Arthur Hahn
St. Augustine High School
New World Beginnings
The Shaping of North America
- Of the mountains in the Americas, the Appalachians are probably the oldest, having
formed while the land was still a supercontinent. The Rockies and Sierra Nevadas are
much newer, having been formed after the Americas took form.
- The main shape of North America was completed about 10,000,000 years ago.
- Canadian Shield​: a zone undergirded by ancient rock. Probably the first part of the
North American land that emerged above sea level.
- The retreat of the glaciers from North America marked the forming of the continents
most familiar form.
- The movement of the ice formed depressions around the Canadian Shield. These
depressions were filled with the melting ice and formed lakes. This is how the Great
Lakes were formed.
Peopling the Americas
- The first people are thought to have come to the Americas via boat about 35,000 years
ago. They also may have come via a land bridge located in the present day Bering Sea.
These Asian hunters became the Native Americans.
- Incas​: native to Peru
- Aztecs​: native to Mexico
- The tribes of Central and South America mostly farmed Maize.
- Corn was a strong force in turning the nomadic tribes to permanent settlement. It reached
the American Southwest by 2000 BCE. It reached more northern parts much later. This
explains the different rates of development.
- The Rio Grande Pueblo peoples had intricate irrigation systems.
The Earliest Americans
- Nation-states​: a homogenous sovereign nation
- No group of people North of Mexico was comparable to the society which was had in the
Aztec civilization.
- Cahokia​: near present-day St. Louis. Contained Mississippian settlement. Home to
25,000 people.
- The Anasazis built a pueblo with several hundred interconnected rooms at Chaco
Canyon. These North American civilizations all seem to have fell into decline by
1300 CE. Some think it was due to prolonged drought.
- Around 1000 CE, the techniques to grow maize, beans, and squash had reached the
southeastern region of North America. These three crops grew well when planted
together and created the technique known as ​three-sister farming​. This technique
allowed the civilizations that utilized, such as the Creek, CHoctaw, and Cherokee, to
prosper.
- The Iroquois were in the northeastern woodlands. In the 16th century, an Iroquois leader,
Hiawatha, developed the Iroquois Confederacy. This highly developed nation was the
first in North America to rival the societal level of the Mexican peoples. At the time,
most North American tribes were still small, impermanent settlements and continued like
this into the European’s arrival.
- In the more developed tribes, men would often hunt while women tended to crops.
Because of this, many societies placed a great importance on women and became
matrilineal cultures.
- The Native American’s view was very different than that of the Europeans. The NAms
(Native Americans) had developed their religion around nature. Nature was given
spiritual properties and was held sacred.
- Despite this reverence for nature, some tribes would torch forests to create better hunting
habitats for deer. This did not affect the land majorly, perhaps because of the small NAm
population.
- In the year 1492, about 4 million.
Indirect Discoverers of the New World
- The first known exploration of the Americas was about 1000 CE. Scandinavia had sailed
into what is now Newfoundland and established Vinland (For the wild grapes). No nation
wanted to expend resources, and so the settlement was abandoned.
- The crusaders were one of the first groups to excite exploration. In their treks, they
discovered many exotic substances in Asia such as silk, perfume, and most importantly,
sugar. It was expensive as it was transported from Indonesia, China, and India. They
eventually reached ports on the Eastern Mediterranean. Along the way, Muslim
Middlemen​ collected tolls from the merchants. This made the goods even more
expensive. This was an impetus to find a faster and cheaper route to Asia. This caused the
exploration of the new world.
Europeans Enter Africa
- Marco Polo, an Italian adventurer, returned to Europe in 1295 from China. He sparked
increased interest in the new world.
- Northerly winds and south-flowing currents prevented sailors from going by the southern
coast of Africa. In 1450, Portuguese mariners developed the ​Caravel​. This ship traveled
more easily in the wind. Would return by sailing northwesterly from the African coast
toward the Azores, where the westward wind would take them home.
- The North coast of Africa had been known since antiquity. The rest of Africa had not
been known until this discovery.
- Up to ⅔ of Europe’s gold came from Africa. Stories had been spread about the kingdoms
in Mali, but Europeans had not traveled south of the Sahara.
- In the mid 15th century, portuguese merchants set up trading posts along the West
African shore. Here, they traded gold and slaves.
- Slaves who had been taken far from their home were more valuable as they could not
easily return.
- The Portuguese followed the African practices. They set up sugar plantations on the
African coastal islands. Spain later did this as well.
- Portugal’s use of slaves was far greater than that of Africa. The trade grew even larger
with the discovery of the Americas. This was the beginning of the modern ​plantation
system in which crops would be grown with the wholesale exploitation of slave labor. A
plantation can be considered any farm with resident labor.
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Bartolomeu Dias rounded the southern tip of Africa in 1488.
20 years later, Vasco da Gama found India. He returned with jewels and spices.
During this, the kingdom of Spain became united. This was the result of the marriage of
two sovereigns, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The expulsion of muslims
also led to the unification. With this new power, Spain wanted to outdo their Portuguese
neighbours. Portugal owned the African coast. This forced Spain to look westward.
Columbus Comes upon a New World
- The Renaissance encouraged exploration in the 14th century.
- The Italian adventurer, Christopher Columbus convinced Spain to give him the resources
for a voyage westward. The sailors on board were superstitious of the unknown waters
and grew mutinous. An island in the Bahamas was found in October of 1492.
- This discovery led to the connection of Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans. This
led to never before seen, global trade. Africa offered its labor and the new world offered
its raw materials and soil. The soil was important for growing sugar cane.
When Worlds Collide
- Columbian Exchange​- is the exchange of knowledge and resources from the new world
to the old world. The old world supplied settlers with Wheat, sugar, rice, coffee, horses,
cows, and pigs. In return, the new world brought new crops such as corn, potatoes,
pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, chocolate, gold, and silver. Diseases were
also spread. Syphilis spread to Europe while old world diseases such as smallpox,
measles, bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, diphtheria, and scarlet fever spread to the
new world.
- The new crops to Africa greatly helped population growth and development.
- In 1493, Columbus sailed 17 ships to Hispaniola (Haiti and the D.R.) with many men and
cattle, pigs, and horses.
- The horses reached the North american mainland. Tribes such as the Comanche, Apache,
and Navajo adopted the use of the horse into their lives. They used these horses in
warfare and the hunting of buffalo.
- Also, more sugar because of newfound labor. And good climate in the caribbean.
- The Taino natives of Hispaniola fell from 1 million to 200 due to disease.
- Up to 90% of the America’s native populations died. Syphilis was eventually spread to
Europe.
The Conquest of Mexico and Peru
- Spain secured land in the new world with the ​Treaty of Tordesillas​ in 1494. This treaty
divided what was known as the “heathen lands” into two sections. Spain controlled a
large portion of Mexico and South America, while Portugal controlled some of S.
America Eastern coast and the Western coast of Africa. While Spain got most of the new
world, Portugal was compensated with Africa and parts of Asia. (Portugal controlled
what would later be Brazil.)
- The Caribbean islands became known as the West Indies.
- These islands served as offshore bases for the Spanish invasion of the Americas.
- Encomienda​: An act in which the government would give Indians to colonists with the
intention of converting them to Christianity. The Indians would often be used as slave
labor. Spanish missionary, Bartolome de Las Casas opposed this.
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In 1519, Hernan Cortes sailed from Cuba to Mexico with horses and men. He rescued a
Spanish castaway who had been enslaved by Mayans and so she knew the language. She
served as a translator. He also picked up Malinche, and Indian slave who could also serve
as a translator. Malinche was baptized with the name Dona Marina. Through the
translators, he learned of unrest in neighboring Indian groups. He allied himself with
them and headed to Tenochtitlan with hopes of gaining the city’s treasures.
- The Aztecs believed Cortes to be the god Quetzalcoatl and so he allowed the Spaniards to
enter the city.
- The city of Tenochtitlan had about 300,000 inhabitants, a formidable size for the time.
- The Spaniards began to take the gold. It became increasingly violent until the
Noche Triste​. This night was on June 30, 1520. The Aztecs pushed the Spanish from the
city in a costly battle. Cortes returned and laid siege to the city on August 13, 1521.
Smallpox later went throughout all of Mexico. The Mexican land would be controlled by
Spain for 3 centuries. The native population shrunk from 20 million to 2 million over the
course of a century.
- In 1532, Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru. Lots of gold.
- By 1600, Spain was very rich in silver from Mexico and mines in Potosi (Bolivia).
- The new sources of precious metals increased consumer costs by 500%.
- The new world bullion helped start the foundations of the modern banking system.
- Demand in for silver was high and Asia and became the primary trading resource with
Europeans.
- The spread of European culture into the Americas created a new culture of the ​Mestizos​.
Mestizos are people of mixed Indian and European heritage. Mexicans celebrate
Columbus day as Dia de la Raza as they see it as the birth of their people.
Exploration and Imperial Rivalry
- Conquistadores​: Spaniards who traveled the New World with the intention of claiming
Spanish territories.
- In 1513, Vasco Nunez Balboa explored the Pacific Ocean and the western coast of
America, claiming it for Spain.
- In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan travelled from Spain to the southern tip of South America
and was later killed by Filipinos. The remaining ship returned to spain in 1522. This was
the first known circumnavigation of the world.
- In 1521, Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida in search of gold. He was killed by an
Indian.
- In 1540, Francisco Coronado searched the land between Arizona and New Mexico in
search of golden cities. These fabled cities were actually adobe pueblos. He discovered
the Grand Canyon and the enormous buffalo population of the Great Plains.
- Hernando de Soto led an expedition with 600 soldiers in 1539 in search of gold. He
started in Florida and moved westward. He crossed the Mississippi and went through the
area of Arkansas. On the expedition, he died of fever. Also Indian harassment.
- In 1551, the first colonial universities were founded in Mexico City and in Lima. Several
hundred thousand Spaniards controlled millions of natives.
- In 1497, the English John Cabot was sent to explore the northeastern coast.
- The French sent the Italian mariner, Giovanni da Verrazzano to search the east coast in
1524.
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***In an attempt to block French expansion into the New World, Spain fortified the
Floridian coast with the fortress, St. Augustine in 1565. This is also the oldest inhabited
settlement in the United States.
Fables of the golden cities of the North reached the conquistadors of Mexico. In an
expedition led by Don Juan de Onate, Spaniards traveled North into the Rio Grande
valley in 1598. They abused Indians. New Mexico was founded in 1609 after the
Battle of Acoma​ in 1599. There, the Spanish severed one foot from each surviving
Indian. Santa Fe, the capital was founded in 1610.
Here the Spanish found furs and gold. They also set up Catholic missions, converting the
natives. This continued until the ​Pope’s Rebellion​ in 1680. Here, the Indians held an
uprising destroying the Catholic churches in the province and killed the priests along with
many other Spaniards.
The Indians built a kiva on the remains of Santa Fe. A Kiva is a ceremonial religious
chamber. Spain eventually reclaimed New Mexico 50 years later.
In further attempts to stop the French, Spain established cities in Texas. Missions were
established. The ​Alamo​ was a mission established in San Antonio.
California was largely untouched until 1769. Father Junipero Serra led Spaniards into
San Diego to start the first of the many missions in California.
Indians taken into missions would be converted and taught horticulture and crafts. They
also frequently died to disease.
Black Legend​: This is the concept that gives the negative connotation to most Spanish
conquistadors. It holds that they did nothing but harm to the natives of the area. They
killed, stole, and brought misery.
The Spanish largely differ from the English settlers as they did not isolate the native
people, but rather of combining their culture and heritage.
Focus Questions
1. The very concept of Native American society differed from that of the Europeans. One of
the larger differences is the population density and connectedness of the peoples. The Native
Americans of the area were largely spaced out and did not communicate with each other. The
continent mostly had small, isolated and semi-nomadic tribes. The Europeans differed in that
they were large and permanent nations. There were fewer, but larger European nations. The
nations of Europe also were linked by trade, whereas the natives of America were geographically
and linguistically isolated. The two group’s treatment of the world around them was also
different. The natives harmed their environment less than the Europeans due to both their culture
and their small population. Most native tribes incorporated nature into their religion and
considered it sacred. The Europeans had no qualms, however, with destroying wildlife to spread
their territory. The Europeans permanent settlements also led to a more destructive lifestyle. The
Native Americans, however, were semi-nomadic and so they often did not build permanent
structures which would change the environment.
2. An increase of communication and trade is what eventually led to the discovery and
colonization of the New World. The early Crusades led Europeans into the far east. Although
they failed, the Europeans who had travelled there brought home knew spices and goods
previously unknown. Later adventurers such as Marco Polo increased interest and curiosity in the
Asian continent. Eventually trade to and from India and China was enormous. The journey was
incredibly difficult as the currents and winds of the coast of Africa were hard to navigate. Land
routes to Asia were often tasked by Muslim Middlemen which increased the price of the goods.
The incentive of gold and spices led large nations such as Spain and Portugal to spend resources
to explore new passages to Asia. Spain specifically was empowered to explore due to the
expulsion of the Muslim threat and the unification of the country. These two factors encouraged
them to try to outdo their Portuguese neighbours. These expeditions eventually yielded results
with the discovery of the Bahamas by Christopher Columbus. The discovery of gold and silver in
the New World incentivized nations to settle.
3. The Columbian Exchange was the trading of goods between the New World and Europe.
Gold and silver would be sent from the America to Europe. They would also send crops such as
corn, potatoes, pineapples, tomatoes, tobacco, beans, vanilla, and chocolate. Europe sent wheat,
sugar (from the plantations off the coast of Africa), rice, and coffee. Africa provided labor in the
form of slaves. The Columbian Exchange incidentally spread diseases such as Syphilis and
Smallpox. This resulted in the mass extinction of many native tribes. It also strengthened the
demand for slave labor as plantations were set up in the islands of the Americas.
4. Conquistadors and Encomienda removed the threat of the native population from Spain’s
attempts to colonize the new world. Conquistadors would pillage the native cities and tribes. The
Encomienda ensured that there was no difference in cultures for the Spanish colonials, while also
supplying labor. The combination of these two effectively removed the Native Americans and
their culture from the continent.
5. Spain was held unquestionable authority over the New World for several centuries. Spain
held Southeastern parts of North America, all of Mexico, and nearly all of South America. They
established forts in North America to discourage the French from settling. France instead settled
undisputed territory in Canada. The English would eventually settle the East Coast, however this
was far less developed than Spain and far smaller. Spain would eventually hold on to its colonies
for a century longer than Britain.
The Planting of English America
- Much of America in the beginning of the 1600 was untouched. Starting in 1607, the
English established Jamestown, Virginia. The French established Quebec in 1608, and
the Spanish established Santa Fe in 1610.
England’s Imperial Stirrings
- Protestant Reformation​- This was the reformation sparked by King Henry VII breaking
away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s. The religion intensified conflicts
with Catholic Spain.
- Ireland sought to stay Catholic. They requested Spanish help, but little was given. In the
1570s, England quelled the Irish uprisings. They took land and gave control of Irish land
to Catholic nobles.
Elizabeth Energizes England
- Elizabeth I encouraged many vigilante sailors to spread both Protestantism and take gold
from neighboring Catholics. Sir Francis Drake was one of these buccaneers.
- The English initially tried to settle Newfoundland in 1583, but failed with
Humphrey Gilbert’s death at sea.
- His brother, Walter Raleigh led an expedition to ​Roanoke Island​ in 1585. This colony
eventually mysteriously vanished. (Indian Assimilation?)
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Spain’s successful colonization brought it gold. Spain used this to create a powerful
armada with which to crush Protestant England. The ​Spanish Armada​ attacked the
English channel in 1588. The English had smaller, quicker ships. They were effective and
the Spaniards eventually fled to a large storm.
- This gave England naval dominance for the following centuries. England was now in
high spirits due to their victory and they had a popular monarch, both qualities Spain held
when they began their colonization of the New World. After peace in 1604, English
colonization began.
England on the Eve of Empire
- Between 1550 to 1600, 3 million to 4 million.
- Many landlords turned farmland into grazing land. This caused many farmers to lose their
farm and income.
- Primogeniture​- An idea that holds that only the oldest son is eligible to inherit land.
- Joint-stock company​- The forerunner of modern corporations.
- Overpopulation and religious persecution led to many emigrants.
England Plants the Jamestown Seedling
- Virginia Company​- A joint-stock company which received a charter from King James I
to settle the New World.
- The Virginia Company ​Charter​ guaranteed English rights to the settlers.
- Jamestown​- The town the Virginia Company settlers founded in 1607.
- In 1608, John Smith took leadership. Captured by Indians, saved by Pocahontas. Had a
relationship with Indians.
- Many died to disease and starvation.
- Military eventually arrived and removed Indians.
Cultural Clashes in the Chesapeake
- Powhatan conquered local Indian tribes. He initially tried to make the English allies. Lord
De La Warr had orders to remove the Indians. De La Warr also fought the Irish.
- First Anglo-Powhatan War​ The war caused by De La Warr in 1614. It was ended by
the marriage of Pocahontas to the colonist John Rolfe.
- Settlers proceeded to take more land. Indians fought back in 1622. This caused orders for
the complete removal of the Indians. Pushed them westward.
- Second Anglo-Powhatan War​- A war in 1644 in which the Indians attempted to remove
the settlers. They lost. The 1646 peace treaty banished the Indians from the land.
The Indians’ New World
- Many Indians had to change their way of life. The Lakotas were forest dwellers. They
were pushed onto the Great Plains and became nomadic horse-mounted hunters.
- Many tribes banded together. The Catawba nation was formed by many broken tribes.
- Trade turned Indians against each other. To get European goods such as guns, resources
were fought for.
- The Algonquins in the Great Lakes area joined many tribes together. Traders passing
through were forced to conform to Indian ways. Eventually more Europeans arrived and
passed forcefully.
Virginia: Child of Tobacco
- John Rolfe successfully cultivated tobacco and turned it into a usable crop.
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Demand rose, giving Virginia success in trade. Both more land and labor were required to
fill demand. This meant the taking of Indian land and increase in slave labor for
plantations.
- Plymouth pilgrims brought slaves in 1619. They were expensive and few owned them.
- House of Burgesses​- An assembly formed in Virginia in 1619. First representative
self-government among the settlers.
- James I did not like this. He revoked the Virginia company’s charter in order to directly
control Virginia.
Maryland: Catholic Haven
- Maryland was founded in 1634 by Lord Baltimore. He created it for profit and to protect
Catholics.
- Maryland also grew tobacco.
- Slaves only started to become common at the end of the 17th century.
- Act of Toleration​: Passed in 1649. It allowed all Christians toleration. It punished those
who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus with execution. It also helped Catholics in the
sea of Protestants.
The West Indies: Way Station to Mainland America
- While Spain was dealing with the rebellious Dutch colonies, England secured most of the
West Indies including Jamaica in 1655.
- Sugar plantations were essential to the West Indie economy. Sugar was resource
intensive to grow, unlike tobacco. This caused massive imports of slaves.
- To control the massive slave population, formal codes were enacted, placing severe
punishments on slaves.
- Barbados Slave Code​: was enacted in 1661. Denied all rights to slaves.
- Many English farmers in the West Indies were removed due to sugar farming. They
brought slaves to Carolina.
Colonizing the Carolinas
- King Charles I was beheaded. The throne was taken by Oliver Cromwell. Ten years later,
Charles II reclaimed the throne. He began more colonization. Carolina was created in
1670.
- He hoped to export wine, silk, and olive oil.
- Carolina began to enslave Indians.
- Rice became the principal export of Carolina. Experienced Africans were bought for rice
farms.
- Florida Spaniards often sent Indians to attack the Protestant threat in Carolina. Carolina
was too large to be fought by 1700.
The Emergence of North Carolina
- Squatters​; People who grew crops without legal rights to soil.
- Poor Carolina settlers moved North to escape the big-plantation gentry.
- Officially separated in 1712.
- Between aristocratic Virginia and South Carolina.
- Most democratic of the 13 colonies, along with Rhode Island.
- Tuscarora War​- North and South Carolina wiped out the Indians from the land in 1711
and sold them into slavery. Survivors joined Iroquois Confederacy.
- Yamasee Indians​: Defeated by South Carolinians four years later.
Late-Coming Georgia: The Buffer Colony
- Georgia was founded in 1733.
- Buffer​: George was intended to serve as a buffer. It was supposed to protect Carolinians
from the Spaniards and the French in Louisiana.
- As such, it received monetary subsidies from the government.
- Georgia was intended to be without slavery and to provide a safe haven for debtors.
- Founded by James Oglethorpe, a military leader.
- Catholics were not tolerated.
- Slaves were not common due to restrictions, bad climate, and Spanish attacks.
The Plantation Colonies
- Plantation colonies were colonies which had high amounts of agricultural exports.
- Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (After 1750).
- The Church of England was the most common due to its monetary support.
- Tobacco ruined soil and pushed farmers westward into Indian territory.
Focus Questions
1. The events that caused England to start colonizing were very similar to those of Spain.
Similar to Spain’s war with Muslims, England had just won against the Spain. England
was the dominant naval power and had amples resources to send settlers. England was
also now under a popular monarch, Elizabeth I. Also several farmers were pushed from
work due to consolidation of land ownership and primogeniture. This created a large
jobless population. They sought opportunity with joint-stock companies which sent
workers to the New World.
2. The early settlers of Jamestown were unprepared for the new environment. They lacked
food and adequate shelter. Rather than work on preparing for the future, many sought
gold. They eventually formed a loose alliance with the natives.
3. The Indians were unable to repel the settlers due to disease, inferior weapons, and less
numbers. The Indian population was ravaged by disease which made their numbers even
smaller compared to the settlers. They also lacked guns.
4. The southern English colonies were largely unsuccessful until the cultivation and
exporting of tobacco. The crop was cheap to grow and in high demand in Europe. This
was incentive for many people to begin farming it. The only limitation was the amount of
land one had and so many began to take Indian lands farther West. The large scale
farming of the crop also encouraged the use of slave labour.
5. Sugar was to the Caribbean what tobacco was to the Virginians and Carolinians. Sugar,
however, was not as easy to grow as tobacco and so it became known as the rich man’s
crop. The resource intensive sugar encouraged higher imports of slave labour.
6. The first 19 slaves came with the Plymouth pilgrims. They were initially costly resources
and so they remained uncommon. As the agricultural success of the settlers grew, so did
the slave population. The beginning of tobacco farming meant an increase in slave
labour. The introduction of rice farming also encouraged farmers to purchase experienced
rice farmers from Africa. Slaves were most common in plantation colonies which
depended on their crop exports. In the Caribbean, sugar plantations greatly increased the
slave population to 80% of the total. This created a threat of rebellion. The Europeans
solved this by enacting strict slave codes. The most famous of these was the Barbados
Slave Code which denied any rights to slaves.
7. Virginia was a very aristocratic colony, filled with wealthy tobacco farmers. Maryland
was founded with the intention of protecting Catholics and the resulting acts punished
Jews and atheists with death. Many of the Maryland settlers were wealthy due to the land
and manors granted by Sir Baltimore. Carolina was established to increase exports from
the New World. Eventually, it became divided by wealthy farms and poor settlers. The
poor, but sturdy Carolinians moved North to form North Carolina. North Carolina tended
to be more rebellious and so was one of the few to largely reject the Church of England.
Georgia was established as a safe haven for debtors and blacks. It also served as a buffer
to protect the northern colonies from the Spanish and French. It eventually succumbed to
the allure of slavery in 1750.
Settling the Northern Colonies
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Southern soil encouraged people seeking wealth to grow tobacco. Northern soil was not
as fertile. Northern settlers were more religiously devoted.
The Protestant Reformation Produces Puritanism
- Calvinism​- A religion started by the Genevan John Calvin. It was the dominant religion
amongst the settling groups in New England and the rest of the New World. Scottish
Presbyterians, French Huguenots, and Dutch Reformed Church.
- Predestination​- the Calvinist doctrine which dictated that souls were destined for either
heaven or hell.
- Conversion​: The sign of God’s saving grace. An experience in which God revealed their
destiny.
- Puritans​- those who wished to remove Catholicism from the Church of England.
- Separatists​: Puritans who believed that the damned and the visible saints should remain
separate. They broke away from the Church of England.
- For fear of revolt, King James I harassed the separatists until many left.
The Pilgrims End Their Pilgrimage at Plymouth
- Many left for Holland, but disliked the imposing culture. They eventually left for the
Americas. 100 came, half of which were separatists.
- Signed with the Virginia Company. The ship was off course and ended in New England.
- Mayflower Compact​: An agreement to form a government and submit to the decisions
of the majority.
- First winter left only 44. There was a good harvest the following Spring.
- Many cod fishing towns appeared to the North .
The Bay Colony Bible Commonwealth
- Discontent grew for Charles I and the Church of England. In 1629, a large group of
Puritans secured a charter to found the Massachusetts Bay Company.
- They claimed to not want to separate from the Church of England.
- Great English Migration​: This exodus of refugees was due to contention in England.
70,000 left.
Building the Bay Colony
- Eventually, all free men could vote and participate in open discussion.
- Church leaders had significant power in government.
- A congregation hired clergymen and had more power. Separation of church and state.
- Public life was largely socially controlled and innocuous.
Trouble in the Bible Commonwealth
- The sharing of beliefs created a homogenous society. Some still disagreed. Quakers
disregarded the clergy’s authority and were persecuted.
- Antinomianism​ the idea that the converted did not need to worry about living a holy life
as they were already admitted to heaven.
