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The Bill of Rights protects fundamental rights and civil liberties such as religious freedom, free speech, the right to carry weapons, jury trial, and more.

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Bill of Rights - Constitution Facts for Kids

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On March 4, 1789, America officially adopted the United States Constitution, which established the U.S. as a free nation governed by the people. The Constitution explains the country’s legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, defining the roles of the following: Congress Senate House of Repre…

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Black Americans organized the civil rights movement in an effort to put an end to racial prejudice and achieve legal equality. The period lasted from the late 1940s through the late 1960s.

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Plessy vs. Ferguson originally came in 1892 as a challenge to Louisiana's Separate Car Act. All railways operating in the state were obligated by this statute to offer "equal but separate accommodations" to passengers of both races. Only the train carriages designated for that race were open to passengers.

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Russell Lee, FSA, OWI/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-fsa-8a26761)

Plessy v. Ferguson was an important U.S. Supreme Court case concerning whether racial segregation laws were constitutional. These laws required African Americans and whites to use different public facilities ( see Jim Crow law). For example, there were separate schools, parks, water fountains, and bathrooms for African Americans and for whites, as well as separate sections of buses and theaters. Plessy v. Ferguson was decided on May 18, 1896. The court's decision in the case established the controversial doctrine of "separate but equal." According to this doctrine, laws that required African Americans and whites to use separate public facilities were constitutional as long as the facilities were reasonably equal. (In fact, public facilities for African Americans were inferior to those intended for whites.) The Plessy v. Ferguson decision served as a controlling judicial precedent for more than 50 years. The Supreme Court overturned the decision in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Plessy v. Ferguson originated in 1892 as a challenge to Louisiana's Separate Car Act. This law required that all railroads operating in the state provide "equal but separate accommodations" for white and African American passengers. Passengers were only allowed in the rail cars assigned to their race. To challenge the constitutionality of the law, a group of citizens in New Orleans formed a committee to generate a test case. They had Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth African American, purchase a rail ticket and sit in a rail car reserved for white passengers. After Plessy refused to move to a car for African Americans, he was arrested. He was tried and found guilty in U.S. District Court, and a state supreme court upheld the verdict. The case was then taken to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Plessy argued that the Separate Car Act was unconstitutional. He contended that it violated both the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibited slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted full and equal rights of citizenship to African Americans.

Rejecting these arguments, the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 1 against Plessy. Associate Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote the majority opinion-which did not actually contain the phrase "separate but equal." He held that the Separate Car Act did not conflict with the Thirteenth Amendment because it did not reestablish slavery or constitute a "badge" of slavery or servitude. Brown further concluded that the act did not conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment. That amendment, he argued, was intended to secure only the legal equality of African Americans and whites, not their social equality. Brown concluded that the racial segregation of rail passengers did not by itself imply the legal inferiority of either race. "If one race be inferior to the other socially," he wrote, "the Constitution of the United States cannot put them upon the same plane."

The lone judge who ruled for Plessy was Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan. In his dissenting opinion, he argued that the Separate Car Act was universally understood to assume the inferiority of African Americans. As such, it imposed a badge of servitude upon them in violation of the Thirteenth Amendment. The effect of the act, he argued, was to interfere with the personal liberty and freedom of movement of both African Americans and whites. It thus conflicted with the principle of legal equality in the Fourteenth Amendment. Harlan wrote:

Our Constitution is color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.

Harlan concluded that the Plessy v. Ferguson judgment would in time "prove to be quite as pernicious as the decision made by this tribunal in the Dred Scott Case." That case had declared in 1857 that African Americans were not entitled to the rights of U.S. citizenship. Click here to read excerpts from the opinions of Justices Brown and Harlan.

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Plessy v. Ferguson was an important U.S. Supreme Court case concerning whether racial segregation laws were constitutional. These laws required African Americans and whites to use different public facilities ( see Jim Crow law). For example, there were separate schools, parks, water fountains, and bathrooms for African Americans and for whites, as well as separate sections of buses and theaters.

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The global battle known as World War I lasted from 1914 until 1918. It was mostly fought in Europe, but it also stretched to the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It is sometimes referred to as the Great War or the First World War.

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World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people-soldiers and civilians alike-were dead.
WATCH: World War I Documentaries on HISTORY Vault
Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Tensions had been brewing throughout Europe-especially in the troubled Balkan region of southeast Europe-for years before World War I actually broke out.

A number of alliances involving European powers, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and other parties had existed for years, but political instability in the Balkans (particularly Bosnia, Serbia and Herzegovina) threatened to destroy these agreements.

The spark that ignited World War I was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand -heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire-was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a rapidly escalating chain of events: Austria-Hungary, like many countries around the world, blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the question of Serbian nationalism once and for all.
READ MORE: 8 Events Leading to the Outbreak of World War I
Kaiser Wilhelm II

Because mighty Russia supported Serbia, Austria-Hungary waited to declare war until its leaders received assurance from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause. Austro-Hungarian leaders feared that a Russian intervention would involve Russia's ally, France, and possibly Great Britain as well.

On July 5, Kaiser Wilhelm secretly pledged his support, giving Austria-Hungary a so-called carte blanche, or "blank check" assurance of Germany's backing in the case of war. The Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary then sent an ultimatum to Serbia, with such harsh terms as to make it almost impossible to accept.

World War I Begins

Convinced that Austria-Hungary was readying for war, the Serbian government ordered the Serbian army to mobilize and appealed to Russia for assistance. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe's great powers quickly collapsed.

Within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and World War I had begun.
READ MORE: World War I Battles: Timeline
The Western Front

According to an aggressive military strategy known as the Schlieffen Plan (named for its mastermind, German Field Marshal Alfred von Schlieffen), Germany began fighting World War I on two fronts, invading France through neutral Belgium in the west and confronting Russia in the east.

On August 4, 1914, German troops crossed the border into Belgium. In the first battle of World War I, the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liege, using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal-enormous siege cannons-to capture the city by August 15. The Germans left death and destruction in their wake as they advanced through Belgium toward France, shooting civilians and executing a Belgian priest they had accused of inciting civilian resistance.

