McPherson Full Text

The English
Arrive in America
1607–1763
Why It Matters
English settlers traveled to America seeking land and an escape from religious persecution. By
the early 1700s, 13 colonies had been founded along the Atlantic coast of North America. The
Southern Colonies grew labor-intensive cash crops on large plantations using indentured and
enslaved labor. Small farms and towns based on congregations developed in the Northern
Colonies. Small farms in the Middle Colonies produced grain and other cash crops. Cities based
on fishing, trade, and commerce also developed in the Northern and Middle Colonies.
The Impact Today

Several developments of the early colonial period still affect the nation today.
• Religious conflicts in Europe influenced the colonists’ ideas of religious tolerance.
• The northern United States is still more urban than much of the South.
• The United States remains a nation made up of immigrants from many countries.
The American Republic Since 1877 Video

The Chapter 2 video, “Early Explorers,” chronicles the
voyages of some of the early European explorers.
1619
• Virginia House of Burgesses
meets for first time
1630
1587 1607 • Massachusetts Bay
1639
• Roanoke Colony • Jamestown Colony Colony is established
• Fundamental Orders
is founded is founded of Connecticut
adopted
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
1580 1620 1660
▼ ▼ ▼
1600 1642
• Tokugawa period of feudal • English Civil War begins
rule begins in Japan
1660
• Charles II becomes
king of England
40
This painting by Dutch artist Adam Willaerts is believed to
depict the Plymouth Colony.
1681 1692 c. 1740

• William Penn’s charter for • Salem witchcraft • Great Awakening
Pennsylvania is granted trials begin religious revival peaks
1686 1721
• Dominion of New • Cotton Mather
England is established promotes HISTORY
as royal colony inoculation
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
Visit the American Republic
Since 1877 Web site at
1700 1740 tarvol2.glencoe.com and
click on Chapter Overviews—
▼ ▼ ▼ Chapter 2 to preview chapter
1689 1725 1742 information.
• English Bill of • Russian czar • Handel’s “Messiah”
Rights issued Peter the Great dies debuts in Dublin, Ireland
41
England’s First Colonies
Main Idea Reading Strategy Reading Objectives
Religious, economic, and political Organizing As you read about the early • Explain the religious and economic rea-
changes in England caused the English to troubles of the Jamestown colony, com- sons why England became interested in
begin establishing colonies along the plete a graphic organizer similar to the America.
eastern coast of North America. one below by listing the problems that • Describe the founding of Jamestown
faced the colonists. and explain why it succeeded.
Key Terms and Names
Puritan, enclosure movement, joint-stock Jamestown’s Troubles Section Theme
company, privateer, John Smith, Chief Geography and History England’s
Powhatan, burgesses, headright, Lord rivalry with Spain encouraged Queen
Baltimore, proprietary colony Elizabeth to seek bases for naval opera-
tions in North America.
✦1500 ✦1540 ✦1580 ✦1620

1497 1517 1587 1607 1619
John Cabot explores North Protestant Roanoke colony Jamestown House of Burgesses
America’s coastline for England Reformation begins is founded is founded meets for the first time
On July 30, 1619, delegates gathered from the communities surrounding the main
settlement of the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. This meeting marked the first
assembly of an elected legislature of representatives in the English colonies. The first
session of the governing body, known as the House of Burgesses, met in the choir of
the Jamestown church—“the most convenient place we could find to sit,” said one
representative.
Governor Sir George Yeardley had organized the idea of the legislative body soon
after his arrival in April 1619. Here, he lays out the basic idea of the assembly, as
specified in “A Brief Declaration of the Plantation of Virginia”:
Virginia House
of Burgesses
“ [So that the colonists] might have a hand in the governing of themselves; it was granted
that a general assembly should be held yearly once, whereat were to be present the governor
and council and two burgesses from each plantation freely to be elected by the inhabitants
”
thereof.
—quoted in Jamestown, 1544–1699
England Takes Interest in America

In 1619 Jamestown was only 12 years old, although England had begun exploring the
American continent more than a century earlier. In 1497 John Cabot had sailed to
present-day Nova Scotia, hoping to discover a sea route through North America to
China. Cabot and his crew of 18 traveled south along the coast without finding any trace
of the fabled Northwest Passage.
42 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

For the next 80 years, the English made no effort to a German monk named Martin Luther published an
colonize America. The English government had little attack on the Church, accusing it of corruption.
money, and Cabot had found no wealth to spur Luther’s attack marked the beginning of the
migration. Furthermore, the Spanish had claimed Protestant Reformation. In 1520 Luther was expelled
America, and in 1497 Spain and England were allies. from the Catholic Church, but his ideas continued to
During the late 1500s, however, religious, economic, spread across western Europe. Luther himself went
and political changes led to the founding of the first on to found the German Protestant Church, now
English colonies in North America. called the Lutheran Church.
In England the rebellion against Catholicism began
TURNING POINT
in 1527, when Henry VIII asked the pope to annul his
The Reformation At the time Cabot sailed to marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The pope resisted
America, most of western Europe was Catholic and because he did not want to anger the king of Spain,
acknowledged the pope as the head of the Catholic Catherine’s nephew. Infuriated, Henry broke with the
Church. This unity began to break apart in 1517, when Church, declared himself the head of England’s
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church, and arranged his own divorce. The new Religion also brought England into a new alliance
church, the Anglican Church, was Protestant, although with the Dutch, who were then part of the Spanish
its organization and rituals were mostly Catholic. empire. By the 1560s, most of the Dutch had become
Some English people supported the new church, Protestants, and they rebelled when the Spanish gov-
but others did not. Puritans wanted to purify the ernment tried to suppress their faith.
Anglican Church of any remaining Catholic ele- To help the Dutch against Spain, Queen Elizabeth
ments. They especially hated the fact that monarchs allowed attacks on Spanish ships by English
and their appointed bishops controlled the church. In privateers—privately owned ships licensed by the
their view, every congregation should elect its own government to attack the merchant ships of other
ministers to run the church. countries. English privateers found it difficult to
When James I became king in 1603, the Puritan strike at Spanish ships in the Caribbean because
cause was set back. He refused to tolerate Puritan England had no bases there. This led Queen
reform ideas since they would lessen his power. As a Elizabeth to seek outposts in America.
result, many Puritans became more interested in The first attempts at colonization were not promis-
leaving England. ing. In 1578 and 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a well-
known English soldier, tried to create a colony in
ECONOMICS
America, but both attempts failed. After Gilbert was
Economic Changes in England A revolution in lost at sea, his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, sent two
trade and agriculture was also changing English soci- ships to scout the American coastline. Along the outer
ety at this time. Traditionally English nobles owned banks of what is today North Carolina, the ships found
large estates and rented their land to tenant farmers. an island the Native Americans called Roanoke.
In the 1500s, however, a large market for wool devel-
oped, and landowners decided they could make
more money by converting their estates into sheep History
farms. During the enclosure movement, they fenced
in their lands and evicted thousands of tenant farm- Warring Empires In 1588 the Spanish Armada set out with about 130
ships to settle scores with the English, Spain’s rival in religion and empire.
ers. Continuing economic turmoil in England later
In the decisive battle, English fireships outmaneuvered the Spanish fleet,
encouraged many people to immigrate to America. setting some of their galleons on fire. A “Protestant wind,” as the English
The wool market had another impact on American called it, did the rest. If Spain had won, Catholicism might have been
settlement. When wool prices fell, many wool mer- reestablished in England. Why do you think the defeat of the Spanish
chants organized joint-stock companies to find new Armada is important to American history?
markets. A joint-stock company pooled money to
support big projects. Many merchants could now bet-
ter afford to trade with and colonize other parts of
the world.
Reading Check Explaining Why were some
Puritans willing to leave England for America?
England Returns to America

The quest for new markets convinced English mer-
chants to resume the search for a northern water route
to Asia. Between 1576 and 1578, Martin Frobisher
made three trips to America to look for a northwest
passage. He never found one, but his explorations
were still significant. For the first time since Cabot’s
voyage in 1497, England had returned to America.
England’s new interest in America contributed to
its growing rivalry with Spain, which dated from the
Reformation. The Reformation had changed Europe’s
balance of power. England had become the leading
Protestant power, Spain the leading Catholic power.

Impressed by the discovery, Queen Elizabeth Early Troubles Most of Jamestown’s colonists were
knighted Raleigh, and he in turn named the land townspeople who knew little about living in the
Virginia—in honor of Elizabeth, “the Virgin Queen.” woods. They could not make use of the area’s abun-
Raleigh sent settlers to Roanoke Island twice, dant fish and game, nor could they raise livestock or
once in 1585 and again in 1587. The first group cultivate crops. Furthermore, the upper-class “gentle-
returned to England after a difficult winter. The fate men” among them refused to do manual labor. To
of the second group is unknown. War between make matters worse, Jamestown’s governing council
England and Spain kept supplies from reaching argued constantly and could not make decisions.
them on time. When English ships arrived in 1590, Lawlessness, sickness, and food shortages were the
the colony had vanished, leaving only the word result. Although 190 new settlers arrived in 1608, only
“Croatoan” carved on a post. The Croatoan were 53 colonists were alive by the end of the year. Everyone
Native Americans who lived nearby. The fate of the might have died, in fact, had it not been for Captain
“Lost Colony” remains a mystery. John Smith and Chief Powhatan.
Reading Check Summarizing Why did England Captain John Smith, a member of the colony’s gov-
erning council, emerged as Jamestown’s only strong
want to establish outposts in America?
leader. In late 1607, with winter approaching and the
colony short of food, Smith explored the region around
Jamestown and began trading goods for food with the
Jamestown Is Founded local Native Americans—a group called the Powhatan
In 1606 King James I granted the English investors Confederacy, led by Chief Powhatan. This trade
of the Virginia Company a charter to plant colonies in helped the colony survive its first two winters.
Virginia. The investors sent three small ships and 144 Frustrated by the events in Jamestown, the Virginia
men to Virginia on December 20, 1606. After a difficult Company appointed a new governor, Thomas West,
trip, the ships arrived off the coast of North America. Lord De La Warr, and gave him absolute authority. To
In May 1607, the colonists founded a settlement they entice settlers, the company offered free land to anyone
named Jamestown in honor of their king. who worked for the colony for seven years. The offer
Unfortunately, the colonists had chosen a site too produced results, for in August 1609, 400 new settlers
close to the sea, on low, swampy land swarming with arrived in Jamestown.
malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Poor location, however, The newcomers created a crisis in the colony. There
was just the beginning of Jamestown’s problems. was not enough food to feed everyone, nor could
enough be grown before winter. Lord De La Warr had
not accompanied the new settlers, and John Smith had
suffered a gunpowder burn and returned to England.
Without strong leadership, the situation in Jamestown
rapidly deteriorated. As winter approached, the set-
tlers began to steal food from the Native Americans. In
response, warriors attacked the settlers.
The winter of 1609 to 1610 became known as the
“starving time.” The colonists at Jamestown ate “dogs,
rats, snakes, toadstools, [and] horsehides,” and a few
even engaged in cannibalism, digging up corpses from
their graves and eating them.
By the spring of 1610, only 60 settlers were still alive.
They abandoned Jamestown and headed downriver.
On the way, they met three English ships bringing sup-
plies, 150 more settlers, and the colony’s governor.
Lord De La Warr convinced the settlers to stay. His
deputy, Thomas Dale, then drafted a harsh code of
laws. Settlers were organized into work gangs and
required to work at least six hours per day. The death
penalty was imposed for many crimes, including rape,
adultery, desertion, mutiny, theft, lying, swearing, and
derision of the Bible.
CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 45

became very popular in Europe in the early 1600s.
The Jamestown settlers had tried growing tobacco,
but the local variety was too bitter.
A colonist named John Rolfe continued to experi-
ment, using tobacco seeds imported from Trinidad.
Rolfe also developed a new method for curing
tobacco, and in 1614 he shipped about 2,600 pounds
to England. Rolfe’s tobacco was inferior to Spanish
tobacco, but it sold for a good price, and the settlers
soon began planting large quantities of it.
GOVERNMENT
History
Luring Settlers In 1618 the new head of the
Virginia Company, Edwin Sandys, introduced
Critical Leadership Captain John Smith several major reforms to attract more settlers.
helped save early Jamestown by trading with The first reform gave the colony the right to
local Native Americans. Sidney King painted elect its own lawmaking body. Virginia’s first
its fort as it might have appeared around 1607.
general assembly met in the Jamestown church
Why do you think the fort was set up with
only three sides? on July 30, 1619. The new government included a
governor, 6 councillors, and 20 representatives, 2
from each of the colony’s 10 towns. The representa-
Dale’s code imposed the disci- tives were called burgesses, and the assembly was
pline necessary to save the colony, but it still called the House of Burgesses.
did not thrive. In 1614 Dale decided to permit pri- The Virginia Company also introduced the system
vate cultivation of land. Settlers could acquire 3 of headrights. New settlers who bought a share in
acres of land if they gave the colony a month of work the company or paid for their passage were granted
and 2 1⁄ 2 barrels of corn. Whatever else they pro- 50 acres of land. They were granted 50 more acres for
duced, they could keep for themselves. According to each family member over 15 years of age and for each
one colonist, Ralph Hamor, the new system servant they transported to Virginia.
increased production: In addition, the Virginia Company realized that it
needed to provide more marriage opportunities for
“ When our people were fed out of the common
store and labored jointly in the manuring of the
the many single men in the colony. In 1619 it sent
about 90 women to Jamestown. A bachelor could pur-
ground and planting corn, glad was the man that chase a bride for 120 pounds of tobacco, roughly what
could slip from his labor . . . presuming that howso- it cost the company to bring each woman to America.
ever the harvest prospered, the general store must The same year the women arrived, the first
maintain them, by which means we reaped not so Africans were brought to Virginia as well. A Dutch
much corn for the labors of 30 men, as three men slave ship stopped to trade for supplies, and the
Jamestown settlers purchased 20 African men as
have done for themselves.
” “Christian servants,” not slaves. The Africans had
—quoted in Colonial America
been baptized, and at that time English law said that
Christians could not be enslaved.
Tobacco Saves the Colony Although the new pol-
icy increased productivity and ensured Jamestown’s Virginia Becomes a Royal Colony The policies
survival, the colony still had to find something it introduced by the Virginia Company in 1619 trig-
could produce that could be sold in England for a gered a wave of new immigration to the colony. By
profit. The solution was a product King James had 1622 more than 4,500 settlers had arrived in Virginia.
already condemned as a “vile weed [of] black stink- The dramatic increase in colonists alarmed the
ing fumes [that were] baleful to the nose, harmful to Native Americans, who attacked Jamestown in
the brain, and dangerous to the lungs”—tobacco. March 1622. They burned homes, destroyed food
Well before the founding of Jamestown, the supplies, and killed nearly 350 settlers.
Spanish had begun shipping tobacco from their The settlers eventually put an end to the uprising,
Caribbean colonies to Europe. Smoking tobacco but the colony was devastated. After blaming the

Virginia Company for the colony’s high death rate,
an English court revoked the company’s charter.
Virginia became a royal colony run by a governor
who was appointed by the king.
English Flag This flag flew over the English settle-
Reading Check Describing How did Captain John ments throughout the colonial period. First used in
Smith and the Powhatan Confederacy save Jamestown? 1606, the flag displays the
red cross of England (cross of
St. George) superimposed on
Maryland Is Founded the white cross of Scotland
(cross of St. Andrew), on the
The next colony in America was founded not by blue background field of
another joint-stock company but by one man, George Scotland. This “Union Flag,”
Calvert, also known as Lord Baltimore. Lord as it was called, remained in
Baltimore had been a member of the English use until January 1, 1801.
Parliament until he converted to Catholicism. This
decision ruined his career, but he remained a good
friend of King James and his son, Charles.
Catholics were persecuted in England for much owner, could govern the colony any way that he
the same reason as Puritans. Catholics did not accept wanted. He could appoint government officials, coin
the king as head of the Church, nor did money, impose taxes, establish courts, regulate trade,
they accept the authority of Anglican bishops and grant lands, create towns, and raise an army.
priests. As a result, they were viewed as potential Lord Baltimore died shortly before settlers arrived
traitors who might help Catholic countries over- in his colony. His son Cecil became the new Lord
throw the English king. Consequently, they were for- Baltimore. In 1634, 20 gentlemen, mostly Catholic, and
bidden to practice law or teach school. They were 200 servants and artisans, mostly Protestant, arrived in
also fined for not attending Anglican services. Maryland. Despite Baltimore’s hope that Maryland
Seeing the persecution of his fellow Catholics, would become a Catholic refuge, Protestants
Lord Baltimore decided to found a colony in America remained in the majority. The government officials
where Catholics could practice their religion freely. In and most of the large estate owners were Catholic,
1632 King Charles granted him a large area of land however. To reduce friction between the two groups,
northeast of Virginia. Baltimore named the new Maryland passed the Toleration Act in 1649, granting
colony Maryland, to honor either the king’s wife, religious toleration to all Christians in the colony.
Queen Henrietta Maria, or the Virgin Mary.
Lord Baltimore owned Maryland, making it Reading Check Analyzing Why was Maryland
England’s first proprietary colony. The proprietor, or founded?
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Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

1. Define: Puritan, enclosure movement, 5. Interpreting What caused friction in 7. Examining Paintings Study the paint-
joint-stock company, privateer, the Maryland colony? ing of the conflict between the British
burgesses, headright, proprietary 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer navy and the Spanish Armada on pages
colony. similar to the one below to list three 44 and 45. How has the artist shown
2. Identify: John Smith, Chief Powhatan, ways the Virginia Company tried to the importance of the conflict depicted?
Lord Baltimore. attract settlers to the Jamestown colony.
3. Explain how tobacco saved the
Jamestown colony. Ways to Attract Settlers Writing About History
8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are a
Reviewing Themes colonist at Jamestown. Write a journal
4. Geography and History How did the entry describing the first winter in the
enclosure movement change English colony. Describe the weather as well as
society? the problems that colonists faced during
that time.

The New England
Colonies
In the 1600s, English Puritans fleeing Organizing As you read about the • Explain why the Pilgrims moved to
religious persecution and economic founding of colonies in New England, America and why Plymouth Colony
difficulties founded several colonies in complete a graphic organizer similar to succeeded.
New England. the one below listing the reasons for • Discuss why King Philip’s War began
King Philip’s War. and describe its results.
Key Terms and Names
Separatist, Pilgrim, Squanto, Great Section Theme
Migration, heretic, Anne Hutchinson Culture and Traditions Puritan beliefs
Causes of and organization provided the basis for
King Philip’s War some of the nation’s oldest traditions of
government and community.
✦1620 ✦1640 ✦1660 ✦1680

1620 1630 1636 1639 1675
Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth Massachusetts Bay Roger Williams Fundamental Orders of King Philip’s War
Colony established founds Providence Connecticut adopted
On a bleak November day in 1620, a tiny three-masted English ship named the
Mayflower dropped anchor off the coast of Cape Cod. The eyes of all those aboard
focused on the low strip of land before them. They were not where they were supposed
to be. They had a patent for land in Virginia, but the land bobbing on the horizon was
clearly not Virginia. If they went ashore, they would be on land to which they had no
title, in a territory where no English government existed.
The Mayflower, anchored On November 11, 1620, 41 adult men met in the ship’s cabin to sign a document later
in Plymouth harbor known as the Mayflower Compact. In it they declared their intention to create a government
and obey its laws. They agreed to “solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of
another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politic, for our better order-
ing and preservation,” and to “frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions
and officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general
good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”
—adapted from Basic Documents in American History
The Pilgrims Found Plymouth Colony

The events that led to the arrival of the Mayflower off the New England coast began
several years earlier in England. A group of Puritans, called Separatists, began separat-
ing from the Anglican Church to form their own congregations. King James I responded

to this challenge to his authority as head of the The Puritans Found Massachusetts
Church with severe persecution, including imprison-
Less than five years after the Pilgrims left
ment of Separatist leaders. To escape this persecu-
England, King Charles took the throne, and persecu-
tion, a group of Separatists fled to Holland in 1608.
tion of the Puritans mounted. At the same time, a
These Separatists, who came to be known as the
depression struck England’s wool industry. The
Pilgrims, found it hard to live in Holland. They also
depression caused high unemployment, particularly
worried that their children were losing their English
in the southeastern counties where large numbers of
heritage. In early 1617, the congregation decided to
Puritans lived.
leave Holland and immigrate to America.
Before crossing the Atlantic, the Pilgrims returned As he watched his fellow Puritans suffering both
to England, where they joined another group of religious and economic hardships, John Winthrop, an
Puritans aboard the Mayflower. On September attorney, grew concerned. Winthrop and several
16, 1620, 102 passengers set off for Virginia. other wealthy Puritans were stockholders in
The trip took 65 days. Most of the food ran the Massachusetts Bay Company. The com-
out, many passengers became ill, and one pany had already received a charter from
died. Making matters worse, a severe King Charles to create a colony in New
storm blew the small ship far north of England. Convinced that Puritans no
its course. Finally, in November, the longer had a future in England, Winthrop
Pilgrims sighted Cape Cod and tried to decided to change what had been a busi-
follow the coastline south. After encoun- ness investment into something more: a
tering rough weather, they turned back. refuge for Puritans in America.
Although they were not where they Other Puritans embraced the idea,
expected, the Pilgrims were not com- and in March 1630, 11 ships carrying
pletely lost. In 1614 the Virginia John Winthrop about 900 settlers set sail. En route, in a
Company had hired Captain John Smith sermon titled “A Model of Christian
to explore the region. The Pilgrims had a copy of Charity,” John Winthrop boasted that the
John Smith’s “Map of New England,” and they new colony would be an example to the world: “The
decided to settle in the area labeled “Plymouth.” Lord will make our name a praise and glory. . . . We
According to William Bradford, one of the shall be like a City upon a Hill; the eyes of all people
colony’s leaders, the Pilgrims went to work build- are on us.”
ing homes as soon as they arrived at
Plymouth. After constructing a “common
house,” the settlers built modest homes of
frame construction and thatched roofs. Soon,
however, a plague swept through the colony,
sparing only 50 settlers.
Even the surviving Pilgrims might have per-
ished were it not for the help of Squanto, a
Native American man who taught them about
their new environment. Bradford wrote that
Squanto “directed them how to set their corn,
where to take fish and [how] to procure other
commodities.” Squanto also helped the
Pilgrims negotiate a peace treaty with the
Wampanoag people who lived nearby. The fol-
lowing autumn, the Pilgrims joined with the
Wampanoag in a three-day festival to celebrate
the harvest and give thanks to God for their
good fortune. This celebration later became the History Through Art
basis for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Solemn Signing Tompkins Matteson painted his vision of the Mayflower Compact sign-
ing. By signing this document, the Pilgrims wanted to set up a legal basis for their colony.
Reading Check Summarizing How did How did the artist try to suggest the seriousness of the occasion? ; (See page 943
Squanto help the Pilgrims? for an excerpt from the Mayflower Compact.)

Rapid Growth By the end of the
year, 17 ships had brought another
1,000 settlers, and Massachusetts
in History
rapidly expanded. Several towns
were founded, including Boston, Anne Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet
which became the colony’s capi- c. 1612–1672 was a devoted
Anne Dudley was born about 1612 in supporter of her
tal. As conditions in England
Northampton, England. At the age of 16 husband, who
worsened, large numbers of peo- became a leading
ple began to leave the country in she married Simon Bradstreet, and two
years later she accompanied her hus- political figure in
what was later called the Great Massachusetts,
band to America. The Bradstreets, travel-
Migration. By 1643 an estimated ing with John Winthrop’s party, were serving two
20,000 settlers had arrived in New among the first settlers of the Massa- terms as governor.
England. chusetts Bay Colony. During the period of the Dominion of
In America Anne Bradstreet faced the New England, he spoke out against the
GOVERNMENT difficult task of building a home in the harsh rule of Edmund Andros. In a
wilderness. Despite the hard work of poem, To My Dear Loving Husband,
Church and State The charter of raising eight children, she found time to published after her death, Anne
the Massachusetts Bay Company write poetry. In 1650 the first edition of described their relationship:
defined the colony’s government. her poetry was published in England as If ever two were one, then surely we.
People who owned stock in the The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in If ever man were loved by wife, then
company were called “freemen.” America. Bradstreet had not anticipated thee;
this recognition. Her brother-in-law had If ever wife was happy in a man,
All of the freemen together were
secretly taken a copy of her manuscript Compare with me ye women
called the General Court. The to a London publisher. if you can.
General Court was to make the
laws and elect the governor.
John Winthrop had been chosen
as governor. He ignored the charter, however, and threat to the community. Settlers who publicly
told the settlers that only he and his assistants could uttered ideas contrary to accepted Puritan beliefs
make laws for the colony. No one knew that this vio- could be charged with heresy and banished.
lated the charter, because Winthrop kept it locked in Puritan efforts to suppress other religious beliefs
a chest. inevitably sparked conflict. Eventually, just as
Winthrop stayed in power for four years, but the Anglican intolerance of the Puritans had led to the
settlers eventually grew frustrated with how little founding of Massachusetts, Puritan intolerance led to
voice they had in governing. In 1634 each town sent the founding of other colonies in New England.
two representatives to Boston and demanded to see Reading Check Synthesizing How did John
the charter. Winthrop had no basis to refuse the
request. As they read the charter, the representatives Winthrop’s beliefs affect the government of Massachusetts?
realized that the General Court, not the governor, was
supposed to make the laws. When the General Court
assembled in May 1634, they reorganized the govern- The Founding of Rhode Island
ment. The General Court became a representative In 1631 a young minister named Roger Williams
assembly, with the freemen from each town electing arrived in Massachusetts. Williams was a strict
up to three deputies to send to the Court each year. Separatist who believed Puritans corrupted them-
As for government’s role in religion, John selves by staying part of the Anglican Church. His
Winthrop believed that each congregation should continuing condemnation of the Puritan churches
control its own church but that the government angered many people, and for a time he moved to
should support religion. Laws were passed requiring Plymouth Colony. There Williams declared that the
everyone to attend church. The government also col- land belonged to the Native Americans and that the
lected taxes to support the church and regulated king had no right to give it away.
moral behavior. Gambling, blasphemy, adultery, and Williams’s ideas greatly alarmed John Winthrop. If
drunkenness were all illegal and punished severely. the king heard that Puritan colonists were denying his
The government also discouraged new and differ- authority, he might revoke Massachusetts’s charter
ent religious ideas. Heretics—people whose religious and impose a royal government. If that happened, the
beliefs differ from the majority—were considered a Puritans would lose control of their churches.

When Williams returned to Massachusetts in 1633, Connecticut River and founded the town of Hartford.
he continued to challenge Puritan authority. In Hooker’s congregation joined two others in the area
October 1635, the General Court ordered him to leave that had established Windsor and Wethersfield. In
the colony. With five friends, Williams headed south 1637 the towns joined together to create their own
to establish his own colony. He purchased land from General Court. Two years later, they adopted the
the Narragansett people and founded the town of Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a constitution
Providence in 1636. In Providence, the government which allowed all adult men, not just church mem-
had no authority in religious matters. Different reli- bers, to vote and serve in government. ; (See page 944
gious beliefs were tolerated rather than suppressed. for more on the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.)
In the midst of the uproar over Roger Williams, a East of the Connecticut River lived the Pequot
devout Puritan named Anne Hutchinson began people. At first the Pequot chief Sassacus, who ruled
causing a stir in Boston. Hutchinson held prayer both the Pequot and the Mohegan people, tolerated
meetings in her home to discuss sermons and com- the English settlers because he needed allies against
pare ministers. She soon began claiming to know the Narraganset people in Rhode Island. In 1636,
which ministers had salvation from God and which however, two Massachusetts traders were killed in
did not. Puritan leaders understood that Hutchinson Pequot territory. When Massachusetts sent troops to
was attacking the authority of ministers. In late 1637, punish the Pequot, war erupted, and the Pequot
the General Court charged her with heresy. began raiding towns along the Connecticut River.
When questioned, Hutchinson vigorously In April 1637, the Pequot surprised the town of
defended herself. Then she made a mistake. When Wethersfield and killed nine people. Furious, the
asked how God let her know “which was the clear Connecticut settlers assembled an army under
[correct] ministry and which the wrong,” she the command of Captain John Mason. Seizing the
explained that God spoke to her directly. In so doing, opportunity to free themselves, the Mohegan
Hutchinson flatly contradicted the Puritan belief that rebelled against the Pequot and sent warriors to
God spoke only through the Bible. The General Court
immediately banished her for heresy. Hutchinson
and a few followers headed south and founded the New England
town of Portsmouth. Colonies, c. 1700
Over the next few years, Massachusetts banished NEW ce
R.
FRANCE r en
other dissenting Puritans. They too headed south aw
L
and founded Newport in 1639 and Warwick in 1643.
.
St
In 1644 these two towns joined Portsmouth and N

MAINE
45°N
Providence to become the colony of Rhode Island W E (Part of MASS.)
Lake
and Providence Plantations. Religious freedom was a Champlain S
key part of the colony’s charter.
.
tR
Reading Check Explaining Why were Roger

ticu
N.H.
Conn e c
Williams and Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts? Portsmouth, 1623

son R.
N.Y.
Salem, 1626
MASS.
Hud
Massachusetts Bay
The River Towns of Connecticut Boston, 1630
Hartford, 1636 Plymouth, 1620
In 1636 the Reverend Thomas Hooker asked the CONN. Providence, 1636
New Haven,
General Court of Massachusetts for permission to 1638 R.I. Atlantic
Ocean
move his entire congregation to the Connecticut Long
N.J. Island
River valley. His congregation wanted to relocate 40°N
because they did not have enough land to raise cattle. 0 100 miles
Hooker, moreover, was frustrated by the
75°W 0 100 kilometers 70°W
Massachusetts political system. He thought that Albers Conic Equal-Area projection
everyone should be allowed to vote, not just church
members. Hooker argued that “the foundation of
authority is laid in the consent of the governed.”
The General Court granted Hooker’s request. A 1. Interpreting Maps How long after the establishment of
few months later, some 100 settlers headed to the Plymouth Colony was Boston founded?
2. Applying Geography Skills Which English settlement
was not located directly on the coast?
fight alongside Mason’s troops. The Pequots’ bitter the north, which he called Maine. The government of
rivals, the Narraganset, also joined in the attack. Massachusetts, however, challenged the claims of
Mason took his force up the coast by ship and both men. In 1677 an English court ruled against
attacked the Pequot from the east. He and his Native Massachusetts. Two years later, New Hampshire
American allies surrounded the main Pequot fort became a royal colony. Meanwhile, Massachusetts
near Mystic Harbor and set it on fire. When the bought Maine from Gorges’s heirs, and Maine
Pequot tried to surrender, the Connecticut troops remained part of Massachusetts until 1820.
opened fire, killing about 400 people, including
Reading Check Identifying What two colonies were
women and children. The Connecticut General Court
then put a bounty on the surviving Pequot. Many established north of Massachusetts?
who were captured or surrendered were sold into
slavery, while others were given to the Narraganset
and Mohegan as war prizes. The Pequot were treated King Philip’s War
so poorly by the other Native Americans that in 1655, For almost 40 years after the Pequot War, the set-
the Connecticut government resettled the survivors tlers and Native Americans of New England had
in two villages near the Mystic River. good relations. The fur trade helped keep the peace
Reading Check Contrasting How did Connecticut’s because it enabled Native Americans to acquire tools,
guns, and other European goods, while the settlers
constitution differ from that of Massachusetts? acquired furs. By the 1670s, however, the fur trade
was in decline, and colonial governments were
demanding that Native Americans follow English
New Hampshire and Maine laws and customs. Native Americans felt that the
Not all of the settlers who left Massachusetts English were trying to destroy their way of life.
headed for Rhode Island or Connecticut. Although Tensions peaked in 1675 when Plymouth Colony
Anne Hutchinson had moved south, 36 of her follow- arrested, tried, and executed three Wampanoag for a
ers headed north and founded the town of Exeter. murder. This touched off what came to be called
During the 1640s, several other towns were also King Philip’s War, named after the Wampanoag
established north of Massachusetts. Many of the set- leader Metacomet, whom the settlers called King
tlers in these towns were fishers and fur traders. Philip. After the colonists won the war in 1678, very
Much of the territory north of Massachusetts had few Native Americans were left in New England.
been granted to two men, Sir Fernando Gorges and New England now belonged to the English settlers.
Captain John Mason. The pair split their holdings,
with Mason taking the southern part and naming it Reading Check Analyzing In what way was King
New Hampshire, and Gorges taking the territory in Philip’s War a turning point for Native Americans?
TM
TM

1. Define: Separatist, Pilgrim, heretic. 5. Comparing In what ways were the 7. Examining Art Study the painting of
2. Identify: Squanto, Great Migration, causes and effects of the Pequot War the signing of the Mayflower Compact
Anne Hutchinson. and King Philip’s War similar? on page 49. Do you think the artist’s
3. Explain why the Pilgrims and the 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer depiction of the people and the ship is
Puritans migrated to America. similar to the one below to list the New accurate, considering that they have
England colonies and the reasons for just completed a long journey? Why or
Reviewing Themes their founding. why not?
4. Culture and Traditions How did
Thomas Hooker’s beliefs promote the Colony Reasons Founded Writing About History
idea of separation of church and state? 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are
a Pilgrim in the Plymouth colony. Write
a letter to your friends in Europe
describing your first few weeks in the
new land.

The Middle and
Southern Colonies
Main Idea Reading Objectives Reading Objectives
After the English Civil War, economic, Organizing As you read about the • Explain the effect of the English Civil
strategic, and religious factors led to the growth of the Middle and Southern War on the American colonies.
founding of seven new English colonies Colonies, complete a graphic organizer • Summarize why the English colonies
along the Atlantic seaboard. listing ways that colonies attracted succeeded.
settlers.
Key Terms and Names Section Theme
English Civil War, William Penn, pacifism, Global Connections The end of the
James Oglethorpe, debtor Ways to English Civil War marked a renewal of
Attract Settlers
British colonization in America.
✦1640 ✦1670 ✦1700 ✦1730

1642 1660 1664 1681 1733
English Civil English monarchy English capture William Penn receives First English settlers
War begins restored New Amsterdam charter for Pennsylvania arrive in Georgia
On August 26, 1664, an English fleet arrived near the Dutch town of New Amsterdam. Its
commander sent a note to Governor Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherland, demanding the
town surrender. Stuyvesant bellowed that he would rather “be carried out dead in his coffin.”
Badly outnumbered, however, leading Dutch citizens petitioned the governor to surrender:
“ We, your sorrowful community and subjects, beg to represent, with all humility, that we
cannot conscientiously foresee that anything else is to be expected . . . than misery, sorrow,
conflagration, the dishonor of women . . . and, in a word, the absolute ruin and destruction
of about fifteen hundred innocent souls, only two hundred and fifty of whom are capable of
”
bearing arms. . . .
Peter Stuyvesant
Two days later, Stuyvesant watched two English warships approach. Beside him stood a
gunner, ready to fire. The minister at New Amsterdam talked to the governor, then led him
away. On September 8, the Dutch surrendered, and New Amsterdam became New York.
—adapted from A New World and Colonial New York
The English Civil War and the Colonies

The fall of New Amsterdam and the founding of New York in 1664 marked the begin-
ning of a new wave of English colonization in America. For more than 20 years, colo-
nization had been at a standstill because of the violent struggle between the Puritans

and the English king. The war was also political. New York and New Jersey
Many English people felt the king was ruling as an
King Charles II was especially interested in the
absolute ruler and failing to consult Parliament.
land between Maryland and Connecticut, which was
The English Civil War began in 1642 when King
controlled by the Dutch. If he could control this
Charles I sent troops into Parliament, which was
region, it would link Virginia and Maryland to New
dominated by Puritans, to arrest Puritan leaders.
England.
In response, Parliament organized an army.
In 1609 navigator Henry Hudson explored the
Parliament’s forces defeated the king’s troops, and in
Hudson River valley for a group of Dutch merchants.
1649 the king was put to death. A few years later,
The Dutch claimed the region, calling it New
Oliver Cromwell, the commander of Parliament’s
Netherland, and established their main settlement at
army, seized power and became dictator of England.
New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
By the time of Cromwell’s death in 1658,
The colony grew slowly, partly because the fur
England’s leaders longed for stability. The army
trade was the focus of activity. To increase the popu-
returned Parliament to power, and King Charles’s
lation, the Dutch allowed anyone from any country
son, Charles II, took the throne in 1660. With the
to buy land. This strategy worked, and by 1664 the
monarchy restored, the English government began
colony had more than 10,000 people. The need for
enthusiastically backing a new round of colonization
labor also brought unwilling immigrants, as the
in America. Colonies were no longer seen as risky
Dutch first brought enslaved Africans in the 1620s.
business ventures, but as vital sources of raw materi-
By 1660 the Dutch and the English had become
als and as markets for English goods.
commercial rivals. The Dutch often defied English
Reading Check Examining Why were the English laws meant to control colonial trade, as when they
enthusiastic about colonization after the English Civil War? helped English colonists smuggle tobacco to Europe.
Comparing European Colonies in the Americas, c. 1700

Colony Early Settlement Population Areas Where Political and Economic Economic
Concentrated Organization Focus
Spanish
1490s–early 1500s Between 5–7 Mexico, Florida, Texas, Governors with Gold, silver
million Central America, the strong links to Spain; mining;
(including Caribbean, California, large bureaucracy; ranching
conquered New Mexico, north and encomiendas and
Native west coast of South haciendas
Americans) America
English
1490s–early explorers; 250,000 Eastern seaboard of Governors with weak Trade and
early 1600s–permanent North America links to English Crown; farming
settlements elected assemblies;
small farms; plantations;
private merchants
French
1535–early explorers; 15,000 St. Lawrence River; Strong governors; Exporting furs
1670s–permanent Louisiana territory; large estates
settlements outposts on Great
Lakes and
Mississippi River
England’s quest for colonies brought it into direct conflict with Spain and
France.
Making Generalizations How did the economic activity of the English
54 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America colonies differ from the Spanish and French?
In 1664 King Charles decided to take New
Netherland from the Dutch. After he had done so,
The Middle and Southern
Colonies, 1735
Charles granted the land to his brother, James, the
Duke of York. The colony was renamed New York, in
James’s honor. James also received land between
Delaware Bay and the Connecticut River. Middle Colonies
James later granted some of this land to two of the Southern Colonies ME.
(Part of
king’s advisers and named it New Jersey. To attract Area claimed MASS.)
Lake by New York
settlers, New Jersey offered generous land grants, Huron and New
religious freedom, and the right to have a legislative NEW Hampshire
FRANCE ta rio N.H.
assembly. Such good terms attracted many settlers, e On
Lak Albany
MASS.
Hud s o n R.
including a number of Puritans. N.Y.
ie CONN.
Reading Check Summarizing Why did King Er
De
ak
e R.I.
la
L
Charles II want to seize New Netherland from the Dutch?
w a r e R.
PA. New York City
NS
Trenton
Wilmington
TAI
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania and Delaware N.J.
Baltimore
UN
William Penn was another of King Charles’s bene- MD. DEL.
38°N
MO
ficiaries. The king owed a debt to Penn’s dead father Oh
i o R. VA.
and repaid it even though Penn was a member of the Richmond
AN
N Ja m e s R Williamsburg
Quakers, a religious group the king had banned. The .
Norfolk
HI
W E
Quakers viewed religion as a personal experience.
AC
S
They saw no need for ministers and viewed the Bible N.C.
AL
as less important than each person’s “inner light”
from God. Because of their beliefs, Quakers often PP
A
34°N
objected to political laws, for example, those requiring Wilmington
S.C.
tax payment. They specifically advocated pacifism— Georgetown
opposition to war as a means of settling disputes.
Charles Atlantic
In 1681 the king followed through on his promise GA. Town Ocean
and granted Penn land that lay across the Delaware Savannah
0 250 miles
River from New Jersey. Penn wanted his new colony
of Pennsylvania to be a refuge for the persecuted of all SPANIS
0 250 kilometers
nations—the colony would be a “holy experiment.” H FLO

Albers Conic Equal-Area projection
RID
86°W A 78°W
Penn also tried to treat Native Americans fairly. He
signed a treaty with a local group in 1682, bringing
many years of peace to the people of Pennsylvania.
Penn named the capital Philadelphia, from the
Greek meaning “city of brotherly love.” The colony’s 1. Interpreting Maps Name the four southernmost port
government provided for an elected assembly and a cities.
guarantee of religious freedom. The right to vote was 2. Applying Geography Skills Why were so many early
limited, however, to people with 50 acres of land and colonies located on or near bodies of water?
who professed Christianity.
The availability of land attracted English and
Welsh Quakers, but German and Scotch-Irish settlers
came as well. By 1684 Pennsylvania had more than
New Southern Colonies
7,000 residents, and by 1700 Philadelphia rivaled While King Charles encouraged colonization
Boston and New York as a center of trade and com- between the Chesapeake Bay region and New
merce. In 1682 Penn bought three counties south of England, he also took a keen interest in the unsettled
Pennsylvania from the Duke of York. These “lower land between Virginia and Spanish Florida. The year
counties” became the colony of Delaware. before he granted New York to his brother, Charles
had awarded a vast territory south of Virginia to
Reading Check Evaluating Why did William Penn eight friends and political allies. The land was named
regard Pennsylvania as a “holy experiment”? Carolina, from the Latin for “Charles.”

North Carolina From the asked King George II for a colony south of South
HISTORY beginning, Carolina devel- Carolina where the poor could start over.
oped as two separate regions. The English government saw several advantages
Student Web North Carolina was home to to a new southern colony. It would help England’s
Activity Visit the a small and scattered popula- poor and provide a strategic buffer to keep Spain
American Republic tion of farmers. The lack of from expanding north. King George granted
Since 1877 Web site at good harbors hindered Oglethorpe and his friends permission to settle
tarvol2.glencoe.com growth, and the colony had between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers. The
and click on Student only 3,000 people by 1700. new colony was named Georgia, in honor of the king,
Web Activities— Eventually, the farmers and the first settlers arrived in 1733.
Chapter 2 for an began growing tobacco for Oglethorpe and his fellow trustees banned slavery,
activity on English sale. They also used native rum, and brandy in Georgia, and they limited the
settlers in America. pine to make and export size of land grants. Still, the colony attracted settlers
shipbuilding supplies. from all over Europe, including Scotch-Irish, Welsh,
Germans, Swiss, and Italians. Increasingly the set-
South Carolina The proprietors of Carolina were tlers objected to the colony’s strict rules. In the 1740s,
always far more interested in the southern half of the trustees lifted the restrictions on brandy, rum,
their holdings, where they hoped to cultivate sugar- and slavery, and in 1750, they granted the settlers
cane. In 1670 three ships brought settlers from their own elected assembly. The next year, the
England to South Carolina. They named their first trustees gave control back to the king, and Georgia
settlement, Charles Town, after the king. became a royal colony.
The first years of the new colony were difficult. By 1775 roughly 2.5 million people lived in
Sugarcane, as it turned out, did not grow well. The England’s American colonies. Despite the stumbling
first product exported in large quantity was deerskin, start in Jamestown, the English had succeeded in
popular for English leather. The colony also began to building a large and prosperous society on the east
capture and enslave Native Americans, who were coast of North America.
shipped to plantations in the Caribbean. England’s success, however, would prove its
undoing. By permitting new patterns of land owner-
ship and new types of worship and government in its
The Georgia Experiment In the 1720s, General
colonies, the English government had planted the
James Oglethorpe, a wealthy member of Parliament,
seeds of rebellion.
began investigating English prisons. He was
appalled to find so many debtors—people who Reading Check Summarizing In what ways was
could not pay their debts—behind bars. Oglethorpe England permissive with its American colonies?
TM
TM

1. Define: pacifism, debtor. 5. Analyzing Why did England regard the 7. Analyzing Charts Study the chart on
2. Identify: English Civil War, William Dutch and Spanish presence in North page 54 on Spanish, English, and
Penn, James Oglethorpe. America as a threat, and how did French colonization. In political organi-
3. Summarize how the Quakers came to England respond? zation, what was a trait of the English
have a colony of their own. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer colonies that the French and Spanish
similar to the one below to list the colonies did not share?
Reviewing Themes reasons that the listed colonies were
4. Global Connections After Charles II founded. Writing About History
became king, why did the English gov- 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine you have
ernment openly work to promote colo- Colony Reasons Founded
been hired by the proprietors of New
nization in North America? New York
Jersey to persuade settlers to come to
New Jersey
their colony. Write an editorial for a
Pennsylvania
newspaper in England to convince
people to settle in New Jersey.

Social Studies
Understanding the Parts of a Map In

Motion
Why Learn This Skill?
The Thirteen Colonies, 1750
Maps can direct you down the street or around
the world. There are as many different kinds of ME.
Lake (part of
maps as there are uses for them. Being able to read Ontario Mass.)
a map begins with learning about its parts.
N.H.
Salem
N.Y.
Boston Plymouth
Learning the Skill Hartford MASS.
Maps usually include a key, a compass rose, and ri e New Haven R.I.
eE CONN. 40°N
k
a scale bar. The map key explains the meaning of La PA. New York City
0 200 miles
special colors, symbols, and lines used on the map. Philadelphia N.J.
0 200 kilometers
On a road map, for example, the key tells what Lambert Equal-Area
DEL.
ATLaNTIC
OCEaN
projection
map lines stand for paved roads, dirt roads, and St. Mary's MD.
interstate highways. VA.
Jamestown
After reading the map key, look for the compass N
rose. It is the direction marker that shows the cardi- E

W
nal directions of north, south, east, and west. A N.C. S
70°W
measuring line, often called a scale bar, helps you
Town or City
estimate distance on a map. The map’s scale tells S.C.
New England Colonies
you what distance on the earth is represented by Charles Town
Middle Colonies
the measurement on the scale bar. For example, GA.
Savannah Southern Colonies
1 inch (2.54 cm) on the map may represent 100 miles
(160.9 km) on the earth. Knowing the scale allows 60°W 30°N
you to visualize the extent of an area and to measure

distances. Skills Assessment
Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
Practicing the Skill page 71 and the Chapter 2 Skill Reinforcement
The map on this page shows the early English Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
colonization of the eastern coast of North America.
Look at the parts of the map, and then answer the
questions. Applying the Skill
1 What information is given in the key? Understanding the Parts of a Map Study the map of
2 What body of water serves as the eastern bor- European Explorations and Settlements on page 43.
der for the colonies? Use the map to answer the following questions.
3 What color represents the Middle Colonies? 1. When did Marquette and Joliet explore the
4 What is the approximate distance, in miles, Mississippi River?
between the settlements of Charles Town and 2. What English explorer arrived in North America at
Jamestown? the end of the 1400s?
5 What is the approximate distance, in kilome- 3. Which explorer traveled the farthest north?
ters, between the northernmost and southern-
most settlements shown on the map? Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
practice in key social studies skills.
57
Colonial Ways of Life
The Southern Colonies developed agricul- Organizing As you read about life in the • Describe the Southern economy and
tural economies, while the New England Southern, New England, and Middle the plantation system.
and Middle Colonies developed commer- Colonies, complete a graphic organizer • List the geographical conditions that
cial economies. similar to the one below describing how determined the New England Colonies’
the geography of each region affected its economy.
Key Terms and Names economic development.
cash crop, indentured servant, subsis- Section Theme
tence farming, Nathaniel Bacon, slave Region Geography Economic Culture and Traditions At first, slavery
Activities
code, entrepreneur, capitalist, triangular was not used in the colonies, but by the
trade late 1600s, it was in widespread use in
the Southern Colonies.
✦1620 ✦1660 ✦1720 ✦1760

1619 1676 1692 1705 1740s
First Africans arrive Bacon’s Rebellion Salem witchcraft Virginia slave Indigo first cultivated
in North America trials begin code introduced in South Carolina
William Byrd II, a wealthy Virginia planter in the 1700s, played a central role in
his colony’s government. In addition to serving as colonel of the county militia and
as a member of the House of Burgesses, Byrd founded the city of Richmond and
experimented with a variety of crops on his plantation. His wealth gave him the
leisure to pursue cultural interests, and he amassed over 4,000 books—the biggest
private library in the colonies. He left behind several diaries detailing life on
Southern plantations. On January 27, 1711, he noted:
“ I rose at 5 o’clock and read two chapters in Hebrew and some Greek in Lucian.
I said my prayers and ate boiled milk for breakfast. . . . I settled several accounts;
William Byrd’s then I read some English which gave me great light into the nature of spirit. . . . In
Westover plantation the afternoon my wife and I took a little walk and then danced together. Then I
read some more English. At night I read some Italian and then played at piquet
[a card game] with my wife. . . . I said my prayers and had good health, good
thoughts, and good humor, thank God Almighty.
”
—quoted in The Growth of the American Republic
Southern Society
In the Southern Colonies, wealthy planters like William Byrd stood on society’s top
rung. They were sharply divided from enslaved Africans at the bottom and small farm-
ers in the middle. What linked all groups, however, was an economy based on
agriculture.

Tobacco, Rice, and Indigo The Jamestown colony workshops for blacksmiths, carpenters, weavers,
made tobacco the South’s first successful cash crop, coopers (barrel makers), and leatherworkers.
or crop grown primarily for market. Tobacco took off The majority of landowners in the colonial South,
in Virginia and Maryland and, to a lesser extent, in however, were small farmers living inland. These
North Carolina. “backcountry” farmers worked small plots of land
In early colonial days, there was plenty of land for and lived in tiny houses. Although they grew some
tobacco farmers, but not enough labor to work it. tobacco, they largely practiced subsistence farming,
England had the opposite problem. The English enclo- raising only enough to feed their families.
sure movement had forced many peasants off the Landless tenant farmers made up another group in
land. Many of them, hoping to acquire their own land the South. Although land itself was easy to acquire,
in America, became indentured servants. They made many settlers could not afford the costs of the deed,
labor contracts with colonists, agreeing to work for a land survey, tools, seed, and livestock. Instead they
set term, usually four years. In return, the colonist worked land that they rented from the planter elite.
would pay for a servant’s passage and provide food, Tenant farmers usually led difficult lives but had
clothing, and shelter until the contract expired. higher social status than indentured servants or slaves.
For many years, indentured servitude benefited Reading Check Discussing What led to the rise of
tobacco planters. By 1760 they were producing more
the planter elite in colonial Southern society?
than 80 million pounds of tobacco per year.
Unfortunately, close to half of the indentured servants
who came to Virginia and Maryland in the 1600s died
before earning their freedom. Of those who did Bacon’s Rebellion
become free, less than half acquired their own land. By the 1660s, Virginia’s government was domi-
In South Carolina, meanwhile, after trying unsuc- nated by wealthy planters led by the governor, Sir
cessfully to grow sugarcane, settlers turned to rice. William Berkeley. Berkeley arranged to restrict vot-
This too failed at first, but in the 1690s, a new variety ing to property owners, cutting the number of voters
was introduced, and enslaved Africans were in half. Berkeley also exempted himself and his
imported to cultivate it. Rice rapidly became a major councilors from taxation. These actions angered the
cash crop in both South Carolina and Georgia. backcountry farmers and tenant farmers. Ultimately,
In the early 1740s, South Carolina began to however, it was the governor’s policies toward
develop another cash crop called indigo, used to Native American lands that led to a rebellion.
make blue dye for cloth. Indigo was a good second
crop for rice farmers and it could be planted where Crisis Over Land The most important issue for
rice could not. A 17-year-old named Eliza Lucas had most colonists was to acquire land. Many indentured
discovered that indigo needed high ground and servants and tenant farmers wanted to own farms
sandy soil, not the wetlands that suited rice. eventually. Backcountry farmers wanted to expand
their holdings. By the 1670s, most land left was in
Disparities in Wealth Tobacco and rice farming areas claimed by Native Americans in the Piedmont,
required difficult and tedious manual labor. Planters the region of rolling hills between the coastal plains
who could afford to bring in many slaves or inden- and the Appalachians.
tured servants received extra land under the head- Most wealthy planters lived near the coast in the
right system. With a large labor force and acreage, region known as the Tidewater. They had no interest
these planters could produce a much larger crop, in the backcountry and did not want to endanger their
multiply their earnings, and build expansive estates. plantations by risking war with the Native Americans.
The wealthy plantation owners, sometimes referred Therefore, they opposed expanding Virginia’s terri-
to as the Southern gentry or the planter elite, were few tory into Native American lands.
in number, but they enjoyed enormous economic and In 1675 war broke out between settlers and a
political influence. They served in the governing coun- Susquehannock group. When Governor Berkeley
cils and assemblies, commanded the local militias, and refused to support further military action, backcoun-
became county judges. With few towns or roads in the try farmers were outraged. In April 1676, a group of
region, their plantations functioned as self-contained them met to discuss the situation. Nathaniel Bacon, a
communities. In addition to the planter’s large house, well-to-do but sympathetic planter, took up their
the workers’ cabins, and stables and barns, large cause. Bacon organized his own militia and attacked
plantations often had a school, a chapel, and the Native Americans. He then ran for office and won

Bacon’s Rebellion also helped accelerate an exist-
ing trend in Virginia. By the 1670s, many planters
had begun using enslaved Africans instead of inden-
tured servants to work their plantations. In the 1680s,
after the rebellion, the number of Africans brought to
the colony rose dramatically.
Planters began to switch to enslaved Africans for
several reasons. Enslaved workers, unlike inden-
tured servants, did not have to be freed and therefore
would never need their own land. In addition, when
cheap land became available in the 1680s in the new
colony of Pennsylvania, fewer English settlers were
willing to become indentured servants.
At the same time, the English government
adopted policies that encouraged slavery. English
law limited trade between the English colonies and
other countries. Prior to the 1670s, settlers who
wanted to acquire enslaved Africans had to buy them
from the Dutch or Portuguese, which was difficult to
arrange. In 1672, however, King Charles II granted a
charter to the Royal African Company to engage in
the slave trade. With an English company in the slave
trade, it was much easier to acquire enslaved people.
Planters also discovered another economic advan-
tage to slavery. Because enslaved Africans, unlike
indentured servants, were considered property,
History
planters could use them as collateral to borrow
Bacon’s Rebellion This uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon pitted backcountry money and expand their plantations.
farmers against Virginia’s ruling gentry. From Bacon’s dress, do you think he
himself was a backcountry farmer or a member of the gentry? Reading Check Identifying What government
policies caused backcountry farmers to rebel?
a seat in the House of Burgesses. The assembly imme-

diately authorized another attack on the Native Slavery in the Colonies
Americans. It also restored the right to vote to all free For enslaved Africans, the voyage to America usu-
men and took away the tax exemptions Berkeley had ally began with a forced march to the West African
granted to his supporters. coast, where they were traded to Europeans, branded,
These reforms did not satisfy Bacon, however. He and crammed onto ships. Chained together in the
marched to Jamestown in July 1676 with several hun- ships’ filthy holds for more than a month, the Africans
dred armed men and charged Berkeley with corrup- could hardly sit or stand. They were given minimal
tion. Berkeley fled to raise his own army, and a civil food and drink, and those who died or became sick
war erupted. The two sides battled for control of were thrown overboard. Olaudah Equiano, a West
Jamestown until September 1676, when the town African shipped to America in the 1760s, later wrote
burned down. Bacon’s Rebellion ended abruptly the about the terrible journey across the Atlantic, known
next month, when Bacon, hiding in a swamp, became to Europeans as the Middle Passage:
sick and died. Without his leadership, his army rap-
idly disintegrated, and Berkeley returned to power.
“ We were all put under deck. . . . The closeness of
the place, and heat of the climate . . . almost suffo-
Slavery Increases in Virginia Bacon’s Rebellion
cated us. . . . The shrieks of the women, and the
convinced many wealthy planters that land should
groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of
be made available to backcountry farmers. From the
1680s onward, Virginia’s government generally sup- horror almost inconceivable.
”
ported expanding the colony westward, regardless of —from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
the impact on Native Americans. Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African

Historians estimate that between 10 and 12 million Life in New England
Africans were enslaved and sent to the Americas
While the Southern Colonies depended on agricul-
between 1450 and 1870. On the way, roughly 2 million
ture, many New Englanders earned a living from
died at sea. Of the 8 to 10 million Africans who
maritime activities or lumber. With such enterprises
reached the Americas, approximately 3.6 million went
and Puritan beliefs drawing colonists together, towns
to Brazil, and another 1.5 million went to the Spanish
became the heart of New England society.
colonies. The British, French, and Dutch colonies in
the Caribbean imported nearly 3.7 million others to GEOGRAPHY
work on their plantations. Approximately 427,000
Africans were transported to British North America. A Diverse Economy New England’s thin and rocky
When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, soil was ill suited to cash crops and the development
they were treated much like indentured servants. of large plantations. Instead, on small farms from
English law did not recognize chattel slavery—the Connecticut to Maine, New England colonists prac-
actual ownership of one human being by another. ticed subsistence farming. The main crop was corn,
Many English settlers, however, found it accept- but farmers grew other grains, vegetables, and
able to enslave Africans if they were not Christians. berries as well. They also tended apple orchards and
Over time, the number of enslaved Africans raised dairy cattle, sheep, and pigs.
increased in the colonies, particularly in the South, More than any other industry, fishing brought
where they became the backbone of the labor force. prosperity to New England. Nearby lay the Grand
Beginning in the 1660s, new laws gradually low- Banks, a shallow area in the Atlantic Ocean that
ered the status of all Africans, regardless of their teemed with cod, mackerel, halibut, and herring. In
religion, and made slavery a hereditary system based addition, New England had good harbors and plenty
on race. In 1705 Virginia created a slave code—a set of timber for building fishing boats. Colonists found
of laws defining the relationship between enslaved markets for their fish in the colonies, southern
Africans and free people. Other colonies followed Europe, and the Caribbean.
suit. Africans could not own property, testify against Whaling also played a major role in New
a white person in court, move about freely, or assem- England’s economy. Whale blubber was used for
ble in large numbers. By the early 1700s, slavery had making candles and lamp oil, and whale bones were
become generally accepted in colonial society. used to fashion buttons, combs, and other items.
New England developed a thriving lumber indus-
Reading Check Explaining How did the relation- try, too. Maine and New Hampshire had many
ship between English settlers and Africans change over time? waterfalls near the coast that could power sawmills.
African Culture Crosses the Ocean: A Woman’s Song

On a steamy March day in 1997, in the tiny town of Senehun Ngola in Sierra Leone, West
Africa, Mary Moran, an African American from Georgia, first met Baindu Jabati, a Sierra Leonean.
The two women had something amazing in common: a song each woman had known all her life.
In an emotional meeting, Moran and Jabati shared the song that the female ancestors of each of
them had passed down for more than 200 years. Although the melody of the American version had
changed, the words of this song in the Mende language of Sierra Leone probably came to America’s
South on the slave ships that sailed from West Africa in the 1700s.
The women in Mary Moran’s family had passed the song down
through the generations. Over time, the true origin of the song was
lost. Although she had sung the song all her life, Moran never knew Elmira Castle in Ghana, a
former outpost of the
what its words meant. She imagined that it was an old African song.
Portuguese slave trade
Wanting to trace her family’s history, Moran consulted with ethno-
musicologists, who study folk music. Moran discovered that her family’s
song came from southern Sierra Leone and that it was traditionally sung
at funerals. Jabati, who had inherited the traditional duty to sing at
funerals, said that meeting Moran would have been better only if her
Mary Moran at left, ancestors could have been there also for the joyous occasion.
with glasses
Lumber cut at these mills could easily be transported Local Government In the early days of colonial
downriver to the coast and shipped to other colonies New England, the General Court appointed town
or to England. Demand for lumber never waned. It officials and managed the town’s affairs. Over time,
was needed for furniture, building materials, and however, townspeople began discussing local prob-
other products such as barrels, which were used to lems and issues at town meetings. These devel-
store and ship almost everything in the colonial era. oped into the local government, with landowners
The lumber industry made possible another holding the right to vote and pass laws. They
important business in New England: shipbuilding. elected selectmen to oversee town matters and
With forests and sawmills close to the coast, ships appoint clerks, constables, and other officials. Any
could be built quickly and cheaply, for 30 to 50 per- resident, however, could attend a town meeting
cent less than in England. By the 1770s, one out of and express an opinion.
every three English ships had been built in America. Because the settlers in New England, unlike
If self-sufficient plantations defined the social unit English peasants, were allowed to participate
in the South, New England’s social life centered on directly in local government, they developed a
the town. Puritans believed that Christians should strong belief in their right to govern themselves.
form groups united by a church covenant—a volun- Town meetings thus helped set the stage for the
tary agreement to worship together. The commitment American Revolution and the emergence of demo-
to a church covenant encouraged the development of cratic government.
small towns surrounded by farms.
Life in these small communities of farmers cen- Puritan Society New England Puritans valued
tered around a “town common,” or open public area. religious devotion, hard work, and obedience to
Adjoining the common were the marketplace, school, strict rules regulating daily life. Card playing and
and “meetinghouse,” or church. Each family had a gambling were banned, and “Stage-Players” and
home lot where they could build a house and storage “Mixed Dancing” were frowned upon. Watching
buildings and plant a garden. over one’s neighbors’ behavior, or “Holy
Watching,” was elevated to a religious duty. The
Puritans did not lead pleasureless lives, however.
History
They drank rum, enjoyed music, and wore brightly
Sudbury, Massachusetts The town was the basic unit of community life colored clothing.
in New England in the 1600s. Houses were laid out around a central pasture
called a common. In this map, the holdings of one man, John Goodnow, are
Reading Check Synthesizing How did New
highlighted in purple to show the way each person’s land holdings could be England town meetings prepare the colonists for the future?
scattered about the town. Who decided how much land each person
received?
Sudbury, Massachusetts, c. late 1600s

1 Near the common was the church, called
Common the "meetinghouse" by Puritans.
Swamp
2 Each household received a three- to five-acre
home lot where they built a house, a storage
GENERAL building, and pens for livestock.
FIELD GENERAL
FIELD
5 3 Town proprietors distributed farmland based
R.
on each family's size, wealth, and status.

ry
dbu
Su
Cranberry 4 Most families, such as John Goodnow's,

Swamp received several strips of land.
3 NORTH FIELD
5 Around the town were common fields; town
members jointly agreed on crops grown there,
2 and cows grazed on the common land.
1
C
O
M
M O
Commonly held land N
4
Privately held lots Mill
John Goodnow's holdings
SOUTH FIELD
Residences
Meetinghouse
Source: American History.
In
Triangular Trade, 1750 Motion
0 1,000 miles
0 1,000 kilometers
Mercator projection GREAT
BRITAIN
Atlantic
Ocean
NORTH o
AMERICA in dig
uries co, EUROPE
itur e, lux t o bac
, fur n ice ,
lothes es, r
BRITISH actu r e d goods, c nav al stor
Man uf ain,
COLONIES oil, gr
uit
whale
, fr
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Lumber, f
es
ss
m o la
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Flo
la sses, sugar
ga Colonial exports
Su
, mo e rs o n s ,
ur, fis
30°N Colonial imports
h, meat
ney aved p
N Intercolonial trade
m o Ensl
Ru W E
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AFRICA
lot
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BRITISH
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1. Interpreting Maps Which commodities were both
60 W 30 W 0
British colonial exports and intercolonial trade items?
2. Applying Geography Skills What products did the immigration to America, particularly to the Middle
colonies import from Britain? Why did they need these Colonies where land was still available.
products? Some farmers grew rich by hiring poor immi-
grants to work on their farms to increase their wheat
production. Other colonists became entrepreneurs,
Life in the Middle Colonies businesspeople who risk their money, by buying
The Middle Colonies—Pennsylvania, New York, land, equipment, and supplies and selling them to
New Jersey, and Delaware—were blessed with fer- immigrants for a profit.
tile land and a long growing season. Farmers pro- The wheat boom created a new group of wealthy
duced bumper crops of rye, oats, barley, and capitalists who had money to invest in new busi-
potatoes. Most important, however, was wheat, nesses. Although industry did not develop on a large
which rapidly became the region’s main cash crop. scale during the colonial era, these early capitalists
As merchants in the Middle Colonies began sell- did build many large gristmills near New York and
ing wheat and flour to colonies in the Caribbean, Philadelphia that produced vast quantities of flour
they benefited from the region’s geography. Three for export. Other early capitalists in the Middle
wide rivers—the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Colonies established glass and pottery works.
Susquehanna—ran deep into the interior, making it
Reading Check Identifying What crop was most
easy for farmers to ship their crops to the coast and
on to more distant markets. At the same time, thou- important to farmers in the Middle Colonies?
sands of wagons moved goods overland from inte-
rior farms to river towns.
In the early and mid-1700s, the demand for wheat Trade and the Rise of Cities
soared, thanks to a population explosion in Europe In the early colonial era, settlers lacked money to
triggered by the decline of disease. Between 1720 and invest in local industry. As a result, they had to
1770, wheat prices more than doubled in the Middle import most manufactured goods from England.
Colonies, bringing a surge of prosperity. Europe’s Unfortunately, they produced few goods that
population growth also brought a new wave of England wanted in return.

City had about 18,000 and Boston had more
than 15,000. Charles Town, South Carolina,
with a population of 8,000, was the largest city
in the South. In these cities and others, a new
society with distinct social classes developed.
At the top of the social structure were
wealthy merchants who controlled the city’s
trade. They patterned themselves after the
British upper class, wearing elegant imported
clothing, building luxurious mansions, and rid-
History ing in fancy carriages. These rich merchants,
however, were a tiny minority. Skilled artisans
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Laid out along a river with farmsteads on the village outskirts,
this town is typical of many in the Middle Colonies. What was the region’s main cash crop? and their families made up nearly half of the
urban colonial population. They included car-
penters, silversmiths, glassmakers, coopers,
Triangular Trade Instead of trading directly with bakers, masons, seamstresses, and shoemakers.
England, colonial merchants developed systems of Alongside the artisans in social status were innkeepers
triangular trade involving a three-way exchange of and retailers who owned their own businesses.
goods. New England merchants, for example, sold At the bottom of urban colonial society were the
fish, lumber, and meat to Caribbean sugar planters. people without skills or property. Many of these people
As payment, they accepted raw sugar or bills of loaded and serviced ships at the harbor. Others
exchange, which were credit slips from English mer- worked as servants, washing clothes, grooming horses,
chants. New England merchants would then trade cleaning houses, and sweeping streets. These people
the bills and sugar to English merchants for hard- made up about 30 percent of urban society. Below them
ware, linens, and other English goods. in status were indentured servants and enslaved
Trade with the Caribbean sugar plantations Africans. Although relatively few enslaved people
enriched many New England merchants. With their lived in the North, most dwelled in the cities there,
new wealth, they built factories to refine raw sugar making up 10 to 20 percent of the urban population.
and distilleries to turn molasses into rum. They also The rapid development of cities created many
traded with the Southern Colonies, exchanging fish, problems, including overcrowding, crime, pollution,
rum, and grain for rice, tobacco, and indigo. and epidemics. In response, city governments estab-
lished constables’ offices and fire departments, and
A New Urban Society The rise of trade in the charities arose to help the poor.
colonies caused several Northern ports to grow rapidly
into cities. By 1760 Philadelphia had nearly 24,000 Reading Check Examining What occupation made
people, making it the largest colonial city. New York up the majority of the wealthiest class in colonial society?
TM
TM

1. Define: cash crop, indentured servant, 5. Analyzing How did the slave trade 7. Examining Art Study the painting on
subsistence farming, slave code, entre- develop in the Americas? page 60 depicting Bacon’s Rebellion.
preneur, capitalist, triangular trade. 6. Organizing Complete a chart like the What motivated Nathaniel Bacon to
2. Identify: Nathaniel Bacon. one below listing the causes and conse- lead his rebellion against the Virginia
3. Describe how Europe’s population quences of Bacon’s Rebellion. gentry?
explosion in the 1700s affected the
Middle Colonies. Causes Consequences
Writing About History
Reviewing Themes 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are
4. Culture and Traditions Why did slav- an artisan in a Northern city in 1760.
ery become so important to the Write a letter to a friend in England,
Southern Colonies? describing your daily life and urban
society.

A Diverse Society
In the mid-1600s, England adopted meas- Classifying As you read about colonial • Describe mercantilism’s effect on the
ures to make trade with the colonies society in America in the 1700s, complete colonial attitude to England.
more profitable. With population growth, a graphic organizer similar to the one • Outline patterns of immigration in
a colonial spirit of individualism emerged. below identifying the reasons why vari- colonial America.
ous immigrant groups settled in the
Key Terms and Names colonies. Section Theme
mercantilism, John Locke, Enlightenment, Culture and Traditions With economic
revival, Great Awakening Group Where Reasons for and political stability, the colonies devel-
They Settled Immigrating
oped their own identity.
Germans
Scotch-Irish
Jews
✦1680 ✦1700 ✦1720 ✦1740

1686 1688 1690 1721 c. 1740
Dominion of New Glorious Revolution Two Treatises of Cotton Mather Great Awakening peaks
England established takes place in England Government published promotes inoculations
In the second half of the 1600s and the early 1700s, the British Parliament passed a series
of laws that restricted and controlled colonial manufacturing. One of these laws affected the
hat industry and another affected the iron industry. These laws annoyed many colonists,
including Benjamin Franklin, who argued:
“ The hatters of England have prevailed to obtain an act in their own favor restraining that
manufacture in America. . . . In the same manner have a few nail makers and a still smaller
body of steelmakers (perhaps there are not half a dozen of these in England) prevailed
totally to forbid by an act of Parliament the erecting of slitting mills or steel furnaces in
America; that Americans may be obliged to take all their nails for their buildings and steel
”
for their tools from these artificers [craft workers].
—quoted in The Rise of American Civilization
Benjamin Franklin
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is a set of ideas about the world economy and how it works. These ideas
were popular in the 1600s and 1700s. Mercantilists believed that to become wealthy and
powerful, a country had to accumulate gold and silver. A country could do this by selling
more goods to other countries than it bought from them. This would cause more gold and
silver to flow into the country than flowed out to pay for products from other countries.
Mercantilists also argued that a country should be self-sufficient in raw materials. If it
had to buy raw materials from another country, gold and silver would flow out to pay
for them. Thus to be self sufficient, a country needed colonies where raw materials were

available. The home country would then buy raw King James II appointed Sir Edmund Andros to be
materials from its colonies and sell them manufac- the Dominion’s first governor-general. Andros
tured goods in return. quickly made himself unpopular by levying new
Mercantilism did provide some benefits to taxes and rigorously enforcing the Navigation Acts.
colonies. It gave them a reliable market for some of Equally disturbing to Puritans were Andros’s efforts
their raw materials and an eager supplier of manu- to undermine their congregations. For example,
factured goods. Mercantilism also had drawbacks, Andros declared that only marriages performed in
however. It prevented colonies from selling goods to Anglican churches were legal.
other nations, even if they could get a better price.
Reading Check Examining In what ways did the
Furthermore, if a colony produced nothing the home
country needed, it could not acquire gold or silver to Navigation Acts affect trade in the colonies?
buy manufactured goods. This was a serious prob-
lem in New England, and it partly explains why mer-
chants there turned to triangular trade and The Glorious Revolution of 1688
smuggling. These methods were the only ways to get While Andros was angering New England
the gold and silver their colonies needed. colonists, King James II was losing support in
England. He offended many by disregarding
The Navigation Acts When Charles II assumed the Parliament, revoking the charters of many English
throne in 1660, he and his advisers were determined towns, and converting to Catholicism.
to generate wealth for England in America. Charles The birth of James’s son in 1688 triggered protests
asked Parliament to pass the Navigation Act of 1660, against a Catholic heir. To prevent a Catholic dynasty,
requiring that all goods shipped to and from the Parliament invited James’s Protestant daughter Mary
colonies be carried on English ships. Under this act, and her Dutch husband, William of Orange, to claim
specific products could be sold only to England or the throne. James fled, and William and Mary
other English colonies, including sugar, tobacco, became the new rulers. This bloodless change of
lumber, cotton, wool, and indigo—the major prod- power is known as the Glorious Revolution.
ucts that earned money for the colonies. Before assuming the throne, William and Mary
Three years later, in 1663, Parliament passed had to swear their acceptance of the English Bill of
another navigation act, the Staple Act. It required all Rights. This document, written in 1689, said mon-
colonial imports to come through England. archs could not suspend Parliament’s laws or create
Merchants bringing foreign goods to the colonies had their own courts, nor could they impose taxes or
to stop in England, pay taxes, and then ship the raise an army without Parliament’s consent. The
goods out again on English ships. This increased the Bill of Rights also guaranteed freedom of speech
price of the goods in the colonies. within Parliament, banned excessive bail and cruel
Frustration with the Navigation Acts encouraged and unusual punishments, and guaranteed every
colonial merchants to break the new laws. New English subject the right to an impartial jury in
England merchants routinely smuggled goods to legal cases. ; (See page 945 for an excerpt from the English
Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. For the next few Bill of Rights.)
years, Massachusetts, especially, continued its defi-
ance. Finally, in 1684, Charles II deprived Consequences in America The English Bill of
Massachusetts of its charter and declared it a royal Rights later influenced American government. Almost
colony. immediately Boston colonists ousted Governor-
General Andros. William and Mary then permitted
The Dominion of New England James II, who Rhode Island and Connecticut to resume their previ-
succeeded his brother Charles on the English ous forms of government, and they issued a new char-
throne in 1685, went even further in punishing ter for Massachusetts in 1691.
New England merchants. In 1686 the English gov- The new charter combined Massachusetts Bay
ernment merged Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Colony, Plymouth Colony, and Maine into the royal
Rhode Island together to create a new royal colony of Massachusetts. The king retained the
province called the Dominion of New England. power to appoint a governor, but he restored the
The following year Connecticut and New Jersey colonists’ right to elect an assembly. Voters no longer
were forced to join the Dominion, and by the spring had to belong to a Puritan congregation, and
of 1688, New York had been added as well. Anglicans there were granted freedom of worship.

GOVERNMENT Immigrants Immigration also contributed to popu-
John Locke’s Political Theories The Glorious lation growth. Some 300,000 white immigrants
Revolution of 1688 had another important legacy. It arrived between 1700 and 1775. Most settled in the
suggested there were times when revolution was Middle Colonies, especially Pennsylvania. As early
justified. In 1690, John Locke’s Two Treatises of as 1683, German Mennonites had come to
Government was published on this subject. ; (See page Pennsylvania to escape religious wars at home. By
946 for an excerpt from the Two Treatises.) 1775 more than 100,000 Germans lived in the colony,
Locke argued that a monarch’s right to rule came making up about one-third of the population. Known
from the people. All people, he said, were born with as the Pennsylvania Dutch from their own word
certain natural rights, including the right to life, lib- Deutsch, for German, these settlers often became
erty, and property. Because their rights were not safe prosperous farmers.
in the state of nature in which people originally lived, The Scotch-Irish also flocked to Pennsylvania.
people had come together to create a government. In Burdened by rising taxes, poor harvests, and reli-
effect, they had made a contract—they agreed to gious discrimination in Ireland, an estimated 150,000
obey the government’s laws, and the government Scotch-Irish came to the American colonies between
agreed to uphold their rights. If a ruler violated those 1717 and 1776.
rights, the people were justified in rebelling. Jews also found religious tolerance in America. In
Locke’s ideas struck a chord with American 1654 a small group of Portuguese Jews had arrived in
colonists. When Thomas Jefferson drafted the New York, then New Amsterdam. By 1776 approxi-
Declaration of Independence in 1776, he relied upon mately 1,500 Jews lived in the colonies, mainly in
the words and ideas of John Locke. The colonists New York, Philadelphia, Charles Town, Savannah,
understood Locke’s “natural rights” to be the specific and Newport. They were allowed to worship freely,
rights Englishmen had developed over the centuries but could not vote or hold public office.
and that were referred to in documents such as the
Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. ; (See Women Like Jews, women did not receive equal
page 942 for an excerpt from the Magna Carta.) rights in colonial America. At first, married women
could not legally own property or make contracts or
Reading Check Summarizing What actions did
wills. Husbands were the sole guardians of the chil-
William and Mary take upon becoming the British monarchs? dren and were allowed to physically discipline both
them and their wives. Single women and widows,
however, had more rights. They could own property,
America’s Population Grows file lawsuits, and run businesses. In the 1700s, the sta-
After 1688 the American colonies grew quickly. tus of married women improved. Despite legal limi-
People were having large families, and immigrants tations, many women worked outside their homes.
were flooding in from Europe and Africa.
Port of Boston As one of the main cities in the colonies, Boston was a center of activity
Health Conditions American colonists in in colonial America. It was a central point for the anger over the creation of the Dominion of
the 1700s married young and had numer- New England.
ous children. Between 1640 and 1700, the
colonial population increased from 25,000
to more than 250,000. In the 1750s, the pop-
ulation surpassed 1 million.
An important factor in population
growth was improved housing and sanita-
tion. Although women often died in child-
birth, many adults lived into their early
sixties. Contagious diseases, however, such
as typhoid fever, tuberculosis, cholera, diph-
theria, and scarlet fever, remained a threat.
In 1721 Puritan minister Cotton Mather pro-
moted a novel practice “to prevent and
abate the Dangers of the Small-Pox.” His
approach, inoculation, saved many lives.
Ethnic Diversity in Colonial America, 1760
0 200 miles
0 200 kilometers MAINE

Albers Conic Equal-Area projection (Part of
MASS.)
Major Cities, c. 1760
Population (in thousands)

25 23,750
N.H.
20
18,000
Boston 15,631
MASS. 15
N.Y.
CONN. Newport 10
8,000 7,500
R.I. 5
40°N
New York City 0
.
N.J.
TS
PA.
N
ity
wn
ia
or
sto
M
Philadelphia
lph
C
wp
To
E
Bo
rk
de
Ne
W
les
N
Yo
MD.
ila
DEL.
ar
S
IA
Ph
Ch
Ne
CH
Atlantic Source: Colonial America to 1763.

Ocean
LA
VA.
A
PP
A
35°N
N.C.
1. Interpreting Maps What ethnic

African groups settled inland in the
S.C. Dutch Pennsylvania area?
English 2. Applying Geography Skills Why did
German
Charles the Dutch settle in a narrow region
Town Scottish
GA. Scotch-Irish north of New York?
English, German
30°N
& Scotch-Irish
Proclamation line
Africans No group in the American colonies militia quickly ended the Stono Rebellion, which took
endured lower status or more hardship than enslaved the lives of 21 whites and 44 Africans.
Africans. By about 1775, these unwilling immigrants Reading Check Summarizing In what ways did
and their descendants numbered about 540,000,
Africans resist their enslavement?
roughly 20 percent of the colonial population.
Most lived on Southern plantations, where they
worked long days and were subjected to beatings The Enlightenment
and brandings by planters. Planters also controlled
enslaved Africans by threatening to sell them away and the Great Awakening
from their families. During the 1700s, America came under the
Family and religion helped enslaved Africans main- influence of two great cultural movements. One
tain their dignity. Some resisted by escaping to the championed human reason, while the other stressed
North; others refused to work hard or lost their tools. an intense, personal relationship with God. Both
In 1739 a group of Africans who lived near the Stono challenged traditional views of the social order.
River in South Carolina rebelled against their white During the 1700s in Europe, a period known as the
overseers and raced south toward Spanish Florida. The Enlightenment, thinkers believed that people should

use reason and natural law to shape society.
John Locke’s contract theory of government
is an example of Enlightenment thinking.
Locke also developed an influential view of
human nature. He argued that people were
not born sinful. Instead their minds were
blank slates that would be shaped by expe-
rience and education. These ideas became
very influential in American society.
While some Americans turned away
from a religious worldview in the 1700s,
others renewed their Christian faith.
Throughout the colonies, ministers held
revivals—large public meetings for preach-
ing and prayer—where they stressed piety
and being “born again,” or emotionally
uniting with God. This widespread resur-
gence of religious fervor is known as the
Great Awakening.
The Great Awakening reached its height
around 1740 with the fiery preaching of
Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.
Churches soon split into factions. Those
that embraced the new ideas—including History Through Art
Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists— The Great Awakening George Whitefield, pictured here standing, was one of the most
won many converts, while older, more tra- famous ministers of the colonial religious revival. Which religious denominations saw
ditional churches lost members. their memberships grow during the Great Awakening, and why?
In the South, the Baptists gained a strong
following among poor farmers. Baptists also wel- Great Awakening had different origins, but both
comed Africans at their revivals and condemned emphasized an individualism that inclined American
slavery. Despite violent attempts by planters to break colonists toward political independence.
up Baptist meetings, about 20 percent of Virginia’s
whites and thousands of enslaved Africans had Reading Check Determining Cause and Effect
become Baptists by 1775. The Enlightenment and the How did the Great Awakening affect the established order?
TM
TM

1. Define: mercantilism, Enlightenment, 5. Analyzing How did England’s Glorious 7. Analyzing Maps Study the map of
revival, Great Awakening. Revolution influence the American ethnic diversity in colonial America on
2. Identify: John Locke. colonies? page 68. In what areas were African
3. Explain why the population of the 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer immigrants most concentrated in the
American colonies increased dramati- similar to the one below to explain the mid-1700s? Why do you suppose this
cally in the 1700s. benefits and drawbacks of mercantilism concentration occurred?
for both England and the colonies.
Reviewing Themes
4. Culture and Traditions In what ways Benefits
did the Enlightenment and the Great Writing About History
Awakening contribute to the independ- 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are a
ent spirit of American colonists? teenager living in the colonies around
Drawbacks
1750. Keep a journal of your daily activ-
ities for one week.

Reviewing Key Terms Reviewing Key Facts
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 24. Identify: John Smith, William Penn, Nathaniel Bacon, John
1. Puritan 13. cash crop Locke.
25. How did joint-stock companies help colonize North America?
2. enclosure movement 14. indentured servant
26. What caused Roger Williams to leave Massachusetts and
3. joint-stock company 15. subsistence farming
found the town of Providence?
4. privateer 16. slave code 27. Why did the English government seize New Netherland from
5. burgesses 17. entrepreneur the Dutch?
6. headright 18. capitalist 28. Why did Southern planters come to depend on enslaved
7. proprietary colony 19. triangular trade labor?
29. Why did England pass the Navigation Acts?
8. Separatist 20. mercantilism
9. Pilgrim 21. Enlightenment
Critical Thinking
10. heretic 22. revival
30. Analyzing Themes: Global Connections How did events in
11. pacifism 23. Great Awakening Europe contribute to the development of the American
12. debtor colonies?
The American Colonies

Region Geography Economy People and Society
Small farms, lumber Most people organized as

Coastal areas with good mills, fishing, congregations lived on farms;
natural harbors; inland shipbuilding, and in the cities merchants
New England Colonies areas with dense forests; controlled trade, artisans
trade flourished;
poor rocky soil and short cities developed made goods, unskilled
growing season along coast. workers and enslaved
Africans provided labor.
Colonies grew large Wealthiest people owned

amounts of rye, oats, large farms and other
Fertile soil and long barley, potatoes, and businesses. Most farmers
Middle Colonies growing season; rivers wheat as cash crops produced a small surplus.
ran into backcountry to sell; cities Tenant farmers rented land
developed on the from large landowners or
coast. worked for wages.
Wealthy elite controlled

most of the land. Cash crops
Favorable climate and Tobacco, rice, and
required a large amount of
Southern Colonies soil for agriculture; indigo grown on large
labor, which was supplied
wide rivers made cities plantations emerged
on large farms by
unnecessary as cash crops.
indentured servants and
enslaved Africans.
Colonization and Exports
HISTORY in the Americas, 1750
40°
N
Self-Check Quiz FRENCH
,
, fish e,
NORTH r o ductsacco, ric
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at e p
W h al g r a i n , t o b s
AMERICA
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— furs, val store N
and na
NEW
Chapter 2 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. SPAIN THIRTEEN W E
COLONIES
S ki
ns (BRITISH) Sugar, tobacco S
r
20°N
ve
31. Identifying Cause and Effect How did the English Civil War Sil Atlantic
affect the English colonies in North America? Cochineal, Ocean
gold hides
32. Forming an Opinion Do you think slavery would have Tobacco, cocoa beans,
ld
Go
become entrenched in the South if the region’s economy had GUIANA
not depended on cash crops and a large labor force? Why or NEW R a r e p la n ts
why not? GRANADA
0°
Practicing Skills BRAZIL
Dyewoods, tobacco,
33. Understanding the Parts of a Map Study the map of the sugar, cotton,
PaCIFIC gold, diamonds
Triangular Trade on page 63. Then use the skills described
Ocean PERU
in the SkillBuilder on page 57 to answer the following 20°S
questions.
0 1,000 miles Beef
a. What information is included on the green lines?
0 1,000 kilometers Hides, silver
b. What do the arrows on the map indicate? Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
Geography and History British

Dutch
34. The map on this page shows colonization and exports in the French
Americas in 1750. Study the map and answer the questions Portuguese
below. Spanish
100°W 80°W 60°W 40°W 20°W
a. Interpreting Maps Which region produced diamonds?
b. Applying Geography Skills Which export products
involved the use of enslaved persons? Why?
Chapter Activity
Standardized
35. Technology Activity: Using the Internet Search the
Internet for places to visit that provide insight into colonial
Test Practice
life in America in the 1700s. Use the information to create a Directions: Choose the best answer to the
travel brochure titled “Visit Colonial America.” Display the following question.
brochures in your classroom. Which of the following is true about the early colonies of
36. American History Primary Source Document Library Jamestown AND Plymouth?
CD-ROM Read John Winthrop’s article “Views on Liberty” A Both colonies were started by people interested in estab-
under Colonial America. Answer the Guided Reading ques- lishing a new nation.
tions with your classmates. Do you think Winthrop’s com- B Both colonies suffered severe loss of life.
parison of the relationship of citizens and their officials to
C The primary source of income for both colonies was
that of husbands and wives would be accepted in the
tobacco.
United States today? Why or why not?
D Both colonies were started by religious separatists.
Writing Activity Test-Taking Tip: The important word in the question is and.
37. Portfolio Writing New governments in the English Look for an answer that applies to both colonies. For exam-
colonies often offered incentives for settlers. Pretend you ple, while it is true that the Pilgrims founded the Plymouth
have decided to move to America. In which colony would colony for religious reasons, the Jamestown founders were
you choose to settle? Write a letter to your family explaining primarily looking for gold and adventure.
your choice. Place the letter in your portfolio.

The American
Revolution 1754–1789
Why It Matters
In the early colonial period, colonists grew accustomed to running their own affairs. When
Britain tried to reestablish control, tensions mounted over taxes and basic rights. In 1775
these tensions led to battle, and in 1776 the colonists declared their independence. With the
help of France and Spain, the colonists defeated the British in 1781; the conflict formally ended
with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. After the war, the new nation drew up a plan of government
that balanced the power of a central government against the powers of the states.
The Impact Today

The American Revolution and the country’s early experiences had lasting results.
• Americans value and protect local liberties and the right to representation in government.
• The Constitution remains a model for representative government.

The Chapter 3 video, “The Power of the Constitution,”
discusses one of the nation’s most important documents.
1770
• British troops
fire on colonists
in Boston
Massacre
1754 1765
• French and Indian • Parliament passes
War for control of the Stamp Act,
eastern North triggering protests
America begins throughout the
colonies
▲ ▲ ▲
1750 1760 1770
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1755 1769
1748 • Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of • Steam engine
• Montesquieu’s the English Language published patented by
Spirit of the Laws 1751 James Watt
published • Chinese invade Tibet and control
succession to the throne
72
Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze, 1851
1775
• The first shots of the
Revolutionary War 1781 1786
fired at Lexington • Cornwallis surrenders at • Shays’s Rebellion begins
and Concord in Yorktown
1787 1789
Massachusetts • Articles of Confederation • Constitutional • George Washington
1776 ratified Convention becomes first president
• Declaration of begins in under the Constitution
Independence signed 1783 Philadelphia
• Treaty of Paris signed, HISTORY
officially ending war ▲
Washington
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ 1789–1797 Chapter Overview
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Chapter 3 to preview chapter
1778 1787 information.
• James Cook lands • Freed Africans found
1776 on Hawaii
colony in Sierra Leone 1789
• Adam Smith’s treatise on
mercantilism, The Wealth • French Revolution begins
of Nations, published
73
The Colonies Fight
for Their Rights
Tensions grew as British leaders sought Organizing As you read about the grow- • Summarize reasons for colonial
greater control over the American ing tensions between Britain and the discontent.
colonies. American colonies, complete a graphic • Explain how the Stamp Act affected
organizer like the one below by listing the the relationship between Britain and
Key Terms and Names causes of the French and Indian War. the colonies.
Albany Plan of Union, French and Indian
Causes Section Theme
War, Royal Proclamation of 1763,
customs duty, Sons of Liberty, Stamp Act Civic Rights and Responsibilities The
French and Indian
Congress, nonimportation agreement, War
colonists’ belief that they had the same
writs of assistance rights as English citizens led to a struggle
against Parliament and the king.
✦1754 ✦1760 ✦1766 ✦1772

1754 1763 1765 1767 1770
French and Indian War begins; Treaty of Paris ends Stamp Act Townshend Boston Massacre
Albany Conference meets French and Indian War passed Acts passed
At first, Pennsylvania colonist John Hughes was delighted when his friend Ben Franklin
helped him to get the position of stamp tax collector. By September 1765, however, he feared
his job might cost him his life. Anti-tax protests had grown so strong that Hughes barricaded
himself inside his house to avoid being attacked. He wrote frantically to Franklin in London:
“ You are now from Letter to Letter to suppose each may be the last you will receive from
your old Friend, as the Spirit of . . . Rebellion is to a high Pitch. . . . Madness has got hold of
the people. . . . I fancy some Lives will be lost before this Fire is put out. . . .
”
Just a few years earlier, British soldiers and American colonists had fought side by side in a
British revenue stamp successful war against France. After the war ended, tensions between Britain and its colonies
grew. Britain wanted the colonies to help pay for the war, while the colonists questioned
Britain’s authority to make them do so. Misunderstanding and distrust slowly turned many
colonists against the British, creating situations that would eventually lead to revolution.
—adapted from What They Didn’t Teach You About the American Revolution
The French and Indian War

The French and English had been vying for dominance in Europe since the late 1600s,
fighting three major wars between 1689 and 1748. Most of the action took place in
Europe, but when France and England were at war, their colonies were at war as well. In
1754 a new struggle began.
74 CHAPTER 3 The American Revolution

The First Skirmish In the 1740s, the British and Although the colonies rejected the plan, it showed
French both became interested in the Ohio River val- that many colonial leaders had begun to think about
ley. By crossing from Lake Ontario to the Ohio River joining together for defense.
and following the river south to the Mississippi, the
French could travel from New France to Louisiana The British Triumph In 1755 the new British com-
easily. Meanwhile, British fur traders were entering mander in chief, General Edward Braddock, arrived
the Ohio region, and British land speculators began in Virginia with 1,400 troops. He linked up with 450
eyeing the land to sell to settlers. local militia troops and appointed Lieutenant Colonel
To block British claims in the region, the French George Washington to serve as his aide. Braddock
built a chain of forts from Lake Ontario to the Ohio then headed west, intending to attack Fort Duquesne.
River. The British decided to counter with a fort of The general disregarded warnings about the Native
their own in western Pennsylvania. Before they could American allies of the French. “These savages may
complete it, however, the French seized it and built indeed be a formidable enemy to your raw American
Fort Duquesne on the site. militia,” he told Benjamin Franklin. “Upon the King’s
In an attempt to expel the French, a young regular and disciplined troops, it is impossible they
Virginian, George Washington, led troops toward should make any impression.”
the Ohio River in the spring of 1754. After a brief Braddock’s comments later came back to haunt
battle with a small French force, Washington him. Seven miles from Fort Duquesne, French and
retreated to a hastily built stockade, Fort Necessity. A Native American forces ambushed the British.
little over a month later, a large French force arrived Braddock was shot and later died. His inexperienced
and forced Washington to surrender. Ownership of soldiers panicked, and only Washington’s leadership
the Ohio River valley was far from settled, however. saved them from disaster. As enemy shots whizzed
Within a few years, the conflict would grow into a past him—leaving four holes in his hat and clothes—
worldwide war involving several European powers. Washington rallied the troops and organized a retreat.
The ambush emboldened the Delaware people of
The Albany Conference Even before the fighting western Pennsylvania to begin attacking British set-
started, the British government anticipated hostili- tlers on their land. For the next two years, the French
ties. It urged the colonies to work together to prepare and Indian War, as it was called, raged along the
for war and to negotiate an
alliance with the Iroquois. The
Iroquois controlled western
New York, territory the French
had to pass through to reach
the Ohio River. Accordingly, in
June 1754, delegates from
seven colonies met with 150
Iroquois leaders at Albany,
New York.
This meeting, known as the
Albany Conference, achieved
several things. Although the
Iroquois refused an alliance
with the British, they did agree
to remain neutral. The colonies
also agreed that Britain should
appoint one supreme com-
mander of all troops in the
colonies. Finally, Benjamin
Franklin and others at the con- History Through Art
ference developed the Albany Fatal Meeting The Battle of Quebec in 1759 was one of Britain’s most dramatic victories over the French
Plan of Union, which pro- during the French and Indian War. Both commanding generals, the French Montcalm and the British Wolfe,
posed that the colonies unite to were killed on the Plains of Abraham, the bluffs above the St. Lawrence River. From studying the painting,
form a federal government. why do you think it was difficult for the British to invade Quebec?
CHAPTER 3 The American Revolution 75

frontier. In 1756 the fighting between Britain and Treaty of Paris in 1763, France lost all claims to main-
France spread to Europe, where it became known as land North America. Ownership of New France and
The Seven Years’ War. Other countries entered the most of Louisiana east of the Mississippi went to
fray, and battles were waged around the globe. Britain. Spain lost Florida but retained Cuba and the
In North America, the British fleet quickly cut off Philippines. As compensation for the loss of Florida,
the flow of supplies and reinforcements from France. the Spanish gained New Orleans and western
The Iroquois, realizing the tide had turned in favor of Louisiana.
the British, pressured the Delaware to end their
Reading Check Examining Why were the French
attacks. With their Native American allies giving up,
the French found themselves badly outnumbered. and the British interested in the Ohio River valley?
In 1759 a British fleet commanded by General
James Wolfe sailed to Quebec City in New France.
There the British defeated the French troops of
The Colonies Grow Discontented
General Louis Joseph Montcalm. The battle cost both Great Britain’s victory in 1763 left the country
Wolfe and Montcalm their lives, but Britain’s victory deeply in debt. It had to pay not only the cost of the
was the war’s turning point in North America. war, but also the cost of governing and defending its
Elsewhere in the world, the fighting continued. new territories. Many British leaders thought that the
Spain joined forces with France in 1761, but the colonies should share in the costs, especially the cost
British ultimately triumphed. Under the terms of the of stationing troops in the colonies. As the British
government adopted new policies to solve its finan-
cial problems, colonial resentment grew.
The Proclamation
of 1763 The Proclamation Act of 1763 In the spring of
In
1763, Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawa people,
Motion decided to go to war against the British. After uniting
HU Y
DS PAN several Native American groups, including the
OM
O N ' S B AY C Ottawa, Delaware, Shawnee, and Seneca peoples,
MAINE
QUEBEC (Part of Pontiac’s forces attacked several forts and towns
MASS.)
along the frontier before British troops were able to
N.H. stop them. Pontiac’s war did not surprise British offi-
Proclamation line of 1763 MASS.
Original 13 Colonies N.Y. cials. They had been expecting trouble since 1758,
N
R.I. 40°
I NS
Other British Territory when reports first indicated that settlers were mov-
PA. CONN.
M O U N TA
Spanish Territory N.J. ing into western Pennsylvania in defiance of the

MD. colony’s treaty with the region’s Native Americans.
DEL.
INDIAN British officials did not want to bear the cost of
VA. ATLaNTIC
AN
RESERVE another war. Many officials also owned shares in fur

OCEaN
HI
LOUISIANA C trading companies operating in the region, and they

N.C.
A
AL
knew that a war would disrupt trade. They decided

S.C.
APP
70°W
N that the best solution was to limit western settlement
GA.
W
E
30°N
until new treaties could be negotiated.
S When news of Pontiac’s raids reached Britain in
WEST EAST the summer of 1763, officials hurried to complete
FLORIDA FLORIDA 80°W
their plans. In early October, King George III issued
Gulf of Mexico the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation
0 300 miles drew a line from north to south along the
0 300 kilometers Appalachian Mountains and declared that colonists
Lambert Azimuthal
Equal-Area projection could not settle any land west of the line without the
British government’s permission. This enraged many
farmers and land speculators.
1. Interpreting Maps What physical barrier follows the Customs Reform and New Taxes At the same
approximate boundary set by the Proclamation of 1763? time the Proclamation Act was angering western
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think colonists farmers, eastern merchants were objecting to new tax
wanted to settle west of the boundary line? policies. In 1763 George Grenville became the prime

minister and first lord of the Treasury. Grenville had Parliament soon passed another unpopular meas-
to find a way to reduce Britain’s debt and pay for the ure, the Currency Act of 1764. This act banned the
10,000 British troops now stationed in North use of paper money in the colonies because it tended
America. to lose its value very quickly. Colonial farmers and
Grenville discovered that merchants were smug- artisans liked paper money for precisely that reason.
gling goods into and out of the colonies without They could take out loans and easily repay them later
paying customs duties—taxes on imports and with paper money that was worth less than when
exports. Grenville pushed for a law allowing smug- they originally borrowed.
glers to be tried in a new vice-admiralty court in
Reading Check Summarizing How did Britain hope
Halifax, Nova Scotia. Unlike colonial courts, where
juries often sympathized with smugglers, to solve its financial problems after the French and Indian War?
vice-admiralty courts were run by naval
officers and had no juries, a violation
of the traditional English right to a The Stamp Act Crisis
jury of one’s peers. Sending Although the Sugar Act had
colonists to distant Nova Scotia begun to generate money for
also violated their right to a Britain, Grenville did not believe it
speedy public trial. would cover all of the govern-
Among those tried under the ment’s expenses in America. To
new system was John Hancock raise more money, he persuaded
of Massachusetts. Hancock had Parliament to pass the Stamp Act
made a fortune in the sugar trade, in March 1765.
smuggling molasses from French The Stamp Act required stamps
colonies in the Caribbean. De- to be bought and placed on most
fending Hancock was a young printed materials, including newspa-
lawyer named John Adams. Adams pers, pamphlets, posters, wills, mort-
argued that the use of vice-admiralty gages, deeds, licenses, bonds, and
courts denied colonists their rights as even diplomas, dice, and playing
George Grenville
British citizens. cards. Unlike previous taxes, which
In addition to tightening customs had always been imposed on trade,
control, Grenville introduced the American Revenue the stamp tax was a direct tax—the first Britain had
Act of 1764, better known as the Sugar Act. The act ever placed on the colonists. Parliament then passed
changed the tax rates on imports of raw sugar and one more law. The Quartering Act was intended to
molasses. It also placed new taxes on silk, wine, coffee, make the colonies pay more for their own defense.
and indigo. The act required colonists to provide barracks for
Merchants throughout the colonies complained to British troops or pay to house them in taverns, inns,
Parliament that the Sugar Act hurt trade. Many were vacant buildings, and barns.
also furious that the act violated several traditional It was the Stamp Act, however, that triggered a
English rights. Merchants accused of smuggling were reaction. Editorials, pamphlets, and speeches poured
presumed guilty unless proven innocent. The act also out against the impending tax. The Virginia House of
let officials seize goods without due process, or Burgesses, roused by Patrick Henry’s speeches, passed
proper court procedures, in some circumstances, and resolutions declaring that Virginians were entitled to
prevented lawsuits by merchants whose goods had the rights of British people and could be taxed only by
been improperly seized. their own representatives. Newspapers in other
In many colonial cities, pamphlets circulated con- colonies reprinted the resolutions, and other assem-
demning the Sugar Act. In one pamphlet, James Otis blies passed similar statements. By the summer of
argued that taxes could be levied to regulate trade, 1765, groups calling themselves the Sons of Liberty
but those designed to raise money were unjust were organizing meetings and protests and trying to
because the colonists had no representatives in intimidate stamp distributors. ; (See page 930 for more
Parliament. Otis wrote, “No parts of His Majesty’s on one of Patrick Henry’s speeches.)
dominions can be taxed without their consent. . . .” In October 1765, representatives from nine of the
His words gave rise to the popular expression, “No colonies met for what became known as the Stamp
taxation without representation.” Act Congress. Together, they issued the Declaration

of Rights and Grievances. Drafted by a wealthy subordinate to the British Parliament, and that Parlia-
Pennsylvania farmer and lawyer named John ment had the power to make laws for the colonies.
Dickinson, the declaration argued that only the
Reading Check Summarizing What actions did
colonists’ political representatives, and not Parlia-
ment, had the right to tax them. The congress then colonists take in response to the Stamp Act?
petitioned King George for relief and asked
Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.
When the Stamp Act took effect on November 1, the
The Townshend Acts
colonists ignored it. They began to boycott all goods During the Stamp Act crisis, Britain’s financial
made in Britain. In New York, 200 merchants signed a problems had worsened. Protests in England had
nonimportation agreement, pledging not to buy any forced Parliament to lower property taxes there, yet
British goods until Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. somehow the government had to pay for its troops in
The boycott had a powerful effect on England. America. In 1767 Charles Townshend, the new
Thousands of workers lost their jobs as orders from Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced new meas-
the colonies were cancelled. British merchants could ures to raise money from the colonies. These came to
not collect money the colonies owed them. be called the Townshend Acts.
With protests mounting in both England and One measure, the Revenue Act of 1767, put new cus-
America, British lawmakers repealed the Stamp Act toms duties on glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea
in 1766. To demonstrate its authority over the imported into the colonies. Violators of the Revenue
colonies, however, Parliament also passed the Act could be tried in vice-admiralty courts, where they
Declaratory Act. This asserted that the colonies were were presumed guilty and had to prove their inno-
cence. The Townshend Acts, like the Sugar Act, also
allowed officials to seize private property under certain
circumstances without following due process.
Causes and Effects of Tensions With Britain To help customs officers arrest smugglers, the
Revenue Act legalized the use of writs of assistance.
Causes These were general search warrants that enabled cus-
• 1764, Sugar Act toms officers to enter any location during the day to
• 1765, Stamp Act look for evidence of smuggling. Writs had been used
• 1767, Townshend Acts before, but in 1760 James Otis had challenged them in
• 1773, Tea Act court. The issue remained unresolved until the
• 1774, Coercive Acts Revenue Act of 1767 declared writs of assistance to be
legal.
Effects Action and Reaction The Townshend Acts infuri-

• Colonists protest that their rights have ated many colonists. During the winter of 1767 to
been violated. 1768, John Dickinson published his Letters from a
• Nine colonies hold Stamp Act Pennsylvania Farmer in colonial newspapers. In these
Congress. essays, Dickinson reasserted that only assemblies
• Colonists boycott British goods. elected by the colonists had the right to tax them. In
• Sons and Daughters of Liberty addition, he called on the colonies to become “firmly
formed. bound together” to “form one body politic” to resist
• Tea dumped into Boston Harbor the Townshend Acts.
during the “Boston Tea Party.” Less than a month after Dickinson’s first letter
• Twelve colonies attend the appeared, the Massachusetts assembly began organ-
Continental Congress. izing against Britain. Among the leaders of this resist-
ance was Sam Adams of Massachusetts, cousin of
John Adams. In February 1768, Sam Adams, with the
help of James Otis, drafted a “circular letter” for the
Parliament’s efforts to tax the colonists led to growing Massachusetts assembly to pass and circulate to
protests in the colonies.
other colonies. The letter expressed opposition to the
Analyzing Information If you had been a colonist, how Townshend Acts, and British officials ordered
would you have reacted to these taxes? Why? the Massachusetts assembly to withdraw it. When
the assembly refused, the British government

ordered the body dissolved. In August 1768, the mer-
chants of Boston and New York responded by sign- “ The mob still increased and were more outra-
geous, striking their clubs and bludgeons one against
ing nonimportation agreements. Philadelphia’s
merchants joined the boycott in March 1769. another, and calling out, ‘Come on you rascals, you
In May 1769, Virginia’s House of Burgesses passed bloody backs, you lobster scoundrels, fire if you
the Virginia Resolves, which stated that only the dare . . . we know you dare not.’ . . . They advanced
House could tax Virginians. When Britain ordered to the points of the bayonets, struck some of them
the House dissolved, its leaders—including George and even the muzzles of the pieces, and seemed to
Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson—
immediately called the members to a convention.
be endeavoring to [fight] with the soldiers.
”
—quoted in American Voices, American Lives
This convention then passed a nonimportation law
that blocked the sale of British goods in Virginia. In the midst of the tumult, one soldier was
As the boycott spread, the colonists again stopped knocked down. He rose angrily and fired his weapon
drinking British tea and buying British cloth. into the crowd. This triggered a volley of shots from
Women’s groups known as the Daughters of Liberty the rest of the troops, who thought they were under
began spinning their own rough cloth, called “home- attack. When the smoke cleared, three colonists lay
spun.” Wearing homespun rather than British cloth dead, two more would die later, and six more were
became a sign of patriotism. Throughout the colonies, wounded. According to accounts, the first person to
the Sons of Liberty encouraged people to support the die was a part African, part Native American man
boycotts. In 1769 colonial imports from Britain known as both Michael Johnson and Crispus Attucks.
declined sharply from what they had been in 1768. The incident became known as the Boston
Massacre. Colonial newspapers portrayed the British
The Boston Massacre In the fall of 1768, as vio- as tyrants who were willing to kill people who stood
lence against customs officers in Boston increased, up for their rights. Further violence might have
Britain dispatched roughly 1,000 soldiers to the city ensued, had not news arrived a few weeks later that
to maintain order. Bostonians heckled and harassed the British had repealed almost all of the Townshend
these troops, referring to them as “lobster backs” Acts. Parliament kept one tax—on tea—to uphold its
because of the red coats they wore. On March 5, right to tax the colonies. At the same time, it allowed
1770, a crowd of colonists began taunting and the colonial assemblies to resume meeting. Peace and
throwing snowballs at a British soldier guarding a stability returned to the colonies, but only temporarily.
customs house. His call for help brought Captain
Thomas Preston and a squad of soldiers. Preston Reading Check Identifying Who led resistance to
described what happened next: British taxation in Massachusetts? In Virginia?
TM
TM

1. Define: customs duty, nonimportation 5. Evaluating Was it reasonable for Great 7. Analyzing Charts Study the chart on
agreement, writs of assistance. Britain to expect the colonists to help page 78 of causes and effects of ten-
2. Identify: Albany Plan of Union, French pay for the French and Indian War and sions with Britain. Then make your own
and Indian War, Royal Proclamation of for their own defense? Why or why not? similar chart. Use the causes listed in
1763, Sons of Liberty, Stamp Act 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer the chart you studied as the effects in
Congress. to describe the acts Parliament passed your own chart. The causes in your
3. Summarize the causes of the French after the French and Indian War. chart should reflect the reasons Britain
and Indian War. passed these acts.
Act Year Key Features
Reviewing Themes Writing About History
4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are
What argument did the colonists use to a member of the Sons or Daughters of
protest the Stamp Act ? Liberty. Write a pamphlet explaining
what your group does and urging
fellow colonists to join.

Comparing Accounts of
the Boston Massacre
O
n the night of March 5, 1770, Captain Thomas Preston sent British
troops to protect the Customs House in Boston from a group of
colonists who had gathered nearby. Twenty minutes later, the
troops had killed or wounded 11 people. The tragedy became known as
the Boston Massacre. What happened that night? You’re the historian.
Read the two accounts of the Boston Massacre below. One is Captain Preston’s
report of the event. The other is a colonist’s account that quotes eyewitness Samuel
The Bloody Massacre,
engraving by Paul Revere, 1770
Drowne. After reading the accounts, answer the questions and complete the activities
that follow.
On Monday night . . . about 9 Nay, so far was I from intending all our lives were in imminent
some of the guards came to and the death of any person that I suf- danger, some persons at the same
informed me the town inhabi- fered the troops to go . . . with- time from behind calling out,
tants were assembling to attack out any loading in their [guns]; damn you bloods—why don’t
the troops. . . . In a few minutes nor did I ever give orders for you fire. Instantly three or four of
after I reached the guard, about loading them. . . . the soldiers fired, one after
100 people passed it and went The mob still increased and were another, and directly after three
towards the custom house where more outrageous, striking their more in the same confusion and
the king’s money is lodged. They clubs or bludgeons one against hurry. . . .
immediately surrounded the sen- another, and calling out come on
try posted there, and with clubs The whole of the melancholy
you rascals, you bloody backs, affair was transacted in almost
and other weapons threatened to you lobster scoundrels, fire if you
execute their vengeance on twenty minutes. On my asking
dare. . . . the soldiers why they fired with-
him. . . .
At this time I was between the out orders, they said that they
I immediately sent a noncommis- soldiers and the mob . . . endeav- heard the word fire and sup-
sioned officer and 12 men to pro- oring all in my power to per- posed it came from me. This
tect both the sentry and the king’s suade them to retire peaceably, might be the case as many of the
money, and very soon followed but to no purpose. They mob called out fire, fire, but I
myself to prevent, if possible, all advanced to the points of the assured the men that I gave no
disorder, fearing lest the officer bayonets, [and] struck some of such order; that my words were,
and soldiers, by the insults and them. . . . A general attack was don’t fire, stop your firing. In
provocations of the rioters, made on the men by a great num- short, it was scarcely possible for
should be thrown off their guard ber of heavy clubs and snowballs the soldiers to know who said fire,
and commit some rash act. . . . being thrown at them, by which or don’t fire, or stop your firing.

