Transcript U.S. History Final Format

U.S. History Final Format
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75 Multiple Choice
( .7 pts. each) 52.5
10 True or False
( .7 pts. each)
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15 Matching (3x5)
( .7 pts. each) 10.5
2 of 8 Essay Questions (15 pts. each) 30.0
100.0
Junior 15pt. Essay Themes
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These essays are to be answered in Knockout Format!
Both Content and Style matter!
Usually Knockouts are 5 paragraphs. You may add extra
paragraphs if you have more than 3 seeds.
Rise and Fall of Racial Segregation
Industrial Revolution (Business, Industry, Transportation, Communication)
Railroads (Expansion v. Plains Indians)
Age of Imperialism / Western Hemi. Relations
Progressives (Labor, Immigration, Corruption, Women, Urban Centers)
Reasons and Results of Entering World War I
Causes of the Stock Market Crash
Examples of New Deal’s Goals of Relief, Recovery & Reform
Unit 6: Civil War
Cotton
• Cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney in 1793
– Demand for cotton
• Leads to “land butchery”
– westward expansion
• more slavery
• ½ of world’s cotton grown in South
– South believes their economic importance to the
world would give them support in case of war with
North
“Cottonocracy”
• “Antebellum” (pre-Civil War South)
• Oligarchy – government by a small number of
elite
– About 1,700 families had large plantations with more
than 100 slaves
– Had the most political power
• Social ranking system:
– 1. elite, large slave-owners
– 2. small farmers – owned a few slaves
– 3. poor, non-slave owning whites (3/4 of white
population)
• Despised wealthy slave owners
• Still pro-slavery, very racist
Plantation Slavery
• Slave importation banned in
1808
– Not regulated or enforced
– Slave population self-sufficient
through childbirth
• Slaves = investment
– Protected from dangerous jobs
• Deep South – SC, Louisiana
– Most strict, tough areas for
slaves
• Slave revolts (Denmark Vesey,
Nat Turner) caused tighter
security and worse laws for
blacks
Abolitionist Movements
• “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet
Beecher Stowe
– Emotional and chilling portrayal of
slavery
– HUGE impact on debate of
slavery
• Frederick Douglass
– Escaped slave
• William Lloyd Garrison
– Extremist-abolitionist
– Seen as disruptive to unity,
Northern economy
South’s Defense
• “Bible supported slavery”
• Slave owners convert their slaves to
Christianity
• Whites and “happy darkies” get along
• Slaves and slave-owners like family
• Slaves lived better lives than Northern
“wage slaves”
1840s America
• William Henry Harrison dies after a
month in office – VP John Tyler is new
president
– Tyler not very “Whig-minded”
– Vetoes Whig legislation – kicked out of
party
– Tyler deals with numerous foreign affairs
• Canadian attack on American ship
• Borders of Maine (U.S. vs. Britain)
• British giving escaped slaves asylum
• James K. Polk wins election of 1844
– Democratic party
– Platform of expansion and “Manifest
Destiny”
Polk’s Presidency
• Very successful and efficient
• 4 part plan:
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–
–
–
Lower the tariff
Restore independent treasury
Clear up the Oregon border issue
Get California
• Accomplished all in 4 years
• Issue with Texas
– Still independent – Texas becoming friendly with
European countries
– Dilemma for America
• Slavery issue, economic factors, Monroe doctrine
– Polk invites Texas to join the U.S. in 1845
Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
• Polk wants California (Mexican territory)
– Offers to buy first, uses force when refused
– “Baited” Mexico into a war
– Santa Anna cleverly returns to lead Mexican
Army
• U.S. dominates Mexico in 3 phases:
– Occupy California
– Secure Texas
– Conquer Mexico City
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• Mexican Cession – forced to give up present day CA, NV, AZ, NM,
CO, UT
• Gadsden Purchase made in 1854
– Needed land for railroad route
1840s-1850s America
• Gen. Zachary Taylor wins
presidency under Whig Party in
1848
• Challenged by “Free Soil Party”
• People moving west (new land, gold
in CA)
– Issue of slavery – slave or free states?
• Huge debate between North and
South
– Clay, Webster, Calhoun
– Slowly working towards compromise
– Taylor (anti-slavery) threatens to veto if
North makes any concessions
– Taylor dies, compromising VP Millard
Fillmore takes over…
Compromise of 1850
• North gets:
– California is a free state – balance tipped to free side
– Texas gives up disputed New Mexico land
– Slave trade now illegal in D.C. (symbolic significance
only)
• South gets:
– Popular sovereignty in new Mexican Cession lands
• New states vote whether to be a free state or slave state
– Texas paid $10 million for loss of land given to New
Mexico
– Fugitive Slave Law: runaway slaves given no “due
process”, money paid for catching and returning of
slave, Northern officials forced to catch slaves
• North passes laws to avoid forced capture
• Leads to further dissention between North and South
1850s America
• President Franklin Pearce wins election in
1852
– Democratic party, safe choice – no enemies
• Kansas-Nebraska Act
– Transcontinental railroad compromise
• Kansas open to popular sovereignty
• Becomes battleground between North and
South
– Extreme and violent abolitionist: John Brown
• murderer or martyr?
– Kansas “wins” vote to become slave state (scandal)
• President James Buchanan wins election in
1856
– Democratic
– Ran against John Fremont (Republican)
– Northerner, but sympathetic towards South
Dred Scott Case
• Slave moved by master from South
to North, then back to South
– Tried to sue for freedom → lost case
– Decision Stated slaves not citizens →
cannot use legal process
– Also stated Congress cannot outlaw
slavery
• Infuriates North
• South now had advantage politically
(president, Supreme Court, Constitution)
• North has powerless majority Congress
Compromise of 1850
• North gets:
– California is a free state – balance tipped to free side
– Texas gives up disputed New Mexico land
– Slave trade now illegal in D.C. (symbolic significance
only)
• South gets:
– Popular sovereignty in new Mexican Cession lands
• New states vote whether to be a free state or slave state
– Texas paid $10 million for loss of land given to New
Mexico
– Fugitive Slave Law: runaway slaves given no “due
process”, money paid for catching and returning of
slave, Northern officials forced to catch slaves
• North passes laws to avoid forced capture
• Leads to further dissention between North and South
Dred Scott Case
• Slave moved by master from South
to North, then back to South
– Tried to sue for freedom → lost case
– Decision Stated slaves not citizens →
cannot use legal process
– Also stated Congress cannot outlaw
slavery
• Infuriates North
• South now had advantage politically
(president, Supreme Court, Constitution)
• North has powerless majority Congress
1850s America
• Panic of 1857
– Caused by over-speculation,
inflation caused by California gold,
and overproduction of grain
• 1858 Illinois Senate Race:
Lincoln (Rep) vs. Douglas (Dem)
– “The Great Debates”
– Douglas wins election, loses his
heavy support from South after
“Freeport Doctrine”
• Stated people hold power to vote down
slavery, despite the Supreme Court
– Lincoln loses, but becomes
national figure
Election of 1860
• Democrats split:
– North wants Stephen Douglas to run
• Popular sovereignty position
– South wants John C. Breckinridge
• Pro-slavery position
• Republicans select Abe Lincoln
– Campaign successfully unites many
Northern factions:
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Free-Soilers (will stop slavery’s expansion)
Manufactures (will raise the import tariff)
Immigrants (will secure better rights)
Westerners (will build a NW railroad)
Farmers (will establish homesteading)
– System of federal land grants
Election of 1860
• Lincoln not an abolitionist, but was a FreeSoiler → hated by the south
• SC threatens to secede if Lincoln wins
election
• Southern votes split between Douglas and
Breckenridge
• Lincoln wins comfortably in November,
1860
– Scheduled to take office in March 1861
The South Secedes
• SC secedes in Dec. 1860
– Soon followed by “Deep South”
• Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Texas
– Feb 1861 – Southern states form “Confederate
States of America”
• Elect Jefferson Davis as President of C.S.A.
– President Buchanan did almost nothing to stop
the secession
– One final compromise offered – Crittendon
Compromise (extend Missouri Compromise line
– north = free, south = slave)
– Lincoln takes over, crushes compromise
• “Honest Abe” took free-soil pledge, wouldn’t break it
Why the South Seceded:
• Institution of slavery threatened by North
– Would kill Southern economy if outlawed
• Believed starting own nation allows own
development
– Economy, industry, banking, shipping, etc
• Compared their secession to independence of
American colonies in 1776
– U.S. breaks from England, South breaks from North
• South didn’t think North would try to stop their
secession
• If war did break out, Europe would support
South due to its economic value
Civil War Begins
Lincoln’s Inauguration (Mar. 4, 1861)
• Primary goal:
– REUNITE THE NATION
• Problems with South leaving:
– Dividing country impossible due to
geographic reasons
– They still owe national debt
– Runaway slave issues would surely
lead to conflict
– Europe could prey on a weak and
split America (economically,
diplomatically, militarily)
War Begins (1861)
• Lincoln’s inauguration (Mar)
• Southern delegates offer
peace treaty to Lincoln
– Lincoln refuses
• Fort Sumter, SC (April)
– Island fort held by North, being
surrounded by South
• Supplies running out,
reinforcements too late
• South open fires on Ft.
Sumter
• North surrenders after day
• War officially begins
• Call to arms
Lincoln Preps for War
– 75,000 soldiers
• Orders naval blockade of South
• 4 undecided states secede and CSA
– Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and NC
Border States
Border States
• Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland
– All slave states that had not seceded
• Importance:
– Would increase South’s population
– Would increase South’s industrial potential
• Lincoln’s plan to gain border states:
– Declared martial law in Maryland
• Railroad importance, buffer to D.C.
– Convinced border states his motives were to end war,
not slavery
• Splits between border states:
– Tennessee “volunteers”
– Anti-slavery West Virginia breaks away from Virginia
Advantages
North
• Larger population
•
– 3x South’s population
• Industry
• Railroads
• U.S. Navy
– Naval blockade’s
importance
• More money
•
•
•
South
Only had to defend,
not conquer
North needed a
decisive victory to win
Geographical
advantages
Better military
leadership
– Robert E. Lee
– “Stonewall” Jackson
Warm Up
• Of the advantages and disadvantages we
know of, which do you think will be the
most important throughout the course of
the war?
– Which will help the North the most?
– Which will hurt the South the most?
South’s Foreign Aid?
• South believed Europe would help them
– Economic importance – cotton
• Reasons help never came:
– Some Europeans wanted a split U.S.
– Other Europeans were anti-slavery
• Effect of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
– England’s reliance on Southern cotton
decreasing
• Had started own crops in colonized Egypt and
India
– North sends food over to famine-affected
Europe throughout war → support grows
Foreign Affairs
• England gives very little support to South
– “Trent affair”
• Northern ship stops British ship with 2 Southern diplomats on
it → arrested → released
– CSS Alabama
• Staffed with British forces, attacked U.S. ships worldwide, but
not in U.S. waters
– Brits never follow though with promise to build raider
ships for South → could hurt England one day
• U.S.-Canada border issues
• Puppet government set up in Mexico by
Napoleon III (France)
– violates Monroe doctrine
A. Lincoln
• Stable & established
government
– Can easily exert power
• Better foreign
relations
• Navy at disposal
• Telegraph and
railroad system
vs.
J. Davis
• Never popular
– (Elected by delegates,
not common people)
• An unstable
“confederacy”
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Loosely united
Weak by design
Hard to govern
Hard to exert power
Lincoln vs. the Constitution
• Unconstitutional actions:
– Martial law declared in Maryland
– Increases the size of the Army
• Created draft too
– Paid $2 million to a few private citizens for
undisclosed military purposes
– Suspended habeas corpus
• Anti-unionists arrested and held without trial
– “Supervised” Border State elections
• Turn and talk with a partner:
– Which actions are the worst? Rank them.
– Do you think these actions are acceptable? Why or
why not?
– Do the ends justify the means?
Economies During War
NORTH
• Raises import tax
• Railroads and open seas
• Sold war bonds
– Funded 62% of war for
North
• Recreated National
Banking System
– Secured and regulated
money in economy
• War boomed industry
• Women’s role increased
– Factory workers, Red
Cross
SOUTH
• Union naval blockade
killed South’s money flow
– Could not export cotton
– Could not import for (no
import tax)
• Massive inflation
– New CSA currency fails
• Southerners held 30% of
nations wealth before
secession → 12% after
• Lack of money kills
South’s war effort
War Starts
• Ft. Sumter (April 1860)
• Both sides confident war will be
short
– “Ninety-Day War”
– North wants to take Richmond, VA
(CSA capital)
• July 1860 – Battle of Bull Run (VA)
– Both sides unprepared, unorganized
– Southern Gen. Thomas Jackson
holds line, fights off North
• “Stonewall Jackson”
– North panics & retreats, South wins
the first major battle of the Civil War
• Significance?
– Realization war was going to take
much longer
– Both sides needed better preparation
– 5,000 casualties in one day
• Both sides stall to prepare for
long war
• Lincoln puts Gen. George
McClellan in charge
– Organized, master planner
• Planned to take Richmond
– Would end war
• “The Peninsula Campaign”
(Summer 1862)
– Stonewall Jackson bluffs attack on
D.C.
– Northern troops split
– Southern Gen. Jeb Stuart’s cavalry
circles & outflanks McClellan
– Southern Gen. Robert E. Lee
attacks in “Seven Days’ Battles”
– Pushes McClellan back to sea
– South wins another huge battle
– 35,000 total dead
• North’s quick solution to war
fails twice
• Lincoln’s new plan: TOTAL
WAR
– Blockade, divide, conquer
• Strengthen naval blockade
• Free the slaves
• Divide the South along Mississippi
River
• Capture Richmond, VA (CSA
Capital)
• Engage battle anywhere possible
– Abandons using only large,
planned battles
• South would be pounded into
submission in every facet of
war
North’s
New
Strategy
Northern Gen. Winfield Scott’s
“Anaconda Plan”
Naval Blockade
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•
•
•
•
Penetrable at first, strengthened over time
Stopped and searched any ships coming in or out
C.S.S. Merrimack – ironclad ship threatened blockade
North builds U.S.S. Monitor
Monitor defeats Merrimack in Chesapeake Bay March,
1862
• New plan: replace wooden ships with iron, steam ships
– Who’s more likely to manufacture more and at a faster rate?
Antietam
• Aug 1862 – Second Battle of Bull
Run
– North beaten badly by South, led by
Lee
• South undoubtedly winning the
war
• Lee marches forward invades
Antietam, MD
– Wants to lure Border States to join
CSA
– Draw war off of Virginia’s farmland
– Make a symbolic victory on Northern
soil
• Loses battle plans – found by
North
• Gen. McClellan (back in charge)
prepares for battle…
Antietam
• Battle of Antietam
Creek (Sep. 1862)
• Most critical battle of
war so far
– Could be knockout
punch for South
– Northern victory would
keep war alive,
convinces Europe to stay
out of war
• North wins
– Overpowers South with
numbers
• Over 20,000 killed
Emancipation Proclamation
• First, much awaited victory for North
• Gives Lincoln a stage to announce next
part of plan: free the slaves
• Not just a war to reunite the nation, but
now to end slavery as well
– Gives North a “moral” rationale for fighting
• Proclamation did not free slaves in
Border States
– States too fragile → could leave secede in
anger
• No real legal repercussions to
Proclamation – why?
