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AP United States History
Outline Notes
Unit 1: The American Colonial and Revolutionary Experience
(Beginnings to 1783)
Lesson 1: - The earliest discovery and settlement of America was a result of
revolutionary developments which alters the course of mankind
I.
The Pre-Columbian, Native American civilizations, included a
variety of cultures and diverse geographic influences
The first American settlers probably came from Asia 25,000-30,000
years ago, during the last of the four great ice ages, across a land bridge
that now lies beneath the Bering Strait in pursuit of large game animals
(bison, mastodons).
These early immigrants to America used simple stone and wooden tools,
woven baskets, fishing nets and fire. As big game diminished, they began
cultivating wild plants (about 7000 B.C.). Permanent settlements emerged
as they learned to farm and extended families live together in small
bands.
The Native American tribes of Central and South America displayed
complex architecture and scientific knowledge, and were more advanced
than the North American tribes.
Mayas
The Mayas who populated Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula
peaked around 900 A.D., about 500 years prior to the arrival of Columbus
(1492). The last Mayan dynasty was eliminated in the 1697 in Flores,
Guatemala.
They developed a highly advanced civilization with a system of
hieroglyphic-type writing, an accurate calendar more precise than those
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used in Europe, a mathematical system with a zero and a system of
astronomy which could predict solar eclipses.
Their cities, complete with pyramids, religious temples and plazas were
largely ceremonial centers for religious rather than military fortresses
or administrative centers.
Incas
The Incas settled in the Andes Mountains of Peru, with their capitol
located at Cuzco.
They were a wealthy empire and their engineering skills rank them among
the greatest builders in world history. The city of Machu Picchu ,
undiscovered until found by American Hiram Bingham in 1911, covered five
square miles.
Incans created fortified cities, a highway system, terraced fields, an
irrigation system and intricately-designed cloth.
The Incan state was totalitarian. Their pyramids social structure placed
Inca, the sun god, at the top, followed by nobles (priests, military and
government rulers) and laborers. Land was publicly-owned by the state.
Aztecs
The Aztecs ruled Central America by 1500 through a powerful empire
centered at Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), an island fortress complete with
drawbridges.
Their well-trained armies conquered the Toltecs and other neighbors.
They implemented military rule under harsh leaders.
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The Aztecs traded gems, gold and silver with other, distant tribes and
became very wealthy.
They tracked farming cycles with accurate calendars.
The North American tribes were scattered in small, nomadic
settlements across very limited portions of the continent and were
less developed than their neighbors in the south.
The Artic/sub-Artic tribes of Canada and Alaska (Eskimos, Aleuts) survived
by hunting and fishing in the harsh Northern environment.
The Northwest tribes (Haida, Kwakiut, Tlingit, and Tsimshian) carved 10 to
60 foot red cedar totem poles which displayed family information. The
Nootka tribe became great whalers in their cedar, oceangoing dugouts.
The Pacific Coast, Plateau and Great Basin tribes (including Shoshone, Pima
and Nez Perce) gathered seeds and were basket weavers. Fresh water, fish,
game and wild vegetables were so abundant in the mild climate of the Pacific
coast that farming was unnecessary. The coastal tribes lived in large log
houses and were monotheistic.
The Southwest tribes included, by 3000 B.C., the Hohkam (the ancestors of
the Pima and Papago) and Anasazi, the cliff-dwelling, apartment-building
ancestors of the Pueblo. As the earliest farmers in America. They grew
squash, beans and corn. The Navahos and Apaches invaded the region from
Canada as hunters, traders and gatherers. All of the Southwestern tribes
were skilled weavers (baskets, cloth) and potters the borrowed much of
their culture form the Mayas and Aztecs.
Pueblos lived in multi-story, adobe (sun-dried brick) apartment houses.
Pueblo society was democratic, peaceful and agrarian. “Pueblo” is Spanish for
“Town. “
Navajos were farmers and skilled weavers who made intricately-designed
rugs and blankets and who lived in hogans constructed of adobe and logs.
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Apaches were war like nomads who lived in wickiups (temporary brush huts)
and who hunted deer and buffalo. “Apache” means “enemy” in Pueblo and they
were known for their ferocity.
The Great Plains tribes traveled in bullboats, made of wood and buffalo
hides, on the rivers and carried items in “travois” slings (as they had no
wheel).
Some of the tribes including the Lakota (Sioux), Kiowas, Dakotas, Pawnees,
Osages and Comanches raised corn in agrarian villages along the Missouri and
other rivers and hunted after the harvest.
Democratic councils made important decisions.
Following the introduction of horses to the New World by the Spanish, the
Plains Indians turned away from farming to hunting buffalo in the 16th amd
17th centuries from which they obtained food, clothing, cone-shaped tepee
shelters (buffalo skins draped over poles), tools and fuel.
Families were characterized by matriarchal descent.
The sun was an important part of their religion.
The Eastern Woodlands tribes were known for their ceremonial mounds
(often shaped like animals). They lived in agricultural villages along rivers and
creeks, often burning thousands of acres of forest to clear land for farming,
hunted with bows and arrows and traded along rivers in dugout canoes.
The woodlands tribes are divided into three groups by historians, according
to language.
The Algonkian tribes lived along the coast from Canada to North Carolina
iThe Iroquian tribes migrated from the Mississippi River into the Eastern
Great Lakes reion (The Northeast)
The Muskogean tribes were located in the South, although the Cherokees,
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who closely resembled Muskogean tribes in lifestyle, spoke an Iroquoian
dialect.
The Algonquin tribes of the Northeast, who lived in wigwams and tepees
constructed of wood frames and covered in bark, were known for using
wampum (clamshells) as money and for making the first contact with the
European settlers along the Atlantic Coast.
The Iroquois Confederation (League of Five Nations) consisting of the
Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Seneca, was a powerful alliance
founded in the 1500’s by Dekanawidah and his follower, Hiawatha, to prevent
fighting among the members through oaths, who also made agreements to
enter into warfare only with the unanimous consent of the 50 chiefs
(sachems) from various tribes whose council ruled the confederation with an
oral constitution of traditions.
The Iroquois lived in “longhouses,” often 200 feet long, which contained
several families.
The Northeastern tribes raised corn and many other crops, made maple
sugar, fished the rivers, hunted whales and seals along the coast and
gathered shellfish.
The Northeastern tribes were monotheistic and also matriarchal, with
women controlling property, goods and the choice of the clan’s sachem. The
more northern hunting tribes were male-dominated.
The Tuscarora joined the Iroquois after 1700.
The confederation suffered as a result of their support for the British
during the American Revolution, although they were soon renewed as a
people by the teachings of Handsome Lake.
d. The Southeastern Indians borrowed much of their culture from the
Mayan and Aztec civilizations of Mexico, including pyramids and large towns
with open courtyards.
The “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Chocktaw,
Seminole), which ultimately emerged from the Southeastern tribes in the
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late 17th Century, would be democratically-ruled and, thus, referred to by
the Europeans as “civilized” while the Natchez and other southeastern
tribes who were influenced by the Aztecs lived in an authoritarian system
ruled by the chief who was also seen as a god.
Like the Iroquois, the Southeastern Indians were monotheistic, as well as
matriarchal in descent, though the wife’s brother was seen as the head of
the family.
Native Americans lived in harmony with the natural world through their
social, economic and religious practices but came into conflict with the
Europeans upon their arrival.
1Native American Indians believed that the land was a sacred trust and
should be left unspoiled for later generations.
Native Americans did not own land; rather, they were simply part of the
land and nature.
Conflict would emerge with the Europeans who felt that they had the right
to own and tame “the wild frontier” and to tuse it exclusively for their own
benefit.
Native Americans enjoyed some benefits from early contacts with
Europeans.
The Indians traded for clothing, weapons and tools.
The horse, introduced to the Americas by the Spanish, changed the nature
of buffalo hunting on the Great Plains, producing the horse culture of the
region and making the Plains Indians more nomadic.
The Cherokees borrowed the idea of a written constitution (1820) and
alphabet (Sequoya’s syllabary) from the Europeans.
Europeans brought the wheel to the New World.
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The Europeans benefited from contact with the Indians.
Native Americans introduced the Europeans to corn, squash, peanuts, beans,
potatoes and the valuable cash crop of tobacco.
French, British and Dutch fur traders lived and traded with the Indians,
creating a brisk fur trade.
Europeans formed alliances with the Indians in their efforts to control the
New World.
The Indians taught wilderness survival techniques to the Europeans
4. Conflict between the Native Americans and the European immigrants
emerged as a result of a) the depletion of antural resources by the
Europeans, b) the concept of private land ownership, c) language barriers,
and d) the multitude of treaties broken by the whites.
5. As a result of the European immigration, 90% of the Native American
population would be destroyed within a century of Columbus’s journey,
primarily from disease including smallpox, yellow fever and malaria. However,
Europeans suffered from contact also, as the Native Americans introduced
syphilis into the European population, Native Americans proved to be more
geographically exploitable than Africans.
6. By 1500 A.D., Native Americans had only reached a level of civilization
comparable to the Egyptians in 250 B.C.
Lesson 2: Europe discovered America due to dramatic changes on the
European landscape and, as a result, migrated to the New World during the
Age of Exploration.
1. According to Lewis Muford, “the settlement of America had its
origins in the unsettlement of Europe,” as Europe “reawakened” from
500 years of cultural decline that began with the fall of Rome in 476
A.D.
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From 1096 until 1272, European Christians tried to conquer the Muslims, the
world’s most advanced society, in the Middle East (the Holy Land – Palestine)
through a series of crusades. As soldiers returned to Europe with Middle
Eastern silk, spices, drugs, draperies, perfumes and gems, brisk trade
developed between Europe and the East.
European explorers went to Asia to learn more about the Mongols (Tartars)
who had pushed to the Danube River in Europe in the mid-thirteenth
century, as well as to find Prester (Priest) John, a legendary Christian ruler.
Venetian merchants Maffeo and Nicolo Polo reached China (Cathay) and
Kubai, khan (ruler) of the Mongols around 1260. In 1295, Nicolo’s son,
romance novelist, stating that the products of the East could be reached by
sea and that Europeans would be welcomed by the Khan and Prester John
(who he had never seen). Europeans were amazed by The Travels of Marco
Polo – or description of the World (1477) and would reach China two
centuries later, after being delayed by navigational and financial limitations.
“Marco Polo discovered China in the thirteenth century, when he was alive,
and in the fifteenth century, when he was dead, he discovered America.”
(Eileen Power)
By the fourteenth century, Europe was stirring with new ideas during the
Renaissance, a period of “rebirth.”
Despite the Renaissance, the feudal manorial system and non-competitive
craft guilds continued to prevent change, promote unity and regulate the
individual. The Church, which owned a third of France and Germany, stifled
individual instincts by preaching that anyone who challenged the established
order should face God’s wrath.
When medieval people began to insist on “rights,” the foundations for
American colonial developments were established.
The authority of the Catholic Church diminished in the fourteenth century
as England and France began taxing church property. New European
monarchs like Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Henry VII of England and
Louis XI of France would rule without regard for the church’s moral
authority.
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In 1303, the French invaded the Vatican and removed the pope to France (in
the Babylonian Captivity – 1305 to 1378), producing the Great Schism (13781415) with one pope in France and one in Rome.
John Wycliffe and John Huss attacked the church’s wealth and possessions.
Poverty ceased to be a virtue as wealth emerged. Merchants began to
compete against the craft guilds through “cottage industries.”
The shift of values led Europeans, who were confined to the religious, social
and economic parameters of the medieval world, to explore new worlds.
Reasons for European exploration
Europeans searched for new trade routes to the East, launching the
Commercial Revolution.
The old land-based trade routes to the Eastern lands of the Spice Islands
(Indonesia) China and India were difficult, dangerous, expensive, and
dominated by Moslem middlemen as well as monopolists in Genoa and Venice.
Portugal was the first European nation to launch voyages of exploration.
Prince Henry the Navigator founded a school of navigation at Sagres and, as
a result, improved the science of navigation and mapmaking. He employing
the cartographic principles of Ptolemy, asserting that the earth is round,
that distances can be measured in degrees and that celestial bodies can be
used in determining location north and south of the equator (latitude) and
east and west (longitude).
Using swift caravel ships with lateen sails which enabled them to sail into
the wind, the Portuguese explored the African coast in 1420, searching for
Moslem gold, ivory and Prester John.
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After being blown off course by a storm, Diaz rounded the Cape of Good
Hope and was followed by Vasco de Gama who proceeded across the Indian
Ocean to India.
As a result, Portugal established flourishing trading posts in India, Asia and
Africa and broke the Italian monopoly as prices on Asian goods fell. Portugal
was the first nation to take African slaves into Europe.
The search for new lands led to the Geographic Revolution as Europe
discovered America.
Christopher Columbus of Genoa, Italy believed that the world was round and
that the East could be reached by sailing westward.
Sailors had found carved wood and dark-skinned corpses floating at sea
(probably Eskimos) and he was also inspired by Marco Polo.
After initially being rejected by Spain, Portugal, England, and France,
Columbus sailed on behalf of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and
set out in 1492 with the Nina, the Pinta (both of which were caravel ships)
and the Santa Maria.
The Spanish rulers wanted Columbus to find a route to the silk, spices,
perfumes, jewels, and gold of the controlled the land trade and the
merchants of Genoa and Venice.
Columbus sighted land in the Bahamas (San Salvador) on October 12, 1492
and mistakenly identified the inhabitants as “Indians” while the region
became known as the West Indies. When he died in 1506, he remained
convinced that he had found the Indies.
He discovered Haiti (Hispaniola) and Cuba, found gold, and was introduced to
Indian maize (Corn), hammocks, sweet potatoes, tobacco, cinnamon, and
coconuts.
In later expeditions, he discovered the Lesser Antilles, Dominica, Guadalupe,
St. Croix (the first future U.S. territory he found), Puerto Rico and
Jamaica.
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Spain encouraged other explorations of the “New World” in order to convert
the inhabitants to Christianity and to seize the new land’s wealth.
America was later named (by a German geography) in honor of Amerigo
Vespucci, an Italian who explored from Mexico to Brazil on behalf of
Portugal in 1501 during what he claimed was four trips to the New World.
Columbus was not the first European to explore North America but he is
credited with “discovery “ because his exploration led to the European
migration to America. Leif Ericson (a Viking) landed on the northeast coast
of “Vinland” around 1000 A.D. from the Viking settlement earlier founded by
his father, Eric the Red, in Greenland but no mass migration came as a
result.
As a result of early European exploration, the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)
gave all territory west of the Demarcation Line (between the Azores and the
new land Approximately 1100 miles west of Cape Verde) to Spain and all
lands east of the line to Portugal. Neither nation was aware that Brazil
extended into the Portuguese territory and, in 1500, after being blow off
course while sailing around Africa, Pedro Alvarez Cabral would claim Brazil
for Portugal.
Geography significantly influenced the exploration of the New World as
rivers, oceans and mountain ranges marked the boundaries of exploration.
Colonies would later be located on good harbors and become culturally
diverse due to geography.
American culture did not emerge homogeneously but, rather, become an
assimilation of various radical, ethic and religious groups. Although the
United States emerged from English colonies in North America, earlier
settlements and colonies in the New World were non-English in origin.
Spanish explorations led to an empire in America which would have a
profound impact upon America culture, Spanish first settled Central
America before spreading into South and North America.
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Ponce de Leon (1513) discovered and explored Florida, searching for the
legendary “fountain of youth” after conquering Puerto Rico. He was killed by
Indians.
Vasco de Balboa (1513) discovered the Pacific Ocean (the “South Sea”) after
crossing Panama with Indian guides and African labor.
Ferdinand Magellan (1519-1522) a Portuguese sailing under the flag of Spain,
led the expedition that first circumvented the globe, definitely proving that
the world is round. He confirmed Balboa’s discovery of a new, calm sea which
he named the Pacific Ocean. Magellan died in the Philippines but 18 of his
237 men reached Spain in the “Victoria”.
Hernando Cortes (1519-1521), after burning his ships in order to instill
motivation in his men, conquered the Aztec empire of Montezuma with
armor, gunpowder, horses and by scaring enemies of the Aztecs into an
alliance with his small army of 550 men. He siezed vast amounts of gold and
silver and added Mexico to the Spanish Empire. Many Aztecs welcomed
Cortes as Quetzalcoatl, the legendary Aztec god who had promised to return
to Mexico one day. Cortez conquered the Aztecs with ease because he
brutally fought to win, while the Aztecs believed that wars were only fought
to produce prisoners for ceremonial scarifies
Panfilo de Narvaez (1527-28) explored the Gulf of Mexico before his
expedition was destroyed by a hurricane
Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico (1528-1536) explored the Southwest after
being among the four survivors of Narvaez’s ill-fated expedition to reach
Mexico City. De Vaca later wrote a book in Spanish about Narvaez’s
expedition and Estevanico, an African slave, was later killed by Indians while
on a treasure hunt.
Francisco Pizarro (1531-1535) defeated the Incas, after murdering Inca,
their leader, seized gold and added Peru to the Spanish Empire. Like Cortez,
Pizarro was seen as a god fulfilling an ancient prophesy.
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Hernando de Soto (1542) discovered and explored the Mississippi River,
claimed the Gulf coast region and explored North America, perhaps as far
north as North Carolina. He was buried in the river, the “father of waters.”
Francisco Coronado (1540- 1542) explored the southwest and discovered the
Grand Canyon while searching for the fabled “Seven Cities of Cibola” (the
Cities of Gold).
Juan Cabrillo (1542) explored the coast of California.
The Spanish empire in the New World was the largest empire that Europe
had ever seen and included South America (except Brazil), the West Indies,
Central America, Mexico, Florida, California, and southwestern United
States. The Spanish conquistadors came to the New World for “God, Glory,
and Gold,” hoping to Christianize the Native Americans, to grow rich and to
add to Spain’s conquests.
200,000 Spaniards migrated to the New World, founded 200 settlements
and established colonies (land settled and controlled by a country) with
churches, schools and missions. The Spanish colonial population was diverse.
Only Catholics were permitted to move to the colonies.
European-born Spaniards were the upper class that controlled the
governmental positions.
Native-born Americans of Spanish descent (Creoles) were pioneers who
ownes and managed plantations, mines and other commercial enterprises.
Mestizos (with Spanish/Indian ancestry) served as laborers, farmers and
tradesmen.
Native Indians were terribly treated, even though laws decreed humane
treatment.
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Although the Spanish government ultimately abolished Indian slavery in the
1540’s, forced labor continued with the encomienda system, in which the
Spanish served as trustees over land and its inhabitants, and the
repartimiento system in which Indian laborers were paid meager wages from
which taxes were taken.
Catholic missionaries converted and educated the Indians, taught then to
trade and tried to protect their interests. Friar Bartolome’ de Las Casas,
the most famous Spanish missionary, sought justice and fair treatment for
Indians. Junipero Serra built missions in San Diego (1769) and along the
California coast. Eusebio Francisco Kino was a Jesuit Priest who mapped
Arozonia while establishing missions.
The Spanish colonies ultimately destroyed over 90% of the Native American
population with diseases (smallpox and measles), resulting, for the first time,
in the importation of African slaves to the New World. By the 1600’s,
African slaves outnumdered the Spanish population in New Spain.
In 1680, Pueblos, led by Pope’, drove the Spanish out of New Mexico but the
Spanish soon returned to the region.
Negro slaves form Africa
Mulattoes- Black/Spanish ancestry
Zambos- Indians/Black ancestry
Concerned about French and English exploration in North America, the
Spanish built a fort (presidio) at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. It would be
followed by other forts which would extend as far north as South Carolina,
where Spanish slavery was known to exist long before the British introduced
slavery into the region.
Spanish colonies were diverted into two large provinces, including New Spain
(Caribbean, Central America, North America and part of South America) and
the colonies of South America. They were governed by the king’s viceroys
who ruled completely in collecting taxes, enforcing laws, controlling finances
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and presiding over the Indians. The Spanish empire in the New World had no
representative government.
Commercial activities were regulated in New Spain.
a. No competition with Spanish manufacturers was allowed.
b. Colonists traded only with the mother country.
c. The Spanish practiced mercantilism, an economic system in which
colonies existed to enrich and serve the mother county. Huge
quantities of gold and silver were shipped to Spain, mostly from Potosi
in Bolivia, producing the richest and most powerful nation in the world.
Spanish wealth was also extended during King Phillip II’s reign through
unity with Portugal.
d. Spanish ranchers raised cattle while farmers operated haciendas
(plantations)
Spain’s Legacy To America
a. The Spaniards introduced Christianity into the New World, converting
thousands of Indians to Roman Catholicism.
b. Spanish is the official language in Latin America (except Brazil and
Haiti) and is widely spoken in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and
California.
c. Fruit and Animals: Oranges, lemons, olives, sugar cane, wheat, rice,
horses, cattle, donkeys, pigs, and sheep.
d. Education: Universities (1500’s) in Mexico City and Lima (preceding
Harvard University in the English colonies by almost a century) and
the printing press.
e. Architecture: Rounded arches, arched doorways, domed roofs,
rectangular bell towers, stone or adobe walls, open courts, high
ceilings and tiled roofs.
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f. Cowboy culture.
g. Slavery and plantation society.
Spain’s empire in the New World differed from the French and British
empires.
a. North America did not produce the quantity of precious metals
(gold/silver) that was found in New Spain.
b. The wealthy Spanish empire produced a strong, homogenous culture.
c. The Spanish used torture and other means in successfully controlling
the native popultion.
Similarities emerged in the Spanish and British empires.
a. Each empire imported African slaves to address a labor shortage.
b. Both empires economically depended on agriculture.
c. Each was an outpost on a vast frontier.
France in the New World
The French explored the New World in order to
a. find a passage to the Indies.
b. build an overseas empire of her own.
c. gain control of fishing banks off Newfoundland.
d. tap into North America’s huge supply of furs (beaver).
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e. convert the Indians to Catholicism.
f. trade; the French Primarily came to the New World to trade.
Giovanni de Verrazano (1524), an Italian sailing for France, explored the
eastern coast of North America from North Carolina to Nova Scotia and
discovered New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay
Jacques Cartier (1534-1535) discovered the St. Lawrence River and the site
on which Montreal is located.
Samuel de Champlain (1608-1609), the “Father of New France,” founded the
first permanent French colony at Quebec, discovered Lake Champlain and
explored northern New York State.
Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet (1673) explored the central
portion of the Mississippi River.
Robert Cavalier de la Salle (1682) sailed down the Mississippi River and
claimed the entire territory to the Gulf of Mexico for France, naming it
Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV; previously explored western New York
and the Ohio Valley, erected trading posts and forts in the Great Lakes
region and built the first sailing vessel to navigate the Great Lakes. He was
ultimately murdered in a mutiny of his men.
As a result of her exploration, France claimed Canada, the Great Lakes
region, and the Mississippi Valley.
France gained a natural highway to the interior of North America by
controlling the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River
system.
The French settlers built trading posts and forts at strategic points along
waterways like the Ohio River to serve as centers for fur trade with the
Indians. The French also built forts like New Orleans (1718) in order to
prevent Spanish settlements in the region. Large estates were granted to
lords, who rented small farms to settlers.
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80,000 settlers came to New France over a 150-year period.
Government: Each of the two provinces, Canada and Louisiana, were
administered by the king’s royal governor who controlled the colonists
completely. The French empire in the New World had no representative
government.
Religious restrictions only permitted Catholics to immigrate to New France,
unlike the English colonies, where French Protestants (Huguenots) and other
religious dissenters settled.
The French maintained better relations with the Indians, because, with the
fur trade, they found no need to clear the forsts, destroy the wildlife or
confiscate Indian lands for homes and farms.
Priests, known as Black Robes, set up missions in order to Christianize the
Hurons and other wilderness tribes.
France’s Legacy to America
a. Religion: French missionaries and priests established the Catholic
Church in the Mississippi River Valley and eastern Canada.
b. Language: Many people in Louisiana, New York, New England and the
Canadian province of Quebec today speak French and observe French
customs.
c. Many U.S. geographic names are of French origin (Baton Rouge,
Detroit, St. Louis, Vermont, Lake Champlain).
The Netherlands in the New World
Henry Hudson (1609), an English navigator, was hired by Dutch merchants to
find a new water route to the Indies. He explored the coast of North
America from Maine to Carolina, discovering Delaware Bay and the Hudson
Bay. The Dutch Empire in America, known as New Netherland, extended
from the Hudson River Valley to Delaware Bay.
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In 1614 Dutch merchants established a trading post near present-day
Albany. The Dutch West India Company, holding a grant from the Dutch
government for exclusive trading and colonizing rights in the New World,
sent settlers to New Netherland who founded Fort Orange and New
Amsterdam (New York City – Manhattan Island) which soon became the
capital, port and trading center of New Netherland.
The patron system was adopted by the company to encourage settlement.
The title of patron and a large estate along the Hudson River was offered to
any company member who would provide passage and land for fifty adult
settlers. Consequently, the Hudson River Valley became a region of large
estates but the patron system failed because the colonists found greater
freedom in the English colonies.
New Netherland was administered by a governor who was appointed by the
Dutch West India Company. The Colony had no representative government.
Peter Minuit, the first governor, bought Manhattan Island from the Indians
for $24.00 worth of trinkets, beads and knives.
The Netherlands Legacy to America
a. Architecture: Steeply pitched roofs, stepped gables, entrance stoops,
two-section doors.
b. Easter eggs, waffles, New York cities, Santa Claus.
c. Sports: Bowling, ice-skating and golf.
d. Three Presidents were Dutch descendants: Martin Van Buren,
Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt.
Lesson 3: The English exploration of the New World led to the
establishment of settlements a long the Atlantic Seaboard.
England explored the North American continent in the New World.
When Protestant Queen Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, she
challenged Catholic Spain’s commercial and naval supremacy.
England honored her “sea dogs” (pirates) like Sir John Hawkins, who
smuggled slaves and British goods into Spanish colonies, and Sir Francis
Drake, who looted Spanish treasure ships and settlements in the Caribbean.
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When Drake was “knighted,” King Phillip II’s Spanish forces attacked
England in an effort to return England to Catholicism and to prevent the
English from further aiding the Dutch in their struggle for independence
from Spain. In a decisive sea battle, small, quick English ships, employing
greater maneuverability and long-range firepower, outmaneuvered and
destroyed the cumbersome Spanish Armada which was also battered by a
storm in the English channel while escaping from ships set ablaze by the
British on the French coast. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588
marked a turning point in history as Spain began to decline in power.
England lagged behind Spain and Portugal in colonizing the New World
because her rulers were more concerned with conquering Wales and Ireland
prior to 1600.
England sent explorers to the New World to seek a passage to the Indies, an
outlet for surplus population, a source of raw materials and a market for her
manufactured goods.
John Cabot(1497-1498) established the English foothold in the New World
as he explored the eastern coast of North America and was the first
explorer to reach the North American mainland.
Sir Marin Frobisher discovered Baffin Island and Frobisher Bay in Northern
Canada (1576).
Sir Frances Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe
(1577-1580) and to explore the western coastline of North America.
John Davis (1585-87) explored the North American Arctic.
England’s empire in the New World claimed a large part of the Atlantic
Seaboard.
Richard Hakluyt’s Discourse Concerning Western Planting encouraged English
colonization of the New World by asserting that England a) should try to
humble the king of Spain, thereby extending English power; b) should use the
New World as and outlet for her thieves, beggars and criminals; c) should
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convert the Native Americans to Anglicanism and d) could extract precious
minerals from the colonies. Hakluyt believed that the colonies would become
consumers of finished British goods but would not become centers of
manufacturing in the British mercantilist model.
English colonies were initially formed by joint stock companies who received
a charter (an official grant) from King James I in 1606 to colonize America.
Stockholders invested money in these forerunners of modern corporations,
hoping to share in potential profits.
The London (Virginia) Company received all territory south of the Potomac
River, in addition to New York City, while the Plymouth Company was granted
all territory north of the Potomac.
The King promised that all people who served in either company in the
English colonies would retain their rights and privileges as English subjects,
“as if abiding and born within this our realm of England.”
Early modern Europe was a mobile society and the migrations from England
and other nations to the New World must be viewed in the context of
domestic patterns of migration. Two migration patterns emerged in England.
Metropolitan migrants, overwhelmingly from London, were usually young,
single, male tenant farmers, displaced by English landowners, who came to
the New World as indentured servants, exchanging two to seven year of
labor for free passage to America’s economic opportunity. Most indentured
servants were restricted in how they lived, worked and married and typically
remained impoverished or returned to England. Redemptioners only had to
work off part of the cost of their passage and were seen as passengers
rather than cargo on the journey.
Provincial migrants from the outlying English provinces were typically farm
families who liquidated their possessions to raise enough money to avoid
servitude. They ultimately became the colonial frontier families who
contributed enormously to the colonial economy with initiative, consumption
and frontier settlements.
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Early English settlements
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1578-1583) unsuccessfully tried to colonize
Newfoundland.
Sir Walter Raleigh (1585-1590) briefly settled Roanoke Island.
Raleigh received, from Queen Elizabeth I, a patent granted earlier to his
half-brother Gilbert and sent Captains Philip Armadas and Arthur Barlowe to
the New World to find a site for a settlement in 1587. Portuguese Simon
Fernandez served as pilot.
They entered the Pamlico Sound in North Carolina at Ocracoke Inlet and
proceeded to Roanoke Island, where they traded with local Indians.
Accompanied by Indians Wachese and Manteo, they returned to England and
made a glowing report of their exploration.
Raleigh was knighted and the new land was christened “Virginia” for
unmarried “Virgin Queen” Elizabeth.
In 1585, Raleigh dispatched 108 men (no women or children) to Roanoke
under the command of Sir Richard Greenville.
The first English colony in the New World (the “Ralph Lane colony,” named
after its governor) constructed Fort Raleigh>
Besieged by poor leadership, scarce food and rumors of impending Indian
raids, the colonists returned to England in 1586 after Sir Francis Drake
arrived and offered to accompany the settlers back to England. Eighteen
men remained behind in the colony.
As a result of his experience, Richard Hariot wrote the first book in English
about and eyewitness account of the New World, entitled “A Brief and True
Report of the New Found Land of Virginia” (1588).
Sir Walter Raleigh sent a new expedition, with John White as governor.
23
The “John White colony” consisted of 110 settlers, including 17 women and
nine children.
They found Fort Raleigh but no sign of Lane’s 18 men.
Manteo was baptized and Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor White,
became the first English child born in America.
Governor White returned to England for supplies in 1587 but was delayed in
returning to the colony due to the war with Spain. He returned to Roanoke
Island in 1590 but their was no sigh of the Lost Colony, except for the word
“Croatoan” carved on a tree and a few remnants of supplies.
The unknown fate of the “Lost Colony” may be explained by one of the
following theories:
1.The colonists were wiped out by the Spanish expedition sent from Florida.
Evidence has been found that the Spanish were planning such an attack and
there were Spanish ships in the region at the time of the disappearance.
2.The colonists were killed by the Indians.
3.The colonists, after giving up on the return of Governor White, joined the
Indians and, for reasons unknown (perhaps a storm), moved inland. The
present-day Lumbees of Robeson County, once known as “Croatans,” may be
their descendents.
4. The colonists may have tried to return to England in ships left behind by
Governor White and were lost at sea.
Sir Walter Raleigh, who never accompanied an expedition to Roanoke, was
later beheaded for treason after angering Queen Elizabeth.
A colony founded by Sir Fernando Gorge’s Plymouth Company at Sagadohoc
(Maine) failed after one winter.
Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in America.
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The settlement, founded by the London Company in1607 on the James River
in the Chesapeake Bay region, suffered early hardships as settlers searched
for gold rather than food and shelter and faced Indian stacks and disease in
the swampland site. England’s full employment policy had fostered a poor
attitude towards work among the young men that populated the settlement
because it restricted the work day per worker to 4-5 hours in order to have
everyone employed. After half of the settlers, none of whom were farmers,
died, Captain John Smith took control, demanding work and home
construction in exchange for the food he acquired from local Indians. The
colony nearly perished when he returned to England in 1609.
Jamestown succeeded due to private ownership of land (which stimulated
agriculture), the cultivation tobacco by John Rolfe, peace with the Indians
as a result of Rolfe’s marriage to Pocahontas, a chief’s daughter, and the
arrival of skilled workers (masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, and farmers).
In 1619 the Virginia House of Burgesses established the idea of
representative government in the new world, just as parliament governed
back home in England. The House convened on June 30th with two burgesses
(delegates) from each settlement attending. 1619 also witnessed the arrival
of the first African slaves and women into Jamestown.
The Plymouth settlement emerged as a result of religious and political
dissension in the 16th Century England.
England broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1534 when King Henry VIII
formed the Anglican Church in order to divorce his wife and to marry Ann
Bolyn. Everyone was required to support the new church but opposition arose
from Roman Catholics, Puritans, who wanted to “purify,” the Anglican Church
of its remaining Catholic tendencies, and separatists, who established
independent churches.
Many people fled to the New World to escape political persecution. King
James I (1603-1624), the first Stuart king, embraced the “divine right of
kings,” the belief that the king was only accountable to God. The conflict
between King James I and Parliament over taxation and free speech
continued during the reign of King Charles I (1625-1649), the civil war that
introduced Oliver Cromwell’s dictatorial rule.
25
On November 11, 1620, 102 English separatists, who had fled to Holland in
1608 in order to separate from the Anglican Church, and non-believers,
including Myles Standish, arrived in New England on the Mayflower.
Before coming ashore, the pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, one of
the earliest written expression of self-government in America, in which they
agreed to enact just and equal laws and to abide by these laws.
Only adult males signed the agreement.
Government was identified as the “Civil body politic.”
In December 1620, the pilgrims established a settlement at Plymouth,
Massachusetts, though they never received a charter from the King since
they were living in exile in Holland.
After only 44 of the 102 pilgrims survived the first winter, the Plymouth
settlers learned to use natural resources from Squanto, a Pawtuxet Indian
who served as an interpreter, Samoset and Massasoit, leader of the
Wampanoags who formed an alliance with the pilgrims. In the autumn of
1621, the pilgrims celebrated their first year in the New World with a
festival of recreation and thanksgiving together with their Indian friends.
After the death of John Carver, the first governor of Plymouth, William
Bradford governed the settlement wisely for many years, helping each
settler to acquire individual tracts of land and insuring the depts. Were
repaid to merchants who had sponsored the settlement.
In 1691, Plymouth, the first permanent English settlement in the New
England region, merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Lesson 4: The English colonies in the New World were formed as a result of
diverse geographic, social, religious, and political influences. Rivers, oceans
and mountain ranges marked the boundaries of explorations and English
colonies were usually located on good harbors. Most of the English colonies,
which were initially controlled by joint-stock companies, proprietors and
other investors, ultimately became royal colonies, controlled by the king.
26
Colonists came to America in search of religious freedom and to gain wealth
by selling the New World’s goods.
The four New England Colonists were primarily formed out of disputes over
separation of church and state.
The colonists survived on subsistence farms, due to the region’s poor, rocky
soil and long winters, built ships and traded fur and lumber products from its
good ports to England in exchange for manufactured goods. They relied on
triangular trade, sending run to Africa in exchange for slaves and
subsequently shipping the slaves to the West Indies in exchange for the
molasses needed for manufacturing rum.
Most of the region’s immigrants came as families, insuring a stable social
structure. Children were educated so that they could read the Bible. In
1636, Harvard College, the oldest corporation in America, was chartered to
train boys for the ministry. Yale College was founded shortly thereafter.
Life expectancy was high due to the absence of malaria and other diseases.
Their Congregational Church government, with its decentralized local church
authority, became the region’s democratic source of political government as
the New England town meeting became the purest form of democracy in
America. The region’s idealism later served as the inspiration for reform.
Just as colonial assemblies would give birth to state legislatures, town
meetings became the model ultimately followed by town councils. Thomas
Jefferson would later refer to the New England town meeting as “the first
most perfect exercise of self-government.”
Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed by a small group of Puritans who
settled at Salem in 1628 to escape religious persecution.
Puritan Beliefs
Order was the primary goal of the Puritans. Individual interests were
sacrificed for the community’s order and consensus. Compacts (agreements)
were signed by adult male head-of-household to prevent dissent.
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As Calvinists, they tried to “purify” the Church of England which was forcing
the saints to mingle with the “damned” in open services.
To the Puritans, all men were born of original sin. However, God was all
powerful and predestined some persons (the elect) for salvation. Each
Puritan attempted to prove that he was among the elect by striving hard to
live in accordance with God’s will. Full membership in a Congregational Church
required a conversion experience proving that the applicant was one of God’s
elect. Adherence to the strict moral code signaled salvation and increased
the likelihood of prosperity.
Men were innately unequal. Only saints could run the Church and only the
elite could run the government. Membership in the Church was a prerequisite
for participation in the political process. Everyone was legally required to
attend the established church.
Puritans came to America to create a utopia in the wilderness, as proclaimed
in John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity” sermon: “We must
consider that we shall be a City upon a Hill; the eyes of all people are upon
us.” The concept of Protestant ethics is derived from the Puritans, who
believed that God would grant them saving grace if they honored the
contract (covenant) with God.
Civil government reflected the voluntary agreement of church followers.
There was no separation of church and state in Puritan New England. The
Puritans believed that the purpost of government was to enforce God’s laws
and felt that government had the expelling dissidents, enforcing attendance,
taxing residents to finance churches and establishing colleges to train
ministers. The Puritans, however, did not choose the Church’s clergymen.
Due to religious uniformity, the Puritans did not accept other groups into
Massachusetts Bay Colony, even though they had themselves been victims of
persecution in the past.
Education was important so that individuals could interpret the meaning of
the Scripture and the solutions it offered for their lives. Puritans also felt
that education would contribute to good citizenship as well as increased
occupational performance. However, diversity of viewpoints on religious
matters was discouraged.
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Acreage from communal lands was distributed to individuals based on family
size, need and skills valued by the community.
The home served as the center of the family’s social and economic life.
Women, though uneducated and domesticated, often served as “deputy
husbands” in business matters when necessity required. 17th and 18th century
women had more rights than their counterparts in the early 19th century.
Children were taught the alphabet and morality (obey God and parents)
through the New England Primer (1690), one of America’s first books. Single
persons had to live within a family and families were expected to live close
to the church.
The Puritans had disruptions due to offering interpretations of the Bible.
After being tried by Governor John Winthrop, Anne Hutchinson was
banished to the wilderness after arguing publicly that ministers were
emphasizing “works,” rather than God’s grace, which cannot be earned.
Rhode Island and Connecticut emerged out of rebellions against the colony’s
leaders.
Further undermining the strength of Puritan rule was the decision to extend
voting rights to all male property owners, whether or not they were church
members, as well as the Halfway Covenant, which provided for the baptism
of children belonging to baptized but unconverted Puritans.
After the Massachusetts Bay Company received a charter for a large part
of New England, 1,000 Puritans settled Boston, which became the capital, in
1630. John Winthrop became the first governor in a government comprised
of a General Court of representatives elected from each town’s Bay Company
stockholders and church members.
During the “Great Puritan Migration” of the 1630’s, over 70,000 Puritans
left England but most emigrated to the warm climate of the Caribbean. Only
15,000 of them came to Massachusetts.
Massachusetts bought Maine in 1677 and kept it until 1820.
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The Massachusetts Bay Colony charter was revoked in 1684 in a
demonstration of authority by the king and, after acquiring Plymouth,
became a royal colony in 1691.
In 1692, the Salem witchcraft trials resulted in the legal hanging of
nineteen suspected witches and two dogs and the fatal pressing of another
suspect, Giles Corey. The hysterical witch hunts were the product of
superstition and changing religious conditions that were initiated when the
Puritan Church began opening its doors to the “unconverted.” Evidence also
suggests that the young girls who identified their neighbors as witches were
seeking the attention of the settlement’s elders.
Anne Bradstreet’s The Tenth Muse depicted, through poetry, the stability
of Puritan life.
Connecticut
In 1636, Thomas Hooker, a Puritan pastor who was profit-motivated as well
as unhappy with the harsh rule of Massachusetts Bay Colony, settled
Hartford. New Haven and other settlements later emerged.
The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) was the first written
constitution in America, providing for elected legislative deputies, an elected
governor, limited terms of office for public officials and fair taxation. It
later served as a model for the colony’s charter and state constitution.
In 1662, Connecticut towns united into a single colony.
Rhode Island
Roger Williams, a Puritan minister in Salem who was banished in 1635 for
voicing opposition to the Puritan religious restrictions of Massachusetts Bay
Colony as well as the colony’s seizure of land from the Indians. He founded
Providence in 1636 where he promoted complete religious freedom, even for
Jews, Quakers and others with whom he disagreed.
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Anne Hutchinson settled Portsmouth after she was banished from
Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638 for criticizing Puritan Church restrictions.
She believed that one’s personal relationship with God was more important
than following the teachings of church leaders.
The united colony of Rhode Island received a charter from Parliament in
1644, featuring more religious and political freedom than any other colony.
All adult males were granted the right to vote (regardless of property).
New Hampshire
In 1622 Captain John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges acquired the rights
to a large area in Northern New England in search of profit but
Massachusetts Bay Colony subsequently annexed the region in 1641.
Dominion of New England
In 1686, King James II combined the New England colonies together with
New York and New Jersey into the Dominion of New England in order to
more effectively administer navigation laws and to provide for the defense
of the colonies against Indians.
a. Sir Edmund Andros, head of the dominion, restricted town meetings,
the press, courts and schools, instituted taxes, revoked property
rights and prevented government.
b. New England Puritans resented Andros, a member of the Church of
England, as well as the harsh rule of James II, who had converted to
Catholicism.
In the 1688 “Glorious Revolution,” James II was replaced by the Protestant
monarchy of William and Mary of Orange. William was born in the
Netherlands and Mary was the daughter of James II. Andros was
“overthrown” in Boston.
In 1689, the English Bill of Rights restored colonial charters, representative
government and the power of the parliament over the kings and established
the principle of no taxation without representation in Parliament.
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Puritan influence in New England declined prior to the 1690’s due to
1. The death of the original leaders.
2. Internal religious dissent
3. Dissatisfaction with British and Puritan economic regulations.
The Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies, including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Delaware, were settled by people from several nations, primarily the English,
the Dutch and the Swedes, and came to represent America’s rich ethnic and
religious diversity, the melting pot of America. Geographic influences
brought prosperity to the region.
The “breadbasket of the New World” became the home of large family
farms which produced wheat, corn, meat and dairy goods.
Prosperous seaports afforded influence to merchants.
New York
New York emerged from the Dutch colony of New Netherland due to
conflict between the Dutch and the English.
England felt justified in claiming the region.
a. Cabot had explored the region prior to Hudson.
b. New Netherland was a barrier separating New England from English
colonies in the South.
c. Dutch traded with English colonies (illegally).
d. Dutch fur trade with the Indians was profitable.
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e. England wanted to control the New Amsterdam harbor.
In 1664 an English fleet forced New Netherland, under the leadership of
Peter Stuyvesant, to surrender without firing a shot.
a. King Charles II, who restored the Stuart dynasty to the throne in
England in 1660 upon the death of Oliver Cromwell, renamed New
Netherland and the town of New Amsterdam in honor of his younger
brother James, Duke of York.
b. Representative government briefly met in New York for two years
(1683-85), was abolished by James II but restored in 1691 through
the Glorious Revolution.
New Jersey
Following the surrender of New Netherland, the Duke of York gave part of
the territory to Sir George Cartaret and Lord John Berkeley who named the
colony New Jersey and allowed for liberal grants of land, representative
government and religious freedom.
New Jersey became a royal colony in 1702 when the proprietors turned the
colony over to the king.
Pennsylvania
Quakers (also known as the Society of Friends) were persecuted in England
because this Protestant sect believed that men and women are equal in the
eyes of God and that war and slavery were evil. The Quakers called for the
manumission (emancipation) of slaves and, later, refused to participate in the
American Revolutionary War for religious reasons.
William Penn, the Quaker son of a wealthy English admiral, obtained a grant
of land in the New World, in honor of his father, which the king named
“Pennsylvania” (Penn’s woods). The king was given the right to veto the
colony’s laws in the charter. Penn viewed his plans to establish a colony
where all people could live together peaceably, enjoy equality, and worship
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and speak freely as a “holy experiment”. He negotiated for the land with the
Delaware Indians.
The first settlers arrived in 1682 and founded Philadelphia, (the city of
brotherly love) which became the capital and largest city in the colonies with
a population of 20,000 by the 1750’s and very successful due to large,
diverse immigration (comprised of many Germans.)
The “Great Law of Pennsylvania,” a constitution, provided for representative
government, religious freedom for all those who professed belief in “one
Almighty God,” protection against unfair trade, reasonable, humane
punishment, education, and friendly relations with the Indians.
Delaware
Delaware was originally settled on the Delaware River by Swedes (New
Sweden). The Swedes gave the legacy of the log cabin to America.
The Dutch were jealous of the Swedish fur trade and, under the leadership
of Peter Stuyvesant, conquered New Sweden, claiming it as New Netherland.
When New Netherland fell to the English, the Duke of York renamed the
region “Delaware.”
The colony was ceded to Pennsylvania until 1703, when it established its own
legislature, and continued to be administered by the governor of
Pennsylvania until the American Revolution.
The five Southern colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia contained large, self-sufficient plantations which grew
cash crops for profit, including rice and the Native American crop of
tobacco.
The geographical influence of cash crops would lead to lavish lifestyles and
hospitality, strong commercial ties to Great Britain, widespread use of
indentured servitude, and the introduction of slavery into the region. The
region’s heavy reliance on agriculture rather than manufacturing produced
the least diversified economy in the colonies while leading to a scattered
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population and inhibiting the development of schools, churches and cities.
Charleston was the only city in the South during much of the colonial period.
The Anglican Church became a heavily-established church in the South.
By the 1760’s, one-half of the total colonial population (including slaves) lived
in the five southern colonies.
Though slave-free New England would claim to be the birthplace of American
democracy, many historians now recognize that the architects of America
liberty ad republicanism (Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George
Washington) were, ironically, Virginians.
Virginia, the first colony, was firmly established in the Chesapeake Bay
region when the other southern colonies formed and was heavily dependent
on tobacco cultivation.
With only 1200 survivors out of the 8000 adventurer’s who had migrated to
the region, Jamestown promoted other settlements. In 1624, James I, who
hated tobacco and the “rebellious” House of Burgesses, revoked the London
Company’s charter and Virginia became a royal colony.
The King appointed the governor and the council (the house of the
legislature designed to assist the governor). The colonists continued to elect
the members of the lower house, the House of Burgesses.
In 1636, William and Mary College was founded.
In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led almost a thousand disenfranchised Virginians in
a revolt against Governor Berkely, whose monopoly on the Indian fur trade
led him to protect the Indians after they raided frontier settlements.
The revolt targeted the Virginia Assembly which had stripped them of their
political rights in 1670 and demonstrated the anger that backwoodsmen felt
toward large property owners.
After murdering Indians, driving Berkely into exile and burning the capital,
the frustrated servants and freedmen saw their civil war collapse when their
leader suddenly died of disease.
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Berkely restored order and hanged twenty rebels.
Bacon’s Rebellion led Virginia planters to look for a different source of
labor: Africans, the rebellion also led to the negotiation of a new Indian
treaty that opened up western land to white settlers.
In 1699 Williamsburg became the capital of Virginia and remained the
political, cultural and social center of Virginia until 1780, when the capital
was moved to Richmond.
Most of the immigrants to Virginia were young, single males, many of whom
came as indentured secants (“white slaves”) under the headright system
which granted land to anyone who would bring fifty laborers to the region.
Maryland
George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, a Catholic and a friend of King
Charles I, obtained a tract of land in the New World in which to found a
colony which would serve as a refuge for Catholics who had been persecuted
in England. Maryland was England’s fourth colony.
Cecilius Calvert became the first individual proprietor of an English colony
when his father died. Although he owned the colony, he could only make laws
with advise from the colonists
A prosperous settlement was founded in 1634 at St. Mary’s near the
Potomac, with Leonard Calvert as its first governor
In 1729, Baltimore was founded and quickly Maryland’s largest city
The Toleration Act (1649) was passed to prevent religious discrimination.
Christians of all denominations were welcome there. Jews were prohibited
Like Virginia, Maryland’s plantation economy was also dependent on tobacco
cutivation
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The Carolinas
The first English settlement in the New World was founded on Roanoke
Island in 1587, was “lost” by 1590
In 1663 King Charles II issued a charter to eight lord proprietors to settle
“Carolina” (named in the king’s honor) from Virginia to the border of Spanish
Florida and westward to the South Seas. The proprietors primarily settled
South Carolina while Virginians settled North Carolina
Settlers including French Huguenots, Scots, Germans and Scotch-Irish
(lowland Scots banished to Ireland, where they faced discrimination from
the nations Catholic majority) Virginians and Quakers
Tobacco and naval stores were produced in North Carolina while rice and
indigo grew in the South Carolina Swamps
South Carolina settlers enslaved local Indians and sold them to the West
Indies plantations while relying instead on the labor of African slaves who
were more resistant to malaria and experienced in rice cultivation. Slave
labor so dominated the rice plantations of South Carolina that by 1730, most
of the colonies population was black. Rice cultivation was the primary
contribution of the colony’s African slaves
Slavery wasn’t abundant in North Carolina because the region was settled by
poor farmers and religious dissenters who resented the aristocratic Anglican
plantation owners of Virginia. North Carolina is often compared to Rhode
Island as being more democratic and independent than the other colonies.
The main port and largest city in Carolina was Charles Town (Charleston
S.C.), founded in 1670.
South Carolina often fought with the Spanish Catholics in Florida.
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Friction grew between the elective assemblies and the proprietors who
failed to maintain law and order. In 1729, North Carolina and South Carolina
became separate royal colonies.
Georgia
James Oglethorpe received a charter in 1732 from King George II to
establish a colony between South Carolina and Florida that would serve as a
refuge for imprisoned debtors as well as persecuted Protestants and also
provide a buffer to Spanish Florida.
Savannah was founded in 1733 by pioneers but very few prisoners. The
diverse population promoted religious freedom but only for Protestants.
John Wesley, who founded the Methodist Church was among the early
settlers. Slavery was initially outlawed, along with alcohol.
There was no representative government in Georgia; a council of trustees
residing in England ruled the colony.
In 1752, Georgia became a royal colony, with plantations and slaves.
Africa and the New World
400,00 African slaves would be brought to the British colonies in the 17th
and 18th centuries, out of a total ten million African slaves brought to the
New World in chains. Most slaves were taken to the sugar plantations of the
West Indies or to Spanish and Portuguese plantations in South America. No
other group of immigrants to the New World was isolated from its past
culture and traditions.
Most African slaves were captured as prisoners of war by rival tribes and
sold on the West Coast of Africa to European and American slave
merchants.
Slaves ships carried hundreds of slave chained to cage-like decks (usually 90
slaves per deck, several decks deep) along the “Middle Passage” from Africa
to the New World, Over twenty percent of the slaves died on the journey
aboard the sweltering, unsanitary disease-ridden ship.
38
Most slaves were usually taken to the West Indies for a “breaking in” period.
It is established that only fifty percent survived the process.
Slaves arrived in North America were sold in slave markets in port cities like
Charleston, S.C. or Newport, Rhode Island. Although the auctions often
divided African family members who were stripped for inspection and sold to
owners from different regions, many slaves were able to maintain social
networks with family and friends.
Most Africans remained slaves, though some gained their freedom and a few
became slave owners.
Slaves in the Chesapeake region of Virginia lived on large tobacco plantations
while South Carolina slaves endured the harsher environments of the rice
plantations. Northern slaves served as domestic servants in urban areas, had
more contact with free blacks, were less likely to die of disease, in part due
to the milder slave codes and summers in the North and represented a
smaller percentage of their region’s population that their southern
counterparts. Generally the treatment of slaves in the British colonies
depended on the supply of slaves, the nature of work being performed, the
ratio of blacks to whites in a colony as well as factors like climate and
disease.
By 1775, Africans would be the largest non-English ethic group in America,
comprising over twenty percent of the population.
Africans contributed to the colonial economy and culture.
African slaves were a more stable source of labor that indentured servants.
The agricultural economy of the South would prosper from their labor and
the slave trade provided some of the capital that fueled the Industrial
Revolution. Agricultural labor and expertise comprise the primary
contribution of the African slaves to the southern colonies.
American music grew with the development of jazz, which was a product of
the African “ringshout” dance. Slaves contributed the banjo, bongo drum,
the “blues,” gospel music and provided plantation entertainment.
39
Slaves developed their own on Daufuskie Island and other South Carolina
islands. Known as “Gullah,” it combined African languages with English to
produce “gumbo,” “voodoo” and other American words.
Brought to Boston as a slave at age eight, Phyllis Wheatley learned English,
became a published poet, gained her freedom and ultimately met with
President Washington.
The British Parliament had no policy on slavery.
Lesson 5: America nationalism emerged as England gained control of North
America.
Colonies unity was evident as early as the mid-seventeenth century.
New England colonists had united in 1643 into the New England
Confederation for defense against the Indians and, in the 1670’s defeated
Wampanoag chief King Philip in his revolt against colonial encroachment upon
Indian lands. In proportion to population, this was the bloodiest war in
American History.
Bacon’s Rebellion demonstrated the wilderness of frontiersmen to join
together to oppose the royal governor’s unjust system.
During the Glorious Revolution in England in 1689, angry colonists toppled the
Domination of New England.
The “Great Awakening” of the 1730’s and 40’s united American into an
emotional mass revival moment, challenging the era’s Enlightenment
philosophy which placed faith in man and reason.
America was dominated by two religions in the early eighteenth century:
Congregationalists, the largest religion in America, and the Anglican Church,
which the English fought to control.
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Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, Massachusetts launched the religious
crusade to stress God’s grace and to denounce the nation of salvation
through good works.
In 1738, George Whitefield fueled the message of divine omnipotence with
his emotional oratory and inspired a whole new group of “new light”
evangelists.
The spontaneity of the first colonial mass movement proved that colonists
could quickly unite around a cause.
Consequences of the Great Awakening
1. An increase in church membership in all regions
2. An increase in religious tolerance and freedom
3. The division of Congregational and Presbyterian Church into
rival factions.
4. Renewed interest in conversion and more humane treatment for
Indians and blacks.
In 1734-35, Peter Zenger, a New York newspaper printer, was tried for libel
by the poyal judges for attacking the colony’s royal governor but the colonial
jury, moved by the eloquent defense employed by Andrew Hamilton of
Philadelphia, found Zenger “not guilty.” The trial of Peter Zenger laid the
groundwork for freedom of expression and the press in America as well as
the cause of liberty.
The structure of political power in colonial America, which passed from
1. The king
2. The royal governor
3. The royal councils (the upper houses)
4. The colonial assemblies (the lower houses)
The ultimately produced a struggle for power between the royal governors
and the aristocracy that controlled the colonial assemblies and, as a result,
revolution.
After Spain began to decline as a world power, England and France competed
in Europe, on the seas, in India and North America where territorial claims
41
were disputed and competition over fur trade led to increased hostilities.
The British colonists were unable to remain isolated from the conflicts.
Fighting in North America
Fighting in North America erupted as a result of the wars between France
and England in Europe.
King William’s War (1689-1697); known in Europe as the War of the League
of Augsburg) and Queen Anne’s War (1701-1713; known in Europe as the War
of Spanish Succession) did not see the commitment of regular British and
French troops but, rather, produced warfare in which the British colonists
fought to defend their frontier settlements against the French and Indians,
particularly in New York, Massachusetts and in the South in the Treaty of
Utrecht (1713). England received the French possession of Acadia
(subsequently renamed Nova Scotia), Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay
region.
James Oglethorpe and other British colonists fought the Spanish to a
standstill in Georgia and the Caribbean in the War of Jenkins Ear in 1739.
King George’s War (1744-174; known in Europe as the War of Austrian
Succession) once again found Spain in conflict with the English and, again,
the Spanish allied with France. As a result, British colonists in New England
captured the French stronghold at Louisbourg, which controlled access to
the St. Lawrence River, but it was subsequently returned to France through
the Treat of 1748, a move which outraged the colonists.
The French and Indian War (1754-1763) broke out in North America and
later spread to Europe in 1756, where it was known as the Seven Years War
(the fourth and conclusive European war).
Comparison of the English and French colonies in 1754
Population / Territory
42
a. The English population of 1,500,000 was located in thirteen colonies
along the Atlantic seaboard.
b. In New France, 80,000 people were scattered over an area twenty
times the size of English possessions, producing a difficult problem
for defense.
Economic activity
a. The English colonies were established and self-sufficient with
agriculture, shipbuilding, lumbering, manufacturing and commerce.
b. The French engaged in fur trading with the Indians, which produced
wealth but few permanent settlements. The French were highly
dependent on imports.
Government
a. Each of the thirteen English colonies was a separate governmental
unit with authority divided between English officials and elected
representatives, later producing difficulty in uniting.
b. The government of New France was highly centralized as the king’s
officials held complete authority.
Indian relations
a. English relations with the Indians were poor because the English had
occupied Indian hunting grounds and forced the Indians to move
b. The French established friendly relations with the Indians. French
fur trappers treated the Indians well and, thus, most tribes
supported the French during the war.
England gained control of North America through the French and Indian
War.
43
A dispute between France and England over the land located west of the
Appalachian Mountains (the Ohio River Valley) was the cause of the French
and Indian War.
Conflict arose in the 1740’s when English traders extended their operations
into the Ohio River Valley and competed with the French for the Indian fur
trade.
As the English looked for new settlements, the French built a chain of forts
from Lake Eire to the Ohio River, including Fort Duquesne where the
Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join to form the Ohio River (present-day
Pittsburgh), a key to the Ohio Valley and the West.
War erupted in 1754 when Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent George
Washington and militiamen to seize Fort Duquesne after the French refused
to vacate the Ohio Valley.
The English constructed an outpost named Fort Necessity about 40 miles
form the French fort.
The French, after an initial defeat, forced the Virginians to surrender and
return home, thus marking the start of the French and Indian War.
Fearing a reprisal from the French Acadians who England had acquired in
1713 following queen Anne’s war, British forced four thousand Acadians to
leave their homeland in 1755 and subsequently resettle in Louisiana, where
they maintained their “Cajun” culture.
Failure of the colonies to unite led to difficulties for the British in the early
stages of the war.
At the Albany Congress, representatives of seven colonies met in Albany,
New York in 1754 in order to secure the allegiance of the “Iroquois
Confederacy and to unite the colonies. The Iroquois avoided the proposed
alliance.
Benjamin Franklin, author of the widely-read Poor Richard’s Almanac,
proposed the Albany Plan of Union that was based upon the powerful
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Iroquois Confederacy. A “grand council” would maintain an army, levy taxes,
deal with Indian problems and control westward expansion. Franklin had
earlier published a cartoon in the Pennsylvania Gazette showing the
separated colonies as parts of a segmented snake with the slogan “Join or
Die!”
British General Edward Braddock was defeated near fort Duquesne after
the French and Indians ambushed the “recoats” in the forest. Some British
soldiers were rescued by George Washington’s frontiersmen.
The French captured forts belonging to the English (Fort Oswego, Fort
William Henry) and defeated British attempts to seize Ticonderoga (on lake
Champlain in New York) and Louisbourg (the key to the French defenses and
located on the mouth of the St. Lawrence River near Nova Scotia).
English success emerged as William Pitt, the new Prime Minister of England
in 1757, sent reinforcements and supplies, appointed good leaders, obtained
greater colonial support by increasing the authority of colonial army officers
and instilled new spirit into the people.
The English subsequently defeated the French at Louisbourg Fort Duquesne
(renamed Fort Pitt and later Pittsburgh), Fort Niagara, Ticonderoga and
Crown Point.
The English conquered Canada and the French Empire fell.
General James Wolfe led a decisive night raid on Quebec by scaling its
cliffs. The next morning, both Wolfe and French commander Montcalm died
in a fierce battle won by the English on the Plains of Abraham.
Mantreal fell the next day and France was defeated.
Treaty of Paris (1763)
France gave Canada and all land east of the Mississippi River (except New
Orleans) to England. France was essentially removed from the North
American continent.
45
Spain a French ally, received all French territory west of the Mississippi
(and New Orleans) as compensation.
Spain gave Florida to England in exchange for Cuba which had been captured
by the English during the war.
Russia received the west coast of Alaska and Canada.
France kept islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (St. Pierre and Minquelon)
and the west Indies (St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and St. Domingue).
The French and Indian War established a chain of cause and effect
relationships that would contribute to American independence and
nationhood
The French and Indian war proved valuable for the colonists because of the
following:
Colonists became less dependent on British protection with the removal of
foreign enemies on the borders
The war produced experienced soldiers
The colonists leaned the importance of unity
The victory assured the survival of England’s democratic principles and
institutions as well as language in North America
Scotch-Irish, German and English settlers immigrated into the Appalachian
region with the defeat of the Indians. However, the British would prohibit
settlements in the Ohio River Valley with the Proclamation of 1763.
England emerged as the strongest nation in the world and the dominant
power in North America. Great Britain’s indifference towards her colonies
46
came to an end with the French and Indian War as she began to look to her
colonies for more revenue to pay large war debts. As the British began to
clamp down on the colonies at the very time that they were becoming less
dependent on the British, the stage was set for the American Revolution.
By 1763, a society had emerged in the colonies that was quite different
from that in England, An “Americanization” of the transplanted Europeans
had taken place since Jamestown in 1607.
The variety of religious and nationalities prevented an “established church”
in America.
Economically, the colonies yearned for the time when they would outgrow
mercantile subordination to the mother country.
The New England colonies had little to trade with England and relied heavily
on triangular trade.
The Southern colonies, which came closest to fitting the British mercantile
model, increasingly felt the balance of trade, which favored England, was a
drain on the southern economy.
The Middle colonies; beginning with iron shops, worked for more agricultural
and manufacturing production.
British mercantilism produced a rising standard of living and promoted urban
development. Exports exceeded imports for the British empire as a whole.
Politically, suffrage (the right to vote) was more readily available in the
colonies due to the greater availability of land, freedom of the press
emerged with the Zenger trial and the three thousand mile distance from
England enabled the colonies to have considerable control over their local
governments and colonial legislatures.
In terms of social classes, the colonies offered more “upward mobility;” it
was possible to move up to a higher class, even for indentured servants, due
to the abundant land and higher wages. America and England differed in that
America had no large destitute white beggar class. The colonial household
47
was an equally important social and economic institution in the North and the
South.
By 1750, the thirteen primarily English colonies were doubling in population
every 25 years.
As the 19th Century approached, two-thirds of the colonial settlers were
English, 5.6% were Scotch and Scotch-Irish, 4.5% were German, 2% were
Dutch, 1.6% were Irish, ½% were French, 1/3% were other whites and 20%
were African.
English was the most common nationality found throughout the colonies; the
English language served as the greatest common denominator. England’s
Anglican Church was found throughout the colonies as well, although the
diversity of religions prevented the emergence of an “established church” in
the American colonies.
J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur later wrote in Letters from an American
Farmer (1782): “What then is the American, this new man? He is either a
European, or a descendent of a European, hence that strange mixture of
blood, which you will find in no country… Here individuals of all nations are
melted into a new race of men, whose labor and posterity will one day cause
great changes in the world.
Lesson 6: Immediate and long-term causes of the American Revolution
Immediate causes
England’s colonial policy of mercantilism, which was designed to increase
England’s prosperity, changed after the French and Indian War. The
enforcement of existing trade laws and introduction of new taxes and
restrictions ignited an immediate sequence of cause-and-effect
developments that led to the American Revolution.
Colonial merchants resented the British rulers who, like the leaders of other
mercantilist empires, believed that colonies existed for the benefit of the
mother country. England looked upon the colonies as a source of food; raw
materials and markets for finished products and wished to restrict colonial
48
manufacturing and foreign trade, which would threaten her industries.
Colonial cities served as mercantile markets for the collection of agricultural
goods and the sale of imported goods.
England’s trade and manufacturing regulations were ignored by the colonists
from 1650 through the French and Indian War because the mother country
was focusing her efforts on war and building an empire rather than
enforcement of the restrictions.
a. The Navigation Acts, beginning in 1650, required certain enumerated
colonial goods to be shipped on English ships, restricted the sale of
certain colonial articles (agricultural products and furs) to English
consumers and required that European goods destined for the colonies
were to be shipped to England, taxed and then shipped to the colonies
aboard English ships. The Acts permitted the colonists to sell food to
the non-English West Indies, though all trade was strictly limited
during time of war.
b. The Molasses Act (1733) taxed sugar and molasses imported by
colonists from the French West Indies.
c. The Woolen Act (1699) forbade the export of woolen goods overseas
or between colonies.
d. The Hat Act (1732) prohibited beaver hat exports.
e. The Iron Act (1750) forbade colonial iron production.
f. The Colonists were able to ignore the restrictions because the British
were faced with other problems including the reorganization of
governments in Florida and Canada (acquired through the French and
Indian War) as well as colonial disputes over newly-axquired lands
west of the Appalachians, Ottawa chief Pontiac’s rebellion and weak
leadership under King George III (who resigned from 1760 to 1820)
England felt that the colonies had benefited from the defeat of France and
should help may the cost of the war and of the army left behind to “protect
49
the colonists from Indians.” England, therefore, began to introduce new
taxes and restrictions.
a. Writs of assistance (1761) were designed to stop merchants from
illegally trading with foreign nations by permitting custom officers to
enter and search and ship, home or warehouse for smuggled goods.
Reaction: James Otis, a Boston lawyer representing Massachusetts
merchants, asserted that these search warrants were an act of
tyranny and that they violated the fundamental English right to be
free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
b. The Proclamation of 1763 prohibited trade and settlements in the
Ohio River Valley between the Allegheny Mountains and the
Mississippi River. Following Pontiac’s rebellion, the act was designed to
protect the Indians from exploitation by settlers until treaties could
be negotiated.
Reaction: Pioneers ignored the proclamation and migrated westward.
c. The Sugar Act (1764), one of many acts instituted by George Grenville
who shaped England’s colonial policy from 1763 to 1765 as Prime
Minister, raised duties (taxes) on refined sugar, textiles and other
goods imported from anywhere other than Britain or British colonies,
lowered the duty on molasses to discourage smuggling and lengthened
the list of enumerated articles that could only be sold to England. The
Act attempted to tax the colonies for costs to the empire at a rate
comparable to levels paid at home in Great Britain and threatened to
destroy the triangular trade upon which the New England colonies
were dependent.
Reaction: New England and Middle Colony merchants continued to
smuggle goods into the colonies and to carry on trade with foreign
nations. Boston experimented with boycotts.
d. The Currency Act (1764) prohibited colonial paper money and required
tax payments in gold or silver coin rather than inflated colonial paper
money.
Reaction: Mercantilism had already created a trade deficit and
colonial resources were already drained. As the currency supply
diminished due to the act, colonists complained that business was
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suffering
e. The Quartering Act (1765) required the colonial legislatures to
provide funds, living quarters, and supplies for British troops in
America.
Reaction: The colonists objected to England’s policy of maintaining a
large army in America in time for peace when foreign enemies had
been removed, suspected that the army was there to control the
colonies and opposed paying for its support, again claiming no taxation
without representation. Parliament suspended the New York
assembly’s legislative powers when it failed to comply.
f. The Stamp Act (1765) placed a tax, upon Grenville’s recommendation
to Parliament, on newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, playing cards, and
legal documents by requiring government stamps on these articles in
order to support the British colonial army. Unlike a hidden, indirect
tax contained in the price of a product, this direct tax was paid
directly to the government.
Reaction:
I) The colonists demanded “no taxation without representation” and
that no offenders should be tried in admiralty courts without juries.
The colonists believed that Parliament did not have the right to tax
them because they had no colonial representation in the Parliament.
II) Patriotic societies, known as the Sons of Liberty, organized
resistance to the tax, mobbed tax collectors and halted the
importation of English products.
III) The Virginia House of Burgesses, at the urging of Patrick Henry,
passed a resolution asserting that it had the sole power to tax
Virginians.
IV) The Stamp Act Congress, including delegates from nine colonies,
convened in New York City in the fall of 1765 and demanded the
repeal of the stamp tax, stating that taxation without the consent of
representatives violated their rights to which they, as Englishmen,
were entitled and that Parliament could not impose taxes without
granting such representation.
V) Because English merchants suffered from the boycott of their
goods and English Whigs such as William Pitt and Edmund Burke
opposed the tax, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766. The non-
51
importation (boycott) of British goods by colonial merchants proved to
be the most important tactic employed by the colonists in resisting
the Stamp Act and other British legislation.
VI) The Stamp Act remained an important moment in American
history because it demonstrated that colonists would turn to violence
if necessary, coincided with a British attempt to station troops in
American cities and illuminated the British argument that the colonies
had no right to independence from the rule of Parliament.
VII) The Stamp Act led to the most widespread colonial resentment
against the British government up to that moment.
g. The Declaratory Act (1766), passed after the repeal of the Stamp
Act, asserted Parliament’s full authority over the colonies, as well as
its right to tax, “in all cases whatsoever.”
Reaction: The Colonists ignored the act and celebrated the repeal of
the Stamp Act.
h. The Townshend Acts (1767), urged by Charles Townshend, the New
English Chancellor of the Exchequer, levied indirect taxes on imported
glass, lead, paint, paper and tea to pay the salaries of colonial judges
and governors, thus ending colonial control over these salaries, and
permitted officials to use writs of assistance to enforce the laws.
Reaction:
I) The colonists now believed that the indirect taxes which they had
accepted earlier as means for the British to regulate trade now
represented a revenue-raising measure and, thus, taxation without
representation.
II) The Massachusetts legislature, led by Samuel Adams, successfully
convinced the colonies to boycott these imported English goods. The
boycott led to the repeal of the Townshend Acts except the tax on
tea (1770).
III) In order to oppose future English actions, the towns of
Massachusetts and other colonies, at the urging of Samuel Adams,
formed Committees of Correspondence to remain informed of new
developments.
52
i. In 1769, the House of Burgesses was dissolved by the governor of
Virginia.
j. The Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770) fueled the growing
confrontation between the colonies and England.
I) Prior to the repeal of the Townshend Acts, sixty colonists, including
tavern patrons, began to harass a detachment of British soldiers,
including a soldier who may have previously stolen a sweetheart’s
affection from one of the citizens.
II) After Crispus Attucks, a fugitive slave who had joined the mob on
the street, clubbed a solder and another soldier was knocked down,
the “redcoats” opened fire, killing five (including Attucks) and
wounding six. Those that died were “elevated” into martyrdom.
Reaction: Samuel Adams and angry citizens demanded and achieved
the removal of British troops from Boston to avoid an uprising. John
Adams, a future patriot and President, successfully defended the
soldiers in court. Two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and
subsequently released after being branded.
k. The Tea Act (1773) allowed the British East India Company to
undersell colonial tea smugglers and merchants by permitting the
company to ship tea to America without paying the heavy English tea
duty.
Reaction: (to the Tea Act): Colonial merchants denounced the act
because it would ruin their business and would encourage Parliament to
grant similar rights to other English industries, perhaps destroying all
colonial business. Even though British tea was cheaper, the colonists
protested taxation without representation.
