History
Popular sovereignty
The idea that people living in a territory had the right to decide by voting whether to allow slavery - democracy
Created by Lewis Cass
Bleeding Kansas
The first battleground between those wanting Kansas to be a slave state snd those who didn’t want it to be
200 people died in this fighting
Technically the first fighting of the civil war - hurts Southerners right to “life”
Sectional differences
North
An economy based on industry and agriculture
Rapid urbanization
Massive immigration
Wants high tariffs
An economy based on free labor
South
Agrarian economy
Very rural - few cities
Few immigrants
Wanted more slave states
Relied on slave labor
Freedmen’s Bureau
Helped fugitive slaves find work on plantations
Dred Scott decision(s)
1857
Under Buchanan
This case is not even heard
Ultimately, 2 ideas from the case:
The federal government could not prohibit slavery in the territories
African Americans enslaved or free were not citizens of the united states - could not sue
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1852
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe - described the inhumanity of slavery
Sold at a crazy amount - one of the catalysts for civil war
North thought of him as a hero; South felt that the North was plotting against them
Plessy v. Ferguson
1896 - Louisiana
The super racist court case - has to do with a black man on a white train car
Becomes the legal precedent for racial segregation in the U.S.
Lincoln’s (Republican’s) evolving position on slavery
Initially does not want it to spread
Then wanted to abolish it - then Antietam
Effect of Civil War on northern economy
Boosted Northern industry and economic growth for factories and farms
Farms: needed to produce more to feed the armies and influx of immigrants
Factories: with the need for more supplies and materials it added to the North’s rapid industrialization
During the Civil War immigration continued in the North and helped factory owners hire workers
14th - All African Americans become federal citizens, equal protection under the law, does not apply to Native Americans - 1868 ratified
15th - African American men gain voting rights - 1870 ratified
Voting Restrictions: Poll Taxes, literacy tests / “Jim Crow” laws
Poll taxes - Tax that African Americans had to pay in order to vote
Literacy tests - academic tests that African Americans had to take in order to vote
Jim Crows - Laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States
Presidential/ Executive Reconstruction vs. Congressional Reconstruction
Lincoln reconstruction plan - 1863
Amnesty to South - forgiveness - does not charge them with treason - not given to high officials/military leaders of CSA
10% of the population who voted in the 1860 election take a loyalty oath to Union
States accepted the 13th amendment
TN used it
Radical/Military reconstruction plan 1867-1877
5 military districts
Loyalty oath by the majority of the population
New state constitution which ratified 13th (1865), 14th (1868), and 15th (1870) amendments
Congressional approval
Significance of the Battles of Gettysburg / Vicksburg / Antietam
Gettysburg
1863
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Union- General George Meade
South- General Lee
Significance: turning point of war Lee is weakened but not captured, and never uses offensive attack again
23,000 Union deaths and 28,000 Confederate deaths
Gained on July 4th, 1863
Union Advantages:
CSA Advantages:
Navy
Larger pop. = larger army
More supplies and MONEY
Stronger central gov.
Industrialized
Successful military experiences (American Revolution, Mexican-American War, etc.)
Potential slave revolts in South
Civil war
Defensive war is enough
Potential British foreign aid
Homefield advantage
Military leadership (Jefferson, and Lee)
Military tradition
Stronger motivation
11 separate armies
Better marksmen - hunters
Sherman’s March to the Sea
The goal was to destroy as much property as possible, not kill people
Tennessee to Georgia to South Carolina
The main target is Atlanta, Georgia because it is the center of transportation - railroads
Burns Atlanta and Columbia
Ransacked houses, burned crops, killed cattle, etc.