– Lincoln holds no political power in South
– Lincoln didn’t have authority to free slaves
even in the Union
– North would have to win the war for it to go
into effect
– South complains Lincoln is stirring slave
rebellion
Black Soldiers Join Effort
• Free Black men in the North
banned from enlisting at first
• As war progressed, more soldiers
were needed
– Black men now allowed to enlist
– 10% of army made up of Black men
• Southern army often just executed
captured Black soldiers rather
than treat them as POWs
– Massacre at Ft. Pillow, Tennessee
• Advancing Northern armies freed
slaves, some of which joined the
war
Futile Northern Generals
• Gen. McClellan demoted again
after Antietam
– Had Lee’s plans!!!
– Barely won the battle
• Largely because of numbers
– Failed to pursue and crush Lee
• Gen. Burnside takes over
– Defeated at Fredericksburg, VA
(Dec, 1862)
• Gen. Hooker takes over
– Defeated at Chancellorsville, VA
(May, 1863)
– Lee’s most impressive victory
– Humiliating loss for the North
– Stonewall Jackson mistakenly killed
by own men
• Gen. Meade takes over…
Gettysburg
• Lee again goes for
“knockout punch”
• Invades North again
• Battle of Gettysburg, PA
(July 1863)
– South wins first two days of
battle forcing North to
retreat up into hills
– Third Day: “Pickett’s
Charge”
• Lee sends 15,000 men across
open field to crush the North
with frontal assault
• Fails miserably – Northern
lines hold
• North wins HUGE battle
Gettysburg
• Biggest win for North thus far
• Massive loss for South
– 25,000 casualties
• Turning point in war
• South could not keep up with
North’s influx of soldiers,
supplies
– Chances at victory dwindling
fast
• Gettysburg Address (Nov
1863)
– Lincoln returned to battlefield to
give speech to troops
– Meant to boost morale,
rationalize war
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.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We
are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave
their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate - we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead,
who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power
to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what
we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us
the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which
they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather
for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that
cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we
here 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.
Blockade, Divide,
Conquer
• Ulysses S. Grant
– “Unconditional Surrender”
– Rose to fame by capturing
Jackson and Vicksburg, MS
• One day after Gettysburg
• Divides South at Mississippi
River
• Gen. Sherman divides
South from Tennessee to
Atlanta (Spring 1864)
• “March to Sea”
– Total war tactics
– Destroyed everything in his
path
– Burns Atlanta to ground
Election of 1864
• Lincoln had some Northern opposition
– “Radical Republicans” felt Lincoln was
mismanaging war
– Democrats split on Lincoln support
• “War Dems vs. Peace Dems”
• Lincoln forms “Union Party”
– Combines Republicans and War Democrats
• George McClellan runs vs. Lincoln
• Lincoln easily wins election
The Final Stages: Lee vs. Grant
• Grant promoted to
Commanding General Army
• South blockaded & divided
• GRANT’s strategy now:
– Beat the South by outlasting
the South
– North has strength in numbers
• Series of battles in VA grinds
away at South:
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–
–
–
The Wilderness (May 1864)
Spotsylvania Courthouse (May)
Cold Harbor (June 1864)*
Petersburg (June 1864 - Mar
1865)
All result in Northern
“victories”*
The South Surrenders
• Petersburg was South’s
last stand
– After it falls, South
doomed
– Grant marches to
Richmond
• “Scorched earth” method of
South causes fires in
Richmond
• Evacuation allows for easy
capture of capital
– April 1865 – Lee
surrenders at Appomattox
Courthouse in VA
Aftermath
• 600,000 dead
– A whole generation gone
•
•
•
•
•
$15 billion spent
Long-term animosity
Physically destroyed the South
Pro: Slavery ended forever
Lincoln assassinated 5 days after the war ends
– At a play at Ford’s Theater in D.C.
– Shot by John Wilkes Booth in part of plot to still help
South win the war
– Lincoln an instant martyr in North
• Died reuniting the nation, ending slavery
– Assassination celebrated in South, ironically dooms them
• Radical Reps who replace Lincoln not as forgiving as
Lincoln
“Freedmen” – freed slaves in tough
The •Reconstruction
situation:
– Most stayed (either by choice or
force) on plantation
• U.S. Army freed all slaves eventually
– Some fled North
– Some rioted against former masters
• New social structure for blacks is
shaky
– Churches grow and become pillar of
black community
• Freedman’s Bureau created to help
blacks adjust to free life – provided
food, clothing, education
– Improved literacy, failed in most
other areas
– Disliked by Southerners, Pres.
Johnson
President Andrew Johnson
• Tennessee Democrat chosen by Lincoln to
balance ticket in 1864 election
– Was only Southern Congressman to not
secede
• Disliked by both North and South
• Stubborn, confrontational, short-tempered
white supremacist
The Reconstruction Plan
• Lincoln’s plan: “The 10% Plan”
– Southern states could rejoin the U.S. after
10% of the voters take oath of loyalty and
respect for emancipation
• Plan seen as very forgiving
• Radical Republicans wanted to punish
South
– Propose Wade-Davis Bill – up to 50%, add
laws to protect freed blacks
– Lincoln vetoes – why?
The Reconstruction Plan
• Lincoln assassinated
• Johnson adds some changes:
–
–
–
–
Former Confeds cannot vote
Secession ordinances repealed
U.S. repudiated Confed debts
States must ratify the 13th amendment
• Outlaws slavery
• South’s social structure & workforce
demolished and disassembled
The Black Codes
• White Southerners pass “Black Codes”
– Laws designed to keep freed blacks under
control of their white employers
• “Contracts” forcing blacks to work for whites
– Very discriminatory
• Blacks given little rights, punishable offenses
• Northerners outraged
Battle for Congress
• North dominated Congress during war
– Passed many major bills during war
• Dec 1865 – Johnson allows all Southern
states to rejoin the U.S.
– Southern politicians return to Congress
• Could gain more representation now than before
– Three-Fifths Compromise eradicated now
Johnson vs. Congress
• Johnson vetoed all Republican bills
– Civil Rights Bill – grants blacks citizenship, weakens Black
Codes
• Congress creates 14th Amendment
– Blacks get citizenship
• Didn’t guarantee suffrage
– States lose Congressional representation if blacks were
denied voting
– Confederate leaders banned from federal offices
• Johnson battles Congress with “round the circle”
speeches – backfires
• Ratified by states in 1868
Congressional Reconstruction
• Republicans now in control of Reconstruction
– Split: (Radicals vs. Moderates
• Radical Reps:
– Led by Sen. Charles Sumner and Thaddeus
Stevens
– Wanted a slow Reconstruction to institute major
social and economic changes to South
• Moderate Reps:
– Wanted a more “hands-off” approach to
Reconstruction
• Both groups wanted black suffrage
The Reconstruction Act
• Passed March 1867
• Divides South into 5 military districts
– Army occupied each to maintain order
• Southern states not fully readmitted to U.S. until:
– 14th Amendment is ratified
– Black suffrage guaranteed
• Radical Reps pass 15th Amendment in 1870 to ensure
suffrage cannot be removed
Unit 7: Postwar
The Reconstruction
• “Freedmen” – freed slaves in tough
situation:
– Most stayed (either by choice or
force) on plantation
• U.S. Army freed all slaves eventually
– Some fled North
– Some rioted against former masters
• New social structure for blacks is
shaky
– Churches grow and become pillar of
black community
• Freedman’s Bureau created to help
blacks adjust to free life – provided
food, clothing, education
– Improved literacy, failed in most
other areas
– Disliked by Southerners, Pres.
Johnson
President Andrew Johnson
• Tennessee Democrat chosen by Lincoln to
balance ticket in 1864 election
– Was only Southern Congressman to not
secede
• Disliked by both North and South
• Stubborn, confrontational, short-tempered
white supremacist
The Reconstruction Plan
• Lincoln’s plan: “The 10% Plan”
– Southern states could rejoin the U.S. after
10% of the voters take oath of loyalty and
respect for emancipation
• Plan seen as very forgiving
• Radical Republicans wanted to punish
South
– Propose Wade-Davis Bill – up to 50%, add
laws to protect freed blacks
– Lincoln vetoes – why?
The Reconstruction Plan
• Lincoln assassinated
• Johnson adds some changes:
–
–
–
–
Former Confeds cannot vote
Secession ordinances repealed
U.S. repudiated Confed debts
States must ratify the 13th amendment
• Outlaws slavery
• South’s social structure & workforce
demolished and disassembled
The Black Codes
• White Southerners pass “Black Codes”
– Laws designed to keep freed blacks under
control of their white employers
• “Contracts” forcing blacks to work for whites
– Very discriminatory
• Blacks given little rights, punishable offenses
• Northerners outraged
Battle for Congress
• North dominated Congress during war
– Passed many major bills during war
• Dec 1865 – Johnson allows all Southern
states to rejoin the U.S.
– Southern politicians return to Congress
• Could gain more representation now than before
– Three-Fifths Compromise eradicated now
Johnson vs. Congress
• Johnson vetoed all Republican bills
– Civil Rights Bill – grants blacks citizenship, weakens Black
Codes
• Congress creates 14th Amendment
– Blacks get citizenship
• Didn’t guarantee suffrage
– States lose Congressional representation if blacks were
denied voting
– Confederate leaders banned from federal offices
• Johnson battles Congress with “round the circle”
speeches – backfires
• Ratified by states in 1868
Congressional Reconstruction
• Republicans now in control of
Reconstruction
– Split: Radicals vs. Moderates
• Radical Reps:
– Led by Sen. Charles Sumner
and Thaddeus Stevens
• From Sumner-Brooks Affair
(1856)
– Wanted a slow Reconstruction
to institute major social and
economic changes to South
• Moderate Reps:
– Wanted a more “hands-off”
approach to Reconstruction
• Both groups wanted black
suffrage
The Reconstruction Act
• Passed March 1867
• Divides South into 5 military districts
– Army occupied each to maintain order
• Southern states not fully readmitted to U.S. until:
– 14th Amendment is ratified
– Black suffrage guaranteed
• Radical Reps pass 15th Amendment in 1870 to ensure
suffrage cannot be removed
Progression of Black Rights
• 13th amendment – abolishes slavery
• 14th amendment – makes ex-slaves
citizens
• 15th amendment – protects black suffrage
14th Amendment
• “The right to vote at any election… is
denied to any of the male inhabitants of
such State, being twenty-one years of age,
and citizens of the United States, or in any
way abridged… (if violated) the basis of
representation therein shall be reduced in
the proportion which the number of such
male citizens shall bear to the whole
number of male citizens twenty-one years
of age in such State.”
15th Amendment
“The rights of citizens of the U.S. to
vote shall not be denied or abridged
by the U.S. or by any state on
account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude”
What is controversial about the language
used in the 14th and 15th amendments?
Women
Suffrage
• 14th amendment refers to
citizens as “males”
• 15th amendment claims voting
can’t be denied by race, color,
or previous servitude
– Women outraged, feel left out, see
opportunity
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan
B. Anthony lead women’s
movement
– Fought to keep these
amendments from entering
Constitution without guaranteeing
women’s suffrage
• Failed – amendments passed
Reconstruction in Action
• Blacks begin to organize,
create Union League
– Web of associations working
together to help black
communities, consolidate
political power, etc.
– Many white southerners
temporarily unable to vote leads
to blacks gaining power
politically
– Hiram Revels becomes first
• White Southerners infuriated
– Blacks freed, serving over whites in
Congress and state legislatures
– “Scalawags” – whites who were
sympathetic towards North
– “Carpetbaggers” – Northerners who
moved to South after the war
• Some came to help, some came to profit,
some swindled
• Underground movement among
White Southerners gaining
strength…
• The Ku Klux Klan
Southern
– “The Invisible Empire of the South”
White
– Formed in Tennessee (1866)
– Thrived on fear, unknown membership
Retaliation
– Threatened, lynched, murdered
blacks
– Effective in slowing down black
progress
• White Southerners use political
tricks to disenfranchise blacks
– Started “literacy tests” as requirement
to vote
• Targets illiterate blacks – problem?
– Add “grandfather clauses” to protect
illiterate whites
• Allows voting rights to any citizen who’s
grandfather could vote
Congress vs. Johnson
• Johnson impeding Congressional Reconstruction
– Radical Reps plot to impeach Johnson
• Pass Tenure of Office Act (1867)
– President needs Senate approval to fire anyone who
had been previously appointed to him
– Rational: Senate approves appointees when hired,
thus should approve when fired
– Johnson wants to replace Sec. of War Edwin Stanton
• Appointed by Lincoln
• Conspiring against Johnson with Radical Republicans
– Lose-lose for Johnson, Win-Win for Congress:
• Allow Stanton to stay – Radical Reps happy
• Fire Stanton – breaking the law, could be impeached
Impeachment?
• Johnson fires Stanton in 1868
• Congress votes to impeach Johnson on “high crimes and
misdemeanors”
– Generally due to all of Johnson’s misdoings during
Reconstruction, specifically due to firing Stanton
• Impeachment trials:
– Johnson remains silent
– His lawyers argue he was acting under Constitution, not Tenure
of Office Act
– Senate needs 2/3 to support impeachment, fall short by one vote
– Johnson remains in office
– Radical Republicans claim the non-guilty verdict as a “dangerous
precedent”
Purchase of Alaska
• Russia willing to sell Alaska
• William H. Steward – Johnson’s Sec.
of State
– Expansionist, pushed for purchase of
Alaska
• Unpopular campaign
– “Seward’s Folly”, “Seward’s Icebox”
– Eventually gains enough support in
Senate
• Purchased for $ 7.2 million
– Seward scorned for purchase
– Adds to Johnson’s unpopularity
– Vindicated long after death – gold and oil
discovered
Legacy of Reconstruction
• Reconstruction just as bad as the war for South
– Loss of infrastructure, economy, political power,
massive physical destruction
• Causes decades of animosity
– South felt beaten down, humiliated
– Civil War referred to as “War of Northern Aggression”
• Emancipation gives somewhat false hope to
blacks
– Progress made with 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments
– But in some cases, had it better in “antebellum” times
– Violence, tricky politics keep blacks down
• Significant progress not made again until the 1950s and 60s
“The Gilded Age” (1870-1900)
“Gilded” – Covered thinly with gold paint
Times appeared
great…
– Railroads
– Industry booms
– Westward Expansion
– Relative Peace
– Wealth
…but numerous
problems:
– Corruption
– Crooked business
practices
– Tight and chaotic
political races
– Ethnic conflict
– Wealth Gaps
Political Division of the Gilded
Age
• Republicans:
– Supported in North and West
– Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.)
• Military veteran group devout to Republican party
– Allude to Puritan ancestry
– Most political power after Civil War
• Democrats:
– Supported mostly by the South
– Supported by Lutherans and Catholics
– Very little political power after Civil War
• Various political parties emerge during era in
response to problems of the Gilded Age:
corruption, economy, labor rights, etc.
Election of 1868
Ulysses S. Grant
vs.
Horatio Seymour
• Grant and the Republicans (Radical):
– Radicals needed a strong president to enforce their
policies
– Grant had no political experience – Reps. relying on what?
– War-hero, slogan: “wave the bloody shirt”
• Hoping military heroics would be enough to win election
• Seymour and the Democrats:
– Seymour a former Governor from NY
– Party extremely disorganized
• Agreed on only one thing:
– Dislike of military Reconstruction
• Grant narrowly wins election – what does this imply?
– Political campaigns now tightening up, more efficiently run
Grant’s Reconstruction
• Implemented Radical Rep policies of
Reconstruction
• Protection of equal rights for blacks
– Civil Rights Act (1875)
• Creates Dept. of Justice
– Helps prosecute KKK leaders, members
• Used military to:
– Enforce fair voting practices
– Quell KKK violence
• Grant’s support would slowly decline during terms:
– Why?
