Civil War and Reconstruction to Present Day Review Notes

Events Before the US Civil War

  • Missouri Compromise (1820): Aimed to balance free and slave states.
    • Missouri admitted as a slave state.
    • Maryland admitted as a free state.
    • All future states north of the 36° 30' line would be free, south would be slave states.
  • Compromise of 1850: Another attempt to balance free and slave states.
    • California admitted as a free state.
    • New Mexico and Utah territories created.
    • Fugitive Slave Act: Required escaped slaves to be returned to their masters, even from free states.
  • Sectionalism: Greater loyalty to one's region or state than to the country as a whole.
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): Introduced popular sovereignty to decide the slavery issue.
    • Popular Sovereignty: Citizens of a territory would vote to decide on slavery.
    • “Bleeding Kansas”: Violent clashes between pro- and anti-slavery forces in the Kansas territory (1854-1861).
  • Dred Scott Decision (1857): Supreme Court ruling that slaves were property and had no rights to sue.
    • Ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, worsening regional cooperation.
  • 1860 Presidential Election: Abraham Lincoln elected, leading South Carolina to secede, fearing restrictions on slavery.

Important People Before the US Civil War

  • Henry Clay: Known as “The Great Compromiser,” advocated for the Compromise of 1850.
  • Abolitionist Movement: Aimed to outlaw slavery in America.
    • Leaders: Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, John Brown, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Harriet Tubman.
  • Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which increased anti-slavery sentiment in the North.
  • John Brown: Abolitionist who tried to start a slave rebellion with the Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
    • Attempted to seize a federal arsenal and became a martyr for the abolitionist cause.
  • Stephen Douglas: Northern Democratic politician, debated Lincoln.
    • Participated in the Lincoln-Douglas debates for the 1856 Senate race in Illinois.
    • Advocated for popular sovereignty regarding slavery in US territories.

President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)

  • Lincoln’s Goal (start of war): Preserve the Union and not interfere with slavery where it existed.

Major Strategies of the American Civil War

  • South - Confederate States of America (the Confederacy)
    • Goal: Keep and expand slavery.
    • Strategy: War of attrition to force the North to surrender due to high casualties.
    • Resources: Motivated experienced officers, slave labor, agriculture (e.g., cotton), and river transportation.
  • North - The Union
    • Strategy: Anaconda Plan – blockade Southern ports to cut off supplies and exports.
    • Resources: Higher population in cities, factories, larger railroad networks, telegraph wires, and an organized navy.

Important People During the Civil War

  • Abraham Lincoln: President of the United States (the Union).
  • Jefferson Davis: President of the Confederacy (the South).
  • Ulysses S. Grant: Commanding Union general.
  • William T. Sherman: Union general, known for “March to the Sea” (scorched earth policy) in Georgia.
  • Robert E. Lee: Confederate General (Army of Northern Virginia).

Important Battles/Events of the Civil War

  • Battle of Fort Sumter: Confederate South Carolina bombarded federal fort into a surrender, marking the first battle of the war.
  • Battle of Antietam: Confederate General Lee retreats from Maryland to Virginia, resulting in the deadliest one-day battle of the Civil War.
  • Emancipation Proclamation: Freed slaves only in “the rebellious states” (not the Border States) on January 1, 1863.
    • Issued five days after the Union victory at Antietam (September 1862).
  • Battle of Gettysburg: Major loss for the South in Pennsylvania.
    • Turning point of the war, with the Confederacy on the defensive for the next two years.
  • Battle of Vicksburg: Union victory, capturing Vicksburg, Mississippi.
    • Divided the Confederacy along the Mississippi River.
  • Appomattox Courthouse: Confederates surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant (Union) to end the Civil War.

Reconstruction

  • The Civil War established the supremacy of the national government over the states.
  • Reconstruction: Rebuilding areas destroyed by conflict and repairing interactions between the North and the South.
  • Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan – The Ten Percent Plan:
    • Aimed to allow rapid readmission of Southern states back into the Union.
    • Lincoln was assassinated before he could implement the plan.
  • Radical Republicans: A smaller group within the Republican Party that wanted to punish the South.
    • Sought legal protections for former enslaved peoples (freedmen), such as the passage of the 13th Amendment and the 1866 Civil Rights Act (inspired the 14th Amendment).
    • Freedman’s Bureau: Agency created to assist former enslaved peoples in the South with food, clothing, and vocational skills.

President Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

  • Andrew Johnson: “War Democrat” (from Tennessee) who supported the Union during the Civil War.
    • Lincoln’s Vice President in 1864 (picked a Democrat to demonstrate national unity).
    • Johnson wanted to “go easy” on the South by recognizing many state governments with former Confederates.
    • Opposed by the Radical Republicans, who impeached him in Feb 1868; Republicans took control of Reconstruction

Reconstruction Amendments

  • 13th Amendment: Ended slavery in all US states and territories forever (Dec 1865).
  • 14th Amendment: Defined citizenship (all persons born or naturalized in the US) and guaranteed equal protection under the law, including freedmen (July 1868).
  • 15th Amendment: Gave voting rights to all male citizens (Feb 1870).

South’s Reaction to Reconstruction

  • Black Codes: Laws passed to limit the rights and freedoms of Black Americans (used in South).
  • Ku Klux Klan: White supremacist terrorist organization created by former Confederates to attack and intimidate blacks and those who cooperate with Reconstruction efforts (scalawags and carpetbaggers).
  • Jim Crow: Segregation (separation of the races) laws in the South.
  • Sharecropping: Exchanging rent (crops) for small areas of land to work.
  • Debt peonage: Compelling (pressuring) someone to pay off a debt with work (coerced labor).

President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)

  • 1870 and 1871: Sent federal troops into the South to protect the civil and voting rights of African Americans.
  • White Southerners regained control of state governments, and Democrats took control of the House of Representatives, which started to limit Reconstruction efforts.

President Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881)

  • Compromise 1877: Ended reconstruction.
    • Republicans and Democrats made a deal to ensure Rutherford B. Hayes became president.
    • In return, Reconstruction ended; pulls US troops out of South.
    • Nadir in race relations: Lowest point in US race relations (1877 to 1941).

Western Settlement

  • Minerals (gold, silver, copper) lure people west.
  • Open range: Cattle can graze across all property regardless of land ownership; led to long cattle drives
    • Barbed wire (1874): Allows for cattle to be fenced in, led to the end of open range cattle drives
  • The Homestead Act (1862): Settlers paid a 10 registration fee for a title (ownership) of up to 160 acres of land.
    • Must live on land for 5 years, government encouraged white settlers to move west
    • Increased settlement in the western frontier
  • 1880s: Wheat farmers mortgaged property = abandoned farms = more tenant farmers.
  • Indian Massacres: Sand Creek (1864 in Colorado Territory) and Wounded Knee (1890 in South Dakota)
  • 1887 Dawes Act: Allotted each Indian household 160 acres of reservation land to farm
    • Remaining land would be sold to whites, and the money placed in a “trust” fund for Native Americans.
    • Failed in its attempt to turn Natives into “farming Americans”

Industrial America

  • Laissez-faire government: “Hands off” (little or no government regulation of US businesses)
  • Robber Barons: Entrepreneurs who were perceived as being greedy and corrupt.
    • John D. Rockefeller (oil refining, Standard Oil).
    • Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroad consolidation).
    • J.P. Morgan (investment banking).
    • Henry Flagler (Florida East Coast Railway, “Father of Florida”).
    • Andrew Carnegie (steel industry).
  • Inventors: Alexander Graham Bell (telephone), Thomas Edison (influence of light bulb), Gustavus Swift (refrigerated freight cars impact), Thomas Sholes (typewriter)
  • Transcontinental Railroad: 1869 met at Promontory Point, Utah
    • Union Pacific RR hired Irish immigrants and Civil War vets, Central Pacific RR hired Chinese immigrants
  • Credit Mobilier Scandal (1864 to 1867): Executives at Union Pacific Railroad and construction company Credit Mobilier inflated the cost of building a railroad to defraud the government of millions of dollars.
    • Scandal bankrupted the Union Pacific Railroad and led to less public trust of the federal government and Congress.
  • Vocabulary to know: horizontal integration, vertical integration, monopolies, trusts, holding companies