First Battle of the Marne

In the First Battle of the Marne, fought from September 6-9, 1914, French and British forces confronted the invading Germany army, which had by then penetrated deep into northeastern France, within 30 miles of Paris. The Allied troops checked the German advance and mounted a successful counterattack, driving the Germans back to north of the Aisne River.

The defeat meant the end of German plans for a quick victory in France. Both sides dug into trenches, and the Western Front was the setting for a hellish war of attrition that would last more than three years.

Particularly long and costly battles in this campaign were fought at Verdun (February-December 1916) and the Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916). German and French troops suffered close to a million casualties in the Battle of Verdun alone.
READ MORE: 10 Things You May Not Know About the Battle of Verdun
World War I Books and Art

The bloodshed on the battlefields of the Western Front, and the difficulties its soldiers had for years after the fighting had ended, inspired such works of art as " All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque and " In Flanders Fields"by Canadian doctor Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. In the latter poem, McCrae writes from the perspective of the fallen soldiers:

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Published in 1915, the poem inspired the use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance.

Visual artists like Otto Dix of Germany and British painters Wyndham Lewis, Paul Nash and David Bomberg used their firsthand experience as soldiers in World War I to create their art, capturing the anguish of trench warfare and exploring the themes of technology, violence and landscapes decimated by war.
READ MORE: How World War I Changed Literature

The Eastern Front

On the Eastern Front of World War I, Russian forces invaded the German-held regions of East Prussia and Poland, but were stopped short by German and Austrian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg in late August 1914.

Despite that victory, Russia's assault had forced Germany to move two corps from the Western Front to the Eastern, contributing to the German loss in the Battle of the Marne.

Combined with the fierce Allied resistance in France, the ability of Russia's huge war machine to mobilize relatively quickly in the east ensured a longer, more grueling conflict instead of the quick victory Germany had hoped to win under the Schlieffen Plan.
READ MORE: Was Germany Doomed by the Schlieffen Plan?
Russian Revolution

From 1914 to 1916, Russia's army mounted several offensives on World War I's Eastern Front, but was unable to break through German lines.

Defeat on the battlefield, combined with economic instability and the scarcity of food and other essentials, led to mounting discontent among the bulk of Russia's population, especially the poverty-stricken workers and peasants. This increased hostility was directed toward the imperial regime of Czar Nicholas II and his unpopular German-born wife, Alexandra.

Russia's simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.

Russia reached an armistice with the Central Powers in early December 1917, freeing German troops to face the remaining Allies on the Western Front.

America Enters World War I

At the outbreak of fighting in 1914, the United States remained on the sidelines of World War I, adopting the policy of neutrality favored by President Woodrow Wilson while continuing to engage in commerce and shipping with European countries on both sides of the conflict.

Neutrality, however, was increasing difficult to maintain in the face of Germany's unchecked submarine aggression against neutral ships, including those carrying passengers. In 1915, Germany declared the waters surrounding the British Isles to be a war zone, and German U-boats sunk several commercial and passenger vessels, including some U.S. ships.

Widespread protest over the sinking by U-boat of the British ocean liner Lusitania-traveling from New York to Liverpool, England with hundreds of American passengers onboard-in May 1915 helped turn the tide of American public opinion against Germany. In February 1917, Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war.

Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships the following month, and on April 2 Woodrow Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany.
READ MORE: Should the US Have Entered World War I?
Gallipoli Campaign

With World War I having effectively settled into a stalemate in Europe, the Allies attempted to score a victory against the Ottoman Empire, which entered the conflict on the side of the Central Powers in late 1914.

After a failed attack on the Dardanelles (the strait linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea), Allied forces led by Britain launched a large-scale land invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in April 1915. The invasion also proved a dismal failure, and in January 1916 Allied forces staged a full retreat from the shores of the peninsula after suffering 250,000 casualties.

Did you know? The young Winston Churchill, then first lord of the British Admiralty, resigned his command after the failed Gallipoli campaign in 1916, accepting a commission with an infantry battalion in France.

British-led forces also combated the Ottoman Turks in Egypt and Mesopotamia, while in northern Italy, Austrian and Italian troops faced off in a series of 12 battles along the Isonzo River, located at the border between the two nations.

Battle of the Isonzo

The First Battle of the Isonzo took place in the late spring of 1915, soon after Italy's entrance into the war on the Allied side. In the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, also known as the Battle of Caporetto (October 1917), German reinforcements helped Austria-Hungary win a decisive victory.

After Caporetto, Italy's allies jumped in to offer increased assistance. British and French-and later, American-troops arrived in the region, and the Allies began to take back the Italian Front.

World War I at Sea

In the years before World War I, the superiority of Britain's Royal Navy was unchallenged by any other nation's fleet, but the Imperial German Navy had made substantial strides in closing the gap between the two naval powers. Germany's strength on the high seas was also aided by its lethal fleet of U-boat submarines.

After the Battle of Dogger Bank in January 1915, in which the British mounted a surprise attack on German ships in the North Sea, the German navy chose not to confront Britain's mighty Royal Navy in a major battle for more than a year, preferring to rest the bulk of its naval strategy on its U-boats.

The biggest naval engagement of World War I, the Battle of Jutland (May 1916) left British naval superiority on the North Sea intact, and Germany would make no further attempts to break an Allied naval blockade for the remainder of the war.

World War I Planes

World War I was the first major conflict to harness the power of planes. Though not as impactful as the British Royal Navy or Germany's U-boats, the use of planes in World War I presaged their later, pivotal role in military conflicts around the globe.

At the dawn of World War I, aviation was a relatively new field; the Wright brothers took their first sustained flight just eleven years before, in 1903. Aircraft were initially used primarily for reconnaissance missions. During the First Battle of the Marne, information passed from pilots allowed the allies to exploit weak spots in the German lines, helping the Allies to push Germany out of France.

