History Alive! Pursuing American Ideals-Student Edition-Sample (2 Units) by Teachers' Curriculum Institute (TCI)

DemocracyOpportunityLibertyRightsEquality Student Edition

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18 Progressivism on the National Stage 1890–1920 205 How well did Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson promote progressive goals in national policies?

15 Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 1840–1920 167 What was it like to be an immigrant to the United States around the turn of the century?

14 Labor’s Response to Industrialism 1870–1920 157 Was the rise of industry good for American workers?

1492–1896RepublicanEstablishingAmerican 1 What Is History? 1 What is history, and why should we study it? 2 Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals 9 What are America’s founding ideals, and why are they important? 3 Setting the Geographic Stage 17 How has geography influenced the development of the United States? 4 The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals 1607–1754 29 How did the colonial period help shape America’s five founding ideals? 5 Americans Revolt 1754–1783 39 Were the American colonists justified in rebelling against British rule? 6 Creating the Constitution 1776–1791 51 What is the proper role of a national government? 7 An Enduring Plan of Government 1789–Present 63 Does the Constitution support the ideals in the Declaration of Independence? 8 Changes in a Young Nation 1790–1860 79 Did changes in the young nation open the door to opportunity for all Americans? 9 A Dividing Nation 1819–1861 93 Was the Civil War inevitable? 10 The Civil War 1860–1865 105 How did the Civil War affect the United States and its people? 11 Reconstruction 1864–1896 119 How was the nation’s commitment to its founding ideals tested during Reconstruction? 1840–1920andIndustrialismReform 12 Change and Conflict in the American West 1840–1896 131 What opportunities and conflicts emerged as Americans moved westward? 13 The Age of Innovation and Industry 1840–1920 143 Was the rise of industry good for the United States?

16 Uncovering Problems at the Turn of the Century 1890–1920 181 What social, political, and environmental problems did Americans face at the turn of the 20th century?

17 The Progressives Respond 1890–1920 195 Who were the progressives, and how did they address the problems they saw?

32 The Human Impact of the Great Depression 1929–1939 351 How did ordinary Americans endure the hardships of the Great Depression? The New Deal and Its Legacy 1933–1944 363 How did the expansion of government during the New Deal affect the nation?

Foreign Policy: Setting a Course of Expansionism 1796–1896 215 Was American foreign policy during the 1800s motivated more by realism or idealism? The Spanish-American War 1895–1902 225 Why did the United States go to war against Spain in 1898, and why was the outcome significant? Acquiring and Managing Global Power 1890–1917 235 Were U.S. interventions abroad between 1890 and 1917 motivated more by realism or idealism?

30 The Causes of the Great Depression 1929–1933 335 What caused the most severe economic crisis in American history? 31 The Response to the Economic Collapse 1932–1933 343 How did the federal government respond to the economic collapse that began in 1929?

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The Clash TraditionalismBetweenandModernism 1916–1933 325 How did social, economic, and religious tensions divide Americans during the Roaring Twenties?

The TwentiesRoaringand the Great 1914–1944Depression

26 Understanding Postwar Tensions 1914–1930 287 What effects did postwar tensions have on America’s founding ideals?

From Neutrality to War 1914–1917 247 Was it in the national interest of the United States to stay neutral or declare war in 1917?

1796–1921InfluenceAmericanExpandingGlobal 19

The Course and Conduct of World War I 1915–1918 257 How was World War I different from previous wars? The Home Front 1914–1919 267 How did Americans on the home front support or oppose World War I? The Treaty of Versailles: To Ratify or Reject? 1918–1921 277 Should the United States have ratified or rejected the Treaty of Versailles?

27 The Politics of Normalcy 1914–1930 299 Did the Republican Era of the 1920s bring peace and prosperity to all Americans? 28 Popular Culture in the Roaring Twenties 1914–1933 309 What social trends and innovations shaped popular culture during the 1920s?

46 The Widening Struggle 1960–1990 523 Why and how did the civil rights movement expand?

41 Peace, Prosperity, and Progress 1945–1960 465 Why are the 1950s remembered as an age of affluence?

World War II and the Cold 1917–1960War

34 Origins of World War II 1917–1941 379 Could World War II have been prevented? The Impact of World War II on Americans 1941–1945 393 What kinds of opportunities and hardships did the war create for Americans at home and abroad? Fighting World War II 1939–1945 409 What military strategies did the United States and its allies pursue to defeat the Axis powers in World War II?

43 Segregation in the Post-World War II Period 1945–1954 487 How did segregation affect American life in the postwar period?

44 The Civil Rights Revolution: “Like a Mighty Stream” 1955–1965 497 How did civil rights activists advance the ideals of liberty, equality, and opportunity for African Americans?

The Search for a Better 1945–1990Life

45 Redefining Equality: From Black Power to Affirmative Action 1965–1980 511 How did civil rights activists change their strategies and goals in the 1960s and 1970s, and how successful were they in achieving racial equality?

The Aftermath of World War II 1943–1955 423 Did the United States learn from past mistakes at the end of World War II? 38 Origins of the Cold War 1945–1949 431 How did the United States and the Soviet Union become Cold War adversaries? 39 The Cold War Expands 1948–1960 443 Were the methods used by the United States to contain communism justified? 40 Fighting the Cold War at Home 1945–1960 457 How did the anxieties raised by the Cold War affect life in the United States?

42 Two Americas 1950–1962 481 Why did poverty persist in the United States in an age of affluence?

their domestic policy goals? 58 U.S.

met

impact the nation? 56 Ending the Cold War 1980–1991 637 What were

increase its military involvement in Vietnam? 51 Facing Frustration in Vietnam 1965–1971 577 What made the

1980–PresentAmerica 55 A Shift to the Right Under Reagan 1980–1993 625 How did

Reagan

challenges

global age? 59 Moving Forward: Debating America’s Founding Ideals 2008–Present 687 How does our nation define and debate progress as we work to preserve American ideals? Resources Atlas 696 The Declaration of Independence 702 The Constitution of the United States 706 Glossary 726 Index 751 Notes 777 Credits 787 1954–1980TimesTumultuous 47 The Age of Camelot 1961–1963 537 Was John F. Kennedy a great president? 48 The Great Society 1963–1968 549 What is the proper role of government in shaping American society? 49 The Emergence of a Counterculture 1962–1969 559 What was the impact of the counterculture on American society? 50 The United States Gets Involved in Vietnam 1954–1967 565 Why did the

in a Global Age 1991–Present 669 How well

Turn

difficult to win? 52 Getting Out of Vietnam 1969–1975 589 What lessons for Americans emerged from the Vietnam War? 53 The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon 1968–1974 599 What events influenced Richard Nixon’s rise to and fall from power? 54 Politics and Society in the “Me Decade” 1974–1980 609 How should historians characterize the 1970s? x

1992–Present 649 How have

policy actions? 57 U.S.

The Making of Modern the Revolution the effects of Ronald Reagan’s and George H. W. Bush’s foreign Domestic Politics at the of the 21st Century recent presidents tried to fulfill Foreign Policy have U.S. foreign policy decisions the of the United States Vietnam War

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, remains one of the most hon ored leaders in U.S. history. He is best remem bered for holding the nation together through the Civil War and helping end slavery. What Is History? What is history, and why should we study it?

—Martin Luther King Jr., “I have a dream” speech, 1963

In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke from the Lincoln Memorial.

Introduction

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joy ous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free . . . Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

On a hot August day in 1963, more than 200,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., where they heard Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. give one of the most powerful speeches in U.S. history. His “I have a dream” speech was a watershed event of the civil rights movement. By speaking on the steps of the memorial, King underscored the histori cal connection between the civil rights movement and President Abraham Lincoln’s efforts to end slavery. In 1863, at the height of the Civil War, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in Confederate states. Later that year, in his famous Gettysburg Address, Lincoln reminded the nation why slavery must end: “Fourscore and seven years ago,” he began, “our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” The words of the Gettysburg Address are carved on a wall of the Lincoln Memorial.

Lesson 1

By beginning his speech with a reference to the past, King demonstrated that history matters. What happened long ago influences how we live today. However, we are not prisoners of the past. If we can dream of a better tomor row, it is within our power to shape the history to come.

Speaking a century later, King echoed Lincoln’s words:

History Begins with a Question or Problem Historians begin their work with a question they desire to answer or a problem they wish to solve. For example, historians might start by inquiring, Was the Civil War inevitable? Next, they collect facts and information related to the question. This material becomes the evidence, or information that can be used to prove a statement or support a conclusion, historians use to reconstruct the past.

Historical evidence comes in multiple forms. It might be an old letter, a manuscript, or an artifact—a human-made object—such as a tool, a weapon, or part of a building. Evidence can also be found in photographs, recorded music, and old movies. Additionally, it can be found in books, magazines, and newspapers, as well as in interviews with experts or historical figures.

Photographs are visual primary sources that show what life was like in the past.

Historians refer to these various forms of information as sources. There are two basic types of sources historians typically rely on when writing history. A primary source is a document or other record of past events created by people who were present during those events or during that period. An eyewitness account, such as a Civil War soldier’s diary, is an example of a primary source.

This lesson considers history in each of these dimensions: as the past, as stories about the past, and as an academic subject. Its main focus, however, is on the writing, or reconstruction, of history and on how historians conduct their work.

The term history can mean several related things. While it can refer to events in the past, like the history of a family, it can also refer to the stories we tell about the past. In this way, nearly anyone can be a historian, or someone who reconstructs and retells narratives of the past. History is also an academic, or scholarly, discipline—like economics, physics, or mathematics—and is taught and studied in schools.

1. History: The Past and the Stories We Tell About It

In the 1850s, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a bestselling novel. Today, it is read as a historical novel and a primary source of that time. Posters from the past are today’s historical artifacts.

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Newspapers provide historians with eyewitness accounts of past events. Everyday artifacts, like John Wilkes Booth’s boot, help connect us to the lives of historical figures.

Historians Select and Weigh Evidence

All historical evidence, whether primary or secondary, must be critically evaluated. Historians carefully examine each source for the creator’s point of view, perspective, or outlook on events. This outlook may be influenced by multiple factors, such as the creator’s age, gender, religion, occupation, or political views. For example, a historian would expect that a southern plantation owner in the 1850s would have had a different point of view from that of a northern factory worker.

Historians Reconstruct and Interpret the Past

What Is History? 3

Examples of a secondary source include a book or commentary from someone who was not present at the events or not even alive during that period. Many secondary sources are created decades or even centuries after the events in question. One example is a book about the Civil War written in the 1990s.

Sometimes a source contains information or conclusions that reflect a distinct point of view. Although this is not necessarily bad, historians are watchful for signs of bias when analyzing evidence. Generally, bias is any factor that might distort or color a person’s observations. Bias takes many forms, ranging from a simple friendship or preference for someone to an unfair dislike of a person or group. Regardless of its form, bias can make a source less trustworthy.

Once their evidence is selected and evaluated, historians begin to reconstruct what happened. They often begin by establishing a chronology, or sequence of events in time. Once historians are certain of the correct order of events, they are better able to make connec tions among those events, like identifying causes and effects. Additionally, they can begin to assess long-range changes and trends that may have developed over many years or decades. For example, in considering whether the Civil War was inevitable, a historian would examine the events leading up to the war and look for points at which the war might have been averted. Magazine covers can reveal a lot about the cultural values of the years in which they were created.

History Is Never Finished Since history cannot be rigorously tested and proved like science can, much of history is still open to interpretation. Because historians have their own distinct backgrounds and points of view, their histori cal interpretations will often differ. They publish their work with the under standing that it will be reviewed, and often criticized, by other historians.

In this way, history continues to be debated and revised. In fact, some people describe history as an ongoing argument regarding the past. Differences of opinion or theory about how to interpret the past make the academic study of history interesting and vital. This public debate also makes it possible for mistakes made by one historian to be corrected by later historians.

The process of finding the meaning or significance of historical events is called historical interpretation. By interpreting history, historians combine their analysis of events with the facts they have validated in order to consider what happened, how and why it happened, what effect it had on the people involved, and how it may have shaped the world today. Each historian brings a particular point of view to this task; however, historians try to ensure that their interpreta tions are faithful to the facts of history and are supported by the evidence.

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New generations of historians develop new arguments. As historian Frederick Jackson Turner once wrote, “Each age tries to form its own concep tion of the past. Every age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time.” Therefore, our understanding of the past is constantly being influenced by what we, in the present day, contribute to it. In that sense, history is never finished.

General histories like this program help readers develop a broad view of the past. Historical interpreters and reenactors bring history to life at living museums, such as Colonial Williamsburg. Specialized histories, such as this book, provide in-depth information about a specific subject.

When writing history, historians do not focus solely on facts or chronologies. If they did, history books would be little more than a chronicle, or a simple listing, of what happened year by year. The more challenging part of a histo rian’s task is to interpret the past—to weave together the evidence and produce a narrative that helps readers understand and draw meaning from history.

How Do Historians Reconstruct the Past?

What Is History?

When Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough set out to write a biography of John Adams, he gathered evidence from a variety of pri mary and secondary sources. By examining artifacts and visiting places frequented by Adams during his lifetime, McCullough created a compelling biography of one of our nation’s least known founders.

Primary sources, including letters Adams sent and received, reveal details about government affairs or battles at the time.

In writing his biography of Adams, McCullough built on the works of earlier historians. Such secondary sources fill the bookshelves in his office.

Artifacts like Adams’s cradle help historians re-create scenes from the past. This cradle was used for five generations and held both President Adams and President John Quincy Adams. Historic sites associated with Adams, such as his birthplace and childhood home in Quincy, Massachusetts, show how he and his family lived.

Historic drawings show what Boston was like when Adams practiced law there.

Penn Warren, The Legacy of the Civil War, 1961 History Makes Us Better Thinkers “History is a Greek word,” wrote British historian Arnold Toynbee, “which means, literally, just investigation.” The process of investigating what happened long ago involves analyzing evidence, determining a source’s credibility, and evaluating different points of view about what is important and why. These are all essential critical-thinking skills, applicable to both the history classroom and to life. You will need to exercise these skills whenever you make an important decision about your own future. These skills will also help you make more informed decisions about public issues as a citizen and voter.

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History Helps Us Develop Empathy for Others Studying history can help us develop empathy for others. Empathy is the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and to understand that person’s feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. It involves more than feeling sympathy for other people because it also enables us to “walk in other people’s shoes”—to feel “with” them or “as one” withHistorythem. promotes awareness of problems, sorrows, joys, and hardships faced by people in other times and places. As that awareness grows, we have a greater opportunity to understand our own experiences—both good and bad. Additionally, we become more skilled at empathizing with people whose lives are different from our own. As we mature, empathy becomes a useful guide in our relations with other people. As the American writer Robert Penn Warren observed,History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.—Robert

2. Why Study History?

Voting may not seem like making history, but each time Americans cast their ballots, they are shaping the history their grandchildren will read about in school. Studying history can de velop the critical-thinking skills that will help you make good decisions when you vote.

In a 1916 interview, automobile industrialist Henry Ford said, “History is more or less bunk!” Ford would live to regret these words, as he not only made history by putting Americans into cars they could afford, but he also discovered that learning about the past was entertaining. Ultimately, Ford used much of his fortune to create a collection of historic buildings and everyday objects from his era. “We’re going to build a museum that is going to show industrial history,” he announced when he began his collection, “and it won’t be bunk.” The result was the largest indoor-outdoor museum in the world.

For the more than 1 million people who visit the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan, each year, history is anything but bunk. As visitors meander through Greenfield Village, they can imagine what life was like over a century ago. Re-creations of Thomas Edison’s workshop and the Wright brothers’ bicycle shop bring visitors face to face with the excitement and frustration of inventing a light bulb or an airplane. By touring the automobile collection, visitors discover how this machine has changed our world. Just as Ford had hoped, seeing the past this way is highly entertaining. However, that is only one reason to study history.

History is full of examples of failed peoples and nations, and studying it can reveal what they did—or did not do—that contributed to their doom. With regard to the failures of the past, novelist Maya Angelou eloquently wrote, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with cour age, need not be lived again.”

At a deeper level, discovering the what and the why of historical events is very similar to solving a puzzle or a mystery. While determining what hap pened can be challenging enough, deciding what is important and why is an even more daunting undertaking. The more of the mystery of history you solve, the more alive the past will become.

Secondary sources Historians use secondary sources, such as written documents and other information created by people who were not involved in the historical events in question.

Historians gather facts and information about people and events in history. A selec tion of this information becomes the evidence on which they base their historical accounts.

Historical interpretation While recounting the facts of history, historians also interpret the evidence. They assign meaning or significance to historical events. Historians often differ in their interpretations of history, which can lead to lively debates.

History Teaches Us to Avoid Errors of the Past One hundred years ago, Spanish philosopher George Santayana proposed another reason for studying history: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

As Henry Ford discovered when he set out to create a history museum, learning about the past can be fun and can also help you develop empathy by introducing you to a wide range of human experiences. In this history classroom, students are learning what it was like to be an immigrant trying to enter the United States through Ellis Island around 1900.

History Is Interesting “At the heart of good history,” wrote screenwriter and journalist Stephen Schiff, “is a naughty little secret: good storytelling.” For decades, screenwriters and moviemakers have mined history for compelling stories to bring to life on screen. Even movies that do not seem particularly his torical are often somewhat based on historical events or settings. Understanding the history behind these stories can increase your enjoyment of such films.

Primary sources Historians use primary sources, including written documents, photographs, films, and other records created by people who took part in historical events.

Point of view

Historians consider the points of view and the biases of the people who created their sources.

The study of history can help people develop greater empathy for others, become better thinkers, and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Evidence

What Is History?

Summary

The more we discover today about the mistakes of the past, the more likely we are to avoid them in the future. When viewed in this way, observed writer Norman Cousins, “history is a vast early warning system.”

History can refer to the past. It can be a reconstruction of the past as well as an aca demic subject. Historians use various tools and techniques to reconstruct history. They try to make their accounts faithful to historical facts and events as they understand them, while also interpreting those events.

Why study history

This is an early edited draft of the Declaration of Independence.

—Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 1776

What are America’s founding ideals, and why are they important?

In many ways, Thomas Jefferson, shown here with his fellow committee members Benjamin Franklin (left) and John Adams (center), was an odd choice to write the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was not only young and inexperienced, but he was also a slaveholder. Despite his fine words about liberty and equality, Jefferson proved unwilling to apply his “self-evident” truths to the men and women he held in bondage.

America’s Founding Ideals

In these two sentences, Jefferson established a vision of a new nation based on ideals—principles or standards of perfection that we are always trying to achieve. In the years preceding the Declaration, the ideals that Jefferson mentioned had been written about and discussed by many colonists. Since that time, Americans have sometimes fought for and sometimes ignored these ideals. Nevertheless, Jefferson’s words have continued throughout the years to provide a vision of what it means to be an American. In this lesson, you will read about our nation’s founding ideals, how they were defined in 1776, and how they continue to be debated today.

Introduction On a June day in 1776, Thomas Jefferson set to work in a rented room in Philadelphia to draft a document that would explain to the world why Great Britain’s 13 American colonies were declaring themselves to be “free and inde pendent states.” The Second Continental Congress had appointed a five-man committee to draft this declaration of independence. At 33, Jefferson was one of the committee’s youngest and least experienced members, but his training in law and political philosophy had prepared him for this task. He picked up his pen to write words that would change the world. Had he been working at home, Jefferson might have referenced his sizable library for inspiration. Instead, he relied on what was in his head to make the declaration “an expression of the American mind.” He began, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Lesson Defining2 and Debating

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Yet some people—both past and present—have argued that achieving equal rights does not necessarily coincide with achieving equality. Americans will not achieve equality, they argue, until we address differences in wealth, education, and power. This “equality of condition” extends to all aspects of life, including living standards, job opportunities, and medical care. Is equality of condition an achievable goal and, if so, how might it best be achieved? This and other questions about equality will probably continue to be intensely debated for years to come.

Debating Equality Today Throughout time, Americans have made great progress in expanding equality. Since the nation’s founding, constitutional amendments have been created that have abolished slavery (1865) and have guaranteed all American women suffrage, or the right to vote (1920). Many laws today ensure equal treatment of all citizens, regardless of age, gender, physical ability, national background, or race.

In 1848, a group of women used the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own Declaration of Sentiments on women’s rights, in which they declared that “all men and women are created equal.”

1. The First Founding Ideal: Equality “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

This view of equality, however, ignored the ranks below “freeman.” In 1776, there was no equality for the half million slaves who labored in the colonies, nor was there equality for women, who were viewed as inferior to men in terms of their ability to participate in society.

When Jefferson wrote these words, this “truth” was anything but self-evident, or obvious. Throughout history, almost all societies had been divided into unequal groups, castes, or social classes. Depending on the location and time, the divisions were described in different terms, such as patricians and plebeians, lords and serfs, nobles and commoners, or masters and slaves. Wherever one looked, some people had far more wealth and power than others, and equality, or the ideal situation in which all people are treated the same way and valued equally, was the exception, not the rule.

Achieving equality, however, has been a tremendous struggle. This photograph shows a woman, some 60 years later, still marching for the right to vote. For much of American history, African Americans have been treated as less than equal to whites. This was understood by the participants of this civil rights march in Washington, D.C., in 1963. Their signs reminded the nation that each individual in our society should be treated with equal respect.

Defining Equality in 1776 For many Americans of Jefferson’s time, the ideal of equality was based on the Christian belief that all people are equal in God’s eyes. The colonists believed they were rooting this ideal in American soil, since they shunned Europe’s social system, with its many ranks of nobility, and prided themselves on having “no rank above that of freeman.”

The idea that people have certain rights, or powers or privileges granted to people either by an agreement among themselves or by law, would have seemed self-evident to most Americans in Jefferson’s day. Because they lived in British colonies, Americans believed that they were entitled to the “rights of Englishmen.” These rights, such as the right to a trial by jury or to be taxed only with the people’s consent, had been established gradually over hundreds of years. The colonists believed, with some legitimacy, that having these rights set them apart from other peoples in the world.

The debate over what rights our government should pre serve began more than two centuries ago, with the writing of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and continues to this day. The Constitution (and its amend ments) specifies many basic rights, including the right to vote, to speak freely, to choose one’s faith, and to receive fair treatment and equal justice under the law. However, some people argue that the government should also protect certain economic and social rights, such as the right to affordable health care or to a clean of rights be expanded to include new privileges, or are there limits to the number of rights a government can protect? Either way, who should decide which rights are right for today?

Debating Rights Today

2. The Second Founding Ideal: Rights

Shouldenvironment.ourdefinition

Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals 11

Defining Rights in 1776 Jefferson, however, was not referencing specific legal or political rights when he wrote of “unalienable rights.” Instead, he intended this phrase to address rights so basic and so essential to being human that no government should deny them. Such rights were not, in his opinion, limited to the privileges won by the English people, but were rights belonging to all humankind. This universal definition of rights was strongly influenced by the English philosopher John Locke, who had argued that all people earned certain natural rights simply by being born. Writing a century earlier, Locke identified these natural rights as the rights to life, liberty, and property, and further debated that the main purpose of governments was to preserve and protect these rights. When a government failed in this duty, citizens had the right to overthrow it.

This celebration of the Bill of Rights was painted by Polish American artist Arthur Szyk in 1949, and includes a number of Revolutionary War-era symbols, such as flags, Minutemen, and America’s national bird, the bald eagle. Szyk wanted his work to promote human rights. “Art is not my aim,” he maintained, “it is my means.”

Every year, millions visit the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historic Park. The huge bell was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1753, and its every peal was meant to proclaim “liberty throughout all the land.” Badly cracked and battered, the bell is now silent; however, it remains a beloved symbol of freedom.

“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Defining Liberty in 1776 Liberty was defined differ ently by different colonists. For many, liberty meant political freedom, or the right to participate in public affairs. Additionally, it meant civil liberty, or protection from power of the government to interfere in people’s lives. Other colonists perceived liberty as moral and religious freedom. In reality, liberty meant all of this and Regardlessmore. of how colonists defined liberty, the majority agreed on one point: the opposite of liberty was slavery. “Liberty or slavery is now the question,” declared a colonist arguing for independence in 1776. Such conversation raised a disturbing question: If so many Americans were angry about liberty, what should this mean for the one-fifth of the colonial population who labored as slaves? On the controversial issue of slavery in a land of liberty, there was no consensus.

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Debating Liberty Today If asked to define liberty today, most Americans would probably respond that it means the freedom to make choices about who we are, what we believe, and how we live. For people to maintain complete freedom, there must be no restrictions on how they think, speak, or act. Furthermore, they must be conscious of what their choices are and have the power to decide among those choices. However, most Americans would prob ably also agree that liberty is not absolute, and that in all societies, there are limitations on liberty. Americans are not, for example, free to ignore laws or to recklessly endanger others.

3. The Third Founding Ideal: Liberty

Precisely how liberty should be limited is a matter of debate. For example, most of us support freedom of speech, especially when it coincides with speech we agree with. But what about speech that we disagree with or that hurts others, such as hate speech? Should people be at liberty to say anything they please, no matter how hurtful it is to others, or should liberty be limited at times to serve a greater good? If so, who should decide how, why, and under what circum stances liberty should be limited?

When Jefferson started writing the Declaration, the colonists had been at war with Britain for more than a year—a war waged in the name of liberty, or freedom. Every colony had its liberty trees, its liberty poles, its Sons and Daughters of Liberty (groups organizing against the British), and its flags that proclaimed “Liberty or Death.” A recently arrived British immi grant to Maryland said of the colonists, “They are all liberty mad.”

Debating Opportunity Today

Defining Opportunity in 1776 The idea that America was a land of opportu nity was as old as the colonies themselves. Very soon after colonist John Smith first arrived in Jamestown in 1607, he proclaimed that here “every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land.” Although Jamestown did not live up to this promise, opportunity was the great lure that drew colonists across the Atlantic to pursue new lives in a new land.

More than two hundred years after the Declaration of Independence was penned and signed, the ideal of opportunity still draws newcomers to our shores. For most, economic opportunity and the hope of finding work at a decent wage is the most substantial draw. For others, oppor tunity means the chance to reunite families, acquire an education, or live in peace by escaping poor conditions in other countries.

For all Americans, the ideal of opportunity raises important ques tions. Has the United States offered equal opportunity to all of its people, or have some enjoyed more opportunity to pursue their dreams than others? Is it enough to “level the playing field” so that everyone has the same chance to succeed in life, or should special efforts be made to expand opportunities for the least fortunate among us?

“That among these [rights] are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

4. The Fourth Founding Ideal: Opportunity

The destiny that Jefferson imagined was one of endless opportunity, or the chance for people to pursue their hopes and dreams.

Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals 13

Horatio Alger Jr., author of Strive and Succeed, wrote more than 100 “dime novels” in the late 1800s. Many of these inexpensive books were about opportunity, like this one titled Luck and Pluck. Many people come to America searching for opportunities to achieve the American dream, or the concept that people can become successful through hard work, courage, and concern for others.

The change was significant and very American . . . The kings and poten tates, the powers and principalities of this world [would not] have thought of including “happiness” among the rights of a people . . . except for a select and fortunate few. The great mass of people were doomed to labor by the sweat of their brows, tirelessly and ceaselessly, simply in order to survive . . . It was an inspiration on Jefferson’s part to replace [property] with “pursuit of happiness” . . . It embedded in the opening sentences of the declaration that comparatively new . . . idea that a life of weary toil . . . was not the only possible destiny of “the people.”

—Page Smith, A New Age Now Begins, 1976

Something curious happened to John Locke’s definition of natural rights in Jefferson’s hands. Locke had included property as the third and final right in his list, but Jefferson replaced property with “the pursuit of Happiness.” The noted American historian Page Smith observed of this decision,

First, could democracy be adjusted to function in a country spread over more than 1,000 miles? In 1776, many people were unsure that it could be done.

5. The Fifth Founding Ideal: Democracy “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The right to vote is so instrumental to a democracy that most Americans today think little about it. For much of our history, however, this right was denied to women and most African Americans because their “consent” was not considered important to those who governed.

Debating Democracy Today The debate regarding who should speak for the governed was long and arduous. It took women more than a century of tenacious struggle to attain voting rights, and democracy was denied to many minority groups for even longer. Today, the right to vote is universal for all American citizens over the age of 18.

Despite having gained the right to vote, many people today do not use it, and their lack of participation raises challenging and compelling questions. Why do so many Americans choose not to make their voices heard? Can democracy survive if large numbers of citizens decide not to participate in public affairs?

Lesson 214

The second question was this: Who should speak for “the governed”? In colonial times, only white, adult, property-owning men were permitted to vote or hold office, and this narrow definition of voters did not please many Americans. “How can a Man be said to [be] free and independent,” protested citizens of Massachusetts in 1778, “when he has not a voice allowed him” to vote? As for women, their voices were not yet considered in any way.

In these few words, Jefferson described the basis of a democracy—a system of government founded on the simple principle that the power to rule derives from the consent of the governed. Power is not inherited by family mem bers, as in a monarchy, nor is it seized and exercised forcefully, as in a dictatorship. In a democracy, the people retain the power to select their leaders and influence the laws that govern them.

Defining Democracy in 1776 The people had run their local governments for many generations, so colonists were familiar with the workings of democracy. In town meetings and colonial assem blies, colonists had learned to collaborate to solve common problems. They were confident that democracy worked on a small scale, but two questions remained.

Rights

Democracy

Throughout our history, Americans have been inspired and guided by the ideals in the Declaration of Independence—equality, rights, liberty, opportunity, and democracy.

The Declaration states that we are all born with “certain unalienable Rights.” Exactly what these rights should be has been the subject of never-ending debates.

6. In Pursuit of America’s Ideals

“Ideals are like stars,” observed Carl Schurz, a German American politician in the late 1800s. “You will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the ocean desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and, following them, you reach your destiny.” In this program, the ideals found in the Declaration of Independence will serve as your guiding stars. You will encounter these ideals repeatedly—sometimes as points of pride, sometimes as prods to progress, and sometimes as sources of sorrow.

One of the rights mentioned in the Declaration is liberty—the right to speak, act, think, and live freely. However, liberty is never absolute or unlimited. Defining the proper limits and restrictions to liberty is a constant challenge to a free people.

Opportunity This ideal lies at the heart of the “American dream.” Additionally, it raises difficult questions about how the U.S. government should promote equal opportunities for all Americans.

Summary

Each generation has struggled with these ideals, and the narrative of their conflict lies at the heart of our nation’s history and who we are as Americans.

Equality

Defining and Debating America’s Founding Ideals 15

Soon after the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, it appointed a committee to design an official seal for the United States. The final design appears on the back of the one-dollar bill. One side displays an American bald eagle holding symbols of peace and war, with the eagle facing toward peace. The other depicts an unfinished pyramid, symbolizing strength and endurance. Perhaps another reason for the unfinished pyramid was to illustrate that a nation built on ideals is a work in progress. As long as our found ing ideals endure, the United States will constantly be striving to meet them.

The Declaration of Independence asserts that “all men are created equal.” During the past two centuries, this definition of equality has broadened to include women and minority groups. However, Americans continue to debate the role of government in promoting equality today.

Living up to these ideals has never been a simple task, as ideals represent the absolute highest standards, and human beings are far too complex to easily achieve such perfection. No one illustrates that complexity more clearly than Jefferson.

The front of the Great Seal features a bald eagle and a shield with 13 red and white stripes, representing the original 13 states. The scroll in the eagle’s beak contains our national motto, E Pluribus Unum, which means “Out of Many, One,” referring to the creation of one nation from 13 states.

Although Jefferson believed passionately in the Declaration’s ideals, he was a slaveholder. Hypocritically, equality and liberty stopped at the borders of his Virginia plantation. Jefferson’s pursuit of happiness depended on depriving the people who labored for him as slaves the right to pursue happiness of their own.

Liberty

The Declaration of Independence states that governments are created by people in order to “secure these rights.” Governments receive their “just powers” to rule from the “consent of the governed.” Today, we define such governments as democracies.

Introduction In late 1606, three small ships crammed with about 105 men and boys set sail from England across the Atlantic. These colonists sought, as described by the lyrics of a song, “to get the pearl and gold” in “Virginia, Earth’s only paradise.” They were lured by visions of riches—gold, silver, gems—and the promise of daring adventures.

How has geography influenced the development of the United States?

Lesson Setting3

This picture depicts the wives of settlers arriving at the low, swampy peninsula of Jamestown. Today, the original site of Jamestown no longer rests on a peninsula, but on an island since the site was cut off from the mainland by tidal currents of the James River.

The story of Jamestown’s struggle for survival illustrates how geography can affect human events. The North American continent, with its abundant resources, offered the promise of opportunity to all who migrated to its shores. However, as the Jamestown colonists discovered, this new land also presented those who came with countless obstacles to overcome. In this lesson, you will begin to understand how geography has helped shape the course of American history, from the arrival of the first Americans to the present day. Geographicthe Stage

Four months later, the travel-weary settlers finally sailed into Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. Their first impressions of Virginia exceeded expectations. One voyager wrote of “fair meadows and goodly tall trees, with such fresh waters running through the woods as I was almost ravished at [carried away by] the first site thereof.” The settlers chose a site on the James River, which they named for their king, where they established Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in North America. One of the colony’s leaders, John Smith, declared the site “a very fit place for the erecting of a great city.” Smith could not have been more wrong. The swampy ground was infested with mosquitoes and lacked clean drinking water. By the first winter, more than half the settlers had died of sickness and starvation. Moreover, the “gold” they found proved to be iron pyrite, a common mineral also called “fool’s gold.” Although the hoped-for “land of opportunity” had turned out to be a land of daunting challenges, the infant colony survived, due in large part to Smith’s leadership and the help of local Indians, who brought the settlers food.

Early explorers of North America were enamored with the beauty of the James River in Virginia.

For centuries, the Rocky Mountains, with their impressive peaks and rugged passes, blocked east-west movement across the continent.

Blessings and Barriers

Because water was the fastest way to transport goods and people in the nation’s early days, cities were established along internal waterways—such as New Orleans on the Mississippi River and Chicago on Lake Michigan.

The Mississippi River is a major north-south transportation route. Ships that travel along it carry farm products, raw materials, and factory goods, among other products.

Today, the United States measures more than 3 million square miles in area, in which lies extremely varied physical features. The country includes almost all types of landforms, from mountains and valleys to plains and plateaus. Additionally, it has many bodies of water, from enormous lakes and major riv ers to tidewater marshes and swampy bayous. Since humans first arrived, these physical features have influenced patterns of migration and settlement.

Lesson 318

The land and its resources have attracted people and helped influence their ways of life for thousands of years. North America’s earliest people came to the continent tens of thousands of years ago, following animals they hunted. Their descendants spread across the continent and devel oped ways of life suited to the land’s varied environments. Some groups also shaped their environment to meet their needs—for example, they used fire to keep cleared areas of forest open.

Similar to these early groups, whom we now call American Indians, settlers from Europe found that the nation’s physical features influenced where and how they lived. In the 1500s, the Spanish began settling the Southwest and Southeast in search of gold. Once there, they stayed to run farms and mines. Starting in the 1600s, English colonists adapted to the land and its climate as they began their new lives in North America. For example, the Southeast’s broad coastal plain, with its plentiful rainfall and warm temperature, was ideal for farms, while the Northeast’s natural harbors developed into centers of trade and commerce.

Although the land has lured people for thousands of years, it has also posed challenges. For example, the Appalachian Mountains in the East, the Rocky Mountains in the West, and the deserts in the Southwest have been natural barriers to travel and settlement. Harsh climate conditions, poor soil, and lack of water have made living difficult or even impossible in some areas of the country. As you study American history, look for the effect the land has had on the nation’s development.

Although today the Great Plains region supports agricultural activity, early pioneers would not have believed it possible. They called the grassy, dry region the Great American Desert, and Americans did not significantly develop or inhabit the Great Plains until railroads were extended across the country in the late 1800s.

1. A Vast, Varied Land: Physical Features of the United States

Setting the Geographic Stage 19 The elevation profile at right shows a cross-section of the United States. How do you think the physical features of the United States affected settlement patterns? ROCKYMOUNTAINSSIERRANEVADA GREATPLAINS APPALACHIANMOUNTAINSGREA T BA SI N CENTRALPLAINS CANAD A MEXICO CASCADEMOUNTAINS Gulf of Me xico ColoradoR. RioGrande Missouri R. OhioR. OntarioLake iiMssssippiR. MkLaeichigan LakeHuron Lake Superior LakeErie A TLANTICOCEAN PAOCEANCIFIC 0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi. 0500 km 0 250 50 0 mi 0200 km 0100 20 0 mi Feet Over 10,0 00 5,0 Below1,02,001–10,00001–5,00001–2,0000–1,000sealevel Meters Over Below0–305306–61611,526–3,0503,0501–1,5250sealevel Elevation TCI7 28 Physical Features of the U.S. cyanThirdUSH_SE_03-2E.epsproofmagentayellow black 10 , 000 5, 000 (feet)Elevation s)(meterElevation 0 3,0481,524 15 , 000 04,572Se a LevelPACIFICOCEAN ATLANTICOCEAN MCascadeountainsRo ck y M ountains Great Plains hian 45°N Latitude0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi. TCI7 Elevation27 Profile of the U.S. BlacUSH_SE_03_2DkCyanMagenta Yellow Second Proof Physical Geography of the United States Today

The abundance of natural resources in the United States has long made it a land of opportunity. Soil, forests, wildlife, and minerals have provided the basis for economic activity since ancient peoples migrated to North America from Asia. Their descendants developed ways of life suited to local resources. Some tribes followed bison on the Great Plains, while others developed economies based on woodland game, marine mammals, or fish from rivers or oceans. Still others relied on the land itself, clearing trees and diverting waterways to farm the land.

The first colonists’ inability to locate these precious minerals had a profound effect on the historical development of the United States. One historian argued, One of the greatest factors in making land in North America so important was that settlers along the Atlantic Coast failed to find sources of quick mineral riches; consequently they turned to the slower processes of agriculture to gain livelihoods. Farming, from the beginning, became the main way of American frontier—Thomaslife.

Using the Land Itself: Farming Dazzled by stories of gold in Mexico and silver in Peru, the Jamestown colonists expected to find these precious metals in Virginia. To their surprise, they discovered none and thus reluctantly turned to farming, growing crops for both subsistence and export.

When colonists arrived in North America, most of England had already been deforested. Colonists established logging operations to provide wood for shipbuilding, home construction, and furniture making. American forests still provide lumber for these purposes, as well as for export to other countries.

Lesson 320

In 1848, the discovery of gold in California triggered a worldwide “gold fever.” Treasure hunters from as far away as Europe and China raced to the gold fields in hopes of striking it rich.

D. Clark, Frontier America, 1969 By frontier, Clark was referring to the land still unknown to, and undevel oped by, the colonists. Once colonists began to prosper by farming, the lure of western farmland drew explorers and then settlers across the Appalachians to the fertile interior plains. Even today, commercial agriculture in this region of the United States produces a significant portion of the world’s crops.

2. A Land of Plenty: Natural Resources of the United States

Resources of the Woods, Seas, and Subsoil Regions of our country that do not have good farmland are rich in other resources. New England’s rocky soil and cold winters limited farming to a small scale. So, New Englanders built their economy on the resources of the forest and sea by exporting dried fish and whale oil and using their abundant timber to build fishing boats and merchant ships. This successful shipbuilding industry, as well as the area’s sheltered harbors, made New England the center of trade with other countries.

Oil prospectors erected derricks to hold the equipment to drill oil wells. Oklahoma’s oil reserves are among the largest in the nation.

Although Virginia did not have the precious metals the colonists had hoped for, other parts of the country did contain mineral resources. As the United States expanded across the continent in the 1800s, settlers found copper, lead, gold, silver, nickel, and zinc far beneath the soil. These minerals became both a source of wealth and the raw materials for American factories to produce an astonishing array of goods. Today, every state has an active mining industry, even tiny Rhode Island and tropical Hawaii. The energy resources of the United States have played a critical role in the country’s economic development. Large reserves of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, contributed to the United States becoming an industrial giant in the 1800s, and these fuels continue to provide energy for industry and transpor tation. Water is another important source of energy, as about 6.5 percent of the country’s electric power was generated by waterpower in hydroelectric dams in 2016. Energy resources will continue to play a vital part in the nation’s future.

Setting the Geographic Stage 21

0 50 0 km 0 50 0 mi. 140°W70°N160°W 60°N A TLAN OCEANTIC PAOCEANCIFIC 30°N40°N20°N TropicofCancer60°W70°W 80°W90°W 100°W 130°W 120°W 110°W Tropic of Cancer 30°N 40°N Land ResourcesUseHunting and gathering Commercial farming Nomadic herding Livestock LittlemanufacturingTradeForestryCommercialraisingﬁshingandornoactivityCoalHydroelectricpowerIronNaturalgasPetroleum(oil)Preciousmetals(gold,silver,copper)Uranium155°W160°W20°N0 20 0 km 0100 20 0 mi. N SEW 0 1,0 00 kilometers 0 1,000 miles Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection 50 0 50 0 Economic Activity of the United States Today

3. A Growing Population: From Farms to Cities

Cities respond to population growth in various ways. Los Angeles, California, has sprawled outward in lowrise suburbs. Angelinos, as the locals are called, depend on a complex network of highways to maneuver around their spread-out city.

Growth of Cities Despite Jefferson’s high opinion of farmers, the United States would not remain a strictly rural nation. Colonial cities like Boston and Philadelphia began as trading centers at transportation crossroads. As they grew, they became centers of wealth, attracting skilled artisans, professional people, and workers from near and far. As American settlers moved west, cities developed across the landscape. Physical features influenced where cities sprouted, and ease of access was one key to the birth of cities. St. Louis, Missouri, for example, developed at the juncture of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers because its location made it a logical place for the exchange and shipment of farm products, raw materials, and finished products. In the 1800s, improvements to transportation—such as roads, canals, steamships, and railroads—linked cities to the outside world and contributed to their expansion.

St. Louis, Missouri, owes its early growth to its location near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. In the early 1800s, St. Louis served as the gateway to the West for explorers, fur traders, and settlers.

As historian Arthur Schlesinger observed, “The city, no less than the frontier, has been a major factor in American civilization.” Urban centers of population and industry led to the growth of wealth and political power. Additionally, such centers support arts and culture, technological innovations, and the exchange of ideas.

Lesson 322

In 1790, the United States held its first census, or official count of its population, in which about 3.9 million people were counted. Of that total, only about 5 percent—roughly 195,000 people—lived in towns or cities with more than 2,500 people. The rest lived spread out on farms or in small villages, which seemed fitting to Thomas Jefferson since his ideal nation was one that included independent farmers.

In the late 1800s, better transportation encouraged the concentration of industries in cities. These new industries, fueled by abundant natural resources, increased the population of cities. The economic opportunity in cities drew migrants from small towns and farms, as well as large numbers of immigrants from other countries.

Salt Lake City Denver Vancouver Calgary Ottawa IndianapolisCleveland Kansas City San Antonio El Paso Las Vegas MinneapolisMilwaukee New OrleansTampaPittsburgh Portland St. LouisNashvilleCincinnatiCharlotteJacksonvilleSan Diego San Francisco Detroit DallasHouston Atlanta PhiladelphiaBostonToronto Miami Phoenix Seattle Montréal Los Angeles New York Chicago Washington A TLAN OCEANTIC PAOCEANCIFIC 30°N40°N20°N TropicofCancer60°W70°W80°W90°W100°W110°W 130°W 120°W 140°W 130°WTropicofCancer30°N20°N40°N 70°N140°W160°W 60°N 0 50 0 km 0 50 0 mi. Per sq. km Over Under1–1010–5050–1001001 Population Density Per sq. mi. Over125–25025025–1252–25Under2UrbanNumberPopulationofPeople Over 1,000,000–4,000,0004,000,000–8,000,0008,000,000 N SEW 0 1,000 kilometers 0 1,000 miles Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection 50 0 50 0 155°W160°W20°N0 20 0 km 0100 20 0 mi. The Population of the United States Today

U.S. Population Today

Setting the Geographic Stage 23

Chicago, Illinois, has responded to population growth by building vertically as well as horizontally. Downtown Chicago is famous for its soaring skyscrapers. Hundreds of thousands of people stream into this area on weekdays to work and shop, many arriving on elevated Populationtrains.density is a measure of the number of people who live in a given unit of area. In the United States, metropolitan areas, or large cities and their neighboring cities and towns, are areas with a population of 2,500 or more.

From 1870 to 1920, the number of people living in U.S. cities increased from 6.7 million to more than 29 million. Population growth continued over the next 100 years, and by 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the nation’s population at 308.7 million. About 84 percent of the population lived in metropolitan areas. The commerce and industry that these city populations generate contribute significantly to the status of the United States as one of the world’s economic giants.

Lesson 324

Regions and History Why is it important to understand the characteristics of American regions? To begin, regional differences have shaped American history and culture in significant ways. People who share regional goals, concerns, and a common livelihood can develop strong loyalties. These loyalties can cause division among regions. The most dramatic example of divided regional loyalties occurred during the American Civil War, which erupted over regional economic and political differences between North and South. Long after the war was over, regional loyalty remained strong among many Southerners.

Additionally, regions provide us with a useful way to study the history of a country as large and diverse as the United States. Although regional differences may cause tension, our diversity as a nation is one of our greatest strengths. Our economy relies on the varied physical resources of our vast land, and our democracy has benefited from the diverse backgrounds and concerns of people in different regions. As you study American history, pay attention to how each region developed. Consider its issues and interests, and look for ways that its interaction with other regions influenced the course of events in our country.

The United States is comprised of 50 separate states, each with its own gov ernment. The divisions between states are political boundaries—governmentdefined borders with exact locations. Yet when Americans think about their country, they also divide it into unofficial regions, or geographic areas defined by one or more characteristics that set them apart from other areas. A region may be as large as a continent or as small as a city neighborhood characterized by a distinct economic activity, style of home, food or culture, or ethnic group.

If you quickly glanced over today’s American landscape, you would notice remarkable similarities among the country’s different regions. From coast to coast, you see the same restaurants, stores, highways, movies, and television programs. A more thorough look, however, reveals that each region of the country has its own unique identity. Physical features, climate, and natural resources have significantly influenced each region’s economy and settlement patterns. Arid and semiarid regions, for instance, tend to be sparsely settled because they lack adequate water for farming and industry.

4. United and Divided: Regions and American History

A region’s “personality” also reflects its population because the traditions and culture of the people living in a region give it its own particular flavor. For example, each region has its own characteristic foods, such as spicy burritos in the Southwest and clam chowder in the Northeast. Each region also has its own speech patterns, building styles, and festivals, to name merely a few elements of regional identity.

A region’s geographic, economic, and cultural factors also shape its needs and wants. As a result, people within a region often share similar points of view and pursue similar political goals. For example, people in an agricultural region often want to protect the interests of farmers, while those in a manufacturing region tend to support the interests of their industries. In this way, people’s political ideologies can be shaped by the regions in which they have lived.

Regional Identity

Setting the Geographic Stage 25 30° 40N °N 20° TropicN ofCancer 70° 80W ° 90W ° 100W ° 110W ° 120W ° 130W °W70°W60° 155W ° 16W 0°W 20° 1N 40° 160W ° 180W ° 40° 30N °N70° 60N °N MEXICOCANADAWA OR CA ID NV MTWY AZUT NDSDNEKSNMCO OK TX HI AK MNIA MOARLAWI IL INMI OH TNKY MS AL GA FLSC PANCNY ME VTNH CTRI NJ DEMD VA WV MA Gulf of Me xico A TLANTICOCEAN PAOCEANCIFIC 0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi. 0500 km 0 250 50 0 mi 0200 km 0100 20 0 mi WNSE Northeast: New England Northeast: The Mid-Atlantic Southeast RoSoMidwestuthwestckyMountains Pacific Regions of the United States Today PacificSouthwest Rocky MidwestMountains Mid-Atlantic New England Southeast

0°30°W 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E 150°E 180° 0° 30°N 30°S 60°S 60°N 60° 90W ° 120W ° 150W °W A TLANTICOCEAN PA PAOCEANCIFICCIFICOCEAN PAOCEANCIFIC 0 1,50 0 3,000 km 0 1,50 0 3,000 mi. N S WE OCEANCIFIC AMERICASOUTH EUROPEAFRICA ASIA AU STRALIA ANTARCTICA AMERICANORTH TCI7 32 Political Boundaries of the World cyanThirdUSH_SE_03-6A.epsproofmagentayellow black Continents of the World Today

Territorial Expansion While President Washington wanted no part of political intrigues abroad, he foresaw that the new nation would have to interact with the world beyond its borders in other ways. In order to expand, the United States, at various times, negotiated with other countries for more territory. In 1803, the United States purchased enough land from France to double the nation’s size. Within several decades, it had acquired Florida from Spain and the Oregon Territory from Great Britain. In 1869, the United States agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia. The Hawaiian Islands became U.S. territory three decades later.

Lesson 326

5. One Continent, Two Oceans: The United States and the World Geography has played a significant role in how Americans interact with the rest of the world. Over 3,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean separate the United States from Europe, and the distance across the Pacific Ocean to Asia is twice as far. In the nation’s infancy, it took weeks or even months for news to travel across these seas. As a result, what happened beyond U.S. shores was of little interest to most Americans. They heeded George Washington’s farewell advice to “steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”

Foreign Trade

Setting the Geographic Stage 27

During the 1900s, the United States developed trade relationships with coun tries around the world. By the second half of the 20th century, globalization the process by which cultures, economies, and politics of nations around the world become integrated—had taken hold. Today, the United States is a leader of the global economy and maintains trade relationships with most other countries in the world.

Natural resources

Regions Different parts of the United States have developed their own regional identities. At times, regional differences have threatened national unity, but they have also enriched American life and culture.

Population Over more than two centuries, the U.S. population has grown from fewer than 4 million to over 300 million. Urbanization has rapidly turned the nation into a country of cities.

World leader The Atlantic and Pacific oceans could have isolated the United States from events elsewhere in the world. However, interactions with other nations, through territorial expansion, immigration, and globalization, have helped make the United States a world leader.

Summary

Almost every type of landform and body of water exists in the United States. Some have stood as barriers to movement, and others have proved to be suitable locations for settlement, offering a variety of economic opportunities.

Despite the country’s isolated location between two oceans, Americans have always engaged in international commerce. Even the original colonists traded products across the Atlantic. The first settlers at Jamestown eventually built their economy around shipping tobacco to England for sale. By 1750, the colonies were producing a variety of cash crops for sale overseas. Soon after the American Revolution, Americans began trading with Asia. As the country industrialized during the 1800s, foreign trade also expanded. Agricultural products still led U.S. exports, but manufactured goods and natural resources, such as iron ore, were shipped abroad for sale as well. Americans were also buying a wide array of imported goods, from Chinese tea to English teapots.

North America’s physical geography has played various roles in the course of U.S. history. The land’s size, landforms, natural resources, and location have all influenced the nation’s historical, cultural, and economic development.

The land of the United States offers an abundance of natural resources, which have helped the country establish and sustain itself. Resources such as fertile soil, forests, minerals, and fossil fuels have shaped the economies and cultures of the United States.

Not all territories integrated into the United States peacefully. The original 13 states were formed in the American Revolution against Great Britain. Winning a war with Mexico in the mid-19th century added Texas and the American Southwest to the United States, at which point the country spanned the continent of North America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

Physical features

1607–1754

The Mayflower passengers established Plymouth Colony, the second English foothold in North America, after Jamestown. Bradford, who became Plymouth’s governor, described the Separatists as pilgrims, or people on a religious journey, which is how they are known today. Over the next century and a half, thousands of people would follow them across the Atlantic. For many, though not for all, this settlement would offer liberty, opportunity, and the chance for a new life.

This painting depicts the signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620. The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals How did the colonial period help shape America’s five founding ideals?

About one-third of the passengers were English Protestant Separatists who had come seeking religious freedom. These Separatists had broken away from the Church of England and fled to Holland, fearing persecution because they had formed their own church. They later received permission to settle in Virginia.

Introduction In 1620, a group of 102 passengers were gathered on the Mayflower, a small ship anchored off the coast of Massachusetts. They had traveled from England to join the colony already established in Virginia. However, storms had blown their ship off course, carrying them hundreds of miles north to Cape Cod. Worn out by their journey, they decided to settle in Massachusetts.

Lesson 4

In this painting, colonists step ashore at Plymouth after disembarking from the Mayflower. They brought few possessions with them, so they would have to find or create almost everything they needed to survive. Their settlement would become part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Other Mayflower passengers were simply seeking the opportunity to own land in America. According to Separatist leader William Bradford, some of these “strangers” became rebellious as the ship neared Cape Cod. They said no one “had the power to command them,” as they were no longer bound by VirginiaFearinglaws.that a revolt could destroy the colony before it began, the Separatist leaders drew up an agreement known as the Mayflower Compact. The Separatists and the other passengers agreed to live in a “Civil Body Politic,” and obey “just and equal Laws” enacted by representatives of their choosing “for the general good of the Colony.” This was the first written framework for self-government in what is now the United States.

Lesson 430 William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was one of the few colonial leaders who treated American Indians with some fairness. This painting shows him signing a treaty with a tribe with the goal of ensuring good relations with Indians in the colony.

The planting of colonies on the Atlantic shore triggered great changes. It brought together people from three continents—North America, Europe, and Africa—in ways that none of them were prepared for. For many, it revealed an enlightening new age of liberty, equality, and opportunity. For others, it brought a dark period of suffering and enslavement.

The 13 colonies that eventually became the United States were founded in different ways and for a variety of reasons. Virginia was founded by a private trading company. Some colonies, such as Pennsylvania, were founded by individual proprietors, or owners, who received large land grants from the king. New York was originally founded by the Dutch and later captured by the British. The New England colonies were started by English Protestants, who were called Puritans because they wanted to purify the Church of England. They wanted to create “a city upon a hill,” a more perfect society based on their religious beliefs. Georgia began as a home for the poor and criminals who were found guilty of not paying their debts.