Labor Unions

  • Labor unions formed due to unhealthy and unsafe working conditions, boring repetitive work, and 1865-1897 deflation
    • Two types: Trade union (craftsmen), Industrial union (craft workers and common workers)
  • Labor union tactics include strikes and boycotts
  • Businesses prevented labor unions by using: oath of loyalty, hired undercover detectives, blacklisting, lockouts.
    • No laws allowed workers to unionize, labor leaders identified with Marxism and Anarchism
  • Major Labor Strikes: Great Railroad Strike (1877), Haymarket Riot (1886 - hurt labor’s reputation), Pullman Strike (1894).
  • Knights of Labor: first nationwide industrial union (1869)
  • American Federation of Labor (1886)
  • Unions forced businesses to hire only union members (which strengthened the union)

Immigration

  • 1890s: more than half of all new immigrants in US were from eastern and southern Europe
    • 14 million eastern European Jewish immigrants 1860-1900
  • Ellis Island (European immigrants processed), Angel Island (Asian immigrants processed)
  • Growth of ethnic cities: tenements, skyscrapers, mass transit
  • 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act: banned Chinese immigration for 10 years and prevented Chinese immigrants in America from becoming US citizens (permanent in 1902, repealed 1942)

Gilded Age and Political Reform

  • Individualism (Horatio Alger- “rags to riches” novels)
  • Political Machines: Tammany Hall (William “Boss” Tweed) - gave services to new immigrants and poor in exchange for votes in New York City
  • Social Darwinism (humanity is subject to the same laws of nature of natural selection), Gospel of Wealth (philanthropy)
  • Social Gospel Movement (1870-1920); Salvation Army, YMCA, Settlement Houses (Jane Addams’ “Hull House”); settlement houses provide education, aid to immigrants
    • Growth of public schools – “Americanization”, prepares future workers, free public libraries
  • Civil service reform: Pendleton Act (1883) - replaced the Spoils system with a civil service system
  • Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) - attempt to regulate monopolies (was initially ineffective)

Populism

  • Political movement by farmers to unite and fight unfair business practices (high railroad rates etc)
    • Problems faced by farmers- post 1860 farm prices dropped due to technology, high tariffs raised the price of equipment, and railroads set high freight charges, deflation due to money supply (Interstate Commerce Act-1887)
    • Populist organizations: The Grange, The Farmers’ Alliance, People’s Party (Populist party)
    • Bimetallism- using both gold and silver to increase the nation’s currency supply (Goldbugs vs Silverites)
  • 1896 presidential election- William McKinley (Republican) vs William Jennings Bryan (Democrat; supported by Populists)
    • William Jennings Bryan delivers famous Cross of Gold Speech calling for “Free Silver” (Bimetallism)
    • McKinley wins the presidency
  • 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson: Supreme court case that established the notion of “separate but equal”
    • Jim Crow laws in the south, De facto segregation in the north, poll taxes, literacy tests (denied blacks the right to vote)
  • Ida B. Wells: Memphis Free Speech newspaper- wrote against lynching in the US

The Progressive Movement

  • Progressivism flourished from 1890 until the end of the outbreak of World War I.
  • Progressives wanted to fix the political and economic injustices that occurred after America’s rapid industrialization.
    • Progressives believed in government intervention to reform and correct these abuses.
  • Progressives favored women’s rights, social reform, and better regulation of “Big Business.”
    • Women reformers and organized labor supported the Progressives.

Roots of Progressivism

  • Problems of the New Industrial Society and a Reform Tradition.
  • The Legacy of the Populists (Progressives adopted many of their ideas).
  • The Influence of the Middle Class.
    • Progressivism = Middle Class, urban, and nationwide movement. (Populism = rural; support in the South and West).
    • Progressive leaders typically had professional careers (professors, lawyers, doctors, religious ministers, and writers). They were supported by the lower middle classes (technicians, clerks, small business owners, and service personnel).
    • The Middle Class preferred Progressive reform over Socialism, Communism, or Anarchy.
  • The Social Gospel Movement.
    • Progressives often acted out of a sense of morality based on religion.
    • Protestant ministers of the Social Gospel movement inspired the Progressives.

