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The attack on Fort Sumter marked the official beginning of the American Civil War-a war that lasted four years, cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans, and freed 3.9 million enslaved people from bondage.

How it ended

Confederate victory. With supplies nearly exhausted and his troops outnumbered, Union major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to Brig. Gen. P.G.T Beauregard's Confederate forces. Major Anderson and his men were allowed to strike their colors, fire a 100-gun salute, and board a ship bound for New York, where they were greeted as heroes. Both the North and South immediately called for volunteers to mobilize for war.

In context

By 1861, the country had already experienced decades of short-lived but ultimately failed compromises concerning the expansion of slavery in the United States and its territories. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president of the United States in 1860-a man who declared "I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free"-threatened the culture and economy of southern slave states and served as a catalyst for secession. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the United States, and by February 2, 1861, six more states followed suit. Southern delegates met on February 4, 1861, in Montgomery, AL., and established the Confederate States of America, with Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis elected as its provisional president. Confederate militia forces began seizing United States forts and property throughout the south. With a lame-duck president in office, and a controversial president-elect poised to succeed him, the crisis approached a boiling point and exploded at Fort Sumter.

Before the Battle

In Charleston, the birthplace of secession, tempers are on edge. A delegation from the state goes to Washington, D.C., demanding the surrender of the Federal military installations in the new "independent republic of South Carolina." President James Buchanan refuses to comply. Charleston is the Confederacy's most important port on the Southeast coast. The harbor is defended by three federal forts: Sumter; Castle Pinckney, one mile off the city's Battery; and heavily armed Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island. Major Anderson's command is based at Fort Moultrie, but with its guns pointed out to sea, it cannot defend a land attack. On December 26, Charlestonians awake to discover that Anderson and his tiny garrison of 90 men have slipped away from Fort Moultrie to the more defensible Fort Sumter. For secessionists, Anderson's move is, as one Charlestonian wrote to a friend, "like casting a spark into a magazine,"

Adding to the major's concern is his dangerously dwindling store of supplies. On January 5, 1861, the Star of the West departs from New York with some 200 reinforcements and provisions for the Sumter garrison. As the ship approaches Charleston Harbor on January 9, cadets from the Citadel fire, forcing the crew to abandon its mission. On March 1, Jefferson Davis orders Brig. Gen P.G.T. Beauregard to take command of the growing southern forces in Charleston. On April 4, Lincoln informs southern delegates that he intends to attempt to resupply Fort Sumter, as its garrison is now critically in need. To South Carolinians, any attempt to reinforce Sumter means war. "Now the issue of battle is to be forced upon us," declared the Charleston Mercury. "We will meet the invader, and the God of Battles must decide the issue between the hostile hirelings of Abolition hate and Northern tyranny."

On April 9, Davis and the Confederate cabinet decide to "strike a blow!" Davis orders Beauregard to take Fort Sumter. The next day, three of Beauregard's aides sail to the fort and courteously demand the garrison's surrender. Anderson is equally courteous, but refuses: "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor, and of my obligations to my Government, prevent my compliance." He also informs the delegation that the garrison's supplies will only last until April 15.

During the Battle

April 12. At 4:30 a.m., a flaming mortar shot arcs into the air and explodes over Fort Sumter. On this signal, Confederate guns from fortifications and floating batteries around Charleston Harbor roar to life. Outmanned, outgunned, undersupplied, and nearly surrounded by enemy batteries, Anderson waits until around 7:00 a.m. to respond. Captain Abner Doubleday volunteers to fire the first cannon at the Confederates, a 32-pound shot that bounces off the roof of the Iron Battery on Cummings Point.

For nearly 36 hours the two sides keep up this unequal contest. A shell strikes the flagpole of Fort Sumter, and the American colors fall to the earth, only to be hoisted back up the hastily repaired pole. Confederates fire hotshot from Fort Moultrie into Fort Sumter. Buildings begin to burn within the fort. With no more resources, Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to Confederate forces.

April 13. At 2:30 p.m., Maj. Anderson and his men strike their colors and prepare to leave the fort. Sadly, the only casualties at Fort Sumter come during the 100-gun salute, when a round explodes prematurely, killing Pvt. Daniel Hough and mortally wounding another soldier. The attack is over, but the war had just begun.

Aftermath

Following the evacuation of Major Robert Anderson and his Federal garrison on the afternoon of April 14, 1861, Fort Sumter is occupied initially by Confederate troops of Company B of the First South Carolina Artillery Battalion and a volunteer company of the Palmetto Guard, a local militia unit. The fort remains in Confederate hands for the next four years until all Confederate forces evacuate Charleston on the evening of February 17, 1865.

Despite having surrendered, Anderson and his men are greeted as heroes when they disembark in New York. Capt. Abner Doubleday notes later that "all the passing steamers saluted us with their steam-whistles and bells, and cheer after cheer went up from the ferry boats and vessels in the harbor." Anderson's valor during the attack and commitment to duty are praised by the Union. Beauregard is also hailed for this first Confederate victory. He is later ordered to direct the troops at Bull Run.

Fort Sumter: Featured Resources

Related Battles

Charleston Harbor, SC | April 12, 1861

Result: Confederate Victory

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Early in the morning of April 12, 1861, Confederate guns around Charleston Harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter. The American Civil War was officially upon both the North and the South. A war that lasted four years and cost the lives of more than 620,000 Americans.

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President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the United States, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy (the Southern secessionist states) that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union (United States) military victory.

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom.

From the first days of the Civil War, slaves had acted to secure their own liberty. The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. As a milestone along the road to slavery's final destruction, the Emancipation Proclamation has assumed a place among the great documents of human freedom.

The original of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, is in the National Archives in Washington, DC. With the text covering five pages the document was originally tied with narrow red and blue ribbons, which were attached to the signature page by a wafered impression of the seal of the United States. Most of the ribbon remains; parts of the seal are still decipherable, but other parts have worn off.

The document was bound with other proclamations in a large volume preserved for many years by the Department of State. When it was prepared for binding, it was reinforced with strips along the center folds and then mounted on a still larger sheet of heavy paper. Written in red ink on the upper right-hand corner of this large sheet is the number of the Proclamation, 95, given to it by the Department of State long after it was signed. With other records, the volume containing the Emancipation Proclamation was transferred in 1936 from the Department of State to the National Archives of the United States.

The Emancipation Proclamation

Select Resources

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Enlarge The Emancipation Proclamation (page 1) Record Group 11 General Records of the United States View in National Archives Catalog Español President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war.

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The Battle of Gettysburg: 9 Reasons Why the Confederates Lost Part 1

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Concluding the Civil War

If you recall the Emancipation Proclamation, you might remember that one reason for the issuance of the proclamation was as a war strategy. The same can be said for President Abraham Lincoln's issuance of the Ten Percent Plan or, as it was officially known, the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. With the tide of the Civil War turning in favor of the Union due to the capture of several Confederate states, Lincoln pushed for the beginning of Reconstruction. His goal was to offer a merciful plan to those in rebellion in the hope of turning Confederates into Unionists, which would bring the war to an accelerated conclusion.

The Ten Percent Plan

Lincoln contended that Southern secession was technically illegal and should not be honored. He argued, instead, that rebels had seized Southern state governments and created a facade known as the Confederacy. It was his goal to reestablish control by creating pro-Union governments without dissuading white Southerners to return to the Union. It was a delicate process, and Lincoln knew he had to tread lightly.