– Mission already accomplished: many felt Reconstruction
was largely complete by 1870
– Corruption…
Corruption
• Time period AKA “The Era of Good
Stealings”
• Widespread corruption after Civil
War
• “Jubilee”Jim Fisk & Jay Gould:
– Caught with scheme to cornerstone
gold market
• Boss Tweed:
– Ran “Tammany Hall”, a political
organzation in NYC
– Bribes, rigged elections, cronyism
– Prosecuted by Samuel J. Tilden
Corruption
• Credit Mobilier scandal:
– Railroad company caught fixing hiring
process to get paid double
– Bribed Congressmen and VP Schuyler
Colfax with stocks
• “Whiskey Ring”:
– Revenue from liquor tax being stolen
– Large ring of government workers &
Grant’s secretary
– Grant: “Let no man escape” – doesn’t
prosecute secretary
• William Belknap:
– Grant’s Sec. of War caught swindling
$24,000 from Indians
Grant’s Presidency
• Grant a very honest man – not involved in any
scandals…
• But still condemned as corrupt:
– Major corruption in administration
– Failed to recognize it
– Failed to deal with it properly
• Reformers form own party to combat crooked
Republicans: Liberal Republican Party
– Included both ex-Reps and ex-Dems
– Main goal: clean up government corruption
Election of 1872
Ulysses S. Grant
vs.
Horace Greeley
• Republican Grant tries for second term
• Horace Greeley nominee for Liberal Republicans
• Editor of NY Tribune, little political experience
– Stubborn abolitionist, and harsh critic of Democrats
– Still gets support from Southern Dems – why?
• Soft on Southern Reconstruction
• Dems desperately eager to gain office
• Extreme mudslinging:
– Greeley called an atheist, communist, vegetarian,
Confederate sympathizer
– Grant: drunk, stupid, swindler
Results of
Election of 1872
Greeley
Grant
• Popular vote: 46%
• Popular vote: 55%
• Electoral vote: 3 (of
• Electoral vote: 286 (of
352)
(Last 63 Electoral votes spread out among various
352)
Democratic and Liberal Republican politicians)
What happened?
Greeley dies during election – after popular vote,
but before electoral vote. Grant easily wins election.
Effects of Election of 1872
• Popular vote was close enough to scare
Reps
• Republican Congress begins to reform:
– The Amnesty Act (1872)
• Removed voting and office-holding restrictions on
many ex-Confederates
– Efforts to reduce tariff rates
• Would help Southern economy
– Clean up the corruption in Grant’s
administration
• Fired any workers involved in any past scandals
Panic of 1873
• Industrialization of U.S. caused over-growth
– Railroads & manufacturing boom
• Economic downturns every twenty years in
1800s: (1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893)
• Panic of 1873: What caused it?
– Over-speculation
• Overspending, overinvesting with borrowed money
• Railroads and factories specifically
– Banks giving too-easy credit
• Young American industry hit hard
• Black communities hurt especially – why?
– Economic downturn → less jobs → last to be hired
• Debate ensues on how to fix economy…
“Soft Money” vs. “Hard” Money
• AKA “Cheap Money”
• Policies keep amount of
money stable by keeping it
• Policies call for forced
correlated with amount of
inflation
gold
• Paper currency – fluctuating
• Coin currency – defined
value
value
• Would ease debt payments of
• Inflation unfair: lent money
masses
would be less valuable once
• Supported by middle and
paid back
lower classes
• Supported by wealthy,
banks
•
•
SOLUTION:
Grant supports hard money policy, passes
Resumption Act:
•
Aimed to lower paper money in circulation &
phase it out
•
Backfires: starts “contraction” – amount of
money in circulation decreases → worsens
recession → value of dollar bill increases
• “Greenback” Labor Party emerges in 1878 –
main goal:
–
CHEAP MONEY POLICIES
Grant’s Presidency (1878-1876)
• How did public rate
his presidency?
• How do you rate it?
• General historical
view:
– Good and honest
leader – but
presidency is marred
and burdened by
widespread
corruption, economic
downturn
Election of 1876
• Grant’s two terms complete
• Republican split redevelops:
• “Stalwarts” (Radicals) led by Roscoe
Conkling
• “Half-Breeds” (Moderates) led by James
G. Blaine
– Agree to nominate Rutherford B.
Hayes
• The “Great Unknown”
• Neutral Republican
• From Ohio (important swing state)
• Democrats nominate Samuel
Tilden
– Famous for prosecuting Boss Tweed
Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes
vs.
Samuel Tilden
• Tilden gets 51% of popular vote, but falls one
electoral vote short of winning election
• But 20 votes disputed due to questionable process of
return and handling
• Near chaos ensues:
– Both Reps and Dems send officials to investigate…
• Both sides claim victory
– Recount called for – but who in Congress would count?
• Democratic majority in House, Republican majority in Senate
– Congress creates “Electoral Count Act” which sets up
commission of 15 men to solve crisis – problem?
• Uneven number: 8 Republicans, 7 Democrats
– Republicans claim victory, Democrats filibuster to stop
process…
• North gets:
– Hayes elected as Republican
president
Compromise
of 1877
• South gets:
– Removal of military occupation
• Reconstruction now officially
over
• Effects of Compromise of 1877:
– Southern blacks unprotected now
– White Southerners regain more
political power
• Civil Rights Act of 1875 significantly
cut back
• Pass Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws
• Many laws created to keep blacks in subservient
role in South
– Many blacks were sharecroppers:
– Farmed land they didn’t own, paid landlords with crops
– System abused, designed to keep blacks poor
Jim Crow Laws
• Many states had begun to legalize segregation –
constitutional?
• Forced segregation in all public facilities:
– Schools, theaters, restrooms, transportation
• Violation could result in fines, imprisonment,
violence
• Mob lynchings peak during this era
• 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson – Supreme Court ruled
it legal – “separate but equal”
Separate Yes… but Equal?
Class Conflict
• 1877 – 4 largest railroad
companies agree to cut
wages by 10%
– Workers strike, railroads shut
down
– Cripples industry,
transportation
– Hayes uses federal troops to
suppress violent strike
– Several weeks pass –
workers lose
• Shows weakness of labor
movement
• Chinese immigration
– Many young, poor Chinese
men emigrate to California
– Find jobs building railroads
– Job competition with Irish
– Chinese willing to work for
lower wages
• San Francisco – Denis
Kearney forms Irish gang
– Terrorizes Chinese community
• Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
– Immigration from China cut off
– First immigration restriction in
America
• Why were the Chinese
targeted?
Ethnic
Conflict
Election of 1880
• Reps nominate James A. Garfield
– “Dark horse” from Ohio
– Running mate: Chester Arthur (a Stalwart)
• Dems nominate Gen. Winfield Scott
Hancock
– Civil War veteran, no political experience
• Popular vote close, but electoral vote
gives Garfield the win
Garfield’s Presidency
• Heated feud between
Stalwarts and Half-Breeds
– Hindered any progress for
Garfield
• July 1881 – Garfield
assassinated
– Shot by Charles J. Guiteau
(Stalwart)
– Dies in September
– VP Chester Arthur (Stalwart)
takes over
President Chester Arthur
• A Stalwart, but more reform-minded than
other Stalwarts
• (1883) – Pendleton Act passed
– Political reform calling for merit based hiring for
government jobs
– Civil Service Commission created to enforce act
– Effects: Only applied to 10% of federal jobs
but…
• Stopped worst offenses of cronyism
• Stepping stone to future reform
Election of 1884
• Reps nominate James G. Blaine
– Half-Breed leader
– Blaine not very reform minded
– Reps wanting reform abandoned and supported
Dems
• “Mugwumps”
• Dems nominate Grover Cleveland
– From New Jersey, but supported by South
– Seen as a man of principle, honest
• Extreme mudslinging
• Cleveland wins very close election
President Grover Cleveland
• First democrat elected since 1857 (James Buchanan)
– Democratic majority in Congress
• Believed in “laissez-faire” capitalism
– Pleased big businesses, upsets working class
• Names two former-Confeds to cabinet
– Aims to mend North and South
• Wants to follow merit system
– But pressure mounts from Dems
– Replaces 40,000 Reps with Dems
• Military pensions
–
–
–
–
–
Powerful G.A.R. pushing bills to raise already high pension
Many passed – seen as exploitation
Cleveland (not a veteran) in tough spot:
Doesn’t want to disrespect and outrage veterans
Vetoes many pension bills
President Grover Cleveland
• Budget surplus
– Extra money in government budget from high tariff
• Two options to use it:
– Invest it
– Lower taxes
• Chooses to lower the tariff
• Reps, Dems, businesses – Who supports this?
Who doesn’t?
– Dems support lowered tariff
– Reps and business owners support higher tariff
• Debate ensues, leads into election of 1888
Election of 1888
• Dems nominate Cleveland
• Reps nominate Benjamin Harrison
– From Indiana
– Grandson of Old Tippecanoe
• Benjamin wins very close race
Return of a Republican
Congress
• Republicans win back power in Congress
• Elect Thomas “Czar” Reed as Speaker of the
House
–
–
–
–
Ran House like a dictator
Tall, tough debater, vicious rhetoric
Dems resist, refuse to answer roll call
No roll call = no quorum = no meeting
Return of a Republican
Congress
• Republicans win back power in Congress
• Elect Thomas “Czar” Reed as Speaker of the
House
–
–
–
–
–
Ran House like a dictator
Tall, tough debater, vicious rhetoric
Dems resist, refuse to answer roll call
No roll call = no quorum = no meeting
Reed changes role call stipulations
and proceeds with meetings
• With no opposition in the House:
– More hard money policies enacted
– Military pensions increase
• 1890 – McKinley Tariff
– Increases tariff to 48%
Political Discontent
• 1892 – Populist Party emerges
– AKA People’s Party
• Demanded:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Mostly inflation and “cheap money” policies
Graduated income tax
Higher salary = higher income tax
More government regulation on big business
Direct election of U.S. senators
“Initiative and Referendum”
• The people can propose laws, vote to pass them
– Shorter working day
– Immigration restrictions
• Who does this party represent?
– Farmers, working class, common people
Election of 1892
• Dems nominate Cleveland again
• Reps nominate Harrison again
• Populist Party nominate James B. Weaver
– Southern support – why?
• Farmers, targeted Northern business
– South withdraws support from Populist ticket – go back to Dems –
why?
– Populist party tried to help blacks vote – upsets white Southerners
• Cleveland wins election
• Populist Party does relatively well in election
• Threatened white southerners tighten black voting rights
Cleveland’s 2nd Presidency
• Depression of 1893 hits – ironic?
– Cleveland now has budget deficit, not a surplus
– Gold supply dangerously low
• Cleveland makes deal with J.P. Morgan and
other bankers
– Loan U.S. $65 million in gold to fix problem
• Cleveland loses popularity
– Image of “common man’s president” takes hit with JP
Morgan deal
– Promises to lower taxes fail with weak WilsonGorman Tariff
• Looked like Cleveland was helping rich, not the poor
The Gilded Age
Characteristics of the Gilded Age
(1870-1900)
Industrialization in America
• U.S. becomes largest manufacturing
nation in world – why?
– Liquid capital – lots of money, assets
– Natural resources – great plains, mountains,
California, etc
– Immigration – large workforce kept labor
cheap
– Inventions – help mass production
Railroads
• 1865 – 35,000 miles
• Congress commissions expansion and grants
land to railroad companies
• 1900 – 200,000 miles
• Transcontinental railroad completed in 1869
Railroads
• Impact of Railroads?
– Eastern and western markets
now linked
– Investment and westward
expansion
– Western cities boom
• Chicago, San Francisco,
Denver
• Problem with industrial
centers & railroads spread
across 3,000?
– Coordination: Time zones
begin in 1883
Titans of Industry
• John D. Rockefeller (Standard Oil
Company)
– Monopolized oil industry
• Andrew Carnegie (U.S. Steel Corp)
– Monopolized steel industry
• Uses “Bessemer process”
• U.S. becomes top producer of steel by
1900
• J.P. Morgan
– Financier – made millions by making
deals, buying and flipping companies
• Leland Stanford
– Monopolized Western industry
Plutocracy and Corruption
• Plutocracy develops
– Rule by the rich
• Wealthy business owners unregulated
– Big business and bribed Government
• Numerous scandals fixed by reform
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)
– Aimed to outlaw monopolies
and trusts, limit their
power
New Type of Labor
• Rise of factories = rise
of factory workers
• Pros:
– Mass production and
wealth
– Job creation
– Standard of living rose
• Cons:
– Immigration increasing
= wages decreasing
– Workers rights minimal
at first
Unions
• Unions ineffective at first – why?
– IMMIGRATION, scabs, business owners had gov’t on
their side, job contracts outlawing unions, black lists,
etc
• Unions gain power and influence:
– National Labor Union (1866)
– Knights of Labor (1881)
– American Federation of Labor (1886)
• By 1900, Unions become more successful
– Strikes, collective bargaining, Labor Day
Urbanization
• Population in cities triple
during Gilded Age
– Steel industry, trolley cars,
skyscrapers
• Problems with rapid
urbanization?
– Poor sanitation, spread of
disease, crime
• Cities began having lights,
plumbing
– Telephones, typewriters
– Who do these inventions
influence?
• Bring women to workplace
Immigration
• Old Immigration – Northern and
Western Europe
– Britain, Ireland, Germany,
Scandinavia
• Shared similar cultures:
– Light-skinned
– Educated, democratic political
views
– Came with some money
– Mainly protestant
• Who of these groups got the
worst treatment?
– Irish – uneducated, poor, Catholic
Immigration Shifts
• New Immigration – Southern
and Eastern Europe
– Poland, Italy, Slovakia, Croatia,
Jews
• Very different than Americans:
– Different cultures
– Little democratic experience
– Poor, Catholic or Jewish
• Which group would gain
success fastest?
– Jewish – came from cities of
Europe…
– Knew city-life skills unlike other
immigrants
Immigrants Receive Backlash
• “Nativism” begins
– Bias against “inferior” foreigners begin
– Saw them as threatening American culture and way of
life
– Unable and unwilling to assimilate
– Evidence: Little Italy, Little Poland
– Scabs
• Statue of Liberty given to America from France in
1886 – irony?
– “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to be free”
• Reform movements for immigrants and women
gain strength
Cultural Advancements
• Americans becoming more literate
– Education system growing in America
– Libraries spawning across the country
• Music, Art, Poetry, Literature, Theater,
Sports all flourish
– Barnum and Bailey, “Buffalo Bill”, Baseball,
Boxing, Basketball, Horse Racing, Bicycling
Power of the Press
• Newspapers:
– Joseph Pulitzer – New York World
– William Randolph Hearst – San Francisco
Examiner, New York Journal
– Both Created a news monopolies
– Became rivals
• Effects of Newspapers?
– Helped unite nation
– National sports rose – baseball
– “Yellow journalism” begins
• Juicy story, not accurate story
Yellow Journalism
• Also used
for
political,
economic
gains
• Spanish
American
War (1898)
• San
Francisco
Earthquak
e (1906)
Industrial Revolution’s Effects:
• Many setbacks, but standard of life overall
improved
• Majority of population leaves agrarian lifestyle,
move to cities
• Issues of corruption, immigration, worker rights
all met with eventual reform
• Debate between Thomas Jefferson vs.
Alexander Hamilton finally solved: who won?
• Hamilton’s idea of an industrial, big-city America
has come to fruition
Westward Expansion
• Main problem with expansion?