Crispus Attucks, the first colonist
to die in the Boston Massacre
Samuel Drowne [a witness] Land), and there followed them, with their bayonets, driving
declares that, about nine o’clock and soon discovered them to be through the people in distur-
of the evening of the fifth of quarreling and fighting with the bance. This occasioned some
March current, standing at his people whom they saw there, snowballs to be thrown at them,
own door in Cornhill, he saw which he thinks were not more which seems to be the only
about fourteen or fifteen than a dozen. . . . provocation that was given. . . .
soldiers. . . . [The soldiers] came The outrageous behavior and the Captain Preston is said to have
upon the inhabitants of the town, threats of the said party occa- ordered them to fire, and to have
then standing or walking in sioned the ringing of the meeting repeated the order. One gun was
Cornhill, and abused some, and house bell . . . which bell . . . fired first; then others in succes-
violently assaulted others as they presently brought out a number of sion, and with deliberation, till
met them; most of them were the inhabitants, who . . . were nat- ten or a dozen guns were fired; or
without so much of a stick in their urally led to King Street, where till that number of discharges
hand to defend themselves, as he [the British] had made a stop but a were made from the guns that
clearly could discern, it being little while before, and where their were fired. By which means
moonlight, and himself being one stopping had drawn together a eleven persons were killed or
of the assaulted persons. number of boys, round the sentry wounded.
All or most of the said soldiers he at the Custom House. . . .
saw go into King Street (some of There was much foul language
them through Royal Exchange between them, and some of them,
in consequence of his Understanding the Issue
pushing at them with his 1. On what events of the night of
bayonet, threw snowballs March 5, 1770, do the two accounts
at him, which occasioned excerpted here agree?
him to knock hastily at the 2. On what descriptions of the events
door of the Custom do the two accounts differ?
House. . . . 3. As the historian, how do you assess
The officer on guard was the credibility of the two accounts?
Captain Preston, who with
seven or eight soldiers,
Activities
with firearms and charged 1. Investigate What happened to
bayonets, issued from the Captain Preston after the events of
guardhouse, and in great March 5? What were the immediate
haste posted himself and results of the Boston Massacre?
his soldiers in front of the Check other sources, including those
Custom House, near the available on the Internet.
corner aforesaid. In passing 2. Mock Trial Role play a mock trial of
to this station the soldiers the Boston Massacre. Include
pushed several persons witnesses, a prosecutor, a defense
attorney, a judge, and a jury.
The site of the Boston Massacre
in present-day Boston
The Revolution Begins
After years of escalating tensions and out- Taking Notes As you read about the • Summarize the first battles between
breaks of fighting, the colonists declared escalating tensions between the colonists Britain and the colonies.
their independence from Britain on and Britain and about the colonists’ dec- • Explain the circumstances under
July 4, 1776. laration of independence, use the major which the colonies declared their
headings of the section to create an out- independence.
Key Terms and Names line similar to the one below.
committee of correspondence, Boston Section Theme
Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, Suffolk The Revolution Begins Government and Democracy As ten-
I. Massachusetts Defies Britain
Resolves, minuteman, Loyalist, Patriot, A.
sions between Britain and the colonies
Olive Branch Petition, Common Sense B. escalated, the colonial leaders began to
act like an independent government.
✦1773 ✦1774 ✦1775 ✦1776

1773 1774 1775 1776
Boston Tea First Continental Battles of Lexington and Concord; Declaration of Independence
Party Congress Second Continental Congress drafted and signed
On the night of December 17, 1773, a group of men secretly assembled along a Boston
dock to strike a blow against Britain. One of the men was George Hewes, a struggling Boston
shoemaker, who had grown to despise the British. Initially, Hewes had taken offense when
British soldiers stopped and questioned him on the street and when they refused to pay him
for shoes. After the Boston Massacre, which Hewes witnessed, his hatred grew more political.
So, after he “daubed his face and hands with coal dust, in the shop of a blacksmith,” he
gladly joined the other volunteers on that cold December night as they prepared to sneak
Tea chest
aboard several British ships anchored in Boston Harbor and destroy the tea stored on board:
“ When we arrived at the wharf . . . they divided us into three parties for the purpose of
boarding the three ships which contained the tea. . . . We then were ordered by our com-
mander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and
we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our
tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water. . . . In about three
hours . . . we had thus broken and thrown overboard every tea chest . . . in the ship.
”
—quoted in The Spirit of ’Seventy-Six
Massachusetts Defies Britain

For more than two years after the Boston Massacre, the repeal of the Townshend Acts
had brought calm. Then, in the spring of 1772, a new crisis began. Britain introduced
several policies that again ignited the flames of rebellion in the American colonies. This
time, the fire could not be put out.

The Gaspee Affair After the Townshend Acts were and Philadelphia, the colonists forced the agents for
repealed, trade with England had resumed, and so the East India Company to return home with their
had smuggling. To intercept smugglers, the British cargo. In South Carolina, the ships sat in the harbor
sent customs ships to patrol North American waters. until customs officers seized the tea and stored it in a
One such ship was the Gaspee, stationed off the coast local warehouse, where it remained unsold.
of Rhode Island. Many Rhode Islanders hated the The most dramatic showdown occurred in
commander of the Gaspee because he often searched December 1773, when the tea ships arrived in Boston
ships without a warrant, and he sent his crew ashore Harbor. On the night before customs officials
to seize food without paying for it. In June 1772, planned to unload the tea, approximately 150 men
when the Gaspee ran aground near Providence, some boarded the ships. They dumped 342 chests of tea
150 colonists seized and burned the ship. overboard, as several thousand people on shore
The incident outraged the British. They sent a cheered. Although the men were disguised as Native
commission to investigate and gave it authority to Americans, many Bostonians knew who they were. A
bring suspects back to England for trial. This witness later testified that Sam Adams and John
angered the colonists, who believed it violated their Hancock were among the protesters. The raid came
right to a trial by a jury of their peers. Rhode to be called the Boston Tea Party.
Island’s assembly sent a letter to the other colonies
asking for help.
In March 1773, the Virginia House of Burgesses History
received the letter. Thomas Jefferson suggested that
each colony create a committee of correspondence to Tea Tantrum In December 1773, colonists in Boston took matters into their
own hands and dumped hated British tea into Boston Harbor. Why did Boston
communicate with the other colonies about British
tea merchants object so much to the Tea Act?
activities. The committees of correspondence helped
unify the colonies and shape public opinion. They
also helped colonial leaders coordinate strategies for
resisting the British.
The Boston Tea Party In May 1773, Britain’s new

prime minister, Lord North, made a serious mistake.
He decided to help the struggling British East India
Company. Corrupt management and costly wars in
India had put the company deeply in debt. At the
same time, British taxes on tea had encouraged colo-
nial merchants to smuggle in cheaper Dutch tea. As a
result, the company had over 17 million pounds of
tea in its warehouses that it needed to sell quickly to
stay in business.
To help the company, Parliament passed the Tea
Act of 1773. The Tea Act refunded four-fifths of the
taxes the company had to pay to ship tea to the
colonies, leaving only the Townshend tax. East India
Company tea could now be sold at lower prices than
smuggled Dutch tea. The act also allowed the East
India Company to sell directly to shopkeepers,
bypassing colonial merchants who normally distrib-
uted the tea. The Tea Act enraged these merchants,
who feared it was the first step by the British to
squeeze them out of business.
In October 1773, the East India Company shipped
1,253 chests of tea to Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
and Charles Town. The committees of correspon-
dence decided that the tea must not be allowed to
land. When the first shipments arrived in New York

The Coercive Acts The Boston Tea Party was the last The Quebec Act stated that officials appointed by the
straw for the British. King George concluded that con- king would govern Quebec. The act also extended
cessions were not working. “The time has come for Quebec’s boundaries to include much of what is today
compulsion,” the king told Lord North. In the spring of Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. If
1774, Parliament passed four new laws that came to be colonists moved west into that territory, they would
known as the Coercive Acts. These laws applied only have no elected assembly. The Quebec Act, coming so
to Massachusetts, but they were meant to dissuade soon after the Coercive Acts, seemed to signal Britain’s
other colonies from also challenging British authority. desire to seize control of colonial governments.
The first act was the Boston Port Act, which shut
down Boston’s port until the city paid for the tea that The First Continental Congress As other colonies
had been destroyed. The second act was the learned of the harsh measures imposed on
Massachusetts Government Act. Under this law, all Massachusetts, they reacted with sympathy and out-
council members, judges, and sheriffs were appointed rage. The Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act together
by the colony’s governor instead of being elected. became known as the Intolerable Acts.
This act also banned most town meetings. The third In May 1774, the Virginia House of Burgesses
act, the Administration of Justice Act, allowed the declared the arrival of British troops in Boston a “mil-
governor to transfer trials of British soldiers and offi- itary invasion” and called for a day of fasting and
cials to England to protect them from American juries. prayer. When Virginia’s governor dissolved the
The final act was a new quartering act. It required House of Burgesses for its actions, its members
local officials to provide lodging for British soldiers, adjourned to a nearby tavern and issued a resolution
in private homes if necessary. To enforce the acts, the urging all colonies to suspend trade with Britain.
British moved several thousand troops to New They also called on the colonies to send delegates to a
England and appointed General Thomas Gage as the colonial congress to discuss what to do next.
new governor of Massachusetts. In New York and Rhode Island, similar calls for a
The Coercive Acts violated several traditional congress had already been made. The committees of
English rights, including the right to trial by a jury of correspondence rapidly coordinated the different
one’s peers and the right not to have troops quartered proposals, and in June 1774, the Massachusetts
in one’s home. The king was also not supposed to assembly formally invited the other colonies to a
maintain a standing army in peacetime without meeting of the First Continental Congress.
Parliament’s consent. Although the British Parliament The Continental Congress met for the first time
had authorized the troops, colonists believed their on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia. The 55 dele-
local assemblies had to give their consent, too. gates represented 12 of Britain’s North American
In July 1774, a month after the last Coercive Act colonies. (Florida, Georgia, Nova Scotia, and Quebec
became law, the British introduced the Quebec Act. did not attend.) They also represented a wide range
This law had no connection to events in the American of opinion. Moderate delegates opposed the
colonies, but it also angered the colonists nonetheless. Intolerable Acts but believed a compromise could
Causes and Effects of the American Revolution

Causes Effects
• Colonists’ tradition of self-government • United States declares independence
• Americans’ sense of a separate identity from Britain • A long war with Great Britain
• Proclamation of 1763 • World recognition of American independence
• British policies toward the colonies after 1763
The conflict between Britain and America grew worse after the passage of
the Intolerable Acts of 1774.
Analyzing Information Why do you think the tradition of self-government

played a role in the colonists’ decision to declare independence?

be worked out. More radical delegates felt the time Loyalists and Patriots British officials were not
had come for the colonies to fight for their rights. alone in their anger. Although many colonists dis-
The Congress’s first order of business was to agreed with Parliament’s policies, some still felt a
endorse the Suffolk Resolves. These resolutions, strong sense of loyalty to the king and believed
prepared by Bostonians and other residents of British law should be upheld. Americans who backed
Suffolk County, Massachusetts, urged colonists not Britain came to be known as Loyalists, or Tories.
to obey the Coercive Acts. They also called on the Loyalists came from all parts of American society.
people of Suffolk County to arm themselves against Many were government officials or Anglican minis-
the British and to stop buying British goods. ters. Others were prominent merchants and
The Continental Congress then began to debate a landowners. Quite a few backcountry farmers on the
plan put forward by Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania. frontier remained loyal as well, because they
Galloway proposed that the colonies remain part of the regarded the king as their protector against the
British Empire but develop a federal government simi- planters and merchants who controlled the local gov-
lar to the one outlined in the Albany Plan of Union. ernments. Historians estimate that about 20 percent
After the radicals argued that Galloway’s plan would of the adult white population remained Loyalist after
not protect American rights, the colonies voted to put the Revolution began.
off consideration of the plan. On the other side were those who believed the
Shortly afterward, the Congress learned that the British had become tyrants. These people were
British had suspended the Massachusetts assembly. In known as Patriots, or Whigs. Patriots also repre-
response, the Congress issued the Declaration of sented a wide cross section of society. They were arti-
Rights and Grievances. The declaration expressed loy- sans, farmers, merchants, planters, lawyers, and
alty to the king, but it also condemned the Coercive urban workers. Historians think that 30 to 40 percent
Acts and stated that the colonies would enter into a of Americans supported the Patriots once the
nonimportation association. Several days later, the Revolution began. Before then, Patriot groups bru-
delegates approved the Continental Association, a tally enforced the boycott of British goods. They
plan for every county and town to form committees to tarred and feathered Loyalists who tried to stop the
enforce a boycott of British goods. The delegates then boycotts, and they broke up Loyalist gatherings.
agreed to hold a second Continental Congress in May Loyalists fought back, but they were outnumbered
1775 if the crisis had not been resolved. and not as well organized.
Reading Check Examining How did the British The Patriots were strong in New England and
Virginia, while most Loyalists lived in Georgia, the
react to the Boston Tea Party?
Carolinas, and New York. Everywhere, however,
communities were divided. Even families were
split. The American Revolution would not be a war
The Revolution Begins solely between the Americans and the British. It
In October 1774, while the Continental Congress would also be a civil war between Patriots and
was still meeting, the members of the suspended Loyalists. Caught in the middle were many
Massachusetts assembly gathered and organized the Americans, possibly a majority, who did not sup-
Massachusetts Provincial Congress. They then port either side. These people simply wanted to get
formed the Committee of Safety and chose John on with their lives.
Hancock to lead it, giving him the power to call up
the militia. In effect, the Provincial Congress had Lexington and Concord In April 1775, General
made Hancock a rival governor to General Gage. Gage received secret orders from Britain to arrest the
A full-scale rebellion against authority was now members of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress.
under way. The Massachusetts militia began to drill Gage did not know where the Congress met, so he
in formation and practice shooting. The town of decided to seize the militia’s supply depot at
Concord created a special unit of men trained and Concord instead. On April 18, 700 British troops set
ready to “stand at a minute’s warning in case of out for Concord on a road that took them past the
alarm.” These were the famous minutemen. All town of Lexington.
through the summer and fall of 1774, colonists cre- Patriot leaders heard about the plan and sent two
ated provincial congresses, and militias raided mili- men, Paul Revere and William Dawes, to spread the
tary depots for ammunition and gunpowder. These alarm. Revere reached Lexington by midnight and
rebellious acts further infuriated British officials. warned the people there that the British were coming.

Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 1775
In
3 Colonial militia inflict
4 In retreat to Boston, British
suffer over 250 casualties
Motion
14 casualties on British at and Americans suffer 95.
Concord's North Bridge.
ic River
Minutemen Minutemen
North Prescott Lexington
yst
Bridge April 19, 1775
M
Concord G age Medford
April 19, 1775 N
2 Revere captured; W E
Dawes turned back. Menotomy
(Arlington) Reve S
re
er
Sud b u r y Riv
1 April 19, 1775, fighting begins

on Lexington Common: eight
Charlestown
Cambridge
Americans die, 10 wounded.
Cha e r Boston
rles Riv Boston
Harbor
Da
DORCHESTER
Colonial troops MASSACHUSETTS we
s HEIGHTS
Colonial messengers 0 5 miles
British troops
0 5 kilometers
American victory Lambert Equal-Area projection
British victory
1. Interpreting Maps Which side suffered the most
casualties at Lexington and Concord?
Revere, Dawes, and a third man, Dr. Samuel Prescott, 2. Applying Geography Skills About how far was
then set out for Concord. A British patrol stopped Lexington from Boston?
Revere and Dawes, but Prescott got through in time to
warn Concord.
On April 19, British troops arrived in Lexington The Second Continental Congress Three weeks
and spotted 70 minutemen lined up on the village after the battles at Lexington and Concord, the
green. The British troops marched onto the field and Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia.
ordered them to disperse. The minutemen had The first issue under discussion was defense. The
begun to back away when a shot was fired, no one is Congress voted to “adopt” the militia army sur-
sure by whom. The British soldiers, already nervous, rounding Boston, and they named it the
fired into the line of minutemen, killing 8 and Continental Army. On June 15, 1775, the Congress
wounding 10. appointed George Washington as general and
The British then headed to Concord, only to find commander in chief of the new army.
that most of the military supplies had already been Before Washington could get to his troops, how-
removed. When they tried to cross the North Bridge ever, the British landed reinforcements in Boston.
on the far side of town, they ran into 400 colonial Determined to gain control of the area, the British
militia. A fight broke out, forcing the British to decided to seize the hills north of the city. Warned in
retreat. advance, the militia acted first. On June 16, 1775, they
Having completed their mission, the British dug in on Breed’s Hill near Bunker Hill and began
decided to return to Boston. Along the way, militia building an earthen fort at the top.
and farmers fired at them from behind trees, stone The following day, General Gage sent 2,200
walls, barns, and houses. By the time the British troops to take the hill. His soldiers, wearing heavy
reached Boston, 73 of their men had been killed, and packs and woolen uniforms, launched an uphill,
another 174 were wounded. The colonists had 49 frontal attack in blistering heat. According to leg-
men dead and 46 wounded. As news of the fighting end, an American commander named William
spread, militia raced from all over New England to Prescott told his troops, “Don’t fire until you see the
help. By May 1775, militia troops had surrounded whites of their eyes.” When the British closed to
Boston, trapping the British inside. within 50 yards, the Americans took aim and fired.

They turned back two British advances before they negotiate with the Native Americans, and it estab-
ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. lished a postal system, a Continental Navy, and a
The Battle of Bunker Hill, as it came to be called, Marine Corps. By March 1776, the Continental Navy
helped build American confidence. It showed that had raided the Bahamas and begun seizing British
the largely untrained colonial militia could stand up merchant ships.
to one of the world’s most feared armies. The British
suffered more than 1,000 casualties in the fighting. The Fighting Spreads With fighting under way,
Shortly afterward, General Gage resigned and was Lord Dunmore, governor of Virginia, organized two
replaced by General William Howe. The situation Loyalist armies to assist the British troops in
then returned to a stalemate, with the British trapped Virginia—one composed of white Loyalists, and the
in Boston, surrounded by militia. other of enslaved Africans. Dunmore proclaimed that
Africans enslaved by rebels would be freed if they
Reading Check Interpreting Why was the Battle of fought for the Loyalists. The announcement convinced
Bunker Hill important to the Americans? many Southern planters that the colonies had to
declare independence. Otherwise, the planters might
lose their labor force.
The Decision for

Independence
Despite the onset of fighting, in the sum-
mer of 1775 many colonists were not prepared
to break away from Great Britain. Most mem-
bers of the Second Continental Congress
wanted the right to govern themselves, but
they did not want to leave the British Empire.
The tide of opinion turned, however, when
Britain refused to compromise.
Efforts at Peace In July 1775, as the siege of

Boston continued, the Continental Congress
sent a document known as the Olive Branch
Petition to King George. Written by John
Dickinson, the petition asserted the colonists’
loyalty to the king and asked him to call off
hostilities until the situation could be worked
out peacefully.
In the meantime, radical delegates con-
vinced the Congress to order an attack on the
British troops based in Quebec. They hoped
their action would inspire the French in
Quebec to join in fighting the British. The
American forces captured the city of
Montreal, but the French did not rebel.
Moreover, the attack convinced British officials
that there was no hope of reconciliation. When
the Olive Branch Petition arrived in England,
King George refused to look at it. Declaring
the colonies to be “open and avowed ene-
mies,” he issued a proclamation ordering the
military to suppress the rebellion in America. History Through Art
With no compromise likely, the Continental Colonial Confidence Artist Alonzo Chappel painted The Battle of Bunker Hill. The battle
Congress increasingly began to act like an showed the colonists that they could win against the British. How does the artist portray
independent government. It sent people to the colonists’ courage?

The Declaration of Independence
Had Condemned Slavery?
In 1776 the Continental Congress chose a com- Jefferson’s condemnation of slavery,
mittee to draft the Declaration of Independence. which is excerpted below, the history
The committee included Thomas Jefferson, John of the United States might have been
Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, and very different.
Robert Livingston. Jefferson later recalled the fol-
lowing in his memoirs: “[The committee members]
unanimously pressed on myself alone to under-
“ He [King George] has waged
cruel war against human nature
take the draught. I consented; I drew it; but before itself, violating its most sacred
I reported it to the committee I communicated it rights of life and liberty in the
separately to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams request- persons of a distant people
ing their corrections. . . .” who never offended him, cap-
Franklin and Adams urged Jefferson to delete tivating and carrying them
his condemnation of King George’s support of into slavery in another hemi-
slavery. The two realized that the revolution sphere, or to incur miserable
needed support from all the colonies to succeed, death in their transportation thither. . . . He
and condemning slavery would alienate pro-slav- has [stopped] every legislative attempt to pro-
ery colonists and force them to support the king. hibit or to restrain this execrable commerce
Jefferson modified the draft accordingly. If the determining to keep open a market where
Declaration of Independence had included [people] should be bought and sold. . . .
”
Southern Patriots increased their efforts to raise defeats, it was clear that they were not backing
a large army. In December 1775, their troops down. In December 1775, the king issued the
attacked and defeated Dunmore’s forces near Prohibitory Act, ending all trade with the colonies
Norfolk, Virginia. The British then pulled their sol- and ordering the British navy to blockade the coast.
diers out of Virginia, leaving the Patriots in control. The British government also began expanding its
In February 1776, Patriots in North Carolina dis- army by recruiting mercenaries—paid foreign sol-
persed a Loyalist force of backcountry farmers at diers. By the spring of 1776, the British had hired
the Battle of Moore’s Creek. In South Carolina, the 30,000 Germans, mostly men from the region of
local militia prevented Hesse, or Hessians.
British troops from captur-
ing Charles Town. The Colonies Declare Independence As the war
HISTORY Meanwhile, in the North, dragged on, more Patriots began to think the time
Washington’s troops seized had come to formally break with Britain although
Student Web the hills south of Boston. they feared that most colonists were still loyal to the
Activity Visit the From that vantage point, king. Even radicals in the Continental Congress wor-
American Republic they intended to bombard ried that a declaration of independence might cost
the British with cannons. The them public support.
tarvol2.glencoe.com
British troops fled Boston by Things began to change in January 1776, when
and click on Student
ship, however, leaving the Thomas Paine published a lively and persuasive
Web Activities—
Chapter 3 for an Patriots in control. pamphlet called Common Sense. Until then,
activity on the Everywhere, the British everyone had regarded Parliament, not the king,
American Revolution. seemed to be on the run. as the enemy. Paine attacked the monarchy
Nonetheless, despite their instead. King George III, he said, was responsible

by seizing power from the people. George III was
a tyrant, he proclaimed, and it was time to declare
independence:
“ Everything that is right or reasonable pleads

for separation. The blood of the slain, the weep-
ing voice of nature cries, ‘Tis Time To Part. . . .
Every spot of the old world is overrun with
oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round
the globe . . . [and] England hath given her
warning to depart.
”
—from Common Sense
Within three months, Common Sense had sold

over 150,000 copies. George Washington wrote,
“Common Sense is working a powerful change in the
minds of men.” One by one, provincial congresses
and assemblies told their representatives at the
1. Why do you think Thomas Jefferson, who was a slave- Continental Congress to vote for independence.
holder, wanted to include this paragraph? In early July, a committee composed of John
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert
2. Would the course of American history have changed
Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson submitted a
significantly if the Declaration of Independence had
landmark document Jefferson had drafted, in
included Jefferson’s statement? If so, how? If not,
which the colonies declared themselves to be inde-
why not?
pendent. On July 4, 1776, the full Continental
Congress then issued this Declaration of
Independence. The colonies had now become the
United States of America, and the American
Revolution had begun.
for British actions against the colonies. Parliament
did nothing without the king’s approval. Paine Reading Check Analyzing How did Thomas Paine
argued that monarchies had been established help persuade colonists to declare independence?
TM
TM

1. Define: committee of correspondence, 5. Synthesizing What role did the com- 7. Analyzing Art Study Chappel’s
minuteman, Loyalist, Patriot. mittees of correspondence play in the painting, The Battle of Bunker Hill, on
2. Identify: Boston Tea Party, Intolerable colonists’ move toward independence? page 87. What elements of the painting
Acts, Suffolk Resolves, Olive Branch 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer show that the artist was sympathetic to
Petition, Common Sense. similar to the one below to indicate the American cause?
3. Explain why the First Continental ways in which colonists defied Britain
Congress met. after the repeal of the Townshend Acts.

4. Government and Democracy After 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
King George III refused to consider the Colonists’ Acts were a member of the Sons of Liberty
of Defiance
Olive Branch Petition, in what ways did and a participant in the Boston Tea
the Continental Congress begin to act Party. Write a diary entry describing the
like an independent government? event. Be certain to use correct spelling,
grammar, and punctuation.

In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration
of the thirteen united States of America,
What It Means [Preamble]
The Preamble The Declaration
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
of Independence has four parts.
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
The Preamble explains why the
Continental Congress drew up another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and
the Declaration. equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should
impel force declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
What It Means [Declaration of Natural Rights]

Natural Rights The second part, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
the Declaration of Natural Rights, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
states that people have certain
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
basic rights and that government
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
should protect those rights. John
Locke’s ideas strongly influenced deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
this part. In 1690 Locke wrote That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
that government was based on ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
the consent of the people and new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing
that people had the right to rebel its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
if the government did not uphold Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
their right to life, liberty, and long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
property. The Declaration calls accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to
these rights unalienable rights. suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the
Unalienable means nontransfer- forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and
able. An unalienable right cannot
usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to
be surrendered.
reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
endowed provided throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future
despotism unlimited power security.
What It Means [List of Grievances]

List of Grievances The third Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now
part of the Declaration lists the
the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of
colonists’ complaints against the
Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of
British government. Notice that
King George III is singled out for repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establish-
blame. ment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be
submitted to a candid world.
usurpations unjust uses of power He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary
for the public good.
90
90 90CHAPTER
The Declaration
3 TheofAmerican
Independence
Revolution
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend
to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large dis-
tricts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of relinquish give up
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formida- inestimable priceless
ble to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfort-
able, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with
manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to
be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, annihilation destruction
have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining
in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and
convulsions within. convulsions violent disturbances
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that
purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to Naturalization of Foreigners process
pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions by which foreign-born persons
of new Appropriations of Lands. become citizens
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent
to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their tenure term
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of
Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
91
CHAPTER
The Declaration
3 The American Revolution91 91
of Independence
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the
Consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to
the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our
constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their
acts of pretended legislation:
quartering lodging For quartering large bodies of troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders
which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its
render make Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested
with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
abdicated given up He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his
Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and
destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with
perfidy violation of trust circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most bar-
barous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to
bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their
friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
insurrections rebellions He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeav-
oured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction
of all ages, sexes and conditions.
petitioned for redress asked In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in
formally for a correction of the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only
wrongs by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act
which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.
Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have
warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circum-
unjustified authority stances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their
native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of
our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would
inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have
consanguinity originating from been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore,
the same ancestor acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them,
as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
92 92CHAPTER
The Declaration
3 TheofAmerican
Independence
Revolution
[Resolution of Independence What It Means
by the United States] Resolution of Independence
The Final section declares that
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in
the colonies are “Free and
General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the Independent States” with the
world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by full power to make war, to form
Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and alliances, and to trade with
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and other countries.
Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the
British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State rectitude rightness
of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and
Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace,
contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things
which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
John Hancock Pennsylvania Massachusetts What It Means

President from Robert Morris Samuel Adams Signers of the Declaration The
Massachusetts Benjamin Rush John Adams signers, as representatives of the
Benjamin Franklin Robert Treat Paine American people, declared the
Georgia
John Morton Elbridge Gerry colonies independent from Great
Button Gwinnett Britain. Most members signed
George Clymer
Lyman Hall Rhode Island the document on August 2, 1776.
James Smith
George Walton Stephen Hopkins
George Taylor
William Ellery
North Carolina James Wilson
William Hooper George Ross Connecticut
Joseph Hewes Samuel Huntington
Delaware
John Penn William Williams
Caesar Rodney
Oliver Wolcott
South Carolina George Read
Roger Sherman
Edward Rutledge Thomas McKean
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
New York
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
William Floyd
Arthur Middleton
Philip Livingston
Maryland Francis Lewis
Samuel Chase Lewis Morris
William Paca
New Jersey
Thomas Stone
Richard Stockton
Charles Carroll
John Witherspoon
of Carrollton
Francis Hopkinson
Virginia John Hart
George Wythe Abraham Clark
Richard Henry Lee
New Hampshire
Thomas Jefferson
Josiah Bartlett
Benjamin Harrison
William Whipple
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Matthew Thornton
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
CHAPTER
The Declaration
3 The American Revolution93 93
of Independence
The War for
Independence
After a war lasting several years, Sequencing As you read about the war • List the advantages and disadvantages
Americans finally won their inde- for independence, complete a time line of each side at the beginning of the war.
pendence from Britain. similar to the one below to record the • Discuss the roles of France and Spain
major battles and their outcomes. in the war, and explain how the war
Key Terms and Names ended.
Robert Morris, guerrilla warfare, John
Burgoyne, letter of marque, Charles Section Theme
Cornwallis, Nathaniel Greene, Francis 1776 1781 Global Connections Hostility between
Marion, Benedict Arnold the French and British caused France to
support the colonies.
✦1776 ✦1778 ✦1780 ✦1782

1776 1777 1780 1781 1783
Battle of Trenton The British surrender Patriots defeat Loyalists Cornwallis surrenders Treaty of Paris
at Saratoga at Kings Mountain at Yorktown is signed
Colonel Henry Beckman Livingston could only watch helplessly the suffering around
him. A veteran of several military campaigns, Livingston huddled with the rest of George
Washington’s army at its winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The winter of 1777
to 1778 was brutally cold, and the army lacked food, clothing, and other supplies. Huddled
in small huts, soldiers wrapped themselves in blankets and survived on the smallest of
rations. Livingston described the army’s plight in a letter to his brother, Robert:
“ Our troops are in general almost naked and very often in a starveing condition. All my
men except 18 are unfit for duty for want of shoes, stockings, and shirts. . . . Poor Jack has
been necessitated to make up his blanket into a vest and breeches. If I did not fear starveing
with cold I should be tempted to do the same.
”
Troops at Valley Forge
—adapted from A Salute to Courage
The Opposing Sides

The struggle at Valley Forge was a dark hour for the patriots. No one knew if they
were strong enough to defeat the powerful British Empire. On the same day the Conti-
nental Congress voted for independence, British troops, called “redcoats” because of their
uniforms, began landing in New York. By mid-August, an estimated 32,000 men had
assembled under the command of General William Howe. This was an enormous force

The Opposing Sides
Colonial Advantages British Advantages
Fighting on home ground Well-trained, well-supplied army and navy
Good decisions by generals Wealth of resources
Fighting for their rights and freedoms Strong central government
French alliance: loans, navy, troops
Colonial Disadvantages British Disadvantages
Untrained soldiers; small army Fighting in unfamiliar, hostile territory
Food and ammunition shortages Fighting far away from Britain and resources
Weak and divided central government Troops indifferent; halfhearted support at home
1. Interpreting Charts Why was fighting for their

rights and freedoms an advantage for the
in the 1700s, and the troops were disciplined, well
colonists?
trained, and well equipped. Given their strength, the 2. Analyzing In what ways would a weak govern-
British did not expect the rebellion to last very long. ment be a disadvantage in wartime?
The Continental army was comparatively inexpe-
rienced and poorly equipped. Although more than
230,000 men served in the Continental army, they against other threats to its empire, Britain had to
rarely numbered more than 20,000 at any one time. station much of its military elsewhere in the world.
Many soldiers deserted or refused to reenlist when
Reading Check Identifying What three major dis-
their terms were up. Others left their posts to return
to their farms at planting or harvest time. advantages did the British face in the American Revolution?
Paying for the war was another challenge. Lacking
the power to tax, the Continental Congress issued
paper money. These “Continentals” were not backed The Northern Campaign
by gold or silver and quickly became almost worthless. The British knew that a quick victory depended
Fortunately, Robert Morris, a wealthy Pennsylvania on convincing Americans that British military supe-
merchant and banker, personally pledged large sums riority made their cause hopeless, and that they
for the war effort and arranged for foreign loans. could safely surrender without being hanged for
In addition to the Continental army, the British also treason. General Howe’s strategy, therefore, had two
had to fight the local militias in every state. The militias parts. He placed many troops in New York to intimi-
were untrained, but they were adept at sneak attacks date the Americans and to capture New York City.
and hit-and-run ambushes. These guerrilla warfare He also invited delegates from the Continental
tactics proved to be very effective against the British. Congress to a peace conference, promising that those
Another problem for the British was disunity at who surrendered and swore loyalty to the king
home. Many merchants and members of Parliament would be pardoned.
opposed the war. If Britain did not win quickly and When the Americans realized that Howe had no
cheaply, support for the war effort would erode. authority to negotiate a compromise, they refused to
Therefore, the United States simply had to survive talk further. Although Howe’s peace offer was
until the British tired of the economic strain and rejected, his military strategy was initially successful.
surrendered. Washington’s Continental army was unable to pre-
The European balance of power also hampered the vent the British from capturing New York City in the
British. The French, Dutch, and Spanish were all eager summer of 1776. In the fall of that year, Washington
to exploit Britain’s problems, which made these coun- moved most of his troops from the northern end of
tries potential allies for the United States. To defend Manhattan Island to White Plains, New York.

In
The Revolutionary War, 1776–1781 Motion
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toward Virginia,
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1
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in 1780 and at Cowpens in 1781 Courthouse
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1. Interpreting Maps Name two sites of colonial victories
in New Jersey.
2. Applying Geography Skills What was the role of the
Crossing the Delaware After Howe managed to British navy in the war?
push Washington’s troops back from New York City,
he moved his forces toward Philadelphia, where the
Continental Congress was meeting. Caught by sur- “ These are the times that try men’s souls. The
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this
prise, the Continental army had to move quickly to
get in front of Howe’s forces before they reached crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he
Philadelphia. that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of
By the time Washington’s troops reached Penn-
sylvania, the weather had turned cold. Both armies
man and woman.
”
—from The American Crisis
halted the campaign and set up winter camps to con-
serve food supplies. Attempting to bolster morale, At this point, Washington decided to launch a dar-
Washington had Thomas Paine’s latest pamphlet read ing and unexpected winter attack. On the night of
to the troops. Paine’s words reminded all that “the December 25, 1776, he and some 2,400 men crossed
harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph”: the icy Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New

History Through Art
A Savage Winter William B.T. Trego’s painting, The
March to Valley Forge, depicts the difficult conditions
that led to almost 2,500 deaths during the winter
encampment of 1777 to1778. Why did the British and
Continental armies stop fighting to camp during the
winter months?
Jersey. They then marched about nine miles and, dur- France that the Americans could win the war. On
ing a sleet storm, defeated a group of Hessian merce- February 6, 1778, the United States signed two treaties
naries at Trenton. Several days later, the Patriot army with France that officially recognized the new nation
overcame three British regiments at Princeton. After and committed France to fight alongside the United
these small victories, the Continental army camped States until Britain was forced to recognize American
in the hills of northern New Jersey for the winter. independence.
In 1779 Spain allied with France but not with the
Philadelphia Falls In March 1777, British General United States. These countries provided vital mili-
John Burgoyne had devised a plan to combine his tary and financial aid to the United States. Their
troops with General Howe’s and isolate New attacks also forced the British to divert troops and
England from the other American states. Un- ships from their campaigns along the Atlantic coast.
fortunately, Burgoyne did not coordinate this with
Reading Check Summarizing What was General
Howe, who was launching his own plan.
Howe sent about 13,000 men to launch a surprise Howe’s two-part strategy to win the war quickly?
attack on Philadelphia. He believed that capturing
Philadelphia and the Continental Congress would
cripple the Revolution and convince Loyalists in Other Fronts
Pennsylvania to rise up and take control of the state. Not all of the fighting in the Revolutionary War
Howe’s action was a military success but a politi- took place in the East. Patriots also rallied to the cause
cal failure. He defeated Washington at the Battle of on the western frontier, out at sea, and in the South.
Brandywine Creek and captured Philadelphia, but
the Continental Congress escaped. Furthermore, no The West In 1778, George Rogers Clark took 175
Loyalist uprising occurred. Patriots down the Ohio River and captured several
towns. Although the British temporarily retook one
TURNING POINT of the towns, they eventually surrendered to Clark
The Battle of Saratoga Unaware of Howe’s move- in February 1779. The United States now had con-
ment to Philadelphia, Burgoyne continued with his trol of the West. American troops soon secured con-
plan. In June 1777, he led an estimated 8,000 troops trol of western New York as well. In the summer of
from Quebec south into New York, believing Howe 1779, they defeated the British and the Iroquois,
was marching north to meet him. Burgoyne’s forces their Native American allies in the region. The
easily seized Fort Ticonderoga, but American forces Iroquois had allied with the British, hoping that a
blocked their path by felling trees, and they removed British victory would keep American settlers off
crops and cattle to deprive the British of food. Iroquois land.
Burgoyne eventually retreated to Saratoga, only to
be surrounded by an American army nearly three The War at Sea In addition to the war on land,
times the size of his own. On October 17, 1777, he sur- Americans also fought the British at sea. Although
rendered to General Horatio Gates. Over 5,000 British the Congress assembled a Continental navy, no one
troops were taken prisoner. This was an unexpected expected it to defeat the huge British fleet in battle.
turning point in the war. It not only dramatically Instead, the United States sent its warships to
improved American morale but also convinced the attack British merchant ships. In addition, Congress
French to commit troops to the American cause. issued letters of marque, or licenses, to about 2,000
privateers. By the end of the war, millions of dol-
The Alliance with France Although both France lars’ worth of cargo had been seized from British
and Spain had been secretly aiding the Americans well merchant ships, seriously harming Britain’s trade
before Saratoga, that battle’s outcome convinced and economy.

Perhaps the most famous naval battle of the war Ferguson at Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, and
involved John Paul Jones, American commander of destroyed his army. The Battle of Kings Mountain
the Bonhomme Richard. While sailing near Britain in was a turning point in the South. Southern farmers,
September 1779, Jones encountered a group of British furious with British treatment, began to organize their
merchant ships protected by two warships. Jones own militias.
attacked one of them, the Serapis, but the heavier The new commander of American forces in the
guns of the British ship nearly sank the Bonhomme region, General Nathaniel Greene, organized the
Richard. When the British commander called on Jones militias into small units to carry out hit-and-run raids
to surrender, he replied, “I have not yet begun to against British camps and supply wagons. The most
fight.” He lashed his ship to the Serapis so it could not famous of these guerrilla units was led by Francis
sink and then boarded the British ship. After more Marion, who was known as the “Swamp Fox.”
than three hours of battle, the British surrendered. General Greene hoped that while militia destroyed
enemy supplies, the regular army could wear down
The Southern Campaign After the British defeat at the British in a series of battles.
Saratoga in 1777, General Howe had resigned. His Greene’s strategy worked. In 1781 the Americans
replacement, Sir Henry Clinton, began a campaign in engaged the British at Cowpens and Guilford Court
the South, where the British believed they had the House, and both battles resulted in hundreds of
strongest Loyalist support. British officials hoped British casualties. By late 1781, the British controlled
that even if they lost the Northern states, they might very little territory in the South except for the cities of
still keep control of the South, which produced valu- Savannah, Charles Town, and Wilmington.
able tobacco and rice. Reading Check Explaining What was the American
In December 1778, 3,500 British troops captured
Savannah, Georgia. They seized control of Georgia’s strategy for attacking the British at sea?
backcountry, while American troops retreated to
Charles Town, South Carolina. Soon afterward
General Clinton attacked Charles Town. Nearly
The War Is Won
14,000 British troops surrounded the city, trapping In the spring of 1781, General Cornwallis decided
the American forces. On May 12, 1780, the Americans to invade Virginia. If he could take control there, he
surrendered. Nearly 5,500 American troops were taken could stop new supplies and troop reinforcements
prisoner, the greatest American defeat in the war. from reaching American forces in the South.
Clinton returned to New York, leav-
ing General Charles Cornwallis in
command.
in History
Patriots Rally Cornwallis moved
next to Camden, South Carolina, Bernardo de Gálvez Jefferson. He
1746–1786 also used his
where he stopped a Patriot force
authority as gov-
from destroying a British supply Bernardo de Gálvez was born in ernor to secure
base. After winning the Battle of Malága, Spain, in 1746. Following fam- the Mississippi
Camden, the British found the tide ily tradition, he joined the military. At against the British,
turning against them in the South. age 18, he traveled to America with his while allowing French,
Although many Southerners sym- uncle, who had been sent by the gov- Spanish, and American ships
ernment to inspect New Spain. In 1769 to use the river to smuggle arms to the
pathized with Britain, they objected
Gálvez was placed in command of American forces. When Spain declared
to the brutal tactics of some Loyalist Spanish forces on New Spain’s north- war on Britain, Gálvez raised an army,
forces in the region. ern frontier. During the next two years, fought British troops near Baton Rouge
One such group, led by a British he led his forces in battle against the and Natchez, and captured British forts
cavalry officer named Patrick Apache people in what is today west at Mobile and Pensacola. His cam-
Ferguson, finally went too far in Texas. In 1777 he was appointed gover- paigns were important to the U.S. vic-
nor of Louisiana. tory because they tied down British
trying to subdue the people living
Even before Spain entered the troops that might otherwise have been
in the Appalachian Mountains. A Revolutionary War, Gálvez took steps to used against the Americans farther
band of overmountain men, as aid the United States. He exchanged let- north. The city of Galveston, Texas, is
they were known, assembled a ters with Patrick Henry and Thomas named in his honor.
militia force. They intercepted

The Battle of Yorktown In May 1781, Cornwallis
arrived in Virginia, where he joined with forces led
by Benedict Arnold. Arnold had been an American
commander but had later sold military information America’s Flags On June 14, 1777, the Continental
to the British. When his treason was discovered, Congress declared the first Stars and Stripes to be the
Arnold fled to British-controlled New York City, official flag. The Congress determined that “the Flag
where he was put in charge of British troops and of the United States be 13 stripes, alternate red and
ordered south. white; that the Union be 13 stars, white in a blue
Arnold’s and Cornwallis’s forces began to conquer field representing a new
the state together. They encountered little resistance constellation.” For
at first and almost captured Virginia’s governor, Americans past and pres-
Thomas Jefferson. George Washington quickly dis- ent, the color red symbol-
patched troops led by the Marquis de Lafayette and izes courage; white, purity
of ideals; and blue, strength
General Anthony Wayne to defend Virginia. As the
and unity of the states.
American forces increased, General Clinton ordered
Cornwallis to secure a naval base on the coast. Follow-
ing orders, Cornwallis headed to the coastal town of The Treaty of Paris After learning of the surrender
Yorktown. at Yorktown, Parliament voted to end the war. Peace
Cornwallis’s move created an opportunity for the talks began in Paris in early April 1782.
Americans and their French allies. George The final settlement, the Treaty of Paris, was
Washington and a French commander, Jean Baptiste signed on September 3, 1783. In this treaty, Britain
Rochambeau, led a joint force south to Yorktown. recognized the United States of America as a new
Meanwhile, the French navy, under the command of nation with the Mississippi River as its western bor-
Admiral François de Grasse, moved into der. The British kept Canada, but in a separate treaty
Chesapeake Bay, preventing Cornwallis from escap- they gave Florida back to Spain and returned to the
ing by sea or receiving supplies. On September 28, French certain colonies they had seized from them in
1781, American and French forces surrounded Africa and the Caribbean.
Yorktown and began to bombard the British. On On November 24, 1783, the last British troops left
October 14, Washington’s aide, Alexander Hamilton, New York City. The Revolutionary War was over, and
led an attack that captured key British defenses. the creation of a new nation was about to begin.
Three days later, Cornwallis began negotiations to
surrender, and on October 19, 1781, approximately Reading Check Describing How was the war won
8,000 British troops marched out of Yorktown and at Yorktown?
laid down their weapons.
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1. Define: guerrilla warfare, letter of 5. Evaluating How did European coun- 7. Analyzing Maps Study the map of the
marque. tries aid the Americans in the war for Revolutionary War on page 96. How
2. Identify: Robert Morris, John independence? many British victories, American victo-
Burgoyne, Charles Cornwallis, 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer ries, and indecisive battles are
Nathaniel Greene, Francis Marion, similar to the one below to list the depicted? Although both sides won
Benedict Arnold. advantages and disadvantages of each about the same number of battles, the
3. List the terms of the Treaty of Paris. side in the American Revolution. Americans won the war. Why?
Reviewing Themes Advantages Disadvantages

4. Identifying Cause and Effect How did Britain Writing About History
the Battle of Saratoga influence the out- United States 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
come of the American Revolution? are a colonist fighting in the American
Revolution. Write a letter to convince
European nations to support the
Americans in the war.

The Confederation
After the war, the 13 states were Organizing As you read about the new • Discuss the new political ideas that
loosely united under the Articles of government created by the Articles of prevailed following the war.
Confederation. Confederation, complete a graphic organ- • Examine the strengths and weaknesses
izer similar to the one below to identify of the newly formed Confederation
Key Terms and Names the strengths and weaknesses of the Congress.
republic, Virginia Statute for Religious Confederation Congress.
Freedom, manumission, ratification, Section Theme
Northwest Ordinance, recession, inflation Confederation Congress Geography and History While the weak
Achievements Weaknesses Confederation government ultimately
failed, it created the system by which new
states became part of the new nation.
✦1775 ✦1779 ✦1783 ✦1787

1776 1781 1786 1787
Virginia creates Articles of Confederation Virginia’s Statute for Religious Northwest Ordinance
Declaration of Rights ratified Freedom is passed becomes law
In the late 1700s, an enslaved Massachusetts man named Quock Walker took an extraordi-
nary step: He took legal action against a white man who had assaulted him. Given the times,
this was a bold step, but Walker believed he had the law on his side. Massachusetts’s new
constitution referred to the “inherent liberty” of all men. The judge, William Cushing, agreed:
“ Our Constitution [of Massachusetts] sets out with declaring that all men are born free and
equal—and that every subject is entitled to liberty, and to have guarded by the laws, as well
as life and property—and in short is totally repugnant to the idea of being born slaves. This
being the case, I think the idea of slavery is inconsistent with our own conduct and
”
Constitution.
While the Quock Walker case did not abolish slavery, it demonstrated that the
Massachusetts courts would not support the institution. As a result of this ruling and
various antislavery efforts, slavery ceased to exist in Massachusetts.
Wooden statue of an
African American —adapted from Founding the Republic
breaking his chains
New Political Ideas

When American leaders declared independence and founded the United States of
America, they were very much aware that they were creating something new. By breaking
away from the king, they had established a republic. A republic is a form of government
where power resides with a body of citizens entitled to vote. This power is exercised by
elected officials who are responsible to the citizens and who must govern according to
laws or a constitution.

While many Europeans viewed a republic as radi- government.” In 1795 the University of North
cal and dangerous, Americans saw its benefits. In an Carolina was the first state university to open.
ideal republic, all citizens are equal under the law,
regardless of their wealth or social position. This con- Voting Rights Expand The experience of fighting
flicted with existing ideas, including beliefs about side by side during the Revolution with people
slavery, about women not being allowed to vote or from every social class and region increased
own property, and about wealthy people being “bet- Americans’ belief in equality. If all men were risking
ter” than people in poorer classes. Despite these con- their lives for the same cause, then all deserved a
tradictions, republican ideas began to change say in choosing their leaders. In almost every state,
American society. the new constitutions made it easier for men to gain
the right to vote. Many states allowed any white
male who paid taxes to vote, whether or not he
New State Constitutions American leaders
owned property.
believed that the best form of government was a con-
People still had to own a certain amount of prop-
stitutional republic. At the same time, many, including
erty to hold elective office, although usually much
John Adams, worried that a true democracy would
less than before the Revolution. The practice of giv-
lead to tyranny by the majority. For example, the poor
ing veterans land grants as payment for their military
might vote to seize all property from the rich. Adams
service also increased the number of people eligible
argued that government needed “checks and bal-
to hold office. Before the Revolution, over 80 percent
ances” to prevent any group in society from becoming
of elected officials in the North came from the upper
too strong and taking away the rights of the minority.
class. Ten years after the war began, a little more than
Adams favored a “mixed government” with a sep-
one-third did. In the South, higher property qualifi-
aration of powers. The executive, legislative, and judi-
cations kept the wealthy planters in power, although
cial branches would be independent of one another.
their numbers dropped from almost 90 percent of
Adams also argued that the legislature should have
those holding office to about 70 percent.
two houses: a senate to represent people with prop-
erty and an assembly to protect the rights of the com-
mon people. Adams’s ideas influenced several states Freedom of Religion The new concern with rights
as they drafted new constitutions during the included opposition to “ecclesiastical tyranny”—the
Revolution. Virginia’s constitution of 1776 and power of a church, backed by the government, to
Massachusetts’s constitution of
1780 established an elected gov-
ernor, senate, and assembly. By
the 1790s, most of the other
states had similar documents.
Many states attached a bill of
rights to their constitutions as
well. This began in 1776, when
George Mason drafted Virginia’s
Declaration of Rights. This
document guaranteed to all
Virginians freedom of speech,
freedom of religion, the right to
bear arms, the right to trial by
jury, and freedom from unrea-
sonable search and seizure of
property.
Several state constitutions
also provided for government-
funded universities. American
leaders considered an educated History
public to be critical to the repub- New State Constitutions From 1776 to 1807, the New Jersey state constitution allowed “all inhabi-
lic’s success. Jefferson called it tants . . . who are worth fifty pounds” to vote. This decree allowed women to vote, as seen in this painting
the “keystone of our arch of of women at a polling place. How else did voting rights change following the Revolutionary War?

make people worship in a certain way. In Virginia, some advances. They could more easily obtain a
Baptists led a movement to abolish tax funding for divorce, and they gained greater access to education.
the Anglican Church. Governor Thomas Jefferson
wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, African Americans Several thousand enslaved
passed in 1786. The statute declared that Virginia no Africans obtained their freedom during the
longer had an official church, and that the state could Revolution. Although the British seized numerous
not collect taxes for churches. It further declared: enslaved people and shipped them to British planta-
tions in the Caribbean, they also freed many others in
“ [O]ur civil rights have no dependence on our reli-
gious opinions, any more than our opinions in
exchange for military service. Many planters offered
freedom to slaves who would fight the British.
physics or geometry . . . therefore . . . proscribing General Washington permitted African Americans to
any citizen as unworthy of the public confidence . . . join the Continental Army, and he urged state militias
unless he profess or renounce this or that religion to do likewise. In all, about 5,000 African Americans
opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privi- served with the Patriot forces.
leges and advantages to which in common with his After the Revolution, many Americans realized that
enslaving people did not fit with the new language of
fellow citizens he has a natural right.
” liberty and equality. Opposition to slavery had been
—quoted in Founding the Republic growing steadily even before the Revolution, espe-
The idea that the government should not fund cially in the northern and middle states. After the war
churches spread slowly. Massachusetts, for example, began, Northern governments took steps to end slav-
permitted Quakers and Baptists to assign their tax ery entirely. Vermont banned the practice in 1777. In
money to their churches instead of to the 1780 Pennsylvania freed all children born enslaved
Congregational churches—the successors to Puritan when they reached age 28. Rhode Island decreed in
congregations—but it did not abolish religious taxes 1784 that enslaved men born thereafter would be free
entirely until 1833. ; (See page 947 for the text of the when they turned 21 and women when they turned
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.) 18. In 1799 New York freed enslaved men born that
year or later when they reached age 28 and women
Reading Check Identifying Which freedoms did when they reached age 25. The ending of slavery in the
Virginia’s constitution guarantee in its bill of rights? North was thus a gradual process that took several
decades.
The story was different in the South. The South
The Revolution Changes Society relied heavily on enslaved labor to sustain its agricul-
The postwar notions of greater equality and liberty, tural economy. As a result, Southern leaders showed
as noble as they were, were not widely applied to little interest in abolishing slavery. Only Virginia took
women or African Americans. Both groups did, how- steps in this direction. In 1782 the state passed a law
ever, find their lives changed by the Revolution, as did encouraging manumission, or the voluntary freeing
the Loyalists who had supported Britain. The war also of enslaved persons, especially for those who had
helped Americans develop a national identity. fought in the Revolution. Through this law, about
10,000 slaves obtained their freedom, but the vast
Women Women played a vital role during the majority remained in bondage.
Revolution, contributing on both the home front and
the battlefront. With their husbands, brothers, and Loyalist Flight For many Loyalists, the end of the
sons at war, some women took over running the fam- war changed everything. Former friends often
ily farm. Others traveled with the army—cooking, shunned them, and state governments sometimes
washing, and nursing the wounded. Women also seized their property. Unwilling to live under the
served as spies and couriers, and a few even joined new government and often afraid for their lives,
the fighting. Mary Ludwig Hays, known as Molly approximately 100,000 Loyalists fled the United
Pitcher, carried water to Patriot gunners during the States after the war. Some went to England or the
Battle of Monmouth. Margaret Corbin accompanied British West Indies, but most moved to Canada.
her husband to battle, and after his death she took his Americans grappled over what to do with the
place at his cannon until the battle ended. property of Loyalists. In North Carolina and New
After the war, as Americans began to think about York, Patriots confiscated Loyalist lands. Public offi-
what their revolutionary ideals implied, women made cials elsewhere, however, opposed such actions. The

Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, for example, of land west of the Appalachian Mountains.
extended the rights of “life, liberty, and property” to Maryland, which had no land claims, led five other
Loyalists, and the relatives and agents of departing states in proposing that the Congress assume control
Loyalists were often able to claim the land they of all western territories. They argued that all 13
left behind. states had jointly won the territories by fighting for
American independence. The states already claiming
An Emerging American Culture The victory over land in the west resisted this proposal. Finally, in
the British united Americans and created powerful 1780, New York and Connecticut agreed to give up
nationalist feelings. The Revolutionary War gave most of their claims. Virginia followed in early 1781,
Americans a common enemy and a shared sense of which convinced Maryland that the remaining states
purpose as they fought side by side in each other’s with land claims would eventually give them up. In
states. The Revolution also gave rise to patriotic sym- February 1781, Maryland ratified the Articles of
bols and folklore about wartime deeds and heroes, Confederation, and on March 2, they went into effect.
which helped Americans think of themselves as The United States now had its first constitution.
belonging to the same group.
In addition, the Revolution sparked the cre-
ativity of American artists whose work helped Emancipation After
shape a national identity. John Trumbull, for Independence, 1780–1804
example, stirred nationalist pride with his Area Claimed by
depictions of battles and other events in the Great Britain
and U.S.
Revolution. Charles Willson Peale painted MAINE
(Part
inspiring portraits of Washington and other of
Patriot leaders. MASS.)
N 1780
Education also became American-centered. VT.
E
Schools tossed out British textbooks and Lake
W
N.H.
S
began teaching republican ideas and the his- Huron io MASS., 1780
nta r
ke O NEW YORK
tory of the struggle for independence. La
1799
R.I., 1784
40°N
Reading Check Describing How did the ie
CONN., 1784
Er
ke
civil rights of African Americans change after the La PENNSYLVANIA ATLaNTIC
1780
Revolutionary War? N.J., 1804OCEaN
OHIO DEL.
0 200 miles
MD.
The Achievements of the VIRGINIA 0 200 kilometers
Confederation KY.
Albers Equal-Area projection
As the American people began to build a NORTH 1780 Date of emancipation

national identity, leaders of the United States TENN. CAROLINA Immediate emancipation
turned their attention to creating a govern- Gradual emancipation
ment that could hold the new nation SOUTH
CAROLINA Slaveholders could
together. Even before independence was legally free slaves
Slaveholders required
declared, Patriot leaders had realized that the GEORGIA to obtain county court
colonies needed to be united under some approval to free slaves
type of central government. In November Slaveholders could not

80°W legally free slaves
1777, the Continental Congress adopted the 30°N
No formal abolition
Articles of Confederation and Perpetual
Union—a plan for a loose union of the states
under the authority of the Congress. To go
into effect, the plan required the ratification,
or approval, of all the states. Most of the 1. Interpreting Maps Which state was the last to grant
states quickly ratified the articles, but emancipation to African Americans?
Maryland held out. 2. Applying Geography Skills Within five years after the
The main reason for delay was that a num- war ended, some states passed emancipation. How
ber of states claimed ownership of great tracts many did so, and why did they do so at this time?
Northwest Territory, 1780s
e Su p e r i o r
Lak
44°N
British North America
La TOWNSHIP
Base Line
ke
6 miles
H
Lake
ur o
M 36 30 24 18 12 6
iss Ontario
ichigan
n
iss WISCONSIN 35 29 23 17 11 5
ip
pi 1848
Range Line
Riv
er 34 28 22 16 10 4
6 miles
MICHIGAN
Lake M
1837
rie 33 27 21 15 9 3
k eE 40°N
La 32 26 20 14 8 2
N
70°W
31 25 13 7 1
W E The Seven
Ranges
S
OHIO Section 19
INDIANA 1803
ILLINOIS 1816
1818 Half section
320 Acres
Northwest Territory
1 mile
0 200 miles
Present-day state e 36°N
iv
r
boundaries R Quarter
Date state admitted O h io 0 200 kilometers section
1818 to Union Albers Equal-Area projection 160 Acres
1 mile
74°W
1. Interpreting Maps The Land Ordinance of 1785

provided that the territory be divided into areas of 36
square miles. What were these areas called?
operations was to sell the land it controlled west of the
2. Applying Geography Skills Why was the prohibition of
Appalachian Mountains. To attract buyers, the
slavery in this territory significant?
Congress had to establish systems for dividing up and
selling the land and for governing the new settlements.
The Land Ordinance of 1785 set up a scheme for
The Articles of Confederation The Articles of dividing the land into square townships, which were
Confederation established a very weak central gov- then subdivided into smaller sections and sold at auc-
ernment. The states had spent several years fighting tion. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided the
for independence from Britain. They did not want to basis for governing western lands and developing
give up that independence to a new central govern- them into states. The law created a single territory
ment that might become tyrannical. bounded roughly by Pennsylvania on the east, the
Under the Articles, each state would select a dele- Ohio River on the south, the Mississippi River on
gation once per year to send to the Confederation the west, and the Great Lakes on the north. Initially
Congress. The Congress was the entire government. the Congress would choose a governor, a secretary,
It had the right to declare war and raise armies. It and three judges for the territory. When 5,000 adult
also could negotiate with other nations and sign male citizens had settled in a district, they could elect
treaties, including trade treaties. It could not, how- an assembly. When the population reached 60,000, the
ever, regulate trade, nor could it impose taxes. district could apply to become a state “on an equal
footing with the original states.” Between three and
GEOGRAPHY
five states could be formed from the territory.
Western Policies Lacking the power to tax or regu- The Northwest Ordinance also guaranteed certain
late trade, the only way for the Confederation rights to people living in the territory. These included
Congress to raise money to pay its debts and finance its freedom of religion, property rights, and the right to

trial by jury. The ordinance further stated that “there Before the war, many American merchants and
[would] be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude planters had borrowed money from British lenders.
in the said territory.” The exclusion of slavery from In the peace treaty, the United States had agreed that
the Northwest Territory did not affect Southern terri- British creditors should be allowed to recover their
tories. Like the original states, the frontier would be debts. They also agreed that states would return
divided between Southern slave-holding states and property confiscated from Loyalists during the war.
Northern free states. In neither case, however, was the Congress able to
compel the states to cooperate with these treaty pro-
Success in Trade The Confederation Congress also visions. In retaliation, the British refused to leave
tried to promote foreign trade. After the some American frontier posts. The Congress had no
Revolutionary War, the British government sharply way to resolve these problems. Without the power to
restricted American access to British markets. As a legally compel individuals, state legislatures, or state
result, the Congress negotiated several trade treaties courts to comply with the terms of the peace treaty,
with other countries, including Holland, Prussia, and Congress appeared weak and ineffective.
Sweden. American merchants also sold goods to The Confederation Congress felt similarly help-
France and its Caribbean colonies. By 1790 the trade less to settle a dispute with Spain over the bound-
of the United States was greater than the prewar ary between Spanish territory and the state of
trade of the American colonies. Georgia. The Spanish then stopped Americans from
depositing their goods in Spanish territory at the
Reading Check Explaining What were the provi-
mouth of the Mississippi River. This effectively
sions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest closed the Mississippi to farmers who used the
Ordinance of 1787? river to ship their goods to market. Once more, the
Weaknesses of the Congress Some Weaknesses of the

Despite the Confederation Congress’s success in
signing commercial treaties, trade problems beset the
Articles of Confederation
young nation. The Congress also faced other chal- Provision Problem Created
lenges that it could not easily solve.
Congress has no power Weak currency and
to tax growing debt
Problems With Trade During the boycotts of the
1760s and the Revolutionary War, American artisans Inability to pay army leads
and manufacturers had prospered. After the war, the to threats of mutiny
British flooded the United States with low-cost Congress has no power to Foreign countries angry
goods, putting thousands of Americans out of work. enforce treaties when treaties are not
The states fought back by restricting British honored; for example,
imports. Unfortunately, the states did not all impose Britain keeps troops on
the same duties and restrictions. Because the American soil
Confederation Congress was not allowed to regulate Every state, despite size, Populous states not
commerce, the states began setting up customs posts has one vote equally represented
on their borders to prevent the British from exploiting
the different trade laws. They also began to levy taxes Congress has no power to Trade hindered by states
on each other’s goods to raise revenue for themselves. regulate commerce imposing high tariffs on
each other
New York, for example, taxed cabbage from New
Jersey, which retaliated by charging New York for a Amendment requires Difficult to adapt articles
lighthouse on the New Jersey side of the Hudson unanimous vote of states to changing needs
River. In effect, each state was beginning to act as a
totally independent country.
1. Interpreting Charts What was the problem with
Problems in Diplomacy In other areas of foreign requiring a unanimous vote of the states to create
policy, the Congress showed weakness. The first changes in the Articles of Confederation?
problems surfaced over the Congress’s inability to 2. Analyzing Why did the states approve a govern-
enforce all the terms of the Treaty of Paris. ment with so many weaknesses?
limited power of the Confederation Congress pre- forcing people to accept the currency at its stated value.
sented a diplomatic solution from being found. Those who refused could be arrested and fined.
Problems With Debt While the Confederation Shays’s Rebellion A more serious disturbance
Congress struggled with foreign affairs, many erupted that same year in Massachusetts. Known as
Americans struggled economically. Wartime debts Shays’s Rebellion, it started when the Massachusetts
and the British trade imbalance plunged the nation government raised taxes to pay off its debts instead of
into a severe recession, or economic slowdown. issuing paper money. The taxes fell most heavily on
Farmers were badly hit by the recession. They poor farmers in the western part of the state. Many
were not earning as much money as they once did, farmers found themselves facing the loss of their farms.
and they had to keep borrowing in order to plant In late August, armed mobs closed down several
their next crop. Many also had mortgages to pay. The county courthouses to prevent farm foreclosures.
cost of the Revolution also left individual states and Daniel Shays, a bankrupt farmer and former army
the Congress in debt. captain, emerged as one of the rebellion’s leaders. In
To pay off their debts, the states could raise taxes, January 1787, Shays and about 1,200 followers
but farmers and others urged that the state govern- advanced on the arsenal at Springfield,
ments begin issuing paper money instead. Paper Massachusetts, to seize weapons before marching on
money would not be backed by gold and silver, so Boston. In response, the governor sent more than
people would not trust it. As a result, inflation—a 4,000 volunteers to defend the armory. This militia
decline in the value of money—would begin. quickly ended the rebellion.
Debtors would be able to pay their debts using Many wealthy Americans worried that uprisings
paper money that was worth less than the value like those in Rhode Island and Massachusetts might
printed on it. This would let them pay off their debts occur in other states. “What is to afford our security
more easily. against the violence of lawless men?” asked General
Not surprisingly, merchants, importers, and Henry Knox, a close aide to George Washington. “Our
lenders strongly opposed paper currency because government must be braced, changed, or altered to
they would not be receiving the true amount they secure our lives and property.”
were owed. Nonetheless, starting in 1785, seven The Confederation Congress’s continuing prob-
states began issuing paper money. lems in trade and diplomacy underscored its power-
In Rhode Island, the paper money eventually lessness. By 1787 many people had begun to argue
became so worthless that some creditors insisted on for a stronger central government.
being repaid only with gold or silver. After an angry
mob rioted in 1786 against merchants who refused Reading Check Summarizing In what ways was the
to take paper money, Rhode Island passed a law Confederation Congress ineffective?
TM
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1. Define: republic, manumission, 5. Analyzing How did fear of tyranny 7. Studying Maps Examine the map of
ratification, recession, inflation. shape new state constitutions and the the Northwest Ordinance on page 104.
2. Identify: Virginia Statute for Religious Articles of Confederation? What significant provision of the ordi-
Freedom, Northwest Ordinance. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer nance do the dates on the map signify?
3. Summarize the conditions that led to similar to the one below to identify how
Shays’s Rebellion. revolutionary ideas affected American
life.
4. Geography and History How did the Effects
8. Expository Writing Imagine you are
Confederation Congress provide for the Political Ideas
on a committee to write a new constitu-
division, sale, and eventual statehood of Social and Cultural Ideas
tion for your state. List the freedoms
western lands? Economic Ideas
you want attached to your state’s con-
stitution. Explain why you feel it is
important to guarantee these rights.

Critical Thinking
Making Comparisons
The Articles of Confederation
Suppose you want to buy a portable compact
disc (CD) player, and you must choose among
and the United States Constitution
three models. You would probably compare char- Powers of the Central Articles of United States
acteristics of the three models, such as price, sound Government Confederation Constitution
quality, and size to figure out which model is best Declare war; make
✔ ✔
for you. In the study of American history, you often peace
compare people or events from one time period Coin money ✔ ✔
with those from a different time period.
Manage foreign
✔ ✔
affairs
Learning the Skill
Establish a postal
When making comparisons, you examine two or ✔ ✔
system
more groups, situations, events, or documents. Then
Impose taxes ✔
you identify any similarities and differences. For
example, the chart on this page compares two docu- Regulate trade ✔
ments with regard to the powers they gave the Organize a court
central government. The Articles of Confederation ✔
system
were passed and implemented before the United
Call state militia for
States Constitution, which took their place. The ✔
service
chart includes a check mark in each column that
applies. For example, the entry Protect copyrights Protect copyrights ✔
does not have a check under Articles of Confederation. Take other necessary
This shows that the government under the Articles actions to run the ✔
lacked that power. The entry is checked under federal government
United States Constitution, showing that the govern-
ment under the Constitution does have that power.
4 Which document had the most power in deal-
When making comparisons, you first decide
ing with other nations? How can you tell?
what items will be compared and determine which
characteristics you will use to compare them. Then Skills Assessment
you identify similarities and differences in these Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
characteristics. 119 and the Chapter 3 Skill Reinforcement Activity
to assess your mastery of this skill.
Practicing the Skill
Analyze the information on the chart on this
Applying the Skill
page. Then answer the questions.
Making Comparisons On the editorial page of your
1 What items are being compared? How are they local newspaper, read two columns that express differ-
being compared?
ent viewpoints on the same issue. Identify the similari-
2 What are the similarities and differences of the ties and differences between the two points of view.
documents?
3 Which document had the most power regard- Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
ing legal matters? How can you tell? CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
107
A New Constitution
In Philadelphia in 1787, members of the Categorizing As you read about the • Outline the framework for the new
Constitutional Convention created a efforts to ratify the Constitution, complete federal government.
stronger central government. a graphic organizer similar to the one • Summarize the main points in the
below by listing the supporters and goals debate between Federalists and
Key Terms and Names of the Federalists and Antifederalists. Antifederalists.
Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, Great
Compromise, Three-Fifths Compromise, Federalists Antifederalists Section Theme
popular sovereignty, federalism, separa- Source of Support Government and Democracy The new
tion of powers, checks and balances, Goals Constitution tried to uphold the principle
veto, impeach, amendment of state authority while providing needed
national authority.
✦April 1787 ✦June 1787 ✦August 1787 ✦October 1787

May 14 May 29 June 15 July 2 September 17
Constitutional Convention Virginia Plan New Jersey Plan Franklin’s committee begins Final draft of Constitution
opens in Philadelphia introduced introduced to seek compromise signed
As Benjamin Franklin arrived at the Pennsylvania statehouse on September 17, 1787,

he rejoiced with his colleagues about the freshness of the morning air. All summer the
81-year-old Franklin had made the short journey from his home just off Market Street to the
statehouse. There, delegates to the Constitutional Convention had exhaustively debated the
future of the nation. Today, they would have a chance to sign a draft plan for the nation’s new
constitution.
When it came Franklin’s turn to sign, the elderly leader had to be helped forward in order
to write his name on the parchment. Tears streamed down his face as he signed. When the
remaining delegates had finished signing, a solemn silence enveloped the hall. Franklin
relieved the tension with a few well-chosen words. Pointing to the half-sun painted in gold on
the back of George Washington’s chair, he observed:
“ I have often . . . looked at that [sun] behind the President [of the Convention] without
being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now, at length, I have the happiness to
know it is a rising, and not a setting, Sun.
”
Washington’s chair at the —quoted in An Outline of American History
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention

For some time, the weakness of the Confederation Congress had worried many
Americans. They believed that the United States would not survive without a strong
central government. People who wanted to strengthen the central government became
known as nationalists.

One of the most influential nationalists was James Connecticut’s Roger Sherman. Virginia sent a well-
Madison, a member of the Virginia Assembly. In prepared delegation, including the scholarly James
1786 Madison convinced Virginia’s assembly to call a Madison, who kept a record of the debates.
convention of all the states to discuss trade and taxa- Madison’s notes provide the best account of the con-
tion problems. Delegates were to meet in Annapolis, vention. The meetings themselves were closed to the
Maryland, in September. When the convention public in order to promote honest, open discussion
began, however, representatives from only five states and minimize outside political pressures.
were present—too few to reach any final decisions. In
spite of this, the delegates did discuss the weaknesses The Virginia and New Jersey Plans The Virginia
of the Articles of Confederation, and many expressed delegation arrived at the convention with a detailed
interest in modifying them. plan—mostly the work of James Madison—for a new
Alexander Hamilton, a delegate from New York, national government. The so-called Virginia Plan
recommended that the Congress itself call for proposed scrapping the Articles of Confederation
another convention to be held in Philadelphia in entirely and creating a new central government with
May 1787. The Congress hesitated at first, but news power divided among legislative, executive, and
of Shays’s Rebellion and reports of unrest else- judicial branches. This government would have the
where finally convinced it to act. In late February power to raise its own money through taxes and to
1787, the Congress invited the states to meet “for make laws binding upon the states.
the sole purpose of revising the Articles of The Virginia Plan also proposed that Congress be
Confederation.” divided into two houses. The voters in each state
Every state except Rhode Island sent representa- would elect members of the first house, who would
tives to what became known as the Constitutional then elect members of the second house. In both
Convention. The delegates faced a
daunting task: to balance the rights and
aspirations of the states with the need
for a stronger national government. in History
The Founders The 55 men who gath- James Madison
ered in May at the Pennsylvania 1751–1836
statehouse included some of the most Although many individuals con-
shrewd and distinguished leaders in tributed to the framing of the United
States Constitution, the master builder
the United States. The majority were
was James Madison. An avid reader,
lawyers, and most of the others were the 36-year-old Virginia planter spent
planters and merchants. Most had the better part of the year preceding
experience in colonial, state, or the Philadelphia Convention with his
national government. Seven had nose in books. Madison read volume
served as state governors, 39 had after volume on governments through-
been members of the Confederation out history. He scoured the records of
ancient Greece and Rome and delved
Congress, and 8 had signed the into the administrations of Italian
Declaration of Independence. city-states such as Florence and Venice.
The delegates chose George He even looked at the systems used by
Washington of Virginia, hero of the federal alliances like Switzerland and
American Revolution, as presiding the Netherlands. “From a spirit of power. He argued that all power, at all
officer. Benjamin Franklin was a dele- industry and application,” said one levels of government, flowed ultimately
colleague, Madison was “the from the people.
gate from Pennsylvania. Now 81 years
best-informed man on any point in At the Constitutional Convention,
old, he tired easily and had other state debate.” Madison served his nation well. The
delegates read his speeches for him. Bringing together his research and ordeal, he later said, “almost killed”
He provided assistance to many of his his experience in helping to draft him. In the years to come, though, the
younger colleagues, and his experi- Virginia’s constitution, Madison created nation would call on him again. In 1801
ence and good humor helped smooth the Virginia Plan. His proposal strongly he became President Thomas
influenced the final document. Perhaps Jefferson’s secretary of state. In 1808
the debates.
Madison’s greatest achievement was in he was elected the fourth president of
Other notable delegates included defining the true source of political the United States.
New York’s Alexander Hamilton and

“. . . to form a more
perfect union . . .”
—Preamble to the Constitution
History Through Art

We the People The delegates at
Philadelphia devised a new government
that tried to balance national and state
power. Why were discussions held
behind closed doors?
houses, the number of representatives for each state of Confederation. Instead, the Convention began to
would reflect that state’s population. The Virginia work on a new constitution for the United States.
Plan, therefore, would benefit large states like
Reading Check Explaining Why did small states
Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts, who would
have more votes than the smaller states. oppose the Virginia Plan?
The Virginia Plan drew sharp reactions. The dele-
gates accepted the idea of dividing the government
into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, but A Union Built on Compromise
the smaller states strongly opposed any changes that
As the delegates began to hammer out the details
would decrease their influence by basing representa-
of the new constitution, they found themselves
tion on population. They feared that the larger states
divided geographically. Those from small states
would outvote them.
demanded changes that would protect them against
On June 15, the New Jersey Plan was offered as a
the voting power of the big states. At the same time,
counterproposal. It did not scrap the Articles of
Northerners and Southerners disagreed on how to
Confederation but proposed modifying them to make
address slavery in the new constitution.
the central government stronger. Under the plan,
Congress would still have a single house where each
TURNING POINT
state was equally represented, but it would also have
the power to raise taxes and regulate trade. The Connecticut Compromise Tempers flared as
Intense discussion of the two plans followed. After the impasse dragged on in the summer heat.
a long debate, on June 19 the convention voted to use Delegates from the small states insisted that each
the Virginia Plan as the basis of its discussion. With state had to have an equal vote in Congress. Angry
this decision, the convention delegates agreed to go and frustrated delegates from the larger states threat-
beyond their original purpose of revising the Articles ened to walk out.

In an attempt to find a solution, the convention artisans needed a government capable of control-
appointed a special committee to find a compromise. ling foreign imports into the United States.
Ben Franklin, one of the committee members, had a In another compromise, the delegates agreed that
calming influence. The delegates took to heart his the new Congress could not tax exports. They also
warning about what would happen if they failed to agreed that it could not ban the slave trade until 1808
agree: or impose high taxes on the import of enslaved persons.
The Great Compromise and the subsequent com-
“ [You will] become a reproach and by-word down
to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may
promises on slavery and trade matters ended most of
the major disputes among the state delegations. The
hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of convention then focused on the details of how the
establishing governments by human wisdom, and new government would operate.
leave it to chance, war, and conquest.
” Reading Check Summarizing What did the Three-
—quoted in American History Fifths Compromise accomplish?
The committee’s solution, variously known
as the Connecticut Compromise or the Great
Compromise, was based on a suggestion by Roger
A Framework for Limited
Sherman of Connecticut. The committee proposed Government
that in one house of Congress, the House of The new Constitution the delegates crafted was
Representatives, the states would be represented based on the principle of popular sovereignty
according to the size of their populations, with one (SAH·vuhrn·tee), or rule by the people. Rather than a
House member for every 40,000 people. In the other direct democracy, it created a representative system
house, the Senate, each state would have of government in which elected officials speak
equal representation. The eligible voters for the people.
in each state would elect members to To strengthen the central govern-
serve in the House of Repre- ment but still preserve the rights of
sentatives, but the state legislatures the states, the Constitution created a
would choose senators. system known as federalism.
Under federalism, power is
Other Compromises The Great divided between the federal, or
Compromise sparked fresh con- national, government and the
troversy. Southern delegates state governments.
wanted to count enslaved people The Constitution also pro-
when determining how many vided for a separation of powers
representatives they could elect among the three branches of the
to the House. Northern delegates federal government. The two
objected, pointing out that houses of Congress made up the
enslaved people were considered legislative branch of the govern-
property, not people. They also sug- ment. They would make the laws. The
gested that if slaves were going to be executive branch, headed by a presi-
counted for purposes of representation dent, would implement and enforce the
in government, they should be counted laws passed by Congress. The president
for purposes of taxation as well. The Roger Sherman would perform other duties as well, such
matter was settled by the Three-Fifths as serving as commander in chief of the
Compromise. Every five enslaved people in a state armed forces. The judicial branch—a system of federal
would count as three free persons for determining courts—would interpret federal laws and render judg-
both representation and taxes. ment in cases involving those laws. To keep the
Southern delegates also feared giving Congress branches separate, no one serving in one branch could
the power to regulate trade. If Congress decided to serve in either of the other branches at the same time.
tax exports of tobacco, rice, and indigo, or to ban
the import of enslaved Africans, the Southern econ- Checks and Balances In addition to giving each of
omy would be crippled. Northern delegates, on the the three branches of government separate powers,
other hand, knew that Northern merchants and the framers of the Constitution created a system of

checks and balances—a means for each branch to the states’ many different viewpoints was, in
monitor and limit the power of the other two. Washington’s words, “little short of a miracle.” The
For example, the president could check Congress convention, John Adams declared, was “the single
by deciding to veto, or reject, a proposed law. The greatest effort of national deliberation that the world
legislature, however, could override a veto with a has ever seen.”
two-thirds vote in both houses. The Senate also had On September 20, the delegates sent the
the power to approve or reject presidential Constitution to the Confederation Congress for
appointees to the executive branch and treaties the approval. Eight days later, the Congress voted to
president negotiated. Furthermore, Congress could submit it to the states. Now the struggle to craft a
impeach the president and other high-ranking offi- new government moved into another phase. Each
cials in the executive or judicial branch; that is, state would hold a convention to vote on the new
Congress could formally accuse such officials of mis- Constitution. Nine of the thirteen states had to ratify
conduct. If the officials were convicted during trial, the Constitution before it could take effect.
they would be removed from office.
Members of the judicial branch of government Federalists and Antifederalists As soon as
could hear all cases arising under federal laws and the Americans learned about the new Constitution, they
Constitution. The powers of the judiciary were coun- began to argue over whether it should be ratified.
terbalanced by the other two branches. The president The debate took place in state legislatures, mass
would nominate judges, including a chief justice of the meetings, newspaper columns, and everyday
Supreme Court, but the Senate had to confirm or reject conversations.
such nominations. Once appointed, however, federal Supporters of the Constitution called themselves
judges, including a chief justice of the Supreme Court, Federalists to emphasize that the Constitution would
would serve for life, thus ensuring their independence create a federal system, with power divided between
from both the executive and the legislative branches. a central government and the state governments.
Federalists hoped the name would remind those
Amending the Constitution The delegates in Americans who feared a central government that the
Philadelphia recognized that the Constitution they states would retain considerable power.
wrote in the summer of 1787 might need to be revised Many Federalists were large landowners who
over time. To ensure this could happen, they created a wanted the property protection that a strong central
clear system for making amendments, or changes, to government could provide. Supporters also included
the Constitution. To prevent frivolous changes, how- merchants and artisans in large coastal cities. The
ever, they made the process difficult. inability of the Confederation Congress to regulate
Amending the Constitution would require two foreign trade had hit these citizens hard. They
steps: proposal and ratification. An amendment believed that an effective federal government that
could be proposed by a vote of two-thirds of the could impose taxes on foreign goods would help
members of both houses of Congress. Alternatively, their businesses.
two-thirds of the states could call a constitutional Farmers who lived near the coast or along rivers
convention to propose new amendments. To become that led to the coast also tended to support the
effective, the proposed amendment would then have Constitution, as did farmers who shipped goods
to be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures across state borders. These farmers depended on
or by conventions in three-fourths of the states. trade for their livelihood and had been frustrated by
Reading Check Explaining How is power divided the different tariffs and duties the states imposed.
They wanted a federal government that could regu-
under the system of federalism? late interstate trade consistently.
Opponents of the Constitution were called
Antifederalists. This was a somewhat misleading
Debating the Constitution name, as they were not truly against federalism.
By mid-September, the convention had completed Antifederalists accepted the need for a national gov-
its task. On September 17, 39 delegates signed the ernment. The real issue, in their minds, was whether
new Constitution. No one came away entirely satis- the national government or the state governments
fied, but most believed it was a vast improvement would be supreme.
over the Articles of Confederation. The creation of a Leading Antifederalists included John Hancock,
flexible framework for government that reflected Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, Richard Henry Lee of

Should the Majority Rule? Thomas Jefferson defends majority rule:
James Madison argued persuasively for the Constitution’s “I own I am not a friend to a very ener-
ratification. In The Federalist #10, Madison explained that getic government. It is always oppressive.
the Constitution would prevent the effects of faction—the The late rebellion in Massachusetts has
self-seeking party spirit of a democracy. In contrast, Thomas given more alarm than I think it should have
Jefferson argued that the will of the majority would thwart done. Calculate that one rebellion in 13 states in
the tyranny of oppressive government. the course of 11 years, is but one for each state in a
century & a half. No country should be long without one.
. . . After all, it is my principle that the will of the Majority
James Madison opposes majority rule: should always prevail. If they approve the proposed
[Constitution] in all its parts, I shall concur in it chearfully, in
“When a majority is included in a faction, the form hopes that they will amend it whenever they shall find it
of popular government . . . enables it to sacrifice to its works wrong. . . . Above all things I hope the education of
ruling passion or interest both the public good and the the common people will be attended to; convinced that on
rights of other citizens. their good sense we may rely with the most security for the
. . . [A] pure democracy . . . can preservation of a due degree of liberty.”
admit of no cure for the mischiefs of
faction [and has always] been found
incompatible with personal security or
the rights of property. . . .
A republic, by which I mean a gov-
ernment in which the scheme of repre-
sentation takes place . . . promises the
cure for which we are seeking. . . .
The effect of [a republic] is, on the one hand, to refine Learning From History
and enlarge the public views, by passing them through 1. What were the “mischiefs” that
the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom Madison believed republican gov-
may best discern the true interest of their country, and ernment could prevent?
whose patriotism and love of justice will be least likely to 2. Was Jefferson correct in believing
sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations.” the voice of the common people
would preserve liberty? Explain.
Virginia, and George Clinton, governor of New York. down the pill, expect to get into Congress themselves;
Two prominent members of the Constitutional they expect to be managers of this Constitution, and
Convention, Edmund Randolph and George Mason, get all the power and all the money into their own
were also Antifederalists because they believed the hands, and then they will swallow up all us little folks,
new Constitution needed a bill of rights.
like the great Leviathan, Mr. President; yes, just like
Antifederalists drew support from western farmers
living far from the coast. These people considered
the whale swallowed up Jonah.
”
themselves self-sufficient and distrusted the wealthy —quoted in the Massachusetts Gazette
and powerful. Many of them were also deeply in debt
and suspected that the new Constitution was simply a GOVERNMENT
way for wealthy creditors to get rid of paper money
and foreclose on their farms. As one western farmer,
The Federalist Although many influential American
leaders opposed the new Constitution, several factors
Amos Singletary, wrote:
worked against them. First of all, the Antifederalist
“ These lawyers and men of learning, and moneyed
men, that talk so finely, and gloss over matters so
campaign was a negative one. The Federalists had pre-
sented a definite program to meet the difficulties fac-
smoothly, to make us poor, illiterate people swallow ing the nation. Although the Antifederalists

complained that the Constitution failed to protect The Fight for Ratification
basic rights such as the freedoms of speech and reli-
As the ratifying conventions began to gather, the
gion, they had nothing to offer in its place.
Federalists knew they had clear majorities in some
The Federalists were also better organized than
states. In others, however, including the large and
their opponents. Most of the nation’s newspapers
important states of Massachusetts, Virginia, and New
supported them. The Federalists were able to present
York, the vote was going to be much closer.
a very convincing case in their speeches, pamphlets,
Delaware became the first state to ratify the
and debates at the state conventions.
Constitution, on December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania,
The arguments for ratification were summarized
New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut quickly fol-
in The Federalist, a collection of 85 essays written by
lowed suit. The most important battles, however, still
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.
lay ahead.
Under the joint pen name of Publius, the three men
had originally published most of the essays in New
Ratification in Massachusetts When the Mas-
York newspapers in late 1787 and early 1788. They
sachusetts convention met in January 1788, oppo-
were hoping to sway the vote in New York, where
nents of the proposed Constitution held a clear
Antifederalist sentiment was strong.
majority. They included the great patriot Samuel
The essays explained how the new Constitution
Adams, who had signed the Declaration of
worked and why it was needed. They were
Independence. Adams strongly believed the
extremely influential. Even today, judges, lawyers,
Constitution endangered the independence of the
legislators, and historians rely upon The Federalist
states and failed to safeguard Americans’ rights.
papers to help them interpret the Constitution and
Federalists moved quickly to address Adams’s
understand what the original framers of the docu-
objections. They promised to attach a bill of rights
ment intended. ; (See page 948 for an excerpt from
to the Constitution once it was ratified. They also
Federalist Paper No. 10.)
agreed to support an amendment that would
Reading Check Summarizing Which groups of reserve for the states all powers not specifically
people tended to support the new Constitution? granted to the federal government. These promises
eventually led to the first ten amendments to
the Constitution, which came to be known
as the Bill of Rights. In combination with
the fact that most artisans sided with the
Federalists, the promises persuaded
Adams to vote for ratification. In the final
vote, 187 members of the Massachusetts
convention voted in favor of the
Constitution while 168 voted against it.
Maryland easily ratified the Consti-
tution in April 1788, followed by South
Carolina in May. On June 21, New
Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify
the Constitution. The Federalists had now
reached the minimum number of states
required to put the new Constitution into
effect. Virginia and New York, however,
still had not ratified. Together, Virginia and
New York represented almost 30 percent of
the nation’s population. Without the sup-
port of these states, many feared the new
government would not succeed.
Analyzing Political Cartoons Virginia and New York At the Virginia

Support for Ratification A pro-Federalist cartoon celebrates New Hampshire becoming the convention in June, George Washington and
ninth state to ratify the Constitution in 1788. Based on the cartoon’s imagery, which state was James Madison presented strong arguments
the first to ratify the Constitution? for ratification. Patrick Henry, Richard

Henry Lee, and other Antifederalists argued against By July 1788, all the states except Rhode Island
it. On the day of the final debate, as thunderclaps and North Carolina had ratified the Constitution.
rang out and lightning forked across the sky, Patrick Because ratification by nine states was all that the
Henry took aim at the framers of the Constitution. Constitution required, the new government could
“Who authorized them,” he demanded, “to speak the be launched without them. The members of the
language of We, the People, instead of We, the Confederation Congress prepared to proceed with-
States?” out them. In mid-September 1788, they established
Henry was a former governor of Virginia. Before a timetable for electing the new government. The
the American Revolution, he had stirred many with new Congress would hold its first meeting on
his passionate cry, “Give me liberty, or give me March 4, 1789.
death.” This time, however, his fiery oratory would The two states that had held out finally ratified
not sway enough of his fellow Virginians. the Constitution after the new government was in
Madison’s promise to add a bill of rights won the place. North Carolina waited until a bill of rights
day for the Federalists—but barely. The Virginia had actually been proposed and then voted to ratify
convention voted 89 in favor of the Constitution the Constitution in November 1789. Rhode Island,
and 79 against. still nervous about losing its independence, did not
In New York, two-thirds of the members elected ratify the Constitution until May 1790. Even then,
to the state convention, including Governor George the margin of victory was only two votes—34 to 32.
Clinton, were Antifederalists. The Federalists, led The United States now had a new government,
by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, managed to but no one knew if the Constitution would work
delay the final vote until news arrived that New any better than the Articles of Confederation. With
Hampshire and Virginia had both voted to ratify both anticipation and nervousness, the American
the Constitution and that the new federal govern- people waited to see their new government in
ment was now in effect. If New York refused to rat- action. Many expressed great confidence, however,
ify, it would be in a very awkward position. It because George Washington had been chosen as the
would have to operate independently of all of the first president under the new Constitution.
surrounding states that had accepted the
Constitution. This argument convinced enough Reading Check Examining Why was it important
Antifederalists to change sides. The vote was very for Virginia and New York to ratify the Constitution, even after
close, 30 to 27, but the Federalists won. the required nine states had done so?
TM
TM

1. Define: popular sovereignty, federal- 5. Analyzing Do you think the Founders 7. Analyzing Paintings Examine the
ism, separation of powers, checks and were right to make the amendment painting of the Constitutional
balances, veto, impeach, amendment. process difficult? Why or why not? Convention on page 110. How does the
2. Identify: Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer tone of the painting compare with the
Great Compromise, Three-Fifths similar to the one below to list the com- text’s description of differences and dif-
Compromise. promises the Founders reached at the ficulties at the convention? What pur-
3. Summarize the factors that worked Constitutional Convention. pose do you think the artist had that
against the Antifederalists. might account for any difference?
Reviewing Themes
4. Government and Democracy In many Compromises Writing About History
Reached
ways, the delegates to the 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
Constitutional Convention were not of an observer at the Constitutional
representative of the American public. Convention. Write a journal entry
Should a broader cross section of describing what you witnessed. Be sure
people have been involved in shaping to record the arguments you heard
the new government? Why or why not? from each side of the issues discussed,
and relate your own opinion on the
issues.

N O T E B O O K
VERBATIM
WA R ’ S E N D
“ I hope you will not consider

yourself as commander-in-chief
of your own house, but be
convinced, that there is such a
thing as equal command.
”
LUCY FLUCKER KNOX,
to her husband Henry Knox, upon
his return as a hero from the
Revolutionary War
“thisTheis farAmerican war is over, but

from being the case
with the American Revolution.
Nothing but the first act of the
drama is closed.
”BENJAMIN RUSH,
signer of the Declaration of
Independence and member of the
HULTON GETTY
Constitutional Convention
Profile
GEORGE WASHINGTON At the age of 16, George Washington carefully
“person
You could not have found a
to whom your schemes
transcribed in his own hand the Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour
in Company and Conversation. Among the rules our first president
were more disagreeable.
”
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
lived by: to Colonel Lewis Nicola, in response to
his letter urging Washington to seize
Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of power and proclaim himself king
respect to those that are present.
When in company, put not your hands to any part of the
body, not usually [un]covered. “shortIt appears to me, then, little
of a miracle that the
delegates from so many states . . .
Put not off your clothes in the presence of others, nor go
should unite in forming a system
out your chamber half dressed.
Sleep not when others speak.
of national government.
”
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
Spit not in the fire, nor stoop low before it. Neither put your in a letter to the Marquis de Lafayette at
hands into the flames to warm them, nor set your feet upon the close of the Constitutional Convention
the fire, especially if there is meat before it.
Shake not the head, feet or legs. Roll not the eyes. Lift not
one eyebrow higher than the other. Wry not the mouth, and
“to Itfindastonishes me
this system
approaching to
LEONARD de SELVA/CORBIS
bedew no man’s face with your spittle, by approaching too near perfection
near him when you speak. as it does; and
Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another though I think it will
he were your enemy. astonish our

Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any.
Think before you speak.
enemies.
” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,
remarking on the structure of
Cleanse not your teeth with the Table Cloth. the new United States government

FORGING A NATION: 1781–1789
Annual Salaries NUMBERS

Annual federal employee salaries, 1789
President (he refused it) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25,000
5 Number of years younger
in age of average American
Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,000 brides compared to their
European counterparts
Secretary of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,500
Chief Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,000 6 Average number of children
per family to survive to adulthood
Senator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6 per day
Representative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6 per day 7 Average number of children
Army Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $420 born per family
8 Number of Daniel Boone’s
CORBIS
Army Private . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $48
surviving children
Milestones 68 Number of Daniel Boone’s

grandchildren
SETTLED, 1781. LOS ANGELES,
by a group of 46 men and women,
most of whom are of Native $5 Average monthly wage for
American and African descent. male agricultural laborer, 1784
CALLED, 1785. LEMUEL HAYNES,

as minister to a church in
$3 Average monthly wage for
female agricultural laborer, 1784
Torrington, Connecticut. Haynes, a
BETTMANN/CORBIS
veteran of the Revolutionary War

who fought in Lexington, is the first
African American to minister to a
white congregation. A parishioner
insulted Haynes by refusing to PUBLISHED, 1788. THE
remove his hat in church, but ELEMENTARY SPELLING BOOK,
minutes into the sermon, the by Noah Webster, a 25-year-old
parishioner was so moved that the teacher from Goshen, N.Y. The
hat came off. He is now a prayerful book standardizes American
PIX/FPG
and loyal member of the spelling and usage that differs
congregation. from the British.
1 7 8 0 s WO R D P L AY
Dressing the “Little Pudding Heads”

Can you match these common items of Early American clothing with their descriptions?
1. clout a. a band of strong fabric wrapped around a baby to suppress the navel
2. stays b. a diaper
3. surcingle c. the wool cover worn over a diaper
4. pilch d. a head covering for a child learning to walk to protect its brain from falls
5. pudding cap e. a garment worn by children to foster good posture, made from linen
and wood or baleen splints answers: 1. b; 2. e; 3. a; 4. c; 5. d

Reviewing Key Terms 11. manumission 17. separation of powers
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 12. ratification 18. checks and balances
1. customs duty 5. minuteman 13. recession 19. veto
2. nonimportation 6. Loyalist 14. inflation 20. impeach
agreement 7. Patriot 15. popular sovereignty 21. amendment
3. writs of assistance 8. guerrilla warfare 16. federalism
4. committee of 9. letter of marque
correspondence 10. republic Reviewing Key Facts
22. Identify: Albany Plan of Union, Sons of Liberty, Stamp Act
Congress, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, Suffolk
Resolves, Olive Branch Petition, John Burgoyne, Charles
Cornwallis, Francis Marion, Northwest Ordinance, Great
Compromise, Three-Fifths Compromise.
1763 French and Indian War ends, 23. What caused the French and Indian War?
1760
✦
leaving Britain in debt

24. Why did King George III issue the Proclamation of 1763?
25. What were the effects of the Boston Tea Party?
1765 Stamp Act passed
26. Why was the Battle of Saratoga a turning point in the
Revolutionary War?
1767 Townshend Acts passed 27. How did Shays’s Rebellion indicate the need for a stronger
1765
✦
national government?
1768–1769 Colonists boycott British imports 28. In what city did delegates gather to consider revising the
to protest Townshend Acts Articles of Confederation?
29. What were the two competing plans for a basic framework
1770 Boston Massacre for a new constitution?
1770
✦
30. How did the Founders provide for a separation of powers in

the federal government?
1773 Tea Act passed; Boston Tea Party
held in protest
Critical Thinking
31. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities
1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord What rights did the colonists want from Britain?
✦
1775
32. Evaluating In the colonies, Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
1776 Declaration of Independence signed influenced public opinion on the issue of declaring
independence. Why do you think this happened?
1781 General Cornwallis surrenders 33. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy What do
at Yorktown you think was the most serious flaw of the Articles of
1780
✦
Confederation? Why do you think so?

34. Evaluating What do you think would have happened if New
1783 Treaty of Paris officially ends York and Virginia had not ratified the Constitution?
Revolutionary War 35. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
below to list events that led to the War for Independence.
1787 Constitutional Convention drafts a
1785 new plan of government
✦
Events Leading to the War for Independence
1788 New Hampshire becomes ninth state

to ratify the Constitution, putting it
into effect
HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes—
Chapter 3 to assess your knowledge of chapter content.
Land Claims in North
America, 1783
Geography and History
°N
36. The map at right shows the land claims in North America as
60
a result of the 1783 Treaty of Paris. Study the map and
answer the questions below.
a. Interpreting Maps What were the borders for the
United States after the war for independence? Hudson
Bay
N
b. Applying Geography Skills Which countries shared a W BRITISH
border with the United States? E NORTH AMERICA
S
°N
40
Practicing Skills SPANISH

LOUISIANA UNITED
37. Making Comparisons Reread the passage about the PaCIFIC STATES
Virginia and New Jersey Plans from Chapter 3, Section 5, OCEaN NEW ATLaNTIC
on pages 109–110. Then answer the following questions. SPAIN OCEaN
0 1,000 miles
a. Which plan gave more power to the states? Gulf of
20°
Mexico N
0 1,000 kilometers
b. What new power did the New Jersey plan grant to Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
Congress?
British Spanish
French United States
Chapter Activities Russian Disputed
38. Research Project Research some popular American

painters of the post-Revolutionary War period, such as John
Trumbull and Charles Willson Peale. Find and study exam-
ples of their paintings. Then write a report explaining how
the themes in their paintings helped build an American iden- Standardized
tity. Share the paintings and your report with your class. Test Practice
39. American History Primary Source Document Library Directions: Choose the best answer to the
CD-ROM Read “On Liberty” by John Adams, under Nation following question.
Building. Assuming the role of a Patriot or a Loyalist, write a Although the Coercive Acts were meant to punish
letter to the editor of the Boston Gazette in reaction to the Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, what impact did
article by Adams. they have on the rest of the colonies?
40. Internet Research Use the Internet to research the lives A The acts caused trade in other harbors to suffer as well.
of one Federalist and one Antifederalist discussed on B The acts caused the other colonies to fear standing up to
pages 112 and 113. Write a short report comparing the the king.
two men and their positions on the proposed Constitution.
C The acts were so harsh that other colonies wanted to
Use standard grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and
fight back against the king.
punctuation.
D The acts caused the colonies to respond with their own
laws, called the Intolerable Acts.
Writing Activity
41. Descriptive Writing Take on the role of an American at the Test-Taking Tip: Eliminate answers that don’t make sense.
time the Constitution was ratified. Write a letter to a friend For example, the colonies were subject to the laws of the
in Britain describing to him or her the kind of government British government, not the other way around, so choice D
provided for by the Constitution. Explain why you support or is unlikely. (You may also remember that “Intolerable Acts”
oppose ratification and what you think life will be like under was the nickname the colonists gave to the Coercive Acts.)
the new government.

Federalists and
Republicans 1789–1820
Why It Matters
In the nation’s new constitutional government, important new institutions included the cabinet,
a system of federal courts, and a national bank. Political parties gradually developed from the
different views of citizens in the Northeast, South, and West. The new government faced special
challenges in foreign affairs, including the War of 1812 with Great Britain. After the war, a spirit
of nationalism took hold in American society. A new national bank was chartered, and Supreme
Court decisions strengthened the power of the federal government.
The Impact Today

Policies and attitudes that developed at this time have helped shape the nation.
• Important precedents were set for the relations between the federal and state governments.
• Washington’s caution against foreign involvement has powerfully influenced American
foreign policy.
• Many Americans have a strong sense of national loyalty.

The Chapter 4 video, “The Battle of New Orleans,” chronicles
the events of this pivotal battle of the War of 1812.
1798
• Alien and Sedition
1789 Acts introduced
1794 1804
• Washington elected • Jay’s Treaty • Lewis and Clark
president signed explore and map
Louisiana Territory
▲
Washington J. Adams Jefferson
1789–1797 ▲ 1797–1801 ▲ 1801–1809
▲
1785
19## 1795 1805
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1793 1799 1805
• Louis XVI guillotined 1794 • Beethoven writes • British navy
during French • Polish rebellion Symphony no. 1 wins Battle of
Revolution suppressed by Russians Trafalgar
150
Painter and President by J.L.G. Ferris
1808
• Congress bans 1812
international slave • United States declares
trade war on Great Britain 1823
1811 • Monroe Doctrine
1819 declared
• Battle of Tippecanoe • Spain cedes Florida
fought against Tecumseh’s to the United States;
Shawnee confederacy Supreme Court HISTORY
decides McCulloch v.
Madison Monroe Maryland case
▲ 1809–1817
▲ ▲ 1817–1825
▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
• Napoleon’s • Napoleon defeated at 1821
invasion and the Battle of Waterloo • Mexico achieves
retreat from independence
Russia from Spain
• Greek
independence
declared 151
The Federalist Era
President Washington had to tackle Organizing As you read about how the • Describe the growing divisions between
economic and foreign policy challenges. United States established a central gov- the nation’s political parties.
President Adams continued to guide the ernment, complete a graphic organizer • Discuss the major foreign policy devel-
country through troubled times. similar to the one below by indicating the opments during the Washington and
tasks completed by Congress. Adams administrations.
Key Terms and Names
cabinet, enumerated powers, implied Section Theme
powers, excise tax, most-favored nation, Global Connections The United States
XYZ Affair, alien, interposition, Tasks of settled its differences with Britain and
Congress
nullification Spain but then faced the threat of war
with France.
✦1790 ✦1794 ✦1798 ✦1802

1789 1794 1798 1800
Washington elected Whiskey Rebellion XYZ Affair; Alien and Convention of 1800
president quelled Sedition Acts passed ends Quasi-War
On April 6, 1789, the ballots of the presidential electors were officially counted in the new
United States Senate. As expected, George Washington became the first president of the
United States under the new Constitution. Americans everywhere greeted the news with great
joy, but Washington remained unexcited. Calling his election “the event which I have long
dreaded,” Washington described his feelings as “not unlike those of a culprit who is going to
the place of his execution.”
Although Washington had high hopes for the new Constitution, he did not know if it
would work as intended. “I am . . . [bringing] the voice of the people and a good name of my
own on this voyage; but what returns will be made of them, Heaven alone can foretell.”
Despite his doubts and frustrations with the “ten thousand embarrassments, perplexities and
troubles of the presidency,” the new president retained his faith in the American people. He
George Washington explained that “nothing but harmony, honesty, industry and frugality are necessary to make
us a great and happy people. . . . We are surrounded by the blessings of nature.”
—adapted from Washington: The Indispensable Man
Creating a New Government

When Washington and the newly elected Congress took office, one of the first tasks
they faced was organizing the government itself. In the summer of 1789, Congress cre-
ated three executive departments: the Department of State, which focused on foreign
affairs, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of War. Congress also cre-
ated the Office of the Attorney General to advise the government on legal matters.
152 CHAPTER 4 Federalists and Republicans

To head these departments, Washington wanted Hamilton’s Financial Program
men who were “disposed to measure matters on a
By the end of 1789, the new federal government
Continental Scale” instead of thinking about their
was up and running. Now its most pressing concerns
own states. He chose Thomas Jefferson to serve as
were economic.
secretary of state, Alexander Hamilton to lead the
Treasury Department, General Henry Knox as sec-
ECONOMICS
retary of war, and Edmund Randolph as attorney
general. During his presidency, Washington regu- Repaying the National Debt The federal govern-
larly met with these officials. Over time, the department had inherited a huge debt from the
ment heads came to be known as the cabinet, a Continental Congress. To fund the Revolutionary
group of advisers to the president. War, the Congress had issued bonds—paper notes
In addition to creating the executive depart- promising to repay money after a certain length of
ments, Congress also organized the judicial branch. time. By 1789 the new United States owed roughly
The Judiciary Act of 1789 established 13 federal dis- $40 million to American citizens and another $11.7
trict courts and three circuit courts of appeal. million to France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Washington, with the consent of the Senate, then Alexander Hamilton believed the only way for the
selected the first federal judges. The Judiciary Act new federal government to establish its credit was to
also stated that the Supreme Court would have six make good on these debts. If it called in the old bonds
justices, and Washington chose John Jay as the first and exchanged them at full value for new, interest-
chief justice of the United States. bearing ones, then the wealthy creditors, bankers,
One of the most important acts of Congress
during its first session in 1789 was passing History
the Bill of Rights. During the campaign to New Government The cabinet and the
ratify the Constitution, the Federalists had Congress, which met in New York’s Federal
promised on several occasions to add a bill Hall (left), included some of the new ele-
detailing the rights of American citizens. ments of Washington’s first administration.
James Madison, who emerged as one of the What departments did the four cabinet
key leaders in Congress, made the passage members head?
of such a bill top priority. He hoped it
would demonstrate the good faith of
federal leaders and build support for the
new government.
In late September 1789, after many
debates, Congress sent 12 constitutional
amendments to the states for ratification.
Ten were approved and went into effect in 1791.
They are generally referred to as the Bill of Rights,
although only the first eight offer safeguards to
protect the rights of individuals against the govern-
ment. The Ninth Amendment states that the people
have other rights that are not listed in the
Constitution. The Tenth Amendment states that any
powers not specifically given to the federal govern-
ment are reserved for the states. At the time,
Madison tried to word the Bill of Rights to apply to
the state governments as well, but Congress
rejected that idea. Not until after the adoption of
the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil War
would the Supreme Court begin to apply the Bill of
Rights to the states.
Reading Check Identifying What executive depart-

ments did Congress establish?
and merchants who held the bonds would have a would eventually be moved from New York to a
stake in the federal government’s success. In his First location along the Potomac River. Southerners
Report on Public Credit, issued in January 1790, believed that having the capital in the South would
Hamilton proposed funding the Confederation’s help to offset the strength of the Northern states in
debts in this way. He also proposed that the federal Congress. To get the last few votes he needed,
government take over the states’ debts from the war. Hamilton also agreed that the federal government
Led by Madison, critics attacked Hamilton’s pro- would compensate the states that had already paid
posals. During the 1780s, many original bond pur- off their debts.
chasers such as farmers and Revolutionary War
veterans had been forced to sell their bonds at a dis- The Bank of the United States With his system of
count to speculators, people willing to take a busi- public credit finally in place, Hamilton asked
ness risk in hopes of financial gain in the future. Congress to create a national bank to manage the
Madison was outraged that Northern speculators country’s debts and interest payments. Under
who had paid as little as $10 for a $100 bond would Hamilton’s plan, the Bank of the United States
now receive full value, while the original buyers would also have the power to make loans to the gov-
received nothing. Furthermore, Northerners now ernment and to private individuals. Most impor-
owned roughly 80 percent of the bonds, but much of tantly, the bank would be allowed to issue paper
the tax money that would be used to pay off the money, providing a national currency that would
bonds would come from the South. stimulate trade, investment, and economic growth.
Madison objected to taking over state debts for Hamilton’s proposal for a national bank immedi-
similar reasons. Most Southern states had already ately encountered opposition. Southerners pointed
paid their debts. They did not want their taxes used out that Northern merchants would own most of the
to pay the debts of the Northern states. bank’s stock because only they could afford it. At the
The congressional debate over Hamilton’s pro- same time, Madison argued that Congress had no
posals raged for months. Finally, in July 1790, power to establish a bank because that was not
Hamilton struck a deal with Madison and Jefferson. among its enumerated powers, or powers specifi-
The latter two would use their influence to convince cally mentioned in the Constitution.
Southerners in Congress to vote for Hamilton’s Despite Madison’s objections, Congress passed the
plan. In return, the capital of the United States bank bill and sent it to the president. Unsure whether
to sign or veto the bill, Washington consulted
History Through Art Attorney General Randolph and Secretary of State
Commander in Chief This illustration shows the president reviewing troops Jefferson. Both opposed the bill, arguing that the
at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion. What triggered the rebellion? Constitution did not authorize the government to cre-
ate a bank. Washington then asked Hamilton for his
opinion.
Hamilton pointed out that Article I,
Section 8, of the Constitution gave the federal
government the power “to make all laws
which shall be necessary and proper” to exe-
cute its responsibilities. The “necessary and
proper” clause created implied powers—
powers not explicitly listed in the
Constitution but necessary for the govern-
ment to do its job. A national bank, Hamilton
argued, was necessary to collect taxes, regu-
late trade, and provide for the common
defense. Jefferson agreed the implied powers
existed, but he believed “necessary and
proper” meant absolutely necessary and not
simply convenient. Hamilton’s logic per-
suaded Washington to sign the bill. In 1791
the Bank of the United States was established
for a 20-year period.

Competing National Visions
Hamilton and the Jefferson and the
The Whiskey Rebellion Hamilton believed the Federalists Democratic-Republicans
federal government also had to establish its right to
Strong national Strong state
impose direct taxes on the people. In his Second
government government
Report on Public Credit, issued in December 1790,
Hamilton proposed an excise tax on American Ruling power given to Ruling power given to all
whiskey. An excise tax is a tax paid by the manufac- wealthy, educated landowners
turer of a product and passed on to those who buy Government should Government should
the product. The sales tax many Americans pay promote manufacturing promote agriculture
today is an example of an excise tax.
In 1791 Congress approved Hamilton’s proposal
Loose interpretation of the Strict interpretation of the
Constitution Constitution
and enacted a high excise tax (about 25 percent) on
whiskey. The tax hit Western farmers hard. Whiskey Protective tariffs protect Protective tariffs burden
was used as a medium of exchange in the West, domestic industries farmers
where bank notes and coins were not available in
large quantities.
Complaints against the whiskey tax began in 1791, 1. Interpreting Charts Which party did not support
but it was not until the summer of 1794 that rebellion tariffs, and why?
erupted. Farmers in western Pennsylvania began ter- 2. Making Generalizations Which party usually
rorizing tax collectors, robbing the mail, and destroy- attracted bankers and manufacturers?
ing the whiskey-making stills of those who paid the
tax. Determined to uphold federal authority to impose
In general, Democratic-Republicans supported
taxes, President Washington sent nearly 13,000 troops
agriculture over commerce and trade. They feared
to crush the Whiskey Rebellion. The huge army
that too much emphasis on commerce would lead to a
caused the rebels to disperse without a fight.
society divided between the rich who owned every-
Reading Check Explaining Why did Alexander thing and the poor who worked for wages. Over time,
Hamilton propose an excise tax on American whiskey? the Democratic-Republicans came to stand for the
rights of states against the federal government. The
party had a strong base in the rural South and West.
The Rise of Political Parties Reading Check Identifying What were the nation’s
During Washington’s first term in office, disagree- first two political parties, and what issues did each favor?
ment over Hamilton’s financial program had split
Congress into factions. These factions became the
nation’s first political parties. Hamilton’s supporters Washington’s Foreign Policy
called themselves Federalists. Their opponents, led by Shortly after Washington was inaugurated in 1789,
Madison and Jefferson, took the name Democratic- the French Revolution began in Europe. At first, most
Republicans. They were commonly referred to as Americans sympathized with the revolutionaries, who
Republicans. (The party became known as the seemed to be fighting for the same rights Americans
Democratic Party later in the 1800s.) had won a few years earlier.
Hamilton favored a strong national government led By spring 1793, however, a
by the “rich, well born, and able.” He believed that group of French radicals had
democracy was dangerous to liberty. Hamilton also seized power. They stripped HISTORY
believed that manufacturing and trade were the basis aristocrats of their property
of national wealth and power. He favored policies that and executed thousands of Student Web
supported these areas of the economy. The Federalist people, including the French Activity Visit the
Party included many artisans, merchants, manufactur- king, Louis XVI, and the American Republic
ers, and bankers. The party also attracted urban work- queen, Marie Antoinette. The Since 1877 Web site at
tarvol2.glencoe.com
ers and Eastern farmers who benefited from trade. violence and chaos turned
Thomas Jefferson emerged as the leader of the many Federalists against the
Web Activities—
Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson believed that the French. Many Republicans, Chapter 4 for an
strength of the United States was its independent however, continued to sup- activity on early
farmers. As long as most people owned their own port the Revolution, viewing political parties.
land, they would fight to preserve the Republic. it as a fight for liberty.
CHAPTER 4 Federalists and Republicans 155

Desperate for a diplomatic solution, Washington
sent John Jay to Britain. The British were busy fight-
ing France and did not want to fight the United
States as well. They agreed to sign what came to be
called Jay’s Treaty.
The British drove a hard bargain, however, know-
ing that the Americans depended on trade with
Britain. They refused to stop seizing American ships
or to compensate American merchants for lost car-
goes. Instead, they agreed to create an international
commission to hear the merchants’ claims. They also
insisted on establishing another commission to con-
sider the claims of British subjects seeking repayment
of pre-Revolutionary debts.
Although he gave ground on many issues, Jay
was able to persuade the British to give the United
States most-favored nation status. This meant that
Americans would not be discriminated against when
they traded with Britain but would receive the same
treatment as other favored nations. Britain also
agreed to allow limited American trade with its
Caribbean colonies and to evacuate its forts in
American territory.
When the public learned the terms of Jay’s Treaty,
the Democratic-Republicans immediately accused
the Federalists of being pro-British. Across much
of the country, public meetings were held condemn-
Analyzing Political Cartoons ing the treaty. George Washington deliberated long
A Fiery Protest Antifederalists burned at the stake a figure representing John and hard but finally agreed to implement it. His deci-
Jay after Jay’s Treaty with England was signed in 1794. Why were people angry sion prevented war with Great Britain and protected
about the treaty? the fragile American economy.
The turmoil within France soon led to conflict Pinckney’s Treaty Jay’s Treaty also helped the
with other European kingdoms. When France United States win concessions from Spain, which still
declared war against Great Britain in 1793, the controlled Florida and territory west of the
United States found itself in a difficult position. The Mississippi River. In 1795 Spain joined France in its
Treaty of 1778 with France required the United States struggle against Britain. The signing of Jay’s Treaty
to help defend France’s colonies in the Caribbean. raised fears in Spain that the British and Americans
Fulfilling this agreement might mean war with Great might now join forces to seize Spain’s North
Britain. In an effort to avoid the conflict, President American holdings. Spain quickly offered to negoti-
Washington issued a proclamation on April 22, 1793, ate all outstanding issues with the United States.
declaring the United States to be “friendly and Also in 1795 the Spanish signed the Treaty of San
impartial” toward both warring powers. Lorenzo—better known as Pinckney’s Treaty, after
the American negotiator, Thomas Pinckney. The
Jay’s Treaty Remaining neutral proved difficult. treaty granted the United States the right to navi-
Britain used its navy to block the delivery of goods to gate the Mississippi and to deposit goods at the port
French ports, seizing hundreds of American ships. At of New Orleans. Spain also agreed to accept the 31st
the same time, the British were reportedly inciting parallel as the northern boundary of western
Native American attacks in the West, where British Florida.
soldiers still occupied some forts they had promised
to evacuate after the American Revolution. These Reading Check Explaining Why did President
activities pushed the United States to the brink of Washington choose neutrality in the war between Britain and
war in the spring of 1794. France?

