Anglophone Worlds - United States

ANGLOPHONE WORLDS FROM A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE:
THE UNITED STATES AND OTHER ENGLISH‐SPEAKING COUNTRIES

CONTENTS

PREFACE

UNIT 1. COLONIAL AMERICA

1. European Colonization and Settlement
2. British Policy with the American Colonies until 1763
3. Anglo American Colonies
3.1. The Plantation Colonies
3.1.1. Virginia
3.1.2. North Carolina and South Carolina
3.1.3. Georgia
3.2. The Middle Colonies
3.2.1. New York
3.2.2. New Jersey
3.2.3. Pennsylvania and Delaware
3.2.4. Maryland
3.3. The New England Colonies
3.3.1. Massachusetts
3.3.2. Connecticut
3.3.3. Rhode Island
3.3.4. New Hampshire

Chronology
Suggested Bibliography
Recommended Websites
Review Questions for Self‐evaluation
Further Tasks

UNIT 2. REVOLUTION, INDEPENDENCE, FORMATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC

1. Revolution Period, 1763‐1783
1.1.British Colonial Policies and the Revolutionary Responses of Its American
Colonies
1.2. The War for Independence
2. American Independence
2.1. The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, July 4, 1776.
2.2. The Constitution of the United States of America
3. The Federalist Era, 1787‐1800
3.1. The Emergence of Political Parties
3.2. George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams
4. The Republican Era, 1801‐1828
4.1. Jefferson, Madison and Monroe
5. The Democratic Era, 1828‐1840

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 3. THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
1. Causes of the Civil War
1.1. The Economic Conflict
1.2. The Political and Constitutional Conflict
1.3. The Social and Moral Conflict
1.4. The Immediate Causes of the War
2. The Civil War, 1861‐1865
3. Reconstruction

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 4. AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM AND ECONOMIC REVOLUTION
1. Westward Expansion
1.1. Foreign Policy on American Expansionism in the West
1.2. The Railroad
1.3. The Suppression of Native Americans
2. The Gilded Age
2.1. Economic expansion and Industrial Growth
2.2. Workers and Unions
3. A Historical Perspective of Immigration to the US

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 5. AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM

1. Towards the New Imperialism
1.1. Expansion in the Pacific
1.2. The Spanish‐American War of 1898
1.3. Organized Filipino Resistance
2. The Progressive Era
2.1. Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal
2.2. William H. Taft’s Quiet Progressivism
2.3. Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom
3. Progressivism and Women
4. America’s Entry into the World War I

Chronology
Suggested bibliography
Recommended websites
Further tasks

UNIT 6. PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION

1. The Roaring Twenties
1.1. The Republican Years
1.2. The New Urban Culture
1.3. The Jazz Age
2. The Women’s Movement
3. Immigration in the 1920s
3.1. The Great Migration Northward
4. The Great Depression
4.1. The Election of 1928
4.2. The Stock Market Crash
4.3. Hoover's Efforts at Recovery
4.4. Consequences of the Depression

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 7. THE NEW DEAL AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal
1.1. The First New Deal
1.1.1. Criticism of the New Deal
1.2. The Second New Deal
2. The Legacy of the New Deal
2.1. American Women in the New Deal Years
2.2. Minorities and the New Deal
2.3. The Rise of Labour Unionism
2.4. Culture in the Thirties
3. From Isolation to Global World
3.1. America’s Growing Involvement
3.2. Mobilization at Home
4. Social Effects of World War II

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 8. THE COLD WAR YEARS

1. The Post War Period
2. Harry Truman and His Fair Deal
2.1. The Truman Doctrine and The Marshall Plan
2.2. The Red Scare and McCarthyism
3. The Eisenhower Presidency
4. Civil Rights during the 1940s
4.1. The Brown Case
4.2. The Montgomery Bus Boycott
5. American Society and Culture in the 1950s
5.1. Youth Culture and Delinquency
5.2. Women at Work

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 9. FROM THE J. F. KENNEDY’S ARRIVAL TO THE 21st CENTURY

1. The Sixties
1.1. John F. Kennedy Presidency
1.1.1. Kennedy's Foreign and Domestic Policies
1.2. Lyndon B. Johnson Years
1.3. The Nixon Presidency
1.3.1. The Election of 1972 and the Watergate Scandal
2. Jimmy Carter and Human Rights
3. The Reagan‐Bush Era
4. From William J. Clinton to George W. Bush
5. The New Era in American Politics: Barack H. Obama’s Presidency

Chronology
Further Tasks

UNIT 10. AN OVERVIEW OF OTHER ANGLOPHONE COUNTRIES

1. Canada
1.1. Historical and Cultural Context
1.2. From a Dominion towards a 21st Century Multicultural Nation
2. Australia
2.1. Colonial Times
2.2. Emancipation and Progress
2.3. National Identity
2.4. From the Golden Age to the 21st Century
3. New Zealand
3.1. Becoming a Colony
3.2. A Multicultural Country
4. India
4.1. Historical and Cultural Roots
4.2. British India
4.3. India after Independence
5. South Africa
5.1.Historical and Cultural Background
5.2. Policy of Apartheid
5.3. Post‐Apartheid South Africa

Chronology
Further Tasks

APPENDIX

1. TABLES AND FIGURES

1. Chronological Table
2. Presidents of the United Status
3. Prime Ministers of Canada
4. Prime Ministers of Australia
5. Premiers and Prime Minister of New Zealand
6. Prime Minister and Presidents of India
7. Presidents of South Africa

2. DOCUMENTS

2.1. American Documents
1. The Mayflower Compact. 1620.
2. The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies. 1776
3. The Constitution of the United States of America. 1787
4. George Washington. Farewell Address. 1796
5. The Louisiana Purchase. Treaty between the U. S. and the French
Republic.
1803
6. James Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine. 1823
7. Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal Act. 1830
8. Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. 1848
9. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico. 1848
10. Abraham Lincoln. Second Inaugural Address. 1965
11. Frederick J. Turner. The Significance of the Frontier in American
History. 1893
12. Theodore Roosevelt. The New Nationalism. 1910
13. Woodrow Wilson. Fourteen Points Address. 1918
14. Franklin D. Roosevelt. First Inaugural Address. 1933
15. George C. Marshall. The Marshall Plan. 1947
16. John F. Kennedy. Inaugural Address. 1961
17. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have A Dream” Speech. 1963
18. Ronald W. Reagan. “Tear down This Wall”. 1987
19. Barack H. Obama. Acceptance Speech. 2008
20. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Foreign Policy Address. 2008

2.2. Documents of Other Anglophone Countries
1. The Quebec Act. 1774
2. The Union Act. 1840
3. The Treaty of Waitangi. 1840
4. The Aboriginal Protection Act. 1869
5. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act. 1900
6. The Statute of Westminster. 1931
7. Mahatma Gandhi. Quit India Speech. 1942
8. Jawaharlal Nehru. A Tryst with Destiny Speech. 1947
9. The Freedom Charter Adopted at the Congress of the People. 1955
10. The New Zealand Constitution Act. 1986
11. Nelson Mandela. Inaugural Address. 1994

UNIT 1

COLONIAL AMERICA

1. EUROPEAN COLONIZATION AND SETTLEMENT

2. BRITISH POLICY WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES UNTIL 1763

3. ANGLO AMERICAN COLONIES

3.1.1. Virginia
3.1.3. Georgia


3.2.1. New York
3.2.2. New Jersey
3.2.4. Maryland


3.3.2. Connecticut
3.3.3. Rhode Island

CHRONOLOGY

SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES

REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EVALUATION

FURTHER TASKS

1. EUROPEAN COLONIZATION AND SETTLEMENT

Viewed today, the process of colonization and settlement of North America was
an invasion of territory that had been controlled and settled for centuries by the
indigenous population. The arrival of the Europeans constituted an intrusion, which, in
the long term, the American Indians were unable to resist.
The indigenous tribes had come to North America during the last ice age from
the Asian continent, from Siberia to Alaska, when the sea levels dropped and a land
bridge was uncovered in the Bering Strait. Over time they spread all over the American
continent. The arrival of the Europeans caused huge disruption in the life of the
indigenous people.
Christopher Columbus had discovered America in 1492. A few years later, the
most powerful European nations began to claim areas of the American continent and
establish colonies there. There was a contest among European powers to exploit these
new lands, which they were determined to take control of. It did not even occur to them
that the lands were the shared property of the indigenous population. Some of the
indigenous Americans traded with the Europeans and became dependent on European
goods. The Europeans brought new germs with them to which the American Indians
had no natural resistance. Epidemics of European diseases, such as smallpox, measles
and typhus, previously unknown in the American continent, caused widespread death in
many of the American Indian tribes.
The Europeans were initially drawn to America to acquire wealth and to

establish new homes. European sovereigns rushed to claim as much territory as possible
in order to found settlements on the territory. In the early 1600s, a number of colonies
were set up in quick progression. In 1607, the English established a colony (Jamestown)
in Chesapeake Bay, in 1608, the French settled in the North, in what is now Quebec,
and the Dutch began their interest in the region that became present-day New York.
Within another generation, the Plymouth Company (1620), the Massachusetts Bay
Company (1629), the Company of New France (1627), and the Dutch West India
Company (1621) began to send thousands of colonists, including families, to North
America.
English colonial policy promoted domestic industry, foreign trade, fisheries, and
shipping by establishing colonial settlements in the New World and exploiting its
resources through commercial companies such as the Hudson Bay Company and the
South Sea Company.
The growing urge to colonize was due to a number of factors, which included
international rivalry and the propagation of religion - a desire to convert the indigenous
inhabitants of America to Christianity. There were also increasing numbers of religious
and political dissenters who were seeking refuge, and individuals looking for adventure
and new opportunities, and who wanted to own land. The main impulse behind
colonization, however, was to make profit in the New World. Consequently, numerous
companies invested in the colonies until 1631, when they invested their money in other
enterprises.
European countries engaged in the system of mercantilism. This meant state

control and intervention, and the regulation of economic activities in the colonies. The
aim was to accumulate wealth for the European powers at the colonies' expense. The
colonies supplied food for themselves (auto supply) and their role was to produce raw
materials and food for the metropolis, and to provide a market for it. Industrial activities
were forbidden in the colonies in order to make them dependable on the exports of the
metropolis.
The degree of colonial control exerted depended on the nation and on the period.
In the initial settlements, English control over the colonies was minimal. With all her
involvement with European nations in wars of conquest, little energy or time was
available to dictate the colonies' economic options. However, as the colonies grew and
became more prosperous, the British realized that the colonies could provide increased
trade and, therefore, they tightened the economic control by implementing regulatory
policies, thereby changing the balance of the relationship.
The first colonies in North America were situated along the eastern coast. The
first European settlement was established in St. Augustine, Florida by Spaniards, under
Pedro Menéndez in 1565.
2. BRITISH POLICY WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES UNTIL 1763

In the sixteenth-century, Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh, English
aristocrats, were involved in the early English colonisation and were given a patent. In
1595, Sir Walter Raleigh was responsible for the establishment of the first English
colony in America. Raleigh dispatched Sir Richard Grenville, with seven ships and a
large number of people, to form a colony in Virginia. Ralph Lane was to serve as their
governor. Grenville left 107 men at Roanoke Island to form a colony. The colony
suffered from lack of supplies. Later, in 1606 patents were granted to the London and
Plymouth Companies of Virginia. The crown provided no money, but granted the
jurisdiction, since all the land was under its sovereignty.
In 1609, a charter was issued to the Virginia Company, substituting indirect for
direct control and providing for a definite and extensive grant of land. This new policy
led to the creation of the Council for New England in 1620. Direct control reappeared in
1624, when the political powers of the Virginia Company were withdrawn and Virginia
became the first of the royal colonies under a system of government that included a
governor appointed by the king and a colonial assembly. In 1629, however, the
corporate colony of Massachusetts Bay was granted a charter that permitted the transfer
of the government of the company to the New World. In 1632 the first proprietary
colony of Maryland was established with the granting of wide powers to the Baltimore
family. Thus, three types of colonial government emerged: royal, corporate, and
proprietary.
The king directed colonial policy until the outbreak of the first English civil war,
when the Long Parliament assumed control, acting mainly through a special
commission or council provided for by the Ordinance of 1643. This ordinance gave its
president, the earl of Warwick, the title of governor in chief and Lord High Admiral of
all the English colonies in America. Between 1645 and 1651, the Parliament enforced
regulations to control colonial commerce and restrict colonial trade to the British,
thereby favouring its shipping and manufacturers.
Following on from this, from 1651 onwards, England instituted the
Navigation Acts, which were a series of laws of trade and navigation restricting the
use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies. The instigation
of these restrictions was a factor in the Anglo‐Dutch Wars. Later, they were one of
several sources of resentment against Great Britain in the American colonies. All
trade between the colonists and the British was to be conducted either on English
vessels or on colonial‐built vessels. If the colonists intended to trade with any
other nations, all goods had first to be shipped to England, giving her an
opportunity to handle them and collect revenue from taxation. In addition, there
were certain products that could be traded only with Britain, such as tobacco,
sugar and cotton. As time went on, the list of specified goods grew continually
decreasing the kinds of merchandise that the colonists could sell to other nations.

As Britain was too far away to control the colonists directly, representative
governments were established in the colonies The English king appointed colonial
governors who had to rule in cooperation with an elected assembly. Voting was
restricted to white males who owned lands. The growing importance of the
colonies led to various experiments in their supervision, such as the Laud
Commission appointed by Charles I. These experiments ended in 1675 with the
transference of this function to the Lords of Trade, a committee of the Privy
Council, which continued to function until 1696, when William III established the
Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, a body that survived until after
the American Revolution.

England encouraged the colonists to specialize in the production of raw
materials. English factories converted raw goods into products, which were then
shipped back to the colonies. This provided the British with a profitable market, free
from competition. In 1763, after the Seven Years War, the British started to enforce
their mercantilist policies, which led to hostility between the English and their colonies.
In colonial America, land was plentiful and labour was scarce. Most American
colonists worked on small farms. By 1770, there were urban centres. Philadelphia was
the largest city, followed by New York, Boston and Charleston. In the southern
colonies, there was the system of slavery and black people worked on large plantations.
Indentured servants were the main source of labour in the colonies. These were poor
farmers who came from England and worked for a fixed period of time, from three to
seven years, in exchange for their transportation, food, clothing, lodging, etc. Unlike
slaves, an indentured servant was required to work only for a limited term, which was
specified in a signed contract. The British tried to enslave the Indians but were
unsuccessful. The first Negro slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619.
By 1733, there were 13 colonies along the Atlantic coast, from New
Hampshire in the North to Georgia in the South. The Seven Years' War, also called
the French and Indian War, which lasted from 1754 until 1763, was a conflict that
had enormous repercussions for Great Britain. In spite of her victory over France
in 1763, a royal proclamation denied the English the right to establish settlements
west of the Appalachian Mountains, in order to avoid conflict with the American
Indians. This was enforced by stationing troops along the frontier to ensure that
the two rival groups were separated. Maintaining order in America was a
significant challenge for Britain. Moreover, with Britain's acquisition of Canada
from France, the prospects of peaceful relations with the Native tribes were not
good. In consequence, the British decided to keep a standing army in America.

The war had also left Great Britain with a considerable national debt. Even
though it had defeated France and its allies, victory had come at great cost. The
American colonists were evading trade and navigation regulations and had been
trading with the French during the Seven Years’ War, so the British decided it was
necessary to tighten their control and began to reform the system. The colonists,
however, were creating a prosperous economy based on agriculture and trade, and
no longer needed British protection. The new policies instigated in 1763 by the
British after the war eventually drove the colonies towards their separation. These
policies continued until 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. The policies
were aimed not only at alleviating the debt incurred during the French and Indian
War, but also at exerting their sovereignty over the rebellious American colonies.

Tensions between Britain and the colonies started when they began to
charge taxes and punish smugglers. Colonial policy in the eighteenth century tried
to reduce the corporate and proprietary colonies to royal colonies, which largely
succeeded. In addition, the policy increased restrictions on colonial enterprise by
means of laws such as the Wool Act of 1699, the White Pine Acts, the Hat Act of
1732, the Sugar Acts of 1733 and 1764, and the Iron Act of 1750.

3. ANGLO AMERICAN COLONIES

There were clear differences in the English colonies, which became "British"
with the union of England and Scotland in 1707, because they were founded for
different purposes, but there were also a number of common features. For
instance, in every colony, political jurisdiction and issues fell within one of the
three levels of government: the king and Parliament, the Colonial government, or
the local government.

There were three types of British colony in North America. The first were
plantation colonies. These included Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia. The second group were the Middle Colonies of Maryland, Delaware, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. The third group consisted of the New England
colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. The
economy of the New England colonies was based on trade in rum and slaves and on
shipbuilding; the plantation colonies produced sugar, tobacco, rice, and indigo; and the
Middle Colonies produced wheat and timber.
The first permanent settlement in North America was the English colony of
Jamestown, in 1607, in what is now Virginia. John Smith and company had come to
stay. The Pilgrims followed in 1620, and set up a colony at Plymouth, in what is now
Massachusetts.
The British Crown reached agreements with the colonies and gave them
charters. All charters had a similar structure marking the extension of the territory and
guaranteeing the rights of their citizens of the colonies as the British citizens in the
metropolis and fully citizens. There were different colonies, thus, in 1775, of the
thirteen colonies, there were 8 royal colonies, 3 proprietorship and 2 self-government
colonies.
3.1.1. Virginia

In the first decade of the seventeenth century, England started a second
round of colonizing attempts using joint‐stock companies to establish settlements.
The first English colony in America was founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607
and set the pattern for English colonization. The settlement was directed by the
London Company, who sent a colony of five ships to settle on Roanoke Island.
Storms forced them into the Chesapeake Bay. They went up the Powhatan River,
landed, and formed the settlement of Jamestown. It became a Royal Colony in
1624.

Virginia received three charters, one in 1606, the second in 1609 and the
third in 1612. The differences among them lie in the territorial jurisdiction of the
company. The London Company, that renamed itself the Virginia Company, was
granted the authority to govern its colony. When King James I granted the first
charter, a council was formed in England that issued instructions to the first
settlers to appoint a colonial council, but as it proved to be ineffective, a governor,
John Delaware was appointed. In 1619, the first representative Assembly in
Virginia was held at Jamestown. This assembly formed the foundation of what
would become the State of Virginia.

There were disagreements within the Virginia Company in the first years of
the colony. One example of this was that the principal founder, Captain John Smith,
disagreed with his fellow councillors on the running of the settlement. The
settlement suffered from various difficulties at first and did not prosper until the
colonists received their own land and the tobacco industry began to flourish. The
colony survived and, in 1614, started to ship tobacco, its main export, to England.
The estimated population circa 1700 was approximately 64,560.

In 1663, eight proprietors received a royal charter from King Charles II to
found a colony to the North of Florida. Thus, Carolina was founded with a
commercial and a political purpose. The main port was Charles Town (Charleston).
Unsuccessful attempts to colonize the area of the Carolinas had been made
before the English landed on the James River. Between the years 1640 and 1650, there
had been an influx of settlers into North Carolina from Jamestown, and in 1663, a
settlement with an organized government was established in the northern part of North
Carolina. The country was named Carolina, in honour of King Charles II of England.
The principal founder was Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftsbury, who
sent over three hundred colonists to Carolina. In 1669, Ashley requested the assistance
of the philosopher John Locke to devise the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, in
order to establish an aristocracy to govern the colony. He also planned an elected
assembly of landowners, the Council of Nobles. The Carolina proprietors were planning
to organize Carolina along the lines of a feudal state.
Carolina was a slave society. In 1670 a number of people from the Caribbean
island of Barbados sailed into the harbour of Charleston and settled on the Ashley and
Cooper rivers. The Barbadians created plantations based on slavery and became very
powerful. They had Indian and Negro slaves. After some false starts, a group of
Barbadian joined with English settlers to found Charleston. The colony quickly
developed following the model of plantation colonies. The territory was divided up into
separate plantations. The main planters had both a plantation and a second house in
Charleston, where government was centralized and where they used to spend the
summer months.
New settlers came, mostly Scots and French Huguenots. These people of
French origin soon became the elite of the new colony. They quickly adopted the
English language and joined the established Church of England, but they retained
an aristocratic tone that would become a distinctive feature of the colony.

In 1719, the colonists overthrew the last proprietary government, and in 1729,
the king created separate royal governments in North and South Carolina. There were
differences between them. South Carolina was richer, with more plantations, and was
more densely populated, while North Carolina was poorer, with fewer plantations and
slaves, but slightly more democratic. South Carolina’s main exports were naval supplies
and rice. The estimated population in 1700 was in the region of 5,720. North Carolina’s
main exports were wood, naval supplies and tobacco and the estimated population for
the same year was roughly 10,720. By 1729, all proprietors except for one had sold their
lands back to the crown.
In 1729 Carolina was divided permanently into two parts, North and South
Carolina, and they became separate royal colonies. The King of England bought the
two Carolinas.

3.1.3. Georgia

In the 1730s, Georgia was the last of the colonial English settlements. It was
founded with the purpose of discouraging Spanish expansion, since it was an appealing
territory and the British thought that the Spanish could move from Florida to occupy
that area. The principal founder was a philanthropist, James Oglethorpe, a British
general and Member of Parliament. When Oglethorpe left the army, he sympathized
with the condition of the debt prisoners in England, and devoted himself to helping the
poor and debt-ridden people of London, whom he suggested settling in America. With a
board of twenty trustees, he was granted a charter from the King for this colony. The
charter was issued in June 1732 and he landed with emigrants, near the present city of
Savannah, and there established the colony that would be named Georgia for the King.
At first, there were few emigrants because of the restrictions that the trustees
imposed, such as the restriction on the size of individual land holdings to benefit the
poor. The amount of land a settler could own was limited to no more than 500 acres,
which could only be passed to the eldest son. People who had received charity and who
had not purchased their own land could not sell, or borrow money against it. In addition,
rum was banned. Eventually, all those restrictions disappeared and by 1751, Georgia
was a slave plantation and was returned to the king.
The major exports of the colony were silk, rice, wood, and naval supplies.
The estimated population circa 1750 was 5,200.

One controversial issue was the fact that the trustees did not trust the
colonists to make their own laws. They did not establish a representative
assembly, although every other mainland colony had one. The trustees made all
laws for the colony. Second, the settlements were laid out in compact, confined,
and concentrated townships. In part, this arrangement was instituted to enhance
the colony's defences, but social control was another consideration. Third, the
trustees prohibited the import and manufacture of rum, for rum would lead to
idleness. Finally, the trustees prohibited Negro slavery, for they believed that this
ban would encourage the settlement of “English and Christian” people.

In Georgia's first year, 1733, all went well enough as settlers began to clear the
land, build houses, and construct fortifications. Later, however, they complained about
the restrictions imposed on them by the trustees regarding the size of individual land
holdings, and they opposed restrictions on land sales and the prohibition of slavery for
the same reason. They disliked the fact that they were deprived both of any self-
government and of their rights as Englishmen.

3.2.1. New York

Manhattan Island was discovered in 1609 by Henry Hudson, while working
for the Dutch East India Company. Dutch traders soon settled there, and at Albany,
about 150 miles up the Hudson River. The government in Holland gave exclusive
rights to Amsterdam merchants to trade with the American Indians on the Hudson,
and the area was named Rhode Island. The Dutch West India Company, which was
created in 1621, bought Manhattan Island from the Indian chiefs and built the
town of New Amsterdam. In 1623 Holland sent 30 families, and a settlement was
started there.

In 1664, the Dutch surrendered to the English fleet without any resistance
and this settlement was made an English colony. Charles II granted New
Netherland to his brother James, Duke of York and it was renamed New York. The
principal founder was Peter Stuyvesant, Duke of York. The purpose of this
foundation was commercial and its major exports were furs and grain. The
estimated population in 1700 was 19,107.

3.2.2 New Jersey

New Jersey was founded in 1664 by two courtiers: Lord Berkeley and Sir
George Carteret. In 1674, Lord Berkeley sold his proprietary rights to a group of
Quakers and the colony was divided into East and West Jersey. They were reunited
again in one colony in 1702 and became a Royal Colony that same year. New Jersey
was founded with the purpose of consolidating new English territory. The duke of York
awarded this land to Sir George Cartaret and Lord Berkeley, although legally only the
King could establish a colonial government. They provided liberal grants of land and
freedom of religion. The two parts of the colony were not united into a royal colony
until 1702.
The major export of the colony was grain and the estimated population
circa 1700 was approximately 14,000, with a notable ethnic and religious
diversity.


In 1681, Pennsylvania (literally, “Penn’s woods) was founded with the purpose
of being a refuge for English Quakers and the principal founder was William Penn.
Charles II awarded him a charter making him the sole proprietor of that area.
Penn wanted to create a Holy Society and thought that both rich and poor
should participate in political affairs. He promoted his colony so well, guaranteeing
liberty of conscience and religious freedom from persecution, that a great number
of peoples of different nationalities and religions poured into Philadelphia and its
surroundings. The colony flourished and Philadelphia began a period of rapid
growth, which soon made it the largest town in North America. The estimated
population of Pennsylvania circa 1700 was 18,950. The colony became ethnically
very diversified with immigrants from Germany, Wales and England. The major
export of the colony was grain.
The Quakers were pacifists and believed all persons possessed the spirit of
God, a powerful “Inner Light” and that all persons were equal in the sight of God
and everyone could be saved. They were very humble and wore very austere
clothes.

A small colony from Sweden established a town on the site of New Castle,
Delaware, and called the area New Sweden. The Dutch claimed the region as a part
of New Netherland, and the governor of New Netherland proceeded against the
Swedes in the summer of 1655, and brought them under subjection. It is difficult to
distinguish between the first settlements in Delaware, New Jersey, and
Pennsylvania, because of the early political situation.

In 1682, Penn bought the Three Lower Counties that finally became
Delaware. The Swedes had founded the colony of Delaware in 1638, for
commercial reasons. When the Duke of York acquired New Netherland, he also
received New Sweden, which had been founded by Peter Minuit. He renamed this
area Delaware. This area became part of Pennsylvania and remained so until 1703,
when it created its own legislature.

3.2.4. Maryland

In 1634, Maryland was founded and established as a proprietary colony by
George Calvert, known as Lord Baltimore. He was a royalist and a Catholic who
thought of this colony as a refuge for English Catholics persecuted elsewhere.
However, a decade later, the Catholics had become a minority and the Protestants
a majority. Lord Baltimore had to find a way of providing protection for them.

Charles I granted Lord Baltimore the right to establish this proprietary
colony in 1632. This marked a turning point in the English colonial quest. Joint‐
stock companies disappeared and proprietary colonies reappeared to become the
principal pattern of colonization for the remainder of the seventeenth century.
Charles I granted a domain between North and South Virginia to Calvert. Before
the charter was completed, Lord Baltimore died, but the charter was granted to his
son Cecil that same year. The domain was called Maryland, and Cecil sent his
brother Leonard, with colonists, to establish a settlement. They arrived in the
spring of 1634, and laid the foundation for the commonwealth of Maryland at St.
Mary. This colony was characterized by religious acceptance. The Maryland
Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was signed in 1649,
thereby institutionalising toleration and providing impermanent protection for
Catholics. In the eighteenth century the Church of England became the established
church.

Virginia objected to the grant given John Baltimore, but was instructed by the
King to help the settlers of Maryland when they arrived. The major export of the colony
was tobacco. The estimated population circa 1700 was 34,100.


English Puritans escaping religious persecution in their homeland settled in
New England and founded a colony with their own religious ideals, seeking to
purify the Church of England. They wanted to establish a “city set upon a hill”, an
ideal community. One group of these Puritans, the so called “Pilgrims” crossed the
Atlantic in the ship called the Mayflower and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts in
1620. Before landing, they established their own government, the basis of which
was the Mayflower Compact (See Document nº 1 in the Appendix. American
Documents). The principal founder was William Bradford, who described the
experiences of this group in “Of Plymouth Plantation.” He was elected governor in
May 1621 and re‐elected more than thirty times. Plymouth was the second colony
with its own charter.

The original purpose of this foundation to be a refuge for English Separatists but
it was also a joint-stock venture. The Pilgrim Fathers obtained rights to a “particular
plantation” from the Virginia Company of London; they could locate where they chose
within the territory of that Company, and enjoy local self-government. They planned to
settle around the mouth of the Hudson River. However, they anchored in Provincetown
Harbour, voiding their exclusive rights.
Landing in Cape Cod, the Pilgrims disembarked outside the authorized
jurisdiction of any other English colony. They feared the rule of those who did not
belong to their group, and so they drew up the Mayflower Compact, which was
signed on November 11th 1620 to found self‐government for the colony. It was an
agreement based on the approval of the people. It is the earliest known case in
American history of people establishing a government for themselves by mutual
agreement. This turned out to be one of the foundations of the subsequent process
of independence, and served as a model for future governments.

Church compacts were familiar to English Puritans. It was natural for them
to sign an agreement for civil purposes, when locating outside any recognized
jurisdiction. Forty‐one males, of whom twenty survived the first six months, signed
the Compact. Apart from having their own laws, the Plymouth people also applied
the common law of England. In spite of this, political authority was never secure
and it was an independent colony only until 1691 when it was absorbed by
Massachusetts.

The first year was very hard and the colonists would not have survived the
winter without help from the local Indians, the Wampanoag and the Pequamid, who
shared corn with them and showed them where to fish. Later, they showed the English
how to plant crops that would grow well in that soil. In 1621, the Pilgrims invited them
to a feast to celebrate their survival in the harsh American wilderness, and the
generosity of the Indians. That harvest feast was the first Thanksgiving.
The economy of the colony in the first years was a subsistence economy, but
later it developed trade, with grain becoming the major export.
In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Company was formed and many Puritans
continued to settle in the area around Boston. Other puritans were to follow, and the
foundations of the State of Massachusetts were laid.
In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a joint‐stock company resident in
England, whose membership included landed gentry and merchants, received its
charter from the crown. The charter was brought to America by a group of
Puritans, and became the basis upon which a new colony was founded, with the
purpose of being a refuge for English Puritans who did not accept the Church of
England and wanted to practice their own religion.

The principal founder was John Winthrop, who became governor, leading the
community by strict puritan laws. He wrote his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity”
on board the Arabella, the Flagship of the Puritan emigration to Massachussetts in 1630.
On Board there were some seven hundred men, women and children. John Winthrop
declared that the New England Puritans would be a model for other colonists and other
Puritans to emulate, but this deed has also meant the hope that America would be “a
beacon upon a hill” for other peoples:
“For wee must Consider that wee shall be as a City upon a hill. The eies of
all people are upon Us, soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this
worke wee have undertaken, and soe cause him to withdrawe his present
help from us, wee shall be made a story and a by‐word through the world…
Therefore let us choose life,
that wee and our seede
may live by obeyeing his
voyce and cleaveing to him,
for hee is our life and
our prosperity.”

Another chief founder, although he never migrated to America, was the
Reverend John White, who worked to establish an English colony in New England in
order to relieve the concern in English social and religious life.
There were reports that Massachusetts Bay was ignoring English rule and
enforcing political practices and religious conformity unacceptable in England. This led
to a government investigation. However, the king’s commissioners decided not to take
action. New England established an often intolerant, moralistic stand, believing that
governments should enforce God’s morality. The Puritans themselves did not tolerate
religious dissent in Massachusetts. They strictly punished drunks, adulterers, violators
of the Sabbath and heretics. The right to vote was restricted to church members, and the
salaries of ministers were paid out of tax revenues.
The economy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was based on exporting grain
and wood. The estimated population circa 1700 was 55,941, including the population of
Plymouth.
In 1691, Plymouth joined with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and became a
Royal Colony.
3.3.2. Connecticut

The Dutch explorer, Adrian Block explored a river, which the Indians called
Quon‐eh ti‐cut. In 1633, in the valley watered by that river, a group of Puritans
from Plymouth established a settlement. The first permanent settlement made in
the valley of the Connecticut River was created by Puritans from Massachusetts
circa 1635. The colony of Connecticut was founded circa 1635 by Thomas Hooker.
It was really an expansion of Massachusetts and it is the present site of Hartford. In
1638. another group from Massachusetts settled on the site of New Haven. The two
settlements were politically united, and laid the foundations for the
commonwealth of Connecticut in 1639. It received a royal charter in 1663, but self‐
government preceded official recognition. The major export of the colony was
grain. The estimated population circa 1700 was 25,970.

3.3.3. Rhode Island

Rhode Island was founded by squatters. Puritans who protested that the
state should not interfere with religion, were forced to leave Massachusetts Bay. In
1636, Roger Williams, a minister who criticised the religious‐political
establishment and argued for freedom of religion and separation of church and
state, was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He founded Providence in
Rhode Island. Roger Williams had three clear ideas: he recognized Indian land
rights and negotiated with the Indians; he advocated religious freedom, and under
his direction Rhode Island admitted Jews and other religions; he also advocated a
clear separation between religion and political power. As a result, Rhode Island
became a refuge for dissenters from Massachusetts. Then, in 1638, Anne
Hutchinson was also banished from Massachusetts and she settled Portsmouth.
She was considered a threat because she had questioned the authority of some
influential ministers of the colony. The two settlements were consolidated under
one government, called the Providence and Rhode Island Plantation, for which a
charter was given in 1644.


In 1622, the Plymouth Company granted land in northern New England
between the Merrimac Kennebec, and St. Lawrence Rivers to John Mason and to Sir
Ferdinando Gorges. Mason eventually founded New Hampshire and Gorges’ land
led to Maine. Massachusetts controlled both until New Hampshire was given a
royal charter in 1679 and Maine was made its own state in 1820.

CHRONOLOGY

Chronological table

1607 First English settlement at Jamestown
1608 Scrooby Congregation (Pilgrims) left England for Holland
1609 Henry Hudson explored the Hudson river
1609‐ “Starving time” in Virginia threatened survival of the colonists
1611
1619 First Black slaves arrived in Virginia
1620 Pilgrims sailed on Mayflower to America and signed the Mayflower Compact
1622 Surprise attacked by local Indians devastates Virginia.
1624 Dutch investors created permanent settlements along the Hudson River James I,
king of England, dissolved the Virginia Company.
1625 Charles I ascended the English throne.
1630 John Winthrop transferred Massachusetts Bay charter to New England.
1632 Massachusetts was founded
1634 Colony of Maryland was founded
1636 Roger Williams was exiled from Massachusetts to Rhode Island
1638 Anne Hutchinson was exiled from Massachusetts to Rhode Island
Harvard College was established
1639 Connecticut towns accepted Fundamental Orders.
1649 Charles I was executed during the English civil war
1660 Stuarts were restored to the English throne
First Navigation Act was passed by Parliament
1663 Rhode Island got a royal charter
Proprietors received charter for Carolina.
Second Navigation (Staple) Act was passed
1664 The English conquered New Amsterdam, and renamed it New York
1673 Plantation duty was imposed to close loopholes in commercial regulations.
1675 King Philip’s War devastated New England.
1676 Bacon’s Rebellion threatened Governor Berkeley’s government in Virginia.
1677 New Hampshire became a royal colony
1681 William Penn was granted a Charter to set up Pennsylvania
1684 Charter of Massachusetts Bay Company was revoked.
1685 Duke of York became James II.
1686 Dominion of New England was established.
1688 James II was driven into exile during the Glorious Revolution.
1689 Rebellions broke out in Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland.
1691 Jacob Leisler was executed.
1692 Salem Village was wracked by witch trials.
1696 Parliament established the Board of Trade.

ANDREWS, C. The Colonial Period of American History, 4 vols. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1934‐1938.

BREEN, T.H.: Puritans and Adventurers: Change and Persistence in Early America.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1980.

CRONON, W. Changes in the Land: Indian, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England.
New York: Hill and Wang, 1983.

GIPSON, L. H. The British Empire before the American Revolution. New York: Knopf,
1939–1970, 15 vols.

GREENE, J.P. and Pole, J. R. eds.: Colonial British America. Baltimore: John Hopkins,
1984.

INNES, S. Creating the Commonwealth: the Economic Culture of Puritan New
England. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1995.

JENNING, F. The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest.
New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1976.

KUPPERMAN, K. O. Captain, John Smith. A Select Edition of His Writings. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

MORGAN, E. S. The Puritan Dilemma: The Story of John Winthrop. New York:
University Press of America, 1985.

MORGAN, E. S. The Puritan Family: Religion and Domestic Relations in 17th Century
New England. New York: Harper and Row, 1966.

NASH, G. B. Quakers and Politics: Pennsylvania, 16811726. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1968.

NASH, G. B. Red, White and Black: The Peoples of North America. New York: Prentice
Hall, 2000.

RICHTER, D.l K. The Ordeal of the Longhouse: The Peoples of the Iroquois League in
the Era of European Colonization. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1992.

TAYLOR, A. American Colonies. London: Allen Lane, 2001.

UNDERDOWN, D. A Freeborn People: Politics and the Nation in SeventeenthCentury
England. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

UNSER, D. H. Jr. Indians, Settlers, and Slaves in a Frontier Exchange Economy. Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992.

VAUGHAN, A T. The New England Frontier: Puritans and Indians, 16201675.
Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma, 1995.


European Colonization and Settlement

www.americanjourneys.org
www.earlyamerica.com
www.nhc.rtp.nc.us
www.americanhistory.about.com
muse.jhu.edu

British Policy with the North American Colonies

www.sparknotes.com/history/american/prerevolution/study.html
www.uwmc.uwc.edu/history/courses/101s2.htm
www.taxanalysts.com/Museum/1756‐1776.htm ‐
www.academicamerican.com/colonial/topics/britishempire.htm
www.informaworld.com/index/794640406.pdf

North American Colonies

www.Puritan.com
www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html
www.usahistory.info/southern/North-Carolina.html
www.usahistory.info/southern/South-Carolina.html
www.foundingfathers.info/us-history/colonies/New Jersey.htlm


1. What were the goals of the Separatists who settled in Plymouth in 1620?
2. According to their leader, John Winthrop, what did the Puritans believe to
be their purpose in coming to America?
3. Why was Maryland founded? How did it differ from the Virginia colony?
4. Which was the primary motivation for emigration in the New England Colonies?
5. Why was Maryland founded? How did it differ from the Virginia colony?
6. Which colony became a refuge for dissenters from Massachusetts?
7. Which colony as a refuge for English Catholics persecuted elsewhere?
8. Which was the purpose of founding Georgia?
9. What were differences between South Carolina and North Carolina?
10. Why did social and political tensions eventually occur in the Pennsylvania
colony?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Explain the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans.
2. Explain the main reasons that intensified the colonizing impulse.
3. Write about the religious beliefs of the early Puritans who settled in New
England.
4. Identify the key beliefs and practices of the Quakers. Why can it be said that
they were the most anarchistic and democratic of all the Protestant sects?
5. List some of the major characteristics of the royal colony of Virginia.

UNIT 2

REVOLUTION, INDEPENDENCE, FORMATION AND CONSOLIDATION OF
THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC

1. REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, 17631783
1.1. British Colonial Policies and the Revolutionary Responses of Its

American Colonies

2. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

2.2. The Constitution of the United States of America

3. THE FEDERALIST ERA, 17871800


4. THE REPUBLICAN ERA, 18011828


5. THE DEMOCRATIC ERA, 18281840

CHRONOLOGY



REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SELFEVALUATION

FURTHER TASKS

1. REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD, 17631783
1.1. British Colonial Policies and the Revolutionary Responses of Its American
Colonies

The time period of 1763 to 1776 was a difficult time for Britain, in which
the policies that were designed to raise money and to maintain order in the
colonies led directly to conflict with the colonists. The British government imposed
new taxes on sugar, coffee, textiles and other imported goods in order to obtain
funds to relieve the burden of the extreme deficit the country was in after the
Seven Years’ War. By the mid‐1770s, relations between the Americans and the
British administration had become strained and bitter.

In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act, in an attempt to raise revenue in
the colonies by imposing an indirect tax on foreign imports of sugar and molasses.
The tax was strictly enforced and this made smuggling, which was widespread in
the colonies, much more dangerous and risky. Because of this, and the reduced
profit margins, many people were adversely affected. Consequently, the colonists
carried out several effective protest measures against this tax. The prime focus was
on boycotting British goods.

The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, was a direct tax on documents and articles,
whereby special stamps had to be attached to all newspapers and legal documents
created in the colonies, including pamphlets and licenses. This tax affected
practically everybody and extended British taxes to domestically produced and
consumed goods. There was a strong reaction against the tax in the colonies and
this provoked a crisis. Colonial Americans did not agree with the imposition of this
tax and thought that only their own colonial assemblies should tax them. The
Stamp Act led Americans to ask themselves about the relationship between their
colonial legislatures, which were elected bodies, and the British Parliament, in
which Americans had no elected representation. Their slogan was “No taxation
without representation.”
Many colonists began to say that only an elected legislative body held legitimate
powers of taxation and felt that tax revenues were wrong, regarding them with
suspicion. The British countered that, even in England, many people could not vote for
Members of Parliament but that all English subjects enjoyed "virtual representation" in
a Parliament that considered the interests of everyone when formulating policy.
Americans found "virtual representation" distasteful, in part because they had been
electing their domestic legislators for more than a century.

On June 6, 1765, the Massachusetts House of Representatives resolved to
propose an inter‐colonial meeting to protest against the Stamp Act, and on June 8 a
circular letter was sent to the assemblies of the other colonies to meet in October
“to consider of a general and united, dutiful, loyal and humble representation of
their condition to His Majesty and the Parliament; and to implore relief.” Then, on
October r 19, 1765, in the Stamp Act Congress, representatives from nine colonies,
which later took part in the Revolution, spoke out against the new tax. New
Hampshire, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia did not send delegates. The act
affected not only merchants and shippers but also all colonists, which proved how
effective it was. Nevertheless, most colonists refused to use the stamps, and so the
British Parliament was forced to repeal the act in 1766.
The Quartering Act of 1765 declared that it was compulsory for colonial
assemblies to shelter and supply British soldiers anywhere in the colonies. The
Quartering Act was enforced and taxes were imposed on tea and other goods.
Customs officers were sent to Boston to collect these tariffs but the Colonists
refused to pay, so British soldiers were sent to Boston. Many colonists objected to
the act and to the presence of an army in the colonies.
Britain proclaimed its true purpose of colonization in the subtle Declaratory Act
of 1766, which stated that colonial America was subordinate and existed to serve the
mercantilist policies of the parent country.
As a solution, in 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. These were taxes
on paper, paints, glass, and tea, goods imported into the colonies from Britain. After
1765, the colonists refused to accept that the British Parliament was entitled to tax them
for the purpose of raising funds. The Townshend Duties were seen as a way of raising
revenue in America without the taxpayers' consent.
The British also established a board of customs commissioners, whose purpose

was to stop colonial smuggling and the corruption of local officials involved in this
illegal trade. Boston merchants were annoyed about the new controls and helped
organize a boycott of goods subjected to the Townshend Duties. In 1768, Philadelphia
and New York joined the boycott; the protest was spreading. Consequently, the British
posted four regiments of troops in Boston to control the colonists. In March 1770, as it
was so difficult to collect the taxes, the British Parliament decided to revoke the
Townshend Duties, on everything except tea but by the time the decision of the repeal
reached the colonies, the troops and Boston workers had already clashed brutally. Five
Bostonians were killed and about a dozen were wounded. This confrontation, which
would become know as “The Boston Massacre”, was regarded as a sign of British
repression.

Taxes were removed, except the one on tea, in order to relieve tensions. The
Tea Act of 1773 gave the British East India Company a trade monopoly for tea and,
at the same time, offered tea at a lower price than Dutch and French tea. The act
seemed to benefit both parties. The colonists suspected that the act was a
concealed bribe to oblige them to acknowledge Parliament’s right to tax them. In
1773, a group of colonists decided to revolt against this tax. Disguised as Indians,
they boarded British merchant ships and tossed tea into Boston harbour. This
incident became know as the Boston Tea Party.

After that incident, Parliament punished the revolt passing the Coercive
Acts of 1774, which became known among the colonists as the Intolerable Acts.
The provisions of these acts included closing the port of Boston, restructuring the
Massachusetts government, restricting town meetings, ordering troops quartered
in Boston, ordering that British officials accused of crimes should be sent for trial
in British courts with British laws, instead of those of the colonies. In addition, the
acts also greatly reduced the colonies’ rights to self‐government. On September 5,
1774, a meeting of colonial leaders, the First Continental Congress met at
Philadelphia and urged the Americans to disobey the “Intolerable Acts” and
boycott British trade.

All the Colonies except Georgia were represented in that Congress. A
committee was appointed to draw up a declaration of rights of the colonies. John
Adams drew up that Declaration and John Sullivan wrote a list of cases in which
they had been devalued.


In April 1775, there were battles in Concord and Lexington and the war of
American Independence started. For some months before that clash at Lexington
and Concord, colonists had begun to organize militia and collect weapons and
gather ammunition, arms and powder. They had been training to fight the British if
that became necessary. The commander of British forces around Boston, General
Thomas Gage, had been cautious; he did not wish to provoke the Americans. In
April, however, Gage received orders to arrest several American leaders, rumoured
to be around Lexington. He tried to catch the colonists by surprise and thus to
avoid bloodshed. When the British arrived in Lexington, however, colonial militia
awaited them. A clash ensued. American opinion was split. Some wanted to declare
independence immediately; others wished for a reconciliation but most Americans
remained undecided.
In May 1775, a second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia and the

Colonists continued to resist. They assumed the functions of a national government
opening diplomatic relations with foreign powers. In June 1775, the Continental
Congress founded a Continental Army and appointed George Washington as
Commander. Washington's first task, when he arrived in Boston to take charge of
militia assembled there, was to create an army. It was a daunting task with a lot of
problems: recruitment, retention, training and discipline, supply, and payment for
soldiers' services were among those problems. Nevertheless, Washington realized that
to keep an army in the field was his single most important objective.
In December 1775, the British Parliament passed the Prohibitory Acts, which
declared Britain’s intention to force American colonists into submission. These acts
blockaded American trade, placing an embargo on American goods and authorizing
seizure of American ships. As a result, colonialists pushed forward a decision for
independence. However, they had to wait until July 2, 1776, for Congress to vote for
independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote a formal declaration, and it accepted on July 4,
1776.

During the first two years of the Revolutionary War, most of the fighting
between American colonists and the British took place in the North. At first, the
British generally had their way because of their far superior sea power. Despite
Washington’s victories at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, in late 1776 and
early 1777, the British still retained the initiative. The British captured New York
City in September 1776 but they were forced to leave Boston in March 1776 and in
1777, Philadelphia. Indeed, had British efforts been better coordinated, they
probably could have put down the rebellion in 1777. But they did not manage to do
this. In October 1777, the British army surrendered at the Battle of Saratoga, New
York. That was a significant victory for the American forces because it persuaded
France to sign treaties of alliance and commerce with the United States. In 1778, a
French‐American alliance was signed and this marked the turning point of the war.
The year 1781 was significant for the American Revolution. The beginning of
the year witnessed the state of American morale during the Revolution. "The people are
discontented," George Washington wrote to John Laurens in early 1781, "but it is with
the feeble and oppressive mode of conducting the war, not with the war itself." Indeed,
Washington now believed that it was critical for the United States and its French allies
to achieve an important military victory in 1781 and it happened. The British troops
surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia and the British government asked for peace.
Yorktown was a signal victory.
To Washington, Yorktown was “an important victory” and “a glorious event,”

but he worried that the victory at Yorktown might distract the Americans from
continuing with the war. For nearly two more years, Washington would continue his
efforts to maintain military preparations and keep the Continental at the ready. Between
1778 and 1781, British military operations focused on the South because the British
assumed that a large percentage of Southerners were loyalists who could help them
subdue the American colonists. The British were successful in most conventional battles
fought in that region; especially in areas close to their points of supply on the Atlantic
coast. Even so, American generals Nathaniel Greene and Daniel Morgan turned to
guerrilla and hit-and-run warfare, which eventually stymied the British. By 1781,
British General Lord Charles Cornwallis was ordered to march into Virginia to wait
near Chesapeake Bay. The Americans and their French allies pounced on Cornwallis
and forced his surrender.
Meanwhile, peace talks between British and American diplomats got underway
in Paris in May 1782 and continued into the fall. In September, the American
negotiators (John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin) discovered that the French
foreign minister had sent his secretary on a secret trip to London. Now convinced of
French duplicity, Jay, Adams, and Franklin let the British know that they were willing
to negotiate unilaterally, that is to say, without French interference. After two months of
difficult negotiations, the British and American diplomats signed the Preliminary
Articles of Peace on November 30, 1782.

Until the definitive peace treaty was signed in 1783, the United States was
still at war. British and French fleets continued to fight on the high seas and in the
Caribbean, but no land actions took place on the North American continent. The
Continental Army was kept intact; ready to fight if it were necessary, in case the
peace talks broke down. At this point, the greatest danger to the Revolution was
the officers of the Continental Army. However, there were problems with officers
encamped at Newburgh, New York, who sent a declaration to Congress concerning
the pay issue. Washington solved the problem by using his personal prestige and
by continuing to lobby Congress on behalf of his officers.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, recognized the independence of the
United States and fixed for the nation all the territory North of Florida, South of
Canada and East of the Mississippi River.

2. AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE


The Declaration of Independence is a state document and is considered to
the basis of American political beliefs. On July 4, 1776, Congress adopted the
Declaration of Independence, which stated that the “United States Colonies ought
to be Free and Independent States.”
The intellects behind the Declaration of Independence were Thomas Jefferson,

John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Jefferson prepared a first draft of it, and
the committee accepted it, with some alterations suggested by John Adams and
Benjamin Franklin. Thomas Jefferson echoed his friend George Mason who wrote in
the Virginia Bill of Rights (1775) that “all men are by nature equally, free and
independent” and John Locke, who had written that the basic reason of government is to
guarantee life, liberty, and property.
At the insistence of the Continental Congress there was a need to prepare a

document to substitute the Confederate legislation that favoured local state governments
at the expense of the central government. The document was to provide a foundation on
which laws could be formed. The intention of the Declaration according to Jefferson
was “to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and
firm as to command their assent… Neither at originality of principles or sentiments, nor
yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression
of the American mind.”

A document that was really influential in appealing for independence was
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, a political pamphlet that appeared early on
January 10, 1776. Paine, the primary propagandist for the American Revolution,
summed up his own arguments as follows: “The principal arguments in support of
independence may be comprehended under the four following heads: 1st, the
natural right of the continent to independence; 2nd, Her interest in being
independent; 3rd, the necessity; and 4th, the moral advantages arising there from.”
The Declaration presented a public defence of the American Revolution and the
main idea was freedom and independence. These are the most important factors of all
that have been present throughout the history of the United States. The Declaration of
Independence had a religious and moral tone, stating that they represented the people of
the colonies with the support of the Supreme Judge of the World: God.

The United States broke from Britain commercially and politically. Their
independence allowed them the right to trade with whomever they wanted.
However, the United States did continue to trade with Britain despite the break,
and relations between the two countries flourished.

The whole text sounds very promising and positive but it was for white
Americans. No consideration was made for the Blacks or the Native Indians. A
passage indicting the slave trade was removed due to the pressure of Southern
delegates at the Continental Congress. Jefferson had written at that time that the
slave trade “was struck out in compliance with South Carolina and Georgia, who
had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who still wished to
continue it. “Our Northern brethren also I believe felt a little tender under those
censures, for tho’ their people have very few slaves themselves yet they have been
pretty considerable carriers of them to others.” Although Jefferson was a slave
owner he did not agree with slave trade and thought that it was cruel.

Finally, the Declaration of Independence is one of the key documents of American
history. It not only justified the independence of American colonies but also put
together a number of reasons justifying independence for other countries in other
historic moments. It also showed philosophical ideas like Natural Rights in such a
way that it has become a source of inspiration for future generations.

2.2. The Constitution of the United States of America, 1787

Since 1781, the Articles of Confederation, a constitution that set up a very
weak central government that could not make laws or raise taxes, governed the
thirteen colonies. The Articles of Confederation had been introduced by the explicit
statement that the authority of that document was derived from sovereign states.
The Articles of Confederation had not measured up to the exigencies of the union.

In May 1787, a convention it took place in Philadelphia to revise the Articles
of Confederation. Fifty‐five delegates from twelve states met there to draft a new
Constitution. Among the intellects behind it, there were George Washington,
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. This Constitution established the
principle of a balance of power among the three branches of government,
legislative, executive and judicial. It gave executive power to an elected president
and provided for a Supreme Court and lesser federal courts. It established a strong
federal government that could collect taxes, conduct diplomacy, keep armed
forces, and regulate commerce among the states and foreign trade.

At the beginning, however, Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph presented
a plan prepared by James Madison for the design of an entirely new national
government. The proposed plan would lead to a four‐month process of argument,
debate, compromise, and the development of the Constitution of the United States.

The Committee of Five in the Philadelphia Convention reported the first
draft of the Constitution of the United States of America on August 6, 1787. The
Committee revised and rewrote the document and gave it its final form on August
8. On September 17, 1787, the final draft of the new Constitution was read to the
42 delegates still at the convention. Of the 42 men present, 39 affixed their
signatures to the document and notified the Confederation Congress that their
work was finished. The Congress, in turn, submitted the document to the states for
ratification, where more argument, debate, and compromise would take place. The
state of Delaware was the first to ratify the Constitution. On June 21, 1788, just
nine months after the state ratification process had begun, New Hampshire
became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, and the Constitution went into
effect.

The Preamble has been invoked very frequently since it makes clear that
establishes a federal system, in which the People in their sovereign capacity
delegated certain powers to the national government and other powers to the
states. The Preamble consists of two parts: the first part defines the source of
authority from which the Constitution is derived; the second part designates the
objectives of the Constitution and reflects the fears of the Committee who designed
it since it is stated that “a more perfect union” is desirable. That meant that the
Articles of Confederation had not reached the expectation of the union.

Later, in 1791, The Bill of Rights was approved. It constituted the first ten
amendments of the Constitution. They guaranteed individual rights but not state
rights. The Constitution was accepted in 1788. However, in 1791 ten amendments,
the Bill of Rights, were added to the Constitution to ensure individual liberties. The
amendments guaranteed freedom of religion, a free press, and free speech, the
right to bear arms, the right to a fair trial by jury, protection against illegal house
searches and protection against “cruel and unusual punishments”.

The Constitution and the Bill of Rights collided with a balance between two
essential aspects of American politics: the need for a strong central authority and
the need to guarantee individual liberties. American’s first two political parties
defended these different ideological positions. Whereas the Federalists favoured a
strong president and central government the Republicans defended the rights of
individual states.

In the two centuries since the ratification of the Constitution, many changes
have been made to the Constitution. However, the basic premises on which the
Constitution was framed, the protection of individual rights and liberties, limited
government with separation of powers and checks and balances, the federal
system, and judicial review remain at the heart of the document.

Historians of the early period and practically up to the end of the 19th
century maintain that the Constitution is the culmination of a revolution and that it
symbolizes the victory of democratic ideas over tyranny and the consolidation of
the United States as such, as a nation. The Constitution fell into disgrace and was
combated in the early part of the 20th century and was interpreted as a counter‐
revolution, as the victory of propertied educated privileged people. In the twenty
first century, the main trend is to go back to the tradition.

3. THE FEDERALIST ERA, 17871800


During the pre‐Revolutionary and revolutionary period there were two
groups of people, Loyalists, defenders of the British interests, and Patriots,
defenders of American interests. During the Confederation, the Federalists
emerged, who were in favour of a strong national government, and were
conservative, and the Anti federalists or State righter, who defended the rights of
the state.

After 1790, the problems which arose were fiscal, economic, and foreign
affairs, and were going to be definitive for the establishment of two political
parties: the Federalist Party whose leader was Alexander Hamilton, and the
Democratic Republican Party, also called the Jeffersonian Republican Party. The
Federalists would eventually disappear and the Democratic Republican Party
would split into what we call today the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.

The Federalist party was headed by Alexander Hamilton. Founders of this
party were John Jay and James Madison. George Washington did not initially
belong to any of the two parties but eventually declared his preference for the
Federalist Party.

According to the Federalist ideas, the government should be based on the
principle of government by the best people for the best people. The idea of rule by
the best in the Federalist party was understood as a secular principle but it has its
roots in the Puritan ideal of the city upon a hill, that is, the world was to be ruled
by the best, by the saints. Federalists were committed to following: a strong central
government, opposed to state jurisdiction, and to the keeping of law and order.
They were in favour of a restriction of state and individual rights, were committed
to business, were pro‐tariff, conservative in social and cultural issues, and pro‐
British.

On the other hand, the Democratic Republican Party, the Jeffersonians, were
in favour of a weak central government. Therefore, they defended a high degree of
state autonomy and considered that central government should be closely
controlled by the people. The term ‘people’ refers to a select group of educated
people. Jeffersonians were against any government intervention in economy.


The first President of the United States was George Washington, a Federalist
who favoured a strong central government. He vindicated the independence of
Presidential office. He was born in 1732 and belonged to a Virginia planter family.
He had two main interests: military arts and western expansion. In 1754, he fought
the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War.
From 1759 to the outburst of the American Revolution, Washington managed

his plantation around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and troubled by British
regulations. Thus, he put up resistance to the restrictions.
In May 1775, when the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia,

Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the
Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of
his troops to embark upon the War of Independence. Finally in 1781, he forced the
surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
When he realized of the weak points of the Articles of Confederation, he became

a leader in the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new
Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington
President. OK
Washington understood that a president needed a cabinet and established three

government departments; the Treasury, War and State.
As President, one of Washington’s main concerns was foreign policy. In foreign

affairs, he warned against long-term alliances. In the war between France and England,
he wanted the United States to be neutral, refusing to accept the recommendations of
either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of
the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British.
The main problem for the new government was trying to stabilize the economy.
For this reason Hamilton introduced a number of different taxes. The first important tax
that was approved was the Tariff in 1789, firmly pushed by Hamilton and supported by
Washington. The tariff was meant to protect American industry against foreign imports.
It was introduced with the firm intention to induce republicans to pay federal taxes, and
to create federal employment. The tariff was criticized by the Federalists because they
thought it was too low and the Republicans wanted it o disappear or to be as low as
possible.
Another important measure of Hamilton’s was the Bank. This was not only a
financial measure but also something intimately connected with the consolidation of
unity. He modelled a national bank on the bank of England, though the major
stockholder would be the federal government. The Bank was criticized by the
Republicans who thought that it would be a monopoly, and they were against
monopolies. Besides, they were afraid of a threat to individual liberties. Farmers were
against it because thy disliked strong banks, monopolies and strong currency.
Washington asked Jefferson and Hamilton to put their opinion in writing and the two
documents then became the foundation for two conflicting contradictory interpretations
of the Constitution. These are: the strict interpretation by Jefferson and the broad
interpretation by Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton pointed to the elastic clause and this
was the beginning of gradually extending the umbrella power of the federal
government. Washington accepted the use of the elastic clause and this set a precedent.
In 1793, came the end of Washington’s first term as president and he himself
wanted to retire, but it seemed that the continued stability depended on him and he was
persuade to continue. Later on, however, Washington became exhausted so he took the
decision to retire, although there was no legal obligation. It was not until 1952 that the
Presidential term was limited by a law, after the long stay in power of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt.
Although Washington proved to be personally popular and respected, conflict

over the proper functions and locus of governmental power dominated his two terms as
president. These disputes soon led to the formation of factions and then by the end of
his first term, two parties were developing. These political parties were deeply divided
over the nature and purposes of the federal government, over foreign affairs, and over
the very future of the new nation. Events during the single term of John Adams made
these divisions even worse and they continued into the presidency of Thomas Jefferson
(1801-1809).

In 1797, John Adams, another Federalist president, succeeded George
Washington. Hamilton had thought of the presidency for himself but he was not
accepted because he was very unpopular, and he separated from Federalists. This
caused a weakening of support for Adams although he won the presidency. Adams
was more remarkable as a political philosopher than as a politician. He was born in
the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1735.

Adams inherited a difficult political situation because there were still many
internal and international problems. When he became President, the war between
the French and the British was causing trouble for the United States on the high
seas. During his presidential period, the Alien and Sedition Acts were approved in
1798, aimed at controlling the immigrant flow into the United States. President
Adams did not call for a declaration of war, but hostilities began at sea. At first,
American shipping was almost defenceless against French privateers, but by 1800
armed merchantmen and U.S. warships were clearing the sea‐lanes.
Long negotiations ended the quasi war. Sending a peace mission to France
brought the anger of the Hamiltonians against Adams. In the campaign of 1800 the
Republicans were united and effective, the Federalists badly divided. Nevertheless,
Adams polled only a few less electoral votes than Jefferson, who became President. OK

4. THE REPUBLICAN ERA, 18011828


The beginning of the 19th century coincides with the beginning of the
Republican era under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson. In 1801, Thomas
Jefferson, was elected president. He exercised his presidential power vigorously.
Jefferson inaugurated Washington D.C. as the new capital of the nation. Under the
Confederacy and the Federalists the capital had been New York and then
Philadelphia.

The beginning of Jefferson’s presidency was marked by a conciliatory tone.
In his inaugural speech, he tried to emphasize that he was not a party man. He said
“We are all republicans, we are all Federalists.” With this he meant that no matter
what ideology they all had, all of them were Americans.

Jefferson moderately pushed out a few Federalists office‐holders and
replaced them with Republicans. Another innovation was that Jefferson
inaugurated the habit of sending his messages to Congress in writing. Another
aspect of Jefferson was his antimilitarism. He tried to economize and reduce the
armed forces, the navy and the army. Jefferson’s main support came from the
western and southern agrarian population.

A main characteristic of Jefferson’s presidency was inconsistency, since his
policy contradicted his theories. In certain things he fulfilled his party’s ideas: for
example he introduced changes concerning the Alien and Sedition Act. The
Government also retained fines and the Republican Party changed the period of
residence for foreigners necessary in order to have the right to vote, from 15 to 5
years. He also repealed the whisky Excise, and kept a tight rein on the budget.
However, we can see examples of inconsistency in the fact that The National Bank
Continued to exist. Jefferson did not interfere with the tariff, which was
maintained.

He was born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia, inheriting from his
father, a planter and surveyor, some 5,000 acres of land, and from his mother, who
was a Randolph, a high social standing. He studied at the College of William and
Mary, and then read law. In 1772 he married Martha Wayles Skelton, a widow, and
took her to live in his partially constructed mountaintop home, Monticello. He
thought that Indians could merge with whites and that they were equal to whites
in intelligence but in the case of blacks, although he believed that slave trade was
immoral, he had slaves and disliked the idea of race mixing between whites and
blacks.
Jefferson was eloquent, but he was no public speaker. In the Virginia House of
Burgesses and the Continental Congress, he contributed his pen rather than his voice to
the patriot cause. As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the
Declaration of Independence. In the following years he laboured to make its words a
reality in Virginia. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted
in 1786.
Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His

sympathy for the French Revolution led him into conflict with Alexander Hamilton
when Jefferson was Secretary of State in President Washington's Cabinet. He resigned
in 1793.
There was a sharp political conflict and two separate parties, the Federalists and
the Democratic-Republicans, began to form. Jefferson gradually assumed leadership of
the Republicans, who sympathized with the revolutionary cause in France. Attacking
Federalist policies, he opposed a strong centralized Government and championed the
rights of states.
A candidate for President in 1796, Jefferson came within three votes of election.
Through a flaw in the Constitution, he became Vice President, although an opponent of
President Adams. In 1800 the defect caused a more serious problem. Republican
electors, attempting to name both a President and a Vice President from their own party,
cast a tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives settled
the tie. Hamilton, disliking both Jefferson and Burr, nevertheless urged for the election
of Jefferson.

When Jefferson assumed the Presidency, the crisis in France was over. He
cut the budget, reduced the national debt, eliminated the tax on whisky and
slashed Army and Navy expenditures. During his second term, he tried not to
involve the United States in the Napoleonic wars.
He also sent a naval squadron to fight the Barbary pirates, who were harassing
American commerce in the Mediterranean. Further, in 1803, he bought Louisiana from
France, although the Constitution made no provision for the acquisition of land.
President Jefferson nearly doubled the size of the new nation by purchasing the
Louisiana Territory from France.
Jefferson was re-elected in 1804. During Jefferson's second term, international

affairs became very important. He was increasingly preoccupied with keeping the
Nation from involvement in the Napoleonic wars, though both England and France
interfered with the neutral rights of American merchantmen. Jefferson's attempted a
solution, an embargo, which aimed at stopping American exports. He passed the
Embargo Act in 1807 and there was a lot of criticism of this policy. Jefferson retired to
Monticello where he died on July 4, 1826.
After winning their independence, Americans continued to experiment with how

to govern themselves under the Articles of Confederation. Over time, some influential
groups found the Confederation government inadequate. Representatives of these
groups came together in Philadelphia to explore the creation of another form of
government. The result was a new constitution. Not all Americans embraced this new
Constitution, however, and ratification of the document produced many disagreements.
Even so, the Constitution was ratified, and with a new constitution in place, Americans
once again turned to George Washington for leadership, this time as President of the
new republic. After Jefferson, the next president was also a Republican named Madison,
who originally was a Federalist. Madison decided to end the embargo; he repealed the
Embargo Act and passed the Non-Intercourse Act, which prohibited intercourse with
Great Britain or France.
The northeastern shippers of the United States were interested in trading, and
they did it either legally or illegally, which was a cause of friction. Apart from the
irritations in shipping, the hostility towards Great Britain, and the attitude towards
France, there was also Canada and Florida; so there was an upsurge of public opinion
about going to war.
In 1812 the United States declared war against Great Britain. However, this
created a division in public opinion, because the northeastern Federalists were pro
British. The War of 1812 was an economic conflict based on the concept of freedom of
the seas. Great Britain wanted to control a large area of the North Atlantic Ocean, to
prevent the United States from trading freely with Europe. After a series of diplomatic
approaches, the whole situation was about to collapse the American economy, which
mainly was based on foreign trade. Without free trade overseas, the United States could
not exist as a free and independent state. Therefore, the United States declared war on
Great Britain.
Jefferson's successor as President, James Madison (1809-1817), one of authors

of the constitution, led the new nation through the War of 1812 with Great Britain.
Thus, in 1812, President James Madison went to war with Britain because the British
warships besieged American ships. The country was divided: the South and the West
were in favour of the war but the states from New Jersey northward were against it.
Besides, the country was not prepared for this war and the federal government had great
difficulties financing it.

During this war, The British Navy blockaded American ports destroying
American commerce, although American warships had some victories, which were
widely celebrated on the American side. Canada was the stage of the war and
North American forces tried to invade this territory although, on some occasions,
they were expelled by the British army.

Great Britain was worried about the struggle in Europe but in 1814, after
defeating Napoleon, Britain invaded the United States, seizing Washington D.C. In
December 1814, Britain and the United States agreed on a compromise peace since
neither wanted to carry on with the war. The consequences of this treaty were that
the border lines were restored to their former position and that Canada made clear
that it would stay within the British rule for as long as it pleased.

Although the peace was signed in 1814, when the Treaty of Gante was
signed, combats continued around New Orleans, since the news did not arrive until
a few weeks later. One of the military outstanding figures that came out of that
battle was General Andrew Jackson, who later became a Democrat President.

The War of 1812 has also been called the Second War of Independence. It
was not big war in the military sense but emotionally and psychologically this
battle played a very important role: the Unites States could take its place in the
international concert of powers. OK

James Monroe was the third Republican president (1816‐24). He was
elected in 1816. In his annual address to the Congress he included the famous
Monroe Doctrine which was made up of two principles: non‐colonization, which
states that no part of America ‐ not just the United States ‐ was open to
colonization, and Non‐Intervention in republican governments that states that the
United States will not tolerate any European interference in the American
Republics. (Read Document nº 6 of the Appendix. American Documents: James
Monroe. The Monroe Doctrine). The Monroe Doctrine became famous because
many years later it was invoked and used to justify American foreign policy.
As far as economic policy as concerned, one of the main problems was the tariff
which was considerably increased in 1816 and became a definitively protective tariff; it
was intended to protect American domestic industry against foreign industry.

5. THE DEMOCRATIC ERA, 18281840

The Democratic Party began to emerge in the 1820s and its emergence is a
consequence of the acquisition of the new western territories and the increasing
practical freedom and equality of American society on the frontier. In this
development of democracy, we can see the development of universal suffrage. Very
quickly universal manhood suffrage was extended to other states, particularly the
western states, because of the lack of the sense of aristocracy. Universal manhood
suffrage did not include women, who clamoured this right, as we can see in the
Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolution in 1848.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president, becoming the seventh
president of the United States. Jackson was not very innovative politically, but as
he became president he gradually began to respond to the democratic trend of the
nation. So, eventually, his presidency symbolized the new democracy in the sense
that this was a new democratic period. He introduced the concept of meritocracy
as opposed to previous aristocracy. It is the beginning of a truly democratic
attitude towards apolitis.

He frequently ignored the Supreme Court so in this sense, he was the first
president to increase the power of the executive.

The most important issues that appeared under Jackson’s presidency were
the Tariff and land policy that caused the Nullification Crisis (1828‐1833), the most
important precedent of the Civil War. The tariff was considered a great
disadvantage to southerners and westerns and highly protective to north‐
easterners. This led to Calhoun’s South Carolina Exposition in 1828, which is a
document that proclaims the theory that the Union was made up of states and
although there is a central legislative body, if that body passes damaging laws
damaging southerner’s interests, those states could secede.