- The minister, Roger Williams wanted to break from the Church of England. He believed
that land was unfairly taken from Indians and challenged the government’s authority over
religious behavior. He was banished.
The Rhode Island “Sewer”
- Roger Williams fled to found Rhode island in 1636. It became a religious refuge. Jews
and Catholics were allowed. Quakers were also sheltered.
- Rhode Island acquired a charter in 1644.
- Rhode Island became very individualistic.
New England Spreads Out
- Hartford was founded in 1635 in Connecticut. This was one of the few New England
regions with fertile soil.
- A group led by Thomas Hooker moved to the Hartford area.
- Fundamental Orders​: A document similar to a constitution. It established a
democratically controlled government.
- New Haven was founded in 1638 with the intention of creating a stronger church
government than Massachusetts. They were eventually merged with more democratic
towns in Connecticut.
- Maine was merged with Massachusetts and remained part of it for more than a century.
- New Hampshire began as a fishing and trading town. It was absorbed by Massachusetts
in 1641, but the king gave it a charter in 1679.
Puritans Versus Indians
- The Wampanoag near Plymouth were weakened by disease and so could not fight the
Puritans. A treaty was signed and thanksgiving happened and stuff.
- Pequot War​: A war caused by encroaching settlers in 1637. The English and
Narragansett Indians destroyed the Pequot tribe. 40 years of peace was had between the
Puritans and Indians after this war.
- King Philip’s War​: A war between the Puritans and the united Indian tribes of the area.
Many towns were damaged or destroyed. It ended in 1676 with the killing of Metacom.
Seeds of Colonial Unity and Independence
- New England Confederation​- An alliance among the colonies to protect themselves
against Indians and French. The English were unable to assist as they were tied into the
English Civil War​.
- Each colony had two votes. Massachusetts did not support this as they had the highest
population.
- Exclusive to Puritan colonies.
- After decades of essential independence, Charles II began to control the colonies.
- Many of the new regulations were ignored. Charles II gave many other colonies charters
which hurt Massachusetts.
- In 1684, Charles II revoked Massachusetts’s charter.
Andros Promotes the First American Revolution
- Dominion of New England​: A new confederation imposed by England in 1686. It
included New York and Jersey.
- This new dominion helped to enforce the ​Navigation Laws​. These laws were enacted to
prevent excessive trade with other countries and American colonies in order to keep
goods within England. Smuggling became common.
- Sir Edmund Andros became the leader of the dominion, centered in Puritan Boston. He
was openly affiliated with the Church of England which created hostility.
- Andros restricted the press and schools. He also taxed the people, disregarding the
pre-established assemblies.
- Glorious (or Bloodless) Revolution​: A revolution in which the English dethroned the
Catholic James II. He was replaced with the Dutch William III.
- This destroyed the Dominion of New England.
- Massachusetts was charted once again in 1691. Puritans were hurt from the loss of the
original charter. Now, all eligible men could vote, not just members of the church.
- Trade was now much less restricted.
- Judges were often bought and restricted the power of locals. They were resented.
Old Netherlands at New Netherland
- Spanish Netherlands succeeded at the end of the 16th century.
- The Dutch republic fought many naval battles with England.
- A large amount of the West Indies were controlled by the Dutch.
- The Dutch East India Company was a large source of revenue.
- Henry Hudson laid Dutch claims to the area around the Hudson Bay in 1609. It would
later be used for fur trading.
- The Dutch West India Company was in the Caribbean and made money from trading and
raiding. They also had sugar and trading outposts in Brazil and Africa.
- The West India Company established New Netherland near the Hudson River. From
there, they purchased Manhattan Island from the Indians.
- They started a colony named New Amsterdam, later New York.
- New Amsterdam was primarily for investors and trade. It didn’t have much tolerance.
Only the Dutch Reformed Church was tolerated.
- Patroonships​: Large feudal estates granted to those who would settle 50 people on them.
- As New Amsterdam was a seaport town, many peoples came there, including 23 Jews in
1654.
Friction with English and Swedish Neighbors
- New Amsterdam often faced Indian attacks.
- Dutch were thrown out of Connecticut.
- Sweden trespassed on Dutch land.
- New Amsterdam eventually destroyed New Sweden.
Dutch Residues in New York
- Charles II granted the New AMsterdam area to his brother. English military took the city
and it was renamed New York.
- New York was in the middle of the English colonies and had a busy harbor.
- An aristocratic atmosphere and monopolistic land policies slowed growth.
Penn’s Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania
-
Quakers were not liked by government and religious authority. They did not believe in a
powerful church.
- William Penn received a grant of land and flead religious persecution.
- Penn advertised heavily in different languages. He looked for specialized workers. He
also gave land generously.
Quakers Pennsylvania and Its Neighbors
- The treatment of natives was fair and many were even employed in the city. Eventually
the openness of the Quakers brought people who persecuted the Indians.
- There was a representative assembly.
- There wasn’t a tax-supported state church.
- England forced Penn to deny Jews and Catholics voting rights.
- Blue Laws​ still prevented public revelry, despite the modern feel of the colony.
- The colony grew quickly due to high tolerance and easy immigration.
- New Jersey was created in 1674. Many farmers and Quakers moved there.
- Delaware.
The Middle Way in the Middle Colonies
- The middle colonies, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and New Jersey were large
exporters of grain. Rivers and waterfalls enabled water power in mills.
- Large forests provided wood for ship building.
- Many of these colonies had seaports which helped commerce.
Focus Questions
1. The spread of Calvinism and the creation of the Church of England created a new
religious group known as the Puritans. The Puritans wanted to remove Catholicism from
the new church and they held largely Calvinistic beliefs. A more extreme group of
Puritans known as the Separatists wanted to create a new church. The king, afraid of this
disobedience, began persecuting this group. They eventually fled to the Netherlands, but
disliked the imposing culture. They then turned to America.
2. The largest reason for the success of the Massachusetts Bay Colony over Plymouth was
its initial size. The Bay Colony began with a 1000 settlers, as opposed to the 40 survivors
of Plymouth after the first winter.
3. Both colonies initially were given a large amount of independence from authority and so
developed their own ways of ruling. The New England Confederation was formed out of
necessity to protect from enemies in the absence of royal assistance. This is one of the
first examples of the colonies working together to achieve a goal without English
assistance. The Dominion of New England showed Americans what they had to gain
from independence, or rather, what they lost from English rule. The authority severely
limited trade and placed many new religious restrictions not previously enforced. The
Glorious Revolution heavily encouraged independence as the colonies could see that the
crown could be questioned and that English authority was not absolute. The destruction
of the Dominion of New England is an important precursor to the American Revolution.
4. Rhode Island was one of the first American religious refuges created. It was created by
Roger Williams in an attempt to provide religious refuge to Quakers and other persecuted
groups. New Haven in Connecticut provided refuge for the less diverse, those who
wished to create a powerful church state. Pennsylvania was founded with a grant
provided by William Penn, an English Quaker. He established the colony with the
intention of creating a haven for all religious groups including Catholics and Jews.
5. While England developed the most on the Atlantic coast, Spain and the Netherlands also
established cities. Spain mostly held onto Florida, however, the Dutch Republic played a
large role in the establishment of New Netherlands and New Amsterdam, later New
York. New Amsterdam was a considerable seaport and place of business on the East
coast.
6. The colonization of Pennsylvania was more rapid than any of the other colonies. Penn
actively advertised in multiple languages and granted large pieces of land to new settlers.
He also encouraged all religious and ethnic groups to settle. His treatment of the natives
was also significantly better than other colonies. Many Indians settled in the city and
began to live among the Europeans.
American Life in the Seventeenth Century
The Unhealthy Chesapeake
- Many died early among the early Chesapeake settlers.
- Many residents gained immunity, allowing the population to increase.
The Tobacco Economy
- Tobacco was very easy to grow and very profitable.
- Tobacco destroyed the soil which caused growers to move westward towards Indians.
- Higher supply meant lower prices which caused farmers to grow more to raise profits.
- Indentured Servants​: These workers worked for masters for 4-7 years. In return they
received a passage to the New World and food and board. Some also received tools,
clothes, food, and sometimes land at the end of their servitude.
- Head-right system​: This encouraged the importation of servant workers by rewarding
those who paid for servant’s passages with 50 acres of land.
- This consolidated land to a few men.
- The decrease in open land and increase in indentured workers caused masters to seldom
honor agreements in the freedom dues. Workers would often work for their former
masters after their release.
Frustrated Freemen and Bacon’s Rebellion
- An increasing population of impoverished single men caused discontent in Virginia.
Many looked to Western Indian lands for soil, however, Berkeley, the governor had many
Indian friendly policies.
- This culminated in ​Bacon’s Rebellion​: In 1676 a group led by Nathaniel Bacon
murdered several Indian tribes and removed Berkeley from office.
- Bacon’s death led to the end of the rebellion. Berkeley had many executed.
Colonial Slavery
- Due to the failure of the indentured servants in the Bacon Rebellion, farm owners soon
sought a new workforce in the form of African slaves.
- Most of the slaves went to Spanish and Portuguese sugar plantations.
- The amount of indentured servants fell as wages were rising in England.
- A lower mortality rate meant slaves would last longer.
- West Indians brought rice to North America, creating a higher demand for labor.
-
Royal African Company​: A slave company which lost its monopolistic charter in 1698.
This all led to a great increase in slaves in the colonies. By 1720, there were twice as
many slaves as whites in South Carolina.
- Middle Passage​: The passage from Africa to American ports. High mortality rate. 20%.
- Initially, slaves could become landowners themselves over time.
- Slave codes​: Started being passed around 1662. They made blacks and their children the
property of their masters for life. Forbidden to teach to read and write. Laws increasingly
associated slavery with black skin.
Southern Society
- The rise of plantations and slavery increased the wealth gap. Few people owned large
amounts of land and slaves. They also held a large amount of political control.
- The most common social group was that of the small farmer. They had few slaves.
Beneath them were those who had nothing after indentured servitude. Beneath them were
those who were still indentured servants.
- Southern life was based around the plantation.
- Waterways were the main source of transportation.
- There were few professionals, as most revenue and effort concerned plantations.
- Bad roads forced familial burial plots.
The New England Family
- Clean water and cool weather slowed disease in New England.
- NE settlers lived much longer than Chesapeake settlers. 70 years on average.
- NE women had many children, having up to 10 pregnancies.
- Long lives created familial stability. Many children would grow up with a mother and
grandmother.
- Southern windows often inherited their husband’s estate. This did not happen often in NE
due to the good health of the residents. NE women often released property rights after
marriage. All the colonies had better protection for women than in Old England.
Life in the New England Towns
- Southern settlements were created with the creation of a farm. NE settlements were more
controlled in their creation and received charters.
- NE held a secure society due to Puritan roots.
- NE towns of more than 50 families required some education.
- Puritans had democracy in both the ​Congregational Church​ and in the government.
The Half-Way Covenant and the Salem Witch Trials
- Jeremiad​: Preachers worried in the decline of conversions in the church. Warned of
damnation.
- Half-Way Covenant​: This new practice granted the baptized partial membership in the
church. This is contrary to the initial Puritan belief of keeping the elect and the
non-converted separate. This created a large number of female congregation members.
- In 1692, 20 accused witches were were executed.
- Salem Witch Trials​: These trials were largely caused due to the dilution of the Puritan
beliefs and the widening wealth gap. The accused were mostly landowning women, while
the accusers were often poor farmers.
- Witch hunting ended in 1693 with the governor’s wife being accused.
The New England Way of Life
-
Bad soil left New England less ethnically diverse. Bad soil taught frugality.
Continuous bad soil discouraged people from moving into the Indian mountains to the
West.
- The Indians frequently used the land to better their hunting, but did not individually own
land.
- They saw the Indian’s use of the land as wasting it. This justified their clearing of forests
for farmland.
- Livestock also increased the New Englanders need of land.
- Bad soil caused NE towns to rely on harbours. Cod fishing and shipbuilding were large
businesses in New England.
The Early Settlers’ Days and Ways
- Women were almost entirely devoted to taking care of children, cleaning, weaving, and
cooking. Men worked the farm. Children would help with these tasks in addition to some
schooling.
- Land was much cheaper in New England.
- A small American aristocracy arose, but on a smaller level than that of Europe.
- Leisler’s Rebellion​: A violent rebellion in New York that spawned from the aristocratic
nature of many of the business residents.
Focus Questions
1. Southern colonies’ much hotter climate greatly affected them both positively and
negatively. The southern colonies had a much lower life expectancy due to the easy
propagation of disease caused by the hot weather. This lowered family stability. A child
may not have had a mother for much of his childhood or not at all. Grandmothers were
very rare. This low life expectancy also caused a large number of pre-marriage
pregnancies. The climate and soil did, however, bolster the South’s economy and
increased the ethnic diversity. Where New Englanders turned to cod, the South turned to
tobacco and their fertile soil. The potential profit encouraged immigration. The
immigration and the slave labor increased the South’s diversity. The South’s use of slaves
in agriculture soon became an economic crutch.
2. Bacon’s Rebellion marked the end of practical indentured servants. The Head-Right
System greatly encouraged landowners to bring in indentured servants, and in the
process, accrue more land. This led to a consolidation of land. Available land was scarce
and masters had many unpaid freedom dues. This led to the denial of many promised
freedom dues to indentured servants. They were left poor and often had to work for their
former masters. This created a large population of poor and discontented workers. Many
looked for more land to the West, but the governor would frequently not defend against
Indian attacks. This led to Bacon’s Rebellion in which many Indians were killed and the
governor was removed from office. This massive revolt showed that indentured servants
were no longer a reliable source of labour. Large plantation owners turned to slave
labour. Many former servants became landowners and needed slaves of their own.
3. New England and the South grew in different ways. New England relied on the home
grown villagers, while the South largely relied on immigration. Where New England had
longevity, the South had fertile soil and many hopeful farmers and workers. New
England’s long life expectancy granted them several advantages over the south,
particularly familial stability. Where Southern families might be completely motherless,
New England families had mothers and grandmothers. The Puritan roots of the New
Englanders led to a very tight community and productive social climate. The South, on
the other hand, was inhomogeneous due to the large number of immigrants. Immigrants
did not seek the North due to the infertile soil. While the South experienced an economic
boon due to tobacco, the North eventually caught up with their large population growth
and booming fish and shipbuilding industries. The North was also more economically
secure due to their relative lack of reliance on slave labor.
4. The South’s low life expectancy tied into women’s legal rights. Widows were legally
allowed to receive a husband’s land. This did not happen often in the North and New
England women were expected to give up their property rights upon marriage due to
conflicting interests. New England women experienced a level of protection not seen in
Old England. Men were often charged with the abuse of their spouse. All of the colonies,
however, experienced better women’s rights than in Old England.
5. All American colonies had rough and deadly beginnings. The original Plymouth settlers
barely made it through the first Winter. The first Jamestown settlers were void of any
agricultural knowledge and had little food. All of the colonies experienced better civil
justice than Old England. Democracy was far more practiced in all the Colonies than in
England. Western expansion was always a focus for all colonists in the pursuit of land to
sustain their growing populations. As good as women’s rights were in the colonies
compared to England, all of American society was run by white men.
Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution
- England held many more than the original thirteen colonies, and yet only some rebelled.
Conquest by the Cradle
- The colonies’ population doubled every 25 years, closing the balance of power between
England and America.
- Most people lived in Rural settings and there were very few sizable cities.
- Most populous colonies were Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and
Maryland.
A Mingling of the Races
- America was very diverse. Germans constituted 6% and brought their Lutheranism to
America, increasing religious diversity.
- Germans made up a third of Pennsylvania as they were often fleeing religious
persecution.
- Presbyterian Scots-Irish made up 7% and left due to the intolerant Catholic Irish. The
English government placed many financial restrictions on their production of linens.
- Many Irish pushed West to the base of the Appalachians and fought often with Indians.
- Paxton Boys​: This was a march in which the Irish complained about Quaker’s lenient
policies towards Indians.
- Regulator Movement​: A protest in North Carolina against England’s intervention in
colonies.
- The South was the most mixed. Pennsylvania received many immigrants.
- The immigration heavy America created many mixed races. Where Africans once been
part of tribes, they became simply African-Americans. Many Indian tribes were
dismantled and the individuals were taken be converted. They no longer had specific
tribes, but were integrated into American society.
Africans in America
- Tobacco farming was easier than the crops of the deeper south.
- Female population began to rise in 1720, reducing the cost of slave use and made family
life possible.
- Northern slaves usually worked as assistants to artisans. Some still worked on farms, but
the conditions were usually better.
- Slaves on the islands off of South Carolina developed the language, Gullah, a mix of
English and different African languages.
- New York Slave Revolt​: This began in 1712 and caused the deaths of 9 white and the
execution of 21 blacks.
- South Carolina Slave Revolt​: was in 1739 when 50 blacks along the Stono River
attempted to go to Florida. They were stopped by militia.
- Black slave labor was more controllable than the previous use of indentured servants.
The Structure of Colonial Society
- Most of the colonists were small farmers. There were a few artisans. The very wealthy
were much fewer in the New World than in England and held much less political power.
- The social ladder was very open to change.
- By 1750, however, a new peasant class arose in Boston and other colonies. The homeless
and poor were to wear a red “P” on their clothing.
- This was still not as bad as in England.
- As the population grew, farms became subdivided and subsequently farm sizes shrank.
- This drove farmers Westward.
- Poor in Boston were supported by charity.
- The wealth divide grew in the South as large plantation owners grew with more slaves.
Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists
- The clergy was still respected and held some power in 1775.
- Doctors were often poorly trained and held little esteem.
- Common medical practices include draining the diseased of blood to rid them of
impurities.
- Lawyers were not held in high regard.
Workaday America
- The middle colonies were large exporters of grains.
- New England relied heavily on cod and the shipbuilding industry it encouraged.
- The largest source of money was seen in business ventures and land speculation.
- Triangular Trade​: This trade route connected America with Africa and the Caribbean.
Alcohol>>>Slaves>>>Molasses which is distilled into alcohol>>>slaves
- Many restrictions were ignored such as those put on beaver hats.
- By 1770, about 400 ships were being built a year.
-
Britain placed incentives on the production of naval products in order to maintain naval
control. They placed restrictions on American trees which upset colonists.
- America eventually grew beyond what English buyers could offer. They turned to foreign
markets to sell their goods.
- They frequently traded with the West Indie French.
- Molasses Act​: A parliament act aimed at stopping American trade with the French.
American traders smuggled goods into the West Indies.
Horsepower and Sailpower
- Roads in colonial America were very inefficient. Until 1700, roads didn’t even connect
major cities.
- Many cities were along navigable rivers.
- Also coast travel.
- Taverns were established on routes. All social classes conversed in taverns.
- Rumors and complaints spread through taverns. They were often the beginnings of
revolts.
- In 1750ish, a postal system was established.
Dominant Denominations
- America had large diversity of religion. Only about 74% belonged to a church.
- The Anglican church was pushed on colonists and largely rejected. It was much less
stringent than the initial Puritan beliefs. William and Mary college was founded in 1693
to train better clergy.
- Congregational Church was large in New England, except Rhode Island. Stopped taxing
residents to support the church.
- Anglicans could not be ordained in America as there were no bishops. This slowed its
spread. Anglican ministers were loyal to the king who funded the church.
The Great Awakening
- The Puritan church died due to the elaborate theological doctrine and their liberalization
of acceptance policies.
- Arminianism​: The idea that individual free will determined a person’s fate.
- Great Awakening​: This was a religious revival in the 1730s and 1740s. It was started by
the pastor Jonathan Edwards. He said that you would not be accepted by God by doing
good deeds, but rather accepting his grace.
- George Whitefield preached of human helplessness and excited religion in America.
- Old lights​: The orthodox clergy. They were skeptical of Whitefield and his followers.
- New lights​: These people defended the revival. Many of these new lights went to the
Baptist and Methodists churches which were more accepting of emotion in religion.
- Many NE colleges like Princeton and Brown were centers for new light learning.
Schools and Colleges
- New England education was well supported. The South’s education suffered due to the
dispersion of the population which did not allow for a tax supported school system.
Wealthy Southern families would use private tutors.
- Schools focused on Religion, Latin, and Greek.
- College was for preparing the clergy. Many Southern families sent sons to England to
get a more secular education.
-
University of Pennsylvania was the first to be free of denominational control. Benjamin
Franklin helped in the founding on the school.
A Provincial Culture
- American arts were still young and undeveloped compared to Europe.
- Many artists in America were forced to England.
- Red brick was introduced in the 1720s.
- Poor Richard’s Almanack​: A book written by Benjamin Franklin regarding the virtues
of thrift, industry, morality, and common sense.
- Science progressed slower than in Europe.
Pioneer Presses
- Literature did not spread due to lack of money to buy books and lack of time to read.
- In 1776, there were about 50 subscription based libraries.
- News was often weeks behind the event. Single paged newspapers were published.
- Zenger Trial​: A trial in which a newspaper writer had spoken negatively against a royal
governor. The governor sued him for libel. The writer was declared not guilty. Good for
freedom of the press.
The Great Game of Politics
- Some colonies had appointed governors while some were elected.
- Most colonies had a two house legislative body. One was appointed by the crown or
proprietor depending on if it was a ​royal colony​ or a ​proprietary colony​. The lower
house was elected by the people.
- Many officials were afraid of the democratic system and so tried to limit those who could
vote. Many still could due to the ease of acquiring land.
Colonial Folkways
- Most Americans were well fed. Much better than in the Old World.
- In the North, winter sports were common. In the south, card playing, horse racing, and
fox hunting.
- Dancing was popular in the South.
- Lotteries were approved of. Used to raise money for charity.
- Plays were popular in the South. Many Quakers and Puritans disapproved of plays.
- Christmas was associated with Catholicism and disapproved of.
Focus Questions
1. The population of the colonies grew much quicker than that of England’s. The long lives
of the New Englanders allowed for birth rates to rise and the women were very fertile.
Immigration into New England was very common due to the tolerance of many religions.
Many immigrated to the South for the good work.
2. The thirteen colonies consisted of many different Europeans and a large black slave
population. Lutheran Germans and Catholic Irish came to America for religious freedom.
Germans and Irish all together made up about 12 percent of the colonies with African
Americans making up a much larger number.
3. The initial influence of black slaves was seen in the spread of their culture. While they
were largely unable to participate in society, their culture prevailed and can be seen today
in the banjo and bongos. The mixed African population also created the Gullah language.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The economic contributions are seen in the South’s entire economy. Without the cheap
labor of Africans, the large plantations would not have been as successful.
America transitioned greatly in terms of religion and democracy between the 17th and
18th centuries. America saw a great transition from Puritanism to the Congregational
church and many different variants of Christianity. The falling importance of the church
led to less power in the clergy and government which led to more power in the hands of
voters. The transition to the Congregational church also meant more participation from
all sections of the social hierarchy. This change in government and religion allowed for
much more importance being placed on the common man in the social structure. The
common man’s demographic also grew with the vast majority of Americans being small
farmers. Both phases of American social justice were more advanced than that of the Old
World’s. Democracy was much more widespread and in general, the common man had
more protection from the aristocracy. One example of this can be seen in the Zenger trial.
Farming was the largest industry in terms of both sustenance and profit. In the North,
farming was used most often with the common man to provide food to the family and a
modest income. In the South, farming was used much more on an industrial level with the
use of slaves on large sprawling plantations. These large plantations allowed for a large
amount of trade in the South. In the North, important industries were cod fishing and the
shipbuilding that it necessitated. New England relied heavily on fishing and trading with
other nations.
The Great Awakening created, in general, a more accepting religious climate in America.
The transition from Puritan selective churches already started, but the awakening created
a much more welcoming religious climate for everyone. It encouraged the idea of
Arminianism which taught that souls were not predestined to heaven or hell. The
awakening also brought forward many “new lights” who brought emotion into new
churches of the Baptists and Methodists.
There were few writers and artists in America due to the large working class, but a few
gained popularity whether it be with wealthy Americans or Europeans overseas.
Benjamin Franklin was one of the most well known authors of the time. Charles Peale
was an American painter famous for many of his portraits of George Washington.
Almost all colonial governments had a two winged legislative system with a higher
council and a lower council consisting of the common man. England had differing levels
of control in different colonies. In the royal colonies, the upper wing had crown
appointed members and a crown appointed governor. In others, the wing was elected. In
all of them, the lower branch was elected by the people.
The Duel for North America
France Finds a Foothold in Canada
- 16th century France was involved in domestic and foreign conflict. In 1572, on St.
Bartholomew’s Day, 10,000 ​Huguenots​ (French Protestants) were killed.
- Edict de Nantes​: Done in 1598, it granted limited tolerance to French Protestants. This
united France in the 17th century.
-
Louis XIV (1643-1715) was focused on oversea colonies.
In 1608, New France was established in Quebec located on the St. Lawrence River. An
important figure in the establishment of Quebec was Samuel de Champlain.
- Champlain maintained peace with the nearby Huron Indians. They helped the Huron in
battles against the New York Iroquois confederacy. The Iroquois would later slow French
expansion into the Ohio Valley and sided with the English.
- Initially New France was run by commercial companies. Eventually it became an
autocracy controlled by Louis XIV.
- Very few moved to New France. By 1750, 60,000. It was mostly Catholic. No Huguenot
pilgrims came as they were not accepted in the colonies.
- France invested more energy in the French Caribbean colonies as they produced sugar
and rum.
