-
Period: to
Titans of Industry- John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan and Henry Ford
These men and their big businesses flourished under Laissez Faire gov't which believed in little-to-no regulation.There was nobody to say what they could do,who they could hire,or how hard they could work people. These monopolies used Horizontal (the combining of firms engaged in the same type of business into one large corp) and vertical (A single company controls the entire process from raw materials to sale of the finished product) integration. -
Period: to
Growth of Cities
As the US became more industrialized cities were becoming hubs and more populated. With the development of factories and big business came underlying societal issues. Workplace conditions like work hours, pay, and sanitation were big issues(Sinclair's "The Jungle"). Unregulated business caused major societal stratification with workers being constantly in debt to their bosses and under their rule. Also, big factories and heavy machinery were helping to put small farms and stores out of business. -
Frederick Douglas V. WEB DuBois
Frederick Douglas was an Influential writer and prominent figure in the abolitionist movement. He escaped from slavery and was a great thinker and speaker. His autobiography that was published in 1845 greatly influenced how people viewed slavery. Du Bois
fought for immediate implementation of African American rights. Opponent of Booker T Washington, he helped to found Niagara Movement in 1905 to fight for and establish equal rights. This movement later led to the establishment of the NAACP. -
Post Civil War Southern Society
Under President Andrew Johnson new southern state legislatures passed restrictive “black codes” to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. In the south due to a major loss of labor and detrimental conditions due to war the South lagged in economy and infrastructure. The north had soared past the south in industry, making it hard for the south to succeed. Due to tariffs and presidential reconstruction the South had difficulty getting back to a stable economy. -
Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad linked the eastern railroad system with California's railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west, The Transcontinental Railroad made it so that it was easier to for mail and goods to travel faster and cheaper. It took land away from Native Americans and many were killed in the early stages. -
Period: to
Laissez Faire Economics
The business doctrine of the Old Guard Republicans. Wanted government to help big businesses to gain profits.This allowed industry to be free of state intervention, especially restrictions in the form of tariffs and government monopolies. This was based on the idea that in order to let the economy blossom government should remain hands-off and allow businesses to create their own regulations. In the end this economic model did not work for the US. -
Republican Reconstruction
Rutherford B. Hayes, liberal Republican, vs. Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat. Hayes received only 165 electoral votes while Tilden received 264,000 more popular votes that Hayes, and 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed to win. 20 electoral votes were disputed, and an electoral commission decided that Hayes was the winner - fraud was suspected. -
Southern and Eastern European immigrants- 1880s
The wave of New Immigrants spoke barely any English, large numbers were illiterate in their native tongues, none of these groups hailed from democratic regimes, and the American form of government was as foreign as its culture. Once the trend was established, letters from America from friends and family beckoned new immigrants to ethnic enclaves such as "Chinatown". This led to an urban ethnic patchwork, with little integration. Conditions were still poor, but better then from where they came. -
Social Darwinism
This was a belief held by many that stated that the rich were rich and the poor were poor due to natural selection in society. This was the basis of many people who promoted a laissez fairee style of economy. This theory emerged in the second half of the 19th century. This theory uses Charles Darwin's theory of plants and animals and tries to apply it to humans. -
Dawes Act
Government attempt to "americanize" the indians giving each tribe 160 acres; after 25 years this property would become theirs (if they followed the rules outlined by the plan) and they would become american citizens. -
Gospel of Wealth
Essay written by Andrew Carnegie that promoted Social Darwinism, wealth among the few was the natural and most efficient result of capitalism, and the fact that with great wealth comes great responsibility. The book described the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class. The central thesis of Carnegie's essay was the peril of allowing large sums of money to be passed into the hands of persons or organizations ill-equipped mentally or emotionally to cope with them. -
Period: to
Progressivism