Lincoln announced the terms of his Ten Percent Plan on December 8, 1863. The proclamation was threefold. First, Lincoln offered a presidential pardon and amnesty to any rebel who vowed loyalty to the United States and its laws involving slavery. This was not applicable to Confederate government officials or military officers. Second, when any state in rebellion had ten percent of its registered voters as of 1860 swear allegiance to the United States, a new state government could be formed and recognized by the Union. Finally, Lincoln encouraged states that returned to pro-Union rule to create policies in dealing with free blacks so long as they were not returned to bondage.

Ten Percent Plan in Action

For the time being, Lincoln's plan could only work in territories that were under Union control. Amazingly, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee quickly adopted the policies of the plan. By 1864, Arkansas and Louisiana had even abolished slavery without a Constitutional amendment! Both states also created governments that were loyal to the United States and established figureheads that supported a hasty end to the war.

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lincoln's ten percent plan: summary & history - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan: Summary & History - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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President Abraham Lincoln offered a lenient and attractive deal to rebelling Southerners in 1863. Learn how his Ten Percent Plan sought to offer...

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Plessy vs. Ferguson/End of Reconstruction

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Plessy vs. Ferguson/End of Reconstruction

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- [Kim] Long before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, Homer Plessy boarded a train car in New Orleans to protest Jim Crow segregation laws. Plessy was arrested and convicted in Louisiana, but his test case for segregated public transportation reached the Supreme Court in 1896. This is Kim from Khan Academy. And today, we're learning more about the landmark case, Plessy versus Ferguson, which asks whether separate but equal accommodations for Black and White Americans violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. To learn more about this case, I spoke with two experts. Jamal Greene is the Dwight Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Earl Maltz is a Distinguished Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School. So Professor Greene, could you kind of set the stage for us in this time period? After the Civil War, what was the legal and social status of former slaves? - [Jamal] Well, of course, the Civil War ended in 1865. And it was fought in large part over the institution of chattel slavery, so slavery of, generally speaking, Black or African American slaves. And right at the end of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment was passed. And the 13th Amendment basically said that there shouldn't be any slavery or involuntary servitude in the United States. So the institution of slavery itself had ended, but the passage of the 13th Amendment did not mean that former slaves had equal rights. A number of the former states of the Confederacy, the, generally speaking, Southern states, passed a number of racially discriminatory laws immediately after the end of slavery that prevented Black Americans from participating in civil society on equal terms with Whites. For example, laws restricting the ability of Blacks to enter into and enforce contracts, restricting the ability of Blacks to own property, to sit on juries, to vote, to testify in court, and so forth. So there were a number of openly discriminatory laws. There were also laws that required Blacks to be employed on pain of having their labor forced, so ways of essentially re-instituting the institution of slavery. - [Kim] And these were known as the Black Codes. - [Jamal] Those were known as the Black Codes, exactly. - [Earl] In the Reconstruction period between say the late 1860s and the mid 1870s, there was a concerted effort by the federal government to improve the social status and political rights of African Americans. In 1876, there was part of the settlement of the presidential election of 1876, the federal government drew back some. But most of the so-called Redeemer movement really took off in the 1890s. I think 1891 is when the last real effort is made by the federal government to have a serious Voting Rights Act. After that, the South is pretty much under control of the people who sympathized with ex-Confederates. - [Jamal] In both Northern and Southern states, there was widespread racial segregation. So there were laws that were basically codifying long-existing social practices of segregated housing, segregated schools, and segregated public conveyances like steamships and rail cars. But much of that changed in the years immediately following the Civil War. Congress passed a number of federal laws that banned racial discrimination, particularly in contracting and in housing. Quite significantly, in addition to the actual federal laws that Congress passed, the country passed and ratified the 14th Amendment. - [Kim] So I think one thing that is very hard for me to understand and that I've seen students struggle with is you have the passage of the 14th Amendment and the 15th Amendment in 1868, 1870. And these are supposed to guarantee equal protection and citizenship and voting rights for African Americans, specifically men in the 15th Amendment. And then, you have Jim Crow. So how did we get from this moment after the Civil War where things really seem like they're looking up in terms of African American citizenship to the system of Jim Crow that's going to persist into the 1960s and 70s. - [Jamal] The Civil War did not end racism. It simply ended slavery. And so, we're still living in a racist society in which residential and school segregation remained both in Southern states and in Northern states notwithstanding the Civil Rights Amendments. And in Southern states, Reconstruction, the process of trying to bring former slaves fully into civil society, was enforced by the presence of federal troops in Southern states on the theory, the very well-founded theory, that states that had just gone to war in order to perpetuate the institution of slavery were not going to willingly adopt equal rights for the former slaves that they had just been holding in bondage. And so, there was a federal military occupation of a number of former Confederate states for a good decade plus after the Civil War really ending in 1877. - [Earl] And at that point, again through the Redeemer movement, people who were the White power structure, most of which had sympathized with the Secessionist Movement, the White power structure and its successors took power back in the beginning and mid 1870s in the Southern states. And as part of their campaign, they imposed the Jim Crow system. - [Jamal] Slavery was not just about labor. It was really a system of racial hierarchy. And many in the United States remained committed to that system even after bondage itself ended. And if you don't have the political will within the Northern states to enforce the Reconstruction Amendments, you had really a retrenchment of deep racial inequality within the Southern states, but not just within the Southern states, but also within a number of Northern states as well. - [Kim] So let's kind of dial into the case Plessy versus Ferguson. Who was Homer Plessy? And why did he take issue with segregation? - [Earl] Well the law that was at issue required what was in theory separate but equal accommodation of African Americans and Whites on public transportation. Homer Plessy objected to it because A, the facilities weren't really equal. And he objected to it in part because he was classified as Black, but also in general because he thought that that was demeaning. Obviously, a majority of members of the Supreme Court believed that the Southern states should have at least some leeway and to establish their the system of racial segregation. - [Jamal] And so, Plessy was in league with the railroad and with the civil rights organization that recruited him to set up a case. So he agreed with the railroad to board the White area of the railway car on a car going from New Orleans to a town called Covington. And it was agreed that the railway would ask him to leave. He would refuse. And then, he would be arrested. And once he was arrested, that would enable him to challenge the law under which he was arrested under the Constitution. The railroads didn't like this law. They didn't like this law because they didn't want to be subject to fines or liability for not properly maintaining separate cars. It was really up to the conductors to make sure that separate cars were maintained. And the conductors themselves could be fined by the state for not doing so. And they could also be fined by passengers for mistakenly putting someone in the wrong car. So the railroads didn't really wanna be bothered with this kind of law. And so, this particular railroad, Eastern Railway, was willing to agree to set up a situation to challenge the law. - [Kim] So Homer Plessy, he gets on this train and he challenges the statute. I believe he sat in a Whites-only car and announced that he was African American. And then, he was arrested. So what happened next? - [Jamal] He's arrested. And then, he is eventually charged with a crime, with a violation of the statute. And there's a fine associated with violating the state law. And his lawyers bring a claim that the law violates the Federal Constitution. So initially, it goes through the state courts of Louisiana. And then eventually, they rule against Homer Plessy in favor of the law. And then, his lawyers appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. - [Kim] So how did the court rule? - [Jamal] In the years leading up to the case, the lawyers for Homer Plessy were quite concerned about the composition of the court because they weren't sure if they could count five votes in favor of Black civil rights. Because none of the justices on the court were considered to be particularly friends of Black Americans. - [Earl] In the civil rights cases in 1883, the court had already held that Congress lacked authority to prohibit segregation in public accommodations, which meant they viewed public accommodations as something fairly private rather than a civil right, a quasi-governmental right or a quasi-public right. And that's one of the big distinctions between the majority and the dissent in both the civil rights cases and in Plessy versus Ferguson. The court ruled that in fact that so long as the state of Louisiana maintained separate but equal facilities, they could do that, that that was not prohibited by the 14th Amendment. - [Jamal] The Supreme Court in 1896 rules seven to one that the Separate Car Act is constitutional. So a state is allowed to segregate its public conveyances, including rail cars, by race. The court denies that the Separate Car Act violates the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. What the court basically says is: look, the law says the railway cars have to be equal, even if they're separate. And all the 14th Amendment requires is that basic equality in civil rights. - [Earl] John Marshall Harlan, of course, dissented from that. I think that it's important to understand what was the actual nature of Harlan's dissent rather than the way that it is actually portrayed. Harlan is famous talking about the colorblind Constitution, but in fact, what he says is: "With respect to civil rights common to all citizens," I don't have the exact language before me, "that the Constitution which required to be colorblind." So one of the big distinctions between the majority and the dissent is that Harlan does in fact believe that the right to use public transportation counted as a civil right, and therefore, was protected against segregation by Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. I wanna make that point because it's pretty clear that Harlan believed, for example, that maintenance of segregated schools would be constitutional. And it's also true that Harlan voted for to say that miscegenation laws were constitutional. - [Jamal] The dissenting judge, Justice Harlan himself a former supporter of slavery, who changed his views and eventually became known as a champion of Black civil rights. So Justice Harlan, the lone dissenter, one of the only Southern judges on the court. But the others were basically Northern, both Republican and Democrat. They didn't have strong views about race. They didn't have unusually strong views about race for their time. And they maintained this distinction between social and civil rights. It's important to understand in trying to understand the context of Plessy versus Ferguson that the Supreme Court used to distinguish between what it called civil rights and what it called social rights. Civil rights were basically rights to participate in civil society, and included rights like the right to enter into contracts, the right to buy property, the right to testify in court. The court understood social rights as something very different from that, which is really the right to do all of those things in the company of people of a different race. - [Kim] That's fascinating. So what was the effect of this ruling in Plessy versus Ferguson? - [Earl] There are two ways that you could look at it. That until 1954, the effect of the ruling was to say that the state governments were allowed to segregate their citizenry on the basis of race. That's one way you could look at it. Now one of the interesting questions is how much difference it would have made given the sort of culture of the Southern states even if the court had held that it was unconstitutional for the state to formally require segregation among the races. That is, that there were a lot of informal pressures which would have pushed toward segregation even if the court had said that the statute was unconstitutional. But we'll never know that. So in other words, the question in Plessy is not whether the federal government was going to mandate segregation, but rather whether the federal government was simply going to leave the states and their citizenry to their own devices in determining whether to segregate their public transportation and some other thing. - [Kim] So this concept of separate but equal is I think the most important thing that comes out of Plessy versus Ferguson, and then later will be at issue in the 20th century. So was separate ever equal in theory or in practice? - [Jamal] It was very clear at the time. And Justice Harlan says so in his dissenting opinion in Plessy that the practice of separating railway cars or any number of other public accommodations by race was not designed for the comfort of Black Americans. It was designed in order to maintain their social inferiority through legal institutions. So once you no longer have the institution of slavery, there was a felt need among many in the South to maintain the system of social relations that slavery represented. And that's what Jim Crow was all about. And everyone knew that's what Jim Crow was all about. So Jim Crow was really kind of in its infancy when Plessy versus Ferguson was decided. Laws that prevented Blacks from voting through a number of literacy requirements and property requirements and good character requirements and so forth, those kinds of laws were very much in their infancy at the time Plessy versus Ferguson was decided. And so, the whole system of segregation is really revving up in the 1890s. And the court just gives it carte blanche to continue after that. And it's important to remember that as of the 1890s, the Supreme Court had not admitted to ever having reversed one of its own decisions. Whereas your Plessy case was quite clear about this. The assumption was that once the court ruled, it was going to be an awfully long time before you could get the court to reverse itself. And that's in fact what happened. So the court does not reverse Plessy versus Ferguson until Brown versus Board of Education in 1954. And so, you had an almost 60-year period in which practices of institutionalized segregation had the blessing of the Supreme Court. - [Kim] So we've learned that in Plessy versus Ferguson, the Supreme Court took a narrow view of the Equal Protection Clause, ruling that separate but equal accommodations for White and Black Americans did not violate the 14th Amendment. Earl Maltz suggests that it's difficult to tell if a different outcome in Plessy versus Ferguson would have made much difference in the actions of Southern states if there was no political will to enforce integration anyway. Jamal Greene, by contrast, reminds us that segregation was just getting started at the time of the Plessy case. And this ruling by the court legitimized Jim Crow laws that would continue to spread for nearly 60 years. To learn more about Plessy versus Ferguson, check out the National Constitution Center's Interactive Constitution in Khan Academy's resources on U.S. government and history.

