1600 – 1700 Colonial Settlements
Document
. . . Nearness to the ocean and to navigable streams as well as local factors of site governed the
location of the nucleuses [settlements] at and about which the initial footholds on the Atlantic
seaboard were made. How well these elements were recognized by the colonizing agencies early
determined success or failure. The James, Potomac, Delaware, Hudson, and Connecticut Rivers
became the principal lines of penetration. In most of the English colonies settlers crossed the
Fall Line shortly before 1700, set up forts and trading posts along this break in navigation, and
entered both the Piedmont in the southern and middle colonies and the hill lands of New
England and New York. Always the rivers were the spearheads of penetration. Traders and
explorers crossed the mountain barriers to the west and learned of the headwaters of the Ohio;
the Dutch and later the English followed the Hudson to and above Albany; the New Englanders
advanced rapidly into the Connecticut Valley. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and smaller
settlements approaching urban size became centers of growth and commerce. By 1700 the total
population in Colonial America was about 275,000. . . .
Source: Herman R. Friis, “A Series of Population Maps of the Colonies and the United States, 1625–1790,”
Geographical Review, July 1940 (adapted)
1 Based on these documents, what is one way rivers influenced the settlement and exploration of
the United States?
Articles of Confederation 1785 - Strength
Document
The Land Ordinance of 1785 provided for the orderly survey and sale of public lands in the Northwest
Territory. The grid below shows the numbering of sections of land for sale in a township.
1 According to this grid, how did the Land Ordinance of 1785 encourage education in the Northwest
Territory?
1789 – Check and Balances U.S. Constitution
Document 1
The House of Representatives . . . shall have the sole power of impeachment. . . . The
Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments.
— United States Constitution, Article 1
1
Which branch of the United States government is responsible for the impeachment process?
Document 2
He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make
treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur; and he shall nominate,
and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors,
other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers
of the United States. . . .
— United States Constitution, Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2
2a To whom does “He” refer?
b Under Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2, what role does the Senate play in the appointment of ambassadors or
the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court?
Checks and Balances - Presidential Vetoes, 1901–1990
Regular
Vetoes
Pocket
Vetoes
Total
Vetoes
Vetoes
Overridden
T. Roosevelt
42
40
82
1
Taft
30
9
39
1
Wilson
33
11
44
6
Harding
5
1
6
—
Coolidge
20
30
50
4
Hoover
21
16
37
3
F. Roosevelt
372
263
635
9
Truman
180
70
250
12
Eisenhower
73
108
181
2
Kennedy
12
9
21
—
L. Johnson
16
14
30
—
Nixon
24
18
42
6
Ford
53
19
72
12
Carter
13
18
31
2
Reagan
39
39
78
9
G. Bush
14
6
20
0
President
1. What does this chart indicate about how the president can check the power of Congress?
2. What does this chart indicate about how Congress can check the power of the president?
1789 – The Treaty of Versailles
In this cartoon, why is the Treaty of Versailles in the wastebasket?
1787 – Development of U.S. Policy of Neutrality/Isolationism
Document 1
. . . Geography contributed powerfully to a policy of noninvolvement. A billowing ocean moat
three thousand miles wide separated but did not completely isolate the American people from
Europe. The brilliant young Alexander Hamilton pointed out in 1787, in Number 8 of the
Federalist Papers, that England did not have to maintain a large standing army because the
English Channel separated her from Europe. How much better situated, he noted, was the
United States. His point was well taken, for geographical separation—not isolation—made
possible the partial success of a policy of nonentanglement during most of the 19th Century. . . .
Source: Thomas A. Bailey, A Diplomatic History of the American People, Prentice Hall, 1980
1 According to Thomas A. Bailey, how did geography contribute to the United States policy of noninvolvement? [1]
_
Score
1794 – Presidential Action – The Whiskey Rebellion
Document
At daybreak on July 16, 1794, about fifty men armed with rifles and clubs marched to the
house of John Neville, regional supervisor for collection of the federal excise tax in western
Pennsylvania. They demanded that Neville resign his position and turn over to them all records
associated with collection of the tax on domestically distilled spirits. He refused. Shots were
fired. In the ensuing battle five of the attackers fell wounded. One of them later died. Neville
and his slaves, who together had defended the premises from secure positions inside the house,
suffered no casualties. The mob dispersed. . . .
The Whiskey Rebellion, as it is traditionally known and studied, had begun. Before it was over,
some 7000 western Pennsylvanians advanced against the town of Pittsburgh, threatened its
residents, feigned [pretended] an attack on Fort Pitt and the federal arsenal there, banished
seven members of the community, and destroyed the property of several others. Violence spread
to western Maryland, where a Hagerstown crowd joined in, raised liberty poles, and began a
march on the arsenal at Frederick. At about the same time, sympathetic “friends of liberty” arose
in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and back-country regions of Virginia and Kentucky. Reports reached
the federal government in Philadelphia that the western country was ablaze and that rebels were
negotiating with representatives of Great Britain and Spain, two of the nation’s most formidable
European competitors, for aid in a frontier-wide separatist movement. In response, President
Washington nationalized 12,950 militiamen from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and
Virginia—an army approximating in size the Continental force that followed him during the
Revolution—and personally led the “Watermelon Army”* west to shatter the insurgency
[rebellion]. . . .
Source: Thomas P. Slaughter, The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution,
Oxford University Press, 1986
*Watermelon Army was a nickname by whiskey tax rebels mocking the physical fitness and fighting skills of
federal troops, particularly those from New Jersey.
1. According to Thomas P. Slaughter, what was one problem that resulted from the collection of the
federal excise tax in western Pennsylvania?
Document 2
To Major-General Lee
Sir:—I have it in special instruction from the President [George Washington] of the United
States, now at this place, to convey to you the following instructions for the general direction of
your conduct in the command of the militia army, with which you are charged.
The objects [reasons] for which the militia have been called forth are:
1st. To suppress the combinations [groups] which exist in some of the western counties in
Pennsylvania, in opposition to the laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United
States, and upon stills.
2nd. To cause the laws to be executed.
These objects are to be effected in two ways:
1. By military force.
2. By judiciary process and other civil proceedings.
The objects of the military force are twofold:
1. To overcome any armed opposition which may exist.
2. To countenance [approve] and support the civil officers in the means of executing the laws….
Your obedient servant,
Alexander Hamilton
Source: Alexander Hamilton to Major-General Henry Lee, October 20, 1794,
Henry Cabot Lodge, ed., The Works of Alexander Hamilton, Volume VI,
G.P. Putnam’s Sons (adapted)
1. According to Alexander Hamilton, what action is President George Washington ordering in response
to the Whiskey Rebellion?
Effects of the Whiskey Rebellion
Document
. . . The [whiskey] rebellion has long been interpreted as a milestone in the creation of federal
authority, and in most respects that is its chief significance. Certainly to the Federalists, who had
long been striving for a strong national government, it was a major test: the new government
successfully crushed organized and violent resistance to the laws. As Hamilton put it, the
rebellion “will do us a great deal of good and add to the solidity [stability] of every thing in this
country.”. . .
Source: Richard H. Kohn, “The Washington Administration’s Decision to Crush the Whiskey Rebellion,”
The Journal of American History, December 1972
1. According to Richard M. Kohn, what was the significance of the Whiskey Rebellion
1796 – Washington’s Farewell Address
. . .The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our
commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So
far as we have already formed engagements let them be fulfilled with perfect good
faith. Here let us stop. . . .
Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different
course. . . .
Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our
peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or
caprice [whim]?
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. . . .
— George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796
1 According to this document, what United States foreign policy did President George Washington
favor? [1]
1803 – Judicial Review – Marbury v. Madison
So if a law be in opposition to the Constitution, if both the law and the Constitution
apply to a particular case, so that the Court must either decide that case conformably
to the law, disregarding the Constitution or conformably to the Constitution, disregarding the law, the Court must determine which of these conflicting rules governs the
case. This is of the very essence of judicial duty. . . .
— Chief Justice John Marshall
1
According to this quotation by Chief Justice John Marshall, what “power” does the Supreme Court have
1803 – Louisiana Purchase
Document
. . . The President [Thomas Jefferson] was playing for large stakes. Louisiana [Territory] stretched
from the Mississippi westward to the Rocky Mountains, and from Canada’s Lake of the Woods
southward to the Gulf of Mexico. If annexed, these 825,000 square miles would give the new
nation access to one of the world’s potentially richest trading areas. The Missouri, Kansas,
Arkansas and Red rivers and their tributaries could act as giant funnels carrying goods into the
Mississippi and then down to New Orleans. Even in the 1790s, with access to the Mississippi only
from the east, the hundreds of thousands of Americans settled along the river depended on it
and on the port of New Orleans for access to both world markets and imported staples for
everyday living. “The Mississippi is to them everything,” Secretary of State James Madison
observed privately in November 1802. “It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the
navigable rivers of the Atlantic formed into one stream.”. . .
Source: Walter LaFeber, “An Expansionist’s Dilemma,” Constitution, Fall 1993
2 According to Walter LaFeber, what were two benefits to the United States from acquiring the Louisiana
Territory? [2]
(1)
Score
(2)
Score
1803 – Louisiana Purchase – Lewis and Clark Expedition
Document 1a
. . .The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river; & such principal stream of it,
as by its course & communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, may offer the most
direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purpose of
commerce. . . .
— President Thomas Jefferson, Instructions to Meriwether Lewis, June 20, 1803;
Library of Congress Exhibition on Thomas Jefferson
Document 1b
The Louisiana Purchase and Western Exploration
Lewis and
Clark, 1805
Lewis, 1806
BRITISH
Maine
(part of Mass.)
OREGON
(RIVER)
REGION
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Clark,
1806
Vermont New
Hampshire
New York
Michigan
Territory
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Indiana
Territory
SPANISH
TERRITORY
300 kilometers
Azimuthal Equidistant
projection
i
300 miles
0
Mississippi
Territory
Maryland
North
Carolina
Tennessee
South
Carolina
0
Rhode
Island
Connecticut
New Jersey
Delaware
Virginia
St. Louis
Kentucky
LOUISIANA
TERRITORY
Massachusetts
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Georgia
Boundary in Dispute,
1803–1819
New
Orleans
Disputed between
U.S. and Spain,
Lewis and Clark
1803–1819
Gulf of
Mexico
Return trip
Source: Joyce Appleby et al., The American Journey, Glencoe McGraw–Hill, 2003 (adapted)
1 Based on these documents, what was one goal of President Thomas Jefferson when he instructed
Meriwether Lewis to explore the Missouri River?
1803 – Louisiana Purchase
Document
lu
Three Forks of
the Missouri River
ash R.
Pittsburgh
Lewis and Clark
Trail
Clark Return Trail
St. Louis
en
Source: Stephen E. Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, Simon and Schuster, 1996 (adapted)
1 Based on these documents, what is one way rivers influenced the settlement and exploration of the
United States?
1803 – Louisiana Purchase and Economic Growth
Document
CANADA
PACIFIC
OCEAN
VT
Ft. Mandan
so
NH
i
CT RI
PA
i
Council
Bluffs
Indiana
Territory
OH
Key
SC
Santa
Fe
Mississippi
Territory
U.S. territories
in 1804
Louisiana
Purchase, 1803
MEXICO
(Spanish)
San Antonio
NJ
DE
NC
TN
Disputed in 1804
MD
VA
St. Louis KY
States in 1804
MA
NY
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
GA
New
Orleans
FLORIDA
(Spanish)
Gulf of Mexico
Source: Paul Boyer, Boyer’s The American Nation, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (adapted)
1. Based on the information on this map, what action did President Thomas Jefferson take to encourage
the economic growth of the United States?
1816 - Economic Benefits of the Port of New Orleans
Document
Value of Produce From the Interior
Received at the Port of New Orleans, 1816–1860
Time Period
Value in Dollars
1816–1820
61,432,458
1821–1825
75,675,672
1826–1830
107,886,410
1831–1835
143,477,674
1836–1840
220,408,589
1841–1845
266,614,052
1846–1850
425,893,436
1851–1855
671,653,147
1856–1860
827,736,914
Source: Douglass C. North, The Economic Growth
of the United States, 1790–1860,
W.W. Norton & Co., 1966 (adapted)
1. Based on this chart, what was one way that control of the port of New Orleans affected the United
States economy?
1823 – The Monroe Doctrine
Document
. . . the American continents . . . are . . . not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any
European powers. . . .
In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor
does it comport [fit] with our policy so to do. . . . We owe it, there- fore, . . . to the amicable [friendly]
relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we should consider any
attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace
and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we . . . shall not
interfere. . . .
— James Monroe’s message to Congress, 1823
1. According to this document, what foreign policy did President James Monroe support?
2. What did President Monroe say about wars in Europe?
Tariff Bill of 1824
Document
. . . And what is this tariff? It seems to have been regarded as a sort of monster, huge and deformed;
a wild beast, endowed with tremendous powers of destruction, about to be let loose among our people,
if not to devour them, at least to consume their substance. But let us calm our passions, and deliberately
survey this alarming, this terrific being. The sole object of the tariff is to tax the produce of foreign
industry, with the view of promoting American industry. The tax is exclusively leveled at foreign industry.
That is the avowed and the direct purpose of the tariff. If it subjects any part of American industry to
burdens, that is an effect not intended, but is altogether incidental, and perfectly voluntary. . . .
Source: Henry Clay debating the Tariff Bill, March 1824, Annals of Congress, Vol. 42
1. According to Henry Clay, what was the purpose of the tariff?
1790 – 1855 Early Reform Movement - Voting Rights
Document a
Chronology of Property Requirements for Suffrage: 1790–1855
Year
Number of States
in Union
Number of States
with Property
Requirements
1790
13
10
1800
16
10
1810
17
9
1820
23
9
1830
24
8
1840
26
7
1850
31
4
1855
31
3*
* In 1855, the three states with property requirements were
Rhode Island, New York, and South Carolina; however,
Rhode Island exempted native-born citizens, New York’s
requirement only applied to African Americans, and South
Carolina offered a residency alternative.
Source: Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote:
The Contested History of Democracy in the United States,
Basic Books, 2000 (adapted)
Document b
… The possibility of labor’s emergence as a political force, a possibility that appeared to be a
probability in the early Jacksonian period, was due in large part to the nation’s steady advance
toward universal manhood suffrage. Whether universal suffrage came as a result of the political
idealism bred by the Revolution, or the conviction of Jefferson and the Jeffersonian Republicans
that government should be based on wide popular support, or the relative decline of freeholders
[property owners], or the influence of the frontier, or the more practical consideration that a
politician’s advocacy of wider suffrage was bound to ensure him the support of those
enfranchised as the result of his efforts, the fact was that suffrage qualifications had been steadily
lowering since the founding of the Republic.…
The lowering of suffrage qualifications did not mean that pure democracy had triumphed.
The ballot was still an open one, and any watcher at the polls could tell how votes were being
cast. Negroes [African Americans] and women were still considered unfit for the franchise. But
by Jackson’s time most adult white males in the United States had the right to vote on election
day. So shrewd an observer as Alexis de Tocqueville, writing in the eighteen-thirties, declared
that “the principle of the sovereignty of the people has acquired in the United States all the
practical development that the imagination can conceive.”…
Source: Glyndon G. Van Deusen, The Jacksonian Era: 1828–1848, Harper & Row, Publishers, 1959 (adapted)
1. Based on these documents, what are two factors that contributed to the expansion of democracy prior to the
Civil War?
2. Based on these documents, what is one way in which democracy was still restricted?
1828 – Jacksonian Era – Expansion of Voting Rights
Document
…Until the Jacksonian movement the common people seemed to have been content to have the
upper classes rule. But by 1828 the psychology of the plain people toward their government had
changed, and they wished for direct participation in the government and for the elevation of a
man of their choice into the presidency. In that year the common men came to the polls,
demagogic [emotional] oratory flourished, party slogans, party workers and organizers who had
an eye on the plums of office got out the vote. The campaign was personalized. This new type
of democracy, composed of the farmers of the West, the yeomen [landowning farmers] and small
planters of the South, and the labor vote of the North, was violently partisan and had little
interest in the protection of intellectual liberty or the rights of minorities, which had ennobled
[elevated] the brand of democracy that Jefferson had advocated. It was a rough and tumble
movement that resulted in the elevation of pushing, mediocre men to office. Their leader
Andrew Jackson, had a personality that was autocratic instead of being truly democratic, and he
lacked an interest in fundamental social reforms.…
Source: Clement Eaton, A History of the Old South, The Macmillan Company, 1966
1. According to Clement Eaton, who became involved in the democratic process during the
Jacksonian Era?
2. According to Clement Eaton, what is one way campaigns changed starting in 1828?
1828 – 1832 – The Nullification Crisis
Document
… Slavery was not the only cause of North–South confrontation during the 1830s and 1840s.
Ever since the passage in 1828 of the high protective tariff, dubbed by Southerners “The Tariff
of Abominations,” the Southern states had been protesting not just its unfairness but also its
illegality. They managed to get it reduced in 1832, though that was not enough for many South
Carolinians who argued that an individual state, as a party to the original compact that created
the Union, had the right to declare null and void within its borders a Federal law that it
considered unconstitutional or unjust. On this basis a special state convention of South Carolina
nullified the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, banned the collection of duties within its borders and
declared that any use of force by the Federal government would justify secession from the
Union. The Northern majority in Congress voted the President additional powers to enforce
collection of the revenues, but others successfully sought conciliatory [friendly] ways to avoid an
irrevocable [unstoppable] collision on this issue and the immediate crisis was averted, although
South Carolinians did not discard their secessionist arguments.…
Source: Batty and Parish, The Divided Union: The Story of the Great American War, 1861–65,
Salem House Publishers, 1987
1.
According to Batty and Parish, what was one reaction by South Carolina to the passage of federal tariffs?
2. According to Batty and Parish, what was one Northern response to the actions taken by South
Carolina regarding the tariff?
1800s - Federal Land Policy
Federal Land Policy in the 1800s
Grants
1. Land given as homestead grants
Acres
213.9 million acres
2. Land given to support railroad
construction
129.0 million acres
3. Land given to states for educational
purposes
– common schools
– agricultural & mechanical colleges
4. Land given to war veterans
(Revolutionary War, War of 1812,
Mexican War)
73.2 million acres
11.1 million acres
68.2 million acres
Source: Anderson and Martin, “The Public Domain and Nineteenth Century
Transfer Policy,” Cato Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3, Winter 1987 (adapted)
1. Based on this chart, what were two examples of federal land policy in the 1800s?
1830 – Indian Removal Act
Document
An act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or
territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in
Congress assembled,
That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any
territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or
organized territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished [revoked], as he [the
president] may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception
of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they now reside,
and remove there; and to cause each of said districts to be so described by natural or artificial
marks, as to be easily distinguished from every other. . . .
— Indian Removal Act of 1830
1. Based on this document, state one way that the Indian Removal Act of 1830 would affect many Native
American Indians.
1794 - Early Industrialization - Effects of the Cotton Gin
Document
The Effects of the Cotton Gin
. . . After the invention of the cotton gin, the yield of raw cotton doubled each decade after 1800. Demand
was fueled by other inventions of the Industrial Revolution, such as the machines to spin and weave it
and the steamboat to transport it. By midcentury America was growing three- quarters of the world’s
supply of cotton, most of it shipped to England or New England where it was manufactured into cloth.
During this time tobacco fell in value, rice exports at best stayed steady, and sugar began to thrive, but
only in Louisiana. At midcentury the South provided three- fifths of America’s exports — most of it in
cotton.
However, like many inventors, [Eli] Whitney (who died in 1825) could not have foreseen the ways in
which his invention would change society for the worse. The most significant of these was the growth of
slavery. While it was true that the cotton gin reduced the labor of removing seeds, it did not reduce the
need for [use of] slaves to grow and pick the cotton. In fact, the opposite occurred. Cotton growing
became so profitable for the planters that it greatly increased their demand for both land and slave
labor. In 1790 there were six slave states; in 1860 there were 15. From 1790 until Congress banned the
importation of slaves from Africa in 1808, Southerners imported 80,000 Africans. By 1860
approximately one in three Southerners was a slave. . . .
Source: Joan Brodsky Schur, “Eli Whitney’s Patent for the Cotton Gin,” U.S. National Archives & Records
Administration
1. According to Joan Brodsky Schur, how did the cotton gin contribute to the growth of the United States economy?
2. According to Joan Brodsky Schur, what was one negative impact of the cotton gin on American society?
1812 – Need for National Roads (War of 1812)
Document
. . . The war [War of 1812] exposed not only weaknesses in defense, but also in transportation. Modes
and methods of transportation were totally inadequate. Generals moved troops slowly by carriages, or
on foot, on poorly developed roads. President James Madison supported the idea of internal
improvements, yet he vetoed an internal improvements bill, which would have provided for the
construction of roads. He felt that roads and canals that would benefit local communities should be
funded by the respective states and private enterprises. He did, however, approve monies for a
National Road, solely on the grounds that it would benefit national defense. This road began in
Maryland and stretched all the way to Ohio, joining the Northeast with the western frontier. An
equally significant improvement was the completion of the Erie Canal, linking the Great Lakes with
New York City and the Atlantic Ocean. . . .
Source: Kerry C. Kelly, “Anti-railroad Propaganda Poster — The Growth of Regionalism, 1800–1860,” U.S.
National Archives & Records Administration
1. According to Kerry C. Kelly, what was one government action that improved transportation?
1836 – Early Industrialization – The Lowell Mills
Document
Representatives of The Harbinger visited factories in Lowell, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New
Hampshire. This is an excerpt from the magazine’s report of its findings.
… The girls [in the Lowell Mills] attended upon an average three looms; many attended
four, but this requires a very active person, and the most unremitting [constant] care.
However, a great many do it. Attention to two is as much as should be demanded of an
operative. This gives us some idea of the application required during the thirteen
hours of daily labor. The atmosphere of such a room cannot of course be pure; on the
contrary, it is charged with cotton filaments and dust, which, we are told, are very injurious
to the lungs.
On entering the room, although the day was warm, we remarked that the windows were
down. We asked the reason, and a young woman answered very naively, and without
seeming to be in the least aware that this privation of fresh air was anything else than
perfectly natural, that “when the wind blew, the threads did not work well.” After we had
been in the room for fifteen or twenty minutes, we found ourselves, as did the persons
who accompanied us, in quite a perspiration, produced by a certain moisture which we
observed in the air, as well as by the heat.…
Source: “The Female Workers of Lowell,” The Harbinger, November 14, 1836
1. According to this document, what was one condition faced by factory workers in the Lowell
Mills in the 1830s?
1850 – Early Industrialization - Road, Canals and Rivers
Roads, Canals, and Navigable Rivers, 1850
L. Superior
Portland
L. Huron
Albany
Buffalo
Detroit
L. Erie
Erie
Chicago
Toledo
Hudson R.
L. Ontario
Rochester
Boston
Providence
New Haven
New York
Cleveland
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Washington, D.C.
Cincinnati
Portsmouth
er
Ohio River
St. Louis
Louisville
Atlantic
Ocean
Richmond
Evansville
Norfolk
Raleigh
Nashville
Wilmington
i
Tennessee R.
Augusta
s
Charleston
Principal road
Savannah
Principal canal
Natchez
Navigable portion of river
St. Augustine
New Orleans
Gulf of Mexico
0
0
300 miles
300 kilometers
Source: United States History, Addison—Wesley (adapted)
1. Based on the information on this map, state one benefit of roads, canals, and/or navigable rivers on the
United States economy.
Early Industrialization – The Railroads
. . . Like information technology [IT] today, railroads in the second half of the 19th century
promised to revolutionize society—shrinking distances, dramatically lowering costs, opening
new markets, and increasing competition. Railroads were the great transformational technology
of the age and promised to change everything. Like IT today, railroads sucked up the bulk of the
world’s investment capital, creating a speculative bubble that ultimately burst—blowing away
much of the capital that investors had poured into the industry. While many investors lost their
shirts, railroads did, in the end, deliver the revolution promised. Costs came down, living
standards rose, markets expanded, and geography shrank. In fact, the railroad infrastructure,
built with so much sweat, blood, and money a century ago, is still serving us today. . . .
Source: Barry Sheehy, “Train Wrecks: Why Information Technology Investments Derail,” CPC Econometrics
1. According to Barry Sheehy, what were two effects of railroads on the American economy?
1868 – Early Industrialization – The Effects of the Telegraph on Business
Document
. . . If you find it hard to believe that the Internet is merely a modern twist on a 19th-century
system, consider the many striking parallels. For a start, the telegraph, like the Internet, changed
communication completely. While the Internet can turn hours into seconds, the telegraph
turned weeks into minutes. Before the telegraph, someone sending a dispatch to India from
London had to wait months before receiving a reply. With the telegraph, communication took place
as fast as operators could tap out Morse code.
. . . Before too long, many telegraph users came to see it as a mixed blessing. Businessmen, who were
keen adopters of the technology because it enabled them to keep track of distant markets and
overseas events, found that it also led to an acceleration in the pace and stress of life. One harassed
New York executive complained in 1868: “The businessman of the present day must be continually on
the jump. The slow express train will not answer his purpose, and the poor merchant has no
other way in which to work to secure a living for his family. He MUST use the telegraph.” Information
overload existed even then. . . .
Source: Tom Standage, “The 19th-Century Internet,” www.contextmag.com
1. According to Tom Standage, what was one effect of the telegraph on American business?
Westward Expansion 1800 - 1850
Document
. . . Other problems faced by wagoners [settlers] included howling wind, battering hail and
electrical storms, lack of sufficient grass for the oxen, and wagon breakdowns. The forty
waterless miles across the hot, shimmering desert between the Humboldt Sink and the
Truckee River in Nevada exacted its toll of thirst on men and oxen. Rugged mountains of
Idaho, Oregon, and Washington debilitated [weakened] men and animals. On the
California branch loomed the Sierra Nevada, a formidable barrier of sheer granite. So high
and perpendicular towered these granite walls, that wagons had to be dismantled and
hoisted by rope, piece by piece, over precipices seven thousand feet above sea level. On
some wagon trains, supplies ran low or became exhausted. Aid from California saved
hundreds of destitute and emaciated pioneers. The story of the ill-fated Donner party that
lost half its roster to starvation, freezing cold, and deep snows just east of Donner Pass in
the Sierra Nevada is well-known. The great westward adventure was not for the weak, the
timid, the infirm. One emigrant graphically recorded a small incident along the trail:
On the stormy, rainy nights in the vast open prairies without shelter or cover, the deep rolling
or loud crashing thunder, the vivid and almost continuous flashes of lightning, and howling
winds, the pelting rain, and the barking of coyotes, all combined to produce a feeling of
loneliness and littleness impossible to describe. . . .
Source: H. Wilbur Hoffman, Sagas of Old Western Travel and Transport, Howell North Publishers, 1980
1.
According to H. Wilbur Hoffman, what are two examples of how geography negatively affected the
westward movement of settlers?
1850s – Westward Expansion – The Railroads
Document
For half a century after Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the Great Plains aroused little
interest in the young nation. The plains were too dry for agriculture, people said.
They were barren, forever a wasteland at the center of the continent.
These ideas began to change in the years leading up to the Civil War. As the railroads
were built westward, Americans realized how wrong they had been about the plains.
Settlers in Kansas found no desert, but millions of acres of fertile soil. Cattlemen saw
an open range for millions of cattle, a land of opportunity larger than even the Lone
Star State. Of course, the plains were already inhabited by buffalo and Indians. But
these meant little to the newcomers. Civilization, they believed, demanded that both
be swept away and the land turned to “useful” purposes. How this came about is one
of the saddest chapters in our history. . . .
Source: Albert Marrin, Cowboys, Indians, and Gunfighters,
Atheneum
1. According to this passage, how did the use of the railroads change people’s opinions about the Great
Plains?
1860 - Westward Expansion – The Railroads
Document
I propose in this letter to present such considerations as seem to me pertinent [relevant] and
feasible, in favor of the speedy construction of a railroad, connecting at some point our eastern
network of railways with the waters of the Pacific ocean. . . .
6. We have already expended some scores of millions of dollars on fortifications, and are
urgently required to expend as many more. Especially on the Pacific is their construction
pressingly demanded. I do not decide how fast nor how far this demand may or should be
responded to; but I do say that a Pacific railroad, whereby the riflemen of the mountains could
be brought to the Pacific within three days, and those of the Missouri within ten, would afford
more security to San Francisco than ever so many gigantic and costly fortifications. . . .
But enough on this head [topic].
The social, moral, and intellectual blessings of a Pacific railroad can hardly be glanced at within
the limits of an article. Suffice it for the present that I merely suggest them.
1. Our mails are now carried to and from California by steamships, via Panama, in twenty to
thirty days, starting once a fortnight. The average time of transit from writers throughout the
Atlantic states to their correspondents on the Pacific exceeds thirty days. With a Pacific railroad,
this would be reduced to ten; for the letters written in Illinois or Michigan would reach their
destinations in the mining counties of California quicker than letters sent from New York or
Philadelphia would reach San Francisco. With a daily mail by railroad from each of our Atlantic
cities to and from California, it is hardly possible that the amount of both letters and printed
matter transmitted, and consequently of postage, should not be speedily quadrupled. . . .
Source: Horace Greeley, An Overland Journey from New York to San Francisco,
in The Summer of 1859, C. M. Saxton, Barker & Co., 1860
1. Based on this document, state two ways a railroad to the Pacific would help overcome the
geographic obstacle of distance.
Westward Expansion – 1862 Pacific Railroad Act
Document
. . . Sec.2. And be it further enacted, That the right of way through the public lands be, and the
same is hereby, granted to said company
[The Union Pacific Railroad Company] for the
construction of said railroad and telegraph line; and the right, power, and authority is hereby
given to said company to take from the public lands adjacent to the line of said road, earth, stone,
timber, and other materials for the construction thereof; said right of way is granted to said
railroad to the extent of two hundred feet in width on each side of said railroad where it may pass over
the public lands, including all necessary grounds for stations, buildings, workshops, and depots,
machine shops, switches, side tracks, turn-tables, and water stations. The United States shall
extinguish as rapidly as may be, the Indian titles to all lands falling under the operation of this act
and required for the said right of way and grants hereinafter made.
Sec.3. And be it further enacted, That there be, and is hereby, granted to the said company, for
the purpose of aiding in the construction of said railroad and telegraph line, and to secure the safe
and speedy transportation of the mails, troops, munitions of war, and public stores thereon, every
alternate section of public land, designated by odd numbers, to the amount of five alternate
sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof, and within the limits of ten miles
on each side of said road, not sold, reserved, or otherwise disposed of by the United States, and to
which a preëmption or homestead claim may not have attached, at the time the line of said road is
definitely fixed: Provided, That all mineral lands shall be excepted from the operation of this act;
but where the same shall contain timber, the timber thereon is hereby granted to said company.
And all such lands, so granted by this section, which shall not be sold or disposed of by said
company within three years after the entire road shall have been completed, shall be subject
to settlement and preëmption, like other lands, at a price not exceeding one dollar and twentyfive cents per acre, to be paid to said company. . . .
— The Pacific Railroad Act, July 1, 1862
1. According to this document, what did the federal government give the Union Pacific Railroad Company to
help them construct the railroad and the telegraph line?
2. According to this document, how did the Pacific Railroad Act help the United States expand westward?
Westward Expansion – Government and Railroad Policy
Document
1. What does this illustration show about the effect of the railroads on the buffalo herds?
Document a
Document b
. . . Americans whose lives
spanned the era from 1800 to
1850 must have been amazed at
the changes in transportation
that took place before their eyes.
They saw the oxcart, the stage
coach, the clumsy flatboat, ark,
and scow, give way to the
steamboat and to railroads run
by steam power. They saw the
channels of many rivers widened
and deepened, thousands of
miles of canals built in the North
and West,∗ and thousands of
miles of railroad lines threading
their way across the country
from the Atlantic coast toward
the Mississippi River. They
witnessed a transportation
revolution. . . .
∗In this passage, West refers to the area
now known as the Midwest.
Document c
L. Superior
New York
City
1 day
2 days
3 days
6 weeks
4 days
5 days
6 days
1 week
2 weeks
5 weeks
3 weeks
4 weeks
Traveling Time From
New York City, 1800
6 weeks
5 weeks
1 day
L. Superior
4 weeks
New York
City
1 day
2 days
3 weeks
5 days
2 weeks
Traveling Time From
New York City, 1860
1 week
2 weeks
3 days
5 days 4 days
6 days
Source: Glyndon G. Van Deusen, The Jacksonian Era, Harper & Row, 1959 (adapted)
1. Based on these documents, what are two ways the size of the United States has affected its
development?
Westward Expansion – 1846 Oregon Territory
Document
According to historian Norman Graebner, expansionists in the 1840s increasingly viewed Oregon and
California as “two halves of a single ambition” to stretch the nation’s boundary to the Pacific Coast.
. . . With the Oregon treaty of 1846 the United States had reached the Pacific. Its frontage along
the sea from 42° to Fuca Strait and Puget Sound fulfilled half the expansionist dream. On those
shores the onward progress of the American pioneer would stop, but commercial expansionists
looked beyond to the impetus [momentum] that the possession of Oregon would give to
American trade in the Pacific. “Commercially,” predicted Benton [United States Senator
Thomas Hart Benton from Missouri], “the advantages of Oregon will be great—far greater than
any equal portion of the Atlantic States.” This Missourian believed that Oriental [Asian] markets
and export items would better complement the mercantile [trade] requirements of the United
States than would those of Europe. . . .
Source: Norman Graebner, Empire on the Pacific: A Study in American Continental Expansion,
Ronald Press Co., 1955 (adapted)
2 According to Norman Graebner, what was one major reason for the expansion of the United States to the
Pacific Coast in the 1840s?
1844 - Westward Expansion – The Oregon Territory
. . . Besides the recovery of the country lost, or jeoparded [jeopardized] by our diplomacy of
1818, the settlers in Oregon will also recover and open for us the North American road to India!
This road lies through the South Pass, and the mouth of the Oregon [River]; and as soon as the
settlements are made, our portion of the North American continent will immediately commence
its Asiatic trade on this new and national route. This great question I explored some years ago,
and only refer to it now to give a glimpse of the brilliant destiny which awaits the population of
the Oregon valley.
Twenty-two years ago, President Monroe, in a message to the two Houses of Congress,
proclaimed the principle as fundamental in American policy, that no part of North America was
open to European colonization, domination, interference, or influence of any kind [Monroe
Doctrine]. That declaration had its reference to Great Britain and the Oregon [region], and it
found its response in the hearts of all Americans. Time has not weakened that response, but
confirmed it; and if any European power develops a design upon Texas, the response will apply to
it also. . . .
Source: Senator Thomas Hart Benton, Speech to the Senate on the Oregon Territory, June 3, 1844,
Congressional Globe, 28th Congress, 1st Session
1. According to this document, how would the United States benefit from control of Oregon?
2. According to Senator Benton, what feature of the Monroe Doctrine can be used to protect the United
States national interest in the Oregon region?
1846 - Westward Expansion – Mexican War
Document
. . . Instead of this, however, we have been exerting [putting forth] our best efforts to propitiate [gain]
her [Mexico’s] good will. Upon the pretext that Texas, a nation as independent as herself, thought
proper to unite its destinies with our own, she has affected to believe that we have severed
[removed] her rightful territory, and in official proclamations and manifestoes has repeatedly
threatened to make war upon us for the purpose of reconquering Texas. In the meantime we
have tried every effort at reconciliation [restoring harmony]. The cup of forbearance [tolerance]
had been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier of the Del Norte
[Mexican-American border]. But now, after reiterated [repeated] menaces, Mexico has passed the
boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the
American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced [begun], and that the two
nations are now at war. . . .
— President James K. Polk, Message to Congress, May 11, 1846
1. Based on this passage, state one reason President Polk asked Congress to declare war on Mexico.
Document
. . . Regarding it as a war [Mexican War] to strengthen the “Slave Power,” we are conducted to a
natural conclusion, that it is virtually, and in its consequences, a war against the free States of the
Union. Conquest and robbery are attempted in order to obtain a political control at home; and
distant battles are fought, less with a special view of subjugating [conquering] Mexico, than with
the design of overcoming the power of the free States, under the constitution. The lives of
Mexicans are sacrificed in this cause; and a domestic question, which should be reserved for
bloodless debate in our own country, is transferred to fields of battle in a foreign land. . . .