A New Administration The XYZ Affair heightened tensions with France.
In June 1798, Congress voted to suspend all trade
George Washington served two terms in office. By
with France and to allow the navy to capture armed
the end of his second term, however, he had grown
French ships. The two nations were soon fighting an
exasperated by party politics and the attacks on his
undeclared war at sea, which came to be known as
character in Democratic-Republican newspapers.
the Quasi-War.
Although many people urged him to run again,
In the fall of 1798, France proposed new negotia-
Washington decided to retire.
tions. To the Federalists’ dismay, Adams agreed to
Before leaving office, the president wrote a long
the talks. In September 1800, the two countries
letter to the American people. Published on
signed the Convention of 1800, ending the Quasi-
September 19, 1796, and widely reprinted,
War. The United States gave up all claims against
Washington’s Farewell Address urged Americans
France for damages to American shipping. France
to support the federal government and avoid sec-
released the United States from the Treaty of 1778.
tionalism—dividing the country into North against
South, or East against West. Washington also Domestic Troubles At home, divisions between
warned against the dangers of political parties, the two political parties had been deepening. Many
comparing party fervor to a fire that could easily Federalists suspected pro-French Republicans of
burn out of control. Washington further advised stirring up the people so much that they would
Americans against excessively strong attachments attempt to overthrow the government. They also
to foreign countries: “‘Tis our true policy to steer resented the harsh criticisms printed in Republican
clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the newspapers. Taking advantage of their congres-
foreign world.” sional majorities, the Federalists decided to strike
With Washington stepping down, the United back at the opposing party.
States held its first openly contested presidential elec- In the spring and summer of 1798, the Federalists
tion in 1796. The Federalists nominated John Adams, pushed four laws through Congress that became
and the Republicans chose Thomas Jefferson. Anger known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. The first three
over Jay’s Treaty made the election close, but when laws were aimed at aliens, people living in the coun-
the votes were counted, John Adams had won. try who were not citizens. The Federalists knew that
Adams and the Quasi-War One of
Adams’s first challenges was dealing
History
with French aggression at sea. France,
still at war with Britain, had been Compromise and the Capital City Southern states that had already paid their war debts
enraged by Jay’s Treaty. The French had accepted Hamilton’s financial program on the condition that the new national capital be located
begun stopping American ships and along the Potomac River. Why did Southerners think having a Southern capital would ben-
efit them?
seizing their goods if they were going to
Britain. These actions led many
Federalists to call for war against France.
Although critical of the French, Adams,
like Washington, was reluctant to
involve the United States in a major war.
Instead he sent Charles Pinckney,
Elbridge Gerry, and John Marshall to
negotiate with France in 1797.
After weeks of waiting, the Americans
were finally approached by three French
officials, referred to in later documents
as X, Y, and Z. They asked for a bribe of
$250,000 to initiate talks, along with an
American loan of $12 million. Pinckney’s
indignant reply—“No, no, not a six-
pence”—inspired pro-war Federalists to
coin a stirring slogan: “Millions for
defense, but not one cent for tribute.”

In
The Election of 1800 Motion
Presidential Election, 1800

N.H. Popular Electoral
VT. 6 Candidate Vote Vote Political Party
4 Jefferson Unknown 73 Democratic Republican
TERR. N.W. MASS.
OF OHIO R. 16 Adams Unknown 65 Federalist
N.Y.
12 R.I. Burr Unknown 73 Democratic Republican
4
PA. CONN. Pinckney Unknown 64 Federalist
INDIANA
8 7
TERR.
N.J. 9 Jay Unknown 1 Federalist
VA. 7
KY. 21 DEL.
4 3
8 N.C. 4 MD.MD.
TENN. 3 5
S.C. 5
TERR.
SOUTH OF GA. 8
OHIO R. 4
MISS. TERR.
1. Interpreting Maps Which states split their electoral
votes between the two parties?
2. Applying Geography Skills Where did the Federalists
have strong support? What policies did they favor that
would account for their strength there?
*According to the Constitution, each elector in the Electoral College voted for two people in
a presidential election. The person receiving the most votes became president, and the
person receiving the second-highest number of votes became vice president. Under this
system a tie was possible, as happened in the case of the tie between Thomas Jefferson and
Aaron Burr in 1800. The House of Representatives then elected Jefferson after 35 rounds of
voting in which there was no clear winner. To prevent such confusion in the future, the
Twelfth Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1804. The amendment stipulates that
electoral votes for president and vice president are counted and listed separately.
many recent immigrants had come from France and believe the federal government is above the state gov-
Ireland. These immigrants were often anti-British and ernments in power, but the Constitution originally
tended to vote for the Republican Party once they intended to divide power between the states and the
gained citizenship. The first law required immigrants federal government. Defenders of states’ rights
to wait 14 years before becoming citizens, thus weak- wanted to prevent the federal government from exer-
ening Republican support. The next two laws gave cising powers that should belong to the states. Both
the president the power to deport without trial any the Virginia and the Kentucky Resolutions were try-
alien deemed dangerous to the United States. ing to protect states’ rights, but in doing so, they
The fourth law made it a federal crime to utter or developed the new idea of state sovereignty.
print anything “false, scandalous, and malicious” The Virginia Resolutions introduced the theory
against the federal government or any federal offi- of interposition. They argued that if the federal
cial. In short, the act deprived citizens of their right to government did something unconstitutional, the
criticize public officials. The government indicted 15 states could interpose between the federal govern-
people under this act, including leading Republicans. ment and the people to stop the action. The
In 1798 and 1799, the Republican-controlled legis- Kentucky Resolutions advanced a similar theory
latures of Kentucky and Virginia passed resolutions, called nullification. According to this theory, if the
secretly written by Jefferson and Madison, criticizing federal government passed an unconstitutional
the Alien and Sedition Acts. Both resolutions argued law, the states had the right to nullify the law, or
that the Constitution was an agreement among the declare it invalid.
states. The states therefore had the power to judge Although the Kentucky and Virginia
whether a federal law was unconstitutional. Resolutions had little immediate effect, states used
This idea that states have authority over the these ideas later to defend their interests. During
Constitution is called state sovereignty. It is different the War of 1812, for example, New England states
from the idea of states’ rights. Americans today often refused to enforce federal laws restricting trade. In

the years before the Civil War, Southern states cited To avoid a tie between Jefferson and Burr, the
the resolutions to protect their trade and to pre- Republicans had intended for all their electors to vote
serve slavery. for Jefferson, and for all but one to vote for Burr.
Somehow the plan went awry. When the votes were
Reading Check Analyzing What was the purpose of counted, Adams had 65, and Jefferson and Burr each
the Alien and Sedition Acts? had 73. Now the Federalist-controlled House of
Representatives had to choose the president from the
top two vote getters, who were both Republicans.
Some Federalists in the House hoped to use the
The Election of 1800 deadlock to keep their party in power. Some
Although John Adams hoped to win re-election in despised Jefferson and wanted to select Burr. Other
1800, he faced a difficult battle. The Alien and Federalists, including Burr’s archenemy Alexander
Sedition Acts had angered many people, as had a Hamilton, gave their support to Jefferson. This led to
new tax the Federalists had introduced on houses, a tie in the House of Representatives. Finally, in
land, and enslaved Africans. The Republican nomi- February 1801, Jefferson informed Federalist James
nees for president and vice president, Thomas Bayard that if elected, he would not undo Hamilton’s
Jefferson and Aaron Burr, campaigned against the financial system. Bayard then cast a blank ballot,
new taxes and the national bank. They accused the ensuring that Jefferson would have more votes than
Federalists of favoring monarchy and discouraging Burr. Jefferson became the new president.
political participation. The election of 1800 was an important turning point
The election was closely contested and had an in American history. The Republicans had won not
unexpected outcome, one that revealed a flaw in the only the presidency but a majority of seats in Congress.
system for selecting the president. The Constitution The Federalists, who controlled the army as well as the
does not let citizens vote directly for the chief execu- government, could have refused to step down. Instead,
tive. Instead each state chooses a number of electors they upheld the Constitution. The election of 1800
equal to its number of senators and representatives in established that power in the United States could be
Congress. This group, known as the Electoral
peacefully transferred despite disagreements between
College, then votes for the president.
political parties. The election also led to the Twelfth
The Constitution specified that each elector would
Amendment in 1804, which provided for separate bal-
vote for two candidates. The candidate receiving the
lots for the president and vice president.
most votes would become president; the runner-up
would become vice president. Ties would be decided Reading Check Summarizing What changes did
by the House of Representatives. the election of 1800 bring?
TM
TM

1. Define: cabinet, bond, speculator, 5. Synthesizing Why did Hamilton think 7. Comparing Charts and Maps Study
enumerated powers, implied powers, the United States should take responsi- the chart on page 155 and the map on
excise tax, most-favored nation, alien, bility for the debts of both the Confed- page 158. How did the election results
interposition, nullification. eration and the states? reflect the Democratic-Republican posi-
2. Identify: Whiskey Rebellion, XYZ Affair. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer tion on protective tariffs?
3. Explain how the Alien and Sedition Acts similar to the one below to list the first
interfered with the lives of people living political parties, their leaders and sup-
in the United States. porters, and their positions on issues.
Reviewing Themes Political Leaders Supporters Policy Writing About History

Party Positions
4. Global Connections How did Great 8. Expository Writing Write an editorial
Britain and France test American that responds to George Washington’s
neutrality during the presidencies Farewell Address. Defend or dispute
of Washington and Adams? Washington’s opinion that political par-
ties and permanent foreign alliances
are dangerous.

Social Studies
Reading a Flowchart
Why Learn This Skill? Circumstances Leading to the
Sometimes, determining a sequence of events can
be confusing, particularly when many events are
Louisiana Purchase
occurring at the same time. Reading a flowchart French leader Napoleon plans to rebuild France's empire
can help you understand how events are related in North America.
and how one event leads to others.
Learning the Skill Napoleon convinces Spain to give the Louisiana

Territory back to France.
Flowcharts show the steps in a process or a
sequence of events. A flowchart could be used to
show the movement of goods through a factory,
of people through a training program, or of a bill
President Jefferson sends ambassador Robert Livingston
through Congress. The following steps explain
to France to try to block the deal.
how to read a flowchart:
• Read the title or caption of the flowchart to find
out what you are studying.
• Read all of the labels or sentences on the Napoleon later wants to conquer Europe, but he needs
flowchart. funds to carry out his plans.
• Look for numbers indicating sequence or arrows
showing the direction of movement.
• Evaluate the information in the flowchart.
President Jefferson agrees to purchase
Louisiana Territory.
The flowchart on this page shows a sequence of
events that led to the expansion of territory within
the United States. Analyze the information in the Skills Assessment
flowchart and then answer the questions. Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
1 What does the flowchart show? page 175 and the Chapter 4 Skill Reinforcement
Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
2 How do you know in what sequence the events
took place?
3 What inspired Napoleon to acquire the
Louisiana Territory from Spain? Applying the Skill
4 How did the United States react to France’s Making a Flowchart Gather information about the
acquisition of the Louisiana Territory? steps necessary to apply to college. Then make up a
flowchart outlining the steps. Present your flowchart
5 What additional information from the chapter
to the class.
could you add to the flowchart to show a
further sequence of events?
Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
160
The Republicans
Take Power
President Jefferson limited the scope of Sequencing As you read about the presi- • Summarize the changes Thomas
the federal government and made the dencies of Thomas Jefferson and James Jefferson brought to the federal
Louisiana Purchase. President Madison Madison, complete a time line similar to government.
led the country into the War of 1812. the one below to record major events of • Describe the causes and the outcome
their administrations. of the War of 1812.
Key Terms and Names
judicial review, Louisiana Purchase, Section Theme
contraband, impressment, embargo, 1801 1817 Government and Democracy The
War Hawks Supreme Court asserted the power to
decide whether laws passed by Congress
were constitutional.
✦1800 ✦1805 ✦1810 ✦1815

1803 1807 1808 1812 1814
Supreme Court decides Marbury v. British attack the Chesapeake; Madison elected United States declares British troops raid
Madison; Louisiana Purchase Embargo Act passed president war on Britain Washington, D.C.
March 4, 1801, was Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C. The still unfinished capital of
the United States was only a tiny village. Stumps and mud holes filled Pennsylvania Avenue,
and a swampy wilderness separated Capitol Hill from the president’s mansion. A Washington
resident described the modest inauguration ceremony:
“ The sun shone bright on that morning. . . . Mr. Jefferson . . . walk[ed] from his lodgings,
which were not far distant. . . . Soon afterwards he entered . . . and bowing to the Senate,
who arose to receive him, he approached a table on which the Bible lay and took the oath
which was administered to him by the Chief Justice. . . . At dinner . . . A gentleman from
Baltimore, . . . asked permission to wish him joy. ‘I would advise you,’ answered Mr.
Jefferson smiling, ‘to follow my example on nuptial occasions when I always tell the bride-
groom I will wait till the end of the year before offering my congratulations.’ And this was the
Thomas Jefferson only and solitary instance of any notice taken of the event of the morning.
”
—quoted in The Life of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Takes Office

Thomas Jefferson privately referred to his election as the “Revolution of 1800.”
Believing that Washington and Adams had acted too much like royalty, the new presi-
dent opted for less pomp and ceremony. Jefferson was the first president to begin his

act created 16 new federal judgeships, which Adams
filled with Federalists. Adams supposedly stayed up
until midnight on his last day in office, signing their
appointments.
One of the first acts of the new Republican
Congress was to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1801,
abolishing the offices of the “midnight judges.” The
Republicans then tried to remove other Federalists
from the bench by impeachment. Republican leaders
believed that the impeachment power was one of the
Constitution’s checks and balances. Congress could
therefore remove judges for arbitrary and unfair
decisions, not just for criminal behavior. Only two
judges were brought to trial, however, and only one
was ousted. The attempt to remove the judges estab-
lished the tradition that judges could only be
removed for criminal behavior, not simply because
Congress disagreed with their decisions.
Jefferson tried a different tactic with William
Marbury. In his last days as president, Adams had
appointed Marbury to be justice of the peace in
Washington, D.C. Jefferson told his new secretary of
state, James Madison, to withhold the documents
History that would confirm the appointment.
Marbury asked the Supreme Court for a writ, or
John Marshall During his Supreme Court tenure, this staunch Federalist court order, directing Madison to deliver the docu-
was concerned with establishing a strong federal government. What case
ments. The Court might have been expected to com-
established the principle of judicial review?
ply. After all, the Judiciary Act of 1789 empowered
the Supreme Court to issue such writs.
term at the new capital, Washington, D.C., and he
In 1803 in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John
used this opportunity to break with his predecessors’
Marshall and his fellow justices unanimously agreed
style. He rode on horseback rather than in carriages,
that Marbury should be given his documents, but
and he substituted intimate dinners for formal recep-
that the Supreme Court could not issue the court
tions. In addition to setting a new style, Jefferson also
order because it had no jurisdiction. Marshall
reversed some of his predecessors’ policies, but he
pointed out that the Constitution was very specific
did not overturn the entire Federalist program.
about the kind of cases that could be taken directly to
the Supreme Court rather than a lower court. Thus
Restraining Federal Power A strong believer in
the section of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that author-
small government, Jefferson hoped to limit the scope
ized the Supreme Court to issue writs was unconsti-
of federal power. Many Federalists expected him to
tutional and invalid. ; (See page 963 for information on
dismantle the Bank of the United States. However,
Marbury v. Madison.)
Jefferson’s secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin,
Although the ruling did not help Marbury, it was a
supported Hamilton’s system and convinced the
landmark decision for the Supreme Court. The Court
president to keep the national bank. Instead of main-
had asserted its right of judicial review, the power to
taining the public debt and paying interest on it,
decide whether laws passed by Congress are consti-
though, Jefferson began paying it off. He cut govern-
tutional and to strike down those that are not.
ment spending, did away with all excise taxes,
Marshall remained as Chief Justice for more than 30
including the hated whiskey tax, and trimmed the
years, building the Supreme Court into a powerful,
armed forces.
influential, and independent branch of the federal
Conflict With the Courts Jefferson also hoped to government.
weaken the Federalists’ control of the judiciary. Just
before Congress had changed hands, the Federalist Reading Check Evaluating Why was Marbury v.
majority had passed the Judiciary Act of 1801. This Madison significant?

The United States Expands West GEOGRAPHY
Jefferson strongly supported the country’s west- Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike Even before
ward expansion, which had begun well before his pres- Louisiana became a part of the United States, Jefferson
idency. During Washington’s terms, Americans had convinced Congress to fund an expedition to explore
flocked to the fertile region between the Appalachian the territory. Led by Meriwether Lewis and William
Mountains and the Mississippi River. In 1792 Kentucky Clark, the expedition headed west up the Missouri
had enough people to become a new state, and River in May 1804. Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman,
Tennessee gained statehood in 1796. Meanwhile, set- acted as a guide during much of the voyage. Other
tlers from Pennsylvania and Virginia were moving into Native Americans led the group along a path through
the Northwest Territory, but they were coming into the Rocky Mountains, and the explorers eventually
conflict with Native Americans there. traced the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. The
President Washington sent General Anthony Lewis and Clark expedition not only provided a
Wayne to put down Native American resistance by wealth of information about Louisiana, it also gave the
force. In August 1794, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers United States a claim to the Oregon Territory.
in Ohio, Wayne’s troops won a decisive victory. In Zebulon Pike also explored the Louisiana
August 1795, 12 Native American nations signed the Territory. In 1805 he mapped much of the upper
Treaty of Greenville. In exchange for a yearly pay- Mississippi River. In 1806 he headed west to Col-
ment of $10,000 from the federal government, they orado, where he encountered the mountain now
gave up land near present-day Chicago and Detroit, known as Pikes Peak. Pike later mapped part of the
as well as a large area in southern Ohio and Indiana. Rio Grande and traveled across northern Mexico and
The flow of Americans into the region rapidly southern Texas. His account of this trip gave Amer-
increased. By 1803 Ohio had enough settlers to icans detailed information about the Great Plains and
become a state. the Rocky Mountains.
The Essex Junto The Louisiana Purchase alarmed

The Louisiana Purchase While Americans were many New England Federalists. They knew that
pushing west, the French were hoping to rebuild as new states appeared in the
their empire in North America. French leader South and West, New England
Napoleon Bonaparte convinced Spain to give would lose political influ-
Louisiana back to France in 1800. Jefferson was ence. In Massachusetts,
uneasy about France controlling the lower a small group of Fed-
Mississippi. He ordered the American ambassador eralists known as the
in Paris, Robert Livingston, to try to gain conces- Essex Junto drafted a plan
sions for the United States. to take New England out
Livingston accomplished little at first. of the Union.
By 1803, however, Napoleon had begun
making plans to conquer Europe. To gain
funds and to pre-empt an alliance between
the United States and Great Britain,
Napoleon offered to sell all of the
Louisiana Territory, as well as New
Orleans, to the United States. Livingston
immediately agreed. On April 30, 1803, the
United States bought Louisiana from
France for $11.25 million. It also agreed to History
take on French debts owed to Americans, Battle of Fallen Timbers This
worth about $3.75 million, making the monument commemorates the vic-
total cost about $15 million. tory of General Anthony Wayne
The Senate overwhelmingly ratified the (right) over Blue Jacket. The Treaty of
Louisiana Purchase. For less than three Greenville opened the Ohio Territory
to American settlers. What amount
cents an acre, the United States had more
did the government pay the Native
than doubled its size and gained control of Americans for the territory?
the entire Mississippi River.
Vice President Aaron Burr, sympathetic to their policies forbidding neutral countries from trading
goal, agreed to run for governor of New York in 1804. with the enemy. Any vessels traveling to Europe
During the campaign, Alexander Hamilton called became subject to search and seizure by one side or
Burr “a dangerous man, and one who ought not be the other.
trusted with the reins of government.” When Soon British warships were regularly stopping
Hamilton’s remarks were published, Burr challenged American merchant ships and searching them for
him to a duel. Hamilton agreed, and on July 11, 1804, contraband—smuggled goods—and for British sailors
Burr shot and killed Hamilton. The nation had lost a who had fled their vessels. If the British found desert-
brilliant leader and one of its founders. ers, they practiced impressment, a legalized form of
kidnapping, to force the sailors back into service. They
Reading Check Explaining Why did Thomas
also used impressment to take American sailors.
Jefferson want to purchase the Louisiana Territory?
Calls for War In June 1807, tensions between the
United States and Britain reached the boiling point
Rising International Tensions when the British warship Leopard stopped an
Foreign affairs preoccupied President Jefferson American warship, the Chesapeake. When the
during his second term in office. France had Chesapeake’s captain refused to submit to a search,
resumed its war against Britain in mid-1803, and the the Leopard opened fire, killing three Americans.
United States had proclaimed its neutrality. In 1806 The British then boarded the Chesapeake and seized
and 1807, however, both France and Britain adopted four sailors.
The attack enraged the public. Anti-
British mobs rioted in several cities,
and protesters marched through the
streets. President Jefferson, like
in History Washington and Adams before him,
did not want to be drawn into a
Tecumseh European conflict. Instead, he decided
c.1768–1813 to use economic sanctions against both
Tecumseh was a Shawnee chief born Britain and France.
near present-day Springfield, Ohio. The Jefferson asked Congress to pass the
Shawnee had taken part in many wars Embargo Act of 1807, halting all trade
in the Northwest Territory. After the between the United States and Europe.
Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Tecumseh
The embargo, a government ban on
and many other Shawnee moved to the
Indiana territory to escape white trade with other countries, wound up
settlers. hurting the United States more than
Tecumseh urged all Native Britain or France. In the Northeast,
Americans to unite. They were all one once-lucrative shipping businesses
people, he said, and should cooperate came to a standstill, while farmers saw
in a confederacy to control their des-
the demand for their crops fall.
tiny. He was furious when the Delaware
and Potawatomi agreed to cede about commander, he met his end at the Realizing that the embargo was cost-
3 million acres (1.2 million ha) to the Battle of the Thames River, fought near ing the Republican Party support,
United States. The land belonged to all Chatham, Ontario, in October 1813. Congress repealed it in March 1809.
Native Americans, Tecumseh argued. There, 400 British troops commanded Shortly before its repeal, Jefferson
How could one group cede it? by General Henry Proctor and about left office, having decided not to seek a
In the end, Tecumseh saw no choice 1,000 Native Americans led by third term but to retire to Monticello,
but to fight the whites: “The hunting Tecumseh fought some 3,000 American
grounds are fast disappearing and they troops led by General William Henry
his estate in Virginia. Jefferson had
are driving the red man farther and far- Harrison. During the battle, the British succeeded in limiting the role of the
ther to the west.” Ominously, he broke ranks and fled, leaving federal government, but he also left his
warned, “Surely [this] will be the fate of Tecumseh’s men to face the American successor with a foreign policy crisis.
all tribes if the power of the whites is forces alone. After Tecumseh fell, his
not forever crushed. . . .” confederacy collapsed, leaving the
During the War of 1812, Tecumseh United States in firm control of the New Economic Pressures The new
allied himself with the British. A superb Northwest Territory. Republican president, James Madison,
had easily won the election of 1808.

Like Jefferson, Madison preferred to avoid war if at all
possible. To force the British to stop seizing American
ships, he asked Congress to pass the Non-Intercourse The Star-Spangled Banner, 1779–1818 The Stars
Act in 1809. This act prohibited commerce with France and Stripes flag gained two more stars and two more
and Britain but promised to resume trade with stripes in 1795, after Kentucky and Vermont joined
whichever country first dropped its own trade restric- the Union. This flag flew over Fort McHenry during
tions. When the act had no effect, Congress replaced it the War of 1812 and inspired
with Macon’s Bill Number Two. This new law stated Francis Scott Key to write “The
that if either France or Britain removed its trade restric- Star-Spangled Banner.”
tions, the United States would stop importing goods Congress realized that the flag
from the other nation. France eventually took some would become too large if a
conciliatory steps, and Congress passed a nonimporta- stripe were added for every new
tion act against Britain in early 1811. state. It decided to keep the
By early 1812, the refusal of the United States to buy stripes at 13—for the 13 original
British goods had begun to hurt British merchants and colonies—and to add a star for
each new state.
manufacturers. They began to pressure their govern-
ment to repeal its restrictions on trade, but by the time
Britain agreed, the United States had declared war.
British-made rifles the Shawnee forces had left behind
The War Hawks Most of the members of Congress after the battle. Many western farmers argued that a
who wanted to declare war came from the South and war against Britain would enable the United States to
West. Nicknamed the War Hawks, they were led by seize Canada and end Native American attacks.
Henry Clay of Kentucky, John C. Calhoun of South In early June 1812, President Madison gave in to
Carolina, and Felix Grundy of Tennessee. the pressure and asked Congress to declare war. The
Americans living in the South and West were angry vote split along regional lines. Most of the South and
at Britain for several reasons. Southern planters and West voted for war, while the Northeast, fearing it
western farmers earned much of their income from would hurt trade, did not.
exports of tobacco, rice, wheat, and cotton, so Britain’s
Reading Check Examining How did people in the
trade restrictions hurt them badly. Eastern merchants
paid low prices for the farmers’ crops and charged South and the West feel about declaring war against Great
them high shipping fees to cover the potential loss of Britain? Why did each group feel the way it did?
their ships bound for Europe.
Westerners also blamed Britain for their problems
with Native Americans. In the early 1800s, settlers The War of 1812
had begun moving past the line established by the At the start of the War of 1812, conquering Canada
Treaty of Greenville and onto Native American land. was the primary objective of the United States. Most
As clashes with Native Americans mounted, many American leaders predicted that Canada would fall
settlers suspected that the British in Canada were easily. Military commanders planned to invade from
arming the Native Americans. three directions—from Detroit, from Niagara Falls,
A key incident occurred in November 1811, near and up the Hudson River valley toward Montreal.
the Tippecanoe River in the Indiana territory. The The British foiled all three attacks.
governor there, William Henry Harrison, decided to
strike at Tenskwatawa (also known as “the Prophet”), Perry’s Victory on Lake Erie The following year,
the brother of Shawnee leader Tecumseh. Both men the United States had more success after Commodore
had been urging Native Americans to unify in order Oliver Perry secretly arranged for the construction of
to hold on to their lands. The bloody Battle of a fleet on Lake Erie in Ohio. There, on September 10,
Tippecanoe left about one-fourth of Harrison’s troops 1813, Perry’s ships attacked the British fleet. After a
dead or wounded, but its impact on the Native grueling four-hour battle, the British surrendered. As
Americans was far greater. The clash shattered Native Perry famously reported, “We have met the enemy
American confidence in the Prophet’s leadership. and they are ours.”
Many, including Tecumseh, fled to Canada. This con- Perry’s victory gave the Americans control of Lake
vinced some Americans that the British had indeed Erie. British ships had used the lake to shuttle troops
been aiding the Native Americans, as did the back and forth quickly to meet American attacks.

The War of 1812
The Battle of Lake Champlain In
In the early years of the War of 1812,
Motion the British were also fighting France.
BRITISH N. AMERICA That changed in 1814 when
Montreal MAINE Napoleon’s empire fell apart. The
IND. Ft. Michilimackinac Battle of Lake (Part of MASS.)
TERR. July 12, 1812 Chrysler's Farm Champlain British were then able to send many
York Nov. 11, 1813 Sept. 11, 1814 more troops to the United States.
April 27, 1813 Battle of Plattsburgh
MICH. Chateauguay
VT. N.H. In September 1814, about 15,000
ILL. Stoney Creek
TERR. June 6, 1813 Oct. 25, 1813 well-trained and well-equipped
TERR. Fort Niagara MASS.
The Thames British soldiers advanced south-
Oct. 5, 1813 Queenston N.Y.
Heights R.I. ward from Montreal, intending to
Ft. Detroit Oct. 13, 1812 40°N
Aug. 16, 1812 PA. CONN. take New York. They were stopped
N.J.
Fort Meigs Put-in-Bay Bladensburg N when the American naval force
Sept. 10, 1813 Aug. 24, 1814
IND. W
E on Lake Champlain, led by
OHIO
TERR. DEL. S Commodore Thomas Macdonough,
Washington, D.C.
R. MD. defeated the British fleet on
io
Baltimore
Oh
VA. Sept. 13, 1814 September 11. When the British real-
KY. ized that the Americans could use
their control of the lake to surround
R.
N.C. them, they retreated to Montreal.

TENN.
ppi
s si
s si
Raids on Washington, D.C., and

Mi
S.C. Baltimore With attention focused

Horseshoe
MISS. Bend (U.S. vs. Creek) ATlantic on Canada, a British fleet sailed into
LA.
TERR. March 27, 1814 OCEaN Chesapeake Bay in August 1814 and
GA. 70°W
marched troops into Washington,
30°N
0 300 miles D.C. Government officials hastily
Mobile fled without a fight. The British set
New Pensacola SPANISH 0 300 kilometers
Orleans FLORIDA Albers Conic Equal-Area projection fire to both the White House and the
Jan. 8, 1815 80°W
Capitol and proceeded to Baltimore.
Unlike Washington, Baltimore was
American victory
prepared. Some 13,000 militia troops
British victory
and 1,000 American soldiers stood
1. Interpreting Maps What British victory took place the ready to defend the city. Throughout
British blockade
farthest north? the night of September 13, the British
Fort
2. Applying Geography Skills Why was control of Lake bombarded Fort McHenry in
Erie so important to the American forces? Baltimore Harbor. Early the next
morning, they abandoned their
attack. Francis Scott Key, a young
Now their ability to respond to American attacks was lawyer held aboard a British ship during the shelling,
more limited. Shortly afterward, William Henry was elated to see the American flag still flying at dawn.
Harrison, now a general, marched from Detroit into On the back of a letter, he scribbled a poem that would
Canada. At the battle of the Thames River, Harrison later become the national anthem. The final lines of the
defeated a combined force of British troops and first verse evoke the powerful symbolism of the flag:
Native Americans led by Tecumseh. Tecumseh died
during the fighting, and the Native American “
O! say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave,
confederacy soon collapsed.
Harrison expected to meet up with American
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
”
troops coming from Niagara Falls. After learning that Events in New England and New Orleans
they had been defeated at the Battle of Stony Creek, Opposition to the War of 1812 centered in New
however, Harrison retreated to Detroit. By the end of England. In December 1814, Federalists in
1813, the United States still had not conquered any Massachusetts organized delegates from Rhode
territory in Canada. Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont to

meet with them in Hartford,
Connecticut. Some delegates urged
New England to secede, or with-
draw, from the United States. More
moderate delegates refused to sup-
port such extreme action. Instead,
the Hartford Convention ended by
calling for constitutional amend-
ments to increase the region’s polit-
ical power.
Less than a month after the
Hartford Convention began, an
American victory in the South put a
stop to Federalist complaints. In January 1815, a History Through Art
British fleet landed about 7,500 men near New
Inspiring Battle This Battle of New Orleans scene by John Landis shows
Orleans. American General Andrew Jackson quickly General Andrew Jackson’s cotton-bale defense of the Southern city. Did
improvised a defense by building a barricade out of the battle have an impact on the war’s end? Why or why not?
cotton bales from the nearby fields. The thick bales
absorbed the British bullets, while the British advanc- on December 24, 1814. This treaty restored prewar
ing in the open provided easy targets for the American boundaries but did not mention neutral rights or
troops. After a brief battle, the British withdrew. It was impressment, and no territory changed hands. It
a decisive victory for the United States. did, however, create commissions to settle fishing
The Battle of New Orleans made Jackson a hero. rights and boundary disputes. Still, the War of 1812
It also helped to destroy the Federalist Party. The increased the nation’s prestige overseas and gener-
smashing American victory led to a surge of patriot- ated a new spirit of patriotism and national unity.
ism, making the Federalists’ actions at the Hartford Four years later in the Convention of 1818,
Convention appear divisive. The Federalists never the United States and Great Britain set the U.S.-
recovered politically. The battle, however, had little Canadian border from what is now Minnesota to the
value militarily. It occurred two weeks after the war Rocky Mountains at 49° north latitude. The coun-
had officially ended and the peace treaty had been tries also agreed to claim jointly for the next ten
signed. years a region farther west known as the Oregon
Country.
The Treaty of Ghent Peace talks began even before
the major battles of 1814 in the European city of Reading Check Summarizing What were the
Ghent. Both sides agreed to sign the Treaty of Ghent effects of the Battle of New Orleans?
TM
TM

1. Define: judicial review, contraband, 5. Comparing and Contrasting In what 7. Analyzing Art Study John Landis’s
impressment, embargo, War Hawk. ways was Jefferson similar to and differ- depiction of the Battle of New Orleans
2. Identify: Louisiana Purchase. ent from Washington and Adams in on this page. What has the artist done
3. Summarize why the Essex Junto and terms of presidential style and policies? to portray General Andrew Jackson (far
some Hartford Convention members 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer right, on horseback) as a heroic figure?
wanted New England to secede from to list the causes and effects of the War
the United States. of 1812. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes War of 1812 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are a
4. Government and Democracy How did Causes Key Events Effects member of the Lewis and Clark or
Marbury v. Madison strengthen the Zebulon Pike expedition exploring
Supreme Court? unknown territory in the Far West.
Write a journal entry describing a day’s
activities and sights.

Geography&History
T R A N G E
R O O
E R
T Lolo Pass
T 5,233 ft. (1595 m)
I Ajax Peak
10,030 ft. (3057 m) Lost Trail Pass
B 7,014 ft. (2138 m) Bitte
rroo
t Riv TRAVELER'S REST
er
September 9, 1805
UNTAINS An
ERHEAD MO a SAPPHIRE MOUNTAI
NS
V
co
Lemhi Pass BEA
nd
7,373 ft. (2247 m) Mt. Evans
a
Baldy Mt.
Ra
10,640 ft. (3243 m)
10,568 ft. (3221 m)
ng
e
Flint Creek
Range
r
ve
CAMP FORTUNATE Red Mt.
Ri
9,409 ft. (2868 m)
August 17, 1805
k
F or
r k
C la
Be
av
er h
ad
e
R i v er
The Journey West Crow Peak

9,413 ft. (2869 m)
Route west GATES OF THE
er
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
iv
Continental Divide R
Camp n
so
r
ffe
Scale of map varies in

this perspective
Je
r
i ve S
ROUTE OF THE
ur
iR I N
CORPS OF DISCOVERY
DISCOVERY so T
A
Mad is N
iso M
n R i v er THREE FORKS U
July 27, 1805 O
M
Mt. Edith LT
E
9,504 ft. (2897 m) B
Area I G Smith River
enlarged British Territory B
Claimed by
Britain, Spain,
and Russia
St. Louis
LOUISIANA UNITED STATES
PURCHASE and Territories This locator map shows Lewis and Clark’s route from St.
1803
Louis to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition collected
Spanish Atlantic valuable information about the people, plants, animals,
Territory Ocean
Pacific and geography of the West. Americans soon followed in
Ocean
the footsteps of the intrepid explorers to open up the
Gulf of Mexico American West.

Westward
to the Pacific
n May 1804, the Corps of
I
ging their boats behind them. Soon
Discovery—Meriwether Lewis, they would have to abandon the
William Clark, and about 40 boats altogether; but first they needed
others—set sail up the Missouri horses to carry their supplies over
River from their camp outside of the mountains.
St. Louis.Their mission was to find the Lewis and three men went on
so-called Northwest Passage—a water ahead. On August 12 they crossed the
route across the continent to the Continental Divide at Lemhi Pass,
Pacific Ocean. However, after crossing becoming the first explorers from the
the Great Plains, they discovered the United States to do so.As Lewis and
enormous obstacle between them his party descended the steep moun-
and the Pacific: the Rocky Mountains. tains, they encountered a band of
Tackling those “terrible mountains,” Shoshone. Lewis convinced
wrote Lewis, proved “the most per- Cameahwait, their leader, to go back
ilous and difficult part of our voyage” to meet the others.To everyone’s
(see map at left). astonishment, the Shoshone recog-
One of their first challenges was nized their Native American guide,
to get beyond the Great Falls of the Sacagawea, as a member of their band
Missouri. It took them nearly a month who had been kidnapped long ago.
An accomplished geographer and cartogra- to move their boats and supplies Sacagawea suddenly realized Chief
pher, William Clark compiled this detailed almost 18 miles (29 km) around the Cameahwait was her brother, and she
map of the expedition’s route around the falls to a more navigable part of the joyfully embraced him.
Great Falls of the Missouri River.
river. Clear of the falls, they pressed With Sacagawea’s help, Lewis con-
on, up through a deep canyon known vinced the Shoshone to sell them
as the Gates of the Rocky Mountains horses and provide a guide.The Corps
—“the most remarkable cliffs that we crossed into the Bitterroot Range
Area of Clark's have yet seen,” recalled Lewis. From around Lost Trail Pass.After a pause at
map in log book here, the Missouri River ran fast, and Traveler’s Rest, the expedition headed
shown above
its current was strong. In late July over the massive peaks.They climbed
1805, the expedition arrived at Three the snow-covered slopes and strug-
W Forks.After trekking up each fork of gled around the fallen trees, watching
the river, Lewis and Clark opted for in horror as their horses slipped and
S N
the western branch, which they rolled down. Game was so scarce that
Su
nR
E
named for President Thomas the famished explorers were forced
ive
Jefferson. From here, progress slowed. to kill and eat three of their colts.
r
The men often had to wade through Despite the hardships, the weary
the increasingly shallow water, drag- party trudged on until they arrived at
a village of the Nez Perce, who pro-
GREAT FALLS vided food and water.The explorers
Camp above June 13, 1805
finally reached a tributary of the
the falls Columbia River, built dugout boats,
Camp below abandoned their horses, and floated
the falls west all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
LEARNING FROM GEOGRAPHY

On May 26, 1805, from a bluff above the
Missouri River, Meriwether Lewis “beheld 1. Why were Lewis and Clark unable
the Rocky Mountains for the first time.” to complete their mission?
2. Imagine that you are a member of

the expedition. Write a letter home
detailing some of the sights you
have seen.
169
The Growth of
American Nationalism
Americans developed powerful feelings Organizing As you read about the • Analyze how John Marshall strength-
of patriotism and national unity after the nation after the War of 1812, complete a ened the Supreme Court.
War of 1812. graphic organizer by listing actions that • Evaluate how nationalism affected
strengthened the federal government at American foreign policy after the War
Key Terms and Names home and abroad. of 1812.
revenue tariff, protective tariff, McCulloch
v. Maryland, Seminole, Monroe Doctrine Section Theme
Continuity and Change Increased
Actions national pride marked the period imme-
diately following the War of 1812.
✦1815 ✦1820 ✦1825

1816 1819 1823 1824
Second Bank of the United States Spain cedes Florida to United Monroe Doctrine Gibbons v. Ogden
established; Monroe elected president States; McCulloch v. Maryland announced
On a March day in 1817, a dignified group of government officials gathered in

Washington, D.C., to witness the inauguration of the fifth president of the United States. The
attentive audience was full of hope and optimism as James Monroe delivered his Inaugural
Address.
“ Never did a government commence under auspices so favorable, nor ever was success so
complete. If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of
a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy. In contemplating what
we have still to perform, the heart of every citizen must expand with joy when he reflects
how near our Government has approached to perfection. . . . If we persevere in the career in
which we have advanced so far and in the path already traced, we can not fail, under the
favor of a gracious Providence, to attain the high destiny which seems to await us.
”
James Monroe —from James Monroe’s Inaugural Address, March 1817
Political Unity
President Monroe’s words emphasized the sense of nationalism that swept the United
States after the War of 1812. More and more Americans began to consider themselves to
be part of a whole. Their loyalty to the United States overrode their identity with state or
region. Riding this wave of nationalism, the new president made a goodwill tour of the

country, finding enthusiastic crowds at every stop. Congress responded with the Tariff of 1816. Unlike
The Columbian Centinal, a Boston newspaper, declared earlier revenue tariffs, intended to provide federal
that an Era of Good Feelings had dawned. income, this was a protective tariff, aimed at protect-
Harmony in national politics reached a new high, ing American manufacturers by taxing imports.
mostly because only one party, the Republicans, had
any power. At the same time, the war had taught Internal Improvements The Republicans also
Americans that a stronger federal government was wanted to improve the nation’s transportation sys-
advantageous. In the postwar years, Republican tem. The difficulties of moving troops and supplies
leaders shifted their focus from world affairs to during the war highlighted the need for better roads
national growth. and canals. In 1816 Calhoun sponsored a bill to fund
such improvements. President Madison vetoed it,
Reading Check Explaining Why is the Monroe
however, arguing that the Constitution did not
presidency known as the Era of Good Feelings? empower Congress to improve transportation.
Nevertheless, road and canal construction soon
began in earnest with support from private busi-
Economic Nationalism nesses and state and local governments.
As Monroe’s presidency began, Congress pre- Reading Check Identifying What were three
pared an ambitious economic program. It included examples of economic nationalism after the War of 1812?
creating a new national bank, protecting American
manufacturers from foreign competition, and build-
ing new roads and canals.
Judicial Nationalism
The judicial philosophy of the Chief Justice of the
The Second Bank of the United States Repub-
United States, John Marshall, provided another boost
licans had blocked the rechartering of the
to postwar nationalism. He interpreted the
First Bank of the United States in 1811 but offered
Constitution broadly to support federal power.
nothing in its place. The results were disastrous.
Between 1816 and 1824, several important cases
State-chartered banks and other private banks
established the power of the nation over the states.
greatly expanded their lending with bank notes that
were used as money. Without the regulatory presence
McCulloch v. Maryland The 1819 case of
of the national bank, prices rose rapidly during the
McCulloch v. Maryland involved Maryland’s attempt
War of 1812.
to tax the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank of the
In 1816 Representative John C.
Calhoun of South Carolina introduced
a bill proposing the Second Bank of the
United States. The bill passed and was
signed by outgoing President Madison.
in History
It empowered the bank to control state
banks and to issue notes that would John C. Calhoun
1782–1850
serve as a national currency.
John C. Calhoun of South Carolina
was an influential member of Congress
ECONOMICS and, at least for a time, a close friend of
Henry Clay. Like Clay, Calhoun was a
The Protective Tariff Protecting War Hawk—one who urged war with
manufacturers from foreign competi- Great Britain in 1812—and an ardent
tion was another Republican goal. nationalist in his early career. After the
Because the Embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812, Calhoun helped introduce
War of 1812 had kept Americans from congressional bills for a new Bank of
buying British goods, American the United States, a permanent road that the North intended to dominate
system to bind the nation together, and the South, Calhoun spent the rest of his
industries had increased their output
a tariff to protect the nation’s industries. career trying to prevent the federal gov-
to meet demand. Once the war was In the 1830s Calhoun abandoned his ernment from weakening states’ rights
over, British goods flowed into the nationalist stance in favor of states’ and from interfering with the Southern
United States at low prices, severely rights and sectional interests. Fearing way of life.
threatening American companies.

Major Supreme Court Decisions, 1801–1824
Marbury v. Madison (1803) Declared congressional act unconstitutional; Court asserts power of judicial review
Fletcher v. Peck (1810) Protected contracts from legislative interference; Court could overturn state laws that
opposed specific provisions of Constitution
Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee (1816) Court can accept appeals of state court decisions and review state decisions that
involve federal statutes or treaties; asserted the Supreme Court’s sovereignty over
state courts
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Upheld constitutionality of the Bank of the United States; doctrine of “implied
powers” provided Congress more flexibility to enact legislation
Cohens v. Virginia (1821) Reasserted federal judicial authority over state courts; argued that when states
ratified Constitution, they gave up some sovereignty to federal courts
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) Revoked an existing state monopoly; Court gave Congress the right to regulate
interstate commerce
Source: The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
1. Interpreting Charts In which case did Chief
Justice Marshall assert the Court’s right of judicial
review?
United States. Before addressing Maryland’s right to 2. Analyzing Was Marshall a strict interpreter of the
tax the national bank, the Supreme Court first ruled Constitution? Use a case to support your answer.
on the federal government’s right to create a national
bank in the first place. In the Court’s opinion, written
by John Marshall, the bank was constitutional, even
though the Constitution did not specifically give in New York waters also wanted exclusive control of
Congress the power to create one. Marshall observed steamboats crossing the Hudson River to New Jersey.
that the Constitution gave the federal government the The Supreme Court declared the original monopoly
power to collect taxes, to borrow money, to regulate unconstitutional. In the Court’s opinion, written by
commerce, and to raise armies and navies. He noted Marshall, a state could regulate commerce within its
that the national bank helped the federal government own borders, but navigation of a waterway between
exercise these powers. He concluded that the “neces- two states was interstate commerce, and the
sary and proper” clause allowed the federal govern- Constitution specifically granted the federal govern-
ment to use its powers in any way not specifically ment control over interstate commerce.
prohibited by the Constitution. ; (See page 963 for more In broadening the definition of interstate commerce
information on McCulloch v. Maryland.) beyond the exchange of goods between states,
Opponents argued that the necessary and proper Marshall ensured that federal law would take prece-
clause meant the government could only take action dence over state law in interstate transportation.
that was absolutely necessary, but Marshall specifically Defenders of states’ rights attacked many of Marshall’s
rejected that idea. Instead, he held that “necessary and decisions, as his views helped make the “necessary and
proper” meant the government could use any method proper” clause and the interstate commerce clause
that was convenient for carrying out its powers as long vehicles for expanding federal power. ; (See page 963
as the Constitution did not expressly forbid it. for more information on Gibbons v. Ogden.)
Marshall then went on to argue that the federal
Reading Check Explaining How did the Supreme
government was “supreme in its own sphere of
action.” This meant that a state government could not Court strengthen the power of the federal government over
interfere with an agency of the federal government the states?
exercising its specific constitutional powers within a
state’s borders. Taxing the national bank was a form of
interference and was therefore ruled unconstitutional. Nationalist Diplomacy
Postwar nationalism influenced foreign as well as
Gibbons v. Ogden The 1824 case of Gibbons v. domestic affairs. Feeling proud and confident, the
Ogden dealt with interstate commerce. A company United States under President Monroe expanded its
with a state-granted monopoly over steamboat traffic borders and asserted itself on the world stage.

Jackson Invades Florida During the early 1800s, Meanwhile, some European monarchies expressed
Spanish-held Florida was a source of frustration for their interest in helping Spain suppress these Latin
Southerners. Many runaway slaves hid there, and the American revolutions.
Seminoles, a Native American group, often clashed Neither Great Britain nor the United States
with American settlers across the border in Georgia. wanted Spain to regain control of its colonies. Both
Spain was unable to control the border, and many were trading with Latin America. In August 1823,
Americans demanded the United States step in. As Britain suggested that the United States join it in
tensions heightened, a Seminole leader named issuing a statement supporting Latin American
Kinache warned Americans to stay out of Florida: independence.
John Quincy Adams urged President Monroe to
“ You charge me with killing your people, stealing
your cattle and burning your houses; it is I that have
issue his own statement on behalf of United States
interests. The Monroe administration also had con-
cause to complain of the Americans. . . . I shall use cerns at this time about Russia’s growing interest in
force to stop any armed Americans from passing my the American northwest. In 1821 Russia had
announced that its empire extended south from
towns or my lands.
” Alaska to the Oregon territory.
–quoted in The Seminoles of Florida Under these circumstances, Monroe decided to
The warning fell on deaf ears. Former representa- issue a statement in December 1823. In the
tive Calhoun, now secretary of war, authorized action Monroe Doctrine, the president declared that the
against the Seminoles. In 1818 Andrew Jackson led American continents should no longer be viewed as
U.S. troops into Florida and quickly seized Spanish open to colonization. He specifically advised Europe
settlements at Pensacola and St. Marks. to respect the sovereignty of new Latin American
The Spanish government demanded that nations. ; (See page 952 for more information on the Monroe
American officials punish Jackson, but Secretary of Doctrine.)
State John Quincy Adams blamed Spain for failing to The Monroe Doctrine was a bold act for a young
keep order in Florida. Adams then put pressure on nation. The United States might not have been able
Spain in ongoing border questions. Occupied with to back up its new stand if it had been challenged.
problems throughout its Latin American empire, The doctrine upheld Washington’s policy of avoid-
Spain gave in and ceded all of Florida to the United ing European entanglements and also guided
States in the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. American foreign policy for years.
The Monroe Doctrine Spain had good reason to Reading Check Examining How did the Adams-
worry about Latin America. Many of Spain’s col- Onís Treaty and the Monroe Doctrine demonstrate a strong
onies there were declaring their independence. approach to foreign policy?
TM
TM

1. Define: revenue tariff, protective tariff. 5. Analyzing How did nationalism affect 7. Posing Questions Study the chart of
2. Identify: McCulloch v. Maryland, the foreign affairs of the United States? Supreme Court decisions on page 172.
Seminole, Monroe Doctrine. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to Use the information to construct a
3. Explain how the Supreme Court rulings list examples of nationalism in the 10-question quiz to give to your class-
in McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons United States after the War of 1812. mates to assess their understanding of
v. Ogden strengthened the federal the Marshall Court.
Examples of Nationalism
government.
Economic Judicial Diplomatic
4. Continuity and Change Did the 8. Expository Writing Imagine you are a
Monroe Doctrine represent a newspaper editor in Georgia or
continuation or change in President Spanish-held Florida. Write an editorial
Washington’s foreign policy? Explain. in which you criticize or defend Andrew
Jackson’s actions in seizing Spanish
settlements in Florida.

Reviewing Key Terms Critical Thinking
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 24. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy What
1. cabinet 10. nullification was the most important task for Congress after the U.S.
Constitution was ratified? Explain your answer.
2. bond 11. judicial review
25. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer like the one below to
3. speculator 12. contraband list the differences between the first political parties in the
4. enumerated powers 13. impressment United States.
5. implied powers 14. embargo
Federalists Republicans
6. excise tax 15. War Hawk
7. most-favored nation 16. revenue tariff
8. alien 17. protective tariff
9. interposition 26. Interpreting Primary Sources In McCulloch v. Maryland,
the Supreme Court was asked whether Congress had the
power to set up the Bank of the United States. The following
Reviewing Key Facts excerpt is from Chief Justice John Marshall’s ruling. Read the
18. Identify: XYZ Affair, Monroe Doctrine. excerpt and answer the questions that follow.
19. What was the main focus of the first eight amendments in
the Bill of Rights? “ The government of the United States . . . though lim-
ited in its powers, is supreme; and its laws, when made
20. Why did James Madison oppose the establishment of a
national bank? in pursuance of the constitution, form the supreme law
21. Why did tensions between Western settlers and Native of the land. . . . Among the enumerated powers, we do
Americans increase during Washington’s presidency? not find establishing a bank or creating a corporation.
22. What events led to the War of 1812? But there is no phrase in the instrument which . . .
23. What were three actions that strengthened the federal requires that everything granted shall be expressly and
government after the War of 1812? minutely described. . . . Among the enumerated powers
George Washington Thomas Jefferson

• Established legitimacy of the new government • Republican leader; worked to limit
• Created executive departments power of national government
• Favored neutrality • Favored land ownership for all people
• Used troops to stop Native American • Supported farmers over commerce and trade
resistance in the West • Negotiated purchase of the Louisiana Territory
John Adams James Madison

• Federalist leader in favor of strong national • Republican who favored neutrality
government • Asked Congress to declare war on Britain to
• Supported commerce and trade protect trade interest in the East and farmers
• Favored neutrality; negotiated treaties with and settlers in the West
Britain and France to avoid war • Under his administration, the War of 1812
• Angered farmers and landowners with taxes; generated feelings of nationalism, and the
angered political opponents with Alien and Treaty of Ghent established fishing rights
Sedition Acts and boundaries with Canada
HISTORY
Treaty of Greenville,
Self-Check Quiz 1795
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at Lake
Huron
Chapter 4 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. N N.Y.
Michigan
W E
S ie
of government . . . we find the great powers to lay and e Er
ak
Lake
collect taxes; to borrow money; to regulate commerce; L
Ft. Miami
PA.
to declare war and conduct a war; and to raise and sup- Ft. Defiance
port armies and navies. . . . A government entrusted NORTHWEST
Monong a h
TERR.
with such ample powers . . . must also be entrusted with Ft. Recovery
Wabash R.
ample means for their execution. . . . All means which
aR el
are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, Ft. Washington
Greenville
.
which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and Treaty
Line, 1795 VA.
”
spirit of the constitution, are constitutional. . . .
oR
.
—from McCulloch v. Maryland O hi
KY. Land ceded by
a. What was Marshall’s opinion about the power of the gov- Native Americans
in Treaty of
ernment of the United States? 0 100 miles Greenville, 1795
b. Why do you think the ruling in McCulloch v. Maryland 0 100 kilometers
Fort
made American nationalism stronger? Albers Conic Equal-Area projection
Practicing Skills
27. Reading a Flowchart Reread the passage about Rising
International Tensions on pages 164–165 from Section 2. 30. The map above shows land acquired in the Treaty of
Then complete the following flowchart of events leading to Greenville. Study the map and answer the questions below.
the War of 1812. a. Interpreting Maps In the Treaty of Greenville, Native
a. British warship attacks the Chesapeake. Americans ceded most of which present-day state?
b. __________ b. Applying Geography Skills Why was the land the
c. Madison asks Congress to pass the Non-Intercourse Act. Native Americans gave up valuable to white settlers?
d. __________
e. France takes conciliatory steps.
f. __________ Standardized
g. Congress declares war.
Test Practice
Directions: Choose the best answer to the
Writing Activity following question.
28. Expository Writing Imagine that you are a newspaper edi- Which of the following actions reflect President Jefferson’s
tor in 1817. You have been asked to write an article on the goal of limiting the power of the federal government?
high and low points of the first four presidential administra- F He increased the size of the army.
tions. Use evidence to support your reflections.
G He proposed renewing the Alien and Sedition Acts.
H He dissolved the Republican Party to eliminate political
Chapter Activity conflict.
29. American History Primary Source Document Library J He cut the federal budget.
CD-ROM Under A New Nation, read George Washington’s
Farewell Address and Thomas Jefferson’s First Inaugural Test-Taking Tip: Think about the word limit. It means to
Address. Debate modern political party performance with reduce or restrict. Therefore, you can eliminate answer F—
your classmates, using the opinions of Washington and it gave the government more power.
Jefferson demonstrated in these primary sources.

The Young
Republic 1816–1848
Why It Matters
After the War of 1812, new roads and canals helped connect the nation. Industry prospered in
the North, while an agricultural economy dependent on slavery grew strong in the South.
Although political, social, and religious reforms were key themes of the period, these reforms
could not silence the growing sectionalism that increasingly gripped the nation. The addition of
new territories only heightened sectional tensions.
The Impact Today

Many developments of this period shape our lives today.
• Many Americans have a strong sense of national loyalty.
• Federal authority over interstate commerce helped create a truly national economy.
• Americans believe ordinary citizens should be able to qualify for all political offices.
The American Republic Since 1877 Video The Chapter 5 video,

“Manifest Destiny,” tells the story of the war between Texas and Mexico from the
Mexican point of view.
1832
1806 • Democrats hold their first
• Congress agrees to provide funds presidential nominating
to construct National Road convention
1820 1831
• Missouri Compromise 1825 • Nat Turner slave
proposed by Henry Clay • Erie Canal opens rebellion
▲
Madison Monroe J.Q. Adams Jackson
▲ 1809–1817 1817–1825 ▲ 1825–1829 1829–1837 ▲▲
1810 1820 1830
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1815 1829
• Napoleon Bonaparte • Slavery abolished in Mexico
1817 1821
defeated at the
• Exploration of • Mexican
Battle of Waterloo 1832
Australia’s independence
interior begins • Male voting rights
proclaimed expanded in England
176
Election Day in Philadelphia by John L. Krimmel, 1815
1836
• Battle of the
Alamo fought
1846
• United States begins
war with Mexico
1838
• Cherokee are driven 1845 1848
from Georgia and • Congress votes to • Treaty of Guadalupe
embark on Trail of Tears annex Republic of Hidalgo ends war
Texas with Mexico HISTORY
▲
Van Buren W. Harrison Tyler Polk Taylor Fillmore
▲ 1837–1841
▲ 1841 1841–1845 1845–1849 ▲ ▲ 1849–1850 1850–1853 Chapter Overview
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Chapter 5 to preview chapter
information.
1836 1842 1843 1845 1848
• First botany • China opened • Charles Dickens’s • Irish potato • Karl Marx and Frederich
textbook by force to A Christmas Carol famine begins Engels’s The Communist
published foreign trade published Manifesto published
177
A Growing Nation
In the early 1800s, canals, railroads, and Categorizing As you read about changes • Discuss how the Industrial Revolution
new industries transformed the North, that occurred in the United States in the changed methods of production and
while slavery expanded in the South. early 1800s, complete a graphic organizer fostered urbanization.
similar to the one below by filling in mile- • Explain why cotton dominated the
Key Terms and Names stones in transportation and Southern economy.
Robert Fulton, Peter Cooper, Industrial industrialization.
Revolution, Francis C. Lowell, Eli Whitney, Section Theme
Transportation Industrialization
interchangeable parts, nativism, Know- Science and Technology New technol-
Nothing, labor union, strike, cotton gin, ogy increased trade and agricultural pro-
yeoman farmer, driver duction and improved communications
within the United States.
✦1790 ✦1810 ✦1830

1793 1808 1822 1825 1831
Eli Whitney invents Congress bans foreign Denmark Vesey Erie Canal opens Nat Turner
the cotton gin slave trade executed rebellion
On July 4, 1817, New York state officials gathered in Rome, New York. They had come to
launch the greatest engineering challenge in American history up to that time: the building of
a canal connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The longest canal in the nation at that time
ran about 28 miles (45 km). The new canal, known as the Erie Canal, would be a colossal 363
miles (584.1 km) long and 40 feet (12.2 m) wide. At the ceremony, New York Commissioner
Samuel Young explained the importance of the project:
“ We have assembled to commence the excavation of the Erie Canal. This work when
accomplished will connect our western inland seas with the Atlantic Ocean. . . . By this great
Constructing the
Erie Canal highway, unborn millions will easily transport their surplus productions to the shores of the
Atlantic, procure their supplies, and hold a useful and profitable intercourse with all the mar-
itime nations of the earth.
”
—quoted in Erie Water West
A Revolution in Transportation
Over the next few years, thousands of workers dug their way through dirt, rock and
swamp. They built 83 locks and 18 aqueducts. When completed in October 1825, the
Erie Canal cut the travel time from New York to Buffalo from 20 days to 6 days. The
canal helped settle the Midwest and greatly increased the flow of goods. Using roads,
four horses could pull a ton of goods 12 miles per day. Using the canal, two horses could
pull a 100-ton barge 24 miles per day. The Erie Canal’s success marked the beginning of
a transportation revolution that swept through the Northern states in the early 1800s.
178 CHAPTER 5 The Young Republic

Roads and Turnpikes In 1806 the nation took the first load of train passengers along 13 miles of track
first steps toward a transportation revolution when in Maryland, chugging along at the then incredible
Congress funded the building of a major east-west speed of 10 miles per hour.
highway, the National Road. In 1811 laborers started Some people complained about the noise and dirt
cutting the roadbed westward from Cumberland, of the new machines. In the 1800s people often
Maryland. Paved with crushed stones, the National regarded cities as noisy, crowded, and unhealthy.
Road stretched to Vandalia, Illinois, by 1838. Sick people often traveled to the country to rest and
Pioneers in Conestoga wagons headed west on this recover their health. Some people feared that rail-
road, while farmers from the interior drove their roads would bring urban problems to the country-
livestock and produce the opposite way, toward side. People realized, however, that trains traveled
Eastern markets. much faster than stagecoaches or wagons, and unlike
The National Road turned out to be the only great steamboats, they could go nearly anywhere track
U.S.-funded transportation project of its time. was laid. Perhaps more than any other kind of trans-
Although some members of Congress pushed the portation, trains helped settle the West and expand
federal government to make more internal improve- trade among the nation’s different regions.
ments, American leaders disagreed on whether the
Reading Check Evaluating What were two advan-
Constitution permitted this.
Instead, states, localities, and private businesses tages of trains over other kinds of transportation in the 1800s?
took the initiative. Private companies laid down hun-
dreds of miles of toll roads, often called turnpikes
because of the spiked poles that forced travelers to Industrialization Sweeps the North
stop at intervals and pay a toll. Turnpikes were prof- Along with dramatic changes in transportation, a
itable mainly in the East, where traffic was heavy. revolution occurred in business and industry. The
Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the
TECHNOLOGY
middle 1700s, consisted of several basic developments.
Steamboats Rivers offered a faster, more efficient, Manufacturing shifted from hand tools to large, com-
and cheaper way to move goods than did early plex machines. Individual artisans gave way to organ-
roads, which were often little more than wide paths. ized workforces. Factories, some large enough for
A single barge could hold many wagonloads of grain hundreds of machines and workers, replaced home-
or coal. Loaded boats and barges, however, could based workshops. Manufacturers sold their wares
usually travel only downstream, as trips against the nationwide or abroad instead of just locally.
current with heavy cargoes were impractical. By the early 1800s, these innovations had reached
The steamboat changed all that. The first success- the United States. They transformed not only the
ful such vessel, the Clermont, was developed by economy but society as well.
Robert Fulton and promoted by Robert
R. Livingston. At its debut in 1807, the
Clermont stunned the nation by cruising
150 miles up the Hudson River from New
York City to Albany in just 32 hours.
Steamboats made river travel speedier
and more reliable. By 1850 over 700
steamboats, also called riverboats, trav-
eled the Mississippi, the Great Lakes, and
other waterways.
The “Iron Horse” Another mode of

transportation, railroads, also appeared
in the early 1800s. A wealthy, self-
educated industrialist named Peter
Cooper built the Tom Thumb, a tiny but
powerful locomotive based on engines
originally developed in Great Britain. In
1830 the Tom Thumb pulled the nation’s Iron Horse Peter Cooper’s Tom Thumb races a horse.
CHAPTER 5 The Young Republic 179

Roads, Canals, and Railroads,
1820–1840 Industrialization began in
In the Northeast, where many
Motion BRITISH
NORTH AMERICA swift-flowing streams pro-
ME.
vided factories with water-
Sault Ste. Marie
Canal Portland power. The region was also
VT.
Railroad home to many entrepreneurs
N.Y. N.H.
Road WIS.
TERR. Bay Green Boston who were willing to invest in
Buffalo MASS.
IOWA MICH. R.I. British technology.
TERR. Detroit CONN. 40°N Although Britain had passed
PA.
Pittsburgh New York City
Chicago strict laws to block the export
OHIO N.J.
Wheeling Philadelphia of its technology, an English
IND. Baltimore textile worker named Samuel
ILL. Washington, D.C. DEL.
MD. Slater took the risk. He moved
UNORG. Richmond
TERR. St. Louis VA. Norfolk to Rhode Island in 1789 and
MO. KY. built a British water frame for
N.C. spinning cotton into thread. In
Nashville N
1814 Francis Lowell opened
TENN.
ARK. Wilmington E 70°W
mills in Massachusetts that not
S.C. W
S only spun cotton into thread
MISS. Charleston
ALA. but also produced cloth. His
GA. Savannah 30°N
company even built a town
REP. OF that housed hundreds of work-
TEXAS LA. St. Augustine ers, mostly women. By 1840
Mobile
New Orleans FLA. ATLaNTIC textile mills had sprung up
TERR. OCEaN throughout the Northeast.
0 500 miles
Gulf of In the early 1800s, a New

0 500 kilometers
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
Mexico Englander named Eli Whitney
90°W 80°W popularized the use of inter-
changeable parts, or standard
components, in gun-making.
1. Interpreting Maps Which Southern state had the most Machines turned out identical
miles of railroad track? pieces that workers quickly
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think canals put together with assembly-line techniques.
were more common in the North than in other areas? Industrialists used these techniques to produce
lumber, shoes, leather, wagons, and other products.
The sewing machine allowed inexpensive clothes to
A New System of Production The United States be mass produced. In the 1820s, William Underwood
industrialized quickly for several reasons. Perhaps the and Thomas Kensett began sealing foods in airtight
key factor was the American system of free enterprise tin containers. Canning allowed many foods to be
based on private property rights. People could acquire stored and transported without fear of spoilage.
and use capital without strict governmental controls
while competition between companies encouraged Advances in Communications In 1832 a major
them to try new technologies. The era’s low taxes also improvement in communications took place when
meant that entrepreneurs had more money to invest. Samuel F.B. Morse perfected the telegraph and
Beginning in the 1830s, many states encouraged developed Morse code. In 1844 he sent his first long-
industrialization by passing general incorporation distance telegraph message, tapping out in code the
laws. These laws let companies become corporations words “What hath God wrought?” over a wire from
and raise money by issuing stock without having to Washington, D.C., to Baltimore.
get a charter from the state legislature. They also lim- Journalists began using the telegraph to speedily
ited liability. If people bought stock in a company and relay news. In 1848 a group of newspapers in New
it went bankrupt, they were not responsible for the York created the Associated Press to collect and share
company’s debts. The new laws thereby encouraged news over the wires. By 1860 more than 50,000 miles
people to invest money, spurring economic growth. of telegraph wire connected most parts of the country.

Urban Growth and Immigration The industrial- groups of workers who press for better working con-
ization of the United States drew thousands of ditions and member benefits. During the late 1820s
people from farms and villages to towns in search of and early 1830s, about 300,000 men and women
higher-paying factory jobs. Many city populations belonged to these organizations. Most of the organi-
doubled or tripled. In 1820 only New York boasted zations were local and focused on a single trade, such
more than 100,000 residents. By 1860 eight other as printing or shoemaking.
cities had reached that size. Early labor unions had little power. Most
Immigrants hoping for a better life in the United employers refused to bargain with them, and the
States also contributed to urban growth. Between 1815 courts often saw them as unlawful conspiracies that
and 1860, over 5 million foreigners journeyed to limited free enterprise. Unions did make some
America. While thousands of newcomers, particularly gains, however. In 1840 President Martin Van Buren
Germans, became farmers in the rural West, many oth- showed his gratitude for labor’s political support
ers settled in cities, providing a steady source of cheap by reducing the workday for federal employees to
labor. A large number of Irish—over 44,000—arrived in 10 hours. In 1842 in the case of Commonwealth v.
1845, after a devastating potato blight caused wide- Hunt, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that
spread famine in their homeland. union strikes, or work stoppages, were legal. Still,
While immigrants often found a new sense of free- decades would pass before organized labor
dom and opportunity in America, some encountered achieved real influence.
prejudice. The presence of people from different cul-
tures, with different languages and different reli- Reading Check Describing How did industrializa-
gions, produced feelings of nativism, a preference for tion affect cities?
native-born people and a desire to limit immigration.
Several societies sprang up to keep foreign-born per-
sons and Catholics—the main religion of the Irish
and many Germans—from holding public office. In
1854 delegates from some of these groups formed the
American Party. This party came to be called the
Know-Nothings because its members, when ques-
tioned about their activities, were supposed to
answer, “I know nothing.”
Women in the Workforce The growing cities

also provided expanded work opportunities for
women. Those from the poorer classes typically
found jobs in factories or took positions as domestic
laborers. Many middle-class women gravitated to
publishing, an industry that was growing quickly to
meet the rising demand for reading materials.
America had always claimed a high literacy rate,
and by 1840 over 75 percent of the total population
and over 90 percent of the white population
could read. Leading editors and writers included
Sarah Buell Hale and Lydia Howard Huntley
Sigourney.
Workers Begin to Organize Factory workers num-

bered roughly 1.3 million by 1860. They included
many women and children, who would accept lower
wages than men. Not even men were well paid, how-
ever, and factory workers typically toiled for 12 or
more drudgery-filled hours a day.
Hoping to gain higher wages or shorter workdays,
some workers began to organize in labor unions—
Lowell Girl This young girl worked in the new textile factories of the Northeast.
The Continuing Importance of The Land of Cotton During a visit to the South in
1793, Eli Whitney, an inventive young New
Agriculture Englander, noticed how laborious it was to remove
Despite the trend toward urban and industrial cotton seeds from the fluffy bolls by hand. In a mere
growth, agriculture remained the country’s leading 10 days, Whitney built a simple cotton gin—“gin”
economic activity. Until the late 1800s, farming being short for engine—that quickly and efficiently
employed more people and produced more wealth did the task. Whitney’s invention coincided with the
than any other kind of work. expansion of Europe’s textile industry. Mills in
In the first half of the 1800s, the North had more England and France were clamoring for all the cotton
than a million farms devoted mostly to growing corn, they could get.
wheat, and other grains and to raising livestock. In 1792, the year before Whitney invented his
Farming was even more important in the South, cotton gin, the South produced about 6,000 bales of
which had few cities and less industry. cotton. By 1801 annual production had soared to
The South thrived on the production of several 100,000 bales. Cotton soon dominated the region. In
major cash crops. In the upper Southern states— 1860 production reached almost 4 million bales.
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee— That year, Southern cotton accounted for nearly
farmers grew tobacco. Rice paddies dominated the two-thirds of the total export trade of the United
coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia. In States. Southerners began saying, rightly, “Cotton
Louisiana and parts of eastern Texas, fields of sug- is King.”
arcane stretched for miles. No crop, however, The boom in cotton production allowed some
played a greater role in the South’s fortunes during smaller-scale planters to rapidly ascend the social lad-
this period than cotton, which was grown in a wide der. As they expanded their property, they joined the
belt stretching from inland South Carolina west ranks of the wealthy plantation owners who wielded
into Texas. enormous political power. This group, however,
The 1 Cotton bolls are 2 A crank turns the cylinder 3 Slots in the grate allow
dumped into the with wire teeth. The teeth the cotton, but not its
Cotton Gin hopper. pull the cotton past a grate. seeds, to pass through.
While visiting Catherine
Greene’s Georgia plantation crank grate hopper
in 1793, Eli Whitney had an
4 A second cylinder with
brushes pulls the cotton
inspiration. He built a device off the toothed cylinder
that removed the seeds of and sends it out of the gin.
the “green-seed” cotton
variety that grew in abun-
dance throughout the brushes
South. Whitney devised a
“gin” (short for engine) that
combed the seeds out of the
cotton. This simple cotton
gin was easy to mass pro- cylinder
duce, and it increased cot-
ton’s profitability for many
Southern farmers. How did
the invention of the cotton
gin affect the South’s
economy?
History Through Art
Plantation Life The Wedding by E.L. Henry depicts Southern gentry’s lavish lifestyle. They purchased enslaved
labor at auctions advertised in local newspapers (right). What invention made cotton production so profitable?
represented less than half of 1 percent of white Enslaved and Free

Southern families in 1850. Ordinary farmers, often
called yeoman farmers, and their families still made African Americans
up the vast majority of the white population. Mark While the spread of cot-
Twain gives his impressions of a small Southern farm ton plantations boosted
in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: the Southern economy, it
also made the demand for slave labor skyrocket.
“ A rail fence around a two-acre yard . . . big
double log house for the white folks—hewed logs,
Congress had outlawed the foreign slave trade in
1808, but a high birthrate among enslaved women—
with the chinks stopped up with mud or encouraged by slaveholders—kept the population
mortar . . . outside of the fence a garden and a water- growing. Between 1820 and 1850, the number of
slaves in the South rose from about 1.5 million to
melon patch; then the cotton fields begin. . . .
” nearly 3.2 million, to account for almost 37 percent
While agriculture brought prosperity to Southern of the total Southern population.
states, they lagged behind the North in industrializa- In a Southern white population of just over 6.1 mil-
tion. The region had scattered iron works, textile lion, a total of 347,725 families—about 30 percent—were
mills, and coal, iron, salt, and copper mines, but it slaveholders. Of this number, around 37,000 were plan-
accounted for only 16 percent of the nation’s manu- tation owners with 20 or more slaves. Fewer than 8,000
facturing total. For the most part, the South remained of these planters held 50 or more people in slavery, and
rural, with only three large cities: Baltimore, only 11 held 500 or more. Thus wealthy slaveholders
Charleston, and New Orleans. Agriculture’s influ- who exploited large workforces were somewhat rare.
ence was so great that even many city dwellers in the The overwhelming majority of enslaved African
South invested in or owned farms. Americans toiled in the fields on small farms. Some,
however, became house servants. Others worked in
Reading Check Synthesizing What effect did the the South’s few industrial plants or in skilled trades
cotton gin have on the Southern economy? such as blacksmithing, carpentry, and barrel making.

Field Workers Enslaved African Americans who cheerful spark that lingered about my eye died out;
worked in the fields were organized along two basic the dark night of slavery closed in upon me, and
labor systems. In the 1700s and early 1800s, a task
system prevailed. Workers were given a specific set
behold a man transformed to a brute.
”
of jobs to accomplish every day. They worked until —from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
these were complete, and then they were allowed to
Music helped many African Americans endure the
spend the remainder of the day on their own. They
horrors of slavery. Field workers often sang to pass the
could earn money through their artisanship, culti-
long workday and to communicate with one another.
vate personal gardens, or hunt for extra food.
Some songs were more provocative than most planta-
In the 1800s, as cotton production became more
tion owners knew, using subtle language and secret
common and slavery became more widespread,
meanings to lament the singers’ bondage and express a
many slaveholders adopted the gang system of labor.
continuing hope for freedom.
Under this more rigid system, enslaved persons were
Songs also played a key role in one of the most
organized into work gangs that labored from sunup
important parts of African American culture: religion.
to sundown—plowing, planting, cultivating, or pick-
By the early 1800s, large numbers of African Americans
ing, depending on the season. A driver directed the
were Christians, though their Christianity sometimes
gang, ensuring that the workers kept laboring
incorporated religious traditions from Africa. During
throughout the day. The drivers were often slaves
their worship services, enslaved persons often sang
themselves, chosen for their intelligence or leader-
spirituals—religious songs—and prayed for freedom
ship abilities.
or a better life in the next world.
Many enslaved men and women found ways to
Coping with Enslavement All enslaved persons,
actively resist the dreadful lifestyle forced on them.
no matter how well treated, suffered indignities.
Some quietly staged work slowdowns. Others broke
State slave codes forbade enslaved men and women
tools or set fire to houses and barns. Still others risked
from owning property, leaving a slaveholder’s prem-
beatings or mutilations by running away.
ises without permission, or testifying in court against
Some enslaved persons turned to violence, killing
a white person. Laws even banned them from learn-
their owners or plotting revolts. In 1822 Denmark
ing to read and write. Frederick Douglass, who rose
Vesey, a free African American in Charleston, South
from slavery to become a prominent opponent of the
Carolina, was accused of planning a large armed
institution, recalled how life as an enslaved person
uprising. After someone betrayed the group, the
affected him:
authorities arrested and hung Vesey and dozens of
his followers before they could act.
“ My natural elasticity was crushed; my intellect
languished; the disposition to read departed; the
The deadliest rebellion occurred in Virginia on
August 22, 1831. Leading the attack was Nat Turner,
an enslaved minister who
believed God had chosen him to
bring his people out of bondage.
“the dark night of Turner and a small band of
accomplices went from house to
slavery closed in house, killing more than 50
white men, women, and children
upon me” and recruiting followers until
they numbered about 60. State
and local troops put down the
—Frederick Douglass
uprising, but it took them until
October 30 to find Turner. They
quickly tried and hung him
along with 15 of his
supporters.
Free African Americans Not

all African Americans of the
time lived in bondage. By 1850
over 225,000 free African Americans
resided in the South, mostly in the in History
towns and cities of Maryland and
Virginia. A few had descended from Nat Turner 1800–1831
Africans brought to the United States The man who led perhaps the
as indentured servants in the 1700s nation’s best-known slave revolt
before the slave system became uni- believed from an early age—through
versal. Some had earned their free- his mother’s encouragement—that he
dom fighting in the American was divinely inspired. “I was intended
for some great purpose,” he once
Revolution, and still others were the
declared.
half-white children of slaveholders, Although many considered Nat
who had granted them freedom. Turner a religious fanatic—he claimed
There were also some former to take his directions from mysterious
enslaved persons who had managed voices and the movements of heavenly
to purchase their freedom or whose bodies—others knew him to have a
sharp mind. “He certainly never had Turner’s lack of remorse chilled
owners had freed them.
the advantages of education,” said the those around him, including his lawyer,
Free African Americans occupied man later appointed to be his lawyer, who described the calm, deliberate
an ambiguous position in Southern “but he can read and write . . . and for composure with which Turner spoke of
society. In cities like Charleston and natural intelligence and quickness of what he had done. “I looked on him,”
New Orleans, some were successful apprehension is surpassed by few men the lawyer wrote, “and my blood
enough to become slaveholders I have ever seen.” curdled in my veins.”
themselves. Cecee McCarty, for As he awaited execution, Turner Turner’s revolt sent a wave of terror
reportedly showed little remorse for his through the South and heightened fears
example, a wealthy dry goods deeds, certain that he had acted in the of future uprisings. As a result, many
retailer in New Orleans, had a sales name of God to free his people. “I am states adopted even harsher restrictions
force of 32 slaves. here loaded with chains and willing to on both enslaved and free African
Another 197,700 free African suffer the fate that awaits me,” he said. Americans.
Americans lived in the North, where
slavery had been outlawed, but they
were not embraced there either.
Racial prejudice, lamented one, was “ever at my owned a thriving sail factory employing 40 African
elbow.” Still, free African Americans could organize American and white workers. Forten devoted
their own churches and voluntary associations, much of his wealth to the cause of abolishing
plus earn money from the jobs they held. James slavery.
Forten of Philadelphia was one success story.
Forten worked aboard ships as a teenager and Reading Check Describing What was life like for
later became a maker of sails. By the age of 32, he enslaved African Americans in the South?
TM
TM

1. Define: interchangeable parts, 4. Synthesizing Why did Southerners 6. Analyzing Art Study the painting of a
nativism, labor union, strike, cotton gin, say “Cotton is King”? Southern wedding on page 183. How
yeoman farmer. 5. Organizing Use a graphic organizer has the artist embellished the scene to
2. Identify: Robert Fulton, Peter Cooper, similar to the one below to list the suggest the lifestyle of the Southern
Industrial Revolution, Francis C. Lowell, effects of some of the technological planter class?
Eli Whitney, Know-Nothing, driver. advances of the early 1800s.
Reviewing Themes 7. Expository Writing Imagine you have
Technological
3. Science and Technology How did Advances just taken a ride on one of the early
interchangeable parts revolutionize American railroads. Write a letter to the
the manufacturing process? editor of a newspaper detailing the
journey.

Social Studies
Reading a Line Graph

Urban and Rural Populations in the United States, 1810–1870
30
25 Rural Population
Millions of People
Urban Population
20
15
10
5
0
1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870
Year
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970
Why Learn This Skill? Practicing the Skill

Line graphs are a way of showing numbers visu- Study the line graph and answer the following
ally, making them easier to read and understand. questions.
Learning to read line graphs will help you compare 1 What kind of information does the graph
changes over time or differences between places, compare?
groups of people, or related events. 2 What are the time intervals on the horizontal
axis?
Learning the Skill
3 What quantity is measured on the vertical axis?
Line graphs are often used to show changes
4 What trend does the graph seem to show?
in number or quantity over time. They show
information in two dimensions. The horizontal axis 5 What two phenomena from the chapter explain
the changes in the population?
(or x-axis) is the line along the bottom of the graph.
If the graph shows information over time, this
Skills Assessment
axis usually shows the time period. The vertical
axis (or y-axis) is the line that runs up the side of Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
the graph. This axis usually displays the quantity, page 213 and the Chapter 5 Skill Reinforcement
or amount, of whatever is being measured in the Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
graph.
A double-line graph shows more than one line,
recording two related quantities. For instance, you Applying the Skill
and a friend might both record your running Reading a Line Graph Create a line graph comparing
speeds for footraces over a period of time on one the urban and rural population figures from 1910 to
graph, using a line of a different color for each of 1970. Compare your graph with the one on this page
you. Before trying to understand any graph, be and write a summary of the differences you notice
sure to read the labels on both axes and the key for between the two.
each line.
186
The Age of Jackson
Sectionalism increased after the War of Categorizing As you read about growing • Discuss the origin and terms of the
1812. Jackson’s election in 1828 ushered sectionalism, complete a graphic organ- Missouri Compromise.
in a new era of American politics. izer similar to the one below by filling in • Describe how President Jackson dealt
the conflicts triggered by the divisive with the nullification crisis, Native
Key Terms and Names issues of the 1820s listed, along with their Americans, and the national bank.
Missouri Compromise, “favorite son,” outcomes.
“corrupt bargain,” mudslinging, spoils Section Theme
system, caucus, secede, Indian Removal Issue Conflict Outcome Government and Democracy
Act, Trail of Tears, Nicholas Biddle, Whig, Westward expansion Democracy expanded to serve a wider
of slavery
Specie Circular The tariff
segment of the population during the
Jackson era.
✦1815 ✦1825 ✦1835 ✦1845

1820 1825 1828 1830 1838
Missouri Compromise John Quincy Adams named president Andrew Jackson Webster-Hayne U.S. Army drives
proposed by the House of Representatives elected president debate held in Senate Cherokee out of Georgia
As May approached in 1820, Thomas Jefferson should have been enjoying his retire-
ment from public life. Instead, a bitter political controversy had him feeling deeply trou-
bled. After more than a year of debate, Congress finally had crafted a plan to allow the
Missouri Territory to enter the Union as a slave state while Maine came in as a free state.
This arrangement preserved the delicate balance in the number of free and slave states.
The arrangement, known as the Missouri Compromise, highlighted the growing dispute
over slavery’s expansion into the Western territories—a dispute that Jefferson feared could
tear the nation apart:
“ This momentous question, like a firebell in the night, awakened and filled me with ter-
ror. I considered it at once as the knell [funeral bell] of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for
the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.
”
—quoted in The Annals of America
Thomas Jefferson
The Resurgence of Sectionalism

As the matter of statehood for Missouri stirred up passionate disagreements, the
Monroe administration’s Era of Good Feelings began to dissolve. Increasingly, sectional
disputes came to divide Americans.
The Missouri Compromise In 1819 the Union consisted of 11 free and 11 slave states.
While Northerners already dominated the House of Representatives, admitting any
new state, either slave or free, would upset the balance of political power in the Senate.

Many Northerners opposed
extending slavery into the The Missouri Compromise, 1820
western territories because
Claimed by U.S.
they believed that human and Great Britain
bondage was morally wrong. MAINE
OREGON
The South feared that if slav-
COUNTRY VT.
ery could not expand, new UNORGANIZED MICHIGAN N.H.
TERRITORY N.Y. MASS.
free states would eventually TERRITORY
R.I.
give the North enough votes PA. CONN.
in the Senate to outlaw OHIO N.J.
ILL. IND. DEL.
slaveholding. MEXICO VA.
MO. MD.
Missouri’s territorial gov- KY.
36˚ 30´ N N.C.
ernment requested admission Missouri Compromise Line TENN.
into the Union as a slave state ARK. TERR. S.C.
in 1819. Acting for slavery’s MISS. ALA. GA.
opponents, Congressman States admitted under conditions
of the Missouri Compromise LA. FLORIDA
James Tallmadge, Jr., of New TERRITORY
States and territories closed to slavery
York proposed a resolution
that prohibited slaveholders States and territories open to slavery
from bringing new slaves into
Missouri. He also called for all
enslaved children in Missouri
to be freed at age 25. The
House accepted the proposal, 1. Interpreting Maps The Missouri Compromise allowed
but the Senate rejected it. which two states to enter the Union?
A solution emerged later that year when Maine, 2. Applying Geography Skills Why did the South readily
then a part of Massachusetts, sought statehood. The agree to making slavery illegal in the unorganized
Senate decided to combine its request with Louisiana Territory?
Missouri’s and voted to admit Maine as a free state
and Missouri as a slave state. The Senate added an was strong in the election campaign of 1824. Four
amendment to prohibit slavery in the rest of the Republicans ran for president that year. All were
Louisiana Territory north of Missouri’s southern “favorite sons,” men who enjoyed popularity and
boundary. Southerners agreed, viewing this political support in their home state and region. Two
Northern region as unsuitable for farming anyway. candidates, Henry Clay of Kentucky and Andrew
Henry Clay carefully steered the amended bill Jackson of Tennessee, were rivals from the West. John
through the House of Representatives, which passed Quincy Adams hailed from Massachusetts and was
it by a close vote in March 1820. In July, however, the New England’s favorite son. William Crawford of
Missouri Compromise became threatened by a pro- Georgia had the support of the South.
posed clause in the Missouri constitution that would On Election Day, Jackson led in the popular vote
infringe on the rights of free African Americans. Clay and in the Electoral College, but he did not win the
again engineered a solution, and Missouri became necessary majority of electoral votes. In accordance
the twenty-fourth state in 1821. with constitutional procedure, the decision went to
The Missouri Compromise temporarily settled the the House of Representatives, whose members
dispute over the westward expansion of slavery. Like would select the president from the top three vote-
Jefferson, however, many leaders feared more trouble getters. Clay, who had placed fourth, was eliminated.
ahead. “I take it for granted,” wrote John Quincy As the Speaker of the House, Henry Clay enjoyed
Adams, President Monroe’s secretary of state, “that tremendous influence, and he threw his support to
the present question is a mere preamble—a title page Adams. Clay hoped Adams would champion his
to a great tragic volume.” American System, a plan to promote domestic pro-
duction by means of protective tariffs, a strong
A Disputed Election Politics reflected the regional national bank, and new roads and canals. On
divisions of the day. Although the Republicans February 9, 1825, Adams won the House election eas-
remained the only official political party, sectionalism ily, with 13 votes to Jackson’s 7 and Crawford’s 4.

A Return to Two Parties Upon taking office, the called his opponent “incompetent both by his igno-
new president named Clay as his secretary of state. rance and by the fury of his passions.” Jackson por-
Jackson’s supporters immediately accused the pair of trayed himself as the candidate of the common man
striking a “corrupt bargain,” whereby Clay had and criticized Adams as an out-of-touch, untrustwor-
secured votes for Adams in return for a cabinet post. thy aristocrat.
Adams and Clay denied any wrongdoing, and no When the results came in, Jackson had 56 percent
evidence of a deal ever emerged. Still, Jackson’s out- of the popular vote and 178 of the 261 electoral
raged supporters decided to break with the faction of votes, a clear victory. Much of his support came from
the party allied with Adams. The Jacksonians called the West and South, where rural and small-town res-
themselves Democratic Republicans, later shortened idents, many voting for the first time, saw Jackson as
to Democrats. Adams and his followers became the candidate most likely to represent their interests.
known as National Republicans. Orphaned at the age of 14, Andrew Jackson had
received little formal education and had been a
Reading Check Summarizing How did John fighter all his life. When he entered the White House
Quincy Adams win the election of 1824? at age 61, he was newly widowed and plagued by
various ailments. Jackson had an inner toughness,
however. He was nicknamed “Old Hickory” after a
A New Era in Politics hardwood found on the frontier, and he performed
John Quincy Adams, son of the second president, the duties of his office with a firm and steady hand.
was highly intelligent and hardworking. He pro- As president, Jackson actively tried to make the
posed ambitious internal improvements and fund- government more inclusive. At his inauguration, he
ing for a national university, astronomical took the unprecedented step of inviting the masses
observatories, and scientific research. Congress, to his White House reception. In an effort to
however, rejected most of Adams’s ideas as too
extravagant. When he ran for re-election in 1828,
Adams could cite few accomplishments as presi-
dent. Furthermore, his chilly manner cost him popu-
lar support at a time when more and more
Americans were voting.
States Expand Voting Rights Throughout the first

decades of the 1800s, hundreds of thousands of white
males gained the right to vote. This was largely
because many states lowered or eliminated property
ownership as a voting qualification. They did so partly
to reflect the ideals of the Declaration of Independence
and the social equality of frontier life. In addition, as
cities and towns grew, the percentage of working
people who did not own property increased. These
people paid taxes and had an interest in the political
affairs of their communities, and so they wanted a say
in electing those who represented them.
The expansion of voting rights was very much in
evidence by 1828. That year, more than 1.13 million
citizens voted for president, compared with about
355,000 in 1824.
Jackson Becomes “the People’s President” The

campaign of 1828 pitted John Quincy Adams against
Andrew Jackson, who believed that the presidency
had been unjustly denied him four years earlier. The
candidates quickly resorted to mudslinging, attack-
ing each other’s personalities and morals. Adams John Quincy Adams

strengthen democracy, he vigorously utilized the During the early 1800s, South Carolina’s economy
spoils system, the practice of appointing people to had been growing increasingly weak. Many residents
government jobs based on party loyalty and sup- blamed their troubles on the nation’s tariffs. With lit-
port. In his view, he was getting rid of a permanent tle state industry, South Carolina purchased many of
office-holding class and opening up the govern- its tools, cooking utensils, and other manufactured
ment to more ordinary citizens. goods from England. Tariffs made them extremely
Jackson’s supporters also moved to make the expensive, however. When Congress levied a new
political system—specifically, the way in which pres- tariff in 1828—which critics called the Tariff of
idential candidates were chosen—more democratic. Abominations—many South Carolinians threatened
At that time, political parties used the caucus system to secede, or withdraw, from the union.
to select presidential candidates. The members of the The growing turmoil particularly troubled Vice
party who served in Congress would hold a closed President John C. Calhoun, who was from South
meeting, or caucus, to choose the party’s nominee. Carolina. To pave the way for his home state to
Jackson’s supporters believed that such a method legally resist the tariff, Calhoun had put forth the
restricted access to office to mainly the elite and well idea of nullification in 1828. He anonymously pub-
connected. The Jacksonians replaced the caucus with lished The South Carolina Exposition and Protest, which
the national nominating convention, where delegates argued that because the states had created the federal
from the states gathered to decide on the party’s union, they had the right to declare a federal law
presidential nominee. null, or not valid.
The issue of nullification intensified in January 1830,
Reading Check Examining Why was there a large
when Robert Hayne of South Carolina and Daniel
increase in the number of voters in the United States in 1828? Webster of Massachusetts met for a Senate debate.
Hayne, asserting that the Union was no more than a
voluntary association of states, advocated “liberty first
The Nullification Crisis and Union afterward.” Webster, perhaps the greatest
Jackson had not been in office long before he had orator of his day, countered that neither liberty nor the
to focus on a national crisis. It centered on South Union could survive without binding federal laws. He
Carolina but highlighted the growing rift between ended his speech with a stirring call: “Liberty and
the nation’s northern and southern regions. Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!”
History Through Art

Jackson’s Inaugural Hundreds of
ordinary citizens celebrated Andrew
Jackson’s election at the White House.
Jackson’s portrait (left) by painter Asher
Durand shows the president’s determined
character. How was Jackson different
from previous presidents?

In
Native American Removal, 1832–1841 Motion
WIS. In 1832 Sauk and Fox MASS.
TERR. warriors led by Chief N.Y.
Mis IOWA Sauk Black Hawk fought to R.I.
TERR.
so
reclaim territory east
CONN.
uri
of the Mississippi River,
UNORG. TERR. Fox but were defeated. PA. 40°N
R.
N.J.
OHIO MD.
.
R
ILL. DEL.
o
i
IND.
Oh
VA.
MO.
Springfield KY. The Cherokee took their refusal to move
Paducah to the Supreme Court–and won. Federal
INDIAN troops forced them to leave in 1838.
TERR. Nashville 35°N
Batesville N.C.
Ft. Gibson TENN.
Ft. Smith Memphis N
Ft. Coffee Hun
Little t s vill e
Chickasaw S.C. E
Rock Cherokee W
ARK. Montgomery's
Washington Point S
Ceded by Native Americans Camden ALA.
MISS. Creek GA. Atlantic
Ceded to Native Americans
Vicksburg
Multi-Group Removal Route REPUBLIC Choctaw Ocean
Trail of Tears OF LA. 30°N
Fort TEXAS Chief Osceola
1840 border Mississippi R. led the Seminole
New Orleans FLA. in rebellion.
TERR.
Gulf of Mexico
0 200 miles Seminole
0 200 kilometers
95°W 90°W 85°W 80°W 25°N
1. Interpreting Maps Name two Native American groups

in the northern half of the United States that were forced
to move. Other Domestic Matters
2. Applying Geography Skills Where did the Trail of Of the other issues of the day, slavery remained a
Tears end? divisive question. However, President Jackson, a slave-
holder himself, largely ignored the rising voices of anti-
slavery activists. He focused instead on two other
Several months later, during a political dinner, matters—Native Americans and the national bank.
President Jackson made his position clear. Looking
directly at Calhoun, he offered this toast: “Our fed- Policies Toward Native Americans Although
eral Union—It must be preserved.” Jackson wanted to ensure the survival of Native
The war of words erupted into an explosive situ- American peoples, he accelerated an effort that had
ation in 1832 when Congress passed yet another tar- been going on for years—moving them out of the
iff law. South Carolinians stepped up their call for way of white settlers. In 1830 Jackson signed the
secession, while a special session of the state legisla- Indian Removal Act, which helped the states relo-
ture voted to nullify the law. Jackson considered cate Native Americans to largely uninhabited
nullification an act of treason and sent a warship to regions west of the Mississippi River.
Charleston. As tensions rose, Senator Henry Clay The Cherokee in Georgia fought back by appealing
managed to defuse the crisis. At Clay’s insistence, to the Supreme Court, hoping that their territorial
Congress passed a bill that would lower tariffs rights would be legally recognized. In Cherokee Nation v.
gradually until 1842. South Carolina then repealed Georgia (1831), Chief Justice Marshall supported the
its nullification of the tariff law. Cherokees’ right to control their land. In Worcester v.
Georgia (1832), the Court again ordered state officials
Reading Check Summarizing What caused the to honor the Native Americans’ property rights.
nullification crisis? Jackson refused to carry out this decision. “Marshall

has made his opinion,” the president reportedly said, A New Party Emerges
“now let him enforce it.” ; (See page 965 for more infor-
mation on Worcester v. Georgia.) By the mid-1830s, Jackson’s critics had formed a
In 1838 Jackson’s successor, Martin Van Buren sent new political party, the Whigs. Led by former
in the army to forcibly move the Cherokee. Roughly National Republicans like Henry Clay, John Quincy
2,000 Cherokee died in camps while waiting for the Adams, and Daniel Webster, the Whigs wanted to
westward march to begin. On the journey, known to expand the federal government, encourage industrial
the Cherokee as the Trail of Tears, about 2,000 others and commercial development, and create a centralized
died of starvation, disease, and exposure. economy. Such policies differed from those of the
Missionary-minded religious groups and a few Democrats, who favored a limited federal government.
members of Congress, like Henry Clay, declared that The Whigs ran three candidates for president in
Jackson’s policies toward Native Americans stained the election of 1836. Jackson’s continuing popularity,
the nation’s honor. Most citizens, however, supported however, helped assure victory for his handpicked
them. By 1838 the majority of Native Americans still successor, Democrat Martin Van Buren.
living east of the Mississippi had been forced onto gov-
ernment reservations. The Seminole of Florida were Van Buren’s Troubled Presidency Shortly after
among the few holdouts. Even after the death of their Van Buren took office, a crippling economic crisis
leader, Chief Osceola, the Seminole in the Everglades hit the nation. The roots of the crisis stretched back
resisted resettlement until the 1840s.
ECONOMICS Analyzing Political Cartoons

Jackson Battles the National Bank One of the Kingly Rule? Jackson’s strong-willed leadership attracted many critics.
most contentious developments of Jackson’s presi- Here a cartoonist portrays Jackson as an absolute monarch. What does
dency was his campaign against the national bank. Jackson appear to be trampling underfoot?
Along with most Westerners and working people,
the president distrusted the Second Bank of the
United States. The Bank had done a good job of stabi-
lizing the economy, but Jackson resented the power
that its wealthy stockholders exercised. He disliked
the Bank’s aristocratic president, Nicholas Biddle.
Jackson also believed the bank to be unconstitutional,
despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in McCulloch v.
Maryland. He further believed in the equality of the
different branches of the federal government and did
not believe that, as president, he had to accept the
Court’s ruling.
The Bank’s charter was scheduled to run out in
1836. In 1832, however, while Jackson was running
for re-election, his foes in Congress passed a bill to
extend the charter for another 20 years. Jackson
vetoed the bill, and many Americans supported him.
When Jackson easily won a second term, he saw
his victory as a mandate to destroy the Bank at once.
He withdrew the government’s deposits from the
Bank, prompting Biddle to call in outstanding loans
and stop new lending. By putting an end to the Bank
of the United States, Jackson had won a considerable
political victory. Later, however, critics would charge
that the end of the Bank helped cause the financial
woes that plagued the country in the years ahead.
Reading Check Interpreting What was the Trail
of Tears?

to the end of Jackson’s term, a period in
Major American Political Parties Since 1789
which investment in roads, canals, and rail-
roads boomed and prompted a wave of land
speculation and bank lending. This heavy Federalist
spending pushed up inflation, which Jackson
Democratic-Republican
feared eventually would render the nation’s
paper currency worthless. Just before leaving National Republican
office, therefore, Jackson issued the Specie
Circular, which ordered that all payments
Democratic
for public lands must be made in the form of Whig
silver or gold.
Jackson’s directive set off the Panic of Republican
1837. With easy paper credit no longer avail-
able, land sales plummeted and economic
growth slowed. As a result, many banks and 1796 1812 1828 1844 1860 1876 1892 1908 1924 1940 1956 1972 1988 2002
businesses failed and thousands of farmers 1789 1804 1820 1836 1852 1868 1884 1900 1916 1932 1948 1964 1980 1996
lost their land through foreclosures. Van Source: Governing by Consent
Buren, a firm believer in his party’s philoso-

phy of limited federal government, did little
to ease the crisis.
1. Interpreting Graphs What party shown had the
shortest life span?
“Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” With Van 2. Comparing How long have Republicans and Demo-
Buren clearly vulnerable, the Whigs looked forward crats been major political rivals?
to winning the White House in 1840. They nominated
General William Henry Harrison, a hero of the battle
against Native Americans at Tippecanoe in 1811.
John Tyler, a Southerner and former Democrat who Tyler’s ascendancy to the presidency dismayed
had left his party in protest over the nullification Whig leaders. Tyler sided with the Democrats on
issue, joined the ticket as the vice presidential candi- numerous key issues, refusing to support a higher
date. Campaigning with the slogan “Tippecanoe and tariff or a new national bank. The new president did
Tyler too,” the Whigs won a decisive victory. win praise, however, for the 1842 Webster-Ashburton
On March 4, 1841, Harrison delivered his inaugu- Treaty, which established a firm boundary between
ration speech, speaking for nearly two hours in the the United States and Canada.
bitter cold with no coat or hat. He came down with
pneumonia and died one month after taking office. Reading Check Explaining What caused the Panic
Vice President John Tyler then took over. of 1837?
TM
TM

1. Define: “favorite son,” “corrupt 4. Interpreting How did President 6. Analyzing Photographs Examine the
bargain,” mudslinging, spoils system, Jackson contribute to the Panic of 1837? daguerrotype of John Quincy Adams on
caucus, secede. 5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer page 189. What characteristics of
2. Identify: Missouri Compromise, Indian similar to the one below to identify key Adams does this image highlight?
Removal Act, Trail of Tears, Nicholas facts about the political parties active in
Biddle, Whig, Specie Circular. the 1830s.
Reviewing Themes Party Leaders Policies 7. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are a
3. Government and Democracy How did Democrats Native American living in the United
President Jackson try to make govern- Whigs States during Andrew Jackson’s presi-
ment more inclusive and democratic? dency. Write a letter to President
Jackson giving your opinion of the
Indian Removal Act.

The Reform Spirit
Strong faith and individualism led to an Sequencing As you read about the aboli- • Explain the goals of the temperance
era of reform. tionist movement, complete a time line movement, prison reform, educational
similar to the one below to record key reform, and the women’s movement.
Key Terms and Names events. • Discuss the growth of the abolition
Second Great Awakening, benevolent movement and reaction to it.
society, transcendentalism, utopia, tem- 1816 1832
perance, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, aboli- 1789 1845
Section Theme
tion, emancipation, Frederick Douglass Groups and Institutions Abolitionist
1831 1833
reformers challenged the morality of
slavery in the United States.
✦1830 ✦1840 ✦1850 ✦1860

1833 1840 1848 1851 1855
American Antislavery Liberty Party runs first Seneca Falls Maine passes first Walt Whitman’s Leaves
Society founded presidential candidate Convention state prohibition law of Grass published
By 1841 Dorothea Dix had been a schoolteacher in Massachusetts for many years. That
year, a clergymember asked her to lead a Sunday school class at a local prison. What Dix
saw there appalled her. Mentally ill persons lay neglected in dirty, unheated rooms. Putting
aside her teaching career, she began a crusade to improve prison conditions for the mentally
ill and to provide them with the treatment they needed.
In 1843 Dix composed a letter to the Massachusetts legislature calling for such reforms.
She pointed to the example of one local woman as evidence that more humane treatment
might help many of the mentally ill. “Some may say these things cannot be remedied,” she
wrote. “I know they can. . . . A young woman, a pauper . . . was for years a raging maniac.
A cage, chains, and the whip were the agents for controlling her, united with harsh tones and
profane language.” Dix explained that a local couple took the woman in and treated her with
care and respect. “They are careful of her diet. They keep her very clean. She calls them
‘father’ and ‘mother.’ Go there now, and you will find her ‘clothed,’ and though not perfectly
Dorothea Dix in her ‘right mind,’ so far restored as to be a safe and comfortable inmate.”
—adapted from Old South Leaflets
A Religious Revival
Largely through the efforts of Dorothea Dix, more than a dozen states enacted sweep-
ing prison reforms and created special institutions for the mentally ill. As influential as
she was, Dix was just one of many citizens who worked to reform various aspects of
American society in the mid-1800s.