– Native American problem
• Federal Government’s Agenda:
– Clear out Indian presence in the west to allow
for white settlement
The “Indian Wars” (1864-1890)
• Series of skirmishes, battles, and massacres
• Overtime, new advancements in weaponry give U.S.
advantage
– Colt .45 revolver, Winchester rifle
• Reservation system:
– Lands reserved for Indians to protect from white settlers
• Problems:
• America’s misconception of Indian political structure
leads to conflict
– Overestimating a chief’s authority and representation
• Indians never received promised food & supplies from
federal government in exchange for land
• Conditions are harsh on reservation – cold, barren,
unfamiliar land – many die
Massacres and Battles
• Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
– Col. J.M. Chivington and his troops
encircled and killed up to 150 Indians in
Colorado
– Many were women and children
• Fetterman Massacre (1866) –
American soldiers securing
“Bozeman’s Trail” to gold in Montana
– 81 soldiers ambushed and killed in
Wyoming by the Sioux tribe
• Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868) –
Government made peace with Sioux,
abandon use of trail
• 1874 – Gold discovered in South
Dakota on Sioux reservation
– Set the stage for “Custer’s Last Stand”
Massacres and Battles
• Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
• General George Custer sent in
with 400 cavalry soldiers to
remove Sioux
• Met by a coalition of 10,000
Indians led by Crazy Horse
and Sitting Bull
• All American troops killed,
including Custer
– Battle and previous massacres
reduce Indian-White relations to
an all-time high for hostility
Massacres and Battles
• Chief Joseph and Nez Perce
tribe defeated at Battle of
Bear Paw Mountain
– Relocated to reservation in
Kansas
• Apache, led by Geronimo, in
Southwest very hostile
– Apache every hard to subdue
– Geronimo eventually caught
and imprisoned in Oklahoma
Native Americans Defeated
• Indians subdued because:
– Railroads
– Increasing white population in America
– Diseases
– Buffalo population decreasing
– War
• Indians lose 50% of their during Gilded
Age
Efforts to Help Indians
• Missionaries sent in to reservations to
convert Indians
– Efforts led to Battle of Wounded Knee
– Over 200 Indians massacred for
practicing outlawed traditional dance
– Marks the end of the “Indian Wars”
• Dawes Severalty Act (1887) – goal
was to anglicize Indians:
– Indians could become U.S. citizens after
25 years
– European immigrants were becoming
citizens after only 3 years
– Carlisle Indian School opens in 1879
• Forces assimilation
• Indian children trained to be “white”
• “Kill the Indian, save the child”
• Dawes Act successful in it’s goal of
killing Indian way of life
The Wild, Wild West
• Growing urban populations in
East increase demand for food
• Ranching and beef become big
business in west
– “Cowboys” drove herds across
plains to east – very inefficient
– Newly built railroads begin to
transport cattle back east
• Cowboys only existed 20 years,
but became a popular image of
American West
Farmers
• Homestead Act (1862) and “land rushes” (in
Oklahoma) encourages western settlement
• Farming was not as easy in western states
– Land was fertile, but very dry
• “Dry farming” system starts:
• Farmers would plow dew into top few inches of
soil
– Effective, but created a dusty layer of power on top of
soil…
– Would lead to the 1930s Great Dust Bowl
• By 1890, U.S. Census Bureau determines there
is no longer a “discernable frontier”
Farmers
• New inventions allow for mass production
• Farming transformed into “cash crop”
farming
• Farmers transport product by railroad
– (Refrigerator car invented in the 1880s)
– Farmers became at the mercy of railroads
• Farmers unite to gain political power:
– Greenback Labor Party (1868)
– The Grange (1869)
– Farmers Alliance (1870s)
– Populist Part AKA People’s Party (1891)
Unit 8: Imperialism and Reform
1896-1914
Goals of this Unit
• To be able to explain the economic, political, and
cultural forces that sparked a spectacular burst
of imperialistic expansionism for the United
States, culminating in the Spanish-American
War.
• To understand the importance of the strong
progressive movement successfully demanding
that the powers of government be applied to
solving the economic and social problems of
industrialization.
• To explain why a split Republican party will lead
to Woodrow Wilson’s progressive idealism and
isolationism would initiate sweeping reforms
domestically, but lead to dangerous military
involvements internationally.
• Issues:
Election of 1896
– Base currency off gold, silver, or both?
– Demands of working class vs. worried upper classes
• Reps nominate William McKinley
– “Safe” choice: Civil War vet, good Congressional
record, pro-tariff, friendly and likeable
– Very pro-business
• Dems nominate William Jennings Bryan
– “Boy orator of the Platte”
– Young (36), great speaker & debater from Nebraska
– Anti-tariff, used Populist Party’s main platform: coin
more silver
• Populists started joining the Democrats:
– “Dem-Pop” Party
• McKinley exploits economic fears of country,
drums up far more campaign money
• McKinley easily wins election
• Results & effects of election?
– Currency will be based on gold, not silver
– Victory for business owners and upper classes
President William McKinley
• Very safe and cautious with his decisions
– Made decisions based off public opinion
– Two issues: gold vs. silver & fix economy
• Dingley Tariff Act (1897) – significantly
raised tariff to 46%
– Goal was to increase revenue & fix economy
after Panic of 1893
– Cleveland’s low Wilson-Gorman Tariff deemed
ineffective
• Gold Standard Act (1900)
– Allowed for people to trade paper money for
gold
– More symbolic than anything
– Giving people the option brought calmness and
confidence in the economy
• Gold discovered in Alaska causes inflation
– Helps lower classes
Prosperity
• McKinley successful in fixing
economy
– Country pulled out of
recession
– Pro-business policies, inflation
from gold discovery, gold vs.
silver debate solved…
• Allows for calmness and
confidence in economy
– Calmness and confidence →
economic growth
– Uncertainty in economy →
hinders growth
The Rise of Imperialism
• Europe had
been colonizing
in Africa and
Asia for most of
the 1800s
• Isolationist
America turning
towards
imperialism
now
Why Imperialism?
• Europe showing economic benefits of
imperialism
– New markets in rare resources from Africa & Asia
• Yellow journalism
– Increased public interest in foreign “exotic and
adventurous” lands
• Missionaries
– Wanted to “save” un-Christian natives of these lands
• Reverend Josiah Strong leader of movement
• Capt. Alfred Thayer Mahan’s “Influence of Sea
Power Upon History”
– Stressed that key to power is through the navy
– Effect of book:
• U.S. starts building up Navy
• Stronger navy allows for imperialism
Why Imperialism?
• Widely believed social theories:
• Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory:
– Weaker nations will wither away due to course of
nature
– Thus, it’s only natural for stronger nations to conquer
the weak
• Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden”:
(Read the poem silently and turn to a partner to discuss it’s meaning)
– Theorized that “white” Europe and America have a
responsibility to colonize to “help” the weaker nations
• Thus make own nation stronger
• Both used as justification for imperialism
“The White Man’s Burden”
By Rudyard Kipling
TAKE UP THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN—
SEND FORTH THE BEST YE BREED—
GO BIND YOUR SONS TO EXILE
TO SERVE YOUR CAPTIVES' NEED;
TO WAIT IN HEAVY HARNESS,
ON FLUTTERED FOLK AND WILD—
YOUR NEW-CAUGHT, SULLEN
PEOPLES,
HALF-DEVIL AND HALF-CHILD.
TAKE UP THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN—
NO TAWDRY RULE OF KINGS,
BUT TOIL OF SERF AND SWEEPER—
TAKE UP THE WHITE MAN'S
BURDEN—
THE TALE OF COMMON THINGS.
IN PATIENCE TO ABIDE,
THE PORTS YE SHALL NOT ENTER,
TO VEIL THE THREAT OF TERROR
THE ROADS YE SHALL NOT TREAD,
AND CHECK THE SHOW OF PRIDE; GO MARK THEM WITH YOUR LIVING,
BY OPEN SPEECH AND SIMPLE,
AND MARK THEM WITH YOUR DEAD.
AN HUNDRED TIMES MADE PLAIN
TO SEEK ANOTHER'S PROFIT,
AND WORK ANOTHER'S GAIN.
International Incidents & Policies
How does each push America towards imperialism and the
need for a strong navy?
• James G. Blaine’s “Big Brother” (AKA
“Big Sister”) policy
– U.S. responsibility to protect Latin America
• 1882 – Blaine leads Pan-American
Conference
– U.S. mediates disputes between Latin
American countries
Push towards imperialism/navy?
• Goals for Blaine were imperialistic:
– Make Latin America supportive and reliant
on U.S.
– Allow U.S. to have direct influence in Latin
American politics
• 1888 – Standoff: USA vs. Germany over Samoa
– Result: Samoa split in half
• 1891 – Standoff: USA vs. Italy – 11 Italian immigrants
lynched in New Orleans
– Result: USA made payments to Italian families
Push towards imperialism/navy?
Navy needed strengthening in case of war
• 1889 – Standoff: USA vs. Britain after gold is discovered in
Guiana (Venezuelan region)
– Britain attempts to take over and mine gold – Issue?
– Breaking the Monroe Doctrine
– Result:
• Venezuela pleads with U.S. for help
• U.S. steps in and sticks up for “little sister”
• Britain backs down, war narrowly avoided
Push towards imperialism/navy?
– Strengthens Latin American dependence on U.S.
– Navy needed strengthening in case of war
Hawaii
• American “economic
imperialism” present in
Hawaii since early 1800s
– Fruit and sugar companies had
lots of power over islands due
to economic power
– Hawaii regarded as a “little
sister” as well
• Reasons for imperialism:
– Companies feared Japan
might try to take over
– Resistance of native
Hawaiians growing
– McKinley’s high import tax was
hurting American companies in
Hawaii
• Solution?
– Annex Hawaii
Hawaii’s Annexation?
• Queen Liliuokalani refused
to give up power
– 1893 – Americans in Hawaii
& dethrone Queen with
some U.S. military help
• President Grover Cleveland
upset by non-diplomatic
methods
– Refused to sign off on annexation
– Temporary republic set up by
business owners
• Hawaii eventually annexed in
1898 by McKinley
Cuba
• 1895 – Cubans revolt against
Spain
• American roots for Cuba –
why?
– Supports the Monroe Doctrine
policy
– Cuba valuable for ports and
location
– Sentimental of American
revolution
• Spanish General Weyler sent
to stop revolt
– Harsh tactics: concentration
camps for “insurrectos”
Effect of Yellow Journalism
• Hearst & Pulitzer portray Weyler as
super villain
– Embellished pictures outrage Americans
• The de Lome letter
– Stolen letter written by Spanish diplomat
insulting McKinley is published in Hearst’s
newspapers
– Americans angered
• The U.S.S. Maine explosion (1898)
– Ship explodes in Havana harbor killing
258 American sailors
– Cause of explosion unknown but the
yellow press blamed Spain
– American public demanded war for
revenge on Spain
• McKinley reluctantly gives in,
Congress declares war April 1898
– Teller Amendment – U.S. promises not to
annex Cuba after war
Spanish-American War
• Spanish-American War
– War heavily supported by the public
– America overconfident and underprepared
– Poor planning on both sides
War in the Pacific
• Secretary of the Navy Teddy Roosevelt sees chance for
imperialistic gains
• Roosevelt orders Commodore George Dewey to attack
Spain in the Philippines
– May 1, 1898 – Dewey attacks and first battle of war ensues
– 10 aged Spanish ships vs. 6 modern American ships
– Very one-sided naval battle – America wins naval battle
• Unprepared: couldn’t invade – must wait on foot soldier reinforcements
• Aug 13 – U.S. captures Manila from Spain with help of Filipino insurgents
against Spain
– Americans save Filipino rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo from exile to
help fight Spain
• Now with U.S. controlling Philippines, a coaling station
needed between Southeast Asia & California…
– Hawaii officially annexed in 1898
War in the Caribbean
• U.S. led by Gen. William Shafter
• Teddy Roosevelt resigns from Sec. of Navy to fight in war
– Organizes “Rough Riders” cavalry – horseless cavalry
– Unprepared: couldn’t get horses from ships to shore
• Spain sends fleet to Santiago’s narrow harbor
– Mistake: creates a gauntlet for Spain to get in or out
• U.S. sends ships and troops to Santiago
– Unprepared: soldiers issued wool uniforms – suffer in extreme
summer heat
– U.S. navy blockades harbor and soldiers surrounded the Spanish
from the other side of the harbor
– Spain tries to run gauntlet out of the harbor and gets mowed down
by the U.S. navy
• U.S. easily takes Spanish-owned Puerto Rico and Guam
too
• Spain surrenders and signs armistice by August 1898
Aftermath of Spanish American War
• Effects of the “Splendid Little War”
– Unprepared: poor medical planning –
more soldiers (5,000) will die of
disease than in battle (4,000)
– U.S. seen as a rising world power
– North vs. South tension disappears a
bit
• Common enemy was the Spaniards, not
each other
• Teddy Roosevelt rises to fame
• Post-war treaty proposed:
– Cuba would be free
– U.S. would gain Puerto Rico, Guam,
and control of Philippines
• What to do with all these countries?
Cuba
• Promised freedom to Cuba, but America wanted
to ensure a stable government would take
power:
– Temporary military government led by Col. Leonard
Wood
– Sets up Cuban government, education system,
agriculture
– Makes medical advancements to combat rampant
disease
• U.S. leaves Cuba by 1902 – creates Platt
Agreement:
– U.S. approves all Cuban treaties
– U.S. could intervene if Cuban economy crashes
– U.S. military owns one coaling station in Cuba
• Guantanamo Bay
Puerto
Rico
• Retained as an unincorporated
territory of the U.S.
– Issue: Do American laws apply
here?
– Series of “Insular Cases” taken to
Supreme Court
– Supreme Court declares American
laws don’t extend to these new
lands
• Improvements made in
sanitation, transportation,
education, etc
• Foraker Act gives P.R. limited
elected government
• 1917 – Puerto Ricans granted
full U.S. citizenship
– Many freely move to New York City
The Annexation of Puerto Rico
The Philippines Dilemma
• Big issue at treaty talks: “What to do
with the Philippines?”
• Give back to Spain?
– Spain ruled harshly and abusive of
natives
• Let Filipinos rule themselves?
– Could result in chaos due to rival
warlords
• U.S. takes over the country?
– Would make U.S. look like imperial
bullies
– Angry Filipinos willing to fight for freedom
• McKinley decides to take over
Philippines
– Swayed by yellow press’s effect on public
opinion and imperialist business owners
– $20 million paid to Spain for Philippines
The Philippines Dilemma
• Senate still needs to approve treaty –
debate ensues:
– Anti-Imperialist League lobby against
annexation:
• Unlike Hawaii or Alaska, Philippines had a heavily
resistant population and out of U.S. “jurisdiction”
– Imperialists lobby for annexation:
• “The White Man’s Burden” used as justification
• Treaty approved by one vote in Senate
Filipino Resistance
• Filipinos felt deceived by USA,
wanted independence
– Feb 4, 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo
leads uprising – ironic?
• Philippine-American War
– Fighting lasts for over a year
– America uses cruel tactics to
suppress Filipinos
– American soldiers die more from
disease than battle
• Diplomatic solutions taken
– William H. Taft sent to serve as
civil governor of Philippines
– Taft well liked by Filipinos
Filipino Resistance
• Taft institutes “benevolent assimilation” policy:
– Goal was to caringly help and improve the Philippines
– Millions of American dollars invested in Filipino
infrastructure:
• Sanitation, roads, education, economy, healthcare
• Fighting fades away, but desire for
independence still alive
• Philippines not granted freedom until 1946.