Like the Jamestown settlement, almost all of the colonies faced hardships in the beginning. By 1700, however, most were thriving, although not always in ways that their founders had hoped. Most proprietors had expected to transplant the society they knew in England. In English society, a small upper class maintained most of the wealth and power. Meanwhile, the lower classes did most of the work, but had few of the rights and received few of the rewards.

The key to a better life was the abundance of land in the colonies. Land own ership increased economic opportunity and enabled colonists to escape a life of rigid inequality. As historian Eric Foner notes, “Land, English settlers believed, was the basis of liberty. Owning land gave men control over their own labor and, in most colonies, the right to vote.” Unfortunately, the colonists’ access to land correlated to a loss of liberty for American Indians and enslaved Africans.

The Lure of the American Colonies: Land and Liberty

Most colonists, however, wanted more opportunity. John Smith, a leader of the Jamestown settlement, observed that “no man will go from [England] to have less freedom” in America.

1. Limited Liberty, Opportunity, and Equality

Although slavery in the colonies began for economic reasons, it became firmly rooted in racism. Skin color became the defining trait of a slave. As one colonial government declared, “All Negro, mulatto [of mixed black and white ancestry], and Indian slaves within this dominion … shall be held to be real estate.” Laws established slavery as a lifetime condition, unless an owner granted freedom, and additionally defined children born of enslaved women as slaves.Phillis Wheatley, a former slave who became one of the colonies’ bestknown poets, wrote of the yearning for freedom: “In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.” Although some African Americans escaped the bonds of slavery, freedom did not establish equality because, like American Indians, blacks were viewed as inferior to whites.

In 1619, a Dutch ship captain sold 20 captive Africans to colonists in Virginia. For the next several decades, small numbers of Africans were brought to the colonies. At first, they worked alongside white indentured servants. A few were even treated as indentured servants themselves, working to earn their freedom. The vast majority, however, were enslaved. Landowners’ dependency on slaves to meet their labor needs gradually increased. Eventually every colony legalized slavery, but most slaves toiled on plantations in the southern colonies. These were huge farms that required a large labor force to grow cash crops—crops sold for profit.

Colonial Population 2ndCUSHS_SE04_2B_02MYKProof European African 99% 1% 1630 Total population: 4,646 89% 11% 1700 Total population: 250,888 80% 20% 1750 Total population: 1,170,760 Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, D.C.: 1975.

The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals

In addition, settlers eventually stripped eastern tribes of most of their land through purchases, wars, and unfair treaties. A treaty is a formal agreement between two or more peoples or nations. The loss of land deprived American Indians of control over resources necessary to maintain their ways of life. Additionally, settlers rarely treated them as equals. Only a few colonial lead ers, notably William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, treated them fairly and purchased their land from them.

The land that drew colonists to America was already occupied. Initially, relations between native peoples and colonists were mutually beneficial. American Indians taught colonists to cultivate native crops like corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and tobacco, and also introduced colonists to useful inventions like canoes and snowshoes. In return, American Indians acquired goods from the colonists, such as iron tools, metal pots, guns, and woven cloth. However, the Europeans also unwittingly brought diseases that wiped out entire tribes and left others severely weakened.

This Dutch ship carried slaves to colonists in Virginia. Although landowners initially bought small numbers of slaves, colonists soon depended on slaves to help plantations profit. In the first half of the 1700s, the number of slaves brought to the English colonies rose from 5,000 to 45,000 a year. As these graphs indicate, the percentage of Africans in the colonial population greatly increased during this period as a result.

American Indians Suffer from Colonization

At first, some landowners met their labor needs through contracts with indentured servants, or poor English settlers who voluntarily gave up their freedom for three to seven years in exchange for passage to America. At the end of their contracts, they were released and given a payment known as “freedom dues.” However, employers complained that these servants were disrespectful and likely to run away—behavior they blamed on a “fondness for freedom.”

Freedom for Some, Slavery for Others Land was the main source of wealth in the American colonies. However, without labor to work it, land had little value. Many colonists bought their own small plots of land rather than work for others, so large landowners faced a severe labor shortage.

Lesson 432 0100 20 0 km 0100 20 0 mi. New England Colonies Middle Colonies Southern Colonies ToRiceCatWhalingShipbuildingLumberIronFuFishingrsworkstleandgrainandindigobaccoWNSE30° 35N ° 35N ° 40N ° 45N °N40° 45N ° 70N °W70° 75W ° 80W ° 85W °W75° 80W °W AT L ANTIC OCEAN LakeHuron LakeErie Lake Ontario SavannahR. JamesR HudsonR. ConnecticutR. ChamplainLakeSt.LawrenceR.Mohawk RDelawareR.SusquehannaR PotomacR. ChesapeakeBay Roanoke R CapeFearR. CatawbaR. KanawhaR. PamlicoSd. OhioR Georgia CarolinaSouth NorthViCarolinarginiaMarylandPennsylvania JeNewrsey IROQUOISLEAGUE Delaware New York Connecticut IslandRhode Massachusetts IslandLong HatterCapeas CodCape HampshireNewMaine(partofMA) A P P A LACHIAN MOUNTAINS Falmouth BostonNewburyporPortsmouthtNewport New Haven New York Perth Amboy New PhiladelphiaBurlingtonCastleStauntonAlexandriaYork WilliamsburgNorfolkHalifaxRichmondEdentonBaltimore HartfordSalemAlbany Salem Salisbury Camden Augusta Savannah CharlestonGeorgetown NewWilmingtonBernBathCross CreekCharlotte Hillsborough TCI7 Economic17 Opportunities in the Colonies BlacUSH_SE_04-2DkCyanMagenta Yellow Third Proof Economic Opportunities in the Colonies, 1770

The fertile valleys, the forests, and the sea supplied resources for New England’s mixed economy of farming, lumbering, fishing, shipbuilding, and trade.

Mayflower Compact (1620): First written framework for selfgovernment in North America New Hampshire Settled in 1623 by English andfishermenfarmers

The Middle Colonies

The rich soil of the Middle Colonies provided the foundation for an economy based on farming and livestock raising. Trade was important to such port cities as Philadelphia and New York.

Religious diversity: Showed that a colony could thrive with many religious sects New York Founded in 1625 by Dutch colonists as New Amsterdam Contribution to American ideals Zenger trial (1735): Established the right of freedom of the press in the colonies

Delaware Founded in 1638 by Swedish colonists as New Sweden Contribution to American ideals Ethnic diversity: Showed that peoples from many ethnic groups could live together as equals Pennsylvania Founded in 1682 by William Penn as a haven for English Quakers Contribution to American ideals Resolutions of the Germantown Mennonites (1688): First public protest against slavery in the colonies

Massachusetts Founded in 1620 by English Puritans seeking religious liberty (included Plymouth) Contribution to American ideals

New Jersey First settled by Dutch aroundcolonists1630 Contribution to American ideals

The Southern Colonies

The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals 33 The New England Colonies

Contribution to American ideals Town meetings: Served as training grounds for self-governmentdemocratic Connecticut Founded in 1636 by Puritan colonists from Massachusetts Contribution to American ideals Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638): First written constitution in the colonies Rhode Island Founded in 1636 by Roger Williams as a haven for all faiths Contribution to American ideals Charter of Rhode Island and PlantationsProvidence(1663): Gave religious freedom to people of all faiths

The warm, wet climate of the Southern Colonies made this region ideal for growing cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Virginia Founded in 1607 by English colonists seeking economic opportunity Contribution to American ideals Ordinance for Virginia (1619): Created the House of Burgesses, the first colonial legislative body Maryland Founded in 1634 by English colonists as a haven for Catholics Contribution to American ideals Act of TolerationReligious(1649): First colonial act allowing religious freedom for Christians North and South Carolina Founded in 1663 by eight English proprietors; became two separate colonies in 1729 Contribution to American ideals Revolt of 1719: An uprising against the rule of propri etors, leading to self-gov ernment in South Carolina

Georgia Founded in 1732 by James forOglethorpeEdwardasahavendebtorsandthepoor Contribution to American ideals Georgia Charter (1732): Created opportunity for English debtors and prisoners to start new lives in Georgia

Over time, the “rights of Englishmen” were expanded, but not without conflict. One such conflict was a bitter struggle between King James II and Parliament for control of the English government. In 1688, the king was forced to flee England after a bloodless change of power called the Glorious Revolution. The throne was offered to a Dutch prince, William of Orange, the husband of Princess Mary of England. Parliament then enacted the English Bill of Rights, which further limited the power of the monarch. Passed in 1689, this act confirmed that the power to tax rested only with Parliament. The act set forth individual rights, including the right to a trial by jury and to petition the government for redress of wrongs. It also protected English citizens from “cruel and unusual punishments.”

The “Rights of Englishmen” For the majority of colonists, the idea that people were entitled to certain rights and freedoms was rooted in English history. They traced that idea back to the signing of the Magna Carta, or Great Charter, in 1215. This agreement between King John and his rebellious barons listed rights granted by the king to “all the freemen of our kingdom.” Some of these rights established a system of justice based on due process of law. Under such a system, a government cannot deprive a person of life, liberty, or property except according to rules established by law.

The Magna Carta, signed by King John in 1215, limited the power of the English king. It guaranteed the rule of law, ensured that people could not be taxed without their consent, and helped establish the principle of basic rights for the English people.

Lesson 434

The Right to Self-Government English colonists brought these ideas about good government with them to America. Separated from England by 3,000 miles of ocean, they needed to develop laws suited to life in the colonies. At New England town meetings, for example, townspeople collaborated to discuss local issues and solve problems by themselves. Such meetings helped lay the early foundation for self-government in the colonies.

Hamilton’s Itinerarium: Being a Narrative of a Journey from May to September, 1744

In 1744, a doctor touring the colonies wrote of dining at a tavern with a very mixed company of different nations and religions. There were Scots, English, Dutch, Germans, and Irish; there were Roman Catholics, Churchmen, Presbyterians, Quakers, Newlightmen, Methodists, Seven Day men, Moravians, Anabaptists, and one Jew.

2. Colonial Rights and the Growth of Self-Government

For all the differences observed by this medical professional, these people shared a deep attachment to their rights and freedoms.

Furthermore, the king agreed not to make special demands for money without the consent of his barons—a provision that eventually led to the establishment of a legislature, or a group of people chosen to make laws. This English lawmaking body was called Parliament.

Additionally, the Magna Carta laid the foundation for the principle that people cannot be taxed except by their representatives in a legislature. Most importantly, the agreement clarified that the monarch was not above the law. In contrast, rulers elsewhere typically had unlimited power over their people.

For the colonists, self-government was local, with each colony operating independently of the others. In fact, the colonies were reluctant to cooperate even to face a common threat. In 1754, after war erupted in the Ohio Valley over rival French and British claims to land, Benjamin Franklin drafted the Albany Plan of Union, which proposed a confederation, or alliance, of the colonies for their own defense. Franklin could draw supporting evidence for this idea from ancient Greece, as well as an alliance of six American Indian tribes known as the Iroquois League, where tribal representatives met as a Grand Council to make laws, settle disputes, and plan military strategy. However, Franklin’s plan for a colonial Grand Council with the powers to tax and raise an army was quickly rejected. Parliament viewed a colonial confederation as a poten tial threat to its authority, and the colonies were unwilling to pursue the matter.

—Roger Williams, “Letter to the Town of Providence,” 1655

The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals

This drawing by Benjamin Franklin is consid ered the first political cartoon in American history. In it, Franklin compares the colonies’ lack of unity to a snake cut into pieces. He drew the cartoon to promote the Albany Plan of Union, but the plan failed to win support.

Seeking Freedom of Religion

Although colonists shared a belief in their right to self-government, they were divided by religion. In the early 1600s, the governments of most countries regarded religious diversity as a danger. The Puritans were not the only people who came to America to escape harassment in England for their unorthodox beliefs. Religious persecution also led to the founding of Maryland as a haven for Catholics and Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers. Some colonies, such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, had more religious diversity than others. Experience with religious persecution did not, however, lead to tolerance. Although the Puritans sought religious freedom for themselves, they refused to grant it to those who did not share their beliefs. In 1635, Puritan leaders in Massachusetts banished Roger Williams, a preacher, for holding “newe and dangerous opinions.” Williams continued on to found the colony of Rhode Island, where he welcomed colonists of all faiths. He firmly believed that freedom of religion, which he called “liberty of conscience,” was compatible with law and order. To emphasize his point, Williams used the example of a society aboard a ship at sea: There goes many a ship to sea, with … Papists [Catholics] and Protestants, Jews and Turks [Muslims] … I affirm, that all the liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns on these two hinges—that none of the Papists, Protestants, Jews, or Turks be forced to come to the ship’s prayers or worship, nor compelled [kept] from their own particular prayers or worship, if they practice any. I further add that I never denied, that notwithstand ing this liberty, the commander of this ship ought to command the ship’s course, yea, and also command that justice, peace, and sobriety be kept and practiced, both among the seamen and all the passengers.

Like Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for her religious belief that people did not need the Puritan church to worship God. Her beliefs angered church leaders, so she moved to Rhode Island and later relocated to New York in search of religious freedom.

Over time, each colony elected a legislature. The first was Virginia’s House of Burgesses, formed in 1619. The colonial legislatures were hardly models of democracy since only white, male landowners could elect representa tives. In many colonies, a person had to own a certain amount of property in order to vote. Nevertheless, the legislatures reflected a belief in self-government and affirmed the principle that the colonists could not be taxed except by their elected representatives in legislatures.

In the colonies, newspaper publishers who criticized governors risked being imprisoned. To defend their actions, publishers argued that “there can be … no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.”

Elsewhere, religious prejudice was slow to fade. When Quakers came to Virginia, the House of Burgesses tried to drive them out by making it illegal to be “loving to Quakers.” In 1649, the proprietor of Maryland attempted to end quarreling between Catholics and Protestants by enacting the Act of Religious Toleration, which declared that Christians could not be “troubled” in any way for practicing their religion. However, the law did not apply to non-Christians. Although Jews were usually allowed to worship and work in peace, they suffered from prejudice in most colonies and generally did not have the right to vote or hold office.

This etching depicts the trial of John Peter Zenger, the printer of the New York Weekly Journal in New York, where he was accused of libel. His eloquent lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, got him acquitted and, in the process, established a precedent for freedom of the press.

Lesson 436

The Right to Free Expression: The Zenger Trial Governments on both sides of the Atlantic feared freedom of expression in the people that they governed. Even though colonies had their own legislatures, they were also subject to rule by governors appointed by the king. Following English practice for royal officials, these governors did not support colonists’ freedom of expression.

In 1734, John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, was arrested for publishing “seditious libels”—rebellious statements that are false or damaging—about the governor of New York. At the trial, the judge instructed the jury to consider only whether Zenger had published the damaging remarks without regard to their truthfulness. In addition, Zenger’s attorney, Andrew Hamilton, asked the jury to consider whether the remarks were true, arguing that a free people should “have a right publicly to remonstrate against the abuses of power in the strongest terms.” The jury found Zenger not guilty, and he was freed. The verdict in the 1735 Zenger trial helped promote the idea that the press should have the freedom to print the truth, and that this freedom is a right that should be protected. In this way, the Zenger trial verdict established a precedent for freedom of the press in the colonies.

The Colonial Roots of America’s Founding Ideals

The Right to Think Freely: The Great Awakening The Zenger trial occurred during a period of religious revival known as the Great Awakening. Beginning in the 1730s, traveling preachers toured the colonies, attracting massive crowds to their emotional gatherings. Critics of this revival declared that the preachers were encouraging disrespect for “the established church and her ministers”— and they were right. As historian Curtis Nettels observed in 1963, The Great Awakening popularized the idea that the truth was to be found by each person in the Bible—not in man-made laws, sermons, or creeds.

Many settlers were attracted to the colonies by the opportunity to acquire land, and saw land ownership as the basis of liberty. Those who could acquire enough land could enjoy the rewards of their labor and gain the right to vote.

American Indians Opportunity for colonists came at a high cost for American Indians, who lost their land and suffered from diseases brought from Europe by the colonists.

Slavery The first African slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619. Eventually, slavery spread to every colony. However, the majority of slaves worked on southern plantations.

Although the Great Awakening was concerned mainly with spiritual mat ters, it also had a broader impact, as Nettels suggested. It encouraged people to question authority and think for themselves. One revival preacher proclaimed, “The common people claim as good a right to judge and act for themselves in matters of religion as civil rulers or the learned clergy.” As the colonists became more comfortable thinking freely about religious matters, they would also begin to think and speak more freely about political matters.

Following Virginia’s House of Burgesses, each colony established its own government with an elected legislature. Rejection of the Albany Plan of Union illustrated that each colony cherished running its own affairs.

Freedom of religion Many religious groups, such as Puritans, Quakers, Catholics, and Jews, arrived in search of religious freedom. The Maryland Act of Religious Toleration recognized the need to accept religious differences.

Between 1607 and 1733, English settlers established 13 colonies in North America. The development of colonial economies and governments demonstrated that the ideals on which the United States would be founded had begun to take root. However, those ideals were still far from being realized.

The Rights of Englishmen English colonists were deeply attached to their rights as Englishmen. These rights were rooted in the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights.

Self-government

Many colonists were swept up by religious fervor during the Great Awakening. Preachers like George Whitefield, shown here, gave emotional sermons and encouraged people to seek God on their own terms. This movement also led people to think for themselves and helped undermine political authority.

Authorities who violated the divine law did not merit respect… here were the seeds of revolution.

Land and liberty

Freedom of expression and thought The Zenger trial supported freedom of the press in the colonies. The Great Awakening encouraged people to question authority and think for themselves.

Summary

What caused the conversion of these colonists from loyal British subjects to unruly vandals? While it seemed sudden, the colonists’ change in attitude had gradually been brewing for years. By 1776, most colonists belonged to one of three groups, based on their opinions of British rule. The first group, dubbed Loyalists, staunchly supported the British government. The second group, called Patriots, opposed British rule and believed the colonists should separate from Britain immediately and by any means necessary. These were the people who tore down the statue of the king. The third group, known as Moderates, were unhappy with aspects of British rule but were wary of the possible effects of severing ties with Britain. Instead, they hoped for a peaceful resolution. Given the growing antagonism between Britain and the colonies, peace would be a tall order to achieve. Colonists in New York pulled down the statue of King George III in 1776.

1754–1783

Were the American colonists justified in rebelling against British rule?

Revolt

39 George III was king of Great Britain from 1760 to 1820. He was only 22 when he came to the throne and lacked many of the qualities of a good leader. Although he was said to be immature, stubborn, and unsure of himself, he was nevertheless determined to be a strong and capable ruler. Lesson Americans5

Introduction In 1770, the colonists of New York City erected a 4,000-pound statue of King George III on horseback in Bowling Green, a public park near the south ern tip of Manhattan. It was made of lead and was gilded to shine like pure gold. Over the next few years, the statue dominated the green, symbolizing loyalty to the king. On July 9, 1776, the newly written Declaration of Independence was read aloud at a public gathering in New York City. The reading of the Declaration spelled doom for the King George statue. In a burst of patriotism, angry New York colonists swarmed Bowling Green, flung ropes around the statue, and pulled it down. They decapitated the statue and set its head aside, planning to impale it on a spike later, before chopping the rest of the statue into pieces. In the midst of all the chaos, someone stole the head; to this day, it has never been recovered. Many of the remaining lumps of lead were melted down to make bullets to fire at British soldiers.

Some problems dated back to a war that took place in North America from 1754 to 1763—a war that was of a worldwide struggle between France and Britain for territory and power. Because many American Indians fought on the side of France, colonists called it the French and Indian War. Britain’s victory sent it on a collision course with its 13 American colonies.

Although the King George statue was toppled on the eve of the American Revolution, there had been discontent in the colonies for over two decades.

In 1765, Parliament caused an uproar throughout the colonies when it passed the Stamp Act to raise further revenue, requiring colonists to buy a stamp for every piece of paper they used. Newspapers and documents had to be printed on stamped paper—even playing cards had to carry a stamp. Stamp taxes were common in Britain, but this was the first stamp tax that Parliament levied on the colonists. Furthermore, unlike the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act affected a wide range of colonists.

The colonists argued that as British citizens, they could be directly taxed only by their elected representatives because they were represented in the colonial legislatures instead of Parliament. Colonists recognized that Parliament could regulate trade, but they perceived its direct taxes as tyranny, or unjust use of government power. Patrick Henry, a Virginia lawyer and legislator, railed about “dying liberty.” “No taxation without representation!” became the rallying cry for colonial protests. After months of colonial unrest, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766. Yet at the same time, it passed the Declaratory Act, reaffirming its right to gov ern the colonies and stating that the colonies “have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and Parliament of Great Britain.” Parliament declared that it could pass legislation binding the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” Over the next several years, it imposed new taxes and regulations, increasing colonial resentment.

Lesson 540

In 1765, colonists protested the passage of the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on every piece of paper sold in the colonies. To organize protests against the law, colonial leaders formed the Sons of Liberty, a group dedicated to resisting British rule.

In an attempt to maintain peace on the western frontier, Britain built a long chain of forts and sent more troops. Rather than help pay for this protection, as Britain requested, the colonists believed that they could defend themselves and mistrusted the British army’s presence during peacetime.

1. The Road to Revolution

Nevertheless, Parliament decided to raise revenue from the colonies to pay for the troops. At the time, citizens in Britain paid heavier taxes than the colo nists did, and Parliament thought the colonists should pay their fair portion. In 1764, it passed the Sugar Act, which placed customs duties on sugar and other non-British imports. In the past, such sales taxes were designed to regulate trade and encourage colonists to purchase British goods, and these taxes were not strongly enforced. The Sugar Act was the first tax by Parliament that was enforced by Britain. Colonial protests were limited, however, because the law mainly affected merchants in New England and the Middle Colonies.

Britain Imposes New Regulations and Taxes Britain now had to control a much larger empire in North America and wanted to prevent further conflict with the tribes who had been France’s allies. Therefore, Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763, which declared that colonists could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. Ignoring this legislation, many colonists continued to move west.

The Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, began with a street fight and ended with the deaths of five colonists. The incident was sparked by public anger over the Townshend Acts and other British policies.

Americans Revolt 41 American newspapers protested the Stamp Acts by printing an image of a skull and cross bones to represent the British tax stamp.

In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, a set of customs duties on British glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Since the colonists had admitted Britain’s right to regulate trade, Parliament thought the colonists had little reason to protest. However, these duties were intended to raise revenue, so the colonists perceived them as direct taxes in disguise. Samuel Adams of Boston was one of the key leaders who rallied colonists to defy the British. One main form of protest was a boycott, or a peaceful protest in which people refused to buy or use goods. By boycotting British goods, the colonists hoped to influence British merchants to put pressure on Parliament to improve its policies.Relations with the British were very tense in Boston, and on March 5, 1770, a group of residents confronted British soldiers on the street. A fight broke out, and the soldiers opened fire, killing five colonists. Samuel Adams called the killings a massacre, and Paul Revere, a local silversmith, made an engraving that depicted soldiers firing at peaceful, unarmed citizens. Prints were distributed throughout the colonies, and the event became known as the Boston Massacre.Onthesameday as the Boston Massacre, Parliament repealed most of the Townshend duties, partly in response to colonial boycotts. Parliament did not rescind the tea tax, however, in order to reaffirm its authority. The repeal of most of the Townshend duties appeased many colonists, so tensions died down. However, Adams tried to keep the spirit of protest alive by organizing groups of letter writers—known as committees of correspondence—to spread news about British actions to towns throughout Massachusetts. Eventually, commit tees of correspondence formed in every colony.

The Colonies Increasingly Resist British Authority

The colonists were not accustomed to Parliament asserting its authority. For 150 years, Britain had maintained an unofficial policy of salutary neglect, or healthy disregard, allow ing the colonies to essentially run themselves. While each colony had a royal governor, it also had its own legislature, laws, and taxes. Although the colonists were subject to British laws, they often ignored the inconvenient ones and had come to believe that they had the ability and right to manage their own affairs.

Many men and women throughout the colonies began to identify firmly as Patriots, with a newfound motivation to collectively oppose British rule.

Lesson 542

In 1773, Parliament unintentionally prompted renewed protests by passing the Tea Act, which gave the British East India Company the sole right to sell tea in the colonies. The act was intended to help the struggling company, but angry colonists saw this complete control of the tea trade as a threat to colonial mer chants. Committees of correspondence spread the word to boycott the company’s tea, while some colonists took stronger action by destroying tea shipments. In the most famous of these incidents, on the night of December 16, men dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded three British tea ships in Boston Harbor. They broke open the tea chests and threw about 90,000 pounds of tea into the water. This protest, which became known as the Boston Tea Party, incited the wrath of the British government. In 1774, Parliament passed a series of laws so harsh that the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts. These laws closed Boston Harbor, shut down the civilian courts, placed Massachusetts under firm British control, and sent more troops to Boston. These measures prompted anger throughout the colonies. George Washington, a Virginian, called the policies “repugnant to every principle of natural justice.”

The Boston Port Act closed Boston Harbor to all shipping until the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party was paid for. Ships sat idle at the docks, sailors and dockworkers lost their jobs, and stores closed for lack of goods to sell.

The Administration of Justice Act said that a British soldier arrested for murder in the colo nies would be sent to England for trial. Knowing that they would not face justice in the colonies, British troops felt freer to abuse the colonists.

Why Were the Intolerable Acts So Intolerable?

Americans Revolt 43

The Massachusetts Government Act put the colony under the control of an appointed governor. The elected assembly was closed down, town meetings were banned, and colonists lost the right to govern themselves.

The Fighting Begins After the Intolerable Acts, the colonists organized another boycott of British goods. They also began to establish militias, which were groups of men—mostly local farmers and laborers—who volunteered to be soldiers during emergencies. In New England, the militias called them selves Minutemen because they claimed that they could be ready to fight in 60 seconds.Ontheevening of April 18, 1775, the Minutemen were called into action because about 700 British soldiers were marching from Boston to seize a stock pile of Patriot munitions in Concord, Massachusetts. In the early morning, the British soldiers reached the village of Lexington, where 70 to 80 Minutemen were waiting for them. No one is certain who fired first, but a shot rang out— unleashing a volley of British bullets, killing eight colonists and wounding ten.

The Quartering Act required colonists to feed and house British troops in their homes. This act allowed British troops to invade any property they desired.

The British continued six miles to Concord, where they encountered several hundred Minutemen. In a short battle at Concord’s North Bridge, the colonists routed the British and sent them fleeing back to Boston. During their retreat, the British were constantly assaulted and lost over 200 men. News of the battles quickly spread throughout the colonies and, within days, thousands of militia troops were camped around Boston, daring the British to fight again.

As the conflict between Britain and the colonies escalated, colonial leaders met in Philadelphia to discuss options. The first meeting of this Continental Congress, in 1774, had recommended boycotts and other actions to protest the Intolerable Acts. At the Second Continental Congress, held in 1775 after the battles at Lexington and Concord, delegates decided to form a new Continental Army. They then appointed George Washington, a leading officer in the Virginia militia, to be a commanding general. The colonies did not yet declare indepen dence, however, because most colonists still hoped for a peaceful solution.

Thomas Paine Writes Common Sense Not all colonists supported the Olive Branch Petition. To some, it made little sense to request peace while colonists in New England were being murdered. This opinion was shared by Thomas Paine, a recent immigrant from Britain. Early in 1776, Paine published Common Sense, a 47-page pamphlet that made a fervent case for independence and declared that nobody should be ruled by a king. Paine wrote, “Monarchy and succession have laid . . . the world in blood and ashes.”

Paine even proposed the form of government Americans should establish: a representative democracy giving roughly equal weight to each colony. His pamphlet was massively influential. Within three months, 120,000 copies of Common Sense had been sold. Paine’s persuasive words motivated the colonists and hastened the movement toward independence.

Lesson 544

Colonists Extend an Olive Branch While the Second Continental Congress was in session, the war around Boston continued. In June 1775, the two sides clashed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, which the British won at a heavy price. More than 1,000 British troops were killed or wounded, while the colonial forces suffered 450 casualties. To some colonists, the high British casualties proved that the British were not invincible. Still, Congress hesitated to separate from Britain. In July 1775, it sent a petition to King George III affirming loyalty to him, asking for help in address ing their grievances, and expressing hope for a peaceful settlement. This letter came to be called the Olive Branch Petition because olive branches symbolize peace. But having heard the news of Bunker Hill, the king refused to receive the petition, instead proclaiming that the colonists were in “open and avowed rebellion” and that Britain would “bring the traitors to justice.”

“Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation,” he wrote, “The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ’TIS TIME TO PART.”

2. Declaring Independence

Paine mocked the idea that Britain should rule the American continent. He argued that British rule had only brought harm to the colonies, declaring that colonial trade had suffered under British control and that the colonies had been dragged into Britain’s conflicts with other European countries.

In his revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense, Thomas Paine made the case for independence.

Enlightenment Ideas Inspire Change Paine’s pamphlet helped spread ideas that were already popular among Patriot leaders. Those ideas stemmed from the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement of the 1600s and 1700s that greatly influenced the colonies. Enlightenment thinkers stressed the value of science and reason, not only for studying the natural world, but also for improving human society and government.

The writings of English philosopher John Locke particularly influenced Patriot thinking. Locke believed that people enjoyed natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Furthermore, he said that governments and citizens are bound by a social contract. People agree to obey their government if it respects their natural rights. If the government fails to do so, people have the right to overthrow it.

Although John Trumbull’s depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence shows the drafting committee presenting the document, there was no formal presentation or signing ceremony. Trumbull’s purpose was to memorialize the members of Congress. He took great care to craft their faces accurately. This is one of four revolutionary scenes he created for the Capitol.

The task of crafting the words went to Thomas Jefferson, a gifted writer and strong believer in natural rights. The Declaration of Independence reflects this thinking when it lists “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as “unalien able rights” that governments were created to protect.

The Declaration of Independence also states that governments should derive their powers from the consent of the governed—that is, from the people. Additionally, the document asserts that people have the right to alter or abol ish a government when it becomes “destructive” of their rights. To illustrate how destructive Britain’s rule had been, the Declaration includes a long list of abuses by the king and his government over the years. It then concludes, These United Colonies are and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved . . . And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

On July 2, Congress voted for independence by passing the Lee Resolution. On July 4, it formally approved the Declaration of Independence, which was later written on parchment for delegates to sign. In effect, they were signing a formal declaration of war against Britain.

Americans Revolt 45

The Colonies Declare Independence As their meeting continued in Philadel phia, many members of the Second Continental Congress had these Enlighten ment ideas in mind. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution proposing independence for the colonies. The Lee Resolution led to the formation of a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Mem bers of this committee included Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and John Adams of Massachusetts.

The Americans Get Off to a Shaky Start In the summer of 1776, it seemed as though Britain might force a quick conclusion to the war. Soon after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the British massed their forces for an attack on New York City. Washington’s army attempted to hold them off, but the outnumbered, inexperienced Americans were no match for the British profes sionals. Suffering heavy losses, the Continental Army was forced to retreat.

By December 1776, Congress had fled Philadelphia and many of Washing ton’s troops had gone home. Of the few thousand soldiers who were left, many were weak and ill. But instead of surrendering, Washington planned a surprise attack on German mercenaries wintering in Trenton, New Jersey.

Nathanael Greene, one of Washington’s most trusted officers, wrote modestly to Thomas Paine, “The two late actions at Trenton and Princeton have put a very different face upon affairs.” Indeed, the two victories gave Americans hope that the cause of liberty was not dead.

Lesson 546

George Washington and his troops crossed the icy Delaware River on December 25, 1776. In Trenton, German mercenaries were sleeping off their Christmas feast. Taking them by surprise, Washington and his men captured 918 Germans and killed 30, while suffering only 4 casualties.

Late on December 25, about 4,000 Americans crossed the ice-choked Delaware River to march on Trenton, where they took the 1,400-man force of Germans by surprise. The mercenaries surrendered after only a brief fight. A week later, the Americans defeated a British force at Princeton, New Jersey.

3. Fighting for Independence

At the war’s start, the Patriots’ prospects were not promising. Britain had a professional, well-trained army of about 40,000 soldiers, and additionally employed 30,000 German mercenaries, or professional soldiers for hire. The Continental Army, on the other hand, was constantly lacking soldiers. General Washington seldom had more than 20,000 troops at one time, so he had to supplement his regular troops with militia forces, many of whom would fight for a while before returning home to tend to their farms and families.

The battle for New York City was the first of many American losses in the weeks that followed. Time after time, the Americans had to retreat as British forces pursued them out of New York, through New Jersey, and across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania.

Americans Revolt 47 Military Strategies Evolve As the war continued, military leaders on both sides developed new strategies. After his losses around New York, Washington avoided large, risky battles and instead chose to fight a defensive war by trying to wear out the British rather than soundly defeat them. The new British strategy was to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies by taking control of New York’s Hudson River valley. To do this, Britain sent General John Burgoyne with about 8,000 men south from Canada to Albany, New York. Once there, Burgoyne’s troops were supposed to join up with a second British column of about 2,000 men sent to Albany from the west. SavannahR . 0100 20 0 km 0100 20 0 mi. American military victory British military victory American winter camp Proclamation Line New England Colonies Middle Colonies Southern Colonies Battle of Cowpens, January 1781Battle of King’s Mountain, OctoberBat1780tleofOctoberYorktown,1781 Battle of Monmouth, June 1778 Battle of Princeton, January 1777 Valley Forge, Winter 1777–78 Battle of Trenton, December 1776 Battle of Saratoga, October 1777 Battle of Vincennes, February 1779 Battle of DecemberSavannah,1778BattleofCharleston,May1780 Battle of Long Island, August 1776 Battle of FortNoWashington,vember1776BattleofQuebec,December1775 Battle of Brandywine, September 1777 Battle of Camden, August 1780 GA SC NCVA MD PA DENJ NY CT RI MANH ME (part of MA) ProclamationLineof1763 HudsonR Delaware R. Chesapeake Bay New York City Philadelphia Savannah Albany TCI7 18 Key BlacUSH_SE_05-5BBattleskCyanMagenta Yellow Fourth Proof Key Battles of the American Revolution, 1775–1781

Victory at Saratoga Brings Foreign Assistance Burgoyne’s march was dogged by problems. The army’s route traversed rugged terrain, and the heavily laden troops had to chop down trees, build bridges, and lay out log roads through swamps. Along the way, there were several battles with militias. When the British reached Saratoga Springs, 30 miles north of Albany, militia troops were there to confront them. Meanwhile, British reinforcements from New York had failed to arrive, so, finding himself surrounded, Burgoyne surrendered on October 17, 1777. This decisive American victory in the Battle of Saratoga was a major turning point in the revolution. Until then, the Americans had fought alone, but the defeat of Burgoyne encouraged France to enter the war against Britain. French support became critical to the revolution’s success.

Lesson 548

Washington’s Army Winters at Valley Forge In the winter of 1777–78, the British still occupied Philadelphia. Washington and his army made camp at nearby Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. During that harsh winter, about one-fourth of Washington’s troops—2,500 men—died from disease and exposure. Still, Washington held his ragtag army together and continued to train them for battle. When the British abandoned Philadelphia to return to New York City, Washington’s forces were prepared. In June 1778, they attacked the British at Monmouth, New Jersey. The battle was an American victory, and the British escaped to New York. This was the last major clash in the North. The War Shifts to the South Having stalled in the North, the British turned to the South. In December 1778, they captured the key port of Savannah, Georgia, and gained control over the Carolinas, but did not maintain this advantage for long. Wherever they went, the British were harried by American troops fighting in a style that later came to be called guerrilla warfare. Such fighting features small, mobile groups of soldiers who attack swiftly and then shrink back into the landscape. The South, with its tangle of deep woods and swampy terrain, was perfect for guerrilla warfare. The most successful of these fighters was Francis Marion, known as the Swamp Fox. His band of guerrillas frustrated the British by attacking without warning and quickly fading back into the swamps. Meanwhile, regular American forces in the South engaged the British. After a long season of battles, Lord Charles Cornwallis, the British commander, brought his troops to Yorktown, Virginia.

Women played an active role in the war. The legend of Molly Pitcher is often used to illustrate the bravery of women during the revolution. Molly Pitcher became known as the heroine of the Battle of Monmouth Court House, which took place in New Jersey in 1778. According to legend, Mary Hays, the wife of an artilleryman, carried water to soldiers during the battle, thus earning the nickname “Molly Pitcher.” Legend also holds that when her husband was wounded, she took her husband’s place in the gun crew.

Summary

Lexington and Concord Tensions between colonists and British troops in Massachusetts led to armed conflict in Lexington and Concord. These battles helped spark a wider war.

On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, which asserted that the colonies were “free and independent states.”

The Continental Army suffered defeats in the early days of the war, but victory at Saratoga in 1777 turned the tide and brought France into the war as an American ally. Yorktown The British defeat at Yorktown in 1781 ended the war. Two years later, Britain recognized American independence in the Treaty of Paris.

The Stamp Act After the French and Indian War, Britain passed the Stamp Act to raise revenue in the colonies. Protests against “taxation without representation” led to its repeal.

Americans Revolt 49

Differing loyalties Patriots like Samuel Adams resisted all efforts by the British to exert more control over the colonies. Loyalists, in contrast, supported British rule. Moderates had mixed feelings but hoped the differences with Britain could be settled peacefully.

Declaration of Independence

In 1817, Congress commissioned John Trumbull to create this depiction of the British surrender at Yorktown. At the center is American general Benjamin Lincoln leading the British troops. On the right are General Washington and his troops. On the left are French, Polish, and Prussian soldiers. Foreign allies were critical to the American victory.

In the fall of 1781, American troops converged on Yorktown, joined by French soldiers and naval forces. In total, more than 16,000 troops surrounded the 8,000-man British army. The Battle of Yorktown began on October 6 and lasted about two weeks. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered. The War Ends Yorktown was the last battle of the war, but it took Britain several months to accept defeat. Peace talks began in Paris in 1782, and in September 1783, American and British representatives signed the Treaty of Paris, ending the war. In this treaty, Britain recognized American independence and renounced its claims to all lands between the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi River, from Canada south to Florida. Victory had come at a great cost. At least 6,500 Americans were killed in combat, while another 10,000 died from disease. An additional 8,500 died as BritishDespiteprisoners.these losses, most Americans savored their victory and looked forward to healing the nation’s wounds—a worthy challenge in itself. However, Americans faced an even larger and more daunting task: to begin creating a society that embodied the ideals of liberty, equality, and opportunity set forth in the Declaration of Independence. As a first step, they would struggle with the practical issues of forming a government based on the consent of the governed.

Beginning in the 1760s, many American colonists grew increasingly unhappy with British rule. They eventually rebelled and declared independence. During the revolution, American forces wore down and defeated the larger and more experienced British army. In 1783, the United States became an independent country.

The Intolerable Acts Following the Boston Tea Party, Britain cracked down on resistance by passing laws known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts. Boston became an occupied city.

Saratoga

Troops who wanted Washington to be king were suffering from Congress’s inability to meet the army’s basic needs. “On the general subject of supplies,” wrote a member of Congress, “we need hardly inform you that our Army is extremely clamorous, we cannot pay them—we can hardly feed them.”

Lesson Creating6 Constitutionthe

Like Washington, most Americans did not want to be ruled by a monarch. But they did want an effective government, and many believed that they did not have that under the Articles of Confederation, the nation’s first constitution.

Introduction In 1782, an army officer wrote a letter to George Washington. In it, he expressed his hope, shared by many of his fellow officers, that the independent American states would be joined into “a kingdom with Washington as the head.” The general was appalled because he had spent years in bloody battle working to sever ties with a monarchy. Washington replied, “Be assured Sir, no occurrence in the course of the War, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army . . . banish these thoughts from your mind.”

This statue in the Virginia State Capitol depicts George Washington as an American “Cincinnatus.” Cincinnatus was a legendary Roman patriot, a citizen-farmer who turned soldier and leader in a time of crisis, just as Washington did. Also similar to Washington, Cincinnatus returned to farming after the crisis was resolved.

Over the next few years, many Americans believed that things were progressing from bad to worse for the new nation. In 1786, a group of rebel lious farmers who could not pay their debts shut down several courthouses in Massachusetts. Congress could not help the state government deal with the rebellion, and some Americans saw this as a sign that the nation was sliding intoIfanarchy.amore effective government was required, how should it be structured?

Pictured here is the Assembly Room in Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

That was the question facing delegates who attended a special convention in Philadelphia in 1787 called the Constitutional Convention, which took place in a building now known as Independence Hall. Presiding over the convention was none other than George Washington, the man who refused to be king.

What is the proper role of a national government?

1776–1791

Prior to 1807, the constitution of New Jersey allowed African Americans and unmarried women to vote if they owned property. Married women were denied the vote because by law their property belonged to their husbands. Thousands of women voted in New Jersey between 1776 and 1807—before the law was changed to restrict the vote to white men.

But even with the war continuing to rage, some states were hesitant to approve a plan of government that would give Congress any control over their affairs.

However, the state constitutions were far from being completely demo cratic. They did not establish governments by consent of all of the governed, and instead typically limited voting rights to white men who paid taxes or owned a certain amount of property. Only New Jersey gave voting rights to women and African Americans who owned property. None of the original 13 states’ constitutions outlawed slavery, and all states south of Pennsylvania denied slaves equal rights as human beings.

Lesson 652

When Congress drafted the nation’s first constitution in 1777, it knew that many Americans feared a powerful national government. For that reason, the proposed Articles of Confederation created a framework for a loose confedera tion of states. Within this alliance, each state would retain “sovereignty, freedom, and independence.” Any power not specifically given to Congress was reserved for the states, which meant that each state could often develop its own policies.

1. A Confederation of States

Comparing State Constitutions

On paper at least, the Articles did give Congress several significant powers. Only Congress could declare war, negotiate with foreign countries, establish a postal system, and settle disputes between states. But it had no power to impose taxes, which explains why the Continental Army was so starved of funds.

Additionally, the Articles did not establish an executive branch to enforce the laws or a judicial branch to settle legal questions.

Decisions in Forming a National Government While the states were writing their constitutions, the Continental Congress was attempting to decide how the nation as a whole should be governed. When Congress first met in 1774 to resolve disputes with Britain, it had no authority over the colonial legislatures.

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence had asserted that the colonies were independent states. Even as the war commenced, the legislatures of the 13 states began to create their own constitutions. Within a year, almost all of them had developed new plans of government reflecting the principles in the Declaration of Independence. In fact, the words of the Declaration were written right into the New York state constitution. However, it was not until almost the end of the war that the states agreed to form a loose confederation.

Even when directing the war effort, it had no authority over the states, often begging them for soldiers and supplies. Therefore, many members of Congress wanted to form a national government, one that had powers to govern the states. However, they understood that this would be a challenging undertaking. After being controlled by Britain for so long, Americans were not inclined to relin quish power to another central government—even one they elected.

It took three and a half years for ratification of the Articles by all 13 states.

The state constitutions were similar in many ways. They all began with a statement of rights, which were guided by three founding ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence: equality, freedom, and democracy. Each state constitution also separated the powers of government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress set two key land policies for the Northwest Territory. The Land Ordinance of 1785 organized the region into townships. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 set rules for the formation of new states, and, within a half century of its passage, enough people had settled in the Northwest Territory to create five new states.

Creating the Constitution 53

0100 20 0 02km00 mi10 0 WNSE Wisconsin1848Illinois1818 Indiana1816 Ohio1803 Seven Ranges, First1785Survey,Michigan1837KY VA MD PA NY DENJ NC CTMA VT NH MECANADA(British) LOUISIANA(Spanish) NORTHWEST TERRITORY RI MississippiR . OhioR. Lake Superior L a k e M i c higan Lake Huron LakeErie Lake Ontario ATLANTI C OCEA N Half 160Quarter320sectionacressectionacres 12132425361111423263521015222734316212833941720293285Ea1819303176ch township is 6 miles by 6 miles, or 36 square miles. Each section is 1 mile by 1 mile, or 1 square mile. Northwest Territory and Land Ordinance Survey System, 1785

Despite its limited power, Congress recorded some notable achievements under the Articles of Confederation. Perhaps its most important success was the creation of policies for the settlement of western lands.

In 1787, Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance to specify how these western lands would be governed and declared that the region would be divided into three to five territories. When a territory had 5,000 free adult men, those men could elect a legislature. When the population reached 60,000 free inhabitants, the legislature could write a constitution and form a government. If Congress approved both, the territory would become a state. A number of the ordinance’s provisions reflected the principle of equality. Each new state would have equal standing with the original states, and its people would enjoy the same freedoms and rights. Furthermore, slavery would be banned in any state formed from the region.

Two Ordinances Lay the Foundation for Land Policy

The Land Ordinance of 1785 created a system for surveying and dividing land in the new territory. After being surveyed, the land was to be divided into 36-square-mile townships, each of which would be divided into 36 numbered sections of 1 square mile each. Each section would then be divided for sale to settlers and land dealers. Section 16, however, was always reserved for schools.

The Northwest Ordinance introduced a system that became a general guide for admission of future states. For that reason alone, it is considered the most important law passed during the period of confederation.

In the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War, Britain gave up control of a region known as the Northwest Territory. No government had yet been established for this large territory that stretched from the Appalachian Mountains west to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Congress wanted to orga nize this land and sell it to raise revenue, so it passed the Land Ordinance of 1785. An ordinance is a law that sets local regulations.

Lesson 654

Although Congress under the Articles of Confederation had notable successes, many Americans identified problems with the confederation. Most of these problems stemmed from the fact that the Articles granted so much authority to the states and so little to Congress. George Washington declared that the Articles were no more effective at binding the states together than “a rope of sand.”

Money was another divisive issue. The Articles allowed Congress to issue currency, but the states were still permitted to print their own paper money. Because there was no uniform currency, people had little faith in the money, and, in some cases, it was worth little more than the paper it was printed on. Gold and silver coins were readily accepted as payment, but they were in short supply. The lack of confidence in paper money made interstate commerce and travel even more challenging.

The country had serious money problems under the Articles of Confederation, and each state began printing its own paper money after the war. The bills shown here came from Rhode Island and South Carolina. Soon bills of different colors, shapes, and values were being traded from state to state, leading to confusion and a decline in the value of currency.

Quarrels Between the States There were troubles between the states, too. As foreign trade declined, the economy relied more on interstate commerce, trade between states. But states often treated each other like separate countries by imposing tariffs, or import taxes, on each other’s goods. In theory, Congress had authority to settle tariff disputes between the states, but the states often refused to recognize its decisions.

To make matters worse, overseas trade decreased under the confederation. Britain restricted American trade by closing some of its ports to American vessels, which negatively impacted the American economy since it depended heavily on the British market. Meanwhile, the United States had little success increasing trade with other countries.

Another problem was national defense. In the Treaty of Paris, Britain had agreed to withdraw troops from the Northwest Territory. Once it saw how weak Congress was, however, it refused to pull them out. Britain and Spain supplied arms to American Indians and urged them to attack settlers. Having disbanded the Continental Army after the war, Congress had no military force to counter act this threat.

2. The Confederation in Crisis

Additionally, many foreign countries questioned the nation’s financial stability. The United States had accumulated a significant war debt, mostly to foreign lenders, but Congress lacked funds to pay its debts. Although the Articles directed the state legislatures to pay taxes to the national treasury based on the value of each state’s land, Congress could not force the states to pay.

Trouble with Foreign Countries

The combination of high debt, weak currency, and falling trade caused the country to slide into an economic depression. This drastic decline, marked by business failures and unemployment, caused discontent to spread throughout the country.

When Congress tried to reach a trade agreement with Britain in 1785, Britain refused because it knew the states would not agree to be bound by the accord.

Congress’s weaknesses were recognized not only at home but also abroad, and the lack of central authority made relations with foreign countries more difficult. For example, one British official said it would be better to negotiate with each state than to do business with Congress.

Farmers in western Massachusetts were hit especially hard since some had their property auctioned off by local courts for nonpayment of debts and taxes, while others were sent to debtors’ prison when they could not pay their debts.

To face the threat of Shays’ Rebellion, Massachusetts had needed funds to hire and supply a larger militia. Because Congress had been unable to send money, private donations from wealthy people had helped the state militia put down the revolt. In the aftermath of Shays’ Rebellion, rich businesspeople and landowners were particularly worried about Congress’s weakness, fearing that anarchy would engulf the nation. Many Americans were not so pessimistic but agreed that the government should be strengthened.

Daniel Shays led a rebellion in Massachusetts to protest harsh economic conditions for farmers. Shays, at top right, is shown with his followers as they shut down a Massachusetts courthouse. Because Congress did not have the funds to help Massachusetts, the state had to put down the rebellion by itself, highlighting the weakness of the confederation.

Discontent Fuels Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts

In the summer of 1786, armed and angry farmers occupied a courthouse to prevent the court from doing business. In the following weeks, these rebels took over other Massachusetts courts, hoping to prevent trials and imprisonment of debtors. This uprising, known as Shays’ Rebellion after its main leader, Daniel Shays, quickly mushroomed. In September 1786, Shays led hundreds of farmers to occupy the courthouse in Springfield, Massachusetts. A few months later, he encouraged about 1,200 farmers to seize a weapons stockpile in the same city. However, this time, the Massachusetts militia stopped them, and the rebellion collapsed.

Creating the Constitution 55

Farmers were among those who suffered most from the economic depression. Falling crop prices and the loss of foreign markets left many with crippling debts they could not repay.

Two important political leaders, Alexander Hamilton of New York and James Madison of Virginia, were among the delegates. They drafted a request that all states send representatives to a constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia in May 1787 for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and creating a stronger, more effective system of government.

A Call for a Constitutional Convention While Shays’ Rebellion was erupt ing in Massachusetts, delegates were gathering at a convention in Annapolis, Maryland. This formal assembly was called to fix trade problems between the states, but the delegates realized they had more serious problems to address.

The 55 delegates were the cream of American political life. Historian James McGregor Burns has described them as the “well-bred, the well-fed, the well-read, and the well-wed.” All were white men, and their average age was 42. Among them were former soldiers, gover nors, members of Congress, and men who had drafted state constitutions.

Lesson 656 3. The Constitutional Convention

The delegates represented a wide range of personalities and experience, and many were eloquent speakers. Eighty-one-year-old writer, inventor, and diplo mat Benjamin Franklin was the senior member whose wisdom and amicable wit enlivened the proceedings. George Washington, hero of the Revolution, lent dignity to the gathering, while Alexander Hamilton, his former military aide, brought intellectual brilliance. Other delegates, like Roger Sherman, contributed law and business experience. James Madison was perhaps the most profound political thinker and the best prepared of all the delegates.

The Constitutional Convention opened on May 25, 1787. Delegates from every state but Rhode Island gathered in the room where the Declaration of Independence had been signed 11 years before. Although Congress had instructed them to revise and not replace, the Articles of Confederation, many delegates were already convinced that a new constitution was needed. Through months of debate, the delegates would work out this plan of government and then set it forth in a document called the Constitution of the United States

The delegates discussed these and other ideas for almost four months. Day after day, through a long, sweltering summer, they would debate, argue, write, revise, and debate some more. As they met, they knew that, once again, they were making history.

In this same building, called Independence Hall, the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776.

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 met at the Pennsylvania State House, in Philadelphia, to write the Constitution.

The Ideas Behind the Constitution No one had a greater role than Madison, who worked tirelessly to develop and promote the new plan. For his role in shaping the new framework, he is called “the Father of the Constitution.”

Although the weather was brutally hot that summer, the windows of the meeting hall were nailed shut to keep the proceedings a secret.

A Distinguished Group of Delegates

The delegates’ political views were strongly influenced by Enlightenment thinkers. English philosopher John Locke’s ideas about natural rights and the social contract helped shape the Declaration of Independence and served as guiding principles for drafting the Constitution.

The delegates also consulted the ideas of the Baron de Montesquieu, another Enlightenment thinker. He favored a three-part government with separation of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches. These branches would interact in a system of checks and balances, each branch limiting the power of the others. This would prevent tyranny by keeping each branch from seizing excessive power.

A few key leaders of the Revolution did not attend. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were serving as representatives of the United States in Europe. Reading a list of the delegates in Paris, Jefferson described them as “an assem bly of demigods.” Other leaders, like Samuel Adams, were not present because they opposed efforts to strengthen the national government. Patrick Henry was named as a Virginia delegate but chose to stay home, saying he “smelt a rat.” Indeed, many Americans feared giving a central government too much power.

New York

James Madison James Madison of Virginia is known as the “father” and “chief architect” of the Constitution. An expert on political theory and history, he took a leading role in debates and in planning the framework. He pushed for a strong central government.

State Delegates

JamesRobertGouverneurThomasJaredBenjaminThomasClymerFitzSimonsFranklinIngersollMifflinMorrisMorrisWilson

Pennsylvania

George

Roger Sherman

Roger of Connecticut proposed the compromise that broke the deadlock over representation in Congress. Under his scheme, more populous states would have greater representation in the House, but each state would have two senators regardless of population.

John Langdon

Delegates to the

Creating the Constitution 57 Delaware Richard GunningBassettBedford Jr. Jacob Broom John GeorgeDickinsonRead Massachusetts Elbridge CalebRufusNathanielGerry*GorhamKingStrong* Maryland Daniel Carroll Luther Martin* James McHenry John F. Mercer* Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer Connecticut Oliver RogerWilliamEllsworth*SamuelJohnsonSherman Virginia John GeorgeGeorgeEdmundJamesGeorgeJamesBlairMadisonMason*McClurg*C.Randolph*WashingtonWythe* Georgia Abraham Baldwin William Few William Houston* William L. Pierce* North Carolina William Blount William R. Davie* Alexander Martin* Richard Dobbs Spaight Hugh Williamson New Jersey David WilliamWilliamWilliamJonathanBrearleyDaytonC.Houston*LivingstonPaterson South Carolina Pierce CharlesButlerCotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney John Rutledge

John Lansing Jr.*

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, “the penman of the Constitution,” played a key role in crafting the final wording. His own view was that the government should represent the wealthy and be led by a strong president elected for life. John Rutledge John Rutledge of South Carolina defended the interests of southern planters by supporting slavery. He was an effective speaker and an advocate for a strong central government. He favored dividing society into classes as a means to representationdetermineinCongress.