I) In New York and Philadelphia, the company was forced to send its
tea ships back to England.
II) In Charleston, the tea rotted in a warehouse.
III) Boston’s citizens refused to permit three tea ships to unload
their cargo and, on the night of December 16, 1773, the Boston Tea
Party took place when about 50 Bostonians, disguised as Indians,
boarded the ships and dumped 342 chests of tea worth $75,000 into
the harbor.
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l. The Intolerable Acts (1774) (known in England as the Coercive Acts or
Repressive Acts) were passed by the Parliament in response to the
Boston Tea Party.
I) The Boston Port Act closed the city’s port to commerce until the
colonists paid for the tea.
II) The Charter of Massachusetts was revised to give the king the
power to appoint the council and jurors. Town meetings were
prohibited, General Thomas Gage, the British Commander-in-Chief in
America, was appointed governor.
III) British soldiers and officials accused of crimes received
extraterritoriality, the right to be tried in England rather than a
colony.
IV) A New Quartering Act required the people in all colonies to feed
and house British soldiers.
V) The Quebec Act of 1774 extended the boundary of the Canadian
province of Quebec southward to the Ohio River in order to provide
quarantees to the conquered French of their Catholic religion.
Although it was not actually one of the Coercive Acts and was not
intended to punish the colonies, its unfortunate timing doomed this
act to also be regarded as “intolerable” because it gave Canada lands
claimed by several colonies and extended “popery” (Catholicism) into
lands once destined for Protestant settlements.
Reaction: Boston faced economic ruin with the closing of its harbor.
Josiah Quincy, a patriot and orator, spoke out against the act. On the
day that the Boston Port Act took effect, many colonies flew their
flags at half-mast. AS colonial leaders warned that these acts
endangered the liberties of all colonists, an intercolonial congress was
convened.
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress, including delegates from every colony
except Georgia, met in Philadelphia in September, 1774 and responded to
Parliament’s actions through Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Rights and
Grievances and other petitions.
The delegates stated that colonists were entitled to their rights as
Englishmen and that colonial legislatures had the exclusive right (subject to
54
the king’s veto) to levy colonial taxes. The colonists continued to assert their
loyalty to the king.
The Intolerable Acts were denounced as unconstitutional, unjust and
destructive of rights.
The British government was criticized for its revenue measures, peacetime
standing army and dissolution of colonial assemblies.
They formed the Continental Association, agreeing to boycott all British
goods (the Non Importation Agreement) until the repeal of the Intolerable
Acts. “Committees of Safety and Inspection” enforced the boycott.
They agreed to meet the following spring (1775) if their grievances were not
settled.
Americans and Englishmen were finding it increasingly difficult to
understand each other since the colonists considered themselves “partners”
in the expanding British Empire and the Englishmen still considered the
colonies to be “subordinate”.
At a convention in Richmond which followed the suspension of the Virginia
House of Burgesses in 1775, Patrick Henry called for armed resistance to
the British in proclaiming: “I know not what course others ma take; but as
for me, give me liberty or give me death!
The “Daughters of Liberty” spun cloth to lessen colonial dependence on
British cloth and drank colonial tea.
James Otis and John Dickinson wrote pamphlets decrying British taxation
policies in the colonies and Thomas Paine sought to stir colonial morale in The
Crises in which he proclaimed: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
The emergence of colonial legislatures ultimately served as the most
important development towards political freedom in the British colonies.
Most historians focus on 1) Britain’s “salutary neglect” of her colonies prior
to 1763, 2) mercantilism. British debt following the French and Indian War
55
and the restriction of navigation rights, and 3) the history of selfgovernment in the colonies as primary long-term causes of the American
Revolution. These long-term causes of the American Revolution are also
defined by conflicting schools of historical interpretation (historiography).
Some historians maintain that the revolution began when the first English
settlers arrived in America 150 years prior to the War for Independence. In
1818, John Adams said: “The Revolution was effected before the war
commenced. The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people.” The
immigrants that came to America were a discontent breed looking for new
opportunity, rejecting the Old World. The frontier bred independence and a
sense of self-confidence, individual worth and equality.
The Traditional (Whig) interpretation of 19th century Patrician historians
like George Bancroft, who first introduced scholarly methods to American
history, viewed the American Revolution as a divinely- inspired struggle of
liberty to triumph over tyranny. (Parson Weems earlier work has not been
viewed as serious scholarship).
Progressive historians that emerged at the turn of the century argued that
the revolution, like most historical events, was a struggle between social
classes.
Charles A. Beard’s influential work, An Economic Interpretation of the
Constitution (1913), described the founding fathers of the revolution as rich
men who wanted to preserve their privileged position by shaping the new
nation to meet their needs.
Carl Becker, in The History of Political Parties in the Province of New York,
1760-1775 (1909) saw the American Revolution as two revolutions, an
economic conflict between England and her colonies as well as a class conflict
between the colonial “haves” and “have nots” who were wrestling for control.
Arthur Schlesinger’s The Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution
(1918) viewed the revolution as a rebellion against the British restrictions
that followed the French and Indian War. Schlesinger felt that the
56
Constitution created later by the “ruling class,” wary of class warfare,
destroyed the accomplishments of the American Revolution.
In 1926, J. Franklin Jameson described the revolution as democratic due to
its land redistribution.
Imperial historians, among the Progressives, portrayed England as a
benevolent mother country and believed that her taxes and restrictions
were necessary.
Neo-Conservative historians (Robert E. Brown, Daniel J. Boorstin and
Edmund S. Morgan), writing during the cold war years, believed that
democracy existed in America long before the War for Independence and
that the war was fought to conserve colonial liberties and property rights
which the British wanted to eliminate.
The Intellectual school of historians believed in the power of ideas to
influence movements and challenged social/economic arguments. Bernard
Bailyn, in The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967) argues
that the American Revolution occurred when Americans began to fell
superior to the British and that liberty emerged in America long before the
war.
Other noteworthy schools of thought on the American Revolution have
recently emerged;
A) the loyalists (Wallace Brown) examine the loyalists’ viewpoint
B) the Comparative historians (Robert palmer) see the revolution
as a reflection of the worlds events
C) the psychohistorians (Sigmund Freud, Fawn Brodie), who
analyze the participants in historical events, observed an
American love/hate identity crisis towards England (a maternal
mother country, fatherly king and rebellious colonial children
caught in an Oedipus-related struggle)
D) the Collective Biographers have focused on the revolutionaries
as a group
E) Military historians (Charles Royster, John Shy and Don
Higginbotham), concerned about social and military interrelated
events, conclude that, once the colonial militia gained control of
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the hearts and mind of the colonial population, the British could
have never recovered their allegiance, even if they were
victorious in the war
F) The Communitarians have examined the characteristics and
interests of the diverse groups during the period
G) Neo-Progressives of the turbulent 1960’s (Alfred Young)
reasserted social conflict as a major factor.
Lesson 7: Fighting erupted between the colonies and England, resulting in the
American Declaration of Independence.
Early stages of the American Revolutionary War
The First shot of the revolution was fired on April 19, 1775.
Massachusetts citizens organized the Minutemen militia, who promised to be
ready for action with only a minute’s notice, and prepared for war.
General Gage sent troops to capture the rebellious colonial leaders, John
Hancock and Samuel Adams, in Lexington and to seize stores of gunpowder in
Concord. Paul Revere, William Dawes, Jr. and Dr. Samuel Prescott alerted
the colonies by riding through the night.
Colonial Minutemen met the British at Lexington and were ordered to leave
and to surrender their weapons. As the militia began to leave without
surrendering their weapons, a shot was fired, the British opened fire and 18
colonies were killed or wounded.
Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” portrays Lexington’s importance. “By the rude
bridge, that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here
once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the
World.”
The British marched to Concord, exchanged fire in a skirmish, and returned
to Boston under continuous fire.
Casualties at Lexington and Concord (killed, wounded or missing in action)
included 273 British and 93 colonists.
58
The Second Continental Congress (May 10, 1775) mat at the state house
(Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, elected John Hancock as President and
provided for the defense of the colonies by establishing a Continental Army
with George Washington as commander-in-chief and requesting colonial
troops and funds. The Congressmen continued to seek peace with Great
Britain and reaffirmed their loyalty to the Crown, as evidence by John
Dickinson’s “Olive Branch Petition.” Most of the colonial Revolutionary war
leaders were rich landholders or middle-class merchants and lawyers. Poor
farmers were not among the leaders.
Washington distrusted the colonial militia and didn’t like “guerilla” warfare.
His strategy was to defend and recapture northern cities as well as avoiding
direct confirmation with British forced whenever possible while sustaining
the moral of his men. Only the first battle of the war led him to the South
and his native state of Virginia.
The British military leaders concentrated their efforts on capturing major
northeastern cities from the colonists and dividing the colonies by seizing
the Hudson River Valley.
Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point were captured in May, 1775 by Ethan
Allen and the “Green Mountain Boys.”
In the siege of Boston in1775-1776, Washington tried to
1. Cut off the British supply lines from the west
2. force the British from Boston by sea
3. attack the British military on three sides.
The battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775) was actually fought at Breed’s Hill
(near Bunker Hill). On their third attempt, the British forces were able to
capture the hill as the ammunition supplies of the colonial minutemen
diminished, but the British lost 1,000 men killed or wounded compared with
450 colonials. George III, as a result, hired 10,000 additional foreign troops
(German Hessians.) The battle of Bunker Hill was important because, even
though the British won, it demonstrated to the colonists that they could
take a military stand against the better-equipped British.
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Boston was freed on March 17, 1776. British troops, under General William
Howe (who replaced Gage), withdrew from Boston due to the seizure of
Dorchester Heights (which overlooked Boston Harbor) by the Continental
Army.
American colonials failed to capture Quebec in the Fall, 1775 invasion of
Canada and returned to Ticonderoga in the spring of 1776.
At Moore’s Creek Bridge (February 27, 1776- the “Lexington and Concord of
the South”), British plans to control North Carolina failed when 2,000
Loyalists were unable to join forces with British troops in Wilmington and
Brunswick. The patriots had one killed and one wounded while captured 850
prisoners, many weapons, wagons and a large supply of gold.
Independence came on July 4, 1776.
After King George III proclaimed the colonies to be in a state of rebellion
and approved an act of Parliament closing the colonies to all trade and
commerce, Americans began to discuss complete separate from England. By
August, 1775 the Second Continental Congress maintained allegiance to the
King but not to Parliament.
Thomas Paine spurred the movement for independence with “Common Sense,”
in which he ridiculed the English monarchy and called on Americans to serve
ties with England. The pamphlet sold over 120,000 copies in three months.
An impoverished rebel who failed at every occupation in which he had
entered, Paine argued that it was futile to seek reconciliation with a mother
country with which the colonists were at war (following Lexington and
Concord).
He called for separation to secure foreign aid to fulfill a moral mandate.
Fearing that ties to England would drag the colonies into European wars,
recognizing England’s mercantilists plans for America and sensing that the
colonies had reached a point of no return, Paine declared that a continent
should not be governed by a small island and that the colonists should break
their ties with England.
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The Second Continental Congress began to function as a central government
as it established an intercolonial post office, sent emissaries abroad to seek
foreign aid (including the very capable Benjamin Franklin to France),
organized a navy authorizing to attack English ships and open colonial ports
to trade with all countries except Great Britain.
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution in
Congress which stated: “These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be,
free and independent states. All political connection between them and
Great Britain is, ought to be, totally dissolved”. Before voting on Lee’s
resolution, the Congress appointed a “Committee of Five,” consisting of
Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger
Sherman, to write a formal declaration of Independence. On June 28th, they
presented Jefferson’s declaration, edited by Franklin and Adams, to
Congress. Congress first adopted Lee’s resolution on July 2nd, promoting
John Adams to remark that July 2nd would probably be celebrated with
fireworks annually. Then on July 4th, after making some changes, the
congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, which was first read to
the public in Philadelphia on July 8th.
The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) explained the actions taken
by the Second Continental Congress through Lee’s resolution and remained
on of the cornerstones of the American republican political system.
Author: The document was written by Thomas Jefferson who was serving on
a committee of five appointed by the Second Continental Congress.
Reasons
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which had connected them to another, and to
assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect
for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the seperation.”
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In this first paragraph, Jefferson announced that the colonies were
declaring their independence and that they felt compelled to explain theit
actions to the world.
In the second paragraph, Jefferson demonstrates the contempt that the
members of the Congress feel towards Britain’s “long train of abuses and
usurptations” as well as the mother country’s unwillingness to settle their
differences.
The Declaration of Independence also gave the colonists the advantages of a
cause to fight for, a likelihood of French and/or Dutch aid since those
foreign countries would not be interfering with England’s internal matters
and the hope that captured Americans would be treated as prisoners-of-war
rather that as traitors.
Relying heavily on the philosophy of John Locke, Jefferson described the
natural rights (“unalienable rights”) of all men, that the government, created
by the will of the people ( the “constant of the governed”), had an obligation
to protect these rights and that, if it failed to do so, the people had a right
to abolish its “absolute tyranny,” (a principle not found in the Constitution).
Although Locke, in his Two Treaties of Government (1690), said that there
were three natural rights – life, liberty and property- Jefferson and the
committee members abandoned any reference to “property” due to the
already emerging controversy surrounding slavery, choosing, instead, “pursuit
of happiness.”
“We hold these truths to be self- evident” that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights: that
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people
to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its
foundations on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
Jefferson had to prove to the world that the British had violated the
colonists’ rights and he, therefore, listed twenty-seven “injuries and
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usurpations” that King George III had failed to redress, some of which had
been made known to him through the Declaration of Rights and Grievances in
1774.
a. King George III is “he” that grievances address. The Declaration of
Independence does not mention the Parliament since the Patriots had
already rejected Parliament’s authority prior to July 1776. The
Declaration of Independence finds the king guilty of abusing his power
by refusing to allow the colonists to have representation in Parliament.
b. He listed the grievances in reverse order, beginning with the
violations of the colonists’ pursuit of happiness, in order to conclude
with the most serious abuses.
c. He tried to write the declaration in general terms that would be
understandable for other countries and future generations.
d. Several grievances addressed the abuses by England against the
colonial legislatures, particularly in Massachusetts and Virginia.
I) “He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository for their public
records…”
II) “He has dissolved representative houses…”
III) “For suspending our own legislatures…”
e. Jefferson also described how England had interfered with the judicial
process in the colonies.
I) “He has obstructed the administration of justice…”
II) “He has made judges dependent on his will alone…”
III) “He has protected them (British soldiers) by a mock trial, from
punishment for any murders which they should commit…” (in reference
to extraterritoriality and, perhaps, to those soldiers involved in the
Boston Massacre).
f. Jefferson referred repeatedly to the specific acts Britain had
implemented in the colonies, particularly the Coercive (Intolerable)
Acts.
I) “He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states…”
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(Proclamation of 1763).
II) “He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent swarms of
officers to harass our people…” (Customs; writs of assistance).
III) “He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies…
quartering large bodies of armed troops among us…” (Troops in Boston;
Quartering Acts).
IV) “For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world…”
(Navigation Acts; Boston Port Act).
V) “For imposing taxes on us without our consent…” (Molasses Act,
Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts).
VI) “For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring
province…” (Quebec Act)
VII) “For taking away our charters…” (Intolerable Acts – Boston).
g. Jefferson closed the grievances against England with the most
serious charges of how the British had sought to destroy the
colonists’ “unalienable right” of life.
I) “He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his
protection and waging war against us…” (Battles had already occurred)
II) “He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign
mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny…”
(Hessians)
III) “He has excited domestic insurrection among us (by encouraging
slave uprisings) and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our
frontiers merciless Indian savages…
Conclusion
Jefferson explained how the colonists had repeatedly exercised legal means
of protest through petitions and other devices and how their please to their
blood relatives in Britain had been ignored as the British government had
moved toward despotism.
Jefferson concluded that, since all legal means of protest had been ignored,
the colonists had no choice but to separate from England.
Jefferson also defined the powers to which the new nation would be entitled
and tied to the new nation’s destiny but to the hands of God.
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The Declaration of Independence clearly rejected the European theory of
the divine right of kings.
In pledging their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” in support of the
declaration, the signers demonstrated the sacrifices that they were willing
to make. Many of them would later suffer for their bravery.
a. They joined Britain’s “Most Wanted” list.
b. They were accused of treason.
c. Five were captured and tortured in prison.
d. Twelve were burned out of their homes.
e. Seventeen lost everything they owned.
f. Many lost family members and nearly all were driven from their homes
during the course of the war.
“We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in
General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of
the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these
United Colonies are and of right out to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT
STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and
that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is,
and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states,
they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances,
establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent
states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm
reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
With the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the rebellion by the
colonists to protect their rights as Englishmen became a struggle for the
independence of the United States of America. It gave the colonists a cause
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for which to fight, helped in securing foreign aid and would serve as a beacon
for other nations, like the French in 1789, to follow in their struggle for
liberty.
Though the Declaration of Independence had extensive social, economic and
religious implications, it is clearly a political document.
Revisionist critics often find hypocrisy in the declaration’s assertion that
“All men are created equal” since blacks (slaves and free blacks), women and
native Americans did not enjoy the same rights as white males and since only
white, property-owning males could vote. Jefferson was a slave owner when
he wrote the document.
a. The critics may be committing the historical error of “presentitis,”
judging figures of the past on present-day standards rather than the
standards of the person’s era. The Declaration of Independence was
an idealistic, democratic giant step for mankind, which was previously
accustomed, to monarchy.
b. Like the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence is a “living”
declaration as we continue striving to realize its ideal and to create
opportunity for all people today. In reading the document, it becomes
apparent that Jefferson understood that he was writing to the ages.
Lesson 8: The British defeat in the American Revolution was determined by
military engagements, personalities and geo-political factors which produced
a major “turning point” in history.
Americans slowly turned the tide of the war.
When the war erupted, the Americans and the British each held strengths
and weaknesses.
American Strengths
a. George Washington was a great leader.
b. The colonists were fighting for homes and freedom.
c. They were conditioned to hardship.
d. Aid arrived from foreign countries, particularly France.
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e.
f.
g.
h.
The pioneer soldiers were accustomed to firearms.
The French and Indian War provided military experience.
The colonists were fighting on familiar ground.
A defeat of Washington would not mean the defeat of the American
guerillas.
American Weaknesses
a. One-third of the people (“Tories,” loyalists) opposed the rebellion and
remained loyal to Great Britain.
b. Colonial financial resources were inadequate.
c. No manufacturing facilities existed since most production facilities
were located in Great Britain.
d. There was a shortage of supplies and ammunition.
e. Enlistments were short-term.
f. The rowdy frontiersmen who served as colonial soldiers were
unaccustomed to military discipline.
g. The colonial navy was weak, essentially non-existent.
British Strengths
a. Well-equipped, well-trained professional soldiers comprised the ranks
of the British military.
b. The British enjoyed professional military leadership.
c. The powerful British navy could transport troops and blockade the
North American coastline.
d. Foreign soldiers (mercenaries) were enlisted, particularly German
Hessians.
e. The British military had adequate financial and manufacturing support.
f. American Loyalists supported the British war effort.
g. Great Britain’s political power was advantageously united and
centralized.
British Weaknesses
a. The “redcoats” were unaccustomed to wilderness warfare.
b. British leaders underestimated American military ability.
c. The field of battle was separated from the homeland; orders and
reinforcements faced 3,000 miles of ocean journey and the army had
difficulty getting fresh troops and supplies.
d. Hired soldiers fought only for pay and with little motivation.
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e. England faced other conflicts with France, Spain and the Netherlands,
which drained resources away from the war effort in the colonies.
f. Englishmen opposed the war, including the “Whigs,” led by William Pitt
and Edmund Burke.
g. The Tories did not contribute greatly to the British effort.
The war shifted from New England to the Middle Colonies after the British
abandoned Boston. The British occupied New York City and chased
Washington and the Continental Army across the Hudson River, through New
Jersey and into Pennsylvania.
As the Americans crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, they seized
the boats on the river, preventing the British from following them.
On Christmas night, 1776, in a blinding storm, Washington led his men across
the ice-choked Delaware and trounced the Hessians encamped in Trenton,
capturing nearly 1,000 prisoners and a large quantity of supplies.
Outmaneuvering Cornwallis (who had been sent out to defeat Washignton),
Washington defeated two British regiments at Princeton, and then
established winter quarters near Morristown, New Jersey.
The British plan to divide the colonies by conquering New York and isolating
New England failed at Saratoga, the “turning point” of the war.
1. General John Burgoyne led an army southward from Canada
along Lake Champlain but General Horatio Gates and the colonial
army captured General Burgoyne’s entire army on October 17,
1777.
2. Colonel St. Leger brought another force from Canada to
Oswego on Lake Ontario but encountered fierce resistance in
the Mohawk River Valley and retreated to Canada.
3. Rather than leading a third army northward up the Hudson
Valley from New York City toward Albany, where the three
armies had planned to meet, General Howe sent his army to
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Philadelphia.
4. The Victory at Saratoga became the turning point of the war as
it convinced France, which had been courted diplomatically by
Benjamin Franklin, to openly aid the American cause and it
boosted colonial morale.
The British captured Philadelphia (September, 1777) and repelled American
attempts to drive them out at Brandywine Creek and Germantown.
Washington’s army endured a cruel winter, as well as the Prussian military
drills of Baron Von Steuben, at Valley Forge, and then followed the British
forces (now under Sir Henry Clinton) to New York City where they contained
the British for the remainder of the war.
George Rogers Clark (1778-1779) and his frontiersmen gained control of the
Northwest Territory (north of the Ohio River), preventing the British from
further inciting the Indians to attack American settlements.
The war at sea produced heroic exploits by American seamen.
Before the French fleet came to the aid of the Continentals, American sea
power consisted of only a few small warships and a number of privateers, i.e.,
privately owned merchant vessels and fishing boats that were fitted with
guns and authorized to attack British ships. By the end of the war, they had
captured or destroyed nearly 800 British vessels.
The war produced two outstanding Naval heroes.
1. John Paul Jones, commanding the Bonhomme Richard, fought
and captured the English warship Serapis in the most dramatic
naval battle of the Revolution (1779), during which, upon the
British commander’s demand for surrender, Jones proclaimed “I
have not yet begun to fight.”
2. John Barry won fame in capturing British men-of-war.
Benedict Arnold’s plot to surrender West Point failed. He escaped to a
British warship and served as an officer in the English army for the
remainder of the war. His name has come to mean “traitor” in America.
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The British attempted to conquer the South after failing to make headway
in New England and the Middle Colonies.
1. They captured Savannah, Charleston (the greatest American
defeat during the war) and Camden, but were beaten back at
King’s Mountain and Cowpens by frontier sharpshooters.
2. Washington sent Nathaniel Greene to take charge of
Continental troops in the South. Greene recaptured most of the
inland positions held by the British in South Carolina and
Georgia and inflicted heavy losses on the British at Guilford
Courthouse in North Carolina in March 1781. By the summer of
1781, the British only occupied Savannah, Charleston, and
Wilmington.
Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in 1781.
Cornwallis invaded Virginia from Wilmington but failed to destroy the
outnumbered Continentals led by Marquis de Lafayette from France, the
most outstanding French officer to serve in the colonial effort.
Cornwallis established a base at Yorktown, neat the mouth of the
Chesapeake Bay, in August 1781, waiting for supplies and reinforcements for
a spring campaign.
Washington decided to strike a surprise blow.
a. Admiral de Grasse and the French fleet sealed off the Chesapeake
Bay.
b. Washington, with the help of 5,000 French troops under Comte de
Rochambeau’s command, marched his army from New York to Virginia
and laid siege to Yorktown.
c. After several weeks of fighting, Cornwallis surrendered his entire
army of 5,000 men on October 19, 1781 in the last major battle of the
war.
Results of the American Revolutionary War.
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In 1782, a Whig Parliament, favorable to Americans, replaced the Tory
regime of Lord North and voted to end hostilities and to start peace
negotiations, despite the fact that the British still occupied New York City
and the Southern seaports.
The Treaty of Paris (1783) was negotiated by Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams and John Jay.
1. Britain acknowledged the thirteen colonies’ independence.
2. Britain agreed that the boundaries of the new nation would be
the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Mississippi River in the
west, Canada in the north and Florida in the south. The United
States gained the right of navigation on the Mississippi River.
3. The British granted to Americans full fishing privileges in the
Newfoundland area, to the displeasure of Canadians.
4. England also returned Florida to Spain.
5. The United States agreed not to persecute loyalists and to
recommend, to state legislatures, the return of loyalist
property. The states also agreed to avoid hampering the
collection of debts owed to British creditors.
Some historians have noted that the effects of the American Revolution
were not limited to political results but also included a social and economic
transformation of America, resulting in:
1. The expansion of suffrage.
2. The emergence of an antislavery movement during the era,
which contributed to the immediate or gradual abolition of
slavery in all of the northern and middle states before 1830.
3. The opening of the trans-Appalachian west and land reform
with the redistribution of Tory estates.
4. The total separation of church and state.
5. Increased pressure on the interior Indian tribes.
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Unit Two - Self Government in America’s Founding Period
Lesson 1: America’s first permanent form of government, the Articles of
Confederation, emerged from the development of self-government
throughout the colonial and revolutionary period.
The framers of the founding documents drew guidance from centuriws of
European experience and ideas.
The Magna Carta, singed by King John of England in 1215 A.D., provided for
trial by jury, due process of law and no taxation without representation.
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The English parliament exemplified the form and method of state and
national governments.
The English Petition of Rights (1628) and the English Bill of Rights (1689)
provided ideas for the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, passed after its
ratification in 1791.
John Locke (1632-1755), an English philosopher, asserted “popular
sovereignty” through his Two Treaties of Government and defended the
right of (a majority of) the people to revolt against tyranny. He argued the
government was established as a fiduciary trust for the people, with a
legislature serving as the supreme power only through the consent of the
people. Locke’s book became the “bible of modern liberalism”.
Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), in his book The Spirit of the Laws,
pronounced his famous theory on separation of powers into legislative,
executive and judicial branches.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was a great proponent of democratic
revolution and believed that man was naturally good but corrupted by
civilization. In his book, The Social Contract, he stated that government
officials should be subject to the general will through a “social contract.”
Rousseau became a man of the people and one of the most lauded
philosophers in European history. “We the people” is a tribute to the man
whose writings fueled the French Revolution.
The concept of self-government emerged early in the colonies and continued
throughout the colonial and revolutionary era.
The house of Burgesses in Jamestown, the Mayflower Compact at Plymouth,
the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and the Great Law of Pennsylvania
were examples of early expressions of self-government in the colonies.
The Declaration of Independence is a founding document of American selfgovernment as the Second Continental Congress declared “We, therefore,
the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress
assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude
of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of
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these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are
of right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES: that they are
absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political
connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, ought to be
totally dissolved…
Attempts at Union emerged prior to the Constitution.
1. New England Confederation (1643-1684): Four colonies.
2. Dominion of New England (1686-1689): seven colonies.
3. Albany Congress (1754): seven colonies.
4. Stamp Act Congress (1765): Nine colonies.
5. Committees of Correspondence (1772-1776): Thirteen colonies.
6. First Continental Congress (and the Continental Association)
(1774): Twelve colonies.
7. Second Continental Congress (1775-1781): Thirteen colonies
created state governments when the Second Continental
Congress, on May 10, 1775, adopted a resolution urging the
colonies to replace colonial governments with alternative
governments. The Second Continental Congress was important
because it was the first national government (for five years)
and it prosecuted the war, created a monetary system and
performed as a government during the revolution.
8. The first state governments were based on popular sovereignty
(consent of the governed), limited government, civil liberties,
separation of powers, (three independent branches of
government), checks and balances, separation of church and
state, and concern over slavery and the rights of women.
The Articles of Confederation were enacted in 1781 to provide a central
government for the new nation.
The Continental Congress voted to adopt, on November 15, 1777, John
Dickinson’s “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union”, and agreed to
send the document to the states for ratification (formal approval).
Ratification was delayed due to a dispute among the states over western
land claims but, on March 1, 1781 the Articles were adopted when the
national government acquired possession of the nation’s western lands (the
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territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, with
the Ohio River dividing the “Old Southwest” from the Old Northwest”).
Congress regulated the sale of the Northwest Territory with the Land
Ordinance of 1785. Land was surveyed and divided into townships of thirtysix square miles (sections). One section was set aside for schools and the
remaining sections were sold at public auctions to reduce the national debt.
The Ordinance of 1787 (Northwest Ordinance) provided a plan of
government for the Northwest Territory. Thomas Jefferson was a key
influence and author.
Congress would provide a temporary government with a governor and judges.
A representative legislature was to be established when the territory had
5,000 adult male settlers.
Any part of the territory could apply for statehood when its population
reaching 60,000.
Three to five states would be allowed in the territory.
Civil liberties were guaranteed.
Slavery was prohibited. Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, originally proposed
the idea but Rufus King offered the official resolution in Congress.
Public education was promoted.
The Northwest Ordinance is generally considered the outstanding
congressional achievement under the Articles of Confederation, providing a
pattern for the administration of America’s public lands from the
Appalachians to the Pacific, the development of new states on a basis of
equality with the original thirteen and the guarantee of civil liberties,
democratic government and public education in the wilderness.
The Articles provided a “firm league of friendship” (confederation) among
sovereign, free, independent states who kept all rights not given to the
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national government. The Articles were created to provide common defense,
security of civil liberties and general welfare.
The structure of the Articles of Confederation was very simple. A
unicameral (single-chambered) Congress was the sole entity created.
Executive and judicial functions were handled by congressional committees
and a Congress President was chosen each year, though he did not serve as
an executive. Samuel Huntington served as the first President of the
Confederation Congress.
Congress had the power to make war and peace, send and receive
ambassadors, enter into treaties, borrow money, establish a monetary
system, build a navy and army, fix uniform standards of weights and
measures and settle disputes among the states.
The states were obliged to obey the Articles and Acts of Congress, provide
the funds and troops requested by Congress, treaty citizens of all states
fairly, respect the public acts, records and proceedings of other states,
submit interstate disputes to Congress for settlement and allow travel
between and among the states.
Weakness of the Articles of Confederation
No provision was made for an executive of judicial branch of government.
Result: There was no president to enforce the laws passed by Congress and
there were no federal courts to settle disputes between states.
Congress did not have the power to tax; it could only request funds from the
states. Result: Congress lacked sufficient money to finance the government
and to pay bondholders and soldiers of the Revolutionary War.
The right to regulate currency and to issue money was given to both
Congress and the states.
Congress lacked the power to regulate trade between the states and with
other countries. Result: States taxed each other’s products, quarreled over
navigation rights on river boundaries and establish their own systems of
tariffs on imports. Foreign nations refused to negotiate commercial
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agreements with the United States because Congress was unable to enforce
them.
Each state, regardless of population, had only one vote in Congress. Result:
Heavily populated states felt their interests were inadequately represented.
Representatives of at least nine of the thirteen states had to approve a
measure in order for it to become a law. All thirteen states were required to
approve amendments. Result: It was difficult to obtain passage of legislation
and amendments.
Accomplishments of the Confederation
It led the American people through the last phase of the Revolution and
negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
It formed a bond among the thirteen states until they were ready to accept
a stronger plan of union.
It laid the foundation for future westward expansion by providing public
land to settlers and evolving a plan of government for the Northwest
Territory.
The period during which the Articles of Confederation provided the nation’s
system of government is known as the “Critical Period” (1781-1789) as any
U.S. leaders feared that the United States was on the verge of collapse.
Congress was beset with financial problems.
Congress was unable to maintain order.
The government lost the respect of other nations.
The states quarreled over boundary disputes.
Farmers from western Massachusetts, fearing the loss of their farms
through mortgage foreclosure resulting from debts, rose in Shay’s Rebellion,
forced the closing of many debtor courts and threatened the seizure of the
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federal arsenal in Springfield before being suppressed by a large militia.
Shay’s Rebellion had a dramatic impact on the Constitutional Convention.
In 1784, the State of Franklin (in present-day East Tennessee) temporarily
emerged out of the western lands which had been recently ceded by North
Carolina to the federal government.
North Carolina repealed its cession of the lands and opposed Franklin
independence as a rebellion.
Defying North Carolina, the State of Franklin drew up a constitution,
elected a legislature and John Sevier as governor and applied for admission
as the 14th state to the Union.
Overriding North Carolina’s repeal, Congress voted 7-2 to accept Franklin
but statehood failed because a two-thirds vote (nine votes) was necessary.
At the “Battle of Franklin” in 1788, John Tipton’s pro-North Carolina forces
and the State of Franklin came to an end. Sevier was arrested for treason,
rescued from jail in Morganton, North Carolina, granted amnesty and
ultimately elected to the Noth Carolina legislature.
North Carolina ceded its western lands to the federal government in 1789
under the new constitution and the territory helped from the State of
Tennessee in 1796. John Sevier was Tennessee’s first governor.
Lesson 2: The concept of self-government flourishing in the Constitution of
the United States.
The Constitution of the United States formed a union among the states as a
result of the failure of the Articles of Confederation.
Events leading to the Constitutional Convention
Delegates from Maryland and Virginia met at George Washington’s home
Mount Vernon, Virginia in March, 1785 and settled some shipping problems
that had occurred under the Articles of Confederation. The success of the
“Mount Vernon Conference” promoted the Virginia assembly to call for a
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“joint meeting of the states to recommend a federal plan for regulating
commerce” at Annapolis Maryland in 1786.
With only five states represented the “Annapolis Convention” called upon
Congress to summon another convention the following year to discuss
commercial problems and means of improving the national government.
Congress called a conference, with delegates chosen by their state
legislatures, as with the Stamp Act Congress.
The Constitutional Convention, after obtaining a quorum on May 25, 1787,
held their first meeting in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on May 28th,
with 12 of the 13 states present. Rhode Island refused to send a delegates,
suspicions that the convention might threaten the liberty achieved through
the blood spilled in the revolution.
55 of the 74 delegates attended the convention and represented wide
knowledge, public experience, wealth and prestige.
Eight had served on their state constitutional convention committees, seven
had been governors, eight had signed the Declaration of Independence, two
would become presidents, one would become Vice-President, seventeen would
become future senators and eleven would be members of the House of
Representatives.
Many Revolutionary leaders were absent, including Samuel Adams,
Massachusetts Governor John Hancock, suspicious Patrick Henry Lee and
Thomas Jefferson Ambassador to France.
The “Founding Fathers” included George Washington, who was unanimously
chosen to serve as president of the Convention; Benjamin Franklin, the elder
statesman and philosopher; James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution,”
whose detailed record of the proceedings far surpassed the official outline
in detail and accuracy; Alexander Hamilton who, like Madison, advocated a
strong national government with greater powers. Other notables included
Roger Sherman, who had served with Franklin, Jefferson and others on the
committee of five that wrote the Declaration of Independence, Robert
Morris, who was very wealthy but headed for bankruptcy, George Mason,
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William Livingston, John Dickinson who wrote the Articles of Confederation,
George Wythe, Elbridge Gerry and James Wilson, who would become an
influential voice in the fight for ratification.
No more that approximately thirty delegates, representing eleven states,
were present at any one time. Some of the delegates left to address
personal matters, some left in disgust and other arrived late. Money was a
problem for the delegates who were there for several months and who were
often only land-rich.
The delegates agreed that, instead of revising the Articles of
Confederation, they should frame a new constitution to create a government
for the United States that would be stronger, republican and based on
written constitution. They also agreed that it would have its own source of
income and control over foreign affairs and commerce as well as separation
of powers over three branches of government to prevent tyranny. A
legislative branch would make laws which would be enforced by an executive
branch and interpreted by an independent judicial branch. It would be weak
enough to preserve the sovereignty of the states yet strong enough to
confront national issues.
After adopting rules of procedures which included giving each state one vote
at the convention and requiring a majority vote for all decisions, the
delegates met in secret sessions for four months until September 17, 1787.
The spirit of compromise prevailing at the Constitutional Convention as the
Founding Fathers solve important differences.
The larger states favored the Virginia Plan that called for representation in
both houses of Congress to be based on population. It called for the
dominant legislative branch to choose the executive and judiciary and to
have the power to crush rebellions and to vote state laws that were not in
accordance with the Constitution. The small states supported William
Paterson’s New Jersey Plan which proposed that each state should have
equal representation in the unicameral legislature and which called for a
multiple executive, limited judiciary and stronger Congress which would have
the power to levy taxes and regulate commerce. The New Jersey Plan was
rejected but concessions were made to the smaller states. Solutions: The
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Connecticut Compromise, the “Great Compromise” proposed by Roger
Sherman and the Connecticut delegation, created a bicameral (two-chamber)
Congress in which each state would be represented equally by two senators
in the Senate (the upper house) and proportionate to population in the House
of Representatives (the lower house). The compromise held as the small
states abandoned the Articles of Confederation which they hoped to
preserve and the large, nationalist states conceded equal legislative
representation for the states. Hamilton left the convention in disgust and
Madison unsuccessfully opposed the compromise which probably saved the
convention.
The Southern states, in order to obtain maximum representation but
minimum taxation, proposed that slaves should be counted in determining
representation in the House of Representatives and not counted for the
purpose of direct taxation by the federal government. Solution: The ThreeFifths Compromise (incorporated as part of the Great Compromise) provided
the five slaves would be counted as three persons for both representation
and direct taxation.
The manufacturing and shipping interests of the industrial North and the
agricultural South wanted Congress to have the power to regulate interstate
and foreign commerce but the Southern farming interests feared that
Congress might tax agricultural exports and prohibited the importation of
slaves. Knowing that they could be outvoted in Congress, the southern states
insisted on two-thirds approval of all commercial regulations, a move that
would virtually give them veto power. Solution: The Commerce Compromise
granted the Congress the power to regulate interstate and foreign
commerce and to levy tariffs on imports, but Congress could not tax exports
or restrict the importation of slaves for twenty years (until 1808). The
compromise also included a fugitive slave law calling for the return of
runaway slaves as well as a provision requiring a two-thirds majority in the
Senate to ratify treaties and commercial agreements.
Principles of the Constitution
Federalism is a dual system of government in which a written constitution
divides the powers of government territorially between a central (national)
government and local (state) governments. By granting sovereignty and
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direct rule over the people to both the state and national governments,
federalism may represent the delegates’ greatest compromise.
Delegated powers are granted to the national government.
Expressed powers are spelled out, expressly, in the Constitution.
Implied powers are not expressed in the Constitution but are reasonably
implied by those which are.
Inherent powers belong to the national government of a sovereign state,
based on tradition.
Reserved powers are reserved for the states as powers which are not given
to the national government and which are not denied to the states. (Statesupported education, licenses, etc.) .
Concurrent powers belong to both the national Government and the states,
separately and simultaneously (taxes).
Powers are denied to the national government expressly in the Constitution,
through its silence of through the nature of the federal system (Ex:
Congress cannot tax the state governments). Powers are also denied to the
states expressly in the Constitution and through the nature of the federal
system.
The Constitution is the “Supreme Law of the Land” and always takes
precedence in a conflict between state law and national law. The Constitution
is the top rung on a “ladder of laws” formed by its Supremacy Clause which
joins the national government and the states into a single, federal United
States. The Supreme Court “umpired” the federal system with the
Supremacy Clause.
The national government’s obligations to the States include guaranteeing a
republican form of government, protection against invasion and domestic
violence and respect for the territorial integrity (boundaries) of each state.
Cooperative Federalism
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Aid given to the states by the national government including grant-in-aid
programs, block grants, and revenue sharing.
States aid the national government by conducting national elections in state
facilities, holding naturalization proceedings in state courts and help federal
officials capture fugitives from federal justice.
Interstate compacts (agreements), usually involve natural resources.
The Full Faith and Credit Clause specifies that each state recognize the
validity of the acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other state in
civil, not criminal, matters.
Extradition provides for the return of a fugitive from justice who has fled
from one state to another.
The Privileges and Immunities Clause prevents unreasonable discrimination
against an out of state resident.
Only Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union and no state
may be created from the territory of an existing state without the state’s
consent.
Checks and balances
Sharp conflict emerged in creating the executive who would carry out
national laws enacted by the legislature and who would make appointments to
offices. Madison’s and Hamilton’s nationalists won their fight for a strong
executive because the convention employed checks and balances to limit
abuse of power.
The Senate would approve his treaties only with a two-thirds majority and
give advise and consent on his appointments. Congress could override his veto
and exclusively controlled the power to make and finance war. He of his
judicial appointments could be removed through impeachment.
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The delegates crafted the executive branch knowing that the wise
convention President, George Washington, would surely be the first Chief
Executive.
Most delegates objected to the nationalists’ argument that the President
should be elected by the people, suggesting that poor communication and
travel would prevent the people, through trustworthy, from making fair
judgments about the candidates in an election. The Virginia Plan called for
Congress to choose the President and wanted to limit his tenure in office to
single seven year term. Solution: The electoral college provided each state
with the power to choose electors, equal to the state’s number of Senators
and Representatives, who would elect the President with a majority of their
votes. In the absence of a majority, the President would be chosen by the
House of Representatives from the five leading candidates. The runner-up
would become Vice-President. The delegates were confident that the House
would chose every President since they envisioned every state nomination a
“favorite son;” they failed to see the rise of political parties.
Checks and balances were also placed on the legislative and judicial branches
of the government as each branch gained certain powers wit which it could
restrain the other.
The executive branch (the President and his Cabinet) may veto legislation,
call special sessions of Congress recommend legislation, appeal to the people
and appoint federal judges.
The judicial branch (the Supreme Court and other Federal Courts) may
declare acts of Congress unconstitutional (illegal, null and void) through the
power of judiciary review which is the power of the court to determine the
constitutionality of a government action on law.
The checks and balances system makes compromise necessary and essential
to democratic government
Checks are placed on “the people” through staggered terms for elected
officials and through the Electoral College
The Constitution protects the liberties of individuals
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Trial by Jury
Writ of Habeas Corpus forces a jailer to release a person form the prison
unless the person has been formally charged with, or convicted of a crime
Ex Post Facto Laws, which punish someone for a past action that is not
unlawful at the time it was committed, are prohibited
A bill of attainder, which is a law that deprives a person of his civil rights
without a trial, is prohibited
The Constitution protects against unfair treason charges
Structure of the Constitution
The Preamble introduces the general purposes and intentions of the
Constitution
It emphasizes that the “people” rule the government and that this new
government is “more perfect” than the form of government that existed
previously under the Articles of Confederation
(Read the Preamble!!!)
The Delegates draw heavily on colonial experience, avoiding experimentation
when ever possible
The executive was modeled after the colonial royal governor and his duties
were primarily constructed from the New York State constitution of 1777
which relied on colonial traditions
Bicameral legislatures already existed in most of the colonies
Money bills originated in the lower “peoples” house in the colonial days
The Northwest Ordinance, passed by the Congress while the convention met,
provided additional direction
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The Delegates left the Constitution flexable for future generations to
shape, avoiding such issues as the number of Presidential terms and whether
or not new states would enter the Union on an equal basis with the original 13
states
The Constitution provides rules of procedure for change, even in times of
crisis, through the “necessary and proper” clause (or the “elastic clause)
which is the source of implied powers
The constitution may be amended formally or “informally” (changing the
Constitution without changing its written words)
Ratification
The Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by 39 delegates and
submitted to the states for ratification with the approval of nine states
required. State by state, the constitution was approved.
State
1. Delaware
2. Pennsylvania
3. New Jersey
4. Georgia
5. Connecticut
6. Massachusetts
7. Maryland
8. South Carolina
9. New Hampshire
10. Virginia
11. New York
12. North Carolina
13. Rhode Island
Date Approved
Dec. 7, 1787
Dec. 12, 1787
Dec. 18, 1787
Jan. 2, 1788
Jan. 9,1788
Feb. 6, 1788
Apr. 28, 1788
May 23, 1788
June 21, 1788
June 26, 1788
July 26, 1788
Nov. 21, 1789
May 29, 1790
For Against
Unanimous
46
23
Unanimous
Unanimous
128
40
187
168
63
11
149
73
57
46
89
76
30
27
197
77
34
32
Delaware was the first state to ratify the constitution (December 7, 1787)
and New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify on June 21, 1788. As a
result, the Constitution was adopted on July 2, 1788 and went into effect on
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March 4, 1789. North Carolina and Rhode Island were the last states to
ratify (after the government had been established and gone into operation).
Sharpe debate between the Federalists who supported the Constitution, and
the Antifederalists, who opposed it.
The Federalist, including merchants, industrialists, landholders,
professionals and government bondholders, wanted a strong central
government capable of regulating commerce, maintaining law and order and
stabilizing finances.
The Antifederalists, including small farmers, frontiersmen, city laborers,
debtors and others, wanted the states to retain most power to safeguard
fundamental rights. The promise for a bill of rights softened this opposition.
Lesson 3: The struggle for ratification of the constitution led to the
pronouncement of differing theories about self-government through The
Federalists and the Antifederalists papers.
The Preamble of the Constitution (the singularly most magnificent sentence
in political theory) reflects the desire of the founding fathers to achieve
what all Americans, Federalists and Antifederalists, wanted: liberty and
order. In reconciling order with liberty, both the Federalists and
Antifederalists were committed to republicanism (representative
government), rejecting majority rule could best be expressed. The
fundamental paradox in American democracy throughout the history of the
nation has been the clash between order and liberty, between majority rule
and minority rights. Americans of the 1780’s wanted constitutional
government to have power to maintain order and limits on its power to
protect the liberties of the people. Trying to avoid an overemphasis of
either ingredient was the great dilemma faced by Americans then …… and
now.
The Federalist papers are the most significant political writings in American
history and remain our best statement on constitutional government.
The Federalists expressed the fundamental ideas of republicanism,
federalism, separation of powers and free government. Soon after the
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constitution was completed in September, 1787 in Philadelphia, sharply
divided public opinion emerged throughout the United States concerning the
new government.
The collection of 85 papers (essays) were written from October, 1787 to
May, 1788 by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay under the
pseudonym “Publius” (after Publius Valerius Publicola, a great defender of
the Roman Republic) to explain and to promote support for ratification of
the constitution.
As one of New York’s three delegates to the convention, Alexander Hamilton
preferred the Constitution’s much stronger national government when
compared to the government under the Articles of Confederation. He was
one of the thirty-nine delegates to sign the agreement.
In campaigning for the ratification in New York, Hamilton faced strong
opposition from the state’s powerful governor, George Clinton, as well as the
other New York delegates, Robert Yates and John Lansing. The Federalists
was a response to the early opposition of the antifederalists in the
newspapers.
Authors
Alexander Hamilton, the youngest of the three authors, was thirty-two
years old in 1787. As a assistant to General Washington, Lt. Col. Hamilton
fought at Yorktown. He was instrumental in the creation of the
Constitutional and later served as President Washington’s Secretary of the
Treasury, providing a second financial program for the nation. Hamilton
wrote 51 of the 85 papers (# 1, 8-9, 11-13, 15-17, 21-36, 59-61, and 65-85).
James Madison, a Virginian, was known as the “father of the Constitution”
for the role he played at the convention. As a representative during the
first Congressional session under the Constitution, Madison proposed
amendments that became the Bill of Rights. He later served as President
Jefferson’s Secretary of State and was elected to two terms as the fourth
President of the United States (1809-1817). Madison wrote 29 essays (# 10,
14, 18-20, 35-58, and 62-63).
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John Jay of New York was the primary author of his state’s constitution and
one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Paris. After serving as the head of
foreign affairs in the Confederation government, Jay, in1789, became the
first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Due to illness, Jay only wrote
five essays (#2-5 and 64).
The immediate purpose of The Federalist was to advocate the ratification of
the Constitution. The authors also wanted to influence Americans in the
other states to ratify the Constitution. Though the Constitution did not
reflect in entirety the views of any of the authors, it was, as a compromise,
far superior to the system of the government provided by the
Confederation. Madison and Hamilton together defended the proposed
government, though they would later join rival political parties.
Alexander Hamilton’s essays
1. In The Federalist No. 1, Hamilton, writing as Publius, encouraged the
American people in choosing their own form of government and
reminded them that the government of the United States, as well as
their own liberty and security, was at stake.
2. Alexander Hamilton stated: “Man love power. Give all power to the
many, they will oppress the few. Give all power to the few, they will
oppress the many.” If a constitution, which limits the power of the
government in order to protect individual liberties form oppression,
provided limits that are too strict, then the government will be too
weak to effectively insure order, as seen under the Articles of
Confederation. Hamilton stressed the need for strong government,
asserting that the possibility of abuse was no argument against
granting power to the government, for “too little power is as
dangerous as too much, that it leads to anarchy, and from anarchy to
despotism.”
In The Federalist Nos. 15-17, 21-22, Hamilton argued that the
Confederation government lacked sufficient “energy” (power) to provide
order and liberty and, as a result, anarchy was “impending” and the nation
had reached “the last stage of national humiliation.” He lamented the
government’s inability to collect taxes and to raise a military and complained
that the state governments, acting directly on the people, had too much
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power to block the national government’s actions. “There is no express to
delegation of authority to them (the United States) to use force against
delinquent members (states of individuals)…” (No. 21).
Hamilton proposed solutions in Nos. 23-26 and 70-81 to the problem of weak
government, calling on America to:
Give the government the power to carry out its duties such as protection for
the individual against foreign governments and internal uprisings (No. 23).
Grant the power to tax to the government so that it may effectively carry
out its duties.
Give the government the power to deal directly with the individual rather
than having to depend on action from state governments.
Establish a strong Chief Executive (President) who enforces the laws and
protects the nation’s interests in foreign affairs (No. 70).
Create a judicial branch to interpret the laws so that they will function
equitably on society (No. 78).
Hamilton also proposed to protect liberty from abuse of government power,
in Nos. 23, 24, 26-34, and 78-81 by:
Structuring the government with separation of powers and making officials
accountable to the people.
Expressly denying certain powers to the government.
Granting to the judiciary the power to declare government actions null and
void through judicial review (No. 78).
Giving control of finances to the Congress, thereby limiting executive power.
Insisting in republican (representative) government.
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James Madison wrote, perhaps, the most significant essays on
constitutionalism.
In No. 10 and 51, he warned that the majority must be limited by law to
prevent republican tyranny, asserting that power is power, whether it is in
the hands of a king or the people. He equally opposed the tyranny of one
(King or dictator), the tyranny of the few (oligarchy or aristocracy) and the
tyranny of the many (majority), perhaps the greatest threat to liberty in a
republic.
Madison did not see majority rule as an end in itself, as the Antifederalists
did, but, rather, saw the individual private rights as justice and believed the
justice, not majority rule, was the end to the achieved. Democratic law,
according to Madison is best served when it is limited by a higher law (the
Constitution) that restrains power (even in the hands of the people). He
wanted majority rule by electing representatives but with limits on the
majority’s power in order to protect the liberties of people that the
majority disliked.
In a letter to Thomas Jefferson (October 17, 1788), Madison warned:
“Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of
oppression. In our Government, the real power lies in the majority of the
community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended,
not from acts of government contrary to the sense of its constituents, but
from acts in which the government is the mere instrument of the major
number (majority) of the constituents. This is a truth of great importance,
but not yet sufficiently attended to… Whenever there is an interest and
power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done, and not less readily by (a
majority of the people) than by a …prince.”
In order to protect liberty from tyranny while, at the same time, insuring
order, Madison asserted that:
A well-structured constitution can prevent tyranny, including the tyranny of
a majority against a minority (No. 51).
Federalism in a large republic and separation of a federal government’s
powers are essential parts of a good constitutional government.
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Federalism allows the central and state governments to restrain one
another.
Groups and individuals must compromise and cooperate in a large federal
republic in order for majority rule to be achieved, unlike a small, direct
democracy that is subject to majoritarian tyranny (No. 10).
Separation of powers prevents the accumulation of all powers in the same
hands which, according to Madison in The Federalist No. 47, “may justly be
pronounced as the very definition of tyranny.”
Each branch of government has the constitutional power to restrain the
other branches and each branch and the representatives are accountable to
the people.
The popularly elected part of the Congress (the House of Representatives,
at the time) must be restrained from implementing tyranny by the majority
to whom it is accountable.
Madison felt that government, though limited by law, must have the
“necessary and proper” powers to carry out its duties and maintain itself.
(Nos. 41-48 and 62-63)
Madison admirably summarizes the great American political dilemma, the
conflict between order and liberty, majority rule and minority tights, indeed,
between “domestic tranquility” and “the blessings of liberty” in The
Federalist No. 51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on
government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be
administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must
first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place
oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the
primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the
necessity of auxiliary precautions (a well-structured constitution with
checks and balances).
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The Antifederalist Papers were also published in New York during the
ratification process by a writer known as Brutus (probably Robert Yates).
Brutus argued that the constitution would not achieve the desired liberty
for the individuals and order for society, warning “That a consolidation of
this extensive continent under one government… cannot succeed, without a
sacrifice of your liberties.” He asserted that the powers delegated to the
national government came at the expense of the state governments and
called upon the American people to change the proposed system of
government. Patrick Henry, a Virginian of Revolutionary War fame (“Give me
liberty or give me death!”) was, perhaps, the most famous Antifederalist.
At the same time that the Federalist papers were appearing in New York
newspapers, Brutus published sixteen essays in the New York Journal
(October 18, 1787 to April 10, 1788). These essays have been viewed as the
best expression of the Antifederalist position, which asserted that majority
rule was, in itself, justice and that the process of replacing aristocratic
power with republican power would produce a harmonious society.
In arguing that the Constitution of 1787 overemphasized order and paid too
little attention to liberty, Brutus stressed basic antifederalist beliefs.
a. The federal nature of the Union, which should stress states’ rights
and federalism created by a union of the states, has been replaced by
consolidation of the national government’s power. Since free
government should be close to (not remote from) the people it
represents, tyranny is likely to emerge.
b. The central government has excessive powers, including the power to
tax, to command military forces in time of war (or peace) and to
assume virtually any power in order to insure “the general welfare of
the people,” a vague allowance.
c. The “necessary and proper” clause enables the Congress to expand its
powers too easily.
d. The President and the Senate have too much power, at the expense of
the House of Representatives which is closest to the people, and such
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power, including the power to make treaties binding on the people, is a
threat to liberty.
e. Liberty is threatened by the judicial branch, which is less accountable
to the people and can overrule state government acts.
Brutus called for a shift in the federal balance of power to favor the state
governments (the small republics) over the national government (the large
government in the extended republic favored by the Federalists), arguing
that:
a. People are closely connected to their representatives in small
republics.
b. Legislative representatives reflect the ideas of their constituents.
c. Stable majorities in the small republics are preferable to the conflict
caused by the diversity of large, extended republics.
d. The opportunity for the people to participate as voters and
candidates in elections is greater in a small republic, thus serving
popular majority rule.
e. Small republics have regular elections of officials with short terms.
f. Majority rule, as seen through popular participation in limited
government, prevents tyranny.
g. Popular participation in government is more likely to produce
satisfaction among the people, thus reducing the need for the
government to exercise coercive power.
The Antifederalists were willing to accept the Constitution of 1787 only if
their proposed amendments were adopted. The first ten amendments to the
Constitution, adopted in 1791, became known as the Bill of Rights because
they illustrated the efforts of the Antifedealists to insure the liberties of
the people, to limit the power of the central government and to protect the
state governments.
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George Mason, a Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention, called
for limits to be placed on the central government’s power and refused to
sign the Constitution. In November, 1787, he published his arguments
against the Constitution that contained “no Declaration of Rights” in many
newspapers.
Brutus agreed with Mason and other Antifederalists.
a. The flaws of consolidated central government were reviewed in Essay
I.
b. Brutus, like Mason, called for a Bill of Rights in Essay II and discussed
representative government in Essay IV.
c. Essay X criticized the government’s military power and Essay XV
attacked the judiciary’s power.
d. In stating the Antifederalist belief that majority rule is justice,
Brutus wrote, in Essay I, that “…the people must give their assent to
the laws by which they are governed. This is the true criterion
between a free government and an arbitraty one. The former are
ruled by the will of the whole, expressed in any manner they may
agree upon, the latter by the will of one or a few…”
Historians have often debated how Thomas Jefferson felt about the
Constitution.
Due to his support for the Bill of Rights and his later opposition to
Alexander Hamilton’s economic program, Jefferson is often associated with
the Antifederalist position. He expressed fear about overemphasizing power
to secure order. “It has been said that our government… wants energy (lack
power); that it is difficult to restrain… individuals… from committing wrongs.
This is true, and it is an inconvenience. On the other hand that energy which
absolute governments derive from an armed force, which is the effect of
the bayonet constantly held at the breast of every citizen, and which (order
and security) very much resembles the stillness of the grave, must be
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admitted to also have its inconveniences. We must weigh the two together,
and like best to submit to the former.”
Jefferson, however, shared a continental vision with his friend, James
Madison, and their correspondence suggests that Jefferson would have
supported the Constitution of 1787 but would also have joined the call for a
Bill of Rights. In a letter written to Madison prior to his discovery that
Madison had contributed to Publius, Jefferson referred to The Federalist
as “the best writings” he had seen on democracy.
Lesson 4: The first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of
Rights, extended the Constitution and provided guarantees for individual
liberties and rights.
Debates arose over the necessity of a Bill of Rights but the Antifederalists
ultimately prevailed in securing the amendments.
Federalists argued in defense of the Constitution without a Bill of Rights.
1. They saw the entire Constitution as a well-framed government
with checks and balances as well as elected officials as a bill of
rights.
2. Article I, Sections 3 and 10, were seen as an internal Bill of
Rights.
3. The federal government, it was noted, is, unlike state
governments, a government of enumerated powers and it is not
given a power that is not enumerated in the Constitution. They
also pointed out that state bills of rights remained in force.
The Antifederalists argued for a Bill of Rights.
1. The supremacy of the Constitution, they contended, called into
question the reliance on state bills of rights or implied restrictions.
2. They also noted that the presence of restrictions suggested that
powers not reserved for the states had been granted to the federal
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government.
3. The Antifederalists, as earlier, questioned the “well-constructed”
republican, federal government.
The Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791.
1. Freedom of religion, press, speech, assembly, petition
2. Right to keep and bear arms
3. No quartering of soldiers in peacetime
4. Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure
5. Rights of accused persons (no required self-incrimination)
6. Right to speedy trial
7. Trial by jury in civil cases
8. No excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishment
9. Powers retained for the people
10. Powers reserved for the states
Additional amendments have emerged throughout American history and will
be examined later in the course.
11. Suits against states (required to be in state courts)
12. Election of President and Vice-President – separate ballots
13. Prohibition of slavery
14. Minority citizenship and Civil War punishment
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15. Minority right to vote
16. Income tax
17. Direct election of senators
18. Prohibition
19. Women’s right to vote
20. “Lame Duck” session
21. Repeal of Prohibition
22. President’s Tenure (up to two terms or ten years)
23. Washington, D.C. voting
24. Barring of poll tax
25. Presidential disability and secession
26. Voting age (lowered to 18)
Individual rights, including those enumerated in the Bill of Rights, are
relative to the rights of others and are, therefore, not absolute.
Results of the Constitution
Disagreement exists over the accomplishments of the Constitution
1. Many people felt that the Constitution fulfilled the promise of the
revolution.
2. Charles Beard, in 1913, said that the founding fathers were selfish
men of property who successfully protected their economic selfinterests and limited the growth of popular democracy.
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3. Most historians feel that the founding fathers were patriots of great
stature and vision who put aside their personal financial concerns.
Accomplishments
1. People became “citizens” instead of “subjects.”
2. The rights of people were written and, therefore, not vague.
3. Leaders transformed from “rulers” into “servants of the people” due
to frequent elections.
4. The Constitution allowed for a higher number of elected officials.
5. Although the legislative branch had the greatest power, no branch
could be overbearing towards another branch.
6. Greater middle-class and farmer representation emerged due to the
exodus of many Tories after the revolution and due to the opening of
the frontier.
7. The Constitution of the United States is the oldest working
constitution in the world today.
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UNIT THREE: THE NEW NATION COMPLETES ITS INDEPENDENCE
DURING THE EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD (1789-1815)
Lesson 1: The Federalist Era opened as Washington’s administration
confronted the challenges of “a nation at risk.”
Domestic issues faced the new government during the Federalist Era.
The first federal officials had to organize the new government using only
Constitutional principles and their own experience to guide them in their
effects.
George Washington was elected as the First President with John Adams
serving as his Vice-President. Washington remains the only President in U.S.
history to be unanimously elected.
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Born on a farm on February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland Country, Virginia,
Washington received little formal education until, following his father’s
death, he moved to his older brother’s home at Mount Vernon where he
became a gentlemen, surveyor, outdoorsmen and owner of Mount Vernon
upon his brother’s death.
During the French and Indian War Period, he won fame for his bravery and
skill in battle and, as commander of Virginia’s militia, defended the colony
from enemy attacks for three years.
Between the wars, he married Martha Custis, managed his Mount Vernon
plantation and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses as well as the First
and Second Continental Congress.
During the Revolutionary War, he commanded the Continental Army and then
retired to Mount Vernon.
During the “Critical Period” of the 1780’s, he called for a stronger national
Confederation government, presided over the Constitutional Convention and
help sway public opinion in favor of ratification.
Washington took the oath of office on April 30, 1789 in the first capital,
New York City, as the first President of the United States, although he
would have preferred to remain a private citizen.
Congress created three executive departments and Washington appointed
able men to head this cabinet, though this advisory board was not mentioned
in the Constitution.
a. Secretary of the Treasury- Alexander Hamilton
b. Secretary of State- Thomas Jefferson
c. Secretary of War- Henry Knox
d. Edmund Randolph became the first Attorney General
The federal court system was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789
which provided for the Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and five
associate justices, thirteen district courts and three circuit courts.
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The First Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was John Jay, an active
supporter of the Constitution.
The Judiciary Act provided for the uniform interpretation of the
Constitution among the states by granting the power of “judicial review” to
the judiciary.
The first official census was enacted in 1790.
The Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 and Vermont joined the union the
same year.
The biggest problem facing the new government was raising money.
In addition to operating expenses, the new government needed money to
repay foreign and domestic dept incurred by the Second Continental
Congress and the Confederation. The states were also in dept.
Alexander Hamilton’s economic program proposed to put the nation on a firm
financial foundation and was generally accepted by Congress.
He proposed to pay the foreign dept in full (and it was ultimately paid off by
1795).
In his Report on Public Credit, Hamilton proposed that the domestic dept,
primarily Revolutionary War bonds, was to be paid in full (and was paid off
by 1835). James Madison opposed this proposal because he believed that it
was unfair to reward speculators who had preyed on public fears during the
American Revolution and who had purchased government securities from
bound holders at a fraction of their face value.
Hamilton proposed that the federal government should assume the $25
million dept of the states because the states had borrowed to finance the
war. Since the Southern States objected to use of their tax dollars by a
centralized power against debt primarily incurred in the North, the
compromise know as the Assumption Bill allowed Congress to assume state
debts while agreeing to locate the national capital in the South, along the
Potomac River.
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Philadelphia had served as the nation’s capitol from the birth of the century
in 1776 until 1786, when it was moved to New York.
After Washington’s inauguration in New York, the capitol returned to
Philadelphia in 1790.
Located of the banks of the Potomac River, Washington, D.C. would be
surveyed by Benjamin Banneker, a black mathematician and astronomer, and
Major Andrew Ellicott in 1791 and designed by French architect Charles
L’Enfant.
Hamilton proposed to fund the debt payments by exchanging old bonds for
new interest- bearing bonds to be redeemed in 15-20 years. He believed
that people would work harder to insure the success of the nation if the
government owned money to them.
Hamilton argued that a national bank would
Provide a safe place for tax money
Make it easier for the government and private individuals to borrow money.
Create and issue a uniform, stable currency nationwide (sound paper money).
Provide for the easy transfer of money (by check rather than gold).
Thomas Jefferson and other opponents of the bank feared that the bank
would
1. monopolize the banking business
2. give the wealthy monopoly control over the nation’s money supply
3. violate the Constitution and their strict construction
(interpretation) because the Constitution does not specifically
grant Congress the power to charter banks. Jefferson warned that
“to take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically
drawn around the powers of the Congress, is to take possession of
a boundless field of power.”
4. hurt local and state banks.
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Hamilton’s loose Constitutional interpretation asserting that the bank was
necessary and proper on order for Congress to carry out its expressed
powers of coining, regulating and borrowing money as well as collecting taxes.
Congress established the first Bank of the United States in 1791 with a
twenty year charter.
Congress established a United States Mint in Philadelphia in 1792 to replace
foreign coins in circulation with gold, silver and copper coins.
An excise tax was placed on domestically-produced distilled liquor and
whisky.
It produced resentment among Western farmers who distilled their surplus
grain into whisky which was easier to transport and which brought a higher
price than grain itself.
Pennsylvania farmers refused to pay the tax and confronted federal tax
collectors with violence in the Whisky Rebellion of 1794, the “second
American Revolution.”
President Washington demonstrated the government’s willingness and ability
to enforce its laws by crushing the rebellion with fifteen thousand troops.
Hamilton requested a protective tariff to discourage the importation of
foreign goods and to stimulate the growth of American Industry.
A protective tariff is a high tariff placed on imported goods so that those
goods cannot compete with domestic goods (compared to a revenues tariff
which just raises money).
This was only proposal rejected by Congress.
The effects of Hamilton’s policies were favorable.
1. The nation’s credit was firmly established.
2. The government’s revenue needs were met with workable money
system.
3. Commerce and industry were stimulated.
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4. The government gained the support of businessmen and the people.
Hamilton’s program relied heavily on continued trade with Great Britain for
revenue from customs duties as well as the collection of excise taxes.
Foreign affairs during the Washington Administration
French Revolution
Most Americans were excited about the Revolution in France (1789) because
they believed that the French were following the trail to liberty blazed by
the Americans. The Federalists were shocked when Louis XVI was executed,
fearing mob rule at home. Democratic-minded Americans, like Jefferson,
believed that the “liberty of the whole earth” depended on the triumph of
“liberty, equality, fraternity” in Frence but, like the Federalists, they
deplored the violence.
The French Revolution had a world wide impact as the uprising of the French
masses ultimately produced eight different forms of government in France
from 1789-1815, ranging from Absolute Monarchy to a Constitutional
Monarchy (1789), a Democratic Republic (1792) in which the King and Queen
were executed, a more conservative Republic with a new constitution (1795),
a Directorate (1795), a Consulate (1799), Napoleon as dictator and, in 1804,
as emperor, and finally, in 1814-1815, a Constitutional Monarchy under Louis
XVIII.
The Revolution produced stronger government to suppress revolutionary
dissent, separation of church and state and a new emphasis on the historical
role of change.
Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality
In 1793, France was at war with Great Britain and Spain.
France expected the United States to honor her alliance made a treaty in
1778, in which the United states had pledged to be France’s ally forever, and
to “return the favor” from the American Revolution, but President
Washington declared that the United States would remain neutral in the
conflict.
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The proclamation angered the Jeffersonians who were anxious to “honor”
our commitment by helping the French.
The Great Affair
France sent “Citizen Genet”, a diplomatic agent, to obtain U.S. help and, upon
arrival, he began to organize military expeditions on American soil against
Spanish Florida and Louisiana. He issued French commissions to Americans
and armed American ships to prey on British merchant ships.
Through recalled at Washington’s request, Genet chose to remain in the
United States and became an American citizen (fearing execution in France).
Disputes with Great Britain
The British continued to operate forts and trading posts on the Northwest
Territory (Detroit), carrying on extensive fur trade, selling firearms to
Indians and inciting them to attack American settlements in the Ohio Valley,
in violation of the Treaty of Paris, as a response to the failure of Americans
to pay pre-Revolution debts owed to English creditors and merchants (in
violation of the treaty).
Despite U.S. Government protests, the British navy, in order to halt the flow
of supplies to France, began seizing American cargos in the West Indies and
kidnapping American sailors from their ships, impressing them into service in
the British navy due to a shortage of sailors. Great Britain seized over 300
American ships.
In the Treaty of Greenville (1795), the Northwest Indians ceded the Ohio
territory to the Americans following “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s victory at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) over Little Turtle’s Miami warriors where
British firearms and dead British-Canadians were found on the battlefield.
Jay’s Treaty with Great Britain (1794)
The treaty postponed war with England until 1812.
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John Jay concluded the treaty that provided for
a. Removal of British troops from the Northwest (the same
agreement he had secured in negotiating the Treaty of Paris in
1783)
b. Payment of debts to English creditors.
c. Easing of restrictions for U.S. merchants trading with the
British and the West Indies.
d. Compensation to American shippers for ships and cargos seized
by the British.
The treaty included some of the same provisions that Jay had included in
the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
Alexander Hamilton, an Anglophile (he admired the British), probably
undermined Jay’s efforts to secure a fair treaty by telling the British in
advance of the trip that the United States didn’t want war.
The treaty was criticized because it ignored the impressment of American
sailors. Despite the criticism, Washington succeeded in securing ratification
at a time when the United States was ill-prepared to fight a war.
The Pinckney Treaty with Spain (1795) – (also known as the Treat of San
Lorenzo) was negotiated to settle problems arising from Spanish control of
Louisiana and Florida.
Provisions
a. Western farmers received the “right of deposit,” i.e., the right to
ship their agricultural products on the Mississippi River to New
Orleans and to transfer those goods, duty-free, from their river
barges to ocean-going vessels. This agreement made it much easier to
move farm products to Atlantic coastal markets, as well as Europe, as
compared to moving those goods over land on pack animals.
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b. It settled the boundary dispute between Georgia and West Florida.
c. Spain agreed to stop provoking Indian attacks in Georgia and the
West.
The Pinckney Agreement was, perhaps, the most successful agreement
reached by the government during the 1790’s.
Pinckney’s Treaty was important because it led to the economic development
of the Mississippi River Valley.
Conclusion of the Washington Administration
Having won reelection in 1792, President Washington decided not to run for
a third term in 1796. In doing so, he established the “two term tradition” for
the Presidency, which remained the “unwritten law” until the 22nd
Amendment was enacted in the mid-Twentieth Century.
In his famous farewell address, Washington
i)
cautioned against sectional jealousy and excessive
party spirit
ii)
stressed the importance of a firm union and strong
central government
iii)
called for political (not economic) isolationism in
regards to foreign nations, advising against
permanent alliances with foreign nations and
discouraging involvement in European affairs.
The Adams administration faced challenges at home and abroad during the
conclusion of the Federalist Era.
The Adams administration began with the rise of political parties.
By 1792, the division of opinion between Jefferson’s followers and
Hamilton’s followers over Hamilton’s economic program, as well as foreign
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policy, led to the emergence of America’s first political parties in 17921793.
The first national party contests were for seats in the House of
Representatives and Senate because President Washington was “above
politics.” White, male landowners were the only voters in the early republic.