— Resolution passed by the Massachusetts Legislature opposing the Mexican War;
Massachusetts House Documents, 1847
2. According to this resolution, what was one reason the Massachusetts legislature opposed the Mexican War?
Document a
“On Our Way to Rio Grande”
The Mexicans are on our soil
In war they wish us to embroil
They’ve tried their best and worst to vex [worry] us
By murdering our brave men in Texas
We’re on our way to Rio Grande
On our way to Rio Grande
On our way to Rio Grande
And with arms [guns] they’ll find us handy. . . .
Source: George Washington Dixon, 1846 song about the
Mexican War; Erik Bruun and Jay Crosby, eds.
Our Nation’s Archive, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 1999
Document b
Prior to the Mexican War, President Polk sent John Slidell, a United States negotiator, to Mexico to offer to
settle the disputes between the two nations.
. . . And yet again, in his [President Polk’s] message of December 7, 1847, that “the Mexican
Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment which he (our minister of peace) was
authorized to propose, and finally, under wholly unjustifiable pretexts [reasons], involved the two
countries in war, by invading the territory of the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and
shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil:”
And whereas this House [of Representatives] is desirous to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts
which go to establish whether the particular spot on which the blood of our citizens was so shed
was or was not at that time our own soil: . . . .
Source: Abraham Lincoln, “Spot” Resolutions in the House of Representatives,
December 22, 1847; Congressional Globe, 30th Congress, 1st Session
1. According to these documents, what role did the Rio Grande play in the Mexican War?
Map of Territorial Expansion of the U.S. From 1783 - 1853
Document
1
Based on the map, state two methods used by the United States government to acquire new territory
Ri c h F a rmi n g L a n ds !
For Sale VERY CHEAP by the
Union Pacific Railroad Company
The Best Investment! No Fluctuations!
Always Improving in Value.
The Wealth of the Country is made by the advance in
Real Estate.
NOW IS THE TIME!
MI L L I O N S O F AC R E S
Of the finest lands on the Continent, in Eastern Nebraska,
now for sale, Many of them never before in Market, at
prices that Defy Competition.
FIVE AND TEN YEARS’ CREDIT GIVEN, WITH
INTEREST AT SIX PER CENT.
The Land Grant Bonds of the Company taken at par for
lands.
Full particulars given, new Guide with new
Maps mailed free.
T HE PION EE R
A handsome illustrated paper, containing the Homestead
Law, sent free to all parts of the world. Address
O.F. DAVIS,
Land Commissioner U.P.R.R.,
Omaha, Neb.
— 19th-century broadside (adapted)
1. According to the suggestions in this advertisement, how did railroads encourage settlement of the
West?
1867 – Territorial Expansion / U.S. Imperialism – Acquiring Alaska
Document
. . . It has come to be understood also by Senators and others that the great territory [Alaska]
which Secretary Seward proposes to acquire has a far higher value, relative and intrinsic, than
was at first represented by the opponents of the acquisition. We do not place very much
importance upon the argument of a distinguished officer, that our national “virtue” would be
strengthened by acquiring Russian-America; and we cannot give any weight to many other points
that have been urged. But when it is made to appear that coal seams “strike the rugged fields of
Sitka,” and when Commodore Rodgers refers to the growth of timber which is particularly
valuable on a coast so bare as that of the Pacific, and when we are told by high authority about
the fisheries, whose wealth can scarcely be over-estimated, and which will probably become as
important to us in the next generation as those of Newfoundland now are; and when further we
are reminded by a Boston paper of the great whale fishery of the Northern Pacific and of
Behrings Straits, in which Massachusetts is so deeply interested, we have things brought to our
notice which are as easily appreciated here as upon the Pacific coast. And when in addition to
all these considerations, we are reminded that in the opening trade with China and Japan—
which we expect to see developed into such imposing proportions within a quarter of a century—
the Aleutian islands which, being included in the proposed cession, stand almost as a half-way
station—the route between the two Continents being carried far to the North by following the
great circle and by currents; and that moreover these islands are likely to furnish the most
commanding naval station in that part of the ocean—it must be admitted by all parties that the
question is at any rate one of continental relations. We cannot doubt that points like these have
been duly weighed by Senators during the past week, and will not be without power over their
votes when they make their decision upon the treaty. . . .
Source: “The Russian Treaty Before the Senate”, The New York Times, April 8, 1867 (adapted)
1. Based on this document, state two geographic benefits of acquiring Alaska.
Westward Expansion – Homestead Act 1862
Document
. . . With the secession of Southern states from the Union and therefore removal of the slavery
issue, finally, in 1862, the Homestead Act was passed and signed into law. The new law
established a three-fold homestead acquisition process: filing an application, improving the land,
and filing for deed of title. Any U.S. citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms
against the U.S. Government could file an application, improving the land and lay claim to 160
acres of surveyed Government land. For the next 5 years, the homesteader had to live on the
land and improve it by building a 12-by-14 dwelling and growing crops. After 5 years, the
homesteader could file for his patent (or deed of title) by submitting proof of residency and the
required improvements to a local land office.
Local land offices forwarded the paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington, DC,
along with a final certificate of eligibility. The case file was examined, and valid claims were
granted patent to the land free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Title could also be
acquired after a 6-month residency and trivial improvements, provided the claimant paid the
government $1.25 per acre. After the Civil War, Union soldiers could deduct the time they
served from the residency requirements. . . .
— National Archives and Records Administration, Teaching with Documents: The Homestead Act of 1862
1. According to this document, how did the Homestead Act encourage the settlement of the West?
1865 – Westward Expansion – Chinese Immigrant Workers
Document
As a class, they [Chinese laborers] are quiet, peaceable, patient, industrious, and economical. More prudent and economical [than white laborers], they are content with
less wages. We find them organized for mutual aid and assistance. Without them, it
would be impossible to complete the western portion of this great national enterprise
[transcontinental railroad] within the time required by the Act of Congress.
—Leland Stanford, President of the Central Pacific Railroad, 1865
1
Why did Leland Stanford believe that Chinese laborers were important to the completion
of the railroad?
1882 – Industrialization / Immigration – Chinese Exclusion Act
Document
May 6, 1882. CHAP. 126.—An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.
WHEREAS, IN THE OPINION OF THE Government of the United States the
coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next
after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of
this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is
hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese
laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain
within the United States.
— The Chinese Exclusion Act
1. According to this passage, how did the Chinese Exclusion Act affect the immigration of Chinese
people to the United States?
2. According to this passage, what reason did the United States government give for passing this law?
1870 – 1900 – The Effects of Technology on Farm Production
Document a
This poster advertised a wheat harvesting machine, one of many McCormick farm machines.
Self Binders
Harvesters
Reapers
Mowers & Droppers
Source: Shober & Carqueville Lithog. Co. for McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.,
Wisconsin Historical Society (adapted)
Document b
Year
Wheat Production
(in millions of bushels)
Corn Production
(in millions of bushels)
1870
1875
1880
1885
1890
1895
1900
260.1
309.1
448.8
512.8
490.6
460.2
547.3
874.3
850.1
1,547.9
1,795.5
2,112.9
1,212.8
2,078.1
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1901
1. According to these documents, what impact did technology have on agricultural production in the
United States?
1888 – Challenge of Education on the Western Frontier
Document
India Harris Simmons came to Kansas from Ohio to join her homesteading parents and was soon appointed as
the first schoolteacher of the Prairie Range district of northwest Kearny County.
. . . The nondescript supply of books which each pupil had brought from whatever state was
‘back home’ to him was placed on the bench by his side. Slates, which had to take the place of
both blackboard and tablets, were of all sizes and descriptions, from Jimmy’s tiny one with the red
felt covered frame and pencil tied to it with a string, to Mary’s big double one with the wide homemade frames fastened together with strong hinges and cut deep with initials and hearts. She had
found it packed away among grandfather’s books which he had used away back in Ohio. There were
histories from Illinois, spellers and writing books from Iowa, readers from St. Louis city schools,
and even some old blue-backed spellers, with their five-syllabled puzzlers.
From this motley array the teacher made the assignments and arranged the classifications,
depending entirely upon her own judgment. The pupils had been without school privileges long
enough to be glad to have an opportunity to study, and their rapid progress showed they came, for
the most part, from intelligent families. True, there was not a suspension globe for explaining
mathematical geography, but an apple and a ball did very well. There was no case of the latest
wall maps on rollers, but the large ones in the books answered the purpose when care was taken to
hold them correctly. . . .
— India Harris Simmons (1888)
Source: Joanna Stratton, Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier, Simon and Schuster
1. Based on this document, state two ways that India Harris Simmons used the materials available to
her to teach the children in her school.
1871 – Closing of the Frontier – Federal Land Policy
. . . During the post-Civil War decades, such wartime Republican initiatives as the Homestead
Act and the Morrill Act for endowing agricultural colleges bore valuable economic fruit in the
form of greater agricultural productivity. Federal railroad legislation had even weightier
consequences. By 1871, under the terms of the Pacific Railroad Act and subsequent measures,
the federal government had given private railroad companies over 130 million acres of land in
the trans-Mississippi West, about one-tenth of the entire public domain. Individual states
contributed a total of forty-nine million additional acres from their own public lands. This huge
mass of real estate—larger than the state of Texas—was a vital source of funds for the railroads.
People with savings—especially middle-class folk—who would not buy the stocks and bonds of
the railroads, did buy their land. Thousands were attracted west to take up farms in the grants of
the Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Burlington, and other land-rich railroads. Their
contribution to the roads’ coffers was immense. The average price at which the railroads sold
their land was about $3.30 an acre, bringing the promoters about $435 million. . . .
Source: Irwin Unger, These United States: The Questions of Our Past, Little, Brown, 1978
1. According to Irwin Unger, what was one impact of federal land policy on the United States economy?
It was with a shock of abhorrence, therefore, that they discovered in 1871 the presence of
railroad surveyors running a line through the valley of the Yellowstone. With Sitting Bull’s
approval, the young warriors immediately began a campaign of harassment, first letting the intruders
know that they were not wanted there, and then driving them away. The reason the surveyors had
come into this area was that the owners of the Northern Pacific Railroad had decided to change its
route, abandoning the line through previously ceded lands and invading unceded lands without any
consultation with the Indians. In 1872, the surveyors accompanied by a small military force came
back to the Yellowstone country, and again Sitting Bull’s followers drove them away. . . .
Source: Dee Brown, Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow, Henry Holt and Co.
1. According to this document, why were Native American Indians hostile to the surveyors?
If nineteenth-century Monterey County owed much to the coming of the railroads,
Santa Cruz County owed everything, for railroads constructed during the 1870s tied
together the isolated communities along the north coast of Monterey Bay and
launched an era of unparalleled development. . . .
Between 1875 and 1880 the Chinese built three separate railroads, laid forty-two miles of
track, and drilled 2.6 miles of tunnels to stitch Santa Cruz County together and attach it
permanently to the world beyond the Santa Cruz Mountains. The Chinese contributed
not only their muscle and sweat, but their lives. At least fifty Chinese were killed in
accidents while building those railroads. For every mile of railroad, one Chinese died. . . .
Chinese railroad workers on the Santa Cruz Railroad worked six ten-hour days a week and
were paid one dollar a day. Two dollars per week was deducted from their pay for food,
while expenses such as clothing and recreation chipped away at the remaining four
dollars so that they averaged three dollars per week profit. . . .
Source: Sandy Lydon, Chinese Gold: The Chinese in the Monterey Bay Region, Capitola Book Company
1. According to this document, how did railroad development help Monterey and Santa Cruz
counties?
2. Based on this document, state one working condition the Chinese experienced as they built the
railroads.
1877 – Westward Expansion – Closing of the West and the Effects of the Railroads
Document
. . . That year (1877) there came a series of tumultuous strikes by railroad workers in a dozen
cities; they shook the nation as no labor conflict in its history had done.
It began with wage cuts on railroad after railroad, in tense situations of already low wages ($1.75 a
day for brakemen working twelve hours), scheming and profiteering by the railroad companies, deaths
and injuries among the workers—loss of hands, feet, fingers, the crushing of men between cars.
At the Baltimore & Ohio station in Martinsburg, West Virginia, workers determined to
fight the wage cut went on strike, uncoupled the engines, ran them into the roundhouse, and
announced no more trains would leave Martinsburg until the 10 percent cut [in pay] was canceled. A
crowd of support gathered, too many for the local police to disperse. B. & O. officials asked the
governor for military protection, and he sent in militia. A train tried to get through, protected by the
militia, and a striker, trying to derail it, exchanged gunfire with a militiaman attempting to stop him.
The striker was shot in his thigh and his arm. His arm was amputated later that day, and nine days later
he died.
Six hundred freight trains now jammed the yards at Martinsburg. The West Virginia
governor applied to newly elected President Rutherford Hayes for federal troops, saying the state
militia was insufficient. In fact, the militia was not totally reliable, being composed of many
railroad workers. Much of the U.S. Army was tied up in Indian battles in the West. Congress had
not appropriated money for the army yet, but J. P. Morgan, August Belmont, and other bankers now
offered to lend money to pay army officers (but no enlisted men). Federal troops arrived in
Martinsburg, and the freight cars began to move. . . .
Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States,
Harper Collins Publishers
1. According to this passage, why did the railroad workers go on strike in 1877?
1878 – Closing of the Frontier - Chief Washakie
Document
“. . . The white man, who possesses this whole vast country from sea to sea, who roams over it at
pleasure, and lives where he likes, cannot know the cramp we feel in this little spot, with the
underlying remembrance of the fact, which you know as well as we, that every foot of what you
proudly call America, not very long ago belonged to the red man. The Great Spirit gave it to us.
There was room enough for all his many tribes, and all were happy in their freedom. But the
white man had, in ways we know not of, learned some things we had not learned; among them,
how to make superior tools and terrible weapons, better for war than bows and arrows; and there
seemed no end to the hordes [huge numbers] of men that followed them from other lands
beyond the sea.
“And so, at last, our fathers were steadily driven out, or killed, and we, their sons, but sorry
remnants of tribes once mighty, are cornered in little spots of the earth all ours of right—
cornered like guilty prisoners, and watched by men with guns, who are more than anxious to kill
us off.
“Nor is this all. The white man’s government promised that if we, the Shoshones, would be
content with the little patch allowed us, it would keep us well supplied with everything necessary
to comfortable living, and would see that no white man should cross our borders for our game,
or for anything that is ours. But it has not kept its word! The white man kills our game, captures
our furs, and sometimes feeds his herds upon our meadows. And your great and mighty
government – Oh sir, I hesitate, for I cannot tell the half! It does not protect us in our rights. It
leaves us without the promised seed, without tools for cultivating the land, without implements
[tools] for harvesting our crops, without breeding animals better than ours, without the food we
still lack, after all we can do, without the many comforts we cannot produce, without the schools
we so much need for our children. . . .”
— Chief Washakie of the Shoshone tribe from a speech to Governor John W. Hoyt of the Wyoming Territory, 1878
1. According to this document, what were two criticisms that Chief Washakie had against the white man
and/or the federal government?
1819 Early Reform Movements - Women and Education
. . . The inquiry to which these remarks have conducted us is this: what is offered by the plan of female
education here proposed, which may teach or preserve among females of wealthy families that purity of
manners which is allowed to be so essential to national prosperity, and so necessary to the existence of a
republican government?
[1]
Females, by having their understandings cultivated, their reasoning powers developed and
strengthened, may be expected to act more from the dictates of reason and less from those of fashion
and caprice [unpredictability].
[2]
With minds thus strengthened they would be taught systems of morality, enforced by the
sanctions of religion; and they might be expected to acquire juster and more enlarged views of their
duty, and stronger and higher motives to its performance.
[3]
This plan of education offers all that can be done to preserve female youth from a contempt of
useful labor. The pupils would become accustomed to it in conjunction with the high objects of
literature and the elegant pursuits of the fine arts; and it is to be hoped that, both from habit and
association, they might in future life regard it as respectable. . . .
Source: Emma Willard, “An Address to the Public, Particularly the Members of the Legislature of New
York, Proposing a Plan for Improving Female Education,” 1819
1. Based on this passage, state one reason Emma Willard believed females would benefit
from education.
1840s Early Reform Movements – African Americans in New York
Expansion of Voting Rights Document
… Blacks [African Americans] bent on remaining in America would naturally seek the right to
vote and, equally as a matter of course, would base their claim in part on the Declaration. In a
rally in support of the Liberty Party in 1840, Albany [New York] blacks contended that denying
them equal franchise with whites contravened [contradicted] the principles of the Declaration
of Independence. Later that year, also in Albany, a state convention of black spokesmen issued
a formal statement which in three instances referred to the Declaration, including its assertion
that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Twenty years later,
in a tract issued for state-wide distribution, “The New York City and County Suffrage Committee
of Colored Citizens,” invoked the Declaration in its plea to the electorate to eliminate the
property requirement for voting imposed only on blacks. …
Source: Benjamin Quarles, “Antebellum Free Blacks and the ‘Spirit of '76’,” The Journal of Negro History,
July 1976 (adapted)
1. According to Benjamin Quarles, what argument did free African Americans in New York use in
justifying their right to vote?
… The women in Mary McClintock’s [an organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention] kitchen
concluded that action was required and resolved to call a woman’s rights convention the next
week, July 19 and 20 [1848]. On short notice, more than two hundred women and about forty
men from the surrounding towns and countryside came to the meeting in the Wesleyan Chapel
at Seneca Falls. They must have known that such an event was radically new. Indeed, the leaders
prevailed on James Mott to preside as they quailed [faltered] before such a large, mixed
audience. Yet the women at Seneca Falls brought with them a seventy-year-long tradition of
female activity. Many had traveled the same route over and over to attend revivals, missionary
meetings, and female gatherings in the name of temperance, moral reform, and abolition. Their
mothers’ generation had been the leading force in the Great Awakening two decades before.
Their grandmothers and great-grandmothers boycotted tea, spun and wove for the army, and
believed themselves “born for liberty.” When the organizers of the convention started to write a
statement for the body to debate, they returned to the legacy of their revolutionary foremothers:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” they wrote, “that all men and women are created
equal.” …
Source: Sara M. Evans, Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America, The Free Press, 1989
1. According to Sara M. Evans, what was one experience of women that contributed to their
demand for equality?
… The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations [dispossessions] on
the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny
over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.…
He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.
He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.…
After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single, and the owner of property, he has
taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made
profitable to it.…
Source: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments, 1848
1. According to this document, what was one grievance stated in the Seneca Falls Declaration of
Sentiments?
1855 – Women’s Rights /Suffrage Movement
Document 1
Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell signed this document before they were married in 1855. They were
protesting laws in which women lost their legal existence upon marriage.
While acknowledging our mutual affection by publicly assuming the relationship of husband
and wife, yet in justice to ourselves and a great principle, we deem it a duty to declare that this
act on our part implies no sanction of, nor promise of voluntary obedience to such of the present
laws of marriage, as refuse to recognize the wife as an independent, rational being, while they
confer upon the husband an injurious [harmful] and unnatural superiority, investing him with
legal powers which no honorable man would exercize [exercise], and which no man should
possess. We protest especially against the laws which give to the husband:
1. The custody of the wife’s person.
2. The exclusive control and guardianship of their children.
3. The sole ownership of her personal [property], and use of her real estate, unless
previously settled upon her, or placed in the hands of trustees, as in the case of minors,
lunatics, and idiots.
4. The absolute right to the product of her industry [work].
5. Also against laws which give to the widower so much larger and more permanent an interest
in the property of his deceased wife, than they give to the widow in that of the deceased
husband.
6. Finally, against the whole system by which “the legal existence of the wife is suspended during
marriage,” so that in most States, she neither has a legal part in the choice of her residence, nor
can she make a will, nor sue or be sued in her own name, nor inherit property. . . .
Source: Laura A. Otten, “Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell: Marriage Protest,” Women’s Rights and the Law,
Praeger, 1993
1 According to this document, what were two rights denied to women in 1855?
1848 – Education Reform Horace Mann
Document
. . . Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the
conditions of men—the balance-wheel of the social machinery. I do not here mean that it so
elevates the moral nature as to make men disdain and abhor the oppression of their fellowmen. This
idea pertains to another of its attributes.
But I mean that it gives each man the
independence and the means, by which he can resist the selfishness of other men. It does better than
to disarm the poor of their hostility towards the rich; it prevents being poor. Agrarianism
[movement to improve the economic status of farmers] is the revenge of poverty against wealth. The
wanton destruction of the property of others, — the burning of hay-ricks and corn-ricks, the
demolition of machinery, because it supersedes hand-labor, the sprinkling of vitriol [caustic
substances] on rich dresses, — is only agrarianism run mad. Education prevents both the
revenge and the madness. On the other hand, a fellow-feeling for one’s class or caste is the
common instinct of hearts not wholly sunk in selfish regards for person, or for family. The spread of
education, by enlarging the cultivated class or caste, will open a wider area over which the social
feelings will expand; and, if this education should be universal and complete, it would do more than
all things else to obliterate factitious distinctions in society. . . .
— Horace Mann, 12th Annual Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848
Source: Lawrence Cremin, ed., The Republic and the School: Horace Mann on the Education of Free Men,
Columbia University
3 Based on this passage, identify two reasons Horace Mann believed public education benefits American
society.
1828 – 1832 – The Nullification Crisis
Document
… Slavery was not the only cause of North–South confrontation during the 1830s and 1840s.
Ever since the passage in 1828 of the high protective tariff, dubbed by Southerners “The Tariff
of Abominations,” the Southern states had been protesting not just its unfairness but also its
illegality. They managed to get it reduced in 1832, though that was not enough for many South
Carolinians who argued that an individual state, as a party to the original compact that created
the Union, had the right to declare null and void within its borders a Federal law that it
considered unconstitutional or unjust. On this basis a special state convention of South Carolina
nullified the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, banned the collection of duties within its borders and
declared that any use of force by the Federal government would justify secession from the
Union. The Northern majority in Congress voted the President additional powers to enforce
collection of the revenues, but others successfully sought conciliatory [friendly] ways to avoid an
irrevocable [unstoppable] collision on this issue and the immediate crisis was averted, although
South Carolinians did not discard their secessionist arguments.…
Source: Batty and Parish, The Divided Union: The Story of the Great American War, 1861–65,
Salem House Publishers, 1987
1.
According to Batty and Parish, what was one reaction by South Carolina to the passage of federal tariffs?
2. According to Batty and Parish, what was one Northern response to the actions taken by South
Carolina regarding the tariff?
1831 - Early Reform Movements – Abolitionist Movement
Document
. . . I am aware, that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for
severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject [abolition
of slavery] I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose
house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands
of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has
fallen; —but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest—I will
not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.
The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten
the resurrection of the dead. . . .
Source: William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator, January 1, 1831, Vol. 1, No. 1
1 Based on this newspaper article, what was one goal that William Lloyd Garrison was trying to achieve?
1834 – Abolitionist Account Of Life Under Slavery
Document
African-born James L. Bradley was a slave who purchased his freedom. In 1834, while a student
at the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, he wrote a short account of his life. This is an excerpt
from his account.
… I will begin as far back as I can remember. I think I was between two and three years old
when the soul-destroyers tore me from my mother’s arms, somewhere in Africa, far back from
the sea. They carried me a long distance to a ship; all the way I looked back, and cried. The ship
was full of men and women loaded with chains; but I was so small, they let me run about on deck.
After many long days, they brought us into Charleston, South Carolina. A slaveholder bought
me, and took me up into Pendleton County. I suppose that I staid [stayed] with him about six
months. He sold me to a Mr. Bradley, by whose name I have ever since been called. This man
was considered a wonderfully kind master; and it is true that I was treated better than most of
the slaves I knew. I never suffered for food, and never was flogged with the whip; but oh, my
soul! I was tormented with kicks and knocks more than I can tell. My master often knocked me
down, when I was young. Once, when I was a boy, about nine years old, he struck me so hard
that I fell down and lost my senses. I remained thus some time, and when I came to myself, he
told me he thought he had killed me. At another time, he struck me with a currycomb [metal
comb used for grooming horses], and sunk the knob into my head. I have said that I had food
enough; I wish I could say as much concerning my clothing. But I let that subject alone, because
I cannot think of any suitable words to use in telling you.…
Source: Bailey and Kennedy, eds., The American Spirit, Volume I: To 1877, Houghton Mifflin,1998
1. According to this document, what was one hardship James L. Bradley experienced as a slave?
Abolitionist Movement – Comparing Black and White Abolitionists
Document
… There were tactical differences between [Frederick] Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison,
white abolitionist and editor of The Liberator—differences between black [African American]
and white abolitionists in general. Blacks were more willing to engage in armed insurrection
[rebellion], but also more ready to use existing political devices—the ballot box, the
Constitution—anything to further their cause. They were not as morally absolute in their tactics
as the Garrisonians. Moral pressure would not do it alone, the blacks knew; it would take all sorts
of tactics, from elections to rebellion.…
White abolitionists did courageous and pioneering work, on the lecture platform, in newspapers,
in the Underground Railroad. Black abolitionists, less publicized, were the backbone of the
antislavery movement. Before Garrison published his famous Liberator in Boston in 1831, the
first national convention of Negroes had been held, David Walker had already written his
“Appeal,” and a black abolitionist magazine named Freedom’s Journal had appeared. Of The
Liberator’s first twenty-five subscribers, most were black.…
Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, 1492–Present, Harper Perennial, 2003
1. According to Howard Zinn, what was one method used by abolitionists to achieve their goals?
1800s - Opposition to Slavery
Document
Agents of the American Anti-Slavery Society traveled throughout the United States to urge the abolition of
slavery.
Dear Sir—You have been appointed an Agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society; …
… Our object is, the overthrow of American slavery, the most atrocious and oppressive system
of bondage that has ever existed in any country. We expect to accomplish this, mainly by showing
to the public its true character and legitimate fruits [real effects], its contrariety [opposition] to
the first principles of religion, morals, and humanity, and its special inconsistency with our
pretensions [aims], as a free, humane, and enlightened people. In this way, by the force of truth,
we expect to correct the common errors that prevail respecting slavery, and to produce a just
public sentiment, which shall appeal both to the conscience and love of character, of our slaveholding fellow-citizens, and convince them that both their duty and their welfare require the
immediate abolition of slavery. …
Source: Barnes and Dumond, eds., Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimké Weld and
Sarah Grimké, 1822–1844, American Historical Association, 1934
1. Based on this document, state one reason the American Anti-Slavery Society opposed slavery.
1800s - Opposition to Slavery
Document
In 1847, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution, written by Charles Sumner, opposing the war
with Mexico. This is an excerpt from the resolution.
Resolved, That the present war with Mexico has its primary origin in the unconstitutional
annexation to the United States of the foreign State of Texas, while the same was still at war with
Mexico; that it was unconstitutionally commenced by the order of the President, to General
Taylor, to take military possession of territory in dispute between the United States and Mexico,
and in the occupation of Mexico; and that it is now waged ingloriously—by a powerful nation
against a weak neighbor—unnecessarily and without just cause, at immense cost of treasure
[money] and life, for the dismemberment of Mexico, and for the conquest of a portion of her
territory, from which slavery has already been excluded, with the triple object of extending
slavery, of strengthening the “Slave Power,” and of obtaining the control of the Free States,
under the constitution of the United States. …
Source: Massachusetts House of Representatives
1. According to this resolution, what is one reason the Massachusetts legislature was opposed
to the Mexican War?
1800s – Support of Slavery
Document
Thomas R. Dew defended slavery in a debate in the Virginia legislature.
According to the census of 1830, there were approximately 470,000 slaves in Virginia. The
average value of each slave is about $200. Thus the total value of the slave population in Virginia
in 1830 was $94,000,000. Allowing for the increase since, the present value of slaves in Virginia
is about $100,000,000. The assessed value of all the houses and lands in the state amounts to
$206,000,000. Do not these simple statistics speak volumes upon the subject? It is seriously
recommended to the state of Virginia that she give up her slaves. In other words, Virginia is
expected to sacrifice one-half of her total worth!
It is, in truth, the slave labor in Virginia which gives value to the soil and to her economy.
Take this away and you ruin her. Remove the slave population from the State and it is absolutely
safe to say that on the day this happens, Virginia will become a “waste howling wilderness.” “The
grass will be seen growing in the streets and the foxes peeping from their holes.”…
Source: Thomas R. Dew, Review of the Debate in the Virginia Legislature of 1831 and 1832,
in Martin W. Sandler et al., The People Make a Nation, Allyn and Bacon, 1971
1. According to Thomas R. Dew, what is one reason slavery was important to Virginia?
1800s – Support of Slavery
Document
Historian Eric Foner on the role of westward expansion
Q: What is the relationship between slavery and westward expansion?
A: … But the frontier also carried with it the expansion of slavery. The westward expansion of
slavery was one of the most dynamic economic and social processes going on in this country.
The westward expansion carried slavery down into the Southwest, into Mississippi, Alabama,
crossing the Mississippi River into Louisiana. Finally, by the 1840’s, it was pouring into Texas.
So the expansion of slavery, which became the major political question of the 1850’s, was not
just a political issue. It was a fact of life that every American had experienced during this
period. …
Now, in the South, southern slave owners insisted that slavery was absolutely essential to that
story of progress. Without slavery, you could not have civilization, they said. Slavery freed the
upper class from the need to do manual labor, to worry about economic day-to-day realities,
and therefore gave them the time and the intellectual ability to devote themselves to the arts
and literature and mechanical advantages and inventions of all kinds. So that it was slavery
itself which made the progress of civilization possible. …
Source: Interview with Eric Foner, Africans in America, www.pbs.org/wgbh
1. According to Eric Foner, state one reason Southern slave owners supported the expansion of
slavery into the West.
1800s - Economic Impact of Slavery
Document a
Value of Manufacturing (in millions of dollars), 1860
Wash.
sh.Territory
$1.4
Oreg.
$3.0
Vt.
$14.6
Nebraska
Nebr
aska
Territory
erritor y
$0.6
Unorg.
norg
Terr.
Minn.
$3.4
Iowa
$13.9
Utah
Utah
T
Territory
erritor y
$0.9
$0.9
Calif.
$68.2
Wisc.
$27.8
Kansas
Territory
sas Te
$4.4
New
Mexico
ew Mexic
Territory
Territory
$1.2
$1.2
Indian
Territory
Texas
$6.6
Free States
N.Y.
$378.9
Mich.
$32.7
Ohio
Pa.
$200.1
Ill.
Ind. $121.7
$57.6 $41.8
Va.
Mo.
$50.7
Ky.
$41.8
$37.9
N.C. $16.7
Tenn.$18.0
Ark.
S.C.
$2.9
$8.6
Ga.
Miss. Ala.
$6.6 $10.6 $16.9
La.
$15.6
Me.
$38.2
N.H. $37.6
Mass. $255.6
R.I. $40.7
Conn. $81.9
N.J. $76.3
Del. $9.9
Md. $41.7
D.C. $5.4
Fla.
$2.4
Slave States
Territories
Source: Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University Libraries,
and United States Census Bureau (adapted)
Document b
Value of Exports (in millions)
$350
$300
Total Exports
$250
$200
$150
Cotton Exports
$100
$ 50
1850
1852
1854
1856
1858
1860
Year
Source: Douglass C. North, The Economic Growth of the United States, 1790 –1860,
W. W. Norton & Co., 1966 (adapted)
Document c
Major Railroads, 1860
L. Superior
Portland
Boston
Buffalo
New York
Cleveland
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington
Louisville
Richmond
Norfolk
St. Louis
Cairo
Wilmington
Chattanooga
Memphis
Atlanta
Charleston
Savannah
Jacksonville
Mobile
New Orleans
Galveston
Key
Major
railroads
Source: Kownslar and Frizzle, Discovering American History,
Holt, Rinehart and Winston (adapted)
1 Based on these documents, state two differences between the economies of the North and the South before
the Civil War.
1800 – 1860 – Relationship Between Slavery and Cotton Production
Document
Growth of Slavery
4,000,000
4,000,000
3,500,000
3,500,000
Number of Slaves
Bales of Cotton
Cotton Production
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
1,000,000
500,000
500,000
0
1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860
0
1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860
Year
Year
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (adapted)
1. Based on these graphs, state one relationship between cotton production and the growth of slavery
between 1800 and 1860.
Compromise of 1850 / Fugitive Slave Law
Document
On January 29, 1850, Senator Henry Clay proposed a series of resolutions to settle “… all questions in
controversy between the free and the slave states. …” The list below contains excerpts from Clay’s speech.
Selected Proposals for the Compromise of 1850
1 That California ought to be admitted into the Union without restriction as to the inclusion or
exclusion of slavery.
2 That as slavery does not exist by law, and is not likely to be introduced into any of the territory
acquired by the United States from the Republic of Mexico, it is not in the interest of Congress
to pass a law either establishing or prohibiting it in the land acquired from Mexico. …
5 That it is not wise to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia while slavery continues to
exist in Maryland without the consent of that state, the consent of the people of the District,
and without just payment to the owners of slaves within the District.
6 That, however, it is wise to prohibit in the District of Columbia, the bringing-in of slaves from
other states either to be used in the District or to be sold there for use in other states.
7 That stronger provision ought to be made by law for the capture and return of slaves who
may have escaped into any other state or territory in the Union.
8 That Congress has no power to prohibit or prevent the trading of slaves between States. This
depends completely on the laws of each individual state.
Source: Martin W. Sandler et al., The People Make a Nation, Allyn and Bacon, 1971
1. Based on this document, what is one way these proposals favored the North?
2. Based on this document, what is one way these proposals favored the South?
1852 – Causes of the Civil War – Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Document
“UNCLE TOM’S CABIN.” This heart-melting and thrilling work continues to find a demand
that can hardly be met by the utmost activity of the press and the bookbinders. We are informed
by the publishers, that the eightieth thousand edition [copy] will be published to-morrow,
making 160,000 volumes [total copies] in the brief period of eleven weeks!—a sale
unprecedented in the country, in any instance, if not in the whole world. English editions of it
are rapidly selling—one being printed in London in a cheap form, at the low rate of 2s. 6d., or
about 60 cents. It should never be forgotten, that Mrs. H. B. Stowe, its gifted author, was moved
to take up the subject of slavery, in the manner, by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. So does
a just God overrule evil for good.
Source: The Liberator, June 11, 1852
1. According to The Liberator, how did the public react to the publication of Harriet Beecher
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
Causes of Civil War – Lincoln Douglas Debates – Kansas – Nebraska Act
Document
Stephen Douglas replied to Abraham Lincoln’s question about the Kansas-Nebraska Act in a speech
given at Freeport, Illinois. This reply occurred during the second debate in the political contest for the
United States Senate seat from Illinois in 1858.
. . . The next question propounded [put forward] to me by Mr. Lincoln is, can the people of a
Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery
from their limits prior to the formation of a State Constitution? I answer emphatically, as Mr.
Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump [platform] in Illinois, that in my
opinion the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to
the formation of a State Constitution. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that question over
and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska bill [Kansas-Nebraska Act] on that principle
all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending to be in
doubt as to my position on that question. It matters not what way the Supreme Court may
hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory
under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they
please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported
by local police regulations.
Those police regulations can only be established by the local
legislature, and if the people are opposed to slavery they will elect representatives to that body
who will by unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on
the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the
decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the people to
make a slave Territory or a free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska bill. I hope
Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point. . . .
Source: Stephen Douglas, Freeport Doctrine, 1858
1. According to this document, how did the Kansas-Nebraska Act attempt to resolve the issue of slavery in the
territories?
The Results of the Election of 1860
ME
Washington
Territory
VT
NH
NY
MA
MN
OR
WI
Nebraska
Territory
MI
PA
IA
Utah
Territory
IL
IN
CT
RI
DE
MD
VA
Kansas
Territory
CA
OH
NJ
MO
KY
NC
New Mexico
Territory
Indian
Territory
TN
SC
AR
MS
AL
GA
LA
N
FL
W
E
S
Republican
Abraham Lincoln
Northern Democratic
Stephen A. Douglas
Southern Democratic
John C. Breckinridge
Constitutional Union
John Bell
Source: Herman J. Viola, Why We Remember, Addison–Wesley Publishing (adapted)
1. Based on this map, why was Abraham Lincoln considered a sectional president?
Southern Secession – The Doctrine of States Rights
Confederate General John B. Gordon was a civilian-turned-soldier who became one of
General Robert E. Lee’s most trusted commanders.