The first machine guns were successfully mounted on planes in June of 1912 in the United States, but were imperfect; if timed incorrectly, a bullet could easily destroy the propeller of the plane it came from. The Morane-Saulnier L, a French plane, provided a solution: The propeller was armored with deflector wedges that prevented bullets from hitting it. The Morane-Saulnier Type L was used by the French, the British Royal Flying Corps (part of the Army), the British Royal Navy Air Service and the Imperial Russian Air Service. The British Bristol Type 22 was another popular model used for both reconnaissance work and as a fighter plane.

Dutch inventor Anthony Fokker improved upon the French deflector system in 1915. His "interrupter" synchronized the firing of the guns with the plane's propeller to avoid collisions. Though his most popular plane during WWI was the single-seat Fokker Eindecker, Fokker created over 40 kinds of airplanes for the Germans.

The Allies debuted the Handley-Page HP O/400, the first two-engine bomber, in 1915. As aerial technology progressed, long-range heavy bombers like Germany's Gotha G.V. (first introduced in 1917) were used to strike cities like London. Their speed and maneuverability proved to be far deadlier than Germany's earlier Zeppelin raids.

By war's end, the Allies were producing five times more aircraft than the Germans. On April 1, 1918, the British created the Royal Air Force, or RAF, the first air force to be a separate military branch independent from the navy or army.

Second Battle of the Marne

With Germany able to build up its strength on the Western Front after the armistice with Russia, Allied troops struggled to hold off another German offensive until promised reinforcements from the United States were able to arrive.

On July 15, 1918, German troops launched what would become the last German offensive of the war, attacking French forces (joined by 85,000 American troops as well as some of the British Expeditionary Force) in the Second Battle of the Marne. The Allies successfully pushed back the German offensive and launched their own counteroffensive just three days later.

After suffering massive casualties, Germany was forced to call off a planned offensive further north, in the Flanders region stretching between France and Belgium, which was envisioned as Germany's best hope of victory.

The Second Battle of the Marne turned the tide of war decisively towards the Allies, who were able to regain much of France and Belgium in the months that followed.

The Harlem Hellfighters and Other All-Black Regiments

By the time World War I began, there were four all-Black regiments in the U.S. military: the 24th and 25th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry. All four regiments comprised of celebrated soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War and American-Indian Wars, and served in the American territories. But they were not deployed for overseas combat in World War I.

Blacks serving alongside white soldiers on the front lines in Europe was inconceivable to the U.S. military. Instead, the first African American troops sent overseas served in segregated labor battalions, restricted to menial roles in the Army and Navy, and shutout of the Marines, entirely. Their duties mostly included unloading ships, transporting materials from train depots, bases and ports, digging trenches, cooking and maintenance, removing barbed wire and inoperable equipment, and burying soldiers.

Facing criticism from the Black community and civil rights organizations for its quotas and treatment of African American soldiers in the war effort, the military formed two Black combat units in 1917, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions. Trained separately and inadequately in the United States, the divisions fared differently in the war. The 92nd faced criticism for their performance in the Meuse-Argonne campaign in September 1918. The 93rd Division, however, had more success.

With dwindling armies, France asked America for reinforcements, and General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, sent regiments in the 93 Division to over, since France had experience fighting alongside Black soldiers from their Senegalese French Colonial army. The 93 Division's, 369 regiment, nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters , fought so gallantly, with a total of 191 days on the front lines, longer than any AEF regiment, that France awarded them the Croix de Guerre for their heroism. More than 350,000 African American soldiers would serve in World War I in various capacities.
READ MORE: A Harlem Hellfighter's Searing Tales from the WWII Trenches
Toward Armistice

By the fall of 1918, the Central Powers were unraveling on all fronts.

Despite the Turkish victory at Gallipoli, later defeats by invading forces and an Arab revolt that destroyed the Ottoman economy and devastated its land, and the Turks signed a treaty with the Allies in late October 1918.

Austria-Hungary, dissolving from within due to growing nationalist movements among its diverse population, reached an armistice on November 4. Facing dwindling resources on the battlefield, discontent on the homefront and the surrender of its allies, Germany was finally forced to seek an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending World War I.
READ MORE: Why World War I Ended With an Armistice Instead of a Surrender
Treaty of Versailles

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Allied leaders stated their desire to build a post-war world that would safeguard itself against future conflicts of such devastating scale.

Some hopeful participants had even begun calling World War I "the War to End All Wars." But the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919, would not achieve that lofty goal.

Saddled with war guilt, heavy reparations and denied entrance into the League of Nations, Germany felt tricked into signing the treaty, having believed any peace would be a "peace without victory," as put forward by President Wilson in his famous Fourteen Points speech of January 1918.

As the years passed, hatred of the Versailles treaty and its authors settled into a smoldering resentment in Germany that would, two decades later, be counted among the causes of World War II.
READ MORE: The Treaty of Versailles Punished Germany With These Provisions
World War I Casualties

World War I took the lives of more than 9 million soldiers; 21 million more were wounded. Civilian casualties numbered close to 10 million. The two nations most affected were Germany and France, each of which sent some 80 percent of their male populations between the ages of 15 and 49 into battle.

The political disruption surrounding World War I also contributed to the fall of four venerable imperial dynasties: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey.

Legacy of World War I

World War I brought about massive social upheaval, as millions of women entered the workforce to replace men who went to war and those who never came back. The first global war also helped to spread one of the world's deadliest global pandemics, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people.

World War I has also been referred to as "the first modern war." Many of the technologies now associated with military conflict-machine guns, tanks, aerial combat and radio communications-were introduced on a massive scale during World War I.

The severe effects that chemical weapons such as mustard gas and phosgene had on soldiers and civilians during World War I galvanized public and military attitudes against their continued use. The Geneva Convention agreements, signed in 1925, restricted the use of chemical and biological agents in warfare and remains in effect today.

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World War I began in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers).

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The period of change that changed societies from an agricultural focus to an industrial culture. Increased the standards of living and productivity.

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Gave women the right to vote, finally gained in 1920.

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Political parties began to form during the struggle over ratification of the federal Constitution of 1787. Voters usually express themselves this way.