The Federalist Party, which favored Hamilton’s policies, included wealthy
merchants, bankers, and manufacturers and was especially strong in New
England and along the Atlantic seaboard.
a. The Federalists were fearful of placing too much power in the hands
of the people, believing that men of position and property were best
able to govern. They wanted restrictions on free speech and press.
b. They favored a strong national government and a loose interpretation
of the constitution in order to broaden the powers of the federal
government.
c. They believed in the development of a balanced and diversified
economy, with special emphasis on manufacturing and industrial
interests.
d. They believed that government should aid business, favored the
protective tariff and national bank and favored a properly-funded
national debt.
e. The pro-British Federalists called for close ties with England.
f. The Federalists wanted a strong navy to protect shipping interests.
The Democratic-Republican Party (forerunner of the modern Democratic
Party) was comprised of small farmers, frontiersmen, tradesmen and urban
laborers who opposed Hamilton’s policies. They were strong in the South and
West and expressed Jefferson’s views.
a. Jefferson was a strong advocate of the rights of man and a firm
believer in democracy. He had faith in the ability of the “informed
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(literate) masses” to govern themselves wisely. His party supported
relatively free speech and press.
b. Jefferson believed that the states and the people should retain as
many rights and powers as possible and stood for strict interpretation
of the Constitution to limit the powers of the federal government.
c. The Democratic-Republicans preferred agriculture to manufacturing.
Jefferson contended that the small farmer was the backbone of
democratic America. Fearing the growth of industries and cities and
opposed to Hamilton’s financial program, he was joined by many
antifederalists.
d. They opposed the protective tariff and other special favors for
manufacturing interests and opposed the national bank as well as the
concept of a national debt.
e. Led by Jefferson, a Francophile, the Democratic-Republicans were pro
French, favoring that nation’s radical Revolutionary tradition.
f. The Democratic-Republicans wanted a minimal navy for defense of the
coastline.
Psychohistorians have speculated that Hamilton and Jefferson, who both
lost their fathers at a young age, saw Washington as “father” and were
competing for his attention.
The Federalist Era, which began with the Washington administration, would
conclude following the controversial domestic events of the Adams
administration.
Election of 1796
a. The Federalist caucus chose John Adams for President and Thomas
Pinckney for Vice-President.
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b. The Democratic-Republicans nominated Thomas Jefferson for
President and Aaron Burr for Vice-President.
c. Jay’s Treaty was the issue of the election.
d. Electors, chosen by state legislatures, made the decision based on the
popular vote. The two largest vote-getters were declared President
and Vice-President. Unfortunately, the framers of the Constitution
didn’t foresee the emergence of political parties and the method of
selection wasn’t changed until 1804 by the 12th Amendment. Adams
won by a narrow margin and, have received the second highest number
of electoral votes, Jefferson became Vice-President. The election
became a referendum on the popularity of the candidates.
e. Adams had served in the First and Second Continental Congresses,
signed the Declaration of Independence, negotiated the Treaty of
Paris in 1783 and served as the nation’s first Vice-President.
The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed in 1798 by the Federalistdominated Congress and were aimed at crushing Republican opposition since
most immigrants joined Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. The Acts
were seen as gross violations of First Amendment liberties as well as the
rights of foreigners and were designed to keep French ideas out of America.
a. An alien is a person who is not a citizen and sedition is the use of
language to stir up rebellion against the government.
b. The Naturalization Act raised the residence requirement for
citizenship from 5 to 14 years.
c. The Alien Act authorized the President to expel foreigners
considered to be a danger to public security.
d. The Alien Enemies Act stated that foreigners could be imprisoned or
deported in time of war.
e. The Sedition Act punished American citizens that defamed
government officials. Republican journalists would be convicted under
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this act.
f. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson attempted to nullify the Alien
and Sedition Acts with the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (17891799), the first attempt by any states to employ the doctrine of state
nullification.
i)
they argued that the Federal government had specific
powers provided by the states and that the states could
criticize the Federal government if it committed
unauthorized acts. The problem with the States’ rights
argument is that the states could declare any act “null and
void,” a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
ii)
The Federalists responded by asserting that the federal
government’s power comes from the people, not the states.
iii)
The Resolutions of Madison and Jefferson were not
approved by other states.
g. The Federalist-controlled Supreme Court took no action against the
unconstitutional acts.
Shortly before the Federalists left office as a result of losing the Election
of 1800, Congress passed the new Judiciary Act of 1801, increasing the
number of Supreme Court Justices to 16. Adams filled these judgeships and
other new court positions with Federalists in an effort to maintain
Federalist control of the judiciary branch. When the DemocraticRepublicans came into office, they quickly repealed this act and removed
most of the “midnight judges.”
Foreign Policy during the Adams administration
President Adams began his term fearing war with France.
France resented
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a. America’s Proclamation of Neutrality (1793), which demonstrated our
refusal to honor the 1778 treaty, which created an alliance “forever.”
b. Jay’s treaty, which was perceived as pro-British and also a violation of
the 1778 alliance.
Armed French vessels began to seize American merchant ships bound for
English ports while the French government refused to receive our minister,
Charles Pinckney.
XYZ Affair (1797)
a. American envoys were supposed to meet with Talleyrand, the French
foreign minister. The French government normally expected bribes to
be paid in order to meet with its officials.
b. Adam’s diplomatic efforts were revoked as French officials issued
insulting demands to visiting American diplomats.
i)
Adams was expected to apologize for remarks, which he had
made in a Congressional speech.
ii)
The United State was expected to make a loan and a
$250,000 bribe payment to the Directory.
c. The American envoys rejected the demands. As “millions for defense
but not one cent for tribute” became the battle cry, Congress enacted
a number of defense measures, including the Department of the Navy,
which expanded the three ship navy through the use of “privateers”
(small commercial ships outfitted for war), the creation of the United
States Marine Corps and the authorization of a 10,000 man army.
d. The incident led to the enactment of the Alien and Sedition Acts and
undeclared war.
The undeclared war against France, fought mainly in the West Indies, led to
the capture of more than 80 French ships in 1798 and 1799. However, Adams
reached agreement with Napoleon in a treaty known as the Convention of
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1800, thus avoiding an extended war and bringing to an end the 1778 alliance
which would be America’s only peacetime military alliance for a century and a
half. His refusal to go to war against the French may ave cost him the
Election of 1800.
Conclusion of the Adams administration and the Federalist Era
The Federalist Period came to an end with the Election of 1800 as Thomas
Jefferson (President), Aaron Burr (Vice-President) and the DemocraticRepublicans gained control of both the legislative and executive branches of
the government.
Jefferson was chosen by the House of Representatives in the election,
primarily due to Democratic-Republican unity.
a. According to the Constitution, members of the Electoral College were
to vote for two and candidates without indicating which office each
was to fill. The candidate with the highest number of votes would be
President and the next highest, Vice-President.
b. Since each Democratic-Republican elector cast two votes, the vote in
the electoral college resulted in a tie between Jefferson, the
Presidential nominee of that party, and Aaron Burr, the V.P.
c. The Constitution provides that when the two candidates are tied in
the Electoral College, the House of Representatives must choose
between them.
d. Federalist Congressmen tried to swing the election to Burr, but
Alexander Hamilton, the most influential Federalist, swayed the
House to choose Jefferson because he felt Burr was dishonorable and
dangerous.
e. The Twelfth Amendment, adopted in 1804, required electors to cast
separate ballots for President and Vice-President.
f. Aaron Burr had helped the Republicans tremendously in New York by
implementing the Republican strategy of electing state legislators who
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would pick the right delegates to the Electoral College.
Reasons for the Federalist downfall
Their policies served the minority commercial and manufacturing groups
rather than the majority, namely farmers and laborers.
The common people resented the Federalist aim of keeping the government
in the hands of the elite.
The Alien and Sedition Acts aroused the fear that the Federalists would
destroy civil liberties.
Achievements of Federalists (1789-1801)
They put the constitution in operation and firmly established the powers of
the federal government.
Hamilton solved the nation’s financial problems and developed commerce and
industry.
Washington and Adams kept the country out of war with England and France.
John Marshall, a well-respected Federalist, served as Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court from 1801-1835 (Marshall was Thomas Jefferson’s cousin).
a. His decisions greatly increased the authority of the Supreme Court.
i)
Judicial review was reinforced. The Supreme Court could
declare a law unconstitutional.
ii)
The Supreme Court had the power to overturn state laws
that conflicted with Federal laws (the “Supreme law of the
land”).
iii)
The Supreme Court could reverse a decision by a state court
(note the hierarchy).
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iv)
The Union of the states was strengthened and nationalism
prevailed, much to the dismay of Jefferson. Marshall
increased the power of the national government more than
Hamilton.
b. Marshall’s landmark decisions
i)
Marbury v Madison (1803): William Marbury was among
forty-two Washington, D.C. justices of the peace for who
were appointed in the last days of the Adams administration.
James Madison, President Jefferson’s Secretary of State,
refused to deliver the overdue appointment to Marbury, who
then asked the Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus
requiring Madison to deliver the commission. The court ruled
that Marbury was due his commission, which had been signed
and sealed by the previous administration. However,
Marshall ruled that Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789
was unconstitutional since it authorized the court to issue a
writ but the Constitution denied the power. Marshall
established and reinforced the concept of judicial review in
declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional for the first
time. The decision angered President Jefferson and the
Democratic-Republican Congress so much that they
unsuccessfully tried to impeach Supreme Court Justice
Samuel Chase for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” If they
had succeeded, Marshall would have been impeached.
Judicial independence, however, was preserved as the
Republican attack failed.
ii)
Dartmouth v. Woodward (1819): Marshall ruled that a
charter was a contract between two parties, neither one of
whom could change it, and, thus, the New Hampshire state
legislature had no right to alter Dartmouth College’s original
charter without the college’s consent. Daniel Webster, a
Dartmouth graduate who became a great orator/statesman,
argued for Dartmouth.
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iii)
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): When the state of Maryland
attempted to destroy the Baltimore branch of the National
Bank by taxing it heavily, Marshall ruled that the Maryland
tax law was unconstitutional because it was attempting to
destroy a Constitutional act of Congress (the bank). Noting
that “the power to tax is the power to destroy,” he
reaffirmed the supremacy of federal law over state law and
strengthened the use of implied powers by Congress since
the National Bank was chartered through implied powers.
iv)
Cohens v. Virginia (1821): The Cohens were illegally selling
lottery tickets in Virginia and were convicted by the state.
When they appealed their conviction in the Supreme Court,
Marshall upheld the conviction, but established the
precedent that the Supreme Court could review state court
decisions.
v)
Gibbons b. Ogden (1824): When Thomas Gibbons established
a ferry system under a federal license, Aaron Ogden tried
to prevent him from operating it because Ogden had bought
the monopoly for steam navigation in the state waters of
New York which had been granted by the state to Robert
Fulton and Robert Livingston. Marshall declared that the
New York monopoly was unconstitutional because only
Congress had the right to regulate interstate commerce,
including commerce that extended into the interior of any
state.
Lesson 3: The turn of the century brought the Democratic-Republicans’
domestic program to the nation’s capital.
Political development of the Jefferson administration
Jefferson was inaugurated in the new capitol of Washington D.C.
The President’s qualifications for office were well-known.
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Born in Virginia in 1743 and raised on the family plantation, he was one of
the best educated men in colonial America. As a graduate of the William and
Mary College School of Law, he had an outstanding grasp of history, law,
philosophy, mathematics, science, architecture.
After marring Martha Skelton in 1772 and settling down at Monticello, his
home in Charlottesville, Virginia, he served as a member of the Virginia
House of Burgesses from 1769 to 1775.
Jefferson served as a Virginia state legislator and governor (1776-1781) and
wrote the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, used by the founding
fathers in constructing the First Amendment’s religious guarantees.
He formulated the Northwest Ordinance after being elected to the
Confederation Congress in 1783 and, as Minister to France (1785-1789),
negotiated commercial treaties with France and England.
Jefferson served as President Washington’s Secretary of State (17891793) but resigned after his first term due to his disagreement with
Hamilton’s economic program.
After forming the Democratic-Republican Party, he was elected VicePresident in 1796.
He would serve two terms as President (1801-1809) before retiring to
Monticello, where he experimented with new farming methods, served as a
White House advisor and built the University of Virginia. Jefferson died on
the same day as John Adams, on July 4, 1826 – the 50th anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence!
Jefferson’s victory brought changes from the past.
He was elected on his ideas, not popularity.
The country became isolationist.
He introduced the spoils system (although Jefferson disliked removing
someone from office for political reasons.) When he took office, he found
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only four Republican federal employees, so he fired twenty-one of the
“midnight” appointments (including John Quincy Adams, by mistake) and
others, resulting in a balance of 151 Republicans and 122 Federalists in the
government.
He was the first president to realize that the cooperation of Congressmen
was necessary. His French chef and wine cellar cultivated relationships.
The Elitist status of the nation declined by 5 to 10%, as new Republican
politicians were less educated.
The “Revolution of 1800,” as the election came to be known, demonstrated
that power could be transferred peacefully from one party to another in
America.
Jefferson repealed many Federalist Acts but preserved many of their
programs. In his inaugural address, he stated: “We are all Republicans, we
are all Federalists” in an effort to calm Federalist fears about upheaval but
also to reach out politically to moderate Federalists in an effort to
consolidate his executive power. Among the acts which he repealed were the
1. Alien and Sedition Acts
a. Those imprisoned under these laws were pardoned as these
acts expired.
b. The Naturalization Act was repealed and the residence
requirement for citizenship was reduced to 5 years.
2. Excise taxes (including the tax on whisky that had produced the
Whisky Rebellion during President Washington’s administration).
3. Judiciary Act of 1801 (not the 1789 Judiciary Act), thus
preventing the “midnight judges” from taking office. IN the
Judiciary Act of 1802, the Democratic-Republicans restored
the number of Supreme Court justices to six, fixed one term
per year for the Court and established six circuit courts, each
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headed by a Supreme Court justice.
4. Federalist armed forces legislation, thus reducing the services.
Some Federalist Acts were undisturbed.
1. The national bank’s 20-year charter remained intact.
2. State debts assumed by the national government under
Hamilton’s program were paid off by Jefferson’s
Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin. Jefferson was very
frugal, reducing the number of embassies to three
(France, Spain, England) and relying on militias
somewhat for defense.
After dropping Burr as his second-term running mate in favor of George
Clinton (New York), Jefferson won the Election of 1804 by a landslide over
the Federalist ticket of Charles Pinckney (South Carolina) and Rufus King
(New York).
The Federalists were discredited because of the Essex Junto, a scheme by
extremist Federalist leaders to separate the northeastern states from the
Union in order to escape from the “Virginia dynasty.”
Burr decided to run for governor of New York with the support of
Federalists opposed to the Louisiana Purchase and advocating secession of
the northern states but Hamilton persuaded Federalists in that state to
vote against Burr, who subsequently lost the election.
When Hamilton refused to apologize to Burr for discrediting him in the
Presidential Election of 1800, Burr killed Hamilton in a duel (in which
Hamilton refused to fire at Burr). In 1806, Burr was arrested for trying to
create his own separate empire out of the southern Louisiana Territory. His
failure to secure support in the region demonstrated the growing allegiance
of the West to the national government. He was tried in 1807 but acquitted
in a trial, which, under Chief Justice Marshall, narrowed the definition of
treason. Burr went to exile in Europe following the trial.
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Summary of domestic developments during Jefferson’s two terms
1. The Alien and Sedition Acts were repealed or allowed to expire.
2. All excise taxes, including the tax on whisky, were repealed.
3. Federal expenses were cut and the federal debt was substantially
reduced by Albert Gallatin, Jefferson’s Secretary of the Treasury.
4. The United States Military Academy at West Point was established
(1802).
5. The importation of slaves was prohibited (1808) as the provision
protecting slave importation for twenty years in the Commerce
Compromise of the Constitution expired.
6. The Louisiana Territory was purchased (see below).
Jefferson undermined the system of checks and balances that had
been written into the Constitution by his friend James Madison by
going far beyond the Federalists in strengthening the power of the
Presidency.
In the Election of 1808, Jefferson’s Secretary of State, James Madison
(Virginia) and his Vice-Presidential running mate, George Clinton (New York),
defeated the same Federalist ticket from the 1804 election, namely Charles
Pinckney (South Carolina) and Rufus King (New York). The Federalists
improved because the Embargo Act of 1807 hurt American commerce. James
Monroe became Madison’s Secretary of State. Madison was reelected in
1812 with a new running mate, Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts) over Dewitt
Clinton (New York) and Jared Ingersoll (Pennsylvania). The Federalists,
backed by rebellious Republicans in New York, made heavy gains in Congress
due to strong opposition to the War of 1812, especially in New England
where it was referred to as “Mr. Madison’s War.”
The Early National Period produced tremendous growth for the United
State of America.
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Five states joined the union during the period including
14. Vermont (1791)
15. Kentucky (1792)
16. Tennessee (1796)
17. Ohio (1803)
18. Louisiana (1812)
The nation’s territorial size doubled during Jefferson’s administration with
the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Louisiana was the enormous territory lying between the Mississippi River, a
very important natural highway, and the Rocky Mountains (bordered in the
West by the Continental Divide).
Spain acquired control of the territory from France through the Treaty of
Paris, which concluded the French and Indian war. The territory was not
profitable for Spain because the inhabitants continued to trade with France
and the taxes collected from the territory only paid for roughly 20% of the
administrative costs.
French emperor Napoleon acquired Louisiana from Spain in 1800 through the
treaty of San Ildefonso, an agreement which he never honored. Spain, under
Charles IV, gave the territory to France for fear of aggression by American
frontiersmen or the possibility of an Anglo-French-American alliance.
The acquisition of Louisiana by France concerned Jefferson because
a. France, a powerful nation, might threaten the western border of the
Untied States and withdraw the “right of deposit” in New Orleans
which had been obtained in the Pinckney Treaty with Spain in 1795
(giving Americans the right to navigate the lower Mississippi and
deposit goods on ocean-going vessels duty-free in New Orleans).
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b. It would limit American expansion westward.
c. It might force the United States, which was trying to remain
isolationist, into an alliance with Great Britain.
After bluffing Napoleon, through proposed military expenditures, into
believing that the U.S. was planning to attack the territory, Jefferson sent
James Monroe to help the American minister to Paris, Robert Livingston,
offer $10,000,000.00 to France for the purchase of New Orleans. Spain had
closed the port earlier due to American smuggling. Napoleon astonished the
Americans by offering to sell not only New Orleans but the entire Louisiana
Territory for $15,000,000.00. Livingston and Monroe accepted the offer
(Perhaps the best real estate deal in American history). Napoleon sold
Louisiana because:
a. Franc could not control its colony at Santo Domingo (Haiti) because
Touissant L’Ouverture had led French slaves in a successful
independence movement during the French Revolution, defeating the
best French troops and preventing Napoleon from recapturing it in
1800.
b. France could not control Louisiana without a strong naval base in the
West Indies. England, with whom France was engaged in war, could
easily take possession of the territory with its powerful navy. $15
million was better than nothing!
Jefferson was pleased with the bargain but was haunted by his strict
interpretation of the Constitution, for the Constitution did not specifically
state that the government had the right to purchase foreign territories. By
Jefferson’s standards, the purchase of the territory was unconstitutional.
He nevertheless urged the Senate to ratify the purchase due to the
territory’s importance.
The Federalists opposed the sale because they felt that, since the territory
would be pioneered and settled by middle-class people, middle class
(Democratic-Republican) representation in Congress would increase.
On December 20, 1803, Louisiana became part of the Untied States.
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Exploration of the Louisiana Territory (1804-1806)
a. Jefferson had earlier proposed a plan in 1792 to pay Andre’ Michaux,
who had explored the Blue Ridge mountains, to explore the Missouri
River as a possible route to the Pacific Ocean but Michaux was
unavailable due to this involvement with Citizen Genet. However, prior
to purchasing Louisiana from Napoleon, Congress had appropriated
money for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the West in
order to develop trade with the Indians and to find a waterway from
St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean suitable for commercial trade.
b. Lewis, who alone commanded the journey, was a 28-year-old Blue Ridge
frontiersman, scientist, military officer and personal secretary for
President Jefferson. Clark, who served as his close friend’s righthand man even though Lewis treated him as his equal in front of the
men, was a frontier Indian fighter and younger brother of George
Rogers Clark of Revolutionary War fame.
c. After recruiting their Corps of Discovery which was comprised of
about 45 Army and civilian volunteers, they explored the northern
part of the Louisiana territory, following the Missouri River to its
source and the Columbia River to the Pacific. They built fort Mandau
on the Missouri River. On the return trip, Clark went south to
Yellowstone while Lewis went North, only to flee from Indian troubles
and to rendezvous with Clark and Yellowstone.
d. Their 8000-mile journey and the reports that followed familiarized
the nation with the new territory as well as the Oregon Country
(which the Untied States would later claim). The journey, which cost
$38,722 plus an $11,000 bonus for the men, produced a wealth of
scientific knowledge including observations of many animals and plants
that were previously unknown. Only one of the 51 explorers died on
the journey (probably of appendicitis).
e. Lewis and Clark were aided by Sacagawea (the Indian wife of a French
fur trader) and York, a slave who was freed at the end of the
expedition.
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i) Sacagawea (“Canoe launcher,” not “Bird Woman”) led the explorers
from the North Dakota plains across the Rockies, carrying a two
month old baby, to earn her freedom from the Dakota Indianans who
had captured her. Clark refused to let her husband beat her, leading
to mythical stories of romance.
ii) York, a black slave, was a linguist who was popular among the
Indians due to his skin color and jovial nature.
f. Following the journey, Meriweather Lewis was appointed by President
Jefferson to serve as Governor of Upper Louisiana Territory. After
President Madison’s administration failed to reimburse him for
personal expenditures in the territory, Lewis decided to journey to
Washington to collect his money and to meet with a publisher
concerning his journals, but he died of gunshot wounds at Grinder’s
Stand, an isolated inn on the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, where he
was buried. The death of the 35-year-old Lewis remains a mystery.
The “apparent suicide” due, perhaps, to mental derangement resulting
from laudanum addiction or a bout with malaria, has been disputed due
to differing accounts of his death and foul play has not been
eliminated as a cause.
g. Zebulon Pike, from 1805 to 1806, explored the northern part of the
territory, trying to find the source of the Mississippi River. From
1806 to 1808, he explored the Arkansas River to the Rockies where
he discovered Pike’s Peak in Colorado.
Importance of the Louisiana Territory
a. The purchase assured the U.S. of an outlet to the sea as Americans
now controlled the Mississippi River.
b. The area of the United States doubled.
c. Resources of the region increased the wealth of the nation.
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d. 13 states were produced in whole or part, including Louisiana,
Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
Lesson 4: International issues confronted the Jefferson and Madison
administrations during the Early National Period.
Foreign affairs facing President Jefferson
Jefferson began his term with war against the Barbary States.
The Barbary States (Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli), located on the
North African coast, were seizing foreign ships passing through the
Mediterranean, looting their cargos and holding the crews for ransom.
For many years, the United States and the European countries had paid
tribute (money) to the Barbary States to keep their ships from being seized.
When Jefferson refused to pay a higher tribute demanded by Tripoli,
Tripoli declared war (1801). Jefferson blockaded Tripoli with a small
squadron of ships, after ceasing his opposition to the expansion of the navy,
and Tripoli sued for peace in 1805. The other Barbary States exploited
American shipping in the region until 1815 when Captain Stephen Decatur
ended the payment of all American tribute to the Barbary pirates.
The victory led to an enormous increase in nationalism.
The War of 1812 was the result of violations at sea by the French and the
British which began primarily during the Jefferson administration.
After France and Great Britain renewed their war in 1803, the United
States remained neutral, trading with each of the warring nations. However,
both the British and the French searched and seized American ships during
this period.
The British attempted to stop American trade with France in 1807 with
Orders in Council, which ordered American vessels to avoid ports controlled
by Napoleon.
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Napoleon attempted to blockade (seal off) Great Britain with the Berlin and
Milan decrees which prohibited all nations, including the United States, from
trading with Great Britain and warned that any vessel that entered French
ports after stopping at British ports or that submitted to British inspection
and/or paid duties to the British would be seized.
In 1807, the Leopard, a British warship, fired on the Chesapeake, an
American merchant ship, producing twenty-one American casualties and the
impressments of four American sailors.
Reluctantly, Jefferson removed American ships from the seas, as a response
to British and French aggression, in order to avoid the war.
a. The Embargo Act of 1807 prohibited all foreign trade but blockade
runners continued to smuggle goods.
b. As a result, Philadelphia’s industrial base shifted from shipping to
manufacturing, from 15 cotton mills in 1807 to 87 mills in 1809.
c. As the British found new sources of trade, farmers and sailors
suffered financial setbacks. Jefferson wanted righteous national
sacrifice but it was difficult to achieve in the absence of war.
d. The Federalist Party revived in the North.
e. The embargo was ineffective due to the determination of the British,
a good crop in Great Britain and Latin American trade.
f. The Embargo act was repealed in 1809 by Jefferson, just as it was
beginning to work, demonstrating poor leadership by the “lame duck”
President.
g. The failure of the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809, which allowed trade
with other nations except Great Britain and France, led to the
resumption of blockade running.
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Jefferson’s Secretary of State James Madison was inaugurated in 1809 and,
though a great intellectual, diplomat and constitutionalist, was a weak
President who led the nation into the War of 1812.
He angered the British by resuming trade with France in 1810 as a result of
Macon’s Bill No. 2 through which the United States asserted that it would
restore the practice of nonimportation against the nation (France or Great
Britain) that did not repeal its restrictions.
Due to a lack of communication, the Untied States declared war on Great
Britain on June 12, 1812.
In his war message to Congress, President Madison asserted that the United
States had no choice but war.
a. Great Britain announced, two hours before the outbreak of war that it
would withdraw the Orders in Council in order to trade with the
United States. However, which no trans-Atlantic cable, the message
did not reach the United States in time to prevent war.
b. The House of Representatives voted 79 to 49 in favor of the
declaration and the Senate also approved the measure by a margin of
19 to 13. The narrow margins indicated disagreement over going to
war, despite the fact support for the war could be found in all regions.
The Federalist-dominated, commercial New England states of
Massachusetts (including Maine), Rhode Island and Connecticut, along
with the Federalist middle states of New York, New Jersey and
Delaware voted heavily against the war, though some support for the
war emerged in New England’s frontier regions of New Hampshire and
Vermont. The Republican middle states (Pennsylvania, Maryland), the
Republican southern states (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia) and the western states (the trans-Allegheny states of Ohio,
Kentucky and Tennessee along with New Hampshire and Vermont)
voted for the war. In summary, the mostly-landlocked southern and
western states voted for the war so that freedom of the seas could
be enjoyed… by the eastern seaboard states that were vehemently
opposed to the war!
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c. Reasons for the declaration of war.
i) Lack of freedom of the seas as demonstrated by the Orders in
Council and British ships off the American cost.
ii) Impressment of American sailors.
iii) Land hunger for British territory in Canada and Spanish territory
in Florida (Great Britain and Spain were allies and, thus, the United
States could “justify” an invasion of Spanish territory). Canada was
seen as a base for Indian resistance.
iv) Nationalism.
v) Indian troubles in the Northwest territory.
vi) War spirit created by “war hawks,” including Henry Clay of
Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. The western war
hawks wanted to destroy Indian resistance led by the Shawnee Chief
Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, particularly after General
William Henry Harrison defeated Tecumseh at Tippecanoe (in
present-day Indiana) on November 7, 1811.
vii) Rejection of American attempts to negotiate peace.
d. Opposition to the War of 1812
i) Federalist opposition came from merchants who feared shipping
would be ruined and those who opposed expansion into Canada because
of the prospects of more agrarian, Republican representation in
Congress.
ii) Republican opposition was voiced by Southern Republicans who
feared that the annexation of Canada would weaken the power of the
Southern slave-holding states in Congress and those who feared an
increase in the power of the federal government.
iii) The Hartford Convention discussed the secession (breaking away)
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of New England from the United States, as had been discussed on
three previous occasions (Jefferson’s election, Embargo Act of 1807,
War of 1812). During the convention, New England Federalists tried to
strengthen the power of the commercial sections of the country and
tried to declare Federal laws “null and void,” in much the same fashion
that the Republicans had used with the Virginia and Kentucky
Resolutions. New Englanders were worried about their loss of
influence in a growing country, the loss of business due to “Mr.
Madison’s War” (New England merchants favored a trade alliance with
England) and the southern slant of the Republican Party. The
Convention sent delegates to Congress demanding satisfaction just as
Jackson was winning the Battle of New Orleans and England was
agreeing to a peace treaty. As a result, the Federalists, who made a
comeback from 1808-1814, looked ridiculous and were driven out of
existence as a political party by 1816.
e. The Untied States faced handicaps the outbreak of war.
i) The United States virtually had no navy, depending on over 500
privateers to combat the 500:3 ratio of British to American ships.
The privateers operated as a business in which profits were split
among them and pensions were received from the government.
Remarkably, this makeshift navy seized over 1500 British ships in the
process of winning 12 of their 25 battles against the powerful British
navy.
ii) Most American troops were poorly equipped and trained.
iii) The Bank of the United States had expired in 1811 at a time when
Americans needed a strong financial institution.
iv) A lack of central leadership was evident. There was no “George
Washington” available to lead the troops.
v) Financial and military support from New England was missing due to
their opposition to the war.
vi) America seriously lacked effective transportation and
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communication systems. The transportation and communication
systems. The lack of good roads would later be addressed by the
American System
Highlights of the War of 1812
The Primary objective of the United States was the conquest of Canada
a. Canada was chosen because it was a vulnerable place to attack England
and her Indian allies.
b. The American attempts to capture Canada, launched from Detroit,
Niagara and Lake Champlain failed.
c. In August, 1812 General William Hall surrendered his American forces
at Detroit, in the Michigan territory, following the destruction of
Fort Dearborn by Native American allies of the British.
d. In October, American troops were defeated at Queenston Heights in
Canada after the New York militia refused to fight in Canadian
territory.
Naval victories protected American territory.
At Put-in-Bay, Ohio on Lake Erie in September, 1813 Captain Oliver Hazard
Perry proclaimed, “We have met the enemy and they are ours” after
defeating British navel forces.
The British and Native Americans forces that were forced to retreat from
Detroit were defeated by General William Henry Harrison’s army at the
Battle of the Thames River in October; 1813. The conflict claimed the life of
Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader of Tippecanoe fame who was serving as a
British General, ending Native American support for the British in the
territory.
Thomas Macdonough defended New York in a brilliant victory over the
British ship on Lake Champlain. This Battle of Plattsburg was perhaps the
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most important battle of the year because it prevented the dissolution of
the United States.
The second prong of the British offensive came with the landing of welltrained British forces in the Chesapeake Bay region in August, 1814. General
Robert Ross, the British commander, landing at Patuxent River, Maryland
captured Washington, D.C. and, after President Madison fled the White
House dinner table due to a warning from Secretary of State James
Monroe, Ross entered the White House, ate Madison’s meal and proceeded
to burn the Capitol and the White House. As a result, James Monroe
replaced John Armstrong as Secretary of War. (A servant saved the Gilbert
Stuart portrait of George Washington). This humiliating spectacle occurred
for the United States as the war was going badly in 1814 and with the hopes
of conquering Canada gone. The British then seized Fort Washington at
Alexandria and marched towards Baltimore. Ross was killed during the
offensive against Fort McHenry at Baltimore in September where the
British navy fired 1800 shells and rockets in an unsuccessful effort to take
the American fort, which was determinely defended by Major George
Armistead. As a tribute to the defense of the fort and unusually large
American Flag flying over it (30 x 42 feet), an observer, Francis Scott Key,
who was a temporary prisoner of the British, wrote “The Star-Spangled
Banner” (to the tune of an English tavern song). It became the national
anthem of the United States in 1931. The failure of the British to capture
Fort McHenry caused them to abandon their attack and to turn their
attention towards New Orleans.
As a result of the British blockade, American trade declined dramatically
from its 1811 level and the federal government faced the threat of bankrupt
due to the decline of customs duties on imports.
The Battle of New Orleans was an outstanding victory of General Andrew
Jackson’s forces even though it was fought in January, 1815, two weeks
after the peace treaty was signed with the British and the war had ended.
Jackson had recently crushed the Creek Indians ant the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend (in present-day Alabama).
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British General Packenham led Wellington’s army after Wellington’ refused
to lead his forces into the region’s difficult terrain.
The British aligned their formation in a swamp below New Orleans and were
subsequently caught between U.S. artillery across the river and riflemen
located behind 600 lb. Cotton bales.
The British lost over 2000 men, compared to 70 Americans.
The Battle was important because made Jackson a national hero.
The United States gained respect from the victory which forced the British
to recognize American dominance in North America.
If Jackson had not won at New Orleans and protected the Louisiana
Territory, then the British may have given the territory to Spain at the
Congress of Vienna (1815) because the British felt that the purchase was
fraudulent.
Conclusion of the War of 1812
Treaty of Ghent (1814)
The United States and the Great British returned to a state of pre-war
conditions since the treaty did not address the problem of violations on the
seas of impressments. However, the British war against Napoleon in Europe
was over and, thus, England no longer needed to seize American ships.
The treaty arranged for the release of prisoners and restored occupied
territories.
Agreement was reached to settle boundary disputes.
Peace was restored.
The “Second War for American Independence” was of little importance from
a global perspective. Americans were lucky to get a “draw.”
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Results of the War of 1812
The United States, buoyed by a sprit of nationalism, became more
independent of Europe and turned towards isolationism, developing resources
at home.
The United States gained the respect of England and other foreign nations
by proving to the outside world that the republic could work and that it
could count on the public virtue. The War of 1812 established honor.
The war encouraged the growth of American industry as the United States
was forced to develop its own production facilities due to Great Britain’s
wartime embargo.
The war stimulated westward expansion by removing the Indian opposition
between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. The migration
was also due to unemployment in the East resulting from the destruction of
commerce during the war.
The United States Merchant Marine was destroyed.
The improvement in relations between the United States and Great Britain
after the war could be seen in their post-war agreements. The U.S./Canadian
boundary was established by the Treaty of 1818 along the 49th parallel
bordering the Louisiana Territory. The Rush Bagot Agreement (1817) insured
that United States and Canadian defenses along the border would be kept
small in order to reduce unnecessary expense and to prevent future
skirmishes. It also called for the disarming of the Great Lakes.
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UNIT FOUR: THE GROWTH OF NATIONALISM AND SECTIONALISM
(1815-1850)
Lesson 1: Domestic developments and forging policy during the Era of Good
Feelings from 1817 to 1825 were affected by the forces of nationalism and
Sectionalism.
Nationalism (devotion to, or advocacy of, national interests or national unity
and independence) was so strong, as a result of the wars against the British
and the Barbary States, that the Monroe Administration became know as
the “Era of Good Feelings”. Nationalism was an especially important unifying
force after the disunity created by the War of 1812. Sectionalism emerged
as industry grew in the North, agriculture dominated the Southern economy
and expansion and transportation became issues in the west.
Political and economic developments of the Era of Good Feelings
James Monroe won the elections of 1816 and 1820 as a result of economic
developments.
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Monroe, a Virginia Republican, renewed the Virginia-New York alliance in the
Election of 1816 by choosing Daniel Thompkins of New York as his running
mate. Rufus King and John Howard due to and economic boom and the end of
the War of 1812.
Monroe was the last statesmen of the Revolutionary War generation. Clay,
Calhoun and Webster were new.
The Federalist Party disappeared after the Election of 1816 because the
Republicans were advocating Federalist positions and the Federalists were
discredited by their opposition to the War of 1812.
The American System contained Federalist ideas.
McCulloch v. Maryland increased the federal government’s power over the
states.
Republicans were loosely interpreting the constitution.
Monroe was reelected in the Election if 1820, despite the Panic of 1819.
Monroe received all but one of the electoral votes. William Plumer of new
Hampshire cast one electoral vote for John Quincy Adams, who was running
as an independent, in order to preserve the honor of unanimous election for
George Washington and to express his dislike for Monroe’s policies.
The Panic of 1819 was the result of over speculation (excessive, risky
investment in land, stock or commodities in the hope of making large
profits). Cotton dropped from 32.5 cents to 14.3 cents/pound as a result the
panic which was primarily fueled by the national bank’s speculation in
frontier land.
The Industrial Revolution was a revolution in manufacturing and industry
that began in the 1700’s (in Europe) with the invention and development of
power-driven machines and which transferred manufacturing to factories
from homes and small shops.
Samuel Slater, the “father of the American factory system” was a highlyskilled mechanic and textile worker who left England covertly and brought to
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America his own knowledge of the power driven machines. In 1719, Slater
produced textile machinery from memory and built America’s first water
powered cotton factory in Pawtucket, Rhode Island on the Blackstone River.
The factory system spread throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic
region.
Due to high costs, capitalists, like Moses Brown, built factories, installed
machinery, purchased raw materials, hired workers and distributed products.
Capitalists invested money in a business with the hope of earning profits.
Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production (land,
labor, capital) are privately owned and controlled (rather than publicly owned
and controlled by the state) and prices, production and the distribution of
goods are primarily determined by competition in a free, unregulated
market.
The emergence of the Industrial Revolution in America posed a challenge to
Thomas Jefferson’s vision the America must remain rural and agrarian in
order to preserve the public virtue that republican government requires. The
factory of Lowell, Massachusetts was created to slow that industrialism
republicanism could harmoniously coincide.
Many Americans were simultaneously amazed by the booming, technologically
advanced English factory towns like Manchester and socked by the wretched
social conditions, the vice and poverty, of those same slum ridden towns.
The “Boston Associates,” America’s leading manufacturers prior to the Civil
War, sought to provide an alternative to the English social breakdown. In
1815, they launched their first factory in Waltham, Massachusetts and it
was soon followed by others, including Lowell, their most successful
endeavor.
Lowell was located on the Merrimack River because it offered a rural setting
and available water power.
Lowell’s solution to the English problem was to control the factory
environment.
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Patents on the inventions and copyrights on written ideas were granted by
Congress to inventors and authors, guaranteeing the excusive rights to
profits resulting from their products during a 14-year period. Thus,
Congress promoted the invention of labor-saving machines.
New inventions and ideas facilitated industrial growth.
James Watt patented a steam engine in England and, by the 1790’s steam
power replaced waterpower in British mills.
Elias Howe invented the sewing machine.
Peter Cooper built the first steam locomotive, the “Tom Thumb,” for the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (the “B & O”) in 1828.
Robert Fulton produced a steamboat in 1807.
Eli Whitney promoted interchangeable parts for machines, ultimately leading
to “mass production.” He also patented the cotton gin which would have a
large impact on southern agriculture and slavery.
In the future, The Industrial Revolution would:
a. help unit the American people.
b. Solve transport problems with railways.
c. Produce labor saving devices.
d. Change roles and status of American man and women.
e. Help American conquer the wilderness.
f. Transform America into the wealthiest nation on earth.
The “American System” was developed by Republicans and adopted during
Madison’s administration.
A national bank was promoted for a strong financial system.
a. The bank’s charter, begun in 1791, expired in 1811.
b. Without the control exercised by the national bank from 1814 to 1816,
the number of state banks grew from 88 to 246 and the money supply
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grew from $28 million to $68 million. In 1816, Congress chartered the
Second Bank of the United States. (Many private banks were
circulating money not backed by gold.)
Protective tariffs were designed to protect American industries from
competition. The Tariff Act of 1816 was a response to the British act of
“dumping” large quantities of goods on the market below cost in order to
drive rival manufacturers out of business.
A transportation system was requested to promote trade between
northeastern manufacturers and southern/western farmers.
a. Henry Clay argued that revenues from the protective tariff could be
used to fund internal improvements and John C. Calhoun’s Bonus Bill of
1817 was designed to provide 1.5 billion to the states for such
improvements. However, both Presidents Madison and Monroe vetoed
the legislation as unconstitutional. Therefore, internal improvements
(roads, etc.) were not included in the American System.
b. Due to the Presidential vetoes, the states had to resort to their own
improvements.
i) The Erie Canal, completed in New York in 1825, was significant
because it made trade economical between New York and the Ohio
River Valley.
ii) The Cumberland Road, begun in 1811, was completed and facilitated
migration into the Ohio River Valley during the “Golden Age of
Transportation.”
The foundations of the American System were formerly Federalist ideas and
drew support from three lawmakers.
a. Henry Clay, a Kentucky Republican, developed the American System
and represented the West.
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b. John C. Calhoun, a South Carolina Republican, represented the South
and states’ rights advocates.
c. Daniel Webster, a Massachusetts Federalist, represented the
northeastern industrial interests.
America’s foreign policy was affected by nationalism during the Era of Good
Feelings
Many Americans viewed the struggle of their Latin American neighbors as a
continuation of their own previous struggle for independence.
a. Latin America was struggling to win independence from Spain and
Portugal in the early 1800’s. Napoleon’s conquest of Spain in 1808
signaled an opportunity to the Latin American people. Latin American
armies, led by revolutionary heroes like Simon Boliyar and San Martin,
won independence for this region, a development that led to the
reduction of slavery.
b. Although the American government attempted to remain neutral in
the conflict, the United States annexed Florida by purchase from
Spain as a result of Andrew Jackson’s successful invasion of the
territory in the First Seminole War (1816). In the Adams-Onis treaty
of 1819, the United States gained all Spanish territories in Oregon
and east of the Mississippi but agreed to abandon its claim to Texas
as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Tsar Alexander I of Russia was interfering with American trade on the
Oregon coast. A formal protest was issued to Russia, asserting American
“freedom of the seas” in the Pacific.
The Quadruple Alliance (Russia, Prussia, Austria and Great Britain)
threatened to restore Spanish colonies to Spain. The United States
responded firmly to the threat.
a. Independent Latin American revolutionary governments received
formal recognition.
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b. The Monroe Doctrine (December 2, 1823) contributed to strong
American nationalism.
i.
The doctrine was directed at Spain and the Quadruple Alliance
(the 1815 Congress of Vienna monarchies in Europe).
ii.
Monroe’s decision came partly as a result of British support;
the British had dropped out of the alliance due to their desire
for friendly relations with the United States and trade with
Latin American countries (who could not trade as Spanish
colonies). Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was opposed
to a joint U.S. – British resolution but the British naval fleet
helped the United States enforce the doctrine.
iii.
The Western Hemisphere was no longer open to colonization by
European powers.
iv.
As an attempt by any European nation to establish colonies in
the New World or to gain political control of any American
country (the Americas) would be viewed as an unfriendly act
towards the United States.
v.
The United States would not interfere in European affairs or in
the affairs of European colonies already established in America.
vi.
Europe was prohibited from distributing the political status of
any free country in the Western Hemisphere.
vii.
Latin America initially supported the United States in its
efforts. (This support eroded as the doctrine came to
represent “Yankee imperialism.”)
viii.
The Monroe Doctrine may violate international law because it
determines foreign policy for the Latin American nations and
restricts their sovereignty.
ix.
The Monroe Doctrine has been used often to justify U.S.
intervention in Latin America.
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x.
The United States declared its complete political independence
from Europe with the doctrine.
xi.
Russia withdrew her outposts from Oregon while the Quadruple
Alliance (less England) dropped plans to reconquer Spain’s
former colonies.
Lesson 2: The Age of Andrew Jackson has generally been interpreted as a
victory for the “common man.”
The Rise of Jackson
By 1824, the “Era of Good Feelings” was drawing to a close as sectionalism
began to divide the only political party, the Democratic-Republicans. Unlike
his predecessors, President Monroe did not designate a successor. The Age
of Jackson began with the Election of 1824, in which voter turnout was low
due to the confusion caused by the candidacy of five DemocraticRepublicans.
John Quincy Adams:
a. Qualified, educated son of former President Adams.
b. American Minister to Russia.
c. Negotiated Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812.
d. Former Secretary of State under Monroe.
e. Moderate federalist who joined the Republicans with the
disappearance of the Federalist Party.
f. Nationalist who represented New England.
Henry Clay:
a. Assisted Adams with the Treaty of Ghent.
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b. Speaker of the House.
c. Author of the “American System”.
d. Well-qualified nationalist with well-defined platform.
e. The “Great Compromiser”
f. Represented Kentucky, Missouri and the border states.
John C. Calhoun:
a. Very qualified nationalist.
b. Former Secretary of War.
c. Represented South Carolina and initially drew support from
Pennsylvania due to this call for tariff reform.
d. Withdrew after Pennsylvania nominated Jackson and became VicePresident.
William Crawford:
a. Old-style Republican who advocated states’ rights.
b. Secretary of Treasury under Madison and Monroe.
c. Highly admired and very powerful (many people owed him favors).
d. Represented the interests of Georgia and Virginia.
Andrew Jackson:
a. Unknown ideology and very little political experience.
b. Twice a senator from Tennessee.
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c. War hero.
d. Represented western states.
Jackson received the most votes but did not receive a majority (50%+) of
electoral votes. According to the 12th Amendment, the House of
Representatives had to decide the issue from the top three candidates
(Jackson, Adams, and Crawford).
a. Calhoun had dropped out of the race and ran for Vice-President.
b. The House of Representatives did not trust Jackson.
c. Clay supported Adams with whom he had negotiated the Treaty of
Ghent and Adams won the Election of 1824. Clay was appointed
Secretary of State, the “pipeline to the Presidency.” Jackson felt
that a “corrupt bargain” had been made. (James Buchanan’s “twitching
eye” raised Jackson’s suspicions) but this scandal was unlikely; Adams
hated political deals.
d. Jackson resigned from the Senate in 1825 (after voting against Clay’s
confirmation as Secretary of State) and campaigned for the
Presidency in 1828, telling Americans that Adams and Clay “sold them
down the river.”
The Presidency of John Quincy Adams represented a transition period
between the age of the founding fathers, characterized by the Presidents
who were revolutionaries and intellectuals, and the age of Jackson and the
“common man.”
The Election of 1828 marked the return of two-party politics.
John Quincy Adams was the candidate of the National Republican Party
(which became the Whig Party in 1834).
Andrew Jackson, the first “log-cabin” candidate, represented the
Democratic party.
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a. The formation of the Democratic Party in the 1820’s sealed the
Virginia-New York alliance, which had previous elections; four previous
Presidents were Virginians – Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe
– and New Yorkers served as Vice-Presidents as a result of the
elections of 1800, 1804, 1808, 1816 and 1820.
b. Southerners welcomed the coalition party that was inclined towards
regional interests rather than the American System, but which had
northern support. The Democratic Party could not be a “slavery”
party.
c. Martin Van Buren, a political leader in the richest state, New York,
believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution and was an
advocate of states’ rights. Therefore, he was readily accepted as a
friend of the Antifederalist South.
d. Van Buren and other leaders of the Democratic Party agreed that
their candidate in Presidential elections would have to be a northerner
who sympathized with southern interests or a southerner with ties to
the west (like Jackson). No Deep-South candidate would be
acceptable.
Jackson won the Election f 1828 easily, receiving 178 electoral votes to
Adam’s 83, due to a campaign style that was aimed at the masses and which
included campaign buttons, cartoons for the semi-literate, parades,
barbeques (with booze), and slogans such as “Adams can write but Jackson
can fight!” The campaign was ugly; pro-Jackson journalists accused Adams of
having served as a pimp for the tsar of Russia while Adams supporters
circulated the story that Jackson’s mother was a common prostitute brought
to America by British Soldiers! Jackson also killed a man in a duel once for
slandering his wife Rachel because her divorce wasn’t technically official
when she married Jackson.
John C. Calhoun was re-elected Vice-President.
The significance of the election of 1828 lies in the fact that it seems to
mark the triumph of the democratic, egalitarian “common man” of the West
over the aristocratic interests of northern industrialists and southern
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planters.
a. Eastern, upper class historians writing in the last half of the 19th
Century viewed Jackson as the degradation of democracy because he
was uneducated. They joined with New Englanders who saw Jackson’s
election as a victory for “King Mob,” especially after the drunken
White House inauguration party.
b. In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner’s “The Frontier in American
History” asserted that the western frontier was the source of
American democracy individualism, egalitarianism and nationalism that
Jackson, the western democrat, was the embodiment of those
frontier democratic values.
c. From 1900-1945, Progressive historians like Charles Beard and Arthur
Schlesinger argued that Jackson’s election represented a victory for
the Eastern, urban working class over the capitalist elite, rather than
a victory for the southern and western frontiersmen.
d. From 1945-1965, Neo-Progressive historians criticized Schlesinger,
claiming that Jackson was merely a member of the southern
slaveholding elite and that the struggle was between groups of
capitalists. They could rightfully point to the fact that Jackson
favored the aristocratic wealthy in the Panic of 1819 as well as the
Tennessee gubernatorial race of 1821 and that his supporters were
exceptionally vicious to black voters.
e. Results of the Election of 1828
Jackson was the first President since Washington who was not a
college graduate and the first President from the trans-Appalachian
West. The Hermitage was one of the finest plantations in America.
In the period 1825-1845, political, social and economic democracy
remained limited to white males, though many state constitutions
eliminated or reduced property requirements for voting.
Women and free blacks who held the right of suffrage lost ground
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during the Age of Jackson as many were stripped of the franchise.
Black voters existed in nine states in 1815 but only five states by
1840.
Much of the call for popular elections with no property requirement
came from anti-Masonic candidates, who were opposed to the Masons
(a secret fraternal organization to which many of the nation’s past and
present leaders belonged, including Jackson, and which was the target
of bizarre conspiracy theories.)
The Election of 1828 was arguably a victory for southern sectionalism
and slavery more than democracy, considering the fact that owing to
the three-fifths compromise, Jackson’s 200,000 southern voters
contributed 105 electoral votes while his 400,000 northern voters
contributed only 73 electoral votes. Jackson was whipped soundly in
the reform-minded New England states while carrying 72.6% of the
planter-dominated South.
The Jackson election rested on his convictions for greater political
democracy and majority rule, a strong union and strong leadership.
Jackson reinforced the “spoils system” to promote government
opportunities for “many” instead of a “few” witnessed the start of
nominating conventions and represented “the people” rather than
sectional interests
Jackson attacked the Bank of the United States
1. He disliked banks and felt that the Bank of the United States
was monopoly for wealthy seaboard investors guilty of
questionable political activities such as influencing legislation
with loans to Congressmen
2. The President had support from farmers, business owners and
private banks
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3. The National Bank was defended for years by its president,
Nicholas Biddle, who fought Jackson over the issue
4. Henry Clay’s National Republicans made (his) Bank of the United
States the primary issue in the election of 1832 after Jackson
vetoed the bill to recharter the bank for four years ahead of
schedule. Jackson won the election by a small margin with
Martin Van Buren of New York his Vice President
5. Jackson withdrew funds from the Bank of the United States
and placed these funds in certain state banks (his “pet banks”),
thus refusing to comply with the interpretation in the
“McCulloch v. Maryland” decision of 1819 in which Chief Justice
John Marshall protected the Bank of the United States as
federal law. The national bank closed in 1836.
Despite his position on the national bank, Jackson was dedicated to national
interests as evidence in his stand on the issue of nullification.
Some Southern states, led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, declared
the right to nullify (refuse to obey) any act of Congress they considered
unconstitutional. (Similar to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions). This
action was directed at the protective tariff of 1816 which had been raised in
1824 and 1828 (the “Tariff of Abominations”). The crisis led a break
between Vice-President Calhoun and President Jackson. In the WebsterHayne debates in Congress, Daniel Webster elicited tears in closing with
“Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.” Andrew Jackson
stated: “Our Federal Union- it must and shall be preserved,” while John C.
Calhoun, though opposed to secession, said: “The Union- next to our liberty,
the most dear!”
The Protective Tariff of 1832, which had lower rates, did not satisfy the
Southern planters.
November, 1832: South Carolina adopted the Ordinance of Nullification,
which declared the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832 “null, void and no law,” and
“not binding upon this state, its officers, or citizens”. It declared that if
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federal authorities tried to enforce the tariff law after February 1, 1833,
South Carolina would secede from the Union.
The Tariff Act of 1833, a compromise promoted by Henry Clay, stated that
tariff rates would be reduced to the American System’s 1816 level over a
ten year period.
The Force Act, passed in 1833, gave the President the power to enforce
federal tariff laws by military force if necessary.
Jackson’s policy towards the Cherokees and other Indian tribes illustrated
the limits of democracy during his administration as most native Americans
were moved to Oklahoma to make way for westward expansion.
The “Five civilized tribes” (Chickasaw, Creek, Chocktaw, Seminole, and
Cherokee) emerged in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.
Early Indians changed tremendously in the 16th through the 18th centuries
following contact with European immigrants. Charleston slave traders sent
Cherokee slaves to South Carolina and Barbados plantations, entire Indian
towns were killed and, in 1738, smallpox killed half of the 40,000 Cherokees.
Dwindled Indian populations moved to Georgia (central Alabama) and formed
the “five civilized tribes.”
The Cherokees, whose remote mountain location offered protection from
mosquito-born diseases and invasion, were nonetheless, changed by white
society in the 18th Century whose demand for deerskins led the Cherokees to
abandon pre-hunting rituals, embrace wealth while rejected traditional tribal
equality, become dependant on guns to fight their Creek enemies, allow white
traders to neglect the chiefs, relocate villages closer to trading posts, lose
respect for medicine men who could not stop smallpox, neglect ancient oral
traditions, pay off depts. With land, and become farmers.
Although the Cherokees became “civilized” by adopting an alphabet
(Sequoyah’s syllabary),, a constitution with a bicameral congress, education
and Christianity in a failed effort to halt the seizure of their lands by
speculators, the white man’s pursuit of their lands continued, particularly
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after the invention of the cotton gin. The Louisiana Purchase provided
America an alternative to civilizing the Cherokees: removal to the West.
Georgia gave its western lands to the national government in 1802. The
region was set aside for the Creeks and Cherokees but also opened to white
settlers, despite treaties in 1791 and 1798.
Despite American land hunger and racism, Cherokees served with Andrew
Jackson against the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend where Junaluska, a Cherokee
warrior, probably saved Jackson’s life. Jackson, an Indian fighter who
invaded Seminole lands in 1816, felt that Indians were savages. In an 1817
treaty, he hold the Cherokees that they could abide by state laws or either
move beyond the Mississippi River. Coupled with the Treaty of 1819
negotiated by John C. Calhoun the two treaties took 400 million acres of
land from the Cherokees.
After the Cherokees tried to form an independence state in 1827, the
Georgia legislature, which believed that the Cherokee constitution of 1828
violated the U.S. Constitution, the 1802 cession compact and states rights
doctrine, nullified all federal Indian laws and attempted to seize Cherokee
lands.
When gold was discovered on Cherokee lands, the Indian Resettlement Act
(1830) provided for the voluntary removal of Indian tribes to lands west of
the Mississippi River, into the area between the Red River and the Arkansas
River. The Act led to the Black Hawk War in Illinois and Seminole War in
Florida and was opposed by Jackson opponents and Cherokee sympathizers
like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and Davy Crockett, 94 treaties ended
Indian claims to their lands.
The Chocktaws were removed from Mississippi through the Treaty of
Dancing River Creek in 1830.
When Georgia’s Governor George Troup ordered a survey of Creek lands in
1826 and promised the defy federal force, the Creeks fiercely resisted but
ultimately surrendered their lands through the Treaty of Washington
(March 24, 1832) and moved beyond the Mississippi River.
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The removal of the Chickasaws began with the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek
(October 20, 1832) and concluded with the Treaty of Doaksville, January,
1837.
Unable to get support from President Jackson or Congress, the Cherokees
took their case to the Supreme Court.
When they sought an injunction in 1831 to prohibit the seizure of their
lands, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled, in “Cherokee Nation v. the State of
Georgia,” that Indian, as “domestic dependant nations,” could not sue in the
U.S. courts but also asserted that the federal government, not the states,
had authority over the Indians and their lands.
In the Worcester v. Georgia decision (1832), Marshall ruled that Georgia
could not enforce its laws within Cherokee boundaries of trespass on
Cherokee lands. When Georgia continued to evict the Cherokees, the
Jacksonian Congress refused to order Jackson to enforce the Supreme
Court’s decision. Jackson feared that enforcing Marshall’s decision in
Georgia might require enforcement of tariff laws in the South Carolina’s
nullification crisis and secession/war. Unionist sympathy exceeded concern
for Indians.
The 16,000 Cherokees resisted when they were ordered to mover west but
they were undermined by the Ridge Family, a minority Cherokee faction led
by Major Ridge (of Horseshoe Bend fame ), his son John Ridge, his nephew
Elias Boudinot, and Stan Waite who, out of self-interest, signed the Treaty
of New Echota which, in May, 1836 gave the Cherokee two years to move
west. The treaty misrepresented Cherokee interests.
In 1837, President Van Buren, a Jacksonian Democrat, sent troops, under
General Winfield Scott, a Whig, to prepare for the removal. (Even though
the Whig Party sympathized with the Cherokees, they later nominated an
Indian fighter and remover, William Henry Harrison, as their Presidential
candidate in the Election of 1840). By the 1838 deadline, only 2000
Cherokees had moved, largely due to the non-violent resistance movement of
John Ross. When many Cherokees died in the “roundup,” Ross reluctantly
agreed to lead the Cherokee westward.
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Over 4000 Cherokees (one-fourth of their population) died on the “Trail of
Tears” from starvation, disease and the Winter cold (many were
barefooted). Ross’ wife died. By late March 1839, the exodus was complete.
More than 100,000 Indians from various tribes had been forced to move to
lands located north of the Red River (Oklahoma). The Cherokees, who
wanted sovereignty rather than assimilation, were the victims of land
hunger, racism and “Jacksonian democracy.”
After removal, factionalism led to bloodshed.
An 1829 Cherokee law had ordered the death penalty for any Cherokee who
ceded land without tribal authority. After their arrival in the western lands,
Major Ridge, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot were assassinated on June 22,
1839. Stan Waite escaped.
Factions led by Ross and Waite competed for control in the new territory,
resulting in bloodshed and war.
The U.S. government formally divided the Cherokees into two nations, the
eastern and western bands, though the Cherokees continued to recognize
themselves as one band. The eastern Cherokees included those who had
escaped removal by hiding in the mountains and/or securing state
citizenship. 1000-1100 Cherokees remained in North Carolina in the Qualla,
Chota Valley River settlements (primarily Swain and Jackson counties).
The Oconaluftee tribe were led by Chief Gail Yonaguska, who urged his tribe
to avoid removal because he believed that the white man would also
ultimately claim the western lands and William Holland Thomas, who was
taken in by the Oconaluftee Cherokees at age five and who, by 1831, was
acting as their attorney, protecting them from removal with state
citizenship.
The Oconaluftee Cherokees weren’t removed because they lived outside the
Cherokee boundaries, their lands were only marginally valuable and federal
officials wouldn’t move them if North Carolina did not insist. The
oconaluftees were given the option of moving.
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After 1840, the eastern band faced isolation from the white North
Carolinians, dependency on the state government, fear of removal, the
struggle to be “useful” citizens (as state law required) while retaining their
culture. After the Civil War, North Carolina passed legislation to allow the
Cherokees, who had served in the Confederacy, to remain in the state. In
1894, the Cherokees settled land claims that emerged as a result of the war.
By the mid-1880’s, railroad brought industry to the lands of the eastern
band, ending their tribal isolation. Debates focused on their land and timber.
After the U.S. government asserted its authority over the Cherokees in
1900, the Cherokees gained full citizenship and the right to vote in 1930.
Jackson won every major political battle during his two terms (1829-1837).
He used his Constitutional power to participate in the lawmaking process by
vetoing more legislation than all previous Presidents combined. Jackson saw
the executive branch as the people’s defense against an aristocratic
Congress dominated by industrial interests.
Conclusion of the Age of Jackson
Election of 1836
Jackson announced that he would be the candidate.
The Democratic Candidate was Martin Van Buren, Jackson’s 1st term
Secretary of State and 2nd term vice-President. His running mate was
Richard M. Johnson (Kentucky).
The Whig Party, named after the British antimonarchial party, was formed
in 1834 by those opposed to “King Andrew” Jackson. They tried to prevent
Van Buren from getting a majority of votes by nominating three “favorite
sons” (sectional candidates), hoping to throw the election into the House of
Representatives. Those candidates were Daniel Webster (Massachusetts),
Hugh White (Tennessee) and William Henry Harrison (Ohio).
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Van Buren won the election despite the Whig strategy. The senate, for the
only time in American history, elected the Vice-President (Johnson).
The Depression of 1837 was a result of the excessive printing of money by
the “pet banks” in which Jackson had deposited the Federal government’s
money after closing the Banks of the United States.
Jackson issued the Specie Circular (1836), forbidding the Treasury to
accept as payment for public land anything except gold and silver (specie) or
bank notes backed by specie. This action created a “run” on the banks as
people tried to exchange their bank notes for specie. Many banks could not
redeem their notes and failed.
Soon after Van Buren took office, every bank suspended specie payment.
The absence of money and banks from the economic caused business to
decline and led to the depression of 1837.
Election of 1840
The Whigs used the depression as a single issue in an overwhelming victory
for William Henry Harrison, a hero of the War of 1812. As a member of one
of the first “First Families of Virginia,” Harrison found his somewhat
aristocratic background change by party enthusiasts eager to portray the
issueless Harrison as the “log cabin and hard cider” candidate. John Tyler
became the Vice-President. The Whig Slogan was “Tippecanoe and Tyler,
too!” as they defeated Van Buren, the incumbent Democrat, and James G.
Burney of the Liberty Party.
Harrison died of pneumonia one month after taking office (the shortest
Presidency and the longest inaugural address). Tyler a strong states’ rights
advocate, succeeded him, serving until 1845.
Lesson 3: The conflicting interests of the agricultural Outh and the
industrial North clashed from 1815 to 1850 as sectionalism undermined the
national unity which had emerged following the War of 1812.
Southern sectional interests were defined by the “Cotton Kingdom.”
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By the 1840’s-50’s, the southern states stretched from Maryland to the
Gulf of Mexico, bordered in the southwest by Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.
Southerners grew the cash crops of cotton, tobacco, rice and sugar cane.
Small subsistence farms provided many families with food crops. Corn
remained the nation’s top crop.
Industries and towns grew more slowly in the South due to the region’s
agrarian economy.
Eli Whitney’s cotton gin brought the cotton kingdom westward by
mechanizing the process of separating seeds from fiber. With the
development of the cotton gin, the demand for cotton soared. By 1860,
cotton represented roughly two-thirds of the entire nation’s exports.
Rising prices and demand drove southern planters to plant more cotton.
Agricultural expansion became a necessity due to mineral depletion in
southern fields.
The South became dependent upon slaves as a large supply of cheap labor.
Only one-fourth of all white families in the South were slave owners. In
summary, a majority of the slaves were owned by a minority of the whites.
Distinct economic and social groups emerged in the south.
Slaves were isolated from the culture and traditions of their sociallyadvanced African society. Interstate slave trade led to the breakup of many
slave families.
George Tucker argued that slavery was an inefficient system of labor due to
the:
a. High purchase costs of slaves
b. Low productivity of slaves (no incentive)
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c. Cost of supervision
d. Costs of food, clothing and shelter
e. Losses resulting from death
Most white southerners defended slavery as a way of life in the South,
arguing that planters needed an adequate supply of labor and that the slaves
were more comfortable, in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, than
northern mill workers.
Though some slaves performed housework, most slaves worked in the fields
under two systems of labor.
1. The task system gave a daily task to a slave.
2. The gang system got as much work as possible out of slaves under the
control of overseers.
Evidence suggests that slaves on small farms were more humanely treated
while slaves on plantations received better food, clothing and shelter.
Slaves, costing from $750-2000, were considered property and generally
treated well, though cotton production led to a decline in the life expectancy
of slaves.
Some slaves escaped while others revolted, namely Gabriel Prosser in
Virginia, Denmark Vessey in Charleston, South Carolina and Nat Turner in
Southampton County, Virginia who, in 1831, led a rebellion based on his
religious convictions. Most slaves took no part in rebellions.
Slaves preserved African culture while contributing enormously to the
economy and culture of the South.
Almost a quarter of a million free Blacks lived primarily in cities where they
suffered extensive discrimination, including restricted mobility.
Poor whites (10-20% of the southern population – frontier families) lived in
areas of poor soil or in the Appalachian Mountains and suffered from
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unemployment due to slavery.
White farm laborers/tenant farmers were hired during harvest season or to
do work regarded as too dangerous for the expensive slaves.
Small farmers were self-sufficient on their own land.
Small, slave-owning farmers owned a slave or slave family.
Planters, the smallest but most influential socioeconomic group in the South,
compromised 10% of the southern population and were defined by the
Census Bureau as farmers owning 20 or more slaves.
a. Many planters were born wealthy while others were “self-made” (John
C. Calhoun and Andrew Jackson). Most planters were not “cash rich.”
b. Plantation families were well educated.
c. With the county as the most important political unit, planters
controlled the political machinery.
Reform Movements blossomed in the industrial North in the 1840’s as a
result of the Second Great Awakening in the 1820’s and 1830’s.
The Women’s Rights movement emerged because women were seen as
inferior due to tradition and religion. Some changes in the nineteenth
century helped women (education) while others hurt (Industrial Revolution).
Individual achievers included:
a. Elizabeth and Louisa Blackwell (medicine, religion).
b. Dorothea Dix (prison reform, care for the retarded).
c. Sarah Josepha Hale (influential female journalist).
d. Lucretia Mott/Elizabeth Cady Stanton/Susan B. Anthony (first
women’s rights convention – the Seneca Falls Conference in New York,
1848).
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The Temperance Movement was designed to rid religion and the home from
the threats of drunkenness.
The Peace Movement stated that war was inhumane, anti-Christian and
uneconomical (the American Peace Society).
The Utopian movement attempted ideal communities – Robert Owen.
Education
Henry Barnard was the first Commissioner of Education.
Dewitt Clinton pioneered a public school system as governor of New York.
Mary Lyon started the Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary.
Emma Willard created the Emma Willard School in New York, a female
seminary.
Horace Mann was a Massachusetts educator who stated: “Education, then,
beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer of the
conditions of men – the balance wheel of the social machinery… it gives each
man the independence and the means by which he can resist the selfishness
of other men. It does better than to disarm the poor of their hostility
toward the rich: it prevents being poor…”
Abolition (anti-slavery movement)
The American Colonization Society suggested freedom of Blacks through
their return to colonies in Africa. In 1821, 12,000 slaves were sent to
Liberia, a colony established by the U.S. Congress on Africa’s West coast. In
1831, Black leaders meeting in New York City rejected the idea that they
should migrate to Africa.
David Walker wrote Appeal, which called for Blacks to strike for freedom –
violently, if necessary. He disappeared one year after its publication.
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William Lloyd Garrison denounced slavery through The Liberator, advocating
the immediate freeing of slaves. He burned a copy of the U.S. Constitution
because it recognized slaves as property.
Theodore Weld was an important non-Eastern abolitionist.
Angelina and Sarah Grimke’ championed the rights of women and slaves.
The American Anti-Slavery Society appealed to white America through
literature to end slavery.
Frederick Douglass denounced slavery through lectures, asserting that
slavery in the United States “made republicanism a sham and Christianity a
lie.”
a. As a former slave in Baltimore, he learned to read and write, despite
prohibitions, and later published his biography.
b. He toured Europe, speaking out for Irish home rule and women’s
rights, prompting many Irish to denounce slavery.
c. His North Star addressed all types of injustice, from capital
punishment to poverty
d. His home was a station on the Underground Railroad
e. Douglass urged President Lincoln to free the slaves and to arm Black
soldiers during the Civil War. He later served as an advisor to Lincoln
and, after the war, as the Ambassador to Haiti.
Harriet Tubman, the “Moses of her people,” created the underground
railroad, helped 300 slaves to escape in nineteen trips to the south and
would guide Union raids in the South during the Civil War.
Levi Coffin, a Quaker banker in Indiana, became known as the “President of
the Underground Railroad.”
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Josiah Quincy, a lawyer, defended the first fugitive slave captured under
Constitutional provisions.
Sojourner Truth refused to give up her seat on Washington, D.C. streetcars
in violation of local laws.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin defined the inhumanity of
slavery in a historical novel and incited such strong emotions in both the
North and the South that President Lincoln would later, upon meeting her
during the Civil War, proclaim: “So, you’re the little lady who started this
war.”
Quakers opposed slavery because they believed that all people contained an
inner light.
Furious reaction to abolitionism from slaveholders and northern
businessmen, as well trade unions who feared that freed slaves would
compete for jobs, led to legislation.
a. The Fugitive Slave Law (1793) stated that owners of runaway slaves
could recover the slaves by appearing before a magistrate and
declaring that the captured slaves belonged to them.
b. Due to the “gag rule”, representatives could not read anti-slavery
petitions on the floor of the House.
Literary achievements flourished during the reform movement.
In Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau expressed distrust for the
national government and industrial society with its material concerns. He
objected to slavery and the Mexican war, refused to pay taxes that he felt
would be used to support the war and was jailed. Thoreau argued that people
had a duty to disobey unjust laws, even at the cost of imprisonment (later
influencing Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tolstoy). He said, “It is not
desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right” and
asserted “under a government which imprisons any man unjustly, the true
place for a just man is also a prison.” Like Jefferson, Thoreau believed that
government is best when it governs the least, stating: “Government is best
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when it governs not at all.” He also asserted: “There will never be a really
free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual
as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and
authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, a mentor of Thoreau’s and fellow Concord,
Massachusetts transcendentalist, advised his readers to lead self-reliant,
noble lives.
George Cullen Bryant was a famous poet.
James Fenimore Cooper was the first important American novelist
(Leatherstocking Tales, Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer) and
focused on frontier America.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote short-stories and novels about the Puritanism of
early New England in The Scarlet Letter and House of Seven Gables.
Patriotic poet Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote Old Ironsides.
Washington Irving satirized the early Dutch settlers of New York’s Hudson
River Valley in Diedrick Knickerbocker’s History of New York, Rip Van Winkle
and Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a poet, wrote “The Song of Hiawatha” (the
best known epic American poem), “Evangeline”, “The Courtship of Miles
Standish” and “Paul Revere’s Ride”.
James Russell Lowell, a poet and literary critic, opposed slavery and the
Mexican war.
Herman Molville wrote Moby Dick and Billy Budd, focusing on the man’s
quests.
Francis Parkman’s The Oregon Trail was a famous historical work.
Edgar Allan Poe, a poet, short-story writer and critic, wrote many great
mysteries focused on the pain and sorrow of mankind.
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William H. Prescott was a famous historian.
William Gilmore Simms wrote popular southern stories.
John Greenleaf Whittier was an abolitionist poet.
Leson 4: First coined in 1845 by John L. O’Sullivan, the concept of “Manifest
Destiny” defined the belief of Americans in their historic duty to spread
westward to the Pacific Ocean.
I. Reasons for Manifest Destiny
A.
B.
C.
D.