Alexander Hamilton

Robert Yates* New Hampshire Nicholas Gilman

Every state but Rhode Island sent representatives to the Constitutional Convention. Of the 55 delegates, 9 left early for personal reasons, and 4 walked out in protest. Of the remaining 42 delegates, 39 signed the Constitution. Constitutional did sign the Constitution.

Convention, 1787 Four Key Voices *Delegate

not

Sherman

Delegates of the smaller states welcomed the New Jersey Plan. However, after several days of debate, the convention voted to reject this proposal and return to discussion of the Virginia Plan.

The Virginia delegates wanted to establish a strong national government and promptly proposed a plan. The Virginia Plan, written mainly by James Madison, was clearly intended to replace the Articles, not revise them. It called for a national government with three branches, just as Montesquieu had described. The legislative branch would make laws, the executive branch would carry out the laws, and the judicial branch would interpret the laws.

On June 13, William Paterson of New Jersey introduced an alternative to the Virginia Plan. The New Jersey Plan proposed a series of amendments to the Articles of Confederation and called for a less powerful national government with a unicameral Congress in which all states had equal representation.

Finally, Roger Sherman of Connecticut came forward with a compromise designed to satisfy all sides. His plan called for a bicameral legislature with a different form of representation in each house. In the Senate, the states would have equal representation. In the House of Representatives, states would have representation based on their populations. Sherman’s plan, known as the Great Compromise, resolved the thorny issue of representation in Congress.

New Jersey Introduces a Rival Plan For about two weeks, the delegates dis cussed the Virginia Plan. Some thought it gave too much power to the national government, and some opposed a bicameral legislature. Moreover, smaller states disliked that their representation in Congress was limited by population.

Discontent, Debate, and the Great Compromise For the next month, the dele gates debated each individual argument within the Virginia Plan. They continued to disagree on the critical issue of representation in the legislature. Debate grew so heated that delegates from some states threatened to leave the convention.

Lesson 658

Slavery and Commerce Issues Divide the States

The Convention Begins with a Plan from Virginia The first thing the del egates did was elect George Washington as presiding officer. Next, they adopted rules of procedure, one of which mandated secrecy. The delegates needed to speak freely and frankly, and they could not do so if the public were watching. So despite the intense summer heat, they shut the windows, drew the drapes, and posted a sentry outside.

Under the Virginia Plan, the new government would have a bicameral leg islature, a lawmaking body composed of two houses. In contrast, the Articles of Confederation had established Congress as a unicameral, or one-house, legislature. The Virginia Plan proposed that representation in the two houses of Congress should be based on the population of each state, which would give the more populous states more delegates, and therefore more influence, than states with smaller populations.

Other issues also divided the delegates. Those from northern and southern states differed strongly on questions of slavery and commerce. A number of northern states wanted to include a provision for abolishing slavery, but most southerners opposed ending a system of labor on which their agricultural economy depended.

For months, delegates to the Constitutional Convention debated how the government of the United States should be structured. This 19thcentury engraving depicts Benjamin Franklin presenting an argument to the convention.

Delegates signed the Constitution on September 17, 1787, but support for the Constitution was not unanimous. A few delegates left the convention early in protest, and three of those present refused to sign. Nevertheless, most delegates seemed to believe that they had achieved a historic result.

On September 17, 1787, after months of hard work, the Constitution was signed by 39 of the 42 delegates present. The Constitutional Convention was over, but the Constitution still needed to be ratified by the states. The document began with the ringing words, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union . . .” Now each state would decide whether this plan of govern ment was indeed “more perfect” and thus worthy of becoming the law of the land.

Creating the Constitution 59

In the end, the delegates reached another important compromise. For representation in the House, every five slaves would be counted as equal to three whites. The Three-Fifths Compromise settled the dispute, but the contra diction between the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the practice of slavery would haunt the country in future decades.

The North and South also argued over commerce. Northerners favored giving Congress broad powers to control trade, but southerners worried that Congress might outlaw the slave trade and place heavy taxes on southern exports of crops such as cotton and tobacco. Again, the delegates compromised, deter mining that Congress would have the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, but it could neither tax exports nor outlaw the slave trade until 1808.

Differences over slavery generated intense debate on representation and taxes. Since most slaves lived in the South, southern states wanted slaves to be counted in determining representation in the House of Representatives. Yet they did not want slaves counted when determining each state’s share of taxes to support the national government. In contrast, the northern states wanted slaves to be counted for taxation but not when determining representation.

Creating the Executive Branch

The next question was how to elect the president. Some delegates thought Congress should do it, while others favored popular elections. They finally decided to create a special body called the Electoral College, which would be composed of electors from each state who would cast votes to elect the presi dent and vice president. Each state would have as many electors as the number of senators and representatives it sent to Congress.

Another major issue concerned the formation of the executive branch. Some delegates wanted a single executive to head the government, and others were concerned that giving power to a single leader might lead to monarchy or tyranny. They favored an executive committee made up of at least two members. In the end, however, the delegates voted for a single president.

Federalists and Anti-Federalists The people who supported the Constitution called themselves Federalists. They favored a federal government—a strong central government that shared power with the states. Those who preferred a loose association of states with a weaker central government were called AntiFederalists. The ongoing rivalry between Federalists and Anti-Federalists would be played out in the press, in state legislatures, and at the state ratifying conventions.

One of the places the battle between the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists played out was in the press. This allegorical engraving, published in a magazine in 1788, shows the figure of cupid holding a copy of the Constitution in front of a temple with 13 columns, representing 13 states. The engraving associates harmonious government with the Constitution, and therefore represents a Federalist perspective.

Lesson 660 4. Ratifying the Constitution

The proposed Constitution included a provision for ratification. To go into effect, the plan of government would need to be approved by 9 out of the 13 states. Ratification would occur at state conventions, but it was by no means assured. Many Americans were concerned that the Constitution provided too much power to the national government. As a result, supporters of the Constitution would have to work hard to win its ratification.

In The Federalist Papers, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay provided detailed explanations of important parts of the Constitution. On the issue of central power, for example, Madison explained how the system of checks and balances would ensure that no one branch of government would have control over the other two, as well as why such a system was needed: If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

The Call for a Bill of Rights By January 1788, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey had ratified the Constitution. Georgia and Connecticut soon followed, but a bitter debate in Massachusetts brought to the forefront a major Anti-Federalist concern about the Constitution: the lack of a bill of rights. Anti-Federalists in Massachusetts complained that the Constitution did not adequately protect individual rights and freedoms against encroachment by the national government. They argued that it should be altered to include such rights as the freedoms of speech, religion, and the press. They also wanted guarantees that every citizen would have such rights as the right to trial by jury and protec tion against unreasonable seizure of property. The lack of such guarantees became a sticking point in many states as the ratification process dragged on.

Because The Federalist Papers explain the purpose of the Constitution, people who read these essays today can gain insight into the intentions of the Constitu tion’s original drafters.

—James Madison, The Federalist No. 51, 1788

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay led the Federalist campaign. Using the pen name “Publius,” they wrote a series of 85 essays designed to win support for the Constitution. These essays, known as The Federalist Papers, were published over the course of several months and made a strong case for the new plan of government. Some historians have called their publication one of the most powerful public relations campaigns in history.

The nation’s first constitution established a governing frame work that gave the states more power than the national government. This lack of central authority contributed to various problems, including a poor economy and weak national defense.

Today the Constitution is the oldest written framework of national govern ment in use anywhere in the world. Forged over the course of a few months in the summer of 1787, the Constitution of the United States has more than stood the test of time.

The Northwest Ordinance

Ratification After the Constitution was completed in September 1787, it was sent to the states for ratification. During the debate over ratification, supporters agreed to add amendments to guarantee basic freedoms. With this assurance, the Constitution was ratified in 1788 and became law. The first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791.

The Articles of Confederation

After much debate, Massachusetts agreed to ratify if amendments were added after ratification to protect fundamental rights. A number of other states ratified the Constitution with the same understanding and, by the summer of 1788, all but two states had ratified. North Carolina joined the new union in 1789, and Rhode Island followed in 1790.

The Electoral College

After the Revolution, the states first formed a loose confederation. However, many Americans believed this arrangement did not satisfy the need for a strong central authority. Delegates from the various states came together to write a new constitution that would provide the basis for a durable and balanced government.

Creating the Constitution 61

Summary

With James Madison leading the way, the first Congress of the new government framed the proposed amendments. Madison himself believed that individual rights were already protected by the Constitution, making the amendments unnecessary. However, his friend Thomas Jefferson helped persuade him, writing from France that “a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no government should refuse.” He argued that the great strength of such a bill of rights was “the legal check which it puts into the hands of the judiciary.”

This land policy established rules for the creation of governments in the Northwest Territory and the eventual admission of western states.

On December 15, 1791, enough states had ratified 10 amendments to incorporate them into the Constitution. These 10 amendments are known col lectively as the Bill of Rights. Over the course of the nation’s history, 17 more amendments have been added to the Constitution.

After much debate, the delegates decided that a single executive, a president, should lead the executive branch. A body called the Electoral College, made up of electors from each state, would elect the president and vice president.

The Constitution of the United States Frustrated by weaknesses of the confederation, delegates met in Philadelphia in 1787 for the Constitutional Convention. Instead of revising the Articles, they wrote a new constitution that established a national government with three branches.

When the president mentioned “the supreme law of this land,” he was refer ring to the Constitution. Although this plan of government was written over 200 years ago, its rules and principles still guide our political system. Some believe the Constitution has weathered the centuries because it is a flexible document that can be interpreted and amended to adjust to changing needs.

ThebranchCapitol, home of the legislative branch

These leaders were attending a ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of some newly restored historical documents. The documents had been carefully preserved with the latest tools and technology. They rested on cushions of handmade paper and were encased in frames of titanium and aluminum. Additionally, they were protected by sapphire windows, traveling light beams, and precisely positioned mirrors set up to detect any changes that could potentially harm the documents.

1789–Present

63 Lesson 7

Does the Constitution support the ideals in the Declaration of Independence?

Introduction On September 17, 2003, the nation’s leaders met in the Rotunda of the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. The heads of the three branches of the national government were there. The leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives make up the legislative branch, the president represented the executive branch, and the chief justice represented the judicial branch.

An Enduring Plan of Government

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are all housed in the Charters of Freedom Hall at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

An archivist at the ceremony noted why more than a million people a year come to see the Charters of Freedom. It is “not just because they are historical documents,” he said, “but because they are a living part of the democracy we live in today.”

The White House, center of the executive branch

The Supreme Court, head of the judicial

Why were these documents given such importance? They are the “Charters of Freedom” upon which our government was founded: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. In a speech at the unveiling ceremony, President George W. Bush said, “The courage of America’s first leaders gave us the Declaration. Their patience and wisdom gave us the Constitution . . . The supreme law of this land is the work of practical minds addressed to practical questions.”

1. A Strong Yet Balanced Government

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Our new Constitution is now estab lished, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes.” Franklin’s words were prophetic, but they also sounded a note of caution. While our constitutional government has survived for more than two centuries, there is no guarantee that it will continue to endure since its survival depends on our upholding the nation’s founding principles.

The next phrase in the Preamble, “in Order to form a more perfect Union,” demonstrates the framers’ determination to improve upon the government established under the Articles of Confederation. They wanted the union of states to become stronger so that the states would collaborate and cooperate, rather than argue among themselves.

The framers of the Constitution worked hard to create a political system that would last. They wanted a government that was strong enough to govern, but not so strong that it endangered citizens’ freedoms. They also wanted ordinary Americans to understand and support the Constitution. For this reason, they organized it very carefully.

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The rest of the Preamble lists goals for the new government. The framers wanted to “establish justice” by creating a government that would establish and enforce fair laws that applied equally to all people. They aimed to “insure domes tic Tranquility.” In this phrase, “domestic” refers to the internal affairs of the nation. By insuring domestic tranquility, the framers hoped to establish a country of peace and order. They also wanted the government to “provide for the common defense,” the protection of the country as a whole against foreign enemies.

The Constitution has three parts. The first part, the Preamble, describes the purpose of the document and the government it creates. The second part, the articles, establishes how the government is structured and how the Constitution can be altered through amendments. The third part, the amendments, includes the Bill of Rights and other changes to the Constitution.

The framers wanted the United States to have a society and an economy that helped people thrive and prosper. So, they declared that the government should “promote the general Welfare.” They also wanted to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” By posterity, they meant futureThegenerations.framersunderstood that achieving these goals required a powerful central government. However, they recognized that the Constitution must also place restrictions on that government’s powers.

The Preamble to the Constitution sets certain general goals for the government, one of which is to “establish justice.” The Supreme Court is the highest authority in matters of justice. The nine Supreme Court Justices hear cases in this room.

The Preamble Establishes the Purposes of the Government A preamble is an introduction explaining the purpose of a document, typically a legal document. The Preamble to the Constitution begins with the phrase, “We the people . . .” These words announce that the Constitution’s authority is based on the people themselves and that the power to form the government did not come from an existing government, or the states, or a supreme being. “We the people” echoes the idea in the Declaration of Independence that governments should derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Thein Boston.government should also “provide for the common defense.” Here midshipmen from the U.S. Naval Academy walk in formation.

Another goal for government is to “promote the general welfare.” This includes providing funds for public works, such as this bridge

Provisions for checks and balances are a key feature of the Constitution. Checks and balances help prevent any one branch of government from wielding too much power.

Executive Judicial

To give another example, when the Supreme Court rejects a law as uncon stitutional, it is checking the power of the legislative and executive branches. Additionally, checks and balances extend to the appointment of key officials. For example, the president’s nominations of Supreme Court justices are subject to the Senate’s approval. Through the system of checks and balances, Congress maintains the power to impeach and convict the president, vice president, and any civilian official of the United States. To impeach an official is to charge that person with an offense committed while in office. Although only the House of Representatives can vote to impeach—to accuse an official of committing what the Constitution calls “Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors”—only the Senate can convict. If the Senate votes by a two-thirds majority to convict, the official is removed from office. Two presidents have been impeached, but neither was convicted.

Can approve or veto bills, call special sessions of Congress, and recommend legislation. Legislative Checks on Judicial Branch Can approve or reject nomination of federal judges, create lower courts, and remove judges through impeachment.

Executive Checks on Judicial Branch Can nominate Supreme Court justices and federal judges.

The Constitution has seven articles. The first three describe the structures and powers of the three parts of the government: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

LegislativeExecutive Checks on Legislative Branch

Legislative Checks on Executive Branch Can override presidential vetoes, approve or reject presidential appointments and treaties, and impeach and try the president.

Constitutional Checks and Balances

Judicial Checks on Legislative Branch Can declare laws unconstitutional. Judicial Checks on Executive Branch Can declare treaties and executive acts unconstitutional. Appointments are for life, and judges are free from executive control.

The Constitution does not only distribute power among the three branches of the national, or federal, government. As you will see, it also divides power between the federal government and state governments.

An Enduring Plan of Government 65

The Articles Define the Powers of Government

Dividing the government into three branches sets up a strong central government, while also distributing power. The system of checks and balances ensures that no single branch becomes too powerful. Each branch can limit the power of another. For example, the president can veto a bill, but the bill can still become law if a two-thirds majority of Congress votes to override the veto. In this example, the executive branch checks the power of the legislative branch, which then checks the power of the executive branch.

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The framers wanted to establish a fair way to make laws and to ensure that lawmakers are accountable to the people. Therefore, Article I of the Constitution defines the basic structure, procedures, and powers of Congress.

Congressional Powers Article I grants certain powers to Congress. For example, Congress can coin and regulate money, collect taxes, maintain an army and navy, declare war, pay government debts, and regulate foreign trade. In addition, it may “make all laws which shall be necessary and proper” to carry out such powers. This clause has been called the Elastic Clause because it gives Congress flexibility to fulfill its duties. In 1791, for example, Congress created a national bank to help collect taxes, pay debts, and regulate trade. Some people, however, believe that Congress occasionally “stretches” its powers too far.

Representation in the House is based on state population. There are 435 members, and a census conducted every ten years determines how that number is apportioned by state. Each state is then divided into congressional districts.

Conference Committee President How a Bill Becomes a Law

2. The Legislative Branch Makes the Laws

How Congress Does Its Job The main function of Congress is to make laws.

Committee Action At committee hearings, the bill is either passed or held back. Most bills “die” in committee.

Introduction A bill is introduced in the House or Senate and then assigned to a committee.

Most laws begin as bills, proposals for new laws. Tax bills must begin in the House, but other bills can be initiated in either chamber. If the House and Senate pass a bill, it goes to the president, who has ten days to sign or veto it. Congress can override a veto with a two-thirds majority vote in each house.

As of the 2010 census, the most populous state, California, had 53 districts. In contrast, some states consist of only one district. The people of each district elect one House representative, who serves a two-year term.

Floor Action On the ﬂoor of the House or Senate, the bill is debated, amended, and voted on by the full membership.

The Structure of Congress To balance the powers of small and large states, the framers set up Congress as a bicameral, or two chamber, legislature. The two chambers are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The membership of the Senate is based on equal representation of the states. It is comprised of 100 senators, two from each state, who serve six-year terms.

Bill Introduced in the House Committee Action in the House Floor Action in the House Bill Introduced in the Senate Committee Action in the Senate Floor Action in the Senate If the House and Senate pass different versions of the bill, a committee of members from both houses works out a compromise bill and returns it to both houses for another vote. Both houses must pass the same versions of the bill before it can be sent on to the president. The president may sign the bill into law or veto it. Congress can override a veto by a two-thirds majority vote in each house.

An Enduring Plan of Government 67 House of Representatives and Senate Together • Propose and pass laws • Declare war • Override the president’s veto with a two-thirds vote • Propose amendments to the Constitution with a two-thirds vote The Legislative Branch • Each member represents a district • Two-year ••Powers:••Qualifications:terms25yearsoldCitizenfor7yearsProposestaxlawsCanimpeachthepresident House of Representatives (435 members) (100Senatemembers) • Each member represents a state • Six-year •Powers:••Qualifications:terms30yearsoldCitizenfor9yearsApprovespresidential appointments • Ratifies treaties • Conducts trial of the president after impeachment U.S. Capitol Building Bicameral Legislature

Lesson 768

Cabinet members advise the president on policy matters relating to their departments. For example, the secretary of state provides advice on foreign affairs, and the secretary of labor advises on polices relating to the workplace.

George Washington (left) is shown with members of his first cabinet (left to right): Secretary of War Henry Knox, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. The Constitution does not mention a cabinet, but Washington set the precedent by using his secretaries as advisers. Presidents meet with members of the cabinet on a regular basis. Here, the press reports on a cabinet meeting that took place in Washington, D.C., in 2017.

Article II describes the election, powers, and duties of the president. As chief executive, the president is the head of the largest branch of the federal government. Under the Constitution, the president and the rest of the executive branch must “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

3. The Executive Branch Enforces the Laws

In addition to enforcing laws, the president proposes legislation, including the annual federal budget. As commander in chief, the president is head of the military and has considerable authority in war. Additionally, the president oversees foreign relations, a power that includes making treaties and appointing ambassadors with the Senate’s consent. The president’s judicial powers include appointing Supreme Court justices, again with Senate approval, and granting pardons to people who have broken federal laws.

Some are executive agencies that report to the president, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and others are regulatory com missions formed by Congress, such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Other semi-governmental agencies, such as the U.S. Postal Service, provide specific services.

Some other executive departments are those of defense, education, agriculture, transportation, and energy. One of the newest is the Department of Homeland Security, created to prevent terrorism and respond to natural disasters. Within each executive department are agencies that address different issues. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are three agen cies within the Department of Health and HumanThereServices.arealso independent agen cies outside the executive departments.

The Role of Other Executive Officials, Departments, and Agencies Many other officials help carry out executive duties. The vice president, the White House staff, and other close advisers help the president make important policy decisions. The president also receives advice from the cabinet, a group that consists mainly of the heads of executive departments that enforce the laws. These department heads, such as the secretary of state and attorney general, are appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. Their number has risen from four in George Washington’s first cabinet to 15 today.

Powers of the Chief Executive

An Enduring Plan of Government 69 The Executive BranchVice President Other Executive Officials, Departments, and Agencies • Four-year ••Qualifications:term35yearsoldNative-borncitizen Powers of the President: • Approves or vetoes laws • Conducts U.S. foreign relations and makes treaties with foreign governments • Nominates cabinet members, ambassadors, and federal judges • Serves as commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces • Prepares the federal government’s budget President of the United States • Serves as president of the Senate • Assumes the presidency if the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office • Advise the president • Enforce laws White House

Charles Evans Hughes, chief justice from 1930 to 1941, described the task this way: “We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is.” This does not mean judges make their own laws, but that they rule on whether a law conforms to the Constitution.

The Federal Judiciary The federal courts have been called “the guardians of the Constitution” because they judge whether laws and actions conform to consti tutional principles. However, a court may address a legal issue only if a relevant case comes before it. It cannot attempt to solve legal problems on its own.

The judicial branch interprets the Constitution, the “supreme Law of the Land.” Article III establishes the Supreme Court and gives Congress authority to set up “inferior,” or lower, federal courts. The Supreme Court and lower federal courts make up the federal judiciary, or federal court system.

In this room, the nine justices of the Supreme Court hear cases and interpret the Constitution.

Higher courts agree to hear an appeal only when they believe that a lower court may have incorrectly applied the law. Without the aid of witnesses or juries, an appeals court reviews a case based on court records and oral argu ments from attorneys and then makes its decision.

4. The Judicial Branch Interprets the Laws

The Supreme Court is the last stop in the judicial system. Its decisions are final and binding on lower federal courts and on state courts. Every year, it receives about 7,000 petitions to hear cases and accepts about 100 to 150. Its rulings become precedents, court decisions used as guides in deciding similar cases in the state courts, lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court itself.

Most legal disputes involve state and local laws and are addressed in the state court systems. The federal court system hears cases involving issues that are not limited to one state, such as violations of the U.S. Constitution or federal laws. Other examples are cases in which the United States, a state, or a foreign nation is a named party.

A key authority exercised by the Supreme Court is judicial review, the power to review an action of the legislative or executive branch and declare it unconstitutional. This power stems from an 1803 Court case, Marbury v. Madison, in which the Court overturned an act of Congress. In that case, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Congress, in passing the law, had acted outside the bounds of its constitutional power. Judicial review has sparked debate over the years with some arguing that the Court should take an active role in making policy by overturning laws and others urging restraint.

The Supreme Court may also choose to hear an appeal of a state supreme court decision involving a state or local law, often resulting in cases that raise an important constitutional issue affecting the nation as a whole.

The Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court consists of nine justices, including a chief justice. Like other federal judges, their salaries cannot be lowered, and they are appointed for life because the framers wanted to ensure an independent judiciary—a system in which judges cannot be removed or have their salaries reduced for making unpopular decisions.

Lesson 770

Most federal cases are initially heard in the lower courts, beginning with a U.S. district court. That court’s decision can be appealed to a U.S. court of appeals, and the final appeal is to petition the Supreme Court to hear the case.

The Power of Judicial Review

In Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall noted in his ruling that “a law repugnant to the constitution is void.” This was the first time the Supreme Court had held an act of Congress to be unconstitutional. In this and other rulings, Justice Marshall left a powerful imprint on the court and on the nation.

A case appealed from a U.S. District Court goes to a U.S. Court of Appeals. These appellate courts do not have juries or hear testimony, and no new evidence is submitted. Each case is heard by a panel of three judges who review the lower court’s decision to determine whether an error was made.

U.S. Court of Appeals

Other Federal Courts

The Judicial Branch

Other federal courts include U.S. bankruptcy courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Tax Court.

An Enduring Plan of Government 71

Lower State Courts

U.S. District Courts

Federal judges serve for life, unless removed for misconduct.

State Supreme Courts

The U.S. District Courts are the trial courts for the federal judiciary. Here the parties argue their cases, usually in front of one judge and a jury. These are the only federal courts to hear testimony in a trial. The Supreme Court

Reserved powers include those that are appropriately handled at the state or local level. Providing police and fire protection, establishing schools, and regulating businesses within the state are all reserved powers. In addition, issu ing marriage and driver’s licenses, conducting elections, and establishing local governments are reserved powers.

Article IV dictates that states must provide “full Faith and Credit” to the laws and decisions of other states. This means that states, for the most part, are obligated to accept the legal documents and actions of other states. States also have certain responsibilities to each other, such as allowing a child born in another state to attend their public schools as well as helping each other track down criminals.

The Powers of the National Government

Lesson 772 Printing money is one of the delegated powers of the national government. Every day, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing prints 35 million banknotes, with a total value of about $635 million.

5. Federalism: A System of Divided Powers

Some of the delegated powers are given to the national government alone and specifically denied to the states. For example, only Congress has the power to coin or print money because the framers wanted to avoid the monetary confusion that existed under the Articles of Confederation, when many states produced their own currency. Also, it is appropriate that only the national gov ernment can declare war or make treaties with other nations. Another example is the power to regulate trade with other nations and between the states. By regulating interstate commerce, Congress helps to create a national market with few internal restrictions on trade and finance.

During the ratification debates, many Americans expressed concern that the lack of delegated state powers in the Constitution might leave the federal gov ernment with too much power. This concern resulted in ratification of the Tenth Amendment, which declares, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” In other words, any power not expressly granted to the national government would remain with the states and the people. These powers are called reserved powers.

As you have seen, the Constitution defines different powers for the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government. The Constitution also establishes the principle of federalism, the division of power between the federal and state governments. Both the federal and state govern ments have some exclusive powers of their own, while sharing others.

The Powers of the States

The Constitution is much less specific about state powers. In fact, the only power specifically granted to the states, in Article V, is the power to ratify amendments. On the other hand, Article I specifies those powers that are denied to the states, including taxing imports or exports without the consent of Congress, coining money, and making treaties.

Article I, Section 8, lists the pow ers granted to Congress and therefore to the national government. Among these delegated powers are the powers to borrow money, coin money, raise an army and navy, declare war, make treaties, establish post offices, and protect patents and copyrights. The Elastic Clause enables Congress to create laws necessary to effectively carry out these and other delegated powers.

Sharing power can also create conflict between the federal and state governments. The Constitution provides the general framework for concurrent powers, but it neither explicitly lists every one of them nor resolves all the issues that arise when powers are shared. Through the years, the system of shared powers has evolved through new laws, amendments to the Constitution, and court decisions.

The supremacy clause establishes that federal law must be followed in cases involving a conflict between federal and state law. A state’s constitution, laws, and judicial decisions cannot conflict with the U.S. Constitution or with the laws and treaties of the United States.

Law enforcement is an example of a concurrent power shared by the states and the federal government. State police often work with federal officers to investigate crimes and handle emergencies.

The establishment of local government is a reserved power granted to the states by the Constitution. Holding town meetings is a way for residents to discuss local issues.

The Law of the Land Article VI contains a very important clause that declares, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States . . . shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstand ing.” Since this clause affirms that the Constitution and federal laws are the supreme law of the land, it is often called the supremacy clause

Shared Powers of the Federal and State Governments

An Enduring Plan of Government 73

Some of the powers delegated to Congress are not denied to the states. These are called concurrent powers because the federal government and the state governments can independently exercise them simultaneously. For example, the federal and state governments both collect taxes, build roads, establish courts, borrow money, make and enforce laws, and spend money for the general welfare. Their overlapping responsibilities often require the state and federal govern ments to collaborate. For example, Congress sets the date for national elections and organizes the Electoral College vote, while the states register voters, run the elections, and count the ballots. Federal and state officials also coordinate efforts to provide such services as law enforcement and disaster relief.

Even before the Constitution was ratified, there were calls for amendments, especially in the form of a bill of rights. Article V establishes a procedure for amending the Constitution. The framers wanted to keep the government long lasting and stable, though, so they made changing the Constitution difficult.

The Bill of Rights When ratifying the Constitution in 1788, five states included a list of amendments they wanted added to the document. Many other states and individuals also agreed that certain amendments were necessary. The main demand was for the explicit protection of individual liberties and freedoms.

This method was used for all but the Twenty-ﬁrst Amendment

2ndCUSHS_SE07_7A_02MYKProof

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Changing the Constitution

There are two ways to propose amendments to the Constitution. Congress can propose an amendment with a two-thirds vote in each house. Alternatively, two-thirds of state legislatures can request that Congress call a national conven tion to draft an amendment. In either instance, an amendment must have the approval of three-fourths of the states to become part of the Constitution.

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The Constitution can be amended in four ways, but the vast majority of suggested amendments fail to win ratification. All the successful amendments but one—the Twentyfirst—were proposed in Congress and ratified by state legislatures.

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Many people consider the First Amendment to be the most important amendment in the Bill of Rights. It protects five freedoms: the freedoms of reli gion, speech, the press, and assembly, and the right to petition the government.

The framers foresaw that the Constitution would have to change over time to remain relevant and useful to succeeding generations. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, the Constitution “belongs to the living and not to the dead.”

6. Federalism: Amending the Constitution

The new Congress listened to the concerns of the states and the people. James Madison then compiled a set of constitutional amendments. By 1791, ten amendments protecting rights known as the Bill of Rights had been ratified, becoming part of the “supreme Law of the Land.”

Amending the Constitution

Four of the additional amendments—the Twelfth, Seventeenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-second—concern the election and terms of office of public officials.

The last two amendments are quite general. The Ninth Amendment notes that the people have other rights in addition to those listed, and that those rights must not be violated. The Tenth Amendment says that powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people participated in the March on Washington, exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble and speak freely. This protest brought pressure on the government to pass civil rights legislation.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy and fair trial in criminal cases. The Seventh Amendment ensures the right to trial by jury in certain types of federal civil cases, those involving disputes between people or businesses. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments and forbids courts to impose excessive bail or fines.

Thousands of additional amendments have been proposed over the years, but only 17 have been ratified, bringing the total number of amendments to 27. One amendment—the Eighteenth, which banned the making and selling of alcohol—was ratified and then later repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment.

The right to vote is an important element of American democracy. Over the years, various constitutional amendments have expanded citizens’ voting rights.

Further Amendments

The next three amendments are designed to protect citizens from abuses of power by the federal government. The Second Amendment refers to the necessity of a “well-regulated militia” and to “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” This right applies to individuals and to members of a state militia. The Third Amendment states that homeowners cannot be forced to provide room and board to members of the military in times of peace. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches, seizures of property, and Thearrests.next four amendments secure rights and protections for people who are accused of crimes or are involved in other legal disputes. The Fifth Amendment is the longest one in the Bill of Rights, and it says that people cannot be held for committing a crime unless they are properly indicted, or charged. It states that no person can be tried twice for a crime if the punishment is “loss of life or limb.” People cannot be forced to testify against themselves, and they cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without “due process of law.” Finally, it mentions that the government cannot take private property without paying a fair price for it.

An Enduring Plan of Government 75

Many of the other amendments stem from efforts to expand civil rights and the right to vote, like the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment confers citizenship on all per sons born or naturalized in the United States, thereby barring states from denying citizenship to blacks and affirming that all citizens have “equal protection of the laws.” The Fifteenth Amendment states that race, color, and previous condition of servitude cannot be used to deny voting rights, and the Nineteenth Amendment says that gender cannot be used to deny the vote. Finally, the Twenty-sixth Amendment sets the voting age at 18.

The Role of Political Parties in Government

Our nation was founded on the ideal that government should be based on the will of the people. In the early years, “We the People” did not include all members of American society, but today there are ways for all citizens to impact government. Participation is the key to an effective democracy.

7. Popular Participation in Government

Presidential candidates are chosen at national party conventions attended by delegations from each state. Here you see Cory Booker, who was a candidate for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey, addressing the 2016 Democratic National

Lesson 776

AmericansConvention.alsoparticipate in the political process through marches, protests, and other group actions. These demonstrators have opposing views on the issues surrounding the annual March for Life that occurs in Washington, D.C.

A political party is an organized group of people who have similar ideas about government. The first two American political parties emerged during the 1790s. One party, led by Thomas Jefferson, wanted to give the states more power, help small farmers, and reduce the size of the federal government. The other, headed by Alexander Hamilton, favored a strong federal government that could help businesses. These parties drew more citizens into the electoral process.

Over the years, the names and beliefs of political parties have changed, but typically two parties have been dominant. Since the mid-1800s, the two parties have been the Republican and Democratic parties. Today they largely control American politics, especially at the state and national levels. Even those who consider themselves “independents” often show loyalty to one of the two parties. A candidate has a better chance of winning an election if he or she is a member of one of the two major political parties, rather than a small third party. The two-party system is so dominant that it plays a significant role in shaping public policy.

“We the People,” Past and Present The U.S. government exists to serve its citizens. By electing our local, state, and national representatives and leaders, “we the people” can impact government. When “we the people” vote, we are using the principle of majority rule to make decisions. In our early history, with very few exceptions, only white property-owning males could vote, so they were the ones who made the deci sions. Today “we the people” includes all citizens, regardless of race, culture, or gender. The diversity of voters now makes the government much more representative of the people.

One of the main roles of political parties is to nominate candidates for public offices.

Political participation

Political Participation Beyond Voting Despite the dominance of political parties, Americans also participate in the political process as individuals. They campaign for candidates they support or run for office themselves. They volunteer with public service organizations in addition to attending town meetings, public hearings, and demonstrations. They write and promote ballot measures, which are proposed laws or amendments initiated and voted on by the public, not the legislature. They also join committees, organizations, and professional societies.Somepeoplejoin

Federalism

The amendment process

Citizens can participate in government in many ways including voting, joining political parties, running for office, and exerting political influence through public meet ings, interest groups, and other means.

Lobbying is one way to influence decisions that the government makes. Here, four female lobbyists attempt to influence two senators to support their cause.

special interest groups to increase government aware ness of their opinions. Special interest groups are organizations whose members share a specific interest or concern and want to influence policymaking.

The Constitution can be amended. The first ten amendments make up the Bill of Rights, and seventeen more amendments have been added over the years.

The federal judiciary is composed of the Supreme Court and many lower courts across the country that interpret and apply laws in cases that come before them. The power of judicial review allows the Supreme Court to judge whether acts of Congress are constitutional.

The framers of the Constitution wanted to create a strong yet balanced government that guaranteed individual freedoms.

The judicial branch

Summary

The legislative branch

The main task of this branch is to enforce the laws. The president is the chief executive, or head of the executive branch. This branch also includes many other executive officials, departments, and agencies.

The Constitution establishes a federal system that balances national and state pow ers, but it grants controlling authority to the national government in its supremacy clause.

The main function of this branch of government is to enact laws. Congress consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Elastic Clause of the Constitution gives Congress the flexibility it requires to carry out its duties.

Groups like the American Medical Association (AMA), the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) spend a lot of time and money lobbying the government on behalf of their causes.

The “supreme Law of the Land” The Constitution is the supreme legal document of the United States that consists of three parts: the Preamble, the Articles, and the amendments. Three branches of government The first three articles establish the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. A system of checks and balances ensures that powers are distributed among the branches.

The executive branch

An Enduring Plan of Government 77

Did changes in the young nation open the door to opportunity for all Americans?

79 Lewis and Clark left St. Louis, Missouri, in 1804 and returned two years later, having traveled overland to the Pacific Ocean and back. Along the way, a French fur trapper and his wife, Sacajawea, joined the expedition. Sacajawea, a captive Shoshone Indian, made this epic journey carrying her young son on her back and proved invaluable as a translator when the expedition reached her people.

The makeup of St. Louis’s population also changed. Previously a town of trappers and fur traders, St. Louis now had prosperous merchants and bankers who rubbed shoulders with farmers and workers. Between 1840 and 1860, a wave of immigration from Germany and Ireland reshaped the ethnic mix of the city. St. Louis had become a cosmopolitan city and the “gateway to the West.”

The top image shows the town of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1832, and the bottom shows the same location in 1854.

1790–1860

Introduction In 1803, two army officers, Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark, arrived in the frontier outpost of St. Louis, Missouri. The two men were on a mission from President Thomas Jefferson to explore western rivers for a route to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, they were to collect information about the Louisiana Territory, an immense expanse of land the United States had recently purchased from France.

At the time, St. Louis was a sleepy town of approximately 200 houses, perched on a bluff above the Mississippi River. There were no shops or hotels, and the town’s residents were primarily French settlers who lived by farming, fur trapping, and trading along the river. Traders would dock their boats by the river’s edge and travel the network of dirt roads that led away from the river.

It’s unlikely that anyone in St. Louis in 1803 thought much about what Lewis and Clark’s arrival would mean for the little town. However, by opening the West to settlement, Lewis and Clark’s expedition brought massive changes to St. Louis. By 1850, St. Louis had matured into a bustling city of more than 70,000. Its ideal location near the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers made St. Louis a center of trade and commerce. Along the waterfront, wharves and brick warehouses replaced the sandy beach where small boats once landed. Dozens of large, paddle-wheel steamboats lined the docks. One visitor wrote, “The whole of the levee is covered as far as the eye can see, with merchandise landed or to be shipped; thousands of barrels of flour and bags of corn, hogsheads of tobacco, and immense piles of lead.”

Lesson Changes8 in Young Nationa

George Washington Gives Shape to the Office of President When George Washington took the oath of office as the nation’s first president in 1789, he faced a delicate task. On the one hand, as he said in his inaugural speech, he was determined to provide Americans with “the benefits of an united and effec tive government.” On the other hand, he had to reassure those “fellow-citizens” who feared a strong president could indicate the return of a monarchy. President Washington had no compass, other than the Constitution, to guide him.

“I walk 0200 40 0 km 0200 40 0 mi WNSE TeStatesrritories 100°W90°W80° 80W ° 90W ° 100W ° 110W ° 120W ° 130W °W70°W30° 40N ° 50N ° 110N °W ATLANTICOCEAN PACIFICOCEAN Gulf of Mexico MississippiR. Arkansas R. Snake R Columbia R Rio Grande Ohio RColoradoR MissouriR. Terr. NW of Ohio R. (parMEtofMA)VT NHMA RICT NY PA NJDEVAMD TNKY GA SCNCTeIndianarritoryMississippiTerrTerrSouthofOhioR. AppalachianMts. The United States in 1800

In these early years, the United States was predominantly a rural nation. However, it did have a number of flourishing cities, including the old colonial centers of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. The country was also expanding beyond its original 13 states. Between 1790 and 1800, three new states entered the Union: Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Many settlers were migrating west across the Appalachian Mountains into the area known as the Northwest Territory, which would later become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Settlers were also moving into the area of present-day Mississippi and Alabama. By the early 1800s, American settle ments were scattered across a large territory, from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Mississippi River in the west.

The United States had little industry at this time. Most farmers made their own clothing and tools. In urban areas, artisans produced manufactured goods by hand in small workshops. In the Northeast were a few small textile mills that spun cotton by machine, but large factories did not yet exist.

1. The First Years of the New Nation

In 1790, the United States was beginning its new life as a nation. It had a Constitution and its first president, George Washington. That year, the govern ment took its first national census and learned that the country had nearly 4 million people. Although most Americans were still clustered along the east ern seaboard, some rugged pioneers had begun to move inland.

The Country Expands Beyond Its Colonial Borders

Agriculture Is the Center of the Nation’s Economy In states old and new, farming was the nation’s most important economic activity. Most Americans farmed on small plots, producing food for themselves and their families. If they produced a surplus, they might sell it in nearby towns or cities.

By 1800, the United States had expanded from 13 to 16 states. As settlers pushed west across the Appalachians, lack of reliable transportation became a growing problem. Many western farmers relied on the Mississippi River to ship their crops to Eastern cities.

Lack of good transportation kept most states and regions isolated from each other. Moving people or goods across great distances was expensive and dif ficult. The few roads linking towns and cities were deeply rutted in dry weather and treacherous swamps in wet weather, so most long-distance travel occurred on rivers or the ocean.

Lesson 880

John Adams, a Federalist, succeeded Washington as president. In 1800, Adams ran for a second term against Thomas Jefferson. During the campaign, partisan feelings ran so high, some worried the new nation might self-destruct. Nevertheless, the 1800 election took place without serious disturbance and Thomas Jefferson won the presidency, shifting power peacefully from one party to the other. The country had survived a major political test.

Changes in a Young Nation 81

on untrodden ground,” he said. “There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.”

In the early 1800s, most Americans lived on farms. Thomas Jefferson and his DemocraticRepublicans believed that ordinary farmers formed the backbone of American society and its democratic way of life. However, Federalists put more faith in educated city dwellers to run the new nation’s political affairs.

In contrast, Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party favored a small central government with limited powers. The party believed that states had the right to judge whether Congress was overstepping its constitutional powers, a view known as the states’ rights theory. The Democratic-Republicans had great confidence in the ability of ordinary people to make good decisions and also believed that political power should reside with the majority of voters rather than with a wealthy elite.

Political Parties Emerge Washington’s most promi nent cabinet members were Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Both were brilliant thinkers, but one’s ideas often contradicted the other’s. “Hamilton and myself were daily pitted . . . like two fighting cocks,” Jefferson wrote of their increasing hostility. These differences led to the creation of the country’s first political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.

The first test of Washington’s authority as president came in 1791, when Congress passed a tax on whiskey to raise money. Western farmers, who turned their grain into whiskey for sale, were outraged, and many refused to pay the tax. Angry farmers in western Pennsylvania rose up in rebellion, attacking tax collectors and setting buildings on fire. Washington considered the Whiskey Rebellion a threat to the federal government’s authority. In 1794, President Washington sent a militia force across the Appalachians to stamp out the protests in order to demonstrate that the federal government would enforce its laws.

Hamilton’s Federalist Party supported a strong central government with wide powers. The Federalists believed that a powerful government was needed to maintain order among the states. They had little faith in the wisdom of the average citizen and thought that a capable, educated elite should run the country.

Generally, Washington favored Federalist ideas. Nonetheless, in his Farewell Address, delivered near the end of his second term in 1796, he warned of “the danger of parties” and spoke of “the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness.” Once Washington left office, however, debates between the two parties became increasingly acrimonious.

One of Washington’s first official actions was to sign Congress’s Federal Judiciary Act into law. This act created the federal court system, with its district and circuit courts, that we continue to live under today. Washington also created the first cabinet, or group of department heads that meets to advise the president.

2. Geographic Changes

Lesson 882

In May 1804, Lewis and Clark embarked from St. Louis on their journey to the Pacific Ocean. They paddled up the Missouri River and into the unexplored world of the American West, crossing vast plains and snowcapped mountains. They discovered plants and animals they had never seen before and even uncov ered the remains of a prehistoric dinosaur. They encountered American Indian tribes and learned about their ways of life. Two years and four months later, they were back in St. Louis. The news of their expedition thrilled Americans and helped promote western settlement.

From Sea to Shining Sea: Acquiring the West Much of the area that Lewis and Clark explored was part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, which was an enormous amount of money at the time. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty pushed the western boundary of the United States from the Mississippi River to the distant Rocky Mountains, at a cost of about four cents an acre.

Many people criticized Jefferson’s action. Some thought the country did not need any more undeveloped land. Others protested that the purchase was unconstitutional because the Constitution did not give the president the power to buy foreign territory. However, Jefferson could not resist an opportunity to double the size of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase furthered his vision of an “empire for liberty” stretching from sea to sea. Many Americans had good reasons for supporting national expansion. The country’s population was growing rapidly. Good farmland in the settled, eastern portion of the country was becoming less plentiful, so more and more people were moving west in search of inexpensive land. Many also believed expansion would improve the country’s safety by reducing the threat of foreign invasion from the west. The idea of a larger, more powerful country also appealed to the American sense of nationalism. This combination of nationalism and expansionism gave rise in the 1840s to a belief known as manifest destiny. The term means “obvious fate,” and it seemed obvious to many Americans that the United States was intended to

During the mid-1800s, many settlers migrated west. They were driven by the desire for land and opportunity. They were also inspired by their faith in manifest destiny, which Americans believed granted them a God-given right and obligation to expand across the continent.

Settlers Find Opportunity and Liberty in the West As the United States expanded, American settlers moved into the newly acquired territories. Some traveled by wagon along the Santa Fe Trail, which was an old trade route from the Missouri River to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Many more headed west on the Oregon Trail, which stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Portland, Oregon. The journey along the Oregon Trail, across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, took many months and cost countless settlers their lives. Those who survived found fertile farmlands in the lush, green valleys of Oregon. One group that journeyed west in the 1840s was made up of the Mormons. This religious group traveled over the Oregon Trail to Utah to escape persecu tion. They settled on the desert lands surrounding Great Salt Lake and created a thriving, prosperous community.

The idea of manifest destiny inspired further expansion. Spain was persuaded to cede Florida to the United States in 1819. In 1845, Texas joined the Union as a state, after initially gaining independence from Mexico. The United States and Great Britain signed a treaty in 1846, giving the United States control over about half of Oregon Country. That same year, the United States went to war with Mexico over a border dispute in Texas. At the end of the Mexican War, the United States gained most of the American Southwest in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Gadsden Purchase of 1853, which added a portion of present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico, completed the nation’s continental expansion at that time.

Changes in a Young Nation

Between 1803 and 1853, the continental United States doubled in size. Each new territorial acquisition made land available to settlers while bringing hardship to American Indians.

spread its founding ideals and democratic way of life across the continent and beyond. One politician at the time wrote, “Nothing less than a continent can suffice as the basis and foundation for that nation whose destiny is involved in the destiny of mankind.”

0200 40 0 km 0200 40 0 mi 100WNSE °W90°W80° 80W °W70° 90W ° 100W °W30° 40N ° 110N ° 120W °W ATLANTICOCEAN PACIFICOCEAN Gulf of Mexico CANADA MEXICO THE UNITED STATES Ceded by Great Britain (1818) Adjusted with Great Britain (Webster-AshburtonTreaty,1842) All state boundaries are present-day borders LOUISIANAPURCHASE (from France, 1803) ANNEXATEXASTION(1845) PURCHAGADSDENSE (from Mexico, 1853) MEXICAN CESSION (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848) OREGON COUNTRY (agreement with Great Britain, 1846) FLORIDA CESSION (Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain, 1819) U.S. Territorial Acquisitions, 1803–1853

Lesson 884

In the end, the tribes that resisted removal were relocated by force. The most famous forced migration was that of the Cherokees in 1838. On the journey to Indian Territory, about 4,000 of the more than 17,000 Cherokees died from starvation, disease, and harsh winter weather—a tragic journey remembered today as the Trail of Tears.

Although most tribes reluctantly went along with removal, some resisted. The Cherokees attempted a legal defense, claiming they were protected from removal by earlier treaties. When Georgia refused to recognize the treaty rights, the Cherokees appealed to the Supreme Court. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Court upheld the Cherokees’ treaty rights. President Jackson, however, refused to enforce the Court’s decision. Other tribes, such as the Seminoles of Florida and the Sauk and Fox Indians of Wisconsin Territory, turned to armed resistance and were nearly destroyed by army troops.

The North included the states that stretched from Pennsylvania north to New England and from the Atlantic to the Appalachians. In New England, cold winters and poor soil led many people to turn to commerce, shipbuilding, and fishing for a living. Elsewhere, most northerners farmed for a living. However, by the mid-1800s, some northerners were abandoning their farms to work in the growing number of mills and factories. Many new immigrants also flocked to northern cities in search of job opportunities.

In the early 1800s, the West meant the lands between the Appalachians and the Mississippi River. By the 1840s, however, the West meant the area west of the Mississippi. Early settlement of the West was motivated by farmers’ desire for cheap, fertile land. Americans, as well as immigrants from many countries, crossed the continent in search of new opportunities in the West. As they mixed with Indians and Mexicans already inhabiting the area, new patterns of life emerged.

The Country Develops Sectional Identities As the United States expanded, the three main sections of the country—North, South, and West—began to develop distinct identities. These identities were influenced by the different geographic characteristics of each section and by the people who settled there.

The South stretched from the Chesapeake Bay south to Florida and west to the Mississippi River. With the South’s mild climate and rich soil, agriculture was the dominant occupation through the mid-1800s. Although most southerners were small farmers, plantation agriculture was becoming exponentially more impor tant. Plantation owners depended on slave labor to cultivate cash crops, such as cotton and tobacco. The most successful planters lived lives of great affluence.

In literature of the time, the West is portrayed as a wild, uncharted frontier. Davey Crockett, a trail guide and former congressman from Tennessee, embodied the traits of strength and independence that many Americans valued. These qualities were considered essential for life in the American West.

American Indians Face a Forced Westward Migration Although westward expansion provided new opportunities for settlers, it spelled tragedy for many American Indians. As the United States acquired new territories, it also brought many Indian homelands within its national borders. Settlers who coveted these lands advocated for the removal of tribes to less desirable areas.

In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act to clear Indians from lands east of the Mississippi River. The plan was to move the tribes west to Indian Territory, which later became the state of Oklahoma. In a message to Congress entitled “On Indian Removal,” President Andrew Jackson praised the act for placing “a dense and civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage hunters.”

While running for president in 1828, Andrew Jackson pioneered the use of political rallies and other lively campaign events to reach voters. Other politicians soon followed his lead. Jackson’s inauguration in 1829 brought a flood of admirers to Washington, D.C. The celebration became a near riot as supporters poured into the White House. As one observer put it, “It was the people’s day and the people’s president, and the people would rule.”

3. Political Changes in an Emerging Democracy

From 1790 to 1830, there was an expansion of democracy in the United States. Few Americans represented this change better than Andrew Jackson, who was born into poverty in the Carolina backcountry and managed to prosper as a planter, purchasing land and slaves. He went on to become a judge, a U.S. senator, and a military hero. Despite his wealth and fame, Jackson maintained a common, man-of-the-people image. This reputation and a new spirit of democ racy in the country helped sweep Jackson to the presidency in 1828.

Political parties made politics more democratic by involving more people in election campaigns. By the 1820s, parties were using newspapers, campaign songs, and get-out-the-vote rallies to encourage interest in voting. The per centage of eligible voters who actually went to the polls increased sharply as campaigns became more interesting.

Jackson Loses, Then Wins, the Presidency Jackson first ran for president in 1824 when four candidates ran for president, all of whom claimed to be DemocraticRepublicans. Each candidate represented the interests of a different section of the country. Jackson managed to attract enough voters in all sections to win the popu lar vote. However, he did not have enough votes in the Electoral College to win the presidency. In accordance with the Constitution, the election went to the House of Representatives, which chose John Quincy Adams to be president. Jackson’s supporters vowed revenge in the next election.Jacksonknew there would be many new voters in 1828, most of them “common people.” To gain their support, he formed a new political party known as the Democratic Party, which claimed to speak for ordinary farmers and workers rather than for the wealthy and privileged few. This new party supported a decentralized government and states’ rights.

Democracy for the Common Man—But Not Woman Jackson owed his vic tory in part to an expansion of suffrage, or voting rights. By 1828, most states had dropped the requirement that voting citizens must own property. The num ber of popular votes increased from around 350,000 in 1824 to some 1,155,000 the year Jackson was elected president. Although these changes marked an expansion of democracy, many Americans were still denied this most basic political right. No states allowed women, American Indians, or slaves to vote, and only a handful granted suffrage to free African American men. Other changes were also making the election process more democratic. In many states, secret paper ballots were replacing the more public voice-vote system—a change that encouraged people to vote without fear of intimidation at the polls. By 1832, open national conventions had replaced private party meet ings, called caucuses, to nominate candidates for president and vice president.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall made a number of rulings that affirmed federal power. The first ruling came in 1819 in McCulloch v. Maryland, which arose when Maryland attempted to tax the Baltimore branch of the Bank of the United States, a national bank created by an act of Congress. The Marshall Court ruled that “the power to tax involves the power to destroy.” Under the Supremacy Clause, no state had the right to destroy or in any way nullify what Congress had enacted. In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), the Supreme Court reaffirmed the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

Lesson 886

The case arose when the New York legislature granted two men the exclusive right to operate steamboats on the Hudson River. New Jersey, which shares the river with New York, protested. The Court rejected New York’s effort to control boat traffic on the river, on the grounds that it interfered with interstate commerce.

Jackson’s opponent, John Quincy Adams, also headed a new party, the National Republican Party. The National Republicans represented business, shipping, and banking interests in the Northeast. This party favored a strong central government that would fund internal improvements, such as roads and canals, to grow the economy. Southerners feared that they would face high tariffs to pay for these improvements, and worried that a stronger federal government might be tempted to interfere with slavery.

Nullification: Defining the Limits of State and Federal Powers A key issue facing the young republic was the balance between state and federal power. This issue first arose in 1798, when Congress passed two controversial laws known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Believing the laws to be unconstitu tional, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison penned protests known as the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions. The resolutions called on states to nullify, or declare void, any federal law that violates the Constitution. This principle of nullification would become a flash point in a later battle over states’ rights.

The issue of states’ rights reached a boiling point in 1832, when South Carolina tried to nullify two federal tariff laws. Like many southern states, South Carolina relied on imports of cheap manufactured goods, and tariffs raised the prices on these goods. As the nullification crisis intensified, state leaders threatened to withdraw from the Union if the tariff laws were enforced.

President Jackson stood his ground, preparing to act forcefully if necessary. At the same time, he rushed a lower tariff bill through Congress. The crisis passed, but the tension between states’ rights and federal power did not dissipate.

The Alien and Sedition Acts were signed into law by President John Adams, father of John Quincy Adams, in 1798 as the country prepared for war with France. These acts authorized the president to deport noncitizens who were considered “dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.” The acts also restricted speech that was critical of the government.

Both parties tried to win voters by avoiding sectional issues and flinging nasty allegations at one another. When the mudslinging was over, Jackson’s “common man” appeal won him a landslide victory. At his inauguration, Jackson threw open the White House doors to his followers, who tromped through the residence with muddy boots and spilled punch on the furniture. It was a raucous celebration of popular democracy. Once in office, Jackson rewarded his loyal supporters with government jobs. Those who lost their jobs to make way for Jackson supporters denounced this practice as a spoils system, a name stemming from the ancient wartime saying, “To the victor belong the spoils [prizes] of war.” Jackson, however, defended “rotation in office” as a democratic reform. Government jobs, he argued, were not the property of an elite few but should be open to all.