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The Industrial Revolution was the shift to new industrial techniques that took place in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States between about 1760 and 1820–1840.

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What was the Industrial Revolution? | History in a Nutshell | Animated History

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A country, state, or other political organization's operations are governed by its constitution. The branches of government may be described in the constitution, along with their roles and functions. Additionally, it could outline citizens' rights.

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A primary source is a first hand account, and secondary source would be like a textbook or someone not actually there when the event occurred.

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What Are Primary Sources?

Primary sources are original materials used by historians to reconstruct a certain event in the past or moment in history.
They are original documents, physical objects, relics, or artifacts created during the time under study by witnesses who lived through the event. These sources were either produced at the time of the event, or (as in the case of memoirs and autobiographies) published at a later date.

The following are only a few examples of primary sources and are by no means exhaustive:

1. Original documents such as letters, diaries, manuscripts, official documents, maps, pictures, and original film footage. Examples: the original Constitution of the United States, an original treaty between two states, diaries of travellers who document their journeys and experiences on the road, maps of cities or first-hand descriptions of battles.

2. Relics and artifacts such as arrowheads, pottery shards, remains of buildings, clothing, and statues.

3. Literature, poetry, drama, music, drawings, and other kinds of art; such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, cave paintings, poetry written by courtiers or bards.

Primary sources should be read critically and should not be taken as the literal truth. When analyzing a primary document, one should take into account who the author was, why he or she was writing the document, and who (if anyone) was its target audience. Did the author have any biases that influenced the way the document was written? How reliable is the author? Start by reading for content, then ask yourself the above questions -- how do they affect your understanding of the document?

It is essential to place the document into historical context and not judge its content by today's standards, always keeping in mind differences between the time it was written and the present.

What Are Secondary Sources?

A secondary source is a contemporary document, book, or article that analyzes, evaluates, and synthesizes information from primary sources. Most secondary sources refer back to or have quotes and pictures from the primary source(s), but are written after the event in question. Secondary sources are commentaries on and discussions of primary sources. When using secondary sources, it is important to strive to be objective, even though this may not always be completely possible. A few examples of secondary sources include books, articles, histories, encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, textbooks, and (most) websites.

When writing a history research paper, primary sources are used in conjunction with secondary sources. It is important to evaluate the importance and relevance of the primary document to the assignment. It is also very important to assess the document critically and evaluate its authenticity, authorship, language, and reliability. Who was the author? What were his or her motives for writing the document? How reliable do you think he/she is? What kind of language is the author using? Who is her/her target audience? How relevant is this document to your topic? Once you have answered these questions to your satisfaction, you can begin constructing your argument.

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Primary and Secondary Sources | UCLA History

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What Are Primary Sources?Primary sources are original materials used by historians to reconstruct a certain event in the past or moment in history. They are original documents, physical objects, relics, or artifacts created during the time under study by witnesses who lived through the event.

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A trail the Native Americans were forced to walk along with US troops escorting them. They were move from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to the west of the Mississippi River.

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Was the third president of the United States of America, helped to write the Declaration of Independence.

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Table of Contents

Thomas Jefferson (born April 2 [April 13, New Style], 1743, Shadwell, Virginia [U.S.]-died July 4, 1826, Monticello, Virginia, U.S.) was the draftsman of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the nation's first secretary of state (1789-94) and second vice president (1797-1801) and, as the third president (1801-09), the statesman responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. An early advocate of total separation of church and state, he also was the founder and architect of the University of Virginia and the most eloquent American proponent of individual freedom as the core meaning of the American Revolution.

Long regarded as America's most distinguished "apostle of liberty," Jefferson has come under increasingly critical scrutiny within the scholarly world. At the popular level, both in the United States and abroad, he remains an incandescent icon, an inspirational symbol for both major U.S. political parties, as well as for dissenters in communist China, liberal reformers in central and eastern Europe, and aspiring democrats in Africa and Latin America. His image has suffered, however, as the focus on racial equality has prompted a more negative reappraisal of his dependence upon slavery and his conviction that American society remain a white man's domain. Especially disturbing to many were the DNA results of the 1998 study revealing that Jefferson had almost certainly fathered a child with his slave Sally Hemings, thirty years his junior. (For more on this story, see "Tom and Sally": The Jefferson - Hemings paternity debate.) The huge gap between his lyrical expression of liberal ideals and the more attenuated reality of his own life has transformed Jefferson into America's most problematic and paradoxical hero. The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C., was dedicated to him on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of his birth.
(Read Joseph Ellis's Britannica essay on the Sally Heming's affair.)

Early years

Albermarle county, where Jefferson was born, lay in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in what was then regarded as a western province of the Old Dominion. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a self-educated surveyor who amassed a tidy estate that included 60 slaves. According to family lore, Jefferson's earliest memory was as a three-year-old boy "being carried on a pillow by a mounted slave" when the family moved from Shadwell to Tuckahoe. His mother, Jane Randolph Jefferson, was descended from one of the most prominent families in Virginia. She raised two sons, of whom Jefferson was the eldest, and six daughters. There is reason to believe that Jefferson's relationship with his mother was strained, especially after his father died in 1757, because he did everything he could to escape her supervision and had almost nothing to say about her in his memoirs. He boarded with the local schoolmaster to learn his Latin and Greek until 1760, when he entered the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg.

By all accounts he was an obsessive student, often spending 15 hours of the day with his books, 3 hours practicing his violin, and the remaining 6 hours eating and sleeping. The two chief influences on his learning were William Small, a Scottish-born teacher of mathematics and science, and George Wythe, the leading legal scholar in Virginia. From them Jefferson learned a keen appreciation of supportive mentors, a concept he later institutionalized at the University of Virginia. He read law with Wythe from 1762 to 1767, then left Williamsburg to practice, mostly representing small-scale planters from the western counties in cases involving land claims and titles. Although he handled no landmark cases and came across as a nervous and somewhat indifferent speaker before the bench, he earned a reputation as a formidable legal scholar. He was a shy and extremely serious young man.

