National Trades’ Union in 1834. This union represented a variety of trades. By 1860, barely 5,000 workers were members of what would now be called labor unions. By this time, however, more than 20,000 workers participated in strikes for improved working conditions and wages.

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Chapter 9

section 1: The Market Revolution

The United States experienced great economic changes during the first half of the 1800s. For one thing, the country became more industrialized. One result of this was that workers spent the money they earned on goods made by others. This led many farmers to change their practices. Before, farmers raised a variety crops for their own families. Now they turned to specialization, raising one or two crops that they could sell. These changes brought about a market revolution, in which people bought and sold goods rather than making them for themselves. This new process depended on capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which private businesses and individuals control production in order to make a profit. Samuel F.B. Morse invented the telegraph. This device could send messages by wire in a few seconds. Inventions also improved transportation. Steamboats made river travel quicker and cheaper. By 1859, railroads carried 2 billion tons of freight a year. By the 1840s, improved transportation made America’s regions interdependent. America’s regions developed regional specialties The Midwest became important for farming. Inventions helped make farmers’ lives easier. Farmers used a steel plow invented by John Deere to help them better prepare the land for planting. During harvest time, farmers used the mechanical reaper a new invention by Cyrus McCormick.

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Many Americans believed that God wanted the United States to expand across the continent. They felt that Americans were meant to control the West. This belief was called manifest destiny. The westward movement caused conflicts between Native Americans and white settlers. In the early 1830s, Chief Black Hawk and members of the Sauk and Fox tribes led a rebellion against settlers in Illinois and Wisconsin territories.e. As a result of their defeat, these tribes were forced to move west of the Mississippi River. In 1851, the United States government signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie with many Native American groups. The treaty gave Native Americans control of much of the Great Plains. In return, the NativeAmericans agreed not to attack settlers as they moved west. The Native Americans also allowed the government to build forts and roads. The Santa Fe Trail was a trade route between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Traders traveled this route to Santa Fe, where they sold cloth, guns, and knives. In return, they bought silver, gold, and furs. The Oregon Trail stretched from Independence to Portland, Oregon. By 1844, about 5,000 Americans had settled in Oregon. One group that migrated west along the Oregon Trail was the Mormons. The Mormons were a religious group, started by Joseph Smith. In 1847, thousands of Mormons settled near the edge of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. They shared water and timberland and built a community around present-day Salt Lake City. Both the United States and Britain claimed the Oregon Territory. In 1844, James K. Polk, the Democratic presidential candidate, called for the entire Oregon Territory to be part of the United States. His campaign slogan was “FiftyFour Forty or Fight!” The United States claimed the region as theirs. This established the current border between the United States and Canada.

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In the early 1800s, Mexico’s northern provinces included present-day Texas, New Mexico, and California. Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821. In the years that followed, Mexico sought to improve its economy. As a result, Mexico loosened its trade restrictions between its northern provinces and the United States. In the early 1820s, Mexico offered huge land grants to American settlers. Under these land grants, Americans bought land in Mexico for a low price. In exchange, they promised to obey Mexican laws and practice Roman Catholicism. The Americans in Texas eventually established a colony in Texas. American Stephen F. Austin was the colony’s leader. The number of Anglos in Texas steadily grew and their colony thrived. President John Quincy Adams had offered to buy Texas for $1 million. President Andrew Jackson later offered $5 million. Mexico refused to sell Texas. Soon the Mexicans also began to have second thoughts about inviting in so many Americans. In 1830, Mexico banned more American settlers from coming to Texas. In 1834, Stephen Austin convinced Mexican leaders to drop the ban. Once again, large numbers of Americans began streaming into Texas. As the American colony grew, Austin went to Mexico City to visit the Mexican president, Antonio López de Santa Anna. Austin asked Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. Santa Anna responded by throwing Austin in jail. Soon afterward, Santa Anna led an army to San Antonio to force the Texans to obey Mexican law. As a result, war broke out between the two sides in 1835. The war became known as the Texas Revolution.Even as the battle for the Alamo raged, Texans met and declared independence from Mexico. “Remember the Alamo!” became a rallying cry for Texas rebels to defeat the Mexicans. Under their commander, Sam Houston, the Texans captured Santa Anna and won their independence. Houston was elected president of the new Republic of Texas in 1836.

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Section 4: The War with Mexico

The United States’s annexation of Texas increased tensions with Mexico. U.S. President James K. Polk wanted a war with Mexico.Polk decided to provoke a war. He ordered General Zachary Taylor to lead the U.S. army to blockade the Rio Grande River. Mexico viewed this action as a violation of its territorial rights. The two countries moved closer to war. Americans were divided about going to war with Mexico. Once they learned that slavery might be extended to any new lands acquired from Mexico, they supported war. Northerners did not want to see slavery extended. As a result, they opposed going to war to acquire new lands. In 1845, Americans sent an exploration party into California.Mexicans were angered by this invasion into their territory. As a result, Mexico sent troops across the Rio Grande into Texas.  The United States army was led by Colonel Stephen Kearny. He marched his troops into Santa Fe, New Mexico. U.S. forces took the area without firing a shot. New Mexico immediately asked to join the United States. Kearny’s troops then moved into California. American settlers there had already declared their independence. They set up the Republic of California. American troops easily took control of California. American troops also pushed into Mexico. One military victory followed another. Mexican soldiers gallantly defended their home soil. However, their army labored under poor leadership, while U.S. soldiers served under capable leaders. In 1848, Mexico and the United States signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the war. Under the treaty, a defeated Mexico handed much of its northern land to the United States. This land included present-day California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. As a result of its war with Mexico, the United States grew by one-third. Five years later, in 1853, the United States bought more land from Mexico. This deal was known as the Gadsden Purchase. This set the current borders of the lower 48 states.

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Chapter 10 Section 1: The Divisive Politics of Slavery 

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Chapter 10 Section 1: The Divisive Politics of Slavery 

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By the early 1850s, the North and South had grown further apart. The North was industrial. It had 20,000 miles of railroad track, factories, and large cities. Many

immigrants came to the North to find jobs in the factories. These immigrants opposed slavery. The South remained rural and agricultural. In 1846, Congress debated the Wilmot Proviso. This was a bill that would ban slavery in the new territories acquired from Mexico. Northerners favored the bill while southerners opposed it. They argued that they had a right to slaves in the new territories, because slaves were property—and property was protected by the Constitution. As a result,  The Wilmot Proviso never passed. In 1849, California asked to enter the Union as a free state. Southerners thought it should be a slave state since most of it lay south of the Missouri Compromise line. President Zachary Taylor supported California’s admission as a free state. Taylor believed that its climate and terrain were not suited to slavery.However, Taylor soon found that

feelings in the South were more passionate than he expected. They began to question whether the South should remain in the Union. The 31st Congress opened in December 1849 in an atmosphere of distrust and bitterness. The question of statehood for California topped the agenda.  Northerners demanded the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Southerners accussed the North of failing to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793. As the tension mounted, some southern states threatened secession, or formal withdrawal from the union. In Congress, Henry Clay of Kentucky presented the Compromise of 1850. To please the North, the compromise called for California to be admitted as a free state. Other provisions of the compromise had elements that appealed to the North and South. For example, Northerners were happy with a provision that gave popular sovereignty to the territories of New Mexico and Utah. Also, as part of the compromise, the federal government would pay Texas $10 million to surrender its claim on New Mexico. This provision satisfied Northerners because, in effect, it limited slavery in Texas to its current borders. For Southerners, the money would help to offset Texas’s expenses and debts from the war with Mexico.

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Section 2：Protest, Resistance, and Violence 

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Section 2：Protest, Resistance, and Violence 

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The Compromise of 1850 made the Fugitive Slave Act much stricter. It
required harsh punishment for escaped slaves—and for anyone who helped them.
This made many Northerners angry. As a result, nine Northern states passed
personal liberty laws. These laws banned the imprisonment of escaped slaves. The laws also guaranteed that escaped slaves would have jury trials. In addition, free African Americans and white abolitionists organized the Underground Railroad. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This novel showed the horrors of slavery. The book prompted Northern abolitionists to increase their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act. Southerners criticized the book as an attack on their way of life. Several Southern writers wrote novels that
attempted to show that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was based on lies. However, they were
unable to dispel the growing belief that slavery was evil and that it damaged
families, both white and black. In 1854, the issue of slavery in the territories again erupted. That year, Stephen Douglas proposed splitting the Nebraska Territory into two territories— Nebraska and Kansas. Douglas’s bill caused bitter debates in
Congress. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law in 1854. It split Nebraska into
the territories of Nebraska and Kansas. Each state would decide whether or not to
allow slavery. Proslavery and antislavery people rushed into Kansas. Each side wanted to have enough people to decide the vote on slavery its way. Violence soon erupted in Kansas. John Brown, a fierce opponent of slavery, killed five proslavery people in a raid. This killing triggered dozens of violent actions throughout the territory. About 200 people were killed. Because of the violence on both sides, the territory was nicknamed Bleeding Kansas.The widening gulf between North and South affected the nation’s political parties, as well. As the debate over slavery grew more intense, national parties broke apart—and groups started new parties.