… The South maintained with the depth of religious conviction that the Union formed under
the Constitution was a Union of consent and not of force; that the original States were not the
creatures but the creators of the Union; that these States had gained their independence, their
freedom, and their sovereignty from the mother country, and had not surrendered these on
entering the Union; that by the express terms of the Constitution all rights and powers not
delegated were reserved to the States; and the South challenged the North to find one trace of
authority in that Constitution for invading and coercing a sovereign State.
The North, on the other hand, maintained with the utmost confidence in the correctness of her
position that the Union formed under the Constitution was intended to be perpetual; that
sovereignty was a unit and could not be divided; that whether or not there was any express power
granted in the Constitution for invading a State, the right of self-preservation was inherent in all
governments; that the life of the Union was essential to the life of liberty; or, in the words of
Webster, “liberty and union are one and inseparable.”…
Source: John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904
1. According to John B. Gordon, what was the Southern point of view regarding the power of states under
the Constitution?
2. According to John B. Gordon, what was the Northern point of view regarding the Union created under the
Constitution?
Map of Southern Secession
Document
Border slave states
which did not secede
Seceded after
attack on Ft. Sumter
Seceded before
attack on Ft. Sumter
Source: Kennedy and Bailey, eds., The American Spirit, Volume I: To 1877, Houghton Mifflin, 2002 (adapted)
1. Based on the information on this map, state one problem the United States faced under President
Abraham Lincoln.
1861 – Presidential Action Lincoln Calls Forth the Militia
Document
April 15, 1861
By the President of the United States
A Proclamation.
Whereas, the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are opposed,
and the execution thereof obstructed [interfered with], in the States of South Carolina, Georgia,
Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the
Marshals by law,
Now therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in
me vested by the Constitution, and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call
forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate [total] number of seventyfive thousand [75,000], in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly
executed. The details, for this object, will be immediately communicated to the State authorities
through the War Department. . . .
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
By the President
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
Source: Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume IV, Rutgers University Press (adapted)
1. According to this proclamation, what is one action President Abraham Lincoln took to enforce the
laws of the United States?
1862 – Lincoln’s Civil War Objective
Document
. . . I [President Abraham Lincoln] would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under
the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored the nearer the Union will
be “the Union as it was.” If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at
the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the
Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My
paramount [most important] object in this struggle [the Civil War] is to save the Union, and is
not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I
would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by
freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the
colored [African American] race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I
forbear [refrain from doing], I forbear because I do not believe it would help save the Union. I
shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more
whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown
to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. . . .
Source: Abraham Lincoln to Horace Greeley, New York Tribune, August 25, 1862
1 . According to this document, what is President Abraham Lincoln’s main objective in
fighting the Civil War?
1863 – Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
Document
. . . Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power
in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of
actual armed rebellion [Civil War] against the authority and government of the United States,
and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing [stopping] said rebellion, do, on this first
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in
accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred
days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States
wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the
following, to wit: . . .
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons
held as slaves within said designated States [those states in rebellion], and parts of States, are,
and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States,
including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of
said persons. . . .
Source: Abraham Lincoln, Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863
1. According to this document, what was President Abraham Lincoln hoping to achieve by
issuing the Emancipation Proclamation?
1863 – Lincoln on African Americans Participating in the
War Effort
Document
Washington, March 26, 1863
Hon. Andrew Johnson
My dear Sir:
I am told you have at least thought of raising a negro [African American] military force. In my
opinion the country now needs no specific thing so much as some man of your ability, and
position, to go to this work. When I speak of your position, I mean that of an eminent
[respected] citizen of a slave-state, and himself a slave-holder. The colored population is the
great available, and yet unavailed of, force, for restoring the Union. The bare sight of fifty
thousand armed and drilled black soldiers upon the banks of the Mississippi, would end the
rebellion at once. And who doubts that we can present that sight if we but take hold in earnest?
If you have been thinking of it please do not dismiss the thought.
Yours very truly
A. Lincoln
Source: Abraham Lincoln to Andrew Johnson, March 26, 1863, Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress
1. According to this document, what role did Abraham Lincoln think African
Americans could play in restoring the Union?
1865 – African American Participation in the Civil War
Document
. . . By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as
soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers
died over the course of the war—30,000 of infection or disease. Black soldiers served in artillery
and infantry and performed all noncombat support functions that sustain an army, as well. Black
carpenters, chaplains, cooks, guards, laborers, nurses, scouts, spies, steamboat pilots, surgeons,
and teamsters also contributed to the war cause. There were nearly 80 black commissioned
officers. Black women, who could not formally join the Army, nonetheless served as nurses,
spies, and scouts, the most famous being Harriet Tubman, who scouted for the 2nd South
Carolina Volunteers. . . .
Source: “The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War,” National Archives & Records Administration
1. Based on this document, state one contribution made by African Americans to
the war effort.
Impact of Lincoln’s Action on the U.S.
Document
. . . The greatest names in American history are Washington and Lincoln. One is forever
associated with the independence of the States and formation of the Federal Union; the other
with universal freedom and the preservation of that Union. Washington enforced the
Declaration of Independence as against England; Lincoln proclaimed its fulfillment not only to a
downtrodden race in America, but to all people for all time, who may seek the protection of
our flag. These illustrious men achieved grander results for mankind within a single century—
from 1775 to 1865—than any other men ever accomplished in all the years since first the flight
of time began. Washington engaged in no ordinary revolution. With him it was not who should
rule, but what should rule. He drew his sword, not for a change of rulers upon an established
throne, but to establish a new government, which should acknowledge no throne but the tribune
[authority] of the people. Lincoln accepted war to save the Union, the safeguard of our liberties,
and re-established it on “indestructible foundations” as forever “one and indivisible.” To quote
his own grand words:
“Now we are contending that this Nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”. . .
Source: William McKinley, Speech at the Marquette Club, Chicago, February 12, 1896,
Nicolay and Hay, eds., Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln
1. According to William McKinley, what is one impact of President Abraham Lincoln’s actions on the
United States?
1865 Civil War – Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
“. . . with malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work
we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
Abraham Lincoln Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865)
1. How was Abraham Lincoln going to deal with the problems caused by the Civil War?
Abolitionist Movement Fuels Women’s Suffrage Movement
Document
… The success or failure of abolitionism must be judged against the broader question, what was
possible? In confronting the most divisive issue in American history, slavery, abolitionism
provided the voice of conscience. It assisted tens of thousands of individual blacks, steered the
nation toward a recognition of universal rights, and was instrumental in embedding those rights
into the Constitution.
Even the “mistakes” of abolitionism had interesting consequences. For example, because male
abolitionists did not fight to include the word “female” in the Thirteenth*, Fourteenth, and
Fifteenth amendments, the women’s rights movement was rekindled in a backlash of anger.…
Source: Wendy McElroy, “The Abolitionist Adventure,” The Independent Institute, July 1, 2003
*The 13th amendment applied equally to females and males.
1. According to Wendy McElroy, what were two impacts of the abolitionist movement?
1865 – Reconstruction – Voting and Reading and Writing
Document
This letter by abolitionist Wendell Phillips to James Redpath was published in Boston in 1865.
Source: Library of Congress
1. Why did Wendell Phillips think every African American should learn to read and write?
Document – Education During Reconstruction
Source: Andrew Cayton et al. America: Pathways to the Present, Prentice Hall (adapted)
1. According to this photograph, what action did the federal government take to encourage educational
opportunities for African Americans in the period after the Civil War?
1866 Education During Reconstruction
Document
Our school begun—in spite of threatenings from the whites and the consequent fear of the
blacks—with twenty-seven pupils, four only of whom could read, even the simplest words. At the
end of six weeks, we have enrolled eighty-five names, with but fifteen unable to read. In seven
years teaching at the North, I have not seen a parallel to their appetite for learning, and their active
progress. Whether this zeal will abate with time, is yet a question. I have little fear that it may.
Meanwhile it is well to “work while the day lasts.” Their spirit now may be estimated somewhat,
when I tell you that three walk a distance of four miles, each morning, to return after the five-hours
session. Several come three miles, and quite a number from two and two-and-a-half miles. . . .
— Mary S. Battey, schoolteacher, Andersonville, Georgia, 1866
Source: Gerda Lerner, The Female Experience: An American Documentary, Bobbs-Merrill Company
1. According to this passage, how were African-American students in the South affected by
educational opportunities in 1866?
1868 – Reconstruction – 14th Amendment from U.S. Constitution
Document
. . . All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or
enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States;
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. . . .
— 14th Amendment, Section 1, 1868
1. How does the 14th Amendment define citizenship?
2. During Reconstruction, how was the 14th Amendment intended to help formerly enslaved
persons?
1871 – Reconstruction – The Rise of the KKK
Document
. . . We believe you are not familiar with the description of the Ku Klux Klans riding nightly
over the country, going from county to county, and in the county towns, spreading terror
wherever they go by robbing, whipping, ravishing, and killing our people without provocation
[reason], compelling [forcing] colored people to break the ice and bathe in the chilly waters of
the Kentucky river.
The [state] legislature has adjourned. They refused to enact any laws to suppress [stop] KuKlux disorder. We regard them [the Ku-Kluxers] as now being licensed to continue their dark
and bloody deeds under cover of the dark night. They refuse to allow us to testify in the state
courts where a white man is concerned. We find their deeds are perpetrated [carried out] only
upon colored men and white Republicans. We also find that for our services to the government
and our race we have become the special object of hatred and persecution at the hands of the
Democratic Party. Our people are driven from their homes in great numbers, having no redress
[relief from distress] only [except] the United States court, which is in many cases unable to
reach them.
We would state that we have been law-abiding citizens, pay our taxes, and in many parts of the
state our people have been driven from the polls, refused the right to vote. Many have been
slaughtered while attempting to vote. We ask, how long is this state of things to last? . . .
— Petition to the United States Congress, March 25, 1871, Miscellaneous Documents of the United States Senate,
42nd Congress, 1st Session, 1871
1. Based on this document, identify one way the Ku Klux Klan terrorized African Americans.
2. According to this document, how did the actions of the Ku Klux Klan affect African
Americans’ participation in the political process?
1880 - Reconstruction and the Rise of Tenant Farming
Document
1. According to these illustrations, how did the economic role of African Americans change
between 1860 and 1880?
1887 - Effect of Industrialization on the South
. . . When we come to the New Industrial South the change is marvellous, and so vast and various
that I scarcely know where to begin in a short paper that cannot go much into details. Instead of a
South devoted to agriculture and politics, we find a South wide-awake to business, excited and
even astonished at the development of its own immense resources in metals, marbles, coal,
timber, fertilizers, eagerly laying lines of communication, rapidly opening mines, building furnaces,
foundries [workplace where melted metal is poured into molds], and all sorts of shops for utilizing
the native riches. It is like the discovery of a new world. When the Northerner finds great
foundries in Virginia using only (with slight exceptions) the products of Virginia iron and coal
mines; when he finds Alabama and Tennessee making iron so good and so cheap that it finds ready
market in Pennsylvania; and foundries multiplying near the great furnaces for supplying Northern
markets; when he finds cotton-mills running to full capacity on grades of cheap cottons universally
in demand throughout the South and Southwest; when he finds small industries, such as paper-box
factories and wooden bucket and tub factories, sending all they can make into the North and widely
over the West; when he sees the loads of most beautiful marbles shipped North; when he learns that
some of the largest and most important engines and mill machinery were made in Southern shops;
when he finds in Richmond a “pole locomotive,” made to run on logs laid end to end, and drag
out from Michigan forests and Southern swamps lumber hitherto inaccessible; when he sees worn
out highlands in Georgia and Carolina bear more cotton than ever before by help of a fertilizer the
base of which is the cotton seed itself (worth more as a fertilizer than it was before the oil was
extracted from it); when he sees a multitude of small shops giving employment to men, women, and
children who never had any work of that sort to do before; and when he sees Roanoke iron cast in
Richmond into car irons, and returned to a car factory in Roanoke which last year sold three
hundred cars to the New York and New England Railroad—he begins to open his eyes. The South
is manufacturing a great variety of things needed in the house, on the farm, and in the shops,
for home consumption, and already sends to the North and West several manufactured products.
With iron, coal, timber contiguous [adjoining] and easily obtained, the amount sent out is certain to
increase as the labor becomes more skillful. The most striking industrial development today is in
iron, coal, lumber, and marbles; the more encouraging for the self-sustaining life of the
Southern people is the multiplication of small industries in nearly every city I visited. . . .
Source: Charles Dudley Warner, “The South Revisited,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (March 1887)
1. According to this passage, what was one economic change that had occurred in the South by
1887?
1889 – 1908 –Reconstruction/Segregation African-American
Document
Adoption of Voting Restrictions
in Southern States 1889–1908
Year
Poll Tax
1889
FL
1890
MS, TN
Literacy
Test
Property
Test
Grandfather
Clause
TN, FL
MS
MS
1891
1892
Other*
AR
AR
1893
AL
1894
SC, VA
1895
SC
SC
SC
1896
1897
1898
LA
LA
LA
LA
LA
1899
NC
1900
NC
NC
NC
NC
1901
AL
AL
AL
AL
1902
VA, TX
VA
VA
GA
GA
VA
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
GA
GA
KEY
Alabama
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
AL
AR
FL
GA
LA
MS
NC
SC
TN
TX
VA
*Registration, multiple-box, secret ballot, understanding clause.
Source: The American Record: Images of the Nation’s Past, Volume Two,
edited by William Graebner and Leonard Richards (adapted)
1 Based on this chart, state two methods used by southern states to deny the vote to African American
1898 Reconstruction / Segregation – African Americans Resist
Document
. . . Since 1868 there has been a steady and persistent determination to eliminate us from the
politics of the Southern States. We are not to be eliminated. Suffrage is a federal guaranty and
not a privilege to be conferred [given] or withheld by the States. We contend for the principle of
manhood suffrage as the most effective safeguard of citizenship. A disfranchised citizen [one
who is deprived of the right to vote] is a pariah [outcast] in the body politic. We are not opposed
to legitimate restriction of the suffrage, but we insist that restrictions shall apply alike to all
citizens of all States. We are willing to accept an educational or property qualification, or both;
and we contend that retroactive legislation depriving citizens of the suffrage rights is a hardship
which should be speedily passed upon by the courts. We insist that neither of these was intended
or is conserved [protected] by the new constitutions of Mississippi, South Carolina or Louisiana.
Their framers intended and did disfranchise a majority of their citizenship [deprived them of the
right to vote] because of “race and color” and “previous condition,” and we therefore call upon
the Congress to reduce the representation of those States in the Congress as provided and made
mandatory by Section 2 of Article XIV of the Constitution. We call upon Afro-Americans
everywhere to resist by all lawful means the determination to deprive them of their suffrage
rights. If it is necessary to accomplish this vital purpose to divide their vote in a given State we
advise that they divide it. The shibboleth [custom] of party must give way to the shibboleth of
self-preservation. . . .
— Afro-American Council public statement, 1898
Source: Francis L. Broderick and August Meier, Negro Protest Thought in the Twentieth Century,
Bobbs-Merrill Company
1. What political problem is being described in this passage?
1860 – 1910 Industrialization of the U.S. – Manufacturing Industry
Document
Selected Statistics Related to Industrialization
Value of
Manufactured
Products
Number of Males
1860
$1.9 billion
1.03 million
270,357
1870
$4.2 billion
1.61 million
323,506
1880
$5.3 billion
2.01 million
529,983
1890
$9.3 billion
2.86 million
503,089
1900
$12.9 billion
4.08 million
1.03 million
1910
$20.8 billion
8.84 million
1.82 million
Employed in Manufacturing
Number of Females
Source: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research,
Ann Arbor, MI, and U.S. Census Bureau
1861 – 1910 - Industrialization of the U.S. - Immigration
Document
United States Immigration 1861–1910
Decade
Total
1861–1870
2,314,824
1871–1880
2,812,191
1881–1890
5,246,613
1891–1900
3,687,564*
1901–1910
8,795,386
*Decline in numbers of immigrants due in part to the Depression of 1893.
Source: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Statistical Yearbook of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1998, U.S. Government Printing Office
1 Based on these charts, state one trend related to industrialization between 1861 and 1910.
1880 – Industrialization - U.S. Immigration Policy 1880 – 1920s
Document
Free
Education
Free Land
Free
Speech
Free Ballot
Free Lunch
Source: The Granger Collection (adapted)
1. What does the cartoon show about United States immigration policy in 1880?
1884 Industrialization – Immigrant Recruiting
Document
. . . one of those agents from the big bosses in America came to Bugiarno to get men
for some iron mines in Missouri. The company paid for the tickets, but the men had
to work for about a year to pay them back, and they had to work another year before
they could send for their wives and families. So this time, when that agent came,
Santino and some of his friends joined the gang and went off to America.
— Rosa Cristoforo, an Italian immigrant, 1884
1. According to this passage, why did the agents encourage Italians to emigrate to America?
2. How did the agents encourage Italians to go to America?
1882 – Industrialization / Immigration – Chinese Exclusion Act
Document
May 6, 1882. CHAP. 126.—An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese.
WHEREAS, IN THE OPINION OF THE Government of the United States the
coming of Chinese laborers to this country endangers the good order of certain localities within the territory thereof: Therefore,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next
after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of
this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be, and the same is
hereby, suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese
laborer to come, or, having so come after the expiration of said ninety days, to remain
within the United States.
— The Chinese Exclusion Act
1. According to this passage, how did the Chinese Exclusion Act affect the immigration of Chinese
people to the United States?
2. According to this passage, what reason did the United States government give for passing this law?
1887 - Effect of Industrialization on the South
. . . When we come to the New Industrial South the change is marvellous, and so vast and various
that I scarcely know where to begin in a short paper that cannot go much into details. Instead of a
South devoted to agriculture and politics, we find a South wide-awake to business, excited and
even astonished at the development of its own immense resources in metals, marbles, coal,
timber, fertilizers, eagerly laying lines of communication, rapidly opening mines, building furnaces,
foundries [workplace where melted metal is poured into molds], and all sorts of shops for utilizing
the native riches. It is like the discovery of a new world. When the Northerner finds great
foundries in Virginia using only (with slight exceptions) the products of Virginia iron and coal
mines; when he finds Alabama and Tennessee making iron so good and so cheap that it finds ready
market in Pennsylvania; and foundries multiplying near the great furnaces for supplying Northern
markets; when he finds cotton-mills running to full capacity on grades of cheap cottons universally
in demand throughout the South and Southwest; when he finds small industries, such as paper-box
factories and wooden bucket and tub factories, sending all they can make into the North and widely
over the West; when he sees the loads of most beautiful marbles shipped North; when he learns that
some of the largest and most important engines and mill machinery were made in Southern shops;
when he finds in Richmond a “pole locomotive,” made to run on logs laid end to end, and drag
out from Michigan forests and Southern swamps lumber hitherto inaccessible; when he sees worn
out highlands in Georgia and Carolina bear more cotton than ever before by help of a fertilizer the
base of which is the cotton seed itself (worth more as a fertilizer than it was before the oil was
extracted from it); when he sees a multitude of small shops giving employment to men, women, and
children who never had any work of that sort to do before; and when he sees Roanoke iron cast in
Richmond into car irons, and returned to a car factory in Roanoke which last year sold three
hundred cars to the New York and New England Railroad—he begins to open his eyes. The South
is manufacturing a great variety of things needed in the house, on the farm, and in the shops,
for home consumption, and already sends to the North and West several manufactured products.
With iron, coal, timber contiguous [adjoining] and easily obtained, the amount sent out is certain to
increase as the labor becomes more skillful. The most striking industrial development today is in
iron, coal, lumber, and marbles; the more encouraging for the self-sustaining life of the
Southern people is the multiplication of small industries in nearly every city I visited. . . .
Source: Charles Dudley Warner, “The South Revisited,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine (March 1887)
2. According to this passage, what was one economic change that had occurred in the South by
1887?
Document
Natural Resources and Select Industries, c. 1900
Ag
Au
Ag
Au
Ag
Au
Au
O
Au
Au
Ag
O
Au
Au
Ag
O
O
Ag
Au
Ag
O
Coal mining
Iron ore
Copper
mining
Steel and
Iron mills
Au
Gold
Ag
Silver
Timber
O
Oil
Source: Our United States, Silver Burdett Ginn, and The Complete School Atlas, Holt, Rinehart and Winston (adapted)
1. Based on this map, state one way natural resources have affected the economic development of the
United States.
Great Lakes and Industrialization
1.
Based on the documents, what is one way the Great Lakes affected industrialization in the United States?
1890 Industrialization - Great Lakes and Industrialization
Document
On May 29, 1890, the ship W. R. Stafford left Marquette, Michigan, on a routine voyage, carrying a load of
iron ore to Ohio and returning with a load of coal.
. . . Thousands of times that year, hundreds of ships plying [sailing] the Great Lakes between the
rich ore fields along the southern and western shores of Lake Superior and the industrial centers
in Ohio and Michigan repeated her [the W. R. Stafford] schedule. The abundance and quality of
the ore these ships transported helped fuel unprecedented industrial growth in the United States
in the last decades of the 19th century. Great Lakes transportation played a critical role in that
growth. Without this link, it is doubtful the growth of American industry could have occurred as
rapidly as it did. . . .
Source: http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/iron_ore
taconite.html
1. Based on the documents, what is one way the Great Lakes affected industrialization in the United States?
1860 – 1900 – Industrialization – Technological Growth and the Transformation
of the U. S. Economically and Socially
Document
Urbanization, Railroad Mileage, and Industrialization of the United States, 1860–1900
Total Population
(millions)
% Urban
Population
Number of Cities
with Population of
10,000+
Railroad Mileage
(thousands)
Telegraph Mileage
(thousands)
Meat Packing
Output
($ millions)
1860
1870
1880
1890
1900
32
40
50
76
92
20%
25%
28%
35%
40%
93
168
223
363
440
30.6
52.9
93.3
166.7
206.6
56.0
133.6
291.2
848.8
1307.0
Not
Available
62.1
303.6
564.7
790.3
Source: Gary Fields, “Communications, Innovations, and Networks: The National Beef Network of G. F. Swift”
(adapted)
1.
Based on these charts, state two effects of technological growth /industrialization on the United States
after the Civil War.
1886 – Industrialization – The Robber Barons
Document
The policy which has been pursued has given us [the United States] the most efficient
railway service and the lowest rates known in the world; but its recognized benefits
have been attained at the cost of the most unwarranted discriminations, and its effect
has been to build up the strong at the expense of the weak, to give the large dealer an
advantage over the small trader, to make capital count for more than individual credit
and enterprise, to concentrate business at great commercial centers, to necessitate
combinations and aggregations of capital, to foster monopoly, to encourage the growth
and extend the influence of corporate power, and to throw the control of the
commerce of the country more and more into the hands of the few. . . .
Source: United States Senate, Select Committee on Interstate Commerce, 1886
1. According to this document, how did the railroad owners engage in unfair business practices?
1908 – 1925 Industrialization - Effects of Mass Production on the Cost
of the Automobile
Document
Length of Time an Average American
Employee Must Work to Purchase a Car
Source: Bailey and Kennedy, The American Pageant,
D.C. Heath and Company, 1987
1 According to Bailey and Kennedy, how did Henry Ford’s mass production techniques influence the
cost of the automobile?
1870 – 1920 – Industrialization – Number of Workers and Union Membership
Document
Union Membership, 1870–1920
Year
Number of workers,
age 10 and over
(excluding agricultural
workers)
Average annual union
membership
Union membership as a
percentage of the total
number of workers
outside agriculture
1870
6,075,000
300,000*
4.9%
1880
8,807,000
200,000*
2.3%
1890
13,380,000
372,000*
2.7%
1900
18,161,000
868,000
4.8%
1910
25,779,000
2,140,000
8.3%
1920
30,985,000
5,048,000
16.3%
* Figures for 1870, 1880, and 1890 are estimates.
Source: Irving Bartlett et al., A New History of the United States, Holt, Rinehart and Winston,1975 (adapted)
Based on this chart, state two effects of industrialization on the United States after the Civil War
Selected Events in Labor History
— 1869 Knights of Labor organized
— 1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes sends
federal troops to end B&O railroad strike
— 1886 American Federation of Labor chooses
Samuel Gompers to lead union
— 1892 Workers strike at Andrew Carnegie’s
Homestead steel plant
1894 Pullman Railway strike fails/ Eugene Debs
jailed
— 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt mediates
anthracite coal strike
1. Based on this time line, what was one way workers responded to their working conditions between 1869
and 1902?
… A better relationship between labor and management is the high purpose of this Act. By
assuring the employees the right of collective bargaining it fosters the development of the
employment contract on a sound and equitable basis. By providing an orderly procedure for
determining who is entitled to represent the employees, it aims to remove one of the chief
causes of wasteful economic strife. By preventing practices which tend to destroy the
independence of labor, it seeks, for every worker within its scope, that freedom of choice and
action which is justly his.…
Source: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Statement on Signing the National Labor Relations [Wagner] Act,
July 5, 1935
1. According to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, what was one way the National Labor Relations
[Wagner] Act would affect workers?
Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.
EMPLOYEE RIGHTS
UNDER THE FAIR LABOR S TANDARDS ACT
THE UNITED STATES OF LABOR WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, 2007 (adapted)
1. Based on this Department of Labor poster, what is one way the Fair Labor Standards Act continues
to affect workers?
1909 Industrialization – The Rise of Unions
Document a
Clara Lemlich, a labor union leader, sparked the 1909 walkout of shirtwaist [blouse] makers
with her call for a strike.
First let me tell you something about the way we work and what we are paid. There are two
kinds of work—regular, that is salary work, and piecework. The regular work pays about $6 a
week and the girls have to be at their machines at 7 o’clock in the morning and they stay at them
until 8 o’clock at night, with just one-half hour for lunch in that time.
The shops. Well, there is just one row of machines that the daylight ever gets to—that is the
front row, nearest the window. The girls at all the other rows of machines back in the shops have
to work by gaslight, by day as well as by night. Oh, yes, the shops keep the work going at night,
too. . . .
Source: Clara Lemlich, “Life in the Shop,” New York Evening Journal, November 28, 1909
Document b
Source: Bain News Service, New York, February 1910,
Library of Congress
1. Based on these documents, state two ways industrialization affected workers.
1889 – Progressive Era – Political Corruption
Document a
The Bosses of the Senate
Peoples’
Entrance
Closed
Source: Joseph J. Keppler, Puck, 1889 (adapted)
1. According to this cartoonist, what was one way the people’s control of government in the United
States was limited?
2. What is one political problem identified by Joseph J. Keppler in this cartoon?
3. According to the cartoon, who were the “Bosses of the Senate”?
Document b
… Popular [democratic] government in America has been thwarted and progressive legislation
strangled by the special interests, which control caucuses, delegates, conventions, and party
organizations; and, through this control of the machinery of government, dictate nominations
and platforms, elect administrations, legislatures, representatives in Congress, United States
Senators, and control cabinet officers. …
The Progressive Republican League believes that popular government is fundamental to all
other questions. To this end it advocates:
(1) The election of United State Senators by direct vote of the people.
(2) Direct primaries for the nomination of elective officials.
(3) The direct election of delegates to national conventions with opportunity for the voter to
express his choice for President and Vice-President.
(4) Amendment to state constitutions providing for the Initiative, Referendum and Recall.…
Source: Declaration of Principles of the National Progressive Republican League, January 21, 1911,
in Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, Appleton-Century-Crofts
1. What were two proposals made by the Progressive Republican League that would expand the
people’s control of government?
Document c
. . . The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected
by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each
State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State
legislatures. . . .
— 17th Amendment, Section 1, 1913
1. State one way the 17th amendment addressed the concern expressed in the above documents.
Document D
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state,
chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each senator shall have one vote.
— United States Constitution (1787)
1
7
8
1. How did the 17th Amendment make the selection of United States senators more democratic?
Progressive Era – Populist Party
Document
The resolutions below were proposed at the Populist [People’s] Party National Convention.
4. Resolved, That we condemn the fallacy [myth] of protecting American labor under the
present system, which opens our ports to the pauper [poor] and criminal classes of the world,
and crowds out our wage-earners; and we denounce the present ineffective laws against contract
labor [day laborers], and demand the further restriction of undesirable emigration.
5. Resolved, That we cordially sympathize with the efforts of organized workingmen to
shorten the hours of labor, and demand a rigid enforcement of the existing eight-hour law on
Government work, and ask that a penalty clause be added to the said law.
9. Resolved, That we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any private corporation for any
purpose.
Source: People’s Party National Platform, July 4, 1892
1. Based on this document, identify one reform proposed at the Populist Party Convention
related to industrialization.
1892 – Progressive Era – Populist Party
We believe that the time has come when the railroad corporations will either own the people or the
people must own the railroads; and, should the government enter upon the work of owning and
managing all railroads, we should favor an amendment to the Constitution by which all persons
engaged in the government service shall be placed under a civil service regulation of the most rigid
character, so as to prevent the increase of the power of the national administration by the use of
such additional government employees. . . .
Transportation, being a means of exchange and a public necessity, the government should own
and operate the railroads in the interest of the people. . . .
Source: Populist Party Platform, 1892
1. According to the Populist Party platform, why should the government own the railroads?
1892 – Progressive Era – Populist Party
Document
People’s Party [Populist] Platform
(Omaha Platform)
July 4, 1892
. . .The conditions which surround us best justify our co-operation; we meet in the midst of a
nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the
ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine [robes] of the bench.
The people are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled to isolate the voters at the
polling places to prevent universal intimidation and bribery. The newspapers are largely
subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated [crushed], homes covered
with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of the capitalists.
The urban workmen are denied the right to organize for self-protection, imported pauperized
labor beats down their wages, a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established
to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions. The fruits of
the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up the fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the
history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger
liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes—
tramps and millionaires. . . .
National Economist, Washington, D.C., 1892
1. According to this political party platform, what were two specific problems that led to the formation of
the Populist Party?
1912 – Progressive Party Platform
Document
We propose . . . “effective legislation to prevent industrial accidents, occupational diseases, overwork, and unemployment . . . to fix minimum standards of health and safety
in industry . . . and to provide a living wage throughout industry. . . .”
— Progressive Party platform (1912)
1. State two reforms that were proposed in the Progressive Party platform of 1912.
1910 – Progressive Era and Political Reform (Increased Democracy)
Document
. . . Indeed, the growth of fundamental democracy in this country is astonishing. Thirty years
ago the secret ballot was regarded as a passing craze by professional politicians. Twenty years
ago it was a vital issue in nearly every American state. To-day the secret ballot is universal in
American politics. Ten years ago the direct primary was the subject of an academic discussion
in the University of Michigan by a young man named La Follette of Wisconsin. Now it is in
active operation in over two-thirds of our American states, and over half of the American people
use the direct primary as a weapon of self-government. Five years ago the recall was a piece of
freak legislation in Oregon. To-day more American citizens are living under laws giving them the
power of recall than were living under the secret ballot when [President] Garfield came to the
White House, and many times more people have the power to recall certain public officers today than had the advantages of the direct primary form of party nominations when [President]
Theodore Roosevelt came to Washington. The referendum is only five years behind the primary.
Prophecy with these facts before one becomes something more than a rash guess. [With these
facts in mind, predicting the future becomes something more than rash guessing.] . . .
Source: William Allen White, The Old Order Changeth, Macmillan, 1910
1. According to William Allen White, what were two reforms the Progressives supported to
expand democracy?
1890 – Progressive Era – Living Conditions
Document a
An Old Rear-Tenement In Roosevelt Street
Source: Jacob Riis, 1890
Document b
. . . It is ten years and over, now, since that line [between rich and poor] divided New York’s
population evenly. To-day three- fourths of its people live in the tenements, and the nineteenth
century drift of the population to the cities is sending ever- increasing multitudes to crowd them.
The fifteen thousand tenant houses that were the despair of the sanitarian in the past generation
have swelled into thirty-seven thousand, and more than twelve hundred thousand persons call them
home. The one way out he saw—rapid transit to the suburbs—has brought no relief. We know now
that there is no way out; that the “system” that was the evil offspring of public neglect and private
greed has come to stay, a storm-centre forever of our civilization. Nothing is left but to make the best
of a bad bargain. . . .
Source: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1890
1.
Based on these documents, state two problems faced by cities in the United States in the late 1800s.
1889 – Progressive Era – Jacob Riis “How The Other Half Lives”
Document
“Lodgers in a Bayard Street Tenement”
Source: photo by Jacob Riis, 1890
1 State two conditions that Jacob Riis’ photograph shows about life in cities in the late 1800s.
1894 – Industrialization / Progressive Era – Conditions of Cities
Document
Hamlin Garland visited Homestead, Pennsylvania, and the Carnegie steel mills to write this article for
McClure’s Magazine.
. . .The streets of the town were horrible; the buildings were poor; the sidewalks were sunken,
swaying, and full of holes, and the crossings were sharp-edged stones set like rocks in a river bed.
Everywhere the yellow mud of the street lay kneaded into a sticky mass, through which groups
of pale, lean men slouched in faded garments, grimy with the soot and grease of the mills.
The town was as squalid [dirty] and unlovely as could well be imagined, and the people were
mainly of the discouraged and sullen type to be found everywhere where labor passes into the
brutalizing stage of severity. It had the disorganized and incoherent effect of a town which has
feeble public spirit. Big industries at differing eras have produced squads [groups] of squalid
tenement-houses far from the central portion of the town, each plant bringing its gangs of
foreign laborers in raw masses to camp down like an army around its shops.
Such towns are sown thickly over the hill-lands of Pennsylvania, but this was my first descent into
one of them. They are American only in the sense in which they represent the American idea of
business. . . .
Source: Hamlin Garland, “Homestead and Its Perilous Trades–Impressions of a Visit,”
McClure’s Magazine, June 1894
1. Based on Hamlin Garland’s observations, what is one impact of industrialization on
Homestead, Pennsylvania?
Progressive Era – Temperance Movement
Document
In this Frank Beard cartoon, a saloon owner is wrapped in the protection of the law from the accusations
of Themis, the Greek goddess of justice.
Under the Cloak of the Law
WORK OF THE SALOON
The Manufacture and Sale of Liquor
Is Responsible For
70 per cent of our criminals
50 per cent of the inmates
of insane asylums
80 per cent of the inmates
of our poor houses
100 per cent of our troubles
The destruction of
homes
The corruption
of voters
Source: Frank Beard, Fifty Great Cartoons,
The Ram’s Horn Press, 1899
According to Frank Beard, what was one reason people supported the temperance movement?
[1]
Document b
. . . the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof
into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction
thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Source: United States Constitution, 18th Amendment, Section 1, 1919
Based on this document, state one way reformers tried to stop the sale of intoxicating liquors in the United
States.
1876 – Progressive Era – Temperance / Prohibition Movement
Document a
Building Up His Business
Source: Frank Beard, The Ram’s Horn, September 12, 1896
(adapted)
Document b
This excerpt from the National Temperance Almanac of 1876 attacks “King Alcohol.”
He has occasioned [caused] more than three-fourths of the pauperism [extreme poverty], threefourths of the crime, and more than one-half of the insanity in the community, and thereby filled
our prisons, our alms-houses [houses for the poor] and lunatic asylums, and erected the gibbet
[gallows to hang people] before our eyes.
Source: Andrew Sinclair, Prohibition: The Era of Excess, Little, Brown
1. Based on this 19th-century cartoon and this quotation, state two effects that alcohol had on American
society.
1912 – Progressive Era - Prohibition/Temperance Movement
Document
“ . . . When four-fifths of the most representative men in America are pronounced unfit for
war, what shall we say of their fitness to father the next generation? The time was when alcohol
was received as a benefit to the race, but we no longer look upon alcohol as a food but as a
poison. Boards of health, armed with the police power of the state eradicate [erase] the causes
of typhoid and quarantine the victims, but alcohol, a thousand times more destructive to public
health, continues to destroy. Alcoholic degeneracy [deterioration] is the most important sanitary
[health] question before the country, and yet the health authorities do not take action, as alcohol
is entrenched [well established] in politics. Leaders in politics dare not act, as their political
destiny lies in the hands of the agents of the liquor traffic. We are face to face with the greatest
crisis in our country’s history. The alcohol question must be settled within the next ten years or
some more virile race will write the epitaph of this country. . . .”