Imperialized
China
• Separated into “spheres of influence”
by Europe
– Various European countries had exclusive
trade rights in coastal cities of China
• American business wants in on China’s
natural resources
• Sec. of State John Hay drafts “Open
Door Policy”
– Suggests that Chinese cities should be
open to all nations for trade – ban all
exclusive trade rights
• Europe not willing to compromise
• 1899 – China’s Boxer Rebellion against
foreigners quelled by combined forces
of Europe and America
• Open Door Policy now accepted at
treaty talks
• America now has open and lucrative
trade with China
Election of 1900
• Rematch between McKinley and William
Jennings Bryan
• Mudslinging:
– Bryan: McKinley is an imperialist bully and war
monger
– McKinley: Bryan as president would kill
American prosperity
• McKinley chose famous and beloved
Teddy Roosevelt as VP
• McKinley is easily reelected…
• McKinley shot and killed 6 months into
second term
– Assassin was a disgruntled anarchist
– Secret Service reassigned to full-time duty of
protecting presidents and politicians
President Theodore Roosevelt
• AKA “Teddy” or “TR”
• Short, brawny New Yorker,
Harvard grad
• Theory of role: a president
should lead, not supervise
• Motto: “Speak softly and carry
a big stick”
– Ironic because TR was
boisterous, stubborn, and
temperamental
• BELOVED by the public –
why?
– Press often portrayed him a
spunky, cartoonish, war-hero
Imperialist Teddy: Panama Canal
• TR wants canal in
Central America built –
why?
– Would greatly benefit
trade and power of navy
– French engineer Philippe
Bunau-Varilla hired
• Obstacles:
– European jurisdictions
– Location of canal:
Nicaragua? Panama?
– Panama chosen, but is
part of Columbia –
refused to give up land
The Panama Canal
• Bunau-Varilla incited Panama
rebellion in 1901
• U.S. Navy helps Panama in
wining independence from
Columbian “tyrants”
– Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty signed
between Panama and U.S.
• Approves construction and
lease of canal to U.S
• Panama Canal completed in
1914
– Obstacles of sanitation, disease,
and overwhelming engineering
task overcome
– Construction led by George
Washington Goethals
U.S.-Latin
America
Relations
Damaged
• Canal causes major tension
because of “Big Stick Policy”
– Bullying techniques used to cause war
between Panama and Columbia
• Latin American countries
consistently behind in repaying
debts to Europe
• TR worried Europe would intervene
– problem?
– Violates Monroe Doctrine
– Creates the “Roosevelt Corollary”
– Amendment to Monroe Doctrine stating
U.S. will intervene and collect debts for
Europe
• U.S. significantly intervenes in Cuba
in 1906, and later Nicaragua, Haiti,
and the Dominican Republic
• TR’s “Big Stick Policy” contradicts
the intended “Good Neighbor
Policy”
• Latin American relations with U.S.
deteriorate
Teddy the Peacemaker
• 1905 – TR asked to mediate treaty talks
after Russo-Japanese War
– Both Japan and Russia unhappy with results,
especially Japan
– Relations between all three countries decline
• 1906 – TR successfully mediates a
dispute in North Africa
• Wins Nobel Peace Prize for peace-making
work
Rocky Relations with Japan
• Japan bitter after TR’s mediation
• Small number of Japanese laborers begin
to migrate to California
– “Yellow peril” sweeps through state thanks
to influence of press
• 1906 – Asian immigrants segregated from
SF Schools
• Japan outraged at treatment of Japanese
in California – talks of war
– TR makes “Gentleman’s Agreement” to end
issue
– Asian segregation in schools ends, Japan
halts emigration to U.S.
• TR worried agreement makes America look
weak
• Sends the “Great White Fleet” on
“diplomatic good-will mission”…
– Subtly shows power of U.S. military
• U.S. and Japan sign Root-Takahira
agreement – respect for each other’s
territories
Progressive Party Rises
• New reform movement gaining influence
– “Progressives”
– Roots from Greenback Party (1870s) and
Populist Party (1890s)
• Goal: to achieve social justice by using
government as an “agency of human
welfare”
• Calling for more government intervention,
less “laissez-faire” capitalism
• 1902 – “Muckrakers” emerge – writers
and social critics exposing corruption and
injustice through newspapers and
magazines
– “Cosmopolitan” Magazine
– “The Shame of Cities” by Lincoln Steffens
Who was the Progressive Party?
• Mostly made up of middle
class
– Felt squashed between
business tycoons at top and
working class at bottom
• Political reforms wanted:
– Initiative and referendum –
public can propose & vote
on laws
– Recall – voters can remove
elected officials
– Secret ballot – ensures free
and fair voting
– Female suffrage
Women’s Movement
• Lillian Ward & Jane Addams lead
suffrage movement
– Create “Hull House” in Chicago to help
working class and immigrants
• Women’s rights gaining strength through
legislation:
– 1908 – Muller v. Oregon – extra laws to
protect female workers deemed constitutional
– 1911 – Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – new motion
for laws for better hours, conditions, safety,
and worker compensation
• Prohibition Movement
– Anti-Saloon League join Woman’s Christian
Temperance Movement
– Well-organized, well-financed
– Many states started banning alcohol
• Half of Americans by 1914 live in “dry” areas
– 1919 – 18th Amendment passes “Prohibition”
• Alcohol sale, consumption, and possession
banned
Teddy the Progressive
• TR deeply influenced by “muckrakers”
progressivism – ironic?
– TR created the derogatory name
• Teddy calls platform: “The Square Deal”:
– Vows to accomplish the “Three C’s”:
• Control corporations
• Consumer protection
• Conservation of natural resources
1st C: Control the Corporations
• Creates the Dept. of Commerce
and Labor
– Bureau of Corporations
responsible for:
– Investigating interstate trade
– Stops railroad corruption & bullying
– Breaking up monopolies (AKA
“trusts”)
• Teddy the “Trust buster”
– TR proudly begins to break up
monopolies
– Disbands over 40 “bad” trusts
• Biggest was JP Morgan’s trust
– “Good” trusts were allowed to
operate
2nd C: Consumer Protection
• 1906 – “The Jungle” by Upton
Sinclair exposes horrible conditions
of meat packing industry
– Has major influence on public and
Congress
• 1906 – Meat Inspection Act and
Pure Food and Drug Act both
passed
– Proper labeling techniques, inspection,
prevents tampering
– Results in increased exports of
American meat
3rd C: Conservation of Natural Resources
• By 1900, America realizing natural
resources not unlimited
• TR leads conservation movement
– 1902 – Newlands Act – massive
irrigation projects in West
– TR lawfully protects 125 million acres
of forest
• TR still a pragmatist over a
conservationist
– Example: Hetch Hetchy Valley in
Yosemite
– Leads to a philosophical split
The “Roosevelt Panic” of 1907
• Sudden sharp economic
downturn
• Beloved Teddy solely
blamed
• Congress passes AldrichVreeland Act (1908)
– Authorizes national banks to
release money into circulation
– An elastic supply of currency
could now help during
recessions
– Would lead to the Federal
Reserve Act (1913)
Election of 1908
• TR still very popular announced he
would not run for a third term
– Endorses a similar-minded politician
• William Taft is Rep. Nominee
– Taft was BIG and very likeable
• William Jennings Bryan is Dem.
Nominee for 3rd time
• Taft easily wins election
– Much help from TR’s popularity
• Socialist Party candidate Eugene
Debs gets 3% of popular vote –
significance?
– Debs rose to fame in Pullman Strike in
Chicago
– Sign of the times: social justice movement
Teddy’s Legacy
• Brought big business under
control
• Increases role of presidency
• Passes wide range of reform
• Showed U.S. was a world
power
– Therefore U.S. had “major
responsibility” TR stressed
President William H. Taft
• Taft was well-liked, but less like TR than expected:
– Hands-off approach to leading
– Mildly progressive
– Desired stability rather than reform
• Taft pushed “Dollar Diplomacy” policy:
– America would strategically invest in foreign countries to
gain power
– Therefore, U.S. could gain power and money simultaneously
– Very different from TR’s Big Stick Policy
• Dollar Diplomacy in action:
– Purchase of Chinese railroads fail – blocked by Russia &
Japan
– U.S. heavily invests in Latin America
– U.S. now responsible for maintaining stability in Latin
America
Taft the Trustbuster
• Taft “out-busts” TR – 90
trusts disbanded in his
term
– Biggest was Rockefeller’s
Standard Oil Company
• Taft attempts to break up
U.S. Steel Company
– TR had deemed it one of
the “good trusts”
– Taft refuses to halt
investigation, TR furious
Republicans Split
• “Old, traditional” Reps vs. “New, progressive”
Reps
• 2 big dividing issues: the tariff & conservation
– Old Reps: high tariff, develop land for economic benefit
– New Reps: low tariff, conserve lands
• Taft promised to lower tariff during campaigning
– Signs Payne-Aldrich Bill which raises tariff
– Further splits Rep. Party
• Taft allows for Wyoming, Montana, Alaska to be
open for development
– Very unpopular with public
• Who’s bound to gain power from this split?
– Democrats win heavily in Congressional Elections in
1910
The Taft-Roosevelt Rupture
• The Republican Party officially splits:
– 1911 – National Progressive Republican
League
– Led by Senator Robert La Follette
• Roosevelt so upset by Taft’s
presidency, he decides to run again
• Progressive Republican Party
nominates TR
• June 1912 – Republican Presidential
Convention
– Taft vs. Roosevelt, winner would run as
Rep. nominee for president
– Convention votes on Taft – why?
– Incumbent, fear public wouldn’t vote for a
3rd term president
• Teddy refused to step aside, vows to
run as a 3rd party candidate
Election of 1912
• Republican Party nominates Taft
• Progressive Party nominates Roosevelt
– “Bull Moose Party”
• Democratic Party nominates Dr.
Woodrow Wilson
– Governor of New Jersey
– Very progressive minded
• Two Major Platforms:
– Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism”
• Only disband “bad” trusts, female suffrage,
social welfare programs
– Wilson’s “New Freedom”
• Disband all trusts, supported small business
• Mudslinging and incident:
– Major mudslinging between Taft and
Roosevelt
– Roosevelt shot on campaign trail, survives
Election of 1912
• Wilson wins easily
–
–
–
–
Popular vote:
Wilson: 42%
Roosevelt: 28%
Taft: 23%
• Why is this significant?
– Majority wanted a Republican president, not
Wilson
• Taft retires from politics, goes to law school
– Becomes Chief Justice of Supreme Court in 1921
• Teddy goes on expedition of South Africa
• Side note: Eugene Debs (Socialist) gets 6%
of popular vote
President Woodrow Wilson
• Born and raised in South, very
intelligent, deeply religious, believed
president should lead
– Very different than TR:
• Stubborn idealist, not a pragmatist
– Sometimes detrimental to achieving
goals
– Not a people’s person
– A Progressive President…
• Wilson vows to tear down “triple
wall of privilege”:
– The tariff, the banks, the trusts
Domestic: “Triple Wall of Privilege”
• Major reforms made:
• Tariffs: The Underwood Tariff (1913)
– Reduced tariffs on imports
– Initiated a graduated income tax
• Banking: Federal Reserve Act (1913)
–
–
–
–
Creates appointed Federal Reserve Board
Oversee 12 regional, federal banks
Issue paper money to regulate amount of currency in circulation
Made conservative appointments to Board to keep business
tycoons happy
• Trusts: Federal Trade Commission Act (1914)
– Investigates activities of trust
– Goal: stop crooked business practices affecting consumers
– Clayton Anti-Trust Act (1914) also passed
• Forbade price discrimination, interlocking directorates, helped union
rights
Domestic: “Wilsonian Progressivism”
• Follows up with several reforms:
– Protection for farmers
– Better treatment and pay for sailors
• Paved way for better worker’s rights:
– Worker’s Compensation Act (1916)
– Adamson Act (1916)
• 8-hour workday and overtime
• Made small steps toward ethnic equality
– Appoints Louis Brandeis, first Jewish
Supreme Justice
– Little done for African Americans during
progressivism
• W.E.B. Du Bois created National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
International: Wilson’s Foreign Policy
• Wilson a pacifist and anti-imperialist:
– Blocked American involvement in mass loan to China
– Got Congress to repeal Panama Canal Tolls Act (1912)
• American ships now had to pay tolls
– Jones Act (1916) granting territorial status of
Philippines
• Promises independence when stable government is
established
– Defused situation with Japan over treatment of
Japanese in California
– Purchases Virgin Islands from Denmark for protective
reasons
• United States Virgin Islands
International: Wilson’s Foreign Policy
• Wilson a pacifist and anti-imperialist:
– Why might this have a dangerous outcome on
America internationally?
– America already had many businesses and
land overseas
• From Taft’s Dollar Diplomacy
• Abandoning them?
• Forced to send Marines to protect
American investments in Haiti and Dom.
Rep. after violence erupts
• Mexican Revolution…
Mexican Revolution (1910)
• Extremely poor and oppressed
population revolts
– Political chaos breaks out among rival
warlords
– Mass immigration to Southwestern U.S.
ensues
• Fearing war, Wilson declines to protect
American businesses
– Rebel Pancho Villa despises American
business in Mexico
– Raids and kills 16 American engineers
– Kills 19 more in near border in New Mexico
• Wilson sends in Army to catch Pancho
Villa
– Meet resistance from rival Mexican armies
– Troops called back to U.S. in 1914 – why?
– WWI starts, never catch Pancho Villa
War Breaks Out in Europe
• 1914 – Austrian prince Franz Ferdinand assassinated
by Serbian nationalist
• Complex alliances pulls all of Europe into war one by
one
Central Powers:
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
•
•
•
•
Allied Powers:
Russia
France
England
Australia
• Wilson declares U.S. officially neural
Picking Sides
• About 20% of Americans supported the Central
Powers
– Due to ethnic heritage of immigrants
• The majority of America supported the Allies
–
–
–
–
Due to cultural, political, economic ties
Sympathetic to Allies
Kaiser Wilhelm II views as militant tyrant
Central Power operative caught with plans to
sabotage American industry
USA Profits off Neutrality
• American businesses trade with both sides during war
– More with Allies, secretly and less with Central Powers
• Germany hurt by it’s inferior navy
– Can’t compete with British navy or block trade with Allies
• Germany’s solution:
– Rely on U-boats (submarines)
– Announces “unrestricted submarine warfare” on Allies and
anyone assisting Allies
• Wilson warns Germany will be held “strictly accountable”
for American damages
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
• British ship Lusitania sunk by U-boat attack
– 1,200 civilians killed, including 128 Americans
– German warnings prior to attack ignored
– Americans demand revenge, call for war
• Others civilian ships also attacked:
– Arabic – British ship – 2 Americans killed
– Sussex – French ship – 50 killed
• Wilson pressures Germany to end warfare policy
• Germans issue “Sussex Pledge”
– Promises to give warning to the ship they are to attack –
problem?
– Contradicts the purpose of a submarine – redacted
• Unrestricted submarine warfare resumes
• Wilson’s neutrality on verge of ending
Election of 1916
• Republicans nominate Charles Evans Hughes
– Former Gov. of NY, progressive
– “Flip-flopper” – problem with this?
• Undesirable trait during time of reform & war
• Democrats seek reelection with Wilson
– Campaign slogan: “He kept us out of the war”
– Americans hardly neutral now, but ravages of war
emphasized as fear tactic
• Wilson uses neutrality platform to win close
election – ironic?
– Wilson enters U.S. into war 5 months later
Unit 9: World War One
Goals of this Unit…
• To be able to explain why America entered World War I.
• To understand how Wilson turned Americas participation
into a fervent ideological crusade for democracy that
successfully stirred the public to a great voluntary war
effort, but at some cost to traditional civil liberties.
• To know that after Americas limited but important
contribution to the Allied victory, a triumphant Wilson
attempted to construct a peace based on his idealistic
Fourteen Points.
• To comprehend that because of European and senatorial
opposition, and partly his own political errors, doomed
American ratification of the Versailles Treaty and
participation in the League of Nations.