As regards land policy, in 1829, a northeast senator, Foot, from Connecticut
introduced a bill to limit the sale of the public lands in the west; the main reason
was that the north‐easterners were not interested in the easy cheap sale of
western lands. The main answer to Foot’s proposition came from South Carolina.
On the other hand, a famous orator Daniel Webster made a speech in 1830 in
which the concluding line was “liberty and union now and forever, one and
inseparable”. In 1832, there were state elections in South Carolina and this state
passed the South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification. This ordinance declared the
Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 as null and void, non‐valid, that it was prohibited to
collect the duties in South Carolina after February 1st, 1833 and it threatened
secession from the Union if the federal government tried to use force to impose the
tariff.

The answer that came immediately from Jackson was his rejection of the
possibility of nullification. Although he sympathized with the west and the south,
he would defend the Union. He stated clearly that secession was not possible
without a civil war. In 1833 the Congress passed the Force Bill, which gave the
President the power to use the army and the navy against the rebels in South
Carolina. At this critical moment, Henry Clay suggested a compromise by which the
tariff would be gradually reduced. This suggestion diffused the issue and South
Carolina Legislature repealed the 1832 ordinance. This was not a definitive
solution and at the time of the Civil War, the first state to secede was South
Carolina. Other key issues were: the Bank, Indian Policy, the presidential election
of 1832 and also internal improvements.

There were not very important international conflicts and so there was a
great emphasis on the expansion towards the west. The United States, after 1815,
definitively stopped looking at Europe and started looking forwards and
westwards: territorial expansionism, vitality, development of industries, and
exploitation of natural resources. This is also reflected in literature, it as then that
the United States began its search for cultural identity. A school of American
landscape painting developed in order to separate themselves from European
artists and to identify themselves with their land.

Andrew Jackson was born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas, the
Wax haws area near the border between North and South Carolina on March 15,
1767. He was the third child and third son of Scots‐Irish parents.
When the Declaration of Independence was signed, Andrew Jackson was nine
years old and at thirteen he joined the Continental Army as a courier. He and his brother
Robert were taken prisoner for a few weeks in April 1781. While they were captives a
British officer ordered them to clean his boots. The boys refused, the officer struck them
with his sword and Andrew's hand was cut. Because of this, Jackson would feel
resentment towards the British until his death. Both brothers contracted smallpox during
their imprisonment and Robert died within days of their release. Later that year, his
mother fell ill and died. Andrew found himself an orphan and an only child at fourteen.
Jackson received sporadic education, but in 1784, when he was seventeen, he

went to Salisbury, North Carolina where he studied law for several years. He was
admitted to the North Carolina Bar in September 1787 and the following spring began
his public career with an appointment as prosecuting officer for the Superior Court in
Nashville, Tennessee, which at that time was a part of the Western District of North
Carolina.
In June 1796, Tennessee was separated from North Carolina and admitted to the
Union as the sixteenth state. Jackson was soon afterward elected the new state's first
congressman. The following year, the Tennessee legislature elected him a U.S. senator,
but he held his senatorial seat for only one session before resigning. After his
resignation Jackson came home and served for six years as a judge on the Tennessee
Supreme Court.
Jackson's military career, which had begun in the Revolution, continued in 1802
when he was elected major general of the Tennessee militia. Ten years later Tennessee
Governor Willie Blount (of the North Carolina Blount family) gave him the rank of
major general of U.S. forces. In 1814, after several devastating campaigns against
Americans Indians in the Creek War, he was finally promoted to major general in the
regular army. Jackson also later led troops during the First Seminole War in Florida.
Jackson was a popular hero, whereas the other presidents had belonged to the
elite. He was known as the “champion of the common man”. General Jackson emerged
a national hero from the War of 1812, primarily because of his decisive defeat of the
British at the Battle of New Orleans. It was during this period that he earned his
nickname of “Old Hickory.” Jackson had been ordered to march his Tennessee troops to
Natchez, Mississippi. When he got there he was told to disband his men because they
were unneeded. General Jackson refused and marched them back to Tennessee. Because
of his strict discipline on that march his men began to say he was as tough as hickory.
Jackson prospered satisfactorily to buy slaves and to build a mansion, the Hermitage,
near Nashville. He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of
Representatives, and he served briefly in the Senate.
As we have mentioned, in 1824, Jackson was a military hero of the war of 1812
against Great Britain and was popular although he lost those elections. Jacksonians
often referred to the 1824 election as the “Stolen Election” because while Jackson swept
the popular vote hands down, he did not have enough electoral votes to automatically
win the presidency. Therefore the election had to be decided by the House of
Representatives.
Jackson's opponents were Henry Clay of Kentucky, John Quincy Adams of

Massachusetts, and William H. Crawford of Georgia, who were, respectively, speaker
of the house, secretary of state, and secretary of the treasury. Adams was horrified at the
thought of Jackson becoming president. The patrician New Englander thought this
parvenu from the west was a badly educated bumpkin with little preparation for high
office. Because Clay's opinion of Jackson was similar, the Kentuckian threw his support
to Adams on the first ballot and Adams was elected. Jackson never forgave either one of
them, especially after Adams named Clay his secretary of state in what seemed to be a
payoff for Clay's votes.
Jackson was not really the typical frontiersman, since he was mainly a man of
the East in his background formation. He became a great landowner and then became
interested in military techniques and strategies. But for the people, he represented
national pride and glory and the common people. He proved that a man born in a log
cabin was able to become the President of the United States.
In the years leading up to the 1828 election Jackson and his followers
continually criticized the Adams administration. Jackson took the position that he was
the people's candidate and never lost an opportunity to point out that the people's choice
in 1824 had been ignored by the elite. More than any of his predecessors, Andrew
Jackson was elected by popular vote; as President he sought to act as the direct
representative of the common man. This method proved successful and Jackson
defeated Adams in the 1828 election and four years later, defeated Henry Clay in the
election of 1832.
In 1824 some state political factions rallied around Jackson; by 1828 enough had
joined “Old Hickory” to win numerous state elections and control of the Federal
administration in Washington.
He was supported in the South, in the North and West by those who were
disillusioned with Clay and Adams. However, he did not get a majority and the House
of Representatives chose Adams, who in spite of his integrity was an unskilled
politician. Jackson was very eloquent in his public statement in spite of having little
formal education. He won the elections in 1828 and was supported by key political
leaders such as Vice-president Calhoun, Senator Martin Van Buren, and the Kentucky
editors, Francis P. Blair and Amous Kendall, who laid the foundation of the Democratic
Party.
This new Democratic Party promoted a creed of popular democracy and put
great emphasis on Jackson’ image and personality. Although Jackson owned land
and slaves, he appealed to the humble members of society. This stood him in good
stead to achieve a victory in the elections. His supporters were in favour of states’
rights and limited government as against the nationalism of John Quincy Adams
and Henry Clay.
In his first Annual Message to Congress, Andrew Jackson recommended

eliminating the Electoral College. He also tried to democratise Federal office holding.
He openly endorsed the regular change of officeholders. Decrying officeholders who
seemed to enjoy life tenure, he believed Government duties could be so clear and simple
that offices should rotate among deserving applicants. He consulted his cabinet but he
also had some advisers called the “Kitchen cabinet”. During his first administration, he
even reshuffled his cabinet.

Jackson had a strong personality and revolutionised the presidential office.
He sustained the Hamiltonian conception of Presidency and not only revived the
debate of the powers of the President but also transformed the conception of the
strong president into an instrument of the people. He defended the people’s rights
against whatever body might threaten them. Therefore, he was a ruler with a
strong authority, he subdued the Cabinet and the executive branch, he expanded
presidential powers of control in Congress, he set his own interpretation of the
Constitution and he made it impossible for sovereign states to nullify federal
legislation.

However, one of the worst signs of that authoritarianism was the Indian
Removal Act of 1835. All the Indians, whether they were peaceful or not, whether
they worked the land or were nomadic, were made leave their lands West of the
Mississippi. This way, Jackson made land available to western settlers by forcing
Indian tribes to move. He even ordered the army to evict them.
As national politics polarized around Jackson and his opposition, two parties
grew out of the old Republican Party, the Democratic Republicans, or Democrats, who
supported Jackson; and the National Republicans, or Whigs, who opposed him. For
example, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and other Whig leaders proclaimed themselves
defenders of popular liberties against the usurpation of Jackson. Hostile cartoonists
portrayed him as King Andrew I. Behind their accusations lay the fact that Jackson,
unlike previous Presidents, did not defer to Congress in policy-making but used his
power of the veto and his party leadership to assume command.
One of the most important controversies was aroused by Jackson’s attack on the
power of the Bank of the United States, which brought him powerful opposition and led
to another party being created, the Whigs. A great party battle centred around the Bank.
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, who had acted as attorneys for the Bank, led the fight
for its recharter in Congress but Jackson vetoed the recharter Bill.

When he came into office, he had suspicions about banking, thinking that
some branches had helped his opponent in the election, and decided to reduce the
Bank’s power, as he stated in his messages of 1829 and 1830. Jackson said that the
Bank was unconstitutional and he broke the power of the Bank of the United
States. After winning the election of 1832, he went after the Bank. He not only
prevented it from getting a new charter but also determined to remove federal
deposits from the Bank.

Jackson also opposed fiscal policies that were developed in Congress. The
Senate, led by Henry Clay, approved a motion of censure, charging him with
exceeding his constitutional authority. However, Jackson’s supporters in the House
blocked that action.
Another controversial problem occurred when John C. Calhoun, leader of forces

trying to rid themselves of a high protective tariff, challenged Jackson. When South
Carolina undertook to nullify the tariff, Jackson ordered armed forces to Charleston and
privately threatened to hang Calhoun. Violence seemed imminent until Henry Clay
negotiated a compromise: tariffs were lowered and South Carolina dropped
nullification.
Jackson’s views won approval from the American electorate; in 1832 he polled
more than 56 percent of the popular vote and almost five times as many electoral votes
as Henry Clay. In January 1832, while the President was dining with friends at the
White House, someone whispered to him that the Senate had rejected the nomination of
Martin Van Buren as Minister to England. This fact angered Jackson who fought
against it.
Jackson's health was never good and there were times during his presidency
when it seemed he would not live to complete his term. But complete it he did and in
1837 retired to his home near Nashville, which he and his wife, Rachel, had named The
Hermitage. When the Hermitage was first built, it was little more than a small cabin, but
by Jackson's retirement it had been expanded, remodelled, and rebuilt into a spacious
plantation house.
Jackson remained a force in politics in his latter years. For example it was very
much Jackson's behind the scenes manoeuvring which secured the presidency for his
successor Martin Van Buren and in 1840, he actively campaigned for Van Buren in Van
Buren's unsuccessful candidacy for re-election. Jackson also worked for the annexation
of Texas and remained loyal to future President James K. Polk. Polk had been one of
Jackson's strongest supporters in Congress as Chairman of the House Ways and Means
Committee. In his last few years, Jackson's health deteriorated badly and he died at the
Hermitage on June 8, 1845. Van Buren became Vice President, and succeeded to the
Presidency when "Old Hickory" retired to the Hermitage, where he died in June 1845.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table

1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act to collect American revenue (April).
1765 Stamp Act received support of the House of Commons (March)
Stamp Act Congress met in New York City (October)
Sons of Liberty organized
1766 Stamp Act was repealed the same day as the Declaratory Act becomes law (March
18)
1767 Townshend Revenue Acts stirred American anger (June‐July)
1768 Massachusetts assembly refused to rescind circular letter (February)
1770 British troops “massacre” Boston civilians (March)
Parliament repealed all Townshend duties except the duty on tea (March)
1772 Samuel Adams formed committee of correspondence (October‐November)
1773 Lord North`s government passed the Tea Act (May). Bostonians hold the Tea
Party (December)
1774 Parliament punished Boston with the Coercive Acts (March-June)
First Continental Congress convenes (September)
1775 Patriots took a stand at Lexington and Concord (April)
Second Continental Congress gathers (May)
Americans hold their own at Bunker Hill (June)
1776 Congress voted for independence
Declaration of Independence was signed (July)
British defeated Washington off Long Island (August)
Americans scored a victory at Trenton (December)
Second Continental Congress authorized colonies to create republican
governments. Eight states drafted new constitutions; two others already enjoyed
republican government by virtue of former colonial charters
1777 Congress accepted Articles of Confederation after long debate.
Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga (October)
Articles of Confederation were drafted
1778 French treaties recognized independence of the United States (February)
1780 British took Charles Town (May), later renamed Charleston
Massachusetts ratified state constitution
1781 Washington forced Cornwallis to surrender at Yorktown (October)
Articles of Confederation were ratified
States ratified Articles of Confederation following settlements of Virginia`s

western land claims. British army surrendered at Yorktown.
1782 States failed to ratify proposed impost tax.
1783 Peace treaty was signed (September)
British evacuated New York City (November)
Newburgh Conspiracy thwarted Treaty of Peace signed with Great Britain.
1785 Land Ordinance for Northwest Territory was passed by Congress.
1786 Jay-Gardoqui negotiations over Mississippi navigation angered southern states.
Annapolis Convention suggested second meeting to revise the Articles of
Confederation. Shays`s Rebellion frightened American leaders.
1787 Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia
Northwest Ordinance was passed by Congress; restructured territorial government
1787-Federal Constitution was ratified by all states except North Carolina and
1788 Rhode Island
1791 Bill of Rights (first ten amendments of the Constitution) was ratified by
states
1801 Thomas Jefferson is elected president
Adams made “midnight” appointments of federal judges (March)
1802 Judiciary Act was repealed (March)
1803 Chief Justice John Marshall ruled on Marbury versus Madison, setting precedent
for judicial review (February)
Louisiana Purchase was concluded with France (May)
1804‐Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest
1806
1804 Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel (July)
Jefferson was elected to a second term (November)
1805 Justice Samuel Chase was acquitted by the Senate (March)
1807 American warship Chesapeake was fired on by the British Leopard (June)
Burr was tried for conspiracy (August-September)
Embargo Act was passed (December
1808 Slave trade was ended (January)
Madison is elected president (November)
1809 Embargo is repealed; Non‐Intercourse Act is passed (March)
1810 Macon`s Bill Number Two reestablished trade with Britain and France (May)
1811 Harrison defeated Indians at Tippecanoe (November)
1812‐War of 1812
1814 War was declared against Great Britain (June)
Madison was elected to a second term, defeating De Witt Clinton of New York
Massachusetts ratified state constitution
1813 Perry destroyed the British fleet at Put-in Bay (September). Harrison won again at
Thames River (October).
1814 Jackson crushed Creek Indians at Horseshoe Bend (March)
British burnt Washington, D.C. (August)
Americans turned back the British at Plattsburg (September)
Hartford Convention Hartford Convention met to recommend constitutional
changes (December)
Treaty of Ghent ended War of 1812 (December).
1815 Jackson routed the British at New Orleans (January).
1801 Massive revival was held at Cane Ridge, Kentucky
1813 Boston Manufacturing Company founded cotton mill at Waltham,

Massachusetts
1815 War of 1812 ended
1816 James Monroe was elected president
1817 Inauguration of James Monroe
1819 Supreme Court hands down far-reaching decisions in the Dartmouth College case
and in McCulloch versus Maryland
Adams‐Onís Treaty ceded Spanish territory to the United States
Financial panic was followed by a depression lasting until 1823
1820 Missouri Compromise resolved the nation’s first sectional crisis
Monroe was re‐elected president unanimously
1823 Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed
1824 Lafayette revisits the United States Supreme Court decides Gibbons versus
Ogden
Inauguration of John Quincy Adams
House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams president.
1825 Erie Canal was completed; Canal Era began
1826 American Temperance Society was organized
1828 Congress passed the “Tariff of Abominations”
Jackson was elected president over John Quincy Adams
1829 Inauguration of Andrew Jackson
1830 Jackson vetoed the Maysville Road bill
Congress passed the Indian Removal Act
1830‐ Charles G. Finney evangelised Rochester, New York
1831 Jackson reorganized his cabinet First national nominating conventions meet
William Lloyd Garrison published the first issue of the Liberator
1832 Jackson vetoed the bill rechartering the Bank of the United States
Jackson was re‐elected, defeating Henry Clay (National Republican candidate)
1833 Jackson removed federal deposits from the Bank of the United States
Abolitionists founded the American Anti-Slavery Society
1834 Whig party came into existence
1836 Jackson issued his “specie circular”
Martin Van Buren was elected president
American Temperance Society split into factions
1836‐ Theodore Weld advocated abolition in Ohio and upstate New York
1837
1837 Financial panic occurred, followed by depression lasting until 1843
Massachusetts established a state board of education
Abolitionist editor Elijah Lovejoy was killed by a proslavery mob
1840 Congress passed the Independent Sub treasury Bill
Harrison (Whig) defeated Van Buren (Democrat) for the presidency
American Anti-Slavery Society split over women’s rights and other issues

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1989.

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1971.

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Information Agency, 1988.

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of Kansas, 1974.

MAIER, P. American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence. New York:
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MAY, E. The Making of the Monroe Doctrine. Athens: University of Georgia Press,
1976.

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NASH, G. The Urban Crucible: Social Change, Political Consciousness, and the Origins
of the American Revolution. Harvard: Cambridge University Press, 1979.

RAPHAEL, R. The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord. New
York: New Press, 2002.

RAKOVE, J. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1996.

PETERSON, M. D. Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation: A Biography. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1970.

PESSEN, E. Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics. New York: Oxford

PETERSON, M.D. The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay and Calhoun. Oxford and

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SCHLESINGER, A. M. Jr. The Age of Jackson. Boston: Little Brown and Company,
1945.

SELLERS, C. G. The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 18151846. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1994.

WALLACE, A. The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians. New York: Hill
and Wang, 1993.

WATSON, H. Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America. New York: Hill
and Wang, 1998.

WILLS, G. Explaining America: The Federalist. New York: Doubleday, 1981.

WOOD, G. S. The Radicalism of the American Revolution. North Carolina: The

WHITE, R. “It’s Your Misfortune and None of My Own”: A New History of the
American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1991.

Revolutionary Period

www. avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/art1613.asp
usa.usembassy.de/history‐revolution.htm
www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/revolut/jb_revolut_subj.html
www.americanrevolution.org/www.theamericanrevolution.org/

American Independence

www.fordham.edu
www.twilightbridge.com
www.independencemuseum.org
www.bbc.co.uk
www.americanrevolution.com/JohnHandcock.htm

The Federalist Era

www.whitehouse.gov
www.gwu.edu
www.ipl.org
www.georgewashington.si.edu
www.ushistory.org

The Republican Era

www.fact‐index.comjje/jeffersonian‐democracy.html
www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/tj3.html
www.co.jefferson.co.us/
www.jeffersonbluesmag.com/
www.multied.com/1812/

The Democratic Era

www.nv.cc.va.us/home/nvsageh/Hist121/Part3/topics/AgeofJackson.htm
www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/aj7.html
www.statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/public/jackson.htm
www.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/aj7/about/bio/jackxx.htm
www.americanpresident.org/history/andrewjackson/


1. What were the principal causes for the American victory in the revolutionary
war?
3. Which ideological positions defended the political parties?
4. Who were the intellects behind the Declaration of Independence?
4. What kind of inconsistencies can be seen in Jefferson’s presidency?
5. Why was Jackson such a popular person before his election as President?
6. What were the two conflicting contradictory interpretations of the Constitution
that were written by Hamilton and Jefferson?
7. Why was the Bank an important controversial issue in the Jacksonian democracy?
8. What was the aim of the Alien and Sedition Acts?
9. What was the importance of the Second War for Independence?
10. What was the Nullification crisis?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Outline the main ideas of the Declaration of Independence.
2. Explain the ideological differences between the Federalist and Republican Parties.
3. Explain the significance of the Missouri Compromise.
4. Describe the main features that characterized Jacksonian Democracy.
5. Explain the consequences of the Monroe Doctrine for the United States.

UNIT 3

THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
1. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR


2. THE CIVIL WAR, 18611865

3. RECONSTRUCTION

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

1. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
The causes of the American Civil War can be considered on three planes, which
are interrelated. These are: the economic conflict, the political and constitutional
conflict and the social and moral conflict. Another very important element that we must
bear in mind, which is perhaps the key to understanding those three planes, is
sectionalism.
There were differences between the industrial northern states and the rural states
of the South. Moreover, the legislative power of the United States lay in the North and
many southerners felt that the governing powers did not reflect their needs. At the heart
of this problem was slavery. Slavery had been outlawed in the northern states but
southerners supported it firmly. In the 1850’s much of the political battles focused on
the expansion of slavery.


Gradually, from the colonial period onwards, differences between the North
and the South began to consolidate, pushing them further and further apart.

In the 19th century, there was economic disparity between an agrarian
South and an industrializing north. All the colonies were based on agriculture but
by the middle of the 19th century, the northern states had gradually diversified
their economy and, apart from the agricultural component, there was a very strong
industrial component which led to the development of urban centres becoming
increasingly more urbanized and industrialized; lifestyle, special distribution of
population, etc., created completely different cultural, social and industrial
structures compared with the South. Thus, the mixed, diversified economy of the
North, with expansive frontiers and cities in which there was growing commerce
and industrialization, was diametrically opposed to the agricultural activity of the
South, which was more inflexible towards reforms.

By 1850 there was a union that comprised thirty-one states. In the East, industry
boomed. In the Midwest and the South, agriculture flourished. After 1849, the gold
mines of California poured a golden stream into the channels of trade.
The northern economy was based on paid labour; that is to say, the northern
states had a dynamic and industrial economy, with workers who were paid for their
work. Industries were expanding; the export market was on the up. They were pro-
tariffs and in favour of a federal bank in order to maintain firm control of the currency,
etc. However, high tariffs protected northern industries against foreign competition and
dumping, but raised prices for Southern consumers. Currency and credit control were
also important characteristics of the northern capitalist mixed economy.
New England and the Middle Atlantic states were the main centres of
manufacturing, commerce and finance. Principal products of these areas were textiles,
lumber, clothing, machinery, leather and woollen goods. At the same time, shipping had
reached the height of its prosperity, and American ships distributed wares of all nations.
The southern economy was based on slave labour, which imposed different
patterns of investments. In the North the problem was to get the maximum hours and
productivity for the salary paid, while keeping control of the labour needed, that is to
say, maximum production with minimum labour whereas in the South the planter had to
think about the price he had paid for the slave who became his property; or whether was
to have the slave working 16 hours per day and take the maximum profit before the
slave died in a short period of time, etc.
The South, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River and beyond, was a
relatively compact political unit featuring an economy centred on plantation agriculture,
on staple crop. Tobacco was important to the economies of Virginia, Maryland and
North Carolina. In South Carolina, rice was an abundant crop, and the climate and soil
of Louisiana encouraged the cultivation of sugar. But cotton eventually became the
dominant crop and the one with which the South was identified. By 1850 the American
South grew more than 80 percent of the world's cotton. Slaves were used to cultivate all
these crops, though cotton most of all. The South took the opposite attitude of the North
since they were anti tariff, anti bank and had a weak or no currency control.
The two completely different structures began to be contradictory. Northerners

were against slavery in principle, but they also thought that it was preventing
industrialization and economic diversity. They gradually abolished slavery, and the
importation of slaves was outlawed in 1808. Equality was an important ideal. In the
South, there was the opinion that slavery was economically profitable. In fact, in 1850,
cotton exports represented about 50 per cent of the value of all US exports of raw
cotton.
The issue of slavery exacerbated the regional and economic differences
between North and South. Resenting the large profits amassed by Northern
businessmen from marketing the cotton crop, Southerners attributed the
backwardness of their own section to the Northern increase in power and wealth.
Northerners, on the other hand, declared slavery to be the "peculiar institution,"
which the South regarded as essential to its economy, as a source of labour, which
established a completely different pattern of investments. For them, slavery was as
an economic necessity.

Economic professional mobility was not possible in the South, where there
was no social change. There was a tough hierarchy: a person belonged either to the
small white farmers group (white trash) who devoted themselves to subsistence
farming with no prospects of change because of the lack of capital, or to the mass
of slaves, or to the minority considered acceptable, the slave owners. The
propertied aristocracy was a small elite in the South, approximately 10 per cent of
the population Southern society was almost feudal like and had a rural society,
based on plantation agriculture and slave labour. The Southern economy was
based on large plantations, in which most workers were slaves who grew cotton,
rice, sugar and tobacco, but there were also states where free blacks worked as
artisans or traders.


The terms that we can find related to the constitutional or political conflict
are, on the one hand, state rights, the doctrine of nullification and the theory of
secession, and on the other, the federal union and nationalism as opposed to
regionalism and sectionalism.

In the Confederation period, the concept of national union was very weak
and the really strong feeling was of state autonomy. In 1787, came the Constitution
that guaranteed individual rights but did not guarantee the states’ rights. Thus, the
passage of the Bill of Rights was very important.

There are two conflicting interpretations of the Constitution: the loose one
and the strict one. The conflicting interpretation became a pretext for the
proponents of the state rights and for the unionists.

Political tension emerged due to the different ideas of the states. In addition
to this, there was the question of bondage, which, at different moments in the
history of the United States, provoked threats of secession.

In 1803, after the purchase of Louisiana, the federalists first mentioned the word
secession. The wish to limit the power of the South was not new. In the period between
1780 and 1790, slavery was declared illegal in Vermont and Massachusetts; in 1787 the
North West Ordinance prohibited slavery in all the western territory and in 1808, an
earlier anti-slavery movement had a significant victory when Congress abolished the
slave trade with Africa.
In 1814, at the Hartford Convention, the Federalists expressed their discontent

with the Second war for Independence, and, again, there was a great deal of discussion
about secession, when they criticized a measure in the chamber of representatives that
favored the South, whereby a black person was declared to be worth three fives fifths
the value of a white person.
In 1819, there was a worldwide financial crisis that affected the United
States very severely. One of the consequences of the monetary crash was that the
price of cotton fell dramatically, as there had been an overproduction not only of
cereals but also of cotton. This was due to the abundance of new European crops
and the restricted market following the growth of textiles in the post war period.
Agrarian prices did not recover and that provoked moments of depression in the
South when Southerners defended the expansion of slavery as an economic need
since there had been an exhaustion of the soil that resulted in a decrease in
productivity.

During Monroe’s presidency, Missouri asked to enter the union in 1818, and
this led to a long debate that would last until 1821. Monroe and Adams doubted
the constitutionality of the Missouri compromise but all signed it. Congress agreed
on a compromise: Slavery was permitted in Missouri and the Arkansas territory,
and was banned everywhere else west and north of Missouri. The consequences of
the compromise were felt. There were strong attacks against slavery and there was
fierce controversy.

The Missouri Compromise measures that were passed by the Congress of the
United States in 1820-1821 and ratified by the House of Representatives and the
Senate specified the conditions under which the territory of Missouri would be
admitted to the Union as a State. These measures were passed by the United States
Congress to end a crisis that was due mainly to the question of the extension of slavery.
The application of the territory of Missouri to be admitted as a State, had far

reaching implications for the Congress and the nation regarding the settlement and for
the future political status of all the states that might be fixed from the vast area acquired
from France in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Furthermore, Missouri’s application for
statehood arrived at a time when sectional conflict was becoming a more and more
complicated and controversial problem.
The institution of slavery had been a divisive issue in the United States for
decades before the territory of Missouri petitioned Congress for admission to the Union
as a state in 1818. The country had grown from 13 states to 22 and had managed to
maintain a balance of power between slave and free states. There were 11 free states
and 11 slave states, a situation that gave each faction equal representation in the Senate
and the power to prevent the passage of legislation. The free states, with much larger
populations, controlled the House of Representatives, by 105 votes to 81.
By 1818, Missouri Territory had gained sufficient population to warrant its

admission into the Union as a state. Its settlers came largely from the South, and it was
expected that Missouri would be a slave state. In February 1819, James Tallmadge of
New York proposed an amendment to a statehood bill brought before the House of
Representatives. The Tallmadge amendment would prohibit importation of slaves and
would bring about the ultimate emancipation of all slaves born in Missouri. At that
time, there were more than 2,000 slaves living in Missouri. The country was again
confronted with the issue of the spread of slavery into new territories and states.
Tallmadge's remarks in defence of his amendment refer to the excitement and

bitterness that his proposition elicited from advocates of slavery. While he justified his
position on the grounds of Congressional authority, there was also an indication of
northern reluctance to see the extension of southern political advantage by exaggerated
representation (tied to the three-fifths compromise of the federal Constitution). The
Tallmadge amendment was passed by the House of Representatives in February 1819,
but it was rejected by the Senate. The bitterness of the debates sharply emphasized the
sectional division of the United States.
When the United States was founded, the southern states, especially
Virginia had played a dominant role. Since then, the North had seen faster
population growth, and its economy had overtaken the South in size, as well.
Although North and South still enjoyed parity in the Senate, with eleven states
each, the North had more representatives in the lower House, where seats were
apportioned by population.

As the nation expanded westward, the South feared that “free” states would soon
outnumber “slave” states, which could even, in the long run, put their livelihood in
danger if their plantation-based economy, built on black slaves, were threatened by
pressure to abolish slavery.
Since Missouri would undoubtedly be a slave state, its original petition was met
by northern demands to restrict slavery so severely (no imported slaves, blacks born in
Missouri to be free) that it would die out within a generation. This was unacceptable to
the powerful southern lobby in Congress, led by John Calhoun of South Carolina. The
South's economy was dependent upon black slavery, and 200 years of living with the
institution had made it an integral part of Southern life and culture. The South
demanded that the North recognize its right to have slaves as secured in the
Constitution.
A bill to admit Maine as a state was passed in the House of Representatives in

January, 1820 and on March 6, 1820, Maine was made a free state and Missouri was
authorized to approve a constitution having no limits on slavery. This compromise
enabled the Senate to maintain the balance between slave and free state representation,
twelve of each. However, fugitive slaves could be apprehended North of the
compromise line and returned to their owners. Thus, the issue was resolved by a two-
part compromise in March 1820. On the one hand, Maine was made a free state and on
the other hand, Missouri was authorized to approve a constitution having no limits on
slavery. Since the admission of Alabama as a slave state in 1819 had brought the slave
states and free states to equal representation in the Senate, it was thought that by
pairing Maine, which would surely be a free state, with Missouri, this parity would be
maintained. The two bills were joined as one in the Senate, with the clause forbidding
slavery in Missouri replaced by a measure prohibiting slavery in the remainder of the
Louisiana Purchase north of 36°30'N lat. (the southern boundary of Missouri). The
House of Representatives rejected this compromise bill, but after a conference
committee of members of both houses was appointed, the bills were treated separately.
Although originally proposed by an Illinois Congressman, Senator Jesse B.
Thomas of Illinois on February 17, 1820, the “Missouri Compromise” is associated
with its most prominent backer, Henry Clay of Kentucky. The eloquent Henry Clay
presented the Compromise as benefiting both sides, in order to ensure its passage:
the message aimed at the North was, parity would be maintained by admitting
Maine, formerly part of Massachusetts, as a free state, and in future, slavery would
be restricted to territories south of the 36º30” line. The South was told that not
only would Missouri be a slave state, but that slaves who escaped to “free” states or
territories could be returned to their masters.

Through the efforts of Henry Clay, a compromise was finally reached. Both
states were admitted, a free Maine and a slave Missouri, and the balance of power in
Congress was maintained as before, postponing the inevitable showdown for another
generation. In an attempt to address the issue of the further spread of slavery, however,
the Missouri Compromise stipulated that all the Louisiana Purchase territory north of
the southern boundary of Missouri, except Missouri, would be free, and the territory
below that line would be slave territory.
The two bills were joined as one in the Senate, with the clause forbidding
slavery in Missouri replaced by a measure prohibiting slavery in the remainder of the
Louisiana Purchase North of 36°30'N latitude, the southern boundary of Missouri. The
clause included in the Missouri Enabling Act of March 6, 1820 said the following:
“That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name
of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north
latitude, not included within the limits of the state, contemplated by this act,
slavery and involuntary servitude… shall be, and is hereby, forever
prohibited...”
Later, on March 2, 1821, there was another measure, a resolution for the
admission of the state of Missouri. Therefore, only when the Missouri legislature
pledged that nothing in its constitution would be interpreted to reduce the rights of
citizens of the United States was the charter approved, and Missouri was admitted to
the Union on August 10, 1821.
Although the Missouri Compromise helped to keep the Union together for
another forty years, it was only partially successful in dampening the fervour of the
sectional conflict. States’ rights southerners were enraged since the Compromise
acknowledged Congressional authority over the slavery issue; Northerners, for their
part, were largely against the clause saying that “fugitive” slaves could be “reclaimed”
in a free state, and the idea was not to last “forever”. The 36°30' proviso was repealed
by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which eventually led to “Bleeding Kansas” as the
country was plunged into a violent conflict resulting in the civil war of 1861-1865.
Finally, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska

Act and declared unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision in 1857.
The Southern states were not aware of the poor bases on which the
economic structure of the cotton kingdom. The Northern states criticised the South
and wanted to impose their superiority as a politically power so they started to
attack the South for turning a political and economic conflict into a moral one. In
the Southern states, people talked about the right to human property. They argued
that the moral issues relating to slavery were relative, whereas in the North the
anti ‐slavery people would say that it was unfair, that slavery corrupted, and they
would talk about human rights.

All this gave way to extreme positions, such as that of John Randolph (1773‐
1833), a Virginian who asked for immediate secession. This controversy did not
only bring attacks but also doubts about whether the measure was legal or not
within the Constitution. Thus, Adams, Monroe and other Politicians wanted to
discuss whether Congress had the right or not to prohibit slavery in a territory.

According to the tenth amendment of the Constitution “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”. The acquisition of
new territories revived the question of whether slavery would be legal there.
As far back as 1830, sectional lines had been steadily hardening on the slavery
question. In the North, abolitionist feeling grew more and more powerful, encouraged
by a free-soil movement vigorously opposed to the extension of slavery into the
Western regions that were not yet organized as states. Two decades later, in 1850,
Southerners continue thinking that slavery was an integral part of the basic economy of
the region.
Nevertheless, only a minority of Southern whites owned slaves. In 1860 there
were a total of 46,274 planters throughout the slave-holding states, with a planter
defined as someone who owned at least 20 slaves. More than half of all slaves worked
on plantations. Some of the yeoman farmers, 70 per cent of whom held less than 40
hectares, had a handful of slaves, but most had none. The “poor whites” lived on the
lowest rung of Southern society and held no slaves. In spite of the fact that planters
owned most of the slaves, the yeomen and poor whites supported the institution of
slavery as well. They feared that if freed, blacks would compete with them for land.
Equally important, the presence of slaves raised the standing of the yeomen and the
poor whites on the social scale.
Political leaders of the South, the professional classes and most of the clergy
now no longer apologized for slavery but championed it. Southern publicists insisted,
for example, that the relationship between capital and labour was more humane under
the slavery system than under the wage system of the North.
Before 1830, the system of plantation government, with its personal supervision
of the slaves by their masters, was still characteristic. Gradually, however, with the
introduction of large-scale cotton production in the lower South, the master gradually
ceased to exercise close personal supervision over his slaves, and employed
professional overseers.
Southerners mainly sought to continue with the cotton-slavery system.

Expansion was considered a necessity because the wastefulness of cultivating a single
crop, cotton, rapidly exhausted the soil, increasing the need for new fertile lands.
Moreover, the South wanted new territory for additional slave states, to balance the
admission of new free states. Antislavery Northerners saw in the Southern view a
conspiracy for proslavery aggrandizement, and in the 1830s, their opposition became
strong and combative.
Active abolitionists tried to make slavery a question of conscience and
decided to flood Congress with petitions calling for a ban on slavery in the District
of Columbia. In 1836, the House voted to table such petitions automatically, thus
effectively killing them. Former President John Quincy Adams, elected to the House
of Representatives in 1830, fought this so‐called "gag rule" as a violation of the
First Amendment. The House repealed the gag rule in 1844.

Politically, the 1850s can be characterized as a decade of failure in which the

nation's leaders were unable to resolve, or even contain, the divisive issue of slavery. In
1852, for example, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel
provoked by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. When Stowe began writing her
book, she thought of it as only a minor sketch, but it widened in scope as the work
progressed. Immediately upon its publication, it caused a sensation. More than 300,000
copies were sold the first year, and presses ran day and night to keep up with the
demand. Uncle Tom's Cabin portrayed the cruelty of slavery and the important conflict
between free and slave societies. In the North, people were deeply moved by the work.
It inspired widespread enthusiasm for the antislavery cause.
In 1854, the old issue of slavery in the territories was renewed and the quarrel
became bitter. The region that now comprises Kansas and Nebraska was being rapidly
settled, increasing pressure for the establishment of territorial, and eventually, state
governments. Under the terms of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the entire region
was closed to slavery.
The Compromise of 1850, however, reopened the question. Slaveholders in

Missouri, objected to letting Kansas become a free territory, for their state would then
have three free-soil neighbours (Illinois, Iowa and Kansas). They feared the prospect of
their state being forced to become a free state as well. For a time, Missourians in
Congress, backed by Southerners, blocked all efforts to organize the region.
At this point, Stephen A. Douglas, the Democratic senior senator from
Illinois, stirred up a storm by proposing a bill, the Kansas‐Nebraska Act, which
enraged all free‐soil supporters. Douglas argued that the Compromise of 1850,
which left Utah and New Mexico free to resolve the slavery issue superseded the
Missouri Compromise. His plan called for two territories, Kansas and Nebraska,
and permitted settlers to take slaves into them. The inhabitants themselves were
to determine whether they should enter the Union as free or slave states.

Until 1845, it had seemed likely that slavery would be confined to the areas
where it already existed. It had been given limits by the Missouri Compromise in 1820
and had no opportunity to overstep them. The new territories made renewed expansion
of slavery a real likelihood.
Many Northerners believed that, if not allowed to spread, slavery would decline
and die. To justify their opposition to adding new slave states, they pointed to the
statements of Washington and Jefferson, and to the Ordinance of 1787, which forbade
the spread of slavery into the Northwest. Texas, which already permitted slavery,
naturally entered the Union as a slave state. But California, New Mexico and Utah did
not have slavery, and when the United States was preparing to take over these areas in
1846, there were conflicting suggestions on what to do with them.
Slaveholders in the South urged that all the lands acquired from Mexico should
be open to slave holders, whereas antislavery Northerners demanded that all the new
regions be closed to slavery. One group of moderates suggested that the Missouri
Compromise line be extended to the Pacific with free states north of it and slave states
to the south. Another group proposed that the question be left to “popular sovereignty,”
that is, the government should permit settlers to enter the new territory with or without
slaves as they pleased and, when the time came to organize the region into states, the
people themselves should determine the question.
On the one hand, Southern opinion held that all the territories had the right to
sanction slavery, and on the other hand, the North asserted that no territories had the
right to do so. In 1848 nearly 300,000 men voted for the candidates of a Free Soil Party,
which declared that the best policy was “to limit, localize and discourage slavery.”
The discovery of gold in California in January 1848 precipitated a rush of more

than 80,000 settlers the following year. California became a crucial question, for
clearly, Congress had to determine the status of this new region before an organized
government could be established. Senator Henry Clay, who twice before in times of
crisis had come forward with compromise arrangements halted a sectional quarrel with
a complicated and carefully balanced plan.
Clay’s compromise, as subsequently modified in Congress, contained a number

of key provisions: that California be admitted as a state with a free-soil (slavery-
prohibited) constitution; that the remainder of the new annexation be divided into the
two territories of New Mexico and Utah and organized without mention of slavery; that
the claims of Texas to a portion of New Mexico be satisfied by a payment of $10
million; that more effective mechanisms be established for catching runaway slaves and
returning them to their masters; and that the buying and selling of slaves, but not
slavery, had to be abolished in the District of Columbia. These measures, known in
American history as the Compromise of 1850, were passed, and the country breathed a
sigh of relief.
This compromise seemed to settle nearly all differences. Beneath the surface,
however, tension grew. The new Fugitive Slave Law deeply offended many
Northerners, who refused to have any part in catching slaves. Moreover, many
Northerners continued to help fugitives escape, and made the Underground Railroad
more efficient and more daring than it had been before.
Northerners accused Douglas of trying to win favour in the South in order to
gain the presidency in 1856. Angry debates marked the progress of the Kansas-
Nebraska Bill. The free-soil press violently denounced it. In May 1854, the Kansas-
Nebraska Act passed the Senate.
The immediate results of Douglas's measure were significant. The Whig Party
disappeared and a powerful new organization arose, the Republican Party, whose
primary demand was that slavery had to be excluded from all the territories. In 1856, it
nominated John Fremont, who was well known due to his expeditions into the Far West.
Although Fremont lost the election, the new Republican Party won a sweeping victory
in a great part of the North. Free-soil leaders such as Salmon P. Chase and William
Seward exerted a great influence and with them another leader appeared, an Illinois
attorney called Abraham Lincoln.
The flow of both Southern slave holders and antislavery families into Kansas
resulted in armed conflict, and soon the territory was being called “bleeding Kansas.”
Other events brought the nation still closer to disorder, most notable among them, the
Supreme Court's notorious decision concerning Dred Scott in 1857.
Dred Scott was a Missouri slave who, some twenty years earlier, had been taken
by his master to live in Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery had been
forbidden by the Northwest Ordinance. Returning to Missouri and becoming
discontented with his life there, Scott sued for liberation on the grounds of his residence
on free soil. The Supreme Court, dominated by Southerners, decided that Scott lacked
standing in court because he was not a citizen; that the laws of a free state (Illinois) had
no effect on his status because he was the resident of a slave state (Missouri); and that
slave holders had the right to take their “property” anywhere in the federal territories,
and that Congress could not restrict the expansion of slavery. Therefore, the Court's
decision invalidated the whole set of measures by which Congress, for a whole
generation, had been trying to settle the slavery issue.
The Dred Scott decision caused resentment throughout the North. Never before
had the Court been so bitterly condemned. For Southern Democrats, the decision was a
great victory, because it gave judicial sanction to their justification of slavery
throughout the territories.
Abraham Lincoln had long regarded slavery as an evil. In a speech in Peoria,

Illinois, in 1854, he declared that all national legislation should be framed on the
principle that slavery was to be restricted and eventually abolished. He also contended
that the principle of popular sovereignty was false, for slavery in the western territories
was the concern not only of the local inhabitants, but also of the United States as a
whole. This speech made him widely known throughout the growing West.
In 1858, Lincoln opposed Stephen A. Douglas for election to the United States
Senate for Illinois. In the first paragraph of his opening campaign speech, on June 17,
Lincoln expressed his concern about the division that existed in the country.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot
endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be
dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be
divided.”
Lincoln and Douglas engaged in a series of seven debates in the ensuing months
of 1858. Senator Douglas, known as the "Little Giant," had a great reputation as an
orator, but Lincoln, with his great eloquence, challenged the concept of popular
sovereignty as defined by Douglas and his allies. In the end, Douglas won the election
by a small margin, but Lincoln had achieved stature as a national figure.
Sectional conflict grew more and more. As a result of this, the split between the
South and the North became a war.


The question of slavery constituted a moral conflict, because the United States
was at the same time a freedom-loving and also a slave-holding society. This was a
social and moral conflict, where racism and the principle of white supremacy and
slavery were pitted against Christianity, democracy and abolitionism.
Slavery, in the light of the 18th century philosophy, was unnatural; it was
declared illegal and against mankind’s natural rights. The anti‐slavery movement
spoke about injustice and corruption and argued that the slaves’ rebellion was not
only fair but also desirable. For them, slavery was inherently a system of brutality
and coercion in which the split of families through the sale of individuals was
usual. Slavery was seen as a fundamental violation of every human being's
inalienable right to be free. Northern humanitarians organized themselves in
abolitionist societies. However, in the 18th century there was a big gap between
general anti slavery thought and actual policy. The first practical manifestation of
the anti slavery movement was the campaign to abolish the slave trade.
Abolitionism in Europe meant the abolition of the slave trade, whereas in America
it meant the institution itself. The antislavery societies concentrated on the
abolition of the slave trade because it was, perhaps, the most inhuman and cruel
practice. Theoretically, there was no slave trade after 1815 but a black market in
slaves emerged.
In 1787, the Federal Constitution established that the black population were to
count as property, that the owners were to be taxed on them, and that the value of a
black man counted as 3/5 of the value of a white man. Moreover, the Constitution also
stated that fugitive slaves must be returned to their owners. This divorce between law
and justice would eventually bring war.
Within the antislavery movement, one can see two currents of thought: on the
one hand there were the gradualists, those who wanted to finish with slavery gradually,
and on the other hand there were the immediatists who wanted to abolish slavery
immediately. The gradualists developed all kinds of arguments to cover the different
contingencies of slavery, whereas the immediatists forgot all aspects except the moral
aspect on which they concentrated. They resorted to the Bible.
1830‐1 was the beginning of the domination of the immediatists. By 1830 it
had become apparent that the southern slave owners would resist reform
absolutely, and in 1831, there was a slave rebellion in Virginia led by Nat Turner.
The abolitionist movement that emerged in the early 1830s was combative,
uncompromising and insistent upon an immediate end to slavery. This approach
found a leader in William Lloyd Garrison, a young man from Massachusetts. On
January 1, 1831, Garrison produced the first issue of his newspaper, The Liberator,
which bore the announcement: “I shall strenuously contend for the immediate
enfranchisement of our slave population.” Garrison was joined by another
powerful voice, that of Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave who galvanized
Northern audiences as a spokesman for the Massachusetts Anti‐Slavery Society,
and later as the eloquent editor of the abolitionist weekly newspaper, Northern
Star.
Garrison's sensational methods awakened Northerners to slavery. He sought to

hold up to public gaze the most repulsive aspects of slavery and to punish slaveholders
as traffickers in human life. He recognized no rights of the masters, acknowledged no
compromise, tolerated no delay. Other abolitionists, unwilling to subscribe to his law-
defying tactics, held that reform should be accomplished by legal and peaceful means.
One phase of the antislavery movement involved helping slaves escape to safe
refuges in the North or over the border into Canada. Known as the “Underground
Railroad,” an elaborate network of secret routes was firmly established in the 1830s in
all parts of the North, with its most successful operation being in the Old Northwest
Territory. In Ohio alone, it is estimated that from 1830 to 1860 no fewer than 40,000
fugitive slaves were helped to freedom. The number of local antislavery societies
increased at such a rate that by 1840 there were about 2,000 with a membership of
perhaps 200,000. In the 1840s the American anti slavery society split into two sections:
Immediatists and Conservatives.
Moreover, there was also a religious conflict, since Quakers and the
Methodists were against slavery whereas fundamentalists or evangelists were in
favour of it, saying that slavery was an evil, but that evil was something designed
by God, whose ultimate intention they were not to question. Quakers were all
Immediatists. For them, the abolition of slavery was a moral necessity; for them,
slavery was a sin.

Basically, the defenders of slavery tended to avoid religious arguments, to
concentrate on economic arguments, and talk about moral relativism. Southern
pro slavery opinion said that the Negro was inferior and unfit for freedom and,
therefore, they were much happier being slaves. Other arguments were that
slavery was a positive good. Owners accepted the possibility of protection for
unproductive slaves. In addition, they said that slavery created social harmony
since it avoided the social injustice and class battle that characterized the north.
Another argument referred to the poor whites. Slave owners made up only a small
proportion of the population of the South, and the poor whites were socially
superior to the Negro slaves, so if there were no slavery, then there would be no
distinction between them and the southern poor framers, except racial distinction.

Southern whites defended slavery fervently, asking for respect for the right
to have personal property. They said that there was a moral relativism and they
feared the possible institutional changes.


In 1850, California, which had recently been acquired from Mexico, was admitted
to the Union as a free state. This admission triggered a great national debate, because
California is in the South West, a territory, which could admit profitable Slavery. On
the one hand, southerners tried to defend the states’ rights but on the other hand, slave
owners wanted to defend their rights as citizens of the Union.

At this time, Calhoun stated categorically that secession was the only alternative
because he understood that the North, the abolitionists, were persecuting southern
institutions, southern constitutional rights and southern moral character.
As a result of California’s admittance as a free state, there was great compromise

legislation in which slave owners were offered a series of advantages by way of
compensation. However, this did not placate many southerners and there was a southern
convention in Nashville, Tennessee, in which they stated that the Government had no
right to prohibit slavery and had the obligation to protect them.
In 1854, the Kansas and Nebraska Act, stated that, according to the principle of
popular sovereignty, the people were to decide whether states integrated in the Union
either as free or as slave states. What was important about this Act was the fact that it
annulled the Missouri Compromise because this territory was affected by the Missouri
line, so there was no reason why slavery could not spread. It was foreseen that Nebraska
would eventually become a free state and that Kansas would become a slave state.
Thus, southerners began to defend the principle that not only should the
government defend slavery where it existed, but it should protect it throughout the
national territory. Up to then, territories had called themselves free or slave depending
on their latitude. California was a different case because it became free in spite of its
latitude. The principle of popular sovereignty was supported by Douglas and by many
other influential politicians. It was opposed by Jefferson.
The next very important episode was the ruling of the Supreme Court in 1857 that
Dred Scott was a slave, was the property of his owner and was not free even if he was in
a free state. Slaves were property and the Constitution guaranteed property rights and it
did not give the Federal Government authority to destroy any property. The pro-slavery
states used the Constitution to justify themselves, whereas Lincoln, the abolitionists and
the slaves themselves turned to the Declaration of Independence, which was much
more explicit.

2. THE CIVIL WAR, 18611865

The American Civil War was a sectional conflict in the United States that
lasted from 1861 to 1865 between the Union, the federal government, led by
President Abraham Lincoln and the Confederate States of America, led by
President Jefferson Davis.

The Northern states pressured the Southern states to abolish slavery, and
there were rebellions in the south defending their right to own slaves. These
uprisings resulted in the Southern states declaring their desire for Independence
from the Union. After Lincoln had won the elections with the support of the North,
eleven Southern states decided to leave the Union and proclaimed themselves an
independent nation, creating the Confederate States of America. The first state that
seceded was South Carolina, which was joined by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. This
marked the beginning of the American Civil War, a war that was also called the
first modern war since it employed weapons created by the industrial revolution.

To Northern liberals, the war was about liberty and civil rights and the freedom
of slaves from tyrannical landowners. However, President Lincoln had other ideas of
the war. For him, slavery was not the issue at stake. What was at stake was the nature of
the union itself. Lincoln was more interested in preserving the union and not allowing
the union to break up. He declared that he would do everything in his power to keep the
spirit of the union together. Lincoln’s prime aim was to keep the United States as one
country and after that, he wanted to abolish slavery.
However, he realized that the issue of slavery was popular and that he could get
support. Therefore, on January 1, 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation,
which granted freedom to all slaves in areas still controlled by the Confederacy. That
was followed by the Civil Rights Act, and the conflict deepened.
In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party nominated Abraham

Lincoln as its candidate. Party leaders declared that slavery could not spread any
further. The party also promised a tariff for the protection of industry and pledged the
enactment of a law granting free homesteads to settlers who would help in the opening
of the West. The Democrats were not united. The southerners split from the party and
nominated Vice President John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky for president. Stephen A.
Douglas was the nominee of northern Democrats. Diehard Whigs from the border
states, constituted as the Constitutional Union Party, nominated John C. Bell of
Tennessee.
Lincoln and Douglas competed in the North, and Breckenridge and Bell in the
South. Lincoln won only 39 percent of the popular vote, but had a clear majority of 180
electoral votes, carrying all 18 free states. Bell won Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia;
Breckenridge took the other slave states except for Missouri, which was won by
Douglas. Despite his poor electoral showing, Douglas trailed only Lincoln in the
popular vote.
Lincoln's election made South Carolina's secession from the Union a foregone
conclusion. The state had long been waiting for an event that would unite the South
against the forces of antislavery. Once the election returns were certain, a special South
Carolina convention declared "that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina
and other states under the name of the "United States of America' is hereby dissolved."
By February 1, 1861, six more Southern states had seceded. On February 7, the seven
states adopted a provisional constitution for the Confederate States of America. The
remaining southern states remained in the Union.
Less than a month later, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as
president of the United States. In his inaugural address, he refused to recognize the
secession, considering it "legally void." His speech closed with a plea for restoration of
the bonds of union. On April 12, guns opened fire on the federal troops stationed at Fort
Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina harbour. A war had begun in which more
Americans would die than in any other conflict before or since.
In the seven states that had seceded, the people responded promptly to the appeal
of the new president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. Both sides
now tensely awaited the action of the slave states that thus far had remained loyal. In
response to the shelling of Fort Sumter, Virginia seceded on April 17, and Arkansas,
Tennessee and North Carolina followed quickly. No state left the Union with greater
reluctance than Virginia, whose statesmen had a leading part in the American
Revolution and the framing of the Constitution, and had provided the nation with five
presidents. With Virginia went Colonel Robert E. Lee, who declined the command of
the Union Army out of loyalty to his state. Between the enlarged Confederacy and the
free-soil North lay the Border States, of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri,
which despite some sympathies with the South, remained loyal to the Union.
Both sides entered the war with hopes for a quick victory. On the one hand, the
North enjoyed a decided advantage in terms of material resources. Twenty-three states
with a population of 22 million were arrayed against 11 states inhabited by 9 million.
The industrial superiority of the North exceeded even its preponderance in population,
providing it with abundant facilities for manufacturing arms and ammunition, clothing
and other supplies. Similarly, the network of railways in the North enhanced federal
military prospects.
The South had geographical advantages since it was fighting a defensive
war on its own territory. The South also had a stronger military tradition, and had
experienced military leaders. The Confederates won some victories at the
beginning of the war but in 1863, there was the decisive battle of Gettysburg,
which was a northern victory, although the war continued for two more years.

The first large battle of the war, at Bull Run, Virginia near Washington, showed
that victory would not be quick or easy. It also established a pattern, in the eastern
United States, of Southern victories, which never translated into a decisive military
advantage. For the first years, the South would often win the battle, but not the war.
In contrast to its military failures in the East, Union forces were able to secure
battlefield victories and slow strategic success at sea and in the West. Most of the Navy,
at the beginning of the war, was in Union hands, but it was scattered and weak. The
Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, took prompt measures to strengthen it. Lincoln
then proclaimed a blockade of the Southern coasts. Although the effect of the blockade
was negligible at first, by 1863 it almost completely prevented shipments of cotton to
Europe and the importation of munitions, clothing and the medical supplies the South
sorely needed.
In the Mississippi Valley, the Union forces won a series of victories. They began
by breaking through a long Confederate line in Tennessee, thus making it possible to
occupy almost all the western part of the state. When the important Mississippi River
port of Memphis was taken, Union troops advanced some 320 kilometres into the heart
of the Confederacy. With the tenacious General Ulysses S. Grant in command, Union
forces withstood a sudden Confederate counterattack at Shiloh until reinforcements
arrived to repulse the Confederates. Those killed and wounded at Shiloh numbered
more than 10,000 on each side, a casualty rate that Americans had never before
experienced.
By contrast, in Virginia, Union troops continued to encounter one defeat after

another. In a succession of bloody attempts to capture Richmond, the Confederate
capital, Union forces were repeatedly thrown back. The Confederates had two great
advantages: strong defence positions afforded by numerous streams cutting the road
between Washington and Richmond; and two generals, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J.
("Stonewall") Jackson, both of whom far surpassed in ability the early Union
commanders. In 1862, the Union commander, George McClellan, made a slow,
excessively cautious attempt to seize Richmond. But in the Seven Days' Battles between
June 25 and July 1, the Union troops were driven steadily backward, both sides
suffering terrible losses.
After another Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Lee crossed
the Potomac River and invaded Maryland. McClellan again responded tentatively,
despite learning that Lee had split his army and was heavily outnumbered. The Union
and Confederate Armies met at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on
September 17, 1862, in the bloodiest single day of the war: more than 4,000 died on
both sides and 18,000 were wounded. Despite his numerical advantage, however,
McClellan failed to break Lee's lines or press the attack, and Lee was able to retreat
across the Potomac with his army intact.
Despite the fact that Antietam was not decisive in military terms, its
consequences were important. Great Britain and France, both very close to recognizing
the Confederacy, delayed their decision, and the South never received the diplomatic
recognition and economic aid from Europe that it desperately sought.
Antietam Creek also gave Lincoln the opening he needed to issue the
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in states
rebelling against the Union were free. In practice, the Proclamation had little immediate
impact; it freed slaves only in the Confederate states, while leaving slavery intact in the
Border States. Politically, however, it meant that in addition to preserving the Union,
the abolition of slavery was now a declared objective of the Union war effort.
The final Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, also

authorized the recruitment of blacks into the Union Army, which abolitionist leaders
such as Frederick Douglas had been urging since the beginning of the armed conflict. In
fact, Union forces had already been sheltering escaped slaves as "contraband of war,"
but following the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union Army recruited and trained
regiments of black soldiers that fought with distinction in battles from Virginia to the
Mississippi. About 178,000 African Americans served in the United States Coloured
Troops, and 29,500 blacks served in the Union Navy.
In spite of the political gains represented by the Emancipation Proclamation,

however, the North's military prospects in the East remained hopeless as Lee's Army of
Northern Virginia continued to hurt the Union Army of the Potomac, first at
Fredericksburg, Virginia, in December 1862 and then at Chancellorsville in May 1863.
But Chancellorsville, although one of Lee's most brilliant military victories, was also
one of his most costly, with the death of his most valued lieutenant, General Stonewall
Jackson, who was mistakenly shot by his own men.
However, none of the Confederate victories was crucial. Lee struck northward
into Pennsylvania, in July 1863, almost reaching the state capital at Harrisburg. A
strong Union force intercepted Lee's march at Gettysburg, where, in a titanic three-day
battle, the largest of the Civil War, the Confederates made a valiant effort to break the
Union lines. They failed, and Lee's veterans, after crippling losses, fell back to the
Potomac.
There were more than 3,000 Union soldiers and almost 4,000 Confederates who
died at Gettysburg; there were more than 20,000 wounded and missing on each side. On
November 19, 1863, Lincoln dedicated a new national cemetery at Gettysburg with
perhaps the most well-known address in the United States history. The address was an
expression of national courage and devotion.
The Northern victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg in July 1863 marked the
turning point of the war, although the bloodshed continued unabated for more than a
year and a half.
Lincoln brought Grant east and made him commander-in-chief of all Union
forces. In May 1864, Grant advanced deep into Virginia and met Lee's Confederate
Army in the three-day Battle of the Wilderness. There were a lot of losses on both sides,
but unlike other Union commanders, Grant refused to retreat. Instead, he attempted to
outflank Lee, stretching the Confederate lines and advancing on them with infantry and
artillery attacks. “I propose to fight it out along this line if it takes all summer,” the
Union commander said at Spotsylvania, during five days of bloody trench warfare that
largely characterized fighting on the eastern front for almost a year.
In the West, Union forces gained control of Tennessee in the fall of 1863 with
victories at Chattanooga and the nearby Lookout Mountain, opening the way for
General William T. Sherman to invade Georgia. Sherman outmanoeuvred several
smaller Confederate armies, occupied the state capital of Atlanta, then marched to the
Atlantic coast, systematically destroying railroads, factories, warehouses and other
facilities in his path. His men, cut off from their normal supply lines, ravaged the
countryside for food. From the coast, Sherman marched northward, and by February
1865, he had taken Charleston, South Carolina, where the first shots of the Civil War
had been fired. Sherman, more than any other Union general, understood that destroying
the will and morale of the South was as important as defeating its armies.
After the Union victory at Gettysburg, which was a decisive victory, the
South never again invaded the North. In 1864, a union army under General William
T. Sherman marched across Georgia, destroying the countryside.

On April 9, 1865 the war ended. The southern General Robert E. Lee was forced
to give an unconditional surrender to General Grant at Appomattox Court House and all
the other Confederate forces surrendered. Surrounded by huge Union armies, Lee
surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse. Although scattered fighting
continued elsewhere for several months, the Civil War was over.
The terms of surrender at Appomattox were generous, and on his return from his
meeting with Lee, Grant quieted the noisy demonstrations of his soldiers by reminding
them: “The rebels are our countrymen again.” The war for Southern independence had
become the “lost cause,” whose hero, Robert E. Lee, had won wide admiration through
the brilliance of his leadership and his greatness in defeat.
For the North, the war had produced a still greater hero in Abraham Lincoln, a
man willing, above all else, to fuse the Union together again, not by force and
repression but by warmth and generosity. In 1864 he had been elected for a second term
as president, defeating his Democratic opponent, George McClellan, the general whom
Lincoln had dismissed after Antietam. As Lincoln approached his second inauguration,
he had known that the war could not last much longer.
Lincoln's second inaugural address closed with these words that contained a
strain of idealism:
“... With malice 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.”
Two days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln delivered his last public address, in
which he unfolded a generous reconstruction policy. However, on April 14, 1865,
Lincoln went to the theatre and, as he sat in the presidential box, he was assassinated .by
John Wilkes Booth, a Virginia actor embittered by the South's defeat. Lincoln’s
assassination had enormous repercussions and the clemency and effort toward
rehabilitation for which Lincoln pleaded would be submerged in a punishment of the
South. On Lincoln’s death, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President.
A few months later, the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution was approved,
which said that slavery was illegal. The republicans remained in power and there were a
series of improvements and amendments, but in spite of the amendments, in practice,
the Negroes were crushed.
The war of Secession devastated the South and was, without doubt, the
major constitutional crisis of the United States. The union won and the United
States remained a single nation. The war solved two questions. The first one was
that it ended slavery, which was completely abolished by the 13th Amendment to
the Constitution in 1865. The second question was that it settled for all time the
issue of disunion, ensuring that America was a single indivisible nation.

3. RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction initially referred to the political process in which the
seceded states were readmitted to the Union; this aspect was completed in 1877.
During the Reconstruction era, Lincoln and the Congress differed over their
powers in reconstructing the South. Lincoln’s plan was more conciliatory whereas
that of Congress was more aggressive since they wanted to achieve a more
democratic South that guaranteed the right of the blacks and finished with the
privileges of the Southern aristocracy. Lincoln wanted to return to a normal
situation as soon as possible and he decided to give the South a Presidential
pardon, that is to say, an amnesty, allowing the recovery of their plantations and
their style of life, if they would take an oath of loyalty to the union.

Three Amendments to the Constitution were introduced by which all slaves were
emancipated, and black civil and political rights were addressed. In spite of this,
towards 1870, North and South were united against the blacks, and a number of
mechanisms were introduced to impede their ascension, such as the black codes,
imposing racial segregation. The Ku Klux Klan was created in Tennessee in 1865 and
violence remained in the post-war South, so that in 1865 and 1866, Black people held
conventions in which they discussed their problems and appealed for support from the
people of the nation for the problems of marginalisation and discrimination in society
that they faced.
Few people invested in reconstructing the South since the West offered a
very interesting option. Because of this, the southern economy was not revitalized,
and this had repercussions on most African‐American, who lived in poverty. The
conservative southern elite was excluded from political power and instead, saw
former slaves, poor whites and newcomers from the North enacting and
administering laws.

After the war, the country was destroyed, especially the plantations of the
South. The most important planters had migrated and small planters took
advantage of this situation by enlarging their own plantation. No authority was
recognized and lynch rule and popular action had a free reign.

During the Civil War, one million slaves became free and with the 13th
Amendment and the Victory of the North, three million more got their liberty.
Thus, enormous numbers of people were emancipated in the sense that they were
free from individual masters, but they remained slaves of a society in which they
had no money, propriety or friends.

The conflict devastated the South and subjected that region to military
occupation. When the last federal troops left South Carolina, the Federal
government’s presence in the South was over.

The first great task confronting the victorious North now, under the leadership of
Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, a Southerner who remained loyal to the
Union, was to determine the status of the states that had seceded. Lincoln had already
set the stage. In his view, the people of the Southern states had never legally seceded;
they had been misled by some unfaithful citizens into an insubordination of federal
authority. And since the war was the act of individuals, the federal government would
have to deal with these individuals and not with the states. Thus, in 1863 Lincoln
proclaimed that if in any state 10 percent of the voters on record in 1860 formed a
government loyal to the U.S. Constitution, and acknowledged obedience to the laws of
the Congress and the proclamations of the president, he would recognize that
government as the legal government of the state.
Congress rejected this plan and challenged Lincoln's right to deal with the matter
without consultation. Some members of Congress advocated severe punishment for all
the seceded states. Yet even before the war was wholly over, new governments had
been set up in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana.
To deal with one of its major concerns, the condition of former slaves, in March
1865, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau to act as guardian for African
Americans and guide them toward self-support. And in December of that year,
Congress ratified the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which
abolished slavery.
Throughout the summer of 1865, Johnson proceeded to carry out Lincoln's

reconstruction program, with minor modifications. By presidential proclamation, he
appointed a governor for each of the former Confederate states and freely restored
political rights to large numbers of Southern citizens through use of presidential
pardons.
In due time, conventions were held in each of the former Confederate states to
repeal the ordinances of secession, repudiate the war debt, and draft new state
constitutions. Eventually a native Unionist became governor in each state with authority
to convoke a convention of loyal voters. Johnson called upon each convention to
invalidate the secession, abolish slavery, repudiate all debts that went to aid the
Confederacy and ratify the 13th Amendment. By the end of 1865, this process was
concluded, with a few exceptions.
In the South, most planters thought that emancipation meant a change of the
legal situation of the blacks, but they tried to keep their slaves as hired help or tenant
farmers. They also issued a series of laws known as “black codes”, which aimed to re-
impose slavery on the freedmen. They recognized the right of blacks to own, sell, and
inherit propriety, to appeal to court, and to access some kind of education, but they were
not given the right to vote. Therefore, in the aftermath of the war, Southern state
legislatures passed black codes, which differed from state to state. Some provisions,
however, were common to all. Blacks were required to enter into annual labour
contracts, with penalties imposed in case of violation of these contracts, and dependent
children were subject to compulsory apprenticeship and corporal punishments by their
masters.
Some groups in the North advocated intervention to protect the rights of blacks
in the South. In the Reconstruction Act of March 1867, Congress, ignoring the
governments that had been established in the Southern states, divided the South into
five districts and placed them under military rule.
The North saw those “black codes” as evasions of the 13th Amendment which
was approved in January 1865 and ratified in December, abolishing slavery in the
United States. In order to give blacks full citizenship, by July 1866, Congress had
passed a civil rights bill and set up a new Freedmen's Bureau to prevent racial
discrimination by Southern legislatures. Following this, the Congress passed a 14th
Amendment to the United States Constitution (citizens’ rights). This was approved by
Congress in 1866 and ratified in 1868 to entitle all persons born or naturalized in the
United States to citizenship and equal protection under the laws of the United States. It
stated that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the states in which they
reside,” thus repudiating the Dred Scott ruling which had denied slaves their right of
citizenship. All the Southern state legislatures, with the exception of Tennessee, refused
to ratify the amendment, some voting against it unanimously. The 15th Amendment,
passed by Congress in 1869 and ratified in 1870 by state legislatures, provided that
“The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or any state on account of race, colour or previous condition of
servitude.” It gave the right to vote to all male citizens, regardless of colour or previous
condition of servitude. There was another important act, the Civil Rights Act that was
enacted by Congress in 1875 to provide black people with the right to equal treatment in
public places and transportation. However, later, the Supreme Court declared this act
unconstitutional.
Those states that established civil governments, took an oath of allegiance,

ratified the 14th Amendment and adopted black suffrage, could escape from military
rule.
Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau in 1865 to provide assistance to
the emancipated slaves. The most remarkable action of the Freedmen’s Bureau
was the opening of schools to black people. Congress expanded the responsibilities
of this Bureau but the Bureau was abolished in 1872.