In 1768 he made two important decisions: first, to build his own home atop an 867-foot- (264-metre-) high mountain near Shadwell that he eventually named Monticello and, second, to stand as a candidate for the House of Burgesses. These decisions nicely embodied the two competing impulses that would persist throughout his life-namely, to combine an active career in politics with periodic seclusion in his own private haven. His political timing was also impeccable, for he entered the Virginia legislature just as opposition to the taxation policies of the British Parliament was congealing. Although he made few speeches and tended to follow the lead of the Tidewater elite, his support for resolutions opposing Parliament's authority over the colonies was resolute.

In the early 1770s his own character was also congealing. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton ( Martha Jefferson), an attractive and delicate young widow whose dowry more than doubled his holdings in land and slaves. In 1774 he wrote A Summary View of the Rights of British America, which was quickly published, though without his permission, and catapulted him into visibility beyond Virginia as an early advocate of American independence from Parliament's authority; the American colonies were tied to Great Britain, he believed, only by wholly voluntary bonds of loyalty to the king.

His reputation thus enhanced, the Virginia legislature appointed him a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in the spring of 1775. He rode into Philadelphia-and into American history-on June 20, 1775, a tall (slightly above 6 feet 2 inches [1.88 metres]) and gangly young man with reddish blond hair, hazel eyes, a burnished complexion, and rock-ribbed certainty about the American cause. In retrospect, the central paradox of his life was also on display, for the man who the following year was to craft the most famous manifesto for human equality in world history arrived in an ornate carriage drawn by four handsome horses and accompanied by three slaves.

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Thomas Jefferson | Biography, Political Career, & Facts

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Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, who also drafted the Declaration of Independence and served as the first secretary of state. As president, he was responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. He was also the founder and architect of the University of Virginia.

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The westward expansion happened between 1803 to 1890. This is when the United States of America grew from 17 to 44 states.

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Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24

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The 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, presided over the country for 12 years. Beginning in 1932, he was elected four times. Roosevelt guided the nation through the Great Depression and World War II, two of the worst crises of the 20th century.

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The Great Depression was a significant worldwide economic depression between 1929 and 1939 that started after a major fall in stock prices in the United States.

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A speech given by Abe Lincoln during the Civil War changed the status of enslaved African American to free.

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Emancipation Proclamation, edict issued by U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that freed the slaves of the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union. It took more than two years for news of the proclamation to reach the slaves in the distant state of Texas. The arrival of the news on June 19 (of 1865) is now celebrated as a national holiday- Juneteenth or Emancipation Day.
(Read Charles Blow's Britannica essay on the Juneteenth holiday.)
Before the start of the American Civil War, many people and leaders of the North had been primarily concerned merely with stopping the extension of slavery into western territories that would eventually achieve statehood within the Union. With the secession of the Southern states and the consequent start of the Civil War, however, the continued tolerance of Southern slavery by Northerners seemed no longer to serve any constructive political purpose. Emancipation thus quickly changed from a distant possibility to an imminent and feasible eventuality. Lincoln had declared that he meant to save the Union as best he could-by preserving slavery, by destroying it, or by destroying part and preserving part. Just after the Battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862) he issued his proclamation calling on the revolted states to return to their allegiance before the next year, otherwise their slaves would be declared free men. No state returned, and the threatened declaration was issued on January 1, 1863.

As president, Lincoln could issue no such declaration; as commander in chief of the armies and navies of the United States he could issue directions only as to the territory within his lines; but the Emancipation Proclamation applied only to territory outside of his lines. It has therefore been debated whether the proclamation was in reality of any force. It may fairly be taken as an announcement of the policy that was to guide the army and as a declaration of freedom taking effect as the lines advanced. At all events, this was its exact effect.

Its international importance was far greater. The locking up of the world's source of cotton supply had been a general calamity, and the Confederate government and people had steadily expected that the English and French governments would intervene in the war. The conversion of the struggle into a crusade against slavery made European intervention impossible.

The Emancipation Proclamation did more than lift the war to the level of a crusade for human freedom. It brought some substantial practical results, because it allowed the Union to recruit Black soldiers. To this invitation to join the army the Blacks responded in considerable numbers, nearly 180,000 of them enlisting during the remainder of the war. By August 26, 1863, Lincoln could report, in a letter to James C. Conkling, that "the emancipation policy, and the use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion."

Two months before the war ended-in February 1865-Lincoln told portrait painter Francis B. Carpenter that the Emancipation Proclamation was "the central act of my administration, and the greatest event of the nineteenth century." To Lincoln and to his countrymen it had become evident that the proclamation had dealt a deathblow to slavery in the United States, a fate that was officially sealed by the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.

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Emancipation Proclamation | Definition, Date, Summary, Significance, & Facts

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Emancipation Proclamation, edict issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that freed the slaves of the Confederate states during the American Civil War. Besides lifting the war to the level of a crusade for human freedom, the proclamation allowed the Union to recruit Black soldiers.

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Started in 1939 and continued till 1945, the US got involved after Pearl Harbor took place. Many countries were involved in this and it was Axis versus Allies.

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World War II: Summary, Combatants & Facts

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World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. Rising to power in an unstable Germany, Adolf Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi Party) rearmed the nation and signed treaties with Italy and Japan to further his ambitions of world domination. Hitler’s invasion of Poland drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. The majority of the world’s countries eventually formed two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Axis.

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A social movement calling for the end of the war and inter-human violence.

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Created by Benjamin Roosevelt in 1935. Created to provide general welfare in old age.

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A series of programs created to bring economic relief during the great depression.

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Table of Contents

What was the purpose of the New Deal?

What were the New Deal programs and what did they do?

What were the most important results of the New Deal?

What New Deal programs remain in effect?

New Deal, domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government's activities. The term was taken from Roosevelt's speech accepting the Democratic nomination for the presidency on July 2, 1932. Reacting to the ineffectiveness of the administration of Pres. Herbert Hoover in meeting the ravages of the Great Depression, American voters the following November overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Democratic promise of a "new deal" for the "forgotten man." Opposed to the traditional American political philosophy of laissez-faire, the New Deal generally embraced the concept of a government-regulated economy aimed at achieving a balance between conflicting economic interests.