It facilitated the expansion of slavery
The West provided space for immigrants
The quest for new markets drove businessmen westward
The region offered potential locations for ports which could
accomidate trade with China
E. An abundance of cheap land offered a fresh start in life for millions
of pioneers
II. Bitter struggles for control of western areas often emerged as a
result of disputes over the “cotton kingdoms” slavery
A. The number of Free and Slave States prior to 1820 was
balanced with each side holding 11 states
1. Original Free States
1791-1819
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
Free States acquired
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
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New Jersey
Pennsylvania
2. Original Slave States Slave States Acquired 17911819
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
B. The first serious clash involved the admission of Missouri to
the Union
1. Missouri, a slave territory, applied for statehood in
1819 but was opposed by Congressman John Tallmadge
because Missouri’s admission would upset the
congressional balance, giving the South control of the
Senate and would establish a precedent for extending
slavery throughout the Louisiana Territory. Tallmadge
proposed an amendment, which would prohibit any
additional slavery in Missouri and would gradually
emancipate the regions slaves. The amendment
enraged and frightened the South
2. The Missouri Compromise (1820), engineered by Henry
Clay, the “Great Compromiser” provided for Missouri
to enter the Union as a Slave State while Maine would
enter as a Free State. Slavery was prohibited in the
remainder of the Louisiana Purchase, north of latitude
36”30’
C. In 1836 Arkansas entered the Union as a slave state
D. In 1837, Michigan restored the balance by entering as a
free state
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E. Texas: With the founding of Santa Fe in 1609, the
Spaniards claimed the Southwestern quarter of the presentday United States, established forts, missions, villages,
towns and ranches in the present-day states of Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona and California.
The Spanish had prohibited trade with the United States in order to
discourage American expansion but the policy began to weaken by 1820.
The Mexican government renewed the land grant for Stephen F. Austin that
his father, Moses Austin, had received from Spanish authorities. In 1821,
Austin began an American colony in Texas with handpicked pioneers who each
received 4000 acres.
By 1830, 20,000 Americans spoke English, worshiped as Protestants and
owned slaves had entered Texas, despite requirements from the Spanishspeaking Mexicans that prohibited slavery and which required the settlers
to covert to Catholicism.
In 1830, Mexico closed its doors to further settlements, but the Americans
in Texas volunteers defeated a large Mexican force in San Antonio.
In 1836 General Santa Anna, the dictator President of Mexico, led a large
army back into Texas and killed 200 Texans who refused to surrender at the
Alamo, including James Rowie, William Travis and Davy Crockett. 1200-1400
Mexicans were killed in the battle. Compared to the deaths at the Alamo,
more than twice as many Texans were massacred on Palm Sunday March 27,
1836 at Goliad after surrendering.
The Texans, led by Sam Houston (the “Raven;” former Tennessee Governor
of Horseshoe Bend fame) struck back against Santa Anna ant San Jacinto,
destroyed his forces, killing 800 and capturing 750 (including Santa Anna)
while losing only 50 Americans. Santa Anna was released in order to secure
recognition from Mexico for the independence of Texas.
On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence and drafted a
constitution as the “Lone Star Republic” of Texas. Since Texas had
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previously declared its independence at Goliad in 1812 and again in 1821, the
new republic was actually the Third Republic of Texas. Sam Houston became
the first President of Texas. Texas applied for admission to the United
States.
The admission of Texas to the United States was delayed until 1845 because
Sumner and other abolitionist feared that it would increase southern
influence in Congress, extend slavery and invite war with Mexico.
The issue was delayed until the 1844 election which James K. Polk won by
implying that the United States had always owned the territory, even though
the United States had abandoned its claim to the territory in the 1819
Adams-Onis Treaty. Britain and France were also interested in the territory.
Texas entered the Union in December, 1845 under the following provisions:
Five states could be carved out of the territory with the consent of the
Texans.
Any State that emerged north of the 36 30 latitude would be closed to
slavery.
The United States would acquire the boundary dispute with Mexico.
Texas would retain its lands and pay its debts.
The addition of Iowa (1846) and Wisconsin (1848) to the Union as free
states restored the balance that was upset by the admittance of Texas and
Florida.
The Southwest was acquired through the war, annexation purchase and
expansion.
War with Mexico (1846-48)
Reasons for the War
The settlement and annexation of Texas.
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Cultural clash in the Southwest. (Spanish law, architecture, customs and
language clashed with “Manifest Destiny.”
The mistreatment of Americans in Mexico.
Mexico’s failure to repay debts to Americans.
Rising war fever (In 1842, Commodore Thomas Jones captured Monterrey,
California by mistake but gave it back to Mexico the next day).
Rejection of American attempts to purchase California and New Mexico by
John Slidell.
President Polk sent troops under General Zachary Taylor into the disputed
territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande Rivers. The Mexicans
probably had a stronger claim to the region, as the Nueces River had
traditionally served as the Southwestern border of Texas. Mexican troops
crossed into the area and killed sixteen American soldiers in combat.
On May 13, 1846 the United States declared war on Mexico.
Opposition to the war:
Abraham Lincoln asked if America was acting as an aggressor through his
Spot Resolution asserting that the war effort was based on the weak
pretexts, namely the nonpayment of debts and the rejection of Slidell’s
offer.
The Whigs attacked Polk as a Pawn of the southern “slavocracy.”
Northerners opposed the annexation of Texas because it would extend
slavery.
On June 14, 1846 the Republic of California declared its independence. The
United States then claimed the new republic and defeated the Mexicans
there.
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In 1846-47, Zachary Taylor led his troops into Mexico.
On September 14, 1847 American marines, under General Winfield Scott,
captured Mexico City after landing at Veracruz near “the halls of
Montezuma.”
The war ended as Mexico accepted American terms.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) was negotiated by Nicholas Trist,
despite the fact that President Polk had recalled him for bungling an
opportunity to bribe Santa Anna.
Mexico lost two-fifths of its land through the Mexican Cession (New
Mexico, California).
The United States gave Mexico $18,250,000, including payment of Mexico’s
$3,250,000 of indebtedness owed to U.S. citizens.
The Unites States promised to respect the Civil liberties of Mexicans in the
area.
Several viewpoints emerged concerning the question of extending slavery
into Mexican Cession.
President Polk proposed extending the 36 30 line of the Missouri
Compromise to the Pacific Ocean. Polk was unhappy about the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo because he felt that Nicholas Trist, the American
negotiator, gave too much to Mexico.
The Northern states accepted the Wilmot Proviso (1846), which stated,
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in lands acquired
from Mexico”. The Proviso passed in the House of Representatives was
defeated in the Senate. However, it brought the issue into open discussion.
The Southern states, represented by John C. Calhoun, insisted that
Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in the Southwest and must protect
the rights of slave owners to their property (slaves).
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Lewis Cass and Stephen A. Douglas proposed “popular sovereignty”,
suggesting that each territory could decide whether or not it wanted
slavery.
Many Americans, including James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, Stephen A. Douglas,
James K. Polk and Jefferson Davis, believed that the United States would
ultimately gain more Mexican territory (the Yucatan Peninsula) and that
slavery would extend to areas where cotton could grow.
In the Election of 1848, the main issue was slavery in the territories.
a. Neither party (Democrats, Whigs) took a strong stance
on the issue of slavery.
b. Despite the vast territorial acquisitions and successful
war effort of his administration, Polk was unpopular and
did not seek re-election.
c. Candidates:
i) The Democratic ticket of Lewis Cass (Michigan) and
William Butler (Kentucky) promoted “popular
sovereignty,” ignoring the issue of slavery in the
territories by focusing on expansion into Cuba and the
Yucatan Peninsula.
ii) The Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor (Louisiana), took
no position on slavery in the territories but he did take
an anti-expansion position. His running mate was Millard
Fillmore (New York).
iii) The Free-Soil Party, which nominated former
President Martin Van Buren (New York) and Charles
Francis Adams (Massachusetts – son of John Quincy
Adams), included anti-slavery dissidents from both
parties who were opposed to any further extension of
slavery. Van Buren lost the election but the freesoilers
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won twelve seats in the House of Representatives.
d. Zachary Taylor won the election as a result, in part, of
his Mexican War heroics.
The 1849 Congress faced the issues of:
a. California’s application to be admitted to the Union as a free state.
b. The Texas/New Mexico boundary and the debts of Texans.
c. Southern resistance to the abolition of slavery in Washington, D.C.
d. Southern resistance to the organization of New Mexico and Utah due
to the lack of any reference to the right of slave ownership in these
territories.
e. Southern demands for a new slave law requiring state officials to
assist in capturing runaway slaves.
California entered the Union in 1850.
a. Spanish culture flourished in the region.
b. In 1841, John Bidwell, the “Prince of California Pioneers”, led settlers
into the region.
c. On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered by John W. Marshall at
John Sutter’s Mill in Sacramento, producing a flood of migrants into
California in 1849 (49’ers) seeking fortunes in the Gold Rush.
d. In 1849, California’s new constitution outlawed slavery but
discriminated against Indians.
e. In 1850, California entered the union as a Free State under the
provisions of Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850.
i) California was admitted as a Free State (primarily because
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Californians were racists, rather than opposed to slavery).
ii) Popular sovereignty would be allowed in the other territories
acquired by Mexico.
iii) The United States agreed to pa Texas $10 million for disclaiming
New Mexico east of the Rio Grande River and also agreed to assume
Texas’ debts.
iv) Slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.
v) Congress enacted another fugitive slave law.
f. President Taylor, an abolitionist, opposed the compromise. Calhoun,
too weak to speak, had his speech read for him, denouncing the
compromise and calling for a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing
slavery. Henry Clay read a two-day speech, declaring that nature
would be its own Wilmot Proviso against slavery in the territories.
Taylor and Calhoun died in 1850 before the outcome was announced.
Millard Fillmore became President on July 9, 1850. Henry Clay died in
1850. With the death of Daniel Webster in 1852, the great voices of
compromise would be gone and the Whig Party would split between the
North and South.
g. The South came out of the proceedings as the loser because the
region lost equal representation in the Senate, even though they
secured protection for their “property,” and because the new fugitive
slave law was nullified by “personal liberty laws” which allowed
northern law enforcement officers to refuse to enforce the law.
Through the Gadsden Purchase (1853), the United States paid $10 million
for the land south of the Gila River. Southern Congressmen succeeded in
securing the legislation to purchase the Gadsden Territory in an effort to
insure that the proposed transcontinental railroad would follow a route
through the South.
Summary:
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The Art of compromise had been the secret of American society since 1787
and remained so during this critical period. People unwilling to compromise
(primarily the abolitionists) were unpopular. Nevertheless, compromise would
diminish in the 1850’s as war approached.
The extension of slavery (not the existence of slavery) produced the most
troubling issue of the late 1840’s and most seriously divided the North and
the South.
Very few people wanted war or secession (prior to 1861).
Other conflicts emerged with the expansion of America as settlers battled
human and environmental hazards to carve out a new start in the rugged
wilderness.
The boundary of Maine was established by the United States and Great
Britain through the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, following the 1837
attack by British citizens on the American steamer “Caroline” and the
“Aroostook War” between American and Canadian lumberjacks.
The Oregon country was claimed by Spain, Russia, Great Britain and the
United States until the 1820’s.
Spain gave up its claim in 1819 in the Adams-Onis treaty.
In 1824, Russian withdrew its claim to all land south of the 54th parallel as a
result of the Monroe Doctrine.
In 1818, the United States and Great Britain agreed to occupy the Oregon
country jointly for ten years and renewed the agreement ten years later.
By 1840, Americans were demanding British withdrawal from all land south
of the 54th parallel.
a. Westward expansion became the primary issue in the Election of
1844. The Democratic ticket of James K. Polk (Tennessee) and George
M. Dallas (Pennsylvania) was elected, calling for the annexation of
Texas and occupation of Oregon, using the slogan “Fifty-four forty or
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fight!” They beat the Whig ticket of Henry Clay (Kentucky) and
Theodore Frelinghuysen (New Jersey), who avoided the annexation
issue, as well as the abolitionist Liberty Party candidates, James G.
Birney (New York) and Thomas Morris (Ohio), who were opposed to
annexing slaveholding Texas.
b. In the Treaty of 1846, Great Britain agreed to give up its claims to
the Oregon country south of the 49th parallel and, thus, by 1846 a
boundary existed between the United States and Canada from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The United States was willing to drop
its demand for the British to withdraw to the 54th parallel and
compromise on the issue in order to avoid fighting a two-front war
with Great Britain and Mexico. Polk’s willingness to compromise on
Oregon but his refusal to compromise on Texas made him appear to
the American people as pro-slavery.
The timber and furs of the Oregon territory had drawn the interest of
Americans since the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806.
a. Western trade was organized by enterprising companies such as the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the American Fur Company, both of
which traded with mountain men for fur pelts. John Jacob Astor
became the richest man in America through the fur trade by sending
wagon trains to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Collect furs from trappers.
Jedediah Smith, who is credited with discovering Wyoming’s South
Pass, and Jim Bridger, whose trading post became Fort Bridger, were
the most famous trappers in the Rockies.
b. Smith’s South Pass ultimately became the famous Oregon Trail
through the Continental Divide to the Pacific. By the 1840’s, a
thousand pioneers per year were entering the Oregon country.
c. Trapped within the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1846 by the worst
winter on record, members of the legendary Donner Party faced
starvation and brutal conditions. Roughly half of the settlers perished
while many of the remaining members of the party resorted to
cannibalism, struggling for survival amidst despair.
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Utah was settled by the Mormons who, after facing discrimination in the
East due to their religious beliefs, including their practice of polygamy,
moved westward to Salt Lake City in an organized manner, sending scouts
ahead to plant fields along the way. The Mormons were first led by their
founder, Joseph Smith, then Brigham Young, following Smith’s death.
The Fort Laramie Treaty (1851) promoted fifteen years of relatively
peaceful condition between the United States government and the Indians in
the Southwest.
Unit Five The Civil War and Reconstruction
Lesson 1: Sectionalism dampened the spirit of compromise in the 1850’s and,
by 1860, the nation was moving towards war.
Events of the 1850’2
The election of 1852 was uneventful due to prosperity and the Compromise
of 1850. Franklin Pierce, a New Hampshire Democrat, and his running mate,
William R. King (Alabama) won the election over the Whig ticket of Winfield
Scott/William A. Graham and the free Soil ticket of John P. Hale/George
Julian. Winfield Scott was the last Whig President candidate.
Pierce, who had served in the Mexican War under Winfield Scott, was
sympathetic to the South.
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As an expansionist, he favored taking Cuba and Central America, opened
trade with Japan, favored the Kansas-Nebraska Act and purchased the
Gadsden Territory (named after a South Carolina railroad owner) in an
effort to give the planned Trascontinental Railroad to the South.
Dissension over slavery grew.
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin enraged the South. Stowe sold 1
½ million copies.
The Fugitive Slave Law (1850) angered the North.
Personal Liberty laws (a response to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850) were
seen by southerners as illegal.
The Ostend Manifesto created suspicion in the North as it leaked plans for
the United States to acquire Cuba (potential new slave territory) by force.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
In 1854 Stephan A. Douglas of Illinois sponsored legislation that creates two
new territories Kansas and Nebraska. Douglas felt that the new territories
would help Chicago become a larger industrial center by allowing the
proposed Transcontinental Railroad to take a northerly route.
It abolished the Missouri Compromise dividing line (36 20 parallel) and
stressed self-determination for these new territories.
He was trying to please the South because he wanted to be President of the
United States. The results were not what Douglas had intended. Douglas
assumed that Nebraska would enter the Union as a free territory and would
be balanced by Kansas as a slave territory. By eliminating the Missouri
Compromise, Douglas became a hero in the South and was hated in the
North, though the Act helped the North secure the railroad.
He Kansas-Nebraska Act split the nation sectionally, not along party lines.
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By 1855 Kansas had two governments, one pro-slavery and one anti-slavery.
The blood of 200 men spilled in ‘Bleeding Kansas” as 500 pro-slavery forces
clashed with anti-slavery forces. Following the sack of Lawrence, Kansas by
pro-slavery forces, John Brown hacked to death five slave owners in Kansas
and, on October 16, 1859, led five blacks and 13 whites in a raid on the
government arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, hoping to arm (unwilling)
slaves along the Appalachian Mountains. U.S. Calvarymen under the command
of Robert E. Lee killed nine of Brown’s men (including two of his sons). Brown
was found guilty of treason and hanged. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, a
professor at VMI, and John Wilkes Booth were among the spectators at the
hanging. Fredrick Douglas observed: “I could live for the slaves; John Brown
could die for them.”
The Kansas-Nebraska Act led to the formation of the Republican Party
(1854) because the Whigs and Democrats would not oppose the extension of
slavery.
The Whig Party disintegrated by 1854.
Kansas voters rejected statehood rather than accepting the pro-slavery
constitution proposed by Lecompton.
On May 19, 1856 abolitionists Senator Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) was
beaten unconscious on the floor of the Senate by cane-wielding Congressman
Preston Brooks (South Carolina) for insulting Brook’s cousin, senator Andrew
Butler (South Carolina), in a Senate speech the previous day in which he
labeled southern slave owners “hirelings picked from the drunken spew and
vomit of an uneasy civilization.” “Bully Brooks, who received hundreds of cans
from admirers to replace his broken one, resigned but was reelected while
Sumner’s seat remained empty during his long treatment for injuries.
The Election of 1856 marked the end of the era of compromise.
The Republicans (organized in 1854) nominated John C. Fremont (California)
whose platform asserted “Free soil, free speech, free men and Fremont.”
Southerners felt threatened because the opposed the extension of slavery.
Freemont won 11 of the 16 northern states and his 114 electoral votes were
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all from free states, demonstrating intense sectional divisions. His running
mate was William L. Dayton (New Jersey).
The Democratic candidate, James Buchanan (a Pennsylvania Democrat who
was acceptable to southerners) and his running mat, John C. Breckinridge of
Kentucky, won the election by supporting the Compromise of 1850 and the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. He won most of the southern votes by supporting
Kansas’ LeCompton constitution.
The American Party (Know nothing Party) nominated former President
Millard Fillmore (New York) and Andrew J. Donelson on an anti-immigrant,
anti-Catholic platform, aimed at immigrants who had fled Ireland’s potato
famine.
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
Dred Scott, a slave, was taken by his owner from Missouri into free
territory and, after a few years, returned to Missouri. Scott sued for his
freedom on the grounds that he had lived in free territory and therefore
was no longer a slave. (The 1787 Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery in
free territory.)
The Supreme Court (controlled by the South and influenced by Buchanan, a
friend of the South) ruled that:
a. Residence in a free territory and free state had not given him his
right to freedom
b. Slaves were not citizens of the United States or any particular state
and therefore had no right to sue in the courts.
c. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because Congress had
no right to exclude slavery from the territories, based on the 5th
Amendment which prohibited Congress from depriving an person of
“…property, without due process of law.” (This made the “exclusion of
slavery” stance of the Republican Party unconstitutional.)
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This decision enraged the North because it would require the U.S.
government to support the expansion of slavery everywhere.
In 1857, economic panic in the North convinced many Southerners that a
superior way of life existed in the South.
The seven Lincoln-Douglas debates in the Illinois senatorial campaign of
1858 were a preview of the 1860 Presidential election.
Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, was not an abolitionist but felt slavery was
morally wrong and was determined to preserve the Union.
a. Born on a farm in central Kentucky on February 12, 1809, Lincoln
moved to Indiana at age seven and educated himself in the wilderness.
b. He moved with this family to Illinois at age twenty-one, then worked
on a Mississippi flatboat, clerked in a store, serving as village
postmaster and became a surveyor.
c. Young “Honest Abe” was a champion rail splitter and demonstrated
good sportsmanship
d. First elected to the Illinois legislature in 1834, Lincoln practiced law
in Springfield while serving four two-year terms as a legislator.
e. He served in the House of Representatives as a Whig (1847-1849),
was defeated for reelection because of his opposition to the Mexican
War and then returned ot his law practice. He was a good speaker.
f. He opposed the extension of slavery and, with others, organized the
Republican Party after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in
1854.
g. On accepting the Republican nomination for senator in 1858, Lincoln
told the nation: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe
this government cannot endure half slave and half free. I do not
expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect… the house to fall
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– but I do expect it will cease to be divided. IT will become all one
thing, or all the other.”
Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, won the race as a supported of popular
sovereignty. In the Freeport, Illinois debate Douglas stated his “Freeport
Doctrine,” i.e., that a territory could refuse to pass a law supporting slavery
and thus exclude slavery in spite of the Dred Scott decision. Lincoln had
asked Douglas if he favored his own principle of popular sovereignty, which
permitted a territory to exclude slavery, or the Dred Scott decision, which
said that slavery could not be excluded from a territory. The “Freeport
Doctrine” probably cost Douglas the 1860 Presidential election because he
alienated southerners who were already angry over his refusal to allow the
Democratic Party to become a pro-slavery party and due to his opposition to
the Lecompton (pro-slavery) constitution in Kansas.
The debates made Lincoln famous and helped him to gain the Republican
nomination for President in 1860.
The 1860’s produced the dissolution of the Union.
The Election of 1860 demonstrated intense sectionalism.
Candidates:
a. Constitutional Union Party (composed of ex-Whigs) – John Bell
(Tennessee) and his running mate, Edward Everette (Massachusetts)
ran on the platform that all citizens should recognize the constitution,
the Union and law enforcement above all other principles. The creation
of the Constitutional Union Party, which was strong in the border
states, meant that the divided South could not win the election.
b. National Democratic Party (consisting of Southerners meeting in
Baltimore) – John C. Breckinridge (from Kentucky) supported a proslavery platform that demanded federal protection for slavery in the
territories and the annexation of Cuba. The Democratic Party was
split during this election because Jefferson Davis and the Deep South
states withdrew from the Democratic Convention in Charleston, South
Carolina after Stephen A. Douglas refused to include a federal slave
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code proposed by Davis in the Democratic platform. Davis felt that
the slave code was a natural extension of the Dred Scott decision.
Joseph Lane (Oregon) was the party’s Vice-Presidential nominee.
c. Democrats (Northern Democrats) – After reconvening in Baltimore,
the Democratic Party nominated Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois) and
Hershel V. Johnson (Georgia). Douglas supported “popular sovereignty”
and a fugitive slave law platform (to pacify the Southerners that he
had earlier alienated with this opposition to the Lecompton
constitution and his Freeport Doctrine).
d. Republicans – Abraham Lincoln (Illinois) and his running mate, Hannibal
Hamlin (Maine) advocated a platform that was purely sectional and
aimed at Northern industrialists and Midwesterners. Lincoln was
opposed to the extension of slavery and promised railroads, free
homesteads and internal improvements for the west while supporting
protective tariffs for the North. Lincoln was viewed as an abolitionist
by the South because he was opposed to the extension of slavery,
though he repeatedly emphasized that he would allow slavery to
continue where it already existed. Lincoln felt that any further
compromise should be made by pro-slavery forces.
Lincoln won the Election of 1860 with a minority of the popular votes (40%)
a. Results:
Lincoln
Popular vote
1,865,593
Percent
39.79%
Douglas
1,382,713
29.40%
Breckinridge
848,356
18.20%
Bell
592,906
12.61%
Electoral Vote
180 (all free states
except three votes
in New Jersey)
12 (Missouri and
the 3 N.J. votes)
72 (All cotton
states)
39 (Virginia,
Kentucky, and
Tennessee)
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c. Lincoln carried every free state but failed to carry a single slave
state.
c. He received no popular votes in ten southern states (he was not
listed on the ballot).
d. If all of the popular votes of the opposition parties had been
combined, Lincoln would have still carried a majority of the electoral
votes because he received his support from the more populous states
e. The Election of 1860, in reality, was two elections; Douglas v.
Lincoln in the North and Bell v. Breckinridge in the south. The
combined strength of Douglas and Bell exceeded Breckinridge’s
support, suggesting that most southerners opposed secession.
f. The election proved to the south that the North was populous
enough to elect a President, to control patronage and to change public
policy without any southern influence. The election represented a
power shift to the North.
g. Even though Republicans were a minority in Congress and the ProSouth Democrats controlled the Supreme Court, the South saw
Lincoln’s election as a victory for Radical Republicans in Congress and
abolitionists who saw slavery as morally evil.
h. His victory produced rumors of southern secession.
Secession from the Union
Southern legislators generally belonged to the ruling planter class and,
therefore, they favored secession.
A South Carolina state convention on December 20, 1860 declared that “the
Union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other states is hereby
dissolved”.
South Carolina was followed by Mississippi (1/9/61), Florida (1/10/61) and
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (by February, 1861). Texas Governor
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Sam Houston was deposed when he tried to prevent the secession of his
state. The cottonbelt states were the first states to secede.
Secession was opposed by Appalachia and the border states (those
slaveholding states that bordered between slave and free states and that
remained loyal to the Union.)
Formation of the Confederacy
In Febryary, 1861, the seceding states met at Montgomery, Alabama and
formed the Confederate States of America.
90% of their constitution resembled the Constitution of the United States
except that it:
a. Emphasized the sovereign and independent character of each state.
b. Recognized and protected slavery.
c. Forbade the levying of protective tariffs and the use of government
funds for internal improvements.
d. Gave the President a six-year term and the line-item veto.
Leaders:
a. Jefferson Davis (of Mississippi), a former U.S. Senator and Secretary
of War, took the oath of office as President of the Provisional
Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861 as “Dixie,” a
minstrel tune written by a northerner, was played. Davis, an insomniac
who was blind in one eye, was raised on a farm in Kentucky and
educated at West Point. He fought in the Mexican War and lived at
Briarwood Plantation near Vicksburg, Mississippi where he resisted
secession.
b. Alexander H. Stephens (Georgia) became Vice-President.
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Unlike Andrew Jackson in the 1832 nullication crisis, President Buchanan, a
southern sympathizer, took no action to stop the secessionists. He felt that
no state had the right to secede but also felt that the federal government
could not hold a state in the Union against its will (Lincoln had not yet been
inaugurated but he had already stated that he was opposed to the further
extension of slavery and that he intended to preserve the Union). Buchanan
made no attempt to halt the secessionists’ seizure of federal property. His
compromises failed and his other options were not workable (accepting
secession or using the military to enforce the Constitution).
The Crittenden Compromise was a final attempt at compromise and an effort
to appease the South. Senator Crittenden of Kentucky proposed that slavery
would be prohibited in the territories north of 36*30’ but federally
protected south of the line in all existing and future territories. Popular
sovereignty would be employed by future states, north or south of the line,
to decide the slavery issue. The proposal failed because Lincoln and the
Republicans opposed it.
Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, protected by guards due to
assassination threats and announced to the nation that
a. He would not interfere with slavery where it existed.
b. No state could lawfully withdraw from the Union. (“The central idea of
secession is the essence of anarchy.”)
c. He would carry out the laws in all the states.
d. He would “hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging
to the government”.
e. He would collect the duties and imports to which the government was
entitled.
In his first inaugural address, Lincoln appealed to Southerners to preserve
the Union and prevent the outbreak of war: “In your hands, my dissatisfied
fellow countrymen, and no tin mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The
government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being
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yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy
the government, while I have the solemn one to ‘preserve, protect and
defend’ it.” Lincoln intended to carry out his sworn duty and hoped to delay
the crisis until a solution could be achieved.
Lesson 2: The early stages of the Civil War produced victories for he South
against overwhelming odds.
Outbreak of War
Fort Sumter (April, 1861)
In the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Sumter was one of the few
forts in the South still controlled by the federal government.
President Lincoln had to decide whether to turn over Fort Sumter to the
Confederacy or to risk war by sending supplies to federal troops stationed
there.
Lincoln offered to withdraw the troops if Virginia would remain in the Union.
When Lincoln attempted to resupply the fort, General P.G.T. Beauregard’s
Confederate forces fired on the fort, beginning at 4:30 A.M. on April 12,
1861.
On April 14, Major Anderson (The U.S. Commander of the fort and a former
gunnery instructor of Beauregard’s at West Point) surrendered, suffering no
casualties except one soldier killed during a final salute. War had begun!
Reasons for the Civil War
In addition to the new issue concerning the extension of slavery into new
territories and the earlier conflicts over the protective tariff, national bank
and use of government funds for transportation, the industrial North and
the agrarian South held opposing views on the nature of the Union. The
North felt that the Union was “one nation, indivisible” while the South
maintained a state’s rights position that the Constitution was merely an
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agreement between independent states that could break the compact if so
desired.
Southerners sensed a clash of cultures between the regions.
Economic rivalry existed between the industrial North and the agricultural
South.
Power had transferred from the South to the North but no single group
could prevent disunion.
Slavery, as a moral, political, economic, and racial issue, became the focal
point of the reasons listed above.
Americans ultimately failed at compromise.
Lincoln’s options for avoiding war included allowing secession and/or the
extension of slavery but neither choice was acceptable to him. Only war
would preserve the Union.
Alignment
Confederate states at the beginning of the war included South Carolina,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana; and Texas.
States that joined the Confederacy after the war had begun and Lincoln had
called for 75,000 volunteers included Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and
Tennessee.
Territories supporting the Confederate forces included New Mexico and the
Indian territory (Oklahoma). The Indians hated the Union.
Union States:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
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e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
n.
o.
p.
q.
r.
s.
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New York
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
California
Oregon
Kansas
Border states were slave sates that were persuaded to remain in the Union
because they were assured that the war was being fought, not to destroy
slavery, but to preserve the Union and bring back the seceding states. These
states included Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia
(which broke away from Virginia and Joined the Union in 1863).
Territories supporting the Union included Washington, Dakota, Nebraska,
Colorado, Utah and Nevada.
Families were torn between sides. Whole towns signed up.
Advantages
North:
a. Population – the North outnumbered the South by a 4:1 ratio of
fighting-age men, requiring the South to be efficient. Blacks were
rejected from service.
b. Manufacturing – New York alone had four times the productive
capacity of the entire South. Union armies were the best equipped in
history, fighting with the first railroad artillery, land mines,
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telescopic sights and, most importantly, the rifled musket, invented
by French Captain Claude Monet, whose .53 caliber minie ball could kill
at five times the distance of other weapons.
c. Agricultural and Natural Resources – Northern and western grain was
exported in order to pacify foreign countries.
d. Transportation – The North had twice as many railroads
e. Control of the Ohio River
f. Strong navy
g. Control of the neutral, border states.
South:
a. Defensive war – The Confederate forces only had to wait for the
North to become tired of the struggle.
b. Officers – 313 of the United States Army’s 727 officers resigned
their commissions when war broke out. Four days after Fort Sumter,
President Lincoln asked Robert E. Lee to command the Union army.
Lee, who had doubts about slavery and secession, resigned his
commission after the secession of Virginia and took command f the
Virginia militia, declaring: “I could take no other course without
dishonor.”
c. Southerners were used to the outdoors, firearms, and horses and
believed that one southerner could beat ten “Yankees.” The
confederate government called for 100,000 volunteers and was so
overwhelmed that over one-third of the applicants, most of whom did
not own slaves, had to return home.
d. Economic leverage over Great Britain, France and the North with
cotton (not as important as predicted).
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e. Well-defined goals, aims:
i) independence,
ii) defense of homeland,
iii) preservation of slavery.
f. A labor force of 3½ million slaves.
Strategies
The Southern strategy was defensive, designed to make the Union forces
war-weary and to produce an agreement to peace on southern terms.
The Confederacy planned to seize Washington, D.C. and strike Maryland and
Pennsylvania in order to disrupt communications between the Northeast and
Midwest.
North: The “Anaconda Plan” consisted of three goals.
The Union leadership planned to cripple the South by blocking the region’s
coastline.
They wanted to split the Confederacy by seizing control of the Mississippi
River and the interior railroads in the south by sending an army southward
through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
Their goal was to seize Richmond, Virginia (the Confederacy capitol since
May, 1861) and drive southward, linking up with the Union forces moving east
from the Mississippi River Valley.
Lincoln waged war to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery. Despite his
personal view that slavery violated man’s rights and was essentially evil,
Lincoln believed that his primary duty as President was to save the Union
rather that to free the slaves. He ordered that fugitive slaves should be
returned to their owners and tried to persuade the southern states to
voluntarily abolish slavery by 1900. “My paramount object in this struggle is
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to save the union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery.” Later, Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation which stated that the slaves in all
states and districts still in rebellion against the United States on January 1,
1863 would be declared free, thus marking the beginning of the end of the
institution of human slavery in the United States and, in the process,
changing the character of the war. Lincoln would wage war without the
consent of Congress, suspending habeas corpus and threatening to jail Chief
Justice Roger Taney for questioning the constitutionality of Lincoln’s moves.
Jefferson Davis deserves sympathy due to strong states’ rights feelings in
the South. He waived his states’ rights views for the good of the
confederacy in order to carry out the war.
Campaigns and developments in the early stages of the Civil War
In May, 1861, Union troops under the command of Ervin McDowell crossed
the Potomac River from Maryland into Virginia and seized Arlington, Robert
E. Lee’s home, as small skirmishes erupted along a thousand mile front from
Big Bethel, Virginia to Booneville, Missouri.
On July 16, 1861, a Union army of 37,000 volunteers marched towards
Manassas, Virginia with plans to cut the railroad there before moving
towards Richmond.
After being altered by Washingtonian socialite and Confederate spy Rose
Greenough, General Beauregard led 22,000 Confederate troops to met them,
setting up on Bull Run Creek.
On July 21, with dignitaries in carriages as spectators, Union forces drove
the Confederates backwards.
Thomas Jackson’s Virginia brigade held the middle of the battlefield for the
Confederacy, prompting one General to label him “Stonewall.” Jackson’s
resistance was the turning point of the battle.
With Jackson’s men shouting the “Rebel yell,” Beauregard’s reinforced army
counterattacked, breaking up the union army which retreated, along with the
spectators, in the “Great Skedaddle.”
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The Union was shocked to discover that it had suffered 5,000 casualties and
realized that the war would not be a “90 day war.”
Five days after the battle of Bull Run, George “Young Napoleon” McClellan,
an excellent military trainer took command of the Union’s Army of the
Potomac and began to instill pride in the 100,000 volunteers (whose numbers
were growing by 10,000 volunteers per week). By the end of 1861, 700,000
soldiers would be serving the Union.
On March 9, 1862 the Union’s ironclad ship known as the Monitor, hastily
designed by John Erickson with a 2-gun turret and 47 patentable inventions,
defeated the Confederacy’s ironclad Merrimac near Hampton Roads, Virginia
only a day after the Merrimac sank the U.S.S. Cumberland, set the U.S.S.
Congress afire and ran the U.S.S. Minnesota aground. After a 4 ½ hour
battle, the Merrimac withdrew and was burned two months later by her own
Confederacy to prevent her from being captured.
The Appalachian Mountains and the barrier created by the terrain of this
region led to the formation of an eastern theater and the western theater
of war. The open west offered an advantage for offense while the closed
eastern theater was more oriented for defense.
In 1862, the Union enjoyed success in the western theater of the war.
The west offered an opportunity to union forces for a quick invasio0n deep
into the South since the West was difficult to defend.
By 1862, Missouri was secured. General hennery Wager Halleck opened his
drive into Tennessee.
In February, 1862, after capturing Piduka, Kentucky in the fall of 1861,
General Ulysses S. Grant (Halleck’s subordinate) captured Fort Henry on the
Tennessee River and Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River of Tennessee
and demand the “unconstitutional and immediate surrender” of Confederate
general Bucker’s troops at Fort Donelson. Nathan Bedford Forrest escaped
with over 1000 men from fort Donelson before it was captured.
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At the Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburgh Landing), Tennessee, in April, 1862, the
Confederacy tried to reverse the trend of Union victories in the West.
Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederacy’s Western theater commander, led
his evenly-matched army from Corinth to stop Grant, who was waiting for
reinforcements led by Don Carlos Buell.
The 6th Mississippi Division attacked William Tecumseh Sherman’s Ohio
Division. While thousands of union forces fled to the bluffs of the
Tennessee River, Union Commander prentiss’ Illinois and Iowa troops held
the “Hornet’s Nest” in the center of the attack for six hours before
surrendering. Albert Sidney Johnston was shot in the leg and bled to death.
The Confederacy command passed to General P.G.T. Beauregard (of Fort
Sumter and Manassas fame)
After the arrival of Buell’s reinforcements, 70,000 Union forces
successfully counterattacked 30,000 Confederate troops the next day as
Nathan Bedford Forrest led the Confederate retreat, attacking a long the
way.
The 23,000 casualties incurred at Shiloh (Hebrew for “place of peace”)
exceeded the total number of casualties in all previous American wars
combined.
On April 25, 1862 General Halleck, who was jealous of Grant’s successes,
removed Grant from command of the Union army of the West. Sherman, a
friend and fellow West Point graduate from Ohio, convinced Grant to remain
in the army.
In June, 1862 Union Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans after
getting by Confederate Forts Jackson and St. Phillips. He proceeded up the
Mississippi River where he joined with an expedition under the leadership of
Commodore A.H. Foote and General John Pope.
Western Union victories during 1862 were more than balanced by
Confederate victories in the East.
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On April 4, 1862 General George B. McClellan, commanding the 121,500 Union
soldiers of the Army of the Potomac in the East, began his offensive against
Richmond at Fortress Monroe on the Peninsula of Virginia.
McClellan was so hesitant to leave Washington that Lincoln remarked: “If
McClellan doesn’t want to use the army, I would like to borrow it for a time.”
At Yorktown, 11,000 Confederate troops, outnumbered 10 to 1 and under the
command of John MacGruder, waited in the former Revolutionary War
headquarters of Lord Cornwallis, moved troops constantly up and down Union
lines and convinced McClellan that the Confederate force contained over
100,000 men. As a result, McClellan called for reinforcements and began a
siege of Yorktown, bringing in 90,000 pieces of artillery along “corduroy”
roads. Confederate commander Joseph E. Johnston couldn’t believe that
McClellan (the “Virginia creeper”) had paused.
MacGruder’s men withdrew and were following to within the sound of
Richmound’s church bells by McClellan.
McClellan refused to attack Richmond, calling for 40,000 more troops, even
though his 110,000 force outnumbered Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate
troops.
After the flooded Chickahominy River divided the Union forces, Confederate
forces enjoyed success at seven Pines while the Union won at Fair Oaks.
After Joseph Johnston was wounded at Fair Oaks, Robert E. Lee took
command of the Confederate army in the east, renaming it the army of
Northern Virginia.
Lee sent J.E.B. (“Jeb”) Stewart and 1200 troopers on a ride around
McClellan’s forces as Stewart’s father-in-law, a Union General, pursued him.
In the Seven Days Campaign, Lee, with a much smaller force, surprised
McClellan at Mechanicsville and launched other attacks at Gaines Mill,
Savage’s Station, Frazier’s Farm and Malvern Hill. Through Lee lost 20,000
men and all but one of the battles, McClellan was shaken and refused to
attack.
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After Lincoln refused to give him 50,000-100,000 more troops, McClellan
withdrew from the Peninsula.
Meanwhile, Stonewall Jackson fought a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah
Valley, prevent three Union armies, consisting of 120,000 troops, from
joining the Peninsula campaign. Through the pious, very religious, fearless
Jackson was not loved by his men, they marched 400 miles because he led
them to victories. Jackson’s 17,000 outnumbered troops drove Nathaniel
Bank’s Union army from Winchester all the way back to the Potomac,
attacked Union forces at Front Royal, Cross Keys and Port Republic and
infiltration 7000 casualties.
Lincoln in replaced McClellan with John Pope. Pope charged into northern
Virginia, only to be stopped by Jackson at Cedar Mountain and to have his
headquarters attacked by Jeb Stewart. On August 29, 1862 Pope attacked
Jackson at the Second Battle of Bull Run. As Jackson’s men were reduced to
throwing rocks as ammunition ran out, General James Longstreet attacked
the Union forces with five divisions of Confederate troops. 25,000 men were
killed, wounded or missing after the battle in which Pope was forced to
retreat. Pope was replaced by McClellan and sent westward by Lincoln to
confront a Sioux uprising.
After enjoying great success in the spring and summer of 1862, Robert E.
Lee led 40,000 troops across the Potomac River into Maryland- into Union
territory for the first time- as he planned to attacked the federal rail
center at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In September, a Union soldier found a
copy of Lee’s battle plans near Fredrick, Maryland. McClellan waited 18 hours
to attack, even through he knew that Lee’s forces were divided, with some
troops located at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. Lee’s forces occupied a 3mile
ridge near Sharpsburg with the Potomac River behind them and Antietam
Creek in front. The battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862,
produced three battles.
a. On Lee’s left flank, Union forces under Joe Hooker tried to capture a
plateau that held a church but Stonewall Jackson’s men fought them
from a cornfield. Hooker was wounded in the foot. As Confederate
forces fled from advancing Union troops into the forest, Jackson sent
John Bell Hood’s troops in a counterattack, forcing Hooker’s men to
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retreat until reinforcements arrived. By 10:00 A.M. 10,000 men were
dead or wounded.
b. The second part of the battle at Antietam began as Union forces
attacked John Gordon’s Confederate troops waiting in a sunken road.
Gordon was wounded five times as New York soldiers found a place
from which they could shoot down on the Confederate troops in the
sunken road (“Bloody Lane”). The Confederates, whose dead piled 2 to
3 deep, held the road.
c. The third part of the battle emerged on the Confederate right as
Ambrose Burnside’s 12,500 Union troops, after three bloody
attempts, crossed a bridge over Antietam Creek as John Toomes’ 400
Georgians, whom they were fighting, fled to Sharpsburg. AS the Union
troops celebrated, A.P. Hill and 3000 weary Confederate troops
arrived from Harper’s Ferry and drove Burnside and his troops back
across the bridge they had captured. McClellan refused to send
reinforcements.
d. The bloodiest day in American history produced 2108 dead and 10,293
wounded for the Union and 10,318 casualties for the Confederacy (1/4
of Lee’s army).
e. Even though he could claim victory for halting Lee’s advance, McClellan
could have won the war at Sharpsburg, as lee was outnumbered 3 to 1.
However, McClellan refused to use his vast reserves and Lee’s troops
retreated back across the Potomac.
f. President Lincoln came to Sharpsburg to convince McClellan to pursue
Lee but McClellan responded slowly, taking 28 days to cross the
Potomac. Lincoln removed McClellan permanently from command.
g. As a result of the victory at Antietam, Lincoln announced his
Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, declaring that he
would free the slaves in all states still in a state of rebellion against
the Union on January 1, 1863, thus changing the nature of the cause
for which Union troops were engaged. The Emancipation Proclamation
discouraged the image-conscious Europeans from recognizing the
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Confederacy or aiding it’s cause.
Burnside’s Union troops crossed the Rappahannock River and burned and
looted Fredericksburg, Virginia in December 1862. As Burnside waited for
pontoon bridges to arrive, Robert E. Lee amassed 75,000 troops on a bluff
above the city known as Marye’s Heights. On December 13, 1862, Burnside
and his troops assaulted Marye’s Heights at Fredericksburg.
a. Lee, with Stonewall Jackson’s troops on his right and James
Longstreet’s troops on his left, couldn’t believe that Burnside would
foolishly storm a stone wall with four rows of Confederate riflemen
waiting behind it.
b. The Union’s Irish brigade bravely assaulted Lee’s troops in 14 suicidal
attempts to capture the ridge before Burnside withdrew. Confederate
soldiers cheered the Union troops for their bravery as they fired
their guns. Lee was so moved by the valor that he proclaimed: “It is
well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it.”
c. The Union’s 12,600 casualties included 9000 dead, compared with
5,300 total Confederate casualties.
d. Pinned-down Union troops buried their dead that evening by the
northern lights.
Desiring to destroy Lee, Lincoln replaced Burnside with Joe Hooker who
subsequently planned for part of his army to fake an attack while the
remainder of his troops would move up the Rappahannock River, cross the
river and attack Lee from the rear.
a. As Hooker made headquarters at Chancellorsville, Lee, outnumbered 2
to 1 (120,000 to 60,000), split his forces, leaving only one-fourth of
his men at Fredericksburg, and sent them to protect his flank. Union
troops engaged them, and then withdrew.
b. On the next day, Lee split his forces again and sent Stonewall Jackson
and 28,000 men around Hooker’s flank. Jackson’s troops attacked the
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Union soldiers in their camp and drove them back two miles.
c. The battle of Chancellorsville (May 2-4, 1863) was the last great
Confederate victory. Confederate forces killed 17,000 Union soldiers
(13%) while losing 13,000 of their own forces (22%).
d. Returning from scouting for a possible night raid, “Stonewall” Jackson
was accidentally shot in the left arm by one of his own men. The arm
was amputated but Jackson died of pneumonia one week later, a
terrible blow by Lee’s army.
e. Chancellorsville was the finest hour of Robert E. Lee’s brilliant
military career.
i) Born in 1807 at Stratford in Westmorelane County, Virginia and
raised by his mother after the family was abandoned by his famous
father, Revolutionary war her “Lighthouse Harry” Lee, Robert E. Lee
graduated 2nd in his class from West Point.
ii) In 1831, he married Mary Custis (Martha Washington’s
granddaughter) and raised seven children at her Arlington plantation.
iii) He received three promotions for bravery in the Mexican War,
served as the Superintendent of West Point and captured John Brown
at Harper’s Ferry.
iv) When offered the command of the Union Army at the beginning of
the war by President Lincoln, he declined, saying that his first duty
was to his people in Virginia. “I did only what my duty demanded. I
could have taken no other course without dishonor.”
v) After beating McClellan on the Peninsula, Pope at Second Manassas,
Burnside at Fredericksburg and Hooker at Chancellorsville, he
cemented his reputation as one of the greatest military geniuses in
history.
Both armies suffered heavy losses from disease, which accounted for twice
as many deaths during the Civil War as combat wounds.
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Scurvy, dysentery, typhoid, pneumonia and measles were the chief killers.
44,558 soldiers died of diarrhea and dysentery.
Soldiers often drank 36 ounces of whiskey/brandy per day to keep alive.
Surgeons were forced to concentrate on speed rather than proper
procedures. Limbs were amputated in 2½ minutes.
Over 400,000 of the 618,000 soldiers that died in the war died from
disease.
Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix achieved fame for treating the wounded.
By the end of the war, the North had 350 hospitals, compared with 150 in
the South.
Prisoners of war, particularly at the Andersonville prison in Georgia,
suffered from malnourishment and disease. Henry Wertz, the commandant
of Andersonville, would be hanged after the war for keeping 33,000
prisoners in facilities that were designed to hold 10,000. 13,000 men died at
the prison in one year.
Opposition to the war emerged in the North and South.
Opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation was especially strong among
Democrats and Midwesterners in Michigan, Southern Illinois, Iowa, Indiana
and Ohio.
Members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Sons of Liberty and other
northern opponents were “Copperheads” and led by Congressman Clement
Vallandigham.
When Lincoln obtained the passage of the draft law in 1863, which allowed
the rich to buy exemption for $300 or to hire a substitute, New Yorkers
contemplated secession from the Union. On Sunday, July 12, 1863, an Irish
mob concerned about the loss of jobs to free blacks as well as the draft
destroyed a draft office in New York City, burned buildings and killed more
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than 100 people before veterans returning from Gettysburg restored order.
The New York City draft riots were followed by other riots.
Jefferson Davis struggled to organize a war effort in a confederation of
states opposed to centralized power.
By the end of 1863, two-fifths of the Confederate army was absent with or
without leave.
By the end of the war, every state except South Carolina had a Union
regiment and organizations sympathetic to the Union, including the “Heroes
of America” in North Carolina and the “Kingdom of Jones” in Mississippi.
Lesson 3: Superior Union manpower and resources ultimately produced
victory, at great costs, and the preservation of the Union.
Conclusion of the Civil War
1863 brought the turning point of the war in the East while the Union
accomplished its objective in the West.
As Lee continued his advance into Union territory in the East, the
Confederacy was also on the move in the West.
a. John Pemberton’s army pushed back Union forces at Chickasaw Bluff’s
north of Vicksburg.
b. John Morgan’s men captured 2000 prisoners in Kentucky.
c. John MacGruder captured a Union flotilla in Texas.
d. Nathan Bedford Forrest’s calvarymen attacked Union armies four
times stronger, stole 10,000 rifles, destroyed equipment and forced
Ulysses S. Grant to retreat by cutting his supply lines.
Following 2½ months of failure at the Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg,
Mississippi on the Mississippi River, Ulysses S. Grant crossed the river and
attacked the city from the East. He won victories at Port Gibson, Raymond,
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Jackson, Champion’s Hill and Big Black River before being stopped and
forced into laying siege in May.
The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) was the turning point of the war
as well as the largest battle ever fought in the Western Hemisphere.
a. Lee decided to attack Pennsylvania, hoping to draw Grant away from
Vicksburg.
b. As he moved towards Pennsylvania, Lee sent Jeb Steward and his men,
who, in May, had engaged in the largest Calvary battle in U.S. history,
on a ride around the army of the new Union commander, George
Meade.
c. On June 16, 1863 Lee’s army crossed the Potomac into James
Longstreet, Richard Ewell and A.P. Hill.
d. As the Confederate army came into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from the
north, looking for shoes that were supposedly stored there, and the
Union forces came in from the South, fighting broke out as Union
calvary under the command of John Buford ran into the Confederates.
150,000 troops quickly converged on the town and took their positions
on the “First Day of Gettysburg.”
i) General Winfield Scott Hancock aligned the Union troops along
Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Ridge on the high ground in the shape of a
fishhook.
ii) When Longstreet urged Lee to get between the Union army and
Washington, D.C. to draw an attack from Meade, Lee refused, saying:
“I’m going to whip them here or they’re going to whip me.” Lee staked
his army and the Confederacy on a bid for victory.
e. On the “Second Day,” 65,000 Confederates faced 85,000 Union
troops who were overlooked by hills on both ends of their line – Culp’s
Hill and Cemetery Ridge on the left (north) and Big and Little Round
Tops on the right (south).
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i) Confederate General Oates’ 15th Alabama Regiment captured Big
Round Top and tried to seize the undefended and strategic Little
Round Top, despite opposition from Union General G.K. Warren troops.
However, four Union regiments arrived to reinforce Warren, including
the 360 men in Joshua Chamberlain’s 20th of Maine who, believing they
were surrounded, fixed bayonets and charged into the Confederates,
who broke from the charge and from reinforcement provided by a
Union “Company B” that was presumed lost. Chamberlain’s heroic
troops captured 400 prisoners of the 15th Alabama and held Little
Round Top.
ii) Union General Sickles, who had initially been sent to defend Little
Round Top, was caught in the Devil’s Den, ½ mile in front of the other
Union troops after disobeying orders. In fierce fighting, 82% of a
Minnesota regiment fell in five minutes, suffering greater losses than
any other Union regiment in the war. Company F of the 26th North
Carolina lost all of their men. The Union left and right still held.
f. The “Third Day” began badly for Lee as advances by Ewell and
Stewart were stopped. The focus of the Confederate effort now
shifted to Longstreet’s corps.
i) Longstreet failed to discourage Lee from striking. Lee believed his
army was invincible.
ii) As Confederate artillery attempted to soften the Union resistance,
three of Longstreet’s divisions, led by Generals Pickett, Pettigrew and
Trimble, prepared to attack the center of Meade’s Union lines on
Cemetery Ridge.
iii) 13,000 Confederate soldiers displayed matchless valor as they
charged the heavily fortified ridge. As Union artillery from Cemetery
Ridge and Little Round Top, as well as Union riflemen behind the stone
wall on the ridge opened fire, entire Confederate regiments were lost
instantly. The Confederates briefly reached one crook in the stone
wall (the “angle”) but were driven back.
iv) 6500 of the 13,000 Confederate troops who stormed the wall were
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casualties or captured. Lee blamed himself and offered to resign.
g. 51,000 soldiers fell at Gettysburg – 23,000 for the North and 28,000
for the South.
h. Lee’s plans of invading the North came to an end as the Army of
Northern Virginia began a slow retreat.
i. Lincoln was furious at Meade for not pursuing Lee.
j. On November 19,1863 Lincoln commemorated the battle in his
Gettysburg Address: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and
dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” He called
upon the nation to continue “the unfinished work which they who
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” He concluded by saying
that “we were highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in
vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom;
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall
not perish from the earth.”
Following a 48 day siege in which residents lived in caves and nearly starved,
Vicksburg fell to the Union forces on July 4, 1863, the same day that
Confederate forces were retreating from Gettysburg. Pemberton
surrendered his 31,000 troops on the 4th of July. Vicksburg would not
celebrate the 4th of July for 81 years that followed. With the fall of
Vicksburg (which formally ended on July 9th when Farragut captured Port
Hudson, Louisiana), the Union forces had accomplished their western
objective, i.e., the Confederacy was split.
On July 18, 1863 the all-black 54th Massachusetts regiment, under the
command of a white officer, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, stormed Battery
Wagner on the Carolina coast, losing 40% of their regiment. By the end of
the war, 180,000 black soldiers would compromise 1/10 of the Union army.
In September 1863 Braxton Bragg’s Confederate forces abandoned
Chattanooga in the face of the flanking Union army of General Rosecrans but
defeated Rosecrans’ army at Chickamauga, though total defeat was
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prevented by Union General George Henry Thomas (the “Rock of
Chickamauga”).
When Ulysses S. Grant was placed in command of all Union forces in the
Western theater, he replaced Rosecrans with Thomas who, in the Battle of
Chattanooga on November 25, 1863, defeated Bragg’s troops on Lookout Mt.
The battle was followed with the capture of Missionary Ridge by Phil
Sheridan’s Union troops. Chattanooga was not another victory for Grant.
In 1864, the superior numerical and industrial resources of the Union began
to move the war towards its conclusion.
Ulysses S. Grant received command of the entire Union army of 530,000
men after his victory at Chattanooga.
a. Born in Ohio as Hiram Ulysses Grant in 1822 as a tanner’s son, Grant
loved horses as a child.
b. He was mistakenly registered as Ulysses S. Grant at West Point and
the name stuck.
c. After marrying Julia Dent, a Missouri slaveholder’s daughter, he
fought in the Mexican War (which he opposed).
d. He resigned from the army in 1854 after serving in California where
depression over absence from his family drove him to drinking.
e. After a number of failed business endeavors, Grant was working in his
father’s harness shop when the Civil War broke out.
f. He enlisted, was promoted to Brigadier General at a time when other
Union generals were losing and ultimately became the first lieutenant
General since George Washington.
Grant’s strategy was four-pronged.
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a. William Tecumseh Sherman, his close friend, would march from
Chattanooga to Atlanta.
b. General Siegle would move through the Shenandoah Valley.
c. General Butler would move towards Richmond from the James River.
d. General Meade’s Army of the Potomac, 110,000 strong, would chase
Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Grant would accompany Meade.
In the battle of the Wilderness form May-June, 1864, the Union army
continued to press forward in an effort to get around the left flank, despite
repeated defeats.
a. For two days, starting on May 4, Grant lost more men than Hooker’s
17,000 at Chancellorsville. However, for the first time in the war, the
Union army moved forward after a defeat. His men proclaimed:
“Ulysses don’t scare worth a damn!”
b. The two armies fought for thirty consecutive days from Spotsylvania
to Cold Harbor, a crossroads on the Chickahominy River where Grant
lost 7000 men in seven minutes and where Lee lost Jeb Stewart.
c. The Union army continued to advance, even though Grant lost 50,000
men from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor (50% of what the Union arm
had lost in three previous years of fighting).
Grant’s army crossed the James River on pontoon bridges and marched of
Petersburg, Virginia.
Only 3000 troops under Beauregard defended the city until reinforcements
arrived during the night.
The armies dug into 20 miles of trenches as the Union laid siege on
Petersburg for ten months.
To relieve pressure on the city, Lee sent Jubal Early and 10,000
Confederate troops through the Shenandoah Valley to attack Fort Stevens
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and then march on the nation’s capitol, Washington D.C. Union troops were
moved, as a result, to Fort Stevens.
At dawn on July 30th, 1864 Union troops ignited 4000 pounds of gunpowder
that had been placed in a tunnel under the Confederate barriers. The
explosion left a 30 ft. deep, 70 ft. wide and 250 ft. long crater into Union
forces stormed, only to discover that they were trapped without ladders.
Confederate forces fired down on the black and white Union soldiers and
Burnside was relieved of duty.
On August 5, admiral David Farragut attacked Mobile Bay, shouting ‘Damn
the torpedos! Full speed ahead!” He rammed the Confederate fleet into
submission, the first good news for Lincoln, who was received during the
year.
Meanwhile, west of the Appalachians, Sherman moved out of Chattanooga
towards Atlanta, Georgia, 100 miles away with the goal of seizing the city
while smashing Joseph E. Johnston’s Confederate armies of Tennessee and
Mississippi, who were outnumbered 2 to 1.
Sherman forced Johnston out of Dalton, Resaca, Cassville, Allatoona, and
New Hope Church, all in Georgia.
On June 27, 1864 Sherman lost 3000 men, compared to 750 Confederates,
at Kennesaw Mt., Georgia.
Nathan Bedford Forrest, the “Wizard of the Saddle,” the master of the
lightning raid and unquestionably the most feared cavalryman of the war,
attacked Sherman’s Calvary. Which outnumbered his forces 3 to 1, near
Tupelo, Mississippi in June, 1864. Forrest would later be promoted to
Lieutenant General.
Sherman continued with slow, flanking movements towards Atlanta but
stalled in the summer of 1864.
Time was running out for President Abraham Lincoln. As the fall election
approached, Sherman and Grant were both stalled. Indications were that
Lincoln would not be reelected.
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For two months, Johnston kept his army intact, waiting to attack Sherman
as he approached Atlanta, but the opportunity never came. Therefore,
Jefferson Davis, who disliked Johnston, replaced him with the reckless John
Bell Hood who attacked Sherman on July 22 as the Battle of Atlanta began.
Hood lost 20,000 men (1/3 of his army) in less than 20 minutes.
Hood retreated, hiding behind ramparts, waiting for Sherman.
Instead of attacking, Sherman sealed off the city, cutting off supplies, and
began to shell the city.
On August 31, Sherman hurled his army at the Macon and Western Railroad.
Hood’s army abandoned Atlanta.
The victory in Atlanta boosted Lincoln’s campaign.
Nathan Bedford Forrest angered Grant when he overran Fort Pillow in
Tennessee and massacred 300 black soldiers who had surrendered. Grant
retaliated by changing the prisoner exchange program.
Phil Sheridan and 45,000 Union soldiers took control of the Shenandoah
Valley, stripping it clean, after regrouping after a loss to Jubal Early at
Cedar Creek.
Lincoln was re-elected in 1864.
Lincoln was renominated by the republicans as the National Union Party
candidate in 1864. His running mate was Andrew Johnson, a wartime
Democrat from Tennessee who was loyal to the Union.
Due to Union victories at Mobile Bay, Atlanta and in the Shenandoah Valley,
Lincoln received 55% of the vote, including most of McClellan’s former junior
officers, and defeated the Democratic ticket of George McClellan (New
Jersey) and George Pendleton (Ohio) who advocated peace.
In the spring of 1864, as the union cemeteries at Alexandria and Washington
were filled, Quartermaster General Montgomery Meggs, a southerner who
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had remained loyal to the Union, chose Robert E. Lee’s Home at Arlington as
the site of the new national cemetery. His own son was buried there.
After the fall of Atlanta, Sherman began his “march to the sea” with 62,000
Union troops, leaving a scorched path.
John Bell Hood took his Confederate army into Tennessee.
At the Battle of Franklin, Hood attacked the Union forces of George (the
“Rock of Chickamauga”) Thomas. Hood lost more men than the Union at Cold
Harbor.
Hood’s army disintegrated after being attacked by Thomas at Nashville.
After Hood resigned, Lee appointed Joseph E. Johnston to take command of
the remainder of Hood’s army.
In 1865, the Confederate States of America only remained in the mind as
the end of the war approached.
Sherman’s men were harsher in South Carolina as the birthplace of the
rebellion. On February 17, 1865 Fort Sumter and Charleston were
abandoned. Major Anderson would raise the same flag that he had lowered
four years earlier.
As hundreds of Confederate soldiers deserted and the state of Georgia was
threatening to secede from the Confederacy Jefferson Davis expressed his
disgust with the persistent demands for states’ rights, saying that the
Confederacy’s tombstone would read: “Died of a theory.” Davis agreed to let
Lee arm the slaves, who were promised freedom if they fought. Black
hospital orderlies marched through Richmond singing “Dixie.”
In his Second Inaugural Address (March, 1865), Lincoln asked the people to
forget their bitterness and to reunite: “With malice toward none; with
charity for al; with firmness in the right as God gave us to see the right, let
us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his
orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace
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among ourselves, and with all nations.” Among the spectators was John
Wilkes Both who, armed with a pistol, could have easily shot the President
that day.
In nine months, 60,00 troops deserted from Lee’s army at Petersburg,
leaving the Confederate commander with 35,000 troops, compared to Grant’s
125,000 men.
a. After briefly capturing Fort Steadman, his last advance, Lee faced a
50 mile long counterattack by the Union forces.
b. Pickett’s army was destroyed, Corp Commander A.P. Hill was killed by
Union infantrymen and Petersburg fell after a nine month siege. Lee’s
army slipped across the Appomattox River, trying to join Joseph E.
Johnston’s army in North Carolina.
Richmond, VA, (the Confederate capitol) fell to the Union forces on April 2,
1865. Jefferson Davis and the Confederate cabinet fled to the new
Confederate capitol at Danville, Virginia.
On April 6, Lee suffered 6000 casualties and the capture of his son, Custis,
at Saylor Creek.
As Lee’s army of 25,000 men moved along the Appomattox River, living off
parched corn, they were surrounded on three sides by 125,000 Union troops
and facing Phil Sheridan’s troops.
On April 9, John Gordon tried a final time to break the army out, but upon
cresting the hill, saw the entire Union army waiting below the hill.
Realizing it was useless to continue, Lee arranged to meet Grant to discuss
the terms of surrender in Wilmer McLean’s House at Appomattox Court
House. Ironically, McLean had moved from his first home after the first
battle of the war, Manassas, had taken place in his front yard. He witnessed
the war’s beginning and end.
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Grant gave the Confederates generous terms, allowing the officers to keep
their swords and arranging for 25,000 rations to be delivered to the
Confederate army.
Three days later, John Gordon led the Confederates as they surrendered
their guns and battle flags to Union troops commanded by General Joshua
Chamberlain, who had been presumed dead at Petersburg. The Union troops
saluted the Confederate troops as they arrived.
On April 14, 1865 while watching the drama “Our American Cousin” in Ford’s
theater in Washington, D.C., President Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head
while seated in his balcony by John Wilkes Booth, who jumped to the stage
and yelled “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” (Thus ever be it to tyrants).
a. After being carried across the street, Lincoln died at 7:22 A.M. the
next morning, April 15, 1865.
b. Booth, who broke his leg in the leap to the stage, was found by Union
troops, hiding in a Virginia tobacco barn. The barn was set ablaze but
he died from a gunshot wound in the neck on April 26.
c. One of Booth’s co-conspirators, Lewis Payne, stabbed Secretary of
State William Seward as previously planned but Seward was not
fatally wounded.
d. Lincoln’s casket laid in state at the White House, then at the Capitol
Rotunda. He was buried on May 4 in Springfield, Illinois. General Joe
Hooker led the final procession to Oak Ridge Cemetery.
e. On July 7, 1865 General Winfield Scott Hancock gave the order as
four of Booth’s conspirators were hanged.
Joe Johnston surrendered what remained of his army to General Sherman at
Durham Station, North Carolina in late April, 1865. On May 10, Jefferson
Davis was captured in Erwinville, Georgia, trying to escape to Texas, and
jailed in Virginia. On May 13, Private John J. Williams became the last man
killed in the Civil War, in the last battle at Palmetto Ranch in Texas. The war
was over.
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Results of the Civil War
The South:
The Southern economy was shattered. However, the war brought the
Industrial Revolution to the South.
$2,000,000,000 in slaves were freed and the social order of the South was
destroyed.
Confederate currency was invalid.
The South was in ruins since it was the scene of most of the battles.
The agrarian system changed dramatically.
Many slaves were unprepared for the responsibilities of citizenship.
Churches in the South would remain split from their northern counterparts
until late in the 20th century.
The southern population was demoralized, uncertain, bitter, shocked (over
the cultural change), resentful (towards freedmen and unionists) and felt
betrayed by the British.
The federal government’s supremacy over the individual states was finally
established.
The North:
The Civil War brought great prosperity to Northern agriculture and
industry. The factory system expanded and cities grew.
The National Bank was recreated in 1863, producing a sound uniform paper
currency.
The population grew with the addition of 800,000 immigrants from Europe.
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The Homestead Act (1862) stimulated western development.
Northern people felt the South had not “played fair” by seceding, etc.
The Civil War claimed 618,000 lives. ¼ of the South’s military age men died
in the war. Mississippi would spend 1/5 of its 1866 budget on artificial limbs.
One out of every ten Confederate soldiers was from North Carolina; two out
of every ten that died were from the state (40,000).
Lesson 4: Reconstruction programs were designed to reestablish ties with
the south, to repair, control, change and punish the region, to care for the
freed slaves and to institute land reform programs.
Presidential Reconstruction
President Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction outlined his
plan for restoring the south to the Union.
Lincoln felt that the Confederate states had never truly seceded when he
proclaimed “With malice toward none, with charity for all…’, i.e., he felt that
southerners were still “members of the family”.
He offered to pardon all southerners who would take an oath of allegiance to
the Union and promise to accept federal laws and proclamations dealing with
slavery. Excluded from this offer were:
a. Those who had resigned positions in the federal government to serve
in the Confederacy.
b. Members of the Confederate government.
c. High-ranking Confederate army and naval officers.
d. Confederates who had mistreated prisoners of war.
His plan also provided for the restoration of a seceded state to the Union.
After 10% of the state’s voting population (who had voted in the election of
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1860) took the oath of allegiance and formed a state government
guaranteeing the abolition of slavery, the state could draw up a new
constitution, elect new officials and return to the Union on a basis of full
equality.
Opposition to Lincoln’s plan
Congress opposed the plan because it was an executive, rather than
congressional, plan for reconstruction and claimed that only the legislative
branch could readmit the seceded states.
Congress was dominated by a group of radical Republicans led by
Representative Thaddeus Stevens (Pennsylvania) who believed that the
Confederate states, as “conquered provinces,” should be punished for their
disloyalty and Senator Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) who felt that the
Confederate states had committed “state suicide” and, therefore, should
apply for statehood as new states. Sumner, a Puritan zealot who had
required extensive medical treatment as a result of the pre-war cane
beating he had received on the Senate floor by Preston Brooks in 1856, saw
the South as evil.
Many members of Congress feared that Lincoln’s leniency would return the
“old system” to the south without rights for black southerners. Southern
state legislatures had begun to enact laws (“black codes”) that inhibited the
residential and occupational mobility of black southerners.
Lincoln’s plan would allow former Confederates to hold high office.
Some members of Congress were opposed to the idea that only 10% of the
voting population in the south had to approve the President’s plan.
Republicans in Congress feared that, unless southern blacks were allowed to
vote, the southern states and the Democratic party would regain control of
the federal government since white southerners were Democrats and black
southerners were Republicans.
Opposition to Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction was stated in the Wade-Davis
Bill (July, 1864) which would:
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a. Give political power to southerners who had remained loyal to the
Union.
b. Insure that the new constitutions of the southern states would
protect the rights of former slaves.
c. Prevent the payment of Confederate war debts.
d. Readmit the southern states into the Union under harsher conditions
than those proposed by Lincoln, requiring 50% of a seceded state’s
1860 voters to take the oath of allegiance before the state could
return to the Union.
Lincoln opposed the bill because he felt it would restrict his reconstruction
efforts and that Congress was not authorized to make the states abolish
slavery without a constitutional amendment. His opposition was tempered in
order to avoid completely angering the Congress.
Andrew Johnson became President after Lincoln’s assassination and plans for
a lenient reconstruction began to wither away.
Johnson, born in North Carolina and raised in Tennessee, was a southern
Democrat who had remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War.
He disliked black Americans and the southern planter aristocracy equally.
He was elected as Vice-President on the National Union Party ticket in 1864
as part of a coalition designed to appeal to the South.
President Johnson’s plan for reconstruction reflected the new President’s
attempt to adopt Lincoln’s plan while trying to pacify the radical Republicans
who were demanding a much harsher program. As a result, Johnson’s plan was
somewhat less lenient than Lincoln’s.
50% of the southern voting population had to pledge support to the Union.
Confederate officers and planters were disenfranchised for five years.
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Rewards were offered for the arrest of Jefferson Davis and other former
Confederate leaders after Lincoln’s murder.
The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, was enacted.
All southerners who took the oath of allegiance were pardoned (with the
exceptions listed above) and were to hold constitutional conventions, repeal
ordinances of secession, abolish slavery and repudiate Confederate and
state debts.
a. Confederate leaders and planters who were excluded from the pardon
could apply directly to Johnson.
b. By 1876, 13,500 of the 15,000 Confederate leaders and planters were
pardoned.
c. In 1867, Johnson pardoned all but 300 of the remaining group of 1500
Johnson officially recognized the loyal governments already established by
Lincoln in four states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia).
Temporary governors were appointed in the seven remaining ex-Confederate
states and were empowered to hold elections and form state governments.
The Union army, still stationed in the South, interfered in southern political
affairs until Johnson declared an end to hostilities in August, 1866.
Johnson’s realistic view was more suited for reconstruction.
He had previous experience with reconstruction in Tennessee while Lincoln
was alive.
As a southern Unionist, he was somewhat more willing to punish the south.
His unwillingness to compromise with Congress irritated Republican radicals
and moderates, led to his impeachment and almost resulted in his removal
from office.
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By the end of 1865 all but one of the southern states (Texas) had
established new state governments and elected members to the United
States Congress. Johnson announced that these states were restored to the
Union.
Congress seized control of the reconstruction process at the expense of the
executive branch.
Radical Reconstruction
The Republican-controlled Congress assumed control of reconstruction when
it convened in December, 1865.
Radical Republicans took steps to insure their control of reconstruction by
a. Removing certain civil rights cases from the jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court.
b. Disallowing Johnson to fill Supreme Court vacancies.
c. Calling for a continuous Congressional secession, ignoring the
traditional March-December break in odd years.
d. Trying to replace Johnson with Benjamin F. Wade, the President Protem of the Senate.
e. Refusing to seat the new southern Congressmen (including Alexander
H. Stephens, the former Vice-President of the Confederacy who had
since been elected to the Senate from Georgia) in order to prevent
southern Democrats from regaining their pre-war domination of
Congress.
f. Declaring that the new state governments in the South were invalid.
Moderate Republicans had controlled Congress until the end of 1865 but
Johnson failed to ask for their support (which he may have received). When
Congress adjourned, Johnson tried to singlehandedly implemented his
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program.
In the spring of 1866, Congress enacted legislation over the President’s veto
that increased the powers of the Freedmen’s Bureau, a wartime organization
that had been established by President Lincoln (March 3, 1865) and which
was administered by army officers who were given the task of aiding and
supervising ex-slaves.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act over Johnson’s veto in order to give
black Americans full citizenship and to guarantee them equality of
treatment.
In the November, 1866 congressional elections, Republicans won two-thirds
of both Houses. With the radicals now controlling Congress, a new phase of
reconstruction began.