In 1789, a young Englishman named Samuel Slater came to the United States looking for opportunity. Unlike most immigrants, how ever, he was not seeking land to farm. Instead, he came to found a cotton-spinning mill using the latest technology. While working in an English textile mill, Slater had memorized the designs for machines that spun cotton fiber into thread. Soon after arriving in the United States, he built a mill in Rhode Island, embarking towards fame and fortune. Slater’s mill marked the beginning of industrialization, or the move from producing goods by hand to producing them by machine, in the United States.

Whitney’s cotton gin revolutionized cotton production, making cotton the nation’s leading cash crop. The cotton gin also revolutionized the institution of slavery. Until then, many had expected slavery to die out in the South, as it had in the North. Instead, as cotton production increased, so did the demand for slave labor. Whitney also introduced the concept of interchangeable parts. Until then, musket parts were handmade, and each part was slightly different. Whitney demonstrated how muskets could be put together using identical parts that could be made in quantity and interchanged from one gun to another. Whitney’s system made musket manufacturing much faster and paved the way for the mass production of goods. Mass production is the making of goods on a large scale in factories. In the 1830s, new machines increased productivity—the rate at which goods can be produced—in agriculture. John Deere invented the steel-tipped plow, which drastically reduced the labor required to plow a field. Around the same time, Cyrus McCormick created a mechanical reaper that could harvest grain more rapidly than traditional methods with less labor. In response, farmers began to focus on cash crops, using the money they earned to buy the expensive new machines and other goods they needed.

Cotton production soared with the introduction of the cotton gin in 1793. Because cotton plant ers relied on slave labor, the slave system also became deeply entrenched. By 1860, one of every three people living in the South was enslaved.

New Inventions Make Production More Efficient Slater was not alone because other inventors in the United States were simultane ously developing new machines that would spur industrialization. One of the most successful of these inventors was a New Englander named Eli Whitney. While visiting a Georgia plantation in 1793, Whitney observed how slaves spent hours cleaning the seeds from cotton. Within days, he had invented the cotton gin, a machine that could clean 50 pounds of cotton in the time it took to clean one pound by hand.

4. Economic Changes in a Developing Nation

The Factory System Changes How People Work New technology brought new ways of working. Boston merchant Francis Cabot Lowell, father of the factory system, opened his first cotton mill in 1814. Lowell’s factory used a series of machines, contained in one building, that turned raw cotton into finished cloth. To operate his machines, he employed young women from local farms. Many of these “mill girls” were eager to leave their unpaid farmwork for a factory job with wages.

thousands)(inCottonofBales Year 1,001,502,002,5000005000 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 Cotton Production, 1800–1850

Changes in a Young Nation 87

Lesson 888

Canals extended water travel to places rivers did not run. In 1817, when construction of the Erie Canal began, most canals were 2 or 3 miles long. In contrast, the Erie Canal, which linked the Hudson River to Lake Erie, stretched 363 miles. Once the canal was completed, goods could travel from New York City to the Midwest by river, through the canal, and onto the Great Lakes. The canal helped make New York City the country’s biggest and most prosperous city, and its success prompted dozens of other canal projects throughout the country.Railroads were another key element in the transportation revolution. Inspired by steamboats, engineers built steam-powered locomotives that hauled freight and passenger cars along railroad lines, even in winter when rivers and canals froze. By the mid-1800s, thousands of miles of track stretched across the nation.

Henry Schenck Tanner created this map of the eastern United States around 1830, which shows railroad lines, canals, and state boundaries. Railroad construction was just beginning, but many canals had already been built across the country. The most famous, the Erie Canal, allowed farmers in the Ohio Valley to ship their crops directly to New York City, rather than using the much longer route down the Mississippi River.

The new factory system was a far cry from the antiquated system of hand made goods produced at home or in small workshops for local use. Factories churned out large quantities of goods for consumption nationwide, which helped trigger a transition from a traditional to a market economy—a change known as the market revolution. In a traditional economy, people produce most of the things they use, and goods are often bartered or traded using other informal types of exchange. In a market economy, people purchase and sell goods for money, rather than producing them for themselves. These economic developments had positive and negative effects. As productivity increased, living standards usually improved. Americans with cash in their pockets had more goods to choose from when they shopped. However, many factory workers had to work for low wages in unsafe, unhealthy condi tions to produce these goods.

Canals, Roads, and Rails: Connecting the Country The growth of the market economy sparked a transportation revolution. In the early 1800s, good roads were difficult to find anywhere in the United States. By the mid1800s, however, American engineers had constructed all-weather roads that had stone surfaces and proper drainage. The most ambitious project was the National Road, which stretched across the Appalachians from Maryland to the Mississippi River. On this road, a trip from Maryland to Illinois that once took weeks could be completed in days. Traveling by river was cheaper than building roads, but traveling upstream was a problem. In 1807, Robert Fulton attached a steam engine to two huge paddle wheels mounted on a raft. This steam-powered riverboat, the Clermont, chugged up the Hudson River from New York to Albany, launching a steamboat craze. By 1830, approximately 200 steamboats were navigating the nation’s waterways, hauling freight and passengers.

The Second Great Awakening Inspires Reformers

Another reform effort fueled by the Second Great Awakening was the temperance movement. Many reformers blamed crime, poverty, and mental illness on alcohol abuse. They called for temperance, or moderation in drinking habits. The American Temperance Union attracted more than a million mem bers within a year of its formation and became a training ground for leaders in other areas of reform.

The first half of the 19th century was a time of great change in American life. The country was expanding, the economy was flourishing, and the politi cal system was becoming more democratic. Although these developments filled many people with hope for the future, not all Americans benefited from them. Many continued to suffer from poverty, limited opportunity, and a lack of rights. As a result, various reform movements arose to address and tackle problems in American society.

The reform efforts of the early 1800s found inspiration in a religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening. Preachers traveled from town to town, holding revival meetings and encour aging people to embrace the Christian faith. These preachers urged people to turn from the sins of their selfish lives and receive God’s love and forgiveness. Revivalists preached an egalitarian message: God’s love and redemption were open to everyone. They taught that Christians could transform society by working for justice. This optimism and outpouring of religious fervor helped fuel the reform movements of the early 1800s. Few reformers accomplished more than Dorothea Dix. Deeply religious, Dix found her calling after visiting a Boston jail. She was shocked to see inmates locked in small, dark, unheated cells. Among the inmates were mentally ill women who had not committed any crime. Dix made a two-year study of other jails and found the same inhumane condi tions. Children, debtors, and the mentally ill were all treated like hardened criminals. Her reform efforts brought about substantial change in the penal system and in mental health care across the United States. The spirit of reform and Jacksonian democracy affected education. In the early 1800s, few children had the chance to attend school. Horace Mann, an early American educator, believed that free, public education would strengthen democracy and help young people escape poverty. Mann pushed for a public school system in Massachusetts, and his idea soon caught on in other states as well. By 1850, many states were promoting public education.

Changes in a Young Nation 89

After witnessing the inhumane treatment of prison inmates, Dorothea Dix researched jails and mental institution for years. Dix’s research and advocacy helped reform the penal system and mental institutions throughout the country.

5. Social Changes in the Young Republic

In the mid-1800s, women were still second-class citizens in America. They were denied many of the rights and privileges given to men, including the right to vote and to control their own money or property. Most women were expected to stay at home and not try to “better” themselves by pursuing an education or a career. However, a growing number of women began to challenge these restric tions, and their efforts gave rise to the first women’s movement.

Garrison advocated not only an immediate end to slavery but also full equality for African Americans, a radical idea at the time. Another important abolitionist was Frederick Douglass, a former slave whose autobiography recounted his own struggle for freedom. Douglass’s personal story and his dynamic stage presence made him a powerful spokesman for abolition.

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Instead, the rise in cotton production that followed the invention of the cotton gin fueled a dramatic expansion of slavery. In the early 1800s, free African Americans in the North formed several antislavery societies. Their efforts received a big boost from the reli gious fervor at revival meetings, since revivalists attacked slavery on the grounds that it was immoral. Revivalists also helped people see that slavery went against such ideals as liberty and equality, which lay at the heart of American democracy. Although some antislavery reformers believed slavery should be ended gradually, others called for immediate abolition, or the end of slavery, everywhere.

As the abolition movement expanded, supporters of slavery—both northern and southern—went on the attack. Mobs attacked abolitionists, burned their homes, and destroyed their printing presses. In spite of these attacks, abolition ists continued their work, making slavery the most crucial issue of their time.

Abolitionists gave speeches, wrote pamphlets, and lobbied government officials in an effort to end slavery. The abolitionist movement gained power and public attention in the 1830s through a newspaper called The Liberator, published by William Lloyd Garrison.

Women Demand Equal Rights

A number of abolitionist leaders also joined the growing movement for women’s rights. One was a former slave named Sojourner Truth. A tall, striking woman who knew how to defend herself, Truth was not afraid to speak out. At one gathering, after hearing men portray women as being weak, she exclaimed, “Look at my arm! I have plowed and planted and gathered into barns, and no man could head [outdo] me—and ain’t I a woman?”

Reformers Push to Abolish Slavery One reform movement came to overshadow all others: the movement to end slavery. Opposition to slavery had existed since the first Africans were brought to Virginia in the early 1600s. Congress banned the importation of slaves in 1808, and opponents of slavery hoped slavery would eventually just die out.

Abolitionists, like Frederick Douglass (right), waged a fierce campaign against slavery during the first half of the 1800s. They gave speeches and tried to win support for abolition. Here, Douglass consults with President Abraham Lincoln.

In 1848, supporters of women’s rights gathered for the Seneca Falls Convention, in Seneca Falls, New York. There they drafted a statement called the Declaration of Sentiments, which was based on the Declaration of Independence. It began, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.” The statement went on to list various acts of tyranny by men against women. In the years following the Seneca Falls Convention, reformers like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony continued to struggle for women’s rights. Progress was sluggish, but gradually, states began to improve their laws. New York, for example, gave women control over their property and wages. Other states passed more liberal divorce laws. Getting the right to vote would take much longer, but eventually, in 1920, that barrier to women’s rights would also crumble.

The United States experienced political, geographic, economic, and social changes in the first half of the 1800s. During this time, the nation expanded from 13 states along the Atlantic Coast to a huge nation that spanned a continent.

Factory system New machines and ways of organizing work in factories made production more efficient and transformed the way Americans worked. A market economy began to develop.

Jacksonian democracy As voting rights expanded, the United States became more democratic. In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president as the champion of the common man. Marshall Court In the ongoing struggle between states’ rights and federal power, the Marshall Court made key decisions that strengthened the federal government’s power.

Summary

Manifest destiny Inspired by the belief that their nation was destined to expand, Americans acquired vast western lands and began a movement to settle these new territories.

Second Great Awakening A major religious revival movement inspired reform movements in many areas of American life, including prison reform, temperance, public education, and the abolition of slavery.

Seneca Falls Convention At an 1848 meeting in Seneca Falls, New York, a women’s movement was launched that would last for decades. The goal of the movement was equality under the law for both men and women.

Changes in a Young Nation 91

Women’s rights reformer Elizabeth Cady Stanton spoke to supporters at the first Women’s Rights Convention in 1848. The convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, where Stanton lived with her husband. At the time, women were denied many basic rights, including the right to vote. Many men, and some women, believed that women already enjoyed political rights through their husbands and should remain focused on home and family.

Indian Removal Act As settlers moved westward, they pushed Indians out of their homelands and forced their removal to lands designated as Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

Charles Sumner spent his life working for equal rights for African Americans. Shortly before his death in 1874, the Charles Sumner School opened in Washington, D.C., and was one of the first public schools erected for educating Washington’s black community. Today the school is a museum, with a permanent exhibit on one of Sumner’s friends—fellow abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Introduction On May 22, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massa chusetts was savagely beaten on the floor of the Senate. The attack followed a speech Sumner had delivered entitled “The Crime Against Kansas.” Sumner was an ardent abolitionist, and in his speech, he had insulted fellow senators for passing a law that would allow slavery in Kansas Territory.

Lesson 9

Sumner particularly scorned one of the law’s authors, Senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina. Sumner sneered at Butler for his proslavery beliefs and his tendency to drool when he spoke. Butler was an aged but distinguished member of the Senate. Many senators found Sumner’s speech offensive, and Southerners were outraged.

In contrast, many Northerners were appalled by the incident. They viewed it as another example of the same Southern brutality that was responsible for slav ery. Many in the North who had previously rejected the antislavery movement as too radical now found themselves more sympathetic to limiting slavery—and more hostile toward the South.

Here, Preston Brooks is assaulting Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate.

1819–1861

Two days later, Preston Brooks, Butler’s nephew and a member of the House, approached Sumner, who was seated at his desk. Declaring Sumner’s speech a “libel on South Carolina and Mr. Butler,” Brooks began to physically beat Sumner over the head with his gold-tipped cane. Brooks eventually broke his cane, but not before he had left Sumner bloody and unconscious on the Senate floor. Although Sumner survived the gruesome attack, it was three years before he recovered from his injuries and returned to the Senate. This incident underscored the country’s deep divisions regarding the issue of slavery. Southerners praised Brooks for defending the South and his family’s honor. Many Southerners sent Brooks new canes to replace the one he had broken on Sumner’s head. The city of Charleston, South Carolina, even sent a cane with the inscription, “Hit him again.”

Dividing Nation Was the Civil War inevitable?

Slavery Comes to the National Stage: The Missouri Compromise In the early 1800s, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois applied for statehood. Because they were all north of the Ohio River, they entered the Union as free states. During the same period, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama—all south of the Ohio— entered as slave states. By 1819, the number of slave states and free states was balanced at 11 each, meaning neither North nor South had a controlling majority in the Senate. But that year, Missouri, which lay to the west of the Ohio River, applied for admis sion as a slave state and, if admitted, would tip the balance of power in the Senate toward the South.

Lesson 994

Free state

The Missouri Compromise maintained the balance between slave and free states by admitting Missouri into the Union as a slave state, while Maine entered as a free state. It also set a line at the 36°30’ parallel. Slavery was banned above this line but permitted below it.

The Ohio River meanders for nearly 1,000 miles from its origins in western Pennsylvania to Cairo, Illinois, where it meets the Mississippi River. The Ohio has played a significant role in American history. It served as the main route for westward migration into the old Northwest Territory and as a boundary between North and South. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 declared that all lands north of the Ohio would be free of slaves, leaving slavery allowable in lands to the south. This law helped make the creation of new western states easier for a time, but it did not solve the problem of slavery. As the country expanded, sectional differences over slavery increasingly divided the country.

Free SlaveSlaveterritorystateterritory 0200 40 0 km 0200 40 0 mi PACIFICOCEAN ATLANTICOCEAN Gulf of Mexico Arkansas Territory Unorganized Territory and(ClaimedCOUNOREGONTRYbyU.S.GreatBritain) MEXICO(Spain) (GreatCANADABritain) LA MS TNALKY GATeFloridarritorySCNCVAPANY VTNHMEMACT RI DENJMD MO IL IN OH Michigan Territory 36˚ 30' Missouri Compromise Line The Missouri Compromise, 1820

1. Sectional Differences Divide the Union

Suddenly, slavery became a national issue. Northerners in Congress protested that most of Missouri lay north of the point where the Ohio River intersected the Mississippi, so they believed it should be a free state. They also worried that making Missouri a slave state might turn the rest of Louisiana Territory toward slavery, so they insisted that Missouri could only enter as a free state. Southern senators disagreed, and Congress was deadlocked. When the Senate took up the matter again in 1820, however, things had changed. Maine was asking to join the Union as a free state, open ing the way for a deal known as the Missouri Compromise, which was sponsored by Speaker of the House Henry Clay. Under the terms of the compromise, Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, preserving the balance of power in the Senate. Additionally, the law drew a line across the Louisiana Territory at latitude 36°30’. North of that line, slavery would be banned. South of the line, it would be permitted. The Missouri Compromise broke the deadlock in the Senate, but it pleased no one. Northerners were angry about the extension of slavery to Missouri, and Southerners disliked the ban on slavery in much of the Louisiana Territory.

Although the compromise eased tensions temporarily, it was not a perma nent solution. Meanwhile, nothing had been settled about the future of slavery. Reflecting on this failure, John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary, I have favored this Missouri compromise, believing it to be all that could be effected [accomplished] under the present Constitution, and from extreme unwillingness to put the Union at hazard [risk] . . . If the Union must be dissolved, slavery is precisely the question on which it ought to break. For the present however, the contest is laid asleep.—John Quincy Adams, 1820 Two Ways of Life: The North and the South The dispute between North and South over Missouri was more than an argument over slavery. It was a conflict over different ways of life. Sectionalism, or a strong attachment to regional interests, had become a major issue in American politics. By midcentury, the North was becoming increasingly urban, as people migrated from farms to cities in search of economic opportunities. In the Northeast, between 1800 and 1860, the percentage of the population living in cities increased from 9 to 35 percent. Some cities expanded extremely rapidly. The population of New York City, for example, soared during that time from 60,000 to more than 800,000. Waves of immigration, mostly from Ireland and Germany, helped swell populations. In contrast, the South was still predominantly rural in 1860. Most of the population inhabited small farms or large plantations scattered across the countryside. The largest Southern city, New Orleans, had a population of only 169,000 people. African Americans, Year Slave Population 1790 697,681 1800 893,602 1810 1,191,362 1820 1,538,022 1830 2,009,043 1840 2,487,355 1850 3,204,313 1860 3,953,760 Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

1790–1860

A Dividing Nation 95

Enslaved

Even though the Missouri Compromise put the slavery issue aside for a time, it also allowed the buying and selling of human beings, as shown here, to continue in half of the states. As a result, the number of enslaved African Americans more than doubled after 1820, reaching almost 4 million by 1860.

The economies of the two regions were also different. Although agriculture was still a significant part of the North’s economy, workshops, factories, and mills also produced large amounts of manufactured goods. Most of the immigrants entering the country in the 1840s and 1850s settled in the North because that was where the job opportunities were.

In contrast, the South invested much less in transportation, had only half as many rail lines, and relied on rivers for transportation.

Some white Southerners owned large plantations worked by large numbers of slaves, but most were small farmers who depended on family members for labor. Only one in four Southern households owned slaves. Nevertheless, plantation agriculture and slave labor formed the basis of the Southern economy. Without slavery, the plantation system would collapse, caus ing significant economic harm to the South. For that reason, most Southerners perceived abolitionism as a threat to their economy and way of life.

Lesson 996 This map reveals differences in the economies of the North and South in 1860. Although farming was still the main activity in both regions, trade and industry were expanding rapidly in the North. In contrast, the economy of the South was dependent on the export of rice, corn, and cotton.

0 200 400 km 0 200 400 mi. VaRWheatTRiceCotCorntonobaccoailroadslueofindustrial product over $10 0,0 00,000 Value of industrial product over $10,0 00,000 West Virginia, state 186390WNSE °W80° 30W °N40° 50N °N70° 70W °W60° 80W ° 90W °W AT L OCEANANTIC Gulf of Me xico CANAD A GA PAVANCOH ALTNKY FL IN WI MN IA MOARLANebraskUnorgTXanizedTerritoryUnorg.TerrKansasTerritoryaTerritory MI IL MS NY DENJMD CTRIMA VT NH ME SC Economic Activity in the United States, 1860

Unlike the North, the South had little industry in 1860. Its economy contin ued to be based on the export of agricultural products. Rice, corn, and cotton all grew well in the South, with cotton being the most important of the three crops.

A growing network of canals and railroad lines in the North helped transport the products of mills and factories to customers. By 1860, more than 20,000 miles of rail lines crisscrossed the northern half of the country, connecting the cities and factories of the Northeast with the farming regions of the Midwest.

Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped to Philadelphia in 1849 via the Underground Railroad. She made her first trip back to the South to help others escape just after the Fugitive Slave Law made it a federal crime to aid runaway slaves. She made approximately 20 rescue trips during the 1850s, never losing a fugitive. At one time, rewards for her capture totaled about $40,000.

It was 1850, and Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky was once again attempt ing to salvage the Union. Clay was one of the country’s leading statesmen, spending much of his political career trying to mend sectional differences. His efforts to win passage of the Missouri Compromise in 1820 had earned him the title “The Great Compromiser.” Now, 30 years later, North and South were once again on the brink of dividing the Union over the issue of slavery. The elderly Clay was tired and ill, but he would make one last effort to stabilize the country. The Growing Divide over Slavery In both the North and the South, people had mixed views on slavery. Many moderates in the North accepted slavery where it already existed, but objected to extending slavery into new territories and states—an opinion known as the Free-Soil position. More radical abolitionists wanted to end slavery everywhere. Until that happened, many stood prepared to help slaves liberate themselves by establish ing a network of secret escape routes and safe houses for runaways that became known as the Underground Railroad. An escaped slave-turned-abolitionist named Harriet Tubman was the best-known “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Tubman risked her life numerous times by returning to the South to guide slaves to freedom in the North. In the South, moderates saw slavery as a necessary evil that would eventu ally die out as more and more slaves were freed. Southern radicals, however, argued that slaves were property and that limiting the expansion of slavery into new territories deprived Southerners of their property rights. Territorial expansion became the boiling point in the ongoing debate over slavery. Just how divided the country was became evident in 1846, when President James K. Polk asked Congress for finances to negotiate with Mexico for the acquisition of California. David Wilmot, a representative from Pennsylvania, attached an amendment to the funding bill known as the Wilmot Proviso. Wilmot’s amendment would have banned slavery from any territory that the United States might acquire, and its objective was “to preserve for free white labor a fair country.” The Wilmot Proviso passed several times in the House, which had a majority from the North. Its passage was blocked, however, in the Senate, where the South had more senators—and thus, more power. The debate over the expansion of slavery was renewed after the United States acquired extensive lands in the Southwest in its war with Mexico. Moderates in both the North and the South proposed settling these new ter ritories on the basis of popular sovereignty, or rule by the people, meaning that voters in the territories would decide whether to permit slavery. However, popular sovereignty did not address the problem of maintaining a balance of power in Congress if and when these territories became states. This problem came to the forefront when California applied for admis sion to the Union as a free state in 1849, which would tip the balance of power toward the North. Of course, Northerners welcomed this idea, while Southerners strongly opposed it. Congress was deadlocked again, and some Southerners spoke of withdrawing from the Union.

2. The Ongoing Debate over Slavery: 1850–1856

A Dividing Nation 97

ATLANTICOCEANPACIFICOCEAN Gulf of Mexico Oregon Territory (1848) CA Utah(1Territory850)New Mexico Territory(1850) NebraskaTerritoryKansas TerritoryIndianTerritoryMinnesotaTerritory(1849)TX LA IA WI IN MS AL SCFLNCPA MD NJDECT RI VTMANH IL MOAR GA TNKYMI OH VA NY ME MEXICO CANADA 120°W110 °W100°W90°W80° 90W ° 100W ° 120W °W70°W40° 30N °N TCI7 05 The Compromise of 1850 BlacUSH_SE_09-3BkCyanMagenta Yellow ThirdTeSlaveSlaveFFProofreestatereeterritorystateterritoryrritoryopen to slavery by Compromise of 1850 Admitted as free state by Compromise of 1850 WNSE 0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi The Compromise of 1850

A Compromise with Something for Everyone At this point, Henry Clay stepped forward with a plan known as the Compromise of 1850, which had something for everyone. It admitted California into the Union as a free state, which pleased the North. It divided the remainder of the Southwest into two territories—New Mexico and Utah—and opened both to slavery, which pleased the South. It ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., but allowed existing slaveholders there to retain their slaves, appeasing both sides.

The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to enter the Union as a free state. The rest of the Southwest remained open to slavery, depending on a vote of the people who settled there. This compromise held the country together for a time, but it satisfied neither side of the slavery dispute.

Lesson 998

The Compromise of 1850 also included a robust Fugitive Slave Law. The new law required the return of escaped slaves to their owners, something slaveholders had been demanding for years. “All good citizens,” it added, “are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law.” Those who did not abide could be fined or jailed.

To get his plan through Congress, Clay persuaded Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts to lend his support. Webster opposed slavery, but he agreed to support Clay’s compromise in an effort to subdue the crisis. In a speech before Congress, Webster encouraged his fellow senators to unite for the benefit of the nation. “I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American,” he said. “I speak today for the preservation of the Union.” The debate continued for months, but Congress eventually approved Clay’s compromise. The Compromise Satisfies No One Clay and Webster hoped the Compromise of 1850 would ease tensions over slavery, but the compromise pleased almost no one. The Fugitive Slave Law allowed Southern “slave catchers” to travel north to retrieve escaped slaves and required Northerners to assist these slave catchers or face fines, even imprisonment. Many Northerners believed the law was immoral and refused to obey it. Their resistance outraged Southerners.

Let the People Decide: The Kansas-Nebraska Act In 1854, another act of Congress set the North and the South on a collision course. That year, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill to organize the Great Plains for settlement. Because this area lay north of the Missouri Compromise line, the bill did not mention slavery. Southerners in Congress agreed to vote for the bill if the two new territories—Kansas and Nebraska—were organized on the basis of popular sovereignty. With Southern support, the Kansas-Nebraska Act made it through Congress. “The true intent and meaning of this act,” it said, was “not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom.”

Friction between the sections was further intensified by publication in 1852 of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In this best-selling novel, Harriet Beecher Stowe described the cruelties of slavery through the narrative of a dignified slave named Uncle Tom. The novel describes Tom’s experiences with three slaveholders. Although two of them treat Tom kindly, the third, Simon Legree, abuses Tom and has Tom beaten to death for refusing to reveal where two escaped slaves are hiding. Stowe hoped her novel would help bring slavery to an expedited and peace ful end. Instead, the book increased the hostility of many Northerners toward the South. Southerners, in turn, considered Stowe’s description of slavery as both inaccurate and an insult to their way of life.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act overturned the Missouri Compromise by organizing Kansas and Nebraska territories on the basis of popular sovereignty. The law angered FreeSoilers in the North, who feared that slavery would soon spread across the Great Plains.

A Dividing Nation 99

120°W110°W100°W90°W80°W80° 90W ° 100W ° 120W °W70°W40° 30N ° 20N °N PACIFICOCEAN Gulf of Me xico A TLANTICOCEAN CA UnorgTXanizedTerrMinnesotaTerritoryTeOregonrritoryWashingtonTerritory New Mexico Te rritory MEXICO CANAD A ARLA MS TNALKY FL GA SCNCVAPA NY VT NHMEMACTRINJDEMDIAMO WI IL IN OH MI TeKansasrritory TeUtahrritory NebraskaTerritory 0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi Free state Free AreaSlaveSlaveterritorystateterritoryoriginally free but opened to slavery by Kansas-Nebraska Act WNSE The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

The Kansas-Nebraska Act dismayed many Northerners, who thought the Missouri Compromise had identified most of the Great Plains as off-limits to slavery. Now they feared slavery would spread like a plague across the country. To prevent that from happening, antislavery activists and settlers, or Free-Soilers, united to form a new political party in 1854. The new Republican Party took an unyielding stand against the Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Newspaper articles, like this one about the cruelty a slave endured, added fuel to the fire ignited by Uncle Tom’s Cabin. As Northerners became more aware of the inhumanity of slavery, many refused to cooperate with the Fugitive Slave Law. Some Northern states even passed personal liberty laws, which prohibited state and local officers from cooperating with slave catchers.

Antislavery activists led by John Brown met violence with violence. Brown was an antislavery zealot who had dedicated his life to abolishing slavery by any means necessary, even urging his followers to “fight fire with fire” and “strike terror in the hearts of the proslavery people.” Two days after the Law rence raid, Brown and seven of his supporters attacked the proslavery town of Pottawatomie, where they dragged five men out of their homes and murdered them with their swords.

Brown’s massacre prompted still more bloodshed in Kansas, as proslavery and antislavery forces battled for control of the territory. However, the violence was not restricted to Kansas as it was also infecting the nation’s capital. The day after the Lawrence raid, Preston Brooks attacked and beat Charles Sumner on the Senate floor. Despite efforts at compromise, the struggle over slavery was becoming increasingly violent.

Lesson 9100

In an attempt to keep Kansas “free soil,” John Brown led a group of antislavery enthusiasts to wreak havoc in proslavery towns statewide.

During the settlement of Kansas, supporters and opponents of slavery came into deadly conflict—a violent struggle that newspapers called “Bleeding Kansas.” Kansas finally joined the Union as a free state in 1861.

Kansas Becomes a Battleground over Slavery By 1855, settlers were pouring into Kansas. Most were peaceful farmers seeking fertile farmland. But the territory also attracted agitators, or protesters, who wanted to influence the vote on slavery. Abolition societies in the North sent in Free-Soilers, while groups in the South recruited proslavery settlers to occupy Kansas. It was not long before these two opposing groups came into conflict. From Missouri, armed agitators called “border ruffians” crossed into Kansas and threatened the Free-Soilers. On May 21, 1856, proslavery forces raided the FreeSoil town of Lawrence, Kansas, where they burned buildings, looted stores, and destroyed two printing presses. Northern newspapers called the border ruffians’ rampage the “Sack of Lawrence.”

The ruling struck the nation like a bombshell. Southerners were thrilled, believing the Court had settled the slavery question in their favor. Northerners were stunned since the Court’s decision had invalidated the entire idea of “free soil” and opened all territories to slavery. “The decision,” wrote a New York newspaper, “is the moral assassination of a race and cannot be obeyed.”

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry Shocks the South The Dred Scott decision helped convince radical abolitionists like John Brown that slavery would never be abolished by legal means. In 1859, Brown decided to try a dif ferent approach—he provoked an armed uprising of slaves to free themselves.

—Chief Justice Roger Taney, Scott v. Sandford, 1857 Taney added to this statement by writing, “Dred Scott was not a citizen of Missouri within the meaning of the Constitution . . . and [is] not entitled as such to sue in its courts.”

With 21 other men, Brown seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. An arsenal is a place where guns and ammunition are stored. Brown intended to distribute the weapons to slaves in the area and inspire a slave revolt.

Writing for the majority, Taney said, The general words . . . seem to embrace the whole human family . . . But it is too clear for dispute, that the enslaved African race were not intended to be included, and formed no part of the people who framed and adopted this declaration.

3. From Compromise to Crisis: 1857–1861

Like many slaves, Dred Scott and his wife, Harriet, wanted their freedom. But rather than run away, they tried to win it legally in 1846, when they sued for their freedom in a St. Louis, Missouri, court. The Scotts had lived with their owner for several years in the free territory of Wisconsin and based their suit on the argument that residing in a free territory had made them free people. What began as a simple lawsuit instigated one of the most notorious Supreme Court decisions in the history of the nation.

A Dividing Nation 101 Missouri slave Dred Scott, pictured above beside his wife, Harriet, sued for his freedom by arguing that having lived with his owner in free territory, he should be a free man. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court in 1858. By a majority of 7–2, the Court ruled that Scott could not bring a suit in a federal court because African Americans were not U.S. citizens. Shortly after this decision, Scott was sold, and his new owner granted him the freedom the Court had denied.

The Dred Scott Decision Outrages the North In 1856, the case of Scott v. Sandford reached the Supreme Court. The Court, headed by Chief Justice Roger Taney, faced two important questions. First, did slaves have the right to bring a case before a federal court? Second, did the Scott’s stay in Wisconsin make them free? However, seeing the case as the opportunity to resolve the slavery issue entirely, Taney asked the Court to consider two additional questions. Did Congress have the power to make laws concerning slavery in the territories? If so, was the Missouri Compromise a constitutional use of that power?

The Court issued the Dred Scott decision in 1857. It began by reviewing the Declaration of Independence’s words that “all men are created equal.”

The Court also rejected the idea that Scott’s stay in Wisconsin had made him a free man. Taney reasoned that giving Scott his freedom would be similar to taking property from his owner. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution protects private property. Thus, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional by establishing territories “which prohibited a citizen from holding or owning property of this kind.”

In the presidential election of 1860, the country was divided along party lines. Lincoln and the Republicans took the Northern states and the far west, while the Southern Democrats took most of the South. Lincoln won in the electoral college with less than 40 percent of the popular vote. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Southern troops opened fire on Fort Sumter. After 34 hours of shelling, Major Robert Anderson sent a telegram to Lincoln’s secretary of war, announcing the surrender of the fort. The Union troops left, he reported, “with colors flying and drums beating.”

John Bell of Tennessee, who ran as the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, tried to avoid the divisive issue of slavery. It was the fourth candidate, however, who polarized the nation. He was Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party nominee. Lincoln, an Illinois lawyer, was a moderate but firm opponent of slavery who had initially gained national attention during a run for the Senate in 1858. In a famous series of debates against his opponent, Stephen Douglas, Lincoln had condemned slavery as “a moral, social, and political wrong.”

Lincoln’s victory raised the cry of secession, or withdrawal from the Union, in the South. Southerners feared that with a Republican in the White House, Congress would attempt to abolish slavery. Lincoln tried to calm Southern fears by reassuring them he would not interfere with slavery in the South and that he would support enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. However, he refused to

Even so, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry astonished the South and prompted widespread fears of a slave rebellion. Most Southerners perceived Brown as a lunatic whose radical views were representative of the antislavery movement. Conversely, many Northerners saw Brown as a hero and martyr to the cause of abolition. Poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson declared that Brown would make the gallows “as glorious as a cross.” When the Civil War began a few months later, Union troops marched into battle singing, “John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave, His soul goes marching on.”

Lincoln lost the Senate race to Douglas, but his campaign had won him strong antislavery support in the North. This support, as well as the split in the Democratic Party, helped propel Lincoln to victory in 1860. Lincoln won the presidency with less than 40 percent of the votes, all of them cast in the North. His name did not even appear on the ballot in many Southern states.

The Election of 1860 Splits the Nation

Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas of Illinois and supported popular sovereignty in the territories. Southern Democrats selected John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, who wanted slavery to be permitted in all territories.

Brown’s plan was thwarted when federal troops stormed the arsenal and captured him and his men. Brown was tried for treason, convicted, and executed.

Lincoln: 180 (1,865,593) Douglas: 12 (1,382,713) Breck enridge: 72 (848,356) Bell: 39 (592,906) Electoral Votes (Popular Votes) 7 9 10 8101212 11 13 23 27 8 15 3346 13455 96 8 35 4 4 4 5 3 6 3 4 4 TCI7 Election07 of ThirUSH_SE_09-4B1860dProof The Election of 1860

The presidential election of 1860 drove a final wedge between North and South. Sectional strains had divided the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern factions, or competing groups.

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Election of 1860 Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln won election in 1860 with a minority of the popular votes. Fearing that Republicans would try to interfere with slavery, several slave states seceded. On April 10, 1861, Southern forces attacked Fort Sumter, beginning the Civil War.

This 1820 compromise banned slavery from much of the Louisiana Territory while maintaining the balance of power between slave and free states in the Senate.

Dred Scott decision This 1858 Supreme Court decision denied citizenship to African Americans and opened all western territories to slavery. Northerners were appalled and Southerners satisfied.

Secession Spreads Across the South Lincoln tried to hold the nation together, but his efforts had little effect. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and over the next several weeks, six more Southern states did the same. Together they formed the Confederate States of America, with Jefferson Davis as president. Lincoln was sworn into office as the nation’s 16th president on March 4, 1861. In his inaugural address, Lincoln declared that secession was both wrong and unconstitutional. He added that he had no legal right to interfere with slavery in the states where it existed, but he expressed his determination to keep the Union together and appealed to the rebellious states to return. “In your hands, my fellow dissatisfied countrymen, and not in mine,” he said, “is the momentous issue of civil war.”

Compromise of 1850 Henry Clay hoped this compromise on slavery in the West would please everyone, but its inclusion of the Fugitive Slave Law deeply frustrated many Northerners.

A Dividing Nation 103 support the extension of slavery to the western territories. On that question, he insisted, there could be no compromise.

In the mid-1800s, the United States was deeply divided over slavery. By 1860, a series of events had widened this gulf to the breaking point. The election of Abraham Lincoln as president that year triggered a secession crisis that led to the Civil War.

Summary

“There is no more thought of bribing or coaxing the traitors who have dared to aim their cannon balls at the flag of the Union,” wrote one newspaper. There could be no more compromise. The Civil War had begun.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin This best-selling novel touched the hearts of Northerners with its narrative of a compassionate slave who was mistreated by a brutal owner, turning many against slavery. Kansas-Nebraska Act This 1854 act opened Kansas and Nebraska to settlement under the banner of popular sovereignty. Kansas erupted in violence as proslavery and antislavery settlers battled for control of the territory.

On April 12, 1861, Southern forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston harbor. After a day and a half of bombardment, the troops in the fort surrendered. The attack on Fort Sumter provoked fury in the North.

Missouri Compromise

Republican Party Antislavery activists and Free-Soilers combined in 1854 to form the Republican Party, which was committed to stopping the expansion of slavery.

Introduction

Here, Confederate soldiers prepare for the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Civil War How did the Civil War affect the United States and its people?

Wilmer McLean was about to sit down to lunch with a group of Confederate officers on July 18, 1861, when a cannonball suddenly ripped through his roof. It landed in the stewpot, scattering stew throughout the kitchen. This was more than McLean had bargained for when he moved his family to a farm in the country. McLean had been a prosperous merchant in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. When he retired, he decided to relocate to the countryside for some serenity, so he bought a farm outside the small village of Manassas Junction, Virginia. The farm was comfortable and pleasant, with fields, woods, and a small stream called Bull Run. Unfortunately for McLean, Manassas was also the site of an important railroad junction, which made it a strategic location in the Civil War—one that both the North and the South wanted to control. Since the shelling of Fort Sumter in April 1861, the North and the South had been in a state of war. However, there had been no major combat since that first engagement. Then, in mid-July, the two opposing armies gathered their forces near McLean’s farm. Three days after the cannonball landed in McLean’s kitchen, the First Battle of Bull Run began. The fighting raged across McLean’s land for hours, but by afternoon, the Union forces were in full retreat. In the Union army, this embar rassing flight would be remembered as “the great skedaddle.” A year later, another battle occurred on McLean’s farm, at which point, he decided to leave Manassas and find a safer place to live.

The First Battle of Bull Run, depicted here, was the first major conflict of the Civil War. The battle was fought on Wilmer McLean’s farm in Manassas Junction, Virginia. Interestingly, McLean’s next home, in Appomattox Court House, Virginia, would play a key role at the end of the war.

1860–1865

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The McLean family relocated to the south in a small Virginian town called Appomattox Court House. McLean hoped that the town’s remote location would keep the war away from his doorstep, but as you will read later in this lesson, he did not get his wish. Wilmer McLean had one more important role to play in the Civil War.

At the time of the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter in April 1861, seven states had seceded from the Union. In the months that followed, the eight slave states in the Upper South faced a difficult decision—to secede or not. Finally, four of them—Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri—remained in the Union, but not without serious reservations. The country, now formally divided between the Union and the Confederacy, braced for war.

The Advantages of the Union and the Confederacy As the war began, both sides were confident of a quick victory. Northerners were certain they could over whelm the South with their superior resources. Not only did the Union have more than twice as many people than the South, but it also had a much more diverse economy. The North outstripped the South in farm production, factories, naval force, and railroad lines, which were crucial for transporting troops and supplies.

The Anaconda Plan Begins to Squeeze the Confederacy After Bull Run, President Abraham Lincoln realized he needed to plan for a lengthy war. With General Winfield Scott, he devised a strategy that came to be known as the Anaconda Plan. As the name suggests, the idea was to surround the South and squeeze it to death, like an anaconda snake crushing its prey.

1. Four Long Years of War

When the Civil War began, the Union had blatant advantages over the Confederacy in terms of resources. In a short war, these advantages might not have mattered, but in a long war, they would prove decisive.

The realities of the First Battle of Bull Run, however, destroyed such illusions.

The Union enjoyed early success with the first two steps in the plan. The navy blockaded Southern ports and halted most trade. It also seized New Orleans and began to proceed up the Mississippi River. At the same time, Union forces commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant fought their way south toward the Mississippi. Along the way, Grant won decisive battles that brought much of Tennessee under Union control. Not everything went the North’s way, however. The Union navy’s move ment up the Mississippi was blocked at Vicksburg, a key city on the river.

Regardless, Southerners were optimistic. They had the advantage of fighting a defensive war on their own soil, as well as outstanding military leadership. They believed that all they needed for a victory was to push back invading Union forces, and before long, the Union would tire of battle and leave the Confederacy in peace.

Total Population 71%29%Farmland 65%35%Factories 85% 15% Miles of Railroad Track 71% Production29% of Manufactured Goods 92% 8% Firearms Production 97%ConfederacyUnio3%n Union and Resources,Confederate1861 Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica; U.S. Census Bureau.

To accomplish this goal, the Union planned to set up a naval blockade—a line of ships stopping sea traffic in and out of Southern ports. The blockade would prevent the South from trading its cotton in Europe for the war supplies it needed. Next, the Union navy would take control of the Mississippi River, separating Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas from the rest of the South. From there, the Union army would head east to squeeze the life out of the Deep South. Finally, Union forces would invade Virginia and remove the enemy’s head, in this case the Confederate capital of Richmond.

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Believing their cause was justified, volunteers on both sides rushed to enlist.

The 70,000 new troops that marched into battle on Wilmer McLean’s farm in 1861 were certain the other side would collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder.

Although the South won the day, its victory did not come easily. For the North, the defeat at Bull Run was a disturbing wake-up call.

The Emancipation Proclamation Changes Union War Aims Although Lincoln opposed slavery, he initially refused to make abolition a war aim. “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union,” he wrote, “and is not either to save or destroy slavery.” However, as the war dragged on, Lincoln realized that linking the war effort to emancipation—freeing the slaves—made sense.Callingfortheend of slavery, Lincoln knew, would connect the war to a moral cause in the North. Freeing the slaves would also win support in Europe, where opposition to slavery was strong, as well as deprive the South of part of its workforce. In fact, since the beginning of the war, thousands of slaves had freed themselves by running away to the Union lines. News of these runaways may have influenced Lincoln’s decision to call for the emancipation of all slaves.

Union armies also failed to take Richmond, despite a major offensive in the summer of 1862. The Confederate capital remained safe from Union forces for two more years.

After crossing the Potomac River, Lee’s army clashed with Union forces on September 17, 1862, at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest one-day battle in American history, with more than 20,000 soldiers killed or wounded. One soldier recalled, “I have never in my soldier[’s] life seen such a sight. The dead and wounded covered the ground.” Despite the enormous human cost, the battle ended in a stalemate, and Lee retreated back across the Potomac into Virginia. Although the Battle of Antietam was not decisive, it was a turning point in the war. Not only had Lee’s invasion of the North failed, but he had also lost a quarter of his army in the effort. European countries remained reluctant to recognize or assist the Confederacy. Furthermore, Lee’s failure gave Lincoln the opportunity to take a step that would alter the course of the war.

Antietam: The Bloodiest Day of the War After Union forces failed to capture Richmond, the South attempted to turn the tables on the North. The top Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, decided to invade Union territory by cross ing into Maryland. He hoped this show of strength would persuade Maryland to join the Confederacy and that major victories on Union soil would encourage Great Britain and France to provide aid to the Confederacy.

A few days after Antietam, Lincoln issued a warning to the Confederate states: Return to the Union by January 1, 1863, or he would free their slaves. The Confederacy ignored the warning, and on January 1, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves living in states “in rebellion against the United States” to be “thenceforward, and forever free.” Slaves living in areas loyal to the Union or under its control were not affected. The Emancipation Proclamation had little immediate effect, because the Confederacy ignored it. Nevertheless, it granted the Union a great moral moti vation and signified that a Union victory would indicate the abolition of slavery.

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The one-day Battle of Antietam in September 1862 was the bloodiest single day of the Civil War. Civil War photographer Mathew Brady shocked Americans by displaying photographs of battlefield corpses in his New York gallery. The New York Times wrote that Brady had brought “home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war.”

The Battle of Gettysburg was the deadliest conflict of the Civil War. It climaxed with Pickett’s Charge, a Confederate assault on Union forces dug in on Cemetery Ridge. The Confederates suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat. Today, Gettysburg National Military Park and the Gettysburg National Cemetery attract more than a million tourists each year.

Union ConfederateTroopsTroops

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BlacUSH_SE_1Gettysburg0-2CkCyanMagenta Second Proof Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

Turning the Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg To hasten that victory, General Grant continued to battle his way toward the Mississippi River. In May 1863, he arrived at the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and settled in for a long siege. For six weeks, his troops shelled the city from one side, while Union gunboats battered it from the other. The Confederates dug caves into the hillsides and tried to wait it out, but eventually, they gave in. On July 4, the Confederate army at Vicksburg surrendered, and the Union finally gained control of the Meanwhile,Mississippi.anothersignificant battle was underway in the village of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It began when General Lee invaded the North a second time. On July 1, 1863, his army of approximately 75,000 troops met a Union force of about 95,000 just west of the town. The Battle of Gettysburg lasted for three horrendous days. Initially, Lee’s troops maintained their posi tion, but on July 3, they suffered devastating losses and were forced to retreat because more than 50,000 soldiers were killed or wounded. Having lost a third of his army, Lee would not attack the North again but would fight a defensive war only. For the North, this victory marked a major turning point in the war. Several months later, President Lincoln visited Gettysburg. There, Lincoln delivered one of the most stirring speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address, in which he noted that the war was testing whether a nation “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that ‘all men are created equal’ . . . can long endure.” He then declared that the nation would endure and that out of war would come a “new birth of freedom.”

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Total War Forces the South to Surrender After the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, Southerners continued to defend their land fiercely, despite dwindling resources. To force a Confederate surrender, General Grant adopted a policy known as total war, which called for doing whatever was necessary to undermine the enemy’s willingness or capacity to fight. To implement this policy, Grant adopted a two-pronged strategy. He would lead his forces into Virginia to engage Lee’s army and take the Confederate capital of Richmond.

Lesson 10108

LEE MEADE

In 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman waged total war on the South in an effort to bring the Confederacy to its knees. During his infamous March to the Sea through Georgia, his troops burned farms and towns, leaving a path of destructions 60 miles wide. When criticized for his actions, Sherman replied, “War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.”

Meanwhile, another Union general, William Tecumseh Sherman, would launch a campaign of destruction through Georgia and the Carolinas.

In September, Sherman captured Atlanta and burned much of it to the ground. He then continued toward the coast and, during Sherman’s March to the Sea, his troops destroyed everything valuable they encountered. They looted houses, burned fields, and killed livestock. After taking the port city of Savannah, Georgia, Sherman turned north and swept through the Carolinas.

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On April 9, Lee and Grant met at the village of Appomattox Court House. Bizarrely enough, their meeting occurred in the house of Wilmer McLean, the same man whose farm in Manassas had been the site of the first physical battle of the war. As McLean later noted, “The war started in my front yard and ended in my parlor.” The terms of surrender Grant offered Lee were generous. Confederate officers could retain their weapons, and any officers or troops who claimed their own horses could retain them. Most important, “Each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities.” Finally, the Civil War had ended.

Sherman was a battle-hardened veteran who advocated total war. “We cannot change the hearts of these people of the South,” he stated, “but we can make war so terrible . . . and make them so sick of war that generations [will] pass away before they again appeal to it.” In May 1864, he marched his troops southward from Tennessee with orders to inflict “all the damage you can.”

While Sherman waged total war, Grant and Lee were engaged in fierce combat in Virginia. Despite severe losses, Grant continued on toward Richmond, which he captured on April 3, 1865. With his army surrounded, Lee was finally compelled to surrender.

While the war raged, leaders in both the Union and the Confederacy faced significant challenges. Not only did they have to mount an enormous military effort, but they also had to find ways to finance a lengthy war. Additionally, they had to shore up public support for an increasingly unpopular struggle.

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Lesson 10110

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2. Challenges Facing Government Leaders

The question of emancipation posed even more challenges for Lincoln. Although abolitionists pressured him to abolish slavery immediately, he resisted for fear of alienating the border states or angering those in the Union who opposed abolition. After it became apparent to him that emancipation was necessary, he waited until he could make his announcement from a position of strength. Even then, he ensured that his proclamation did not include slaves in states loyal to the Union. Although that decision upset the abolitionists, they still regarded the Emancipation Proclamation as a considerable step forward.

Anger over the new law triggered rioting in New York and other cities.

Early in the war, one of Lincoln’s highest priorities was to keep the border states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri in the Union. Maryland, in particular, was crucial, because it surrounded Washington, D.C., on three sides. At the beginning of the war, pro-secession mobs attacked a Union regi ment as it passed through Baltimore. Lincoln sent in troops and suspended the constitutional right of habeas corpus—the right of a person to appear in court so a judge can determine whether the person is being imprisoned lawfully— allowing the Union to jail suspected opponents without charge and to hold them indefinitely. Lincoln’s policy was harsh, but he viewed it as necessary to keep Maryland and neighboring Delaware from seceding.

As the war dragged on, Lincoln faced other difficulties. One was finding enough men to fight. Lacking sufficient volunteers, in 1863 Congress enacted a military draft, which required all white men between the ages of 20 and 45 to report for military duty. However, the law had loopholes. For $300, a man who did not want to serve could pay a fee to avoid the draft, or he could hire a replacement to serve in his place. This meant that affluent Northerners could avoid service, while the poor went off to war.

Bitter about being drafted to free slaves,

Lincoln’s Balancing Act President Lincoln was elected in 1860 without getting a majority of the popular vote. Because his base of support was so meager, he faced daunting political problems as he attempted to hold the Union together. His every move was criticized by political opponents and an often-hostile press.

This shows Union and Confederate states at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Two years later, a new state, West Virginia, was created when a portion of Virginia separated from the Confederacy and joined the Union.

The Civil War 111

AngeredGettysburg.byfood shortages and rising prices, hundreds of women staged a bread riot in Richmond, Virginia, in April 1863. They looted stores and stole food and other goods. By this time, the Southern economy was in dire straits. However, newspapers denied reports of hunger and blamed the riot on criminals. the New York City rioters directed their violence toward African Americans. Estimates of casualties in the New York City draft riots ran as high as 1,000 killed and Presidentwounded.Lincoln

Challenges for Southern Leaders Confederate president Jefferson Davis also faced challenges in raising an army. In 1862, the South passed America’s first draft law. Like the Northern version that followed, this law included a loophole that allowed wealthy plantation owners to avoid military service, an issue that prompted complaints of it being a “rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight.” Some Southern states tried to evade the law, calling it an assault on states’ rights. The primary challenge for Davis and other Confederate leaders, however, was figuring out how to finance the war while keeping the Southern economy afloat. Prior to the war, the South had relied on cotton sales for most of its income. Much of that cotton was transported to Europe, especially to Great Britain, where it played an important role in the textile industry. When the war began, the South placed an embargo on cotton exports in an attempt to force Great Britain and other European countries to recognize the Confederacy and assist it with arms and money. But Southern leaders failed to realize that Great Britain already had a surplus of cotton and was developing new sources of supply, so the cotton embargo failed to prompt European action, and the South lost valuable export income. Without income from cotton sales, the South could not import the goods it needed to fight a long war. That problem was exacerbated by the Union naval blockade. Shortages of goods eventually led to skyrocketing prices. Between 1860 and 1863, food prices in the South rose by more than 1,000 percent. Bacon went from 12 cents a pound to $1.50 and butter from 23 cents a pound to $3.00. With their purchasing power eroding day by day, Southerners lost faith in the Confederate currency. “An oak leaf,” said a Georgian in 1863, “will be worth just as much as the promise of the Confederate treasury to pay one dollar.” As these economic problems hit home, Southerners began to demonstrate their discontent. They complained about high prices and a lack of food for the poor, and they accused wealthy Southerners of hoarding goods. Sometimes, their anger erupted into violence. In April 1863, a bread riot broke out in Richmond, Virginia. Hundreds of women rampaged through downtown, breaking windows and stealing food, shoes, and other goods. According to one account, President Davis confronted the women. “You say you are hungry and have no money,” he said. “Here is all I have.” He dug into his pockets, flung coins into the crowd, and then threatened to have troops open fire if the rioters did not leave. The women returned home, but other similar riots broke out in towns and cities across the South.

In 1863, draft protests erupted in many Northern cities. The riot in New York City, shown here, was the most violent. The mostly working-class Irish American mob burned buildings and attacked African Americans. Order was finally restored by Union troops, who were rushed to New York from the Battle of

also faced the challenge of leading a Union that was far from united. One wing of the Democratic Party did not believe the cost of the war—in lives, money, and civil liberties—was justified, and they did not see emancipation as a worthy war objective. Republicans nicknamed these critics Copperheads, after a poisonous snake. “Every victory of the government they lament as a defeat of their party,” wrote a Philadelphia observer. “In every success of the rebels they see a party victory and hail it with triumph.”

Improved cannons with explosive shells also allowed armies to unleash a hail of artillery fire on their opponents. These new weapons were deadly enough, but poor battlefield tactics exacer bated their effects. Instead of distributing troops so they were more difficult to target, generals massed the soldiers together for large frontal assaults on enemy lines. This tactic had worked well enough in previous wars, when guns were less accurate. However, in the Civil War, snipers who were dug into defensive positions could mow down a line of charging troops with ease, even at substan tial distances. This mismatch of new weapons with old tactics led to incredibly bloody battles, like the one at Antietam.

The Civil War was an extremely brutal and destructive conflict. One reason for this was the development of new and deadlier weapons, such as the rifled musket. Unlike the old smoothbore musket, this gun had grooves on the inside of the barrel that caused the bullet to spin, allowing it to travel much faster, farther, and with greater accuracy.

—Unknown Union soldier, describing the Battle of Gettysburg Battles often happened in open fields. But sometimes, as the following soldier describes, the battles occurred in wooded areas, where it was arduous to locate the enemy: No one could see the fight fifty feet from him. The lines were very near each other, and from the dense underbrush and the tops of trees came puffs of smoke, the “ping” of the bullets and the yell of the enemy. It was a blind and bloody hunt to the death, in bewildering thickets, rather than a battle.

Civil War battles were typically chaotic, terrifying events. Fifty years later, a former soldier could still recall the awful sound of battle:

The screaming and bursting of shells, . . . the death screams of wounded animals, the groans of their human companions, wounded and dying and trampled underfoot by hurrying batteries, riderless horses and the moving lines of battle . . . a perfect hell on earth.