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section 1: The civil war
The Confederate states took over federal property in the South, especially forts. In
April of 1861, the Confederacy demanded that the Union surrender Fort Sumter, in
Charleston Harbor. President Lincoln refused to abandon the fort. However, he
sent only food for the people there. In March of 1861, the Confederacy attacked the fort and seized it. In response, Lincoln decided to go to war. The Civil War had begun. The remaining slave states quickly took sides. Virginia and three other states joined the Confederacy. Only four slave states remained in the Union. They were Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware, and Missouri. Northerners and Confederates alike expected a short glorious war. Both sides felt that right was on their side and were convinced that their opponents would go down easily to defeat. In reality, the North had many advantages over the South. It had more people, more factories, more food production, and better railroads. It also had a skilled leader—Lincoln.
The South’s advantages included better generals and soldiers eager to defend their way of life. Also, the North would have to conquer Southern territory to win.
The North had a three-part plan for victory: 1) to blockade Southern ports in
order to keep out supplies; 2) to split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi; 3) to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. This plan was called
the Anaconda plan, after a snake that suffocates its victims by squeezing them. The Confederates won the first battle of the war, Bull Run, just 25 miles from Washington, D.C. The winning Southern general was Stonewall Jackson. He earned his nickname because he stood as firm as a stone wall in battle. In 1862, the Union army in the East marched toward Richmond, Virginia—the Confederate capital. Confederate General Robert E. Lee successfully defended the capital. He forced the Union army to retreat. Lee then began marching his troops toward Washington, D.C. In August, Lee’s troops won a resounding victory at the second Battle of Bull Run. A few days later, they crossed the Potomac River into the Union State of Maryland. At this point McClellan had a tremendous stroke of luck. His troops found a plan that revealed that Lee’s and Stonewall Jackson’s armies were
temporarily separated. McClellan decided to go after Lee. Union forces met Lee’s army at Antietam, Maryland. It was the bloodiest clash of the war. This time, Lee was forced to retreat. Union troops did not chase Lee back into Virginia. If they had, they might have won the war then and there. Lincoln fired McClellan in
November 1862.

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Chapter 12 section 1: The Politics of Reconstruction 

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Chapter 12 section 1: The Politics of Reconstruction 

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Reconstruction was the period of rebuilding after the Civil War. It also refers to the process of bringing the Southern states back into the nation. Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877. During the war, President Lincoln made a plan for Reconstruction that was easy on the South. It included pardoning Confederates if they would swear allegiance to the Union. It also called for a state to be readmitted in the Union as soon as 10 percent of the state’s voters swore allegiance to the nation. Thus it was known as the Ten Percent Plan. Four states applied for readmission under Lincoln’s plan. But a small group of Republicans, called Radical Republicans, blocked them. The Radicals thought Lincoln’s plan was too easy on the South. They wanted to punish the South for the war. In July 1864, the Radicals passed the Wade-Davis Bill. This bill called for Congress, not the president, to be in charge of Reconstruction. The bill also declared that a state could be readmitted to the Union when a majority—not just 10 percent— of its voters swore allegiance to the Constitution. Lincoln vetoed the bill. After Lincoln was killed, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, became president. As a result, these states were readmitted to the Union. In December 1865, Southern members of Congress began arriving once again in Washington. The Radical Republicans, however, refused to seat the new members. In addition, they passed a law creating the Freedmen’s Bureau. It gave food and clothing to former slaves and set up hospitals and schools. Congress also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The act declared that states could not enact black codes—laws that discriminated against African Americans. Johnson felt that the two bills made the federal government too powerful. So he vetoed both. Congress voted to override Johnson’s vetoes. It also passed the Fourteenth Amendment. This amendment gave African Americans full citizenship. Johnson urged Southern states to oppose the amendment. He argued that the amendment was too hard on the South. He added that states should not have to ratify an amendment that their legislators had little to do with. The amendment was not ratified until 1868.
The Radical Republicans won numerous seats in the 1866 Congressional elections. They now had enough votes in Congress to take control of Reconstruction. In 1867, the new Congress passed the Reconstruction Act. The act declared that state governments created under Lincoln and
Johnson’s plan were invalid. In addition, the act put the Southern states under military control and called for new state constitutions. The law also said that no state could re-enter the Union until it approved the Fourteenth Amendment and gave the vote to AfricanAmerican men. Johnson vetoed the bill. Congress overrode his vetoes.The fight between Congress and Johnson intensified. Congress began looking for a way to impeach the president in order to remove him from office. They soon found a way. Johnson had removed a cabinet member in 1867. Congress said he did it illegally. As a result, Congress voted to impeach Johnson. The President’s impeachment trial went to the Senate in 1868. The Senate found him not guilty. Johnson remained in office. In 1868, Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant was elected president. African-American votes in the South helped him win. Then, in 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified. It banned states from denying the vote to African Americans.

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Chapter 13 section 1: Cultures Clash on the Prairie 

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Chapter 13 section 1: Cultures Clash on the Prairie 

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Native Americans lived on the Great Plains, the grasslands in the west-central
portion of the United States. They followed a way of life that centered on the
horse and buffalo. The horse allowed them to hunt more easily and to travel farther. The buffalo provided food, clothing, shelter, and other important items.
The Indians of the Great Plains lived in small extended family groups. The men
hunted for food. The women helped butcher the game and prepare the buffalo hides that the men brought back to camp. Children learned the skills they would
need as adults. After the Civil War, thousands of white settlers moved to the Great Plains. Some travelled there searching for gold. Others wanted to own land. They argued that because Native Americans had not settled down to “improve” the land, white settlers could stake their claim. Along the Great Plains, Native
Americans and white settlers often clashed—mainly over land and resources. One of the more tragic clashes occurred in 1864. The army was on the side of the settlers. The Cheyenne, living in an area of the Colorado Territory known as Sand
Creek, had attacked settlers. In response, the army attacked and killed about 200
Cheyenne in an incident known as the Sand Creek Massacre. In the Treaty of Fort Laramie, most Sioux agreed to live on a reservation. But Sitting Bull, an important Sioux leader, never signed the treaty. In 1876, he defeated army troops led by George A. Custer, at the Little Bighorn River. The Sioux won decisively, killing  Custer and all his soldiers. The army recovered, however. Within months it defeated the Sioux. Along the Great Plains, Native Americans and white settlers often clashed—mainly over land and resources. One of the more tragic clashes occurred in 1864. The army was on the side of the settlers. The Cheyenne, living in an area of the Colorado Territory known as Sand Creek, had attacked settlers. In response, the army attacked and killed about 200 Cheyenne in an incident known as the Sand Creek Massacre. In the Treaty of Fort Laramie, most Sioux agreed to live on a reservation. But Sitting Bull, an important Sioux leader, never signed the treaty. In 1876, he defeated army troops led by George A. Custer, at the Little Bighorn River. The Sioux won decisively, killing Custer and all his soldiers. The army recovered, however. Within months it defeated the Sioux.

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section 2: Settling on the Great Plains 

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section 2: Settling on the Great Plains 

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More and more people migrated to the Great Plains with the building of the transcontinental railroads. From 1850 to 1871, the federal government gave huge

tracts of land to companies ready to lay tracks through the West. In 1867, the Central Pacific company began laying tracks east from Sacramento, California. Another railroad company, the Union Pacific, began laying tracks west from Omaha, Nebraska. Much of the work was done by Irish and Chinese immigrants. African Americans and Mexican Americans also did the back-breaking work. In 1869, the two routes met at Promontory, Utah. America’s first transcontinental railroad was finished. The railroad companies sold some of their land at low prices to settlers willing to farm it. Some companies even recruited people from

Europe to settle on the land. In addition, a growing number of people were responding to the Homestead Act of 1862. Under this law, the government offered 160 acres of free land to anyone who would farm it for five years. By 1900, the Great Plains was filled with more than 400,000 homesteaders, or settlers on this free land. Several thousand settlers were exodusters—African Americans who moved from the post-Reconstruction South to Kansas. But the law did not always work as the government had planned. Only about 10 percent of the land was settled by the families for whom it was intended. Cattlemen and miners claimed much of the rest. From 1850 to 1900, the number of people living west of the Mississippi River grew from 1 percent of the nation’s population to almost 30 percent. These new settlers had to endure many hardships. The Great Plains did not have many trees. As a result, people built what became known as soddys. These homes were dug into the side of hills or made from sod. A soddy was warm in winter and cool in summer. However, it offered little light or air. Homesteaders were largely isolated from one another. They had to make nearly everything they needed. Women worked in the fields alongside men. They
also took care of the children, ran the house, and did the cooking and laundry.
Farming the Great Plains was difficult work. But several inventions helped make
the task easier. The steel plow helped break up the prairie’s tough soil. A new
reaper cut wheat even faster. The government also helped in the effort to improve farming techniques. The Morrill Act of 1862 and 1890 helped establish agricultural colleges. The government also established experiment stations on the Great Plains. Researchers there developed new types of crops as well as new growing techniques. To buy much of the new farming machinery, farmers often went into debt. When crop prices fell, farmers ended up losing money. As a result, they had trouble repaying their loans. To make more money, they often had to raise more crops. This in turn led to the growth of bonanza farms. These were huge single-crop farms. By 1900, the average farmer had nearly 150 acres under cultivation. However, when a drought hit the Plains between 1885 and 1890, many bonanza farms folded. They could not compete with the smaller farmers, who were more flexible in the crops they grew. The high price of shipping their crops also added to farmers’ debt.

