UNIT VII: THE CIVIL WAR
Democrat James Buchanan took the oath of office on March 4, 1857, with John Breckinridge as his Vice President. Immediately, he had to resolve issues inherited from his predecessor Pierce, most especially Kansas. Freesoilers (Northerners who wanted Kansas to enter the Union as a free state) from New England went to Kansas to vote against slavery for the state constitution. They gathered in Topeka, Kansas. However, proslavery forces from Missouri also went to Kansas to vote fort slavery. They gathered in Lecompton. On May 21, 1856, the proslavery forces looted the Freesoil headquarters. In retaliation John Brown, an African-American from Ohio, led a small force and killed 5 proslavers. The bloodshed here led to the headlines “Bleeding Kansas” among many major newspapers.
Meanwhile, in Congress the situation deteriorated further. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts verbally attacked Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina in a speech. Butler’s nephew, Representative Preston Brooks, beat Sumner with a cane 2 days later. Southerners mailed Brooks canes as a sign of their acceptance of his actions, despite Sumner almost getting killed. It was around this time that Kansas submitted a constitution from Lecompton (called the Lecompton Constitution) for consideration for statehood. This allowed slavery. However, a majority of Kansas residents opposed it. Yet, President Buchanan accepted it, despite the constitution not getting accepted through popular sovereignty. Congress returned the constitution to Kansas for approval, but it was defeated.
The Supreme Court was not spared any derision either at this time. In 1857 a famous case was presented to the high court for consideration, Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857). Dred Scott was a slave form Missouri who traveled to free lands with his owner. However, his owner died on free soil without ever specifying whether or not Dred would be freed. Therefore, Dred claimed he was free since he lived on free soil. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Dred was not free because he lived on free soil because he was property. Furthermore, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it denied popular sovereignty to those areas to decide on slavery. Finally, it ruled that Congress can not ban slavery anywhere. The North was furious over this decision because it undermined the abolition movement, but the South was ecstatic because it strengthened their lifestyle.
As time wore on, slavery became a very sticky election point, much like the war in Iraq is today. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, both from Illinois, had a series of 7 debates in 1858 for a senate seat. The debates were over the question of slavery. Lincoln spoke eloquently (“A house divided can not stand against itself”) and gained a following, but he lost the election.
Americans were becoming more disgruntled than ever, especially after 1857, when another panic struck the economy. Jobs were lost, which was vital to the growing American population. Evidence of this growing population was seen in 1858 when Minnesota became a state and again in 1859 when the state of Oregon entered the Union. In that same year, John Brown raided a depot in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, but he was caught by Robert E. Lee. He was hung for treason. The North viewed him as a martyr, which angered the South.
All these pent up frustrations came to a head in the election of 1860. The Democrats were split into two groups, which cost them the election – Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglas as their candidate while Southern Democrats chose the Vice President John Breckinridge as their candidate because he wanted to expand slavery. The Republicans chose Lincoln as their candidate because of his eloquence a few years earlier. The Constitutional Union Party (former Whigs and politicians from border states, such as Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri) chose John Bell of Tennessee, who was a moderate slaveholder. The election was strictly regional in its results. The South threatened to secede if Lincoln won. Lincoln won every free state except New Jersey, which was split between him and Douglas. Douglas also took Missouri while Bell took Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. Breckinridge took North Carolina, Arkansas, Delaware, Maryland, and the lower South (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina). Lincoln needed 180 electoral votes to win, and did. He received 40% of the popular vote while Douglas received 29%, Bell received 13%, and Breckinridge received 18% of the popular vote.
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Abraham Lincoln had won the election of 1860 without winning a single Southern state. True to its word, South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20, 1860, because Lincoln won the Presidency. In quick succession, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida seceded and formed the Confederacy of the United States, or Confederacy, in February, 1861. Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected their President and would serve a term of 6 years. President James Buchanan, who remained in office until March 4, 1861, did nothing. Therefore, Lincoln had three options available to him to end the crisis. First, he could compromise with the South, but compromising had not settled anything thus far. Second, he could leave the South alone, but that would create a dangerous precedent in the future should another state disagreed with the Union. Third, he could force a reunion, but that could lead to war.
Lincoln wanted to hold on to whatever territory the Union owned in the South. Therefore, he sent supplies to forts, including Fort Sumter in South Carolina, but the South turned them away. Davis ordered the fort to be taken. When the fort refused to surrender, the South bombarded it on April 12, 1861, forcing its surrender the following day. This began the Civil War. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded after this conflict, and the Confederate capital was moved from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, as a result.