This era was directly caused by industrialization and urbanization. This movement sought to improve life in the industrial age by making moderate political changes and social improvements through governmental action. They wanted to limit the power of corporations, improve the democracy so it benefited the people, and strengthen justice. During this time Muckrakers were journalists out to find stories about corruption in business and government as well as the horrible conditions of slums. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
This act banned any formations that would restrict trade, not distinguishing between bad and good trusts. The act was a hamper on worker unions, but it showed that the government was slowly moving away from laissez faire ideals. The law proved ineffective because it contained legal loopholes and it made all large trusts suffer, not just bad ones. Its only effective use for a number of years was against labor unions, which were held by the courts to be illegal combinations. -
Period: to
Populism
The populist party started with Western farmers.There platform demanded free and unlimited coinage of silver to increase the amount of money in circulation,graduated income tax rates, nationalized railroads,telephones and telegraphs,8 hour work days, and restricted immigration.The Populists were not anti-racist,but they defended equality for Blacks and insisted on the common economic interests of the oppressed and exploited.The populist party failed due to internal conflicts and disorganization. -
Frederick Jackson Turner Thesis
Historian Frederick Jackson Turner argued that the frontier was the key factor in the development of American democracy and institutions; he maintained that the frontier served as a "safety valve" during periods of economic crisis. He said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into. The American frontier was the line of most rapid "americanization" and the place where democracy flourished. He concluded that the "American frontier" had closed. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
Supreme Court case about Jim Crow railroad cars in Louisiana; the Court decided by 7 to 1 that legislation could not overcome racial attitudes, and that it was constitutional to have "separate but equal" facilities for blacks and whites. Ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional under the "equal protection" clause in the Fourteenth Amendment; in reality the quality of African American life was extremely unequal to that of whites. -
Spanish American War
War fought between the US and Spain in Cuba and the Philippines. It lasted 3 months and resulted in Cuba's independence as well as the US annexing Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Yellow journalism was one cause of the Spanish-American War, this was when newspaper publishers sensationalized news events (like the sinking of the USS Maine) to anger American public towards Spain and the war effort. the Philippines were kept as US territory because of popular opinion and business interests. -
Open Door Policy
A statement of U.S. foreign policy toward China. Issued by U.S. secretary of state John Hay, the statement reaffirmed the principle that all countries should have equal access to any Chinese port open to trade. This was a clever diplomatic effort to preserve Chinese territorial integrity and maintain American access to China. -
Ford & Model T
Ford developed the mass-produced Model-T car, which sold at an affordable price. It pioneered the use of the assembly line. Also greatly increased his workers wages and instituted many modern concepts of regular work hours and job benefits. The assembly line was a system that increased worker productivity/product output, it was soon adopted by many businesses around the country. The model T allowed more middle-class people to afford their own transportation and inspired suburbs and vacation. -
Post WWI American Attitude
When the war ended in 1918 the US was ready for a change. The election of 1920 showed this desire for change when we elected Warren Harding. By this election the US people said that they were done sending aid and sacrificing lives to solve other nation's problems. -
League of Nations
After WWI Wilson proposed the league in the 14th point of his peace plan. He envisioned it as an Assembly with seats for all nations and a special council for the great powers. The US voted not to join the League because in doing so,it would have taken away our self-determination, and Congress could not decide whether to go to war or not- our isolationist attitude would have been impossible to uphold. Precursor to the UN. It proved ineffective in stopping aggression by Italy, Japan, and Germany. -
1920s Literature
During this century authors like Sinclair Lewis, Ernest Hemingway, and T.S. Elliot made strides in literature by articulating issues in America. Lewis was critical of american society and capitalist views
and created strong images of modern working women. Hemingway popularized the term "lost generation" to decribe both any men who had been through WWI and were now in their mid twenties to thirties and also a group of American literary notables who lived in Paris and other parts of Europe. -
Period: to
Labor Unions
Gompers: Responsible for the formation of one of the first labor unions. Set up The American Federation of Labor (AFL) which worked on getting people better hours and better wages.
Wagner Act: Established defined unjust labor practices, secured workers the right to bargain collectively, and established the National Labor Relations Board.