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Plessy v. Ferguson (video) | Khan Academy

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Plessy v. Ferguson was an 1896 Supreme Court case concerning whether "separate but equal" railway cars for black and white Americans violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In this video, Kim discusses the case with scholars Jamal Greene and Earl Maltz. To read more about constitutional law, visit the National Constitution Center.

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Sutter's Mill

On January 24, 1848, James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, found flakes of gold in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma, California.

At the time, Marshall was working to build a water-powered sawmill owned by John Sutter, a German-born Swiss citizen and founder of a colony of Nueva Helvetia (New Switzerland, which would later become the city of Sacramento). As Marshall later recalled of his historic discovery: "It made my heart thump, for I was certain it was gold."

Did you know? Miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold during the California Gold Rush.

Days after Marshall's discovery at Sutter's Mill, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War and leaving California in the hands of the United States-a remarkable twist of fate with important ramifications for an America eager for westward expansion.

At the time, the population of the territory consisted of 6,500 Californios (people of Spanish or Mexican descent); 700 foreigners (primarily Americans); and 150,000 Native Americans (barely half the number that had been there when Spanish settlers arrived in 1769).

Sutter, in fact, had enslaved hundreds of Native Americans and used them as a free source of labor and makeshift militia to defend his territory and expand his empire.

Gold Fever Strikes

Though Marshall and Sutter tried to keep news of the discovery under wraps, word got out, and by mid-March at least one newspaper was reporting that large quantities of gold were being turned up at Sutter's Mill. Though the initial reaction in San Francisco was disbelief, storekeeper Sam Brannan set off a frenzy when he paraded through town displaying a vial of gold obtained from Sutter's Creek.

By mid-June, shops and businesses stood empty, as some three-quarters of the male population of San Francisco had abandoned the city for the gold mines, and the number of miners in the area ballooned to some 4,000 by August.

As news reports-many wildly overblown-of the easy fortunes being made in California spread worldwide, some of the first migrants to arrive were those from lands accessible by boat, such as Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii), Mexico, Chile, Peru and China.

Polk Spreads Gold Fever

When the news reached the East Coast, press reports were initially skeptical. Gold fever kicked off nationwide in earnest, however, after December 1848, when President James K. Polk announced the positive results of a report made by Colonel Richard Mason, California's military governor, in his inaugural address.

