Unit 3: Freedom's Boundaries

Freedom’s Boundaries

Concept of contested definitions of liberty in late 19th c.

Social Darwinism

Belief in racial hierarchy and survival of the fittest.

Manifest Destiny (Josiah Strong)

Anglo-Saxon duty to expand and “civilize.”

Anti-Imperialist League (1898)

Diverse coalition opposing overseas empire.

Populist Party (“People’s Party”)

Agrarian reform party seeking to curb corporate power.

Sub-Treasuries

Government warehouses for crops until prices rose.

“Cross of Gold” Speech (1896)

William Jennings Bryan’s plea for silver coinage.

Jim Crow Laws

State-level segregation laws in the South.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

“Separate but equal” doctrine; legalized segregation.

Poll Taxes / Literacy Tests

Voter suppression targeting African Americans (and poor whites).

Lynchings

Extrajudicial killings, often public spectacles.

Tuskegee Institute

Booker T. Washington’s vocational school.

Niagara Movement (1905)

W.E.B. DuBois-led Black leadership conference; precursor to NAACP.

AFL (American Federation of Labor)

Craft union movement led by Samuel Gompers, excluded many groups.

Great Homestead Strike (1892)

Union defeat at Carnegie steel plant.

Pullman Strike (1894)

ARU-led nationwide strike after wage cuts.

Yellow Press

Sensational journalism that fueled war with Spain.

U.S.S. Maine (1898)

Explosion in Havana Harbor; blamed on Spain.

Annexation of Hawaii (1898)

Coaling station and strategic interest during Spanish-American War.

Josiah Strong

Advocate of Anglo-Saxon supremacy and missionary expansion.

William Jennings Bryan

Populist/Democratic leader; “Cross of Gold” speech; champion of silver coinage.

James B. Weaver

Populist presidential candidate (1892).

James G. Field

Populist VP candidate (former Confederate general).

William McKinley

Republican president, pro-gold, led during Spanish-American War.

Booker T. Washington

Black educator; promoted vocational training and accommodation.

W.E.B. DuBois

Black intellectual; advocated civil rights and higher education.

Eugene V. Debs

Socialist labor leader; led Pullman Strike.

Andrew Carnegie

Steel magnate; involved in Homestead Strike.

Anti-Imperialist Figures

Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Jane Addams (among others).