Source: Dr. T. Alexander MacNicholl, quoted in Presidentʼs Annual Address to the
Womenʼs Christian Temperance Union of Minnesota, 1912
1. According to this 1912 document, why does this speaker think the use of alcohol is “the greatest crisis in
our country’s history”?
1920s – Effects of National Prohibition
Document a
Too Big For Them
FEDERAL
OFFICER
SHERIFF’S
DEPUTY
CITY
POLICE
Source: P.W. Cromwell, Bentley Historical Library,
University of Michigan (adapted)
Document b
. . . While in reality national prohibition sharply reduced the consumption of alcohol in the
United States, the law fell considerably short of expectations. It neither eliminated drinking nor
produced a sense that such a goal was within reach. So long as the purchaser of liquor, the
supposed victim of a prohibition violation, participated in the illegal act rather than complained
about it, the normal law enforcement process simply did not function. As a result, policing
agencies bore a much heavier burden. The various images of lawbreaking, from contacts with the
local bootlegger to Hollywood films to overloaded court dockets, generated a widespread belief
that violations were taking place with unacceptable frequency. Furthermore, attempts at
enforcing the law created an impression that government, unable to cope with lawbreakers by
using traditional policing methods, was assuming new powers in order to accomplish its task. The
picture of national prohibition which emerged over the course of the 1920s disenchanted many
Americans and moved some to an active effort to bring an end to the dry law [Volstead Act].
Source: David E. Kyvig, Repealing National Prohibition, Kent State University Press, 2000
6 Based on these documents, what were two problems that resulted from national Prohibition?
1873 – Women’s Suffrage Movement
Document
The preamble of the Federal Constitution says: “We, the people of the United States. . . .”
It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens;
but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the
blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves and the half of our
posterity, but to the whole people — women as well as men.”
— Susan B. Anthony
1. What argument was used by Susan B. Anthony to support the demand that women be given the right
to vote?
1898 – Women’s Suffrage
Document
On November 5, 1872, Susan B. Anthony, along with sixteen other women, went to the local polling booth
in Rochester to vote in the general election. She was arrested and made this statement during her trial. In the
trial, she was convicted and fined.
. . . Miss Anthony.[speaking] — May it please your honor, I will never pay a dollar of your unjust
penalty. All the stock in trade I possess is a debt of $10,000, incurred by publishing my paper—
The Revolution—the sole object of which was to educate all women to do precisely as I have
done, rebel against your man-made, unjust, unconstitutional forms of law, which tax, fine,
imprison and hang women, while denying them the right of representation in the government;
and I will work on with might and main to pay every dollar of that honest debt, but not a penny
shall go to this unjust claim. And I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to
the practical recognition of the old Revolutionary maxim, “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to
God.”. . .
Source: Ida Husted Harper, The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, Vol. I, The Hollenbeck Press, 1898
1. According to Susan B. Anthony, why did she refuse to pay a fine?
1910 – Progressive Movement - Women’s Rights Movement
Document
PREFACE
Salary—A periodical [regular] allowance made as compensation to a person for his official or
professional services or for his regular work. –Funk and Wagnalls.
Notice the words, “a person.” Here is no differentiation between male persons and female
persons.
Yet the City of New York pays a “male” person for certain “professional services” $900, while
paying a “female” person only $600 for the same “professional services.” Stranger still, it pays for
certain experience of a “male” person $105, while paying a “female” person only $40 for the
identical experience. These are but samples of the “glaring inequalities” in the teachers’ salary
schedules. . . .
Source: Grace C. Strachan, Equal Pay for Equal Work, B. F. Buck & Company, 1910
1.
What is one problem addressed by Grace C. Strachan?
1910 - Progressive Era – Women’s Suffrage Movement
Document
. . . Women compose one-half of the human race. In the last forty years, women in gradually
increasing numbers have been compelled to leave the home and enter the factory and workshop. Over seven million women are so employed and the remainder of the sex are employed
largely in domestic services. A full half of the work of the world is done by women. A careful
study of the matter has demonstrated the vital fact that these working women receive a smaller
wage for equal work than men do and that the smaller wage and harder conditions imposed on
the woman worker are due to the lack of the ballot. . . .
The great doctrine of the American Republic that “all governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed,” justifies the plea of one-half of the people, the women, to
exercise the suffrage. The doctrine of the American Revolutionary War that taxation without
representation is unendurable [intolerable], justifies women in exercising the suffrage. One great
advantage, however, of the suffrage is in raising women to a position of greater honor and dignity
so that the children of the land shall show and feel greater reverence and honor for their
mothers, and that the mothers may teach the elementary principles of good government while
they are teaching them good manners, morality and religion. . . .
Source: Senator Robert Owen, Speech, 1910
1. What problem is described in this quotation?
2. Based on this document, state two reasons for giving women the right to vote.
1910 – Progresssive Era Women’s Rights
Document
. . . The woman ballot will not revolutionize the world. Its results in Colorado, for example, might
have been anticipated. First, it did give women better wages for equal work; second, it led
immediately to a number of laws the women wanted, and the first laws they demanded were laws
for the protection of the children of the State, making it a misdemeanor to contribute to the
delinquency of a child; laws for the improved care of defective children; also, the Juvenile Court
for the conservation of wayward boys and girls; the better care of the insane, the deaf, the dumb
[unable to speak], the blind; the curfew bell to keep children off the streets at night; raising the
age of consent for girls; improving the reformatories and prisons of the State; improving the
hospital service of the State; improving the sanitary laws, affecting the health of the homes of the
State. Their [women’s] interest in the public health is a matter of great importance. Above all,
there resulted laws for improving the school system. . . .
Source: Senator Robert L. Owen, Introductory Remarks of Presiding Officer, Significance of the Woman Suffrage Movement,
Session of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, February 9, 1910
1. According to Senator Robert L. Owen, what were two effects of the women’s rights
movement in Colorado?
1917 – Women’s Suffrage
Document
Suffragists’ Machine
Perfected in All States
Under Mrs. Catt’s Rule
Votes for Women Campaign Is
Now Run with All the Method
of Experienced Men Politicians
. . . A suffrage publishing company, whose first President was Mrs. Cyrus W. Field, and whose
present President is Miss Esther Ogden, is one of the important auxiliaries of the National
American Suffrage Association’s work. It has proved so successful as a business proposition that
in January of this year, after two years of work, it declared a dividend of 3 per cent. This
publishing company issues fliers, leaflets, books, posters, and suffrage maps. Incidentally, it
produces, as an adjunct of the propaganda work, playing cards, stationery with “Votes for
Women” printed on it, calendars, dinner cards, and postcards; also parasols, &c. [etc.], for use in
parades. Last year this company issued 5,000,000 fliers. . . .
Source: New York Times, April 29, 1917
1. According to this New York Times article, what was one way that the National American Suffrage
Association drew attention to its cause?
1917 – Women’s Suffrage and Civil Disobedience
Document a
Suffragists’ Parade, c. 1913
Source: Library of Congress
Wisconsin
Women Have
Had School
Suffrage
Since 1900
Connecticut
Women Have
Had School
Suffrage
Since 1893
White House Picketer, 1917
In All But
4 States
Women Have
Some
Suffrage
Document b
Source: Miles Harvey, Women’s Voting Rights,
Children’s Press
1. What was a goal of the women shown in these photographs?
2. As shown in these photographs, what was one method being used by women to achieve their goal?
1915 – Women’s Suffrage Movement
Document
Source: Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association
(Note: The original version of this flier
did not include a Reason 9.)
1.
According to this document, what were two arguments suffragists used in this 1915 flier in support of
their goal?
Woman’s Suffrage Before 1920
WA
1910
OR
1912
NV
1914
CA
1911
MT
1914
ID
1896
UT
1896
AZ
1912
NH
VT
ND
MN
WY
1890
WI
SD
1918
NE
IA
IL
CO
1893
KS
1912
OK
1918
NM
MI
1918
IN
MA
RI
CT NJ
DE
PA
OH
WV VA
KY
MD
NC TN
SC
MO
AR
MS
TX
NY
1917
ME
LA
AL
GA
FL
Key
Equal suffrage for women with
date voted
Partial woman’s suffrage by 1919
No woman’s suffrage by 1919
Source: Sandra Opdycke, The Routledge Historical Atlas of Women in America, Routledge (adapted)
(Note: Wyoming and Utah became states in 1890 and 1896, respectively. Their territorial legislatures had
previously approved equal suffrage for women.)
6 Based on this map, what is one trend that can be identified about woman’s suffrage prior to 1920?
1915 – Women’s Suffrage Newspaper Flyer
Document
Votes for Women – Nov. 5, 1914
Source: Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division,
(adapted)
1
According to this poster, what were two reasons that people should vote in favor of the 19th
Amendment supporting women’s suffrage?
1873 – 1917 – Tactics of NAWSA
[National American Woman Suffrage Association]
Document
Source: Library of Congress, 1917 (adapted)
Document
… As [Elizabeth Cady] Stanton predicted, women’s professional and tactical experience
contributed powerfully to a reinvigorated suffrage movement. NAWSA [National American
Woman Suffrage Association] proved to be an effective, formidable organization. Its
membership increased geometrically, from 13,150 in 1893 to over two million in 1917.
Suffragists mounted hundreds of campaigns within party conventions, legislatures and
constitutional convocations [assemblies]. They raised millions of dollars, mostly in small sums.
Countless men and women participated in vigils, parades, hunger strikes and illegal invasions of
polling places. Dozens suffered imprisonment and fines. In 1873, Susan B. Anthony was arrested
for the federal crime of “having voted without the lawful right to vote.” At her highly publicized
trial in Rochester, New York, she was convicted and fined by a judge who brushed aside the jury
and whose opinion had been written in advance of the trial.…
Source: Sandra F. VanBurkleo, “No Rights But Human Rights: The Emancipation of American Women,”
Constitution, Spring-Summer, 1990
8 Based on these documents, what were two methods used by women’s rights groups to influence American
public opinion?
1920 – 19th Amendment
Document
. . . The winning of female suffrage did not mark the end of prejudice and
discrimination against women in public life. Women still lacked equal access
with men to those professions, especially the law, which provide the chief routes
to political power. Further, when women ran for office—and many did in the
immediate post suffrage era—they often lacked major party backing, hard to
come by for any newcomer but for women almost impossible unless she
belonged to a prominent political family. Even if successful in winning backing,
when women ran for office they usually had to oppose incumbents [those in
office]. When, as was often the case, they lost their first attempts, their reputation
as “losers” made reendorsement impossible. . . .
Source: Elisabeth Perry, “Why Suffrage for American Women Was Not Enough,” History Today, September 1993
1. According to Elisabeth Perry, what was one way in which women’s participation in public life
continued to be limited after winning suffrage?
1932 – Early Effects of the 19th Amendment
Document
… As it turned out, women’s suffrage had few consequences, good or evil. Millions of
women voted (although never in the same proportion as men), women were elected to
public office (several gained seats in Congress by the end of the 1920’s), but the new
electorate caused scarcely a ripple in American political life. Women like Jane Addams
made great contributions, but it would be difficult to demonstrate that they accomplished
any more after they had the vote than before. It was widely believed, although never
proved, that women cast a “dry” vote for Hoover in 1928 and that women were likely to be
more moved than men to cast a “moral-issue” vote. Otherwise, the earth spun around much
as it had before.…
Source: William E. Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–32, University of Chicago Press, 1958
1. According to William E. Leuchtenburg, what was one result of women’s suffrage on
American society?
Progressive Era – Child Labor
Document
Source: Library of Congress (adapted)
1.
Based on the information on this poster, why is child labor considered a national problem?
Progressive Era – Child Labor
Document
. . . Little girls and boys, barefooted, walked up and down between the endless rows of
spindles, reaching thin little hands into the machinery to repair snapped threads. They crawled
under machinery to oil it. They replaced spindles all day long, all day long; night through, night
through. Tiny babies of six years old with faces of sixty did an eight-hour shift for ten cents a day.
If they fell asleep, cold water was dashed in their faces, and the voice of the manager yelled
above the ceaseless racket and whir of the machines.
Toddling chaps of four years old were brought to the mills to “help” the older sister or brother
of ten years but their labor was not paid.
The machines, built in the north, were built low for the hands of little children.
At five-thirty in the morning, long lines of little grey children came out of the early dawn into
the factory, into the maddening noise, into the lint filled rooms. Outside the birds sang and the
blue sky shone. At the lunch half-hour, the children would fall to sleep over their lunch of
cornbread and fat pork. They would lie on the bare floor and sleep. Sleep was their recreation,
their release, as play is to the free child. The boss would come along and shake them awake. After
the lunch period, the hour-in grind, the ceaseless running up and down between the whirring
spindles. Babies, tiny children! . . .
Source: Mother Jones, Autobiography of Mother Jones, Arno Press
1. According to Mother Jones, what was one situation faced by children in the workplace in the
late 1800s?
Progressive Era – Child Labor
Document
. . . While states began to pass laws that worked, Mother Jones’s dream of a national child labor
law remained just a dream. Even if the children [after their labor march in 1903] had managed to
see President [Theodore] Roosevelt, it is doubtful that any federal laws would have been
passed. In 1906, a federal child labor bill was defeated in Congress. Echoing Roosevelt, many of
the bill’s opponents said they disliked child labor, but that they believed only states had the
authority to make laws against it. In 1916, a bill was passed, but the Supreme Court ruled that
the law was unconstitutional. The first successful national law was not passed until 1938, about
35 years after the march of the mill children. . . .
Source: Stephen Currie, We Have Marched Together: The Working Children’s Crusade, Lerner Publications, 1997
1. According to Stephen Currie, what was one reason that ending child labor was
difficult to achieve nationally?
1889 – Progressive Era – Jane Addam’s Hull House
. . . During the same winter three boys from a Hull-House club were injured at one
machine in a neighboring factory for lack of a guard which would have cost but a few
dollars. When the injury of one of these boys resulted in his death, we felt quite sure that
the owners of the factory would share our horror and remorse, and that they would do
everything possible to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy. To our surprise they did
nothing whatever, and I made my first acquaintance then with those pathetic documents
signed by the parents of working children, that they will make no claim for damages
resulting from “carelessness.”
The visits we made in the neighborhood constantly discovered women sewing upon
sweatshop work, and often they were assisted by incredibly small children. I remember a
little girl of four who pulled out basting threads hour after hour, sitting on a stool at the
feet of her Bohemian mother, a little bunch of human misery. But even for that there was
no legal redress [remedy], for the only child-labor law in Illinois, with any provision for
enforcement, had been secured [achieved] by the coal miners’ unions, and was confined to
children employed in mines. . . .
There was at that time no statistical information on Chicago industrial conditions, and
Mrs. Florence Kelley, an early resident of Hull-House, suggested to the Illinois State Bureau
of Labor that they investigate the sweating system [sweatshops] in Chicago with its attendant
[use of] child labor. The head of the Bureau adopted this suggestion and engaged Mrs.
Kelley to make the investigation. When the report was presented to the Illinois Legislature,
a special committee was appointed to look into the Chicago conditions. I well recall that on
the Sunday the members of this commission came to dine at Hull-House, our hopes ran
high, and we believed that at last some of the worst ills under which our neighbors were
suffering would be brought to an end. . . .
Source: Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House with Autobiographical Notes, MacMillan, 1912
1. Based on this document, identify one social problem Jane Addams wanted to reform.
Progressive Era – Child Labor
Document
This is an excerpt from a radio interview given by Elmer F. Andrews, Administrator of the Fair Labor
Standards Act. He is discussing the Wage and Hour Law, also known as the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Protection for Children
Announcer—Well, can’t you tell us something about this—I know we are all interested in the
protection of children from oppressive labor in industrial plants and mines.
Mr. Andrews—The child labor sections are specific. No producer, manufacturer or dealer
may ship, or deliver for shipment in interstate commerce, any goods produced in an
establishment which has employed oppressive child labor within thirty days of the removal of the
goods. The thirty days will be counted after today, so this means that employers of children
before today do not come under the act.
Announcer—And oppressive child labor is—what?
Mr. Andrews—Oppressive child labor is defined as, first, the employment of children under
16 in any occupation, except that children of 14 or 15 may do work which the Children’s Bureau
has determined will not interfere with their schooling, health or well-being, but this work under
the law must not be either manufacturing or mining employment.
In addition oppressive child labor means the employment of children of 16 or 17 years in any
occupation found by the Children’s Bureau to be particularly hazardous or detrimental to health
or well-being.
Of course, there are exceptions for child-actors and others, but in general those are the childlabor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is now the law of the land.
Source: “Andrews Explains Wage-Hour Law,” New York Times, October 25, 1938 (adapted)
1.
According to Elmer F. Andrews, what were two ways the Fair Labor Standards Act protected
children?
1870 – 1930 Progressive Era – Child Labor Graph
Document
1. Based on this graph, how did the use of child labor change between 1900 and 1920?
1890 – 1920 Progressive Era – Child Labor Chart
Document
1
Date
Percentage of Children
Between the Ages
of 10 and 15
Who Worked
1890
1900
1910
1920
18.1
18.2
15.0
11.3
According to the chart, how did the percentage of working children between the ages
of 10 and 15 change from 1890 to 1920?
1893 - Progressive Era – Working Conditions Reforms
Document
The excerpts below are from an Illinois state law passed in 1893.
FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS.
——
INSPECTION
§ 1. Manufacture of certain articles of clothing prohibited in apartments, tenement houses
and living rooms, except by families living therein. Every such work shop shall be kept clean, free
from vermin [rodents], infectious or contagious matter and to that end shall be subject to
inspection as provided in this act. Such work shops shall be reported to the board of health.
§ 2. If upon inspection such work shops shall be found unhealthy or infectious such orders
shall be given and action taken as the public health shall require.
§ 4. Children under 14 years of age prohibited from being employed in any manufacturing
establishment, factory or work shop in the state. Register of children under 16 years shall be
kept. The employment of children between ages of 14 and 16 years prohibited unless an affidavit
[legal document] by the parent or guardian shall first be filed in which shall be stated the age
date and place of birth. Certificates of physical health may be demanded by the inspectors.
§ 5. No female shall be employed in any factory or workshop more than eight hours in any
one day or forty-eight hours in any one week.
Source: “Factories and Workshops,” Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Thirty-Eighth General Assembly, 1893
1. Based on these excerpts, identify two ways this 1893 Illinois state law addressed problems
caused by industrialization.
2. Based on this document, state one provision of the Illinois factory law.
1911 – 1913 Progressive Era – State Laws Working Conditions
Document
State Actions Affecting Working Conditions
1911
Recommendations of Illinois Commission on Occupational Disease (1909) result
in Illinois Occupational Disease Act (ventilation, sanitation, fumes, temperature)
1911
Wisconsin becomes first state to pass workman’s compensation legislation
1911
Wisconsin legislature limits hours of labor for women and children
1911–1915
Recommendations of New York State Factory Investigating Commission result in
dozens of new laws creating healthier and safer factory working conditions during
New York’s “golden era in remedial factory legislation”
1912
New York State Factory Investigating Commission requires automatic sprinklers
for all floors above seventh floor of buildings; broadens regulation and inspection
of workplace safety (fire escapes, safe gas jets, fireproof receptacles, escape
routes, fire drills)
1912
Massachusetts passes first state minimum wage law
1913
Oregon law requires payment of overtime for workers in mills or factories (over
ten hours a day)
1. Based on this document, identify two examples of how a state action resulted in the improvement
of working conditions.
1906 – Progressive Era – Muckrakers and Working Conditions
Document
With one member trimming beef in a cannery, and another working in a sausage factory, the family had a first-hand knowledge of the great majority of Packingtown swindles. For it was the custom, as they found, whenever meat was so spoiled that it could
not be used for anything else, either to can it or else chop it up into sausage. With
what had been told them by Jonas, who had worked in the pickle rooms, they could
now study the whole of the spoiled meat industry on the inside, and read a new and
grim meaning into that old Packingtown jest — that they use everything of the pig
except the squeal.
— Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906)
1
Identify one industrial abuse that is described in this passage from The Jungle
1906 – Progressive Era – Muckrakers and Working Conditions
Document
. . . There were the men in the pickle rooms, for instance, where old Antanas had gotten his
death; scarce a one of these that had not some spot of horror on his person. Let a man so much
as scrape his finger pushing a truck in the pickle rooms, and he might have a sore that would put
him out of the world [lead to his death]; all the joints in his fingers might be eaten by the acid,
one by one. Of the butchers and floorsmen, the beef boners and trimmers, and all those who
used knives, you could scarcely find a person who had the use of his thumb; time and time again
the base of it had been slashed, till it was a mere lump of flesh against which the man pressed
the knife to hold it. The hands of these men would be criss-crossed with cuts, until you could
no longer pretend to count them or to trace them. They would have no nails,—they had worn
them off pulling hides; their knuckles were swollen so that their fingers spread out like a fan.
There were men who worked in the cooking rooms, in the midst of steam and sickening odors,
by artificial light; in these rooms the germs of tuberculosis might live for two years, but the
supply was renewed every hour. There were the beef luggers, who carried two-hundred-pound
quarters into the refrigerator cars, a fearful kind of work, that began at four o’clock in the
morning, and that wore out the most powerful men in a few years. . . .
Source: Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, 1906
1 Based on this document, state two effects of poor working conditions in this factory.
1906 - Progressive Era – Theodore Roosevelt and The Jungle
Document
BEEF TRUST BEATEN,
BUT ESCAPES EXPOSURE
President’s Remarkable Promise
Put Inspection Bill Through.
DAMAGING REPORT SHELVED
The President’s Agents Described to
Him Packing House Conditions
Worse Than Those Told of
in Sinclair’s Story.
Special to The New York Times.
. . .The President Was Indignant.
The President [Theodore Roosevelt] did not
send Neill and Reynolds [federal officials] forth
merely on the statements made by Upton Sinclair in
his novel, “The Jungle.” After he had been
convinced of the truth of Sinclair’s statements he
manifested such an interest in the question that
other people brought statements to him. He read the
proofs of articles on the subject, and everything he
read increased his anger. He then asked his two
friends to look into the matter, and let him know if the
stories told to him were true. They did look into it, and
told him that everything he had learned was correct.
Immediately upon this, filled with indignation,
the President had Senator Beveridge introduce the
Meat Inspection bill, and then served a notice that
unless it was passed in jig time [very quickly] the
report would be made public. . . .
Source: New York Times, May 27,1906
1. According to the New York Times, how did The Jungle and other reports influence President
Theodore Roosevelt’s actions?
1906 – Progressive Era – Roosevelt Responds to Upton Sinclair
Document
. . . In just one week a scandalized public had snapped up some 25,000 copies of The Jungle. Almost
all of those readers missed the socialist message. Sinclair had hoped to draw their attention to “the
conditions under which toilers [workers] get their bread.” The public had responded instead to the
disclosures about corrupt federal meat inspectors, unsanitary slaughter houses, tubercular cattle, and the
packers’ unscrupulous [unethical] business practices.
One of the most outraged readers was President Theodore Roosevelt. Few politicians have ever been
as well-informed as TR, who devoured books at over 1,500 words per minute, published works of
history, and corresponded regularly with leading business, academic, and public figures. Roosevelt
recognized immediately that the public would expect government at some level—local, state, or
federal—to clean up the meat industry. He invited Sinclair for a talk at the White House, and though
he dismissed the writer’s “pathetic belief ” in socialism, he promised that “the specific evils you point
out shall, if their existence be proved, and if I have the power, be eradicated [eliminated].”
Roosevelt kept his promise. With the help of allies in Congress, he quickly brought out a new bill, along
with the proverbial [well-known] big stick. Only four months later, on June 30, he signed into law a
Meat Inspection Act that banned the packers from using any unhealthy dyes, chemical preservatives, or
adulterants. The bill provided $3 million toward a new, tougher inspection system, where government
inspectors could be on hand day or night to condemn animals unfit for human consumption. Senator
Albert Beveridge of Indiana, Roosevelt’s progressive ally in Congress, gave the president credit for the
new bill. “It is chiefly to him that we owe the fact that we will get as excellent a bill as we will have,” he
told reporters. Once again, Americans could put canned meats and sausages on the dinner table and eat
happily ever after. Or so it would seem. . . .
Source: James Davidson and Mark Lytle, After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection, Alfred A. Knopf
1. According to this document, what action did President Theodore Roosevelt take to keep his
promise to Upton Sinclair?
1900 – Progressive Era – Reform in Business
Document
Our laws should be so drawn as to protect and encourage corporations which do their
honest duty by the public and discriminate sharply against [regulate] those organized
in the spirit of mere greed, for improper speculative purpose.
— Theodore Roosevelt (1900)
1. What did Theodore Roosevelt say should be done to corporations that operate with little or no
consideration for the public good?
1917 Progressive Era – Civil Rights March
Document
1. What was the general goal of the marchers shown in this photograph?
1867 – Territorial Expansion / U.S. Imperialism – Acquiring Alaska
Document
. . . It has come to be understood also by Senators and others that the great territory [Alaska]
which Secretary Seward proposes to acquire has a far higher value, relative and intrinsic, than
was at first represented by the opponents of the acquisition. We do not place very much
importance upon the argument of a distinguished officer, that our national “virtue” would be
strengthened by acquiring Russian-America; and we cannot give any weight to many other points
that have been urged. But when it is made to appear that coal seams “strike the rugged fields of
Sitka,” and when Commodore Rodgers refers to the growth of timber which is particularly
valuable on a coast so bare as that of the Pacific, and when we are told by high authority about
the fisheries, whose wealth can scarcely be over-estimated, and which will probably become as
important to us in the next generation as those of Newfoundland now are; and when further we
are reminded by a Boston paper of the great whale fishery of the Northern Pacific and of
Behrings Straits, in which Massachusetts is so deeply interested, we have things brought to our
notice which are as easily appreciated here as upon the Pacific coast. And when in addition to
all these considerations, we are reminded that in the opening trade with China and Japan—
which we expect to see developed into such imposing proportions within a quarter of a century—
the Aleutian islands which, being included in the proposed cession, stand almost as a half-way
station—the route between the two Continents being carried far to the North by following the
great circle and by currents; and that moreover these islands are likely to furnish the most
commanding naval station in that part of the ocean—it must be admitted by all parties that the
question is at any rate one of continental relations. We cannot doubt that points like these have
been duly weighed by Senators during the past week, and will not be without power over their
votes when they make their decision upon the treaty. . . .
Source: “The Russian Treaty Before the Senate”, The New York Times, April 8, 1867 (adapted)
2. Based on this document, state two geographic benefits of acquiring Alaska.
Imperialism Asia 1857 - 1903
United States Expansion, 1857–1903
Alaska
1867
United States possessions
(with date of acquisition)
ASIA
0
0
1000
1000
PA C I F I C
OCEAN
2000 kilometers
UNITED STATES
Midway Is.
1867
Puerto Rico
1898
Hawaiian Is.
1898
Wake I.
1899
Philippine Is.
1898
2000 miles
Johnston I.
1858
Guam
1898
N
Palmyra I.
1898
W
E
S
Howland I.
Baker I.
1857
Jarvis I.
1856
Panama
SOUTH
Canal Zone AMERICA
1903
American Samoa
1899
Source: Briggs and Fish-Petersen, Brief Review in United States History and Government,
Prentice Hall, 2001 (adapted)
1. According to this map, how did the location of these possessions promote or protect United
States interests?
Imperialism Asia – 1898
Document
. . . Mahan was not in the vanguard [forefront] of those imperialists in 1898 who, like Roosevelt, Lodge,
Senator Albert J. Beveridge, of Indiana, and others, saw in a victorious war with Spain for Cuba Libre
[independence] an opportunity also to annex the distant Philippines. Mahan had seen since 1896 both the need
and the opportunity for American commercial expansion in the Pacific and into the markets of China. But there
is no persuasive evidence that he linked the annexation of the entire Philippine archipelago with that particular
goal. The acquisition of naval coaling stations at Manila, in Guam, and at the mouth of the Yangtze he
deemed entirely adequate to sustain future American commercial ambitions in China.
To be sure, he had long advocated the annexation of Hawaii, his arguments invariably [always] centering on
defense of the Pacific coast, control of Oriental immigration, and the strategic implications of Japanese
expansion into the Central Pacific. He had again demanded Hawaiian annexation as recently as February
1898 when Senator James H. Kyle, of South Dakota, asked him for a statement on the strategic virtues and
values of the islands. He cheered in July 1898 when the United States, almost as a national-defense reflex,
blinked twice, gulped, and finally swallowed whole the Hawaiian group. As he wrote in mid-August, “In the
opinion of the Board, possession of these islands, which happily we now own, is militarily essential, both to
our transit to Asia, and to the defense of our Pacific coast.” . . .
Source: Robert Seager II, Alfred Thayer Mahan: The Man and His Letters,
Naval Institute Press, 1977
1. According to the author, what was one reason Alfred Thayer Mahan thought control of Pacific
islands was important to the development of the United States?
WWI – Passage of the Espionage and Sedition Act
Document
The Espionage Act was passed in 1917. The Sedition Act was passed in 1918.
… Before the war [World War I], the government had had no power to interfere with free
speech. During the neutrality years and on into the first months of war, pessimistic rumors,
criticism of America’s military preparations, and overtly [openly] pro-German propaganda had
all gone unchecked. Democrats’ moves to introduce press censorship as part of wider
antiespionage legislation had been blocked by Republicans claiming that censorship could be
used by the President to screen himself from criticism.
But with war fever mounting all the time, a modified Espionage Act (subsequently to be
supplemented with the even more stringent [strict] Sedition Act) became law in June 1917.
Suddenly, any statement that might interfere with the success of the armed forces, incite
disloyalty, or obstruct recruiting to the Army became a punishable offense. A crucial weapon had
been added to the government’s armory. It now had the legal power to control what its citizens
said in public. And rather than simply trusting newspaper editors to be discreet, it had the power
to suppress their publications if they spoke out too roughly. In some cases, suppression was
temporary; for others, it was permanent. Postmaster General Albert Burleson was given the
power to ban offensive material from circulating through the mail. Under postal regulations, if a
journal missed one issue, for whatever reason, it automatically lost its second-class mailing
privilege—and for a great many publications, this spelled financial death.…
Source: Harries and Harries, The Last Days of Innocence: America at War 1917–1918,
Random House, 1997
1. According to Harries and Harries, what were two reasons the Espionage and Sedition Acts were passed?
1918 – Schenck v. United States
Document
William H. Rehnquist was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1986 to 2005.
… Charles T. Schenck was convicted [in 1918] of violating the act [Espionage Act] by printing
and distributing to draftees leaflets that urged them to resist the draft. Schenck took his case to
the Supreme Court, arguing that his conviction violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of
freedom of the press. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes, upheld his conviction. It said that “When a nation is at war many things which
might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its efforts that their utterance will not be
endured so long as men fight.… No court could regard them as protected by any constitutional
right.” The Court said that since the leaflet could be found to have been intended to obstruct
the recruiting for the armed forces, it was not protected by the First Amendment; its words
created “a clear and present danger” of bringing about conduct that Congress had a right to
prevent.…
Source: William H. Rehnquist, All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime, Vintage Books, 1998 (adapted)
1. According to William H. Rehnquist, what was one argument used by the United States Supreme
Court to uphold Charles T. Schenck’s conviction under the Espionage Act?
1917 – Opposing Freedom of Speech During Wartime
Document
… I think all men recognize that in time of war the citizen must surrender some rights for the
common good which he is entitled to enjoy in time of peace. But, sir, the right to control their
own Government according to constitutional forms is not one of the rights that the citizens of
this country are called upon to surrender in time of war.
Rather, in time of war, the citizen must be more alert to the preservation of his right to control
his Government. He must be most watchful of the encroachment [intrusion] of the military upon
the civil power. He must beware of those precedents in support of arbitrary action by
administration officials which, excused on the pleas of necessity in war time, become the fixed
rule when the necessity has passed and normal conditions have been restored.
More than all, the citizen and his representative in Congress in time of war must maintain his
right of free speech.…
Source: Senator Robert M. La Follette, “Free Speech in Wartime,” October 6, 1917
1. What is one argument against restricting free speech during wartime, according to Senator Robert
M. La Follette?
Sedition Act After WWI
Document
The Sedition Act continued to be enforced after World War I.
SWAT THE FLY, BUT USE COMMON SENSE.
Source: Lute Pease, Newark News, reprinted in Literary Digest, March 6, 1920
(adapted)
1. What is the cartoonist’s viewpoint of Uncle Sam’s use of the Sedition legislation?
1917 – The Treaty of Versailles
1. In this cartoon, why is the Treaty of Versailles in the wastebasket?
1920 – Educating an Immigrant Population
Document
1. According to this poster, what advantage would immigrants gain by attending an Americanization
school?
1920s – Nativism – Immigration Quotas
Document
Immigration
Before and After
Quota Laws
From
Northern and
Western
Europe
From Southern
and Eastern
Europe and
Asia
Average annual number
of immigrants before quotas
(1907–1914)
176,983
685,531
Emergency Quota Act of 1921
198,082
158,367
Emergency Quota Act
Amended 1924
140,999
21,847
National Origins Act of 1929
132,323
20,251
— Historical Statistics of the United States
1. According to this chart, what effect did the quota laws have on immigration to the United States?
1920s – Nativism – Sacco- Vanzetti Case
Document
We were tried during a time that has now passed into history. I mean by that, a time when
there was . . . resentment and hate against the people of our principles, against the foreigner,
against slackers, and it seems to me—rather, I am positive, that both you and Mr. Katzmann
[have] done all . . . [that was] in your power in order to work out, in order to agitate, still more
the passion of the juror, the prejudice of the juror, against us. . . .
But my conviction is that I have suffered for things that I am guilty of. I am suffer- ing
because I am a radical and indeed I am a radical; I have suffered because I was an Italian and
indeed I am an Italian; I have suffered more for my family and for my beloved wife than for
myself. . . .
— Bartolomeo Vanzetti, to Judge Thayer upon being sentenced to death,
Sacco-Vanzetti case, April 9, 1927
1. State two reasons the speaker in this passage believed he was brought to trial.
1923 – 1960 – Economic and Social Impact of the Automobile on the U.S.
1923
1924
1930
1932
1956
1957
1960
The Influence of the Automobile, 1923–1960 (Selected Years)
Country Club Plaza, the first shopping center, opens in Kansas City.
In November, 16,833 cars cross the St. John’s River into Florida, the beginning of winter
motor pilgrimages to Florida.
Census data suggest that southern cities are becoming more racially segregated as carowning whites move to suburbs that have no public transportation.
King Kullen, first supermarket, Queens, New York City. Supermarkets are an outgrowth
of the auto age, because pedestrians cannot carry large amounts of groceries home.
One-room rural schools decline because school districts operate 63,000 school buses in
the United States.
Car pools enable Montgomery, Alabama, blacks [African Americans] to boycott
successfully the local bus company, beginning the modern civil rights movement.
National Defense and Interstate Highway Act passed. President Eisenhower argues: “In
case of atomic attack on our cities, the road net [network] must allow quick evacuation
of target areas.”
Sixty-six-year-old gas station operator Harlan Sanders, facing bankruptcy because the
interstate has bypassed him, decides to franchise his Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) formed.
Source: Clay McShane, The Automobile: A Chronology of Its Antecedents, Development, and Impact,
Greenwood Press, 1997 (adapted)
1. According to Clay McShane, what were two economic impacts of the automobile on the United States?
2. According to Clay McShane, what was one impact of the automobile on race relations in the United States?
The Roaring 20s – Impact of the Automobile
Document
. . . The result [of buying a car] upon the individual is to break down his sense of values. Whether
he will or no, he must spend money at every turn. Having succumbed [given in] to the lure of
the car, he is quite helpless thereafter. If a new device will make his automobile run smoother
or look better, he attaches that device. If a new polish will make it shine brighter, he buys that
polish. If a new idea will give more mileage, or remove carbon, he adopts that new idea. These
little costs quickly mount up and in many instances represent the margin of safety between
income and outgo. The over-plus [surplus] in the pay envelope, instead of going into the bank
as a reserve-fund, goes into automobile expense. Many families live on the brink of danger all
the time. They are car-poor. Saving is impossible. The joy of security in the future is sacrificed
for the pleasure of the moment. And with the pleasure of the moment is mingled the constant
anxiety entailed by living beyond one’s means. . . .