Fearing that the Supreme Court might declare the Civil Rights Act
unconstitutional, moderate and radical Republicans produced the 14th
Amendment which:
a. Made black Americans citizens of the United States and of the states
in which they lived.
b. Excluded former Confederate leaders from holding public office.
c. Provided for less congressional representation for states that
deprived blacks of their rights as citizens.
d. Forbade southern states to repay Confederate war debts.
e. Forbade payments to slave owners for losses arising from
emancipation.
Tennessee ratified the Amendment and was readmitted to the Union while
the other ten Confederate states rejected it.
The Reconstruction Acts were passed in 1867 over President Johnson’s veto.
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The ten unreconstructed states were divided into five military districts,
each policed by federal troops under the command of a military governor.
Southerners who had voluntarily fought in the Confederate armies were
disenfranchised (deprived of the right to vote or to hold office). These
restrictions emulated the fourteenth Amendment.
To qualify for readmission, a state had to hold a convention and frame a new
constitution guaranteeing suffrage for black Americans.
Delegates were to be elected by all citizens eligible to vote, including blacks.
In 1867, black voters were registered in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana,
Mississippi and South Carolina where they comprised a majority of the
electorate.
A state would be restored to the Union when it organized a new government
and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.
President Johnson’s Congressmen dislike Johnson because
He opposed their reconstruction plans.
He vetoed many of their bills and was tactless in dealing with them.
He had been a Southern Democrat before the war and was therefore
distrusted.
Congress adopted the Tenure of Office Act in 1867 which said that the
President could not dismiss important civil officers without the Senate’s
consent. This measure was passed by the Radical Republicans in order to
Prevent Johnson from firing officials that he disliked.
Find grounds for impeachment.
Reduce the President’s power.
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President Johnson, believed that the law was unconstitutional, demanded the
resignation of Secretary of war Edwin W. Stanton.
In 1868, the house of Representatives impeachment the President, i.e., they
charged him with wrongdoing, claiming that he violated the Tenure of Office
act when he dismissed Secretary Stanton. Actually, Stanton never left
office.
The Senate, acting as a court, tried Johnson on the impeachment charges.
35 Republicans and 0 Democrats voted for removal while 7 Republicans and
12 Democrats voted against the measure.
With a vote of 35 to 19, the radical Republicans failed, by a margin of one
vote, to muster the two-thirds vote necessary for Johnson’s removal.
Johnson remained in office until the end of his term, but his influence had
ended. Public opinion, however, turned against the radical in Congress.
The Tenure of Office Act was later repealed by Congress after Ulysses S.
Grant succeeded Johnson.
The Southern states were readmitted to the Union while under the rule of
“carpetbag” governments.
Unscrupulous northern politicians who came to the south carrying their
possessions in bags made of carpet and who rose to power with the aid of
the black vote were known as “carpetbaggers.”
Southern whites who cooperated with the carpetbaggers in gaining control
of the state governments were called “scalawags.”
The government controlled by carpetbaggers, scalawags and black politicians
carried the conservative South into the area of public spending (for schools
and care for freed slaves), raised land taxes from 400 to 1600%.
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Many of these political were dishonest. They deceived unsuspecting blacks
and grew rich by corruption (reimbursed race track losses, increased
salaries, free products) and bribery.
Southerners hated scalawags and carpetbaggers.
Hiram Revels, an educator and Freeman’s Bureau administrator, admirably
served in Jefferson Davis’ Senate seat as the first black Senator.
Controlled by carpetbag governments, seven southern states met the
requirements laid down by congress and were readmitted to the Union by the
summer of 1868. Tennessee had already been admitted as the first state to
return to the Union. Three states remained to be admitted.
In 1869, Congress passed the 15th Amendment which granted blacks the
right to vote. The Amendment stated, “The right of citizens of the united
states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any
state on account of race, color or previous conditions of servitude.” This
amendment did not apply to women.
The three remaining states (Mississippi, Texas and Virginia) were required
to ratify both the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments in order to be
readmitted. In 1870, Congress approved their readmission after they met
the requirements.
The Republican Party consolidated its control of the federal government as
reconstruction drew to a close.
In the Election of 1868, Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil war hero from Illinois,
won the election with a large majority of electoral votes but only a very
small majority of popular votes.
The black vote helped Grant to win the election and, thus, the Republican
Party, after the election, successfully secured the ratification of the 15th
Amendment to protect their support among black southerners.
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Beginning with the Election of 1868, the Republican Party, for an entire
generation, “waved the bloody shirt,” accusing the Democrats of treason and
secession.
As President, Grant supported the severe Congressional plan of
reconstruction, made unwise appointments that resulted in political and
financial scandals, and was beset by economic problems in the Panic of 1873.
Despite charges of corruption surrounding his administration, Grant was
reelected in 1872.
White southerners regaining control of their state governments in the south
through the use of violence and other means.
Fear of violence kept many freedmen from the polls. Blacks, scalawags and
carpetbaggers were threatened with beatings, lynchings and destruction of
property by secret societies of white southerners such as the Ku Klux Klan.
The power of the KKK was effectively reduced when the Federal government
passed the Force Acts which
Gave the President power to use federal military forces to control secret
societies.
Allowed the President to call upon state militias for help.
Provided for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus (which had
required government officials to show just cause why a prisoner should not
be released).
More young whites who had not participated in the war (and therefore had
the right to vote) reached the voting age each year.
In 1872 Congress restored the rights of suffrage (the right to vote) and
office holding to all but approximately 500 former confederates through
the Amnesty Act.
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The reconstruction governments in several states were thus replaced by
governments representing traditional white southern rule. “Radical
Reconstruction” was drawing to an end.
End of Reconstruction
By the 1870’s northerners began to lose interest in southern reconstruction.
Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner died, reducing Radical Republican
leadership.
They began to neglect the interests of Black Americans, feeling that blacks
perhaps needed supervision (conditions in the north in terms of black/white
relations weren’t much better).
They also yearned for economic ties with southern businessman.
Rutherford B. Hayes won the scandalous Election of 1876 and, shortly after
his inauguration, Hayes recalled the soldiers, thereby ending military
occupation of the south and bringing the Reconstruction Era to an end.
Republican-controlled carpetbag governments in the south were swept out of
office with the end of military rule.
Results of Reconstruction
The south resented the Republican Party and, for the next 75 years, the
southern states cast their votes almost solidly for the Democratic Party
(the “Solid South”).
Black citizens in the south
Were not able to share in the agricultural, industrial and educational
progress of the new south.
Suffered from discrimination.
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Blacks were prevented from voting in many instances due to the use by white
southerners of
A. poll taxes
B. literacy tests
C. grandfather clauses
D. intimidation
They were kept apart (segregated) from whites through legislation known as:
“Jim Crow laws”, which required segregation in housing, transportation
facilities, public accommodations, and schools.
“Plessy v. Ferguson” (an 1896 Supreme Court decision) in which the court
ruled that it was not a violation of the 14th amendment to provide “separate
but equal” facilities for black Americans.
Thomas Nast attacked white Southern Democrat through cartoons.
Despite setbacks, black southerners sought to improve their lives.
Booker T. Washington built Tuskeegee Institution in Alabama to offer
blacks vocational education which he felt was more vital to their interests in
seeking jobs than classical or liberal arts education.
Ida Wells Barnett led a crusade against lynchings by whites.
W. E. B. DeBois earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University and believed that
protests against inequalities and injustices, along with appeals to black pride,
could change existing conditions. He wrote The Souls of Black Folk, appealed
for broader educational opportunities for blacks and criticizing Booker T.
Washington’s emphasis on vocational education.
The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
worked through the courts to end disenfranchisement and other violations
of civil liberties. It remains a viable force in the 20th century.
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The Urban League secured equal job opportunities for black workers and
fought against housing discrimination. This organization continues to
function admirably today.
Most freeman sought reunion with family members and attempted to create
separate churches.
South Carolina afforded the opportunity for freeman to purchase land which
had been purchased by the state’s land administration from planters and also
produced an aggresome referendum of reforms through the efforts of the
only black majority to control one legislative house in the South during
reconstruction.
The “New South’ that emerged from the reconstruction period differed
significantly from the Old South.
Agriculture was more diversified.
Along with the staple crops of cotton, tobacco and rice, new crops such as
corn, wheat, vegetables, fruits and peanuts were raised.
Plantations were subdivided by the planter and rented to
A. tenant farmers, who supplied their own provisions.
B. Sharecroppers, who supplied only their labor and who received
only a portion of the crop that was raised. Most freedmen
preferred to become sharecroppers rather than wage earners
because of the freedom and economic independence the system
afforded, even though cotton cultivation produced very little
money for the sharecropper or the landowner. Most freedmen
remained in the South their home.
Industrialization developed due to
A. and abundance of raw materials
B. cheap labor
C. low taxes
D. abundant water power
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Cotton mills previously located in New England were attracted to the south
in pursuit of cheap labor (over 4 million freed slaves).
Cities grew as industrial development occurred.
A. Durham, North Carolina
B. Richmond, Virginia
C. Nashville, Tennessee
D. Atlanta, Georgia
E. Birmingham, Alabama (the “Pittsburgh” of the South) produced
a great iron steel industry.
Public spending for education, transportation and other services emerged in
contrast to the pre-war South that that had frowned on government-funded
projects and real estate taxes.
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Unit Six: The Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Lesson 1: Congress and the Republican Party dominated political
developments during the Gilded Age (Twain’s “Age of Excess”).
Political parties of the Gilded Age
Republicans, usually civil war veterans who won close victories, drew support
from New England Protestants, upper Midwestern farmers, industrialists,
northern veterans and blacks.
They emphasized order and the welfare of the community over the individual
rights.
During the Civil War the Republican Party had expanded the federal
governments power with the
A. Creation of the land grant subsidies for the founding of colleges through
the Morrill Act.
B. Settlement of the Midwest with the Homestead Act.
C. Formation of a National Bank.
D. Creation of a National Currency.
Democrats drew support from southerners, northern bankers, importers,
urban Irish Catholics as well as Polish Italian (eastern and southern
European) immigrants.
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Third parties included the Greenback Labor Part, Liberal republicans and the
Populists.
Although the Republicans seemed to dominate the era, control of the House
of Representatives changed six times from 1860 to1890 and Presidential
elections were typically very close due to the Democratic Party’s dominance
in the South, the Republican advantage in the west and balance between the
two parties in the North and Midwest.
Fierce competition between the parties led to the highest voter turnout in
American History (roughly 80%) during the decades following the Civil War,
even though the parties agreed on most issues.
The Presidential administration of the Gilded Age have been described as
“custodial” due to Congressional control of government affairs. Their
weakness has been attributed to a lack of leadership qualities, the absence
of strong Congressional majorities and impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Ulysses S. Grant’s administration (Republican, 1869-1877) was characterized
by immense corruption at the federal, state and local levels of government.
Election of 1868
Ulysses S. Grant, the Civil War hero from Illinois and his running mate,
Schuyler Colfax of Indiana were nominated by the Republicans at their
convention in Chicago. Grant was the most popular man in the North.
The Democratic candidate, Horatio Seymour, a former governor of New
York, and his running mate, Francis P. Blair, Jr. of Missouri, denounced the
Radical Republican reconstruction program as unconstitutional and
condemned the radicals for their attempt to remove Johnson from office.
The platform called for war bonds to be redeemed with greenbacks, rather
than gold as wealthy easterners wanted, and thus, promised “cheap money”
(more currency in circulation) in order to help agrarian debtors in finding
loans. However, Seymour, who represented wealthy Eastern interests, lost
any change of winning the election after he repudiated this “Ohio idea” in his
party platform.
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Grant won the election with a large majority of electoral votes (214 to 80)
but only a very small majority of the popular vote.
i.
The Black vote helped Grant to win the election and, as a result, the
Republican party secured the passage of the 15th Amendment to
protect the party’s support among black southerners – Most white
voters had supported Seymour
ii.
Beginning with the Election of 1868, the Republican Party, for an
entire generation “waved the bloody shirt” accusing the Democrats of
Treason and secession while encouraging northern veterans to “vote as
you shot”. The “bloody shirt” directed attention away from the real
issues
As Grant supported the severe Congressional plan of reconstruction and
made unwise appointments that resulted in political and financial scandals
a. The Credit Moblier scandal emerged after stockholders in the Union
Pacific railway awarded inflated contracts to the Credit Moblier
construction company in which they along with several congressmen
were stockholders. Two congressmen were censured and the VicePresident was lampooned for accepting shares of stock and dividends
from the company
b. The “salary grab” (1873) was an attempt by congressmen to grant
themselves a 50% pay raise and a $5,000 bonus. Public uproar led to
the measures repeal
c. Treasury Secretary William Richardson gave John D. Sanborn a
contract to collect overdue federal taxes but allowed him to keep half
the money as a “commission”
d. High public officials, including Grant’s personal secretary were guilty
of not paying excise taxes on liquor. Grant successfully convinced the
jury to acquit his secretary
e. Secretary of War William Belknap extended trading rights with
Indians to a friend who paid the secretary of War a bribe to maintain
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the right to sell junk to the Indians. Belknap resigned in order to
avoid the impeachment voted unanimously by the House of
representatives
f. On “Black Friday,” September 24,1869, Millionaires “Jubilee Jim” Fisk
and Jay Gould, in an effort to gain control of the gold market, drove
the price of gold upward after receiving assurances from the naïve
Grant and his brother, who they had bribed, that the federal
government would not interfere in the gold markets. However, as
businessmen faced ruin, the Treasury released gold to the public, thus
preventing Fisk and Gould from gaining monopoly control over the gold
market. A Congressional investigation cleared Grant of any
wrongdoing.
g. Urban political machines during the Gilded Age maintained their power
by rewarding their constituents with patronage (jobs and political
opportunities), by controlling the corrupt criminal justice system and
improving the infrastructure (particularly transit systems), services
and facilities of the cities. They ignored the poor housing conditions
of immigrants. In New York, the political machinery was controlled by
William Marcy “Boss” Tweed and the Democratic political machine,
Tammany Hall. By securing the support of immigrants through the use
of jobs, food, money (bribes), threats to opponents and illegal
electoral practices, the “Tweed ring” was able to extract close to
$100 million from the city of New York. Tweed was indicted after
being exposed by the New York Times (which rejected his bribe of $5
million), ridiculed by the cartoons of Thomas Nast and Horace Greeley
and ultimately jailed in 1872.
h. Grant’s accepted cash gifts exceeding $100,000 as well as houses
from admirers and appointed dozens of his family members to wellpaid government positions.
Election of 1872
Many Americans, including many Republicans, opposed Grant due to the
corruption of his administration (much of which had not yet been disclosed)
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as well as his reconstruction policy but he was renominated with a new
running mate, Henry Wilson.
The Liberal Republican Party, composed of Republicans opposed to Grant,
nominated Horace Greely of New York and his running mate, B. Gratz Brown
of Missouri. Greely, a brilliant writer but poor choice of candidates, called
for an end to the military occupation of the South and civil service reform.
The Democratic Party supported Greely in an effort to unit with dissenting
republicans against Grant, even through Greely had been a severe critic of
the Democratic South. Greely’s support suffered because he had signed
Jefferson Davis’s bail bond.
Grant won reelection (286 to 66 electoral votes) and Greely’s electoral votes
were cast for other candidates as he died before the electoral college
convened. Liberal Republicans influenced Congress to grant amnesty to most
Confederates, reduce tariffs and to institute civil service reform.
The Panic of 1873 was the result of widespread business speculation,
financed by irresponsible banks that collapsed when their loans were nor
repaid.
Civil war financier Jay Cooke’s banking firm went bankrupt and thousands of
businesses failed, resulting in widespread unemployment.
As the economy fell into depression, debtors called for inflationary “cheap
money” such as had been poured into the country during the Civil war, even
though much of the money had since been withdrawn and the act which had
authorized its printing had been declared unconstitutional (a decision later
reversed after Grant increased the number of Supreme Court justices to
sixteen).
“Second” or “hard” money creditors did not want their loans to be repaid
with depreciated dollars and successfully opposed the calls for cheap money.
They persuaded Grant to veto a “cheap money” bill and, through the
Resumption Act of 1875, forced the government to withdrew greenbacks
from circulation and to redeem paper currency in gold.
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Debtors called on the government to adopt the inflationary policy of the
free and unlimited coinage of silver. Western agrarian interests felt that
monetary inflation- “cheap money” –would raise the prices for farm produce,
benefit silver interests with the expansion of silver mining and weaken the
power of eastern creditors who supported the gold standard.
Despite higher market values, the Treasury argued that silver was worth
only 1/16th that value of gold and, in1873, Congress halted the coinage of
silver dollars (the “Crime of ‘73”) with the approval of President Grant, a
second money advocate.
The reduction of silver dollars and greenbacks, known as “contraction,” had a
deflationary impact on the economy but restored the government’s credit
rating as well as the face value of the greenbacks.
The second money policies of the Republican Party adversely affected the
party politically as the Democratic party gained control of the House of
Representatives in 1874 and led to the creation of the Greenback Labor
party.
Due to the corruption that consumed his two terms in office, Grant has
often been portrayed as the worst President in U.S. history. Henry Adams
later wrote that Grant “should have lived in a cave and worn skins.”
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican; 1877-1881) won the controversial Election
in 1876 with a minority of the popular vote and, shortly after his
inauguration, concluded the military occupation of the south and brought the
Reconstruction Era to an end.
After Grant was discouraged by Congress from running for a third term, the
Republicans nominated former governor and war veteran Hayes of the swing
state of Ohio, with William A. Wheeler of New York as his running mate. The
Republican Party divided between conservative “Stalwarts” who, led by New
York Senator Roscoe Conkling, used patronage for votes, and reform-minded
“Half-Breeds led by Congressman James G. Blaine, who attacked patronage.
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The Democratic Party nominated Samuel J. Tilden who had helped to destroy
“Boss” Tweed’s corrupt domination of New York politics. His running mate
was Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana.
The Greenback Labor Party, opposed to the gold standard and calling for
“cheap money” to help debtors, nominated Peter Cooper of New York of
President and Samuel F. Carey of Ohio for Vice-President.
Tilden polled a larger number of popular votes and electoral votes but was
one electoral vote short of a majority. The nineteen electoral votes from
South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana were not yet counted because of
election disputes.
The Electoral Count Act of early 1877 called for the governor of any state
with more than one set of election returns in the future to approve an
official set and it also created an electoral commission comprised of five
Supreme Court justices, five representatives and five senators to address
the dispute in this election. After the commission of eight Republicans and
seven Democrats awarded Florida’s disputed votes to Hayes by a vote of 8
to 7, despite the fact that Tilden had more of the state’s popular votes,
Congressional democrats threatened a filibuster. In the “Compromise of
1877,” the Democratic members of Congress allowed Hayes to receive the
remainder of the disputed electoral votes, thus becoming President in return
for a Republican promise to withdraw any remaining federal troops from the
south, to share patronage appointments with southern Democrats and to
fund a southern transcontinental railroad line (a promise never kept). Hayes
became known as “01’ 8 to 7.”
As a result of the efforts of the Greenback Labor Party, the Bland-Allison
Act of 1878 called on the Treasury to coin $2-4 million worth of silver
bullion each month.
Hayes confronted striking railroad workers in 1877 in the nation’s first
major strike, the “Great Upheaval,” which began in West Virginia and
Maryland.
In response to violence by Denis Kearney’s Irish followers against Chinese
immigrants, Congress restricted Chinese immigration in 1879. Although
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Hayes vetoed the Chinese Exclusion Act as discriminatory, the legislation
was enacted after Hayes left office.
Faced with certain defeat within his own party, Hayes chose not to run for
reelection.
James A. Garfield won the election of 1880 as a Union veteran and a “log
cabin” candidate.
The Republican ticket of Garfield, a civil war general from the swing state of
Ohio, and his Stalwart running mate from New York, Chester A. Arthur,
called for protective tariffs and minor civil service reforms. Garfield was
nominated on the 36th ballot after the reform delegates failed to secure the
nomination for James G. Blaine.
The Democrats nominated war hero Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania
and his running mate, William H. English of Indiana. Although they spent
much of the campaign attacking Garfield’s involvement in the Credit Mobilier’
scandal, they called for tariff reform and were opposed to the protective
tariff.
The Greenback Labor Party also nominated a civil war general, James B.
Weaver, with B.J. Chambers as his running mate.
Garfield won the election with a slim majority of the popular vote but with a
comfortable 214 to 155 electoral vote margin. He was assassinated in June,
four months after taking office, by Charles Giteau, a mentally-unbalanced
civil service applicant who was frustrated over his failure to secure an
appointment as an ambassador. Garfield died on September 19 1881, the
second President to die from an assassin’s bullet. Though he was found guilty
and hanged, Giteau’s trial brought the insanity defense to the public eye.
Chester A. Arthur (Republican; 1881-1885) was Garfield’s Vice-President and
seceded him after the assassination.
The Pendleton Act reformed the civil service (public jobs) selection process
as a result of Garfield’s death. It brought an end to the spoils system
through which party loyalists (“spoilsmen”) expected government jobs from
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their party’s elected officials and required prospective appointees to take a
civil service exam. It established a merit and tenure system. Arthur’s
reforms surprised his Stalwart wing of the Republican Party.
Arthur attempted to crack down on corruption.
Grover Cleveland became the-first Democrat to be elected since Buchanan in
1856 by winning the Election of 1884, the dirtiest campaign in American
history.
Governor Cleveland, of New York, running with Thomas A. Hendricks of
Indiana, was known for his honesty and integrity but was smeared in the
campaign when it was revealed that he may have fathered an illegitimate
child in New York. Even though the mother had been involved with other
men, Cleveland honorably made financial arrangements for her and thus, was
branded as the father. The Republicans shouted: “Ma, Ma, where’s my pa?”
The Republican nominee, Congressman James G. Blaine of Maine, was accused
of supporting “big business” interests and was tainted by his refusal to
condemn a Republican minister who referred to the Democrats as the party
of “Rum, Romanism and Rebellion,” smearing New York’s Irish-Catholic
community as drunkards with an unfit religion and no patriotism. Blaine’s
association with a corrupt deal involving a southern transcontinental railroad
led many reform-minded Republicans to support the Democrats and they
were, thereafter, referred to as “mugwumps” (Indian for “holier than thou”).
Blaine, like Cleveland, did not serve in the Civil War and, as a result, the
“bloody shirt” was not a big issue in 1884. Blaine’s running mate was John a.
Logan of Illinois.
Benjamin Butler (of Civil War fame) and his running mate, A.M. West
represented the Greenback Labor Party while John P. St. John and William
Daniel ran on the Prohibition Party ticket.
With the help of the “Solid South,” Cleveland won by a very narrow margin
of popular votes and with a 219 to 182 margin in electoral votes.
a. Cleveland hated corruption and continued the reform
movement in civil service. He fought against patronage,
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though he ultimately granted the wishes of many
office-seeking Democrats.
b. He enjoyed the support of the business community as
an advocate of laissez-faire philosophy and opposed
pension-grabbing veterans, despite the strength of the
Grand Army of the Republic, the postwar veteran’s
organization.
c. The Interstate Commerce Act (1887) regulated, for
the first time, the transportation industry and created
a federal regulatory commission. The Interstate
Commerce Commission prevented the railroads from
making “pool” arrangements, giving rebates, charging
unjust rates or different prices per mile based on
distance. The Interstate Commerce Commission did not
have the power to fix railroad rates but did require
them to be reasonable and just. The Interstate
Commerce Act represented a significant shift from
earlier federal policy which granted subsidies to
companies building the transcontinental railroad.
d. Cleveland retrieved 81 million acres of Western land
for the government, much of which had been corruptly
grabbed earlier by cattle barons and railroads.
e. Cleveland oppose the high tariff rates which had been
in effect since the Civil War and which were the source
of the government’s embarrassingly high surplus of
funds in the Treasury. Despite opposition from big
business and his own politically-sensitive Democratic
Party, he called for lower tariffs to reduce the surplus
and to promote competition in a market dominated by
monopolies. Tariff rates became the issue in the next
election.
Benjamin Harrison (Republican; 1889-1893) was a weak President who
reversed Cleveland’s policies after winning the Election of 1888 with a
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minority of popular votes. The primary issue in the election was protective
tariff rates.
Republicans argued that high tariff rates encouraged native American
manufacturing, protected the jobs of workers and guaranteed higher wages,
even though it did not protect them from job competition that came from
immigrants. Democrats maintained that a high tariff yielded windfall profits
for big business and discriminated against southern and western farmers
who consumed finished goods and sold their produce without any government
assistance on the world market.
Harrison, the Indiana grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and his
running mate, Levi P. Morton of New York, argued that the tariffs protected
the interests of America over European interests and portrayed the
Democrats as pro-British, weakening the traditional Irish support of the
Democratic Party. The Republicans also used the tariff issue to scare
millions of dollars in contributions out of big business and purchased votes in
Indiana and other “swing states” with the money.
Though Cleveland, which his new running mate, Allen G. Thurmond of Ohio,
polled more popular votes than Harrison (5,540,365 to 5,445,269), Harrison
garnered more electoral votes (223 to 168) and won the election.
The Prohibition Party nominated Clinton B. Fisk and John A. Brooks while the
Union Labor Party nominated Aaron J. Streater and C. E. Cummingham.
Harrison, nicknamed the “White House Ice Chest” for his cold handshake,
was a witness to Congressional control of the government during his
administration.
a. Harrison continued the practice of patronage as he appointed James
g. Blaine as Secretary of State and filled other key positions with
Republicans.
b. Despite a bare majority in the House of Representatives, the
Republicans were forcefully led by Speaker of the House Thomas
“Czar” Reed of Maine, who ignored Democratic attempts to frustrate
the legislative process with roll calls for a quorum. Under Reed’s
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leadership, the “Billion Dollar Congress” (the first Congress to
appropriate a billion dollars) funded many projects to eliminate the
surplus, rather than cutting tariff rates which were the source of the
surplus.
i) At the urging of a civil war amputee service as Commissioner of
Pensions, Congress dramatically increased the number of pensioners
and rapidly eliminated the Treasury surpus.
ii) The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed, due to public pressure, to
protect the public from monopolies but it was most often used against
labor unions (“U.S. v Debs”).
iii) The Sherman Silver Purchase Act increased the money supply and
pleased indebted farmers by guaranteeing that the federal
government would buy 4-1/2 million ounces of silver each month. It
was a response to limitations on silver purchased imposed in 1878 by
the Bland-Allison Act. Ironically, big business, which hated the cheap
money policy, supported it due to a compromise which would also
produce higher tariffs, which indebted farmers hated but supported
in order to insure the coinage of silver which would help them repay
their debts.
iv) Congress passed the highest protective tariff in American history
up to that point through the McKinley Tariff Act. As higher tariff
rates drove prices upward, farmers suffered, resulting in a landslide
victory for the Democrats in the 1890 Congressional elections. As the
conservative, pro-tariff McKinley and other Republicans left office in
defeat, nine Congressmen from the militant Farmer’s Alliance took
their seats.
Grover Cleveland (Democrat; 1885-1889; 1893-1897) remains the only
President to have served non-consecutive terms after winning the Election
of 1892.
The Democrats nominated former President Cleveland and his running mate,
Adlai Stevenson of Illinois.
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President Harrison and his running mate, Whitelaw Reid of New York,
promoted protective tariffs, despite the losses that the Republicans had
suffered in the 1890 Congressional elections.
The People’s Party, better known as the Populist Party, emerged in the
Election of 1892 to express the anger and concerns of southern and western
farmers. The party’s Presidential nominee, James B. Weaver of Iowa, and his
running mate, James G. Field of Virginia, pronounced the Populist Party’s
“Omaha Platform.”
a. The Populists, like the Greenback Labor Party, called for an increase
in the money supply through the free and unlimited coinage of silver
at a ratio of sixteen to one.
b. The party wanted to nationalize (transfer to public ownership) the
railroads, telegraphs and telephones. They believed that western
farmers were exploited by eastern bankers and capitalists.
c. A progressive income tax would require wealthier citizens to pay a
greater percentage of income to the federal government and would
reduce the tax burden of the poor.
d. Farmers could store their crops in a national system of warehouses
e. Political reforms would indicate the direct election of U.S. Senators.
f. The Populists wanted shorter working hours.
g. Calling for restrictions on immigration, white, Anglo-Saxon
Protestants, who claimed to be the “native Americans,” blamed
unemployment on cheap, immigrant labor.
h. The Populists lost the election of 1892 but made a significant showing.
i. Populism failed because its reforms did not appeal to Midwestern
middle class farmers or urbanites in all regions, despite having
charismatic leaders as well as strong support in the South and West.
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John Bidwell and James B. Cranfill were the Prohibition Party Candidates.
Labor unrest over low wages, which were supposed to improve with the
increasing tariff rates, erupted into strikes. The Carnegie Steel strike near
Pittsburgh resulted in deaths and injuries before troops were called in to
break up the disturbance. Harrison suffered at the polls as Cleveland
collected 277 electoral votes to Harrison’s 145. The Populist Party became
one of the very few third parties to gain electoral votes as they gathered 22
electoral votes from six Midwestern and western states. White southerners
continued to support the Democratic Party while black southerners became
increasingly disenfranchised by state governments.
Cleveland faced immediate troubles upon taking office and his second term
was far less successful than his first.
a. The Depression of 1893, the most severe economic downturn of the
century, emerged as a result of over speculation, labor unrest,
depressed farm prices and the loss of American credit abroad as a
result of unrest over silver coinage. The financial panic which
precipitated the depression was similar to those which caused the
depressions of the 1830’s and 1870’s.
i) Unemployment was widespread as business and railroads failed.
ii) Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act because, as
the government bought large quantities with legal tender notes and
the notes were exchanged by the people for gold, the Treasury’s
supply of gold fell to dangerously low levels while the supply of
depreciated silver increased.
iii) The repeal of the Sherman Silver-Purchase Act only partially
halted the drain of gold as bank notes continued to the presented for
redemption in gold. As the nation was threatened with going off the
gold standard and no longer backing its money with gold, a move which
would adversely affect foreign trade, a Wall Street syndicate led by
J.P. Morgan made a $65 million to the government, restoring
confidence in the nations’ currency. However, debtors and others who
supported silver coinage cried that the government had sold out to
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the rich. President Cleveland’s decision to align himself with eastern
baking interests who advocated the gold standard and to support the
repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act led to a loss of support for
the President among farmers.
iv) Jacob S. Coxey of Ohio and his “Army” of unemployed “Coxeyites”
marched on Washington, demanding public works programs for the
unemployed and an increase of $500 million in the money supply. Coxey
and his “officers” were arrested for walking on the grass.
b. Cleveland lost the support of organized labor when he sent troops to
keep mail moving during the Pullman strike in Chicago.
i) Eugene V. Debs, who would later run for President five times as a
Socialist, had organized 150,000 railway workers into the American
Railway Union. In 1894 the Supreme Court ruled in the case “U.S. v.
Debs” that the provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act applied to
labor unions.
ii) Attorney General Olney sent troops to Chicago to keep the mail
cars running. After defying a court order to halt their strike, Debs
and other strike leaders were arrested and jailed for six months for
contempt of court. Populists and debtors joined the labor movement in
attacking the court’s injunctions which helped big business.
c. The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act (1894) kept protective tariff rates
relatively high, though it supposedly repealed the McKinley Tariff.
Cleveland blasted the diluted bill as a betrayal of the Democratic
Party’s promise to lower tariff rates dramatically but signed the bill
as it provided rates lower than the McKinley Tariff. The income tax,
included in the bill to satisfy the public, was declared unconstitutional
in 1895 by the Supreme Court.
d. Cleveland countered powerful lobbies and interest groups and stopped
“pension grabs” by veterans.
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e. As a result of the depression, the Republicans won by a landslide in
the 1894 Congressional elections and seized control of the House of
Representatives.
William McKinley (Republican; 1897-1901) defeated the Democratic-Populist
candidate, William Jennings Bryan, in the Election of 1896.
McKinley, a civil war veteran, experienced Congressman from Ohio and
author of the McKinley Tariff, was joined on the Republican ticket by his
running mate, Garret Hobart of New Jersey.
a. His campaign was bankrolled and directed by a wealthy Ohio iron
Manufacturer, Mark Hanna, who took on the role of President-maker.
Hanna believed that government existed to serve business and, as
business prospered, its wealth would “trickle down” to labor.
b. The “Big Business” Republicans campaigned on the depression issue,
supported protective tariffs, and, in order to pacify the silver coin
advocates, called for internationalism bimetallism, i.e. an international
gold and silver standard, knowing that the world community would
never support the proposal.
c. McKinley conducted a quiet, “front porch” campaign.
The Democratic Party nominated the young, magnificent orator and
Congressman William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska for President and Arthur
Sewall of Maine as his running mate.
a. President Cleveland, very conservative and very unpopular due to the
repeal f the Silver Purchase Act, Pullman strike and Morgan gold deal,
very unpopular, did not attend the convention dominated by the silver
interests.
b. Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” convention speech remains the most
memorable convention speech in American history. He attacked the
“sound money” advocates of the gold standard in shouting: “You shall
not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you shall
not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” He joined the debtor’s call
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for the “free and unlimited coinage of silver” at a ratio of 16 ounces
of silver to one ounce of gold, despite the fact that the market ratio
of 32:1 would make silver dollars only worth fifty cents.
Conservative “sound money” Democrats, feeling that their party had been
consumed by un-Democratic interests, nominated John Palmer and Simon
Buckner on the National Democratic ticket.
The Populists, with their message stolen by the Democrats, endorsed Bryan
but named Thomas E. Watson of Georgia as their Vice-Presidential
candidate.
Bryan forced the public’s attention onto the unlimited coinage of silver as
the campaign issue, making hundreds of speeches on its behalf. As a
response, Mark Hanna, who had become the Republican National Chairman,
joined together with other “Gold Bugs” to raise the most formidable
campaign fund in U.S. history - $16 million, compared to the Democrat’s $1
million.
Although the Democratic-Populist candidate Bryan mad a strong showing, he
lost to the “sound money” Republicans by 271 to 176 electoral votes. The
election demonstrated that agrarian votes alone could not win an election,
for urban voters, rich and por (who feared the inflation that would come
with silver coinage) proved that the political power of the country had
shifted from rural to urban areas, to big business, to the urban middle class,
and to conservative economic philosophy. The federal government in he late
1800’s followed a conservative, “sound money” monetary policy, refusing to
issue currency not backed by gold or silver and reducing the amount of
currency convertible into specie. Republicans would dominate American
politics until the 1930’s.
Tariff rates were raised under the Dingley Tariff of 1897 which “Czar
Reed” pushed through the Congress.
Prosperity which emerged in 1897 made it easier for the Republican
Congress to pass the Gold Standard Act in 1900, assuring the country of the
gold standard and burying the cries of the pro-silver, debtor interests. New
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deposits of gold and moderate inflation eased the problems of debtors as
the economy soared.
The Gilded Age concluded with McKinley’s election.
Lesson 2: The Gilded Age was accompanied by the settlement and
industrialization of the western frontier.
Western industry was diversified in part, due to environmental influences
and became a legendary part of the American experience.
Glamorous ‘Wild West” myths have often overshadowed the reality.
The railroad industry has been characterized as carving an empire, under
constant attack from robbers and Indians.
Mining camps and towns, known for prostitutes, saloons, lawlessness and
individuals who “struck it rich,” usually afforded wealthy only to those who
had the resources for large-scale mining. Vigilantes often provided the only
source of justice.
The cattle drives of the “Old West” have been the source of innumerous and
glamorous myths. Cowboys confronted long, hot days and cold nights more
often than rustlers and Indians. Cattle towns were known for their
“gunslingers” who provided the thrills of an occasional gunfight.
The myth surrounded the pioneers who settled and crossed the Great Plains
usually involving Conestoga wagons, Indian attacks and a tranquil farm life.
Actually, the pioneers moved westward in much larger Pittsburgh wagons,
which could carry up to 5000 pounds of freight, confronted Indians
infrequently and faced a hard, difficult life in trying to farm the harsh
Plains.
Perhaps no entity of the “Wild West” is an romanticized as the outlaw. Jesse
James and Billy the Kid were simply bad men broke the law and were killed as
a result.
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The frontier diminished as communication and transportation brought the
east and West together.
The Pony Express (1860) provided relays of express riders, including William
F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, who carried the mail 2000 miles on swift horses from
Missouri to California in ten days. The cost was $10.00 ounce.
The first telegraph to the Far West was completed in 1861.
Stagecoach lines (1858) carried passengers and mail from Missouri, where
the railheads stopped, to California.
Conestoga wagons drawn by oxen or mules carried heavy freight westward.
Two railroad companies were licensed to link the Pacific coast to the east
with the transcontinental railroad.
Irish immigrants, working for Leland Stanford’s Union Pacific, built
westward from Omaha, Nebraska into Wyoming Utah.
The Central Pacific pushed eastward from Sacramento, California across the
mountains into Nevada and Utah, using many Chinese laborers. During this
period, 25% of all of the immigrants to the United States were Chinese.
Rough and icy terrain often slowly progress to as little as 8 inches/day.
In May, 1869 the two railway lines met at Promontory Point near Ogden,
Utah, and drove a golden spike into the ground with a silver hammer, making
it possible to travel from the Atlantic coast to Sacramento, California and,
then, to San Francisco, by rail on the first transcontinental railway in the
Western Hemisphere.
By 1893, the Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Great
Northern railway companies also completed railroad lines to the Pacific
Coast.
Railroad mileage in the United States doubled from 35,000 to 70,000 miles
in the eight year period following the Civil War. The government provided
financial assistance to the railroads by paying per mile subsidies for track
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laid on flat land ($16,000), hilly land ($32,000), and mountainous land
($48,000). The railroads also received 10 to 20 square miles of land,
complete with a 400’right-of-way. The assistance given to the railroads by
the U.S. government seemed to dispel the myth of laissez-faire free
enterprise during the era. James J. Hill’s Great Northern railroad company
was the only company to be built without government aid.
Railroads became the nation’s largest industry and the first to use modern
corporate management systems.
By 1890 the railroad network included 166,000 miles of track.
The coal and steel industries emerged as a product of the railroad industry,
which would purchase half of the entire coal and steel output produced in
America by 1900.
The railroad industry divided the nation into times zones in 1883 in order to
bring efficiency to scheduling.
The railroads stimulated urbanization and immigration. Western farmers
benefited from the access to eastern markets provided by the railroad
companies.
The Mining Industry of the Rocky Mountain frontier
Industrialization aided farmers in their efforts to conquer the western
frontier. The west reciprocated by providing food supplies, gold and silver to
help in the expansion of the Industrial Revolution.
Few miners “struck it rich.” Indeed, retailers were the most successful
entrepreneurs, catering to the miners with exorbitantly-priced goods
($1.00/egg) Large companies which funded large mining operations were the
most profitable mining enterprises.
The gold and silver from the western mines, in part, financed the Union war
effort during the Civil war and fueled the explosion of industrial growth in
the East after the war.
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In the tradition of the “49’ers” that had flocked to California, more than
100,000 “Fifty-Niners” rushed to Pike’s Peak in the unorganized territory of
Colorado (“Pike’s Peak or Bust!”) for gold and silver and to the Comstock
Lode, the largest silver mine in the world, in Nevada. Gold and silver led
Nevada into statehood in 1864.
Silver was abundant in Utah.
In the 1860’s gold was found in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Arizona.
Gold found in the Black Hills of South Dakota led the government to abandon
its efforts to protect the Sioux Indian living in the region and to open the
entire area to white settlers in 1876.
Mining communities sprang up and presented an image of lawlessness, saloons
and rough living conditions. Law-abiding citizens formed local governments
and organized private (vigilante) police forces. In Tombstone, Arizona, a
silver mining town, the most famous gunfight in “Wild West” history erupted
at the D. K. Corral on October 26, 1881.
Wyatt Earp, his brothers and his close friend, “Doc” Holliday (a dentist)
went to the corral to enforce a local gun control law among members of the
Clanton gang.
Shooting began without warning, As a result, Billy Clanton and the
McLowerys lay dead. Virgil and Morgan Earp were wounded and Doc Holliday
had minor wounds
Only the two leaders, Wyatt Earp and Ike Clayton were unhurt
Doc Holliday later died at the age of 35 of tuberculosis and alcohol abuse
Other “Wild West figures did not always live up to their mythical reputation
After the legendary Jessie James was killed near Northfield Minnesota, his
brother and fellow gang member, Frank James, became a shoe salesman
Bat Masterson became a sports writer
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“Wild bill” Hickok, a lawman, gunfighter, card player and drinker was shot
and killed in a saloon in Deadwood, south Dakota holding a pair of Ace’s and a
pair of 8’s, a “dead man’s hand.”
Eventually the successful communities formed territories and were admitted
as states while abandoned mining towns became “ghost towns”
Mining became a permanent industry in the Rocky mountain region. Other
rich mineral resources were found, including copper, lead and zinc
The mining frontier demonstrated reverse migration as Californians
migrated eastward to other rocky Mountain mining communities
Additional contributions to the area’s economic development came from
timber resources, grazing lands, lumbering and cattle/sheep raising
The “Cattle Kingdom” emerged on the Great Plains frontier in the 1860s
The vast, grass covered prairie from the Missouri River to the Rockies was
thought to be unsuited for agriculture and, thus was ignored by the early
pioneers
When Americans settled Texas in 1821, the found herds of half-wild cattle
roaming the plains
By 1865 there were 5 million of these “longhorns’ descendents of vast herds
left behind by the Spanish pueblos (plantations)
a. The Texans rounded up the longhorns, established ranches and
raised the animals for beef, hides and tallow
The cattle industry remained a local industry for many year
due to prohibitive costs and difficulties transporting cattle to
Eastern markets
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b. The Texans learned how to handle cattle from the Mexican
vaqueros (cowboys) and Indians
Mexican and black cowboys accounted for one-third of the
cowboys
These cowboys made their living with the aid of a hourse, a
saddle, a rope and a revolver
c. The Civil War and Northern industrial expansion created a
demand for beef
By 1866, Texas cattle ranchers rounded up 250,000 longhorns,
branded them with the owners mark and drove them to the
nearest Railroad, located in Sedalia, Missouri
There the cattle was loaded on to cattle cars and shipped
eastward – this netted huge profits for the cattlemen
The era of the huge cattle drives began as cattle men rounded
up their cattle in the spring and drove them northward across
the Great Plains to the “Cow Towns” at the Rail centers
Along the way the cowboys could face; stampedes, rustlers
(cattle thieves) and hostile Indians along the way
The Cattle industry of the Great Plains facilitated the development of other
industries
a. The railroads profited from carrying cattle to the eastern markets
The Kansas Pacific Railroad served the cow towns of Abilene,
Ellsworth and Ellis while the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
served Dodge City and Wichita (all of which were located in Kansas)
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The railroad companies competed for territory close to trails like the
famous “Chisholm Trail” (leading from San Antonio, Texas to Abilene)
Cow towns became famous for their lawlessness, saloons, gunslingers,
crowded jail and “boot hill” cemeteries
Dime Novels as well as the Buffalo bills Wild West Show promoted
the myths of the cowboys, Indians and cowtown gunslingers of the
Old West
b. Prices fell as supply exceeded demand and cattlemen who arrived in
Cow towns in the fall suffered losses
Therefore they began to allow their herds to graze on “open range”
(unfenced, unpopulated and government owned grassland) near the
cattle towns in order to take their fattened cattle to the spring
market before cattle drives arrived
c. Refrigerated railroad cars stimulated the growth of the cattle
industry in the 1870s and facilitated the emergence of the
meatpacking centers in Kansas city and Chicago
i.
Meat Packers like G.F. Swift and Philip Armour avoided the
problem of weight loss during shipment by butchering cattle in
the Midwest and shipping meat eastward on refrigerated
railcars
ii.
The Union stockyards, opened in Chicago in 1865, was the
worlds largest meatpacker until surpassed by the Armour
company in 1900
iii.
Early in the 20th century, unsanitary methods of the
meatpacking companies became the subject of progressive
legislation
iv.
Slaughter houses also produced soap, glue and fertilizer
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The open-range cattle industry only lasted for about twenty years (1860s1880s) and declined due to overproduction and falling prices due to the huge
supply of cattle
i.
From 1869 to 1879, four million longhorns were driven to Kansa
ii.
Overgrazing, severe winter weather and a severe drought in
1885 that led many cattle to starve, creating huge losses for
cattlemen
iii.
Conflict with homesteading farmers, who fenced in their claims
on the open range with barbed wire, invented by Joseph Glidden
The Farmers Frontier
1) The Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted in order to encourage the
settlement of the Midwestern territory ( the remainder of the
Louisiana Territory)
Settlers filed claims to a quarter-section (160 acres) of public land
The Homesteader could keep the land in return for living and working
on the land for five years
The act was less successful than desired due to environmental
hardships as well as loopholes in the law
The Homestead Act did not generate vibrant agriculture in the
Midwest because farmers need more of the region’s dry land than the
160 acres afforded by the Homestead Act
By 1900 two thirds of the farms that had been created by the
Homestead Act on the Great Plains had failed
2) Western farmers used products of the new industrial age including
steel plows, railroads, barbed wire, factory made windmills.
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McCormick reapers as well as techniques such as “dry farming” and
new methods of irrigation
3) As more farmers arrived, the open range became enclosed fields of
corn and wheat. By 1890 cattle raising was restricted to fenced
ranches in areas unsuited for crops
4) Houses were built of sod or dug out of hills in the early stages of
settlement on the Great Plains. Goats often grazed on the tops of
Houses
5) One of the most difficult problems faced by the Plains Farmer was
the environment. Freezing winters and burning summers were
characterized by droughts, tornados, plagues of insects, constant
annoying wind and a scarcity of water
6) In April 1889 Oklahoma was open to homesteaders referred to as
“Oklahoma Sooners” or the “89ers.” Lands previously owned by Indian
tribes were confiscated and redistributed in a wide open land rush
The Frontier was declared closed by the Census Bureau in 1890
A. In 1893 Fredrick Jackson Turner’s The Frontier in American History
would pronounce the frontier experience as good for America
He stated it was good because of the values like equality and
individualize which were displayed by the westward pioneers who were
extending the nation’s Manifest Destiny
He stated “Up to our own day American History has been in a great
degree the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area
of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American
settlement westward, explain American development”
Turner felt that the West would serve as an outlet for discontented
eastern workers, but the West was actually settled in large part by
Midwesterners and southerners
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Turner also rejected the idea that America’s national character and
democracy were shaped by European political institutions
B. States joining the Union after 1865 included Nebraska (1867),
Colorado (1867), North Dakota (1899), South Dakota (1899), Montana
(1899), Washington (1899), Idaho (!890), Wyoming (1890), Utah
!896), Oklahoma (1907), New Mexico (1912), and Arizona (1912). (Of
course, Hawaii and Alaska were added to the Union in 1959)
Lesson 3: An American tragedy unfolded as the status of western Indian
tribes deteriorated during the late 1800s due to the Transcontinental
Railroad, the extermination of the buffalo, military campaigns by the U.S.
Army and alcoholism
Government policy towards the Plains Indians changed as westward
expansion increased the demand for Indian Lands
In the 19th century, the Great Plains region was seen as the “Great American
desert” unsuitable for farming, and given to the Indians as “One Large
Reservation”
1. The large, separate reservations of the “Concentration” policy were
eventually replaced by the “Small Reservation “ policy which isolated
the Native Americans in an effort to teach them the ways of the
white man
a. 54,000 Northern Plains Indians were moved to the Black Hills, a
South Dakota Wasteland
b. 86,000 Southern Plains Indians were sent to Oklahoma to live
on lands confiscated from the formally Eastern Indians (that
had moved there in the 1830s) because the Eastern Indians had
supported the confederacy during the Civil War
2. Attempts by the United States government to settle the various
tribes onto “reservations” did not initially succeed because
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a. Many tribes refused to surrender their hunting grounds
b. The Indians resented being confined to specific areas
c. White settlers seized reservation land for farms
d. Dishonest government agents cheated the Indians in terms of
food and allowances
3. During the western railroad boom after the Civil War farmers began
to move westward while miners migrated toward the East
As both groups merged on the Plains, by the 1860s, the Indians began
to leave their reservations in order to defend their homelands
a. The Plains Indians were great horsemen and warriors
Using ash bows of three feet in length, they could drive an
arrow through a buffalo
They could fire twenty five arrows in the time that was
required for a soldier to fire two musket shots
Soldiers equipped with Colt six shooters, first introduced in the
1850s, were no match for a skilled bowman
b. Skilled warriors attacked Wagon trains, burned settlements
and fought federal soldiers in an effort to save their homes and
way of life
c. The soldiers and settlers attacked the buffalo, upon which the
Plains Indians were dependent on , and, as a result, threatened
the Indian way of Life
i. Hunters such as William “Buffalo Bill” Cody popularized the sport
of shooting buffalo
Some buffalo were shot for the five dollars that each fur would
bring, while others were shot by train passengers for “sport”
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ii. From 1872 to 1874, three million buffalo were killed each year.
Their bodies littered wagon routes and railroad tracks
iii. 13 million buffalo roamed the Great Plains in 1865, after the
railroad divided the buffalo range North and South
The southern herd disappeared by 1878, by 1883, the northern
herd was reduced to 200
By 1903 there were only 34 buffalo remaining on the plains
Most of the Indian wars were a result of broken promises by white settlers
and the government
Many Americans echoed the sentiments of General Phil Sheridan (of Civil
War fame) who proclaimed “The only good Indian is one with a bullet
between his eyes”
The tragic conflict came to an end in 1890
A. The Sioux had been promised territory in the Black Hills of South
Dakota and Wyoming
But they were pushed from the land when gold was discovered in the
region
Resistance reached a peak under the leadership of Sitting Bull and
Crazy Horse when…
A force of 2,500 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors ambushed 276 Calvary
under the command of General George Armstrong Custer
This occurred at the Little Big Horn River in Montana in 1876
1. The flamboyant Custer had graduated at the bottom of his
class at West Point and fought bravely in the Civil War
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He became the youngest Brigadier General (age 23) in U.S.
Army History
He refused to drink alcohol, designed his own uniform and
always traveled with 2-3 dozen dogs
He once disobeyed orders in order to visit his wife
2. After slaughtering Cheyenne Indians and 875 Indian
ponies at the Washita River Massacre, he was almost
court-martialed because the event claimed the lives of 20
of his men
3. With his eyes on the presidency, Custer disobeyed direct
orders to avoid direct engagements with the Indians
In June 1876, he attempted to “ride through the Sioux
Nation”
Although Custer’s Last Stand was a decisive victory for
the Indians, the rebellious Sioux and Cheyenne were
forced to surrender in the next four months
B. The end of the Plains Indian resistance came after three centuries
of fighting against Europeans and Americans
1. The Navaho were defeated by Colonel Kit Carson in 1864-65
2. Most of the Apache surrendered in 1873, after two years of
fighting
Geronimo, typically a peaceful farmer, led a few Apache in
fierce resistance until 1888
3. The Nez Perce, led by Chief Joseph, fought a brilliant four
month campaign across rugged terrain in Idaho and Montana
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They surrendered a few miles from Canada, their destination
4. The last Sioux, under Sitting Bull, surrendered in 1881
5. The Indian wars came to an end in the northern plains at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota in December 1890
The Sioux, despondent over their wretched living conditions,
embraced the teachings of Wovoka, a Paiute “messiah”
These ceremonies included the Indian Sun “ghost dance” feared
by whites
Soldiers opened fire on the Indians after disarming them,
slaughtering 90 men, 200 women and children
6. By 1890, the Indian Wars had subsided, the tribe had been
forced into reservations and the government tried to
“Americanize” the Indians
Helen Hunt Jackson published A Century of Dishonor in 1881,
drawing attention to the persecution that the Indians had
faced
Despite the resettlement of the Indian population onto
reservations, often characterized by mistreatment, many
Americans still felt that there was an “Indian problem”
They placed demands on the government to “Americanize” the
Indians, despite their centuries old Indian culture
Partially in response to A Century of Dishonor the Dawes
Servility Act of 1887 granted citizenship and 160 acres of
farmland
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This was awarded to each Native American head of family or
single adult male that abandoned his tribal government and way
of life and took up farming
Many Indians refused the offer
Although the legislation was intended to help the Indians by
assimilating them into “American Culture”
It would later be viewed as a travesty because it almost
destroyed tribal integrity
Indians suffered from discrimination for many years
Lesson 4: The Rise of Industrialism in America in the late 19th century
produced remarkable growth under “Captains of Industry” the migration of
the American population from rural to urban areas, soaring levels of
immigration and abuses which adversely affected laborers and farmers
The Rise of Industrialism
A. Industrial growth (1850-1900) was tremendous in the second half of
the 19th century
1. The Civil War stimulated industrial expansion
2. Technical improvements and inventions led to the introduction
of new machinery into business and industry
3. Wealthy Europeans and Americans eagerly invested capital in
American industry
4. High tariffs protested American industry from foreign
competition
5. A network of railroads opened up national markets
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6. Abundant natural resources afforded raw materials
7. A continuous flow of new immigrants provided industry with an
ample, cheap labor force
8. An increasing population offered an expanded market for
manufactured products
B. The Gilded Age produced many inventions that contributed to the
industrial growth in America
1. Telegraph (Samuel B. Morse)
2. Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell)
3. New Power sources (Oil and Electricity)
4. Life improving inventions: motion pictures, phonograph, light
bulb, tickertape, kinescope, D.C. Current – Thomas Edison
(1,300 U.S. and International patents)
5. Bessemer Process ( a new process for making large quantities of
steel cheaply) – Henry Bessemer
6. Mass Production (Henry Ford) including the techniques of:
a. standardization of parts (first invented by Eli Whitney
in 1798)
b. assembly lines, first used by Ford in automobile
production, conveyor belts carried manufactured
articles as workmen attached parts to the article
c. labor saving machinery
d. division of labor through which each worker preformed
only one operation instead of producing the whole
article himself
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7. Urban innovations – the trolley and skyscraper
C. New products were merchandized through a variety of new retail
techniques
1. Specialty shops emphasized a single type of product
2. Chain stores (F.W. Woolworth) passed on savings from large scale
purchases to consumers
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company produced the first
grocery store chain (A & P)
3. Department Stores sold goods in separate departments within
the store (John Wannamaker, Marshall Field)
4. Mail-order houses with catalogs sold products by mail
(Montgomery Ward, Sears, Roebuck)
5. Advertising in newspapers and magazines promoted interest
6. Packaging eliminated the need to measure the product being sold
and helped create an awareness of brands
7. Recent 20th century developments include supermarkets, shopping
centers, credit sales and discount houses
D. New Forms of business organization emerged with industrialism
1. Single Proprietorships were small enterprises owned by
individuals. Most wage earners in the 1860s and 70s worked in
these enterprises characterized by close relationships with
employers
2. Partnerships offered the advantage of greater capital
resources but liability remained with the individual in the
events of lawsuits or other civil action
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3. Corporations consisted of three or more persons that applied
for a charter from the state government, sold shares of stock
(certificates of ownership) and paid dividends (sharing the
profits of the company with the stockholders i.e., the owners)
Corporations were seen as individuals by the law and ,
therefore, entitled to 14th Amendment protections
A corporation provided many advantages, including:
Limited liability to the individual stockholders, who cannot be
forced to pay off a bankrupt company’s debts
Perpetual Life A corporation dies not end with the death or
resignation of the owner
The ability to raise large sums of money by selling stock
Corporations created some distinct disadvantages by creating
monopolies and consolidations which stifled competition
Corporate leaders often wielded excessive power over
government officials
i. A monopoly consisted of a group of
corporations which gained control over an
area of business, leading to the restraint of
free trade and subsequently, the loss of
competition which is required to keep prices
low
ii. Pools were companies who shared
opportunities among themselves. Pools had
no legal charter like corporations and were
declared illegal in interstate commerce in
1887
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iii. Trusts combined several corporations into a
single organization that issued trust
certificates of ownership
iv. Holding companies controlled several
companies but did not engage in production
v. Interlocking directories occurred when
directors of one company were board
members of another company
vi. Mergers emerged in the 20th century as
companies absorbed other companies
E. Business leaders that emerged with the industrial revolution believed
in individualism, the “Gospel of Wealth” and “Social Gospel,” feeling
that, in a competitive society, only the fittest survived
The theory of Natural Selection was applied to the late 19th century
industrial giants
1. “Captains of Industry” also known as “robber barons,”
drove competitors out of business and overworked their
employees
The 19th Century, particularly the Gilded Age, created
sharper class distinctions
2. “Big Business” also embraced laissez-faire economics,
calling for limites on government’s role in the economy in
order to allow the “invisible hand” of supply and demand
forces to steer the economy forward
However “big business” did not complain when the
government helped the railroads. The states were the
first governmental entity to regulate the railroads and
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large corporations often used the 14th Amendment to
defend themselves against state regulations
Defined as a “legal person” a corporation could not be
denied rights without due process of law
3. Big Business owners typically created their enterprises
through either “horizontal” and “vertical” integration
Horizontal Integration combined several firms in the
same business into a single corporation
Vertical Integration involved the acquisition of all of the
various businesses upon which a corporation relied to
function as a business
4. Andrew Carnegie, the “Steel King” along with his
associate, Henry Clay Frick, dominated the iron and steel
industry from his vertically integrated Pittsburg based
company
Carnegie expressed the Gospel of Wealth philosophy in
the North American Review in June 1889. stating “Thus is
the problem of Rich and Poor, the laws of accumulation
will be left free. Individualism will continue, but the
millionaire will be the trustee for the poor; intrusted for
a season with a great part of the increased wealth of the
community, but administering it for the community far
better that it could or would have done for itself.”
Carnegie and others would contribute large portions of
their wealth to philanthropy
5. John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company (the nations
first trust) controlled 90% of the American oil business
and made Rockefeller the world’s first billionaire
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Prior to the emergence of holding companies, his
Standard Oil Trust was a large mechanism whose
trustees controlled oil companies in several states in
order to evade the laws of states like Pennsylvania and
Ohio which restricted corporation
Rockefeller also invested in banking
6. Philip D. Armour, Nelson Morris and Gustavus Swift built
the meat packing industry
7. J.P. Morgan, head of the largest private banking and
securities house in America, purchased Carnegie’s steel
company in 1901
Through mergers, created the nations first billion dollar
company, U.S. Steel, a 14 billion interlocking directorate
that controlled most of the nations steel production
He gave money to the U.S. Government in 1896 and 1907,
bought bankrupt railroads and contributed a large
collection of artwork to the Metropolitan Museum
8. James B. Duke formed the American Tobacco Company, a
trust that dissolved in 1911 and reorganized
9. The Dupont family became the leading producers of
gunpowder, chemicals and dyes, plastics and synthetic fibers
10. George Westinghouse invented the airbrake and later worked
with Nikola Tesla or Croatia who invented the D.C. motor
11. Isaac Singer patented his sewing machine in 1851 and created
one of the first modern manufacturing companies
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The growth of the transportation industry contributed to the rise of
industrialism
1. Railways spread throughout the country and became the
nation’s largest industry by 1900. Cornelius Vanderbilt (New
York Central), James J Hill (Great Northern), Leland Stanford
(Union Pacific), Edward H. Harriman and Collis R Huntington
became Railroad giants
2. Charles and Frank Duryea constructed the first gasoline
powered vehicle in America in 1903
3. Henry Ford pioneered the automobile industry which became
the nations largest industry in terms of product value
His introduction of the moving assembly line in 1914 into his
automobile factories revolutionized the process of mass
production
It also reduced the number of hours and costs required to
produce his famous Model T (while enabling him to raise wages)
4. The first successful flight in a heavier than air machine by
Orville and Wilber Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in
1903 led to the development of the aircraft industry
5. Fredrick Winslow Taylor pioneered the principle of scientific
management, asserting that reorganizing the production
process by subdividing tasks would accelerate production
It also lessened dependence on any individual employee due to
the emergence of modern machinery which required less
training
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The Labor Movement emerged in America from abuses produced by
industrial society
Problems associated with Industrial Workers
1. New owner-worker relations: in huge factories, owners very
seldom knew their workers, their families or the condition of
their life
Because of a readily available labor market and the absence of
close relationships, it became very difficult for workers to
“bargain” with employers over wages and working conditions
2. Company towns, Many companies owned entire towns and tied
the factory workers to the company through a structure of
indebtedness to company stores
3. Technology created structural unemployment and boring,
repetitious labor by replacing manpower with machines
The mechanization of factory work during the last half of the
19th century required semiskilled labor that provided by skilled
workers as well as unskilled workers who received training
Mechanization produced lower prices but did not produce more
leisure time for the labor foce
4. railroads gave factory workers access to large markets thus
increasing competition between goods and for wages
5. The “business cycle” with its periodic peaks (boom periods) and
troughs (recessions) caused “periodic unemployment” that its
not structurally permanent but rather, dependent on economic
conditions
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6. The closing of the Frontier (1890) drove many families to the
cities, subsequently causing wages to decline as Low wages/long
hours
David Ricardo’s “Iron Law of Wages” stated that, in a capitalist
economy workers would exist on subsistence wages due to the
laws of supply and demand
Karl Marx viewed industrial workers in a capitalist economy as
slaved to the production line, because industry owners were
becoming wealthy “off the sweat of another man’s brow”
He also stated that this type of labor alienated the worker
from his inner self and his creativity
7. Immigration (from Europe, China) drove unemployment and
housing costs upward as “native” Americans competed for jobs
and housing with the immigrants
Important Terms relating to Labor
1. Arbitration: The Process of an impartial person judging a
dispute and whose decision bound both parties
2. Blacklist: A list circulated by employers to keep union agitators
from obtaining employment
3. Boycott: An organized effort by labor to discourage the
purchase of goods or services from a company involved in a
labor dispute
4. Checkoff: The deduction of union dues by an employer from
the wages of union members
5. Closed Shop: A plant where only union members may be hired
263
6. Collective Bargaining: Discussions between representatives of
labor and management for the purpose of peaceably settling
disputes
7. Company Union: An organization of employees dominated by the
employer
8. Featherbedding: The practice of forcing an employer to use
more workers than the job actually needs
9. Fringe Benefits: Gains for labor other than wage increases and
improved working conditions (employer-supported pension plans,
free medical care, paid vacations)
10. Injunction: A court order requiring a party to do, or refrain
from doing, a certain act (a strike)
11. Jurisdictional Strike: A strike arising from a dispute between
two unions fighting to represent the workers
12. Lockout: The shutting of a plant by an employer for the
purpose of forcing the workers to meet his terms
13. Mediation: An attempt to settle a labor dispute through the
efforts of an impartial person or agency
14. Open Shop: A plant that employs both union and nonunion labor
15. Picketing: Parading by union members around a factory or store
in order to inform the public of a labor dispute and to
discourage persons from entering the building
16. Scab: A nonunion worker hired to replace a striking employee
17. Secondary boycott: A boycott aimed at a company not directly
involved in a labor dispute
18. Seniority: Right attained by a worker through length of service
264
19. Shop Steward: A person chosen by the workers of a particular
shop or department to represent them in handling of grievances
20. Strike: An organized work stoppage by employees to compel an
employer to meet their demands
21. Union Shop: A plant that may hire both union and nonunion
workers but may retain nonunion workers only if they agree to
join the union within a given time
22. “Yellow Dog” Contract: Am agreement in which an employee
promises not to join a union
Solutions to Labor Problems
1. The National Labor Union, founded by William Sylvis in 1866,
successfully bargained for an eight hour workday for Federally
–employed laborers and mechanics
2. The Knights of Labor
a. Was founded by Uriah Stephens in 1869 among Philadelphia
Garment workers
b. Tried to unite American workers into one great union and to
“secure to the toilers a proper share of the wealth that they
create, more of the leisure that rightfully belongs to them”
The Knights of Labor wanted to replace capitalism with workerowned businesses organized as cooperatives
Anyone could join the Union including skilled and unskilled
workers, radicals, farmers, blacks and women
265
c.
Used strikes and boycotts as weapons against management but
preferred settling disputes between mangers and laborers
through arbitration
d. Induced Congress to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
and to repeal the Contract Labor Law (1885)
e.
Witnessed the explosion of growth to 700,000 members under
Terrance Powderly’s leadership
f.
Failed because they lacked an effective political agenda due to
their commitment to traditional American republican ideology
rather than the view that they were an oppressed proletariat,
because of the use of force by business leaders, ethnic
divisions and the upward mobility of many workers
g.
Lost many skilled workers to the American Federation of
Labor after the Haymarket Square Bombing of 1886
This happened in Chicago during the McCormick Harvester
Company strike
An event in which policemen were killed, many people were
injured and which led to executions and the labeling of the
Knights and other labor groups as violent anarchists
3. The American Federation of Labor
a.
Was founded in 1886 by Samuel Gompers, who remained its
leader until 1924
b. Became the leading organization of workers in the United
States
c.
Was a federation of separate national craft unions composed
of skilled workers who were organized by craft or tade rather
than by industry
266
d. Bargained collectively, called strikes, managed its own affairs
and remained aloof from politics, preferring to emphasize pure
unionism
e.
Called for an eight hour workday, six day work week, improved
working conditions, workmen’s compensation and higher wages
f.
Later in 1955, merged with the Congress of Industrial
Organizations which believed that all the workers in an
industry – skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled should be
organized into a single industrial union, regardless of craft
The CIO was formed in 1938 with John L Lewis, the head of the
United Mine Workers, as its first president
Unions often faced Public Opposition
1. Many Americans felt that employers had the right to hire and
fire at will
2. “Closed” shops only permitted a business to hire union members
3. Union leaders were perceived as power hungry
4. The Haymarket affair, in which policemen were killed during a
union protest, turning public opinion against the unions
5. Immigrants were not received well by the unions and felt that
the United States despite problems, offered relatively good
working conditions vis-à-vis Europe
6. Women and blacks were excluded from many unions
7. Unions were considered to be bastions of radical ideology
(Anarchism, Socialism and Communism)
267
8. By 1900, organized labor’s image became more positive
Bitter Struggles took Place between Labor and Big Business as the Labor
Movement was involved in a Number of Violent Strikes in the Late 1800s
1. In the Railroad Strike of 1877, the nations First Major Strike,
eastern railroad workers tried to prevent the trains from
running
Eventually, they were forced to return to work and accept a
wage reduction
2. The Homestead Strike (Homestead, Pennsylvania) occurred
when workers of the Carnegie Steel Company struck in 1892
Strikebreakers were hired to resume steel production under
the production under the protection of the state militia
After five months, the strike collapsed when the men accepted
the company’s terms
3. Workers at the Pullman Company’s sleeping-car manufacturing
plant near Chicago went on strike in 1894 with support of
railroad employees who refused to handle any train hauling
Pullman cars
After the strikers halted trains, violence erupted and President
Cleveland dispatched Federal troops to restore order and keep
the mail service from being disrupted
Strike leaders were arrested when they refused to obey an
injunction forbidding them from interfering with mail
transportation and interstate commerce
The strike was broken
268
4. In the Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902, the United Mine
Workers struck after mine owners refused to recognize the
union or to discuss a wage increase
When President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to seize and
operate the mines with federal troops to avert a fuel shortage
The owners agreed to allow an impartial commission to
arbitrate the dispute and the miners called off their strike
The miners were awarded an increase in wages but their
demand for union recognition was rejected
The Plight of the Farmer during the Gilded Age
Farmers faced many problems during the rise of industrialism
1. Overproduction due to new lands, machinery and agricultural
technology, caused the price of farm products to decline while
other prices remained high
This was the primary cause of the farmer’s problems in the late
19th century, the supply of agricultural products increased as
the price decreased
2. High operating costs and, as a result, farmers had specific
grievances against railroads, banks, state governments and
grain elevator operators
3. High Mortgages
4. High Interest Rates
5. Shortage of money, farmers were advocating an increase in the
money supply (cheap money)
269
This position was stated in the platforms of both the
Greenback Labor Party and the Populist Party
Farmers believed that the shortage of money was their primary
problem
6. Low prices received from the farm product distributors
The Farmers responded to their Problems through Organization and
Legislation
1. The Farmer’s Alliance was a militant political party
2. The Patrons of Husbandry was the first major farmers
organization
3. The Grange, a national organization with local chapters in every
community, provided farmers a place to meet to discuss
problems and enjoy recreation
Founded by Oliver H. Kelly in 1857, the Grange influenced
legislation that fixed maximum rates for…
Grain storage in elevators and warehouses and regulated
railroad freight rates
When the Supreme Court ruled that a railroad, as an interstate
carrier, could not be regulated by a state
Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act
The Grange also attempted to reduce costs and increase the
income of the farmers by organizing cooperatives
270
A group of farmers could sell directly to the consumer (thus
avoiding the distributor) and buy equipment in large quantities
at lower prices
Cooperative failed due to big business resistance, poor
management and no capital
4. The “Granger Cases” led to the Supreme Court ruling (Munn v
Illinois 1877) that state legislatures had the right to regulate
business that affected the public, namely railroads
5. Farmers learned the key to power was organization
6. Farmers attempted to capture control of the Democratic party
from the reactionary “Bourbon” Democrats
7. The Populist Party addressed the needs of farmers, as did
eloquent speakers like Mary Elizabeth Lease of Kansas
8. The Homestead Act of 1862, gave the farmers free land
9. The Morrill Act (1862) gave land to the states to create
Agricultural and Mechanical colleges
10. The Department of Agriculture (1862) helped the farmer by…
Conducting research on animal and plant diseases,
Fighting destructive insects
Discovering new crops and plant varieties
Operating experimental farms
Analyzing Soil composition and
Publishing literature on farming
271
11. The Hatch Act (1887) granted agricultural research money to
the states
12. The Smith Level Act (1914) provided county extension agents
Life for the Farmer improves at the Turn of the Century
Farm prices rose due to demand for American farm produce from abroad
and due to our expanding urban population
After the discovery of Gold in Alaska increased the amount of currency in
circulation, the farmers lost interest in the silver question and other
political movements
Life in the New South after the Civil War
During the 1800s the economy of the New South continued to be dominated
by agriculture
This was characterized by a dependence on cotton cultivation and a system
of black labor as most free slaves remained in the South
Most engaged in tenant farming and sharecropping
The New South produced, however, the diversification of agriculture as well
as the emergence of urban and manufacturing centers
The textile industry finds a home in the South due to the regions tax
benefits and cheap, non union labor
272
Immigration Soared at the Opening of the 20th Century
1. Most of the immigrants who came to America earlier in the 19th
century moved from northern and western Europe
Irish and German immigrants who faced extensive
discrimination upon arrival, particularly Catholics, were often
portrayed as alcoholics
2. Most of the immigrants who came to America after the Civil
War came as unattached adults
They lived in highly mobile, highly populated ethnic
neighborhoods in the urban centers that were rarely
segregated by race or religion
Family ties usually determined their choice of occupation. Most
were Catholic or Jewish
3. From 1900 to 1910, immigration reached it highest level in
American history as close to 9 million immigrants (over twice
the figure for the previous decade) came to America
These immigrants came mainly from Southern and Eastern
Europe (Pole and Italians)
They arrived at Ellis Island in New York and other ports, often
with nothing but the clothes they wore
The Slavic eastern Europeans who immigrated to America in
Midwestern cities because the regions mass production
industries, including steel and meat packing, offered
employment for unskilled labor
273
Many women joined the workforce during the Gilded Age
1. Native-born white women who moved to cities during the Gilded
Age usually found employment in administrative positions (as
clerks or typists) and sales positions
2. Black women worked as maids, seamstresses or in laundries
3. Semiskilled immigrant women worked in factories
4. Educational opportunities also improved for women in the late
19th century
The condition of black Americans as the century drew to a close was defined
by the debate between Booker T. Washington, who advocated
accommodation, and W.E.B. DuBois, who called for confrontation
1. Washington, born a slave who was self-educated and self-made,
was America’s most prominent black American during the era
I his speech in 1895 in Atlanta, he proposed the “Atlanta
Compromise,” asserting that blacks should concentrate on self
help instead of equal rights
He stated: “In all things that are purely social we can be
separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand all things essential
to mutual progress.”