New France Fans Out
- Beavers were valuable resources of New France.
- Trappers were common.
- Coureurs de Bois​: Trappers in search of beavers.
- Voyageurs​: Recruited Indians into the fur business. Disease killed many Indians and the
trapping of beavers violated many of their religious beliefs.
- The French traveled Great Lakes and down to Arkansas and Texas. The beaver
population was nearly destroyed.
- French Missionaries were often tortured by Indians for their efforts. Missionaries were
important explorers and geographers.
- Antonin Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701.
- Robert de La Salle settled Louisiana to slow Spanish establishment of the Gulf of Mexico
in 1682. He later came to settle, but could not find the Mississippi delta and was
murdered by his own men.
- The French later fortified Louisiana. New Orleans was a fort built in 1718. Grain was
shipped down the Mississippi and through New Orleans. Then shipped to the West
Indies.
The Clash of Empires
- King WIlliam’s War​: (1689-1697) ​Queen Anne’s War​: (1702-1713): Fought between
French coureurs de bois and British colonists. Both sides relied on the assistance of
Indians. The colonies were unimportant at this time so few soldiers were sent on either
side.
- A peace treaty was signed in Utrecht in 1713. This gave Britain the French controlled
Arcadia (became Nova Scotia). Also got the Hudson Bay and Newfoundland.
- The following peace was met with statutory neglect from England.
- The treaty also gave trading rights in Spanish America. This caused smuggling.
-
The War of Jenkin’s Ear​: Captain Robert Jenkins’s ear was cut off by a Spanish
revenue officer. The war began in 1739. It was limited to the Caribbean and Georgia.
- Eventually became ​King George’s War​: The war of Austrian succession in Europe.
France allied itself with Spain. With British ships, New Englanders captured Louisbourg.
This was a strategic island, guarding the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.
- The peace treaty of 1748 returned Louisbourg to the French. The colonists were upset as
they had fought for the land. Also the settlement gave the French an advantage over New
England.
​George Washington Inaugurates War with France
- The Ohio area became an area of contention. New Englanders pushed Westward for
farmland. The French wanted to connect their Northern territories with Louisiana.
- Many wealthy Virginians bought basic rights to the Ohio land. The Washington’s were
one of these.
- France set up many forts along the Ohio River. Fort Duquesne was one. It was at the
meeting of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers (Form to make the Ohio).
- In 1754, the Virginia Governor sent George Washington to secure Virginian land claims.
- The French leader was killed and Washington took the fort. The French returned and
surrounded Washington. He surrendered.
- Due to the conflict, British Nova Scotia removed 4000 Acadians and scattered, some
making it to Louisiana. They became the Cajuns.
Global War and Colonial Disunity
- French and Indian War​: The fourth main war during the era. First one started in
America. It was started with Washington’s attack of Fort Duquesne in 1754.
- It eventually led to the ​Seven Years’ War​: It was fought in America, Europe, the
West Indies, the Philippines, Africa, and the ocean.
In Europe, Britain and Prussia were against France, Spain, Austria, and Russia. Frederick
the Great held off French forces 1 to 3. The British subsidized Frederick with gold. The
French’s waste of resources slowed expansion in America.
- In 1754, the British government summoned an intercolonial congress in Albany near the
Iroquois. Only 7 of the 13 colonies came. The purpose was to ensure a good relationship
with the Iroquois. They gifted the tribes thirty wago loads of gifts and guns.
- The goal of the summit was to create unity against France. Benjamin Franklin made the
snake cartoon thingy for this.
- Albany Congress​: Led by Benjamin Franklin. He presented a plan for colonial home
rule. It was adopted unanimously. The colonists thought that it didn’t provide enough
independence, while the British officials thought it gave too much independence.
Braddock’s Blundering and Its Aftermath
- General Edward Braddock was sent to Virginia with British ​regulars​. He gathered
supplies in the colonies and went to take Fort Duquesne in 1755.
-
The expedition was hard as the had to carry artillery and carve a path West.
The French and Indians had a significantly smaller army, but defeated the British.
This caused the French and Indians to pillage Pennsylvania to North Carolina which were
virtually defenseless. Bounties were offered for Indian scalps.
- In 1756, the British invaded Canada. They did not attack the main Quebec or Montreal,
but instead attacked multiple wilderness points simultaneously. Defeats weakened the
British.
Pitt’s Palms of Victory
- The weakened Britain relied on William Pitt. He was well liked by the people
“The Great Commoner”.
In 1757, Pitt became an important leader in London government. He focused on
important cities in Canada and the West Indies. He also chose young leaders.
- Sent an expedition against louisbourg in 1758. The fortress fell. First large victory in the
war for the British.
- Wolf sent soldiers to a poorly guarded part of the outside of Quebec. In the following
battle, both sides’ leaders died, but the French were defeated.
- The Battle of Quebec​: 1759. Montreal fell in 1760. France was out of North America.
French kept some sugar island. France gave Spain trans Mississippi Louisiana. Spain
gave Britain Florida and regained Cuba from England.
Restless Colonists
- Increased military confidence in colonies.
- British soldiers did not recognize colonial militia. Did not allow leaders to be above
captain.
- Colonists fought for Britain, but were treated with contempt.
- Pitt offered reimbursement for American’s cooperation in embargoing Spanish and
French West indies.
War’s Fateful Aftermath
- With the French gone, the Americans did not have to rely on the British for protection.
- Indians could no longer gain diplomatic advantage with the French and Spanish.
- Pontiac’s Uprising​: 1763 laid siege to Detroit. In response to the new dangerous
situation of the Indians. Aided by French traders who remained. British spread smallpox
to Indians in relatiliation.
- Proclamation of 1763​: Prohibited settlement beyond the Appalachians. Done to avoid
another bloody conflict.
The Road to Revolution​ 1763-1775
- Britain expended resources in the French and Indian War.
The Deep Roots of Revolution
- Social climate was not as rigid in America.
- Republicanism​: The idea of forming a republic based on the Greek and Roman
Republics.
- Radical Whigs​: Warned to remain vigilant against those who wish to take away liberty.
Mercantilism and Colonial Grievances
- Wealth could be measured by the amount of gold or silver in the treasury. England used
this to justify their control over America.
- America gave raw materials and supplied a market for exports.
- Navigation Law of 1650 required only British vessels to go to and from America. Later,
European goods had to go through England to be taxed.
- American deficit made the need for paper money. Bought too much from England.
- Parliament prohibited this along with bankruptcy laws to protect British merchants.
- Crown could nullify American legislation. It was used sparingly, but still resented.
The Merits and Menace of Mercantilism
- Until 1763, Navigation laws were only loosely enforced. Many smuggled.
- London paid a lot for ship parts.
- Virginia growers had a monopoly in the British market.
- The colonists also got protection.
The Stamp Tax Uproar
- PM George Grenville ordered harsher enforcement of the Navigation Laws in 1763.
- Sugar Act​ of 1764: First law passed by Parliament that raised taxes. Increased duty on
sugar from the West Indies.
- After protest, the tax was lowered.
- Quartering Act​ of 1765: Required colonies to house and feed troops. Resentment.
- Stamp tax​ 1765: Passed by Grenville. It imposed a tax on all paper products. This
primarily affect New England. This was specifically to pay for a new military force.
- Many assemblies refused to pay for supplies for quartering soldiers.
- Admiralty Courts​: Juries were not allowed. The burden of proof was on the defendant.
- The presence of troops upset Whigs who believed the British to be trying to take their
liberties. Began to protest against the stamp act. “NTWR”
- Colonists were find with legislation being passed, but not taxes on specifically the
colonies.
- Grenville asserted that via virtual representation all Americans were represented.
- Parliament decided that legislation and taxation went hand and hand. This forced the
absolute rejection of Parliament.
Forced Repeal of the Stamp Act
-
Stamp Act Congress​ of 1765: Brought 27 delegates from nine colonies. These delegates
created a list of grievances with which they addressed the king.
- Created Intercolonial unity.
- Nonimportation Agreements​: Boycotted British livestock.
- Didn’t buy British textiles.
- Sons of Liberty:​ Attacked those who did not comply with colonial protests.
- The day the act was to go into effect, the machinery was broken.
- In 1766, Parliament repealed the stamp act to protect merchants and manufacturers.
- Declaratory Act​: Reaffirmed Parliament’s right to control the colonies.
The Townshend Tea Tax and the Boston “Massacre”
- British ministry now controlled by Charles Townshend. Convinced the passing of the
Townshend Acts​ in 1767. These put duties on glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea.
This would be paid at ports so it couldn’t be considered an internal tax.
- American’s did not like this. Discontent was worsened in 1767 when the NY legislature
was suspended for not complying with the Quartering Act.
- The Townshend taxes were not as serious as they were exterior and not as severe.
Smuggled tea was prominent in Massachusetts.
- The British sent more troops to Boston in 1768. Many were drunk.
- In 1770, Boston colonists threw snowballs at troops. The troops killed/wounded 11.
Boston Massacre​.
- Two soldiers were charged with manslaughter.
The Seditious Committees of Correspondence
- Lord North (PM) convinced Parliament to repeal Townshend taxes except for the tea tax.
Navigation laws were more stringently enforced.
- Committees of Correspondence​: Organized by Samuel Adams. 1772. The job of this
was to keep opposition alive and spread information.
- Many intercolonial committees were created including one in Virginia. These eventually
became the first American congresses.
Tea Brewing in Boston
- In 1773, rebellion was not inevitable.
- Taxed tea became cheaper than smuggled tea.
- The British East India company faced bankruptcy. London granted them a monopoly
which allowed them to sell the tea cheaper even with the tax.
- Demonstrations forced all tea-bearing ships to return to England. Some were burned.
Some tea was stolen.
- Boston Tea Party​: Governor Hutchinson disagreed with the tea tax but believed that
laws must be followed. He ordered the British tea ships to unload the cargo which led to
the Boston Tea Party. Hutchinson went to England.
- Revolution could have been prevented had Parliament granted some self governance.
Parliament Passes the “Intolerable Acts”
- Parliament responded in 1774 with acts to punish Boston. Branded “the massacre of
American Liberty.”
- The Boston Port Act closed the harbor until the damages were paid.
- Many chartered rights were removed.
- Restrictions were placed on town meetings.
- Officials who killed colonists could now be sent to Britain for trial.
- The new Quartering Acts allowed soldiers to enter private homes.
- Quebec Act​ of 1774: Guaranteed the British Canadians Catholicism.
- Canadian boundaries extended into the Ohio River Valley.
- This affected land speculators and anti-Catholics.
Bloodshed
- Due to Boston Port Act, Boston lacked food. Food was sent from other colonies including
rice from South Carolina.
- First Continental Congress​ 1774: All but Georgia sent delegates. It was not legislative,
but consultive. Drafted a Declaration of Rights and appeals to Americans, and British
officials.
- The Association​: This called for a complete boycott of British goods.
- If the grievances were not addressed, the congress would meet again.
- Parliament rejected the petitions.
- Lexington and Concord​: In 1775, British troops were sent to L and C. They were sent to
take colonial gunpowder and to take the rebel leaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
- The American militia were caught off guard and eight Americans were killed. The British
proceeded to Concord.
- Militia killed 70 and wounded 300 British.
Imperial Strength and Weakness
- Britain had a larger army and could hire German “Hessians”.
- The British also enrolled American Loyalists.
- British troops were busy in suppressing the Irish.
- Many British soldiers didn’t want to fight the colonists. If George III won, his rule might
have become more powerful. This worried the Whigs.
American Pluses and Minuses
- Aid came from France.
- The Marquis de Lafayette was made a major general in the colonial army.
- The colonies were self sustaining.
- Americans also had a moral advantage.
- Americans were not very unified.
America secedes from the Empire
-Second Continental Congress​: Met in Philadelphia in 1775. Still didn’t push for independence.
Wanted London to address their grievances. The 13 colonies set money aside in fear of
punishment.
Congress Drafts George Washington
- Washington lost many battles. Was not militarily gifted. He was a great moral force.
- Many colonies disliked that the army was gathered around New England. Washington’s
being selected was a political move.
- Virginia was the most populous colony. Washington was already wealthy.
Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings
- Between 1775 and July of 1776, the colonies did not want to become independent, only
have their grievances addressed. During this time period, they still fought British troops.
- Bunker Hill​: 1775. Colonists seized Bunker Hill which was strategically placed outside
Boston. British didn’t flank, but launched a frontal attack. 3000 British vs 1500
Americans. Ran out of gunpowder.
- Olive Branch Petition​: Continental congress requested an end to hostilities. By August
1775, King George III declared them in open rebellion.
- British hired thousands of German soldiers from princes who needed the money. Called
Hessians​ as they were from Hesse.
- Many Hessians deserted the fighting to become Americans due to the promise of land.
The Abortive Conquest of Canada
- In October 1775, the British burned Falmouth (Portland), Maine.
- Leaders believed that the Canadian French would want to help if they were liberated.
Britain would lose a strategic point. Undisguised offensive warfare. Not fighting for a
redress of grievances.
- General Montgomery pushed up Lake Champlain and captured Montreal. He joined at
Quebec General Benedict Arnold. They had little food. Last day of 1775, assaulted
Quebec. Montgomery was killed.
- The French were helped with the Quebec Act of 1774. Also they were Catholic.
- January 1776, British set fire to Norfolk, Virginia. In March, the British had to evacuate
Boston. Evacuation Day.
Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense​\
- Open rebellion was dangerous against Britain.
- Actions such as the burning of Falmouth and Norfolk and the hiring of Hessians
increased the desire for Independence.
- Common Sense​: Written by the radical Thomas Paine. Preceded Jefferson’s claim that
governments should get powers from the governed. Paine said that America was larger
than Britain and so should not be governed by Britain.
- Without Independence, they wouldn’t be able to get foreign assistance.
Paine and the Idea of Republicanism
- Paine called for the creation of a Republic.
- People were very receptive to the idea of a Republic apart from England.
- NE had practice Republicanism as town meetings and annual elections.
- 1774 and 1775 committees of correspondence showed Republicanism.
- This required citizen virtue.
- Some believed in a natural aristocracy. Meritocracy.
Jefferson’s Explanation of Independence
- Jefferson expressed Lee’s resolution to appeal to colonists.
Patriots and Loyalists
- Patriots fought both Loyalists and redcoats. Loyalists were called Tories. Whigs were the
opposing party in Parliament.
- Many colonists were apathetic.
- Militiamen often harassed British detachments and persuaded colonists.
- Loyalty was considered a virtue.
- Anglican clergy and officers knew the King paid them.
- Pennsylvania quakers were favorable of the British.
- Loyalists most common in Anglican South except for Virginia, where the church was
debt-burdened.
- Rebels most common with Presbyterianism and Congregationalism.
The Loyalist Exodus
- Before 1776, Loyalist persecution was mild. Tarring and feathering.
- After, regarded Loyalists as traitors.
- Some were hanged, but there was no widespread killing. Many fled.
- Mild Loyalists were allowed to stay.
- Estates of some Loyalists were confiscated and sold to support the war.
- Many Loyalists were spies.
General Washington at Bay
- When the British were evacuated from Boston in March of 1776, they focused on New
York.
- It had a good seaport. In July 1776, 500 British ships and 35,000 soldiers came.
- Washington only had 18,000.
- Battle of Long Island​: Washington escaped to Manhattan Island. Fog helped. He crossed
the Hudson River to NJ and reached the Delaware River. General William Howe should
have been able to crush Washington. Didn’t. He had previously lost Bunker Hill.
- At ​Trenton ​on December 26, 1776, Washington captured 1000 Hessians who had been
celebrating Christmas. A week later, he left fires burning and retreated to inflict a defeat
on a British detachment at Princeton.
Burgoyne’s Blundering Invasion
-
In 1777, British schemed to sever NE from the rest of the colonies by taking the Hudson
River Valley.
- General Burgoyne would push down the Lake Champlain from Canada. General Howe in
NY could advance up to meet Burgoyne near Albany. A smaller force by Colonel Leger
could come in from the West.
- After Benedict Arnold’s 1775 defeat in Quebec, he retreated to the Lake Champlain area.
British could not move farther South until they took the lake. Arnold held the lake which
was vital in moving supplies.
- Burgoyne eventually had to retreat to Canada after lake attacks.
- A year later, Burgoyne began the invasion with seven thousand troops.
- He was encumbered by families and servants due to promises of land.
- This gave militiamen time to flank them.
- General Howe, rather than join Burgoyne, attacked Philadelphia, the rebel capital. He
wanted to take out Washington’s army and leave an open path for Burgoyne.
- Washington moved his army to Philadelphia region in late 1777. He was defeated twice.
- Howe stayed in the comfortable Philadelphia leaving Burgoyne alone in NY.
- Washington retired for Winter at Valley Forge, Northwest of Philadelphia.
- Prussian drill master Baron von Steuben arrived.
- Burgoyne was surrounded in Albany where he was forced to surrender at ​Saratoga ​in
October of 1777.
Revolution in Democracy
- After Saratoga in 1777, Parliament offered Americans home rule.
- Franklin played off this to get the French to supply support. In 1778, France offered a
treaty of alliance.
The Colonial War Becomes a Wider War
- Spain and Holland entered against Britain in 1779.
- Spanish and French fleets outnumbered British.
- Armed Neutrality​: Catherine the Great organized this which create passive hostility
toward Britain.
- Until 1778, America only received secret French aid. Eventually gained Independence
because of the multi-nation war.
- France had ships to protect West Indies and prevent British blockade.
- British left Philadelphia and went to New York City.
- In 1778, Washington attacked redcoats at Monmouth, New Jersey. Very hot. Many
retreated to NY. Some Hessians deserted.
Blow and Counterblow
- In 1780, French army of 6000 commanded by Rochambeau arrived in Newport, RI. Some
contention with the French.
- In 1780, Benedict Arnold deserted.
-
Wanted to sell out West Point.
In 1780, the South was controlled by British.
Quaker General Nathanael Greene exhausted Cornwallis by retreating often. Eventually
cleared Georgia and South Carolina.
The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
- Mohawk chief Joseph Brant believed that Britain would restrain expansion.
- In 1784, after ravaging backcountry Pennsylvania and New York, the British Iroquois
signed the ​Treaty of Fort Stanwix​ which relinquished most of their land.
- Still expanded during wartime.
- British were scarcely spread in the West in Illinois.
- George Clark took many forts in 1778-1789.
- John Paul Jones took out merchant ships around England to slow trade. ​Privateer​.
- British shippers and manufacturers put pressure on Parliament to end the war.
Yorktown and the Final Curtain
- 1780-1781, the government declared that it would repay debts at 2.5 cents on the dollar.
- At Chesapeake bay at ​Yorktown​, Cornwallis waited for seaborne supplies and
reinforcements.
- They no longer had naval control.
- Washington marched South from New York and Rochambeau used an army and ships to
corner Cornwallis. He surrendered his army in 1781.
- George III still did not push for peace. Still had 34,000 in the colonies.
Peace at Paris
- Lord North’s ministry collapsed in March 1782, and was replaced by a Whig ministry.
- Spain wanted Allegheny area.
- French wanted land to the West and to keep America weak.
- France was paying for America’s independence.
- John Jay suspected France of negotiating in favor of Spain. He went to London in 1782
where temporary peace was obtained.
- Treaty of Paris​: 1783. America got land to West and Newfoundland fisheries. Canadians
were upset.
- London called for fair treatment of Loyalists and recommended the return of property.
This was not carried out.
A New Nation Legitimized
- They gave so much land to the West to improve relations and prevent war.
Chapter 9
The Pursuit of Equality
- Most states reduced the voting requirements.
- Social titles were changed. Women and men addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Masters were now bosses.
-
Society of the Cincinnati​: A group of Continental Army officers who created an aristocratic
order. This was looked down upon by Americans.
- Many Congregational Churches were still state funded. Anglican churches were disestablished
and became Episcopal churches.
- In 1787, Jefferson and others won the passage of the ​Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom​.
- In 1775, Philadelphia Quakers created the first anti-slavery society.
- In 1774, the Continental Congress called for the abolition of slavery. Many northern states
completely abolished slavery. Some preferred gradual emancipation. Some southern masters
freed slaves. No southern state abolished slavery.
- Blacks were still sometimes prevented from buying property and educating their children.
- Unity was not very strong. The issue could not be broached.
- Civic Virtue​: Democracy depended on the unselfish commitment of citizens to the common
good.
- Republican Motherhood​: Comes from civic virtue. Mothers were responsible for teaching the
young and ensuring that they passed on republican ideals to sons.
Constitution Making in the States
- In 1776, the Continental Congress requested states to create new constitutions.
- Massachusetts’ new constitution was ratified by the people.
- Adopted in 1780, the constitution could be modified by a constitutional convention.
- The documents were well defined powers of government as opposed to British tradition.
- Drew authority from the people.
- These constitutions were to be above legislative law.
- Annual legislators were selected.
- Many of these had weak executive and judicial branches due to distrust from England’s appointed
judges.
- Capitals in New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were moved
westward. Pushing for more land.
Economic Crosscurrents
- Many Loyalists lands were taken and made into small farms.
- This created more economic democracy.
- Manufacturing did well due to the war and prewar nonimportation agreements.
- However, American trade was kept from the British West Indies and Britain.
- But, now Americans could trade with other nations as they weren’t mercantilist.
- Many went into the Baltic and China seas.
- Inflation hurt many citizens.
- Americans were better financially before the war.
- Many wealthy were now poor. This created more animosity towards taxes and law.
A Shaky Start Toward Union
- Fear of authority made unity difficult.
- The war was not united. Now there wasn’t a cause.
- Economy was worst in 1786. Britain sent cheap goods to America. THis hurt manufacturing.
There were calls for boycotts.
Creating a Confederation
- States individually created currency, armies, and tariffs.
- The Articles of Confederation were translated into French to convince of a genuine government.
- There was contention in the western lands.
- Pennsylvania and Maryland had little western land. New York and Virginia did.
-
Less land states were upset as the land could be used to pay off the debt which they had all
accrued in the war, so the land should be everyone’s.
- Maryland did join the AoC until 1781. Maryland joined when New York gave up Western lands.
- Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made western lands that of the national government. It could be
sold and eventually made into states. Money could be used to nationally pay off debts.
- States would have to remain if they were to receive the advantages of the land sales.
- Pioneers bought land from the federal government which weakened local government.
The Articles of Confederation: America’s First Constitution
- The AoC were for foreign affairs which were common problems.
- They had weak executive and judicial branches due to the previous corrupt judges.
- Each state had a single vote.
- 9 states were required for any action. Unanimity was required for amendments.
- A quarter of requests passed. AoC could not coerce or control. It could only advise and request.
- The AoC was less effective than the old Continental Congress.
- The commerce problems needed a stronger government.
Landmarks in Land Laws
- The Land Ordinance of 1785​ declared that the Old Northwest land would be sold and that the
money would go to the national debt.
- It was divided into townships.
- The Northwest was much more organized than the land to the East.
- The ​Northwest Ordinance of 1787​ gave a path to statehood for territories. First, they would be
under the federal government, then, after 60,000, they could become a state. It forbade slavery in
these regions.
The World’s Ugly Duckling
- Britain would not repeal the Navigation Laws. Lord Sheffield thought that Americans would
come back. Smuggling.
- Redcoats were still along the North coast to protect Canada. It could also be justified that
America didn’t honor the treaty of peace.
- Congress could not control commerce. States didn’t have uniform tariff policies. Trade was
difficult.
- Spain in 1784 closed the Mississippi River. They also took land West of Florida. Fort at Natchez.
- The French wanted their war debt paid. They restricted trade with the West Indies.
- Pirates attacked North African traders.
- Britain could purchase merchant protection. America no longer was protected by this. Too weak
and poor.
The Horrid Specter of Anarchy
- Some states didn’t pay any debts and complained about congress.
- Many border conflicts.
- Many states had tariffs between other states.
- In 1786, ​Shays’s Rebellion​ happened in Massachusetts. Poor debtors wanted the state to give
paper money and stop taking debtor’s land. They raised a small army.
- Massachusetts legislature passed laws in favor of the debtors.
- Jefferson disliked this. Afraid of democratic despotism.
- Conservatives wanted to strengthen the AoC to keep their wealth. Debtors feared that a federal
government would make them pay their debts.
- A better economic scene made a stronger federal government harder by 1789. Much better than in
1787.
A Convention of “Demigods”
-
Control of commerce was the largest issue.
Virginia called for a convention in Annapolis. Only 5 showed up.
Alexander Hamilton called Congress to summon a convention in Philadelphia to work on
commerce.
- All states chose representatives except for Rhode Island.
- Many revolutionaries were not present.
Patriots in Philadelphia
- No spokespeople from debtor groups.
- Pirate attacks motivated them.
- Lord Sheffield’s trade motivated them.
- They also wanted to stop the democratic despotism in the states.
- Congress only wanted to revise, but they sought to destroy the AoC.
- Virginia Plan​: This plan would have representation be according to population.
- New Jersey Plan​: Representation would be according to an uniform number of delegates.
- As the big states produced more, all trade related bills would originate in the House.
- The constitution focused on procedure rather than details.
- A governor suppressed Shays’s Rebellion. This encouraged a strong executive office.
- Congress declares war.
- If no candidate received a majority, the election was sent to the House.
- All new state constitutions except for Georgia did not allow new trades from Africa.
Safeguards for Conservatism
- President was elected by the Electoral College. The senators were chosen by the state legislature
indirectly. Only the House was directly chosen by the people.