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Chapter 14 section 1: the expansion of industry

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Chapter 14 section 1: the expansion of industry

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In the years after the Civil War, advances in technology began to change the nation. There were three causes of these advances: a large supply of natural resources, an explosion of inventions, and a growing city population that wanted the new products. One of the more important natural resources was oil. In 1840 a Canadian geologist discovered that kerosene could be used to light lamps. Kerosene was produced from oil. This increased Americans’ demand for oil. In 1859, Edwin L. Drake used a steam engine to drill for oil. This technological breakthrough helped start an oil boom. Oil-refining industries started in Cleveland
and Pittsburgh. There, workers turned oil into kerosene. Oil produced yet another product— gasoline. At first, gasoline was thrown away. However, when the automobile became popular, gasoline was in great demand. In addition to oil, Americans discovered that their nation was rich in coal and iron. In 1887, explorers found large amounts of iron in Minnesota. At the same time, coal production increased from 33 million tons in 1870 to more than 250 million tons in
1900. Iron is a strong metal. However, it is heavy and tends to break and rust.
Researchers eventually removed the element carbon from iron. This produced a
lighter, more flexible metal that does not rust. It became known as steel. The
Bessemer process, named after British manufacturer Henry Bessemer, provided a
useful way to turn iron into steel. Americans quickly found many uses for steel. The railroads, with their thousands of miles of track, bought large amounts of the new metal. Steel was also used to improve farm tools such as the plow and
reaper. It also was used to make cans for preserving food. Engineers used steel to build bridges. One of the most remarkable bridges was the Brooklyn Bridge. It
connected New York City and Brooklyn. Steel also was used to build skyscrapers,
such as the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.

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Before and after the Civil War, railroads were built to span the entire United States.
In 1869, the nation completed work on its first transcontinental railroad—a railroad
that crossed the entire continent. In the years that followed, railroad tracks spread
throughout the country. By 1890, more than 200,000 miles of rail lines zigzagged across the United States. Railroads made long-distance travel a possibility for many Americans. However, building and running the railroads was difficult and dangerous work. Those who did most of the work were Chinese and
Irish immigrants and desperate out-of work Civil War veterans. Accidents and diseases affected thousands of railroad builders each year. By 1888, more than
2,000 workers had died. Another 20,000 workers had been injured. Railroads eventually linked the many different regions of the United States. However, railroad schedules proved hard to keep. This was because each community set its own times—based mainly on the movement of the sun. The time in Boston, for example, was almost 12 minutes later than the time in New York. To fix this problem, officials devised a plan in 1870 to divide the earth into 24 time zones, one for each hour of the day. Under this plan, the United States would contain four time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. Everyone living in a particular zone would follow the same time. The railroad companies supported this plan. Many communities also supported it. One group angered by corruption in the
railroad industry were farmers. Farmers were upset for a number of reasons. First,
they claimed that railroads sold government land grants to businesses rather than to families. They also accused the railroad industry of setting high shipping prices to keep farmers in debt. In response to these abuses, the Grangers took political action. They convinced some states to pass laws regulating railroad activity. Members of the railroad companies challenged the states’ rights to regulate them. The battle reached the Supreme Court in 1877. In the case of Munn v. Illinois, the Court declared that government could regulate private industries in order to protect the public interest. The railroads had lost their fight. A decade later, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act. The act gave the federal government even more power over the railroads. The railroad companies, however, continued to resist all government intervention. Beginning in 1893, an economic depression struck the country. It affected numerous institutions—including the railroads. Many railroad companies failed. As a result, they were taken over by financial firms. By 1900, seven companies owned most of the nations railways.

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Chapter 15 section 1: The New Immigrants 

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Chapter 15 section 1: The New Immigrants 

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Between 1870 and 1920, about 20 million Europeans immigrated to the United States. Many of them came from eastern and southern Europe. Some immigrants came to escape religious persecution. Many others were poor and looking to improve their economic situation. Still others came to experience greater freedom in the United States. Most European immigrants arrived on the East Coast. A smaller number of immigrants came from Asia. They arrived on the West Coast. About 200,000 Chinese immigrants came between 1851 to 1883. Many Chinese immigrants helped build the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. When the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898, several thousand Japanese immigrants came to the United States. From 1880 to 1920, about 260,000 immigrants arrived from various islands in the Caribbean Sea. They came from Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other islands. Many left their homelands because jobs were scarce. Many Mexicans came to the United States as well. Some became U.S. citizens when the nation acquired Mexican territory in 1848 as a result of the Mexican War. About a million Mexicans arrived between 1910 to 1930 to
escape turmoil in their country. Getting along in a new country with a different language and culture was a great challenge for new immigrants. Many immigrants settled in communities with other immigrants from the same country. This made them feel more at home. They also formed organizations to help each other.  In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This law banned all but a few Chinese immigrants. The ban was not lifted until 1943. Americans showed prejudice against Japanese immigrants as well. In San Francisco, the local school board put all Chinese, Japanese, and Korean children in special Asian schools. This led to antiAmerican riots in Japan. President Theodore Roosevelt persuaded San Francisco officials to stop their separation policy. In exchange, Japan agreed to limit emigration to the United States under the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907–1908.

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section 2: The Challenges of Urbanization 

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section 2: The Challenges of Urbanization 

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City populations grew rapidly. This created many problems. One major problem was a shortage in housing. New types of housing allowed many people to live in a small amount of space. One type was the row house. This was a singlefamily dwelling that shared side walls with other similar houses. Another type was tenements, multifamily urban houses that were often overcrowded and unsanitary. The growing population of cities created transportation challenges. Cities developed mass transit—transportation systems designed to move large number of people along fixed routes. Cities also faced problems supplying safe  drinking water. New York and Cleveland built public waterworks but many city residents were still left without convenient water and had to get their water from taps on the street. Sanitation was also a problem. People threw garbage out their windows. Sewage flowed in the streets. By 1900, many cities had built sewers and created sanitation departments. Crime and fire were also ongoing problems. Overcrowded and poorly built tenements and lack of water made fire
especially dangerous. A number of social reformers worked to improve life in the cities. One early reform program was the Social Gospel movement. Leaders of this movement preached that people reached salvation by helping the poor. Many reformers responded to the movement’s call. They established settlement houses. These were community centers located in slum neighborhoods. Workers there provided help and friendship to immigrants and the poor. Many of these houses were run by middle-class, college-educated women. The settlement houses also offered schooling, nursing, and other kinds of help to those in need. One of the more well-known social reformers of this time was Jane Addams. She helped establish Hull House. This was a settlement house that helped the poor of
Chicago. ]

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Chapter 16 section 1：  Science and Urban Life

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Chapter 16 section 1：  Science and Urban Life

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By 1900, millions of Americans had settled in the nation’s cities. To accommodate their growing populations, cities had to rely on technology. One example of this was the development of the skyscraper. Skyscrapers are tall buildings that allow people to live many floors above ground. As a result, skyscrapers save space.Two factors allowed architects to design taller buildings: the invention of elevators, and the development of steel. One of the early skyscraper architects was Louis Sullivan. In 1890, he designed the ten-story Wainwright building in St. Louis. In 1902, Daniel Burnham designed the Flatiron Building, a skyscraper at one of New York’s busiest intersections. Skyscrapers allowed cities to grow upward. Changes in transportation helped cities spread outward. In 1888, Richmond, Virginia, became the first American city to use electric-powered streetcars. Soon other
cities installed electric streetcars. By the turn of the century, electric streetcars
carried people from their homes in outlying neighborhoods to downtown stores, offices, and factories. People could now live in one part of a city and work in
another. To avoid overcrowding on streets, a few large cities moved their streetcars above street level. This created elevated or “el” trains. Other cities built subways by moving rail lines underground. Steel bridges joined sections of cities across rivers. City planners also tried to make cities more livable by creating parks and recreational areas. Journalist and farmer Frederick Law Olmsted led the movement for planned city parks. In 1858, he and an architect drew up plans for Central Park in New York. The finished park included boating and tennis facilities, a zoo, and bicycle paths. All of these were placed in a natural setting.
In Chicago, Daniel Burnham designed a plan that would change a swampy region
near Lake Michigan into a recreational area. His plan resulted in elegant parks and
sandy beaches along Chicago’s Lake Michigan shores.

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During the late 1800s, reformers tried to improve public education. At that time,
most children in the United States received little education. Many children did not
even attend school. Those who did left after only four years. Eventually, the situation began to improve. Between 1865 and 1895, 31 states passed laws requiring children from 8 to 14 years-old to attend school for at least three months out of every year. By 1900, almost three-quarters of American children between those ages attended school. Schools taught reading, writing,
and arithmetic. By the turn of the century, the number of schools had increased greatly. The number of kindergartens grew from 200 in 1880 to 3,000 in 1900. The number of high schools increased even more. In 1878 there were 800 high schools in the United States. By 1898, that number had grown to 5,500.
The high-school curriculum also expanded. It included courses in science,
civics, home economics, history, and literature. Many people realized that the new industrial age needed people who had technical and managerial skills. As a result,
high schools also included courses such as drafting and bookkeeping. This prepared students for industrial and office jobs. The growth of public education mainly affected the nation’s white communities. During the late 1880s, only 34 percent of African-American children attended elementary school. Fewer than one percent attended high school. Unlike African Americans, immigrants attended schools in large numbers. Some immigrant parents hoped that school would “Americanize” their children. At the turn of the century, only about 2 percent of Americans attended college. Most college students came from middleclass or wealthy families. Colleges prepared well-to-do young men for successful careers in business. Between 1880 and 1900, more than 150 new colleges were founded in the United States. From 1880 to 1920, the number of students enrolled in college quadrupled. During this time, colleges added more subjects. Before, many universities had taught only classical subjects such as Greek and Latin. Now they began teaching more modern subjects. In response to the needs of expanding big business, the research university emerged offering courses in modern languages, physical sciences, and the new disciplines of psychology and sociology. Professional schools in law and medicine were established. Many private colleges and universities began requiring entrance exams, while some state universities required only a high school diploma for admission. Thousands of freed African Americans began attending college in greater numbers after the Civil War. With the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau and other groups, blacks founded Howard, Atlanta, and Fisk Universities between 1865 and
1868. Still, blacks were excluded from many private institutions. Financially, it
was difficult for private donors to support or educate enough black college graduates to meet the needs of their communities. In 1900, only about 4 percent of all African Americans were in attendance at colleges or professional schools.