The reform movement stemmed in large part from a A Literary Renaissance
revival of religion that began at the turn of the century.
Many church leaders sensed that the growth of scien- The spirit of reform and the revival of religious
tific knowledge and rationalism were challenging the feeling in the early 1800s coincided with a flowering
doctrine of faith. In the early 1800s, religious leaders of American literature. American essayists, poets,
organized to revive Americans’ commitment to reli- and novelists who were previously overshadowed
gion. The resulting movement came to be called the by European writers now became widely admired.
Second Great Awakening. Various Protestant denomi-
nations—most often the Methodists, Baptists, and The Transcendentalists One notable group of
Presbyterians—held camp meetings where thousands philosophers and writers in New England were the
of followers sang, prayed, and participated in emo- transcendentalists. Transcendentalism was based on
tional outpourings of faith. One of the most successful the idea that people can transcend, or overcome, the
ministers was Charles G. Finney. He pioneered many mind’s limits. The transcendentalists emphasized
methods of revivalism still used by evangelists today. feeling over reason and sought communion with the
natural world. The most influential transcendentalist
New Religious Groups Emerge As membership in was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who published his best-
many Protestant churches swelled, other religious known essay, Nature, in 1836. Other leaders of the
groups also flourished. Among them were movement included Margaret Fuller and Henry
Unitarianism, Universalism, and the Church of Jesus David Thoreau, the author of Walden.
Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose followers are com-
monly known as Mormons. Distinctively American Voices Many of the
Joseph Smith began preaching the Mormon faith nation’s writers set out to create uniquely American
in New York in the 1820s. After enduring much works that celebrated the people, history, and natural
harassment in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and else- beauty of the United States. James Fenimore Cooper
where, Mormons across the Midwest moved to romanticized Native Americans and frontier life in
Illinois. There the group prospered, and their settle- his Leatherstocking Tales, the most famous being The
ment of Nauvoo grew to about 15,000 in 1844. Last of the Mohicans (1826). Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Persecution continued, however, and following the who produced more than 100 tales and novels,
murder of Joseph Smith the Mormons headed west, explored the Puritan heritage of New Englanders in
finally putting down permanent roots in the Utah books like The Scarlet Letter (1850). Herman Melville,
Territory. another New Englander, wrote the whaling adven-
ture Moby Dick (1851), a masterpiece of American fic-
The Reform Spirit Revivalists preached the power tion. Edgar Allen Poe achieved fame as a poet and
of individuals to improve themselves and the world. writer of macabre short stories and detective tales.
Lyman Beecher, one of the nation’s most prominent Henry Wadsworth Longfellow drew upon American
Presbyterian ministers, insisted that the nation’s citi-
zenry, more than its government, was responsible for
building a better society. History Through Art
Associations known as benevolent societies sprang Religious Zeal J. Maze Burban’s Religious Camp Meeting shows a charis-
up in cities and towns across the country. At first, they matic preacher reaching many in the audience. From studying the image,
focused on spreading the word of God and attempting can you suggest other reasons people might want to attend?
to convert nonbelievers. Soon, however, they sought to
combat a number of social problems. One of the most
striking features of the reform effort was the over-
whelming presence of women. Young women in par-
ticular had joined the revivalist movement in much
larger numbers than men. One reason was that many
unmarried women with uncertain futures discovered
in religion a foundation on which to build their lives.
As more women turned to the church, many of them
also joined religious-based reform groups.
Reading Check Examining What sparked the
reform movement of the mid-1800s?
history to create poems like “Paul Revere’s Ride” Social Reform
(1863) and the “Song of Hiawatha” (1855) about a
The optimism and the emphasis on the individual
legendary Iroquois chief.
that infused much of American literature and reli-
Perhaps the most provocative American writer of
gion in the mid-1800s also gave rise to dozens of new
the day was Walt Whitman, who pioneered a new
communities. The people who formed these commu-
kind of poetry with Leaves of Grass (1855). Rejecting
nities believed that the way to a better life was to sep-
traditional rhyme and meter for free verse, Whitman
arate themselves from the corrupting influence of the
exalted nature, the common people, democracy, and
larger society and form their own utopia, or ideal
the human body and spirit.
society. They typically practiced cooperative living
The Penny Press A less literary but greatly influen- and rejected the idea of private property. Some
tial phenomenon at this time was the rise of the mass utopian settlements, like Brook Farm near Boston,
newspaper. Before the early 1800s, most newspapers were based on social or political ideologies. Others
catered to well-educated readers and were too costly were religious in origin, like the communities
for the average worker. As more Americans learned founded by Shakers. The Shakers got their name
to read and gained the right to vote, however, pub- from a ritual shaking dance that members per-
lishers began creating inexpensive “penny papers” formed. They reached their peak in the mid-1800s
that satisfied the popular craving for local news, with some 6,000 members.
crime reports, and gossip. In general, however, only a few Americans chose
General-interest magazines that catered to particu- to live in utopian communities. Many more, inspired
lar groups also emerged around this time. Louis A. by a strong faith in human goodness, attempted not
Godey founded Godey’s Lady’s Book in 1830, the first to escape society but to reform it.
American magazine for women. In 1857 the poet
James Russell Lowell launched the Atlantic Monthly
The Temperance Movement A number of reform-
ers argued that no social vice caused more crime,
for the well-educated. Harper’s Weekly appealed to lit-
poverty, or family damage than the excessive use of
erate readers with its lavish illustrations and articles
alcohol. In small towns throughout the West, people
on everything from books to national news.
drank to ease the loneliness of rural life. In eastern
Reading Check Identifying Who were some of the cities, many workers made drinking in the pubs and
leading transcendentalists during America’s literary renaissance? saloons their main leisure activity.
Although advocates of temperance, or modera-
tion in the consumption of alcohol, had been active
since the late 1700s, the new reformers energized the
campaign. Temperance groups formed across the
country, preaching the evils of alcohol and urging
History Through Art

Drunkard’s Progress In 1846 Nathaniel Currier
made this lithograph engraving (right). It clearly lays
out the path to degradation that begins in Step 1, a
glass of alcohol with a friend. Some innkeepers
advertised their temperance principles with a sign
such as the one above. From looking at the litho-
graph, how can you tell that women were often
temperance supporters?
heavy drinkers to give up liquor. In
in History
1833 a number of groups formed a
national organization, the American Prudence Crandall
Temperance Union, to strengthen the 1803–1890
movement. In 1831 Prudence Crandall was
While persuading people not to running a successful school for girls in
drink, temperance societies pushed to Canterbury, Connecticut, when Sarah
Harris, the daughter of a prominent
halt the sale of liquor. In 1851 Maine
African American farmer, sought admis-
passed the first state prohibition law, sion. When Crandall agreed to let her
an example a dozen other states fol- in, local parents objected, and many
lowed by 1855. Other states passed withdrew their children from the
“local option” laws, which allowed school.
towns and villages to prohibit liquor Crandall then reorganized her school
as a teacher-training institution for
sales within their boundaries.
African American women. The citizens on appeal. In the wake of the trial, resi-
of Canterbury erupted in protest. To dents terrorized Crandall’s school,
Prison Reform One of society’s combat Crandall’s effort, the state legis- dirtying its well, refusing it supplies,
most glaring ills, reformers insisted, lature passed the “Black Law,” which and creating other hardships. In 1834
was its prison system. Inmates of all forbade Connecticut schools from Crandall closed her school.
kinds, ranging from violent offenders admitting out-of-state African American Upon her death nearly 60 years later,
to debtors to the mentally ill, often students and severely limited the type a friend recalled her willingness to fight
of schools that in-state African for what she believed in. “She had deep
were indiscriminately crowded
Americans could attend. convictions of right. . . . Neither death,
together in jails and prisons, which in Crandall ignored the law and was life, angels, principalities, things pres-
some cases were literally holes in the arrested in August 1833. In a highly ent, things to come, heights, depths,
ground. One jail in Connecticut, publicized case, prosecutors convicted nor any other creature could keep her
for example, was an abandoned her, but her conviction was overturned from following her convictions.”
mineshaft.
Around 1816 many states began
replacing these facilities with new
penitentiaries where prisoners were to be rehabili- broader public education. After all, democracy
tated rather than merely locked up. Officials devel- demanded an informed and educated electorate.
oped forms of rigid discipline to rid inmates of the
laziness that had led them astray. Solitary confine-
Horace Mann Fights for Public Schooling One of
ment was meant to give prisoners the chance to
the leaders of the education movement was Horace
meditate on their wrongdoing.
Mann. After helping to create the Massachusetts
Reading Check Identifying What were two aspects Board of Education in 1837, he served as its secretary
of American society targeted by reformers? for 12 years. During that time, he doubled teachers’
salaries, opened 50 new high schools, and
established schools for teacher training
called normal schools.
Educational Reform By the 1850s, tax-supported elemen-
Although the idea of state-supported tary schools had gained widespread sup-
schools dated back as far as the port in the Northeastern states and had
Massachusetts General School Act of begun to spread to the rest of the country.
1647, there were few public schools in Rural areas responded more slowly,
America in the Jacksonian Era. In the because children there were needed to
early 1800s, reformers began to push help with planting and harvesting.
states to fund public schools for several In the South, a reformer named Calvin
reasons. For one thing, new technology Horace Mann Wiley played a similar role in North
created a demand for better-educated Carolina to that of Horace Mann in
workers. It also seemed necessary to educate the Massachusetts. In 1839 North Carolina began provid-
increasing number of immigrants coming to the ing support to local communities that established
United States. The surging voting rolls in the 1820s taxpayer-funded schools. Wiley traveled throughout
and 1830s offered another compelling reason for the state building support for public education. By

Old-Fashioned
School Days
Public schools in the early to mid-1800s
were rough-and-ready affairs. Students • One-Room Schoolhouse
came in all ages and sizes, teachers often The painting New England School by
had little training, and books and supplies Charles Frederick Bosworth tells the
were hard to obtain. tale of teachers’ challenges in early
public schools. With a mixed-aged
• School ink jar class, the teacher had to teach a
• School
few students at a time, leaving lunch pail
the others to their own
education—or entertainment.
The Women’s Movement

In the early 1800s, the industrial revolution began
1860 about two-thirds of North Carolina’s white chil-
to change the economic roles of men and women. In
dren attended school part of the year. The South as a
the 1700s, most economic activity took place in or
whole responded less quickly, and only about one-
near the home because most people lived on farms.
third of Southern white children were enrolled in
Although husbands and wives had distinct chores,
public schools by 1860. African American children
running the farm and raising the family was the
were excluded entirely.
focus of their efforts. The rise of factories and other
Women’s Education When officials talked about work centers in the 1800s began to separate the home
educating voters, they had men in mind, since from the workplace. Men now left home to go to
women were still not allowed to cast a ballot in the work, while women tended the house and children.
1800s. Nonetheless, a number of women took advan- Most people believed the home was the proper
tage of the reform movement to create more educa- place for women, partly because the outside world
tional opportunities for girls and women. was seen as dangerous and partly because of the era’s
Emma Willard, who founded a girls’ boarding ideas about the family. For many parents, raising chil-
school in Vermont in 1814, was an early women’s dren was treated as a solemn responsibility because it
educational pioneer. Her school went beyond the prepared young people for a proper Christian life.
usual subjects for young women, such as cooking Women, in particular, were viewed as more moral
and etiquette, to include academic subjects like his- and charitable than men, and better able to serve as
tory, math, and literature. In 1837 another educator, models of piety and virtue for their families.
Mary Lyon, opened the first higher education insti- Magazine articles and novels reinforced the value
tution for women, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, of women’s role at home. In 1841 Catherine Beecher,
in Massachusetts. Eighty students arrived the first daughter of the minister Lyman Beecher, wrote A
year; the second year, more than 200 applied for Treatise on Domestic Economy. The popular volume
enrollment. argued that women could find fulfillment at home
and gave instruction on childcare, cooking, and
Reading Check Explaining Why was a better public health matters. At that time, most women did not feel
education system needed in the early 1800s? that their role in life was too limited. Instead, the

The Abolitionist Movement
• First Readers Of all the reform movements that began in the
Generations of stu-
early 1800s, the movement calling for abolition, or
dents used
McGuffey’s Readers, the immediate end to slavery, was the most divisive.
first produced in the By pitting North against South, it polarized the
1830s by William nation and helped bring about the Civil War.
McGuffey. His readers—
the first Eclectic Reader is pictured here—ranged from simple Early Opposition to Slavery Opposition to slavery
to advanced and aimed to give students a happy, positive in the United States had actually begun as early as
feeling. A college president at the end of his life, McGuffey the Revolutionary War era. Quakers and Baptists in
began teaching in frontier the North and South agreed not to enslave people,
Ohio schools when he was viewing the practice as a sin that corrupted both
only 13. slaveholder and slave. In Virginia in 1789, the
Baptists recommended “every legal measure to [wipe
out] this horrid evil from the land.”
One notable antislavery effort in the early 1800s
was the formation of the American Colonization
Society (ACS) in December 1816. This group, sup-
ported by such prominent figures as President James
• School Monroe and Chief Justice John Marshall, encouraged
desk African Americans to resettle in Africa. The privately
funded ACS chartered ships and helped relocate
between 12,000 and 20,000 African Americans along
the west coast of Africa in what became the nation of
era’s ideas implied that wives were partners with Liberia. Still, there were over 1.5 million enslaved per-
their husbands, and, in some ways, morally superior. sons in the United States in 1820. Many of them,
The idea that women had an important role in already two or three generations removed from Africa,
building a virtuous home was soon expanded to soci- strongly objected to the idea of resettlement.
ety. As women became involved in reform movements,
some argued for the right to promote their ideas. TURNING POINT
In 1848 activists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth The New Abolitionists The antislavery movement
Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention gained new momentum in the 1830s, thanks largely
in New York. This gathering of women reformers to William Lloyd Garrison. In his twenties, Garrison
marked the beginning of an organized woman’s had worked for an antislavery newspaper in
movement. The convention issued the Declaration of Baltimore. In 1831, at the age of 25, he cofounded his
Sentiments and Resolutions, better known as the own paper in Boston with fellow abolitionist Isaac
Seneca Falls Declaration. It began with words Knapp. In the Liberator, Garrison wrote caustic
expanding the Declaration of Independence: “We attacks on slavery and called for the immediate
hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and emancipation, or freeing, of enslaved persons. He
women are created equal. . . .” ; (See page 952 for more had no patience with those who were put off by his
information on the Seneca Falls Declaration.) militant stand:
Although Stanton shocked the women present
when she proposed that they focus on gaining suf-
frage, or the right to vote, the convention narrowly “ I am aware that many object to the severity of my
language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be
passed her proposal. Throughout the 1850s, women
as harsh as truth and as uncompromising as justice.
organized conventions to promote greater rights for
On this subject I do not wish to think, or speak, or
themselves. These conventions drew attention to
their cause, paving the way for a stronger movement write with moderation. No! No! . . . urge me not to
to emerge after the Civil War. use moderation . . . I am in earnest, I will not equivo-
cate, I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single
Reading Check Examining How did society’s view inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.
”
of women change in the early 1800s? —from the Liberator

African American Populations, 1820 and 1860
MD. 36.1
49.6 45.0 24.9
African American
Percentage 16.4
of Total Population 10.1
22.9 20.4
10.0 10.0 VA.**
1820 1860
MO. KY. 34.4 36.5
* 1830 data (Florida)
25.5
N.C.
** Includes present-day 19.6 58.5 35°N
West Virginia (Virginia) 25.5
TENN. 52.7
*** No data for 1820 (Texas) 14.3 S.C.

55.2 45.4 44.3 44.1
ARK. 44.0 32.8
Atlantic
TEX.*** 52.3 49.4 Ocean
ALA. GA.
30.3 MISS. 30°N
LA. 45.7*45.0 N
W E
0 200 miles S
Gulf of Mexico
0 200 kilometers
FLA.* William Lloyd Garrison
95°W 90°W 85°W 80°W
1. Interpreting Maps What two states had the highest

percentage of African American population in 1820?
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think support African American Abolitionists Not surprisingly,
for colonization might have been stronger in Virginia free African Americans took a prominent role in the
than in South Carolina? abolitionist movement. The most famous was
Frederick Douglass, who had escaped from slavery
in Maryland. A brilliant thinker and an electrifying
Garrison soon attracted enough followers to speaker, Douglass drew many African Americans to
found the New England Antislavery Society in 1832 the antislavery moment. He published his own anti-
and the American Antislavery Society in 1833. Both slavery newspaper, the North Star, and wrote an auto-
organizations thrived. By 1838 more than 1,350 chap- biography that quickly sold 4,500 copies after its
ters had formed, with over 250,000 members. publication in 1845.
Orator Wendell Phillips, poet John Greenleaf Another important African American abolitionist
Whittier, and many other dedicated people became was Sojourner Truth. She gained freedom in 1827
active in the cause. Theodore Weld was one of the most when New York freed all remaining enslaved persons
effective leaders, recruiting and training many aboli- in the state. In the 1840s her eloquent and deeply reli-
tionists for the American Antislavery Society. Arthur gious antislavery speeches attracted huge crowds.
and Lewis Tappan, two devout and wealthy brothers
from New York City, were also influential. Despite the Northern Views In the North, citizens responded
risk of taunts and beatings, abolitionists worked tire- to the abolitionist movement with everything from
lessly to end what they saw as a hideous wrong. support to indifference to opposition. While many
Many women also gave their efforts to the aboli- Northerners disapproved of slavery, some objected
tionist cause. Prudence Crandall worked as a teacher to abolitionism even more. They regarded the move-
and abolitionist in Connecticut. Lucretia Mott, a ment as a dangerous threat to the existing social sys-
strong advocate of women’s rights, also spoke out in tem. Some whites, including many prominent
favor of abolition. Some Southern women also joined businesspeople, warned that it would produce a
the crusade. Among the earliest were Sarah and destructive war between the North and the South.
Angelina Grimké, South Carolina sisters who moved Others feared it might bring a great influx of freed
north to work openly against slavery. African Americans to the North, overwhelming the

labor and housing markets. Many Northerners also
had no desire to see the South’s economy crumble. If
that happened, they might lose the huge sums
Southern planters owed to Northern banks as well as
the Southern cotton that fed Northern textile mills.
Given such attitudes, violence against abolitionists
was hardly surprising. William Lloyd Garrison was
nearly killed by an angry mob in 1834. Another aboli-
tionist publisher, the Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy, did
indeed die in a mob attack in 1837. Yet Northerners
also resented Southern slave-catchers who kidnapped
African American runaways in the North and hauled
them back to the South. In response, several Northern
states passed laws restricting slave recapture.
Reaction in the South To most Southerners, slav-

ery was a “peculiar institution,” one that was distinc-
tive and vital to the Southern way of life. While the
North was building cities and factories, the South
remained mostly agricultural, becoming increasingly
tied to cotton and the enslaved people who planted Frederick Douglass (center left) attending an abolitionist rally in
and picked it. Southerners responded to the growing Cazenovia, New York, in August 1850
attacks against slavery by vehemently defending the
institution. South Carolina’s governor called it a postal workers refused to deliver abolitionist news-
“national benefit,” while Thomas Dew, a leading aca- papers. In 1836, under Southern pressure, the House
demic of the South, claimed that most slaves had no of Representatives passed a “gag rule” providing that
desire for freedom, as they enjoyed a close and bene- all abolitionist petitions be shelved without debate.
ficial relationship with their slaveholders. Such measures did not deter the foes of slavery.
In 1831, when the Nat Turner rebellion left more Although the abolitionist movement was still rela-
than 50 white Virginians dead, Southerners were out- tively small, it continued to cause an uproar, and the
raged. They cracked down on slaves throughout the North-South split continued to widen.
region and railed against the North. Further, they
demanded the suppression of abolitionist material as Reading Check Summarizing How did Northerners
a condition for remaining in the Union. Southern and Southerners view abolitionism?
TM
TM

1. Define: benevolent society, transcen- 4. Understanding Cause and Effect How 6. Analyzing Art Look closely at the
dentalism, utopia, temperance, aboli- did the Second Great Awakening affect painting of a New England School on
tion, emancipation. the reform spirit of the mid-1800s? page 198. How is the room heated?
2. Identify: Second Great Awakening, 5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer What kinds of supplies did the students
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick similar to the one below to identify have?
Douglass. some of the leading figures of the era
discussed in this section.
Reviewing Themes
Key Figures Key Contributions
3. Groups and Institutions Which
Abolitionists Writing About History
groups of Americans opposed slavery
Other Social Reformers 7. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
and which supported it? What efforts
Literary Figures are active in one of the reform move-
did they take to achieve their goals?
Religious Leaders ments of the early 1800s. Write an edi-
torial to persuade others to support
your cause.

Manifest Destiny
In the 1840s, the nation expanded as set- Organizing As you read about the set- • Describe the pioneers of the 1840s,
tlers moved west. tling of the West, complete a graphic explain why and how they journeyed
organizer similar to the one below to west, and discuss where they settled.
Key Terms and Names describe the outcomes of disputes that • Discuss the founding of the Republic of
Manifest Destiny, squatter, Pre-emption arose as the United States expanded. Texas and the major events and out-
Act, Tejano, empresario, Antonio López come of the war with Mexico.
de Santa Anna, Sam Houston, annexation, Dispute Outcome
Bear Flag Republic, Treaty of Guadalupe Section Theme
Hidalgo Continuity and Change American set-
tlers in Mexican lands continued to speak
English and practice American customs.
✦1836 ✦1841 ✦1845 ✦1849

1836 1841 1845 1846 1846 1848
Texas declares independence Pre-emption Act Texas becomes Congress declares Oregon boundary Treaty of Guadalupe
from Mexico passed a state war on Mexico dispute settled Hidalgo signed
In July 1821, Stephen F. Austin set off from Louisiana for the Texas territory in the north-
eastern corner of Mexico. The Spanish government had promised to give his father, Moses, a
huge tract of Texas land if the elder Austin settled 300 families there from the United States.
Moses, however, died before he could fulfill his end of the deal. On his deathbed, his dying
wish was that Stephen take his place in Texas.
Stephen Austin was favorably impressed with the region. As he surveyed the land grant
between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers, he noted its natural abundance:
“ The Prairie comes bluff to the river . . . and affords a most beautiful situation for a Town
or settlement. . . . The country . . . is as good in every respect as man could wish for, Land all
”
first rate, plenty of timber, fine water, beautifully rolling.
—quoted in Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas
Stephen F. Austin
The Western Pioneers

Austin was not alone in seeing possibilities in Texas. Thousands of people would depart
the United States to start a new life in this area by 1836. Around the same time, many more
Americans began pushing into the Midwest and beyond, journeying all the way to
California and the Oregon Territory. Between the late 1830s and early 1860s, more than
250,000 Americans braved great obstacles to venture west along overland trails. The oppor-
tunity to farm fertile soil, enter the fur trade, or trade with foreign nations across the Pacific
lured farmers, adventurers, and merchants alike. Whatever their reasons, most emigrants,
like the majority of Americans, believed in Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the

idea that the nation was meant to spread to the Pacific. to occupy the Oregon land jointly. The British domi-
; (See page 931 for more information on Manifest Destiny.) nated the region until about 1840, when the enthusias-
tic reports of American missionaries began to attract
Farmers in the Midwest In 1800 only about 400,000 large numbers of would-be farmers to the region.
Americans were living west of the Appalachian California was a frontier province of Mexico.
Mountains. By 1850 over 4 million settlers had Because few Mexicans wanted to make their homes in
advanced across the Appalachian Mountains and into California, the local government welcomed foreign set-
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. tlers. By 1845 more than 700 Americans lived in and
Some of the first pioneers were called squatters, around the Sacramento Valley. Though the central gov-
because they settled on lands they did not own. In ernment in Mexico City relied on these American set-
1841, however, Congress passed the Pre-emption Act. tlers, it was suspicious about their national loyalties.
This law allowed squatters to buy up to 160 acres
before the land went up for public sale.
GEOGRAPHY
The Push to the Pacific Latecomers to the Midwest The Trails West Between the frontier jumping-off
set their sights on California and Oregon, although points and the Pacific lay a vast expanse of difficult
other nations had already claimed parts of these lands. terrain. By the 1840s, several east-to-west routes had
The United States and Great Britain had agreed in 1818 been carved out by early adventurers such as Kit
Overland Trails West, 1840–1860

Columbia
N R. BRITISH NORTH AMERICA
Continental Divide
W
E WASHINGTON Pass
S TERR.
Ft. Walla Mi ssou Fort
Portland Walla ri
R.
1860 border
OREG. Snake NEBRASKA UNORG.
Ft. Boise
R.
TERR. TERR. MINN.
WIS. MASS.
OR
E GON T South Pass N.Y.

RA
40°N CALIFORNIA TRAIL MICH. R.I.

IL
MORMON TRAIL
Donner Great Salt Ft. Laramie IOWA CONN.
Pass Lake Ft. Bridger Platte R. PA.
Sacramento Council Bluffs
P ONY E Salt Lake City Ft. Kearny OH. N.J.
XPRESS UTAH TERR. Nauvoo IND.
San Francisco St. Joseph ILL. DEL.
AIL R.
Denver
SANTA FE TRAIL
Independence VA. MD.
CALIF. H TR d o Bent's Fort
IS ra St. Louis KY.
PAN lo KANSAS TERR.
DS Co MO.
N.C.
Ar
OL
ka
Santa Fe CIMARRON
ns
TENN.
Los Angeles UNORG. a s R.
NEW MEXICO CUTOFF TERR. Fort Smith S.C.
TERR. R
R.
ed R.
ARK.
s s i s s ip p i
Tucson IL MISS. GA.

MA
30°N D ALA.
El Paso LAN
R VER LA.
Pacific O
Mi
UT
io
B Gra
T E R F I E L TEX.
D
Ocean FLA.
nd
e
MEXICO
0 500 miles
Gulf of
0 500 kilometers Mexico
120°W 110°W 90°W
1. Interpreting Maps Name two Missouri cities that

served as starting points for western emigrants.
2. Applying Geography Skills Why did emigrants bypass
the open territory of the Great Plains for a grueling jour-
A wagon train
ney to the Far West?
headed west
Carson and African American Jim Beckwourth. The Americans forever. White settlers still streamed
most popular route was the Oregon Trail. Other trails across the plains, however, provoking Native
included the California Trail and the Santa Fe Trail. The American hostility.
typical trip west took five to six months, with the
Reading Check Evaluating What kind of relation-
wagon trains progressing about 15 miles (24 km) a day.
ship did the Plains Indians and white settlers have?
Crossing the Great Plains Most Americans

assumed that the treeless Great Plains contained
poor land for farming. Reports of hostile Plains Americans Settle in Texas
Indians further discouraged settlement in this When Stephen Austin arrived in Texas in 1821,
“Great American Desert.” Early pioneers heading most Spanish-speaking inhabitants, called Tejanos,
west through the region, however, often found that lived in the southern part of the region. To the north
the Native Americans there were helpful and would lay the territory of the Apache, Comanche, and other
provide food, water, fresh horses, and valuable Native American groups.
information. The sparse settlement in Texas posed a problem for
As the overland traffic increased, the Plains the newly independent Mexican government. It wor-
Indians came to resent the threat it posed to their way ried that the United States might try to take over the
of life. They relied on the buffalo for food, shelter, region if Mexico left it underpopulated for long.
warm clothing, and tools. Now they feared that the Unable to persuade its own citizens to move closer to
increasing flow of settlers across their hunting the Native American groups, Mexico continued the
grounds would cause the buffalo herds to die off or Spanish policy of inviting foreigners into Texas.
migrate elsewhere. Between 1823 and 1825, Mexico passed three coloniza-
Hoping to ensure peace, the federal government tion laws that offered cheap land to nearly anyone
negotiated the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851. Eight willing to come. The last law granted new immigrants
Plains Indian groups agreed to specific geographic a 10-year exemption from paying taxes but required
boundaries, while the United States promised that that they become Mexican citizens, live under
the defined territories would belong to the Native Mexican law, and convert to Roman Catholicism.
Americans began flooding into Texas with the
encouragement of empresarios—agents who con-
tracted with the Mexican government to bring in a
certain number of residents in exchange for large
grants of Texas land. The empresarios advertised for
settlers, assigned a plot to each family, and governed
the colonies they established. Stephen Austin was the
first and most successful empresario. By the mid-
1830s, Austin had persuaded some 1,500 American
families to immigrate.
The Americans who relocated to Texas initially
accepted Mexican citizenship. Few, however,
adopted Mexican customs, learned Spanish, or devel-
oped a loyalty to Mexico. The Spanish Catholic
Church was alien to them, and most had little contact
with native Mexicans, who lived farther south.
Many Mexicans, in turn, distrusted the new set-
tlers because of their American lifestyle and dis-
missal of Mexican ways. The Mexicans’ unease
increased in 1826, when empresario Haden Edwards’s
brother Benjamin rebelled against Mexican authority
History and proclaimed that American settlements in Texas
were now an independent nation, Fredonia.
Land in Texas This April 1836 poster from New Orleans sought volun-
teers during the Texas war for independence. The offer of land also drew Edwards gained few followers, however, and
settlers to Texas before the war. Why do you think the sponsors offered Stephen Austin led an American force that helped
more land to settlers who stayed longer? Mexico crush the revolt.

in History
Lorenzo de Zavala Sam Houston
1788–1836 1793–1863
Lorenzo de Zavala demonstrated Standing over six feet tall, Sam
his fierce support of democratic prin- Houston seemed larger than life.
ciples both in his native Mexico and A military hero in the Creek wars,
as a citizen of the Republic of Texas. he had a brief political career in
Born in the Yucatán peninsula, Tennessee before heading to Texas
Zavala was jailed in his youth for in 1832. He soon revived his military
advocating Mexican independence career and led the army of the
from Spain. Soon after Mexico gained Republic of Texas to victory over Mexico
independence in 1821, Zavala was elected to at the Battle of San Jacinto. Texans elected
the new national congress. Battles for political power him president of the Republic and later, when Texas
in early Mexico were intense. Zavala was forced into exile but joined the Union, Houston served as a U.S. senator.
granted a huge tract of land in southeastern Texas. Despite being a slaveholder himself, Houston voted with the
Politics in Texas proved no less intense than in Mexico. Most antislavery faction because he believed a compromise was neces-
Mexicans in Texas were loyal to Mexico, but Zavala’s disapproval sary to save the Union. When the Civil War broke out, Houston
of Santa Anna’s policies led him to support Texan independence. refused to take an oath of loyalty to the new Southern government,
As a speaker of both Spanish and English, he helped draft the new and he was removed from office. In his farewell address, he
republic’s constitution and design its flag. He also served as vice declared, “Oh my fellow countrymen, the fearful conflict will fill our
president of the Republic-in-Arms until ill health forced him to land with untold suffering, misfortune, and disaster.” He died in
resign. July 1863 at the height of the Civil War.
Suspicious of Americans’ intentions in Texas, de Santa Anna. Meanwhile, Mexican officials had
Mexico closed its borders to further American intercepted Austin’s letter. They arrested him for
immigration in 1830. This action infuriated treason on January 3, 1834, and jailed him without
American settlers. Without immigration, their set- trial in Mexico City.
tlements could not grow and relatives back home After Austin was granted amnesty in July 1835, he
could not join them. Worst of all, the Mexican gov- concluded that negotiation with Santa Anna was
ernment was telling them what they could and impossible. In April 1834, Santa Anna had abruptly
could not do. made himself a dictator, disavowing the country’s
democratic constitution and declaring that his word
Reading Check Examining What did Mexico offer
was law. In September 1835, Austin urged Texans to
people willing to settle in northern Texas, and what did it organize an army, which they quickly did.
require of these settlers? The settler army first faced a Mexican force in
October 1835. At the military post of Gonzales, about
75 miles east of San Antonio, Mexican soldiers
Texas Fights for Independence ordered the Texans to sur-
With tensions simmering, settlers met at two con- render their arms. In
ventions in San Felipe in 1832 and 1833. The first con- response, the rebels pointed
vention asked Mexico to reopen Texas to American a cannon at the Mexican HISTORY
immigrants and to loosen the taxes on imports. The troops and held up a sign
second convention was more aggressive. It recom- that read, “Come and Take Student Web
mended separating Texas from Coahuila, the It.” Having no orders to Activity Visit the
Mexican state it was then part of, and designated attack, the Mexicans American Republic
Stephen Austin to travel to Mexico City to negotiate retreated to San Antonio. Since 1877 Web site at
tarvol2.glencoe.com
with the Mexican government. In the fall of 1833, The Texans, who numbered
when the negotiations stalled, an angry Austin wrote only about 300, followed
Web Activities—
back to San Antonio to suggest that Texas should them and drove the much
Chapter 5 for an
start peacefully organizing its own state government. larger Mexican force out of activity on Manifest
After sending his letter, Austin managed to win San Antonio in mid- Destiny.
several concessions from President Antonio López December 1835.

The Alamo Despite this early success, the Texans
faced tremendous difficulties. They had to scramble “ I call on you, in the name of liberty, of patriotism,
and everything dear to American character, to come
to organize a government, and few of the men had
any military training. In the meantime, Santa Anna
to our aid with all dispatch. . . . Victory or death!
”
was personally leading a Mexican force of about —from History of Texas
6,000 to put down the rebellion. When Santa Anna’s
troops arrived at San Antonio in February 1836, they The call for reinforcements went almost unan-
found about 150 rebels and 24 noncombatants holed swered. Only 32 settlers from Gonzales arrived to
up in a former Spanish mission called the Alamo. The join the fight. Still, the small band of Texans held off
Texan commander, Lieutenant Colonel William B. Santa Anna’s army for 13 days. During the standoff,
Travis, quickly sent a plea for help to fellow Texans on March 2, the new Texas government met at
and U.S. citizens: Washington-on-the-Brazos and formally declared
independence from Mexico.
Texas War for Independence, On March 6, 1836, Santa Anna’s army stormed the
1835–1836 mission. The Texans fought off the attackers for sev-
eral hours, killing or wounding over 600 before the
100°W In 96°W
Motion Alamo was finally overrun. Only women, children,
and some servants survived; the dead included famed
UNORGANIZED frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie.
TERRITORY ARK.
Two weeks later, the Mexican army overwhelmed
UNITED STATES troops led by James W. Fannin at Goliad, a town
R.
Red
southeast of San Antonio. The Texans surrendered,
N
hoping for clemency. Santa Anna, however, insisted
W E on the usual punishment for captured foreigners—
S execution. At dawn on March 27, Fannin and more
Bo
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
un
than 300 others died at the hands of a firing squad.

da
ry
The losses at the Alamo and Goliad devastated

cla
LA.
Ri
im
Texans but also united them behind their new coun-

oB
ed
by
Co
try. They regarded the Battle of the Alamo as a heroic

az
Me
l o r ao
os
xic
struggle for freedom, and the Goliad massacre as evi-

d
Washington-on-
o
R.
the-Brazos dence of Santa Anna’s cruelty.
Alamo, on 1836 30°N
March 6, 1836 Hou st TURNING POINT
San Antonio San Jacinto,
April 21, 1836
Béxar,
Dec. 10, 1835
Gonzales,
Oct. 2, 1835 Brazoria The Battle of San Jacinto Back in Washington-on-
Goliad, the-Brazos, the commander in chief of the Texas
6
183
Rio
March 20, 1836 forces, Sam Houston, desperately needed time to

.
Refugio, Gulf of
Gr
Anna
a March 14, 1836 recruit fresh volunteers and to train the soldiers who
R
N
ue
ce s Mexico
nd
San Patricio, remained. He retreated east and waited for Santa

e
Santa
Feb. 27, 1836

B ou n d
Anna to make a mistake. His chance came on the

36
Urrea 18
Mexican forces afternoon of April 21, when the Texans caught Santa
a ry
Mexican victory
cla
me Anna’s soldiers napping in their camp by the San

i
d by Texan forces
Texas Jacinto River. The Texans’ surprise attack threw the
0 100 miles Texan victory
Austin's colony Mexicans into a panic. They were used to acting only
0 100 kilometers Disputed territory
Albers Conic Equal-Area projection on orders, and with no time for officers to direct
them, they suffered a quick defeat.
The Battle of San Jacinto lasted less than 20 minutes,
but the bloodshed continued for hours. Yelling
1. Interpreting Maps On what day did “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember Goliad,”
the Alamo fall to Santa Anna? Houston’s men killed hundreds of the enemy and took
2. Applying Geography Skills Why was over 700 prisoners. Among those captured was Santa
the battle at the Alamo significant for Anna. Knowing that the Mexican leader feared for his
the war effort? life, Houston compelled Santa Anna to withdraw his
army from Texas and sign a treaty recognizing the

History Through Art
Battle of San Jacinto H.A. McArdle’s painting (above) and this monument (right) commemorate the
pivotal battle of the war between Texas and Mexico. Why were Santa Anna and his troops surprised
by Houston’s attack?
republic’s independence. The Mexican government The Election of 1844 As the presidential race
never accepted the treaty, but it was unwilling and began in 1844, Texas statehood became a key issue.
unable to launch another military campaign. Texas had The Democrats nominated James K. Polk of
become a new nation. Tennessee, who promised to annex not only Texas
but also the contested Oregon Territory in the
The Republic of Texas In September 1836, the citi- Northwest. In addition, he vowed to buy California
zens of Texas elected Sam Houston president and from Mexico. The platform appealed to both
voted 3,277 to 91 in favor of annexation—absorp- Northerners and Southerners because it furthered
tion—by the United States. Although proud of their Manifest Destiny while promising to maintain the
republic, the settlers still regarded themselves as delicate balance between free and slave states.
Americans. The Whig nominee, Henry Clay, originally
Given that Americans had enthusiastically sup- opposed annexing Texas. He later announced his
ported the war, most Texans assumed the United support of annexation if it could be done without
States would want to annex the republic. However, causing war with Mexico. Many Whigs opposed to
Texas wished to enter the Union as a slave state, slavery felt so betrayed that they gave their support
which antislavery leaders opposed. In addition, to James G. Birney of the pro-abolition Liberty Party.
Mexico continued to claim ownership of Texas. To With the Whig vote split, Polk won the election.
avoid conflict, President Andrew Jackson made no
move toward annexation. The Lone Star Republic, as
Texas was nicknamed, would exist for almost a
Dividing Oregon High on President Polk’s agenda
was resolution of the Oregon question. “Oregon
decade before joining the United States.
fever” was drawing more and more Americans to the
Reading Check Identifying What was the outcome Northwest. Despite Britain’s long-standing claims,
of the first election in Texas? Polk maintained that the United States had a right to
the entire Oregon country all the way to its northern
border, on the line of 54° 40´ north latitude. During
Texas and Oregon Enter the Union the election of 1844, Polk’s supporters chanted “Fifty-
John Tyler, who became president in 1841, hoped four Forty or Fight.” The British believed the bound-
to bring Texas into the Union. In early 1844, he pro- ary should be the Columbia River, which flowed near
posed a treaty to annex Texas. He blundered, how- the 46th parallel.
ever, by including in the supporting documents a In June 1846, the two countries agreed to a com-
letter written by Secretary of State John C. Calhoun promise, dividing the territory along the 49th paral-
that contained a defense of slavery. Outraged lel. The British took what is now the Canadian
Northerners argued that the letter proved annexa- province of British Columbia, and the Americans
tion was a plot to expand slavery. By a vote of 35 to received the land that later became the states of
16, the Senate refused to annex Texas. Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

The War With Mexico, 1846–1848
War With Mexico
N
Texas’s entry into the Union
W OREGON COUNTRY
E outraged the Mexican govern-
S
ment, which promptly broke
T
IOWA
ON
40°N UNORG. diplomatic relations with the

TERR.
FRE´ M
TERR.
Bear Flag United States. Matters wors-
Revolt FR
June 1846 ´ E MON U N I T E D S T A T E S ened when the two countries
San T
disputed Texas’s southwestern
Francisco Ft. Leavenworth
R.
border. Mexico insisted it was
125°W Monterrey o KEARN
July 1846 a d Y the Nueces River. The United
lor
35°N MO.
Co
Ar
STOCKTON States argued, as Texans had all
San Gabriel
ka
Santa Fe
ns
Jan. 1847 Aug. 1846 s along, that it was the Rio
a
R.
San Pasqual
Dec. 1846 Grande—a claim that covered
Red R ARK.
Los San . far more territory.
Angeles KEARNY
Diego Disputed Polk’s designs on California
30°N Area
El Brazito LA. added to the conflict. In
DONIPHAN
Dec. 1846 TEXAS November 1845, he sent John

Pacific o Gr Slidell to Mexico City to try to
Ri an
Ocean Sacramento San Antonio
purchase the area and resolve
de
Feb. 1847
Gu
L Corpus
O other differences. Mexico’s
SLO
Chihuahua O Christi
lf o
25°N W
new president, José Joaquín
AT
T
T
MEXICO O
Ca
TAYLOR SC Herrera, refused even to meet

TROP
lif
IC OF
C A NC
orn
ER Monterrey with Slidell.

Buena Vista
ia
Sept. 1846 Herrera’s snub ended any

Feb. 1847
SANTA
Gulf of
AN N A
Mazatlán Mexico realistic chance of a diplomatic

American troops Tampico SC solution. In January 1846, Polk
American victory ordered General Zachary
OT
T
0 300 miles
Cerro Gordo
Mexican troops Mexico City April 1847 Taylor to lead troops across
Mexican victory 0 300 kilometers
Sept. 1847 the Nueces River into territory
Veracruz
U.S. naval blockade Albers Conic Equal-Area projection claimed by both the United
110°W 105°W
States and Mexico. Polk
wanted Mexican troops to fire
the first shot. If he could say
Mexico was the aggressor, he
could more easily win support
1. Interpreting Maps Which American officer assisted for a war. Finally, on May 9,
Frémont’s attacks in northern California? news reached him that a force
2. Applying Geography Skills What land did the United of Mexicans had attacked Taylor’s men. In an address
States obtain under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo? to Congress, Polk declared that the United States was
at war “by the act of Mexico herself.”
Many Whigs opposed the war as yet another plot
Annexing Texas The acquisition of Texas had to extend slavery. Nonetheless, most Washington
been assured even before Polk took office. In politicians recognized that however questionable
February 1845, at the urging of outgoing president Polk’s actions, the United States now had no choice
Tyler, Congress passed a joint resolution to annex but to fight. On May 13, 1846, the Senate voted 40 to 2
Texas. The resolution succeeded because it needed and the House 174 to 14 in favor of the war.
only a simple majority of both houses rather than
the two-thirds majority in the Senate necessary to The Battle Plan Polk and his advisers developed a
ratify a standard treaty. In December 1845, Texas three-pronged strategy. Taylor’s troops would cross
became a state. the Rio Grande near the Gulf of Mexico. A separate
force would capture Santa Fe, an important trading
Reading Check Explaining How did the United center in what is now New Mexico, and then march
States gain Oregon and Texas? west to take control of California with the help of the

American navy. Finally, U.S. troops would advance Although Mexico had lost vast amounts of terri-
to Mexico City and force Mexico to surrender. tory, its leaders refused to surrender. Polk decided
To implement the ambitious plan, Congress to press on with the third phase of his battle plan
authorized the president to call for 50,000 volunteers. and put General Winfield Scott in charge of seizing
Men from every part of the country rushed to enlist. Mexico City. Scott’s forces and his soldiers traveled
by ship to the Gulf Coast town of Veracruz, landing
The Fighting Begins In early May, several days in March 1847. From there they headed west toward
before Polk signed the declaration of war, Taylor’s the capital, battling the enemy along the way. In
troops twice defeated Mexican forces at Palo Alto September, they finally captured Mexico City.
and at Resaca de la Palma. Taylor then moved south,
overcoming more enemy forces at Matamoros. By The Peace Treaty Defeated, Mexico’s leaders
late September he had marched inland and captured signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on
Monterrey. February 2, 1848. Mexico gave the United States more
In the meantime, Colonel Stephen W. Kearny led than 500,000 square miles (1,295,000 sq. km) of terri-
troops from Fort Leavenworth, near Missouri’s west- tory—what are now the states of California, Nevada,
ern boundary, toward Santa Fe. The long march and Utah, as well as most of Arizona and New
through the dry countryside was brutal, but when Mexico and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Mexico
Kearny’s men reached the city in August, the also accepted the Rio Grande as the southern border
Mexican force there had already fled. With Santa Fe of Texas. In return, the United States paid Mexico $15
secured, a small U.S. force headed on to California. million and took over $3.25 million in debts the
Before Kearny’s troops arrived—and even before Mexican government owed to American citizens.
war with Mexico was officially declared—settlers in With Oregon and the former Mexican territories
northern California, led by American general John now under the U.S. flag, the dream of Manifest
C. Frémont, had begun an uprising. The official Destiny was realized, but this expansion had cost
Mexican presence in the territory had never been more than 12,000 American lives. Furthermore, the
strong, and the settlers had little trouble overcoming question of whether the new lands should allow
it. On June 14, 1846, they declared California inde- slavery would soon lead the country into another
pendent and renamed the region the Bear Flag bloody conflict.
Republic. Within a month, American navy forces
arrived to occupy the ports of San Francisco and San Reading Check Summarizing What was President
Diego and claim the republic for the United States. Polk’s three-pronged strategy in the War with Mexico?
TM
TM

1. Define: Manifest Destiny, squatter, 4. Evaluating Was the United States justi- 6. Analyzing Posters Examine the poster
Tejano, empresario, annexation. fied in fighting the war with Mexico? on page 204 advertising land to Texas
2. Identify: Pre-emption Act, Antonio Explain. settlers. How were permanent settlers
López de Santa Anna, Sam Houston, 5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer and soldiers for hire rewarded
Bear Flag Republic, Treaty of similar to the one below to list key differently?
Guadalupe Hidalgo. events in Texas’s history and explain 7. Examining Art Study the painting of
why they occurred. the Battle of San Jacinto on page 207.
Reviewing Themes Why do you think the artist depicted a
3. Continuity and Change Many Event Period or Date Cause(s) clearing blue sky in the top right corner
Americans who settled in Texas were of the painting?
Southerners. How did the issue of slav-
ery later affect efforts to annex Texas?
8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
are part of a wagon train headed west.
Write a letter to a friend in the East
describing your daily life.

N O T E B O O K
Baseball for
Beginners
Thinking of
taking up the
new game of
baseball? Watch out!
The rules keep changing!
1845
Canvas bases will be set 90
feet apart in a diamond shape.
Only nine men will play on
each side.
Pitches are to be thrown
underhanded.
A ball caught on the first
bounce is an out.
1846
At first base, a fielder can tag
the bag before the runner
reaches it and so make an out.
EDWARD S. CURTIS/CORBIS
1847
Players may no longer throw the
ball at a runner to put him out.
Eulogy These changes may be coming:

A poor pitch is a ball; nine
CHIEF JOSEPH (above), a leader of the Nez Perce of the Wallowa Valley balls gives the runner first
in eastern Oregon, remembers his father, Old Joseph. The Nez Perce base, a walk.
were forced to leave the Wallowa Valley less than a decade after Old A ball caught on the first
Joseph’s death. bounce is no longer an out.
MY FATHER SENT FOR ME. I SAW HE WAS DYING. I TOOK HIS HAND IN MINE.
He said, “My son, my body is returning to my mother earth, and my
spirit is going very soon to see the Great Spirit Chief. When I am gone,
think of your country. You are the chief of these people. They look to
you to guide them. Always remember that your father never sold his
country. You must stop your ears whenever you are asked to sign a
treaty selling your home. A few years more, and white men will be all
around you. They have their eyes on this land. My son, never forget my
dying words. This country holds your father’s body. Never sell the bones
of your father and your mother.”
O. PIERRE HAVENS/CORBIS
I pressed my father’s hand and told him I would protect his grave with
my life. My father smiled and passed to the spirit land.
I buried him in that beautiful valley of winding rivers. I love that land
more than all the rest of the world. A man who would not love his
father’s grave is worse than a wild animal. The New York baseball team

MOVING WEST: 1816–1850
W E S T E R N WO R D P L AY NUMBERS
Word Watch 18,000 Miles from
Can you talk Western? Match the word to its meaning. New York to California by sea
route around Cape Horn
1. maverick a. gold rush favorite, made of
Hangtown fry eggs, bacon, and oysters
2.
3. grubstake b. inexperienced ’49er, Eastern type 90,000 People arriving
not used to wearing boots in California in 1849, half by
4. bonanza sea, half by overland route
c. a lucky discovery of gold; a source
5. palo alto of sudden wealth
6. pard or d. a style of hat worn by gold rush miners
rawwheel
e. a lone dissenter who takes an independent
stand, from the name of a Texas cattleman
who left his herd unbranded
f. food provided by an investor to a gold
prospector in exchange for a share of
whatever gold he finds
BETTMANN/CORBIS
answers: 1.e; 2.a; 3.f; 4.c; 5.d; 6.b
Milestones Panning for gold

SETTLED, 1847. THE VALLEY
OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE, by
Brigham Young, leader of the
$20 Average earned per
day by California gold miners
Mormons, and a party of 143, to in 1849
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/CORBIS
escape hostility toward their

group in Illinois. Young plans to
return to Council Bluffs, Iowa, $18 Average expenses per
and lead the rest of the members day for California gold miners
of his faith to a permanent home in 1849
in Utah.
MOVED, 1845. HENRY DAVID Frederick Douglass $390 Value of miners’
THOREAU, writer, to Walden Pond, average daily earnings in
Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau EMIGRATED, 1845. FREDERICK 2001 dollars
intends to build his own house DOUGLASS, former slave,
author, and abolitionist leader, to
on the shore of the pond and earn
his living by the labor of his hands England to escape the danger of 50 Number of years after the
re-enslavement in reaction to his signing of the Declaration of
only. “Many of the so-called Independence that Thomas
comforts of life,” writes Thoreau, autobiography, Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass. On Jefferson and John Adams die—
“are not only not indispensable, within hours of each other.
but positive hindrances to the his 1845 trip across the Atlantic,
elevation of mankind.” Douglass was not permitted
AILING, 1847. EDGAR ALLAN

cabin accommodations. After a
lecture during the crossing, some
17,069,453 U.S.
population in 1840
POE, in Baltimore, following the passengers threatened to throw
death of his wife, Virginia. Other him overboard.
than a poem on death, Poe has
DISCOVERED, 1846. THE
55,000 Number of
written little this year, devoting his emigrants moving west along
dwindling energies to plagiarism PLANET NEPTUNE, by German the Oregon Trail in 1850
suits against other authors. astronomer Johann Galle.

Reviewing Key Terms 15. utopia 20. squatter
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 16. temperance 21. Tejano
1. interchangeable parts 8. “corrupt bargain” 17. abolition 22. empresario
2. nativism 9. mudslinging 18. emancipation 23. annexation
3. labor union 10. spoils system 19. Manifest Destiny
4. strike 11. caucus

5. cotton gin 12. secede Reviewing Key Facts
6. yeoman farmer 13. benevolent society 24. Identify: Industrial Revolution, Indian Removal Act, Second
Great Awakening, Bear Flag Republic.
7. ”favorite son” 14. transcendentalism
25. What helped cotton become king in the South?
26. What issue did the Missouri Compromise temporarily settle?
27. In what two ways did President Andrew Jackson expand
democracy?
28. Who supported the Indian Removal Act, and who opposed it?
Nationalism in Society What were their reasons for opposing it?
• Steamboats and railroads link the nation’s regions 29. What were the main beliefs of transcendentalists?
• Factory system increases production of goods 30. How did Horace Mann improve public education in
• Telegraph establishes fast, long-distance Massachusetts?
communication 31. What were the results of the Seneca Falls Convention?
32. What was the goal of the American Colonization Society, an
Sectionalism Emerges early antislavery group?
• South’s agricultural economy relies on labor of 33. How did African Americans like Frederick Douglass and
enslaved persons Sojourner Truth combat slavery?
• Northern leaders view slavery as morally wrong 34. Why did settlers in Texas declare war against Mexico?
• Missouri Compromise pits Northern leaders 35. What did the United States gain from the Treaty of
against Southern leaders Guadalupe Hidalgo?
• Congress votes almost strictly along sectional lines
The Second Great Awakening Critical Thinking

Inspires Reform 36. Analyzing Themes: Groups and Institutions How did
music and religion help African Americans cope with slavery?
• Commitment to religion swells church congregations 37. Forming an Opinion Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in
• New religions established 1793. Do you think the cotton gin had a positive or a nega-
• Availability of education expands tive effect on the nation? Explain your answer.
• Abolitionist movement grows steadily 38. Interpreting Primary Sources In April of 1847, Charles
Sumner of Massachusetts presented his views on the causes
Manifest Destiny of the Mexican War in his “Report on the War with Mexico”
to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Read the excerpt
• Large numbers of Americans move to Oregon and answer the questions that follow.
in 1840
• Great Britain and United States divide territory
without conflict “ It can no longer be doubted that this is a war of con-
quest. . . . In a letter to Commodore Sloat, . . . the
• Growing numbers of American settlers in Texas, Secretary [of War] says, ‘You will take such measures as
California, and southwestern United States leads
will render that vast region [California] a desirable place
to war with Mexico
of residence for emigrants from our soil.’ In a letter to
• By end of war in 1848, United States stretches
from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean
HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz The United States in 1824
Colonel Kearny, . . . he says: ‘Should you conquer and Disputed Area

OREGON BRITISH
take possession of New Mexico and Upper California, COUNTRY NORTH
British Treaty AMERICA ME.
you will establish civil governments therein. You may (Occupied jointly
by Britain and the
Line, 1818
United States) MICH. VT. N.H.
MASS.
assure the people of these provinces that it is the wish TERR. N.Y. R.I.
UNORG. 40°N
and design of the United States to provide for them a Adams-Onis TERR. PA. CONN.
Treaty Line, 1819 ILL. OHIO N.J.
”
free government with the least possible delay. . . .
MO.
IND.
KY.
VA.
DEL.
MD.
70°W
—quoted in Readings in American History N.C.
TENN.
MEXICO ARK. TERR. S.C. ATLaNTIC
a. According to Charles Sumner, why did the United States 120°W MISS. GA.
OCEaN
30°N
become involved in the war with Mexico? PaCIFIC
N LA. ALA.
OCEaN W
b. What evidence does Sumner provide to show that this was E FLA.
TERR.
S 0 300 miles
the U.S. government’s intention? Gulf of
39. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
below to list the effects of the Industrial Revolution. British Territory Louisiana 90°W
Purchase
Mexico United States
Effects of the Industrial Revolution

43. The map above shows the United States in 1824. Study the
map and answer the questions below.
a. Interpreting Maps What international boundary was in
Practicing Skills dispute in 1824?
40. Multimedia Plan Develop a plan for a multimedia presenta- b. Applying Geography Skills What geographic features
tion on the social and cultural changes in the United States determined the eastern boundary of the Louisiana
discussed in Section 3. Consider the following points to help Purchase?
guide you.
a. What specific examples would you use to show the
different social and cultural changes taking place in
the country? Standardized
b. What form of media would you use for each example? Test Practice
Chapter Activity following question.
41. Research Project Conduct research to learn more about On which of the following reform movements did William
one of the reformers discussed in the chapter. Then role- Lloyd Garrison have a major impact?
play the person by introducing yourself to the class and A The temperance movement
describing your background and your reform goals.
B The abolitionist movement
C The education reform movement
Writing Activity D The prison reform movement
42. Informative Writing On the American History Primary
Source Document Library CD-ROM, read “Women’s Rights” Test-Taking Tip: Try to remember the names of the
by Sojourner Truth. Imagine you are a newspaper reporter, publication and the two organizations that Garrison
and write an article reviewing Truth’s speech. Explain her established. Recalling these names will help you select the
arguments for women’s rights and describe how members correct answer.
of the convention reacted to her words.

The Crisis
of Union
1848–1877
W hy It Matters
The United States faced many challenges in its
early years. Internal improvements and indus-
trial development began to reshape the nation
but also illustrated the growing differences
between the North and the South. These differ-
ences eventually led to the Civil War, the most
destructive war in American history. The peace
that was forged after five years of internal con-
flict reunited the nation and ended slavery.
Studying the Civil War and the Reconstruction
Cap of a Confederate soldier
era that followed will help you understand the
issues of the civil rights movement and the
ongoing racial concerns in the United States
today. The following resources offer more infor-
mation about this period in American history.
Primary Sources Library

See pages 930–931 for primary source
readings to accompany Unit 2.
Use the American History Primary

Source Document Library CD-ROM to Flag flown at Fort Sumter
before surrender to the
find additional primary sources about the Civil Confederates in 1861
War era.
214
“We shall nobly save, or
meanly lose, the last best
hope of earth.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 1862
Sectional Conflict
Intensifies 1848–1860
Why It Matters
When the nation gained new territory, the slavery controversy intensified. Would new states be
slave or free? Who would decide? States that allowed slavery were determined to prevent free
states from gaining a majority in the Senate. Political compromise broke down by 1860, and
when Lincoln was elected president, many Southern states decided to secede.
The Impact Today

The political and social debates of this period continue to have influence on the United States.
• Older sectional loyalties still define some regions of the country.
• The modern Republican Party grew in part from opposition to slavery.

“Tales From the Underground Railroad,” features a dramatization of enslaved
African Americans using the Underground Railroad to reach freedom.
1849
• California Gold
Rush begins 1854
1850 • Republican
• Compromise of 1850 Party
adopted in an attempt to founded
ease sectional tensions
▲ ▲
Taylor Fillmore Pierce
1849–1850 1850–1853 1853–1857 ▲
1846
19## 1850 1854
▼ ▼ ▼
1847 1848 1853
• Working hours • Serfdom abolished • Crimean War pitting Russia
limited in Britain in Austrian Empire against Great Britain and
the Ottoman Empire begins
216
View of Harpers Ferry by Ferdinand Richardt, 1858, depicts the peaceful town a year before a raid
on the federal arsenal there triggered a crisis for the Union.
1859
1856 • John Brown attempts to arm and free enslaved African Americans
• “Bleeding Kansas” by raiding the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia
conflict between
pro-slavery and 1860 1861
antislavery forces 1858 • South Carolina • Fort Sumter
begins • Lincoln-Douglas debates secedes from bombarded by
the Union Confederate
take place during the
Illinois Senate campaign forces; the Civil HISTORY
▲ War begins
Buchanan Lincoln
▲ 1857–1861
▲ ▲ ▲ 1861–1865 Chapter Overview
▼ ▼ Chapter 6 to preview chapter
• Indians rebel against • Darwin’s Origin of
British rule Species published
217
Slavery and Western
Expansion
Continuing disagreements over the west- Categorizing As you read about the • Explain how the government dealt with
ward expansion of slavery increased sec- deepening North–South tensions, slavery in the territories acquired after
tional tensions between the North and complete a graphic organizer identifying the war with Mexico.
the South. key people of the era. • Evaluate how both the Fugitive Slave
Act and the transcontinental railroad
Key Terms and Names Key Figures Significance
heightened sectional tensions.
Henry Clay
Wilmot Proviso, popular sovereignty, John Calhoun
secession, Underground Railroad, Harriet Frederick Douglass Section Theme
Tubman, transcontinental railroad Harriet Tubman Geography and History The acquisition
Harriet Beecher Stowe
of new lands heightened sectional ten-
Stephen Douglas
sions over slavery.
✦1846 ✦1850 ✦1854 ✦1858

1846 1850 1852 1854 1856
Wilmot Proviso Compromise of 1850 Uncle Tom’s Cabin Kansas-Nebraska Charles Sumner
proposed adopted published Act adopted attacked in Senate
Early one cold morning in January 1847, Mrs. Crosswait woke to the sound of pistol shots.
Without a word she rushed to her sleeping children, while her husband ran downstairs to bolt
the door. The Crosswaits knew instantly the danger they were facing. Kidnappers had come to
snatch them from their Michigan home and drag them back to Kentucky—and slavery.
The family had fled north after learning, to their horror, that the man who held them in
slavery planned to sell them away from each other. They ended up in Marshall, Michigan.
Home to a strong community of Quakers, Marshall welcomed them warmly.
Now, clutching her children, Mrs. Crosswait peeked fearfully from an upper window as
three strangers fired bullet after bullet into their front door and demanded that the family
surrender. She heard her husband pushing furniture against the door.
Then over the din came the voice of a neighbor, urging people to aid the family. Soon,
Notice of escaped
enslaved person’s capture friends came running. Shouting threats at the intruders, the townspeople intimidated them
into leaving, thereby saving the family.
—adapted from Black Pioneers: An Untold Story
The Impact of the War With Mexico

The Crosswaits’ struggle with kidnappers was not unique. Although many people
escaped from slavery and headed north into free territory, even there they were not safe.
Southerners believed that Article 4, Section 2, of the Constitution gave them the right to
218 CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict Intensifies

retrieve an enslaved person who fled across state Cass, downplayed his support for popular sovereignty
lines. Some Northerners, however, held strong beliefs to gain support in the South. Instead he emphasized
to the contrary and helped runaways. his promise to veto the Wilmot Proviso, should
The war with Mexico only heightened these Congress ever pass it.
opposing viewpoints. The war opened vast new Northern opponents of slavery had little enthusi-
lands to American settlers, again raising the divisive asm for either Taylor or Cass. Many antislavery
issue of whether slavery should be allowed to spread Whigs and Democrats decided to join with members
westward. of the abolitionist Liberty Party to form the Free-Soil
Party, which opposed the spread of slavery onto the
GOVERNMENT “free soil” of the western territories.
The Wilmot Proviso In August 1846, Repre- Although some Free-Soilers condemned slavery as
sentative David Wilmot, a Democrat from immoral, most members of the new party simply
Pennsylvania, proposed an addition to a war appro- wanted to preserve the territories in the West for
priations bill. His amendment, known as the Wilmot white farmers. Allowing slavery to expand, they
Proviso, proposed that in any territory the United warned, would make it difficult for free men to find
States gained from Mexico, “neither slavery nor work. Adopting the slogan “Free soil, free speech,
involuntary servitude shall ever exist.” free labor, and free men,” they chose former presi-
Despite fierce Southern opposition, a coalition of dent Martin Van Buren as their candidate.
Northern Democrats and Whigs passed the Wilmot On Election Day, support for the Free-Soilers
Proviso in the House of Representatives. The Senate, pulled votes away from the Democrats. When the
however, refused to vote on it. Senator John C. ballots were counted, the Whig candidate, Zachary
Calhoun of South Carolina argued that all the states Taylor, had won a narrow victory.
owned U.S. territories in common, that Americans Reading Check Evaluating How did the war with
settling there had the right to bring along their prop-
Mexico affect the slavery issue?
erty, including enslaved laborers, and that Congress
had no power to ban slavery in the territories.
Calhoun warned that civil war would surely erupt if
the North failed to heed Southern concerns.
Popular Sovereignty For the next few years,

Wilmot’s proposal continued to be raised in Congress,
deepening divisions between the North and South.
Many moderate politicians began searching for a
solution that would spare Congress from having to
wrestle with the issue of slavery in the territories.
Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan proposed one
solution. Cass suggested that the citizens of each new
territory should be allowed to decide for themselves
if they wanted to permit slavery or not. This idea
came to be called popular sovereignty.
Popular sovereignty appealed strongly to many
members of Congress because it removed the slavery
issue from national politics. It also appeared demo-
cratic, since the settlers themselves would make the
decision. Abolitionists, however, argued that it still
denied African Americans their right not to be
enslaved.
The Free-Soil Party As the 1848 election ap-

proached, both major parties sidestepped the slavery
issue. The Whig candidate, General Zachary Taylor,
avoided it and stressed his leadership experience in the
war with Mexico. The Democrats’ nominee, Lewis Poster calling for antislavery meeting
CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict Intensifies 219

Congress Struggles for a the frenzy for gold led to chaos and violence.
Needing a strong government to maintain order,
Compromise Californians decided to seek statehood. With the
Within a year of President Taylor’s inauguration, encouragement of President Taylor, California
the issue of slavery took center stage. The discovery applied to enter the Union as a free state in
of gold in California had quickly led to that terri- December 1849.
tory’s application for statehood. A decision had to be
made about whether California would enter the
The Debate Begins At the time, there were 15 free
Union as a free state or a slave state.
states and 15 slave states. If California tipped the bal-
ance, the slaveholding states would become a minor-
Forty-Niners Rush for Gold In January 1848, car-
ity in the Senate. Southerners dreaded losing power
penter James Marshall was building a sawmill in
in national politics, fearful it would lead to limits on
Sacramento for a man named John Sutter. When
slavery. A few Southern politicians began to talk of
Marshall found traces of gold in a stream near the
secession—taking their states out of the Union.
sawmill, the two men tried to keep the secret to them-
In early 1850, one of the most senior and influential
selves. Word leaked out by spring, however, and San
leaders in the Senate, Henry Clay of Kentucky, tried to
Franciscans abandoned their homes and businesses
find a compromise that would enable California to
to pile into wagons and head to the mountains in
join the Union and resolve other sectional disputes.
search of gold. During the summer, news of the find
Clay, nicknamed “The Great Compromiser” because
swept all the way to the East Coast and beyond, and
of his role in promoting the Missouri Compromise in
the California Gold Rush was on.
1820 and solving the nullification crisis in 1833, pro-
By the end of 1849, over 80,000 “Forty-Niners”
posed eight resolutions.
had arrived in California hoping to make their
The first pair would allow California to come in as
fortunes. Mining towns sprang up overnight, and
a free state but would organize the rest of the
Mexican cession without any restrictions on slavery.
The second pair would settle a boundary dispute
The Compromise of 1850 between New Mexico and Texas in favor of New
Legislative Item Victory for? Mexico, but it would compensate Texas by having
the federal government take on its debts.
• California admitted to Clear victory for the North
Clay’s third pair of resolutions would outlaw the
the Union as free state
slave trade in the District of Columbia but not slav-
• Popular sovereignty to Moderate victory for ery itself. The final two resolutions were concessions
determine slavery issue both sides to the South. Congress would be prohibited from
in Utah and New Mexico interfering with the domestic slave trade and would
territories pass a stronger law to help Southerners recover
• Texas border dispute Moderate Southern enslaved African Americans who had fled north.
with New Mexico resolved victories These measures were intended to assure the South
• Texas receives $10 million that the North would not try to abolish slavery after
California joined the Union.
• Slave trade, but not Moderate Northern victory Clay’s proposal triggered a massive debate in
slavery itself, abolished Congress. Senator Calhoun, the great defender of the
in the District of Columbia
South’s rights, was unyielding. Although he was
• Strong federal enforcement Clear victory for the South now dying from tuberculosis and too weak to
of new Fugitive Slave Act address the Senate himself, he composed a reply to
Clay and then sat, hollow-eyed and shrouded in
blankets, as another senator read his words. Calhoun
1. Interpreting Charts Did the new asserted that Northern agitation against slavery
Fugitive Slave Act appeal to the North threatened to destroy the South, and that Clay’s com-
or the South? promise would not save the Union. The South
2. Generalizing Which side, North or needed an acceptance of its rights, the return of fugi-
South, achieved more of its goals in tive slaves, and a guarantee of balance between the
the Compromise of 1850? sections. Otherwise, secession was the only honor-
able solution.

Three days later, Senator Daniel Webster of
Massachusetts pleaded for the Senate to put national Heroic Figure Harriet Tubman
unity above sectional loyalties. He voiced his support escaped from slavery when she
was around 29 years old. She
for Clay’s plan, which he believed to be the only hope helped many others do the same,
of keeping the Union intact: guiding them along the freedom
route, the Underground Railroad.
“ I wish to speak to-day, not as a Massachusetts
man, nor as a Northern man, but as an American. . . .
I speak today for the preservation of the Union. . . .
Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility. . . . I see
as plainly as I see the sun in heaven what that disrup-
tion itself must produce; I see that it must produce The Fugitive Slave Act
also required federal mar-
war, and such a war as I will not describe.
” shals to assist slavecatchers.
—from the Congressional Globe, 31st Congress
Marshals could even deputize
citizens on the spot to help them
The Compromise of 1850 In the end, Congress did capture an alleged fugitive. Anyone who refused to
not pass Clay’s bill, in part because President Taylor cooperate could be jailed.
opposed it. Taylor, however, died unexpectedly in July Newspaper accounts of the unjust seizure of
1850. Vice President Millard Fillmore succeeded him African Americans fueled Northern indignation.
and quickly threw his support behind the compromise. However, it was the requirement that ordinary citizens
By the end of summer, Calhoun had also died, help capture runaways that drove many Northerners
Webster had retired, and Clay was exhausted, leav- into active defiance. The abolitionist Frederick
ing leadership of the Senate to younger men. Thirty- Douglass, himself an escapee from slavery, would
seven-year-old Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois deftly work crowds into a furor over this part of the law. In
divided much of the large compromise initiative into emotional speeches, he would ask his audience if they
several smaller bills. This allowed his colleagues would give a helpless runaway over to the “pursuing
from different sections to abstain or vote against bloodhounds.” “No!” the crowd would roar.
whatever parts they disliked while supporting the Northerners justified their defiance of the Fugitive
rest. By September, Congress had passed all parts of Slave Act on moral grounds. In his 1849 essay “Civil
the Compromise of 1850 and President Fillmore had Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau wrote that if
signed them into law, fulfilling Clay’s original vision. the law “requires you to be the agent of injustice to
another, then I say, break the law.” In helping run-
Reading Check Summarizing Why did the Gold
aways, Northerners risked heavy fines and prison
Rush create a new crisis over slavery? terms. Sometimes they even resorted to violence
themselves. In a pamphlet, Douglass proposed “The
True Remedy for the Fugitive Slave Law—A good
The Fugitive Slave Act revolver, a steady hand, and a determination to shoot
To Northerners, one of the most objectionable com- down any man attempting to kidnap.”
ponents of the Compromise of 1850 was the Fugitive
Slave Act. Under this law, a slaveholder or slave- The Underground Railroad A key to many African
catcher had only to point out alleged runaways to Americans’ escape from the South was the
have them taken into custody. The accused would Underground Railroad. This informal but well-
then be brought before a federal commissioner. With organized network of abolitionists began to expand
no right to testify on their own behalf, even those who in the early 1830s and helped thousands of enslaved
had earned their freedom years earlier had no way to persons flee north. “Conductors” transported run-
prove their case. An affidavit asserting that the cap- aways in secret, gave them shelter and food along the
tive had escaped from a slaveholder, or testimony by way, and saw them to freedom in the Northern states
white witnesses, was all a court needed to order the or Canada with some money for a fresh start.
person sent South. Furthermore, federal commission- Conductors used secret signals to communicate
ers had a financial incentive to rule in favor of slave- about how to proceed safely—a hand lifted palm out-
holders; such judgments earned them a $10 fee, but wards, for example, or a certain kind of tug at the ear.
judgments in favor of the accused paid only $5. The most famous conductor was Harriet Tubman,

Slavery and the Underground Railroad 1830–1860
In C A N A D A
WASH. Motion M
Ashtabula, OHIO–site of
is UNORG. Hubbard House, one of the end
TERR. uperior points on the route north
TERR. L. S ME.
so
uri
The Underground Railroad
L.
River
existed as early as 1786, MINN. Portland
but its spread throughout most an N.Y. VT.
H
WIS.
hig
Toronto Oswego N.H.
uro
of the North occurred after 1830.
L. Mic
Battle Creek, MICH.–burial site rio Albany Boston MASS.
n
MICH. L. Onta
of abolitionist Sojourner Truth Rochester R.I.
NEBR. London Providence 40°N
Milwaukee Windsor r ie Buffalo
TERR. IOWA E CONN.
L.
DavenportChicago Toledo Cleveland PA. New York City
Philadelphia
Des Moines
Columbia N.J.
UTAH ILL. Sandusky
Columbus OHIO
TERR. Percival Quincy Indianapolis DEL.
Cincinnati Cumberland
Springfield IND. Marietta MD.
KANS.
TERR. Chester Evansville
r
Ironton
VA.
Norfolk ATLaNTic
MO. i ve
io R
N. MEX. Cairo Oh
KY. Ocean
Nashville N.C.
New Bern
TERR.
UNORG. Little TENN. N
Thousands of African Americans TERR. Rock
S.C.
escaped slavery through the MISS. E
ARK. TuscaloosaALA.
Atlanta W
ississi p p i River
Underground Railroad between GA. Charleston
1830 and 1860. S
Jackson Montgomery Savannah 30°N
TEX. LA.
0 400 miles
M
Tallahassee
New Orleans 70°W
FLA. 0 400 kilometers
M E X I C O Lambert Equal-Area projection
Gulf of Mexico
90°W 80°W
More than 50%
of people enslaved
10–50%
Less than 10%
No enslaved or data
1. Interpreting Maps How far north did many under-
Underground RR routes
ground routes reach?
1860 border
2. Applying Geography Skills How many states had
areas where more than 50 percent of the people were
enslaved?
Doll of runaway child
herself a runaway. Again and again, she risked jour- In 1851, from her home in Brunswick, Maine, Stowe
neys into the slave states to bring out men, women, began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. After first running
and children. as a newspaper serial, the story came out the next year
Levi Coffin, a Quaker, sheltered a reported 2,000 in book form and sold an astounding 300,000 copies.
escaped African Americans in his home in Indiana, Stowe’s depiction of the enslaved hero, Tom, and the
where three Underground Railroad routes from the villainous overseer, Simon Legree, aroused passionate
South converged. Coffin later moved to Cincinnati, antislavery sentiment in the North.
Ohio, where he assisted another 1,300 slaves who Southerners were outraged at Stowe’s novel, and
had come from Kentucky to freedom. some accused Stowe of writing distortions and false-
hoods. Despite Southern outrage, the book eventu-
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Another Cincinnati resident at ally sold millions of copies. It had such a dramatic
one time was the author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Her impact on public opinion that many historians con-
exposure to runaway slaves and the tragic reports she sider it a cause of the Civil War.
heard later about victims of the Fugitive Slave Law
inspired her to “write something that would make this Reading Check Analyzing In what sense did the
whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is.” Fugitive Slave Act hurt the Southern cause?

New Territorial Troubles bill quickly, key Southern committee leaders prevented
it from coming to a vote in the Senate. These senators
In 1852 Franklin Pierce was elected president. As a
made it clear that before Nebraska could be organized,
pro-slavery Democrat from New Hampshire, he
Congress would have to repeal part of the Missouri
hoped he could help bridge the divide between
Compromise and allow slavery in the new territory.
North and South. Unfortunately, sectional tensions
only worsened during his administration.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act Stephen Douglas knew
A Transcontinental Railroad By the early 1850s, that any attempt to overturn the Missouri
many Americans no longer perceived the Great Compromise would create an uproar. Nevertheless,
Plains region as the “Great American Desert.” Eager he wanted to open the northern Great Plains to settle-
to survey and settle the fertile lands west of ment. At first, Douglas tried to dodge the issue and
Missouri and Iowa, many farmers and land specula- gain Southern support for his bill by saying that any
tors called for the federal government to organize states organized in the new Nebraska territory would
them as a territory. be allowed to exercise popular sovereignty, deciding
At the same time, the opening of the Oregon themselves whether to allow slavery.
country and the admission of California to the This did not satisfy Southern leaders in the Senate.
Union had convinced many business leaders, mem- Therefore, in his next version of the bill, Douglas pro-
bers of Congress, and farmers of the need for a posed to repeal the antislavery provision of the
transcontinental railroad—one that would cross Missouri Compromise. He also proposed dividing
the whole country. In the 1850s, getting to the West the region into two territories. Nebraska would be the
Coast required weeks of grueling overland travel or northernmost, adjacent to the free state of Iowa, and
a long sea voyage around the tip of South America. Kansas would be to the south, west of the slave state
A transcontinental railroad would reduce the jour- of Missouri. It appeared that Kansas would become a
ney to four relatively easy days and promote further slave state while Nebraska would be a free state.
growth in the territories along the route. Northern Democrats and Whigs were outraged by
The transcontinental railroad had broad appeal, Douglas’s bill. At first, so was President Pierce.
but the choice of its eastern starting point became a However, when Douglas and Jefferson Davis warned
new cause of tension in the sectional conflict. Two the president that failure to go along might cause the
central routes, a northern route, and a southern route South to secede, Pierce gave in and backed the bill.
were initially proposed.
Many Southerners favored the southern
route, from New Orleans to San Diego, but the
geography of the Southwest would require the
railroad to pass through northern Mexico.
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, a strong sup-
porter of the South’s interests, found a solution.
He urged President Pierce to send James
Gadsden, a South Carolina politician and rail-
road promoter, to buy land from Mexico. In 1853
Mexico accepted $10 million for the Gadsden
Purchase—a 30,000-square-mile strip of land
that today is part of southern Arizona and New
Mexico.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Stephen
A. Douglas of Illinois had his own ideas for a
transcontinental railroad. Douglas was from
Illinois, and he wanted the eastern starting
point to be in Chicago. He knew, however, that History
any route from the north would run through
Bleeding Kansas These antislav-
the unsettled lands west of Missouri and Iowa. ery settlers in Topeka, Kansas, were
In 1853 Douglas prepared a bill to organize the among those on both sides who
region into a new territory to be called Nebraska. resorted to violence. What act trig-
Although the House of Representatives passed the gered violence in Kansas?

The president’s support did nothing to calm “Bleeding Kansas,” as newspapers dubbed the ter-
Northern fury. Free-Soilers and antislavery ritory, became the scene of a territorial civil war
Democrats charged that repealing the Missouri between pro-slavery and antislavery settlers. By the
Compromise would break a solemn promise to limit end of 1856, 200 people had died in the fighting and
the spread of slavery. Editorials, speeches, and ser- $2 million worth of property had been destroyed.
mons condemned the bill, and all of the state legisla-
tures in the North except Illinois refused to endorse The Caning of Charles Sumner The growing vio-
it. Finally, however, in May 1854, Congress passed lence over slavery soon came to the very center of
the Kansas-Nebraska Act. government. In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner
of Massachusetts, a fiery abolitionist, delivered a
Bleeding Kansas Kansas became the first battle- speech accusing pro-slavery senators of forcing
ground between those favoring the extension of Kansas into the ranks of slave states. He singled out
slavery and those opposing it. Hordes of Senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina for an
Northerners hurried into the territory, intent on cre- unusually personal attack.
ating an antislavery majority. Before the March Butler’s cousin, Representative Preston Brooks,
elections of 1855, however, thousands of armed later approached Sumner at his desk in the
Missourians—called “border ruffians” in the Senate chamber. Shouting that Sumner had defamed
press—swarmed across the border to vote illegally his home state and his cousin, Brooks raised a
in Kansas, helping to elect a pro-slavery legislature. gold-handled cane and savagely beat the senator, leav-
Furious antislavery settlers countered by holding a ing him severely injured and bleeding on the floor.
convention in Topeka and drafting their own con- Many Southerners considered Brooks to be a hero.
stitution that prohibited slavery. By March 1856, Some Southerners even sent him canes to replace the
Kansas had two governments, one opposed to slav- broken original one. Northerners, shocked by the
ery and the other supporting it. attack and by the flood of support for Brooks,
In the spring of 1856, border ruffians, worked strengthened their determination to resist the “bar-
up by the arrival of more Northern settlers, barism of slavery.” One New York clergyman con-
attacked the town of Lawrence, a stronghold of fided in his journal that “no way is left for the North,
antislavery settlers. The attackers wrecked newspa- but to strike back, or be slaves.”
per presses, plundered shops and homes, and then
burned a hotel and the home of the elected free- Reading Check Explaining Why did Stephen
state governor. Douglas propose repealing part of the Missouri Compromise?
TM
TM

1. Define: popular sovereignty, secession, 5. Evaluating Antislavery activists defied 7. Examining Photographs Study the
Underground Railroad, transcontinental the Fugitive Slave Act on the grounds poster on page 219 advertising an anti-
railroad. that it was immoral. Do you think it is slavery meeting. What was one main
2. Identify: Wilmot Proviso, Harriet better to use civil disobedience or to reason that the poster designers
Tubman. work through the political or legal sys- opposed slavery?
tem in response to unjust laws? 8. Analyzing Maps Study the map on
Reviewing Facts 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer page 222 of slavery and the Under-
3. Explain why violence broke out in similar to the one below to list the main ground Railroad. What two main cities
“Bleeding Kansas.” effects of the Fugitive Slave Act. are shown to be destinations from
Effects Southern port cities?
Reviewing Themes
4. Geography and History How did the
war with Mexico, the Gold Rush, and Fugitive Slave Act Writing About History
the goal of a transcontinental railroad
9. Expository Writing Write a research
affect the slavery issue?
report about the Underground Railroad,
the California Gold Rush, or the Great
Compromiser, Henry Clay.

Critical Thinking
Predicting Consequences
Why Learn This Skill? Events of the 1840s Results and Reactions
Did you ever wish you could see into the future?
Victory in war with Americans torn over
Although predicting future events is very difficult,
Mexico creates new whether area should be
you can develop skills that will help you identify
territory in Southwest. free or slave territory.
the logical consequences of decisions or actions.
Wilmot Proviso proposes Southerners are
ban on slavery in any outraged.
Learning the Skill area taken from Mexico.
Follow these steps to help you accurately predict Members of Congress try Northerners and
consequences: to avoid issue of slavery Southerners continue to
• Review what you already know about a situation in territories. angrily debate the issue.
by listing facts, events, and people’s responses.
Popular sovereignty lets Abolitionists argue against
The list will help you recall events and how they
settlers decide whether popular sovereignty;
affected people.
territories should be free many Northerners
• Analyze patterns. Try to determine what the pat- or not. support it.
terns show.
Whig Party nomination of Many Northern Whigs
• Use your knowledge and observations of similar
Zachary Taylor angers split and join with others
situations. In other words, ask yourself, “What
some party members. to create the Free-Soil
were the consequences of a similar decision or
Party.
action that occurred in the past?”
• Analyze each of the potential consequences by
asking, “How likely is it that this will occur?”
• Make a prediction. Skills Assessment
page 241 and the Chapter 6 Skill Reinforcement
Candidates for public office often make cam-
paign promises based on how they think voters
will respond. Use the information in the chart on
this page to help you predict what type of candi- Applying the Skill
date would be elected president in 1848. Then Predicting Consequences Read several newspaper
answer the questions that follow. articles about an event affecting your community
today. Make an educated prediction about what will
1 What event initially forced candidates to
address the issue of slavery in new territories? happen, and explain your reasoning. Write a letter to
the editor, summarizing your prediction. You may want
2 Review the facts and events listed on the chart. to check back at a later time to see if your prediction
Do you notice any patterns? What do the facts
came true.
tell you about the 1840s?
3 What kind of president do you think Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
Northerners would want? Southerners? CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
225
The Crisis Deepens
The slavery controversy accelerated the Taking Notes As you read about the • Describe the origins of the Republican
breakdown of the major political parties widening split between the North and the Party and the fate of the Whigs and the
and the growth of hostility between North South, use the major headings of the sec- Know-Nothings.
and South. tion to complete the outline started • Explain the significance of the Dred
below. Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas
Key Terms and Names debates of 1858, and John Brown’s raid
Republican Party, Dred Scott, The Crisis Deepens
I. Political Developments on Harpers Ferry.
referendum, insurrection, Harpers Ferry A.
B. Section Theme
II.
A. Groups and Institutions Americans
B. forged new political alliances in the 1850s.
✦1854 ✦1856 ✦1858 ✦1860

1854 1857 1857 1858 1859
Republican Party Lecompton constitution Supreme Court announces Lincoln-Douglas John Brown and follow-
founded drafted in Kansas Dred Scott decision debates ers raid Harpers Ferry
By the 1850s, feelings were running high among Northerners and Southerners over
whether slavery should be allowed in new territories. These strong feelings also tore old
political parties apart and created new ones. Soon after Abraham Lincoln, a congressman
from Illinois, was defeated in his race for senator, he wrote to a Springfield friend:
“ I think I am a Whig; but others say there are not Whigs, and that I am an
abolitionist. . . . I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery. I am not a
Know-Nothing. . . . How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of
negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? . . . As a nation, we began by
declaring ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created
equal except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are
Abraham Lincoln created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.’ When it comes to this I
should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of
”
loving liberty—to Russia for instance. . . .
—quoted in Abraham Lincoln
Political Developments
When the Kansas-Nebraska Act made the delicate balance previously maintained by
the Missouri Compromise obsolete, it enraged many opponents of slavery because it
reopened the territories to slavery. While a few people struck back with violence, others
worked for change through the political system.
226 CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict IntensifiesSectional Conflict Intensifies

The Birth of the Republican Party The Kansas- At the same time, public anger against the
Nebraska Act shattered the Whig Party. Every Northern Democrats enabled the American Party—
Northern Whig in Congress had voted against the better known as the Know-Nothings—to make gains
bill, while most Southern Whigs had supported it. as well, particularly in the Northeast. The American
“We Whigs of the North,” wrote one member from Party was an anti-Catholic and nativist party. It
Connecticut, “are unalterably determined never to hoped to prolong the naturalization process, weak-
have even the slightest political correspondence or ening immigrant influence. In the 1840s and early
connexion” with the Southern Whigs. 1850s, a large number of immigrants, many of them
Many Northern Whigs left their party and joined Irish and German Catholics, had begun to arrive.
forces with Free-Soilers and a few antislavery Prejudice and fears that immigrants would take
Democrats during the congressional elections of away jobs enabled the Know-Nothings to win many
1854. These antislavery coalitions officially organized seats in Congress and the state legislatures in 1854.
as the Republican Party in July 1854. They chose that The party quickly began to founder, however.
name to link themselves to Jefferson’s original Soon after the 1854 elections, Know-Nothings from
Democratic-Republican Party. Just as Jefferson had the Upper South split with Know-Nothings from the
wanted to prevent the United States from becoming a North over their support for the Kansas-Nebraska
monarchy, the new Republicans wanted to stop Act. Furthermore, most Americans considered slav-
Southern planters from becoming an aristocracy that ery a far more important issue than immigration.
controlled the government. Eventually, the Republican Party absorbed the
Republicans did not agree on whether slavery Northern Know-Nothings, strengthening Republican
should be abolished in the Southern states, but they power in the North.
did agree that it had to be kept out of the territories.
A large majority of Northern voters seemed to agree, The Election of 1856 To gain the widest possible
enabling the Republicans to make great strides in the support in the 1856 presidential campaign, the
elections of 1854. Republicans nominated John C. Frémont, a famous
Political Parties of the Era

Party Characteristics Major Leaders
Whig Party strongly divided into sectional factions; united only Daniel Webster, Henry Clay
(1834–1854) in opposition to Democratic Party
Democrat Largely controlled federal government from 1828 to John C. Calhoun

(1828–present) 1860 but increasingly dominated by Southern Democrats
after 1840
Liberty Promoted abolition of slavery; after Liberty James Birney
(1839–c. 1844) Party’s failure, members supported Free-Soil and
Republican Parties
Free-Soil Composed of Liberty Party members, antislavery Whigs, Martin Van Buren, Charles Francis
(1848–1854) and antislavery New York Democrats Adams
Republican Composed of Northern Whigs and Free-Soilers; opposed Abraham Lincoln

(c. 1854–present) further expansion of slavery
American Party (Know- Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic Millard Fillmore (former Whig)
Nothings)
(1849–c. 1860)
1. Interpreting Charts Which party had the shortest life span?
Source: Encarta Encyclopedia
2. Drawing Conclusions Which party listed did not have an obvious
connection to the slavery issue?

Britain during the debate over the Kansas-
Nebraska Act and had not taken a public stand on
the issue. Yet Buchanan’s previous record in
Congress showed that he believed the best way to
save the Union was to make concessions to the
South.
The American Party tried to reunite its Northern
and Southern members at its convention, but most
of the Northern delegates walked out when the
party refused to call for the repeal of the Kansas-
Nebraska Act. The remaining Know-Nothings then
chose former president Millard Fillmore to repre-
sent them.
The campaign was really two separate contests,
Buchanan against Frémont in the North, and
Buchanan against Fillmore in the South. Buchanan
had solid support in the South and only needed his
home state of Pennsylvania and one other in the
North to win the presidency. Democrats campaigned
on the idea that only he could save the Union. When
the votes were counted, Buchanan had won easily.
Reading Check Summarizing What events led to
the founding of the Republican Party?
Sectional Divisions Grow

Buchanan took office determined to adopt policies
that would calm the growing sectional strife in the
country. Yet a series of events during the opening
History months of his presidency helped to drive
Front Page News Chief Northerners and Southerners even further apart.
Justice Roger B. Taney (right)
delivered the Supreme Court’s The Dred Scott Decision Just two days after
ruling in the Dred Scott case. The
Buchanan’s inauguration, the Supreme Court ruled
decision made Scott a topic for the
nation’s press. What impression of in a landmark case involving slavery, Dred Scott v.
Scott’s family do you get from the Sandford. Dred Scott was a Missouri slave who had
engravings shown here? been taken north to work in free territory for several
years. After he returned with his slaveholder to
Missouri, Scott sued to end his slavery, arguing that
living in free territory had made him a free man.
Western explorer nicknamed “The Pathfinder.” On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled
Frémont had helped California become a free state against Scott. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney first stated
and had spoken in favor of Kansas becoming a free that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens and
state as well. Frémont had little political experience, that Scott thus had no right to sue in the federal
but he also had few enemies and no embarrassing courts. Taney then held that Scott’s residence in free
record to defend. territory did not alter his enslaved status.
The Democrats nominated James Buchanan, a Furthermore, Taney said, Congress’s ban on slavery
Pennsylvanian who could deliver the many elec- in the western territories, enacted as part of the
toral votes of his home state, then the second- Missouri Compromise, was unconstitutional and
largest in the Union. Despite his Northern roots, void. He reasoned that the Fifth Amendment pro-
Buchanan also appealed to Southern Democrats tected slaveholders from being deprived of their
because he had been serving as ambassador to property.

While Democrats cheered the Dred Scott decision,
Republicans called it a “willful perversion” of the
Constitution, containing “gross historical false-
hoods.” They also claimed that the decision about “Born in a Log Cabin” The image of a “common
slavery in the territories was not binding. If Dred man” president was appealing to campaign man-
Scott could not legally bring suit, they argued, then agers in the 1800s. As voting rights spread beyond
the Supreme Court should have dismissed the case landowners, the candidate with humble roots was a
without considering the constitutionality of the potent political image. Although many nineteenth-
Missouri Compromise. ; (For more on Dred Scott v. century candidates sought to appeal to the masses,
Sandford, see page 962.) only five presidents were actually born in a log
home: Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, James
Kansas’s Lecompton Constitution After the Dred Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and James Garfield. Of
Scott decision, the conflict in “Bleeding Kansas” these five, Jackson, Lincoln, and Garfield experienced
intensified. President Buchanan, hoping to end the serious poverty in childhood.
troubles, urged the territory to apply for statehood. William Henry Harrison cam-
paigned with images of a log
The pro-slavery legislature scheduled an election for
cabin childhood, but he was
delegates to a constitutional convention, but antislav-
actually born into an elite
ery Kansans boycotted it. The resulting constitution,
Virginia family that was
drafted in 1857 in the town of Lecompton, legalized acquainted with George
slavery in the territory. Washington.
An antislavery majority then voted down the
Lecompton constitution in a territory-wide
referendum, or popular vote on an issue. Under
pressure from Southern members of Congress,
Buchanan ignored the vote and asked Congress to half slave and half free. I do not expect
admit Kansas as a slave state. Stephen Douglas the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house
strongly disagreed, but the Senate endorsed state- to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It
hood. Republicans and Northern Democrats in the
House blocked the measure, arguing that it ignored ”
will become all one thing or all the other.
the people’s will. —quoted in The Civil War, An Illustrated History

Finally, in 1858, President Buchanan and Southern The nationally prominent Douglas, a short, stocky
leaders in Congress agreed to allow another referen- man nicknamed “The Little Giant,” regularly drew
dum in Kansas. If settlers did not approve the large crowds on the campaign trail. Seeking to over-
Lecompton constitution this time, they would have to come Douglas’s fame, Lincoln proposed a series of
defer statehood until their population reached debates, which would expose him to larger audi-
90,000—a significant delay. Nonetheless, the voters in ences than he could attract on his own. Douglas
Kansas overwhelmingly rejected the Lecompton con- agreed to seven debates across the state.
stitution. They did not want slavery in their state. Not Lincoln had entered politics after modest begin-
until 1861 did Kansas become a state—a free one. nings as a storekeeper, rail-splitter, and frontier
Reading Check Explaining Why did Dred Scott lawyer. He proved himself a gifted debater, mixing
logic with witty remarks, quotations from scripture,
sue the slaveholder who held him?
and appealing, homespun stories.
Although he was not an abolitionist, Lincoln
believed slavery to be morally wrong, and he
Lincoln and Douglas opposed its spread into western territories. Douglas,
In 1858 Illinois Republicans chose a relative by contrast, supported popular sovereignty. He
unknown named Abraham Lincoln to run for the would accept any decision, for or against slavery, if
Senate against the Democratic incumbent, Stephen A. the settlers voted for it. During a debate in Freeport,
Douglas. Lincoln launched his campaign in June with Lincoln asked Douglas if the people of a territory
a memorable speech about the rift in the country: could legally exclude slavery before achieving
statehood. If Douglas said yes, he would appear to be
“ A house divided against itself cannot stand. I
believe this Government cannot endure, permanently
championing popular sovereignty and opposing the
Dred Scott ruling, which would cost him Southern

support. If he said no, it would seem as if he had threatened our liberty and prosperity save and except
abandoned popular sovereignty, the principle on this institution of slavery? If this is true, how do you
which he had built his national following. propose to improve the condition of things by enlarg-
Douglas tried to avoid the dilemma, formulating ing slavery—by spreading it out and making it big-
an answer that became known as the Freeport
ger? You may have a wen [sore] or cancer upon your
Doctrine. He replied that he accepted the Dred Scott
person and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to
decision, but he argued that people could still keep
death; but surely it is no way to cure it, to engraft it
out slavery by refusing to pass the laws needed to
regulate and enforce it. “Slavery cannot exist . . . any- and spread it over your whole body. That is no
where,” said Douglas, “unless it is supported by local
police regulations.” Douglas’s response pleased
proper way of treating what you regard a wrong.
”
—quoted in The Civil War: Opposing Viewpoints
Illinois voters but angered Southerners.
Lincoln also attacked Douglas for claiming that he Douglas won the election, retaining his Senate
“cared not” whether Kansans voted for or against seat, but Lincoln did not come away empty-handed.
slavery. Denouncing the idea that slavery was as He had seized the opportunity in the debates to make
acceptable as freedom, Lincoln asked: clear the principles of the Republican Party. He had
also established a national reputation for himself as a
clear, insightful thinker who could argue with force
“ Has any thing ever threatened the existence of
this Union save and except this very institution of
and eloquence.
slavery? What is it that we hold most dear amongst Reading Check Comparing How did Stephen
us? Our own liberty and prosperity. What has ever Douglas and Abraham Lincoln differ in their positions on slavery?
History Through Art

Charleston Confrontation Lincoln and Douglas matched wits seven times during the 1858 senatorial
campaign. This painting by Robert Root shows them in Charleston, Illinois. One Republican and one Democratic
newspaper published every word. How did the debates help Lincoln?
John Brown’s Raid sentenced him to death. In his last words to the court,
Brown, repenting nothing, declared:
About a year after the Lincoln-Douglas debates,
national attention shifted to John Brown, a fervent
abolitionist who opposed slavery not with words but “ I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as
I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of
with a gun. Brown had inflamed the violence in the
[God’s] despised poor, I did no wrong, but right. Now
Kansas conflict. After pro-slavery forces sacked the
if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life
town of Lawrence, Brown took revenge by abducting
for the furtherance of the ends of justice and mingle
and murdering five pro-slavery settlers living near
Pottawatomie Creek. my blood . . . with the blood of millions in this slave
In 1859 Brown developed a plan to incite an country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel
insurrection, or rebellion, against slaveholders. He
would first conduct a raid into the Appalachian
”
and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done!
—quoted in John Brown, 1800–1859
foothills, then move southward in hopes of attracting
enslaved African Americans as he went. In his efforts, On December 2, the day of his execution, Brown
Brown had encouragement and financial aid from handed one of his jailers a prophetic note: “I, John
several Eastern abolitionists. Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this
To obtain weapons, Brown planned to seize the guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood.
federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West I had . . . vainly flattered myself that without very
Virginia). On the night of October 16, 1859, Brown much bloodshed it might be done.”
and about 18 followers attacked the arsenal. To the Many Northerners viewed Brown as a martyr in a
terrified night watchman, he announced, “I came noble cause. The execution, Henry David Thoreau
here from Kansas, and this is a slave state; I want to predicted, would strengthen abolitionist feeling in
free all the [African Americans] in this state; I have the North. “He is not old Brown any longer,”
possession now of the United States armory, and if Thoreau declared, “he is an angel of light.”
the citizens interfere with me I must only burn the For most Southerners, however, Brown’s raid
town and have blood.” offered all the proof they needed that Northerners
Soon, however, Brown was facing a contingent of were actively plotting the murder of slaveholders.
U.S. Marines rushed to Harpers Ferry from “Defend yourselves!” cried Georgia senator Robert
Washington, D.C., and commanded by Colonel Toombs. “The enemy is at your door!”
Robert E. Lee. After 10 of his men were killed, Brown
surrendered—less than 36 hours after his attack had Reading Check Evaluating In what ways might
begun. A Virginia court tried and convicted him and a Northerner and a Southerner view John Brown’s action?
TM
TM

1. Define: referendum, insurrection. 5. Synthesizing How did the ruling in 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Republican Party, Dred Scott, Dred Scott v. Sandford increase photograph on page 228 of the news-
Harpers Ferry. sectional division? paper clipping depicting the Dred Scott
6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer family. What do you notice about the
Reviewing Facts similar to the one below to group key way the family is dressed? How would
3. Summarize the ideas of the Freeport events of the period according to you describe their social class?
Doctrine. whether they were executive, legisla-
tive, judicial, or nongovernmental.
4. Groups and Institutions What were Executive 8. Expository Writing Imagine you have
the main goals of the Republican and Legislative just read a newspaper report on the
American Parties? Judicial Supreme Court’s ruling in the Dred
Nongovernmental Scott case or on John Brown’s raid on
Harpers Ferry. Write a letter to the edi-
tor explaining your reaction.

The Union Dissolves
The election of Abraham Lincoln as presi- Organizing As you read this section, • Discuss the presidential election of 1860.
dent and the secession of Southern states complete a graphic organizer similar to • Explain how and why the Civil War
pushed the nation into civil war. the one below to list the chain of events began.
that led to civil war.
Crittenden’s Compromise, Confederacy, Triggering Events Effects Civic Rights and Responsibilities In the
Jefferson Davis, Fort Sumter, martial law troubled days after Lincoln’s election,
many Southerners who placed loyalty to
their states above loyalty to the Union
spearheaded secession.
✦January 1861 ✦March 1861 ✦May 1861

December 1860 February 1861 April 12 April 17
South Carolina secedes Confederate States of Fort Sumter Virginia secedes
from the Union America formed bombarded
“I do not pretend to sleep,” wrote Mary Chesnut of the night of April 12, 1861. “How can I?”
Hours earlier, her husband, former South Carolina senator James Chesnut, had gone by
rowboat to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. He was delivering an ultimatum to U.S. Army
Major Robert Anderson to surrender the fort by four o’clock in the morning or be fired upon
by the South Carolina militia.
Through the long night Mary Chesnut lay awake, until she heard chimes from a local church
ring four times. The hour of surrender had arrived, and, she confessed, “I beg[a]n to hope.” But
her hopes of a peaceful outcome faded when, a half hour later, she heard the cannons begin to
boom. “I sprang out of bed. And on my knees . . . I prayed as I never prayed before.”
In a nightgown and shawl, Chesnut ran to the roof, where others had gathered to watch
the bombardment of Fort Sumter. The sectional conflict that had brewed in debate and bro-
Mary Chesnut ken out in periodic violence had become a war. On her rooftop, Mary Chesnut shivered and
felt the first terrifying evidence of the horrors to come. “The regular roar of the cannon—
there it was. And who could tell what each volley accomplished of death and destruction.”
—adapted from Mary Chesnut’s Civil War
The Election of 1860

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was a turning point for the South. The possibility
of an African American uprising had long haunted many Southerners. Now they were
terrified and enraged by the idea that Northerners would deliberately try to arm
enslaved people and encourage them to rebel.

Although Republican leaders quickly denounced In June 1860, the Democrats reconvened in
Brown’s raid, many Southern newspapers and politi- Baltimore. Again, after more wrangling, Southern
cians blamed Republicans for the attack. To many delegates walked out. The Democrats who remained
Southerners, the key point was that both the then chose Stephen Douglas to run for president. The
Republicans and John Brown opposed slavery. With Southerners who had bolted organized their own
the elections of 1860 looming, Senator Robert Toombs convention in Richmond and nominated John C.
of Georgia warned that the South would “never per- Breckinridge of Kentucky, the sitting vice president.
mit this Federal government to pass into the traitor- Meanwhile, many former Whigs and others were
ous hands of the Black Republican party.” alarmed at the prospect of Southern secession. They
created a new party, the Constitutional Union Party,
The Democrats Split In April 1860, with the South and chose former Tennessee senator John Bell as
still in an uproar, Democrats from across the United their presidential candidate. The party took no posi-
States began arriving in Charleston, South Carolina, tion on the issues dividing North and South. Their
to choose their nominee for president. Southern purpose, they said, was to uphold both the
Democrats wanted their party to uphold the Dred Constitution and the Union.
Scott decision and defend slaveholders’ rights in the
TURNING POINT
territories. Northern Democrats, led by Stephen
Douglas, preferred to continue supporting popular Lincoln Is Elected The Republicans, realizing they
sovereignty. When Northerners also rebuffed the stood no chance in the South, needed a candidate
idea of a federal slave code in the territories, 50 who could sweep most of the North. They turned to
Southern delegates stormed out of the convention. Abraham Lincoln, who had gained a national reputa-
The walkout meant that neither Douglas nor anyone tion during his earlier debates with Douglas.
else could muster the two-thirds majority needed to During the campaign, the Republicans tried to
become the party’s nominee. After 57 ballots, the persuade voters that they were more than just an
tired and angry delegates decided to adjourn. antislavery party. Although they remained true to
In
N.H.
5
VT. ME.
5 8
OREG. MINN.
3 4 MASS.
WIS. N.Y. 13
5 MICH. 35 R.I.
6 PA. 4 4
IOWA
Nonvoting 4 OHIO 27 3 N.J.CONN.
Territories ILL. IND. 23 6
CALIF. 11 13 VA. DEL.
4 MO. KY. 15 3
9 12 MD.
N.C. 8
TENN. 10
12 Abraham Lincoln
ARK. S.C.
4 ALA. GA. 8
MISS. 9
7 10
TEX. LA.
4 6
FLA.
3 1.Interpreting Maps How does the map
show that Lincoln was a sectional
candidate?
2. Applying Geography Skills What
Popular Electoral Political
explains the fact that Stephen Douglas
Candidate Vote Vote Party won only one state, Missouri?
Lincoln 1,865,593 180 Republican
Douglas 1,382,713 12 Northern Democrat
Breckinridge 848,356 72 Southern Democrat
Bell 592,906 39 Constitutional Union

John Abraham Lincoln
Bell Stephen
Douglas
John
Breckinridge
Analyzing Political Cartoons

Baseball and Politics In this cartoon, baseball
terms are used to explain Lincoln’s 1860 victory.
John Bell is sad the opponents struck out. Stephen
Douglas claims Lincoln had the advantage of his
“rail,” and John Breckinridge admits they were
“skunk’d.” Why is Lincoln pictured with a rail?
their free-soil principles, they reaffirmed the right of leave the Union, many Southerners viewed secession
the Southern states to preserve slavery within their as similar to the American Revolution—a necessary
borders. They also supported higher tariffs to protect course of action to uphold people’s rights.
manufacturers and workers, a new homestead law
Reading Check Identifying What event triggered
for settlers in the West, and federal funds for a
transcontinental railroad. the secession of the Lower South?
The Republican proposals greatly angered many
Southerners. As expected, Lincoln won no Southern
states; in fact, his name did not even appear on the Compromise Fails
ballot in some states. The Lower South went for Although Lincoln was elected president in
Breckinridge, while Douglas divided the votes of the November 1860, he would not be inaugurated until
border states with Bell. The Republicans won in only the following March. The Union’s initial response to
their second national campaign. Lincoln won with secession was the responsibility of President
the electoral votes of all of the free states except New Buchanan. Declaring that the government had no
Jersey, whose votes he split with Douglas. authority to forcibly preserve the Union, Buchanan
urged Congress to be conciliatory.
Secession Many Southerners viewed Lincoln’s elec-
tion as a threat to their society and culture, even their Peace Efforts In December, Senator John J.
lives. For many, there was now no choice but to secede. Crittenden of Kentucky proposed a series of amend-
The dissolution of the Union began with South ments to the Constitution. Crittenden’s Compromise,
Carolina, where secessionist sentiment had been as the newspapers called it, would guarantee slavery
burning the hottest for many years. Shortly after where it already existed. It would also reinstate the
Lincoln’s election, the state legislature called for a Missouri Compromise line and extend it all the way
convention. On December 20, 1860, amid marching to the California border. Slavery would be prohibited
bands, fireworks, and militia drills, the convention in all territories north of the line and protected in all
unanimously voted to repeal the state’s ratification of territories south of the line.
the Constitution and dissolve its ties to the Union. At Lincoln’s request, congressional Republicans
By February 1, 1861, six more states in the Lower voted against Crittenden’s Compromise. Accepting
South—Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, slavery in any of the territories, Lincoln argued,
Louisiana, and Texas—had also voted to secede. “acknowledges that slavery has equal rights with lib-
Although some people in these states did not want to erty, and surrenders all we have contended for.”

Finally, in a last-ditch effort to reverse secession, conflict, without yourselves being the aggressors. . . .
delegates from 21 states held a peace conference in We must not be enemies. Though passion may have
Washington, D.C., in February 1861. No representa-
tives showed up from the secessionist states, how-
strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
”
—from Lincoln’s Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861
ever, and the conference achieved little.
Founding the Confederacy On the same day the Fort Sumter Falls In April Lincoln announced that
peace conference opened, delegates from the seceding he intended to send needed supplies to Fort Sumter
states met at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama. in Charleston Harbor, one of the few federal mili-
There, on February 8, they declared tary bases that Southerners had not
themselves to be a new nation—the already seized. The Confederacy
Confederate States of America, also now faced a dilemma. To tolerate
known as the Confederacy. They U.S. troops in the South’s most vital
drafted a frame of government based Atlantic harbor seemed unaccept-
largely on the U.S. Constitution but able for a sovereign nation.
with some important changes. The However, firing on the supply ship
Confederate Constitution acknowl- would undoubtedly provoke war
edged the independence of each state, with the United States.
guaranteed slavery in Confederate President Jefferson Davis decided
territory, banned protective tariffs, to demand the surrender of Fort
and limited the president to a single Sumter before the supply ship
six-year term. arrived, but U.S. Army Major Robert
The convention delegates chose Anderson stood fast. Confederate
former Mississippi senator Jefferson forces then bombarded Fort Sumter
Davis to be president. In his for 33 hours on April 12 and 13, until
inaugural address, Davis declared, Anderson and his exhausted men
“The time for compromise has now gave up. No one had been killed,
Jefferson Davis
passed. The South is determined but the Civil War had begun.
to . . . make all who oppose her
smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.” He GEOGRAPHY
then called on the remaining Southern states to join
Hanging On to the Border States After the fall of
the Confederacy.
Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for 75,000 vol-
Reading Check Summarizing What measures were unteers to serve in the military for 90 days.
taken to try and reverse the South’s secession? Lincoln’s action created a crisis in the Upper South.
Many people in those states did not want to secede,
but they were not willing to take up arms against
fellow Southerners. Between April 17 and June 8,
The Civil War Begins 1861, four more states chose to leave the Union—
In the months between his election and the time he Virginia, Arkansas, North
took office, Lincoln had watched anxiously as the Carolina, and Tennessee.
nation fell apart. In his inaugural speech on March 4, The Confederate Congress
1861, Lincoln addressed the seceding states directly. then established Richmond, HISTORY
He repeated his commitment not to interfere with Virginia, as the capital.
slavery where it already existed, but insisted that With the Upper South Student Web
“the Union of these States is perpetual.” He did not gone, Lincoln could not Activity Visit the
threaten to attack the seceded states, but he did afford to lose the slavehold- American Republic
announce his intention to “hold, occupy, and posing border states as well. Since 1877 Web site at
tarvol2.glencoe.com
sess” federal property in those states. Lincoln also Delaware seemed safe,
made an eloquent plea for reconciliation: but Lincoln worried about
Web Activities—
Kentucky, Missouri, and
Chapter 6 for an
“ In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen,
and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war.
particularly Maryland.
Virginia’s secession had
activity on sectional
conflicts.
The government will not assail you. You can have no placed a Confederate state

across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital.
If Maryland joined the South, Washington, D.C.,
would be surrounded by Confederate territory. • Disagreement over the legality,
morality, and politics of slavery
To prevent Maryland’s secession, Lincoln
• Kansas-Nebraska Act sparked
imposed martial law—military rule—in Baltimore,
violence in Kansas.
where angry mobs had already attacked federal • Dred Scott ruling voided any
troops. Under martial law, anyone supporting seces- limitations on expansion of slavery.
sion could be arrested and held without trial. • John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
Although many people objected to this suspension polarized North and South.
of their rights, Maryland stayed in the Union. • Southern states seceded from
In the border states of Kentucky and Missouri, the Union.
fighting erupted. Kentucky initially declared neu- • Confederates attacked Fort
trality in the conflict, but when Confederate troops Sumter in South Carolina.
occupied part of Kentucky, the state declared war on
the Confederacy, and Lincoln sent troops to help. In
Missouri, despite strong public support for the
Confederacy, the state convention voted to stay in • Slavery was outlawed in the
the Union. A struggle then erupted between conven- United States.
tion leaders who organized a pro-Union government • Southern states rebuilt their economy.
and secessionists led by the governor. • African Americans gained citizenship
In the end, Missouri stayed in the Union with the and voting rights.
support of federal forces. There and elsewhere, the • The first U.S. civil rights laws were
war shattered old loyalties and made enemies of for- passed.
mer friends. For the next several years, the bloody
war between the states divided Americans and
resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties.
Mounting sectional tensions erupted into open warfare
Reading Check Explaining Why was Maryland in 1861.
important to the Union? Analyzing What do you think was the most important
cause of the Civil War? Why?
TM
TM

1. Define: Confederacy, martial law. 5. Evaluating Although Confederates 7. Examining Maps Study the map on
2. Identify: Crittenden’s Compromise, fired the first shots of the Civil War, page 233 showing the results of the
Jefferson Davis, Fort Sumter. Jefferson Davis argued that the North presidential election in 1860. Which
was to blame for having provoked the candidate won the border states
Reviewing Facts Fort Sumter attack. In your opinion, between the North and the Deep
3. State who the president of the which side began the war? Explain. South?
Confederacy was. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer 8. Analyzing Political Cartoons Study
similar to the one below to list the can- the cartoon on page 234 about the
Reviewing Themes
didates in the 1860 election and their presidential election of 1860. What
4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities political positions. does the use of a baseball comparison
Secessionists believed they had the imply about politics?
right to break from the Union, just as Party Candidate Position
the American colonists felt they had the Northern Democrats Writing About History
right to declare independence from Southern Democrats
9. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are
Britain. How were the two situations Constitutional Unionists
an adviser to President Lincoln, and you
similar? How were they different? Republicans
have just heard about the firing on Fort
Sumter. Write a brief report for the
president, advising him on what steps
to take next.

from Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
“Now,” said [Mr. Auld], “if you great good, to be diligently sought;
teach that [boy] how to read, there and the argument which he so
Frederick Douglass was born would be no keeping him. It would warmly urged, against my learning
into slavery in Maryland in forever unfit him to be a slave. He to read, only served to inspire me
1818. During the course of his would at once become unmanage- with a desire and determination to
incredible life, he escaped from able, and of no value to his master. As learn. In learning to read, I owe
slavery and eventually became to himself, it could do him no good, almost as much to the bitter opposi-
renowned for eloquent lectures but a great deal of harm. It would tion of my master, as to the kindly aid
and writings for the causes of make him discontented and of my mistress. I acknowledge the
abolition and liberty. One of his unhappy.” These words sank deep benefit of both.
most famous works is his auto- into my heart, stirred up sentiments
biography about growing up within that lay slumbering, and
under the shadow of slavery. In called into existence an entirely new
the following excerpt, Douglass train of thought. It was a new and
is around eight years old, and special revelation, explaining dark
Mrs. Auld, the wife of his slave- and mysterious things, with which
holder, has begun to teach him my youthful understanding had
to read. Mr. Auld discovers what struggled, but struggled in vain. . . .
his wife has been doing, and his From that moment, I understood the
reaction causes young Frederick pathway from slavery to freedom. It
to decide to learn to read on his was just what I wanted, and I got it at
own, no matter what. a time when I least expected it.
Analyzing Literature
Whilst I was saddened by the 1. Recall Why did Mr. Auld oppose the
Read to Discover thought of losing the aid of my kind idea of Douglass learning to read?
Why did some slaveholders not mistress, I was gladdened by the 2. Interpret What do you think
want the enslaved to learn to invaluable instruction which, by the Douglass means when he speaks of “a
read? merest accident, I had gained from revelation, explaining dark and myste-
my master. Though conscious of the rious things”?
Reader’s Dictionary difficulty of learning without a 3. Evaluate and Connect How would
sentiments: feelings teacher, I set out with high hope, and you feel if someone had forbidden
revelation: discovery a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of you to learn to read?
conscious: aware trouble, to learn to read. . . . That
which to [Mr. Auld] was a great evil, Interdisciplinary Activity
diligently: with great effort Art Design a poster promoting literacy.
to be carefully shunned, was to me a
Include reasons why everyone should learn
to read and write and get an education.