As Polk wrote, "The accounts of abundance of gold are of such an extraordinary character as would scarcely command belief were they not corroborated by the authentic reports of officers in the public service."

The '49ers Come to California

Throughout 1849, people around the United States (mostly men) with gold fever borrowed money, mortgaged their property or spent their life savings to make the arduous journey to California. In pursuit of the kind of wealth they had never dreamed of, they left their families and hometowns. In turn, women left behind took on new responsibilities such as running farms or businesses and caring for their children alone.

Thousands of would-be gold miners, known as 49ers for the year they arrived, traveled overland across the mountains or by sea, sailing to Panama or even around Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America.

By the end of the year, the non-native population of California was estimated at 100,000, (as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848). To accommodate the needs of the 49ers, gold mining towns had sprung up all over the region, complete with shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses seeking to make their own Gold Rush fortune.

The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps and towns grew ever more lawless, including rampant banditry, gambling, alcoholism, prostitution and violence. San Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central metropolis of the new frontier.

Gold Rush Politics

The Gold Rush undoubtedly sped up California's admission to the Union as the 31st state. In late 1849, California applied to enter the Union with a constitution that barred the Southern system of racial slavery, provoking a crisis in Congress between proponents of slavery and anti-slavery politicians.

According to the Compromise of 1850, proposed by Kentucky's Senator Henry Clay, California was allowed to enter as a free state, while the territories of Utah and New Mexico were left to decide the legal status of slavery for themselves.

California's Mines

After 1850, the surface gold in California largely disappeared, even as miners continued to arrive. Mining had always been difficult and dangerous labor, and striking it rich required good luck as much as skill and hard work. Moreover, the average daily take for an independent miner working with his pick and shovel had by then sharply decreased from what it had been in 1848.

As gold became more and more difficult to reach, the growing industrialization of mining drove more and more miners from independence into wage labor. The new technique of hydraulic mining, developed in 1853, brought enormous profits but destroyed much of the region's landscape.

Though gold mining continued throughout the 1850s, it had reached its peak by 1852, when some $81 million was pulled from the ground. After that year, the total take declined gradually, leveling off to around $45 million per year by 1857. Settlement in California continued, however, and by the end of the decade the state's population was 380,000.

Impact of the Gold Rush

New mining methods and the population boom in the wake of the California Gold Rush permanently altered the landscape of California. The technique of hydraulic mining brought enormous profits but destroyed much of the region's landscape.

Dams designed to supply water to mine sites in summer altered the course of rivers away from farmland, while sediment from mines clogged others. The logging industry in the area was born from the need to construct extensive canals and feed boilers at mines, further consuming natural resources.

In 1884, hydraulic mining was outlawed by court order, and soon agriculture became the dominant industry in California, and it remains so today. While a few mines and Gold Rush towns remain, much of the heritage of that era is preserved at places such as Bodie State Historic Park, a decaying ghost town, and at Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, where Sutter's Mill once stood.

Sources

Environmental Impact of the Gold Rush. Calisphere.org.
After the Gold Rush. National Geographic.

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Gold Rush: California, Date & Sutter's Mill - HISTORY

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The Gold Rush in California started in 1848 after gold was found at Sutter's Mill. Within a year, hundreds of thousands of 49ers seeking fortune poured into the state.

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The homestead act was passed May 20, 1862. This act allowed for US citizens to get 160 acres of land out in the west for free. They had to be adults of course, and they also had to have been loyal to...

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Memories of Migration - The Navajo Long Walk

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The Tragedy of Wounded Knee (The Ghost Dance)

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Fort Sumter https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-sumter
Emancipation Proclamation https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation
Battle of GettysBurg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XalWPWbrhM8
Appomattox Courthouse  https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjB7MLK5sDeAhVM54MKHR6vAVcQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FBattle_of_Appomattox_Court_House&psig=AOvVaw03hIwRMQivGnfKb6V9Ryu_&ust=1541629236701661

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Ten Percent Plan https://study.com/academy/lesson/lincolns-ten-percent-plan-summary-lesson-quiz.html
Amendments
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politicalscience/chapter/slavery-and-civil-rights/
Wade Davis Bill https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timetoast.com%2Ftimelines%2Fvoting-rights-timeline-9ce670e0-a7fb-484e-bd05-57f0f34a45a3&psig=AOvVaw3JQgQTRYe_nHwPEZJvg8QX&ust=1541692866419053
4.https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/LwpBqzykZAUlGXw7n48UMPWxmmGe2fO6LDFhYSl9D-UTZ3XMGb_Rezs-9m0OhuNTZRHxvkKJT-UqzRfiY3XEOJ6ToN388w6wpg=w1366-h610

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The Gold Rush https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/gold-rush-of-1849
Homestead & Moril Act https://into-the-westah1.weebly.com/homestead-act-and-morrill-land.html
Long Walk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUq17gP-OLs
Massacre at Wounded Knee https://youtu.be/0EdRT56WK7Q

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Sir Henry Bessemer was a prominent British engineer, inventor and entrepreneur.

He developed the first cost-efficient process for the manufacture of steel in 1856, which later led to the invention of the Bessemer converter.

Early Life and Education:

Born in Charlton, Hertfordshire on January 19, 1813, Henry Bessemer's father, Anthony Bessemer, was an engineer and inventor, who was also appointed a member of the French Academy of Science, for making amendments to the optical microscope.

Bessemer was mostly self-taught and exhibited extraordinary inventive skills since childhood. He learnt metallurgy at his father's type foundry, helping in the production of gold chains.

Contributions and Achievements:

Henry Bessemer's early invention of a group of six steam-powered machines for manufacturing bronze powder gained him wealth and fame. He also made other inventions in his early days, including an advanced sugarcane-crushing machine.

Bessemer is best known for devising a steel production process that inspired the Industrial Revolution. It was the first cost-efficient industrial process for large scale production of steel from molten pig iron by taking out impurities from pig iron using an air blast. Bessemer's process still continues to inspire the production of modern steel.

The Royal Society of London elected Bessemer into fellowship in 1877. Two years later, in 1879, he was knighted. Throughout his career, he registered more than 110 patents.

Later Life and Death:

Henry Bessemer continued his research and made several inventions in the later years of his life. He died on March 15, 1898 in London. Bessemer was 85 years old.

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Sir Henry Bessemer was a prominent British engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He developed the first cost-efficient process for the manufacture of steel in 1856, which later led to the invention of the Bessemer converter. Advertisements Early Life and Education: Born in Charlton, Hertfordshire on January 19, 1813, Henry Bessemer's father, Anthony Bessemer, was an engineer [...]

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Inventions Light Bulb, Telephone, Automobile, and Airplane 

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Inventions Light Bulb, Telephone, Automobile, and Airplane 

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Some of the inventions and changes during the late 19th century and early 20th century were never within any stretch of imagination of people at that time. Fecund imaginations and useful knowledge represented the industrial revolution. New scientific and technical knowledge was applied in the industrial sector and the scientist unleashed the practical applications and conjured up tricks that were hidden in science. It can be said that the technological revolution (second industrial revolution) fulfilled the limitations of the first revolution. Before the technological revolution, people used to manufacture things using basic hand tools in their houses. But after that, they shifted to advanced powered machinery, and mass productions. This revolution brought up variety of goods in big volumes and increased the industry's growth to unprecedented levels. Germany and the United States captured the markets and occupied superior ranks in the world economy. By the end of the 19th century, they were challenging Great Britain in the world market for industrial goods.
Significant Inventions During the Technological Revolution
Transportation Revolution
It was one of the significant revolutions that took place during this time. It transformed the way people lived, traveled and worked. Invention of steam engine and internal combustion engine in the 19th century radically modified the transfer of goods and passengers. Adding to it, the advent of automobile and airplanes in the 20th century caused exponential growth in transportation and further revolutionized it.