Medical care was shockingly poor during the Civil War because doctors did not know what caused infections or how diseases spread.

—Unknown Union soldier, describing the Battle of the Wilderness, 1864

A North Carolina soldier wrote, “These Big Battles is not as Bad as the fever.” He was right—more soldiers died of disease than from injuries.

3. The Effect of the War on Soldiers

New Weapons Make Battle More Deadly

Lesson 10112

Around 3 million men fought in the Civil War. As many as one-third of these soldiers died or were wounded in battle. Even for those who escaped without injury, the war exacted a tremendous cost. Soldiers had to leave their homes and families for up to four years while enduring numerous hardships.

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When this cruel war is over, Praying that we meet again. —Henry Tucker, 1863 When Union and Confederate forces were camped near each other, as sometimes happened, troops from both armies might even join in songs together, their voices echoing across the distance between their camps.

Medical Care on the Battlefield

Keeping Busy Between Battles

Although men on both sides persevered with courage, it was the rare soldier who eagerly sought conflict. As one recalled, “When bullets are whacking against tree trunks and solid shots are cracking skulls like egg-shells, the consuming passion in the breast of the average man is to get out of the way.”

The life of soldiers was not all about the horrors of war. Most of their time was spent away from combat. On average, for every day of battle, they spent 50 days hanging around the camp. When they were not marching or drilling, the men usually had a lot of spare time. To remain occupied in camp, soldiers on both sides pursued various pastimes. Reading was a common activity, and many soldiers were particularly interested in newspapers from home. Soldiers also wrote letters to their loved ones, played cards, and went swimming. Hunting and fishing were popular, as were sports like baseball and wrestling. Soldiers even performed magic shows, skits, and plays for their campmates. One Confederate production, called “Medical Board,” satirized army doctors and their fondness for amputation. Music played a special part in the lives of soldiers. To raise their spirits before battle, they sang patriotic songs like “The Battle Cry of Freedom” and “Dixie.” Most of the time, however, they preferred traditional folk songs and sentimental ballads. They also created original songs about the hardships of war and the monotony of camp life. One mournful song, “Weeping Sad and Lonely,” was a favorite among homesick troops on both sides. Weeping, sad and lonely, Hopes and fears how vain! . . .

Many soldiers who were wounded in battle died where they fell. Those who were rescued often faced a grim fate in the hands of military doctors. In the 1860s, medical knowledge was rather limited. Doctors neither knew how to treat a multitude of diseases, nor understood the causes of infection and the necessity of sanitary procedures in surgery.

Battlefield surgeons typically worked in clothes covered with blood. They wiped their hands and surgical tools on their jackets or immersed them in contaminated water between operations. One of their most common tools was the bone saw, which was used to perform amputations. Because musket balls typically shattered bones on impact, doctors had little recourse but to remove entire limbs, often without anesthesia. Piles of arms, legs, and feet would accumulate adjacent to medical tents.

Poor hygiene was another major problem in camp. Soldiers often pitched their tents near open latrines and bathed in the same water that they used for drinking—practices that encouraged the spread of disease. For every soldier who died in battle, an estimated two or three more died of disease from unsani tary conditions in camp.

With plenty of time between battles, soldiers passed some of the time playing card games and sports. Baseball was popular among both Confederate and Union troops. Abner Doubleday, the man often credited with inventing baseball in 1839, became a major general in the Union army during the Civil War. He commanded the troops at Fort Sumter when it was first fired on, and he later fought heroically at Gettysburg.

The Promise of Freedom Stirs African Americans The Emancipation Proclamation caused tremendous rejoicing among African Americans in the North. Although it did not liberate any people enslaved in the South—and news of the proclamation did not reach enslaved people in Texas until after the war had ended—many considered emancipation the first step toward gaining equal rights for blacks. One man described the ecstatic response he saw at a public reading of the proclamation in Washington, D.C.:

The Union army emancipated many enslaved people as it moved through the South. Thousands of formerly enslaved people followed the troops and became a key source of labor for the Union army, but other freedmen stayed behind on abandoned Southern plantations. With their former enslavers gone, they divided the land among themselves and established their own farms.

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Men squealed, women fainted, dogs barked, white and colored people shook hands, songs were sung, and by this time cannons began to fire . . . and follow in the wake of the roar that had . . . been going on behind the White House . . . The President came to the window and made responsive bows, and thousands told him, if he would come out of that palace, they would hug him to death . . . It was indeed a time of times, . . . nothing like it will ever be seen again in this life.

—Henry M. Turner, The Negro in Slavery, War, and Peace, 1913 African Americans and the War Effort Even before the Emancipation Proclamation, thousands of formerly enslaved people had fled to Union lines. Because there was no government policy on the fugitives, Union commanders were forced to make their own decisions about what to do with them. Some tried to return fugitives to their former enslavers or to keep them out of Union camps, and others paid the fugitives wages for noncombat work as cooks, carpenters, guides, and drivers.Black leaders and abolitionists had favored the idea of African American recruitment since the beginning of the war. However, Lincoln had sidestepped offers by free blacks in the North to raise African American regiments, fearing the effect black troops might have on the border states. Widely held prejudices also played a role in his reluctance to recruit blacks. Many Northerners doubted that African Americans would make valuable soldiers. Frederick Douglass complained, “Colored men were good enough to fight under Washington, but they are not good enough to fight under [General George] McClellan.”

4. The Effect of the War on African Americans

Although the war started as a conflict over states’ rights and a fight to preserve the Union, it became a struggle over the future of slavery. As former slave and abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass wrote, The Negro is the key to the situation, the pivot upon which the whole rebel lion turns . . . This war, disguise it as they may, is virtually nothing more or less than perpetual [everlasting] slavery against universal —Frederickfreedom.Douglass, 1861

As the war wore on, public opinion began to change. Congress authorized African American recruitment in 1862. The next year, the War Department issued General Order 143, which authorized the “organization of Colored Troops.”

Some 186,000 African Americans served in the Union army and another 10,000 in the navy. Although African Americans made up 1 percent of the North’s population, they accounted for nearly 10 percent of the troops. Although they fought bravely and earned the respect of their white officers, they were often given the worst tasks, and scarcely 100 of them rose to the rank of officer.

Other black regiments also displayed commendable courage under fire. Several of these regiments were comprised of freedmen—people who had been freed from slavery—who served in the Union army, including the 1st South Carolina Volunteers and the 1st and 3rd Louisiana regiments. After seeing the Louisiana troops in battle, one white officer wrote, “You have no idea how my prejudices with regard to negro troops have been dispelled . . . [They] behaved magnificently and fought splendidly . . . They are far superior in discipline to the white troops, and just as brave.”

5. The Contribution of Women to the War Effort

Racism and Discrimination Persist Despite their contributions to the war effort, African Americans still encountered racism and hostility. During the New York City draft riots, dozens of African Americans were killed. In the military, black soldiers were usually assigned menial tasks, like digging ditches. They were often given poor weapons and did not receive the same training for battle as did white soldiers, resulting in higher casualty rates among African Americans. Additionally, black soldiers who were captured in the South faced the risk of being enslaved or executed rather than imprisoned, as white soldiers were.AfricanAmerican troops were also paid as laborers, not soldiers. While white soldiers earned $13 a month, African Americans were paid just $10. Some black regiments protested by refusing to accept any pay at all, but others took a more militant approach to addressing this injustice. In November 1863, a company of black soldiers stacked their weapons and refused to pick them up again until they received equal pay. Their leader, a black sergeant named William Walker, was charged with mutiny and executed by firing squad. Finally, in June 1864, Congress agreed to equalize pay for white and black soldiers, including all back pay.

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Women on both sides of the conflict played a critical role in the war effort. One of these women was Clara Barton, who volunteered for war relief on the Union side when the war began. “While our soldiers stand and fight,” she said, “I can stand and feed and nurse them.” She began by gathering food and other supplies for the troops. Eventually she became a nurse, who treated hundreds of wounded soldiers. At Antietam, when the field hospital came under artillery attack, she steadied the operating table while the doctor completed his surgery. The doctor later called her “the angel of the battlefield.”

The most famous black unit was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which played a critical role in winning acceptance for black soldiers. On July 18, 1863, the 54th stormed the Confederate defenses at Fort Wagner, South Carolina. The assault failed, killing more than 40 percent of the regiment, but the troops fought valiantly and earned the praise of the nation. One newspaper wrote that without the 54th, “two hundred thousand troops for whom it was a pioneer [first experience] would never have put into the field.”

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To Southerners, her treatment was further proof of Yankee brutality. Greenhow seemed to relish the role of the martyr who suffers for her beliefs since a fellow prisoner wrote, “Greenhow enjoys herself amazingly.”

Women Provide Medical Care

Women often had to overcome prejudice in order to serve. At the start of the war, many men viewed caring for wounded soldiers as “unladylike.” Others believed the presence of women nurses in hospitals would distract the soldiers or that women would prove too delicate for battlefield conditions.

Elizabeth Van Lew, a resident of Richmond, was a successful spy for the Union. She even managed to plant one of her assistants, a former slave named Mary Elizabeth Bowser, as a maid in Jefferson Davis’ home, where the two gained access to Confederate war plans. Van Lew managed to divert suspicion and avoid arrest by pretending to be mentally unbalanced. In public, she mut tered to herself and appeared to be confused. The locals called her “Crazy Bet,” but when Union troops took Richmond in 1865, she dropped the act and was honored as a hero.

Women doctors faced even more remarkable obstacles. Surgeon Mary Walker tried but failed to get approval to join the Union army as a doctor. Instead, she volunteered as an assistant surgeon in a Washington hospital. Throughout the war, she worked as a battlefield doctor and later received the congressional Medal of Honor for her services.

Other women, like reformer Dorothea Dix, played a crucial role in the war effort by providing medical care to wounded and sick soldiers. Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman served as Union nurses as well, dividing their time between medical work and scouting for the Union army. By the end of the Civil War, more than 3,000 women had served as nurses to the Union army.

Clara Barton was one of thousands of women who served as nurses in the Civil War. Most worked for little pay and under difficult conditions. Barton sometimes brought care to wounded soldiers in the battlefield, even while bullets were still flying. Her wartime experiences led her to found the American Red Cross in 1881. Rose Greenhow worked as a Confederate spy. She was eventually caught and tossed into prison, along with her daughter “Little Rosie.”

Women Soldiers and Spies Though women were not allowed in the armed forces, some encountered combat on the front lines. As many as 400 women disguised themselves as men and enlisted in the Union and Confederate armies. One woman, “Franklin Thompson” of Michigan, had to desert on her way to a hospital in order to maintain her secret identity. Other women served behind the lines in the dangerous role of spy. Women made exceptional spies, partly because they were not suspected as quickly as men. If caught, they were also less likely to be punished severely. One of the most famous Confederate spies was Rose Greenhow, a well-connected member of Washington society who used her contacts to learn about Union troop movements and passed this important information along to the Confederate army. Her reports proved invaluable, helping the Confederates win the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Eventually, Greenhow was discovered, arrested, and banished to the South.

Southern women also worked as nurses, and because almost all of the fighting occurred on Southern soil, many transformed their homes into medical shelters. After the First Battle of Bull Run, for instance, Sally Tompkins estab lished a hospital in a private home and began caring for wounded Confederate soldiers. Altogether, she treated more than 1,300 men over the course of the war, while registering just 73 deaths. In honor of her achievements, Jefferson Davis made Tompkins a captain in the army and the only woman to become an officer in the Confederate army.

Emancipation Proclamation By 1863, Lincoln issued a proclamation freeing all slaves in the rebellious states. However, freedom for most slaves did not actually arrive until the end of the war.

Gettysburg Address In his dedication of a cemetery for the men who died in the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln reminded the Union that it was fighting to preserve a nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

Copperheads Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis had to deal with opposition groups that did not support their war aims. In the North, Copperheads urged an immediate end to the war. In the South, part of Virginia seceded and joined the Union as West Virginia. Draft riots and bread riots The leaders of the Union and the Confederacy faced challenges in managing the war effort. In the North, protesters rioted over draft laws. In the South, women protested severe shortages of food and supplies.

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54th Massachusetts Regiment African Americans welcomed emancipation and the chance to fight for the Union. Although they displayed remarkable courage, blacks continued to suffer from racism and inequality.

Anaconda Plan

Women Hold Down the Home Front With thousands of men fighting in the war, women—black and white—stepped in to perform crucial jobs to support their families and the war effort. They took leadership roles on family farms and in businesses, and they also organized aid societies to raise money for war supplies and to collect and distribute food to soldiers.

The Civil War lasted four years, cost 620,000 lives, and was by far the most destructive conflict ever waged on American soil.

Sherman’s March to the Sea

Summary

Women’s service Women made impressive contributions to the war effort by collecting supplies and serving as soldiers, spies, medical personnel, and farm and factory workers.

Northern women had already been a part of the prewar workforce in the textile industry. As the war dragged on, rising demand for military uniforms led to more women working in textile mills and garment factories. Women in the South also made clothes, though most worked at home as private contractors. The war also provided new job opportunities for women. For the first time, women filled a significant number of government positions. They worked in offices copying documents, for the Treasury Department minting money, and for the postal service. Women also took dangerous jobs in munitions factories, making bullets and artillery shells for the Union and the Confederate armies. Accidents in these factories were common, and many women lost their lives.

The Union won the war in 1865 after General William T. Sherman waged total war across Georgia and General Ulysses S. Grant captured Richmond, Virginia.

Once it became apparent that the war would not be quickly won, President Lincoln prepared for a lengthy conflict with a plan to slowly crush the Confederacy.

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This image of Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1865 shows the aftermath of the Civil War.

Introduction In 1865, the United States was faced with the task of putting itself back together as one nation. In his second inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln spoke of healing the wounds that had been inflicted on both the North and the South during the Civil War: With malice [hatred] toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

President Abraham Lincoln was one of the last casualties of the Civil War. By the time of his assassination on April 15, 1865, more than half a million people had perished in the conflict, and much of the South lay in ruins. Rebuilding cities like Charleston, South Carolina, would prove to be difficult. Reconstructing a nation after such a long and bitter war would present an even greater challenge for Americans.

But Lincoln would not live to see his vision become reality. A little more than a month after his second inauguration, he was assassinated while attending a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Northerners were deeply grieved by his murder. Young Caroline Cowles Richards wrote in her diary, “I have felt sick over it all day and so has every one that I have seen. All seem to feel as though they had lost a personal friend, and tears flow plenteously.”

With Lincoln deceased, the task of unifying the nation fell to Vice President Andrew Johnson. If there was going to be any hope of healing war wounds, the devastated South would first need to be rebuilt. This undertaking, called Reconstruction, simultaneously presented both an enormous challenge and a new possibility to extend the ideals of liberty, equality, and opportunity to the almost 4 million African Americans who had just been freed from slavery. How was the nation’s commitment to its founding ideals tested during Reconstruction?

—Abraham Lincoln, second inaugural address, March 1865

1864–1896

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Lincoln’s assassin, an actor named John Wilkes Booth, believed he was saving the Confederacy by murdering the president. Although few Southerners rejoiced at Lincoln’s death, many Northerners blamed the South for his murder, as well as for causing the Civil War. They felt such actions warranted punishment.

Freedom also meant former slaves could pursue education, a right that they had long been denied. Freedmen flocked to schools set up by various groups.

“The queerest character that ever occupied the White House”—that was how one observer referred to Andrew Johnson. Certainly, he traveled an unusual path to the presidency. When the Civil War broke out, Johnson was a Tennessee senator. Even though his state seceded, he did not relinquish his senate seat—the only senator from a Southern state to do so. A lifelong Democrat, Johnson was nonetheless nominated by Republicans to run for vice president in 1864. True to his party roots, Johnson saw himself as a champion of the common man. Even though he condemned former slaveholders as a “pampered, bloated, corrupted aristocracy,” he had little concern for former slaves and did not include them in his plans to reconstruct the South.

Former Slaves Test Their New Freedom As Presidential Reconstruction began, former slaves began to experience what it meant to be free. For many, freedom meant the opportunity to travel as they wished. Before emancipation, slaves could not leave their homes without the permission of their masters. Now, former slaves took to the road, often in search of loved ones who had been sold in earlier times. Freedom also meant that former slaves now had the right to legally wed without fear of being forcibly separated from their spouses or children.

Booker T. Washington, a freedman who became a leading educator, observed, It was a whole race trying to go to school. Few were too young, and none too old, to make the attempt to learn. As fast as any kind of teachers could be secured, not only were day-schools filled, but night-schools as well. The great ambition of the older people was to try to learn to read the Bible before they died.

This 1864 cartoon shows Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson trying to repair a torn map of the Union. Lincoln, once a rail-splitter, is using a rail to push the South and the North closer to each other. Johnson, once a tailor, is using the needle and thread to stitch the two sides of the map together. After Lincoln was assassinated, the mantle of responsibility for reconstructing the South passed to Johnson.

1. Andrew Johnson Begins Presidential Reconstruction

“Weddings, just now, are very popular and abundant among the colored people,” wrote an army chaplain. “I have married during the month twenty-five couples, mostly those who have families, and have been living together for years.”

—Booker T. Washington, Up from Slavery: An Autobiography, 1901

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan: A Smooth Return for Southern States Less than two months after taking office, Johnson announced his Reconstruction plan. A former Confederate state would be readmitted to the Union once it had written a new state constitution, elected a new state government, repealed its act of secession, canceled its war debts, and ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The first of three Reconstruction-era amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery throughout the entire nation.

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Republicans in Congress urged Johnson to add a requirement that Southern states had to also grant freedmen the right to vote. Johnson, however, resisted their pleas. “White men alone,” he insisted, “must manage the South.”

Reconstruction 121 Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865 to provide food, medical care, and legal assistance to former slaves and poor whites. The bureau also helped set up more than 4,300 schools for African Americans of all ages. One of these schools is pictured above.

The third purpose of the black codes was to maintain a social order in the South that prevented the upward mobility of African Americans. Blacks were prohibited from any professions but farm work and unskilled labor, thus making it impossible for them to rise economically or to start their own businesses. Such restrictions led a Northern journalist touring the South to write, The whites seem wholly unable to comprehend that freedom for the negro means the same thing as freedom for them. They readily enough admit that the Government has made him free, but appear to believe that they still have the right to exercise over him the same old control.

Along with education, freedmen were desperate to acquire farmland so that they could support themselves and their families. During the war, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens had advocated breaking up Southern plantations to give freed slaves “forty acres and a mule” in return for their years of unpaid labor. “We have turned, or are about to turn, loose four million slaves without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets,” he argued. “If we do not furnish them with homesteads . . . we had better have left them in bondage.” Congress, however, refused to implement Stevens’s plan, arguing that to take land without payment would violate an owner’s property rights. Before the end of the war, the Union government had established the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist former slaves and poor whites living in the South. The bureau provided food, clothing, education, and medical care. It also gave legal advice to former slaves and acted as a court of law in some situations. But its attempts to solve the problem of providing farmland to freedmen were thwarted by Johnson, who pardoned former Confederates and returned available land to them. Black Codes Restrict the Freedom of Former Slaves As new Southern gov ernments were formed, Johnson withdrew Union troops from the South. Many Northerners did not share Johnson’s willingness to let the South reconstruct itself. Congressman Benjamin Flanders warned of former Confederate leaders: “Their whole thought and time will be given to plans for getting things back as near to slavery as possible.” Sadly, the congressman’s prediction turned out to be quite accurate. Across the South, state legislatures passed black codes—laws intended to restrict the freedom and limit the advancement of African Americans. One purpose of the black codes was to stipulate the rights of African Americans. They could own property, work for wages, marry, and file lawsuits. However, they were denied other civil rights, or rights of citizenship, such as the right to vote or to serve on juries. A second purpose was to stabilize the workforce for planters who no longer had slaves. Freedmen were required to sign yearly labor contracts each January. Those who refused could be arrested and sent to work for a planter.

—Sidney Andrews, Atlantic Monthly, 1866

To Congress’s amazement, President Johnson vetoed both bills. The continuation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, he argued, was too costly and would encourage freedmen to lead a “life of indolence [laziness].” He rejected the Civil Rights Act as a violation of states’ rights. In one of his veto messages, Johnson claimed to be representing the will of the people. “This [claim] is modest,” quipped one Republican, “for a man made president by an assassin.”

Chicago Tribune, December 1865

Republicans assembled the two-thirds majority in each house needed to override Johnson’s veto. The passage of the Civil Rights Act was the first time in American history that a major piece of legislation became law over a president’s veto. Next, Congress drafted a new Freedmen’s Bureau bill. When Johnson vetoed it, his action was overridden once again.

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By the end of 1865, President Andrew Johnson believed that Reconstruction was over. Every Southern state had formed a new government, and the Thirteenth Amendment had been added to the Constitution. However, after watching the black codes sweep across the South, many Northerners disagreed with Johnson. One Republican newspaper wrote, We tell the white men of Mississippi that the men of the North will convert the state of Mississippi into a frog pond before they will allow such laws to disgrace one foot of soil in which the bones of our soldiers sleep and over which the flag of freedom waves.

Tensions between President Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans escalated when Congress called for Johnson to be impeached. Here, Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical Republican who served on the House committee that recommended the president’s impeachment, presents the final speech during the Senate trial. In the end, Johnson was acquitted by just one vote and remained in office.

Radical Republicans Challenge Johnson’s Reconstruction When Congress met in December 1865, many lawmakers felt that Reconstruction had hardly begun. A group of Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, were especially critical of Johnson’s plan. The Radicals had been abolitionists before the war, so they were now determined to reconstruct the nation on the basis of equal rights for all. Their commitment to racial equality put them on a collision course with the president.

This latest addition to the Constitution became a major issue in the election of 1866. President Johnson toured the North, making fiery speeches against the amendment and its Republican supporters. This presidential tour did Johnson more harm than good. Republicans won a veto-proof, two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and would now control Reconstruction.

2. Congress Takes Control of Reconstruction

To further protect the rights of freedmen, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment’s basic principle, Stevens said, was that state laws “shall operate equally upon all.” The Fourteenth Amendment reversed the Dred Scott decision by defining “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” as citizens. It also prohibited any state from denying individuals “due process” or “the equal protection of the laws.”

Early in 1866, the Radical Republicans joined with more moderate law makers to pass two bills designed to help former slaves. First, the Freedmen’s Bureau was extended beyond its original one-year charter, and its powers were expanded. The second piece of legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, took direct aim at the black codes by declaring that African Americans were entitled to “equal benefit of all laws . . . enjoyed by white citizens.”

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At trial, Johnson’s lawyers argued that his only “crime” had been to oppose Congress. Were he to be removed for that reason, “no future President will be safe who happens to differ with a majority of the House and . . . Senate.” The lawyers also quietly spread the word that if acquitted, Johnson would no longer oppose Congressional Reconstruction. When the votes were cast, the president escaped removal by a vote of 36 to 25, just one vote short of the required twothirds majority. = to

The congressional plan for reconstructing the South was based on the belief that there were no legal governments in the region. Until such governments could be established, the South was divided into five military districts. Each was run by a major general supported by federal troops. Tennessee met the standards for readmission before the military districts were established in 1867.

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In addition, Congress passed two laws that kept President Johnson from interfering with its Reconstruction plan. The Command of the Army Act limited the president’s power as commander in chief of the army, and the Tenure of Office Act barred the president from firing certain federal officials without the “advice and consent” of the Senate.

Date

Readmission

President Johnson Faces Impeachment President Johnson blasted both of these laws as unconstitutional restrictions on his presidential power. To prove his point, he fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Radical Republican appointed to office by President Lincoln. Two days later, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act and further charged that “Andrew Johnson had brought the high office of the President of the United States into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace, to the great scandal of all good citizens.” Johnson faced trial in the Senate. If two-thirds of the senators found him guilty of any charge, he would no longer be president.

Congress Puts the South Under Military Rule Through a series of 1867 laws known as the Reconstruction Acts, Congress outlined its process for admitting Southern states back into the Union. The South was to be divided into five districts, each controlled by federal troops. Election boards in each state would register male voters—both black and white—who were loyal to the Union. Southerners who had actively supported the Confederacy would not be allowed to vote. The voters in each state would elect conventions to write new state constitutions. The constitutions had to grant African Americans the right to vote. The voters would then elect state legislatures, which were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.

The South’s New Voters: Freedmen, Scalawags, and Carpetbaggers With former Confederates barred from registering, only three groups had the right to vote in the South. The largest was freedmen, who had never voted before. Most of them joined the Republican Party, which they believed represented Abraham Lincoln and his decision to emancipate slaves.

The election was marred by violence in several Southern states. A white Republican in Georgia wrote, “We cannot vote without all sorts of threats and intimidations. Freedmen are shot with impunity [no punishment].” Even so, the Republican Party swept every Southern state except for Louisiana and Georgia, where attacks on Republicans had made campaigning impossible. Nationwide, Seymour won a majority of white votes. Grant, however, won the popular vote with the help of half a million black voters. For Republicans, the lesson of the election was clear: Their party needed the black vote in order to remain in power.Grant’s victory helped persuade Congress to pass the last of the Reconstruction amendments. The Fifteenth Amendment states that “the right of citizens . . . to vote shall not be denied or abridged [limited] by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” “Nothing in all history,” wrote abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, equaled “this wonderful, quiet, sudden transformation of four millions of human beings from . . . the auction-block to the ballot box.”

3. Living Under Congressional Reconstruction White Southerners were shocked when the Reconstruction Acts brought the return of federal troops to the South. Having complied with Johnson’s plan, they believed that Reconstruction was over. Black Southerners, however, were elated. For months, freedmen had been organizing to fight discrimination. “We simply ask,” one group declared in a petition to Congress, “that the same laws that govern white men shall govern black men.” As election boards began regis tering voters across the South in 1867, it seemed their pleas had been heard.

Southerners despised Northerners who moved to the South during Reconstruction. These “carpetbaggers” were seen as worthless fortune hunters whose few possessions could fit in a single travel bag. In this cartoon, President Ulysses S. Grant is portrayed as the ultimate “carpetbagger,” riding on the back of the “solid South.”

This portrait shows some of the 16 African Americans who represented Southern states in Congress between 1869 and 1880. North Carolina elected black Congressman George Henry White in 1897. When his term ended in 1901, it would be 28 years before another African American would serve in Congress.

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The next largest group consisted of white Southerners who had opposed secession. Many were poor farmers who also had never voted before. Because they viewed the Democratic Party as the party of secession, they, too, registered as Republicans. Southern Democrats, who viewed these new Republicans as traitors to the South, scorned them as “scalawags,” or worthless scoundrels. The last group of voters was made up of Northerners, most of them former soldiers, who were attracted to the South after the war. Yankee-hating Southerners called them “carpetbaggers,” a term for a piece of luggage that travelers often carried. Carpetbaggers were frequently viewed as fortune hunters who invaded the South to profit from the misfortunes in the region. Newly registered voters cast their first ballots in the 1868 presidential election. The Republican candidate for president was the Union war hero Ulysses S. Grant. He supported Congressional Reconstruction and promised to protect the rights of freedmen in the South. His Democratic opponent, Horatio Seymour, promised to end Reconstruction and return the South to its traditional leaders—white Democrats.

The most enduring accomplishment of these Reconstruction governments was the creation of the South’s first public, taxsupported school systems. At first, whites stayed away rather than mix with blacks. To attract white students, most states segregated their schools by race, even where doing so was prohibited by law. Segregation—the forced separation of races in public places—was not the rule in other areas of life. In fact, several of the Reconstruction governments outlawed segregation in transportation, places of entertainment, and other businesses. But these laws were hard to enforce.

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Freedmen often preferred sharecropping to working as paid farmhands because it gave them independence. As sharecroppers, they did not have to answer to an overseer about how they spent their time.

New State Governments Begin to Rebuild the South Across the South, voters chose delegates—about one-fourth of them were African Americans—to attend state constitutional conventions. These delegates wrote constitutions that banned racial discrimina tion, guaranteed blacks the right to vote, and enabled them to hold public office. To the dismay of white Democrats, a majority of those elected to form governments were Republicans, and about a fifth of those Republicans were freedmen. The new governments quickly ratified the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments, com pleting the last step of the Reconstruction process. By 1870, every Southern state had been readmitted to the Union.

Sharecropping grew out of the needs of planters who had no workforce and of former slaves and white farmers who had no land.

The South’s Economic Recovery Remains Slow The new state governments undertook ambitious programs to strengthen the Southern economy, hoping economic growth would alleviate poverty and racial tensions. Unfortunately, money intended to rebuild roads and bridges and to expand railroads often fell into the hands of corrupt government officials. Although industry and trade led to the rebirth of some Southern cities, most of the South remained dependent on an agricultural economy. The South was still confronting the staggering costs of the Civil War, and the plight of Southern farmers was becoming increasingly desperate. During the conflict, many whites had lost all they had—their homes, farms, and businesses. Taxes and debts led some to sell their land. Even planters who had previously been wealthy were struggling. They had land but no money to hire workers to produce crops. Many planters divided their land into small plots that they rented to workers who would grow crops, a system known as tenant farming In some cases, tenant farmers would offer the planters a share of their crop as rent instead of paying cash. At first, sharecropping looked promising to both black and white landless farmers. They hoped that in time they would earn enough money to buy land for themselves. In reality, these farmers often experienced a new form of bond age: debt. Most sharecroppers had to borrow money from planters to buy the food, tools, and supplies they needed, so few ever earned enough from the sale of their crops to repay these debts. Sharecropping usually led to a life of debt peonage instead of economic independence because debtors had to work for the person they owed money to until they paid off what they owed. “We make as much cotton and sugar as we did when we were slaves,” noted one Texas sharecropper, “and it does us as little good now as it did then.”

4. Reversing Reconstruction

Most Southern whites refused to support Reconstruction governments. Many considered these governments illegal, since so many former Confederates had been prevented from participation. Others were angry with governments for raising taxes to pay for schools and other improvements. Some whites had even lost their land when they were unable to pay taxes on it. Still others were upset by the corruption in the new governments. Underneath all of these complaints was the true reality that most Southern whites refused to accept that former slaves were allowed to vote and hold office. The South was home to many white supremacists who felt that the white race was superior to all others. The most radical believers who shared this viewpoint turned to violence, forming terrorist groups with names like the White Brotherhood and the Knights of the White Camelia. Members of the Ku Klux Klan, a well-known terror group, had to swear that they were “opposed to negro equality, both social and political.” These groups terrorized blacks and white Republicans to keep them from voting. Their tactics included the burning of African American schools, attacks on Freedmen’s Bureau officials, and even outright murder.

After the Enforcement Acts became law, however, Northerners seemed to lose interest in the reconstruction of the South. In 1872, Congress closed the Freedmen’s Bureau. That same year, it passed an act granting amnesty, or a general pardon, to most former Confederates, enabling them to vote and hold office once again. Even President Grant had grown tired of the South and its problems. In 1875, the governor of Mississippi asked Grant for help in protecting freedmen’s voting rights during the state’s November election. Grant refused the request by saying, “The whole public are tired out with these annual autumnal [election season] outbreaks in the South.”

Northerners Grow Tired of Reconstruction In 1870 and 1871, Congress took action to end the wave of terror by passing the Enforcement Acts. It was now a federal crime to deprive citizens of their civil rights. President Grant sent federal marshals into the South to crush the terror groups. These officials arrested hundreds of men and sent a few to prison, which resulted in a tempo rary reduction of terrorism.

—Thomas Miller

MembersofNumber Decade 1870s 10152050 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2005. African Americans in Congress, 1870–1929

At the beginning of Reconstruction, a significant number of African Americans served in Congress. After the Jim Crow laws were enacted, those numbers dwindled rapidly.

Thomas Miller, a black lawmaker in South Carolina, would later recall, We were eight years in power. We had built schoolhouses, established charitable institutions, built and maintained the penitentiary system, provided for the education of the deaf and dumb . . . rebuilt the bridges and reestablished the ferries. In short, we had reconstructed the state and placed it on the road to prosperity.

Between 1882 and 1903, white supremacists murdered nearly 2,000 African Americans in the South. This Thomas Nast cartoon depicts a Klan member and another white supremacist holding the threat of death (represented by a skull) over an African American family.

The South’s experiment with Reconstruction governments was short-lived.

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Former Confederates, however, had a very different opinion about this period of biracial government. For them, it was a time of struggle to return the South to “white man’s rule.”

White Resistance to Reconstruction

African Americans Lose Ground Under Redeemer Governments By the end of Reconstruction, white supremacists calling themselves Redeemers had regained power in every Southern state. Their goal was to redeem, or save, the South by returning it to “white man’s rule.” “The whole South,” commented a freedman, “had got into the hands of the very men who held us as slaves.” Once in office, the Redeemers reversed educa tional improvements by cutting spending for public schools. As the governor of Virginia explained, “Schools are a luxury . . . to be paid for, like any other luxury, by the people who wish their benefits.”

As public funding dried up, schools either closed their doors or began to charge fees. By the 1880s, only about half of all black children in the South attended school.

The Redeemers put even more effort into passing laws that reversed the political gains that freedmen made during Reconstruction. Many states began to require citizens who wanted to vote to pay a poll tax. The tax was set impossibly high so that voting, like schooling, became an unaffordable luxury for most African Americans. Some states also required potential voters to pass a literacy test. The tests were made so difficult that almost nobody could pass them, no matter how much education a person had received.

During and after Reconstruction, African Americans in the South created their own schools and colleges. The most famous was Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute. Washington stressed practical skills over academic studies. He believed learning trades and succeeding economically would help African Americans gain civil rights.

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By this time, Grant was facing pressing matters of his own. Leading members of his administration had been accused of corruption, and the nation’s economy had crashed. Moreover, a new generation of Republican leaders had come to power and recognized that voters in the North had grown tired of dealing with the problems of Reconstruction.

The Election of 1876 Brings an End to Reconstruction President Grant did not run for reelection in 1876. Instead, the Republicans nominated Ohio’s Rutherford B. Hayes, a former Union general. The Democratic candidate for president was New York governor Samuel Tilden, a crusader for clean govern ment. Tilden won the popular vote, but his 184 electoral votes were one shy of the 185 required to win the presidency. Republican leaders disputed the electoral votes that were cast for South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. They claimed that Hayes won the most votes in those states. Democrats said Tilden won more votes. With no clear resolu tion, the election went to the House of Representatives. After weeks of secret dealings, leaders of both parties in the House arrived at the Compromise of 1877. Under this agreement, Hayes received the electoral votes from the three disputed states and became president. In return, he pledged to name a Southerner to his cabinet, remove the last remaining federal troops from the South, and provide federal aid for the construction of Southern railroads. Much of the deal fell apart after Hayes took office, but the troops were removed, and Reconstruction officially ended.

According to the Fifteenth Amendment, poll taxes and literacy tests were supposed to apply equally to both black and white citizens. In practice, how ever, whites were excused from both requirements by a grandfather clause inserted in voting laws. This clause exempted citizens whose ancestors had voted before January 1, 1867. Since no African Americans had been permit ted to vote in the South before that date, the grandfather clause was blatantly intended to only favor whites.

—Charleston News and Courier

African Americans Struggle to Protect Their Rights Blacks resisted these attacks on their rights by responding with bold and open protest. Such actions often put African Americans at risk of being lynched—killed by hanging—by whiteHomermobs.Plessy, a black man arrested for sitting in a whites-only railroad car in Louisiana, looked to the courts for assistance. Plessy argued that Jim Crow laws violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1896, his case, Plessy v. Ferguson, reached the Supreme Court. The majority

How Far Could Jim Crow Go?

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The Redeemer governments also reversed laws that had outlawed segrega tion in public places. New legislation drew a “color line” between blacks and whites in public life. Whites called these new acts Jim Crow laws, an insulting reference to a black character in a popular song. African Americans were not allowed to sit with whites in buses or rail cars. Restaurants and other businesses also practiced acts of discrimination by serving whites only or serving black customers separately.

Not all Southerners supported segregation. When a law to separate blacks and whites in railway cars was proposed in South Carolina in 1898, the Charleston News and Courier tried to show how silly the idea was by taking segregation to ridiculous extremes. Except for Jim Crow witness boxes, however, all of the newspaper’s “silly” suggestions were eventually put into practice and continued through the 1900s, as shown here. If there must be Jim Crow cars on railroads, there should be Jim Crow cars on the street railways. Also on all passenger boats . . . If there are to be Jim Crow cars, moreover, there should be Jim Crow waiting saloons [rooms] at all stations, and Jim Crow eating houses . . . There should be Jim Crow sections of the jury box, and a separate Jim Crow dock and witness stand in every court—and a Jim Crow Bible for colored witnesses to kiss.

Summary

The Reconstruction era lasted from 1865 to 1877. During these years, biracial governments were established across the South. These governments expanded the rights and opportunities of former slaves. However, the South returned to “white man’s rule” when Reconstruction ended.

The South’s first biracial state governments established a public school system and outlawed racial segregation. But these governments were bitterly opposed by white terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

However, the quality of the facilities used by African Americans in Southern states was usually quite inferior to that of those labeled “whites only.”

A growing number of African Americans started their own businesses. The number of black-owned businesses in the South soared from 2,000 in 1865 to nearly 25,000 by 1903. African Americans also built schools and colleges to educate their children. By 1900, more than 1.5 million black students were attending school. As a result, literacy rates for Southern blacks rose from near zero to 50 percent. The South’s new black colleges offered vocational training in such fields as farming and carpentry, as well as professional training in law, medicine, and teaching.

Presidential Reconstruction In 1865, President Johnson allowed the Southern states to recon struct themselves. Most enacted black codes that severely restricted the rights of former slaves.

Reconstruction governments

For the next half century, segregation would rule life in the South. But the promise of equality found in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments was not completely forgotten. In time, they would again emerge as part of a new struggle for racial equality.

Reconstruction 129 of the justices ruled that segregation was constitutional as long as the facilities provided to blacks were equal to those provided to whites. This “separate but equal” doctrine was soon applied to almost every aspect of life in the South.

Jim Crow laws

Some African Americans chose to move to the North rather than endure the humiliation of forced segregation. Most African Americans, however, remained in the South and lived their lives as best they could. With politics now closed to them once again, they focused on their families, churches, and communities. The majority farmed for a living, often as sharecroppers or tenant farmers.

Reconstruction amendments During Reconstruction, three amendments were added to the Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment made former slaves citizens, and the Fifteenth Amendment gave African American men the right to vote.

Congressional Reconstruction Congress took control of Reconstruction in 1867. Federal troops were sent to the South to oversee the establishment of state governments that were based on democratic principles.

Reconstruction ended as part of the Compromise of 1877. Once Democrats regained control of the state governments in the South, they passed Jim Crow laws that segre gated blacks from whites in public life. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregation was constitutional under the doctrine of “separate but equal.”

Lesson Change12

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This engraving illustrates the process of westward migration pushing American Indians from their ancestral land.

Many of the new migrants were farmers, but people of other occupations also sought opportunity in the West. Miners searched for gold, silver, and other minerals in the hills and mountains. On the grassy plains, ranchers hired cowboys to herd their cattle. Immigrant workers found jobs laying rail lines, and railroad owners made profits shipping western goods to market. However, this rising tide of migration instigated further conflict with American Indians. In particular, the tribes of the Great Plains would fight determinedly against the massive invasion of their lands and thorough destruction of their way of life.

Thousands of Americans migrated west in the mid- to late 1800s, stowing their goods in covered wagons for the extended overland journey. Although many aspired to reach Oregon or California, others eventually settled on the Great Plains. and Conflict in the American West

What opportunities and conflicts emerged as Americans moved westward?

1840–1896

Introduction By the mid-1800s, it was evident that many Americans felt the need for a fresh start. These Americans migrated westward in search of opportunity, like the early settlers who previously crossed the Appalachians. Entire families packed their belongings into covered wagons and ventured out on the westward trail. Eventually, these caravans crossed the Mississippi River. From the perspective of migrating Americans, this mighty river was the frontier, or boundary, marking the beginning of wilderness. “I do remember my emotions after we were all landed on the [other] side of the river,” one traveler recalled. “I felt as if we had left all civilization behind us.” And in many ways, they had. Overland travelers would spend weeks or months on what amounted to a lengthy, challenging expedition. On the journey, traveling groups were pressed to adapt themselves to the demands of living on the trail: repairing wagons, handling oxen, and tending to other livestock. In addition, they had to learn how to cook and clean under strenuous circumstances.

Increasing the expedition’s difficulty, the travelers had to survive with limited resources. Unfortunately for the migraters, water, wood, and food were extremely scarce on the plains. Families packed very little to eat besides flour, bacon, beans, salt, and coffee. As one woman remarked in her journal, “About the only change we have from bread and bacon is bacon and bread.”

Though Sutter tried to keep it secret, word quickly spread, and men deserted their work along the Pacific Coast in order to head for Sutter’s Mill. By the year’s end, gold fever had gripped the entire nation, even spreading abroad. The California gold rush was on. In the spring of 1849, some 40,000 migrants from the East traveled over land to California, and approximately 40,000 more people boarded steamships bound for San Francisco. These people, dubbed “forty-niners,” soon swarmed California’s shores. About nine out of ten were men, most of them young. Many came from Mexico, and thousands more arrived from Europe and China. They were all motivated by one unifying desire—to strike it rich.

Fourteen thousand people had braved this journey by 1848, a trickle of migra tion which would soon spike in response to the discovery of gold in California.

Miners: In Search of the Big Strike In 1848, landowner John Sutter was over seeing construction of a sawmill on the American River in California’s Central Valley. In January of that year, Sutter’s workers unearthed gold near the mill.

Luckily, California’s gold was not embedded in solid rock, as water erosion had dislodged much of the gold over time and carried it down into streambeds. This type of gold, coined by miners as placer gold, was easily mined using simple tools, such as pans and shovels. However, other prospectors still searched for veins of gold and silver in solid rock. Often working in groups, they utilized hand tools and weak explosives to extract the metal. Their efforts were concentrated on discovering thick veins of metal, known to miners as lodes, as every prospector’s dream was to find the “mother lode” that would produce untold riches.

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1. Mining and Ranching Opportunities in the West

The earliest settlers heading west from the Mississippi Valley sought to reach the remote, rich farmlands of the Far West. To accomplish their western ambitions, migrators moved as fast as they could across the Great Plains, and then struggled to crest the Rocky Mountains. Most travelers stopped for good only when they reached the fertile fields and valleys of Oregon and California.

Some miners panned for gold using the simple placer method, whereby they shoveled soil from a streambed into a shallow pan and then washed away the sand and gravel with stream water. If they were successful, this method resulted in heavier gold particles remaining in the pan. Other placer miners used more sophisticated washing methods.

Few of these prospectors and treasure hunters knew anything about mining.

California’s population rose from approximately 93,000 to over 380,000 between 1850 and 1860. Prospectors set up tent camps near their claims, and merchants of various industries followed closely on their heels. As stores, banks, saloons, and restaurants were established, some camps swelled into fledgling towns. When a site no longer proved profitable, most prospectors moved on. For three decades after the California gold rush, miners chased their dream of riches from Mexico to Alaska and east as far as the Black Hills of Dakota. They endured backbreaking work and conditions that were dismal and some times dangerous. However, very few prospectors ever struck it rich. After years of searching, most would likely concur with the saying, “Gold is where I ain’t!”

By the early 1850s, most of the ore that could be easily mined in California had been discovered. Individual prospectors eventually gave way to large mining companies that used hydraulic machines to wash away whole hillsides in search of gold. In the process, they damaged the environment, destroying natural habitats, polluting rivers, and leaving behind large piles of debris on which nothing could grow.

Because the growing populations of eastern cities had increased the demand for beef, the ranchers’ timing was opportune. In the East, ranchers could get $40 a head for cattle that sold for $5 or less back in Texas. At this time, railroad companies had also begun extending rail lines west from Missouri into Kansas, and as a result, cowhands could drive their herds to “cow towns” that sprang up along the rail lines. The increased potential for large profits made the lengthy cattle drive to one of these cow towns seem well worth the effort.

Cattle trail meatpacking center

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In 1866, Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving blazed a cattle trail from south Texas to Denver, where they sold their herd and generated a large profit. Soon afterwards, other Texans began to drive herds of cattle to various cow towns located on railroad lines, where the cattle were then shipped to meatpacking plants in Chicago and other eastern cities.

The formal era of the long drive began in 1867, when cowboys following the Chisholm Trail drove longhorns north from San Antonio, Texas, to Abilene, Kansas. At the conclusion of this journey, the live cattle were shipped in rail cars from Abilene and other cow towns to great meatpacking centers like Chicago. Working as a team, a dozen cowboys were capable of driving more than 1,000 cattle at a time along the trail. African Americans and Mexican Americans made up at least a quarter of all cowboys on these long drives. Cowboys led rough lives, working outdoors and sleeping on the ground in all types of weather. Not only did they have to be prepared to defend their herds against people who wanted to steal their cattle, but they had to guard against American Indian attacks, as well as monitor the constant threat of stampede.

Cowboys spent a great amount of time outdoors, tending to cattle. Their regular duties required rounding up calves and using a hot branding iron to mark them with the special insignia of the particular ranch, and to herd mature cattle to market on the long drive.

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Plains cattle ranching had started in Texas prior to the Civil War. It had a long tradition in the region going back to the first Spanish settlers. Mexican vaqueros originally established many cowboy customs: they rode horses, wore boots with pointed toes and wide-brimmed hats, and rounded up and branded cattle.

Ranchers and Cowboys Find a Home on the Range While miners uncovered the West’s valuable stores of gold, silver, and other minerals, cattle ranchers found opportunity in a different kind of natural resource: grass. Their beef cattle thrived on the abundant grasses and open range of the Great Plains.

Many Texas ranchers went off to fight in the Civil War and never returned. Untended, their cattle multiplied. By the mid-1860s, several million longhorn cattle lacking ownership roamed wild on the open plains. Some Texans began to round up unbranded cattle to drive, or herd, them north to market.

The long drive ended once rail lines expanded into cattle country during the 1880s. These new lines not only transported cattle to market, but also delivered farmers to the plains. The newcomers fenced off their farms with barbed wire, effectively closing the open range. Nature dealt cattle ranchers an even harsher blow when the blizzards of 1886 and 1887 killed thousands of cattle, forcing many ranchers into bankruptcy. Those who survived destitution chose to fence in their ranches, raising only as many cattle as their land could support.

Major

Debate in Congress over whether to follow a northern or southern route had halted plans for a transcontinental railroad thus far. However, the South’s secession and the onset of the Civil War influenced Congress’s approval of a northern route that would unite California and Oregon with the rest of the Union. The Pacific Railway Act, passed in 1862, directed the Central Pacific and the newly created Union Pacific Railroad Company to construct railway and telegraph lines from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The Union Pacific would start in Omaha, Nebraska, and work its way west, while the Central Pacific would begin in Sacramento and head east.

Major

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The First Transcontinental Railroad Creates Huge Challenges In 1861, four wealthy merchants in Sacramento, California, founded the Central Pacific Railroad Company. The “Big Four,” as they were known, sought government support for a transcontinental railroad. One of the Four, C. P. Huntington, traveled to Washington as a lobbyist in order to advocate for a railroad bill.

An easterner bound for the California goldfields in 1849 could not have made it halfway to the Mississippi River by train alone. Before the 1850s, most railroads were short lines, connecting cities and towns in just one region, which a flurry of rail building in the 1850s drastically changed. By 1860, rail lines extended from the Atlantic Coast across the Mississippi. This expansion enabled the exposure and settlement of western lands, and in essence linked the East and West coasts by rail.

The gold rush had produced a population explosion in the Far West, yet this growing region remained in isolation, essentially separated from the rest of the nation. During the 1850s, many people indicated the necessity of bet ter transportation and communication between East and West. In particular, merchants demanded a faster way to transport goods across the Great Plains and the Rockies. Their desire for a transcontinental railroad, one that spanned the continent, presented railroad builders with a considerable opportunity.

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2. Railroads Open the West to Rapid Settlement

Major

Like other lobbyists, Huntington worked to persuade legislators to pass laws favorable to groups he represented. In this case, he aimed to further the interests of the Central Pacific Railroad Company.

By 1900, there were more than 200,000 miles of railroad track in the country, including four transcontinental lines. Long-distance rail travel required better ways of keeping time. As such, the railroads adopted a system in 1833 that divided the nation into the four time zones illustrated here.

Building the first transcontinental railroad posed tremendous challenges, one of which was raising adequate funds. Under the Pacific Railway Act, the government pledged to help each company by granting it 6,400 acres of land and up to $48,000 in loans for each mile of track laid. Once the laying of rails began, the owners could sell the land to settlers to offset construction costs. Unfortunately, they needed startup money, and the Union Pacific had so much difficulty raising funds that the first rails were not laid until 1865. city railroad

The Union Pacific also faced conflicts with some of the tribes that lived on the Great Plains, as its route followed the Platte River through territory controlled by the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota Sioux. These three tribes had been battling the U.S. Army for years, and their attacks on railroad workers sometimes halted construction.

For the Central Pacific, rough terrain proved a considerable challenge, as crossing the Sierra Nevada was an epic engineering feat. Not only did the rail line have to pass over, and sometimes through, towering mountain passes, but it also had to bridge deep canyons. On some days, progress was measured in inches. Beyond the Sierra Nevada lay the Great Basin: a vast, dry region with blistering hot summers.

Working on the Railroad: Jobs and Hardships for Immigrants Ultimately, the two railroad companies owed much of their success in overcoming con struction challenges to immigrant labor. Both companies faced a severe labor shortage, facing a deficit of thousands of workers due to the Civil War and the gold rush, which had siphoned off a great portion of the labor pool.

When the Central Pacific began construction in 1865, it too faced a shortage of workers, and in desperation, decided to hire workers from China, despite widespread prejudice against the Chinese. The company advertised in China, promising impoverished workers good pay. By 1868, the Central Pacific was employing approximately 10,000 Chinese workers, who made up four-fifths of its labor force. Chinese workers were paid lower wages than white workers and were targets of racism. Working on the railroad was both strenuous and dangerous. Some workers were killed in Indian attacks, dynamite used to blast tunnels through the Sierra Nevada resulted in injuries and deaths, extreme cold in winter left many work ers with frostbite, and snow avalanches killed others. Nonetheless, the workers who survived had money in their pockets. Railroads Become Lifelines in the West Both companies eventually overcame these great obstacles, converging lines on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah. This day marked a clear turning point in the history of the West. The completion of the railroad reduced travel time between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts from four months to ten days. To mark the occasion, two officials, one from each company, drove ceremonial spikes of gold and silver into the railroad ties. Once the first transcontinental railroad had been completed, railroad construction continued elsewhere with a fury. This rapid expansion made many “railroad barons,” like the Big Four, extraordinarily wealthy, and encouraged settlement by making land available to farm families. As a result, towns soon developed along the routes. In addition, railroads served the transportation needs of new industries, such as mining and lumbering. Perhaps most impor tantly, they united East and West. For many people in the West, the railroads became lifelines. But because farmers depended on them, the railroads could charge excessive rates to ship their crops to market. Such policies led to growing demands for some govern ment control over the railroad companies.

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This contemporary engraving depicts Chinese laborers working on the last mile of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869. Chinese laborers made up four-fifths of the labor force for the construction of the Central Pacific railway line, which stretched from San Francisco to Utah. On May 10, 1869, workers completed the first railroad that would span the continent. This picture displays the celebration that took place as the Union and Central Pacific lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah, enabling the start of passenger service from Omaha to San Francisco.

Change and Conflict in the American West

From the perspective of a nation intent on expanding westward, the many American Indian tribes in the West presented a problem. Many refused to alter their customs to conform to the settlers’ culture. For example, they believed that tribes or villages had rights to areas of land. However, they did not believe that land could be owned, bought, or sold.

Lands held by American Indians 1850 1865 1880 1990 Map 23A Land Losses Of Native Americans Black Cyan Magenta Yellow First Proof Land Losses of American Indians, 1850–1990

In 1850, American Indians lived freely in the western half of the United States. Over time, the federal government forced them onto smaller and smaller reservations, although many tribes fought to save their lands. President Rutherford B. Hayes admitted in 1777, “Many, if not most, of our Indian wars have had their origin in broken promises and acts of injustice upon our part.”

A complex clash of cultures occurred on the Great Plains. Nomadic tribes, who had roamed the plains freely for centuries in pursuit of bison, had little in common with eastern tribes, who had been conquered and “removed” to the plains in the 1830s. These differences led to conflict between nomadic tribes

Cultures

Clash on the Great Plains

3. Indian Wars Shatter Tribal Cultures

By the early 1870s, the U.S. Army had forced the Apache of Arizona and New Mexico onto reservations. Chief Geronimo, shown here, refused to cooperate with the Army, choosing to continue fighting in order to protect his homeland. He eventually surrendered to the Army in 1886, and undertook farming in the Oklahoma territory.

To many people, the railroad represented great progress, but for the American Indians on the Great Plains, it posed a threat to their very existence. The railroad intersected their hunting grounds, disturbing the bison, their main source of food, clothing, and shelter. It also brought ranchers, farmers, and soldiers to their hunting grounds. In response, many tribes fought the railroad, waging war to stop the surge of settlement that jeopardized their ways of life. Their battle for survival represented the latest round of what are known as the Indian Wars.

Disputes between American Indians and settlers over land catalyzed conflict early in the nation’s history. These conflicts continued as settlers crossed the Appalachians and laid claim to tribal lands in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys. To end such conflicts, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced the largest tribes living east of the Mississippi to relocate west to Oklahoma Territory on the Great Plains. When settlers began to populate the West after the Civil War, they clashed further with native peoples. As one government official stated, the Indians were still considered “an obstacle to the progress of settlement and industry.”

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Change and Conflict in the American West

As part of its assimilation policy, the federal government established boarding schools for American Indian children. The Director of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania stated that his goal was to “kill the Indian and save the man.”

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Larger conflicts arose with the advance of white civilization. As settlers moved westward, they slaughtered millions of bison, endangering a vital element of tribal cultures. Many tribes refused to give up their homelands and cultures without a fight, and thus their warriors began attacking settlers.

