Age of Democracy and Progress Notes

Democratic Reform and Activism

  • Urbanization & Industrialization: Led to demands for reforms in Western nations.
  • British Parliament: Consists of the House of Lords (hereditary/appointed) & House of Commons (elected).
  • Reform Bill of 1832: Extended suffrage, or the right to vote, to well-to-do middle-class men.
  • Chartist Movement: Popular movement for расширение Parliamentary government and more rights; demanded suffrage for all men, annual Parliamentary elections, secret ballot, and other reforms.
  • Victorian Age: Queen Victoria's reign saw the British Empire's peak.
  • Women's Suffrage:
    • Gained momentum in late 1800s as women sought greater involvement in the community.
    • Emmeline Pankhurst formed the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), a militant organization.
    • Women gained the right to vote in Great Britain in 1918 (over 30) and 1928 (over 21).
    • In the United States, the 19th Amendment (1920) granted women over 21 full voting rights.
  • France's Third Republic: Established in 1875 after the Franco-Prussian War.
  • Dreyfus Affair: Controversy involving anti-Semitism and false accusations against a Jewish officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus.
  • Zionism: Movement to reestablish the Jewish homeland, gaining traction due to anti-Semitism and persecution in Europe.

Self-Rule for British Colonies

  • Canada:
    • Conflicts between French (Catholic) and English (Protestant) colonists.
    • Act of 1791 created Upper Canada (English-speaking) and Lower Canada (French-speaking).
    • Durham Report (1839) suggested reuniting Upper & Lower Canada and allowing self-governance.
    • Dominion of Canada formed in 1867, self-governing in domestic affairs.
  • Australia & New Zealand:
    • Inhabited by Aborigines in Australia and Maori in New Zealand.
    • Australia began as a British penal colony in 1788.
    • New Zealand's land rights were initially recognized for the Maori.
    • Both became self-governing colonies in the 1850s and dominions in the early 1900s.
    • New Zealand was the first nation to grant full voting rights to women (1893).
  • Ireland:
    • English presence resented; laws favored Protestants.
    • The Great Famine (1840s) caused mass starvation and emigration.
    • Home rule was delayed, leading to the Easter Rising (1916).
    • Ireland divided in 1921; Southern Ireland gained home rule, while Northern Ireland remained part of Britain.

War and Expansion in the United States

  • Manifest Destiny: Belief in the U.S.'s right to rule North America from Atlantic to Pacific.
  • Territorial Expansion: Louisiana Purchase (1803), Florida Cession (1819), Oregon Territory (1846), and Mexican Cession (1848) expanded the U.S.
  • Indian Removal Act of 1830: Forced Native Americans to move west (e.g., Trail of Tears).
  • Texas Annexation (1845): Led to war with Mexico; Mexican Cession resulted in vast territory gains.
  • North vs. South: Differing economies (industry vs. agriculture) and views on slavery.
  • Civil War (1861-1865): Southern states seceded after Abraham Lincoln's election.
  • Emancipation Proclamation (1863): Declared slaves free in Confederate states.
  • Post-War Amendments: 13th Amendment abolished slavery; 14th & 15th Amendments granted citizenship and voting rights to former slaves.
  • Reconstruction (1865-1877): Union troops occupied the South, but segregation and discrimination persisted.

Nineteenth-Century Progress

  • New Energy Sources: Gasoline and electricity.
  • Electricity Advances: Michael Faraday's discoveries led to dynamos and electrical generators.
  • Telegraph: Samuel Morse's invention revolutionized communication.
  • Telephone: Alexander Graham Bell's invention further advanced communication.
  • Radio: Guglielmo Marconi's invention enabled wireless communication.
  • Automobile: Henry Ford's assembly line made cars affordable.
  • Germ Theory of Disease: Louis Pasteur's discovery of bacteria and pasteurization.
  • Antiseptics: Joseph Lister's use of antiseptics improved surgical survival rates.
  • Vaccines: Preventives developed for deadly diseases.
  • Charles Darwin: Proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection.
  • Gregor Mendel: Founded the science of genetics.
  • Marie & Pierre Curie: Discovered radioactivity and new elements (radium, polonium).
  • Psychology: Ivan Pavlov and Sigmund Freud explored the unconscious mind and its effects on behavior.
  • Mass Culture: Increased literacy, improved communication, and more leisure time led to mass entertainment (music halls, vaudeville, movies, sports).
  • Assembly Line: Led to improved efficiency in factories. Ford reduced the time it took to build a car from 12.512.5 to 1.51.5 worker-hours. The introduction of the assembly line led to new urban problems like traffic jams and air pollution.
  • Public Health: Industrialization, growth of cities and new ideas in medicine led to a shift in demographic trends. The building of more modern hospitals and nursing schools also led to improvements in public health and a decline in infant mortality.