The Clash of Federalists and Antifederalists
- The vote to pass the constitution had to be unanimous.
- Rhode Island was strongly against.
- Because of this they decided that if only 9 ratified, it would become active in those 9.
- Federalists had the majority support.
- Antifederalists thought that the constitution was created by aristocrats. They also lacked a bill of
rights. It created a standing army and did not reference God. Also they did not like that only 9
states were required.
The Great Debate in the States
- Pennsylvania was the first large state to ratify.
- Congress promised a bill of rights. This got Massachusetts to join.
- Eventually all bur Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island joined.
- Constitution was adopted in 1788.
- The remaining states joined for fear of being hurt by isolation.
- Many papers published in the Federalist by Madison and John Jay convinced states.
A Conservative Triumph
- 11 states had left the old AoC, leaving two in a different country.
Chapter 10 Launching the New Ship of State
- The recent revolution was not good for order and laws.
- Government revenue had declined and debt rose.
- Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were Dem. Republicans and wanted limited government.
- George Washington and Alexander Hamilton wanted the opposite as Federalists.
Growing Pains
- The population was still growing quickly.
- The population was 90% rural. Very few lived West of the mountains.
- The Constitution does not mention a cabinet. Thomas Jefferson was the Secretary of State,
Alexander Hamilton was the Treasurer, and Henry Knox was the Secretary of War.
The Bill of Rights
- Antifederalists still wanted a bill of rights added.
- James Madison drafted the new Constitution to avoid a convention which may have unravelled
the Constitution.
- In 1791, the Bill of Rights was adopted by enough states.
- Ninth Amendment declares that some rights are not mentioned.
- The tenth gives non mentioned rights to the states.
- This was good for antifederalists.
- Judiciary Act of 1789​- Created the supreme court and attorney general. John Jay was the first
justice.
Hamilton Revives the Corpse of Public Credit
- Hamilton attacked for being from Bahamas.
- Hamilton often intervened in other departments.
- He wanted to shift policy to favor wealthier citizens.
- The wealthy would then give government support and political support.
- He wanted to pay debt gradually and take on state debt.
- Government bonds were largely depreciated.
- Many bought the bonds after hearing of the news from the poor as they rose in price.
- Assumption​: State debt becomes national debt.
- Massachusetts was happy as they had a large debt.
- Virginia did not have a large debt so was not happy. They got to have part of their land taken for
D.C. in 1790.
Customs Duties and Excise Taxes
- The debt produced a good public credit.
- Many wealthy people had a stake in the government.
- To pay this debt, Hamilton looked at customs duties.
- The tariffs would protect manufacturers as he was trying to help to enter the Industrial
Revolution.
- Congress at the time was focused on agricultural and commercial matters and only slightly
increased tariffs.
- In 1791, Congress passed an excise tax on whiskey.
Hamilton Battles Jefferson for a Bank
- Hamilton’s bank was modelled from England’s. It would be a powerful private institution.
- Government would hold large shares.
- Government could pull money and the stored money could stimulate business.
- Jefferson argued against this.
- Hamilton believed that he could establish it as it wasn’t prohibited in the Constitution.
- Hamilton wanted loose interpretations.
- Washington didn’t want to divide people, but signed it.
- The commercial North liked the bank. The southern farms did not.
- The bank was chartered for 20 years.
- 1/5 was owned by the federal government.
- People bought into the bank quickly.
Mutinous Moonshiners in Pennsylvania
- Whiskey Rebellion​: 1794, Pennsylvania whiskey manufacturers rebelled.
- They didn’t see it as a tax on a luxury but on a necessity and medium of exchange.
- Washington, encouraged by Hamilton, sent a large army.
- He later pardoned the two main men.
- This created new respect.
The Emergence of Political Parties
- With a good credit, the government could not borrow funds from the Netherlands.
- The suppression of the rebellion hurt states’ rights.
- States never thought government would be this strong.
- Previously there had been the Whigs and Tories, and antifeds and feds.
- Parties ensure that the government doesn’t fall out of line.
- Now there were Democratic-Republicans and Federalists.
- French king was beheaded in 1793.
- Suddenly American Federalists weren’t liked.
Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation
- Franco-American alliance of 1778 was supposed to be forever.
- Jeffersonians liked the alliance.
- Washington wanted to avoid war against Royal French against the wishes of many Dem. Repubs.
- Wanted to let the population grow.
- Neutrality Proclamation​:1793, Washington decided to stay impartial with Britain and France.
Jefferson and Hamilton were in agreement.
- Edmond Genet came to recruit Americans for war.
- France never called on America to honor the agreement.
- The French West Indies needed American food and war with Britain would cut that off.
Embroilments with Britain
- Britain was still in northern territory. THey wanted the fur trade and also a buffer of Indians.
- British sold guns to Indians of the Miami Confederacy. These Indians attacked the frontier.
- In 1790 and 1791, Little Turtle defeated American Armies on the frontier.
- In 1794, under General Wayne, he defeated Indians in the​ Battle of Fallen Timbers​.
- Treaty of Greenville​: Signed in 1795. Confederacy gave up Northwest. America gave 20,000
and 9000 annually. Sometimes in supplies.
- England was trying to starve out French West Indies.
- Attacked American ships to do so.
- Federalists and Hamilton resisted war because he wanted trade with Britain.
Jay’s Treaty and Washington’s Farewell
- Washington sent Justice John Jay to London in 1794. Dem. Repubs were unhappy because they
feared that a Federalists would hurt America in England.
-
To avoid war, Hamilton already gave information to the British.
British promised to evacuate northern posts. Already said this to John Jay before. Also would pay
damages for the seizures of American ships.
- U.S. would pay debts to British merchants from pre revolutionary war.
- Upset Dem. Repubs.
- Southern planters would pay the majority of this debt. The northern merchants were helped from
the repayment of seizures.
- Spain didn’t like these interactions with Britain.
- In 1795, Spain gave Americans navigation of the Mis. River, warehouse rights in New Orleans,
and large amounts of land in Florida in ​Pinckney’s Treaty​.
- In his farewell address, Washington advised against permanent alliances. Only temporary for
emergencies.
- Was disliked by many leaving office.
John Adams Becomes President
- Alexander Hamilton’s economic policies left him unelectable.
- John Adams was a Federalist and from Massachusetts.
- He was narrowly elected.
- Hamilton resigned in 1795. Was now the war faction of the Federalists
“High Federalists”. Disliked Adams.
Unofficial Fighting with France
- The French were upset by Jay’s Treaty.
- Still were against England.
- French warships began to seize American merchant ships.
- Paris refused to negotiate.
- Adams sent Marshall, a future justice, to negotiate.
- The diplomats arrived in Paris in 1797.
- The French demanded money to negotiate with Talleyrand.
- They refused. Marshall was liked for this.
- The ​XYZ Affair​ caused a push for war. Federalists were happy that Dem. Repubs. didn’t like
France now either.
- Navy Department created and navy expanded. Fighting was confined to the sea, mostly in the
West Indies.
Adams Puts Patriotism Above Party
- The British sent supplies to U.S. to help the war.
- Talleyrand said if Americans’ sent a new minister, he would be accepted.
- Adams knew that war would bring popularity but he didn’t.
- Hamilton and other war-hawks were upset. Most, however, still supported peace.
- Napoleon Bonaparte recently became dictator.
- Convention of 1800​: Annulled the treaty of 1778.
- If there had been war, Napoleon wouldn’t have sold Louisiana in 1801.
The Federalists Witch Hunt
- The anti-French fad helped Federalists gain power in 1798 Congress. Most immigrants were
disliked by Federalists. Popular with Dem. Repubs.
- Raised residence requirements. Times of war.
- Alien Laws​: The President could deport dangerous foreigners and imprison in times of war.
- Sedition Act​ Could imprison people for committing libel against government officials.
- Supreme Court was dominated by Federalists and so did nothing.
The Virginia (Madison) and Kentucky (Jefferson) Resolutions
- Jefferson was afraid Federalists would remove constitutional guarantees.
- Madison and Jefferson supported compact theory. States had entered a compact with national
government and the states were still sovereign.
- The resolutions allowed states to nullify fed laws. Later used in secession.
Chapter 11
- Adams’ lack of a war with France led to his free.
- The war preparations rose debt and introduced new taxes.
- New military was unnecessary and extravagent.
- Many rumours were passed about Adams.
The Jeffersonian “Revolution of 1800”
- Aaron Burr convinced NY to vote for Jefferson.
- Jefferson also won due to the massive slave population which would be voting according to their
masters, farmers.
- The race went to the House of Representatives.
- The ​Revolution of 1800​ was the Dem. Rep. takeover of executive power.
Responsibility Breeds Moderation
- Jefferson knew French and was in touch with commoners.
- Walked rather than using a coach.
- He carried on the idea of American military isolation.
- Washington city was simple and new, frugal.
- Dinners were without rank seating.
- Jefferson rarely spoke directly to congress in an effort to reduce branch intermingling and the
power of the Federal Government.
- He did not practice ​Patronage​, leaving many Federalists in power.
- Because of this, Dem. Rep. could not develop a strong following. As Federalists left, so did Dem.
Rep.
Jeffersonian Restraint
- New Naturalization Law of 1802 returned the time required to 5 years.
- He removed the excise tax. Cost Fed. Gov. million a year.
- Albert Gallatin, the new Treasurer, balanced the Budget and reduced debt. He did not want a
large national debt.
- He kept many of Hamilton’s policies.
- Kept funding the debt at par, kept the bank of U.S., and kept the protective tariff.
- By keeping many old policies, Jefferson made a good transfer of power.
The “Dead Clutch” of the Judiciary
- The ​Judiciary Act of 1801​ created 16 new federal judgeships and other offices.
- Midnight Judges​ signed in the last night of his term. Actually only three.
-
Dem. Reps. saw this as open defiance of the people’s will.
They repealed the Judiciary Act a year after.
Marshall served for 34 years.
Marbury sued for his commission.
Marshall dismissed the case. He said that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. It
assigned powers to the SC that weren’t in the Constitution.
- SC now had the ultimate say on the constitution. Judicial Review.
- Jefferson wanted to impeach Samuel Chase. He did not get charged in the end by Senate.
- This created more power for SC and further divided three branches.
Jefferson, A Reluctant Warrior
- Jefferson reduced the military.
- It was less about money, more that he didn’t want war.
- Standing armies created dictatorships.
- Pirates of the North African Barbary States plundered merchant ships. Jefferson eventually
declared war in response, increasing Federal power.
- The pasha of Tripoli wanted more tribute, declared war in 1801.
- By 1805, peace had been reached. U.S. paid$60,000 as ransom. ​Tripolitan War
- After this, Jefferson created 200 small boats. Did not work well.
The Louisiana Godsend
- In 1800 Napoleon got Louisiana from Spain.
- Farmers were angry. ALmost attacked New Orleans. Would have caused war.
- Napoleon made Louisiana much more risky and U.S. couldn’t simply take it as with Spain. They
would need outside allies.
- Because of this, In 1803, Jefferson sent Monroe to Paris with Livingston to get New Orleans for
10 million.
- Napoleon didn’t want it because Failed Santo Domingo proved they couldn’t colonize. He also
didn’t want to be forced to give it to England. U.S. would turn to Britain for foreign help.
- In 1803, U.S. got the land for 15 million. Got much more.
- Jefferson initially tried to amend, but time was of the essence. Napoleon might change his mind.
He had the treaty signed, despite his desire for a weak Federal government.
- The senators and the people didn’t care. They wanted the land.
Louisiana in the Long View
- The purchase avoided war and an alliance with England.
- New states had equal membership.
- Washington’s farewell address was now put into action.
- In 1804, sent people out to explore.
- In the long run, greatly expanded U.S. power and federal government power.
- The new land briefly caused fear of secession.
- Aaron Burr joined a Federalist group to plot the secession of New England and NY.
- Burr’s political career was dead.
Chapter 12
- Bad to bring a divided nation to war.
On to Canada over Land and Lakes
- The regular army was poorly trained and scattered.
- Bad, old generals from the Revolutionary War.
- British were weakest in Canada.
- Montreal was the center of population. If cut off, the rest would follow.
- Instead U.S. focused on a three branch invasion in 1812. Attacked Detroit, Niagara, and
Lake Champlain. All were turned back.
- In 1813, U.S. began to increase navy in the Great Lakes.
- American navy had better gunners and ships on the lakes.
- Thicker sides on the ships, and larger crews. They used black sailors.
- Ships built quickly and the crew was also new.
- British withdrew from Detroit and Fort Malden. The retreating British were beaten by
General Harrison in the Battle of the Thames in 1813.
- Napoleon was not bothering England, which allowed them to focus on the U.S.
- In 1814, the British planned an attack on New York. The absence of roads forced them to
use the Lake Champlain waterway. Thomas Macdonough defeated the British on the
water.
- This affected peace negotiations.
Washington Burned and New Orleans Defended
- The British also landed in the Chesapeake Bay in 1814. 4000 troops.
- They burned Washington after quickly dispersing the militia.
- Around the same time, the British attacked Fort McHenry at Baltimore. They were turned
away.
- Battle of New Orleans: ​British attacked New Orleans.
- In defense were many different groups of people. Pirates, French, Militia from many
states. Threatened the entire Mississippi Valley.
- British attacked from the front in 1815. They were attacked by entrenched rifles and
cannons.
- British lost quickly.
- News spread quickly, raising spirits.
- The Treaty of Ghent had already been signed.
- The Royal Navy put a blockade. THis hurt economic life. Fishing hurt.
- Treasury was unable to meet maturing obligations.
The Treaty of Ghent
-
Tsar Alexander I of Russia didn’t want its ally to waste resources on U.S. Suggested
peace early.
- John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay went to the Belgian city of Ghent in 1814.
- Initially British wanted the Great Lakes region as a buffer and Maine. US refused.
- Many British defeats led to peace. War-weary. Still hurt from Napoleon. In danger of war
with France. Wanted peace.
- The ​Treaty of Ghent ​was signed Christmas Eve of 1814.
- The search and seizure, Orders in Council, and Impressments, were not mentioned.
Americans did not necessarily win. Draw.
Federalists Grievances and the Hartford Convention
- NE did well due to smuggling with Canada. Federalists still did not like the war.
- Some proposed secession
- Hartford Convention​: Late 1814. They thought New Orleans would be captured.
- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, (partial representation) NH, and Vermont
took part.
- Federalists feared that NE would fall in in importance under the Agrarian South and
West.
- The convention proposed to limit presidents to a single term. No 2 in a row from the
same state. Most of the presidents had been from Virginia.
- As they took their demands to Washington, news of New Orleans victory came.
Treasonous.
- This essentially ended the Federalists party.
- The disregard for the Jefferson Embargo and the crippling of the war effort were
damaging acts of nullification.
The Second War for American Independence
- The war brought respect for US militarily.
- Sectionalism, due to Federalists, was diminished.
- Jackson and William Harrison emerged war heroes.
- Indians relinquished areas North of the Ohio River.
- America saw greater independence in manufacturing and industries. No longer needed
European workshops.
- Canadians felt betrayed by the Treaty of Ghent due to lack of Indian buffer land.
- In 1817, ​Rush-Bagot agreement​ limited naval armament on the Great Lakes.
Nascent Nationalism
- Due to the war, there was heightened nationalism.
- Literature flourished.
- School textbooks written in America.
- A new Bank of the United States was voted for by Congress in 1816.
The American System
-
Pride of the factories which had risen from embargoes.
In 1815, at the end of hostilities, British tried to flood the US market.
The nationalist Congress passed the ​Tariff of 1816​, the first protective tariff.
It wasn’t high and didn’t completely protect, but it was the first.
Henry Clay supported the ​American System​ in 1824.
- It supported a strong banking system. For easy credit.
- Supported protective tariffs.
- A network of roads and canals, especially in the Ohio Valley.
- Food and raw materials from the South to the North. Manufactured goods to the
south, uniting the country.
- Better transportation was wanted in the badly roaded West.
- Madison vetoed.
- States were forced to work with their own money.
- NE opposed federally constructed roads because it would lower their population for
competing states West beyond the mountains.
The So-Called era of Good Feelings
- James Monroe elected 1816, Dem. Rep.
- Between the Founding Fathers and the new age of Nationalism.
- The Era of Good Feelings was filled with issues. The tariffs, the bank, internal
improvements, and the sale of public lands were issues.
- Sectionalism was forming. Slavery was becoming more of a problem.
The Panic of 1819 and the Curse of Hard Times
- Economic panic came in 1819.
- Overspeculation in frontier lands. The Bank of the US had encouraged this.
- The West was hurt most.
- The debtors disliked the Bank of the US.
- Debtors were imprisoned.
Growing Pains of the West
- Nine frontier states joined between 1791 and 1819.
- Admitted alternately free and slave.
- Many went west for cheap land.
- Land exhaustion from tobacco farming sent many west to mines.
- Speculators accepted small down payments, making it easier to buy new holdings.
- Harrison and Jackson pacified the frontier.
- New highways allowed for greater transportation.
- Steamboats helped upstream navigation.
- The West did not have a lot of political power. Demanded cheap land.
- Land Act of 1820​, authorized the purchase of 80 acres at a minimum of $1.25.
- The West also wanted transportation. Got it slowly.
Slavery and the Sectional Balance
- Missouri wanted to become a slave state.
- Tallmadge Amendment​: Stipulated that no more slaves would be brought into Missouri.
Gradual emancipation to children born in slavery.
- Southerners and pioneers disliked this.
- Southerners saw it as a threat to sectional balance.
- The North was becoming wealthier and more populous.
- If congress abolished the peculiar institution in Missouri, would do so in the South.
The Uneasy Missouri Compromise
- In 1820, Clay proposed to admit Missouri as a slave state, but also admit Maine as a free
state.
- Future slavery was prohibited North of the Missouri boundary.
- The South got Missouri, North got no slavery North of Missouri boundary.
- The ​Missouri Compromise​ lasted 34 years, helped the US.
- Monroe managed to maintain good relations among the people.
John Marshall and Judicial Nationalism
- McCulloch v. Maryland​ (1819): Maryland wanted to remove a branch of the Bank of
the US which imposed a tax on notes.
- Marshall denied that right of Maryland to tax the bank.
- Cohens v Virginia​, Marshall asserted the right of the SC to review all state sc decisions
regarding the Federal Government.
- Gibbons v Ogden ​(1824): NY wanted to a monopoly of waterborne commerce between
NY and NJ. Marshall reminded that Congress controlled commerce.
Judicial Dikes Against Democratic Excesses
- Fletcher v. Peck​ (1810): Georgia legislature, bribed, granted land to to speculators. The
next legislature, canceled the sale.
- The SC decreed that the legislative grant was a contract. The Constitution forbode laws
impairing contracts. Showed that SC could invalidate state laws.
Sharing Oregon and Acquiring Florida
- Monroe administration negotiated the ​Anglo-American Convention ​of 1818. It allowed
Americans to share Newfoundland fisheries.
- Spain dealt with revolutions in S. America. Jackson went in to take Florida. Killed
British, Indians, made a muck.
- Most in the administration wanted to punish him, except JQA.
- JQA demanded concessions from Spain.
- In the ​Florida Purchase Treaty ​of 1819, Spain ceded Florida as well as any claims to
Oregon. America abandoned claims to Texas.
The Rise of a Mass Democracy
-
National pride hurt by panic of 1819 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
The “Corrupt Bargain” of 1824
- In the 1824 election, all four candidates were considered Republicans.
- Jackson won the popular votes, but was unable to get a majority. It went to congress.
- Clay had lost and was very influential in the house. Both Clay and Adams were
nationalists and liked the American System.
- Clay would help Adams win. Adams quickly made him his Secretary of State.
- Jacksonians called this the ​Corrupt Bargain​.
- Clay was already very qualified for the job. JQA did not use patronage.
- Patronage was now seen as elitist and against Democracy.
A Yankee Misfit in the White House
- JQA was a good Secretary of State.
- He was the first president who had won with less than half the vote and had many
allegations against him going into office.
- He lost support from supporters as he didn’t practice patronage.
- Did not support state’s rights in a country going towards state’s rights.
- Supported Washington’s national university.
- Many did not like this especially southerners.
- Wanted new roads.
- Disliked JQA’s attempts to curb over speculation.
- JQA tried to fairly deal with Georgia Cherokee Indians.
- Governor resisted the efforts of JQA to use federal authority on behalf of the Cherokees.
- This hurt JQA and weakened the federal government with nullification.
Going “Whole Hog” for Jackson in 1828
- Before 1828, the Republicans had been split into National Republicans, led by Adams,
and the Democratic-Republicans led by Jackson.
- Mudslinging.
- Jackson won the election of 1828.
- Jackson was mostly supported from the West and South.
- Adams won NE.
“Old Hickory” as President
- First Western President.
The Spoils System
- This system allowed Jackson to bring in young officials and avoid the aristocracy.
- Jackson mostly used the system to reward those loyal to him, however.
- Many officials were very underqualified and unfit.
- Patronage provided a reason for Americans to pick a party.
The Tricky “Tariff of Abominations”
- The previous tariffs had helped American industry, especially wool and textile. Drove
prices higher for consumers.
- In 1824, the tariff was increased. Wool manufacturers wanted more.
- Jacksonians supported a higher tax they believed would be defeated/vetoed.
- It passed in 1828.
- Dubbed the ​Tariff of Abominations ​by Jackson supporters.
- Southerners were upset as it did not benefit them. Helped the NE manufacturers.
- Cotton selling was not helped by tariffs, but they had to buy manufactured goods in
America which was affected by tariffs.
- South was still afraid of abolition.
- Because of this they would resist federal encroachments.
- John C. Calhoun wrote a book calling for the nullification of the tariff.
“Nullies” in South Carolina
- SC legislature was stopped from getting 2/3 by unionists.
- The new Tariff of 1832 reduced the tariff of 1828, but was not enough for the South.
- Known as the ​Nullification Crisis
- In the SC 1832 elections, Nullies reached 2/3.
- They declared the tariff to be null and void in SC. The convention threatened to secede if
the government attempted to collect duties by force.
- AJ didn’t like the tariff, but really didn’t like defiance.
- He sent a naval and military force to SC.
- Now senator, Henry Clay, proposed a compromise.
- The ​compromise Tariff of 1833​ was passed. It would lower rates back to those of 1816.
- Congress passed the ​Force Bill​ which authorized the army to pass tariffs. Like the
Declaratory Act.
- SC was not joined by any other states. Some thought of it. The Columbian convention
repealed the nullification and secretly nullified the Force Bill.
The Trail of Tears
- Jacksonian expansion called for confrontations with Indians.
- Earlier, Indians were recognized as sovereign nations.
- The five civilized tribes :Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Seminoles had
assimilated to US culture and government.
- In 1828, Georgia asserted its jurisdiction over Indian lands.
- The Cherokees appealed to Supreme Court. Marshall ruled in favor. Jackson did not care.
-
Jackson claimed that moving the Indians West of the Mississippi would preserve their
culture.
- Indian Removal Act​ (1830) called for the transplant of all Indian tribes to West of the
Mississippi.
- The “permanent” frontier lasted 15 years.
- In the ​Black Hawk War ​of 1832, Indians from Illinois and Wisconsin resisted eviction.
Defeated.
- Seminole Indians waged the bloody (1500 US killed) 2nd seminole war. Defeated in
1837.
The Bank War
- Jackson and his followers distrusted monopolistic banking and businesses.
- The private BUS was controlled by the Aristocracy. Nicholas Biddle was its president
and held what some said was an unconstitutional amount of power over the nation’s
finance.
- In the ​Bank War​ in 1832, Henry Clay proposed a bill to renew the BUS’s charter which
would expire in 1836.
- Clay thought that if Jackson vetoed it, as expected, he would alienate his wealthy
supporters in the east. If he signed, he would alienate his supporters.
- Jackson ignored ​McCulloch v. Maryland​ and attempted to destroy the BUS.
- This increased federal power. He vetoed because he personally found it harmful to the
nation.
- He ignored 2/3 of votes in Congress.
“Old Hickory” Wallops Clay in 1832
- In the 1832 election the ​Anti-Masonic party​ ran a candidate.
- Jackson was a mason.
- The Anti-Masons attracted support from Protestant groups seeking political moral and
religious reform.
- Biddle bribed many newspapers.
- Jackson still won.
Burying Biddle’s Bank
- In 1833, Jackson removed federal funds from the bank and placed it in state banks.
- Gradually removed them by using the funds and not putting more in.
- Biddle called in the bank’s loans to show its importance.
- Many small banks were hurt by the repayment.
- Several “​Pet Banks​” filled the vacuum caused by the death of the BUS.
- The currency issued by these banks was unreliable so Jackson authorized the treasury to
issue a ​Specie Circular​. This required public lands to be purchased with gold or silver.
This led to a crash in 1837. Jackson was gone by then.
The Birth of the Whigs
The whigs supported government programs and public schools. The called for ​internal
improvements​, canals, railroads, new roads.
- The Anti-Masonic Party became part of the Whigs.
- Claimed to be the party of the people.
The Election of 1836
- Martin Van Buren was chosen by AJ. He won against William Henry Harrison, one of
the Whigs’ candidates. The Whigs did not focus on one candidate.
Big Woes for the “Little Magician”
- Van Buren was not as popular with Democrats and had Jackson’s enemies.
- Van Buren’s term was filled with jackson’s depression.
