U.S. History Review: 1865 to the Present

The Extension of the Railroad System and its Economic Impact ($1865-1898$)

• The period from $1865$ to $1898$ is defined by the United States becoming the leading industrial nation in the world.

• Continued westward migration and the creation of the transcontinental railroad system were key factors in unifying the nation's economy.

• The railroad linked the nation together, creating a truly national market for goods, serving as an extension of the Market Revolution from earlier decades.

• Interconnectedness among regional economies encouraged mass production and mass consumption.

• Railroads were built by private companies but heavily supported by "big daddy government," which provided massive land grants to ensure construction.

• Ultimately, four transcontinental railroads were completed during this period, linking the nation.

The Conflict Between Farmers and Industrialists

• Railroads offered farmers a national market for agricultural goods, but they created a forced reliance on rail transportation.

• Railroad companies often acted as monopolies, charging exorbitantly high prices to transport crops, effectively "fleecing" farmers.

• In response, farmers formed the National Grange Movement to leverage their high membership numbers against trusts and railroad exploitation.

Westward Expansion and the Native American Experience

• Motivations for moving west included economic opportunities, government incentives like the Homestead Act (which granted $160-acre$ plots of land), and the desire for self-sufficiency.

• Westward movement inevitably led to conflicts with American Indians, creating what the majority called the "Indian Problem."

• The Reservation System was established to assign American Indian populations to specific tracts of land to subdue them.

• Resistance occurred, such as the Sioux Wars. While initially successful, the Indian Appropriation Act ended federal recognition of Indian sovereignty and nullified previous treaties, leading to a second Sioux war and ultimate U.S. victory.

• The Assimilationist Movement sought to force American Indians to abandon their cultural heritage, famously through the Dawes Act.

• The Dawes Act broke up tribal organizations, divided lands into $160-acre$ plots, and granted U.S. citizenship to those who assimilated.

The "New South" and Racial Segregation

• After the Civil War, some leaders attempted to create a "New South" by increasing industrial capacity and railroads to match the North's manufacturing power.

• Despite isolated successes, the South remained largely agricultural and maintained old social hierarchies.

• The Supreme Court case $Plessy \, v. \, Ferguson$ established the "separate but equal" doctrine, allowing for racial segregation in public institutions.

• Southern states followed with comprehensive Jim Crow laws that segregated every part of society, leading to increased violence from lynch mobs and the Ku Klux Klan.

• Resistance persisted, notably through Ida B. Wells, a newspaper editor who published writings against lynching and Jim Crow until violence forced her to move North.

Technological Innovation and Industrial Capitalism

• Industrialization drove a desire for westward expansion to access natural resources and raw materials.

• The Bessemer process, described as a way to make steel much stronger, allowed American industry to grow using steel as its foundation.

• Vertical Integration, associated with Andrew Carnegie, involved a business owner acquiring all industries required to manufacture a product (e.g., steel factories and transport ships).

• Horizontal Integration, associated with John D. Rockefeller, involved buying out all competitors until one dominated the entire industry.

• Businesses aimed to become trusts or monopolies, facilitated by the government's laissez-faire (hands-off) relationship with big business.

• Social Darwinism was used as an ideological justification, suggesting that the wealthy had adapted best to the new industrial environment and should not be stopped.

• Andrew Carnegie balanced this with the "Gospel of Wealth," arguing the rich had a moral obligation to use their riches to better society.

The Labor Sector and the Rise of the Middle Class

• Industrialization created a need for middle managers, leading to the emergence of white-collar work and the growth of the middle class.

• Factory work remained dangerous, exhausting, and low-paying, with no laws for minimum wage, limited hours, or weekends.

• Labor unions formed to fight for better wages and shorter workdays, including the Knights of Labor (which disappeared after the Haymarket Square riot) and the American Federation of Labor.

Immigration, Nativism, and Internal Migration

• The Gilded Age saw a massive wave of European and Asian immigrants seeking to escape poverty and religious persecution.

• Immigrants often settled in urban ethnic enclaves, preserving their cultures while seeking social mobility.

• Internal migration included the Exoduster movement, a mass migration of Black southerners to the Midwest to establish homesteads and escape Jim Crow violence.

• Nativism grew as a backlash to immigration. Labor unions opposed immigrants because they worked for cheap, and groups like the American Protective Association were anti-Catholic.

• The Chinese Exclusion Act of $1883$ was the first racially targeted immigration law, cutting off Chinese immigration for over a decade.

• Jane Addams created settlement houses, such as Hull House, to help immigrants assimilate by teaching English and finding jobs, though there was a simultaneous desire to prevent them from out-multiplying native-born Americans.

Reform Movements and the Populist Party

• The Social Gospel movement argued that Christian principles should be applied to cure societal ills like poverty.