Both sides envisioned a short war. The first major battle was fought at the First Battle of Manassas in July, 1861. The South named it after a nearby town while the North named it after a nearby river, Bull Run. The Union was led by General Irvin McDowell in this Confederate victory. 5,000 people were killed, wounded, or went missing. People had picnics to observe the battle, but when the Union fled, everyone got tangled together in the confusion. The South used railroads to transport reinforcements tot he battle field. The battle showed that both sides were poorly trained and disorganized. It also showed that the South was determined to defend states' rights and slavery while the North wanted to preserve the Union.
The North had the advantage in this war in every way. They had 21.5 million people versus 9 million free people in the South. They had 21.7 thousand miles of railroad versus 9 thousand miles in the South. They had 110.1 thousand factories versus 20.6 thousand in the South. Both sides, however, utilized new weapons during the war. Lead bullets replaced musket balls because of their better accuracy. Cannon shells replaced cannon balls because they could explode in the air, spreading shrapnel everywhere. The old war style of fighting one major battle and seizing the capital was no longer applicable. These factors led to the strategies employed by either side. The South decided to defend the entire Confederacy from Virginia to Texas and attack from there. The North had to utilize the offensive as a result. General Winfield Scott (veteran of the Mexican War) proposed the Anaconda Plan to strangle the South. He wanted to blockade the Southern ports to destroy the economy and take the Mississippi River to divide the Confederacy in half. General George McClellan, a cautious man, replaced McDowell the day after Manassas, and he organized his troops into the Army of the Potomac. His troops respected him greatly. The North had built 600 ships to blockade the ports, and they were under McClellan. Ulysses Simpson Grant took control of the Mississippi River tributaries by February, 1862, by using new gunboats with iron armor for protection and cannon shells to destroy old forts.
McClellan fought Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Shiloh between April 6 and 7, 1862, which was the biggest battle of the war before Gettysburg. 13,000 Union casualties and 10,000 Confederate casualties were counted. Meanwhile, the CSS Merrimack defeated the USS Monitor off the coast of Virginia in 1862 in the only naval battle of the war. Land battles did not proceed that well either, with Lee leading his troops effectively as General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson advised him. (Jackson earned the nickname "Stonewall" because he stood as strong as a stonewall during the First Battle of Manassas.) The duo defended Richmond against all Union attacks. McClellan continually lost against them in 1862. The last straw was the Battle of Antietam in Maryland in September, 1862. There were a total of 23,000 casualties with no clear victor. Lee had tried to use this battle as an impetus to invade the North, but he retreated south again. Meanwhile, Ambrose Burnside had replaced McClellan and fought Lee at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia in December, 1862. He lost. He was replaced by Joseph Hooker, who fought Lee at the Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in May, 1863. This battle saw the untimely death of "Stonewall" Jackson, who was killed by his own men in the confusion that existed there.
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The Civil War devastated so many Americans in so short a time that both sides needed to take drastic measures to ensure that they could still fight the war to its conclusion. The South was the first side to enact such measures. They had to create a new government from scratch during wartime. That government passed draft laws in April and November, 1862 - the first time in US history that that had happened. All white men between 18 and 35 years old had to fight except those with a certain number of slaves. Any present officers were required to stay in the army for another 3 years. Railroads and industries were seized by the government, but the states felt superior to the national government.
The North passed a draft law in March, 1863, but people could have paid to avoid the draft or hired substitutes to serve for them. The writ of habeas corpus was denied. people who were opposed to the war were imprisoned without a trial. The Supreme Court stated that these were allowed during wartime. Papers were censored and could not criticize the government. The Republican Congress passed laws that became permanent. The first income tax law in US history was passed to collect 3% of all income greater than $800 a year. A protective tariff was passed to help US industries. The Internal Revenue Act was passed in 1862 to create the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect tax money. A national currency (greenbacks) was created and guaranteed by the US government. The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 allowed for railroads to be built out west. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed 160 acres per person to be purchased if they lived on the land for a minimum of 5 years. The Morrill Act of 1862 created the Department of Agriculture to oversee the purchase of those lands. The Democrats were a minority in the government and were called copperheads after a poisonous snake because they were seen as poisoning the US. They warned that freed African Americans would steal jobs from people and fueled racial prejudice. All these events were not accepted lightly. Riots erupted in all major cities in 1863. Radical Republicans wanted slavery to end now. However, Lincoln did not hope to end slavery, only preserve the Union. After Antietam was fought, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in late 1862, promising all slaves freedom as of January 1, 1863.