Source: William Ashdown, “Confessions of an Automobilist,” Atlantic Monthly, June 1925
1
According to William Ashdown, what were two negative impacts of automobile ownership
in 1925?
1924 – Relationship Between Calvin Coolidge and Big Business
Document
1. Based on these cartoons, what is the relationship between President Calvin Coolidge’s
administration and big business in the 1920s?
1920s – Criticism of the Generation
Document
1. State one criticism that this cartoonist is making about the 1920s generation.
Document 5a
I. W. Burnham was a Wall Street stockbroker.
…People were making a lot of money in the stock market—you could sort of feel it when you
visited customers or made deliveries. Everybody was really, really busy and they were feeling
pretty good about themselves. It was around this time that the public got more interested in the
market than they had been. Stock prices had been going up pretty steadily, and even though it
was still mainly rich people investing, the average guy was starting to hear about friends making
$20,000 or $30,000 overnight. There was rampant [widespread] speculation, and if you wanted
to take part all you had to do was put up 10 percent of the money and a broker would cover the
rest.…
Source: I. W. Burnham, interviewed in Jennings and Brewster, The Century, Doubleday, 1998 (adapted)
5a According to I. W. Burnham, what was one reason the public became more interested in the stock
market in the 1920s?
Document 5b
…Critics of big business in the 1920s emphasized not only the increase in concentration, but also
the fact that the benefits of technological innovation were by no means evenly distributed.
Corporate profits and dividends far outpaced the rise in wages, and despite the high productivity
of the period, there was a disturbing amount of unemployment. At any given moment in the
“golden twenties,” from 7 to 12 percent were jobless. Factory workers in “sick” [weak] industries
such as coal, leather, and textiles saw little of flush [prosperous] times. Nor did blacks [African
Americans] in ghetto tenements, or Hispanics in the foul barrios of Los Angeles or El Paso, or
Native Americans abandoned on desolate reservations. The Loray Mill in Gastonia, North
Carolina, site of a bloody strike in 1929, paid its workers that year a weekly wage of $18 to men
and $9 to women for a 70-hour week. At the height of Coolidge prosperity, the secretary of the
Gastonia Chamber of Commerce boasted that children of fourteen were permitted to work only
11 hours a day. Perhaps as many as two million boys and girls under fifteen continued to toil in
textile mills, cranberry bogs, and beet fields. In 1929, 71 percent of American families had
incomes under $2,500, generally thought to be the minimum standard for a decent living. The
36,000 wealthiest families received as much income as the 12,000,000 families—42 percent of
all those in America—who received under $1,500 a year, below the poverty line.…
Source: William E. Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932, University of Chicago Press (adapted)
5b According to William Leuchtenburg, what was one economic problem of the 1920s?
1920s – Lives of Middle Class Women
Document
…And what were these “own lives” of theirs [women] to be like? Well, for one thing, they could
take jobs. Up to this time girls of the middle classes who had wanted to “do something” had been
largely restricted to school-teaching, social-service work, nursing, stenography, and clerical work
in business houses. But now they poured out of the schools and colleges into all manner of new
occupations. They besieged the offices of publishers and advertisers; they went into tea-room
management until there threatened to be more purveyors [sellers] than consumers of chicken
patties and cinnamon toast; they sold antiques, sold real estate, opened smart little shops, and
finally invaded the department stores. In 1920 the department store was in the mind of the
average college girl a rather bourgeois [middle class] institution which employed “poor shop
girls”; by the end of the decade college girls were standing in line for openings in the misses’
sports-wear department and even selling behind the counter in the hope that some day fortune
might smile upon them and make them buyers or stylists. Small-town girls who once would have
been contented to stay in Sauk Center [Minnesota] all their days were now borrowing from
father to go to New York or Chicago to seek their fortunes — in Best’s or Macy’s or Marshall
Field’s. Married women who were encumbered [burdened] with children and could not seek
jobs consoled themselves with the thought that home-making and child-rearing were really
“professions,” after all. No topic was so furiously discussed at luncheon tables from one end of
the country to the other as the question whether the married woman should take a job, and
whether the mother had a right to. And as for the unmarried woman, she no longer had to
explain why she worked in a shop or an office; it was idleness, nowadays, that had to be defended.…
Source: Frederick Lewis Allen, Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s,
Harper & Row, 1931
1. According to Frederick Lewis Allen, what is one way middle-class women’s lives changed in
the 1920s?
1920s – Birth of the Concept of the “Harlem Renaissance”
Document
Howard Johnson was an African American newspaper editor.
…The time was ripe for a renaissance back then. After the defeat of the kaiser in Germany [in
World War I], a spirit of optimism and positive expectation swept across Harlem. The Allies won
the war for democracy, so now it was time for something to happen in America to change the
system of segregation and lynching that was going on. In Europe, the black [African American]
troops were welcomed as liberators; so when they came back to America, they were determined
to create a situation that would approximate the slogans they had been fighting for. They wanted
democracy at home in the United States. And this general idea helped feed the concept of “The
Renaissance.”…
A lot of people wonder how there could be joy and optimism in a community under the
conditions of segregation and discrimination. But the black community had two very important
forces that enabled it to survive and grow. One was the church, where you had the gospel and
the spiritual, which were inspirational in their basic content.
And the other was the
entertainment world, where you had the music of the secular side, expressed in jazz.…
Source: Howard Johnson, interviewed in Jennings and Brewster, The Century, Doubleday, 1998
1.
According to Howard Johnson, what was one effect of World War I on the black community?
2. According to Howard Johnson, what was one factor that helped the black community during
the 1920s?
The Great Migration and the Mississippi River Flood of 1927
Document
This excerpt describes an impact of the Mississippi River flood of 1927.
. . . By early 1928 the exodus of blacks [African Americans] from Washington County
[Mississippi], and likely the rest of the Delta, did reach 50 percent. Ever since the end of
Reconstruction, blacks had been migrating north and west, out of the South. But it had been only
a slow drain, with the South losing about 200,000 blacks between 1900 and 1910. During World
War I “the Great Migration” began; the South lost 522,000 blacks between 1910 and 1920,
mostly between 1916 and 1919. Now from the floodplain of the Mississippi River, from Arkansas,
from Louisiana, from Mississippi, blacks were heading north in even larger numbers. In the
1920s, 872,000 more blacks left the South than returned to it. (In the 1930s the exodus fell off
sharply; the number of blacks leaving Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi fell by nearly twothirds, back to the levels of the early 1900s.)
The favorite destination for Delta blacks was Chicago. They brought the blues to that city, and
there the black population exploded, from 44,103 in 1910 to 109,458 in 1920—and 233,903 in
1930. Certainly not all of this exodus came from the floodplain of the Mississippi River. And even
within that alluvial empire, the great flood of 1927 was hardly the only reason for blacks to
abandon their homes. But for tens of thousands of blacks in the Delta of the Mississippi River,
the flood was the final reason. . . .
Source: John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America,
Simon & Schuster, 1997
1
According to this document, what impact did the Mississippi River flood of 1927 have on many
African Americans?
Great Depression and the Dust Bowl
Document a
. . . The Ogallala Aquifer* (also known as the
High Plains Aquifer) is now [in 2000] facing
declining water levels and deteriorating water
quality. More than 90% of the water pumped
from the Ogallala irrigates at least one fifth of all
U.S. cropland. This water accounts for 30% of all
groundwater used for irrigation in America.
Crops that benefit from the aquifer are cotton,
corn, alfalfa, soybeans, and wheat. These crops
provide the Midwest cattle operations with
enormous amounts of feed and account for 40%
of the feedlot beef output here in the U.S. Since
the advancement of agricultural irrigation in the
earlier part of the 20th century, the Ogallala has
made it possible so that states such as Nebraska
and Kansas can produce large quantities of grain
required to feed livestock. . . .
Without irrigation, the High Plains region
would have remained a hostile and unproductive
frontier environment. Even today dry-land
farming remains high-risk farming about which
the producers in the region have doubts. But
while the Dust Bowl label is appropriate, the
High Plains has become one of the most
productive farming regions of the world.
However, now as groundwater levels decline,
workable
alternatives
for
sustainable
development have to be further explored. . . .
Document b
Dust Bowl and Ogallala Aquifer
SD
WY
NE
CO
KS
OK
NM
TX
Ogallala Aquifer
Area of severe wind erosion
(Dust Bowl)
Source: http://www.wadsworth.com and
The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture (adapted)
*An aquifer is an underground source of natural clean water. In the
1930s, farmers lacked the technology to reach the Ogallala Aquifer.
Source: Guru and Horne, The Ogallala Aquifer, The Kerr Center for
Sustainable Agriculture, 2000 (adapted)
1. Based on these documents, what is one reason the Ogallala Aquifer is important to United
States farm production in the High Plains region?
2. Based on document b, how did the lack of water influence parts of the Great Plains in the
1930s?
The Dust Bowl
Document
. . . For years conservationists had warned that ecological catastrophe hovered over the Great
Plains. The so-called short-grass country west of the hundredth meridian was favored by fewer
than twenty inches of rain a year. Early explorers had labeled the frontier beyond the Missouri
“the great American desert,” and then it was relatively stable, hammered flat by millions of bison
and untilled by the Indians. Then the settlers arrived with their John Deere plows. Before the
Depression they were blessed by extraordinarily heavy rains, but as they pushed their luck by
overgrazing and overplowing, the ineludible [unavoidable] drew nearer. Even in the 1920s a
hundred counties in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma had been called the
“dust bowl.” Now in 1934 the National Resources Board estimated that 35 million acres of arable
[productive] land had been completely destroyed, the soil of another 125 million acres had been
nearly or entirely removed, and another 100 million acres were doomed. Abruptly the bowl grew
to 756 counties in nineteen states. Like Ireland and the Ukraine in the nineteenth century, the
Plains were threatened with famine. . . .
Source: William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream, Little Brown, 1974
1. According to William Manchester, what is one way climate affected farming on the Great Plains?
1931 – Hoover Responds to the Great Depression
Document
. . . This is not an issue as to whether the people are going hungry or cold in the United States.
It is solely a question of the best method by which hunger and cold can be prevented. It is a
question as to whether the American people on the one hand will maintain the spirit of charity
and of mutual self-help through voluntary giving and the responsibility of local government as
distinguished on the other hand from appropriations out of the Federal Treasury for such
purposes. My own conviction is strongly that if we break down this sense of responsibility, of
individual generosity to individual, and mutual self-help in the country in times of national
difficulty and if we start appropriations of this character we have not only impaired something
infinitely valuable in the life of the American people but have struck at the roots of selfgovernment. Once this has happened it is not the cost of a few score millions, but we are faced
with the abyss of reliance [trap of relying] in [the] future upon Government charity in some form
or other. The money involved is indeed the least of the costs to American ideals and American
institutions. . . .
Source: President Herbert Hoover, Press Statement, February 3, 1931
1 According to this document, how did President Hoover hope the American people would respond to the
problems of the Depression?
1932 – Bonus Marchers
Document
. . . Brigades of Bonus Marchers converged on Washington [in 1932]. Congress had voted the
bonus money, but for later. Some of these men might have been hustlers and perhaps there were
a few Communists among them, but most were ex-soldiers who had served the nation [in World
War I], frightened men with hungry families. The ragged hordes blocked traffic, clung like
swarming bees to the steps of the Capitol. They needed their money now. They built a shacktown
on the edge of Washington. Many had brought their wives and children. Contemporary reports
mention the orderliness and discipline of these soldiers of misfortune. . . .
Source: John Steinbeck, “Living With Hard Times,” Esquire
1.
Based on this document, state the reason the Bonus Marchers went to Washington.
1932 – The Bonus Army
Document
By June 1932, a large group of World War I veterans had gathered in Washington, D.C.,
to demand the bonus they had been promised for serving their country. These
veterans were known as the Bonus Expeditionary Force (B. E. F.) or Bonus Army.
The B. E. F. wanted the bonus early as a form of Depression relief.
Last week the House of Representatives surrendered to the siege of the Bonus Expeditionary
Force encamped near the Capitol.
It voted (226-to-175) to take up the bill by Texas’
[Congressman] Patman for immediate cashing of Adjusted Service Compensation certificates at
a cost of $2,400,000,000 in printing-press money. This first test of the Bonus boosters’ strength
indicated that the House would probably pass the Patman bill and send it to the Senate. In that
body 56 Senators—a majority—were said to be lined up against the Bonus. But even should the
measure somehow get by Congress an insurmountable veto awaited it at the White House.
Largely ignorant of legislative processes, the B. E. F., bivouacked [camped] some 15,000 strong
on the Anacostia mudflats, was delirious with delight at its House victory. Its tattered personnel,
destitute veterans who had “bummed” their way to the Capital from all over the country,
whooped and pranced about among their crude shelters. Most of them had left hungry wives
and children behind. They had gone to Washington because, long jobless, they had nothing
better to do. In camp with their A. E. F. [American Expeditionary Force] fellows again, they
seemed to have revived the old ganging spirit of Army days as an escape from reality. They
convinced themselves that they were there to right some vague wrong—a wrong somehow
bound up in the fact that the Government had opened its Treasury to banks, railroads and the
like but closed it to needy individuals. When the House voted to take up their bill, they slapped
one another on the back and were quite sure they would be getting their money in a few days to
take home. . . .
Source: Time Magazine, June 20, 1932 (adapted)
1. According to Time Magazine, what was likely to happen to the Patman bill when it passed the House
of Representatives and was sent to the Senate?
2. Based on this Time Magazine article, identify one part of the economy that had already benefited
from government spending.
1932 – Government Takes Action on Bonus Army
Document
To: General Douglas MacArthur, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army.
The President has just informed me that the civil government of the District of Columbia has
reported to him that it is unable to maintain law and order in the District.
You will have United States troops proceed immediately to the scene of disorder. Cooperate
fully with the District of Columbia police force which is now in charge. Surround the affected
area and clear it without delay.
Turn over all prisoners to the civil authorities.
In your orders insist that any women and children who may be in the affected area be accorded
every consideration and kindness. Use all humanity consistent with the due execution of this
order.
PATRICK J. HURLEY
Secretary of War.
Source: Patrick J. Hurley, President Hoover’s Secretary of War, Washington, D.C., July 28, 1932,
Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
1. According to this document, what was General MacArthur ordered to do by President Herbert
Hoover’s Secretary of War in response to the march of the Bonus Army?
1932 – Bonus Action – Consequences of Presidential Action
Document
. . . Clark Booth, of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, declared that he had been a Republican all his
life up to four days ago and was vice chairman of the Hoover campaign committee in 1928 for
the Mobile district, but that Hoover’s action in calling out the troops against the Washington
veterans “made me a Democrat and I will take the stump against Herbert Hoover.”
William Taylor, a veteran of the World War [I] who is also a member of the Alabama Legislature,
delivered the chief attack against President Hoover in offering a resolution which was passed
unanimously. He declared that “if Hoover had called out troops to keep lobbyists of Wall Street
from the White House there would be no depression,” adding that the veterans who had
gathered in Washington were there only to “attempt to get that to which they are entitled.”
“The Democrats will make Hoover pay on March 4 [Inauguration Day] with the aid of the
veterans,” Mr. Taylor declared, “the President can go back to his home, or return to England
where he belongs.”. . .
Source: “Assail Hoover in Mobile, Veterans Score Ousting of Bonus Army and ‘Republican Prosperity.’,”
New York Times, August 4, 1932
1. According to this New York Times article, what was one political impact of President Herbert
Hoover’s actions against the Bonus Army?
Problems Faced By Coal Miners
Document
Interview with Aaron Barkham, a coal miner in West Virginia
. . . It got bad in ’29. The Crash caught us with one $20 gold piece. All mines shut down—
stores, everything. One day they was workin’, the next day the mines shut down. Three or four
months later, they opened up. Run two, three days a week, mostly one. They didn’t have the
privilege of calling their souls their own. Most people by that time was in debt so far to the
company itself, they couldn’t live.
Some of them been in debt from ’29 till today [c. 1970], and never got out. Some of them
didn’t even try. It seem like whenever they went back to work, they owed so much. The
company got their foot on ’em even now. . . .
Source: Studs Terkel, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Pantheon Books
1. According to this interview with coal miner Aaron Barkham, what was one problem faced by mine
workers during the Great Depression?
1932 – Families Deal With The Great Depression
Document
. . . Kentucky coal miners suffered perhaps the most. In Harlan County there were whole towns
whose people had not a cent of income. They lived on dandelions and blackberries. The women
washed clothes in soapweed suds. Dysentery bloated the stomachs of starving babies. Children
were reported so famished they were chewing up their own hands. Miners tried to plant
vegetables, but they were often so hungry that they ate them before they were ripe. On her first
trip to the mountains, Eleanor Roosevelt saw a little boy trying to hide his pet rabbit. “He thinks
we are not going to eat it,” his sister told her, “but we are.” In West Virginia, miners mobbed
company stores demanding food. Mountain people, with no means to leave their homes,
sometimes had to burn their last chairs and tables to keep warm. Local charity could not help
in a place where everyone was destitute. . . .
“No one has starved,” Hoover boasted. To prove it, he announced a decline in the death rate. It
was heartening, but puzzling, too. Even the social workers could not see how the unemployed
kept body and soul together, and the more they studied, the more the wonder grew. Savings, if
any, went first. Then insurance was cashed. Then people borrowed from family and friends.
They stopped paying rent. When evicted, they moved in with relatives. They ran up bills. It
was surprising how much credit could be wangled. In 1932, about 400 families on relief in
Philadelphia had managed to contract an average debt of $160, a tribute to the hearts if not the
business heads of landlords and merchants. But in the end they had to eat “tight.” . . .
A teacher in a mountain school told a little girl who looked sick but said she was hungry to go
home and eat something. “I can’t,” the youngster said. “It’s my sister’s turn to eat.” In Chicago,
teachers were ordered to ask what a child had had to eat before punishing him. Many of them
were getting nothing but potatoes, a diet that kept their weight up, but left them listless,
crotchety [cranky], and sleepy. . . .
Source: Caroline Bird, The Invisible Scar, David McKay Company
1. State two ways the families described in this passage dealt with the problems of the Depression.
1932 – People Waiting on Food Lines
Document
Source: H. W. Felchner, New York City, February, 1932
1. Based on the photograph, state one effect the Great Depression had on many Americans.
1930s – Effects of Great Depression on Working Women
Document
. . . Working women at first lost their jobs at a faster rate than men — then reentered the
workforce more rapidly. In the early years of the Depression, many employers, including the
federal government, tried to spread what employment they had to heads of households. That
meant firing any married woman identified as a family’s “secondary” wage-earner. But the
gender segregation in employment patterns that was already well established before the
Depression also worked to women’s advantage.
Heavy industry suffered the worst
unemployment, but relatively few women stoked blast furnaces in the steel mills or drilled rivets
on assembly lines or swung hammers in the building trades. The teaching profession, however,
in which women were highly concentrated and indeed constituted a hefty majority of employees,
suffered pay cuts but only minimal job losses. And the underlying trends of the economy meant
that what new jobs did become available in the 1930s, such as telephone switchboard operation
and clerical work, were peculiarly suited to women. . . .
Source: David M. Kennedy, Freedom From Fear, Oxford University Press
1. Based on this document, state two ways women in the labor force were affected by the Great Depression.
1932 – Effects of the Great Depression on Farmers
Document
. . . Suddenly the papers were filled with accounts of highway picketing by farmers around Sioux
City. A Farmers’ Holiday Association had been organized by one Milo Reno, and the farmers
were to refuse to bring food to market for thirty days or “until the cost of production had been
obtained.” . . .
The strike around Sioux City soon ceased to be a local matter. It jumped the Missouri River and
crossed the Big Sioux. Roads were picketed in South Dakota and Nebraska as well as in Iowa.
Soon Minnesota followed suit, and her farmers picketed her roads. North Dakota organized.
Down in Georgia farmers dumped milk on the highway. For a few days the milk supply of New
York City was menaced. Farmers in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, organized, and potato farmers
in Long Island raised the price of potatoes by a “holiday.” This banding together of farmers for
mutual protection is going on everywhere, but the center of this disturbance is still Iowa and the
neighboring States.
The Milk Producers’ Association joined forces with the Farmers’ Holiday. All the roads leading
to Sioux City were picketed. Trucks by hundreds were turned back. Farmers by hundreds lined
the roads. They blockaded the roads with spiked telegraph poles and logs. They took away a
sheriff’s badge and his gun and threw them in a cornfield. Gallons of milk ran down roadway
ditches. Gallons of confiscated milk were distributed free on the streets of Sioux City. . . .
Source: Mary Heaton Vorse, “Rebellion in the Cornbelt,” Harper’s Magazine, December 1932
1. Based on this document, state two actions taken by farmers to deal with their economic situation during
the Great Depression.
1930s – Economic Trends of the Early Part of the Great Depression
Document
Bank Failures
15
5
12
4
9
6
3
0
1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
Banks (in thousands)
People (in millions)
Unemployment
$800
Average Income and
Spending
$700
$600
$500
3
$400
2
$300
$200
1
$100
0
1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
0
1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
Average yearly income per person
Average consumer spending per person
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States (adapted)
1. Based on the information in these charts, state one economic trend of the early 1930s.
1930s – The Great Depression
Document
“So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—
Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror, which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat
into advance . . . our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable
problem if we face it wisely and courageously.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (1933)
1. According to the document, what action is Roosevelt willing to take to deal with the
problem of the Great Depression?
1933 - Response to Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats
Document
Bruce Craven is responding to one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats.
JULY 25, 1933
Dear Mr. President;
…The forgotten man has been forgotten, if he was ever really remembered. I happen to be an
approved attorney for the Federal Land Bank, and on publication of the information about the
new loan legislation, the little man came to see me vainly hoping that at last he had been
remembered. He is representative of thousands of farmers in North Carolina, owning maybe 50
acres of land and doing all of his own work, and about to lose his farm under a mortgage. But to
get the loan he is obliged to pay $20 in advance for appraisals, and another $10 for a survey, and
he no more has that much cash than he has the moon. I have written to everyone from
Mr. [Treasury Secretary Henry] Morgenthau on down about this, and no one is interested. The
prevailing idea seems to be that if a man is that poor, he should stay poor.
Before any of this loan and public works legislation was enacted, I wrote you that you ought to
put at least one human being in each supervising body, and by that I meant a man who actually
knows there is a “little man” in this nation and that he never has had a fair chance, and that he
deserves one. I hope yet that somehow you may remember this forgotten little man, who has no
one in high places to befriend him.
Respectfully yours,
Bruce Craven
Trinity, North Carolina
Source: Levine and Levine, The People and the President: America’s Conversation with FDR,
Beacon Press, 2002
1. According to Bruce Craven, why does “the forgotten man” need help?
1934 – Roosevelt Creates the New Deal Programs
Document
Source: Clifford Berryman, Washington Star, January 5, 1934, Library of Congress
1. According to this document, what was one step taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt
to solve the problems of the Great Depression?
1934 – Presidential Action Franklin Roosevelt
Document
. . . In the consistent development of our previous efforts toward the saving and safeguarding of
our national life, I have continued to recognize three related steps. The first was relief, because
the primary concern of any Government dominated by the humane ideals of democracy is the
simple principle that in a land of vast resources no one should be permitted to starve. Relief was
and continues to be our first consideration. It calls for large expenditures and will continue in
modified form to do so for a long time to come. We may as well recognize that fact. It comes
from the paralysis that arose as the after-effect of that unfortunate decade characterized by a
mad chase for unearned riches and an unwillingness of leaders in almost every walk of life to look
beyond their own schemes and speculations. In our administration of relief we follow two
principles: First, that direct giving shall, wherever possible, be supplemented by provision for
useful and remunerative [paid] work and, second, that where families in their existing
surroundings will in all human probability never find an opportunity for full self-maintenance,
happiness and enjoyment, we will try to give them a new chance in new surroundings. . . .
Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Address of the President,
“Review of the Achievements of the Seventy-third Congress,”
June 28, 1934, FDR Library
1. According to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, what was one action needed to safeguard the life of
the nation?
1935 – The Effects of the Great Depression on the Youth
Document
Lorena Hickok, a former Associated Press reporter, was hired by Harry Hopkins (head of
the Federal Emergency Relief Administration) to travel throughout the United States and send
Hopkins private reports on the state of the nation and effects of the New Deal programs. This is an
excerpt from one of those reports, dated January 1, 1935.
. . . Only among the young is there evidence of revolt, apparently. These young people are
growing restive [restless]. Out of some 15 weekly reports from industrial centers all over the
country, hardly one omitted a paragraph pointing out that these young people may not tolerate
much longer a condition that prevents them from starting normal, active, self-respecting lives,
that will not let them marry and raise families, that condemns them to idleness and want. At
present there is no leadership among them. College men are shoveling sand, checking freight
cars, working in filling stations. High school graduates are offering themselves to industry “for
nothing, just experience”—and are being accepted. Boys who normally would be apprentices in
the trades are tramping [wandering] the pavements, riding the freights back and forth across the
country, hanging about on street corners. One day in November a 21-year-old boy in Baltimore
walked 20 miles, looking for work. “I just stopped at every place,” he said, “but mostly they
wouldn’t even talk to me.” . . .
Source: Lowitt and Beasley, eds., One Third of a Nation, University of Illinois Press, 1981
1. Based on this document, state one way the Great Depression affected young people.
1930s – Negative View of Effects of New Deal on African Americans
Document
. . . For black people, the New Deal was psychologically encouraging (Mrs. Roosevelt was
sympathetic; some blacks got posts in the administration), but most blacks were ignored by the
New Deal programs. As tenant farmers, as farm laborers, as migrants, as domestic workers, they
didn’t qualify for unemployment insurance, minimum wages, social security, or farm subsidies.
Roosevelt, careful not to offend southern white politicians whose political support he needed,
did not push a bill against lynching. Blacks and whites were segregated in the armed forces. And
black workers were discriminated against in getting jobs. They were the last hired, the first fired.
Only when A. Philip Randolph, head of the Sleeping-Car Porters Union, threatened a massive
march on Washington in 1941 would Roosevelt agree to sign an executive order establishing a
Fair Employment Practices Committee. But the FEPC had no enforcement powers and
changed little. . . .
Source: Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, HarperCollins Publishers
1. Based on this document, state one reason many African Americans did not benefit from
New Deal programs.
2. According to this document, how did the government respond to the threat from the SleepingCar Porters Union?
1936 – Roosevelt Helps the Less Fortunate in Society with the New Deal
Document
Source: C. D. Batchelor, New York Daily News, October 11, 1936
1. Based on this cartoon, what is the relationship between “the forgotten man” and President Franklin
D. Roosevelt?
New Deal Effects on Women
Document
…Working women at first lost their jobs at a faster rate than men—then reentered the work
force more rapidly. In the early years of the Depression, many employers, including the federal
government, tried to spread what employment they had to heads of households. That meant
firing any married woman identified as a family’s “secondary” wage-earner. But the gender
segregation in employment patterns that was already well established before the Depression also
worked to women’s advantage. Heavy industry suffered the worst unemployment, but relatively
few women stoked blast furnaces in the steel mills or drilled rivets on assembly lines or swung
hammers in the building trades. The teaching profession, however, in which women were highly
concentrated and indeed constituted a hefty majority of employees, suffered pay cuts but only
minimal job losses. And the underlying trends of the economy meant that what new jobs did
become available in the 1930s, such as telephone switchboard operation and clerical work, were
peculiarly suited to women.…
Source: David M. Kennedy, Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945,
Oxford University Press
1.
According to David M. Kennedy, what was one economic effect of the Depression on women?
New Deal Effects on African Americans
Document
…Although obviously severely limited, the improvements for blacks [African Americans] during
the Depression were discernible [noticeable]. In May 1935, as the “Second New Deal” was
getting under way, President [Franklin D.] Roosevelt issued Executive Order 7046, banning
discrimination on projects of the new Works Progress Administration. Discrimination continued,
but the WPA proved to be a godsend for many blacks. In the later thirties [1930s], between 15
and 20 percent of the people working for the agency were black, although blacks constituted less
than 10 percent of the national population. This, of course, was a reflection of how much worse
off blacks were than whites, but the WPA did enable many blacks to survive. More than that,
even minimum WPA wages of $12 a week were twice what many blacks had been earning
previously.
Harold Ickes’s Public Works Administration provided to black tenants a more than fair share
of the public housing it built. The PWA went so far as to construct several integrated housing
projects. PWA construction payrolls also treated blacks fairly. Some 31 percent of PWA wages in
1936 went to black workers. Ickes first made use of a quota system requiring the hiring of blacks
in proportion to their numbers in the local work force. This precedent was followed again (at
least in theory) by the wartime Fair Employment Practices Commission and in the civil rights
legislation and court decisions of the 1960s and 1970s.…
Source: Robert McElvaine, The Great Depression: America, 1929–1941, Three Rivers Press
1. According to Robert McElvaine, what was one way the New Deal affected African Americans economically?
1938 – Effects of New Deal Programs on Industry
Document
…In an attempt to stimulate the economy, [President Franklin D.] Roosevelt announced a
massive Federal programme of ‘spending and lending’.
Under the Emergency Relief
Appropriations Act [of 1938] $3.75 billion was allocated by Congress to public works and
industrial expansion. Two industries, textiles and steel, took immediate advantage of this ‘pumppriming’ (as Roosevelt called it), and saw a rise in production. The boot and shoe industry
followed, as did the building industry. By the end of the year [1938] the construction of
residential homes was breaking all recent records. Even the much-troubled railway companies
were able to take advantage of the Federal injection of cash, with the result that they were able
to abandon a 15 per cent wage cut already announced, that could only have added to hardship.…
Source: Martin Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume Two: 1933–1951, HarperCollins, London
1. According to Martin Gilbert, what was one effect of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies on industry?
Great Depression – Roosevelt Faces Supreme Court Opposition
I want six substitutes AT ONCE.
Those fellows don’t know it, but
they’re through. But I don’t want
to take ’em off the field!
The Ingenious Quarterback
(adapted)
1. In this cartoon, which branch of the government is President Franklin D. Roosevelt trying to
change?
Effects of the New Deal Programs
Document
. . . But was the New Deal answer really successful? Did it work? Other scholarly experts almost
uniformly praise and admire Roosevelt, but even the most sympathetic among them add a
number of reservations. “The New Deal certainly did not get the country out of the Depression,”
says Columbia’s William Leuchtenburg, author of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. “As
late as 1941, there were still 6 million unemployed, and it was really not until the war that the
army of the jobless finally disappeared.” “Some of the New Deal legislation was very hastily
contrived [planned],” says Williams College’s James MacGregor Burns, author of a two-volume
Roosevelt biography. Duke’s James David Barber, author of The Presidential Character, notes
that Roosevelt “was not too open about his real intentions, particularly in the court-packing
episode.”. . .
After all the criticisms, though, the bulk of expert opinion agrees that Roosevelt’s New Deal
changed American life substantially, changed it permanently and changed it for the better. While
the major recovery programs like the NRA and AAA have faded into history, many of Roosevelt’s
reforms—Social Security, stock market regulation, minimum wage, insured bank deposits—are
now taken for granted. . . .
But what actually remains today of the original New Deal? Alexander Heard, 64, who is retiring
soon as chancellor of Vanderbilt University, remembers working in the CCC as a youth,
remembers it as a time when a new President “restored a sense of confidence and morale and
hope—hope being the greatest of all.” But what remains? “In a sense,” says Heard, “what
remains of the New Deal is the United States.”
Source: Otto Friedrich, “F.D.R.’s Disputed Legacy,” Time, February 1, 1982 (adapted)
1. According to this document, what were two effects of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New
Deal policies on the nation?
U.S. Neutrality and Isolationism Prior to WWII
European War Narrows the Atlantic
Source: Bailey and Kennedy, The American Pageant, D.C. Heath and Co.
Document a
Document b
. . . There are many among us who closed their eyes, from lack of interest or lack of knowledge;
honestly and sincerely thinking that the many hundreds of miles of salt water made the American
Hemisphere so remote that the people of North and Central and South America could go on
living in the midst of their vast resources without reference to, or danger from, other Continents
of the world.
There are some among us who were persuaded by minority groups that we could maintain our
physical safety by retiring within our continental boundaries—the Atlantic on the east, the
Pacific on the west, Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. I illustrated the futility—the
impossibility—of that idea in my Message to the Congress last week. Obviously, a defense policy
based on that is merely to invite future attack. . . .
Source: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fireside Chat, “On National Defense,” May 26, 1940, FDR Library
1. Based on these documents, what is one way that the geographic location of the United
States affected its foreign policy before World War II?
1935 – Support for Isolationism
Document
. . . No people came to believe more emphatically than the Americans that the Great War [World
War I] was an unalloyed [absolute] tragedy, an unpardonably costly mistake never to be repeated.
More than fifty thousand American doughboys [soldiers] had perished fighting on the western
front, and to what avail? So far from being redeemed by American intervention, Europe swiftly
slid back into its historic vices of authoritarianism and armed rivalry, while America slid back into
its historic attitude of isolationism. Isolationism may have been most pronounced in the
landlocked Midwest, but Americans of both sexes, of all ages, religions, and political persuasions,
from all ethnic groups and all regions, shared in the postwar years a feeling of apathy toward
Europe, not to mention the rest of the wretchedly quarrelsome world, that bordered on disgust.
“Let us turn our eyes inward,” declared Pennsylvania’s liberal Democratic governor George
Earle in 1935. “If the world is to become a wilderness of waste, hatred, and bitterness, let us all
the more earnestly protect and preserve our own oasis of liberty.” . . .
Source: David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear, Oxford University Press, 1999
1. Based on this document, state one reason many Americans wanted to return to a policy of
isolationism after World War I.
1937 – Roosevelt Quarantine Speech
Document
. . . It seems to be unfortunately true that the epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading.
When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in a
quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of
the disease.
It is my determination to pursue a policy of peace. It is my determination to adopt every
practicable measure to avoid involvement in war. It ought to be inconceivable that in this
modern era, and in the face of experience, any nation could be so foolish and ruthless as to run
the risk of plunging the whole world into war by invading and violating, in contravention
[violation] of solemn treaties, the territory of other nations that have done them no real harm and
are too weak to protect themselves adequately. Yet the peace of the world and the welfare and
security of every nation, including our own, is today being threatened by that very thing. . . .
War is a contagion [virus], whether it be declared or undeclared. It can engulf states and peoples
remote from the original scene of hostilities. We are determined to keep out of war, yet we cannot
insure ourselves against the disastrous effects of war and the dangers of involvement. We are
adopting such measures as will minimize our risk of involvement, but we cannot have complete
protection in a world of disorder in which confidence and security have broken down. . . .
Source: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Quarantine Speech, October 5, 1937
1. According to this document, what was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s viewpoint about
United States involvement in war?
1939 – Support for Isolationism and Neutrality
Document
In this speech, Senator Robert A. Taft agrees with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policy
concerning the war in Europe.
. . . Secondly, it has been widely argued that we should enter the war to defend democracy
against dictatorship. The President himself, less than a year ago, suggested that it was our duty
to defend religion, democracy, and good faith throughout the world, although he proposed
methods short of war. I question the whole theory that our entrance into war will preserve
democracy. The purpose of the World War [I] was to save democracy, but the actual result
destroyed more democracies and set up more dictatorships than the world had seen for many
days. We might go in to save England and France and find that, when the war ended, their
governments were Communist and Fascist. Nothing is so destructive of forms of government as
war. . . .
The arguments for war are unsound and will almost certainly remain so. The horrors of
modern war are so great, its futility is so evident, its effect on democracy and prosperity and
happiness so destructive, that almost any alternative is to be desired. . . .
Source: Senator Robert A. Taft, speech in Minneapolis, September 6, 1939
1. Based on this document, state one reason Senator Taft was opposed to the United States entering
the war in Europe.
1940 – Opposition to Isolationism and Neutrality
Document
This cartoon is a view of United States foreign policy from the perspective of a British cartoonist in 1940.
“So this is isolation.”
Source: David Low, Evening Standard, July 4, 1940
1. According to this cartoon, what is threatening the United States policy of isolationism?
1940 – U.S. Shifting Opinion Concerning WWII
Document
In the spring of 1940 opinion polls indicated, as they had for some time, that two thirds of the
American public believed it was more important to keep out of war than to aid Britain; by
September less than half of the American public held this view; and by January 1941 70 per cent
were prepared to aid Britain at the risk of war. The German victory in the West, climaxed by the
fall of France in June 1940, brought about a change in American public opinion and in public
policy which the nation’s most influential political leader of the twentieth century [President
Franklin D. Roosevelt] had tried but failed to bring about since at least 1937. By every index
[opinion poll], a substantial majority of Americans came at last to the view that the avoidance of
British defeat was sufficiently in the American interest to justify the risk of war. On the basis of
that shift in public opinion the presidential campaign of 1940 was fought and the groundwork
laid for Lend-Lease and accelerated rearmament. . . .