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As the 1900s opened, reformers pushed for a number of changes. Together their
efforts built the progressive movement. The progressive movement had four major goals: (1) to protect social welfare, (2) to promote moral improvement, (3) to create economic reform, and (4) to foster efficiency. Reformers tried to promote social welfare by easing the problems of city life. The YMCA built libraries and exercise rooms. The Salvation Army fed poor people in the cities and cared for children in nurseries. Settlement houses helped families. One reformer, Florence Kelley, helped to win the passage of the Illinois Factory Act in 1893. The law prohibited child labor and limited women’s working hours. The law became a model for other states. Reformers promoted moral reform by working for prohibition—the banning of alcoholic drinks. Many of these reformers, called prohibitionists, were members of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU). The well-organized union became the largest women’s group the
country had ever seen. Reformers tried to make economic changes by pointing out the great inequality between the rich and the poor.

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Before the Civil War, most married women worked at home. They cared for their families and did not have paid jobs. By the end of the 19th century, however,
many women had to work outside the home in order to earn money. Farm women continued to work as they always had. They did the cooking, cleaning, sewing, and child rearing. They helped with the crops and animals. As better-paying opportunities in towns and cities became available, more women began working outside the home. By 1900, one in five American women held jobs; 25 percent of them worked in manufacturing. About half of the women working in manufacturing were employed in the garment trades. They typically held the least skilled positions and were paid only half as much as men. Women also began filling new jobs in offices, stores, and classrooms. Women went to new business schools to learn to become stenographers and typists. These jobs required a high school education. Women without a formal education took jobs as domestic workers, cleaning, and taking care of children of other families. Almost two million African-American workers— forced by economic necessity—worked on
farms and in cities as domestic workers, laundresses, scrubwomen, and maids.
Unmarried immigrant women did domestic labor, took in piecework, or
cared for boarders at home.

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Section 1: Imperialism and America

In 1893, Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii gave up her throne. Hawaii was about to be taken over by the United States. By the 1880s, many American leaders thought the United States should establish colonies overseas. This idea was called imperialism—the policy in which stronger nations extend economic, political or military control over weaker territories. Three factors fueled American imperialism: desire for military strength, thirst for new markets, and a belief in the superiority of American culture. Admiral Alfred T. Mahan of the U.S. Navy supported growing American naval power so the U.S. could compete with other nations. By the late 1800s, technology had changed American farms and factories. They produced more than Americans could consume. So the U.S. needed foreign trade. The third root of American imperialism was a belief that the people of the United States were better than the people of other countries. This racist belief came from people’s pride in their Anglo-Saxon (Northern European) heritage. William Seward was Secretary of State for presidents Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. In 1867 he purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. The Hawaiian Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, had been important to the United States since the 1790s. A number of Americans had established sugar plantations in Hawaii. In the mid- 1800s, these large farms accounted for about three-quarters of the wealth in the islands. By 1900, the foreign laborers outnumbered the Hawaiians three to one. In 1875, the United States agreed to import Hawaiian sugar duty-free. In 1887, the U.S. forced Hawaii to let it build a naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii’s best port. When the Hawaiian king died in 1891, his sister became queen. Queen Liliuokalani wanted a new constitution that would give voting power back to ordinary Hawaiians. American business groups organized a revolt against the queen. The U.S. ambassador John L. Stevens helped them. The planters took control of the island. They established a temporary government and made American businessman Sanford B. Dole the president. Stevens urged the U.S. government to annex the Hawaiian Islands.

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Section 2: The Spanish—American War

Between 1868 and 1878, Cubans fought their first war for independence from Spain. The rebels did not win, but they did force Spain to abolish slavery in 1886. After that, United States capitalists invested heavily in sugar cane plantations in Cuba. Sugar was the most important product of Cuba. The United States was the main market for the sugar. As long as the United States did not charge a tariff on Cuban sugar, the Cuban economy thrived. But the Cuban economy collapsed in 1894 when a tariff on sugar was imposed. In 1895, Cubans began a second war for independence. The rebellion was led by Jose Marti. He was a Cuban poet and journalist who had been living in exile in New York. The rebels wanted the United States to join their cause. American opinion was mixed. Some wanted to support Spain in order to keep their investments safe. Others wanted to help the Cuban people win their freedom from Spain just as the United States had won its independence from England. In 1896, Spain sent an army to Cuba to restore order. The army was led by General Valeriano Weyler. Weyler rounded up the entire rural population of central and western Cuba. His rascality of taking people into custody was widely reported in the United States. These sensational stories became known as yellow journalism—reporting that exaggerates the news in order to make it more exciting. William McKinley became president in 1897. At that time, many Americans wanted the United States to help the rebels against Spain. McKinley tried to find a peaceful solution to the crisis. However, his efforts had several positive results.

Then two events made Americans very angry at Spain

1. The publication of a letter that insulted the American president. Only a few days after the letter was published, the battleship U.S.S. Maine was stationed in Cuba to protect American lives and property.

2. On February 15, 1898, the ship exploded. The cause of the explosion was not known. However, newspapers blamed Spain.

On April 20, 1898, the United States went to war with Spain. The first battle took place in the Philippines. On May 1, 1898, the American naval commander George Dewey sailed into Manila Bay in the Philippines. His ships destroyed the Spanish fleet there. In Cuba, the American navy blocked off the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Spanish ships could not leave. One unit of volunteer soldiers was called the Rough Riders. Theodore Roosevelt was one of their leaders. They helped win the important battle of San Juan Hill. When the Spanish ships tried to leave the harbor, their fleet was destroyed. Spain quickly agreed to a peace treaty. The Treaty of Paris granted Cuba its independence. Spain gave Puerto Rico and the Pacific island of Guam to the United States. The United States paid Spain $20 million for the annexation of the Philippine Islands.

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Section 3: Acquiring New Lands

Puerto Rico had become an American territory as a result of the Spanish—American War. American forces landed in Puerto Rico in July 1898. The commanding officer declared that the Americans were there to protect the Puerto Ricans. But other U.S. military officials insulted the Puerto Ricans. In 1900, Congress passed the Foraker Act which ended military rule and set up a civil government. The United States kept strict control over the people and their government. In 1917, however, Congress made Puerto Ricans U.S. citizens. Cuba was officially independent after the war. The U.S. army, however, remained in Cuba for four years. It punished Cubans who did not like this American occupation. In 1900, the new Cuban government wrote a constitution. The United States insisted they add the Platt Amendment. The amendment limited Cuba’s rights in dealing with other countries. Cuba became a U.S. protectorate—a country whose affairs are partially controlled by a stronger power. Filipinos had been fighting for independence for years. They were angry that the United States had annexed their islands. Rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo believed that the United States had promised independence. He felt that the United States had betrayed the Filipinos after helping them win independence. In 1899, Aguinaldo started a rebellion, which lasted three years. After winning that war, the United States set up a government similar to the one it had set up in Cuba. By 1899, many countries had economic interests in China. The United States wanted to be able to trade with China. The Secretary of State John Hay sent a statement of this policy to the other countries. His policy statements were called the Open Door notes. In 1900, a secret society in China started a rebellion. They were protesting the influence of Western countries in China. After the Boxer Rebellion was defeated, the United States issued more Open Door notes to make sure other countries did not make colonies out of China. President William McKinley was reelected in 1900. That shows imperialism was popular. An Anti-Imperialist League formed including some prominent Americans.

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Section 4: America as a World Power

In 1901, President McKinley was assassinated, and Theodore Roosevelt became president. Roosevelt continued the policies of imperialism. He first used U.S. influence to help settle the Russo-Japanese War. The war began in 1904. Both Russia and Japan wanted to control Korea. Then Japan wanted to stop the fighting. The Japanese asked President Roosevelt to mediate the conflict. In 1905, representatives of Russia and Japan met. Roosevelt used his personal charm to help them negotiate a compromise. They signed a treaty, and Roosevelt received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Roosevelt also used his influence to help build the Panama Canal. Such a canal would cut travel time for military and commercial ships. The narrow Isthmus of Panama was a logical place to cut a canal. Political problems stood in the way, however. Panama was a province of Colombia. When Colombia did not agree to the canal, the United States helped Panama to rebel against Colombia. Panama became independent. Then the United States got Panama’s permission to build the canal. Construction of the Panama Canal was one of the world’s greatest engineering accomplishments. On August 15, 1914, the canal opened for business. It was a success from the start. President Roosevelt wanted the United States to be the major power in the Caribbean and Central America. He declared his policy in a message to Congress in 1904. His statement was called the Roosevelt Corollary. In 1911, President Taft used this policy in Nicaragua. A rebellion had left the country in debt. Taft arranged for U.S. bankers to loan Nicaragua money. In exchange, American business took control of the railroads and banks in the country. They also collected Nicaragua’s custom duties. Nicaraguans did not like this arrangement. They rebelled. The United States then sent troops to Nicaragua to preserve the peace. Those who did not like this kind of intervention called it dollar diplomacy. President Woodrow Wilson added a moral tone to Latin American policy. He said that the United States must act in certain circumstances. This so-called “missionary diplomacy” meant that the United States could not officially recognize governments that were oppressive, undemocratic, or opposed to U.S. business interests. In 1910, Mexican peasants and workers rebelled against their military dictator. Two new governments followed, the second headed by General Victoriano Huerta. Wilson refused to support the Huerta government because it came to power through violence. Wilson sent in troops. When a new leader, Venustiano Carranza, took power in Mexico, Wilson withdrew the troops. Mexico remained in turmoil. Under the leadership of Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata, rebels revolted against Carranza. The United States wanted to capture Villa. Finally the Mexican government gave permission to send in troops. Wilson sent General John J. Pershing with 15,000 soldiers. A year later, Villa was still free. Mexicans were angered by the U.S. invasion. In 1916, U.S. troops fought with Carranza’s army. In 1917, Wilson withdrew U.S. troops. Finally, Mexico adopted a constitution. The Mexicans regained control of their own resources and put limits on foreign investment.

