US HISTORY
PRE-COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA
North American Societies
Prior to European colonization, diverse Native American societies controlled the continent; they would later come into economic and diplomatic contact, and military conflict, with European colonizers and United States forces and settlers.
Major civilizations that would continue to play an important role in North American history included the IROQUOIS and
ALGONQUIN in the Northeast; the Iroquois in particular were known for innovative agricultural and architectural techniques.
Both of those tribes would be important allies of the French and English, respectively, in conflict in that part of the continent; the young United States would also come into conflict with the Iroquois Confederacy in early western expansion. In the South, major tribes included the CHICKASAW and CHocTaw, which also formed alliances with the British and French and fought proxy wars on their behalf. These settled, agricultural tribes, along with the CHEROKEE, CREEK, and SEMInoLE, would fall victim to Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act as the United States consolidated its control of the continent. Farther west, the SIoUx, CHEVANNE, APACHE, COMANCHE, and ARAPAHO, migratory tribes who traditionally inhabited the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas, would later come into conflict with American settlers as westward expansion continued. These tribes were known for their military and equestrian skill. Ultimately, through both violent conflict and political means, Native American civilizations lost control of most of their territories and were forced onto reservations by the United States Negotiations continue today over rights to land and opportunities and reparations for past injustices.
Examples
1. List some major Native American civilizations in North
America
Major tribes in North America included the iroquois, Algonquin, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Kickapoo, Miami, Shawnee, Sioux, Cheyanne, Comanche, Arapaho, Apache, and many others.
2. What consequences did these civilizations face as a result of European colonization of North America and the expansion of the United States?
These tribes and many others participated in diplomatic, economic, social, political and military interactions with European and United States powers in North America.The Iroquois and Algonquin, as well as the Chickasaw and Choctaw, would form alliances with the British and French and fight proxy wars on the continent. Various tribes would become important trading partners. The Cherokee, Creek, and other Southeastern tribes would eventually be driven from their lands by the Indian Removal Act, even going so far as the United States Supreme Court to challenge this atrocity, ultimately unsuccessfully.
Plains tribes came into military conflict for decades with the United States with westward expansion as a result of manifest destiny. The Bureau of Indian Affairs and movement of Native Americans onto reservations and into assimilationist boarding schools would damage traditional relationships. In the twentieth century, Native American activism would continue with the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1960s. Social and economic problems on reservations and strained relationships with the United States government continue today.
COLONIES, REVOLUTION, AND THE EARLY UNITED STATES
Colonial North America
The Americas were quickly colonized by Europeans after Christopher Columbus first laid claim to them for the Spanish, and the British, French, and Spanish all held territories in North America throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth The British ultimately controlled most of the Atlantic coast and some territories inland--what became known as tha THIRTEEN COLONIES while France controlled most of what is today Quebec, the Midwest, and the Mississippi River Valley region. Spain's holdings extended through Mexico into lexas, the Southwest, and eventually California, reaching as far north into what are today parts of Montana and Wyoming, in addition to Florida. The Northeast and Upper Midwest was rich in game and it ta do on the it Alant conster tere
like New York, Boston and Philadelphia where North American products went to port. Meanwhile, Europeans also migrated to the Southern colonies of Virginia and the Carolinas to invest in and profit from the considerable natural agricultural resources of corTON and TOBACCO.
To harvest these labor-intensive crops, the North American colonies joined other parts of the Americas in the slave trade as part of the ATLANTIC WORLD, taking part in the TRIANGULAR TRADE between the Americas, Africa, and Europe, where slaves were exchanged in the Americas for raw materials shipped to Europe to be processed into goods for the benefit of the colonial powers and exchanged for slaves in Africa. In this way, North America was also part of the COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE (see chapter fifteen, World History, for further details).