Source: W. W. Rostow, The United States in the World Arena, Harper & Brothers, 1960
1. According to this document, how did public opinion change between the spring of 1940 and
January 1941?
2. Based on this document, identify one event that caused public opinion to change during this
time period.
1941 - Opposition to Lend Lease Bill
Document
. . . The lend-lease-give program is the New Deal’s triple A foreign policy; it will plow under
every fourth American boy.
Never before have the American people been asked or compelled to give so bounteously
[much] and so completely of their tax dollars to any foreign nation. Never before has the
Congress of the United States been asked by any President to violate international law. Never
before has this Nation resorted to duplicity [deception] in the conduct of its foreign affairs.
Never before has the United States given to one man the power to strip this Nation of its
defenses. Never before has a Congress coldly and flatly been asked to abdicate.
If the American people want a dictatorship—if they want a totalitarian form of government
and if they want war—this bill should be steam-rollered through Congress, as is the wont [desire]
of President Roosevelt.
Approval of this legislation [Lend-Lease bill] means war, open and complete warfare. I,
therefore, ask the American people before they supinely [passively] accept it, Was the last World
War worth while? . . .
Source: Senator Burton K. Wheeler, speech in Congress, January 21, 1941
1. Based on this document, state one reason Senator Wheeler was opposed to the Lend-Lease bill.
1941 – Opposition to U.S. Entering WWII
Document
. . . War is not inevitable for this country. Such a claim is defeatism in the true sense. No one
can make us fight abroad unless we ourselves are willing to do so. No one will attempt to fight
us here if we arm ourselves as a great nation should be armed. Over a hundred million people
in this nation are opposed to entering the war. If the principles of democracy mean anything at
all, that is reason enough for us to stay out. If we are forced into a war against the wishes of an
overwhelming majority of our people, we will have proved democracy such a failure at home that
there will be little use fighting for it abroad. . . .
Source: Charles Lindbergh, speech at a rally of the America First Committee, April 23, 1941
1. Based on this document, state one reason Charles Lindbergh believed that the United States should
stay out of the war.
1941 – Opposition to U.S. Isolationist Policy
Document
. . . It has been said, times without number, that if Hitler cannot cross the English Channel he
cannot cross three thousand miles of sea. But there is only one reason why he has not crossed the
English Channel. That is because forty-five million determined Britons in a heroic resistance have
converted their island into an armed base from which proceeds a steady stream of sea and air
power. As Secretary Hull has said: “It is not the water that bars the way. It is the resolute
determination of British arms. Were the control of the seas by Britain lost, the Atlantic would no
longer be an obstacle — rather, it would become a broad highway for a conqueror moving
westward.”
That conqueror does not need to attempt at once an invasion of continental United States in
order to place this country in deadly danger. We shall be in deadly danger the moment British sea
power fails; the moment the eastern gates of the Atlantic are open to the aggressor; the moment
we are compelled to divide our one-ocean Navy between two oceans simultaneously. . . .
Source: The New York Times, “Let Us Face the Truth,” editorial, April 30, 1941
1. According to this editorial excerpt, what is one reason Americans should oppose the United States policy
of isolationism?
1940 – U.S. Isolationism – Roosevelt’s Speech “On National Defense”
. . . There are many among us who in the past closed their eyes to events abroad—because they believed
in utter good faith what some of their fellow Americans told them—that what was taking place in
Europe was none of our business; that no matter what happened over there, the United States could
always pursue its peaceful and unique course in the world.
There are many among us who closed their eyes, from lack of interest or lack of knowledge; honestly
and sincerely thinking that the many hundreds of miles of salt water made the American Hemisphere so
remote that the people of North and Central and South America could go on living in the midst of their
vast resources without reference to, or danger from, other Continents of the world.
There are some among us who were persuaded by minority groups that we could maintain our physical
safety by retiring within our continental boundaries—the Atlantic on the east, the Pacific on the
west, Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. I illustrated the futility—the impossibility—of that
idea in my Message to the Congress last week. Obviously, a defense policy based on that is merely to
invite future attack. . . .
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Radio Address “On National Defense”, May 26, 1940; FDR Library.
1. According to this document, why did some people believe that the United States was safe from
foreign threats?
1941 – Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor – Checks and Balances
Document
Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America
was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan. . . . I
ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on
Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the
Japanese Empire.
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to Congress
Document
The Congress shall have the power . . . to declare war.
— United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11
1. Why was it necessary for President Franklin D. Roosevelt to ask Congress for a declaration of war
against Japan in December 1941?
1942 – Japanese Internment Camps
Document
… The entire nation was stunned by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but it seemed much
closer to home on the west coast than elsewhere on the mainland. In February 1942, oil
installations in the vicinity of Santa Barbara were shelled by a Japanese submarine. The military
established a Western Defense Command, which consisted of the coastal portions of California,
Oregon, and Washington.
Residents became fearful of ethnic Japanese among them. Japanese immigrants had begun
to settle on the west coast shortly before the turn of the century but had not been assimilated
into the rest of the population. Those who had emigrated from Japan were not allowed to
become citizens; they were prohibited by law from owning land and were socially segregated in
many ways. The first generation of Japanese immigrants—the Issei—therefore remained aliens.
But their children—the Nisei—being born in the United States, were citizens from birth. Public
officials, particularly in California—Governor Culbert Olson, Attorney General Earl Warren,
and Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron—began to call for “relocation” of persons of Japanese
ancestry in the interior of the country. There were more than one hundred thousand of these on
the west coast if one counted both the Issei and the Nisei.…
Source: William H. Rehnquist, All the Laws but One: Civil Liberties in Wartime, Vintage Books, 1998
1. According to William H. Rehnquist, what is one reason public officials in California called for the
relocation of Japanese Americans?
Document
The excerpt below is from Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the relocation of Japanese Americans.
Executive Order No. 9066
AUTHORIZING THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO PRESCRIBE MILITARY AREAS
WHEREAS the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against
espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and
national-defense utilities as defined in Section 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended
by the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655
(U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104):
Source: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Executive Order 9066, February 19, 1942
5a According to President Roosevelt, what is one reason for the relocation of Japanese Americans?
Document 5b
… The policy [relocation and internment of Japanese Americans] stemmed from a myriad of
motives, including the insecurity of the army’s west coast commander, the racism and hostility of
the Pacific states’ white population, bureaucratic ambitions, and the political advantages
perceived by local, state, and federal officials. The affair involved a variety of officials and
institutions, including high ranking military officers, heads and lower officials of the Department
of Justice and the War Department, the FBI, the Supreme Court, and the president. Many of
these officials knew at the time that the Japanese American community harbored very few
disloyal persons; furthermore, knowledgeable parties in key agencies, such as the FBI and the
Office of Naval Intelligence, long had been aware of those elements and knew that no military
necessity existed to justify so Draconian [harsh] a measure.…
Source: Stanley I. Kutler, “Review: At the Bar of History: Japanese Americans versus the United States,”
American Bar Foundation Research Journal, Spring 1985
5b According to Stanley Kutler, what was one motive behind the government’s decision to intern Japanese
Americans? [1]
Score
Document 6
MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, dissenting.
Korematsu was born on our soil, of parents born in Japan. The Constitution makes him a citizen of the
United States by nativity, and a citizen of California by residence. No claim is made that he is not loyal to
this country. There is no suggestion that, apart from the matter involved here, he is not law-abiding and
well disposed. Korematsu, however, has been convicted of an act not commonly a crime. It consists
merely of being present in the state whereof he is a citizen, near the place where he was born, and where
all his life he has lived.
Even more unusual is the series of military orders which made this conduct a crime. They forbid such a
one to remain, and they also forbid him to leave. They were so drawn that the only way Korematsu
could avoid violation was to give himself up to the military authority. This meant submission to
custody, examination, and transportation out of the territory, to be followed by indeterminate
confinement in detention camps.
A citizen’s presence in the locality, however, was made a crime only if his parents were of Japanese
birth. Had Korematsu been one of four — the others being, say, a German alien enemy, an Italian
alien enemy, and a citizen of American-born ancestors, convicted of treason but out on parole — only
Korematsu’s presence would have violated the order. The difference between their innocence and his
crime would result, not from anything he did, said, or thought, different than they, but only in that he was
born of different racial stock.…
Source: Justice Robert Jackson, Dissenting Opinion, Korematsu v. United States, December 18, 1944
1. Based on this dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United States, state two arguments made by Justice Robert
Jackson against the conviction of Korematsu.
1945 – WWII – Decision to Drop Bomb on Japan
Document
“The final decision of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let
there be no mistake about it. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never
had any doubt that it should be used.”
Harry Truman Memoirs (in reference to events of 1945)
1. According to the document, what action was President Truman willing to take to solve
the problem facing the nation at the time?
The American South West – Post 1940s
Document
. . . If you begin at the Pacific rim and move inland, you will find large cities, many towns, and prosperouslooking farms until you cross the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades, which block the seasonal weather fronts
moving in from the Pacific and wring out their moisture in snows and drenching rains. On the east side of the
Sierra-Cascade crest, moisture drops immediately— from as much as 150 inches of precipitation on the western
slope to as little as four inches on the eastern—and it doesn’t increase much, except at higher elevations, until
you have crossed the hundredth meridian, which bisects the Dakotas and Nebraska and Kansas down to
Abilene, Texas, and divides the country into its two most significant halves—the one receiving at least twenty
inches of precipitation a year, the other generally receiving less. Any place with less than twenty inches of rainfall
is hostile terrain to a farmer depending solely on the sky, and a place that receives seven inches or less—as
Phoenix, El Paso, and Reno do—is arguably no place to inhabit at all. Everything depends on the manipulation
of water—on capturing it behind dams, storing it, and rerouting it in concrete rivers [aqueducts] over distances
of hundreds of miles. Were it not for a century and a half of messianic effort [an aggressive crusade] toward that
end, the West as we know it would not exist. . . .
Source: Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Penguin Books, 1993
1. According to this document, what impact has water had on settlement in the western part of the
United States?
1950s – Women and Post War Job Market
Document
Within two months after the war, some 800,000 women had been fired from jobs in the aircraft industry; the
same thing was happening in the auto industry and else- where. In the two years after the war, some two
million women had lost their jobs.
In the post-war years, the sheer affluence [wealth] of the country meant that many families could now live in a
middle-class existence on only one income. In addition, the migration to the suburbs physically separated
women from the workplace. The new culture of consumerism told women they should be homemakers and saw
them merely as potential buyers for all the new washers and dryers, freezers, floor waxers, pressure cookers, and
blenders.
— David Halberstam, The Fifties
1. According to David Halberstam, when World War II ended, what happened to many of the women
who had been employed during the war?
2. What does this passage indicate about the role women were expected to play in the 1950s?
1950 – 1970 – Women’s Rights Movement
Document
1. According to this graph, what generalization can be made about the levels of education
attained by women between 1950 and 1970?
1950s – 1996 – Impact of the Automobile on U.S. Cities
Document
. . . The automobile allowed a completely different pattern. Today there is often a semi-void of
residential population at the heart of a large city, surrounded by rings of less and less densely
settled suburbs. These suburbs, primarily dependent on the automobile to function, are where
the majority of the country’s population lives, a fact that has transformed our politics. Every city
that had a major-league baseball team in 1950, with the exception only of New York—ever the
exception— has had a drastic loss in population within its city limits over the last four and a half
decades, sometimes by as much as 50 percent as people have moved outward, thanks to the
automobile.
In more recent years the automobile has had a similar effect on the retail commercial sectors
of smaller cities and towns, as shopping malls and superstores such as the Home Depot and
Wal-Mart have sucked commerce off Main Street and into the surrounding countryside. . . .
Source: John Steele Gordon, “Engine of Liberation,” American Heritage, November 1996
1
According to John Steele Gordon, what has been one impact of the automobile on cities?
Unit 5 Essential Question: What were the causes and effects of political, social and economic changes
during the 1940s and 1950s?
Objective: To evaluate if the 1950s were really happy days.
Do Now:
1. Name two of your favorite television shows?
2. Why do you like those shows?
3. Explain why you agree or disagree with the following statement below:
“Society is worst now for teenagers than it was ten years ago.” [Claim]
4.
What might someone say who disagrees with you? How would you answer them back?
[Counterclaim and Rebuttal]
Mini – Lesson
Try to infer the meaning of the terms mean based on the pictures.
Sitcom
Affluent
Baby Boom
Suburbs = just outside the city
Define the following terms in context based on the reading in your groups:
Blue-collar worker
White-collar worker Multinational corporation (multi=many)
Background information:
The 1950s was a decade of wealth. New businesses and technology produced many new goods
and services. Americans earned more money than ever before, and they spent it on new goods such as
refrigerators. Advertising increased as businesses pressed Americans to buy their goods. Much of it was
aimed at people living in suburbs that grew around large cities. As people left the crowded cities, the
population of the suburbs doubled. The suburbs offered inexpensive homes that people could buy with lowinterest loans and money from income tax deductions.
Many new homeowners and others started families between 1945 and 1961. This period is called the baby
boom, and 61 million children were born.
Fewer blue-collar workers, or laborers, were needed to work on farms or in factories. More Americans
took white-collar jobs, or office jobs, in large corporations. Many corporations became multinational
corporations by moving overseas, often near important resources. Franchises also sprung up across the
nation. In a franchise, a person owns and runs one of several stores of a chain operation.
Activity:
Historical Circumstances: The 1950s in America are viewed as a happy, perfect decade of
economic boom and family togetherness; a decade in which fathers were the workers [breadwinners] and
mothers happily and dutiful took care of the home and the children. TV sitcoms have help to create this
image of perfect, peaceful suburban life.
Task: Your task is to agree or disagree with the following statement: “The 1950s
were really happy days.”
In order to do this you will research life in the 1950s. The documents will be used as your research
materials.
1. Analyze and annotate in your groups at least 4 documents.
2. Answer the questions about each of the four documents.
3. Agree or disagree with the statement above.
4. Place evidence from at least two documents in the graphic organizer in order to support your claim.
5. Explain on the graphic organizer how the evidence supports your claim.
Summary: Students will be called upon to share their findings with the class. Students will be asked:
1. What is your claim?
2. What evidence did you find in the documents to support your claim?
3. How does the evidence support your claim?
4. To call on someone in the class who disagrees with you to give their claim. Ask them what evidence
their used from the document to support their claim? Ask them how does this evidence support their
claim?
5. How does today’s lesson tie help to answer the essential question for this unit?
What were the causes and effects of political, social and economic changes during the 1940s
and 1950s?
Homework: Write an argumentative essay that answer the statement posed in the activity above. Use
the evidence you gathered during the activity to support your reasons.
Document #1:
The good wife's guide was published in a popular women's magazine.
1. Where and when was this article published?
2. What is the purpose of this article?
3. What three tips do find most interesting or odd?
4. If you are female, could you abide by these guidelines? If you are male, would you expect your future wife to abide
by these guidelines? Provide a brief explanation of your answer.
5. How could you use this document to answer the main DBQ question?
Document #2:
Analyze the image. This is an advertisement published in major magazine publications in
1950.
1. What product is being advertised?
2. Who is the ad aimed at?
3. What does the ad promise?
4. What does this ad tell you about beauty in
the 1950s?
5. How could you use this document to
answer the main DBQ question?
Document #3:
Analyze the advertisement published in popular magazines.
1. What product is being advertised?
2. Who is the ad aimed
at?
3. What does the ad promise?
4. What does this ad tell you about families in the
1950s?
5. How could you use this document to answer
the main DBQ question?
Document #4:
Analyze the image of 50s sitcom families. Answer the questions that follow.
The Cleaver Family (l to r) Beaver, Wally,
The Cleaver Family gathers for a
reading
June, Ward Cleaver
All Cleaver images from tvland.com
Ozzie and Harriett
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2
007-05-28-DVD-watch_N.htm
Source: "Father Knows Best" (1954-1963) with
Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue,
Billy Gray, and Lauren Chapin, Culver Pictures, Inc.
1. How do these sitcom images portray the family of the 1950s?
2. What lessons could families of 1950s learn from these sitcoms?
3. How could you use this document to answer the main DBQ question?
Document #5:
Read the passage below found on page 39 of Stephanie Coontz book, The
Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families.
…, the 1950s sitcoms were aimed at young couples who had married in haste, women who had
tasted new freedoms during World War II and given up
their jobs with regret, veterans whose children resented their attempts to reassert paternal authority,
and individuals disturbed by the changing racial and ethnic
mix of postwar America. The message was clear: Buy these ranch houses,
Hotpoint appliances, and child-raising ideals; relate to your spouse like this; get a new car to wash
with your kids on Sunday afternoons; organize your dinners like that—and you too can escape from
the conflicts of race, class, and political
witch-hunts into harmonious families where father knows best, mothers are never bored or irritated,
and teenagers rush to the dinner table each night, eager to get their latest dose of parental wisdom.
Many families found it possible to put together of this way of living during the 1950s and
1960s. Couples were often able to construct marriages that were much more harmonious than those
in which they had grown up, and to devote far more time to their children. Even when marriages
were deeply unhappy, as many were, the new stability, economic security, and educational
advantages parents were able to offer their kids counted for a lot in people's assessment of their life
satisfaction. And in some matters, ignorance could be bliss: The lack of media coverage of problems
such as abuse or incest was terribly hard on the casualties, but it protected more fortunate families
from knowledge and fear of many social ills.
1. Who were the sitcoms aimed at?
2. What was the message?
3. What counted for a lot in "people's assessment of their life situation?" In contrast, what
was not as important to people?
4. What made it easy for people to be ignorant of social ills of the day?
5. How could you use this document to answer the main DBQ question?
Document #6:
Read the two passages and answer the following questions.
Friedan on Women and Tranquilizers in the 1950s
Thus terrible tiredness took so many women to doctors in the 1950's that one decided to investigate it. He
found, surprisingly, that his patients suffering from "housewife's fatigue' slept more than an adult needed to sleep - as much as ten hours a
day- and that the actual energy they expended on housework did not tax their
capacity. The real problem must be something else, he decided-perhaps boredom. Some doctors told their women patients they must
get out of the house for a day, treat themselves to a movie in town. Others prescribed tranquilizers. Many suburban housewives were
taking tranquilizers like cough drops. You wake up in the morning, and you feel as if there's no point in going on another day like this.
So you take a tranquilizer because it makes you not care so much that it's pointless."
http://www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/fried.htm
HEROIN ADDICTS MOUNT
U.S., Canada and Britain Report 'Graduation' From Marijuana
LAKE SUCCESS, Dec. 2 (AP)-- The United States, Canada and Britain today reported a sharp increase in dope addicts-- victims who have
"graduated" from marijuana to heroin.
Postwar prosperity, a desire for "kicks," international tension, and a greater availability of heroin because of increased smuggling from
Italy and Turkey were responsible, the United Nations Commission on Narcotics was told.
In the United States one in every 3,000 of the general population-- or an estimated total of 53,000 persons-- is a heroin addict, Harry J.
Anslinger, Federal Narcotics Commissioner, reported.
"Most of them are young hoodlums," he said. "All started by smoking marijuana cigarettes."
Samuel Hoare of Britain said that 326 new drug addicts had been recorded in his country during 1949, but that the great majority were
past thirty years of age.
Col. C.H.L. Sherman of Canada told the commission that never before had the heroin traffic been so prevalent, with street peddlers
now selling as much as half a pound at a time instead of merely a few grains.
1. What are the two articles stating is an issue during the 1950s?
2. Does this issue match up with the image of family and home in other 1950s materials
such as sitcoms?
3. What are some of the causes or reasons the issue exists?
4. How could you use this document to answer the main DBQ question?
Document #7:
http://parentingteens.about.com/library/sp/nbirth rate1.htm
1. What statistic does this graph illustrate?
2. What trend occurs during the 1950s?
3. What seems to be the overall trend?
4. Is there a possible explanation for this trend?
5. How could you use this document to answer the main DBQ question?
1947 - The Truman Doctrine
Document
. . . I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted [control] by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their
own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is
essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. . . .
—Harry Truman’s request for funds to support
Greece and Turkey against communism,
Message to Congress, 1947
1. According to this document, what foreign policy did President Harry Truman support?
2. What type of assistance did President Truman think the United States should provide to
free peoples?
Document
Part I
INVESTIGATION
OF APPLICANTS
There shall be a loyalty investigation of every person entering the civilian employment of
any department or agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government. . . .
Part V
STANDARDS
[for Employment]
Activities and associations of an applicant or employee which may be considered in
connection with the determination of disloyalty may include one or more of the following:
Membership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association with any foreign or domestic
organization, association, movement, group or combination of persons, designated by the
Attorney General as totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive, or as having adopted a
policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny other
persons their rights under the Constitution of the United States, or as seeking to alter the
form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means. . . .
— Executive Order 9835, President Harry Truman, 1947
1 According to the passage, what was the specific purpose of this executive order?
1947 – Truman Doctrine
Document
. . . At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose
between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free
institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual
liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the
majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed
elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted subjugation [control] by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. . .
Source: President Harry Truman, Address to Congress (Truman Doctrine), March 12, 1947
1. According to President Harry Truman, what is one problem when governments are controlled by the will
of a minority?
2. According to President Truman, what policy must the United States support?
1947 – Cold War at Home – Committee on Un-American Activities
Document
Source: Herblock, The Washington Post, 1947 (adapted)
1. What criticism was the cartoonist making of the House Committee on Un-American Activities?
1948 – The Berlin Blockade
Document
This excerpt is from a telegram sent to the Soviet Ambassador to the United States from
the Acting Secretary of State in September 1948. A copy of this telegram was sent to
President Harry Truman on September 27, 1948.
1. The Governments of the United States, France and the United Kingdom, conscious of their
obligations under the charter of the United Nations to settle disputes by peaceful means, took the
initiative on July 30, 1948, in approaching the Soviet Government for informal discussions in Moscow in
order to explore every possibility of adjusting a dangerous situation which had arisen by reason of
measures taken by the Soviet Government directly challenging the rights of the other occupying powers
in Berlin. These measures, persistently pursued, amounted to a blockade of land and water transport
and communication between the Western Zones of Germany and Berlin which not only endangered the
maintenance of the forces of occupation of the United States, France and the United Kingdom in that
city but also jeopardized the discharge by those governments of their duties as occupying powers
through the threat of starvation, disease and economic ruin for the population of Berlin. . . .
Source: Telegram from United States Department of State to President Truman, September 27, 1948
1. According to this passage, what action taken by the Soviet Union created tensions between the
Soviet government and the governments of the United States and its Allies?
1948 – 1949 – The Berlin Airlift
Document
Flights into West Berlin (July 1948–April 1949)
26,026
22,163
19,766
17,925
Number of
Flights
19,494
18,235
13,520
196,150
13,574
139,600 147,600
119,000
235,363
17,086
16,405
171,900
152,200
141,500
113,600
69,000
Supplies
(in tons)
July
1948
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Jan.
1949
Feb.
Mar.
April
Month
Source: Eric Morris, Blockade, Stein & Day (adapted)
1. According to this graph, what action was taken by the United States and its Allies in response to the
blockade of Berlin?
1948 - The Marshall Plan
1. What United States foreign policy is illustrated by this cartoon? Explain the foreign policy.
2. According to this cartoon, why was Congress rushing to the aid of Western Europe?
1949 – The Cold War – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Document
. . . NATO was simply a necessity. The developing situation with the Soviet Union demanded the
participation of the United States in the defense of Western Europe. Any other solution would
have opened the area to Soviet domination, contrary to the interests of the United States and contrary
to any decent world order. At the time of the signing of the pact, April 4, 1949, I do not believe that
anyone envisaged [imagined] the kind of military setup that NATO evolved into and from which de
Gaulle withdrew French forces in 1966. It [NATO] was, rather, regarded as a traditional military
alliance of like-minded countries. It was not regarded as a panacea [cure] for the problems besetting
[affecting] Europe, but only as an elementary precaution against Communist aggression. . . .
Source: Charles E. Bohlen, Witness to History, 1929–1969, W. W. Norton & Company, 1973
1. According to this document, why was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) necessary?
1950 The Cold War McCarthyism
Document
Initial newspaper stories concerning Senator McCarthy’s speech in Wheeling, West Virginia,
reported that the Senator said he knew of 205 communists in the State Department. Senator
McCarthy later told the Senate he had used the number 57 in Wheeling. He placed this account of
his Wheeling speech in the Congressional Record.
. . . This, ladies and gentlemen, gives you somewhat of a picture of the type of individuals who
have been helping to shape our foreign policy. In my opinion the State Department, which is
one of the most important government departments, is thoroughly infested with Communists.
I have in my hand 57 cases of individuals who would appear to be either card carrying
members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party, but who nevertheless are still helping to
shape our foreign policy.
One thing to remember in discussing the Communists in our government is that we are not
dealing with spies who get 30 pieces of silver to steal the blueprints of a new weapon. We are
dealing with a far more sinister type of activity because it permits the enemy to guide and shape
our policy. . . .
Source: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, Speech, February 9, 1950, Wheeling, West Virginia, in
Congressional Record, 81st Congress, 2nd Session
1. According to this document, what did Senator McCarthy suggest about communist influence in the
United States government?
1950 – The Cold War – The Korean War
Document
. . . Communist aggression in Korea is a part of the worldwide strategy of the Kremlin to destroy
freedom. It has shown men all over the world that Communist imperialism may strike anywhere,
anytime.
The defense of Korea is part of the worldwide effort of all the free nations to maintain freedom. It
has shown free men that if they stand together, and pool their strength, Communist aggression
cannot succeed. . . .
Source: President Harry Truman, Address at a dinner of the Civil Defense Conference, May 7, 1951
1. According to President Harry Truman, why was it important for the United States to help
defend Korea?
Document
. . . The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that Communism has passed beyond
the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war.
It has defied the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations issued to preserve
international peace and security. In these circumstances the occupation of Formosa [Taiwan] by
Communist forces would be a direct threat to the security of the Pacific area and to United
States forces performing their lawful and necessary functions in that area.
Accordingly I have ordered the Seventh Fleet to prevent any attack on Formosa. As a corollary
of this action I am calling upon the Chinese Government on Formosa to cease all air and sea
operations against the mainland. The Seventh Fleet will see that this is done. The determination
of the future status of Formosa must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace
settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations. . . .
— President Harry Truman, Press Release, June 27, 1950
1. Based on this document, state one reason given by President Truman to justify his
concern about communism
2. According to this document, state one action President Truman took after the attack on Korea.
1950 Korean War – Presidential Action
Document
In [South] Korea the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to
preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. The Security
Council of the United Nations called upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to
withdraw to the 38th parallel. This they have not done, but on the contrary have pressed the
attack. The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every
assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution. In these circumstances I
have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean Government troops cover and
support.…
Source: President Harry Truman, Statement on the Situation in Korea, June 27, 1950
1. According to President Harry Truman, what was one reason he ordered United States forces to
support South Korean government troops in 1950?
1950 – 1953 Effects of the Korean War on the U.S.
Document a
Document b
… Within a year of the start of the international
conflict in Korea, the number of people serving
in America’s armed forces more than doubled
to over 3.2 million; army divisions went from
ten to eighteen; the Air Force went from fortytwo to seventy-two wing groups; and the Navy
expanded its number of ships from 600 to over
1,000. The pace of military build-up at this
point exceeded that set by America when it first
entered the Second World War. The
bureaucracy of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) also mushroomed. In 1949 the CIA’s
Office of Policy Coordination had 302
personnel in its offices. By 1952 it had about
6,000. CIA stations in foreign countries
increased from seven in 1951 to forty-seven in
early 1953.…
Source: Steven Hugh Lee, The Korean War,
Pearson Education Limited, 2001 (adapted)
Source: “Korea: Three Years of War,” Time,
June 29, 1953 (adapted)
1. Based on these documents, what were two effects of the Korean War on the United States?
1951 – Building a Bomb Shelter
Document
Building a Bomb Shelter
Source: Loomis Dean, Life Magazine, 1951
1. What does this picture show about the effect of the Cold War on American society?
1951 – Treatment of African American Soldier During the VietnamWar
Document
… Complaints from African-American soldiers about Army racism led the NAACP [National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People] to send civil rights activist and lawyer
Thurgood Marshall to Korea in early 1951 to investigate. Marshall discovered that the TwentyFourth Infantry Regiment was the target of a disproportional amount of courts martial, and that
the punishments meted [handed] out were much harsher than those given to non-African
Americans. In his report, entitled ‘Summary Justice: The Negro GI in Korea’, Marshall
underlined the fact that institutionalized segregation was responsible for much of the unfair
treatment of black troops in Korea.…
The Korean War thus provided the crisis that finally pushed a reluctant Army to begin
implementing policy recommendations made in [President Harry Truman’s] Executive Order
9981. Policies which had been articulated [stated] earlier in the Cold War were now put into
practice. Desegregation in the forces did not end discrimination, but it represented an important
step towards greater equality for African Americans. The experiences of African-American
soldiers in Korea thus benefitted from, and contributed to, the broader domestic movement for
greater racial equality.…
Source: Steven Hugh Lee, The Korean War, Pearson Education Limited, 2001
1. According to Steven Hugh Lee, what did Thurgood Marshall discover about the treatment of
African American soldiers in Korea?
2. According to Steven Hugh Lee, what was one effect of the Korean War on American society?
1953 – Cold War in Asia
Document
Another Hole In The Dike
Source: Fred O. Seibel, Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 5, 1953 (adapted)
1. Based on this cartoon, what problem did the United States face in Asia by 1953?
1953 – 1962 – Gallop Poll of Problems Facing the Nation
Document
The Most Important Problem
Facing the United States
1953–1962
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
Korean War
Threat of war
Working out a peace
Threat of war
Keeping out of war
Economic conditions
Keeping peace
Relations with the Soviet Union
Prices and inflation
War, peace, and international tensions
Source: The Gallup Poll of Public Opinion, Vols. 2 and 3,
Random House (adapted)
1. According to these Gallup Poll results, what was the dominant problem in the United States
between 1953 and 1962?
1953 – Rosenberg Executed For Spying
Document
Reactions to the Trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Source: Elliot Erwitt, Magnum Photos
1.
According to these photographs, what impact did the Rosenberg trial have on American society?
1955 The Cold War and the Interstate Highway System
Document a
. . . Our unity as a nation is sustained by free communication of thought and by easy
transportation of people and goods. The ceaseless flow of information throughout the Republic
is matched by individual and commercial movement over a vast system of inter-connected
highways criss-crossing the Country and joining at our national borders with friendly neighbors
to the north and south. . . .
Source: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, message to Congress, February 22, 1955
Document b
. . . In case of an atomic attack on our key cities, the road net must permit quick evacuation of
target areas, mobilization of defense forces and maintenance of every essential economic
function. But the present system in critical areas would be the breeder [cause] of a deadly
congestion within hours of an attack. . . .
Source: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, message to Congress, February 22, 1955 (adapted)
1. Based on these documents, state two reasons President Eisenhower believed that the Interstate
Highway System was important to national defense.
1950s – The Cold War – Living During the Cold War
Document
. . . When the air-raid siren sounded, our teachers stopped talking and led us to the school
basement. There the gym teachers lined us up against the cement walls and steel lockers, and
showed us how to lean in and fold our arms over our heads. Our small school ran from kindergarten
through twelfth grade. We had air-raid drills in small batches, four or five grades together, because
there was no room for us all against the walls. The teachers had to stand in the middle of the
basement rooms: those bright Pittsburgh women who taught Latin, science, and art, and those
educated, beautifully mannered European women who taught French, history, and German, who
had landed in Pittsburgh at the end of their respective flights from Hitler, and who had baffled us by
their common insistence on tidiness, above all, in our written work.
The teachers stood in the middle of the room, not talking to each other. We tucked against the walls and
lockers: dozens of clean girls wearing green jumpers, green knee socks, and pink-soled white bucks. We
folded our skinny arms over our heads, and raised to the enemy a clatter of gold scarab bracelets and
gold bangle bracelets. . . .
Source: Annie Dillard, An American Childhood, Harper & Row
1. According to this document, state one way schools were affected by the threat of communism.
1957 – The Cold War Opportunity Cost
1. How did the cartoonist believe education in the United States was affected by the launching of the
Soviet satellite, Sputnik?
1955 – Why the Soviets Launched Sputknic
Document
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev [Soviet leader] was almost desperate to beat the
Americanskis at something. Anything. He boasted that communism would bury capitalism, later
claiming he meant only by becoming richer and more productive, not by engaging in war. But
how long might that take? Fifty years? A hundred? He needed something now. And in the
summer of 1955, at about the time he returned from the Geneva conference, where [President
Dwight] Eisenhower had urged the Open Skies proposal on him, some of Khrushchev’s scientific
advisers informed him of an interesting development.
In the course of reading American science journals, they had learned that the United States
had begun a project to put an artificial satellite into orbit in 1958, as part of its contribution to
the International Geophysical Year. An orbiting satellite had obvious military possibilities, but
the foolish Americans had decided not to make it a military project—they wanted it to be
peaceful and scientific. We can beat them to it, the scientists told Khrushchev, because we’re
already developing the rocket.
The Soviet Union’s hydrogen bomb was enormous, and in 1955 its engineers and technicians
were working on the design of a huge liquid-fueled rocket powerful enough to carry it five
thousand miles. With some modifications, said the scientists, we can use the rocket to put a small
satellite into orbit long before it will be ready to carry an H-bomb. Khrushchev saw a possibility
here that nobody in Washington had seen—the chance to score the propaganda coup of the
century. The Soviet satellite, code-named Sputnik (“Fellow Traveler”), got his enthusiastic
“Da!” [Yes!]…
Source: Geoffrey Perret, Eisenhower, Random House, 1999 (adapted)
1. According to Geoffrey Perret, what was one reason the Soviet Union was interested in putting a satellite
into orbit?
Lyndon B. Johnson Hears of Sputnik 1’s Launch
Document
“Now, somehow, in some new way, the sky seemed almost alien. I also remember the profound
shock of realizing that it might be possible for another nation to achieve technological superiority
over this great country of ours.”
...One of Johnson's aides, George E. Reedy, summarized the feelings of many Americans: “the
simple fact is that we can no longer consider the Russians to be behind us in technology. It took
them four years to catch up to our atomic bomb and nine months to catch up to our hydrogen
bomb. Now we are trying to catch up to their satellite.”
1. To what extent did the "race to space" reflect political, social, and economic aspects of the Cold War?
1958 -1968 – Effects of the Launching of Sputnik on Education
Document
On September 2, 1958, less than a year after the launching of Sputnik, President Dwight
Eisenhower signed into law the National Defense Education Act (NDEA).
… Between 1958 and 1968, NDEA also provided loan money for more than 1.5 million
individual college students—fellowships directly responsible for producing 15,000 Ph.D.s a year.
NDEA allocated approximately $1 billion to support research and education in the sciences over
four years; federal support for science-related research and education increased between 21 and
33 percent per year through 1964, representing a tripling of science research and education
expenditures over five years. States were given money to strengthen schools on a fifty-fifty
matching basis, thousands of teachers were sent to NDEA-sponsored summer schools, and the
National Science Foundation sponsored no fewer than fifty-three curriculum development
projects. By the time of the lunar landing in 1969, NDEA alone had pumped $3 billion into
American education.…
Source: Paul Dickson, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century, Walker Publishing Company, 2001
1. According to Paul Dickson, what were two effects of the launching of Sputnik on education in the
United States?
1960 – The Cold War and Eisenhower on Spying on the Soviets
Document
. . . Our safety, and that of the free world, demand, of course, effective systems for gathering
information about the military capabilities of other powerful nations, especially those that make
a fetish [obsessive habit] of secrecy. This involves many techniques and methods. In these times
of vast military machines and nuclear-tipped missiles, the ferreting [finding] out of this
information is indispensable to free world security.
This has long been one of my most serious preoccupations. It is part of my grave responsibility,
within the over-all problem of protecting the American people, to guard ourselves and our allies
against surprise attack.