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Section 1: World War I Begins

Four main factors led to the outbreak of World War I in Europe:

1. nationalism—the belief that the interests of a single country were more important than cooperation among countries.

2. imperialism—Countries tried to increase the power and influence around the world.

3. militarism—Militarism meant building up armies, navies, and other armed forces. It also meant using them as a tool for negotiating with other countries.

4.  the alliance system—Some countries in Europe had made treaties promising to defend each other. These mutual-defense treaties placed European countries in two main groups. The Allies were made up of France, Great Britain, and Russia. The Central Powers were made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. He had been the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His killer was a Serb who wanted to unite all Serbs (including those in Austria-Hungary) under one government. The alliance system pulled one nation after another into the conflict. If a nation had sworn to protect another, it had to declare war on that nation’s enemies. Germany began by invading Belgium. It planned to overrun France and then to attack Russia. The British and French could not save Belgium. By the spring of 1915, two lines of deep trenches had developed in France. Germans occupied one line. The Allies occupied the other line. Between the two lines lay “no man’s land.” The soldiers would climb out of their trenches and try to overrun enemy lines. This bloody trench warfare continued for more than three years. In the United States, public opinion about the war was strong but divided. Many naturalized U.S. citizens still had ties to the countries they came from. Americans tended to sympathize with Great Britain and France. They shared a common language and heritage with Britain. They were horrified at Germany’s brutal attack on Belgium. And they had strong economic ties with the Allies. The war affected American shipping.

Great Britain set up a blockade along the German coast to keep goods from getting through. German U-boats attacked ships from all nations. A U-boat sank the British ship Lusitania.

Three incidents brought the United States into the war:

1. In January 1917, Germany announced it would sink all ships in British waters on sight whether they were hostile or neutral.

2. British agents intercepted the Zimmermann note, a telegram that proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico against the United States.

3. The replacement of the Russian monarchy with a representative government allowed Americans to characterize the war as a struggle of democracies against brutal monarchies.

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Section 2&3: American Power Tips the Balance & The War at Home

The United States first needed to build up its armed forces. To solve the problem of lacking people, Congress passed the Selective Service Act. It required men to register with the government so that some of them could be selected for military service. Many African Americans served in the military. Women were not drafted. The army would not let them join. But the navy accepted women in noncombat positions. The U.S. built ships to transport men and supplies to Europe. To reduce the loss of ships to German submarine attacks, the United States and Britain began to use the convoy system. In this system, merchant ships traveled in a large group guarded by naval vessels. American soldiers helped turn the tide of battle in Europe. The American Expeditionary Force was led by General John J. Pershing. New weapons played a decisive role in the war. The two most innovative weapons were the tank and the airplane. Air warfare developed rapidly during the war. Eddie Rickenbacker was an American ace pilot. New weapons and tactics made World War I very destructive. Soldiers faced miserable conditions. American soldiers arrived in Europe just in time to stop a German advance on Paris. Germany, exhausted from the war, finally agreed to an armistice on November 11, 1918.

To fight the war, the United States needed the help of industry. The economy had to change from making consumer goods to making weapons and war supplies. Congress gave President Wilson direct control over much of the economy. Wilson created the War Industries Board (WIB) and named Bernard M. Baruch to run it. Other federal agencies also regulated the economy for the war effort. Wages in some industries went up. But workers in other jobs lost money because of inflation. As a result, many workers joined unions. Wilson established the National War Labor Board. This agency worked to settle disputes between management and labor. It also helped to improve working conditions. Another new agency, the Food Administration, was established to help produce and conserve food supplies. It encouraged people to grow their own food. The government needed to raise money for the war. They did this by increasing several kinds of taxes and by selling war bonds. To popularize the war, the government created the Committee on Public Information (CPI). It was the nation’s first propaganda agency. The agency was headed by George Creel. He had been a muckraking journalist. The war brought out anti-immigrant feelings. Immigrants from Germany were often targeted for attack. Congress passed the Espionage and Sedition Acts to punish people who did not support the war effort. These laws violated the spirit of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. The chief targets of the Espionage and Sedition Acts were socialists and union leaders. The war brought many social changes for African Americans and women. African-American leaders were divided over the war. The war sped up the Great Migration. This was the movement of thousands of African Americans from the South to cities of the North. American women played new roles during the war. They did jobs that had previously been done only by men. Women’s activities made them more visible. They were not paid the same as men. But, soon after the war, Congress finally passed an amendment giving them the right to vote. Also during the war, a worldwide flu epidemic, probably spread by American soldiers, killed 500,000 Americans and caused disruptions in the American economy.

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Section 4: Wilson Fights for Peace

President Wilson presented his plan for world peace to Congress in January 1918. The plan was called his Fourteen Points.

The first five points suggested ways that wars could be avoided:

1. countries should not make secret treaties with one another

2. freedom of the seas should be maintained

3. tariffs should be lowered to promote free trade

4. countries should reduce their arms

5. the interests of the colonial people should be considered

The next eight points suggested new national boundaries. Wilson believed in self-determination: different ethnic groups should be able to decide for themselves what nation they would belong to. The fourteenth point called for a League of Nations. This international organization would address problems between countries before they led to war. Wilson met with leaders of France and Great Britain, George Clemenceau and David Lloyd George, to discuss the terms of peace. On June 28, 1919, the leaders of the Allies and the Central Powers met at the Palace of Versailles in France. They were to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

The treaty created new national boundaries by:

1. establishing nine new nations, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia

2. shifting the boundaries of other nations

3. carving out parts of the Ottoman Empire to create colonies in the Middle East for Great Britain and France

The treaty took away Germany’s army and navy. It forced Germany to pay reparations, or war damages, to the winners. In addition, the treaty contained a war-guilt clause. Germany had to admit that it was responsible for causing the war.

The Treaty of Versailles had three basic weaknesses:

1. its harsh treatment of Germany

2. the Soviet Union (formerly Russia) lost more territory than Germany did

3. colonies--The treaty did not recognize the claims of colonies for self-determination, in Southeast Asia, for instance.

Wilson brought the treaty back to the United States for approval. He found several groups opposed it. The main opposition to the treaty was over the League of Nations. The League was the only one of Wilson’s Fourteen Points that was included in the treaty. Conservative senators, headed by Henry Cabot Lodge, opposed joining the League. Wilson refused to compromise on the League. He would not accept amendments proposed by Republican leaders. As a result, the Senate failed to ratify the treaty. The United States never entered the League of Nations. It finally signed a separate treaty with Germany in 1921, when Wilson was no longer president. The end of the war made Americans yearn for what Warren G. Harding called “normalcy.” But the war had transformed the United States and the world. World War I had strengthened both U.S military power and the power of government. It accelerated change for African Americans and women. However, the propaganda campaign left a legacy of mistrust and fear. In Europe, the war left a legacy of massive destruction, loss of life, political instability, and violence. Americans hoped that the war had convinced the world to never fight again. But in Europe the war settled nothing.

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Chapter 20: Politics of the Roaring Twenties

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Chapter 20: Politics of the Roaring Twenties

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Section 1: Americans Struggle with Postwar Issues

World War I left much of the American public divided about the League of Nations. The end of the war hurt the economy. A wave of nativism and isolationism swept over America as people became suspicious of foreigners and wanted to pull away from world affairs. Americans saw communism as a threat to their way of life. Communism is an economic and political system that supports government control over property to create equality. World War I created economic and political problems in Russia. In 1917, the Russian czar, or emperor, stepped down. Later, a group of revolutionaries called Bolsheviks took power. Their leader was Vladimir I. Lenin. They established the world’s first communist state. This new government called for worldwide revolution. In the United States, about 70,000 people joined the Communist Party. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer set up an agency in the Justice Department to arrest communists, socialists, and anarchists, who opposed all forms of government. Palmer’ s agents trampled on people’ s civil rights. Many radicals were sent out of the country without trial. Some Americans used the Red Scare as an excuse to act against any people who were different. Now the Klan turned against blacks, Jews, Roman Catholics, immigrants, and union leaders. They used violence to keep these groups “in their place.” The Klan briefly gained political power in several states. As a result of nativism, or anti- immigrant feelings, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921. It established a quota system. This set a limit on how many immigrants from each country could enter the United States every year. The 1924 law also banned immigration from Japan. Strikes were not allowed during World War I because they might have hurt the war effort.