The Declaration of
Independence
Why It Matters As late as 1860, Jefferson Davis was delivering speeches calling for peace
and discouraging Southern secessionists. In 1861, however, delegates from seceding states met in
Montgomery and elected Davis president of the Confederacy. Despite his fears about the South’s ability to
win the war, Davis spoke eloquently in his inaugural address about the justice of the Southern cause. Like
many Southerners, Davis believed they were following the principle on which the nation was founded: that
people should not have to live under a government that infringes on their basic rights.
The North’s point of view was quite different: Southerners were destroying the nation by placing their
authority above that of the federal government. The origins of this feud trace back to the Declaration of
Independence. In crafting this document, the Founders advocated an entirely new relationship between a
government and its citizens. They prompted a continuing debate over how to balance individual and states’
rights with the power of a central authority.
Steps to . . . the Declaration Drawing from new political theories, the Declaration
put forth a different idea: governments derive “their
of Independence just powers from the consent of the governed.” In
Over many centuries, there was little develop- other words, governments exist to serve the people.
ment in political theory that addressed the relation- The main function of a government, the document
ship between the individual and the government. declared, was to protect the “unalienable rights” of its
The changes that came about after the period known citizens—the most important of which were the rights
as the Enlightenment culminated in the 1700s with to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” When
the American Declaration of Independence. a government failed to live up to this obligation, the
people had the right to “throw off such Government,
Government by and for the People With very and to provide new Guards for their future security.”
few exceptions, the world knew only monarchies and In shaping this political philosophy, the Founders
absolute rulers at the time the Declara- looked to the works of many people, including such
tion of Independence was written. classical thinkers as Aristotle, who had identified
“Our present condition . . . illustrates the American

idea that governments rest upon the consent of the
governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter
or abolish governments whenever they become destruc-
tive to the ends for which they were established.”
—Jefferson Davis, 1861
238
the same kind of tyranny that the
colonists had endured under Britain.
In particular, the Antifederalists crit-
icized the fact that the proposed
Constitution did not contain a bill of
rights to protect the personal liberties
of the people. The absence of such pro-
tections, argued one Antifederalist
leader, “put Civil Liberty and happi-
ness of the people at the Mercy of
Signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia
Rulers who may possess the great
unguarded powers given.”
three forms of government—democracy, oligarchy,
and monarchy. The Founders believed the best gov- Promoting Limited Government In the end,
ernment would combine all three forms of govern- the Federalists agreed to add a bill of rights to the
ment and balance them against each other. The Constitution. The Bill of Rights is the name given to
Constitution partly reflects these ideas. The presi- the first ten amendments to the Constitution. These
dent received powers similar to a monarch; the amendments guarantee Americans protection of
Senate was intended to protect the elite; and the their basic civil rights, some of which they had
House of Representatives, elected by the people, demanded in the Declaration of Independence.
was the most democratic. The Founders also looked These included the right to oppose or petition the
to the ideas of eighteenth-century Enlightenment government for change, the right to a trial by jury,
thinkers. The greatest influence on American think- and the right to refuse the quartering of soldiers.
ing, however, was probably the English philosopher In various other ways, the U.S. Constitution
John Locke. Locke’s writings promoted the idea that sought to limit the power of government and pro-
power in society rested ultimately with its citizens. mote the rights of the people. It created three dis-
tinct branches of government: the executive, the
A List of Grievances In declaring their inde- legislative, and the judicial. The colonists distrusted
pendence from Britain, colonial leaders argued that concentrated political power, and so the separation
the British government had failed to live up to of power among the branches was meant to prevent
its obligations to the colonists. In a section that any such concentration.
has become known as the list of grievances, the To reinforce the Founders’ goal of limited gov-
Declaration of Independence spells out precisely ernment, the Constitution also implemented a sys-
how the British king had suppressed the rights of tem of checks and balances among the branches so
the colonists and failed to look out for their interests. that no one branch could become too powerful. It
These 27 charges against the king were patterned also granted members of Congress only a certain
after several documents, including the English Bill of number of years in office before they had to run
Rights (1689), which criticized various actions of the again for election. These limits were meant to pre-
king. Ideas for the Declaration’s list of grievances also vent any one person or groups of persons from
came from several papers of the Stamp Act Congress gaining too much political power over the nation.
and the First and Second Continental Congress.
A Debate Over the Constitution The underly-

Checking for Understanding
ing belief of the Declaration of Independence was that
1. According to the Declaration of Independence, what is the
government derives its power from the people. This
main duty of a government?
core idea led to a great debate in 1787 over whether to 2. How did Aristotle’s ideas influence the Founders’ approach to
ratify the U.S. Constitution. Those who supported the the Constitution?
Constitution, known as Federalists, favored a strong
central government in order to create a more organ- Critical Thinking
ized and unified nation. Antifederalists, those who 1. How is the U.S. Constitution a compromise between the
opposed the Constitution, feared that the creation of a Federalists and Antifederalists?
strong central government eventually would lead to 2. Do you agree or disagree that the secession of the Southern
states marked a second American Revolution? Explain.
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 9. Identify: Harriet Tubman, John Brown, Fort Sumter.
1. popular sovereignty 5. referendum 10. What were the main elements of the Compromise of 1850?
2. secession 6. insurrection 11. Why did Southern politicians begin talking about secession?
3. Underground Railroad 7. Confederacy 12. Why did Northerners resist the Fugitive Slave Act?
4. transcontinental railroad 8. martial law 13. How did the Republican Party appeal to voters in the presi-
dential election of 1860?
14. Why is John Brown’s Harpers Ferry raid considered a turning
point on the road to war?
15. Why was Lincoln able to win the 1860 election?
16. What efforts were made to prevent the outbreak of war?
Key Events of the 1850s: 17. What border states did Lincoln want to keep in the Union?
• California entered Union as a free state, giving free states Critical Thinking
a Senate majority 18. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities How
• Fugitive Slave Act passed to help Southerners recover did the Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scott decision affect
enslaved people who escaped to North; act caused outrage formerly enslaved African Americans living in the North?
in North 19. Evaluating Why did many members of Congress support
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin published, angered many Southerners popular sovereignty?
• Kansas-Nebraska Act passed 20. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
below to list the main events that pushed the nation into
civil war.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
heightened tensions:
• Angered Northerners by repealing Missouri Compromise Main

• Popular sovereignty regarding slavery issue led to Events
violence in “Bleeding Kansas”
• Republican Party formed by former Whigs and members
of Free-Soil Party
• Dred Scott decision by Southern-dominated Supreme
Court angered Northerners
• Debates in Senate over Kansas led to caning of Charles 21. Interpreting Primary Sources Many people have written
Sumner essays on the causes of the Civil War. Edward A. Pollard of
• Events in Kansas angered John Brown, who then raided Virginia was the editor of the Daily Richmond Examiner during
Harpers Ferry the Civil War. He wrote a book, The Lost Cause, about the
Civil War from a Southern point of view. Read the excerpt
Election of 1860: and answer the questions that follow.
• Democratic Party split between North and South “ In the ante-revolutionary period, the differences
between the populations of the Northern and Southern
• Republicans nominated eventual winner Abraham Lincoln
colonies had already been strongly developed. The
• Southern states established Confederacy in February 1861 early colonists did not bear with them from the mother-
• Fort Sumter fired upon in April 1861, starting the Civil War country to the shores of the New World any greater
degree of congeniality than existed among them at

HISTORY Seceding States, 1860–1861
N
50°
Self-Check Quiz N
W
W. VA. separated
E from VA. in 1861
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at and was admitted to
S
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— the Union in 1863. N.H.
Chapter 6 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. DAK. MINN.

VT. ME.
OREG.
WASH. TERR.
TERR. WIS. MASS.
N.Y.
MICH. R.I.
NEV. NEBR. TERR. CONN.
TERR. IOWA PA.
UTAH N.J.
home. They had come not only from different stocks of TERR. COLO. ILL. IND.
OHIO
W. DEL.
population, but from different feuds in religion and poli- CALIF. TERR.
KANS. MO. VA. VA.
KY. MD.
tics. There could be no congeniality between . . . New TENN.
N.C.
N. MEX. UNORG.
TERR.
”
England, and the . . . South. . . .
30°N
TERR. ARK.
MISS. ALA. GA.
S.C. ATLaNTic
Ocean
—from The Lost Cause TEX. LA.
FLA.
a. According to Pollard, when did the differences between On February 8, 1861,
delegates from several S.C. was the
the North and South begin? PaCIFic Southern states created first state to secede
b. According to Pollard, what caused the differences Ocean the Confederacy. from the Union.
T R O P IC OF C A N C E R
between Northerners and Southerners? Union free state Gulf of Mexico
Union slave state
0 400 miles
Slave state seceding
before Fort Sumter, April 1861
Practicing Skills Slave state seceding
0 400 kilometers
Lambert Equal-Area
after Fort Sumter, April 1861 projection
22. Predicting Consequences Review the skill on predicting Territory 90°W 80°W
consequences on page 225. Then read the following state- Union-Confederate border
ments and predict three consequences for each. Rank the
three consequences in order of most likely to occur to least
likely to occur.
a. A person elected to a political office does not support the Geography and History
issues he or she claimed to represent while campaigning 25. The map above shows seceding states from 1860 to 1861.
for election. Study the map and answer the questions below.
b. Engineers develop an effective, efficient automobile a. Interpreting Maps Which slave states remained in the
powered by solar energy. Union after the Fort Sumter attack?
b. Applying Geography Skills Which states did not secede
until after the Fort Sumter attack?
Writing Activity
23. Portfolio Writing: Mock Peace Convention Hold a mock
peace convention to try and reverse the secession of the
Southern states. As a class, create a convention in which stu-
Standardized
dents are delegates from Union or secessionist states. Test Practice
Students should write a position paper for their assigned Many Northerners saw John Brown as a martyr to the cause
state proposing an idea that could help the states compro- of the abolition of slavery. Southerners were afraid of John
mise. Write a summary of the proceedings and place it in Brown because they felt he might
your portfolio.
A increase the chances of electing a Republican president.
B destroy the Underground Railroad.
Chapter Activity C convince Native Americans to fight against the South in
24. Technology Activity: Developing a Multimedia the Civil War.
Presentation Use the Internet and other sources to find a D encourage a slave revolt.
map showing the routes of the Underground Railroad, pho-
tos of conductors and fugitive slaves, and primary source Test-Taking Tip: Look for clues in the question to help you
documents from conductors and fugitive slaves, such as find the answer. For example, if John Brown believed in the
diaries or journals. Create a multimedia report about the abolition of slavery, it is unlikely that he would have
Underground Railroad. Present your report to the class. destroyed the Underground Railroad (answer B).

The Civil War and
Reconstruction
1861–1877
Why It Matters
The Civil War was a milestone in American history. The four-year-long struggle determined the
nation’s future. With the North’s victory, slavery was abolished. The war itself introduced modern
military innovations such as the use of railroads to move troops, the telegraph to speed
communications, and reliance on conscription in a “total war” effort. After the war, the nation
struggled to bring the South back into the Union during a contentious period known as
Reconstruction.
The Impact Today

The Civil War and Reconstruction permanently changed the nation.
• The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, while the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Amendments provided constitutional protections for all American citizens.
• The power of the federal government was strengthened.
• The Radical Republicans’ rule so antagonized the South that the
region remained solidly Democratic for nearly a century.

The Chapter 7 video, “Lincoln and the Civil War,” chronicles
the president’s efforts to solve the problems between the
North and the South.
1865
1863 • Lee surrenders to Grant at 1868
• Lincoln issues Appomattox Courthouse • House
1861 Emancipation • John Wilkes Booth impeaches
• First Battle Proclamation assassinates Lincoln President
of Bull Run
• Battle of Johnson
Gettysburg
▲ ▲
Lincoln A. Johnson Grant
1861–1865 ▲ 1865–1869 ▲ 1869–1877
1861 1865 1869
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1861 1863 1865 1868
• Czar Alexander II • French troops occupy • Gregor Mendel’s Law • Meiji Restoration begins Japanese
emancipates Russian serfs Mexico City of Heredity stated modernization 1869
• First ships pass
through Suez Canal
242
Charge by Don Troiani, 1990, depicts the advance of the Eighth
Pennsylvania Cavalry during the Battle of Chancellorsville.
1875
1873 • “Whiskey Ring” 1877
• Panic of 1873 scandal breaks • Compromise of 1877
paralyzes ends Reconstruction
1870 nation efforts
• Fifteenth HISTORY
Amendment
ratified ▲
Hayes
▲ ▲ ▲ 1877–1881 Chapter Overview
information.
1871 1873 1874 1876
• Unification of • Sigmund • First Impressionist art • Belgian king Leopold II
Germany completed; Freud enters exhibit launches begins establishing trading posts in
German Empire Vienna Modern Art Africa; European nations begin
proclaimed University movement dividing control of Africa
243
The Opposing Sides
The North and the South each had Taking Notes As you read about the • Assess the strengths and weaknesses of
distinct advantages and disadvantages North and South’s advantages and each region’s economy.
at the beginning of the Civil War. disadvantages at the start of the Civil • Contrast the political situations of the
War, use the major headings of the Union and the Confederacy.
Key Terms and Names section to create an outline similar to
Robert E. Lee, Legal Tender Act, the one below. Section Theme
greenback, War Democrat, Copperhead, Groups and Institutions The
I. Choosing Sides
conscription, habeas corpus, Trent Affair, Confederacy’s weak central government
attrition, Anaconda Plan had difficulty coordinating the war effort.
II.
A.
B.
✦April 1861 ✦October 1861 ✦April 1862

April 1861 November 1861 February 1862 April 1862
Robert E. Lee resigns Trent Affair begins Congress passes Confederate Congress
from the U.S. Army Legal Tender Act passes conscription law
While husking corn on his family’s Indiana farm in April 1861, 16-year-old Theodore
Upson heard a neighbor tell his father Jonathan that “the Rebels have fired upon and taken
Fort Sumter.”
“Father said little,” Upson remembered. However, when the family sat down for dinner
later, the boy saw that his father “looked ten years older.”
Upson later recalled, “We sat down to the table. Grandma wanted to know what was the
trouble. Father told her and she began to cry. ‘Oh, my poor children in the South. Now they
will suffer!’”
Upson’s father offered to let their Southern relatives come and stay with them at the farm,
Theodore Upson where he thought they would be safer. “No, they will not do that,” the grandmother replied.
“There is their home. There they will stay. Oh, to think that I should have lived to see the day
when Brother should rise against Brother.”
—adapted from With Sherman to the Sea
Choosing Sides
On the same day that he learned his home state of Virginia had voted to secede from
the Union, Robert E. Lee—one of the best senior officers in the United States Army—
received an offer from General Winfield Scott to command Union troops. Although Lee
had spoken against secession and considered slavery “a moral and political evil,” he
wrote, “I cannot raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children.” Instead,
he resigned from the army and offered his services to the Confederacy.
244 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction

Lee was only one of hundreds of military officers over the South. In 1860 almost 90 percent of the
who resigned to join the Confederacy. These officers nation’s factories were located in the Northern states.
enabled the South to organize an effective fighting Thus, the North could provide its troops with ammuni-
force quickly. So too did the strong military tradition tion and other supplies more easily.
in the South. In 1860 seven of the nation’s eight mili- In addition, the South had only half as many miles
tary colleges were in the South. These colleges proof railroad track as the North and had only one line—
vided the South with a large number of trained from Memphis to Chattanooga—connecting the
officers to lead its armies. western states of the Confederacy to the east. This
Just as the South had a strong military tradition, made it much easier for Northern troops to disrupt
the North had a strong naval tradition. More than the Southern rail system and prevent the movement
three-quarters of the United States Navy’s officers of supplies and troops.
came from the North. At the same time, the crews of
American merchant ships were almost entirely from Financing the War Both the North and the South
the North. They provided a large pool of trained had to act quickly to raise money for the war. The
sailors for the Union navy as it expanded. North enjoyed several financial advantages. In
Reading Check Explaining Why was the South able addition to controlling the national treasury, the
Union could expect continued revenue from tariffs.
to quickly organize an army?
Many Northern banks also held large reserves of
cash, which they loaned the government by pur-
The Opposing Economies chasing bonds.
Although the South had many experienced offi- In order to make more money available for emer-
cers to lead its troops in battle, the North had several gency use, Congress passed the Legal Tender Act in
economic advantages. In 1860 the population of the February 1862. This act created a national currency
North was about 22 million, while the South had and allowed the government to issue paper money.
about 9 million people. The North’s larger popula- The paper money came to be known as greenbacks,
tion gave it a great advantage in raising an army and because of its color. Although the use of paper money
in supporting the war effort. helped to cause inflation—a decline in the value of
money—it also enabled the government to pay its
ECONOMICS bills and keep the war effort going.
Industry and Agriculture The North’s industries In contrast to the Union, the Confederacy’s finan-
also gave the region an important economic advantage cial situation was not good, and it became worse over
Resources of the Union and of the Confederacy

100
92% 94%
90 90%
Union Confederacy 82%
80
70 71% 72% 69% 67%
60
56%
50
44%
40
30 31% 33%
29% 28%
20 18%
10 8% 10%
6%
0
Population Manufactured Exports Merchant Miles of Grain Number of Iron Banking
goods ships railroad track production farms production capital
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States

1. Interpreting Graphs In which category is the difference between
the Union and the Confederacy the greatest?
2. Making Inferences What additional factors are not considered
when comparing population percentages between the Union and the
Confederacy?
time. Most Southern planters were in debt and The Political Situation
unable to buy bonds. At the same time, Southern
As both sides worked to address their various eco-
banks were small and had few cash reserves. As a
nomic dilemmas, they also had to contend with a
result, they could not buy many bonds either.
variety of political problems, including opposition to
The best hope for the South to raise money was by
the war in the North and quarrels over war policies in
taxing trade. Shortly after the war began, however,
the South.
the Union Navy blockaded Southern ports, which
reduced trade and revenues. The Confederacy then
resorted to direct taxation of its people, but many Party Politics and Dissent in the North As the
Southerners refused to pay. Civil War began, President Lincoln had to grapple
The Confederacy also printed paper money to with divisions within his own party. Many members
pay its bills. This caused rapid inflation in the of the Republican Party were abolitionists. Lincoln’s
South, and Confederate paper money eventually goal, however, was to preserve the Union, even if it
became almost worthless. By the end of the war, the meant allowing slavery to continue.
South had experienced 9,000 percent inflation, com- The Republican president also had to contend
pared to only 80 percent in the North. with the Democrats, who were divided themselves.
One faction, called War Democrats, strongly sup-
Reading Check Examining How was having a ported a war to restore the Union but opposed end-
larger population than the South an advantage for the North? ing slavery. Another faction of Northern Democrats
were known as the Peace Democrats. This group
opposed the war and called for the reunion of the
states by negotiation rather than force. Many
Republicans viewed them as traitors and referred to
them as Copperheads, after the poisonous snake.
One major disagreement between Republicans
and Democrats concerned the enactment in 1862 of a
militia law that allowed states to use conscription—
or forcing people through a draft into military serv-
ice—if this was necessary to fill their regiments.
The Income Tax Many Democrats opposed the law, and riots erupted
Past: Funding the War in several strongly Democratic districts in Indiana,
On July 1, 1862, a new tax law gave the United States a Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
comprehensive federal income tax. A temporary way Criticism also greeted President Lincoln’s decision
of funding the war debt, the tax was repealed in 1872. to suspend writs of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus
Another income tax passed in 1894 was challenged
refers to a person’s right not to be imprisoned unless
in court, and the Supreme Court ruled that a direct tax
charged with a crime and given a trial. A writ of
on incomes was unconstitutional. The Sixteenth
habeas corpus is a court order that requires the gov-
Amendment (1913) again made the income tax legal.
ernment to either charge an imprisoned person with
a crime or let the person go free. When writs of
habeas corpus are suspended, a person can be
imprisoned indefinitely without trial. In this case,
$5 greenback
President Lincoln suspended the writ for anyone
who openly supported the rebels or encouraged oth-
ers to resist the militia draft. In taking such action,
Lincoln justified limits on speech in wartime: “Must I
shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts,” the
Present: The IRS Today
president asked, “while I must not touch a hair of a
Today the income tax is the biggest
wily agitator who induces him to desert?”
source of federal government
funding. The Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) administers the tax, GOVERNMENT
receiving and processing about Weak Southern Government Although the South
200 million returns every year. had no organized opposition party, Confederate presi-
dent Jefferson Davis still faced political problems. The

Confederate constitution emphasized states’ rights and fought in Europe during the previous two centuries
limited the central government’s power. This often were fought by small, disciplined armies with lim-
interfered with Davis’s ability to conduct the war with ited goals. In contrast, the Civil War involved huge
a united commitment from every Confederate state armies that consisted mostly of civilian volunteers
government. and which required vast amounts of supplies and
Although many Southern leaders supported the equipment.
war, some opposed Jefferson Davis when he sup-
ported conscription and established martial law early Military Technology and Tactics The Civil War
in 1862. They objected to the Confederacy forcing introduced new styles of fighting. Traditionally,
people to join the army. They also opposed the sus- troops would march toward the enemy in tight
pension of writs of habeas corpus, which the South columns, firing in massed volleys. These were neces-
had also introduced. sary tactics earlier in the century because soldiers
Reading Check Summarizing How were the used smoothbore muskets loaded with round metal
balls. These muskets were very inaccurate except at
Northern Democrats divided over the Civil War?
close range.
By the 1850s, French and American inventors had
developed an inexpensive conoidal—or cone-
The Diplomatic Challenge shaped—bullet that could be used in rifles. Rifles fir-
The outbreak of the Civil War put the major gov- ing conoidal bullets were accurate at much greater
ernments of Europe in a difficult situation. The distances. This meant that troops charging at enemy
United States government did not want the lines would be fired upon with more accuracy, pro-
Europeans interfering in the war. Confederate lead- ducing much higher casualties.
ers wanted the Europeans, particularly the British, to At the same time, instead of standing in a line,
recognize the South and provide it with military troops defending positions in the Civil War began to
assistance. use trenches and barricades to protect themselves. The
Southern leaders knew that European textile facto- combination of rifles and protective cover created situ-
ries depended on Southern cotton. To pressure the ations where the attacking force often suffered very
British and French, many Southern planters agreed to high casualties. High casualties meant that armies had
stop selling their cotton in these markets until the to keep replacing their soldiers. Attrition—the wear-
Europeans recognized the Confederacy. ing down of one side by the other through exhaustion
In the autumn of 1861, as the European nations of soldiers and resources—thus played a critical role
considered their course of action, two Confederate as the war dragged on.
diplomats set out from Havana, Cuba, aboard the
British vessel Trent to meet with European officials.
When the Trent left Havana, the Union warship San
Jacinto intercepted it and arrested the men.
After several tense weeks, the United States freed
the men, and they continued on their journey to seek
European allies. Although their arrest in the so-called Gunpowder
Trent Affair had excited interest worldwide, their The cannon and rifle fire that echoed throughout the
diplomatic mission failed. In the end, both Britain valleys of Tennessee during Grant’s campaign had
and France chose not to go to war against the United become a familiar sound on the battlefields of the United
States. States and the rest of the world by the mid-1800s. The
key ingredient in these powerful weapons was gunpow-
Reading Check Explaining Why was it important
der. Scholars believe that the Chinese invented this
for the Confederate States to be recognized by the industrial- explosive mixture and were using it in fireworks and
ized European nations? signals as early as the 900s. In 1304 the Arabs used the
powder to develop the first gun. In the centuries that fol-
lowed, numerous nations would develop and improve
The First Modern War on the gun—which made all other weapons before it
As they readied for battle, the North and South obsolete. For what peaceful purposes can gun-
were about to embark on what was, in many powder be used?
respects, the first modern war. Most of the wars
CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction 247

also believed that their military traditions made
The Anaconda Plan them superior fighters, and they scorned defen-
sive warfare. In the war, Southern troops went on
the offensive in eight battles, suffering 20,000
•Blockade Southern •Control the Mississippi more casualties than the Union by charging
ports on the Atlantic with Union gunboats enemy lines. These were heavy losses the South
•Isolate the Confederacy •Divide the eastern part of could not afford.
from European aid and the Confederacy from the
trade western part
The Union’s Anaconda Plan Early in the war,
•Cut off flow of supplies, •Capture New Orleans,
the general in chief of the United States,
equipment, money, food Vicksburg, and Memphis
and cotton Winfield Scott, proposed a strategy for defeat-
•Cut off shipping to and ing the South. Scott suggested that the Union
•Exhaust Southern from interior
blockade Confederate ports and send gunboats
resources, forcing
surrender down the Mississippi River to divide the
Confederacy in two. The South, thus separated,
would gradually run out of resources and sur-
render. The plan would take time, Scott admit-
ted, but it would defeat the South with the least
amount of bloodshed.
The South’s Strategy Early in the war, Jefferson Many Northerners rejected the plan as too slow
Davis imagined a struggle similar to the American and indirect for certain victory, favoring instead a
war for independence against Britain. Like George strong, quick invasion of the South. Northern news-
Washington, Southern generals would pick their bat- papers scorned this strategy, which they called the
tles carefully, attacking and retreating when Anaconda Plan, after the snake that slowly strangles
necessary to avoid heavy losses. By waging a defen- its prey to death. Lincoln eventually agreed to imple-
sive war of attrition, Davis believed the South could ment Scott’s suggestions and imposed a blockade of
force the Union to spend its resources until it became Southern ports. Ultimately, however, he and other
tired of the war and agreed to negotiate. Union leaders realized that only a long war that
Much like Lincoln in the North, however, President focused on destroying the South’s armies had any
Davis felt pressure to strike for a quick victory. Many chance of success.
strategists of this era were influenced by Napoleon’s
battle strategy in his European wars: Victory should Reading Check Describing What war strategy did
come with one climactic battle. Many Southerners Jefferson Davis develop for the South?
TM
TM

1. Define: greenback, conscription, 5. Comparing Why did the North have an 8. Analyzing Charts Examine the chart
habeas corpus, attrition. economic advantage over the South? on the Anaconda Plan on this page.
2. Identify: Robert E. Lee, Legal Tender 6. Analyzing Why did the South resort to How would a naval blockade accom-
Act, War Democrat, Copperhead, Trent using paper money during the war? plish several goals of the Anaconda
Affair, Anaconda Plan. 7. Organizing Using a graphic organizer Plan at once?
3. Explain why Robert E. Lee refused similar to the one below, list the mili-
Lincoln’s offer to command Union tary innovations of the Civil War era.
troops.
Reviewing Themes
Military 9. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
4. Groups and Institutions How did a Innovations are living in one of the border states at
belief in states’ rights hamper the South
the beginning of the Civil War. Write a
during the war?
letter to a relative explaining why you
plan to join either the Union or
Confederate army.

The Early Stages
Union forces suffered defeat in Virginia, Categorizing As you read about the • Describe the progress of the war in
advanced down the Mississippi, and early battles of the Civil War, complete a the West and the East.
stopped the South’s invasion of chart similar to the one below by filling in • Evaluate the soldiers’ wartime
Maryland. the results of each battle listed. experiences.
Key Terms and Names Battle Results Section Theme
“Stonewall” Jackson, bounty, blockade First Battle of Bull Run Geography and History The Union
runner, David G. Farragut, Ulysses S. Battle of Shiloh hoped to seize the Mississippi River
Grant, Emancipation Proclamation, Seven Days’ Battle valley and cut the Confederacy in two.
hardtack, prisoner of war Second Battle of Bull Run
✦1861 ✦1862 ✦1863

1861 April 1862 September 1862 1863
Confederates defeat Union forces at 20,000 casualties 23,000 casualties at The Emancipation
First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) at Battle of Shiloh Battle of Antietam Proclamation takes effect
On July 21, 1861—a hot, sultry Sunday perfect for family outings—hundreds of people
from Washington, D.C., picnicked along Bull Run near the northern Virginia town of Manassas
Junction. They had gathered to watch the first battle between the Union and Confederate
forces.
“The spectators were all excited,” one reporter wrote, “and a lady with an opera glass
who was near me was quite beside herself when an unusually heavy discharge roused the
current of her blood: “That is splendid! Oh, my! Is not that first-rate?”
The spectators who came to Bull Run expected a short, exciting fight and a quick surren-
der by the rebel troops. Unexpectedly, the Confederates routed the Union army. A reporter
with the Boston Journal, Charles Coffin, described the chaos:
Civil War cannon near

“ Men fall. . . . They are bleeding, torn, and mangled. . . . The trees are splintered,
crushed, and broken, as if smitten by thunderbolts. . . . There is smoke, dust, wild talking,
Bull Run in Manassas National shouting; hissings, howlings, explosions. It is a new, strange, unanticipated experience to the
Battlefield Park
soldiers of both armies, far different from what they thought it would be.
”
—quoted in Voices of the Civil War
Mobilizing the Troops

During the first few months of the war, President Lincoln felt tremendous pressure to
strike hard against the South. He approved an assault on Confederate troops gathered
only 25 miles (40 km) south of Washington, D.C. The First Battle of Bull Run, as it came
to be called, started well for the Union as it forced Confederate troops to retreat.

The Confederate cause was saved when reinforce- Confederate trade with the world. Although the
ments from Virginia under Thomas J. Jackson blockade became increasingly effective as the war
arrived. The commander of the retreating troops dragged on, Union vessels were thinly spread and
yelled: “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! found it difficult to stop the blockade runners—
Rally behind the Virginians!” Jackson became known small, fast vessels the South used to smuggle goods
as “Stonewall” Jackson, and he went on to become past the blockade, usually at night. By using block-
one of the Confederate army’s most effective com- ade runners, the South could ship at least some of its
manders. With the help of Jackson’s reinforcements, cotton to Europe in exchange for shoes, rifles, and
the Union assault at Bull Run failed. other supplies.
The Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run
made it clear that the North would need a large, well- GEOGRAPHY
trained army to defeat the South. President Lincoln Farragut Captures New Orleans As part of its
had originally called for 75,000 men to serve for three effort to close Southern ports, the Union navy devel-
months. The day after Bull Run, he signed another oped a plan to seize New Orleans and gain control of
bill for the enlistment of 500,000 men for three years. the lower Mississippi River. In February 1862, David
The North initially tried to encourage voluntary G. Farragut took command of a combined Union
enlistment by offering a bounty—a sum of money force consisting of 42 warships and 15,000 soldiers
given as a bonus—to individuals who promised three led by General Benjamin Butler.
years of military service. Eventually, however, both In early April, Farragut’s fleet began bombarding
the Union and the Confederacy instituted the draft. Confederate forts defending the lower Mississippi
Reading Check Summarizing What was the River, 75 miles south of New Orleans. When the
attack failed to destroy the forts, Farragut made a dar-
significance of the First Battle of Bull Run? ing move. In the early hours of April 24, 1862, his
ships headed upriver past the forts in single file,
exposing themselves to attack. The forts opened fire
The Naval War with more than 80 guns, while Confederate gunboats
While the Union and Confederacy mobilized rammed the Union fleet. Remarkably, all but four
their armies, President Lincoln proclaimed a block- of Farragut’s ships survived the battle and continued
ade of all Confederate ports in an effort to cut upriver.
Ironclads Clash at Sea, March 9, 1862

Southerners hoped to break the Union blockade with a secret
weapon—an iron-plated ship built by covering the hull of the
wooden ship Merrimack, a captured Union warship, with iron. The
armored vessel, renamed the Virginia, could easily withstand Union
cannon fire.
On March 8, 1862, the Virginia sank two Union ships guarding
the James River at Hampton Roads, Virginia. On the worst day of the
war for the Union navy, 240 sailors died. The next day, the Union’s
own ironclad ship, the newly completed Monitor, challenged the
Virginia. The two ships fought for hours, but neither could deliver a
decisive blow. Although the vessels never fought again, the Monitor’s
presence kept the Virginia from breaking the Northern blockade.
Young boys known as “powder
monkeys” often carried the explosive
charges on Union naval vessels.
On April 25, 1862, Farragut arrived at New
Orleans. Six days later, General Butler’s troops took
control of the city. The South’s largest city, and a cen-
ter of the cotton trade, was now in Union hands.
Same Battles, Different Names Many Civil War
Reading Check Explaining How did the battles have two names. The Union usually named
Confederates try to break the Union blockade? battles after the nearest body of water, while the
Confederacy usually named them after the nearest
settlement. Therefore, the battle known as the Battle
of Bull Run (a creek) in the North was known as the
The War in the West Battle of Manassas (a town) in the South. Likewise,
In February 1862, as Farragut prepared for his the Battle of Antietam was remembered in the South
attack on New Orleans, Union general Ulysses S. as the Battle of Sharpsburg.
Grant began a campaign to seize control of two
rivers: the Cumberland River, which flowed west
past Nashville through Tennessee, and the Tennessee
River, which flowed through northern Alabama and of Bull Run, Lincoln relieved him of command and
western Tennessee. Control of these rivers would cut chose General George B. McClellan to lead the Union
Tennessee in two and provide the Union with a river army in the East.
route deep into Confederate territory.
Backed by armored gunboats, Grant first seized McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign After several
Fort Henry, the Confederacy’s main fort on the months of preparation, McClellan began transport-
Tennessee River. He then marched his troops east ing his troops by ship to the mouth of the James
and surrounded Fort Donelson on the Cumberland River, southeast of Yorktown, Virginia. From there he
River, forcing its surrender. With the fall of Fort intended to march on Richmond, only 70 miles
Donelson and Fort Henry, all of Kentucky and most (113 km) away.
of western Tennessee came under Union control. As McClellan advanced toward Richmond, he
Grant next headed up the Tennessee River to allowed his forces to become divided by the
attack Corinth, Mississippi. Seizing Corinth would Chickahominy River. Seizing this opportunity, the
cut the Confederacy’s only rail line connecting Confederate commander, General Joseph E.
Mississippi and western Tennessee to the east. Johnston, attacked McClellan’s army, inflicting heavy
Early on April 6, 1862, Confederate forces casualties. After Johnston was wounded in the battle,
launched a surprise attack on Grant’s troops, which General Robert E. Lee was placed in command.
were camped about 20 miles (32 km) north of In late June 1862, Lee began a series of attacks on
Corinth near a small church named Shiloh. The McClellan’s army that became known collectively as
Union won the Battle of Shiloh the following day, the Seven Days’ Battle. Although Lee was unable to
but both sides paid an enormous cost. Twenty thou- decisively defeat the Union army, he did force
sand troops had been killed or wounded, more than McClellan to retreat. Together the two sides had suf-
in any other battle up to that point. When newspa- fered over 30,000 casualties. Despite McClellan’s
pers demanded Grant be fired because of the high protests, Lincoln ordered him to withdraw from the
casualties, Lincoln refused, saying, “I can’t spare peninsula and bring his troops back to Washington.
this man; he fights.”
TURNING POINT
Reading Check Evaluating What was the
The Battle of Antietam As McClellan’s troops with-
significance of the Battle of Shiloh?
drew, Lee decided to attack the Union forces defending
Washington. The maneuvers by the two sides led to
another battle at Bull Run, near Manassas Junction, the
The War in the East site of the first major battle of the war. The South again
At the same time Union and Confederate troops forced the North to retreat, leaving the Confederate
were struggling for control of the Mississippi River forces only 20 miles (32 km) from Washington, D.C.
and other regions in the West, another major cam- Soon after, Lee’s forces invaded Maryland.
paign was being waged in the East to capture Lee decided to invade Maryland for several rea-
Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. After sons. Both he and Jefferson Davis believed that only
General Irwin McDowell’s failure at the First Battle an invasion would convince the North to accept the

In
Civil War in the West and East, 1861–1863 Motion
Gettysburg
Confederate IOWA PA. July 1–3, 1863
states Antietam
Union states OHIO Sept. 17, 1862 N.J.
Confederate Bull Run MD.
victory IND. July 21, 1861 & Aug. 29–30, 1862 DEL.
Mi
ILL. Chancellorsville Washington, D.C.
s si
Union victory
ss
May 1–4, 1863
ip
Union blockade iR Fredericksburg
p
. Seven Days
Union routes W. VA. July 1, Dec. 13, 1862
o R . KY. (1863) 1862
O hi
Confederate routes
MO. Richmond
1863 Date West Virginia Ft. Donelson Perryville VA. Hampton Roads
admitted to Union Feb. 16, 1862 Oct. 8, 1862 Mar. 9, 1862
Wilson's Creek Roanoke Island
Aug. 10, 1861 Feb. 8, 1862
Stone's River N.C. Cape Hatteras
Pea Ridge Shiloh Dec. 31, 1862–Jan. 2, 1863 Aug. 28–29, 1861
Mar. 7–8, 1862 Apr. 1862
6–7, Chattanooga
UNORG. Memphis TENN. Nov. 23–25, 1863
TERR. Iuka Chickamauga S.C.
ARK. Sept. 19, Sept. 19–20, 1863
1862
Ft. Sumter
Apr. 12–14, 1861
Vicksburg
ALA. GA.
Dallas July 4, 1863 Port Royal
Jackson Nov. 7, 1861
Montgomery Ft. Pulaski
Apr. 10–11, 1862
TEXAS MISS. 30°N
LA.
Mobile
Austin Sabine Cross Roads Port Hudson
ATLaNTIC
New Orleans
Apr. 8, 1864 July 9, 1863 May 1, St. Augustine
Houston
1862 Mar. 8, 1862 OCEaN
Sabine Pass
San Antonio Sept. 8, 1863
Galveston FLA.
Jan. 1, 1863 Gulf of
Mexico
Laredo
N 0 300 miles
W E 0 300 kilometers
S Albers Conic Equal-Area projection 25°N
95°W 90°W 85°W 80°W
1. Interpreting Maps Name four battles that occurred

South’s independence. They also thought that a vic- along the eastern seaboard.
tory on Northern soil might help the South win 2. Applying Geography Skills What purpose did the
recognition from the British and help the Peace North have in fighting so many battles along the coasts?
Democrats gain control of Congress in the upcom-
ing midterm elections. By heading north, Lee also
could feed his troops from Northern farms and and around another 16,000 wounded. Although
draw Union troops out of Virginia during harvest McClellan did not break Lee’s lines, he inflicted so
season. many casualties that Lee decided to retreat to
When he learned that McClellan had been sent Virginia.
after him, Lee ordered his troops to congregate near The Battle of Antietam was a crucial victory for
Sharpsburg, Maryland. Meanwhile, McClellan’s the Union. The British government had been ready
troops took position along Antietam (an·TEE·tuhm) to intervene in the war as a mediator if Lee’s inva-
Creek, east of Lee’s forces. On September 17, 1862, sion had succeeded. Britain also had begun making
McClellan ordered his troops to attack. The Battle plans to recognize the Confederacy in the event the
of Antietam, the bloodiest one-day battle in North rejected mediation. Lee’s defeat at Antietam
American history, ended with over 6,000 men killed changed everything. The British again decided to

wait and see how the war progressed. With this the soldiers of a political controversy,” recalled
decision, the South lost its best chance at gaining Union officer Regis de Trobiand. “We were now
international recognition and support. The South’s the missionaries of a great work of redemption,
defeat at Antietam had an even more important the armed liberators of millions.”
political impact in the United States. It convinced
Lincoln that the time had come to end slavery in the Reading Check Examining Why did Lincoln issue
South. the Emancipation Proclamation?
Reading Check Explaining What was the

significance of the Battle of Antietam? Life During the Civil War
The Emancipation Proclamation would bring
great change to the lives of many African Americans.
The Emancipation Proclamation However, they were not the only group affected by
Although most Democrats opposed any move to the war. From the battlefront to the home front, the
end slavery, Republicans were divided on the issue. great conflict touched the lives of millions of
Many Republicans were strong abolitionists. Americans and turned life for many into a daily
Others, like Lincoln, did not want to endanger the struggle.
loyalty of the slaveholding border states that had
chosen to remain in the Union. The war’s primary The Wartime Economies As the war intensified,
purpose, in their opinion, was to preserve the the economies of the North and South went in dif-
Union. ferent directions. By the end of 1862, the South’s
With Northern casualties rising to staggering lev- economy had begun to suffer greatly. Although
els, however, more Northerners began to agree that many farms had converted from cotton to food
slavery had to end, in part to punish the South and in crops, the collapse of the South’s transportation sys-
part to make the soldiers’ sacrifices worthwhile. tem and the presence of Union troops in several
George Julian, a Republican from Indiana, summed important agricultural regions led to severe food
up the argument for freeing the slaves in a speech shortages in the winter of 1862. At the same time,
delivered early in 1862: rapid inflation drove up the prices of the food that
was available.
The food shortages hurt Southern morale, and
“ When I say that this rebellion has its source and
life in slavery, I only repeat a simple truism. . . . The
people began to question the sacrifices they were
being asked to make—or to demand of others. In sev-
mere suppression of the rebellion will be an empty
eral communities, food shortages led to riots.
mockery of our sufferings and sacrifices, if slavery Hearing of such hardships, many Confederate sol-
shall be spared to canker the heart of the nation diers deserted to return home to help their families.
anew, and repeat its diabolical misdeeds.
” In contrast, the North actually experienced an eco-
nomic boom because of the war. With its large, well-
—quoted in Battle Cry of Freedom
established banking industry, the North raised money
On September 22, 1862, encouraged by the Union for the war more easily than
victory at Antietam, Lincoln publicly announced that the South. Its growing indus-
he would issue the Emancipation Proclamation—a tries also supplied Union
decree freeing all enslaved persons in states still in troops with clothes, muni- HISTORY
rebellion after January 1, 1863. Because the tions, and other necessities.
Proclamation freed enslaved African Americans only Innovations in agricul- Student Web
in states at war with the Union, it did not address ture helped minimize the Activity Visit the
slavery in the border states. Short of a constitutional loss of labor as men left to American Republic
amendment, however, Lincoln could not end slavery fight. Greater use of Since 1877 Web site at
tarvol2.glencoe.com
in the border states, nor did he want to endanger mechanical reapers and
their loyalty. ; (See page 953 for more on the Emancipation mowers made farming pos-
Web Activities—
Proclamation.) sible with fewer workers,
Chapter 7 for an
The Proclamation, by its very existence, trans- many of whom were activity on the Civil
formed the conflict over preserving the Union into women. Women also filled War.
a war of liberation. “We were no longer merely labor shortages in various

industries, particularly in clothing and shoemaking Battlefield physicians also used extreme measures
factories where women were already prominent in treating the wounded. Faced with appalling
members of the labor force. injuries, doctors routinely amputated arms and legs
to prevent gangrene and other infections from spread-
Reading Check Explaining What were the effects of ing from the wounded limb to the rest of the body.
food shortages on the South? As brutal as life was for soldiers on the front, it
was equally as miserable for prisoners of war—sol-
diers captured by the enemy in battle. As the war
Military Life dragged on, both the North and the South found
themselves with a growing numbers of prisoners of
Union and Confederate soldiers endured a hard life
war. Taking care of them proved difficult, especially
with few comforts. Many Southern soldiers slept with-
in the South. While conditions were bad in Northern
out blankets and walked barefoot, while soldiers on
prisons, the South was not able to adequately feed
both sides learned to gulp down tasteless food. For the
their prisoners because of food shortages.
Union soldier, meals often consisted of hardtack (a
The most infamous prison in the South,
hard biscuit made of wheat flour), potatoes, and beans,
Andersonville in southwest Georgia, was an open
flavored at times with dried salt pork and washed
camp with no shade or shelter for its huge popula-
down with coffee. Confederate soldiers had little cof-
tion. Exposure, overcrowding, lack of food, and dis-
fee, and their hardtack was usually made of cornmeal.
ease sometimes killed more than 100 men per day
Both Union and Confederate soldiers also faced
during the sweltering summer of 1864. In all, 13,000
the constant threat of disease. In the mid-1800s, the
of the 45,000 prisoners sent to Andersonville died in
medical profession had little understanding of infec-
the camp. After the war, Henry Wirz, the commander
tious germs. Doctors used the same unsterilized
at Andersonville, became the only person executed
instruments on patient after patient, and infection
for war crimes during the Civil War.
spread quickly in the field hospitals as a result.
In many cases, regiments lost about half their men Reading Check Summarizing What medical prob-
to illness before ever going into battle. Crowded lems did Union and Confederate soldiers face?
together in army camps, many soldiers, especially
those from rural areas, were exposed to illnesses they
had never had before, such as measles and mumps.
Smallpox, when it erupted, could be deadly, as could
African Americans and Women
dysentery, typhoid, and pneumonia, which were typ- While the war brought hardship to many
ically caused by unsanitary water supplies. Americans, it also offered new opportunities for
African Americans and women. The Emancipation
Proclamation officially permitted African Americans
to enlist in the Union army and navy. Almost imme-
diately, thousands of African Americans rushed to
join the military.
The first African American regiment officially
organized in the North was the 54th Massachusetts,
which became one of the most famous regiments in
the war. The regiment fought valiantly at Fort
Wagner near Charleston Harbor in July 1863, losing
nearly half of its soldiers in the battle.
Although women helped in the war effort at home
by managing family farms and businesses, perhaps
their most important contribution to the Civil War
was in serving as nurses to the wounded. One of the
most prominent war nurses was Clara Barton, who
left her job in a Washington patent office to aid sol-
History diers on the battlefield. With her face sometimes
African American Soldiers Battery A of the 2nd U.S. Colored Light Artillery bluish from gunpowder, Barton fed the sick, band-
was one of many groups of African Americans who fought for their freedom. aged the wounded, and even removed bullets with
What was the Union’s first official African American regiment? her own small knife. An army surgeon, impressed

History
Battlefield Medicine The greatest impact women had on
the battlefield was through serving as nurses. In what non-
military ways did women contribute to the war effort?
“ Nothing that I had ever heard or read had given

me the faintest idea of the horrors witnessed
here. . . . The men are lying all over the
house. . . . The foul air from this mass of human
beings at first made me giddy and sick, but I soon got
”
over it. . . .
—quoted in Battle Cry of Freedom
with Barton’s kindness and courage, called her “the The Civil War was a turning point for the Amer-
true heroine of the age, the angel of the battlefield.” ican nursing profession. The courage shown by
Although Southern women were encouraged to women helped break down the belief that women
stay at home and support the troops by making were emotionally weaker than men. In the meantime,
bandages and other supplies, many voluntarily the war dragged on, and by 1863 the stage was set for
founded small hospitals or braved the horrors of the a series of pivotal battles.
battlefield. Kate Cumming of Mobile, Alabama,
served as a nurse following the Battle of Shiloh. In Reading Check Analyzing Why do you think so
her diary she vividly described the spectacle of war many African Americans were willing to volunteer to fight in the
in a makeshift hospital: Civil War?
TM
TM

1. Define: bounty, blockade runner, 5. Analyzing In what ways do you think 7. Examining Art Study the painting of
hardtack, prisoner of war. the Civil War changed people’s opinion the battle between the Monitor and the
2. Identify: “Stonewall” Jackson, David G. about women’s capabilities? Virginia on page 250. What made these
Farragut, Ulysses S. Grant, 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- vessels superior to other warships used
Emancipation Proclamation. izer similar to the one below to explain by the Union and the Confederacy?
3. State two factors that contributed to President Lincoln’s reasons for issuing
food shortages in the South during the the Emancipation Proclamation and the
Civil War. effects the Proclamation had on the war.
Reviewing Themes Effect on
Reasons for
War
8. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
4. Geography and History Why was Emancipation are asked to advise President Lincoln
Proclamation
seizing control of the Mississippi River about issuing the Emancipation
an important strategy of the Union Proclamation. Write a short paper in
navy? which you explain the reasons for the
advice you give him.

Technology
Evaluating a Web Site

The Internet has become a valuable research tool.
It is convenient to use, and the information con-
tained on the Internet is plentiful. However, some
Web site information is not necessarily accurate or
reliable. When using the Internet as a research tool,
you will need to distinguish between quality infor-
mation and inaccurate or incomplete information.
Learning the Skill

There are a number of issues to consider when
evaluating a Web site. Most important is to check
the accuracy of the source and content. The author
and publisher or sponsor of the site should be
clearly indicated, and the user must also determine
the usefulness of the site. The information on the
site should be current, and the design and organi-
zation of the site should be appealing and easy to
navigate.
To evaluate a Web site, ask yourself the following
3 What sources were used for the information
questions: contained on the site?
• Are the facts on the site documented?
4 Is the design of the site appealing? Why or why
• Is more than one source used for background not?
information within the site?
5 How is the home page organized?
• Are the links within the site appropriate and
up-to-date? Skills Assessment
• Is the author clearly identified? Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
• Does the site contain links to other useful page 281 and the Chapter 7 Skill Reinforcement
resources? Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
• Is the information easy to access? Is it properly
labeled?
• Is the design appealing? Applying the Skill
Comparing Web Sites Locate two other Web sites
Practicing the Skill about the Civil War. Evaluate them for accuracy and
Visit the following Web site and answer the ques- usefulness, and then compare them to the site featured
tions that follow. above. Be certain to go through the various links that
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/ the site includes so that you can do a thorough evalua-
tion of the site. Share your findings with the class.
1 Who is the author or sponsor of the Web site?
2 What links does the site contain? Are they Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook,
appropriate to the topic? CD-ROM Level 2, provides instruction and
256
The Turning Point
With the help of key victories at Vicksburg Categorizing As you read about battles • Evaluate the importance of events at
and Gettysburg, the North defeated the that led to a turning point in the war, Vicksburg and Gettysburg.
South after four long years of fighting. complete a chart by listing the results of • Discuss Lee’s surrender and the events
the battles shown. of the war’s aftermath.
Key Terms and Names
foraging, siege, Pickett’s Charge, Battle Results Section Theme
Gettysburg Address, William Tecumseh Vicksburg Geography and History The Union vic-
Sherman, torpedo, mandate, Thirteenth Chancellorsville tories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg turned
Amendment, Appomattox Courthouse Gettysburg the tide of the war firmly in favor of the
Chickamauga Creek North.
Missionary Ridge
✦July 1863 ✦August 1864 ✦April 1865

July 1–3, 1863 July 4, 1863 November 19, 1863 April 9, 1865 April 14, 1865
Battle of Gettysburg Vicksburg falls Lincoln delivers Lee surrenders at Lincoln assassinated
Gettysburg Address Appomattox Courthouse
At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in early July of 1863, Samuel Wilkeson sat to write his
account of the battle that had raged for three days near the town. As he composed his dis-
patch, the body of Lieutenant Bayard Wilkeson, his son, lay dead beside him.
Wilkeson recorded the events that destroyed the peace of the Gettysburg countryside. He
recalled “the singing of a bird, which had a nest in a peach tree within the tiny yard of the
whitewashed cottage” that served as the Union army headquarters:
“ In the midst of its warbling a shell screamed over the house, instantly followed by
another and another and in a moment the air was full of the most complete artillery prel-
ude to an infantry battle that was ever exhibited. Every size and form of shell known to
British and to American gunnery shrieked, moaned, whirled, whistled, and wrathfully flut-
tered over our ground.
”
—quoted in Eyewitness to History
Farmhouse used by General
George Meade for his
headquarters at Gettysburg
Vicksburg Falls
Gettysburg was only one of a series of horrific encounters in 1863. The first battle took
place farther west, where a vital part of the Union strategy involved gaining control of
the Mississippi River. In April 1862, Commander David Farragut had captured New
Orleans and secured Union control of the Mississippi River delta. Later that year,
Ulysses S. Grant seized control of the river as far south as Memphis after his victory at
Shiloh. If the Union could capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, the last major Confederate
stronghold on the river, the North could cut the South in two.

May 22, Grant tried again, but Vicksburg’s defenses
were still too strong. He decided that the only way to
take the city was to put it under siege—cutting off its
food and supplies and bombarding the city until its
defenders gave up. On July 4, 1863, with his troops
literally on the verge of starvation, the Confederate
commander at Vicksburg surrendered. The Union
victory had cut the Confederacy in two.
Reading Check Explaining Why did President
Lincoln want the Union army to capture Vicksburg?
Gettysburg
History Shortly after McClellan’s victory at Antietam in
Vicksburg Besieged Union troops used this house as a headquarters during September 1862, Lincoln had become frustrated again
the siege of Vicksburg. Nearby are Union trenches and the opening to a tunnel with the general. McClellan could have destroyed
being dug under Confederate lines. For how long was the city of Vicksburg Lee’s army at Antietam, but he let the Confederates
under siege by Grant’s Union forces? slip away. On November 7, 1862, Lincoln fired
McClellan.
The president gave command of the army to General
Grierson’s Raid The city of Vicksburg was located
Ambrose Burnside and then to General Joseph Hooker,
on the east bank of the Mississippi River. At first
both of whom had little success against Lee’s troops,
Grant tried to approach the city from the north, but
who were entrenched in the hills south of Fredericks-
the land was too swampy, and the rivers in the area
burg, Virginia. At the Battle of Fredericksburg and again
were covered with vegetation and blocked by trees.
at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lee’s outnumbered
To get at Vicksburg, Grant decided to move his
army defeated the Union troops.
troops across the Mississippi to the west bank and
Despite the fact that both sides suffered heavy
then march south. Once past the city, Grant intended
casualties during the fighting, Lee’s victory embold-
to cross back to the east bank of the river and attack
ened the Confederate general. Once again, he
the city from the south.
decided to invade the North.
To distract the Confederates while he carried out
this difficult maneuver, Grant ordered Benjamin
TURNING POINT
Grierson to take 1,700 troops on a cavalry raid through
Mississippi. Grierson’s forces traveled 600 miles The Battle of Gettysburg In June 1863, Lee
(965 km) in about two weeks, tearing up railroads, marched into Pennsylvania, where his troops seized
burning depots, and fighting skirmishes. His raid dis- livestock, food, and clothing. Hooker’s failure to stop
tracted the Confederate forces defending Vicksburg Lee convinced Lincoln that the general lacked the
and enabled Grant to move his troops south of the city. decisiveness necessary to win the war. Lincoln
removed Hooker from command and appointed
The Siege of Vicksburg After returning to the east General George Meade as his replacement. Meade
bank of the Mississippi, Grant embarked on a daring immediately headed north to intercept Lee.
march east, ordering his troops to live off the country. At the end of June, as Lee’s army foraged in the
Foraging—or searching and raiding for food—as they Pennsylvania countryside, some of his troops headed
marched, Grant’s troops headed east into Mississippi into the town of Gettysburg, hoping to seize a sup-
and captured the town of Jackson before turning back ply of shoes. When they arrived near the town, they
west toward Vicksburg. Grant’s troops marched an discovered two brigades of Union cavalry. On July 1,
astonishing 180 miles (290 km) in 17 days, fought 5 bat- 1863, the Confederates pushed the Union troops out
tles, and inflicted 7,200 casualties on the Confederates. of the town and into the hills to the south. At the
The march ended by driving the Confederate forces same time, the main forces of both armies hurried to
back into their defenses at Vicksburg. the scene of the fighting.
On May 19, 1863, Grant launched an all-out On July 2, Lee attacked, but the Union troops
assault on Vicksburg, but the city’s defenders held their ground. The following day, Lee ordered
repulsed the attack and inflicted high casualties. On nearly 15,000 men under the command of General

George E. Pickett and General A.P. Hill to make a The Gettysburg Address In November 1863, Lincoln
massive assault. The attack became known as came to Gettysburg to dedicate a part of the battlefield
Pickett’s Charge. As the mile-wide line of as a cemetery. His speech, the Gettysburg Address,
Confederate troops marched across open farmland became one of the best-known orations in American
toward Union forces at Cemetery Ridge, Union can- history. In it, Lincoln reminded his listeners that the
nons and guns opened fire, inflicting 7,000 casual- nation was “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
ties in less than half an hour of fighting. proposition that all men are created equal”:
Aftermath of the Battle Pickett’s Charge failed to

break the Union lines. Fewer than 5,000 men made it “ It is . . . for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us—that from these honored
up the ridge, and Union troops quickly overwhelmed dead we take increased devotion to that cause for
those who did. “It is all my fault,” said Lee. “It is I who
which they gave the last full measure of devotion;
have lost this fight.” Despite the defeat, Lee quickly
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not
rallied his troops, withdrew from Gettysburg on a
rainy July 4, and retreated back to Virginia. At have died in vain; that this, nation, under God, shall
Gettysburg, the Union suffered 23,000 casualties, but have a new birth of freedom; and that the govern-
the South’s toll was an estimated 28,000 casualties, ment of the people, by the people, and for the
more than one-third of Lee’s entire force.
The disaster at Gettysburg proved to be the turn-
people, shall not perish from the earth.
”
—from the Gettysburg Address
ing point of the war in the East. The Union’s victory
strengthened the Republicans politically and ensured ; (See page 954 for the complete text of the Gettysburg Address.)
once again that the British would not recognize the
Confederacy. For the remainder of the war, Lee’s Reading Check Summarizing What was the result
forces remained on the defensive, slowly giving of Pickett’s Charge?
ground to the advancing Union army.
The 1 The telegraph operator 2 The electric current activated 3 Skilled operators were
Telegraph pressed a switch, called a sounder, an electromagnet able to send up to 60
the key, breaking an consisting of coiled wire messages each hour,
Invented by Samuel Morse electric current . wrapped around an iron core. keying a message with
in 1837, the telegraph was The changing electric current one hand while translat-
indispensable during the created a clicking sound. ing incoming messages
Civil War. It was used to with the other hand.
send battle orders and to
verify the locations of 4 Telegraph wires allowed
troops. With no telegraph in sounder the clicking codes to be
the White House, President transmitted geographically.
Lincoln often visited the War
Department’s telegraph
room to receive current
information. Telegraph
operators sent messages by
pressing a key in a pattern
of short and long clicks, fol-
lowing Morse’s alphabetic key
code. In what other areas
of life was the telegraph
useful?
Final Campaigns of the Civil War, 1864–1865
0 200 miles Pot
88°W o Washington,
D.C.
ma
R.
Civil War Casualties, 1861–1865 0 200 kilometers
c
Albers Conic Equal-Area projection Spotsylvania C.H
OHIO May 8–19, 1864 MD.
400 W. VA. Culpeper
Fredericksburg
Oh i o R.
The Wilderness
350 N
May 5–6, 1864 sR
me .
North South W E Lynchburg Ja Richmond
300
Troops (in thousands)
S
KY. VA.
250 Appomattox C.H.– Five Forks
Lee Surrenders, Apr. 9, 1865 Apr. 1, 1865 Norfolk
200 Cold Harbor
Petersburg Roa June 3, 1864
June 1864–Apr. 1865 no
ke
150 TENN. Ca N.C.
Ca
Raleigh
R.
pe
tawba R
Fe
Pee
100
ar
Dee
R.
.
50
. R
0 Wilmington
S.C.
Sa
Total Deaths Battle-Related Non-Battle
va
Atlanta
San
nn
Deaths Deaths
ah
te
GA. R.
e
R.
Source: For the Common Defense.
Charleston In
Macon Motion
Oc m
American War Deaths

ulg
Union forces
(approximate figures) 32°N Savannah
ee
R Dec. 21, 1864 Confederate forces

.
Revolutionary War War with Mexico Union victory
25,000 13,000 Confederate victory
Korean War Other major
36,500 wars
Vietnam War 5,000
58,000
World Civil War
War I 620,000
107,000 World 1. Interpreting Maps In what state did Lee surrender?
War II
407,000 2. Applying Geography Skills How long did the siege of
Petersburg last, and what significance did it have for the
war?
Source: United States Civil War Center; For the Common Defense
against him at Chickamauga Creek on September 19,

Grant Secures Tennessee 1863. Rosecrans quickly ordered his troops to fall
After the Union’s major victories at Vicksburg and back to Chattanooga, where they found themselves
Gettysburg, fierce fighting erupted in Tennessee near surrounded by Bragg’s forces.
Chattanooga. Chattanooga was a vital railroad junc- In an effort to save the Union forces in
tion. Both the North and the South knew that if the Chattanooga, Lincoln decided to send some of
Union forces captured Chattanooga, they would con- Meade’s forces to help Rosecrans. General Grant also
trol a major railroad running south to Atlanta. The hurried to Chattanooga and quickly took charge of
way would be open for a Union advance into Georgia. the Union forces gathered there.
Chattanooga had been in the hands of In late November, Grant ordered an attack on
Confederate forces led by General Braxton Bragg. In Confederate positions on Lookout Mountain.
early September 1863, however, Union general Charging uphill through swirling fog, the Union
William Rosecrans pushed Bragg’s troops out of the troops quickly forced the Southern troops to fall back.
town. Bragg did not retreat far. When Rosecrans Confederates retreating from Lookout Mountain hur-
advanced into Georgia, Bragg launched an assault ried to join the Southern forces at Missionary Ridge

east of Chattanooga. Although outnumbered, they Spotsylvania for over a week, often in bloody hand-
secured a rugged position on high ground. to-hand combat that left many traumatized.
Grant did not intend to storm Missionary Ridge. Unable to break Lee’s lines at Spotsylvania, Grant
He believed an all-out assault would be suicidal. headed toward Cold Harbor, a strategic crossroads
Instead he ordered General William Tecumseh northeast of Richmond. Convinced that his relentless
Sherman to attack Confederate positions on the attacks had weakened and demoralized Lee’s troops,
north end of the ridge. When Sherman failed to Grant decided to launch an all-out assault at Cold
break through, Grant ordered 23,000 men under Harbor. The attack failed miserably, costing the Union
General George Thomas to launch a limited attack 7,000 casualties, compared to only 1,500 for the South.
against the Confederates in front of Missionary
Ridge as a diversion. The Siege of Petersburg Stopped by Lee at Cold
To Grant’s astonishment, Thomas’s troops overran Harbor, Grant tried another plan. He ordered
the Confederate trenches and charged up the steep General Philip Sheridan to stage a cavalry raid north
slope of Missionary Ridge. The rapid charge scat- and west of Richmond. While Sheridan’s troops dis-
tered the surprised Confederate soldiers who tracted Lee, Grant headed south past Richmond to
retreated in panic, leaving Missionary Ridge—and cross the James River. His goal was to capture the
Chattanooga—to the Union army. nearby town of Petersburg and thus cut off the rail
By the spring of 1864, Grant had accomplished line supplying Richmond and Lee’s forces.
two crucial objectives for the Union. His capture of When Union troops reached the outskirts of
Vicksburg had given the Union control of the Petersburg, they paused. The city was defended by
Mississippi River, while his victory at Chattanooga 20-foot thick barricades, 15-foot deep ditches, and
had secured eastern Tennessee and cleared the way carefully positioned cannons. The strength of the
for an invasion of Georgia. city’s defenses intimidated the Union troops, who
Lincoln rewarded Grant by appointing him gen- were already exhausted and demoralized. Realizing
eral in chief of the Union forces and promoting him a full-scale frontal assault would be suicidal, Grant
to lieutenant general, a rank no one had held since ordered his troops to lay siege to the city.
George Washington. The president had finally found
Reading Check Summarizing Why did General
a general he trusted to win the war.
Grant want to capture Petersburg?
Reading Check Examining Why was capturing
Chattanooga important for the Union?
Union Victories in the South
South of Virginia, General William Sherman
Grant Versus Lee marched his army from Chattanooga toward Atlanta,
By the spring of 1864, Union leaders knew that the Georgia. Meanwhile, the Union navy sealed up the
only way to end the long and bloody war was to last major Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico
defeat Lee’s army. Accordingly, General Grant put east of the Mississippi—Mobile, Alabama.
his most trusted subordinate, William Sherman, in
charge of Union operations in the West. Grant then Farragut Attacks Mobile On August 5, 1864, David
headed to Washington, D.C., to take command of the Farragut took 18 ships past the three Confederate forts
Union troops facing Lee. defending Mobile Bay. As the fleet headed into the bay,
a mine, which was called a torpedo in the 1860s, blew
From Wilderness to Cold Harbor “Whatever hap- up a Union ship. The explosion brought the fleet to a
pens, there will be no turning back,” Grant promised halt directly in front of a fort’s guns. “Damn the torpe-
Lincoln. He was determined to march southward, does! Full speed ahead!” cried Farragut, whose flag-
attacking Lee’s forces until the South surrendered. ship led the way. After getting past the Confederate
The first battle of Grant’s campaign erupted in forts, Farragut’s ships destroyed a Confederate fleet
the Wilderness, a densely forested area near defending Mobile Bay. Although Farragut did not cap-
Fredericksburg, Virginia. Despite suffering heavy ture Mobile, he did seal off the bay.
casualties in the two-day battle, Grant did not
pause. He headed southeast toward Spotsylvania Sherman Takes Georgia In late August 1864,
Courthouse. First in terrible heat and then in General Sherman’s army tried to encircle Atlanta. To
pouring rain, the two armies battled near avoid being trapped in the city, Confederate General

John B. Hood evacuated the city. Taking the city easily, which Sherman seized in February 1865. The march
Sherman’s troops set fires to destroy railroads, ware- greatly demoralized Southerners. As one South
houses, mills, and factories. The fires spread quickly, Carolinian wrote, “All is gloom, despondency and
destroying more than one-third of the city. inactivity. Our army is demoralized and the people
On November 15, 1864, Sherman led his troops panic stricken . . . to fight longer seems madness.”
east across Georgia in what became known as the
Reading Check Examining Why did General
March to the Sea. The purpose of the march was to
make Southern civilians understand the horrors of Sherman march his army to the sea?
war and to pressure them into giving up the struggle.
Sherman’s troops cut a path of destruction through
Georgia that was at times 60 miles (97 km) wide. The South Surrenders
They ransacked houses, burned crops, and killed As Sherman and Grant began their campaigns in
livestock. By December 21, 1864, they had reached the spring of 1864, Lincoln worried greatly about his
the coast and seized Georgia’s first settlement, the chances for re-election. Sensing the public’s growing
city of Savannah. anger over the costly war, Lincoln even confided to
After reaching the Atlantic coast, Sherman turned an army officer, “I am going to be beaten.” He did not
north and headed into South Carolina, the state that know that the war was rapidly approaching its con-
many people believed had started the Civil War. clusion—and the South was headed toward collapse.
“The whole army,” Sherman wrote, “is burning with
an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South The Election of 1864 The capture of Atlanta came
Carolina.” As one of Sherman’s soldiers declared just in time to revitalize Northern support for the war
about South Carolina, “Here is where treason began and for Lincoln himself. On Election Day, voters
and . . . here is where it shall end.” elected the president to another term. Lincoln inter-
Sherman’s troops burned and pillaged nearly preted his re-election as an approval of his war
everything in front of them. At least 12 towns were policies and as a mandate, or clear sign from the vot-
set on fire, including Columbia, the state capital, ers, to end slavery permanently by amending the
in History
Ulysses S. Grant Robert E. Lee
1822–1885 1807–1870
Before his victories in Kentucky and The son of a distinguished—though
Tennessee, Ulysses S. Grant had been a not wealthy—Virginia family, Robert E.
mediocre West Point cadet, a failed busi- Lee was raised in the socially exclusive
nessperson, and an undistinguished world of the aristocratic South. From the
army officer. More than any other Union beginning, he seemed marked by fate for
commander, however, Grant changed brilliant success. At West Point he
the strategy—and the outcome—of the excelled in both his studies and his social
Civil War. Grant’s restless urge for offen- life, impressing teachers and fellow
sive fighting and his insistence on “unconditional surrender” at cadets with his talent and good nature. As an army officer in the
Fort Donelson convinced Lincoln to place the general in command war with Mexico, he performed with brilliance and courage.
of all the Union troops in 1864. Lincoln’s confidence was not mis- Offered command of the Union troops at the beginning of the
placed. Despite mounting casualties and accusations that he was a Civil War, Lee refused, unable to oppose his fellow Virginians. He
“butcher,” Grant pushed relentlessly until he finally accepted Lee’s later commanded the army of Northern Virginia.
surrender at Appomattox, Virginia. A hero to Southerners during the war, Lee felt a responsibility to
The Union’s enthusiasm for its victorious general made Grant a set an example of Southern honor in defeat. His swearing of
two-term president after the war, although scandals in his admin- renewed allegiance to the United States after the war inspired
istration marred his reputation. The Civil War had been the high thousands of former Confederate soldiers to follow his example.
point of Grant’s life, the challenge that brought out his best quali- As president of Washington College in Virginia (later renamed
ties. More than any monument or memorial—including Grant’s Washington and Lee), Lee encouraged his students to put the war
Tomb, in New York City—Lincoln’s defense of his embattled gen- behind them and to behave as responsible citizens.
eral during the war sums up Grant’s character and achievement: Lee died at age 63. In his last moments, he seemed to give
“I can’t spare this man; he fights.” orders to his troops, and then at last called out, “Strike the tent!”

Constitution. To get the amendment through Lincoln’s Assassination With the war over,
Congress, Republicans appealed to Democrats who Lincoln delivered a speech describing his plan to
were against slavery to help them. On January 31, restore the Southern states to the Union. In the
1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, speech, he mentioned including African Americans
banning slavery in the United States, was narrowly in Southern state governments. One listener, actor
passed by the House of Representatives and was sent John Wilkes Booth, sneered to a friend, “That is the
to the states for ratification. last speech he will ever make.”
Surrender Meanwhile, back in the trenches near Although his advisers had repeatedly warned him
Petersburg, Lee knew that time was running out. On not to appear unescorted in public, Lincoln went to
April 1, 1865, Union troops led by Philip Sheridan cut Ford’s Theater with his wife to see a play on the
the last rail line into Petersburg at the Battle of Five evening of April 14, 1865. Just after 10 P.M., Booth
Forks. The following night, Lee’s troops withdrew slipped quietly behind the president and shot him in
from their positions near the city and raced west. the back of the head. Lincoln died the next morning.
Lee’s desperate attempt to escape Grant’s forces The president’s death shocked the nation. Once
failed when Sheridan’s cavalry got ahead of Lee’s viewed as an unsophisticated man unsuited for the
troops and blocked the road at Appomattox presidency, Lincoln had become the Union’s greatest
Courthouse. When his troops failed to break champion. Tens of thousands of men, women, and chil-
through, Lee sadly observed, “There is nothing left dren lined railroad tracks across the nation as Lincoln’s
for me to do but go and see General Grant, and I body was transported back to Springfield, Illinois.
would rather die a thousand deaths.” With his Aftermath of the Civil War The North’s victory in
ragged and battered troops surrounded and outnum- the Civil War saved the Union and strengthened the
bered, Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865. power of the federal government over the states. It
Grant’s generous terms of surrender guaranteed transformed American society by ending slavery, but
that the United States would not prosecute it also left the South socially and economically devas-
Confederate soldiers for treason. When Grant tated, and many questions unresolved.
agreed to let Confederates take their horses home No one knew how to bring the Southern states
“to put in a crop to carry themselves and their fami- back into the Union or what the status of African
lies through the next winter,” Lee thanked him, Americans would be in Southern society. Americans
adding that the kindness would “do much toward from the North and the South tried to answer these
conciliating our people.” As Lee left he shook hands questions in the years following the Civil War—an
with Ely Parker, a Senecan who served as Grant’s era known as Reconstruction.
secretary. “I am glad to see a real American here,”
Lee told the Native American. Parker replied, “We Reading Check Explaining Why did President
are all Americans.” Lincoln doubt he could win the 1864 election?
TM
TM

1. Define: foraging, siege, torpedo, 5. Analyzing How might the outcome of 7. Examining Graphs Examine the
mandate. the war have been different if the graphs of war deaths on page 260.
2. Identify: Pickett’s Charge, Gettysburg Confederates had won at Gettysburg? What would account for the thousands
Address, William Tecumseh Sherman, Why? of non-battle deaths listed in one of the
Thirteenth Amendment, Appomattox 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- graphs?
Courthouse. izer by listing the purpose for the Union
3. Describe how General Grant conducted march on Atlanta and the effect of the
the Confederate surrender. city’s capture on both sides.
Reviewing Themes Purpose Effects 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
4. Geography and History Why was Union March of a Confederate or Union soldier at the
capturing Vicksburg important for the on Atlanta
Battle of Gettysburg. Write a journal
Union? entry describing the battle and your
feelings about its result.

Geography&History
o ad
e rR Benner’’s Hill
Benner Wolf Hill
v
no
Ha Johnson e
re Pik
York Rock
Creek timo
Pike
l Bal
s Hil
lp' Power's
Early Cu 12th Corps
Hill
SLOCUM
8,700
Town of Army of the Potomac
GETTYSBURG Cemetery General George G. Meade
Hill 11th Corps
3rd Corps
C e HOW
HOWARD
ARD
5,800 BIRNEY
2nd Corps m et 2nd Corps
wn Road Taneyto 6,400
EWELL er y GIBBON
15,000
6,800 Ridge 1st Corps
NEWTON
6,000
Pic
ke
Rodes tt’
s Ch
12,5 Plu
0
3 pm 0 arg mR
un
S e m e
i n Pettigrew Garnett
a r
y
Anderson R Kemper
i d Armistead Lang
3rd Corps g e Wilcox
Em
mi
HILL Trimble tsb
15,200 ur Peach
Pickett gR Orchard
E oa
d
N
Army of Northern Virginia

Virginia S
General Robert E. Lee W McLaws
1st Corps
PENNSYLVANIA
Carlisle
Harrisburg LONGSTREET
15,500
York
Chambersburg Gettysburg INVADING
A nurse poses with wounded soldiers outside one
THE NORTH of the 400 tents set up as a temporary hospital at
After their victory at Gettysburg. During the battle, the Union army suf-
Frederick
Chancellorsville in May 1863, the fered 23,000 casualties, the Confederates 28,000.
Baltimore Confederates invaded the North
Winchester (red arrow). Using the Blue Ridge
MARYLAND
Mountains to screen their move-
Front Washington, D.C. ments, the Confederates advanced
Royal down the Shenandoah Valley,
VIRGINIA crossed the Potomac River, and
pushed into Pennsylvania.
The Federal army (blue arrow)
placed itself between the Rebels
Chancellorsville Fredericksburg
and Washington. On July 1, the two
armies met at the crossroads town
of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
264 CHAPTER 7 The Civil War

Gettysburg:
The Final Day
T
he Confederate invasion of Union territory in
CANNON BOMBARDMENT the summer of 1863 had been a bold stroke.
Pickett’s Charge was preceded by a massive By moving north, the Confederate commander
artillery bombardment. However, much of the of the Army of Northern Virginia, General
Confederate artillery overshot the Federal posi-
tions on Cemetery Ridge, landing well to the rear Robert E. Lee, had relieved pressure on battle-
11th AC of the frontline troops. ravaged Virginia. He had threatened the Federal capital
Hospital
of Washington, D.C., and gained access to the rich farms
Gettysburg Forces
and other resources of Pennsylvania. Indeed, it was the
Union
troops prospect of finding shoes and other army supplies that
Confederate lured the Confederates to Gettysburg.
Artillery troops
Reserves By the morning of July 3, however, Lee was lament-
3rd Corps Corp
ing the lost opportunities.When his troops arrived in
HILL Commander
Gettysburg on July 1, they had driven the Federals out
5th Corps 15,200 Number of
SYKES 6th Corps troops (as of of the town. Quickly grasping the advantages of defend-
9,500 SEDGWICK noon, July 3rd)
ing the high ground, Major General George Meade had
13,600 Scale of map varies in
this perspective ordered his Federal Army of the Potomac to take up
(distance from Gettysburg
to Big Round Top 3 miles) positions in the hills south of town.The Federal line
stretched from Culp’s Hill and Cemetery Hill south
Big along Cemetery Ridge to another hill called Little
Little Round Round Top. The Confederates had taken up a position
Round Top
Top Top along a roughly parallel ridge to the west known as
Seminary Ridge. Between the two positions stretched
pastureland and fields of wheat. On July 2, Lee’s troops
Wheat had attacked Federal positions on Culp’s Hill, Cemetery
Field Hill and Little Round Top, but were pushed back. Now,
on the morning of July 3, Lee was determined to punch
a hole in the Federal line. Among the officers preparing
Devil's Hood to attack was Major General George Pickett, who
Den would give his name to the day’s infantry charge.
At about 3:00 p.m., more than 12,000 Confederates
set out from Seminary Ridge.Three-quarters of a mile
Hood away, the Federals waited atop Cemetery Ridge. Federal
artillery ripped holes in the Confederate line as it
advanced.When the Rebels were 200 yards from the
crest of Cemetery Ridge, the Federals unleashed volley
after volley. Still the Confederates pressed on. Hundreds
made it all the way up the slope of the ridge, but as
they did, Federal reinforcements rushed in. Firing at
point-blank range, stabbing with bayonets, bludgeoning
with the butt ends of rifles, the Federals drove the
Confederates back down the slope. Pickett’s Charge had
been repulsed. Lee retreated to Virginia and the tide of
war turned in favor of the North.

1. How did the Confederate army use the mountains of
Virginia in its invasion of the North?
“It’s all my fault. It is I who have lost this fight,” 2. Why was the Federal army in such a strong position at
Lee told the survivors as they struggled back Gettysburg?
after Pickett’s Charge.
CHAPTER 7 The Civil War 265

Reconstruction Begins
In the months after the Civil War, the Organizing As you read about • Discuss life in the South immediately
nation began the effort to rebuild and Reconstruction, complete a graphic after the war.
reunite. organizer similar to the one below to • Describe the major features of congres-
compare the plans of President Lincoln sional Reconstruction and its political
Key Terms and Names and the Radical Republicans for readmit- impact.
Reconstruction, amnesty, pocket veto, ting Southern states to the Union.
freedmen, Freedmen’s Bureau, black Section Theme
codes, Fourteenth Amendment, Military Readmission Plans Groups and Institutions Northerners
Reconstruction Act, impeach, Fifteenth disagreed on which policies would best
Amendment rebuild the South and safeguard the
Lincoln’s Plan Radical Republicans’ Plan rights of African Americans.
✦1864 ✦1865 ✦1866 ✦1867

1864 1865 1866 1867
Lincoln vetoes Freedmen’s Congress passes Congress passes Military
Wade-Davis Bill Bureau founded Fourteenth Amendment Reconstruction Act
Houston Holloway was ready for freedom. By 1865 the 20-year-old enslaved man had
toiled under three different slaveholders. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,
delivered in 1863, had freed him—but only in theory. The proclamation freed enslaved
persons in the Confederacy, but because the Union could not enforce its laws in
Confederate territory, many African American men and women in the South remained
enslaved. Holloway knew that his only hope of freedom was a Northern victory in the
Civil War.
The time of that victory finally arrived. On the spring day in 1865 when Union troops
overran his community in Georgia on their way to defeating the Confederacy, Holloway
rejoiced upon reaching true freedom:
“ I felt like a bird out of a cage. Amen. Amen. Amen. I could hardly ask to feel better
Artist depiction of an
than I did that day. . . . The week passed off in a blaze of glory.
”
emancipated African American —quoted in A Short History of Reconstruction
Reconstruction Battle Begins

At the end of the Civil War, the South was a defeated region with a devastated econ-
omy. While some Southerners were bitter over the Union military victory, for many the
more important struggle after the conflict was rebuilding their land and their lives.
Meanwhile, the president and Congress grappled with the difficult task of
Reconstruction, or rebuilding the nation after the war. Among other things, they had to
decide under what terms and conditions the former Confederate states would be per-
mitted to rejoin the Union.

Lincoln’s Plan In December 1863, President Lincoln
set forth his plan for reuniting the country in the “ [Congress] must see to it that the man made free
by the Constitution is a freeman indeed; that he can
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.
go where he pleases, work when and for whom he
Lincoln wanted a moderate policy that would recon-
cile the South with the Union instead of punishing it pleases . . . go into schools and educate himself and
for treason. He offered a general amnesty, or pardon, his children; that the rights and guarantees of the
to all Southerners who took an oath of loyalty to the common law are his, and that he walks the earth
United States and accepted the Union’s proclama- proud and erect in the conscious dignity of a free
tions concerning slavery. When 10 percent of a state’s
voters in the 1860 presidential election had taken this
man.
”
oath, they could organize a new state government. The Wade-Davis Bill Caught between Lincoln and
Certain people were excluded from taking the oath, the Radical Republicans were many moderate
however, and would not be pardoned. These Republicans. The moderates thought Lincoln was
included all Confederate government officials and being too lenient, but they also thought the radicals
officers in the Confederate army, as well as all judges, were going too far in their support for African
members of Congress, and military officers who had American equality and voting rights.
left their posts to help the Confederacy. By the summer of 1864, the moderates and radi-
cals had come up with a plan for Reconstruction
The Radical Republicans Resistance to Lincoln’s that they could both support as an alternative to
plan surfaced at once among a group of Republicans Lincoln’s plan. The compromise between the mod-
in Congress known as Radical Republicans. Led by erates and the radicals was the Wade-Davis Bill of
Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania 1864. This bill required the majority of the adult
and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, the white men in a former Confederate state to take an
radicals did not want to reconcile with the South. oath of allegiance to the Union. The state could
They wanted, in Stevens’s words, to “revolutionize then hold a constitutional convention to create a
Southern institutions, habits, and manners.” new state government. Furthermore, the people
The Radical Republicans had three main goals. First, chosen to attend the constitutional convention had
they wanted to prevent the leaders of the Confederacy to take an “ironclad” oath asserting that they had
from returning to power after the war. Second, they never fought against the Union or supported the
wanted the Republican Party to become a powerful Confederacy in any way. Each state’s convention
institution in the South. Finally, and perhaps most would then have to abolish slavery, reject all debts
importantly, they wanted the federal government to the state had acquired as part of the Confederacy,
help African Americans achieve political equality by
guaranteeing their right to vote in the South.
Congressional Republicans knew that the aboli- History
tion of slavery would give the South more seats in the
House of Representatives. Before the Civil War, War-Shattered City The Civil
enslaved people had only counted in Congress as War wreaked terrible devastation
on Richmond, Virginia. Why do
three-fifths of a free person. Now that African
you think the women pictured
Americans were free, the South was entitled to more here are dressed in black?
seats in Congress. This would endanger Republican
control of Congress, unless Republicans could find a
way to protect African American voting rights in the
South.
Although the radicals knew that giving African
Americans in the South the right to vote would help
the Republican Party win elections, most were not
acting cynically. Many of them had been abolitionists
before the Civil War and had pushed Lincoln into
making emancipation a goal of the war. They
believed in equality for all Americans, regardless of
their race. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts
summarized their position by saying:
1954
In Brown v. Board of Education,
the Court found that segregated
education denied minority school-
The Fourteenth children like Linda Brown (far
left), the equal protection of the
Amendment laws provided by the Fourteenth
Amendment. This decision par-
Key provisions of the Fourteenth tially reversed Plessy v. Ferguson.
Amendment (1868) made all persons born in
the United States citizens of both the nation Testing the 14th Amendment
and the state where they resided. States were ✦1896 ✦1954
prohibited from abridging the rights of citi- 1896
zenship or depriving persons of due In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court
process and equal protection of the law. decided that Jim Crow laws—state-man-
The Supreme Court has often cited the dated segregation of public facilities such
Fourteenth Amendment when reviewing as railroad cars—did not violate the
whether state or federal laws and Fourteenth Amendment. The Court ruled
actions violate the Constitution. The that separate facilities could be equal and
Court continues to do so today. allowed segregation to continue.
and deprive all former Confederate government As the different programs for assisting Southern
officials and military officers of the right to vote or refugees—both white and African American—got
hold office. underway, support began to build in Congress for
Although Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill, the creation of a federal agency to help with the
Lincoln blocked it with a pocket veto, that is, he let refugee crisis. In March 1865, Congress established
the session of Congress expire without signing the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned
the legislation. Although Lincoln sympathized Lands, better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau.
with some of the radical goals, he felt that imposing The Bureau was given the task of feeding and cloth-
a harsh peace on the South would be counter- ing war refugees in the South using surplus army
productive. supplies. Beginning in September 1865, the Bureau
Reading Check issued nearly 30,000 rations a day for the next year.
.Summarizing Why did Lincoln The Bureau also helped formerly enslaved people
favor a generous Reconstruction policy toward the South? find work on plantations. It negotiated labor contracts
with planters, specifying pay and hours of work.
Although many people in the North applauded the
The Freedmen’s Bureau Bureau’s efforts, they argued those who were for-
Lincoln realized that harsh Reconstruction terms merly enslaved should be given land—commonly
would only alienate many whites in the South. Also, referred to as “forty acres and a mule”—to support
the South was already in chaos. The devastation of themselves now that they were free. To others, how-
the war and the collapse of the economy left hun- ever, taking land from plantation owners and giving
dreds of thousands of people unemployed, home- it to freedmen seemed to violate the nation’s cher-
less, and hungry. At the same time, the victorious ished commitment to individual property rights. As a
Union armies had to try to accommodate the large result, Congress refused to confirm the right of
numbers of African Americans who flocked to African Americans to own the lands that had been
Union lines as the war progressed. As Sherman seized from plantation owners and given to them.
marched through Georgia and South Carolina, Although the Freedmen’s Bureau could not pro-
thousands of freed African Americans—now known vide African Americans with land, it made an impor-
as freedmen—began following his troops seeking tant contribution in education. The Bureau worked
food and shelter. closely with Northern charities to educate formerly

ple Lincoln had excluded, such as former Confederate
1963 officers and officials. Those who were excluded could
In Gideon v. Wainright, the apply to the president individually for a pardon. Like
Supreme Court ruled that the Lincoln, Johnson also required Southern states to rat-
state of Florida had violated the ify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.
due process clause when it The former Confederate states, for the most part,
refused to appoint a lawyer to met Johnson’s conditions. They then organized new
represent Clarence Gideon governments and elected people to Congress. By the
(right). The ruling extended the time Congress gathered for its next session in
December 1865, Johnson’s plan was well underway.
Bill of Rights to state courts.
Many members of Congress were astonished and
angered when they realized that Southern voters had
✦1963 ✦2000 elected dozens of Confederate leaders to Congress.
Moderate Republicans joined with the
2000
Radical Republicans and voted to reject
In the presidential race between George W.
the new Southern members of Congress.
Bush and Al Gore (at right), the Supreme Court
case of Bush v. Gore was based on the Four-
The Black Codes Another development
teenth Amendment. Justices argued that a lack
in the South also angered congressional
of uniform standards for hand recounts of
Republicans. The new Southern state legis-
ballots in Florida violated the equal protection of
all the state’s voters. The decision allowed Bush latures had passed laws known as black
to claim a controversial victory. codes limiting the rights of African Ameri-
cans in the South.
These codes varied from state to state, but
all of them seemed intended to keep African
enslaved African Americans. It provided housing for Americans in a condition similar to slavery. African
schools, paid teachers, and helped train African Americans were generally required to enter into
American teachers. annual labor contracts. Those who did not could be
Many freed African Americans served in the U.S. arrested for vagrancy and forced into involuntary servi-
Cavalry in units formed after 1866. Most were sta- tude. Several codes established specific hours of labor
tioned in the southwestern United States, where they and also required them to get licenses to work in non-
became known as buffalo soldiers. agricultural jobs.
Reading Check Explaining Why was the Freedmen’s Reading Check Summarizing Who did President
Bureau established? Johnson blame for the Civil War?
Johnson Takes Office Congressional Reconstruction

Shortly after Congress established the Freedmen’s With the election of former Confederates to office
Bureau, Lincoln was assassinated. Although his suc- and the introduction of the black codes, more and
cessor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, was a more moderate Republicans joined the radicals.
Democrat from Tennessee, he had remained loyal to Finally, in late 1865, House and Senate leaders cre-
the Union. Like Lincoln, he believed in a moderate ated a Joint Committee on Reconstruction to develop
policy to bring the South back into the Union. their own program for rebuilding the Union.
Johnson’s Plan In the summer of 1865, with The Fourteenth Amendment In March 1866, con-
Congress in recess, Johnson began to implement what gressional Reconstruction began with the passage of an
he called his restoration program, which closely act intended to override the black codes. The Civil
resembled Lincoln’s plan. In late May 1865, he issued Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship to all persons
a new Proclamation of Amnesty to supplement the born in the United States except for Native Americans.
one Lincoln had issued earlier. Johnson offered to par- The act guaranteed the rights of African Americans to
don all former citizens of the Confederacy who took own property, and it stated that they were to be treated
an oath of loyalty to the Union and to return their equally in court. It also gave the federal government
property. He excluded from the pardon the same peo- the power to sue people who violated those rights.

Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act, arguing that elections. He hoped Northerners would vote out the
it was unconstitutional and would “[cause] discord Radical Republicans and elect a new majority in
among the races.” The veto convinced the remaining Congress that would support his plan for
moderate Republicans to join with the radicals to Reconstruction.
override Johnson’s veto, and the act became law. Events on Election Day dashed Johnson’s hopes.
Fearing that the Civil Rights Act might later be When the votes were counted, the Republicans
overturned in court, however, the radicals intro- achieved an overwhelming victory, winning approxi-
duced the Fourteenth Amendment to the mately a three-to-one majority in Congress. They
Constitution. This amendment granted citizenship to now had the strength of numbers to override any
all persons born or naturalized in the United States presidential veto and could claim that they had a
and declared that no state could deprive any person mandate, or command, from the American people to
of life, liberty, or property “without due process of enact their own Reconstruction program in place of
law.” It also declared that no state could deny any President Johnson’s plan.
person “equal protection of the laws.” In June 1866, In March 1867, Congress passed the Military
Congress passed the amendment and sent it to the Reconstruction Act, which essentially nullified
states for ratification. It was ratified in 1868. Johnson’s programs. The act divided the former
Confederacy, except for Tennessee—which had rati-
Military Reconstruction Begins President John- fied the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866—into five
son attacked the Fourteenth Amendment and military districts. A Union general was placed in
made it the major issue of the 1866 congressional charge of each district with orders to maintain peace
and “protect the rights of per-
sons and property.”
In the meantime, each for-
Military Districts, 1867 mer Confederate state had to
hold another constitutional
Military District Commander convention to design a con-
General John Schofield MINN. CANADA
WIS. N.Y. stitution acceptable to
General Daniel Sickles MICH. Congress. The new state con-
General John Pope
IOWA N.J. stitutions had to give the
General Edward Ord PA.
40°N right to vote to all adult male
General Philip Sheridan OHIO
IND. MD.DEL. citizens, regardless of their
1870 Date of readmission to union ILL.
W. race. After a state had ratified
COLO. TERR. KANS. VA. VA. its new constitution, it also
MO. 1870
KY. had to ratify the Fourteenth
N.C. Amendment before it would
TENN. 1866 1868
UNORG. (not part of a be allowed to elect people to
N. MEX. TERR. ARK. military district)
TERR. S.C. Congress.
1868 1868
ALA.
MISS. 1868 GA. Atlantic Johnson’s Impeachment
1870 1870
TEX. LA. Ocean The Republicans knew that
1868 30°N
1870 they had the votes to over-
ride any presidential veto of
In FLA.
Motion 1868
their policies, but they also
Gulf of Mexico knew that President Johnson
N 0 500 miles
could still interfere with
MEXICO W E
0 500 kilometers their plans by refusing to
S Lambert Equal-Area projection
enforce the laws they passed.
ANCER
90°W T R OP I C O F C 80°W Although they distrusted
Johnson, Congressional
Republicans knew that
Secretary of War Edwin M.
1. Interpreting Maps Only one former Confederate state Stanton supported their pro-
was not part of a military district. What was it? gram. They also trusted
2. Applying Geography Skills How many years after the
war was the last Southern state readmitted to the Union?
General Grant, the head of the army, nominated Grant. During the cam-
to support the policies of Congress. paign, Union troops in the South
To prevent Johnson from bypass- enabled African Americans to
ing Grant and Stanton, Congress vote in large numbers. As a
passed two new laws: the Com- result, Grant won six Southern
mand of the Army Act and the states and most of the Northern
Tenure of Office Act. The Command states. The Republicans also
of the Army Act required all orders retained large majorities in both
from the president to go through the houses of Congress.
headquarters of the general of the With their majority securely
army—Grant’s headquarters. The Ten- established and a sympathetic
ure of Office Act required the Senate to president in office, congressional
approve the president’s removal of any Republicans moved rapidly to
government official whose appointment expand their Reconstruction pro-
had required the Senate’s consent. Andrew Johnson gram. Recognizing the importance of
Determined to challenge the Tenure of African American suffrage, the
Office Act, Johnson fired Stanton on Republican-led Congress passed the
February 21, 1868. Three days later, the House of Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This
Representatives voted to impeach Johnson, meaning amendment declared that the right to vote “shall
that they charged him with “high crimes and misde- not be denied . . . on account of race, color, or previ-
meanors” in office. The main charge against Johnson ous condition of servitude.” In March 1870, the
was that he had broken the law by refusing to uphold Fifteenth Amendment was ratified by the states and
the Tenure of Office Act. became part of the Constitution.
As provided in the Constitution, the Senate then Radical Reconstruction had a dramatic impact on
put the president on trial. If two-thirds of the sena- the South, particularly in the short term. It dramati-
tors found the president guilty of the charges, he cally changed Southern politics by bringing hun-
would be removed from office. In May 1868 the dreds of thousands of African Americans into the
Senate voted 35 to 19 that Johnson was guilty of high political process for the first time. It also began to
crimes and misdemeanors. This was just one vote change Southern society. As it did so, it angered
short of what was needed for conviction. many white Southerners, who began to fight back
against the federal government’s policies.
The Election of 1868 Although Johnson remained
in office, he finished his term quietly and did not run Reading Check Identifying What two laws did the
for election in 1868. That year, the Republicans Radical Republicans pass to reduce presidential power?
TM
TM

1. Define: Reconstruction, amnesty, 4. Evaluating Do you think Presidents 6. Interpreting Maps Study the map of
pocket veto, freedmen, black codes, Lincoln and Johnson were wise in not military districts on page 270. Then list
impeach. seeking harsh treatment of the the Confederate states that were read-
2. Identify: Freedmen’s Bureau, Southern states? Why or why not? mitted to the Union in 1868, the earliest
Fourteenth Amendment, Military 5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer year for any such state to gain
Reconstruction Act, Fifteenth to describe the effects of the Civil War. readmission.
Amendment. Writing About History
Effects on South
Reviewing Themes 7. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
3. Groups and Institutions What were are a citizen living during President
the Radical Republicans’ three major Civil War Andrew Johnson’s administration. Write
goals? a letter urging members of Congress to
vote either for or against Johnson’s
impeachment. Include reasons for your
position.

Reconstruction and
Republican Rule
Under Republican rule, the South began Taking Notes As you read about • Discuss Republican rule in the South
to rebuild. African Americans gained new Southern society and the end of during Reconstruction.
opportunities, and some Southerners Reconstruction, use the major headings • Explain how Reconstruction ended,
organized to resist the Republicans. of the section to create an outline similar and contrast the New South and the
to the one below. Old South.
Key Terms and Names
carpetbagger, scalawag, graft, Panic Reconstruction and Republican Rule Section Theme
I. Republican Rule in the South
of 1873, Compromise of 1877, tenant A. Economic Factors After Reconstruction,
farmer, sharecropper B. the South tried to create a new economy,
C.
but many problems remained.
✦1866 ✦1870 ✦1874 ✦1878

1866 1870 1873 1877
Ku Klux Klan formed First Enforcement Panic of 1873 Compromise of
Act passed paralyzes nation 1877 reached
On a moonlit December night in the late 1860s, Essic Harris, a formerly enslaved man,
woke suddenly after hearing loud noises outside his small home in Chatham County, North
Carolina. He peered out his bedroom window and a wave of terror rushed over him. Thirty
men in white robes and hoods stood around the house. Many held shotguns. They were
members of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that used violence and intimidation to force
African Americans and white Republicans out of Southern politics. They had come to harass
Harris, who was active in local politics.
As Klan members began firing shotgun blasts at his home, Harris pushed his family into a
corner and grabbed his own shotgun. He rushed to the front door and fired back, then
shouted to one of his childen, “Boy, bring my five-shooter!” Harris had no such gun, but his
bluff worked. The Klan members cursed Harris and rode off, but they would return. They con-
tinued harassing Harris until he abandoned his home and moved to another county.
Early KKK robe and hood
—adapted from The Fiery Cross
Republican Rule in the South

By the fall of 1870, all of the former Confederate states had rejoined the Union under the
congressional Reconstruction plan. Reunification, however, did little to restore harmony
between the North and the South. Because of past disloyalty, some Southern whites were
barred from voting or holding office in the new Southern governments, and many others

simply refused to do so. As a result, a coalition of controlled them. The Republican Party took power in
Northerners, Southern-born whites, and African the South because it had the support of a large num-
Americans created Republican governments in the ber of white Southerners. These were usually poor
Southern states. While the governments instituted var- white farmers, who resented the planters and
ious reforms, most white Southerners scorned them. Democratic Party that had dominated the South
before the Civil War.
Carpetbaggers and Scalawags During Recon-
struction, a large number of Northerners traveled Republican Reforms in the South The newly
to the South. Many were eventually elected or elected Republican governments in the South quickly
appointed to positions in the South’s new state gov- instituted a number of reforms. In addition to repeal-
ernments. Southerners, particularly supporters of the ing the black codes, they established state hospitals
Democratic Party, referred to these newcomers as and institutions for orphans. They rebuilt roads, rail-
carpetbaggers because some arrived with their ways, and bridges damaged during the Civil War
belongings in suitcases made of carpet fabric. Many and provided funds for the construction of new rail-
local residents viewed the Northerners as intruders roads and industries in the South.
seeking to exploit the South’s postwar turmoil for The Republican reforms did not come without
their own gain. cost. Many state governments were forced to borrow
While many Southerners despised carpetbaggers, money and to impose high property taxes to pay for
they also disliked white Southerners who worked the repairs and new programs. Many property own-
with the Republicans and supported Reconstruction. ers, unable to pay these new taxes, lost their land.
They called these people scalawags—an old Scotch- Although Republican leaders in the South demon-
Irish term for weak, underfed, worthless animals. strated a devotion to public service, some of the more
The scalawags were a diverse group of people. self-seeking members caused Southern Democrats to
Some were former Whigs who had grudgingly joined accuse the “carpetbag governments” of corruption.
the Democratic Party before the war. Many were One Republican governor admitted accepting more
owners of small farms who did not want the wealthy than $40,000 in bribes. Graft, or gaining money ille-
planters to regain power. Still others were business gally through politics, was common in the South, just
people who favored Republican plans for developing as it was in the North at the time.
the South’s economy.
Reading Check Summarizing What three groups of
African Americans Enter Politics Thousands of people helped to create Republican governments in the South
formerly enslaved people also took part in governing during Reconstruction?
the South. Having gained the right to
vote, African Americans quickly began
organizing politically. Within a few
remarkable years, African Americans in History
went from enslaved workers to legisla-
tors and administrators on nearly all Hiram Revels 1822–1901 deeply into politics,
levels of government. Hundreds of for- but he overcame
merly enslaved people served as dele- For a man reluctant to enter politics, this concern and
gates to the conventions that created Hiram Revels went a long way— won the respect of
the new state constitutions. They also becoming the first African American in both whites and
the United States Senate. Revels was African Americans.
won election to numerous local offices, born to free parents in Fayetteville, In 1870 Revels was
from mayor to police chief to school North Carolina. In 1845 he became a elected to the
commissioner. During Reconstruction, minister in the African Methodist Senate. As the first
dozens of African Americans also Church. Soon after, Revels settled in African American senator,
served in Southern state legislatures, Baltimore, where he worked as a he served in a subdued manner, speak-
while 14 were elected to the House of church pastor and as the principal of ing much less than other African
an African American school. American members of Congress. Upon
Representatives and 2 others served in
After the Civil War, Revels settled in his retirement from the Senate, Revels
the Senate. Natchez, Mississippi, where he contin- served twice as president of Alcorn
While African Americans partici- ued his religious work. At first, Revels University, an African American college
pated in the South’s Reconstruction expressed reluctance to wade too in Mississippi.
governments, they by no means

African American Communities Southern Resistance
In addition to their efforts on the political stage, At the same time these changes were taking place
African Americans worked to improve their lives in in the South, African Americans often faced intense
other ways during Reconstruction. Upon gaining resentment from many Southern whites. Many
their freedom, many African Americans desired an Southerners also despised the Republican govern-
education, something they had been denied under ments, which they believed vindictive Northerners
slavery. In the first years of Reconstruction, the had forced upon them.
Freedmen’s Bureau, with the help of Northern chari- Unable to strike openly at the Republicans running
ties, had established schools for African Americans their states, some Southern opponents of Recon-
across the South. struction organized secret societies to undermine
Gradually, the number of both African American Republican rule. The largest of these groups was the
students and teachers increased, and by 1876 about Ku Klux Klan. Started in 1866 by former Confederate
40 percent of all African American children (roughly soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee, the Klan spread rap-
600,000 students) attended school in the region. idly throughout the South. Hooded, white-robed
With the same determination they showed in Klan members rode in bands at night terrorizing
pursuing an education, formerly enslaved people African Americans, white Republicans, carpetbag-
across the South worked to establish their own gers, teachers in African American schools, and oth-
churches. Religion had long played a central role in ers who supported the Republican governments.
the lives of many African Americans, and with the Republicans and African Americans responded to the
shackles of slavery now gone, the building of attacks by organizing their own militias to fight back.
churches quickly began. Churches served as the As the violence on both sides increased, President
center of many African American communities, as Grant and Congress took action. In 1870 and 1871,
they housed schools and hosted social events and Congress passed three Enforcement Acts, one of which
political gatherings. outlawed the activities of the Klan. Throughout the
South, local authorities and federal agents, acting
Reading Check Examining How did education for under the Enforcement Acts, arrested more than 3,000
African Americans change during Reconstruction? Klan members. Southern juries convicted only about
600, however, and fewer still served any time in prison.
History Reading Check Describing
Schools for African Americans O.O. Howard, head of the Freedmen’s Bureau, is pictured here (far Why did Congress pass the Enforcement
right) with the students of a Freedmen’s school. Why do you think these schools were so successful? Acts?
The Troubled Grant

Administration
Despite his decisive actions
against the Ku Klux Klan, Ulysses
S. Grant was not a forceful presi-
dent. He believed that the presi-
dent’s role was to carry out
the laws and leave the develop-
ment of policy to Congress.
Eventually, Grant’s lack of politi-
cal experience and drive helped
to divide the Republican Party
and undermine public support
for Reconstruction.
Throughout Grant’s first term,
a growing number of Republicans
expressed concerns that men who
were in office to make money and

sell influence were beginning The Election of 1876
to dominate the Republican
Party. These critics also Disputed
WASH. Territories
argued that the economic TERR. N.H.
MONT. VT. 5 ME.
policies most Republicans OREG. TERR. 5
MINN. 7
supported, such as high 1 2 DAKOTA
TERR. 5 MASS.
IDAHO WIS. N.Y.
tariffs, favored the rich over TERR. WYO.
13
10 MICH. 35
R.I.
the poor. Eventually these TERR. 4
NEBR. IOWA
11 PA.
NEV. CONN. 6
critics, known as Liberal 3 11
ILL. IND. OHIO W.
29 N.J. 9
3 UTAH
Republicans, broke with the TERR. COLO. 21 15 22 DEL. 3
CALIF. KANS. VA. VA.
3 MO. 5 MD. 8
Republican Party in 1872 and 6 5 15 KY. 12
11
nominated their own candi- N.C.
ARIZ. N. MEX. UNORG. TENN. 12 10
date, the influential newspa- TERR. TERR. TERR. ARK. S.C.
6
MISS. ALA. GA.
7
per publisher Horace Greeley. 11
TEX. 8 10
Despite this split, Grant easily LA.
8 8
won re-election.
FLA.
During Grant’s second 4
term, a series of scandals
damaged his administration’s
reputation. In one scandal, Presidential Election, 1876
Grant’s secretary of war, Electoral Popular Political
Candidate Vote Vote Party
William Belknap, was found Hayes 185 4,036,572 Republican 1. Interpreting Maps In which states
to have accepted bribes from Tilden 184 4,284,020 Democrat were election results disputed?
merchants operating at army 2. Applying Geography Skills In what
posts in the West. He was regions of the country did Hayes win
impeached but resigned before the Senate could try support?
him. Then, in 1875, the “Whiskey Ring” scandal
broke. A group of government officials and dis-
tillers in St. Louis cheated the government out of Reconstruction Ends
millions of dollars by filing false tax reports. It was The rising power of the Democrats in Congress
reported that Orville E. Babcock, Grant’s private made enforcing Reconstruction more difficult. At the
secretary, was in this group, although the charges same time, Northerners were becoming more con-
were never proven. cerned with the government scandals and their own
In addition to these political scandals, Grant and economic problems than with the situation in the
the nation endured a staggering and long-lasting South.
economic crisis that began during Grant’s second In the 1870s, Democrats began to regain power in
term. The turmoil started in 1873, when a series of the South. They did so in part through intimidation
bad railroad investments forced the powerful bank- and fraud, and in part by defining the elections as a
ing firm of Jay Cooke and Company to declare struggle between whites and African Americans.
bankruptcy. A wave of fear known as the Panic of They also won back support by promising to cut the
1873 quickly spread though the nation’s financial high taxes the Republicans had imposed and by
community. The panic prompted scores of smaller accusing Republicans of corruption. Southern
banks to close and caused the stock market to Democrats viewed their efforts to regain power as a
plummet. It soon set off a full-fledged depression crusade to help save the South from Republican rule.
that lasted until almost the end of the decade. By 1876 the Democrats had taken control of all but
The scandals in the Grant administration and the three Southern state legislatures.
nation’s deepening economic depression hurt the That year, the nation’s presidential election pit-
Republicans politically. In the 1874 midterm elected Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, a former gov-
tions, the Democrats won back control of the House ernor of Ohio, against Democrat Samuel Tilden, a
of Representatives and made gains in the Senate. wealthy corporate lawyer and former governor of
New York. On Election Day, twenty electoral votes
Reading Check Explaining Why did the Liberal were disputed. Nineteen of the votes were in the
Republicans oppose President Grant? three Southern states controlled by Republicans.

In an 1871 question-and-answer session before
Congress, William Manning Lowe, a former
Carpetbaggers: Corrupt or Confederate colonel and Alabama lawyer, criticized
his state’s U.S. senators, Willard Warner and George
Well-Intentioned? Spencer. Both were originally from Northern states:
According to Southerners, many carpetbaggers were corrupt
“[A] carpet-bagger is generally understood to be a
Northerners who came south to get rich or to get elected. Films
man who comes here for office sake, of an ignorant or
like Gone with the Wind influenced many generations to accept
bad character, and who seeks to array the Negroes
this view. The opposing interpretation argues that Northerners
against the whites . . . in order to get office through
were not necessarily corrupt but often simply wanted to make
them. . . . (The term) does not apply to all northern men
new lives or aid African Americans.
who come here. . . . We regard any republican or any
man as a man of bad character, whether he is native or
foreign born, who seeks to obtain office from the
In 1871 Oliver Morton, a Radical Republican senator Negroes by exciting their passions and prejudices against
from Indiana, defended Northerners who relocated the whites. We think that a very great evil—very great.
to the South, claiming they were beneficial to that We are intimately associated with the Negro race; we
region: have a large number in the country, and we think it
essential that we shall live in peace together. . . . No, sir;
“When the war ended many men who had been in the term is never applied to a democrat under any
the Union army remained in the South, intending to circumstances. . . .”
make it their home. . . . Others emigrated from the
North, taking with them large capital, believing that the —quoted in Reconstruction: Opposing Viewpoints
South presented fine prospects for business. . . . It so
happened, and was, in fact, necessary, that many of
these men should be elected to office. This was their
right and the natural result of the circumstances by
which they were surrounded. . . . Emigration is a part of Learning From History
the genius of the American people. . . . it is an odious
and anti-American doctrine that a man has no right to be 1. Evaluating Which of these two
elected to an office in a State because he was not born in viewpoints most accurately
it. . . . What the South needs is emigrants with carpet describes carpetbaggers? Why?
bags well filled with capital to revive industry. . . .” 2. Analyzing Choose one of the view-
points above. Write three questions
—quoted in Reconstruction: Opposing Viewpoints you would like to ask your chosen
speaker.
As a result, congressional leaders worked out an them, the last remaining Republican governments in
agreement known as the Compromise of 1877. the South quickly collapsed. Reconstruction had
Historians are not sure if a deal really took place or come to an end.
what its exact terms were. The compromise report- Reading Check Explaining What major issue was
edly included the following conditions: Southern
Democrats agreed to give the election to Hayes, and settled by the Compromise of 1877?
in return, the Republicans promised that a Southerner
would become postmaster general. This was an
important position because of the many federal jobs it A “New South” Arises
controlled. The Republicans reportedly also promised During his inaugural speech in March 1877,
funds for internal improvements in the South. Most President Hayes expressed his desire to move the
importantly, they agreed to withdraw the remaining country beyond the quarrelsome years of
federal troops from the South. In April 1877, after Reconstruction in part by putting an end to the nation’s
assuming the presidency, Hayes did pull federal regional distinctions. He hoped to narrow the divisions
troops out of the South. Without soldiers to support of sectionalism that had long plagued the nation:

“ Let me assure my countrymen of the Southern
States that it is my earnest desire to regard and pro-
mote their truest interests—the interests of the white
and colored people both equally—and to put forth my
best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which will forever
wipe out . . . the distinction between North and South,
to the end that we may have not merely a united North
or a united South, but a united country.
”
—quoted in Rutherford B. Hayes
Eventually the South did develop closer ties with

the North. Southern leaders realized the South could
History
never return to the pre–Civil War agricultural econ-
omy dominated by the planter elite. Instead, these A New South? While the developing downtown area of Houston, Texas, in the
Southerners called for the creation of a “New South.” 1890s was similar to other Southern urban areas, most of the South remained
They were convinced that the region had to develop agricultural in the decades following the Civil War. What did the leaders of the
a strong industrial economy. An alliance between “New South” movement support?
Southerners and Northern financiers brought great
economic changes to some parts of the South. not afford to buy their own land. As a result, most
Northern capital helped to build thousands of miles tenant farmers became sharecroppers. Sharecroppers
of railroads and dozens of new industries. did not pay their rent in cash. Instead they paid a
The South, however, changed very little. Despite share of their crops, often as much as two-thirds, to
its industrial growth, the region remained largely cover their rent as well as the cost of the seed, fertil-
agricultural. As late as 1900, its number of manufac- izer, tools and animals they needed.
turing establishments equaled only 4 percent of its Although sharecropping allowed African
number of farms. For many African Americans in par- American farmers to control their work schedules
ticular, the end of Reconstruction meant a return to and working conditions for the first time in their
the “old South” and an end to their hopes of being lives, they rarely had enough crops left over to sell to
granted their own land. Instead many returned to the enable them to buy their own land. The Civil War
plantations owned by whites, where they, along with ended slavery, but Reconstruction’s failure left many
many poor white farmers, either worked for wages or African Americans, as well as many whites, trapped
became tenant farmers paying rent for the land they in economic circumstances beyond their control.
farmed. After the Civil War, the South’s weak econ-
omy did not have enough cash available and the cost Reading Check Summarizing What alliance
of borrowing money was high. Many farmers could brought economic change in the South?
TM
TM
Check for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

1. Define: carpetbagger, scalawag, graft, 5. Analyzing Why did Southerners resent 7. Examining Photographs Study the
tenant farmer, sharecropper. both carpetbaggers and scalawags? photograph of O.O. Howard and a
2. Identify: Panic of 1873, Compromise 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer Freedmen’s school on page 274. How
of 1877. similar to the one below to identify the would you describe the children
3. Describe how some white Southerners problems that President Grant’s admin- depicted in this photograph?
reacted to the Republican Party gaining istration faced.
power in the South.
Reviewing Themes Problems Faced by 8. Expository Writing Write a short
Grant’s Administration
4. Economic Factors What factors con- essay explaining what you consider to
tributed to improving the economy of be the three most important events of
the South after Reconstruction? the Reconstruction period. Explain why
you chose these events.