Revolution
The Colonies were populated not only by those seeking economic profit but also by those in search of religious freedom and more political autonomy. The famous pilgrims, Puritan dissidents known as SEPARATISTs who disagreed with policies of the Church of England, arrived in the seventeenth century seeking autonomy and established a precedent for government by consent of the governed framed in the MAYFLOWER COMPACT. The MARYLAND ToLERATION Act was the first colonial act to guarantee religious freedom (to Christians). Revolutionary ideas from Europe like John Locke's notion of REPUBLICANISM fueled colonial discontent with the Crown, which was enforcing increasingly restrictive acts limiting colonial trade for the benefit of Britain, to the detriment of colonists' profit.
After the Seven Years' war in Europe and conflict on North American soil between France and England in the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, Britain needed cash. By the mid-eighteenth century, King George III was abandoning the British policy of sALUTARY NEGLECT and enforced heavy taxes and restrictive acts on the colonies to generate income for the Crown and punish disobedience.
These included the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, the Tea Act, the Intolerable Acts, and others. Ultimately, the colonies rebelled; the SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, led by figures like Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, issued the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE in 1776. It also adopted the ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION providing for a weak central government. George Washington led the Continental Army to victory, and the American Revolution ended with United States independence in 1783.
Aftermath
Joy in the victory over Great Britain was short lived. It soon became clear that the Articles of Confederation were not strong enough to keep the nation united. Shay's Rebellion of indebted farmers who rose up to prevent courts from seizing property quickly showed the need for a stronger federal government if the United States was to remain one country. A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION waS organized to write a stronger Constitution as the foundations of a stronger federal government, favored by the FEDERALISTs, who were lea by John Adams. Despite the separation of powers provided for in the Constitution, ANTI-FEDERALISTS called for more limitations on the power of the federal government. The first ten amendments to the Constitution, or the BILL OF RIGHTS, a list of guarantees of American freedoms, were a concession to the anti-Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson; they would later become the DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN PARTY (eventually, the Democratic Party). In addition, in what became known as the GREAT COMPROMISE, the states decided upon a bicameral legislature to most fairly represent the large and AND small states at the federal level. (See chapter 17, Civics and Govern-Federalists and Anti-Federalists
The early United States was dominated by questions over the limits of federal power. John Adams, a Federalist, was the second president, but perceived federal and presidential overreach in the form of an expanded federal government and the Alien and Sedition Act led to the election of Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, to the presidency in 1801. Jefferson shrank the federal government.
Economic policies favored small farmers and landowners, in contrast to Federalist policies, which supported big business. However, Jefferson also oversaw the LOUISIANA PURCHASE, which nearly doubled the size of the United States. This troubled some Demo-cratic-Republicans, who saw this as federal overreach, but the Louisiana Purchase would be a major step forward in westward expansion.
Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, and Jacksonian Democracy
British provocation at sea and in the Northwest led to the WAR Of 1812, when the United States declared war. Despite a British alliance with the Shawnee leader TecumsEH, who had organized the NORTHWEST CONFEDERACY of tribes including the Shawnee, Lenape, Miami, Kickapoo, and others who sought independent territory at the Northwest of the United States (today, the region including Indiana), the U.S. prevailed. At the wars end, the United States had successfully defended itself as a country and reached its independence. The ERA Of GOOD FEELINgs began with the presidency of James Monroe as a strong sense of national identity and patriotism pervaded in the country. During this period, religious revival became popular, and people turned from Puritanism and predestination to Baptist and Methodist faiths, among others, following revolutionary preachers and movements. This period was called the SECOND GREAT AWAKENING.
With the Louisiana Purchase, the country had almost doubled in size. In the nineteenth century, the idea of MANIFEST DESTINY, or the sense that it was the fate of the United States to expand westward and settle the continent, pervaded. The MoNROE DOCTRINE, James Monroe's policy that the Western Hemisphere was "closed" any further European colonization or exploration, asserted U.S. hegemony in the region. With continental expansion came conflict with Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson endorsed the INDIAN REMOVAL Act, forcing Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and others from their lands in the Southeast on the infamous TRAIL OF TEaRs to make way for white settlers. Violent conflicts would continue on the Frontier farther west between the U.S. and the Apache, Comanche, Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyanne, and other tribes throughout the nineteenth century.