But in 1919, three important strikes occurred：

1. Boston police officers went on strike for a living wage.

2. A strike by steelworkers began at U.S. Steel Corporation.

3. A more successful strike was led by John L. Lewis, the president of the United Mine Workers. When Lewis’s workers closed the coal mines, President Wilson tried to help to settle the dispute between the miners and mine owners.

Overall, the 1920s was a bad time for unions. Union membership declined from 5 million to 3.5 million for the following reasons:

1. immigrants were willing to work in poor conditions

2. language barriers made organizing people difficult

3. farmers who had migrated to cities were used to relying on themselves

4. most unions excluded African Americans

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Section 2&3: The Harding Presidency & The Business of America

In 1921, Warren G. Harding invited several major world powers to the Washington Naval Conference. Once there, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes urged that no more warships should be built for ten years and that the five major naval powers—the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, France and Italy—would scrap many of their existing warships. Americans wanted to stay out of world affairs. But the United States still wanted France and Britain to repay the money they had borrowed during World War I. Those two nations had suffered during the war. Their economies were too weak for them to repay the loans. To make matters worse, Congress passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff in 1922. This tariff protected American business from foreign competition. But the tariff made it impossible for Britain and France to sell their goods in the United States. As a result, France and Britain put pressure on Germany to pay its promised reparations. But Germany’s economy had been destroyed. When Germany failed to make payments to France, French troops marched into Germany. To avoid another war, American banker Charles Dawes negotiated a settlement to end the loan crisis. Thus, the U.S. ended up getting paid with its own money. Some of Harding’s cabinet appointments were excellent. But others caused problems. The president’s main problem was that he didn’t understand many of the country’s financial issues. One of the worst cases of corruption was known as the Teapot Dome scandal. Albert B. Fall, Harding’s secretary of the interior, secretly leased a rich land to two oil companies. He received money and property in return. Harding was not charged with corruption himself. He suddenly died in 1923, and Calvin Coolidge was then elected president in 1924.

The new president, Calvin Coolidge and his Republican successor, Herbert Hoover, favored government policies that promoted business and limited government interference. The automobile changed the American landscape. This led to urban sprawl, as cities spread out in all directions. Cities in Ohio and Michigan grew as major centers of automobile manufacturing. The automobile also became a status symbol. The airline industry also grew. Another major change was the spread of electricity. In the 1920s, electric power stretched beyond big cities to the suburbs. Americans began to use all kinds of electrical appliances which make housework easier. One result was more leisure time for families. Another effect was to increase the number of women working outside the home. More consumer goods appeared on the market. Things that once were luxuries became necessities. Some brand names became known nationwide. Businesspeople formed organizations to do charity work and to promote business. Most Americans had confidence in the prosperity of the 1920s. Most businesses seemed to make fortunes. The stock market reached new heights.

But this prosperity hid two big problems:

1. business was not as healthy as it seemed

2. consumer debt rose to high levels

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Chapter 21: The Roaring Life of the 1920s

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Chapter 21: The Roaring Life of the 1920s

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Section 1&2: Changing Ways of Life & The Twenties Woman

The 1920 census showed a change in America. For the first time, more Americans lived in large towns and cities than in small towns and on farms. The values that most Americans had grown up with were small-town values. By the 1920s, urbanization, or the movement of Americans from rural areas to the cities, had increased. Urban values began to dominate the nation. And people with different backgrounds came into contact with one another. One clash between small-town and city values led to an era known as Prohibition. Prohibition was the ban on alcoholic beverages set forth in the Eighteenth Amendment. It took effect in 1920. Even though it was the law, the effort to stop drinking was doomed. In cities, even respectable middle-class people flocked to speakeasies. People also bought liquor from bootleggers, or smugglers. Prohibition caused a general disrespect for the law. It also caused a great deal of money to flow out of lawful businesses and into organized crime. This rise in crime and violence led many people to demand the repeal of prohibition. During the 1920s, the nation saw the rise of Christian fundamentalism. This religious movement was based on the belief that everything written in the Bible was literally true. These beliefs led fundamentalists to reject Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Fundamentalist preachers drew large crowds to religious revivals, especially in the South and West. Fundamentalists also gained political power. In 1925, Tennessee passed a law making it a crime to teach evolution. Many people opposed this law.

In some ways, the spirit of the twenties was a reaction to World War I. Many young soldiers had witnessed horrible events in Europe. This led them to rebel against traditional values. They wanted to enjoy life while they could. Young women also wanted to take part in the rebellious, pleasure-loving life of the twenties. Many of them demanded the same freedom as men. The new urban culture also influenced many women. Their symbol was the flapper. Other attitudes changed, too. Many young men and women began to see marriage as more of an equal partnership. At the same time, churches and schools protested the new values. The majority of women were not flappers. Many people felt torn between the old values and the new ones. One result of this clash between old values and the image of the flapper was the double standard. This was a set of principles or values generally accepted by society. Many women had gone to work outside the home during World War I. This trend continued in the twenties. But their opportunities had changed after the war. Men returned from the war and took back traditional “men’s jobs.”  Big business provided another role for women: clerical work. Women did not find equality in the workplace. Few women rose to jobs in management. Women earned less than men. Family life changed, too. Families had fewer children. Electrical appliances made housework easier. Public agencies took over some family responsibilities, too. hey provided services for the elderly and the sick. Nevertheless, most women remained homemakers. In the 1920s, marriages were more often based on romantic love than arranged by families. Children were no longer part of the work force. They spent their days in school and other activities with people of their own age. Peer pressure began to be an important influence on teens’ behavior.

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Section 3&4: Education and Popular Culture & The Harlem Renaissance

America was becoming more prosperous. Business and industry required a more educated work force. These two factors caused a huge increase in the number of students going to high school. Schools changed as they grew. Before the 1920s, high schools were mostly for students who were going on to college. In the twenties, high schools had a wide range of students. High schools also saw an increase in the number of children of immigrants. As a result of increased literacy, more people read newspapers than before. National magazines were also popular. The most powerful of the mass media was radio. Radio networks with stations in many cities were formed in the twenties. In the 1920s, Americans had more money and more free time than ever before. The twenties were called the Golden Age of Sports. Many talented athletes set new records. Charles A. Lindbergh thrilled the nation by becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Even before the introduction of sound, movies became a national pastime. In the 1920s, American artists broke away from European traditions. American painters recorded the America they saw and felt. Many gifted American writers criticized American society. Some Americans disliked American culture so much they went to live abroad. Many gathered in Paris.

Between 1910 and 1920, hundreds of thousands of African Americans had moved from the South to the big cities of the North. This was called the Great Migration. It was a response to racial violence and economic discrimination against blacks in the South. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) worked to end violence against African Americans. The NAACP also fought to get laws against lynching passed by Congress. Marcus Garvey voiced a message of black pride that appealed to many African Americans and promoted black-owned businesses. He also urged African Americans to return to Africa to set up an independent nation. In the 1920s, many African Americans moved to Harlem, a section of New York City. This neighborhood was also the birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance. This literary and artistic movement celebrated African-American culture. The Harlem Renaissance produced many outstanding poets. One of the most famous Harlem Renaissance poets was Langston Hughes. Music and drama were important parts of the Harlem Renaissance, too. Jazz became more popular in the twenties. Many whites came to Harlem to hear jazz in night clubs.

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Section 1: The Nation’s Sick Economy

During the 1920s, the economy boomed. But there were economic problems under the surface. Many industries had been successful in the early 1920s. But by the late 1920s, they were losing money. The biggest problems were in farming. After the war, the demand for food dropped and farmers suffered. Farmers’ incomes went down. Congress tried to help farmers by passing price supports. Farmers were not the only problem with the economy. Americans were buying less. Many found that prices were rising faster than their salaries. Many people bought goods on credit—an arrangement in which consumers agreed to make monthly payments with interest. But too many Americans were accumulating debt they could not afford to pay off. In the late 1920s, much of America seemed prosperous, but there was an uneven distribution of income. Few people recognized the problems with the economy in 1928. The Republican Herbert Hoover easily defeated the Democratic challenger, Alfred E. Smith. People believed him. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was way up. Many people were engaging in speculation, buying risky stocks in hopes of a quick profit. To do so, they were buying on margin—paying just a small down payment and borrowing the rest. The problem was that there was no way to pay off the loan if the stock price declined sharply. The stock market crash signaled the Great Depression. This period of bad economic times when many people were out of work lasted from 1929 to 1940. Businesses also began to close. Millions of Americans lost their jobs. The Depression spread around the world. Germany was still paying war reparations. Other European countries were struggling with debts from the war. The situation became worse when Congress passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act. Congress hoped that higher tariffs would push Americans to buy goods made in the United States.

The Great Depression had several causes:

• Tariffsandwardebtpoliciesthatcut down the foreign market for American goods
• A crisis in the farm sector
• The availability of easy credit
• An unequal distribution of income

These factors led to a falling demand for consumer goods. The federal government hurt the economy with its policy of low interest rates causing businesses and consumers to borrow easily and build up too much debt.