Automobile: In 1885, Karl Benz's Motorwagen, powered by internal combustion engine was the first automobile that was invented. It was improvised by Henry Ford and with his marketing skills, the automobile was not far from the reach of people. The automobile's effect was huge among the people and everybody started to buy it. Also, the automobile industry contributed significant amount to the country's economic growth.

Transcontinental Railroads: During 1869, transcontinental railroad was built in the United States of America by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad. It links the United States from east to west.

Model T Ford: Model T is an automobile built in 1908, by Ford motor company. The car was very popular during those times and it was affordable to middle class people also. The assembly line innovation of the Ford company made the car very popular among Americans.

Airplane: Humankind has always dreamed of taking to the sky with inspirations from Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine and mythical wax wings of Daedalus and Icarus. In 1903, two American brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright converted the dreams into reality by building the first real flying machine called 'Airplane'. Their attempt zapped the people and the 20th century witnessed the most influential growth in transportation.

Communication Revolution
During the 19th century, a series of technological innovations dramatically altered the way of communication, trade, business and exchanging ideas in the world.

Telephone: In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, invented a device called Telephone. His experiments with sound, in order to make the deaf communicate, lead to the invention of telephone. Telephone plays an indispensable role in our lives. Even though, cell phones try to replace telephone these days, the revolutionist Alexander Graham Bell of the 19th century was the pioneer and the revolution he made, took the world to an unimaginable phase.

Transatlantic Signal: In 1901, Marconi demonstrated the first transatlantic signal using Morse Code and Wireless Telegraphy. Wireless telegraphy was invented and widely used in ships for communication, by sending and receiving signals. During 1912, Titanic ship sent distress calls for its rescue to the nearby ships using transatlantic signals from the sea. In 1906, the first human voice signal was transmitted through radio transmissions using the airwaves by Marconi.

Phonograph: In 1877, Thomas Alva Edison invented Phonograph. It is a machine in which rotating records cause a stylus to vibrate and the vibrations are amplified acoustically and electronically.
Military Revolution
Gatling Gun: Richard Gatling, an American inventor invented the Gatling Gun in 1862. This was the first automated machine gun. It spawned a new range of automatic weapons that would go on to become one of the most important in several battles, including the American Civil War and the World Wars.

Torpedo: In 1866, Robert Whitehead, an English engineer, produced the first self-propelled underwater missile. Since then, torpedoes haven't deviated much from the original design made by Whitehead.

Steel Revolution
In 1850s, a process called 'Bessemer process' was developed for the production of steel. The key principle of this process is, removal of impurities from iron by oxidation, in a furnace. The process was widely used in industries and the cost of steel decreased to lower numbers. Mostly iron was used to construct buildings, ships and bridges. But after the revolution, manufacturers and constructors moved to steel.

Electric Power Revolution
In 1870, carbon filament lamp was developed by Sir Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison. This bulb is similar to the electric bulb which we use today. These two scientists combined together and formed a joint company called Swan and Edison. This company produced the first electric bulb. Using Faraday's principle, electric motor was constructed in 1870. From then, electric motor was accepted as a driving force in transportation industries. Later in 1888, induction electric motor was invented by Nikola Tesla.

The innovations and inventions of the technological revolution are the contributory factors for the modern life that we live today. The scientists and people who made those revolutions are well-thought-of even now, for their altruistic dispositions and intelligence. The technological revolution has increased the standard of our living and still continues to drive our economy.

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Very Important Inventions of the Second Industrial Revolution

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The radical and profound changes in political structure, economic relations and technical developments can be termed as 'Revolution'. Many machines were devised, and significant advances were made in production sectors during second industrial revolution. Let's know about the inventions that caused the revolution through this article.

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The Gilded Age, Robber Barons, & The Rise of Big Business: BRI's AP U.S. History Exam Study Guide

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Second Industrial Revolution https://www.famousscientists.org/henry-bessemer/
Inventions
https://historyplex.com/important-inventions-of-second-industrial-revolution
The Rise of Big Business https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uZiESiaa-U
The Rise of Labor Movement https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiAgtfYnqffAhUlq4MKHde2DbEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Faflcio.org%2Fabout%2Fhistory&psig=AOvVaw361QiS4mMirCsQzNsVPyjV&ust=1545148983446325

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American Imperialism  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5knf_dSzWI
Immigration and Growth of Cities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRhjqqe750A
Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform http://www.crf-usa.org/election-central/the-progressives.html
Women's Rights
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjfj-KOpaffAhUD2oMKHbdSBuoQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgirltalkhq.com%2Fhappy-165th-birthday-womens-rights-movement%2F&psig=AOvVaw1Y4lqqEzvom4_bKRjArvgl&ust=1545150713141043

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Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform

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Political Corruption and Progressive Government Reform

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The Progressives - Constitutional Rights Foundation

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The 1890's are often viewed today as a happy time period when Americans lived uncomplicated lives with few problems to worry about. But, time has a way of covering up the negative and the ugly.

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Litigating for Equality After World War II

Post-WWI civil rights were expanded through court rulings such as Brown v. Board of Edu cation (1954), which helped integrate public schools.

Learning Objectives

Describe the decision in Brown v. Board of Education

Key Takeaways

Key Points

The period after World War II saw a great expansion in Civil Rights. This was achieved through a diversity of tactics including ongoing litigation.

The best know case from this period is Brown v. Board of Education (1954), a Supreme Court case in which justices unanimously decided to reverse the principle of separate but equal. The decision led to the legal integration of public schools.

While Brown v. Board of Education paved the way for integration in schools and other spheres of life, not everyone supported this decision. Many white people in southern states protested against integration and legislators thought up creative ways to get around the ruling.

Key Terms

Brown v. Board of Education:

"Separate but Equal": A legal doctrine in United States constitutional law that justified systems of segregation. Under this doctrine, services, facilities and public accommodations were allowed to be separated by race, on the condition that the quality of each group's public facilities was to remain equal.

Litigating for Equality after World War II

The period after World War II saw a great expansion in civil rights. This was achieved through a diversity of tactics including ongoing litigation.

The best know case from this period is Brown v. Board of Education (1954), a Supreme Court case in which justices unanimously decided to reverse the principle of separate but equal. The decision led to the legal integration of public schools.

Brown v. Board of Education was a collection of cases that had been filed on the issue of school segregation from Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina and Washington DC. Each case was brought forward through NAACP local chapters. In each case except for Delaware, local courts had upheld the legality of segregation. The states represented a diversity of situations ranging from required school segregation to optional school segregation.

Segregation as Unconstitutional

Rather than focusing on whether or not segregated schools were equal, the Supreme Court ruling focused on the question of whether a doctrine of separate could ever be said to be equal. The judges ' ruling hinged on an interpretation that took separate as unconstitutional particularly because "Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. "

School Integration and Resistance

Brown v. Board of Education paved the way for integration in schools and other spheres of life, but not everyone supported this decision. Many white people in southern states protested integration, and legislators thought up creative ways to get around the ruling. This case was just one step on the road to providing full civil liberties for all people living in the United States.