During the period leading up to World War II we learned from bitter experience the
imperative [absolute] necessity of a continuous gathering of intelligence information, the
maintenance of military communications and contact, and alertness of command.
An additional word seems appropriate about this matter of communications and command.
While the Secretary of Defense and I were in Paris, we were, of course, away from our normal
command posts. He recommended that under the circumstances we test the continuing
readiness of our military communications. I personally approved. Such tests are valuable and
will be frequently repeated in the future.
Moreover, as President, charged by the Constitution with the conduct of America’s foreign
relations, and as Commander-in-Chief, charged with the direction of the operations and
activities of our Armed Forces and their supporting services, I take full responsibility for
approving all the various programs undertaken by our government to secure and evaluate
military intelligence.
It was in the prosecution [carrying out] of one of these intelligence programs that the widely
publicized U-2 incident occurred.
Aerial photography has been one of many methods we have used to keep ourselves and the
free world abreast of major Soviet military developments. The usefulness of this work has been
well established through four years of effort. The Soviets were well aware of it. Chairman
Khrushchev has stated that he became aware of these flights several years ago. Only last week,
in his Paris press conference, Chairman Khrushchev confirmed that he knew of these flights
when he visited the United States last September. . . .
Source: President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Address, May 25, 1960,
Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower 1960–1961
1. Based on this document, state two reasons given by President Eisenhower for gathering information
about the Soviet military.
1961 – Kennedy Inaugural Address
Document
… Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear
any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival
and the success of liberty.…
Finally, to those nations who would make themselves our adversary [rival], we offer not a
pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace, before the dark
powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental
self-destruction.
We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond
doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
But neither can two great and powerful groups of nations take comfort from our present
course—both sides overburdened by the cost of modern weapons, both rightly alarmed by
the steady spread of the deadly atom, yet both racing to alter that uncertain balance of
terror that stays the hand of mankind’s final war.
So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and
sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear
to negotiate.
Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which
divide us.…
Source: President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
1. According to President John F. Kennedy, what is one action the United States should take in dealing
with its Cold War rivals?
1961 – Kennedy Presidential Action and the Space Race
Document
… First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade
is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space
project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range
exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to
accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop
alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain
which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned
explorations—explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation
will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real
sense, it will not be one man going to the moon—if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will
be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.…
Third, an additional 50 million dollars will make the most of our present leadership, by
accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications.
Fourth, an additional 75 million dollars—of which 53 million dollars is for the Weather
Bureau—will help give us at the earliest possible time a satellite system for world-wide weather
observation.…
Source: President John F. Kennedy, Special Message to Congress, May 25, 1961
1. According to President John F. Kennedy, why was spending money on space projects important for
the United States?
1962 - Cold War - Cuban Missile Crisis
Document
Ranges of Offensive Missiles in Cuba
U N IT E D S TATE S
Washington,
D.C.
San
Francisco
Dallas
MRBM
Key
CUBA
IRBM IntermediateRange Ballistic
Missiles
MRBM Medium-Range
Ballistic Missiles
Missile range
Source: James H. Hansen, “Soviet Deception in the Cuban Missile Crisis,”
Studies in Intelligence: Journal of the American Intelligence Professional,
2002 (adapted)
1. Based on this map, how did the location of Cuba influence the Cuban missile crisis?
2. According to this map, what was the role of geography in the Cuban missile crisis?
1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis
Document
1. Based on this map, state one action ordered by President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis.
2. Why did President Kennedy believe he had to take those measures? Explain. What might you have done
differently?
1963 – Bob Dylan Sings About the Cuban Missile Crisis
"Cuban Missile Crisis (World War No. Three)"
by Bob Dylan
"Come gather round me people
and a story I will tell,
about a night not long ago,
you all remember well.
I tell it to you straight and true
I tell it like a friend.
All about the fearful night
we thought the world would end
I was walking down the sidewalk
not causing any harm.
The radio reported
and sounded with alarm.
The Russian ships were sailing
all across the sea.
We all feared at daybreak
it was world war number three.
I was worried about an argument I had the day before
on some small matter
I'm sure it was nothing more.
But just a day ago,
how it rankled up my brow,
the same thing today
seems so unimportant now."
Broadside Office New York, 1963
1. What does this song tell us about how the threat of nuclear war effected Americans?
Explain.
2. How might some Americans act upon their fears?
1962 – Kennedy Addresses Nuclear War Issue
Document
Source: Herblock, Washington Post, November 1, 1962(adapted)
… I speak of peace because of the new face of war. Total war makes no sense in an age when
great powers can maintain large and relatively invulnerable nuclear forces and refuse to
surrender without resort to those forces. It makes no sense in an age when a single nuclear
weapon contains almost ten times the explosive force delivered by all the allied air forces in the
Second World War. It makes no sense in an age when the deadly poisons produced by a nuclear
exchange would be carried by wind and water and soil and seed to the far corners of the globe
and to generations yet unborn.…
In short, both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually
deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are
in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours — and even the most hostile nations can be
relied upon to accept and keep those treaty obligations, and only those treaty obligations, which
are in their own interest.…
Source: President John F. Kennedy, Commencement Address at American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963
1. Based on these documents, why did the United States and the Soviet Union need to address the
issue of nuclear war?
2. Based on these documents, what action was President Kennedy willing to take to address the issue
of nuclear war?
1962 – Kennedy and the Space Race
Document
“…We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other
things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to
organize and measure the best of our energy and skills, because that challenge is one that we are
willing to accept, one we are willing to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the
others, too…”
-President John F. Kennedy, speech at Rice University, September 12, 1962
1. According to the document, what action did President Kennedy want the U.S. to undertake to
surpass the Soviets in the space race?
2. To what extent did the "race to space" reflect political, social, and economic aspects of the Cold
War?
1960s – View on the Lottery Draft System
Document
1. According to the cartoonist, how did the Cold War affect American males who were approaching
their eighteenth birthday?
1965 – Why U.S. in Vietnam
Document
THE NATURE OF THE CONFLICT
. . . The world as it is in Asia is not a serene or peaceful place. The first reality is that North Vietnam has
attacked the independent nation of South Viet-Nam. Its object is total conquest. Of course, some of the
people of South Vietnam are participating in attack on their own government. But trained men and
supplies, orders and arms, flow in a constant stream from north to south.
This support is the heartbeat of the war. . . .
WHY ARE WE IN VIETNAM?
Why are these realities our concern? Why are we in South Vietnam? We are there because we have a
promise to keep. Since 1954 every American President has offered support to the people of South VietNam. We have helped to build, and we have helped to defend. Thus, over many years, we have made a
national pledge to help South Viet-Nam defend its independence. And I intend to keep our promise.
To dishonor that pledge, to abandon this small and brave nation to its enemy, and to the terror that
must follow, would be an unforgivable wrong. . .
Source: President Lyndon B. Johnson, Speech at Johns Hopkins University, April 7, 1965
1. According to this document, what are two reasons President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops
to Vietnam?
1967 – Opposition to Vietnam Grows
Document a
. . . When the country looks to Lyndon Johnson these days, it gains the inescapable impression
that Vietnam is America’s top priority. Mr. Johnson uses the bully pulpit [power] of the Presidency
(not to mention the Rose Garden) time and again to tell a painfully divided nation why it is
fighting and must continue to fight in Southeast Asia. No amount of resistance—and it is
growing—can blunt [lessen] his resolve. Few question his personal resolve on the Negro [African
American] problem (he is, after all, the President who proclaimed “We Shall Overcome!”
in a speech three years ago). But his public posture [position] here projects none of the sense of
urgency that marks his Vietnam crusading. . . .
Source: “The Negro in America: What Must Be Done,” Newsweek, November 20, 1967
Document b
“First things first!”
Source: Charles
Brooks, Birmingham News (adapted)
1. According to these documents, what were two effects of the Vietnam War on American society?
1968 – College Students Protest the Vietnam War
Document a
Anti-Vietnam War protesters
march down Fifth Avenue in New
York City on April 27, 1968. The
demonstration attracted 87,000
people and led to 60 arrests. Also
on the 27th, some 200,000 New
York City students boycotted
classes.
Source: The Sixties Chronicle, Legacy Publishing
Document b
This article appeared in the New York Times three days after the Kent State shootings.
Illinois Deploys Guard
More than 80 colleges across the country closed their doors yesterday for periods ranging from a
day to the remainder of the academic year as thousands of students joined the growing
nationwide campus protest against the war in Southeast Asia.
In California, Gov. Ronald Reagan, citing “emotional turmoil,” closed down the entire state
university and college system from midnight last night until next Monday. More than 280,000
students at 19 colleges and nine university campuses are involved.
Pennsylvania State University, with 18 campuses, was closed for an indeterminate [indefinite]
period.
In the New York metropolitan area about 15 colleges closed, some for a day, some for the
week, and some for the rest of the term.
A spokesman for the National Student Association said that students had been staying away
from classes at almost 300 campuses in the country. . . .
Source: Frank J. Prial, New York Times, May 7, 1970
1. Based on these documents, state two ways the Vietnam War affected American society.
1975 – Vietnamese Settle in the U.S.
Document
After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, large numbers of Vietnamese refugees settled in
Westminster, California.
“Little Saigon” in Westminster, California
Source: Bailey and Kennedy, The American Pageant, D. C. Heath and Co., 1991
1. According to this photograph, how have Vietnamese immigrants contributed to American society?
1973 – War Powers Act
Document
. . . Within sixty calendar days after a report is submitted or is required to be submitted
pursuant to section 1543(a)(1) of this title, whichever is earlier, the President shall terminate any
use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted (or required
to be submitted), unless the Congress (1) has declared war or has enacted a specific
authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces, (2) has extended by law such sixtyday period, or (3) is physically unable to meet as a result of an armed attack upon the United
States. Such sixty-day period shall be extended for not more than an additional thirty days if the
President determines and certifies to the Congress in writing that unavoidable military necessity
respecting the safety of United States Armed Forces requires the continued use of such armed
forces in the course of bringing about a prompt removal of such forces. . . .
Source: War Powers Act, 1973
1. Based on this document, state one way in which the War Powers Act could limit United States
involvement in foreign conflicts.
1972 – Kissinger’s Visit to China
Document
… You have to give both [President Richard] Nixon and [National Security Advisor Henry]
Kissinger the credit—Nixon because he is the president. It was his clear feeling that we ought to
move toward China. I think that he also understood that because of his anti-communist
credentials, it would be easier for him than, say, for [Senator] Hubert Humphrey. More
importantly, he knew that China would become an important country; our approach to China
would give the Soviet Union an incentive to have better relations with us, in that they might get
a bit nervous about our dealings with the Chinese. Indeed, within months after the announcement
of Kissinger’s secret trip, we had an agreement on a summit meeting with the Soviets, as well as
a breakthrough on SALT [Strategic Arms Limitation Talks], and on the Berlin negotiations.
Kissinger had, independently, come to the same conclusions, for the same reasons.…
Source: Winston Lord in Gerald S. and Deborah H. Strober,
Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency, HarperCollins, 1994
1. According to Winston Lord, what are two ways the new United States policy toward China
improved United States–Soviet relations?
1972 – Improving U.S. – Soviet Relations
Document
… Many of those who watched the week unfold in Moscow concluded that this summit—the
most important since Potsdam in 1945 and probably the most important Soviet political event
since Stalin’s death—could change world diplomacy. It was all the more impressive because it
seemed not so much a single, cataclysmic [momentous] event but part of a process, part of a
world on the move.…
The meeting underscored [emphasized] the drive toward detente based on mutual self- interest—
especially economic self-interest on the part of the Soviets, who want trade and technology
from the West. None of the agreements are shatterproof, and some will lead only to future
bargaining. But the fact that they touched so many areas suggested Nixon’s strategy: he wanted
to involve all of the Soviet leadership across the board—trade, health, science—in ways that
would make it difficult later to reverse the trends set at the summit.…
Source: “What Nixon Brings Home from Moscow,” Time, June 5, 1972
1. According to this document, why was the Moscow summit important to United States–Soviet
relations?
1974 – Nixon Negotiates with the Soviets
Document
… As far as our relations with the Soviets are concerned, we shall continue. We shall continue
to negotiate, recognizing that they don’t like our system or approve of it and I don’t like their
system or approve of it. Mr. Brezhnev [Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev] knows that, and I know
it, and we have discussed it quite bluntly and directly.
However, it is essential that both nations, being the super powers that we are, continue to make
progress toward limiting arms, toward avoiding confrontations which might explode into war, as
it might have in the Mideast if we had not had this period of negotiation, and also continuing
those negotiations for reduction of forces in Europe and reduction of arms, or certainly the
limitation of arms, and the various other initiatives that we are undertaking with the Soviets.
In a nutshell, this is what we have to consider: Do we want to go back to a period when the
United States and the Soviet Union, the two great super powers, stood in confrontation against
each other and risk a runaway nuclear arms race and also crisis in Berlin, in the Mideast, even
again in Southeast Asia or other places of the world, or do we want to continue on a path in which
we recognize our differences but try to recognize also the fact that we must either live together
or we will all die together?…
Source: President Richard Nixon, Press Conference, February 25, 1974
1. According to President Richard Nixon, what is one reason the United States should continue its
negotiations with the Soviet Union?
1980s - Vietnam Veterans Enter Politics
Document
. . . Fourteen years after the last United States combat units left Vietnam, at least 15 men who
were there have made their way into Congress.
Each Draws His Own Lesson
Some are Republicans, like Representative David O’B. Martin of upstate New York; some are
Democrats, like Representatives H. Martin Lancaster of North Carolina and John P. Murtha of
Pennsylvania; some are conservatives, and some are liberals. Each has drawn his own lesson from
having participated in the war, and each applies the experience in his own way to the issues of
foreign policy he confronts as a legislator.
Some support military aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, some oppose it. A few favored sending the
Marine contingent to Beirut in 1982, though most say they had grave reservations. Some see the
Soviet threat in larger terms than others.
But the Vietnam experience has given almost all of them a sense of seasoned caution about
using American military power without having the broad support of the American people. And
this translates into some sober views on the limitations of force, especially in impoverished
countries torn by internal strife. . . .
Source: David K. Shipler, “The Vietnam Experience and the Congressman of the 1980’s,” New York Times,
May 28, 1987
1. According to this article, how has the experience of many Congressmen who served in
Vietnam affected their views on when to use American military force?
1980s – Ronald Reagan Military Build Up
Document
… Ronald Reagan entered office [the presidency] as the most emphatically anti-Soviet American
chief executive since Harry Truman, who presided over the beginning of the Cold War. The
Reagan administration was committed to stepping up the competition with the Soviet Union in
the areas where the rivalry was sharpest. It orchestrated the most expensive peacetime military
buildup in American history and began the Strategic Defense Initiative, which was designed to
free the world from the nuclear stalemate in which each side’s society was hostage to the
weapons of the other. But the Reagan years have demonstrated the limits to both policies. They
have made it clear that the United States, like the Soviet Union, will have to settle for military
equilibrium in the great power rivalry.…
Source: Bialer and Mandelbaum, The Global Rivals, Alfred A. Knopf, 1988
1. According to Bialer and Mandelbaum, what was one action taken by the Reagan administration
that demonstrated an anti-Soviet foreign policy?
1987 – Reagan Speaks on U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Soviets
Document
… And now the Soviets themselves may, in a limited
way, be coming to understand the importance of
freedom. We hear much from Moscow about a new
policy of reform and openness.
Some political
prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news
broadcasts are no longer being jammed.
Some
economic enterprises have been permitted to operate
with greater freedom from state control. Are these the
beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or
are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in
the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without
changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we
believe that freedom and security go together, that the
advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause
of world peace.
There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be
unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the
cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary
Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek
liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev,
open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!…
Source: President Ronald Reagan,
speech at the Brandenburg Gate,
June 12, 1987
President Ronald Reagan speaks on
the West Berlin side of the
Brandenburg Gate, June 12, 1987.
Source: German Missions in the United States
(adapted)
1. According to President Ronald Reagan, what is one action taken by the Soviet Union that indicates
it may be reforming its policies?
2. According to President Ronald Reagan, what is one action that General Secretary Mikhail
Gorbachev should take to advance the cause of freedom and peace?
Former Soviet Leader Gorbachev Recounts Reagan Presidency
Document
This article was written by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev following the death of former President
Ronald Reagan on June 5, 2004.
… Ronald Reagan’s first term as president had been dedicated to restoring America’s self- confidence. He
appealed to the traditions and optimism of the people, to the American dream, and he regarded as his
main task strengthening the economy and the military might of the United States. This was
accompanied by confrontational rhetoric toward the Soviet Union, and more than rhetoric—by a number
of actions that caused concern both in our country and among many people throughout the world. It
seemed that the most important thing about Reagan was his anti-Communism and his reputation as a
hawk who saw the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”
Yet his second term as president emphasized a different set of goals. I think he understood that it is the
peacemakers, above all, who earn a place in history. This was consistent with his convictions based on
experience, intuition and love of life. In this he was supported by Nancy— his wife and friend, whose role
will, I am sure, be duly appreciated.…
In the final outcome, our insistence on dialogue proved fully justified. At a White House ceremony
in 1987, we signed the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty, which launched the process of real arms
reduction. And, even though we saw the road to a world free of nuclear weapons differently, the very
fact of setting this goal in 1986 in Reykjavik [Iceland] helped to break the momentum of the arms
race.…
Source: Mikhail Gorbachev, “A President Who Listened,” New York Times, June 7, 2004
1. According to Mikhail Gorbachev, how did President Ronald Reagan’s attitude toward the Soviet
Union change during his second term?
1991 – Effects of Vietnam War on Persian Gulf War
Document
Comments on United States participation in Operation Desert Storm and Persian Gulf War, 1991
“By God, we’ve kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all!” So said President George Bush in a
euphoric [joyful] victory statement at the end of the Gulf War, suggesting the extent to which Vietnam
continued to prey on the American psyche more than fifteen years after the fall of Saigon. Indeed the
Vietnam War was by far the most convulsive and traumatic of America’s three wars in Asia in the 50 years
since Pearl Harbor. It set the U.S. economy on a downward spiral. It left America’s foreign policy at
least temporarily in disarray, discrediting the postwar policy of containment and undermining the
consensus that supported it. It divided the American people as no other event since their own Civil War a
century earlier. It battered their collective soul.
Such was the lingering impact of the Vietnam War that the Persian Gulf conflict appeared at times as
much a struggle with its ghosts as with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. President Bush’s eulogy for the Vietnam
syndrome may therefore be premature. Success in the Gulf War no doubt raised the nation’s confidence in
its foreign policy leadership and its military institutions and weakened long-standing inhibitions against
intervention abroad. Still it seems doubtful that military victory over a nation with a population less than
one-third of Vietnam in a conflict fought under the most favorable circumstances could expunge [erase]
deeply encrusted and still painful memories of an earlier and very different kind of war. . . .
Source: George C. Herring, “America and Vietnam: The Unending War,” Foreign Affairs, Winter 1991/92
1. According to this document, what was one impact of the Vietnam War on United States foreign
policy?
1940 – 1990 – Defense Spending by Decade
Document
United States Defense Budget
1940–1990
18%
32%
68%
82%
1940
1950
24%
52%
48%
76%
1960
1990
% spent on defense
% for other programs
— United States Budget, Historical Tables
Source: http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2000 (adapted)
1. According to the graph, how did the Cold War affect the United States defense budget?
1963 – Women’s Rights – Gender Roles
Document
Each suburban wife struggled with it [a sense of dissatisfaction] alone. As she made
the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffered Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night — she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—“Is this all
[there is]?”
— Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963
1. According to this document, why were some American women dissatisfied with their lives during
the 1950s and 1960s?
1963 – Women’s Rights Movement – Equal Pay Act
Document
The Equal Pay Act represented the first significant step toward ending wage discrimination for women workers. In 1963, full-time female workers were earning on aver- age
63% less than male workers. By 1971, the disparity had dropped to 57% and in
1998, the [wage] gap had closed to under 25%.
— Deborah G. Felder, A Century of Women
1. According to Deborah G. Felder, what effect did the Equal Pay Act have on the wage gap
for women?
1966 – Women’s Rights Movement
Document
Women comprise less than 1% of federal judges; less than 4% of all lawyers; 7% of
doctors. Yet women represent 51% of the U.S. population. . . .
Discrimination in employment on the basis of sex is now prohibited by . . . the Civil
Rights Act of 1964. But although nearly one-third of the cases brought before the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission during the first year dealt with sex discrimination, . . . the Commission has not made clear its intention to enforce the law
with the same seriousness on behalf of women as of other victims of discrimination.
Join us in taking action to work toward these goals:
 Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment
 Equal employment opportunities
 Developmental child care

Paid maternity leave

Right to control our own reproductive lives

Improvement of the image of women in the mass media
— National Organization for Women, 1966
1. Why did the National Organization for Women (NOW) believe it had to continue to
support equal opportunities for women after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
2. State one significant goal of the National Organization for Women.
1969 – Women’s Rights Movement
Document
Why is it acceptable for women to be secretaries, librarians and teachers, but totally unacceptable for
them to be managers, administrators, doctors, lawyers, and members of Congress? The unspoken
assumption is that women are different. They do not have executive ability, orderly minds, stability,
leadership skills, and they are too emotional.
Prejudice against women is still acceptable. There is very little understanding yet of the immorality
involved in double pay scales and the classification of most of the bet- ter jobs as “for men only.” . . .
It is for this reason that I wish to introduce today a proposal that has been before every Congress for the
last forty years and that sooner or later must become part of the basic law of the land—the equal rights
amendment.
— Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, 1969
1. Why did Congresswoman Chisholm support the passage of an equal rights amendment?
1982 – Men and Women Earning Comparison
Document
Earnings by Occupation,
1981 Weekly Medians
Women’s
Pay
Clerical workers
Computer specialists
Editors, reporters
Engineers
Lawyers
Nurses
Physicians
Sales workers
Teachers (elementary)
Waiters
Men’s
Pay
$220
355
$328
488
324
371
407
326
401
190
311
144
382
547
574
344
495
366
379
200
Source: Time, July 12, 1982 (adapted)
Source: Time, July 12, 1982
1. Based on this chart, what conclusion can be drawn from comparing the earnings of women with
the earnings of men in 1981?
1950 – Segregated Water Fountains
1. What does this photograph show about the treatment of African Americans in the South
after Reconstruction?
1946 – State of Segregated Schools in the South
Document
STATE OF EDUCATION
BLACK AND WHITE
. . . On average, Southern states spent half as much educating a black child as they spent
educating a white. Investment in white school plants [buildings] was four times higher, white
teachers’ salaries 30 percent higher.
Seventeen segregating states spent $42 million busing white children — less than $1 million on
blacks.
Median years of schooling in segregating states and Washington, D.C.: whites — 8.4;
blacks — 5.1. The percent of whites finishing school was four times that of blacks.
Segregating states spent $86 million on white colleges, $5 million on black ones. There was
1 accredited medical school for blacks, 29 for whites; 1 accredited black school for pharmacology,
40 for whites; 1 law school for blacks, 40 for whites. There was no engineering school for blacks,
36 for whites.
In 1946, an estimated one quarter of the entire black population was functionally
illiterate. . . .
Source: Harold Evans et al., The American Century, Alfred A. Knopf (adapted)
1. Based on this document, state two ways that “separate but equal” was not equal when it came
to education in the segregated states before 1954.
1954 – Brown v. Board of Education
Court’s Decision in Reference to Plessy v. Ferguson
Document a
. . . We [the Supreme Court] come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in
public schools only on the basis of race, even though the building [physical facilities] …may be
equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe
that it does. . . .
Source: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954
Document b
. . . Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the
colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of
separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense
of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law,
therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children
and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school
system.
Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson,
this finding is amply supported by modern authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary
to this finding is rejected.
We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no
place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the
plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of
the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the
Fourteenth Amendment.
This disposition makes unnecessary any discussion whether such
segregation also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment . . . .
— Chief Justice Earl Warren, Opinion of the Court, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
1. According to these documents, what was the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding the “separate but
equal” doctrine as it applied to public schools?
1954 – Brown v. Board of Education
Document
Mrs. Nettie Hunt, sitting on the steps of the U. S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, explains the
significance of the Court’s May 17, 1954 desegregation ruling to her daughter, Nikie 3 , in this
November 19, 1954 photo.
Source: “With an Even Hand,” Brown v. Board of Education exhibition, Library of Congress (adapted)
1. Based on this photograph and caption, what is the significance of the Brown v. Board of
Education decision?
1954 – Impact of Brown v. Board of Education on American Society
Document a
. . . “The promise of Brown was not fulfilled in the way that we envisioned it,” says U.S. Secretary
of Education Rod Paige, who was a student at Mississippi’s all-black Jackson State University
when the decision was handed down. Within the first few years after the decision, paratroopers
were protecting black students entering Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., schools were
shuttered [closed] entirely in Prince Edward County, Va., and white families across the South put
their children into private schools. By 1971, the court had endorsed busing to overcome the
residential segregation that was keeping black and white children apart. Particularly in the South,
the integration drive worked, as the share of black children attending majority white schools rose
from 0.1% in 1960 to a high of 44% in 1988. . . .
Source: Rebecca Winters, “No Longer Separate, But Not Yet Equal,” Time, May 10, 2004
Document b
. . . Even though the effects of Brown were slow in coming—real desegregation only occurred
with the 1964 Civil Rights Act and aggressive enforcement by the Department of Justice, which
denied federal funds to any segregated school—they were revolutionary. Greenberg [Jack
Greenberg, a member of the Brown legal team] cites encouraging evidence today as the half-full
approach: there are black Cabinet members in Democrat and Republican administrations;
blacks hold top management positions in major corporations like Citibank, Xerox, Time Warner,
and Merrill Lynch. When Greenberg started practicing law in 1949 there were only two black
U.S. Congressmen. Today [2004] there are 39.
Brown “broke up the frozen political system in the country at the time,” Greenberg notes.
Southern congressmen made it a priority to keep African-Americans from obtaining power, but
Brown allowed for change. Judge Carter [Robert Carter, a member of the Brown legal team]
believes that the greatest accomplishment of the ruling was to create a black middle class: “The
court said everyone was equal, so now you had it by right.”. . .
Source: Kristina Dell, “What ‘Brown’ Means Today,” Time, May 17, 2004
1. Based on these documents, state two effects of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court
decision on American society.
Document
A mob surrounds Elizabeth Eckford outside Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas
Source: Clayborne Carson, ed., Civil Rights Chronicle, Legacy Publishing
A white student passes through an Arkansas National Guard line as Elizabeth Eckford is
turned away on September 4, 1957
Source: Photograph by Will Counts for Arkansas Democrat
1. Look at the photographs, what do you see?
2. What is the young black woman in the foreground doing? What might she be thinking and feeling?
3. What are the white people behind her doing? What might they be saying and thinking?
4. Why might the crowd be so hostile toward the young woman?
5. What might the outcome of this scene be?
6. What does this photograph reveal about liberty, equality, and opportunity for African Americans during
this time period?
7. Based on these photographs, what happened to Elizabeth Eckford as she tried to attend Central High
School on September 4, 1957?
1957 – The Little Rock Nine
Document
. . . On September 4, after walking a virtual gauntlet of hysterical whites to reach the front door
of Central High, the Little Rock Nine were turned back by Arkansas National Guardsmen. The
white crowd hooted and cheered, shouted, stomped, and whistled. The segregationist whites of
Little Rock did not see the vulnerability or the bravery of the students. Instead, they saw
symbols of the South’s defeat in the War Between the States, its perceived degradation during
the Reconstruction that followed, and the threats to the southern way of life they had been
taught to believe was sacrosanct [sacred]. . . .
Source: Clayborne Carson, ed., Civil Rights Chronicle, Legacy Publishing
1. According to this document, what was one reason some white citizens of Little Rock, Arkansas, did
not want the Little Rock Nine to attend Central High School?
1957 – The Little Rock Nine
Document
. . . This morning the mob again gathered in front of the Central High School of Little Rock,
obviously for the purpose of again preventing the carrying out of the Court’s order relating to the
admission of Negro [African American] children to the school.
Whenever normal agencies prove inadequate to the task and it becomes necessary for the
Executive Branch of the Federal Government to use its powers and authority to uphold Federal
Courts, the President’s responsibility is inescapable.
In accordance with that responsibility, I have today issued an Executive Order directing the use
of troops under Federal authority to aid in the execution of Federal law at Little Rock, Arkansas.
This became necessary when my Proclamation of yesterday was not observed, and the
obstruction of justice still continues.
It is important that the reasons for my action be understood by all citizens.
As you know, the Supreme Court of the United States has decided that separate public
educational facilities for the races are inherently [by nature] unequal and therefore compulsory
school segregation laws are unconstitutional. . . .
Source: Address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 24, 1957
(1) Based on this document, what was one action taken by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in response
to the crisis in Little Rock?
(2) Based on this document, what was one reason President Dwight D. Eisenhower took action in the
crisis in Little Rock?
1957 – Presidential Action to Integrate Central High School
Document
Source: Clayborne Carson, ed., Civil Rights Chronicle, Legacy Publishing (adapted)
On September 25, 1957 federal troops escort the Little Rock Nine
to their classes at Central High School.
1. Based on this photograph, what was the job of the United States Army troops in Little Rock, Arkansas?
1950s – Impact of Presidential Action on the U.S.
Document
President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s actions in Little Rock were an important step in enforcing the
Supreme Court’s 1954 decision regarding school segregation. However, state and local resistance to
school integration continued.
. . . Little Rock and the developments following in its wake marked the turning of the tide. In
September, 1957, desegregation was stalemated. Little Rock broke the stalemate. Virginia early
felt the impact of the Little Rock developments. By the end of 1958, the “Old Dominion” state
had entrenched itself behind some thirty-four new segregation bulwarks [barriers] — the whole
gamut of evasive devices that had spread across the South to prevent desegregation. It was a selfstyled program of “massive resistance,” a program which other states admittedly sought to
duplicate. But as the Bristol (Va.) Herald-Courier observed in late 1958, when the showdown
came, “‘Massive resistance’ met every test but one. It could not keep the schools open and
segregated.”. . .
Source: James W. Vander Zanden, “The Impact of Little Rock,” Journal of Educational Sociology, April 1962
1. According to James W. Vander Zanden, what are two impacts of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s
decision to enforce desegregation?
1950s – Segregated Bus
Document
Segregated City Bus, 1956
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What do you see?
Where are the African American passengers sitting? Where are the white passengers sitting?
Why do you think seating on the bus is divided this way?
What might happen if more white passengers board the bus?
How might these passengers feel about segregated seating?
What does this photograph reveal about liberty, equality, and opportunity for African Americans during this
time period?
1950s – Segregated Bus
Document
Inez Jessie Baskin comments on her experience using the bus system in Montgomery, Alabama,
before the bus boycott that started in December 1955.
… I took the bus to work every day. Our bus system was segregated just like practically
everything else. There was no specific line of demarcation separating seats reserved for white
and black passengers. It was usually at the bus driver’s discretion, and it varied depending on
time of day and the driver, but you were just supposed to know. One thing was for certain, when
a white person occupied a seat, even if it was one man to an entire long seat, blacks had to walk
right on past. About six o’clock one evening, I received a phone call from a friend’s mother telling
me to go to the Dexter Avenue Church. That’s where I heard about Rosa Parks’s arrest. I had
first met Rosa Parks during the time that I was a member of the NAACP. She had always
impressed me. She was just an angel walking. When things happened that would upset most
people, she would just give you this angelic smile, and that was the end of that. When I arrived,
a small group of people were gathered in the church basement, and they were already talking
about boycotting the local bus system and spreading some leaflets around about it.…
Source: Jennings and Brewster, The Century, Doubleday, 1998
1. According to Inez Jessie Baskin, why were African Americans unhappy with the Montgomery bus system?
1955 – Civil Rights Movement – Montgomery Bus Boycott
Document
The photograph shows Rosa Parks being fingerprinted at police headquarters after refusing to give up
her seat on a bus to a white man on 12/1/1955.
Source: New York World-Telegram and Sun, Library of Congress
1955 – Civil Rights Movement – Montgomery Bus Boycott
Document
. . . At these meetings [about the treatment of African Americans on buses], we discussed not
only the two women who had been arrested, but also a number of additional bus incidents that
never found their way into court, no doubt because the victims were black passengers. Several of
the white drivers were determined to harass our people at every opportunity. For example, when
the bus was even slightly crowded, they would make blacks pay their fare, then get off, and go to
the back door to enter. Sometimes they would even take off with a squeal as a passenger trudged
toward the rear after paying. At least once a driver closed the back door on a black woman’s arm
and then dragged her to the next stop before allowing her to climb aboard. Clearly this kind of
gratuitous [unnecessary] cruelty was contributing to an increasing tension on Montgomery buses.
We tried to reason with local authorities and with bus company officials. They were polite, listened
to our complaints with serious expressions on their faces, and did nothing.
On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks took her now-famous bus ride and set events in motion that
would lead to a social revolution of monumental proportions. . . .
Source: Ralph David Abernathy, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, Harper & Row
1. According to Ralph David Abernathy, what was a goal of African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama?
2. According to Ralph David Abernathy, what was one method used by African Americans to address
their concerns?
Tactics of the Montgomery Bus Boycott Organizers
Document a
During the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, many African American residents carpooled to work.
Source: Clayborne Carson et al., Civil Rights Chronicle: The African-American Struggle for Freedom,
Publications International
Document b
… Officials of the Montgomery City Lines, a subsidiary of National City Lines of Chicago have
declined to say publicly how the boycott has affected the company financially. But a 50 per cent
increase in bus fares—from 10 to 15 cents—and curtailed operations have offset the loss of
business to some extent.
Before the boycott began last Dec. 5, approximately 65 per cent of the bus lines’ passengers were
Negroes [African Americans]. Since then, an estimated 75 per cent or more of the Negro
customers have stopped riding.
Car pools operating with military precision have been organized to get Negroes to and from
work. Negro taxicabs have done a thriving business. Police Commissioner Clyde Sellers says
many Negroes have complained they are threatened with harm if they rode the buses.…
Negro leaders led by a 27-year-old Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., demanded a
“first come, first serve” arrangement which would seat Negroes from the rear and white passengers
from the front until all seats were taken.
Under the present arrangement, the dividing line is determined by the driver. Bus company
officials rejected the “first come” proposal.…
Source: Montgomery Advertiser, February 19, 1956 (adapted)
1. Based on these documents, what were two effects of the Montgomery bus boycott on
Montgomery, Alabama?
December 1956 – Aftermath of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts
Document
Montgomery, Ala., Dec. 21 – The African American Negro Montgomery, victors in a year-long
boycott to end segregation in public transit here, quietly and in determined numbers went back
on the cities desegregated buses today.
For the first time in this “cradle of the Confederacy” all the African Americans [Negros] entered
buses through the front door. They sat in the first empty seat they saw, in the front of the buses
and in the rear. They did not get up to give a white passenger a seat. And whites sat with
African Americans [Negroes].
Source: New York Times, 12/26/1956
1. According to the document, what was one effect of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on American
society?
1964 – Methods of Civil Disobedience
Document
. . . From the Greensboro area there must have been people from six or seven university
campuses who wanted to participate, who wanted to help sit-in, who wanted to help picket [take
part in a public demonstration]. We actually got to the point where we had people going down in
shifts. It got to the point wherein we took all the seats in the restaurants. We had people there in
the mornings as soon as the doors were open to just take every seat in the restaurant or at the
lunch counter. . . .
Source: Franklin McCain interview, My Soul is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered, Howell Raines,
ed., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977
1. According to the document, what actions were taken by members of the civil rights movement to
integrate public facilities?
1963 – Civil Rights – Civil Disobedience
Document a
Document b
College students face a hostile crowd at a
southern “Whites Only” lunch counter in 1963.
African American college students wait for service or
forcible removal from a “Whites Only” lunch counter.
Source: Juan Williams, Eyes on the Prize, Viking
Source: Gary Nash et al., ed., The American People,
Pearson Longma
1. Analyze the photos, what do you see?
2. Who is sitting at the counter? Why do you think they aren’t eating?
3. Why do you think these people are holding a sit-in at the lunch counter?
4. How are others reacting to the protesters holding the sit-in?
5. Do you think a sit-in is an effective protest strategy against segregation? Why or why not?
6. What does this photograph reveal about how civil rights activists worked to advance the ideals
of liberty, equality, and opportunity for African Americans?