Goal of Today
Why was America neutral
at first, but eventually
was drawn into WWI?
War Breaks Out in Europe
• 1914 – Austrian prince Franz Ferdinand assassinated
by Serbian nationalist
• Complex alliances pulls all of Europe into war one by
one
Central Powers:
• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
Allied Powers:
• Russia
• France
• Britain
– AKA “Triple Entente”
• Wilson declares U.S. officially neural
Picking Sides
• About 20% of Americans supported the Central
Powers
– Due to ethnic heritage of immigrants
• The majority of America supported the Allies
–
–
–
–
Due to cultural, political, economic ties
Sympathetic to Allies
Kaiser Wilhelm II views as militant tyrant
Central Power operative caught with plans to
sabotage American industry
USA Profits off Neutrality
• American businesses trade with
both sides during war
– More with Allies, secretly and less
with Central Powers
• Germany hurt by it’s inferior navy
– Can’t compete with British navy or
block trade with Allies
• Germany’s solution:
– Rely on U-boats (submarines)
– Announces “unrestricted submarine
warfare” on Allies and anyone
assisting Allies
• Wilson warns Germany will be
held “strictly accountable” for
American damages
Unrestricted Submarine Warfare
• May 1915 – British ship Lusitania
sunk by U-boat attack
– 1,200 civilians killed, including 128
Americans
– German warnings prior to attack ignored
– Americans demand revenge, call for war
• Others civilian ships also attacked:
– Aug 1915: Arabic – British ship – 2
Americans killed
– March 1916: Sussex – French ship – 50
killed
• Wilson pressures Germany to end
warfare policy
• May 1916 – Germans issue “Sussex
Pledge”
– Promises to give warning to the ship they
are to attack – problem?
– Contradicts the purpose of a submarine
Election of 1916
• Republicans nominate Charles
Evans Hughes
– Former Gov. of NY, progressive
– “Flip-flopper” – problem with this?
• Undesirable trait during time of reform &
war
• Democrats seek reelection with
Wilson
– Campaign slogan: “He kept us out of
the war”
– Americans hardly neutral now, but
ravages of war emphasized as fear
tactic
• Wilson uses neutrality platform to
win close election – ironic?
– Wilson enters U.S. into war 5 months
later
America’s Fading Neutrality
• Jan 22, 1917 – Wilson gives speech
calling for “peace without victory”
– Stressing neutrality, calling for end of war
• Germany announces redaction of the
Sussex Pledge – unrestricted submarine
warfare resumes
– World shocked, Americans outraged
• March 1917 – Zimmerman Note
• German telegram to Mexico intercepted
• Note encouraged Mexico to wage war on U.S
• 4 more American merchant ships sunk by
German subs
• Lenin’s Bolshevik Revolution in Russia
– Czar overthrown, Russia backs out of war
America Declares War
• Major causes of declaration:
– Unrestricted submarine warfare
– Zimmerman Note
– Russian Revolution
• Wilson asks Congress to declare war
– Problem: Many congressman & Americans were antiwar
• Wilson’s idealist slogan for war:
– “The world must be made safe for democracy”
• Purpose of war was to free Europeans from militant tyrants
• NOT for riches or conquest
– Americans eagerly join cause, war effort
• April 6, 1917 – America officially joins the Allied
Powers
America Declares War
• Major causes of declaration:
– Unrestricted submarine warfare
– Zimmerman Note
– Russian Revolution
• Wilson asks Congress to declare war
– Problem: Many congressman & Americans were antiwar
• Wilson’s idealist slogan for war:
– “The world must be made safe for democracy”
• Purpose of war was to free Europeans from militant tyrants
• NOT for riches or conquest
– Americans eagerly join cause, war effort
• April 6, 1917 – America officially joins the Allied
Powers
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
• Idealistic goals for peace after war:
•
•
•
•
•
Abolishing secret treaties
Freedom of the seas
Removal of economic barriers between nations
Reduction of armaments
Fixing colonial claims to benefit both colonizers
and natives
– “Self-determination”: oppressed nationalistic
groups should have own governments
– League of Nations: Committee to peacefully
settle future international disputes
Propaganda
• George Creel headed the
Committee on Public
Information
– Goal was to keep Americans
enthusiastic about war
• Methods:
– Posters, pamphlets, films,
songs
– “Four minute men” speeches
– Advertise “war bonds”
• Effective in hiding the
realities of the brutal war
Enforcing Loyalty
• Anti-German sentiments grow:
– German-Americans labeled spies,
saboteurs
– Suffer alienation, violence
• Congress passes anti-foreign
laws
– Espionage Act of 1917
• Prosecutes “spies” – 2,000 convicted
– Eugene V. Debs sentenced to 10 years
– Sedition Act of 1918
• Prosecutes anyone engaging in
“seditious” activity
– Very broad definition – why?
• Harder to interpret → easier to prosecute
any supposed anti-government activity
• Laws safe from 1st Amendment
Preparing for War
• Wilson gets unprepared nation
ready for war
– Forms Council of National
Defense
– Increases ship building
– Increases size of army
• Biggest task: kick starting war
industry
– Appoints Bernard Baruch to lead
“War Industries Board”
• Coordinates industry to help war
effort
• Efforts only somewhat successful:
– Board’s power a bit weak,
businesses enjoy autonomy
Wartime Labor
• Government’s “work or fight” policy
provides for large war effort
• National War Labor Board created to
settle and worker disputes and strikes
– Ensures no loss of production
• Wartime inflation stops wage increases
– Strikes rampant and violent
– African-Americans migrate North as “scabs”
• Creates violent ethnic conflict in cities
(Chicago Race Riots, 1919)
• American Federation of Labor (AF of L)
– Led by Samuel Gompers
– Loyal to war effort – provided factories with
laborers
• Rewarded with desired workers rights
Women on the Home Front
• National American Woman Suffrage
Association
– Encourage women to join war effort
– Many fill men’s jobs during the war –
effects?
• Gaining a larger role in society
• Women gain power and influence
• Wilson endorses women’s suffrage
• By 1920 – 19th Amendment passed
– Women granted the right to vote
• Women’s Bureau emerges after war to
protect women’s new rights and place
in workforce
– Fails: most women leave jobs and return
home after war
• Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act (1921)
Wartime Economy
•
What’s needed in a wartime
economy?
–
•
Rationing, moderation, conservation to
assure adequate supplies for the
military and allies
Herbert Hoover chosen head to
Food Administration – very
successful
–
–
Oversees the production & allocation of
foodstuffs
Uses propaganda, not laws
•
Grains not to be used for alcohol – what
movement does this help?
–
•
Prohibition movement gaining strength
Fuel Administration encourages
rationing, too
Treasury Dept. sells war bonds
•
–
Raised money for 2/3 of America’s war
effort
Dependence on America
• America pictures secondary role in war
effort – problem?
• By 1917…
– European Allies out of men, money,
supplies
– Russia pulls out of war after Bolshevik
revolution – significance?
• Germany can fully concentrate troops on
Western Front
• Germans planning big counterattack in
Spring of 1918
• America becomes more involved than
planned
• Selective Service Act
• Draft increases army size, men quickly
trained
– Blacks serve in segregated units
– Women take support roles in military
Americans Arrive in Europe
• Allies desperate for American
reinforcements
– French barely hanging on at
Western Front
• Small number of troops sent
over immediately
• American soldiers arrive by
masses in Spring of 1918
– American Expeditionary Forces
(AEF)
– Led by Gen. John J. Perishing
– Goals of Americans:
• Stop German invasion of Paris
• Providing supplies to Allies
• Boost the little morale left of Allied
Forces
Trench Warfare
The Western Front
Trench Warfare
New Technology
• Machine Guns
• Flamethrowers
• Poisonous Gas
• Tanks & Planes
• Land Mines
• Mortars
American Action
• Battle of Chateau-Thierry
– Stops invading German army 40
miles from Paris
• Second Battle of the Marne
– Allies victorious, begins German
withdrawal
• Battle at Belleau Wood
– U.S. Marines fiercely fight off
Germans, gain prestige
• Meuse-Argonne Offensive
– Largest battle in American
history to that point, Allies
victorious
• Germany on brink of
surrender
War Ends
• Germans becoming
increasingly anti-war
– Kaiser Wilhelm II flees to
Holland
– Fear of infinite American
manpower, supplies
– Idealistic “Fourteen Points”
appealing to Germany
• Armistice agreed upon –
when?
– 11:00 AM, 11/11/1918
– Known as “Armistice Day”,
later “Veteran’s Day”
Peace Talks
• Wilson gains worldwide popularity
for:
– Ending war
– Idealistic promises of postwar Europe
• Wilson travels to Europe with
delegates for peace talks
– Does not invite any Republicans
– Henry Cabot Lodge excluded
• Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations
Committee – effects?
• Alienates party, strengthens party
• The “Big Four” meet to lead Paris
Peace Conference in 1919
–
–
–
–
Woodrow Wilson (USA)
David Lloyd George (Britain)
George Clemenceau (France)
Vittorio Orlando (Italy)
Treaty Trouble
• Conflicting ambitions plagues
peace conference
– Britain and France want Germany
punished
– Italy wants compensation
– America wants lasting peace
• League of Nations proposed
• Wilson compromises to get League
created
– Wilson reluctantly agrees to punish
Germany
• War Guilt Clause
– Formally blames war on Germany
– Humiliated Germans felt wrongly
accused
– Germany charged with cost of war
($33 billion)
Treaty Trouble
• Wilson needed 2/3 of Senate to approve treaty
– America’s opposition to treaty growing during talks
– Wanted isolationism
• Europe uses American disapproval as
bargaining chip
• New demands:
• France wants bordering German regions
– Wilson compromises his “self-determination” policy
• Japan wants German islands in Pacific, Chinese
peninsula
– Wilson compromises his “self-determination” policy
• Italy wants strategic port in newly formed
Yugoslavia
– Negotiations sour, Italy turns on Wilson
Treaty of Versailles
• Germany forced to sign – felt betrayed
– Wilson’s Fourteen Points largely excluded from treaty
• Treaty creates economic chaos, lasting
animosity in Germany
Wilson: The Fallen Hero
• Wilson forced to compromise during treaty talks
– Failure to bargain would have resulted in no treaty
• Wilson seen as “fallen hero”
– Deemed a “sell out” by liberals, “soft” by imperialists
• Wilson needs public support, Senate approval to
accept treaty
• Returns to heavy American opposition:
–
–
–
–
Isolationists against “entangling alliances”
“Hun-haters” felt treaty was too soft
Liberals felt treaty was too harsh
European-Americans felt treaty was too harsh on their
respective home countries
• Senator Lodge sees opportunity for revenge on Wilson
– Rallies Senators against Treaty, stalls process
Wilson’s Tour for Support
• Treaty losing support in the Senate
– Republican majority
• Wilson goes on nation-wide tour to
sway public
• Rough trip for Wilson:
• Midwest largely populated by
German-Americans
– Treaty promoting not received well
• Opposing Senators follow tour to
give rivaling speeches after Wilson
leaves town
– William Borah and Hiram Johnson
• Western states supportive of Wilson
– Collapses due to exhaustion in
Colorado
– Suffers a stroke, bedridden & inactive
for months
Treaty Defeated
• Lodge amends many parts of Treaty
• Lodge’s goals:
– Retain America’s right to rule themselves
• Membership in League of Nations would give
up some autonomy
– Avoid promise of military aid if League nation
is attacked
• Senate votes on newly amended Treaty:
– Lodge now pro-treaty, Wilson anti-treaty
– Wilson rallies Dem Senators and forces them
to vote against Lodge and the new Treaty
• Senate votes against Treaty twice
• Treaty of Versailles never accepted by
U.S.
– U.S. does not join League of Nations
Election
of 1920
• Wilson, still pushing for original Treaty, calls
for “solemn referendum”
– A vote by the people on the Treaty – demands fail
• Republicans reorganized and strong – why?
–
–
–
–
Excluded by Wilson at peace conference
Unified by anti-treaty sentiment
Offered platform appealing to pro-treaty Reps too
Teddy Roosevelt dies in 1919
• Republicans nominate Warren G. Harding
– Likable Senator from Ohio
– Vowed for a “return to normalcy”
– Calvin Coolidge as VP
• Democrats nominate James M. Cox
– Pro-treaty Ohio Governor
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt as VP
• Harding wins by a landslide (60% to 34%)
• Eugene V. Debs (Socialist Party) gets 4% of
vote
– Caused fear of socialism/communism growing in
U.S.
Effects of W.W.I.
• “The War to End All Wars” –
ironic?
– Helps lead to WWII two decades
later
• America had opportunity to
become world leader…
– Instead, recoils into isolationism
– Trouble soon redevelops in
Europe
– America not there to prevent it…
• League of Nations fail to
enforce lasting peace
– Instead creates legacy of
animosity and growing tension
RQ 1
• Committee on Public Information (propaganda)
– Keeps Americans enthusiastic about war
• Keeps war effort up
– Helps sell War Bonds
• Forms Council of National Defense
• Increases size of army, ship building
• War Industries Board
– Kick starting American industry that’s geared towards war effort
• “Work or fight” policy provides for large war effort
– American Federation of Labor
• National War Labor Board
– Settles strikes / worker disputes = ensures no loss of production
•
•
•
•
Women take jobs in factories
Food Administration enforces rationing & conservation
Select Service Act drafts 3 million to U.S. army
Wilson’s 14 Points provided for post-war plans
RQ 2
• **Question Clarification**
• European Allies out of men, money, supplies
– Due to war of attrition
• Russia pulls out of war after Bolshevik
Revolution
– HUGE advantage for Central Powers
• Arrived in late Spring of 1918 to help push back
final German offensive – helps end war
• Provided manpower, money, food and supplies
to Allied nations
RQ 3
• Europe: Too many conflicting motives
– US wanted insurance of peace, less punishment
• (Wilson’s 14 points – League of Nations most importantly)
– Britain, France, Italy wanted compensation, harsh
punishment of Germany
• Wilson had to compromise – Germany blamed and harshly
punished
• American Senate:
– Wilson alienated Lodge & Republican party
• Sought revenge, rallied against Wilson, Treaty, and League
• American Public:
– Wanted isolationism
• Did not want to get involved in future European conflicts
Unit 10: Great Depression and
WWII
Goals of this Unit:
• To recognize that a prosperous, pro-business,
Republican dominated 1920s pursued
conservative, pro-business policies at home and
economic unilateralism abroad.
• To be able to explain how the great crash of
1929 led to a severe, prolonged depression that
devastated the American economy and spirit,
and resisted Hoovers limited efforts to correct it.
• To understand Roosevelt’s New Deal helped
tackle the Great Depression with massive
federal programs designed to bring about relief,
recovery, and reform.
Goals of this Unit:
• To realize that in the early and mid-1930s, the United
States attempted to isolate itself from foreign
involvements and wars. But by the end of the decade,
the spread of totalitarianism and war in Europe forced
Roosevelt to provide more and more assistance to
desperate Britain, despite strong isolationist opposition.
• To understand that America, unified by Pearl Harbor,
effectively carried out a war mobilization effort that
produced vast social and economic changes within
American society.
• To be able to explain that by following its get Hitler first
strategy, the United States and its Allies invaded and
liberated conquered Europe from Fascist rule.
• To grasp that the slower strategy of island-hopping
against Japan also proceeded successfully, but it was
the atomic bomb that brought a sudden end to World
President Warren G. Harding
• Likeable, friendly, popular
• Average intelligence, easily swayed &
tricked
– Builds strong administration around him
– too strong?