2. DuBois, who grew up in New England, believed a “talented ten”
should provide leadership to the black community and, thus, he
split with Washington over the path that black Americans
should follow
DuBois later helped to form the NAACP
274
3. Large members of blacks migrated to northern cities from 1890
to the outbreak of World War I because they faced terror,
racism and economic difficulties as sharecroppers in the South
The North provided freedom as well as the opportunity to gain
new work, often as scabs, in Northern industry.
However, economic opportunity was not a guarantee for each
generation of northern blacks
Lesson 5: The Progressive Era ushered in reforms to address the abuses
produced by the excesses of the Gilded Age
Formation of the Progressive Movement
1. The 1896 election victory of William McKinley and other “big
business” Republicans suggested that the reform movement had
no future
Prosperity and overseas expansion weakened the reform
movement from 1896-1900
2. By 1900 the Progressive Movement was succeeding the Populist
movement with new reforms in a bipartisan effort to restore
control of the government to the people
This was to correct the abuses of urban industrialism and to
define rules of conduct for business in order to insure equal
economic opportunity
a) The Australian ballot (the secret vote) placed all candidates on a
single sheet of paper (printed at public expense) and voters were
required to mark and cast their ballots secretly
275
b) The initiative enabled voters in a state to introduce legislation at
any time
c) The referendum compelled the legislature to place a bill before a
state’s voters for approval or disapproval
d) The recall allowed voters to remove an elected government official
before the expiration of his term
e) Direct primaries provided a nominating election in advance of the
regular election to prevent candidates from being nominated by a
few professional politicians
f) The 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Amendments which were ratified during
Wilson’s administration brought success to decades old reform
movements (Populists, suffragettes and prohibitionists)
g) City governments were reformed through the adoption of the
commission form of government
h) Jane Addams launched settlement houses which served as
temporary tenements for newly arrived immigrants: allowingthem a
period of adjustment to their new world
i) Many businessmen supported Progressive Era regulations because
the order which emerged from the intervention of the federal and
state governments produced stable orderly industry
The opposed socialism and subsides
j) During the Progressive Era the Supreme Court struck down several
state laws which restricted the work week and working conditions
as violations of the right of contract
276
Progressive Era Leaders
Progressive Era reformers at the State Level
1. Governor Robert “Fighting Bob” Lafollette of Wisconsin sought
support from farmers and working people in breaking the power
of the Wisconsin political machine
He taxed railroads and utilities, created regulatory
commissions, instituted a conservation movement employed
scholars to improve state government
2. Other progressive leaders at the state level included Joseph
W. Folk (Mississippi), Charles Evans Hughes (New York) and
Hiram Johnson (California)
Progressive Era Presidents produced a Wealth of Reform
1. Theodore Roosevelt, an Independent, energetic and politically
astute President (1901-1909), proposed several reform
programs in his “Square Deal” program
a) Election of 1900
i. Republican incumbent William McKinley chose Theodore
Roosevelt of New York, a war hero from the Spanish
American War, as his running mate
The Republican Party stressed Republican prosperity
and nationalism based on the empire acquired by the
United States in the 1898 War against Spain
277
ii. The Democrats chose William Jennings Bryan, who
stressed free silver while criticizing American
imperialism and the growth of trusts
iii. Eugene V Debs (Indiana) was the nominee of the
Socialist Party in five elections, including 1900
iv. Following the Republican victory, President McKinley
was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan
American Exposition in Buffalo
McKinley died on September 14, 1901
Upon hearing the news, Senator Mark Hanna, a fervent
admirer and financier of McKinley’s campaign exclaimed:
“Now look – that damn cowboy is President!”
v. Theodore Roosevelt became the youngest president in
U.S. History (at age 42)
b) Roosevelt claimed that he was “unhampered by any pledge,
promise or understanding of any kind” and that he would assure
that “every man has a square deal, no less and no more”
c) In 1902, the federal government, for the first time, stepped
into a labor controversy (in which striking coal miners were
requesting a nine-hour day and wage increase with the idea of
protecting all concerned interests – wage earners, the owners
and the public)
Roosevelt threatened to use military force if the owners did
not agree to the use of impartial arbitration
d) Roosevelt supported the claims of black politicians to federal
office, often for political advantage
278
He pushed for black delegates to Republican national
conventions and consulted Booker T. Washington
However, the status of blacks declined during the Progressive
Era due to the government’s lack of concern about racial
equality
e) In the Election of 1904, the popular president Roosevelt and his
running mate Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana easily defeated
the Democratic challenger Judge Alton Parker
f) Roosevelt’s antitrust activity earned him the nickname “Trust
Buster.” Under Roosevelt’s leadership, the federal government
began to regulate business practices in the interest of the
public welfare
g) Under Roosevelt’s direction, the Department of Justice
succeeded in dissolving the Northern Securities Company, a
powerful railroad holding company
h) In the interest of public health, the Meat Inspection Act
(1906) required government approval of all meat shipped from
one state to another and was produced by Congress with
President Roosevelt’s support
The Act was the result of Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle
which disclosed the unsanitary conditions of meatpacking plants
in Chicago
The Pure Food and Drug Act protected the public by prohibiting
the marketing of poisonous food and medicines.
Roosevelt also broke up the “beef trust”
i) In regulating railroads, the Roosevelt administration
strengthened the Interstate Commerce Act with the Elkin’s
Act (1903) which made it illegal for a shipper to accept a
rebate
279
The Hepburn Act (1906) which increased the power of the
Interstate Commerce Act in regulating other interstate
interests, rate fixing, free passes and accounting methods
j) Roosevelt rushed antitrust cases ahead of other Federal cases
with the Expedition Act and initiated 44 antitrust suits
Roosevelt believed that the size of a business combination was
not the primary factor in determining “good” or “bad”
The Supreme Court echoed this position when it ruled that the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act prohibited “all unreasonable
combinations in restraint of trade.”
k) The Department of Commerce and Labor was created
l) Conservation of natural resources was a high priority during the
Roosevelt Administration
i. The Newlands Reclamation Act provided money to build irrigation
projects that would reclaim wasteland
ii. Roosevelt met with state governors in a natural conservation
conference to discuss the preservation and development of
America’s natural resources
iii. The National Conservation Commission conducted the first
scientific study of the country’s water, forest, soil and minieral
resources
2. President William Howard Taft continued the reform movement when
he took office, despite his conservative nature
a) Election of 1908
i. The
Republican
Party,
acting
on
Roosevelt’s
recommendation nominated Secretary of War William
Howard Taft of Ohio for President
280
The Republican Platform emphasized: 1.) strengthening
the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887; 2.) strengthening
the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890; 3.) Conservation of
natural resources; 4.) Highway improvements and 5)
Tariff Revisions
ii. The Democrats once again, turned to William Jennings
Bryan
iii. Eugene V. Debs was renominated as the Socialist
candidate
iv. Taft won a dull race and Bryan became the only major
party candidate to lose three races for the presidency
b) The Taft administration launched 90 antitrust suits, dissolving
the Standard Oil Company and reorganizing the American
Tobacco Company’s tobacco trust
c) A postal savings bank system and a parcel post service were
undertaken
d) The Department of Labor was created
e) Civil Service was expanded
f) The Publicity Act required that contributions to campaigns for
federal election be made public
g) The Mann-Elkins Act placed telephone, cable and wireless
companies under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce
Commission (a function later given to the Federal
Communications Commission).
h) The 16th Amendment, ratified in 1913, authorized Congress to
impose an income tax
i) Taft created the Bureau of Mines
281
j) The Speaker of the House, “Uncle Joe” Cannon, conservative
who tried to block progressive legislation, was stripped of many
powers
k) Although under criticism, Taft provided assistance in the
conservation of natural resources, removing millions of acres of
land from public sale
3. President Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom programs produced
reforms
a) Election of 1912
i. A split in the Republican Party between the supporters of
Taft and Roosevelt
The Roosevelt supporters were unhappy with Taft
This led to the formation of a third party during this
election – The Progressive Party (The Bull Moose Party)
The Bull Moose candidate, Theodore Roosevelt advocated
New Nationalism which called for…
Labor Reforms (including the eight hour workweek and
prohibition of child labor
Tariff Reduction
Government control of unfair business practices
The initiative
The Recall
The Referendum
ii. The Republicans renominated Taft and Sherman
282
iii. The Democratic candidate, Governor Woodrow Wilson of
New York, a brilliant lecturer and authority in the fields
of law, government, politics and history, won the election
The Democratic Platform included:
Tariff Reduction
Banking reform
Laws benefiting workers and farmers and
Enforcement of stronger antitrust laws
b) Woodrow Wilson who saw “one third of the nation ill housed, ill
clad, ill nourished,” introduced progressive reforms at the
national level through his program of reform known as New
Freedom
i.
Wilson emphasized equality of opportunity
ii. Tariff Reform: The Underwood Tariff Act of 1913
reduced import duties to the lowest level since 1860 in
order to increase competition and thus decrease prices
and weaken monopolies
iii. The Federal Reserve Act (1913) provided for 12 Federal
Reserve Banks to cater to member national and state
banks and to control the money supply
iv. The Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) defined certain unfair
practices and strengthened the power of the federal
government to deal with them
Some of the items that were dealt with were…
The selling to favored purchasers at lower prices to
create monopolies, “tying” contracts that restricted
283
purchasing opportunities, interlocking directories for
companies that had more than a million dollars in capital
assets and monopolies created by stock purchases
The Clayton Antitrust Act endorsed labor unions and
farm organizations
v. The Federal Trade Commission was established to
investigate and stop unfair practices
vi. Several farm programs Like the previously mentioned
Smith –Lever Act) were passed during Wilson’s
administration along with programs to aid workers
(Adamson Act)
vii. The Progressive Income Tax was the product of the
16th amendment which was passed during Taft’s
administration but ratified during Wilson’s term
Income taxes eventually become the chief source of
federal revenue
viii. The direct election of U.S. Senators came with the
Ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913, replacing
the Constitution’s Article I procedure of having them
selected by state legislatures
ix. The 18th Amendment (1919) established
prohibition of alcoholic beverages.
national
Prohibitionists during the early 1900s believed that
alcohol consumption led to family problems, lower
productivity at work, prostitution and gambling
c) The 19th amendment (1920) granted women suffrage – the
right to vote – was the result of decades of effort by
American women to achieve greater rights
284
i. Suffragettes had worked for women’s
throughout much of the 19th century
suffrage
ii. Progressive Era supporters of female suffrage argued
that women’s traditional role in the home and family
justified the call for women’s influence in the
government, as well
iii. Many men feared that women’s suffrage would lead to
role reversal as men would be expected to perform
traditionally female duties in the home
iv. Other reforms reflecting issues that affected women
emerged, Margaret Sanger, also a suffragette, led a
crusade for birth control during the Progressive Era,
was indicted in 1914 for mailing contraceptive literature
and , in 1921, founded the American Birth Control
League
4. Wilson’s reform programs were popular and enabled him to be reelected in the Election of 1916, in a close contest with his
Republican opponent, Charles Evans Hughes
285
Unit Seven: The United States becomes a World Power
Lesson One
After a century of isolationism, the United States entered the world
political arena at the turn of the century with the victory in the Spanish
American War and its acquisition of an empire
I. The Spanish American War (1898)
Historiography; Historians have seen the Spanish American War as a
clear departure for the past because it represents the point of
American emergence into world politics (actually, a point where the
United States and the European powers assumed that American had any
interest in any world crisis)
The War brought an end to U.S. isolationism
The United States had not been involved in the international political
scene since the Treaty of Ghent (1814)
Reasons for the involvement of the United States Forces in the Spanish
American War
1. Political liberty in the Western Hemisphere (most
significantly)
2. Foreign Markets. Underdeveloped countries could “supply”
countries rather than targets for sale. Cuba produced $100
million worth of sugar each year
3. “White Man’s Burden.” Josiah Strong felt that it was the
historic duty (manifest destiny) of “Anglo Saxon America”
to “uplift and civilize” other lands
286
4. Social Darwinism. Many Americans believed that “strong
races” need warlike competition to remain strong
5. Increase the U.S. Sphere of Economic Influence
6. Create a political balance of power
7. Aid anti-monarchial revolutions
Events prior to the Spanish American War
1. The United States almost intervened in a Cuban revolt
against Spain from 1868-1878
2. The McKinley Tariff (1890) made sugar duty-free, thus
producing huge profits for Cuban planters and American
Sugar importers
3. In 1894, the Wilson-Gorman Tariff placed a duty on sugar
which crippled the Cuban economy and led to revolts in the
nation against the mother country, Spain
4. Spain began to tighten its control in 1895 because Cuba was
an essential part of the Spanish Empire
5. Throughout Latin America, Spain had established
a. Mercantilism, an economic system designed to increase the
wealth and power of the mother country through the strict
control and economic exploitation of colonies and other nations
b. Bullionism, i.e. the accumulation and storage of precious metals
(gold and silver) due to the belief that the world’s wealth is
limited
c. Haciendas (huge plantations) at which the native population was
enslaved to produce agricultural products for Spain
287
6. The Spanish exploitation of Cuba was sensationalized in the
United States by Newspaper publishers William Randolph
Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer
7. Jingoism (intense nationalism that is usually accompanied by
a hostile foreign policy resulted from the publications of
the “yellow press”
8. President McKinley remain committed to peace, despite his
expansionist views and pressure from the public
Events of the Spanish American War
Two incidents served as “sparks”
Number One
Cubans intercepted and gave to the American press a letter from the
Spanish minister to Washington (the De Lome letter) which described
President McKinley as a “cheap publicity seeker”
Number Two
The Battleship Maine blew up on February 16, 1898 and sunk after paying a
“courtesy visit” to Havana Harbor in Cuba during anti-American riots by
Spanish Loyalists
260 American lives were lost
The battle cry of the American citizens became “Remember the Maine”
(Actually, evidence suggests that the explosion was due to mechanical failure
rather than mines planted by Spain)
288
Neither the United States nor Spain wanted war but, due to public pressure,
President McKinley requested authority to use American troops on April 11,
1898 in order to create a stable government in Cuba
Congress declared Cuba independent and demanded Spanish withdrawal,
despite the fact that Spain had already conceded to previous American
demands for mediation
In its declaration of war, congress proclaimed the Teller Resolution which
stated that the United States would leave the government and control of
Cuba to its people (popular sovereignty)
Other rebellions and uprisings against Spain began in the Far East and the
Philippines as the war erupted
a. Admiral Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet of 10 ships in the
Philippine harbor of Manila without losing a single life
b. Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” conquered San Juan Hill
overlooking Santiago Bay, the location where the remaining
Spanish fleet surrendered
c. General Nelson Miles conquered Puerto Rico
d. Secretary of State John Hay called the “splendid little war”
Results of the Spanish American War
1. 5462 Americans died during the war, 379 died in combat;
the others died from disease
2. In the Treaty of Paris (October 1898, the United States
forced Spain to withdraw from Cuba and acquired the
Spanish territories of Puerto Rico, Wake Island, Guam and
the Philippines
The Senate ratified the Treaty in 1899
289
There were mixed opinion about the Treaty:
Many Americans did not want a colonial empire and opposed the treaty
The groups that most opposed the treaty were Anti-Imperialists, northern
Democrats and Reform minded Republicans
Libertarians argued that colonialism would violate the Declaration of
Independence and the Monroe Doctrine
Many noted that the Constitution provided no means of governing territories
that were not destined to become states
Racists said that Filipinos could not be assimilated (blended) into our culture
Strategists argued that the Far Eastern possessions would endanger
American security
Blacks opposed expansion because the “White Mans Burden” concept
suggested white superiority
Many people expressed support of the Treaty
Some people felt that the United States should not remove the flag from a
territory because this action may be interpreted as a sign of weakness
Manifest Destiny advocated suggested that it was the will of God for
America to Christianize the Philippines
Some worried about competition for these properties from Japan and
Germany
The business community wanted to expand trade in the newly acquired
territories
290
Perhaps the strongest argument for keeping the territories (especially the
Philippines) was that there was no alternative
i.e., the United States could not give the territories back to Spain or to
Germany and Japan
Some also argued that the U.S. Had no alternative because the natives in
these territories were “uncivilized” and therefore incapable of self-rule
A constitutional question arose…
Did the people living in the territories acquired from Spain have
constitutional rights equal to U.S. citizens?
The Insular Cases of 1901 distinguished between tow types of possessions
1. Incorporated territories destined for statehood (Hawaii,
Alaska) received constitutional rights
2. Unincorporated territories can be organized (Guam, U.S.
Virgin Islands) and governed by congressional legislation
OR
3. Unorganized (American Samoa, midway Island, Wake Island)
with no governance. These territories do not receive full
constitutional rights
Post War developments in Asia
1. Philippines
a. Filipinos rejected domination by the United States but an
uprising was defeated in 1902. The Philippines were initially an
unincorporated territory
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b. The Philippine Government Act of 1902 provided for an
assembly with veto provisions for the United States
c. The Jones Act of 1916 gave Filipinos the right to elect
members to both houses in their assembly
d. The Filipinos gained independence after WWII
2. Hawaii
a. Pearl Harbor was leased by the United States as a naval base in
1887
b. Responding to Queen Liliuokalani’s threat to end foreign
influence in Hawaii…
c. American sugar and pineapple trades started a revolution in
Hawaii which resulted with intervention by the U.S. Marines
and a new government in 1893
d. Hawaii was annexed to the United States as a territory in 1898,
during the Spanish American war
3. Samoa
a. After sharing ownership of the islands, the U.S. got complete
control of Samoa after WWI, with Pago Pago serving a s a chief
naval base
4. China
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a. The United States secured the same trading privileges of the
other nations
b. Extraterritoriality allowed American citizens in China charged
with violations to be tried in American courts in China
c. Open Door Policy (1899-1900); U.S. Secretary of State John
Hay sent a note to the six leading world powers
He asked them to agree that, within their sphere of influence
in China, there would be commercial equality
The nations agreed, insuring that all treaty ports would be kept
open and that tariff rates would be equal
Boxer Rebellion - The Boxers, a secret Chinese society
attempting to purge foreigners from their country, caused the
entry of foreign and American troops into China
While some nations seized land, the United States refused and
therefore maintained close ties with China
5. Japan
a. After Commodore Matthew Perry sailed an American fleet into
Japanese waters in 1853, he exchanged gifts , met rulers and
opened ties between the U.S. and Japan – Japan tried to adopt
Western ideas
b. Increasing technology lowered the death rate and led Japan to
search for colonies as sources of food
c. Japanese imperialism resulted in the Sino-Japanese War and
the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Japan claimed the Russian controlled territories of Korea,
Manchuria, and the southern half of Sakhalin
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Through the Treaty of Portsmouth with strengthened the Open
Door Policy
Lesson Two: The Caribbean has often been called the “American Lake”
following the Spanish American war because the United States “spilled over”
into the Caribbean
I. U.S. Influence in the Caribbean after the Spanish-American War
A. Puerto Rico
Became a U.S. territory in 1917 with citizenship , an elected assembly,
a constitution, control of their own financial matters and protection
by U.S. defenses
Puerto Ricans formed a self-governing commonwealth in 1952 and
therefore, lack voting representation in Congress and the right to
participate in Presidential elections
As U.S. citizens they are subject to military service and most Federal
laws but pay no Federal income tax on local earnings
B. Cuba
After the Spanish American War a centralized republic was created
by the newly elected assembly
The Cuban constitution provided for church/state separation
Platt Amendment
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The United States enacted the Platt Amendment which gave the
United States the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve its
independence
The Cuban assembly adopted the amendment in their 1901 constitution
Provided for U.S. Naval bases in Cuba
Established Debt guidelines
Reconstructed Cuba as an American “protectorate”
C. Panama and the building of the Panama Canal
Panama was a Columbian province at the turn of the century and one of
the “Banana Republics”, resented America racially and culturally
The first attempt to build a canal across the isthmus of Panama in the
1870s
Frenchman Ferdinand Delessop tried to duplicate his success in
building the sea level 105 mile long Suez Canal
Lacking the technology, money and medical advances to build the canal
through the Panamanian jungles, the French effort was the largest
business collapse in history up to that point
The effort claimed the lives of 20,000 diseased and snakebiten
victims
The united States became interested in a canal as alternative to two
navies
In the Pacific and Atlantic, the U.S.S. Oregon’s trip around South
America during the Spanish-American War demonstrated that a
problem existed
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The Hay-Pauncefote treaty was signed with Great Britain in order to
overturn restrictions against exclusive American ownership of a canal
that had been incorporated in the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
The United States government approached the Columbian government
(which controlled the Isthmus of Panama) and signed the Hay-Herran
Treaty
This treaty agreed to pay $10 million in advance for the right to build
a canal across Panama – followed by annual payments of $250,000
The treaty was rejected by Columbia
President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed “We’ll teach these
jackrabbits a lesson”
He helped Philippe Banau-Varilla (of Ferdinand Delessop’s bankrupt
French canal company) organize the Panama Revolution of 1903
Roosevelt then sent in the U.S.S. Nashville to prevent the landing of
Columbian troops – Consequently, Panama gained its independence
The Hay Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the United States a 10 mile right
of way across the Isthmus of Panama
The U.S. gave Panama the $10 million and $250,000 a year that had
been offered to Columbia
Because Columbia agreed to recognize the loss of Panama and the
future canal, the U.S. granted Columbia “favored nation” status
They also agreed to give them the first ten $250,000 payments
Additionally, the U.S. signed the Thomson-Urrutia Treaty (1921)
which gave Columbia $25 million as further compensation
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Canal construction was completed by Colonel George W. Goethals from
1904 to 1914 at the cost of $352 million
The project produced the largest man made lake in the world
Led to the eradication of the region’s mosquito-born yellow fever by
Colonel William C. Gorgas
The project was completed under budget, ahead of schedule and
corruption free by 50,000 workers
The 50,000 workers included American skilled labor and English
speaking West Indies unskilled labor
5,609 workers died during the construction of the 50 mile canal
The “gunboat diplomacy” used in the acquisition of the Panama Canal
might represent “Yankee Imperialism”
This is illustrated by Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that America should
“Speak softly and carry a big stick”
Imperialism is the establishment of colonies and building of an empire
The practice of one nation extending its power by acquiring
territories or by controlling the political/economic life of other
nations
D. Mexico
The U.S. perceived “progress” in Mexico when modernization occurred
under Diaz, a late 19th century ruler who served as the dictator-president
for 35 years
The railroad, agricultural and mining industries in which U.S. businessmen
had invested seemed to be growing
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Actually the conditions were unstable and the country was regressing
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 occurred during the Huerta
administration (Huerta ineptly followed Madero, a reformer)
When American sailors were arrested by the Mexican government, the
U.S. sent Marines to Vera Cruz
Pancho Villa attacked Huerta’s government in Mexico City from the North
Carranza closed in form the Northeast, and Zapata approached from the
south
These leaders that attacked Huerta were “social bandits”
When Carranza became recognized as the new leader of Mexico with
assistance from the United States
Pancho Villa became angry and threatened Americans, hoping to provoke
intervention
President Wilson sent in troops under General John J. Pershing into
Mexico but failed to capture Villa
Wilson learned what all U.S. presidents in the 20th century have learned:
its difficult for the U.S. to refrain from participating in international
affairs
E. The Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands were purchased by the United States from Demark in
1916
U.S. Foreign Policy towards Latin America has been determined by selfinterest since the mid-nineteenth century
Reasons for U.S. involvement in Latin America
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1. The need for law and order in neighboring countries
2. Self-Interest (political and economic)
3. Defense of the Panama Canal
As previously seen, the Monroe Doctrine (1823) warned the European Powers
to avoid further colonization in the Americas
Also not to interfere with independent nations in the Western Hemisphere
and, as a policy, was not driven exclusively by self-interest, but rather, by an
effort to insure liberty for other American nations
The Roosevelt Doctrine was a response to the Drago Doctrine
The Drago Doctrine in which the Argentine minister of Foreign Affairs, Luis
Drago, supported by other Latin American leaders, declared that Argentina
could not agree to any nation using force to collect debts from a Latin
American nation
President Roosevelt issued the Roosevelt Corollary which stated that, if it
became necessary for any European nation to interfere in the affairs of a
Latin American country, the United States would take the necessary steps
and that the European nation would be prohibited from any action
Roosevelt’s statement on the exercise of international “police power” by the
United States prevented European intervention but insulted the citizens of
Latin American nations
The Roosevelt Corollary reinforced the Monroe doctrine and exceeded its
power
Through “Dollar Diplomacy” American bankers lent money to the Caribbean
governments with encouragement from the state department
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If the Debts were not repaid the U.S. government intervened, using private
funds to promote the aims of U.S. diplomacy
President Taft preferred Dollar Diplomacy but he did send in troops into
Nicaragua in 1912
Influenced by Alfred Mahan’s 1890 book entitled The influence of Sea
Power upon History 1660-1783
The book argued that sea power and colonial naval bases facilitated national
greatness
Congress authorized the construction of the “Great White Fleet”
The “Great White Fleet” would later be sent by President Roosevelt on a
world tour from 1907 to 1909 as a demonstration of American power
Lesson Three: American involvement in World War I brought the United
States closer to a position of world leadership
Though America initially viewed the conflict as a “European Problem” and
insured American dominance of the global economy in the 20th century
Events leading up to World War I
Europe enjoyed a dominant role in the world, politically, culturally and
economically as the 20th century opened
1. The industrial revolution brought prosperity and material
progress to Europe
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2. The patriotic, Victorian (serious-toned) middle class dominated
the economic and political arenas
3. Representative governments produced greater political
democracy and constitutions
4. Europe was confident, progressive and embracing Social
Darwinism, Rationalism and Pacifism
The first Hague Conference, held in the Hague in the
Netherlands (1899), called for the use of mediation and
arbitration in settling international disputes
The second Hague Conference (1907) drafted rules for the
conduct of war and adopted the Drago Doctrine employed by
Argentina
Flaws produced a crisis in European civilization
1. Growing international insecurity
a. Germany had small wars during its unification process (1871)
Bismarck emerged as the Chancellor of Germany
b. Social Darwinism emphasized struggle and conflict, with the
fittest surviving
c. Nationalism (especially in Germany) worked against
international cooperation
d. Militarism: the amount of money spent on military armaments
doubled from 1900-1914, despite the Hague peace conferences
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e. The Schlieffen plan developed by Germany suggested that
Germany, in the event of war, would strike against France, then
Germany
Origins of World War I
1. Economic Imperialism (especially 1871-1914) led to conflict
between Europeans (Examples: Russia v Britain for Persia
(Iran); Britain v France for the Sudan)
2. Militarism: The doubling of armaments and formation of war
plans created a warlike environment
3. The press excited public opinions with sensationalism
4. Nationalism Serbia was the most nationalistic of the Balkan
States and wanted to expand
In 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia and blocked Serbian expansion
In 1912 Serbia wanted to annex Albania but Austria helped the
Albanians form an independent government
The Serbs thus hated Austria and realized at the same time,
that Serbian and Russian interests were similar (culture,
alphabet, religion, etc.)
5. Intermingled (Entangling) Alliances
a. The conflict between Austria and Serbia produced a split
between Germany and Russia. A treaty between Germany and
Russia was not renewed
b. Britain isolationism ended as Germany insulted the British with
poor diplomacy and a naval build up
c. France brought Russia and England together
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The Spark that produced the war
1. On June 1914, Gavrillo Princip, a member of a Serbian terrorist
organization known as the “Black Hand” assassinated Archduke
Ferdinand f Austria in S
Sarajevo
The initial plan involving a bomb failed – Princip shot the
Archduke and his wife at a stop sign
2. Austria issued an ultimatum with ten specific demands, some of
which included, Cash, full confession, northern lands between
Serbia and Bosnia, the right to oversee the investigation etc
Serbia accepted all but two of the demands but Austria found
this partial acceptance unsatisfactory
Declared war on Serbia on July 28, sent troops in on July 29th
1914
3. Russia mobilized, as promised, behind Serbia
4. Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm, issued demands for Russia to
demobilize, when Russia refused, Germany declared war on
Russia
Then, after crossing Luxemburg, declared war on France
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5. When Germany informed the government of neutral Belgium
that it intended to march on France through Belgium…
The Belgium government asked the signatories of the Treaty of
1839 to guarantee Belgium neutrality as agreed
Britain declared war on Germany after Germany refused to
recognize Belgium’s neutrality
6. Opponents of the war included Alfred Nobel, the inventor of
dynamite, whose opposition led to the formation of the Nobel
Peace Prize
Highlights of World War I
A. The Character of World War One differed from the previous wars
1. A war of science and technology emerged - poison gas was used
at the Battle of Xpres
The introduction of the Tank, flame thrower, airplane and
submarine into warfare began during WWI
2. World War I was “total war” which was fought on home fronts,
affected economics as well as morale and produced propaganda
3. Military leadership predominated over political leadership
The War Characterized by Three Phases
1. Movement (August-November, 1914) The Schlieffan Plan broke down
for Germany in Belgium as the Battle of the Marne River produced
Trench Warfare
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2. Stalemate (December, 1914 -Summer 1918
a. Italy withdrew from the Central Powers Germany, AustriaHungary and, later Turkey and Bulgaria)because of Germanys
aggression and joined the Allied Powers (England, France, Russia
and later Japan)
b. Between 1915 and 1916, British troops failed to capture the
Dardanelle Straits, which connected the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean Sea, after battling the Ottoman Turks who
controlled the region
c. The battles of Verdun and Somme settled the war in 1916
Verdun – 1, 000,000 casualties (250,000 dead)
Somme – 1,100,000 casualties (400,000 British, 200,000 French
and 500,000 Germans)
War would never be considered a “gallant” endeavor.
character of war changed forever
The
d. 1917 was a year of decision for Wilson and the United States
The Russian effort collapsed with the victory of the Bolsheviks
and the negotiation of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
President Wilson sent in troops in a failed attempt to
overthrow the Bolsheviks
Germany moved eastern forces to the west and resumed
submarine warfare with their U-Boats
On May 7, 1915 the sinking of the Lusitania which claimed 128
American lives among the 1198 dead, changed American
sentiment about the war
In March, 1916 the “Sussex Pledge” resulted from the sinking
of the Sussex (a French ship)
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German subs would issue warnings
Wilson was re-elected on the campaign slogan, “He Kept us out
of War”, in November, 1916
The United States had remained neutral as the war in Europe
erupted
Wilson broke diplomatic relations with Germany when it
abandoned the Sussex pledge and resumed unrestricted
submarine warfare
In the Zimmerman note, Germany offered an alliance to Mexico
in the event of war with the United States, promising to return
Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico as a result of the
alliance
The note, which was intercepted by British intelligence as it
being sent across the trans-Atlantic cable, shocked Americans
Due to fears of a German dominated Europe and economic ties
with Britain, in addition to unrestricted submarine warfare and
the Zimmerman note…
The United States entered the war “to make the world safe for
democracy” in April 11, 1917
Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, who wished for the
United States to stay neutral, resigned in protest
To facilitate the war effort, “Liberty Bonds” were purchased by
over half of the American population
Farmers planted “fence to fence” to increase food production
Industry was retooled to produce weapons
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Propaganda was employed by the government to build public
support for the war effort
War Boards created during World War One to increase
cooperation between business, labor and government
3. Movement in 1918
a. With the collapse of the Allied eastern front , the Germans,
under the command of General Ludendorff, launched an
offensive on March 21, 1918
He was trying to bring an end to the war before the Americans
could be come involved
They reached the Marne River, 37 miles from Paris
b. American ships traveled in convoys for safety, an idea
introduced by Admiral William Sims, as the navy began to exert
its force in the North Atlantic
The American Expeditiary Force, two million strong, moved into
Europe under General John J. Pershing, who had gained fame as
an Indian fighter
Pershing had been the commander of African American troops
at San Juan Hill and for halting a Filipino Revolt
Pershing would visit Lafayette’s grave and remark “Lafayette
we are here” as an acknowledgement of the debt owed to the
French for their assistance during the American Revolution
c. American Heroes earned distinction for their bravery
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Alvin York, a conscientious objector, who resolved his crisis of
religious conscience through prayer, became America’s greatest
war hero during World War I, capturing many German prisoners
single-handily. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor and the French Croix de Guerre
Eddie Rickenbacker became America’s greatest ace aviator with
conformation of the twenty six enemy planes that he shot down
d. The Allied counter offensive, consisting of American, French
and British troops under the leadership of French Commander
Marshal Foch, led to an armistice on November 11, 1918
Some of the important battles of the counter offensive were:
St. Mihiel, Cantigny, Château-Thierry, Belleau, Riems (The
second Battle of the Marne) and in the Meuse-Argonne
offensive (Where the Americans suffered 120,000 casualties in
victory)
e. Following the collapse of the Turkish, Bulgarian and Austrian
war efforts, Germany signed an armistice on November 11, 1918
Kaiser Wilhelm fled to the Netherlands
The Germans agreed to…
Evacuate France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorraine and
allow the occupation of all German territory west of the Rhine
River
Renounce the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia and the
Treaty of Bucharest with Romania
Surrender War materials
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Results of World War I
The results of the war dictated the terms of peace
1. The loss of 10,000,000 allied lives led to calls for a harsh
settlement
2. Political Results
Three empires were destroyed (belonging to Germany,
Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Turks
A new political force emerged (Bolshevism)
Liberalism declined
3. The old social order of class differences and female
subordination was understood
4. 19th Century culture was undermined
5. European economies were fractured
6. New Nations that were created (or recreated) including
Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia
The peace conference held at Versailles France included the
“Big Four” leaders, including Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd
George o f Great Britain, Georges Clemenceau of France and
Vittorio Orlando of Italy
President Wilson’s plan for peace (Fourteen Points) proposed
democratic principles, self determination for Europeans,
Freedom of the Seas, Tariff-Free Markets, International
Control of Colonies, military reductions and lasting peace
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The plan was too general, contradictory, void of a plan for
economic recovery and it illustrated Wilson’s naiveté about the
nature of democracy and ignorance of central European
conditions and history
The Terms for Peace with Germany were harsh as Europe
sought to punish Germany
The Treaty:
Returned Alsace-Lorraine to the French
Transferred German colonies to the Allies
Established the Polish Corridor through German territory
Limited the German army to 100,000 men
Demilitarized the Rhineland
Examined the problems of relief, reconstruction, reparations
and the international economy
Made Germany pay $32 billion in Reparations
Humiliated, demoralized and decolonized Germany and blamed
Germany for the War (article 231)
Most nations were unhappy with the Treaty of Versailles
President Wilson’s League of Nations was rejected at home by
Congress, led by isolationists under the leadership of Henry
Cabot Lodge
In November 1919, the League was implemented without
American support
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Wilson was unable to fight fro its approval after suffering a
stroke earlier in September
The League of Nations solved minor political disputes, confronted economic
problems, established the World Health Organization, which fought tropical
disease, and the International Labor Organization, which gathered
information on wages
It was a weak organization, however, because it had no economic or military
power and its international agenda often came in conflict with national
interests
The United States returned to a position of Isolationism following World
War I
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Unit Eight: Boom and Bust – The “Roaring Twenties,” The great Depression
and the New Deal
Lesson 1: The Political developments of the “roaring twenties” reflected the
nation’s desire for isolationism, order and a government guided by laissez fair philosophy
Political Developments in the postwar period
A post war depression adversely affected farmers and wage earners who
had enjoyed prosperity during the war
Inflated prices and unemployment resulting from demobilization led to labor
unrest
1. Coal Strike (1919): The United Mine Workers, led by John L
Lewis, struck for higher wages and a shorter work week
a) An injunction secured by United States Attorney General
Mitchell A. Palmer that ordered the U.M.W. officials to stop
their pro-strike activities was ignored by the miners
b) The government’s board of arbitration gave the miners a large
wage increase
2. Steel Strike (1919): Discontent with 12 hour workdays and lack of
union recognition, 350,000 steelworkers went on strike under the
direction of the American Federation of Labor
When public opinion turned against them, the steelworkers
returned to their jobs with no gains but later secured an eight
hour workday
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3. The “Red Scare” (1919-1920) was a result of the public’s fear that
revolution was emerging from labor violence and that American
radicals might follow the example set by the Russian Bolsheviks in
1917
Consequently, federal and state governments began arresting,
fining and deporting hundreds of suspected anarchists, communists
and socialists
a) Bombs mailed by terrorists to important officials
heightened public fear
b) States passed laws against advocating violence.
Socialists were prohibited from their elected seats in
the New York state legislature
c) In the fall of 1919 with the Espionage Act (passed in
wartime to punish treasonable activities) still in
effect, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer arrested
radicals in “Palmer Raids” throughout the country
often searching their premises without warrents
Many aliens were deported until growing public
concern about the violation of civil liberties prompted
Democratic and Republic leaders to end the
crackdown
d) Anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
were arrested for murder in 1920, convicted and
executed in 1927
Many Americans felt that their radical ideology was
the real reason for their conviction
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Political Developments of the 1920s
Harding’s Administration (1921-1923)
1. Election of 1920
a) The Democrats nominated Governor James M. Cox
(Ohio) who supported the League of Nations and
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt
(New York)
Wilson probably desired a third term but lacked both
the physical fortitude and political popularity to
succeed
b) The Republican candidate, Senator Warren G. Harding
(Ohio) and his running mate, Governor Calvin Coolidge
(Massachusetts)
The Republicans were able to deter Democratic
attempts to portray the election as a “solemn
referendum” on the League of Nations
c) Eugene V. Debs gathered almost one million votes, the
highest total ever for a Socialist candidate, while
imprisoned in Atlanta for “violating” the Espionage Act
d) Harding won the election of 1920 wioth 60.3% of the
popular vote and 404 electoral votes (compared to 127
for Cox)
Harding got elected by calling for: 1) Low Taxes, 2)
Higher Tariffs, 3) Restrictions on immigration 4) Aid
to Farmers and 5) a “Return to Normalcy”
His victory demonstrated the public’s desire to
abandon the politics of sacrifice and idealism
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Due to President Wilson’s involvement in the postWorld War I peace process, Democratic candidates
were viewed as unsympathetic about economic matters
at home
The political arena of the 1920s will be dominated by
the Republican Party
2. Domestic events of the Harding administration
a. A separate Veteran’s Bureau (later called the Veteran’s
administration) was established to supervise programs to aid exsoldiers
b. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon lowered income taxes, cut
spending, lowering the national debt and balanced the budget
i) Through the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the
Bureau of the Budget was created to coordinate
federal receipts and expenditures, with Charles G.
Dawes as is first director
The Act also required the President to submit an
estimated budget to Congress each year and it
created the General Accounting Office
ii) The Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act reversed the
Wilson administration’s tariff policy by raising tariffs
to a new high level
c. Concerns about Post-war increased in Immigration led Congress
to enact restrictions, aimed particularly at eastern/southern
European and Asian immigrants
The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 sharply limited immigration
into the United States by introducing a Quota System which
limited immigration into the United States
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It limited the number of Europeans and other immigrants to 3%
of the total number of persons of their perspective nationality
residing in the U.S. in 1910
d. Several scandals involving appointed officials marred the
integrity of the Harding administration
i) In the Teapot Dome Scandal, the most famous of the scandals,
Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was fined and sentenced
for taking large bribes from oil operators to whom he had
leased Teapot Dome, Wyoming and Elk Hills, California naval oil
reserves under favorable terms
ii) The head of the Veteran’s Bureau (Charles R. Forbes) and the
Custodian of Alien Property (Thomas Miller) were imprisoned
for defrauding the government out of huge sums of money
iii) Attorney General Harry M Daugherty, a member of Harding’s
corrupt “Ohio Gang” was charged with accepting bribes in
return for liquor licenses and was force to resign from office
3. American foreign policy during Harding’s administration was
isolationist, partially as a result of the post-war depression
At the 1921-22 Washington Conference, Secretary of State Charles
Evans Hughes proposed a 5-5-3 ratio of American to British to
Japanese ships
Also to continue the status quo in the Pacific in terms of territorial
possessions for the United States and Great Britain while conceding
no limits to the Japanese
4. Harding’s health declined, partially due to the strain of the scandals,
and he died in office in 1923 of thrombosis and pneumonia
He was succeeded by Vice-President Coolidge
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The Coolidge Administration (1923-1929)
1. Election of 1924
a. The Democratic Party nominated conservative corporate lawyer
John W. Davis (Ohio) for the presidency
b. The Republicans nominated President Coolidge, who believed that
the government should not regulate business and who was
opposed to legislation designed to help workers and farmers
c. The Progressive Party, representing the interests of labor,
farmers and socialists, nominated Robert “Fighting Bob”
Lafollette
He called for laws to protect the rights of labor and government
ownership of railroads and water-power resources
Lafollette received nearly 5 million votes
d. Coolidge won the election by a landslide on his laissez-faire
platform (386 electoral votes to 136 for Davis and 13 for
Lafollette)
2. President Coolidge believed “the business of America is business”.
Symbolizing thrift, Coolidge opposed government interference with
private enterprise, worked to reduce the public debt, the cost of
government and taxes and further restricted immigration
a. The Immigration Act of 1924 lowered the quota of 3% that had
been established under the Emergency Quota Act to 2%
It also changed to the 1890 census since the 1910 census had
favored Eastern and Southern Europeans with their huge wave of
immigration in the first decade of the 20th century
Japanese Immigrants were prohibited by the Act while Canadians
and Latin Americans were exempt
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b. Coolidge vetoed the Soldiers Bonus Act on 1924 which Congress
passed over his veto to provide veterans below the rank of
captain with a paid up 20 year life insurance policy
c. He signed the Revenue Act of 1926, cutting taxes for the
wealthy
d. He twice vetoed the McNary-Haugen Bill which was proposed by
Congress to stabilize farm prices with subsides
3. Coolidge’s foreign policy reflected continued isolationism
a. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and the French foreign
minister Aristide Briand signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, asking
all nations to sign a pledge outlawing war as an instrument of
foreign policy
The countries would agree to resolve their differences by
peaceful methods
The Pact was ineffective because it could not be enforced
b. Another indication of U.S. isolationism was the absence of U.S.
representation of the World Court, even though Harding and
Coolidge had both supported the concept
c. Relations with Latin American countries improved during
Coolidge’s administration through the successful diplomatic
efforts of the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Dwight W. Morrow
“Yankee Imperialism” declined as the United States declared
during the 1920s and 1930s that it would not act as a police
officer in the Western Hemisphere”
Thus, it would no longer enforce the Monroe Doctrine and its
Roosevelt Corollary
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d. The Dawes Plan of 1924 rescheduled German reparation
payments and opened the way for loans to Germany, so that
Germany could pay reparation payments to France and Britain
Those countries in turn, could pay their war debts to the United
States
European economies were stagnant due to the absence of trade
with the protectionist United States
4. Even though the United States enjoyed prosperity and relatively
peaceful conditions during the Coolidge years, the President chose not
to run for reelection in 1928
“Silent Cal” Coolidge (the Sphinx of the Potomac) was not seen as a
strong leader
Hoover’s Administration (1929-1933)
1. Election of 1928
a. The Democrats nominated colorful New York Governor Alfred E.
Smith, the “Happy Warrior,” who faced tremendous opposition
due to the fact that he was a Roman Catholic
He opposed prohibition and he was also associated with New York
City’s political machine
b. The Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover (California) a
mining engineer and capable Commerce Secretary under
Harding and Coolidge
Hoover believed that experts in fields other than government
could help government and that government should display
only a moderate amount of social and economic guidance
(laissez-faire)
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c. The prosperity of the Coolidge Administration and the
opposition to Smith’s Catholicism helped the Republicans win
an impressive victory
The election results indicated that the nation was not ready
to confront issues of church and state
The heavily Protestant “Solid South” for the first time since
the Civil War, produced Republican victories in several states
due to Smith’s Catholicism
This was the first election in which campaigns were conducted
by radio
2. Domestic developments during the Hoover administration
a. Tariffs on imports were increased by the Hawley-Smoot
Tariff Act of 1930
Americans witnessed a decline in exports to other countries
when these nations reacted to the highest tariff in American
history
b. The National Origins Act went into effect, shifting the base
year for figuring immigration to 1920 but also reducing the
yearly limit on immigrants to 150,000
c. The Twentieth Amendment was proposed during Hoover’s
administration (though not ratified until 1933), limiting the
term and power of a “Lame Duck” President between the
election and the inauguration of his successor
d. The Agricultural Marketing Act created the Federal Farm
Board, which loaned money to farmers in an effort to assist
them in organizing producers cooperatives
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e. When 15,000 World War I veterans marched into Washington
as the “Bonus Army” in 1932, demanding early payment of war
bonuses which they were scheduled to receive in 1945
President Hoover ordered General Douglas MacArthur to
drive them out of Washington after the Senate refused to
pass a bill on their behalf
3. Foreign Policy of the Hoover administration
a. The United States participated in the London Conference on
Naval Disarmament in 1930
This conference marked the high point of Japanese
cooperation with the west because Japan agreed to extend
the “naval holiday” that had been implemented for a ten year
period at the Washington Conference of 1921-22, agreeing to
build no new warships
b. Through the Hoover-Stinson Doctrine, the United States
refused to recognize Japan’s seizure of Manchuria in 1932 by
declaring that it would not recognize any territorial
acquisition by force
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Lesson 2: The “roaring twenties” ushered in great changes on America’s
economic, social and cultural landscape
Industrialization changed American society during the “Roaring Twenties”
A. The 1920s marked a transition from rural to urban America. As
industrialization increased opportunities, most Americans moved to
the cities, seeking employment and upward mobility as the 1920
census indicated
B. The U.S. economy, fueled by mass advertising and installment
buying, was characterized by an increase of 40% in the Gross
National Product and an increase in per capita income
American society changed as a result
The 1920s was a period of advancing technology
a. Technology increased the number of consumer goods to the 1920s,
such as the radio, washing machine, electric iron and toaster
Advertising sought to change products from necessities to status
symbols
b. Automobiles, radios and motion pictures contributed to the
standardization of American life
Al Jolson starred in The Jazz Singer, the first American talking
motion picture
c. Moral standards declined in the 1920s as materialism emerged and as
the automobile and motion picture theaters moved romance out of the
front parlors of homes
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American promiscuity was also driven by the work of Freud and Jung
d. The automobile industry stimulated the growth of the petroleum,
glass, steel, and rubber industries, suburbs and improvements in the
environment
e. New sources of power emerged
2. The demand for skilled labor produced widespread unemployment
among unskilled workers
3. Some groups of Americans were excluded from realizing the benefits
of the economic boom, including minorities (Indians, Blacks and
Hispanics), the structurally unemployed who lost their jobs to
advanced technology
Certain industries such as coal, which were eventually replaced by
other sources of power and farmers, who watched prices fall due to a
drop in immigration and loss of European markets
C. Beginning in 1920, the labor movement declined in strength due to 1)
improved economic conditions; 2) strike failures; 3) injunctions; 4)
campaigns by industrial management to appeal to labor, including
offers of profit sharing and retirement plans and 5) Identification
with socialism and communism (ironically, because Marx disliked
unions)
The Commerce Department also encouraged the creation of trade
associations to promote standardized products and to combat labor
unions
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Racism and Nativism
Nativism emerged as intense opposition to internal minorities on the
grounds of their foreign “un-American” connections and was closely
related to the religious fundamentalism of the period
A. The “Red Scare” demonstrated intense anti-radical sentiments in the
United States that were manifested through the immigration
restrictions of the 1920s
B. Anglo-Saxon racism was rampant in the 1920s
1. Blacks who migrated to northern cities faced discrimination in
jobs and housing as well as racial violence in 1919
2. The “100% American” Ku Klux Klan, with 4 million members,
exerted significant influence, particularly in several southern
and Midwestern states
a. The KKK discriminated against Jews, Blacks, Catholics
and immigrants, blaming them for unemployment and
other social ills
The Klan marched in parades, carrying American flags,
issued warnings with burning crosses and used beatings,
lynchings and tar and feathers to make its point
b. Public outrage led to a decline in the orgainization’s
membership in 1925
3. Some American authors also joined with Adolph Hitler in citing
the virtue of “Nordic qualities”
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Prohibition
The “Prohibition Experiment” was enacted with the ratification of the 18th
Amendment in January 1919
1. The federal government prohibited the “manufacture, sale, or
transportation of intoxicating liquors”
2. The Volstead Act of October 1919 (also known as the Prohibition
Enforcement Act) defined “intoxicating liquor” as any beverage
containing more than one half of one percent alcohol, thus making beer
and wine illegal
As a result, prohibition changed the drinking habits of Americans
from beer and wine to hard liquor, which was the primary product of
the “bootleggers” who manufactured and sold illegal booze
Eastern city dwellers resisted the act
3. Illegal bars called “speakeasies” prospered as prohibition gave rise to
notorious gangsterism and gang warfare
A. In 1925 “Scarface” Al Capone began a six year campaign of gang
warfare in Chicago to protect his bootlegging interests which
netted him hundreds of million so dollars
Over 500 gangsters were killed, including the seven disarmed
men who died in the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”, for which
Capone was never convicted
“Public Enemy Number One” (Capone), served eleven years for
tax evasion and died of syphilis shortly after his release
B. Organized crime would soon control billions of dollars from
other illegal activities, including prostitution, narcotics and
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gambling and would take their racketeering activities into labor
unions
C. The Lindberg Law of 1932 made certain types of interstate
kidnapping a capital offense, punishable by death, as a result of
the ransom-motivated abduction and murder of hero-aviator
Charles Lindbergh’s infant son
4. “The Noble Experiment” reduced absenteeism in the workplace,
despite estimates that consumption of alcoholic beverages soared by
25% during its era
5. The 21st Amendment repealed prohibition in 1933
Evolution
At the 1925 “Scopes Monkey Trial” in Dayton, Tennessee, Clarence Darrow
defended a high school science teacher indicted for teaching evolution in
violation of a state ordinance
The prosecuting attorney, William Jennings Bryan, based his argument on
fundamentalist religious beliefs and won a guilty verdict from the jury
Bryan would die several days after the trial ended
Cultural changes of the “Jazz Age”
Despite the obstacles presented by discrimination, women and minorities
made significant gains in the 1920s and contributed enormously to the
cultural changes of the era
1. The “new woman” that emerged in the 1920s was more carefree,
provocative and willing to challenge the old customs of society
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a. Women gained the right to vote with the adoption of the 19th
Amendment in 1920
b. The Women’s Party, a militant feminist organization ( by 1920s
standards), set as its goal an equal rights amendment to the
constitution
c. “Flappers” were daring young women who wore short haircuts
and skirts, drank in speakeasies and smoked in public
d. Margaret Sanger, a champion of women’s rights promoted birth
control, the U.S. birthrate declined in the 1920s
2. Black pride emerged during the 1920s and 30s
a. Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, proposed a “back to
Africa” movement and formed the United Negro Improvement
Association, which subsequently declined after Garvey was
deported following his mail fraud conviction
b. Alain Locke encouraged the rise of young black leaders in his
book, The New Negro
c. Oscar de Priest of Chicago became the first black elected to
Congress in 28 years in 1928
d. The NAACP began to show progress in civil rights lawsuits
e. Blacks shifted to the Democratic Party in the 1930s due to the
beneficial actions of the New Deal
f. Black writers and artists celebrated a cultural rebirth known as
the “Harlem Renaissance”
g. Jazz music and the blues dominated the 1920s and found its
roots in the joy and pain of black Americans. Louis “Satchmo”
Armstrong’s trumpet contributed to the growth of jazz
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h. James Weldon Johnson’s God’s Trombones poetry was based on
the sermons of black ministers
i. Poet Langston Hughes’ The Weary Blues focused on the
suffering of black Americans
3. Native Americans were granted citizenship in 1924
Literature blossomed as writers focused on the materialism of the Jazz Age
1. H.L. Mencken was a premiere social critic and satirist of the era
2. Sinclair Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1930. His works included Main Street, which satirized
provincial small town life, and Babbitt, which mocked American
business practices
3. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed materialism through the Great Gatsby
4. Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises told of disenchanted
American expatriates in Europe while A Farewell to Arms vividly
portrayed World War I
5. Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy told the story of a
murdered mother-in –law
6. William Faulkner masterfully focused on southern life in novels such
as The Sound and the Fury
7. Willa Cather’s One of Ours won a Pulitzer Prize as she reflected on
the virtues of life on the Great Plains
8. Poet T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land criticized modern society
9. Poet Ezra Pound abandoned America for Europe and influenced T.S.
Eliot with his “Make it new” theme
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10. Poet Robert Frost wrote about New England
11. e.e. cummings was known for his unconventional style
12. Playwright Eugene O’Neill won the Nobel Prize in 1936 for his plays,
including Strange Interlude
Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized architecture with the Empire State
Building and other structures
John Dewey promoted progressive, experience based education
American Heroes Emerged
1. Babe Ruth, the New York Yankee slugger who hit a record 60 home
runs in a single season (1927), became the first athlete to appear on a
box of Wheaties
2. Jack Dempsey fought in the first “million dollar bout” of the 1920s
3. Native American Jim Thorpe, who won two Gold Medals in the 1912
Olympics, was named by sportswriters as the greatest athlete of the
first half of the century
4. Red Grange left the fighting Illini to star for the Chicago Bears
5. Flying the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh became the first solo
pilot to fly nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927
Lesson 3: The “boom” of the “Roaring Twenties” came crashing to a halt as
the “bust” of the 1930s brought despair and new challenges to the American
people
329
The Great Depression
A. The prosperity of the Twenties came to an abrupt end in October
1929 with the collapse of the stock market
1. Curing Coolidge’s administration the United States enjoyed an
unprecedented business boom. Tremendous economic growth
abounded (in an undisciplined manner)
2. The United States became the ”financial center of the world”
as Great Britain’s dominance crumbled in the post-World War I
era
3. High production and employment levels created prosperity and
happiness for many people, the national wealth soared, real
wages increased and the nation went on an optimistic buying
spree
4. The “Twenties” produced tremendous investment. Many
Americans invested in the stock market with their surplus
income, hoping for big returns as industrial prices boomed
upwards
A large percentage of these investors bought stocks on credit
by borrowing money from lending institutions, i.e., they bought
on “margin”
On “Margin” the investor puts up part of the investment and
borrowed the rest of the balance
When their margin was lost, they were forced to sell their
stock at whatever price they could get
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B. Events of the Great Depression
1. Stock prices rose to an artificially high level due to the high
demand by investors
2. On October 24, 1929 frantic selling began on the New York
Stock exchange. As a result, 16,000,000 shares of stock were
dumped on October 29 at very low prices
3. Prices fell drastically as “marginal speculators” rushed to sell
their shares, hoping to cut their loses
4. By mid-November, stockholders had lost $30,000,000,000.00.
Many people were facing foreclosure on their homes and
businesses.
5. Banks and investment firms went bankrupt and depositors and
investors lost their savings.
6. Factories and mines closed, unemployment spread and wages
were cut sharply as those businesses that remained open cut
back on production.
a. Cutbacks in production increased unemployment which led to
a subsequent decline in the demand for products.
b. With decline in demand, businesses had to create additional
cutbacks which led to more unemployment.
c. A downward spiral of the economy resulted as each cutback
and unemployment in related or consumer industries.
7. In summary, the stock market crash of 1929 marked the
beginning of the Great Depression. The great “bull market” of
the 1920’s had symbolized prosperity; the “crash” symbolized
despair and was a blow to morale.
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8. The “Great Depression” was a natural course in the economic
cycle of the American economy governed by the forces of
supply and demand. Peaks (boom period) and troughs
(depressions) and minimized in modern America.
C. Causes of the Great Depression
1. the Stock Market Crash was the result of:
a. Overproduction, as the exceedingly high prices down which,
in turn, affected the profitability of companies and the
attractiveness of their stock.
b. Overspeculation, Stocks were overinflated or worthless.
Some corporations only existed “on paper” with no assets.
(Today, we have controls on borrowing money, investing, etc.)
2. President Hoover claimed that the post-World War I
international economic disorder was the culprit.
3. High tariffs prevent foreign countries from selling goods to the
United States and, thus, from securing money from the U.S.
with which to buy American goods. A surplus of goods resulted
in the United States as the foreign markets diminished.
4. Excessive borrowing and overextension of credit created an
unstable financial environment.
5. Overproduction drove prices down as competitors literally
produced their companies out of business.
6. A maldistribution of wealth prevented most people from buying
consumer products.
7. An ill-coordinated bank structure and irresponsible financial
manipulation by monopolies may have contributed to the
depression.
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D. Symptoms of the Depression
1. Unemployment produced great suffering, particularly among
industrial workers.
2. Stock prices declined sharply. The rich lost fortunes and many
committed suicide.
3. Evaporation of confidence was evident.
4. Manufacturing production was cut in half.
5. Construction halted.
6. Banks and businesses failed.
7. Farm income was cut in half.
E. President Hoover rejected the republican, laissez-faire approach of
the 1920’s in responding to the Great Depression.
1. Hoover faced widespread misery of people without jobs, farms,
money or hope, as well, as the collapse of business and
agriculture.
2. Hoover responded with unprecedented federal programs.
a. The president suggested that local communities were
responsible for helping those in need.
b. He instructed the Farm Board through the McNary-Haugen
Bill to buy agricultural surpluses in an effort to raise falling
farm prices.
c. Several federally- financed public works programs were
created.
333
d. Hoover urged Congress to form the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation (February, 1932) and to pass the Home Loan
Bank Act (July, 1932) which created financial assistance for
lending institutions such as savings and loan banks and
insurance companies.
e. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was designed to loan
large sums of money to businesses in an effort to reduce
foreclosures.
3. With Hoover’s actions, the government assumed certain
responsibilities due to the setback in the nation’s economy.
Hoover’s program, however, was unsuccessful and his image was
tarnished by his expulsion of the Bonus Army.
II. The “New Deal”
A. Election of 1932
1. President Hoover blamed the Great Depression on international
conditions.
2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Democratic candidate from New
York, and his running mate, John Garner (Texas) blamed
Republican policies and proposed a “new deal” for forgotten
Americans, promising to experiment with bold programs for
economic and social reform. He also called for the repeal of
Prohibition and the 21st Amendment would accomplish the task
early in his administration.
3. Roosevelt won the election (479 electoral votes to 59) and took
office in 1933, proclaiming that “the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself”. The Democrats also won control of both houses
of Congress, thus allowing the new President to secure much of
his legislative agenda.
B. Early life and political career of Franklin D. Roosevelt
334
4. A distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, FDR was born into a
wealthy family in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York.
5. He attended prep school, graduated from Harvard and studied
law at Columbia. In 1905 he married Eleanor Roosevelt, a niece
of President Theodore Roosevelt.
6. As a state senator in New York, Roosevelt opposed political
bosses and displayed an interest in the reform movements of
the Progressive Era.
7. As the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during Wilson’s
administration, Roosevelt helped to reorganize naval shore
installations and to prepare the navy for World war I
8. He was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for VicePresident in 1920.
9. Roosevelt was stricken with infantile paralysis in 1921 but
continued his political career.
10. Twice elected governor of New York (1928, 1930), Roosevelt
attracted national attention as a good administrator and an
overwhelming liberal.
11. Overwhelmingly elected as President in 1932, Roosevelt
shattered the two-term tradition established by George
Washington by serving four terms, dying in office at the
beginning of his fourth term.
C. The “New Deal” was a continuous experimental response to the demands
of various groups suffering as a result of the Depression (from bankers
to the unemployed)
Roosevelt had no set program when he took office and tended to rely
on intuition and optimism
335
In the “hundred days” after taking office, 15 of Roosevelt’s programs
were enacted by Congress
D. The three general aims of the New Deal were relief, recovery and
reform
1. Relief for the unemployed was administered by Harry Hopkins,
one of Roosevelt’s closest advisors
a) Sounder banks reopened at weaker banks remained
closed
b) Programs of Relief
i. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the most
popular of the New Deal programs, put males
between 18 and 25 years of age to work on
reforestation and other conservation projects
ii. The Workers Progress Administration (WPA) gave
grants to states and put forth plans for public works
iii. The National Youth Administration was concerned
with the needs of the youth. Black educator Mary
McLeod Bethune directed an agency in the
administration
iv. The National Negro Congress promoted the
interests of Black Americans
v. The Indian Reorganization Act (1934) improved the
treatment of Indians
c) These relief programs were often hampered by bad
management and waste
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2. Recovery for agriculture, industry, commerce and labor
Agricultural Legislation
i.
The Farm Credit Administration (1933) was established to make
available huge sums of money to farmers in order for them to
avoid foreclosure and to cover operational costs
ii.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act began to raise farm prices by
reducing production and lowering tariff rates
Subsides were paid for each acre not planted
The Act was declared unconstitutional in the 1936 Supreme
Court decision known as “U.S. v. Butler” because the court ruled
that the power to tax did not apply to agriculture
Banks Witnessed many Changes
i.
Roosevelt closed all the banks and reopened only the sounder
banks after a “run” on these institutions forced many of them to
close
ii.
The gold standard was abandoned under the New Deal
The Construction industry was the Target of “Pump Priming”, the
administration’s attempt to Fuel the Economy
i.
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation continued to pour money
into the nation’s economy under Roosevelt
337
ii.
The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided public
construction projects
iii.
The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal
Housing Authority (FHA) assisted the housing industry with low
interest loans for refinancing and building
Industry and Labor Recovery Measures
i.
The National Recovery Act, the most complex New Deal
Legislation encouraged businesses to end competition and to
form cooperative trade unions
This act was later declared unconstitutional in the Supreme
Court decision known as Schechter vs. the United States
ii.
“Section 7A” of the NIRA formally guaranteed “collective
bargaining” between employers and workers and outlawed “yellow
dog” contracts
iii.
The National Labor Relations Board settled labor disputes
iv.
The Wagner Act (the National Labor Relations Act) incorporated
the ideas of the NIRA after it was declared unconstitutional
3. Reform measures to remedy certain weaknesses in the nation’s
economic system
a. The Social Security Act provided in 1935,
i.
ii.
iii.
Unemployment insurance
Old age pensions
Aid to the handicapped
338
b. The Public Utility Holding Company Act (the Wheeler-Rayburn Act)
regulated public utilities
c. The Tennessee Valley Authority was designed to develop power
sources, flood control and soil conservation along the Tennessee River
TVA was the New Deal’s most radical program and its plan for
publicly-owned electrical power was controversial
It built 20 dams on the Tennessee River and its tributaries
d. The Supreme Court reform efforts of Roosevelt failed as he tried to
increase the number of judges from 9 to 15
e. The Fair Labor Standard Act provided a minimum wage and a maximum
work week
f. The Bankhead Jones Act (1937) created the Farm Security
Administration to lend money at low interest rates to tenant farmers,
sharecroppers, and farm laborers wishing to buy farms
g. The Second Agricultural Adjustment Act (1938):
i.
Paid farmers for acres withdrawn from production and planted
in soil-conserving crops
ii.
Authorized the government to decide the amount of staple
crops that could be marketed each year
iii.
Allowed the government to give commodity loans on all surplus
crops that were stored for later use in lean years
iv.
Authorized the government to insure wheat crops against loss
from bad weather or disease
h. The Wagner Steagall Act (The National Housing Act of 1937) aimed
at stimulating business through government spending for home
339
construction and tried to address the problem of unsatisfactory
housing for low income families
i. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938) required adequate testing
of new drugs
j. The Wheeler-Lea Act (1938) prohibited false advertising
k. The Hatch Act attacked improper political practices by prohibiting
non-policy making officeholders from taking an active part in political
campaigns or from soliciting funds from workers on relief and
influencing Presidential or Congressional elections
l. The Glass-Steagall Act created the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (1933), thereby insuring depositors bank accounts
m. The Federal Securities Act (1933) required disclosure of all
information for new stocks and bonds
n. The Securities and Exchange Commission (1934) was created to
supervise stock exchanges and to protect investors against dishonest
practices
In 1938 John L. Lewis (the head of the United Mine Workers) and other
labor leaders formed the Congress for Industrial Organization (the C.I.O.)
and launched a drive to organize all workers, skilled and unskilled, in the
automobile, steel, rubber, oil, radio and other industries
This massive industrial organization was organized due to impatience with
the American Federation of Labor
Since the Wagner Act had given organized labor the guarantee of collective
bargaining, the A.F.L and the C.I.O. forged ahead, occasionally in conflict
with each other
340
The New Deal Ended amidst Criticism and Praise
1. Election of 1936
a. The Democrats nominated President Roosevelt and Vice
President Garner, who were content to run on their New Deal
record
b. The Republicans nominated Alfred “Alf” Landon who attacked
the New Deal as a wasteful bureaucracy
c. Radical critics of the New Deal, led by anti-Semitic Father
Charles Coughlin, Dr. Francis Townsend and Gerald L.K. Smith,
formed the Union Party in Cleveland and nominated William
Lemke
d. Roosevelt was overwhelmingly reelected with almost 61% of the
popular vote (5223 electoral votes to Landon’s 8)
His landslide victory was the largest in modern history as he
carried every state but Maine and Vermont
2. Roosevelt began to feel pressure during the 1938 congressional
elections when many Democrats and Republicans who opposed his
programs won seats in the Congress
Congress became more conservative as the Supreme Court became
more liberal
3. By 1938-1939, Roosevelt began suspending earlier New Deal Programs
4. Criticism of Roosevelt’s New Deal came as many Americans argued that
the Government was wielding too much power over business and
agriculture and was straying towards socialism
The cost of the New Deal was high, as the national debt rose from 19
and one half billion in 1932 to 49 billion in 1941, despite tax increases
341
Critics also argued that money was being wasted and that the New
Deal had not eliminated unemployment (8 million workers were out of
work in 1939)
a. Father Charles Coughlin was an anti-Semitic priest in
Michigan that called for inflationary policies and who
attacked communists, unions and bankers on the radio
He organized the National Union for Social Justice
b. Huey “Kingfish” Long of Louisiana called for the seizure of
annual incomes in excess of one million dollars as well as
guarantees of housing and income for every American
family
c. Dr. Francis Townsend of California called for a federallyfunded $200/month income for every American over age
60, if they spent the money during the month
5. Praise came for the New Deal as F.D.R.’s supporters claimed that the
New Deal had saved the nation from disaster, restored the
confidence of the people and had spurred the nation’s progress
toward economic and social democracy
Blacks and labor unions gave Roosevelt his strongest support, partially
as a result of his wife Eleanor’s efforts on behalf of the
“dispossessed”
Roosevelt had also instilled confidence in the people through hundreds
of his famous “Fireside Chats”
342
Indian Legislation
Other domestic legislation which emerged during the Roosevelt
administration included the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
(Wheeler-Howard Act) which halted the redistribution of tribal lands
and encouraged a return of tribal self-government
6. Election of 1940
a. Roosevelt decided to seek a seek a third term in office despite
the fact that his influence was weakening and the two term
tradition was generally accepted as an unwritten part of the
Constitution
At his insistence Henry Wallace (Iowa) replaced Garner as his
running mate
He won the Democratic nomination with a platform that
promised to
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Extended social security
Stress the low cost housing program
Advance government ownership of public utilities
Keep the United States out of the war in Europe unless
the nation was attacked
b. The Republican candidate was Wendell Wilkie, a very capable ,
wealthy, progressive New York attorney
Wilkie promised a more efficient administration of the New Deal
Though he agreed with most of Roosevelt’s domestic and foreign
policy, he felt that Roosevelt’s attempt to serve a third term
threatened democratic government in America
343
Roosevelt won the election by a smaller margin by a similar
majority than he had enjoyed in previous elections
He began his third term as war raged in Europe
344
Unit Nine: World War II
Lesson 1: Totalitarian governments expanded in Europe during the 1920s and
1930s prior to World War II
I. The nature of European society was permanently changed by the mid
1930s
The “Old World” of 1914 no longer existed due to A) World War I; B)
Bolshevik Communism in Russia; C) the destabilizing effects of the
Great Depression; and D) challenges from both extremes of the
political spectrum: Communism and Fascism
II. Totalitarianism emerged in Italy, the Soviet Union, Germany, Japan
and Spain by the late 1930s
A. Fascism in Italy
1. Historian H.S. Hughes has labeled the reactionary
Fascist movement as “radicalism on the right”
2. Marxists view Fascism as the “last desperate effort of
capitalism to survive
3. Fascism, like Bolshevik Communism, it Totalitarian, the
only similarity between these two movements that lie on
opposite ends of the political spectrum
4. The characteristics of Fascist regimes include:
a. Dictatorial rule (state domination)
b. Violence, terror and the elimination of rights
c. The failure of the regimes to survive their
leaders
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5. In 1922 Benito Mussolini (known as Il Duce) seized
power and created a Fascist state in Italy
6. He destroyed free speech, independent labor unions
and political parties
7. Trying to establish a new Roman Empire in the
Mediterranean and Middle East, Mussolini rearmed
Italy and practiced aggressive expansion
8. Mussolini and the Fascists came to power by taking
advantage of the failure of liberalism in Italy and the
population’s fear of Bolshevism. The Fascists
defended national interests, restored order amidst
the post-WWI chaos – They offered a “new way,” an
alternative to capitalism and socialism
9. The Fascist regime enforced collectivism with
everyone subordinate to the state. Mussolini’s “Black
Shirts” became the national militia. The continuation
of the Italian Monarchy and the preservation of the
church indicated that Italian Fascism lacked Nazi
brutality
10. Fascism was widespread due to propaganda, fear and
apathy
11. The Fascists industrialized, modernized and
militarized Italy. State controlled capitalism
(corporationism) created a highly bureaucratized
system
12. Italians became tired of Mussolini’s Fascism and
failed to support much of his interventionism. In
1943, Mussolini would be assassinated and hanged by
his feet on Public display
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B. Communism/Socialism in the Soviet Union
1. Early Socialism merely meant “organization of society” while
early communism implied that the community’s interests
exceeded the interests of the individual
2. Karl Marx modified Hegel’s “dialectic” which showed how change
takes place through a continuous clash of values between good
and bad, form which a higher order of “life” a synthesis,
emerges
a. Marx viewed history as a struggle between material classes
only
b. Communism, according to Marx, would be the final synthesis.
All class struggles would be eliminated and there would be no
room for future change
c. Marx maintained that relationships between classes of
people had changed throughout history
i.
Out of the Master/Slave relationships of the Roman
Empire, medieval society produced nether slave or
master but rather, aristocratic lords and their serfs
ii.