Slaves were declared contraband (enemy property would be seized by the government and become government property). Slaves were freed after 1863 as the North took Southern lands. This single action weakened the Confederacy.
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The turning point of the Civil War consisted of two major battles in 1863. The first was at Vicksburg, Mississippi, which was heavily fortified. Whoever controlled Vicksburg controlled the Mississippi. General Ulysses Simpson Grant decided to attack by land so he crossed the Mississippi River south of Vicksburg and marched around the city. He sieged the city and bombarded it from May, 1863, until it surrendered on July 4, 1863. This battle turned the war into total war because civilians were now attacked. The second battle was the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1 until July 4. George G. Meade led the Union and secured a position along a ridge on July 1. He took a defensive position, forcing Lee to attack. That is exactly what they did along several miles of the front, but the line held. This was on July 2. On July 3 Colonel Pickett led a charge up the middle of the line, but they were destroyed. The battle ended on July 4 with Lee's retreat. He never again went on the offensive. 28,000 Confederate casualties and 23,000 Union casualties resulted from this single battle.
Lincoln felt it necessary to honor the dead at Gettysburg so he wrote the Gettysburg Address and delivered it on November 1, 1863. It defined democracy as "government of the people, by the people, for the people". It also reminded everyone that US freedom was for all people. After these events, Grant was placed in charge of the Union Army.
General William Tecumseh Sherman besieged Atlanta, Georgia, and burned Georgia as he marched towards Savannah, Georgia. Lee ultimately surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865. Grant allowed Lee to keep his horse and to go home. This marked the end of the war. In the meantime, Lincoln soundly defeated Democrat George McClellan in the election of 1864. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, but it was not ratified until December 6, 1865. Lincoln was shot in the head at Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth and died on April 15, 1865. The war saw 360,000 dead Union officers and 258,000 dead Confederate officers, making it the bloodiest war the US has ever fought. Yet, Kansas entered the Union in 1861, and West Virginia split from Virginia to join the Union in 1863.
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UNIT VIII: RECONSTRUCTION
After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865, and died the following day, his Vice-President Andrew Johnson assumed the role of President. Johnson had been the only Southern Democrat to remain in Congress after secession. He was from
After the Emancipation Proclamation, the Republican Congress tried to improve life for African-Americans. One example was the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau in March, 1865, led by General Oliver O. Howard, who was to give clothing, medical supplies, meals, and education to African Americans.
There wee three proposals to handle Reconstruction. The first plan belonged to
Andrew Johnson proposed his own Reconstruction Plan after
The Radical Republicans still felt that these were not enough so they proposed their own plan, which is the one that was utilized on the South. They passed the Civil Rights Act (1866) to ensure the rights of African-Americans would be protected, but Johnson vetoed it only to see it overridden by Congress. The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 after being proposed in 1866 to give equal rights to African-Americans. They were natural born citizens with the right to due process of law, among others. The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the South into 5 military districts and placed the South under marshal law. Each state had to vote for state conventions, except those that supported the Confederacy. Equal rights had to be given to African-Americans, including suffrage, and the 14th Amendment had to be ratified.
It was under these conditions that
To keep Johnson in check with their plan, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1868, which stated that the President could not hire or fire anyone without Congressional approval. This was unconstitutional because it destroyed checks and balances. Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in 1868; therefore, the House of Representatives drew up impeachment charges against Johnson, and the Senate tried him in the spring of 1868. The 2/3 vote required to remove Johnson from office failed by 1 vote. This established the precedent that only the most serious offenses warrant dismissal.
In the meantime, the 15th Amendment, which granted suffrage to African-Americans, was proposed in 1869 after Johnson left office, and it was ratified in 1870.
Ulysses Simpson Grant (Republican) defeated Johnson in the election of 1868 by a narrow margin.