The Radical Republicans in Congress were exasperated by President Johnson’s

legislation protecting newly freed blacks and punishing former Confederate leaders by
depriving them of the right to hold office. Congressional antipathy to Johnson was so
great that, for the first time in American history, impeachment proceedings were
instituted to remove the president from office.
Johnson's main transgression was his opposition to disciplinary congressional

policies and the violent language he used in criticizing them. The most serious legal
charge his enemies could level against him was that despite the Tenure of Office Act, he
had removed from his Cabinet the secretary of war, a staunch supporter of the Congress.
When the impeachment trial was held in the Senate, it was proved that Johnson was
technically within his rights in removing the Cabinet member. Even more important, it
was pointed out that a dangerous precedent would be set if the Congress were to remove
a president because he disagreed with the majority of its members. The attempted
impeachment failed by a narrow margin, and Johnson continued in office until his term
expired.
Besides this, as Lincoln and Johnson had foreseen, the Congress would have the
right to deny Southern legislators seats in the United States Senate or House of
Representatives, under the clause of the Constitution that says “Each house shall be the
judge of the... qualifications of its own members.” This came to pass when those
congressmen called “Radical Republicans” who sought to punish the South, refused to
seat its elected senators and representatives. Then, within the next few months, the
Congress proceeded to work out a plan for the reconstruction of the South quite
different from the one Lincoln had started and Johnson had continued.
Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress, by June 1868, had readmitted
Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, to
the Union. In many of these seven reconstructed states, the majority of the governors,
representatives and senators were Northern men who had gone South after the war to
make their political fortunes, often in alliance with newly freed African Americans. In
the legislatures of Louisiana and South Carolina, African Americans actually gained a
majority of the seats. The last three Southern states, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia,
finally accepted congressional terms and were readmitted to the Union in 1870.
Many Southern whites, their political and social dominance threatened, turned to
illegal means to prevent blacks from gaining equality. Violence against blacks became
more and more frequent. In 1870, increasing disorder led to the passage of an
Enforcement Act severely punishing those who attempted to deprive the black freedmen
of their civil rights.
Slaves were granted their freedom, but not equality. The North completely failed
to address the economic needs of the freedmen. Efforts such as the Freedmen's Bureau
proved inadequate to the desperate needs of former slaves for institutions that could
provide them with political and economic opportunity, or simply protect them from
violence and intimidation. Indeed, federal Army officers and agents of the Freedmen's
Bureau were often racists themselves. Blacks were dependent on these Northern whites
to protect them from white Southerners, who, united into organizations such as the Ku
Klux Klan, intimidated blacks and prevented them from exercising their rights. Without
economic resources of their own, many Southern blacks were forced to become tenant
farmers on land owned by their former masters, caught in a cycle of poverty that would
continue well into the 20th century.
As time went by, it became more and more obvious that unforgiving laws
against former Confederates were not solving the problems of the South. In May 1872,
Congress passed a general Amnesty Act, restoring full political rights to all but about
500 Confederate sympathizers. Gradually, Southern states began electing members of
the Democratic Party into office, ousting so-called carpetbagger governments and
intimidating blacks from voting or attempting to hold public office. By 1876, the
Republicans remained in power in only three Southern states. As part of the bargaining
that resolved the disputed presidential elections in favour of Rutherford B. Hayes, the
Republicans promised to end Radical Reconstruction, thereby leaving most of the South
in the hands of the Democratic Party. In 1877, Hayes withdrew the remaining
government troops, tacitly abandoning federal responsibility for enforcing black civil
rights.
The South was still a region devastated by war, burdened by debt caused by
misgovernment, and demoralized by a decade of racial warfare. Unfortunately, whereas
formerly it had supported harsh penalties against Southern white leaders, it now
tolerated new and humiliating kinds of discrimination against blacks. The last quarter of
the 19th century saw a profusion of “Jim Crow” laws in Southern states that segregated
public schools, forbade or limited black access to many public facilities, such as parks,
restaurants and hotels, and denied most blacks the right to vote by imposing poll taxes
and arbitrary literacy tests.
Reconstruction‐era governments worked on rebuilding Southern states
devastated by the war, and on expanding public services, notably, establishing tax‐
supported, free public schools for blacks and whites.

The failure of Reconstruction meant that the struggle of African Americans
for equality and freedom was deferred until the 20th century. Few black people
purchased land because of the lack of capital, and they were forced to lease land
that belonged to others. Some black people achieved their own business or job,
enabling them to live on their own, others migrated to the North to work in
factories or as domestics, but most of them kept on working the lands. Not until the
mid‐twentieth century did the US nation come to terms with the political and
social agenda of Reconstruction. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s
is often called the Second Reconstruction. Its achievements were far‐reaching.
Today, racial segregation has been outlawed, blacks vote on the same terms as
whites, and more black Americans hold public office than ever before.

The reconstruction was a very hard process and it took many years to
change people’s mentalities and to supply the black population with education,
jobs, housing, and civil rights to become real American citizens. Today, in the
twenty first century, black Americans hold key posts in public office and one of
them, Barack H. Obama reached the highest position in the administration when, in
2009, he became the first black president of the United States.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table

1846 David Wilmot introduced a proviso banning slavery in the Mexican cession
1848 Free-Soil party was founded. Zachary Taylor (Whig) was elected president, de-
feating Lewis Cass (Democrat) and Martin Van Buren (Free-Soil)
1849 California sought admission to the Union as a free state
1850 Congress debated sectional issued and enacted the Compromise of 1850
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom´s Cabin
Franklin Pierce (Democrat) was elected president by a large majority over
Winfield Scott (Whig).
1854 Congress passed Kansas-Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise. Re-
publican party was founded in several northern states. Anti-Nebraska coalitions
score victories in congressional elections in the North.
1854‐ Know‐Nothing party achieved stunning successes in state politics
1855
1854‐ Free‐state and slave‐state forced struggle for control of Kansas Territory
1856
1856 Preston Brooks assaults Charles Sumner on the Senate floor. James Buchanan
(Democrat) won the presidency despite a strong challenge in the North from
John C. Frémont (Republican)
1857 Supreme Court decided the Dred Scott case legalizing slavery in all territories
1858 Congress refused to admit Kansas to the Union under the proslavery Lecompton
constitution
Lincoln and Douglas debate
1859 John Brown raids Harpers Ferry, was captured and executed.
1859‐ Fierce struggle took place over election of a Republican as speaker of the
1860 House.
1860 Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency
Democratic party split into northern and southern factions with separate
candidates and platforms
Lincoln won the presidency over Douglas (northern Democrat), Breckinridge
(southern Democrat), and Bell (Constitutional Unionist).
South Carolina seceded from the Union (December).
1861 Rest of Deep South secedes: Confederacy was founded (January‐February)
Fort Sumter was fired on and surrenders to Confederate forces (April)
Upper South seceded (April‐May)
South won the first battle of Bull Run (July).
1862 Grant captured Forts Henry and Donelson (February)
Farragut captured New Orleans for the Union (April)
McClellan led an unsuccessful campaign on the peninsula south‐east of
Richmond (March‐July)
South won the second battle of Bull Run (August)
McClellan stopped Lee at Antietam (September)
Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (September)
Lee defeated a Union army at Fredericksburg (December)
1863 Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation (January)
Lee was victorious at Chancellorsville (May)
North gained major victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg (July)
Grant defeated Confederate forces at Chattanooga (November)
Lincoln set forth his 10 percent Reconstruction plan
1864 Grant and Lee battled in northern Virginia (May‐June)
Atlanta falls to Sherman (September)
Lincoln was reelected president, defeating McClellan (November)
Sherman marched through Georgia (November‐December)
Wade‐Davis Bill passed Congress, is pocket‐vetoed by Lincoln
1865 Congress passed Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery (January)
Grant captured Petersburg and Richmond
Lee surrendered at Appomattox (April)
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth (April)
Remaining Confederate forced surrender (April‐May)
Johnson moved to reconstruct the South on his own initiative
Congress refused to seat representatives and senators elected from states re-
established under the presidential plan
1866 Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment. Republicans increase their con-
gressional majority in the fall elections.
1867 First Reconstruction Act was passed over Johnson’s veto
1868 Johnson was impeached, avoided conviction by one vote
Grant won the presidential election, defeating Horatio Seymour
1869 Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment, granting blacks the right to vote
1870-Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Acts to protect black voting rights in the
1871 South.
1872 Grant was re-elected president, defeating Horace Greeley, candidate of theLiberal
Republicans and Democrats.
1873 Financial panic plunged the nation into a depression
1875 Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act. “Whiskey Ring” scandal is
exposed
1876-Disputed presidential election was resolved in favour of Republican Hayes over
1877 Democrat Tilden
1877 “Compromise of 1877” resulted in an end to military intervention in the
South and the fall of the last Radical governments


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Publishers, Ltd., 1999.

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Publishing, 1946.
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Company, 1928.

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2006.

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Shaped the Course of the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

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before the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.

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Harper Trade, 1988.

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York: Fordham University, 2007.
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1991.

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Wang, 1992.

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Knopf, 1982.

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America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993.

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Causes of the Civil War
www.militaryhistory.about.com/.../civilwar/.../CivilWarCauses.htm
www.americanhistory.about.com/.../top-five-causes-of-the-civil-war-2.htm
www.greatamericanhistory.net/causes.htm
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/us18.cfm
www.usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/histryotln/conflict.htm

On the Civil War
www.civil‐war.net/ ‐
www.civilwarhome.com/kansasnebraska.html
www.let.rug.nl/usa/H/1990/chap5.htm
www.let.rug.nl/usa/H/1994/chap6.htm
www.u‐s‐history.com/pages/h69.html
On Abraham Lincoln
www.lincolnbicentennial.gov
www.memory.loc.gov/ammem/alhtml/malhome.html
www.alpl.org/home.html
www.bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000313
www.abraham‐lincoln.has.it/

On Reconstruction
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/.../section1_intro.html
www.hrw.com/social/aah/ctf/toc3.htm
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/index.html
www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=100740379
www.nagasaki‐gaigo.ac.jp/ishikawa/amlit/19re/context.htm

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EVALUATION

1. Which were the immediate causes that led to the war?

2. What was the Quakers’ attitude towards slavery?

3. Why was the Reconstruction defeated in the South?

4. Why did the expansion of slavery become a troublesome issue?

5. How did the Civil War contribute to a stronger American nation‐state?

6. How did the acquisition of new territories affect the question of slavery?

7. What impact did the Emancipation Proclamation have?
8. What were the so called “black codes”?

9. Which were the political or constitutional causes of the American Civil War?

10. Which were the main social proslavery arguments?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Write about Abraham’s Lincoln role in the Civil War.

2. Explain the major causes that led to the civil war.

3. Describe the two currents of thought regarding abolitionists.

4. Explain the important significance of the Kansas and Nebraska Act
(1854).

5. Summarize the main economic pro slavery arguments.

UNIT 4

AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM AND ECONOMIC REVOLUTION

1. WESTWARD EXPANSION

1.1. Policy on American Expansionism in the West
1.2. The Railroad
2. THE GILDED AGE

2.1. Economic expansion and Industrial Growth
3. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S.

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

1. WESTWARD EXPANSION
1.1. Policy on American Expansionism in the West
This aspect of expansionism in the west had several phases. Between 1783‐
1890, the US expanded mainly from east to west, destroying indigenous North
American cultures and creating the enduring myths and symbols of the US frontier.
The “frontier” became identified with the western area, and the term was applied
to the unsettled land outside the region of existing settlements of Americans. From
the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that prohibited slavery in the Northwest
Territory, to 1912, the United States grew from 13 to 48 states.
In 1783 the United States was an immense territory, covering an area of
approximately 800,000 square miles. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought
Louisiana from France, an area of 827,000 square miles. The Louisiana Purchase
was important because it encouraged the vision of continental destiny and fuelled
American expansionism. It incited America to take a leap westwards and look out
to the ocean. The method of purchase was new and set a precedent. In the future,
the US would use this method several times. West Florida was taken by force
during James Madison's administration, and East Florida (60,000 square miles)
was acquired by compulsory purchase, during the presidency of James Monroe.
After the war of 1812, the period of peaceful relations with Great Britain gave
way to a period of rapid economic expansion and a great flow of nation building with
potential wealth and power. A national network of roads and canals was built and the
first steam railroad opened in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1830.
Politicians proclaimed a foreign policy to protect America from external

involvement focussing on the lands of North America. Expansionists wanted to obtain
new territories in the Pacific Northwest, such as Florida from Spain. East Florida
became the first goal for President James Monroe and his secretary of State John
Quincy Adams. Spain ceded that territory to the United States. There was an interest in
exploiting the Far West and a policy of expansionism was embarked on, following the
recommendations of the Monroe Doctrine as presented in Monroe’s Annual Message to
Congress in December 1823. Monroe proclaimed that European powers should no
longer colonize America or interfere with the affairs of the sovereign nations there, such
as the United States of America, Mexico and others. The United States planned to be
neutral in wars between European powers and in wars between a European power and
its colonies, and expected Europe to stay out of the affairs of America. In short, he was
declaring that the Americas were no longer open to European colonization. The
continental powers ignored Monroe’s message in public and condemned it in private.
Thus, for instance, the paragraph on the northwest coast was ignored by the Russian
governmnent and later, Russia and the United States reached a compromise settlement
on the north-west coast controversy without any reference to Monroe’s message.
John Quincy Adams not only formulated the Monroe Doctrine when he
served under President Monroe as Secretary of State, but also arranged with
England for the joint occupation of Oregon and obtained from Spain the cession of
the Floridas. His fervent advocacy for an independent foreign policy for the United
States would have an influence on future administrations.
By 1820 the frontier had crossed the Mississippi. And by 1840, it had
reached the 100th meridian. A second set of acquisitions in the period 1843‐53
completed the contiguous area of the continental United States. Negotiations for
the territory of Oregon (285,000 square miles) finally ended in a compromise in
1846. The Texas republic (390,000 square miles) was annexed in 1845. Finally,
there was the Gadsden Purchase in 1853, by which the United States purchased
territory from Mexico in order to have control over a promising railroad route.
One of the most important phases of American expansionism in the west was
Texas. In 1819, when Spain sold Florida to the United States, a treaty was drawn up in
which a definitive line was drawn to fix the western frontier of Louisiana, leaving Texas
within Mexico. Legally, there was no support for the Unites States position that Texas
was included in the Louisiana Purchase; and after 1819 it was specifically written and
signed. But many Americans resented this.
American merchants were busy in the early years of the 19th century
establishing connections in what is called the Santa Fe Trail. In 1821, Mexico
became engaged in a war to gain independence from Spain. In 1823, the Mexican
government gave permission to a man called Stephen Austin to take American
pioneer farmers who were Roman Catholics to settle in Texas. Obviously this was a
risky business. Texas was practically deserted; it did not have a Mexican
population who could function as an effective defense. The Mexican government
thought that if there were American settlers this would serve to attract Mexicans
to that area so that eventually Mexicans would become a majority. This would
constitute a safeguard against possible American invasions. There was also a real
danger of Indian attacks.
In 1825 president Adams offered the Mexican government a million dollars
for Texas and later, President Jackson raised the offer to five million. In 1829, the
Mexican government abolished slavery. This did not please the Anglo‐American
settlers because they had taken slaves with them and their economic system
depended on them. The following year a government edict was issued prohibiting
all new Anglo‐American emigration to Texas. This was a clear attempt to prevent a
potentially dangerous situation. As an extra precaution, troops were sent to the
frontiers.
In this general mood of antagonism and hostility a revolution took place in
Mexico in 1832, after which General Antonio López de Santa Ana came to power.
The Mexican president soon adopted very strong dictatorial measures. In 1835, he
abolished all constitutional privileges for the Texan Americans and he even
threatened to exterminate them if they continued to show open hostility towards
the Mexican government. By 1835 there were approximately 30,000 Texan
Americans and they had maintained their emotional ties with the United States.
They believed that they were at the forefront of America’s Manifest Destiny ‐ this
was the notion that the US had the God‐given right to occupy and civilize the whole
continent. This led the Americans of Texas to declare their independence in 1836.
This was the beginning of a war between them and Mexico. For the United States,
this was a very delicate problem. According to the Monroe Doctrine, their
interference was not legitimate. However, Texas asked to become a state of the
Union. In the first place, the United States declared its official neutrality, but in
practical terms the government could do nothing, and did nothing, to control the
organization of help to support the rebellion.
At the beginning of the war there were two important battles: the Alamo and the
Goliad. These were clear victories for Mexico. Santa Ana was defeated and captured by
Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto, thereby ensuring Texan independence. A
treaty was drawn up whereby Santa Ana was forced to recognize Texas as part of
America, and Rio Grande as the frontier. After that, Santa Ana was freed and although
he repudiated the treaty, the war ended. Texas was recognized as an independent
republic by the United States and began its own political life. Texas wanted to join the
United States but it was rejected because it was a slave state. Generally, there was a
favorable attitude towards the annexation of Texas. However, there was a vociferous
minority against it, made up of two groups: a group opposing agrarian expansion and an
abolitionist group.
This came at a very delicate time politically, because 1836 was a presidential
election year, with the aggravation that President Jackson had exhausted his two terms
and was trying to ensure the election of a Democratic candidate, Martin Van Buren. For
this reason, Jackson adopted a neutral attitude, and simply recognized the independence
of Texas. This put Texas in a difficult situation because they had revolted with the idea
that they could count on American support. Texas decided to request help from Europe.
Britain was particularly interested, but the idea of a British protectorate, which was a
slave territory, was not welcomed by the British public.
The problem remained latent until 1844, when John C. Calhoun personally
negotiated an agreement with Texas government, which would incorporate Texas into
the Union not as a state, but as a territory. The proposal was rejected because of the
slavery problem, fear of war against Mexico and constitutional doubts. Besides, the
issue was confused with Calhoun himself.
However, the subject was ripe for a solution because 1844 brought general
elections. The two candidates were Polk for the Democrats, and Clay for the Whigs.
In the electoral campaign, Polk defended a clearly expansionist, manifest destiny
imperialist position, and the campaign slogans talked about the reannexation of
Texas. The origin of this idea of reannexation was the old idea that Texas had been
included in the Louisiana Purchase. The incumbent president, Tayler, interpreted
the results of Polk’s victory as a popular mandate and had the initiative of
annexing Texas, which had no problem becoming a state of the Union in 1845
because it was not affected by the Missouri compromise.
When the United States annexed Texas, Mexico broke off diplomatic
relations with the United States and in 1845, the policy of expansionism increased.
Another important phase was the annexation of the Oregon Territory. In 1818
there had been a treaty between the United States and Great Britain to mark a
frontier between the Unites States and Canada; at that time the frontier was fixed
at 49ºN but this division reached only as far as the Rocky Mountains. The territory
between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific was called the Oregon territory and
it was not explored. According to the treaty, it could be occupied jointly.
In 1843, there were approximately 1,000 settlers in Oregon and in 1844 and
1845, after Polk became president, there was an avalanche of American settlers to take
advantage of a prospective incorporation of Oregon to the Union; about 7,000 people
went to Oregon in those years.
The United States became very belligerent and started claiming all the
Oregon territory as far as 54º 40’N. However, Great Britain restated an early offer
that the United States accepted. A treaty was signed between Great Britain and the
United States in 1846, by which the 49º line was continued. The northern part of
the territory was given to British Canada and the southern part was given to the
United States. With this, the United States was reaching its highpoint territorial
expansion.
California soon became morally associated with Oregon, and was seen by
the public as a desirable 1827, the Oregon territory became a focus of immigration,
carried out through the Oregon Trail. The Oregon coasts were strategic coasts, the
climate was excellent and it had good fishing, fur trade and an addition of trade
with the Far East. Besides, Oregon happened to be one of the areas that attracted
missionary expeditions in the 1830s, because there were so many Indians.
However, they quickly left and were replaced by trading companies acquisition.
The southern transcontinental railway was meant to reach San Francisco and this
was one of the definitive factors, which led American public opinion to consider
the annexation of California. There had been a number of different attempts to buy
California but they had failed. Anglo‐American fishermen had been assiduously
visiting the Californian coasts, especially whalers. As a result of these frequent
visits, an Anglo‐American Colony was established in this area, particularly in San
Francisco.
There was a plan in the middle of the 1840s to try to stir up the Spanish‐
speaking population and make them rebel against the Mexican government in
California. However, the plot did not succeed and in 1846 John Fremont declared
California to be independent. Zacharias Taylor was in California theoretically to
protect the Americans against Mexico. When he was in Texas commanding he
army, he went to the disputed territory between the Nueces River and the Río
Grande, and there, in that territory, there was a confrontation between Americans
and Mexicans. As a result of that, the United States declared war on Mexico.The
United States soon won, and in 1848, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (See
document nº 9 of the Appendix. American Documents) was signed, by which
Mexico gave the United States the Southern Border States, including the present
States of California, Nevada, and Utah, a large part of Arizona and New Mexico, and
part of Colorado. In exchange, the United States gave Mexico $15,000,000 in
addition tot) the payment of claims of American citizens against Mexico amounting
to $3,250,000.
There was a great deal of public opinion in favour of these events, another
example of Manifest Destiny. Nevertheless, there were some people against the
treaty. They were anti slave, anti‐agrarian, and pacifists. In 1853, a new treaty was
negotiated between the United States and Mexico by which the United States
bought a relatively small territory south of the River Gila for the construction of
the Southern railway. At that time, James Gadsden was minister to Mexico and
negotiated the transfer. This marked the end of American expansionism until the
purchase of Alaska in 1867 and the war with Spain in 1898.
During the 19th century, there was a great movement of population
westwards, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and, particularly after the Civil
War; there was the most widespread movement of population in the history of the
United States. In the 1870’s, a vast area, the Great Plains, began to be settled and
transformed, and by 1890, the frontier border had disappeared since almost all the
west had been settled. The conclusion of the railroads had a great influence on that
process. The settlement of the west was organized through acts of the Federal
government such as the Homestead Act of 1862. The plains beyond began to be
occupied after 1865.
In 1890, the superintendent of the census for that year observed that for the
first time in American history, a single frontier line was no longer visible on the
map. The frontier, in that sense, had come to an end. However, even today, as an
experience, a myth and a symbol, the frontier continues to dominate American
thought. The popular cultural impact of the frontier has been repeatedly reflected
in literature and frequently used as a setting in Westerns films.
1.2. The Railroad
In the nineteenth century, the railroad became one of the major icons associated
with mobility. Apart from affecting industry and agriculture, the Railroad interacted
with western migration and produced a great change, which had an enormous influence
in creating a firm economy and organizing the territory politically, since it brought a
permanent farmer population to the west. The technology for steam locomotives came
from England, and in 1830 and 1831, two American railroads started to function.
During the 1840s and 1850s the railroads spread westward and in 1869 the first
transcontinental railroad was completed. The construction of the railway was crucial to
the state-making process in the west. In the following chart, we can see how important
the development of the railroads was. By 1860, there were more than 30,000 miles of
track:
Railroad Mileage, ca.1860

Area Miles
New England 3,660
Middle Atlantic 6,353
Old Northwest 9,592
Southeast 5,463
Southwest 4,072
Far West 1,495
TOTAL 30,636
Source: Divine et al., 1998, p. 220.
The railway had a great influence in the development of the cities. The frontier
city of Chicago is a good example. Centred as it was on the prairie, the building of
railroads, with the laying of transcontinental tracks, enabled Chicago, to open its Union
stockyards and come into its own. Added to this, the invention of the refrigerated train
carriages helped to make Chicago the leading meat processing and meat packing capital
of the United States.
The Midwest, with its boundless prairies and swiftly growing population,
flourished. Europe and the older settled parts of America provided a market for its
wheat and meat products. The great improvement in transportation facilities provided an
important stimulus for western prosperity; from 1850 to 1857 the Appalachian
Mountain barrier was traversed by five railway trunk lines linking the Midwest and the
East. These links established economic interests in the different parts of the American
nation. Initially, the expansion of the railway network, affected the South far less. It was
not until the late 1850s that a continuous line ran through the mountains connecting the
lower Mississippi River with the southern Atlantic seaboard.
On July 1, 1862, the first Pacific Railroad Act was signed by President
Lincoln. This act gave the go‐ahead for the construction of a transcontinental
railroad by two corporations: the Union Pacific, which built westward, from
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the Central Pacific, which built eastward, from
Sacramento, California. The construction started in 1865 and ended in 1869,
thanks not only to the engineers and entrepreneurs who oversaw the project, but
also to the workforce that built it. This was made up of Chinese coolies, Irish
immigrants and ex‐soldiers. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met in
Promontory, Utah.
During the building of the transcontinental railway, which was carried out with
considerable government money, there was a great scandal, which was widely reported
in the press. Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company and then
awarded themselves the lucrative construction contracts. During the life of the
company, named Credit Mobilier of America, millions of dollars were siphoned off into
the pockets of the directors and their friends. In order to forestall congressional
investigations, one of the directors distributed shares to congressmen, Cabinet officers,
and even to Vice President Schuyler Colfax.
In the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the workers demanded better working
conditions and protested against the cuts in their salaries. Workers walked out on
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and strikes spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
There were even general strikes that paralysed Chicago and Saint Louis. The strike
lasted over two weeks, and it was finally settled after President Rutherford B.
Hayes had sent in Federal Troops to force workers back to work.
By 1883 there were three other transcontinental lines that reached the
Pacific: The Northern Pacific, the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe.
Most Indians were confined to reservations by 1880s, in areas of the West
that were not very attractive to white settlers. The white settlers decided to hold
back the Native American Indians in order to plant firm roots in the territory. They
were able to do that with the help of the army and the slaughter of the buffalo that
roamed the plains. In addition to this, farmers introduced new tools and methods
of farming and irrigation to adapt to the new environment, and the railroad was
used to take the crops to the market. The advance of the mining due to the gold
rush in California, the railroad, the invasion of cattlemen and the destruction of
buffalo all threatened the American Indians way of life.
Before 1800, a million Indians lived north of the Rio Grande, speaking 2000
languages and subsisting in small villages on maize, game and fish. By the 1820s,
the European colonists and American‐born settlers of European origin had co‐
existed with the indigenous population for two centuries. These relationships had
ranged from the benign and often mutually beneficial relations of the Plymouth
community with the local tribes, to open warfare, with massacres of women and
children on both sides. Moreover, up to and including the war of 1812, the great
powers of Europe and, later, the independent American government had struck up
strategic alliances with American Indian leaders for military purposes.
With the election in 1828 of Andrew Jackson, a war veteran who had encountered
Native American Indians on the battlefield a number of times, and a broadening of
executive powers, the federal government began to take a more active role in the
question of what came to be termed “Indian Removal”, in other words, pushing the
Indians further west to lands less desirable to settlers, and if necessary, doing so
by force.
The new cotton kingdom, stretching across the soil of Georgia, Alabama and
Mississippi, was highly appealing to settlers. Only the Indian tribes of the region
stood in their way. Some of these tribes, notably the Cherokee, had assimilated
many European customs, adopting Christianity, farming their land by the latest
methods, creating their own writing systems. They were even willing to accept
European‐style legal systems and land ownership registration; indeed, under the
Jackson administration alone, 94 treaties were concluded with different tribes.
The Removal Act of 1830 authorized the president to transfer Eastern
Indian tribes to the western territories, which were promised (falsely) to them "in
perpetuity". Under Andrew Jackson, a massive deportation of eastern Indians was
carried out. Theoretically, they were being sent to reservations in the west. Despite
the opposition of the Supreme Court, some 50,000 Cherokee were collected in
concentration camps and sent on a winter march to Oklahoma in 1836. Many died
because they offered resistance. The actual relocation culminated in 1838, in a
forced march known as the "Trail of Tears", and was one of the most disgraceful
occurrences in the history of United States domestic policy.
The act stated that it was “to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians
residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river
Mississippi... That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to
cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river
Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which the Indian title
has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number
of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to
exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove there; and to cause each of said
districts to be so described by natural or artificial marks, as to be easily distinguished
from every other.”
“Removal” further West was presented as being for the tribes’ own welfare;
there, they were promised, they could live in peace, “unmolested by their white
brothers,” “for as long as waters shall run and grass shall grow”. However, the
American tribes soon found that the lands they were being offered, largely in what
is now Oklahoma, had very little water and nothing but grass. It was virtually a
desert, unlike the lush lands they were being told to abandon. Not surprisingly,
most of them refused. Others rebelled openly and went on the warpath.
Whatever the option chosen, be it acquiescence or resistance, the American
Indians were no match for the demographic push South‐Westward of thousands of
white settlers, or the guns of the federal army. Moreover, the white man had
another weapon: germs. The American Indians, without any natural resistance to
such European diseases as smallpox, were prey to harrowing epidemics when they
were forced together on the long marches west, at gunpoint and sometimes in
chains.
On December 7, 1935, Andrew Jackson declared in his Seventh Annual

Message to Congress that the plan of removing the aboriginal people who remained
within the settled portions of the United States to the country west of the Mississippi
River was approaching its consummation.
Jackson’s “Indian Removal” policies succeeded, on their own terms, with the
largely sedentary Southeastern tribes. But as settlers moved even further west,
they would encounter the warlike, nomadic tribes of the Great Plains, with their
formidable guerrilla cavalry tactics and a whole new chapter in the Indian question
would begin.
Most frontiersmen thought that the only good Indian was a dead Indian.
Indians and millions of buffaloes were slaughtered on the Great Plains. Between
the years of 1872 and 1874, the buffaloes were hunted to near extinction. "Buffalo
Bill" Cody led the hunt, but soon professional hide‐hunters, big game hunters, and
wild‐west tours, poured in to take part in this astonishing slaughter. These hunts
kept the Indians on their reservations and cleared the way for the
American development of the west. The buffaloes were used to supply the Indians
with food, shelter, bedding, clothing, shields, ropes, saddles, and other needs. Cattle
replaced Buffaloes and led to a flourishing cattle industry. There were long drives
of cattle until the cattle boom reached its peak in 1885, after which, it began to
decline.
In 1850 there were 100,000 Indians in California and in 1860 there were
only 35,000. From 1861 to 1887 there was constant warfare on the Plains after the
invasion of miners and white settlers. Large areas of Indian land were acquired by
treaty or by sale. In 1876, Chief Crazy Horse, Chief Gall, and Chief Two Moons at
the Battle of Little Bighorn defeated General Armstrong Custer. The nation was so
revolted by the defeat that it tacitly concurred in the extinction of the Sioux nation.
The army campaign was savage and successful, and by 1877, the Sioux were
confined into reservations.
There was an ineffective policy towards Indians, but in 1887 the Dawes
Severalty Act was passed by Congress, an erroneous law that established Indian
policy for the next half century and was hailed as an Indian Emancipation Act. Each
Indian family was provided with 160 acres of land, which was often unfertile.
However, this was not always respected. For example, in 1889, due to public
pressure, land in Oklahoma formally ceded to the Indians was opened to white
settlers by government decree.
In 1924, Congress passed a law granting citizenship to all Indians. However,
injustice remained. By 1934, Indian land properties had been reduced from 56
million hectares to 48 million. It was then, under the government of Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, that the American Indians got “a New Deal”.

2. THE GILDED AGE

2.1. Economic Expansion and Industrial Growth
In the period from the end of the Civil War to World War I, that has been
called the Gilded Age, the United States experienced enormous economic growth.
After 1900 the wage earner was on a par with the modern industrial nations and
by 1913, the United States had become a leading industrial power in the world;
more than one third of the world’s industrial production came from the United
States” as a result of the economic revolution that took place.
The railway network favored the formation of a national market, by
providing transportation links between different parts of the United States, rising
business activities and spreading settlements. Moreover, the constructions of
railroads created a demand for coal, iron and steel, helping to support and expand
heavy industries. The greatest thrust in railroad building came after 1862, when
Congress set aside public land for the first transcontinental railroad, which was
completed in 1869.
There was a period of enormous growth between 1870 and 1914, and
between 1870 and 1900 the population doubled from 38,6 million people to 76
million people. This growth came mainly from immigrants from Europe. The
nation was quickly urbanized and in those decades that the population doubled,
the nation’s factories and mills quadrupled their production. Old industries
expanded and many new ones emerged, including petroleum refining, steel
manufacturing, and electrical power. In addition, new trusts appeared. The first
was invented in 1882; it was the Standard Oil Company. John D. Rockefeller
organized the Standard Oil Trust to avoid the laws of individual states, which set
limits to the running of his organization. The trust was successful and became the
example, which other large corporations would copy. In 1901, the United States
Steel Company, formed by J. P. Morgan, was incorporated, creating the first
billion-dollar corporation in America.
Americans saw an increase in their standard of living and experienced an
industrial revolution that radically changed the ways of life of millions of people.
Some of these changes resulted from a technological revolution. There were new
technologies and products. For instance, they changed from candles, to kerosene
lamps, and then to electric light bulbs. There were important inventions. In 1876,
the Centennial Exposition was opened by President Grant in Philadelphia in May.
American inventions of recent decades were displayed, including the telephone,
the telegraph, and the mimeograph. The first gasoline‐driven automobiles were
created in the 1890s.
However, working conditions were often unsafe and workers got

subsistence wages. At the turn of the twentieth century, most of them worked in a
large‐scale mechanized system of production. Enormous plants substituted small
stores so that workers would start to join unions to defend their safety and wages.
Industrial growth transformed American society. It produced a new, well-off

middle class. It also produced a huge blue-collar working class. Between 1870 and 1929
the production of American industry increased fourteen times. This growth generated a
demand for workers. The labour force that made industrialization possible was made up
of millions of immigrants and, especially before World War I, American industry
depended a great deal on workers who came from other countries. Labour came from
two main sources: there were large numbers of migrants from rural areas, since young
people and their children moved from farms to the city to look for better opportunities,
and there was a flow of immigrants from different parts of the world. American society
became more diverse than before.
Between 1880 and 1900, cities in the United States grew at a spectacular
rate. By around 1918, half the population of the United States lived in cities. This
growth was due to the following main causes: rapid industrialization; the
construction of railroads and roads; immigration; and migration of farm workers
who were attracted by the cities. Because of the expansion of industry, the cities of
the United States grew by about 15 million people in the two decades before 1900.
Most of this population growth was because of immigrants arriving from around
the world and people who migrated from rural America, as we have mentioned
before. Between 1880 and 1890, almost 40 percent of the towns in the United States
lost population because of migration.
Thus, industrial expansion and population growth radically changed the cities.
They became noisy, with traffic, slums, air pollution, and health problems. Trolleys,
cable cars, and subways, were built, and skyscrapers began to overlook city skylines.
New communities, known as suburbs, started to be built just beyond the city.
Many of those who lived in the city lived rented apartments. Immigrants often
lived together in ethnic neighbourhoods that were often the centre of community life
and were demarcated by religious, language and cultural differences. There, many
immigrant groups attempted to hold on to and practise their customs and traditions.
During the final years of the 1800s, industrial cities had to face all the
problems brought on by rapid population growth and lack of infrastructure to
support such a growth. In spite of that, cities were laying the foundation for the
multiethnic and multicultural American society.
As the factory system grew, workers started to form labour unions to
protect their interests. Workers had low wages and they wanted to have better
working conditions.
In 1869, a national labor organization was founded by a group of
Philadelphia clothing workers, the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor. It
combined all workers in one big union of both skilled and unskilled workers.
Members tried to ensure secrecy to protect them from losing their jobs, by using
secret codes and signs. But their activities reached the press and they began to
operate openly but without revealing the name of any member to an employer.
There was a great increase in membership after the Great Railroad Strike of
1877, which led many workers to join this national labor organization. In 1881, as
the Knights of Labor shrunk after strikes were unsuccessful, a new labour
organization was formed by Samuel Gompers, the American Federation of Labor
(AFL), a leader of a Cigarmakers’ Union, thought that craft unions of skilled
workers could not be easily replaced when they went on a strike, so they were the
best kind.
The AFL started with a nucleus of six craft unions; the Cigarmakers’ Union,
the Glassmakers’ Union, the Steel Molders’ Union, the Iron Molders’ Union, the
Carpenters’ Union and the Printers’ Union. Although in the beginning, the AFL and
the Knights of Labor battled and invaded each other’s territory, the AFL imposed
and increased membership and power. By 1904, the AFL had become the nation’s
dominant labour organization. By January 1917, it had 2,370,000 members and by
January 1919, it had 3,260,000 members.
Gompers was very pragmatic and just wanted to better life for workers,
without becoming involved in politics. This kind of unionism was known as “bread
and butter” or “pure and simple” unionism. The main objective was to get higher
wages and less working hours.
In 1905, another labour organization was founded in Chicago by Eugene V.
Debs: the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). This was a revolutionary union
that wanted to beat capitalism through strikes and boycotts. In 1912, the
membership was of 100,000 workers, and was popular among migratory farmers,
lumberjacks, dockworkers and textile workers. In 1917, the union was prosecuted
and by 1918, it had almost vanished.
In the first decades of the twentieth century, a number of important
Parliamentary Acts concerning employment were passed. The Progressives (see
unit 5) were very much concerned about employment problems and tried to
improve working conditions. They and the AFL pressured state governments to
establish laws to protect women and children. Thus, most states passed laws
forbidding the employment of children under fourteen and reducing the workweek
of women to 54 hours. Nineteen states established eight hours of work per day for
children under sixteen in factories and stores. In addition, many states passed laws
to improve safety conditions at work. For example, by 1917; thirteen states had
passed workers’ compensation laws to cover industrial accidents.
The Progressives also allied themselves with AFL to help with the
employment question. In 1914, Congress passed the Clayton Act to end the use of
antitrust laws and court injunctions against unions. During World War I, the
federal government created the War Labor Board to settle disputes by arbitration.

4. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMIGRATION TO THE U.S.
Population increased, tripling between 1860 and 1920. An important

source of population growth in the United States was the arrival of immigrants. In
the three decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century approximately
twenty million people moved to the United States, and thirty five million between
1850 and 1930. In 1880, the population had reached 50,100,000, of whom
6,600,000 were foreign born. By 1920, almost a quarter of the population of the
United States had been born someplace else.
After the Civil War, most immigrants arrived from northern and Western
Europe. During the 1870s and 1880s most of them came from Germany, Ireland and
England but the number decreased after 1890. The number of immigrants who arrived
from Scandinavia also diminished after 1910. In the 1870’s new immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe arrived. Among them there were Poles, Serbs, Italians,
Hungarians, Austrians and Russians. In 1910, they made up 38 per cent of the foreign-
born population whereas in 1860 they were only one per cent. These immigrants were
Catholic, Greek Orthodox or Jewish, whereas the immigrants from northern and western
Europe were mainly Protestant.
Most immigrants entered the United States through New York, which was the
largest port of entry during the late 1800s. In 1855, the state of New York opened an
immigration station at the tip of Manhattan, Castle Garden, to help immigrants, and in
1892, a larger immigrant-processing centre was opened on Ellis Island, in New York
harbour. More than half a million immigrants were arriving yearly and Castle Garden
had become too small for so many people. Ellis Island processed over 20 million people
before it closed in 1954. There were other immigrants who came through other ports.
The majority of them settled near those ports of entry, but others looked for the places
where people from their countries had settled before.
The appearance of large numbers of Jews, Slavs, and Italian immigrants led
many Americans to consider some groups such as the Irish and the Germans an asset,
and hostility shifted from the Irish to the new nationalities. Between 1849 and 1882,
there was also a large flow of Chinese who migrated to the United States attracted by
the California gold rush. After the gold rush, they worked mainly on the railway
construction and in farms. Immigrants were usually less paid than other workers.
The foreign-born enriched the United States but, in spite of that, there were
voices who wanted immigration to be limited or ended totally, particularly of Orientals,
Chinese and Japanese, and from southern or eastern Europe. For example, there were
different riots against the Chinese. In Los Angeles, in 1871, as a result of a riot, fifteen
Chinese labourers were lynched in the ongoing violence, which had begun to
characterize the opposition to Asian immigration. In 1879, feeling against "cheap
Chinese labour" was running so high in California that when the state was adopting a
new constitution, a clause was inserted and accepted which forbade employment of any
Chinese labourers, and in 1886, in Seattle, Washington, Federal Troops were required to
restore order.
Therefore, legal limits to reduce immigration expanded after 1880, and
there was discriminatory legislation against those groups. In 1882, Congress
passed the Chinese Exclusion Act that excluded Chinese labourers for a period of
ten years, but really finished Chinese immigration for almost a century. In the same
year, for the first time, Congress restricted immigration on a selective basis.
Standards were not very strict, but the bill banned paupers, convicts, and the
insane. The policy of exclusion was extended in 1890 and 1902, and finally it
became permanent. In 1924, Congress banned Japanese immigration completely.
The San Francisco Board of Education ordered that all children of Oriental origin
should attend a purely Oriental school. The President persuaded the Mayor of San
Francisco to withdraw the order with the understanding that the White House
would try to discourage Japanese immigration to the United States.
In general terms, from 1776 to 1920s the US encouraged immigration and had a
generous policy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there was an important flow of European
immigration to North America and to the USA. The majority of them were British
immigrants, indentured servants who immigrated there voluntarily and involuntarily.
The destinations were the following: the “Spanish" settled in Florida, Gulf coast, Texas,
New Mexico and California; the French Catholics went to St. Lawrence, Louisiana - the
French Protestants (Huguenots) to the South Coast and other English colonies; the
Dutch to the Hudson valley, New York; the Swedish to lower Delaware; the Germans to
Pennsylvania, the North Coast, and other English colonies and British to all the Atlantic
seaboard.
Attitudes towards immigrants were essentially very positive, welcoming, even

encouraging. Most of the colonies used promotional propaganda and benefits to attract
immigrants. There were liberal land policies, concession of political rights, religious
tolerance but occasional expressions of antagonism such as for instance in the 17th
century versus the Quakers in New England and in the 18th century versus the Scotch-
Irish.
In the 19th century, there was a demographic explosion in Europe. The
European population in 1800 was 187 million and that number rose in 1900 to
401 million. Economic, social, and political dislocations, conflict, revolutions were
"push" factors and at the same time, there were "pull" factors that attracted people
to the USA, which was seen as a land of hope, freedom and opportunity, with an
expansive economy, manpower shortage, agricultural land available, higher wages
than in Europe.
And so, between 1783 and 1913, there was large‐scale European
emigration to the USA. From 1815, when the Napoleonic wars ended, European
governments relaxed restrictions on emigration. Added to this, with growing
domestic problems of over‐population, emigration was a means of alleviating
tensions at home, and of getting rid of politically undesirable and subversive
elements. With the growth of emigration organizations, and the construction of
railways in Europe and America, fast, cheap means of transport were available to
take large numbers of people over long distances.
There was great increase in trans‐Atlantic trade. US ships exported cotton,
wood and grain, etc. ie. Bulky, heavy goods, and import manufactures and
passengers to fill the empty space on board. This enabled them to offer passenger
tickets at low prices. In addition, railway companies, land companies, large
industrial employers and western territorial governments mounted publicity
campaigns to encourage people to go to the US. Many immigrants signed work
contracts in their countries of origin, in exchange for a passage to USA
As a result of this, from 1815 to 1930, approximately 38 million immigrants
entered the United States, which constituted 1/3 of the total US population growth.
The vast majority were Europeans (Atlantic migration). Most were for economic
reasons, a few for political and religious reasons
In 1740, the British government passed a law establishing a seven‐year

residence qualification and an oath of loyalty as pre‐requisites for becoming a
naturalized British subject in the colonies. In 1790, the Naturalization Act limited
naturalization to white persons of "good moral character" and required a set
period of residence in the United States, specifically two years in the country and
one year in the state of residence when applying for citizenship. The Act was
replaced by the The Naturalization Act of 1795 which differed from the 1790 Act in
two areas: The period of required residence was increased from two to five years
in the United States and from one to two years in the state of residence. The act
specified that naturalized citizenship was reserved only for "whites." In 1798, the
Alien and Sedition Acts required residence of 14 years for naturalization. This was
a significant increase since before this law only five years were required. The
President was also authorized to deport "undesirable" immigrants.
The political context for this was that President John Adams and the Federal
Party feared the growing power of opposition, the Democrat‐Republican Party led
by Thomas Jefferson. New immigrants were one source of votes and growing
political power. New law disenfranchised immigrants in the immediate future.
Supporters entertained the hope that after 14 years, successful immigrants might
prefer to support the conservative Federal Party. In 1801/1802, President
Jefferson, reinstated the law allowing naturalization after 5 years residence. In
1824, a law was passed lowering the residence requirement for naturalization
from 5 to 2 years.
From the 1870s to the 1920s, there were changing attitudes regarding
immigrants. In 1886, the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York. The
inscription on the base taken from a sonnet by Emma Lazarus called The New
Colossus reflects traditional, liberal immigration policy and positive attitudes
regarding immigrants.
“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‐tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
In the 19th century, traditional, favourable, liberal, and generally

encouraging attitudes persisted but there were occasional manifestations of
antagonism towards Germans, Irish, Catholics, Jews and Asians immigrants. The
'new' immigrants (mostly Latin and Slavic peoples) settled in ethnic districts of
North East industrial centres and were more "visible". They were different in
physical appearance, food, dress, customs, languages, and especially in religions
(Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Jews)
From the 1870s to the 1920s, a radical change of attitudes and policy
regarding immigration can be observed, due mainly to the following factors: the
WASP’s (White Anglo‐Saxon Protestants) feared cultural and 'racial' degradation.
The 'new' immigrants were generally associated with slums, poverty, illiteracy,
alcoholism, violence, delinquency, and crime, and these were all greatly increased
in urban areas. There was fear of social conflict and growing U.S. working class
hostility towards unskilled immigrant workers.
In 1890, the agricultural frontier was declared "closed". This symbolised the
triumph of US vitality, the domination of 'nature' and its resources, and 'progress'.
But there was also unease regarding the end of an era, the exhaustion of economic
opportunities, and uncertainty as to what the future would bring. In 1893, there
was financial panic and a long, deep economic depression began. One view
interprets the crisis as the inability of the domestic market to absorb agricultural
and industrial overproduction. From 1890 to 1899, there were controls and
discrimination regarding immigrants. In 1891, illegal immigrants could be
deported; in 1892, Ellis Island opened; in 1894, the League for the Restriction of
Immigration was formed and in 1896, 1898, 1902 and 1906, bills were passed to
impose literacy test on immigrants. In 1898, immigrants to the USA were classified
by 'race'.
Legal limits to reduce immigration were strengthened after 1880, and
constituted clearly discriminatory legislation against certain groups. From 1875 to
1917, we can see early precedents of restrictive immigration legislation: in 1875,
the first federal immigration restrictions were imposed on prostitutes and
convicts; on the Chinese (1882, 1892, 1902...); on the Japanese (1900, 1907‐8,
1924, 1929); on political radicals and revolutionaries (1903); on criminals and the
seriously diseased, (1910); on paupers/beggars (1917); on children with no
parents; on the insane or mentally retarded/ill (1917); on alcoholics (1917); on
illiterates over 16 (1917).
In 1882, Congress enforced the Chinese Exclusion Act that excluded Chinese
labourers for a period of ten years but really finished Chinese immigration for
almost a century. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first (and only)
explicitly race‐based immigration act. In the same year, for the first time, Congress
restricted immigration on a selective basis. Standards were not very strict, but the
bill banned paupers, convicts, and the insane. The policy of exclusion was extended
in 1890 and 1902, and finally it became permanent. In 1903, U.S. law restricted
immigration into the USA and American agents were entitled to inspect and reject
immigrants in European ports of departure, and the USA was entitled to deport
any illegal immigrant. From 1903 to 1911, the Dillingham Commission was
established by Congress to study immigration policy and in 1911, published about
42 volumes of results. It did not support racial restrictions but recommended a
literacy test, and a policy guided by national economic interests. In 1910, U.S.
Immigration law barred criminals, paupers, and diseased immigrants.
In 1917, the Immigration Act further restricted Asian immigration, creating
the “barred zone”, the Asia‐Pacific triangle. In 1918, at the end of 1st World War,
the economic depression in USA meant that the unemployed feared competition
for jobs from the massive numbers of immigrants arriving after War. This led to
mounting popular pressure against immigration.
Racists, xenophobes, anti‐Catholics and anti‐Semites supported quotas to
preserve the Protestant and Anglo‐Saxon proportion of the population. In 1921,
The Immigration Act was passed to limit the proportion of immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe. It was a quota law, limiting the number of
immigrants from any European, Australasian, Near Eastern, or African country to
three per cent of the total number of that nationality residing in the Unites States
in 1910.
However, in spite of the social tensions that immigration created,
immigrants contributed to the industrial growth and helped to change American
society.
CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table
1783 Peace treaty was signed
1787 Northwest Ordinance was passed by Congress; restructured territorial government

1803 Chief Justice John Marshall ruled on Marbury versus Madison, setting precedent
for judicial review (February)
Louisiana Purchase was concluded with France (May)
1804 Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest
1819 Adams-Onís Treaty ceded Spanish territory to the United States
1823 Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed
1829 Inauguration of Andrew Jackson
1845 The term, "Manifest Destiny," appeared for the first time in the expansionist
magazine the Democratic Review, in an article by the editor, John O’Sullivan
Texas joined the Union as the twenty-eight state
1846 Congress approved a declaration of war with Mexico
1848 Feminists gathered at Seneca Falls, New York, and founded the women’s rights
movement
The Treaty of Guadalupe‐Hidalgo ended war with Mexico The United States
gained land including present day Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California
1849 Gold drew prospectors to California.
1859 More gold discoveries were made in Colorado and Nevada.
1862 Congress passed the Homestead Act, encouraging western settlement
1864 Nevada was admitted to the Union. Colonel John Chivington led a massacre
of Indians at Sand Creek, Colorado
1865‐ Sioux fought white miners and the U.S. Army in the Great Sioux War
1867
1866 “Long drive” of cattle touched off cattle bonanzas
William Sylvis established the National Labour Union
1867 Horace Greeley urged Easterners to go west. National Grange of the Patrons of
Husbandry was founded to enrich farmers’ lives
1867‐ Policy of “small reservations” for Indians was adopted
1868
1869 Rutgers and Princeton play in the nation’s first intercollegiate football game
Cincinati Red Stockings, baseball’s first professional team, was organized
The first Transcontinental Railroad was completed.
Knights of Labor was organized
Riots against the Chinese took place in San Francisco
1870 The Standard Oil Company of Ohio was incorporated in Cleveland
It was the beginning of Rockefeller’s great oil ventures
1871 Race riots erupted in Los Angeles against the Chinese
1872 The Credit Mobilier scandal erupted in the press
1873 Congress passed the Timber Culture Act
1874 Joseph F. Glidden invented barbed wire
Discovery of gold in Dakota Territory sets off Black Hills Gold Rush
Women’s Christian Temperance Union formed to crusade against evils of
liquor
1876 Colorado was admitted to the Union
Custer and his men are defeated and killed by the Sioux at Little Bighorn
Johns Hopkins University opened the first separate graduate school
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone
Centennial Exposition was held in Philadelphia
Mark Twain published The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, setting off a major
change in American literary style
1877 The Great railroad went on a strike
1879 Thomas A. Edison invented the incandescent lamp
Henry George analysed problems of urbanizing in Progress and Poverty Salvation
Army arrived in the United States
1881 Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labour (AFL)
1882 Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company became the nation’s first trust
Edison opened the first electricity generating station in New York
Chinese Exclusion Act was passed, which excluded Chinese immigration to the
United States
1883 Metropolitan Opera opened in New York
1884 The world’s first true "skyscraper" was completed in Chicago
1886 Haymarket Affair
Statue of Liberty dedicated
1887 The Dawes Severalty Act was passed by Congress
Interstate Commerce Commission created
1890 National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed
Sherman Antitrust Act
1894 Immigration restriction League was formed to limit immigration from Southern
and Eastern Europe
1885 Homes Insurance Building, the country’s first metal-frame structure, was erected
in Chicago
1886 Labour protest erupted in violence in the Haymarket Riot in Chicago
Railroads adopt a standard gauge
1886‐ Severe drought and winter damage cattle and farming bonanzas
1887
1887 Railroads cut workers’ wages, provoking a bloody and violent strike
Disputed election of 1876 results in the awarding of the presidency to Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes
Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act, making Indians individual
landowners. Hatch Act provided funds for the establishment of agricultural
experiment stations
1888 Republican Benjamin Harrison won the presidential election
1889 Jane Adams opened Hull House in Chicago
National Farmers` Alliance and Industrial Union was formed to address the
problems of farmers
Washington, Montana, and the Dakotas were admitted to the Union
Oklahoma Territory was opened to settlement
1890 Idaho and Wyoming were admitted to Union. Teton Sioux were massacred at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota
National American Woman Suffrage Association was formed to work for
women’s right to vote
1892 Workers went on a strike at the Homestead steel plant in Pennsylvania
1893 Young historian Frederick Jackson Turner and delivered his address, "The
Significance of the Frontier in American History" at the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago and analysed the closing of the frontier
Financial panic touched off a depression that last until 1897
Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed
1894 Immigration Restriction League in formed to limit immigration from southern
and eastern Europe
1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy versus Ferguson established the constitutiona-
lity of “separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites
John Dewey’s Laboratory School for testing and practice of new educational
theory opens at the University of Chicago.
1897 Gold was discovered in Alaska
1907 Japanese immigration was restricted in the United States
Oklahoma was admitted to the Union
1908 William Howard Taft was elected president, and James S. Sherman is vice
president.
Henry Ford introduced his famous Model T.
1911 The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City killed 146 people.
Arizona was admitted as a state.
1912 Woodrow Wilson was elected president, and Thomas R. Marshall was vice
president
1913 Henry Ford adopted the conveyor belt system used in the meat-packing industry.
By putting the idea to work for the manufacture of cars, within ten years he brings
down the price of the Model T from $850 to $290
Big Bonanza was discovered on the Comstock Lode in Nevada
Comstock Law banned obscene article from the Unites States mail
Nation’s first kindergarten opened in St. Louis, Missouri
Indian Wars with the Modoc Indians of Oregon
The Modoc leaders were captured and hanged; the rest were transferred to a
reservation in the Dakotas
1900 McKinley was reelected, again defeating Bryan. Gold Standard Act
establishes gold as the standard of currency.
1901 J.P. Morgan announced the formation of U.S. Steel Corporation, the nation’s
first billion‐dollar company.
1901 McKinley was assassinated; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes the
presidency. Naturalist writer Theodore Dreiser publishes Sister Carrie.
1905 The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was organized in Chicago, led
by William Haywood
1908 The "Ashcan school" was founded. It was led by Robert Henri and centred in
Greenwich Village, a group of artists who focused its painting on the lively
life of the cities
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McGraw‐Hill, 1983.
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Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
SMITH, P. The Rise of Industrial America: A People’s History of the Post
Reconstruction Era. New York: Mac Graw‐Hill, 1984.
TAYLOR, G. R. The Transportation Revolution, 18151860. New York: Hill and Wang,
1997.
TRACHTENBERG, A. The Incorporation of America: Culture and Society in the
Gilded Age. New York: Hill and Wang,1982.
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Working Class, 17881850. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Westward Expansion

www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/.../westward/index.cfm
www.americanwest.com/pages/awexpans.htm
www.snowcrest.net/jmike/westexp.html
www.sonofthesouth.net/.../westward‐expansion.htm
www.besthistorysites.net › US History › Periods

American Railroad

www.memory.loc.gov/learn///.../railroad/rail.html
www.teacheroz.com/19thcent.htm ‐
www.let.rug.nl › FRtR › Essays
www.cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html
www.americanhistory.suite101.com/.../inventions_and_innovation_in_19th_centur
y_us

The Suppression of American Indians

www.firstpeople.us
www.standford.edu/‐paherman/indian_removal.htm
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html
www.studyworld.com/indian_removal_act_of_1830.htm
www.historicaldocuments.com/IndianRemovalAct.htm

The Gilded Age

www.americanhistory.about.com/.../gildedage/The_Gilded_Age.htm
www.bss.sfsu.edu/cherny/gapesites.htm
www.besthistorysites.net › US History › Periods
www.archaeolink.com/19th_century_american_industrial.htm
www.raken.com/american.../Gilded_age_index.asp

Workers and Unions

www.memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/riseind/riseof.html
www.usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/part5.htm
www.us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture08.html
www.americanhistory.about.com/.../industrialrev/Industrial_Revolution.htm
www.infoplease.com/ce6/bus/A0856583.html
Immigration

www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nineteen.htm
www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol2no1/19thamhist.html
www.connerprairie.org/HistoryOnline/lutherans.html
www.teacheroz.com/19thcent.htm
www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp‐018/


1. What were the consequences of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?
1. 2. How was the West transformed in America’s Gilded Age (1870‐1890)?
3.Which were the main groups of immigrants that arrived in the United States
I the 19th century?
4.Which were the main repercussions of the railway?
5. What was the main consequence of the quota of 1921?
6. Which groups were affected by the policy of discrimination?
7. Why did the Knights of Labour use secret codes and signs?
8. Which were the main causes for the increase of population between 1860
and 1920?
9. What were the effects of the extermination of the American buffaloes?
10.Which American union became more powerful and imposed to the others?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Explain the main consequences of the Westward Expansion.
2. Compare the annexation of Texas and Oregon.
3. Reflect on the evolution of policies and legislation regarding immigration
to the USA.
4. Explain the way industrial growth transformed American society.
5. Write about the influence of the railroad in 19th geographical mobility.

UNIT 5

AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM

1. TOWARD THE NEW IMPERIALISM
1.2. The SpanishAmerican War of 1898

2. THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

3. PROGRESSIVISM AND WOMEN

4. AMERICA’S ENTRY INTO THE WORLD WAR I

CHRONOLOGY



FURTHER TASKS

UNIT 5. AMERICAN EXPANSIONISM

1. TOWARD THE NEW IMPERIALISM

In the years following the Civil War, the United States focused on
Reconstruction, the movement westward, and the growing industrial system.
Throughout the nineteen century, Americans enjoyed their "free security".

By the 1870s, the American Republic began taking an increased interest in
events abroad. The growing idea of internationalism stemmed in part from the
telegraphs, telephones, and undersea cables that kept people better informed
about political and economic developments in distant lands. And despite minimal
interest in American imperialism, most Americans continued to be enthusiastic
about the expansion in the country's borders. There were a number of events that
combined to shift attention outward across the seas:

2. The end of the frontier was announced officially in the census report of
1890. Future growth, it seemed, must take place abroad.
3. Farms and factories multiplied all over the country, producing more
goods than the domestic market could consume. Both farmers and
industrialists were looking for new overseas markets, and the growing
volume of exports changed the United States trade relations. In 1890,
American exports amounted to $393, and $1.4 billion ten years later.
4. Political leaders started arguing that foreign markets were of vital
importance for America to continue economic growth.

All over the world the idea of imperialistic expansion was in fashion, and
great powers measured their greatness by the number of colonies they acquired.
Inevitably, Americans entered the international fight for territory.

In the 19th century, large navies were vital in the scramble for colonies, but
in the1870’s, the United States had almost no navy. Conditions changed during the
1880’s. In 1888, Congress authorised the construction of four steel ships, marking
the beginning of the new navy. In 1890, the construction of an offensive battleship
navy was promoted. The aim was to be capable of challenging the strongest fleets
of Europe. The United States needed strategic bases: a powerful navy; a canal
across the isthmus connecting North and South America, to link the East Coast
with the Pacific, and Hawaii as a port of call on the route to Asia. In 1889, the
United States ranked twelfth among world navies, by 1893, it ranked seventh, and
by the end of the decade, the navy had seventeen steel battleships and six
armoured cruisers, and it ranked third in the world.


America’s interest in the Pacific came to focus on the Hawaiian islands.
Hawaii had been discovered by Captain Cook in 1778, and was an important port
in the China trade and a station for American whalers and missionaries. By 1840
Honolulu was a Yankee outpost. In the 1850s and 1860s there were some
intentions to annex these nations, but in 1875 the United States concluded the
reciprocity treaty which granted exclusive trading privileges to both nations and
guaranteed the independence of the Hawaiian islands against any third country.
Twelve years later a new treaty was signed, renewing these privileges and ceding
the use of Pearl Harbour to the United States.

Some years previously, the sons of some missionaries had established the sugar
industry in Hawaii. Sugar production increased with American capital. By 1890, 99% of
Hawaiian sugar exports went to the United States. At this time, America tried to
establish a protectorate. In 1890, the McKinley tariff came into force, providing a
bounty of 2 cents a pound on domestic sugar. The effect was a catastrophic blow to the
Hawaiian economy. American planters and industrialists who had previously opposed
annexation, now thought that annexation might restore the American market in equal
conditions to the Hawaiian sugar industry.

The debate over Hawaiian annexation continued throughout the 1890’s. There
were two events that favoured the annexation of these islands: in the Far East, the rise of
Japan and the fear of the Japanese annexation of the Pacific islands, and the prospect of
the annexation of the Philippines. These gave Hawaii new significance. Annexation
finally arrived in July 1898 by means of a Joint Resolution. Two years later, in 1900, an
organic act conferred American citizenship and the full status of a Territory of the
United States, eligible for statehood, on the island of Hawaii.

1.2. The SpanishAmerican War of 1898
By the 1890s, Cuba and Puerto Rico were nearly all that remained of Spain's
once vast empire in the New World. Cuban insurgents had rebelled several times
against the Spanish government, but they failed to achieve their objectives. The
depression of 1893 damaged the Cuban economy, and the Wilson‐German Tariff of
1894 prostrated it. Sugar was the Cuba's lifeblood, and the duties on it were raised
40%. With the island's sugar market in ruins, discontent with Spanish rule
increased, and in late February 1895, revolt broke out again.

Most Cuban insurgents were confined within fortified areas, and they died
by the thousands, victims of unsanitary conditions, overcrowding and diseases.
These events were published by the newspapers, especially the so‐called yellow
press, a group of New York City newspapers led by the New York World and New
York Journal. But yellow journalism did not cause the war.

The American President, Grover Cleveland, promoted neutrality and,
initially, President William McKinley, who came into office in March 1879, did the
same. But McKinley criticized Spain's uncivilized and inhuman conduct. The
United States did not contest Spain's right to fight the rebellion, but within humane
limits. In 1897, a change of government in Madrid brought a temporary lull in the
crisis. The new government offered the Cubans some form of autonomy. These
initiatives pleased McKinley, but in January 1898, Spanish army officers led riots in
Havana against the new autonomic policy and this shook the president's
confidence in Madrid.

President McKinley ordered the battleship Maine to sail to Havana to
evacuate American citizens if it was necessary. On February 15, an explosion tore
through the hull of the Maine, sinking the ship and killing 266 sailors. McKinley
cautioned patience, but the American people cried out for war with a new
battlecry: "Remember the Maine to Hell with Spain!" Recent studies of the Maine
incident blame the sinking on an accidental internal explosion, but in 1898, the
Americans suspected Spain and the sinking was attributed to an external
explosion.

In March 1898, McKinley asked Congress for $50 million in emergency
defence appropriations, a request Congress promptly approved. On March 27,
President McKinley cabled Spain his final terms. He asked Spain to declare an
armistice to end the concentration policy, and to move towards Cuban
independence. The Spanish conceded some points, but not the important ones.
Their response made no mention of a true armistice and McKinley offered to
mediate. President McKinley prepared his war message, which Congress heard on
April 11, 1898. Eight days later, Congress passed a joint resolution declaring Cuba
independent and authorizing the President to use the army and navy to expel the
Spanish army from the island. On April 25, Congress passed a declaration of war,
and late that afternoon McKinley signed it. In the end, the conflicting national
interests of the two countries brought them to war.

When President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers, as many as one
million young Americans responded. When the invasion force sailed for Cuba,
nearly one‐fourth of it was black. Blacks took command as white officers died, and
Spanish troops soon came to fear the smoked Yankees, as they called them. Black
soldiers played a major role in the Cuban war.

By 1898, it had a detailed plan for operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Mahan's Naval War College had begun studying strategy for a war with Spain in 1895.
The Naval strategy was to destroy the Spanish fleet, damage Spain's merchant navy and
harry the colonies on the coast of Spain. The army's objectives were: to defend the
United States, invade Cuba and Puerto Rico, and undertake possible action in the
Philippines or even Spain.

President McKinley acted cautiously at the beginning. On the afternoon of
April 20, 1898, he decided to blockade Cuba, sending arms to the insurgents, and
annoying the Spanish with small skirmishes by the army. Victories soon changed
the strategy. Problems of equipment and supply quickly appeared. Food was also a
problem, as was sickness. Tainted food and tropical diseases were worse than
enemy bullets for the American troops. The war took relatively few lives, most of
them the result of accidents, yellow fever, malaria, and typhoid in Cuba. Of the
5,500 Americans who died in the war, only 379 were killed in battle.

Ten weeks after the declaration of war, the fighting was over. The Spanish‐
American war was, for the Americans, "ten glorious weeks", with victories to shout
about in every headline and slogan. Relatively few Americans died, and the rapid
victory seemed to confirm American power. John Hay, McKinley's Secretary of
State, called it "a splendid little war." In conclusion, the Spanish American War
established the United States as a world power for the 20th century. It brought
colonies and millions of colonial subjects and confirmed the long‐standing belief in
the superiority of the New World over the Old. Americans felt more certain than
ever that they had a special role to play on the world stage.


The war with Spain was over in a few months but the war with the Philippines
lasted for more than three years, from 1899 to 1902. It took a heavy toll: 4,300
Americans and about 57,000 Filipinos died. The Philippine-American War was
important in American history.

Emilio Aguinaldo was the Filipino leader and he had worked hard for an
American victory in the Spanish‐American war. On June 12, 1898, the insurgents
proclaimed their independence from Spain. They drove the Spanish out of some
areas of the islands with American cooperation. Then, Aguinaldo established local
government in the liberated regions. After that, he waited for American
recognition, but President McKinley doubted that the Filipinos were ready to
constitute an independent country, so shortly thereafter, fighting broke out
between the Filipinos and the Americans. By late 1899, the American army had
defeated and dispersed the Filipino army. However, Aguinaldo and his followers
started a guerrilla war.

In 1900, McKinley won the Presidential election. Then, he sent a special
Philippine Commission under William H. Taft to establish a civil government. The
Filipino leader, Aguinaldo, was captured the following year and he signed a
proclamation urging his people to end the fighting. On July 4, 1901, authority was
transferred from the army to Taft, who was named the Civilian Governor of the islands.
This Commission introduced many changes. The Americans built roads, bridges and
schools. They reconstructed the tax system and introduced sanitation and vaccination
programs. Taft encouraged Filipino participation in the government. So, the Philippines
moved towards independence, which arrived on July 4, 1946, nearly forty years after
Aguinaldo had proclaimed it.

2. THE PROGRESSIVE ERA

The Progressive movement arose in response to many societal changes, the
most powerful of which were the devastating depression of the 1890’s and its
attendant social unrest. The depression brought hard times to the cities, deepened
distress in rural areas, and provoked both the fears and the conscience of the
rapidly growing middle and upper‐middle classes. By the turn of the century, so
many outraged activists were at work seeking to improve social conditions and
political abuses that people began to speak of a Progressive Era, a time of
fermenting idealism, moral and religious fervour, and constructive social,
economic and political change. Most believed problems could be legislated away,
their typical response to injustice or sin was "There ought to be a law." At the same
time they rejected the individualism of Social Darwinism and believed that
progress would come through cooperation rather than competition. Progressivism
was largely a middle‐class movement in which the poor and unorganized had little
influence.

The new organizations reflected the breath of reform. Indeed, so varied
were the aims of people calling themselves progressive that it is a mistake to call
progressivism a single movement. The only unity lay in the idea that people could
improve society. Most progressives, however, were middle‐class moderates, who
did not want radical solutions. Motivated by a fear and hatred of class conflict,
these progressives sought to save the capitalists from their excesses. Their goal
was an orderly and harmonious society. Organising was a major activity at the turn
of the century. The organizations themselves also acted to bring change. The
different groups reflected the rise of a new professionalism that helped to create a
body of experts to be tapped by progressives wanting to impose order and
efficiency on social institutions.

The Progressive Era was a period of explosive economic growth and the
increase of industrial production, a rapid rise of population and the expansion of
the consumer marketplace. Farm prices recovered from their low rates during the
depression of the 1890s, American agriculture had its "golden age". The expansion
of urban areas demanded a large amount of farm goods. About one million claims
for free government land were filed under the Homestead Act of 1863. Between
1900 and 1910, the total population of Texas and Oklahoma rose by nearly 2
million people, and Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas added 800,000. Some
irrigation was introduced in the Imperial Valley of California and some parts of
Arizona to transform these areas into commercial farming.

The focus of the Progressive politics and the new mass‐consumer society
was the city. The number of great cities multiplied. In the United States, there were
fifty cities whose population exceeded 100,000 people. New York was the largest
with 4.7 million residents in 1910. In Manhattan, the population was over 2 million
people. A quarter of them inhabited the Lower East Side, most of them immigrants.
It was even more densely populated than Bombay or Calcutta in India. Their lives
were extremely hard. They had no electricity or indoor toilets.


By 1900 prosperity had returned and was shared by many. The crises of the
1890s had passed. The nation also revelled in its new international power
following the Spanish‐American War. At that time, a number of problems came to
the surface in American society. Most problems were not new, neither were the
proposed solutions:

- Unequal distribution of wealth and income. Four-fifths of Americans lived at
subsistence level. To feed their families, women worked for wages as low as $6 a week.
- Working conditions were equally horrifying in the different industries.
‐ American housing conditions were even worse.
‐ The middle‐class had their economic grievances, however. Prosperity increased

the cost of living by 35% in less than a decade, while many middle‐class incomes
remained fairly stable. These people were not poor, but they believed they were
not getting a fair share of the American prosperity. Many watched with alarm as
trusts, attempting to protect themselves from the Sherman Act. It was the end of
American's status as the land of opportunity.
‐ The great democratic experiment seemed to have disappeared. People came to
believe that they had to find political solutions to the nation's problems. To achieve
that goal they had to wrest government from the hands of a few and return it to the
people. Urban political machines paid for votes with money from bribes; Southern
elections had become corrupt.

On September 6, 1901, the anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot President William
McKinley. Eight days later, Theodore Roosevelt became president. That year, however,
was the first in a decade and a half of reform that would result in a massive amount of
legislative measures and four constitutional amendments by 1920.

Theodore Roosevelt became the most charismatic president since Abraham
Lincoln. His vitality and wit captivated most Americans. They called him "Teddy"
and named a stuffed bear after him. He was not a simple man, however. He was
born into an aristocratic Dutch family in New York, Roosevelt rejected a life of
leisure for the rough world of politics. His privileged background made him an
unlikely candidate for a reformer, yet he ended up making reform respectable. He
was a conservative but he declared, "The only true conservative is the man who
resolutely sets his face toward the future." The conservatives of that time rejected
his call for change and insisted on laissez‐faire principles.

Roosevelt had two progressive ideas. One was that government should be
efficiently run by competent people. The other was that industrialisation needed an
expanded government action. As a result of these two ideas, Theodore Roosevelt
revitalised the executive branch, modernised the army structure and the consular
service, and pursued the federal regulation of the economy that has characterised
twentieth century America.

Theodore Roosevelt used presidential power to add almost 150 million
acres to national forest and to preserve valuable coal and water sites for national
development. He sponsored a National Conservation Congress in 1908. Roosevelt's
actions received both praise and condemnation. The conservation movement
wanted to preserve the scenic beauty and biological diversity of the West. In 1902,
Roosevelt promoted the Newlands Reclamation Act, which began many years of
federally sponsored irrigation and reclamation projects. For the West, a scarcity of
water was the main ecological problem, and its solution was a regional priority.
Some businessmen already disliked Roosevelt for his conservation policies.