N O T E B O O K
VERBATIM
“madeIf thea safe

South is ever to be
Republic, let her
lands be cultivated by the toil
of the owners, or the free labor
of intelligent citizens.
”
THADDEUS STEVENS,
arguing for land redistribution in
the South during Reconstruction
“whatIn the. . South,

AD
the [Civil] war is
is elsewhere; they date
from it.
” MARK TWAIN,
from Life on the Mississippi
“knowForhow
we colored people did not
to be free and the white
people did not know how to have a
PHOTOWORLD/FPG
free colored person about them.
HOUSTON HARTSFIELD HOLLOWAY, ”
Eyewitness freedman, on the problem of
Reconstruction
WILLIAM H. CROOKE served as a bodyguard for President Andrew
Johnson and witnessed the decisive vote by Edmund Ross during the
impeachment trial in the Senate on Saturday, May 16, 1868. Here,
“theAskeynote
in the war, freedom was
of victory, so now
is universal suffrage the keynote
Crooke recalls the scene:
The tension grew. There was a weary number of names before that of
of Reconstruction.
”
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON,
arguing for universal suffrage, 1867
Ross was reached. When the clerk called it, and Ross [senator from
Kansas] stood forth, the crowd held its breath.
‘Not guilty,’ called the senator from Kansas. It was like the babbling [sic]
“richer
We thought we was goin’ to be
than the white folks, ’cause
we was stronger and knowed how
over of a caldron. The Radical Senators, who had been laboring with to work, and the whites didn’t and
Ross only a short time before, turned to him in rage; all over the house they didn’t have us to work for
people began to stir. The rest of the roll-call was listened to with lessened them anymore. But it didn’t turn out
interest. . . . When it was over, and the result—35 to 19—was announced, that way. We soon found out that
there was a wild outburst, chiefly groans of anger and disappointment, freedom could make folks proud
for the friends of the president were in the minority.
It was all over in a moment, and Mr. Johnson was ordering some
but it didn’t make ’em rich.
”
FELIX HAYWOOD,
former slave
whiskey from the cellar. [President Johnson was not convicted.]
PRESIDENTIAL SUPERLATIVES
While he was neither “first in war, first in peace” nor “first in the hearts of his
countrymen,” President Andrew Johnson left his mark on history:
First to have never attended school First tailor/president who made
First to be impeached his own clothes
First to be elected to the Senate both Last not to attend successor’s
BETTMANN/CORBIS
before and after being president inauguration

First to host a queen at the Most vetoes overridden
Andrew Johnson White House Father of the Homestead Act

REBUILDING THE NATION: 1865–1 8 7 7
(Re)inventing America NUMBERS

Patents awarded to African American inventors
during the Reconstruction period: $7,200,000
Purchase price paid by U.S. to
ALEXANDER ASHBOURNE biscuit cutter Russia for Alaska in 1867
LANDROW BELL locomotive smokestack
BETTMANN/CORBIS
LEWIS HOWARD LATIMER water closets (toilets) 2¢ Price paid per acre
for Alaska
for railway cars, electric lamp with cotton
filament, dough kneader
THOMAS ELKINS refrigerator with cooling coils
Refrigerators keep
foods cool.
$30 Boarding and tuition,
per quarter, at Saint Frances
Academy, boarding school for
THOMAS J. MARTIN fire extinguisher
African American girls in Baltimore,
ELIJAH McCOY automatic oil cup and 57 other devices and machine Maryland. Students come from
parts, including an ironing board and lawn sprinkler states as distant as Florida and
Missouri for an education
“productive of the happiest effects
Milestones among individuals and in society.”
MPI/HULTON GETTY PICTURE LIBRARY/LIAISON

REEXAMINED. THE ROMANTIC
STORY OF POCAHONTAS, based
$5 Extra charge for
instruction in embroidery
on the written account of Captain
John Smith. The London Spectator,
reporting on the work of Mr. E.
$25 Extra charge for
instruction in making wax fruit
Neils, debunks Smith’s tale of the
young Pocahontas flinging herself
between him and her father’s club. $3 Tuition, per quarter,
The young girl was captured and for local “day scholars”
held prisoner on board a British Pocahontas
ship and then forcibly married 5,407 Number of pupils
to Mr. John Rolfe. Comments EXTINGUISHED, 1871. THE in Mississippi Freedmen’s
Appleton’s Journal in 1870: “All that PESHTIGO FOREST FIRE in schools in 1866
is heroic, picturesque, or romantic Wisconsin. The conflagration
in history seems to be rapidly caused 2,682 deaths. The Peshtigo
tragedy has been overshadowed
50 Number of schools
disappearing under the microscopic established for freed African
scrutiny of modern critics.” by the Great Chicago Fire of the Americans in Mississippi in 1866
same year, which killed 300.
FOUNDED, 1877. NICODEMUS,
KANSAS, by six African American PUBLISHED, 1865. DRUM TAPS, 20% Percentage of state
by Walt Whitman. Based on his income of Mississippi spent on
and two white Kansans. On the artificial arms and legs for war
high, arid plains of Graham experiences as a hospital volunteer,
Whitman’s new poems chronicle veterans in 1866
County, the founders hope
to establish a community of the horrors of the Civil War.
homesteading former slaves. THROWN, 1867. FIRST
CURVEBALL, by William A.
TOPPED, 1875. THE ONE MILLION
“Candy” Cummings of the
MARK FOR POPULATION, by New
Brooklyn Excelsiors. In a game
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
York City. New York is the ninth

against Harvard, pitcher
city in the history of the world to
Cummings put a spin on the ball
achieve a population level of
to make it swerve downward.
more than one million. The first Most spectators thought the ball’s
was Rome in 133 B.C. curved path was an illusion. Freedmen’s classroom

Reviewing Key Terms 28. What did President Johnson do that convinced Congress that
he was not carrying out the laws Congress had passed for
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence.
Reconstruction?
1. greenback 13. Reconstruction 29. What were said to be the provisions of the Compromise
2. conscription 14. amnesty of 1877?
3. habeas corpus 15. pocket veto
4. attrition 16. freedmen Critical Thinking
5. bounty 17. black codes 30. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities
President Lincoln suspended writs of habeas corpus to pre-
6. blockade runner 18. impeach
vent interference with the draft. Do you think suspending
7. hardtack 19. carpetbagger civil liberties is justified in some situations? Why or why not?
8. prisoner of war 20. scalawag 31. Interpreting Primary Sources At the beginning of the Civil
9. forage 21. graft War, Robert E. Lee wrote to his sister, Mrs. Anne Marshall, of
his decision to resign from the U.S. Army. Read the excerpt
10. siege 22. tenant farmer
and answer the questions that follow.
11. torpedo 23. sharecropper
12. mandate “ With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of
loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been
Reviewing Key Facts able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my
relatives, my children, my home. I have, therefore,
24. Identify: Robert E. Lee, Copperhead, Trent Affair, Anaconda
Plan, Ulysses S. Grant, Military Reconstruction Act. resigned my commission in the Army, and, save in
25. What effects did the Emancipation Proclamation have on defense of my native state . . . I hope I may never be
the war? called on to draw my sword. I know you will blame me;
26. How did the Civil War affect the South’s economy? ”
but you must think as kindly of me as you can. . . .
27. How did the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth —from Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes,
Amendments advance civil rights? and Letters of General Robert E. Lee
Civil War Reconstruction

1863 1866
1861 • Emancipation 1868
• Fourteenth • Andrew Johnson impeached
• First Battle of Proclamation issued Amendment
Bull Run (Manassas) passed • Ulysses S. Grant wins presidency
• North wins decisive victories
at Gettysburg and Vicksburg
1870
• Fifteenth
Amendment passed
1861 1869 1877

1867
1862 1877
1865 • Military
• Monitor and Virginia • Compromise of 1877
• Thirteenth Reconstruction
battle to a draw ends Reconstruction
Amendment passed Act passed
1873
• South introduces conscription • South surrenders • Economic panic
for military service; David Farragut
• John Wilkes Booth strikes U.S
captures New Orleans
assassinates Lincoln
• Battle of Antietam
HISTORY Agricultural Production
in the South, 1860–1900
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at 10 350
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— Cotton 300 Tobacco
8
Millions of pounds
Millions of bales
250
6 200
a. What were Robert E. Lee’s feelings about the war? 150
4
b. Why did Lee feel it necessary to resign from the Union
100
army and become a Confederate army commander? 2
50
32. Organizing Complete a graphic organizer similar to the one
below by listing the effects of the Civil War on the nation. 0 0
1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
110 700
100 Rice Corn
600
Millions of bushels
Millions of pounds
Results of
90
Civil War
80 500
70 400
60
300
50
Practicing Skills
40 200
33. Evaluating a Web Site Go through the steps described on
page 256 for evaluating a Web site. Then search the Internet 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
Source: Historical Statistics of the South, 1790–1970
for Web sites that deal with prisoners of war during the Civil
War. Write a report describing the best and worst site you
find, listing reasons for your evaluations.
Economics and History

34. The graph on this page shows agricultural production in the
South from 1860 to 1900. Study the graph and answer the
questions below. Standardized
a. Interpreting Graphs Which crops surpassed pre–Civil Test Practice
War levels of production by 1890? Directions: Choose the phrase that best
b. Synthesizing What factors do you think might have con- completes the statement below.
tributed to the increase in agricultural production levels in One advantage that Southern states held during the Civil
the South in the late 1800s? War was that
A they received military and financial support from the
Writing Activity British and the French.
35. Portfolio Writing Choose one of the events of the Civil War B many battles occurred on lands with which Southerners
or Reconstruction discussed in the chapter. Imagine that the were more familiar.
radio had been invented at that time. Write a radio news seg- C the largest weapons factories were located in the South.
ment in which you provide information about the event and
D most people agreed with the position of the Southern
your view of it. Include the script for the radio segment in
states.
your portfolio.
Test-Taking Tip: When you are not sure of an answer, it
Chapter Activity can be helpful to use the process of elimination. For
36. Research Projects Use library sources to find examples of example, you probably remember that the North had a
political cartoons from the Civil War or Reconstruction era. greater population than the South. Therefore, answer D is
Create a display of these cartoons and write a summary of probably incorrect.
how they illustrate the major issues of the time period.

The Birth of
Modern
America
1865–1900
W hy It Matters
Following the turmoil of the Civil War and
Reconstruction, the United States began its
transformation from a rural nation to an indus-
trial, urban nation. This change spurred the
growth of cities, the development of big busi-
ness, and the rise of new technologies such as
the railroads. New social pressures, including
increased immigration, unionization move-
ments, and the Populist movement in politics,
characterized the period as well. Understanding
this turbulent time will help you understand
similar pressures that exist in your life today.
The following resources offer more information
about this period in American history.
Primary Sources Library Coat and goggles worn in a

See pages 932–933 for primary source horseless carriage

Source Document Library CD-ROM to
find additional primary sources about the
Chicago street scene in 1900
beginnings of the modern United States.
282
“The city is the nerve center
of our civilization. It is also
the storm center.”
—Josiah Strong, 1885
Settling the West
1865–1900
Why It Matters
After the Civil War, a dynamic period in American history opened—the settlement of the West.
The lives of Western miners, farmers, and ranchers were often filled with great hardships, but
the wave of American settlers continued. Railroads hastened this migration. During this period,
many Native Americans lost their homelands and their way of life.
The Impact Today

Developments of this period are still evident today.
• Native American reservations still exist in the United States.
• The myth of the Western hero is prominent in popular culture.
The American Republic Since 1877 Video The Chapter 8

video, “Life in the West,” chronicles the early days of western settlement
in the United States.
1881
• President Garfield
assassinated
1859
1864 1876
• Comstock
• Sand Creek Massacre • Battle of the
Lode of
gold and Little Bighorn
1867
silver dis-
• Chisholm Trail
covered
cattle drive begins
in Nevada
▲
Lincoln A. Johnson Grant Hayes Garfield Arthur
▲ 1861–1865 ▲ 1865–1869 ▲ 1869–1877 ▲ 1877–1881 1881 1881–1885
1860 1870 1880
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1867 1871 1877
• Diamonds discovered • Otto von Bismarck unifies • First Wimbledon tennis
in South Africa the many German states tournament held
1868 into modern Germany 1881
• Cro-Magnon skeleton • Japanese emperor Mutsuhito promises
discovered in France to establish national legislature
284
Mother and child in a Wyoming wheat field
1896
• Plessy v. Ferguson creates
1885 1887 “separate but equal” doctrine
• First skyscraper • Dawes Act eliminates
built in Chicago communal ownership
of Native American reservations HISTORY
▲
Cleveland B. Harrison Cleveland McKinley
1885–1889 ▲ 1889–1893 1893–1897
▲ 1897–1901 Chapter Overview
• Brazil ends slavery • China begins war • Modern Olympics begin
against Japan in Athens, Greece
285
Miners and Ranchers
Miners and ranchers settled large areas Organizing As you read about the devel- • Trace the growth of the mining industry
of the West. opment of the mining industry, complete in the West.
a graphic organizer listing the locations of • Describe the ways that new technology
Key Terms and Names mining booms and the discoveries made changed open-range ranching.
placer mining, quartz mining, Henry there.
Comstock, vigilance committee, open Section Theme
range, long drive, Chisholm Trail, Economic Factors People migrated to
maverick, barbed wire Mining Booms the West in search of economic
& Discoveries
opportunity.
✦1858 ✦1868 ✦1878 ✦1888

1858 1859 1867 1875 1886–1887
Gold discovered Comstock Lode dis- Cattle drives begin Gold rush begins in Blizzards devastate
in Colorado covered in Nevada on Chisholm Trail Dakota Territory western ranches
Jacob Waldorf arrived in Virginia City, Nevada, in 1873 to seek his fortune in the fabled sil-
ver mines of the Comstock Lode. Like many others, he found work at one of the big mining
companies. Seven days a week he toiled in a dangerous mine shaft, earning enough to sup-
port his family and buy a little stock in local mining companies. As his son John recalled:
“ The favorite game with our father was stocks. . . . Mother used to say to me, ‘Some day
we’re going back east,’ but for years none of the stocks in which Dad invested showed any
disposition to furnish us with the price of transportation.
”
In 1877 the stock Waldorf owned skyrocketed in value. “Dad’s holdings rose . . . to
$10,000 and mother began to talk of buying a farm,” John wrote. “The stock kept going
upward. Dad was worth $15,000 for at least a minute.” He waited for the stock to go even
higher before selling, but instead it plummeted: “The bottom fell out of Ophi [a mining stock],
and Mother’s dream farm fell with it, for Dad was broke.”
Jacob Waldorf overcame this financial setback. Earning the respect of his fellow workers,
Miner working the
Comstock Lode he headed the miners’ union in 1880 and later served as a state legislator.
—adapted from A Kid on the Comstock
Growth of the Mining Industry

The story of western mining is bigger than the individual stories of fortune seekers
like Waldorf. The West’s rich deposits of gold, silver, and copper served the needs of
growing industries in the East. They also brought the first wave of settlers that popu-
lated the mountain states of the West.
286 CHAPTER 8 Settling the West

News of a mineral strike in an area would start a and most of the townspeople moved on in search of
stampede of prospectors desperately hoping to strike new opportunities. This cycle of boom and bust—
it rich. Early prospectors would extract the shallow from boomtown to ghost town—was repeated
deposits of ore largely by hand in a process called throughout the mountainous West.
placer mining, using simple equipment like picks, During the booms, crime posed a serious prob-
shovels, and pans. After these surface deposits dwin- lem. Prospectors fought over claims, and thieves
dled, corporations would move in to begin quartz haunted the streets and trails. Law enforcers were
mining, which dug deep beneath the surface. As scarce, and self-appointed volunteers sometimes
those deposits dried up, commercial mining either formed vigilance committees to track down and
disappeared or continued on a restricted basis. punish wrongdoers. In some cases, they punished
the innocent or let the guilty go free, but most peo-
ECONOMICS ple in these communities respected the law and
The Big Strike in Nevada The story of the Com- tried to deal firmly but fairly with those accused of
stock Lode is similar to other stories of gold, silver, crimes.
and copper strikes throughout the West. In 1859 a Mining towns such as Virginia City at first were
prospector named Henry Comstock staked a claim in inhabited mostly by men, but soon they attracted
Six-Mile Canyon, Nevada. The sticky, blue-gray mud more women. Some women owned property and
found there turned out to be nearly pure silver ore. were influential community leaders. Others
News of the Comstock strike brought hordes of min- worked as cooks or in laundries. Still other women
ers to Virginia City, Nevada. Almost overnight the worked at “hurdy-gurdy” houses (named after the
town went from a frontier outpost to a boomtown of mechanical musical instrument), where they
about 30,000, boasting an opera house, shops with danced with men for the price of a drink.
furniture and fashions from Europe, several newspa-
pers, and a six-story hotel with the West’s first eleva- Other Bonanzas Mining also spurred the develop-
tor, called a “rising room.” When the silver veins ment of Colorado, the Dakota Territory, and Montana.
were exhausted several years later, the mines closed. The discovery of gold near Pikes Peak in 1858 set min-
Without the mines, the town’s economy collapsed, ers on a frantic rush. Coining the phrase “Pikes Peak
Mining 1 Sluices were sometimes 2 The riffle box agitated the 3 The box, sometimes called
Sluice simple trenches dug into water flow with metal bars, a “tom,” had a screen to
the ground. Others were or sometimes cobble prevent the separated min-
Western prospectors used made of wood. stones or small holes. erals from escaping with
sluices to search riverbeds the water and sediment.
more quickly than they
could with the backbreaking
panning method. A sluice screen sluice
diverted the current of a
river into earthen or wooden
trenches. The water was
directed to a box with metal
“riffle” bars that disturbed
the current, causing heavier
minerals to settle to the bot-
tom of the box. A screen at
the end of the riffle box pre-
vented the minerals from
flowing out. Why was the
sluice more efficient than riffle box
panning for precious
minerals?
or Bust,” many panned for gold without success and money). This bonanza spurred the building of rail-
headed home, complaining of a “Pikes Peak hoax.” roads through the Rocky Mountains and trans-
In truth, there was plenty of gold and silver in the formed Denver, the supply point for the mining
Colorado mountains, but much of it was hidden areas, into the second largest city in the West after
beneath the surface and hard to extract. One of the San Francisco.
richest strikes occurred in the late 1870s in The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of the
Leadville, so called for deep deposits of lead that Dakota Territory and copper in Montana led to
contained large amounts of silver. By the summer of rapid development of the northern Great Plains.
1879, as many as 1,000 newcomers per week were Miners flooded into the region in the 1870s. After
pouring into Leadville, creating one of the most leg- railroads were built in the 1880s, many farmers and
endary boomtowns dotting the mining frontier. ranchers moved to the territory. In 1889, Congress
Overall, operations at Leadville and other mining divided the Dakota Territory and admitted North
towns in Colorado yielded more than $1 billion Dakota and South Dakota, as well as Montana, as
worth of silver and gold (many billions in today’s new states.
Reading Check Explain How did the creation of
new states change the political boundaries of the Great Plains?
Ranching and Cattle Drives

While many Americans headed to the Rocky
Mountains to mine gold and silver after the Civil
War, others began building vast cattle ranches on
Virginia City the Great Plains. In the early 1800s, Americans did
Past: Comstock Boomtown not think cattle ranches on the Great Plains were
The wealth of its silver mines practical. Water was scarce, and cattle from the East
turned Virginia City, Nevada, could not survive on the tough prairie grasses.
from a leaky-tent mining town Farther south, however, in Texas, there existed a
into a metropolis with five breed of cattle adapted to living on the Great
newspapers and a stock Plains.
exchange. Express companies The Texas longhorn was a breed descended from
carried out silver and brought Spanish cattle that had been brought to Mexico two
in supplies for the city’s 30,000 centuries earlier. Ranchers in Mexico and Texas had
people.
allowed their cattle to run wild, and slowly a new
breed—the longhorn—had emerged. Lean and
rangy, the longhorn could easily survive in the harsh
climate of the Plains, and by 1865, as many as
5 million of them roamed the grasslands of Texas.
Mexicans had introduced cattle ranching in New
Present: Tourist Center Mexico, California, and Texas before these areas
Unlike many mining towns became part of the United States. The industry grew
that became ghost towns, in part because of the open range—a vast area
Virginia City still exists. The of grassland owned by the government. The open
community depends on the range covered much of the Great Plains and
tourist industry. Visitors can provided land where ranchers could graze their
see the old school building, herds free of charge and unrestricted by the bound-
the opera house, and a min- aries of private farms.
ing museum. Virginia City is Mexican cowhands developed the tools and tech-
just a short drive from niques for rounding up and driving cattle. These
Carson City and Lake Tahoe. Hispanic herders taught American cowhands their
trade and enriched the English vocabulary with
words of Spanish origin, including “lariat,” “lasso,”
and “stampede.”

Mining Country and Cattle Trails, 1848–1890
In
Motion
Seattle WASH.
Helena, Montana in 1865
nge
N
MONT.
W N. DAK.
E e Ra Helena MINN.
S OREG. IDAHO Bannack
cad
Deadwood St. Paul
Roc
Silver Idaho
City City S. DAK WIS.
WYO. Black
Cas
Hills
ky
40°N IOWA Chicago
Sierra
Cheyenne NEBR.
Omaha
Mountains
Sutter's Mill Salt Lake
Virginia City City Ogallala Kansas
Denver City ILL.
Carson
San CALIF. City UTAH KANS. Abilene
MO.
Ne
Francisco TERR. Leadville

NEV. Ellsworth St. Louis KY.
COLO. Sedalia
va
Dodge Wichita
da
City
Chisholm Trail
Santa Fe OKLA. Gold Cattle trails
Albuquerque
TERR. Shawnee Trail TENN.
Silver Railroads
Los Angeles Flagstaff Good nig h t - L o INDIAN
ARIZ. TERR. N. MEX. TERR. ARK. 1890 border
PaCIFIC TERR. MISS. ALA.
We s t e r n Tra
Yuma Tucson TEX.
30°N Ocean
Fort GA.
Tombstone El Paso Fort Worth
i n Concho Sedalia Trail
v
gT LA.
0 500 miles r a il
Bandera
il
0 500 kilometers New FLA.
Lambert Equal-Area projection San Victoria Orleans
120°W Antonio
Gulf of Mexico
110°W 90°W
Cowhands on a cattle drive
1. Interpreting Maps What cities were destination points

for the Chisholm Trail?
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think the des-
tination cities at the end of the cattle trails are all located
along railroad lines?
In 1866 ranchers rounded up cattle and drove about

Before the Civil War, ranchers had little incentive 260,000 of them to Sedalia, Missouri. Although only a
to round up the longhorns. Beef prices were low, fraction of the herds survived this first long drive, the
and moving the cattle to eastern markets was not drive overall was a tremendous success, proving that
practical. Two developments changed this situa- cattle could be driven north to the rail lines and sold for
tion: the Civil War and the construction of the rail- 10 times the price they could get in Texas.
roads. During the Civil War, eastern cattle were Other trails soon opened. The route to Abilene,
slaughtered in huge numbers to feed the armies of Kansas, became the major route north. Between
the Union and the Confederacy. After the war, beef 1867 and 1871, cowboys drove nearly 1.5 million
prices soared, making it worthwhile to round up head of cattle up the Chisholm Trail to Abilene—a
the longhorns if a way could be found to move town that, when filled with cowboys at the end of a
them east. drive, rivaled the mining towns in terms of rowdi-
By the 1860s, railroads had reached the Great ness. As the railroads expanded in the West, other
Plains. Lines ended at Abilene and Dodge City in trails reached from Texas to more towns in Kansas,
Kansas and at Sedalia in Missouri. Ranchers and live- Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming.
stock dealers realized that if the longhorns were
rounded up and driven north several hundred miles The Long Drive A long drive was a spectacular
to the railroad, they could be sold for a huge profit sight. It began with the spring roundup when ranch-
and shipped east to market. ers met with their cowboys to collect cattle from the
CHAPTER 8 Settling the West 289

History
Frederic Breaking Camp This painting by Charles M. Russell captures the excitement of a long cattle drive. Ranchers hired
Remington cowboys to move thousands of cattle north to railroad towns, where the cattle were then shipped east for butchering
statue and sale in the cities. How did the Civil War encourage the start of long cattle drives?
open range. Stock from many different proved the worst horse to ride I had ever mounted in
owners made up these herds. Only their my life, but I stayed with him and the cow boys were
brands showing which rancher owned the most surprised outfit you ever saw, as they had
the cattle distinguished them from one another. taken me for a tenderfoot, pure and simple. After the
Stray calves with no identifying symbols were called
horse got tired and I dismounted the boss said he
mavericks. These were divided and branded. The
would give me a job and pay me $30.00 per month
combined herds moving onto the trail could number
anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 cattle.
and more later on.
”
Cowboys for major ranchers went north with the —quoted in Life and Adventures of Nat Love
herds. Most of the cowboys in the early years of the
Life for Love and the other cowboys on the trail
cattle drives were former Confederate army soldiers
demanded discipline, endurance, and courage, but
escaping the harsh life in the South during
those who survived the many dangers collected wages
Reconstruction. A few were Hispanic, and many
to spend in the towns at the end of the trail. Life in
were African Americans such as Nat Love. Born an
these towns was exciting, but many cowboys told
enslaved man in Tennessee in 1854, Love was freed
exaggerated tales of daring that often supplied mate-
at the end of the Civil War. He went west in 1869 and
rial for what were called “dime novels.” These adven-
applied for work with a cattle-driving outfit that
ture books sold for a dime and helped spread the
included several other African American cowhands:
myths of the “Wild West” in eastern towns and cities.
“ After breakfast I asked the camp boss for a job as

a cow boy. He asked me if I could ride a wild horse. I
Ranching Becomes Big Business Cowboys drove
millions of cattle north from Texas to Kansas and
said ‘yes sir.’ He said if you can I will give you a job.
points beyond. Some of the cattle went straight to
So he spoke to one of the colored cow boys called slaughterhouses, but many were sold to ranchers
Bronko Jim, and told him to go out and rope old who were building up herds and grazing them in
Good Eye, saddle him and put me on his back. Wyoming, Montana, and other territories. When
Bronko Jim gave me a few pointers and told me to sheep herders moved their flocks onto the range and
look out for the horse was especially bad. . . . This when farmers settled there, blocking the trails,

“range wars” broke out among competing groups.
Eventually, and after considerable loss of life, the
range was largely fenced off with a new invention—
barbed wire—which enabled hundreds of square
miles to be fenced off cheaply and easily.
At first, ranchers saw barbed wire as more of a
The Cowboys of
threat than an opportunity. They did not want to
Argentina
While cowboys are often considered a unique part of
abandon open grazing and complained when farm-
the American heritage, they also belong to the history
ers put up barriers that prevented the ranchers’ live-
of another nation, Argentina. Like the cowboys of the
stock from roaming. Soon, however, ranchers used
barbed wire to shut out those competing with them American West, this group of hardy and daring individu-
for land and to keep their animals closer to sources of als made their living during the 1800s trying to tame the
food and water. For cowhands, however, barbed wire “pampas”—Argentina’s frontier grasslands. Known as
ended the excitement of long cattle drives. “gauchos,” they rounded up wild cattle and horses on
The fencing in of the range was not the only reason the pampas and sold their hides. Like their counterparts
the long drives ended. Investors from the East and to the north, gauchos wore distinctive clothing—
from Britain poured money into the booming cattle wide-brim hats, ponchos, and loose trousers tucked
business, causing an oversupply of animals on the into low boots—and became highly romanticized and
market. Prices dropped dramatically in the mid- revered figures. They also went the same way as the
1880s and many ranchers went bankrupt. Then, in American cowboy, eventually becoming ranch hands as
the winter of 1886 to 1887, blizzards covered the big business took greater control of the cattle and herd-
ground with snow so deep that the cattle could not ing industry. What were the
dig down to the grass. Temperatures fell to more than similarities between
40 degrees below zero. the American
lariat
The cattle industry survived this terrible blow, cowboys and
but it was changed forever. The day of the open the gauchos?
range had ended. From that point on, herds were
raised on fenced-in ranches. New European breeds spurs
replaced longhorns, and the cowboy became a
ranch hand.
Reading Check Analyzing How did heavy invest-
ment in the cattle industry affect the industry as a whole?
TM
TM

1. Define: placer mining, quartz mining, 6. Evaluating How did the mining indus- 8. Examining Maps Study the map
open range, long drive, maverick. try contribute to the development of the detailing the western mining country
2. Identify: Henry Comstock, vigilance West? and cattle trails on page 289. Then
committee, Chisholm Trail, barbed wire. 7. Organizing Use a graphic organizer create your own thematic map detailing
3. List the factors that contributed to the similar to the one below to list the ways either the cattle country or the mining
rise of the cattle industry. barbed wire was used and the result of country.
4. Explain how cattle ranching shifted using barbed wire on the Great Plains.
from open range to an organized busi- Writing About History
Barbed Wire
ness operation. 9. Descriptive Writing Write a summary
for a story line for a Hollywood movie.
Reviewing Themes Purposes Result Your script should realistically portray
5. Economic Factors What two develop- the lives of either a miner or rancher in
ments in the late 1800s led to the the West in the mid- to late 1800s. Be
decline of the cattle business? sure to include descriptions of people
living in a western settlement.

Farming the Plains
After 1865, settlers staked out homesteads Organizing As you read about the settle- • Explain why and how people began
and began farming the Great Plains. ment of the Great Plains, complete a settling the Plains.
graphic organizer similar to the one • Trace the growth of commercial farm-
Key Terms and Names below listing the ways the government ing on the Plains.
Great Plains, Stephen Long, Homestead encouraged settlement.
Act, homestead, dry farming, sodbuster, Section Theme
Wheat Belt, bonanza farm Science and Technology The need for
Government new farming techniques in the West
Assistance
in Settling led to several technological innovations.
Great Plains
✦1860 ✦1870 ✦1880 ✦1890

1862 1873 late 1870s late 1880s
Homestead Act Timber Culture Act Bonanza farming Western farmlands
begins on Great Plains hit by drought
On September 15, 1884, the O’Kieffe family left their home in Nebraska and headed west
across the state in a covered wagon to start a challenging new life on the open plains. The
O’Kieffes faced a new environment that lacked many things that people in the East took for
granted, including easy access to water and wood for building a house. Without trees to use
as timber, they built their house from chunks of sod, densely packed soil held together by
grass roots. To obtain water, the family had to drill a well 134 feet deep and operate the
pump by hand. They let nothing go to waste. In summer, they ate the weeds from their gar-
den as well as the vegetables, obeying the rule, “If you can’t beat ’em, eat ’em.”
There were other settlers in the area, and they would gather to socialize and help each
other. When disaster struck, however, each family had to be prepared to face the trouble
alone. In January 1888, a three-day blizzard struck without warning. As Charley, the youngest
Well hand pump
son, reflected: “By the end of the three-day blizzard we were in fine shape to take care of our
stock. Many others did not fare so well; but that’s life. After all, we said to each other, this was
a new country and folks had to learn how to look after themselves.”
—adapted from Western Story: Recollections of Charley O’Kieffe
Geography of the Plains

The O’Kieffes were early settlers in a region known today as the Great Plains. This
region extends westward to the Rocky Mountains from around the 100th meridian—an
imaginary line running north and south from the central Dakotas through western Texas.
Rainfall on the Plains averages less than 20 inches per year, and trees grow naturally only

along rivers and streams. For centuries this open coun- As if to prove the saying correct, the weather cooper-
try had been home to vast herds of buffalo that grazed ated. For more than a decade beginning in the 1870s,
on the prairie grasses. Nomadic Native American rainfall on the Plains was well above average. The
groups had hunted the buffalo for food and used buf- lush green of the endless prairies contradicted the
falo hides for clothing and shelter. popular belief that the region was a desert.
Major Stephen Long, who explored the region In 1862, the government also supported settlement
with an army expedition in 1819, called it the “Great in the Great Plains region by passing the Homestead
American Desert” and concluded that it was “almost Act. For a $10 registration fee, an individual could
wholly unfit for cultivation.” He predicted that the file for a homestead—a tract of public land available
scarcity of wood and water would prove to be “an for settlement. A homesteader could claim up to 160
insuperable obstacle in . . . settling the country.” acres of public land and could receive title to that
land after living there for five years. Later govern-
Reading Check Examining What geographic factors
ment acts increased the size of the tracts available.
created challenges to the settlement of the Great Plains in the The Homestead Act provided a legal method for set-
late 1800s? tlers to acquire clear title to property in the West.
With their property rights secured, settlers were
more willing to move to the Plains.
The Beginnings of Settlement When settlers arrived on the Plains, they often
During the late 1800s several factors undermined found life very difficult. The lack of trees and water
the belief that the Plains was a “Great American forced them to build their first homes from sod cut
Desert.” One important factor was the construction from the ground and to drill wells up to 300 feet
of the railroads, which provided easy access to the deep. Summer temperatures often soared over 100°
Great Plains. Railroad companies sold land along the Fahrenheit. Prairie fires were a constant danger.
rail lines at low prices and provided credit to Sometimes swarms of grasshoppers swept over farms
prospective settlers. Railroads opened offices and destroyed the crops. In winter there were terrible
throughout the United States and in major cities in blizzards and extreme cold. Despite these challenges,
Europe where land was scarce. Posters and pam- most homesteaders persisted and learned how to live
phlets proclaimed that booking passage to the Plains in the harsh environment.
was a ticket to prosperity.
The catchy slogan “Rain follows the plow,” coined Reading Check Analyzing What is the relationship
by a Nebraskan to sell the idea that cultivating the between private property rights and the settlement of the Great
Plains would increase rainfall, encouraged settlers. Plains?
History
Farming the Great Plains Technology made farming the vast open plains of America feasible.
Here horse-drawn binders are being used to gather hay in the late 1800s. What other factors
encouraged settlement on the Great Plains?
➤
4-H Programs
Extension services associated
with land-grant colleges coordi-
nate the 4-H programs that help
Land-Grant Colleges train future farmers. 4-H offers
many programs for young
To promote agriculture and manufactur- people ages 5 to 19.
ing, the 1862 Morrill Act gave states large
➤
tracts of federal lands, with the requirement ROTC
that part of the land be used to set up and The Reserve Officer
maintain colleges. The colleges were Training Corps
required to offer programs in agriculture (ROTC) programs
and engineering as well as traditional set up at land-grant
academic subjects. Military training pro- colleges have been
instrumental in pro-
grams were also required at these “land-
viding training for the
grant colleges.” Most state agricultural and
U.S. military. The pro-
engineering schools were established
gram continues to
under the Morrill Act. Today every state, provide scholarships
as well as Puerto Rico, has at least one for young Americans
land-grant college. around the nation.
The Wheat Belt Great Plains to take advantage of the inexpensive

land and the new farming technology. This produc-
For those who had the financial resources, farming
tive new Wheat Belt began at the eastern edge of the
could be very profitable on the Plains. Many inven-
Great Plains and encompassed much of the Dakotas
tions and new farming methods revolutionized
and the western parts of Nebraska and Kansas.
agriculture.
One approach, called dry farming, was to plant Commercial Farming The new machines allowed a
seeds deep in the ground where there was enough single family to bring in a substantial harvest on a
moisture for them to grow. By the 1860s, farmers on wheat farm covering several hundred acres. Some
the Plains were employing newly designed steel wheat farms covered up to 50,000 acres. These were
plows, seed drills, reapers, and threshing machines. called bonanza farms because they often yielded big
The new machines made dry farming possible. profits. Like mine owners, bonanza farmers formed
Unfortunately, prairie soil often blew away, especially companies, made large investments in property and
in a dry season. Many sodbusters, as those who equipment, and hired laborers as needed.
plowed the soil on the Plains were called, eventually
lost their homesteads through the combined effects of
ECONOMICS
drought, wind erosion, and overuse of the land.
Large landholders faced similar problems, but Farmers Fall on Hard Times The bountiful har-
they were able to make quick profits with the help of vests in the Wheat Belt helped the United States
mechanical reapers, which speeded the harvest. become the world’s leading exporter of wheat by the
Mechanical binders tied the stalks into bundles for 1880s. American wheat growers faced rising competi-
collection. Threshing machines knocked kernels tion, however, from other wheat-producing nations.
loose from the stalks. These innovations were well In the 1890s, a glut of wheat on the world market
suited for harvesting wheat, which had the advan- caused prices to drop.
tage of withstanding drought better than corn and Some farmers tried to make it through lean peri-
some other crops. Wheat became as important to the ods by mortgaging their land—that is, they took
Great Plains as cotton was to the South. bank loans based on the value of their property. If
During the 1880s, many wheat farmers from they failed to meet their mortgage payments, they
Minnesota and other Midwestern states moved to the forfeited the land to the bank and had to abandon

their farms or work them as tenants for the new settlement continued at a brisk pace into the 1900s.
owner. By 1900 tenants cultivated about one-third of The news that the frontier was closing, however,
the farms in the corn and wheat areas. concerned those who saw it as the end of an era.
Beginning in the late 1880s, farmers also faced a They believed that unoccupied land at the frontier
prolonged drought that destroyed crops and farms. had provided a “safety-valve of social discontent,”
Kansas newspaper editor William Allen White the idea that Americans could always make a fresh
described a farm family returning from the West: start.
Most settlers did indeed make a fresh start,
“ These movers . . . had seen it stop raining for
months at a time. They had heard the fury of the
adjusting to the often hostile environment of the
Plains. Water from their deep wells enabled them to
winter wind as it came whining across the short plant trees and gardens. Rail-
burned grass. . . . They have tossed through hot roads brought lumber and
nights, wild with worry, and have arisen only to find brick to replace sod as a
building material and coal as
HISTORY
their worst nightmares grazing in reality on the brown
fuel.
stubble in front of their sun-warped doors.
” The O’Kieffes were typical Student Web
Activity Visit the
In hard times, some homesteaders gave up and of small- scale, self-sustaining
American Republic
headed home, but others soon took their place. homesteaders. They never got
rich, but they got by. Those
Reading Check Identifying What technological tarvol2.glencoe.com
who struggled as the O’Kieffes and click on Student
innovations helped farmers cultivate the Plains? did to support themselves Web Activities—
emerged with a more realistic Chapter 8 for an
view of the West. It was not a activity on settling the
Closing the Frontier land of limitless opportunity. West.
As Charley O’Kieffe learned,
On April 22, 1889, the government opened one of
the real story of the West was
the last large territories for settlement, land that later
not about heroes who rode off into the sunset. It was
became the state of Oklahoma. Within hours, over
about ordinary people who settled down and built
10,000 people raced to stake claims in the event
homes and communities through great effort—”ster-
known as the Oklahoma Land Rush.
ling and steady men and women whose lives were
The next year, the Census Bureau reported that
spent doing the work as it needed to be done.”
settlement throughout the West had been so rapid
“that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line.” Reading Check Examining Why did some people
In reality, much land was still unoccupied, and new feel that the closing of the frontier was the end of an era?
TM
TM

1. Define: homestead, dry farming, 5. Analyzing What factors contributed to 7. Examining Photographs Study the
sodbuster, bonanza farm. the making of the Wheat Belt in the photograph on page 293 of farmers
2. Identify: Great Plains, Stephen Long, Great Plains and then to troubled times using binding machines in western
Homestead Act, Wheat Belt. for wheat farmers in the 1890s? Wisconsin. Based on the terrain and the
3. Explain why the Great Plains was not 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer type of work they needed to do, what
suitable for homesteading. similar to the one below to list the other types of technology would have
effects of technology on farming in the helped farmers on the Plains?
Reviewing Themes Great Plains.
4. Science and Technology How did the
need for new farming techniques on Invention Advantage for Farmers Writing About History
the Great Plains result in technological 8. Persuasive Writing Write an adver-
innovations in agriculture? tisement persuading people from the
East and from Europe to establish
homesteads in the Great Plains.

Social Studies
Interpreting Statistics
The Railroad and Native American Population
Year 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
Approximate miles of railroad track in U.S.: 30,000 53,000 116,000 208,000 259,000
Approximate Native American population: 351,000 323,000 318,000 265,000 248,000
Why Learn This Skill? 1 What claim does this set of statistics seem to
Often presented in graphs and tables, statistics support?
are collections of data that are used to support a 2 Is there a correlation between miles of railroad
claim or an opinion. The ability to interpret statis- tracks and the Native American population? Is
tics allows us to understand probable effects and to the correlation positive or negative? Explain.
make predictions.
Skills Assessment
Learning the Skill Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
Use the following steps to help you interpret page 305 and the Chapter 8 Skill Reinforcement
statistical information. Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
• Scan the graph or table, reading the title and
labels to get an idea of what is being shown.
• Examine the statistics shown, looking for increases
and decreases, similarities and differences.
• Look for a correlation in the statistics. Two sets of
data may be related or unrelated. If they are
related, we say that there is a correlation between
them. In a positive correlation, as one number
rises, so does the other number. In a negative cor-
relation, as one number rises, the other number Delivering a presentation
falls. For example, there is a positive correlation
between academic achievement and wages, and
there is a negative correlation between smoking Applying the Skill
and life expectancy. Sometimes, statistics may try Interpreting Statistics Create a survey with two ques-
to show a correlation when none exists. For tions for which you believe the answers will show a
example, a report that “people who go fishing correlation. For example, you might ask, “How many
are less likely to get cancer” may be statistically hours of television do you watch per day?” and “How
true but lack any real correlation. many hours of sleep do you usually get at night?”
• Determine the conclusions you can draw from the Organize your statistics in a chart or graph. Then, look
statistics. for a correlation in your data and evaluate your results.
Write a paragraph summarizing your evaluation.
Study the table above, and then answer the Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
following questions. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
296
Native Americans
The settlement of the West dramatically Sequencing As you read about the crisis • Discuss conflicts that arose between
changed the way of life of the Plains facing Native Americans during the late the Plains Indians and American settlers.
Indians. 1800s, complete a time line to record the • Summarize problems caused by
battles between Native Americans and attempts to assimilate Native
Key Terms and Names the U.S. government and the results of Americans.
nomad, annuity, Little Crow, Indian Peace each.
Commission, George A. Custer, Ghost Section Theme
Dance, assimilate, allotment, Dawes Act 1862 1866 1890 Individual Action Some Native
American groups fought the federal
government in an attempt to keep
1864 1876 their ancestral homelands.
✦1860 ✦1870 ✦1880 ✦1890

1862 1864 1876 1887 1890
Dakota Sioux Sand Creek Massacre Battle of the Dawes Act Wounded Knee
uprising Little Bighorn Massacre
In October 1867, a Comanche chief named Ten Bears arrived with other Native American
leaders and their followers at Medicine Lodge Creek in present-day Kansas to meet with fed-
eral treaty-makers and army officers. The federal officials wanted them to sign a treaty agree-
ing to move to confined areas called reservations and to submit to American authority. In
return, the government offered them food, housing, instruction in farming, and other assis-
tance. After listening to the treaty-makers, Ten Bears spoke against moving to a reservation:
“ That which you say we must now live on is too small. The Texans have taken away the
places where the grass grew the thickest. . . . The white man has the country which we loved,
and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die.
”
In the end, Ten Bears and the other chiefs had little choice but to sign the treaty. The
army’s main representative at the council, General William Tecumseh Sherman, told them
bluntly that they would have to accept the deal: “You can no more stop this than you can
Ten Bears stop the sun or moon; you must submit and do the best you can.”
—adapted from Tribes of the Southern Plains
Culture of the Plains Indians

For centuries the Great Plains was home to many Native American nations. Some
lived in communities as farmers and hunters, but most were nomads who roamed vast
distances, following their main source of food—the buffalo.
Despite their differences, the groups of Plains Indians were similar in many ways.
They lived in extended family networks and had a close relationship with nature. Plains

Indian nations, sometimes numbering several thou- attacking wagon trains, stagecoaches, and ranches.
sand people, were divided into bands consisting of Occasionally an entire group would go to war against
up to 500 people. A governing council headed each nearby settlers and troops. The first major clash on
band, but most members participated in making the Plains began in 1862, when the Sioux people in
decisions. Gender determined the assignment of Minnesota launched a major uprising.
tasks. Women generally performed domestic tasks:
rearing children, cooking, and preparing hides. Men The Dakota Sioux Uprising The Dakota Sioux had
performed tasks such as hunting, trading, and super- agreed to live on a small reservation in Minnesota. In
vising the military life of the band. Most Plains exchange for moving to the reservation, the United
Indians practiced a religion based on a belief in the States government issued annuities, or payments to
spiritual power of the natural world. reservation dwellers, at least once per year. The
Reading Check Comparing In what ways were annuities, however, amounted to only between 5 and
30 cents an acre, and much of that money ended up
different groups of Plains Indians similar?
in the hands of American traders. These traders often
made up stories about debts owed to them by the
Dakota, and they took the annuities as payments.
Cultures Under Pressure Congress made things worse for the Dakota in
As ranchers, miners, and farmers moved onto the 1862 by delaying annuities. By August the payments
Plains, they deprived Native Americans of their hunt- were a month late, and some of the Dakota were
ing grounds, broke treaties guaranteeing certain lands starving. Chief Little Crow asked traders to provide
to the Plains Indians, and often forced them to relo- his people food on credit. “If they are hungry,” trader
cate to new territory. Native Americans resisted by Andrew Myrick replied, “let them eat grass or their
MOMENT
in HISTORY
THE END OF A WAY

OF LIFE
Medicine Crow, a war chief
of the Crow people, solemnly
poses for a photographer
during a conference in Wash-
ington, D.C., in 1880.The Crow
and the Sioux were ancestral
enemies, and so Medicine Crow
and his warriors agreed to act
as scouts against the Sioux for
the soldiers and settlers of the
Great Plains.The Crows’
valiant service, however, could
not preserve their indepen-
dence. By 1890 all of the Plains
Indians, including the Crow, had
been confined to reservations.

own dung.” Two weeks later, the Dakota rose up in
arms, and Myrick was found shot to death with grass
stuffed in his mouth.
Little Crow reluctantly agreed to lead this uprising.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show Many Americans
He wanted to wage war against soldiers, not civilians,
who never set foot on the Great Plains enjoyed a
but he was unable to keep angry Dakota from slaugh-
make-believe excursion there through a Wild West
tering settlers in the area. Hundreds died before troops show. Various promoters staged these popular
arrived from St. Paul and put down the uprising. extravaganzas, but the most famous was Buffalo Bill’s
A military tribunal sentenced 307 Dakota to death Wild West Show.
for taking part in the hostilities, but President Lincoln Members of the cast per-
reviewed the evidence and reduced the number exe- formed a mock buffalo hunt with
cuted to 38. Many others who fled the reservation real buffalo, and they reenacted
when the troops arrived became exiles in a region Custer’s defeat at the Little
that bore their name—the Dakota Territory. Bighorn. Among the stars of the
show was Annie Oakley, a sharp-
Lakota Sioux Defend Their Territory Following the shooter from Ohio who
Dakota uprising, the army sent patrols far out onto the appeared in Western outfit and
dazzled both the audience and
northern Great Plains to prevent further trouble among
her fellow performers.
the Sioux there. This action did more to stir up hostili-
ties than to prevent them, for it brought troops into
contact with another branch of the Sioux—the nomadic
Lakota—who had offered refuge to Native Americans standstill, dozens of ranches had been burned, and
from Minnesota. The Lakota fought hard to keep con- an estimated 200 settlers had been killed. The territo-
trol of their hunting grounds, which extended from the rial governor, John Evans, ordered the Native
Black Hills westward to the Bighorn Mountains. They Americans to surrender at Fort Lyon, where he said
had battled rival groups for this country and did not they would be given food and protection. Those who
intend to let settlers have it. Leading them were chiefs failed to report would be subject to attack.
Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull. Although several hundred Native Americans sur-
The army suffered a stunning defeat at the hands rendered at the fort, many others did not. In
of Red Cloud’s forces in Wyoming in December 1866. November 1864, Chief Black Kettle brought several
Army troops were operating a fort on the Bozeman hundred Cheyenne to the fort, not to surrender but to
Trail, used by prospectors to reach gold mines in negotiate a peace deal. The fort’s commander did not
Montana. Crazy Horse, a religious leader as well as a have the authority to negotiate, and he told Black
war chief, lured the troops into a deadly trap. He Kettle to make camp at Sand Creek while he waited
tricked the fort’s commander into sending Captain for orders. Shortly afterward, Colonel John
William Fetterman and about 80 soldiers out to pur- Chivington of the Colorado Volunteers was ordered
sue what they thought was a small raiding party. to attack the Cheyenne at Sand Creek.
Hundreds of warriors were waiting in ambush and When Chivington stopped at Fort Lyon, he was
wiped out the entire detachment. told that the Native Americans at Sand Creek were
waiting to negotiate. Chivington replied that since
Sand Creek Fetterman’s Massacre, as this battle the Cheyenne had been attacking settlers, including
came to be called, was just one example of the grow- women and children, there could be no peace.
ing hostilities between settlers and Native Americans. What actually happened at Sand Creek is unclear.
Another incident, the Sand Creek Massacre, took Some witnesses stated afterward that Black Kettle
place along Sand Creek in eastern Colorado. had been flying both an American flag and a white
In the 1860s, tensions began to rise between the flag of truce, which Chivington ignored. Others
Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples and the miners who reported the American troops fired on the unsuspect-
had flocked to Colorado in search of gold and silver. ing Native Americans, then brutally murdered hun-
As the number of settlers increased, bands of Native dreds of women and children. Still others described a
Americans began raiding wagon trains and stealing savage battle in which both sides fought ferociously
cattle and horses from ranches. By the summer of for two days. Fourteen soldiers died, but the number
1864, travelers heading to Denver or the mining of Native Americans reported killed varied from 69
camps were no longer safe. Trade had come to a to 600, with some witnesses stating that very few

women or children died. General Nelson Miles later Plains Indians. Agents from the federal government’s
called Chivington’s attack “the foulest and most Bureau of Indian Affairs would run the reservations.
unjustifiable crime in the annals of America,” but a The army would be given authority to deal with any
Senate committee investigating the incident decided groups that refused to report or remain there.
that Chivington should not be charged. The truth of This plan was doomed to failure. Pressuring
what really happened remains unknown. Native American leaders into signing treaties, as
negotiators had done at Medicine Lodge Creek in
GOVERNMENT 1867, did not ensure that chiefs or their followers
A Doomed Plan for Peace Fetterman’s Massacre would abide by the terms. Those who did move to
and the Sand Creek Massacre, along with several reservations faced much the same conditions that
other incidents, convinced Congress that something drove the Dakota Sioux to violence—poverty,
had to be done to end the growing conflict with despair, and the corrupt practices of American
Native Americans on the Great Plains. In 1867 traders.
Congress formed an Indian Peace Commission,
which proposed creating two large reservations on Reading Check Explaining What proposal did the
the Plains, one for the Sioux and another for southern Indian Peace Commission present to the Plains Indians?
Native American Battles and Reservations, late 1800s

In
CANADA Motion
E
PaCIFic
NG
WASH. Bear Paw

Ocean Mountain
RA
1877
MONT. N. DAK.
DE
Little Bighorn
N
1876 MINN.
CA
W
E OREG.
CAS
IDAHO WIS.
RO
Rosebud
S
1876 S. DAK.
Black
CK
Hills
MICH.
Y
40°N WYO. Wounded Knee

NEV.
MO
Ft. 1890 IOWA

FORT LARAMIE TREATIES Laramie NEBR. ILL.
IND.
UN
1851: Native Americans agree to the

construction of roads and forts on their lands. 1867 TREATY OF MEDICINE LODGE
TA
1868: The Sioux agree to move to

UTAH Sand Creek Southern Plains Indians agree
TERR.
IN
a reservation in the Black Hills. 1864 to move to Indian Territory.

COLO.
KANS. MO.
S
CALIF. Ft. Lyon KY.

Medicine Lodge
Canyon de Chelly NO MAN'S LAND CHEROKEE OSAGE
Ft. Defiance 1864 CHEYENNE OUTLET CHEROKEE TENN.
AND ARAPAHO CREEK ARK.
ARIZ. BOSQUE
GREER COUNTY
SEMINOLE
TERR. REDONDO
(CLAIMED BY
TEXAS)
CHOCTAW
(1863-1868) CHICKASAW
120°W Ft. Sumner
0 400 miles N. MEX. UNASSIGNED COMANCHE, MISS. ALA.
TERR. LANDS KIOWA, AND
0 400 kilometers TEX.
APACHE
LA.
Lambert Equal-Area projection
Apache leader Geronimo surrenders
at Skeleton Canyon in 1886.
Fort Reservation in 1890 30°N
Battle Route of the Navajo's Long Walk, 1864

Treaty Site Route of Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce, 1877
Gulf of Mexico
90°W
1890 border 1. Interpreting Maps Where did Chief Joseph finally
give up his flight from the U.S. Army?
2. Applying Geography Skills What physical and geo-
graphic factors contributed to Native Americans being
located to reservations?
The Last Native in History
American Wars
By the 1870s, many Native Ameri- Sitting Bull
cans on the southern Plains had left 1831–1890
the reservations in disgust. They pre-
In June 1876, a showdown loomed
ferred hunting buffalo on the open between Custer’s troops and the Lakota
Plains, so they joined others who had Sioux who had left their reservation.
also shunned the reservations. Buffalo, Lakota chief Sitting Bull sought help for
however, were rapidly disappearing. his people from the supreme power
Beginning with the Gold Rush, mi- they called Wakan Tanka, or the “Great
Mystery,” by performing the Sun
grants crossing the Plains had killed
Dance.
off thousands of the animals. Before dancing, an assistant made
Following the Civil War, profes- many small cuts in the chief’s arms
sional buffalo hunters invaded the and shoulders. Then Sitting Bull raised
area, seeking buffalo hides for markets his bleeding arms to heaven and Sitting Bull remained devoted to the
in the East. Other hunters killed merely danced around a sacred pole with his traditional religious practices of his
for sport, leaving carcasses to rot. Then eyes on the sun. He continued to people even after he and his followers
dance through the night and into the reluctantly returned to the reservation
railroad companies hired sharpshoot- next day, when he entered a death-like under pressure from the army. Federal
ers to kill large numbers of buffalo that trance. When he revived, he told of a authorities regarded ceremonies like
were obstructing rail traffic. The army, vision in which he saw white soldiers the Sun Dance—practiced in one form
determined to force Native Americans upside down. The Lakota were encour- or another by many Plains Indians—as
onto reservations, encouraged buffalo aged by Sitting Bull’s dream and the heathen and subversive. In 1883 the
killing. By 1889 very few of the animals sacrifice he had made for them. Many federal government outlawed the Sun
felt that his Sun Dance helped bring Dance and many other Native
remained.
them victory over Custer. American religious rites.
Battle of the Little Bighorn In 1876

fortune hunters overran the Lakota
Sioux reservation in South Dakota to mine gold in the Newspapers portrayed Custer as the victim of a
Black Hills. The Lakota saw no reason why they massacre. The army stepped up its campaign against
should abide by a treaty that American settlers were the Native Americans. Sitting Bull fled with follow-
violating, and many left the reservation that spring to ers to Canada, but the other Lakota were forced to
hunt near the Bighorn Mountains in southeastern return to the reservation and give up the Black Hills.
Montana. Farther west, members of the Nez Perce, led by
The government responded by sending an expedi- Chief Joseph, refused to be moved to a smaller reser-
tion commanded by General Alfred H. Terry. vation in Idaho in 1877. When the army came to relo-
Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, commander of cate them, they fled their homes and embarked on a
the Seventh Cavalry, was with the expedition. An flight of more than 1,300 miles. Finally, in October
impulsive officer, Custer underestimated the fighting 1877, Chief Joseph surrendered, and his followers
capabilities of the Lakota and Cheyenne. were exiled to Oklahoma. His speech summarized
On June 25, 1876, Custer launched a three- the hopelessness of the Native American cause:
pronged attack in broad daylight on one of the
largest groups of Native American warriors ever
assembled on the Great Plains. It consisted of about
“ Our chiefs are killed. . . . The little children are
freezing to death. My people . . . have no blankets, no
2,500 Lakota and Cheyenne warriors camped along food. . . . Hear me, my chiefs; I am tired; my heart is
the Little Bighorn River. sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will
The Native American warriors first repulsed a cav-
alry charge from the south. Then they turned on Custer
fight no more forever.
”
—quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
and a detachment of 210 soldiers and killed them all.
One Lakota warrior recalled the scene afterward: “The
soldiers were piled one on top of another, dead, with Tragedy at Wounded Knee Native American
here and there, an Indian among the soldiers. Horses resistance to federal authority finally came to a tragic
lay on top of men, and men on top of horses.” end on the Lakota Sioux reservation in 1890. Defying

the orders of the government agent, the Lakota con- into American society as landowners and citizens.
tinued to perform the Ghost Dance, a ritual that cele- That meant breaking up reservations into individ-
brated a hoped-for day of reckoning when settlers ual allotments, where families could become
would disappear, the buffalo would return, and self-supporting.
Native Americans would reunite with their deceased This policy became law in 1887 when Congress
ancestors. The government agent blamed the latest passed the Dawes Act. This act allotted to each head
defiance on Sitting Bull, who had returned to the of household 160 acres of reservation land for farm-
reservation from Canada, and he sent police to arrest ing; single adults received 80 acres, and 40 acres were
the chief. Sitting Bull’s supporters resisted the police, allotted for children. The land that remained after all
and the chief himself died in an exchange of gunfire. members had received allotments would be sold to
The participants of the Ghost Dance then fled the American settlers, with the proceeds going into a
reservation, and U.S. troops went after them. On trust for Native Americans.
December 29, 1890, as troops tried to disarm the This plan failed to achieve its goals. Some Native
Native Americans at Wounded Knee Creek, gunfire Americans succeeded as farmers or ranchers, but many
broke out. A deadly battle ensued, costing the lives of had little training or enthusiasm for either pursuit. Like
25 U.S. soldiers and approximately 200 Lakota men, homesteaders, they often found their allotments too
women, and children. small to be profitable, and so they sold them. Some
Native American groups had grown attached to their
Reading Check Summarizing What was the out- reservations and hated to see them transformed into
come of the battle at the Little Bighorn River? homesteads for settlers as well as Native Americans.
In the end, the assimilation policy proved a dismal
failure. No legislation could provide a satisfactory
solution to the Native American issue, because there
Assimilation was no entirely satisfactory solution to be had. The
Some Americans had long opposed the treatment Plains Indians were doomed because they were
of Native Americans. Author Helen Hunt Jackson dependent on buffalo for food, clothing, fuel, and
described the years of broken promises and assaults shelter. When the herds were wiped out, Native
on Native Americans in her book, A Century of Americans on the Plains had no way to sustain their
Dishonor, published in 1881. Jackson’s descriptions way of life, and few were willing or able to adopt
of events such as the massacre at Sand Creek American settlers’ lifestyles in place of their tradi-
sparked discussions—even in Congress—of better tional cultures.
treatment for Native Americans. Some people
believed that the situation would improve only if Reading Check Cause and Effect What effect did
Native Americans could assimilate, or be absorbed, Helen Hunt Jackson’s book A Century of Dishonor have?
TM
TM

1. Define: nomad, annuity, assimilate, 5. Analyzing Why do you think the gov- 7. Analyzing Maps Examine the map of
allotment. ernment’s policy of assimilation of battle sites and reservations on page
2. Identify: Little Crow, Indian Peace Native Americans was a failure? 300. Then, from the point of view of a
Commission, George A. Custer, Ghost 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer historian, explain the actions taken
Dance, Dawes Act. similar to the one below to list the rea- against Native Americans within the
3. Analyze how Native Americans sons that the government’s plans to historical context of the time.
responded to land lost due to white move the Plains Indians onto reserva-
settlement of the Great Plains. tions failed to bring peace. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes Reasons for 8. Descriptive Writing Assume the role
Failure
4. Individual Action How did Chief of a Plains Indian affected by the
Joseph resist the government’s attempts assimilation policy of the Dawes Act.
to move the Nez Perce to reservations? Write a journal entry describing how
you feel about the policy and how it has
affected your life.

from An Indian Teacher
Among Indians
by Gertrude Simmons Bonnin
“Mother, why is not your house

Gertrude Simmons Bonnin cemented? Do you have no interest in
(Zitkala Sa) was a talented and a more comfortable shelter? . . .”
educated Native American “You forget, my child, that I am
woman who spent her life fight- now old, and I do not work with
ing against prejudice toward beads any more. Your brother Dawee,
Native American culture and too, has lost his position, and we are
women. Through her contribu- left without means to buy even a
tions in the fields of literature, morsel of food,” she replied. A Native American reservation
music, and politics, Bonnin Dawee was a government clerk in
aimed at creating understanding our reservation when I last heard “My child, there is only one source
between the dominant white and from him. I was surprised upon hear- of justice, and I have been praying
Native American cultures. As a ing what my mother said concerning steadfastly to the Great Spirit to
woman of mixed white and his lack of employment. Seeing the avenge our wrongs,” she said, seeing
Native American ancestry, she puzzled expression on my face, she I did not move my lips.
continued: “Dawee! Oh, has he not My shattered energy was unable
embodied the need for the two
told you that the Great Father at to hold longer any faith, and I cried
cultures to live cooperatively. In
Washington sent a white son to take out desperately: “Mother, don’t pray
the following excerpt from her
your brother’s pen from him? Since again! The Great Spirit does not care
essay, An Indian Teacher Among
then Dawee has not been able to if we live or die!”
Indians, she describes a reunion
make use of the education the
with her mother after being
Eastern school has given him.”
away from home teaching for
several years.
I found no words with which to Analyzing Literature
answer satisfactorily. I found no rea- 1. Recall and Interpret Why did
Read to Discover son with which to cool my inflamed Bonnin’s brother lose his job?
What evidence do you see of feelings. . . . 2. Evaluate and Connect How does
the “generation gap”—the dif- Turning to my mother, I urged her Bonnin’s mother react to the injustice
ferences between parents and to tell me more about Dawee’s trou- of the “Great Father in Washington”?
ble, but she only said: “Well, my How does Bonnin herself react?
children—in the passage?
daughter, this village has been these
Reader’s Dictionary many winters a refuge for white rob- Interdisciplinary Activity
position: job bers. The Indian cannot complain to Drama In small groups, assume the roles
the Great Father in Washington with- of Bonnin, her mother, and her brother,
steadfastly: faithfully
out suffering outrage for it here. . . . and extend the passage by imagining what
avenge: get even for
might happen when Dawee returns.

Reviewing Key Terms 21. Drawing Conclusions Why do you think that so many
people were willing to give up their homes and move to min-
ing towns and homesteads in the West?
1. placer mining 6. homestead 11. annuity 22. Forming an Opinion How do you think a peaceful settle-
2. quartz mining 7. dry farming 12. assimilate ment might have been reached between the Native
Americans and the U.S. government?
3. open range 8. sodbuster 13. allotment
23. Interpreting Primary Sources In the late 1860s, the U.S.
4. long drive 9. bonanza farm government adopted a policy of forcing Native Americans
5. maverick 10. nomad onto small reservations in the Black Hills of Dakota and bar-
ren regions of Oklahoma. The government forced many
Native American chiefs to sign treaties and to promise to
Reviewing Key Facts move onto the reservations. Many Native Americans, how-
14. Identify: Henry Comstock, Great Plains, Stephen Long, ever, refused to move and fought to maintain their tradi-
Little Crow, Indian Peace Commission, George A. Custer, tional way of life. In the excerpt that follows, Satanta, a chief
Dawes Act. of the Kiowa, responds to the government’s policy. Read the
15. What led to the start of boomtowns, and what caused their excerpt and answer the questions that follow:
decline?
16. What new invention finally brought an end to the open range “ I have heard that you intend to settle us on a reser-
vation near the mountains. I don’t want to settle. I love
on the Great Plains?
to roam over the prairies. There I feel free and happy,
17. How did the railroads boost the settlement of the West?
but when we settle down we grow pale and die. I have
18. Why was wheat a suitable crop to grow on the Great Plains?
laid aside my lance, bow, and shield, and yet I feel safe
19. What events brought the way of life of the Plains Indians to
in your presence. I have told you the truth. I have no
an end?
little lies hid about me, but I don’t know how it is with
Critical Thinking the commissioners. Are they as clear as I am? A long
20. Analyzing Themes: Economic Factors Do you think that time ago this land belonged to our fathers; but when I
people moved to and settled in the West primarily for eco- go up to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks.
nomic reasons? Why or why not? These soldiers cut down my timber; they kill my buffalo;
Mining and Ranching Farming Native Americans

• Discovery of gold, silver, and copper • Cheap land of Homestead Act • Federal government forced Plains
attracted settlers to Colorado, the encouraged settlement Indians off their lands with promise of
Dakota Territory, Nevada, and • Farming technology and climate receiving new land
Montana moderation made the Great Plains • White settlers moved into lands
• Growth of cattle and sheep ranching into the Wheat Belt promised to Native Americans
attracted settlers to Texas, Montana, • Slaughter of buffalo removed a major
Wyoming, and other western areas part of Native American way of life
Role of Railroads
Helped displace Native Americans by

Provided easy way to ship sheep and Brought scarce timber and coal to the
moving settlers west, taking lands,
cattle to Eastern markets Great Plains; advertised for settlers
and promoting buffalo slaughter
304 CHAPTER # Chapter Title
Native American Population
HISTORY
500,000
Self-Check Quiz
400,000
300,000
Population
and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting; I feel
sorry. . . . Has the white man become a child that he 200,000
should recklessly kill and not eat? When the red men
slay game, they do so that they may live and not
100,000
starve.
”
—quoted in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
a. What reasons does Satanta give for not wanting to settle

on a reservation? 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
Year
b. How does Satanta view the white settlers’ approach to the
Source: Nations Within a Nation.
land and the resources on it?
24. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to list the factors that
promoted the settlement of the West. Geography and History
Reasons for 28. The graph above shows Native American population from
Settling the West 1850 to 1900. Study the graph and answer the questions
below.
a. Interpreting Graphs What does the graph indicate about
Practicing Skills Native American populations between 1850 and 1900?
b. Understanding Cause and Effect What factor caused
25. Interpreting Statistics Examine the chart on Native
the Native American populations to decline sharply
American populations displayed on this page. Then use the
between 1880 and 1890?
steps you learned about interpreting statistics to answer the
following questions.
a. According to this data, is there a positive or a negative
correlation between Native American population and the
passage of time?
b. Based on this correlation, what conclusions can you draw
about Native American population after 1900? Standardized
Test Practice
Writing Activity Directions: Choose the best answer to the
following question.
26. Portfolio Writing Watch an older movie about the West.
Look critically at the movie’s depiction of cowhands and Which of the following factors provided an incentive for
Native Americans. Write a movie review in which you assess people to try to farm the Great Plains?
how accurately the movie portrays the West. Place the A Long cattle drives
review in your portfolio. B Barbed wire
C The Homestead Act
Chapter Activity D Placer mining
27. Technology: Using the Internet Search the Internet for
sites about old mining towns (ghost towns) in the West. Test-Taking Tip: When you are not sure of an answer, it
Many of these towns are tourist attractions today. Find out can be helpful to use the process of elimination. Eliminate
the location and history of a few of these towns, as well as the answers that you know are incorrect. For instance, long
the points of interest. Incorporate the information in a cattle drives had to do with ranching, not farming.
brochure for tourists interested in taking a “ghost town” Therefore, you can eliminate answer A.
vacation.

Industrialization
1865–1901
Why It Matters
The rise of the United States as an industrial power began after the Civil War. Many factors
promoted industry, including cheap labor, new inventions and technology, and plentiful raw
materials. Railroads rapidly expanded. Government policies encouraged growth, and large
corporations became an important part of the economy. As industry expanded, workers tried to
form unions to fight for better wages and working conditions.
The Impact Today

Trends which began in this era can still be seen today.
• Corporations continue to play an important role.
• Technology continues to change American life.
• Unions remain powerful in many industries.

The Chapter 9 video, “Building America,” examines industrial
expansion in the United States in the late 1800s.
1869 1876
• Transcontinental • Alexander Graham Bell 1882
railroad completed invents telephone • Standard Oil
forms trust
1879
• Edison
perfects
lightbulb
▲ ▲
A. Johnson Grant Hayes Garfield Arthur Cleveland
1865–1869 1869–1877
▲ 1877–1881 ▲ 1881 1881–1885 1885–1889
1865 1875 1885
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1876
• Korea forced to 1881
1867 trade with Japan • Russian czar
• British colonies unite to 1869 Alexander II
form Dominion of Canada assassinated
• Chemist Dmitri Mendeleyev
creates periodic table of elements
306
This painting by twentieth-century artist Aaron Bohrod captures the dynamism of an
industrializing nation. Bohrod titled his work The Big Blow: the Bessemer Process.
1892 1901
• Homestead • J.P. Morgan
strike occurs forms U.S. Steel
1894
1886 • Pullman strike
• Haymarket begins 1903
Square riot
• Women’s Trade HISTORY
▲ ▲ Union League
B. Harrison Cleveland McKinley T. Roosevelt founded
1889–1893 1893–1897 1897–1901 1901–1909
▲ ▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
▼ ▼ ▼ Chapter 9# to
to preview
preview chapter
chapter
• Rudolf Diesel patents • Athens hosts first • Boxer Rebellion
diesel engine modern Olympic begins in China
games
307
The Rise of Industry
American industry grew rapidly after the Organizing As you read about the • Identify the effects of expanding popu-
Civil War, bringing revolutionary changes changes brought about by industrializa- lation on industry.
to American society. tion, complete a graphic organizer similar • Explain the effects of technological
to the one below listing the causes of innovations such as the telephone and
Key Terms and Names industrialization. telegraph on American development.
gross national product, Edwin Drake, Causes
laissez-faire, entrepreneur, Morrill Tariff, Section Theme
Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva United States
Economic Factors The free enterprise
Edison Becomes an system nurtured the growth of American
Industrial Nation industry.
✦1860 ✦1870 ✦1880 ✦1890

1859 1865 1876 1879 c. 1893
Edwin Drake Thaddeus Lowe Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison Northrop automatic
drills first oil well invents ice machine invents telephone perfects lightbulb loom introduced
On October 21, 1879, Thomas Alva Edison and his team of workers were too excited to
sleep. For weeks they had worked to create an electric incandescent lamp, or lightbulb,
that would burn for more than a few minutes. For much of the 1800s, inventors had strug-
gled to develop a form of lighting that would be cheaper, safer, and brighter than tradi-
tional methods such as candles, whale oil, kerosene, and gas. If Edison and his team could
do it, they would change the world. Finally, after weeks of dedicated effort, they turned
night into day. Edison later recalled:
“ We sat and looked and the lamp continued to burn and the longer it burned the more
fascinated we were. None of us could go to bed and there was no sleep for over 40 hours;
we sat and just watched it with anxiety growing into elation. It lasted about 45 hours and
Thomas Edison
then I said, ‘If it will burn 40 hours now I know I can make it burn a hundred.’
”
—quoted in Eyewitness to America
The United States Industrializes

Although the Industrial Revolution began in the United States in the early 1800s, the
nation was still largely a farming country when the Civil War erupted. Out of a popula-
tion of more than 30 million, only 1.3 million Americans worked in industry in 1860.
After the Civil War, industry rapidly expanded, and millions of Americans left their farms
to work in mines and factories.
By the early 1900s, Americans had transformed the United States into the world’s
leading industrial nation. By 1914 the nation’s gross national product (GNP)—the total
308 CHAPTER 9 Industrialization

value of all goods and services produced by a the first oil well near Titusville, Pennsylvania. By
country—was eight times greater than it had been 1900 oil fields from Pennsylvania to Texas had been
when the Civil War ended. opened. As oil production rose, it fueled economic
expansion.
Natural Resources An abundance of raw materials
was one reason for the nation’s industrial success. The A Large Workforce The human resources available
United States contained vast natural resources upon to American industry were as important as natural
which industry in the 1800s depended, including resources in enabling the nation to industrialize rap-
water, timber, coal, iron, and copper. The presence of idly. Between 1860 and 1910, the population of the
these resources meant that American companies United States almost tripled. This population pro-
could obtain them cheaply and did not have to import vided industry with a large workforce and also cre-
them from other countries. Many of the nation’s ated greater demand for the consumer goods that
resources were located in the mountains of the factories produced.
American West. The settlement of this region after the Population growth stemmed from two causes—
Civil War helped to accelerate industrialization, as large families and a flood of immigrants. American
did the construction of the transcontinental railroad. industry began to grow at a time when social and
Railroads brought settlers and miners to the region, economic conditions in China and eastern Europe
and carried the resources back to factories in the East. convinced many people to leave their nations and
At the same time, a new resource, petroleum, move to the United States in search of a better life.
began to be exploited. Even before the invention of Between 1870 and 1910, roughly 20 million immi-
the automobile, petroleum was in high demand grants arrived in the United States. These multitudes
because it could be turned into kerosene. Kerosene added to the growing industrial workforce, helping
was used in lanterns and stoves. The American oil factories increase their production and furthering
industry was built on the demand for kerosene. It demand for industrial products.
began in western Pennsylvania, where residents had
long noticed oil bubbling to the surface of area Reading Check Explaining How did oil production
springs and streams. In 1859 Edwin Drake drilled affect the American economy?
Major Industries, c. 1900

In
Motion
90°W 80°W
Early
Pennsylvania
oil well
N
W E
Boston S
Chicago
New York City 40°N
Pittsburgh
Washington, D.C.
Coal mining
Iron ore
Prairie 1. Interpreting Maps Where were most industrial cities in
Chief manu-
facturing cities the Northeast located?
0 200 miles
Iron/Steel mills 2. Applying Geography Skills What natural resources
Oil field
0 200 kilometers contributed to making Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a major
Railroad steel center?
Sawmills
CHAPTER 9 Industrialization 309

1876
American Inventions Alexander Graham
Bell, telephone
1865
Thaddeus Lowe,
ice machine
✦1850 ✦1865
1852 1874
Elisha Otis, Stephen Dudley Field,
1864
elevator brake electric streetcar
George Pullman,
rail sleeping car
Free Enterprise of factories and thousands of miles of railroad track.

An equally important source of private capital was
Another important factor that enabled the United
Europe, especially Great Britain. Foreign investors
States to industrialize rapidly was the free enterprise
saw more opportunity for profit and growth in the
system. In the late 1800s, many Americans embraced
United States than at home, and their money also
the idea of laissez-faire (leh·say·FAR), literally “let
helped to fund the nation’s industrial buildup.
do,” a French phrase meaning “let people do as they
choose.” Supporters of laissez-faire believe the govern- Reading Check Explaining What does it mean
ment should not interfere in the economy other than to when a government has a laissez-faire economic policy?
protect private property rights and maintain peace.
These supporters argue that if the government regu-
lates the economy, it increases costs and eventually
hurts society more than it helps. Government’s Role in Industrialism
Laissez-faire relies on supply and demand rather In many respects, the United States practiced
than the government to regulate prices and wages. laissez-faire economics in the late 1800s. State and
Supporters claim that a free market with competing federal governments kept taxes and spending
companies leads to greater efficiency and creates low and did not impose costly regulations on
more wealth for everyone. Laissez-faire advocates industry. Nor did they try to control wages and
also support low taxes to ensure that private individ- prices. In other ways, the government went beyond
uals, not the government, will make most of the deci- laissez-faire and adopted policies intended to help
sions about how the nation’s wealth is spent. They industry, although these policies frequently pro-
also believe that the government’s debt should be duced results other than what had been intended.
kept limited since money the government borrows Since the early 1800s, the struggle between the
from banks is not available to be loaned to individu- northeastern states and the southern states had
als for their own uses. shaped the economic debate in the United States.
In the United States, the profit motive attracted Northern leaders wanted high tariffs to protect
people of high ability and ambition into business. American industry from foreign competition. They
American entrepreneurs—people who risk their cap- also sought federal subsidies for companies build-
ital in organizing and running a business—appreci- ing roads, canals, and railroads to the west.
ated the challenges and rewards of building a Southern leaders opposed subsidizing internal
business and making profits for themselves. improvements, and they favored low tariffs to pro-
In the late 1800s, the prospect of making money in mote trade and to keep the cost of imported manu-
manufacturing and transportation attracted many factured goods low.
entrepreneurs. The savings that New Englanders The Civil War ended this debate. When the South
accumulated through trade, fishing, whaling, textile seceded, the Republicans were left in control of
mills, and shoe manufacturing helped build hundreds Congress. They quickly passed the Morrill Tariff,

1877
Thomas Edison, 1893
phonograph 1887 Charles and J. Frank Duryea,
Granville T. Woods, gasoline-powered car
electromechanical brake
✦1880 ✦1895
1879 1883
Thomas Edison, Jan E. Matzeliger,
incandescent lightbulb shoemaking machine
1879
James Ritty, cash register
reversing years of declining tariffs. By the end of the that the new American industries could compete
Civil War, tariffs had risen sharply. Congress also with the large established European factories unless
gave vast tracts of western land and millions of dol- tariffs were put in place to protect them. By the early
lars in loans to western railroads. The government 1900s, many American industries were large and
also sold public lands with mineral resources for highly competitive. Business leaders increasingly
much less than their market value. Historians still began to push for free trade because they believed
dispute whether these policies helped to industrial- they could compete internationally and win.
ize the country.
Reading Check Analyzing Do you think govern-
Supporters of laissez-faire generally favor free
trade and oppose subsidies, believing that tariffs and ment policies at this time helped or hindered industrialization?
subsidies drive up prices and protect inefficient com- Why?
panies. They point out that one reason the United
States industrialized so rapidly in the 1800s was
because it was one of the largest free trade areas in New Inventions
the world. Unlike Europe, which was divided into
A flood of important inventions helped increase
dozens of states, each with tariffs, the entire United
the nation’s productive capacity and improved the
States was open to trade. The Constitution bans
network of transportation and communications that
states from imposing tariffs, and there were few fed-
was vital to the nation’s industrial growth. New
eral regulations to impede the movement of goods
inventions led to the founding of new corporations,
across the country. Similarly, the United States prac-
which produced new wealth and new jobs.
ticed free trade in labor, placing very few restrictions
on immigration.
TECHNOLOGY
High tariffs, however, contradicted laissez-faire
ideas and hurt many Americans. When the United Bell and the Telephone One of the most dramatic
States raised tariffs against foreign goods, other inventions in the late 1800s came in the field of com-
countries raised their tariffs against American goods. munications. In 1874 a young Scottish-American
This hurt American companies trying to sell goods inventor named Alexander Graham Bell suggested
overseas, and in particular, it hurt farmers who sold the idea of a telephone to his assistant, Thomas
their products to Europe. Ironically, the problems Watson. Watson recalled, “He had an idea by which
farmers faced may have helped speed up industrial- he believed it would be possible to talk by tele-
ization, as many rural Americans decided to leave graph.” Bell intended to make an electrical current of
their farms and take jobs in the new factories. varying intensity transmit sound.
Despite the problems tariffs created for trade, Bell worked until 1876 before he succeeded in trans-
many business leaders and members of Congress mitting his voice. Picking up the crude telephone, he
believed they were necessary. Much of Western called to the next room, “Come here, Watson, I want
Europe had already industrialized, and few believed you.” Watson heard and came. The telephone

revolutionized both business and personal communi- In the early 1870s, Gustavus Swift hired an engineer to
cation. In 1877 Bell and others organized the Bell develop a refrigerated railroad car. In 1877 Swift
Telephone Company, which eventually became the shipped the first refrigerated load of fresh meat. The
American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). widespread use of refrigeration allowed food to be
kept fresh longer and reduced the risk of disease from
Edison and Electricity Perhaps the most famous food poisoning.
inventor of the late 1800s was Thomas Alva Edison. The textile industry had long depended on machines
A great innovator, Edison worked tirelessly to invent to turn fibers into cloth. By the mid-1800s, the introduc-
new products and to improve devices created by oth- tion of the Northrop automatic loom allowed cloth to
ers. His laboratory at Menlo Park, New Jersey, staffed be made at an even faster rate. Bobbins, which previ-
by skilled assistants, became the forerunner of the ously had been changed by hand, were now changed
modern research laboratory. Edison stood as a symbol automatically without stopping the loom.
for the emerging age of technology. Great changes also took place in the clothing
Edison first achieved international fame in 1877 industry. Standard sizes, developed from measure-
with the invention of the phonograph. Two years ments taken of Union soldiers during the Civil War,
later, Edison perfected the lightbulb and the electric were used in the manufacture of ready-made clothes.
generator. His laboratory then went on to invent or Power-driven sewing machines and cloth cutters
improve several other major devices, including the rapidly moved the clothing business from small tai-
battery, the dictaphone, the mimeograph (an early lor shops to large factories.
copying machine), and the motion picture. Similar changes took place in shoemaking. New
In 1882 the Edison Electric Illuminating Company processes and inventions made increased production
launched a new industry and began the transforma- possible in the shoe industry. Large factories could
tion of American society when it began to supply mass-produce shoes more cheaply and efficiently
electric power to customers in New York City. In 1889 than local cobblers and could pass these savings on
several of Edison’s companies merged to form the to their customers in the form of lower prices. By
Edison General Electric Company, which today is 1900 local cobblers had nearly disappeared. Prices of
known as GE. many other products also dropped as the United
States industrialized.
Technology’s Impact As knowledge about technol-
ogy grew, almost everyone in the United States felt its Reading Check Explaining How did the use of
effects. Shortly after the Civil War, Thaddeus Lowe electric power affect the economic development of the United
invented the ice machine, the basis of the refrigerator. States?
TM
TM

1. Define: gross national product, laissez- 5. Synthesizing What role did the federal 7. Applying Time Lines Copy the time
faire, entrepreneur. government play in increasing indus- line on pages 310 and 311 onto a
2. Identify: Edwin Drake, Morrill Tariff, trialization in the United States after the separate sheet of paper. Add other
Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Alva Civil War? inventions you have learned about to
Edison. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer the time line in proper chronological
3. Explain how an abundance of natural similar to the one below to indicate order. Be sure to include the date for
resources contributed to economic how the inventions listed affected the each invention.
growth in the United States in the late nature of American work and business.
1800s.
Invention Effects 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are a
Reviewing Themes telephone young person living in this country in
4. Economic Factors How did the lightbulb the late 1800s. Choose one of the
principles of the free enterprise system, automatic loom inventions discussed in the section, and
laissez-faire, and profit motive write a journal entry describing its
encourage the rise of industry? impact on your life. Use standard gram-
mar, spelling, sentence structure, and
punctuation.

Critical Thinking
Making
Inferences
The Wright Brothers Triumph at Kitty Hawk

Why Learn the Skill?
Just as you are about to leave home to catch your
school bus, you hear a radio report. Firefighters are
battling a blaze near the bus garage. Your bus is
late. Although no one told you, you know that the
fire disrupted the bus schedule. You have made an
inference. From the limited facts available, you
formed a conclusion. By combining facts and gen-
eral knowledge, you inferred that the fire trucks
delayed your bus.
Learning the Skill

Learning how to make inferences will help you First flight at Kitty Hawk, December 17, 1903
draw conclusions about particular situations. To
make accurate inferences, follow these steps: 1 What are the facts regarding Langley’s attempt?
• Read or listen carefully for stated facts and ideas. 2 What are the facts regarding the Wright broth-
• Review what you already know about the same ers’ attempt?
topic or situation. 3 What inferences might you draw based on the
• Use logic and common sense to form a conclu- success of the Wright brothers and failure of
sion about the topic. Langley?
• If possible, find information that proves or dis-
proves your inference.
Skills Assessment
Practicing the Skill page 333 and the Chapter 9 Skill Reinforcement
Read the following passage about early air-
planes, and then answer the questions that follow.
On December 8, 1903, Samuel Langley was ready for
his second attempt at flying a manned, self-propelled
Applying the Skill
aircraft. This had never been done before. Making Inferences Reread the American Story about
Langley used a $50,000 U.S. government grant to Thomas Edison on page 308, then answer these
build a plane based on unmanned aircraft designs, questions.
adding a very powerful engine. The plane broke apart on 1. What device did inventors struggle to develop for
takeoff and crashed into the Potomac River. much of the 1800s?
In contrast, Wilbur and Orville Wright used a little 2. Why did Edison want to develop this new device?
more than $1,000 of their personal savings to build their
3. Based on these facts, what inference can you make
aircraft. The brothers carefully studied the problems with
about Thomas Edison’s methods? What inference
previous planes and designed one with better wings, a
can you make about how his invention would
more efficient propeller, and a strong but light engine.
affect the economy?
On December 17, 1903, these intrepid Americans made
the first manned, powered flight in history on the sand
dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
313
The Railroads
After the Civil War, the rapid construction Organizing As you read about the devel- • Discuss ways in which the railroads
of railroads accelerated the nation’s opment of a nationwide rail network, spurred industrial growth.
industrialization and linked the country complete a graphic organizer similar to • Analyze how the railroads were
together. the one below listing the effects of this rail financed and how they grew.
network on the nation.
Effects
Pacific Railway Act, Grenville Dodge, Individual Action The railroads pro-
Leland Stanford, Cornelius Vanderbilt, vided new ways for some Americans to
Nationwide Rail
time zone, land grant, Jay Gould, Crédit Network amass wealth.
Mobilier, James J. Hill
✦1870 ✦1875 ✦1880 ✦1885

1869 1872 1873 1883
First transcontinental Crédit Mobilier scandal First direct rail service between Time zones instituted
railroad completed takes place New York and Chicago begins
At Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, hundreds of spectators gathered to

watch a historic event. Dignitaries from the East and the West met to hammer gold and sil-
ver spikes into the final rails that would join two great railroad lines—the Union Pacific and
Central Pacific—and span the entire country.
Telegraph offices around the country stood ready to receive news that the last spike had
been driven. When the news arrived, bells pealed across the nation, and even the Liberty
Bell was rung. In Chicago a seven-mile procession paraded through the streets, and the
pealings of church bells resonated throughout the nation’s small towns. General Grenville
Dodge, who had overseen part of the construction, observed:
“ The trains pulled up facing each other, each crowded with workmen who sought advan-
tageous positions to witness the ceremonies. . . . The officers and invited guests formed on
each side of the track. . . . Prayer was offered; a number of spikes were driven in the two
Grenville Dodge adjoining rails . . . and thus the two roads were welded into one great trunk line from the
”
Atlantic to the Pacific.
—quoted in Mine Eyes Have Seen
Linking the Nation

In 1865 the United States had about 35,000 miles of railroad track, almost all of it east
of the Mississippi River. After the Civil War, railroad construction expanded dramati-
cally, linking the distant regions of the nation in a transportation network. By 1900 the
United States, now a booming industrial power, boasted over 200,000 miles of track.

The railroad boom began in 1862 when President railway supplies, fuel for locomotives and trains, and
Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act. supplies for men and animals on the entire work—
This act provided for the construction of a transconti-
nental railroad by two corporations, the Union
had to be transported from the Missouri River.
”
Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad companies.
To encourage rapid construction, the government The railroad workers included Civil War veterans,
offered each company land along its right-of-way. new immigrants from Ireland recruited especially for
Feverish competition between the two companies the task, frustrated miners and farmers, cooks, adven-
developed, as each sought to obtain as much public turers, and ex-convicts. At the height of the project, the
land and money as possible. Union Pacific employed about 10,000 workers. While
most of the laborers camped along the line, about one-
The Union Pacific and Grenville Dodge Under fourth of them slept three-deep in bunk beds on rolling
the direction of engineer Grenville Dodge, a former boarding cars. Camp life was rough, dirty, and danger-
Union general, the Union Pacific began pushing ous, with lots of gambling, hard drinking, and fighting.
westward from Omaha, Nebraska, in 1865.
The laborers faced blizzards in the mountains, The Big Four and the Central Pacific The Central
scorching heat in the desert, and sometimes angry Pacific Railroad began as the dream of engineer
Native Americans. Labor, money, and engineering Theodore Dehone Judah, who convinced the
problems plagued the supervisors of the project. As California legislature to organize a state railroad con-
Dodge observed: vention to support his idea. He sold stock in his
fledgling Central Pacific Railroad Company to four
“ At one time we were using at least ten thousand
animals, and most of the time from eight to ten thou-
Sacramento merchants: grocer Leland Stanford, shop
owner Charley Crocker, and hardware store owners
sand laborers. . . . To supply one mile of track with Mark Hopkins and Collis P. Huntington.
material and supplies required about forty cars. . . . These so-called “Big Four” eventually made huge
Everything—rails, ties, bridging, fastenings, all fortunes from their investment. Leland Stanford
History
Engineering Victory The Union Pacific and Central Pacific were joined near
Ogden, Utah. The last spike driven was made of gold. It was quickly removed and
kept as a symbol. What did the event mean for the nation’s commerce?
became governor of California and later served as a unconnected lines existed.
United States senator after founding Stanford The challenge for eastern HISTORY
University in 1885. capitalists was to create a
Because of a shortage of labor in California, the single rail transportation
Student Web
Central Pacific Railroad hired about 10,000 workers system from this maze of Activity Visit the
from China. All the equipment—rails, cars, locomo- small companies. American Republic
tives, and machinery—was shipped from the East, Railroad consolidation Since 1877 Web site at
either around Cape Horn at the tip of South proceeded rapidly from tarvol2.glencoe.com
America or over the Isthmus of Panama in Central 1865 to 1900. Large rail and click on Student
America. lines took over about 400 Web Activities—
small railroads, and by Chapter 9 for an
Reading Check Examining Why were many work-
1890 the Pennsylvania activity on
ers on the Central Pacific Railroad recruited from China? Railroad was a consolida- industrialization.
tion of 73 smaller compa-
nies. Eventually seven
Railroads Spur Growth giant systems with terminals in major cities and
The transcontinental railroad was the first of many scores of branches reaching into the countryside con-
lines that began to crisscross the nation after the Civil trolled most rail traffic.
War. This expansion spurred American industrial One of the most famous and successful railroad
growth. By linking the nation, railroads helped consolidators was Cornelius Vanderbilt, a former
increase the size of markets for many products. Huge boat captain who had built the largest steamboat fleet
consumers themselves, the railroads also stimulated in America. By 1869 Vanderbilt had purchased and
the economy by spending extraordinary amounts of merged three short New York railroads to form the
money on steel, coal, timber, and other necessities. New York Central, running from New York City to
Buffalo. Within four years he had extended his con-
Linking Other Lines In the early 1800s, most rail- trol over lines all the way to Chicago, which enabled
roads had been built to promote specific cities or to him to offer the first direct rail service between New
serve local needs. By 1865 hundreds of small York City and Chicago. In 1871 Vanderbilt began con-
struction of New York’s Grand Central terminal.
The Benefits of a National System Before the

1880s each community set its clocks by the sun’s
position in the sky at high noon. At noon in Chicago,
for example, it was 12:50 P.M. in Washington, D.C.,
The Trans-Siberian 12:09 P.M. in Louisville, Kentucky, and 11:41 A.M. in
Railroad St. Paul, Minnesota. Local time interfered with train
Nearly 50 years after Americans completed their scheduling and at times even threatened passenger
transcontinental railroad, the Russians hammered the safety. When two trains traveled on the same track,
final spike into their own cross-country rail line. Begun in collisions could result from scheduling errors caused
1891 and completed in 1916, the Trans-Siberian Railroad by variations in time.
was the longest in the world, running nearly 5,800 miles To make rail service safer and more reliable, in
(9,330 km) from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok on 1883 the American Railway Association divided the
the Sea of Japan in the east. Like the American railroads, country into four time zones in regions where the
the Trans-Siberian line same time was kept. The federal government ratified
opened up the way for 0 1,000 miles this change in 1918.
trade and settlement 0 1,000 kilometers Large integrated railroad systems benefited the
Two-point Equidistant projection
throughout Russia’s fron- nation. They were able to shift cars from one section
tier—an arctic, windswept of the country to another according to seasonal needs
land known as Siberia. Moscow and in order to speed long-distance transportation.
°N
RUSSIA
50
How might the construc- At the same time, new locomotive technology and
tion of a railroad affect N Vladivostok the introduction of air brakes enabled railroads to
towns along the line? W Trans-Siberian put longer and heavier trains on their lines. The new
E 30°N
Railroad rail systems, along with more powerful locomotives,
S
110°E

Railroads, 1870 and 1890 Miles of Track, 1870–1890
In
N
Motion 175
W 50°N
Total Miles of Railroad Operating

E
S
150
125
(in thousands)
100
Boston
Chicago 75
40°N
New York City
50
San Francisco Washington, D.C.
25
70°W
ATLaNTic 0
Ocean 0°N 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890
3
120°W
Year
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States:
Colonial Times to 1970.
Gulf of Mexico
PaCIFic
Ocean
0 600 miles
Pacific
110°W Time Zone 0 600 kilometers 20°N
80°W 1. Interpreting Maps What part of the United States saw
Mountain Time Zone
Central Time Zone the greatest expansion in rail lines by 1890?
Eastern Time Zone 2. Applying Geography Skills In which time zone did the
Railroads built by 1870 Central Pacific originate?
Railroads built by 1890
*Time zones and borders shown as of 1890
made railroad operation so efficient that the average sell the land to settlers, real estate companies, and
rate per mile for a ton of freight dropped from two other businesses to raise the money they needed to
cents in 1860 to three-fourths of a cent in 1900. build the railroad.
The nationwide rail network also helped unite In the 1850s, the federal government granted indi-
Americans in different regions. Looking back at a vidual states over 28 million acres of public lands to
quarter century of railroad travel, the Omaha Daily give to the railroads. After the Pacific Railway Acts of
Republican observed in 1883 that railroads had 1862 and 1864, the government gave the land directly
“made the people of the country homogeneous, to the railroad companies.
breaking through the peculiarities and provin- During the 1850s and 1860s, the federal land grant
cialisms which marked separate and unmingling system awarded railroad companies over 120 million
sections.” This was, perhaps, an overstatement, but acres of land, an area larger than New England, New
it recognized a significant contribution that railroads York, and Pennsylvania combined. Several railroad
made to the nation. companies, including the Union Pacific and the
Central Pacific, earned enough money from the gov-
Reading Check Explaining Why did the American
ernment’s generous land grants to cover much of the
Railway Association divide the country into four time zones? cost of building their lines.
Reading Check Summarizing How did the govern-
The Land Grant System ment help finance railroads?
Building and operating railroad lines, especially
across the vast unsettled regions of the West, often
required more money than most private investors Robber Barons
could raise on their own. To encourage railroad con- The great wealth many railroad entrepreneurs
struction, the federal government gave land grants acquired in the late 1800s led to accusations that they
to many railroad companies. Railroads would then had built their fortunes by swindling investors and

taxpayers, bribing government officials, and cheating Sun listing the members of Congress who had
on their contracts and debts. The person with proba- accepted shares. The scandal led to an investigation
bly the worst reputation for this kind of activity was that implicated several members of Congress, includ-
Jay Gould, who often practiced “insider trading.” He ing Speaker of the House James G. Blaine and James
used information he received as a railroad owner to Garfield, who later became president. It also revealed
manipulate stock prices to his benefit. that Vice President Schuyler Colfax had accepted
Bribery occurred frequently in this era, partly stock from the railroad.
because the state and federal governments were so
deeply entangled in funding the railroads. Railroad The Great Northern The Crédit Mobilier scandal
investors quickly discovered that they could make provided sensational newspaper headlines. It created
more money by acquiring government land grants the impression that all railroad entrepreneurs were
than by operating the railroad. As a result, many robber barons—people who loot an industry and give
investors bribed members of Congress and the state nothing back—but the term was not always deserved.
legislatures to vote for more grants. One railroad entrepreneur who was clearly not a
robber baron was James J. Hill. Hill built and oper-
The Crédit Mobilier Scandal The corruption in the ated the Great Northern Railroad from St. Paul,
railroad industry became public in 1872 when the Minnesota, to Everett, Washington, without any fed-
Crédit Mobilier scandal erupted. Crédit Mobilier eral land grants or subsidies. He built the Great
was a construction company set up by several stock- Northern across good land, carefully planning his
holders of the Union Pacific, including Oakes Ames, route to pass by towns in the region. To increase busi-
a member of Congress. Acting for both the Union ness, he offered low fares to settlers who homesteaded
Pacific and Crédit Mobilier, the investors signed con- along his route. He then identified American products
tracts with themselves. Crédit Mobilier greatly over- that were in demand in China, including cotton, tex-
charged Union Pacific for the work it did, and since tiles, and flour, and arranged to haul those goods to
the same investors controlled both companies, the Washington for shipment to Asia. This enabled the
railroad agreed to pay the inflated bills. railroad to earn money by hauling goods both east and
By the time the Union Pacific railroad was com- west, instead of simply sending lumber and farm
pleted, the investors had made several million dol- products east and coming back empty, as many other
lars, but the railroad itself had used up its federal railroads did. Operating without government subsi-
grants and was almost bankrupt. To convince dies or land grants, the Great Northern became the
Congress to give the railroad more grants, Ames gave most successful transcontinental railroad and the only
other members of Congress shares in the Union one that was not eventually forced into bankruptcy.
Pacific at a price well below their market value.
During the election campaign of 1872, a disgrun- Reading Check Describing How was the Great
tled associate of Ames sent a letter to the New York Northern different from other railroads of the time?
TM
TM

1. Define: time zone, land grant. 5. Synthesizing How did railroad expan- 7. Examining Maps and Graphs Study
2. Identify: Pacific Railway Act, Grenville sion in the United States lead to indus- the map and the graph on page 317.
Dodge, Leland Stanford, Cornelius trial growth? Then make up a quiz of at least five
Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Crédit Mobilier, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer questions based on the information
James J. Hill. similar to the one below to list the presented.
3. Explain the provisions of the Pacific different ways that railroads were
Railway Act. financed.
8. Persuasive Writing Take on the role
Reviewing Themes of an employee of a major railroad
4. Individual Action How did Grenville Ways Railroads corporation. Your job assignment is
Were Financed
Dodge contribute to the economic to write an advertisement to recruit
growth of the United States in the late workers for your corporation. After
1800s? writing the advertisement, present it
to your class.

Big Business
After the Civil War, big business assumed Organizing As you read about the rise of • Analyze how large corporations came
a more prominent role in American life. corporations in the United States, com- to dominate American business.
plete a graphic organizer similar to the • Evaluate how Andrew Carnegie’s inno-
Key Terms and Names one below to describe the steps large vations transformed the steel industry.
corporation, stockholder, stock, business owners took to weaken or elimi-
economies of scale, fixed costs, operating nate competition. Section Theme
costs, pool, Andrew Carnegie, Bessemer Economic Factors Large national corpo-
process, vertical integration, horizontal Slashed prices rations formed in the United States in the
integration, monopoly, trust, holding temporarily mid-1800s and contributed to greater
company production.
✦1865 ✦1875 ✦1885 ✦1895

1862 1875 1879 1882 1901
John D. Rockefeller Andrew Carnegie opens Woolworth’s chain Dow Jones & J.P. Morgan forms
buys first oil refinery steel mill in Pittsburgh store opens Company founded U.S. Steel
In the 1860s, the oil industry in the United States was highly competitive. One highly effi-
cient company was Standard Oil, owned by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. Because
his company shipped so much oil, Rockefeller was able to negotiate rebates, or refunds, from
railroads that wanted his business. This gave his company an advantage, and he began to
pressure other oil companies to sell out to him.
Oil producer Franklin Tarbell pledged never to surrender. Tarbell’s daughter Ida later
recalled her father’s indignation over Rockefeller’s maneuvers:
“ It was as if somebody had tried to crowd me off the road. . . . There were rules, you
couldn’t use the road unless you obeyed those rules. . . . The railroads—so said my
father—ran through the valley by the consent of the people; they had given them a right of
way. The road on which I trotted was a right of way. One man had the same right as
another, but the railroads had given to one something they would not give to another. . . .
The strong wrested from the railroads the privilege of preying upon the weak.
”
—quoted in All in the Day’s Work
Cartoon of John D. Rockefeller
The Rise of Big Business

Before the Civil War, the personal wealth of a few people operating in partnership
financed most businesses, including many early factories. Most manufacturing enterprises
were very small. By 1900 everything had changed. Big businesses dominated the economy,
operating vast complexes of factories, warehouses, offices, and distribution facilities.

ECONOMICS also able to negotiate rebates from the railroads, thus
lowering their operating costs even further.
The Role of Corporations Big business would
Small businesses with high operating costs found
not have been possible without the corporation. A
it difficult to compete against large corporations, and
corporation is an organization owned by many
many were forced out of business. At the time, many
people but treated by law as though it were a single
people criticized corporations for cutting prices and
person. A corporation can own property, pay taxes,
negotiating rebates. They believed the corporations
make contracts, and sue and be sued. The people
were behaving unethically by using their wealth to
who own the corporation are called stockholders
drive small companies out of business. In many
because they own shares of ownership called stock.
cases, the changing nature of business organization
Issuing stock allows a corporation to raise large
and the new importance of fixed costs that caused
amounts of money for big projects while spreading
competition to become so severe forced many small
out the financial risk.
companies out of business.
Before the 1830s, there were few corporations in
the United States because entrepreneurs had to con- Reading Check Describing What factors led to the
vince a state legislature to issue them a charter. rise of big business in the United States?
Beginning in the 1830s, however, states began pass-
ing general incorporation laws, allowing companies
to become corporations and issue stock without char-
ters from the legislature.
The Consolidation of Industry
Many corporate leaders did not like the intense
Economies of Scale With the money they raised competition that had been forced on them. Although
from the sale of stock, corporations could invest in falling prices benefited consumers, they cut into prof-
new technologies, hire a large workforce, and pur- its. To stop prices from falling, many companies
chase many machines, greatly increasing their effi- organized pools, or agreements to maintain prices at
ciency. This enabled them to achieve what is called a certain level.
economies of scale, in which corporations make American courts and legislatures were suspicious
goods more cheaply because they produce so much of pools because they interfered with competition
so quickly using large manufacturing facilities. and property rights. As a result, companies that
All businesses have two kinds of costs, fixed costs formed pools had no legal protection and could not
and operating (or variable) costs. Fixed costs are enforce their agreements in court. Pools generally did
costs a company has to pay, whether or not it is oper- not last long. They broke apart whenever one mem-
ating. For example, a company would have to pay its ber cut prices to steal the market share from another,
loans, mortgages, and taxes, regardless of whether it which then allowed competition to resume. By the
was operating. Operating costs are costs that occur 1870s, competition had reduced many industries to a
when running a company, such as paying wages and few large and highly efficient corporations.
shipping charges and buying raw materials and
other supplies. Andrew Carnegie and Steel The remarkable life of
The small manufacturing companies that had been Andrew Carnegie illustrates many of the different fac-
typical before the Civil War usually had very low fixed tors that led to industrialism and the rise of big busi-
costs but very high operating costs. If sales dropped, it ness in the United States. He was born in Scotland, the
was cheaper to shut down and wait for better eco- son of a poor hand weaver who emigrated to the
nomic conditions. By comparison, big companies had United States in 1848. At a young age, Carnegie
very high fixed costs because it took so much money worked as a bobbin boy in a textile factory earning
to build and maintain a factory. Compared to their $1.20 per week. At 14 he became a messenger in a tele-
fixed costs, big businesses had low operating costs. graph office, then served as private secretary to
Wages and transportation costs were such a small Thomas Scott, a superintendent and later president
part of a corporation’s costs that it made sense to of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie’s energy
keep operating, even in a recession. impressed Scott, and when Scott was promoted,
In these circumstances, big corporations had sev- Carnegie succeeded him as superintendent.
eral advantages. They could produce goods more As a railroad supervisor, Carnegie knew that he
cheaply and efficiently. They could continue to oper- could make a lot of money by investing in companies
ate in poor economic times by cutting prices to that served the railroad industry. He bought shares in
increase sales, rather than shutting down. Many were iron mills and factories that made sleeping cars and

Vertical Integration Horizontal Integration
Purchase of Companies Purchase of Competing
at All Levels of Production Companies in Same Industry
Ace Meat
Industries
U.S. Oil Company

Delivery Wagons
Meat Packing Plants
Cooled Warehouses
Independent Oil Refineries
Refrigerated Railroad Cars
Slaughterhouse
Cattle
Horizontal and vertical integration were the two

most common business combinations in the late
locomotives. He also invested in a company that built 1800s.
railroad bridges. In his early 30s, he was earning Evaluating Which combination do you think
$50,000 per year, and he decided to quit his job with would yield the most efficient business? Why?
the railroad to concentrate on his own business affairs.
As part of his business activities, Carnegie fre-
quently traveled to Europe to sell railroad bonds. On the different businesses on which it depends for its
one trip, he met the English inventor, Sir Henry operation. Instead of paying companies for coal,
Bessemer, who had invented a new process for mak- lime, and iron, Carnegie’s company bought coal
ing high quality steel efficiently and cheaply. After mines, limestone quarries, and iron ore fields.
meeting Bessemer, Carnegie decided to concentrate Vertical integration saved companies money while
his investments in the steel industry. He opened a enabling big companies to become even bigger.
steel company in Pittsburgh in 1875 and quickly Successful business leaders like Carnegie also
adapted his steel mills to use the Bessemer process. pushed for horizontal integration, or combining
Carnegie often boasted about how cheaply he could many firms engaged in the same type of business into
produce steel: one large corporation. Horizontal integration took
place frequently as companies competed. When a
“ Two pounds of iron stone mined upon Lake
Superior and transported nine hundred miles to
company began to lose market share, it would often
sell out to competitors to create a larger organization.
Pittsburgh; one pound and one-half of coal mined and By 1880, for example, a series of buyouts had enabled
manufactured into coke, and transported to Pittsburgh; Rockefeller’s Standard Oil to gain control of approxi-
mately 90 percent of the oil refining industry in the
one-half pound of lime, mined and transported to
United States. When a single company achieves con-
Pittsburgh; a small amount of manganese ore mined in
trol of an entire market, it becomes a monopoly.
Virginia and brought to Pittsburgh—and these four Many Americans feared monopolies because they
pounds of materials manufactured into one pound of believed that a company with a monopoly could
steel, for which the consumer pays one cent.
” charge whatever it wanted for its products. Others,
however, supported monopolies. They believed that
monopolies had to keep prices low because raising
prices would encourage competitors to reappear and
Vertical and Horizontal Integration To increase offer the products for a lower price. In some indus-
manufacturing efficiency even further, Carnegie took tries companies had a virtual monopoly in the United
the next step in building a big business. He did this States but were competing on a global scale. Standard
by beginning the vertical integration of the steel Oil, for example, came very close to having a monop-
industry. A vertically integrated company owns all of oly in the United States, but competition with other

MOMENT
in HISTORY
LABOR SAVERS
American inventiveness and
the nation’s growing industrial
might combined to provide
turn-of-the-century consumers
with an ever-increasing array of
products. Here, a homemaker
wields an early electric vacuum
cleaner. Mass-produced house-
hold devices had a tremendous
impact on the lifestyles and
buying habits of millions of
middle-class Americans. In
cities, huge shopping empo-
riums replaced the cozy dry
goods stores of the 1800s. Even
rural customers could buy an
almost endless variety of mer-
chandise from mail-order cata-
logues such as Sears, Roebuck
and Montgomery Ward.
oil companies throughout the world forced the they were not violating the law. This arrangement
Standard Oil Company to keep its prices low. enabled the trustees to control a group of companies
as if they were one large merged company.
Trusts By the late 1800s, many Americans had
grown suspicious of large corporations and feared Holding Companies Beginning in 1889 the state of
the power of monopolies. To preserve competition New Jersey further accelerated the rise of big business
and prevent horizontal integration, many states with a new general incorporation law. This law
made it illegal for one company to own stock in allowed corporations chartered in New Jersey to own
another without specific permission from the state stock in other businesses without any need for special
legislature. In 1882 Standard Oil formed the first legislative action. Many companies immediately used
trust, a new way of merging businesses that did not the New Jersey law to create a new organization
violate the laws against owning other companies. A called a holding company. A holding company does
trust is a legal concept that allows one person to man- not produce anything itself. Instead, it owns the stock
age another person’s property. The person who man- of companies that do produce goods. The holding
ages another person’s property is called a trustee. company controls all of the companies it owns, effec-
Instead of buying a company outright, which was tively merging them into one large enterprise. By 1904
often illegal, Standard Oil had stockholders give their the United States had 318 holding companies.
stocks to a group of Standard Oil trustees. In Together these giant corporations controlled over
exchange, the stockholders received shares in the 5,300 factories and were worth more than $7 billion.
trust, which entitled them to receive a portion of
the trust’s profits. Since the trustees did not own the Reading Check Explaining What techniques did
stock but were merely managing it for someone else, corporations use to consolidate their industries?

Selling the Product
The vast array of products that American indus-
tries churned out led retailers to look for new ways to
market and sell goods. N.W. Ayer and Son of The New York Stock Exchange In 1792 business-
Philadelphia, for example, developed bold new for- people met in New York City to establish a stock
mats for advertising. Large display ads with illustra- exchange—a marketplace for buying and selling
tions replaced the small-type line ads that had been stock in companies. At first, the new stock exchange
standard in newspapers. By 1900 retailers were was located under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street.
spending over $90 million a year on advertising in The organization took its present name, the New
newspapers and magazines sold across the nation. York Stock Exchange, in 1863. Huge amounts of the
capital required for the nation’s industrialization after
Advertising attracted readers to the newest retail
the Civil War passed through the New York Stock
business, the department store.
Exchange.
In 1877 advertisements billed John Wanamaker’s
As stock trading grew, investors across the nation
new Philadelphia department store, the Grand Depot, needed financial news. In 1882 Henry Charles Dow
as the “largest space in the world devoted to retail sell- and Edward D. Jones founded Dow Jones & Company.
ing on a single floor.” When Wanamaker’s opened, This new company sent bulletins on the
only a handful of department stores existed in the day’s business to Wall Street’s financial
United States; soon hundreds sprang up. Department houses. The day’s last delivery
stores changed the idea of shopping by bringing a contained a news sheet,
huge array of different products together in a large, which became the Wall
elegant building. They created an atmosphere that Street Journal in July 1889.
made shopping seem glamorous and exciting.
Chain stores, a group of similar stores owned by the
same company, first appeared in the mid-1800s. In con-
trast to department stores, which offered many serv- mail-order catalogs. Two of the largest mail-order
ices, chain stores focused on thrift, offering low prices retailers were Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck.
instead of elaborate service and decor. Woolworth’s, a Their huge catalogs, widely distributed through the
chain store that opened in 1879, became one of the mail, used attractive illustrations and friendly
most successful retail chains in American history. descriptions to advertise thousands of items for sale.
To reach the millions of people who lived in rural
areas in the late 1800s—far from chain stores Reading Check Identifying What innovations did
or department stores—retailers began issuing retailers introduce in the late 1800s to sell goods to consumers?
TM
TM

1. Define: corporation, economies of 5. Forming an Opinion Do you think an 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
scale, fixed costs, operating costs, individual today can rise from “rags to photograph on page 322 of a woman
pool, vertical integration, horizontal riches” like Andrew Carnegie did? Why using an early electric vacuum cleaner.
integration, monopoly, trust, holding or why not? How would you compare this to today’s
company. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer vacuum cleaners? How do you think
2. Identify: stockholder, stock, Andrew like the one below to list ways business new mass-produced appliances such as
Carnegie, Bessemer process. leaders in the late 1800s tried to elimi- this one affected the lives of women in
3. List the new methods of advertising nate competition. this era?
and selling that helped push consumer
goods in the late 1800s.
8. Expository Writing Write a newspa-
Reviewing Themes per editorial in which you explain why
Attempts to
4. Economic Factors What factors Eliminate Competition entrepreneurs such as John D.
allowed corporations to develop in the Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie were
United States in the late 1800s? a positive or a negative force on the
U.S. economy in the late 1800s.