A new class, the bourgeoisie (capitalists, business
owners – the middle class) emerged concurrently with
the overthrow of the feudal aristocracy and the
ultimate abolition of serfdom, beginning with the
French Revolution
iii.
The creation of factories in the bourgeois capitalist
economy dictated the need for a new labor force. The
proletariat (industrial working class) was a synthesis
of economic conditions created by the bourgeois class
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d. Marx felt that the final synthesis in human history would
occur when capitalism fails and the bourgeois class is
overthrown worldwide by the proletariat
i.
He maintained that capitalism is self-defeating due to
inevitable flaws that would bring the system down. He
felt that overproduction created by capitalists trying
to maximize profits would drive prices down, thus
leading to the failure of many competitors. Oligopolies
would emerge in each industry, followed by monopoies.
In essence competition would produce a competition
free industry
ii.
Discontent among the workers would be evident as
monopolists suppressed wages and earned profit from
the “sweat of the worker’s brow” (surplus value of
labor). Workers would feel enslaved to the production
line and alienated from their true “species-being”
(inner creative spirit). Marx envisioned a “class
conscious proletariat” rising in revolt. Overthrowing
the bourgeois class and establishing a worldwide
proletarian society
iii.
The proletarian revolution would be followed by a
transitional stage in which a “dictatorship of the
proletariat” would guide and educate society about
socialism. Marx said the government led by the
dictatorship would eventually “wither away” with the
elimination of human greed and the rise of the “new
socialist man”
e. Problems with Marx’s interpretation and theory
i.
Capitalism has demonstrated flexibility with antitrust
legislation to prevent monopolies and labor unions to
protect the workers
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ii.
The dictatorship of the proletariat cannot “wither
away” because human greed will never be eliminate (a
naïve assumption)
iii.
Many workers may not want to work
iv.
Totalitarianism has now emerged in the 20th century on
the left extreme of the political spectrum due to the
“proletarian dictatorship concept, contrary to Marx’s
vision of Utopia where government can wither away
3. Stalin’s rise to Power in the Soviet Union began with his revolutionary
youth
a. Joseph Stalin was born Joseph Dzhugashvili on December 21,
1879 of Georgian, not Russian origin
b. Although not a childhood Marxist, he came to revolt against
social injustice early in his life and secretly read Marx while
attending the church school from which he was expelled in 1899
for revolutionary activity
As a deformed child (small pox scars, withered arm) he learned
to coldly plot revenge against those that offended him and
developed extraordinary organizational abilities
c. Influenced by organizations like Messame Dassey and
intellectuals like Plekhanov, the father of Social Democracy in
late 19th century Russia, and Lenin, father of the Russian
Revolution, Stalin became involved in the underground, plotting
the downfall of the Tsar while working for the secret press as a
lecturer
As a member of the Bolsheviks, the most militant of the social
Democratic wings, Stalin remained Lenin’s most avid supporter.
Stalin’s ideas were simply the Leninist ideology reproduced
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d. As editor of Pravda (the Bolshevik Newspaper) prior to the
October Revolution in 1917, Stalin eventually advocated armed
seizure of power by the Bolsheviks
After the revolution, Stalin remained a fanatic follower of
Lenin until Lenin’s death in 1924
In 1923, Lenin wrote a testament calling for Stalin’s removal
from the secretary generalship, but Stalin was able to have it
discounted (Lenin stated that Stalin was too ambitious)
e. As Secretary-General of the communist Party from 1922 until
his death, Stalin outmaneuvered his more intellectual rivals
(Trotsky, Zinoviev, Bukharin) by interlocking many bureaucratic
positions into a power base for his dictatorship
As an administrative and organizational genius, he substituted
opportunism for intellect, deporting, executing and
assassinating his political rivals
f. Stalin, unlike his rival Trotsky, believed that it was possible to
have ‘socialism in one country” without a worldwide revolution.
His crash industrialization program (adopted from Trotsky)
transferred the Soviet Union into the third most industrialized
nation in the world during the first five year plan (1928-1933)
g. In the mid-1930s, Stalin launched four waves of purges against
the communist party members who had brought him to power
He also executed a large percentage of his officer corps, a
move that posed a problem for the Red Army with the outbreak
of World War II
h. Guided by political pragmatism rather than ideology, Stalin
often changed the revolution’s direction
350
Indeed he changed the structure of Communism in the Soviet
Union, as the state never “withered away.”
“Socialism in one country” sustained the revolution, where
“permanent revolution” may have failed
Totalitarianism became an effective means of promoting
Communism
However, Stalin successfully stopped Hitler and produced a
turning point in World War II. He died in 1953
C. Differences in Fascism and Communism
1. Consistency: Fascism has middle class appeal while communism has
working class appeal
2. View of Mankind: Fascists see mankind as irrational and in need of
guidance while communists view man as a rational, perfectible human
being
3. Promise to Mankind: Fascists emphasize idealism while communists
stress material well being
4. Attitude towards international affairs: Fascism stresses national
domination in the world while communism is an international movement
5. Fascists and Communists are arch enemies
D. Nazism (National Socialism)
1. The tree concepts that formed the basis of Adolf Hitler’s world view
included Social Darwinism, Anti-Semitism and “Lebensraum” (Living
space)
a. Social Darwinism
351
i.
According to Darwin, life is a struggle between species
as only the strong survives
ii.
Herbert Spencer applied Darwin’s theories to social
relationships
iii.
Hitler said that life is a struggle between racial groups
iv.
Hitler had a rooted belief in the inequality of races and
individuals
v.
The Nazi leader felt contempt for democracy and
internationalism
vi.
Hitler said” Struggle is the father of all things, virtue
lies in blood, leadership is primary and decisive…always
before god and the world, the stronger has the right t
carry out what he wills.”
b. Anti-Semitism (Hatred for the Jews)
i. When he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) in 1923, Hitler
did not mean “kill the Jews” when he said “remove them”
but the initial “persecution” exploded into terror as the
Jews became “non-persons” and ultimately targets for
the “final solution” (extermination)
ii. Hitler felt that, in order for the German race (Aryans)
of the lush, green forests of Germany to survive, the
Jews had to be removed because they were nonproductive parasites from the dry arid wastelands of
Palestine who might weaken the superior German race
iii. Through his “Volkish” ideology, Hitler said that the
German volk (community) was “rooted” in the soil and
bound together by the bond of its common blood.”
352
He used this idea of racial superiority to justify German
rule over inferior people and Nazi rule over Germans
iv.
Hitler felt that his power was rooted in the people and that
the German people wanted him to rule over them through
“democratic Caesarism.”
c. “Lebensraum” (Living space) expressed Hitler’s belief that any
vibrant, growing race needed “living space” in which to expand and,
thus, he justified the German invasion of the Soviet union as an
effort to secure the “breadbasket of the Ukraine”
2. Hitler’s world view (Social Darwinism, Anti-Semitism and Living space)
motivated him to “bring the Germans home to the Reich” to join all
persons of Germanic Heritage in other lands together with the
citizens of Germany
3. The “little man with the moustache” was not “mad” (insane) because
his actions coherently reflected his ideas
He was evil and attempted to implement the ideology he expressed in
Mein Kampf
Adolf Hitler was power hungry
4. The road to Hitler and the Nazi revolution (1900-1933)
a. Liberalism (democracy, individual freedom, free enterprise, etc)
remained weak in Germany from the autocratic rule of
Chancellor Bismarck during German unification (1871) through
the Weimar Republic’s mediocre leadership, weak constitution
and unstable coalition government of 31 political parties
Liberalism was also undermined by Germany’s militarism,
expansionism and Volkish ideology, which stressed German unity
353
b. Hitler’s Early Years
i.
Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau, Austria on April 20, 1889
ii.
As a member of the Austrian social Democrats, he derived the
idea the masses respected and needed authority
iii.
From the Pan-German Nationalists, he acquired extreme
German nationalism, anti-socialism, anti-Semitism, hatred of the
Hapsburgs (of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and the notion of
unifying all of the Germans
iv.
He also learned the importance of winning over the middle-class
and making an ally of the church (from the Christian Social
Party)
v.
In May 1913, at the age of 24, Hitler left Vienna Austria and
moved to Munich Germany
vi.
When WWI broke out in 1914, Hitler was rejected from
military service due to poor health but he enlisted in the
Bavarian army. He resented draft-dodgers, socialists and Jews
after the war and felt that an alternative to Marxism was
necessary. Hitler was very enthusiastic about the war
vii.
Hitler emerged from the early years with hatred for the Jews,
contempt for democracy, internationalism, equality and peace;
preference for authoritarian types of governments; intolerant
nationalism; belief in the inequality of races and people; and,
faith in the heroic virtues of war
c. Hitler’s Political Ascension
i.
After joining the German Worker’s Party in 1919, Hitler left
the army and became a full time worker for his party in 1920
354
ii.
On November 9, 1923 Hitler marched into the Odeonsplatz
(town square) in Munich and attempted to establish himself as
dictator of Germany
He was arrested by police loyal to the government of the
Republic and received the minimum sentence of five years in
prison but only served nine months
While in Prison he wrote Mein Kamph although the putsch failed
, Hitler displayed an incredible sense of organization ability
iii.
From 1925-1929, Hitler cloaked his revolution in tradition,
Christianity and legalism, presenting the façade that he wasn’t a
revolutionary
He established authority and loyalty
His Nazi Organization, headquartered in Munich, established
contacts with middle-class interest groups, publishes
propaganda in their own newspaper, created respect for the
party, and began appealing to the non-socialist, non-trade union
masses
iv.
On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of
Germany, Hitler’s rise to power was the result of the failure of
the Weimar Republic and the unique appeal of the Nazis
v.
By 1934, the Nazis effectively seized control of Germany.
Non-Nazis in the cabinet were replaced, the civil service was
overhauled, local and state governments were taken over, trade
unions were replaced by Nazi Unions, opposition parities were
closed, censorship was enacted, economic activities were
coordinated and social groups were overtaken by the Nazis
Socialists and other radical elements were removed from the
Nazi Party in the 1934 “Blood Purge”
355
On august 2, 1934 President Hindenburg died, within an hour of
his death, the offices of President and Chancellor were merged
with Hitler as Head of State and Commander in chief of the
armed forces
vi.
By 1935, Germans generally accepted Hitler
Hitler assimilated the concepts of the “New Order” into the
aims of the Party
From 1932-36 he relied on his political skills, frm 1937-1939, he
evoked the threat of force
vii.
Adolf Hitler used legality as a front to obtain power, but, after
obtaining it, he demonstrated that strength lay with the
masses, not legal proceedings
He healed the economy by violating the Treaty of Versailles
with rearmament
He destroyed the Republic, persecuted Jews and Catholics,
drove out or killed his political foes and abolished freedoms
His sense of opportunity and timing were incredible. Hitler
combined calculation, fanaticism, charisma and cynicisim
E. Differences between Nazism and Fascism
1. Unlike fascist Italy, Nazi Germany was violently racist
2. Hitler was bent on War
3. Hitler looked back, while Mussolini looked forward, even though
Mussolini’s movement was reactionary
F. In the late 1920s, Japanese warlords seized control of Japan and
began to implement militarism and expansion under Prime minister
Tojo and Emperor Hirohito
356
G. In 1936, the Spanish civil War broke out when Spanish army leaders,
led by General Francisco Franco, revolted against the Republican
government. Aided by troops, supplies and planes sent from Germany
and Italy, Franco established a Fascist dictatorship in Spain
Lesson 2: Events of the 1930s led to the outbreak of World War II and,
ultimately to U.S. involvement in the horrible conflict
I. Events leading up to the outbreak of the war
A. In 1931, Japan invaded and conquered the Chinese province of
Manchuria and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo
When the United States and the League of Nations condemned the
action, Japan withdrew from the League and prepared new
conquests
B. In 1935, Mussolini’s army conquered Ethiopia while Hitler declared
that Germany would ignore the Treaty of Versailles and begin a
program of rearmament. Japan began a naval buildup in violation of
its pledge at the Washington Naval conference in 1921-22
C. 1936
1. German Troops occupied the Rhineland, along the French
border, in violation of the Locarno Pact in which Germany
had pledged to keep the territory demilitarized
2. The Spanish Civil War broke out and Franco emerged as the
Fascist dictator of Spain
3. Germany and Italy formed the Rome-Berlin Axis and were
later joined by Japan to form the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
(the Axis Powers during the war)
357
D. In 1937, Japan invaded mainland China and bombed the American
gunboat Panay as well as American oil tankers on the Yangtze River in
China, When the U.S. protested that Japanese violations of the Open
Door Policy, Japan retorted that the “open door” was closed
E. 1938
1. Hitler annexed Austria to Germany in March, 1938 (the
Auschluss) and soon after demanded the western section of
Czechoslovakia (the Sudetenland) for Germany. The Czechs
resisted
2. England’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler by
persuading Czechoslovakia to yield to Hitler’s request at the
Munich Conference on September 30, 1938
Chamberlain naively declared “I believe it is peace for our time”
F. 1939
1. Italy invaded and conquered Albania
2. Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939
3. On August 22, 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression
pact with Germany. This ten year pact was initiated by the
U.S.S.R. due to inadequate military preparation and the
apparent lack of western determination to stop Hitler
Privately, Germany and the Soviet Union carved up Poland
The U.S.S.R. also got control of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and
Finland
On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland, France and
England declared war on Germany as previously promised and
World War II officially began
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G. 1940
1. After the invasion of Poland, France prepared for an attack
along the Maginot Line but Hitler didn’t attack prompting many
people to proclaim that the war was only a “Phony War”
2. On April 9, 1940, Hitler began his “blitzkrieg” (“Lightning
Strike”), overrunning Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg and, in six weeks France
Marshal Petain became the leader of the new German controlled
French government at Vichy and Charles de Gaulle commanded
the French resistance movement
3. The British, who carried out a heroic evacuation of their troops
from Dunkirk during the fall of France, braced for an invasion,
Prime Minister Winston Churchill, proclaimed “Let us therefore
brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the
British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years,
men will say, ‘This is our finest hour’”
4. In the summer and fall of 1940 the first Battle of Britain began
with fierce air fighting between Hitler’s fighters and bombers
and the Royal Navy and Air Force
Germany abandoned its plans to invade England
H. Summer, 1941
1. The Axis leaders turned to the Balkans. German forces
occupied Rumania and Greece after the Greeks had stopped
the Italians. Germany then conquered Yugoslavia
2. In North Africa, axis troops began to drive eastward
toward Egypt and the Suez Canal
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3. Ignoring the non-aggression pact, Hitler invaded the Soviet
Union in June 1941, overran the Ukraine and reached the
outskirts of Moscow in Operation Barbarossa
II. Events leading to the entry of the United States into World War II
A. The guiding principle of American foreign policy in the 1930s was
isolationism
1. Americans were disappointed that World War I had not
resulted in a lasting peace
2. The League of Nations proved weak and ineffective
3. Most Americans felt protected by the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans
4. Pacifism was strong in many areas of the country
5. Many citizens believed that the government’s first
responsibility was to combat the depression
B. America wanted to broaden its relations with other countries in
the 1920s and 1930s
1. In 1933 the United States recognized the Soviet Union
2. Gradual independence for the Philippines was planned
3. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy strengthened
relationships with Latin America
a. Through the Montevideo Pact, the United States announced
that it was opposed to armed intervention into the affairs of
other countries (specifically Latin American countries)
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b. In 1934, the United States canceled the Platt Amendment
through which it claimed the right to interfere in Cuban
affairs
4. Roosevelt extended the protection of the Monroe Doctrine to
Canada in 1938, making the document a multilateral agreement
C. Congress passed the Neutrality Acts in 1935, 36 and 37 to prevent U.S.
involvement in foreign wars. Supported by most Americans, the acts
1. prohibited the export of arms to warring nations
2. forbade loans to any nation at war
3. barred American citizens from traveling on ships of warring
nations
D. In 1939, as Americans feared the pattern of Axis conquest, the
neutrality laws were revised, with the Neutrality Act of 1939, to
permit the sale of munitions on a “cash and carry” basis
E. In the summer and fall of 1940, the United States strengthened its
defenses
1. The Alien Registration Act (Smith Act) made it illegal for any
person in the United States to advocate the violent overthrow
of the government. It also required aliens to register and to be
fingerprinted
2. American nations planned the defense of the Hemisphere
3. Congress appropriated billions of dollars to strengthen the
army, navy and air force
4. The Selective Service Act (September 6, 1940) required
several million men between 21 and 35 years of age to register
for America’s first peacetime draft, a break from the nation’s
“peace at any price” isolationist past
361
F. In March 1941, congress passed the Lend-Lease Act which authorized
the President to sell, exchange, lease or lend articles of defense to
any nation whose defense he considered vital to the security of the
United States (including the U.S.S.R. despite the non-aggression
pact). America became known as the “arsenal of democracy”
G. In August, 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill drew up the Atlantic Charter
in which they pledged themselves to work for a world free of
aggression, a world in which every nation would have the right to adopt
its own form of government. This ideological and moral commitment to
defeat Germany was not a formal commitment to England because of
American isolationism
H. As Japan made plans for an attack on the United States, the
Japanese government’s “peace mission” to Washington demanded that
the United States unfreeze Japanese assets, supply Japan with
unlimited amounts of gasoline and cease aid to China. The U.S refused
their demands
On December 7, 1941 (“a day that will live in infamy”), squadrons of
Japanese planes made a surprise attack on the American naval base
at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
Over 2,000 Americans were killed, another 2,000 were injured and a
large part of the American naval fleet and air force were destroyed
On the same day the Japanese also attacked the islands of Wake,
Midway, Guam, the Philippines and other American bases
I. On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. On
December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the united States
and the American Congress reciprocated. Total war had begun
J. World War II was total war and affected every phrase of Ameican
life
1. All men between the ages of 18 to 45 were subject to call for
military service
362
2. Women served in noncombative positions to release men for
battle
3. Industry produced war materials (airplanes, guns, tanks and
ships)
4. Taxes were increased
5. War bonds were sold to raise billions of dollars
6. Food and Gasoline were rationed
7. Price controls were established to control inflation resulting
from the shortage of consumer goods
8. Though the federal government never questioned the patriotism
of German and Italian Americans, 110,000 native born
Americans with Japanese ancestors were unjustly relocated to
internment camps on the West coast after the invasion of Pearl
Harbor
The internment cost those Japanese American citizens
hundreds of millions of dollars
The Supreme Court, in the Korematsu v. U.S. ruling, upheld the
constitutionality of the action
Later, in 1988, the U.S. government officially apologized and
gave reparation payments to the internment camp survivors
363
Lesson 3: World War II produced victory for the Allies in Europe and in
Asia
I. Highlights of World War II
A. Victory in Europe
1. When the United States entered the war in December
1941 the Allied forces were suffering major setbacks in
the Atlantic and in Europe. These defeats continued
through 1942
German u-boats, planes and mines were sinking supply
ships bound for Great Britain
Great Britain was isolated and awaiting a German
invasion. However, Hitler couldn’t decide to invade
England
The “Battle of Britain” began in 1940. Heavy air raids
battered London and other British cities despite the fact
that Germany was suffering heavy losses due to British
Technology
i. A radar system along the British coastline warned
of attacks
ii. A ground to air communications system helped the
British response
iii. The “Ultra” secret, a mechanical computer hooked
up to a German decoding device, decoded every
German code and radio command from 1940 to the
end of the war
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d. The soviet union was largely occupied by the
Nazis and many Russian cities were under siege
2. After the united States entered the war in December, 1941
Hitler’s strategy shifted to a position of “hold” by 1942-1943
because of the possibility of defeating the Soviet union was slim
after the soviets defeated the German forces at Stalingrad
The Fuhrer felt that , if Germany could postpone defeat, the
capitalist and communist alliance would collapse or German
scientists might develop a miracle weapon (”The Bomb”)
3. The allied strategy developed piecemeal. Roosevelt supported
British strategy in 1942 of attacking the peripheral areas rather
than launching a “head on” invasion. After a series of African and
Mediterranean successes in 1942, the Allied leaders met a
Casablanca in Morocco to decide the future course of the war,
agreeing to
a. Postpone a cross channel invasion until 1944
b. Continue the Mediterranean strategy
c. Adopt the doctrine of “unconditional surrender” to placate
Stalin. It was directed against the Nazi government, and not
the German people, and may have prolonged the war by forcing
the Germans to “fight to the end”, hoping to avoid surrender
under such conditions. (Hitler probably would not have
surrendered anyway)
4. The allies began to march toward victory in Europe in 1942.
a. From May until August of 1942 the Allied counter-offensive
brought massive bombing raids on German industrial and
military centers
b. Roosevelt and Churchill decided to attack the Axis powers in
their “soft underbelly”, north Africa
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i.
The British Eighth Army, led by General Bernard
Montgomery defeated Marshal Rommel’s Africa korps
at El Alamein, Egypt and pursued the retreating German
Panzer divisions as they fled westward across Libya
(October 1942)
ii.
On November 8 American troops under General Dwight
Eisenhower landed at Casablanca, Oran and Algiers in
enemy occupied French North Africa. The 500 troop
transports and 350 warships that landed the forces
represented the largest land, sea and air combination of
the war to that time
iii.
Trapped in Tunisia in May 1943, 250,000 Axis troops
surrendered. The Allies gained control of North Africa
and the Mediterranean Sea
c. After a series of bombing raids on Sicily and Italy, Allied
forces consisting of American, British and Canadian troops
landed in Sicily in July 1943. the quick capture of this island
led to the forced resignation of Mussolini. Italy surrendered
unconditionally on September 8, 1943 following an Allied
invasion of the Italian mainland. Bloody fighting broke out at
Salerno, Cassino and Anzio between Allied forces and German
troops sent to Italy to fill the void left by the Italians.
Mountain terrain, bad weather and determined German
resistance turned the Italian campaign into one of the most
difficult encounters of the war. The Allies entered Rome on
June 4, 1944 and advanced northward. The victories in Italy
strengthened the Allied control of the Mediterranean,
depleted German troop strength in the Soviet Union and
provided bases from which Allied planes could attack Germanheld territory
d. Victory in the Atlantic Ocean enabled the Allies to sent
military supplies to Great Britain and the Mediterranean.
Allied planes took control of the skies by early 1943 as
366
bombing raids against military, industrial and transportation
centers in Germany lowered German morale
e. In the east, the soviet army defeated a 300,000 man Nazi
army at Stalingrad in 1943 following a six-month battle that
became a turning point of World War II. The Russian
counteroffensive drove the Nazis from Russia and through
Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and
Poland
f. In November-December, 1943 Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
met at Tehran and agreed to launch a cross-channel invasion.
This conference would be the last time the “big three leaders
would reach such a level of agreement
g. The liberation of western Europe began with the Invaison of
France on June 6, 1944 (D-Day). American and British forces,
led by General Eisenhower – the Supreme Commander of the
Allies in western Europe, crossed the English channel and
landed in Normandy in Northern France. The invasion was
known as “Operation Overlord”, was the greatest waterborne
invasion in history and established a second front against
Hitler. The Germans had anticipated the attack and had
heavily fortified the region, but the Allied army of 2 million
troops pushed the Germans back. Joined by the 7th Army
coming from southern France, the Allied troops liberated
Paris on August 25, 1944
h. The Allies paused after freeing France in order to regroup
and resupply the troops. Meanwhile, Franklin D. Roosevelt
won an unprecedented forth term in office in 1944. Roosevelt
defeated Thomas Dewey, on a platform that stressed the
importance of uninterrupted leadership in the war
i. In December, 1944 24 German divisions led a
counteroffensive towards the sea in the Ardennes Forest and
created a “bulge” in the Allied lines. At the “Battle of the
367
Bulge” the German forces were finally driven back after
fierce fighting
j. The Allied armies crossed the Rhine River in the invasion of
Germany in March 1935 and advanced towards the Elbe River.
They joined the Soviet army marching from theeast. Due to a
previous agreement, the Soviets were allowed to enter Berlin
ahead of the Allies
k. Hitler committed suicide on May 1, 1945. the soviet army
stormed into Berlin and the German troops in Europe
surrendered unconditionally. The War in Europe formally
ended on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day; “Victory in Europe”)
B. Prior to the end of the war, an environment of suspension and distrust
existed between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
1. Churchill worried about future Soviet influence in Europe. He
made a deal with Stalin, giving him control of Rumania, Hungary
and half of Yugoslavia in exchange for British control of Greece
2. Roosevelt postponed important political decisions to avoid
irritating Stalin because he wanted the Soviets ot enter the
war against Japan
3. Stalin was suspicious of the western allies because…
a. The Munich agreement of 1938 suggested
that the Allies lacked the will to deal with
Hitler
b. A second front against Hitler didn’t open up
until 1944
c. He worried about the structure of the
postwar world
368
d. Ideological differences strained their
alliance
4. In August, 1944 the Soviet forces allowed the Nazis to crush
thousands of Poles in Warsaw because Stalin wanted the
Polish “freedom fighters” eliminated so they would not pose a
threat to his plans for Poland after the war
5. In February, 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta
in the Crimean area of the Soviet Union to discuss the post
war world
a. They agreed to create a new world
organization whenever the war ended
b. They planned for the postwar treatment of
Germany
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
Total, unconditional surrender
De-Nazification
De-militarization
Dismemberment into four military
zones with the U.S. , Britain, France
and the Soviet union each controlling a
zone
c. They agreed to support free elections in Poland
and throughout Europe. No final agreement was
made on extending the Polish border 150 miles
west
d. In exchange for a promise from Stalin that the
soviet Union would enter the war against Japan
within three months after the war in Europe
ended, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to “give”
Stalin Outer Mongolia, the Kurile Islands, the
southern half of Sakhalin Island, an occupation
zone in Korea and certain privileges in
369
Manchuria. Most of the territories had been
controlled by the Soviet Union prior to the
1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. Critics charge
that Roosevelt violated the Atlantic Charter,
appeased Stalin and solidified Communism in
Poland and China but Roosevelt simply acted
realistically
C. President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 at his retreat in Warm
springs Georgia less than a month before the war in Europe ended. He
was succeeded by Harry S Truman who joined the nation in mourning
Roosevelt’s death
D. Victory in the Pacific
1. The Japanese successfully launched their initial offensive in
1941-1942
a. Japan attacked the Malay states, the Dutch
East Indies, portions of New Guinea, the
British Colony of Hong Kong, Thailand,
Borneo, Singapore, Rangoon and Burma
b. The Battle of the Java Sea resulted in a
naval victory for Japan
c. The American Islands of Guam and Wake
were captured and the Japanese also
attacked the Philippines and Midway Island.
In January 1942 Japanese troops entered
Manila. Philippine and American troops
commanded by General Douglas MacArthur
defended the Philippines against
overwhelming odds but were forced to
retreat to the Bataan Peninsula where they
were captured along with the outnumbered
troops defending the Corregidor fortress
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d. In mid-1942 Japan prepared its attack
against India, Australia and the Pacific
Coast of the United States
2. The Japanese offensive was halted by American naval forces
in the Battle of the Coral Sea just north of Australia. A
second major naval victory at Midway Island proved to be the
turning point of the war in the Pacific. The Japanese were
able to capture Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands off the
coast of Alaska
3. The Allied strategy in the Pacific was developed by 1943 and
directed by Admiral Chester Nimitz. The Allies planned to
a. Strike west by land, air and sea against
Japanese-occupied territories in the central
Pacific
b. Drive the Japanese from the Solomon
islands under the leadership of admiral
Halsey
c. Liberate New Guinea and the Philippine
Islands under the guidance of General
Douglas MacArthur
d. Advance into Japan, the ultimate objective
4. The Allied counteroffensive began to turn the tide as
General Douglas MacArthur led mostly American troops from
island to island towards Japan. From August 1942 until
August 1945 Allied forces captured or re conquered
territories held by Japan
a. In the Fall, 1942 Guadalcanal was captured
while Admiral Halsey repelled a huge
Japanese naval attempt to regain the Island
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b. In 1943, Allied forces drove the Japanese
from the Aleutians, in the Northern Pacific,
the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific and
the Gilbert, Marshall and Caroline Islands in
the Central Pacific
c. In 1944, the Allies seized New Guinea,
Saipan and Guam in the Mariana Islands and
began reconquering the Philippines
d. The allies liberated Manila after the
American Navy won a decisive victory at
Leyte Gulf. The U.S. Marines then
conquered Iwo Jima and Okinawa, from
these island bases , American pilots
attacked ht Japan islands
5. The Allied victory came in the Pacific when President Truman
approved the use of the Atomic bomb against Japan, hoping
to save an estimated one million American lives that would
have been lost in a seaborne invasion. The decision may have
been designed to send a warning to the Soviets as well as the
Japanese
a. Japan rejected an Allied ultimatum on July
29, 1945 that was issued at Potsdam,
Germany by Truman, Stalin, and, Clement
Attlee, the new British Prime Minister,
which called for Japan’s unconditional
surrender
b. On the morning of August 6, 1945, the
Japanese city of Hiroshima, which contained
army headquarters and munitions factories,
disintegrated from the atom bomb (named
“Little Boy”)dropped by an American B-29
bomber , the Enola Gay. 130,000 Japanese
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were killed or injured. Japan failed to
surrender
c. On August 8 the Soviet Union declared war
on Japan and invaded Manchuria
d. After the United States Destroyed the city
of Nagasaki with a second atomic bomb (“Fat
Man”) on August 9, the Japanese
government surrendered, V-J Day (Victory
in Japan) was announced on august 14 and
the formal surrender was signed aboard the
U.S.S. Missouri on September 2, 1945.
World War II are over
World War II served as a Major Turning in World History
A. Internationally
1. The United States and the U.S.S.R. became world powers
2. The war accelerated the decline of Europe as a power in the world
(Great Britain and France)
3. World War II produced the last great redrawing of borders
4. The soviet Union acquired an empire of communist satellite nations
(which prompted Stalin to advocate “Socialism in one zone”)
5. The Asian and African colonial peoples became intensely nationalistic
and hastened the downfall of western imperialism
6. International control of atomic energy becomes a necessity
7. An international organization, the United Nations, emerged
373
B. Politically
1. The Totalitarian political superstructures of Germany, Italy and
Japan were overthrown while the Czechoslovakian structure
experienced political changes, as well
2. the victory of the Allies renewed faith in democracy
3. Power became increasingly centralized in many nations
C. Economically
1. World War II – the most costly war in history – was
devastating in physical destruction as it exacted military
expenditures of over $1100 Billion and caused property damage
of $230 billion (far exceeding the damage of World War I)
2. European and Asian nations faced the problems of economic
recovery. These problems, however, were more easily overcome
by the Marshall Plan
3. Soviet Communism spread to eastern and central Europe and to
several Asian nations
D. Socially
1. As the most destructive war in history, World War II left over
22 million servicemen and civilians dead, over 34 million wounded
and over a million American casualties
2. Several million refugees and displaced persons needed
assistance after being uprooted by the war
3. The War destroyed the elite status of the military
4. Officials who had cooperated with Hitler were discredited
374
5. Wartime resistance leaders replaced the ruling elite in France
and Yugoslavia
6. Social classes became homogenous in Great Britain because a
social welfare state in the process of reconstruction and the
Labor Party defeated Churchill in the postwar election due to
these social changes
E. Psychologically
1. Although World War II led to the formation of a new
psychological outlook in Europe, British Morale may have been
strengthened by the bombing of England
2. Jewish concentration camp survivors could never forget the
holocaust and are still haunted by its horror
F. Other significant facts
1. World War II was “total” war. Civilian populations were affected as
they worked in the factories, raised money with War Bonds and
collected materials
2. The global war was fought on all major seas in Africa, Asia and Europe.
It involved at least 60 nations
3. Science “progressed” with the invention of radar, guided missiles, jet
propelled planes, atom bombs, and new drugs, The airplane played a
major part in the war
4. World War II produced less great literature than World War I due
to its more “mechanical” nature and the control held by governments
over cultural expression
375
The Holocaust, 1933-1945 (An outline)
Adolph Hitler, the Nazification of Germany, and the Jews of Germany, 19331938
Adolph Hitler became Chancellor of Germany January 30, 1933 and began
using those powers given him in the German constitution to Nazify the
country.
Part of his scheme was to remove the German Jewish community from all
facets of German life
A. Laws passed that deprived Jews of Legal, Professional, Economic and
social Rights
1. “Ordinance for the Protection of the German State and Nation”
(February 28, 1933) – Most Civil Liberties were suspended in Germany
2. “Law for Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” (April 7, 1933)
Non-Aryans (Jews) could be dismissed from their Government jobs
3. April 1-3 1933 boycott of Jewish businesses in Germany. Stopped
because of international outcry over the indiscriminate violence
associated with the boycott
4. Nuremburg Laws September 15, 1935
a “Reich Citizenship Law”; differentiated between a German
citizen (Aryan) and a “subject” or Non-Aryan
b “Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honor” Outlaws
marriage between Jews and Germans
5. July 23, 1938: Jews required to begin carrying special identity cards
6. November 5, 1938: Jewish children can no longer attend school
376
7. November 28, 1938: in the aftermath of Kristallnacht (November 910, 1938), the following sanctions were placed on Jews
a A curfew that restricted their movements
b Jews cannot enter any public place in Germany
c Jews cannot own, manage or work in any retail or mail order
business
d The Jewish Community is required to pay a billion marks penalty
because of its “hostility towards the German people and the
Reich.”
B. Acts of violence Against Jews in Germany 1933-1938
1. March 21, 1933: Dachau Concentration Camp opened in the suburbs of
Munich (51 days after Hitler takes power)
2. March 1935: Wave of anti-Jewish violence, accompanied by a Boycott
of Jewish businesses sweeps Germany
3. May 1938: Another Wave of anti-Semitic outbursts spreads through
out Germany, accompanied by the mass arrest of Jews, who are
“temporarily” sent to concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald, and
Sachsenhausen
4. Kristallnacht (Night of the Broken Glass), November 9-10, 1938: In
response to the assassination of a minor German diplomat in Paris by a
young Jewish refugee. Joseph Goebbels (Hitler’s Propaganda
Minister) orders a campaign of terror against Germany’s Jews that
results in the death of 100s, the destruction of 7,000 businesses,
numerous synagogues and other Jewish religious centers destroyed or
seriously damaged. 20,000 Jewish males were sent to concentration
camps, 150,000 German Jews will be encouraged to flee the country,
the same number had left between 1933-1937
377
Holocaust in the First Two Years of World War II
September 1941
The German attack on Poland brought the Germans to grip with Poland’s
large Jewish population (3 million before the attack, it was now reduced
to less than 2 million because 1.3 million Polish Jews had fled the Soviet
Territory)
The Ghettoization of Polish Jewry begins with the formation of the
Government General (Warsaw and the portions of eastern Poland not
under soviet control). The rest of Poland becomes a part of Germany
The government General and particularly the Warsaw Ghetto become the
principle German “dumping ground” for German occupied Europe’s Jewish
population
Euthanasia Program
In his earliest writings in Mein Kampf, Adolph Hitler emphasized the
concept of racial purity and the need to use medical means to keep sick,
deformed, or emotionally disturbed individuals from passing their ailment
on the next generation
In late 1938, Hitler personally authorized the “mercy killings” of mentally
deficient and physically deformed children
Hitler regulated this process with the Reich Committee for Scientific
Research of Hereditary and Severe Constitutional Diseases, which he
formed the following spring
From 1939-1944, 5,000 non-Jewish German children were killed under
this program
At this juncture, Hitler decided to expand the program. Operating out
of his personal Chancellery in Berlin the “T-4 program” which officially
began on the date of the outbreak of World War II (September 1, 1939),
378
oversaw a growing network of killing centers throughout Germany that
resulted in the deaths of up to 100,000 non-Jewish Germans
As the number of patients to be euthanized grew, new means of death
were tried. German specialists shifted from injections to carbon
monoxide poisoning, which Hitler favored, to the infamous Zyklon B gas.
Gas chambers were built a six sites throughout Germany to handle the
increasing number of German patients. When the public outcry over
these types of killings forced Nazi leaders to stop them, they
transferred their experts and technology to Poland and began the “Final
Solution”
The Holocaust in context of the German War in Russia: 1941-1945
The German attack against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, brought
the Reich in contact with over 4 and a half million Jews in the U.S.S.R
(over a million were Polish refugees)
It was in this context, and in the atmosphere of the violent GermanRussian struggle that the most destructive phase of the Holocaust takes
place
German Plans for Destruction:
1. The Einsatzgruppen: Months before the attack on the U.S.S.R.
German officials organized special SS (Schutzstaffel) killing squads
or Einsatzgruppen that were ordered to enter Russian territory with
front line units with orders to round up and kill immediately all Jews
An estimated 1,400,000 Jews died in the Soviet Union in the second
half of 1941, though not all at the hands of the Einsatzgruppen
2. Experiments of Death; from early 1940 onward, German authorities,
with the growing cooperation of German industry and specialists from
T-4, began to experiment with ways efficiently and scientifically to
murder and dispose of the bodies of Jews and others they felt were
racially inferior
379
a. Asphyxiation from bus and truck exhaust as well as different
gases resulted in the death of 70,000 Jews, Gypsies and otheres
during this period
b. September 3, 1941: Zyklon B gas was used for the 1st time to kill
900 Soviet POWs, while over the next four months, the Germans
killed 40,000 Jews and Gypsies at Chelmno with Zyklon B
3. The Wannsee Conference (January 20, 1942): At a meeting in the
Berlin suburbs of German officials involved in all possible aspects of
the “Final Solution” This is the implementation of the Final solution
for all European Jews
C. The Final Solution: What followed was the most unspeakable mass
murder in history. Germany’s finest technological skills used to
construct camps, gas and asphyxiation chambers, and a crematory
to dispose of the bodies. These efforts were aided by the highly
efficient German railway system, with Final Solution needs often
taking priority over military ones
D. The Camps:
1. March 1942: Mass executions begin at Sobibor in Poland where
250,000 Jews died in 18 months
2. March – December 1942: 600,000 Jews murdered at Belzec
3. March 26-27 1942: deportations begin to Auschwitz, where 2
million Jews will die over the next 30 months
4. June 1, 1942: Exterminations begin at Treblinka, where 700,000
Jews will die over the next year
The Death Toll
Though it is difficult to give exact figures about 6 million Jews died in the
Holocaust. This means that 33% of the World’s Jews died in the Holocaust,
and 66% of the European Jews perished in this horrific event
380
In some countries like Poland 90% of the 1939 Jewish Population lost their
lives during World War II
381
Unit Ten: America the Superpower in the Postwar Era
Lesson 1: domestic political developments in the United States during the
postwar years of 1945-1960 reflected the nation’s efforts to address
complex problems at home following the Great Depression and World War II
I. The Truman Administration
A. Vice President Harry S Truman became the 33rd President of the
United States following the sudden death of President Franklin
Roosevelt on april 12, 1945 at the Presidential retreat in Warm
Springs Georgia
1. born on a farm in Missouri, Truman served as a local politician
following a tour of duty in World War I
2. As an avid “New Dealer” in the Senate, Truman was selected to
be Roosevelt’s running mate in the Election of 1944
3. Roosevelt and Truman defeated Thomas Dewey in the election
of 1944 by arguing experienced leadership during the war
4. “Give em Hell Harry” was the first President in many years
without a college education. He popularized the slogan “The
buck stops here”
B. President Truman faced the problems of converting from a wartime to
a peacetime economy and addressing the social needs Americans who
were calling for a resurrection of the New Deal
1. The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act (the G.I. bill of Rights)
provided World War II veterans with business, educational and
housing loans, pensions and medical help
2. The Employment Act of 1946 was passed to maintaineconomic
growth and high employment levels
382
3. The Atomic Energy Act (1946) created the Atomic Energy
Commission to control nuclear research and production
4. The National Security Act (1947) created the Department of
Defense with representation of each military branch as well as
the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather intelligence
information
5. The 22nd Amendment (1951) limited the President to two terms,
or a maximum of 10 years, in office (following Roosevelt’s 4
terms)
6. Inflation (rising prices) followed a postwar recession
a. President Truman was forced to remove
wage and price controls (except on rents) by
the newly elected Republican majority in
Congress
b. The inflation rate reached 33% in 19461947 as wartime savings was spent on
consumer goods
c. A housing shortage occurred due to the lack
of building during the depression and the
war
7. The Truman administration and Congress struggled with Labor
unrest in 1946 which led to strikes by more than 450,000 workers
(steel, railroad, mining employees)
a. As prices rose in the strong economy, many industries built
wage increases, demanded by labor, into the priceo f
products. As these prices rose, labor discontent reemerged
and the cycle continued
383
b. Republican victories in the 1946 Congressional elections
reflected the nation’s desire for stronger controls over
organized labor
c. In 1947 the Taft-Hartley Act (the Labor-Management
Relations Act) was passed over Truman’s veto
i. Contributions to political campaigns by unions were
restricted
ii. Management could secure injunctions to end strikes
iii. Management could sue union officials for certain
contract violations / strike activities
iv. Closed shops were prohibited
v. The President was given authority to issue 80 day
injunctions against strikes that threatened the
nation’s security
vi. Employers and union leaders had to take an oath
against Communism
vii. States could prohibit “union shops” (in which an
employee had to join a union within a specific time
frame), Right-to-Work laws emerged in 12 states
viii. The Taft-Hartley Act undermined the Wagner act of
1935 and was condemned as “slave labor law”
8. Though southern Congressmen blocked Truman’s civil rights
legislation, the plight of black Americans began to improve
C. The election of 1948 resulted in an upset reelection victory for
President Harry S Truman, he ran on a platform of civil rights, repeal
of the Taft-Hartley Act, housing, education, social security and aid to
farmers
384
1. The republicans nominated New York Governor, Thomas Dewey
2. The State’s Rights Party (Dixiecrats), composed of Southern
Democrats opposed to Truman’s civil rights platform, met in
Birmingham and nominated Strom Thurmond
3. Based on Republican Congressional victories in 1946, the divided
Democratic Party and public opinion polls, the Chicago Tribune ran the
election night headline of “Dewey defeats Truman” Truman however
won the election with the support of labor, blacks and Midwestern
farmers. Dewey votes came from the “establishment” East.
Thurmond received 39 electoral votes in the South
D. In his “Point Four” program, Truman proposed aid for underdeveloped
countries
E. Truman proposed the Fair Deal, a program of reform which Congress
partially implemented from 1949-52
1. Social Security benefits were extended to more people
2. The minimum wage was raised form interstate industies
3. 810,000 housing units were authorized for slum areas through
the Housing Act of 1949
4. Rent controls were continued through 1951
5. The Agricultural Act established “parity” for farmers
6. Civil Service was expanded to include more Federal workers
7. The Reclamation Bureau (flood control, water power, irrigation
projects) was expanded
F. Truman’s “loyalty program” attacked Communism at home in 1947 and
internal security continued as an issue into the 1950s
385
1. The FBI and Civil Service Commission investigated, but never
indicted , over 3 million federal employees, resulting in many
dismissals and resignations
2. Eleven Communists received prison sentences in 1949 for
violating the Smith Act of 1940, the first peacetime
antisedition law since the 1798 alien and Sedition Acts
3. The Internal Security Act required Communist organizations to
file membership lists and financial statements
4. Americans were concerned about the Communist Revolution in
China (1949) and the Korean War
5. In 1948 Congressman Richard Nixon, an anti-communist member
of the Committee of Un-American Activities founded in 1938,
pursued Alger Hiss, a New Dealer accused of being a Communist
agent in the 1930s, appearing before the Committee in 1950,
Hiss denied the accusations but received a five year sentence
for Perjury
6. Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy , with reckless
disregard for the Constitution and with no proof, began to
accuse State Department officials, actors, writers and
educators of being Communist sympathizers
7. Congress enacted the McCarran Internal Security Bill over the
President’s veto, authorizing the arrest/detention of suspected
Communists in “security emergencies”
8. The trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of
espionage in 1951 and executed in 1953, fueled the antiCommunist fear in America. The Rosenberg’s, who had
supposedly given atomic secrets to the Soviets, were the only
people in American history to be executed for espionage during
peacetime
9. McCarthy attacked the Army, looking for Communists spies
386
10. In a 1954 televised hearing, McCarthy’s reckless behavior
ruined his popularity and led the Senate to censure him
II. The Eisenhower Administration ushered in “Modern Republicanism”
which aimed to reduce federal expenditures while maintaining the
integrity of New Deal Programs
A. In the Election of 1952, President Truman could not run for
reelection because of the 22nd amendment
1. The Republicans nominated war hero Dwight
Eisenhower and Richard Nixon (California) as his
running mate, despite a challenge from
conservative Robert Taft
2. The Democratic Party, split between New Dealers
and southern Democrats opposed to New and Fair
Dealers, chose Adlai Stevenson
3. The Republicans won overwhelmingly on the
promise of “peace, prosperity and progress”
B. Background Information on Dwight Eisenhower
1. Born in Texas but raised in Kansas
2. Attended the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point, New York
3. Served as Supreme Commander of the Allied
forces in World War I
4. Left the Army to serve as President of Columbia
University
5. Returned to the military as Commander of NATO
forces
387
6. Won the Presidency in 1952 and 1956
C. Eisenhower’s Domestic program continued some New Deal/Fair Deal
programs while emphasizing more private enterprise
1. Oveta Culp Hobby became the first Secretary of
the newly created Department of Health ,
Education and Welfare
2. Congress provided more money for Social Security,
medical research, hospitals, urban renewal and,
ultimately education
3. Eisenhower attacked the problem of declining farm
income, by experimenting with flexible, rather
than fixed, price supports
4. The Eisenhower administration encouraged private
enterprise by awarding contracts to private
industry and state/local governments, halting wage
and price controls and creating greater efficiency
in government, although Ike only produced a
balanced budget three out of his eight years I
office, and gave to America, in 1959, its largest
peacetime budget deficit in the countries history
5. In 1956, Congress approved the Highway Act of
1956, which authorized the construction of an
interstate highway system, the largest public
works project in U.S. history
D. Eisenhower and Nixon worked with a Democratic Congress after
winning a second term over the Democratic ticket of Adlai Stevenson
in the 1956 election
1. Eisenhower faced labor issues in his second term
388
a. Leaders of the Teamsters Union and other
unions were sentenced to jail for corruption
b. The Labor Management Reporting and
Disclosure Act of 1959 prohibited the
involvement of Communists or felons in
unions, allowed for supervision over union
financial matters, prohibited secondary
boycotts and picketing, requiring union
elections every five years and provided a bill
of rights fro union members
c. The Steel Strike of 1959 was the result of a
contract dispute between the steel industry
and the United Steel Workers of America.
After the Steel workers returned to work
due to an 80 day injunction invoked by the
President under the Taft-Hartley Act, the
steel industry agreed to give the workers a
wage increase over a period of 30 months
d. Organized Labor secured under Eisenhower,
a higher minimum wage, unemployment,
disability and retirement benefits
e. In 1955 the American Federation of Labor
(AFL) and the Congress of Industrial
Organization and the Congress of Industrial
Organization (CIO) merged, with George
Meany serving as president of the AFL-CIO
2. In 1959, Alaska (purchased from Russia by Secretary of
State William Seward in 1867) became the 49th and largest
state in the Union. It became an important source of timber,
gold, fish and oil
3. Hawaii, populated primarily by Polynesians, became the 50th
state in the Union in 1959 after being annexed in 1898
389
Lesson 2:
Social and cultural developments of postwar America reflected the nation’s
emphasis on conformity, family values and prosperity while, at the same
time, laying the foundation for the social and cultural revolt that emerged
during the “sixties”
I. Prosperity fueled the social and cultural changes of the 10950s
A. Advances in science and technology accounted for remarkable growth
in America after World War II
1. Dr. Jonas Salk produced a polio vaccine in 1957
2. computers began to store and analyze large
amounts of data
3. Television became an important reason for a
homogeneous American culture as consumerism
flourished
B. American business boomed in the postwar period
1. AT&T became the world’s largest privately held
corporation
2. The United States consumed over one third of the worlds
goods and services with less than 10% of the world’s land
and population
3. John Kenneth Galbraith’s The Affluent Society warned
Americans about the danger of material pursuits
C. Women joined the work force in greater numbers due to their World
War II performance, smaller families, labor saving devices an dwhite
collar jobs
390
D. The works of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac represented the
“Beatniks” of the 1950s who rebelled against society and explored
drugs and sexuality
E. Jackson Pollack and other “abstract expressionists” focused on
abstract, colorful art forms
F. American culture in the 1950s witnessed significant changes as
McDonald’s hamburgers, Elvis Presley’s “rock and roll” and Marilyn
Monroe became legendary institutions in American life
G. Minorities continued to be disenfranchised from the prosperity of the
1950s
1. Congress adopted the “termination” policy which was designed
to end federal support of Native Americans and to shift control
of the reservations to the states
2. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) examined an anonymous
black man’s search for self-identity
3. James Baldwin’s Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953) portrayed
the authors experience as a young Harlem preacher
II. The civil rights movement was born in the 1950s as black Americans
sought to achieve their share of the American dream
A. World War II improved opportunities for black Americans in the
1940s but racial tensions still plagued the United States
1. 1,150,000 black soldiers/sailors served in World War II (in
segregated units). President Truman ordered the integration
of all units after the war
2. A labor shortage created economic opportunities at home
3. Race Riots and prejudice faced blacks as they moved to New
York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities
391
4. Most black Americans faced “legal” discrimination in the South
through Jim Crow laws
5. The Fair Employment Practices Committee, designed to secure
job opportunities for minorities, was abolished by Congress in
1946 over President Truman’s veto
6. Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 as
the first black big league baseball player
B. Through the efforts of Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP’s Legal
Defense Fund, the Supreme Court declared , in the Brown vs. Board of
Education of Topeka Kansas ruling May 17, 1954, that segregated
public schools are unconstitutional
It stated that “separate but equal” facilities violated the 14th
Amendment’s guarantee of equal treatment under the law for all
citizens
1. The Brown decision overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
which had declared that the “separate but equal” doctrine did
not violate the 14th Amendment
2. Declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently
unequal,” the Court struck down segregated schools which had
been attacked by earlier decisions
a. Sweatt vs. Painter ruled against segregated law schools
b. McLaurin vs. Oklahoma State Regents required equality for a
black student in a white graduate school
3. Public Schools in Washington D.C. and Baltimore began
integrating due to the Brown decision
4. In order to hinder desegregation, a “White Citizen’s Council”
emerged in Indianola, Mississippi in 1955. The Council later
392
succeeded in getting Ross Barnett elected as Governor of
Mississippi (1959-63) on a platform of state’s rights and racial
integrity
C. Events of 1955
1. The Supreme Court ordered that schools must integrate with
“speed” and that segregated public recreational facilities were
illegal
2. The Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregated
transportation facilities (buses, trains, etc)
3. Marian Anderson became the first black opera singer in the
Metropolitan Opera House, New York City
4. Mose Wright testified in Sumner Mississippi against two white
men accused of killing his nephew, Emmett Till. They were
found not guilty by an all-white jury
5. Montgomery, Alabama was the scene of a bus boycott by the
city’s black population due to the arrest of Rosa Parks
(December 1, 1955), who refused to give up her bus seat to a
white man. The boycott was organized by Reverend Martin
Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister who would lead the
nonviolent civil rights movement
D. Events of 1956
1. In February, 1956 Autherine Lucy was removed from the
University of Mississippi for criticizing the university, even
though a lawsuit had prohibited her suspension
2. 100Southrn Senators and Representatives officially denounced
the Brown decision in 1956
3. Black riders boycotted the Birmingham Alabama and
Tallahassee, Florida bus systems
393
4. National Guard Units dispersed mobs opposed to integration in
Kentucky and Tennessee
5. The Montgomery bus boycott concluded in November, 1956 as
the Supreme Court banned segregated buses in Montgomery
E. Events of 1957-1959
1. In 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
was organized by Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Black voters boycotted stores in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1957 to
protest a redrawing of municipal election districts
3. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 became the first federal civil
rights legislation since Reconstruction
4. New York City adopted the nation’s first Fair Housing Practice
Law (1957) to prevent discrimination in housing
5. After enrolling one black student, Hattie Cotton Elementary
School in Nashville, Tennessee was dynamited in 1957
6. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent Federal Troops to Little
Rock Arkansas in 1957 to protect the right of black students to
attend Central High School
a. Governor Orval Faubus defied national law
by prohibiting the admission of nine black
students
b. Thurgood Marshall of the Legal Defense
Fund and Daisy Bates of the NAACP went to
court to get protection for the students
c. President Eisenhower sent troops from the
101st Airborne Division to Central High
394
School when Farbus refused to provide
protection
d. On May 29, 1958 Ernest Green became the
first black student to graduate from Central
High
e. In 1959, Governor Farbus closed the schools
in Little Rock Arkansas to prevent
integration
7. Schools were also closed in Prince Edward County, Virginia
8. In 1958, the NAACP Youth Council organized “sit-ins” to
protest the segregation of Oklahoma City lunch counters
9. Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun became a smash hit as
the first play by a black woman to appear on Broadway
Lesson 3:
The Cold War emerged in the postwar years as the United States assumed
its new role as the world’s leading superpower and, though its foreign policy,
confronted the growing international threat of communism
I.Events that accompanied the end of World War II would shape the
post-war world
A. The post-war world was planned by Franklin Roosevelt, Soviet dictator
Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (the “Big
Three”) at the Yalta Conference in February, 1945, prior to the end
of World War II
1. The leaders agreed to arrange for a meeting of delegates in
San Francisco on April 25, 1945 in order to form a world
organization devoted to peace and known as the United Nations
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2. Germany and its capital city of Berlin were divided into four
zones of occupation which were separately administered by the
United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France
3. The Soviet Union secretly agreed to enter the war against
Japan, three months after the approaching end of the war in
Europe. In return, the Soviets were assured that they would
regain territories lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War in
1904-1905
4. Free elections were planned for Poland, Bulgaria and Romania
but were never held
5. Results of the Yalta Conference
a. Roosevelt was criticized for conceding too
much to Stalin, especially in Eastern Europe.
In reality the U.S.S.R. already occupied the
area. Stalin believed that “whoever occupies
the territory also imposes on it his own
social system”
b. Critics also argue that Roosevelt undermined
Chiang Kai-shek, leader o f the Nationalist
forces opposing the rising Communist tide in
China, by giving Manchuria to the U.S.S.R.,
perhaps a contributing factor in the 1949
Communist Revolution in China
c. The United States used the atomic bomb
against the Japanese in a manner and timing
that served as a warning to the Soviets
d. The Soviets were angry over America’s delay
in opening a second front against Germany as
well as the nuclear monopoly enjoyed by the
United States
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e. The groundwork for the Cold War was
established at Yalta as the post-war world
produced a struggle between the United
States and the Soviet Union
B. Formation of the United States
1. Delegates from 50 nations, representing three-fourths of the
world’s population met in San Francisco in April 1945 with the
purpose of maintaining peace and security, promoting justice
and human rights and improving general welfare
2. Six administrative agencies were formed, the two most
important were the…
a. The General Assembly , consisting of all of the member nations,
settles disputes and organizes other agencies
b. The Security Council was created to prevent war. Of the eleven
members, the “Big Five” (the United States, the Soviet Union,
Great Britain, France, and China were permanent members, each
with veto power, while the other six nations were selected on a
rotating basis by the General Assembly
3. Additional agencies were formed in order to provide food,
clothing and shelter in disadvantaged and underdeveloped areas
a. United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
b. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank)
c. International Monetary Fund
d. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO)
e. World Health Organization (for children)
397
f. United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
(UNICEF)
4. The United Nations has become the world’s most important
arena for social, economic and political discussion, although it
has often been ignored, its major contributions have emerged in
the areas of Third World development and as a forum for
international political debate
C. General Douglas MacArthur supervised the creation of representative
government in Japan following the end of World War II as a new
constitution which renounced militarism and which stripped the
Emperor of his power, was adopted. Japan subsequently emerged as a
highly industrialized economic power
D. An Iron Curtain descended on Europe as communism expanded
1. The Soviets felt that world communism, over which they
presided was destined to replace the capitalist system led by
the United States
2. Soviet leaders were very determined to protect their borders
with friendly “buffer states” because of the loss of 21 million
lives in World War II
a. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were annexed
in 1940 (following the non-aggression pact
signed by Hitler and Stalin in August 1939)
b. Part of Romania (Moldavia) and Poland were
annexed during World War II
c. The Soviets gained free access to North
Korea, Mongolia, and Manchuria at the end
of the war
d. By 1948, Poland, Romania, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and East Germany
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were all under Soviet control with communist
governments, forming the Iron Curtain
3. The anti-American sentiments of the Soviet Union were visible
as the Soviets refused to join United Nations agencies with
the United States, broadcast anti-capitalist, anti-American
propaganda and vetoed American proposals in the United
Nations
II. Under President Truman’s leadership, the United States responded to
the spread of communism and Soviet expansionism in Europe as the
“Cold War” emerged in the 1940s
A. Coined by Bernard Baruch in 1946 in a term to describe the
competition for influence between the United States and the Soviet
Union, the “Cold War” was a result of several contributing factors
1. The Soviet Union’s attempt to construct a buffer zone of
friendly nations on its western borders to guard against German
and /or capitalist aggression served as a source of conflict with
the United States
2. Soviet Expansion into eastern Europe made many Americans
fear further Soviet aggression
3. The Soviet Union refused to allow free elections in eastern
Europe
4. The postwar nuclear monopoly enjoyed by the United States
came to an end on September 2, 1949 as the Soviet Union
tested its first atomic weapon
B. The United States emerged from World War II as the most powerful
political, economic and military force in the world
1. The American economy was the only industrialized economy in
the world which was not destroyed by the war
399
2. American military power was supreme as a result of the use of
the atomic bomb to defeat Japan. The United States enjoyed a
nuclear monopoly after the war
3. The United States rejected its 19th century and early 20th
century isolationism and assumed its role of world leadership
C. The Truman Doctrine defined in a speech to Congress in 1947, focused
on the doctrines of containment and the “domino theory”
1. George Kennan, an American diplomat who had formally served
in the Soviet Union, first proposed the containment doctrine, in
the journal Foreign Affairs, which stated that the United
States would contain the growth of communism and expose it on
all fronts. Under Secretary of State Dean Acheson promoted
the doctrine as the official policy of the United States
2. The “domino theory” expressed the fear of Americans that
once a country fell to communism, the bordering countries
would, like dominos, also fall to communism
3. Congress authorized the President to use military force to halt
communist aggression on all fronts and approved $400 million in
aid for Greece and Turkey which were fighting to repel
attempted communist takeovers within their borders
4. Truman fired his Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace who
opposed the President’s tough stance against the Soviets.
Critics argued that the plan pushed the United States and the
Soviets into opposing camps
D. The Marshall Plan was program designed to facilitate European
recovery following World War II
1. After the fall of Czechoslovakia to the Soviet communism, the
United States was concerned that communist parties were
making gains in Spain, Italy and France due to poor economic
conditions
400
2. Beginning in 1947, the United States began to offer money,
supplies, and machinery to war-torn European countries under a
plan developed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall
3. Western European nations accepted the offer but the Soviet
Union would not all eastern Europe to participate for fear that
it would increase American influence in the region. As a result,
the Marshall Plan successfully restored western European
stability while eastern Europe continued to suffer from
deprivation
E. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was forced in April
1949 to provide for the mutual defense of the member nations
1. The twelve original members included the U.S., Canada, Iceland,
Great Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Italy, Portugal, France, and Norway.
2. West Germany, Turkey and Greece later joined the alliance and
France dropped out in 1966 (deiced it wanted back in, in 2009)
3. NATO remains the most important military alliance for the
united States and the first formal peacetime defense treaty in
which the U.S. has entered (the nation entered into a pact with
France during the American Revolution). NATO has defended
Western Europe from Soviet aggression since the 1940s. It
remains an important source of European stability, despite the
end of the Cold War
F. The Berlin Airlift
1. When conflict began to emerge between the United States and
the Soviet Union followed the end of World War II, the United
States joined its sector of occupied Germany together with the
sectors of Great Britain and France into West Germany
401
2. Although Berlin was located 100 miles within Soviet held East
Germany, the capital city was divided into four sectors of
occupation, similar to the post-war divisions applied to Germany
3. In an effort to halt the reunification of West Germany and to
force the western powers out of Berlin, the Soviets initiated a
blockade by closing all roads into West Berlin on June 24, 1948
4. Through Operation Vittles , the United States and Great
Britain successfully airlifted millions of tons of supplies into
West Berlin, rather than responding with military force
5. The Soviet Union abandoned its blockade of West Berlin in
May, 1949 as a result of the airlift
III. Conflict emerged in the Middle East and Asia in the early years of the
Cold War
A. Israel was established as a Jewish state in 1947 by the United
Nations, with strong American support and in spite of Arab and
Palestinian opposition. As a result, Palestine guerilla warfare against
Israel erupted (ultimately the “infatada”)
B. China became Communist as a result of revolution in 1949
1. By 1927, Chinese Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek were
fighting the Communists in a civil war
2. Beginning with the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the
nationalists and the communists joined forces to oppose the
Japanese until the conclusion of World War II in 1945
3. With the assistance of the Soviet Union, Mao Tse-Tung led the
Communists to victory over Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist forces
in 1949. One-forth of the world’s population became communist
with the Chinese Revolution
402
4. Supported by the United States, Chiang’s forces retreated to
the Island of Formosa (present day Taiwan) located off the
coast of China. Though they represented only a small
percentage of the Chinese population, Chiang’s nationalists
continued to be recognized by the United States as the official
government of China until 1972 when the United States
officially recognized the Peoples Republic of China. As a result,
Taiwan was replace by Communist China on the United Nation’s
Security Council
C. The Korean War erupted in 1949
1. Korea was controlled by Japan from 1910 to 1945
2. In 1945 Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into North Korea,
occupied by the Soviet Union, and South Korea, occupied by the
United States. Each of the two nations controlled its own
governments and arm
a. With its capital located at Seoul, South
Korea elected Syngman Rhee as its
President
b. North located its capital at Pyongyang
3. When the Soviets and Americans withdrew their forces in 1949,
Truman’s Secretary of State Dean Acheson declared that Korea
was outside of American defense interests in the Pacific
4. On June 25, 1950 North Korean forces, complete with Soviet
tanks, stormed into South Korea. As a result, the United Nations
Security Council condemned the attack and launched a joint United
Nations “police action” to defend South Korea, with the U.S.,
assuming most of the military responsibility. In order to display
its dissatisfaction with the council’s refusal to recognize
communist China, the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security
Council meeting on the day of the resolution was adopted and, thus,
was not present to veto the action
403
5. By September, 1950 South Korean troops were driven to the tip of
their nation at Pusan
6. In command of U.S. troops, General MacArthur counter attacked
the North Koreans with a seaborne invasion of Inchon, behind
North Korean lines, and liberated Seoul with a drive northward
from Pusan. The North Koreans retreated across the 38th parallel
to the Yalu River near the Chinese border
7. In November, 1950 hundreds of thousands of Chinese “volunteers”
came to the aid of the North Koreans. MacArthur, surprised by
the massive counterattack, set up a line of defense near the 38th
parallel
8. MacArthur wanted to blockade, bomb and perhaps, invade China in
retaliation and considered the use of nuclear weapons
a. President Truman refused to authorize the attack for fear
that such action might draw the Soviet Union into the
conflict on behalf of China, perhaps resulting in World War
III, or that the Soviets would seize the opportunity to
attack Europe
b. MacArthur tried to appeal directly to Congress, despite
Truman’s opposition
c. Truman replaced MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgeway
in April 1951, a brave but unpopular step which reinforced
the idea that America is governed by civilian “rule of law”
rather than the “rule of men.” MacArthur returned home
to a hero’s welcome and a ticker tape parade
9. A stalemate emerged in the conflict in 1951 near the 38th parallel.
President Eisenhower initiated peace talks held at Panmunjom which
concluded the war on July 27, 1953
404
10. Results of the Korean War
a. 33,652 Americans were killed in battle deaths, 3,262 died from
illness, accident, and non battle causes for a total of 36, 914
b. Communist casualties mounted to 1.5 million
c. The United States had demonstrated that it would defend
against the growth of communism
d. A demilitarized zone was established along the 38th parallel
which served as the boundary between North and South Korea
IV. The Eisenhower administration adopted a policy of “brinksmanship”
during the Cold War in an effort to contain Soviet aggression
A. Under the leadership of Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles, an expert in international law, former ambassador the
United Nations and fervent anti-Communist, the cold war
foreign policy of the United States expanded from
“containment” to “rolling back” communism through the use of
“brinksmanship”, the ability to go to the brink of war without
going to war
B. The United States also adopted the doctrine of massive
retaliation, asserting that Soviet aggression against the United
States on any front would result in the annihilation of the
Soviet Union through a massive American nuclear attack
C. Soviet Leader Josef Stalin died in 1953 and was succeeded in
1956 by Nikita Khrushchev, who initially exhibited a warmer
attitude toward the United States and the “free world” while
implementing a program of de-Stalinization
1. When the Polish Communist Party elected Wladyslaw
Gomulka as the party’s first secretary, Gomulka
promised the Poles certain rights, including freedom of
speech, religion and the press. The Soviet Union under
405
Khrushchev surprised the world by granting concessions
to the Poles following anti-Soviet Polish demonstrations
2. Following the Polish example, students and workers in
Budapest Hungary rioted on October 23, 1956 in an
effort to realize greater freedoms. With the world’s
attention diverted from the Hungarian revolt by the
Suez Crisis, the dazed Soviets considered withdrawing
from Hungary after Hungarian “freedom fighters” and
troops fought the Soviet troops stationed there, but,
as the United States watched helplessly, the Soviet
Union crushed the revolt with tanks and troops and
established a pro-Soviet puppet government while
imprisoned or deported the rebels
3. NATO welcomed Germany to the alliance, despite the
protests of France, in 1955 as the Communist Eastern
European nations signed a defense agreement known as
the Warsaw Pact
D. Under the direction of Secretary of State Dulles, the United States
intervened in third World Affairs to oppose Communism and often
supported reactionary, authoritarian leaders in the effort
E. American foreign policy came under attack in Latin America in the
1950s
1. In 1954, the CIA not-so-covertly sponsored a military
coup that overthrew the elected government in
Guatemala, run by Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.
Guzman had expropriated land from United Fruit
Company without satisfactory arrangements for
payment. Secretary of State Dulles, along with his
brother Alan Dulles, the director of the CIA (As well as
a fellow stockholder and director of United Fruit
Company) and the American Ambassador to Guatemala,
John E. Peurifoy, established a dictatorship under the
command of Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas as a
406
“beachhead” against the “intrusion of Soviet
despotism.”
2. Vice-President Nixon faced abuse and threats on a
much publicized journey to eight Latin American nations
in April 1958. After the Brazilian government
apologized for the incident, the United States created
an inter-American development bank to assist in the
region’s economic growth
3. On January 1, 1959, Cuban Communist guerillas under
the leadership of Fidel Castro overthrew the proAmerican government of Fulgencio Batista, launched a
public outcry against the United States and began
expropriating many of the American landholdings on the
Island. As a result, President Eisenhower ordered the
CIA to begin training Cuban exiles for an invasion of
their homeland
F. After negotiating an end to the Korean War, Eisenhower faced other
dangers in East Asia as Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia), a
French colony, became the focus of communist expansion
1. President Truman had committed military and financial aid to
the French as they opposed Vietnamese nationalists, mostly
Communists, who were known as the Vietminh and who were
receiving aid from Communist China
2. French forces and their anti-Communist Vietnamese allies were
defeated in May, 1954 at Dien Bien Phu
3. At a July 1954 conference in Geneva, delegates from France,
Indochina, Communist China, Great Britain and the Soviet Union
formally recognized the independent nations of Vietnam,
Cambodia and Laos. Communist North Vietnam (initially known
as Vietminh) under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh and South
Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem were divided at the 17th parallel
407
and promised free elections within tow years (a promise not
kept). The United States remained neutral in the negotiations
4. Secretary of State Dulles formed the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization – SEATO – with eight members, including Britain
and France, in a weak effort to emulate NATO in Asia
G. Eisenhower faced dangers in the Middle East during his tenure
1. The United States brought to power, through a coup, the Shah
of Iran’s pro-Western government in 1953 after the Sovietinfluenced Iranian government began interfering with the large
Western oil companies doing business in Iran
2. The Suez Canal Crisis erupted in the Middle East in 1956
a. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a strong nationalist,
wanted to build a dam on the Nile River for irrigation and power
and was depending on American financial support for the
project. When he began to discuss collaboration with the
Soviets, Secretary of State Dulles withdrew the offer
b. Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, owned by British and
French stockholders, thus threatening Western Europe’s oil
supply
c. Though the United Nations charter prohibited intervention,
British, French and Israeli forces invaded Egypt in October
1956 to keep the canal open and to eliminate Nasser
d. The United States reluctantly joined the Soviets in calling for a
cease fire resolution and honoring the U.N. Charter as the
Soviets was threatening to send in troops to the region
e. Britain, France and Israel withdrew in disgust and a U.N.
peacekeeping military force was employed for the first time in
the organizations history
408
f. The Dam was completed in the 1960s with Soviet help
g. As a result of the Suez Crisis, the United States adopted the
Eisenhower Doctrine, threatening to use military force to stop
communism aggression in the Middle East
3. The United States and Great Britain temporarily sent in troops
to the aid of the pro-Western governments in Lebanon and
Jordan after Iraqi military officers overthrew their
government and Egypt and Syria called for Arab nations to join
them in opposition to the West
H. The Space Race began after the Soviets launched Sputnik, the
World’s first artificial satellite on October 4, 1957. Americans ,
worried about the military and scientific implications of the satellite,
responded by launching a two and half pound satellite and by engaging
in a program of education designed to enhance the study of science
and math
I. In November, 1958 Soviet leader Khrushchev gave the Americans,
British and French six months to remove their troops from Berlin, 100
miles inside the border of Communist East Germany. After
Eisenhower and Dulles refused to yield, Eisenhower, with reservations,
invited Khrushchev to the United States in 1959, Khrushchev
appeared before the United Nations and, after a meeting with
President Eisenhower at the Presidential retreat at Camp David,
promised to indefinitely extend the proposed Berlin ultimatum
deadline. The two leaders also convened a summit meeting in Paris in
May 1960 but the Summit collapsed after an American U-2 spy plane
was shot down and captured by the Soviets, the American government
lied about the spy plane
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Unit 11: The Turbulent Sixties and Stagnant Seventies
Lesson 1: The 1960s produced a revolution in American society and culture
as the youth of America questioned the authority, conformity, lifestyles and
restrictions of the 1950s, confronted the injustices and controversial issues
of their times and set out to dismantle a society that they viewed as unjust
while ushering in the “Age of Aquarius”
I. John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier began the 1960’s with high hopes
A. In the Election of 1960, the Democratic ticket of Senator John F.
Kennedy (Massachusetts) and Senator Lyndon B. Johnson (Texas)
defeated the Republican ticket of Richard M. Nixon (California) and
Henry Cabot Lodge by 118,000 votes (49.7% to 49.5%), amidst vote
irregularities
1. Kennedy promised a “New Frontier” to improve the economy
which had been in recession since 1958 and to strengthen the
nation’s posture abroad
2. Vice-President Nixon promised to build on the unity, strength
and stability of the Eisenhower years
3. Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President as well as
the youngest person to be elected to the office (43)
4. In his inaugural address, Kennedy told the nation that “the
torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,” and
that Americans should “ask not what your country can do for
you; ask what you can do for your country”
5. He was the author of Profiles in Courage
B. Kennedy’s domestic program confronted economic issues including
unemployment (8%), inflation and the slow economy
410
1. The minimum wage was raised and voluntary wage and price
limits were established
2. Through the Area Redevelopment Act (1961), the federal
government made loans to businesses and retrained unskilled
workers for the new automated economy
3. The Manpower Training and Development Act was created to
retrain workers
4. The Housing Act of 1961 provided low-interest loans for
moderate income housing, hospitals and homes for the elderly
5. The Trade Expansion Act gave the President the power to lower
tariff rates over a five year period, particularly for the
members of the European Common Market, but he was also
given the authority to reimpose tariffs if industries suffered
severely
6. Farmers struggled from falling farm prices
C. The New Frontier included a bold new space program
1. On October 4, 1957, during Eisenhower’s presidency, the Soviet
Union successfully launched Sputnik, the first artificial
satellite to orbit the Earth
2. As a response to Soviet technology, the United States created
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
which began the space race, launching Explorer 1 on January 31,
1958
3. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s) resulted from the
advances in technology, increasing the danger of nuclear war
4. In April, 1961 the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin into space as
the first astronaut to orbit the earth. President Kennedy
committed the United States to being first in space exploration
411
and declared that America would land a man on the moon by
1970
5. Alan Shepard became the first American in outer space on May
5, 1961 (for 15 minutes)
6. On February 20, 1962 John Glenn, America’s third astronaut,
became the first American to orbit the earth
D. 1960 produced new civil rights movements and leaders
1. Prior to Kennedy’s election, the “sit-in” became a popular tactic
in the Civil Rights movement, along with other non-violent forms
of protest against Jim Crow laws in the South, resulting in the
arrest and suspension of thousands of college students
a. Four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina began a
Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in campaign which spread to sixtynine southern cities
b. John Lewis and eighty black students were sentenced to 30 days in
jail following a sit-in at a Nashville, Tennessee lunch counter.