In the 1904 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated the Democratic

candidate Alton B. Parker, campaigning on the promise to provide a "Square Deal"
to all Americans. After being elected in his own right, he launched into expanding
the regulatory power of the federal government. His first priority was to control
the railways by expanding the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission
(ICC). Although the Elkins Act, passed in 1903, had already eliminated rebates,
Roosevelt wanted to give the ICC the power to set rates. He achieved this with the
Helburn Act of 1906.

In 1906, the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle denounced
unsanitary conditions in the meat‐packing industry. This caused consumer uproar
for regulation of the food and drug industries. Roosevelt ordered an investigation
which proved the truth of Sinclair's charges of filth and contamination. As a result,
Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act on the
same day of 1906. By 1908, Roosevelt had left his indelible mark on the nation and
decided not to run for re‐election. He gave his support to William Howard Taft,
who easily defeated William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee and loser for
the third time.


William H. Taft was a distinguished judge and his public service record was
impressive. He was the Head of the Philippine Commission and later the first civil
governor general of the Philippines. In 1904, Roosevelt appointed him Secretary of
War, a post that highlighted his administrative skill. He preferred diplomacy to warfare.
He was honest, kindly and amiable and he knew how to get things done.

President Taft intended to continue Roosevelt's policies but events turned
out differently. Taft's years as president were not happy. Taft started his term with
an attempt to curb the powerful Republican speaker of the House, Joseph "Uncle
Joe" Cannon of Illinois, but Cannon threatened to block all tariff bills, so President
Taft stopped the anti‐Cannon campaign for Cannon's pledge to help with tariff cuts.
The Payne‐Aldrich Act passed in November 1909, called for higher rates than the
original House bill, though it lowered them from Dingley Tariff of 1897. That
unpopular law helped discredit Taft and revealed the tensions in the Republican
Party again.

President Taft was very interested in railway regulation. He promoted a bill
in 1910 to empower the ICC to fix maximum railways rates. The Mann‐Elkins Act
of 1910 gave something to everyone. It gave the ICC power to set rates and placed
telephone and telegraph companies under ICC jurisdiction. These provisions
delighted the progressives. The act also created the Commerce Court to hear
appeals from ICC decisions, an addition that pleased conservatives. Progressive
republicans wanted to amend the bill to strengthen it, but Taft raised the issue of
party loyalty and further alienated the progressives.

Taft attempted to defeat the progressive republicans in the 1910 legislative
elections. The results were a major setback for Taft and the Republicans, both
conservatives and progressives. For the first time since 1894, the republicans lost
control of both the House and the Senate. Despite the defeat, Taft pushed through
several important progressive measures before his term ended. With the help of
the new Democratic House, he backed laws to regulate safety in mines and on
railways, create a Children's Bureau in the federal government, establishing
employers' liability for all work done on government contracts, and a mandate of
an eight‐hour workday for government workers. In 1913, the Sixteenth
Amendment authorising an income tax took effect. In the same year, another
important progressive aim was realised when the direct election of senators was
ratified as the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Throughout his term, William H. Taft presided over a Republican party torn
with tensions. The tariff, business regulations and other issues split the conservative and
progressive wings of the Republican Party, and President Taft often sided with the
conservatives. Progressive republicans urged Theodore Roosevelt to take control again
of the party and the country. The relations between the two friends, Roosevelt and Taft
cooled. In 1912, the two men engaged in a desperate fight for the Republican
presidential nomination. Taft won the nomination, but Roosevelt formed a new party,
the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. In progressive circles, hopes grew of returning
Roosevelt to the White House.

The 1912 presidential election involved four candidates: Woodrow Wilson and
William H. Taft represented the two major parties, while Eugene V. Debs ran as a
Socialist, and Theodore Roosevelt headed the Progressive party ticket. With Taft and
Debs trailing, the campaign settled down to a debate over the competing ideologies of
the two front-runners: Roosevelt’s New Nationalism and Wilson’s New Freedom. The
election of 1912 became a forum for the Americans’ concerns about the social and
economic effects of urban-industrial growth. Each candidate offered different proposals
for the future, and each presented an idea of progressive reform.


The Republican schism between Taft and Roosevelt paved the way for
Woodrow Wilson to win by 435 electoral votes to 88 for Roosevelt and 8 for Taft.
On Election Day, Woodrow Wilson won 6.3 million votes to 4.1 million for
Theodore Roosevelt, 3.5 million for William H. Taft, and 900,000 for Eugene V.
Debs. The democrats also won the control of both Houses of Congress. As the third
progressive‐era president, Woodrow Wilson was different from his predecessors
in both appearance and leadership style. Wilson was born in Virginia and raised in
the South, and practised law in Atlanta, but that soon bored him. He shifted to
history and political science and taught at Princeton from 1890 to 1902, when he
became president of that University. He acquired a strong track record as a
reformer before being elected governor of New Jersey in 1910. He was the son and
grandson of Presbyterian ministers and his religion was an important factor in his
personality. He said, “My life would not be worth living, if it were not for the
driving power of religion.”

Woodrow Wilson thought that the president should be the “political leader
of the nation” and “his is the only national voice in politics.” Wilson argued that the
president must be “as much concerned with the guidance of legislation as with the
just and orderly execution of the laws.” Woodrow Wilson, a distinguished
professor, brought both competence and a grim moral determination to the
presidency. Like Roosevelt, he believed in strong presidential leadership. He
collaborated with Democrats in Congress, and his legislative measures placed him
among the most effective presidents. Wilson's activism coincided with growing
demands for further reforms. The result was an outpouring of legislation.

Wilson’s 1913 inaugural address expressed the ideals of economic reform
that inspired many Progressives. “We are proud of our industrial achievements but
we have not hitherto stopped thoughtfully enough to count the human cost.” He
specifically promised a lower tariff and a new banking system. On the day of his
inauguration, Wilson called Congress into a special session to lower the tariff.
When the session opened on April 8, 1913, Wilson himself was there, the first
president since John Adams in 1801 to appear personally before Congress. In
1913, his first year in office, the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, allowing the
imposition of a federal income tax. It appeared as a provision of the Underwood‐
Simmons Tariff, which was passed in a special session of Congress that year. The
act reflected the new unity of the Democrats and the ability of Wilson as a leader.

Wilson also focused on banking reform and Congress passed banking legislative
measures the same year. Following the panic of 1907, everyone, including bankers, had
come to believe the nation's banking system needed to be stabilised by governmental
action. The question was how to do it. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was a
compromise. It established the Federal Reserve System of 12 regional banks owned by
bankers but under the control of a appointed Federal Reserve Board.

In 1914, the Harrison Anti‐Narcotic Act was passed. It required a doctor's
prescription for the sale of any drug on a list of controlled substances. The same
year, Congress took action dealing with monopolies and to regulate business. In
September, it established the Federal Trade Commission to replace the Bureau of
Corporations. It was charged with investigating alleged violations of antitrust law.
The next month the Clayton Antitrust Act sought to close some of the loopholes of
the Sherman Act and limit court actions against labour unions.

Most progressives reminded Wilson of the importance of the farm and
labour vote in the elections of 1916. Legislative measures to win those votes soon
passed. Farmers were given the Federal Farm Loan Act and federal supplemental
funding for agricultural specialists in each county. Labour leaders got the Keating‐
Owen Child Labour Act; railway workers got the Adamson Act to limit their work
hours, and the Federal employees got the Workman's Compensation Act.
Progressives were also pleased by Wilson's appointment of Louis Brandeis to the
Supreme Court. All these actions helped ensure Wilson's victory over the
Republicans.

Woodrow Wilson decided to make peace the key issue in his bid for re-election
in 1916. The Republicans chose Charles Evans Hughes, a former governor of New York
and a Supreme Court justice who had earned a solid reputation as a liberal. Wilson
labelled the Republicans “the party of war.” The race was extremely close. Wilson won
in the electoral collage by a vote of 277 to 254, with a popular vote margin of 9.1
million to Hughes' 8.5 million. The Democrats won because they managed to fuse
progressivism with the cause of peace.

3. PROGRESSIVISM AND WOMEN

Local organizations flourished and in 1890 joined to form the General
Federation of Women's Clubs. Middle‐class women led in the organisation of
reform. In the next two decades, reform groups founded and led mainly by women
sprang up. Technology and domestic help lessened the burdens of running a home
for these women, but a stigma remained on paid employment. Women's clubs
provided an outlet for the energies and abilities of many competent and educated
women.

Most of the activists were middle‐class women who became involved in
movements closely linked to their social roles as guardians of morality and
nurturers of the family. Many worked through such religious groups as the Young
Women's Christian Association. Others joined in a resurgence of prohibition, The
Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Some of the Prohibitionists were
Protestant fundamentalists who considered the consumption of alcohol a sin,
others were concerned with its social impact.

Progressive social reform had two main aims: control and justice. Women
were deeply involved in social justice as well as control movements like
prohibition. Middle‐class women had long dominated humanitarian work, but
during the 1890s their work took on a new aggressiveness. Women came to
believe that aid to the poor was not enough; they wanted to attack the causes of
poverty. They sought to improve wages and working conditions, especially for
women, and to protect children from exploitation. They formed several
organizations, such as, The National Consumers League, trying to get better
working and living conditions for everybody.

African‐American women were very active reformers. There were an
increasing number of black middle class educated women. Unlike their white
counterparts most were engaged in paid employment. In addition to working,
black women were engaged in reform. In 1895, Ida B. Wells (later Wells‐Barnett)
joined with other women to form what became the National Association of
Coloured Women.

Some of these reformers were not happy to be merely advocates for the poor and
the weak, they wanted to become directly involved with such people to educate and
organise them to help themselves. Here again middle-class women played a key role.
These women were not only motivated by altruism. Some educated women wanted
more freedom than marriage and part-time volunteer work seemed to offer. One appeal
of settlement work was that it was not controlled by men. A result was a growing social
feminism that cut across class lines. A very good example was the founding of the
National Women's Trade Union League in 1905. Through it, wealthy supporters
organised women workers, trained leaders and joined their strikes.

In the beginning, women's activities seemed to draw attention away from the
suffrage reforms. However, they convinced many people that women not only deserved
the right to vote but also that their political participation would be socially beneficial. In
1900, more than five million women worked. Of those employed, most were single and
held service jobs and only a few of them held higher-paying jobs as professionals or
managers. Critics charged that women's employment endangered the home, threatened
reproductive functions, and even robbed them of their "special charm". Adding to the
fears, the birth rate continued to drop between 1900 and 1920, and the divorce rate
soared. By 1916, there was one divorce for every nine marriages, compared to one for
every twenty-one in 1880.

Closely linked to the labour reform movement was a concerted effort to regulate
the hours of work for women. Spearheaded by Florence Kelley, the head of the National
Consumer’s League, this Progressive crusade promoted the passage of state laws
addressing the distinctive hardships that long working hours imposed on women who
were wives and mothers.

In 1900, about 3 million children held full or almost full‐time jobs.
Thousands of children worked in mines and southern cotton mills. The use of child
labour decreased when the different states passed compulsory education and
minimum age laws. The National Child Labour Committee, organized in 1904, led a
movement for state laws to ban the employment of young children. Within ten
years the committee helped foster in most states new laws banning the labour of
underage children (the minimum age varying from twelve to sixteen) and limiting
the hours older children might work. Families became focusing their attention on
their children, becoming the central point of family life.

4. AMERICA’S ENTRY INTO THE WORLD WAR I

More than one third of Americans were first or second‐generation
immigrants who retained close ties to their old country. Among the 13 million
immigrants from the countries at war, the 8 million German Americans were the
largest group, and the 4 million Irish Americans harboured a deep‐rooted enmity
toward Britain. These groups leaned toward the Central powers. However, old‐line
Americans, largely of Britain origin, supported the Allied powers. Americans
identified also with France, which had contributed to American culture and ideas
and to independence itself. Britain and France seemed the custodians of
democracy, while Germany seemed the embodiment of autocracy and militarism. If
not a direct threat to the United States, Germany would pose at least a potential
threat if it destroyed the balance of power in Europe.

Most Americans felt relieved when President Woodrow Wilson issued an
official declaration of neutrality on August 4, 1914. Many citizens did not believe
their nation's interest and security hinged on the war's outcome. Two weeks after
the official declaration of neutrality Wilson asked his countrymen to remain
impartial “in thought as well as in action.” Privately, his sympathies lay with the
Allies, especially Great Britain, whose culture and government he had long
admired. Yet Wilson saw the war's causes as complicated and obscure, simple
prudence dictated that the United States avoid taking sides.

Domestic politics reinforced Wilson's determination to remain neutral. In
1914, the United States stood at the end of two decades of bitter social and political
debate. Labour unrest, corporate growth and the arrival of 12 million new
immigrants since the turn of the century had opened deep fissures in American
society. As Wilson struggled to correct these problems through legislation, he
feared his domestic program would be endangered if neutrality failed. President
Wilson declared in 1914, “Every reform we have won will be lost if we go into this
war.”

The American people felt deeply divided over the war. Ties of language and
culture prompted many Americans to side with the Allies, and as the war
progressed, the British adeptly exploited these bonds with anti‐German
propaganda, especially after the German invasion of neutral Belgium.

Interpreting his re‐election as a vote for peace, Wilson attempted to
mediate an end to the war. In 1917, Wilson urged both sides to embrace his call for
“peace without victory,” but neither welcomed his ideas. Above all else, the
belligerents wanted victory. Any hope for a negotiated settlement ended when
Germany announced that after February 1, 1917, all vessels caught in the war
zone, neutral or belligerent, armed or unarmed, would be sunk without warning.
Members of his Cabinet pressed Wilson to declare war, but he only broke off
diplomatic relations.

On February 25, 1917, the British gave Wilson a telegram intercepted from
Arthur Zimmerman, the German Foreign Minister, to the ambassador in Mexico. He
proposed an alliance with Mexico in case of war with the United States, offering
financial support and recovery of Mexico's "lost territory" in the 1840’s. The
British revealed this secret message to Wilson hoping to draw the United States
into the war.

The Zimmerman telegram convinced Wilson and the Americans that
Germany would stop at nothing to satisfy her ambitions. On March 9, 1917, Wilson
asked Congress for permission to arm American merchant ships. Between March
12 and March 21, U‐boats sank five American ships, and Wilson decided to wait no
longer. He called Congress into a special session and at 8:30 in the evening on April
2, 1917, asked for a declaration of war. He said that the United States “had no
quarrel with the German people but their military masters had to be defeated in
order to make the world safe for democracy.” The next day, the Senate approved
the war resolution, 82 to 6, the House followed on April 6, 373 to 50. The president
signed the declaration on April 7, 1917, and the United States was at war. In the
end, the United States had little choice but to enter the conflict on the side of the
Allies. World War I did not make “the world safe for democracy” or serve as the
“war to end all wars” as President Wilson promised. Rather, World War I sowed
the seeds of World War II.

President Wilson outlined the United States’ war aims in a speech given to
Congress in which he outlined what was to become known as his “Fourteen
Points”. He believed the enactment of these would form the basis for a just, lasting
peace. They were however considered as controversial by America’s Allies in the
war, and were resisted during the subsequent Paris Peace Conference, although
they had formed the basis for German’s surrender in November 1918. (Read
document nº 13 of the Appendix: The full text of the document is included in the
Appendix. Document 13: Woodrow Wilson. “Fourteen Points Address.” 1918).

Table 5.1.
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, 1918: Success and Failure in

Implementation
1. Open covenants of peace openly arrived at Not fulfilled
2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas in peace and war Not
fulfilled
3. Removal of all economic barriers to the equality of trade among
nations Not fulfilled
4. Reduction of armaments to the level needed only for domestic
safety Not fulfilled
5. Impartial adjustment of colonial claims Not fulfilled
6. Evacuations of all Russian territories. Russia to be welcomed into
the society of free nations Not fulfilled
7. Evacuation and restoration of Belgium Fulfilled
8. Evacuation and restoration of all French lands. Return of Alsace
Lorraine to France Compromised
9. Readjustment of Italy's frontiers along lines of Italian
nationality Compromised
10.Selfdetermination for the former subjects of the Austro
Hungarian Empire Compromised
11. Evacuation of Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Free access to
the sea for Serbia Compromised
12.Selfdetermination for the former subjects of the Ottoman
Empire. Secures sovereignty for Turkish portion

Compromised
13.Establishment of an independent Poland, with free and secure
access to the sea Fulfilled
14.Establishment of a League of Nations affording mutual
guarantees of independence and territorial integrity Not fulfilled
Source: G. M. Gathorne‐Hardy, 1939, pp. 8‐34.

In conclusion, we can say that the twentieth century began with great
optimism about the power of human beings to shape their destinies. Progress
could be legislated, people believed. Efficient government could provide stability;
promote social justice and personal morals. Groups were organised to promote
their goals, and most of them began to achieve their objectives. In the 1920’s,
however, some began to realise that legislation had not always had its desired
effect, that not everyone had benefited equally. Few were winners or losers, but
some gained far more than others, and some lost more than they gained. Openly,
large corporations were among the biggest winners. It was not the original
purpose of all legislation. Other winners included members of the growing body of
middle‐class technocrats.

The government created new job opportunities for engineers, health
professionals, trained managers, and other experts. Consumers of all classes
benefited from government regulation. Most of the winners were white, urban,
middle class and Protestant. At the same time, some ethnic groups won victories in
some cities and states. Small businesspeople were among those who both lose and
gained. African Americans came closest to being unqualified losers. For them, the
only lasting advances came from establishing organizations. The National
Association for the Advancement of coloured People (NAACP) became an
important force later in the century.

In the South, and often in the North as well, African Americans were losers
on the local level. At the same time, black relations with the government also
deteriorated. Theodore Roosevelt was the most sympathetic of the three
presidents. In 1901, he invited Booker T. Washington to the White House,
consulted with him on some Southern appointments, and named a few African
Americans to federal positions. His actions reflected an acceptance of black
equality.

Table 5.2.
Progressive Era Legislation and Amendments
Year Act Provisions
1902 Newlands Set aside proceeds from the sale of federal land for
Reclamation irrigation and reclamation projects
1903 Elkins Outlawed rebates to favoured shippers; federal courts
could issue injunctions to stop rate discrimination
1906 Pure Food & Made it a crime to sell adulterated foods or medicine;
Drug Required correct labelling for the contents of certain
Substances
1906 Meat Inspection Required governmental approval of sanitary
conditions in
meatpacking plants
1906 Hepburn Gave ICC the power to set railways rates, subject to
court
review
1909 PayneAldrich Raised most tariff rates, while reducing or
eliminating the
Tariff rates for very few products
1910 MannElkins Extended jurisdiction of the ICC to telephone &
telegraph
Co.
1910 Mann Outlawed the transportation of women across states
lines
for "immoral purposes"
1913 Sixteenth Gave Congress the right to impose an income tax
Amendment
1913 Seventeen Provided for the direct election of senators by the
people
Amendment rather than by the state
1913 Underwood Substantially reduced tariff rates; levied an income
tax
Simmons Tariff rising from 1% on incomes over $4000 to 4% on
incomes
over $100,000
1913 Tariff Reserve Reformed the banking and currency system; created
12
regional banks that were privately owned but
responsible
to the Federal Reserve Board, which was appointed by
the
President
1914 Federal Trade Created Federal Trade Commission, composed of 5
Commission members, to oversee business transactions
1914 Clayton Antitrust Outlawed unfair business practices that reduced
competition; held company officials liable for actions;
specifically exempted farm and labour groups from its
provisions, limited the use of court injunctions against
strikers
1914 Harrison Listed "controlled substances" that could only be sold
with
AntiNarcotic a doctor's prescription; required manufacturers to
keep
records of the manufacture and sale of such substances
1916 Federal farm Provided farmers with cheap credit through 12 farm
loan
Loan boards
1916 KeatingOwen Outlawed the sale of goods made by children from
Child Labour interstate commerce
1916 Adamson Provided for an eighthour workday for workers on
interstate railways
1916 Workman's Established a workmen's compensation system for
federal
employees

CHRONOLOGY

Chronological Table

1867 United States purchased Alaska from Russia. Midway Island are annexed
1870 The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston opened
1871 Treaty of Washington between the United States and Great Britain set
a precedent for the peaceful settlement of international disputes
1873 Cable Car is introduced in San Francisco
1875 Reciprocity treaty with Hawaii bound Hawaii economically and politically to
the
United States
1878 United States acquired a naval base in Samoa.
Yellow fever epidemic caused 5150 deaths in Memphis and 3977 in New
Orleans
1879 New York adopted Tenement Reform Law, requiring all rooms to have access
to
light and air
1881 President James A. Garfield mortally wounded at a Washington, D. C., train
station. Chester Arthur became twenty‐first president
1882 Electric lighting came into widespread use for the first time in New York City
1883 Congress approves funded for construction of the first modern steel ships;
beginning the modern navy
1885 William LeBaron Jenney erected the Home Insurance Building on Chicago,
the
first
true skyscraper
1886 Statue of Liberty is unveiled
1887 New Treaty with Hawaii gave United States exclusive use of Pearl
Harbour
W. K. L. Dickinson and Thomas Edison developed motion pictures
Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission, the first federal
Regulatory commission, to regulate railways
1888 Richmond, Virginia, introduced the electric‐power trolley
1889 First Inter‐American Conference met in Washington, D. C.
1890 National American Woman Suffrage Association and American Woman
Suffrage
Association merged to form the National Woman Suffrage Association
Literacy tests and residency requirements to restrict African‐American voting
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power upon History
asserted
That naval power was the key to national greatness
1892 Populist party is formed and receives over a million votes in presidential
elections
1893 Severe economic depression began
American settlers in Hawaii overthrow Queen Lilioukalani; a provisional
Government is established
1894 Coxey's Army marched on Washington, D. C., to protest unemployment and to
urge a public works program to relieve unemployment
1895 Cuban insurgents rebelled against Spanish rule
Venezuela border dispute
1896 President Grover Cleveland vetoed literacy requirement for adult emigrants
William McKinley defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan to become the
Twenty‐fifth president
1898 Battleship Maine exploded in Havana harbour (February)
Congress declared war against Spain (April)
Commodore Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay (May)
United States annexed Hawaii (July)
Americans defeated the Spanish at El Caney, San Juan Hill and Santiago (July)
Spain sued for peace (August)
Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish‐American War (December)
1899 Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris
Philippine‐American War erupted
1900 Gold Standard Act placed the nation on the gold standard.
Foraker Act established civil government in Puerto Rico
Boxer Rebellion, a Chinese nationalist revolt against foreigners erupted
1901 Platt Amendment authorised American intervention in Cuba
Hay‐Paunceforte Treaty empowered United States to build an isthmian canal
President William McKinley was assassinated. Theodore Roosevelt became
the
Twenty‐sixth president
1902 Philippine‐American War ended with an American victory
1903 United States secured the Panama Canal Zone.
Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery was the first film to tell a story
Wisconsin became the first state to adopt primary elections
1904 Theodore Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
1905 Theodore Roosevelt helps negotiated an end to a war between Russia and
Japan
and won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts
1906 Upton Sinclair's The Jungle exposed unsanitary conditions in the meat‐
packing
industry
1907 Gentleman's Agreement with Japan
Roosevelt dispatched 16 battle‐ships /The Great White Fleet on an around‐
the‐
World cruise
1909 National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People organised
(NAACP)
1911 Revolution began in Mexico
1912 Theodore Roosevelt and his supporters launched the Progressive Party (Bull
Moose)
Democrat Woodrow Wilson is elected the twenty‐eight president
1914‐World War I Began in Europe.
Woodrow Wilson issued an official declaration of neutrality on August 4, 1914
1919 U. S. marines took Veracruz, Mexico. Panama Canal is completed
1915 Luisitania torpedoed (May)
1916 Battle at Verdun. General J. J. Pershing leaded a punitive expedition into
Mexico
to seize Pancho Vila (April).
Wilson won re‐election (November)
1917 Zimmerman Note intercepted United States enters the war.
Espionage Act
Wilson called for "peace without victory" (January)
United States entered World War I (April)
Congress passed the Selective Service Act (May)
First American troops reached France (June)
War Industries Board is established (July)
1918 Wilson outlined Fourteen Points for Peace (January).
Germany asked for peace (October)
Armistice signed ended the war (November)
1919 Eighteenth Amendment prohibited manufacture and sale of liquor
Treaty of Versailles signed but is defeated in the American Senate


BEDERMAN, G. Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in
the United States, 18801917. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1995.

BENJAMIN, J. R. The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990

BRANDS, H. W. Woodrow Wilson. New York: Times Books, 2003.

BRINKLEY, D. G. The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for
America .New York: Harper, 2009.

DAWLEY, A. Changing the World: American Progressives in war and Revolution.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

DINER, S. A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era. New York: Hill and
Wang, 1998

FERRELL, R. H. Woodrow Wilson and World War I. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

GATHORNE‐HARDY, G. M. The Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles. Oxford:

GOODWYN, L. The Populist Movement: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in
America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.

GROSSMAN, J. R. Land of Hope: Chicago, Black Southerners, and the Great Migration.
Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

HEALY, D. Drive to Hegemony: The United States in the Caribbean, 18981917.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.

HIGHAM, J. Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 18601925. New
Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 1988.

JACKSON, K. T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

KENNEDY, D. M. Over Here: The First World War and American Society. Princeton,
N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1980.

KNOCK, T. J. To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World
Order. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

KRADITOR, A. S. The Ideas of the Woman Suffrage Movement, 18901920. New York:
Columbia University Press, 1965.

KRAFT, B. H. Theodore Roosevelt: Champion of the American Spirit. New York:
Clarion, 2003.

KRAUSE, P. The Battle for Homestead, 18801892: Politics, Culture and Steel.
Pittsburgh, P. A.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1992.

LEFEBER, W. The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860
1898. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1963.

MEIER, A. Negro Thought in America, 18801915. Ann Abhor: University of
Michigan Press, 1963.

MILLARD, C. The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey. New York:
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2006.

MORGAN, H. W. William McKinley and His America. Syracuse: Syracuse University
Press, 1963.

PÉREZ, L. A. The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and
Historiography. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

RODGERS, D. T. Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1998.

TOMPKINS, E. B. AntiImperialism in the United States. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1970.


Progressivism

www.economicexpert.com/a/Progressivism.htm
www.digisys.net/users/benwood/progressivism
www.nwhm.org/ProgressiveEra/home.html
www.oppapers.com/subjects/progressivism‐page4.html
www.yorktownuniversity.com/documents/progressive_era.pdf

Theodore Roosevelt

www.nps.gov/thro/
www.npg.si.edu/exh/roosevelt/
www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/timeline.htm
www.theodoreroosevelt.org/
www.wikio.es/news/Theodore+Roosevelt

The SpanishAmerican War

www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898
www.mister‐wong.de/tags/1898/
www.paspanishamericanwar.com/
www.saw1898.com/
www.zpub.com/cpp/saw.html

William H. Taft

www.arlingtoncemetery.net/whtaft.htm
www.ipl.org/div/potus/whtalt.html
www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/taft2.htm
www.npg.si.edu/exh/hall2/tafts.htm
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamhowardtaft
William McKinley

millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/mckinley
www.mckinley.lib.oh.us/
www.mckinleymuseum.org/
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williammckinley
www.spanamwar.com/McKinley.htm

Woodrow Wilson

www.ipl.org/div/potus/wwilson.html
www.wilsonboyhoodhome.org
www.wilsoncenter.org/
www.woodrowwilson.org
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wilson

United States & World War I

www.firstworldwar.com
www.spaknotes.com/history/european/ww1
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAwar.htm
www.teacheroz.com/wwi.htm
www.worldwar1.com/

REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SELF‐EVALUATION

1. What were the causes and effects of the Spanish‐American War?
2. How were the new immigrants’ freedoms limited by nativists?
3. What were the circumstances that led to America’s “new imperialism”?
4. What were the main reasons for American expansion overseas at the end of the
19th century?
5. How did women's movements change the meanings of American freedom?
6. What were the basic elements of Progressive Era?
7. Why was the city such a central element in Progressive America?
8. What was the role of women in progressive reform?
9. Why did the United States enter the Great War, and what was its role?
10. What were the consequences of World War I?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Write about the situation of the United States in 1898.
2. Describe the main progressive reforms.
3. Explain the significance Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points.
4. Compare Theodore Roosevelt’ Square Deal and Woodrow Wilson’s New
Freedom Program.
5. Express your conclusions about the election of 1912.

UNIT 6

PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION

1. THE ROARING TWENTIES

1.3. The Jazz Age

2. THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT

3. IMMIGRATION IN THE 1920’s


4. THE GREAT DEPRESSION

4.3. Hoover's Efforts at Recovery

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

UNIT 6. PROSPERITY AND DEPRESSION

1. THE ROARING TWENTIES

In many ways the reactionary temper of the 1920’s and the repressive
movements to which it gave rise seemed the dominant trends of the decade. But
they arose in part as reactions to disruptive social and intellectual currents. During
those years a new cosmopolitan, urban America confronted provincial small‐town
and rural America, and cultural conflict reached new levels of tension. The 1920’s
marked a major transition in American politics as well as in social and economic
development. An old America founded on rural values had given way to a new
urban society in which the production and use of consumer goods led to a very
different way of life. Just as the 19th century culture had revolved around the farm
and the railway, so the city and the automobile became the central features of
modern America. The decade was known as the "Roaring Twenties."

In the 1920’s, America enjoyed the highest standard of living of any nation
on earth. The economy bloomed. The gross national product rose by 40 percent.
Most of this explosive growth took place in industries producing goods for
consumers. Consumer goods of all kinds proliferated, marketed by salesmen and
advertisers who promoted them as ways of satisfying Americans' desires and
everyday needs. American purchased on credit through new installment buying
plans altering their daily lives. Telephones made communication much easier.
Washing machines, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners reduced the demand for
domestic servants. Simultaneously, an aggressive advertising campaign and the
prohibition of manufacturing and sale of intoxicating liquor that was ratified in
1919 and went into effect at the beginning of 1920, made Coca Cola a symbol of
American life.

At the same time, the national per capita annual income increased by 30
percent to $681 in 1929. American workers became the highest‐paid in history and
thus there were able to buy the flood of new goods they were turning out on the
assembly lines. The main key to the new affluence was technology. Electric motors
replaced steam engines as the main source of energy in factories, and efficiency
experts helped maximize labor's output. In the 1920’s the production per worker‐
hour increased 75%. Yet despite the very real economic progress achieved in the
1920’s, the decade ended in a severe depression that lasted all through the 1930’s.
Only after World War II would the American people enjoy and abundance and
prosperity rooted in the industrial transformation that began in the 1920’s.

Simultaneously, frivolity and excitement ran high in the big urban centers
as crime and sport events flourished. Prohibition ushered in such distinctive
features of the decade as speakeasies, bootleggers, and bathtub gin. Crime rose
sharply as middle and upper class American willingly broke the law to have access
to alcoholic beverages. City streets became the scene of violent shoot‐outs between
rival groups and some men like Al Capone controlled illicit empires.

Sports became a national mania in the 1920’s as people gained more leisure
time. Golf was one the most popular. Spectator sports attracted even more
attention. Millions of Americans became sports fans and new stadiums had to be
built to hold these new spectators. Hero worship of sports and entertainment
starts became an escape from a drab life on the assembly line in the factory.

In the 1920’s Victorian values began to crumble and sex was another
important point. Hollywood exploited the obsession with sex by producing movies
with provocative titles. Plays and novels focused on adultery, and the new urban
tabloids delighted in telling their readers about love. Young people embraced the
new permissiveness joyfully, with the automobile providing couples an easy means
to escape parental supervision. At least in urban areas, sex was no longer a taboo
subject, and men and women could discuss it openly.


The conflicts between the urban and the rural areas also shaped the course
of politics in the 1920’s. It was a Republican decade. This party controlled the
White House from 1921 to 1933 and had majorities in both Houses of Congress
from 1918 to 1930. The Republicans established a friendly relationship between
government and business and halted further reform legislation. In the American
electorate, the democrats divided into two wings, urban and rural. The rising tide
of urban voters showed a fundamental shift away from the Republicans toward a
new Democratic majority.

Warren G. Harding and the Republican Party won the election in 1920.
During the campaign Harding had urged to return to "normalcy." This was the key
word that became the theme for the Republican administrations of the 1920’s.
Harding was the son of an Ohio farmer and he reflected the narrowness of small‐
town America. He described himself not as an intellectual or a crusader but “just a
plain fellow” who was “old‐fashioned and even reactionary in matters of faith and
morals.” Consequently Harding returned to traditional Republican policies. The
most obvious attempt to go back to the Republicanism of McKinley came in tariff
and tax policy. Congress passed an emergency tariff act in 1921 avoiding a flood of
postwar European imports. One year later, the protectionist Fordney McCumber
Tariff Act was passed. At the same time, Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury,
worked to achieve a return to "normalcy" in taxation. He tried to repeal excess‐
profits taxes on corporations and slashing personal rates on the very rich. He also
reduced government spending from its peak during the world $18 billion to $3
billion by 1925. Congress cooperated by cutting the highest income tax to a modest
20%.

At the same time, the Republicans were forced to seek new solutions for the
American farming crisis. The end of the World War I brought the problem of
overproduction and the decline in farm prices again. Southern and Western
Congress members formed a Farm Bloc to press for special legislation for
American agriculture. Although the Bloc helped pass several laws, the problem of
overproduction still existed during the thirties.

President Harding delegated power broadly as president. At the same time,
he made some good cabinet choices. The most remarkable were Charles E. Hughes
as Secretary of State and Herbert C. Hoover, as Secretary of Commerce, but two
corrupt choices ruined his administration. Attorney General Harry Daugherty
became involved in questionable deals that led to his resignation, and Secretary of
Interior, Albert Fall, who was the main figure in the Teapot Dome scandal. Fall
received about $400,000 in loans and bribes; in return, he helped those secure
leases on naval oil reserves in Elk Hills, California, and Teapot Dome, Wyoming.
The scandal came to light after Harding's death from a heart attack in 1923. For
nearly a decade after Harding’s death, scandalous revelations concerning his
administrative officials were paraded before congressional committees and then to
courts. Harding’s extramarital affairs also came to light. Harding’s foreshortened
administration came to be viewed as one of the worst in American history.

On President Warren G. Harding's death, Vice President Calvin Coolidge
assumed the Presidency. But in contrast to his predecessor he seemed to exemplify
Yankee honesty. He was a reserved and reticent man who became famous for his
epigrams "The business of America is business," he proclaimed. He thought his
duty was to preside not to govern the nation. Americans were very satisfied with
the prosperity of the mid‐twenties. Coolidge was elected to a full term, in 1924, by
a wide majority thanks to the divided Democrats. Their compromise candidate was
John W. Davis and Senator Bob La Follette of Wisconsin ran on the independent
Progressive party ticket, which called for greater taxation of wealth, the
conservation of natural resources, public ownership of the railways, farm relief,
and the end of child labor. Coolidge described these ideas as a blueprint for a
"communist and socialist" America. La Follette could carry only his native
Wisconsin, but his candidacy demonstrated the survival of some currents of
dissent in a highly conservative decade.

The election of 1928 showed the growing influence of the urban faction of
the Democratic Party and the power of the city. Alfred E. Smith was the Democratic
candidate, the Governor of New York. Al Smith was born on the Lower East Side of
Manhattan of mixed Irish‐German ancestry. He was the prototype of the urban
Democrat. He was Catholic and "wet" and wanted to end Prohibition. So, the choice
facing the American voter in 1928 seemed unusually clear. Herbert Hoover was a
Protestant, a "dry" who stood for efficiency and individualism. Hoover won the
support of many conservative Democrats who fared the city.

This was the third consecutive Republican landslide. The 1928 election was
another victory for the Republican Party. Herbert Hoover won 21 million popular
votes to Al Smith’s 15 million and an even more top‐heavy electoral majority of
444 to 87. Smith lost the election but succeeded for the first time in winning a
majority of votes for the Democrats in the nation's twelve largest cities. A new
Democratic electorate appeared, consisting of Catholics, Jews, Irish, Italians,
Greeks and Poles. The main task was to join the traditional Democrats of the South
and west with the urban, ethnic populations of the Northeast and Midwest. A
coalition of urban workers and unhappy farmers was in the making, and the Great
depression of the 1930’s would solidify it.

The Republican administrations of the 1920’s were promoting a close

relationship between government and private business. The government's role in
the economy increased rather than lessened in this decade. Republicans widened
the scope of federal activity and increased the number of government employees
and establishing new bureaus to help make American industry more efficient
instead of going back to the laissez‐faire tradition of the nineteenth century.


In 1920, for the first time in American history, census showed that more
than half the population lived in towns and cities, including all places of more than
2,500 people, than in rural areas. During the next decade, the United States grew
still more into an urban country. It was the result of the continuing migration from
farms to factories. Between 1920 and 1930, cities with populations of 250,000 or
more added some eight million people. The skyscraper soon became the main
feature of the city. By 1929, the United States had 377 buildings over seventy
stories tall. The skyscraper came to symbolize the new American mass culture. For
more than four decades, the Empire State Building was the largest building in the
world, rising 102 stories above New York City. It cost nearly $41 million but when
if was finished in 1930, it stood half empty, as a symbol of a decade's broken
dreams.

The trend was followed with the movement of a growing number of people
into the suburbs, satellite towns within commuting distance of cities. Together
cities and suburbs formed an expanding technological metropolis, an
agglomeration of people, jams of traffic and consumerism. In the metropolis, life
was so different. The old community ties of church, school and home were
loosening. The suburban population of the nation's ninety‐six largest cities grew
twice as fast as the cities themselves, in some places even faster. Businesses began
to join people in moving to the periphery, creating a new kind of multicentered
metropolis that undetermined the old centers, eroded tax bases and contributed to
weaker school systems, higher crime rates, a reduced commitment to maintaining
old neighborhoods and their cultural institutions.

During the postwar years the nativist tradition took on a new form, a
revived Ku Klux Klan modeled on the group founded in the South after the Civil
War. This was the worse expression of rural protest against the city. On
Thanksgiving night in 1915, on Stone Mountain in Georgia, Colonel William J.
Simmons and thirty‐four followers founded the modern Klan. Its membership was
limited to native‐born Protestants, white and, gentile Americans. The membership
cost $10 and the sheet was $4 extra. They fear of political radicals and ethnic
minorities and stood for "100% pure Americanism." During World War I
membership grew slowly. The Ku Klux Klan exploited postwar confusion and fear
of things "un‐American". Although the Klan had originally flourished in small, rural
towns across the South, during the 1920’s it spread to working‐class and middle‐
class neighborhoods of large cities, where people felt threatened by the influx of
African‐American and immigrant workers. After 1920, across the West and the
South, the Ku Klux Klan attracted men seeking to relieve their anxiety over a
changing society.

Members found a sense of identity in the group activities, whether they
were peaceful picnics, parades in white robes, or fiery crosses blazing in the night.
By 1921 the Klan had become a national organization with over 90,000 paying
members. By the mid‐1920’s, the Klan had a membership of nearly five million,
and it had separate orders for women, boys and girls. It was strongest in the
Southeast, the Far West, and the Midwest. Its natural habitat was not the
countryside, but towns and small cities as well as large cities like Chicago, Detroit
and Philadelphia. The Klan represented a vicious reflex against the modern and the
alien, against shifting moral standards, the declining influence of churches, and the
social permissiveness of cities and colleges.

In the 1920’s, the Klan was not anti‐black; the conflicts came from different
ethnic groups such as Russians, Italians, Jews and Catholics. The Klan punished
blacks, women, immigrants who refused to conform. They also tried to formulate
codes of behavior and community support and also sought to intimidate
individuals, using night ridings, cross‐burning, tar and feathering, public beatings,
and lynching as form of coercion. The Klan did not limit its wrath to ethnic and
religious offenders, but also lashed out against wife‐beaters, drunkards,
bootleggers, and gamblers, anyone who violated the usual standards of morality.

In the mid‐twenties the Klan was a political force to reckon with. It
influenced the election of several governors and members of state legislatures in
some states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon and Indiana. In 1925 40,000 Klan
members paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D. C. But the
organization fell even more quickly than it rose because of its lack of leadership
and the absence of a political program. Its violent activities began to offend the
nation's conscience. Even more damaging were that several Klan leaders became
involved in sex scandals, and several more were indicted for corruption. By 1930,
it had virtually disappeared. But the spirit remained and racist hatred appeared
periodically throughout the American society, especially when the civil rights
movement challenged white supremacy. The Klan also suffered from recurrent
factional quarrels and schisms.

1.3. The Jazz Age

The famous novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald called the twenties the "Jazz Age".
Jazz had recently been brought to white northern audiences by black musicians up
from the South, and metropolitan America was marked by features that echoed the
music's character: cultural improvisation, breakaways from convention,
unabashed sexuality and fast‐paced creativity. The jazzy elements of the age
bypassed many Americans, but those who embraced them, especially writers and
artists, blacks and women, and college students of every stripe, produced
innovations in art, self‐expression, and identity with impacts that reached beyond
their own circles and period.

Many writers and artists found themselves out of sort with the moralizing,
self‐satisfied America of business under the Presidents Warren G. Harding and
Calvin Coolidge. A great number of them expatriated to Europe, and some turned
alienation into compelling and salable art. Outlets for their work were provided by
mass‐circulation magazines, some adventurous promoted new book‐publishing
houses, and innovative literary marketing methods such as the Book of the Month
Club and the Literary Guild, both founded in 1926. New writers were championed
by the Baltimore journalist H. L. Mencken in The American Mercury, a magazine
read avidly in metropolitan America. The reading audience was expanding as the
fraction of Americans attending college grew exponentially, toward the end of the
decade; one out of eight high school graduates went on to college.

Sinclair Lewis inaugurated the literary decade with the novels Main Street
(1920) and Babbitt (1922), both had some critiques of commercialism, hypocrisy,
and conformity in small‐town America. Scott Fitzgerald, a recent dropout from
Princeton University, wrote This Side of Paradise (1920), a novel from the
experience of his college years and The Great Gatsby (1925) dealing with the
corruption of money and social climbing. The next year, Ernest Hemingway, who
had been living in Paris, published The Sun Also Rises, an exploration of the
shattering personal impact of the war. In 1929, Hemingway published A Farewell
to Arms, an influential antiwar novel.

The urban life was hauntingly captured in the paintings of Edward Hopper.
In 1921, Stefan Hirsch painted, New York, Lower Manhattan to show, as he
declared his “recoil from the monstrosity that industrial life had become in
megapolitania.” Other artists embraced the sensual images and forms of African
and Native American painting and sculpture avoiding materialism of American
society.

Radio and movies were an important national element in American culture.
They brought listeners political conventions and prize fights, football and baseball
games, musical programs. In 1926, AT&T, General Electric, Westinghouse, and the
New Radio Corporation of America (RCA) established the National Broadcasting
Company (NBC). This was the country's first radio network, with sixteen member
stations. The network was centered in New York and it reached 54 percent of the
American population.

By 1930 people in some cities had only one large‐circulation daily
newspaper to read because the number of newspapers declined. National and
regional chains owned more than 200 newspapers, which tended to present
standardized news and opinions for the 13 million people they served. Magazines
such as the new weekly Time (1923) appeared across the country, as did The New
Yorker, a national weekly that linked readers in the urban Northeast areas with
others as far away as California. In 1921, it was founded Reader's Digest and
permitted people to keep up with the proliferation of publications by providing
condensed versions of their articles.

2. THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT

At the same time that many women were embracing new sexual mores, all
women were being liberated politically. The suffrage movement, which had been
in the doldrums since 1896, sprang back to life in the twenties. In 1912 Alice Paul,
a Quaker social worker, returned from an apprenticeship with the militant
suffragists of England to chair the National American woman Suffrage association’s
Congressional Committee. Paul instructed female activists to picket state
legislatures, target and punish politicians who failed to endorse suffrage, chain
themselves to public buildings, provoke police to arrest them, and undertake
hunger strikes. By 1917 Paul and her followers were picketing the White House
and deliberately inviting arrest, after which they went on hunger strikes in prison.

In 1915 Carrie Chapman Catt had become head of the National Woman
Suffrage Association (NWSA). President Wilson worked closely with its leaders. On
June 4, 1919, the senate finally adopted the Nineteenth Amendment; by a bare
two‐thirds majority, and after fourteen months the states ratified the women’s
suffrage amendment on August 21, 1920. (See document nº 3 of the Appendix.
American Documents: The Constitution of the United States 1787, Amendment XIX,
Women’s. 8/18/1920).

After the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, Congress wanted to please
this mass of new voters, establishing a Women's Bureau in the Department of
Labor in 1920, granting women equal citizenship rights with men, passing the
Cable Act in 1922.
At that time, some states passed equal pay acts and a series of protective acts that
set minimum standards for women's pay, limited women's working hours or
prohibited night work. Women's groups convinced Congress to enter the field of
health care. Under the Sheppard‐Towner Act, passed in 1921, the federal
government established state programs for maternal and infant health care. Critics
condemned the act as a step toward state socialism and Congress in 1929 repealed
the act.

Women did not vote as a block and legislators stop approving laws
promoting their interests. The Supreme Court struck down minimum‐wage laws as
unreasonable infringements of freedom of contract, opposition stalled efforts to
get more women on juries and states failed to ratify the child‐labor amendment.
Women had won the right to vote in 1920, but the Nineteen Amendment proved to
have less impact than its proponents had hoped. Once achieved, it robbed women a
unifying cause, and the suffrage itself did little to change the prevailing sex roles in
society. Men remained the principal breadwinners in the family and most women
cleaned, cooked and reared the children. The sharp increase in the number of
women in the workforce during world war I proved short‐lived, but in the longer
view a steady increase in the number of employed women occurred in the 1920’s
and 1930’s. On the eve of World War II, women’s work was little more diversified
than it had been at the turn of the century, but by 1940 it would be on the eve of a
major transformation.

There was a generation change on feminism in the 1920’s. Instead of
crusading for social progress, young women concentrated on individual self‐
expression by rebelling against Victorian predecessors. They adopted what critic
H. L. Mencken called the "flapper" image. Women cut their hair short, raising their
skirts above their knees, binding their breasts and reduced their hips and achieve a
fashionable boyish shape. They wore makeup, smoked and drunk as signs of
emancipation. Flappers set out to compete on equal terms with men including
sexual fulfillment before and during marriage. The new permissiveness led to a
sharp rise in the divorce rate.

Flappers found common cause with more conventional women in birth‐
control movement that was championed by Margaret Sanger. Her attempts to
disseminate birth control information and devices at first aroused strong
opposition and led to her arrest. In 1916, she opened the nation's first birth‐
control clinic, in Brooklyn, advertising the facility in handbills written in English,
Yiddish and Italian. Five years later Sanger founded the American Birth Control
League, a lobbying organization that became Planned Parenthood in 1942. Sanger
sought to make birth control respectable by targeting primarily married women
and by insisting that diaphragms, the contraceptive she recommended, be fitted by
doctors. She also appealed to eugenicists, arguing that distribution of
contraceptives to lower‐income and immigrant groups would improve the quality
of the nation's population by helping to reduce their birthrates.

The family changed. It became smaller as new techniques of birth control
enable couples to limit their offspring. More married women worked outside the
house. Young people now enjoyed adolescence as a stage of life devoted to school
and leisure. This prolonged adolescence led to new strains on the family in the
form of youthful rebellion against parental authority.

3. IMMIGRATION IN THE 1920’s

The increase in immigration in the late nineteenth century had led to a
movement to restrict the flow of people from Europe. In 1917, over President
Woodrow Wilson's veto, Congress enacted a literacy test that reduced the number
of immigrants, and the war caused an even bigger decline. After armistice,
Americans thought that a flood of European people wanted to emigrate to the
United States, so Congress responded by passing an Emergency Immigration act in
1921. The postwar unemployment situation was a very important economic factor
to dominate the restriction debate.

Cultural fears favored a new wave of nativism in the 1920s. Organized
labor, bent upon protecting high wages, resenting competition from cheap labor,
staunch nativists and super‐patriots warned that foreign influences would corrupt
the American character. The groups opposed to immigration included parts of
organized labor, because they can affect wages, staunch nativists, they think that
foreign influences adulterated the American character, and businessmen who
feared immigrants and their dangerous radicalism. However, this Act still
permitted more than half a million Europeans to come to the United States in 1923,
nearly half of them from Southern and Eastern Europe. The decreasing number of
Nordic immigrants alarmed Americans and some writers like Madison Grant
warned that the Anglo‐Saxon stock that had founded the country was about to be
overwhelmed by lesser breeds with inferior genes. Psychologists, relying on
primitive IQ tests used by the army in World War I, confirm the ideas that
immigrants from eastern and southern Europe were intellectually inferior to
native whites from northern Europe.

To protect the United States these groups demanded drastic changes in the
nation's immigration policy. According these theories, in 1924, Congress adopted
the National Origins Quota Act, establishing an annual immigration quota of 2% of
each national group counted in the 1890 census. Since southern and eastern
Europeans did not begin arriving in large numbers until the turn of the century,
the law gave western and northern Europeans a big edge over the "new
immigrants." The act limited immigration from Europe to 150,000 a year,
allocating most of the places to immigrants from Ireland, Great Britain,
Scandinavia and Germany and barring Asians entirely. This legislative measure
passed Congress with rural support. This quota system would survive until the
1960s. Simultaneously, a growing tide of Mexican labourers exempt from the quota
act went northward across the Rio Grande to work on farms and in the service
trades.

America's cities attracted large numbers of new immigrants from Southern
and Eastern Europe. These immigrants poured into the industrial cities of the
Northeast and Midwest, with new sounds, sights, colors and smells that many
Americans found offensive. World War I briefly stopped the flow of immigrants,
but after the armistice another 3.2 million immigrants arrived to the United States
before the country restricted entry.

Hostility to immigrants also surfaced in the Sacco and Vanzetti case. On
April 15, 1920, two gunmen robbed a payroll messenger from a shoe factory in
South Braintree, Massachusetts, killing two people. Two Italian immigrants, Nicola
Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both anarchists, were arrested and charged with
the crime, although the state failed to prove its case. On July 14, Sacco and Vanzetti
were convicted and sentenced to death. The trial and conviction brought a storm of
protest from Italian‐Americans, civil rights advocates and liberals. Sacco and
Vanzetti asserted their innocence to the end but they went to the electric chair on
August 23, 1927.


World War I forced social changes that altered the contours of American
Race relations. The increase of production during wartime and a drastic fall in
immigration from Europe promoted a large‐scale migration from South to North.
This massive movement of blacks from the South to the North began in 1915‐16,
when rapidly expanded war industries were experiencing a labor shortage.

The racial composition of the cities changed. In 1910, urban areas outside
the South were white; three out of every four African Americans lived on farms
and nine out of ten lived in the South. On the eve of World War I, 90% of the
African‐American population still lived in the South. Between 1910 and 1920, half
a million blacks left the South and 1.5 million southern moved from the rural areas
to the cities. Some went to Southern cities and the rest settled in major Northern
metropolises such as Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago and New York. During the
1910’s and 1920’s, Chicago's African‐American population grew 148%, Cleveland's
by 307 % and Detroit's by 611%.

This great migration had many causes, of which we are going to list some of
them:

‐ Higher wages in northern factories than were available in the South.
‐ More opportunities for educating their children.
‐ To escape from the threat of lynching in the South states.
‐ Prospect of exercising the right to vote.
‐ Social and economic freedom

This was the most significant development in African‐American life during
the early twentieth century. Black migrants spoke of a Second Emancipation, of
"Crossing over Jordan," and of leaving the realm of pharaoh for the Promised Land.
One group from Mississippi stopped to sing, "I am bound for the land of Canaan,"
after their train crossed the Ohio River into the North. These black migrants,
mostly young men and women, carried with them "a new vision of opportunity, of
social and economic freedom," as Alain Locke declared in his influential book, The
New Negro, published in 1925.

The spirit of the “New Negro” also found an outlet in what came to be called
Negro nationalism, which exalted blackness, black cultural expression, and at its
most extreme, black exclusiveness. The leading spokesman for such views was the
flamboyant Marcus Garvey. In 1916 Garvey brought to New York the Universal
Negro Improvement Association, which he had started in his native Jamaica two
years before. Even more influential in promoting black rights was the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in
1910 by northern white liberals and black leaders such as William E. B. DuBois. Its
main strategy focused on getting the federal government to enforce the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Amendments. (Read document nº 3 of the Appendix. American
Documents: The Constitution of the United States 1787, Amendment XIV,
“Citizenship Rights” and Amendment XV, “Race no bar to vote”).

Most of these African‐American migrants were so disappointed in the
North. Their dreams did not become reality. They found restricted employment
opportunities for black workers and exclusion from unions, housing segregation
and racial hostility like in the Southern states. At the same time, white southerners
moved north during the war with similar social and economic aspirations. But the
new Afro‐American presence coupled with demands for change inspired by the
war, created a racial problem ready to explode. At the same time, this migration
north led to a slow but steady growth in black political influence. African
Americans were freer to speak and act in a northern setting, and they gained
political leverage by setting in large cities in states with many electoral votes.

The 1920’s also witnessed an upsurge of self‐consciousness among black
Americans, especially in the North's urban ghettos. New York's Harlem gained an
international reputation as the “capital” of black America, a mecca for migrants
from the South and immigrants from the West Indies, 150,000 of whom entered
the United States between 1900 and 1930. Unlike the southern newcomers, most
of whom had been agricultural workers, the West Indians included a large number
of well‐educated professional and white‐collar workers.

Along with political activity came a bristling spirit of protest, a spirit that
received cultural expression in a literary and artistic movement labeled the
Harlem Renaissance. Harlem, in upper Manhattan, became the center of black
America, attracting African‐American intellectuals and artists from across the
country and the Caribbean as well. Soon, the Harlem Renaissance was in full
bloom. Many of the greatest works of this movement sought to recover links with
African and folk traditions. A fierce racial consciousness and powerful sense of
racial pride animated the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. The West Indian‐
born poet Claude McKay expressed the new spirit of defiance and protest with
militant words: “If we must die, oh let us nobly die... dying, but fighting back!”

Harlem became famous for "slumming" as groups of whites visited Harlem's
dance halls, jazz clubs, and speakeasies in search of exotic adventure. The Harlem
of the white imagination was a place of primitive passions, free from the
puritanical restraints of mainstream American culture. The real Harlem was a poor
community where its residents were confined to low‐wage jobs but paying very
high rents because housing discrimination barred them from other neighborhoods.

4. THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Most Americans had come to assume that there would never be another
depression. Throughout the 1920’s the idea grew that American business had
entered a new era of permanent growth. During the twenties, American people
looked forward with optimism and there was an existed an increasing flow of
consumer goods and a better way of life. Until 1927 stock values had risen with
profits, but then they began to soar on wings of speculations. Mellon’s tax
reductions had released money that, with the help of aggressive brokerage houses,
found its way to Wall Street. Gamblers in the market ignored warning signs. By
1927 residential construction and automobile sales were catching up to demand,
business inventories had risen, and the rate of consumer spending had slowed. By
mid‐1929 production, employment, and other levels of economic activity were
declining. By 1929 conservative financiers and brokers who counseled caution
went unheeded. Hoover sought to discourage speculation, but no to avail. On
September 4 stock prices wavered, and the next day they dropped.

On Tuesday, October 29, the most devastating single day in the market’s
history to that point, the index dropped almost 13%. The plunge in prices fed on it
as brokers sold the shares they held for buyers who failed to come up with more
cash. During October the value of stocks on the New York Stock Exchange fell by an
average of 37%. The economic crack altered American standard of life and
attitudes. In 1929, the tendency changed, factories closed, machines stopped, and
millions of American people walked the streets doing nothing, looking for jobs that
did not exist any more.


Calvin Coolidge, "silent Cal", who was not a strong president and left the
administration to his cabinet members, the courts, and the Congress to devise
strategies for managing the marriage between business and government,
announced his retirement from politics in 1928. The Republican Party nominated
Herbert C. Hoover, while the Democrats chose Alfred E. Smith. Both parties
adopted similar platforms, but the opponents defined the two faces of America,
one rural and other urban.

Herbert C. Hoover was the Quaker son of Middle America. He was born in
Iowa and was the son of a blacksmith and his schoolteacher wife. He worked hard
and got a degree in mining engineering. He was brilliant and hard working and he
accumulated a fortune twelve years after starting his job. Hoover worked for firms
in Europe, Asia and Africa. After World War I he coordinated overseas food relief.
Herbert seemed to exemplify what was called the "new era" of American
capitalism. In 1922, as Secretary of Commerce, he published American
Individualism, which condemned government regulation. He thought the federal
government had the responsibility to coordinate the competing interests of a
modern economy. He accepted the reality of industrialization, technology, global
markets and governmental activism and in contrast to Harding and Coolidge,
Hoover believed the president should lead the country. According to Hoover,
technology and expertise would make economic prosperity a permanent feature of
American life.

The Democratic candidate was Alfred E. Smith, the first Irish Catholic to be
nominated by a major party. He was born into poverty on New York's Lower East
side. Smith emerged as the symbolic spokesman of the new immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe. He served three terms as governor of New York.
Smith represented the future in terms of cultural pluralism and urbanization. The
cities contained large groups of ethnic Americans struggling for acceptance and
their share of the good life. However, Smith had failed to solve the urban‐rural split
in the Democratic Party, his opposition to prohibition and the anti‐Catholic
sentiment. Catholicism became the focus of the race. The democrats were so
divided that six states abandoned the solid South and defeated to Hoover. Smith's
campaign revealed the most significant political change of the 1920’s, the growing
power of urban and ethnic voters and the influence of the rural element within the
Democratic Party
In the third consecutive Republican landslide, Hoover won 21 million
popular votes to Smith’s 15 million and an even more top‐heavy electoral majority
of 444 to 87. Hoover even cracked the solid South, leaving Smith only six Deep
South states plus Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The election was above all a
vindication of republican prosperity. On the other hand, Smith carried the nation's
twelve largest American cities and he won significant support in economically
struggling farm areas. In the agricultural states of the West, there were signs that
some disgruntled farmers had switched over to the democrats.


The milestone year of 1929 dawned with high hopes, the American
economy appeared to be extraordinary healthy. Employment was high and
inflation was virtually nonexistent. Industrial production had risen 30% between
1919 and 1929 and per capita income had climbed from $520 to $681. Hoover told
his inauguration audience. “It is bright with hope.” The United States accounted for
nearly half the world's industrial output, but the seeds of the depression were
already present in the "boom" of the 1920’s.

The prosperity of the 1920’s was a cruel illusion and ended in financial
disaster. Even during the most prosperous years of the Roaring Twenties, most
families lived below what contemporaries defined as the poverty line. In 1929, the
income necessary to support a family was considered $2500 and more than 60%
of the nation's families earned less than $2000 a year, and over 40% of all families
earned less than $1500 annually. Although labor productivity soared during the
1920’s because of more efficient management and electrification, wages fell in
manufacturing, mining and transportation. Hourly wages for coal miners sagged
from 84.5 cents in 1923 to just 62.5 cents in 1929.

There were multiple domestic and international factors converged to

transform a cyclical downturn into a prolonged economic crisis, such as the
following ones:

‐ The structural weakness of a banking system that had many

independent units and few mechanisms for propping up some banks
that were in difficulty.
‐ The inability of borrowers to repay loans led to a contagious epidemic of
bank failures that erased savings accounts, reduced the credit supply,
and accelerated the downward plunge of the economy
‐ The unequal distribution of wealth and income, which had been
accentuated by the boom of the 1920s. Between 1923 and 1929, the
income of the wealthiest, 1% of the American population, increase
dramatically.
‐ The concentration of resources in the hands of the wealthy reinforced
the crisis. The wealthy did not need to spend the money they have
available, rather than in the hands of average consumers, who typically
spent almost of their incomes. Normally, in difficult times, both
investment and luxury sales always plummeted much faster than sales
of food.
‐ The economic crisis hit at a moment when the economy was shifting
from a reliance on traditional industries, steel and textiles, to being
propelled by newer industries, such as processed food, automobiles and
tobacco. These industries were heavily dependent on the stock market.
They were not large enough to pull the rest of the economy with them.
‐ The agriculture had been mired in depression since 1921. Farm prices
had been depressed ever since the end of World War I when European
agriculture revived. Farmers suffered long‐term debts, high taxes, and a
sharp drop in crop prices, farmers lost ground throughout the 1920s.
‐ The decline in farm income reverberated throughout the economy.
Rural consumers stopped buying farm implements. At the same time,
farmers defaulted on their debts, placing tremendous pressure on the
banking system.
‐ Even before the onset of the Depression, business investment had begun
to decline. Residential construction boomed between 1924 and 1927,
but in 1929 housing starts fell to less than half the 1924 level. A major
reason for the depressed housing market was the 1924 immigration law
that had restricted foreign immigration.
‐ During the 20s, manufacturers expanded their productive capacity and
built up excessive goods. At the decade's end, they cut production back
sharply, directing their surplus funds into stock market speculation.
‐ Another important factor was what economist John Kenneth Galbraith
has called "the poor state of economic intelligence." Most bankers,
economists and government officials introduced some measures that
were planned by past experiences that were no longer relevant to the
conditions of the 1930s.
‐ Republican tariff policies damaged the economy by depressing foreign
trade. To protect American industries from foreign competitors,
Congress passed the Fordney‐McCumber Tariff in 1922 and the Hawley‐
Smoot Tariff in 1930, raising tariff rates to unprecedented levels. The
effect of these two measures was counterproductive because it made
difficult for European nations to pay off their debts.
‐ The Federal Reserve played a critical role in weakening the economy. In
an effort to curb stock market speculation, it slowed the growth of the
money supply then allowed that supply to fall dramatically after the
stock market crash, producing a wrenching liquidity crisis. They slowed
the economy further by reducing the amount of money available to
consumers to spend.
‐ The depression was international and was caused by misguided policies
adopted by both European and American governments. In response to
falling production and raising unemployment, they instituted
protectionist measures, such as high tariffs.
‐ United States and Great Britain, and most other countries in Europe and
Latin America insisted on clinging by the Gold Standard, after the
interruption of World War I, again provided the framework for
international financial relations. Each country's currency had a fixed
value in relation to gold. The gold standard slowed down their
economies and began to recover only after they abandoned the gold
standard.

All these factors left the economy ripe for disaster. The depression did not
strike instantly, spreading all over the country gradually. The Great Depression
was the worst economic catastrophe in American history. It hit rural and urban
areas, white and blue‐collar families alike. Thousands of men took to the streets
and others hopped freight trains and wandered from town to town, looking for
jobs.

The devastating collapse of the economy caused immense social hardships
across the nation. By 1933 over 13 million people were out of work, and many
more found themselves working fewer hours. The United States had no federal
system of unemployment insurance. The relief burden fell on state and municipal
governments working together with private charities. These organizations were
created to solve temporary emergencies and they had no enough resources to
alleviate the massive necessity created by the Depression. In the Southern states,
the situation was even worse. The Prosperous Decade had ended in economic
disaster.

4. 3. Hoover's Efforts at Recovery

Few political or economic leaders acknowledged the severity of the crisis.
They thought that all that was needed was a slight correction of the market.
Hoover believed that the country’s main need was confidence. He exhorted the
public to keep up hope. Hoover opposed on principle to direct federal intervention
in the economy. Shortly after the stock market crashed, he summoned business
and labor leaders to the White House. Industrialists promised to maintain prices
and wages, and labor leaders pledged not to strike or demand higher wages. While
the President remained hopeful voluntary measures would work, business
struggle for survive, forcing employers to lay off workers. The contrast between
Hoover's speeches and conditions in the country was tremendous. According to
Hoover, the economy in 1930 was fundamentally sound, and recovery was just
around the corner. The critics accused Hoover of being insensitive to the
unemployed and the dispossessed. Americans called the shantytowns slums on the
edges of the cities “Hoovervilles.” During the winter homeless people wrapped
themselves in newspapers to keep warm, sarcastically referring to their covering
as “Hoover blankets” and empty pockets turned inside out, “Hoover flags.”

President Hoover could not bring himself to sanction large‐scale federal
public works programs because he honestly believed that recovery depended on
the private sector, because he wanted to maintain a balanced budget, and because
he feared federal relief programs would undermine individual character by making
recipients dependent on the state. When all his good wishes failed, Hoover adopted
other measures. In 1932 Congress created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
(RFC), and authorized it to loan $2 billion to banks, savings and loan associations,
railways, and life insurance companies. Hoover believed federal loans would help
business to increase production and hire workers. The same idea applied to the
Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLBS), created by Congress in July 1932 to
lend up to $500 million to savings and loan associations to revive the construction
industry.

By early 1933 Hoover's agencies had failed to make a dent in the Great
Depression. The real problem was the poor demand for goods. It was a vicious
cycle. Unemployed workers could not buy goods, so businesses cut back
production and lay off additional workers. Businessman did not apply banks for
capital loans because they had no interest in increasing production.


The human cost of the Great Depression is too difficult to measure. Families
lived without meat or fresh vegetables for months, existing on soup and beans. The
psychological burden was even greater. Americans stood in line for hours waiting
for a relief check; the family providers were now in question. In the country, crops
rotted in the fields because prices were too low to make harvesting worthwhile.

Blacks were often the first to lose their jobs. Mexican Americans were
deported in droves. The poor of all hues survived because they knew better than
most Americans how to exist in poverty. They stayed in bed in cold weather to
avoid unnecessary burning of calories. On the other hand, the middle class that had
always loved with high expectations was hit hard. Many professional and white‐
collar workers refused to ask for charity even as their families went without food.
People who fell behind on their mortgage payments lost their homes, and health
care declined as middle‐class families stopped going regularly to doctors and
dentists, unable to pay them. Even the well to do were affected.

Many Americans rode the rails in search of jobs, hoping freight trains to
move South in the winter or West in the summer. The homeless could find a place
to eat and to sleep in the "hobo jungles", where they could find people with whom
to share their misery. Some grew weary of their grim fate and ended their lives.
Suicide rates soared during the 1930’s. America had never before experienced
social distress on such a scale.
Meanwhile, the nation's banking structure approached collapse. Bank customers
responded to rumors of bankruptcy by rushing in to withdraw their deposits,
thereby causing bank failures to rise steadily.

President Hoover was the Depression's most prominent victim. He believed
in voluntary efforts to relieve the human suffering brought by the Depression. He
called on private charities and local governments to help feed and clothe those in
need, but these resources were exhausted soon. There was a quick erosion of
Hoover’s political support. In 1930’2 the Democrats gained their first national
victory since 1916, winning a majority in the House and enough gains in the senate
to control it in coalition with farm state Republicans in the West. Everywhere,
Americans longed for a new president.

Table 6.1
Unemployment, 19291940
Years Nº % Labor Force

Unemployed
Unemployed
(In thousands)
1929 1,550 3,2
1930 4,340 8,7

1931 8,020 15,9
1932 12,060 23,6
1933 12,830 24,9
1934 11,340 21,7

1935 10,610 20,1
1936 9,030 16,9
1937 7,700 14,3

1938 10,390 19
1939 9,480 17,2
1940 8,120 14,6

Source: Chandler, 1970, p. 5.