The Hundred Days

Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first three months of Roosevelt's presidency (March 9-June 16, 1933), which became known as the Hundred Days. The new administration's first objective was to alleviate the suffering of the nation's huge number of unemployed workers. Such agencies as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were established to dispense emergency and short-term governmental aid and to provide temporary jobs, employment on construction projects, and youth work in the national forests. The WPA gave some 8.5 million people jobs. Its construction projects produced more than 650,000 miles of roads, 125,000 public buildings, 75,000 bridges, and 8,000 parks. Also under its aegis were the Federal Art Project, Federal Writers' Project, and Federal Theatre Project. The CCC provided national conservation work primarily for young unmarried men. Projects included planting trees, building flood barriers, fighting forest fires, and maintaining forest roads and trails.

Before 1935 the New Deal focused on revitalizing the country's stricken business and agricultural communities. To revive industrial activity, the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was granted authority to help shape industrial codes governing trade practices, wages, hours, child labour, and collective bargaining. The New Deal also tried to regulate the nation's financial hierarchy in order to avoid a repetition of the stock market crash of 1929 and the massive bank failures that followed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) granted government insurance for bank deposits in member banks of the Federal Reserve System, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established in 1934 to restore investor confidence in the stock market by ending the misleading sales practices and stock manipulations that had led to the stock market crash. The farm program, known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was signed in May 1933. It was centred in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which attempted to raise prices by controlling the production of staple crops through cash subsidies to farmers. In addition, the arm of the federal government reached into the area of electric power, establishing in 1933 the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which was to cover a seven-state area and supply cheap electricity, prevent floods, improve navigation, and produce nitrates.

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New Deal | Definition, History, Programs, Summary, & Facts

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New Deal, domestic program of the administration of U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) between 1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government's activities.

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Population shift from rural to urban areas creating cities.

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urbanization, the process by which large numbers of people become permanently concentrated in relatively small areas, forming cities.

The definition of what constitutes a city changes from time to time and place to place, but it is most usual to explain the term as a matter of demographics. The United Nations does not have its own definition of "urban" but instead follows the definitions used in each country, which may vary considerably. The United States, for instance, uses "urban place" to mean any locality where more than 2,500 people live. In Peru the term is applied to population centres with 100 or more dwellings.

History

Whatever the numerical definition, it is clear that the course of human history has been marked by a process of accelerated urbanization. It was not until the Neolithic Period, beginning at roughly 10,000 bce, that humans were able to form small permanent settlements. Cities of more than 100,000 did not exist until the time of Classical antiquity, and even those did not become common until the sustained population explosion of the last three centuries. In 1800 less than 3 percent of the world's population was living in cities of 20,000 or more; this had increased to about one-quarter of the population by the mid-1960s. By the early 21st century more than half of the world's population resided in urban centres.

The little towns of ancient civilizations, both in the Old World and the New, were only possible because of improvements in agriculture and transportation. As farming became more productive, it produced a surplus of food. The development of means of transportation, dating from the invention of the wheel about 3500 bce, made it possible for the surplus from the countryside to feed urban populations, a system that continues to the present day.

Despite the small size of these villages, the people in early towns lived quite close together. Distances could be no greater than an easy walk, and nobody could live out of the range of the water supply. In addition, because cities were constantly subject to attack, they were quite often walled, and it was difficult to extend barricades over a large area. Archaeological excavations have suggested that the population density in the cities of 2000 bce may have been as much as 128,000 per square mile (49,400 per square km). By contrast, the present cities of Kolkata and Shanghai, with densities of more than 70,000 per square mile, are regarded as extremes of overcrowding.

With few exceptions, the elite-aristocrats, government officials, clergy, and the wealthy-lived in the centre of ancient cities, which was usually located near the most important temple. Farther out were the poor, who were sometimes displaced beyond the city walls altogether.

The greatest city of antiquity was Rome, which at its height in the 3rd century ce covered almost 4 square miles (10 square km) and had at least 800,000 inhabitants. To provide for this enormous population, the empire constructed a system of aqueducts that channeled drinking water from hills as far away as 44 miles (70 km). Inside the city itself, the water was pumped to individual homes through a remarkable network of conduits and lead pipes, the equal of which was not seen until the 20th century. As in most early cities, Roman housing was initially built from dried clay molded about wooden frameworks. As the city grew, it began to include structures made from mud, brick, concrete, and, eventually, finely carved marble.

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urbanization | Definition, History, Examples, & Facts

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Urbanization, the process by which large numbers of people become permanently concentrated in relatively small areas, forming cities. Whatever the numerical definition of an 'urban place,' it is clear that the course of human history has been marked by a process of accelerated urbanization.

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American abolitionist who pioneered the underground railroad. Made 13 missions to help enslaved people.

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Derogatory term used to describe wealthy business men. Known for exploiting the working class and paying unfair wages.

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A robber baron is one of America's successful industrialists during the 19th century, which was also known as the Gilded Age. A robber baron is a term that is also sometimes attributed to any successful businessman or woman whose practices are considered unethical or unscrupulous. This can include employee or environmental abuse, stock market manipulation, or restricting output to charge higher prices.

Robber barons were widely despised and considered rapacious monopolists during their lifetimes. However, later biographies and historical reviews about the Gilded Age's American robber barons cast a more complicated and favorable light.

The first known uses of the phrase "robber baron" described feudal lords in medieval Europe who robbed travelers, often merchant ships along the Rhine River, as they passed nearby. The term appeared in American newspapers in 1859. Its modern use stems from Matthew Josephson's "The Robber Barons" (1934).

A chief complaint against the 19th-century capitalists was that they were monopolists. Fear over the robber barons and their monopoly practices increased public support for the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.

Economic theory says a monopolist earns premium profits by restricting output and raising prices. This only occurs after the monopolist prices out or legally restricts any competitor firms in the industry. However, there is no historical evidence that natural monopolies formed before the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Many so-called robber barons-James J. Hill, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D. Rockefeller-became wealthy entrepreneurs through product innovation and business efficiency. Of the goods and services they provided, supply grew, and prices fell rapidly, greatly boosting Americans' standards of living. This is the opposite of monopolistic behavior.