Licenses and Attributions

CC licensed content, Shared previously

CC licensed content, Specific attribution

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Post-WWI civil rights were expanded through court rulings such as Brown v. Board of Edu cation (1954), which helped integrate public schools. Describe the decision in Brown v. Board of Education Key Points The period after World War II saw a great expansion in Civil Rights.

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Black Tuesday/ The Stock Market Crash of 1929

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Black Tuesday/ The Stock Market Crash of 1929

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Stock Market Crash: 1929 & Black Tuesday | HISTORY

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The Stock Market Crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression, as some 16 million shares were traded on Black Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1929, wiping out many investors.

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Business Cycle/Causes of the Great Depression

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Business Cycle/Causes of the Great Depression

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Start at 1:40

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Roosevelt's New Deal/Plan for Ending the Great Depression

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Roosevelt's New Deal/Plan for Ending the Great Depression

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Did New Deal Programs Help End the Great Depression?

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While the New Deal did have a lasting impact on the U.S. economy, other significant factors contributed toward ending the Great Depression by June 1938.

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The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930s

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The Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe in the 1930s

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December 7, 1941: A Day That Will Live in Infamy
America's isolation from war ended on December 7, 1941, when Japan staged a surprise attack on American military installations in the Pacific. The most devastating strike came at Pearl Harbor, the Hawaiian naval base where much of the US Pacific Fleet was moored. In a two-hour attack, Japanese warplanes sank or damaged 18 warships and destroyed 164 aircraft. Over 2,400 servicemen and civilians lost their lives.
America's Reaction
"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."
-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941

Though stunned by the events of December 7, Americans were also resolute. On December 8, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war against Japan. The declaration passed with just one dissenting vote. Three days later, Germany and Italy, allied with Japan, declared war on the United States. America was now drawn into a global war. It had allies in this fight--most importantly Great Britain and the Soviet Union. But the job the nation faced in December 1941 was formidable.

Joining the Military

The United States faced a mammoth job in December 1941. Ill-equipped and wounded, the nation was at war with three formidable adversaries. It had to prepare to fight on two distant and very different fronts, Europe and the Pacific.

America needed to quickly raise, train, and outfit a vast military force. At the same time, it had to find a way to provide material aid to its hard-pressed allies in Great Britain and the Soviet Union.

Meeting these challenges would require massive government spending, conversion of existing industries to wartime production, construction of huge new factories, changes in consumption, and restrictions on many aspects of American life. Government, industry, and labor would need to cooperate. Contributions from all Americans, young and old, men and women, would be necessary to build up what President Roosevelt called the "Arsenal of Democracy."

In the months after Pearl Harbor, the nation swiftly mobilized its human and material resources for war. The opportunities and sacrifices of wartime would change America in profound, and sometimes unexpected, ways.
Recruitment
The primary task facing America in 1941 was raising and training a credible military force. Concern over the threat of war had spurred President Roosevelt and Congress to approve the nation's first peacetime military draft in September 1940. By December 1941 America's military had grown to nearly 2.2 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.

America's armed forces consisted largely of "citizen soldiers",men and women drawn from civilian life. They came from every state in the nation and all economic and social strata. Many were volunteers, but the majority,roughly 10 million,entered the military through the draft. Most draftees were assigned to the army. The other services attracted enough volunteers at first, but eventually their ranks also included draftees.
Barracks Life
Upon their arrival at the training camps, inductees were stripped of the freedom and individuality they had enjoyed as civilians. They had to adapt to an entirely new way of living, one that involved routine inspections and strict military conduct, as well as rigorous physical and combat training. They were given identical haircuts, uniforms, and equipment, and were assigned to spartan barracks that afforded no privacy and little room for personal possessions.
The Draft
By late 1942 all men aged 18 to 64 were required to register for the draft, though in practice the system concentrated on men under 38. Eventually 36 million men registered. Individuals were selected from this manpower pool for examination by one of over 6,000 local draft boards. These boards, comprised of citizens from individual communities, determined if a man was fit to enter the military. They considered factors like the importance of a man's occupation to the war effort, his health, and his family situation. Many men volunteered rather than wait to be drafted. That way, they could choose their branch of service.

Potential servicemen reported to military induction centers to undergo physical and psychiatric examinations. If a man passed these exams, he was fingerprinted and asked which type of service he preferred, though his assignment would be based on the military's needs. After signing his induction papers, he was issued a serial number. The final step was the administration of the oath. He was now in the military. After a short furlough, he reported to a reception center before being shipped to a training camp. New recruits faced more medical examinations, inoculations, and aptitude tests.
Training
The training camp was the forge in which civilians began to become military men and women. In the training camps new servicemen and women underwent rigorous physical conditioning. They were drilled in the basic elements of military life and trained to work as part of a team. They learned to operate and maintain weapons. They took tests to determine their talents and were taught more specialized skills. Paratroopers, antiaircraft teams, desert troops, and other unique units received additional instruction at special training centers.

The Home Front

"I need not repeat the figures. The facts speak for themselves.... These men could not have been armed and equipped as they are had it not been for the miracle of production here at home. The production which has flowed from the country to all the battlefronts of the world has been due to the efforts of American business, American labor, and American farmers, working together as a patriotic team."
--President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Navy Day speech, October 27, 1944

Raising an armed force was just part of America's war effort. That force had to be supplied with the uniforms, guns, tanks, ships, warplanes, and other weapons and equipment needed to fight. With its vast human and material resources, the United States had the potential to supply both itself and its allies. But first the American economy had to be converted to war production.

The war production effort brought immense changes to American life. As millions of men and women entered the service and production boomed, unemployment virtually disappeared. The need for labor opened up new opportunities for women and African Americans and other minorities. Millions of Americans left home to take jobs in war plants that sprang up around the nation. Economic output skyrocketed.

The war effort on the "Home Front" required sacrifices and cooperation. "Don't you know there's a war on?" was a common expression. Rationing became part of everyday life. Americans learned to conserve vital resources. They lived with price controls, dealt with shortages of everything from nylons to housing, and volunteered for jobs ranging from air raid warden to Red Cross worker.

Rationing and Recycling

"Food for Victory"
To conserve and produce more food, a "Food for Victory" campaign was launched. Eating leftovers became a patriotic duty and civilians were urged to grow their own vegetables and fruits. Millions of "Victory gardens," planted and maintained by ordinary citizens, appeared in backyards, vacant lots, and public parks. They produced over 1 billion tons of food. Americans canned food at home and consulted "Victory cookbooks" for recipes and tips to make the most of rationed goods.

"Make It Do or Do Without"
War production created shortages of critical supplies. To overcome these shortages, war planners searched for substitutes. One key metal in limited supply was copper. It was used in many war-related products, including assault wire. The military needed millions of miles of this wire to communicate on battlefields.

To satisfy the military's demands, copper substitutes had to be found to use in products less important to the nation's defense. The US Mint helped solve the copper shortage. During 1943 it made pennies out of steel. The Mint also conserved nickel, another important metal, by removing it from 5-cent coins. Substitutions like these helped win the production battle.

"Do With Less, So They'll Have More"
The military needed more than guns and ammunition to do its job. It had to be fed. The Army's standard K ration included chocolate bars, which were produced in huge numbers. Cocoa production was increased to make this possible.