CHRONOLOGY

Chronological Table

1920 Nineteen Amendment granted women the right to vote.
Established a Women's Bureau in the Department of Labor
American Senate rejected Treaty of Versailles
Republican Warren Harding was elected twenty‐ninth president
In raids authorized by Attorney General Palmer many Communists are
arrested
Sinclair Lewis' Main Street exposed the complacency of small‐town life
Massachusetts trial of two Italian anarchists, Nicola Sacco & Batolomeo
Vanzetti
American Civil Liberties Union established
1921 Warren Harding's inauguration as the twenty‐ninth president began 12 years
of
Republican control of the presidency
The Sheppard‐Towner Act passed
Revenue Act passed. It slashed taxes on higher incomes
European immigration was restricted to a quota of 3 percent of the population
of a
Nationality living in the United States in 1910
Margaret Sanger founded the American Birth Control League
1922 Fordney‐McCumber Tariff Act raised duties on imports to unprecedented
levels
Washington Naval Arms Conference.
Hollywood adopted the Hays code
The Cable Act granted women equal citizenship rights with men
1923 Warren Harding died from a heart attack
Vice President Calvin Coolidge assumed the presidency
Newspapers exposed Ku Klux Klan graft, torture and murder
1924 Calvin Coolidge was elected to full term as the thirtieth president
Senate committee began an investigation of Teapot Dome oil‐leasing Scandal
National Origins Quota Act. Congress reduced immigration quota to 2 percent
of
the Population of a nationality living in the United States in 1890
1925 John Scopes was convicted of teaching theory of evolution in violation of
Tennessee Law
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby criticized the American success ethnic
1926 New revenue act further reduced tax rates on high incomes
1927 Charles Lindberg completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight from New
York
to Paris.
The Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed.
President Coolidge vetoed farm price control bill
1928 Republican Herbert Hoover defeated democrat Al Smith for the Presidency
1929 Herbert C. Hoover is inaugurated as the thirty‐first president.
Annual quota of immigrants was reduced to about 152,000
October 29, 1929, "Black Tuesday" on Wall Street. Stock market crashed
1930 Hawley‐Smoot Tariff raised import duties to unprecedented levels
1932 Bonus March on Washington
Reconstruction Finance Corporation organized


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America in the 20’s

www.fashion‐era.com/flapper_fashion_1920s.htm
www.j‐bradford‐delong.net/tceh/Slouch_roaring13.html
www.lastfm.es/music/Them,+roaring+twenties
www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_roaring.htm
www.1920‐30.com/

Calvin Coolidge

www.calvin‐coolidge.org/
www.historicvermont.org/coolidge/
www.ipl.org/div/potus/ccoolidge.html
www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/calvincoolidge
www.who2.com/calvincoolidge.html

The Election of 1928

www.dlt.ncssm.edu/lmtm/docs/election1928/script.pdf
www.freebase.com/view/en/united_states_presidential_election_1928
www.historycentral.com/elections/1928.html
www.reformation.org/1928‐presidential‐election.html
www.1920‐30.com/politics/

The Great Depression

www.amatecon.com/greatdepression.html
www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GreatDepression.html
www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/depression.htm
www.gusmorino.com/pag3/greatdepression/
www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/great‐depression.htm

Warren G. Harding

www.answers.com/topic/warren‐harding
www.historycentral.com/bio/presidents/harding.html
millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/harding
www.warrengharding.com/
www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/warrenharding/html

Herbert Hoover

www.americanpresident.org/history/herberthoover
www.nps.gov/heho
www.ipl.org/div/potus/hchoover.html
www.hoover.archives.gov
www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Herbert_Hoover/
Women's Movement

www.casahistoria.net/women's_suffrage.htm
www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.html
www.nfrw.org/republicans/women
www.nzine.co.nz/features/suffrage2.html
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAsuffrage.htm


1. How did the new social trends in the 1920’s challenge traditional attitudes?
2. What spurred the national economy in the 1920's
3. How did modernism influence American culture?
4. In what ways did government policy become pro‐business in the 1920’s?
5. In what ways did women define freedom in the 1920’s?
6. What issues mobilized the reactionary groups of the 1920’s?
7. Describe the Harlem Renaissance and explain what was meant by the term
"New Negro"?
8. What was Hoover's approach to government when he took office as president?
9. Enumerate the main causes and effects of the Great Depression.
10. What was Hoover's attitude to the economic crisis?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Describe the main achievements of the United States in the 1920’s.
2. Explain the importance of women’s movement
3. Summarize the major features of the Great Migration Northward.
4. Present the situation of American society in 1929.
5. Compare the situation of the United States in the 1920’s and at the beginning of
the 1930’s.

UNIT 7

THE NEW DEAL AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR

1. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL


1.1.1.Criticism of the New Deal


2. THE LEGACY OF THE NEW DEAL


3. FROM ISOLATION TO GLOBAL WORLD


4. SOCIAL EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR II

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

1. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL

On June 14, 1932, republicans gathered in Chicago to nominate the
incumbent president, Herbert C. Hoover as their presidential candidate. The
delegates went through the motions in a mood of defeat. Hoover's efforts to
overcome the Depression had clearly failed. His public image suffered the worst
blow in the summer of 1932 when he ordered troops to clear out a group of ragged
World War I veterans who had marched on Washington in an effort to get a bill,
which had already been passed by Congress, through the Senate, which would
grant them early payment of bonuses to help them cope with the hardship they
were suffering because of the Depression. Most Americans were outraged by the
government's harsh treatment of the Bonus Army, and Hoover encountered
resentment everywhere he campaigned. The Americans demanded a new
president.

The Democrats converged on Chicago confident that they would nominate
the next president. New York governor Franklin D. Roosevelt took advantage of the
political opportunity offered by the discredited Republicans and, he united the
Democratic Party behind him. He had already lined up most of the delegates, and
he won the party's nomination on the fourth ballot. In a dramatic gesture,
Roosevelt broke with tradition by flying to Chicago and accepting the nomination
in person instead of awaiting formal notification. He told the expectant delegates,
“I pledge you, I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people.” His speech
contained few concrete proposals but he gave many desperate voters hope,
promising to experiment: “It is common sense to take a method and try it, if it fails,
admit it frankly and try another.” What was more, his upbeat personality
communicated joy and hope, as did his campaign song, “Happy Days Are Here
Again.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected governor of New York in 1928, one
of the few Democrats to survive the Republican landslide. He had surrounded
himself with able advisers and worked hard to convert New York State into a
laboratory for reform, involving conservation, old‐age pensions, public works
projects, and unemployment insurance, in an attempt to fight against the Great
Depression.

Roosevelt possessed a marvellous voice, deep and rich, and a winning smile.
His buoyant confidence was contagious. His dominant trait was his ability to
persuade and convince other people. He was a master politician with an agile
mind, who ‘in the opinion of many,’ dealt with the appearance, rather than the
substance of issues. He demonstrated flexibility towards political principles that
often dismayed even his warmest admirers. Indeed, many political figures and
analysts at the time regarded Roosevelt as something of a lightweight, Walter
Lippman declared, “He is a pleasant man, who, without any important
qualifications for the office, would very much like to be president.” Although well
educated, Roosevelt rarely demonstrated that mastery of technical details which
was so characteristic of his Republican opponent

On learning of the Bonus Army incident, Franklin D. Roosevelt had
remarked: “Well, this will elect me.” The Democratic candidate was right; he
defeated Herbert C. Hoover in November 1932, in a near landslide for the
Democrats. He won 22,809,638 votes to Hoover's 15,758,901, and 472 to 59
electoral votes. The Democrats also won commanding majorities in both Houses of
Congress. Roosevelt not only met the challenge of the Depression, but also
consolidated the shift to the Democratic Party that would dominate American
politics for half a century. Roosevelt's broader political goal was to break the
political dominance of the Republican Party by assembling a new coalition of
progressive reformers, industrial workers, and the inevitably Democratic South.
He appealed to a wide range of voters, wooing southerners back into the Democrat
fold and attracting new groups of voters, including young people, women and
ethnic Americans. Urban Catholics, Jews, and members of the Eastern Orthodox
Church voted overwhelmingly for Roosevelt. The 1932 election was the first of
many in which these groups would give strong support to the Democratic Party.

In the months between the election in November 1932 and Roosevelt’s
inauguration in March 1933, the need for action and experimentation grew. The
misery of millions of jobless workers was deepening; rebellious farmers were
protesting and threatening to withhold food from the market; bank failures began
to accelerate, leading one state after another to close its banks to prevent
panicking citizens from withdrawing their remaining deposits. Roosevelt
responded by calling to Hyde Park, his father’s rambling Hudson River estate, a
large group of political and business leaders, academics, and intellectuals, to
discuss the economic crisis in all its complexity. The president‐elect soaked up
ideas and proposals like a sponge and assured his visitors that they had been
heard.

After his inauguration in March 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) arrived
in the White House to inherit a nation mired in the third year of an unprecedented
economic depression. The nation's banking structure was approaching collapse.
Bank customers responded to rumours of bankruptcy by rushing in to withdraw
their deposits, thereby causing bank failures to rise steadily. Banking failures had
wiped out the life savings of many prudent Americans.


When Franklin D. Roosevelt took the oath of office on March 4, 1933, the
American nation was desperate. A quarter of all workers were jobless. A quarter of
a million families had defaulted on their mortgages the previous year. About 9000
banks had failed since 1929, 1456 of them in 1932. These banks held the savings of
27 million families. Farm foreclosures were averaging 20,000 a month. The public
was frantic for action. Hamilton Fish, a conservative Republican Congressman from
New York, promised the President that Congress would “give you any power that
you need.”

In his inaugural address, Roosevelt expressed confidence that his
administration could end the depression. He aimed all his efforts at dispelling the
country's mood of despair and anxiety. He declared, “the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself.” The president promised decisive action. He called Congress into a
special session and demanded “broad executive power to wage a war against the
emergency, as great as the power that would be given me if we were in fact
invaded by a foreign foe.” Across the country people were waiting to see what the
new president would do. In his first hundred days in office, the President pushed
fifteen major bills through Congress, which would redefine every feature of the
economy, from banking and industry to agriculture and social welfare. Like most
Democrats, he favoured lower tariffs, and he signalled the orthodoxy of his
economic views by criticising Hoover for incurring deficits in the federal budget.
His most innovative proposal was his support for government‐sponsored
unemployment insurance and old‐age insurance, ideas that progressive reformers
had begun to place on the agenda a decade and a half earlier. (See Document nº 14
of the Appendix. American Documents: Franklin D. Roosevelt. First Inaugural
Address).

Roosevelt's inaugural speech was followed by an extraordinary wave of
activity as the President and his aides delivered one piece of legislation after
another to a receptive Congress. The first item on his agenda was the banking
crisis. After closing all banks for four days, the administration, greatly aided by
private bankers and holdovers from the Hoover administration, drew up a reform
bill designed to enhance confidence in the banking system. The Emergency
Banking Act was approved by Congress within hours.

On March 12, the day before the banks were reopened, Roosevelt addressed
the nation by radio in the first of his “Fireside Chats.” FDR became the first
president to use radio broadcasts effectively to reach the American public. He
explained what the banking reforms meant and assured his 60 million listeners
that, as the government now stood behind the banks, it was safer to keep their
money in the reopened banks. The next day, deposits began to flow into, rather
than out, of the country's banks. Thanks to the radio, Roosevelt could speak
directly to the people in his own voice, establishing what, to many, appeared to be
an almost personal relationship. The banking crisis was over. “Capitalism was
saved in eight days,” declared one of the Roosevelt's advisers.

Roosevelt’s administration promoted another conservative measure with
the Economic Act, which cut payments to veterans and the wages of federal
employees in order to balance the budget. Many liberals opposed the bill. At the
same time, Roosevelt proposed increasing revenues by legalising and taxing the
sale of low‐alcohol beer and wine. The resulting Revenue Act meant that beer was
sold legally on April 7 for the first time in more than one decade.

The Democratic president also acted quickly to bring some relief to farmers,
both because of the protest movements spreading through the countryside and
because he and his advisers believed that restoring the purchasing power of
farmers would help boost the demand for manufactured goods. Led by Secretary of
Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, a respected authority on farming, the administration
drew up the Agricultural Adjustment Act, an omnibus bill that incorporated many
reform ideas that had been circulating since the 1920s to solve the agricultural
problems. The core of the measure was the provision of incentives to farmers to
restrict their acreage so that output would be reduced and prices would rise. The
program was to be funded by a tax on the processing of farm products, paid by the
processors. The bill was a approach to agricultural and economic policy, since its
fundamental goal was to decrease the output of the nation's farming, while having
other sectors of the economy subsidise farmers to leave some of their fields fallow.

In May, Roosevelt launched an even more innovative program that was
destined to help large numbers of farmers in the rural South. This was the
Tennessee Valley Authority Act (TVA), a public corporation whose central goal was
to generate electric power along the Tennessee River and to make and distribute
fertiliser from an already existing plant. The TVA was designed to bring electric
power, commerce, more productive farms, and modern industry to the
impoverished rural South, where most people were still living without the basic
amenities that had become commonplace in the North. The TVA was to have
significant long‐term effects on the development of seven states in the South.

The Democratic administration made huge efforts to help the unemployed.
One special program was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which put jobless
young men and veterans to work in forestry and on flood‐control projects. The
program was originally designed to enrol only 250,000 people, but it lasted until
the early 1940’s, offering aid and work to nearly 3 million men. A more
controversial program was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA),
involving federal government for the first time in direct relief for the unemployed.
Roosevelt thought that this new way of dealing with the problem had become a
necessity. Millions of citizens were suffering and neither private charities nor local
or state governments had the resources to provide relief. Something had to be
done, and the federal government alone was capable of acting. To administer the
agency, Roosevelt appointed one of his advisers from New York, Harry Hopkins, a
former social worker influenced by the traditions of progressive reform.

In early June, President Roosevelt took one of the most controversial
actions of his legislation. He took the United States off the gold standard for the
foreseeable future, and would not participate in the Economic conference's goal of
fixing exchange rates among countries. The message fell like a bombshell both in
Europe and America.

On June 16, near the end of his first hundred days in office, Roosevelt
introduced a piece of legislation that was vital for the revival of the economy, the
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). The aim was to stimulate production and
to authorise producers in the nation's industries to meet together to fix codes of
fair competition, permitting them to set the prices and divided markets. These
codes had to be approved by the National Recovery Administration (NRA). This
agency was given great power over economic affairs. The NIRA also provided for
minimum wages and maximum hours, while affirming the right of workers to form
unions and engage in collective bargaining. Simultaneously, to reactivate the
economy, the legislation provided $3 billion for public works projects, to be
developed by the Public Works Administration (PWA).

According to some reformers in the Democratic administration, heirs to
Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism, the NRA offered a way for the government
to set up the regulation of business and to replace the chaos of the market with
rational economic planning. To labour unions, NRA offered Washington's support
for long‐standing goals. John L. Lewis, head of the miners' union, likened the NRA
to the Emancipation Proclamation. The NRA was a political compromise, grounded
largely in the debate over monopolisation and the trusts that had been so
prominent between 1890 and 1915. Recovery would come from a restructuring of
industry and an alteration of the relationship between the state and the economy.

By the middle of June, the end of the first hundred days arrived; Roosevelt
and Congress had taken action on an extraordinary number of issues. They had
dealt with the banking crisis, given some assistance to the unemployed, created a
new institutional framework for business and agriculture, lessened the odds of
Americans losing their homes, farms and savings accounts, and begun an
experiment in regional planning in the Tennessee River valley. These legislative
measures were liberal in some aspects, conservative in others but their main aim
was to break the anxious gloom of the previous winter in the United States. The
Depression would continue for another six years, but under Roosevelt, the
government seemed to be responding to the economic crisis, enabling people to
look to the future with hope for the first time since 1929.

Table 7.1.

Legislation Enacting During the First Hundred Days (March 9 to June 16,
1933)

1. March 9 Emergency Banking Relief Act
2. March 20 Economy Act
3. March 22 BeerWine Revenue Act
4. March 31 Unemployed Relief Act
5. March 31 Civilian Conservation Corps Act
6. May 12 Agricultural Adjustment Act
7. May 12 Federal Emergency Relief Act
8. May 18 Tennessee Valley Authority Act
9. May 27 Securities Act of 1933
10. June 5 Gold Repeal Joint Resolution
11. June 13 Home Owners' Refinancing Act
12. June 16 Farm Credit Act
13. June 16 Banking Act of 1933
14. June 16 Emergency Railroad Transportation Act
15. June 16 National Industrial Recovery Act

1.1.1. Criticism of the New Deal

During his first two years in office, FDR had concentrated on fighting the
Depression by shoring up the sagging American economy. He was developing a
new concept of government, responding to pressures from organised groups such
as corporations, labour unions, and farm organizations, while ignoring the needs of
the dispossessed that had no political voice. The continuing depression and the
high unemployment rate demanded new changes. Roosevelt chose to explore
radical programs designed to end historical inequities in American life.

The signs of discontent were visible everywhere in 1935. One of the most
important challenges to Roosevelt's leadership came from three demagogues who
captured national attention in the mid‐1930s. The first was Father Charles
Coughlin, a Catholic priest from Detroit who had originally supported Roosevelt.
Speaking to a rapt national radio audience, Coughlin appealed to the discontent
with a strange mix of crack monetary schemes and anti‐Semitism. He broke with
the New Deal in late 1934, calling for monetary inflation and nationalisation of the
banking system.

Another popular social program was hatched by a Californian doctor,

Francis Townsend. He came forward in 1934 with a plan to assist the elderly who
were suffering greatly during the Depression. The Townsend Plan proposed giving
everyone over the age of 60 a monthly pension of $200 with the provision that it
must be spent within thirty days. It would provide an old‐age pension and
stimulate the economy. More than ten million people supported the Townsend
Plan.

The most flamboyant of the group was Louisiana’s “Kingfish.” Huey Long
was a senator from Louisiana and another early New Deal supporter. Long turned
against President Roosevelt and by 1935 had become a political threat to the
Presidency. In 1934, he announced a nation‐wide “Share the Wealth” movement.
He wanted to guarantee each American a home worth $5000 and an annual
income of $25000. His slogan was “Every Man a King.” Long promised to seize all
fortunes of more than $5 million and to levy a tax of 100% on income over $1
million to finance his plan. Millions of Americans responded favourably to Long's
plan. Threatening to run a third party candidate in 1936 elections, Long generated
fear among Democratic leaders that he might attract enough voters from the
Democratic side to swing the election to the Republicans. Finally, he was
assassinated in 1935 and his supporters forced the New Deal to do more to help
those still in distress. At the same time, in the Midwest, progressives and agrarian
radicals, led by Minnesota Governor Floyd Olsen, were demanding substantial
changes to raise farmers' and workers' incomes.


The Democratic President, alarmed by his critics, abandoned the idea of
reconciling the conflicting demands of widely diverse interest groups behind the
New Deal and started turning to the left. In 1935, the focus of the New Deal
changed from relief and recovery to reform and he moved far enough to the left to
overcome the Challenges of Father Coughlin, Dr. Townsend and Huey Long. His
reforms improved the quality of life in America significantly.

President Roosevelt was confident because of the Democratic victory in the
1934 congressional elections, so he embraced a reform program that was the
climax of the New Deal. His determination was reinforced by a striking defeat that
the New Deal suffered at the hand of the Supreme Court. In May 1935, the Court
ruled in Schechter Poultry v. the U. S., that the National Recovery Administration
(NRA) was unconstitutional. The case arose when a small Brooklyn firm, was
found to be in violation of the NRA's Live Poultry Code. The Court concluded that
the government had no right to be imposing the poultry code in the first place
because the firm was involved in intrastate commerce, while the Constitution gave
Washington the right to regulate only interstate commerce. The Court, according
to President Roosevelt, had embraced a “horse‐and buggy definition of interstate
commerce.” This Court objection could potentially be applied to nearly all‐major
pieces of legislation.

In January 1935, Roosevelt proposed a series of legislative measures
designed to start several reforms, following some of the national dissidents'
demands. Many of the Democrats in Congress were to the left of Roosevelt,
favouring an increase in federal expenditure in national programs. In June 1935,
Roosevelt refused to dismiss Congress for summer vacation, obliging its members
to stay in Washington until they passed his new legislative measures. There was a
period of time when Congress was prepared to enact virtually any proposal that
Roosevelt offered. The result was a series of measures, all passed in 1935, that are
often described as the “Second Hundred Days.”

In the spring of 1935, Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation
Act. This legislative measure was a federal program that would relieve the urgent
needs of the unemployed by paying them to perform meaningful work. Roosevelt's
idea was that work relief was better than paying people to remain idle. The
Democrat administration presumed that unemployment was not going to
disappear and thought the federal government ought to step in and give work to
those the private sector could not absorb. The act increased support for the
previously created Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC); it also modified the Public
Work Administration (PWA) to undertake large‐scale public works projects that
required advance planning. The PWA built schools, city halls, courthouses, sewage
plants and bridges all across the country. A new agency was created, called the
Works Progress Administration, which later became the Works Projects
Administration (WPA).

The WPA was criticized by the Republicans for its costs and for supporting
the poor serving as a massive Democratic political machine. The agency was
attacked by labour unions because the “security wages” paid served to decrease
wage rates. At the same time, civil rights advocates affirmed that southern blacks
and Hispanic women in the West received lower wages than whites. Nonetheless,
the WPA had many supporters and by 1936 was employing 7% of American
workers.

The most relevant legislative measure enacted in 1935 was the Social
Security Act. The United States had never developed a welfare system to aid the
aged, the disabled and the unemployed. This plan had three main parts. First, it
provided for old‐age pensions financed by a tax on employers and workers, with
no government contributions. Second, it set up a system of unemployment
compensation on a federal‐state basis, with employers paying a payroll tax and
each state setting the benefit levels and administering the program locally. Finally,
it provided for direct federal grants to the states, on a matching basis, for welfare
payments to the blind, the handicapped, the needy, the elderly, and dependent
children.

Some criticisms, from both the right and the left, pointed out its
shortcomings. The old‐age pensions and grants to the handicapped and dependent
children were paltry, and not everyone was covered. People who needed the most
protection in their old age, such as farmers and domestic servants, were not
included. All participants, regardless of income or economic status, paid in at the
same rate, with no supplement from the general revenue. The trust fund also took
out of circulation money that was desperately needed to stimulate the economy in
the 30s.

When Roosevelt established a system of federal welfare, he went against
deeply rooted American convictions. He insisted on a tax of participants to give
those involved in the pension program a vested interest in Social Security. He
wanted them to feel that they had earned their pensions and that in the future no
one would dare to take them away. Above all, Roosevelt had succeeded in
establishing the principle of governmental responsibility for the aged, the
handicapped, and the unemployed. The Social Security Act was a landmark of the
New Deal, creating a new system to provide for the welfare of individuals in a new
complex industrial society.

The other major reform measure was the National Labor Relations Act of
1935. Senator Robert Wagner of New York introduced legislation in 1934 to
outlaw company unions and other unfair labour practices in order to ensure
collective bargaining for unions. Although initially opposed by Roosevelt, the bill
was supported in Congress and was signed into law in July 1935. The Wagner Act,
as it became known, created the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) to
preside over labour‐management relations and to enable unions to engage in
collective bargaining with federal support. The act decreed that when the majority
of a company's workers voted for a union to represent them, the management
would be forced to negotiate with the union on wages, hours and working
conditions. With this unprecedented measure, labour unions could now proceed to
recruit a large number of unorganised workers throughout the country. The
Wagner Act led to the revitalisation of the American labour movement and a
permanent change in labour‐management relations.

Three years later, Congress passed a second law, the Fair Labor Standards
Act that had an important impact on American workers. This measure aimed to
establish both minimum wages and maximum hours of work per week. It had the
support of the unions. Southern conservatives opposed it because it threatened the
very low wages in the South that had attracted northern industry since the Civil
War. The minimum wage was set at 40 cents an hour. More important, like the
Social Security Act, it set up a system on which Congress could build in the future
to achieve higher levels of generosity.

Roosevelt believed that electricity was “no longer a luxury” but a “necessity”
and he promoted the creation of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in
1935. The main aim of REA, like that of the TVA was to bring electricity to rural
areas, where private enterprise had failed to do so. The REA supported the
creation of local co‐operatives to which it would lend money for the construction
of electric lines. It also offered engineering and legal assistance. The program was
successful, leading the construction of electric transmission lines al 40% below the
costs estimated by private utilities. The REA had brought electricity to more than
900,000 households by 1941.

American farmers across the nation had electric lights, radios, washing
machines, refrigerators, improving household conditions and altering farm
production methods. In so doing, the REA helped to increase the efficiency of the
nation's farms, contributing after 1940 to the exodus of farmers from the
agriculture to industry.

Table 7.1.

Main Later New Deal Legislation

1934 Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act
Gold Reserve Act
Civil Works Emergency Relief Act
Home Owner's Loan Act
Farm Mortgage Foreclosure Act
Bank Deposit Insurance Act
Silver Purchase Act
Securities Exchange Act
Labor Dispute Joint Resolution
Railway Pension Act
Communication Act
1935 Emergency Relief Appropriation Act
National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act)
Social Security Act
Public Utility Holding Company Act
Work Relief Act
1936 Soil Conservation & Domestic Allotment Act
1937 National Housing Act
BankheadJones Farm Tenancy Act
1938 Fair Labor Standards Act

2. THE LEGACY OF THE NEW DEAL

In the 1930s, the New Deal had a great influence on the quality of life in the
United States. Government programs reached into areas untouched until those
years. Many of them brought some important improvements, but others failed to
make any significant contribution in historic inequities. The most important
advances came with the growth of labour unions. Working conditions for women
and minorities showed a huge advance. They reached their highest point in 1936,
when Roosevelt was reelected and the Democratic Party strengthened its hold in
Congress. This political triumph was ephemeral because the President met with a
series of defeats in Congress and a deep economic relapse known as the “Roosevelt
Recession.” By the end of 1938, the reform spirit was gone. A conservative alliance
of southern Democrats and northern Republicans in Congress blocked all efforts to
expand the New Deal. Roosevelt may not have been able to pass any new measure,
but his opponents could not dismantle his programs and they remained as
permanent features of American politics.

The New Deal lasted a brief five years, and most of its measures came in two
legislative bursts in the spring of 1933, and the summer of 1935. Yet its impact on
American life was enduring. Nearly every aspect of social, economic and political
development in the decades that followed bore the imprint of Roosevelt's
leadership. The least impressive achievement of the New Deal came in the
economic realm. Whatever credit Roosevelt was given for relieving human
suffering in the depths of the Depression must be balanced against his failure to
achieve recovery in the 1930’s. His programs produced only slow and halting
improvement. Although much of the advance came as a result of government
spending, Roosevelt never embraced the concept of planned deficits, striving
instead for a balanced budget. As a result, the nation had reached the 1929 level of
production one decade later, and ten million workers were still unemployed.

The New Deal did nothing to change the basic distribution of wealth and
power in the nation. It made no attempts to alter free enterprise beyond imposing
limited forms of governmental regulation. The outcome was the preservation of
the traditional capitalist system introducing federal control. The most important
experiment in regional planning was the TVA program of construction and
electrification. Another significant attempt was the adoption of Social Security. For
the first time, the government held the responsibility to provide for the welfare of
citizens who were unable to care for themselves in an industrial society. The
Wagner Act stimulated the growth of labour unions to balance corporate power,
and the minimum wage law provided an important step for many workers.

Yet the New Deal tended to help only the more organised groups, such as
union members and commercial farmers. People without effective voices or
political influence received no help from the New Deal. Roosevelt did little more
than President Herbert C. Hoover in responding to the needs of the dispossessed.
Yet despite, these setbacks, Roosevelt remained a popular political leader who had
restored American self‐confident as he attempted to meet the challenges of the
Great Depression of 1929.

The most important political impact of the Roosevelt's administration came
in politics. He united rural and urban Democrats and attracted new groups to the
Democratic Party, mainly blacks and organised labour. His political success led to a
major realignment that lasted long after Roosevelt's years. His political
achievement also reveals the true nature of Roosevelt's success. He was a brilliant
politician who recognised the leadership in democracy, appealing directly to the
people and infusing them with optimism. Thus, despite his limitations as reformer,
Roosevelt proved to be the man the American people needed in the 1930's, the
leader who gave them the psychological strength to help them endure and survive
the Great Depression.


One of the reasons for Roosevelt’s popularity was his wife, Eleanor, who
became an enormous political asset and would prove to be one of the most
influential leaders of the time. She was an activist who redefined the role of the
“First Lady.” She was the first woman to address a national political convention, to
write a nationally syndicated column, and to hold regular press conferences. A
tireless advocate and agitator, Eleanor travelled all over the country, representing
the president and the New Deal. She was an outstanding figure who supported
women’s causes. The First Lady worked tirelessly to persuade her husband and the
head of the government agencies to introduce well‐qualified women into
government departments. Eleanor set an example that encouraged millions of
American women.

Before the Great Depression, women had dominated both social work and
the voluntary association that provided charity for the poor and unemployed. In
the 1930s, Government employment was one of the few areas where
workingwomen made great advances. Agencies and governmental departments
joined the thousands of professionals who went to Washington to work in New
Deal programs. Once there, women formed a close‐knit network of professionals
who supported each other's careers. There were a large number of women
appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt to posts previously held only by men. He
appointed women as ambassadors and federal judges for the first time, and some
women were elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives.

One of the most significant women was Secretary of Labour Frances
Perkins. She was the first woman cabinet member in American history. She
brought many women into government departments and agencies. One of them,
Molly Dawson, the director of the Women's Division of the Democratic Committee,
helped place women throughout the democratic administration. By 1939, women
held one third of all the positions in the independent agencies and almost one‐fifth
of the jobs in the executive departments.

Nevertheless during the 1930s, the status of American women continued to
decline, and the New Deal offered little encouragement. NRA codes sanctioned
lower wages for women, helping to employ them in industry, but too many worked
as maids and waitresses, jobs not covered by the law. The percentage of women in
the workforce was no higher in the 1930s than it had been in the 1910s, and the
sexist inequities in the marketplace were as great as ever. In general, American
women achieved only moderate progress under the New Deal, and the 1930s were
especially hard on American women.


One of the most dramatic voter shifts in American history had happened by
the end of Roosevelt's first administration: blacks abandoned their historic ties to
the Republican Party. In part, this switch came in response to Roosevelt's
appointment of a number of prominent African‐Americans to high‐ranking
government positions. By 1936, 75% of black voters supported the Democrats.
Blacks turned to Roosevelt because his spending programs gave them a measure of
relief from the depression and because at the same time, the Republicans had done
little to pay them for their previous support. However, the Roosevelt
administration's attempts to aid the poor and forgotten were least effective among
African American and other racial minorities. The Depression had hit blacks with
special force. The fall in the price of cotton had ruined many sharecroppers and
tenant farmers, and by 1933, over 50% of urban blacks were unemployed.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's record on civil rights was not very ambitious.
Instead of using New Deal programs to promote civil rights, the Democratic
administration consistently bowed to the forces of discrimination. In order to pass
major New Deal legislative measures, Roosevelt needed the support of southern
Democrats. He backed away from equal rights to avoid antagonising southern
whites, although his wife did take a public stand in support of civil rights. Eleanor
Roosevelt deserves much of the credit for the progress made by minorities; she
spoke out eloquently throughout the decade against racial discrimination.

Most New Deal programs helped blacks survive the Depression, but they
never tried to confront the racial injustice built into federal relief programs.
Although the programs served blacks as well as whites, in the South, they
discriminated against black citizens. The NRA authorised separate and lower pay
wages for African Americans. The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) refused to
guarantee mortgages for blacks who tried to buy homes in white neighbourhoods,
and the CCC kept segregated camps. The Social Security Act excluded those job
categories traditionally filled by blacks.

In American agriculture, the situation was particularly difficult. Most
sharecroppers and tenant farmers were black and the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration (AAA) acreage reduction hit blacks hard. White landlords made more
money by not working the land than by putting it into production. As a result, the
AAA's policies forced more than 100,000 blacks off the land in 1933 and 1934.
President Roosevelt failed to support an anti-lynching bill and a bill to abolish the poll
tax. Roosevelt feared that conservative southern Democrats, who controlled many
committee chairmanships, would block his legislation measures, if he tried to fight them
on the race question.

Yet the New Deal achieved a number of goals in civil rights. Roosevelt
named Mary McLeod Bethune, a black educator to the advisory committee of the
National Youth Administration (NYA), and thanks to her efforts, blacks received a
part of the NYA funds. The WPA gave benefits to blacks in the northern cities from
its work relief programs. Harold Ickes, a strong supporter of civil rights, had over
one million blacks working for the WPA by 1939, and he poured federal funds into
black schools and hospitals in the South. Most blacks appointed to New Deal posts
served as advisers on black affairs. They started achieving a new visibility in
government.

The Mexican Americans were another important minority that received few
benefits from the New Deal. Engaged primarily in agricultural labour, they found
their wages in the California fields dropping steadily. Many of them lost their jobs
due to the AAA acreage reduction or competition in the fields from unemployed
whites. Still, the New Deal offered Mexican Americans a little help. The Farm
Security Administration established camps for migrant farm workers in California,
and the CCC and WPA hired unemployed Mexican Americans on relief assistance
because, as migrant workers, they did not meet residency requirements.
Furthermore, agricultural workers were not eligible for benefits under worker's
compensation, Social Security, or the National Labor Relations Act. The Roosevelt
administration cut off any further influx from Mexico, and local authorities
rounded up migrants and shipped them back to Mexico to reduce the welfare rolls.

The treatment of the American Indians was the only bright spot in the
Democratic administration's treatment of minorities. After decades of neglect, they
fared slightly better under the New Deal. When Roosevelt became president in
1933, he appointed John Collier, a leading reformer, as Commissioner of Indian
affairs. At Collier's request, Congress created the Indian Emergency Conservation
program (IECP), a CCC‐type project, for the reservations that employed more than
85,000 Native Americans. Collier also made certain that the PWA, WPA, and NYA
hired Native Americans.

In 1934, Collier persuaded Congress to pass the Indian Reorganisation Act,
which finished the allotment program of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, which
allocated reservation lands to individual Native Americans encouraging Native
Americans to become farmers. This new act provided funds for Native American
groups to purchase new land, at the same time offered government recognition of
Native American constitutions and repeal prohibitions on Native American
languages and customs. Also in 1934, federal grants were provided to local school
districts, hospitals, and social welfare agencies to assist the American Indians.


Trade Unions were extremely weak at the beginning of the Depression, with
a membership of fewer than three million workers. Most of them were in the
American Federation of Labour (AFL). The nation's basic industries, including steel
and automobiles, were unorganised. The great mass of unskilled workers therefore
fared poorly in terms of wages and working conditions.

John L. Lewis, head of the United Mine Workers, took the lead in organising
unskilled workers in mass production industries by forming the Committee on
Industrial Organisation (CIO) in 1935. He renamed his group the Congress of
Industrial Organizations and, in 1936, announced that he would use the Wagner
Act to extend collective bargaining to the nation's auto and steel industries. By the
end of the 1930s, the CIO had some five million members, slightly more than the
AFL. The successes were remarkable. For the first time, unskilled as well as skilled
workers were unionised. American women and blacks benefited from the creation
of the CIO because they made up a substantial proportion of the unskilled
workforce.

Although Lewis was not a radical, many of organisers the CIO deployed
were communists and socialists who saw unionisation as both a step toward social
justice and a movement against capitalism. The communists were dedicated to
skilled organisers, willing to take risks for the cause. In 1940, 28% of all workers
belonged to unions. Employer resistance and traditional hostility to unions
blocked further progress, as did the aloof attitude of President Roosevelt. The
Wagner Act had helped to open the way, but labour leaders deserved most of the
credit for the gains that were achieved.


The Great Depression was a powerful unifying experience. A new slogan
"the American way of life" was used. A new journalism, which appeared in new
magazines like Life, helped create a common frame of reference. At the same time,
ethnic, regional and class differences played an important role in the literature of
the 1930s. The great novels of the decade combined social criticism and rich
details about different aspects of American life in specific social settings. One of the
best examples is John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, written in 1939. It examined
the struggle of a poor Oklahoma farming family migrating to California. Richard
Wright's classic Native Son (1940) presented the ways that poverty and prejudice
drove a young African American to crime in Chicago.

The popular culture of the 1930’s was contradictory. It was a decade of
traditionalism and modernist experimentation in which many Americans grew
increasingly interested in tradition and folk culture. At the same time, Americans
in the 1930s needed heroes. Popular culture offered many: superheroes like
Superman and Batman, who appeared in the new comic books of this decade.

Many outstanding intellectuals of the time looked to the past after seeing
modern society as excessively individualistic and fragmented. And yet, for all the
emphasis on tradition, the 1930s was also a decade in which modernism in the arts
and architecture became increasingly pronounced. Famous names from this time
include the dancer Martha Graham; the writers William Faulkner and John Dos
Passos; the architect R. Buckminster Fuller, and the industrial designer Walter
Dorwin Teague.

By the 1930s radio had become a major source of family entertainment.
More than 10 million families owned a radio, and by the end of the decade the
number had tripled. Millions of housewives listened to radio “soap operas,”
ongoing dramas that were broadcast daily in fifteen‐minute episodes and derived
their name from their sponsors, soap manufactures.

Movies were even more popular than radio shows. In the late 1920s, what
had been silent films were transformed by the introduction of sound. The “talkies”
made movies the most popular form of entertainment during the 1930s, much
more popular than they are today. The movies of that decade rarely dealt with
hard times. Exceptions were film versions of Gone with the Wind (1939) and The
Grapes of Wrath (1940). Much more common were movies intended for pure
entertainment; they transported viewers into the realm of adventure, spectacle,
humour, and fantasy. The best way to escape the daily troubles of the Depression
was to watch one of the zany comedies of the Marx Brothers.

Table 7.2.

Major New Deal Legislation and Agencies

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Civil Works Administration (CWA)
Fair Labor Standards (FLS)
Farm Security Administration (FSA)
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)
Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
National Recovery Administration (NRA)
National Youth Administration (NYA)
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Works Progress Administration (WPA)

3. FROM ISOLATION TO GLOBAL WORLD

On August 27, 1928, U. S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, French Foreign
Minister Aristide Briand, and representatives of twelve other nations, met in Paris
to sign a pact outlawing war. They called this the Kellogg‐Briand Pact. The Pact of
Paris was the result of a determined American effort to avoid involvement in the
European alliance system. In June 1927, Briand had sent a message to the
American people inviting the United States to join with France in signing a pact to
outlaw war between the two nations. The invitation struck a sympathetic
response, but the State Department feared correctly that Briand's true intention
was to establish a close tie between France and the United States. Kellogg
proposed to Briand that the pledges against war had to be extended to all nations.
Briand had no choice but to agree, and so the diplomatic actions culminated in the
elaborate signing ceremony in Paris.

The signers of the Kellogg‐Briand Pact included nearly every nation in the
world. All promised to renounce war as an instrument of national policy, except in
matters of self‐defence. The pact was the symbol of American foreign policy after
World War I. Instead of asserting the role of leadership, the United States went its
own way, extending trade and economic dominance but refusing to take a leading
position in maintaining world order. This position ensured relative peace and
tranquillity in the 1920s. But in the 1930s, America retreated, searching for an
isolationism policy that would spare them the agony of another world war. Two
factors were responsible. First, the Depression made foreign policy seem remote
and unimportant to most Americans. Second, the danger of war abroad, when it
did finally penetrate the American consciousness, served only to strengthen the
desire to escape involvement.


Isolationist ideas spread through American popular culture during the mid‐
1930s. This isolationist sentiment surged during the Great Depression. The danger
of war abroad led to a rising American desire for non‐involvement. Veterans’
memories of the horrors of World War I contributed heavily. In April 1935, the
eighteenth anniversary of America's entry into World War I, 50,000 veterans held
a peace march in Washington, D C.

At the same time, historians began to consider the Great War as a mistake,
criticising President Wilson for failing to preserve the neutrality of the United
States. American youth made clear their determination not to repeat the previous
mistakes. Pacifism swept college campuses. Pacifist orators urged students to sign
a pledge not to support their country in any war. This pacifism movement
culminated in neutrality legislation aimed at avoiding involvement in European
conflicts. In August 1935, Congress passed the first of three neutrality acts. The
1935 law banned the sale of arms to nations at war and warned Americans not to
sail on belligerent ships. In 1936, a second act added a ban on loans, and in 1937, a
third neutrality act made these prohibitions permanent, and required, on a two‐
year trial basis, that all trade other than munitions be conducted on a cash‐and‐
carry basis.

President Roosevelt played a passive role in the adoption of the neutrality
legislation. Yet FDR did take a few steps to try to limit the nation's retreat into
isolationism. In January 1938, he used his influence to block a proposal to require a
national referendum before Congress could declare war. Roosevelt's strongest
public statement came earlier, in Chicago in October 1937, when he denounced
"the epidemic of world lawlessness" and called for an international effort to
"quarantine" this disease. By 1938, however, pacifist sentiment was fading. A
rapidly modernising Japan was seeking to acquire raw materials and territory on
the Asian mainland; a revived Germany was rebuilding its military power and
grabbing land bloodlessly on its eastern borders, and Italy was trying to restore
Roman glory through military might.

For two years, the United States tried to remain at peace while war raged in
Europe and Asia. However, the American people showed sympathy for the Allies
and distaste for Germany and Japan. Roosevelt displayed preference for an Allied
victory, but a fear of isolationist criticism compelled him to move slowly, adopting
a policy of aid for Britain and France.

A series of dramatic German victories had a deep impact on American
opinion. In the spring of 1940, Germany seized Denmark and Norway. The German
army drove the British off the continent in three weeks, and three weeks later,
France fell to Hitler's victorious armies. The Americans were stunned. President
Roosevelt pledged American support for Britain and its allies. In early September,
Roosevelt announced the transfer of fifty old destroyers to Britain in exchange for
rights to build air and naval bases on eight British possessions in the Western
Hemisphere. Then, isolationists protested against this departure from neutrality.
The America First Committee was formed to oppose the drift toward war. On the
other hand, to support the administration's policies, moderate New Dealers and
liberal republicans joined forces to organise the Committee to Defend America by
Aiding the Allies. They declared, "The future of western civilisation is being
decided upon the battlefield of Europe." Americans gradually came to agree with
the interventionists. Congress approved the increasing of the defence budget from
$2 billion to $10 billion during 1940. The president asked for a peacetime draft, the
first in American history, to build up the army, and the Congress consented.

German submarines were sinking tons of shipping, and Great Britain
needed the help of the American navy to cross the U‐boat infested water of the
North Atlantic. Roosevelt sent naval patrols as far east as Iceland. Germany wanted
to avoid drawing America into the European war, but the incidents soon started
and an undeclared war quickly followed. German submarines damaged the U. S.
destroyer Kearney and sank the Reuben James. Then Roosevelt issued orders for
the destroyers to shoot U‐boats on sight. By December 1941, war with Germany
seemed inevitable. At that moment, Roosevelt opened himself to criticism from
both sides in the domestic debate. Interventionist felt he was too cautious and
isolationists claimed that he had misled the American people by professing peace
while plotting for war. He clearly saw the real threat that Germany represented
and, at the same time, he was aware that most Americans wanted to stay out of
another war, so Roosevelt played for time, inching the country toward war while
waiting for the Axis nations to make the ultimate move. Japan finally obliged by
attacking Pearl Harbor.

The Nazi power in Europe and the Japanese expansion in Asia finally led
the United States to enter World War II. On December 7, 1941, just before 1 p.m.
Washington time, squadrons of Japanese carrier‐based planes caught the American
fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, totally by surprise. In a little more than an hour, the
Japanese crippled the American Pacific fleet and destroyed its base at Pearl
Harbor, sinking eight battleships and killing more than 2400 American sailors. At
that moment, the chances for an Allied victory seemed remote. With incredible
speed the nation mobilised its military and industrial strength. American armies
were soon fighting on three continents, the U. S. Navy controlled the world's
oceans, and the country's factories were sending a large amount of war supplies to
more than twenty Allied countries.

Speaking before Congress, on December 8, President Roosevelt termed
December 7 "a date which will live in infamy" and asked for a declaration of war
against Japan. With only one dissenting vote, both chambers consented. On
December 11, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. The
nation was now fully involved in World War II.


American domestic policy was affected by the belligerent international
situation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for an unprecedented third term in
1940. Roosevelt won 27 million votes to Wendell Willkie's 22 million and trounced
him in the electoral college by 449 to 82. This popular majority had fallen 6% from
1936. He had against him German Americans, Irish Americans, and Italian
Americans; in the farms and country towns of the Middle‐West and lower‐income
and blue‐collar groups, people supported him. His decisive victory made it clear
that much of the nation remained happy with Roosevelt and supported his
departure from neutrality. After the election, President Roosevelt asked Congress
to pass a new program to lend and lease goods and weapons to countries fighting
against aggression. He named it Lend‐Lease and then, Roosevelt called for America
to become “the great arsenal of democracy.” By 1940, to mobilise patriotic public
opinion, the word used was ‘freedom’. To Roosevelt, the Four Freedoms expressed
deeply held American values worthy of being spread worldwide. Freedom from
fear, speech, peace and religion.

World War II had a greater impact than the Great Depression on the future
of American life. While American soldiers and sailors fought abroad, the nation
underwent sweeping social and economic changes at home. American industry
made an important contribution to victory. The manufacturing plants that had run
at half capacity in the 1930s were now buzzing with activity. In Detroit, automobile
lines were converted to produce tanks and aeroplanes with efficiency. Shipbuilders
were productive, building ships faster than German U‐boats could sink them.

In 1942, Roosevelt appointed Donald Nelson to head the War Production
Board (WPB). Through tax incentives for industrialists and rationing of import
products, American industries were able to meet the needs of the military. The
country's factories turned out twice as many goods as the German and Japanese
industries combined. President Roosevelt displayed the same drive in directing the
economic mobilisation as he had during the New Deal years. He was also forced to
compromise with Congress, which rejected the administration's requests for large
tax increases. The cost of the war was financed by borrowing and from revenues.
The Treasury Department instituted a new practice, withholding income taxes
from worker's wages. The result of the wartime economic explosion was growing
affluence. There was a huge increase in federal expenditure, from $9 billion in
1940 to $98 billion in 1944, spread through American society. A government
agreement with labour unions in 1943 held wage rates to a 15% increase. Farmers
shared this new prosperity. Their incomes quadrupled between 1940 and 1945.
This rising income ensured post‐war prosperity. Workers and farmers saved their
money, buying government war bonds, waiting for the day when they could buy
the cars and home appliances they could not have obtained during the long years
of depression and war.

Another important issue was the refugee question. The Nazis had been
encouraging the emigration of Jews. Between 1933 and 1938, about 60,000 people
fled Germany, Austria and Italy for the United States. These were refugees from
Dictatorial Hitler's Europe. The immigrants included distinguished artists, writers,
architects, scientists, musicians and scholars, many of them aided in their flight by
emergency assistance committees in Britain and the United States. In 1936,
President Roosevelt ordered American consulates to give the refugees crowding
their offices "the most humane treatment under the law." Trying to ensure that the
German and Austrian quotas were fully used, he arranged for 15,000 German and
Austrian refugees on visitor's permits to remain in the United States. In 1939,
although some 27,000 German and Austrian refugees arrived in America, Congress
blocked a change in the immigration quotas that would have allowed the entry of
20,000 German refugees from Europe, many of whom where Jews. Between 1938
and 1941, 150,000 refugees entered the United States, roughly 62,000 fewer than
the law formally allowed.

In 1944, Roosevelt won his party's nomination for a fourth term, with Harry
S. Truman of Missouri as his choice for the Vice‐presidency. The Republican
candidate was Thomas E. Dewey, the governor of New York. Unwilling to switch
leaders while at war, the Americans stuck with Roosevelt to see the crisis through.
The president received 25,611,936 votes to Dewey's 22,013,372, and he won in the
Electoral College 432 to 99.

4. SOCIAL EFFECTS OF WORLD WAR II

In 1945, the United States was the most powerful nation in the world.
World War II produced important changes in American life. The most significant
was the tremendous increase in mobility. The war set families in motion, pulling
them off farms and out of small towns and packing them into large urban areas.
Urbanisation had virtually ceased during the depression, but the war increased the
number of city dwellers, leaping from 46 to 53%. War industries sparked the
urban growth. Detroit's population exploded as the automotive industry switched
to war vehicles. Washington, D. C. received thousands of new bureaucrats. But the
most dramatic growth occurred in California. Over two million Americans went to
California to work in defensive industries.

The war marked an important watershed in the changing status of women.
The most visible change involved the sudden appearance of large numbers of
women in uniform. By 1945 more than 250,000 women had joined the Women's
Army Corps (WAC), the Army Nurses Corps, and the Women Accepted for
Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), the Navy Nurses Corps, The Marines and
the Coast Guard. Most women who joined the armed services worked as nurses or
replaced men in non‐combat jobs. Women also substituted for men on the home
front. For the first time in history, married working women were in the labour
force. Over 6 million women entered the workforce during the war, an increase of
more than 50% and in manufacturing alone; there was an increase of some 110%.
By 1944 over one third of all American women were in the labour force. The war
changed the conventional image of female behaviour and it became very popular
for the women who abandoned traditional female occupations to work in defence
industries.

Outside employment did not free wives from domestic duties. Women who
put in full days in offices and factories went home to cook, clean and care for the
children. They paid a price for their economic independence. They had not one job,
but two. There was the problem of childcare because only a few industries offered
day‐care facilities and they had to make their own arrangements. At the same time,
social critics blamed working mothers for the rise in juvenile delinquency during
the war, while other critics condemned women for their immodesty, sexual
promiscuity and dress standards.

Between 1941 and 1945, the marriage rate increased: 105 marriages per
every 1,000 women between the ages of 17 and 29. The rate during the normal
years of 1925 to 1929 had been 89.1. The birth rate increased too, from 19 per
1000 people during the depression to 22.7 in 1943 and 25 in 1946. This was a
"baby boom" because women married at younger ages and had their families
earlier in life. Simultaneously, the divorce rate increased. In 1946, the American
courts granted record 600,000 divorces.

During World War II, Blacks waged battles in two fronts. They helped the
country win the war overseas and pressed for equal rights at home. The armed
conflict helped reshape the nation's race relations. In 1941, the majority of the
black population, 10 out of 13 million, lived in the South, primarily in rural areas.
During the war, more than one million migrated to the North and West, and more
than two million found work in defence industries. Yet African Americans
continued to be the last hired and the first fired, and other forms of discrimination
remained, especially in housing and employment.

Most blacks in the federal bureaucracy worked as janitors, and the armed
services treated their coloured soldiers as second‐class citizens. The marines
excluded blacks; the navy used them as servants, and the army created separated
black regiments commanded mostly by white officers. The Red Cross even
segregated blood plasma. So, racial tension deepened during the war. Conditions in
the civilian sector were no better. In 1943, a riot broke out in Detroit in a federal
sponsored housing project, and similar conflicts erupted across the nation.

Many African American responded to the rising tensions by joining civil
rights organizations; during World War II, the NAACP intensified its legal
campaigns against discrimination. Its membership grew from 50,000 to 500,000 as
large numbers of blacks and middle class whites demanded racial equality. Some
blacks considered the NAACP too slow and too conciliatory. Rejecting legal action,
the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), founded in 1942, organised a series of "sit‐
ins." Civil disobedience produced a few victories in the North, but the South's
response was brutal and federal officials did little to advance civil rights. President
Roosevelt sympathised with Blacks, but he feared losing the Solid South's support
if he moved too rapidly on the race issue. Eleanor Roosevelt, the First Lady,
remained the conscience of the administration, voicing her sympathy for civil
rights at every juncture.

World War II affected Mexican Americans no less than African Americans
and women. Almost 400,000 Mexican Americans served in the armed forces during
the war. For Mexicans in the civil sector, jobs in industry provided an escape hatch
from the desperate poverty of migratory farm labour. The need for farm workers
rose dramatically after Pearl Harbor. To meet the demand, the United States
established the bracero program in 1942. By 1945, several hundred thousand
workers had immigrated to the Southwest. Commercial farmers welcomed them,
but labour unions refused the competition, leading to discrimination against
Mexicans and Mexican Americans alike.

Despite outbursts of violence and discrimination, World War II benefited
the poor of all races. Thanks to full employment and progressive taxation, people
at the bottom had income redistributed in their favour. Still, the gains made by
poor people came from the state of the economy, the need for soldiers and
workers, not from federal policies or the efforts of organised labour.

CHRONOLOGY

Chronological Table

1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president
Stimson Doctrine declared that the United States would not recognise
Japanese
Territorial gained in China
1933 Emergence Banking Relief Act was passed in one day (March)
Franklin D. Roosevelt extended diplomatic recognition to the USSR
Twenty‐First Amendment repealed Prohibition (December)
President Roosevelt announced Good Neighbour Policy and nullified the Platt
Amendment
1934 Securities and Exchanged Commission was authorised (June)
Dr Francis Townsend proposed a $200 monthly pension for every citizen over
60
Father Charles Coughlin broke with Roosevelt and forms the National Union
for
Social Justice
Senator Huey Long of Louisiana announced his "Share Our Wealth" program
to
Provide every American family with a guaranteed annual income
Indian Reorganisation Act provided funds for tribes to purchase land, offered
Recognition of tribal constitutions and repealed prohibitions on Native

American
Customs
1935 Workers Program Administration hired unemployment, WPA, (April)
Schechter Poultry Co. vs. United States declared National Industrial Recovery
Act
Unconstitutional
Wagner Act granted worker's collective bargaining (July)
Congress passed Social Security Act creating a federal system of old‐age
pensions
and state‐run unemployment compensation programs (August)
1936 Franklin D. Roosevelt won second term as president
1937 Auto worker's sit‐down strike forced General Motors contract (February)
President Roosevelt proposed his "Court‐packing" scheme and loses the battle
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Permanent Neutrality Act and urged quarantine
of
Aggressor nations
"Roosevelt recession" began (August)
1938 Congress set minimum wage at 409 cents an hour (June)
Fair Labor Standards Act banned child labour and established minimum
wages
and Maximum hours
House Un‐American Activities Committee (HUAC) is created to investigate
Fascist or Communist Subversion
1939 Germanys invaded Poland. World War II begins
Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed the sale of arms to belligerents
1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to third term
President Roosevelt imposed an embargo on the export of scrap steel and iron
to
Japan and announced that the U. S. will be the "arsenal of democracy"
1941 Japanese forces attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii destroying
150
planes, sinking or disabling 19 ships and killing 2403 Americans (December
6)
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms Speech
President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war against Japan.
Germany declared war on the United States on December 11
Henry Luce's The American Century
1942 Office of War Information established
English and American troops invaded North Africa
Twenty‐six‐nation "Grand Alliance" formed
112,000 Japanese Americans interned in desert camps
United States defeated Japanese at Midway
1943 Manhattan Project began at Los Alamos, New Mexico (March)
Allied troops landed in Italy
Detroit race riot
Congress lifted Chinese Exclusion Act
1944 The G. I. Bill of Rights
Allied troops landed at Normandy on June 6 (D day)
Western powers established international Monetary Fund and World Bank at
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
1945 At Yalta, Roosevelt, Roosevelt and Stalin discussed Soviet entry into the war
against Japan, the post‐war division of Europe and plans for the United
Nations
(February)
United Nations was founded (April)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt died
Harry S. Truman became thirty‐third president
Germany surrendered on May 7
Potsdam Conference planned post‐war settlement in Europe and final attack
on
Japan
United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August
6/9)
Japan surrendered on September


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www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3906


1. What were the social effects of the Great Depression?
2. In what ways did Franklin D. Roosevelt respond to the Depression?
3. What were the main features of the First New Deal?
4. Why did the New Deal arouse criticism from both the right and the left?
5. How did the New Deal expand the federal government’s authority and
Responsibilities?
6. What were the major cultural changes in the 1930s?
7. What did Franklin D. Roosevelt mean by the Four Freedoms?
8. How did the United States mobilise resources and opinion for the war effort?
9. How was the situation of "poor Americans" during the WW II?
10. What ideas of America's post‐war role began to appear during the war?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Describe the impact of isolation and peace movements on national politics.
2. Write about the new women’s role in the 1930s.
3. Summarize the major issues of the New Deal Legislation.
4. Present the situation of American society in the 1930s.
5. Compare the situation of the United States at the beginning of the 1930s and the
mobilization in the 1940s.

UNIT 8

THE COLD WAR YEARS

1. THE POST WAR PERIOD

2. HARRY TRUMAN AND HIS FAIR DEAL

2.1. The Truman Doctrine and The Marshall Plan

3. THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY

4. CIVIL RIGHTS DURING THE 1940s

4.1. The Brown Case

5. AMERICAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE 1950s

5.2. Women at Work

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

1. THE POST WAR PERIOD

The United States was the world's greatest power. It alone possessed the
atomic bomb. President Roosevelt was determined to avoid a situation of
isolationism like the one that followed World War I. He thought that the United
States could lead the rest of the world to an international cooperation, expanding
democracy, and increasing living standards. To promote these goals, new
institutions like the United Nations and the World Bank had been created.
American prosperity required global economic reconstruction and its security
depended on the security of Europe and Asia.

The only country that could rival the United States was the Soviet Union,
whose armies occupied the eastern part of Germany and other countries of the
European area. The Soviet government tried to establish a sphere of influence in
Eastern Europe. Roosevelt thought that the United States could establish friendly
relation with the Soviet Union once World War II ended but the conflict between
these two countries began gradually. For two years these nations tried to adjust
their differences through discussion and negotiation, the division of Europe, the
atomic bomb and the post‐war economic aid.

The control of post‐war Europe was the most important disagreement
between the two powers. American and British forces had liberated Western
Europe. In The Soviet army tried to impose communist governments loyal to
Moscow in all the eastern countries. The United States insisted on national self‐
determination and Stalin set up a series of satellite governments. Germany was the
most controversial point. By 1947, Britain, France and the United States were
laying plans to transfer their authority to an independent West Germany, but
Russia intensified the communication of its zone, which included the jointly
occupied city of Berlin. The Soviet Union consolidated its control on Eastern
Europe in 1946 and 1947. The climax came in March 1948, when a coup in
Czechoslovakia overthrew a democratic government and gave the Soviet's a
position in central Europe. One of the results of World War II was the division of
Europe.

The Soviet government had to rebuild its economy through reparations,
which it extracted from its zone of Germany, Eastern Europe and Manchuria. The
Russian economy was recovering from the war, but the American refusal to extend
aid, convinced Stalin of Western countries hostility and the growing antagonism
deepened. At the same time, a post‐war nuclear arms race emerged. The
development of the atomic bomb was a very closely guarded secret. Americans
started the Manhattan Project and the Russians began their own atomic program
in 1943.

The Soviets exploited the territory they had conquered in Europe while the
United States retained its economic and strategic advantages over the Soviet
Union. No agreement was possible between the two countries. America stressed
the need for inspection and control of the nuclear weapons and Russia advocated
immediate disarmament. Each country concentrated on taking maximum
advantage of its wartime gains.

In January 1949, President Harry S. Truman called for a defence pact. Ten
European countries joined the United States and Canada in signing the North
Atlantic Treaty, which established the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
This new American policy caused extensive debate but the Senate ratified it in July
1949. There were two main features of NATO. First, the United States committed
itself to the defence of Europe in case of an attack, extending its atomic shield over
Europe. The second feature was designed to reassure worried Europeans that the
United States would honour this commitment. In 1950, General Eisenhower was
appointed to the post of NATO supreme commander, stationing four American
divisions in Europe to serve as the nucleus of the NATO army.

NATO escalated the developing Cold War. It represented a reaction to the
Soviet danger although there was no evidence of any Soviet plan to invade Western
Europe. The Western military alliance intensified Russian fears of the West and
increased the level of international tension. The USSR and its sphere nations
responded to NATO with the Warsaw Pact.

The rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union grew in the late
1940’s and the early 1950’s. Both countries began to rebuild their military forces
with advanced weapons and their diplomatic competition spread from Europe to
Asia to enhance its influence in the Orient. By the time President Truman left office
in early 1953, the Cold War had acquired global proportions.

2. HARRY TRUMAN AND HIS FAIR DEAL

In the presidential election of 1948 the polls and the experts predicted a
sure win for Thomas Dewey, the Republican candidate, because the Democratic
president Harry S. Truman's previous policies had angered liberals, labour,
Southerners and most of Congress. Republicans nominated Thomas E. Dewey of
New York. Southerners, angered by Truman's support of civil rights, formed the
States’ Rights Democratic Party. It was known as the Dixiecrats and nominated
Governor J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president. Liberals and
Communists formed the Progressive Party, which nominated Henry A. Wallace,
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s former vice president, for president.

Harry S. Truman won the presidential election as a testimony of the legacy
of Roosevelt as well as Truman's resistance. Neither the Dixiecrats nor the
Progressives hurt Truman in any substantial way, since most Democrats chose to
remain in the centre of the party with Truman rather than to drift toward the
radical fringes. One of his campaign slogans was “Keep America Human with
Truman.” Truman got 24.2 million votes (49.5%) to Dewey’s 22 million (45.1%)
and winning by a margin of 303 to 189 in the Electoral College. Thurmond and
Wallace each got more than 1 million votes, but the revolt of right and left had
worked to Truman’s advantage. Truman’s victory carried Democratic majorities
into Congress.

Truman viewed his upset victory as a vindication for the New Deal and a
mandate for moderate liberalism. His 1949 State of the Union message repeated
the agenda he had set forth the year before. “Every segment of our population and
every individual has the right to expect from his government a Fair Deal.” He had
invented a tag, the “Fair Deal” to distinguish his program from the New Deal.

The “Fair Deal” was a legislative package and included an expansion of
Social Security, federal aid education, a federal budget for public housing projects,
a higher minimum wage, a national plan for medical insurance, civil right
legislation and other measures to foster social and economic justice. Congress
extended Social Security, raised the minimum wage to 75 cents an hour, and
further developed several New Deal programs. But the most original proposals of
the Fair Deal legislation, such as civil rights legislation, a national health insurance
program, a farm program and a federal aid to education, were rejected by a
Congress that opposed anything defined as “creeping socialism.”

Simultaneously, President Truman contributed to the ultimate failure of the
Fair Deal to achieve its objectives. Republicans and Southerners joined forces in
opposition to civil rights and government spending programs, but Truman
demonstrated an inability to work with Congress on domestic issues. In addition,
by 1949, foreign policy dominated the president’s attention and claimed an
increasing share of the federal budget. On March 12, 1947, President Truman
delivered his Truman Doctrine speech before Congress. He declared that the
United States would provide military and economic aid to allies faced by external
aggression or internal subversion.

The Truman years were a bad period for female workers. During the war
they had filled a wide range of industrial jobs, but returning soldiers quickly
displaced them. Some accepted the change and returned to their pre‐war
occupations. Others lost their relatively high‐paying wages. What was even worse,
some employers hired and trained younger males rather than keep the
experienced women. Many unemployed women labourers lamented the anti‐
female prejudices among employers.

2.1. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

On March 12, 1947, Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic
and military aid to Greece and Turkey. In his speech to Congress, Truman
announced what became known as the “Truman Doctrine”. It marked the
beginning of a contest that people began to call a “cold war.” There was an
ideological struggle between East and West for world power and influence.
Although the war had ended in the spring of 1945, Europe's problems continued. It
needed money to rebuild its war‐torn economies and scarred cities. To make
matters worse, the winters of 1946 and 1947 were very cold. These difficulties
were a boon to the Communist party, which made great gains. The American
administration assumed that economic distress continued to breed political
extremism. President Truman was upset by the growth of anti‐Americanism in
Europe. The image of America had changed from that of loyal ally to selfish
exploiter.

In January 1947, General George G. Marshall became Secretary of State. He
had the capacity to think in broad, strategic terms. The Democratic
administration's experts drew up a plan for the massive infusion of American
capital to finance the economic recovery of Europe. At the Harvard University
commencement speech on June 5, 1947, Secretary of State, George C. Marshall
announced a plan to give Europe financial aid. After describing the problems facing
Europe, he suggested that America could not afford to send a Band‐Aid to cover the
deep European wounds. “A cure rather than a mere palliative” was in order
because Europe needed massive economic blood transfusions. He said that the cost
might seem high. And from a more selfish point of view, America needed a strong
and democratic Europe to provide rich markets for American goods and to act as a
check against Soviet westward expansion. Marshall also proposed American aid to
foster the "political and social conditions in which the institutions can exist."

World War II had been very costly for European countries. Food was scare,
industrial machinery was broken and obsolete, and workers were demoralised by
years of depression and war. This situation led to growing communist voting
strength, especially in France and Italy. Unless the United States could do
something to reverse this process, Europe might drift into the communist orbit. It
was time to extend American economic power in Europe to stop the Soviet Union's
expansionism and create a basis for political stability and economic well‐being.

There was a meeting in Paris in July 1947 where the European nations
made a formal request for $17 billion in assistance over the next four years. The
American Congress responded cautiously to this proposal. The administration
pointed out that the Marshall Plan would help the United States by stimulating
trade with Europe. In early 1948, Congress approved a plan, by majority; to be
spent over the next four years for the European Recovery Program (ERP), more
popularly called the Marshall Plan. The United States quickly put forward loans
that generated a broad industrial revival in Western Europe that became self‐
sustaining by the 1950s. The threat of communism faded, and Europe's return to
prosperity proved to be a bonanza for American industrialists, farmers and
workers.

The Marshall Plan rebuilt the economic infrastructure of Western Europe
and restored economic prosperity to the area. In the process it created stable
markets for American goods. Americans were proud of the Marshall Plan, and
Europeans were moved by it. Winston Churchill judged it “the most unsordid act in
history.” It restored America's prestige abroad.

Simultaneously, The Marshall Plan also fostered the economic integration of
Western Europe. It was only by functioning as a single economic unit that Western
Europe could enjoy real prosperity. Although the process toward economic
integration was slow and occasionally painful, it did move forward. The European
Payments Union was created in 1950, The European Coal and Steel Authority in
1951, and the European Economic Community (Common Market) in 1958. In
conclusion, the Marshall Plan served both America's Cold war strategy and plans
for an economic internationalism. (See document nº 15 of the Appendix, American
Documents: George C. Marshall. The Marshall Plan. 1947).


Early in 1950 a little‐known Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R.
McCarthy, surfaced as the most ruthless exploiter of the nation’s anxieties. He took
up the cause of anti‐communism with a vengeance. McCarthy had won election to
the Senate in 1946. In a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950, he
had waved a sheet of paper, declaring, “I have here in my hand a list of 205
[employees] known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist
Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State
Department.” He had said that there were 205, 81, 57, or “a lot” of names on the
list. Confusion would typically surround McCarthy’s charges. Then, McCarthy was
little known and emerged as the national pursuer of subversives and gave a new
name to the anti‐communism crusade. The liberal editorial cartoonist Herbert
Block published a cartoon depicting a Republican elephant being dragged and
pushed toward a pile of tar buckets topped by a large one labelled "McCarthyism",
a term that quickly entered the American language, a short‐hand for character
assassination, guilt by association, and abuse of power in the name of anti‐
communism.

Senator McCarthy capitalised on the anti‐communism issue but he refused
to release this list amid the growing fear of internal subversion. He exploited the
press with great skill, combining current accusations with promises of future
disclosures to guarantee headlines. McCarthy never identified a single person
guilty of disloyalty but held hearings and made charges against individuals as well
as the Voice of America, the Defence Department and other government agencies.
A favourite target was aristocratic Secretary of State Dean Acheson, but General
Marshall and even fellow Republicans were also named in his accusations.

Joseph R. McCarthy faced a re‐election campaign in 1952. He went on a
spree of raising reckless charges against alleged Communists in government.
McCarthy got a major following in the United States, especially among conservative
Republicans, mid‐westerners, ethnic minorities of Eastern European background
and anticommunist Catholics. A number of “McCarthyites” were also united by
their ongoing anger at the New Deal. At the same time, the conflict in Korea
intensified the “McCarthyite” atmosphere. The Christian evangelist Billy Graham
warned huge crowds against "over 1,100 social‐sounding organizations that are
communist or communist‐operated in this country," and "they control the minds of
a great segment of our people." Some activists forced libraries and schools to
remove social reformist book such as John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath from
their shelves. Blacklisting spread in the television and film industries. The crusade
continued to eliminate Communists, identifying people who might have been
involved years earlier in left‐wing organizations.

In the federal government, Truman imposed loyalty and security

requirements for employees. Some workers were forced out of their jobs. The State
Department denied passports to left‐leaning Americans, included celebrated
singers, artists and scientists. In 1950, Congress passed an Internal Security Act
that compelled Communist organizations and their members to register with a
new Subversive Activities Control Board and the members were ineligible for jobs
in government or defence. Truman vetoed the bill because it was the "greatest
danger to freedom of press, speech, and assembly since the Sedition Act of 1798,"
but Congress overrode the veto by a sweeping majority.

Many Republicans supported his rampage as a weapon against President
Truman’s administration but after the election of Republican Dwight D.
Eisenhower as president in 1952, McCarthy became an embarrassment to the
Republican Party. McCarthy's downfall came in December 1954, when a Senate
committee investigated his charges that the army had harboured communists.
After the nationally televised Army‐McCarthy hearings ended, the Senate censured
McCarthy for his behaviour. The vote was 67 to 22. He died three years later, but
the word "McCarthyism" had entered the political vocabulary.

McCarthy's success was based on the simple solution he offered to the
complicated Cold War. He proposed to defeat the enemy at home rather than
continue to engage in costly foreign aid programs and entangling alliances abroad.
Yet his influence was deep. Not only did he paralyse national life with shameful
activities, but he also helped impose a political and cultural conformity that froze
dissent for the rest of the 1950s. Freedom of expression was inhibited, and the
opportunity to try out new ideas and approaches was lost as the United States
settled into a sterile Cold War consensus.

3. THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY

The Democrats had occupied the White House for the previous twenty
years. In 1952, Republicans capitalised on a growing sense of national frustration
to capture the presidency. Republicans felt it was time for a change and at the polls
Americans were ready to vote for change. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the perfect
Republican candidate to unite the divided nation. He emerged from World War II
as the military leader with the greatest political appeal. As a running mate,
Eisenhower chose Richard Nixon of California, a World War II veteran who was a
convinced anticommunist. In his 1952 campaign, Eisenhower's popularity was
enormous, the Republican campaign slogan was “I Like Ike” and the strategy was
summarised in a formula “K1 C2.” Eisenhower promised that if he was elected, he
would first end the war in Korea then fight communism and corruption at home.
The Republican campaign became the first to make extensive use of TV ads. Parties
were selling the president like a product. In the November election, Eisenhower
defeated Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, a political moderate and a vocal anti‐
Communist.

President Eisenhower concentrated his efforts on the Cold War abroad and
on playing an active role in dealing with Congress. Relations with Congress were
weakened further by Republican losses in the legislative elections of 1954.
Democrats regained control of both Houses and maintained it through the 1950’s.
Eisenhower had to rely on two Texas Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon
B. Johnson and House speaker Sam Rayburn, for legislative action. The result was a
modest legislative record. Eisenhower extended Social security benefits and raised
the minimum wage. In 1953, he consolidated the administration of welfare
programs by creating the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, but he
opposed Democratic plans for compulsory health insurance and comprehensive
federal aid to education. The lack of presidential support and the split of the
conservative coalition in Congress blocked any further reform in the 1950’s.
Moderation was the keynote of the Eisenhower presidency.