During Jackson's presidency, the TWO-PARTY SYSTEM also emerged. As a Democrat, Jackson supported states' rights, small government, and policies in favor of rural landowners and small farmers. With the dissolution of the Federalists after the War of 1812, the opposition was the Whig Party, previously a Democrat-ic-Republican splinter group. The Whigs supported big business and urbanization. Jackson's popularity with the "common man," white, male farmers and workers who felt he identified with them, and the fact that owning property was no longer a requirement to vote gave him the advantage and a two-term presidency.
Examples
1. Why did the Crown abandon the policy of salutary neglect? What were the consequences for the Colonies and for the Crown?
Following the Seven Years' War in Europe, known in North America as the French and Indian War, Britain needed income, and so King George Ill raised taxes on the Colonies, which had enjoyed great autonomy under the policy of salutary neglect. When faced with colonial resentment and resistance through events like the Boston Tea Party, the Crown imposed a series of restrictive measures like the Intolerable Acts, which heightened tensions, eventually leading to revolution.
2. What was the immediate impact of the Louisiana Purchase? What were some of the long-term consequences?
Despite Jefferson's status as a Democratic-Republican favoring limited federal power, many felt that his purchase of the Louisiana Territory was an example of federal overreach. However, the Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States, setting the stage for westward expansion the precedent for manifest destiny. Furthermore, President Monroe's Monroe Doctrine asserted United States hegemony in the Americas, intending to close the hemisphere to further European colonization. Purchasing this enormous territory from a major European power, coupled with U.S. successes in the War of 1812, illustrated the potency and sovereignty of the United States on the North American continent at the international level.
CIVIL WAR
Causes
The Civil War was rooted in nearly a century of conflict over slavery, states rights, and the reach of the federal government. In 1820, the MISSOURI COMPROMISE (COMPROMISE OF 1820) admitted
Figure 14.4. Missouri Compromise
Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state; it also banned slavery north of the 36* parallel (basically, north of Missouri). Later, the COMPROMISE OF 1850 admitted California as a free state and Utah and New Mexico with slavery to be decided by POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY, or by the residents. It also reaffirmed the FUGITivE SLAVE Act, which allowed slave owners to pursue escaped slaves to free states and recapture them. Shortly therefore the KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT OF 1854 allowed those two territories to decide slavery by popular sovereignty as well, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise. The NEW REPUBLICAN PARTY was formed in opposition to this; later, one of its members, Abraham Lincoln, would be elected to the presidency. Finally, the Supreme Court's DRED SCOTT DECISION in 1856 reaffirmed the Fugitive Slave Act and decreed that African Americans were not entitled to U.S. citizen-ship. The LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES, between the presidential candidates, Republican ABRAHAM LINCOLN and Democrat STEPHEN DoUGLAs, showed the deep divides in the nation over slavery and states rights; Lincoln spoke out against slavery, while Douglas supported the right of states to decide its legality on their own.
In 1860, Lincoln was elected to the presidency. Given his outspoken stance against slavery, South Carolina seceded immediately thereafter by Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas. They formed the Confederate States of America, or the CONFEDERACY, on February 1, 1861.
North versus South
Shortly after the South's secession, Confederate forces attacked Union troops in Sumter, South Carolina; the BATTLE OF FORT SUMTER (April 12-14, 1861) kicked off the Civil War. As a result, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas seceded and joined the Confederacy. West Virginia was formed when the western part of Virginia refused to join the Confederacy.
Figure 14.5. The Union and Confederacy
Both sides believed the conflict would be short lived; however, after the FiRsT BATTLE OF BULL RUN July 16, 1861, in Manassas, VA), when the Union failed to route the Confederacy, it became clear that the war would not end quickly. Realizing how difficult it would be to defeat the Confederacy, the Union developed the ANACONDA PLAN, a plan to squeeze" the Confederacy, including a naval blockade and taking control of the Mississippi River. Since the South depended on international trade in cotton for much of its income, a naval blockade would have serious economic ramifications for the Confederacy. However, the SECOND BATTLE OF BULL RUN (August 28-30, 1862) was a tactical Confederate victory, led by GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE and STONEWALL JACKSON. The Union army remained intact, but the loss was a heavy blow to Union morale.