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Section 2: Hardship and Suffering During the Depression

The Depression brought suffering and hardship to many Americans. The hard economic times ruined many lives. Cities across the country were full of these homeless people. Some built shantytowns, where they lived in little shacks they made out of scrap material. Some ate in soup kitchens, where charities served meals to the needy. Those who could not afford to buy food stood in bread lines to receive free food. African Americans and Latino Americans who lived in the cities had a very hard time. There was even violence directed against African Americans and Latinos. The Depression hurt people in rural areas, too. Farmers earned less and less, since food prices continued to go down. To make matters worse, a long drought hit the Great Plains. The soil was now exhausted from over- farming. The Depression put a heavy strain on family life. Many families pulled together during the hard times. But some families broke apart under the strain of poverty and unemployment. Women tried to find work, too. But they were usually paid less than men. Children suffered terribly from poverty and the break-up of families. During the early years of the Great Depression, the federal government did not give direct relief—cash or food directly to poor people. Because so many people were out of work, cities and states collected less tax money. The Great Depression caused great suffering. Rates of suicide and mental illness increased dramatically. However, the Great Depression sometimes brought out the best in individuals, families, and communities.

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Section 1: A New Deal Fights the Depression

By the end of 1932, Americans were ready for a change. Democratic candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt beat Hoover in the presidential election of 1932 by a landslide. Roosevelt and his advisors planned programs to end the Depression. These programs became known as the New Deal.

It had three goals:
1. relief for the needy
2. economic recovery
3. financial reform

In the first Hundred Days, Congress quickly passed many important laws. These laws expanded the federal government’s role in the nation’s economy. FDR spoke directly to the American people in radio talks called “fireside chats.” He explained the New Deal measures and asked for public support. The New Deal included programs that gave relief through work projects and cash payments. Roosevelt reluctantly financed the New Deal through deficit spending—spending more money than the government receives in revenue. Although the New Deal programs benefited many people and helped restore public confidence, some people criticized it. Some liberals said it did not do enough to help the poor. Conservative critics said it gave the federal government too much control over agriculture and business. Critics claimed that Roosevelt was trying to “pack the Court” with justices who supported him.

Three critics of Roosevelt were particularly important:
1. Father Charles Coughlin who was a Roman Catholic priest
2. Dr. Francis Townsend
3. Senator Huey Long of Louisiana

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Section 2: The Second New Deal Takes Hold

The economy improved in the first two years of Roosevelt’s presidency. But it did not improve much. Still, the New Deal was very popular. Democrats increased their majority in Congress in the midterm elections of 1934. FDR launched a second wave of reforms— sometimes called the Second New Deal. These were programs designed to help poor people. The president’s wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, traveled around the country. She reported to the president on the suffering of the poor. She spoke up for women and minorities. The 1936 election was an overwhelming victory for Roosevelt, the Democrats, and the New Deal. It also marked the first time most African Americans voted Democratic. And it was the first time that labor unions supported a single candidate. Things were still tough for farmers in the mid 1930s. The Second New Deal created important reforms for labor. The Social Security Act was one of the most important achievements of the New Deal.

It had three parts:

• Old-age insurance—supplemental retirement plan that provided funds from what workers and employers paid into the system

• Unemployment compensation— payments to workers who lost their jobs

• Aid to the disabled and families with children—this helped people who could not be expected to work

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Section 1: Dictators Threaten World Peace

Woodrow Wilson had hoped that the Treaty of Versailles would provide a “just and lasting peace,” among the world’s most powerful nations. However, the Treaty mostly caused anger and resentment. The peace settlement failed to make the world “safe for democracy” as Woodrow Wilson had hoped. New democratic governments, hurt by economic and social problems, floundered and turned to dictatorships. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin came to power in 1924. Stalin made the Soviet Union into a leading industrial power and made it into a police state. Stalin created a totalitarian government—a government with complete control over its citizens. At the same time, Benito Mussolini was creating a totalitarian state in Italy. His political movement was called fascism. In Germany, another fascist party came to power under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s political philosophy was called Nazism. According to Hitler, Aryans were meant to have power over all “inferior races,” He believed Germany needed to expand—to gain territory—so that the German people could thrive. Nazism combined extreme nationalism, racism, and expansionism. Germans during the Great Depression. In the 1932 elections, the Nazi Party gained power. Hitler became chancellor in January 1933. Meanwhile, in Asia, military leaders had taken over Japan. They believed that Japan needed more land and resources. The League’s failure to stop Japan made Hitler and Mussolini bolder. In Spain, the fascist general Francisco Franco led a rebellion to overthrow the elected government. Most Americans wanted the United States to stay out of foreign conflicts. Many people thought that the United States had made a mistake in getting involved in World War I. Congress passed the Neutrality Acts. These laws banned loans or arms sale to nations at war.

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Section 2: War in Europe

Hitler decided that the new living space the German people needed would come from nearby nations. Then Hitler claimed that the Czechs were mistreating German-speaking people in an area called the Sudetenland. France, Britain, and Germany signed the Munich Pact in September 1938. It gave the Sudetenland to Germany. Hitler did not keep the promise he made at Munich. In March of 1939, he conquered the rest of Czechoslovakia. Then Hitler began to claim that Germans living in Poland were being persecuted. Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact, an agreement not to fight each other. In a secret part of this treaty, Hitler and Stalin also agreed to divide Poland between them. On September 1, 1939, Hitler launched World War II by attacking Poland. Poland fell to the Germans in a month. Britain and France declared war on Germany. Meanwhile, the Soviets attacked Poland from the east, and grabbed some of its territory. For the next few months, not much happened. This was called the “phony war.” French and British troops gathered on the French border. German troops also waited. Meanwhile, Stalin seized regions that the Soviet Union had lost in World War I. In April, Hitler launched surprise invasions of Denmark and Norway. Germany attacked France in May 1940—but not where the Allies expected. It cut off Allied forces in the north. Meanwhile, Italy joined the war on the side of Germany. The Italians attacked France from the south. Hitler now made plans to invade Britain.

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Chapter 25: The United States in World War II

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Chapter 25: The United States in World War II

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Section 1&2: Mobilizing for Defense & The War for Europe and North Africa

The Japanese had expected Americans to react with fear and despair to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Instead, Americans reacted with rage. Fighting a war on two fronts—in Europe and in the Pacific—required huge numbers of soldiers. o free more men for combat, Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall suggested using women for noncombat military tasks. Congress created the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) in 1942. Men and women from minority groups also served in World War II. They included Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. The nation’s factories quickly switched to war production. Before the war, most defense contractors had refused to hire African Americans. Even Hollywood contributed to the war effort with patriotic films. The government hired scientists to develop new weapons and medicines. The federal government was worried about economic issues. Congress wanted to prevent the high inflation that had occurred during World War I. Congress set up the Office of Price Administration (OPA). Congress also raised taxes. The OPA also set up a system of rationing.

In late December 1941, a few weeks after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. They planned their war strategy. After war was declared, German U-boats increased attacks on American ships in the Atlantic. Many American ships were sunk. The United States also started building ships at a rapid pace. Soon there were more Allied cargo ships, or Liberty ships, being made than being sunk. By mid- 1943, the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic had turned in favor of the Allies. By the summer of 1943, the Allies were winning on land as well as on the sea. The German invasion of the Soviet Union had begun in 1941. But Stalin refused to give up. Meanwhile, in November 1942, the Allies invaded North Africa. Next, in July 1943, the Allies invaded Italy. The Americans and British had been building a huge invasion force for two years. It was designed to liberate Europe. June 6, 1944, was D-Day—the day the Allies crossed the English Channel and landed in Normandy, France. This invasion was the largest land-sea-air operation in history. In the United States, Roosevelt won reelection to a fourth term as president. To the Allies’ surprise, Hitler began a counterattack in December. The Germans had lost so many men and weapons in this Battle of the Bulge that they could only retreat. Meanwhile, the Soviets pushed through Poland toward Germany. On May 8, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. That became known as V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day.

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Section 1: Origins of the Cold War

The United States and the Soviet Union were wartime allies. But there had been trouble between them for some time. A major reason was that they had opposing political and economic systems. Still, at the end of the war, people hoped that the United Nations (UN) would help bring a time of peace. Instead, the UN became a place where the two superpowers competed and tried to influence other nations. Meanwhile, Roosevelt had died. Harry S. Truman had become president. Truman met with the British and Soviet leaders at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945. Truman and Stalin disagreed over the future of Europe. Stalin set up Communist governments in the European nations occupied by Soviet troops. They became satellite nations, countries that depended on and were dominated by the Soviet Union. The United States answered with a policy of containment. In 1946, Winston Churchill described “an iron curtain” coming down across Europe. It separated the nations in the “Soviet sphere” from the capitalist democracies of the West. The conflicting aims of the United States and the Soviet Union led to the Cold War. This was a state of hostility between these superpowers, but one without military action. Each tried to spread its political and economic influence worldwide. In the Truman Doctrine, the president argued that aid should be sent to any nation trying to stop Communists from taking over. Congress agreed. Western Europe was also in terrible economic shape. Factories and fields had been destroyed. A terrible winter in 1946–1947 increased hardship. Congress saw the need for strong, stable governments to resist communism. It approved the Marshall Plan. The plan was a great success in rebuilding Western Europe and halting the spread of communism. East and West also disagreed over Germany. Berlin was also divided into four occupied zones. The United States and Britain started the Berlin Airlift. The blockade made the West worry about Soviet aggression.