In his inaugural address, President Eisenhower repeated the familiar Cold
War formula: “Freedom is pitted against slavery; lightness against dark.” But the
end of the Korean War and the death of Stalin, both of them in 1953, convinced
him that the Soviets were reasonable and could be dealt with in conventional
diplomatic terms. In 1955, Ike met with Nikita Khrushchev, the new soviet leader,
in Geneva at the first “summit” conference since Potsdam a decade earlier. In 1958,
the two countries agreed to a voluntary halt to the testing of nuclear weapons. The
pause lasted until 1961. In 1959, Khrushchev toured the United States and had a
friendly meeting with Eisenhower at Camp David. But the spirit of cooperation
ended abruptly in 1960, when the Soviets shot down an American U‐2 spy plane
over their territory. Eisenhower denied that the plane had been involved in
espionage and refused to apologise even after the Russians produced the captured
pilot. Because of the incident, another planned summit meeting was cancelled.

The policy of containment easily slid over onto opposition to any
government, whether communism or not, that seemed to threaten American
strategic or economic interests. In 1957, Eisenhower extended the principle of
containment to the Middle East, issuing the Eisenhower Doctrine, which pledged
the United States to defend Middle Eastern governments threatened by
communism or Arab nationalism. A year later, Ike dispatched 5,000 soldiers to
Lebanon to protect a government dominated by pro‐Western Christians against
Gamal A. Nasser's effort to bring all Arab states into a single regime under his own
rule.

In domestic policy, Eisenhower brought a military style to the White House.
He was in charge, and he kept the major decisions of his administration in his own
hands. But he left the detail work and the political battle to his subordinates. The
most important person after Eisenhower in his command structure was Sherman
Adams. He pioneered the modern White House administration. Ike termed his
approach “modern Republicanism” and “dynamic conservatism,” by which he
meant “Conservative when it comes to money matters and liberal when it comes to
human beings.” In practice, this approach led the Eisenhower administration to cut
spending while not rolling back New Deal social legislation.

During Eisenhower's presidential years, the country made steady and at
times spectacular economic progress. In 1955 the minimum wage was raised from
75 cents to $1 per hour, and during the 50s, the average family income rose 15%
and real wages went up 20%. And work was plentiful. During this decade, the
average unemployment rate only 4.5% per year, a figure close to the 4% that
economists considered “full employment.” The country was on the whole better
housed and fed than ever before. The population increased by 28 million
inhabitants. The output of goods and services rose 15%. Especially for white
Americans, "Modern republicanism" seemed a viable alternative to “New Dealism.”

4. CIVIL RIGHTS DURING THE 1940s

During the Cold War years in the United States, there was a great
contradiction between the denunciation of the Soviet Union for its human rights
violations and the second‐class status of the African Americans. This began to
arouse the national conscience. America was fighting for freedom against
communist tyranny abroad and they had to face the reality of the continued denial
of freedom to a submerged minority at home.

The social tremors triggered by World War II and the onset of the Cold war
transformed America’s racial landscape. Blacks had benefited economically from
WWII, but they were still a seriously disadvantaged group. Those who moved to
northern and western cities were concentrated in segregated neighbourhoods,
working at low‐paying jobs, suffering economic and social discrimination without
sharing the post‐war prosperity. In the South, conditions were much worse. State
laws forced blacks to live totally apart from white society. Blacks attended
separate schools and were excluded from most public facilities. They were forced
to use separate waiting rooms in train stations, separate seats on all forms of
transportation, and separate rest rooms and drinking fountains. Segregation
appeared at all places of public entertainment and in hospitals, nursing homes,
hotels, restaurants, prisons and even mental institutions.

Harry S. Truman was the first American President who tried to change the
pattern of racial discrimination in the United States. At the same time, southern
resistance blocked any action by Congress, and the inclusion of a strong civil rights
plank in the 1948 Democratic platform led to the walkout of some southern
delegations and a separate States Rights Democratic party, better known as the
Dixiecrats, in the several states of the South that fall. They nominated Governor J.
Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president. Black voters in the North
responded by backing Truman over Dewey in the 1948 election. In key states such
as California, Ohio and Illinois, the black voters ensured the Democratic victory.
Truman responded by including civil rights legislation in his Fair Deal program in
1949. Once again, southern opposition blocked congressional action on a
permanent fair employment commission and an anti‐lynching measure.

Truman’s Administration had been unable to secure any significant
legislative measure to improve the blacks' situation, although he had succeeded in
adding civil rights to the Democratic agenda and was able to use his executive
power to assist blacks seeking redress for grievances in school and housing issues.
He strengthened the civil rights division of the Justice Department, which aided
black groups in these issues. In 1948, Truman issued an important order calling for
the desegregation of the armed forces. By the end of the 1950s, the military had
become far more integrated than American society at large.

The United States in the 1950’s was still a segregated society. Half of the
nation lived in poverty, most of them blacks. In those years, seventeen southern
states and Washington, D. C., had laws requiring the racial segregation of public
schools, and several others permitted local districts to impose them. 28 million
schoolchildren studied in legally segregated schools, and millions more attended
classes in northern communities where school district lines created de facto
segregation, separation in fact if not in law.

4.1. The Brown Case

The nation's schools soon became the primary target of civil rights
advocates. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
NAACP, concentrated first on the Universities, successfully waging a legal battle to
win admission for qualified blacks to graduate at professional schools. Led by the
forward thinking lawyer Thurmond Marshall, chief counsel for the NAACP, they
took on the broader issue of segregation among the country's public schools,
challenging the 1896 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld the
constitutionality of “separate but equal” public facilities. Marshall declared that
even substantially equal but separate schools did profound psychological damage
to black children and thus violated the Fourteenth Amendment. Marshall had
travelled the South organising blacks to fight for their rights, often finding himself
in danger of arrest for his efforts
The NAACP challenged the city's segregated public schools on behalf of
several black families, including that of Oliver Brown in 1951. Brown was a
veteran, assistant pastor at his church and he went to court because his daughter,
who was in third grade, was forced to walk across dangerous railroad tracks each
morning rather than being allowed to attend a nearby school restricted to whites.
By 1952, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas had reached the Supreme
Court. Marshall used the research of the black social psychologist Kenneth B. Clark,
which said that segregation saddled blacks with “a permanent sense of inferiority”,
to declare that racially separate facilities were by their nature unequal.

The Supreme Court was now under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl
Warren. He was a moderate Republican and former governor of California whom
Eisenhower had appointed to the bench. On May 1954, Warren deliberated the
unanimous Supreme Court decision in the case Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas: "We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of
"separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently
unequal." Recognising that it would be very difficult to change historical patterns
of segregation quickly, the Court ruled on May 31, 1955, giving practical force to its
ruling, instructing the states to create public school systems free of racial
discrimination "with all deliberate speed."


An incident in Montgomery, Alabama, shifted from legal struggles in the
courts to black protest in the streets. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a forty‐
five‐year old seamstress who had been active in the local NAACP organisation in
Montgomery, violated a city ordinance by refusing to give up her seat to a white
person on a local bus. Parks was mild‐mannered, a faithful member of her church,
and the previous summer she had attended a workshop on race relations where, as
she later declared, she gained the "strength to persevere in my work for freedom."
Resentful of the bus company's policies, Parks stayed put in her seat. Rosa Parks
was arrested, convicted, and, having refused to pay a $10 fine, was given a
suspended prison sentence. Some of Montgomery's black leadership, long angry at
the bus system, already had plans for a citywide bus boycott. Now that Parks had
been arrested, they put this into effect. The black churches, the heart of spiritual
and social life in the black community, supported the boycott and they found a
young, eloquent leader in the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

King was a twenty‐six‐year‐old Baptist minister who had come to
Montgomery the year before. Raised in Atlanta, King learned from his father,
himself a prominent minister who had led black voter‐registration drives, that
racism was to be resisted. At Morehouse College and then at Boston University,
King broke away from his father's fundamentalism, embracing a modernist
Protestantism committed to combating social inequality and injustice. He found a
means to that end in the doctrine of non‐violent resistance to oppression, taking
inspiration from the civil disobedience of Henry Thomas Thoreau in the 1840s
against the Mexican War and Mohandas Gandhi in the 1940s, against British
colonial rule in India.

Martin Luther King Jr. brought to the Montgomery bus boycotts a socially
transforming courage and vision. He recognised that non‐violent tactics against
injustice could arouse public opinion and stimulate sympathy for the black cause.
He told a crowd of 5,000 blacks in a church one night, “We are here this evening to
say to those who mistreated us so long that we are tired, tired of being segregated
and humiliated, tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression... If you
will protest courageously and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history
books are written in future generations, historians will have to pause and say,
‘There lived a great people, a black people, who injected a new meaning and
dignity into the veins of civilisation.’”

The most dynamic force of change came from blacks themselves. For more
than ten months, black Montgomerians organised car pools, rode black‐owned
taxis whose drivers had agreed to carry passengers at lower fares, or simply
walked. At the same time, King was arrested, tried, and convicted of leading an
illegal boycott. Still, Montgomery's blacks continued the boycott peacefully;
persuaded by King that reacting with violence would undermine the righteousness
of their cause. In the meantime, the leaders of the boycott filed suit challenging the
constitutionality of bus segregation. In mid‐November 1956, the Supreme Court
held that the city ordinances governing bus seating violated the Fourteenth
Amendment. The boycott had hurt Montgomery's businesses and their leaders
were eager to see the dispute settled. Before Christmas 1956, thirteen months
after the boycott began; Martin Luther King, Jr. sat with a white man at the front of
a bus.

In the Deep South, segregationists denounced the ruling, pledging to
prevent the mixing of Negroes and whites with each other "socially in our school
systems." Waves of anti‐black violence broke over the South. But black Americans
were not of a mind to retreat. The Montgomery action demonstrated that they
could press the issue of freedom by direct, non‐violent action. It also produced a
new leader of protest in Martin Luther King, Jr. In January 1957, black ministers
from eleven states gathered in Atlanta and founded the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC), with Martin Luther King Jr as its president.

In the mid 1950’s the voices for civil rights were beginning to challenge the
complacency that had descended over the nation, raising questions about the
merits of a Golden Age that excluded so many from its benefits. Amid the Cold War,
a growing movement for black civil rights aroused the conscience of white
Americans. But civil rights for African Americans did not seem to arouse President
Eisenhower's conscience. Eisenhower, who privately disapproved of the Brown
ruling, told reporters that while he accepted it, he would not endorse it, explaining,
“I don't believe you can change the hearts of men with laws or decisions.” He
dutifully desegregated federal installations and sought to integrate public school
and accommodations in Washington, D. C., a federal jurisdiction, but he refrained
from using federal power to aid school integration in the southern states.

In 1957, Eisenhower proposed and Congress passed a bill creating a
permanent Commission for Civil Rights, one of Truman's original goals. It also
provided for federal efforts aimed at "securing and protecting the right to vote." A
second civil rights act in 1960 slightly strengthened the voting rights section. Like
the desegregation effort, the attempt to ensure black voting rights in the South was
still largely symbolic. Southern registrars used a variety of devices, ranging from
intimidation to unfair tests, to deny blacks suffrage. Yet the actions of Congress and
the Supreme Court marked a vital turning point in national policy toward racial
justice.

5. AMERICAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE 1950s

There was a Golden Age in American society. Between 1950 and 1960, the
gross national product adjusted for inflation shot up some 37%, while the average
family income rose 30%. According to their incomes, three out of five Americans
came to enjoy middle‐class standing, twice the fraction in the twenties. At the end
of the decade, 33 million Americans owned homes, compared with about 23
million in 1950, and at least one television set was to be found in about 90% of
American households, more than had running water or indoor plumbing. President
Eisenhower’s major goal from the outset was to restore calm and tranquillity to a
badly divided nation. Unlike Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, he had no
commitment to social change or economic reform, yet he had no plans to dismantle
the social programs of the New Deal. He tried to balance the budget, to keep
military spending in check, to encourage as much private initiative as possible, and
to reduce federal activities to the bare minimum. Wealthy businessmen dominated
Eisenhower's cabinet. Defence Secretary Charles Wilson, the former president of
General Motors, made this statement. “What is good for the country is good for
General Motors and vice versa.”

Eisenhower defined his domestic policy as “Modern Republicanism.” He
declared that he was “conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it
comes to human rights.” He identified his party's agenda with president Herbert
Hoover, the Great Depression, and the indifference to the economic conditions of
ordinary citizens. He expanded some of the New Deal programs. In 1955, millions
of agricultural workers became eligible for Social Security for the first time.
Eisenhower introduced the idea of “mixed economy” in which the government
played a major role in planning economic activity and this was widely accepted
throughout the Western countries. Most of them nationalised their key industries
like transportation, steel and shipbuilding.

Following the war, the nation’s economy bloomed, and everyone wanted a
new car. Americans more than doubled the number of automobiles and trucks on
the national’s streets. In urban areas such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles,
Miami, and Houston, traffic jams, delays, and accidents increased. Eisenhower
supported the idea of the Interstate Highway System (IHS). In 1956, members of
the Senate‐House conference committee officially changed the name of the HIS to
the National System of Interstate and Defence Highways. Finally, in the same year,
Congress and the president formally conferred authority on engineers in the U.S.
Bureau of Public Roads and their counterparts in the state highway departments to
start the new system by building 41,000 miles, including approximately 5,000
urban miles.

The Interstate Highway System pleased a variety of road users: the trucking
industry, automobile clubs, organised labour (eager for construction jobs),
farmers, and state highway officials. This interstate system of communication,
which was built over the following twenty years, had a deep influence on American
life. It stimulated the economy and shortened travel times, while intensifying the
nation's dependence on the automobile and favouring metropolitan growth
paralleling the new highways.

The 1950’s saw a decrease in the labour conflict of the two previous
decades. The passage of the Taft‐Hartley Act in 1947 had reduced labour militancy.
In 1955, the American Federation of Labour (AFL) and CIO merged to form a single
organisation representing 35% of all workers except agricultural ones. In key
industries, labour and management hammered out what has been called a new
“social contract.” Unions signed long‐term agreements that left decisions in
management's hands, and they agreed to try to avoid unauthorised "wildcat"
strikes. Unionised workers shared fully in 1950s prosperity but the social contract
did not apply to the majority of workers, who did not belong to unions. Some
companies moved their factories to less unionised suburbs to the South. By the end
of 1950s, the "social contract" was weakening.

The Americans enjoyed the abundance of the 1950’s and that legislative
inaction. Eisenhower was sensitive to the nation's economic recessions developed
in 1953 and 1957. Then, he quick abandoned his goal of a balanced budget and
introduced a policy advocating government spending to restore prosperity. He
maintained the New Deal legacy of federal responsibility for social welfare and the
state of the economy while resisting demands for more extensive government in
American life. Over all, the Eisenhower years marked an era of political
moderation.

During Eisenhower's two terms the country made steady and at times
spectacular economic progress. In 1955 the minimum wage was raised from 75
cents to $1 per hour. During the 1950s the average family income rose by 15%
and real wages went up 20%. And work was plentiful. During the decade,
unemployment averaged only 4.5% per year, a figure close to the magical 4%
economists considered “full employment.” Stable prices, full employment, and
steady growth were the economic hallmarks of the 1950s. American labour had
never had it so good. At the same time, the population increased by 28 million
people, and the country was on the whole better housed and fed than ever before.
The output of goods and services rose 15%. Especially for white Americans,
“Modern Republicanism” seemed a viable alternative to “New Dealism.”


In the 1950’s Hollywood was producing movies that contributed to the fear
that something was terribly wrong with the youth of America. Films such as The
Wild One (1954), Blackboard Jungle (1955), and Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
portrayed adolescents who were anything but perfectly normal kids. Cultural
critics concluded that something was indeed wrong with American youth, who
seemed closer to uncontrollable beasts than civilised adults.

Congressional investigations and FBI reports reinforced the theme of the
moral decline of America's adolescents. They linked the rise in juvenile
delinquency to the decline in the influence of family, home, church, and local
community institutions. Youths had moved away from benign authority toward the
temptations of popular culture. Frederic Wertham, a psychiatrist who studied the
problem extensively, agreed, emphasising the pernicious influence of comic books.
He believed that crime and horror comic books fostered racism, fascism, and
sexism in their readers. Wertham's attacks generated congressional investigations
of and local attacks against the comic book industry. In response, the industry
passed several self‐regulatory codes designed to restrict the violent and sexual
content of comic books.

Sports were an antidote to the ills of American youth. “Organised sport is
one of our best weapons against juvenile delinquency,” remarked J. Edgar Hoover.
Given these widespread beliefs, the sports scandals of the early 1950’s shocked the
nation and raised fresh questions about the morality of American adolescents. In
February 1951, New York authorities disclosed that players for the City College of
New York (CCNY) basketball team had accepted money to fix games. Some other
teams were implicated in the scandal. In August 1951 the scandal moved to
football. This one involved academic cheating, not point shaving, and was confined
to one school, the United States Military Academy of West Point. 90 cadets were
dismissed, half of them football players, for violations of the school's honour code.

Who was corrupting the youth of America? The Republicans blamed the
New Deal that took place more than two decades before. The Communist Daily
Worker said it was the fault of Wall Street, bankers, and greedy politicians
(paranoia, after all, had no party affiliation). Other Americans, without being too
specific, simply felt that there was some ominous force working within America
against America.

5.2. Women at Work

During the 1950’s, many American women reacted against the poverty of
the Depression and the upheavals of World War II by placing renewed emphasis
on family life. Young women married earlier than their mothers had, they had
more children, and bore them faster. The average marriage age of American
women dropped to 20. The fertility rate rose 50% between 1940 and 1950,
producing a great population growth. Politicians, educators, psychologists, and the
mass media echoed the view that women would find higher satisfaction managing
a house and caring for children. Women's magazines pictured housewives as
happy with their tasks and depicted career women as neurotic and unhappy.

Films replaced the forceful, self‐reliant, professionally capable women of
the 1940’s with submissive types. A woman was not a woman until she had been
married and had children. Television might show women as shrewd within their
conventional roles and popular programmes projected the stereotypical suburban
housewife. At the same time, the mass media often portrayed women in an
unrealistic and stereotyped way. Popular magazines like Reader's Digest often
depicted women as stupid or foolish, jealous of other women, irresponsible about
money, and overanxious to marry.

In the 1950’s, compared with men, relatively few women entered graduate
or professional school, many of which had quotas for women or would not admit
them at all. In 1950, almost 60% of women between 18 and 24 were married; in
1940, 42%. The preference for the stay‐at‐home woman was reinforced at the top
of the government. Eisenhower placed only thirty‐eight women in high
government posts, including one to his cabinet and one as ambassador to Italy.

Yet while many women accepted the stereotypical 1950’s housewife figure,
others admitted to discontent. College‐educated women often felt straitjacketed by
the obligations of domesticity. In the 1950s, divorce rates fell and married women
from their peak of 18% of the post‐war years. But out of either dissatisfaction with
homebound life of family need, or both, many women defied prevailing standards
and went to work. Economically, women workers were concentrated in low‐paying
service and factory jobs. The great majority worked as secretaries, waitresses,
beauticians, teachers, nurses and librarians.

There were some social changes that would contribute to a rebirth of
feminism. A dramatic increase took place during the 1950’s in women's education
and employment. More and more married women entered the labour force, and by
1960, the proportion was one in three. The number of women receiving college
degrees also rose at the end of the decade. In 1957, the birth rate began to drop as
women elected to have fewer children. A growing discrepancy emerged between
the popular image of women as housewives and mothers, and the hard reality of
many women's lives.

The situation was soon to change. By the 1960s, two out of every five
women over sixteen had jobs, double the number of 1940. Still more striking, the
proportion of married women in the workforce had also doubled, reaching 30% by
1960; and almost 40% of these women had children of school age. The trend also
sensitised an increasing number of women to the discrimination and difficulties
their working sisters had long endured, including inequalities in opportunity and
pay and the tensions associated with combining job and family. That sensitivity
helped lay the foundation for the revival of the women's movement that would
come in the 1960’s.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological Table

1946 Truman Doctrine was announced to Congress
Republicans won control of both Houses of Congress in November elections
Atomic Energy Commission created
1947 Truman Doctrine proclaimed
Labour Management Relations Act (Taft‐Hartley Act) passed over Truman's
veto
George Marshall outlined Marshall Plan
William Levitt announced the first Levittown
House Un‐American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated Communist
Infiltration of the film industry
Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league basketball
1948 The Marshall Plan began
Scientists at Bell Laboratories invented the transistor
President Harry S. Truman ordered loyalty program for government

employees
President Truman banned segregation in armed forces
Harry S. Truman scored upset victory in presidential election
1949 North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington. NATO was founded
1950‐Korean War
1952
1951 HUAC conducted a second investigation of Communist subversion in
Hollywood
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for espionage
1950 McCarthy charged that 205 communists worked for the State Department
McCarran Internal Security Act
1952 Truman authorised building of the hydrogen bomb
Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected thirty‐fourth president
The McCarran‐Walter Immigration Act passed over Truman's veto
United States exploded hydrogen bomb in the Pacific on November 1
1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the thirty‐fourth U. S. President
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for spying
Korean War truce was signed at Panmunjom
1954 Army McCarthy Senate hearings. U. S. Senate censured McCarthy for "conduct
unbecoming a member"
Supreme Court orders schools desegregated in Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka
1955 AFL and CIO merged
First post‐war U. S.‐Soviet summit meeting at Geneva. Eisenhower‐

Khrushchev
Polio vaccine proved effective
Rosa Parks arrested, led to Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott on
December 1
1956 Suez Canal Crisis (October‐November)
Khrushchev crushed Hungarian rebellion (November)
Soviets launched the first earth satellite, Sputnik
Southern Christian Leadership Conference organised
Federal Interstate Highway Act began interstate highway system
1957 President Eisenhower Doctrine
Spunik I. The first earth‐orbing man‐made satellite launched by the Soviets on
October 4
Integration of Little Rock's Central High School
1958 President Eisenhower started nuclear test‐ban talked with Soviets in Geneva
National Aeronautics and Space Administration established (NASA)
National Defence Education Act passed to provide federal aid to schools and
Colleges
John Kenneth Galbraith's The Affluent Society
1959 Nixon‐Khrushchev "kitchen debates"


AGNEW, J. and ENTRIKIN, N., eds. The Marshall Plan Today: Model and Methaphore.
New York: Rutledge, 2004

AMBROSE, S. Eisenhower. 2 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

ARROYO VÁZQUEZ, M.L. and SÁNCHEZ SUÁREZ, M.E. English for Art and
Humanities. A Coruña: Netbiblo, 2010.

BELGRAD, D. The Culture of Spontaneity: Improvisation and the Arts in Postwar
America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.

BRANCH, T. Parting the waters: America in the King Years, 19541963. New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1988.

COHEN, L. A Consumer's Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in PostWar
America. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

DALLET, R. Harry S. Truman. New York: Times Books, 2008.

DIVINE, R. A. Eisenhower and the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press,
1981.

FRIED, Richard M.: Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective. New York:

GADDIS, J. L. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War. New York: Columbia

GARDNER, L. Approaching Vietnam. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988.

HARBUTT, F. J. The Cold War Era. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 2002.

HIRSCH, A. R. Making the Second Ghetto: Race and Housing in Chicago, 19401960.
Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

JACKSON, K. T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of America. New York:
Basic Books, 1985.

LEVINE, P. and Papasotiriou, H. America since 1945. The American Moment. New
York. Palgrave McMillan, 2005.

MACDOUGALL, W. The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age.
New York: Basic Books, 1985.

MACHADO, B. In Search of a Usable Past: The Marshall Plan and Postwar
Reconstruction Today. Lexington: George C. Marshall Foundation, 2007.

MAY, E. T. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. New York:
Basic Books, 1988.

McNICHOL, D. The Roads That Built America. New York: Sterling Publishing Co.,
Inc., 2005.

MORGAN, T. Reds. McCarthyism in 20th America. New York. Random House, 2003.

PATTERSON, J. T. Grand Expectations: The United States, 19451974. New York:

PELLS, R. The Liberal Mind in a Conservative Age: American Intellectuals in the
1940's and 1950's. New York: Harper & Row, 1984.

PEMBERTON, W. E. Harry S. Truman: Fair Dealer and Cold Warrior. Boston: G. K.,
Hall, 1989.

SCHRECKER, E. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: St.
Martin's Press, 1994.

SIBLEY, K. A. S. The Cold War. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998.

STOLLER, M. George C. Marshall: SoldierStatesman. New York: Twayne's

Twentieth‐Century, 1989.


The Brown Case

www.americanhistory.si.edu/brown/
www.archives.gov/education/lessons/brown‐case‐order/
www.landmarkcases.org/brown/wairen.html
www.landmarkcases.org/brown/bacfkground3.html
www.laws.findlaw.com/US/347/483.html

The Cold War

www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/
www.coldwar.org
www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold_war.htm
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm
www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar.htm

Dwight D. Eisenhower

www.americanpresident.org/history/dwighteisenhower
www.answers.com/topic/dwight‐d‐eisenhower
www.eisenhower.archives.gov/
www.ibiblio.org/.../president/EisenhowerLibrary/_.../DDE_Biography.html
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/DwightDEisenhower

McCarthyism

www.historiasiglo20.org/BIO/mccarthy.htm
www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/mccarthy/schrecker6.htm
www.progressive.org/mccarthy
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthy.htm
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/McCarthyism/McCarthyism.html

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

www.africanonline.com/montogomery.htm
www.girlpower.gov/girlarea/gpguests/RosaParks.htm
www.leader.scholastic.com/rosa
www.montgomeryboycott.com/
www.rosaparks.org/

Harry S. Truman

www.americanpresident.org/history/harrytruman
www.answers.com/topic/harr‐s‐truman
www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/educate/truman.html
www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Harry_S_Truman
www.trumanlibrary.org


1. What were the origins of the Cold War?
2. What was Truman's Fair Deal?
3. What were the roots of McCarthyism and the Red Scare?
4. What were the main effects of the Marshall Plan?
5. When and why was the American "golden age"?
6. How did minority groups manage in the 1950s?
7. What were the main social and technological developments of the 1950s?
8. How did the civil rights movement gain force in the 1950s?
9. Why did the U. S. economy expand so rapidly in the post‐war period?
10. What did President Eisenhower mean by "Modern Republicanism?

FURTHER TASKS

1. Present the economic, social and political aftermath of WWII.
2. Describe the main features of conformity and innovation in the American
culture of the 1950s.
3. Write about civil right movement in the 1950s.
4. Compare the central terms of American foreign policy in the 1940s and
1950s.
5. Explain what did characterize Eisenhower’s “dynamic conservationism.”

UNIT 9

FROM THE J. F. KENNEDY’S ARRIVAL TO THE 21st CENTURY

1. THE SIXTIES




2. JIMMY CARTER AND HUMAN RIGHTS

3. THE REAGANBUSH ERA

4. FROM W. J. CLINTON TO G. W. BUSH

5. THE NEW ERA IN AMERICAN POLITICS: BARACK H. OBAMA’S
PRESIDENCY

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

1. THE SIXTIES

The 1960s were years of extraordinary turbulence and innovation in public
affairs, as well as tragedy and trauma. Many social ills that had been simmering for
decades suddenly forced their way onto the national agenda. At the same time, the
deeply entrenched assumptions of cold war ideology led the country into the
longest, most controversial, and least successful war in its history.

The sixties were a decade of social changes and political activism. The Civil
Rights movement challenged the United States to rethink “the concept of freedom”
including whether freedom applied to all Americans citizens or only to part of the
population. African‐Americans made freedom the cry of the dispossessed.
Thousands of men and women demanded freedom. Their courage inspired other
challenges to the status quo, including the student movement, known as the New
Left, the Feminist movement, and other activist minorities.


On Monday evening, September 26, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice
President Richard M. Nixon faced each other in the nation's first debate between
two presidential candidates. The television debates were only one of the many
factors influencing the outcome of the presidential election. John F. Kennedy, a
Democratic challenger largely unknown to the general public had proposed the
debate. His father, Joseph Kennedy was a wealthy and powerful businessman and a
political figure himself, who had financially backed Roosevelt’s campaign for
president and been the US Ambassador to Britain, and then subsequently groomed
his son JFK and provided financial backing for his presidential campaign. Richard
M. Nixon, who was confident of his mastery, accepted. Nixon arrived looking tired
and ill at ease. He was still recuperating from a knee injury. Makeup experts
offered to hide Nixon's prominent jowls but he declined. Kennedy, tanned from
open‐air campaigning in California, and rested by a day spent nearly free of
activity, wore no makeup. Before an audience estimated at 77 million, Kennedy led
off, echoing Abraham Lincoln words “this world cannot exist half‐slave and half‐
free.” This was the turning point in the presidential campaign. A post‐election poll
revealed that of the four million voters who were influenced by the debates, three
million voted for Kennedy.

During his campaign for the Democratic nomination, however, Kennedy had
shown that he had energy, grace, and ambition and charisma. As the first Catholic
to run for the presidency since Al Smith in 1928, he strove to dispel the impression
that his religion was a major political liability. In his acceptance speech at the
democratic Convention, Kennedy found the stirring rhetoric that would stamp the
rest of his campaign and his presidency: “We stand today on the edge of a New
Frontier, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled
hopes and threats.”

John F. Kennedy was the youngest person ever elected president, and his
cabinet appointments highlighted youth. The election of Kennedy marked the
arrival of a new generation of leaders born in the twentieth century, who had
entered political life after World War II and were in charge of national affairs. The
Democratic victory led a political shift. In contrast to Eisenhower, the previous
president, Kennedy symbolised youth, energy and ambition. His mastery of the
television reflected his sensibility to the changes taking place in American life. He
came to office promising reform at home and advanced abroad.

On the day of his inauguration in 1961, John Kennedy declared in his
address that the “torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans,” and he
memorably proclaimed: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you
can do for your country. Ask not what America will do for you, but what together
we can do for the freedom of man.” (See document nº 16 of the Appendix.
American Documents: John F. Kennedy. Inaugural Address). Kennedy was
primarily concerned with foreign affairs, the subject to which he devoted most of
his inaugural address. He pledged, “We shall pay any price, beat any burden, meet
any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and
success of liberty.” Kennedy was handsome and charming and presented himself to
the public as energetic and athletic. His presidency was further assisted by his
wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, a stylish and beautiful woman who gave the
administration a special cultured air.

Kennedy's administration included growth‐oriented investment bankers,
efficiency‐minded management experts, professors and intellectuals. At his
father's insistence, he appointed as attorney general his brother Robert F.
Kennedy, who had entered public life as a staff member for Joseph McCarthy's
senate investigations. He also permitted live television broadcasts of his press
conferences, the first in American history, and a practice that allowed him to shape
opinion by speaking to the public directly. As a member of the new generation,
Kennedy's attitudes had been formed by the realities of the Cold War. He was, as
his wife said of him, an idealist without illusions.”

Kennedy's arrival in the White House opened an era of profound social
changes. After the dissatisfactions that appeared in the late 1950s, Kennedy
accelerated the transformations with a call for self‐sacrifice. Thousands of young
Americans worked for civil rights at home or signed up for the new Peace Corps,
which offered an opportunity, at low pay, to assist people in the Third World. Yet
the movement for change was also accompanied by resistance, turmoil, and often‐
deadly violence.


President Kennedy was eager to foster pro‐democratic sympathies in Third
World countries by helping their economic development. He established warm
relations with leaders in postcolonial Africa, including some who leaned toward
socialism. But the Democratic administration was also determined to resist pro‐
Soviet uprisings while democracy took root. The main idea was "flexible response",
to include fighting brushfire wars in underdeveloped areas, training
counterinsurgency forces and increasing research in biological and chemical
warfare.

In the first weeks of his administration, Kennedy focused his attention on
Cuba. There was a Communist enclave just ninety miles from the Florida coast,
which constituted as a threat as a potential exporter of revolution to the rest of
Latin America. A plan was launched to invade Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro.
On April 17, 1961, 1,400 CIA‐trained Cuban exiles landed at the Bahía de Cochinos
expecting covert air support to be supplied by the United States. In the end, the
United States refused to provide the support and the Cuban armed forces, who had
been trained by the Soviets, routed the invaders. Kennedy took full responsibility
for the disaster and the administration established a secret CIA effort named
"Operation Moongoose".as part of the CIA’s continuing plans to assassinate Castro.

Meanwhile, Kennedy decided to curb the spread of Communism in Latin
America by pressing for social reform in the area. In March 1961, he declared the
inauguration of the Alliance for Progress, a $20 billion program of loans for the
economic development of Southern American countries. During the 1960s, some of
the aid went to train Latin American armed forces trying to maintain internal
security.

At the same time, instability was growing in the former French Indochina.
Kennedy refused to intervene militarily in Laos, but he considered that it was vital
to American interests to defend the anti‐Communist government of Ngo Dinh Diem
in South Vietnam, assuming that the Soviets and Chinese were backing Ho Chi
Minh's drive to "liberate" the South. The United States sent a small advisory force
of Green Berets to Vietnam and initiated limited clandestine actions against the
North, but after becoming convinced that the credibility of American resolve was
at stake, Kennedy deployed additional troops, making a total of 17,000 by
November 1963, to support the South Vietnamese war effort. Later on, a group of
South Vietnamese military officers resolved to remove Diem from office, capturing
and killing him. The United States recognized the new government in Saigon.

The problems abroad continued. Berlin was an island of western capitalism
deep in East Germany, and a magnet for the East Germans fleeing to the West.
Khrushchev wanted the West out of Berlin he was determined to stop the torrent
of refugees, by then, 3.5 million, who were coming in at a rate of about 30,000 per
month. In 1961, the East Germans cut off the refugee flow by building a wall of
concrete and barbed wire along the line dividing East and West in Berlin. Kennedy
avoided escalating the crisis but he sent 1,500 soldiers to West Berlin, a signal that
the United States would stand by the city.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was another problem that Kennedy had to deal
with. Following the Bay of Pigs incident, Khrushchev wanted to bolster Cuba's
defences against a second invasion, which he feared Kennedy might mount, this
time with American troops. The Soviets supplied Castro with antiaircraft missiles
and 42,000 soldiers. Khrushchev may also have considered the missiles in Cuba as
a powerful bargaining chip to force the West out of Berlin. Even as the Soviets
installed their offensive missiles, Khrushchev assured Kennedy that they were not
doing so, but on October 16, 1962, surveillance data obtained from a U‐2 over‐
flight, showed that he had lied. Kennedy resolved on a naval blockade that would
prevent Soviet ships from bringing additional military shipments to Cuba, a policy
that would demonstrate the United State's refusal to tolerate the missiles and, at
the same time, give Khrushchev time to withdraw.

On October 26, a letter from Khrushchev arrived at the White House
offering to remove them if the United States would pledge not to invade Cuba. But
the next day, Kennedy received a second, more demanding letter proposing a trade
of the Soviet missiles in Cuba for the American missiles in Turkey. Robert Kennedy,
the Attorney General assured the Soviet ambassador that the “Jupiters” would be
gone from Turkey soon after the crisis ended. The next day, October 28,
Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles from Cuba.

Kennedy gave a higher priority to the sluggish American economy. He was
determined to recover quickly from the recession he had inherited, and to
stimulate the economy to achieve a much higher rate of long‐term growth. In part,
he wanted to redeem his campaign pledge to get the nation moving again. He also
felt that the United States had to surpass the Soviet Union in economic vitality.

Rejecting the idea of massive spending on public works, Kennedy sided with
the experts who claimed that the problem was essentially technological and urged
training and redevelopment programs to modernise American industry. The
stimulation of the economy, however, came not from social programs but from
greatly increased appropriations for defence and space. By 1962, over half the
federal budget was devoted to space and defence; aircraft and computer
companies in the South and West benefited, but unemployment remained
uncomfortably high in the older industrial areas or the Northeast and Midwest.

Kennedy's desire to keep the inflation rate low led to a serious
confrontation with the businessmen. He relied on informal wage and price
guidelines to hold down the cost of living. Troubled by his strained relations with
business and by the continued lag in economic growth, he decided to adopt a more
orthodox approach in 1963. He passed a major cut in taxes to stimulate consumer
spending and give the economy the jolt it needed. When enacted by Congress in
1964, the massive tax cut ($13.5 billion) led to the longest sustained economic
advanced in American history.

Kennedy's economic policy was successful. Although the rate of economic
growth doubled to 4.5% by the end of 1963 and unemployment was reduced
substantially, the cost of living rose by only 1.3% per year. Personal income went
up 213% in the early 1960s, but the greater gains came in corporate profits, which
rose by 67% in this period. Critics pointed out that the Democratic administration
failed to redistribute the national wealth to help those at the bottom. The public
sector remained neglected, and ecological and social problems continued to grow
at an alarming rate.


John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier ended suddenly on November 22, 1963,
when he was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas. Just hours after
Kennedy's assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in to succeed him aboard
Air Force One on the return flight to Washington, D C. President Lyndon B. Johnson
moved quickly to fill the vacuum left by Kennedy's death.

Lyndon B. Johnson grew up in one of the poorest parts of the United States,
the Central Texas hill country. By the 1950s, he had risen to become majority
leader of the United States Senate. He had an intimate knowledge of Congress and
incredible determination to succeed. Johnson possessed far greater ability than
Kennedy in dealing with Congress. He had more than thirty years experience in
Washington as a legislative congressman and senator. Above all, Johnson sought
consensus. He was able to work with equally well with southern conservatives and
liberals. Five days after the tragedy, Johnson spoke to a special joint session of
Congress, asking Congress to enact Kennedy's tax and civil rights bills as a tribute
to the fallen leader, and declaring, “Let us here highly resolve that John F. Kennedy
did not live or die in vain.”

The tax cut bill came first. In February 1964, after skilful manoeuvring by
Johnson, Congress reduced personal income taxes by more than $10 billion, setting
off a sustained economic boom. Consumer spending increased by $43 billion in the
next eighteen months, and new jobs opened up at the rate of one million a year. He
was even more influential in passing the Kennedy civil rights measure. Johnson
encouraged liberal amendments that strengthened the bill in the House and, by
using growing public pressure; he squeezed northern Republicans to abandon
their traditional alliance with conservative southern Democrats. After fifty‐five
days, Johnson won the battle. The Civil Rights Act was signed on June 2, 1964. It
outlawed the segregation of blacks in public facilities, established the Fair
Employment Practices Committee to lessen racial discrimination in employment,
and protected the voting rights of blacks. Segregationists sponsored an
amendment adding sex to the prohibition of discrimination in Title VII of the act; in
the future, women’s groups would use this clause to secure government support
for greater equality in employment and education.

President Johnson took over proposals that Kennedy had been developing
and made them his own. In his State of the Union address in January 1964, Johnson
said, “This administration, today, here and now, declares unconditional war on
poverty in America.” Over the next eight months, he designed a complete poverty
program and created the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to set up a wide
variety of goals. The new program established his reputation as a reformer in an
election year. Johnson embraced the liberal reform program, called the "Great
Society", while stressing his concern for balanced budgets and fiscal orthodoxy.
Senator Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate, was a conservative from
Arizona who openly rejected the welfare state and proposed a return to
unregulated free enterprise. He denounced social security and was against
Tennessee Valley Authority, which he considered to be socialist.

On Election Day, November 1964, Johnson received 61.1% of the popular
vote and swept the Electoral College by 486 to 52. The Democrats gained control of
Congress, breaking the conservative grip for the first time in the last twenty‐five
years. Johnson promoted two traditional Democratic reforms, health care and
education. Johnson settled Medicare, which gave a mandate to health insurance
under the Social Security program for Americans over age 65, with a
supplementary Medicaid program for indigents. In education, he supported a child
benefit approach, allocating federal money to advance the education of students in
parish as well as state schools. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 provided over $1 billion in federal aid. Now, African‐Americans could attend
integrated schools and enjoy public facilities.

The Civil Rights issue was one of the most difficult tests of Johnson's
presidency. In 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. This legislative
measure banned literacy tests in states and countries in which less than half the
population had voted in 1964, and provided for federal registrars in these areas to
assure blacks the franchise. For the first time since Reconstruction, African‐
American were playing an active role in southern politics. At the end of 1965,
Congress had passed eighty‐nine bills. In nine months, Johnson had enacted his
reform agenda. He had accomplished more than any president since Franklin D.
Roosevelt. However, Johnson had failed to win the public adulation and, when
foreign problems soon eroded his popularity, few remembered his remarkable
legislative achievement at home.

Lyndon's B. Johnson's Great Society had a deep impact on American life. The
enactment of Medicare and the Medicaid Act in 1964, the Voting Rights Act of
1965, and the aid to education, changed the future of the nation. But even at this
moment of triumph for liberal reform, new currents of dissent and rebellion were
brewing. The reason was that Johnson stressed continuity in foreign policy just as
he had in enacting Kennedy's domestic reforms. President Johnson continued
Kennedy's policy in Vietnam. He took office only three weeks after the coup that
led to Diem's overthrow and death on November 1, 1963. The resulting power
vacuum in Saigon made further American involvement in Vietnam almost certain.
Johnson gave them economic and technical assistance. He insisted it was still up to
the Vietnamese themselves to win the war. At the same time, he expanded
American support for covert actions, including raids on the North.

On August 2, 1964, a North Vietnamese torpedo boat attacked the Maddox,
an American destroyer engaged in electronic intelligence gathering in the Gulf of
Tonkin, in the belief that the ship had been involved in a South Vietnamese raid
nearby. Then, the navy sent another destroyer, the C. Turner Joy. Johnson ordered
retaliatory air strikes on North Vietnamese naval bases. On August 5, the president
asked Congress to pass a resolution authorising him to take “all necessary
measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to
prevent further aggression.” The House of Representatives responded
unanimously, and only two senators, both Democrats, voted against the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution. Johnson appeared to have won a spectacular victory, but the
truth is that this Resolution was the beginning of his political downfall.

Full‐scale American involvement in Vietnam began in 1965, to prevent a
North Vietnamese victory. In February 1965, Johnson ordered a long‐planned
aerial bombardment of select North Vietnamese targets. These air attacks were
ineffective so in April, Johnson authorized the use of American ground forces in
South Vietnam to protect American air bases. In July, the president permitted a
gradual increase in the bombing of North Vietnam targets and allowed American
ground commanders to conduct combat operations in the South, sending fifty
thousand troops to Vietnam and fifty thousand more in the future.

For the next three years, Americans waged an intensive war in Vietnam to
prevent a Communist victory. Bombing of North Vietnam proved ineffective
because they had an agrarian economy. In fact, the American air attacks supplied
North Vietnam with a powerful propaganda weapon, which it used effectively to
sway world opinion against the United States. The war in the South was no better.
Despite the large number of American forces, 184,000 in late 1965 and more than
500,000 soldiers in early 1968, the Viet Kong still controlled much of the
countryside. The climax came in late January 1968 when the Viet Kong, aided by
North Vietnamese regulars, launched an offensive during Tet, the lunar year.
Suddenly it appeared that the war was almost lost.

Johnson came to the conclusion that the war would end in a stalemate. In a
speech to the nation on Sunday March 31, 1968, he outlined his plans for a new
effort to end the war peacefully and concluded by saying, “I shall not seek, and I
will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”
Three years of inconclusive fighting and a steadily mounting loss of American lives
had disillusioned the American people and finally cost Lyndon Johnson the
presidency. The failure in Vietnam reflected the difficulty the United States faced in
pursuing containment on a global scale. Policies that worked well in Europe in the
1940s did not work in Southern Asia. As a conclusion, the Vietnam War revealed
the need for a thorough new examination of the basic premises of American
foreign policy in the Cold war.


The main beneficiary of the Democratic debacle was Richard Nixon.
Politically dead after his unsuccessful race for governor of California in 1962, he
resurrected himself politically; he was a new Nixon in the foreign and domestic
fires of the mid‐sixties. Positioning himself squarely in the centre, he quickly
became the front‐runner for the Republican nomination. In the campaign, Nixon
played the peace card, appearing to advocate an end to the Vietnam conflict. The
new Nixon was more judicious in his anti‐Communism; he was a realist rather than
a moraliser in world affairs. He envisioned himself a statesman. Nixon was
prepared to exploit the plan that the Communist world was no longer monolithic
and he developed a "strategy of détente," trying to reduce tensions with the
Communist world, slowing the nuclear arms race, and refraining from armed
intervention where the United States' vital interests were not at risk. Above all, he
chose the role of reconciler for a nation torn by emotion, he promised to bring a
divided country together again.

On January 26, 1969, Richard Nixon took office as the thirty‐sixth president.
He presented himself as a high‐minded centrist, but with the aid of his running
mate, Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland, a former moderate who had turned
rightward with the backlash. Nixon stressed the need for a restoration of “law and
order.” He proclaimed himself a spokesman for the “silent Americans.” On the
Vietnam issue, he said only that he had a “secret plan” to end the war. Nixon won
the presidency by a very narrow margin over the Democratic candidate Humphrey.
A third party candidate cut deeply into the usual Democratic majority, running on
the ticket of the American Independent party: George Wallace, the racist governor
of Alabama, whose slogan was “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow,
segregation forever.”

Nixon’s policy was to return to the politics of accommodation that had
characterised the Eisenhower Era. Faced with a Democratic Congress, Nixon, like
Eisenhower, was ready to accept the main outlines of the welfare state. Nixon
focused on making federal bureaucracy function more efficiently. He shifted
responsibility for social problems from Washington to state and local authorities.
Federal funds were dispersed to state, county, and city agencies to meet local
needs. In 1972, Congress approved a measure to share $30.1 billion with local
governments over a five‐year period.

The 1968 election marked a repudiation of the politics of protest and the
cultural insurgency of the mid‐1960s. The popular vote for Richard Nixon and
George Wallace, the third party candidate, amounted to 56.5% of the electorate,
which signified that there was a “silent majority” that was fed up with violence and
confrontation. A growing concern over psychedelic drugs, rock music, and sexual
permissiveness offset the usual Democratic advantage on economic issues and led
to the election of a Republican president. By voting for Nixon and Wallace,
Americans demonstrated that they wanted a return to traditional values and an
end to the war in Vietnam. President Nixon concentrated control of foreign policy
in the White House, relying heavily on his national adviser, Henry Kissinger, who in
1973 became Secretary of State. He was a refugee from Nazi Germany, a Harvard
professor, and a brilliant analyst of world nuclear politics. He seemed to rank
stability ahead of democracy.

Nixon and Kissinger played the China card as their first step toward
achieving détente, relaxing the tension, with the Soviet Union. Nixon travelled to
China in February 1972. He met with the Communist leaders and ended more than
two decades of Chino‐American hostility. The Soviets viewed China as a dangerous
adversary and responded by agreeing to negotiate an arms control pact with the
Untied States. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) had been under way
since 1969. During a visit to Moscow in May 1972, Nixon signed two vital
documents with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The first limited the two
superpowers to two hundred antiballistic missiles (ABMs) apiece; the second froze
the number of offensive ballistic missiles for a five‐year period. The SALT
agreements were most important as a symbolic first step toward control of the
nuclear arms race. They signified that the United States and Russia were trying to
achieve a settlement of their differences by peaceful means.

This strategy depended on ending the Vietnam War. Nixon was determined
to stop the war, and soon. He had a three‐part plan, known as “Vietnamisation”, to
end the conflict: renewed bombing, a hard line in negotiations with Hanoi, and the
gradual withdrawal of American soldiers. South Vietnamese troops began to take
over the major combat role, the American troops in Vietnam dropped from
543,000 in 1968 to 29,000 by 1972. At the same time, domestic opposition to the
war declined. The renewed bombing in the spring of 1969 was most controversial.
In 1970, Nixon ordered both air and ground strikes on Communist supply lines in
neutral Cambodia. This caused a massive outburst of antiwar protests at home. At
Kent State University in Ohio in early May, four students were killed and eleven
more wounded. A week later, two black students were killed at Jackson State
College in Mississippi. Soon there were riots and protests on more than four
hundred campuses across the country.

The second tactic, negotiation with Hanoi, finally proved successful. It
started in the summer of 1969 and by the fall of 1972, both sides were near
agreement. South Vietnamese objections, however, blocked a settlement before the
1972 election. They signed a truce on January 27, 1973. The agreement was, in
fact, a surrender but finally the Vietnam War was over, after eight years of fighting,
more than 57,000 Americans killed, and more than $150 billion spent.

President Nixon inherited a rising inflation rate. He opposed the idea of
federal controls and opted for a reduction in government spending while
encouraging the Federal Reserve Board to curtail the money supply, forcing up
interest rates and slowing the rate of business expansion. The result was
disastrous. Inflation continued, reaching nearly 6% by the end of 1970, the highest
rate since the Korean War. At the same time, the economy underwent its first
major recession since 1958. The stock market tumbled, the sharpest drop in thirty
years; unemployment rose; business failures jumped alarmingly. Democrats
quickly coined a new word, Nixonomics, to describe the disaster.

In 1971, the inflation was even worse. The nation's balance of trade became
negative, as imports exceeded exports. In mid‐August, Nixon acted to stop the
economic decline. He announced a ninety‐day‐freeze on wages and prices, to be
followed by federally guidelines. He ordered a devaluation of the dollar, which led
to a greatly improved balance of trade. The Nixon economic reversal quickly ended
the recession.


Operating under a siege mentality that justified any measure necessary to
defeat its opponents, the White House went to extreme lengths to guarantee
Richard M. Nixon's re‐election in 1972. The election was assured. Aided by
republican dirty tricks, the democrats destroyed themselves. George Wallace was
shot and seriously wounded. He was forced to drop out of the race. Senator George
McGovern of South Dakota emerged with the Democratic nomination. His platform
advocated a negotiated settlement in Vietnam, the right to abortion, and tolerance
of diverse lifestyles. It was perceived as "antiestablishment" by middle‐class
Americans. Nixon let McGovern's apparent extremism and New Left support
become the main issue in the 1972 campaign, rather than the president's own
record in office.

The result was a stunning victory for Nixon. He won by a popular landslide
with 60.8% of the vote, and an even more decisive sweep of the Electoral College.
The voting patterns suggested the beginning of a major political realignment, as
only blacks, Jews and low‐income voters continued to vote for the Democrats. The
Republican Party made significant gains in the South and West and showed the
emerging strength of the sunbelt. Only President Nixon knew the truth about his
victory. In the campaign, a Committee to re‐elect the President (CREEP) was
formed, headed by Attorney General John Mitchell. Specialists in dirty tricks
harassed democratic contenders, while a group of "plumbers" developed an
elaborated plan to spy on the opposition. The plan included bugging the
Democratic national headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington. In the
early morning hours of June 17, James McCord and four other men working under
the direction of Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt, were caught by police during a
break‐in at Watergate. The continuing abuse of power had finally culminated in an
illegal act that threatened to bring down the entire Nixon administration.

The President was deeply implicated in the attempt to cover up the
involvement of White House aides in the original burglary. He ordered the CIA to
keep the FBI off the case, on the specious grounds that it involved national
security, and he urged his aides to lie under oath if necessary. Finally, the first
threat appeared when federal judge John Sirica sentenced the burglars to long jail
terms. One of them, James McCord informed Sirica hat he had received money from
the White House and had been promised a future pardon in return for his silence.
By April 1973, Nixon was forced to fire John Dean, White House adviser, and to
allow H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, who took charge of domestic issues
and were deeply implicated in the affair, to resign. Then, the Senate appointed a
special committee to investigate the Watergate affair. John Dean revealed Nixon's
personal involvement in the cover up. The existence of tapes of conversation in the
Oval Office, recorded regularly since 1970, finally brought Nixon down. Nixon tried
to hold on to the tapes but the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in June 1974 that
the tapes had to be turned over to Judge Sirica.

The House Judiciary Committee, acting on evidence uncovered by the
Senate committee, voted three articles of impeachment, charging Nixon with
obstruction of Justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. The tapes
implicated him in the cover‐up, and then, on August 9 1974, Nixon finally chose to
resign. The Watergate scandal showed the vitality of a democratic society. The
abuse of presidential authority could be stopped by the press and by an
independent judiciary power. The impeachment process was scrupulous and non‐
partisan. The American nation survived the shock of Watergate with its
institutions intact. Congress was reinforced with its members trying to expand
Congressional authority into all areas of American life.

Richard Nixon had appointed Gerald R. Ford to the vice presidency after
Spiro Agnew resigned to avoid prosecution for accepting bribes while he was
governor of Maryland. Ford tried to restore public confidence in the presidency
when he replaced Nixon in August 1974. As his vice president, Ford appointed
Nelson Rockefeller, former governor of New York.

On September 8, 1974, President Ford shocked the nation by announcing he
had granted Richard Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for all federal crimes he
"had committed or may have committed or taken part in" during his presidency.
Ford's plan was to end the Watergate scandal, but his gesture eroded public
confidence and made him to seem complicit in the scandal. Ford had to fight to re‐
establish the CIA’s prestige because it had been involved in plot to assassinate
foreign leaders. Then, he appointed a respected former congressman, George Bush,
as the new CIA director and issued an executive order outlawing assassination as
an instrument of American foreign policy. Congress also increased its own
surveillance of the CIA. Gerard Ford had opposed every Great Society measure, and
he proved to be far more conservative than Nixon in the Presidency. In a year, he
vetoed thirty‐nine separate bills. He supported the maximum freedom for private
enterprise.

2. JIMMY CARTER AND HUMAN RIGHTS

James E. Carter was a virtually unknown former Georgia governor who
quickly became the front‐runner in the 1976 contest for the presidency. Carter ran
as an outsider because he was aware of the voters' disgust with politicians of both
parties. He appeared candid and honest and won the Democratic nomination
easily. In November 1976, Carter won an extremely narrow victory. He carried the
South and key northern industrial states. Ford swept nearly the entire West. Far
more than most recent elections, the outcome turned on class and racial factors.
The poor and the black vote gave the victory to the Democrats.

President Carter was more successful than President Gerard Ford in
adjusting to the growing nationalism in the world, particularly in Central America,
where the United States had imposed order for most of the twentieth century by
backing reactionary regimes. During Jimmy Carter's presidency, the United States
began to show a growing regard for the human rights practices of its allies. Carter
was convinced that American foreign policy should embody the country's basic
moral beliefs. In 1977, Congress started requiring reports on human rights
conditions in countries receiving American aid.

The first test came in Panama. President Lyndon B. Johnson entered
negotiations aimed at the eventual return of the waterway to Panama. Carter
completed the long diplomatic process in 1977 by signing two treaties. The first
one restored the sovereignty in the Canal Zone to Panama; the second provided for
gradual Panamanian responsibility for operating the canal, with appropriate
safeguards for its use and defence by the United States. In 1978, after a bitter
struggle, the Senate ratified the treaties.

In the 1970s, America's political position in the world declined sharply. In
part, the reason was internal. The Vietnam War left Americans convinced that the
nation should never again intervene abroad, and Watergate discredited strong
presidential leadership, shifting power over foreign policy to Congress. The new
national consensus was symbolised by the War Power Act of 1973, which required
the president to consult with Congress before sending troops into action overseas.
At the same time, the control over oil exercised by OPEC and by revolutionary
nationalism in the Middle East and South America further weakened American
foreign policy. No longer did America dominate the international scene; the United
States began to play the rule of spectator and at times even of victim.

The United States had the opportunity to play the role of peacemaker in
November 1977, when Egyptian president Anwar Sadat travelled to Jerusalem in
an effort to reach an agreement directly with Israel. The next year Carter invited
both Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to negotiate under his
guidance at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. It was almost like a
working holiday, for face‐to‐face talks. For two weeks in September 1978 they
hammered out peace accords. The Camp David Accords were a framework for
negotiations rather than an actual peace settlement. In 1979, Israel and Egypt
signed a peace treaty.

Another important event happened in October 1979. President Carter
permitted the exiled Shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment.
Incensed mobs in Iran denounced the United States, and on November 4, militant
students seized the US embassy in Teheran and took fifty‐eight Americans
prisoner. After 444 days, the Iranian hostage crisis ended, but not before it had
virtually paralysed Carter's administration and destroyed his chances for re‐
election.

The policy of détente was already in trouble when Carter took office in
1977. The Soviet repression of the dissident movement and its policy restricting
the emigration of Soviet Jews had caused Americans to doubt the wisdom of
seeking accommodation with the Soviet Union. Carter's emphasis on human rights
struck the Soviets as a direct repudiation of détente. Carter's absolute commitment
to human rights was difficult to accomplish. A presidential adviser declared that it
was "absolute in principle but flexible in application." His administration sent
generous support to some authoritarian governments in Argentina and Chile and
repressive regimes in South Korea and the Philippines. Secretary of State Vance
concentrated on continuing the main pillar of détente, the strategic arms limitation
talks (SALT). In 1977 the Soviets rejected the American proposal of a drastic
reduction in its level because they were angry over human rights. In 1980,
however, Carter signed a SALT II agreement with the USSR that decreased the
ceiling on nuclear delivery systems to 2250 launchers.

On January 1, 1979, the United States and China exchanged ambassadors,
completing the reconciliation that Nixon had begun in 1971. The new relationship
between China and the United States presented the Soviet Union with the problem
of defending itself against two different enemies. The Cold War, in abeyance for
nearly a decade, resumed with full fury in December 1979 when the Soviet Union
invaded Afghanistan. This was the beginning of a Soviet advance towards the
Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Carter responded to this aggression with a
number of measures. The United States banned the sale of high technology to the
Soviets, embargoed the export of grain, resumed draft registration, and even
boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. These actions doomed détente and renewed
the Cold War.

Jimmy Carter was a leader who had benefited from Vietnam and Watergate
and had now been betrayed by events. National frustration over the hostages in
Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the energy crunch and the rampant
inflation eroded public confidence in the Carter administration. When Carter left
office in January 1981, many Americans judged his presidency a failure. Instead of
being remembered for the good he accomplished for the Middle East at Camp
David, he was remembered for what he had failed to accomplish. The Iran hostage
crisis had become emblematic of a perception that America's role in the world had
declined. The American people, disillusioned by the failures of Nixon, Ford and
Carter, yearned for new political leadership to meet the challenges at home and
abroad.

3. THE REAGANBUSH ERA

Republican Ronald Reagan capitalised on the citizens' frustration. When he
ran for the presidency against Jimmy Carter in 1980, he asked Americans, "Are you
better off than you were four years ago?" On Election Day, Americans answered
with a resounding “no”. Reagan won a landslide victory, carrying 43 states and
almost 51% of the popular vote compared to Carter's 41%. In addition, the
Democrats lost the Senate for the first time since 1954.

Ronald Reagan was already well known to the American people as a movie
actor and radio and television announcer, when he was elected president in 1980.
In politics, he started out as a liberal, supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt and the
New Deal. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, however, he became concerned
about Communist infiltration of the labour movement in Hollywood. In 1952 and
1956 he voted for Dwight Eisenhower and in 1960 he was at the forefront of the
“Democrats for Nixon” group, which was part of the Republican campaign to get
Democrats to vote for Nixon. Reagan was catapulted into the national political
scene in 1964 when he gave an emotional television speech in support of
republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, denouncing welfare, urban
renewal, foreign aid, big government and high taxes. Two years later, Reagan
successfully ran for governor of California, promising to cut state spending and
crack down on students’ protests.

In the 1980 campaign, Reagan drew support from White Southerners,
suburban Roman Catholics, evangelical Christians, and particularly the New Right,
a confederation of different political and religious groups bound together by their
concern over what they considered the erosion of values in America. In 1981 an
assassin's shot nearly killed him.

When President Reagan took office he promised to cut inflation, rebuild the
nation's defences, restore economic growth and decrease the size of the federal
government by limiting its role in welfare, education and housing. He pledge to end
exorbitant union contracts to make American goods competitive again, to cut taxes
to stimulate investment and purchasing power, and to decontrol business,
strangled by federal regulation, in order to restore competition. The President
embraced the concept of supply‐side economics as the proper remedy for the
nation's economic problems. In contrast to the prevailing Keynesian theory, with
its reliance on government spending to boost consumer demand, Reagan favoured
a reduction in both federal expenditure and revenue. Reagan promised to increase
national wealth, not just redistribute the existing wealth. Reagan won his fight in
the Senate to reduce the budget. He was equally successful in reducing taxes. He
advocated a cut of 10% in personal income tax for three consecutive years. The
president once again overcame Democratic resistance in Congress, demonstrating
beyond any doubt his ability to wield presidential power effectively.

Reagan limited the role of Government. He wanted to restrict government
activity and reduce federal regulation of the economy. The limitation of the federal
agencies’ impact on American business was the main purpose of the President's
political philosophy. The sweeping reductions in domestic spending and income
taxes that Reagan achieved in 1981, gave rise to conflicting economic expectations.
Over the next seven years, the nation experienced both recession and rapid
growth, deficits as well as prosperity, and best of all, an unexpected easing of
inflation. Even through Reagan was unable to achieve all of his goals, the
combination of lowered inflation and renewed economic growth gave him an
enormous political advantage.

Reagan’s laissez‐faire principles could also be seen in his administration's
approach to social programs. He was convinced that federal welfare programs
promoted laziness and moral decay. He limited benefits to those he considered the
“truly needy.” His administration cut spending on a variety of social welfare
programs. He also eliminated cash welfare assistance for the working poor and
reduced federal subsidies for child‐care services and for low‐income families.

A problem emerged in the mid‐1980s to cloud Reagan's claims of economic
recovery: the growing federal budget deficit. The 1982 recession undercut the rosy
assumptions of the supply‐siders. As the economy weakened and unemployment
insurance increased, tax revenues fell below projections while government
spending on unemployment insurance and other social programs climbed. The
deficit reached $207.8 billion in 1983, nearly three times higher than the $70.5
billion in 1976. The president and Congress were able to lower the deficit from a
peak of $221 billion in 1986 to a more manageable $155 billion by 1988. Even
more important, the deficit as a percentage of the GNP fell from over 5% to close to
3%. By the mid‐1980s, the average American family was no better off than it had
been in 1973. The richer got richer, the poor stayed poor, and Middle America
struggled to make ends meet.

The economics boom that began in 1983 came at just the right time for the
Republican Party. Walter Mondale, Carter's vice president, won the Democratic
nomination and he chose a woman as a running mate, Congresswoman Geraldine
Ferraro of New York. The republicans nominated Reagan and Bush again. Reagan
won a majority among all voters earning more than $12,500 a year. He even won a
majority of the blue‐collar and women's vote. The nation seemed to be dividing
politically along economic lines, with the wealthy and affluent who fared best from
Reagan's economic policies, known as "Reagonomics", supporting the president,
while a growing underclass of African Americans, Hispanics, and the working poor
were voting solidly Democratic.

Ronald Reagan was even more determined to reverse the course of
American policy abroad than at home. Under his administration, the Pentagon
flourished. The Secretary of Defence Caspar Weinberger presented a plan that
would double defence spending. The emphasis was on new weapons, the B‐1
bomber, the controversial MX nuclear missile and the expansion of the navy from
456 to 600 ships. By 1985 the defence budget grew to over $300 billion; at the
same time the administration was cutting back on domestic spending.

By the end of 1987, Reagan made a remarkable recovery by reversing the
course of Soviet‐American relations. The change in leadership in the Soviet Union
proved fortunate. Mikhail Gorbachev was a young Soviet leader who had a new
vision for his country. He wanted to improve relations with the United States as
part of his new policy of perestroika, which meant a restructuring of the Soviet
economy, and glasnost, political openness. The Soviet economy was in a bad way
and Gorbachev needed a breathing spell in the arms race and a reduction in Cold
War tensions to carry out his domestic changes.

The first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev, at Geneva in 1985, had
not led to any significant agreements because it happened just before the Iran‐
Contra affair. There was a hurried summit at Reykjavik in October 1986. Although
the two leaders could reach no agreement, the Soviet Union was eager to curtail
the arms race. The next meeting was in Washington in December 1987, and there
they agreed to remove and destroy all intermediate‐range missiles and to permit
on‐site inspections to verify the process. During the president's last year in office,
the Soviets cooperated with the United States in pressuring Iran and Iraq to end
their long war, and Gorbachev moved to end the invasion of Afghanistan that had
renewed the Cold War in 1979. By the time Reagan left office in January 1989, he
had scored a series of policy triumphs that offset his dismal Iran‐Contra fiasco and
thus helped redeem his presidency.

The election of 1988 confirmed the pollster's projections. George Bush won
in the South, carried most of the West, and defeated Democrat candidate Michael
Dukakis in a number of key industrial states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan.
His victory reflected the continuing Republic dominance of the elections. The
Democrats, however, increased their margins in both the House and the Senate.
His election indicated that a significant change had taken place in American politics
in 1980. Bush consolidated the Sunbelt states of the South and West and cemented
much of Reagan's inroads into the working‐class vote. At the same time, racial
polarisation in politics continued, with Dukakis getting 88% of the African
American vote and 69% of the Hispanic ballots. The Democrats faced the challenge
of trying to regain the support of white middle‐class voters for their presidential
candidates.

Most of Bush's time was taken up with two pressing domestic problems.
First, the nation's savings and loan industry, based on U. S. government‐ insured
deposits, was in grave trouble as a result of lax regulation and unwise, even
possibly fraudulent, loan policies. The continuing budget deficit provided an even
greater challenge. The nation simply spent beyond its means, with deficits still
running at more than $150 billion a year. Finally, the president and Congress
reached agreement on both issues.

In 1990, Bush faced a deficit of over $200 billion. He finally agreed to break
his “no new taxes” pledge and support a budget that included both new taxes on
the wealthy and substantial spending cuts, mainly for the military. The resulting
agreement projected a savings of $500 billion over five years, half from reduced
spending and half from new taxes. Unfortunately for the president, the budget
change coincided with the beginning of a slow but painful recession that ended the
republican prosperity of the 1980s.

The Bush administration faced an unprecedented year of change abroad
that marked the end of the post‐World War II era. In several countries,
communism gave way to freedom. The first attempt at internal liberation proved
tragically abortive. In May 1989, students in China began a month‐long
demonstration for freedom in Pekin's Tiananmen Square. But on the evening of
June 4, the Chinese leaders imposed martial law. A far more promising trend
toward freedom began in Europe in mid‐1989. In June, Lech Walesa and his
Solidarity movement came to power in free elections in Poland. One by one, the
repressive governments of Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and
Romania fell. In early November, in East Germany the Communist leaders suddenly
announced the dismantling of the Berlin Wall.

On August 2, 1990, Bush faced a much more difficult challenge, when
Saddam Hussein, the dictator ruler of Iraq, invaded Kuwait, threatening Saudi
Arabia and the oil‐rich Persian Gulf region. Bush responded firmly. By September,
Operation Desert Storm was underway. On January 17, 1991, a devastating aerial
assault was unleashed on Iraq. The ground offensive began on February 24. It took
only a hundred hours to bring about the collapse of Iraq's military forces.

In 1992, a presidential election year, the persistence of the recession that
had started two years earlier became the dominant political issue. Economists
warned that the interest payments on the debt would become the largest single
budget expenditure by the end of the 1990s, thereby threatening the United States'
economic future.

4. FROM WILLIAM J. CLINTON TO GEORGE H. W. BUSH

In the 1992 presidential election the candidates were, Republican President
Georges Bush, independent H. Ross Perot, and Democrat William J. Clinton. Perot
was an eccentric Texas billionaire who thought that the deficit was the worst
national problem. As a businessman, Perot made sense to millions of Americans
when he charged that during the Reagan‐Bush years, the Washington politicians
had given the country $11.4 trillion worth of programs and services while raising
only $59.3 trillions in taxes. Bush's failure to alter the downward slide of the
American economy played a crucial role in the 1992 presidential election.

Arkansas Governor, Bill Clinton defeated several challengers for the
democratic nomination by becoming the champion of economic renewal. Clinton
stressed the need for investment in the nation's future, rebuilding roads and
bridges, training workers for high‐tech jobs, and solving the growing national
health‐care crisis. Clinton succeeded in unifying the Democrats and when Perot
dropped out of the race in July, he became the front‐runner, leaving Bush far
behind. For political scientists, 1992 was a clear case of a negative referendum.
Voters had rejected the Reagan‐Bush plans decisively.

Clinton maintained the Democratic grip on ethnic minorities, winning 83%
support from African Americans and 62% from Hispanics; he won back both the
elderly and the blue‐collar Reagan Democrats; and he cut deeply into the crucial
middle class. At the same time, Clinton had broken the Republican hegemony in
the South and West. When the boom of the 1980s collapsed, the Sunbelt states
proved as receptive as the rest of the nation to the call for change. William Clinton
won by a substantial margin.

In his first two years in office, President Clinton turned away from some of
the social and economic policies of the Reagan and Bush years. He appointed
several women and blacks to his cabinet, including the first female attorney
general, Janet Reno. Clinton named two supporters of abortion rights to the
Supreme Court, Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The main policy proposal of Clinton's first term was a plan devised by a
panel headed by his wife, Hillary Rodman Clinton, to address the rising cost of
health care and the increasing number of Americans who lacked health insurance.
Millions of Americans lacked any coverage at all. Clinton's plan would provide
universal coverage through large organizations, but doctors, health insurance and
drug companies attacked it vehemently, rejecting government regulations that
would limit their benefits. The plan died in 1994. Nothing replaced it. In the 20th
century, millions of American, most of them people who held full‐time jobs, still
lacked health insurance.

In 1994, American voters turned against the administration. For the first
time since the 1950s, the Republicans won control of both Houses of Congress. It
was the “Freedom Revolution.” The Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, who was
a congressman from Georgia, promoted a platform called the “contract with
America,” which promised to cut back on taxes and economic regulations and to
make deep cuts in social, educational, and environmental programs, including the
Medicare system.