The BATTLE OF ANTIETAM (September 17, 1862, Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek, MD) was the first battle to be fought on Union soil. Union General GEORGE B. McCLELLAN halted General Lee's invasion of Maryland but failed to defeat Confederate forces. Undaunted, on January 1, 1863, President Lincoln decreed the end of slavery in the rebel states with the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMA-TION. The BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG (July 1-3, 1863, Gettysburg, PA) was a major Union victory, led by General George Meade. It was the bloodiest battle in American history up to this point; the Confederate army would not recover.
Meanwhile, following the SIEGE OF VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI (May 18 - July 4, 1863), Union forces led by GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT gained control over the Mississippi River, completing the Anaconda Plan. The Siege and BATTLE OF ATLANTA, Georgia July 22 - September 2, 1864) was the final major battle of the Civil War; following the Union victory led by GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN, the Union proceeded into the South, and the Confederacy fell. One of the final conflicts of the war, the Battle of APPOMMATOX COURT HousE resulted in the Confederate surrender at Appommatox, Virginia, on April 9, 1865, where General Lee surrendered to General Grant and the war ended.
Aftermath and Reconstruction
Despite the strong leadership and vast territory of the Confederacy, a larger population, stronger industrial capacity (including weap-ons-making capacity), the naval blockade of Southern trade, and superior leadership resulted in Union victory. Yet bitterness over Northern victory persisted, and President Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathizers on April 15, 1865. Post-war RECONSTRUCTION would continue without his leadership.
Before his death, Lincoln had crafted the TEN PERCENT PLAN: often percent of a Southern states population swore allegiance to the Union, that state would be readmitted into the Union. In 1866, Congress passed the CIvIL RIGHTS ACT, granting citizenship to African Americans and guaranteeing African American men the same rights as white men (later reaffirmed by the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT). Conflict over how harshly to treat the South persisted in Congress between Republicans and Democrats, and in 1867 a Republican-led Congress passed the RECONSTRUCTION ACTS, placing former Confederate states under the control of the U.S. Army. Former Confederate states also had to ratify the THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, which had abolished slavery in 1865, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT, which granted African American men the right to vote in 1870. Resentment over the Reconstruction Acts never truly subsided, and military control of the South finally ended with the COMPROMISE OF 1877, which resolved the disputed presidential election of 1876 and removed troops from the South.
Examples
1. What were some reasons for the Civil War? List three events or pieces of legislation, and explain their importance.
Important legislation included the Compromise of 1820, which halted the expansion of slavery to the west; in contrast, over the course of the nineteenth century, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott Decision weakened the Missouri Compromise and eventually repealed it altogether. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates not only reflected divisions over slavery in the U.S. at the time but also arguably contributed to growing tensions. A student could also argue that more straightforward events like Southern Secession itself or the attack on Fort Sumter started the war, but knowledge of the political events of the nineteenth century would make for a stronger answer.
2. What were the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments?
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment defined citizenship, affirming that African Americans had rights as American citizens; and the 15th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote to African American men (no women of any race would have the right to vote until the twentieth century).
INDUSTRIALIZATION
The Gilded Age and the Second Industrial Revolution Following the war, the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, which had begun with textile production in Great Britain fueled in great part by supplies of Southern cotton, accelerated in the United States. The GILDED AGE saw an era of rapidly growing income inequality, justified by theories like SOcIAL DARWINISM and the GOSPEL OF WEALTH, which argued that the wealthy had been made rich by God and were socially more deserving of it. Much of this wealth was generated by heavy industry in what became known as the SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (the first being textile-driven and originating in Europe). Westward expansion required railroads; railroads required steel, and industrial production required oil: all these commodities spurred the rise of powerful companies like John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil and Andrew Carnegie's U.S. Steel. The creation of MONOPOLIES and TRUSTS helped industrial leaders consolidate their control over industries thanks to HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL INTEGRATION of industries.