Early Progressives

  • Jane Addams started the Hull House (a “settlement house” that served as community centers for immigrants).
    • Settlement houses offered education, job training, and childcare, among other things.
  • Muckrakers: journalists that exposed corruption and injustices; wanted to bring changes in society.
    • Upton Sinclair: wrote “The Jungle” that exposed issues in the meat packing industry.
    • Ida Tarbell: exposed unfair business practices of Standard Oil (monopoly).
    • Jacob Riis: Published “How the other half lives”-photographer-exposing poverty/tenements.

Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt (1901-1909) - Progressive President

  • Believed that the President was the steward of the people’s interests.
    • 1902 Coal Strike- intervened to settle the dispute and get coal to consumers.
  • Americans deserved a “Square Deal”
    • Natural resources and wildlife conservation→ created new national parks/monuments and formed National Conservation Commission.
    • Control of the corporations and Protection for consumers.
  • Greatly expanded the powers of the Presidency.
  • “Trust Buster” - for prosecuting corporations who flagrantly violated the principles of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
    • The Sherman Antitrust Act was not strong enough to reign in the monopolies.
  • Progressive Legislation Passed During Roosevelt’s Administration.
    • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) - created the Food and Drug Administration.
    • Meat Inspection Act (1906) - passed because of Upton Sinclair’s book, “The Jungle”.

William H. Taft (1909-1913) - Progressive President

  • Continued many of Roosevelt’s policies but was a clumsy politician and later came into conflict with Roosevelt.
  • Election of 1912: Republicans divided between Taft and Roosevelt’s new Progressive Party.
  • Led to Democrats winning the Presidency.

Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) - Progressive President

  • His “New Freedom” attacked the “triple wall of privilege” (banks, tariffs, and trusts)
  • Progressive Legislation Passed During Wilson Administration.
    • Clayton Antitrust Act (1914) - strengthened provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act (Exempted Labor Unions).
    • Child Labor Legislation of 1916 was declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court (Judicial Review).
    • Federal Reserve Act (1913) - a central banking system to regulate the currency supply and interest rates

Progressives Reforms in State Government

  • Progressives elected state governors and legislators to promote reforms.
    • Examples: Robert La Follette (Wisconsin) and Napoleon Broward (Florida).
  • Progressive Political Reforms.
    • Initiative: voters could directly introduce bills into the state legislature.
    • Referendum: Voters could repeal a law passed by the legislature.
    • Recall: voters could dismiss elected officials in a special election.
    • Secret Ballot: voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous.
    • Direct Primary: party members voted on candidates to represent their party in running for office.

Progressive Social and Economic Reforms

  • Many state governments also passed:
    • Laws regulating conditions in urban housing.
    • Child Labor Laws.
    • Laws regulating safety and health in factories (ex: Workman’s compensation for work related injuries).
    • Laws limiting the number of hours that women could work in factories.
    • Laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol (Temperance Movement).

Progressive Era Constitutional Amendments

  • Targeted towards the progressive movement’s goals: a popular vote, expanding the federal government’s role in society, social reform (Temperance and Prohibition).
    • 16th Amendment: Income Tax (authorized the national government to tax incomes).
    • 17th Amendment: Direct Elections of Senators (citizens in each state directly elect their Senators).
    • 18th Amendment: Prohibition (Banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol; repealed by the 21st Amendment).
    • 19th Amendment: Women’s Suffrage (gave women the right to vote).

Isolationism to Interventionism

  • Neutrality: Refusing to support any side in a conflict (used by the US during most of the 19th Century).
  • Imperialism: Exerting control over weaker countries or territories. (used by the US in the early 20th Century).

