u.s history midterm

1. Reconstruction & Its End (1865-1877)

Key Terms:

  • 13th Amendment (abolished slavery)

  • 14th Amendment (citizenship, equal protection)

  • 15th Amendment (Black male suffrage)

  • First Reconstruction Act (1867) (divided South into military districts)

  • Freedmen’s Bureau (assisted freed slaves)

  • Enforcement Acts (1870-1871) (federal gov. action against KKK)

  • Compromise of 1877 (ended Reconstruction, withdrew federal troops)

Major Issues:

  • Was Reconstruction a success? (legal equality vs. lack of economic & social equality)

  • Violence & Suppression: Rise of Jim Crow laws, KKK, and Colfax Massacre (1873)

2. The Gilded Age & Industrialization (1870s-1900)

Key Themes:

  • Rise of Big Business & Monopolies: Rockefeller (oil), Carnegie (steel), J.P. Morgan (finance)

  • Urbanization: Growth of cities; New York & Chicago as major industrial centers

  • Labor Struggles:

    • Great Railroad Strike of 1877 (violent clashes between workers and militia)

    • Knights of Labor (open to all, declined after Haymarket Riot)

    • American Federation of Labor (AFL) (led by Samuel Gompers, focused on skilled workers)

Legislation:

  • Interstate Commerce Act (1887) (regulated railroads)

  • Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) (outlawed monopolies)

3. The Rise of Populism & Progressivism

Populism (1890s)

  • Omaha Platform (1892): Called for bimetallism, direct election of Senators, income tax, gov. control of railroads.

  • William Jennings Bryan – “Cross of Gold” Speech (1896) advocated free silver.

Progressivism (1900-1920)

  • Key Figures:

    • Theodore Roosevelt – Trustbuster, Square Deal

    • Jane Addams – Hull House (settlement house for immigrants)

    • Upton Sinclair – The Jungle (led to Meat Inspection Act)

    • W.E.B. Du Bois vs. Booker T. Washington (civil rights strategies)

Key Policies:

  • Pure Food & Drug Act (1906)

  • Federal Reserve Act (1913) (stabilized banking system)

4. American Imperialism (1890s-1910s)

Causes of U.S. Expansion

  1. Economic: Need for new markets

  2. Military: Stronger navy, bases around the world

  3. Moral: White Man’s Burden, missionary impulse

Spanish-American War (1898)

  • Explosion of USS Maine

  • “A Splendid Little War” (John Hay)

  • Gained: Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines (Treaty of Paris)

  • Platt Amendment (1901): Allowed U.S. intervention in Cuba

Philippine-American War (1899-1902)

  • Over 100,000 Filipino deaths

  • Resistance led by Emilio Aguinaldo

  • U.S. tactics included waterboarding, “the water cure”

Open Door Policy (1899)

  • U.S. push for equal trade access in China, opposed European & Japanese control.

5. World War I & Its Aftermath (1914-1920)

Causes of U.S. Entry (1917)

  • Unrestricted submarine warfare (Lusitania)

  • Zimmerman Telegram (Germany proposed alliance with Mexico)

  • Wilson’s Idealism: “Make the world safe for democracy”

Impact on U.S.

  • War Industries Board – Government control of economy

  • Committee on Public Information (CPI) – Propaganda machine

  • Espionage & Sedition Acts (1917-1918) – Restricted free speech

Post-War Effects

  • Wilson’s Fourteen Points – Free trade, League of Nations (failed in U.S. Senate)

  • Treaty of Versailles (1919) – Harsh on Germany, set stage for WWII

  • Red Scare (1919-1920): Fear of communism, Palmer Raids

6. The Roaring Twenties (1920s)

Key Themes:

  • Economic Boom: Stock market surge, consumerism (cars, radios, appliances)

  • Mass Culture: Rise of movies, radio, celebrity culture (Babe Ruth, Lindbergh)

  • Flappers & Social Change: Women’s independence, The New Woman

  • Great Migration: African Americans moved North, Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington)

Conflicts of the 1920s

  1. Prohibition (1920-1933)

    • Volstead Act enforced 18th Amendment

    • Rise of organized crime (Al Capone)

    • Bootlegging, speakeasies, FBI crackdown

  2. Immigration & Nativism

    • Quota Acts (1921 & 1924): Restricted immigrants from Southern & Eastern Europe

    • KKK Revival: Targeted Blacks, Jews, Catholics, immigrants

    • Sacco & Vanzetti Trial: Anti-immigrant bias in justice system

  3. Scopes Trial (1925)

    • Evolution vs. Creationism (John Scopes taught evolution, fined $100)

    • Clarence Darrow vs. William Jennings Bryan

    • Trial symbolized conflict between science & religious fundamentalism