Investigating Standard Oil
B
y the 1880s, the Standard Oil Company, under the direction of John D.
Rockefeller and his associates, had gained control of more than 90 per-
cent of the oil refining business in the United States. Did Standard Oil
use unfair tactics? The United States Industrial Commission investigated, call-
ing Rockefeller himself to testify. Rockefeller said his success was due to the
efficiency of his company. George Rice, an independent refiner from Marietta,
Ohio, told the Industrial Commission that Standard Oil’s advantage was crim-
inal collusion with the railroads. Was he right? You’re the historian.
Read the following excerpts from the Industrial Commission hearings of 1899. Then
complete the questions and activities on the next page.
John D. Rockefeller
Standard Oil stock
Question: To what advantages, or It has not hesitated to invest mil-

favors, or methods of manage- lions of dollars in methods of
ment do you ascribe chiefly the cheapening the gathering and 1. Command of necessary capital.
success of the Standard Oil distribution of oils by pipe lines, 2. Extension of limits of business.
Company? special cars, tank steamers, and 3. Increase the number of per-
tank wagons. . . . sons interested in the business.
Answer [Rockefeller]: I ascribe the
4. Economy in the business.
success of the Standard to its con- Question: What are, in your judg- 5. Improvements and economies
sistent policy to make the volume ment, the chief advantages from which are derived from knowl-
of its business large through the industrial combinations—(a) edge of many interested per-
merits and cheapness of its prod- financially to stockholders; (b) to sons of wide experience.
ucts. It has spared no expense in the public? 6. Power to give the public
finding, securing, and utilizing
improved products at less
the best and cheapest methods of Answer: All the advantages which
prices and still make a profit
manufacture. It has sought for the can be derived from a coopera-
from stockholders.
best superintendents and work- tion of person and aggregation of
7. Permanent work and good
men and paid the best wages. It capital. . . . It is too late to argue
wages for laborers.
has not hesitated to sacrifice old about advantages of industrial
machinery and old plants for new combinations. They are a neces-
and better ones. It has placed its sity. And if Americans are to have Cartoon criticizing Standard Oil
manufactories at the points the privilege of extending their
where they could supply markets business in all the States of the
at the least expense. It has not Union, and into foreign countries
only sought markets for its prin- as well, they are a necessity on a
cipal products, but for all possible large scale, and require the
by-products, sparing no expense agency of more than one corpora-
in introducing them to the public. tion. Their chief advantages are:

Oil derricks
I am a citizen of the United States. unable to do. I have had to conse- their general trade, and thus effec-
. . . Producer of petroleum for quently shut down, with my busi- tually wipe out all competition, as
more than 30 years, and a refiner ness absolutely ruined and my fully set forth. Standard Oil prices
of same for 20 years, but my refin- refinery idle. This has been a very generally were so high that I
ery has been shut down during sad, bitter, and ruinous experi- could sell my goods 2 to 3 cents a
the past 3 years, owing to the ence for me to endure, but I have gallon below their prices and
powerful and all-prevailing endeavored to the best of my cir- make a nice profit, but these sav-
machinations of the Standard Oil cumstances and ability to combat age attacks and cuts upon my
Trust, in criminal collusion and it the utmost I could for many a customers’ goods, and their con-
conspiracy with the railroads to long waiting year, expecting relief sequent loss, plainly showed
destroy my business of 20 years of through the honest and proper them their power for evil, and the
patient industry, toil, and money execution of our laws, which have uselessness to contend against
in building up, wholly by and as yet, however, never come. . . . such odds, and they would buy
through unlawful freight discrim- Outside of rebates or freight dis- no more of my oil. . . .
inations. I have been driven from criminations I had no show with
pillar to post, from one railway the Standard Oil trust, because of
line to another, for 20 years, in the their unlawfully acquired monop-
absolutely vain endeavor to get oly, by which they could tem- Understanding the Issue
equal and just freight rates with porarily cut only my customers’ 1. What potential advantages could
the Standard Oil Trust, so as to be prices, and below cost, leaving the companies like Standard Oil offer
able to run my refinery at any- balance of the town, nine-tenths, consumers?
thing approaching a profit, but uncut. This they can easily do 2. What did George Rice believe to be
which I have been utterly without any appreciable harm to the reason Standard Oil was so
successful?
3. How would you assess the credibility
of the two accounts?
Activities
1. Investigate Today many industries,
unions, and special interest groups
lobby Congress for favorable legisla-
tion. What are the most powerful
groups? How do they operate?
2. Check the News Are there any com-
panies that recently have been inves-
tigated for unfair or monopolistic
practices? Collect headlines and news
articles and create a bulletin board
display.

Unions
In an attempt to improve their working Sequencing As you read about the • Describe industrial working conditions
conditions, industrial workers came increase of American labor unions in the in the United States in the late 1800s.
together to form unions in the late 1800s. late 1800s, complete a time line similar • List the barriers to labor union growth.
to the one below by filling in the inci-
Key Terms and Names dents of labor unrest discussed and the Section Theme
deflation, trade union, industrial union, results of each incident. Individual Action People like Samuel
blacklist, lockout, Marxism, Knights of Gompers and Mother Jones strove to bal-
Labor, arbitration, closed shop 1877 ance the power of corporations with the
needs of workers.
✦1875 ✦1885 ✦1895 ✦1905

1877 1886 1886 1894 1903
Great Railroad American Federation Riot in Chicago’s Pullman Strike Women’s Trade Union
Strike of Labor founded Haymarket Square League founded
On September 6, 1869, hundreds of miners’ wives and children heard the repeated
shrill blasts of the Avondale Mine’s whistle, which signaled an accident. The families ran
to the mine’s entry and beheld a terrifying sight: hot smoke billowing from the mine shaft.
The owners of the Avondale Coal Mine in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, had not built
a second entrance. Without an escape route, the 179 miners trapped below soon died.
Songs to commemorate the disaster later gave voice to the silenced victims:
“ And as their souls ascended

To God who gave them breath
They plead against the company
Whose greed had caused their death
”
Following the deaths at Avondale, John Siney, an Irish immigrant and union leader,
Avondale urged his fellow miners to unionize:
Mine disaster
“ Men, if you must die with your boots on, die for your families, your homes, your
country, but do not longer consent to die like rats in a trap. . . .
”
—quoted in Labor’s Untold Story
Working in the United States

Life for workers in industrial America was difficult. As machines replaced skilled
labor, work became monotonous. Workers had to perform highly specific, repetitive
tasks and could take little pride in their work. In addition, working conditions were

often unhealthy and dangerous. Workers breathed in had more control over how they organized their time
lint, dust, and toxic fumes. Heavy machines lacking on the shop floor. Common laborers had few skills
safety devices caused a high number of injuries. and received lower wages.
Despite the difficult working conditions, industri- In the 1830s, as industrialism began to spread,
alism brought about a dramatic rise in the standard craft workers began to form trade unions—unions
of living. While only a few entrepreneurs became limited to people with specific skills. By the early
rich, real wages earned by the average worker rose 1870s, there were over 30 national trade unions in the
by about 50 percent between 1860 and 1890. United States. Among the largest and most successful
Despite the rise in the standard of living, the were the Iron Molders’ International Union, the
uneven division of income between the wealthy and International Typographical Union, and the Knights
the working class caused resentment among work- of St. Crispin—the shoemakers’ union.
ers. In 1900 the average industrial worker made 22¢
per hour and worked 59 hours per week. Industry Opposes Unions Employers were often
At the same time, an economic phenomenon of forced to recognize and negotiate with trade unions
the late 1800s made relations between workers and because they represented workers whose skills they
employers even more difficult. Between 1865 and needed. However, employers generally regarded
1897, the United States experienced deflation, or a unions as illegitimate conspiracies that interfered
rise in the value of money. Throughout the late with their property rights. Owners of large corpora-
1800s, deflation caused prices to fall, which tions particularly opposed industrial unions, which
increased the buying power of workers’ wages. united all craft workers and common laborers in a
Although companies cut wages regularly in the late particular industry.
1800s, prices fell even faster, so that wages were Companies used several techniques to prevent
actually still going up in buying power. Workers, unions from forming. They required workers to take
however, believed that companies wanted to oaths or sign contracts promising not to join a union,
pay them less money for the
same work. Eventually, many
workers decided that the only
way to improve their working
conditions was to organize
unions. With a union, they
could bargain collectively to
negotiate higher wages and
better working conditions.
Reading Check
Describing What aspects of
industrial life caused frustration for
workers in the late 1800s?
Early Unions
There were two basic types
of industrial workers in the
United States in the 1800s—
craft workers and common
laborers. Craft workers had
special skills and training.
They included machinists, iron
molders, stonecutters, glass-
blowers, shoemakers, printers, History
carpenters, and many others. Unsafe Working Conditions Workers in the late 1800s often faced unsafe working conditions. Many began to
Craft workers generally join labor unions in an attempt to improve these conditions. What unsafe conditions does this photograph of a
received higher wages and steel mill show?

and they hired detectives to go undercover and seize control of the factories, and overthrow the
identify union organizers. Workers who tried to government.
organize a union or strike were fired and placed on a Marxists claimed that after the revolution, the gov-
blacklist—a list of “troublemakers.” Once black- ernment would seize all private property and create a
listed, a laborer could get a job only by changing res- socialist society where wealth was evenly divided.
idence, trade, or even his or her name. Eventually, Marx thought, the state would wither
If workers formed a union, companies often used away, leaving a Communist society where classes did
a lockout to break it. They locked workers out of the not exist. Marxism strongly shaped the thinking of
property and refused to pay them. If the union called European unions.
a strike, employers would hire replacement workers, While many labor supporters agreed with Marx, a
or strikebreakers, also known as scabs. few supported anarchism. Anarchists believe that
society does not need any government. At the time,
Political and Social Opposition Workers who some believed that with only a few acts of violence,
wanted to organize a union faced several major prob- they could ignite a revolution to topple the govern-
lems. There were no laws giving workers the right to ment. In the late 1800s, anarchists assassinated gov-
organize or requiring owners to negotiate with them. ernment officials and set off bombs all across Europe,
Courts frequently ruled that strikes were “conspira- hoping to trigger a revolution.
cies in restraint of trade,” for which labor leaders As Marxist and anarchist ideas spread in Europe,
might be fined or jailed. tens of thousands of European immigrants began
Unions also suffered from the perception that arriving in the United States. Nativism—anti-
they threatened American institutions. In the late immigrant feelings—was already strong in the
1800s, the ideas of Karl Marx, called Marxism, had United States. As people began to associate immi-
become very influential in Europe. Marx argued grant workers with revolution and anarchism, they
that the basic force shaping capitalist society was became increasingly suspicious of unions. These
the class struggle between workers and owners. He fears, as well as the government’s duty to maintain
believed that workers would eventually revolt, law and order, often led officials to use the courts,
the police, and even the army to
crush strikes and break up unions.
Reading Check Identifying
in History Why were some Americans suspicious of
Unions?
Mother Jones 1830–1930
Mary Harris “Mother” Jones emi-
grated to the United States from Ireland
in 1835 at the age of five. Jones The Struggle to
became the nation’s most prominent Organize
woman union leader after a tragic
personal loss. In 1867 her husband Although workers attempted on
George, a union organizer, and their many occasions to create large indus-
four children died from yellow fever. trial unions, they rarely succeeded. In
Widowed and childless, Jones moved many cases the confrontations with
to Chicago and opened a dressmaker’s owners and the government led to
shop. From her shop window, Jones
violence and bloodshed. In 1868
could see the effects of the economic A journalist who followed Jones on
downturn of the 1870s: “poor shivering her trip reported that Jones began her William Sylvis, president of the Iron
wretches, jobless and hungry.” At night speeches slowly, encouraging her listen- Molders Union and leader of the
she attended rallies for the Knights of ers to “look on yourselves, and upon National Labor Union, wrote to Karl
Labor. each other. Let us consider this together Marx to encourage Marx’s work and
By 1890 Jones had become an for I am one of you, and I know what it express his own hopes:
organizer for the United Mine Workers. is to suffer.” Then Mother Jones would
In 1897 she traveled to West Virginia. make an impassioned plea for the min-
The intrepid labor organizer trudged ers to join the union. “You pity your- “ Our cause is a common
one. . . . Go ahead in the good
from camp to camp along railroad selves, but you do not pity your
tracks or rode atop farm wagons. She brothers, or you would stand together work that you have undertaken,
slept in a tent. to help one another.” until the most glorious success
crowns your efforts . . . monied

Strikes and Labor Unrest, 1870–1890
Coeur
CANADA
WASH. d'Alene,
1892, 1899
MONT. N. DAK. ME. N
OREG. MINN. VT. E 60°W
Baltimore N.H. W
IDAHO S. DAK. WIS. Rail Strike, MASS. S
40°
N N.Y.
WYO. MICH. 1877
Haymarket Riot, 1886 R.I.
PA.
NEBR. IOWA N.J.CONN.
NEV. COLO. DEL. Atlantic
UTAH Pullman, 1894 ILL. IND. OHIO
CALIF. Homestead, 1892
W.
MD. Ocean
Leadville, 1896 VA. VA.
KANS. MO. KY. 0 400 miles
Cripple Creek, 1903–04
OKLA. N.C.
ARIZ. TERR. TENN. 0 400 kilometers
TERR. N. MEX. IND. ARK. Lambert Equal-Area projection
TERR. TERR. ALA. S.C.
30°N MISS. GA.
TEXAS Birmingham-
Pacific Texas and
LA. Bessemer
1894
Ocean Pacific R.R.,
1886 FLA.
T RO MEXICO Gulf of Mexico

PIC O
F CAN
CER 110°W
120°W 90°W 80°W 70°W
Railroad strike
Miners' strike
Other strike or riot 1. Interpreting Maps In what part of the nation did most
Counties with strike
of the strikes occur?
activity, 1881–1894 2. Applying Geography Skills Why did most of the labor
No strikes reported conflicts take place where they did?
1890 border
power is fast eating up the substance of the people. and Chicago. The governors of several states called
We have made war upon it, and we mean to win it. If out their militias to stop the violence. In many places,
we can we will win through the ballot box; if not, we gun battles erupted between the militia and striking
will resort to sterner means. A little bloodletting is workers.
Determined to stop the violence, President Hayes
sometimes necessary in desperate causes.
” ordered the army to open the railroad between
—quoted in Industrialism and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He then sent troops to
the American Worker Chicago, where the strike had paralyzed the entire
city. The troops restored order, but by the time the
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 In 1873 a strike ended, more than 100 people lay dead, and
severe recession known as the Panic of 1873 struck millions of dollars of property had been destroyed.
the American economy and forced many companies
to cut wages. In July 1877, as the recession continued, The Knights of Labor The failure of the Great
several railroads announced another round of wage Railroad Strike convinced many labor organizers that
cuts. This triggered the first nationwide labor protest. workers across the nation needed to be better organ-
The day after the cuts took effect, railroad workers in ized. By the late 1870s, enough workers had joined a
Martinsburg, West Virginia, walked off the job and new organization, the Knights of Labor, to make it
blocked the tracks. the first nationwide industrial union.
As word spread, railroad workers across the coun- The Knights called for an eight-hour workday and
try walked off the job. The strike eventually involved a government bureau of labor statistics. They also
80,000 railroad workers in 11 states and affected two- supported equal pay for women, the abolition of
thirds of the nation’s railways. Angry strikers child labor, and the creation of worker-owned facto-
smashed equipment, tore up tracks, and blocked rail ries. The Knights’ leaders initially opposed the use
service in New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, of strikes, preferring to use boycotts to pressure

employers. They also supported arbitration, a struck the United States, causing the Pullman
process in which an impartial third party helps work- Company to slash wages. The wage cuts made it dif-
ers and management reach an agreement. ficult for workers to pay their rent or the high prices
In the early 1880s, the Knights began to use strikes, at the company stores. In May 1894, after Pullman
and they achieved great success initially. After strik- fired three workers who complained, a strike began.
ing Knights convinced one of Jay Gould’s railroads to In support, the ARU stopped handling Pullman cars
reverse wage cuts in 1885, membership in the union all across the United States.
leapt from 100,000 to 700,000 in less than a year. The The boycott of Pullman cars tied up railroads
following year, 1886, marked the peak of their suc- and threatened to paralyze the economy.
cess. In the spring of that year, an event known as the Determined to break the union, railroad managers
Haymarket Riot undermined the Knights’ reputa- arranged for U.S. mail cars to be attached to the
tion, and the union rapidly declined. Pullman cars. If the strikers refused to handle
the Pullman cars, they would be interfering with
The Haymarket Riot In the early 1880s, the move- the U.S. mail, a violation of federal law. President
ment for an eight-hour workday began to build sup- Grover Cleveland then sent in troops, claiming it
port. In 1886 organizers called for a nationwide was his responsibility to keep the mail running.
strike on May 1 to show support for the idea. On that When a federal court issued an injunction ordering
date, strikes took place in many cities, including the union to halt the boycott, the strike at Pullman
Chicago. and the ARU both collapsed.
On May 3, a clash between strikers and police in
Reading Check Analyzing Why did industrial
Chicago left one striker dead. The next evening, an
anarchist group organized a meeting in Chicago’s unions frequently fail in the late 1800s?
Haymarket Square to protest the killing. Around
3,000 people gathered to hear the speeches. When
police entered the square, someone threw a bomb. The American Federation of Labor
The police opened fire, and workers shot back. Seven Although large-scale industrial unions generally
police officers and four workers were killed. failed in the late 1800s, trade unions continued to pros-
Police arrested eight people for the bombing. per. In 1886 delegates from over 20 of the nation’s trade
Seven of those arrested were German immigrants unions organized the American Federation of
and advocates of anarchism. The incident hor- Labor (AFL). The AFL’s first leader was
rified people across the country. Samuel Gompers. His approach to labor
No one knew who threw the bomb. relations—which he called “plain and
Although the evidence was weak, all simple” unionism—helped unions to
eight men were convicted, and four become accepted in American society.
were later executed. Unfortunately for Gompers believed that unions should
the Knights of Labor, one of the men stay out of politics. He rejected socialist
arrested was a member of the union. and communist ideas. Rather, he
The incident badly hurt the Knights’ believed that the AFL should fight for
reputation, and they began to lose small gains—such as higher wages and
members rapidly. better working conditions—within the
American system. He was willing to use
The Pullman Strike Although the the strike but preferred to negotiate.
Haymarket Riot set back the drive to Under Gompers’s leadership, the
create industrial unions, other labor Samuel Gompers AFL had three main goals. First, it tried
organizers continued their efforts. In to convince companies to recognize
1893 railroad workers created the American Railway unions and to agree to collective bargaining. Second,
Union (ARU) under the leadership of Eugene V. it pushed for closed shops, meaning that companies
Debs. One of the companies the ARU unionized was could only hire union members. Third, it promoted
the Pullman Palace Car Company. an eight-hour workday.
The Pullman Company was based in Illinois. It The AFL grew slowly, but by 1900 it was the biggest
had built a town named Pullman near its factory and union in the country, with over 500,000 members. Still,
required its workers to live in the town and to buy at that time, the AFL represented less than 15 percent
goods from company stores. In 1893 a depression of all non-farm workers. All unions, including railroad

unions, represented only 18 percent. As the 1900s
began, the vast majority of workers remained unor-
ganized, and unions were relatively weak.
Reading Check Analyzing What AFL policies
contributed to its growth as a union?
Working Women
Throughout the 1800s, most wage-earning work-
ers in the United States were men. After the Civil
War, the number of women wage earners began to
increase. By 1900 women made up more than 18 per-
cent of the labor force.
The type of jobs women did outside the home in
the late 1800s and early 1900s reflected society’s ideas
History
about what constituted “women’s work.” Roughly
one-third of women worked as domestic servants. Detail Work These women worked in the National Elgin Watch
Another third worked as teachers, nurses, sales Company’s gilding room, where they gilded metal watches with thin layers
clerks, and secretaries. The remaining third were of gold. What do you notice about their working conditions?
industrial workers, but they were employed in light
industrial jobs that people believed appropriate to of Jane Addams and Lillian Wald—the founders of
their gender. Many worked in the garment industry the settlement house movement—they established
and food processing plants. the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL), the first
Regardless of their employment, women were national association dedicated to promoting
paid less than men even when they performed the women’s labor issues. The WTUL pushed for an
same jobs. It was assumed that a woman had a man eight-hour day, the creation of a minimum wage, an
helping to support her, either her father or her hus- end to evening work for women, and the abolition of
band, and that a man needed higher wages to sup- child labor. The WTUL also collected funds to sup-
port a family. For this reason, most unions, including port women on strike.
the AFL, excluded women.
In 1903 two woman labor organizers, Mary Reading Check Comparing How were female
Kenney O’Sullivan and Leonora O’Reilly, decided to industrial workers treated differently than male workers in the
establish a separate union for women. With the help late 1800s?
TM
TM

1. Define: deflation, trade union, 5. Analyzing Why did early labor unions 7. Analyzing Photographs Examine the
industrial union, lockout, Marxism, fail? photograph at the top of this page of
arbitration, closed shop. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer workers in a watch factory. Most of the
2. Identify: blacklist, Knights of Labor. similar to the one below to list the fac- people in the picture are women. What
3. List the groups of workers represented tors that led to an increase in unions in do you think the jobs were of the men
by the Knights of Labor and the the late 1800s. in the photograph?
American Federation of Labor.
Reviewing Themes Factors Contributing

4. Individual Action What political to Unionization 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
contribution did Mary Harris “Mother” are an American worker living in one of
Jones make to American society? the nation’s large cities. Write a letter to
a friend explaining why you support or
oppose the work of labor unions.

On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 23. Identify: Morrill Tariff, Andrew Carnegie.
1. gross national product 12. horizontal integration 24. The United States had an advantage in industrializing due to
its resources and large workforce. What resources did the
2. laissez-faire 13. monopoly
nation have? Why was its workforce large?
3. entrepreneur 14. trust
25. How did inventions contribute to economic growth in the
4. time zone 15. holding company United States in the late 1800s?
5. land grant 16. deflation 26. How did the federal government encourage railroad compa-
6. corporation 17. trade union nies to construct railroads?
7. economies of scale 18. industrial union 27. What new methods of selling products were developed in the
late 1800s?
8. fixed costs 19. lockout
28. Why did workers try to organize labor unions in the United
9. operating costs 20. Marxism States in the late 1800s?
10. pool 21. arbitration 29. What were the two basic types of workers in American indus-
11. vertical integration 22. closed shop try at this time?
Critical Thinking
30. Analyzing Themes: Individual Action List the names and
actions of five people who contributed to American eco-
nomic growth in the late 1800s.
Factors Behind Industrialization below to list the factors that led to making the United States
• Abundant natural resources an industrial nation.
• Cheap immigrant labor force
• High tariffs that reduced foreign goods
• National communication and transportation networks
Factors Leading
to Industrialization
Growth of Business
• Little or no government intervention
• Development of pools, trusts, holding companies,
and monopolies
• Small businesses could not compete with 32. Interpreting Primary Sources Americans like Ida Tarbell
economies–of–scale of large businesses criticized large corporations such as the Standard Oil
• Practices of some big businesses sometimes limited Company. In the following excerpt from History of the
competition Standard Oil Company, she warns of the results of
Rockefeller’s business practices on the nation’s morality.
Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow:
Changing Workplace
• Rural migration and immigration created large,
“ Very often people who admit the facts, who are will-
ing to see that Mr. Rockefeller has employed force and
concentrated workforce fraud to secure his ends, justify him by declaring, ‘It’s
• In large–scale industries, low wages, long hours, and business.’ That is, ‘It’s business’ has come to be a legiti-
dangerous working conditions were common
mate excuse for hard dealing, sly tricks, special privileges.
• First large unions formed but had little bargaining
It is a common enough thing to hear men arguing that
power against large companies
the ordinary laws of morality do not apply in business.
HISTORY
Steel Production, 1865–1900
Self-Check Quiz
12
11
10
9
As for the ethical side, there is no cure but in an
8
Millions of Tons
increasing scorn of unfair play. . . . When the business-
7
man who fights to secure special privileges, to crowd his
6
competitor off the track by other than fair competitive
5
methods, receives the same summary disdainful
4
ostracism by his fellows that the doctor or lawyer who is
‘unprofessional,’ the athlete who abuses the rules, 3
receives, we shall have gone a long way toward making 2

1
commerce a fit pursuit for our young men.
”
—quoted in Readings in American History
1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900
a. According to Tarbell, what practices had Rockefeller Year
used to establish the Standard Oil Company? Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.
b. In what way did Tarbell believe the attitudes of the

American people contributed to Rockefeller’s business
practices?
had to say about their experience during the project. What
33. Analyzing Analyze the impact of technological innovations attitudes do you think each man had toward the workers?
and industrialization on the American labor movement.
Practicing Skills 37. The graph above shows steel production from 1865 to 1900.
34. Making Inferences Reread the passage titled “Working in Study the graph and answer the questions below.
the United States” from Section 4, page 326. Then answer a. Interpreting Graphs Between what years did steel
the following questions. production have the greatest increase?
a. What facts are stated about working conditions in the b. Making Inferences How did increased steel production
United States during this time period? contribute to American industrialism?
b. Based on your answer to the previous question, what can
you infer about the attitude of employers toward their
workers during this time?
Writing Activity Standardized

35. Portfolio Writing: Persuasive Writing Think of a product Test Practice
that you think is essential to life today. Write an advertise- Directions: Choose the best answer to the
ment for this product that would persuade people to following question.
purchase it. Labor unions were formed in order to
F protect factory owners and improve workers’ wages.
Chapter Activity G improve workers’ wages and make factories safer.
36. American History Primary Source Document Library H make factories safer and prevent lockouts.
CD-ROM Read “Driving the Golden Spike” by Alexander J prevent lockouts and fight deflation.
Toponce, under Reshaping the Nation. For further back-
ground, reread your textbook’s coverage of the same subject Test-Taking Tip: Read each part of each answer choice
on page 315. Then prepare a presentation for your class- carefully. Only one answer choice contains two correct
mates. In it, describe what Toponce had to say about the reasons.
workers during the celebration and what Grenville Dodge

Urban America
1865–1896
Why It Matters
European and Asian immigrants arrived in the United States in great numbers during the late
1800s. Providing cheap labor, they made rapid industrial growth possible. They also helped
populate the growing cities. The immigrants’ presence affected both urban politics and labor
unions. Reactions to immigrants and to an urban society were reflected in new political
organizations and in literature and philosophy.
The Impact Today

Industrialization and urbanization permanently influenced American life.
• The United States continues to be a magnet for immigrants seeking a better way of life.
• The cities of the United States continue to draw new residents in search of opportunity.

“Huddled Masses in the City,” depicts one of the problems
the nation faced during its urbanization period.
1882 1883
• Chinese Exclusion Act • Brooklyn Bridge
passed by Congress completed
1870
• Fifteenth Amendment
adopted
1877
• Electoral Commission decides
disputed presidential election
between Rutherford Hayes ▲ ▲ ▲
A. Johnson Grant Hayes Garfield Arthur Cleveland
and Samuel Tilden
1865–1869 1869–1877 ▲ 1877–1881 1881 1881–1885 1885–1889
1865 1875 1885
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1873
• Civil war breaks out in Spain
1885
1878 1879 • Indian National Congress
• Independent Serbia • Chile engages in war organizes for independence
recognized with Bolivia and Peru from Great Britain
334
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island
1888
• First electric trolley line
opened in Richmond, Virginia
1899
1891 • Scott Joplin’s “Maple
• James Naismith Leaf Rag” published
invents basketball 1896
• National Association of HISTORY
Colored Women founded
▲
B. Harrison Cleveland McKinley T. Roosevelt
▲ 1889–1893 1893–1897 ▲ 1897–1901 ▲ 1901–1909 Chapter Overview
information.
1886 1901
• Gold discovered in • Victorian era ends with death
Transvaal region of of Britain’s Queen Victoria
South Africa
335
Immigration
After the Civil War, millions of immigrants Categorizing Complete a graphic organ- • Analyze the circumstances surrounding
from Europe and Asia settled in the izer similar to the one below by filling in the great wave of immigration after the
United States. the reasons people left their homelands Civil War.
to immigrate to the United States. • Evaluate how nativism affected immi-
Key Terms and Names gration policies.
steerage, Ellis Island, Jacob Riis, Angel Reasons for Immigrating
Island, nativism, Chinese Exclusion Act Push Factors Pull Factors Section Theme
Geography and History Immigrants
from all over the world enriched the
cultural life of the United States.
✦1880 ✦1890 ✦1900 ✦1910

1882 1886 1887 1892 1910
Chinese Exclusion Act Haymarket Riot in American Protective Ellis Island immigration United States opens Angel Island
passed Chicago Association founded center opens facility for Asian immigrants
Samuel Goldwyn was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1879. His family lived in a tiny two-room
apartment. As Jews they feared the pogroms—anti-Jewish riots—that often erupted in the
city. At age 16, Goldwyn set out for America, first walking 500 miles to the port of Hamburg,
Germany. When he arrived in the United States, Goldwyn worked first as a floor sweeper and
then as a cutter in a glove factory, putting in 13-hour days. At night, he went to school. Within
two years he was a foreman, and soon after he became a successful glove salesman.
In 1913 Goldwyn visited a nickelodeon, an early movie theater. As he watched the film, he
became convinced that this new industry would grow into something big. He used his savings
to set up a film company, and in 1914 he released his first movie. The film was an instant suc-
cess. During his career, Goldwyn helped found three film companies: Paramount Studios,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), and United Artists. All three still make movies today. Looking
back on his rise from poverty to wealth, Goldwyn commented:
Samuel Goldwyn “ When I was a kid . . . the only place I wanted to go was America. I had heard them talking
about America, about how free people were in America. . . . Even then America, actually only
the name of a faraway country, was a vision of paradise.
”
—adapted from Goldwyn: A Biography
Europeans Flood Into the United States

By 1900, more than half of all immigrants in the United States were eastern and
southern Europeans, including Italians, Greeks, Poles, Slavs, Slovaks, Russians, and
Armenians. Like Samuel Goldwyn, many of the 14 million immigrants who came to the
United States between 1860 and 1900 were eastern European Jews.
336 CHAPTER 10 Urban America

“Old” and “New” Immigrants, 1870–1900
150°E 180° 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W 0°
ARCTIC CIRCLE
ALASKA
U.S. “Old” Immigrants
ASIA Northern & Western Europe
CANADA
Canadian 22
,1
76
N Immigrants
7,8
820,669
W E 10,961,744
Total EUROPE
28,409 S Ellis Island
Angel Island 3,08
JAPAN UNITED STATES 5,6
243,860 Asian Immigrants 22
30°N
Total
CHINA “New” Immigrants
TROPIC OF CANCER Southern & Eastern Europe
2 1 5 , 4 51 MEXICO
AtLaNTic AFRICA
PaCIFic Latin American
Immigrants Ocean
0°
Ocean EQUATOR 0 1500 miles 91,792
1500 kilometers
0
SOUTH Push Factors
Mercator projection
AMERICA Farm poverty & worker uncertainty
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN Wars & compulsory military service
AUSTRALIA Political tyranny
30°S Religious oppression
Immigration, 1870–1900
Immigrants (thousands)
Pull Factors
500
From northern and Plenty of land & plenty of work
400 western Europe Higher standard of living
300 From southern and Democratic political system
eastern Europe Opportunity for social advancement
200 From the Americas
100 From Asia
1870 1880 1890 1900 1. Analyzing Maps From which region did the majority of
Year U.S. immigrants come?
2. Applying Geography Skills In what year did immigra-
tion from northern and western Europe peak?
Europeans abandoned their homelands and
headed to the United States for many reasons. Many
poor rural farmers came simply because the United
States had plenty of jobs available and few immigra- system and move to a democratic nation where
tion restrictions. Yet Europe in the late 1800s offered they had a chance to move up the social ladder.
plenty of jobs in its booming industrial cities, so eco-
nomic factors were not the only reason people The Atlantic Voyage Getting to the United States
migrated. Many moved to avoid forced military serv- was often very difficult. Most immigrants booked
ice, which in some nations could last for many years. passage in steerage, the most basic and cheapest
Others, especially Jews living in Poland and Russia, accommodations on a steamship. Edward Steiner, an
fled to avoid religious persecution. Iowa clergyman who posed as an immigrant in order
By the late 1800s, most European states had to write a book on immigration, described the miser-
made moving to the United States easy. Immigrants able quarters:
were allowed to take their savings with them, and
most countries had repealed old laws that had “ Narrow, steep and slippery stairways lead to it.
Crowds everywhere, ill smelling bunks, uninviting
forced peasants to stay in their villages and had
banned skilled workers from leaving the country. washrooms—this is steerage. The odors of scattered
At the same time, moving to the United States orange peelings, tobacco, garlic and disinfectants
offered a chance to break away from Europe’s class meeting but not blending. No lounge or chairs for
CHAPTER 10 Urban America 337

Anti-Immigration
Two Views of Immigration “Columbia’s Unwelcome Guests” shows another view of
The history of immigration to the United States has been both
immigration. In this 1885 cartoon, the figure of Columbia
celebrated and criticized. Many millions of immigrants arrived in
bars entry to anarchists, Socialists, and Communists who
the United States in the late 1800s. The newcomers sought oppor-
enter from the sewers of Europe’s darker society. Some of
tunity, enriched American culture, and caused concerns. Here,
the inscriptions on the column pedestal beside Columbia
two political cartoons address the immigration issue.
read “Anarchy is not liberty,” and “When a Man’s Rights End,
His Neighbor’s Begin.”
Pro-Immigration
Uncle Sam plays the role of Noah in this cartoon. As
immigrants file two by two into the safety of the ark, they
leave behind the dangers of Europe that are darkening the
sky. A sign lists some reasons people came to the United
States to begin a new life.
Learning From History

1. According to the cartoon, why were
people concerned about immigrants
coming to the United States?
2. Which cartoon best expresses your
own views on immigration today?
Why?
comfort, and a continual babble of tongues—this is

steerage. The food, which is miserable, is dealt out of
was . . . hurried through Ellis Island by the equivalent
huge kettles into the dinner pails provided by the of ‘step lively’ in every language of the earth.”
steamship company. When it is distributed, the In Ellis Island’s enormous hall, crowds of immi-
stronger push and crowd. . . .
” —quoted in World
grants filed past the doctor for an initial inspection.
“Whenever a case aroused suspicion,” an inspector
of Our Fathers wrote, “the alien was set aside in a cage apart from
the rest . . . and his coat lapel or shirt marked with
At the end of a 14-day journey, the passengers usu- colored chalk” to indicate the reason for the isolation.
ally disembarked at Ellis Island, a tiny island in New About one out of five newcomers was marked with
York Harbor. There, a huge three-story building an “H” for heart problems, “K” for hernias, “Sc” for
served as the processing center for many of the immi- scalp problems, or “X” for mental disability.
grants arriving on the East Coast after 1892. Newcomers who failed the inspection might be sepa-
rated from their families and returned to Europe.
Ellis Island Most immigrants passed through Ellis
Island in about a day. They would not soon forget their
GEOGRAPHY
hectic introduction to the United States. A medical
examiner who worked there later described how “hour Ethnic Cities Many of those who passed the Ellis
after hour, ship load after ship load . . . the stream of Island inspections settled in the nation’s cities. By the
human beings with its kaleidoscopic variations 1890s, immigrants made up significant percentages of

some of the country’s largest cities, including New wash dishes, clean windows,
York, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit. Jacob Riis, a paint and brass, polish the HISTORY
Danish-born journalist, observed in 1890 that a map knives and forks, etc., by
of New York City, “colored to designate nationalities, doing the things herself and Student Web
would show more stripes than on the skin of a zebra.” Activity Visit the
then overseeing my efforts to
In the cities, immigrants lived in neighborhoods American Republic
that were often separated into ethnic groups, such as
imitate her.
” Since 1877 Web site at
“Little Italy” or the Jewish “Lower East Side” in New —quoted in A Sunday tarvol2.glencoe.com
York City. There they spoke their native languages Between Wars and click on Student
and re-created the churches, synagogues, clubs, and Web Activities—
Another group of Asians, Chapter 10 for an
newspapers of their homelands.
the Japanese, also immi- activity on immigration.
How well immigrants adjusted depended partly
grated to the United States.
on how quickly they learned English and adapted to
Until 1900, however, their
American culture. Immigrants also tended to adjust
numbers remained small. Between 1900 and 1908,
well if they had marketable skills or money, or if they
large numbers of Japanese migrated to the United
settled among members of their own ethnic group.
States as Japan began building both an industrial
As many as one in three immigrants returned to
economy and an empire. Both developments dis-
Europe shortly after coming to the United States.
rupted the economy of Japan and caused hardships
Some had never planned to stay and had come sim-
for its people, thus stimulating emigration.
ply to make a little money before returning home.
Until 1910 Asian immigrants arriving in San
Reading Check Explaining How did immigration Francisco first stopped at a two-story shed at the
affect demographic patterns in the United States? wharf. As many as 500 people at a time were often
squeezed into this structure, which Chinese immi-
grants from Canton called muk uk, or “wooden house.”
In January 1910, California opened a barracks on
Asian Immigration to America Angel Island to accommodate the Asian immigrants.
Many Chinese immigrants began crossing the Most of the immigrants were young males in their
Pacific to arrive in the United States in the mid-1800s. teens or twenties, who nervously awaited the results
By that time, China’s population had reached about of their immigration hearings in dormitories packed
430 million, and the country was suffering from with double or triple tiers of bunks. This unpleasant
severe unemployment, poverty, and famine. delay could last for months. On the walls of the
The 1848 discovery of gold in California began to detention barracks, the immigrants wrote anony-
lure Chinese immigrants to the United States. Then, mous poems in pencil or ink. Some even carved their
in 1850, the Taiping Rebellion erupted in their home- verse into the wood.
land. This insurrection against the Chinese govern-
ment took some 20 million lives and caused such Reading Check Making Generalizations Why did
suffering that thousands of Chinese left for the Chinese immigrants come to the United States?
United States. In the early 1860s, as the Central
Pacific Railroad began construction of its portion of Angel Island Over 200,000 immigrants from Japan and China arrived on the
the transcontinental railroad, the demand for rail- West Coast during the late 1800s.
road workers further increased Chinese immigration.
Chinese immigrants mainly settled in western
cities, where they often worked as laborers or servants
or in skilled trades. Others worked as merchants.
Because native-born Americans kept them out of
many businesses, some Chinese immigrants opened
their own. To save enough to buy his own laundry, one
immigrant, Lee Chew, had to work for two years as a
servant:
“ I did not know how to do anything, and I did not

understand what the lady said to me, but she showed
me how to cook, wash, iron, sweep, dust, make beds,
The Resurgence of Nativism 1870s to fight Chinese immigration. The party won
seats in California’s legislature and made opposition
Eventually the wave of immigration led to
to Chinese immigration a national issue.
increased feelings of nativism on the part of many
Americans. Nativism is a preference for native-born Congress Passes New Immigration Laws Even
people and a desire to limit immigration. It had sur- though several presidents vetoed other laws that
faced earlier in the 1800s during another large wave would have stemmed the steady flow of new immi-
of immigration. In the 1840s and 1850s, it had grants, concern over unchecked immigration stim-
focused primarily on Irish immigrants. Now anti- ulated the passage of a new federal law. Enacted in
immigrant feelings focused on Asians, Jews, and 1882, the law banned convicts, paupers, and the
eastern Europeans. mentally disabled from immigrating to the United
Nativists opposed immigration for many reasons. States. The new law also placed a 50¢ head tax on
Some feared that the influx of Catholics from Ireland each newcomer.
and southern and eastern Europe would swamp the That same year, Congress passed the Chinese
mostly Protestant United States, giving the Catholic Exclusion Act. The law barred Chinese immigration
Church too much power in the American govern- for 10 years and prevented the Chinese already in the
ment. Many labor unions also opposed immigration, country from becoming citizens. The Chinese in the
arguing that immigrants would work for low wages United States did not accept the new law quietly. They
or accept work as strikebreakers, thus undermining protested that white Americans did not oppose immi-
American-born workers. gration by Italians, Irish, or Germans. Some Chinese
organized letter-writing campaigns, petitioned the
Nativists Organize In the Northeast and Midwest, president, and even filed suit in federal court.
increased feelings of nativism led to the founding of These efforts, however, proved fruitless.
two major anti-immigrant organizations. One, called Congress renewed the Chinese Exclusion Act in
the American Protective Association, was founded in 1892 and then made it permanent in 1902. In 1890
1887. The organization’s founder, Henry Bowers, the number of Chinese living in the United States
despised Catholicism and committed his group to totaled 105,000. By 1900 that total had dropped to
stopping Catholic immigration. Membership of the just above 74,000. In the 40 years after the passage of
organization peaked at about one million but declined the act, the Chinese population in the United States
rapidly after the economic recession of 1893 ended. continued to decrease. The act was not repealed
In the West, where sentiment against the Chinese until 1943.
was very strong, widespread racial violence erupted.
Denis Kearney, himself an Irish immigrant, organ- Reading Check Explaining Why did the federal
ized the Workingman’s Party of California in the government pass the Chinese Exclusion Act?
TM
TM

1. Define: steerage, nativism. 6. Analyzing Why did some Americans 8. Analyzing Political Cartoons
2. Identify: Ellis Island, Jacob Riis, Angel blame immigrants for the nation’s Compare the cartoons on page 338.
Island, Chinese Exclusion Act. problems? What conclusions can you draw about
3. Describe where most immigrants to the 7. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- American views on immigration in the
United States settled in the late 1800s. izer by listing reasons nativists opposed late 1880s? Why do you think various
4. Explain why nativist organizations immigration to the United States. people viewed immigration differently?
sought to limit immigration.
Reviewing Themes Reasons
Nativists Opposed
5. Geography and History What routes Immigration are an immigrant who arrived in the
did European and Asian immigrants country in the 1800s. Write a letter to a
take to get to the United States? relative in your home country describ-
ing your feelings during processing at
either Ellis Island or Angel Island.

Urbanization
During the three decades following the Organizing As you read about urbaniza- • Explain the technological developments
Civil War, the United States transformed tion in the United States in the late that made the growth of cities possible.
rapidly from a rural nation to a more 1800s, complete a graphic organizer sim- • Evaluate the role that political machines
urban one. ilar to the one below by filling in the played in urban politics in the late
problems the nation’s urban areas faced. 1800s.
Key Terms and Names
skyscraper, Louis Sullivan, tenement, Section Theme
political machine, party boss, George Government and Democracy Political
Plunkitt, graft, William M. “Boss” Tweed Urban bosses grew powerful in urban areas by
Problems
helping immigrants find work and
necessities.
✦1875 ✦1880 ✦1885 ✦1890

1874 1883 1885 1888 1890
“Boss” Tweed Brooklyn Bridge First steel girder construction Nation’s first electric trolley line Jacob Riis publishes
sentenced to prison completed used in building in Chicago opens in Richmond, Virginia How the Other Half Lives
With just $3.10 in his pocket, a young man from Wisconsin named Frank Lloyd Wright
wandered the streets of Chicago in the late spring of 1887. Sixteen years earlier, almost four
square miles of the city had burned in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Now the rebuilt city’s tower-
ing new buildings beckoned the young visitor who, within a few decades, would become one
of the most famous architects in the world.
In Chicago, Wright saw electric lights and cable cars for the first time. What surprised him
most about the big city, however, were the signs that seemed to be everywhere:
“ There were glaring signs on the glass shop-fronts against the lights inside, . . . HURRAH
signs. STOP signs. COME ON IN signs. HELLO signs set out before the blazing windows on
the sidewalks . . . food shops, barber shops, eating houses, saloons, restaurants, groceries,
laundries—and [they all] became chaos in a wilderness of Italian, German, Irish, [Polish],
Greek, English, Swedish, French, Chinese and Spanish names. . . .
Frank Lloyd
Wright
”
Americans Migrate to the Cities

During the three decades after the Civil War, the urban population of the United
States—those living in towns with a population of 2,500 or more—grew from
around 10 million in 1870 to over 30 million in 1900. New York City alone, which
had over 800,000 inhabitants in 1860, grew to almost 3.5 million by 1900. Frank
Lloyd Wright observed Chicago during an even faster growth period. The Midwestern
city swelled from 109,000 residents in 1860 to more than 1.6 million by 1900. The United
States had only 131 cities in 1840; by 1900 that number had risen to over 1,700.

Most of the immigrants who poured into the plumbing, plus many things to do and see, including
United States in the late 1800s lacked the money to museums, libraries, and theaters.
buy farms and the education to obtain higher-paying
Reading Check Explaining Why did rural
jobs. They therefore remained in the nation’s grow-
ing cities, where they toiled long hours for little pay Americans move to the cities in the late 1800s?
in the rapidly expanding factories of the United
States. Despite the harshness of their new lives, most The New Urban Environment
immigrants found that the move had still improved As millions of people flooded into the nation’s cities,
their standard of living. engineers and architects developed new approaches to
The United States offered immigrants a chance at housing and transporting such a large number of people.
social mobility, or moving upward in society. Although
only a few immigrants rose from poverty to great Skyscrapers As city populations grew, demand
wealth, many seized the opportunities the American raised the price of land, giving owners greater incen-
system offered and rose from the working class to the tive to grow upward rather than outward. Soon, tall
middle class. In much of Europe, on the other hand, steel frame buildings called skyscrapers began to
people born into a particular social class were expected appear on American skylines. Chicago’s ten-story
to stay there. Although some immigrants faced preju- Home Insurance Building, built in 1885, was the first
dice, most Americans accepted the idea that people in skyscraper, but other buildings quickly dwarfed it.
the lower classes could rise in society. The lack of a New York City boasted more skyscrapers than any
rigid class system in the United States gave immigrants other city in the world. With limited land, New
a degree of freedom they had never known before. Yorkers had to build up, not out.
Many rural Americans also began moving to the No one contributed more to the design of skyscrap-
cities at this time. Farmers moved to the cities ers than Chicago’s Louis Sullivan, whose students
because urban areas offered more and better-paying included Frank Lloyd Wright. Sullivan’s lofty struc-
jobs than did rural areas. Cities had much to offer, tures featured simple lines and spacious windows
too—bright lights, running water, and modern using new durable plate glass.
The Technology of Urbanization

Before the mid-1800s, few buildings exceeded four or five stories. To
make wooden and stone structures taller required enormously thick walls
in the lower levels.
By the late 1800s, steel companies were making girders capable of
bearing a building’s weight. Walls no longer had to support the build-
ing—a steel frame skeleton was all that was needed. Meanwhile, Elisha New York City’s
Otis invented the safety elevator in 1852, and by the late 1880s, the first Flatiron Building
electric elevators had been installed, making tall buildings practical.
Steel also changed the way bridges were built. New technology
enabled engineers to suspend bridges from steel towers using cables also
made of steel. Using this technique, John A. Roebling, a German
American engineer,
designed New York’s
Brooklyn Bridge—the
largest suspension bridge
in the world at the time it
was completed
in 1883.
Brooklyn Bridge
under construction
Mass Transit Various kinds of mass
transit developed in the late 1800s to
move huge numbers of people around in History
cities quickly. At first, almost all cities
relied on the horsecar—a railroad car Michael Pupin
pulled by horses. In 1890 horsecars 1858–1935
moved about 70 percent of urban traf- Many immigrants came to America
fic in the United States. seeking freedom. One example was
More than 20 cities, beginning with inventor Michael Pupin. As a young boy
San Francisco in 1873, installed cable in Hungary, Pupin became fascinated
cars, which were pulled along tracks with electricity after reading about Ben
Franklin’s experiments. He tried to
by underground cables. Then, in 1887, study in Prague, but anti-Jewish preju-
engineer Frank J. Sprague developed dice made it impossible. He decided
the electric trolley car. The following that only in America would he be free
year, Richmond, Virginia, opened the to study what he wanted. invent several important devices. He
country’s first electric trolley line. At age 16, Pupin headed to New improved the x-ray machine, making it
In the largest cities, congestion became York. Once there he took odd jobs, much more useful for doctors. He
including chopping wood and mowing invented one device that improved
so bad that engineers began looking for
hay, to pay for his education. Five years long-distance telephone transmissions
ways to move mass transit off the streets. later, he won a scholarship to Columbia and another device that helped tune
Chicago responded by building an ele- University. In 1889 Pupin became a radio transmissions. In addition, his
vated railroad, while Boston, followed by professor of electrical engineering at autobiography, From Immigrant to
New York, built America’s first subway Columbia University, and he went on to Inventor, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1924.
systems.
Reading Check Summarizing
What new technologies helped people in the late 1800s get to During this period, middle-class salaries were about
and from work? twice that of the average factory worker. In 1905 a col-
lege professor earned a middle-class salary of $1,100.
Separation by Class The Working Class The majority of American city

In the growing cities, wealthy people and the dwellers at the turn of the century would have con-
working class lived in different parts of town. So too sidered an eight-room house an absolute luxury. In
did the middle class. The boundaries between neigh- New York, three out of four residents squeezed into
borhoods can still be seen in many cities today. tenements, dark and crowded multi-family apart-
ments. To supplement the average industrial worker’s
High Society During the last half of the 1800s, the annual income of $490, many families sent their young
wealthiest families established fashionable districts in children to work in factories or rented precious space
the hearts of cities. Americans with enough money to a boarder. Zalmen Yoffeh, a journalist, lived in a
could choose to construct a feudal castle, an English New York tenement as a child. He recalled:
manor house, a French château, a Tuscan villa, or a
Persian pavilion. In Chicago, merchant and real estate
developer Potter Palmer chose a castle. In New York, “ With . . . one dollar a day [our mother] fed and
clothed an ever-growing family. She took in board-
Cornelius Vanderbilt’s grandson commissioned a ers. Sometimes this helped; at other times it added to
$3 million French château equipped with a two-story
the burden of living. Boarders were often out of work
dining room, a gymnasium, and a marble bathroom.
and penniless; how could one turn a hungry man
Middle-Class Gentility American industrialization out? She made all our clothes. She walked blocks to
not only made the wealth of people like Potter reach a place where meat was a penny cheaper,
Palmer possible; it also helped create a growing mid- where bread was a half cent less. She collected boxes
dle class. The nation’s rising middle class included
doctors, lawyers, engineers, managers, social work-
and old wood to burn in the stove. . . .
”
ers, architects, and teachers. It was typical for many —quoted in How We Lived
people in the emerging middle class to move away
from the central city. Some took advantage of the new Reading Check Explaining What social class grew
commuter rail lines to move to “streetcar suburbs.” as a result of industrialization in the late 1800s?
MOMENT
in HISTORY
TEEMING TENEMENTS
The swelling tide of immigra-
tion to U.S. cities in the late
1800s led to deplorable living
conditions and almost unbear-
able congestion. By 1890, more
than two-thirds of New York’s
1.5 million residents lived in
overcrowded apartment build-
ings called tenements. On the
Lower East Side, one of the
most densely populated areas
in the world, people frequented
vibrant outdoor markets such
as this one on Hester Street
for goods from eggs to rugs to
pots and pans. Gossip, haggling,
and cries of street peddlers—
mostly in Yiddish in this Jewish
neighborhood—echoed down
the street from dawn to dusk.
Urban Problems suffering to the wives and children of drunkards, and

fostering “the corruption of the child” by selling beer
City living posed threats such as crime, violence,
to minors.
fire, disease, and pollution, especially for the work-
Disease and pollution posed even bigger threats.
ing poor like Yoffeh and his family. The rapid growth
Improper sewage disposal contaminated city drink-
of cities only made these problems worse. Minor
ing water and triggered epidemics of typhoid fever
criminals, such as pickpockets, swindlers, and
and cholera. Though flush toilets and sewer systems
thieves, thrived in crowded urban living conditions.
existed in the 1870s, pollution remained a severe
Major crimes multiplied as well. From 1880 to 1900,
problem as horse waste was left in the streets, smoke
the murder rate jumped sharply from 25 per million
belched from chimneys, and soot and ash accumu-
people to more than 100 per million people. In com-
lated from coal and wood fires.
parison, the murder rate in 1999 was 57 per million
people. Reading Check Drawing Conclusions Why were
Native-born Americans often blamed immigrants diseases and pollution big problems in American cities in the
for the increase in crime and violence. In reality, the late 1800s?
crime rate for immigrants was not significantly
higher than that for other Americans.
Alcohol did contribute to violent crime, both
inside and outside the home. Danish immigrant Urban Politics
Jacob Riis, who documented slum life in his 1890 A new kind of political system developed to meet
book How the Other Half Lives, accused saloons of these urban problems. This system provided essen-
“breeding poverty,” corrupting politics, bringing tial city services in return for political power.

The Political Machine and the Party Boss The called “honest graft.” For example, a politician might
political machine, an informal political group find out in advance where a new park was to be built
designed to gain and keep power, came about partly and buy the land near the site. The politician would
because cities had grown much faster than their gov- then sell the land to the city for a profit. As Plunkitt
ernments. New city dwellers needed jobs, housing, stated, “I see my opportunity and I take it.”
food, heat, and police protection. In exchange for Outright fraud occurred when party bosses
votes, political machines and the party bosses who accepted bribes from contractors, who were supposed
ran them eagerly provided these necessities. to compete fairly to win contracts to build streets,
George Plunkitt, an Irish immigrant who rose to sewers, and buildings. Corrupt bosses also sold per-
be one of New York City’s most powerful party mits to their friends to operate public utilities, such as
bosses, explained how the system worked when a railroads, waterworks, and power systems.
fire burned a neighborhood:
Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, the New York
“ I just get [housing] for them, buy clothes for them
if their clothes were burned up, and fix them up till
Democratic political machine for which George
Plunkitt performed his labors, was the most famous
they get things runnin’ again. It’s philanthropy, but such organization. William M. “Boss” Tweed was its
it’s politics too—mighty good politics. Who can tell corrupt leader during the 1860s and 1870s. Tweed’s
corruption led him to prison in 1874.
how many votes one of these fires bring me? The
Other cities’ machines controlled all the city serv-
poor are the most grateful people in the world, and,
ices, including the police department. For example,
let me tell you, they have more friends in their neigh- St. Louis’s boss never feared arrest when he called
borhoods than the rich have in theirs.
” out to his supporters at the police-supervised voting
—quoted in In Search of America booth, “Are there any more repeaters out here that
want to vote again?” Based in Kansas City, Missouri,
As Plunkitt observed, the payoff for party bosses the Pendergast brothers, James and Thomas, ran state
came on Election Day. Urban immigrant groups, and city politics from the 1890s until the 1930s.
which wielded tremendous voting strength, voted in Opponents of political machines, such as political
overwhelming numbers for the political machines. cartoonist Thomas Nast, blasted bosses for their cor-
ruption. Defenders, though, argued that machines
Graft and Fraud The party bosses who ran the provided necessary services and helped to assimilate
political machines also controlled the city’s finances. the masses of new city dwellers.
Many machine politicians grew rich as the result of
fraud or graft—getting money through dishonest or Reading Check Evaluating Why did political
questionable means. Plunkitt defended what he machines help city dwellers in the late 1800s?
TM
TM

1. Define: skyscraper, tenement, political 5. Comparing Compare the conditions 7. Examining Photographs Study the
machine, party boss, graft. under which the wealthy class, the photographs on page 342 of the
2. Identify: Louis Sullivan, George middle class, and the working class Brooklyn Bridge and the Flatiron
Plunkitt, William M. “Boss” Tweed. lived in the United States in the late Building. Why was it advantageous
3. Explain what two technologies made 1800s. to construct taller buildings rather
the building of skyscrapers possible in 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- than purchase more land?
the late 1800s. izer similar to the one below by listing
the effects of many Americans moving Writing About History
Reviewing Themes from rural to urban areas in the late 8. Persuasive Writing Take on the role
4. Government and Democracy How 1800s. of an urban planner living in one of the
did political machines respond to the nation’s major cities in the late 1800s.
Effects
needs of the people? Write a letter to members of the city
Migration government listing specific reasons for
the importance of setting aside city
land for a park and recreational area.

Geography&History
HULL
HOUSE
The Hull House Neighborhood
S. HALSTED STREET
BUNKER STREET
DE KOVEN STREET
W. TAYLOR STREET
EWING STREET
W. POLK STREET
FORQUER STREET
W. 12th STREET
S. DES PLAINES STREET
S. JEFFERSON STREET
S. CLINTON STREET
Bohemian French Canadian Irish Russian

Chinese French Italian Scandinavian
English speaking German Polish Swiss
Non-residential
Chicago’s apartment buildings, or tenements,

were squeezed onto lots that measured 25 by
125 feet (7.6 by 38.1 m). These lots typically
held three families and their boarders. Unlike
New York City’s tenements, most were only two
or three stories tall.

Immigrants
Arrive In
Chicago
A
major port and a con- newcomers.The inset map at left—
duit for the nation’s an enlargement of the highlighted
east-west rail travel, rectangle on the lithograph—shows
Chicago was a boom- the Hull House neighborhood in
ing industrial center Chicago’s West Side in 1893. Hull
for the lumber, grain, meatpacking, House was established by social
and mail-order businesses at the end reformer Jane Addams to “investigate
of the 1800s. Since the early 1870s, and improve the conditions in the
more ships had been docking in industrial districts of Chicago.” The
Chicago than in New York, Baltimore, neighborhood was one of the city’s
Philadelphia, Charleston, and San poorest. Its tenement buildings
Francisco combined.The city’s expan- were disease-ridden and dangerous,
sion was phenomenal. In 50 years, it crowding about 270 residents into
grew from a modest frontier town to each acre. Jane Addams wrote:“The
the second-largest city in the country. streets are inexpressibly dirty, the
Immigrants swarmed into number of schools inadequate, sani-
Chicago seeking jobs. Poles found tary legislation unenforced, the street
work slaughtering livestock; Irish lay- lighting bad, the paving miserable and
ing railroads; Russian and Polish Jews altogether lacking in the alleys.”
making clothes; Swedes constructing The neighborhood was also
buildings and Italians forging steel. one of the most ethnically diverse.
Women established boardinghouses, As the inset shows, the bewildered
took in sewing to do at home, and new immigrants tended to settle
worked in factories. In most factories, in enclaves that had already been
the hours were long and the working established by others from their
conditions difficult: noisy, hot, grimy, homeland.They banded together as
and overcrowded. By the beginning of they learned about the ways of the
the 1900s, three-fourths of the people new land. Many immigrants found
in this teeming metropolis were comfort in social life centered on
European immigrants and their the church or synagogue.Younger
American-born children. immigrants were more eager to
Ethnic neighborhoods dotted abandon their old customs. Many
the city, as did blocks of tenements of them quickly adopted American
thrown up to house the flood of clothes and manners, learned to
speak English, and tried to make
American friends.

A visiting nurse puts
drops in an infant’s 1. How did the location of Chicago
eyes. Crowded condi- influence its development?
tions threatened the
health of many of the 2. Pose and answer five questions
immigrants in about the geographic distribution
Chicago’s tenements. and patterns shown on this model.

The Gilded Age
Industrialism and urbanization changed Categorizing Complete a graphic organ- • Evaluate the doctrine of Social
American society’s ideas and culture in izer similar to the one below by filling in Darwinism and the impact it had on
the late 1800s. the main idea of each of the theories and American industry.
movements listed. • Explain how industrialization promoted
Key Terms and Names leisure time and encouraged new forms
Gilded Age, Social Darwinism, Gospel of Theory or Movement Main Idea
of entertainment.
Wealth, philanthropy, realism, vaudeville, Social Darwinism
ragtime, Scott Joplin Laissez-Faire Section Theme

Gospel of Wealth Culture and Traditions The Gilded Age
Realism was an era of great cultural change in the
United States.
✦1870 ✦1880 ✦1890 ✦1900

1869 1884 1891 1899
The Cincinnati Red Stockings become Mark Twain publishes James Naismith Scott Joplin publishes
the first salaried baseball team Huckleberry Finn invents basketball “The Maple Leaf Rag”
In 1872, at the age of 32, William Graham Sumner became a professor of political and
social science at Yale College. Sumner’s classes were very popular. One of his students,
William Lyon Phelps, illustrated Sumner’s tough, no-nonsense approach with this example
of a class discussion:
Student: “Professor, don’t you believe in any government aid to industries?”

Sumner: “No! It’s root, hog, or die.”
Student: “Yes, but hasn’t the hog got a right to root?”
Sumner: “There are no rights. The world owes nobody a living.”
Student: “You believe then, Professor, in only one system, the contract-competitive
system?”
Sumner: “That’s the only sound economic system. All others are fallacies.”
Student: “Well, suppose some professor of political economy came along and took your
William Graham Sumner job away from you. Wouldn’t you be sore?”
Sumner: “Any other professor is welcome to try. If he gets my job, it is my fault. My busi-
ness is to teach the subject so well that no one can take the job away from me.”
—adapted from Social Darwinism in American Thought
A Changing Culture
In 1873 Mark Twain and Charles Warner wrote a novel together entitled The Gilded
Age. Historians later adopted the term and applied it to the era in American history that
begins about 1870 and ends around 1900.

This era was in many ways a time of marvels. Social Darwinism
Amazing new inventions led to rapid industrial
Another powerful idea of the era was Social
growth. Cities expanded to sizes never seen before.
Darwinism, which strongly reinforced the idea of
Masses of workers thronged the streets. Skyscrapers
individualism. English philosopher Herbert Spencer
reached to the sky, and electric lights banished the
first proposed this idea. Historian John Fiske, politi-
darkness. Newly wealthy entrepreneurs built spectac-
cal scientist William Graham Sumner, and the maga-
ular mansions.
zine Popular Science Monthly all popularized it in the
By calling this era the Gilded Age, Twain and
United States.
Warner were sounding an alarm. Something is gilded
if it is covered with gold on the outside but made of
cheaper material inside. A gilded age might appear to
Herbert Spencer Philosopher Herbert Spencer
applied Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and
sparkle, but Twain, Warner, and other writers tried to
natural selection to human society. In his 1859 book,
point out that beneath the surface lay corruption,
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,
poverty, crime, and great disparities in wealth
Darwin argued that plant and animal life had
between the rich and the poor.
evolved over the years by a process he
Whether the era was golden or merely gilded, it
called natural selection. In this
was certainly a time of great cultural activity.
process, those species that
Industrialism and urbanization altered the way
cannot adapt to the environ-
Americans looked at themselves and their society,
ment in which they live
and these changes gave rise to new values, new art,
gradually die out, while
and new forms of entertainment.
those that do adapt thrive
and live on.
The Idea of Individualism One of the strongest Spencer took this bio-
beliefs of the era—and one that remains strong logical theory, intended to
today—was the idea of individualism. Many explain developments over
Americans firmly believed that no matter how millions of years, and
humble their origins, they could rise in society and argued that human society
go as far as their talents and commitment would take also evolved through compe-
them. In 1885 the wealthy cotton manufacturer tition and natural selection.
Edward Atkinson gave a speech to a group of work- He argued that society
ers at a textile factory in Rhode Island. He told them Herbert Spencer
progressed and became better
they had no reason to complain: because only the fittest
people survived.
“ There is always plenty of room on the front seats
in every profession, every trade, every art, every
Spencer and others who shared his views became
known as Social Darwinists, and their ideas were
industry. . . . There are men in this audience who will known as Social Darwinism. “Survival of the fittest”
fill some of those seats, but they won’t be boosted became the catchphrase of their philosophy. By 1902
into them from behind.
” over 350,000 copies of Spencer’s books had been sold
in the United States.
—quoted in America’s History
Horatio Alger No one expressed the idea of indi-

vidualism better than Horatio Alger. A minister from
Massachusetts, Alger eventually left the clergy and
moved to New York. There he wrote more than 100
Horatio Alger novel
“rags-to-riches” novels, in which a poor person goes
to the big city and becomes successful. Many young
people loved reading these tales. Inspired by Alger’s
novels they concluded that no matter how many
obstacles they faced, success was possible.
Reading Check Describing What was the main idea
behind individualism?
Social Darwinism also paralleled the economic Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth A wealthy and
doctrine of laissez-faire that opposed any government prominent business leader of the time, Andrew
programs that interfered with business. Not surpris- Carnegie believed wholeheartedly in Social
ingly, industrial leaders like John D. Rockefeller Darwinism and laissez-faire. Speaking of the law of
heartily embraced the theory. Rockefeller maintained unregulated competition, he wrote:
that survival of the fittest, as demonstrated by the
growth of huge businesses like his own Standard Oil,
was “merely the working out of the law of nature and “ It ensures the survival of the fittest in every
department. We accept and welcome, therefore, as
the law of God.” conditions to which we must accommodate ourselves,
great inequality of environment, the concentration of
Darwinism and the Church Rockefeller may have
appreciated Spencer’s interpretation of evolution, business, . . . in the hands of a few, and the laws of
but Charles Darwin’s conclusions about the origin of competition . . . as being not only beneficial, but
new species frightened and outraged many devout
Christians as well as some leading scientists. They
”
essential for the future progress of the race.
—quoted in Voices from America’s Past
rejected the theory of evolution because they
believed it contradicted the Bible’s account of cre- Believing that those who profited from society
ation. Some American scholars and ministers, how- owed it something in return, Carnegie attempted to
ever, concluded that evolution may have been God’s extend and soften the harsh philosophy of Social
way of creating the world. Henry Ward Beecher of Darwinism with the Gospel of Wealth. This philoso-
Plymouth Church in Brooklyn called himself a “cor- phy held that wealthy Americans bore the responsi-
dial Christian evolutionist.” Beecher accepted bility of engaging in philanthropy—using their great
Spencer’s ideas of Social Darwinism and champi- fortunes to further social progress. Carnegie himself,
oned the success of American business. for example, donated millions of dollars as the
“trustee and agent for his
poorer brethren.” Other indus-
History Through Art trialists also contributed to
social causes. ; (See page 933 for
Baseball Players Practicing Thomas Eakins painted this work in 1875. A member of the Realist school of art, more information on the Gospel of
Eakins tried to depict everyday events in detail. What elements of this painting reflect the Realist movement?
Wealth.)
Reading Check
Summarizing What was the
main idea of Social Darwinism?
Realism
Just as Darwin had looked
at the natural world scien-
tifically, a new movement in
art and literature known as
realism attempted to portray
people realistically instead of
idealizing them as romantic
artists had done.
Realism in Art Realist paint-

ers rejected the idealistic
depictions of the world of the
earlier 1800s. One such
painter, Thomas Eakins of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
considered no day-to-day

subject beneath his interest and careful observation.
On his canvases, with their realistic detail and pre-
cise lighting, young men swam, surgeons operated,
and scientists experimented. Eakins even dared to
The Seventh-Inning Stretch This baseball tradi-
paint President Hayes working in shirtsleeves tion, where fans often stand up to stretch in the
instead of in more traditional formal dress. middle of the seventh inning, does
not have a completely reliable his-
Realism in Literature Writers also attempted to tory. One claim is that in 1869, all
capture the world as they saw it. In several novels, the Cincinnati Red Stockings players
William Dean Howells presented realistic descrip- stood during the seventh inning to
tions of American life. For example, his 1885 novel The seek relief from the hard wooden
Rise of Silas Lapham described the attempts of a self- benches on which they were sitting.
made businessperson to enter Boston society. Also an Another popular story asserts that in
influential literary critic, Howells was the first to claim 1910, President William Howard Taft
Mark Twain to be an American genius and hailed him stood to stretch himself; thinking
as “incomparable, the Lincoln of our literature.” that the president was leaving, fans
Twain, a Missouri native whose real name was at the Washington Senators game
Samuel Clemens, wrote his masterpiece, Adventures also stood out of respect.
of Huckleberry Finn, in 1884. In this novel, the title Moses Fleetwood Walker, early African
character and his friend Jim, an escaped slave, float American baseball player
down the Mississippi River on a raft. Through their
innocent eyes, readers gain a piercing view of
into separate units—that of work and that of home.
American society in the pre–Civil War era. Twain
Furthermore, people began looking for things to do
wrote in local dialect with a lively sense of humor.
outside the home and began “going out” to public
Nevertheless, Howells realized that Twain was more
entertainment.
than a humorist. He had written a true American
novel, in which the setting, subject matter, characters,
The Saloon As Frank Lloyd Wright had noted
and style were unmistakably American.
when he arrived in Chicago, the city’s saloons far
Howells also recognized talent in the work of a
outnumbered its groceries and meat markets.
very different writer, Henry James, who lived most
Functioning like community centers, saloons played
of his adult life in England. In novels such as Portrait
a major role in the life of male workers in the 1800s.
of a Lady (1881), James realistically characterized the
They also served as political centers. Saloonkeepers
inner lives of the upper class. Isabel Archer, the lady
often served as key figures in political machines.
of the title, reflects one of the prime values of her
Saloons offered free toilets, water for horses, and
class—the concern to maintain social position by
free newspapers for customers. They even offered the
marrying well. Ultimately Isabel’s wealth interferes
first “free lunch”: salty food that made patrons
with her ability to pursue her own happiness.
thirsty and eager to drink more. Saloons developed
Edith Wharton, who also concerned herself with
loyal customers. The first workers from the night
the upper class she knew, modeled her realistic writ-
shift would stream in at 5:00 A.M., and the last would
ing after those of James. She won a Pulitzer Prize for
stay until late at night.
her novel The Age of Innocence, a stark portrait of
upper-class New York society in the 1870s.
Amusement Parks and Sports While saloons
Reading Check Explaining What was the catered mostly to men, working-class families or
significance of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? single adults who sought excitement and escape
could go to amusement parks such as New York’s
Coney Island. Amusements there such as water
slides and railroad rides cost only a nickel or dime.
Popular Culture Watching professionals box or play baseball also
Popular culture changed considerably in the late first became popular during the late 1800s. A game
1800s. Industrialization improved the standard of liv- much like baseball, known as rounders and derived
ing for many people, enabling them to spend money from the game of cricket, had enjoyed limited pop-
on entertainment and recreation. Increasingly, urban ularity in Great Britain in the early 1800s. Versions
Americans, unlike rural people, divided their lives of the modern game of baseball began to appear in

the United States in the early 1800s.
As the game grew in popularity, it
became a source of profit. The first
salaried team, the Cincinnati Red
Stockings, was formed in 1869.
Other cities soon fielded profes-
sional teams, and in 1903 the first
modern World Series was played
between the Boston Red Sox and the
Pittsburgh Pirates.
The second most popular game,
football, appealed first to the upper
classes, in part because it began in pri-
vate colleges and universities that the
middle and working classes could not
afford. By the late 1800s, the game
had spread to public universities.
As work became less physically History
strenuous, many people looked for
leisure activities that involved physi- Ragtime Band This group of African American musicians traveled around the country playing
ragtime music at motion picture shows. What are some of the roots of ragtime music?
cal exercise. Lawn tennis, golf, and
croquet became popular. James
Naismith, a Canadian working as an athletic director Like vaudeville, ragtime music echoed the hectic
for a college in Springfield, Massachusetts, invented pace of city life. Its syncopated rhythms grew out of
the game of basketball in 1891. the music of riverside honky-tonk, saloon pianists,
and banjo players, using the patterns of African
Vaudeville and Ragtime The many people living American music. Scott Joplin, one of the most
in the cities provided large and eager markets for important African American ragtime composers,
other types of entertainment. Adapted from French became known as the “King of Ragtime.” He pub-
theater, vaudeville took on an American flavor in lished his signature piece, “The Maple Leaf Rag,”
the early 1880s with its hodgepodge of animal acts, in 1899.
acrobats, gymnasts, and dancers. The fast-
moving acts, like the tempo of big-city life, went on Reading Check Describing What importance did
in continuous shows all day and night. the saloon have in nineteenth-century life?
TM
TM

1. Define: philanthropy, realism, 5. Synthesizing Do you think the idea of 7. Examining Photographs Analyze the
vaudeville, ragtime. the Gospel of Wealth is still alive today? photograph at the top of this page. How
2. Identify: Gilded Age, Social Darwinism, Why or why not? does the clothing the musicians are
Gospel of Wealth, Scott Joplin. 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- wearing compare with the clothing
3. Describe how changes in art and izer similar to the one below by filling worn by musicians today?
literature reflected the issues and in new forms of entertainment that
characteristics of the late nineteenth Americans turned to in the late 1800s.
century. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
New are a newspaper editor in the late 1800s.
4. Culture and Traditions What were the Entertainment Write an editorial in which you support
defining characteristics of the Gilded
or oppose the philosophy of Social
Age?
Darwinism. Include reasons to support
your position.

The Rebirth of Reform
The pressing problems of the urban poor Taking Notes As you read about reform • Explain the methods that social critics
in the late 1800s and early 1900s eventu- movements in the United States in the advocated to improve society.
ally stimulated attempts to reform indus- late 1800s, complete an outline like the • Evaluate efforts to help the urban poor.
trial society. one below by listing the people whose
ideas influenced the movements. Section Theme
Key Terms and Names Individual Action Many middle- and
Henry George, Lester Frank Ward, The Rebirth of Reform upper-class individuals worked to soften
Edward Bellamy, naturalism, Jane I. Social Criticism social and economic inequality.
A.
Addams, settlement house, B.
Americanization C.
II. Naturalism in Literature
✦1880 ✦1885 ✦1890 ✦1895

1879 1881 1889 1893 1896
Henry George’s Progress Booker T. Washington Jane Addams founds Stephen Crane’s Maggie: National Association of
and Poverty published founds Tuskegee Institute Hull House A Girl of the Streets published Colored Women founded
On a drizzly March morning in 1893, a nursing student named Lillian Wald was teaching a
public health class to residents of New York’s poor Lower East Side. Suddenly a girl broke in,
disrupting the lesson. The child’s mother desperately needed a nurse. The interruption
changed Wald’s life. She followed the girl to a squalid tenement, where she found a family of
seven sharing their two rooms with boarders. The sick woman lay on a dirty bed. Wald later
wrote:
“ That morning’s experience was a baptism of fire. Deserted were the laboratory and the
academic work of the college. I never returned to them. . . . To my inexperience it seemed
certain that conditions such as these were allowed because people did not know, and for me
there was a challenge to know and to tell. . . . If people knew things,—and “things” meant
”
everything implied in the condition of this family,—such horrors would cease to exist. . . .
—quoted in The House on Henry Street
Lillian Wald In 1895 Wald and her friend Mary Brewster established the Henry Street Settlement. The
young nurses offered medical care, education, labor organization, and social and cultural pro-
grams to the neighborhood residents.
Social Criticism
The tremendous changes brought about by industrialism and urbanization triggered a
debate among Americans as to how best to address society’s problems. While many
Americans embraced the ideas of individualism and Social Darwinism, others disagreed,

arguing that society’s problems could be fixed only if however, in the midst of the poverty, crime, and
Americans and their government began to take a more harsh working conditions, many Americans did not
active role in regulating the economy and helping believe things were improving.
those in need. George offered a simple solution. Land, he argued,
was the basis of wealth, and people could grow
Henry George on Progress and Poverty In 1879 wealthy just by waiting for land prices to rise. George
journalist Henry George published Progress and proposed a “single tax” on this unearned wealth to
Poverty. His book quickly became a national best- replace all other taxes. He believed it would help
seller. “The present century has been marked by a make society more equal and also provide the gov-
prodigious increase in wealth-producing power,” ernment with enough money to help the poor.
George observed, which should have made poverty Economists have since rejected George’s economic
“a thing of the past.” Instead, he argued: theory. His real importance to American history is
that he raised questions about American society and
“ It becomes no easier for the masses of our
people to make a living. On the contrary it becomes
led the way in challenging the ideas of Social
Darwinism and laissez-faire economics. Many future
harder. . . . The gulf between the employed and the reform leaders first became interested in reform
employer is growing wider; social contrasts are because of George’s book.
becoming sharper; as liveried carriages appear, so do
Reform Darwinism
barefoot children.
” Four years after Henry
George challenged the ideas of Social Darwinism,
—from Progress and Poverty
Lester Frank Ward published Dynamic Sociology.
Most economists now argue that George’s analysis Ward took the ideas of Darwinism and used
was flawed. Industrialism did make some Americans them to reach a very different conclusion than
very wealthy, but it also improved the standard of Spencer had. He argued that human beings were
living for most other Americans as well. At the time, different from other animals in nature because they
In
Social Conditions: Past and Present Motion
High School Graduation Rates 31%
Death Rates for Specific Causes 6.4% Did Not
(per 100,000 people) Graduated
93.6% Graduate
400 Did Not 69%
Graduate Graduated
350
300 1900 1997
250 1900 1997
200
Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970;
150 Statistical Abstract of the United States.
100
50
0 Life Expectancy
100
is
lem ar
on d
co and
m t
tu nan
m an
los
ob ul
s
ia
or
1900 1997
pr vasc
liti
cu
eu a
itis
g
pn enz
ali
r
str
be
M
io
80 79.7
flu
Ga
Tu
rd
76.1 73.9 74.2

In
Ca
Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970;

66.1
60
In Years
Statistical Abstract of the United States.

47.3 46.6 48.7
40
32.5 33.5
20
1. Analyzing Graphs How many people per 100,000 0

died of tuberculosis in the year 1900? Total White White African African
2. Understanding Cause and Effect Collectively, what Male Female American American
Male Female
do these graphs tell you about social conditions as the
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970;
twentieth century progressed? Statistical Abstract of the United States.
had the ability to think ahead and make plans to
produce the future outcomes they desired.
Ward’s ideas came to be known as Reform
Darwinism. People, he insisted, had succeeded in the
world not because of their ability to compete but
because of their ability to cooperate. Ward believed
that competition was wasteful and time consuming.
Government, he argued, could regulate the economy,
cure poverty, and promote education more efficiently
than could competition in the marketplace. While
some disagreed with Ward’s conclusions, others did
think that government should do more to solve soci-
ety’s problems. Among these were the people who
became reformers in the late 1800s.
Looking Backward By the late 1880s, some critics

of Social Darwinism and laissez-faire economics had
moved to the opposite extreme. In 1888 Edward
Bellamy published Looking Backward, 2000–1887, a
novel about a young Bostonian who falls asleep in History
1887 and awakens in the year 2000 to find that the
Urban Poverty The impoverished lifestyle of many Americans like this mother
United States has become a perfect society with no and child in Chicago was a growing concern among social reformers. What
crime, poverty, or politics. In this fictional society, the organizations were created to help the urban poor?
government owns all industry and shares the wealth
equally with all Americans. Bellamy’s ideas were his wife are driven mad by greed and violence. Jack
essentially a form of socialism. His book quickly London’s tales of the Alaskan wilderness demon-
became a bestseller, and although few people were strated the power of the natural environment over
willing to go as far as Bellamy suggested, his ideas, civilization. Theodore Dreiser’s stories, such as Sister
like those of George and Ward, helped to shape the Carrie (1900), painted a world where people sinned
thinking of American reformers in the late 1800s. without punishment and where the pursuit of wealth
Reading Check Describing What were Lester Frank and power often destroyed their character.
Ward’s views on government? Reading Check Describing How did the beliefs of
naturalist writers differ from those of Social Darwinists?
Naturalism in Literature
Criticism of industrial society also appeared in Helping the Urban Poor
literature in a new style of writing known as While naturalist writers expressed pessimism
naturalism. Social Darwinists and realists argued about the individual’s life in an industrialized world,
that people could control their lives and make some critics of industrial society were working for
choices to improve their situation. Naturalists chal- reform. Their reform efforts gave rise to the Social
lenged this idea by suggesting that some people Gospel movement, the Salvation Army and the
failed in life simply because they were caught up in YMCA, women’s clubs, settlement houses, and tem-
circumstances they could not control. In other words, perance movements.
leaving society and the economy unregulated did not
always lead to the best result. Sometimes people’s The Social Gospel From about 1870 until 1920,
lives were destroyed through no fault of their own. reformers in the Social Gospel movement worked to
Among the most prominent naturalist writers better conditions in cities according to the biblical
were Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London, and ideals of charity and justice. An early advocate of the
Theodore Dreiser. Stephen Crane’s novel, Maggie, A Social Gospel, Washington Gladden, a minister from
Girl of the Streets (1893), told the story of a girl’s Columbus, Ohio, tried to apply what he called
descent into prostitution and death. Frank Norris’s “Christian law” to social problems. During a coal
work, McTeague (1899), described how a dentist and strike in 1884, for example, Gladden preached about

the “right and necessity of labor organizations,” welfare organization first organized in England by a
despite the fact that his congregation included top minister named William Booth. Adopting a military-
officers of the coal company. style organization, the group became known as the
Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist minister who Salvation Army in 1878. It offered practical aid and
spent nine years serving in a church in one of New religious counseling to the urban poor.
York City’s poorest neighborhoods, later led the Like the Salvation Army, the Young Men’s
Social Gospel movement. As he put it, “The Church Christian Association (YMCA) also began in England.
must either condemn the world and seek to change it, The YMCA tried to help industrial workers and the
or tolerate the world and conform to it.” Unlike urban poor by organizing Bible studies, prayer meet-
Social Darwinists, Rauschenbusch believed that com- ings, citizenship training, and group activities. In the
petition was the cause of many social problems, caus- United States, YMCAs, or “Ys,” quickly spread from
ing good people to behave badly. Boston throughout the country. YMCA facilities
The efforts of leaders like Gladden and included libraries, gymnasiums, swimming pools,
Rauschenbusch inspired many organized churches to auditoriums, and low-cost hotel rooms available on a
expand their missions. These churches began to take temporary basis to those in need.
on community functions designed to improve soci-
ety. Some of their projects included building gyms Revivalism and Dwight L. Moody One prominent
and providing social programs and day care. Others organizer of the American YMCA was Dwight L.
focused exclusively on helping the poor. Moody, who was president of the Chicago YMCA in
the late 1860s. A gifted preacher and organizer,
The Salvation Army and the YMCA The combina- Moody founded his own church in Chicago, today
tion of religious faith and interest in reform nour- known as Moody Memorial Church. By 1867 Moody
ished the growth of the Christian Mission, a social had begun to organize revival meetings in other
English Spelling Reform

Had Been Accepted?
In 1906 the Simplified Spelling Board suggested a list of
300 words that it thought needed to be simplified. For
example, it recommended spelling “axe” without the silent
“e.” The association also asked for more radical changes,
such as replacing the “-ed” at the end of past-tense verbs
with a “t.” Thus, “kissed” and “missed” would be “kisst” and
“misst.” “Thoroughly” would be simplified to “thoroly.”
Although the reforms were not accepted, they received
support from such famous people as Mark Twain and
President Theodore Roosevelt. After Roosevelt suggested
that the Government Printing Office adopt the new
spellings, Mark Twain tried to convince the Associated Press 1. Why do you think these spelling reforms were never
news agency to follow along: accepted?
2. Would English be easier for immigrants to learn and
“ If [you] will adopt and use our simplified
forms . . . [W]e shall be rid of . . . pneumonia understand if the reforms had been accepted? Why or
and . . . pterodactyl, and all those other insane words why not?
which no man . . . can try to spell. . . . What is the real
function . . . of language? Isn’t it merely to convey
ideas and emotions . . . ? [I]f we can do it with words
of fonetic brevity and compactness, why keep the pres-
ent cumbersome forms?
”
in History
Booker T. Washington George Washington
1856 –1915 Carver
Born enslaved on a plantation in 1864 –1943
Virginia, Booker T. Washington spent At about 10 years of age, George
his childhood working in the coal Washington Carver left his home in
mines of West Virginia. At age 16 he Missouri and began traveling on his
heard about the Hampton Institute in own. He worked as a servant, hotel
Virginia, where African Americans clerk, laundry worker, and farmhand
could learn farming or a trade. With in order to get a formal education. In
little money in his pockets, Washington 1894 he graduated from the Iowa
left home and walked nearly 500 miles State College of Agriculture and
to the school, where he was able to Mechanical Arts. Two years later, he became the director of agri-
work as a janitor to pay for his education. cultural research at the Tuskegee Institute, where he began experi-
After Washington completed his degree, Hampton hired him as menting with various crops.
an instructor in 1879. Two years later, Hampton’s founder, Samuel To help Southern sharecroppers overcome their problems of
Armstrong, asked Washington to organize an agricultural and depleted soil, poverty, and poor nutrition, Carver urged them to
industrial school for African Americans in Tuskegee, Alabama. The plant peanuts and soybeans. These plants restored the soil’s nitro-
Tuskegee Institute’s beginnings were modest. As Washington gen while providing extra protein in the farmers’ diets. To make
recalled, it began with 40 students and a “dilapidated shanty.” By peanut farming profitable, Carver developed over 300 industrial
1915 the school had over 100 buildings, about 2,000 students, and uses for peanuts, including flour, inks, dyes, wood stains, soap,
an endowment of nearly $2 million. Washington himself became and cosmetics. By 1940 his research had made the peanut the
a nationally known spokesperson for the African American South’s second most lucrative crop after cotton.
community.
American cities. In 1870 Moody met Ira Sankey, a English classes to hot lunches for factory workers.
hymn writer and singer. Together they introduced Their efforts helped shape the social work profession,
the gospel hymn into worship services in the United in which women came to play a major role.
States and Great Britain. Moody’s preaching and
Reading Check Summarizing What were the
Sankey’s hymns drew thousands of people to revival
meetings in the 1870s and 1880s. beliefs of Dwight L. Moody?
Moody strongly supported charities that helped the
poor, but he rejected both the Social Gospel and Social
Darwinism. He believed the way to help the poor was Public Education
not by providing them with services but by redeeming As the United States became increasingly indus-
their souls and reforming their character. trialized and urbanized, it needed more workers
who were trained and educated. The demand for
The Settlement House Movement In a way, the skilled workers led to a much greater focus on build-
settlement house movement was an offshoot of the ing schools and colleges in the late 1800s.
Social Gospel movement. It attracted idealistic
reformers who believed it was their Christian duty The Spread of Schools The number of public
to improve living conditions for the poor. During schools increased quickly after the Civil War. In 1870
the late 1800s, reformers such as Jane Addams around 6,500,000 children attended school. By 1900
established settlement houses in poor neighbor- that number had risen to over 17,300,000.
hoods. In these establishments, middle-class resi- Public schools were often crucial to the success of
dents lived and helped poor residents, mostly immigrant children. It was there the children usually
immigrants. became knowledgeable about American culture, a
Addams, who opened the famous Hull House in process known as Americanization. To assimilate
Chicago in 1889, inspired many more such settlements immigrants into American culture, schools taught
across the country, including the Henry Street immigrant children English, American history, and
Settlement run by Lillian Wald in New York City. The the responsibilities of citizenship. They also tried to
women who ran settlement houses provided every- instill discipline and a strong work ethic, values con-
thing from medical care, recreation programs, and sidered important to the nation’s progress.

technical education in the high schools provided stu-
dents with skills required in specific trades.
Expanding Higher Education Colleges also multi-

plied in the late 1800s, helped by the Morrill Land Grant
Act. This Civil War–era law gave federal land grants to
states for the purpose of establishing agricultural and
mechanical colleges. By 1900 land-grant colleges were
established across the Midwest. The number of stu-
dents enrolled expanded rapidly in this period. In 1870
Carnegie Library, Shelbyville, Indiana around 50,000 students attended college, but by 1890
the number had more than tripled to 157,000.
Traditionally, women’s educational opportunities
Americanization could also pose a problem for lagged behind men’s. Around this time, however,
immigrant children, however, because sometimes things began to change. The opening of private
parents worried that it would make the children for- women’s colleges such as Vassar, Wellesley, and
get their own cultural traditions. Smith, along with new women’s colleges on the cam-
Not everyone had access to school. In the rush to puses of Harvard and Columbia Universities, served
fund education, cities were way ahead of rural areas. to increase the number of women attending college.
Many African Americans, also, did not have equal
educational opportunities. To combat this discrimi- Public Libraries Like public schools, free libraries
nation, some African Americans started their own also made education available to city dwellers. One
schools. The leader of this movement was Booker T. of the strongest supporters of the public library
Washington, who founded the Tuskegee Institute in movement was industrialist Andrew Carnegie, who
Alabama in 1881. believed access to knowledge was the key to getting
ahead in life. Carnegie donated millions of dollars
Education for the Workplace City schools helped toward the construction of libraries all across the
immigrants assimilate, and they also helped future United States. These libraries, as well as the various
workers prepare for the jobs they hoped would lift educational and social reform movements that arose
their families out of poverty. The grammar school in the late 1800s, helped people cope with the harsher
system in city schools divided students into eight aspects of a newly industrialized society.
grades and drilled them in timely attendance, neat-
ness, and efficiency—necessary habits for success in Reading Check Explaining How did the United
the workplace. At the same time, vocational and States try to Americanize immigrants?
TM
TM

1. Define: naturalism, settlement house, 5. Analyzing What role do you think the 7. Analyzing Graphs Examine the graphs
Americanization. government should play in the econ- on page 354, and then develop a quiz
2. Identify: Henry George, Lester Frank omy? Give reasons to support your with questions based on specific infor-
Ward, Edward Bellamy, Jane Addams. opinion. mation found in the graphs. Include at
3. Describe the way naturalist writers por- 6. Categorizing Complete a chart like the least one broad question about a pat-
trayed the fictional characters in their one below by listing names and goals of tern you see. Give the quiz to some of
novels. reform movements that arose in the late your classmates.
1800s to help the urban poor. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
4. Individual Action How did the efforts Reform Movement Goals 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
of Jane Addams and Mary Brewster of an immigrant in the late 1800s. Write
help poor people in urban areas in the a diary entry in which you describe
late 1800s? your feelings about your children
becoming Americanized while attending
the local public school.

Critical Thinking
Hypothesizing
When you are reading new material, you may Using the steps just discussed and what you have
often encounter ideas and events that you do not read in the chapter, test the following hypotheses
immediately understand. One way to overcome and determine if they can be supported.
this difficulty is to make educated guesses about 1 Most immigrants who came to the United States
what happened. came in search of work.
2 Improved transportation led people to move to
Learning the Skill urban areas from rural areas.
When you read things that you do not under- 3 The general laissez-faire approach taken by the
stand, you probably make guesses about what the government toward growing cities was benefi-
material means. You may or may not have been cial to businesses and citizens.
able to prove these guesses, but you have taken a
step toward deciphering the information. This step
is called hypothesizing. When you hypothesize,
you form one or more hypotheses, which are
guesses that offer possible answers to a problem or
provide possible explanations for an observation.
When hypothesizing, follow these steps.
• Read the material carefully.
• Ask yourself what the material is actually saying.
To do this, try to put the material in your own
words.
• Determine what you might logically assume Students collaborating
from your guesses. Then form one or more
hypotheses. Skills Assessment
• Test each hypothesis to determine whether or not Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
it is correct. You can usually do this by asking page 361 and the Chapter 10 Skill Reinforcement
yourself questions that relate to your hypothesis Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
and then researching the answers.
• Based on your research, determine which
hypothesis, if any, provides an explanation for Applying the Skill
the information that you originally read.
Hypothesizing Reread the passage titled “The
Hypotheses are only preliminary explanations. Resurgence of Nativism” in Section 1. Using the facts
They must be accepted, rejected, or modified as that you are given in these paragraphs, form at least
the problem is investigated. Each hypothesis two hypotheses that may explain what is being
must be tested against the information gathered. described. Test each hypothesis, then select the best
Hypotheses that are supported by evidence can one. Which hypothesis did you choose? Why?
be accepted as explanations of the problem.
359
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 21. Analyzing Themes: Geography and History What factors
1. steerage 8. philanthropy led so many people to immigrate to the United States in the
late 1800s?
2. nativism 9. realism
22. Analyzing What methods did political machines use to build
3. skyscraper 10. vaudeville
support in the late 1800s?
4. tenement 11. ragtime
23. Evaluating Recall the problems facing city dwellers in the
5. political machine 12. naturalism late 1800s. What do you think is the biggest problem facing
6. party boss 13. settlement house people living in large cities today? How do you think the
7. graft 14. Americanization problem should be solved?
24. Interpreting Primary Sources Reaction in the United States
to “old” immigration was generally more favorable than
Reviewing Key Facts reaction to “new” immigration. Some people, however, still
favored all immigration. The following excerpt from an 1882
15. Identify: Ellis Island, Angel Island, Louis Sullivan, George
editorial in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle
Plunkitt, William M. (“Boss”) Tweed, Gilded Age, Herbert
addresses the effects of immigration on the nation.
Spencer, Lester Frank Ward, Jane Addams.
16. How did the Chinese in the United States react to the
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882? “ In the very act of coming and traveling to reach his
destination, he [the immigrant] adds . . . to the immedi-
17. What attempts did nativist groups make to decrease immi- ate prosperity and success of certain lines of
gration to the United States in the late 1800s?
business. . . . Not only do the ocean steamers . . . get
18. What problems did cities in the United States face in the late very large returns in carrying passengers of this descrip-
1800s? tion, but in forwarding them to the places chosen by the
19. What did realist authors such as Mark Twain and Henry immigrants as their future homes the railroad
James write about? companies also derive great benefit and their passenger
20. What movements in the late 1800s addressed urban problems? traffic is greatly swelled. . . .
Immigration and Internal Migration
Rapid Growth of Cities
Urban Problems of Poverty, Crime, and Disease
Nativism leads to immigration restrictions and violence Political machines develop to offer services to city
against immigrants. dwellers in exchange for votes.

HISTORY
Immigration’s Contribution to
Self-Check Quiz Population Growth, 1860–1900
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at 7
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— Total population
increase
Chapter 10 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. 6
Immigration
5
People (in millions)

. . . These immigrants not only produce
largely, . . . but, having wants which they cannot supply 4
themselves, create a demand for outside
supplies. . . . Thus it is that the Eastern manufacturer 3
finds the call upon him for his wares and goods growing
2
more urgent all the time, thus the consumption of coal
keeps on expanding notwithstanding the check to new 1
railroad enterprises, and thus there is a more active and
0
”
larger interchange of all commodities. . . .
1861– 1866– 1871– 1876– 1881– 1886– 1891– 1896–
a. According to the editorial, what kind of effect did immi- 1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 1895 1900
gration have on the nation’s economy? Year
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.
b. How is the editorial’s view of the effects of immigration
different from that of the nativists?
25. Organizing Complete a graphic organizer similar to the one
below by listing the new technologies that contributed to Geography and History
urban growth in the late 1800s. 29. The graph above shows how much immigration contributed
New to population growth in the United States between 1860 and
Technologies 1900. Study the graph and answer the questions below.
a. Interpreting Graphs By about how much did the popu-
Urban lation of the United States increase between 1861 and
Growth 1900?
b. Understanding Cause and Effect What is the relation-
Practicing Skills ship between immigration and population increase?
26. Hypothesizing Reread the passage titled “The Spread of
Schools” from Section 4. Using the information in this
passage, form a hypothesis that describes the availability of
education to people during this time. Write your hypothesis
down and research the topic. Then state whether or not your Standardized
hypothesis was correct. Test Practice
Writing Activity following question.
27. Descriptive Writing Find out about an individual in the Which of the following concepts is associated with both
1800s who experienced a “rags-to-riches” success story. You Social Darwinism and the Gospel of Wealth?
might use one of the business leaders or other individuals
A Philanthropy
discussed in the chapter. Write a brief sketch of the person,
describing how he or she became a success. B Natural selection
C Governmental regulation
Chapter Activity D Laissez-faire
28. American History Primary Source Document Library
Test-Taking Tip: Read the question carefully. Although
CD-ROM Read the article “The Need for Public Parks” by
Frederick Law Olmsted, under Reshaping the Nation. Then more than one answer may apply to either Social
work with a partner and create a design for a park that you Darwinism or the Gospel of Wealth, only one answer
think would meet the recreational needs of people in your applies to both.
community.

Politics and
Reform 1877–1896
Why It Matters
During this period, political parties often focused on party competition rather than on important
issues. Rural Americans were suffering economically, and they began to organize to obtain relief.
Many states passed laws segregating African Americans and limiting their voting rights.
The Impact Today

Events of this period remain significant today.
• To ensure fair hiring, a federal civil service system was created.
• Segregation created problems that Americans are still working to overcome.

The Chapter 11 video, “The 1893 Chicago World’s Fair,”
captures the feeling of this influential age.
1881
• President Garfield
assassinated
1877
• Farmers’ Alliance 1883
founded in Texas • Civil Service Act
adopted
▲ ▲
Hayes Garfield Arthur Cleveland
1877–1881 1881 1881–1885 ▲ 1885–1889
1876 1881 1886
▼ ▼ ▼
1878 1880 1884
• Russians defeat • France annexes • First subway in London
Turks in war over Tahiti
control of Balkans
362
Electioneering in a Country Town by E.L. Henry
1887
• Florida initiates Jim
Crow laws
• Interstate Commerce
Act adopted 1895 1896
1890 • Booker T. Washington • Democrats support
• Sherman Antitrust gives Atlanta Compromise free silver
Act passed speech
HISTORY
B. Harrison Cleveland
▲ 1889–1893 ▲ 1893–1897
▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
1894 information.
1893
• Sino-Japanese War
• France acquires
breaks out
a protectorate
over Laos
363
Stalemate in
Washington
From 1877 to 1896, the Republicans and Organizing As you read about the elec- • Explain why the Republicans and
Democrats were so evenly matched that toral politics of the 1880s, complete a Democrats were so evenly matched
only a few reforms were possible at the graphic organizer similar to the one during this period.
national level. below by filling in the ideals of each • Cite the economic problems of the
Republican Party faction listed. period and the basic viewpoints of each
Key Terms and Names political party.
patronage, Stalwarts, Pendleton Act, Stalwarts Halfbreeds
rebate, Interstate Commerce Commission Section Theme
Continuity and Change Political parties
relied on support from different groups
and regions of the country.
✦1881 ✦1884 ✦1887 ✦1890

1881 1883 1887 1890
Garfield assassinated; suc- Civil Service Act Interstate Commerce Sherman Antitrust Act
ceeded by Chester A. Arthur adopted Act adopted adopted
After the election of President James A. Garfield in 1880, many of his supporters tried
to claim the “spoils of office”—the government jobs that follow an election victory. One of
these job-seekers was Charles Guiteau. In the spring of 1881, Guiteau made daily trips to the
White House or State Department, repeatedly asking for a job. Finally, the night of May 18, he
had a crazed inspiration: “[I]f the president was out of the way,” he thought, “everything
would go better.” Unlike Garfield, Guiteau reasoned, Vice President Chester Arthur was com-
fortable with the old spoils system. Arthur would give him the position he deserved. On July
Pitcher depicting
2, 1881, Guiteau shot President Garfield in a train station near Capitol Hill. In a note left
James Garfield behind, Guiteau stated:
“ The President’s tragic death was a sad necessity, but it will unite the Republican party and
save the Republic. . . . I had no ill-will toward the President. His death was a political neces-
sity. I am a lawyer, theologian, and politician. I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. . . .
”
—quoted in Garfield
A Campaign to Clean Up Politics

For many, the assassination of President Garfield highlighted the need to work seriously
on reforming politics. Traditionally, under the spoils system, or patronage, government
jobs went to supporters of the winning party in an election. Many Americans believed the
spoils system prevented government from addressing the nation’s issues and corrupted
364 CHAPTER 11 Politics and Reform

those who worked for the government. By the late introduced in the 1870s and 1880s was the political
1870s, a movement to reform the civil service had system itself. The Republicans held a voting edge in
begun to build support. New England and the upper Midwest. As the party
that had preserved the Union and established pen-
Stalwarts and Halfbreeds When Rutherford B. sions for Civil War veterans, the Republicans had the
Hayes entered the White House in 1877, he attacked support of former Union soldiers and Americans
the practice of patronage by appointing reformers to who were strongly patriotic. In addition, Republicans
his cabinet and replacing officials who owed their had the support of big business and strong support
jobs to party bosses. His actions infuriated New York among farmers on the Great Plains. The Republicans
senator Roscoe Conkling, who, like other local bosses were also seen as the party of reform because they
of Republican political machines, was called a supported abolition, temperance, and other reforms.
“Stalwart” in the newspapers. Most Republicans were Protestants who viewed their
The Stalwarts were already angry with Hayes for party as the defender of traditional American morals
abandoning Reconstruction, because this abandon- and values.
ment allowed Democrats to regain full control of the While Republicans were sometimes seen as the
South. Conkling labeled the Republican reformers “party of morality,” Democrats portrayed themselves
“Halfbreeds.” He accused them of backing reform as the “party of personal liberty.” The Democrats
simply to create openings for their own supporters. dominated the South, where white voters remained
“They are wolves in sheep’s clothing,” he charged. anti-Republican following the Civil War and Recon-
“Their real object is office and plunder.” struction. The Democrats also enjoyed strong sup-
As the presidential election of 1880 approached, port in big cities, where large numbers of Catholics
Hayes honored his pledge not to seek a second term. and immigrants lived.
The Republicans nominated a mixed ticket—a From 1877 to 1896, these voting patterns gave the
Halfbreed, James Garfield, for president, and a Democrats an edge in the House of Representatives,
Stalwart, Chester A. Arthur, for vice president. where voters in each congressional district elected
Despite the party’s feud, its ticket managed to win
the election. A few months into his presidency, how-
History
ever, Garfield was assassinated.
National Tragedy A newspaper artist captured the attack on President Garfield.
The Pendleton Act Garfield’s assassination further Why was Charles Guiteau obsessed with the idea of killing the president?
excited public opinion against the spoils system. In
1883 Congress responded by passing the Pendleton
Act. This law allowed the president to decide which
federal jobs would be filled according to rules laid
down by a bipartisan Civil Service Commission.
Candidates competed for these jobs through exami-
nations, and appointments could be made only from
the list of those who took the exams. Once appointed,
a civil service official could not be removed for polit-
ical reasons.
Although President Arthur was a Stalwart, he sup-
ported the Pendleton Act. He placed 14,000 jobs
(about one-tenth of the total) under the control of the
civil service. The federal government had finally
begun to shift away from the spoils system.
Reading Check Explaining Why did Garfield’s
assassination highlight the need for political reform?
Two Parties, Neck and Neck

Although many people thought corruption pre-
vented the government from addressing the nation’s
problems, a major reason few new policies were
CHAPTER 11 Politics and Reform 365

In
WASH.
TERR. N.H.
MONT. VT. 4 ME.
TERR. MINN. 4 6
OREG. DAKOTA 7
3
IDAHO TERR. MASS.
WIS. N.Y. 14
TERR. WYO. 11 MICH. 36 R.I.
TERR. 13
NEBR. IOWA PA. 4
NEV. CONN.
3 UTAH 5 13
IND. OHIO 30 N.J. 6
ILL. 23 W.
CALIF. TERR. COLO. 22 15 VA. VA.
9
3 KANS. MO. KY. 6 12 DEL.
8 9 3
16 13 MD.
N.C.
ARIZ. UNORG. TENN. 12 11 8
N.M.
TERR. TERR. TERR. ARK. S.C.
7
MISS. ALA. GA. 9
9 10 12
TEXAS LA.
13 8
FLA.
4
Campaign ribbon

Electoral Popular
Cleveland 219 4,879,507 Democrat
Blaine 182 4,850,293 Republican 1. Interpreting Maps What regions did Blaine carry?
2. Applying Geography Skills Which three states do you
think each candidate most hoped to win? Why?
members directly. The Republicans had the upper
hand in the Senate, because state legislatures chose
senators and Republicans generally controlled a
majority of state governments. Democrats Reclaim the
Both parties were well organized to turn out the White House
vote in elections, and narrow margins decided most
presidential elections between 1876 and 1896. The elec- As the election of 1884 approached, Democrats
tions of 1880 and 1888 came down to the swing states saw their best chance to win the White House since
of New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, with their big before the Civil War. Republicans remained divided
blocks of electoral votes. Twice during this period, in over reform, and Democrats went after the votes of
1876 and 1888, a candidate lost the popular vote but pro-reform Republicans by nominating Governor
won the election. This happened because even if candi- Grover Cleveland of New York. Cleveland was an
dates win several states by slim popular vote margins, opponent of Tammany Hall, the corrupt Democratic
they still receive all the electoral votes in those states. political machine in New York City.
These narrow victories then give the candidate an Cleveland’s Republican opponent was James G.
Electoral College majority, regardless of the overall Blaine, a former speaker of the House of
popular vote count. Representatives and chairman of the Maine commit-
Although the Republicans won four of the six presi- tee of the Republican Party since 1859. Blaine was
dential elections between 1876 and 1896, the president wildly popular among party workers. When his
often had to contend with a House controlled by name was placed in nomination at the Republican
Democrats and a Senate dominated by Republicans convention in Chicago, delegates launched into a
who did not always agree with him on the issues. riotous celebration. The cheers “deepened into a roar
Furthermore, this was an era when local political fully as deafening as the voice of Niagara,” a witness
bosses, not the president, controlled the party. The reported. “The air quivered, the gas lights trembled
nearly even division of power produced political dead- and the walls fairly shook.”
lock at the federal level. The campaign was sensational and frenzied.
Because so many voters believed corruption was the
Reading Check Summarizing What were the results main problem in American government, they
of most presidential elections between 1876 and 1896? focused their attention on the personal morals of the

candidates. The wild show of support for Blaine office-seeking hangs over me and surrounds me,”
offended New York Evening Post editor Edwin L. he complained, “and makes me feel like resigning.”
Godkin, who called it a “disgrace to decency” and As the first elected Democratic president since
compared the celebration to a “mass meeting of 1856, he faced a horde of supporters who expected
maniacs.” Godkin disliked Blaine, who had been him to reward them with jobs. Mugwumps, on the
accused during the Crédit Mobilier scandal of profit- other hand, expected him to multiply the number of
ing financially from a political favor he did for the positions covered under the merit system. Cleveland
Union Pacific Railroad while serving as Speaker of chose a middle course and wound up angering both
the House in the 1870s. sides. Economic issues, however, soon overshad-
Some Republican reformers were so unhappy with owed the debate about political reform.
Blaine that they abandoned their party and supported
Cleveland. These renegade reformers became known as ECONOMICS
”Mugwumps,” from an Algonquian word meaning The Interstate Commerce Commission With
“great chiefs.” They thought of themselves as moral lead- greater industrialization and the growth of the labor
ers who were more concerned with helping the nation movement, unrest among workers was mounting
than with helping a particular political party. Mugwumps across the country. Many strikes occurred in this
believed that Blaine was too entrenched in the old system period, and police and paid guards sometimes
of politics to support their reform issues. Most attacked workers with clubs. This period of violence
Mugwumps came from New York and Massachusetts. culminated in 1886 when a bomb exploded at a labor
Cleveland, a bachelor, also faced moral criticism demonstration in Haymarket Square in Chicago.
during the campaign when a newspaper revealed that The power of large corporations also concerned
he had fathered a child 10 years earlier. Aides asked Americans. In particular, small businesses and farm-
Cleveland how they should respond to reporters seekers had become angry at the railroads. While large
ing to know more about this story, and he replied, corporations such as Standard Oil were able to nego-
“Tell the truth.” By admitting to the charge, Cleveland tiate rebates—or partial refunds—and lower rates
preserved his reputation for honesty and retained the because of the volume of goods they shipped, others
support of many Mugwumps. were forced to pay much higher rates. Although the
Blaine hoped that he could make up for the loss of high fixed costs and low operating costs of railroads
the Mugwumps by persuading Roman Catholics to caused much of this problem, many Americans
defect from the Democratic Party. His mother was an believed railroads were gouging customers.
Irish Catholic, and there were half a million Irish Neither Democrats nor Republicans moved
Americans in New York state alone at the time. quickly at the federal level to address these problems.
During the campaign, however, Blaine met with a
Protestant minister who denounced the Democratic
Party for its ties to Catholicism. Because Blaine was
slow to denounce the remark, he lost most of the Irish
American vote. To make matters worse for Blaine,
many pro-temperance Republicans in upstate New
York backed the candidate of the Prohibition Party,
which was dedicated to banning the sale of alcohol.
Cleveland won New York by a margin of about 1,000
votes out of more than 1,000,000 cast, and his victory
there decided the election.
Reading Check Describing From what sources did
Grover Cleveland gain support in the 1884 presidential election?
A President Besieged by Problems

Grover Cleveland was an easy-going man who Analyzing Political Cartoons
enjoyed the personal side of politics. Like his predeces- Difficult Passage In Greek mythology, Scylla and Charybdis were sea mon-
sors, he was shocked by the crowds that flocked to the sters who threatened the hero Odysseus from opposite sides of a narrow strait.
White House seeking jobs. “This dreadful . . . Why do you think the artist chose this image for Grover Cleveland in 1886?

History
Changing of the Guard Grover Cleveland delivers his inaugural speech in March 1885. His predecessor,
Chester Arthur, is seen at left. What were the major issues of this election?
Both parties believed that government should not because these taxes had the effect of raising the prices
interfere with corporations’ property rights, which of manufactured goods. While protecting weak
courts had held to be the same as those of individu- domestic manufacturing after the Civil War may
als. Many states had new laws regulating railroad have made sense, many questioned the necessity of
freight rates. In 1886, however, the Supreme Court maintaining high tariffs in the 1880s, when large
ruled in the case of Wabash v. Illinois that Illinois American companies were fully capable of compet-
could not restrict the rates that the Wabash Railroad ing internationally. High tariffs also forced other
charged for traffic between states because only the nations to respond in kind, making it difficult for
federal government could regulate interstate com- farmers to export their surpluses.
merce. ; (See page 965 for a summary of Wabash v. Illinois.) In December 1887, President Cleveland proposed
Public pressure forced Congress to respond to the lowering tariffs. The House, with a Democratic
Wabash ruling. In 1887 Cleveland signed the Inter- majority, passed moderate tariff reductions, but the
state Commerce Act creating the Interstate Commerce Republican-controlled Senate rejected the bill. With
Commission (ICC). This act was the first federal law Congress deadlocked, tariff reduction became a
designed to regulate interstate commerce. The legis- major issue in the election of 1888.
lation limited railroad rates to what was “reasonable
Reading Check Examining Why was the Interstate
and just,” forbade rebates to high-volume users, and
made it illegal to charge higher rates for shorter Commerce Commission unable to carry out its goals effectively?
hauls. The commission was not very effective in reg-
ulating the industry, however, because it had to rely
on the courts to enforce its rulings. Republicans Regain Power
The Republicans and their presidential candidate,
Debating Tariffs Another important economic Benjamin Harrison, received large contributions for
issue concerned tariffs. Although tariffs had been the 1888 campaign from industrialists who benefited
lowered slightly in the 1870s, they were still much from tariff protection. Cleveland and the Democrats
higher than in the years before the Civil War. Many campaigned against unnecessarily high tariff rates.
Democrats thought that Congress should cut tariffs In one of the closest races in American history,

Harrison lost the popular vote but won the electoral commerce among the several States.” The courts
vote with narrow victories in New York and Indiana. were responsible for enforcement, however, and
judges saw nothing in this vaguely worded legisla-
The McKinley Tariff The election of 1888 gave the tion that required them to make big companies
Republicans control of both houses of Congress as change the way they did business. In 1895, for
well as the White House. Using this power, the example, the Supreme Court agreed that the
party passed legislation to address points of American Sugar Refining Company was a trust,
national concern. One major piece of legislation was enjoying a nearly complete monopoly of sugar
McKinley’s tariff bill. Representative William manufacturing. Nevertheless, the Court ruled
McKinley of Ohio pushed through a tariff bill that the company’s actions did not violate the
that cut tobacco taxes and tariff rates on raw Sherman Antitrust Act because manufactur-
sugar but greatly increased rates on other ing was not interstate commerce. In the
goods, such as textiles, to discourage years following passage of the act,
people from buying those imports. businesses formed trusts and combi-
The McKinley Tariff lowered fed- nations at a great rate. In 1899
eral revenue and transformed the alone there were over 1,200
nation’s budget surplus into a recorded mergers in manufactur-
budget deficit. In 1890, furthering and mining firms. Like the
more, Congress passed a new ICC, the Sherman Antitrust
pension law increasing payments Act was more important for
to veterans and the number of vet- establishing a precedent than for
erans eligible to receive them. While its immediate impact.
securing more votes for the Repub- As the midterm congressional
licans, the new pension plan greatly election of 1890 approached, some
worsened the federal deficit. Harrison paper lantern Americans concluded that the two-party
system was incapable of solving the
The Sherman Antitrust Act The Republican-con- nation’s problems. That conviction was strongest
trolled Congress also responded to popular pres- among farmers, who felt exploited by banks and
sure to do something about the power of trusts, railroads and neglected by the government. They
large combinations of companies that dominated doubted that either the Democrats or the
certain markets. Senator John Sherman of Ohio Republicans would respond to their concerns.
introduced the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890,
which declared illegal any “combination in the form Reading Check Summarizing What were the
of trust . . . or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or results of the McKinley Tariff?
TM
TM

1. Define: patronage, rebate. 6. Interpreting Why was the Sherman 8. Examining Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Stalwart, Halfbreed, Interstate Antitrust Act ineffective? photograph on page 368. What similari-
Commerce Commission. 7. Organizing Use a graphic organizer ties do you see between Cleveland’s
3. Explain how the Pendleton Act created similar to the one below to list the era’s inauguration ceremony and the ones
civil service reform. economic problems and the Harrison we have today? Do you see any differ-
4. Describe the events leading to the administration’s solutions. ences between the ceremonies then
establishment of the Interstate The Harrison
and now?
Commerce Commission. Economic Administration’s
Problems Solutions
5. Continuity and Change What groups 9. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
and regions were strongholds for are seeking a federal job in the early
Republicans and Democrats in the 1880s. Write a letter to your congres-
1880s? Where is their support today? sional representatives urging them to
support or oppose the Pendleton Act.