• Very pro-business
– Supported laissez-faire economics
– Fordney-McCumber Tariff passed raising
import tax
• Enjoyed a thriving post-war economy
Presidency Scandals
• Harding’s administration takes advantage of him:
• Col. Charles Forbes embezzled $200 million while in charge
of Veterans Bureau
– Convicted – prison sentence: two years
• Attorney General Harry Daugherty accused numerous times
of selling pardons and illegal liquor permits
– Never convicted despite heavy evidence
• Teapot Dome Scandal - Sec. of Interior Albert Fall illegally
places Teapot Dome (Wyoming) under his jurisdiction after oil
is discovered in region
– Took bribes for drilling rights
– Convicted – prison sentence: one year
• Stress of scandal becomes overwhelming on Harding’s health
– Collapses and dies in 1923
President Calvin Coolidge
• Very serious, calm, boring and quiet
– “Silent Cal”
• More pro-business than Harding
– “The man who builds a factory builds a temple
and the man who works there, worships there”
• Rides America’s thriving economy to
reelection in 1924
– American public happy with economy,
isolationism
– Democratic party lacked direction & unity in such
changing times
War Debt
• Coolidge and Congress demanding loaned money
to Europe from WWI be repaid
• Germany could not afford to pay Britain and France,
who could not afford to pay America
• Dawes Plan created in 1924:
• 1 - America loans money to Germany
• 2 – Germany makes reparation payments to France
& Britain
• 3 – France & Britain repay war loans to U.S.
• 4 – Germany eventually repays America for Dawes
loan
– No interest charged
Dawes Plan
• What does the Dawes plan accomplish?
– Financially nothing, more a matter of principle:
– Coolidge: “They borrowed the money didn’t
they?”
– England & France angered – see U.S. as
greedy
• Dawes Plan shows little progress after 5
years
• Young Plan (1929) restructures loan to
Germany, includes interest
• Would not matter by end of 1929… why?
Day One: Politics of 1920s
GOAL OF TODAY MET?
To understand the political
trends of the 1920s and how
they influenced both domestic
and international policies
Election of 1928
• Coolidge decides not to run for reelection
• Republicans nominate Sec. of Commerce – Herbert
Hoover – why?
– Economic prosperity made him popular choice
– Hoover’s slogan: “Rugged individualism”
• America needs to return to roots of tough, self-sufficient
individuals
• Dems nominate Alfred Smith
– Likeable and sociable NY Governor
• Campaigning over radio major factor in election:
– Hoover sounded better than Smith’s NY accent
– Smith portrayed as a drinking, Irish, Catholic, city-slicker –
significance?
• Prohibition
• Dems supported mostly in South – Smith not popular among
Southerners
President Herbert Hoover
• Benefitting from economic prosperity at first
• Pro-business and isolationist:
• Support of farmers – lending money, buying
surpluses
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff proposed – raises import
tax to almost 60%
– Full-blown isolationism – Europe furious
• Dangerous lack of presence in European affairs
– Slowed trade – America self-sufficient enough in
1920s, but…
• Will worsen economic conditions during the Depression
Economic Depression Hits
• America’s economic prosperity in 1920s
largely built on credit and investment
• U.S. Stock Market was growing too large,
too fast… problem?
– Not built on physical wealth or assets
– Built on borrowed money and entangled
investments
– A trigger could cause a crash, a crash could
cause a dangerous chain reaction
• Leading to economic depression
“Black Tuesday”
• October 29, 1929 – the U.S. Stock Market Crashes
– Rumors of economic trouble in England scares
stockholders
– Panic-selling ensues, prices plummet
• Stockholders lost $40 billion by January
• Crash triggered, chain reaction starts:
– Frightened public becomes overly-cautious with their
money
– Panicking public pulls all their money out of banks fearing
banks would go bankrupt
– Businesses can’t attract scared customers – close down
– As businesses close, unemployment rises
• Great Depression begins…
The Great Depression
• Underlying causes of the Great Depression:
– Trend of mass-consumerism based on credit, not
real money
– Over-speculation in stocks
– Over-production in factories and farms
• Became international depression – struggling
European postwar economies suffered
• Caused affected countries to dive deeper into
isolationism
• Coincidentally, droughts dried up regions of
U.S. – further hurting farmers
Hoover’s Initial Response
•
•
•
•
Hoover blamed for depression – unfair?
Many Americans looking to Hoover for help
“Rugged individualism” being stressed
Hoover slow to take action
– Saw this as part of a natural “business cycle”
• Economy has ups and downs – this was a natural
downturn
– Unsure if government intervention would even be
helpful
• Hoover’s solution was to “wait it out” –
unpopular decision
Hoover’s Slow
Reaction
• Soup kitchens and shelters on the rise
• Newly forming shanty-towns soon to be
called “Hoovervilles”
• “Bonus Expeditionary Force” (BEF) formed
by veterans to demand bonuses for
participation in WWI
– Camped out in DC, forcefully evicted by Gen.
MacArthur and U.S. army in “Battle of Anacostia
Flats”
• Ugly incident hurts Hoover’s image further
Hoover Takes Action
• Urges Congress to jumpstart economy with over $2 billion
in government spending
– Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) passed
• Lends money to finance massive government projects
– Hoover Dam – massive project employs 20 thousand
• Would eventually fund many of FDR’s “New Deal” projects
•
Hoover goes on good-will tour of Latin America to repair
their tarnished relations with America
– New policies call for less “dollar diplomacy” and troops pulled
out of Haiti and Nicaragua
• Laid foundation for FDR’s “Good Neighbor Policy”
• Hoover’s legacy: despite slow response and tarnished
image, Hoover did help America battle the Great
Depression…
– But effects of his efforts not felt until after his presidency
Trouble Brewing Overseas
• 1931 – Japan invades Manchuria region of China
– Violates all idealistic agreements forbidding
imperialism made after WWI
– League of Nations respond with hollow threat of
universal trade boycott against Japan – not effective,
why?
• Depression forces need for some nations to trade with Japan
• Failure of League of Nations to enforce it’s rules
was a dangerous precedent – why?
– Displays the League’s policy of “appeasement”
– Aggressive nations could take over weaker nations
without penalty or interference
– First steps toward WWII taken
Election of 1932
• Hoover runs for reelection
– Argued he had helped the economic situation and
“the worst has passed”
• Dems nominate Franklin Delano Roosevelt or
“FDR”
– NY Governor with “people’s touch”
• Always smiling, good speaker with a sense of caring for the
common person
– Eleanor Roosevelt very proactive in politics as well
– “Confidence” his catchphrase and “Happy Days Are
Here Again” his campaign song
• Hoover had no chance, FDR wins by a landslide
– Hoover humiliated – even loses in home state of CA
Election of 1932
• Voting trends change:
• Black voters overwhelmingly switch from
supporting Rep party to Dem party – why?
– “Great Migration” of the 1920s – massive
movement by blacks from rural South the urban
North
– New, competitive industrial labor and racism led
to inequality for black workers
• “Last hired, first fired”
– Reps had become big business-minded
• Sided with business owners
– Dems more progressive
President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt
• Takes office at worst point of Great Depression
– Unemployment (25%) and bankruptcies at all-time
high
– “Only thing we have to fear is fear itself” – meaning?
• Americans should stop being fearful of:
– Spending until economy improves
– Putting their money in banks
• Stressing “confidence” – fear and panic is only making things
worse
• FDR’s platform: The Three R’s
– Relief: Was for immediate action – food, shelter
– Recover: Was for a year or two – climb out of
Depression
– Reform: Was for after Depression – ensured to never
allow this to happen again
“The New Deal”
• The “New Deal” FDR’s plan for pulling
America out of the Great Depression
• FDR had support of overwhelmingly Demcontrolled Congress
– First “100 Days” – passes numerous bills into
law
• Gained public support:
– “Fireside Chats” – series of radio segments
talking to Americans about problems faced
and progress made
The New Deal: Managing
Money
• Emergency Banking Relief Act – sets up
bank holidays
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) –
insured up to $5,000 of people’s money in
the bank
• FDR orders Federal Reserve to create
inflation so debts can be repaid faster
– Lenders happy to be paid back, upset it’s at a
lesser value
The New Deal: Job Creation
• FDR uses federal money on programs and
projects to help jumpstart economy
– Based off Hoover’s RFC
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
– Hired young men to improve national forests
– Very popular and effective
• Workers Progress Administration (WPA)
– $11 billion spent for public facilities and
infrastructure
• Hired federally-paid, unskilled workers to build smaller
projects
• Criticized by some as “boondoggling”
The New Deal: Industry
• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) tried to help farmers by
paying them not to farm – why?
– Less spending  oversupply of product  prices fall  product
sells for very little or not at all  farmers go bankrupt
– Farmers by law destroy excess crops, slaughter excess livestock
– Effect: Farmers incomes did rise, but so did farmer
unemployment
• National Recovery Administration (NRA)
– Aimed to help industry, labor, unemployment
– Relied on “fair competition”
• Spreads work out among more people due to increased hours,
decreased wages
– Government forcing businesses to abide was unconstitutional –
dismantled
• Public Works Administration (PWA)
– Similar to WPA, but gave private firms contracts to hire skilled
workers
– Worked on larger-scale projects – building public works and
infrastructure
• Bridges, dams, hospitals, schools, etc
– One of the most successful programs created in New Deal
New Deal: Reform
• FDR vowed to reform to prevent future crashes
• Stock market reform:
– Federal Securities Act – companies must report honest financial
numbers for investors
– Securities Exchange Commissions (SEC) – set up to investigate and
watch over stock market activities
• Housing reform:
– Federal Housing Authority (FHA) – low interest on homes
• Created shelter, economic bump, and employment
• Social Security Act – sets up payment plan for senior citizens,
handicapped, etc
– Funded by taxes on business and personal income
– Receives criticism from Republicans – “socialism”
• Unions gain strength, numbers, and influence during Depression:
– Norris-La Guardia Act – outlaws anti-union contracts (AKA “yellow dog”
contracts)
– Wagner Act – legalizes union organization and collective bargaining
– Fair Standards Act – minimum wage, maximum working hours, set
working age at 16
The Dust Bowl
(1933)
• Causes:
– System of dry-farming used in plains for decades
creates loose topsoil
– Long drought in lower plains region
– Heavy wind storms of 1933
• Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas farmland destroyed
• Many farmers migrate west to California looking
for work
– “Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
• Government relief programs help relocate farmers,
improve soil, plant trees as windbreaks (CCC)
Election of 1936
• Reps nominate Alfred Landon
– Gov of Kansas, criticized FDR’s massive
spending
– Hurt by record of past support of FDR’s
spending, weak campaign, weak radio
voice
• Immensely popular FDR wins by an
overwhelming landslide
The “Court-Packing” Scheme (1937)
• FDR still had Democrat dominated Congress,
but a conservative Supreme Court
• FDR proposed to increase Supreme Court to
15 justices and that justices over 70 be
removed
– FDR can appoint liberal justices
• Congress shocked and upset with FDR’s
scheme for increased power
– Proposal fails, FDR accused of trying to become
a dictator
– Effect was less cooperation from Congress
New Deal Effective?
• By 1937 – Progress stalls, effects
inconclusive
– Unemployment dropped from 25% to 15% in first
term
– “Roosevelt Recession” in 1937 caused by policies
like the Social Security tax on incomes
• Less income, less spending, less economic activity
– FDR’s overspending and “socialist” policies
gaining criticism
• Debt had doubled from $20 to $40 billion
• Government becoming too much of a “handout state”
– Americans not working towards recovery, but being given it
instead
Legacy of FDR’s “New Deal”
• Both heavily supported and criticized
• FDR took over in a chaotic time and made
big changes while keeping peace and order
– Other nations (Germany, Italy) did not succeed in
keeping peace and order during this economic
turmoil
• The New Deal helped, but did not pull U.S.
out of Depression
• What did…?
– World War II
FDR’s Foreign Affairs
• London Conference (1933) set up to create
international solutions to the Great Depression
– Europe tries to enforce currency stabilization
• Economic policy that causes deflation, deters spending
– Policy is counter to FDR’s plan of “confidence” in spending
and trust
– FDR angrily pulls U.S. out of London Conference
• Solidifies U.S. isolationism
• Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) guarantees
independence for bothersome Philippines by 1946
• “Good Neighbor Policy” denounces TR’s “Big Stick
Policy” of Latin America – heavily reduces involvement
in Latin America and promises no use of military force
– Very successful in bettering Latin American relations
Dangerous Leaders Rise
• Post WWI political and
economic chaos, Great
Depression lead to rise of
totalitarian and/or fascist
regimes:
–
–
–
–
–
Joseph Stalin (USSR)
Francisco Franco (Spain)
Benito Mussolini (Italy)
Hirohito (Japan)
Adolf Hitler (Germany)
• Totalitarianism focuses all
efforts on empowering the
state
Trouble
Overseas
• 1931 – Japan invades and
occupies Manchuria (China)
• 1935 – Italy attacks and defeats
Ethiopia
• 1936 – Rome-Berlin Axis: allies
Germany and Italy
• League of Nations does nothing to
stop these events
– Display of weakness allows sets
dangerous precedent
• America remains isolated
– Does not want to get involved in
foreign problems and conflicts
– Congress passes:
• Neutrality Acts – series of acts to put
preventive restrictions on foreign
relations with countries at war
• Johnson Debt Default Act – forbids loans
to countries that still owe money to U.S.
Isolationism Put to Test
• Spanish Civil War breaks out (1936-1939)
– Fascist government vs. republican government
– America rooting for republican government, but
must remain isolated and uninvolved
• Germany and Italy help fellow fascist General
Franco
• Franco and Spanish Fascists win control
• Franco’s 40 year dictatorship begins
• Democracy falls in another European country,
America unhappy
Appeaseme
nt
• Appeasement – giving into demands to
avoid conflict
• League of Nation’s policy of appeasement,
past negligence, and U.S. isolationism all
lead to further conflict
• Japan conducts mass invasion of China
(1937)
– Second Sino-Japanese War
– “Rape of Nanking” – Japanese army murders
300,000 unarmed Chinese civilians
Appeasement
• Hitler breaks Treaty of Versailles:
– Builds up German military
– Remilitarization of the Rhineland region
(1936)
– Persecutes Jews
– Annexes Austria (1938)
• Hitler convinced European leaders each
step of expansion would be his last
• League of Nations appeased every
demand of his
Appeaseme
nt
• Hitler demands annexation of Sudetenland
(small bordering region of Czechoslovakia)
• Munich Conference called to discuss
(Sept. 1938)
– Tense talks lead to appeasement of Hitler’s
demand
– English Prime Minister Chamberlain: “I have
returned from Germany with peace in our
time.”
– All of Czechoslovakia annexed months later
Appeasement Ends, War Starts
• Russo-German Nonaggression Pact signed
(1939)
– Stalin and Hitler promise no military aggression
against each other
– This ensures Hitler will not fight a two-front war
like WWI and also allows for an easier invasion of
Poland
• Hitler’s motives clear – France & Britain
finally takes a stand
– Warns Hitler an invasion of Poland would merit
war declaration
• Hitler attacks Poland one week later (Sep 1,
1939)
• War declarations ensue – WWII starts
Belligerents as
of 1940:
Allies: Britain,
France, Poland
VS.