President Clinton rebuilt his popularity by campaigning against a radical
Congress. In his state of the union address of January 1996, Clinton announced that
“the era of big government is over,” embracing the Republican antigovernment
ideas. In 1996, he approved the Telecommunications Act which deregulated
broadcasting and telephone companies. Also in that year, Clinton signed a
republican bill that abolished the program of Aid to Families with Dependent
Children (AFDC). Grants of money to the states replaced it. Clinton's political
strategy, “triangulation”, neutralised Republican plans and he easily defeated
Republican Bob Dole in the presidential contest of 1996, becoming the first
Democrat elected to two terms since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Clinton's main political interests concerned domestic, not international

affairs. At the same time, President Clinton tried to concentrate his efforts on
human rights. He helped to negotiate a peace agreement in Northern Ireland
between Catholics and Protestants, but the most difficult foreign policy crisis of the
Clinton years arose from Yugoslavia. American economic expansion in the 1990s
was all the more remarkable given the difficulties that other countries were
experiencing. Economists talked of the “new economy,” in which computers and
the Internet would produce a huge amount of information. At the same time, a
number of global economic problems arose. Western European countries had a
high rate of unemployment. Japan was in a long‐term recession.

The economic model of free trade and deregulation appeared unassailable.
But the retreat from government economic regulation, a policy embraced by both
the Republican Congress and President Clinton, left no one to represent the public
interest. The sectors of the economy most affected by the scandals,
telecommunications, energy, and stock trading, had all been subjects of
deregulation. Many stocks frauds stemmed directly from the repeal in 1999 of the
Glass‐Steagall Act. This was a New Deal legislative measure that had separated
commercial banking from Wall Street investing.

In 1998, it became known that Clinton had carried on an affair with Monica
Lewinsky, a White House intern. In December 1998, the republican majority of the
House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton. He became the
second president to be tried before the Senate. Clinton's continuing popularity
throughout the impeachment controversy demonstrated how profoundly
traditional attitudes toward sexual morality had changed in United States. They
did not remove Clinton from office.

In the 2000 election, the Democrats nominated Vice‐President Al Gore to
succeed Clinton, with Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the first Jewish
vice‐presidential nominee. The Republicans chose George W. Bush, governor of
Texas and son of President Bush with former secretary of defence Dick Cheney as
his running mate. This election was one of the closest in the United States history.
Gore won the popular vote by a tiny margin but victory in the Electoral College
hinged on which candidate had carried Florida. The Florida Supreme Court
ordered the recount to proceed. The Court allowed the state's governor Jeb Bush,
George W. Bush's brother, to certify that the Republican candidate had carried the
majority of Florida's votes and, therefore, had won the presidency.

The most remarkable thing about the election of 2000 was not so much its
controversial ending as the even division of the country it revealed. Gore and Bush
received the same amount of popular vote. The final count in the Electoral College
stood at 271‐266, the narrowest margin since 1876. The Senate was divided 50‐50
between the two parties. The 2000 election revealed the end of the decade of
democracy. The Electoral College, devised by the founders to enable the country's
prominent men to choose the president, gave the White House to a candidate
opposed by a majority of voters, an odd result in a democracy.

The century that ended with the 2000 election witnessed vast human
progress and, at the same time, huge human tragedy. It saw the emergence of
women into full citizenship in large parts of the world, advances in science,
medicine, and technology. Over 14 million Americans attended college in 2000,
more than three times the figure for 1960, and nearly one American in seven was
older than sixty‐five, to continue rising in the twenty‐first century. On the other
hand, infant mortality and poverty exceeded that of the other Western countries.

George W. Bush came into office without a broad popular mandate. He had
received fewer votes than his opponent Al Gore. President Bush pursued a strongly
conservative agenda. In 2001, he persuaded Congress to enact the largest tax cut in
American history. He also proposed changes in environmental policies, including
opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil and allowing
timber companies to operate in national forests. In foreign policy, Bush focused on
American freedom of action, unrestrained by international treaties and
institutions. Bush announced plans to push ahead with a national missile defence
system.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed not only the
international situation but also the domestic policy and the Bush presidency as
well. There was an upsurge of popular patriotism. Americans demonstrated their
sympathy for the victims by displaying the American flag. Public servants like
firemen or policemen became national heroes.

The Bush administration benefited from this patriotism and identification
with the government. Americans looked to the federal government, and especially
the president, for leadership and decisive action. Bush seized the opportunity to
give his administration a new purpose. On September 20, 2001, Bush's speech
announced a new foreign policy principle, which became known as the “Bush
Doctrine.” The United States started a war on terrorism. They made no distinction
between terrorists and the governments that protected them: “Either you are with
us, or you are with the terrorists." The American President demanded that
Afghanistan, ruled by a group of Islamic fundamentalists called the Taliban,
surrender Osama Bin Laden, who had established his base in that country. When
the Taliban refused, President Bush ordered the military to start air strikes against
Afghanistan, calling it “Enduring Freedom.” Most of the world supported the war in
Afghanistan as a legitimate response to the terrorist attacks.

In March 2003, without obtaining approval from United Nations, the United
States went to war with Iraq, with Great Britain as its sole significant ally. Bush
called the war “Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Its purpose was “to defend our freedom
and bring freedom to others.” These wars on terrorism raised a new problem of
balancing security and liberty in the society of the twenty‐first century.

5. THE NEW ERA IN AMERICAN POLITICS: BARACK H. OBAMA’S PRESIDENCY

The 56th quadrennial United States presidential election was held on
November 4, 2008. Outgoing Republican President George W. Bush's policies and
actions, and the American public's desire for change were key issues throughout
the campaign. Both major party candidates ran on a platform of change and reform
in Washington. Domestic policy and the economy eventually emerged as the main
themes in the last few months of the election campaign, particularly after the onset
of the 2008 economic crisis.

The nation went into the 2008 election cycle having a Republican president
and a Democratic Congress both with extremely low approval ratings. The
Democratic nomination had remained undecided until Hillary Rodham Clinton
officially conceded in June. As a result of this, the presidential elections saw the
Republican John McCain, the senior Senator from Arizona, with his running mate
Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, run against the Democrat Barack Obama, the
junior Senator from Illinois, with Joe Biden, the senior Senator from Delaware. The
Republican ticket was largely decided with the results of Super Tuesday 2008.

There were several unique aspects of the 2008 election. This was the first
election in which an African American was elected President, and the first time a
Roman Catholic was elected Vice President (Joe Biden, then‐U.S. Senator from
Delaware). It was also the first time two sitting senators ran against each other.
The 2008 election was the first in 56 years in which neither an incumbent
president nor a vice president ran. Bush was barred from seeking a third term by
the Twenty‐second Amendment and Dick Cheney chose not to seek the presidency.
It was also the first time the Republican Party nominated a woman for Vice
President, Sarah Palin, then‐Governor of Alaska. Voter turnout for the 2008
election was the highest in at least 40 years.

On November 4, 2008, Barack H. Obama defeated John McCain to become
the 44th President of the United States, making history in becoming the first
African‐American to be elected to the highest executive office. Democrat Barack H.
Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John
McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona. Nine states changed
allegiance from the 2004 election. Each had voted for the Republican nominee in
2004 and contributed to Obama's Electoral College victory. The selected electors
from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia voted for the President and
Vice President of the United States on December 15, 2008. Those votes were tallied
before a joint session of Congress on January 8, 2009. Obama received 365
electoral votes, and McCain 173. Obama and Biden were inaugurated on January
20, 2009.

President Obama's policy decisions have addressed a continuing global
financial crisis and have included changes in tax policies. Obama put forward an
$825bn stimulus package for the ailing US economy and Congress approved a
$787bn stimulus package in the face of strong opposition from Republicans. The
bill's inclusion of a "Buy American" provision attracted accusations of
protectionism from abroad. Simultaneously, President Obama unveiled a record
$3.6 trillion dollar budget for 2010. The spending package aimed to boost
investment in areas such as health care, education and renewable energy, and pull
the US out of the financial crisis. It came against the background of a spiralling US
budget deficit. At the end of 2009, official figures showed a return to growth, with
the economy expanding by 3.5% in the third quarter.

Among Obama’s foreign policy initiatives was the phasing out of detention
of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. At the same time, he
set down a timeline for a 2011 military withdrawal from Iraq; the War in
Afghanistan was escalated with additional U.S. troops being sent to the country
early in 2009 and more being requested.

In November 2009, the House of Representatives passed its version of
health care reform. This was a key domestic policy objective of President Obama
during his electoral campaign.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological Table

1960 John F. Kennedy elected president in a narrow victory over Richard Nixon
California surpassed New York as the nation's most populous state
1961 U. S. supported Bay of Pigs invasion. It was crushed by the Cubans
1962 James Meredith was the first African American to enrol at the University of
Mississippi
1963 Martin Luther King told a rally in Washington, D. C., of his dream for a united
America
U.S., Great Britain and USSR signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president
1964 President Johnson declared war on poverty
Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Republican Barry Goldwater in

landslide
Victory
1965 Medicare legislation provided the aged with medical care
Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Voting Rights Act passed
Lyndon B. Johnson committed fifty thousand American troops to combat in
Vietnam
1966 National Organisation for Women (NOW) is founded
1967 Riots in Detroit filled forty‐three, injured two thousand and left 5,000
homeless
1968 President Johnson announced that he will not seek re‐election
Martin Luther King Jr. Was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, California
Republican Richard Nixon was elected nation's thirty‐seventh president
1971 A secret tape recording system was installed in the White House. Nixon
Authorised establishment of a plumbers unit to "stop security leaks and
investigate
Other sensitive matters
1972 Nixon was reelected to second term, winning every southern and western
state
Five burglars arrested breaking into democratic national headquarters at
Washington's Watergate office complex.
President Nixon took part in summit in China
1973 Televised Senate hearing on Watergate began
War Powers Act
1974 Federal grand jury indicted Nixon aides for perjury and obstruction of
justice and
named the president as an indicted co‐conspirator
House Judiciary Committee adopted three articles of impeachment against
President Nixon. Nixon became the first president to resign from office
Richard Ford became thirty‐eighth president
1975 Microsoft Corporation founded
Vietnam War ends
1976 Jimmy Carter was elected thirty‐ninth president
Apple Computer Company founded
1977 Treaties to return of the waterway to Panama were signed
1978 California voters approved Proposition 13, which called for a 57% reduction
in
state property taxes
President Carter mediated Egyptian‐Israeli peace settlement
Treaties transferring control of Canal Zone to Panama ratified
1979 United States formally recognised China
Accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant
1980 Ronald Reagan was elected fortieth president
1981 President Ronald Reagan was shot in assassination attempt
Reagan approved covert training of anti‐Sandinista contras
Reagan tax cuts are approved
Sandra Day O'Connor appointed to the Supreme Court
President Reagan fired two‐thirds of air‐traffic controller's union
1982 Congress deregulated banking industry and lifts controls on airfares
1983 Reagan proposed "Star Wars" missile defence system
241 U. S. marines filled by suicide bomb in Beirut
1984 Ronald Reagan was reelected to second term
Congress ordered an end to all covert aid to Nicaraguan contras
1985 United States began secret arms‐for‐hostages negotiations with Iran
1986 Profits from Iranian arms sales are diverted to Nicaraguan contras
Space shuttle Challenger exploded
1987 Iran‐Contra Senate hearings
Stick market plunged 508 points in a single session
Reagan and Gorbachev signed INF Treaty
1988 George Bush, Reagan's vice president was elected forty‐first president
1989 Exxon Valdez oil spilt in Prince William Sound, Alaska
1990 Iraqi troops invaded and occupied Kuwait
1991 Gulf War. I. S., Western, and Arab forces ejected Iraq from Kuwait by force
1992 Democrat William J. Clinton defeated Bush to become nation's forty‐second
president
1993 Congress passed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),

eliminating
trade barriers between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
World Trade Centre bombed
General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) passed, reducing global
trading
Barriers
1994 Democrats suffered overwhelming defeats in congressional elections.
Republican
victory in Congress; Contract with America
Congress defeated Clinton's healthcare plan
1995 Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City
1996 William Clinton reelected president
Clinton eliminated Aid to Families with Dependent Children
1998 House of Represents voted to impeach President William J. Clinton
United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania bombed
1999 Protests against the World Trade Organisation
Shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado
2000 George W. Bush, Jr. elected forty‐third president
2001 Al Qaeda terrorists attacked World Trade Center in New York
Operation Enduring Freedom
USA Patriotic Act conferred unprecedented powers on law‐enforcement

agencies
2002 President George Bush includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea in an "Axis of
Evil"
Telecoms giant WorldCom's multi‐billion dollar accounting fraud is revealed
President Bush signs into law a bill creating a Department of Homeland
Security
2003 United States and United Kingdom forces invaded Iraq without United
Nations
approval
Supreme Court upheld affirmative action
Supreme Court ruled making homosexual acts a crime unconstitutional
Operation Iraqi Freedom
President Saddam Hussein captured
2004 George W. Bush, Jr. won a second term as president
The U.S. returns sovereignty to an interim government in Iraq, but maintains
roughly 135,000 troops in the country to fight a growing insurgency
2005 The U.S. engagement in Iraq continues amid that country's escalating
violence
and fragile political stability.
Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on Mississippi and Louisiana.
80% of New Orleans is flooded. The government was criticized
2006 The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the population of the United States
has
reached 300 million
2007 Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first U.S. Speaker of the House of
Representatives
President Bush announces a new Iraq strategy. Thousands more US troops
will be
dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad
2008 Lehman Brother’s collapse. Global financial crisis and recession
Senator Barack H. Obama won the Democratic Party's nomination to run for
US
president, becoming the first black candidate. He defeated his rival H. R.
Clinton
Leaders from the world's biggest economies (the G20) meet in Washington
Barack Obama defeats John McCain to become the president of the US
2009 Barack H. Obama sworn in as 44th president of the US
President Obama unveils a record $3.6 trillion dollar budget for 2010
House of Representatives passes its version of health care reform
Hillary Rodham Clinton is appointed Secretary of State


BELL, C. The Reagan Paradox: American Foreign Policy in the 1980s. New
Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press, 1989.

BRADLEY, P. Mass Media and the Shaping of American Feminism, 19631975.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2003.

BURNS, J. M. and SORENSON, G. Dead Center: ClintonGore Leadership and the Perils
of Moderation. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.

BUSH, A. E. Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom. New York: Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers, 2001.

CALIFANO, J. The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson. New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1992.

DIVINE, R. A. Exploring the Johnson Years: Vietnam, the Environment, and Science.
Lawrence: University Press of Arkansas, 1987.

FAIRLIE, H. The Kennedy Promise. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1973.

HAMILTON, N. Bill Clinton. New York: Random House, 2003.

JOHNSON, H. The Best of Times: America in the Clinton Years. New York: Harcourt
Brace, 2001.

KATZ, M. B. The Price of Citizenship: Redefining America's Welfare State. New York:
Metropolitan Press, 2001.

KUTLER, S. I. The Wars of Watergate: The Last Crisis of Richard Nixon. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.

KYVIG, D. E., ed. Reagan and the World. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990.

MACLEAN, N. The American Women’s Movement, 19452000. A Brief History with
Documents. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.

OBAMA, B. H. Barack Obama. The Audacity of Hope. Thoughts on Reclaiming the
American Dream. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2007.

PARMER, H. JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy. New York: Niagara Falls, 1983.

PARMET, H. George Bush: The Life of a Lone Start Yankee. New York: Scribner,
1997.

POSNER, R. An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of
President Clinton. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.

REEVES, R. President Kennedy. New York: New York Times & Schuster, 1993.

SCHULMAN, B. J. The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and
Politics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001.

THERNSTROM, S. and A. America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible, Race
in Modern America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

WILLS, G. Reagan's America. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1987.


Barack H. Obama
www.barackhobamafoundation.org/
www.barackobama.com/
www.biography.com/.../Barack‐Obama‐12782369
www.cidob.org/es/...lideres.../barack_obama/
www.whitehouse.gov/

George W. Bush, Jr.

www.answers.com/topic/george‐w‐bush
www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_sociopol_bush.htm
www.biography.com/.../George‐W.‐Bush‐9232768
www.realchange.org/bushjr.htm
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewbush

Jimmy Carter

www.americanpresident.org/history/jimmycarter/
www.cartercenter.org/
www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/
millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/carter
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/
William Clinton

www.clinton.archives.gov/
www.clintonfoundation.org/
www.clintonlibrary.gov
www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org/
www.ipl.org/div/potus/wjclinton.html

Gerald Ford

www.ford.utexas.edu
www.presidentford.com.au/
www.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/ford.html
www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/01/16/ford
www.presidentford.com.au/

Lyndon B. Johnson

www.americanpresident.org/history/lyndonbjohnson
www.historiasiglo20.org/BIO/johnson.htm
www.hpol.org/lbj/vietnam
www.lbjib.utexas.edu
www.presidentsusa.net/ljohnson.html

John F. Kennedy

www.Kennedy.edu.ar
www.jfk.edu.mx
www.jfk.eifactory.com/menu.htm
www.jfklibrary.org/
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy

Richard Nixon

www.answers.com/topic/richard‐nixon
www.historycentral.com/bio/presidents/nixon.html
www.nixonfoundation.org
www.pbs.org/newshour/Character/links/nixon_speech.html
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon

Ronald W. Reagan

www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Ronald_Reagan
www.ronaldreagan.com
www.reagan.utexas.edu
www.ronaldreaganmemorial.com
www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/ronaldreagan


1. What was the significance of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile
Crisis?
2. How did the civil rights movement develop on the Kennedy years?
3. What were the major features of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society?
4. What were the main reasons for the increased American involvement in
Vietnam?
5. How successful was Nixon's policy of détente? And Why?
6. What were Ford's main achievements in foreign policy?
7. How did Carter show conservatism at home and idealism abroad?
8. What were Reagan's major achievements in office, and what prices did the
country pay for them?
9. What was President Bush’s approach to the slumping economy and other
domestic affairs?
10. What were the main characteristics of Clinton's foreign policy?
11. What were the major social issues and technological innovations of the
booming nineties?
12. What were the domestic repercussions of the September 11 attacks?
13. How has the war on terrorism affected American society?

FURTHER TASKS

6. Summarize the most important effects of the economic crisis.
7. Explain the main features of Obama’s first year policy.
8. Write about civil right movement in the 1960s.
9. Compare the most significant political features of Clinton’s and G. W.
Bush’s presidencies.
10. Explain what characterized the Kennedy years.

UNIT 10

AN OVERVIEW OF OTHER ANGLOPHONE COUNTRIES

1. CANADA

1.2. From a Dominion towards the 21st Century Multicultural Nation
2. AUSTRALIA

2.1. Colonial Times
2.4. From the Golden Age to the 21st Century

3. NEW ZEALAND

3.2. A Multicultural Colony

4. INDIA

4.2. British India

5. SOUTH AFRICA

5.1.Historical and Cultural Background
5.3. PostApartheid South Africa

CHRONOLOGY




FURTHER TASKS

After the end of the First World War, the Dominions began seeking a new
constitutional definition and reshaping their relationship with Britain. At the
Imperial Conference in 1926, the prime ministers of the participating countries
adopted the Balfour Report which defined the Dominions as autonomous
communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate to
one another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by
common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British
Commonwealth of Nations.

The definition of Commonwealth was incorporated into British law in 1931
as the Statute of Westminster, granting legal recognition to the independence of
the Dominions. (See Document nº 6 of the Appendix. Documents of Other
Anglophone Countries). It was adopted immediately in the dominions of Canada,
the Irish Free State, Newfoundland (which joined Canada in 1949) and South
Africa. Australia ratified the Statute in 1942, and New Zealand adopted the Statute
in 1947. Britain's largest colony at the time, became a Dominion at the time of its
independence in 1947 and remained so until January 1950, when the Indian
Republic was born.

In 1949, the London Declaration was signed, marking the birth of the
modern Commonwealth, and renaming it as the Commonwealth of Nations. The
Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 independent sovereign states (one
of whose membership, Fiji, is currently suspended). Most of these states are
former British colonies, or dependencies of these colonies. Three members are in
Europe, twelve in North America, one in South America, nineteen in Africa, eight in
Asia, and eleven in Oceania (including Fiji). The most recent member is Rwanda,
which joined on 29 November 2009.

The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental
organisation through which countries, as originally stipulated in the Statute of
Westminster, are regarded as equal in status. The symbol of this free association is
the Head of the Commonwealth, which is a ceremonial position held by Queen
Elizabeth II. The fifty four member states co‐operate within a framework of
common values and goals which have gradually been added to and refined over the
years to include political, economic and social principles that reflect a post‐colonial
world. Among the prime aims of the Commonwealth today are the promotion of
democracy, development, human rights, gender equality, and an equitable sharing
of the benefits of globalisation,

1. CANADA

Today, in the twenty first century, Canada is a bilingual multicultural
country, a cultural mosaic where the different groups can maintain their identity
and preserve their culture. However, cultural pluralism has not always embraced
all groups and in the past, limitations were imposed. In the XIX century, for
example, northern Europeans were considered to be the best immigrants, whereas
the Southern Europeans were less welcome, and some Asiatic immigrants such as
the Chinese were clearly rejected.

Canada has also been determined by its geography. It is a vast country, the
second largest in the world, covering most of the northern part of the North
American continent, an area of 9,970,610 km2. It is not very densely populated.
According to the 2006 census, there were 32,248,600 inhabitants, and estimates
provided by Statistics Canada suggest that there will be 33,369,000 by 2011.
Canada is known for its rich natural resources and its particularly diverse
topography. The main cultivable areas are: the St. Lawrence plain, covering most of
southern Quebec and Ontario, and the interior continental plain, covering southern
Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and most of Alberta. A forested flat terrain separates
them. Most of British Columbia, the Yukon, and part of western Alberta are
covered by parallel mountain ranges, including the Rockies. The Pacific border of
the coastal range is ragged with fjords and channels. The highest point in Canada is
Mount Logan (6,050 metres), which is in the Yukon. The two principal river
systems are the Mackenzie and the St. Lawrence. The St. Lawrence is navigable for
over 3,058 km. Canada is a federation of ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia,
Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario,
Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) and three territories
(Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut). The capital is Ottawa and its main
cities are Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy that is governed by its own House of
Commons, and is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of
state. The Canadians are loyal subjects. The Prime Minister of Canada is the
primary Minister of the Crown, the chairman of the Cabinet, and thus the Head of
the Canadian Government. Canada, which became a British Dominion in 1867,
gained its independence from Britain in a gradual and peaceful process which
lasted through a large part of the 20th Century and culminated in the Canada Act of
1982, by which Canada became fully independent of the British rule, although still
remains part of the Commonwealth.


The first inhabitants of Canada were native Indian peoples, primarily the
Inuit (Eskimos). In AD 1000 the Norse explorer Leif Ericson became the first
European to land in North America. According to the sagas, this was the first of
many Norse voyages to the eastern shores of the continent. Some centuries later, in
1497, Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), an Italian in the service of Henry VII of
England, rediscovered the eastern shores of Canada. He landed in Cape Breton
Island (Newfoundland) and claimed this territory for England. Jacques Cartier,
who was looking forward to finding a North‐West passage to Asia, arrived in 1534.
He visited and named most of the important coasts on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
claimed those territories for France. However, French interest in this Canadian
territory began many years later due to commercial interests in fishing and the fur
trade. In 1603, Sieur de Monts obtained a charter to all the land lying between
40th‐46th degree north latitude. The settlement of New France, as it was then
called, began in 1604 at Port Royal, which became the first permanent French
settlement in North America, in what is now Nova Scotia (Acadia). In 1608, the city
of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain and in 1642, Montreal was
founded by Paul de Chomedy. First known as Ville‐Marie, this settlement was part
of a large Canadian missionary movement, which was based in France.

By the end of the 17th century, French explorers had penetrated beyond the
Great Lakes to the western prairies, and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of
Mexico. Meanwhile, the English Hudson's Bay Company had been established in
1670. In these territories, the valuable fisheries and fur trade led to a French and
English rivalry that eventually developed into a conflict. In fact, the Anglo‐French
struggle for North America was an extension of European conflicts. A struggle
between France and England, known as Queen Anne's War, broke out in 1702 and
led to the capture of Port Royal by the English in 1710. The Treaty of Utrecht,
which re‐established peace in 1713, required France to surrender Newfoundland,
the Hudson Bay Territory, and Nova Scotia (Acadia). France was permitted to keep
Cape Breton Island as well as her inland colonies. During the Seven Years’ War
(1756–1763), England extended its conquest and, in 1763 the Treaty of Paris gave
England control of a vast area. All territory east of the Mississippi became British.
France gave up New France and Louisiana.

Therefore, after a century and a half of efforts to colonize, Christianise, and
explore, the French were forced to retreat out of Canadian territory. The French
Empire was supplanted by the British. In fact, many problems arose with the
French subjects, “les Canadiens”, because the administration of the conquered
province by a governor and an appointed council was established by royal
proclamation, but British law prevented Roman Catholics from holding public
office. The British thought that the French could be assimilated but the French
Canadians struggled against an over‐whelming English‐speaking continent. As a
result, in 1774, the English Parliament passed the Quebec Act. This was the first
concession that the British government gave to the “Quebecois” who obtained
political power. This Act established that they could hold public office and that the
Roman Catholic Church was recognized. Also under the terms of this Act the
boundaries of Quebec were extended as far as the Ohio River valley. The Quebec
Act was seen by French Canadians as a “Magna Carta”, enabling them to survive as
a distinct people (See Document nº 1 of the Appendix. Documents of Other
Anglophone Countries)

When the American Revolution took place, the British tried to keep the
“Quebecois” secure from revolutionary tendencies of American colonies. To this
end, the governor Guy Carleton sent troops from Quebec to help the British
commander in Boston. In 1783, after the Treaty between Great Britain and the
United States, many thousands of British Loyalists left the United States,
constituting the first major wave of immigration by English‐speaking settlers since
the days of New France. About 30, 000 “loyalists” were transported to Nova Scotia,
which led to the formation of a new province, New Brunswick and about 7,000
settled in Quebec. Their arrival had immediate consequences for the province of
Quebec, which was inhabited by two different peoples. The Loyalists were not
satisfied with the limited rights and French laws established by the Quebec Act,
and the British government was forced to divide the area into two parts. Therefore,
in 1791, the British Parliament enacted the Constitutional Act, whereby Quebec
was split into two provinces: Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec).
As a consequence, there was duality. Each of these provinces was to be governed
by a legislative council appointed for life and a legislative assembly elected by the
people. The right to be represented in a lawmaking assembly was something new
for the French‐speaking inhabitants of Lower Canada.

The struggle for governmental reform, led to revolts in Upper and Lower
Canada, but they were quickly put down. One of the most prominent critics of the
government's administration was William Lyon Mackenzie, who went as far as to
call for the independence of Upper Canada. In Lower Canada, the leader of the
radical reforms was Louis Joseph Papineau, who came to the conclusion that no
lasting reform could be achieved unless their ties with Britain were broken. The
struggle for reform was more peaceful in the Maritimes. Here the leading
reformers included Joseph Howe, in Nova Scotia, and Lemuel Allan Wilmot, in
New Brunswick.
In 1837, John George Lambton, earl of Durham, was appointed governor in chief of
British North America with special powers as Lord High Commissioner. He
arrived in Quebec in the spring of 1838 and wrote his “Report on the Affairs of
British North America”, known as the Durham Report, which is one of the main
documents in the history of the British Empire. In this report, we can see the first
ideas for a Confederation. He recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be
united under a single parliament. One error of judgment occurred when he said
that the French-speaking Canadians might be expected to be absorbed by a
growing English-speaking majority. Among the advocates of this idea of
Confederation were: George Brown, John A. MacDonald and Georges-Etienne
Cartier, since they all agreed that a Confederation would keep Canada out of a
civil war conflict.
In 1840, The Act of Union was passed. It became effective in 1841 and joined
Upper and Lower Canada under one central government (See Document nº 2 of the
Appendix. Documents of Other Anglophone Countries). The two colonies were to
be known as Canada West and Canada East. There was to be an appointed upper
chamber, or legislative council, in the new government as well as an assembly
composed of the same number of elected members from each of the two old
colonies. The seat of government was established at Kingston; but after 1844, it
was moved to Montreal, then back and forth between Toronto and Quebec, and
finally to Ottawa in 1865. In the first several years of this period, the principle of
complete self‐government and the subordination of the governor's authority to
that of Parliament was developed and finally accepted. It was a critical time in the
constitutional history of Canada, and the ability of the two chief Canadian
nationality groups to get along with each other was tested for many years.

However, the government of the Canadas under the Act of Union
experienced a number of problems because Canada West by that time had
increased in population faster than Canada East. The act had provided for equal
representation of both parts of the colony at a time when French‐speaking Canada
East was numerically much larger than Canada West. A state of almost continuous
impasse ensued in Parliament, with no government able to secure a clear majority.

Between 1861 and 1864, four separate ministries and two general elections
failed to end the deadlock. In 1864, a coalition headed by the leader of the
Conservatives, John A. Macdonald, and Liberal leader George Brown promised a
more stable government. Macdonald, with his trusted ally Georges‐Etienne Cartier
from Canada East, obtained Brown's assurance of cooperation in spite of his
differences. OK

The coalition government wanted to work out some form of federal union
to include the Maritime Provinces, if they were willing. Provincial matters would
be left to the individual provinces. A conference to discuss the possibility of a local
union of colonies was convened in Charlottetown in 1864. In 1866, representatives
of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Canadas came together in London for final
discussions with the Colonial Office. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island for
the moment had withdrawn from the confederation talks.
1.2. From a Dominion towards a 21st Century Multicultural Nation
The final step was taken in London in 1867 where a Conference led directly
to the passing of the British North America Act, which was proclaimed on July 1st
1867. This act, with its subsequent amendments, embodied the written
constitution of Canada for more than a century, remaining in force until the
Constitution Act of 1982. The British North America Act established that there
should be four provinces in the new Dominion to begin with: Ontario, Quebec, New
Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and that others could join later. Each province was to
have its own seat of government, its own laws, and its own lieutenant governor to
represent the Crown. In addition, the act established a federal government in
Ottawa, composed of a House of Commons (elected), a Senate (appointed for life),
and a governor‐general as the Crown's representative. It set forth the matters on
which the provinces could make laws and listed those that were the special
concern of the government in Ottawa. Any powers not listed were to belong to the
federal government. The first Parliament of the new Dominion met on November
6, 1867, with Macdonald as prime minister. In 1869, Canada purchased the vast
Northwest Territories from the Hudson's Bay Company although the company was
permitted to retain trading rights in the area and a small percentage of the prairie
lands.

The only western settlement of importance east of the Rockies, was the Red
River colony in Manitoba, which had attained a population of some 12,000
inhabitants. The Métis, an aboriginal people largely based in Western Canada, were
the most numerous of these settlers. After the passage of the Manitoba Act of 1870,
Manitoba was constituted a province, with its seat of government at Fort Garry
(later Winnipeg). During the summer of 1871, British Columbia joined the new
Canada Confederation. Improvement in overland communications was a primary
condition imposed by the new province. Macdonald pledged that the Dominion
government would begin construction of a transcontinental railway within two
years and complete it within ten years.

The first Dominion census, which was taken in 1871 in accordance with the
British North America Act, showed a population of 3,689,257. In the same year, the
Treaty of Washington was signed between Great Britain and the United States,
which established the 49th parallel as a dividing line between America and
Canada, and settled United States and Canadian use of the Great Lakes‐St.
Lawrence system and the Yukon River in Alaska. The United States were granted
fishing rights in Canadian Atlantic waters for a limited period in return for 5 1/2
million dollars in compensation.

Progress on the Intercolonial Railway, which was to link the Maritimes with
Quebec, encouraged Prince Edward Island, in 1873, to become the seventh
province in the Dominion. The transcontinental railway project already required
heavy financial commitments by the government, and Macdonald was under
considerable pressure in the House of Commons as well as in the press. He won the
election of 1872. The Pacific Scandal defeated the Conservatives in 1873, and
Alexander Mackenzie, who headed the Liberal government, took office.

In 1874, during Mackenzie's term in office, which was from 1873 to 1878,
voting by ballot was introduced; the Supreme Court of Canada held its first sitting
in 1876; and the Inter‐colonial Railway ran its first train from Halifax to Quebec
the same year. In 1878, Macdonald returned to office and sought to strengthen the
new Dominion both at home and abroad. His government adopted its previously
announced protective tariff (1879), appointed Canada's first high commissioner to
London (1880), annexed the Arctic Archipelago (1880), and completed the
overdue transcontinental railway (1885). Macdonald also won in the 1891
election.

Due to their government majority, the Conservatives were not required to
call a new election for five years. During this time, however, they had to select four
prime ministers in succession and in the end, the Conservative party foundered,
under Tupper's leadership, on the Manitoba School Question. Manitoba had
abolished its separate Roman Catholic schools a few years earlier. This was
allegedly in violation of provisions in the Manitoba Act and the British North
America Act. The provincial government's action was upheld, however, by the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The new Liberal leader, Wilfrid Laurier, a French‐speaking Canadian,
favoured conciliation rather than coercion. The Conservatives were defeated on
the issue in the election; and the responsibility of government passed to the
Liberals, under Laurier. The Age of Laurier lasted 15 years and it was a period of
growth and prosperity. In 1911, when his opponents denounced his government's
decision to implement a limited reciprocity pact with the United States, Laurier
called a general election and he was defeated.

The new Conservative government was headed by Robert Laird Borde and
during his time in office the nation sided with Britain in World War I. To begin
with, the Canadian forces were made up wholly of volunteers, but by 1917,
casualties and the rapidly accelerating pace of the war made the bitter question of
conscription a major issue. Borden met it by forming a coalition government of
Conservatives and Liberals, though Laurier refused to join the coalition. In the
election of that year, Quebec was almost unanimous in its opposition to the
conscription policy that was supported elsewhere across the country.

Borden retired in 1920 and Arthur Meighen succeeded him as prime
minister. The election of 1921 brought the Liberals back into office under a new
leader, William Lyon Mackenzie King, but since the government had a bare
majority, it depended upon the support of the Progressive party members. After
four years of timid Liberal leadership, a new election strengthened the
Conservative representation but not to the point of giving the party control of
Parliament. This was accomplished in 1926.

The 1920s was a period of business expansion, but in 1929 the stock
market crash heralded unemployment and financial ruin across Canada. Defeated
in the 1930 elections, King made way for the Conservatives under Richard Bedford
Bennett, who had to deal with the Great Depression. His inability to tackle the
crisis, coupled with the severe drought in the prairies, led Canadians to abandon
the Conservatives. The election of 1935 brought the Liberals back into office, a
position they were to continue to hold without interruption for the next 22 years.

The interwar period brought the culmination of Canada's growth to
independent nationhood within the British Commonwealth. Prime Minister
Borden had been included in the Imperial War Cabinet in London. He piloted
through the Imperial Conference of 1917 a resolution that the dominions “should
be recognized as autonomous nations of an imperial commonwealth.” Canada sent
its own delegates to both the 1919 Peace Conference and the League of Nations.
The Imperial Conference of 1926 confirmed in its Declaration of Equality that the
United Kingdom, as well as the dominions, had become “autonomous Communities
within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another.”
They were, however, “united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely
associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” These
resolutions were confirmed by the British Parliament in 1931 in the Statute of
Westminster, which gave Canada and Newfoundland the opportunity for
legislative independence from the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The statute
provided that no law passed in the future by the United Kingdom should extend to
any dominion “except at the request and with the consent of that Dominion.”

In September 1939, Canada entered World War II alongside Britain after
remaining neutral for one week. Although Prime Minister King had assured the
nation that there would be no conscription for overseas duty, as the war
continued, the government needed to be released from this commitment. King
accomplished this by a national plebiscite, and all the provinces except Quebec
voted in favour of conscription for overseas service if necessary. In 1949,
Newfoundland joined the Confederation as the tenth province. In the same year,
Canada became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

On Feb. 15, 1965, Canada raised a red and white maple‐leaf flag. It was
adopted by Parliament in December 1964 and was Canada's first official national
flag. In 1967, there was a great party on the 100th anniversary of the British North
America Act in Ottawa, that was attended by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1982, the
British North America Act was replaced by a new constitution for the government
of Canada and Queen Elizabeth visited Parliament Hill to proclaim the document.
This completed the transfer of constitutional powers from Great Britain to Canada.

The long period of Liberal domination in Parliament ended in 1957. The St.
Laurent government was replaced when the Progressive Conservatives (called
Conservatives before 1942) took office under John G. Diefenbaker. In the 1962
elections, the Progressive Conservatives lost their control of Parliament, but no
other party was able to win a majority. Diefenbaker, as leader of the largest
minority party, formed a weak coalition government. In February 1963, his
government fell on the issue of Canada's failure to execute its 1958 commitments
to accept nuclear weapons from the United States for the joint defence of North
America. In the general elections held on April 8 that year, the Liberals won more
seats than any other party, and Liberal leader Lester B. Pearson was named prime
minister of Canada at the head of another minority government.

In 1968, the Liberals chose Pierre Elliott Trudeau to succeed him. In the
general elections in June, Trudeau won, with the Liberals taking a majority. During
his long tenure in the office (1968–79, 1980–84), Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
made social and cultural change his political goal for Canada, including the pursuit
of an official policy on bilingualism and plans for significant constitutional change.
In the October 1972 elections, Trudeau's Liberals won but failed to gain a majority.
They were able to stay in power with New Democratic support, but in May 1974,
Trudeau's government fell. The Liberals won a new majority in the July
parliamentary elections. Economic issues brought about the Liberals' defeat five
years later. The Progressive Conservatives, led by Joe Clark, formed a minority
government that fell after only six months. Although Trudeau resigned his party
leadership in November 1979, he was again named prime minister in 1980. In
1982, the Canada Act was passed by the British parliament and granted Royal
Assent by Queen Elizabeth II. Trudeau resigned in 1984 and was succeeded by
John Turner on June 30. On July 9, Turner called for dissolving Parliament and
holding a new election. He retained ministers from the Trudeau Cabinet and
appointed Trudeau supporters to the Senate, courts, and diplomatic posts.

Dissatisfaction with this continuation of Trudeau's influence led to victory
in the September election for the Progressive Conservatives, under the leadership
of Brian Mulroney who sought to improve relations with the United States. The
Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney began efforts to bring
Quebec into the constitution and end western alienation. Furthermore, under
Mulroney, relations with the United States improved and Canada and the U.S.
gradually became more closely integrated. In 1986, Canada and the U.S. signed the
Acid Rain Treaty to reduce acid rain, and in 1989, the federal government adopted
the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Negotiations for the
implementation of the agreement were carried out by representatives of the
Canadian, Mexican, and United States governments, and the North American Free
Trade Agreement finally came into effect in 1994.

Another important domestic issue occurred on May 4, 1992, when voters in
the Northwest Territories authorized the partition of their huge area into two
separate territories, one to become a self‐governing homeland for the Inuit, or
Eskimos. The new territory was to be called Nunavut, meaning Our Land. Although
the plebiscite was not binding on the Canadian government, the agreement was
expected to be ratified and to come into effect in 1999 when Nunavut became a
self‐governing Inuit territory. It was the first territory to have a majority native
population.

Mulroney resigned in February 1993 and Kim Campbell took over,
becoming Canada's first woman Prime Minister in Canada. Campbell and the
Conservatives remained in office only a few months, as they lost in the October
1993 elections, retaining only two seats in the House of Commons. The Liberal
party won 177 seats to take control of the government, and Jean Chretien became
prime minister.

In the early 1990s Canada suffered from high unemployment and a large
debt and deficit. Both Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments in the
federal government, and Progressive Conservative governments in Alberta and
Ontario, made major cutbacks in social welfare spending and there was significant
privatization of government‐provided services, government‐owned corporations,
and utilities during this period as a means to end government deficit and reduce
government debt.

The Quebec issue became particularly problematic in the 1960s, when an
important nationalist movement tried to separate it from Canada and establish a
French‐speaking nation. In 1969, French and English were both declared the
official languages of Canada. In 1970, however, growing unrest from the
separatists led to a number of terrorist acts, including the kidnapping and murder
of Quebec's minister of labour and immigration, Pierre Laporte. The federal
government sent in troops and temporarily suspended civil liberties. In 1974,
French became the official language of the province. In 1976, the Parti Québécois
was elected to power in Quebec, with a nationalist vision that included securing
French linguistic rights in the province and the pursuit of sovereignty for Quebec,
leading to a referendum to make the province an independent country, which was
rejected by the Quebec voters in 1980. The Quebec government opposed the 1982
constitution, which included a provision for freedom of language in education, and
in 1984, the Supreme Court ruled against Quebec's schooling restrictions.

In 1987, the Meech Lake constitutional accord recognized Quebec as a
“distinct society”. Quebec promised that it would accept the 1982 constitution if
the agreement was approved by all the rest of the provinces. The House of
Commons ratified the Meech Lake accord on June 22, 1988, but the accord died on
June 23, 1990, after Newfoundland and Manitoba withdrew their support. A new
set of constitutional proposals, which called for decentralization of federal powers,
an elected Senate, and special recognition of Quebec as a distinct society, was
agreed in 1992. Nevertheless, in a referendum held in October 1992, the Canadians
decisively turned down the constitutional changes and Quebec voters narrowly
rejected secession from Canada in a 1995 referendum. In 2006, the House of
Commons passed a motion recognizing the Québécois as a nation within Canada.

In the twenty first century, there have been relevant social and political
changes in Canada. Canada's border control policy and foreign policy were altered
as a result of the political impact of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United
States. However, Canada did not support the U.S.‐led war in Iraq in 2003, which led
to increased political animosity between the Canadian and U.S. governments at the
time.

In 2008, the Prime Minister officially apologized on behalf of the sitting
Cabinet for the endorsement by previous cabinets of the Canadian residential
school system, which had promoted forced cultural assimilation of aboriginal
peoples, and in which physical and emotional abuse had taken place. Canada's
aboriginal leaders accepted the apology. Stephen Harper, leader of the
Conservative Party, became the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada on February 6,
2006, but as leader of a minority government, since he won only 143 of 308 seats
in the last federal election.

There have been a number of significant changes in Canadian society.
Legislative restrictions on immigration that had favoured British and other
European immigrants were finally removed in the 1960s, opening the doors to
immigrants from all parts of the world. While the 1950s had seen high levels of
immigration from Britain, Ireland, Italy, and northern continental Europe, by the
1970s immigrants increasingly came from India, Hong Kong, the Caribbean and
Vietnam. Post‐war immigrants of all backgrounds tended to settle in the major
urban centres, particularly Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. In 1971, Canada
became the first country in the world to declare multiculturalism as official state
policy.

It is clear, then, that multiculturalism is an important characteristic of
Canadian society today, ensuring that all citizens can retain their identities and be
proud of their cultures. It is through multiculturalism that Canada recognizes the
potential of all Canadians and encourages them to take an active role in society.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table

1000 Norse built a settlement at L'Anse‐aux‐Meadows, Newfoundland
1497 Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot) claimed Cape Breton Island (Newfoundland)
for
England
1534 Jacques Cartier explored Gulf of St. Lawrence
1605 Port Royal, the first permanent French settlement in North America, founded
1608 Quebec (the city) founded by Samuel de Champlain
1642 Montreal was founded
1667 France, England and the Netherlands signed the Breda Treaty in July and
with this
England gives Acadia to France
1702 Queen Anne's War
1713 Treaty of Utrecht ceded French Acadia, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay and the
“country of the Iroquois” to England
1763 Treaty of Paris gave Canada (New France and Acadia) to England
1774 Quebec Act
1791 Constitutional Act divided Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada
1841 Act of Union united Upper and Lower Canada
1848 Responsible government established in Nova Scotia and Canada
1857 Queen Victoria named Ottawa as Canada's capital
1867 Confederation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario forms the
Dominion of Canada
1867 Sir John A. Macdonald became Canada's first prime minister
1871 British Columbia joined Confederation
1914 Canada automatically entered First World War when Britain declared war on
Germany
1931 Statute of Westminster granted Canada full autonomy from Britain
1939 Canada entered World War II after remaining neutral for 1 week
1949 Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province on March 31st
1969 The federal government became officially bilingual
1982 New Canadian Constitution was ratified by every province except Quebec
1984 Brian Mulroney lead Conservatives to biggest landslide in Canadian history
1994 Canada, Mexico and the U.S. signed the North American Free Trade
Agreement
1999 Nunavut becomes a self‐governing Inuit territory
2006 the Québécois were recognized as a nation within Canada
2009 Canada and Korea in the Asia‐Pacific era: building a stronger and closer
partnership

2. AUSTRALIA

The British loss of their American colonies at the end of the 18th century
signalled a new phase of empire. Britain was obliged to turn away from the
Atlantic towards the East, and the settlement of Australia was part of its expansion
in Asia and the Pacific. The situation also encouraged a reconsideration of how the
empire should be managed. After the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815,
there was a shift from the expensive military effort needed to protect trade
monopolies, with its accompanying burden of domestic taxation, towards self‐
sustaining economic development and free trade.

The new colonies, like the former British colonies in the United States,
constituted a distinctive zone of European expansion. There was little effort to
maintain the existing order, to enter into commercial relations with their
inhabitants or recruit them as labour; instead, these lands were cleared and settled
as fresh fields of European endeavour. Their temperate climates were able to
support European livestock, pasture and crops; their local flora and fauna were
less diverse and less resistant to the weeds and pests the Europeans brought with
them; their indigenous inhabitants were decimated by imported diseases.

The name Australia is derived from the Latin “Australis”, meaning
"southern". Legends of an "unknown land of the south" (terra australis incognita)
date back to Roman times and were commonplace in medieval geography, but
were not based on any documented knowledge of the continent. For early
European navigators, Australia was “Terra Australis Incognita,” the south land
beyond the limits of the known world. It was a place of mythical beasts and
fabulous wealth in the imagination of those who had long anticipated it, a blank
space where their fantasy could run free.

French and British interest in the Pacific revived from the middle of the 18th
century with a renewed sense of the region’s possibilities. The two countries sent a
series of ships whose names: Le Géographe, le Naturaliste, Endeavour, Discovery,
Investigator, suggest their purpose. The expeditions were dispatched by their
respective governments in conjunction with the members of the French Academy
and the scientists of the Royal Society. They tested new navigational aids and
advanced cartography to new standards. They carried natural historians,
astronomers, landscape painters, and botanical draftsmen. They measured,
described, collected and classified flora and fauna, searching always for plants that
might be propagated and utilised.

The most significant of them was James Cook (1728‐1779), a merchant
seaman who joined the Royal Navy and led three expeditions to the Pacific. On the
first (1768‐71), he sailed to Tahiti to observe the transit of the planet Venus across
the sun, then headed west to make a detailed circumnavigation of the two islands
of New Zealand and trace the east coast of Australia into the Torres Strait. With the
Endeavour, he charted more than 8000 kilometres of coastline and established the
limits of the Australian island‐continent. On the second voyage (1772‐4), he went
further south into the Antarctic seas and on the third (1777‐9) he was killed by
islanders of Hawaii. He was a hero of his time.

On 19 April 1770, the Endeavour sighted land at the entrance of Bass Strait
on the south corner of the Australian mainland. On 28 April, the ship entered a
large bay, where they were kept busy for a week collecting plant, bird and animal
species hitherto unknown to European science. They named it Botany Bay. For a
further four months the company travelled north. Finally, at Possession Island off
the northernmost tip of Cape York, Cook laid claim to the entire eastern coast
under the name of New South Wales. Cook did not so much discover Australia as
make it accessible to European travel and available for British settlement.

The decision to settle was taken by the British government fifteen years
after Cook returned with his reports of New South Wales. By this time Britain had
lost its North American colonies and was no longer able to transport convicts there
as it had done for most of the 18th century. A plan to establish a new penal colony
was prepared. Initially it was to be in Africa, but when no suitable site was found
there, Botany Bay was chosen in the “Heads of a Plan” and submitted to the Cabinet
by Lord Sydney, the Minister for the Home Office, who then had responsibility for
colonial affairs. The plan was adopted in 1786. To found a colony with convicts
was a more ambitious undertaking.

On the 13 May 1787, 1066 people, who had sailed in eleven vessels to New
South Wales from the southern English naval town of Portsmouth. The survivors
reached the north shore of Botany Bay on 18 January 1788, but landed 12
kilometres to the north in a cove of Port Jackson eight days later. They built a
settlement on a space cleared in the wooded slope that is now central Sydney. This
group of settlers that arrived on the New South Wales was the bridgehead for the
British occupation of the whole of Australia; the landing at Sydney Cove was the
formative moment of a new nation that would afterwards re‐enact its origins in the
celebration of 26 January as Australia Day. Captain Arthur Phillip took formal
possession of the new colony and became its governor. He held the colony together
through the early years of desolation until 1792.

The British authorities took possession of New South Wales in accordance
with the doctrine, derived from international law, that it was terra nullis, land
belonging to nobody. However, Phillip’s expedition was surprised by the number
of Aborigines round the settlement. They came to appreciate that these people had
social organisation, settled localities, customary law and property rights. The
Australian aborigines suffered the violation of their sacred sites, the destruction of
their habitat, the inroads of disease, and the growing realisation that the intruders
meant to stay. Their society was characterised by a shared and binding tradition.
Familial and communal restraints imposed order, mutuality and continuity. They
were confronted by a new social order in which the autonomy of the individual
prevailed and a form of political organisation based on impersonal regularity. This
self‐centredness and moral discord generated social conflict, criminality and exile.
Such an encounter could only be traumatic. Not until the High Court gave its Mabo
judgement in 1992 was there a legal recognition that the Aborigines had owned
and possessed their traditional lands.

2.1. Colonial Times

A basic economic structure had begun to emerge that worked with
reasonable efficiency, given the endemic shortage of currency, in the colony. The
government commissary purchased the produce of the colonists and paid for it
with store receipts. These became accepted as a form of legal tender within the
colony, so settlers could purchase supplies from the merchants with them. Once
sufficient store receipts had been accumulated, they could be exchanged for a
treasury bill or sterling money order, which was accepted by visiting ships as
negotiable currency in payments for cargoes of imports. Since initially only the
civil and military officers were paid in treasury bills, it also followed that they
possessed a fortuitous monopoly over the means to purchase the cargoes of
incoming ships. Wholesaling did not violate the code of the officer and gentleman,
but retail trading certainly did. Consequently, a number of merchants and
middlemen began to appear as retail traders within the colony. However, the
officers’ favoured position did not last long and, by the turn of the century, the
monopoly had been broken by the retail traders who also collected the store
receipts, purchased treasury bills with them, and then broke into wholesaling in
opposition to the officers.
When Arthur Phillip left the colony because of illness in 1792, this basic
economic pattern had emerged. Command passed to the commanding officer of the
New South Wales Corps. Major Grose took over and, after two years, his successor,
Captain Paterson, became chief administrator. During this period, before the
arrival of Governor Hunter in September 1795, land was freely granted to the
officers of the government. Simultaneously, John Macarthur was given charge of
public works and convict labour in the entire area encompassed by Parramatta,
Toongabbie, and the Hawkesbury River.

Convicts working for private entrepreneurs found themselves offered

inducements in the form of sprits, tobacco, tea and sugar. The officers began to
import all these before Phillip’s departure. Because the Corps’ officers were
associated with the importation and distillation of spirits and were therefore
responsible for the degradation it brought to the colonial society, the Corps
became known as the “Rum Corps”, and its coup d’état against Governor Bligh in
1808 has gone down in history as the “Rum Rebellion”. By the time of Governor
John Hunter’s arrival in 1795, the Corps was entrenched in power. Its officers
owned extensive landholdings; they speculated in the wholesale trade, and they
controlled the colony’s courts in their capacity as magistrates and jurors. John
McCarthur, in particular, had prospered, and had begun to accumulate a
substantial fortune. Hunter, and later governor Philip G. King, confronted the
problem of McCarthur and the New South Wales Corps. Both governors proved
unable to cope. The use of rum as a payment for labour was the most visible
difficulty, but it was by no means the only one.

Another cause of conflict was sexual relations. From the beginning, there
was a gross imbalance in the proportions of male and female settlers, roughly four
to one until 1820. During the voyage of the First Fleet, Phillip and the officers had
great difficulty in separating the female convicts from the men, and his
encouragement of partnerships on arrival, was meant to encourage the civilising
influence of the family. The governor also had a particular fear of male
homosexuality, and believed that sodomy should be punished with the utmost
severity.

The convicts who arrived in the early years were mostly English; one‐fifth
was Irish and there were some Scots. Most had been convicted of a property
offence, and brought only a few possessions. In these early years, the fundamental
conditions of their treatment were established. Upon the expiry of a sentence or by
means of an early pardon, the convict was emancipated. By 1800, two‐thirds of the
New South Wales colonists were free, but most of these were former convicts and
that status was not easily expunged. The division between the ‘exclusives’ and the
‘emancipists’, those who came free and those who were transported, troubled all
aspects of public life in a confined, intimate society and persisted into the next
generation and beyond, until the numbers and attitudes of the ‘native born’ finally
prevailed.

Irish convicts sentenced for their part in the rebellion there in 1798, rose up
on a government farm at Castle Hill and led 300 men first to Parramatta and then
to seek support from the farmers of the Hawkesbury. The rebels were overtaken
by troops and their uprising put down. A score or so were butchered on the spot,
eight hanged and more flogged in an effort to obtain information. A second
uprising, which became known as the Rum Rebellion, followed four years later. It
shed no blood and was conducted by the officers of the New South Wales Corps,
who overthrew the governor, William Bligh. He had been sent in 1806 to impose
order and brought with him a considerable reputation as a naval disciplinarian.

In 1803, Matthew Flinders reached Sydney after charting the Australian
coast for the British Admiralty with his ship, the Investigator. In 1814, Flinders’
manuscript of Voyage to Terra Australis appeared, and he used that name because
it was the most familiar to the public. He explained it in a passage of it: ‘Had I
permitted myself any innovation upon the original name, it would have been to
convert it into AUSTRALIA; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an assimilation
to the names of the other great portions of the earth.” Flinders’ book was not
instrumental in the adoption of the name. The name gradually came to be accepted
over the following ten years. Lachlan Macquarie, a Governor of New South Wales,
subsequently used the word in his dispatches to England, and on 12 December
1817 recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted. In 1824, the
Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia.
Australian was the name of the independent newspaper founded in 1824.

The British had occupied only a small part of the south‐east of Australia. In
Van Diemen’s Land they congregated on the central plain; in New South Wales they
extended north and south along the coast, and west into the transalpine slopes. In
New South Wales, the aboriginals constituted a minority of perhaps no more than
one‐third. There were many aboriginal peoples in central and western New South
Wales, and many more to the north and west of the continent that had still not
encountered white men, seen their livestock and crops, or heard the sound of their
muskets. They were marked by the advent of the intruder as surely as the smallpox
scars born by those who survived the spread of the diseases the colonists brought
with them. The process of plantation was clearly apparent in Australia, but so too
was the accompanying process of settler colonists attaching themselves to the new
place.


The explorers were important figures in the colonial years of Australian
history. They figured as exemplary heroes of imperial power. The internal
exploration of the country proceeded rapidly after the crossing of the Blue
Mountains in 1813. A series of expeditions from 1817 onwards, used Bathurst as a
base from which to follow the inland river system that drained from the western
plains of New South Wales into the Murray, and by 1830, traced that river to its
outlet on the south coast. Northern explorations pushed through the high country
of New England onto the Darling Downs in 1827, and into western Queensland in
1832. A journey south to Port Phillip was made in 1824, in 1836 the grasslands of
Western Victoria were traversed, and in 1840 a route through the Snowy
Mountains into Gippsland was found.

During the 1820s, stockholders moved out of the Cumberland Plain, over
the Blue Mountains and along the inland creeks and rivers. In the 1830s, they
breached the boundaries of the nineteen counties, and rapidly occupied the
grasslands south of the Murray, which became known as the Port Phillip District.
In Van Diemen’s Land, the lines of settlement north and south of the estuarine
bases met in 1832 and quickly broadened. Sheep numbers on the mainland
increased from 100,000 in 1820, to one million in 1830, and from 180,000 to a
million on the island colony. Production of cattle and cultivation of cereals also
increased rapidly, but in the next two decades sheep surpassed all the expectations
of the European economy.

Australian sheep produced wool for British manufacturers to spin and
weave. Between 1810 and 1850, British imports of fleece increased tenfold. First
Spain and then Germany catered to this growing demand, but as Australian
producers improved the quality of their wool with the introduction of the merino
breed, they captured an increasing share of the British market: a quarter in 1840
and half by 1850. By then, sales of Australian wool amounted to over two million
pounds per annum, more than 90 per cent of all exports. This was the staple that
sustained Australian prosperity and growth for a century.

The conditions were ideal: plentiful land at minimal cost, a benign climate, a
high‐value product that could absorb transport costs. Such opportunities attracted
army and naval officers after the Napoleonic Wars, and younger sons of the gentry
in England and Scotland who sought their own estates. There were fortunes to be
made in this first phase of the pastoral industry. To make it productive and
profitable, there were the convicts. Between 1821 and 1840, 55,000 convicts
landed in New South Wales and 60,000 in Van Diemen’s Land, where
transportation continued for a further decade. The great majority were assigned to
masters and most served out their time in rural labour. There was keen demand
for them since a pastoral station needed large numbers of shepherds, stockmen
and hut keepers, and bond labour could be made to endure the isolation and
insecurity that deterred free labour. Convicts, who cost no more than their keep,
underwrote the rapid growth and high yields of the pastoral economy.

Women constituted one‐sixth of all those transported to Australia. There
was a dual subordination of convict women, to the state and to men. The females
brought valuable qualities: they were younger, more literate and more skilled than
the comparable female population of the British Isles but had a minor role in the
pastoral industry and were usually employed in indoor work. They played a vital
demographic role. They were more fertile than those whom they left behind, but
the assignment system made it difficult for them to marry. They were refused
permission to marry until they had been ‘some months or even years in service
free from offence’.

From 1831, the British government used revenue from the sale of land to
subsidise the passage of a new class of ‘free’ migrants seeking a fresh start. They
arrived in New South Wales in increasing numbers, 8,000 in the 1820s, 30,000 in
the 1830s. This action altered the balance of population movements among the
settler societies. Whereas in 1831, 98% of emigrants from the British crossed the
Atlantic to the United States or Canada, in 1839 a quarter of them chose Australia.
80,000 free settlers landed in New South Wales during the 1840’s. There was an
assisted migration. Under a bounty system, agents in Britain were paid for every
migrant they sent to Australia. One source for the human cargo was the
workhouses, where those on poor relief were confined. The pauper migrants
outnumbered those who came voluntarily. By the late 1830s, the pressures for the
abandonment of penal transportation were thus becoming irresistible. The
government suspended transportation to New South Wales in 1840. An attempt to
revive it in 1849 brought indignant colonial protest and final abandonment. They
stopped using Van Diemen’s Land as the destination for criminal exiles.

In the summer of 1851, Edward Hargraves crossed the Blue Mountains to
Bathurst and washed a deposit of sand and gravel from a waterhole to disclose a
grain of gold in a tin dish. ‘This was a memorable day in the history of New South
Wales’. Hargraves named his place of discovery Ophir and set off back to Sydney to
claim a reward from the governor. He was not even the first colonist to find gold:
shepherds had picked up nuggets from rocky outcrops. The deposits of gold in
south‐east Australia were formed by rivers and creeks that flowed down the Great
Dividing Range and left large concentrations of the heavy sediment in gullies as
they slowed where the gradient flattened. Much of this gold was close to the
surface and could be dug with pick and shovel, and washed in pans or simple
rocking cradles. During the 1850s, Victoria contributed more than one‐third of the
world’s gold output. With California, it produced such wealth that the United States
of America and the United Kingdom were able to adopt the gold standard for their
currencies and underwrite their financial dominance.

The gold rush transformed the Australian colonies. In just two years the
number of new arrivals was greater than the number of convicts who had landed
in the previous seventy years. The non‐aboriginal population increased, from
430,000 in 1851 to 1,150,000 in 1861. Victoria grew from 77,000 to 540,000
inhabitants, giving it a numerical supremacy over New South Wales that it retained
to the end of the century. In the early 1850s Australia bought 15% of all British
exports. The goldfield’s towns also provided a ready market for local produce and
manufacturing. In these years the first railways were constructed, the first
steamships plied between Europe and Australia.

The Chinese came when the gold rush moved into north Queensland in the
1860’s and the Northern territory in the 1870’s, but they were unwelcome
competitors on the diggings and quickly moved into horticulture, commerce and
service industries. Gold in turn took European Australians into New Guinea, and
the British government was startled to learn in 1883 that Queensland had annexed
the territory.

The gold rush coincided with the advent of the self‐government. In 1842,
Britain granted New South Wales a partly elected legislative council, a concession
it extended to South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria by 1851, when the last of
these colonies was separated from New South Wales. In 1852, the minister for the
colonies announced that it had ‘become more urgently necessary than heretofore
to place full powers of self‐government in the hands of a people thus advanced in
wealth and prosperity’. An empire of free trade required free institutions. So, the
colonies proceeded accordingly, and in 1855, the British parliament enacted the
constitution of New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria. South Australia received
its constitution in 1856, and Queensland was separated from New South Wales in
1859 and similarly endowed. The governors became local constitutional monarchs.
The imperial government retained substantial powers, however. It continued to
exercise control of external relations and appointed the governor and issued his
instructions.

Both the reduction in the numerical imbalance of men and women, and the
continuing legal and economic imbalance between the sexes, made for high rates of
marriage. Some laws controlled a wife’s property and provided few opportunities
for her to escape an oppressive husband. Both bride and groom chose each other
freely and quickly established autonomy from parents and in‐laws in their own
household. In the colonial family, furthermore, the wife typically played a more
active role and was more closely involved in crucial decisions.

It was already established that there was no established religion in
Australia. This was in recognition of ethnic diversity: the overwhelming majority of
Catholics were Irish, most Presbyterians Scottish, and they demanded equality of
status with the Church of England. Yet this was a period of religious growth. Both
church membership and church attendance increased markedly from the 1860s.
Up to the middle of the 19th century the churches had been the chief providers of
education. The universities that were established in Sydney (1850), Melbourne
(1853) and Adelaide (1874), were civic institutions, established by acts of
parliament, supported by public appropriations and controlled by councils largely
appointed by government.


In 1897, at a conference in London, the Colonial Office persuaded the
Australian premiers to drop explicit discrimination against other races in favour of
an ostensible non‐discriminatory dictation test for immigrants, a device used by
other British Dominions to achieve the same result. Since a foreigner could be
tested in any European language, the immigration official needed only to select an
unfamiliar one to ensure failure. This was the basis of the Immigration Restriction
Act passed by the new Commonwealth parliament in 1901, but by then Asian
immigration was negligible. White Australia was not the object of Federation but
rather an essential condition of the idealised nation the Commonwealth was meant
to embody.

White Australia was therefore an ideal but it was also a falsehood. The
Immigration Restriction Act was used to turn away non‐European settlers, but it
left substantial numbers of Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Afghans already there.
Commonwealth legislation passed in 1901 provided for repatriation of Pacific
Islanders from the Queensland sugar industry, but long‐term residents were
allowed to stay as the results of protests. New immigrants from Java and Timor
were allowed to enter the pearling industry. Non European traders, students and
family members continued to land at Australia ports. Discriminatory laws denied
naturalisation to non‐Europeans, excluded them from welfare benefits, shut them
out of occupation, and in some States refused them land tenure. The impact of
these policies was especially marked in northern Australia. The population living
above the Tropic of Capricorn at the turn of the century was about 200,000. Half
were Europeans concentrated in the Queensland ports of Mackay, Cairns and
Townsville.

On January 1, 1901, (See document nº 5 of the Appendix. Documents of
Other Anglophone Countries), the six colonies became a federation, and the
Commonwealth of Australia was formed. Since Federation, Australia has
maintained a stable, liberal, democratic political system and remains a
Commonwealth realm. Federal parliamentarians selected a site for a national
capital on a grassy plain in the high country between Sydney and Melbourne, and
the members of the Cabinet considered various names for it. In the end they
settled on a local Aboriginal word, Canberra.

There were three parties in the national parliament until 1909,
Protectionist, Free Trade and Labour, and none commanded a majority. Except for
a brief interval, the Protectionists and Labour alternated in office with the qualified
support of the other and a sufficient measure of agreement on policy to cause the
Free Traders to rename themselves the Anti‐Socialists for the 1906 election,
though with no greater success. The social, industrial and political forms of the
New Commonwealth were therefore worked out by a consensus that spanned the
manufacturing interests and progressive middle‐class followers of protectionist
liberalism with the collectivism of the organised working class.

In the space of thirty years the circumstances of Australian nationhood
changed irrevocably. The country’s strategic dependence on Britain drew it into
two wars. In the Great War, an expeditionary force was formed. It was raised by
recruitment of volunteers and named the Australian Imperial Force. They joined
with their New Zealand counterparts to form the Australian and New Zealand
Army Corps (ANZAC). A more colloquial term, ‘digger’, was also quickly adopted,
harking back to the egalitarian fraternity of the goldfields. Women were excluded
from the armed forces; even the 2000 nurses who served abroad were denied
official military rank. OK

The war had also exacted a heavy economic toll. It cut the inflow of labour
and capital, and deprived Australia of German, French and Belgian markets that
had taken 30% of the country’s exports. Rural hardship increased the drift to the
cities. They grew rapidly and absorbed much of the new investment. Even before
the Wall Street crash in October 1929 made further borrowing impossible, the
government attempted to stem a high imbalance of payments by reducing the cost
of Australian exports. As a debtor and a commodity exporter, Australia was hit
hard by the Depression. Its unemployment level was higher than that of Britain
and most other industrial economies. The government had failed to protect jobs
and to protect the jobless. They introduced new laws against strikes. The wave of
industrial conflict brought down the federal government.

Australia entered the Second World War as it had entered the first,
automatically. As soon as the Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, was informed that
Britain had declared war on Germany, he declared that their country “is also at
war’. The entry of Japan into the war with the raid on Pearl Harbor at the end of
1941 realised Australia’s worst fears. After leading the defence of Papua New
Guinea, the Australians were relegated to an auxiliary role in the Pacific war effort.
Australian losses in the WWII were less than in the WWI, 37,000 deaths out of a
total enlistment of one million.

2.4. From the Golden Age to the 21st century

There was a global boom in the 1950s and 1960s. As a trading country,
Australia benefited from a revival of world trade and investment. Exporters
benefited from the outbreak of war in Korea in 1950, which caused leading
industrial countries to stockpile essential commodities. The price of wool
increased sevenfold during 1951 to reach record levels, and other primary
producers also prospered as new markets emerged. An annual growth rate of over
4% was maintained throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s. There was full
employment, higher productivity and improved earnings. This was an era in which
Australia was a ‘small, rich and industrial country’. The golden age lasted through
the 1960s until the early 1970s.

One of the most important challenges came from the Aboriginal movement.
In 1959, the Commonwealth extended welfare benefits to all but ‘nomadic or
primitive’ Aborigines. In 1962, it provided the right to vote. In 1965, the
Arbitration Court awarded equal pay for Aboriginal pastoral workers. In 1967, a
national referendum, supported by all major political parties and, carried by an
overwhelming majority, gave the Commonwealth power to legislate for Aborigines.
The most spectacular display of black power in Australia was the Aboriginal tent
embassy on the lawns in front of Parliament House in Canberra. An elected
national council to represent Aboriginal interests was elected, but it did not defuse
the tension since it was restricted to an advisory role.

Women finally achieved the full adult minimum wage as the result of an
Arbitration Court decision in 1974, and more was promised to give practical effect
to that formal equality: maternity leave and child‐care centres for working women
along with women’s health centres and refuges. The Labour Prime Minister, Gough
Whitlam, appointed an adviser on women’s affairs, Elizabeth Reid. This brought a
new partnership of feminism and public policy. After the chronic political
instability that marked the conservative collapse, and then the feverish pace of the
truncated Whitlam regime, the years afterwards presented an outward appearance
of equilibrium. Between 1975 and 1991 there was just one change of government,
and two prime ministers held office for roughly equal terms.

Australia is a developed country, with a prosperous multicultural society
and excellent results in many international comparisons of national performance
such as human development, quality of life, health care, life expectancy, public
education, economic freedom, and the protection of civil liberties and political
rights. Australian cities routinely rank among the world's highest in terms of the
cultural offer and quality of life. It is a member of the United Nations, the G20, the
Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development, ANZUS, Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation, the South Pacific Forum,
and the World Trade Organization.

Most of the estimated 22 million Australians are descended from colonial‐
era settlers and post‐Federation immigrants from Europe, with almost 90% of the
population being of European descent. For generations, the vast majority of both
colonial‐era settlers and post‐Federation immigrants came almost exclusively from
the British Isles, and the people of Australia are still mainly of British or Irish
ethnic origin. In the 2006 Australian Census, the most commonly nominated
ancestry was Australian (37.13%), followed by English (31.65%), Irish (9.08%),
Scottish (7.56%), Italian (4.29%), German (4.09%), Chinese (3.37%), and Greek
(1.84%).

Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I, spurred by an
ambitious immigration program. Following World War II and through to 2000,
almost 5.9 million of the total population settled in the country as new immigrants,
meaning that nearly two out of every seven Australians were born overseas. Most
immigrants are skilled, but the immigration quota includes categories for family
members and refugees.
In 2001, the five largest groups of the 23.1% of Australians who were born
overseas were from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Vietnam, and China.
Following the abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973, numerous
government initiatives have been established to encourage and promote racial
harmony based on a policy of multiculturalism. In 2005‐06, more than 131,000
people migrated to Australia, mainly from Asia and Oceania. The migration target
for 2006‐07 was 144,000. The total immigration quota for 2008‐09 was around
300,000. Its highest level since the Immigration Department was created after
World War II.