Motivations for American Imperialism

  • Social and Cultural Superiority: Americans believed their civilization was superior to those of Latin America, Africa, and the Pacifica Islands.
  • Expansion of Economic Interests: American imperial sought to “open” foreign markets for industrial products, which would ease economic tensions at home in the US.
  • Spread Religious Motivations and Western Civilization: American imperialists convinced themselves that they had an obligation (“White Man’s burden”), to “spread Christianity” and elevate subjects while exploiting them economically.
  • Military Bases: Americans sought to assert itself as the naval power in the early 20th century.
    • Imperialism provided the US with naval bases in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

The Spanish-American War

  • Causes of War:
    • American sympathy for rebels in Cuba who were fighting against Spain for their independence.
    • Explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
    • Yellow Journalism (NYC newspapers published sensational headlines to increase circulation.

Results of War

  • American Imperialism spread American ideals (political, economic, and religious interests).
  • Also provoked rebellions in the Philippines and Cuba (peoples that were subject to American abuses of power).

American Gains

  • America wins and inherits what’s left of Spain’s colonial empire- Pacific Territories Caribbean Territories.
    • Guam, the Philippines- Puerto Rico (annexed), Cuba (controlled).
  • United States emerged as a WORLD POWER.

Imperialism in China

  • The “Open Door” Policy opened Chinese markets to the US by allowing American businesses to trade alongside European Powers.
  • The Boxer Rebellion- an anti-imperialist uprising in China that was put down by American forces and British Forces.

US Intervention in Latin America

  • Platt Amendment- The US can intervene in Cuba to prevent civil unrest.
    • Also granted the US a perpetual lease of a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
  • “Big Stick” Diplomacy- projecting American naval power and increased American dominance over Latin America
    • Used by President Teddy Roosevelt
    • Inspired by a West African proverb: “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
  • The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine established the US as the “policeman” in Latin America.
    • The US intervened in Latin America to collect debts on behalf of European nations (so they wouldn’t intervene directly in Latin America).
  • The US helped Panama gain independence from Colombia to gain access rights to construct the Panama Canal.
  • Dollar Diplomacy: strategy to protect American economic interests and investments in Latin America
    • Used by President Taft
  • Moral Diplomacy: strategy to intervene to promote democratic governments and oppose non-democratic governments
    • Used by President Wilson (also the reason this president gave for the US to enter World War I and “make the world safe for democracy”)

World War I (July 1914 to Nov 1918)

  • Also called “the Great War”
  • Causes: nationalism, alliances, militarism, and imperialism.
    • Spark of War: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (future leader of Austria-Hungary) in June 1914.

Major Combatants

  • Allied Powers: France, Russia, and Britain
  • Central Powers: Austria-Hungary, German Empire, and Ottoman Empire
  • The United States did not pick a side initially and sought to remain neutral

Strategies

  • Britain established a naval blockade to limit supplies entering Europe to hurt the German economy
  • Germany used U-boats (submarines) to disrupt the blockade
  • Convoy system- groups of cargo ships sailing together for protection with battleship
  • Trench warfare- defensive ditches to protect your forces from an enemy assault
  • New weapons: poison gases (chlorine and mustard) and rapid fire and long-range weapons

Major Events

  • Lusitania (May 1915): German U-boats sank a British passenger ship and killed Americans; angered the American public
  • Sussex Pledge (May 1916): Germany promised not to sink more ships w/o warning (wanted to avoid US entry into war)
  • Unrestricted submarine warfare (Jan 1917): Germany resumed sinking all enemy ships without warning
  • Zimmermann Note (March 1917): Germany promised Mexican officials US lands if they started a war against the US
    • Angered the US government; American public demanded action against Germany
  • April 1917: US declared war against Germany (first troops arrive in Europe in June 1917)

Mobilization (organizing and preparing for war)

  • Selective Service Act (May 1917)- all males aged 21 to 30 were required to sign up for conscription (military draft)
  • Conscientious Objectors- people refused military service for moral or religious reasons (were given non-combat roles)
  • War Industries Board (WIB)- US agency that coordinated wartime manufacturing (set production quotas for war goods)
  • War Bonds- US citizens lent money to the US government to help pay for the war effort (also called “Liberty bonds”)
  • Committee on Public Information- US agency that shaped the messages to the American public about the war effort
    • Propaganda- information made to create a desired emotional response about a specific issue