While the free markets and trade of the CAPITALIST economy spurred national economic and industrial growth, the WORKING cLAss, composed largely of poor European and Chinese IMMIGRANTS working in factories and building infrastructure, suffered from dangerous working conditions and other abuses. Furthermore, NATIVE AMERICANS were harmed and lost land as westward expansion continued with little to no regulations on land use white farmers also suffered. Government corruption led only to weak restrictive legislation like the INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT of 1887, which was to regulate the railroad industry, and the SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST AcT (1890), which was intended to break up monopolies and trust to allow for a fairer marketplace; however, these measures would remain largely toothless until President Theodore Roosevel's "trust-busting" administration in 1901.
Populism and the Progressive Era
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The PEOPLE's (POPULIST) PARTY formed in response to corruption and industrialization injurious to farmers (later, it would also support reform in favor of the working class and oppressed groups like women and children). Farmers were suffering from crushing debt in the face of westward expansion, which destroyed their lands; they were also competing (and losing) against industrialized and mechanized farming. Groups like the NATIONaL GRANGE advocated for farmers. Meanwhile, despite legislative measures after the Civil War, African American farmers suffered in the south as SHARECROPPERS and TENANT FArMERS, with limited control over land and heavy debts. The CoLORED FARMERS' ALLIANCE formed to support them.
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SEGREGATION, or JIM Crow laws, remained in place in much of the South, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court case PLESSY V. FERGUSON. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP, was formed to advocate for African Americans nationwide and still works today.
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At the same time, the LABOR MOVEMENT emerged to support mistreated industrial workers in urban areas. SAMUEL GOMPERS led the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABORERS (AFL), using STRIKES and COLLECTIVE BARGAINING to gain protections for the unskilled workers who had come to cities seeking industrial jobs. Which the rise of the MIDDLE CLASS, women took a more active role in advo-caring for the poor and for themselves. Leaders like ELIZABETH CADY STANTON and SUSAN B. ANTHONY and the NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION fought for women's right to vote, won in 1919 with the NINETEENTH AMENDMENT. Women were also active in the temperance movement. Organizations like the Woman's Christian Temperance Union advocated for the prohibition of alcohol, which was finally achieved with the Eighteenth Amendment, although it was later repealed with the Twenty-First. Finally, women activists also aligned with labor and the emerging PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT to advocate for the poor. At the same time, Native Americans continued to suffer with westward expansion: policies pursued by the BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS like the establishment of RESERVATIONS and ASSIMILATION broke down tribal social bonds. The death of the Lakota Sioux CHIeP SITTING BuLL in the 1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee marked the end of serious Native American resistance to westward expansion, following ongoing conflict since the Indian Wars and Sioux WAR in the mid-nineteenth century.
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With the Progressive Theodore Roosevelt's ascension to the presidency in 1901 following President McKinley's assassination, the Progressive Era reached its apex. The "TRUST-BUSTER" Roosevelt enforced the Sherman Anti- Trust Act and prosecuted the NORTHERN SEcuRITEs railroad monopoly under the Interstate Commerce Act, breaking up trusts and creating a fairer market. He led government involvement in negotiations between unions and industrial powers, developing the "SQUARE DEAL" for fairer treatment of workers. The Progressive Era also saw a series of acts to protect workers, health, farmers, and children under Presidents Roosevelt and Taft.
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Roosevelt continued overseas expansion following McKinley's SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR (1898 - 1901), in which the U.S. gained control over Spanish territory in the Caribbean, Asia, and the South Pacific. The RoosEvELT COROLLaRY to the Monroe Doctrine, which promised U.S. intervention in Latin America in case of European intervention there, essentially gave the U.S. total dominance over Latin America. This NEW IMPERIALISM expanded U.S. markets and increased U.S. presence and prestige on the global stage.
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Examples
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1. Why was the Second Industrial Revolution important?
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The Second Industrial Revolution accelerated American westward expansion by providing the technology to move west. It also accelerated urbanization by creating jobs for unskilled workers in urban areas, attracting immigrants, and growing cities. This provided more opportunities for the middle class to grow and resulted in movements like and women, among others.
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the Progressives, who sought fairer treatment for workers and women, among others.