Depression Doldrums and the Independent Treasury
- The ​Panic of 1837 ​was caused by over speculation from those seeking wealth in Western
land with borrowed capital. This capital was controlled by the small, unreliable “wildcat”
banks.
- Wheat crops failed due to Hessian flies. Grain prices were high.
- Many factories closed, leaving unemployed workers.
- Whigs called for the expansion of bank credit, higher tariffs, and subsidies for internal
improvements.
- Van Buren disliked that.
- Van Buren wanted to “divorce” the government from banking. Funds would be stored in
independent treasuries, inaccessible to the public, which would lower available credit
resources.
- The Independent Treasury Bill passed Congress in 1840.
- It would be repealed the newt year by the Whigs and then reenacted by the Democrats in
1846.
Gone to Texas
- Mexico became independent in 1821. Mexico gave land to Stephen Austin, who said he
would bring families to Texas.
- Texans supported slavery.
- Many seeking land or seeking freedom from the law went to Texas.
- In 1835, Santa Ana raised an army to suppress the Texans.
The Lone Star Rebellion
- In 1836, Texas declared its independence.
- General Sam Houston forced Santa ana to sign the treaty of 1836 after he captured him in
the ​Battle of San Jacinto​.
- Rio Grande was the boundary.
- Northerns didn’t want to admit Texas as they supported slavery.
-
Log Cabins and Hard Cider of 1840
- Whig, William Henry harrison won against Van Buren in the election of 1840.
Politics for the People
- Politicians now had to identify with and appease the people.
- The aristocracy were disliked heavily.
- Wealthy still occupied positions, but had to lower themselves.
The Two-Party System
- Jacksonian Democrats supported the liberty of the individual. Didn’t want aristocracy or
privilege in the government.
- Whigs wanted to use government to accomplish goals. Disliekd leaders who fostered
conflict between individuals, classes, or sections.
- Democrats wanted strong states’ rights.
- Whigs favored a renewed national bank, protective tariffs, internal improvements, public
schools, and prohibition of liquor and the abolition of slavery.
Forging the National Economy
The Westward Movement
- AJ was the first president west of the Appalachians. Showed country moving West.
- Life was poor.
Shaping the Western Landscape
- Land was left barren and farmers pushed West.
- The land became good for livestock which led many more to the West.
- The fur-trapping industry used the ​rendezvous ​system. Traders would travel from St.
Louis to the Rocky Mountains and traded Indians manufactured goods in exchange for
beaver pelts.
- Ecological Imperialism​: The movement West and the consequent utilization of the
natural resources.
- Literature and painting involving American wilderness were popular.
- George Catlin proposed a national park. First national park was Yellowstone in 1872.
The March of the Millions
- Population grew quickly. Cities grew quickly.
- Slums grew, city conditions worsened.
- The 1840s brought in many immigrants.
- Europe was overcrowded.
- Steamboats made for easy immigration.
The Emerald Isle Moves West
- In the 1840s, Ireland done ran out of potaters. Many died and many came to America.
-
Poor immigrants couldn’t afford to buy livestock and equipment to move West. They
stayed in the coastal cities like Boston and New York.
- Americans disliked the Protestant Irish.
- Irish were poor.
- The ​Ancient Order of Hibernians​ was a society founded in Ireland to fight greedy
landlords. In America, it helped the poor. Spawned the ​Molly Maguires​, an Irish miner’s
union.
- Irish gained political control of NY ​Tammany Hall​. Gained patronage rewards. Irish
became valuable to politicians.
The German Forty-Eighters
- Many Germans came for Democracy and because of crop failures in Germany.
- Many Germans were more wealthy than Irish. Protestant.
- Germans not as political because they were scattered.
- Well educated and supported public school.
Flare-ups of Antiforeignism
- Many disliked the immigrants.
- Didn’t like their political power.
- Catholics didn’t want children to be indoctrinated by Protestants in public schools.
- Know-Nothing Party ​formed against immigrants.
- Mass violence against Catholics.
- The American economy, in general, allowed immigrants to not take from natives.
- Immigrants helped start the Industrial Revolution in America.
Creeping Mechanization
- The factory system using steam power was often more effective than human labor.
- England held onto the factory system until the 1840s when many English immigrants
came. This brought farmers into cities to work in factories.
- Americans could not compete with the textile industry in England.
- America could not produce quality products for cheap as England could.
Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine
- Eli Whitney introduced the cotton gin in the South which improved productivity.
- Cotton revived slavery.
- NE had bad soil so manufacturing became popular there. Factories.
- It had population for labor and harbors enabled the easy transport of materials in and out.
Marvels in Manufacturing
- The War of 1812 helped American manufacturing as American manufactured goods were
used as opposed to British imports.
- After, British flooded the American market once again.
- The ​Tariff of 1816​ protected American manufacturers.
- Interchangeable parts in rifles allowed mass-production in the 1850s.
- The sewing machine invented by Elias Howe helped the American clothing industry.
Workers and “Wage Slaves”
- Before factories, working was between a small number of people and was more intimate.
- After, it lacked personal association and workers’ rights declined.
- Mostly children workers suffered.
- AJ appealed to many workers with shorter work days and dislike of privilege.
Women and the Economy
- Before industrialization, women were mostly used with clothing.
- Women could not form unions.
- Catharine Beecher called for other women to work as teachers.
- Cult of Domesticity​: The idea that glorified homemakers.
Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields
- Factories rose in the East. The West was used as farmland. Ohio Illinois area became an
essential food supply.
- Corn could be fed to pigs, distilled into liquor. Versatile. Many pigs raised in Cincinnati.
- Food went down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the cotton South.
- The McCormick Reaper enabled large scale farming.
Highways and Steamboats
- Lancaster Turnpike​: Hard surfaced road from Philadelphia to Lancaster.
- National (Cumberland) Road built from Maryland to Illinois.
“Clinton’s Big Ditch” in New York
- The ​Erie Canal​, built between the Hudson River and the great Lakes made New York a
major trade city.
The Iron Horse
- The first railroad in the U.S. was built in 1828. Grew quickly.
- Canal backers disliked the railroads. The NY legislature in 1833 prohibited railroads
from carrying freight to protect the Erie Canal.
The Transport Web Binds the Union
- The desire to move West fueled the Transport Revolution.
- South sent cotton North and England. The west produced grain and livestock which was
sent to factories in the East and Europe and the South.
- The railroad facilitated trade.
The Market Revolution
- The market revolution transformed the subsistence economy to a network of commerce.
-
John Marshall allowed the strong protection of patents and charters. Monopolies
developed.
The Ferment of Reform and Culture
Reviving Religion
- In the 1850s, Americans were still largely Christian.
- Less rigid than previously.
- Unitarians ​held that God existed as one being. Did not believe in the hell of Calvinism.
- Desits relied on logic. Believed in a supreme power that gave possibility of morality.
- Second Great Awakening​: Began in 1800. It began in the South and spread North.
Against the growing liberalism in religion. It focused on prison reform, women’s
movements, and abolition of slavery.
- Methodists and Baptists grew mostly. Both stressed conversion and democracy.
Denominational Diversity
- Created large gaps between societal classes and regions.
- Methodists and Baptists were focused mainly in the South and were poorer than the
Northern Unitarians, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists.
- The Southern churches were generally against abolition with the North for it.
A Desert Zion in Utah. The Mormons Arrive
- In 1830, Joseph Smith claimed to have received golden plates.
- WIth these, he began the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints.
- Joseph Smith was killed in 1844. Brigham Young saved the movement.
- He led the Mormons to Utah.
- The Federal army was used in 1857 to stop annoying Mormons. Polygamy kept Utah out
of the Union until 1896.
Free Schools for a Free People
- Americans began to treat children’s education more importantly to protect future.
- Tax supported education began in 1825.
- In Massachusetts, Horace Mann advocated for more schools in more communities,
despite the cost.
Higher Goals for Higher Learning
- First state supported universities began in North Carolina in 1795.
- Women’s higher education was not approved of. Woman belonged in the kitchen. Their
role domestic workers seemed more important.
- Women’s secondary schools began to rise in the 1820s due to Emma Willard.
An Age of Reform
- The reform movement wanted to end war, alcohol, and slavery.
-
Debtors’ prisons were abolished. Criminal codes were softened.
The American peace society was formed by William Ladd.
Demon Rum​—The “Old Deluder”
- Dull life led to obsessive drinking among Americans.
- The American Temperance Society encouraged some Americans to give up alcohol.
- Drinking was detrimental to efficiency.
Women in Revolt
- Once married, women could not retain property.
- Many women avoided marriage entirely.
- A market economy separated and divided the roles of men and women in the workplace.
- Women’s duty to civilize men.
- Susan B. Anthony pushed for women’s suffrage .
Wilderness Utopias
- Many Utopian communities created in the early 19th century.
- These communities were communist
- New Harmony​ attracted radicals, theorists, and scoundrels. They failed.
- Brook Farm ​consisted of intellectuals committed to transcendentalism. They collapsed
in debt.
The Dawn of Scientific Achievement
- Americans created many practical devices as opposed to pure scientific discoveries.
- Jefferson invented a plow.
- American medicine was behind.
- Matthew Maury studied ocean currents.
Artistic Achievements
- Early American architects used the Federal Style which emphasized symmetry. It was
similar to Greek buildings and represented a Classical revival in American architecture.
- American art was heavily influenced by European paintings.
Trumpeters of Transcendentalism
- Transcendentalists believed that knowledge can’t be found from observation, and that it
must come from within the person.
- Self-reliance, self-culture, self-discipline.
- Emerson called for American writers to leave European traditions and create new
American traditions.
Literary Individualists and Dissenters
- Edgar Allan Poe was far off of the usual human goodness and social progress. He wrote
in a pessimistic tone.
- Original sin is a heavy theme at this time.
Portrayers of the Past
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Mid 1800s, distinguished American historians became known.
Prescott wrote on the conquests of Mexico and Peru.
Francis Parkman wrote on France and England’s influence in North America.
The South and the Slavery Controversy
“Cotton Is King”
- Northern shippers benefited from the cotton trade. They shipped the cotton to England.
- Cotton accounted for half the value of American exports after 1840.
- America produced most of the world’s cotton. Britain’s most important manufacturing
item in the 1850s was cotton cloth. They were very dependent on Southern cotton.
- England’s need for cotton would prevent a southern blockade from the North.
The Planter “Aristocracy”
- The South was heavily influenced politically and socially by the wealthy cotton growers.
- 75% did not own slaves. 1700 owned 100 or more slaves.
- Wealthy South sent kids to best schools.
- Hampered tax-supported education.
- Sir Walter Scott’s writing popularized medieval activities. Feudal fads. Jousting.
Slaves of the Slave System
- Cotton growing was wasteful as it damaged the soil.
- Many moved to the West and Northwest.
- The wealth of the South was monopolistic.
- Small farmers sold land to the larger farms and went North and West. Large farms
became common.
- The plantation system was financially unstable.
- Overspeculation caused debt in growers.
- Slaves were expensive to maintain.
- Slaves could die or run away.
- Southerners disliked the North’s benefiting off of their crop.
- The North were middlemen to the South and bought the crop for less.
- Most manufactured items in the South came from the Northern factories.
- The South was not as open to non-English immigrants as the North was.
- South was very anglo-saxon.
The White Majority
- Smaller farmers had a few slaves. These farmers were similar to Northern sustenance
farmers.
- At the bottom of the white hierarchy were the non-slaveowning whites.
- These white generally still wanted slavery.
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- They might hope to get slaves one day.
- Freeing slaves would make them lower on the social ladder.
Highland Southerners were very isolated. Fought for the Union.
- Only Republicans in the South.
Free Blacks: Slaves Without Masters
- 250,000 freed blacks in 1860.
- Many were mulattoes.
- Some owned slaves.
- Free blacks had little rights in both the North and South.
Plantation Slavery
- Legal importation of slaves into America ended in 1808.
- The British ​West Africa Squadron​ seized slave ships and freed the slaves on board.
- Many slaves still made it to Brazil and the West Indies.
- Many were smuggled into the South.
- Lack of international imports led to a strong internal slave trade.
- Virginia was able to supply the newer more Southern states with slaves.
- American slaves were very reproductive. Treated as an asset. Their lives were valuable.
- Dangerous jobs were for the waging Irish.
- Fertile slaves were sometimes released.
Life Under the Lash
- Laws were attempted to prevent the sale of under 10 children. Slaves could not testify,
however.
- Some slaves were sent to ​breakers​ where they would be lashed.
- Most slaves were in the ​black belt​.
- South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
- Frontier slaves’ lives were harder than in the more developed South.
- Children often raised in two parent households.
- Responsorial​: Can I get an AMEN?!
The Burdens of Bondage
- Illegal to educate slaves.
- Slaves sabotaged plantations whenever possible.
- Many slave rebellions, most foiled by informers.
- Nat Turner’s Rebellion​ in 1831. Led by a black preacher in Virginia.
- In 1839, slaves took the Spanish slave ship ​Amistad​. JQA argued for their return to
Africa successfully.
Early Abolitionism
- Due to dislike of blacks, many abolitionist efforts were to return them to Africa.
- American Colonization Society​ was founded for this in 1817.
-
Liberia ​was established for former slaves in 1822 on the West African coast.
William Wilberforce called for the freeing of West Indies slaves.
Weld, wrote pamphlet, American Slavery as It Is, in 1839.
Radical Abolitionism
- William Garrison, in 1831, started The Liberator newspaper. Anti-slavery.
- In 1833, Garrison and others founded the ​American Anti-Slavery Society​.
- Garrison was very stubborn and impractical. Douglass was the opposite. Looked towards
politics.
- These abolitionists backed the LIberty party in 1840, the Free Soil party in 1848, and the
Republican party in the 1850s.
- Many, even the more reasonable, foresaw a war to end slavery.
The South Lashes Back
- In the 1820s, anti-slavery societies were more common South of the ​Mason-Dixon line
than North of it. (Southern boundary of Pennsylvania)
- Virginia emancipation proposals were defeated in 1831, and slave codes were enforced.
Emancipation of any kind not allowed.
- Garrison accused of causing the Nat Turner rebellion.
- Some claimed slaves were like family.
- Not entirely false. Better work security than Irish in the northern factories.
- The ​Gag Resolution​ (1836) required antislavery petitions to be ignored.
- JQA fought 8 years for removal.
- In 1835, Washington gov. called for postmasters to destroy abolitionist material. Called
for the arrest of those who did not comply.
The Abolitionist Impact in the North
- Garrisonians were disliked in the North. North liked the constitution. Webster had created
a liking for the Union and Garrison called for secession.
- The South owed Northern banks money. These debts would be lost if the Union
dissolved.
- NE mills relied on Southern cotton.
- Politicians, like Lincoln, avoided garrisonian abolition. Very disliked.
- More supported no new territories with slavery than total abolition.
Chapter 17
The Accession of “Tyler Too”
- William Henry Harrison was became president in 1841.
- Spoil seekers went to him looking for positions.
-
Died very early in office.
VP John Tyler became president.
- Whig
- Disliked Jacksonian dictatorial tactics.
- Was more of a Jeffersonian state’s rights person. Opponents called him a fake
whig.
John Tyler: A President Without a Party
- Allowed for the removal of an independent treasury system, but vetoed 3rd BUS.
- Vetoed high tariffs.
- He was not pro-bank, protective tariff, or internal improvements.
- Signed the Tariff of 1842 because the treasury was poor.
A War of Words with Britain
- By 1842, the public did not like Britain.
- British newspapers wrote against Americans.
- Pro-British Federalists had died out.
- In 1837, the Caroline was sunk by the British.
- It was carrying supplies to help rebelling Canadians.
- In 1841, slaves rebelled and took the American ship, Creole.
- British in the Bahamas offered Asylum.
Manipulating the Maine Maps
- Maine Canada border disputes in the 1840s.
- Britain wanted to build a westward road, as a defensive precaution, but it ran through the
contested territory.
- Lumberjack fights.
- Aroostook War
- In 1842, London sent Lord Ashburton, married to an American woman.
- Made good relations with Secretary Webster.
- In the agreement on the Maine boundary, the Americans got more land, but the British
got the land route.
- The British gave up land later found to hold Mesabi iron ore.
The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone
- After 1836, Mexico did not recognize Texas as independent. Still thought of as in revolt.
- Mexico threatened war if America took Texas in.
- Texans forced to keep military.
- In 1839 and 1840, Texas negotiated with France, Holland, and Belgium for protection.
- An independent Texas would keep America form pushing Westward to British
land.
- France hoped that this would weaken the U.S.
- Britain also wanted to free slaves in Texas. Would incite other rebellions.
- Texas would also provide an area for Britain to come off dependence of Southern cotton.
The Belated Texas Nuptials
- The election of 1844 focused on Texas.
- James Polk focused more on expansion than slavery in Texas.
- Tyler added Texas via join resolution. This only required half from each house. 1845
- Mexicans not happy.
Oregon Fever Populates Oregon
- Spain, Russia, Britain, and the US all had claims in Oregon.
- Spain had already given up Florida land in the Treaty of 1819. Russia lost land.
- Britain controlled North of Columbia River, but had less population.
- This was also important in the 1844 election.
A Mandate (?) for Manifest Destiny
- In the 1844 election, Henry Clay was chosen by the Whigs. Van Buren opposed annexing
Texas which guaranteed his defeat. Southern expansionists were too strong.
- James Polk, Democrats’ dark horse candidate.
- He was supported by Jackson.
- Expansionist Democrats wanted the reannexation of Texas and the Reoccupation of
Oregon up to 54 degrees 40.
- Fifty-four forty or fight
- Clay might have won if the Liberty Party had not taken any voters.
Polk the Purposeful
- Polk wanted to lower the tariff, restore the national treasury, take in California, and settle
the disputes in Oregon diplomatically.
- Robert Walker, Secretary of Treasury, proposed the ​Walker Tariff​. This reduced the
Tariff of 1842 from 32% to 25%.
- Britain proposed 49 degrees, which was accepted.
Misunderstandings with Mexico
- California in 1845 was mostly Mexicans, Spanish, and Indians.
- Polk sent an offer of $25 million, which was rejected.
- This caused the public to dislike Mexico.
American Blood on American (?) Soil
- In 1846, Polk ordered 4000 troops to be led by Zachary Taylor from the Nueces River to
the Rio Grande.
- When Mexico attacked, Polk used the discontent to push for war.
- Despite some resistance in Congress, the public helped Congress vote for war.
- Slidell’s rejection of the purchase helped this decision.
The Mastering of Mexico
- Polk wanted to take California, but didn’t want a war. Wanted to take it quickly.
- At Buena Vista, Zachary Taylor took 20,000 Mexicans with 5000 soldiers. Good rep.
- In 1847, Winfield Scott led soldiers into Mexico City.
Fighting Mexico for Peace
- Polk sent Nicholas Trist to negotiate peace with $10,000.
- In 1948, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed.
- Mexico gave up land known as the Mexican Cession.
- Whigs were in support to the end of the war.
- $18 million was paid to maintain good relations with Mexico.
Profit and Loss in Mexico
- The Mexican War provided good generals who fought in the Civil War.
- The Wilmot Proviso required that Texas remained slave free. Passed House, not Senate.
Chapter 27
America Turns Outward
- Farmers and factories wanted new markets.
- Agrarian unrest.
- Many took Darwinism to mean that everything belonged to the strong.
- A stronger, steel navy increased oversea attention. Captain Mahan’s ​The Influence of Sea
Power upon History​.
- The ​Big Sister policy​ aimed to bring Latin American markets more exclusively into the
American markets. Led by SOS James Blaine.
- British Guiana and Venezuela had a land dispute. Gold was discovered. America took the
side of Venezuela and threatened war.
- This eventually led to a period known as the ​Great Rapprochement​. Britain befriending
US.
Spurning the Hawaiian Pear
- Since early 1800s, Hawaii had been used as a waystatino for traders.
- Eventually became heavily used for sugar production. \
- Native population dwindled.
- Whites brought in Japanese and Chinese to work.
- McKinley Tariff​ hurt sugar prices as it negatively affected Hawaiian grown sugar.
- This led to growers pushing to annex Hawaii.
- A coup was successful, but Cleveland denied annexation in 1893.
-
Successfully annexed in 1898.
Cubans Rise in Revolt
- Cubans revolted against Spain.
- Spain put ​Insurrectos​ in concentration camps.
- Pulitzer and Hearst exasperated the situation. Graphic and exaggerated cartoons were
made. The sinking of the Maine caused public outcry. Everyone wanted war.
- Also published a letter from Dupuy de Lome describing McKinley in bad light.
- After public pressure, McKinley declared war.
- Teller Amendment​ declared that upon overthrowing Spanish rule, Cuba would be free.
Dewey’s May Day Victory at Manila
- Updated US ships quickly defeated Spanish.
- Ground troops with Filipino Emilio Aguinaldo took the land.
- Soon annexed Hawaii.
The Confused Invasion of Cuba
- Won in Puerto Rico
America’s Course (Curse?) of Empire
- US received the Philippines.
- Freedom might lead to Anarchy.
- Annexation would not be profitable.
- Anti-Imperialist League​ fought expansionism.
- Filipinos wanted freedom and would violate consent of the governed.
- Eventually took in Philippines.
Perplexities in Puerto Rico and Cuba
- The ​Foraker Act​ of 1900 granted Puerto Rico a limited government. Gained citizenship
in 1917.
- Insular Cases​ ruled that the constitution did not extend to Puerto Rico and the
Philippines.
- America honored the Teller Amendment, but proposed the ​Platt Amendment​. This
prohibited Cuba from compromising their independence. It also prevented them from
going too far into debt. US could step in at any time. Did not want other nations to be
near US. US got Guantanamo.
New Horizons in Two Hemispheres
- More respect from Europe.
-
Better North/South relations.
“Little Brown Brothers” in the Philippines
- America refused to exit the Philippines.
- Insurrections broke out.
- Filipinos were tortured. Guerilla warfare.
- Eventually stopped riots by capturing Aguinaldo.
Hinging the Open Door in China
- After China’s defeat by Japan, European powers took Chinese holdings. Worried the US.
- SOS John Hay issued to all powers the ​Open Door Note​. Said to respect certain rights
and fair competition.
- In the ​Boxer Rebellion​, Chinese killed foreigners, Chinese Christians, and diplomats.
- America received indemnity. Used some to educate American Chinese students.
Imperialism or Bryanism in 1900
- McKinley and TR win against Bryan.
TR: Brandisher of the Big Stick
- McKinley is shot early in the term.
- TR becomes president.
Building the Panama Canal
- Waterway would make Hawaii and Puerto Rico more defensible.
- Britain was dealing with Europe and the Boers. Agreed to the ​Hay-Pauncefote Treaty​ in
1901. Allowed US to build and fortify the canal.
- Revolt incited in Panama. Deal made.
TR’s Perversion of Monroe’s Doctrine
- Latin American countries were in debt. European collectors gained power.
- Roosevelt Corollary​ announced that the US would help pay off debts.
Roosevelt on the World Stage
- Russia began to move in to Manchuria of China. Japanese didn’t like this. War.
- Japanese asked US to help sponsor peace as they were running low on men.
- US didn’t want Japan to grow too fast so TR agreed.
Japanese Laborers in California
-
Japanese rushed into California. Californians did not like this.
School board segregated Asians.
TR wanted to stop aggressive actions.
Negotiated. Japan would stop issuing passports. Japanese already here would be treated
well.
To show power. TR sent the white fleet around the world.
Signed the ​Root-Takahira agreement​ with Japan in 1908. Promised to respect each
other's territorial possessions and the Open DOor in China.
Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
Political
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The new reformists had their origins in the Greenback Labor party.
Bryan, Atgeld, and Populists attacked trusts.
Many new magazines came such as the Cosmopolitan. The Muckrakers found dirt to
charge public opinion about large companies. Roosevelt did not approve.
Progressives favored the ​Initiative​. This allowed voters to vote directly for legislation.
They also pushed for ​referendum​. This allowed for the proposal of laws that would be
approved by the people. ​Recall​ allowed voters to remove corrupt elected officials.
Many state legislatures passed corrupt-practices acts, which limited the amount of money
that candidates could spend for their election.
In 1913, the 17th amendment established the direct election of US senators.
Robert M. La Follette, governor of Wyoming, worked to removed control from
corporations. Worked to regulate public utilities.
Roosevelt’s “Square Deal” embraced control of corporations, consumer protection, and
the conservation of natural resources.
TR urged congress to create a Department of Commerce and Labor. In this was the
Bureau of Corporations which was authorized to probe businesses engaged in interstate
commerce. It was later used in trust-busting.
The ICC was very ineffective at controlling railroads. TR urged further legislation. The
Elkins Act​ of 1903 allowed for heavy fines on railroads that gave rebates and on the
shippers that accepted them.
The ​Hepburn Act​ of 1906 restricted free passes. The ICC was finally useful. It could
nullify existing rates and impose maximum rates.
TR liked some trusts. Didn’t others. Liked US Steel.
With approval of the SC, in 1904, TR enforced the dissolving of Northern Securities
Company.
The ​Meat Inspection Act ​of 1906 required meat shipped over state lines be inspected.
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The ​Pure Food and Drug Act​ of 1906 was meant to prevent the mislabeling of foods
and pharmaceuticals.
The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 allowed the president to set aside public forests as
national parks.
The Carey Act of 1894 distributed public lands on the condition that they be irrigated and
settled.