• Socialism gained traction due to the wealth gap, championed by Eugene V. Debs, who founded the Socialist Party of America and ran for president five times.

• The Populist Party represented farmers against trusts and banks. Their Omaha Platform called for the direct election of senators, silver coinage, and voting reforms like initiatives and referendums.

• Women pushed for suffrage through the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and for temperance through the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and the Anti-Saloon League.

Gilded Age Politics and Corruption

• Political parties fought over the patronage system, which was eventually addressed by the Pendleton Act of $1881$, replacing it with a competitive civil service examination.

• Debates continued over the gold standard versus silver coinage and protective tariffs.

• Urban political machines, like Boss Tweed at Tammany Hall in New York, were exceedingly corrupt, providing services to immigrants in exchange for votes.

American Imperialism and the Spanish-American War ($1898-1914$)

• The Frontier Thesis, written by Frederick Jackson Turner, argued that westward expansion was central to American identity; once the frontier was "closed" in $1890$, Americans looked beyond their borders.

• Imperialists invoked Manifest Destiny and God-given missions, while anti-imperialists argued for the principle of self-determination.

• The Spanish-American War in $1898$ was triggered relative to Cuba and the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, which killed $200$ Americans.

• Yellow journalists used jingoistic reporting to blame Spain for the explosion despite a lack of evidence.

• Upon victory, the U.S. became an empire, acquiring the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Pacific islands, and eventually annexing Hawaii as a refueling point.

The Progressive Era ($1890-1920$)

• Progressives sought active government intervention to fix corruption and social injustice, moving away from laissez-faire.

• Muckrakers like Upton Sinclair ("The Jungle") and Ida Tarbell ("History of the Standard Oil Company") exposed industrial corruption.

• Voter reforms included the secret ballot, direct election of senators ($17^{th}$ Amendment), and the initiative, referendum, and recall.

• Civil rights were championed by figures like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois, leading to the NAACP and the Niagara Movement.

• National leaders included Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, who enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act and passed the Forest Reserve Act of $1891$.

• Key amendments included the $17^{th}$ (direct election of senators), $18^{th}$ (prohibition), and $19^{th}$ (women's suffrage).

The United States in World War I

• U.S. neutrality was challenged by unrestricted submarine warfare, including the sinking of the Lusitania ($128$ Americans dead), and the Zimmerman Telegram, which proposed an alliance between Germany and Mexico.

• Woodrow Wilson declared war to make the world "safe for democracy."

• WWI was a "total war," requiring the centralization of raw materials and railroads under wartime agencies.

• Restrictions on civil liberties included the Sedition Act of $1918$ (illegal to criticize the government) and the Red Scare targeting radicals after the $1917$ Russian Revolution, leading to the Palmer Raids.

• The Great Migration saw millions of Black Americans flee the South for opportunities in the North and West.

• The war ended with the Treaty of Versailles in $1918$. Wilson proposed the League of Nations, but the U.S. Congress failed to ratify the treaty.

The Roaring Twenties ($1920-1929$)

• Economic boom driven by scientific management (Frederick Taylor) and Henry Ford’s assembly line, which increased efficiency through mass production.

• New energy sources like oil and electricity powered factories and the rising number of automobiles.

• The government returned to laissez-faire policies, cutting corporate taxes and stopping trust prosecutions.

• Mass culture spread via the radio (approximately $800$ stations by $1930$) and the film industry in Hollywood.

• Societal shifts saw urban centers offer nursing and teaching jobs for women.

• Nativism led to strict immigration quotas in $1921$ and $1924$.

• The "Lost Generation" (Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Stein) expressed disillusionment with post-WWI values, while the Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Armstrong) celebrated the Black experience.

• The Scopes Monkey Trial highlighted the conflict between Modernists (who applied the Bible to current issues) and Fundamentalists (who took the Bible literally).

The Great Depression and the New Deal

• The stock market crash of $1929$ triggered the Great Depression.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) implemented Keynesian economics through the New Deal, focusing on the three R's: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

• Programs included the Public Works Administration (PWA) for infrastructure jobs and the Glass-Steagall Act for bank regulation.

World War II and its Societal Impacts

• The U.S. initially aided allies through Cash and Carry and the Lend-Lease Act before entering the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

• Wartime mobilization ended the Great Depression; federal spending rose 1000 ext{%}, and GDP increased by 15 ext{%}.

• Civil liberties were violated via the internment of over $100,000$ Japanese Americans, upheld in $Korematsu \, v. \, The \, United \, States$.

• Turning points included D-Day in Europe (may $7$, $1945$ German surrender) and the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific.

• The war ended in Japan after the deployment of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Cold War and Containment ($1945-1980$)

• A decades-long rivalry between the democratic U.S. and the communist Soviet Union emerged from post-war mistrust.