7. What was one specific goal of the civil rights activists shown in these photographs?
Effects of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts
Document
… The idea so long cherished by Southern whites—and by many Northerners too—that the
Southern Negro (whether through ignorance or intimidation or a shrewd recognition of reality)
was content with the way things were, that only a handful of agitators opposed the system of
segregation, was swept aside by the mass marches, demonstrations, meetings. Montgomery had
been the first sign of this, and now it was made clear beyond argument that Negroes all across
the South had only been waiting for an opportunity to end their long silence.…
The sit-ins were an important learning experience for white Southerners, and also for those
Northerners who were convinced of some mystical, irremovable germ of prejudice in the
Southern mind: when the first lunch-counters were desegregated, the world did not come to an
end. Whites and Negroes could use public facilities together, it was shown, without violent
repercussions, without white withdrawal. Southern whites, once a new pattern became accepted
and established in the community, would conform to it as they conformed to the old. Men and
women seeking a sandwich at a lunch counter, as young Negroes could see readily in many of
the sit-ins, were more interested in satisfying their hunger or their thirst than in who sat next to
them. After two months of desegregation in Winston Salem, North Carolina, the manager of a
large store said: “You would think it had been going on for fifty years. I am tickled to death over
the situation.”…
Source: Howard Zinn, SNCC: The New Abolitionists, Beacon Press
1. Based on this document, what was one effect of the Montgomery bus boycott on American society?
1963 - “Letter From Birmingham Jail”
Martin Luther King Jr. Speaks on Nonviolent Protest
Document
April 16, 1963
Birmingham, Alabama
. . . You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation
a better path?” You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of
direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that
a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks
so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as
part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I
am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a
type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that
it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage
of myths and half-truths to the unfettered [free] realm of creative analysis and objective
appraisal, we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies [activists] to create the kind of tension in
society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic
heights of understanding and brotherhood. . . .
Source: Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” 1963
1. According to Martin Luther King, Jr., what was one method of achieving the goals of the civil
rights movement?
2. According to Martin Luther King, Jr., what was a specific goal of the civil rights movement?
August 1963 - Martin Luther King Jr., I Have A Dream Speech
Document
In August 1963, over 200,000 people met in Washington, D.C., to speak out for civil rights and for
political and economic opportunities for African Americans. That year marked the 100th anniversary
of Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. To commemorate this, a huge rally was
held in front of the Lincoln Memorial. It was here that Dr. King made his famous “I Have a Dream”
speech.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I
still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin but by the content of their character….
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My
country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the
pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every
state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men
and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing
in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are
free at last!”
March on Washington, 1963
1. What do you see?
2. What are these people asking for?
3. Where are these people?
4. Why might they have chosen the nation’s capital for the site of their demonstration?
5. What effect might a demonstration this large have on the federal government? On public opinion?
6. What does the photograph reveal about how civil rights activists worked to advance the ideals of liberty,
equality, and opportunity for African Americans?
1963 - Civil Rights Movement – March on Washington
Document
200,000 MARCH FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN ORDERLY WASHINGTON RALLY
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 — More than 200,000 Americans, most of them black but many of
them white, demonstrated here today for a full and speedy program of civil rights and equal job
opportunities.
It was the greatest assembly for a redress of grievances that this capital has ever seen.
One hundred years and 240 days after Abraham Lincoln enjoined the emancipated slaves to
“abstain from all violence” and “labor faithfully for reasonable wages,” this vast throng [crowd]
proclaimed in march and song and through the speeches of their leaders that they were still
waiting for the freedom and the jobs. . . .
Source: New York Times, August 29, 1963
1. According to this New York Times article, what method was used by these activists to achieve their
goals?
2. According to this New York Times article, what was a specific goal of these activists?
Civil Rights Movement – Civil Rights Act of 1964
Document a
The major sections [titles] of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 included these provisions:
(1) Title I banned the use of different voter registration standards for blacks and whites.
(2) Title II prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, such as motels,
restaurants, gas stations, theaters, and sports arenas.
(3) Title VI allowed the withholding of federal funds from public or private programs that
practice discrimination.
(4) Title VII banned discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, or national origin
by employers and unions.
(5) Title VII also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
to investigate charges of job discrimination.
Document b
“. . . All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services,
facilities, and privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public
accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the
ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”
This Act also gives the Attorney General the power to ask a court to give an order stopping a
person or group from discriminating or segregating another person or group.
1
Based on these documents, state two provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that attempted
to end discrimination for African Americans and women.
1965 – Civil Rights Act of 1965
. . . I ask the Congress under the power clearly granted by the 15th amendment to enact
legislation [Voting Rights Bill] which would:
1. Strike down restrictions to voting in all elections—Federal, State, and local—which have been
used to deny Negroes the right to vote.
2. Establish in all States and counties where the right to vote has been denied on account of
race a simple standard of voter registration which will make it impossible to thwart the 15th
amendment.
3. Prohibit the use of new tests and devices wherever they may be used for discriminatory
purposes.
4. Provide adequate power to insure, if necessary, that Federal officials can perform functions
essential to the right to vote whenever State officials deny that right. . . .
— President Lyndon B. Johnson, Message to the House of Representatives, March 15, 1965
Source: Congressional Record
1
According to this passage, what was the main purpose of the Voting Rights Bill?
1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 – We Shall Overcome Speech
Document
This is an excerpt from an address by President Lyndon B. Johnson to a joint session of Congress shortly
before submitting the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
… THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Our fathers believed that if this noble view of the rights of man was to flourish, it must be rooted
in democracy. The most basic right of all was the right to choose your own leaders. The history
of this country, in large measure, is the history of the expansion of that right to all of our people.
Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can
and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is
no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily
on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.
Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting
simply because they are Negroes [African Americans].…
This bill will strike down restrictions to voting in all elections—Federal, State, and local—which
have been used to deny Negroes the right to vote.…
To those who seek to avoid action by their National Government in their own communities; who
want to and who seek to maintain purely local control over elections, the answer is simple:
Open your polling places to all your people.
Allow men and women to register and vote whatever the color of their skin.
Extend the rights of citizenship to every citizen of this land.…
Source: President Lyndon B. Johnson, Special Message to the Congress: The American Promise, March 15, 1965,
9:02pm
1. According to President Lyndon B. Johnson, why was the Voting Rights Act necessary in the United States?
1965 - Voting Rights Act of 1965
Document
JERICHO, U.S.A.
Source: Herblock, Washington Post, March 21, 1965 (adapted)
1. As shown in this Herblock cartoon, what was a specific goal of these marchers in their effort to gain
equal rights?
1992 – Future Challenges for African Americans
Document
1. In what areas of equality does the cartoon still feel that African Americans face challenges in today?
2. Do you agree or disagree with the cartoonist’s point of view? Explain.
3. Think of some solutions to the problem posed by the cartoon.
Impact of Warren Court Decisions on American Society
Document
. . . The Warren Court (1953–1969) revolutionized constitutional law and American society. First,
the unanimous and watershed [critical] school desegregation ruling, Brown v. Board of
Education, in 1954 at the end of Warren’s first year on the bench. Then, in 1962 Baker v. Carr
announced the “reapportionment revolution” guaranteeing equal voting rights [to individual
voters no matter where they lived]. And throughout the 1960s, the Court handed down a series
of rulings on criminal procedure that extended the rights of the accused and sought to ensure
equal access to justice for the poor. Mapp v. Ohio (1961), extending the exclusionary rule to the
states, and Miranda v. Arizona (1966), sharply limiting police interrogations of criminal suspects,
continue to symbolize the Warren Court’s revolution in criminal justice. . . .
Source: David M. O’Brien, “The Supreme Court: From Warren to Burger to Rehnquist,” PS, Winter 1987
1. According to David M. O’Brien, what is one effect of the Warren Court on American society?
1950s – 1960s – Judicial Review Criticism of the Warren Court
Document
. . .The Warren Court’s revolution in public law promoted acrimony [hostility] and bitterness
precisely because it empowered those who had previously not had the opportunity to exercise
power. Whether we approve of their behavior or not, there is little doubt that these new groups
added dramatically and often disturbingly to the contours of American society. Much of what the
Warren Court did was to release dissident minorities from long-standing legal and social
strictures [limits]. Critics complained that the Court was the root of the problem; it was fostering
subversive [disobedient] action by civil rights advocates, Communist agitators, criminals, smut
peddlers, and racketeers who hid behind the Fifth Amendment when called to account. . . .
Source: Kermit Hall, “The Warren Court in Historical Perspective,” Bernard Schwartz, ed.,
The Warren Court: A Retrospective, Oxford University Press, 1996
1. According to Kermit Hall, what is one criticism leveled against the decisions of the Warren Court?
1962 – Warren Court and School Pray
Document
. . . QUESTION: Mr. President, in the furor [uproar] over the Supreme Court’s decision [in
Engel v. Vitale] on prayer in the schools, some members of Congress have been introducing
legislation for Constitutional amendments specifically to sanction [permit] prayer or religious
exercise in the schools. Can you give us your opinion of the decision itself, and of these moves of
the Congress to circumvent [get around] it?
THE PRESIDENT: I haven’t seen the measures in the Congress and you would have to make
a determination of what the language was, and what effect it would have on the First
Amendment. The Supreme Court has made its judgment, and a good many people obviously will
disagree with it. Others will agree with it. But I think that it is important for us if we are going
to maintain our Constitutional principle that we support the Supreme Court decisions even
when we may not agree with them.
In addition, we have in this case a very easy remedy, and that is to pray ourselves and I would
think that it would be a welcome reminder to every American family that we can pray a good deal
more at home, we can attend our churches with a good deal more fidelity, and we can make the
true meaning of prayer much more important in the lives of all of our children. That power is
very much open to us. . . .
Source: President John F. Kennedy, News Conference, June 27, 1962
1.
What was one effect of the Engel v. Vitale decision on public schools in the United States?
2. What does President John F. Kennedy suggest as a “remedy” to those who disagree with the
Supreme Court’s decision in Engel v. Vitale
1960s – Impact of Supreme Court Decision on School Pray
Document
ATLANTA, Nov. 21 — As President Clinton and the new Republican leadership in Congress
consider measures that would return organized prayer to public schools, it is worth remembering
one thing.
Prayer is already there.
Despite a Supreme Court ruling [Engel v. Vitale] 32 years ago that classroom prayer and
Scripture reading are unconstitutional even if they are voluntary, prayer is increasingly a part of
school activities from early-morning moments of silence to lunchtime prayer sessions to prefootball-game prayers for both players and fans.
The most common forms are state-mandated moments of silence at the beginning of the day,
which are permissible to the extent they are not meant to be a forum for organized prayer. But,
particularly in the South, religious clubs, prayer groups and pro-prayer students and community
groups are making religion and prayer part of the school day. . . .
Source: Peter Applebome, “Prayer in Public Schools? It’s Nothing New for Many,”
New York Times, November 22, 1994
1. According to Peter Applebome, what are two ways in which prayer in public schools continued despite
the Supreme Court ruling in Engel v. Vitale.
1960s -2005 – Impact of Court’s Decision on School Pray
Document
In the decades following the Engel decision, federal courts have continued to hear cases and
make rulings on issues involving separation of church and state.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — A civic group will send a Ten Commandments monument back to
Frankfort only if political leaders give assurances that it will be displayed publicly, as a new law
allows. . . .
The Ten Commandments monument was part of an ever-growing list of religious issues that
[Governor Ernie] Fletcher and other political leaders have dealt with this year. . . .
The Eagles [a fraternal organization] donated the Ten Commandments monument to the state
in 1971. It was removed from the Capitol grounds and placed in storage in the mid-1980s during
a construction project. When political leaders tried to display it again in 2000, the American Civil
Liberties Union went to court, claiming the monument was an unconstitutional endorsement of
religion. The ACLU won the case. . . .
Lawmakers passed a bill calling for the return of the monument. The same bill granted
permission to local governments to post displays of the commandments in courthouses and other
public buildings.
Kentucky has been at the center of legal fights in recent years on the posting of the
commandments. In one case, McCreary County v. ACLU [2005], the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
displays inside courthouses in McCreary and Pulaski counties were unconstitutional. In another
[lower court case], Mercer County v. ACLU, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a similar
display in the Mercer County Courthouse is constitutional because it included other historic
documents. . . .
Source: “Ten Commandments, other issues generating debate in Ky.,” Associated Press, April 13, 2006
1. Based on this article, what is one issue in the continuing debate on separation of church and state?
1960s –Impact of the Miranda Ruling
Document
. . . along with other Warren Court decisions, Miranda has increased public awareness of
constitutional rights. The Miranda warnings may be the most famous words ever written by the
United States Supreme Court. With the widespread dissemination [distribution] of Miranda
warnings in innumerable [numerous] television shows as well as in the movies and contemporary
fiction, the reading of the Miranda rights has become a familiar sight and sound to most
Americans; Miranda has become a household word. As Samuel Walker writes, “[e]very junior
high school student knows that suspects are entitled to their ‘Miranda rights.’ They often have
the details wrong, but the principle that there are limits on police officer behavior, and penalties
for breaking those rules, is firmly established.” As we have seen, a national poll in 1984 revealed
that 93% of those surveyed knew that they had a right to an attorney if arrested, and a national
poll in 1991 found that 80% of those surveyed knew that they had a right to remain silent if
arrested. Perhaps it should not be surprising that, as many of my research subjects told me, some
suspects assert their rights prior to the Miranda admonition [warning] or in situations where
police warnings are not legally required. Indeed, in the last thirty years, the Miranda rights have
been so entrenched [well-established] in American popular folklore as to become an indelible
part of our collective heritage and consciousness. . . .
Source: Richard A. Leo, “The Impact of ‘Miranda’ Revisited,”
The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Spring 1996 (adapted)
1. According to Richard A. Leo, what is one effect of the Miranda decision on American society?
2000 – Miranda Ruling Uphled
Document
WASHINGTON — Refusing to overturn more than three decades of established law
enforcement practice, the Supreme Court yesterday strongly reaffirmed its landmark Miranda
[Miranda v. Arizona] decision, which requires police to inform criminal suspects of their rights
to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney during interrogation.
In a 7-2 opinion written by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the high court ruled that the
requirement that criminal suspects be read their “Miranda rights” is rooted in the Constitution
and cannot be overturned by an act of Congress. Federal lawmakers passed legislation seeking
to undo the Miranda decision in 1968, two years after the ruling.
The seven justices in the majority left open the question of whether they would have reached the
same conclusion as the original five-justice Miranda majority about the constitutional rights of
criminal suspects. But citing the court’s long tradition of respect for precedent, the justices said
there were compelling reasons not to overrule it now.
“Miranda has become embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings have
become part of our national culture,” wrote Rehnquist, a frequent and vocal critic of the Miranda
decision during his earlier years on the bench. . . .
Source: “Miranda warnings upheld, Supreme Court says right now deeply rooted,”
Florida Times Union, June 27, 2000
1. Based on this article, why did the Supreme Court decide not to overturn the decision
in Miranda v. Arizona?
1960s – Impact Criticism of the Warren Court Decisions on the
Criminal Justice System
Document
1. Based on the cartoon, what is one impact of the rulings of the Warren Court on crime?
1960s – Impact Criticism of the Warren Court Decisions on the
Criminal Justice System
Document
. . . The familiar fact is that the vastly troubled criminal-justice system often exacts no price at
all for crime. An adult burglar has only one chance in 412 of going to jail for any single job,
according to Gregory Krohm of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute’s Center for the Study of
Public Choice. For juveniles under 17, the figure is one in 659 burglaries, with a likelihood of
only a nine-month term if the 659-to-1 shot comes in. Many critics are convinced that such odds
were created in large part by those constitutional-law rulings of the Warren Court that expanded
the rights of criminal defendants. Mapp, Escobedo, Miranda and Wade* are still names that
enrage law-and-order advocates. But despite all the years of talk and four Nixon appointments,
the court has so far been willing only to trim some of the rules, not reverse them. The new rulings
obviously add to the work of the courts, and some experts believe that they have hampered the
criminal-justice system’s capacity to convict guilty offenders, though as yet there have been no
studies demonstrating any such significant damage. . . .
Source: “The Crime Wave,” Time, June 30, 1975
* In United States v. Wade (1967), the Court ruled that defendants have a right to counsel during police
lineups. This does not refer to Roe v. Wade.
1. Based on the Time article, what is one impact of the rulings of the Warren Court on crime?
1963 – Women’s Rights – Equal Pay Act of 1963
Document
. . . Until the Equal Pay Act of 1963, only the state of Wyoming had passed an equal
pay law for employees of the state government. The federal act provided equal pay for
men and women in jobs requiring equal skill, responsibility, and effort. Although to
help insure passage it excluded business and professional women, as well as almost
two-thirds of working women, especially low-paid women in agriculture and domestic
service from its provisions, the Equal Pay Act represented the first significant step
toward ending wage discrimination for women workers. In 1963 full-time, year-round
female workers were earning on average 63 percent less than male workers. By 1971
the disparity had dropped to 57 percent; and by the twenty-fifth anniversary of the act
in 1998, the gap had closed to under 25 percent. Because there is an imprecision in
determining what constitutes equal skill, responsibility, and effort, enforcement of the
Equal Pay Act has proven difficult, and the disparity of wages between men and
women has not yet been corrected. However, feminists and equal rights advocates
have achieved success in court cases that consider comparable worth in job
descriptions and wages, and women have won numerous lawsuits in the 1980s and
1990s, particularly in city and state jobs in which qualifications and requirements are
more precisely quantified. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 has, despite slow gains, helped
change attitudes and employment practices that in some cases have ended and in
others mitigated [relieved] wage discrimination. . . .
Source: Deborah G. Felder, A Century of Women: The Most Influential Events
In Twentieth-Century Women’s History, Birch Lane Press
1
According to this author, how did the Equal Pay Act affect women workers?
1964 – The Great Society
“. . . your imagination, your initiative, and your indignation will determine
whether we build a society where progress is the servant of our needs, or a society
where old values and new visions are buried under unbridled [unrestrained]
growth. For in time we have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich
society and the powerful society, but upward toward the great society.”
Lyndon B. Johnson
Speech at University of Michigan (May 1964)
1. What action is President Johnson willing to exercise to deal with the problem of unequal distribution
of wealth?
1960s – Immigration Act of 1965
Document
This bill says simply that from this day forth those wishing to immigrate to America
shall be admitted on the basis of their skills and their close relationship to those already
here.
This is a simple test, and it is a fair test. Those who can contribute most to this
country—to its growth, to its strength, to its spirit—will be the first that are admitted
to this land.
The fairness of this standard is so self-evident that we may well wonder that it has
not always been applied. Yet the fact is that for over four decades the immigration policy of the United States has been twisted and has been distorted by the harsh injustice
of the national origins quota system.
Under that system the ability of new immigrants to come to America depended
upon the country of their birth. . . .
Families were kept apart because a husband or a wife or a child had been born in
the wrong place.
Men of needed skill and talent were denied entrance because they came from
southern or eastern Europe or from one of the developing continents. . . .
— President Lyndon B. Johnson, remarks at the signing of the Immigration Act of 1965
1. According to this passage, what was the basis for admitting immigrants to the United States in
the forty years before 1965?
2. According to this passage, how did the Immigration Act of 1965 change the basis for
admitting immigrants to the United States?
1971 – Voting Age Lowered to 18
Document
Tonight Ohio’s Legislature ratified the 26th Amendment to the Constitution. This Amendment
guarantees the right of 18-year-old persons to vote in State and local, as well as Federal,
elections. It appears that 38 States have now ratified the Amendment that will now become a
part of the law of the land.
Some 11 million young men and women who have participated in the life of our Nation through
their work, their studies, and their sacrifices for its defense, are now to be fully included in the
electoral process of our country. For more than 20 years, I have advocated the 18-year-old vote.
I heartily congratulate our young citizens on having gained this right.
The ratification of this Amendment has been accomplished in the shortest time of any
amendment in American history. This fact affirms our Nation’s confidence in its youth and its
trust in their responsibility. It also reinforces our young people’s dedication to a system of
government whose Constitution permits ordered change.
I urge them to honor this right by exercising it—by registering and voting in each election.
Source: President Richard Nixon, Statement About the Ratification of the 26th Amendment to the Constitution,
June 30, 1971 (adapted)
1. According to President Richard Nixon, what is one way that ratification of the 26th amendment
expanded democracy in the United States?
A Brief History of the Clean Water Act
1968
According to a survey conducted in 1968, pollution in the Chesapeake Bay
caused $3 million annually in losses to the fishing industry.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries measured DDT [an insecticide]
in 584 of 590 samples, with levels up to nine times the FDA [Food and Drug
Administration] limit.
1969
In 1969, bacteria levels in the Hudson River were at 170 times the safe limit.
Also, record numbers of fish kills were reported in 1969—over 41 million fish.
This included the largest recorded fish kill ever—26 million killed in Lake
Thonotosassa, Florida, due to discharges from four food processing plants.
1970
In July 1970, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s Bureau of
Water Hygiene reported that 30 percent of drinking water samples had
chemicals exceeding the recommended Public Health Service limits.
1971
The FDA reported in February 1971 that 87 percent of swordfish samples had
mercury at levels that were unfit for human consumption.
1972
Passed in 1972, the Clean Water Act was a response to the nearly unchecked
dumping of pollution into our waterways. At the time, two-thirds of the country’s
lakes, rivers and coastal waters had become unsafe for fishing or swimming.
Untreated sewage was being dumped into open water. The goal of the Clean
Water Act was to reduce pollution in all U.S. waters to “restore and maintain the
chemical, physical, and biological integrity of our nation’s waters.” The law
called for “zero discharge of pollutants into navigable waters by 1985, and
fishable and swimmable waters by 1983.”
Source: “Troubled Waters: A Brief History of the Clean Water Act,” www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.html
(adapted)
1. Based on this chart, state two environmental problems that led to the Clean Water Act.
1973 – The War Powers Resolution
“I hereby return without my approval [veto] House Joint Resolution 542—The war powers
resolution. While I am in accord with the desire of the Congress to assert its proper role in
the conduct of our foreign affairs, the restrictions which this resolution would impose upon
the authority of the President are both unconstitutional and dangerous to the best interests
of our nation. . . .”
Richard M. Nixon Veto Message to Congress (1973)
1. What action did President Nixon take to deal with the problem facing the nation at the
time?
1973 – U.S. Faces Oil Crisis
Document
Minor disruptions have begun to appear in the world oil trade in the wake of the renewal
of hostilities between the Arabs and the Israelis, and industry executives and Government
officials in many countries are waiting to see whether the Arab states will make a serious
attempt to use oil as a weapon in the conflict or any political confrontation that follows.
The Egyptians are reported to have attacked Israeli-held oil fields in the occupied Sinai, and
if true it would be the most ominous event so far in the oil situation. It would be the first
direct attack by either side on oil production facilities in any of the conflicts thus far. If the
Israelis retaliate it could mean major disruptions of supplies. . . .
Source: William D. Smith, “Conflict Brings Minor Disruptions in Oil Industry: Arab Statesʼ Moves Studied for Clues to
Intentions,” New York Times, October 9, 1973
1. According to William D. Smith, what could be one impact of the conflicts in the Middle
East on the United States?
1974 – Watergate – Nixon’s Pardon
“. . . I simply was not convinced that the country wanted to see an ex-President behind
bars. We are not a vengeful people; forgiveness is one of the roots of the American
tradition. And Nixon, in my opinion, had already suffered enormously. . . . But I wasn’t
motivated primarily by sympathy for his plight or concern over the state of his health. It
was the state of the country’s health at home and around the world that worried me. . . . ”
Gerald Ford Autobiography (in reference to events of 1974)
1982 – Men and Women Earning Comparison
Document
Earnings by Occupation,
1981 Weekly Medians
Women’s
Pay
Clerical workers
Computer specialists
Editors, reporters
Engineers
Lawyers
Nurses
Physicians
Sales workers
Teachers (elementary)
Waiters
Men’s
Pay
$220
355
$328
488
324
371
407
326
401
190
311
144
382
547
574
344
495
366
379
200
Source: Time, July 12, 1982 (adapted)
Source: Time, July 12, 1982
2. Based on this chart, what conclusion can be drawn from comparing the earnings of women with
the earnings of men in 1981?
1984 – The Reagan Years, the Drinking Age and Highway Funds
Document
WASHINGTON, July 17—President Reagan, appealing for cooperation in ending the “crazy
quilt of different states’ drinking laws,” today signed legislation that would deny some Federal
highway funds to states that keep their drinking age under 21.
At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, Mr. Reagan praised as “a great national
movement” the efforts to raise the drinking age that began years ago among students and
parents.
“We know that drinking, plus driving, spell death and disaster,” Mr. Reagan told visitors on a
sweltering afternoon. “We know that people in the 18–to–20 age group are more likely to be in
alcohol-related accidents than those in any other age group.”
Mr. Reagan indirectly acknowledged that he once had reservations about a measure that, in
effect, seeks to force states to change their policies. In the past, Mr. Reagan has taken the view
that certain matters of concern to the states should not be subject to the dictates of the Federal
Government.
But in the case of drunken driving, Mr. Reagan said, “The problem is bigger than the individual
states.”. . .
Source: Steven R. Weisman, “Reagan Signs Law Linking Federal Aid to Drinking Age,”
New York Times, July 18, 1984
1. According to Steven R. Weisman, what was one reason President Reagan signed the law
linking federal highway funds to the drinking age?
1990 – Persian Gulf War
U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf are vital to the national security. These interests include
access to oil and the security and stability of key friendly states in the region. The United States
will defend its vital interests in the area, through the use of U.S. military force if necessary and
appropriate, against any power with interests inimical [unfriendly] to our own. The United
States also will support the individual and collective self-defense of friendly countries in the area
to enable them to play a more active role in their own defense. The United States will encourage
the effective expressions of support and the participation of our allies and other friendly states
to promote our mutual interests in the Persian Gulf region. . . .
Source: National Security Directive 45, “U.S. Policy in Response to the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait,”
08/20/1990, George H. W. Bush Library
1. Based on this document, state one way that United States national interests in the Persian Gulf were
affected by geography.
1991 – Persian Gulf War
Document
. . . Our action in the [Persian] Gulf is about fighting aggression and preserving the
sovereignty of nations. It is about keeping our word . . . and standing by old friends. It
is about our own national security interests and ensuring the peace and stability of the
entire world. We are also talking about maintaining access to energy resources that are
key, not just to the functioning of this country but to the entire world. Our jobs, our
way of life, our own freedom [and that] of friendly countries around the world would
all suffer if control of the world’s great oil reserves fell into the hands of that one man,
Saddam Hussein.
So, we’ve made our stand not simply to protect resources or real estate but to protect
the freedom of nations. We’re making good on long-standing assurances to protect and
defend our friends. . . . We are striking a blow for the principle that might does not make
right. Kuwait is small. But one conquered nation is one too many.
— George Bush, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, 1990s
According to this document, what two reasons did President George Bush give for the United States
protecting Kuwait?
1991 – Effects of Vietnam War on Persian Gulf War
Document
Comments on United States participation in Operation Desert Storm and Persian Gulf War, 1991
“By God, we’ve kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all!” So said President George Bush in a
euphoric [joyful] victory statement at the end of the Gulf War, suggesting the extent to which Vietnam
continued to prey on the American psyche more than fifteen years after the fall of Saigon. Indeed the
Vietnam War was by far the most convulsive and traumatic of America’s three wars in Asia in the 50 years
since Pearl Harbor. It set the U.S. economy on a downward spiral. It left America’s foreign policy at
least temporarily in disarray, discrediting the postwar policy of containment and undermining the
consensus that supported it. It divided the American people as no other event since their own Civil War a
century earlier. It battered their collective soul.
Such was the lingering impact of the Vietnam War that the Persian Gulf conflict appeared at times as
much a struggle with its ghosts as with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. President Bush’s eulogy for the Vietnam
syndrome may therefore be premature. Success in the Gulf War no doubt raised the nation’s confidence in
its foreign policy leadership and its military institutions and weakened long-standing inhibitions against
intervention abroad. Still it seems doubtful that military victory over a nation with a population less than
one-third of Vietnam in a conflict fought under the most favorable circumstances could expunge [erase]
deeply encrusted and still painful memories of an earlier and very different kind of war. . . .
Source: George C. Herring, “America and Vietnam: The Unending War,” Foreign Affairs, Winter 1991/92
1. According to this document, what was one impact of the Vietnam War on United States foreign policy?
1950s – 1996 – Impact of the Automobile on U.S. Cities
Document
. . . The automobile allowed a completely different pattern. Today there is often a semi-void of
residential population at the heart of a large city, surrounded by rings of less and less densely
settled suburbs. These suburbs, primarily dependent on the automobile to function, are where
the majority of the country’s population lives, a fact that has transformed our politics. Every city
that had a major-league baseball team in 1950, with the exception only of New York—ever the
exception— has had a drastic loss in population within its city limits over the last four and a half
decades, sometimes by as much as 50 percent as people have moved outward, thanks to the
automobile.
In more recent years the automobile has had a similar effect on the retail commercial sectors
of smaller cities and towns, as shopping malls and superstores such as the Home Depot and
Wal-Mart have sucked commerce off Main Street and into the surrounding countryside. . . .
Source: John Steele Gordon, “Engine of Liberation,” American Heritage, November 1996
2
According to John Steele Gordon, what has been one impact of the automobile on cities?
2000 – The Effects of the Automobile on the U.S. Economy
Document
. . . Massive and internationally competitive, the automobile industry is the largest single
manu- facturing enterprise in the United States in terms of total value of products and
number of employees. One out of every six U.S. businesses depends on the manufacture,
distribution, servicing, or use of motor vehicles. The industry is primarily responsible for the
growth of steel and rubber production, and is the largest user of machine tools. Specialized
manufacturing requirements have driven advances in petroleum refining, paint and plateglass manufacturing, and other industrial processes. Gasoline, once a waste product to be
burned off, is now one of the most valuable commodities in the world. . . .
Source: National Academy of Engineering, 2000
1
Based on this article, state two ways the automobile industry has had an impact on the
American economy.
Document
Shopping Malls and I nterstate Highways
in and around the Suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia
North Point
N
W
675
E
19
400
S
75
Gwinnett Place
Town Center
at Cobb
Perimeter
85
Lenox
Square
Cumberland
78
285
A T L A N T A
285
Midtown
Central
Business District
20
Arbor
Place
Stone Crest
75
85
20
166
Size of Shopping
Malls
(in square feet)
675
Hartsfield
Atlanta
International
Airport
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
250,000
75
85
0
0
4
4
8 miles
8 kilometers
19
41
Source: James M. Rubenstein,The Cultural Landscape:
An Introduction to Human Geography,
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005 (adapted)
1
Based on the information on this map, what is one impact of the automobile on suburbs?
2001 – September 11 and the Patriot Act
Document
… The attacks in New York and Washington [on September 11, 2001], followed closely by the
mysterious anthrax mailings and the swift war in Afghanistan, inevitably instigated [prompted]
changes in law enforcement, intelligence operations, and security generally. As U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor predicted on September 29, 2001: “We’re likely to
experience more restrictions on our personal freedom than has ever been the case in our
country.” The public strongly supported doing whatever was necessary. In fact, one poll showed
55 percent of citizens were worried that the government would not go far enough in fighting
terrorism in order to protect civil liberties; only 31 percent were worried the government would
go too far in fighting terrorism at the expense of civil liberties.…
Source: Leone and Anrig, eds., The War on Our Freedoms: Civil Liberties in an Age of Terrorism,
Century Foundation, 2003
1. According to this document, what was one reason for the passage of the USA Patriot Act?
2001 – The USA Patriot Act
Document
This is an excerpt of President George W. Bush’s remarks upon signing the USA Patriot Act.
… For example, this legislation gives law enforcement officials better tools to put an end to
financial counterfeiting, smuggling, and money laundering. Secondly, it gives intelligence
operations and criminal operations the chance to operate not on separate tracks but to share vital
information so necessary to disrupt a terrorist attack before it occurs.
As of today, we’re changing the laws governing information-sharing. And as importantly, we’re
changing the culture of our various agencies that fight terrorism. Countering and investigating
terrorist activity is the number one priority for both law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
Surveillance of communications is another essential tool to pursue and stop terrorists. The
existing law was written in the era of rotary telephones. This new law that I sign today will allow
surveillance of all communications used by terrorists, including emails, the Internet, and cell
phones. As of today, we’ll be able to better meet the technological challenges posed by this
proliferation of communications technology.…
Source: President George W. Bush, October 26, 2001
1. According to President George W. Bush, what is one way the USA Patriot Act will help law
enforcement officials?
2. According to President George W. Bush, what is the primary goal of the USA Patriot Act?
2001 – The War On Terror
War on Terrorism
Source: Nick Anderson, Washington Post Writers Group, November 7, 2001
(adapted)
… The war on terrorism may be launching a legal revolution in America. The changes pose these
questions: How necessary are some of the reforms? Have [Attorney General] John Ashcroft and
the Justice Department unraveled constitutional protections in trying to ensure our safety?
“There is a significant civil-liberties price to be paid as we adopt various national-security
initiatives,” says Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York,
whose office pursued some of the biggest terrorism cases of the 1990s. “For the most part, I
think that price is necessary. But what I worry about is government officials who find the answers
too easy in this arena.” …
Source: Richard Lacayo et al., “Civil Liberties: The War Comes Back Home,” Time, May 12, 2003
1.
Based on these documents, what is one criticism of measures taken to fight the war on terrorism?
2002 - Automobile and Air Pollution
Document
. . . After a long and bitter debate, lawmakers in California today [July 2, 2002] passed the nation’s
strongest legislation to regulate emissions of the main pollutant that can cause warming of the
planet’s climate, a step that would require automakers to sell cars that give off the least possible
amount of heat-trapping gases. . . .
California is the largest market for automobiles in the United States, as well as the state with
more serious air pollution problems than any other. Under federal clean air legislation, the
state’s air quality regulators are allowed to set standards for automobile pollution that are stricter
than those imposed by federal law. In the past, many other states have followed California’s lead
in setting pollution rules on vehicles, and ultimately American automakers have been forced to
build cars that meet California’s standards and to sell them nationwide. . . .
Source: John H. Cushman Jr., “California Lawmakers Vote to Lower Auto Emissions,”
New York Times, July 2, 2002
1. According to John H. Cushman Jr., what is one impact of the automobile on the United States?
August 2005 – Effects of Hurricane Katrina
Document
We’re getting a painful lesson in economic geography. What Wall Street is to money, or
Hollywood is to entertainment, the Gulf Coast is to energy. It’s a vast assemblage of refineries,
production platforms, storage tanks and pipelines—and the petroleum engineers, energy
consultants and roustabouts [oil field workers] who make them run. Consider the concentration of
energy activity. Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico accounts for nearly 30 percent of the U.S.
total. Natural-gas production is roughly 20 percent. About 60 percent of the nation’s oil imports
arrive at Gulf ports. Nearly half of all U.S. oil refineries are there. [Hurricane] Katrina hit this
immense system hard. The shock wave to the U.S. and world economies—which could vary from a
temporary run-up in prices to a full-blown global recession—depends on how quickly
America’s energy-industrial complex repairs itself. . . .
Source: Robert J. Samuelson, “Hitting the Economy,” Newsweek, September 12, 2005
1. According to Robert J. Samuelson, what is one reason the Gulf Coast is important to the economy of the
United States?
2005 – Environmental Protection
Water Crisis May Effect Southwest and Great Lakes Regions
Document
The West is an oven. Much of the Midwest is as dry as tinder.
While much of the rest of the nation is contending with extreme heat and drought, it’s time to revisit
the issue of Great Lakes water and its diversion.
One of the most important issues that confronts the Central and Southwestern United States is the
shortage of water. . . .
It is no secret that residents of many arid states look to Great Lakes water with covetous [jealous] eyes.
And it won’t be long before some of those envious, arid states start looking for ways to divert
Great Lakes water in huge quantities. If they’re successful in raiding large amounts of fresh water
from the Great Lakes, expect economic and environmental damage to follow. . . .
Source: “Keep Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes,” mlive.com (Everything Michigan), July 25, 2005
1. According to this document, what is one reason for concern over the water in the Great Lakes?