The only foreign policy issue performed by Johnson occurred in 1867 when Secretary of State William Seward purchased
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When Ulysses Simpson Grant took office in 1869, the Republican saw the proposal of the 15th Amendment and ultimately its ratification. He was the first President to wear a beard. His Vice President was Schuyler Colfax. Under their leadership, the Republican Party, which had no support in the South before the Civil War, began to increase in popularity as the newly freed African-Americans began registering as Republicans. After the Civil War, two groups of Republicans appeared in the South. The first set was the carpetbaggers, who were Northern Republicans moving South in hopes of getting elected. They were so named because the bags they used to carry their belongings looked like rolled up carpets. The second set of Republicans was the scalawags, who were poor Southern Republicans. Under the leadership of these two groups, African-Americans began to be elected to positions in government, at first mainly lieutenant governors of various states. Sixteen African-Americans ultimately went to Congress – the first African-American Senator was Hiram Revels from
The Republicans who were elected to Southern governments repealed the black codes and gave transportation as well as hotels to African-Americans. They were also publicly educated. These Republicans opposed land redistribution because such an action denied Southern whites the right to own property. They focused on building more railroads, banks, and businesses to help the Southern economy grow. To pay for such enterprises, taxes were raised and states contributed aid toward the cause. These people ultimately became corrupt because the various businesses began to bribe them to look the other way to protect their bad business practices.
Changes in agriculture were introduced. The first change was the introduction of debt peonage, whereby African-Americans signed labor contracts to work for white Southerners with the promise that they would be paid back later. However, the white Southerners kept increasing the debt owed by African-Americans, who had to work longer to pay off the debt. They also were not being paid up front for their work, so it became virtual slavery all over again.
The second change was sharecropping. Under this system, poor people rented farmland together and paid for the land in the form of crops – usually 1/3 to ½ of the crops went toward rent.
The third change was tenant farming. Under this system, tenant farmers paid for renting farmland in the form of cash, but they borrowed the tools needed to work the farms from the owners. The tools were used to gather the harvest. Under these systems, the debt owed by African-Americans continually grew as the white Southerners added more rent to the agreement.
Under these conditions the states of
The social atmosphere was not welcoming toward freed African-Americans. This was never more clearly evident than with the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. The group started as a social club in
In the election of 1872 Grant defeated Democrat Horace Greeley, but he lost the support of some of the Republican Party, since the Party split into two factions – Radical Republicans versus Liberal Republicans.
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When Grant won reelection in 1872, he chose Henry Wilson as his running mate as opposed to keeping Schuler Colfax. Under grant’s second term (1873-1877),
Due to the focus shifting to the economy as opposed to Reconstruction, the Radical Republicans did not come through on their promise to give African-Americans an equal financial standing to white Southerners, did not allow for political activity from African-Americans in the North, did not grant suffrage to women, and did not regulate railroad companies and other businesses in their abusive business practices.
Yet, despite all these negatives, this four year period (as well as the years before and after) boasted of significant technological achievements. Firstly, between 1860 and 1890 the Patent and Trademark Office issued 500,000 patents. Many of these patents went to an inventor in
Not all of life in the
The economic policy of Grant’s second administration was doubtful at best. Farmers were hurting financially because the currency was deflating, meaning that its value was dropping over time. Produce was especially being deflated in price. Therefore, Congress proposed a tariff on imported produce, but the farmers were negatively affected because they were earning even less money than before since fewer goods were being sold. However, the banks were profiting because they were able to buy more products and land for cheaper prices. Therefore, in 1873, Congress began using gold to back up the value of the dollar since the price of gold was high. As a result, less money was beginning to circulate in order to fight deflation. This led to a problem in the near future.
As far as foreign policy was concerned, in 1870 Grant reiterated the Monroe Doctrine by stating that no foreign power was allowed to colonize or set up posts in the Western Hemisphere, particularly in
Grant wanted to run for a third term, but the Republican Party felt that
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UNIT IX: THE GILDED AGE
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes took office after the Compromise of 1877 with his running mate William Wheeler. Neither man was popular since the people felt they had stolen the election. His administration (1877-1881) saw the growth of big business in the
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) worked in the steel industry and founded US Steel. He was a Scottish immigrant who immigrated to
John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839 in
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Between 1860 and 1900 14 million immigrants flooded into the
Over time employees began rebelling against the establishment. These rebellions resulted in the first strikes. These were advocated by socialism and led by unions. These practiced appeared before the Civil War, but died out soon afterward. After the Civil War they reappeared to fight for shorter hours, more pay, and safer conditions. The first major union was the National Labor Union formed in
As labor unions began appearing, the practice of striking began to appear as well. The first major strike was the Railroad Strike of 1877, which started in the summer of 1877 when the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company cut wages by 10% for the second time in 8 months. The company called for more work, but the workers across the
Even the farmers took up the cause of unions and strikes. Their union was called the Grange, formed in 1866 by Oliver H. Kelley. They encouraged cooperatives, which were groups of farmers who pooled money together to buy goods that were shared by all involved. They pressured Congress to force reduced shipping rates. They favored printed money to end deflation, and they opposed the gold standard put in place by President Grant. As a result, they formed the Greenback Party and elected 14 people to Congress; however, their popularity declined over time.