Nearly three quarters of Australians live in metropolitan cities and coastal
areas. The beach is an integral part of Australian identity. The Indigenous
population, mainland Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, was counted at
410,003 (2.2% of the total population) in 2001, a significant increase from the
1976 census, which counted an indigenous population of 115,953. A large number
of Indigenous people are not identified in the Census due to undercount and cases
where their Indigenous status is not recorded on the form; after allowing for these
factors, the estimated the true figure for 2001 appears to be approximately
460,140 (2.4% of the total population). In common with many other developed
countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older
population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. In 2004, the
average age of the civilian population was 38.8 years.

Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of

imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education, and life expectancies
for males and females that are 11‐17 years lower than those of non‐indigenous
Australians. The relationship between the settlers and the indigenous peoples
remains uncertain. All attempts to ease their conscience, whether by protection,
reservation, conversion or assimilation of the Aboriginals, failed. The relationship
is more important than ever because its terms have changed. Australia has
remained tied to its origins but the incorporation of Aboriginal and Asian peoples
and cultures into the context of Australian life is a necessary task in the twenty‐
first century.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table

50,000 BC The first settlers are thought to have arrived at that time
1606 The first European sightings of Australia were made by a Dutchman.
Later
that year Louis Vaez de Torres sailed through the Torres Strait
1642 Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman's, first journey to Australia. In 1644, Abel
Tasman established that Australia was made up of four coasts: North,
West, East and South. Tasmania was named after this famous explorer
1770 Captain Cook landed in Botany Bay on the Eastern side of Australia in
the
ship named HM Bark Endeavour. Cook claimed New South Wales for
Britain
1788 The First Fleet arrived at Sydney Cove under Captain Arthur Phillip to
establish the first settlement in Australia. This was to be a penal colony.
Sydney was founded. The date of his arrival, 26 January, went on to
mark
Australia Day
1801‐1899 The great age of exploration
1803 Mathew Flinders completes the first voyage around Australia
1804 Castle Hill Rising by Irish convicts in New South Wales
1813 Barrier of the Blue Mountains Crossed
1825 Tasmania seceded from New South Wales
1829 Western Australia formed
1836 South Australia formed
1840‐1868 Convict transportation ended
1851‐1861 Gold rushes (Ballarat, Bendigo)
1851 Victoria seceded from New South Wales
1855 Victoria achieved government
1856 New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania achieved government
1859 Queensland formed from New South Wales and achieved government
1890 Western Australia achieved government
1891 Depression gave rise to the Australian Labour Party
1899‐1900 South African War‐forces offered by the individual colonies
1901 Creation of the Commonwealth of Australia
1911 Site for capital at Canberra acquired
1914‐1918 World War I. Australia experienced her first major losses in a war in
1915
on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey
1939‐1945 World War II. Anzac troops in Greece, Crete, and N Africa (El Alamein)
and the Pacific. The Japanese bomb Darwin in 1942
1941 Curtin's appeal to USA for help in the World War marked the end of the
special relationship with Britain
1944 Liberal party founded by Menzies
1948‐1975 Two million new immigrants, the majority from continental Europe
1950‐1953 Korean War. Australian troops part of the United Nations forces
1964‐1972 Vietnam War. Commonwealth troops in alliance with US forces
1966‐1974 Mineral boom typified by the Poseidon nickel mine
1967 The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established
1973 Britain entered the Common Market, and in the 1970's Japan became
Australia's chief trading partner. Whitlam abolishes 'white Australia'
policy
1975 Constitutional crisis; Prime Minister Whitlam dismissed by the
Governor
General. United Nations trust territory of Papua New Guinea became
Independent. The Liberal Party under Malcolm Fraser came to power
1978 Northern Territory achieved self‐government
1979 Opening of uranium mines in Australian Northern Territory
1983 Hawke convened first national economic summit. The Fraser
Government
was defeated. The Labour Party under Bob Hawke formed a government
1988 Australia celebrated its Bicentennial
1991 Paul Keating replaced Bob Hawke as Labour Party leader and Prime
Minister
1994 The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was established
1996 Labour Party ousted in general election by Liberal‐National Coalition.
John Howard replaced Paul Keating as Prime Minister
2000 Australia hosted the 2000 Olympic Games.
2001 Australia celebrated the Centenary of the Federation of Australia
2007 Liberal‐National Coalition lost in the general election to the Australian
Labour Party (ALP). Kevin Rudd replaced John Howard as Prime
Minister
2009 Black Saturday Massive bushfires swept across Victoria, resulting in the
largest civilian death‐toll in Australian history

3. NEW ZEALAND

The Dutch explorer Abel Tasman was sent from Batavia (now the
Netherlands) ‘for the discovery and exploration of the supposed rich southern and
eastern land’. The instructions from the Governor‐General and councillors of the
Dutch East Indies enjoined that he should try ‘to find out what commodities their
country yields, likewise, inquiring after gold and silver, whether the latter are by
them held in high esteem’. On 13 December 1642, the crews of the Heemskerck and
the Zeehaen sighted ‘a large, high‐lying land’. It was part of the west coast of the
South Island of New Zealand. They had a first encounter with the Maori people and
four Dutchmen were killed. The Maori would not let them land. Tasman charted
part of the west coast of the country, which he called Staten Landt (which was soon
renamed Nieuw Zeeland), after the Dutch province, when the original Staten Landt
was found to be an island). He discovered Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania).
Nieuw Zeeland was left to its savage inhabitants for another century, though its
existence was recorded in a few charts and books. It was occupied by the
Polynesian Maori from about AD 850.

The British Royal Society and the Admiralty sent Captain James Cook to visit
Tahiti in order to observe a transit of Venus. His ship was the Endeavour.
Thereafter, he was instructed to search for the legendary southern continent. If his
search was unsuccessful, he was to explore the coast of New Zeeland. In 1769, he
established that New Zeeland was not that fabulous land. In 1770, he proved that,
apart from Australia the southern continent did not exist at all.

Cook’s relations with the Maoris were at first as unfortunate as Tasman’s.
Several initial encounters resulted in the death of natives, following what the
Europeans interpreted as hostile actions on their part. Cook learned how to
manage them and came to think of them as ‘a brave, warlike people, with
sentiments void of treachery’. The Maoris at first thought the white men were
goblins and their ship a god. Many other explorers followed Cook before the end of
the eighteenth century. The French Jean‐François‐Marie de Surville arrived two
months after James Cook. George Vancouver, Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni
d'Entrecasteaux, and the Italian Alessandro Malaspina, who led a Spanish
expedition, came later.

In 1771, a plan for the colonization of the country was put forward by
Benjamin Franklin and the hydrographer Alexander Dalrymple, but colonization
began only after the loss of Britain's American colonies had brought the penal
settlement of New South Wales into contact with New Zealand. The first semi‐
permanent European inhabitants of New Zealand were whalers and sealers. After
1800, British, American and French whalers began to fish regularly off the coast.
The East India Company had the monopoly and it forbade private British vessels to
trade. British missionaries began to arrive from 1815, and in 1826 the New
Zealand Company was founded in London to encourage settlement.

Contact with European society threatened the Maori with political and
economic collapse, and in 1830, Samuel Marsden, the colonial chaplain, having
been moved by pleas from visiting Maoris, suggested to the governor of New South
Wales the desirability of appointing a British representative in New Zealand,
backed by naval visits in order to control a growing European community that was
incapable of adjusting itself to change without such control. The British
government sent a resident, James Busby, to the Bay of Islands, under the authority
of the government of New South Wales, but Busby's attempt in 1835 to encourage
the Maori to adopt a settled form of government under British protection proved
unsuccessful.

Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who had been the driving force behind several
schemes to promote colonization, became president of the New Zealand Company
in 1839, after its initial failure. Wakefield's efforts, despite official and missionary
antagonism, to inaugurate systematic colonization marked the start of a new era in
British overseas settlement. Enlisting the support of politicians, religious leaders,
businessmen, and others, he eventually succeeded in making New Zealand a
British colony.


The first ‘colony’ of New Zealand Company settlers reached Port Nicholson
in 1840. The British government sent out Captain William Hobson to negotiate
with the Maori chiefs for the recognition of British authority. Hobson arrived at the
Bay of Islands on 29 January 1840. As lieutenant‐governor of a colony his task was
to take possession of it with the consent of the Maori chiefs. Hobson had no draft
treaty to guide him, but the colonial secretary, Lord Normanby, had given him
instructions that James Stephen of the Colonial Office had prepared. “All dealings
with the Aborigines for their Lands must be conducted on the same principles of
sincerity, justice, and good faith as must govern your transactions with them for
the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereignty in the Islands.”

The Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, was prepared
over just a few days in February 1840. The land claims would need to be approved
by the new authorities and no new transactions after the date of the proclamations
would be recognised. On 3 February, the draft treaty was ready with a long and
cumbersome explanation of what it meant. It covered all the points that Britain
wanted: the chiefs would give up 'sovereignty', Britain would take over all land
purchasing, the Maori would have the protection and all rights and privileges of
British subjects and would be guaranteed possession of their lands, forests,
fisheries and other properties so long as they wanted them. These points were
expressed in three clauses or articles. Hobson retained these but added a different
explanatory preamble (See Document nº 3 of the Appendix. Documents of Other
Anglophone Countries).

Missionary Henry Williams and his son Edward, both of whom knew the
Maori language, had the job of translating the document. The Maori translation
was presented to some 500 Maori on 5 February. For several hours, chiefs spoke
for and against it and they debated the document late into the night, with Williams
on hand to explain and clarify points. He told the Maori that they would be 'one
people with the English, in the suppression of wars, and of every lawless act; under
one Sovereign, and one Law, human and divine'. The newly arrived surveyor
general, Felton Mathew, who only spoke English, gathered that the Maori would
have ‘full power over their own people, remaining perfectly independent’. These
reassurances, along with tiredness and a shortage of food, probably helped
convince some chiefs. They were invited to meet Hobson on 5 February at
Waitangi. By the morning of 6 February, most chiefs just wanted to sign and return
home. The result was the Treaty of Waitangi.

Ideas were as destructive as war for the Maori people. The traders gave the
Maoris the means of self‐destruction and the missionaries set out to change the
constitution of Maori life. The Anglican was joined by a Wesleyan mission
established at the Bay of Islands and Hokianga. By 1840, perhaps half the Maoris of
the Bay of Islands were at least nominally converts to Christianity. Farther south
there were a thousand baptized and ten thousand regular churchgoers. Within a
few years probably a majority of Maoris had been converted. Sometimes a tribe
would follow its chief into the new religion. Christian doctrine spread among the
most distant tribes. One of the important causes of the Maori conversion was the
spread of literacy among Maoris. They found learning to read and write their own
language extremely exciting, and all they could read in it was the Bible and other
religious works.

The Treaty of Waitingi and the absence of unified Maori opposition to it
provided the basis for British colonial expansion in New Zealand. The deliberately
ambiguous text seemed to offer British control of the unruly European settlers in
exchange for a nominal Maori recognition of British sovereignty. William Hobson
was, in effect, the first British governor of New Zealand, and under him, British law
and government was established in the North Island, where the Maori were most
numerous. The headquarters of the northern settlement was moved from the Bay
of Islands to Auckland, which in 1841 became the seat of government. Around the
same time, large‐scale sheep farming began to be developed.

It was the New Zealand Company that ultimately had the most influence on
the character and the plan of the new colony. Under the company's direction, the
town of Wellington was founded, while new colonies were established all round
the coast by bodies of settlers who gave them the names of their places of origin,
for example, Dunedin (the old name of Edinburgh) in Otago harbour, founded by
the Free Church of Scotland in 1848. Three years later, New Zealand separated
administratively from New South Wales, becoming a separate colony.

George Grey served as Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 1853, and
then again from 1861 to 1868. He was the most influential figure during the
European settlement of New Zealand in the 19th century. Grey promoted the New
Zealand Constitution Act of 1852. It was a liberal measure for its time and, subject
to subsequent amendments, is still the basis of the constitution of New Zealand.
The six Provincial Councils, the House of Representatives and the Superintendents
of the Provinces were all elective, though the members of the Legislative Council
(the Upper House) were nominated for life by the Governor. There was a low
property qualification, which effectively excluded almost all the Maoris, because
they did not possess individual landed property. Thus, within less than two
decades of the setting up of British authority in New Zealand in 1840, that
authority (with only one important reservation) had been transferred to the
colonists so far as their domestic affairs were concerned.

The political question that most interested the settlers was land policy,
which, since the Maoris owned most of the land, was in practice a branch of native
policy. The English authorities were well aware of the vital importance of land in
the relations between European settlers and the native inhabitants of colonies.
There were serious incidents between Maoris and Colonial settlers and the land
wars broke out again in 1860, with little intermission until 1870. The real cause of
the outbreak was that the tribes and their chiefs felt that their traditions and whole
way of life were jeopardized by the colonists. The new settlers were firmly
established in the South Island, where most of the land had been transferred to the
crown for nominal sums, and also in the North Island where Maori settlements
were much larger. The Maoris realized that they had no voice in the constitution.
The response was the Maori King movement, a belated attempt to create a Maori
state.

In the late 1860s, the colonial government moderated its policy of land
settlement. However, Maori losses were considerably heavier than those of the
colonists, which amounted to only a few hundred, and by the end of the war, the
Maori were totally demoralized. Eventually, the idea of racial partnership was to
evolve, fostered by prominent Maoris and European leaders. This process was
hastened by an Act providing for the election of four Maori members to the House
of Representatives and by the passing of the Native Schools Act of 1867. This was a
major shift in policy. Rather than helping churches to rebuild mission schools after
the wars, the government offered secular state‐controlled primary schools to
Maori communities who petitioned for them. In return for providing a suitable site,
the government provided a school, teacher, books, and materials. The act required
that English be the only language used in the education of Maori children.

Settlement was the main cause of Maori nationalism and provided it with an
objective: to hold on to the land. Before the arrival of strangers from overseas
among the warring tribes, the inhabitants of New Zealand were Atiawa or Ngapuhi
or Waikato. So far as is known, they had no name for their race: the word Maori
means ‘normal’. They applied the term to themselves only when, for the first time
in their recollection, they encountered another race. The newcomers were of a
different colour. The Europeans assumed that they were superior to the Maori; the
tribal system was falling into decline but the Government was doing little to
replace it with European political institutions.

In 1861, gold was discovered in Otago by Gabriel Read, an Australian with
experience of the Californian and Victorian fields. Within two years, the population
rose from 12,600 to some 60,000. Dunedin became the largest town in the country.
In the years 1865‐7, 15,000 immigrants crossed from Australia to the new
goldfield there. For some years gold was New Zealand’s major export. Over the
century, it earned nearly $50 billion in export earnings. It was a good contribution
for a small economy. But its impact on New Zealand life was much less than in
Victoria or Australia in general. The New Zealand goldfields were quickly brought
under legal control and the diggers were relatively law‐abiding. There was no
Californian anarchy or Victorian revolt.

Julius Voge was a gold‐seeking immigrant who had become colonial

treasurer and, in that capacity, introduced his famous public‐works budget of
1870. Before 1870, New Zealand was a country largely dominated by provincial
interests. Vogel, as colonial treasurer, proposed borrowing the massive sum of 10
million pounds, New Zealand developed a significant infrastructure of roads,
railways and communication, all administered by central government. This
ultimately led to the end of provincial government in 1876. New industries,
including woollen mills, foundries, and paper mills, were introduced. Under his
schemes 100,000 immigrants were brought into the country. He was premier from
1873 to 1875, and again in 1876. From 1876 to 1881 he was agent‐general for New
Zealand in London, and in 1884 was again a member of the government of the
colony. During his political career, Vogel worked for reconciliation with the Maori,
an effort generally regarded to be successful. In 1887, he introduced the first
Women's Suffrage Bill to Parliament, although suffrage was not granted until 1893.

Another relevant figure in New Zealand politics was George Grey. He was a
former Governor and a Radical Prime Minister from 1877–84. Grey was
responsible for the reconciliation with the Maori and the introduction of male
suffrage. The Conservative party held power from 1879 to 1890 and were
succeeded by a Liberal government that ruled with trade union support. In 1891
New Zealand took part in the Australasian Federal Convention in Sydney, but
rejected the idea of joining an Australian Commonwealth. The Liberal government
introduced women's suffrage in 1893, the first country in the world to do so. In
1894 there was a financial crisis, when the government came to the aid of the Bank
of New Zealand by guaranteeing an issue of new shares up to £2,000,000. The
Liberal government carried out considerable legislative activity in the sphere of
fiscal and social reform. The Land and Income Tax Act enabled large estates to be
compulsorily acquired for settlement, and during 1894–98, a number of other acts
were passed including a factory act, a shops and offices act, an act for compulsory
arbitration in industrial disputes, and an old age pensions act. These liberal
measures represented important progress in New Zealand and were forerunners
of its social‐security legislation of the 20th century.

This liberal programme was promoted by the Prime Ministers John Balance
(1891‐93) and Richard John Seddon (1893‐1906). He was not, however, prepared
to agree to more socialistic demands from the small farmers. The influence of the
small farmers increased with each election, together with their socialistic
demands. After 1912, William Massey, ‘Farmer Bill’, premier of the Reform
government (1912–25) had enjoyed the confidence of the farming community. The
development of New Zealand's farming was very important, and the New Zealand
farmers believed themselves to be the real supporters of the country. They
demanded the right to purchase their freeholds on reasonable terms, and Massey
conceded this right. In contrast, Massey controlled the militant trade unions and
the newly formed Federation of Labour, including the violent suppression of the
1912 Waihi miners' strike. OK

3.2. A Multicultural Country

Throughout its 13 years of office, the New Zealand Liberal government was
the strongest supporter of British Primer Minister Joseph Chamberlain's imperial
ideas of closer union. In 1902, in the Colonial Conference, he suggested that each of
the self‐governing colonies should maintain a body of troops especially for
imperial service. In 1907, New Zealand achieved dominion status within the
British Empire.

In World War I, an expeditionary force of 10,000 men formed part of the
Anzac forces. The most important effect of the war in New Zealand was the
increasing of national self‐consciousness. New Zealand became a member of the
League of Nations and under its mandate, administered the former German colony
of Western Samoa, forgetting ts desire for annexation. After the war, the
interdependence of the British and New Zealand economies was a reality, but the
country wa entering a new phase of its development. In the 1920s, there were
many changes in New Zealand life. The use of super‐phosphate, manures, tractors,
and electric milking machines for the expansion of dairying were introduced. The
Liberal Party Platform of land settlement and railroad development was promoted.
It was financed by loans. By the end of 1933, New Zealand was recovering, mainly
through the expansion of the wool market and the incipient dairy industry.

In 1931, the Statute of Westminster presented equality of status between
Britain and the dominions, effectively granting independence to New Zealand. In
the same year, the Reform Party and the United Party entered into a coalition, and
merged as the National Party in 1936. In 1935, New Zealand elected its first
Labour government. Its first important measure of credit policy was to change the
Reserve Bank, established in 1934, into a central bank to carry out the monetary
policy of the government. By 1938, New Zealand’s prosperity had been restored. It
started an era of socialist administration with high wages, an ambitious
programme of public works, a system of relief for the unemployed, increased
pensions a big housing programme and the introduction of the 44‐hour week.

When the Labour government came to power in New Zealand in 1935, there
was, for the first time, a return of prosperity and the Maoris entered a new era.
They began to receive some of the extra help they needed. There was a higher
expenditure on Maori primary schools, per pupil, than on the European schools;
particular attention was paid to Maori housing, as part of an ambitious scheme of
Maori welfare. The government brought Maoris’ pensions up to the European level
and they were given the same unemployment payments. By March 1939, 253,000
acres had been farmed or ‘broken in’. The Labour government did not succeed in
equalizing the living standards of the two races, but its measures contributed to a
marked improvement in Maori conditions.

In 1947, New Zealand adopted the principal sections (2‐6) of the Statute of
Westminster and passed a further act asking the British government to legislate to
relieve New Zealand of restrictions remaining, under an amending act of 1857, on
its powers to amend its own constitution. This request was promptly granted by
the passage of the New Zealand Constitution (Amendment) Act, 1949, repealing
the New Zealand Constitution (Amendment) Act of 1857, and making it lawful for
the parliament of New Zealand ‘to alter, suspend or repeal, at any time, all or any of
the provisions of the New Zealand Constitution Act, 1852’. In this way,
independence was formally accepted by the New Zealand legislature.

In 1940, the Dominion of New Zealand celebrated its centenary. In a
hundred years, the islands had been transformed from a rugged wilderness to one
of the most productive parts of the world. There had been loss in the development,
destruction of the bush and of the soil, which had led to erosion; but most of the
pioneers and their families were destroying nature to buy progress. Migration had
been a success and the material and social ambitions had been largely realized. In
1939, the economist, Colin Clark, estimated that they had the highest level of real
income per inhabitant in the world.

New Zealand history changed dramatically in a few days in December 1941.
On 7 December, the Japanese attacked the American base at Pearl Harbour. New
Zealand was almost defenceless. Most of the New Zealand forces were in the
Middle East. But it was not the Japanese who invaded New Zealand. One day in mid
1942, the coastal forces saw grey ships slipping down the Hauraki Gulf. The United
States Marines had arrived a century after the New England whalers had sailed
away. This was a turning point, marking the decline of British power in the Pacific
and the rise of the New Zealand’s new dependence on American protection. The
result was a kind of Monroe Doctrine against outside interference in the South
Pacific, the Canberra Pact of 1944.

In November 1941, Walter Nash was appointed New Zealand’s first
diplomatic representative. He was sent to Washington. In 1943, the Department of
External Affairs (now Ministry of Foreign Affairs) was set up. In 1947 the Statute of
Westminster was at last adopted, giving legal fulfilment to the fact of sovereignty.
New Zealand was now a fully independent state, though owing allegiance to the
British King.

During the Second World War on ‘the home front’, the economy was
booming in many ways. Both manufacturing and farm production rose from 1939.
Economic stabilization of wages and prices was introduced with the cooperation of
the unions. Because of the shortage of imports, New Zealand’s sterling balances
rose to unprecedented heights. During this war there was no coalition government
as there had been during the first. There was a War Administration, in which both
parties were represented.

After 14 years in office, Peter Fraser and his Labour government were
defeated by the National Party, whose leader, Sidney Holland, became prime
minister in December 1949. Holland's premiership lasted from 1949 to 1957. In
1950, Holland was faced with the Dockers’ long strikes accompanied by serious
disturbances. The creation of a new independent waterside workers' union proved
a decisive setback to the left, and the prime minister's hard attitude led eventually
to a coal strike. Holland's policies were endorsed by a majority of the electorate at
the general election in September 1951.

An economic crisis in 1952 caused a temporary halt in New Zealand's post‐
war expansion. The Anzus pact between Australia, New Zealand, and the USA,
which entered into force that year, was subject to some criticism in Britain (which
was excluded), but was defended by the prime minister as a necessary measure of
insurance for the countries concerned. In 1954, New Zealand joined the South East
Asia Treaty Organization. Wider in scope than the Anzus pact, it did not, however,
replace that pact. In September 1957, Holland retired from the leadership of the
National Party and was succeeded as prime minister by Keith Holyoake, his
deputy.

At the general election in November 1957, the National Party was defeated
and the Labour Party returned to power with its leader Walter Nash as prime
minister. His term of office was marked by further social legislation. The National
Party under Holyoake came back to office in 1960 and remained until 1972. From
1960 to 1963, New Zealand's relations with Britain were dominated by Britain's
application to join the European Economic Community (EEC). New Zealand feared
that British membership would mean economic ruin for New Zealand, but Britain's
eventual entry ten years later was accompanied by special arrangements for the
marketing of New Zealand butter and cheese designed to safeguard its economy.
New Zealand made strenuous efforts to find new markets and these markets were
found in Japan, Australia and the U.S.S.R.

In the early 1970s there was a great increase in immigration, which
provided labour but also created problems such as housing shortages. Many of the
immigrants were from Polynesia. They had entered New Zealand on visitors’ or
short‐term work permits and they had stayed on, many of them with families in
New Zealand. In 1976, the Government believed that there were up to 10,000
Pacific Island ‘over‐stayers’ living in the country and many of them were deported.
The police handled the problem very roughly and carried out dawn raids and
random street checks on anyone who looked Polynesian. This was the worst
example of racial tension in recent years.

In New Zealand, rugby football, a game played in a few small countries and
by minorities in a few large ones, was a relevant political issue. It must be stressed,
however, that rugby was not a racial issue within New Zealand as it was in the
United Nations League. Large numbers of Maoris and Pacific Islanders were ardent
fans who were eager to beat the adversary and were not very aware of apartheid
in sport on the international field.

In December 1972, the National Party was defeated in a general election,
and a Labour government under Norman Kirk was formed. This government was
more independent in its foreign affairs than its predecessors. It phased out New
Zealand's commitments under the South East Asia Treaty Organization and
established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. In 1973, New
Zealand introduced a visa system, which abolished the automatic right of entry for
British people, a further indication of the erosion of political links between the two
countries.

Australia and New Zealand applied to the International Court of Justice to
try to stop French atmospheric nuclear tests in the Pacific in 1973. The Court
called on the French to stop the tests while the case was being heard, but they
persisted. The New Zealand Government sent the frigates Otago and Canterbury
into the test zone. This official and startling protest received world‐wide publicity.

In September 1974, to counter the growing trade deficit, the currency was
devalued by 6% and 15% in August 1975. Restrictions were also placed on
licensed imports. In the 1975 general elections, the government was defeated by
the National Party led by Robert Muldoon. However, the economy failed to revive,
despite a succession of large capital projects promoted by the government. In
1984, Muldoon introduced controversial labour legislation and called an early
election. The Labour Party won with David Lange as its leader, and was re‐elected
in 1987.

In July 1985, the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior, which was on its way
to protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa, was blown up in the Waitemata
Harbour by French secret service agents, and a crewman was killed. President
François Mitterand and the French Prime Minister admitted that French agents
had committed this ‘criminal attack’. Two years later, in July 1987, the National
Party gave its support to the government in a bipartisan non‐nuclear policy, and as
a result, the United States reclassified New Zealand as a ‘friendly’, rather than an
‘allied’, country.

In 1986, the New Zealand Constitution Act was passed to reform the
constitutional law of New Zealand, in order to bring together into one enactment
certain provisions of constitutional significance, and to provide that the New
Zealand Constitution Act 1852 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom should
cease to have effect as part of the law of New Zealand. It was enacted by the
General Assembly of New Zealand in the assembled Parliament and by the
authority of the same. It was adopted on 1 January 1987, and awarded ICL
(International Constitutional Law) Document Status on 3 August 1999. (See
Document nº10 in the Appendix. Documents of Other Anglophone Countries).

New Zealand's traditional two‐party party political system was challenged

in December 1991 by the formation of the Alliance Party, comprising the
Democratic Party, the New Labour Party (NLP), the Green Party, and the (mainly
Maori) New Zealand Self‐Government Party. In September 1992, a referendum
approved a change in the voting system, to make it semi proportional, with effect
from 1996. The National Party won the 1993 general election with a majority of
one seat. Simultaneously, a second referendum reaffirmed the electorate's
preference for a semi proportional voting system.

In February 1996, the National Party signed a formal coalition agreement
with the United Party. In December 1996, a coalition government was formed, with
Jim Bolger, the leader of the New Zealand First Party (NZFP) as prime minister,
and with Winston Peters as his deputy. After losing majority support, Bolger
retired in December 1997 and was succeeded by the former Transport Minister,
Jenny Shipley, New Zealand's first woman prime minister. In August 1998, a rift
between Shipley and Winston Peters, of the New Zealand First Party, led to calls
for an early general election, as the NZFP withdrew from the coalition. The election
was held in November 1999, and resulted in the replacement of Shipley's
conservative government by a centre‐left coalition of the Labour Party and New
Zealand Alliance, led by another woman, Helen Clark (Labour).

In 1999, the leader of the Alliance party, Jim Anderton, became deputy
prime minister. The new government won a minority of seats in the election, and
consequently was dependent on the support of the Green Party. The government
pledged to address the widening gap that had emerged during the 1990s between
the rich and the poor of the country, using strategies that included raising the top
rates of personal income tax and assisting poor families, many of whom were
Maoris. Helen Clark also announced her support in September 2000 for a merger
of the Australian and New Zealand stock exchange, and for a common currency
between the two countries.

In August 2000, Silvia Cartwright was named as next governor‐general. Her
appointment in April 2001 meant that all top political offices in New Zealand were
held by women. In March 2001, Clark announced cuts to the country's military
forces. The announcement angered Australia and the United States, who
questioned New Zealand's commitment to regional security. A further defence
review in May concluded that New Zealand was not directly threatened by any
country, and recommended the disbanding of its air‐combat division. In April
2002, the government announced that a Supreme Court sitting in Wellington
would replace Britain's Privy Council as the country's final court of appeal. The
Privy Council had been the court of appeal for 151 years, but was replaced because
of the cost of taking an appeal to London.

The chief result of recent events has been to bring home to New Zealanders
a fact which they have not always seemed to regard as important: New Zealand is
in the Pacific. And in emphasizing geography and its consequences, world politics
since 1941 to the present time serve as a reminder of another circumstance; that
the islands have been part of the New World.

Today, in the 21st century, the Maoris have not yet achieved the full equality
promised by the Treaty of Waitangi. Many of the treaty's provisions continue to be
disputed, and there is an effort from the New Zealand Government to recompense
the Maori for land that was illegally confiscated. The present Maori population is
around 600,000 or 14% of the population, and the Maori live in all parts of New
Zealand, but predominately in the North Island where the climate is warmer. Some
aspects of Maori culture are very tenacious. The language is widely taught in
schools and universities and the government is trying to remedy some of the Maori
grievances. Moves to commemorate Waitangi Day across New Zealand have
expanded in the 21st century. Functions and events are now held throughout the
country. The government has made funding available to enable people to assist
events and activities that acknowledge the signing of the Treaty.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table

1350 Supposed year of the 'Great Migration' in which a large fleet of Maoris
arrived
NZ from Hawaiki
1642 Naming it Staten Landt, Abel Tasman discovers and claims New Zealand for
Holland
1769 Captain James Cook lands at Gisborne and claims New Zealand for Britain
1772 Marion du Fresne lands in the Bay of Islands and, yet again, claims the
country
for France, calling it France Australe (South France)
1837 The colonization of New Zealand begins
1840 The Treaty of Waitangi is signed on February 6th
1840's The Maori rebel against the British, lead by Hone Heke
1841 New Zealand officially declared a crown colony
1842 Settlement at Nelson formed. Auckland proclaimed capital city
1846 The country is divided into two provinces
1850 Christchurch settled and port of Lyttleton established nearby
1857 Potatau I becomes the first Maori King
1858 New provinces Act passed
1859 Gold discovered in Buller
1860 Second of the Maori wars fought at Waireki
1861 Truce arranged with Taranaki Maori. More gold discovered in Central
Otago
1863 Waikato Wars rage until 1864
1868 New Zealand becomes first country in the world to let its native people
vote
1876 Provinces abolished
1893 New Zealand becomes first country in the world to give women the vote
1899 New Zealand is the first country to give the elderly the pension
1907 New Zealand constituted as a Dominion
1914 WWI ‐ New Zealand troops landed at Anzac Cove in Turkey to take the
Turkish out of the war
1931 Napier earthquake hits, killing 255 people
1950 British Empire Games held in Auckland
1951 ANZUS Pact established between NZ, Australia and the US.
The Watersiders' strike, where union workers went on strike for 151 days.
Over
1000 workers attacked a group of police who were trying to disperse them
1953 Sherpa Tenzing and New Zealander Edmund Hilary conquer Mt Everest
1974 Xth Commonwealth Games held in Christchurch
1981 The South African rugby tour goes ahead, despite much protest. Riots break
out
all over the country, and the nation is divided
1985 The world watches NZ as it refuses port entry to a US Nuclear Warship,
breaking the ANZUS Pact. It was the world's first Anti‐Nuclear country.
Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior is sunk by French agents
1986 New Zealand Constitution Act that replaced the New Zealand Constitution
Act
of 1852 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
1990 XIVth Commonwealth Games held in Auckland
1995 New Zealand and the Black Magic boat beat the USA to win the America's
Cup
1999 A female protester dies of brain injuries after being run over in the picket
line at
Lyttelton Harbour
2000 New Zealand successfully defends the America's Cup
2001 Thousands of red fire ants found at Auckland International Airport. New
Zealand
suffered severe summer drought
2003 Tens of thousands of New Zealanders demonstrated against Iraq war
2004 3,400 gallons of fuel spilled in a fjord listed as World Heritage site, officials
said
spill was eco‐terrorism and economic sabotage against tourism industry
2006 New Zealand troops joined intervention forces in East Timor
2007 Police arrested 17 in anti‐terror raid, Maori activists accused of planning
violence against country's white majority
2008 Mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary died
2009 New Zealand announced that it will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 10
to
20% below 1990 levels by 2020

4. INDIA

India is culturally, linguistically and genetically diverse with a distinctive
geographical entity. The name India comes from Indus, which is derived from the
Old Persian word Hindu, from the Sanskrit Sindhu, the historic local appellation for
the Indus River. Hindustan, which was originally a Persian word for “Land of the
Hindus”, referring to northern India, is also occasionally used as a synonym for all
of India.

India is the world's second most populous country after China. In July 2009,
it had a population of 1.5 billion inhabitants. The largest cities are Mumbai, Delhi
and Kolkata, formerly called Calcutta and they are very densely populated,
although more than 70% of India's population continues to live in rural areas.
Indian society is organised in a strict social hierarchy, which reflects the social
stratification and social restrictions in the Indian subcontinent, in which social
classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, known as
castes.

There are two major linguistic families in India: Indo‐Aryan (spoken by
about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other
languages spoken in India come from the Austro‐Asiatic and Tibeto‐Burman
linguistic families. Hindi is the official language of the union. English is used
extensively in business, administration and education and has the status of a
subsidiary official language. In addition, every state and union territory has its own
official languages, and the constitution also recognises 21 other languages that are
spoken either by large numbers of people, or have classical status. While Sanskrit
and Tamil have been studied as classical languages for many years, the
Government of India has also given classical language status to Kannada and
Telugu.

As regards its geology, India sits atop the Indian tectonic plate, a minor
plate within the Indo‐Australian Plate. The original Indian plate survives as
peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India, and
extending as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. There
are marked geographical regions. The first geographical region is covered by the
great mountain ranges in the north and west, including the Himalayas. The second
geographical region is the Indo‐Gangetic Plain, formed by the rivers Indus, Ganges
and Brahmaputra. Further south, there is a hill region that separates off the
southern two‐thirds of the subcontinent.

India's culture is marked by a high degree of syncretism and cultural
pluralism. It has managed to preserve established traditions while absorbing new
customs, traditions, and ideas from invaders and immigrants and spreading its
cultural influence to other parts of Asia, mainly South East and East Asia. India is a
religiously plural society. The majority of its people are Hindu. Other religious
groups include Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Zoroastrians and
Bahá'ís.

Traditional Indian family values are highly respected, and multi‐

generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm, although the nuclear
family is becoming common in urban areas. An overwhelming majority of Indians
have their marriages arranged by their parents and other respected family
members, with the consent of the bride and groom.

India has experienced an impressive economic growth over recent decades
and in the twenty first century it is considered one of the fastest‐growing
economies in the world. The Indian film industry, for example, which is based in
Mumbai and known as Bollywood, makes commercial Hindi films and is the most
prolific film industry in the world. On another note, in 1974, India conducted an
underground nuclear test and five more tests in 1998, making India a nuclear
state. However, by contrast, India still contains the largest concentration of poor
people in the world.


The history of human settlement in India can be traced back to over 9000
years ago in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. However, evidence of
human activity shows the presence of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago
and hominids from about 500,000 years ago.

The earliest known civilisation in India is the Indus Valley Civilization, a
Bronze Age civilization that dates back to about 3000 BC and can be found in places
along, or close, to the Indus River. It spread and flourished in the North‐Western
part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3000 to 1300 BC. It was a highly developed
urban based on commerce and sustained by agricultural trade. And two of its
towns, Mohenjodaro and Harappa, now in Pakistan, represent the high watermark
of the settlements.

This period was followed by the Iron Age Vedic Civilization. In the later
Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms that were known as the Mahajanapadas
covered the subcontinent, many of which were mentioned during Vedic literature
as far back as 1000 BC. In one of these kingdoms, in what is now as modern Nepal,
Siddhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, was born in the sixth century B.C.

The Indian subcontinent was invaded many times. The Arya or Aryans
(1500BC) were the first invaders. The Aryans were a group of nomadic tribes who
had originally inhabited the steppes of Central Asia, to be precise in the region
between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. They spoke a group of languages,
which are known as Indo‐European. They settled in the region to the north west of
India, identified as the Punjab. With time, the Aryans struggled with the Dravidians
but the superiority of the Aryans resulted in the submission of the Dravidians
around 500 BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius conquered the Indus
Valley. In 327 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded India but, although
Alexander crossed the Indus and defeated an Indian king, he returned without
extending his power into India.

Shortly after the passing of Alexander, India's first great empire arose, ruled
by Chandragupta Maurya in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. It subsequently became
fragmented, with various parts ruled by numerous Middle kingdoms for the next
1,500 years. The political map of ancient and medieval India was made up of
myriad kingdoms with fluctuating boundaries. In the 4th and 5th centuries A.D.,
northern India was unified under the Gupta Dynasty. During this period, known as
India's Golden Age, Hindu culture and political administration reached new
heights.

Islam spread across the Indian subcontinent over a period of 500 years. In
the 10th and 11th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded India and established
sultanates in Delhi. From the 11th to the 15th centuries, Southern India was
dominated by the Hindu Chola and Vijayanagar Dynasties. During this time, the
two systems, the prevailing Hindu and Muslim mingled, leaving lasting cultural
influences on each other.

In the early 16th century, descendants of Genghis Khan established the Mogul Dynasty,
which lasted for 200 years (A.D. 1526 to 1857). The empire was a mixture of
Arab, Persian, and Indian cultures, as is reflected in the diverse architecture of the
period, full of marble structures with domes, arches, and minarets. The most
famous example is well known monument the Taj Mahal, a mausoleum built by
Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal Emperor as a monument to his love for his second
wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
India's Mogul Empire had its start with Babur, a central Asian descended
from the Mongol leader Genghis Khan. The dynasty was founded by Babur, a
Turkish chieftain who had his base in Afghanistan. Babur's invasion of India
culminated in the battle of Panipat (1526) and the occupation of Delhi and Agra.
Babur’s grandson, Akbar, created the dynasty that controlled more than half of
India and lasted nearly two centuries. Akbar organized India into well‐
administered provinces, districts, and villages.

In the 1700s, European powers battled for India and the Mogul Empire was
reduced to a small kingdom. The empire came to an effective end as the British
established control of India in the late 18th and early 19th century. In 1803, the
Mogul emperor accepted British protection, and the dynasty was virtually finished,
although the British maintained emperors until 1857.

4.2. British India

The first British settlement in India, South Asia, was established in 1619 at Surat
on the northwestern coast. Later in the century, the East India Company, which had a
monopoly over all British trade with the region, opened permanent trading stations at
Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta or Kolkata, as it is now called, each under the protection
of native rulers. Gradually the British expanded their influence and control and by the
1850s, most of present day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh had fallen under British
control. English was made the official language and several traditional Hindu customs
were outlawed. In 1857, there was an Indian rebellion that resulted in political power
being transferred from the East India Company directly to the British Crown, and the
company was dissolved. Great Britain began administering most of India directly while
controlling the rest through treaties with local rulers. In the late 1800s, the first steps
were taken towards self-government in British India, with the appointment of Indian
councillors to advise the British viceroy and the establishment of provincial councils
with Indian members.

In 1920, Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, who played a pivotal role in the
freedom struggle of India, transformed the Indian National Congress political party
into a mass movement to campaign against British colonial rule. His non‐violent
ways and peaceful methods were the foundation for achieving independence from
the British. Mahatma Gandhi, as he was popularly known, (Mahatma means Great
Soul) was born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 2nd October at Porbandar
located in Gujarat. He went off to South Africa after his marriage and worked as a
barrister there for twenty years. In South Africa, he had his first clash with
apartheid. When he returned to India he found that the British treated its
population severely.

Mahatma Gandhi initiated the non‐cooperation movement, which was
basically aimed at making the Indians aware of the fact that the British
government could be opposed, and that it could be done actively. Gandhi also again
started another non‐violent movement known as the civil disobedience movement.
This movement was more active than the non‐cooperation movement and aimed
at bringing the British administration to a stop by withdrawing support from
everything. In August 1942, the Quit India Movement was launched under the
leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. The main aim for launching this movement was to
bring the British to negotiate with the Indian leaders. It was a call for immediate
independence of India and the slogan of "Do or Die" was adopted. However, the
leaders were arrested soon after Gandhi's “Quit India Speech” (See document nº 7
of the Appendix. Documents of Other Anglophone Countries) and were sent to
prison. Gandhi demanded the release of the leaders despite his failing health.

Hostility between Hindus and Muslims led the British to divide British India.
On June 3, 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the viceroy and governor‐general,
announced plans for partition of the British Indian Empire into the nations of India
and Pakistan, which itself was divided into East and West Pakistan. Since its
independence in 1947, India has faced territorial disputes with Pakistan, which
resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999.

Finally, on August 15, 1947, India achieved independence and shouted "Jai
Hind", a salutation which means “Victory to India”, when Jawaharlal Nehru who
became the first Prime Minister of independent India delivered the memorable
speech “Tryst with destiny” (See document nº 8 of the Appendix. Documents of
Other Anglophone Countries).

India became a Dominion within the Commonwealth, but it became a
democratic republic in 1950. The Constitution of India came into force on 26
January, 1950 defining India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.
India has a bicameral parliament operating under a Westminster‐style
parliamentary system. The President of India is the head of state elected indirectly
by an electoral college for a five‐year term. The Prime Minister, who is appointed
by the President, is the head of government and exercises most executive powers.

The political and administrative unification of India came about as a consequence of the
British occupation. There was an emergence of new social classes, notably the
middle class, who received modern education and became interested in public
services. With the beginning of modern industry, a class of industrialists as well as
of large and small traders also started growing. Another significant group that
arose was that of professional people.
In addition to this, some important social measures were taken such as the
abolition of sati, the hindu custom by which a widow would burn herself to death on her
husband’s funeral pyre, the banning of infanticide and the establishment of the legal
right for widows to remarry. The educational system was reorganized, bringing
educated people into contact with the modern ideas of democracy and nationalism.


For most of the years since independence, the federal government has been led
by the Indian National Congress (INC), the party of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal
Nehru, that ruled India under the influence first of Nehru and then of his daughter and
grandson, with the exception of two brief periods in the 1970s and 1980s. Jawaharlal
Nehru held office from 1947 until his death in 1964. In 1966, power passed to Nehru's
daughter, Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977. Apart from a short period
of two years from 1975-77, when an internal emergency was imposed by the then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi, and constitutional liberties were suspended, India has been a
successful parliamentary democracy.
The Indian National Congress was out of power between 1977 and 1980,
when the Janata Party won the election owing to public discontent with the state of
emergency declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In 1989, a Janata Dal‐led
National Front coalition in alliance with the Left Front coalition won the elections,
but managed to stay in power for only two years. On May 27, 1991, Rajiv Gandhi
was assassinated, and as the 1991 elections gave no political party a majority, the
INC formed a minority government under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and
was able to complete its five‐year term.

The years 1996–1998 were a period of confusion in the federal government
with several short‐lived alliances. The Hindu‐nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) formed a government briefly in 1996, followed by the United Front coalition
that excluded both the BJP and the INC. In 1998, the BJP formed the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) with several other parties and became the first non‐
Congress government to complete a full five‐year term. The Hindu‐nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged from the May 1996 national elections as the
single‐largest party in the Lok Sabha. Under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
the BJP coalition lasted only 13 days in power. A coalition led by the Janata Dal
emerged to form a government known as the United Front, under the former Chief
Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Deve Gowda. His government lasted less than a year, as
the leader of the Congress Party withdrew his support in March 1997. In
November 1997, the Congress Party in India again withdrew support for the
United Front. New elections in February 1998 brought the BJP the largest number
of seats in Parliament and on March 20, 1998, the President inaugurated a BJP‐led
coalition government with Vajpayee again serving as Prime Minister. On May 11
and 13, 1998, this government conducted a series of underground nuclear tests
forcing U.S. President Clinton to impose economic sanctions on India.

In April 1999, the BJP‐led coalition government fell apart, leading to
elections in September. The National Democratic Alliance‐a new coalition led by
the BJP‐gained a majority to form the government with Vajpayee as Prime Minister
in October 1999.

In the 2004 Indian elections, the Indian National Congress formed a
government with a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA),
supported by various Left‐leaning parties and members opposed to the BJP.
The United Progressive Alliance again came into power in the 2009 general
election and Manmohan Singh, best known as ' father of Indian Reforms', who was
former Finance Minister under the Congress government and an academician by
profession, became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be
re‐elected after completing a full five‐year term.

CHRONOLOGY
Chronological table

2700 BC Harappa Civilisation
ca. 2500‐1600 B.C. Indus Valley culture.
ca. 1500‐500 B.C. Migrations of Aryan‐speaking tribes; the Vedic Age.
1000 BC Aryans expand into the Ganga valley
900 BC Mahabharata War
800 BC Aryans expand into Bengal; Beginning of the Epic Age: Mahabharata
composed, first version of Ramayana
ca. 563‐ca. 483 B.C. Life of Siddartha Gautama the Buddha; founding of Buddhism.
544 BC Buddha's Nirvana
327 BC Alexander's Invasion
ca. 326‐184 B.C. Mauryan Empire
ca. 180 B.C.‐A.D. 150 Shaka dynasties in Indus Valley
ca. A.D. 320‐550 Gupta Empire; classical age in North India
711 Arab invaders conquered Sindh, Islamic presence in India
997‐1027 Mahmud of Ghazni raided Indian subcontinent from Afghanistan
1202 Turkish conquerors defeated Sena Dynasty and overrun Bengal.
1206‐1398 Delhi Sultanate
1398 Timur sacked Delhi
1414‐50 Sayyid Dynasty; renewal of Delhi Sultanate
1526 Babur laid foundation of Mughal Empire and won the First Battle of Panipat
1556‐1605 Akbar expanded and reformed the empire
1612 East India Company opened first trading post
1658‐1707 Reign of Aurangzeb, last great Mughal ruler
1757 British victory over Mughal forces in Bengal; British rule in India began
1835 Institution of British education and other reform measures
1857‐58 Revolt of Indian soldiers against East India Company
1858 East India Company dissolved; rule of India under the British crown
the British Raj begins with Government of India Act; formal end of Mughal
Empire
1885 Indian National Congress formed
1905 Partition of Bengal into separate
1912 Partition of Bengal annulled
1913 Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize
1919 Montagu‐Chelmsford Reforms; Government of India Act.
1947 Partition of British India; India achieved independence and Jawaharlal
Nehru became Prime Minister
1947‐1949 Undeclared war with Pakistan
1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi
1962 Border war with China.
1965 Second war with Pakistan.
1966‐1977 Indira Gandhi served as prime minister for the first time
1971 Third war with Pakistan; Bangladesh became independent
1975‐1977 State of Emergency proclaimed by Indira Gandhi
1980‐1984 Indira Ganhdi served as prime minister for second time
1984 Indira Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi
1984‐1989 Rajiv Gandhi serves as prime minister of Congress
1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka's
Tamil Tigers
1997 Mother Teresa died
Arunadati Roy won Booker Prize
1998 India carried out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international
condemnation.
1999 Tension in Kashmir led to brief war with Pakistan
2000 India marked the birth of its billionth citizen.
2001 A high-powered rocket is launched, propelling India into the club of
countries able to fire big satellites deep into space.
US lifted sanctions which it imposed against India and Pakistan after
they staged nuclear tests in 1998
2002 India successfully test‐fires a nuclear‐capable ballistic missile
2003 India matched Pakistan's declaration of a Kashmir ceasefire
2004 India began to withdraw some of its troops from Kashmir
2006 India's largest-ever rural jobs scheme is launched, aimed at lifting
around 60 million families out of poverty
2007 Pratibha Patil becomes first woman to be elected president of India
India and Pakistan signed an agreement aimed at reducing the risk of
accidental nuclear war.
2008 Following approval by the US Congress, President George W Bush
signs into law a nuclear deal with India
India announced “pause” in peace process with Pakistan
2009 General election victory gives governing Congress-led alliance of PM
Manmohan Singh an enhanced position in parliament

5. SOUTH AFRICA

The Republic of South Africa is a single but diverse country, which prides
itself on its lack of uniformity. In fact, until 1910 there was no such entity as South
Africa, except as a geographical expression. South Africa is bordered by the
Atlantic Ocean on the west and by the Indian Ocean on the south and east. The
legislative capital, which is also the largest city, is Cape Town.

According to the mid‐2007 estimates from Statistics South Africa, the
country's population stands at some 47.9‐million, up from the census 2001 count
of 44.8 million. Of the almost 45 million South Africans, nearly 31 million are Black,
5 million White, 3 million Coloured and one million Indian. South Africa has eleven
official languages that are recognized in the Constitution, namely English,
Afrikaans, Ndebele, Sepedi, Xhosa, Venda, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Swazi and
Tsonga, although prior to 1994, South Africa had only two official languages,
English and Afrikaans. English is generally understood across the country, being
the language of business, politics and the media, and the country's lingua franca.
But it only ranks joint fifth out of 11 as a home language. Other languages spoken
in South Africa and mentioned in the Constitution are the Khoi, Nama and San
languages, sign language, Arabic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi,
Portuguese, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telegu and Urdu. There are also a few indigenous
creoles and pidgins.

The Black population is divided into four major ethnic groups, namely
Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan‐Tsonga and Venda. There are numerous subgroups of
which the Zulu and Xhosa (two subgroups of the Nguni) are the largest. The
majority of the White population is of Afrikaans descent (60%), with many of the
remaining 40% being of British descent. Most of the Coloured population lives in
the Northern and Western Cape provinces, whilst most of the Indian population
lives in KwaZulu Natal. The Afrikaner population is concentrated in the Gauteng
and Free State provinces and the English population in the Western and Eastern
Cape and KwaZulu Natal.

Finally, South Africa is an ex‐colonial country, whose history, and indeed
even its shape were determined by colonial conquest..

5.1. Historical and Cultural Background

South Africa is old geologically and in terms of human habitation. Vast
amounts of archaeological treasures have been found there. About three million
years ago, ape‐human‐like hominids migrated to South Africa and about a million
years ago, Homo erectus gradually replaced them. The first Homo sapiens
appeared around 100,000 years ago. The so‐called Bushman culture of hunter‐
gatherers emerged, possibly between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago. In the first
millennium, we can distinguish three different groups of settlers in South Africa:
the pastoralists, speaking Khoikhoi also khoisan, the hunter‐gatherers, known as
Bushmen or San, speaking one of the khoisan languages; and the agriculturalists,
speaking one of the Bantu languages.

In 1652, a group of Dutchmen under Jan van Riebeeck, who worked for the
Dutch East India Company, landed in Table Bay and settled there, establishing
what would eventually become known as Cape Town, and marking the beginning
of European settlement in the area. By the end of the 18th century the number of
settlers had grown to about 15,000. They were known as Boers or Afrikaners, and
spoke a Dutch dialect known as Afrikaans. In the beginning, the intention was to
establish a trading post, but later they decided to transform their post into a
colony, which was expanded from 1680 onwards. Cape Town was the only market
in the colony.

In 1795, the British conquered the Cape but in 1803, the colony returned to
the Batavian Republic (the Dutch state). Britain took permanent possession in
1815, bringing in 5,000 settlers. The colony benefited from the British attitude
towards slavery and on 1 December 1834 all slaves in the Cape were liberated. By
1850, the main outlines of colonial society had been set.

In 1867, diamonds were discovered on the banks of Vaal Riverand. As a
result of this discovery, mining would attract migrant labour. By the mid‐1870s,
some 50, 000 African men per year wanted to work in Kimberley. Some years later,
in the 1880s, there was also a gold rush. A number of people such as Cecile John
Rhodes, who became the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, made a fortune as a
diamond prospector.

An important issue was the rivalry in the colonial conquest between the
Dutch and the British. This eventually gave way to the Boer Wars, that is to say, the
South African Wars of 1880‐1 and 1899‐1902, that were fought between the
British and the descendants of the Dutch settlers, the Boers, in South Africa. After
the first Boer War, the Boers were granted self‐government in the Transvaal. The
Boers, under the leadership of Paul Kruger, who in 1880 became the new president
of the Transvaal, opposed British annexation.

The Boer War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging in May
1902, which incorporated the whole region into the British Empire. The peace
settlement brought an end to the Transvaal and the Orange Free State as Boer
republics, and the British annexed the republics, as the Trasvaal and the Orange
River Colonies. The defeat of the Boers in 1902 led, in 1910, to the Union of South
Africa, which was composed of four provinces, the two former republics, and the
old Cape and Natal colonies. Louis Botha, a Boer, became its first Prime Minister.

Organized political activity among Africans started with the establishment
of the African National Congress in 1912. Several hundred members of South
Africa's educated African elite met at Bloemfontein on January 8, 1912, and
established a national organization to protest against racial discrimination and to
appeal for equal treatment before the law. The founding president was John L.
Dube, a minister and schoolteacher who had studied in the United States and who
had been strongly influenced by Booker T. Washington. The congress was
moderate in composition, tone, and practice. Its founders were men who felt that
British rule had brought considerable benefits, but who also considered that their
careers were hindered by the racial discrimination so endemic in South Africa.
They called not for an end to British rule but for respect for the concept of equality
for all, irrespective of colour.

When the First World War started, Louis Botha decided to enter the war.
Jan Christiaan Smuts brought the nation into World War II on the Allied side
against Nationalist opposition. South Africa became a charter member of the
United Nations in 1945, but he refused to sign the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.


Apartheid, “separateness”, was the ideology supported by the National
Party (NP) government that won the elections in South Africa in 1948 under Dr.
D.F. Malan, in alliance with the Afrikaner Party of N. C. Havenga. Apartheid called
for the separate development of the different racial groups in South Africa. From
1948, successive National Party administrations formalised and extended the
existing system of segregation and denial of rights into the legal system of
apartheid. The white supremacist National Party, which had first come to power in
1948, would continue to rule South African life until the 1990s.

Apartheid, racial separation, dominated domestic politics as the Nationalists
gained power and imposed greater restrictions on Bantus (black Africans), Asians,
and Coloureds (in South Africa the term meant any non‐white person). Black
voters had been removed from the voter rolls in 1936. Over the next half‐century,
the non‐white population of South Africa was forced out of designated white areas.
The Group Areas Acts of 1950 and 1986 were passed to segregate black and white
people, and forced about 1.5 million Africans to move from cities to rural
townships, where they lived in hopeless poverty under repressive laws.

South Africa was deliberately and also involuntarily isolated from the rest of the
world, so people in the country did not really get the impression that people elsewhere
in the world cared about what was happening there, or even knew. During this time
there was heavy press censorship and, in effect, the State knew and controlled
everything. People were forced to live in different areas, go to different schools,
hospitals, etc. Everything was segregated (two or more queues for banks, post offices,
separate or no recreation facilities, and there was very little interaction (except with
clearly demarcated roles, such as for domestic workers) amongst different races.
Everything favoured whites and no protest or exceptions were allowed, even for people
who did not have any need to protest. Public transport was segregated, in the beginning
even on aeroplanes. Buses were clearly segregated, with completely separate buses and
even different bus stops, for blacks and whites, differentiated by the colour of the bus
stop sign; trains had different coaches, train stations had different entrances. The list
was endless. Of course, jobs were segregated too, as was pay, and opportunities for
accessing tertiary education. Health care was separate. People were not allowed to
marry across the colour line. This offence was punishable by imprisonment.
In 1960, the African National Congress (ANC), the principal antiapartheid
organization, was banned, and in 1964 its leader, Nelson Mandela, was sentenced
to life imprisonment. Nelson Mandela had trained as a lawyer, and joined the
African National Congress in 1944 to aid its struggle against apartheid. During over
25 years in prison he became the world's most famous political prisoner.

International protests against apartheid intensified in the 1960s and
continued until it was ended. South Africa declared itself a republic in 1961 and cut
off its ties with the Commonwealth. The grip of apartheid on South Africa began to
give way when P. W. Botha was replaced as president in 1989. Following this, that
same year, the National Party elected a new leader named F.W. de Klerk. Apart
from all the internal and external protests, which were putting the apartheid
regime under ever‐increasing pressure, bringing it to a crisis point during the
1980s, by the end of the decade world politics had changed. The United Nations
imposed sanctions, and many countries divested their South African holdings. De
Klerk argued that the time had come to negotiate with the mass‐based opposition
parties. He worked tirelessly over the next few years to negotiate an end to
apartheid and minority rule, gaining widespread respect and support in the
process.

On 2 February 1990, De Klerk announced the release of Nelson Mandela. At
the same time, he also raised the ban on the African National Congress and all
other forbidden organisations. On 11 February 1990, Mandela was released, after a
quarter century in jail, and faced the world's press in a speech carried live
throughout the world (See Document nº 11 of the Appendix. Documents of Other
Anglophone Countries).

In 1991, a multiracial forum led by de Klerk and Mandela, the Convention
for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), began working on a new constitution. On
26 July 1993, an interim constitution was passed, which dismantled apartheid and
provided for a multiracial democracy with majority rule. The draft constitution
contained concessions towards all sides: a federal system of regional legislatures,
equal voting rights regardless of race, and a bicameral legislature.
The peaceful transition of South Africa from one of the world's most
repressive societies into a democracy is one of the 20th century's most remarkable
success stories. Therefore, it is not surprising that Mandela and de Klerk were
jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
National elections were held in April 1994, marking the first time in their
history that the South African population voted with universal suffrage in a general
election. Nelson Mandela was elected President on May 9, and on May 10 was
inaugurated as the first Black president of South Africa. The African National
Congress won the elections to govern for the very first time, winning more votes
than the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party who, together with the
African National Congress, formed a Government of National Unity, while parties
such as the Democratic Party and Pan Africanist Congress took up their seats as
part of the parliamentary opposition in the first genuine multiracial parliament.

5.3. PostApartheid South Africa

On May 10, 1994 Mandela was inaugurated as the first Black president of
South Africa in Pretoria and Thabo Mbeki and FW De Klerk as his vice‐presidents.
The new government included six ministers from the National Party and three
from the Inkatha Freedom Party. A new national constitution was approved and
adopted in May 1996. After considerable debate, and following submissions from
special‐interest groups, individuals and ordinary citizens, a new national
constitution was approved and adopted in May 1996.

In 1997, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, began hearings regarding human rights violations between 1960
and 1993. The commission promised amnesty to those who confessed their crimes
under the apartheid system. In 1998, F. W. de Klerk, P.W. Botha, and leaders of the
ANC appeared before the commission, and the nation continued to grapple with its
enlightened but often painful and divisive process of national recovery. OK

Nelson Mandela, whose term as president cemented his reputation as one of
the world's most farsighted statesmen, retired in 1999 and on June 2, 1999, Thabo
Mbeki, the pragmatic deputy president and leader of the African National
Congress, was elected president by a landslide, having already assumed many of
Mandela's governing responsibilities.

In his first term, Mbeki wrestled with a slumping economy and a
skyrocketing crime rate. On April 15, 2004, the African National Congress won
South Africa's general election in a landslide, taking about 70% of the vote, and
Thabo Mbeki was sworn in for a second term. In December 2007, African National
Committee delegates chose Jacob Zuma as their leader. Jacob Zuma comes from a
peasant background and received little formal education. He is a Zulu traditionalist
and a polygamist. Zuma was charged with corruption, money laundering and
racketeering, but those charges were dropped on a technicality in the lead‐up to
the election. He was also charged and then acquitted of rape. Not surprisingly,
Jacob Zuma's moral character became a central election issue. Zuma and his
supporters claim he was the victim of a political conspiracy hatched by Thabo
Mbeki, who had been in control of the party for the last ten years. OK

Zuma's lawyers accused Mbeki of trying to sabotage Zuma's political career.
A High Court judge dismissed the corruption charges against Zuma in September
2008, saying the government mishandled the prosecution. The judge also criticized
President Mbeki for attempting to influence the prosecution of Zuma. Under
pressure from leaders the African National Congress (ANC), Mbeki announced he
would step down just days after Zuma was cleared. While party leader's cited
Mbeki's alleged interference in the corruption case against Zuma, Mbeki's
resignation culminated several years of bitter infighting between Zuma and Mbeki,
which led to discord in the ANC.

However, South African's Supreme Court reinstated corruption charges
against Zuma in January 2009, saying that a lower court had "overstepped" its
authority in dismissing the charges. In spite of this, the country's prosecuting
authority dropped all charges against Zuma in April, about two weeks before
national elections.

In April's 2009 general election, the ruling party, the African National
Congress, won overwhelming support, taking 65.9% of the vote, just shy of a two‐
thirds majority, which is required to change the constitution. Parliament elected
Zuma, and his supporters claim he was the victim of a political conspiracy hatched
by Thabo Mbeki.
CHRONOLOGY
Chronological Table

10,000 BC Upper Paleolithic (the Old Stone Age) period
5000 ‐ 3000BC Neolithic (New Stone Age) period
400 AD Migration of the Bantu peoples into South Africa
700 AD Trade with the Arabs and Phoenicians
1480 Portuguese navigator Bartholomeu Dias first European to travel round
the southern tip of Africa
1652 The Dutch East India Company founded Cape Colony at Table Bay
1652 Dutch settlement of South Africa started
1795 The British captured Cape Town from the Dutch
1806 The British recaptured Cape Town and took over Cape Province.
1817‐1828 The Zulu Mfecane spread from Natal throughout southern Africa.
1830s Andries Pretorius tried to unite Boers from Natal, Winburg and Transvval
1835 The Europeans fought the sixth war with the Xhosa since the 1780s
1838 A massive migration of Boer families began into the southern African
interior
1843 The British government annexed the coastal region of Natal
1848 The British government annexed the Orange River Sovereignty
1852‐4 The British government recognized Boer independence
1858 Boers proclaimed the Transvaal a republic
1867 Diamonds were discovered at Kimberley
1872 The British government yielded control over all Cape Colony internal affairs
1876 Lord Carnarvon invited the Boer governments to discuss confederation
1877 The British and the Boers defeated the Zulus
1880‐81 The Boer War
1880s The gold rush
1881 Cecil Rhodes was elected to the Cape Colony parliament
1885 The first railroad and telegraph line from Kimberley to Cape Town opened.
1886 Gold was discovered at the Witwatersrand Rand
1889 Cecil Rhodes received a royal charter for his British South Africa Company.
1890 Cecil Rhodes became Prime Minister of Cape Colony.
1895 Cecil Rhodes personally financed an attempt to overthrow the
Transvaal government
1899 The Anglo‐Boer War began.
1900 The British government annexed the Transvaal and the Orange Free State
1908 Following elections, three of the South African colonies had Boer self-
government. Only Natal was British
1910 Formation of Union of South Africa by former British colonies of the
Cape and Natal, and the Boer republics of Transvaal, and Orange Free
State
1913 Land Act introduced preventing Blacks from purchasing land
1948 Policy of apartheid adopted by the National Party (NP)
1950 Group Areas Act passed to segregate black and white people
1950 The African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela initiated
a civil disobedience
1961 South Africa declared a republic
1964 Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment
1970's- 1980's Civil unrest, sanctions imposed on South Africa, forced
resettlement process and Township revolts
1990 Nelson Mandela released from prison
1991 De Klerk repealed remaining apartheid laws and international
sanctions were lifted
1993 Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
1994 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was elected President
2009 Jacob Zuma was elected President


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Australia

www.australianaboriginalarts.com.au/learnhome.html
www.australia.com/about/culture.aspx
www.australia.gov.au/
www.australianhistory.org
www.upfromaustralia.com/ausin21cen.html

Canada

www.canadahistory.com/ -
www.lib.washington.edu/.../History/tm/canada.html -
www.canadaonline.about.com/.../history/History_of_Canada.htm
www.cyber-north.com/canada/history.html
www.mta.ca/about_canada/multi/ -
India

www.indhistory.com/
www.adaniel.tripod.com/history.htm
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/india/
www.iloveindia.com/history/cultural‐history.html
www.culturalindia.net/indian‐history/modern‐history/index.html

New Zealand

www.archives.govt.nz/events/declaration‐independence
www.gg.govt.nz
www.govt.nz/
www.maori.info/
www.newzealandnz.co.nz/maori/

South Africa

www.southafrica.info/about/history/history.htm
www.southafrica.info/about/arts/
www.infoplease.co./ipa/A0107983.html
www.sahistory.org.za/
africanhistory.about.com/.../southafrica/South_Africa.htm
www.southafrica.info/about/people/language.htm


1. Why was the Quebec Act (1774) seen by French Canadians as a “Magna Carta”?
2. What is the importance of the Act of Union in 1841?
3. Which are the main features of the Australian colonial times?
4. Why was the role of women in Australian settlements so important?
5. Why is the Treaty of Waitangi so relevant?
6. What is the real situation of Maoris in New Zealand?
7. Which movements were launched under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi to
achieve the independence of India?
8. Why did the British suggest the partition of India?
9. Why can South Africa be described as a single, though not a uniform country?
10. What did the policy of Apartheid impose in South Africa?

FURTHER TASKS
1. Discuss the problem of nationalism in Quebec.
2. Write the main differences between the Canadian mosaic and the melting pot in
the United States.
3. Describe the Australian ‘gold rush’ and its consequences.
4. Explain the formation of the Australian national identity.
5. Describe the Aboriginal issue in New Zealand.
6. Summarise the main differences between Australian society and the New
Zealand multicultural reality.
7. Search for information on the outstanding figure of Mahatma Gandhi.
8. Write about the structure of society and the importance of religion in India.
9. Research the main consequences of Apartheid.
10.Research the role of the African National Congress in the evolution of South
African politics.

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ANGLOPHONE WORLDS FROM A HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE:

The Europeans were initially drawn to America to acquire wealth and to

European countries engaged in the system of mercantilism. This meant state

REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EVALUATION

1.1. British Colonial Policies and the Revolutionary Responses of Its

2.1. The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies, July 4, 1776.

The British also established a board of customs commissioners, whose purpose

In May 1775, a second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia and the

To Washington, Yorktown was “an important victory” and “a glorious event,”

The intellects behind the Declaration of Independence were Thomas Jefferson,

At the insistence of the Continental Congress there was a need to prepare a

From 1759 to the outburst of the American Revolution, Washington managed

In May 1775, when the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia,

When he realized of the weak points of the Articles of Confederation, he became

Washington understood that a president needed a cabinet and established three

As President, one of Washington’s main concerns was foreign policy. In foreign

Although Washington proved to be personally popular and respected, conflict

Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785. His

Jefferson was re-elected in 1804. During Jefferson's second term, international

After winning their independence, Americans continued to experiment with how

Jefferson's successor as President, James Madison (1809-1817), one of authors

Jackson received sporadic education, but in 1784, when he was seventeen, he

Jackson's opponents were Henry Clay of Kentucky, John Quincy Adams of

In his first Annual Message to Congress, Andrew Jackson recommended

Another controversial problem occurred when John C. Calhoun, leader of forces

States ratified Articles of Confederation following settlements of Virginia`s

1813 Boston Manufacturing Company founded cotton mill at Waltham,

CONWAY, S. The War of American Independence, 1775-1783. Oxford: Oxford

REVIEW QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EVALUATION

1. CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

The two completely different structures began to be contradictory. Northerners

In 1814, at the Hartford Convention, the Federalists expressed their discontent

The application of the territory of Missouri to be admitted as a State, had far

By 1818, Missouri Territory had gained sufficient population to warrant its

Tallmadge's remarks in defence of his amendment refer to the excitement and

A bill to admit Maine as a state was passed in the House of Representatives in

Finally, the Missouri Compromise was repealed by the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska

Southerners mainly sought to continue with the cotton-slavery system.

Politically, the 1850s can be characterized as a decade of failure in which the

The Compromise of 1850, however, reopened the question. Slaveholders in

The discovery of gold in California in January 1848 precipitated a rush of more

Clay’s compromise, as subsequently modified in Congress, contained a number

Abraham Lincoln had long regarded slavery as an evil. In a speech in Peoria,

Garrison's sensational methods awakened Northerners to slavery. He sought to

As a result of California’s admittance as a free state, there was great compromise

In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party nominated Abraham

By contrast, in Virginia, Union troops continued to encounter one defeat after

The final Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, also

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Throughout the summer of 1865, Johnson proceeded to carry out Lincoln's

Those states that established civil governments, took an oath of allegiance,

The Radical Republicans in Congress were exasperated by President Johnson’s

Johnson's main transgression was his opposition to disciplinary congressional

HOLZER, H. Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EVALUATION

Politicians proclaimed a foreign policy to protect America from external

Railroad Mileage, ca.1860

New England 3,660

Middle Atlantic 6,353

Old Northwest 9,592

Far West 1,495

On December 7, 1935, Andrew Jackson declared in his Seventh Annual

However, working conditions were often unsafe and workers got

STOLLER, M. George C. Marshall: SoldierStatesman. New York: Twayne's