The Newlands Act of 1902 allowed money taxed from the sale of public land in western
states be used to fund the development of irrigation projects.
Roosevelt announced he would not run for a third term. Reduced his power.
TR pushed for the nomination of William Howard Taft. The Democrats nominated Bryan
again.
Taft called for the dissolution of US Steel.
Roosevelt ran again under the National Progressive Republican League.
International
- Many social reforms in the US were based off of European policies.
- Taft used American investments to boost US political interests abroad. Known as ​Dollar
Diplomacy​.
Religion
Arts
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Henry Demarest’s ​Wealth Against Commonwealth​ attacked Standard Oil Company.
Thorstein Veblen’s ​The Theory of the Leisure Class​ (1899) attacked “predatory wealth”,
that is to make money for money’s sake.
Jacob Riis’s ​How the Other Half Lives​ spoke to middle class americans. It focused on the
poor conditions in NYC slums.
Muckrakers’ exposés were often made into books.
Part of Upton Sinclair’s ​The Jungle​ (1906) described poor meat and food quality.
Jack London’s ​Call of the WIld s​ pread public concern for nature.
Technology
Economic
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Laissez-faire economics were no longer as strongly approved of.
Economists called for reforms based on Europe.
In 1907 an economic crisis hit. Many wealthy blamed it on his anti-trust mentality.
In response, Congress passed the Aldrich-Vreeland Act in 1908. This allowed for the
national banks to issue emergency currency. Led to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
Social
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The 20th century was characterized by progressive social reform. The main goal in the
end was to strengthen the state and use government to maintain the public well being.
The ​Social Gospel​ was a brand of progressivism based on Christian teachings. It called
for better living conditions for the poor.
Jane Addams and LIllian Wald worked for better lives of people living in large cities.
Lincoln Steffens for ​McClure’s​ wrote articles titled “The Shame of the Cities”. He wrote
on the corruption between businesses and municipal government.
Ida M. Tarbell exposed practices of the Standard Oil Company.
Thomas Lawson, a speculator, exposed malpractices in his own industry.
David Phillips wrote a series, “The Treason of the Senate” (1906) in which he claimed
that most of the senators served railroads and trusts. Shot.
Dr. Harvey Wiley helped attack drug companies who produced habit-forming drugs.
Social change mostly occurred at the local level. Many cities adopted the city-manager
system. This was designed to take politics out of municipal administration. Partly
removed civic affairs from the people.
Settlement houses offered women exposure to problems such as poverty and political
corruption.
Women were often drawn to maternal issues such as child labor and safe food.
Several organizations such as the National Consumers League, the Women’s trade Union
League, the children’s Bureau, and the Women’s bureau gave female reformers a national
voice.
Florence Kelley, a former resident of the Hull House, became the Illinois chief factory
inspector.
Muller v. Oregon​ (1908) present evidence for greater protection for women in the
workplace. Ended up closing many jobs to women.
Many workplace laws were not enforced. In 1911, a fire in a NYC factory broke out. 146
died. This eventually led to workers’ insurance and responsibility for industrial accidents.
Many states restricted or abolished alcohol.
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In 1902, many PA miners went on strike. After the effects were felt, TR threatened the
coal company with federal intervention. They granted the miners a 9 hour day and 10%
raise.
The frontier became symbolic of individualism and democracy.
!
Wilson: The Idealist in Politics
- Wilson spoke directly to congress.
- First president from seceded states since Taylor.
Wilson Tackles the Tariff
- Wilson worked against tariffs, banks, and trusts.
- Wilson personally presented congress his plan and the ​Underwood Tariff ​was passed.
- Lowered rates.
- Wilson urged the people to keep their reps in line.
- Tariff revenue lowered, income tax went up.
Wilson Battles the Bankers
- Most national banks were centered in a few big cities. Funds were unable to make it to
certain areas when needed during financial stress.
- The Federal Reserve Act​ 1913 could issue paper money. Could control the amount of
money in circulation.
The President Tames the Trusts
- The ​Federal Trade Commission Act​ of 1914 allowed appointed commissions to search
industries engaged in interstate commerce.
- The ​Clayton Anti-Trust Act​ of 1914 increased the Sherman Act’s list of unacceptable
business practices. Could not employ price discrimination or interlocking directorates.
Used holding companies.
Wilson at the Peak
- Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 made credit more available to farmers.
- The ​Workingmen’s Compensation Act​ of 1916 gave help to federal employees during
disability and restricted child labor on products flowing into interstate commerce.
Supreme Court shot down, however.
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The ​Adamson Act ​of 1916 gave an 8 hour work day to train employees in interstate
commerce.
Did not do much for blacks.
New Directions in Foreign Policy
- Wilson was an anti imperialist.
- Worked against dollar diplomacy.
- Said government would not offer special support to American investors in S. America
and China.
- Wilson called for Congress in 1914 to repeal the Panama Canal Tolls Act of 1912. This
exempted American coastwise shipping from tolls. Ended this.
- In 1916, he signed the ​Jones Act​ which considered the Philippines a territory and
promised eventual independence.
- In 1915, sent marines to quell riots in Haiti.
- Bought Virgin Islands from Denmark.
Moralistic Diplomacy in Mexico
- Mexico revolted in 1913 and installed General Victoriano Huerta.
- The dictator caused massive immigration to America.
- Wilson initially did not want to go into Mexico.
- In the Tampico incident, American sailors were captured by Mexicans. Wilson sent the
navy to take Vera Cruz.
- Argentina, Brazil, and Chile got Huerta to leave office and prevented war.
- Wilson allowed guns to get to Huerta’s rivals.
- Carranza became the new president.
- Pancho Villa killed Americans to try to provoke a war.
- Villa was captured By General John Pershing.
Thunder Across the Sea
- Serb killed Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. Serbia did not back down, backed
by Russia.
- Russia and France surrounded Germany.
- Germany invaded Belgium so they would be able to repel Russia later.
- Central Powers​ had Germany Austria=Hungary. ​Allies​ had France, Britain, and Russia,
and later Japan and Italy.
- America remained neutral.
- England spoke the same language and controlled transatlantic cables.
- News stories hurt Germany.
America Earns Blood Money
- American industry traded much less with Germany after the war. Much more trade with
the Allies.
- America still was considered neutral, however, Germany was upset.
- Britain prevented American trade with Germany.
- In 1915, Germans sunk the Lusitania and killed Americans.
- The public wanted war, but Wilson held back.
- Germany agreed to the Sussex Pledge which said that they would warn before sinking
unarmed ships. Germany stipulated that the US would have to convince the Allies to stop
the trade blockade.
Wilson Wins Reelection in 1916
- Republicans attacked Wilson for tariff, attacks on trusts, and lack of commitment with
Mexico and Germany.
- Wilson ran on keeping the country out of war. Hughes lost.
War by Act of Germany
- In 1917, Wilson reaffirmed US neutrality.
- Germany announced unrestricted sinking of all ships in the war zone.
- The ​Zimmerman Note​ was intercepted in 1917. In it, German foreign secretary, Arthur
Zimmerman, proposed a German-Mexican alliance tempting Mexico with the idea of
recovering Texas, NM, and Arizona.
- Germany continued to sink US ships. Tsars in Russia were removed. America could enter
the war. In 1917, Wilson asked for a declaration of war.
Wilsonian Idealism Enthroned
- Wilson said tried to gain public support by saying the war was to end the war and to
increase democracy.
- Public supported the war.
Wilson’s Fourteen Potent Points
- Wilson gave an address to Congress in 1918 saying that the war was for a moral cause.
Part of it called for a League of Nations.
Manipulating Minds and Stifling Dissent
- The ​Committee on Public Information​ was created to raise US support for the war.
- The Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918 worked to remove support of
US enemies.
- Schenck v. United States​ (1919) affirmed the legality of the acts.
Forging a War Economy
- Wilson increased the size of the army.
- Established the ​War Industries Board​.
- Herbert Hoover, head of Food Administration, refused issuing ration cards. Hoover called
for the public to save food for export. They did. Farm production rose.
Workers in Wartime
- Industrial Workers of the World​ were antiwar and had industrial industrial sabotage.
- War employment brought many blacks to the steel industry. Known as the ​Great
Migration​.
Suffering Until Suffrage
- Many women got men’s jobs while men were fighting the war.
- The national Women’s Party opposed the war.
- The larger National American Woman Suffrage Association supported the war.
- Wilson supported the 19th amendment which gave women a vote.
- The ​Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act ​of 1921 provided assistance to widows.
Making Plowboys into Doughboys
- Wilson opposed the draft, but thought it was necessary.
- Congress passed the draft act in 1917. Women were allowed in the armed forces.
America Helps Hammer the Hun
- The Bolsheviks withdrew Russia from the war in 1918.
- This sent many Germans to the western front.
- The ​Second Battle of the Marne​ was the beginning of the German withdrawal.
- Pershing wanted to cut German railroad lines.
- Germany began to run out of supplies.
- Surrendered in November 1918.
Wilson Steps Down from Olympus
- Wilson was the first president to represent in Europe.
An idealist amid the Imperialists
- The Paris Conference was mainly led by US, Italy, Britain, and France.
- Wilson pushed for the League of Nations to prevent future wars.
- The Treaty of Versailles was signed forcibly.
- Few of Wilson’s points made it in.
Wilson’s Battle for Ratification
- Isolationists did not like the league of nations.
- Many didn’t like the treaty either.
- Warren Harding won in 1920.
Seeing Red
- Bolsheviks came into power in 1917 during the ​Bolshevik Revolution​.
- America took on a xenophobic attitude against those considered unamerican.
- Criminal syndicalism laws​ made it illegal to bring about social change through violent
means.
- Advocating for the ​American Plan​, businesspeople were able to suppress unions.
- In the trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, the jury and judge were biased as
they were Italians, atheists, and draft dodgers.
- Mitchell found and exposed many communists.
Hooded Hoodlums of the KKK
- The KKK was against Communism, internationalism, evolution, gambling.
- The KKK grew quickly amongst white protestants in the Midwest and South.
- Embezzlement led to the dissolution of the clan in the 1920s.
Stemming the Foreign Flood
- Isolationist America in the 1920s had little use for immigrants.
- Many had come from southern and eastern Europe.
- The Emergency Quota Act of 1921 limited immigrants to 3 percent their immigration in
1910.
- The Immigration Act of 1924 limited it to 2 percent of 1890.
- Horace Kallen wanted to preserve the identity of America
- Randolph Bourne wanted mixing of Americans and immigrants.
The Prohibition “Experiment”
- In 1919, the 18th Amendment was passed and with the Volstead Act prohibited alcohol.
- Prohibition was mainly popular in the south and west. It was not well supported in
eastern cities.
- Prohibition did not do well as it was not strongly enforced. Underground businesses
began to sell alcohol.
- Due to prohibition, bank savings increased and absenteeism in industry decreased.
The Golden Age of Gangsterism
- Illegal alcohol led to police bribes.
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Alcohol gangs engaged in rival fights in big cities. This was often in immigrant
neighborhoods.
In 1925, Al Capone was an alcohol distributor.
Gangsters also dealt in areas of prostitution, gambling, and narcotics.
Merchants paid protection money to gangs or they would be attacked.
Racketeers​ invaded labor unions as promoters.
The Lindbergh Law passed in 1932 made interstate abductions a death penalty offense.
Monkey Business in Tennessee
- In the 1920s, states started to focus on education. John Dewey brought the idea of
learning by doing. He taught that experience was necessary.
- The Rockefeller Foundation launched a public health program and wiped out hookworm.
- Fundamentalists were upset by recent advances in healthcare and education.
- In Tennessee, John Scopes was charged for teaching evolution.
The Mass-Consumption Economy
- The automobile brought a new system of assembly-line methods and mass-production.
- Andrew Mellon’s tax policies benefited the 1920s.
- Henry Ford manufactured the Model T cheaply and quickly.
- Fordism​ is the technique of the moving assembly line.
- With the car and other mass produced items, people began to purchase on credit.
The Advent of the Gasoline Age
- The auto industry was dependent on steel and created many jobs.
- The petroleum industry grew tremendously. Oil was discovered in California, Texas, and
Oklahoma.
- The railroads were hurt.
- Better roads were paid for by taxes on gas.
- Socially, cars became very important.
- Leisure hours were more accessible.
- The car somewhat removed women’s dependence on men.
Humans Develop Wings
- Gasoline engines also led to air travel.
- In 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright had their first successful flight.
- After the use of planes in WWI, many companies began to manufacture passenger planes
for transportation and mail.
- Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. This spurred more work
in aviation.
The Radio Revolution
- Guglielmo Marconi invented the telegraph in 1890.
- In 1920, the Harding election was broadcasted in Pittsburgh.
- Advertising made its way to radio.
- Radio connected the nation. It brought many educational and cultural advances.
Hollywood’s Filmland Fantasies
- In 1903, The Great Train Robbery showed in theaters.
- Birth of a Nation in 1915 glorified the KKK.
- In WW1, it was used as a means of anti-German propaganda.
- The spread of media helped to mix ethnic communities and cultures.
The Dynamic Decade
- By 1920, most Americans lived in urban areas.
- Many Fundamentalists lost out to the Modernists.
- The 1920s brought an openness to sex and eroticism.
- Freud argued that sexual repression was responsible for nervous and emotional ills.
- The ​United States Negro Improvement Association​ promoted the resettlement of
blacks to Africa.
Cultural Liberation
- Modernism​ was a philosophical movement in the 1920s that promoted the questioning of
social conventions.
- Fitzgerald wrote the Great Gatsby in 1925 focused on wealth and social standing.
- Hemingway responded to propaganda and patriotism in his books.
- The ​Lost Generation​ was an a group of artists and writers after the war.
- The Harlem Renaissance was a black cultural movement based in Harlem.
- It brought the idea of the New Negro who was a full citizen and social equal to whites.
Wall Street’s Big Bull Market
- The 1920s also brought a strong increase in the appeal of the stock market to the middle
class American.
- Debt had increased significantly from 1914 to 1921.
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In 1921, Republican Congress created the Bureau of the Budget to help create an annual
budget. Mellon reduced the national debt by using spare the rich policies.
The Republican “Old Guard” Returns
- Warren G. Harding was inaugurated in 1921. He did not like the office.
- Appointed Secretary of State, Charles Evans Hughes.
- Andrew Mellon was made Secretary of the Treasury.
- Herbert Hoover became Secretary of Commerce.
- Harding had many corrupt cabinet members. Albert Fall was an anticonservationist. He
was appointed secretary of the interior. Worked with the natural resources.
- Harry Daugherty was a crook in the Ohio Gang. Was attorney general.
GOP Reaction at the Throttle
- Harding was gullible. Many used him.
- The post-war Republicans wanted to continue laissez-faire policies. They wanted
government, not to leave business alone, but to help business.
- To achieve this, they put conservatives on the supreme court.
- Harding appointed 4 of the 9 justices in his 3 years.
- In ​Adkins v. Children’s Hospital​ in 1923, the Court reversed the ruling in ​Muller v.
Oregon.​ It had said that women deserved special protection. Also invalidated a
minimum-wage law for women. Argument was that since women could vote, they were
equals.
The Aftermath of War
- The war brought government control of the economy. These were removed after the war.
- The War Industries Board was dismantled.
- In 1920, railroads were returned to private management. Esch-Cummins Transportation
Act of 1920 encouraged private consolidation of railroads and pledged the ICC to
guarantee profit.
- The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 authorized the Shipping Board. With the La Follette
Seamen’s Act of 1915, American shipping could not compete with competition due to
their bad conditions.
- The Railway Labor Board cut wages 12 percent in 1922. Attorney General Daugherty
shut down the strikers. Union membership dropped.
- Veterans had gains from the war. In 1921, Congress created the Veterans Bureau.
Operated hospitals and provided vocational rehabilitation.
- The legion lobbied for veteran benefits. They mostly wanted monetary compensation for
the jobs they left to fight the war. Congress passed, Harding vetoed. In 1924, Congress
passed the Adjusted Compensation Act. It gave soldiers a paid-up insurance policy.
Coolidge vetoed and Congress overrode.
America Seeks Benefits Without Burdens
- The U.S. was had not yet passed the Treaty of Versailles. In 1921, Congress passed a
joint resolution saying the war had ended.
- Isolationism returned. The Harding administration did not like the League of Nations.
- Unofficial observers were sent to meetings in Geneva.
- Britain and America had a rivalry in the Middle East for oil.
- Secretary Hughes secured a place in the Middle East for oil.
- America, Britain, and Japan agreed to maintained a 5:5:3 ratio for the countries’ navies.
- Eastern possessions would not be fortified.
- The ​Nine-Power Treaty ​of 1922 agreed to keep open door policies in China.
- This achieve disarmament.
- Frank Kellogg signed with France the ​Kellogg-Briand Pact​, known as the Pact of Paris.
- It allowed defensive wars. Excuses for self defense were easy. The pact was
useless.
Hiking the Tariff Higher
- Business people wanted high tariffs to keep the market domestic. Many cheap goods
were coming from the recovering Europe.
- In 1922, Congress passed the ​Fordney-McCumber Tariff Law​.
- Harding and Coolidge both authorized many tariff increases.
- These tariffs hurt trade with Europe.
The Stench of Scandal
- Get rich quick schemes were common.
- Charles Forbes was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing $200 million in the
building of veterans’ hospitals.
- The ​Teapot Dome Scandal​ was an affair that involved oil reserves at Teapot Dome in
Wyoming and Elk Hills in California. Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall convinced the
secretary of the navy to transfer the properties to the Interior Department. Fall leased the
lands to oilmen Harry Sinclair and Edward Doheny. Bribed.
- It was exposed 2 years later and Fall was found guilty.
- This lost faith in the government.
- Daugherty was forced to resign due to the illegal sale of pardons and liquor permits.
“Silent Cal” Coolidge
- Coolidge was boring.
- Removed the corruption of the Harding administration.
- Coolidge kept the business friendly policies of Harding.
Frustrated Farmers
- After WWI, farmers struggled as the government stopped guaranteeing high prices.
- Better machines drove down the price of crops.
- The Capper-Volstead Act exempted farmers’ marketing cooperatives from antitrust
prosecution.
- The ​McNary-Haugen Bill​ was to keep crop prices high by allowing government to buy
surplus and sell them internationally. A special tax on farmers would make up for
government losses. Coolidge vetoed the bill twice.
A Three-Way Race for the White House in 1924
- In the election of 1924, John Davis ran for the Democrats, La Follette for the
Progressives, and Calvin Coolidge as a Republican.
- The Progressives and Democrats shared a voter base. Coolidge won.
- Follette was endorsed by the American Federation of Labor.
Foreign-Policy Flounderings
- Isolationism continued throughout Coolidge’s second term.
- There were exceptions in the Caribbean and Central America.
- There were still large international debts. Before the war, America had been in debt.
After the war, it was a creditor.
- Many investors loaned internationally.
- Britain and France wanted the U.S. to write off the debt as war costs. Also post war
tariffs made it difficult to repay debts.
Unraveling the Debt Knot
- Due to their debts, Britain and France demanded reparations from Germany.
- To collect, the French sent troops into the German Ruhr Valley in 1923. Germany
responded by letting the currency inflate.
- The ​Dawes Plan​ of 1924, negotiated by Charles Dawes, reschedule German reparations
and opened for further American private loans to Germany. Us bankers loaned to
Germany, who paid reparations to France and Britain, who paid war debts to the U.S.
- All debtors defaulted except Finland.
- Debt collection fostered ill will.
The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, 1928
- Coolidge did not run for reelection.
- Hoover was for isolationism, small government, and free enterprise.
- Democrats nominated Alfred Smith, who was a Catholic. Not good for running.
- Hoover won. First to win a state that seceded.
President Hoover’s First Moves
- The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 set up the Federal Farm Board. This board
purchased crop surplus to stabilize prices.
- The ​Hawley-Smoot Tariff ​of 1930 was a very large tariff of 60%. The tariff led to
retaliatory tariffs that shut off U.S. trade.
The Great Crash Ends the Golden Twenties
- Black Tuesday​ was October 29, 1929. 16 million shares of stocks were sold.
- More than the cost of WWI was lost in 2 months.
- High unemployment.
Hooked on the Horn of Plenty
- Farm and factor overproduction mainly led to the Great Depression.
- The ability to consume goods was less than the ability to manufacture.
- There was also rampant overexpansion of credit through installment plans.
- Drought in the Mississippi Valley in 1930 led to the foreclosure of many farms.
Rugged Times for Rugged Individualists
- Early in the depression, Hoover did not like government intervention.
- Hoover assisted the railroads, banks, and rural credit corporations hoping that it would
reach the people in a trickle-down method.
Hoover Battles the Great Depression
- Hoover recommends that Congress vote for funding of public works.
- Led to the Hoover Dam.
- Hoover fought ideas that he regarded as socialistic.
- The ​Reconstruction Finance Corporation​ was a government lending bank. It was
designed to give relief by assisting insurance companies, banks, agricultural
organizations, railroads, and local governments.
- There would be no loans to individuals.
- The ​Norris-La Guardia Anti-Injunction Act​ of 1932 outlawed anitunion or yellow-dog
contracts and disallowed federal courts restraining strikes.
Routing the Bonus Army in Washington
- Veterans were hurt by the depression.
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The Bonus Expeditionary Force demanded that Congress pay the bonus to be paid in
1945. Hoover sent the army to remove the protests.
Japanese Militarists Attack China
- Due to the weakness of Europe and America, Japan attacked Manchuria. They did not
follow open door policies.
- The Stimson doctrine in 1932 declared that the U.S. would not recognize the territory
acquired by force.
- League members did not act as they did not have the U.S.’s support.
Hoover Pioneers the Good Neighbor Policy
- Hoover worked to improve relations with South America.
- He took troops from Haiti and Nicaragua.
FDR: Politician in a Wheelchair
- Eleanor Roosevelt was very politically active.
- She worked in a NY settlement house.
- Joined Women’s Trade Union League.
- She brought many female activists to Washington when FDR was elected.
- FDR was charismatic.
- Supported heavy state funding.
Presidential Hopefuls of 1932
- FDR was vague when presenting the New Deal.
- Many of his speeches were written by someone else, often known as the ​Brain Trust​.
- FDR promised a balanced budget and spoke out against Hoover’s deficits.
- Throughout the campaign, Hoover was pessimistic. Strongly felt US needed the
Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
Hoover’s Humiliation in 1932
- Hoover lost.
- Blacks began to vote for Democrats.
- Some accused FDR of letting the depression worsen to later fix it.
FDR and the Three Rs: Relief, Recovery, Reform
- Roosevelt blamed the depression on money lenders.
- The congress was largely democratic. During the first hundred days large amounts of
legislation was passed.
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Some laws passed gave some legislative powers to the president.
Roosevelt Manages the Money
- The Emergency Banking Relief Act of 1933 gave the president power to regulate banking
transactions and the ability to open closed banks.
- Roosevelt used the radio to deliver many speeches to the public. Through this he assured
that it was safe to keep money in banks.
- The ​Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act​ insured deposits in banks up to $5000. This
prevented any bank failures.
- FDR ordered private gold to be given to the treasury in exchange for paper currency.
FDR took America off the gold standard.
- Congress now repaid in paper currency.
- Managed currency was used for inflation. FDR wanted to help debtors. To achieve this,
he had the treasury purchase gold at higher prices. This led to gold holders cashing in for
paper currency. In 1934, FDR returned to gold standard for international trade. The
Creating Jobs for the Jobless
- FDR used federal money to assist unemployed.
- During the Hundred Days, Congress passed the ​Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)​.
This gave the unemployed government camps. These people worked in reforestation,
firefighting, and flood control.
- The Federal Emergency Relief Act worked towards immediate relief. Federal Emergency
Relief Administration granted money to states to work on projects. Hopkins headed it.
- The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was also passed in the first hundred days. It
made money available to help farmers pay their mortgages.
- The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) helped to refinance mortgages on homes.
This made many people loyal to the democrats.
- FDR created the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in 1933. It was a branch of FERA.
Was directed by Hopkins.
- It provided temporary jobs during winter.
A Day for Every Demagogue
- Father Charles Coughlin was a Catholic priest who broadcasted against the New Deal. B
1942, the anti-semitic and demagogic speech was stopped by the Church.
- Dr. Francis Townsend promised everyone over sixty $200 a month.
- Senator Huey Long promised to give every family $5000.
- He was assassinated in 1935.
- These people threatened fascism in America.
- The Works Progress Administration (WPA) spent billions on public buildings and
infrastructure. Also created art through the Federal Art Project.
New Visibility for Women
- Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins was the first female cabinet member. Mary McLeod
Bethune was the director of the Office of Minority Affairs and was the highest ranking
African American in the administration.
- Ruth Benedict worked with Franz Boas developing the culture and personality
movement. Benedict’s ​Patterns of Culture​ c​ reated the study of cultures as collective
personalities.
Helping Industry and Labor
- The ​National Recovery Administration (NRA)​ helped with immediate relief and
long-term recovery and reform. It helped industry, labor, and the massive unemployed.
- Industries worked out codes of fair competition. Labor hours were reduced so that they
could employ more people.
- Labor was given more benefits. Yellow dog agreements were forbidden.
- FDR in the first hundred days legalized light wine and beer and put a tax of $5 on every
barrel.
- The 21st amendment repealed prohibition in 1933.
- Since the war in 1918, farmers had overproduction in grain.
- The ​Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA) ​set parity prices for goods.