Others-including Robert Fulton, Edward K. Collins and Leland Stanford-earned their wealth through political entrepreneurship. Many wealthy railroad tycoons during the 1800s received privileged access and financing from the government via extensive use of lobbyists. They received monopolistic special licenses, per-mile subsidies, huge land grants, and low-interest loans.

Other common criticisms of the early robber barons included poor working conditions for employees, selfishness, and greed. A more in-depth historical review reveals a complicated history.

Working conditions in 19th century America were often challenging, but workers may have been better off working for a robber baron. Rockefeller and Ford, for example, paid higher-than-average wages, including bonuses for innovation or exceptional production. Managers often received long vacations at full pay.

Some tycoons rank among the most noted philanthropist of all time. Rockefeller donated at least 6 to 10% of every paycheck he ever earned; this later increased to 50%. He gave over $550 million to charity and championed biomedical research, public sanitation, medical training and educational opportunities for disadvantaged minorities.

Carnegie gave over $350 million. James J. Hill publicized and provided free education about crop diversification, along with free seed grain, cattle, and wood to local communities. He would even transport immigrants at reduced rates if they promised to farm near his railroads.

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A robber baron is one of America's successful industrialists during the 19th century, which was also known as the Gilded Age. A robber baron is a term that is also sometimes attributed to any successful businessman or woman whose practices are considered unethical or unscrupulous.

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Systematic seperation of people of different races and ethnicities in society. Often refers to the mistreatment and seperation of black people in America due to slavery.

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Black Codes and Jim Crow

The first steps toward official segregation came in the form of " Black Codes." These were laws passed throughout the South starting around 1865, that dictated most aspects of Black peoples' lives, including where they could work and live. The codes also ensured Black people's availability for cheap labor after slavery was abolished.

Segregation soon became official policy enforced by a series of Southern laws. Through so-called Jim Crow laws (named after a derogatory term for Blacks), legislators segregated everything from schools to residential areas to public parks to theaters to pools to cemeteries, asylums, jails and residential homes. There were separate waiting rooms for whites people and Black people in professional offices and, in 1915, Oklahoma became the first state to even segregate public phone booths.

Colleges were segregated and separate Black institutions like Howard University in Washington, D.C. and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee were created to compensate. Virginia's Hampton Institute was established in 1869 as a school for Black youth, but with white instructors teaching skills to relegate Black people in service positions to whites.

The Supreme Court and Segregation

In 1875 the outgoing Republican-controlled House and Senate passed a civil rights bill outlawing discrimination in schools, churches and public transportation. But the bill was barely enforced and was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883.

In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was constitutional. The ruling established the idea of "separate but equal." The case involved a mixed-race man who was forced to sit in the Black-designated train car under Louisiana's Separate Car Act.

Housing Segregation

As part of the segregation movement, some cities instituted zoning laws that prohibited Black families from moving into white-dominant blocks. In 1917, as part of Buchanan v. Warley, the Supreme Court found such zoning to be unconstitutional because it interfered with property rights of owners.

Using loopholes in that ruling in the 1920s, Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover created a federal zoning committee to persuade local boards to pass rules preventing lower-income families from moving into middle-income neighborhoods, an effort that targeted Black families. Richmond, Virginia, decreed that people were barred from residency on any block where they could not legally marry the majority of residents. This invoked Virginia's anti-mixed race marriage law and was not technically in violation with the Supreme Court decision.

Segregation During the Great Migration

During the Great Migration, a period between 1916 and 1970, six million African Americans left the South. Huge numbers moved northeast and reported discrimination and segregation similar to what they had experienced in the South.

As late as the 1940s, it was still possible to find "Whites Only" signs on businesses in the North. Segregated schools and neighborhoods existed, and even after World War II, Black activists reported hostile reactions when Black people attempted to move into white neighborhoods.

Segregation and the Public Works Administration

The Public Works Administration's efforts to build housing for people displaced during the Great Depression focused on homes for white families in white communities. Only a small portion of houses was built for Black families, and those were limited to segregated Black communities.

In some cities, previously integrated communities were torn down by the PWA and replaced by segregated projects. The reason given for the policy was that Black families would bring down property values.

Red-Lining

Starting in the 1930s, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and the Home Owners' Loan Corporation conspired to create maps with marked areas considered bad risks for mortgages in a practice known as "red-lining." The areas marked in red as "hazardous" typically outlined Black neighborhoods. This kind of mapping concentrated poverty as (mostly Black) residents in red-lined neighborhoods had no access or only very expensive access to loans.

The practice did not begin to end until the 1970s. Then, in 2008, a system of "reverse red-lining," which extended credit on unfair terms with subprime loans, created a higher rate of foreclosure in Black neighborhoods during the housing crisis.

Housing Segregation

In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that a Black family had the right to move into their newly-purchased home in a quiet neighborhood in St. Louis, despite a covenant dating back to 1911 that precluded the use of the property in the area by "any person not of the Caucasian race." In Shelley v. Kramer, attorneys from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), led by Thurgood Marshall, argued that allowing such white-only real estate covenants were not only morally wrong, but strategically misguided in a time when the country was trying to promote a unified, anti-Soviet agenda under President Harry Truman. Civil rights activists saw the landmark case as an example of how to start to undo trappings of segregation at the federal level.

But while the Supreme Court ruled that white-only covenants were not enforceable, the real estate playing field was hardly leveled. The Housing Act of 1949 was proposed by Truman to solve a housing shortage caused by soldiers returned from World War II. The act subsidized housing for whites only, even stipulating that Black families could not purchase the houses even on resale. The program effectively resulted in the government funding white flight from cities.

One of the most notorious of the white-only communities created by the Housing Act was Levittown, New York, built in 1949 and followed by other Levittowns in different locations.

Segregation in Schools

Segregation of children in public schools was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education. The case was originally filed in Topeka, Kansas after seven-year-old Linda Brown was rejected from the all-white schools there.