Sugar was another ingredient in chocolate. It was also used in chewing gum, another part of the K ration. Sugar cane was needed to produce gunpowder, dynamite, and other chemical products.

To satisfy the military's needs, sugar was rationed to civilians. The government also rationed other foods, including meat and coffee. Local rationing boards issued coupons to consumers that entitled them to a limited supply of rationed items.

"Save Waste Fat for Explosives"
Ammunition for rifles, artillery, mortars, and other weapons was one of the most important manufacturing priorities of World War II. A key ingredient needed to make the explosives in much ammunition was glycerine.

To help produce more ammunition, Americans were encouraged to save household waste fat, which was used to make glycerine. Other household goods,including rags, paper, silk, and string,were also recycled. This was a home front project that all Americans could join.

Salvage for Victory

Canteens are a standard part of military equipment. Millions were produced during the war. Most were made of steel or aluminum, metals which were also used to make everything from ammunition to ships. At times, both metals were in short supply.

To meet America's metal needs, scrap was salvaged from basements, backyards, and attics. Old cars, bed frames, radiators, pots, and pipes were just some of the items gathered at metal "scrap drives" around the nation. Americans also collected rubber, tin, nylon, and paper at salvage drives.

"Share Your Cars and Spare Your Tires"
America's military needed millions of tires for jeeps, trucks, and other vehicles. Tires required rubber. Rubber was also used to produce tanks and planes. But when Japan invaded Southeast Asia, the United States was cut off from one of its chief sources of this critical raw product.

America overcame its rubber shortage in several ways. Speed limits and gas rationing forced people to limit their driving. This reduced wear and tear on tires. A synthetic rubber industry was created. The public also carpooled and contributed rubber scrap for recycling.

Dollars for Defense
To help pay for the war, the government increased corporate and personal income taxes. The federal income tax entered the lives of many Americans. In 1939 fewer than 8 million people filed individual income tax returns. In 1945 nearly 50 million filed. The withholding system of payroll deductions was another wartime development. The government also borrowed money by selling "war bonds" to the public. With consumer goods in short supply, Americans put much of their money into bonds and savings accounts.

Mobilizing the Economy

America's economy performed astonishing feats during World War II. Manufacturers retooled their plants to produce war goods. But this alone was not enough. Soon huge new factories, built with government and private funds, appeared around the nation. Millions of new jobs were created and millions of Americans moved to new communities to fill them. Annual economic production, as measured by the Gross National Product (GNP), more than doubled, rising from $99.7 billion in 1940 to nearly $212 billion in 1945.

Production Miracles In industry after industry Americans performed production miracles. One story helps capture the scale of the defense effort. In 1940 President Roosevelt shocked Congress when he proposed building 50,000 aircraft a year. In 1944 the nation made almost double that number. Ford's massive Willow Run bomber factory alone produced nearly one plane an hour by March 1944.

To achieve increases like this, defense spending jumped from $1.5 billion in 1940 to $81.5 billion in 1945. By 1944 America led the world in arms production, making more than enough to fill its military needs. At the same time, the United States was providing its allies in Great Britain and the Soviet Union with critically needed supplies.

Civilian Defense
Many Americans volunteered to defend the nation from enemy bombing or invasion. They trained in first aid, aircraft spotting, bomb removal, and fire fighting. Air raid wardens led practice drills, including blackouts. By mid-1942 over 10 million Americans were civil defense volunteers.

Though America's mainland was never invaded, there were dangers offshore. Several Japanese submarines were spotted near the Pacific coast, and German U-boats patrolled the Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. At least 10 US naval vessels were sunk or damaged by U-boats operating in American waters.

A Workforce Changed by War: Unemployment Disappears
The war virtually ended unemployment in America. The need for workers led manufacturers to hire women, teenagers, the aged, and minorities previously excluded by discrimination from sectors of the economy. Plentiful overtime work contributed to rising wages and increased savings.

Military and economic expansion created labor shortages. To fill the gap, government and industry encouraged women to enter the workforce. Though most working women continued to labor in more traditional employment like waitressing and teaching, millions took better-paid jobs in defense factories.

African Americans and other minorities also took high-paying industrial jobs previously reserved for whites. In 1941, black labor leader A. Philip Randolph threatened to organize a protest march on Washington, D.C. if the government didn't bar racial discrimination in defense plants with government contracts. Faced with this threat, President Roosevelt banned such discrimination and created the Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC) to investigate bias charges.

Millions of women, including many mothers, entered the industrial workforce during the war. They found jobs in especially large numbers in the shipbuilding and aircraft industries. "Rosie the Riveter" became a popular symbol of patriotic womanhood. Though defense jobs paid far more than traditional "female" occupations, women were still often paid less than men performing comparable work. Moreover, at war's end, women were expected to leave the factories to make way for returning male veterans.

Higgins Boats

Higgins Industries designed and built two basic classes of military craft.

The first was landing craft, constructed of wood and steel and used to transport fully armed troops, light tanks, field artillery, and other mechanized equipment and supplies to shore. These boats helped make the amphibious landings of World War II possible.

Higgins also designed and manufactured supply vessels and specialized patrol craft, including high-speed PT boats, antisubmarine boats, and dispatch boats.

LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel)
The LCVP was the most famous landing craft designed and produced by Higgins Industries. It could land soldiers, and even jeeps, on a beach. LCVPs were used in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific during the war.

From the Eureka...
The LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), the best-known landing craft designed by Andrew Higgins, evolved from a boat he created before the war for use in the swamps and marshes of Louisiana. Trappers and oil companies needed a rugged, shallow-bottomed craft that could navigate these waters, run aground, and retract itself without damaging its hull. Higgins developed a boat that could perform all these tasks: a spoonbill-bowed craft he called the Eureka. Over time he modified and improved his craft and found markets for it in the United States and abroad.

...to the LCP(L)
During the 1930s Higgins tried to interest the U.S. Navy in adapting his shallow-draft Eureka for use as an amphibious landing craft. The navy showed little interest, but Higgins persisted. After a long struggle, he finally secured a government contract to build modified Eurekas for military use. The new boat was called the LCP (Landing Craft, Personnel) and, later, the LCP(L) (Landing Craft, Personnel, Large). In its most advanced form the LCP(L) measured 36 feet in length. It could transport men from ships offshore directly onto a beach, then retract itself, turn, and head back to sea.

The LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) was developed because the U.S. Marines needed a boat capable of transporting vehicles to shore. Higgins adapted the LCP(L) to meet this requirement. He replaced the LCP(L)'s rounded bow with a retractable ramp. The new craft was tested for the first time on May 26, 1941, on Lake Pontchartrain. It carried a truck and 36 Higgins employees safely to shore. The LCVP became the military's standard vehicle and personnel landing craft. Thousands were in service during the war.

New Orleans" Home of the Higgins Boats
"If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."
--General Dwight D. Eisenhower

The city of New Orleans made a unique and crucial contribution to America's war effort. This was the home of Higgins Industries, a small boat company owned by a flamboyant entrepreneur named Andrew Jackson Higgins. The story of Higgins' role in the war is little known today, but his contribution to the Allied victory was immeasurable.

World War II presented Allied war planners with a tactical dilemma--how to make large amphibious landings of armies against defended coasts. For America this was a particularly thorny problem, since its armed forces had to mount amphibious invasions at sites ranging from Pacific atolls to North Africa to the coast of France.