In an effort to end conflict and open up land for settlers, the federal govern ment sought to confine most western tribes to reservations, or areas of federal land reserved for American Indian tribes. Federal officials promised to protect these tribes. However, instead of protecting them, the government oftentimes assisted prospectors and settlers who invaded reservations. For example, a gold strike in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory brought hordes of miners onto the Sioux reservation in the 1870s. The government ignored the invasion, even though the Treaty of Fort Laramie, signed in 1868, guaranteed the Sioux exclusive rights to the land. Many tribes, from the Apaches and Comanches in the south to the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Arapahos in the north, refused to stay within reservations. Bands of raiders moved out onto the plains, where they fought to stop the expansion of settlements. In 1876, Sioux and Cheyennes camped near the Little Bighorn River in Montana came under attack by U.S. Cavalry troops under George Armstrong Custer. The much larger American Indian force, led by Sioux chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, wiped out Custer’s troops. After the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as “Custer’s Last Stand,” federal forces hunted down and captured approximately 3,000 Sioux war riors. Over the next few years, the army subdued the other major tribes of the Great Plains. Adaptation and Efforts to Assimilate American Indians

The settlement of the West was disastrous for large numbers of American Indians. Many died as a result of violence, disease, and poverty, and others still clung to a miserable existence on reservations. The survivors struggled to adapt to their changed circumstance. Some attempted agriculture—the eastern tribes that had been removed to Oklahoma became successful farmers—and many tribes established their own government and Atschools.thesame time, the U.S. government adopted policies aimed at speeding the assimilation, or absorption, of American Indians into the dominant white set tler culture. Federal officials set up about two dozen boarding schools to educate American Indians in “white men’s ways.” Congress furthered the assimilation push by enacting the Dawes Act of 1887. Under this law, a tribe could no longer own reservation lands as a group. Instead, the government began distributing land to individuals within a tribe. Each family was granted its own plot of land, which it could hold or sell. This change eroded a cornerstone of American Indian cultures—the belief that land could not be bought or sold. Land sales, both free and forced, greatly decreased the amount of American Indian-owned land.

The U.S. Army responded with attacks on the plains tribes. In 1864, troops raided a party of Cheyennes and Arapahos who had camped at Sand Creek, Colorado, with permission from the commander of a nearby fort. More than 150 people, many of them women and children, were killed during this attack. The Sand Creek Massacre sparked a general uprising among the plains tribes.

Farmers also had to contend with grasshoppers. Great clouds of these pests, dense enough to darken the sky, descended on fields with little warning, and chewed for days on everything edible, destroying entire crops. In the face of these hardships, many farmers abandoned the plains. The sides of their covered wagons bore the words “In God We Trusted, In Kansas We Busted.” Others worked to overcome the harsh conditions by using

4. Settling the Great Plains

Another important influence on the Great Plains’ transformation was the passage of two federal laws in 1862, known as the Homestead Act and the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which both encouraged further settlement. The Homestead Act was engineered to provide tracts of land, called homesteads, to settlers in the West. The Act promised 160 acres of public land for a small fee to anyone who was willing to work the land and live on it for five years. The Homestead Act enticed approximately 600,000 farmers, who in total claimed more than 80 million acres of land by the end of the 19th century. The Morrill Land-Grant Act, in turn, provided each state with large tracts of public land to help finance the establishment of agricultural colleges. In order to raise the funds necessary to build these colleges, states then sold homesteads to settlers.

Opportunities and Challenges on the Great Plains The Great Plains, originally a place to simply pass through en route to the West Coast, were transformed into a shining land of opportunity. Perhaps most influential was the steady expansion of the railroad system, which carried settlers onto the plains.

Railroad companies were also able to sell settlers land that the government had granted to the companies. Families also felt safer migrating west because the U.S. Army had successfully mitigated the threat of attack by plains tribes.

Lesson 12138 Novel farm machinery, such as the threshing machine, helped to transform the Great Plains into the nation’s breadbasket. However, in order to afford such machines, most farmers had to borrow money, leading to an increase in debt. Supplemented by years of drought on the plains, this rising debt led to many bankruptcies. By the 1890s, tens of thousands of homesteaders had “gone bust.”

In essence, the plains offered settlers a fresh start. The settlers knew by the look and smell of the rich soil that their crops would thrive in this land. However, in order to succeed, they would first have to overcome difficult challenges. The first of these challenges was constructing houses on the largely treeless plains. To compensate for the lack of lumber, some homesteaders simply dug a hole in the side of a hill as shelter. Other settlers fashioned houses out of the tough plains turf, or sod, which were thus called “soddies.” Sod blocks, which were cut out of the ground with a shovel or an ax, formed the walls, and most roofs were made of sod as well. Once farmers could afford lumber deliv ered by train, they replaced their dugouts and soddies with wood-frame houses.

Despite resistance from tribes of the Great Plains, settlers continued to migrate to the region during the second half of the 19th century. They ventured on foot, on horseback, and in ox-drawn wagons. Later, they would also arrive by rail. Most had one goal: successfully developing a plot of grassland into a working farm.

Another challenge was the environment, as the Great Plains region typically has an arid climate. The settlers who flocked to the area in the 1870s and 1880s arrived during an abnormally wet period, where the unusual amounts of rain helped crops to flourish. Unfortunately, farmers also had to contend with the winter’s deep cold, piercing winds, and blizzard snows. By the early 1890s, drought conditions had returned, particularly in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and the Dakotas. As the soil dried up, wheat, corn, and other crops failed.

In 1879, a rumor caused a surge in black migration to Kansas. The rumor held that the federal government would award free land and $500 to every black family that moved there. About 6,000 African Americans made the trek, but the rumored aid never materialized. This image depicts African Americans at Mississippi preparing to move West.

Despite their rising numbers and the independence of owning land, African Americans in the West were still plagued by racism. For example, when a group of black migrants from Mississippi attempted to settle in Lincoln, Nebraska, white townspeople worked tirelessly to drive them away. The migrants persisted, however, and Lincoln eventually accepted black residents into the community.

African Americans See the Plains as the “Promised Land” The women and men who settled the West represented a broad range of Americans. Many of these settlers were native-born white farm families from the Midwest, some had relocated at least once before, and others were emigrants from Europe. Oftentimes, settlers were lured by railroad agents’ empty claims since they were experts in exaggeration. Another portion of settlers were former slaves looking for the opportunity to own and cultivate their own land. After the Civil War, many African Americans fled the South in search of better lives elsewhere, and thus thousands joined the westward movement. Some freed men worked as cowboys in Texas, while others joined the army, helping to protect settlers. However, most African Americans who traveled west became farmers.

Former slaves such as Henry Adams and Benjamin “Pap” Singleton encour aged African Americans to establish farm communities on the Great Plains. These leaders helped organize a postwar migration to Kansas and beyond, where these migrants became known as Exodusters. Exodusters, a direct refer ence to Exodus, the second book of the Bible, cites the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt and the beginning of their journey to the “Promised Land.” Offered the opportunity to succeed or fail on their own terms as indepen dent farmers, thousands of African Americans braved the trek to Kansas. There, some bought farmland and formed new communities, including Nicodemus, a town of about 700 black settlers from Kentucky. Others found work in towns and on farms in Texas, Oklahoma, and various other plains states.

Change and Conflict in the American West

On April 22, 1889, approximately 50,000 people assembled on the Oklahoma border because the federal government had decided to open nearly 2 million acres of Indian Territory for purposes of settlement. At the signal, the Oklahoma land rush began. The homesteaders, known as “boomers,” raced to stake their claims, and by nightfall, they had claimed nearly all the available land. Settlers who had legally entered the territory days earlier were called “sooners.” dry-farming techniques. To conserve soil moisture, they plowed and planted a field one year and left it uncultivated the next. Also, tools had made farm life easier. The steel plow, invented in 1837, had simplified cutting through the thick prairie sod in order to prepare it for planting. The mechanical reaper neatly cut and bound sheaves of grain at harvesttime. Windmills pumped water from deep wells for household use and irrigation.

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Farmers transformed the grasslands of the Great Plains into bountiful crop lands. Their hard work, aided by improved farm machinery, greatly increased agricultural productivity. However, many of these farmers did not prosper financially. To buy costly machinery, many had taken out bank loans at high interest rates. They also owed money to merchants for the seeds they bought on credit every year and to railroad companies, who continued to increase shipping rates. Crop prices also declined as supply outstripped demand at home and in the global market. With their incomes reduced, farmers found it difficult to pay their debts. As their debts mounted, so did their anger.

Farmers’ Frustrations Give Rise to Populism

This promotional print for the National Grange organization depicts idealized scenes of farm life. Founded in 1867 by Oliver Hudson Keeley, the Grange movement helped give farmers a political voice.

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Farmers also took action via other organizations. One of these groups, the Greenback Party, was formed in the mid-1870s with the intention of raising crop prices and relieving farmers’ debts. The Greenbackers’ goal was to increase the amount of greenbacks, or paper money, in circulation by changing the government’s monetary policy, which is aimed at controlling the supply and value of a country’s currency.

5. Farmers Rise Up in Protest

In the 1880s, farmers in the South and Midwest formed local organizations called Farmers’ Alliances, which later led protests against railroads, banks, and other powerful interests centered in the East. In the 1890 election, many Democratic and Republican candidates claiming to support policies proposed by Farmers’ Alliances won elections at the state level and for Congress. However, they enacted only a few Alliance proposals into law. In response, disappointed Alliance members vowed to create their own national political party.

The Greenbackers wanted the government to increase the money supply by issuing greenbacks backed by both gold and silver. By increasing the money supply, Greenbackers hoped to fuel inflation, or a general rise in prices, includ ing crop prices. Higher crop prices would provide farmers more income with which to pay off their debts. The Greenback Party failed to achieve its main goal, but it did inform many Americans of the farmer’s plight.

In the early 1870s, several states passed “Granger laws” to regulate railroad rates. In 1886, the Supreme Court ruled in the case Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific R.R. v. Illinois that only the federal government has the right to regulate interstate commerce. In response, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, which established the Interstate Commerce Commission to ensure that railroads set “reasonable and just” rates.

In 1867, Oliver Hudson Kelley started an educational and social organization to assist farmers in Minnesota. Known as the National Grange, it soon spread throughout the country, and helped farmers find their political voice. They channeled their anger into a protest movement based on populism, a political philosophy that favors the common person’s interests over those of wealthy people or businesses.

At that time, the amount of money flowing through the U.S. economy was controlled by a monetary policy known as the gold standard. According to this policy, every paper dollar in circulation had to be backed by a dollar’s worth of gold in the U.S. Treasury. The gold standard guaranteed the value of U.S. currency but limited the amount of money the government could print.

The money supply remained a major issue during the 1890s, and the oppos ing sides of the debate became known as “silverites” and “gold bugs.” The Republicans generally favored the gold standard, while the Democrats were deeply divided. However, the silverites prevailed when the election of 1896 approached and William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic presidential nomi nation with a moving speech that condemned the gold standard. In a booming voice, he declared, “You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

Ranching Following the Chisholm Trail and other routes, cowboys herded cattle north to be shipped to meatpacking plants in cities like Chicago.

Protests by farmers Burdened by falling crop prices and large debts, farmers formed political organizations such as the Grange. Their protest movements gave rise to the Populist Party.

Summary

Settlement of the West in the mid- to late 1800s brought opportunities for many Americans but also sparked conflict as settlers invaded American Indian homelands. Mining Gold-rush fever galvanized a rush of prospectors to move West. Although few fortunes were made, this migration helped populate California and other western regions.

Indian wars The tribes on the Great Plains fought to preserve their way of life. To prevent conflict and open lands for settlement, the government moved tribes onto reservations. Through the Dawes Act, it also worked to assimilate American Indians into white culture.

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The Populist Party By 1892, populism’s appeal had spread beyond farmers to include industrial workers. That year, farm and labor leaders met in Omaha, Nebraska, to launch the People’s Party, also known as the Populist Party, which called for a government that served the so-called “plain people.” Populist James B. Weaver ran for president in 1892 on a platform demanding govern ment ownership of railroads, the coinage of silver to increase the money supply, and various other reforms intended to support working-class people. More than a million Americans voted for Weaver, about 8.5 percent of the total vote.

Rather than promote their own candidate, the populists endorsed Bryan. After the Democrats lost the election, the Populist Party faded from the political scene, but the anger and idealism that had given rise to populism did not fade.

At the 1896 Democratic convention, William Jennings Bryan gave his “Cross of Gold” speech to populist acclaim. In the speech, Bryan demanded an end to the gold standard in order to increase the money supply.

Soon, this vision would inspire a new generation of reformers.

During the party’s short life, many Americans began to rethink the govern ment’s obligations in promoting opportunity for all. “The power of govern ment—in other words the power of the people—should be expanded,” declared the populists’ Omaha Platform, to end “oppression, injustice, and poverty.”

Homestead Act The Homestead Act brought more farmers to the Great Plains, including African Americans who called themselves Exodusters. Farmers in the plains region faced such challenges as crop-eating insects and drought.

Transcontinental railroad Building the first rail line to California was a huge undertaking that relied on government support and immigrant labor. The spread of railroads across the West brought wealth to railroad barons and opened the region to settlement.

Inventions like Edison’s light bulb helped generate a new age of innovation and industry after the Civil War. This period also saw the rise of big business, which would create great wealth. This lesson explores how industrialization affected the nation as a whole, and the next lesson examines its effects on workers.

The Age of Innovation and Industry

Was the rise of industry good for the United States?

1840–1920

143 Thomas Edison set up his first laboratory when he was just 10 years old. Years later, he would become the most productive inventor in American history, with over 1,000 inventions credited to his name. Lesson 13

The inventor, Thomas Alva Edison, knew he could invent a superior lighting system, one that could be universally used. At the age of 31, he had already been dubbed the “Wizard of Menlo Park” because his many inventions included the phonograph and a highly efficient automated telegraph system. Now, Edison vowed to invent a practical incandescent lamp—what we would eventually call a lightEdisonbulb.and his team of scientists and mechanics set to work. Other inven tors had for decades attempted to produce a practical light bulb. However, it was extremely difficult to find a filament—a thin fiber or wire—that would heat to a bright glow when electric current passed through it, but not melt. Edison tried thousands of materials, from platinum to twine to human hair. Finally, around 1879, he used bamboo fibers that he had taken from a Japanese fan. After carbonization—the process of converting a fiber to pure carbon—the bamboo filament burned without melting, and Edison finally had his light bulb. That major success would not slow Edison’s ultimate quest. He and his team were already hard at work developing other components of a complete electric lighting system as well as designing generators, meters, and cables. They were making plans for distributing electricity and installing lighting displays to promote the benefits of the electric lamp. Edison did not simply invent the light bulb. He envisioned the future of electricity, and he worked to make his vision a reality.

Introduction In September 1878, a young inventor from Menlo Park, New Jersey, trav eled to observe a particular set of experimental arc lights. Although the lights were too hot and bright for practical use, they continued to fascinate him, and the more he studied the lights and the generator that powered them, the greater the impression they left.

Thomas Edison conducted scientific experiments in his laboratory in New Jersey.

Thomas Edison’s light bulb was one of many innovations that dramatically changed the daily lives of Americans. By the early 1900s, many people had electricity and refrigeration in their homes, and they could travel and communicate more rapidly. This print from 1882 depicts workers laying tubes for electric wires on the streets of New York City.

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Edison was one of thousands of ingenious inventors, mechanics, and sci entists working to create new products and machines in the late 1800s. Thanks in large part to their work, American life changed dramatically, and the United States evolved from a largely agricultural nation into a complex industrial society. This shift brought modern conveniences to many consumers. In 1865, Americans still lived in the “horse and buggy” era. Their homes were lit with candles or oil lamps, they kept fresh foods in an icebox—a cabinet cooled by a large block of ice—and they waited a month or more for letters to cross the country. But by the turn of the century, in 1900, many Americans illuminated their homes with electric lights, kept foods cold in an electric refrigerator, and could send news across the continent in an instant by telegraph or telephone. A few could even afford to replace their horse and buggy with a new automobile.

These innovations captured the imagination of investors who were willing to finance, or fund, the development of new products. Without this financial backing, many inventions would never have reached the market, and some would never have been built at all. This willingness to risk money on new businesses lies at the heart of capitalism, or an economic system in which factories, equipment, and other means of production are privately owned rather than controlled by government.

Americans Invest in New Technology

Capitalists in the late 1800s provided the funds to construct railroads and factories and furnish them with machinery and supplies. They invested money into new technologies and scientific research. In return for risking their money, they hoped to reap rewards if the new business proved profitable.

Edison received generous financial support from a group of capitalists led by the wealthy banker J. P. Morgan. Together, they formed the Edison Electric Light Company. In 1880 alone, the capitalist venture funded Edison $150,000. In return, Edison awarded the company the rights to his lighting inventions for a five-year period. As such, the investors helped Edison pursue his vision, and they profited handsomely as a result.

1. New Inventions and Technologies

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Bell’s invention attracted a plethora of financial support, and in 1877, he founded the Bell Telephone Company. That same year, the first commercial telephone line was strung in Boston, where Bell lived. By 1893, more than 250,000 phones were in use. That year, Bell’s patent ran out, allowing others to profit from his invention. Independent telephone companies formed across the country, helping create a surge in home use of the new technology. By 1920, the number of commercial telephones had grown to at least 13 million.

Two other inventions soon changed the face of American travel. The first, the automobile, came to the United States from Europe, and the second, the airplane, was home-grown. In 1903, the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful powered-airplane flights in history, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. After that initial success, inventors worked continually to improve airplane design.

The first telegraph lines went up in 1843, and by 1866, companies had installed over 75,000 miles of wire. At first, railroads and newspapers took the greatest advantage of this high-speed means of communication, but soon many others benefited. By 1911, the nation had 1.5 million miles of telegraph wire. Someone could send a telegram from almost anywhere in the United States to almost anywhere else, faster than ever before.

The use of electricity had incited dramatic progress in communications technology even before the Civil War. Artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse created the first practical telegraph by 1837. To send messages by electrical signal, he used a dot-and-dash system later known as Morse code. In 1843, Morse established an experimental telegraph line linking Washington, D.C., with Baltimore, Maryland, and opened the line to commercial use the following year. Telegraph lines soon crisscrossed the countryside, mainly following railroad tracks. The railroads, in turn, relied on the telegraph to keep track of their trains. Newspapers also used the telegraph to gather information and send stories to local newspapers. Several companies established telegraph networks, but by the 1870s, the Western Union Telegraph Company had dominated the industry. By 1900, nearly a million miles of telegraph wires were carrying more than 60 million messages a year. The next revolution in communications came via the telephone. For nearly 12 years, inventor Alexander Graham Bell pursued the idea of sending speech over wires, and finally succeeded on March 10, 1876. According to popular legend, the first ever telephone message was the result of an emergency—with Bell calling out to his lab assistant, Watson, after accidentally spilling acid. However, in a letter to his father, Bell made no mention of any accident: I was in one room at the Transmitting Instrument and Mr. Watson at the Receiving Instrument in another room—out of ear shot. I called out into the Transmitting Instrument, “Mr. Watson—come here—I want to see you”— and he came! He said he had heard each word perfectly . . . I feel that I have at last struck the solution of a great problem—and the day is coming when telegraph wires will be laid on to houses just like water or gas—and friends converse with each other without leaving home.

Financial backers often protected their investments by ensuring that inven tors acquired patents, which give inventors the sole legal right to make or sell an invention for a specified period of time. The federal government began issuing patents in 1790. By 1860, only 36,000 had been granted, but between 1860 and 1900, the number skyrocketed to more than 600,000. Edison holds the record for most patents issued to one person, with 1,093 in total.

In this illustration from 1863, soldiers are working to set up an army telegraph line.

The Age of Innovation and Industry

Revolutionary Changes in Communication and Transportation

In succeeding years, countless more wells were subsequently drilled in Pennsylvania and 13 other states. Oil drilling and refining became a giant industry, supplying fuel for lamps, lubricating oils for machinery, and later, gasoline for automobiles.

Oilfields like this one in Pennsylvania marked the birth of a great industry. Drilling companies extracted petroleum out of the ground, and refiners then turned it into kerosene for lamps and oil for lubricating machinery. Later, they refined it into gasoline for automobiles.

In 1858, Drake traveled to Titusville, Pennsylvania, on business. He had purchased stock in the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, which gathered surface oil for use in medicine. While in Titusville, Drake studied the tech niques of drilling salt wells, and decided to lease land from the company for oil drilling. In August 1859, after several weeks of drilling, he struck oil.

The Bessemer Process Revolutionizes Steelmaking A new technology for turning iron into steel gave rise to the major industry of steelmaking. Iron is a useful metal, but it is brittle and fairly soft, while steel is a purified form of iron mixed with carbon. Engineers prefer steel for most purposes because it is harder, stronger, and lighter than iron. Before the 1850s, however, the process for making steel out of iron was significantly time-consuming and expensive.

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USHS_SE13_2D_02 1002003004005006007008000 180 ft. 309 ft. 612 ft. 700 ft. 792 ft. feet)(inHeight Home Insurance Building, Chicago (1885) World Building, New York (1890) Singer Building, New York (1908) MetLife Tower, New York (1909) Woolworth Building, New York (1913)

The growth of the skyscraper relied on two technologies developed in the 1850s. The Bessemer process, which produced cheap steel, enabled engineers to build tall structures that didn’t collapse under their own weight, as the resulting steel was lighter and stronger than both iron and brick. In addition, the invention of the passenger elevator provided easy access to the higher floors of these immense buildings.

“Rock Oil” Provides a New Source of Fuel The development of new types of fuels gave rise to another new industry: oil drilling. Before the Civil War, lamps mainly burned whale oil, which was very expensive. In the mid-1800s, a Canadian scientist discovered how to refine crude oil that seeped out of the ground into a lamp oil called kerosene, but the supply of surface oil was limited. Then, a former railroad conductor named Edwin Drake made an important discovery.

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The Electricity Building brightened the PanAmerican Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York. This site illuminated recent advances in the field of electricity. Displays included a variety of inventions in typesetting technology and electric machinery, demonstrating the surge in American innovation during this period.

In 1855, a British inventor named Henry Bessemer patented a new method of making steel. Known as the Bessemer process, which involved blowing air through molten iron to remove impurities. Using this method, steel could be produced far more cheaply and quickly than in the past. After seeing the process at work in England, Andrew Carnegie decided to invest heavily in steel production in the United States. In 1873, he began to form the Carnegie Steel Company, which later built the largest and most modern steel mill of its time near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As the steel industry grew, steel became the metal of choice for heavy construction. Railroads switched to steel rails, and builders began using steel to construct longer bridges and taller buildings. In 1883, the longest suspension bridge in the world, the Brooklyn Bridge, opened, stretching 6,700 feet across the East River in New York City. Two years later, builders erected the world’s first skyscraper, a 10-story building in downtown Chicago. Neither of these structures could have been built without the use of steel.

Electricity Lights Up America A single invention can have far-reaching effects. Edison’s light bulb, for example, gave birth to the electric power industry. In 1882, Edison built a central generating station in New York City, and its wiring electrified a section of lower Manhattan. Before long, the demand for electricity became too great for the Edison Electric Light Company to meet on its own. Throughout the country, other companies built their own central generating sta tions to satisfy customers’ needs, and by 1891, there were over 1,300 stations, providing enough electricity to power about 3 million light bulbs. Access to electricity had a huge impact on American industry, as artificial light allowed businesses to stay open longer and factories to operate through the night. Electricity changed home life too. Now, not only could Americans work and read at night, but they were also able to plug in electric refrigerators and other appliances. However, electricity was costly at first, and power companies built stations mainly in cities. Many Americans, especially in rural areas, had to wait decades for electric transmission lines to reach them.

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The influx of technological innovation and the creation of communication and electric power networks helped fuel the expansion of American industry in the late 1800s. Companies that had once served mainly local markets expanded to sell their goods nationwide. In order to meet the demands of this growing national market, companies developed new ways of operating.

Engineers reorganized factory work to increase productivity, dividing up the production process so that each worker did a single task. One engineer, Frederick W. Taylor, used scientific techniques to analyze these tasks. He watched workers and timed them with a stopwatch. Through these time-andmotion studies, he determined the most efficient way to perform each task, and he trained workers to work faster by reducing wasted motion. This method of greater speed boosted productivity, which in turn increased profits.

Ford divided the assembly process into 84 distinct steps. Each worker was trained to do just one step Interchangeable parts were delivered to the factory assembly.for The car moved, instead of the workers, saving time. Moving belts carried large parts to workers along the line.

How Did Ford’s Assembly Line Work?

Men, women, and children operated the new machines that powered the industrial age. To their detriment, workers often stood at their machines for 10 to 12 hours a day, with few breaks. For reasons of efficiency, they did the same task over and over again. This repetitive system boosted productivity, but it made the work dull and exhausting.

Lesson 13

2. An Explosion of Industrial Growth

After the Civil War, factory owners improved these methods of mass production, by building specialized machinery that could produce identical parts for quick assembly into finished products. They no longer needed skilled artisans to craft individual parts. Instead, they could use unskilled workers to run the machines and hire supervisors to manage the day-to-day operations.

New Ways to Manage Work Farsighted business owners realized they could profit from serving customers nationwide, but to do this, they had to develop systems of mass production that would enable them to supply a much larger market. The basic elements of this system already existed. In the early 1800s, factories were using interchangeable parts to produce goods in large quantities.

Henry Ford pioneered the use of the moving assembly line to make a complex product with hundreds of parts. This innovation cut the time needed to assemble a Model T Ford from more than 12 hours to less than 6 hours. By making production so efficient, Ford could produce a “motor car for the multitudes.”

The Age of Innovation and

Increased productivity resulted in cheaper goods, but it also meant that a factory could operate with fewer workers, and those who remained had to per form the same dull task all day long, at a faster pace. In this way, assembly-line workers felt as though they had become machines. As you will read in Lesson 14, workers often protested for better working conditions.

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Later, Taylor published his findings in a book he called The Principles of Scientific Management, which had a profound effect on industry in the early 1900s.

New Ways to Finance and Organize Businesses Before the Civil War, individual owners oversaw most businesses. As businesses grew larger, how ever, their need for the three basic factors of production—land, labor, and capital—increased as well. Land, which includes resources such as soil, forests, and minerals, was still abundant. Labor was plentiful as well, thanks to a steady stream of immigrants into the country during this period. However, capital, or any asset that can be used to produce an income—including money, buildings, tools, and machinery—remained a glaring problem.

Keeping workers in one place dramatically reduced injuries. Frederick Taylor, Father of scientific management Taylor used time-and-motion studies to determine how fast the line should move. He studied each task to make it more efficient. By 1927, Ford had produced more than 15 million Model Ts.

One person who took Taylor’s findings very seriously was Henry Ford, who then pioneered the moving assembly line to mass-produce automobiles. In a Ford plant, there was no wasted motion. Instead, workers stood in one place all day, while a conveyor belt brought the work to them. Furthermore, each employee did one or two small tasks before the belt moved the car to the next station. For example, one worker might put bolts in the frame, while the next tightened them down. This process continued, part by part, until the car rolled off the assembly line, ready to be driven away.

Small business owners did not have all the capital they needed to expand, and for this reason, many of them formed corporations— companies that are recognized by law as existing independently from its owners. A corporation can own property, borrow money, sue, or be sued. People invest in corporations by buying stock, or a share in the ownership of the business. In purchasing stock, inves tors became owners of the company, and the money they paid for their stock helped to finance the corporation in turn. Therefore, wealthy capitalists controlled corporations by generally acquiring great amounts of stock. As owners of a corporation, stockholders could profit from its success. However, unlike the owners of small businesses, investors were not liable for a corporation’s debts, and the most money they could lose was the amount they invested. Also, these owners did not run the daily operations. Instead, the corporation hired managers, accoun tants, engineers, and others to further production.

Another approach to reducing competition was to form business trusts, or a set of companies that are managed by a small group known as trustees. The trustees have the power to prevent companies in the trust from competing with one another.

Competition among corporations provided consumers with a wide choice of new products, but it created headaches for business owners. In the battle to sell products, companies slashed prices. When this occurred, profits fell, debts rose, and many companies went bankrupt. Cutthroat competition threatened to demolish even the best-run companies, and as a result, some powerful capital ists decided that to stay in business, they would have to limit competition.

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By 1882, Standard Oil had become a monopoly, or a company that com pletely dominates a particular industry. In its monopolized state, Standard Oil controlled 90 percent of the nation’s oil production. With its competitors out of the way, it could then raise prices and reap vast profits.

Industrialists profited from new ways of financing and organizing businesses. For example, Andrew Carnegie (second from left) used efficient business practices and new technology in his steel plants. Carnegie and other “captains of industry” also set up trusts and built monopolies—forms of big business that resulted in great personal wealth.

So, business owners began devising ways to reduce competition. One method was to buy or bankrupt competitors, an approach with which John D. Rockefeller had great success in the oil industry. During the 1860s, Rockefeller earned a fortune refining oil in Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1870, he formed a corporation called Standard Oil, which expanded by buying out or merging with other companies. Rockefeller’s company also undercut its competitors by making deals with railroads, which agreed to ship its oil at discount prices. The savings on shipping allowed Standard Oil to cut its oil prices significantly. These price reductions forced smaller oil companies to drop prices too, causing many of them to either be sold to Standard Oil or go bankrupt. Rockefeller told one independent oil refiner, “You can’t compete with the Standard . . . If you refuse to sell, it will end in your being crushed.”

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A second strategy was known as vertical integration. This approach involved taking control of each step in the production and distribution of a product, from acquiring raw materials to manufacturing, packaging, and ship ping. Carnegie expanded his steel company through vertical integration when he bought the iron mines and coalfields that sent raw materials to his company’s mills, as well as the ships and railroads that transported supplies and finished products. Vertical integration gave Carnegie complete control of the production process and the power to dominate the steel industry.

The Government Leaves Business Alone By the late 1800s, many Americans realized that big business was limiting competition. Lack of competition allowed prices to rise, which helped producers but hurt consumers. However, lawmakers were unwilling to stop such business practices. Most politicians had long favored a policy of laissez-faire. This doctrine held that the market, through supply and demand, would regulate itself if government did not interfere. The French phrase laissez-faire translates as “allow to do.” To politi cal leaders, this meant “leave business alone.”

Another influential idea, social Darwinism, also discouraged government regulation of business practices. Based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolu tion, social Darwinism held that the best-run businesses led by the most capable people would survive and prosper. This doctrine’s most avid supporter, Herbert Spencer, coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.” Social Darwinists argued that government should leave businesses alone to succeed or fail on their own.

Some industrialists, like John Rockefeller, expanded their business through horizontal integration. In this method, they worked to buy up as many companies within the same industry as possible. In Rockefeller’s case, horizontal integration led to monopoly. Others, like Andrew Carnegie, expanded through vertical integration, through which they worked to bring every process of their business—from generating raw materials to marketing the finished product to consumers—under their control.

USHS_SE13_4A_02 Raw DistributionStorageManufacturinMaterialsg Oil Industry: Horizontal Integration Steel Industry: Vertical Integration Owned by ABC Oil Company Owned by ABC Steel Company Horizontal and Vertical Integration

3. Big Business and the Government Trusts and monopolies concentrated capital—and power—in the hands of a few people. With less competition, companies grew larger and became more profitable. As corporate influence expanded, Americans began to refer to these industrial giants as “big business.” Unlike owners of small, traditional businesses, those who ran huge corporations seldom knew their workers. Big business was impersonal, extremely profit-driven, and responsive mainly to investors.

Businesses Grow Larger and More Powerful Corporations generally expanded in one of two ways. The first strategy was horizontal integration, an approach which called for joining together as many firms from the same industry as possible. An example of this method was Standard Oil’s practice of buying up refineries to gain control of the oil-refining industry.

In reality, the federal government did not leave businesses alone, but instead supported many of them. It gave the railroads hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of land and sold natural resources such as forests and minerals at very low prices to companies that were prepared to exploit them. The government also imposed protective tariffs on foreign goods to make them more expensive than American-made goods, and forced consumers to pay higher prices than they would have in a free market.

During the late 1800s, some businesses successfully bribed legislators to pass laws favoring their companies. Much of the free land handed out to the railroads, for example, came in return for cash payments to politicians. In 1904, journalist Lincoln Steffens criticized this practice, writing, “Our political leaders are hired, by bribery . . . to conduct the government of city, state, and nation, not for the common good, but for the special interests of private business.”

In essence, tariffs and other government aid enabled industry to prosper. In the late 1800s, the American economy grew rapidly, so much so that from 1877 to 1900, the value of American exports doubled. By 1900, the United States had the strongest industrial economy in the world.

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Government Takes Some Action to Limit Business As trusts and monopolies multiplied, many Americans became alarmed, noting that opportunities were being denied to smaller businesses. In response, a few states passed laws or filed lawsuits to try to restore competition. Big business, however, just kept getting bigger.

Increasing public concern finally provoked a response from the federal government, and in 1890, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act. This act outlawed trusts, monopolies, and other forms of business that restricted trade. However, the government made only feeble attempts to enforce the new law. One problem was the wording of the law. Written by lawyers who favored laissez-faire,

This cartoon, titled “The Protectors of Our Industries,” depicts four wealthy industrialists—Marshall Field, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Russell Sage—atop their moneybags. These “protectors” amassed huge fortunes while paying their workers, seen below, as little as possible. Gould was widely viewed as the most corrupt of the robber barons. In fact, he considered himself the most hated man in 19th-century America.

Wealthy industrialists lived in grand, elaborate style during the Gilded Age. Many of these “captains of industry” built lavish homes, such as the Vanderbilt Breakers mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Meanwhile, many of their workers lived in poverty, demonstrating the corroded, corrupt inside of their gilded splendor.

4. The Gilded Age In 1873, the writer Mark Twain coauthored a book about rich industrialists and corrupt politicians titled The Gilded Age. Something that is gilded looks like gold, but only from the outside, and therefore the title was befitting of American society in this period. Industrialists who had made great fortunes led glittering lives, but beneath that glitter, this period was marked by political corruption and social unrest.

From Industrialists to Philanthropists During the Gilded Age, the growth of three industries fueled a rapid expansion of the American economy. From 1870 to 1900, steel production rose from 77,000 tons to more than 11 million tons. Oil production swelled from around 5 million barrels annually to more than 63 mil lion barrels. Railroad track expanded from 53,000 to around 200,000 miles. From these industries, three towering figures emerged: Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. All three started as entrepreneurs—bold risk-takers who established new businesses. Along the way, they amassed huge fortunes.

the Sherman Antitrust Act was filled with vague language. Congress left it to the courts to clarify the law, but the courts were not impartial, or unbiased, and often interpreted the law in favor of big business. For example, in 1895 the Supreme Court blocked government efforts to break up a sugar trust that controlled most of the nation’s sugar manufacturing. In United States v. E.C. Knight Co., the Court ruled that the Sherman Act applied only to trade, not to manufacturing.

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6-19-20062ndCUSHS_SE13_5B_02MYKProof John$100$200$300$400$500$0D.RockefellerAndrewCarnegieHenryFrickJuliusRosenwaldCorneliusVanderbilt)millions(inContribution $500 mil. $381 mil.$116 mil. $65 mil. $1 mil. Philanthropic Contributions

In 1890, Carnegie earned $25 million, while the average industrial worker that year made only around $440. Carnegie also lived in a 4-story, 64-room man sion on Millionaire’s Row in New York City, while workers near his Pittsburgh mill lived in cramped, poorly ventilated rooms with primitive sanitation. This huge gap in living standards did not bother most industrialists. Some would have justified this inequality as social Darwinism in action. Others too might have said that by working hard and following Carnegie’s example, anyone could be rich.

Carnegie set a splendid example by contributing his fortune to benefit society. In 1911, he established the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a chari table foundation that offered grants of money to promote the advancement of knowledge. It focused on education, especially libraries. Carnegie helped build more than 2,500 free public libraries throughout the world. He further donated his money to support cultural institutions and to promote international peace.

Carnegie’s rags-to-riches story supported such views. After arriving from Scotland in 1848 at the age of 12, he worked in a Pennsylvania cotton mill, earning a mere $1.20 a week. However, his thrift and shrewd investments would soon reward him handsomely, and he was earning a $50,000 annual income by the time he was 30. Through a combination of daring business tactics and technological innovation, Carnegie prospered and gained control of several steel plants. In 1889, the year before his income hit $25 million, he published an article titled “Wealth.” In the piece, he declared that rich people had an obligation to use their surplus wealth for “the improvement of mankind.” He added, “A man who dies rich dies disgraced.”

Like Carnegie, Rockefeller got involved early in an industry with a bright future. He began with one oil refinery, which he transformed into a giant corpo ration: Standard Oil. Rockefeller’s monopolistic approach to business brought him fabulous wealth—and a terrible reputation. In an era of tough competition, he stood out for his ruthless tactics. However, like Carnegie, he became a phi lanthropist, or a person who gives money to support worthy causes. He used his fortune to help establish the University of Chicago in 1892 and founded several charitable organizations, including the Rockefeller Foundation. Through these organizations, he supported medical research, education, and the arts.

Some successful industrialists used their wealth to promote the common good, like Rockefeller and Carnegie, both of whom donated large sums. Henry Clay Frick, Carnegie Steel’s chairman of the board, later followed his boss’s example. Julius Rosenwald, head of Sears, Roebuck and Company, was also a generous philanthropist.

And while Vanderbilt willed most of his $100 million fortune to his son, he did give away $1 million to found Vanderbilt University.

Cornelius Vanderbilt followed a similar path to wealth. In 1810, at the age of 16, he started a ferry business in New York Harbor. He prospered by building up and upgrading a fleet of steamships and cutting shipping rates. Ambitious and clever, Vanderbilt mastered the world of trade and transportation, establishing a profitable route from New York to San Francisco in time to carry many forty-niners to the goldfields. In 1862, he sold his steamer business and invested in railroad stock. He soon owned several rail lines, opening the first direct service from New York City to Chicago. Unlike Carnegie and Rockefeller, however, Vanderbilt never believed he had a duty to use his wealth to benefit society. Nevertheless, in 1873, he donated $1 million to found Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry? History is unsure of how to judge the Gilded Age business giants. Critics call them robber barons for the way they gained their wealth and the lordly style in which they lived. On the other hand, supporters praise them as captains of industry who, despite some shady deal ings, helped to usher in our modern economy.

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The Age of Innovation and Industry 155

While industrialists amassed great fortunes, society was tainted by political corruption and a great disparity between rich and poor. Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt used some of their wealth to promote the common good. Historians debate their overall impact, noting increased industrial productivity but also unfair business practices.

Summary

The Gilded Age

Innovations and inventions

From the critics’ perspective, the industrialists prospered for overwhelm ingly negative reasons. They ruthlessly drove rivals out of business and raised prices by limiting competition, while also robbing the nation of its natural resources and bribing officials to ensure their success. Furthermore, they kept wages low, imposed dreadful working conditions, and attempted to squeeze every ounce of work out of their employees.

Innovations, such as the electric light bulb and kerosene, spurred the growth of new industries. The telegraph and telephone brought modern communications to homes and businesses. The Bessemer process lowered the cost of steel and encouraged new forms of construction.

Laissez-faire

However, supporters argue that industrialists prospered through a positive rationale, largely by working hard and taking advantage of new technology. Industrialists finessed new ways to finance and organize businesses for greater efficiency and productivity, and their success created jobs for millions of Americans. Shopkeepers, doctors, lawyers, and others in the growing middle class profited from the increase in business. Their living standards climbed along with the rising economy. But it would take years of struggle before workers shared in these benefits, as you will read in the next lesson. Perhaps the greatest inequality in American history occurred during the Gilded Age. This debate about the overall impact of the industrialists may never be resolved, but one thing is clear: the industrial expansion of the late 1800s helped give rise to a vibrant economy and consumer society. Americans had access to an unprecedented abundance of goods and services—and they kept demanding more. By the early 1900s, economic growth had helped make the United States one of the most powerful nations in the world.

New business techniques

The federal government generally adopted a laissez-faire policy toward business. This hands-off approach reflected a belief in social Darwinism. The Sherman Antitrust Act was only feebly enforced.

Today, Americans continue to reap the benefits from the philanthropy of a century ago. Charitable foundations that were established in the Gilded Age maintain their support of worthy causes, demonstrating their continued influence. Libraries like the one above, founded by a Carnegie grant, also remain vibrant institutions in many communities.

Innovations in technology and business boosted American industry in the late 1800s. Large steel, oil, and railroad corporations dominated the economy, with little governmental control. Industrial expansion produced greater access to goods and services, and it improved standards of living for many Americans, but not all.

Business leaders formed corporations to attract capital from inves tors, who became owners by buying stock. They improved production methods in order to mass-produce more goods in less time. By promoting horizontal or vertical integration, some leaders gained control of major industries. They also sought to reduce competition by forming monopolies and trusts.

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This photograph shows the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, which occurred on March 25, 1911.

Introduction

In the fall of 1909, some 20,000 garment workers in New York City went on strike in what was later known as the “Uprising of 20,000.” Strikers stood on picket lines outside factories, where many were arrested by the police, or even beaten by hired thugs. The strike successfully lasted for 14 weeks, but produced only modest gains for workers.

Like most factory workers at the time, Schneiderman worked long hours under difficult conditions. At night, she returned home to a crowded, run-down apartment. Schneiderman was determined to improve these conditions, so she organized the workers at the cap factory. Soon, she became a leader of the New York City branch of the Women’s Trade Union League, a national labor organization.

In 1909, Schneiderman helped organize the “Uprising of 20,000,” where thousands of young women walked out of their garment factory jobs in New York. During the strike, these women demanded higher wages and better working conditions. While some companies made settlements with the workers, demands regarding issues of safety, including unlocked factory doors and work ing fire escapes, were never met. Although this walkout failed to achieve all its listed goals, it successfully set a precedent for subsequent labor activism.

Lesson Labor’s14 to IndustrialismResponse Was the rise of industry good for American workers?

1870–1920

In 1898, a young woman named Rose Schneiderman was hired at a factory in New York City to sew the lining into men’s caps. Unbeknownst to her, she would soon take on a much greater role in the narrative of American labor.

Two years later, workers’ plights were further highlighted by a tragedy at a garment factory. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire, and because the doors to the factory were purposefully locked, many of the women could not escape. As a direct result of the factory’s lack of safety precautions, 146 workers died in the fire. Afterward, on April 2, Schneiderman gave an impassioned speech where she proclaimed, This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in the city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers . . . The life of men and women is so cheap and property is so sacred . . . It is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement.

Over the years, Schneiderman continued her efforts on behalf of American workers. She became one of the key figures in the American labor movement.

Americans have long cherished the ideal of equality. Unlike European countries, the United States was not founded on a monarchical system, and was or governed by noble families who held economic and political power simply because they were members of an upper class. In the Gilded Age, however, a class system began to emerge in the United States. The division of society into unequal groups moved beyond race and was increasingly also based on differ ences in wealth and power.

Many Workers Labored Under Terrible Conditions This working class included men, women, and children who provided the skill and the muscle that enabled American productivity to reach new heights and make employers exceedingly wealthy. Yet those same employers often treated their workers— their human resources—as if they were merely pieces of the machinery.

In 1879, the economist Henry George described this transformation as if an “immense wedge” was being driven into society. He remarked, “Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down.” The people being crushed definitively belonged to the working class

Worse yet was the situation of coal miners. Mary Harris (“Mother”) Jones, a

Industrial workers had an exhausting schedule. Typically, they labored 6 days a week, for 10 or more hours a day. For their efforts, workers earned approximately $1 a day. The work itself was repetitive and boring because, unlike farming or craft work in which a worker did a variety of tasks, the factory system relied on a division of labor. In essence, this system divided production into separate tasks, with one task assigned to each worker. Factory owners designed the system in this manner in order to maximize output and efficiency.

Lesson 14158

Workers labored under harsh conditions in textile factories, coal mines, and steel mills, like the one shown here. Steelworkers in particular suffered from issues of noise, heat, and dust. They also faced the ongoing threat of injury or death from heavy machinery and molten steel.

Furthermore, workers often operated in hazardous environments. A priest once described a steel plant as “the slaughterhouse; they kill them [workers] there every day.” Whirling shafts, slippery floors, spinning blades, and molten steel all had the potential to injure or kill. And unlike today, worker safety was not of great concern. Instead, workers were not provided helmets or safety glasses, and those who were hurt or disabled received little to no financial compensation for their injuries. Factory owners believed that simply paying wages fulfilled their obligation to workers. Industrial processing often created toxic gases and dust as well. Workers in textile mills, for example, had no choice but to inhale cotton dust all day.

1. Conditions of the Working Class

Child workers were exposed to some of the most dangerous working condi tions. Because they were small, they could squeeze inside running machinery to make repairs, and young miners driving mules through tunnels risked being crushed by loads of coal. In January 1876, a Pennsylvania newspaper noted, “During the past week nearly one boy a day has been killed” in the mines. Unsanitary Living Conditions When their shifts finally ended, worn-out industrial workers headed home. For most, however, home offered little com fort. The great mass of workers, especially immigrants, lived in slums—heavily populated parts of a city marked by filth and squalor. Jane Addams, a social reformer, described a typical slum in Chicago: The streets are inexpressibly dirty, the number of schools inadequate, sanitary legislation unenforced, the street lighting bad, the paving miserable and altogether lacking in the alleys and smaller streets, and the stables foul beyond description.

Children oftentimes ran the machines in factories and mills and were forced to work under the same dangerous, unhealthy conditions as adults. Only a handful of states had laws regulating child labor during this period. As a result, children under 10 years of age worked long hours in cotton mills, mines, and factories well into the early 1900s.

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Widespread Child Labor Children worked in industry as well, often for two main reasons. First, even with both parents employed, a typical family could barely survive financially, and a child’s wages, though meager, made a crucial difference. Second, because children earned less than adults, factory owners were happy to employ them and exploit cheaper labor. However, even for lesser wages, children were expected to do the same amount of work as adults. Throughout the 1800s, critics voiced concerns about child labor. In response, some states enacted laws that set a minimum age for workers, often 14 or 15 years, but these laws had little impact. Even where child-labor laws existed, companies often ignored them, and states in turn failed to enforce them. Thus, 6-year-olds worked in Georgia’s cotton mills, and boys as young as 8 worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. In 1907, poet Edwin Markham described a typical street scene in New York’s garment district: “Nearly any hour on the East Side of New York City you can see them—pallid boy or spindling girl—their faces dulled, their backs bent under a heavy load of gar ments piled on head and shoulders.”

Conditions in tenement buildings were generally characterized by excessive crowding and an abundance of filth. In this tenement basement room, the occupants of the building rested, ate, and did their chores. At the table, a mother and her children work at picking nuts. This family and others in the building live in dark bedrooms, and dirt is present everywhere within this room and its dark, damp entry.

labor activist, described the “wretched work” that miners did by explaining that their lungs “breathe coal dust,” which also “grinds itself into the skin, never to be removed.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, textile workers and miners often suffered from lung diseases, and workers in cramped, unventilated sweatshops faced the constant threat of contagious diseases such as tuberculosis. In these sweatshops, or small factories, employees worked extended hours under poor conditions and for extremely low wages. Laborers tolerated such adversity and hardships because they risked losing their jobs if they protested. Due to the influx of immigrants in the country, employers had little trouble replacing a dissenting worker.

—Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, 1910 In the slums, workers lived in tenements, or run-down apartment buildings of four to six stories, that usually housed four families on each floor. A New York commission noted that these families “cook, eat, and sleep in the same room, men, women, and children together.” Disease flourished in such cramped and often airless quarters, and fire was an ever-present danger.

Labor’s Response to Industrialism

A Difficult Start for National Labor Organizations After the Civil War, local unions realized that they might benefit from cooperating with one another to achieve mutual goals. As a result, a number of unions joined forces to form a national labor federation, or group of unions, called the National Labor Union (NLU). The NLU concentrated its efforts on establishing an eight-hour work day. Unfortunately, poor leadership and a lack of unity within the group led to the NLU’s collapse in 1873.

In the mid-1870s, an economic depression inflicted greater damage on efforts to form national labor unions. In times of economic crisis, high unem ployment intensified competition for jobs.

Some business owners took advantage of this competition in order to under mine unions. They pressured workers to sign “yellow-dog contracts,” written pledges not to join a union, and refused to hire employees whom did not sign a pledge. In addition, they exchanged lists of union members and organizers among each other, denying jobs to any worker whose name appeared on these blacklists. Therefore, both yellow-dog contracts and blacklists discouraged workers from joining unions.

Lesson 14160

Workers Unite for Better Conditions The early years of the Industrial Revolution saw a push within the working class to develop their own strategies for improving their lives. To do this, workers formed labor unions, or groups of workers who organized to protect the interests of its members. Historically, most labor unions have focused on three primary goals: higher wages, shorter hours, and improved working conditions.

One such early strike, in 1860, pitted women shoemakers against factory owners in Lynn, Massachusetts.

In the late 1800s, American industrial workers continued to face extremely strenuous circumstances. Their pay was low, they worked in dangerous and unhealthy conditions, their homes were often equally dismal, and their children had little opportunity to attend school. And whenever the economy slumped, life became significantly worse. Oftentimes, employers cut workers’ pay or eliminated their jobs entirely. Perhaps most distressing of all, individual workers had little power to change their circumstances— they could not bargain with employers, nor could they seek help from the government, which did little to regulate working conditions.

The first labor organizations in the United States appeared in the late 1700s in New York City and Philadelphia, and by the mid-1800s, local unions had formed in various other cities. In many cases, unions limited membership to white men and excluded women and African Americans. Much of a union’s power came from the threat of a strike, or a labor action in which workers simply refuse to go to work. A strike could easily shut down a factory, railroad, or mine.

2. The Labor Movement

American workers joined together to form labor unions as early as the 1790s. Few strikes, however, took place before the Civil War.

Generally, unions employed the strike strategy as a last resort, often when owners refused to sit down to discuss issues.

Common Goals, Different Strategies During the depression of the 1870s, business owners’ tactics succeeded in dismantling many labor unions. After the economy regained its strength, however, the labor movement revived as well.

A series of new national labor organizations arose, bringing together various unions under one banner. One of these new federations was the Knights of Labor, which attracted many members in the late 1870s with their policy of accepting both skilled and unskilled workers, including women and African Americans. However, the Knights declined after 1886, in part because of competition from another influential federation. That rival group was the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Unlike the Knights, the AFL concentrated mainly on organizing skilled workers. It also had a narrower focus on “bread-and-butter” worker objectives, such as higher wages and shorter workdays. Founded in 1886, the AFL became the only major national labor organization in the 1890s. In the early 1900s, another labor organization arose, known as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Its members were nicknamed Wobblies. IWW leaders introduced radical ideas into the union movement, adopting the socialist theories of the German political philosopher Karl Marx. Socialism is a political theory that advocates ownership of the means of production, such as factories and farms, by the common people, rather than by capitalists and landowners. Its goals are the elimination of private property and the fair treatment of workers. IWW members saw socialism as the path to a better life for workers. In practice, each of these national labor organizations acted as a union. They engaged in collective bargaining—negotiations between employers and employee representatives concerning wages, working conditions, and other terms of employment. They also called for strikes when collective bargaining failed. National Labor Organizations

Three

Union Year Formed, Key Leaders Goals Members MembershipPeak Strategies Knights of Labor PowderlyTerence1869, • eight-hour workday • abolition of child labor • regulation of trusts • equal pay for men and women • education for the working class • skilled workersunskilledand • women • AfricanAmericans members700,000 in 1886 • arbitration • boycotts • strikes FederationAmerican of Labor GompersSamuel1886, • increased wages • improved conditionsworking • limitation of work hours • recognition of the AFL only particularworkersskilledinatrade 1 membersmillion in 1900 • negotiation • boycotts • strikes Industrial Workers of the World EugeneHaywood,William1905,V. Debs, Daniel De Leon • organization of all workers into a single union • overthrow of capitalism • lumbermen • miners • textile workers • dockworkers andbetweenmembers100,00019121917 • boycotts • strikes • sabotage6-19-2002ndGrayscalUSHS_SE14_3C_025-24-20061stGrayscalUSHS_SE14_3D_01eProofeProof6USHS_SE14_3B_01Grayscale1stProof5-24-2006

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The three national labor organizations described here were extremely impactful on the labor movement as a whole. Each organization enticed members with differing goals and policies and thus attracted varying sets of workers to join. However, every entity was similar in that they had an ultimate strategy for improving workers’ lives.

Lesson 14162

Several governors called in their state militias to restore order. Rioting mobs, like the one depicted in this wood engraving, flooded the railroad tracks in protest, and violent clashes led to the death of over 100 people nationwide.

Violence Marks the Railroad Strike of 1877

Meanwhile, railroad companies reacted to the depression by further slashing wages. In response, rail workers in West Virginia went on strike in 1877, which soon spread nationally. Eventually, strikers had shut down at least half of the country’s rail lines. This strike became the largest labor uprising in U.S. history.

More Strikes, More Violence

3. Strikes Erupt Nationwide

As labor unions gained strength in the late 1800s, workers demonstrated greater willingness to strike. At the same time, business owners stubbornly opposed union demands, resulting in confrontations between unions and own ers. These struggles intensified after a particularly bitter railroad strike in 1877.

To keep the tracks closed, strikers battled police and state militias. Meanwhile, riots erupted in various cities as strike supporters expressed their anger by burning and looting railroad property. Police and militia forces could not control the chaos, and eventually President Rutherford B. Hayes called in the army, employing federal troops to restore order and get the trains rolling again. It was the first time that the U.S. Army was called upon to end a strike, but it would not be the last.

The Haymarket Affair, which took place in Chicago in 1886, began when strik ers fought with “scabs,” nonunion workers brought in to replace striking workers.

Police attempting to end the fight shot into the crowd, killing at least one striker and wounding others. A group of anarchists—people who reject all forms of govern ment—called for a protest meeting the following day in Haymarket Square. Over 1,000 people attended the meeting, including the city’s mayor, and several speakers addressed the crowd. The mayor noted that the crowd remained calm. However, near the end of the speeches, about 180 Chicago police stormed in to break up the gathering. In the ensuing chaos, someone threw a bomb that exploded among the police. Panicked, the police fired into the crowd, killing at least four protesters. Several officers died as well. Although the bomber was never identified, four radical anarchists were tried and executed for their roles in the demonstration. The Haymarket Affair divided and confused the labor movement. Many workers backed the anarchists, but union leaders feared that supporting the radicals would further inflame public fear.

