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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 9 

 

section 1: The Market Revolution 
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then two events made Americans very angry at Spain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Three incidents brought the United States into the war:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. countries should not make secret treaties with one another 

2. freedom of the seas should be maintained 

3. tariffs should be lowered to promote free trade 

4. countries should reduce their arms 

5. the interests of the colonial people should be considered 

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

The treaty created new national boundaries by:

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

2. shifting the boundaries of other nations 

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

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

The Treaty of Versailles had three basic weaknesses:

1. its harsh treatment of Germany 

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

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

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

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

But in 1919, three important strikes occurred：

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

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

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

But this prosperity hid two big problems:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Unemployment compensation— payments to workers who lost their jobs 

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