CIO: The new union group that organized large numbers of unskilled workers with the help of the Wagner Act and the National Labor Relations Board -
Period: to
1930s Isolationism
The Hoover Admin. set the tone for an isolationist foreign policy with the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.Roosevelt did realize that the Hawley-Smoot Tariff was forestalling American economic recovery. To foster better relations with the nations to the south,Roosevelt declared a bold new good neighbor policy,which was disliked by true isolationists.During the world wars we had been persuaded into helping with conflict but after the wars we realized that while we shouldn't get too involved we had to help. -
Mellon Economic Policies
Andrew Mellon was the Secretary of the Treasury during the Harding Administration. He felt it was best to invest in tax-exempt securities rather than in factories that provided prosperous payrolls. He believed in trickle down economics (Hamiltonian economics) and that the economy would heal itself. He reduced spending and gave tax cuts to the wealthy. His policies favored the rapid expansion of capital investment, he believed the tax burden should be shifted to the middle class. -
Naval Building Limitations
Under the Washington Naval Treaty all major nations that had won World War I agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Naval Conference in 1922. It limited the construction of battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers by the signatories. The numbers of other categories of warships, including cruisers, destroyers and submarines, were not limited by the treaty, but those ships were limited to 10,000 tons displacement. -
Scopes Trial
A highly publicized trial where John Thomas Scopes violated a Tennessee state law- some religious leaders rejected evolution, saying it denied the word of the Bible so a number of states, including Tennessee, passed laws that banned the teaching of Darwin's theory. Scopes was prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan and defended by Clarence Darrow; Scopes was convicted but the verdict was later. Displayed the fundamentalism prevalent in rural areas at the time. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
Signed by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, and a number of other countries. The pact renounced aggressive war, prohibiting the use of war as "an instrument of national policy" except in matters of self-defense. It made no provisions for sanctions. The pact was the result of a determined American effort to avoid involvement in the European alliance system. Also known as the Pact of Paris. Signed by 62 nations but proved to be basically useless. -
Hoover's Attitude toward Welfare
Hoover always reiterated that the nation's economic woes were largely the result of depressed world economic conditions. He also made clear that he opposed federal intervention in the economy or the construction of a welfare state. Hoover passed the Emergency Relief Construction Act in 1932 but he saw it as a temporary fix and remained opposed to large scale and permanent government funding of relief and welfare. -
Great Depression
The economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929, and continuing through most of the 1930s. Causes of this depression include the overuse of credit, installment buying, bank failures (bank runs), and American economic policies. Due to internal pressures unseen until they were too late the US spiraled into this hole which they did not escape from until 1939. -
FDR
March 8-June 16, in what later became known as the "First Hundred Days," Congress followed Roosevelt's lead by passing an incredible 15 separate bills which formed the basis of the New Deal. Hoover and Roosevelt had very different ideas on how the Depression should be handled. FDR's first term of good was clouded by his "court-packing" plan which some saw as an abuse of power and way to get what he wanted. During his time FDR's good neighbor policy helped to improve relations with South America. -
Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937
1935:Banned the shipment of war materials to belligerents.American citizens traveling on warring ships traveled at their own risk; invoked after Mussolini invaded Ethiopia
1936:Renewed the provisions of the 1935 act for 14 months.It also forbade all loans or credits to belligerents.