A follow-up opinion handed decision-making to local courts, which allowed some districts to defy school desegregation. This led to a showdown in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower deployed federal troops to ensure nine Black students entered high school after Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus had called in the National Guard to block them.

When Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, the civil rights movement began in earnest. Through the efforts of organizers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the resulting protests, the Civil Rights Act was signed in 1964, outlawing discrimination, though desegregation was a slow process, especially in schools.

Boston Busing Crisis

One of the worst incidents of anti-integration happened in 1974. Violence broke out in Boston when, in order to solve the city's school segregation problems, courts mandated a busing system that carried Black students from predominantly Roxbury to South Boston schools, and vice versa.

The state had passed the Elimination of Racial Balance law in 1965, but it had been held up in court by Irish Catholic opposition. Police protected the Black students as several days of violence broke out between police and Southie residents. White crowds greeted the buses with insults, and further violence erupted between Southie residents and retaliating Roxbury crowds. State troopers were called in until the violence subsided after a few weeks.

Segregation in the 21st Century

Segregation persists in the 21st Century. Studies show that while the public overwhelmingly supports integrated schools, only a third of Americans want federal government intervention to enforce it.

The term "apartheid schools" describes still-existing, largely segregated schools, where white students make up 0 to 10 percent of the student body. The phenomenon reflects residential segregation in cities and communities across the country, which is not created by overtly racial laws, but by local ordinances that target minorities disproportionately.

Sources

Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi, published by Bodley Head.
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The .
Dismantling Desegregation by Gary Orfield and Susan E. Eaton by the New Press.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

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Segregation in the United States - Meaning, Facts. & Legacy

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After the United States abolished slavery, Black Americans continued to be marginalized through Jim Crow laws and diminished access to facilities, housing, education-and opportunities.

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Corporate Americna banker who ruled the banking industry in the guilded age.

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Act signed into law by Andrew Jackson that authorized the president to negotiate southern native tribes to move west.

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The main reasons for immigration were religious freedom, employment, education, and conflict in their home countries.

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Root Causes of Migration

Download a copy of the Root Causes backgrounder

"Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more."
-Pope Francis, World Day of Migrants and Refugees (2014)

In an examination of root causes that drive people to migrate it is helpful to fully understand global migration. A root cause is the fundamental reason for the occurrence of an event, in this case, migration. Often, in the migration context, there are both push and pull factors with push factors being reasons why people would want to leave their home country and pull factors being reasons why people would want to come to a new country. In migration, push and pull factors can be economic, environmental, social and political. They include some of the following:
Safety Factors
Safety factors can cause danger to individuals, prompting them to migrate. Persecution and discrimination based on nationality, race, religion, political beliefs, or membership status in a particular social group[ii] will prompt people to move large distances in search of a safer living location where they can have freedom over their lives. Danger can be imposed upon individuals by something formal, like war[iv] , or informal, such as widespread gang activity. In 2016, the Northern Triangle, composed of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, was named one of the most violent regions in the world. All three Northern Triangle countries record thousands of crimes by local and international gangs and armed criminal groups, and most crimes are met with impunity. It is estimated that 10% of the Northern Triangle's population has already left, and it is likely that many more will flee in part due to extreme violence.[v]
Economic Factors
Economic migration, whether permanent or seasonal, is a commonly cited reason for migration. In general, it is believed that in economic migration people move from poorer developing areas into richer areas where wages are higher and more jobs are available[vi]. It is also common for people from rural areas to move to more competitive urban areas in order to find more opportunities.

Mexican migration[vii] into the United States portrays the importance of both push and pull factors in economic migration. All throughout the 20 th century, seasonal Mexican laborers have crossed the border in search of work in the American agricultural industry, as the economic state of Mexico did not match the level of economic prosperity found in America. In the 21 st century however, Mexican migration has slowed down significantly, and after the American recession of 2009, economic migration from Mexico to the United States began to decline. Studies show that Mexican household economies have improved due to factors like increases in access to education. As Mexico's financial state improved and the United States temporarily struggled, both push and pull factors eroded, causing the dwindling of migration.
Environmental Factors
Migration caused by environmental factors is increasingly involuntary. Environmental factors cause displacement, or the forced movement of people by social or environmental factors.[viii] Crop failure for example, often results in both food scarcity and a drop in agricultural jobs, prompting people to move to a place with better job opportunities and climate.[ix] Pollution of water, air and soil in both urban and rural settings can also create a serious health risk to locals, forcing them to look for a better life for themselves and their children. [x]

Devastating natural disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes are environmental factors that the news most often cover. In January 2010 for example, a deadly earthquake hit Haiti[xi], claiming the lives of over 90,000 people, and displacing over 1.5 million others. Despite humanitarian aid, many suffered from disease and a lack of proper shelter and basic supplies. Likewise, recent studies cite global warming as a cause for the increase in violent conflict around the world. The recent example of the Syrian drought[xii] from 2006 to 2011 was catastrophic, causing many families to lose their farms and move into big cities. The drought also increased food prices, facilitating poverty. Although global warming did not create the conflict we are witnessing today, environmental factors are important in human migration.
Social Factors
Social factors motivating migration grow from the human needs and desires to achieve a better quality of life. Migrants often move to ensure better opportunities for themselves or their family, like sending their child to a better, safer school or finding a job that would have not only a sufficient salary, but also important benefits and career growth prospects. In terms of education, the United States graduate programs have been a particularly strong attraction for young, talented individuals around the world.[xiii] Individuals can also migrate in search of services, such as life-saving surgery and medical treatment that are inaccessible in their home area.[xiv]

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Last Updated: 2/14/17

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Download a copy of the Root Causes backgrounder "Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more."

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Granted citizenship to anyone born in the United States and guarenteed all citizens equal protection of the laws.

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14th Amendment: Simplified Summary, Text & Impact

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The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”

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Writer of the abolishionist paper "The Liberator". Fought for the freedom of slaves.

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Machine that quickly seperates cotton from its seeds. Caused slavery to skyrocket because of its ability to work very quickly and increase production.