Higgins' contribution was to design and mass-produce boats that could ferry soldiers, jeeps, and even tanks from a ship at sea directly onto beaches. Such craft gave Allied planners greater flexibility. They no longer needed to attack heavily defended ports before landing an assault force. Higgins' boats were used in every major American amphibious operation of World War II. His achievements earned him many accolades. The greatest came from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who called Higgins "the man who won the war for us."

From the Bayou to the Battlefront
Before World War II Andrew Higgins operated a small boatyard, building workboats designed to operate in the shallow waters of Louisiana's bayous. During the 1920s and 1930s America's military began exploring ways to make amphibious landings. Higgins became involved in this effort, adapting designs for shallow-draft boats he had developed for peacetime uses. His company created amphibious assault craft capable of shuttling men and equipment quickly and safely from ship to shore. When the war came, business boomed. Higgins built new factories with mass production lines and employed thousands of workers. He even opened a training school for boat operators.

New Orleans Naval Giant During World War II Higgins Industries grew from a small business operating a single boatyard into the largest private employer in Louisiana. The company turned out astounding numbers of boats and ships. In September 1943 the US Navy had 14,072 vessels. Of these, 8,865 had been designed and built by Higgins Industries.

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Take A Closer Look: America Goes to War | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

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America's isolation from war ended on December 7, 1941, when Japan staged a surprise attack on American military installations in the Pacific.

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Assassination of Archduke- https://www.biography.com/political-figure/franz-ferdinand
Technology of WWI- http://wp-blogs.moundsparkacademy.org/wwi-1b/files/2017/11/Screen-Shot-2017-11-21-at-7.29.35-PM.png
America's Involvement in WWI- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHn1Egt6Xdg
How was peace established in WWI?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrYhLNQMRro
The Rise of Automobile- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_lStk8q9c&t=9s

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Black Tuesday/Market Crash- https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/1929-stock-market-crash
Business Cycle- https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pLN14N9aIu2zHvIOYvYdCtIO-UQwTJl10wioLLqshKyHHlrgDxwdXX_m4M4t7Wb3Fj1FMQ_YsHAwL997eTzeyApoRKbKNp_2Dg=w2600-h1258
Causes of the Great Depression- https://youtu.be/BurFT68G_DQ
FDR"s New Deal/Plan- https://www.history.com/news/new-deal-effects-great-depression
The Dust Bowl- https://youtu.be/MYOmjQO_UMw
Rise of Totalitarianism- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz2ba85HQqk
America's Involvement in WWII- https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/america-goes-war-take-closer-look

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Assassination of of the Archduke of Franz Ferdinand 

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Assassination of of the Archduke of Franz Ferdinand 

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On January 18, 1919, in Paris, France, some of the most powerful people in the world meet to begin the long, complicated negotiations that would officially mark the end of the First World War.

Leaders of the victorious Allied powers-France, Great Britain, the United States and Italy-would make most of the crucial decisions in Paris over the next six months. For most of the conference, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson struggled to support his idea of a "peace without victory" and make sure that Germany, the leader of the Central Powers and the major loser of the war, was not treated too harshly. On the other hand, Prime Ministers Georges Clemenceau of France and David Lloyd George of Britain argued that punishing Germany adequately and ensuring its weakness was the only way to justify the immense costs of the war. In the end, Wilson compromised on the treatment of Germany in order to push through the creation of his pet project, an international peacekeeping organization called the League of Nations.
WATCH: Did WWI Lead to WWII?
Representatives from Germany were excluded from the peace conference until May, when they arrived in Paris and were presented with a draft of the Versailles Treaty. Having put great faith in Wilson's promises, the Germans were deeply frustrated and disillusioned by the treaty, which required them to forfeit a great deal of territory and pay reparations. Even worse, the infamous Article 231 forced Germany to accept sole blame for the war. This was a bitter pill many Germans could not swallow.

The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, five years to the day after a Serbian nationalist's bullet ended the life of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and sparked the beginning of World War I. In the decades to come, anger and resentment of the treaty and its authors festered in Germany. Extremists like Adolf Hitler's National Socialist (Nazi) Party capitalized on these emotions to gain power, a process that led almost directly to the exact thing Wilson and the other negotiators in Paris in 1919 had wanted to prevent-a second, equally devastating global war.
SEE MORE: World War I-in Color

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Post-World War I peace conference begins in Paris

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On January 18, 1919, in Paris, France, some of the most powerful people in the world meet to begin the long, complicated negotiations that would officially mark the end of the First World War. Leaders of the victorious Allied powers-France, Great Britain, the United States and Italy-would make most of the crucial decisions in Paris over the next six months.

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History Brief: The Rise of the Automobile

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The Eighteenth Amendment is the only Amendment to ever have been repealed from the United States Constitution-via the inclusion of the Twenty-First Amendment. The 18th Amendment called for the banning of the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages. Known as national Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment banned "intoxicating liquors" with the exception of those used for religious rites.

It is also the first Amendment to impose a date by which it was to be ratified. If the deadline was not met, the Amendment would be discarded. The ratification of the 18th Amendment was completed on January 16th, 1919 and would take effect on January 17th, 1920.

It is important to note that the 18th Amendment did not prohibit the consumption of alcohol, but rather simply the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. A result of the Temperance Movement, the concept of Prohibition had already been implemented by many states prior to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment. Therefore, the 18th Amendment was quickly ratified into law.

The Temperance Movement would prove to become a powerful collection of individuals and factions that would garner a certain political power, which many politicians were afraid to confront. Church groups, the business elite, feminists, and political reformers were moving toward a dry society and began to call for a nation-wide law banning alcoholic substances.

Initially, Senators were against a Prohibition movement, but were also reluctant to vehemently vote against it. That is why a deadline was included within the proposal for the Eighteenth Amendment, calling for the ratification to be completed within seven years. However, this provision would not prove to be effective, for forty-four states approved the 18th Amendment in just over a year's time from its introduction.

The reluctance of the political powers also was reflected in imposing the effect of the Eighteenth Amendment a year from the completion of the ratification process. They did so in order to provide the liquor industry some time to adjust to what would essentially decimate the industry for the following ten years.

The implications of the 18th Amendment proved to be more negative than positive, for the effects took a turn for the worse rather than providing for a "dry" utopia. It was during the Prohibition Era that gave rise to organized crime in the United States, where criminals began to find illegal means to provide for the demand for alcohol. The creation of the mafia and mobsters led to a period of violence that would make the Government evaluate which was the greatest of two evils: alcohol or organized crime factions.

The Volstead Act, a bill that was introduced to provide for definition of terms used in the Eighteenth Amendment was passed on January 17th, 1920, after Congress overrode the veto by President Wilson. The Volstead Act defined an intoxicating liquor as any beverage containing more than 0.5 percent alcohol. Beer and wine would also be banned as a result, which led to much controversy as well.

Further provisions would be enacted as a result of the Eighteenth Amendment, such as the restriction of medicinal liquor prescriptions, allowing searches without warrants in automobiles, and wiretapping of telephones for surveillance of illegal alcohol activity. It was not until 1933, when the overall effects of the 18th Amendment would prove to be more negative than positive, that the 21st Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment completely and removed from Constitutional law.

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18th Amendment - constitution | Laws.com

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The Eighteenth Amendment is the only Amendment to ever have been repealed from the United States Constitution-via the inclusion of the Twenty-First Amendment. The 18th Amendment called for the banning of the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages. Known as national Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment banned "intoxicating liquors" with the exception of those used for religious rites.