Setting the price for a product gave it the same worth as in 1909 to 1914. The AAA paid
farmers to reduce their acreage.
- These payments were raised by taxing flour mills.
- Paying the farmers to reduce acreage caused more unemployment. The Supreme Court
shut down the AAA in 1936 when it declared that the regulatory taxations were
unconstitutional.
- Congress passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936. This had a
lowering of acreage by paying farmers to plant soil-conserving crops such as soybeans..
SC was fine with this.
- The Second Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 gave a more substantial payment.
Dust Bowls and Black Blizzards
- In 1933, a drought led to the ​Dust Bowl​. This displaced many farmers.
- The steam tractor and disk plow led to a loose topsoil that was easily moved.
- 350,000 Arkansas and Oklahoma citizens move to California.
- The Frazier-Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act in 1934 allowed for the suspension of
mortgage foreclosures for five years. It was shut down by the supreme court the next
year.
- A new law lowered it to three years. SC allowed it.
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In 1935, FDR set up the Resettlement Administration. IT removed struggling farmers to
new land.
John Collier fought for the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 which would encourage
tribes to create a local self-government. It helped to stop the loss of Indian lands.Many
tribes refused to agree to it. Didn’t want to become a spectacle.
Battling Bankers and Big Businesses
- The Hundred Day Congress passed the Federal Security Act which mandated that
promoters of stocks be transparent with the risk involved.
- In 1934, Congress passed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which served
to regulate and safeguard the stock market.
The TVA Harnesses the Tennessee
- New Dealers started to look at the power industry.
- The ​Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) ​was created in 1933 and created dams on the
Tennessee River and provided a source of power.
- Was the most revolutionary of the New Deal programs.
- Created to determine a fair price for electricity.
Housing and Social Security
- The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was created in 1934. It stimulated the
housing industry with small loans.
- In 1937, Congress embiggened the program, creating United States Housing Authority
(USHA). It was to loan money to states and communities to create construction. Slum
areas began to shrink.
- The ​Social Security Act ​of 1935 provided unemployment insurances. In old age, workers
would receive money.
A new Deal for Labor
- The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, or the ​Wagner Act​, created a new National
Labor Relations Board that stated the right of labor to have a self-organized group and to
negotiate through representatives.
- Many unskilled workers organized into unions.
- In 1935, John L. Lewis organized the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO).
Served unskilled laborers. Separated from the American Federation of Labor.
- New tactic was sit-down strike. Workers at a GM factory in Flint, Michigan won by not
leaving the factory.
- In 1937, a Memorial Day protest brought the police shooting of many picketers.
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In 1938, Congress passed the ​Fair Labor Standards Act​ which required that industries
involved in interstate commerce to set up minimum-wage and maximum-hour policies.
Child labor was forbidden. 16 minimum for safe jobs. 18 for others. Minorities did not
benefit from this.
CIO reorganized after the breaking from the AF of L into the ​Congress of Industrial
Organization.
Landon Challenges “The Champ”
- Republicans ran Alfred Landon. He agreed with many New Deal laws but not Social
Security.
- Those who benefited from New Deal policies voted for FDR.
Nine Old Men on the Bench
- The 20th amendment passed in 1933 removed the 6 weeks before inauguration.
- The SC was very conservative.
- FDR asked congress to raise the SC to 15 members due to old judges.
The Court Changes Course
- Many disliked the ​Court-packing plan​ of FDR.
- Many worried of a dictatorship.
- In 1937, the SC upheld a state minimum wage for women.
- Congress eventually agreed to add judges to lower courts. First legislative defeat for
FDR.
Twilight of the New Deal
- In 1937, the economy dipped again.
- Keynesianism​ is the use of government spending to encourage consumer spending.
- The Hatch Act of 1939 b=prevented federal officials from political campaigning and
soliciting.
- It prevented government funds from being used for political purposes.
New Deal of Raw Deal
- Many accused the New Deal of being wasteful and chaotic.
- The debt had risen immensely.
FDR’s Balance Sheet
- New Dealers argued that the spending was necessary for immediate relief. The economy
was not the primary object of the program.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of War
Political
- Congress strongly wanted to remain isolationist.
- FDR was re-elected for a third term in 1940. Americans wanted an experienced leader if
war came.
International
- Americans wanted to get rid of the Philippines. Labor parties didn’t like the low-wage
workers. American sugar companies were hurt from competition in the Philippines.
- In 1934, Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act. This said that the Philippines
would be independent after 12 years of U.S. economic and political supervision. Would
be independent by 1946. The U.s. decided it would remove army bases, but not naval
bases.
- FDR recognized the USSR in 1933 in hopes of trade as well as an ally against the
possible enemies of Germany and Japan. Was disliked by conservatives and Catholics.
- Roosevelt proclaimed the policy of the Good Neighbor with South America. Before this,
he pulled out of Asia and committed to non-involvement with Europe. Somewhat
Isolationist.
- FDR wanted South America to be able to defend in case of war.
- In 1933, the U.S. endorsed nonintervention in South American countries.
- The ​Good Neighbor Policy​ was shown in Mexico in 1941. The Mexican government
took U.S. oil in 1938. Roosevelt did not send military despite popular demand. He settled
with a deal with Mexico. U.S. lost some oil.
- The international depression brought totalitarianism. USSR cleansed itself of dissidents.
- Hitler took power playing off of the Treaty of Versailles.
- In 1933, Hitler withdrew from the League of Nations and began to rearm Germany.
- Hitler and Mussolini formed the ​Rome-Berlin Axis​.
- In 1934, Japan terminated the Washington Naval Treaty.
- Japan left the League of Nations in 1935. With Germany and Italy, they formed the
Tripartite Pact.
- Italy attacked Ethiopia in 1935. The League of Nations could have embargoed oil, but did
not want to cause hostilities.
- U.S. did not want another WWI. Also no one paid their debts from the war.
- In 1934, Congress passed the ​Johnson Debt Default Act​. This prevented nations who
did not repay debt from borrowing more money from the U.S.
- Most of America did not want war.
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Congress passed the ​Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937​. These said that when the
President declared the existence of a foreign war, no American could sail on a belligerent
ship or make loans to belligerents.
During the Spanish Civil War, many Americans fought in the ​Abraham Lincoln
Brigade​ against the fascist Franco.
U.S. remained neutral.
Franco destroyed the Spanish Republic.
U.S. allowed the European dictators to do whatever.
The U.S. also wanted to keep a small military. Large fleets cause large wars. It also didn’t
have to tax as much.
In 1937, invaded China.
FDR didn’t called it a war because then he couldn’t supply the Chinese with ammunition.
The Japanese also bought war supplies from the U.S.
FDr gave the ​Quarantine Speech​ in 1937 in which he called to embargo Italy and Japan
for their aggressions.
Many isolationists protested.
FDR went away from embargoes.
In 1937, the Japanese sank an American ship, the Panay. They apologized and payed. No
war.
Powers wanted to maintain peace, so they let Hitler take new possessions.
In 1938 in Munich, many countries agreed to have the Sudetenland given to Germany in
hopes that it would be the last.
6 months later, he invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia.
In 1939, USSR signed a nonaggression treaty with Germany.
The ​Hitler-Stalin pact​ meant that Hitler could take Poland.
After Hitler invaded Poland, England and France declared war.
FDR still maintained neutrality.
U.S. couldn’t help France or England due to neutrality laws.
The ​Neutrality Act of 1939​ allowed European democracies to buy U.S. war supplies on
a cash basis. U.S. could not ship it to them. Avoid loans and war debts and the attack of
U.S. ships.
FDR could also now issue danger zones into which U.S. ships could not pass.
China was blockaded, so was not helped by this.
Solved the unemployment problem.
The possibility of Germany taking England caused FDR to begin production of planes
and a larger navy on two oceans to check Japan.
At the Havana Conference of 1940, FDR agreed to share with South America the
responsibility of the Monroe Doctrine.
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The ​Kristallnacht​ was caused by a speech by Joseph Goebbels. Many Jewish shops were
attacked as well as Synagogues. Thousands were sent to concentration camps.
Jews in the St. Louis were turned away from Cuba and the U.S. Immigration laws and
Southern Democrats prevented FDR from allowing the Jews into the country.
The U.S. eventually sent ships to Britain in exchange for military bases. FDR ignored
Congress.
The ​Lend-Lease BIll​ allowed for the U.S. to send weapons. Would be sent back after the
war.
Religion
- USSR was anti-religion. Catholics disliked the U.S.’s alliance with them.
- In 1936, Hitler militarized the Rhineland. He began to exterminate the Jewish population.
Arts
Technology
Economic
- The ​London Economic Conference​ was created in order to combat the global
depression. It would set currency exchange rates in hopes of reviving international trade.
1933. Roosevelt didn’t want to stabilize the dollar as he feared it would hamper his plan
for domestic economic recovery. This would foreshadow a lack of U.S. international
cooperation later.
- Good neighbor policies went hand and hand with New Deal trade policies. Secretary of
State Hull believed that the U.S. should sell and buy evenly and did not want to be in a
trade war.
- In 1934, Congress passed the ​Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act​. It was made to
increase U.S. exports. It also implemented low tariff policies of the New Deal.
- It did not reduce tariffs across the board as it would be dangerous. It only reduced
strongest of the Hawley-Smoot tariffs. Roosevelt could lower tariffs greatly so long as the
other country did the same. Skipped over Congress.
- International trade increased.
Social
!
Political
- In 1942, a conservative congress removed many of the old New Deal programs like the
Works Progress Administration.
- The ​War Production Board (WPB) ​was created to organize the military production.
This board could control the production of factories and stopped the production of
passenger cars and prioritized the transportation of raw materials.
- Government grew greatly. Government used rationing systems. Many worked for
government industries and in the military where they were controled by the FEPC and the
NWLB.
- FDR wins against Dewey. Won because the war was going well.
International
- The ​ABC-1 agreement​ with the British had stipulated that the U.S. would focus its
power on Germany before it attempted to completely defeat Japan.
- The U.S. needed time in the war as it was not set up for war production. During this time
U.K had to hold off Germany.
- Japan moved to take Midway Island. It could attack Pearl Harbor and Pacific fleet ships
from there.
- The fighting was entirely by plane.
- America won, then took Guadalcanal.
- Navy and marines took various small Japanese-held islands.
- Marianas islands fell to the U.S. The U.S. carried out constant bombings of Japan.
- War strategists did not want to push directly into Europe through France. Wanted to go
via Southern Italy.
- Stalin, FDR, and Roosevelt met in Tehran. Agreed on Soviet attacks fromthe East with
the Allied assault in France.
- Battle of the Bulge was the last large offensive by Hitler to capture Antwerp. Failed.
- Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945.
- A firebomb raid on Tokyo killed 83,000 people.
- The ​Potsdam conference​ created an ultimatum for Japan.
- August 6, Atom bomb dropped.
- Stalin entered the war on August 8 and went into Manchuria.
- August 9 brought another atom bomb on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on August 10th.
Religious
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Advanced German submarines sunk many merchant ships.
Arts
Technology
Economic
- In 1942, war production reached $100 billion. This greatly reduced any idle industry.
- Farmers increased their output greatly.
- Low unemployment and a lack of consumer goods caused inflation. The ​Office of Price
Administration (OPA) ​adjusted prices to bring them down.
- Rationing was employed with certain foods and fuel.
- The ​National War Labor Board (NWLB) ​imposed limitations on wage increases.
- Unlike other labor unions, the United Mine Workers were on strike often. John L. Lewis.
- In 1943, Congress passed the ​Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act​. This allowed the federal
government to operate industries which were under strikes. Strikes against
government-operated industries were criminal offenses.
- When the war started, FDR worked to grow the South’s economy by giving more defense
contracts.
- Americans were very well off after the war. The rest of Europe was devastated.
- America was deep in debt. Raised the income tax rates and who was affected. Only 2/5
were paid from the current taxes and revenues.
Social
- Unlike WWI, there were not as many fresh immigrants during WWII. Everyone was
dedicated to the war effort.
- Except for the 100,000 Japanese that were put in camps during the war. This was
authorized under ​Executive Order no. 9066​. This was most caused by fear from the
Pearl Harbor bombing.
- Despite some, strikes were not that common. Citizens were focused on the war.
- 216,000 women were recruited for non-combat purposes by the military.
- The ​Women’s Army Corps (WACs), Women Accepted for Volunteer
Emergency-Service (WAVES) and the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve ​were
some of them.
- Certain categories of workers were exempted from the draft to maintain industrial and
agricultural production.
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The draft did cause a shortage in workers. The ​Bracero Program​ came from an
agreement with Mexico in 1942 which brought man Mexicans work harvesting crops and
fruit.
Many women took up jobs. 6 million.
The majority did not, however.
Many quit whether it be voluntarily or from being replaced by returning men.
Many blacks moved during the war to seek jobs in different factories in the West in
North.
A. Philip Randolph , head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, worked for equal
opportunity for blacks in war jobs. FDR issued an executive order which forbade
discrimination in defense industries. He also created the ​Fair Employment Practices
Commision (FEPC)​ to enforce this. Blacks were drafted, however, still did not have
many combat positions.
The creation of the cotton picker in 1944 greatly reduced the labor needed to pick cotton.
Blacks left the South quickly.
Code Talkers​ were Native Americans serving in the military that could communicate in
their native languages to remain secretive.
The moving of people caused racial tension.
Many attacked Mexicans in LA in 1943. Mexican ambassador stopped it.
!
Political
- Many military started to move to the sunbelt due to lower taxes, better climate, and
economic opportunities. This shifted the center of political power from the old North
East.
- Truman was a moderate Democrat.
- In 1946, there was a Republican Congress. Attempted to pass tax cuts for upper-income.
Truman vetoed.
- The 22nd amendment was ratified in 1951 to impose a two term limit.
- The Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1947. Truman vetoed, but was overrode.
- Outlawed contracts that required workers to be part of a union before being hired.
- Allowed states to pass right to work laws which forbade contracts requiring
workers to join a union after being hired.
- Outlawed multiple unions boycotting a product.
- Put an 80 day waiting period before the president could declare a strike
endangering the national safety.
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In 1948, Truman won against Dewey and THurmond.
Truman started a reform program called the Fair Deal. In 1949, he pushed for national
health care insurance, federally aided education, civil rights legislation, funds for
housing, and a new farm program.
- Most were blocked, except an increase in minimum wage and a wider scope of
social security.
- Were rejected due to a Republican congress and concerns over the Cold War.
Republicans convinced the Truman administration to set up a Loyalty Review Board.
The Smith Act of 1940 made it illegal to advocate or teach the overthrow of government
by force. It was upheld by Dennis et al. v. United States in 1951.
Despite a veto, Congress passed the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950. This made
it illegal to support a totalitarian government, restricted the hiring and travel of those
joining Communist organizations, and allowed the creation of detention camps.
House of representatives created the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
Originally created in 1939 to find Nazis.
International
- Soviet alliance was only temporary.
- Since the Bolsheviks, U.S. has viewed them as a threat to capitalism.
- There was the Red Scare of 1919. U.S. didn’t recognize the Soviet Union until
1933.
- Distrust was created when Stalin signed the Nonaggression Pact of 1939 with Hitler.
- Stalin was upset that Britain and the U.S. waited until 1944 to pen a second front. Most
deaths were Soviets.
- Truman was more suspicious of USSR than FDR.
- U.N. was formed in 1945. U.S. G.B., China, France, and the Soviet Union had permanent
seats and veto power.
- An agreement proposed by Bernard Baruch was to eliminate atomic weapons and
regulate nuclear energy. Soviet Union rejected this. Made U.S. think they had malicious
intent.
- U.S. offered Soviets to join the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank). It would be to fund the rebuilding of the damage. They denied.
- Soviet Union manipulated elections in Eastern European countries to bring in communist
leaders. Freedom of Poland was what started WWII.
- USSR kept Eastern Germany. They wanted a weak Germany as well as large war
reparations. THe U.S. and G.B. wanted to allow Germany to recover. THey believed it
was important to the stability of Central Europe.
- USSR stole U.S. atomic technology.
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Churchill spoek in 1946 in Fulton, Missouri. He called for the halt of communism. This
may have been a factor in the starting of the Cold War.
Appeasement didn’t work out too well with Hitler, so Truman and SoS, George Marshall,
moved towards containment in EUrope so that the USSR would back off Communism.
Truman Doctrine
- Implemented due to a Communist uprising in Greece and Soviet demands for
control of a water route in Turkey.
- Truman requested from COngress $400 million to assist Greece and Turkey
against totalitarian regimes through financial and military aid. It was supported by
both sides.
The Marshall Plan
- Due to the destruction of Europe, the Truman administration feared that Europe
would turn to Communism.
- In 1947, Marshall proposed a plan to send economic aid to european nations to
revive their economics and hep democratic governments.
- Truman proposed to COngress a $17 billion Recovery Program. In 1948, $12
billion was approved for economic aid in Western Europe over 4 years. Known as
the Marshall Plan.
- This succeeded in helping Europe get back on its feet and eliminated a
Communist threat. Made more divisive Western Europe vs Communist eastern
Europe.
In 1948, USSR cut land access to Berlin. Truman ordered planes to supply West Berlin.
Stalin did not challenge the airlift. In 1949, Soviet Union opened the routes to Berlin.
Two Germanies: Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic.
Truman broke the tradition of avoiding permanent alliances with European nations by
joining the North Atlantic Treaty ORganization. NATO defended members from outside
attack. Eisenhower was the first Supreme Commander. U.S. troops stationed in eastern
Europe to deter Soviet invasion. USSR created the Warsaw Pact for Communist
countries in Eastern Europe.
In 1950, the National Security Council recommended 4x defense spending, alliances with
non-Communist countries, and an American public for the arms buildup. Caused an arms
race.
NATO checked USSR expansion.
Asian countries resisted U.S. influence.
Japan was solely under the control of the U.S. under MacArthur. Under MacArthur, in
1947, Japan set up a parliamentary Democracy. The emperor remained as a figurehead.
Japan now had a limited military capability. They depended on the U.S. for protection.
U.S. had bases in Japan to defend against Communists. Japan become a strong ally.
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Chiang Kai-shek was the head of the Nationalists in CHina. Mao Zedong led
communists.
John Marshall was sent in 1946 to negotiate an end to China’s civil war. Fell apart.
Congress sent military aid, but it mostly ended up with the communists due to corruption.
Nationalists retreated to Formosa (Taiwan). U.S. only recognized Beijing in 1979.
Korea after freedom from Japan split on the 38th parallel. Soviets took the northern part.
Led by Kim Il Sung. South led by conservative nationalist Syngman Rhee.
June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Using the containment policy, Truman
called for a U.N. Security Council. Taking advantage of a Soviet boycott, the council
under the U.S. authorized a U.N. force to defend SOuth Korea. U.S> made up most of the
forces sent. War was never declared. It was considered by Truman a police action.
N. Korea initially pushed U.S. and S. Korea back. MacArthur led an amphibious assault
which sent the army nearly to the Chinese border.
MacArthur pushed for total victory, while Truman didn’t want him to. Fired him. Came
home a hero.
Truman administration used the war as a reason to expand military. The stalemate in
Korea made republicans dislike Truman’s “Soft” take on Communism.
FBI found Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to be spies. Tried and convicted of treason and
executed in 1953.
Religious
Arts
-
Many actors and playwrights were considered unamerican such as Arthur Miller. Loyalty
oaths were often required.
Technology
- By 1949, Soviets had stolen U.S. nuclear technology and had an atomic bomb.
Economic
- The public had not spent much during the war due to shortages. This led to prosperity
after the war for the returning military.
- The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill of Rights), payed for the higher
education of returning military. Many attended college. Low interest loans were also
provided for homes and businesses. Stimulated postwar economic expansion.
- William J. Levitt began building cheap suburban neighborhoods in New York. This with
low interest loans made it an affordable option. This would later make inner cities poorer
and more dangerous.
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The Employment Act of 1946 created a Council of Economic Advisers to help promote
economic welfare. Truman wanted more progressive measures but were shot down by
Southern Democrats and Republicans.
Truman tried to keep certain wartime checks on inflation, but Congress did not. Led to
inflation.
Many workers striked in 1946. Railroad and mines striked. Truman seized mines with the
military.
Social
- Truman established the Committee on Civil Rights in 1946.
- In 1948, he desegregated the federal government and the military. Many bases were in
the South.
- Also wanted to pass a bill that would stop hiring discrimination. Democrats shot it down.
- Through accusations, McCarthy gave himself media attention and hurt the Truman
administration. Many Republicans disliked him, but he was going after Democrats.
- Television went after him eventually. Democrats and Republicans in Senate censured
McCarthy.
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Political
- During the election of 1952, Americans wanted relief from the Korean War and an end to
Washington scandals.
- Nixon was Eisenhower’s running mate.
- Eisenhower’s cabinet consisted of businessmen. Secretary of Defense was former GM
head.
- Eisenhower was fiscally conservative and wanted to balance the budget after the costly
spending of years past.
- Moderate on domestic issues. He kept most New Deal programs and extended some of
them.
- Social Security was further expanded under Eisenhower. The minimum wage was raised
and more public housing was built.
- In 1953, he created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). It was led
by Oveta Culp Hobby, the first woman in a Republican cabinet.
- Eisenhower created a soil-bank program which reduced production in order to increase
prices. He was opposed to federal health insurance and aid to education.
- Eisenhower was the first president since Hoover. He branded his new ideas as modern
Republicanism.
- In 1956, the Highway Act was passed. It authorized the creation of several thousand
miles of highways across the country.
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- Created jobs.
- Promoted the trucking industry
- Sped up the growth of the suburbs.
- United the national culture.
Disposable income of Americans rose. Postwar was prosperous.
Eisenhower’s SoS was John Foster Dulles.
International
- Dulles didn’t like the lax containment policy of truman. He wanted to liberate the Eastern
European countries and encouraged the Taiwanese to stand up to communist China.
- He was willing to push communist countries due to U.S. nuclear superiority. Known as
brinkmanship. Eisenhower throttled Dulles. Kept him from going schizoid
- Dulles wanted to improve nuclear programs and reduce the traditional military. He
believed that this would be cheaper and increase pressure on communist countries. In
1953, America had the hydrogen bomb. Soviets caught up.
- Prevented large wars between superpowers.
- The postwar brought independence to many countries under imperial control in Asia and
Africa.
- These new third world countries often lacked stable political institutions. They were often
aided by the U.S. or U.S.S.R and were used as pawns in the Cold War.
- America used covert action rather than sending military troops.
- CIAA helped to overthrow the government in Iran. This brought back the shah of Iran. In
return, America sold weapons and got good prices on oil.
- In 1954, the CIA overthrew a left government in Guatemala. America often supported
dictators in Latin America.
- Fueled anti-American sentiment.
- Eisenhower worked to stop the war in Korea. Diplomacy, the threat of nuclear war, and
the death of Stalin in 1953 led to an armistice by China and North Korea. Most American
troops were withdrawn.
- France lose Indochina to Japan during WWII. Tried to retake it. They wanted
independence. China and the Soviet Union aided guerrillas led by Ho Chi Minh. In 1954,
a French base was surrounded at Dien Bien Phu and surrendered. The French looked to
America for troops, but Eisenhower refused. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, France
gave up Indochina. Now Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
- The country was divided at the 17th parallel to be reunited after elections. The North,
however, became communist and was led by Ho Chi Minh and the SOuth was Catholic,
rural, and anticommunist led by Ngo Dinh Diem. The election wasn’t held, because the
South feared that the communists would win.
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1955-1961, the U.S. gabe $1 billion in aid to South Vietnam. Eisenhower used a domino
theory to explain why keeping South Vietnam was important.
Dulles created SEATO, a regional defense pact. Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. This
was to prevent South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from falling into communism.
Signed nations were the U.S. G.B., France, Australia, New Zealand, the PHilippines,
thailand, and Pakistan.
U.S. had to balance relationships with oil countries and Israel.
Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser requested the U.S. to fund the Aswan Dam on the Nile
River. America refused due to Egypt’s hostility towards Israel. Nasser got some funding
from Soviets. He then seized the British and French controlled Suez Canal. This canal
was necessary to send oil to the western world. British and French invaded and took back
the canal. Eisenhower was mad that he was not told of the invasion and sponsored a U.N.
resolution which condemned the invasion. Britain and France withdrew.
The U.S. took its place as lead of Western influence in the United States.
Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)
- The U.S. promised economic and military aid to any Middle Eastern country
threatened by communism.
- In 1958, Eisenhower sent 14,000 marines to Lebanon to prevent a civil war
between Christians and Muslims.
In 1960, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela joined the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The West needed Middle Eastern oil. Combined
with fighting between Israel and Palestinians was a problem.
After Stalin’s death in 1953, both the U.S. and Soviet Union wanted to slow the arms
race. USSR withdrew troops from Austria and made peace with Turkey and Greece.
In 1955, a summit was held in Geneva, Switzerland. Here Eisenhower and Nikolai
Bulganin met. Eisenhower proposed an open skies policy in which either nation could
engage in surveillance to prevent surprise nuclear attacks. USSR refused.
- Bulganin did, however, denounce the acts of Stalin and wanted to coexist with the
West.
In 1956, Hungary overthrew a government supported by Moscow. Tanks were sent by
Khrushchev to restore the government. The U.S. did not take action.
- Eisenhower feared that doing so would start a war. His lack of action
acknowledged the Soviet sphere of influence and ended SoS Dulles’s plans to free
the East. The progress made at Geneva was reversed.