All these events eventually caught the attention of the federal government. At this time, the government was in the midst of corruption because their laissez-faire practice of allowing businesses to compete as part of social Darwinism led to the businesses bribing them to turn a blind eye on the abuses taking place. The Spoils System itself became corrupt as dishonest friends of presidents stole money and accepted bribes, especially under Grant. As far as the political parties were concerned, the Republicans held
Despite these differences, certain reforms were made. There was a veto of the Bland-Allison Act of 1878 because it called for the purchase and coining of more silver as well as an increase in the money supply to cause inflation so that farmers could pay off their debt. Congress overrode the veto but Hayes followed it very minimally. There was an end to patronage, which led to appointing qualified people to posts in the government. Forcing federal employees to make contributions was outlawed, and unneeded employees were fired to reduce federal costs.
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In the election of 1880 there was a split within the Republican Party. There were three factions – Stalwarts defended the Spoils System, Half Breeds called for the reform of the Spoils System while remaining loyal to the Republican Party, and Independents opposed the Spoils System. James A. Garfield was a Half Breed who chose a Stalwart named Chester A. Arthur as his running mate. As a result, he narrowly defeated his Democratic opponent General Winfield S. Hancock. However, he was shot on July 2, 1881, by Charles Guiteau, who was a Stalwart overlooked for a post. From July to October
Arthur ended the patronage system in 1883 with the Pendleton Act, establishing civil service exams for government positions. It ended contributions from federal employees, and prevented the firing of federal employees for political reasons. The other domestic highlight (if you want to call it that) under Arthur was a victory for the KKK. The Supreme Court in 1883 overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Since the 14th Amendment did not prevent organizations from discriminating against others, the KKK grew strong again.
Yet, despite some of these setbacks, businesses began looking overseas for new markets to expand into. This expansion would fight the economic woe facing the nation at that time. Simultaneously, the American Navy pushed for better warships, so Arthur began to pave the way for it.
In the election of 1884 the major issues were high tariffs, unfair business practices, and unregulated railroads. The Republicans selected James G. Blaine of
The first set of railroad regulations focused on Munn v. Illinois (1877), a Supreme Court decision that allowed states to regulate railroads in their borders, but railroad companies argued that interstate commerce needed to be regulated by the federal government. Therefore, the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was passed, setting rates proportional to distance traveled – the further you traveled, the higher you paid. It also made schedules public, outlawed rebates to big customers, and established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to enforce the law. However, the ICC had to take the railroad companies to court to enforce the law. The precedent that was established was that private business was subject to governmental control.
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With a President in the White House who advocated business reform and who attempted to enforce it, employees began to embolden themselves against their employers. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) formed in 1866 by Samuel Gompers. It opposed female membership as well as African-American membership out of fear that they would drive wages down. They fought for better wages and conditions as well as shorter hours. They favored collective bargaining (talks between management and union members).
The first important strike of the era was the Haymarket Strike of 1886. Strikes were formed in May, 1886, to advocate 8 hour days, but they were broken up by the police. Anarchists met in
The Farmers’ Alliances were formed at this time to replace the Grange. Natural disasters struck between 1886 and 1887, giving their call for action to protect farmers urgency. The Texas Seed Bill (1887) gave money for seed grain to drought victims, but
In the Presidential election that followed (1884),
In response a major strike took place in 1892. The Homestead Strike of 1892 began when US Steel tried to cut wages. Rioters and police clashed, killing several.
Since many groups felt that government was not standing for them in their plight, they took action by themselves. The Farmers’ Alliances merged into the People’s Party (Populists) in 1892, and their platform was to increase the money supply, move to the silver standard, introduce a graduated income tax so the rich would pay more, governmental control of
The push by business looking for overseas markets eventually began convincing the
In the election of 1892 Benjamin Harrison ran against Democrat Grover Cleveland once again.
In 1894 the Pullman Strike unfolded. This was railroad oriented because George Pullman built sleep cars. During the depression of 1893 wages were slashed from 25%-40%, but prices remained high. Any worker who protested was fired. Therefore, the plant shut down. The American Railway Union was led by Eugene V. Debs, who led the strike. Mail service to the west was disrupted, and federal troops were sent in to end the strike.