Gifted Savannah Georgia to Abraham Lincoln
March to sea - 60 miles wide path of destruction
Demoralizes people
Becomes in charge of operations of the West under Grant
Issues and Reforms
Pendleton Act and Civil Service reform
Passed in 1883 as a result to Pres. Garfield assassination (1881) by Guiteau for not getting a job (ambassador to France) through the spoils system and this alerted Americans on how bad the spoils system is
At the federal level first
Spoils System → assassination is connected to this
No more civil service jobs tied into who they knew in government. Pendleton Act included:
Pass Exam
Limited Tenure (can’t be fired for political reasons)
No $$$ contributions to superiors political campaign (by individuals but corporations could still donate)
Takes political bribery out of the equation, big businesses will now be donating a lot more (another additional issue, could do good or harm)
In order to enlarge the Civil Service system and move away from Spoils System
Nativism
Hostility and dislike toward immigrants by native-born people
2 Major reasons
Immigrants would steal jobs from Americans
The influx of Catholics over protestants
Focused mainly on Asians, Jews, and Eastern Europeans
America Protective Association - anti-catholic
Workingman’s Party of California - anti-Chinese
Indian schools / assimilation / Reservation system
Americanization - Naive Americans abandon their traditional trivial culture and assimilate into American society by learning English, adopting American culture/values, and eventually becoming American citizens
Assimilation - To absorb a group into the culture of another population
Bureau of Indian Affairs - sponsored the creation of Indian boarding schools separate from reservations
Required to speak English, English clothing, choose an English name, change their hair to match American styles, attend church, and learn vocational skills
Underfunded - poorly maintained and very strict
Dawes Act was also for Americanization
The Bureau of Indian Affairs sponsored the creation of Indian boarding schools separate from reservations: encourage them to abandon their tribal culture and adopt American cultures
officials pressured parents to send children to school
in school they were required: to speak English, attend church, cut their hair
Wounded Knee
1890 in South Dakota
The final battle big battle of plains wars- marked the end of significant fighting
Catalyst: Ghost Dance- dance until the pass out to have vision
Lakota performed Ghost Dance - a ritual that celebrated for the reckoning of the settlers, buffalo would return and reunited NA - this was banned by federal authorities because they thought it was a war dance
Similar to Lexington and concord
Police tried to arrest leader - Sitting Bull
Gunfire started - Sitting Bull was killed
25 U.S. soldiers died and 200 Lakota women, kids, and old people died
Pacific Railway Act / Government Land Grants / Gadsden Purchase
Gadsden Purchase (1853)
James Gadsden was sent to MX to pay $10 million for 30,000 mi strips of land - Arizona and New Mexico - purchased for the transcontinental railroad - never used
The “American frontier”
People were moving out west → Westward expansion
National development → availability of unsettled land allowed for this
West ward expansion
Industrial Revolution & Urbanization
Causes & Effects of Industrialization / Commercial growth
Characterized by the increase in technology due to advances in electricity
Due to abundant raw materials, large workforce, greater demand for consumer goods, nation free enterprise system
This leads to population growth, urbanization, improved access to food, raw materials
Urbanization and cause/effect of urban population growth
Provided a large workforce
Created greater demand for consumer goods
Due to large families and a flood of immigrants
Went from farming and rural areas to factory jobs in urban areas
Political Machines
An organization linked to a political party that often controlled local government
Often controlled all city services including the police department
Grew rich due to graft or gaining money or power illegally - corruption
Some argue that political machines provided necessary services and helped assimilate new city dwellers
Most infamous example: Tamanny Hall- William Boss Tweed
Robber Barons
Prevailing Ideologies of the Gilded Age
Laissez Faire economics & Laissez Faire capitalism
laissez-faire: a policy that government should interfere as little as possible in the nation’s economy, if gov’t regulates the economy it increases costs
supports low taxes/tariffs
relies on supply and demand rather than gov’t to regulate wages and prices
Believes that economic success is more likely the less governments are involved in businesses
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism created by Herbert Spencer
The Industrialists and their tactics
Trusts, pools, and holding companies
Trusts - a combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement - especially to reduce competition
Holding Companies - a company whose primary business is owning a controlling share of stock in other companies
Pools - Union of different companies in the same area of business - limit competition against each other and be able to get maximum profits
Vertical and Horizontal Integration
Vertical integration
A company that owns all of the different businesses on which it depends on its operation
It saved money and enabled many companies to expand
You control everything
Andrew Carnegie- bought mines, built railroads to ship the iron ore from the mine to steel factories, controlled his cost to make a bigger profit
- Horizontal integration
Combining many firms engaged in the same type of business into 1 large corporation
This method took place frequently as companies competed
Merging of companies
John D. Rockefeller - bought 90% of oil companies; standard oil had an aggressive public view
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie - Steel industry
The invention of affordable steel made it so that you can build city w/ skyscrapers anywhere - cities could now grow both horizontally and vertically - cheaper prices for many steel goods - used in military, construction, and many items
Vertical Integration
John Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller - The oil industry
Used in oil lamps, and used for heat - oil allows people to go outside later in the night - people can work at night and day - oil mining in West attracted many new workers to move West
Horizontal Integration
American Federation of Labor
Dominant labor organization of the late 1800s
Focused on promoting the interests of skilled workers