1937:Outlawed the arms trade with Spain. U.S. ships were prohibited from transporting any passengers or articles to belligerents, and U.S. citizens were forbidden from traveling on ships of belligerent nations. -
WWII
Post Pearl Harbor US was a world of discrimination. Japanese internment camps were established to house eastern Japanese citizens during WWII. This was ruled constitutional by the case Korematsu V. US. As many young working class men were being drafted reliance fell on women to take jobs in factories to help support the war effort. During this time racism, especially towards Japanese and African Americans, flared due to the changing roles and tense times. -
WWII Draft
To prepare for the war and increase the size of the army, the first peacetime draft in US history, called the Selective Service Act, was passed. Like the draft during WWI it was easy for wealthy or high class men to find a way out of conscription so the war was fought by majority minorities and lower class. Selective Service Act required that men between the ages of 21 and 35 register with local draft boards. Later, all men aged 18 to 45 were made subject to military service. -
Harry Truman (Slide 2)
Under Truman-
Fair Deal: Domestic reform proposals of the second Truman administration. Included civil rights legislation and repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act
Cold War: Tensions from 1945-89, between the Soviet Union and the United States, the two major world powers after World War II, concerning nuclear weaponry.
Berlin Airlift: Joint effort by the US and Britain to fly food and supplies into West Berlin Soviet U. blocked off all ground routes into the city. -
Harry Truman
Truman, who led the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to use two atomic bombs against Japan in August 1945. After the war, Truman was crucial in the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which greatly accelerated Western Europe's economic recovery. -
Period: to
1950s
The United States was the world’s strongest military power. Its economy was booming, and consumer goods were available to more people than ever before. However, the 1950s were also an era of conflict. For example, the civil rights movement and the crusade against communism at home and abroad exposed the underlying divisions. There was booms- of suburbs, babies, and the economy. In this post war society people were focused on the good, but underlying fears like that of communism still remained. -
McCarthyism
A brand of fear-mongering anti-communism ideals and propaganda associated with the career of Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the early 1950s, Senator McCarthy used his position in Congress to baselessly accuse high-ranking government officials and other Americans of conspiracy with communism. The term named after him refers to the dangerous forces of unfairness and fear wrought by anticommunist paranoia. -
Brown V. Board of Education
Occurred after the Topeka board of education denied Linda Brown admittance to an all white school close to her house. Thurgood Marshall argued that "separate but equal" violated equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Warren decided separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. The Supreme Court reversed Plessy v. Ferguson in 1954 by ruling in favor of the desegregation of schools. Many southerners saw it as "an abuse of judiciary power." -
Period: to
Vietnam War
With the Cold War intensifying, the US hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and we pledged our support to South Vietnam. Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans. North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment -
Sputnik
First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA (National Aeronautic and Space Administration) and the space race. -
1960s Protests
During this decade protests broke out due to Vietnam and peoples feeling towards such. The New Left and counterculture arose to protest our involvement and argue for a greater voice for the younger generation. Also during this time women's rights movements were gaining speed through legislation like the Equal Pay Act of 1965 and The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. The feminist movement originally focused on dismantling workplace inequality but became about much more. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The United States and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war when President Kennedy insisted that Khrushchev (leader of the USSR) remove the 42 missiles he had secretly inserted in Cuba as a response for help. The Soviets eventually did so, nuclear war was averted, and the crisis ended. As a result, a hotline was established between the two nations to avoid any accidents. -
Lyndon Johnson
LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He had a war on poverty in his agenda. In an attempt to win he set a few goals including the great society (domestic agenda), the economic opportunity act, and other programs that provided food stamps and welfare to families in need. he also created a department of housing and urban development. His most important legislation included the formation of medicare and medicaid. -
Civil Rights Movement
JFK's New Frontier program and LBJ's Great Society focused heavily on civil rights, but the real power was in the people. The movement of the 1960s was led by Martin Luther King Jr. MLK Jr. opposed discrimination by organizing nonviolent demonstrations. An example of these demonstrations was the 1963 March On Washington. This movement helped spur legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made segregation illegal in all public facilities. MLKs assasination in '68 fueled the fire. -
Gilded-age Business cycles
Business cycles in the Gilded Age were mainly due to changes in the rate of investments in factories, railroads, and mines and to alterations in the supply of money brought about by structural changes in the banking and financial systems. As a result of dramatic improvements in communications and transportation changes in business activity more easily and forcefully rippled through the economy. As a consequence the economic downturns of this age were some of the worst ever.