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2. What did Roosevelt do about the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and why?
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Roosevelt enforced the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by prosecuting trusts and breaking up monopolies, notably the powerful Northern Securities railroad monopoly. This made a fairer marketplace, giving companies more opportunities in markets previously dominated by one company or industrial group, and put a stop to government corruption.
ARMED CONFLICT AND GLOBAL ECONOMIC DEPRESSION
World War I and U.S. Foreign Policy
During the Progressive Era in the U.S., Europe was becoming increasingly unstable. With the Spanish-American War, debate had arisen within the U.S. between INTERVENTIONISM and isO-LATIONISM, that is whether the U.S. should intervene in interna-rional matters or not. This debate became more pronounced with the outbreak of WoRLD WAR I in Europe. Inflammatory events like German SUBMARINE WARFARE (U-boats) in the Atlantic Ocean, the sinking of the LUSITANIa, which resulted in many American civilian deaths, the embarrassing ZiMMERMAN TELEGRAM (in which Germany promised to help Mexico in an attack on the U.S.), and growing American NATIONALISM, or pride in and identification with one's country, triggered U.S. intervention in the war. On December 7, 1917, the U.S. declared war. With victory in 1918, the U.S. had proven itself a superior military and industrial power. Interventionist PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON played an important role in negotiating the peace; his FoURTEEN POINTs laid out an idealistic international vision, including an international security organization. However, European powers negotiated and won the harsh TREATY OF VersaILLes, which placed the blame for the war entirely on Germany and demanded crippling REPARATIONS from it, one contributing factor to WorLd WAr II later in the twentieth century. The LEAGUE OF NATIONS, a collective security organization, was formed, but a divided U.S. Congress refused to ratify the treaty, so the U.S. did not join it. Divisions between interventionists and isolationists continued with the NEUTRALITY AcTs of the 1930s in the face of conflict in Asia and ongoing tensions in Europe.
Great Depression
Following WWI, the U.S. experienced an era of consumerism and corruption. The government sponsored LAISSEZ-FAIRE policies and supported MANUFACTURING, flooding markets with cheap consumer 800as. Union membership suffered; so did farmers, due to falling cop prices. While mass production helped the emerging middle class afford more consumer goods and improve their living standards, many families resorted to CREDIT to fuel consumer spending. These risky consumer loans, OVER SPECULATION on crops and the value of farmland, and weak banking protections helped bring about the GREAT DEPRESSION, commonly dated from October 29, 192), or BLACK TUESDar, when the market collapsed. Americans faced unemployment and poverty.
Figure 14.6. A soup kitchen during the Great Depression
Following weak responses by the Hoover administration,FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT was elected to the presidency in 1932. FDR offered the U.S. a New DEAL: a plan to bring the country out of the Depression. In the FIRST HUNDRED DAYS of FDR's administration, a series of emergency acts were passed for the immediate repair of the banking system, notably the establishment of the FDIC to insure customer deposits in the wake of bank failures; later in FDR's administration, more legislation was passed focusing on long-term relief for the poor and broader economic reform. Programs included the Works Progress Administration, Social Security, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and others. These acts provided jobs; support for small businesses, farmers, retirees, and organized labor; and rural development programs, among others. Due to the heavy use of acronyms to refer to these programs, they were referred to as an ALPHABET SoUp of programs.
International Affairs and World War I
The entire world suffered from the Great Depression, and Europe became increasingly unstable. With the rise of the radical Nazi Party in Germany, the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler led German takeovers of several European countries and became a threat to U.S. allies, bombing Britain. To ally with and support Great Britain without technically declaring war on Germany, the U.S. enacted the ATLANTIC CHaRtEr and the LEND-LEASE AcT, supplying Britain with military aid. However, after the Japanese attack on PEARL HARBor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. entered the war, effectively ending it tour years later with the bombing of HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI in Japan, the only times that NUCLEAR WEAPONS have and been used in conflict.