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Section 2: The Cold War Heats Up

For two decades the Chinese Communists struggled against the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-shek. The United States supported Chiang because he opposed communism and sent him aid. Mao Zedong led the Communist forces in the North. He won the support of many Chinese peasants. President Truman refused to send American troops to help the Nationalists fight communism. But he did send aid. American conservatives said that the United States had “lost” China because not enough had been done to help the Nationalists. Japan had ruled Korea since 1910. At the end of World War II, Japanese forces in the north surrendered to the Soviets. In the south, the Japanese surrendered to the Americans. In 1948, South Korea became an independent nation. North Korea became a Communist nation. Each claimed the right to rule all of Korea. In June 1950, North Korea started the Korean War by invading South Korea. Truman was afraid another Asian nation was about to fall to communism. He ordered air and naval support for South Korea. North Korean troops moved steadily south. They conquered the South Korean capital of Seoul. The Chinese opposed UN forces moving into North Korea. For two years, fighting continued. But neither side advanced. Meanwhile, a cease-fire went into effect in June 1951. Many people felt that American lives had been lost for little gain. As a result, the American people rejected the party in power, the Democrats, in the 1952 election. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. Americans also became even more worried about Communist expansion abroad and Communist spies at home.

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Section 1: Postwar America

After World War II, millions of returning veterans used the GI Bill of Rights to get an education and to buy homes. The United States changed from a wartime to a peacetime economy. The economy began to improve on its own. There was a huge pent-up demand for consumer goods. President Harry S. Truman faced a number of problems immediately after the war. One was labor unrest. Truman was pro-labor. But he would not let strikes cripple the nation. During this time, before the economy turned around, many Americans were disgusted with shortages, rising inflation, and strikes. Voters became more conservative. In the 1946 election, conservative Republicans gained control of Congress. After the war, there was racial violence in the South. Truman put his career on the line for civil rights. But Congress would not pass any of his civil rights measures. Finally, Truman acted on his own. In 1948, he issued an executive order to desegregate the armed forces. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court said that African Americans could not be kept from living in certain neighborhoods. These acts marked the beginning of a federal commitment to deal with racial issues. Truman was nominated for president in 1948. He insisted on a strong civil rights plank in the Democratic Party platform. This split the party. Many Southern Democrats left the Democratic Party. These Dixiecrats were against civil rights. It didn’t look like Truman could win. But he took his ideas to the people. Truman tried to pass economic and social reforms. He called his program the Fair Deal. Truman did not run for reelection in 1952.

The big issues of that campaign were:
1.  the stalemate in the Korean War
2. anti-Communist hysteria and McCarthyism
3. the growing power of the federal government
4. strikes
5. inflation

Eisenhower was a low-key president with middle-of-the-road policies. He did have to deal with one controversial issue—civil rights. The America of the mid-1950s was a place of “peace, progress, and prosperity.” Eisenhower won a landslide reelection in 1956.

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Section 2: The American Dream in the Fifties

The economy grew rapidly in the 1950s. Businesses also expanded. Other businesses expanded by franchising. A franchise is a company that offers similar products or services in many locations, such as fast- food restaurants. These large companies offered well- paying, secure jobs to certain kinds of workers. Businesses rewarded loyalty rather than creativity. They promoted a sameness, or standardization, of people as well as products. Many Americans enjoyed the benefits of the booming economy. Many worked in cities but lived in suburbs. There was an increase in births called the baby boom. It was caused by the reuniting of families after the war and growing prosperity. Medical advances also wiped out childhood diseases. The baby boom created a need for more schools and products for children. Suburban family life revolved around children. Americans had more leisure time. They spent time and money on leisure activities, such as sports. Easy credit for buying cars and cheap gasoline led to a boom in automobile ownership. A car was a necessity in the suburbs. There was no public transportation. Therefore, more and better roads were also needed. Americans loved to drive. By the mid-1950s, nearly 60 percent of Americans were in the middle class. They had the money to buy more and more products. They measured success by their consumerism, or the amount of material goods they bought. American business flooded stores with new products. Consumers had money to spend and leisure time. Manufacturers also tried a new marketing strategy called planned obsolescence. They purposely made products to become outdated or to wear out quickly. The 1950s were “the advertising age.” Ads were everywhere—even on the new medium of television.

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Chapter 28: The New Frontier and the Great Society

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Chapter 28: The New Frontier and the Great Society

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Section 1: Kennedy and the Cold War

In 1960, President Eisenhower’s term came to a close. By then, many Americans were worried about the future. The economy was in a recession. In addition, the Soviet Union was gaining strength. As a result, some wondered whether the United States was losing the Cold War. John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon faced off in the 1960 presidential election. During a televised debate, Kennedy impressed viewers with his strong, forceful personality. The second factor was Kennedy’s response to the arrest of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in October 1960. Kennedy called King’s wife to express sympathy and persuaded the judge to release King from jail. His actions won him the support of African-American voters. President Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline charmed many Americans. Upon entering the White House, Kennedy focused on foreign affairs. Kennedy’s first foreign policy test came from Cuba. Cuba’s leader was Fidel Castro. Castro had seized power in 1959. Soon after that, he declared himself a Communist. He then formed ties with the Soviet Union. Kennedy approved a plan to remove Castro from power. The attack failed. A year later, the United States and Cuba clashed again. President Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles. In October 1962, he surrounded Cuba with U.S. Navy ships. The crisis damaged Khrushchev’s prestige in the Soviet Union and the world. Kennedy also endured criticism. Cuba was not Kennedy’s only foreign policy problem. In 1961, the president faced a growing problem in Berlin. The city was still divided. Khrushchev threatened to block all air and land routes into West Berlin. Kennedy warned the Soviet leader against such action. As a result, Khrushchev changed his plan. He built a large concrete barrier along the border between East and West Berlin. It was known as the Berlin Wall. It prevented any more East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin. Despite their battles, Kennedy and Khrushchev did attempt to reach agreements. They established a hot line between their two nations. The two leaders also agreed to a Limited Test Ban Treaty. This treaty barred nuclear testing in the atmosphere.

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Section 2: The New Frontier

President Kennedy called his domestic program the New Frontier. However, Kennedy had a difficult time getting Congress to support his program. One reason for Kennedy’s difficulties was that he was elected by a small margin. As a result, he lacked a popular mandate, or a clear indication that the voters approved of his plans. Kennedy did succeed with some proposals. Kennedy also introduced the Peace Corps. This was a program of volunteers working in poor nations around the world. Another program was the Alliance for Progress. This program gave aid to Latin American countries. One reason for this program was to keep communism from spreading to these countries. In 1961 the Soviets launched a person into orbit around the earth. The news stunned America. A space race began between the United States and Soviet Union. The space race affected American society in many ways. The Kennedy administration also tried to solve the problems of poverty and racism. On November 22, 1963, President and Mrs. Kennedy arrived in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy had come there to improve relations with the state’s Democratic Party. Then, rifle shots rang out. Kennedy had been shot. The president died about an hour later at a nearby hospital. The tragic news spread across the nation and then around the world. The assassination taught Americans that their system of government could survive an upset. Lyndon Johnson took office on Kennedy’s death and promised to carry on his programs.

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Section 1: Taking on Segregation

By 1950, most African Americans were still considered second-class citizens. During the 1950s, however, a civil rights movement began.

In several ways, World War II helped set the stage for this movement:
1. the demand for soldiers during the war had created a shortage of white male workers. This opened up many new jobs for African Americans.
2. bout 700,000 African Americans had served in the armed forces. These soldiers helped free Europe. Many returned from the war ready to fight for their own freedom.
3. during the war, President Franklin Roosevelt outlawed racial discrimination in all federal agencies and war-related companies.

World War II had given American blacks a taste of equality and respectability. When the war ended, many African Americans were more determined than ever to improve their status. Even before the civil rights movement began, African-American lawyers had been challenging racial discrimination in court. Some Southern communities refused to accept the Brown decision. In 1955, the Supreme Court handed down a second Brown ruling. It ordered schools to desegregate more quickly. The school desegregation issue reached a crisis in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas. School was just one place where African Americans challenged segregation. They also battled discrimination on city buses. The protesters looked for a person to lead the bus boycott. They chose Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the pastor of a Baptist Church. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached nonviolent resistance. King joined with other ministers and civil rights leaders in 1957. They formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). By 1960, another influential civil rights group emerged. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was formed mostly by college students. One protest strategy that SNCC (“snick”) used was the sit-in.

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Section 2: The Triumphs of a Crusade

Freedom Riders were protesters who rode buses with the goal of integrating buses and bus stations. Attorney General Robert Kennedy ordered a reluctant bus company to continue to carry the freedom riders. Civil rights workers soon turned their attention to integrating Southern schools. Another confrontation occurred in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. There, King and other civil rights leaders tried to desegregate the city. Many Americans witnessed the attacks on television. They were outraged by what they saw. The growing civil rights movement impressed President Kennedy. He became convinced that the nation needed a new civil rights law. Kennedy called on Congress to pass a sweeping civil rights bill. President Kennedy’s civil rights bill outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. It also gave the government more power to push for school desegregation. Civil rights leaders wanted Congress to pass the bill. So they staged a massive march on Washington, D.C. On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 blacks and whites marched into the nation’ s capital. There, they demanded the immediate passage of the bill. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to the crowd. He called for peace and racial harmony in his now-famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Several months later, President Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon Johnson became president. He won passage in Congress of Kennedy’ s Civil Rights Act of 1964. Civil rights activists next worked to gain voting rights for African Americans in the South. The voting project became known as Freedom Summer. Meanwhile, civil rights activists challenged Mississippi’s political structure. At the 1964 Democratic National Convention, SNCC organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). Civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer spoke for the MFDP at the convention. She gave an emotional speech. As a result, many Americans supported the seating of the MFDP delegates. In 1965, civil rights workers attempted a voting project in Selma, Alabama. They met with violent resistance. As a result, Martin Luther King, Jr. led a massive march through Alabama. President Johnson responded by asking Congress to pass a new voting rights act. Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The law eliminated state laws that had prevented African Americans from voting.