• The primary U.S. policy was Containment, codified in the Truman Doctrine (military/economic aid to those threatened by communism).

• The Marshall Plan provided economic aid to rebuild Western Europe to prevent the appeal of communism.

• The U.S. led NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), while Soviets led the Warsaw Pact.

• The Arms Race resulted in stockpiles of nuclear weapons and the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

• Proxy wars were fought in Korea and Vietnam.

• A Second Red Scare, or McCarthyism, was fueled by Joseph McCarthy’s claims of having a list of $205$ communists in the government.

Post-War American Society ($1950s$)

• The Baby Boom added $50,000,000$ people to the population.

• Levittown served as a model for suburban development and mass-produced housing.

• Mass culture became homogenous through television (shows like "Leave It To Beaver" and "I Love Lucy").

• Rebellion appeared in JD Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" and the Beatnik poets who celebrated drugs and travel.

The Civil Rights Movement ($1950s-1960s$)

• $Brown \, v. \, The \, Board \, of \, Education$ overturned $Plessy$ by ruling that segregation in schools was inherently unequal.

• Progress was slow; after a decade, only 2 ext{%} of schools in the South were integrated.

• Direct action included the Montgomery Bus Boycott ($1955$), sparked by Rosa Parks, which brought Martin Luther King Jr. to prominence.

• MLK championed nonviolent civil disobedience, culminating in his "I Have a Dream" speech at the $1963$ March on Washington.

• Legislative victories included the Civil Rights Act of $1964$ (outlawing discrimination in race, religion, sex) and the Voting Rights Act of $1965$.

• Alternate voices like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers advocated for militarism and separatism.

Cold War Interventions and Vietnam

• Decolonization in Africa, Asia, and Latin America became a Cold War battleground.

• U.S.-led coups occurred in Guatemala ($1954$) and Iran ($1953$).

• President Eisenhower warned of the "Military-Industrial Complex," where public policy is driven by munitions manufacturers.

• The Vietnam War escalated under LBJ after the Gulf of Tonkin incident granted him a "blank check."

• The war was characterized by "gradual escalation," executive branch secrecy, and a trust gap between the presidency and the citizens.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society

• The Great Society was "New Deal $2.0$," focusing on a "War on Poverty."

• Creation of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Medicare (health care for those over $65$), Medicaid (health care for the impoverished), and the Immigration Act (abolishing quotas).

Expanded Civil Rights and the Counterculture

• Latino Americans led by Cesar Chavez won collective bargaining rights in $1975$.

• The American Indian Movement ($1968$) occupied Alcatraz to demand self-determination.

• The Gay Liberation movement began after the $1969$ Stonewall Inn raid.

• The Women’s Rights movement was revitalized by Betty Friedan’s "The Feminine Mystique" and the formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW).

• Youth counterculture rebelled against norms through drugs, free love, and the Woodstock Music Festival in $1969$.

Environmentalism and Political Turmoil ($1970s$)

• Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring" warned of pesticide dangers, leading to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in $1970$.

• The $1970s$ economy suffered from "Stagflation" (inflation combined with stagnation).

• The Watergate Scandal forced Richard Nixon to resign after he was caught in a web of lies regarding the break-in at Democratic headquarters.

• The Supreme Court case $Roe \, v. \, Wade$ legalized abortion, becoming a flashpoint between liberal and conservative values.

The Reagan Revolution and the New Conservatism ($1980s$)

• Ronald Reagan’s election marked a shift toward conservatism, promising tax cuts and decreased government spending (except for the military).

• Reaganomics (Supply-Side Economics) focused on tax cuts and deregulation, the opposite of Keynesianism.

• Reagan cut welfare but spent heavily on the military, including the Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars").

• The Iran-Contra Affair involved the illegal diversion of funds from secret arms sales to Iran to the Contras in Nicaragua.

• Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms and Reagan’s pressure led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in $1991$, ending the Cold War.

The $1990s$ to the Present

• Bill Clinton oversaw the longest peacetime economic boom, fueled by technological advancements like the internet and social media.

• The economy shifted from manufacturing to a knowledge/service-based economy.

• Internal migration shifted power to the Sunbelt (South/Southwest), while the Immigration Reform and Control Act of $1986$ attempted to address an immigration population that accounted for 28 ext{%}-30 ext{%} of growth in the $1990s$.

• The attacks on $09/11/2001$ by Al Qaeda led to the War on Terror in Afghanistan.

• The Patriot Act increased government surveillance, later criticized by figures like Edward Snowden as a violation of the $4^{th}$ Amendment.

• Environmental debates were renewed by oil dependency (highlighted by the Gulf War) and Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth" regarding climate change heating the planet and rising oceans.

• The U.S. entered the $21^{st}$ century as the world's leading superpower.