US Homefront

  • Espionage Act (June 1917)- made it illegal to speak against the US government or the war effort
  • Sedition Act (May 1918)- banned disloyal publications about the government or the armed forces
    • Americans questioned the loyalty of Germans and viewed German culture with suspicion
  • The Great Migration- Black Americans moved from the rural South to cities in the North and West (for better jobs)
  • Women- took over agricultural and manufactural jobs and worked in support roles abroad (nurses, drivers, translators)

End of the War

  • The Fourteen Points- President Wilson’s proposals for a lasting peace after World War I
  • Armistice- Central powers agreed to pause fighting to negotiate an end to the conflict (Nov 11, 1918 at 11 AM)
  • Treaty of Versailles- ended World War I; set harsh punishments for Germany (War Guilt Clause and reparations)

Post World War I Policy

  • League of Nations- international diplomatic agency focused on world peace (did not work because US did not join)
    • US returned to isolationism and rejected ratification of Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations
  • Dawes Plan- US bank loans to Germany to help them pay war reparations to Germany and France
  • Washington Naval Conference- led to decrease in naval sizes between France, Britain, Japan & US (Four-Power Treaty)
  • Kellogg-Briand Pact- an agreement that made war illegal unless for defensive reasons (signed by 15 nations)

The Roaring 1920s: Nativism

  • Nativism: Hostility from native-born Americans towards new immigrants.
  • Sacco-Vanzetti Case (1920): Italian immigrants convicted of a murder; mainly accused because they were immigrants.
  • Emergency Quota Act (1921): Immigration based on ethnic origin (quota = number allowed); limited immigration.
  • Red Scare: Fear of a communist takeover of the United States.
  • Palmer Raids: US Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer led a series of raids to arrest and deport “radical” immigrants.
  • Ku Klux Klan ideas: Anti-immigration, anti-African American, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish, anti-women, and anti-union.
    • Rosewood, Florida (1923): Rural Black community suffered attacks from white mobs; the town was abandoned.

Movements of the 1920s

  • Fundamentalism: Belief that information in the Bible is literal and true.
    • Creationism: Religious idea.
    • Evolution: Science idea.
    • Scopes (Monkey) Trial: Tennessee attempted to ban the teaching of evolution in public schools.
    • William Jennings Bryan represented the Tennessee government and lost.
  • Temperance Movement: Effort to give up or stop the use of alcohol.
    • 18th Amendment (1919): Prohibition; speakeasies, bootlegging (Al Capone), Volstead Act.
      • Repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.
    • Suffrage Movement (women’s right to vote): 19th Amendment (1920); Flappers (challenged cultural norms).

The Harlem Renaissance

  • A flowering of African American arts in the north.
  • Zora Neale Hurston: stories set in Florida; showed African American culture.
  • Langston Hughes: “Poet Laureate of Harlem”; described the plight of African Americans.
  • Booker T. Washington: African Americans should focus on education and vocational (job) training, racial equality later.
  • W.E.B. Du Bois: thought African Americans should seek immediate equality and civil rights through integration.
    • NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples): Sought to end “Jim Crow”.
    • Legally challenged discrimination in court and fought for better access for education and employment for blacks.
  • Marcus Garvey: wanted racial separation, economic independence, and self-reliance for African Americans.
    • UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association): “Back to Africa” Movement.

Media in the 1920s Culture

  • Mass Media (radio, movies, newspapers): decreased regionalism and narrow local interest → unified the nation.
    • CBS and NBC: first major commercial radio businesses (used advertising to make money).
    • 1920 - First commercial radio broadcast (Warren G. Harding’s presidential victory); First “talking” movie.

Economy in the 1920s

  • The Great Migration: African Americans moved to northern cities after WWI (looking for jobs and less racism).
  • Demobilization: businesses had to decrease the amount of war goods produced (some factory workers lost jobs).
  • Rising standard of living, work hours decreased.
    • More Americans begin buying on credit and using installment plans.
    • Mass production = more supply and reduced consumer costs.
  • Henry Ford: assembly line (Model T automobile).
    • Automobile created new business opportunities, eased isolation of rural life, people can live farther for work.
  • Farmers did not experience prosperity in the 1920s.
    • Protective tariffs hurt US farm product sales in Europe and.
    • Competition from European farmers (European nations purchased less American farm goods).