Axis: Germany,
Italy, Japan
Battle Lines
Drawn
Isolationist America
• America committed to neutrality, but was
rooting for Britain and France…
• Neutrality Acts amended and put in effect:
– U.S. will sell war materials on a “cash-andcarry” basis
• No credit, no U.S. ships involved
• Ensures isolationism, helps economy
– Utilized exclusively by Allies, as intended
Lightening Strikes
• Sept 1939 – Germany defeats Poland
• Months of inactivity – some suspected a
“phony war”
– Hitler amasses & consolidates military
• April 1940 – Hitler suddenly launches
“blitzkrieg” attack
– “Lighting warfare” using tanks, planes, infantry
simultaneously – very effective
– Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium all
defeated instantly
Lightenin
g Strikes
• France invaded and surrenders by June 1940
– Italy joins and invades weakened France before
surrender
• Britain is last of the Allies left standing in
Europe
• America shocked – FDR begins immediate
military built up
– Conscription law passed – first ever peacetime
draft
• Havana Conference called to ensure U.S.
and Latin America would work together to
defend Monroe Doctrine
Helping Britain
• Hitler begins bombing Britain
with planes
– All-air “Battle of Britain” ensues
– Britain temporarily fights off
Germany
• Americans split on whether to
help or stay isolated
• FDR makes compromise
between the two sides:
– Destroyer Deal (1940) trades 50 old
WWI destroyers for 8 naval bases
• By 1941, Britain needed money
for war effort
– FDR hesitant after WWI debt crisis
– Solution was to loan weaponry, not
money…
Lend-Lease Act
• Lend-Lease Bill
passed
– U.S. now “arsenal of
democracy”
– Until 1945, $50 billion
worth of ships, tanks,
weaponry, ammunition
supplies to be “borrowed”
• Effects of Neutrality
Act, Destroyer Deal,
and Lend-Lease?
– American isolationism and
neutrality fading fast
– Axis powers avoided U.S.
prior to this, not anymore
Election of 1940
• FDR announces a run for third
term
– Strong leadership during uncertain
times more important than the twoterm tradition
• Reps nominate Wendell Willkie
FDR (1940)
– Criticized FDR’s New Deal – but not
the issue anymore…
– Threat of war was
• FDR easily wins third election
FDR (1932)
Hitler Invades Soviet Union
(Notes are on next slide in your note packet)
• June 1941 –
Paranoid Hitler
breaks pact with
Russia and attacks
Moscow
– FDR sends $1
billion to help
Russia
– Germany’s quick
invasion fails by
December due to
harsh winter
Atlantic Charter
• August 1941 – Atlantic
Conference called as
meeting between Winston
Churchill and FDR (and
absent Stalin)
• Atlantic Charter created to
discuss aid to Soviets &
layout plans for postwar
– Main points similar to
Wilson’s 14 Points:
• Self-determination
• Disarmament
• New peace-keeping
organization
• U.S. again rapidly moving
away from isolationism and
neutrality
End of U.S. Neutrality
• Convoys of U.S. destroyers escorted merchant ships
to Britain often clashed with German U-Boats in North
Atlantic
• November 1941 – Congress repealed Neutrality Act of
1939 and allowed for arming of merchant ships
• Japan beating China badly in since 1937
– Numerous massacres of Chinese civilians and sinking of
USS Panay angered Americans
• July 1941 – In protest, U.S. puts embargo on Japan
who heavily relied on U.S. oil
• Japan’s solution was to attack
• American code breakers suspect possible Japanese
activity in the Pacific – Philippines? British Malaysia?
Australia?
Pearl Harbor
• December 7, 1941 – Japan launches
all-out sneak attack on U.S. naval
bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
• 3,000 Americans killed, Pacific fleet of
U.S. Navy almost entirely wiped out
– America’s only aircraft carriers on Pacific
were out at sea
• America was now at war…
America Declares War
• War declarations ensue:
• Dec 7: Japan declares war on U.S. and
Britain
• Dec 8: U.S. declares war on Japan
– “Infamy Speech” given by FDR
• Dec 11: Germany & Italy declare war on
U.S.
• Dec 11: U.S. declares war on Germany
and Italy
Effects of Pearl Harbor
• Effects of Pearl Harbor on Americans?
• Go from wanting isolationism, to wanting
revenge
• National unity strong
• West coast goes into panic
– Fears of invasion in California
– Japanese-Americans greatly affected
Internment
• FDR authorizes Executive Order 9066:
• Japanese-Americans rounded up and
detained in internment camps
– Non-citizen Italians detained as well
• Official reasoning was to protect them
• Hidden motive was to protect America from
them
– Wrongfully accused of being spies loyal to Japan
spies
• Lost businesses, houses, possessions
• Jailed without due process of law?
– Supreme Court upheld the internment camps
Day 6: Quiz
Day 7: America Enters WWII
GOAL OF TODAY:
To understand how the United
States prepared for war, what
impact the war had on the home
front socially and economically,
and what the turning point for
America was in the Pacific.
America Prepares for War
• Americans wants immediate
revenge on Japan
• FDR’s plan: “get Germany first” –
why?
– Hitler a more urgent problem
• Do not let Britain or Russia fall, hold
of Japan until Germany defeated
– Problem: America greatly unprepared
– Isolationism and depression weakened
U.S. military
• America’s task:
• All industry and workforce to
support war effort
– Means New Deal organizations end
– Organize massive military
– Ship weapons, supplies, soldiers in two
directions
– Feed the Allies
The War Effort
•
•
•
•
War Production Board takes control of industry
Controls what’s produced and how much of it
Manufacturing and agriculture boom
Rationing instituted
– Food, metals, gasoline, rubber
– Japanese had control of rubber fields in British Malaysia
• Office of Price Administration regulated prices
• War Labor Board enforced low wages to ensure low
prices
• Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act kept strikes minimal
– Gives government power to take over industries crippled by
strikes
The War Effort
• 15 million men in the military
creates need for labor
• Women fill vacant industrial jobs
• “Rosie the Riveter” works as
propaganda
• Helps women gain respect and new
roles in society
– But 2/3 of women return to maternal
roles after war
– Post-war “Baby boom”
• “Bracero Program” brings in
seasonal workers from Mexico to
help harvest crops
Second Great Migration
• Many African-Americans leave
South to move to Northern and
Western cities
• Reasons why:
– War industry created jobs
– New agricultural innovations and
machinery in South
– FDR banned discrimination in defense
industries
• Fair Employment Practices
Commission (FEPC)
• Helps with movement for equality
– Slogan: “Double V”
• Victory overseas vs. dictators and
victory at home vs. racism
• 125,000 serve in segregated units
in military
– 50,000 Native Americans also helped
fight in WWII
• “Code talkers”
Races Clash
• Newly diversified
cities experience
some backlash
– “Zoot Suit” Riots in
LA (1943)
– Detroit Race Riots
(1943)
War Effort’s Economic Effects
• U.S. enters WWII in economic despair
• New Deal helped, but war production pulls
U.S. out of Great Depression
– $330 billion war cost
• WWI had cost $33 billion
– Paid for mostly on credit
• National debt quintuples
• U.S. ends war extremely prosperous
– GNP, business profits, disposable incomes all
had doubled
War in Pacific
• Dec 7, 1941 – Japan launches
series of attacks on American and
British islands in Pacific:
– Guam, Wake Island, the Philippines,
Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, coastal
China, etc
• By March 1942, all islands except
the Philippines had fallen to
overpowering Japan
• Japan beats General Douglas
MacArthur in Battle of the
Philippines
– 75,000 American and Filipino POWs
subjected to “Bataan Death March”
– Embarrassed MacArthur escapes – “I
shall return”
• Japan seemed unstoppable
Doolittle Raid
• April 1942 – Lt. Colonel James Doolittle
leads bombing raid
• American bombers hit mainland Japan
– Not overly successful, but big morale boost
“The Japanese people had been told they
were invulnerable ... An attack on the
Japanese homeland would cause confusion
in the minds of the Japanese people and
sow doubt about the reliability of their
leaders. There was a second, and equally
important, psychological reason for this
attack ... Americans badly needed a morale
boost.”
-James
Doolittle
Japanese Expansion Halted
• May 1942 – Battle of Coral Sea
– First major “naval” battle of war in
Pacific
• Fought entirely with aircrafts via
carriers
– Heavy losses on both sides
– Tactical victory for Japanese
• Sunk more ships
– Strategic victory for Allies
• Japanese expansion stopped
• Two Japanese carriers damaged &
rendered useless
– Would hurt Japanese in next major
battle…
Battle of Midway
• Japanese want to further defense
perimeter after Doolittle Raid and
damage of Battle of Coral Sea
• Code breakers intercept messages
of surprise attack on Midway Island
• Admiral Chester Nimitz and Admiral
Raymond Spruance send huge
U.S. fleet to defend island
• Japanese diversion:
– June 3, 1942 – Japan invades islands
in Aleutian chain of Alaska
• Not significant strategically, but greatly
upset Americans
• Not phased, U.S. fleet waiting for
Japan at Midway…
Battle of Midway
• June 7, 1942 – Battle ensues
• Japan’s surprise attack spoiled,
ambushed by waiting U.S. fleet
• U.S. routs Japan:
– 3,000 Japanese killed vs. 300
Americans killed
– 4 Japanese carriers sunk vs. 1
American carrier
– 250 Japanese aircrafts shot down vs.
150 American aircrafts
• Midway was the turning point of
war in the Pacific
• Japan’s fleet virtually wiped out
“The most stunning and decisive blow
in the history of naval warfare” –
Military historian John Keegan
War in Pacific
• America’s new plan in
Pacific: “island hopping”
AKA “leapfrogging”
– Do not attack mainland
Japan yet
– Attack the weaker islands
around the Pacific one by
one
– Build airbases on each
island
– Cut off resources to Japan
– Main islands of Japan
would then be bombed into
submission
Island Hopping
• U.S. Marines storm beaches while
sailors and bombers shell the island
• Gen. MacArthur in south Pacific
–
–
–
–
Aug 1942 – Victory at Guadalcanal
Followed by Solomon Islands
Reaches New Guinea by 1944
MacArthur closing in on the Philippines
• Admiral Nimitz in central Pacific
– Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands,
Marianas Islands
• “Marianas Turkey Shoot” (1944) –
American “Hellcat” fighters shoot down 250
Japanese planes
• U.S. now close enough for B-29 bombers
to reach Japan
• Progress was being made, but
slowly and at great costs
War in Europe
• 1940-1942: German
dominance
– Germany occupying most of
Europe
– Britain trying to hold off Hitler
– Controlling the seas with deadly
u-boat “wolf packs”
• 1942: turning point of war in
Europe (and Pacific)
– Germany’s “enigma code” broken
– Prowling u-boat wolf packs can
now be located
• Allies begin to win Battle of the
Atlantic
– Supplies can now easily be
shipped to Britain & France
Hitler Halted
• Britain bombs Germans
in Cologne, France
• Americans bomb
Germany
• Sept 1942 – Battle of
Stalingrad
– Russians stop German
offensive at Stalingrad,
begin successful
counteroffensive
Hitler Halted
• Oct 1942 – Battle of El
Alamein
– German Gen. Erwin Rommel
dominating North Africa
• Nicknamed the “Desert Fox”
– Stopped by the British from
gaining control of Suez
Canal
• Germany stopped in both
campaigns
– Endures heavy losses,
retreat ensues
The “Soft Underbelly”
• Burdened Soviet Union
urges Allies to open
second front
• FDR wants to invade
through France
• Churchill wants to
invade through Northern
Africa and Italy
– “Soft underbelly”
• “Soft underbelly”
approach chosen to lure
war away from Britain
The “Soft Underbelly”
• Nov 1942 – Gen. Dwight
Eisenhower leads successful
campaign in North Africa
– Jan 1943 – Casablanca Conference
• FDR & Churchill agree to seek
“unconditional surrender” of Germany
• Germans pushed out of Africa by
May 1943
• Sept 1943 – Allies invade south Italy
– Mussolini overthrown, Italy surrenders
– German soldiers keep fighting invading
Allies
– Invasion slow and bloody
– Allies finally take Rome by June 1944
• Campaign soon becomes just a
diversion…
D-Day Invasion
• Nov-Dec 1943 – Tehran
Conference
– FDR, Churchill, and Stalin meet to
coordinate
– Plans of a new invasion of France
made
– Gen. Eisenhower chosen to lead the
operation
• June 6, 1944 – D-Day Invasion
– Over 150,000 Allied soldiers
successfully invade beaches of
Normandy region on French coast
• Largest amphibious assault in history
– Invading Allies spread through
France into different campaigns
Effects of D-Day Invasion
• Paris liberated by 1945
– Huge morale boost for Allies
• Germany in full-on retreat
• End was nearing for Hitler
and German army
• 1944 – FDR wins 4th election
– Reps nominate Thomas Dewey
– Success of war leads to easy
victory for FDR
– Dems choose VP Harry Truman
• Important choice with FDR’s
declining health
– FDR dies by April 1945, Truman
becomes president
War in Europe
• Nazis make one last centralized
push at Ardenne Forest…
• Dec 1944 – Battle of the Bulge
– Surprised Americans pushed back
• Creating a “bulge” in the battle line
– Largest and bloodiest battle for
American Army
– Americans hold on to key city of
Bastogne until Allied reinforcements
arrive
– Germans eventually defeated,
resume retreat
• Both America and Russia
converging towards Berlin
Holocaust Discovered
• Holocaust had been just
an rumor and thought to
be embellished at most
• Retreating Germans
accelerate “final solution”
• Advancing Allies shocked
as they begin to discover
Nazi concentration camps
• German civilians forced to
march through camps
Germany Surrenders
• April 1945 – Russia
reaches Germany
– Hitler kills himself
• May 8, 1945 –
Germany officials
surrender
– V-E Day (Victory in
Europe)
War in the Pacific
• By 1945, U.S.
weakening Japan:
– U.S. subs destroying
Japanese merchant
ships
– U.S. bombers
devastating Japanese
cities with firebomb
campaigns
• Mar 1945 – Two day firebomb raid on Tokyo
– 1/4 of city demolished
and 80,000 deal
War in the Pacific
• Series of costly, hard-fought,
U.S. victories:
• Mar 1945 – Battle of Leyte Gulf
– Gen. MacArthur recaptures the
Philippines
• Mar 1945 – Battle of Iwo Jima
– U.S. takes small, but strategic
island
• June 1945 – Battle of Okinawa
– Last island before Japanese
mainland
– American victory
• But with 50,000 American casualties
The Atomic Bomb
• Japan refusing to surrender
– Seen as dishonorable to give up
– “Kamikaze” suicide missions increase
– Must protect their godlike emperor
• U.S. leaders know invasion of Japan
would be grueling and deadly
• Manhattan Project – Since 1940, U.S.
secretly began developing world’s first
atomic bomb
– Mostly worked on by ex-German scientists
– 1945 – Tested in New Mexico and ready
for use
• July 1945 – Potsdam Conference
– American, British and Russian officials
meet to give Japan final ultimatum:
“Surrender or be destroyed”
Japan Surrenders
• Japan refuses to surrender, continue
hostility
• American aircrafts drop leaflets
warning of atomic bomb, urging
evacuation of targeted cities
• Aug 6, 1945 – Atomic bomb dropped
on Hiroshima
– 70,000 die instantly, 200,000 casualties
overall
• Aug 8, 1945 – Russia declares war
on Japan
– Invades Manchuria
• Japan still refuses to answer
Potsdam Declaration,
• Aug 9, 1945 – Second bomb
dropped on Nagasaki
– 80,000 killed
War Ends
• Aug 19, 1945 – Japan
officially surrenders – WWII
ends
– V-J Day
Effects of WWII
• America able to succeed in WWII because of:
– Great political, military, and civilian leaders
• FDR, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Patton, etc.
– Astonishing industrial production and resources
• A “total war” effort by whole country
• America comes out of war stronger-than-ever
– One million American casualties
• Relatively small compared to other nations
– America homeland virtually untouched
• Other nations in ruins
• U.S. becomes the world superpower