After their parents boycotted local businesses, Nashville’s lunch
counters were desegregated
c. San Antonio, Texas became the first large Southern city to
integrate lunch counters
2. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC),
organized at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, became
a large student movement following the sit-ins
3. In 1960, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act
4. The Black Muslims, a black nationalist organization led by Elijah
Muhammad, called for the creation of an independent black
nation on American soil
412
5. In the fall of 1960, a riot erupted in New Orleans after four
black girls entered a white school
6. Black voters supported Kennedy in the Election of 1960 after
his brother Robert Kennedy , got Martin Luther king out of jail
in Atlanta
7. “Freedom Riders” began integrating bus tours of southern
states following the “jail-in movement” of 1961, SNCC’s “Jail,
No Bail” campaign and the jailing of student demonstrators in
Rock Hill, South Carolina
a. Freedom Rides were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality
(CORE) to verify that the South was desegregating buses and
terminal facilities
b. On May 20, 1961, Freedom Riders were beaten in Montgomery,
Alabama after the police protection promised by Governor John
Patterson disappeared. The governor deployed the Alabama
National Guard only after 600 U.S. Marshalls sent in by U.S.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy struggled to protect the riders
during a church service
c. Freedom Riders who arrived in Jackson, Mississippi from
Montgomery were jailed for 60 days for trespassing in a white
section of the bus terminal. The jail sentences came after the
Attorney General Kennedy and Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett
agreed that if the governor would provide protection, Kennedy
would not enforce federal laws requiring desegregated bus
terminals. Medgar Evers of the NAACP organized a boycott of
local businesses while the riders were in jail
8. The Albany Movement of 1961, led by William G. Anderson
resulted in the arrest of Martin Luther King Jr. and 700
demonstrators in Albany, Georgia. Police Chief Laurie Pritchett
surprised King arranged the use of many jails in order to
frustrate the picketers’ efforts to fill the jails. King left
413
Albany in defeat after Pritchett arranged bail and a federal
court halted the picketing
9. The 23rd Amendment gave Presidential electors to the District
of Columbia (with a large black population).
10. In 1962, rioting erupted in Mississippi, the most violent
segregationist state, when James Meredith, a black veteran,
registered at the University of Mississippi
a. When the Court of Appeals ruled that there was a segregation
policy evident at the University, Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett
refused to admit Meredith, claiming that the state could place
itself between national law and a state’s citizens through the
“interposition clause” (a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy
Clause).
b. On September 25, 1962, after Meredith was hidden at the
University by U.S. Marshalls, violence left 35 Marshalls shot, 2
people dead and 12,000 troops on campus, sent by President
Kennedy
11. On January 14, 1963 (the Centennial Anniversary of the
Emancipation Proclamation), George Wallace became Alabama’s
governor proclaiming “segregation now, segregation forever!”
Wallace later tried to prohibit that integration of the
University of Alabama
12. Nonviolence emerged victorious under the leadership of Dr.
King and SCLC in Birmingham Alabama in 1963
a. Police Chief “Bull Connor controlled the police and fire
departments because the outgoing county commissioners refused
to surrender their commission seats to the newly-elected
moderates
b. Disobeying a court order to hit SCLC’s boycott and protests,
Martin Luther King Jr. went to jail where he wrote his Letter from
a Birmingham Jail
414
c. King launched “Operation C” out of the 16th Street Baptist Church,
using children as protesters in order for parents to stay on their
jobs
d. When 2700 children were attacked by Bull Connor’s clubs, dogs,
fire hoses and then arrested, national sympathy arose for the civil
rights movement
13. On June 11, 1963, Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP leader,
was assassinated on his front porch. His assassin would not be
convicted until a third trial in the 1990s
14. Organized by A. Philip Randolph, more than 250,000 people
participated in the “Freedom Now” march on Washington on
August 28, 1963. As a result of his “I have a dream” speech at
the Lincoln Memorial. King was fully established as the leader
of the Civil Rights movement
15. Eighteen days after the “Freedom Now” March, four black girls
were killed in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist
Church in Birmingham
16. President Kennedy initiated the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in
1962, which outlawed poll taxes and after Congressional
approval, was ratified during President Johnson’s tenure
17. Kennedy also signed an executive order outlawing segregation in
federally subsidized housing projects
E. On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 P.M. President Kennedy was shot and
killed by an assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, while riding in a motorcade in
Dallas, Texas
1. Kennedy became the fourth president of the United States to
die from an assassin’s bullet
2. Vice President Johnson was sworn in as the thirty-sixth
President aboard the President’s plane at 2:38 P.M.
415
3. Lee Harvey Oswald, a Marxist and Castro sympathizer, was
arrested as a suspect but, while being transferred between
jails, Oswald was shot and killed before a live Sunday morning
television audience by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner
4. After laying in state in the Capital for three days, Kennedy was
buried in Arlington Cemetery
5. To answer questions surrounding the assassination, the Warren
Commission , led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, interviewed 532
witnesses and concluded that Oswald alone assassinated
President Kennedy. Jack Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald and
no conspiracy was evident
II. President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society
A. Johnson’s economic program gave priority to a reduction in taxes and a
“war on poverty”
1. the tax cut provided by the Revenue Act of 1964 stimulated
the economy
2. The office of Economic Opportunity was created by the
economic Opportunity Act of 1964 to attack unemployment and
to provide training programs. One billion dollars was authorized
by Congress for the war on poverty
3. Congress passed a major funding program for education
4. Medicare, a program of national health insurance for persons
over the age of 65, was enacted
5. Medicaid provided money to states for health care for the
needy
6. Johnson cut excise taxes to stimulate purchasing at home
7. Funds were also provided for housing and Appalachia
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B. President Johnson and his Vice-Presidential choice, Herbert H.
Humphrey of Minnesota won a landslide victory in the Election of 1964
over the Republican challenger, Senator Barry Goldwater, conservative
states rights advocate from Arizona. Moderate Republicans defected
from the conservative ticket, while Southern Democrats left their
party due to Johnson’s support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Goldwater’s candidacy in the Election of 1964 marked the beginning of
the Republican Party’s movement towards conservatism , which would
later yield victories
C. In 1967 the Twenty-Fifth Amendment was passed to address the
problems of Presidential disability and succession (in the wake of
President Kennedy’s death
D. The Johnson administration would deliver more gains for the civil
rights movement than the Kennedy Administration but would also see
the movement make a distinct turn towards militancy following the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which marked an end to the nonviolent
“King” years of the movement, and the emergence of radical SNCC
leaders
1. In 1964, black and Puerto Rican students boycotted New York
Ghetto schools to protest “de facto” segregation as well as the
inferior quality of the schools
2. The civil Rights Act of 1964 enabled the government to ban
discrimination in public places
3. Race riots emerged in major northern cities
4. During Freedom Summer, organized in Mississippi by Bob Moses
in June 1964, civil rights workers opened “freedom schools,”
community centers and voter registration drives. The
Mississippi Freedom Project resulted in 80 beatings, 1000
arrests and the murder of three civil rights workers near
Philadelphia, Mississippi (Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and
Michael Schwerner)
417
5. Led by Fannie Lou Hamer, the Freedom Democratic Party
nominated three black Mississippians for Congress in 1964 and
attended the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City, where
they failed to achieve the party’s recognition
6. Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964
due to his tactic of non-violent resistance
7. The 24th Amendment banned poll taxes in national elections
8. Malcolm X, a black nationalist who had broken away from the
Black Muslims and who had launched the Organization of AfroAmerican unity, was assassinated by three Black Muslims
(Talmadge Hayes, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Butler)
after he moderated his separatist views
9. The victorious five day 50 mile Selma to Montgomery march
marked the high point of the non-violent civil rights movement
as 25,000 supporters rallied at the state capital in Montgomery
Alabama
a. Demonstrations began in Selma, Alabama when black
voters, organized by SNCC, tried to register but met
resistance from Sheriff Jim Clark
b. 2000 black demonstrators, including Dr. King, were
jailed during the SCLC-led voter registration drive in
Selma. Jimmy Lee Jackson was killed by troopers
c. The teacher’s march – the first black middle class
march in Selma – sparked a march of 400 white clergy
men, one of the ministers, James Reeb was beaten to
death by segregationists
d. After two unsuccessful attempts to cross the Edmund
Pettus Bridge from Brown Chapel Church, Gr. King and
Ralph Bunche of the United Nations led 3200 black and
white Americans on a 5-day march to Montgomery,
418
singing “We Shall Overcome,” where they were joined
by thousands of other supporters
e. Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights worker, was murdered in her
car by the Ku Klux Klan after the march
f. The Selma to Montgomery March marked an end of the
nonviolent civil rights era (1955-65)
10. President Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act which
a. outlawed literacy and character tests for voters
b. gave federal authorities the power to register voters in areas
were less than 50% of the eligible voting population was
registered
11. Rioting erupted for six days in the Watts district of Los
Angeles, claiming 35 lives and $200,000,000 in property
12. Dr. Robert C. Weaver became the first black cabinet member in
the nation’s history as President Johnson’s Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development
13. The Supreme Court ruled the poll tax to be unconstitutional
14. On a 200 miles “march against fear” from Memphis Tennessee
to Jackson Mississippi to encourage black voter registration,
James Meredith, the first black student at the University of
Mississippi, was wounded by a white gunman. 4000 blacks
registered to vote after the march
15. SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael proclaimed “Black Power”,
asserting that nonviolence was a dead cause. Roy Wilkins
executive director of the NAACP, denounced “Black Power” as
reverse racism
419
16. The Black Panther Party, organized in California in 1966 by
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, advocated the use of weapons as
well as speeches
17. The 1966 Civil Rights Bill, proposed by President Johnson was
vigorously opposed by the real estate industry because it would
ban discrimination in housing
18. Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. joined the civil rights movement and
the anti-Vietnam movement together and urged draft age
Americans to declare themselves “conscientious objectors” to
the war in which there was twice as many black soldiers in
combat as white soldiers. At SCLC’s national convention in
Atlanta, Dr. King called upon black Americans to launch civil
disobedience drives, oppose the Vietnam War and to vote for a
peace candidate in the 1968 Presidential Election
19. Dozens of cities experienced racial violence in 1967
a. A three day riot broke out in Nashville following a speech
by Stokely Carmichael at Fisk University
b. A riot erupted in Cambridge, Maryland when H. Rap
Brown, Stokely Carmichael’s successor as chairman of
SNCC, urged his audience to “burn the town down”
c. Riots in Newark and Detroit claimed 66 lives
20. Black Americans rose to high office in 1967, with Thurgood
Marshall becoming the first black Supreme Court Justice, also
Richer Hatcher became mayor of Gary, Indiana and Carl Stokes
the mayor of Cleveland Ohio
21. In 1968 the Kerner Commission (the National Advisory
Commission on Civil Disorders) reported that “America is moving
towards two societies – one black, one white, separate and unequal”
and that white racism was to blame
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22. Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, by a
white sniper, James Earl Ray, in Memphis Tennessee. Violence
erupted across America
a. Lincoln Lynch, chairman of the militant united Black Front,
urged Black Americans to kill 10 whites for every victim of
violence, claiming that “white America understands no other
language”
b. 46 persons were killed in riots throughout the nation,
particularly in Washington D.C. and Chicago
c. Ralph Abernathy became the president of SCLC
23. Congress passed the Civil rights Act of 1968 which prohibited
a. Racial discrimination in the sale or rental or rental of 80% of
the nations housing
b. Crossing a state line to incite a riot
c. Harming civil rights workers
d. Instructing people in the use of firearms or explosives for use
in a civil disobedience
24. A fair housing law that went far beyond the Civil Rights Act of 1968
was put into effect when the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil
Rights Act of 1866 prohibited discrimination in all sales and rentals of
property
25. 11 people were killed when the “Black Nationalists of New Libya”
attacked Cleveland’s police force in “the first stage of a revolutionary
armed struggle
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III. The Civil Rights Movement, which began as a struggle by black
Americans for their rights and which was the most important
contributing factor to the protests of the Sixties, would be joined by
Hispanics, women and native Americans
A. Hispanic-Americans also joined the civil rights movement of the 1960s
1. From World War II until 1962, 4.5 million Mexican farm
workers came to America as contract labor through the
“bracero” program. Mexican-Americans became the largest
Hispanic group in the United States
2. Puerto Ricans who, unlike other Hispanics, were American
citizens at birth, moved to U.S. cities, , where they faced
discrimination as the nation’s second largest Hispanic group. In
1970, Herman Badillo of New York became the first Puerto
Rican member of Congress
3. Cuban refugees flocked to the United States in 1959 after
Communist forces under Fidel Castro overthrew the Batista
regime
4. Cesar Chavez, who organized migrant workers in the California
vineyards and lettuce fields, led a migrant worker strike in 1965
in a nationwide boycott of produce not harvested by the United
Farm Workers
5. The Chicano Movement tired to secure rights for MexicanAmericans, many who lived in Mexican-American communities in
the cites known as “barrios”
6. The Brown Berets also sponsored school breakfast programs
and Chicano (Mexican American) studies
B. Native-Americans continued to struggle for their rights
1. American Indians, the poorest minority in the nation faced
discrimination, unemployment, poverty and inconsistent federal
regulations
422
a. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which had
encouraged self-government and tribal customs, failed
because many Indians felt that full recognition of their
rights as Americans was more important than
preserving tribal ways
b. A new Government policy in the 1950’s reserved the
goals of the Indian Reorganization Act
i. The Termination policy shifted
responsibility for American Indians to
the states but the states disastrously
failed to provide services
ii. The goal of assimilating Indians into
major cities failed because the
government did not provide promised
jobs. Many Indians returned to the
reservation
2. Indian activists promoted Indian interests through the National
Congress of Indian Americans, National Indian Youth Council
and the Native American movement
3. Books drew attention to the problems faced by Indians
a. Saul Steiner spoke of “red power” among Indian intellectuals in
The New Indians
b. In Custer died for Your Sins, Vine Deloria Jr outlined the
history of broken promises, state the goals of American
Indians and argued that white Americans could learn form the
Indians
c. Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee became a best
seller, telling how the west was “lost”
423
4. Militant Indians revolted during Nixon’s administration
a. Alcatraz Island was captured by a group of Indians
b. In 1972, 50 members of the American Indian movement (AIM),
founded by Dennis Banks, formed “The Trail of Broken
Treaties” and occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in
Washington D.C. They were promised that the Federal
Government would hear their concerns
c. In February, 1973 AIM members seized the trading post and
the church at the Sioux Pines Reservation at Wounded Knee
South Dakota, the scene of the 1890 massacre of Indian
women and children. After 71 days, the government agreed to
consider their demands
5. Progress came on Capital Hill
a. In 1970 President Nixon asked Congress to repeal the
termination policy of 1953
b. Indians in New Mexico and Maine successfully reclaimed land
taken from them illegally
6. though many tribal members became Americanized, Native
Americans have not abandoned their traditional ways
C. The Women’s rights movement joined the Civil Rights Movement
1. Women (53% of the U.S. Population) launched the women’s
liberation movement in the 1960’s as a result of
a. More employment opportunities
b. The civil rights movement
c. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed job discrimination
based on sex
424
2. The National Organization for Women (NOW) demanded
a. Equal treatment for women in education
b. Publicly financed day care centers
c. The repeal of state laws forbidding abortion
3. In 1972, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for women failed by two
states to gain ratification
4. In the controversial 1973 Roe v Wade decision, the Supreme Court
upheld a woman’s right to an abortion during the early months of
pregnancy
5. Women later called for comparable pay for comparable jobs
6. Many women began to serve in the armed forces
IV. Social and Cultural Changes of the 1960s
A. The counterculture of the 1960s was a revelation in values and a
product of a “generation gap” as the post-World War II “Baby Boom”
generation rebelled against their parents values
1. “Baby Boomers,” defying the values of the 1950s, began to
a. “question authority”
b. reject expectations for conformity and, instead, embrace the
doctrine of “do your own thing”
c. experiment widely with drugs and sex
425
2. The Civil Rights movement led America’s youth to question other
institutions of society and government and served as a catalyst for
the revolt of the 1960s
3. The members of the counterculture rejected the money-based
materialism of the 1950s, grew long hair, embraced free love and
experimented with drugs, particularly marijuana and the hallucinogenic
LSD in an effort to see reality differently and to change their values.
Psychology Professor Timothy Leary was fired from Harvard
University after telling students to “tune in, and turn on” by using
psychedelic drugs
4. The counterculture emerged in two different forms: a) the “hippies”
(or flower children) who dropped out of society and b)the political
activists
a. The “ make love, not war generation of hippies, in an effort to
realize the “Age of Aquarius”
i.
Practiced “free love”
ii.
Often “returned to the land” in communes
iii.
Sought non materialistic happiness
iv.
Embraced alternative philosophies an religions
(particularly Eastern religions)
v.
Came to be represented by the ”Summer of Love”
in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco
in 1967 and the 4 day Woodstock festival on a
New York Dairy farm in 1969 (but the 1967
Altamont festival in California demonstrated the
anarchistic excesses of the era)
b. Political activism which took the form of civil rights protests in
the early 1960s soon transformed into widespread protests
against the Vietnam War on college campuses and in American
426
cities. Sixties activists would demonstrate that “the personal
is political”
i.
Opposition to the Vietnam War would bring
Lyndon Johnson’s presidency to an end as he
refused to seek reelection
ii.
President Nixon ignored the protests while VicePresident Agnew and blue-collar Americans
attacked the middle class, college age protesters
as a spoiled un-American mob
iii.
The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
under the leadership of Tom Hayden and Al
Faber, issued the Port Huron statement,
criticizing American society
iv.
The Free Speech Movement (FSM), located on
the Berkley campus of the University of
California and, led by Mario Savio, staged a
successful sit-in to protest the campus ban on
certain political activities
v.
The Weathermen was a violent, underground
organization that employed bombings and
terrorism to attack the government’s actions
vi.
Clashed between government forces and
protesters resulted in violence and bloodshed in
1970, at Kent State University in Ohio, National
Guardsmen killed four students, producing public
outrage
c. The counterculture expressed its values and protested
societies injustices often through music (Bob Dylan, Phil Oakes,
Joan Baez, Crosby , stills Nash and Young and many others)
427
5. Perhaps as a result of student activism in the 1960s, the 26th
Amendment lowered the voting age to 18 in 1971
B. Population patterns changed from the 1960s to the 1980s
1. As the number of farms declined, much of the minority population
moved to urban areas, with the South and West (Sunbelt)
becoming the fastest growing regions
2. The U.S. birthrate reached its lowest level ever in 1976
3. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the
National Origins Act and allowed a large increase in the number of
Asian and Hispanic Immigrants
4. White Americans moved from cities to the suburbs due to
a. Large numbers of minorities in the cities
b. Urban overcrowding, pollution, crime and disintegration of
public services
c. Improved transportation and communication between the
workplace and home
5. “White Flight” led to urban slums and deteriorating inner cities
C. The Civil Rights Movement, which began as a struggle by black
Americans for their rights and which was the most important
contributing factor to the protests of the 1960s, would be joined by
other groups of Americans in the 1970s, particularly women and native
Americans
V. Richard Nixon took office as the 37th President of the United States
and faced a Congress controlled by Democrats
A. In the tumultuous Election of 1968, former Vice-President Richard
Nixon (California) and Spiro Agnew (Maryland) defeated the
428
Democratic ticket of Herbert Humphrey (Minnesota) and Edmund
Muskie (Maine)
1. President Johnson announced that he would not be a candidate for
reelection due to opposition to his Vietnam policy. The Conflict in
Vietnam was claiming thousands of American lives
2. Senator Eugene McCarthy from Minnesota made a strong showing in
the New Hampshire primary on a platform opposed to the Vietnam
War
3. Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was also opposed to the Vietnam War,
was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan after winning the California
primary (June, 1968)
4. Senator Humphrey, the “establishment candidate”, won the
Democratic Nomination. At the convention in Chicago, thousands of
anti-war protesters rioted in the streets. Abbie Hoffman, founder of
the Youth International Party (“Yippies”), nominated a pig for
President (Pigasus) and was charged, along with his Chicago Eight codefendants, with conspiracy to start a riot
5. Governor George Wallace of Alabama formed third party, the
American Independent Party, and ran on a platform opposed to
welfare programs, busing of school children and federally enforced
integration, he receive 13% of the popular vote
6. Nixon won a close election by promising to review the government’s
poverty program that he said was not working and by promising to
“bring an honorable end to the war”. He hoped to please the “great
silent majority” of Americans
B. Nixon’s election in 1968 marked the end to one of the most violent,
unsettling years in American history. As the Woodstock festival
marked an end to the counterculture of the 1960s with the movement
and its values into the mainstream of American life, America said
“goodbye” to the tumultuous sixties and moved into the “malaise” of
the seventies
429
Lesson 2: The 1970s would further fracture the faith that Americans held
in their governmental institutions as a result of Watergate and Vietnam and
lead Americans to seek answers amidst the decade’s despair, stalemate and
cynicism
Richard Nixon’s Administration
A. Nixon’s Domestic Program
1. Though the space program suffered setbacks (the tragic death
of three American astronauts on the launch pad), Apollo 11
landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong, the first
man to step onto the moons surface proclaimed, “That’s one
small step for man; one giant leap for mankind”
2. After having two Supreme Court nominees rejected by
Congress, President Nixon appointed four members of the
Supreme Court: Chief Justice Warren Burger, Associate
Justices Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist.
The appointments reflected the President’s desire to shift the
Court to a position of conservative, strict, interpretation of the
Constitution and to the practice of Judicial Restraint
3. Congress, in agreement with Nixon’s “New Federalism” passed a
Revenue Sharing Act in 1972, giving $30.2 billion to state and
local governments
4. Nixon and Congress argued over whether to cut social or
defense spending
5. Inflation was over 10% during Nixon’s administration
a. The worldwide economy could not satisfy consumer
demand internationally
430
b. Nixon twice devalued the dollar to deal with the
imbalance of trade resulting from the demand for U.S.
products. Unfortunately, the devalued dollar allowed
foreigners to purchase U.S. goods at higher levels of
consumption
c.
Food prices rose due to foreign demand
d. Beginning with the Nixon administration, the 1970s
would be characterized by an unusual economic
phenomenon known as stagflation in which high inflation
accompanied high unemployment
e. Congress rejected Nixon’s Family Assistance Plan which
would have provide a guaranteed income to poor families
6. Due to the politics of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries), oil prices rose dramatically, producing inflationary
pressure on many products whose production requires oil
a. Because the United States, with 6% of the world’s
population, consumed 30% of the world’s oil, the embargo
implemented by the OPEC cartel in 1973 drove up the cost
of gasoline, heating oil and electricity dramatically
b. The embargo resulting from America’s support of Israel
during the Yom Kippur War, produced an energy crisis in the
United States and awakened Americans to the problem of oil
dependency
c. President Nixon announced a plan to make the United States
independent of Foreign Oil by the 1980s, relying on strip
mining, offshore oil drilling, nuclear power and a pipeline
from the rich oil fields of Alaska to the lower 48 states
B. In the Election of 1972, President Nixon overwhelmingly won
reelection over the Democratic Senator George McGovern (521 to 17
electoral votes: 46 to 29 million popular votes)
431
1. Nixon campaigned on his record of withdrawing a half million
men from Vietnam, his trips to Moscow and Peking, where he
opened relations with Communist China, the SALT agreements
which limited long range nuclear missiles, his war against
inflation, and his opposition to busing
2. Because McGovern chaired the commission that required the
Democratic Party to open up its nominating process to women,
youth and minorities, the liberal Senator received his party’s
nomination despite opposition from conservatives
3. Alabama’s governor, George Wallace campaigned for the
Democratic nomination as a conservative until he was gunned
down by Arthur Bremmer, leaving him paralyzed for life and out
of the 1972 contest
4. McGovern’s problems began even before the convention
concluded. His first nominee for Vice-President, Thomas
Eagleton from Missouri, was dropped by McGovern when it was
disclosed that Senator Eagleton had received treatment for
mental depression
5. the Campaign Finance Act of 1972 would change Campaign
financing by limiting the amounts of contributions and requiring
full disclosure
C. As his second term began, Nixon tried to reduce federally-funded
social programs like, job training, busing, urban renewal, public day
care centers, Medicare and Medicaid
D. Vice President Spiro Agnew was forced to resign from office in 1973
for receiving illegal kickbacks from the milk industry while he was
Governor of Maryland, fraud, bribery, extortion and income tax
evasion. The was the first Vice-President driven from office. Agnew
would plead “no contest” to income tax invasion
432
Gerald R. Ford, the Republican minority leader in the House of
Representatives, was nominated by President Nixon to fill the vacant
Vice-Presidency under the provisions of the 25th amendment, which
addresses Presidential disability and succession. Ford was
overwhelmingly approved by Congress and assumed office in December
1973
E. The Watergate Affair resulted in the resignation of President Nixon
as the first President driven from office
1. On June 17, 1972, five men were arrested after breaking into
the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the
Watergate complex in Washington D.C.
a. The group of Cuban refugees was led by James McCord,
an ex-CIA operative and Chief of Security for the
Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP). They
were arrested by local D.C. police after a security
guard discovered a taped door lock
b. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who was a consultant
for CREEP and E. Howard Hunt, a former CIA agent
serving as a White House aide, were also arrested for
supervising the break in
c. The purpose of the break in was to steal documents and
plant “bugs” (listening devices)
2. Two Washington Post reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl
Bernstein, discovered that the trail of money for the
“Watergate Seven” led to the White House
3. The Watergate break in was discovered to be part of a
massive, illegally funded operation to insure President Nixon’s
reelection by destroying the opposition
a. In an effort to discredit Robert Kennedy and other Democrats,
Howard Hunt had forged documents that suggested President
433
Kennedy had ordered the assassination of President Diem of
South Vietnam
b. Corporations had made large illegal contributions to the
Committee to Reelect the President
c. The “plumbers unit,” established by the White House to stop
leaks, illegally wiretapped the telephones of National Security
Council officials and journalists and broke into the office of
Daniel Ellsburg’s psychiatrist in an effort to secure damaging
evidence against Ellsburg, who had leaked the “Pentagon Papers”
d. The IRS audited the tax returns of individuals who appeared on
Charles Colson’s “enemy’s list”
4. the Senate established the Select Committee on Presidential
Campaign Activities, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina,
to investigate the allegations
5. As early as June 23, 1972, a week after the break-ins, President
Nixon initiated a cover-up of the break in order to protect his closest
advisors as well as illegal White House intelligence operations
(financed by illegal contributions)
a. The cover-up led President Nixon to lie, asserting that “no one
I the White House was involved in the incident.” At the same
time presiding over the cover-up and he often repeated the lie
i.
On March 22, 1973 Nixon told his closest aides to
“stonewall it, let them plead the fifth Amendment,
cover up or anything else if it will save it – save the
plan”
ii.
After announcing on April 17, 1973 that he was ordering
new inquires, Nixon asserted that March 21 was the
first day that he had heard about the cover-up (a lie,
since he had started the cover up process in June 1972
434
b. “Hush money” was paid to defendants for their silence
c. Evidence was destroyed
d. Advisors and defendants lied to the grand jury that was
preparing the indictments
e. Nixon’s closest advisors included: John D Ehrlichman, domestic
affairs advisor; H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of Staff;
John Dean, Chief Legal council for the White House; John
Mitchell, who had authorized the break in as Attorney General
shortly before resigning to become head of CREEP and Charles
Colson, special council to the White House
f. L. Patrick Gray, the acting director of the FBI was forced to
resign after it was discovered that he had destroyed
documents relating to the Watergate break-in
6. The “Watergate Seven” were tried in early 1973 by Judge John Sirica
a. Five of the defendants, including Hunt, pleaded guilty to
burglary, wiretapping and attempted bugging
b. McCord and Liddy were convicted in a jury trial
c. During the proceedings, James McCord indicated to Judge
Sirica that White House Republicans knew in advance about the
break-in , that they blackmailed the defendants for their
silence and that perjury had been committed during the trial
7. On April 30, 1973 President Nixon announced the resignation of
Haldeman, Erlichman and Dean
8. In May 1973 John Dean spilled the details of President Nixon’s role in
the cover-up to the Senate Watergate committee, prompting Nixon to
assert “I am not a crook!”
435
9. Alexander Butterfield reveled to the Committee that the President
had tape recorded White House conversations and telephone calls, the
committee asked the President for the tapes to use as evidence in the
hearings, the president refused to release the tapes for reasons of
national security and executive privileges
10. President Nixon allowed Attorney-General Elliot Richardson to appoint
Archibald Cox, a law professor at Harvard, to serve as special
prosecutor
When Cox made arrangements to go to court to secure the tapes that
Nixon refused to surrender, Nixon ordered Attorney-General
Richardson to fire Cox even though Nixon had promised not to
interfere with the special prosecutor’s investigation
Rather than firing Cox, Richardson, as well as the deputy attorney
General, William Ruckelshaus resigned in protest
Cox was fired by Solicitor-General Robert Bork (on Saturday night)
The Saturday night Massacre outraged the public and as a result.
Nixon agreed in turn over the tapes to Judge Sirica, after appointing
a new special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski
11. After the Saturday Night Massacre, the house Judiciary Committee
began considering impeachment proceedings against Nixon
12. In March 1974 the grand jury indicted Haldeman, Mitchell, Erlichman,
Colson and four members of the White House staff on charges of
conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury. Nixon became an
unindicted coconspirator
13. When the President submitted the subpoenaed tapes and 1254 pages
of edited transcripts, the public was shocked by Nixon’s arrogance,
lack of concern about the electorate, the “expletive deletives” used to
cover profane and vulgar language and the inaccuracy of the
transcripts
436
14. In late July, 1974 the House judiciary Committee adopted three
articles of impeachment, charging the President with obstruction of
justice, abuse of Presidential power, disobeying subpoenas to turn
over tapes. Out of the 21 Democrats and 17 Republicans on the
Committee, eleven Republicans voted against impeachment
15. On August 1, 1974 the supreme court ruled, in the case of the United
States vs. Richard Nixon, that the President must release 64
additional tapes to Jawarski that he had refused to release under a
lower court order
16. On august 5, 1974 Nixon released the additional tapes which clearly
revealed that Nixon had halted the FBI investigation and that he
knew about the cover-up one week after the break-in (June 1972),
much earlier than the March 21, 1973 date that he had repeatedly
claimed. Based on this evidence, the eleven Republicans on the
Judiciary Committee who had voted against impeachment reversed
their votes, making the impeachment vote unanimous
17. After receiving the opinion of Republican leaders in both houses of
Congress that he would be impeached and convicted, Richard Nixon
resigned as President on August 8, 1974, the first President in
American history to resign
18. Later on January 1, 1975 Mitchell, Haldeman and Ehrlicman were
found guilty and sentenced to prison terms
19. Significance of the Watergate Affair
a. Voter turnout plunged in elections following the Watergate
Affair as the public became cynical towards politicians and the
political system
b. The press, protected by the First Amendment, demonstrated
the virtue and importance of a free press
c. The affair proved that, in America, “no man is above the law”
and that America is a government of laws and not of men
437
d. The Republican Party suffered in the post-Watergate elections
e. The system of checks and balances worked and , due to the
Watergate affair, more power and popularity shifted to the
legislative branch at the expense of the executive branch
f. The virtue of the two-party system was demonstrated as the
Democratically controlled Congress pursued the investigation of
the Republican executive branch
g. New campaign laws emerged out of the Watergate affair
h. The legal proceedings of the Watergate affair proved,
according to Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, the “Our
constitution works, here the people rule”
i. As a result of the scandal, congress took steps to restrict the
“imperial Presidency.”
i.
The War Powers Act (1973) prohibited the President
from sending troops into combat without the approval
of Congress. The War Powers Act demonstrates the
system of checks and balances
ii.
The congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
(1974) was passed by Congress to prohibit the
President from impounding federal funds that have
already been appropriated to spend
F. Vice President Gerald Ford, who had been appointed to office after
the resignation of Spiro Agnew, was sworn in as the 38th President of
the United States on august 9th, 1974, the first appointed President
in U.S. history, Nelson Rockefeller (New York) was them appointed
Vice-President
II. President Ford tried to heal the wounds left behind by Watergate
438
A. On September 8, 1974, in an effort to bring an end to “the long
national nightmare,” President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for all
offenses e may have committed as President. Many Americans
questioned Ford’s refusal to grant full, unconditional pardons to
Vietnam War draft dodgers after Nixon was pardoned
B. Economic problems confronted the Ford administration
1. An inflation rate of 12% led President Ford to launch his WIN (Whip
Inflation Now) program through which he encouraged the public to
conserve energy and to fight inflation at the grassroots level
2. A severe recession hit the nation in 1975 as result of President
Ford’s effort to control inflation (by opposing tax cuts, calling for
cuts in federal spending and urging the Federal Reserve board to raise
interest rates)
C. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos fell to Communist control in 1975 as the
final chapter of the Vietnam tragedy
D. American celebrated the Bicentennial (200th) birthday on July 4, 1976
E. Two assassination attempts targeted at Ford failed. “Squeaky” Frome
(of Charles Manson’s “family”) and Sarah Jane Moore were sentenced
to prison for firing shots at the President
III. President Jimmy Carter brought honesty and compassion to
Washington during the “malaise” of the 70s following Vietnam and
Watergate
A. The 1976 Election produced a surprising victory for James E. “Jimmy”
Carter, the Democratic nominee from Georgia, and his running mate,
Walter “Fritz” Mondale of Minnesota
1. due to a strong challenge from conservative governor Ronald
Reagan of California, President Ford dropped Rockefeller as his
V-P candidate and chose as his running mate, Robert “Bob” Dole
of Kansas, a conservative
439
2. With support from Northern industrial interests, southerners
and black voters, Carter won as a Washington outsider whose
honesty was comforting after Watergate
B. President Carter brought a less formal manner to the White House.
He walked to the White House during his inauguration , held “town hall
meetings,” called for regulations written in “plain English” and
answered questions in “call in” sessions
1. The Carter Cabinet included more black and women appointees than
any previous administration. President Carter appointed Andrew
Young as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
2. To solve the nations energy problems, Carter deregulated the oil
industry, hoping to raise prices and decrease consumption. He also
proposed a tax on the windfall profits , hoping to spur domestic
exploration
a. Congress produced a weakened energy bill
b. The Department of Energy was created
c. Nuclear power came into doubt in March, 1979 when an
accidental spill of radioactive water occurred at Three mile
Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania
d. A Synthetic Fuels Corporation was established by congress to
seek new sources of energy
3. President Carter granted an unconditional pardon to Vietnam War
draft evaders
4. Carter created the Department of Education, despite his campaign
pledge to clean up the “bureaucratic mess” in Washington. The
Department of Health and Human Services out f the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare
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5. Carter deregulated several transportation industries including airlines,
trucking and railroads, and also deregulated the banking industry
6. Carter produced a “superfund” to clean up chemical waste sites,
limited strip mining and bought million of acres of new national
forests, parks and wildlife refuges
7. Imports from Japan far exceeded exports to that country, fueling a
trade imbalance between the two nations
8. President Carter failed to deal with inflation and unemployment
effectively. His administration was seen as weak and poorly managed
Lesson 3:
American foreign Policy in the 1960s and 70s reflected the continuation of
the nation’s engagement in the Cold War as U.S. forces confronted
communism in Europe and the Third World (economically underdeveloped
nations
I. President Kennedy who inherited a foreign policy of containment
rollback and brinksmanship, faced enormous foreign policy challenges,
primarily with the Soviet Union, during his administration
A. Kennedy adopted a policy of flexible response because he believed
that containment , based on brinksmanship, was ineffective in dealing
with Third World nations
1. The Peace Corps was formed by Kennedy to provide assistance
to emerging, underdeveloped nations of the Third World
2. His Alliance for Progress arranged projects designed to repair
the damaged American relationship with Latin American nations
3. The Green Berets and other insurgency forces were created
during the Kennedy administration to train in modern techniques
of limited warfare
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B. The Berlin Wall was constructed by the Soviet –controlled East
German government in order to stem the flow of refugees from
communist East Berlin to the freedom of pro-Western West Berlin.
It became the most prominent symbol of the Cold War
C. The Cuban Missile Crisis posed the most dangerous crisis faced by the
Kennedy administration as the world stood on the brink of nuclear war
following a deterioration in the U.S./Cuban relationship over several
decades
1. In 1934, the United States abrogated the Platt Amendment,
ending its protectorate over Cuba which had been in effect
since the Spanish American war. In 1959 Castro’s overthrow
of Batista and the seizure of American properties by this
new soviet –influenced Cuban government had led President
Eisenhower to order the CIA to begin planning the
overthrow of Castro using Cuban refugees who had fled the
revolution to Florida in 1959
2. In April 1961 President Kennedy authorized the invasion by
2000 exiles at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of
Cuba. The fiasco collapsed in two days after Kennedy
refused to authorize Air Force strikes in Cuba
3. In October, 1962 American U-2 Recognizance planes
photographed soviet built missile bases under construction in
Cuba. Subsequently, it was determined that the missile
carried offensive nuclear weapons
a. Kennedy chose to impose a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent
the Soviets from sending additional missiles, rather than
attacking the Island and risking nuclear response
b. When soviet ships approaching Cuba turned back to the Soviet
Union at the last minute, Soviet Premier Khrushchev offered to
remove the missiles from Cuba if the United States pledged to
not invade the Island again. Kennedy agreed, the crisis came to
an end as Kennedy’s handling of the affair would be considered
442
his greatest triumph as President while Khrushchev emerged
from the incident weakened and humiliated
c. The most important long-term result of the Cuban Missile Crisis
was an increase in Cold War hostility, evidenced by the largest
peacetime military buildup in U.S. history in response to a
massive soviet buildup under Leonid Breshnev, who replaced
Khrushchev
D. The Hot Line was established by the United States and the Soviet
Union in June 1963 in an effort to prevent the accidental outbreak of
nuclear war. A series of nuclear test ban treaties were signed by the
United States, England and the Soviet Union, limiting nuclear tests to
underground sits only
E. Following the defeat of French forces at Dien Bien Phu and the
division of Vietnam by the 1954 Geneva conference into communist
north Vietnam, led by Ho chi Minh, and South Vietnam, under the
leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem, President Kennedy could have withdrawn
U.S. forces from the region during the time the American public was
more concerned with events in Berlin and Cuba. But his belief in the
domino theory and commitment to the policy of containment led him to
slowly increase U.S. military involvement to about 23,000 Green Beret
advisors by the time of his death in November 1963
1. President Kennedy secretly supported the assassination of the
corrupt Diem in 1963 by the South Vietnamese military. Diem
had grown very unpopular, in part, due to his brutal crackdown
on the nation’s Buddhist majority, which had led to the welltelevised self-immolation of several Buddhist monks. Nguyen
Van Thieu succeeded Diem as south Vietnam’s leader
2. Ho chi Minh continued his effort to reunite the two Vietnams
under one communist government with the help of his followers
known as the Vietcong (the National Liberation Front).
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II. President Johnson continued Kennedy’s Foreign Policy
A. President Johnson would dramatically escalate U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam Conflict, a decision which would ultimately lead to his
downfall as president
1. Johnson felt compelled to continue the Southeast Asia policy of
his predecessor and also did not want to “lose” Vietnam like
President Truman had “lost” China in 1949
2. While the United States saw the conflict as an effort to
contain communism and the Soviet Union viewed it as a war of
liberation from American capitalism, Ho Chi Minh and the
Vietcong were fighting to win a civil war a puppet government
established by France and the United States
3. The Gulf of Tonkin incident proved to be a turning point in the
U.S. commitment in Vietnam
a. President Johnson alarmed the Congress and the American
people about the dangers of the Vietcong by disclosing an
attack by North Vietnamese gunboats on the U.S.S. Mattox in
the Gulf of Tonkin
b. Johnson failed to disclose the fact that the Mattox was on a
spy mission in North Vietnamese waters
c. Congress (almost unanimously) approved the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution which authorized the President to use “all necessary
measures to prevent aggression”
d. President Johnson, armed with the resolution, ordered U.S.
forces to begin bombing North Vietnam
4. The escalation of the U.S. war effort began with the bombing of
North Vietnam in 1965 and continued into 1968
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a. Although Johnson campaigned for peace as the Election of
1964 approached, he was quietly preparing to escalate U.S.
involvement in the war with bombings
b. An endless cycle emerged; bombers and their bases required
support troops who, in turn, needed air support while on
patrol, which required more planes, which, alas, required
more troops…
c. By December, 1967 U.S. forces had dropped more bombs on
north Vietnam than were dropped in World War II
d. By 1968 the war became an American, rather than South
Vietnamese, war effort, as the number of troops had risen
from 50,000 in June, 1965 to 250,000 by December, 1965
and finally, to 500,000 in December, 1967
5. The strategy and tactics of Ho chi Minh’s Vietcong forces focusing
on..
a. Controlling the countryside by gaining control of villages by
making threats against village chiefs
b. Hit and Run military tactics using the Ho Chi Minh Trail and
the Mekong River as supply and communication routes
c. Avoiding a battle of masses armies, realizing they faced
superior technology in the American forces
d. Outlasting the United States in its will to make war
6. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces employed a strategy and
tactics which concentrated on
a. Moving villages to control points and offering them economic aid
445
b. Employing superior technology wherever possible including
better firearms, air power and chemical defoliants like Agent
Orange
c. Obtaining a high “body count” by sending “search and destroy”
teams in pursuit of isolated enemy units and supply bases
d. Bombing the enemy in order to destroy his will and ability to
make war
e. Trying to distinguish, under the very difficult conditions of
guerilla warfare, between Vietnamese civilians and Vietcong
7. The Tet Offensive of January, 1968 was the turning point of the
Vietnam War
a. By the end of 1967, General Westmoreland, the commander
of the U.S. forces in Vietnam, announced that victory was
near
b. During the Tet Holiday, which was normally characterized by
a cease fire, Vietcong forces attacked at several locations
throughout South Vietnam, including the U.S. embassy in
Saigon. Although the areas temporarily captured by the
Vietcong were soon recaptured by Americans and South
Vietnamese forces, the Tet Offensive proved that the
United States was not winning the war and that the Vietcong
could attack anywhere at anytime
c. Following the Offensive, General Westmoreland estimated
that the United States needed a 10:1 advantage in troops to
win the war and that according to his estimates, 550,000
American troops only outnumber the enemy of 135,000 by
4:1, then 200,000 more troops would be necessary. Johnson
refused, asserting that such a move would increase pressure
on the U.S. economy, Congressional consent would be
required for further escalation and the draft would have to
446
be increased, all in the face of exploding opposition to the
war on the home front
d. President Johnson brought the bombing of North Vietnam to
a halt and entered into peace negotiations with the enemy
following the Tet Offensive
e. The War continued on for four more years, despite the fact
that the Tet Offensive demonstrated that the U.S. could
not win the war
III. President Nixon confronted the problem of the Cold War by trying to
bring it to a conclusion
A. The involvement of the United States in the Vietnam conflict
continued under President Nixon until the removal of the American
troops in 1973
1. The policy of the United States in Vietnam shifted to
“Vietnamization” which focused on training South Vietnamese
personnel to replace American forces
2. In the spring of 1970, American forces secretly invaded Cambodia
in an effort to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail which was the
primary source of supply for the Vietcong of South Vietnam.
Nixon’s announcement of the move to the American people led to
strikes by college students who asserted that Nixon was escalating
the war while claiming to be working for peace. The incident at
Kent State was one of the results of the protests
3. Henry Kissinger, as the American peace negotiator, pursued a
policy of “peace with honor”
4. Nixon ordered the largest bombing campaign of the Vietnam war
when the Paris peace talks stalled
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5. In his campaign for reelection in 1972, President Nixon announced:
“Peace is at Hand” and, following his reelection, a cease fire
agreement was reached in January 1973
a. It was agreed that North Vietnam would continue to have a
military presence in South Vietnam
b. South Vietnam was assured of self-government
c. The United States agreed to continue economic and military aid
to South Vietnam
6. By November 1973 the United States completed the withdrawal
of all of its forces from Vietnam
7. Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the Vietcong attacked
the inept South Vietnamese forces
a. Phnom Penn, the Capital of Cambodia, fell to communist forces
in March, 1975
b. In April 1975, following the refusal of Congress to allocate
$722 million in emergency aid to its ally, South Vietnam fell to
the Vietcong. The United States evacuated a thousand
Americans and roughly six thousand Vietnamese to offshore
aircraft carriers. Saigon would be subsequently be renamed Ho
Chi Minh City by the Vietcong
8. Results of the Vietnam War
a. As the longest and least successful war in which the United
States was ever involved, the Vietnam war claimed over 58,000
American lives and left over 300,000 Americans wounded. The
war also claimed the lives of 160,000 South Vietnamese, and
922,000 North Vietnamese
b. The American economy suffered as a result of the conflict
which cost approximately $150 Billion
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c. The American people lost faith in their government while the
nation’s allies lost confidence in America’s ability to lead the
world
d. The “Vietnam” syndrome would plague U.S. presidents in the
future as they avoided introducing any American troops into a
conflict which may not have the support of the American
people. President Ford would not respond to communist
influence in Angola and Ethiopia
e. The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial (the ”Wall”) would be created
in Washington D.C. as a reminder of the price paid by those who
fought and died in the war
B. President Nixon’s greatest accomplishment came with the
normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China in
February 1972
1. Nixon met with Mao Tse-Tung in Peking and reestablished
relations for the first time since 1949
2. Both nations agreed to a policy of non-aggression in Asia and also
resumed trade
3. The United States agreed to allow the People’s Republic of China
(Communist China) to replace Taiwan (Nationalist China) on the
United Nations Security Council
C. Nixon tried to bring an end to the Cold War through a policy of
détente
1. Relations between the two superpowers had gradually improved
since the Cuban Missile Crisis, particularly under Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev
2. In May, 1972 Nixon and Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT), an agreement to limit the number of
intercontinental missiles for five years
449
3. The Cold War seemed to be “thawing” as a new relationship
emerged
D. The Arab-Israeli conflict, which had erupted in war during the
Johnson Administration, would continue to present challenges to
American foreign policy under Nixon
1. In 1967, alarmed by a growing military threat from their Arab
neighbors, Israel invaded Egypt, Jordan and Syria in the Six
Day War, seized and occupied territories belonging to those
nations – The Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank of the
Jordan River from Jordan and the Gaza Strip, as well as part of
the Sinai Peninsula, from Egypt
2. In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Egypt and Syria invaded Israel
during the Jewish Holiday (Yom Kippur) in October in an effort
to recapture territories lost during the Six Day War. When
the Israelis recovered and were near victory, Egypt called on
the Soviet Union to intervene. The U.S. and U.S.S.R. persuaded
both sides to halt the fighting in order to avoid being dragged
into the war themselves
3. Israel was somewhat angry at the United States for stopping
the war just as they were on the verge of victory and the Arab
nations, angry about American support for Israel, retaliated
with an oil embargo in 1973 which would lead to dramatically
higher oil prices and, subsequently, an energy crisis in the
United States
IV. President Ford’s foreign policy from 1974 to 1977 reflected caution
about any involvement in foreign conflicts in the aftermath of the
Vietnam experience
A. When the communist government of Cambodia seized the
Mayaguez, an American cargo ship, Ford immediately sent
troops to recapture the ship and its crew
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B. Détente with the Soviets seemed to fade in the mid-70s as
distrust between the two nations began to fade
C. The oil crisis which emerged during the Nixon administration
lead to a dramatic rise in the cost of imported oil, from roughly
$3.00 a barrel to over $30.00 a barrel
V. President Carter’s Foreign Policy from 1977 to 1981
A. The oil crisis rocked the western industrialized nations which
depended upon imported oil, including Western Europe, Japan,
and the United States
B. President Carter’s greatest success came with the Camp David
Accords, an agreement to begin a peace settlement in the
Mideast, signed by Begin of Israel and Sadat of Egypt, and
Carter of the U.S. in 1979
C. In 1979 the Shah of Iran, the most important U.S. ally in the
Mideast, was overthrown by conservative Shiite Muslims led by
the Ayatollah Khomeini. Soon therefore a group of “radical
students,” took 52 Americans Hostage in an attempt to
demonstrate to the world their outrage at American
involvement in Iranian affairs. Months of negotiations proved
futile. The hostages were released only after President Carter
left office. His failure to resolve the hostage crisis was the
most important reason Carter was defeated for reelection by
Ronald Reagan in 1980
D. In 1980 the U.S.S.R. invaded Afghanistan in an effort to
“protect its borders.” President Carter voiced American
outrage at the Soviets “Vietnam”
1. The U.S. refused to attend the 1980 Olympics in
Moscow
2. SALT II, the continuation of the U.S. –U.S.S>R.
agreement
451
3. The U.S. issued a grain embargo against the Soviets
4. The U.S. limited the sale of technology to the U.S.S.R.
5. These actions were generally views as ineffective
Unit Twelve: The Resurgence of Conservatism in the 1980s
Lesson 1:
The 1980s marked a turning point in recent political history as
conservatives, calling for an end to the New Deal and the Great Society,
gained control of America’s political agenda
I. The Reagan administration’s domestic programs emphasized supplyside economic theory, spiritual and family values and self reliance
A. Election of 1980
1. The Republicans nominated the conservative former Governor
of California, Ronald Reagan and George Bush (Texas). Reagan
sought to reduce the size of the Federal government in
asserting that “government is the problem, not the solution.”
Reagan opposed “big government”
2. President Carter ran for reelection as incumbent on the
Democratic ticket
3. John Anderson ran on a third party ticket
4. Ronald Reagan became the oldest elected President in U.S.
history. His victory marked the beginning of the rise of
Conservative Republicans
5. Republicans gained control of the Senate for the first time
since the 1950s
452
B. An assassination attempt by John Hinckley in 1981 failed as a .22
caliber bullet was removed from President Reagan’s lung
C. Reagan’s economic policy, known as “Reaganomics was based on supplyside economic theory, which focused on budget discipline, tax
reduction and investment stimulation of the economy
1. Reagan’s policy initially produced a severe but short lived
recession. However, the “Teflon President” seemed to avoid
blame when failures occurred
2. Domestic spending was cut, particularly expenditures on school
lunches, food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid
3. The greatest amount of the U.S. budget is spent on defense
4. Tax reform was implemented by Congress, with Reagan’s
support, in 1986
a. Taxes were cut to promote investment and job creation
b. Tax shelters were eliminated
c. The tax burden of poor Americans was removed
5. Reagan sought ways, through his New Federalism program, to
reduce federal regulation of business
6. The Federal deficit tripled from 1980 to 1986, despite Reagan’s
promise to balance the budget
a. Interest on the national debt became the largest percentage of
the debt in the 1980s, fueled by massive increases in defense
spending
b. The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, passed in 1985 and revised in
1987, was passed by Congress to require the federal
government to balance the budget by 1993. Automatic budget
453
cuts would be enacted if deficit-reduction goals were not
achieved
D. President Reagan and Vice-President Bush were reelected in 1984 in
a landslide victory
1. The election was historic as the Democratic nominee, former
Vice-President Walter Mondale of Minnesota, selected
Geraldine Ferraro of New York as his running mate, the first
female Vice-Presidential nominee in U.S. history
2. Black candidate Jessie Jackson unsuccessfully ran for the
Democratic nomination as the “rainbow coalition” candidate,
supported by women, minorities and the poor
3. In the off year elections which followed in 1986, the Democrats
regained control of the Senate
E. Foreign policy dominated Reagan’s second term in office as the Cold
War began to subside with the emergence of “glasnost” (opening) and
“perestroika” (economic restructuring) in the Soviet Union under
Mikhail Gorbachev
II. President Bush continued Reagan’s policies and, despite the end of the
Cold War and the American led-victory in the Persian Gulf War, was
limited to a single term due to his failure to successfully address
social and economic issues
A. The Election of 1988
1. the republicans won the election after nominating two term vice
president George Bush and Senator Dan Quayle (Indiana) as his
running mate. Bush whose father had been a U.S. Senator from
Connecticut, had made millions in the oil business before
entering into his long career of public service in which he had
served as ambassador to China and the United Nations, CIA
Director and Vice-President. He promised to lead us into a
454
“kinder, gentler, America” and focused on Americans helping
Americans through “a thousand points of light”
2. The Democratic Party nominated Governor Michael Dukakis
(Massachusetts), who ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.
The bruising Democratic Primary led to the withdrawal of front
runner Gary Hart in a sex scandal and Joseph Biden for
plagiarism as well as the emergence of the black candidacy of
charismatic Reverend Jessie Jackson and his rainbow coalition
composed of minorities and others who saw themselves as
disadvantaged
B. President Bush’s domestic policy
1. President Bush signed legislation in 1989 to bail out the nation’s
troubled savings and loan associations which were going
bankrupt as a result of bad loans, corruption and poor
management. The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) replaced
the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) as
the regulatory agency in charge of managing assets of the
failed S&L’s
2. As the U.S. Economy entered a recession in 1990, the Federal
Reserve board, under the leadership of chairman Alan
Greenspan, lowered the discount rate which it charges to its
member banks, allowing those banks to lower their interest
rates in an effort to stimulate the economy
3. Though his solid leadership during the downfall of Communism in
Europe and during the Persian gulf War would define his
presidency, lingering economic problems or recession,
joblessness and a swollen national debt of 4 trillion dollars
would limit Bush to one term in office
III. Social and Cultural characteristics of the 1980s
A. Women continued to make strides as Sandra Day O’Connor was
appointed by Reagan to serve as the nation’s first female
455
Supreme Court Justice, however, most women continued to be
employed in low wage jobs
B. The Moral Majority, led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell, called
for school prayer and an end to abortion. His fundamentalist
believers were also known as the religious right
C. Supreme court decisions began to reflect the conservative
direction of the court and the country
1. The Court undermined affirmative action in cases
involving unionized firefighters in Memphis who
supported promotion based on seniority rather than
affirmative action (1984). The Court’s decisions in
Ward’s Cove Packing v Antonia and Martin v Wilks
(1989) narrowed the scope of race-based affirmative
action
2. In Webster v Reproductive Health Services, the
Supreme Court opened the way for states to limit a
woman’s access to abortion, in contrast to prohibitions
placed on states by the Roe v Wade decision
D. Homelessness soared during the 1980s as federal funds for
housing projects were reduced 70%
E. Youth became more conservative because of Reagan’s
popularity and “baby boomers” became “yuppies” (young urban
professionals) whose massive consumerism resulted in soaring
household debt
IV. The early 1990s ushered in questions about the laissez-faire, supply
side approach of the Reagan-Bush years with promises by President
Clinton for amore aggressive governmental response to domestic
issues, including health care, crime, the deficit, welfare reform, tax
equity and education reform
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A. The Election of 1992 produced victory for the Democratic
ticket of Governor William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton (Arkansas)
and his running mate, Senator Al gore of Tennessee over the
Republican ticket of President Bush and Dan Quayle and a third
party candidate, Ross Perot, who garnered 19% of the popular
vote (but no electoral votes) on a platform focusing exclusively
on the deficit
B. The Clinton/Gore victory represented a generational change as
the new president was the first post-World War II era, “baby
boomer” president. The election was also significant as Hilary
Clinton, a nationally known attorney and influential policy
advocate, became the first professional to serve as “first lady”,
and, according to some analysts, as co-president
C. President Clinton confronted issues of character during the
campaign and early in his administration as a result of his
opposition to the Vietnam War during his college years, his
political ambitions (“Slick Willie”), his support for the
controversial ban on discrimination against gays in the military
and allegations of former financial impropriety involving his
investment in a real estate development known as Whitewater
while he was Governor of Arkansas
D. The Clinton Administration secured the passage of
1. A deficit reduction package after a year in office
2. A crime bill, which included the Brady Bill requiring a
waiting period for handgun purchases, federal funds for
100,000 new police officers and a ban on certain types
of semiautomatic weapons
3. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
which created a tariff free trading zone in North
America
457
E. The mid tem elections in 1994 marked a dramatic turning point
in the American political landscape as the Republican Party
gained control of both houses of Congress
1. the voting electorate demonstrated its frustration with
ineffective “big government” characterized by a “tax and
spend” philosophy and President Clinton’s massive healthcare
proposal, calling for a downsized effective government that,
with the exception of Medicare and social Security would
abandon the politics of the New Deal and the Great Society and
would search for cost effective (preferably private-sector
solutions)
2. The Republican congressional majority, led by Speaker of the
House-elect Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority leader Bob
Dole promoted its “Contract with America” which stressed tax
reform, term limits, welfare reform, tough restrictions on
crime and family values
3. The election results dispelled the traditional link between the
economy and politics since the economy was rapidly expanding,
without inflation and with high employment at the time of the
election
V. The computer emerged as the greatest technological change for the
1990s. computer networking has allowed more people to work at home
458
Lesson 2:
The dramatic end of the Cold War in the 1980s and 90s was a victory for
democracy but was accompanied by new challenges for the United States in
the arena of Foreign affairs
I. The Reagan administration confronted Soviet Communism was well as
militant Islamic terrorism in an effort to reestablish American
prestige and military strength throughout the world
A. President Reagan and his first Secretary of State, Alexander
Haig, used a massive arms buildup as well as fiery rhetoric in a
Cold War confrontation with the “Evil Empire”, namely the
Soviet Union
1. The Reagan Doctrine resurrected the pre-Vietnam War foreign policy
of containment by supporting opponents of communism, regardless of
Soviet Involvement
2. The United States implemented economic sanctions against the Soviet
controlled government of Poland after it imposed martial law in
response to the emergence of Solidarity, an independent labor union
3. Opposed to further arms control agreements and the growing
antinuclear “Freeze” movement, the Reagan Administration made plans
to put intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe and convinced
Congress to provide billions of dollars for research and development
of the Strategic Defense Initiative, a laser based, missile defense
system, better known to Americans as “Star Wars”
4. On September 1, 1983 a Soviet warplane shot down a South Korean
jetliner that had mistakenly violated its airspace. The wworld
expressed outrage over the 269 dead passenger which included many
Americans
B. Latin America provided ample opportunities for President Reagan to
confront Communism and restore American pride
459
1. American military force overthrew the pro-Castro dictatorship
in Grenada in October, 1983 and rescued American medical
students studying on the Caribbean Island. Elections were later
held in December 1984
2. The Reagan administration provided additional aid to the right
wing government of El Salvador in Central America which was
involved with a civil war with left-wing guerillas, who , according
to Reagan, were backed by Cuba and the Soviets
a. The 1984 election of Jose’ Napoleon Duarte, a
moderate, allowed President Reagan to assert that
democracy was emerging in El Salvador through
American support for the government drew significant
criticism
b. Peace talks were later held in 1990
3. Nicaragua would require much of Reagan’s attention in the
Eighties
a. In 1979, during the Carter administration, American ally and
dictator Anastasio Somoza was overthrown by the Sandinistas a
leftist revolutionary group led by Daiel Ortega
b. After halting President Carter’s program of economic aid to
Nicaragua, the Reagan administration began a program of
covert support for the counter-revolutionary “contras” who
opposed the government and operated out of remote bases in
Honduras and Costa Rica
c. When Congress, controlled by the Democrats, cut off funds for
the contras (or “Freedom fighters,” according to Reagan), the
President sought support through other means, which led the
administration officials to engage in the Iran-Contra Affair
(descried below)
C. The middle East presented many challenges during the 1980s,
particularly the problem of terrorism
460
1. Iran waited until an hour after President Reagan took office
before releasing the 52 American hostages that were held in
Iran for 444 days
2. OPEC (the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries)
reduced the price of oil for the first time in its 23 year history
on March 14, 1983, reflecting decrease in the world-wide
demand for oil
3. On October 1983, a suicide terrorist drove a truckload of
explosives in U.S. Marine headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon. 241
American members of an international peace-keeping force
were killed and, as a result, U.S. forces were withdrawn from
Lebanon in February, 1984
4. The United States continued to support Israel, despite Arab
and Palestinian threats
5. The Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise ship was hijacked in 1985 in
the Mediterranean Sea by members of the Palestinian
Liberation Organization, who demanded the release of PLO
prisoners. The hijackers surrendered the vessel in Egypt and
were being given safe conduct into Libya when their Egyptian
plane was intercepted by U.S. forces in a daring operation and
forced to land in Sicily, where the hijackers were taken into
custody and tried for their crime
6. U.S. warplnaes bombed Tripoli, Libya on April 14, 1986 in
response to continued acts of terrorism planned or sponsored
by Libyan dictator Mummar Qaddafi including the bombing of a
German discotheque in which an American soldier was killed
7. The Iran-Contra Affair presented a major political crisis for
the Reagan administration
a. Although President Reagan had promised the American
people that he would not negotiate with terrorists,
newspapers reported in November 1986 that the
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administration had sold weapons to the Militant Islamic
government of Iran in hopes of receiving Iranian
assistance in securing the release of American hostages
held by Islamic terrorists in Lebanon
b. Then, it was revealed that the money from the sale of
those weapons was diverted to the Nicaraguan contras,
despite Congressional restrictions on funding the
contras
c. As the scandal aroused the public’s ire and the media
attention, a commission chaired by John Tower issued a
report critical of the President while a Congressional
committee interrogated members of the national
security establishment
d. The investigation revealed that covert activities were
conducted in the White House by officials who kept
their actions hidden from the Congress, the defense
and intelligence agencies as well as the President
e. Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver north appeared before
the Congressional Committee and became a villain to
some Americans while seen as a national hero to others
who felt he was only following orders of his superior,
Admiral John Poindexter, President Reagan’s national
security advisor
f. Although President Reagan was never directly tied to
the scandal, his reputation was temporarily tarnished
for not monitoring his affairs more closely
g. Poindexter was convicted and sentenced to six months
in prison while North’s convictions were suspended and
overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals due to a
technicality
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8. American warships began to provide protection for oil
tankers through the Persian Gulf in the summer of 1987
9. American airliners were the target of Islamic terrorists on
December 21, 1988 an American flight from London was
bombed over Lockerbie Scotland, killing close to three
hundred Americans, perhaps in retaliation for the accidental
downing, by the U.S. Navy of an Iranian jetliner over the
Persian gulf
D. In Asia, President Reagan was visible in backing the overthrow
of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and the
ascension of Corazon Aquino
E. As a result of a crisis in Soviet leadership in the mid-1980s
restlessness in Poland, deteriorating economic conditions and
the erosion of Soviet military prestige due to the failed
invasion of Afghanistan, external and internal pressures led to
dramatic changes which culminated in the end of the Cold War
and the Soviet Empire
1. When older members of the entrenched politburo who
assumed the leadership of the Soviet Union died in rapid
succession in the mid-80s, new leadership emerged which
would alter the Soviet Landscape
a. Leonid Brezhnev, the Stalinist ruler of the Soviet Union since
the 1964 removal of Nikita Khrushchev died on November 10,
1982
b. Brezhnev’s successor, Yuri Andropov, aged 69, died on February
9, 1984, one year after taking office
c. Andropov’s successor Konstantin Chernenko, age 73, died on
March 10,1985, within a year of taking office
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2. Mikhail Gorbachev, age 54, became the new, younger leader
of the Soviet Union in March 1985 and proposed to
extensively reform the Soviet Union
a. Glasnost proposed a democratic “openness” for the Soviet
Union. Censorship and travel restrictions were relaxed and
citizens began to learn more truth about the Soviet Empire
b. Perestroika called for “restructuring” into a more marketoriented Soviet economy. Realizing that the Soviet Union was
shut off from the Global economy in its current condition,
Gorbachev, in an effort to improve economic ties with the
West, relaxed soviet control of the Warsaw Pact countries in
Eastern Europe in 1989. Immediately, Hungary, East Germany,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Poland began political reforms
that ended the absolute control of the Communist Party in their
respective nations
3. President Reagan and Secretary Gorbachev held four summit meetings
which helped in facilitating the end of the Cold War
a. Geneva, Switzerland – November, 1985: Secretary Gorbachev
echoed his earlier call in April for a ban on intermediate-range
nuclear weapons aimed at Western Europe
b. Reykjavik, Iceland – October, 1986: President Reagan and
Secretary Gorbachev failed to achieve an agreement on arms
reduction and the meeting concluded in a stalemate
c. Washington D.C. – December 1987: The INF Treaty is signed by
Reagan and Gorbachev, banning all intermediate range nuclear
weapons from Europe
d. Moscow, Soviet Union – Reagan and Gorbachev warmly brought
the Cold War to a conclusion, insuring an important place for
both leaders in world history
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II. President bush witnessed extraordinary changes in the global balance
of power as communism came swiftly tumbling down in the Soviet Bloc
and other parts of the World and the United states, as the world’s
only superpower, continued to lead the world community in the
struggle against anti-democratic forces in the Persian Gulf War and
elsewhere
A. Although the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the
Chinese government, Chinese student dissidents gathered in
Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June, 1989 in a pro-democracy
demonstration, symbolized by a makeshift model of the statue
of Liberty
B. Mikhail Gorbachev’s policies of Glasnost and Perestroika coupled
with external pressures from the United States, led to a
remarkable collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the
Soviet Union
1. The communist government in Poland was toppled by the
Solidarity movement led by Lech Walesa
2. The Communist governments of Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, East Germany and Romania
suddenly came unraveled in a peaceful transformation
of power to democratic forces. The end of the Cold
War produced the dismantlement of the Berlin Wall
which had symbolized the division of Germany and the
opposing camps of the Cold War. Amazingly, communism
came unraveled in 1989 primarily due to internal forces
within these countries
3. In 1990, the Soviet Communist party opened the Soviet
political process to opposition parties, the Soviet Union
would subsequently embrace democracy under
Gorbachev and, following an attempted coup by former
communists, usher in the democratic government of
Boris Yeltsin who had joined with pro-democracy forces
in the streets to oppose the coup
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4. The communist Sandinista government of Nicaragua fell
in elections held in the country early in 1990
5. The reunification of East and West Germany into one
democratic nation occurred on October 3, 1990
C. President Bush used America’s military might to confront dictators
who abused their power in the world
1. In December 1989 American airborne troops landed in Panama
and captured drug lord and dictator Manuel Noriega, thus
ending his reign of terror there
2. The United states led a multinational United Nations military
force against the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein following
Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait
a. On august 2, 1990 the Iraqi army overran the sheikdom
of Kuwait due to disputes over oil prices. Iraq wanted
OPEC to raise its prices so that it could pay its debts
from its eight year war with Iran. Kuwait favored lower
prices and was accused by Iraq of exceeding its
production and “slant-drilling” (tapping oil under Iraqi
soil) untrue charges designed by Hussein to give him an
excuse to take control of the Persian gulf’s oil supplies
which might enable him to strangle the industrialized
West and perhaps destroy Israel
b. The United States had supplied Hussein as he
constructed the fourth largest army in the world in
order to carry on war against the American enemy,
Iran, the Islamic fundamentalist state which had taken
Americans hostage in 1979
c. After invading with 100,000 men, Iraq raised it forces
to half a million strong and announced that he was
annexing Kuwait as the 19th province of Iraq
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d. After a United Nations condemnation of Iraq’s
hostility and an economic embargo had failed, the
Security council issued an ultimatum to Saddam to leave
Kuwait by January 15 or face a United Nations force
which would use “all necessary means” to drive Iraq out
of Kuwait
e. As the deadline approached, 539,000 American service
men and women moved into position in Saudi Arabia and
were joined by 270,000 troops from twenty-eight
countries
f. On January 16, 1991 the United States and its allies
launched a magnificent air war on Iraq, followed by an
invasion of Kuwait. The United states military employed
high technology weapons, including laser based weapons,
very effectively
g. Iraq responded to the attack by launching dozens of old
Soviet made “Scud” missiles against targets in Israel
and Saudi Arabia. Most of the Scuds were downed by
American made Patriot missiles and although a few
people were killed by the Scud attacks, Iraq failed in
its primary goal of drawing Israel into the War in an
effort to destroy the fragile U.N. coalition which
contained many Arab members
h. Allied troops commanded by General Norman “Storming
Norman” Schwarzkopf first softened the entrenched
Iraqi forces with continuous bombing before
overrunning them with a tidal wave of armor and men.
American forces had to proceed with caution as the
Iraqis were surrounded by oil-filled moats which could
be lit as enemy troops approached as well as chemical
and biological weapons. On February 23, 1991 the land
war began and was abruptly over in four days (the
Hundred Hours War) after the allied forces outflanked
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Saddam’s army and inflicted heavy losses on his army
while sustaining amazingly light casualties themselves.
On February 27, Kuwait was liberated as Saddam
accepted the U.N. terms for a ceasefire. Unlike the
Vietnam years, American troops from Operation Desert
Storm returned home to a heroes welcome
i. Although Saddam had lost the “Mother of all Battles”
he nevertheless maintained an army strong enough to
crush minority groups which had risen against him,
namely the Kurds in the North and the Shiite Arabs in
the South. He also left a legacy of environmental
destruction as he ordered his troops to light hundreds
of oil-well fires
III. Despite two world wars from 1900-1945, there have been no
worldwide conflict from 1945 to the 2000s
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