The Railroad Strike of 1877 began in West Virginia after the B & O Railroad cut wages. The strike spread rapidly, and strikers soon shut down most of the nation’s rail lines.

Two weeks of turmoil had left about 100 people dead, and millions of dol lars’ worth of property destroyed. The violence and destruction alarmed many Americans who feared a working-class revolution perhaps led by socialists or other radical groups. Such a revolution did not take place, but the stage was set for even greater, more violent strikes.

The railroad strike began during the depression of the mid-1870s, when the government, adhering to its laissezfaire policy, did nothing to boost the economy or aid workers’ suffering. As families starved and children died, rage boiled up in working-class communities.

The Railroad Strike of 1877 boosted union membership and validated members’ sense of their own power. In subsequent years, national labor organizations attempted to harness that power to chal lenge working conditions, so strikes became more numerous. Three major events underscored the growing struggle between owners and workers: the Haymarket Affair, the Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike

When the hired Pinkerton agents arrived at the Carnegie plant, the strikers were also armed and ready. After a day-long gun battle in which nine strikers died, the Pinkerton agents retreated, and the strikers took control of the town. To restore order, Pennsylvania’s governor had to call in the state militia, and the strikers quickly scattered. Frick then brought in nonunion workers to run the plant, and the union was shut out entirely for the next four decades.

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In the Pullman Strike of 1894, the government supported management against striking workers yet again. The Pullman Palace Car Company, in the southern part of Chicago, produced fancy railcars for long-distance travelers, and its employees all lived in the company town of Pullman. In company towns, workers rented company-owned housing and purchased food and other goods at company stores, often at inflated prices. As a result, many workers owed large debts to the company, and oftentimes all of their wages went toward paying off bills at the company store.

During another depression in the spring of 1894, Pullman cut wages by about 25 percent, but did not lower rent or other living expenses for employees. Frustrated, the workers went on strike. The American Railway Union supported the Pullman Strike, and its members shut down most rail traffic in the Midwest by refusing to handle trains with Pullman cars. President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago to end the strike. After a violent encounter between troops and strikers, the strike collapsed, and the troops withdrew.

In 1866, a bomb exploded among police in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, during a rally held by local anarchists. In the ensuing chaos, several officers and civilians died. By the time the Haymarket Affair had ended, four anarchists were executed for the crime.

The Homestead Strike occurred several years later, in 1892, and involved iron- and steelworkers at the Carnegie Steel plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Andrew Carnegie was away in Europe at the time, and had left his manager, Henry Frick, in charge. In preparation, Frick hired 300 private guards from the Pinkerton Agency, an agency from which industrialists had hired previously, to protect the plant against the strikers. Pinkerton agents often worked as spies, join ing unions to uncover their plans and identify union members by name. Although they were not members of the police, the Pinkerton men carried guns as well.

Rose Schneiderman Rose Schneiderman was born in Poland and became a union leader in New York City in the early 1900s. After the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, she worked as a leader with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to lobby for fire-safety laws and other unionbacked reforms. Heroes of the Labor Movement

Samuel Gompers Samuel Gompers started out as a cigar maker and local union leader in New York City. He later helped found the American Federation of Labor and served as its president for almost 40 years. A moderate, he favored cooperation over strikes and resisted efforts to introduce socialist ideas into the AFL.

Eugene V. Debs

When Debs and other railway union leaders ignored the injunction, they were arrested and sent to jail. Later, the Supreme Court ruled in the case In re Debs, that such a broad, or “blanket,” injunction was constitutionally legal.

Lesson 14164 4. Mixed Success for Unions

Setbacks: Government Favors Owners over Workers

The union struggles of the late 1800s achieved mixed results for organized labor. Generally, unions experienced more setbacks than gains, and often failed to receive government support or backing from most Americans. But they did make some advances through collective bargaining and strikes, particularly in issues of hours and wages.

Although the Railroad Strike of 1877 helped to boost union membership, it also prompted the federal government to side with business owners in most labor disputes. Unions needed government support in order to improve the lives of workers, but the federal government generally opposed union activities, sending troops to break up strikes and using other legal means to undermine unions.

The Pullman Strike revealed one way the federal government could intervene to favor employers over unions. To end the strike, a federal court issued an injunction, or a court order that prohibits a specific action, against the American Railway Union and its head, Eugene V. Debs. The court based the injunction on a broad interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which had been designed originally to prohibit trusts and monopolies. Now, it was invoked to penalize protesting workers, on the grounds that their striking limited trade and commerce.

As a young man, Eugene Debs worked as a locomotive fireman. He later helped found the American Railway Union and the Industrial Workers of the World. As a leader of the Socialist Party of America, Debs ran for president five times between 1900 and 1920, the last time while in prison.

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones Mother Jones roamed the country helping coal miners, textile workers, and others to form unions. A fiery and persuasive speaker, she called herself a “hell-raiser.” She wrote, “Injustice boils in men’s hearts as does steel in its caul dron, ready to pour forth, white hot, in the fullness of time.”

Losses and gains for workers Periodic depressions shrank union membership, while violent incidents like the Haymarket Affair, Homestead Strike, and Pullman Strike helped turn public opinion against unions. However, unions gained wage increases and reductions in work hours.

Working-class conditions The working class suffered greatly during the Gilded Age. Industrial workers accepted low pay and dangerous conditions because they could not afford to lose their jobs. Many working-class families occupied run-down tenements in poor city slums.

Gains: Unions Win Small Bread-and-Butter Victories

The efforts of industrial workers in the late 1800s helped boost the American economy. Yet factory owners often treated their workers poorly, imposing low wages, long hours, and poor working conditions. Many workers joined labor unions to fight for better treatment and to raise their standard of living. But hostility between unions and employers sometimes led to violence.

Summary

Source: The Statistical History of the United States from Colonial Times to the Present, U.S. Census Bureau, New York: Horizon Press, 1965. This graph shows that workers were making an average of $3.70 more per week than they were in 1890. At the same time, they were working almost six fewer hours per week.

Child labor American industry relied on the labor of whole families, including children, who often worked longer hours than adults.

Most unions remained relatively small in the late 1800s, as only about 10 percent of the employed labor force joined. Even with that minority, work hours and wages improved steadily during this time. In fact, from 1890 to 1915, the average work hours per week for union employees fell from 54 to 49. Their weekly pay rose from $17.60 to $21.30. Wages and hours for nonunion workers also improved, although not to the same degree. Skilled laborers, whether union or nonunion, made the greatest gains, but most unskilled laborers, consisting largely of white women, African Americans, and new immigrants, still struggled to survive financially. Unions accomplished more than securing better wages, hours, and working conditions—they also won some recognition of workers’ rights. They chal lenged an economic system in which owners could treat their workers no better than machines. Unions insisted that workers should be able to sit down with owners, as equals, at the bargaining table. This in itself gave some power to the working class, where it had little or none previously.

After the decision, federal judges legally shut down any strikes or boycotts that they deemed “conspiracies in restraint of trade.”

To thrive, unions required the support and respect of the American people. They failed to win that as well since the violent nature of strikes and of clashes like the Haymarket Affair caused many Americans to view union members as dangerous radicals. Violence and radicalism further weakened unions by scaring away potential union members.

6-19-20062ndCUSHS_SE14_5B_02MYKProof eekWperorkedWHoursverageA Year 1890 4042444648505254565860 32333435363738394041424344 1895 1900 1905 1910 1915 cents)(inHourperageWerageAv Average Weekly Earnings and Hours Worked, 1890–1915

Strikes Failed negotiations often led to strikes, and sometimes even to violence. The govern ment generally took the side of business and industry and often helped to end strikes.

Labor unions Workers united to form labor unions and to negotiate better wages and working conditions. Union membership increased with the rise of national unions and labor federations, such as the American Federation of Labor.

Labor’s Response to Industrialism 165

167 Millions of immigrants came to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, many arriving with few possessions and little money. Immigrants faced rigorous inspection and an interview process before they were admitted into the United States. They then faced various challenges adapting to life in their new home.

—Edward Corsi, In the Shadow of Liberty, 1935 Corsi understood the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty for freedomseeking immigrants, as did poet Emma Lazarus, who grew up in an immigrant family. Inspired by the statue, the poet’s words are inscribed on its base: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden—Emmadoor!”Lazarus, “The New Colossus,” 1883

The Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was unveiled in 1886 on an island in New York Harbor. The colossal statue, its torch of freedom held high, made a lasting impression on the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who passed by it each year. One of those newcomers, Edward Corsi, recalled seeing Lady Liberty for the first time: I looked at that statue with a sense of bewilderment, half doubting its reality. Looming shadowy through the mist, it brought silence to the decks of the Florida. This symbol of America—this enormous expression of what we had all been taught was the inner meaning of this new country we were coming to—inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants. Many older persons among us, burdened with a thousand memories of what they were leaving behind, had been openly weeping ever since we entered the narrower waters on our final approach toward the unknown. Now somehow steadied, I suppose, by the concreteness of the symbol of America’s freedom, they dried their tears.

What was it like to be an immigrant to the United States around the turn of the century?

Lesson Through15 Ellis Island and Angel

1840–1920

Introduction

Island: The Immigrant Experience

In this photograph from 1915, a ship of immigrants arrives in New York Harbor.

Lazarus’s poem indicates that the United States was a land of opportunity for the world’s poor and downtrodden masses. This had been established in the decades prior to the 1880s, as massive waves of immigration had washed over the country since approximately the 1840s. Some immigrants who came to the United States were from Asia, Mexico, and Canada, but the vast major ity crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, and entered the country mainly through the port of New York City. From the 1840s until the 1890s, most of these Europeans originated from northern and western Europe. Millions of Irish, British, Germans, and Scandinavians crossed the ocean to become Americans. In the late 1800s, however, immigration from southern and eastern Europe steadily increased, and Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and Russians began to dominate the steamship passenger lists. For all of these immigrants, the reasons for moving can be divided into push factors, or problems that cause people to move, and pull factors, or attractions that draw people to another place.

In the late 1800s, many Jews in Europe faced persecution for their culture and beliefs. This hostility was particularly strong in Russia. The first Russian pogrom, or organized massacre of Jews, occurred in 1881. Attacks such as this reflected a brutal anti-Semitic attitude, causing more than a million Jews to flee Russia for the United States.

Difficulties Push People from Europe Population growth and hunger were two major push factors that caused Europeans to emigrate, or leave their homeland. Much of Europe experienced rapid population growth in the 1800s, which resulted in crowded cities, a lack of jobs, and food shortages. Crop failures added to people’s woes as well. For example, potato rot left many Irish starving in the 1840s, and the Irish potato famine led to an immense wave of Irish emigration to the United States. From 1820 to 1860, more than one-third of all U.S. immigrants came from Ireland. Due to the famine, over 1 million Irish immigrated to the United States during the years between 1846 and 1855. Too poor to travel further after entry into the United States, most settled in northeastern cities, including New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. Another push factor at the time was the scarcity of arable land, or land suitable for growing crops. In the 1800s, mechanization of agriculture led to the growth of commercial farming on large tracts of land in Europe. In the process, common lands, traditionally available to all, were joined together and enclosed entirely by fences. Many peasants were suddenly ejected from their land and forced into poverty. Even families with large estates faced land shortages. In certain parts of Europe, landholdings were divided among all children upon the death of their parents, but after a few generations of such divisions, the resulting plots were too small to support even a single family. Therefore, the hunger for land drove many Europeans across the Atlantic.

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1. Why Europeans Immigrated to the United States

Some immigrants originally planned to go to the United States, make their fortune, and return to their homelands, while others had no wish to go back. Many of these people emigrated due to the fourth major push factor: religious persecution. Russian and Polish Jews, for example, fled their villages to escape deadly attacks by people who abhorred their religion. In fact, Lazarus’ Statue of Liberty poem was

written with this particular group of immigrants in mind.

In steerage, hundreds of strangers were thrown together in huge rooms, where they slept in rough metal bunks. The rolling of the ship often made them ill. Seasickness, spoiled food, and filthy toilets combined to create an awful stench. During the day, steerage passengers crowded onto the main deck for fresh air.

The idea of life in a free and democratic society was one of the greatest pull factors for European immigrants, as they longed to live in a country that provided the opportunity to achieve their dreams. Less abstract, or more concrete, factors such as natural resources and jobs also exerted a strong pull.

Lazarus had heard stories told by Jewish refugees from Russia. They described the pogroms, or organized antiJewish attacks, that had forced them to leave their country.

For one, the United States had ample farmland, minerals, and forests. Germans, Scandinavians, and eastern Europeans brought their farming skills to the rolling hills and plains of the Midwest, and introduced new types of wheat and other grains that would help turn this region into the country’s breadbasket. European immigrants also prospected for gold and silver, mined iron and coal, and chopped down forests to cut the trees into lumber. Booming industries offered jobs to unskilled workers, like the Irish, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian peasants who poured into the cities in the late 1800s. These new immigrants also worked on the ever-expanding rail system, sometimes replac ing Irish and Chinese laborers. American railroad companies advertised throughout Europe and offered glowing descriptions of the Great Plains, in hopes of selling land they received as government grants. An even greater lure, however, came in the form of personal communica tions from friends and relatives who had previously immigrated to the United States. Their letters back to the old country, known as America letters, might be published in newspapers or read aloud in public places. Sometimes the letters exaggerated the facts. Europeans came to think of the United States as the “land of milk and honey” and a place where the “streets are paved with gold.” In this way, America letters helped persuade many people to immigrate to the United States. Improvements in Transportation Make Immigration Easier After the Civil War, most European immigrants crossed the Atlantic by steamships, which were technologically advanced in comparison to sailing ships. What had once been a three-month voyage now took only two weeks. Some passengers could afford cabins in the more comfortable upper decks of the ship, but most had to settle for steerage, the open area below the main deck.

Most European immigrants came to this country on steamships. The poorer among them crossed the Atlantic in steerage—the open space below the main deck that once housed the steering mechanism of sailing ships. Cramped conditions in steerage were so severe and overwhelming that many passengers spent most of their time on deck in order to avoid their confined quarters.

Armenian immigrants, many of them Catholics, told similar stories regarding persecutions and massacres at the hands of the Turks in the largely Muslim Ottoman Empire.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 169

Opportunities Pull Europeans to the United States

Ellis Island processed millions of immigrants between 1892 and 1954, when it finally closed.

At the turn of the 20th century, European immigrants arrived in New York Harbor by the thousands every day. After the trials they had endured during the journey, they looked forward to stepping onto dry land. First-class and second-class passengers—those on the upper decks—did just that. After a brief onboard examination, they disembarked at the Hudson River piers. Steerage passengers, however, had to face one final hurdle: Ellis Island.

In the 1980s, the main buildings on the island were restored, and a museum was established on the site. Today, Ellis Island is included as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.

Medical Inspections at Ellis Island Outside the main building at Ellis Island, officials attached an identification tag to each immigrant. The medical inspec tion began after the immigrants entered the building, where the Public Health Service doctors watched as people crossed through the baggage room and climbed the steep stairs to the enormous Registry Room, or Great Hall. This brief observation period became known as the “six-second exam.” People who limped, wheezed, or otherwise showed signs of disease or disability would be pulled aside for closer inspection.

2. To Ellis Island and Beyond

In the Great Hall, the immigrants underwent a physical examination and an eye test. During the brief physical, the doctor checked for a variety of health problems, using chalk to mark the immigrant’s clothing with a symbol for the suspected disease or other disability. For example, an L stood for lameness, an H meant a possible heart condition, and an X indicated a mental problem.

Disabled individuals or those found to have incurable illnesses would face deportation, or a forced return to their home country.

Legal Interviews in the Great Hall Immigrants with medical issues would be sent to a detention area, whereas those remaining stood in line and slowly worked their way to the back of the Great Hall for a legal interview. One by one,

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Immigrants dreaded the fateful eye examination because failure often led to deportation. Doctors lifted the immigrant’s eyelids for inspection. Some used their fingers, while others used tools such as a buttonhook. They looked for signs of infection, especially of the highly contagious disease trachoma, which could lead to blindness.

The Ellis Island Immigration Station, built in 1892 on a small piece of land in the harbor, was the port of entry for most European immigrants arriving in New York. Steerage passengers passed through a set of buildings staffed by officers of the Bureau of Immigration. This was a time of high anxiety for the immigrants, as an array of officials would examine them closely to ensure they were fit to enter the country. Some of them would not pass inspection.

The most dreaded mark was an E, which stood for eye condition. For the immigrants bearing an E, the doctor would check for trachoma, a contagious infec tion that could lead to blindness. Anyone with trachoma would be rejected. In fact, this disease accounted for the largest number of deportations by a wide margin.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience

About 20 percent of immigrants failed either the medical examination or the legal interview, but this did not necessarily mean they were denied entry. Those with treatable illnesses were sent to a hospital on Ellis Island for therapy, where they might remain for days or weeks until a doctor pronounced them fit. Other detained immigrants had to await a hearing in front of a Board of Special Inquiry, and these immigrants stayed in dormitories on the second and third floors of the main building, sleeping in iron bunks that resembled those in steerage.

After receiving a medical exam, immigrants queued for a legal interview, where an inspector asked a series of questions to verify the immigrants’ ability to enter the country legally. Immigrants who passed the medical and legal tests would be free to go. However, those who failed would be held for days, or even weeks, until their cases were decided. they stood before the primary inspector, who usually worked with an interpreter. The inspector asked a list of 29 questions, starting with “What is your name?”

It was once thought that many names were shortened or respelled at Ellis Island, but actually such changes were rare. Passenger lists, including the 29 questions and answers, were developed at the port of departure in Europe, where immigrants provided their name, age, sex, race, marital status, occupa tion, destination, and other miscellaneous demographic information. Steamship officials then copied the answers on the passenger list. In most cases, Ellis Island inspectors merely asked the questions one additional time in order to verify that the answers matched those on the passenger list.

The trickiest question was, “Do you have work waiting for you in the United States?” Some immigrants who wanted to demonstrate their ability to succeed in their new country sometimes answered in the affirmative. However, the Foran Act, passed by Congress in 1885, made it illegal for U.S. employers to import foreigners as contract laborers. The law’s main purpose was to pre vent the hiring of new immigrants to replace striking U.S. workers. Therefore, any immigrant who admitted to signing a contract to work for an employer in the United States could be detained.

171

The board members reviewed the details of each immigrant’s case and considered testimony from the detainee’s friends and relatives as well, if any lived nearby. Ultimately, the board voted to accept almost all of the immigrants who came before it. In the end, about 2 percent of all immigrants who came to Ellis Island wereMostdeported.ofthe immigrants who passed through Ellis Island spent a very short time undergoing medical and legal examination, yet the entire process, including the waiting time, lasted several agonizing hours. It ended with the legal interview, so immigrants who passed the final test without issue were free to go. Relieved that the long ordeal was over, they boarded a ferry bound for New York City and a new life.

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Beyond Ellis Island: Life in the Cities Some European immigrants quickly found their way to the farm country of the Midwest and settled down to begin their new lives. However, the majority of jobs were in the cities, so most immigrants stayed in New York or boarded trains bound for Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, or other industrial centers. As a result, urban populations exploded, and from 1870 to 1920, the percentage of Americans who lived in cities doubled from around 25 to 50 percent. Newly arrived urban immigrants tended to live in the least desirable districts where housing was cheapest, and such areas often contained the factories and shops that supplied their livelihoods. Amid the city’s din and dirt, immigrants crowded into tenement buildings and other run-down, slum hous ing. In 1914, an Italian immigrant named Constantine M. Panunzio described such an area of Boston: Here was a congestion the like of which I had never seen before. Within the narrow limits of one-half square mile were crowded together thirtyfive thousand people, living tier upon tier, huddled together until the very heavens seemed to be shut out. These narrow alley-like streets of Old Boston were one mass of litter. The air was laden with soot and dirt. Ill odors arose from every direction . . . A thousand wheels of commercial activity whirled incessantly day and night, making noises which would rack the sturdiest—Constantineof nerves.

The crowded tenements and dirty streets of this poor ethnic neighborhood illustrate the rough life of the urban immigrant. This scene, however, simultaneously reveals the appealing nature of these communities as well. The smells, sounds, and ethnic vitality served to sustain the new Americans in a difficult period of transition.

M. Panunzio, The Soul of an Immigrant, 1969 Immigrants generally settled among others from their home country, because they felt comfortable among people who spoke the same language, ate the same foods, and held the same beliefs. As a result, different areas of the city often had distinctive ethnic flavors. Jacob Riis, a writer and photographer, imagined a map of New York’s ethnic communities. “A map of the city,” he wrote in 1890, “colored to designate nationalities, would show more stripes than on the skin of a zebra, and more colors than any rainbow.”

3. Responses to New European Immigrants

Immigrants Receive Aid from Several Sources

While adult immigrants often found it difficult to assimilate into American culture, their children made a much smoother transition. Education was the key to their Americanization. As they learned to speak English and studied American history and civics, they quickly adapted to their new homeland.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience

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In the late 1800s, the govern ment did not provide aid or assistance to unemployed workers. Although they were expected to fend for themselves, needy immigrants did have several places to turn for help. The first sources of aid were usually relatives or friends, who might provide housing and food. If necessary, the needy might also seek assistance from an immigrant aid society, ethnic organizations that began as neighborhood social groups. They met mainly in churches and synagogues, groceries, and saloons—the centers of immigrant community life, and would sometimes pass a hat to collect money for a family in need. Eventually, local immigrant aid societies joined together to form regional and national organizations, such as the Polish National Alliance and the Sons of Italy in America.

Immigrants typically ventured to the United States with little money and few possessions, and because of their general poverty and lack of education, most were not welcomed into American society. Without much support, they had to work immensely hard to get ahead and secure means of wealth. In time, some saved enough to move out of the slums and perhaps even purchase a home. A few opened small businesses, such as grocery stores or tailor’s shops. But many remained stuck in dangerous, low-wage factory jobs that barely paid their bills. An accident on the job or an economic downturn might leave them without work and possibly homeless and hungry.

During the 1890s, a type of aid organization called a settlement house arose in the ethnic neighborhoods of many large cities. A settlement house was a community center that provided a variety of services to the poor, especially to immigrants, including daytime care for children, as well as classes, health clinics, and recreational opportunities for the entire community.

Education was the main tool of assimilation. Immigrant children in public schools studied American history and civics, and they learned to speak English. Yearning to fit in, they eagerly adopted American customs.

Americans with nativist attitudes were especially hostile toward Irish immigrants, as many were Roman Catholic, unlike the rest of the United States, which was primarily Protestant. In addition, many Irish immigrants were poor, and because they would accept very low wages, they were thought to take jobs away from native-born workers. Discriminatory advertisements and jobs listings, including the one here, insisted “No Irish need apply,” or “Protestant only.”

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Immigrants might also turn to political bosses for help. These bosses were powerful leaders who ran local politics in many cities, and were in a position to provide jobs and social services to immigrants in exchange for the political support of immigrants who could vote. Thus, these supporters often voted for the boss and his slate of candidates in local elections.

Some patriotic organizations pushed for the Americanization of immi grants, fearing that increased immigration posed a threat to American values and traditions. Through efforts including publishing guidebooks for new citizens, they promoted loyalty to American values.

Dislike and fear provoked demands to limit immigration and its impact on American life. This policy of favoring the interests of native-born Americans over those of immigrants is called nativism, which had a long-standing history in the United States. Before the Civil War, nativists opposed the immigration of Irish Catholics, subsequently forming a secret political party in the 1850s known as the Know-Nothings, because when asked a question about the group, members were told to answer, “I don’t know.”

As the main source of immigration shifted to southern and eastern Europe in the late 1800s, nativism flared up again. Nativists were not only bothered by religious and cultural differences, but also saw immigrants as an economic threat, as nativist workers worried that immigrants were taking their jobs and lowering wages. In fact, immigrants often worked for less money and some times served as scabs, or replacement workers during labor disputes.

Opponents of immigration claimed that the “garbage” of Europe was being dumped on American shores, and some political parties included anti-immigration statements in their platforms. The Immigration Act of 1917 instituted a literacy test in an attempt to keep out uneducated immigrants. What view of the law does this cartoon express?

Some Americans Reject Immigrants Many Americans disliked the recent immigrants, due in part to religious and cultural differences. Most of the earlier immigrants were Protestants from northern Europe, and later waves of immi grants were often Catholics and Jews from southern and eastern Europe. Their customs seemed bizarre to Americans of northern European ancestry, and they often doubted that these more recent immigrants could be Americanized. Many people also blamed them for the labor unrest that had spread across the country in the late 1800s, especially fearing that foreign anarchists and socialists might undermine American democracy.

In 1894, a group of nativists founded the Immigration Restriction League. This organization desired to limit immigration by requiring that all new arrivals take a literacy test to prove they could read and write. In 1897, Congress passed such a bill, but the president vetoed it. Twenty years later, however, another literacy bill became law. Meanwhile, efforts to slow immigration continued. During the 1920s, Congress began passing quota laws to restrict the flow of European immigrants into the United States.

The Assimilation of Immigrants Many immigrants held on to their old customs and language as they gradually adapted to American life. This was especially true for older immigrants living in ethnic neighborhoods. The children of immigrants, however, typically found assimilation into American society much easier than their parents did.

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 175

You have read about the thou sands of Chinese railroad workers who laid track through the Sierra Nevada for the Central Pacific Railroad. Thousands more joined the swarms of prospectors who scoured the West for gold. In fact, the Chinese referred to California, the site of the first gold rush, as Gold Mountain.

4. Immigration from Asia

Although U.S. immigrants after the Civil War were largely from Europe, many immigrants also arrived each year from Asia. Asian immigrants made important contributions to the United States, and provoked similarly strong reactions from nativists.

Chinese Immigrants Seek Gold Mountain

The vast majority of Chinese immigrants were men whom streamed into California, mainly through the port of San Francisco. Most expected to work hard and return home rich, but they generally stayed in the United States. Not only did they find employment in mining and railroad construction, but Chinese immigrants also worked in agriculture. Some had originally traveled to Hawaii as contract laborers to work on sugar plantations, where they earned a reputation as reliable, steady workers. Farm owners on the mainland saw the value of their labor and began bringing the Chinese to California. The Chinese were willing to do the “stoop labor” in the fields that many white laborers refused to do, so by the early 1880s, most harvest workers in the state were Chinese. Many businesses hired the Chinese immigrants because they were willing to work for less money, which in turn allowed owners to reduce production costs even further by paying white workers less. As a result, friction developed between working-class whites and Chinese immigrants.

The Exclusion Act: Shutting the Doors on the Chinese During the 1870s, a concurrent depression and drought struck a great blow to California’s economy. Seeking a scapegoat, many white Californians blamed Chinese workers for their economic woes, since the Chinese made an easy target. They did not resemble white Americans in physical appearance, and their language, religion, and other cultural traits were extremely different as well. As a result, innocent Chinese became victims of mob violence, during which many were driven out of their homes, and even murdered.

Anti-Chinese nativism had a strong racial component, and the Chinese were seen as an inferior people who could never be Americanized. Economist Henry George reflected this racist point of view, characterizing the Chinese as “utter heathens, treacherous, sensual, cowardly, cruel.”

Nativists demanded that Chinese immigration be curtailed, or reduced. Their outcry led to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, for a decade. It also prevented the Chinese immigrants already in the country from becoming citizens. For the first time, the United States had restricted immigra tion based solely on nationality or race. The Chinese Exclusion Act still allowed for a few Chinese to enter the country, including merchants, diplomats, teachers, students, and relatives of existing citizens. But the act did what it was intended to, and immigration from China fell from a high of nearly 40,000 people in 1882 to just 279 in 1884.

Mob violence targeting Chinese immigrants erupted in several American cities in the late 1800s. This engraving shows one such anti-Chinese riot, which took place in Denver, Colorado in 1880. Anti-immigrant forces blamed the Chinese for economic problems at the time, and as a result, Chinese immigration was banned for a decade.

Specifically, interviewers asked applicants personal questions about their home village, their family, and the house they lived in, and also questioned witnesses. The process could take days, and those who failed the interviews could enter an appeal, but additional evidence took time to gather. Applicants were often detained for weeks, months, or even years at a time.

Chinese detained at Angel Island stayed locked in wooden barracks. These living quarters were crowded and unsanitary. Detainees felt miserable and frustrated to be stopped so close to their goal, as from their barracks, they could see across the water to the mainland. Some carved poems onto the walls to express their feelings. One of these Chinese detainees wrote, Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day, My freedom withheld; how can I bear to talk about it?

In the end, many Chinese never made it to the mainland. About 10 percent were put on ships and sent back to China after failing the medical exam or legal interview.

Beginning in 1910, immigration officials processed Asian immigrants at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. Some newcomers faced lengthy detention. Here, a Chinese immigrant endures a legal interview.

Some Asian immigrants detained at Angel Island carved poems into the walls of the barracks there. The poems described both the misery and the determination of the detainees.

Completed in 1910, the Angel Island Immigration Station became known as the “Ellis Island of the West.” It was designed to enforce the exclusion act both by keeping new Chinese arrivals isolated from friends and relatives on the mainland, and by preventing them from escaping. At Angel Island, immigrants underwent a thorough physical exam before they faced an intense legal interview, which was more strict and detailed than the one at Ellis Island. Officials hoped to exclude Chinese who falsely claimed to be related to American citizens.

Angel Island: The Ellis Island of the West Although the Chinese Exclusion Act was highly effective, some Chinese managed to evade the law by using forged documents and false names. In response, federal officials developed tougher procedures for processing Asian immigrants, and decided to replace the old immigrant-processing center in San Francisco with a new, more secure facility located on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

—from Ronald Takaki, Strangers from a Different Shore, 1989

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Other Asian Groups Immigrate to the United States

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 177

State laws barred Japanese men from marrying non-Asian women. In the picturebride system, families arranged marriage between a son living in the United States and a daughter living in Japan. In lieu of meeting, the prospective bride and groom exchanged photographs and personal information.

The Chinese Exclusion Act created a shortage of farm laborers, so large-scale farm owners looked to Japan and later to Korea and the Philippines for work ers. These other Asian immigrants had experiences similar to those of the Chinese in that many first emigrated to work on Hawaiian sugar plantations, and later came to the mainland through Angel Island to work in orchards, in vineyards, and on farms in California, Oregon, and Washington. Some also worked for railroads and other industries. A number of Japanese immi grants leased farmland and proved successful in growing fruits and vegetables. They further formed ethnic neighborhoods that provided for their economic and social needs. On the other hand, Koreans had relatively less success. Only a small number moved from Hawaii to the mainland in the early 1900s, and they led more isolated lives. Immigrants from the Philippines, meanwhile, migrated throughout the West Coast, participat ing in fruit and vegetable harvests. In the winter, many of these Filipinos worked in hotels and restaurants. Despite their contributions, all Asian immigrants faced prejudice, hostility, and discrimination. In 1906, anti-Asian sentiment in San Francisco led the city to formally segregate Asian children in separate schools from whites. When Japan’s government protested the segregation, President Theodore Roosevelt intervened. Hoping to avoid offending East Asia’s most powerful nation at the time, the president persuaded San Francisco’s school board to repeal the segregation order. In return, he received a pledge from Japan to discuss issues related to immigration. In 1907 and 1908, the American and Japanese governments carried out secret negotiations through a series of notes, which became known as the Gentlemen’s Agreement. In the end, Japanese officials agreed not to allow laborers to emigrate to the United States. They did, however, insist that wives, children, and parents of Japanese already in the United States be allowed to immigrate.

Growing demand for low-wage labor in the late 1800s contributed to a surge of immigration from Mexico. Mexican immigrants worked in various industries, from railroads and steel mills to canneries. Hundreds of thousands more labored in the fields as migrant farmworkers. In this image, Mexican migrant workers pick beets in Minnesota.

The East and West coasts served as the primary entryways for immigrants arriving in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. However, some immigrants crossed through the country’s northern and southern borders, and before 1900, people passed back and forth largely unchecked. Even later, the length and isolation of these land borders made enforcement of immigration laws almost impossible. Europeans and Asians sometimes crossed by land to avoid immigration restrictions. However, most who entered this way were either French Canadians from the north or Mexicans from the south.

Like other immigrant groups, the Mexicans often suffered at the hands of native-born Americans. They may have been welcomed as providers of cheap labor, but they were commonly scorned as inferior to white Americans. Racist attitudes toward Mexicans, especially those with dark skin, led to discrimination. They were kept in low-level jobs, commonly denied access to public facilities like restaurants, and many Mexican children were only allowed to attend segregated schools.

Around this time, railroads began extending their lines across the border, which made travel faster and easier. Higher wages in the United States also attracted many Mexicans. Some came to work on the railroads, while others labored in the copper mines of Arizona. Still more worked on the farms and in the citrus groves that blossomed throughout the region with the expansion of irrigation. The Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910, prompted even more Mexicans to cross the border.

Crossing the Northern Border: The French Canadians Many Canadians also immigrated to the United States after the Civil War. Between 1865 and 1900, more than 900,000 immigrants arrived from Canada, a portion of whom were English-speaking Protestants. However, the larger number consisted of Frenchspeaking Catholics who came mainly from the province of Quebec.

Like other immigrants, the French Canadians were seeking better opportu nities than those they had at home. Typically, they traveled by train across the border to the United States. Most did not venture too far south after entering the United States, and instead settled in New England and around the Great Lakes. There, they worked chiefly in textile mills and lumber camps.

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5. Immigration from North and South

Crossing the Southern Border: Immigrants from Mexico In the late 1800s and early 1900s, legal restrictions on Chinese and Japanese immigration increased. As they did, the population of Asian farmworkers in the United States shrank, so commercial farmers in the West began to rely on a different source of labor: Mexico. By the late 1920s, Mexicans constituted a large por tion of California’s agricultural workers. Many Mexicans also became migrant farmworkers and construction workers in Texas.

Mexicans had lived in the area of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California since the earliest Spanish settlements. In the late 1800s, more Mexicans moved to this area, in part to escape poverty and civil unrest in Mexico, and by 1890, many Mexicans were migrating into the Southwest.

With their distinct language, religion, and customs, the French Canadians differed from the English-speaking society around them. At first, they resisted Americanization, preferring to maintain their cultural and historical ties to Quebec. Due in part to their apparent unwillingness to assimilate, French Canadians came under attack by nativists. In 1881, a Massachusetts official declared, The Canadian French are the Chinese of the Eastern States. They care nothing for our institutions . . . Their purpose is merely to sojourn [stay temporarily] a few years as aliens . . . They are a horde of industrial invad ers, not a stream of stable settlers.—Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Twelfth Annual Report, 1881

Overcrowded cities, civil unrest, and shortages of food, land, and jobs pushed immigrants out of their homelands. On the other hand, the promise of wealth, jobs, land, and freedom pulled them to the United States.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, large numbers of immigrants came to the United States. Most emigrated from Europe, but many also arrived from Asia and from other parts of North America. They all saw the United States as a land of opportunity, but they faced challenges entering the United States and assimilating into American culture.

Push and pull factors

Through Angel Island Asians immigrated to the United States in smaller numbers than Europeans. Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Filipinos found work mainly on the commercial farms of the West Coast. After 1910, Asians had to pass a rigorous inspection at the Angel Island Immigration Station before entering the country.

Nativism Some Americans objected to mass immigration, particularly from Asia and southern and eastern Europe. Strong opposition from nativists led to the persecution of immigrants and restrictions on immigration from certain countries.

Summary

Through Ellis Island and Angel Island: The Immigrant Experience 179

Across the northern and southern borders Other immigrants came from Mexico and French Canada. While Mexican immigrants generally settled in California and the Southwest region, immigrants from French Canada stayed mainly in New England and the surrounding Great Lakes states. However, both ethnic groups faced many of the same challenges as immigrants from other countries with unique cultures.

European, Asian, Mexican, and French Canadian immigrants all faced accusations that they were unwilling to become members of American society. However, these groups would prove the nativists wrong in time, establishing vibrant ethnic communities and cementing their unique cultures as vital pieces of the American mosaic.

Through Ellis Island In the late 1800s, Europeans crossed the Atlantic on steamships, many of them crammed into steerage. In New York Harbor, the steerage passengers underwent a medical inspection and a legal interview at the Ellis Island Immigration Station before admission into the United States. Most of these new immigrants found homes in the ethnic neighborhoods of large cities or on farms in the Midwest.

181 Jacob Riis, a Danish immigrant who became a photographer and journalist in New York City in the late 1800s, documented conditions of urban poverty and published his work in the book How the Other Half Lives. Riis was one of a group of journalists known as muckrakers, who exposed the nation’s problems at the turn of the 20th century.

Uncovering16 Problems at the Turn of the Century

What social, political, and environmental problems did Americans face at the turn of the 20th century?

Here is a glimpse of the New York City homeless, photographed in 1889 by Jacob Riis.

1890–1920

Lesson

Introduction Photographer and journalist Jacob Riis took the picture of three homeless boys sleeping in an alley, observed here. This arresting image is one of many that elevated Riis’s reputation among the most respected journalists in New York City in the late 1800s. As reflected in the photograph, homeless boys were a common sight in New York at the time. In his book How the Other Half Lives, Riis discussed the conditions of the urban poor, and in one passage, he described the boys who lived on the streets in heartbreaking detail: Like rabbits in their burrows, the little ragamuffins sleep with at least one eye open, and every sense alert to the approach of danger: of their enemy, the policeman, whose chief business in life is to move them on, and of the agent bent on robbing them of their cherished freedom. At the first warning shout they scatter and are off. To pursue them would be like chasing the fleet-footed mountain goat . . . There is not an open door, a hidden turn or runway, which they do not know, with lots of secret passages and short cuts no one else ever—Jacobfound.Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York, 1890 Riis, who had arrived in New York as a poor immigrant in 1870, was no stranger to poverty himself. When he became a reporter, he dedicated himself to exposing the conditions of the urban poor. Riis was one of a group of journalists known as muckrakers, coined by President Theodore Roosevelt as those who “raked the mud of society.” In essence, this group exposed and critiqued the nation’s social faults in its writings. In this lesson, you will read about the social, environmental, and political problems Americans faced in the early 1900s. Then, in the next two lessons, you will learn how reformers worked to solve these issues.

Factories Increase Production Industrialization also brought changes to American life. Advances in technology, transportation, and communications helped fuel rapid industrial growth post-Civil War. American factory work ers produced an increased quantity of goods, at a faster rate than previously believed possible. The numbers tell the story: in 1865, American industry produced $2 billion worth of products, and by 1900, that figure had risen to $13 billion. Thus, in only 35 years, production had increased over six times. More efficient machines and production methods made this increase pos sible. Of the various American industries, the textile trade was one of the first to mechanize. Mass production of textiles had begun in New England before the Civil War. After the war, the industry spread to the South, where the use of

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

1. The State of the Union in 1900

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The U.S. population shifted Westward during the 1800s. As depicted in this graph, the percentage of people living in the Midwest and West increased substantially, while percentages in the North and South declined. The trend of Westward migration contributed to this shift, as did the rise of midwestern cities like Chicago and Cleveland. Chicago was originally founded to function as a small trading post on Lake Michigan in the 1840s, but by 1900, it had developed into a bustling center of commerce and industry. With its lakeside location, Chicago was an ideal hub for railroad lines and shipping. This transport network streamlined the process of bringing raw materials to factories and finished products to market.

As a result of Westward expansion adding vast new territory to the country by 1900, the United States looked remarkably different than it had a century before. In addition, the rise of industry had stimulated rapid urbanization—the growth of cities—by creating jobs that drew rural residents and new immigrants to American cities. The United States had advanced beyond Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a nation of small farmers, and was now becoming an urban industrial society with an increasingly diverse and global population.

Population by Region, 1800 and 1900

Americans had fulfilled what many considered their “manifest destiny”—their innate right to expand across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This expansion was so successful that in 1890 a report from the Census Bureau announced that the “American frontier” was closed, stating that most of the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains had been settled. There was still land available to settlers after 1890, but the popular notion of the “wide-open spaces” of the West was becoming an antiquated concept.

Settlement in the West: The Closing of the Frontier By 1900, the nation consisted of 45 states and stretched fully across the North American continent.

modern machinery produced a boom in textile production. The iron and steel industry also thrived in the late 1800s, and between 1870 and 1900, production rose from about 3 million tons to more than 29 million tons. As factory production increased, businesses looked for new ways to sell their products. One such method was the mail-order catalog. In this system, companies like Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company published and distributed catalogs offering goods of all kinds, from hardware and tools to clothes and appliances. They took orders by mail and shipped the products by railroad and canal to customers around the country.

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The Census Reveals an Increasingly Diverse People Between 1870 and 1920, at least 12 million immigrants arrived in the United States. By 1910, a majority of the population in key cities like New York, Chicago, and Cleveland consisted of foreign-born residents and their children. In fact, over half of the nation’s industrial labor force was foreign-born. By the turn of the century, immigration from different parts of the world was transforming the face of American culture and society. New waves of immigrants from southern Europe and Asia were joined by immigrants from Mexico and Canada, and together, these newcomers added their customs and languages to the nation’s mix of cultures.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Other companies, such as Macy’s and Marshall Field’s, opened depart ment stores in major cities. These large stores sold a variety of goods and even offered services, including childcare, all under one roof. Smaller chain stores like Woolworths established branches across the country to serve more Americans in the towns and cities where they lived.

Lured by the abundance of jobs and other opportunities in the cities, many Americans moved from rural areas to urban centers in the 1800s. As the graph demonstrates, the percentage of Americans living in urban areas rose from 6 percent in 1800 to almost 40 percent in 1900. With this trend, the United States began to establish itself as an urban, industrialized country.

Cities Attract Masses of Newcomers

Rural and Urban 1800–1900Population,

The United States was becoming an increasingly urban nation. In 1800, only 6 percent of Americans had previously lived or were currently living in cities. However, by 1900, nearly 40 percent lived in urban areas. City residents included many newcomers, as the majority of immigrants settled in cities because they could easily find work and mingle with others from their homelands there. African Americans were also beginning to move from the South to northern cities, seeking equality and opportunity. Other new arrivals included rural residents from the North, who moved to cities in signifi cant numbers in the late 1800s. Job opportunities were the primary attraction enticing people to cities, but other features also drew migrants. Cities had numerous amusements for people to enjoy when not working, including theaters, which presented popular dramas and musical comedies. One type of theater, called vaudeville, was especially popular for its lively combination of music, comedy, and dance. Circuses were another common form of entertainment, as were spectator sports like baseball and football. Cities had other modern attractions as well. Department stores took up entire city blocks, and were so impressively grand that people referred to them as “palaces of merchandise.” Furthermore, cities boasted broad avenues lined with the mansions of wealthy residents. In some cities, steel-framed skyscrap ers rose above downtown streets, reaching heights of ten stories or more. These modern buildings became symbols of American progress and prosperity.

While many Americans enjoyed the benefits of urban life in 1900, cities and their residents also suffered from significant problems. Many urban residents lived in poverty and labored under backbreaking conditions, and while they may have been tempted by the various goods generated by mass production, most could not afford to purchase them. Even those who did have the money had no guaran tee that the products were safe or reliable. Through their publications, muckrakers like Jacob Riis sought to expose these and other problems of urban life. Conditions in the Slums Many of the urban poor lived in slum tenements, where they were crammed together in shoddy apartment buildings that housed four families on each floor. In Jacob Riis’s book, he describes a typical tenement as “one or two dark closets, used as bedrooms, with a living room twelve feet by ten.” Not only was each tenement extremely crowded, but the buildings themselves were packed tightly together. Some slum neighborhoods were among the most densely populated areas in the world. New York’s Lower East Side housed 450,000 people in 1900, which amounted to more than 300,000 people per square mile. In contrast, the whole of New York City housed approxi mately 90,000 people per square mile.

2. Poor Living and Working Conditions

One glaring reason for poor living conditions in cities like New York was that the urban infrastructure was too inadequate for such a large population. Infrastructure refers to the facilities and equipment required for an organization or community to function, and includes roads, sewage and power systems, and transportation. A number of muckrakers blamed city governments for failing to provide adequate infrastructure and services for their constituents.

Lack of fire protection was one of these critical safety issues. At the turn of the century, many city roads and sidewalks were constructed of wood, making cities virtual firetraps. One historian described American cities of the day as “long lines of well-laid kindling.” A large portion of Chicago burned to the ground in 1871, and much of San Francisco was destroyed after an earthquake in 1906. Tenements lined the streets of poor neighborhoods in New York City in the late 1800s. Tenement residents lived in very cramped conditions. A typical tenement might house 200 people, with 9 or more residents in each small apartment. Were Tenements Like in 1900?

What

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Meat was one example of this issue. In his 1906 novel The Jungle, muck raker Upton Sinclair wrote about unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants, explaining that “There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it.” Sinclair reported that rat droppings, and even the rats themselves, often become part of processed meat. Nor were canned goods regulated, and often toxic chemical preservatives such as borax and formaldehyde thoroughly contaminated many processed foods.

Problems in the Workplace Muckrakers also exposed deplorable working conditions. By 1900, unskilled factory work had replaced most skilled manu facturing jobs, and many factory workers found their work boring and strenu ous. One worker said, “Life in a factory is perhaps, with the exception of prison life, the most monotonous life a human being can live.” Not only was it monotonous, but factory work was considerably danger ous as well. Sharp blades threatened meatpackers, cotton dust plagued textile workers, and fire posed a risk to nearly everyone in the factories’ close quarters.

A number of common medicines, like cough syrup, were also unregulated. Some products made outlandish claims for curing illnesses, with the “cures” often involving narcotics. Medicine labels listed such ingredients as morphine, opium, and cocaine. Although these substances were not prohibited, their risks were growing more apparent. Popular magazines printed stories of consumers who believed in these cures, only to fall prey to drug addiction.

Meanwhile, the growth of big business went largely unregulated, and monopolies took over many industries. Many Americans worried that monopo lies were stifling opportunity and driving small companies out of business. Muckrakers protested that as big businesses were growing richer, small busi nesses and the poor were forced to struggle even harder to survive.

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Injuries caused in the workplace could put workers out of jobs entirely, throw ing their families into dire poverty. Other workers, particularly in the garment industry, worked at home for companies that paid them for each piece of work they completed. Many of these employers would reduce the rate they paid per piece, so that employees were forced to work harder and faster to earn the same amount. It was common among immigrants for entire families, including children, to do piecework so that the family could earn enough money to survive.

Unsafe Products: Buyer Beware Increased production meant that more products were available to be purchased. However, buying these products was not always a good idea. Consumers often were unaware of what made up the products they bought, because the government did not regulate product quality.

The government did not regulate product quality or safety at the turn of the 20th century. As a result, many common medicines contained dangerous substances and boasted outrageous claims for curing illnesses. Consumers often fell victim to such hoaxes, and popular magazines published their accounts of misfortune.

Cities were also affected by sanitation problems. By 1900, many middleclass homes had running water and indoor plumbing. While these amenities reduced the incidence of disease in some neighborhoods, they also increased the amount of wastewater that cities had to remove. To complete this task, city engineers developed sewer systems. But in poorer neighborhoods that lacked indoor plumbing, waste often ended up on the streets. Contagious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia often spread quickly through crowded slums.

Extracting Natural Resources

3. Problems with the Environment

Alexis de Tocqueville, a Frenchman who visited the United States in 1831, noted that Americans were heedless of altering nature for the sake of progress.

Chief manufacturing cities Iron and steel mills Coal Silverminingandgold mining Range and ranch cattle0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi WNSE A TLANTICOCEAN G ulf of Mexico PAOCEANCIFIC CA NDTXOklahomaTerritoryMNSDOR IDWANV New Mexico Te r ritoryA riz ona Te r ritory ARLA MS ALTNKY FL GA WVSCNCVAPA NY NHVT ME MA CT RI MDDENJ MO IA WI IL IN OH MI KS NE UT MTWYCO 120° 130W °W110°W100°W90°W80°W80°W70° 90W ° 100W ° 120W °W110°W70°W60°W30°N 40° 40N ° 30N °N U.S. Economic Activity, 1900

Changing the Landscape Many economic activities accounted for this drastic environmental transformation such as farming and logging. For example, farm ers cleared trees to plant crops while loggers cut down large areas of woodland, destroying natural forests. The government further encouraged logging by sell ing large plots of land in the Northwest for the lumber they could provide. By 1900, only a fraction of the country’s virgin, or original, forests were still intact.

In the process of building towns, he observed, Americans could destroy forests, lakes, and rivers and “not see anything astonishing in all this. This incredible destruction, this even more surprising growth, seems to [them] the usual process of things in this world.” By 1900, Americans had settled much of the country and exploited numerous natural resources, enabling tremendous economic growth at great cost to the environment.

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The American landscape was also changed irrevocably by extractive industries, businesses that remove mineral resources

The United States had a diverse, flourishing economy by 1900. Most industry was concentrated in the East and the Great Lakes region. The industries of mining and agriculture, however, were spread across the country.

At the beginning of the 20th century, urbanization and industrialization were transforming not only American society, but also the natural environment.

Ranching also transformed the landscape. Before settlers moved onto the Great Plains, bison roamed and grazed on its grasslands, but when the bison returned to places they had grazed previously, the grass had grown back. The cattle and sheep ranchers introduced had grazed the same area ceaselessly, even tually stripping the land of its natural vegetation. Ranching activity disrupted natural wildlife, and overgrazing left the earth more vulnerable to erosion.

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Polluting Water and Air Economic activities were also polluting the air and water in urban areas, and in some cities, factories belched so much black smoke that it was difficult for people to breathe. In 1881, angry residents of New York City reported that the air smelled like sulfur, ammonia, kerosene, acid fumes, and phosphate fertilizer. Pittsburgh, a steelmaking city, was known for being especially filthy. The air was so polluted that it soiled everything. The residents living closest to the steel plants suffered the worst of the pollution, but it affected those living outside the industrial center as well. One historian attested, “People’s hands and faces were constantly grimy, clean collars quickly acquired a thin layer of soot, and the . . . coal dust gave clothes hung out in the weekly wash a permanent yellow tinge.”

Oil drilling also took its toll on the land. The first commercial oil wells were drilled in Pennsylvania, but oil extraction quickly spread, reaching Texas and California by 1900. However, finding oil was difficult, and oftentimes developers drilled deep in search of black gold, only to come away empty-handed. Regardless of their degree of success, oil drillers consistently left the earth torn behind them. Most Americans took no issue with exploiting environmental resources, and often did not notice the harm being done to the natural landscape. According to one historian, Americans in the 1800s believed that “the river was waiting to be dammed . . . the prairie was waiting to be farmed, the woodlands to be cut down, and the desert to be irrigated.”

Yet another pollutant originated from animals that lived in cities, from horses that pulled carriages to pigs roaming the streets eating garbage. Animal waste was often left where it landed, producing a foul stench and creating a serious disposal problem. According to one estimate, the 15,000 horses in Rochester, New York, left enough waste in a year to cover an acre of land 175 feet high.

In some cities, water was also severely polluted because household sewage and industrial pollutants were carelessly released into nearby water sources. However, other cities did attempt to avoid contaminating their drinking water.

Meanwhile, oil companies drilled deep to pump petroleum out of the ground. Coal and other minerals were required to fuel industry. Factories burned coal to heat water, which then produced the steam to power machinery. Thankfully, the country was particularly rich in coal, because between 1860 and 1884, the amount of coal mined per year increased from 14 million to 100 million tons. Not only was mining a dangerous industry, but it harmed the environment as well. Workers in the mines were at constant risk of being buried alive if the mine collapsed, and many contracted black-lung disease from breathing coal dust every day. Mining scarred the land, leaving open shafts, slag heaps, and polluted streams behind. Unlike today, the government imposed no environmental regulations on mining companies, so the industry’s destructive practices were unhindered.

In Chicago, engineers reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that sew age and factory waste would not flow into Lake Michigan. Other cities also developed reservoirs to keep drinking water separate from wastewater. Rivers that obstructed construction or that became too much of a health hazard were simply paved over.

In most American cities during this period, factories released their smoke directly into the air, and there were no government controls on air pollution. Here, factories belch smoke in Pittsburgh. In Chicago, the smoke grew so thick at times that people could see only one block ahead of them. from the earth. By 1900, mining companies were using explosives and drill ing equipment to extract silver, copper, gold, iron, coal, and other minerals.

“Boss” Tweed of the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City was the most famous of these political bosses. The power of the Tammany Hall machine was often personified by the “Tammany Tiger,” shown here.

Political leaders in American cities known as bosses awarded favors and money to their supporters.

Political machines exercised control at all levels of city government, down to the wards and precincts that subdivided most cities. Ward bosses and precinct captains became familiar with local residents and offered them assistance in exchange for political support, and even supported immigrants who were sick or out of work. As one New York City ward boss said, “I never ask a hungry man about his past; I feed him, not because he is good, but because he needs food.” The form of aid varied widely from supplying a Christmas turkey to paying funeral fees for a grieving family. In exchange, residents agreed to vote for machine politicians at election time.

Political Machines and Bosses

Political corruption was rife at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1902, the muckraking journalist Lincoln Steffens published The Shame of the Cities, a book on corruption in city government that exposed the rampant fraud plaguing cities throughout the nation. Steffens reported that politicians spoke openly about accepting bribes. “I make no pretensions to virtue,” one politician said, “not even on CorruptionSunday.”served the interests of dishonest politicians and those who bribed them, while weakening the political influence of average Americans. In short, it distorted and undermined democracy.

By 1900, many cities were controlled by groups called political machines, or organizations consisting of full-time politicians whose main goal was to gain and maintain political power, as well as the money and influence that came with it. Machines were usually associ ated with a political party, because party politicians joined together to limit competition and increase their own wealth and power. At the top of this corrupt structure sat the political boss, who controlled the machine and its politicians.

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In some ways, the political machines worked for the good of city residents, especially immigrants. At a time when national and state governments did not provide benefits like welfare for unemployed workers, local political machines stepped in to fill the void.