In the wake of WWII, the UNITED NATIONS was formed, modeled after the failed League of Nations. Unlike the League, however, it included a SecurITy Council composed of major world powers, with the power to militarily intervene for peacekeeping purposes in unstable global situations. With most of Europe destroyed, the victorious U.S. and the Soviet Union emerged as the two global SUPERPOWERS. The U.S.-led MARSHALL PLAN began a program to rebuild Europe, but the U.S.S.R. consolidated its presence and power in eastern European countries, forcing them to reject the Manhall Plan. This division would destroy the alliance between the Soviets and the West, leading to the CoLD WAr between the two superpowers and the emergence of a BIPOLAR WORLD.
Examples
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How did the U.S. recover from the Great Depression?
FDR's New Deal put in place a series of immediate relief programs to repair the banking system, including the FDIC, which insured customer deposits in banks. Later, the government established an "alphabet soup" of programs to generate jobs for unemployed Americans, also building national infrastructure, supporting farmers, the elderly, and workers, and promoting rural development.
Why was the United Nations important?
The U.N. was a way to prevent major world conflict like
WWI or WWil from erupting again by providing not only a forum for international diplomacy but also a mechanism for international security. The U.N. Security Council strengthened this international body modeled after the League of Nations by enabling major world powers— members of the Security Council—to intervene militarily in unstable situations to prevent further conflict, as per Article VIl of the U.N. Charter.
POSTWAR AND CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES
1950s: Cold War at home and abroad
With the collapse of the relationship between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S., distrust and even fear of COMMUNISM grew. Accusations of communist sympathies against public figures ran rampant during the McCARTHY ERA in the 1950s, reflecting domestic fears. President
Harry S. Truman's TRUMAN DOCTRINe stated that the U.S. would support any country threatened by authoritarianism (communism). leading to the KorEAN WAR (1950 - 1953), a conflict between the U.S. and Soviet-backed North Korean forces, which ended in a stalemate. The policy of CONTAINMENT, to contain Soviet (communist) expansion, defined U.S. foreign policy; according to the DOMINO THEORY, once one country fell to communism, others would quickly follow. Other incidents included the BAY OF PIGS invasion in Cuba (1961), a failed effort to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro, and the CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (1962), when Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba and military crisis was narrowly averted, both under the administration of the popular PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY.
Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia, communist forces in North Vietnam were gaining power. Congress never formally declared war in Vietnam but gave the president authority to intervene militarily there through the GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION (1964). However, this protracted conflict the VIETNAM WAr-also led to widespread domestic social unrest, which only increased with U.S. deaths there, especially after the Vietnamese-led TET OFFENSIVE (1968). The U.S. ultimately withdrew from Vietnam, and the North Vietnamese forces, or VIET CONG, led by Ho CHI MinH, took over the country.
Social Change, Liberalism, and the Vietnam War (1960s)
During the 1960s, the U.S. experienced social and political change, starting with the election of the young and charismatic John F. Kennedy in 1960. Following JFKs assassination in 1963, PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON's administration saw the passage of LIBERAL legislation in support of the poor and of civil rights. The CiviL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, led by activists like the REv. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. and MALCOLM X, fought for African American rights in the South, including the abolition of segregation, and also for better living standards for Blacks in northern cities, to which many African Americans had moved in the GREAT MIGRATION.
The Supreme Court case BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION found segregation unconstitutional in 1954. Believing in CIVIL DISOBEDI-ENCE, Dr. King led peaceful protests and boycotts to protest segre-gation, including marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest unfair voting restrictions on African Americans. In 1964, Congress passed the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, which outlawed discrim-ination, ending segregation; in 1965, Congress passed the VOTING RIGHTs Act, which forbade restrictions impeding the ability of African Americans to vote.
The Civil Rights Movement also included FEMINIST activists who fought for fairer treatment of women in the workplace and for women's reproductive rights; the landmark case of ROE V. WADE struck down federal restrictions on abortion. Latino and American
Figure 14.7. March on Washington, 1963
Indian activists also advocated for the civil rights of their communities. Another element of LBJ's liberal agenda was the WAR ON POVERTY, with a vision of a GREAT SOCIETY, passing reform legislation like Medicare and Head Start.