Sadly, the Gilded Age ended with more skirmishes. The first was Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), a Supreme Court decision that allowed segregation as long as the facilities were separate but equal. Overseas, US sailors were killed in
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UNIT X: THE AGE OF IMPERIALISM
The election of 1896 focused on the economy and featured Republican William McKinley against Democrat William Jennings Bryan. McKinley favored the gold standard and was supported by the north and Midwest while
During this period in history there was a large influx of immigration into the
Cities boomed in the
Education changed as well. Mostly white people attended school before the Civil War and only 2% went on to high school with less attending college. There was more pressure in the 1890’s to reform the school system. The school year was extended with compulsory education until 14 years old. Child labor was limited. As far as immigrants and minorities were concerned, assimilation into the culture was through public schools. Jews and Eastern Europeans resisted assimilation, however. Minorities were segregated into inferior schools with less funding. Women’s colleges opened in large numbers in the mid-1890’s but rarely offered scholarships. African-Americans were led by Booker T. Washington, who graduated from college in
Recreation activities at this time (due to shorter work hours) included baseball, football, and basketball. There was also vaudeville comedy acts, newspapers in large circulation, and jazz and ragtime music.
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In 1898 the
With the declaration of war, Admiral George Dewey destroyed the Spanish Pacific Fleet in 7 hours off the coast of
The peace treaty was signed in December, 1898, granting
With these acquisitions the
Second, concerning
Third, concerning
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During the election of 1900 William McKinley ran for reelection with his running mate Theodore Roosevelt of Rough Rider fame. He was the assistant Secretary of the Navy and NYC police commissioner among other things. McKinley won the
By this time imperialism had already created a legacy for itself. The Anti-Imperialists were a group opposed to imperialism. Their view grew after the problem in the
However, Imperialists viewed expansionism as the new frontier. The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America were founded to keep the pioneer spirit alive. They saw wilderness islands as challenges needed to be overcome.
Theodore Roosevelt took over the White House after McKinley’s assassination and had no Vice-President. He focused on foreign policy to fuel imperialism. A Panama Canal was seen as needed to cut down the trip between the Atlantic and
He supported
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During this period in history a movement called progressivism took shape and hold in the
Its ideas were to preserve the good and destroy the bad, such as regulation of industry and control of certain monopolies (water, utilities, transit). They advocated social welfare programs (health/disability insurance, pensions/social security). They fought for female suffrage, and they began muckraking (investigative reporting to uncover corruption). The muckraking led to the publication of The Jungle (1906) by Upton Sinclair in his investigation of the meatpacking industry.
The results of progressivism were many. Political bosses were forced to reform by groups in cities. Cities began taking control of utilities by 1900 and also supplied some welfare services, such as for the homeless and unemployed. Governor Robert La Follette, a Republican in Wisconsin, set up the direct primary, which is the system we use today, in 1904 to eliminate political bosses. The direct primary is when a candidate competes against other members of his/her party and the members of that party vote for their candidate from among the choices before the general election. Other political changes instituted included a recall (a representative is put on the spot to defend his/her record so that the voters can decide whether or not to reelect that person), a referendum (a question is brought to the voters at the ballot box on election day concerning issues – usually financial – so that the voters decide what to do instead of the politicians), and an initiative (voters can put a law on the agenda in the legislature). States established labor departments to negotiate strikes, offer better conditions, and insurance. The Supreme Court in Muller v. Oregon (1908) limited female laundry workers to 10 hours a day. Child labor laws were introduced in 1907 and a minimum wage by 1912.
As an offshoot of progressivism, President Theodore Roosevelt offered the nation a Square Deal in May, 1902. United Mine Workers went on strike and refused negotiation. Theodore Roosevelt asked for arbitration (a neutral party would lead the negotiation talks) and threatened that the US Army would take control of the mines if it was not settled. In 1903 the coal workers were given a 10% raise and fewer hours to work. In 1906 the Hepburn Act allowed the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission) to limit shipping rates, and in that same year the Pure Food and Drug Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act were passed to set up ingredient labels, strict sanitary conditions, and expiration dates for products. These would be overseen by the Food and Drug Agency (FDA).
In 1904 Theodore Roosevelt won the election in his own right with his running mate Charles Fairbanks. This second term featured more reforms, especially trust-busting – the breaking up of large trusts. The first Anti-Trust legislation was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1904 was enforced strictly by
Social ideas were changing at this time, beginning with nativism. Nativists opposed new immigration – immigration from Eastern and