Khrushchev threatened the US. saying to remove all Western Berlin troops in 1958. They
met in 1959. They agreed to schedule a summit conference in Paris in 1960.
Just before the meeting in Paris, a U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory.
Eisenhower took responsibility and Khrushchev denounced the U.S. and walked out of
the Paris Summit.
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In 1959, Castro overthrew the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Cuba was communist
and nationalized .S. businesses and properties. Eisenhower cut off trade. Cuba turned to
the Soviet Union.
- Eisenhower authorized the CIA to train anticommunist Cubans to retake Cuba.
Last act of Eisenhower.
LEGACY
- Began thawing the Cold War in 1958.
- Agreed to relax the arms race by suspending above-ground testing of nuclear
weapons.
- In his farewell address, Eisenhower warned against the acquisition of unwarranted
influence by the military-industrial complex.
Religious
Arts
Technology
- In 1957, the Soviets sent the first satellites into orbit.
- America blamed this on the schools.
- In 1958, Congress created the National Defense and Education Act (NDEA). This
authorized millions of federal money to education for math, science, and foreign
language education.
- In 1958, Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
- The missiles from the Soviet satellites could quickly send nuclear missiles.
Economic
- U.S. embargoed Cuba. Cuba turned to the Soviet Union.
Social
- Race relations progress accelerated after WWII. Jackie Robinson was on a major league
team in 1947. Truman desegregated the federal government.
- Over the decades, the NAACP had been fighting the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
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Thurgood Marshall argued in the early 1950s in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
This argued against separate but equal policies. Violation of 14th amendment equal
protection of the laws. Ruled with Marshall.
There was outrage in the South. Many public schools opened. Congress members said it
was an abuse of judicial power. The KKK made a comeback.
Arkansas governor Oral Faubus used the National Guard to prevent african American
students from entering LIttle Rock Central HIgh School. Eisenhower sent federal troops
to allow them entrance and protection.
Still in 1964, less than 2% of blacks attended integrated schools.
1955 Rosa Parks thing.
Her arrest sparked the boycott of city busses. MLK emerged as the leader of the
movement.
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Political
- 1960 election Nixon vs. Kennedy.
- Television played a major role in the election. The debates were televised. Nixon
appeared tenser than Kennedy. Kennedy was a Catholic. Kennedy won. Dead
votes?
- Kennedy called for further funding of education, health care, urban renewal, and civil
rights. Many programs fell apart in Congress. Most were passed under President Johnson.
- Kennedy fought against big steel corporations.
- Kennedy Assassinated November of 1963.
- Johnson embraced social reforms of the New Deal.
- Johnson persuaded Congress to
- Pass an expanded version of Kennedy’s civil rights bill
- And one of Kennedy’s income tax cuts. This increased jobs, consumer spending,
and economic expansion.
- The Election of 1964 ran Johnson against Goldwater.
- Goldwater wanted to end the welfare state. Democrats on TV pushed Goldwater as an
extremist who wanted nuclear war.
- WIth a 2/3 majority in Congress, Johnson passed many economic and social reforms.
Food stamp Act, National FOundation on the Arts and Humanities, Medicare, Medicaid,
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Higher Education Act, Immigration Act, and
the Child Nutrition Act.
- Election of 1968 Nixon elected.
International
- In 1961, Kennedy set up the Peace Corps. It recruited volunteers to give technical aid to
developing countries.
- The Alliance for Progress promoted land reform and economic development in Latin
America.
- In 1961 in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Kennedy approved the CIA plan to send Cubans to
overthrow the government. They failed and Kennedy wouldn’t send forces to save them.
Cuba got more from the Soviet Union.
- In 1961, Khrushchev in Vienna demanded that the U.S. pull out of West Germany.
Kennedy refused. Built the Berlin wall to stop fleeing East Germans.
- In 1962, U.S. reconnaissance planes found Russian sites for launching missiles in Cuba.
- Kennedy set up a naval blockade of Cuba until the situation was dissolved and the
missiles were removed. Soviet ships didn’t challenge the blockade and Khrushchev
removed the missiles.
- There were many small wars in the Cold War in Africa and Southeast Asia.
- Kennedy embraced flexible-response policy which reduces the risk of using nuclear
weapons and embraced conventional weapons and forces.
- Kennedy had Eisenhower’s domino theory. He continued sending aid to South vietnam.
- In the Tonkin GUlf Resolution gave Johnson power to use all necessary measure to
protect U.S. interests in Vietnam.
- After the Vietcong attack at Pleiku in 1965, Johnson authorized Operation Rolling
Thunder which was a prolonged air attack in North Vietnam. Johnson sent 185,000
troops in 1965.
Religious
Arts
Technology
Economic
- Under Kennedy, the economy was stimulated through defense and space exploration.
- Kennedy, through the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, lowered tariffs with the European
Economic Community.
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The oFfice of Economic Opportunity (OEO) was created.
Many other programs for the poor were passed by Johnson.
Social
- The March on Washington (1963) was 200,000 blacks and whites marching peacefully in
Washington in support of the civil rights bill. I have a dream speech.
- March to Montgomery (1965) led to the beatings and tear gassing of blacks. “BLoody
Sunday. These events were televised and was a turning point for the civil rights
movement. National outrage moved Johnson to send federal troops to protect the
protesters.
- Muslim Elijah Muhammad preached for black nationalism, separatism, and
self-improvement. Malcolm X advocated violence against violence.
- Race riots erupted after the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In Watts 34 people were killed.
- King was murdered in 1964.
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Chief justice Earl Warren was very impactful.
Mapp v. Ohio in 1961 ruled that illegal evidence cannot be used in court. Fruit of the
poisonous tree.
- Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963 required state courts provide an attorney to those who
cannot afford one.
- 1964 Escobedo v. Illinois required police to inform arrested persons of his right to remain
silent.
- 1966 Miranda v. Arizona extended right to remain silent to right to have an attorney
during questioning.
Chapter 29
Political
- Nixon’s presidency was secretive.
- He focused more on international relations, than domestic policy.
- Nixon and SOS (2nd term), worked to reduce Cold War tensions.
- Nixon wanted to reduce involvement in the war without admitting defeat.
- Vietnamization was the act of withdrawing troops while pledging money for
weapons and training so that South Vietnam could handle it themselves.
- The Nixon Doctrine declared that Asian allies would receive U.S. support without
extensive use of troops.
- Nixon invaded Cambodia in 1970 to destroy Vietnamese communist bases.
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- This resulted in the Kent State riot which led in the death of four students.
In 1970, the public learned of a Vietnamese massacre by U.S. troops in 1968. This
furthered antiwar sentiment. Also, the NYT leaked documents revealing government
mistakes and lies with dealing with Vietnam.
Democrats held both the house and senate throughout the 1970s. Nixon shifted the public
towards conservatism for the 80s and 90s.
Nixon tried to replace welfare with the Family Assistance Plan which would have
provided a guaranteed income for working Americans. Democrats shut this down.
Nixon succeeded in shifting social programs from the federal to the state and local levels.
Nixon was first elected with a minority of the vote. In the second election, he called to
the “silent majority”. These were people who were dissatisfied with the liberal shifts such
as the counterculture and black busing.
- For the South, he asked the federal courts to delay integration plans and busing
orders. He nominated two southern conservative to the Supreme Court.
Nixon replaced Earl Warren with Warren Burger.
- More conservative, but not always. In 1971, the court ordered busing for racial
balance in schools. In 1973, Roe v. Wade. The court also ordered he turn in the
Watergate tapes. Denied executive privilege.
His reelection was assured by:
- Successes diplomatically with China and USSR
- George Wallace’s attempted assassination. Paralyzed.
- THe democrats’ very liberal and antiwar candidate. McGovern.
Democrats still held Congress.
Showed the increasingly conservative SUnbelt and suburban voters.
Nixon officials were caught stealing information and bugging the Watergate complex in
D.C. Part of Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP).
Nixon’s aides created the plumbers to stop leaks such as the one that revealed the secret
bombing of Cambodia.
Money and pardons were used to keep the burglars quiet. Aides resigned to protect
Nixon.
The Oval Office was taped. Nixon didn’t want to give them up.
VP Agnew resigned as he took bribes as Maryland governor.
Gerald Ford VP.
Congress passed the War Powers Act after they learned of the bombing of neutral
Cambodia. President would have to report to Congress after military action and Congress
would approve military action that lasted more than 60 days.
In 1973, Nixon fired the prosecutor Archibald Cox who was assigned to the case.
- In protest the U.S. AG resigned.
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House began impeachment proceedings. On the tapes, just after Watergate, a
section was missing.
- The House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment: obstruction
of justice, abuse of power, contempt of Congress.
Resigned in 1974. Gerald Ford time. Not elected.
Is watergate good? Checks and balances? Caused lack of faith in Federal government.
Dangerous shift of power to the presidency that began with FDR. Expanded during the
Cold War.
First thing Ford did was pardon Nixon. Unfavorable. Said it was to prevent a prolonged
nightmare.
Bicentennial Celebration in 1976. Helped to forget Watergate and Vietnam.
Ford beat Reagan for the nomination. Carter elected. Carter got most of the black vote.
Democratic majority in Congress.
Informal Carter was an effort to end the imperial presidency.
International
- Nixon and Kissinger had clandestine meetings with N. Vietnam’s foreign minister, Le
Duc Tho. Kissinger announced in 1972 that there was peace. This was premature and
peace was not reached so Nixon sent several weeks of bombings. An agreement was
reached. America would withdraw troops and get back POWs. N. Vietnam would have
free elections. Did not stop the fighting between North and South Vietnam.
- Nixon administration took advantage of USSR and China’s rivalry. This led to a detente
which reduced Cold War tensions.
- In 1972, Nixon travelled to meet with Mao. His diplomatic meetings led to the U.S.
recognition of the government in 1979.
- With his relationship with China, Nixon pressured the USSR to sign a treaty which
limited anti ballistic missiles. This technology would have expanded the arms race.
- These were known as Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I). Reduced Cold War
tensions.
- In 1973, Syria and Egypt attacked Israel to try to reclaim land lost during the Six-Day
War. U.S> supplied arms to Israel. Israel won.
- Arab members of OPEC placed an embargo on Israeli supporters. Caused an oil shortage.
In the U.S. caused inflation and the loss of manufacturing jobs. Led to the shift from
American cars to Japanese cars which were more fuel efficient.
- Congress passed a 55 mph speed limit to save gas. A pipeline to Alaska was
created. Nothing done to stop the inflation rates or help the economy.
- In 1975, Saigon fell and Vietnam was one communist country. Hurt international prestige
and domestic confidence.
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In 1975, the US.S supported government in Cambodia fell to communist Khmer Rouge.
Genocide of his own people through a relocation program to get rid of western influence.
The wars led to many refugees who came to the U.S.
U.S. fight against communism in Vietnam gave others such as Malaysia time to develop
to resist communism.
Carter and black ambassador to UN, Andrew Young, worked for human rights. Worked
against black oppression in South Africa. Latin American Argentina and Chile lost U.S.
aid due to human rights violations.
Carter gave the Panama Canal to the Panamanians.
With Carter as an intermediary, Egypt and Israel reached peace in 1978 in the Camp
David Accords.
Since the overthrow of the democratically elected leader in Iran in 1953, they had not
liked the U.S. The Shah had given good oil prices. In 1979, Islamic Iranians led by the
Ayatollah removed the shah.
In 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 50 Americans as
hostages. In 1980, Carter approved a rescue mission. Helicopters broke down. Aborted
the mission. Symbol of a failed presidency.
Carter tried to continue the detente. Stopped recognizing Taiwan. MOved ahead with a
SALT II treaty. Senate never approved, however, due to Cold War tensions in
Afghanistan.
In 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan. Ended the improving relations with the U.S.
Didn’t want Soviets to control the oil heavy Persian GUlf.
Carter:
- Placed an embargo on grain exports and the sale of technology to the Soviets.
- Boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Carter campaigned for arms reduction, but had to have an arms buildup.
Religion
Art
Technology
Economy
- Through revenue sharing, or New Federalism, Congress approved giving local
governments 30 billion in grants to help with local needs instead of the federal
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government dictating where the money would be spent. Republicans wanted this to check
the strength of the Federal Government. Wanted things where they were before the New
Deal.
Nixon tried to impound funds for social programs to bypass Congress. SC said no.
The 1970s had both economic slowdown and high inflation. Staglation. To stop inflation,
Nixon cut federal spending. People thought this led to unemployment, so he adopted
Keynesian economics and deficit spending to not lose the favor of the middle-class.
In 1971, he imposed a 90 day wage and price freeze.
He took the dollar off the gold standard which devalued it relative to foreign currencies.
He also placed higher taxes on imports.
These all improved U.S. balance of trade with foreign competitors.
In 1972, the depression was over. Congress approved automatic increases for SOcial
Security based on the cost of living. This helped the elderly, poor, and disabled. This
contributed to budget problems.
Domestically, Ford was more conservative than Nixon. He mainly wanted to bring
inflation under control.
- He worked for voluntary measures by businesses and consumers. Wearing of
Whip Inflation NOw pins. INflations continued and the economy further sank into
depression. Ford agreed to a Democratic package to stimulate the economy.
Inflation slowed the economy as business couldn’t afford the interest rates.
- Chairman of Federal Reserve board raises interest rates to stop inflation. This hurt
automobile and building industries. Unemployment. .
Social
- In 1972, Congress passed Title IX which ended discrimination in public schools based on
sex. This was mainly seen in athletics.
!
Chapter 30
Politics
- Reagan attacked the Democrats for expansion of government and hurting U.S. prestige,
pointing to the hostage crisis with Iranian radicals. Misery index of 29. Inflation plus
unemployment. Voters didn’t like Carter.
- Reagan’s election broke up the New Deal by getting the majority of the blue-collar vote.
Republicans got the Senate. First since 1954.
- Reagan promised:
- Lower taxes
- Reduced government spending on welfare
- A building up of the military
- More conservative federal court
- Jesse Jackson ran, but not nominated. Black. Geraldine Ferraro first VP candidate. 1984
Reagan won.
- Reagan continued to increase defense to compete with USSR.
- Sent aid to anti-communist forces in Latin America.
- Bush went against promise and raised taxes.
- American Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibited discrimination against physical and mental
disabilities.
- 27th amendment prohibited Congress from raising their own salaries. Raises could not go
into effect until the next session. 1992.
- Bush was successful with foreign policy, but lied about taxes. Bill Clinton.
- Clinton focused on jobs, education, and health care.
- Wife worked for universal health coverage. Been a thing since Truman.
- Dont ask don’t tell policy.
- Brady Handgun bill which mandated a five day waiting period.
- CANti-Crime Bill which funded police protection and crime prevention programs.
Banned most assault rifles. NRA: *anger.
- Republicans gained control of both houses.
- Democratic Congress was unpopular raised taxes and gun restrictions.
- Newt Gingrich, Speaker of House, attacked federal programs. Government shutdowns on
budget.
- 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- In 1996, compromised on a budget that left Medicare and Social Security benefits intact.
Limited welfare to five years. Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Act.
- Clinton sexual harassment allegations. Impeached on perjury and obstruction of justice.
International
- The day Reagan was inaugurated, Iranians released the 52 hostages.
- In Central America, Reagan supported right-wing dictators to stop communism.
- In 1979, Marxist Sandinistas overthrew. Reagan sent military aid to the contras to remove
the Sandinistas.
- In 1985, Democrats passed the Boland Amendment which prohibited aid to the
contras.
- Reagan spent money in support of the Salvadoran government against leftist guerillas.
- Pro-Cuban Coup in Grenada. Reagan sent marines to re-establish pro U.S. government.
- U.S. sold anti tank and anti aircraft missiles to the Iranians for help with the hostages.
Sent the money to the contras.
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- Found out and temporarily decreased popularity.
In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to Stop the Palestinian Liberation Organization raids.
SOS George Schultz set up homeland for the PLO in West Bank territories.
Early 1980s increased arms build up. 1985, Gorbachev became the leader.
- Had a new openness to end the political repression.
- Restructured the Soviet economy with free-market practices. Arms race cost
Soviet economy.
Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to remove Intermediate-range missiles in the INF
agreement.
In 1988, Gorbachev pulled out of Afghanistan.
Reagan said that military buildup forced Soviets to abandon Cold War.
Gorbachev would no longer supported the communist governments of Eastern Europe
with armed forces.
Berlin Wall removed 1990.
Bush and Gorbachev signed START I in 1991 which reduced nuclear warheads.
In 1992, BUsh and Yeltsin signed START II which further reduced. U.S. offered
economic assistance to Russian economy.
Bush invaded Panama to remove the autocratic General Manuel Noriega as he was using
the country as a dug pipeline to the U.S.
- No longer containing Communism.
In 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait for oil.
Bush built a coalition of UN members to pressure Hussein’s withdraw. UN embargo
didn’t help.
Bush won approval for a military campaign.
Desert Storm half a million AMericans and 28 other countries.
Iraq conceded. Hussein remained in power. Bush popular.
Humanitarian missions led to soldier deaths in Somalia in 1993. Clinton sent troops into
Haiti to restore elected president.
In 2000, Putin elected in Russia. Repressed the civil war in Chechnya.
Saddam Hussein continued to defy the UN weapons inspectors. Clinton sent airstrikes
against Iraq.
Globalization led to the World Trade Organization WTO. Oversaw trade agreements,
enforced rules, settled disputes.
Religious
- By 1980, televangelists had millions of viewers. Jerry Falwell founded the Moral
Majority which financed campaigns to remove liberal Congress members. Attacked
secular humanism. Upset by Roe v. Wade in 1973.
Art
Technology
- Spent money to develop new bombers.
- Expansion of computers, internet, software field national production. E-commerce.
Economic
- In 1978, Californians revolted against taxes by passing Proposition 13 which cut property
taxes. They thought tax cuts would increase government revenues.
- Business interests in the 70s campaigned to curtail regulations, lower taxes, and weaken
labor unions. Think tanks created such as American Enterprise Institute, Heritage
Foundation to promote free-market ideas.
- Reagan argued that tax cuts and reduced government spending would increase investment
by the private sector which would in turn lead to more production and jobs. This was the
opposite of Keynesian economics favored by Democrats which focused on government
spending during downturns to boost consumer spending. Similar to trickle-down of
1920s.
- In 1981, Congress passed the Economic Recovery Act of 1981. Cut taxes which would
help upper-income.
- Conservative southern Democrats helped republicans cut funding from food stamps,
student loans, and mass transportation.
- Increased military spending.
- Reagan signed a bipartisan bill which increased what individuals paid into social
security and increased the age at which they could receive it.
- Reduced federal regulations on business. Begun under Carter.
- Deregulated emissions and auto safety to help American car industry.
- Took a tough stand against unions. Fired striking air traffic controllers for violating
contracts and decertified the union.
- Depression in 1982. Rebounded with Reaganomics in 1983.
- Reagan cut taxes and increased military spending. Tripled national debt.
- Trade imbalance led to foreign ownership of U.S. real estate and industry.
- To reduce the deficit, COngress passed the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget
Act in 1985. SPending cuts.
- Deficits discouraged social programs.
Social
- In University of California v. Bakke in 1978, the SC ruled that race could be considered,
but couldn’t have quotas.
-
Reagan nominated Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court.
Antonin Scalia and ANthony Kennedy. Scaled back Roe v. Wade. Allowed states to
place restrictions.
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Chapter 31
Political
- Election of 2000 settle by SC.
- Ralph Nader Green party took votes from Gore.
- Wanted to recount Florida. SC said it violated 14th equal protection.
- GWB pushed for tax cuts, deregulation, federal aid to faith organizations, pro-life, school
choice, privatization of Social Security and Medicare, drilling for oil in Alaska wildlife
refuge, and voluntary environmental standards for industry.
- In 2001, Congress had a budget surplus. Tax cuts of 1.35 trillion over 10 years. Lowered
top tax bracket, eliminated estate taxes, increased child tax credit and limits for IRA. All
got an immediate tax rebate. In 2003, more in the form of dividends, capital gains, and
married couples. Democrats said it only helped the top 5%. Doubled the national debt
from 5 to 10 trillion.
- Americans were willing to accept background checks and airport searches after 9/11.
- Bush created Department of HOmeland Security by combining 20 agencies.
Reorganization of government since Department of Defense.
- John Kerry ran against Bush in second term. Bush won. Controlled senate. Most powerful
since 1920s.
- Obama placed a formal ban on torture. Required army field manuals for interrogation.
- Expanded stem cell research.
- Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that strengthened equal pay for female employees.
- First term Democrats controlled Congress.
- Two new justices to SC both female. Replaced liberal justices. No change.
- Stimulus bill promoted reduced reliance on oil and alternative energy sources such as
solar and wind. Auto manufacturers encouraged to produce more hybrid and electric cars.
- Paris Agreement to reduce global carbon emissions.
- Efforts to develop a common curriculum standard.
- Debt nearly doubled.
- The Tea Party was in opposition to growing national debt and to Obamacare. Some
focused on gun rights, abortions, and immigration.
- With the Tea Party, Republicans in 2010 tok the House.
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Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission stated corporations were legal persons
and had the same rights as individuals to buy ads to influence political elections. New
money into politics from wealthy. Parties become weaker as candidates did not depend
on parties totally.
2012 election focused on Great Recession, Affordable Care Act, illegal immigration, U.S.
fiscal health. Obama won. Hispanics liked him. Republicans kept House of
Representatives.
The Senate and House fought. Little done. Standard and Poor’s downgraded Government
credit rating. Scalia died. Republicans would not hold hearing.
District of COlumbia v. Heller said that 2nd Amendment protects right to possess a
firearm unconnected with a militia.
Increased background checks.
International
- Bush relied on Cheney, former Sec of Defense, Colin Powell SOS (first black sos)
- Arab world didn’t like U.S. for siding with israel in cycle of Palestinian terror bombings
and Israeli retaliation.
- After WWI, Ottoman Empire was westernized and became secular nation states. U.S.
troops stationed in the Middle East after the Gulf War was disliked.
- Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda preached jihad. Wanted to restore Islamic caliphate.
- In response to U.S. embassy attacks in Kenya and Tanzania, U.S. bombed Al-Qaeda
camps in Afghanistan and the udan. Bin Laden fled to Afghanistan and allied with the
Taliban, who had taken over Afghanistan.
- Planes in World Trade Center in NYC.
- Taliban refused to turn over bin Laden. Their government was overthrown in Fall of 2001
by U.S. bombings, special forces, and anti-Taliban northern Alliance.
- American and Afghan forces chased the rest of AL-Qaeda into the mountains bordering
Pakistan, but did not capture bin Laden.
- Bush Doctrine that old policies of containment and deterrence weren’t effective in a
world of stateless terrorism. Bush said U.S> would be justified in using preemptive
attacks to stop the acquisition and use of weapons of mass destruction of nations that
support terrorism.
- SoS Powell negotiated an inspection plan with the UN Security COuncil. Iraq accepted.
Did not find WMDs. Bush continued looking due to intelligence which turned out to be
false.
- In 2003, Bush said Iraq did not comply with UN resolutions. Without UN support, U.S.
launched air attacks. With the British, within our weeks, U.S. overran Iraqi.
- Treatment of prisoners by U.S. diminished reputation.
-
Criticized for going into Iraq without sufficient troops to control.
Iraq began reconstruction by 2005 with their first election.
Taliban started attacks again.
When pulled out of Iraq, Shiite Sunni violence started again.
Obama said Bush ignored Afghanistan to invade Iraq. Made AL-Qaeda and Taliban a
priority. Approved adding 17,000 troops to Afghanistan and 30,000 in 2010. S]
In 2014, now focused on training and supporting the Afghan military.
2011, bin Laden killed in Pakistan.
Obama Administration joined others in 2015 saying that they would prevent Iranian
nuclear power for at least fifteen years.
EU debt because Greece poor.
Putin takes takes part of Ukraine after Russian supported government overthrown.
Religious
Arts
Technology
Economic
- Technology boom peaked in 2000. 2002 was a depression. Dow fell 38%.
Unemployment up 6%. Poverty increased.
- Fraud and dishonesty by business leaders hurt the stock market.
- Enron and WOrldCom had falsified stated earnings and profits with accounting
companies.
- Federal Reserve worked against the recession by cutting interest rates to 1.25% lowest in
50 years.
- Encouraged investors to move money into real estate. Created another
speculative bubble.
- 2002-2007 housing boom was fueled by fraudulent mortgage lending and runaway
speculation.
- When prices dipped, the bubble burst. Foreclosures, lowered prices. Banks faced
failure. Bankes either lacked funds or were afraid to make loans necessary to the
economy. Gas went up. Stocks declined. Unemployment.
- Fed government tried a stimulus package.
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The Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 created $700 billion Troubled Assets
Relief Program (TARP) to purchase failing assets such as mortgages.
Conservatives through TARP was socialism. LIberals thought it was a bailout
from Wall Street executives who caused the problems.
Some think it was due to excessive deregulation of the financial industry. Others think
the Federal Reserve kept interest rates too low. Could have been government efforts to
promote home ownership.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided 787 billion stimulus to
create 3.5 million jobs. Also 288 billion in tax cuts to stimulate spending.
Affordable Care Act of 2010 extended affordable health care insurance to 25 million
Americans through subsidies, mandates, insurance exchanges, and expansion of
Medicaid.
Social
- 2009, Congress made it a crime to assault based on sexual orientation.
- 2010 repealed don’t ask don’t tell.
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