Exam 1 critical questions

Consider social, political, and economic equality. In what ways did Radical Reconstruction address and secure these forms of equality? Where did it fall short?

• 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, Freedmen's Bureau, Hiram Revels

• Black Codes, sharecropping, KKK voter intimidation, Compromise of 1877

How organized and easy was reconstruction of the American South after Civil War, and in the end, how successful was it?

• Lincoln's 10% Plan vs. Radical Republicans, impeachment of Andrew Johnson, military districts

• Jim Crow laws, disenfranchisement, physical destruction of the South, economic collapse

How did the settlement of the Great Plains in the late 19th Century unfold (how did government help), and how difficult was this settlement (NOT NATIVE ATTACKS!!!)?

• Homestead Act of 1862, Transcontinental Railroad, Exodusters

• Sod houses, severe droughts, grasshopper plagues, extreme weather isolation

Describe the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. What effect did it have on Americans’ westward migration? How might the different groups that migrated have sought to apply this philosophy to their individual circumstances?

• Divine right to expand, "civilizing" the continent, John O'Sullivan coining the term

• Oregon Trail, Mormon migration to Utah, California Gold Rush, displacement of Native Americans

In what ways did westward expansion provide new opportunities for women and African Americans? In what ways did it limit these opportunities?

• Wyoming Territory female suffrage (1869), land ownership, Buffalo Soldiers, Exoduster communities

• Harsh labor, racial violence, isolation, lack of legal protections

Compare the myth of the “Wild West” with its reality. What elements of truth would these stories have contained, and what was fabricated or left out? What was life actually like for cowboys, ranchers, and the few women present in mining towns or along the cattle range?

• Dime novels, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, exaggerated gunfights

• Low wages, dangerous cattle drives, corporate mining, boring daily labor, boomtown brothels

Describe the ways in which the U.S. government, local governments, and/or individuals attempted to interfere with the integration of Native Americans, Hispanics, and Chinese immigrants into American society in the West. What did these efforts have in common? How did each group respond?

• Dawes Act of 1887, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Santa Fe Ring land grabs

• Armed resistance (Apache Wars), legal appeals, forming ethnic enclaves (Chinatowns), labor strikes

How did the US government’s policy toward Native Americans change, and how successful was this change?

• Shift from treaties to Indian Appropriations Act (1871), forced reservation system, boarding schools

• Loss of tribal sovereignty, cultural destruction, poverty, resistance (Battle of Little Bighorn)

What were the primary methods that the U.S. government, as well as individual reformers, used to deal with the perceived Indian threat to westward settlement? In what ways were these methods successful and unsuccessful? What were their short-term and long-term effects on Native Americans?

• Indian Boarding Schools ("Kill the Indian, Save the Man"), Dawes Severalty Act, extermination of buffalo

• Wounded Knee Massacre, loss of millions of acres of land, destruction of traditional culture

How did rapid industrialization during the late 19th Century change America, and who benefited or suffered from these changes?

• Robber Barons vs. Captains of Industry (Carnegie, Rockefeller), rise of factories, monopolies/trusts

• Wealthy elites benefited; factory workers, child laborers, and immigrants suffered with low pay and dangerous conditions

Industrialization, immigration, and urbanization all took place on an unprecedented scale during this era. What were the relationships of these processes

• Industrialization created factory jobs $\rightarrow$ attracted waves of European/Asian immigrants

• Immigrants flooded into cities $\rightarrow$ rapid urbanization, overcrowding, tenements, political machines (Tammany Hall)

With farmers still representing a significant segment of American society, why did government officials—Democrats and Republicans alike—prove unwilling to help find solutions to farmers’ problems?

• Gold standard adherence, laissez-faire economics, corporate lobbyist influence

• Railroad monopolies charging unfair shipping rates, falling crop prices, high tariffs on manufactured goods

Upon reflection, did the Populist Party make a wise decision in choosing to support the Democratic Party’s candidate in the 1896 presidential election? Why or why not?

• William Jennings Bryan, "Cross of Gold" speech, fusion with Democrats

• Absorbed and ruined the Populist identity, lost the 1896 election, but popularized free silver and income tax ideas

How, when and where did America become an imperialist power, and how controversial was this change in American policy?

• Spanish-American War (1898), annexation of Hawaii, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam

• Anti-Imperialist League (Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie), debates over constitutionality of controlling territories

Describe the United State’s movement from isolationism to expansion-mindedness in the final decades of the 19th century. What ideas and philosophies underpinned this transformation?

• Alfred Thayer Mahan's sea power theory, closing of the Western frontier (Turner Thesis)

• Social Darwinism, "White Man's Burden", new foreign trade markets for American factories

What vestiges of Progressivism can we see in our modern lives—politically, economically, and socially? Which of our present-day political processes, laws, institutions, and attitudes have roots in this era? Why have they had such staying power?

• 16th (Income Tax), 17th (Direct Senators), 18th (Prohibition), and 19th (Women's Suffrage) Amendments

• FDA/Meat Inspection Act, recall, referendum, initiative, national park system

How did the Progressive Movement evolve (not grassroots, what type of person) and how successful was it in the end in addressing the problems of the Industrial Revolution and transforming the American government?

• Muckrakers (Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell) exposing corruption, rise of trust-busting (Teddy Roosevelt)

• Expanded federal government oversight, broken up monopolies, though Jim Crow and racial segregation were largely ignored

Why was preparation crucial to ensuring U.S. victory in World War I?

• Selective Service Act of 1917 (draft), War Industries Board (Bernard Baruch)

• Food Administration (Victory Gardens), propaganda machine (Committee on Public Information)

How and why did the United States become involved in World War I, how did this involvement prove crucial, and how did the war’s resolution disappoint many Americans, transforming America yet again?

• Unrestricted submarine warfare (Lusitania), Zimmermann Telegram, fresh American troops breaking Western Front stalemate

• Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points, rejection of Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations by U.S. Senate, return to "Normalcy" isolationism