Presidents of the 1920s

  • Warren Harding (1921-1923): “Return to Normalcy,” Ohio Gang, and Teapot Dome Scandal.
  • Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929): “Silent Cal,” “Chief business of the American people is business,” Kellogg-Briand Pact.
  • American Isolationism (1920s) US sought to stay out of global (international) affairs.Post WWI – European nations announce they will not repay war debts
    • Americans became less willing to get involved in future foreign wars.

Great Depression and the New Deal

The Great Depression: a severe global economic crisis from 1929 to 1939.

  • High unemployment, poverty, bank and business failures, limited production

Causes of the Great Depression

  • High protectionist tariffs
  • Overproduction
  • Speculation and inflation (consumers bought goods on credit and most heavily indebted by the end of the decade)
  • Stock Market Crash of 1929

President Herbert Hoover’s Response

  • REJECTED the idea of government-funded relief to the poor
  • Hoover tried unsuccessfully to help:
    • Taxes increased
    • Smoot-Hawley Tariff: raised prices on imported goods
  • “Hoovervilles” became a symbol of most Americans’ lack of confidence in Hoover’s leadership.In 1932, a group of World War I veterans known as the “Bonus Army” marched on Washington to demand an early payment of their “Bonus,” or veterans’ pensions that were due to be paid in 1945.

The New Deal

  • Economic policy where the federal government would increase government spending to help Americans
    • “The only thing we have to fear is fear, itself.” --- Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in his presidential inaugural address 1933
    • FDR addressed panic by declaring a bank holiday and used fireside chats, radio addressed that he used to explain his plans to the people in plain language.
    • The “Three R’s” of the New Deal.
      • Relief (direct assistance): Ex: WPA/CCC
      • Recovery (help the economy): Ex: TVA/NRA
      • Reform (changes in policy): Ex: FDIC/SSA

FDR’s Alphabet Soup

  • (New Deal Agencies created by the FDR administration) AAA. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp
    • (FDIC): set strict standards for banks to follow. Reassured millions of customers that their money was safe. Required banks to act more cautiously with customers’ money
    • Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA): help farmers during the Great Depression by paying them to produce less and raise prices
    • National Recovery Administration (NRA): created a partnership of business, labor, and government to attack the depression with such measures as price controls; high wages; codes of fair competition
    • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): regulates the securities markets and protects investors
    • Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): brought cheap electric power (hydroelectricity) to areas which previously had no electricity
    • Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): gave outdoor work to unemployed men between the ages of 17 and 29 worked building roads, parks, planning trees
    • Social Security Administration (SSA): Unemployment Insurance; Aid to Dependents(money for widows, orphans, disabled, etc)Old Age Pension(funded by employers and employees)
    • National Labor Relations Board (NLRB): safeguard workers’ rights to select their bargaining representatives and ensure the compliance of management with the law

The Supreme Court and the New Deal

  • In Schechter v. United States (1935), the Supreme Court declared the National Recovery Act unconstitutional. This is an example of Judicial Review, a principle established by John Marshall in Marbury v. Madison
  • After Supreme Court’s ruling, FDR presented a plan to Congress to expand the Supreme Court. This would have allowed the President to appoint more justices to the Court. FDR’s plan undermined the system of checks and balances of the Constitution. Congress rejected the “Court Packing” plan handing FDR his first legislative defeat

African Americans and the New Deal

  • Black workers suffered a much higher unemployment level (50%) than whites (25%). Were fired first in difficult times.
  • FDR took few actions to combat racial discrimination, but black voters started to align with Roosevelt’s Democratic Party in the 1930s. Before the New Deal, African American voters had typically supported the Republican Party.
  • The New Deal did not fully bring about economic recovery in the 1930s. However, New Deal Programs did provide relief for people who were suffering during the Great Depression.

World War II (1931-1945)

  • Causes: Anger towards Treaty of Versailles, Economic depression, Rise of dictators in Europe (Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin) Fascism