Perhaps the most infamous of these bosses was William “Boss” Tweed of New York’s Tammany Hall machine, who in the early 1870s cheated the city out of as much as $200 million.

4. The Politics of Fraud and Bribery

Corruption in Local and State Politics Although political machines provided aid, they also stifled opportunity for many citizens. Political bosses controlled access to city jobs, such as employment in the police and fire departments or on construction projects. With a boss’s recommendation, poorly qualified candi dates could land jobs instead of comparatively capable applicants.

The political machines also controlled business operations in their cities. To attain a city work contract, companies often had to donate to the machine’s reelection campaign, and many businesses also paid politicians to keep the city government from interfering with their activities. Although such payoffs became part of the cost of doing business, muckrakers called them bribery.

Furthermore, the political machines profited from both legal and illegal forms of urban entertainment. In exchange for a payoff, bosses would clear the

The Senate earned the moniker “Millionaires Club” in the late 1800s due to the number of senators amassing wealth from big business contributions. This 1890 cartoon, titled “The Bosses of the Senate,” shows tiny senators completely overshadowed by bloated trusts and monopolies. The sign at the back of the chamber reads, “This is a Senate of the Monopolists by the Monopolists and for the Monopolists!”

Politicians frequently engaged in patronage—granting jobs to friends and supporters, who were oftentimes relatively unqualified. To limit patron age, Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in 1883. The Pendleton Act set guidelines for hiring civil service employees, or nonmilitary government workers. It established a civil service commission to administer exams to new applicants for government jobs, which had to be specified by the president. In the years since, most presidents have agreed to expand the number of specified jobs. Today, most civil service jobs are based solely on merit.

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way for such illegal activities as gambling. Even legal organizations, including baseball teams and vaudeville theaters, paid the machine. Some political bosses considered these payments informal taxes. While they used a portion of the revenue to help those in need, they also ensured personal profit.

To maintain political control, machines rigged local elections. Average citizens had little influence in choosing candidates, and the machine frequently used fraudulent methods to win at the polls. For instance, candidates might pay citizens for their votes, or even stuff the ballot box with phony votes. By control ling elections, political machines maintained their grip on American cities.

At the state level, corrupt politicians linked to powerful industries, like railroad and mining, controlled many state governments. Because of this, state legislatures and governors often ignored the needs of average American citizens in favor of passing legislation that supported big business.

Corruption on the National Level The national government also suffered from corruption. For example, although the Constitution gave state legislatures the power to choose senators, corporations often bribed state legislators to elect their favored candidates to the Senate. The Senate therefore became known as the Millionaires Club, since many of its members were wealthy men with close ties to powerful industries. In both the House and the Senate, politicians received campaign contribu tions from big business in exchange for passing legislation favoring industry. The railroad monopolies, for example, frequently allotted company stock to members of Congress who passed laws to strengthen the railroads. Other busi nesses donated to lawmakers who worked to limit competition.

Lesson 16190 Ethnic neighborhoods were common in American cities in 1900, as immigrants often clustered together, either out of choice or necessity. This is a map of Boston’s North End neighborhood in 1895. Note that four primary ethnic groups were crammed into this small area, each group occupying its own section.

Growing Differences Between Social Classes During the late 1800s, the wealth disparity between rich and poor widened. Between 1865 and 1900, a small percentage of Americans grew fabulously wealthy. According to one estimate in 1891, there were 120 Americans who were worth at least $10 mil lion, an enormous sum at the time. Meanwhile, the arrival of many immigrants swelled the ranks of the work ing class. Many workers found it nearly impossible to get ahead, because even though wages increased gradually, the cost of living rose faster. Therefore, while the rich continued to accumulate wealth, the poor still lived in dismal circum stances. Some even housed lodgers in their tiny flats to share the cost of rent.

5. Social Tensions

American cities in 1900 forced a diverse population into crowded and often difficult conditions, increasing social tensions significantly. Poor city dwellers resented the comfortable lives of the rich, while the rich often looked down on the poor as the presumed source of urban problems. Many African Americans faced racism and violence as they struggled to improve their lives and claim their democratic rights. Women also advocated for increased opportunities and rights. Meanwhile, American families feared that the stresses and strains of urban life were eroding traditional values.

0100 20 0 m 0500 1,000 ft CommercialHanoverStreetStreet StreetercialComm PoJItalianIrishewishrtuguese TCI7 Boston's21 North End Ethnicity, 1895 BlacUSH_SE_16-6AkCyanMagenta Yellow Ethnic Neighborhoods in Boston’s North End, 1895

The American middle class, situated between the two extremes, expanded as a result of the economy’s rising productivity. The growing middle class included doctors, lawyers, ministers, small business owners, merchants, and mid-level company managers.

Many African Americans fled from the South in the late 1800s in response to extreme racism, and by 1900, more than 30 northern cities had 10,000 or more black residents. The number of black migrants from the South would only increase more dramatically in the years to follow.

This photograph of a segregated drinking fountain demonstrates how the Jim Crow laws in the South separated African Americans from whites. From drinking fountains to restaurants, public space was divided by race. Such laws made it almost impossible for southern blacks to advance in society, isolating them and denying them opportunities to participate fully and equally in American life.

American cities in 1900 were organized by class, race, and ethnic differences. The rich lived in mansions on streets like New York’s elegant Fifth Avenue. Many Fifth Avenue residents also owned summer homes in places like Newport, Rhode Island, staying in “cottages” that more closely resembled European palaces.

During this period, many middle-class families moved to comfort able homes in newly built suburbs. The men often commuted on streetcars, part of new urban transit systems. Members of the middle class worked to make their homes appear as elegant as the homes of the wealthy. Their houses often featured stained glass windows, fine furniture, and reproductions of famous paintings adorning the walls. Unlike the middle class, working-class people remained in the cities. Immigrants tended to cluster together in ethnic neighborhoods, where they could maintain their old customs. Some immigrants, however, stayed in these areas because they were not allowed to live anywhere else. The Chinese in San Francisco jammed together in one district, called Chinatown, since they were barred from other areas. In cities like San Antonio and Los Angeles, Mexican immigrants lived in neighborhoods called barrios. African American migrants generally lived in separate neighborhoods within cities as well.

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Violence against blacks was also common. Between 1882 and 1900, approximately 70 lynchings took place every year, mostly in the South. The victims were typically hanged or burned to death. In both northern and southern cities, large-scale mob violence broke out against African Americans.

Life for African Americans In the 35 years since the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, African Americans had yet to make significant gains in their struggle for equality. Instead, southern states passed Jim Crow laws that segregated blacks from whites in public spaces, including trains, schools, and hospitals. Signs reading “White Only” and “Colored Only” told black Americans which waiting rooms they could enter, which bathrooms they could use, and which seats they could take in theaters. Therefore, segrega tion affected nearly every aspect of public life in the South at the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, by 1900 most African Americans in the South had been dis enfranchised. Although the Fifteenth Amendment declared that voting rights could not be denied on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servi tude,” southern states found ways to bypass the law. Some state laws required potential voters to prove that they could read and write via literacy tests, which often kept African American men from voting. So did poll taxes and property requirements. “Grandfather clauses,” which limited voting only to those men whose fathers or grandfathers could vote in 1867, were also instituted to deny African American men the vote.

At the beginning of the 20th century, women made up around 18 percent of the workforce, many of which were native-born, single white women. Some performed unskilled labor in textile, food-processing, and garment factories, and those with a high school education found skilled positions as telephone operators, typists, department store clerks, nurses, and teachers. Meanwhile, many immigrant women did unskilled factory labor, and opportunities for African American women consisted mainly of working as domestic cooks or housekeepers.Newappliances made available through mass production, including wash ing machines, gas stoves, and carpet sweepers, simplified housework and thus changed the lives of many middle-class and upper-class women. These novel appliances held some women to greater homemaking expectations. For example, gas stoves were far easier to use than wood stoves, and as they became readily available, cookbooks featured more time-consuming recipes. Nonetheless, the new appliances enabled many women to dedicate more time to social causes and charitable activities outside the home.

Challenges for the American Family The American family also faced chal lenges at the turn of the century, most notably around the issue of child labor. By 1900, roughly one out of every five children between the ages of 10 and 15 was a wage worker. Furthermore, about 1.7 million children toiled in factories, sweatshops, and mines, or worked other nonfarm jobs such as shining shoes and selling newspapers. “Breaker boys” in coal mines often worked 14 to 16 hours a day separating slate rock from coal. Grueling workweeks could stretch to 72 hours, leaving child workers little time for anything else.

Child laborers often worked long hours for low wages. Photographer and sociologist Lewis Hine, who documented conditions of child labor in the early 20th century, captured this image of a 4-year-old boy picking cotton. New appliances revolutionized the way women did housework in the early 1900s. These laborsaving devices afforded many middle-class women more free time to devote to pursuits outside the home. This advertising photo from 1908 shows a young woman heating food in an electric serving dish made by General Electric.

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The Changing Role of Women Life for American women was changing in this era as well. One trend was the growing number of women working in the labor force outside the home, which nearly tripled between 1870 and 1900.

Some women also had the opportunity to attend college because a number of women’s colleges opened after the Civil War, such as Vassar, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr. By 1890, nearly half of all American colleges accepted women, but there were still fewer women attending college than those training for occupa tions like teaching and nursing.

Although a few western states had granted voting rights to women, there was still no women’s suffrage at the national level, so most American women did not have the right to vote. Because of this, women known as suffragists actively pursued voting rights in the early 20th century.

Many people viewed alcohol as another obstacle to improving family life and society as a whole. Beginning in the early 1800s, there was growing demand for temperance, or moderation in drinking habits. By the late 1800s, the temperance movement had grown significantly. While some reformers emphasized moderation in drinking, an increasing number wanted to ban alcohol altogether. Men who did not drink, they argued, were more likely to keep their jobs and work hard to support their families. Many reformers also believed that making alcohol illegal would help lift poor families out of poverty and generally improve social conditions in cities.

The rapid growth of industry resulted in poor working conditions for many workers. Monopolies dominated industries and drove out competition. Some companies also made unsafe products. Muckraking journalists like Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle, worked to expose these social issues.

Urbanization Cities grew rapidly with the rise of industry and increased immigration. The infrastructure in many cities could not meet the demands of a growing population. Many immi grants were crammed into poor ethnic neighborhoods, such as New York’s Lower East Side, where they had few services.

Lack of education was another contributing problem. Although public educa tion expanded in the late 1800s, many children continued to work for wages, keeping them out of school. Furthermore, African Americans had even fewer educational opportunities than whites. In the segregated South, schools for blacks were often of inferior quality. Some African Americans, however, gained useful vocational training at all-black colleges, including Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute.

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Political corruption

A widening gap between rich and poor fueled social tensions. African Americans suffered racism and mob violence, and women also faced discrimination. The temperance movement tried to limit and even ban alcohol consumption. Social changes strained American families, and many people feared the loss of traditional family bonds.

In addition, parents worried that city life was corrupting the morals of their children. They believed that urban entertainments such as vaudeville theaters, dance halls, and amusement parks contributed to immoral behavior by bringing young people together in a disreputable manner, unsupervised by adults. Many parents hoped that strong bonds within families and neighborhoods might protect children from the temptations of city life.

Summary

Americans faced social, political, and environmental problems at the turn of the century. Many of these problems were the result of rapid changes brought on by industrialization, urbanization, and immigration.

Industrialization

Environmental damage Industry and urbanization led to significant air and water pollution. Ranching, logging, and extractive industries also damaged the natural environment considerably.

Political machines, like New York’s Tammany Hall, fueled corruption in city government, and big business influenced state and national governments. Congress passed the Pendleton Act, creating a professional civil service to clean up the federal government.

Tensions in society

Lesson 17

Addams also served as a garbage inspector for the 19th Ward of Chicago, in order to keep neighborhood streets free of garbage.

195

Introduction Garbage was a major issue facing American cities at the start of the 20th century. Because most cities did not have decent garbage collection systems, trash accumulated on the streets. One historian described the garbage problem in the 19th Ward, a poor neighborhood in Chicago: In some of its alleys putrefying rubbish was piled a story and more high; its rotting wooden streets were clogged with manure, decaying garbage, and the bloated corpses of dogs and horses; and its plank-board sidewalks were lined with large uncovered garbage boxes filled to overflowing because of erratic pickup service by city-licensed—Donaldscavengers.Miller,City of the Century, 1996

Addams was one of many social and political reformers of the early 1900s who called themselves progressives because they were committed to improv ing conditions in American life. Cleaning up city streets was one such reform that progressives supported. In this lesson, you will learn who the progressives were and what they believed. You will also read about their efforts to improve urban life, eliminate government corruption, and expand American democracy.

One of the 19th Ward’s residents was Jane Addams, social worker and cofounder of Hull House, the city’s first settlement house. Addams was aware of children playing in trash piles, among breeding rats. Garbage heaps, she wrote, “were the first objects that the toddling children learned to climb.” She worried that these conditions promoted the spread of disease in Chicago’s poor neighborhoods.

Who were the progressives, and how did they address the problems they saw?

Around 1900, garbage collectors manually swept the streets of New York City.

Jane Addams cofounded Chicago’s Hull House, a settlement house that provided support for poor urban residents, including many new immigrants. Hull House was the first of a number of settlement houses founded in American cities during this period.

Addams decided to take action and badgered Chicago’s political leaders about the substantial trash problem. After receiving no response, Addams applied for the position of garbage collector for her ward and was then appointed garbage inspector. In the inspector role, Addams ensured that garbage collectors did their jobs properly.

The RespondProgressives

1890–1920

By 1900, industrialization, urbanization, and immigration were catalyzing sweeping changes in American life. These changes introduced new opportunities but also created new problems, especially in cities. In response to these growing concerns, the progressives took action, hoping to improve society by promoting social welfare, protecting the environment, and making government more efficient and democratic. The progressives were optimistic about the future and held strong beliefs in the nation’s founding ideals, which they ultimately wanted to imple ment. President Woodrow Wilson described these goals in a speech in 1913: We have been refreshed by a new insight into our own life . . . We have made up our minds to square every process of our national life again with the standards we so proudly set up at the beginning and have always carried at our hearts. Our work is a work of —Woodrowrestoration.Wilson, inaugural address of 1913 Progressives See Problems and Seek Solutions Progressives were determined to solve the increasing problems they observed in society. To accomplish this, they petitioned the government, which previously assumed no responsibility in these matters, to address glaring social issues. By blazing this new approach, the progressives became activists who sought government intervention in solv ing society’s problems, utilizing political action as a means to achieve reforms. The majority of progressives lived in urban areas and were largely white, middle class, and college educated. Many progressives were also women. The progressives differed on questions about what issues to reform, how best to reform them, and the extent of reform necessary. They opted to represent many smaller reform movements rather than joining together as a single, unified movement. However, they were united in a commitment to progress and the belief that they could improve society.

1. The Origins of Progressivism

Progressives believed that government should actively address the problems caused by the rapid growth of industry and cities. Women were numerous in the progressive movement, and tended to be white, middle class, and college educated. The women in this photograph were factory inspectors in 1914. The third woman from the left is Florence Kelley, a noted reformer and colleague of Jane Addams.

Lesson 17196

The Political and Religious Roots of Progressivism The progressives were inspired by two reform movements of the late 1800s. One was the political movement known as populism, while the other was the religious movement called the Social Gospel

Progressivism and populism were similar in many ways, even though their social origins differed. Populism was primarily a rural movement, whereas progressivism was born mainly among the urban middle class. Despite this difference, progressives embraced many populist goals. They wanted to improve conditions for farmers and industrial workers, curb the power of big business, and make government more accessible to average citizens. They also sought to expand economic opportunity and make American society more democratic.Manyprogressives

progressives criticized big business, most were not radicals, and unlike many socialists, they believed in private enterprise. They felt that government should balance the interests of business owners and workers while promoting order and efficiency. They favored helping the needy but also believed that aid should go to those willing to help themselves. Although some radical reformers worked with the progressives, the progressives generally pursued moderate political goals.

Progressives strongly opposed social Darwinism, the social theory based loosely on Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection. As Darwin hypothesized that only the fittest survive in nature, social Darwinists believed that in human society the fittest individu als—and corporations—would thrive, while others would fall behind. They asserted that the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of business owners and monopolies reflected the natural order. Progressives rejected social Darwinism, arguing that domination by the rich and powerful distorted democracy. They declared that most Americans were harmed when monopolies controlled the economy and corrupted politics. Progressives believed that government should actively defend the political and economic rights of average citizens against the power of big business. They also wanted government to promote social reforms to clean up the cities and help those in Althoughneed.

The Progressive Challenge to Social Darwinism

Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis, 1907 Followers of the Social Gospel believed that society must take responsibil ity for the less fortunate. Many progressives embraced this ideal and infused their reform efforts with a strong emphasis on Christian morality.

The Progressives Respond 197

Some progressives volunteered their time to provide services for the poor and to solve problems in impoverished urban neighborhoods. In this photo, two female volunteers distribute loaves of bread to the poor. Progressives worked to improve society by supporting social welfare and other democratic reforms.

were also inspired by the religious ideals of the Social Gospel movement, which was founded on the idea that social reform and Christianity went hand in hand. Followers of the Social Gospel applied Christian teachings to social and economic problems. For example, they believed that the single-minded pursuit of wealth had led some Americans down the wrong moral path. Walter Rauschenbusch, a Social Gospel minister, described the problem this way: If a man sacrifices his human dignity and self-respect to increase his income . . . he is . . . denying God. Likewise if he uses up and injures the life of his fellow-men to make money for himself, he . . . denies God. But our industrial order . . . makes property the end, and man the means to produce—Walterit.

They also protested the criminal justice system’s treatment of children.

Although the law required juvenile offenders to be sentenced to reform school in many places, accused children often did not get a trial. Even if the children were not convicted, they might be sent away for rehabilitation. In addition, destitute children living on the streets were often treated as juvenile offenders.

2. Progressives Fight for Social Reforms

Progressives like Addams also wanted the government to take responsibility for getting rid of trash. In New York, the Department of Street Cleaning took charge of garbage collection. Their collectors were called the White Wings, so named for the clean, white uniforms they wore. Muckraker Jacob Riis wrote that because of the White Wings, “Streets that had been dirty were swept. The ash barrels which had befouled the sidewalks disappeared.” By cleaning up unhealthful conditions, Riis said, the White Wings “saved more lives in the crowded tenements than a squad of doctors.”

Progressives worked to improve run-down tenements. New York law stated that tenements must be built around an open courtyard to give residents light and fresh air. The law also required that there be at least one toilet for every three rooms. The illustrations above portray tenement housing before and after progressive reforms.

Progressives undertook the challenge of making cities cleaner and more livable. Under pressure from progressives, the state of New York passed the Tenement House Act in 1901, which required new tenements to be built with a central courtyard and to have a bathroom in each apartment.

Lesson 17198

Fighting to Keep Children out of Factories and in School Child labor was another issue that progressives worked to address. Since many children worked in factories and sweatshops to help support their families, they could not attend school. In 1890, only 4 percent of American teenagers went to school. In response, progressives advocated for laws to restrict or ban child labor.

Florence Kelley, a colleague of Addams at Hull House, persuaded the Illinois state legislature to outlaw child labor in 1893. In 1904, Kelley helped found the National Child Labor Committee, while Addams served as a board member. By 1912, the committee had convinced 39 states to pass child labor laws, which prohibited children under age 14 from working. Some states also limited the number of hours that older children could work.

In 1904, social worker Robert Hunter wrote about the poverty that trapped millions of city dwellers. In his book, he described the plight of urban workers: “In the main, they live miserably, they know not why. They work sore, yet gain nothing. They know the meaning of hunger and the dread of want.” Along with other progressives, Hunter worked to improve conditions for the poor.

The decline in child labor meant that more children could receive an educa tion, thus creating a demand for more schools. In 1870, there were only 500 high schools throughout the nation, but by 1910, that number had grown to 10,000. In 1930, almost half of all high-school-aged youth were attending school.

Progressives believed children should not only be educated, but also “Americanized.” They supported pressuring immigrant schoolchildren to ignore their cultural traditions and become assimilated into American society.

Improving Living Conditions in Cities Living conditions for the urban poor were terrible during the early 1900s. Many city dwellers were crammed into tenements, living in unsanitary conditions. The streets were also often filled with garbage, as Jane Addams knew well.

1875

Reformers also pushed for legislation to provide benefits to workers who were injured on the job. By 1916, almost two-thirds of the states had workers’ compensation laws, which ensured that workers who were hurt at work still received some pay, even if their injuries prevented them from working. or before 191876–189900orlater

The Progressives Respond 199 Progressive reformers supported efforts to get children out of the workforce and into school. Although child labor was still legal in many places, by 1900 many states required school attendance. As illustrated by this map, southern states were among the last to pass compulsory school attendance laws.

A number of progressives attempted to identify and address the causes of juvenile delinquency. One of these reformers, Judge Ben Lindsey of Denver, Colorado, believed that juvenile offenders were fundamentally good but that their surroundings led them astray. If their living environment were improved, he argued, their delinquency would disappear. Lindsey also thought that promoting good relationships between troubled youths and fair-minded judges would help young delinquents.

Lindsey and other progressives advocated creating a separate court system for juveniles. In 1905, only about 10 states had juvenile courts, but by 1915, they were present in all but two states.

Efforts to protect women fared better, perhaps because most men believed the “weaker sex” needed special protection. In 1908, the Supreme Court ruled in Muller v. Oregon that states could limit work hours for women. “As healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring,” the Court ruled, “the physical well-being of woman is an object of public interest . . . [and] does not conflict with the due process or equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Year Compulsory School Attendance Law Passed 0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi WNSE AT L OCEANANTIC Gulf of Mexico PAOCEANCIFIC CANAD A MEXICO 18CA74 19TX15 19OK07MN18851ND883SD188318OR89 ID 188718WA18NV7371 18NM911AZ899 19AR09LA1910 19MS18 1919AL15TN05KY1896 19FL15 19GA16 18WV19SC15NC1907VA190897PA1895NY1874VT18671818NH71ME1875MA1852CT72RI1883NJ1875DE1907DC1864MD190219IA19MO0502WI1879IL1883 18IN97 18OH77 18MI71 18NE18KS748718UT90 18MT18WY1CO8897683 120°W110°W100°W90°W80°W80° 90W ° 100W ° 11W 0° 120W ° 130W °W70°W 30° 30N °N40°N20° 160N °W 20°N 18HI96 60140W °N 70° 160NW 19AK29 Compulsory Education, 1852–1929 Source: Digest of Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics, 2004.

Improving Conditions in the Workplace Progressives had varied success helping adult workers. A law passed in New York to limit the number of hours bakers could work in a week was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1905. In Lochner v. New York, the Court ruled that such laws interfere with freedoms protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. “The right to purchase or to sell labor is part of the liberty protected by this amendment,” wrote Justice Rufus Peckam, “unless there are circumstances which exclude the right.”

Progressives also wanted to reform the structure of local governments. In the early 1900s, a typical city was run by an elected mayor, and each of the city’s wards, or districts, was represented by elected city councilors. The estab lished system made it easy for political machines to control local government.

Tom Johnson was the reform mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, from 1901 to 1909. As mayor, he worked to end government corruption and assist average citizens. He reduced streetcar fares to 3¢, despite strong opposition from business leaders. Entitled Tom L. Johnson and Incidents in the Building of the Threecent Streetcar Line, this collage celebrates Johnson’s achievement.

Journalist Lincoln Steffens was among the muckrakers who exposed urban corruption at the turn of the century. Steffens believed that citizens could improve city government by making demands on local politicians, writing, “If our political leaders are to be always a lot of political merchants, they will supply any demand we may create. All we have to do is to establish a steady demand for good government.”

In order to improve democracy, progressives used several strategies to combat corruption in city governments, including electing progressive mayors who would support reform. Mayor Samuel M. Jones of Toledo, Ohio, reformed the city’s police department, set a minimum wage for workers, and improved city services. In Cleveland, Ohio, Mayor Tom Johnson reduced streetcar fares, set up public baths, and increased the number of parks and playgrounds.

Other cities established a city manager form of government, in which an elected city council hired a professional city manager. This official was selected based on skills and experience, rather than party loyalty. Some progressives believed this system limited the power of political machines and therefore made city governments more competent. However, because voters did not directly elect the city manager, critics worried that this newfound efficiency came at the expense of democracy.

Lesson 17200

3. Progressives Push for Political Reforms

Fighting for Honest, Effective Local Government At the start of the 20th century, corrupt political machines controlled many local governments. Bribery was commonplace, businesses paid politicians to vote favoring their interests, and people seeking public service jobs often had to buy their way in. For example, getting a job as a teacher in Philadelphia was costly since new teach ers had to pay the political machine $120 of the first $141 they earned.

In 1900, a devastating hurricane in Galveston, Texas, enabled local political reform. Galveston’s government was ill-equipped to fully address hurricane damages, so it entrusted control over rebuilding to a five-person city commis sion appointed by the governor. Each commissioner was an expert in a specific field, such as finance or public safety. The positions later became elected offices. The Galveston city commission was so successful that by 1913 more than 350 American cities had adopted a city commission form of government.

Reforming State Government Because big business controlled government in many states, progressives also fought corruption at the state level. To return power to the people, progressives advocated various election reforms.

One of these reforms was the secret ballot. In the early 1900s, parties generally printed their ballots in its own color, which meant voters’ political decisions were apparent for all to see. With the introduction of the secret ballot, citizens voted in a private booth using an official ballot instead. Over time, secret voting became widely used in most elections.

Hiram Johnson was a two-term governor of California and later served nearly 30 years in the U.S. Senate. A lawyer by training, Johnson had never held public office prior to his election as governor in 1910. He was a strong supporter of progressive reform and staunchly opposed corruption in public life.

Progressives not only urged election reform, but elected reform-minded gov ernors as well. One famous progressive, Robert La Follette, was the governor of Wisconsin from 1900 to 1906. Under his guidance, the state passed laws to limit lobbying, conserve forests and other natural resources, and support workers.

Known as “Fighting Bob,” La Follette took a firm stance against the railroads, which controlled the distribution of many products, including meat and grain. The railroads charged favored customers lower rates for carrying freight, making it difficult for other businesses to fairly compete. With this reduced competition, consumers were forced to pay more for many products.

In response, La Follette formed a commission to regulate railroad rates, and convinced the legislature to increase taxes on the railroads.

The Progressives Respond 201

Governor Hiram Johnson of California also promoted progressive reforms. Like La Follette, he sought to limit the power of the railroads, and his campaign slogan declared, “Kick the Southern Pacific Railroad Out of Politics.” Johnson also regulated utilities, limited child labor, and signed into law an eight-hour workday for women.

Women Fight for the Right to Vote Many progressive women saw themselves as “social housekeepers,” defining their public work as an extension of the work they did at home. If they could clean up their homes, they believed, they could clean up society, too. But without the right to vote, their chances for success were limited. After the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, a journalist asked a New York machine politician why women factory workers had no fire protection. “That’s easy,” he replied. “They ain’t got no votes!”

The direct primary, another such reform, replaced the system of party leaders selecting political candidates for general elections. In direct primaries, voters hold elections to select candidates from each party to run for office.

4. Progressives Confront Social Inequality

Although progressives faced issues of poverty, workers’ rights, and corrup tion of government, many failed to address the inequality confronting women and African Americans. However, progressive activism prompted many women and African Americans to fight for their own rights.

A third election reform instituted the recall, or the process by which voters can remove an elected official before his or her term expires. For a recall to be placed on the ballot, enough voters must sign a petition to generate a special election.

The direct initiative was the fourth of these reforms. The direct initiative is a lawmaking reform enabling citizens to propose and pass laws directly, without involving the state legislature. In this process, enough voters must first sign a petition to place a proposal on the ballot, which then becomes law if voters approve the proposal on election day. The direct initiative became more common in western states, where many progressives inherited a populist distrust of state legislatures.

Another lawmaking reform favored in western states was the referendum In this process, a law passed by state legislature is placed on the ballot for approval or rejection by voters. Although the referendum is similar to the initia tive, it is invoked less often.

Progressive state governors, like Wisconsin’s Robert La Follette, used their political power to advance reform. This cartoon highlights La Follette’s triumph in regulating railroad monopolies. Due to his success, La Follette served three terms as governor and was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate.

One leading proponent of advancement was Booker T. Washington, an African American educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute, a vocational college for African Americans in Alabama. He encouraged blacks to gain respect and status in society by elevating themselves.

Full rights

Voting in presidential elections Voting in primaries No voting Women’s Suffrage 0 250 50 0 km 0 250 50 0 mi AT L OCEANANTIC Gulf of Mexico PACIFICOCEAN CANAD A MEXICO 19CA11 19TX18 19OK18MN191919ND17SD191819OR12 18ID9619WA19NV1410 NM19AZ12 19AR17LA MS 19TNAL19KY FL GA WVSCNCVAPA19NY17VTNHME1919MACTRI1917NJDEMD19IA19MO191919WI19IL1913 19IN19 19OH19 19MI18 19NE19KS121718UT96 19MT18WY18CO937614 Women’s Voting Rights, 1890–1918

voting

Women demanded the right to vote as early as 1848, when a group of 300 women and men convened at Seneca Falls, New York, to discuss women’s rights. At the Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton argued that “the power to make laws was the right through which all other rights could be secured.” Progress toward that goal, however, was pain fully slow, and women continued to advocate for suffrage throughout the late 1800s. During this period, leading suffragists united to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, or NAWSA, appointing Stanton as its first president. This group helped organize the suffrage movement into a powerful political force at both state and national levels.

Lesson 17202 Western states were the first to grant women voting rights. By 1918, women had full voting rights in 15 states, many of them in the West. Women also had partial voting rights in another 23 states, typically meaning that women could vote in state and local elections but not in national elections.

The first victories in the struggle for women’s suffrage were won at the state level. By 1898, four western states had granted women the right to vote, and by 1918, women had voting rights in 15 states. As a result, women voters began to influence elections. In Montana, they helped elect Jeannette Rankin to the House of Representatives in 1916, four years before women had the right to vote nationwide. With her election, Rankin became the first woman to serve in Congress. African Americans Struggle for Equality African Americans faced a more difficult battle to obtain their rights. In the early 1900s, four-fifths of African Americans lived in the South, where most struggled to make a living as farmers and were subjected to strict segregation. Southern blacks were also disenfran chised by literacy tests, poll taxes, and other methods designed to deny them the right to vote. Nevertheless, many African Americans were inspired by progressive ideals and fought to improve their conditions.

Urban living conditions Progressives such as Jane Addams, the cofounder of Hull House, worked to clean up impoverished urban neighborhoods. They sought to improve tenement hous ing, sanitation systems, and garbage collection.

Summary

This graph shows the number of African Americans lynched between 1880 and 1930. As the graph demonstrates, lynchings rose sharply in the 1890s, before declining.

The Progressives Respond 203

Struggle for equal rights Women and African Americans fought to advance their rights. Their reform goals included voting rights for women and an end to lynching and segregation.

NAWSA led the struggle for women’s suffrage, while the NAACP attempted to secure equality for African Americans.

Worker protection Progressives fought to improve working conditions. They promoted laws lim iting work hours and guaranteeing workers’ compensation. Furthermore, they formed the National Child Labor Committee to campaign against child labor and prompt more children into school.

Lynching of African 1882–1929Americans,

One of the founding members of the NAACP was W. E. B. Du Bois, a distinguished African American scholar and activist. Between 1910 and 1934, Du Bois edited The Crisis, an NAACP journal focused on issues important to African Americans. In addition to its legal work, the NAACP also protested lynching and other forms of racist violence. Between 1894 and 1898, about 550 African Americans were lynched. Among the progressives who spoke out against this violence was Ida B. Wells-Barnett, a cofounder of the NAACP. In 1892, Wells-Barnett protested the lynching of three African American grocers in Memphis, Tennes see. She expressed her outrage in The Memphis Free Speech, a newspaper she co-owned and edited, and also urged African Americans to leave Memphis. In response to her protest, a mob ransacked her offices.

Some progressives confronted racism, and in 1909, one group formed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP The NAACP fought through the courts to end segregation and worked to ensure that African American men could exercise their voting rights under the Fifteenth Amendment.

In the early 1900s, progressives worked to reform American society. Inspired by reform movements like populism and the Social Gospel, progressives tackled a variety of problems. They fought to improve living and working conditions in cities, clean up state and local government, and advance the rights of women and minorities.

Although activists like Ida B. Wells-Barnett protested against lynching, the federal government failed to pass anti-lynching laws.

Clean, responsive government Progressives sought to end government corruption at the local level, working to curb the power of political machines and restructure local government. They also fought to expand democracy at the state level. To do this, they supported reform governors like Robert La Follette and passed electoral reforms, including the secret ballot, direct primary, recall, initiative, and referendum.

Based on systematic research, Wells-Barnett concluded that lynching had an economic motive, arguing that whites used lynching “to get rid of Negroes who were acquiring wealth and property.” Despite the efforts of Wells-Barnett and other progressives, the federal government did nothing to enact laws against lynching.

Source: Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, NAACP, 1969.

205 Theodore Roosevelt was the first progressive in the White House and believed in using his position to influence the nation. During his two terms in office, he expanded the presidential powers and supported progressivism.

“That can’t be done,” he told Morgan. Two years later, in 1904, the Supreme Court ruled against Northern Securities.

Three presidents—Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson—worked to advance the progressive reforms. Their efforts helped change how Americans thought, and continue to think, about the role of government.

In this political cartoon, President Theodore Roosevelt tames the trusts.

Lesson Progressivism18 on the National Stage

“Trustbusting” was one of a number of progressive reforms enacted at the national level in the early 1900s. In addition to local and state issues, progres sives were also concerned about problems in the country as a whole. In an age when big business seemed all-powerful, many reformers believed that the national government no longer served the interests of all Americans and felt the United States was abandoning its promise of freedom and opportunity for all. They wanted the government to play a stronger role in promoting democracy and solving national problems.

Introduction

How well did Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson promote progressive goals in national policies?

Morgan believed it would be easy for the two men to settle their differences, telling Roosevelt, “If we have done anything wrong, send your man to my man and they can fix it up.” However, Roosevelt disagreed and didn’t appreciate it when big business treated government as an equal, or worse, as its servant.

1890–1920

Northern Securities was a holding company, a business that controls other companies by buying up a majority of their stock. Morgan and other business men had created this holding company to control the long-distance railroad lines from Chicago to California. By the time the Roosevelt administration filed suit against him, Morgan held a monopoly on rail service in the Northwest.

On February 22, 1902, the rich financier J. P. Morgan went to the White House to see President Theodore Roosevelt. Morgan had a dispute to resolve with the president. Roosevelt had recently ordered the Justice Department to file a lawsuit against Northern Securities Company, of which Morgan was part owner, for antitrust violations.

As president, Taft continued reform efforts. He fought to limit the power of big corporations and added land to the national forest system. However, on other issues Taft differed from progressive reformers. Progressives wanted lower tariffs on imported goods because then foreign products would be less expensive for American consumers. Additionally, they would increase competi tion, so that American producers would have to lower prices. Big business favored high tariffs. Taft had campaigned for president on a low-tariff platform, but in 1909 he agreed to sign the Payne-Aldrich Bill, which raised tariffs and tarnished Taft’s record as a progressive.

Roosevelt believed the country needed a strong president. “I believe in power,” he once said, but he thought that presidential power should be used to benefit all Americans. Describing himself as “the steward [caretaker] of public welfare,” he asserted that a president should take any actions necessary for the common good, as long as the Constitution did not forbid them.

Taft Continues Reforms After Roosevelt served two terms, he supported William Howard Taft, a member of his cabinet and a former judge from Ohio, to succeed him in 1908. Roosevelt was confident that Taft would continue his reformTheprogram.twomen could not have been more different. Roosevelt was outspoken and loved the limelight, while Taft was quiet and reserved. As Roosevelt took bold actions, Taft was cautious. Overall, Taft was a reluctant, lackluster cam paigner. Nevertheless, Roosevelt’s support helped him sail to victory.

William Howard Taft was the second progressive president. Although Taft backed reform, he lacked Roosevelt’s political skill and lost the support of many progressives. He later became chief justice of the United States, the job he had wanted all along.

Theodore Roosevelt Promises a Square Deal Theodore Roosevelt was vice president under President William McKinley and became president after McKinley was assassinated in 1901, making him was the youngest president in American history at the age of 42. Also known as Teddy or TR, he was a colorful character who was short and stout with big teeth and had a passion for physical fitness. As a member of the New York State Assembly in the 1890s, he was known for being impulsive, but he was a shrewd politician who knew how to achieve his goals.

1. Three Progressive Presidents Fearing what might happen if the chief executive became too strong, the framers of the Constitution wanted the president to have prestige but not too much power. As the presidency evolved during the Progressive Era, Americans began to change not only their ideas about what the national government should do, but also their views about how influential the president should be.

Roosevelt believed that businesses, workers, and consumers should all receive a “square deal”—fair and honest treatment. His program of reform, which became known as the Square Deal, focused on regulating big business in addition to protecting workers and consumers.

The three presidents of the Progressive Era—Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson— held office between 1901 and 1921. Although they differed in many ways, they shared a commitment to reform: they challenged the economic and political power of the industrial giants and worked to end government corruption. In the process, all three of these leaders expanded the power of the presidency.

After overcoming childhood illnesses, Teddy Roosevelt led a vigorous life, which included a great love of the outdoors. As president, he put millions of acres of wilderness under government protection. Here he is shown in Yosemite National Park, which he visited in 1903.

Lesson 18206

Woodrow Wilson, the last progressive president, was a scholar and idealist. The president, he wrote in 1907, “is the only voice in national affairs. Let him once win the admiration and confidence of the country, and no other single force can withstand him, no combination of forces will easily overpower him.”

Wilson was the first president since George Washington to speak before Congress, introducing and lobbying for legislation. Similar to Roosevelt, he also tried to influence, and utilize, public opinion to further his reform goals.

The split between Taft and Roosevelt helped Wilson win the 1912 election. Wilson received 42 percent of the popular vote, Roosevelt had 27.5 percent, and Taft had 23 percent. Debs was a distant fourth with 6 percent but received almost a million votes, a strong showing for the Socialist Party.

In the 1912 election, Taft and Roosevelt divided the Republican vote resulting in a victory for Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat. In this political cartoon, entitled “The Triumph of Pharaoh Wilson,” Wilson is shown as an ancient Egyptian pharaoh riding in a chariot being pulled by the Democratic donkey. The elephant and the bull moose behind him represent the Republican and Bull Moose Party.

Wilson Promises New Freedom As governor of New Jersey, Wilson had supported progressive reforms to regulate big business and clean up machine politics. As president, this idealist and scholar set out to implement a national reform program that he called New Freedom. Wilson wanted to eliminate all trusts because he believed they were denying economic freedom to small businesses and ordinary citizens. Although he was unable to remove the trusts, he did further limit their power.

Wilson pushed through other progressive reforms to give a greater voice to the average citizen, restrict corporate influence, and reduce corruption in the federal government. Among his most notable achievements were laws on banking and tariff reform and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission.

The 1912 election also featured two other candidates. Woodrow Wilson, a man of strong progressive ideals, represented the Democratic Party, and labor leader Eugene V. Debs, running on the socialist ticket, advocated more radical change, calling on voters to make “the working class the ruling class.”

Progressivism on the National Stage 207

The Election of 1912

The presidential campaign of 1912 centered on progres sive reform. Because he believed that Taft had betrayed progressive ideals, Roosevelt decided to run for president again in 1912. When the Republicans chose Taft as their candidate, Roosevelt decided to run as the candidate of a third party, a political party outside the two-party system. Roosevelt’s party was called the Progressive Party but was nicknamed the Bull Moose Party after he declared his readiness by exclaiming, “I feel as fit as a bull moose.”

Standard

Standard Oil of California Continental Oil Company Oil of Indiana Standard Oil of Nebraska Pierce

Rapid industrialization gave rise to a number of problems in American society, including unsafe products, environmental damage, and corruption in public life. The three progressives in the White House—Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson—sought to correct these negative effects. As Roosevelt put it, “The man who holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare.” The progressive presidents worked to reduce the harmful effects of industrialization, starting with the power of the trusts.

In addition to breaking up J. P. Morgan’s Northern Securities Company, Roosevelt also limited the power of railroads to determine rates and therefore stifle business competition. In 1906, he signed the Hepburn Act, which gave the federal government the authority to set the maximum rail shipping rates for the railroads.Under Taft, the Justice Department brought 90 lawsuits against trusts— more than twice the number that were taken under Roosevelt. Taft supported a stricter interpretation of the Sherman Act. Roosevelt distinguished between good and bad trusts, trying to break up only trusts created specifically to squash competition. In contrast, Taft did not think a court could determine a trust’s motives, so he prosecuted any trusts that had the effect of limiting trade, regard less of Wilsonintent.took even stronger action by helping to push the Clayton Antitrust Act through Congress. Passed in 1914, the Clayton Act extended the power of the Sherman Act by laying out rules that made it more difficult for trusts to form and to squeeze out competition. For example, the law made it illegal for a company to lower prices in one market but not others to try to force out local competitors.Additionally, the Clayton Act protected labor unions from antitrust regula tion. Courts had ruled that unions could be prosecuted for restraining commerce under the Sherman Act, but the Clayton Act made unions exempt from antitrust laws. Congress also created the Federal Trade Commission in 1914 to enforce the Clayton Act’s provisions.

Lesson 18208

Busting Trusts Roosevelt began the progressive trustbusting movement. To regulate monopolies, he used the Sherman Antitrust Act, a law that made illegal “every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce.” The law had been passed in 1890 but had been ineffective since its language was vague and enforcement was weak.

Progressives who wanted to eliminate trusts were displeased that the antitrust reforms left many trusts intact. Meanwhile, pro-business conservatives thought that the government should not have interfered at all with businesses. Nevertheless, the moderate reforms that were typical of progressivism produced real benefits for society.

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The Baby Standards A Busted Trust

Trustbusting broke large monopolies into many smaller, competing companies. This map shows how the Standard Oil Trust was divided into smaller companies, nicknamed the Baby Standards, in 1911. Each of the new companies took over Standard Oil operations in its assigned region of the country. Standard Oil was one of the biggest trusts to be broken up by a progressive president.

2. Addressing the Effects of Industrialization

Roosevelt believed that government should regulate monopolies to ensure they operated for the benefit of the nation. While he sometimes had to break up trusts rather than regulate them, which gained him a reputation as a trustbuster, he was not opposed to big business. “We do not wish to destroy corporations,” he said, “but we do wish to make them subserve the public good.”

Progressivism on the National Stage 209 Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1906 to ensure that meat was safe for consumers. This law was prompted by reports that meat was often tainted by rat droppings and even poison. Federal inspectors made regular visits to meatpacking plants to enforce the law.

Roosevelt also helped improve work ing conditions for coal miners. In 1902, he pressured coal mine owners and the striking United Mine Workers to submit to arbitration, a legal process in which a neutral outside party helps resolve a dispute. A government commission decided that the miners should have higher wages and shorter hours. However, it also declared that the own ers did not have to recognize the union or hire only union workers. This arbitration pleased Roosevelt and many other progressives, who believed that government should be impartial in labor disputes and stronger than either big business or unions.

Taft and Wilson also supported an eight-hour workday—at least for some workers. For years, companies had resisted this demand by unions. Under Taft, the eight-hour day became the rule for government employees. Wilson later helped secure the same benefit for railroad workers.

The Pure Food and Drug Act established a new agency, the Food and Drug Administration, to test and approve drugs before they became available on the market. This law addressed the calls for the regulation of patent medicines. These nonprescription medicines often promised magical cures, but many contained little more than alcohol or opium.

Taft and Wilson expanded worker protec tion. Under Taft, the Department of Labor established the Children’s Bureau to “investi gate and report upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children.” Wilson went further to advocate for a ban on child labor. In 1916, he signed the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act, which prohibited companies involved in interstate commerce from hiring workers under 14 years of age. Although the law protected fewer than 10 percent of children in the labor force, it set minimum protections and a precedent for future action.

Protecting Consumers and Workers In addition to busting trusts, the progres sive presidents tried to protect consumers. Two key laws were passed in 1906 during Roosevelt’s presidency. Those laws were the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.

The Meat Inspection Act required the Department of Agriculture to inspect packaged meat. This law was a response to muckraker accounts of unsanitary meatpacking plants. For example, one passage in Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle described how rats often became part of the ground meat: “The packers would put poisoned bread out for them; they would die, and then rats, bread, and meat would go into the hoppers together.” Sinclair later said of the reaction to his book, “I aimed at the nation’s heart, but hit it in the stomach.”

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In 1905, Roosevelt backed the creation of the U.S. Forest Service, whose mission was to protect forests and other natural areas from excessive develop ment. Roosevelt appointed Gifford Pinchot, a noted conservationist, to head the Forest Service. Similar to Roosevelt, Pinchot advocated a “wise use” policy of balancing the demands of economic development with the need to conserve the natural environment. Under Roosevelt, the federal government set aside nearly 150 million acres of national forests.

The national park system expanded under progressive leadership. This map shows the national parks established by the end of Wilson’s presidency. The first national park, Yellowstone, was established in 1872, and the National Park Service was created in 1916, under Wilson, to manage and protect the park system.

Taft added 2.7 million acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System. However, he angered Roosevelt and many conservationists by firing Pinchot for criticizing the government’s sale of some wilderness areas in Wyoming, Montana, and InAlaska.1916, Wilson supported the creation of the National Park Service (NPS). Congress had founded the first national park, Yellowstone, in 1872, and more lands were set aside for national parks over time. The NPS was created to manage all these parks for preservation and public use, a mandate that reflected a shift in preservationist thinking. Preservationists no longer argued that all wilderness areas should be left untouched. Instead, they accepted the idea that tourism, and thus economic development, could help protect the natural landscape. 500 km 500

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The progressive presidents, especially Roosevelt, were sympathetic to the preservationist view. Roosevelt, a great outdoorsman, once commented, “We are prone to think of the resources of this country as inexhaustible. This is not so.” In practice, however, the government tended to favor the more moder ate conservationist approach.

Some progressives supported preservation, the protection of wilderness lands from all forms of development. John Muir, a preservationist who cofounded the Sierra Club in 1892, believed that the government must preserve the environment. “Any fool can destroy trees,” he wrote. “God . . . cannot save them from fools—only Uncle Sam can do that.”

Other progressives supported conservation, the limited use of resources. Conservationists believed that government should take a middle position between preservation and exploitation. They wanted to preserve some wilder ness while also allowing some use of natural resources.

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Protecting the Environment Progressives also wanted to protect the natural environment since they saw how industry and urban growth had polluted the air and water and devastated the landscape. Although they believed that government should remedy these problems, they sometimes disagreed on the solutions.

Setting RequirementsReserve Reserve requirements are the amount of money that member banks must keep on deposit. The more money a bank has to keep on deposit, the less money it has to lend to businesses and consumers.

The Federal Reserve Act, passed in 1913, established 12 regional banks around the country. These banks can loan money to private banks and thus help to stabilize the banking system.

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Board of Governors

Taft urged Congress to reform the banking system, but Americans differed over the proper solution. Progressives wanted government control over the system, while business leaders favored private control. In 1913, Wilson backed a proposal for a government-controlled but decentralized banking system. Congress responded by passing the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.

The Federal Reserve System

Reforming the Banking System

Progressivism on the National Stage 211

The Fed Sets Monetary Policy by . . .

The Federal Reserve buys and sells government bonds to control the amount of money in circulation. A bond is a certificate promising to pay back borrowed money at a fixed time. When the Fed buys bonds, the money paid goes into circulation. When it sells bonds, the money borrowed comes out of circulation.

3. Reforming the National Government

InterestControllingRates The Federal Reserve charges interest on the money it lends to member banks. The higher the interest rate charged by the Fed, the higher the interest rates member banks charge for loans. Buying and Selling Bonds

The Federal Reserve Act divides the country into 12 regions, each with a Federal Reserve Bank. Collectively, these banks and their operating rules com prise the Federal Reserve System, or central bank of the United States. Under this system, private banks remain independent but agree to operate under the rules of the Federal Reserve System, which is also called the Federal Reserve or “the Fed.” The Fed offers a safety net to private banks by lending them money if they are short of funds. It also sets monetary policy to regulate the amount of money in circulation, including setting interest rates and regulating how much banks can lend. The Fed has made the financial system much more stable.

TCI7 25 Federal Reserve System

Federal Reserve Bank

A boardseven-memberoverseesthe Federal Reser ve System. Federal Reserve Banks Twelve Federal Reser ve Banks provide financial ser vices for banks in their regions. Member banks All national banks are members of the Federal Reser ve System. Other banks Other banks may not be members but must still follow some Federal Reser ve rules. American people Americans deposit money in and borrow money from banks.

Progressives also sought to reform the federal government and its policies. They favored a range of financial reforms that would improve government funding and the banking system. They also worked for constitutional reforms, including the direct election of senators, a ban on alcohol, and women’s suffrage.

Progressives wanted government to stabilize the banking system. Since the early 1800s, the nation had been shaken by finan cial panics, periods when people withdrew their money from banks after losing confidence in the economy. Panics caused banks and businesses to collapse and sometimes triggered economic depressions.

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As the role of the federal government expanded, its need for revenue to fund its programs increased. Big business favored rais ing tariffs, but progressives wanted to raise taxes. Tariffs on imports had long been used to boost government revenue. However, progressives believed that they were unfair to consumers. By raising the cost of imported goods, tariffs increased the cost of living for average Americans. A national income tax could be imposed more fairly on all citizens.

The WCTU remained influential. However, the leading organization advo cating prohibition during the Progressive Era was the Anti-Saloon League, run mainly by men. Founded in 1893 and supported mostly by Protestant churches, it became a national organization in 1895 and its motto was “The Saloon Must Go.”

Reforming Taxes and Tariffs

This is a copy of the first federal tax form, from 1913. The Sixteen Amendment legalized the federal income tax, and Progressives backed the tax as a way to eliminate tariffs. They also liked that it was a graduated tax, which placed higher taxes on those who could afford to pay.

The prohibition movement gained momentum without help from Roosevelt or Taft. Wilson finally supported a constitutional amendment on prohibition after the nation entered World War I in 1917. Proponents had argued that grain was better used for food for the war effort than for making alcohol. The Eighteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1919, declared that the prohibi tion of “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” would take effect one year after ratification.

Legislating Morals: Prohibition The widespread public support for prohi bition—a ban on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages—was rooted in the temperance movement dating from the early 1800s. Most advocates were women, and the largest organization had been the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Founded in 1874, the WCTU had reached its peak in 1890, boasting more than 150,000 members. It argued that drinking alcohol made men unable to support their wives and children.

Under strong pressure from progressives, and with some support from Taft, Congress proposed the Sixteenth Amendment, which would allow the federal government to impose an income tax. After the amendment was ratified in 1913, during Wilson’s presidency, Congress made the tax a graduated income tax, requiring people with higher incomes to pay a larger percentage of their earnings than those with lower incomes. Progressives were pleased because a graduated income tax placed a higher burden on the wealthy. Meanwhile, Wilson pressured Congress to reduce tariffs. Congress put both measures—the graduated income tax and reduced tariffs—into a single bill, the Underwood Tariff Act, and Wilson signed it in 1913.

Electing Senators Directly For progressives, reform also meant giving citizens a greater say in their government. One key issue was the election of U.S. sena tors. The Constitution required that senators be elected by state legislatures; however, state lawmakers and the senators they elected often had close relation ships with large corporations. Progressives wanted senators to respond to the will of the people, not the power of big business. Therefore, they pushed Congress to propose the Seventeenth Amendment. Proposed in 1912 and ratified in 1913, the amend ment required the direct election of senators by popular vote, a procedure that gave average citizens more influence in the Senate.

Prohibition supporters believed that a ban on alcohol would improve society. This poster was published by the Temperance Commission’s ‘Strengthen America’ campaign. The Eighteenth Amendment establishing prohibition was ratified in 1919.

Seventeenth Amendment This amendment established the direct election of U.S. senators, another progressive goal. It replaced the election of senators by state legislatures.

Nineteenth Amendment This amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. This was an important progressive goal designed to advance democratic rights.

In 1919, Congress proposed the amendment by decisive votes in both the House and Senate. The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920, declar ing that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”

Federal Reserve System Congress set up the Federal Reserve to bring stability to the bank ing system and prevent financial panics. The Fed, which consists of 12 federal banks, lends money to private banks and sets policies that govern interest rates and the amount of money in circulation.

Summary

Three progressive presidents—Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson—held office from 1901 to 1921, during the Progressive Era. Their goals and styles of leadership differed, but they all worked to bring about reforms on the national level.

Eighteenth Amendment This amendment established prohibition, or a ban on alcohol. Many progressives believed that alcohol consumption was a serious social ill.

Progressivism on the National Stage 213

Establishing Women’s Suffrage Women had been trying to win the right to vote since before the Civil War. Many temperance activists also supported women’s suffrage, arguing that women were more moral than men and that women’s involvement would help cleanse the corrupt world of politics.

Suffragists, women who sought voting rights, faced many obstacles, including threats and harassment from angry men. However, women won the vote through ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.

Like prohibition, the struggle for women’s suffrage was a grassroots effort that succeeded without much presidential support. Although Roosevelt was sympathetic, he did not actively advocate for the cause until his 1912 cam paign. After the nation entered World War I, leading suffragists such as Carrie Chapman Catt emphasized that giving women the right to vote would help them fulfill their duties on the home front. Wilson eventually accepted their arguments and urged Congress to propose an amendment to grant women the right to vote as “a vitally necessary war measure.” Meanwhile, 26 states had petitioned Congress to propose it.

Three distinct leaders Despite their varying leadership styles, the progressive presidents believed in using government to improve society. In carrying out reform programs, such as Roosevelt’s Square Deal and Wilson’s New Freedom, they increased the power of the presidency. Addressing the effects of industrialization Reformers passed laws to break up monopolies and help workers. They tried to protect consumers through such laws as the Pure Food and Drug Act. They also tried to preserve the environment by conserving resources.

Sixteenth Amendment This amendment established a federal income tax, which progressives favored as a means to fund government programs. Congress made the tax a graduated income tax, which placed a heavier tax burden on the wealthy.