The Rise of Conservatives and the Changing World Stage (1970s and 1980s)
During the administration of the conservative President Richard Nixon, the conflict in Vietnam ended, and a diplomatic relationship with China began. However, the WATERGATE scandal, in which the administration was found to have engaged in corrupt practices to reelect the president, resulted in his resignation and destroyed many Americans' faith in their government. During the 1970s, the economy suffered due to U.S. involvement in the Middle East; U.S. support for Israel in the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars caused OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia and other allies of Arab foes of Israel, to boycott the U.S. in 1973; as a result, oil prices skyrocketed. In the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the resulting HOSTAGE CRISIS, when the U.S. economy suffered from another oil shock.
Embassy in Teheran was taken over by anti-American activists, the These international threats and perceived weak leadership on the part of the Democrat PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER resulted in the presidency of the Republican RONALD REAGAN, who championed domestic tax cuts and aggressive foreign policy against the Soviet Union. Investment in military technology—-the ARMS RACE with the Soviet Union-helped bring about the end of the Cold War with the 1991 fall of the U.S.S.R. and later, a new era of globalization.
Figure 14.8. OPEC countries
The End of the Cold War and Globalization
With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, more conflict over oil in the Middle East broke out, and the U.S. intervention-the GULF WAR, or OPERATION DESERT STORM (1991)-cemented its status as the world's sole superpower. With the election of PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON in 1992, the U.S. took an active role in international diplomacy, helping broker peace deals in the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East. The Clinton administration also formed FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS like NAFTA, which removed trade restrictions between countries. Even though political culture remained torn between liberal and conservatives, with a strong congressional conservative movement throughout the 1990s, society became increasingly liberal: technology like the INTERNET emerged, minority groups like the LGBT community engaged in more advocacy, and environmental issues gained more visibility.
The Twenty-First Century
The terrorist attacks by AL QAEDA on the U.S. on SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 led to an aggressive military and foreign policy under the administration of President GEORGE W. BusH. Following the attacks, the U.S. struck suspected al Qaeda bases in Afghani-stan, beginning the AFGHANISTAN WAR, which lasted until 2013 and during which time the U.S. occupied the country. Suspected terrorist fighters there were held in a prison in GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, which was controversial because it did not initially offer any protections generally given to prisoners of war. In 2003, the U.S. attacked IRAQ, under the Bush policy of PREEMPTION: believing that Iraq held WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, in what later turned out to be a false presumption, the U.S. should preempt an attack by hitting that country first. Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act to respond to fears of more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil; this legislation gave the federal government unprecedented - and, some argued, unconstitutional-powers of surveillance over the American public.
Despite the tense climate, social liberalization continued in the U.S. Following the Bush administration, during which tax cuts and heavy reliance on credit helped push the country into the GREAT RECESSION, the first African American president, BARACK OBAMA, was elected in 2008. Under his presidency, the U.S. stopped the recession, ended its occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, passed the Aftordable Care Act, which reformed the healthcare system, and gained the legal right to same-sex marriage.
Examples
1. Why were the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts necessary?
Despite the 14th and 15t Amendments, African Americans in the South still lived under the oppressive Jim Crow laws, and throughout the country, there were limited or no restrictions on hiring, wage, housing, and other practices: housing could be denied to applicants because of their race, and African Americans and other people of color could be paid less than whites or denied a job. (Women are still paid less than men in many cases today.) In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, which declared segregation unconstitutional, the Civil Rights Act solidified the rights of African Americans and other people of color to the same treatment as whites in society. Furthermore, in many parts of the South, practices like poll taxes prevented African Americans, who were more likely to be unable to afford to pay them, from exercising their right to vote. The Voting Rights Act prevented such practices, ensuring that all Americans were able to get to the polls.
2. Compare containment with the fight against terrorism.
The foreign policy of Containment, the fear of the spread of communism, led to two wars—in Korea and Vietnam-and numerous proxy conflicts. Likewise, the fight against terrorism led to the war in Afghanistan to fight al Qaeda and later, according to preemption, to the attack on and war in Iraq.