Samuel Gompers- the first president of the AFL until 1924
Tried to concentrate on pure and simple unionism, focusing on wages, Working hours, and working conditions
Willing to uses strikes but preferred to negotiate
Goals
convince companies to recognize unions and agree to collective bargaining
pushed for closed shops- meaning companies could only hire only union members
promoted 8-hour workdays
1900- the biggest union in the country with 500K plus members
Most AFL members were white men
Discriminated against African Americans and only admitted a few women
Represented less than 15% of all nonfarm workers
Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, John Spargo, Upton Sinclair – “muckrakers”
Jacob Riis - “How The Other Half Lives” - Rich vs. Poor
Progressivism – political / social / economic reforms, acts, Amendments
Recall - Allows voters to remove an unsatisfactory person, leads to a recall election
Progressive Presidents – Roosevelt / Taft / Wilson
Roosevelt
Republican, Progressive Party (Bull Moose) in 1912
Named trustbuster but actually liked trust for economy = regulation
51 National reservations + 5 national parks
Newlands Reclamation Act - irrigation
Created U.S. Forest Service
Supported careful management of timber resources
Meat inspection Act - 1906
Pure Food and Drug Act - 1906
The catalyst was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
3. Wilson
Democrat
President of Princeton University
Governor of NJ
17th, 18th, 19th amendments ratified amendment under Wilson
Wilson created the FTC to work towards limiting unfair trade practices
Know the sequential order of these:
1850- Compromise of 1850
California wanted to enter the union as a free state but that bothered the south because California was so big- Henry Clay tried to make it equal but everything favored the north more
Utah and New Mexico will use popular sovereignty, slave trade is outlawed but still legal in Washington, D.C., and a stronger federal fugitive slave act
1854- Kansas Nebraska Act
popular sovereignty to decide slavery question in Kansas and Nebraska- Stephen Douglass
Directly led to the nickname of Bleeding Kansas
1857- Dred Scott Case
Could not go to court because he was not a federal citizen, supreme court does not even hear the case- slavery can not be prohibited because the power to limit slavery is not given to government because it is not in the constitution (slavery is legal)
1860- Abraham Lincoln wins the election (first modern day Republican president)
Lincoln's win causes Confederacy to form
1861- Official beginning of Civil War (Fort Sumter, April 12th)
1862
Battle of Antietam - Maryland (allowed Lincoln to announce emancipation proclamation cuz Union victory)
Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln (1. Slaves will be free as union army captures the south 2. Gave southern states until January 1st to rejoin union with their slaves 3. Allowed African Americans to join the Union army. 4. No foreign aid from britain because britain doesn’t like owning slaves)
North wanted to stop slavery and put country back together
Homestead Act- 10$- 160 acres- 5 years living
Pacific Railway Act → transcontinental railroad
1863
The Emancipation Proclamation is put into effect
Battle of Gettysburg - turning point because weakened Robert Lee’s army (can’t recover lost troops)
Battle of Vicksburg - Union gained control of the Mississippi River (split majority of food production from west to the majority of people in the east)
1865
Rob E Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse (does not officially end war)
-Lincoln was assassinated - north shifts towards a more punitive southern reconstruction plan. Booth assassinated Lincoln because his state (Maryland) was put under martial law and habeas corpus was erased → enrages Booth who goes to kill Lincoln
End of Civil War
13 amendment was ratified (ended slavery unless as formal punishment)
1868
Ratification of 14th amendment- African Americans became citizens of the U.S.
Andrew Johnson is impeached- process starts in the house of reps ⅔ says yes then it goes to trial at the senate ⅔,. Accused of violating the tenure of office act (can't fire someone without senate's approval). First time we impeach president, starts in house and moves to senate
1870
15th amendment was ratified- all black men had the right to vote
All former Confederate states returned to the Union
1877
Great Railroad Strike- widespread, caused after wages were cut for the 3rd time + dividends were not cut
Compromise of 1877- Needed because of the election of 1876; rampant corruption on both sides left neither candidate with the needed majority. Hayes becomes president, southern democrat becomes postmaster general (establishing southern mindset within the government) who has the power to appoint anyone beneath him without no one saying no,federal troops leave the south (no one to enforce the laws anymore).
End of reconstruction- because the troops left the south
1882
Chinese Exclusion Act- barred immigration from China for 10 years, any existing chinese cannot be citizens
Immigration Act- 50 cents per immigrant + kept out the mentally incompetent(were considered incompetnet if they didn’t speak english, which most immigrants didn’t), criminals, couldn’t take care of themselves. Mainly affected those coming from the West Coast (Angel Island).
1890
Wounded Knee Massacre (South Dakota) - elderely, women, and children killed by Americans because they came to stop ghost dances. Saw ghost dance as a preparation for war/rebellion. End of Plains Wars.
Sherman Antitrust Act - ineffective, but it served as a precedent that the government could do away with a laissez-faire style of government.
1896
Plessy vs Ferguson- established the idea of separate but equal (whites vs colored). Affected every element of society.
Klondike Goldrush- smaller to California Gold Rush (stereotypical boomtowns, difficult terrain, establishment of big mining companies) differed because klondike had fewer people and only lasted 3 years
Populist party was introduced- lot of support from farmers, working class. Supported the addition of a silver standard in addition to the gold standard. Don't choose a candidate due to the Democratic candidate sharing similar ideas.
1906
Meat Inspection Act. Catalyst - Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Federal agents inspect hygiene elements of meat processing industries.
Pure Food and Drug Act. Catalyst - Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Correctly labeled ingredients (mainly for medicines)
1920
19th amendment was ratified - women’s suffrage on any level