N O T E B O O K
I N D I C AT O R S :
Livin’ in the City

Moving off the farm for a factory
job? Sharpen your pencil.
You’ll need to budget carefully
to buy all you will need.
Here are the numbers for a
Georgia family of four in 1890.
The husband is a textile worker,
and the wife works at home. There
is one child, age 4, and a boarder.
They share a two-room, wood-
heated, oil-lighted apartment.
INCOME: (annual)
BROWN BROTHERS
husband’s income . . . . . . .$312.00
boarder’s rent . . . . . . . . . . . .10.00
Eyewitness TOTAL INCOME . . . . . . . .$322.00
EXPENSES: (annual)
In his exposé of urban poverty, How the Other Half Lives (1890), medical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$65.00
JACOB RIIS documented the living conditions in New York City furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46.90
tenements: clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46.00
“The statement once made a sensation that between seventy and eighty rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21.00
children had been found in one tenement. It no longer excites even flour/meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25.00
passing attention, when the sanitary police report counting 101 adults hog products . . . . . . . . . . . .17.00
and 91 children in a Crosby Street house, one of twins, built together. other meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13.00
The children in the others, if I am not mistaken, numbered 89, a total vegetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13.00
of 180 for two tenements! Or when midnight inspection in Mulberry lard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.50
Street unearths a hundred and fifty “lodgers” sleeping on filthy floors in potatoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6.40
two buildings. In spite of brown-stone fittings, plate-glass and mosaic butter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.00
vestibule floors, the water does not rise in summer to the second story, sugar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.00
while the beer flows unchecked to the all-night picnics on the roof. The charitable donations . . . . . . . .6.10
saloon with the side-door and the landlord divide the prosperity of the vacation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.25
place between them, and the tenant, in sullen submission, foots the bill.” alcohol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.25
tobacco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.00
molasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.00
VERBATIM other food . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27.80
miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . .68.20
TOTAL EXPENSES . . . . . . .$382.40
“Tell ’em quick, and tell ’em often.” WILLIAM WRIGLEY,
soap salesman and promoter of chewing gum,
on his marketing philosophy
“to Agetpushing, energetic, ingenious person, always awake and trying

ahead of his neighbors.
” HENRY ADAMS,
historian, describing the average New Yorker or Chicagoan
“We cannot all live in cities, yet nearly all seem determined to do so.”
HORACE GREELEY,
newspaper editor

THE GILDED AGE: 1865–1896
Milestones NUMBERS
ON THE RUN, 1881. THE JESSE
JAMES GANG, after robbing a 1 in 12 Americans living in
Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific cities of 100,000 or more in 1865
train near Winston, Missouri,
and killing the conductor and
a passenger.
OVERTURNED, 1878. By the
Supreme Court, a Louisiana court
decision that awarded damages
to an African American woman
who had been refused admission
BROWN BROTHERS
to a steamship stateroom reserved
for whites.
PLAGUED BY GRASSHOPPERS,
1874. THE AMERICAN GREAT A crowded New York City street
PLAINS. Insect swarms a mile

wide blot out the midday sun. 1 in 5 Americans living
Two inches deep on the ground, in cities in 1896
they leave “nothing but the
mortgage,” as one farmer put it. 522 Inhabitants in a
CELEBRATED IN EUROPE, 1887. one-acre area in the Bowery,
ANNIE OAKLEY, star of Buffalo New York City
BROWN BROTHERS
Bill’s Wild West Show. Oakley

shot a cigarette from the lips $2 Daily wage for a farm
of Crown Prince Wilhelm of laborer, New York, 1869
Germany. Years later, when the
U.S. goes to war against Kaiser
Wilhelm, Oakley will quip: “I
Jesse James
REMOVED, 1884. IDA B.

$4 Daily wage for a
plumber, New York City, 1869
wish I’d missed that day!” WELLS, journalist and former
slave, from a ladies coach on a
train. Wells refused to move to
50¢ Price of a pair of boy’s
knee pants, a parasol, button
the smoking car where African boots, or a necktie (1870s)
Americans were to be seated.
ESTABLISHED, 1883. STANDARD
TIME. To accommodate the
$8 Price of a “Fine All-Wool
Suit,” 1875
railroad system, noon will no
longer be the moment in a given
locality when the sun stands
$3 Box seat for four at
Gilmore’s Concert Garden in
highest in the sky but, instead New York City
will be standard across four time
zones. Set your watches!
ARRESTED, 1872. SUSAN B.
4¢ Price for one pound
of fancy white rice, 1896
BROWN BROTHERS
ANTHONY, for casting a ballot

in Rochester, New York. Anthony
argued that the Fourteenth and
25¢ Admission to “Barnum’s
American Museum” (featuring
Fifteenth Amendments applied the smallest pair of human
Susan B. Anthony to women. beings ever seen!), 1896

Populism
In the 1890s an independent political Taking Notes As you read about the • Explain why farmers wanted a green-
movement called populism emerged to emergence of populism in the 1890s, use back currency and why the adoption of
challenge the two major parties. the major headings of the section to the gold standard led to the Farmers’
create an outline similar to the one Alliance.
Key Terms and Names below. • Describe who joined the Populist Party
populism, greenback, inflation, deflation, and what the party’s goals were.
Populism
Grange, cooperative, People’s Party, I. Unrest in Rural America
graduated income tax, goldbug, silverite, A. Section Theme
B.
William Jennings Bryan II.
Economic Factors Currency and credit
A. problems led to the rise of the Populist
B.
movement.
✦1865 ✦1875 ✦1885 ✦1895

1867 1873 1877 1890 1892
Grange founded Congress adopts a gold Farmers’ Alliance People’s Party National People’s
to aid farmers standard for currency founded in Texas formed in Kansas Party formed
On July 4, 1890, Leonidas L. Polk took a political gamble. He stepped up to make a speech
to a crowd of 6,000 in a small town in Kansas. Polk was a Southerner, a lifelong Democrat,
and a former Confederate soldier. He was not in friendly territory.
Polk had come to Kansas because he was now involved in a different kind of battle,
one that cut across the lines dividing Northerners from Southerners and Democrats from
Republicans. He was calling on farmers from both parties and both regions to unite for their
common good. Polk urged the crowd to reject the two-party system and join the emerging
movement that became known as populism:
“ I tell you this afternoon that from New York to the Golden Gate, the farmers have risen
up and have inaugurated a movement such as the world has never seen. It is a revolution of
Populist farmers gather in
thought. . . . The farmer of North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina is your
Dickinson County, Kansas
brother. . . . Some people have stirred up sectional feelings and have kept us apart for
twenty-five years. . . . They know that if we get together and shake hands . . . their doom is
sealed. . . . Congress could give us a bill in forty-eight hours that would relieve us, but Wall
”
Street says nay. . . . I believe that both of the parties are afraid of Wall Street.
—quoted in Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement in America
Unrest in Rural America

Populism was the movement to increase farmers’ political power and to work for
legislation in their interest. The economic crisis that drove farmers to embrace this
movement had its origins in the years immediately following the Civil War. A major

problem was that farm prices had dropped due to the federal government stopped printing greenbacks
new technology. Farmers were producing more and began paying off its bonds. In 1873 Congress also
crops, and greater supply tended to lower prices. At decided to stop making silver into coins.
the same time, high tariffs increased the cost of man- These decisions meant that the United States did
ufactured goods farmers needed and made it harder not have a large enough money supply to meet the
for farmers to sell their goods overseas. Farmers also needs of the country’s growing economy. In 1865, for
felt they were victimized by large and faraway enti- example, there was about $30 in circulation for each
ties: the banks from which they obtained loans and American, but by 1895 it had sunk to about $23. As
the railroads that set their shipping rates. The world the economy expanded, deflation—or an increase in
that farmers now dealt with was more and more one the value of money and a decrease in the general
of big business, and they felt they were losing power level of prices—began. As money increased in value,
and influence. prices began to fall.
The Money Supply One specific problem that Deflation Hurts Farmers Deflation hit farmers
greatly concerned farmers was the nation’s money especially hard. Most farmers had to borrow money
supply. To help finance the Union war effort, the for seed and other supplies to plant their crops.
United States Treasury had greatly expanded the Because money was in short supply, interest rates
money supply by issuing millions of dollars in began to rise, which increased the amount farmers
greenbacks—paper currency that could not be owed. For those who wanted to expand their farms,
exchanged for gold or silver coins. This rapid rising interest rates also made mortgages more
increase in the money supply without an accompa- expensive. The falling prices of the period of defla-
nying increase in goods for sale caused inflation, or a tion meant the farmers sold their crops for less.
decline in the value of money. As the paper money Nevertheless, they still had to make the same mort-
lost value, the prices of goods soared. gage payments to the banks.
After the Civil War ended, the United States had Realizing that their problems were due to a short-
three types of currency in circulation—greenbacks, age of currency, many farmers concluded that
gold and silver coins, and national bank notes backed Eastern bankers had pressured Congress into reduc-
by government bonds. To get inflation under control, ing the money supply. Some farmers called for the
History
Populist Territory This farm family in Nebraska represents the kind of people who typically supported
populism. Why did farmers dislike Eastern bankers?
printing of more greenbacks to expand the money less. Cooperatives pooled farmers’ crops and held
supply. Others, particularly those living in the West them off the market in order to force up prices.
where new silver mines had been found, wanted the Because a cooperative controlled a large quantity of
government to begin minting silver coins. They farm products, it could also negotiate better shipping
referred to the decision to stop minting silver as “The rates with the railroads.
Crime of ’73.” Increasingly, farmers realized that if
they were going to convince the government to meet The Grange Fails None of the strategies the
their demands, they needed to organize. Grangers employed improved farmers’ economic
condition. Several western states passed “Granger
The Grange Takes Action In 1866 the United States laws” setting maximum rates and prohibiting rail-
Department of Agriculture sent Oliver H. Kelley to roads from charging more for short hauls than for
tour the rural South and report on the condition of the long ones. The railroads fought back by cutting serv-
region’s farmers. Realizing how isolated the farmers ices and refusing to lay new track until the laws were
were from each other, the following year, Kelley repealed. The 1886 Supreme Court ruling in Wabash
founded the nation’s first national farm organization, v. Illinois then greatly limited the states’ ability to reg-
the Patrons of Husbandry, better known as the Grange. ulate railroads by ruling that states could not regu-
At first Grangers got together largely for social late commerce that crossed state lines. ; (See pages
and educational purposes. Then, in 1873, the nation 368 and 965 for more information on Wabash v. Illinois.)
plunged into a severe recession, and farm income fell Meanwhile the Greenback Party failed to gain
sharply. Farmers looking for help joined the Grange much public support. Many Americans were very sus-
in large numbers. By 1874 the Grange had between picious of paper money. They did not believe it would
800,000 and 1.5 million members. hold its value, and they considered the Greenback
Grangers responded to the crisis in three ways. Party’s proposal to print more paper money danger-
Some pressured state legislatures to regulate railroad ous for the economy. The Grange’s cooperatives also
and warehouse rates, which they believed were too failed, partly because they were too small to have any
high. Others joined the Independent National Party. effect on prices, and partly because Eastern businesses
This new political party, nicknamed the Greenback and railroads considered them to be similar to
Party, wanted the government to print more green- unions—illegitimate conspiracies in restraint of
backs to increase the money supply. Grangers also trade—and refused to do business with them. By the
pooled their resources and tried to create late 1870s, membership in the Grange had begun to
cooperatives—marketing organizations that worked fall, as farmers moved to other organizations that they
for the benefit of their members. hoped would better address their problems.
One of the reasons farmers could not charge
higher prices for their crops was that there were so
many farmers in competition. If a farmer raised The Farmers’ Alliance
prices, a buyer could always go elsewhere and pay Even as the Grange began to fall apart, a new
organization, known as the Farmers’ Alliance, began
to form. The Farmers’ Alliance began in Lampasas
Farmers’ Alliance This small band of farmers met in a cabin in County, Texas, in 1877. By 1885 it had built a substan-
Lampasas County, Texas, to form the Farmers’ Alliance.
tial following throughout the state. The following
year, Charles W. Macune became the leader of the
Alliance. Macune called for the organization to begin
recruiting farmers outside of Texas.
The Alliance Grows During the late 1880s, Alliance

members traveled across the South and West speak-
ing to farmers and organizing local chapters. By 1890
the Alliance had between 1.5 and 3 million members.
Its support was very strong in the South and on the
Great Plains, particularly in Kansas, Nebraska, and
North and South Dakota.
When Macune became the leader of the Alliance,
he also announced a plan to organize very large
cooperatives that the Alliance called exchanges.
History
Hard Labor Southern farmers spent long hours working in their fields. Harvesting cotton (left) and husking corn
(right) were family activities that were done by hand with no expensive mechanical equipment. What do you
notice about the ages of the group husking corn?
Macune hoped these exchanges would be big enough The Subtreasury Plan Most Southern leaders of
to force farm prices up and to make loans to farmers the Alliance, including Charles Macune, opposed the
at low interest rates. The exchanges had some suc- idea of a third party. They did not want to undermine
cess. The Texas Exchange successfully marketed cot- the Democrats’ control of the South. Instead, Macune
ton at prices slightly higher than those paid to suggested that the Alliance produce a list of demands
individual farmers, while the Illinois Exchange nego- and promise to vote for candidates who supported
tiated slightly better railroad rates for wheat farmers. those demands. He hoped this strategy would force
the Democrats to adopt the Alliance program.
The People’s Party Despite their temporary suc- As part of this strategy, Macune introduced the
cess, the large cooperatives failed for several reasons. subtreasury plan, which called for the government to
Many overextended themselves by loaning too much set up warehouses called subtreasuries. Farmers
money at low interest rates that was never repaid. In would store the crops in the warehouses, and the
many cases, wholesalers, manufacturers, railroads, government would provide low-interest loans to the
and bankers discriminated against them, making it farmers. Macune believed that the plan would allow
difficult for them to stay in business. The exchanges farmers to hold their crops off the market in large
also failed because they still were too small to dra- enough quantities to force prices up. He hoped that
matically affect world prices for farm products. the Democrats would adopt the subtreasury plan and
By 1890 the failure of the Alliance to fix farmers’ thereby win farmers’ votes.
problems had started a power struggle within the
organization. Some Alliance leaders, particularly in
Reading Check Explaining How did the Farmers’
the Western states, wanted to form a new party and Alliance try to help farmers?
push for political reforms. Members of the Kansas
Alliance formed the People’s Party, also known as
the Populists, and nominated candidates to run for The Rise of Populism
Congress and the state legislature. Alliances in In 1890 members of the Farmers’Alliance met in
Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota quickly fol- Ocala, Florida, and issued what came to be known as
lowed Kansas’s example. the Ocala Demands. These demands were intended

to guide farmers in choosing whom to vote for in Despite their promises, few Democrats followed
1890. The demands called for the adoption of the sub- through by supporting the Alliance program, either
treasury plan, the free coinage of silver, an end to at the state or the federal level.
protective tariffs and national banks, tighter regula- In May 1891, Western populists met with some
tion of the railroads, and direct election of senators labor and reform groups in Cincinnati. The meeting
by voters instead of by state legislatures. endorsed the creation of a new national People’s
To prevent farmers from voting for Populists, the Party to run candidates for president. Only a few
Republicans in Congress, led by Senator John Southerners attended the convention. By the follow-
Sherman, pushed through the Sherman Silver ing year, however, it had become obvious to many
Purchase Act of 1890. This act authorized the United Southern members of the Alliance that the Democrats
States Treasury to purchase 4.5 million ounces of sil- were not going to keep their promises to the Alliance.
ver per month. It put more money into circulation By early 1892 many Southern farmers had reached the
and may have reduced the deflation slightly, but it point where they were willing to break with the
did little to help the farmers. Democratic Party and join the People’s Party.
The midterm elections of 1890 seemed to suggest
that both the Southern and Western strategies had A Populist for President In July 1892, the People’s
worked for the farmers. In the South, four gover- Party held its first national convention in Omaha,
nors, all Democrats, were elected after promising to Nebraska. There, members officially organized their
support the Alliance program. Several Southern leg- party and nominated James B. Weaver to run for
islatures now had pro-Alliance majorities, and over president. Weaver was a former Union Army General
40 Democrats who supported the Alliance program who had run for president before as the candidate of
were elected to Congress. Meanwhile, the new the Greenback Party. The Omaha convention also
People’s Party did equally well in the West. endorsed a platform, or program, that spelled out the
Populists took control of the Kansas and Nebraska party’s positions in strong terms. First of all, the
legislatures. Populists also held the balance of Omaha platform denounced the government’s
power in Minnesota and South Dakota. Eight refusal to coin silver as a “vast conspiracy against
Populists were elected to the U.S. House of mankind.” To increase the money supply, it called for
Representatives and two to the Senate. a return to unlimited coinage of silver at a ratio that
gave 16 ounces of silver the same value as 1 ounce of
The South Turns to Populism At first Southern gold. Other platform planks called for federal owner-
members were excited over their success in electing ship of railroads and a graduated income tax, one
so many pro-Alliance Democrats to Congress and that taxed higher earnings more heavily.
Southern state legislatures, but over the next two Above all, the Populists wanted to strengthen the
years, their excitement turned into frustration. hand of government so that it could defend the pub-
lic against what they saw as greedy
and irresponsible private interests.
“We believe that the powers of gov-
in History ernment—in other words, of the
people—should be expanded,” the
platform stated, “as rapidly and as far
Mary Ellen Lease Lease’s blunt as the good sense of an intelligent
1853–1933 style, however, people and the teachings of experi-
Mary Ellen Lease, a former school- appealed to ence shall justify.”
teacher and daughter of an Irish politi- Kansas farmers.
Although the Populists also
cal refugee, earned a law degree while “Wall Street owns
raising four children on the Kansas the country,” she adopted proposals designed to appeal
frontier. She was one of the most pas- declared. “It is no to organized labor, workers found it
sionate speakers for the People’s Party longer a government of the hard to identify with the rural
in Kansas during the 1890 election people, for the people, by the people, Populists. The Populists did have
campaign. Political opponents nick- but a government of Wall Street, for close ties to the Knights of Labor, but
named her “Mary Yellin” and criticized Wall Street, and by Wall Street.” Lease that organization was in decline,
the tall and forceful Lease for acting in urged farmers to spend less time rais-
an “unfeminine” manner by speaking ing crops and more time campaigning while the fast-growing American
in public. against the banks and railroads. Federation of Labor steered clear of
an alliance with them. The Omaha

MOMENT
in HISTORY
HARD LIFE ON
THE PLAINS
English-born immigrant farmer
David Hilton and his family
proudly pose beside their
pump organ on their home-
stead in Nebraska.The organ,
their prized possession, had
been rescued from the Hiltons’
sod-built dugout after the roof
collapsed. Farm families on the
sparsely-settled, treeless plains
had to cope with isolation as
well as a variety of natural haz-
ards, including dust storms,
tornadoes, erratic rainfall, and
the occasional plague of
destructive insects that could
strip entire fields of crops in a
matter of hours.
platform took positions popular with labor, includ- market on Wall Street crashed, and banks closed their
ing calling for an eight-hour workday, restricting doors. By 1894 the economy was deep in a depression.
immigration, and denouncing strikebreaking, but About 690,000 workers went on strike that year,
most urban workers still preferred to remain within and more than 4.6 million more were unemployed,
the Democratic Party. approximately 18 percent of the workforce.
Democrats retained support in Northern cities by
nominating the popular New Yorker, Grover Goldbugs and Silverites The Panic of 1893 also cre-
Cleveland, who was seeking to return to the White ated a crisis for the United States Treasury. Many
House after his close defeat in 1888. The South also American and European investors owned U.S. govern-
remained solidly Democratic, despite determined ment bonds, but as the economy worsened, they began
efforts by Populists. When the votes were counted, cashing in their bonds for gold. This caused gold to
Cleveland had won a resounding victory in the drain out of the U.S. Treasury and left the federal gov-
Electoral College, with 277 votes to 145 for Harrison. ernment’s gold reserves at a dangerously low level.
The Populist candidate, James Weaver, had done Although President Cleveland could not stop the
remarkably well, winning four states and splitting flow of gold to redeem bonds, he could protect the
two others for a total of 22 electoral votes. government’s reserves in another way. Gold was
also being lost every time people exchanged silver
The Panic of 1893 Not long after Cleveland’s inau- for gold under the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
guration in 1893, the nation plunged into the worst Unlike many Democrats, Cleveland believed the
economic crisis it had ever experienced. The panic United States should use gold as the basis for its cur-
began in March when the Philadelphia and Reading rency, not silver or paper money. In June 1893, he
Railroads declared bankruptcy. Many railroads had summoned Congress into a special session and
expanded too rapidly in the period before the panic pushed through the repeal of the Sherman Silver
and now found it hard to repay their loans. The stock Purchase Act.

History
Campaigns in Contrast In 1896 Democrat William Jennings Bryan (left)

ran an energetic campaign for president, traveling far and wide. Republican
William McKinley (right) campaigned from the front porch of his Canton,
Ohio, home. How did their campaign styles work out? Bryan’s Campaign William Jennings Bryan, a for-
mer member of Congress from Nebraska, was only
36 years old when the Democrats and Populists nom-
Cleveland’s actions split the Democratic Party into inated him for president. Bryan had served in
two factions, nicknamed “goldbugs” and “sil- Congress for two terms as a representative from
verites.” The goldbugs believed the American cur- Nebraska. He was a powerful speaker, and he won
rency should be based only on gold, while silverites the nomination by delivering an electrifying address
believed coining silver in unlimited quantities would in defense of silver, one of the most famous in
solve the nation’s economic crisis. American political history. He began by telling dele-
gates that he had come to speak “in defense of a
Reading Check Summarizing What was the main
cause as holy as the cause of liberty—the cause of
outcome of the Populist campaign in the elections of 1892? humanity.” With a few well-chosen words, Bryan
transformed the campaign for silver into a crusade:
The Election of 1896 “ Having behind us the producing masses of this

nation and the world, supported by the commercial
As the election of 1896 approached, leaders of the
People’s Party decided to make the silver issue the interests, the laboring interests and the toilers every-
focus of their campaign. They also decided to hold where, we will answer their demand for a gold stan-
their convention after the Republican and dard by saying to them: You shall not press down
Democratic conventions. They believed the upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns; you
Republicans would endorse a gold standard, which
they did. They also expected the Democrats to nomi-
shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.
”
—quoted in America in the Gilded Age
nate Cleveland again and hoped that when the
People’s Party strongly endorsed silver, pro-silver Bryan waged an unusually energetic campaign for
Democrats would abandon their party and vote for the presidency, traveling thousands of miles and mak-
the Populists in large numbers. ing 600 speeches in 14 weeks. Some found his relent-
Unfortunately for the Populists, their political strat- less campaigning undignified, however, and his
egy failed. The Democrats did not waffle on the silver crusade in favor of silver alienated others. Catholic
issue. Instead, they nominated William Jennings immigrants and other city-dwellers cared little for the
Bryan, a strong supporter of silver. When the silver issue. They did not like Bryan’s speaking style
Populists gathered in St. Louis for their own conven- either. It reminded them of rural Protestant preachers,
tion, they faced a difficult choice: endorse Bryan and who were sometimes anti-Catholic.
risk undermining their identity as a separate party, or Republicans knew that Bryan would be hard to
nominate their own candidate and risk splitting the beat in the South and the West. To regain the White
silver vote. They eventually decided to support Bryan. House, they would have to sweep the Northeast and

the Midwest. They thought that William McKinley states he carried had large
of Ohio, a former governor and member of Congress, populations or delivered HISTORY
was the candidate who could do it. many electoral votes. By
embracing populism and its Student Web
The Front Porch Campaign In sharp contrast to the rural base, Bryan and the Activity Visit the
hectic travels of Bryan, McKinley stayed at his home Democrats lost the Northern American Republic
in Canton, Ohio. He conducted what the newspapers industrial areas where votes Since 1877 Web site at
called his “Front-Porch Campaign” by meeting with were concentrated. tarvol2.glencoe.com
various delegations that came to visit him. and click on Student
Meanwhile, across the Midwest and Northeast, the Populism Declines Op- Web Activities—
Republican Party launched an intensive campaign on position to the gold-based Chapter 11 for an
McKinley’s behalf. currency dwindled during activity on political
The Republicans campaigned against the McKinley’s time in office. changes in the late
Democrats by blaming Cleveland’s administration The depression was over, 1800s.
for the depression and promising workers that and prospectors found gold
McKinley would provide a “full dinner pail.” This in Canada in 1896 and in
meant a lot more to most urban workers than the Alaska in 1898. That wealth, combined with new
issue of silver money. At the same time, most busi- gold strikes in South Africa and other parts of the
ness leaders supported the Republicans, convinced world, increased the money supply without turning
that unlimited silver coinage would ruin the country. to silver. This meant that credit was easier to obtain
They donated huge sums of money to the Republican and farmers were less distressed. In 1900 the United
campaign. Many employers warned their workers States officially adopted a gold-based currency when
that if Bryan won, businesses would fail, unemploy- Congress passed the Gold Standard Act.
ment would rise, and wages would be cut. When the silver crusade died out, the Populists
McKinley’s reputation for moderation on labor lost their momentum. Their efforts to ease the eco-
issues and tolerance toward different ethnic groups nomic hardships of farmers and to regulate big busi-
helped improve the Republican Party’s image with ness had not worked. Some of the reforms they
urban workers and immigrants. When the votes favored, however, came about in the next century,
were counted, McKinley had won a decisive victory. including the graduated income tax and some gov-
He captured 51 percent of the popular vote and had ernmental regulation of the economy.
a winning margin of 95 electoral votes—hefty num-
bers in an era of tight elections. As expected, Bryan Reading Check Evaluating What were the results of
won the South and most of the West, but few of the the 1896 presidential election?
TM
TM

1. Define: populism, greenback, inflation, 5. Analyzing How did the Farmers’ 7. Analyzing Photographs Examine the
deflation, cooperative, graduated Alliance contribute to the rise of a new photograph of David Hilton and his family
income tax, goldbug, silverite. political party? on page 377, showing them with an
2. Identify: Grange, People’s Party, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer organ they rescued from a collapsed sod
William Jennings Bryan. similar to the one below to list the fac- house. Why do you think it was so impor-
3. List the issues that the Democrats tors that contributed to the Panic of tant for them to rescue the organ?
endorsed in the 1896 presidential 1893 and its effects on the nation.
election.
Factors Effects on
Reviewing Themes Contributing to Nation Writing About History
4. Economic Factors What economic 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine you sup-
problems caused farmers to support port the Populist Party and that you have
Panic
populism? of 1893 been asked to write copy to be used in a
campaign poster for your party’s candi-
dates. Include a slogan that provides rea-
sons for people to support the Populists.

The Rise of Segregation
In the late 1800s, Southern states passed Organizing As you read about the South • Discuss how African Americans in the
laws that denied African Americans the in the 1890s, complete a web diagram South were disfranchised and how seg-
right to vote and imposed segregation on like the one below by listing ways that regation was legalized.
them. states disfranchised African Americans • Describe three major African American
and legalized discrimination. leaders’ responses to discrimination.
Key Terms and Names
sharecropper, poll tax, grandfather Section Theme
clause, segregation, Jim Crow laws, lynch- Individual Action African Americans
ing, Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois Factors Contributing stood up to fight against discrimination in
to Discrimination
the United States.
✦1885 ✦1890 ✦1895 ✦1900

1886 1887 1890 1895
Colored Farmers’ Florida passes Mississippi introduces Booker T. Washington pro-
National Alliance formed Jim Crow laws voting restrictions poses Atlanta Compromise
In the fall of 1892, H.S. Doyle, a young African American preacher, defied Georgia’s
power structure—dominated by whites and Democrats—by giving more than 60
speeches on behalf of a white Populist, Tom Watson, who was running for Congress.
Doyle took that risk because Watson was doing something almost unbelievable for a
Southern politician. He was urging poor whites and blacks to unite against the wealthy
white elite. “You are kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings,”
Watson told a racially mixed audience at one gathering. “The accident of color can
make no difference in the interests of farmers.”
Shortly before the election, Doyle himself received a death threat. Watson offered
the preacher refuge in his home and alerted supporters in the area. An estimated 2,000
Populists gathered there with guns in hand. The crowd then marched to the local court-
Tom Watson house, where Watson vowed to protect Doyle and other African American Populists.
“We are determined in this free country that the humblest white or black man that wants to
talk our doctrine shall do it,” he declared, “and the man doesn’t live who shall touch a hair of
his head, without fighting every man in the People’s Party.”
—adapted from Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel
Resistance and Repression

For H.S. Doyle and other African Americans, the violence of the election of 1892 was not
something they could shrug off. They could see that some Southern leaders were beginning
to devise ways to keep them from voting. In the end, even Watson would betray his African

American supporters. He became a political boss in Alliance leaders urged African Americans to form a
Georgia, cast aside his former ideals, and used crude similar organization. In 1886 African American
racist rhetoric to appeal to white voters. farmers gathered in Texas at the home of a white
After Reconstruction, many African Americans in minister named R.M. Humphrey and formed the
the rural South lived in conditions that were little Colored Farmers’ National Alliance. By 1890 the
better than slavery. They were technically free, but organization had an estimated 1.2 million members.
few escaped from grinding poverty. Most were The Colored Farmers’ National Alliance worked
sharecroppers, landless farmers who had to hand to help its members economically by setting up coop-
over to the landlord a large portion of their crops to eratives. When the Populist Party formed in 1891,
cover the cost of rent, seed, tools, and other supplies. many African American farmers joined the new
They were always in debt. Many eventually left organization. They hoped that the new People’s
farming and sought jobs in Southern towns or Party would unite poor whites and poor blacks to
headed west to claim homesteads. challenge the Democratic Party’s power in the South.
Exodus to Kansas In 1879, 70-year-old Benjamin Crushing the Populist Revolt Populism posed a
“Pap” Singleton, himself formerly enslaved, took new challenge to the Democratic Party in the South.
action to escape the conditions of the rural South. He If enough poor whites left the party and joined with
organized a mass migration of thousands of African African American Populists, the coalition might
Americans from the rural South to Kansas. The news- become unbeatable.
papers called it “an Exodus,” like the Hebrews’ To win back the poor white vote, Democratic lead-
escape from Egyptian bondage. The migrants them- ers began appealing to racism, warning whites that
selves came to be known as “Exodusters.” One of support for Populists or joint Republican-Populist
them later explained why they went: “The whole parties would return the South to “Black Republican”
South—every State in the South—had got into the rule similar to Reconstruction. In addition, although
hands of the very men that held us as slaves.” A jour- many African Americans in the South were still able
nalist named Henry King described the scene when to vote as of 1890, election officials began using vari-
the first group reached Kansas: ous methods to make it harder and harder for them
to do so. As one Democratic leader in the South told a
“ One morning in April, 1879, a Missouri steamboat
arrived at Wyandotte, Kansas, and discharged a load
reporter, “Some of our people, some editors espe-
cially, deny that [African Americans] are hindered
of negro men, women and children, with . . . barrels, from voting; but what is the good of lying? They are
boxes, and bundles of household effects. . . . [T]heir interfered with, and we are obliged to do it, and we
garments were incredibly patched and tattered . . . may as well tell the truth.”
and there was not probably a dollar in money in the Reading Check Examining Who were the
pockets of the entire party. The wind was eager, and
Exodusters, and why did they migrate to Kansas in 1879?
they stood upon the wharf shivering. . . . They
looked like persons coming out of a dream. And,
indeed, such they were . . . for this was the
advance guard of the Exodus.
”
—quoted in Eyewitness:
The Negro in History
Forming a Separate Alliance While

some African Americans fled the South,
others joined with poor white farmers
who had created the Farmers’ Alliance.
History
A Kansas Home Many African Americans

left the rural South to find a new life. They
usually began with very little. Why were
they called Exodusters?
Disfranchising
African Americans in History
The Fifteenth Amendment prohib-
ited states from denying citizens the Mary Church Terrell
right to vote on the basis of “race, 1863–1954
color, or previous condition of servi- Few African American women who
grew up in the late 1800s had as many
tude.” However, it did not bar the gov-
advantages in life as Mary Church
ernments from requiring that citizens Terrell. Her father, the son of a wealthy
be literate or own property in order to white man and an enslaved woman,
vote. Using this loophole, Southern had invested shrewdly in real estate in
states began imposing restrictions that the South after the Civil War and
barred nearly all African Americans became one of the nation’s first African
from voting, even though the restric- American millionaires. He spared no
expense for his daughter’s education.
tions seemed on the surface to apply to After she graduated from Oberlin organization offered day care and other
both races. College in 1884, he sent her to Europe services to the many African American
Mississippi took this step first in to travel and study. women who worked to support their
1890 by requiring that all citizens regis- She could easily have remained in families while raising children.
tering to vote pay a poll tax of $2, a Europe where there were fewer racial Terrell continued to promote the
sum beyond the means of most poor barriers to overcome than in the United welfare of African Americans until the
States, but Terrell chose to return last years of her life. In 1950, at the age
African Americans. Mississippi also
home, she said, “to promote the wel- of 86, she demanded service at a segre-
instituted a literacy test, requiring that fare of my race.” She taught at an gated restaurant in Washington, D.C.
prospective voters be able to read or African American high school in When the owner refused, she filed a
understand the state constitution. Washington, D.C., and in 1896 became lawsuit and won a ruling in the
More than half of all African the first president of the National Supreme Court that desegregated
Americans who came of age in the Association of Colored Women. The restaurants in the nation’s capital.
South after the Civil War were illiter-
ate, and the literacy rate for those who
had grown up under slavery was less than 20 percent.
Even those who knew how to read often failed the lit- Legalizing Segregation
eracy test because local officials deliberately picked Discrimination in the late 1800s was not confined
complicated passages that few could understand. to the South. African Americans in the North had
Other Southern states later adopted similar restric- often been barred from many public places used by
tions, and the results were devastating. In Louisiana whites. In the South, segregation, or separation of the
the number of African Americans registered to vote races, was different because laws enforced and per-
fell from about 130,000 in 1890 to around 5,300 in petuated the discrimination. The statutes enforcing
1900. In Alabama the number fell from about 181,000 segregation were known as Jim Crow laws. The term
to around 3,700. probably came from the name of a character popular-
Election officials were far less strict in applying the ized by a slavery-era blackface minstrel—a white
poll tax and literacy requirements to whites, but the musical stage performer who darkened his face with
number of white voters also fell significantly. Local makeup and crudely imitated supposed African
Democratic Party leaders were not sorry to see poor American behavior.
whites barred from voting, because they had helped In 1883 the Supreme
fuel the Populist revolt. Some states gave whites a Court set the stage for
special break, however, by including a so-called legalized segregation by
grandfather clause in the restrictions. The grand- overturning the Civil
father clause in Louisiana allowed any man to vote if Rights Act of 1875. That
he had an ancestor on the voting rolls in 1867. The law had prohibited keep-
clause made almost all formerly enslaved Louisiana ing people out of public
citizens ineligible to vote. places on the basis of race,
and it also prohibited racial
Reading Check Identifying How did Southern discrimination in selecting Segregation sign from the
states restrict African American voting in the 1890s? jurors. White authorities turn of the century

challenged the law in both the North and the South.
The 1883 Supreme Court decision, however, said that
the Fourteenth Amendment only provided that “no
state” could deny citizens equal protection under
the law. Thus, only state actions were subject to chal-
lenge. Private organizations and businesses, such
as hotels, theaters, and railroads, were free to practice
segregation.
Encouraged by the Supreme Court’s ruling and by
the decline of congressional support for civil rights,
Southern states passed a series of laws that enforced
segregation in virtually all public places. Southern
whites and African Americans could no longer ride
together in the same railroad cars, eat in the same
dining halls, or even drink from the same water foun-
tains. Restrooms, hotels, and swimming pools were
all segregated.
In 1892 an African American named Homer
Plessy challenged a Louisiana law that forced him
to ride in a separate railroad car from whites. He
was arrested for riding in a “whites-only” car and
brought to trial before criminal court judge John H.
Ferguson. Ferguson rejected Plessy’s argument that
the law was unconstitutional. In 1896 the Supreme History
Court, in Plessy v. Ferguson, upheld the Louisiana
law and expressed a new legal doctrine endorsing Crusading Journalist Ida B. Wells, seen here with her son, campaigned
fiercely against lynching in the 1890s. What two factors did Wells believe
“separate but equal” facilities for African Amer-
to be behind lynchings?
icans. ; (See page 964 for more information on Plessy v.
Ferguson.) greed, not just racial prejudice, was often behind
The ruling established the legal basis for discrimi- these brutal acts. Writing in the Memphis Free Speech
nation in the South for more than 50 years to come. newspaper, she reported that three African American
While public facilities for African Americans in the grocers lynched in Memphis had been guilty of noth-
South were always separate, they were far from ing more than competing successfully against white
equal. In many cases, they were inferior. grocers.
A mob destroyed the press that printed the
Racial Violence Even worse than the Jim Crow laws Memphis Free Speech and drove Wells out of town,
was the brutality leveled against African Americans. but she settled in Chicago and continued her cam-
In the late 1800s, mob violence increased in the United paign. In 1895 she published a book denouncing
States, particularly in the South. Between 1890 and mob violence against African Americans and
1899, there was an average of 187 lynchings—execu- demanding “a fair trial by law for those accused of
tions without proper court proceedings—carried out crime, and punishment by law after honest convic-
by mobs each year. Over 80 percent of the lynchings tion.” Although Congress rejected an anti-lynching
occurred in the South, and nearly 70 percent of the bill, the number of lynchings decreased significantly
victims were African Americans. in the 1900s due in great part to the efforts of
Reading Check Summarizing How did the activists such as Wells.
Supreme Court help to legalize segregation?
A Call for Compromise Some African American
leaders like Wells chose the path of protest, but oth-
ers recommended different solutions to discrimina-
The African American Response tion. One such person was the influential educator
In 1892 Ida B. Wells, a fiery young African Booker T. Washington. He proposed that African
American woman from Tennessee, launched a fear- Americans concentrate on achieving economic
less crusade against lynching. Wells pointed out that goals rather than legal or political ones. In 1895

privileges that will come to us must be the result of
History severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial
forcing. . . . It is important and right that all privileges
African American Activist
W.E.B. Du Bois opposed the of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that
Atlanta Compromise. What we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges.
issue was of particular concern The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now
to Du Bois?
is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend
a dollar in an opera-house.
”
–adapted from Up From Slavery
Voice of the Future The Atlanta Compromise

speech provoked a strong challenge from W.E.B.
Du Bois, the leader of a new generation of African
“color discrimination American activists born after the Civil War. Du Bois
pointed out in his 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk
is barbarism” that white Southerners continued to strip African
—W.E.B. Du Bois Americans of their civil rights. This was true in
spite of the progress African Americans were mak-
ing in education and vocational training. They
could regain that lost ground and achieve full
he summed up his views in a speech before a equality, Du Bois argued, only by demanding their
mostly white audience at the Cotton States and rights. Du Bois was particularly concerned with
International Exposition in Atlanta. Known as the protecting and exercising voting rights. “Negroes
Atlanta Compromise, the address came amid must insist continually, in season and out of
increasing acts of discrimination against African season,” he wrote, “that voting is necessary to
Americans. Washington urged his fellow African proper manhood, that color discrimination is bar-
Americans to postpone the fight for civil rights and barism.” In the years that followed, many African
instead concentrate on preparing themselves edu- Americans worked to win the vote and end dis-
cationally and vocationally for full equality: crimination. The struggle, however, would prove to
be a long one.
“ The wisest among my race understand that the
agitation of questions of social equality is the Reading Check Describing How did Ida B. Wells
extremest folly, and that the enjoyment of all the attempt to stop the lynching of African Americans?
TM
TM
Reviewing Themes Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

1. Define: sharecropper, poll tax, grand- 5. Examining After Reconstruction, why 7. Analyzing Photographs Examine the
father clause, segregation, Jim Crow did many African Americans in the photograph of an “Exoduster” family
laws, lynching. South live in conditions that were little on page 381. Pose questions about the
2. Identify: Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois. better than slavery? photograph to your classmates in a
3. Explain what happened to Ida B. Wells 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer quiz and then have them answer the
after she began campaigning against similar to the one below to list the questions.
lynching. responses of some prominent African
Americans to racial discrimination.
4. Individual Action Why did Homer African American Response to Discrimination
8. Expository Writing Imagine that you
Plessy challenge a Louisiana law in Ida B. Wells
are living in the 1890s. Write a letter to
1892, and what was the significance of Booker T. Washington
the editor of the local newspaper
his action? W.E.B. Du Bois
explaining your view of the Supreme
Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson.

Critical Thinking
Interpreting Points of View

Why Learn This Skill? that, if protection has
Suppose you want to see a new movie, but your slain its thousands, the
friends’ opinions range from “terrific” to “boring.” gold standard has slain
People often have different opinions about the its tens of thousands. . . .
same people, events, or issues because they look at Having behind us the
them from different points of view. producing masses of this
nation and the world,
supported by the com-
Learning the Skill
mercial interest, the
A point of view results from one’s own beliefs laboring interests, and
and values. Many factors affect an individual’s the toilers everywhere, we
point of view, including age, gender, racial or will answer their demand
ethnic background, economic class, and religion. for a gold standard by
To judge the accuracy or the objectivity of an saying to them: You shall
argument, you must first identify the speaker’s not press down upon the
point of view. brow of labor this crown
To interpret point of view in written material, of thorns, you shall not Cartoon portraying
gather background information on the author that crucify mankind upon a William Jennings Bryan
might reveal his or her point of view. Identify cross of gold.
aspects of the topic that the author chooses to em-
phasize or exclude. Look for emotionally charged 1 What subject is Bryan addressing? What group
words such as charming, vicious, heartwarming, and is he speaking for?
drastic. Also notice metaphors and analogies that 2 What is Bryan’s point of view?
imply an opinion, such as, “If this budget can 3 What emotionally charged words and phrases
work, then pigs can fly.” does Bryan use in his speech? How does this
language help reveal his point of view?
Read the following excerpts from William Skills Assessment
Jennings Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” speech. Then Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
answer the questions. page 387 and the Chapter 11 Skills Reinforcement
The humblest citizen in all the land, when clad in the Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts
of error. I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as
holy as the cause of liberty—the cause of humanity. . . . Applying the Skill
When you come before us and tell us that we are about Interpreting Points of View In a newspaper or
to disturb your business interest, we reply that you have magazine, find an editorial or letter to the editor that
disturbed our business interests by your course. . . . We expresses a point of view on an issue. Write a para-
say not one word against those who live upon the Atlantic graph analyzing the author’s point of view. Compare it
coast, but the hardy pioneers who have braved all the dan- to your own and explain why you agree or disagree
gers of the wilderness, who have made the desert to blos- with the author.
som as the rose . . . it is for these that we speak. . . .
If they ask us why it is that we say more on the money Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
question than we say upon the tariff question, I reply CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
385
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 22. Analyzing Themes: Economic Factors Why was the type of
currency used in the United States an important issue to
1. patronage 9. goldbug
farmers in the late 1800s?
2. rebate 10. silverite 23. Comparing How did Booker T. Washington’s answer to
3. populism 11. sharecropper racial discrimination compare to that of W.E.B. Du Bois?
4. greenback 12. poll tax 24. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
5. inflation 13. grandfather clause below to list the major reforms sought by the Populists in
the 1892 presidential election.
6. deflation 14. segregation
7. cooperative 15. Jim Crow laws
8. graduated income tax 16. lynching Populist
Reforms
Reviewing Key Facts
17. Identify: Interstate Commerce Commission, Sherman
Antitrust Act, Grange, People’s Party, William Jennings Bryan, 25. Interpreting Primary Sources Reform movements in farm-
Ida B. Wells, W.E.B. Du Bois ing led to the organization of the Populist Party in 1891. In
the following excerpt from an 1890 article, Washington
18. What contributed to political deadlock at the federal level
Gladden, a Congregational minister, discusses the problems
between 1876 and 1896?
facing farmers in the United States.
19. What economic problems did the United States face during
the administration of President Cleveland?
“ The farmers of the United States are up in arms. . . .
They produce the largest share of its wealth; but they are
20. How did the Grange attempt to solve farmers’ problems in
the late 1800s? getting, they say, the smallest share for themselves. With
21. What was the significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the hardest work and with the sharpest economy, the
Plessy v. Ferguson? average farmer is unable to make both ends meet;
Republican Party Populist Party Democratic Party

• Popular in North and Midwest; • Sought government control over • Strongly supported by Southerners,
appealed to rural and small town business to protect farmers immigrants, and urban workers
voters • Supported national control of • Supported civil service reform
• Party split over civil service railroads, increased money supply, • Supported cutting tariffs and
reform and direct election of U.S. senators regulating interstate commerce
• Favored higher tariffs and the gold • Support declined when gold crisis • Party split over silver coinage
standard was resolved
• Lost presidential elections but
inspired reforms that were later
adopted
Political Inequality for African Americans

• Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Unfair voting laws disfranchised Southern African Americans
• Plessy v. Ferguson defended “separate but equal” public facilities
HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz Farm Prices, 1860–1900
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— $2.40
Wheat
Chapter 11 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. $2.20 (price per bushel)
$2.00 Corn
(price per bushel)
every year closes with debt, . . . the average annual $1.80
Cotton
reward of the farm proprietor [of Connecticut] is $1.60 (price per pound)
Price of Crops
$181.31, while the average annual wages of the ordi- $1.40
nary hired man is $386.36. $1.20
. . . [T]he root of the difficulty is overproduction; $1.00
that there are too many farms . . . [but] other $.80
causes . . . should not be overlooked. The enormous $.60
tribute which the farmers of the West are paying to the $.40
moneylenders of the East is one source of their $.20
poverty. . . .
[Farmers] believe that the miseries under which they 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900
are suffering are largely due to political causes and can Year
be cured by legislation. . . . The prime object of the Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970
Farmers’ Alliance is to better the condition of the farmers
”
of America, mentally, morally, and financially; . . .
—quoted in Forum
a. According to Gladden, why were farmers up in arms? 29. The graph above shows farm prices in the United States
b. What was the main purpose of the new Farmers’ Alliance? between 1860 and 1900. Study the graph and answer the
questions below.
a. Analyzing Graphs What happened to prices of crops
Practicing Skills between 1865 and 1895?
26. Interpreting Points of View Study the American Story on b. Understanding Cause and Effect What factors might
page 372 that gives an excerpt of Polk’s speech on July 4, have contributed to this situation?
1890. Then answer these questions.
a. How do historians analyze points of view?
b. What emotionally charged words and phrases does Polk
use? How do they reveal his point of view? Standardized
Test Practice
Writing Activities Directions: Choose the best answer to the
27. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you are living in 1881 and following question.
have just heard about President Garfield’s assassination by a The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 declared illegal “any
disappointed office-seeker. Write to your representatives in combination . . . in restraint of trade or commerce.” What
Congress, urging them either to pass civil service reform or combination was it originally intended to prevent?
to keep the current “spoils system” for appointments to fed- A labor unions
eral offices. Explain why you believe your recommendation is
rational. B business mergers
C transcontinental railroads
28. Chronology Quiz Absolute chronology refers to specific
dates, while relative chronology looks at when something D Farmers’ Alliances
occurred with reference to when other things occurred.
Memorize the unit titles and time periods in your book, then Test-Taking Tip: Make sure your answer reflects the origi-
close your book. Practice relative chronology by writing the nal goal of the Antitrust Act. Only one answer reflects the
unit titles in correct order. Then apply absolute chronology reason Congress passed the law.
by writing the unit dates.

Imperialism and
Progressivism
1890–1919
W hy It Matters
As the United States entered the twentieth cen-
tury, it grew to become a world power. While
the nation was expanding its territory into
World War I pin
other parts of the world, conditions at home

gave rise to a widespread Progressive move-
ment. This movement worked for various
reforms in government, business, and society.
While Americans focused on their own coun-
try, Europe slid into a devastating world war
that eventually involved the United States as
well. These crucial years of domestic change
and foreign conflict provided important foun-
dations for the world you live in today. The fol-
lowing resources offer more information about
this period in American history.

See pages 932–933 for primary source read-
ings to accompany Unit 4.

American Troops Arriving
find additional primary sources about in Paris July 14, 1918
imperialism and progressivism. by J.F. Boucher
388
“It is hard to fail, but it is
worse never to have tried
to succeed.”
—Theodore Roosevelt, 1899
Becoming a
World Power
1872–1912
Why It Matters
During this era, economic and military competition from world powers convinced the United
States it must be a world power. The United States became an empire when it acquired the
Philippines and territory in the Caribbean. American influence in Central and South America
grew as the United States took a more active role in Latin American affairs.
The Impact Today

Events of this time continue to influence American politics.
• The United States continues to use its navy to protect its overseas interests.
• The Panama Canal serves as a major route for international commerce.
• Puerto Rico remains tied to the United States as a commonwealth.

The Chapter 12 video, “Teddy Roosevelt and Yellow Journalism,” chronicles
the events leading to the United States becoming a world power.
1881
• President Garfield assassinated
by Charles Guiteau
1872
• Victoria Claflin Woodhull 1889
becomes first female • First Pan-American
candidate for U.S. president conference
▲
Grant Hayes Garfield Arthur Cleveland
1869–1877
▲ 1877–1881 1881 1881–1885 1885–1889 ▲
1870 1880 1890
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1880
1874 • John Milne develops
• Britain annexes the seismograph
Fiji Islands 1876 1889
• Nicholas Otto builds first • Gustave Eiffel completes
practical gasoline engine tower for Paris World Exhibit
390
Artist’s rendition of Theodore Roosevelt’s charge up San Juan Hill
1893
• Americans overthrow Queen
Liliuokalani of Hawaii
1898 1904
• U.S. declares war on Spain • Panama Canal construction begins
1899 1901 • Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe
• Hay sends • President McKinley Doctrine issued
Open Door notes assassinated
HISTORY
▲ ▲ ▲
B. Harrison Cleveland McKinley T. Roosevelt Taft
▲ 1889–1893 1893–1897 1897–1901 1901–1909 ▲ 1909–1913 Chapter Overview
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ 1904
Chapter 12 to preview chapter
information.
• Russo-Japanese
1895 1899 War begins
• Louis and Auguste • Boer War begins between 1900
Lumière introduce Great Britain and South • Boxer Rebellion
motion pictures African Republic begins in China
391
The Imperialist Vision
Main Idea Reading Strategy Reading Objectives:
In the late 1800s, many Americans Organizing As you read about the devel- • Analyze how a desire for more trade
wanted the United States to expand its opment of the United States as a world and markets led to political change
military and economic power overseas. power, use the major headings of the sec- between 1877 and 1898.
tion to create an outline similar to the • Cite the motivations for and methods of
Key Terms and Names one below. American expansion in the Pacific.
imperialism, protectorate, Anglo-
The Imperialist Vision Section Theme
Saxonism, Matthew C. Perry, Queen I. Building Support for Imperialism
Liliuokalani, Pan-Americanism, Alfred T. A. Global Connections America’s growing
B.
Mahan, Henry Cabot Lodge II. trade with the world and rivalry with
A. European nations led to a naval buildup
B.
and a search for territory overseas.
✦1850 ✦1875 ✦1900

1853 1888 1890 1893
Commodore Perry Samoan Crisis erupts Alfred T. Mahan’s Influence of Sea Power American settlers overthrow
arrives in Japan Upon History, 1660–1783 published Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
On January 16, 1893, 162 United States Marines marched off the warship Boston and onto
the shores of Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. John L. Stevens, the American minister to
Hawaii, had ordered the troops ashore. He claimed Hawaii’s ruler, Queen Liliuokalani, had
created widespread turmoil and endangered American lives and property. Stevens had other
motives as well. He wanted to make Hawaii, with its profitable sugarcane plantations, part of
the United States.
Stevens ordered the American troops to take up positions near Queen Liliuokalani’s
palace. Although the marines took no action against the Hawaiian government, their pres-
ence intimidated the queen’s supporters. Within hours, the American settlers in Hawaii abol-
ished the monarchy and set up a provisional—or temporary—government. On February 1,
1893, at the request of the provisional government, Stevens announced that Hawaii was now
John L. Stevens
under American protection, and he hoisted the American flag over Hawaii’s government
buildings. Several weeks later, Stevens made his support for annexing Hawaii perfectly clear:
“The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe,” he wrote, “and this is the golden hour for the United
States to pluck it.”
—adapted from A History of the American People
Building Support for Imperialism

John Stevens was not alone in his views. Many Americans cheered the events in
Hawaii and favored expanding American power elsewhere in the world as well. The
American public’s enthusiasm, however, was a relatively new phenomenon. In the years
392 CHAPTER 12 Becoming a World Power

immediately following the Civil War, most Americans making more than we can use. Therefore, we must
showed little interest in expanding their nation’s terri- find new markets for our produce, new occupation
tory and international influence. Instead, they for our capital, new work for our labor.”
focused on reconstructing the South, building up the
nation’s industries, and settling the West. A Feeling of Superiority In addition to economic
Beginning in the 1880s, however, American opinion concerns, certain other key ideas convinced many
began to shift. More people wanted to make the United Americans to encourage their nation’s expansion
States a world power. Economic and military competi- overseas. Many supporters of Social Darwinism
tion from other nations, as well as a growing feeling of argued that nations competed with each other
cultural superiority, led to this shift in opinion. politically, economically, and militarily, and that
only the strongest would ultimately survive. They
ECONOMICS used this idea to justify expanding the power of the
United States overseas.
A Desire for New Markets While the United
Many Americans, such as the well-known writer
States focused inward, several European nations
and historian John Fiske, took this idea even further.
were expanding their power overseas. This expan-
Fiske argued that English-speaking nations had
sion became known as the New Imperialism.
superior character, ideas, and systems of govern-
Imperialism is the economic and political domina-
ment, and were destined to dominate the planet:
tion of a strong nation over other weaker nations.
The Europeans embarked upon a policy of expan-
sion and imperialism for many reasons. By the late “ The work which the English race began when it
colonized North America is destined to go on until
1800s, most industrialized countries had placed high
every land . . . that is not already the seat of an old
tariffs against each other. These tariffs were intended
to protect a nation’s industries from foreign competi- civilization shall become English in its language, in its
tion. The tariffs reduced trade between industrial religion, in political habits and traditions, and to a
countries, forcing companies to look overseas for
places to sell their products.
predominant extent in the blood of its people.
”
—quoted in Expansionists of 1898
At the same time, the growth of investment oppor-
tunities in western Europe had slowed. Most of the This idea, known as Anglo-Saxonism, was popu-
factories, railroads, and mines that Europe’s econ- lar in Britain and the United States. Many Americans
omy needed had been built. Increasingly, Europeans saw it as part of the idea of Manifest Destiny. They
began looking overseas for places to invest their cap- believed it had been the nation’s destiny to expand
ital. They began investing in industries in other coun- west to the Pacific Ocean. Now they believed it was
tries, particularly in Africa and Asia.
To protect their investments, the European nations
began exerting control over those territories where they U.S. Foreign Investments
invested their capital and sold their products. Some at the Turn of the Century
areas became colonies. Many others became protec- 2,500 $2,500,000,000
(in millions)
Investments
torates. In a protectorate, the imperial power allowed 2,000

the local rulers to stay in control and protected them 1,500
against rebellions and invasion. In exchange for this 1,000
$700,000,000
protection, the local rulers usually had to accept advice 500 $100,000,000
from the Europeans on how to govern their countries. 0
The expansion of European power overseas did 1869 1897 1908
not go unnoticed in the United States. As the United Year
States industrialized, many Americans took interest Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.
in the new imperialism. Until the late 1800s, the

United States had always been able to expand by set-
tling more territory in North America. Now, with set-
tlers finally filling up the western frontier, many 1. Interpreting Graphs By how many millions of
Americans concluded that the nation had to develop dollars did U.S. investment in foreign countries
increase between 1897 and 1908?
new overseas markets to keep its economy strong.
2. Analyzing How did the expansionist economic
“We are raising more than we can consume,”
policies depicted here affect U.S. diplomacy?
declared Indiana senator Albert J. Beveridge. “We are
CHAPTER 12 Becoming a World Power 393

History
American Imperialism To open Japan to American trade, Commodore

Matthew Perry led the U.S. Navy into what is now Tokyo Bay on July 8, 1853.
This lithograph shows Perry’s forces arriving in Yokohama in March 1854.
How did Perry’s action affect Japan?
the destiny of the United States to expand overseas Matthew C. Perry

and spread its civilization to other people.
Another influential advocate of Anglo-Saxonism
was Josiah Strong, a popular American minister in
the late 1800s. Strong linked Anglo-Saxonism to
Christian missionary ideas. His ideas influenced Perry Opens Japan Many American business lead-
many Americans. “The Anglo-Saxon,” Strong ers believed that the United States would benefit from
declared, “[is] divinely commissioned to be, in a trade with Japan as well as with China. Japan’s rulers,
peculiar sense, his brother’s keeper.” By linking mis- however, believed that excessive contact with the
sionary work to Anglo-Saxonism, Strong convinced West would destroy their culture and only allowed
many Americans to support imperialism and an the Chinese and Dutch to trade with their nation.
expansion of American power overseas. In 1852, after receiving several petitions from
Reading Check Summarizing How did Americans’ Congress, President Franklin Pierce decided to force
Japan to trade with the United States. He ordered
opinions on overseas expansion begin to change in the 1800s? Commodore Matthew C. Perry to take a naval expe-
dition to Japan to negotiate a trade treaty.
On July 8, 1853, four American warships under
Expansion in the Pacific Perry’s command entered Yedo Bay (today known as
From the earliest days of the Republic, Americans Tokyo Bay). The Japanese had never seen steamships
had expanded their nation by moving west. When before and were impressed by the display of
Americans began looking overseas for new markets in American technology and firepower. Perry’s arrival
the 1800s, therefore, they naturally tended to look in Japan forced the Japanese to make changes inter-
westward. Even before imperialist ideas became popu- nally. Realizing that they could not compete against
lar, Americans had begun expanding across the Pacific modern Western technology and weapons, the
Ocean toward East Asia. By the early 1800s, dozens of Japanese signed a treaty opening the ports of Simoda
ships were making the long trip to China every year. and Hakodadi to American trade on March 31, 1854.

The American decision to force Japan to open trade Faced with the economic crisis and the queen’s
played an important role in Japanese history. Many actions, the planters backed an attempt to overthrow
Japanese leaders concluded that the time had come to the monarchy. Supported by the marines from the
remake their society. In 1868, after a long internal Boston, a group of planters forced the queen to give
power struggle, Japanese leaders began to Westernize up power and set up a provisional government. They
their country. They adopted Western technology and then requested that the United States annex Hawaii.
launched their own industrial revolution. By the President Cleveland strongly opposed imperialism.
1890s, the Japanese had built a powerful modern navy, He withdrew the annexation treaty from the Senate
and they set out to build their own empire in Asia. and tried to restore Liliuokalani to power. Hawaii’s
new leaders refused to restore Liliuokalani, and they
Annexing Hawaii As trade with China and Japan decided to wait until a new president took office who
grew in the 1800s, many Americans became inter- favored annexation. Five years later, the United
ested in Hawaii. Ships traveling between China and States annexed Hawaii. ; (See page 955 for more text on
the United States regularly stopped in Hawaii to Hawaiian annexation.)
allow their crews to rest and to take on supplies. In Reading Check Explaining How did the desire to
1820 a group of missionaries from New England set-
expand into new markets help push the United States to
tled in Hawaii. At about the same time, American
become a world power?
whaling ships operating in the North Pacific began
using Hawaii as a base.
The American settlers in Hawaii quickly discov- Trade and Diplomacy in
ered that the climate and soil of the islands were suit-
able for growing sugarcane. By the mid-1800s, many Latin America
sugarcane plantations had been established in the The Pacific was not the only region where the
islands. In 1872 a severe recession struck Hawaii’s United States sought to increase its influence in the
economy. Worried that the economic crisis might 1800s. It also focused on Latin America. Although
force the Hawaiians to turn to the British or French the United States bought raw materials from this
for help, the United States Senate ratified a trade region, Latin Americans bought most of their manu-
treaty in 1875 that exempted Hawaiian sugar from factured goods from Europe. American business
tariffs. Several years later, when the treaty came up leaders and government officials wanted to increase
for renewal, the Senate insisted that the Hawaiians the sale of American products to the region. They
grant the United States exclusive rights to a naval also wanted the Europeans to understand that the
base at Pearl Harbor. United States was the dominant power in the region.
The trade treaty led to a boom in the Hawaiian James G. Blaine, who served as secretary of state
sugar industry and wealth for the planters. In 1887 in two administrations in the 1880s, led early efforts
prominent planters pressured the Hawaiian king into
accepting a new constitution that limited the king’s Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani
authority and increased the planters’ power. These
developments angered the Hawaiian people, who
feared they were losing control of the country.
Tensions between the planters and the Hawaiians
mounted. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff in
1890. Although the tariff eliminated all duties on
sugar, it also gave subsidies to sugar producers in the
United States. Hawaiian sugar was now more expen-
sive than American sugar, despite the lack of tariffs.
As sales of Hawaiian sugar declined, the islands’
economy went into a tailspin.
In 1891 Queen Liliuokalani ascended the
Hawaiian throne. Liliuokalani disliked the influence
that American settlers had gained in Hawaii. In
January 1893, she unsuccessfully attempted to impose
a new constitution that would have reasserted her
authority as ruler of the Hawaiian people.
Modern 1 The Maine was designed 2 It had a maximum 3 Eight steam boilers
Battleships for sail power as well as armor thickness powered two
steam, but the sails were of 12 inches. engines.
In the 1880s, the United States never fitted on the ship.
Navy modernized its fleet of
warships. Moving away from
wooden ships powered solely sail power
by the wind, the new navy
constructed steel-hulled ships cowls
with steam-powered engines
as well as sails. Probably the
most famous ship of this era
was the USS Maine, one of the
U.S. Navy’s first armored bat-
tleships (depicted at right). It
was one of the first U.S. naval
vessels with electrical lighting.
It had a top speed of 17 knots
galley
and a crew of 392 officers and torpedo tubes steam boilers armor
enlisted men. Which U.S. magazine
naval officer argued for the
necessity of a modern
navy?
4 Cowls provided 5 Food was 6 Munitions were
fresh air below prepared in the stored in the
decks. galley. magazine.
to expand American influence in Latin America. to the conference, they rejected both of Blaine’s ideas.
Blaine proposed that the United States invite the They did agree, however, to create the Commercial
Latin American nations to a conference in Bureau of the American Republics, an organization
Washington, D.C. The conference would discuss that worked to promote cooperation among the
ways in which the American nations could work nations of the Western Hemisphere. This organization
together to support peace and to increase trade. The was later known as the Pan-American Union and
idea that the United States and Latin America should is today called the Organization of American States
work together came to be called Pan-Americanism. (OAS).
Blaine’s idea became reality in 1889 when the Pan-
Reading Check Summarizing How did Secretary of
American conference was held in Washington, D.C.
Seventeen Latin American nations attended. Blaine State Blaine attempt to increase American influence in Latin
had two goals for the conference. He wanted to create America?
a customs union between Latin America and the
United States, and he also wanted to create a system
for American nations to work out their disputes Building a Modern Navy
peacefully. As imperialism and Anglo-Saxonism gained
A customs union would require all of the support in the late 1800s, the United States became
American nations to reduce their tariffs against each increasingly assertive in foreign affairs. Three
other and to treat each other equally in trade. Blaine international crises illustrated this new approach.
hoped that a customs union would turn the Latin In 1888 the country was willing to go to war to pre-
Americans away from European products and vent Germany from taking control of the Samoa
toward American products. He also hoped that a Islands in the South Pacific. Three years later, when
common system for settling disputes would keep the a mob in Chile attacked American sailors in the
Europeans from meddling in American affairs. port of Valparaíso, the United States threatened to
Although the warm reception they received in the go to war unless Chile paid reparations for the lives
United States impressed the Latin American delegates lost. Then, in 1895, the United States backed

Venezuela against Great Britain in a border dispute distant regions. This would allow the ships to be
with the colony of British Guiana. After Britain resupplied en route to their destination.
rejected an American ultimatum to settle the dis- Mahan’s book became a best-seller, and it helped
pute, many newspapers and members of Congress to build public support for a big navy. In Congress
called for war. All three crises were eventually two powerful senators, Henry Cabot Lodge and
solved peacefully. Albert J. Beveridge, pushed for the construction of a
As both the American people and their govern- new navy. In the executive branch, Benjamin Tracy,
ment became more willing to risk war in defense of secretary of the navy under President Harrison, and
American interests overseas, support for building a John D. Long, secretary of the navy under President
large modern navy began to grow. Supporters McKinley, strongly supported Mahan’s ideas—as did
argued that if the United States did not build up its future president Theodore Roosevelt, who served as
navy and acquire bases overseas, it would be shut an assistant secretary of the navy in the late 1890s.
out of foreign markets by the Europeans. By the 1890s, several different ideas had come
Captain Alfred T. Mahan, an officer in the U.S. together in the United States. Business leaders wanted
Navy who taught at the Naval War College, best new markets overseas. Anglo-Saxonism had convinced
expressed this argument. In 1890 Mahan published many Americans that they had a destiny to dominate
his lectures in a book called The Influence of Sea Power the world. Growing European imperialism threatened
Upon History, 1660–1783. In this book Mahan pointed America’s security. Combined with Mahan’s influence,
out that many prosperous peoples in the past, such as these ideas convinced Congress to authorize the con-
the British and Dutch, had built large fleets of mer- struction of a modern American navy.
chant ships in order to trade with the world. He then By the late 1890s, the United States was well on its
suggested that a nation also needed a large navy to way to becoming one of the top naval powers in the
protect its merchant ships and to defend its right to world. Although it was not yet an imperial power, it
trade with other countries. had the power to become one if the opportunity
After arguing that the United States needed a arose. That opportunity was not long in coming. In
large navy, Mahan observed that building a mod- the spring of 1898, war erupted between Spain and
ern navy meant that the United States had to the United States.
acquire territory for naval bases overseas. In
the 1890s, navy warships burned coal to power Reading Check Explaining Why did Alfred T.
their engines. To operate a navy far from home, a Mahan and Henry Cabot Lodge call for the building of a strong
country needed bases and coaling stations in U.S. navy?
TM
TM

1. Define: imperialism, protectorate. 5. Forming an Opinion Do you think the 7. Analyzing Art Study the painting on
2. Identify: Anglo-Saxonism, Matthew United States should have supported page 394. How is the U.S. Navy por-
C. Perry, Queen Liliuokalani, the planters in their attempt to over- trayed in relation to the Japanese resi-
Pan-Americanism, Alfred T. Mahan, throw Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii? dents of Yokohama? Do you think the
Henry Cabot Lodge. Why or why not? artist shows any bias in this representa-
3. Explain why Secretary of State James 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to tion? Why or why not?
G. Blaine convened the Pan-American list the factors that led to an imperialist
conference in 1889. policy in the United States in the 1800s. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes are living in the United States in the
4. Global Connections What events in Factors Leading 1890s. Write a letter to the president
the world convinced Americans to to U.S. Imperialist persuading him to support or oppose
Policy
support a large navy? an imperialist policy for the United
States. Be sure to use standard gram-
mar, spelling, sentence structure, and
punctuation.

Technology
Using an Electronic Spreadsheet

Electronic spreadsheets can help people manage Use these steps to create a spreadsheet that will
numbers quickly and easily. Historians use spread- provide the population densities (population per
sheets to easily manipulate statistical data. You can square mile) of the states in the United States in
use a spreadsheet any time a problem involves 1900.
numbers that can be arranged in rows and columns. 1 In cell A1 type State; in cell B1 type Population;
in cell C1 type Land area (square miles); in cell D1
Learning the Skill type Population per square mile.
A spreadsheet is an electronic worksheet that 2 In cells A2–A46, type each state’s name. In cell
follows a basic design of rows and columns. Each A47, type the words Total for the United States.
column (vertical) is assigned a letter or number.
3 In cells B2–B46, enter the population of each of
Each row (horizontal) is assigned a number. Each
the states listed in cells A2–A46.
point where a column and row intersect is called a
cell. The cell’s position on the spreadsheet is labeled 4 In cells C2–C46, enter the land area (square
according to its column and row. Therefore, miles) of each state shown in cells A2–A46.
Column A, Row 1 is referred to as cell A1; Column 5 In cell D2, create a formula to calculate the pop-
B, Row 2 is B2, and so on. ulation per square mile. The formula tells what
Spreadsheets use standard formulas to calculate cells (B2 ÷ C2) to divide. Copy this formula into
numbers. You create a simple mathematical equa- cells D3–D46.
tion that uses these standard formulas, and the 6 Use the process in step 5 to create and copy a
computer does the calculations for you. formula to calculate the nation’s total popula-
tion (B2 ⫹ B3 ⫹ B4 . . .) for cell B47.
7 Use the process in step 5 to create and copy a
formula to calculate the nation’s population per
square mile (B47 ÷ C47) for cell D47.
Skills Assessment
You can also create spreadsheets manually.

Applying the Skill
A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 Using an Electronic Spreadsheet Use a spreadsheet
to enter your test scores and homework grades.
A2 B2 C2 D2 E2
Following the grading period, create an equation that
A3 B3 C3 D3 E3 allows the spreadsheet to calculate your average grade.
A4 B4 C4 D4 E4
A5 B5 C5 D5 E5 Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
398
The Spanish-
American War
The United States defeated Spain in a Organizing As you read about the • Describe the circumstances that led to
war, acquired new overseas territories, Spanish-American War, complete a war between the United States and
and became an imperial power. graphic organizer like the one below by Spain in 1898.
listing the circumstances that contributed • Explain how the war made the United
Key Terms and Names to war with Spain. States a world power.
José Martí, William Randolph Hearst,
Joseph Pulitzer, yellow journalism, Factors Contributing Section Theme
to Declaration of War
jingoism, Theodore Roosevelt, Government and Democracy The
Platt Amendment United States fought Spain to help
Cubans gain their independence.
✦January 1898 ✦May 1898 ✦September 1898 ✦December 1898

February 1898 April 1898 May 1898 December 1898
U.S.S. Maine U.S. declares war Dewey destroys Spanish Treaty of Paris ends
explodes on Spain fleet in the Philippines Spanish-American War
Clara Barton, the founder and first president of the American National Red Cross, was
working late in her villa overlooking the harbor in Havana, Cuba, on the evening of February
15, 1898. As she and an assistant reviewed some paperwork, an enormous blast lit up the
sky. She later recalled:
“ The deafening roar was such a burst of thunder as perhaps one never heard before. And
off to the right, out over the bay, the air filled with a blaze of light, and this in turn filled with
black specks like huge specters flying in all directions.
”
Barton quickly learned what had happened. The U.S.S. Maine, anchored in the Havana
harbor, had exploded. Barton rushed to a nearby hospital, where she took a firsthand look at
the blast’s devastation. The sailors’ wounds, she wrote, “were all over them—heads and
Clara Barton faces terribly cut, internal wounds, arms, legs, feet and hands burned to the live flesh.”
—adapted from The Spanish War
The Coming of War

Of the 354 officers and sailors aboard the Maine that winter night, 266 died. No one is
sure why the Maine exploded. The size of the explosion indicates that the ship’s ammu-
nition supplies blew up. Some experts think that a fire accidentally ignited the ammuni-
tion. Others argue that a mine detonated near the ship set off the ammunition.

One of the exiled leaders was José Martí, a writer
and poet who was passionately committed to the
cause of Cuban independence. While living in New
York City in the 1880s, Martí brought together differ-
ent Cuban exile groups living in the United States.
The groups raised funds from sympathetic
Americans, purchased weapons, and trained their
troops in preparation for an invasion of Cuba.
By the early 1890s, the United States and Cuba had
become closely linked economically. Cuba exported
much of its sugar to the United States, and
Americans had invested approximately $50 million
in Cuba’s mines, railroads, and sugar plantations.
These economic ties created a crisis in 1894, when the
United States imposed new tariffs—including a tariff
on sugar—in an effort to protect its troubled econ-
omy from foreign competition. The new tariff
wrecked the sale of Cuban sugar in the United States
and devastated the island’s economy.
With Cuba in an economic crisis, Martí’s followers
History Through Art launched a new rebellion in February 1895.
Cuban Rebellion During the Cuban Revolution in 1895, Spanish general Although Martí died in battle shortly after returning
Valeriano Weyler forced much of the Cuban population into guarded camps to Cuba, the revolutionaries seized control of eastern
near military installations. Why were Americans supporting Cuba’s fight Cuba, declared independence, and formally estab-
against Spain? lished the Republic of Cuba in September 1895.
When the explosion happened, many Americans Americans Support the Cubans When the upris-
blamed it on Spain. Cuba was a Spanish colony at the ing in Cuba began, President Grover Cleveland
time, but it was in the midst of a revolution. The declared the United States neutral. Outside the White
Cuban people were fighting for independence from House, however, much of the public openly sup-
Spain. Many Americans regarded the Spanish as ported the rebels. Some citizens compared the
tyrants and supported the Cubans in their struggle. Cubans’ struggle to the American Revolution. A few
These Americans quickly jumped to the conclusion sympathetic Americans even began smuggling guns
that Spain had blown up the Maine. Within a matter from Florida to the Cuban rebels.
of weeks, Spain and the United States were at war. What led most Americans to support the rebels
Although the fighting only lasted a few months, the were the dramatic stories of Spanish atrocities
outcome dramatically altered the position of the reported in two of the nation’s major newspapers, the
United States on the world stage. New York Journal and the New York World. The Journal,
owned by William Randolph Hearst, and the World,
The Cuban Rebellion Begins Cuba was one of owned by Joseph Pulitzer, competed with each other
Spain’s oldest colonies in the Americas. Its sugarcane to increase their circulation. The Journal reported out-
plantations generated considerable wealth for Spain rageous stories of the Spanish feeding Cuban prison-
and produced nearly one-third of the world’s sugar ers to sharks and dogs. Not to be outdone, the World
in the mid-1800s. Until Spain abolished slavery in described Cuba as a place with “blood on the road-
1886, about one-third of the Cuban population was sides, blood in the fields, blood on the doorsteps,
enslaved and forced to work for wealthy landowners blood, blood, blood!” This kind of sensationalist
on the plantations. reporting, in which writers often exaggerated or even
In 1868 Cuban rebels declared independence and made up stories to attract readers, became known as
launched a guerrilla war against Spanish authori- yellow journalism.
ties. Lacking internal support, the rebellion col- Although the press invented sensational stories to
lapsed in 1878. Many Cuban rebels then fled to the sell more papers, there is no doubt that the Cuban
United States, where they began planning a new people indeed suffered horribly. The Spanish dis-
revolution. patched nearly 200,000 troops to the island to put down

the rebellion and appointed General Valeriano Weyler court of inquiry concluded that a mine had
to serve as governor. Weyler’s harsh policies quickly destroyed the Maine. Throughout America, people
earned him the nickname El Carnicero (“The Butcher”). began using the slogan “Remember the Maine!” as a
The Cuban rebels carried out a guerrilla war. They rallying cry for war. By early April, President
staged hit-and-run raids, burned plantations and McKinley was under tremendous pressure to go to
sugar mills, tore up railroad tracks, and attacked war. American mobs were demonstrating in the
supply depots. The rebels knew that many American streets against Spain—and against McKinley for
businesses had invested in Cuba’s railroads and refusing to go to war.
plantations. They hoped that the destruction of Within the Republican Party, jingoism, or an
American property would lead to American inter- attitude of aggressive nationalism, was very strong,
vention in the war. especially among younger members of the party.
To prevent Cuban villagers from helping the These members were furious at McKinley for not
rebels, Weyler herded hundreds of thousands of rural declaring war. Assistant Secretary of the Navy
men, women, and children into “reconcentration Theodore Roosevelt, for one, raged that McKinley
camps,” where tens of thousands died of starvation had “no more backbone than a chocolate éclair.”
and disease. News reports of this brutal treatment of Many Democrats were also demanding war, and
civilians enraged Americans and led to renewed calls Republicans feared that if McKinley did not go to
for American intervention in the war. war, the Democrats would win the presidency in
1900. Finally, on April 11, 1898, McKinley asked
Calling Out for War In 1897 Republican William Congress to authorize the use of force to end the con-
McKinley became president of the United States. The flict in Cuba.
new president did not want to intervene in the war, On April 19, Congress declared Cuba indepen-
believing it would cost too many lives and hurt the dent, demanded that Spain withdraw from the
economy. In September 1897, he asked the Spanish if island, and authorized the president to use armed
the United States could help negotiate an end to the force if necessary. In response, on April 24, Spain
conflict. He made it clear that if the war did not end declared war on the United States. For the first time
soon, the United States might have to intervene. in 50 years, the United States was at war with
Pressed by McKinley, the Spanish government another nation.
removed Weyler from power. Spain then offered the Reading Check Examining What conditions led to
Cubans autonomy—the right to their own govern- the Cuban rebellion in 1895?
ment—but only if Cuba remained part of the Spanish
empire. The Cuban rebels refused to negotiate. They
wanted full independence.
Spain’s concessions to the rebels enraged many
A War on Two Fronts
Spanish loyalists in Cuba. In January 1898, the loyal- The Spanish in Cuba were not prepared for war.
ists rioted in Havana. Worried that American citizens Tropical diseases and months of hard fighting had
in Cuba might be attacked, McKinley made the fate- weakened their soldiers. Their warships were old
ful decision to send the battleship Maine to Havana in and their crews poorly trained. The United States
case the Americans had to be evacuated. had more battleships, and both sides knew that the
In February 1898, the New York Journal printed a war ultimately would be decided at sea. If the United
private letter written by Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, States could defeat Spain’s fleet, the Spanish would
the Spanish ambassador to the United States. A not be able to get supplies to its troops in Cuba.
Cuban agent had intercepted the letter and delivered Eventually, they would have to surrender.
it to the paper. It described McKinley as “weak and a
bidder for the admiration of the crowd.” The nation The United States Takes the Philippines The
erupted in fury over the insult. United States Navy was ready for war with Spain.
Ambassador de Lôme resigned, but before the The navy’s North Atlantic Squadron blockaded
furor could die down, the Maine exploded in the Cuba, and the American fleet based in British Hong
Havana harbor. The press promptly blamed Spain. Kong was ordered to attack the Spanish fleet in the
Rapidly responding to the hysterical anger of the Philippines. The Philippines was a Spanish colony,
American public, Congress unanimously authorized and American naval planners were determined to
the president to spend $50 million for war prepara- prevent the fleet there from sailing east to attack the
tions. Shortly afterward, on March 28, 1898, a naval United States.

Spanish-American War In
in the Philippines and the Caribbean, 1898 Motion
84°W Tampa 80°W 76°W 72°W 68°W
UNITED
STATES Atlantic U.S. forces
Spanish forces
26°N
Ocean
Key
BAHAMAS U.S. naval blockade CHINA
da
Gulf of U.K.
Formosa
ri
Mexico West of
Fl
o Battle
Japan TROPIC OF CANCER
ts
St r ai
TROPIC OF CA
NCE R Hong Kong
U.K.
Pacific
Havana
SH N
Ocean
AF 20°N
T ER
22°N CUBA E
Sp. W
U.S. forces
DE
S
San Juan Hill Luzon Major battle
W
USS Maine sunk Puerto
EY
Santiago de Cuba Island
Feb. 15, 1898 DOMINICAN Rico Philippine
HAITI REPUBLIC San Juan Sp. Sea
Caribbean Sea Manila
(Fro m
C E R Spa
0 200 miles Santo Guánica N

Domingo Manila Bay
PHILIPPINES
V E in
0 200 kilometers JAMAICA South W E

RA )
U.K. China
Albers Conic Equal-Area projection M I L ES
S
Sea
10°N
U.S. Deaths in the

Spanish-American War Mindanao
Island
1. Interpreting Maps The main battles of the Spanish- 385
American War occurred in which parts of the world? in battle 0 400 miles
2. Applying Geography Skills How far is the Havana
2,061 of food 0 400 kilometers
harbor from the port of Tampa, Florida? poisoning and 120°E Miller Cylindrical projection
disease
Source: The Nystrom Atlas of

United States History.
A short time after midnight, on May 1, 1898, the Spanish but refused to allow Aguinaldo’s forces
Commodore George Dewey led his squadron into into the city. They also refused to recognize his rebel
Manila Bay in the Philippines. As dawn broke, government. Hostility between the Filipinos and the
Dewey’s fleet opened fire and rapidly destroyed or Americans began to grow as both sides waited for the
captured the severely outgunned Spanish warships. war with Spain to end.
Dewey’s quick victory took McKinley and his
advisers by surprise. The army was not yet ready to American Forces Battle in Cuba Unlike the mobi-
send troops to help Dewey capture the Philippines. lization of the navy, which had been very efficient,
Hastily, the army assembled 20,000 troops to sail the mobilization of the American army was very
from San Francisco to the Philippines. On the way to poorly conducted. Although volunteers flooded into
the Philippines, the American troops also seized the army training camps, the army lacked the resources
island of Guam, another Spanish possession in the to train and equip them. In many camps, conditions
Pacific. were so unsanitary that epidemics broke out, and
While waiting for the American troops to arrive, hundreds of Americans died. By the end of the war,
Dewey contacted Emilio Aguinaldo, a Filipino revo- far more Americans had died in training camps than
lutionary leader who had staged an unsuccessful in actual battle.
uprising against the Spanish in 1896. Aguinaldo Finally, on June 14, 1898, a force of about 17,000
quickly launched a new guerrilla war. troops landed on the southern coast of Cuba, east of
At first, Aguinaldo believed the Americans were the city of Santiago. A Spanish fleet occupied
his allies, but when American troops arrived in the Santiago Harbor, where it was well protected by
islands he became suspicious. The Americans powerful shore-based guns. American military
quickly seized the Philippine capital of Manila from planners wanted to capture those guns in order to

drive the Spanish fleet out of the harbor and into Four African American soldiers received the Medal
battle with the American fleet waiting nearby. of Honor for their bravery during the war.
Among the American troops advancing toward The Spanish commander in Santiago panicked
Santiago was a volunteer cavalry unit from the after the American victories at El Caney and the San
American West. They were a flamboyant mix of cow- Juan Heights. He immediately ordered the Spanish
boys, miners, and law officers known as the “Rough fleet in the harbor to flee. As the Spanish ships raced
Riders.” The commander of the Rough Riders was out of the harbor on July 3, the American warships
Colonel Leonard Wood. Second in command was guarding the entrance attacked them. In the ensuing
Theodore Roosevelt, who had resigned from his post battle, the American squadron sank or beached every
as assistant secretary of the navy to join the fight. Spanish vessel.
On July 1, American troops attacked the village of Spanish resistance in Cuba ended with the surren-
El Caney northeast of Santiago. Another force der of Santiago two weeks later. Soon after, American
attacked the San Juan Heights, a series of hills over- troops occupied the nearby Spanish colony of Puerto
looking the main road to Santiago. While one group Rico. On August 12, 1898, Spain and the United
of soldiers attacked San Juan Hill, the Rough States agreed to a cease-fire.
Riders—who were on foot, not horseback—attacked
Reading Check Describing How prepared was the
Kettle Hill. After seizing Kettle Hill, Roosevelt and
his men assisted in the capture of San Juan Hill. U.S. Army to fight a war against Spain?
The Rough Riders did not make their attack alone.
Accompanying them up Kettle Hill were the
all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments. Many An American Empire is Born
African Americans had responded to the call for vol- As American and Spanish leaders met to discuss
unteers, and roughly one-fourth of the American the terms for a peace treaty, Americans debated what
troops fighting in Cuba were African American. to do about their newly acquired lands. Cuba would
MOMENT
in HISTORY
FEISTY LEADER FOR

A NEW CENTURY
Theodore Roosevelt (center)
embodied the spirit of the
United States at the turn of
the century: full of vitality,
brimming with confidence, and
convinced that no job was
impossible, no challenge insur-
mountable.Whether hunting
big game in Africa, roping cat-
tle from horseback on a
Dakota ranch, or leading his
"Rough Riders" cavalry (right)
up San Juan Hill during the
Spanish-American War,
Roosevelt never did anything
cautiously or quietly. As presi-
dent, Roosevelt guided the
country into its new, unaccus-
tomed role as a world power.
be given its freedom as promised, and Spain had
agreed that the United States would annex Guam
and Puerto Rico. The big question was what to do
with the Philippines. The United States faced a diffi-
cult choice—remain true to its republican ideals or
become an imperial power.
The Debate Over Annexation Many supporters of

annexing the Philippines emphasized the economic
and military benefits of taking the islands. They
would provide the United States with a naval base in
Asia, a stopover on the way to China, and a large
market for American goods.
Other supporters believed America had a duty to
teach “less civilized” peoples how to live properly.
“Surely this Spanish war has not been a grab for History
empire,” commented a New England minister, “but a
heroic effort [to] free the oppressed, and to teach the Building an Empire Two Filipino women nervously converse with
millions of ignorant, debased human beings thus American troops in the Philippines. Filipino civilians suffered many hard-
ships while Filipino guerrillas fought American troops. Thousands perished
freed how to live.” from sicknesss, starvation, and other indirect effects of war. What
Not all Americans supported annexation. Anti- American policy contributed to civilian hardships in the Philippines?
imperialists included industrialist Andrew Carnegie,
social worker Jane Addams, writer Samuel Clemens
(Mark Twain), and the leader of the American debate, the Senate ratified the treaty in February 1899.
Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers. Carnegie The United States had become an imperial power.
argued that the cost of an empire far outweighed the
economic benefits it provided. Gompers worried that Rebellion in the Philippines The United States
competition from cheap Filipino labor would drive quickly learned that controlling its new empire
down American wages. Addams, Clemens, and others would not be easy. Emilio Aguinaldo called the
believed imperialism violated American principles. American decision to annex his homeland a “violent
President McKinley had to decide what to do with and aggressive seizure.” He then ordered his troops
the Philippines. Ultimately, he decided to annex the to attack the American soldiers in the Philippines.
islands. He later explained his reasoning to a group To fight the Filipino guerrillas, General Arthur
of ministers: MacArthur (the father of the future American general
Douglas MacArthur) adopted many of the same poli-
“ And one night late it came to me this way . . .
(1) that we could not give them back to Spain—that
cies that America had condemned Spain for
using in Cuba. MacArthur set up reconcentra-
would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we
tion camps to separate guerrillas from civil-
could not turn them over to France or Germany . . . ians. The results were also similar to what
that would be bad for business and discreditable; had happened in Cuba. Thousands of
(3) that we could not leave them to themselves— Filipinos died from disease and starvation.
they were unfit for self-government . . . and (4) that While MacArthur fought the guerrillas,
there was nothing left for us to do but to take them the first U.S. civilian governor of the
all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize islands, William Howard Taft, tried to
win over the Filipino people by reform-
and Christianize them.
” ing education, transportation, and health
—quoted in A Diplomatic History
care. New railroads, bridges, and tele-
of the American People
graph lines strengthened the economy.
On December 10, 1898, the United States and Spain A public school system was set up, and
signed the Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, Cuba new health care policies virtually elimi-
became an independent country, and the United States nated severe diseases such as cholera and
acquired Puerto Rico and Guam and agreed to pay smallpox. These reforms slowly reduced
Spain $20 million for the Philippines. After an intense Filipino hostility.
Emilio Aguinaldo
In March 1901, American troops captured took steps to ensure that Cuba would remain tied to
Aguinaldo. The following month, Aguinaldo the United States. He allowed the Cubans to prepare
accepted American control of the islands and called a new constitution for their country, but he attached
on the guerrillas to surrender. By summer 1902, the conditions. A special amendment that Senator Orville
United States had declared the war over. Eventually Platt attached to the 1901 army appropriations bill
the United States allowed the Filipinos a greater role described those conditions.
in governing their own country. By the mid-1930s, The Platt Amendment specified the following:
they were permitted to elect their own congress and (1) Cuba could not make any treaty with another
president. Finally, in 1946, the United States granted nation that would weaken its independence or allow
independence to the Philippines. another foreign power to gain territory in Cuba; (2)
Cuba had to allow the United States to buy or lease
GOVERNMENT naval stations in Cuba; (3) Cuba’s debts had to be kept
Governing Puerto Rico Another pressing question low to prevent foreign coun-
facing the United States government was how to tries from landing troops to
enforce payment; and (4) the
govern Puerto Rico. In 1900 Congress passed the
United States would have the
HISTORY
Foraker Act, making Puerto Rico an unincorporated
territory. This meant that Puerto Ricans were not U.S. right to intervene to protect
Cuban independence and Student Web
citizens and had no constitutional rights. The act also Activity Visit the
stated that Congress could pass whatever laws it keep order.
American Republic
wanted for the island. Although the Cubans
Congress gradually allowed the inhabitants of rejected the Platt Amend-
tarvol2.glencoe.com
Puerto Rico a certain degree of self-government. In ment at first, they quickly and click on Student
1917 the United States made Puerto Ricans citizens of realized that unless they Web Activities—
the United States. In 1947 the island was given the accepted it, the United Chapter 12 for an
right to elect its own governor. At this time a debate States would maintain its activity on American
began over whether to grant Puerto Rico statehood, military government of the imperialism.
allow it to become an independent country, or con- island. Reluctantly, they
tinue it as a commonwealth of the United States. This added the amendment to
debate over Puerto Rico’s status continues today. their constitution. The Platt Amendment governed
relations between the United States and Cuba until
its repeal in 1934. It effectively made Cuba an
Cuba and the Platt Amendment After the war, the American protectorate.
United States established a military government in
Cuba. Although the United States had promised to Reading Check Explaining What were the
grant Cuba its independence, President McKinley arguments for and against establishing an American empire?
TM
TM

1. Define: yellow journalism, jingoism. 5. Interpreting Do you think President 7. Analyzing Art Examine the painting on
2. Identify: José Martí, William Randolph McKinley could have taken a different page 391. Considering what you have
Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, Theodore course of action with Spain over Cuba? learned about the Rough Riders and
Roosevelt, Platt Amendment. If so, what kind? If not, why not? this battle, what is inaccurate about the
3. Explain why many Americans blamed 6. Categorizing Complete a graphic painting? What kind of artistic bias is
Spain for the explosion of the U.S.S. organizer by summarizing the effects of evident in this painting?
Maine. the United States annexing lands
obtained after the Spanish-American
Reviewing Themes War. 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
4. Government and Democracy Why did are a Filipino living during the time of
many Filipinos feel betrayed by the U.S. Lands Annexed Effects the U.S. annexation of the Philippine
government after the Spanish-American Islands. Write a journal entry in which
War? you describe your feelings about U.S.
control of the islands.

Who Sank the Maine?
D
uring Cuba’s revolt against Spain, the American battleship Maine
dropped anchor in the Havana harbor to protect American interests
in Cuba. On the night of February 15, 1898, the ship exploded and
266 Americans lost their lives. The United States sent a court of inquiry to
Havana on February 21. Despite the lack of evidence concerning the source
of the explosion, American newspapers and many public officials claimed
that Spain was responsible. Pressured on all sides, President McKinley sent
Spain an ultimatum that led to war. Who—or what—really sank the Maine?
Read the following excerpts from testimony and evidence. Then answer the questions
and complete the activities that follow.
Captain Charles Sigsbee Newspaper headline
Telegraph from the commander “We know of no instances where the

of the Maine to the secretary of explosion of a torpedo or mine under
the navy, February 15: the ship’s bottom has exploded the
magazine [powder and explosives]
“Maine blown up in Havana harbor comes to seeking the cause of the
within. It has simply torn a great hole
at nine forty to-night and destroyed. explosion of the Maine’s magazine,
in the side or bottom, through which
Many wounded and doubtless more we should naturally look not for the
water entered, and in consequence
killed or drowned. . . . Public opinion improbable or unusual causes. . . .
of which the ship sunk. Magazine
should be suspended until further The most common of these is
explosions, on the contrary, produce
report. . . . Many Spanish officers, through fires in the bunkers.”
effects exactly similar to the effects of
including representatives of General —Philip R. Alger
the explosion on the Maine. When it
Blanco, now with us to express
sympathy.” U.S.S. Maine
—Captain Charles D. Sigsbee
The court of inquiry was inter-

ested in discovering whether the
explosion had come from inside
or outside the ship. If it came
from inside, was it sabotage or an
accident? If it came from outside,
who or what caused it? Before the
court met, the Washington Evening
Star published a February 18
interview with the U.S. Navy’s
leading ordnance expert:

Engraving of the explosion
As the court of inquiry concluded reexamined the ship, and its find-
its investigation, it considered ings were similar to those of 1898.
reports of the divers who exam- Then, in 1976, Admiral H.G.
ined the Maine and evidence that Rickover and other naval histori-
suggested there had been two ans gathered a team of experts to
explosions. On March 11, 1898, examine the official court records
Lieutenant Commander Adolph of 1898 and 1911. This team’s con-
Marix, judge advocate of the clusions were very different.
court of inquiry, questioned Mast of the Maine at
Commander George A. Converse, 1911 board conclusion: Arlington National Cemetery
who was brought in as a technical
The board finds that the injuries
expert.
to the bottom of the Maine above
Marix: Looking at the plan of the described were caused by the Understanding the Issue
Maine’s forward 10-inch and explosion of a charge of a low 1. Why did the original investigation’s
6-inch magazines, would it be form of explosive exterior to the conclusion that there was an under-
possible for them to have ship between frames 28 and 31. water explosion lead to war with
exploded, torn out the ship’s side
Spain?
on both sides, and leave that part H.G. Rickover team conclusion: 2. If there had been an underwater
of the ship forward of frame 18 so
The general character of the over- explosion, was it logical to conclude
water borne as to raise the after
all wrecked structure of the that a Spanish person planted the
portion of that part of the ship,
Maine, with hull sides and whole mine? Why or why not? Is this an
drag it aft, and bring the vertical
deck structures peeled back, example of a biased opinion?
keel into the condition you see in
leaves no doubt that a large inter- 3. Why did the 1976 review conclude
the sketch?
nal explosion occurred. . . . that the explosion came from inside
Converse: It is difficult for me to the Maine?
realize that that effect could have The mines available in 1898 are
been produced by an explosion of believed to have been incapable Activities
the kind supposed. of igniting the Maine magazine if 1. Rewriting History Suppose that the
they exploded on the harbor bot- initial court of inquiry had concluded
Marix: Do you think, then, neces- tom or against the ship side. . . .
sarily, there must have been an that an internal explosion sank the
It is most unlikely that the Maine Maine. Write a paragraph describing
underwater mine to produce explosion was indeed initiated by
these explosions? an alternate course history could
a mine. . . . have taken in the following year.
Converse: Indications are that an The available evidence is consis- 2. Oral Report Read a biography of one
underwater explosion produced tent with an internal explosion of these key players in the decision of
the conditions there. alone. . . . The most likely source the United States to go to war:
In 1911 the U.S. Navy raised the was heat from a fire in the coal Hearst, Roosevelt, or McKinley.
Maine from Havana’s harbor. bunker adjacent to the 6-inch Write a short oral presentation on
The navy’s board of inspection reserve magazine. this person’s perspective and influ-
ence on the war.

New American
Diplomacy
Under President Theodore Roosevelt, the Organizing As you read about the • Critique Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign
United States increased its power on the increasing presence of the United States policy as president.
world stage. in the world, complete a graphic organ- • Explain the Open Door policy and its
izer like the one below by listing the effects on relations between the United
Key Terms and Names reasons President Roosevelt gave for States and Asia.
sphere of influence, Open Door policy, wanting a canal in Central America.
Boxer Rebellion, “Great White Fleet,” Section Theme
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, Roosevelt Continuity and Change The commercial
Corollary, dollar diplomacy interests of the United States spurred its
Reasons to
Build Canal involvement in distant parts of the world,
such as China and Latin America.
✦1898 ✦1900 ✦1902 ✦1904

1899 1900 1901 1904
Secretary of State Hay Boxer Rebellion McKinley assassinated; Theodore Construction of Panama
sends first Open Door note erupts in China Roosevelt becomes president Canal begins
Upon arriving in Panama in 1904, Dr. William Crawford Gorgas, a U.S. Army
doctor and chief sanitary officer to the Panama Canal project, quickly realized that death
awaited American workers. The United States was about to begin constructing the Panama
Canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The task would be daunting because the
dense jungles of Panama were home to swarms of mosquitoes that spread the deadly disease
of yellow fever.
Gorgas set out to lessen the threat of disease by keeping mosquitoes from breeding. He
and his crew drained swamps, gullies, and other sources of stagnant water, a main breeding
ground for mosquitoes. On those areas of water they could not drain, they spread kerosene
and oil, which killed the mosquito eggs before they hatched. They also fumigated nearly
every home in the region and destroyed many buckets, pots, and other outdoor containers
that local residents let fill up with rainwater. In two years Gorgas and his crew had wiped out
yellow fever in the area.
Dr. William Gorgas
—adapted from The Strength to Move a Mountain
Theodore Roosevelt’s Rise to Power

The construction of the Panama Canal might never have taken place had Theodore
Roosevelt not become president. “Teddy,” as the press called him, gained the presidency
largely by accident. Roosevelt’s exploits during the Spanish-American War had made

him famous and enabled him to win the election for president warned Americans not to “sit huddled” and
governor of New York in November 1898. In 1900 become “an assemblage of well-to-do hucksters who
President McKinley asked Roosevelt to run as his vice care nothing for what happens beyond.” Roosevelt
president. Less than a year later, a tragic turn of also accepted some of the ideas of Anglo-Saxonism.
events thrust Roosevelt into the White House. He believed that the United States had a duty to
shape the “less civilized” corners of the earth. The
The Election of 1900 The election of 1900 once new president intended to make the country a world
again pitted President McKinley against William power.
Jennings Bryan. Bryan, an anti-imperialist, attacked
Reading Check Summarizing What was President
the Republicans for their support of imperialism in
Asia. McKinley focused on the country’s increased Roosevelt’s opinion on the role of the United States as a world
prosperity. Employing the slogan “Four Years More power?
of the Full Dinner Pail,” the Republicans promised
good times ahead if McKinley was reelected. He did
indeed win the election by a wide margin, and American Diplomacy in Asia
Theodore Roosevelt became vice president. In 1899 the United States was a major power in
On September 6, 1901, as President McKinley Asia, with naval bases all across the Pacific.
greeted the public during an appearance in Buffalo, Operating from those bases, the United States
New York, a gunman stepped from the crowd. The Navy—now the third largest in the world—was
man was Leon Czolgosz, an avowed anarchist, who capable of exerting American power anywhere in
opposed all forms of government. Czolgosz fired two East Asia.
shots and hit the president. A few days later, The nation’s primary interest in Asia, however,
McKinley died from his wounds. was not conquest but commerce. Between 1895 and
Theodore Roosevelt, just 42 years old at the time, 1900, American exports to China increased by four
became the youngest person ever to become presi- times. Although China bought only about two per-
dent. Roosevelt had been chosen as McKinley’s run- cent of all the goods exported by the United States,
ning mate because Republican leaders knew his the vast Chinese markets excited American business
powerful charisma and heroic war record would be a leaders, especially those in the textile, oil, and steel
great asset. They also hoped the relatively powerless industries.
position of vice president would quiet his
reform-minded spirit. Now they cringed at the
thought of a headstrong Roosevelt in the U.S. Exports, 1890–1910
White House. Republican senator Mark Hanna
12
Exports (in billions of dollars)
exclaimed, “Now look, that . . . cowboy is

president of the United States!” 10
Roosevelt Becomes President Roosevelt 8

brought to the presidency an energy and enthu- 6
siasm rarely seen before in the office. Such vigor
stemmed in part from his childhood. Born into a 4
wealthy New York family, Roosevelt was a 2
sickly child who endured a host of ailments,
including poor eyesight and asthma. 0
Roosevelt pushed himself to overcome his Africa Canada China Cuba France Germany Japan Mexico United
Kingdom
frailties. He mastered marksmanship and
horseback riding and could row up to 20 miles
a day. He took up boxing and wrestling in col-
lege and continued with both throughout his
life, practicing the belief that competition and 1. Interpreting Graphs Which country ranked third in
conflict keep one healthy. total U.S. exports from 1890 to 1910?
2. Making Generalizations Why do you think that the
Roosevelt became a strong proponent of
vast majority of U.S. exports were going to the United
increasing American power on the world stage.
Kingdom?
Just as he refused to sit around idly in life, the

The Panama Canal
One of the most impressive feats of engineer-
ing in the world, the Panama Canal was built
under a 1903 U.S. treaty with Panama. It took
10 years to build, required more than 40,000
laborers, and cost almost $390 million. The
canal stretches 50 miles (80 km) across the
mountainous regions of Panama. In 1977 a
new treaty took effect that gave Panama con-
trol of the canal as of December 31, 1999.
➤
➤
A Cartoonist’s View Trade
Many people criticized Roosevelt’s role in Nearly 13,000 oceangoing vessels pass through
building the Panama Canal. They believed the canal annually. Roughly 60 percent of the
that he was trying to dominate Latin cargo is coming from or going to U.S. ports.
America. The canal was also costly in The canal’s relative share of world cargo has
terms of human life. Accidents and dis- declined somewhat, but its absolute volume
ease claimed the lives of 5,609 people, has grown with the continued expansion of
including about 4,500 Caribbean laborers. global trade.
The Open Door Policy In 1894 the center of a country’s sphere of influ-
war erupted between China and ence, an area where a foreign nation con-
Japan over Korea, which at that time was trolled economic development such as
part of the Chinese empire. European and American railroad construction and mining.
leaders expected China, with its massive armed These events in northern China greatly worried the
forces, to defeat Japan easily. These Western United States. President McKinley and Secretary of
observers were astonished when Japan easily State John Hay both supported what they called an
defeated China. In the peace treaty, China granted Open Door policy, in which all countries should be
Korea independence. China also gave Japan terri- allowed to trade with China. In 1899 Hay sent notes to
tory in Manchuria that included the important city countries with leaseholds in China asking them not to
of Port Arthur. The war showed that Japan had suc- discriminate against other nations that wanted to do
cessfully adopted Western technology and industry. business with the Chinese inside each leasehold. The
It also demonstrated that China was far weaker than Europeans and Japanese received the Open Door pro-
anyone had thought. posals coolly. Each power claimed to accept them in
Japan’s rising power greatly worried the Russians. principle but refused to act on them unless all of the
They did not want Japan to acquire the territory in others agreed to do so as well. Hay refused to consider
Manchuria, because it bordered Russia. Backed by this a rebuff. Once he had received assurances from all
France and Germany, Russia forced Japan to give the of the great powers, he declared that the United States
part of Manchuria it had acquired back to China. expected the other powers to abide by the plan.
Then, in 1898, Russia demanded that China lease the
territory to Russia instead.
Leasing a territory meant that it would still The Boxer Rebellion While foreign countries
belong to China, even though a foreign government debated who should control China, secret Chinese
would maintain overall control. Germany and societies were organizing to get rid of foreign control.
France demanded leaseholds in China, and Britain Westerners referred to one such group as the Boxers.
insisted on several as well. Each “leasehold” became In 1900 the group rose up to wipe out “foreign

The Panama Canal, 1990s
Canal Zone Railroad
Canal route Locks
➤
Military Impact
Huge quantities of war materials
and thousands of troops passed
through the canal during World
War II, the Korean War, and the
Vietnam War. The strategic loca-
tion of the canal makes its neu- An average voyage takes 8 hours to cover the roughly 50 miles (80 km) through the
trality critical in times of war. canal channel. A series of locks that look like giant steps lift ships about 85 feet (26 m)
from sea level to Gatun Lake. Small locomotives run on tracks on the two sides of the
locks, helping to stabilize and guide the ships. The same method is used on the other
side of the lake, where vessels descend through two more locks.
devils” and their Christian con-
verts, whom they believed were
corrupting Chinese society. In in a war between Japan and Russia in 1905. At a peace
what became known as the Boxer Rebellion, group conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Roosevelt
members besieged foreign embassies in Beijing, killing convinced the Russians to recognize Japan’s territorial
more than 200 foreigners and taking others prisoner. gains and persuaded the Japanese to stop fighting and
In August 1900, an international force that included to seek no further territory. For his efforts in ending
U.S. troops stepped in and quashed the rebellion. the war, Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906.
During the crisis, Secretary of State Hay and British In the years after the peace treaty, relations
leaders worked to persuade European nations not to between the United States and Japan steadily grew
use the Boxer Rebellion as an excuse to partition worse. As the two nations vied for greater influence
China. In a second set of Open Door notes, Hay con- in Asia, they held each other in check through a series
vinced the participating powers to back away from a of agreements. They agreed to respect each other’s
full-scale retaliation against China. He urged them territorial possessions, to uphold the Open Door pol-
instead to accept compensation from China for any icy, and to support China’s independence.
damage that the rebellion caused. After some discus- In 1907 President Roosevelt sent 16 battleships of
sion, China was never broken up into colonies. As a the new United States Navy, known as the “Great
result, the United States retained access to China’s White Fleet,” on a voyage around the world to show-
lucrative trade in tea, spices, and silk and maintained case the nation’s military might. The tour made a
an increasingly larger market for its own goods. stop in Japan to demonstrate that the United States
could and would uphold its interests in Asia. This
Balancing Power in East Asia As president,
visit did not help ease the growing tensions between
Theodore Roosevelt supported the Open Door policy
the two countries throughout the early 1900s.
in China and worked to prevent any single nation
from monopolizing trade there. This concern Reading Check Explaining What was the purpose
prompted Roosevelt to step in to help negotiate peace of the Open Door policy?

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, which gave the United
States the exclusive right to build and control any
proposed canal through Central America.
The Suez Canal A French company had begun digging a canal
Forty-five years before the Panama Canal was com- through Panama in 1881. By 1889, however, it aban-
pleted, another canal opened that dramatically changed doned its efforts because of bankruptcy and terrible
world trade patterns. In 1869 a French company, led losses from disease among the workers. The com-
by Ferdinand de Lesseps, completed work on the Suez pany was reorganized in 1894, but its operations
Canal after more than 10 years of construction. practically ceased and its only hope was to sell its
The Suez Canal is located in Egypt. It connects the rights to digging the canal.
Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, creating a shortcut for The United States had long considered two possible
ships traveling from Europe to the Indian Ocean. Before canal sites, one through Nicaragua and one through
the canal’s opening, ships had to travel around Africa to Panama. The French company eased this choice by
reach India and coun- offering to sell its rights and property in Panama to the
tries in East Asia. The United States.
In 1903 Panama was still part of Colombia.
canal greatly reduced
Secretary of State Hay offered Colombia $10 million
travel times between
and a yearly rent of $250,000 for the right to construct
Europe and Asia and
the canal and to control a narrow strip of land on
rapidly became one of
either side of it. Considering the price too low and
the world’s major ship-
Route After afraid of losing control of Panama, the Colombian
ping lanes. How did
Suez Canal government refused the offer.
the canal change
Route Before
world trade patterns? Suez Canal Revolt in Panama Some Panamanians feared los-
ing the commercial benefits of the canal. Panama had
opposed Colombian rule since the mid-1800s, and
the canal issue added to the tensions. In addition, the
French company was still concerned that the United
A Growing Presence States would build the canal in Nicaragua instead.
in the Caribbean The French company’s agent, Philippe Bunau-Varilla,
Theodore Roosevelt believed in a strong global and Panamanian officials decided that the only way
military presence. He insisted that displaying to ensure the canal would be built was to declare
American power to the world would make nations independence and make their own deal with the
think twice about fighting, thus promoting global United States. Bunau-Varilla arranged for a small
peace. He often expressed this belief with a West army to stage an uprising in Panama.
African saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” On November 3, 1903, Bunau-Varilla’s forces
Roosevelt’s “big stick” policy was perhaps most evi- revolted. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt sent ships
dent in the Caribbean. to Panama to prevent Colombian interference.
Within a few days, the United States recognized
GEOGRAPHY Panama’s independence. Less than two weeks later,
the two nations signed a treaty allowing the canal to
The Panama Canal One of Roosevelt’s most dra- be built.
matic actions in the Caribbean was the acquisition of Protesters in the United States and throughout
the Panama Canal Zone in 1903. Roosevelt and others Latin America condemned Roosevelt’s actions as
viewed the construction of a canal through Central unjustifiable aggression. The president countered
America as vital to American power in the world. A that he had advanced “the needs of collective civi-
canal would save time and money for both commer- lization” by building a canal that shortened the dis-
cial and military shipping. tance between the Atlantic and the Pacific by about
As early as 1850, the United States and Great 8,000 nautical miles (14,816 km).
Britain had signed a treaty in which each nation had
agreed not to build a canal without the other’s partic- The Roosevelt Corollary The growing American
ipation. Because of its strong interest in a canal, how- involvement in foreign affairs caused Roosevelt to
ever, the United States negotiated a new treaty. In expand his “big stick” diplomacy. In an address
1901, the United States and Great Britain signed the to Congress in 1904, the president defined what came

to be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine. To prevent European nations from
sending troops to the Caribbean or Central America,
he announced that the United States would intervene
in Latin American affairs when necessary to maintain
stability in the Western Hemisphere:
“ Chronic wrongdoing . . . may, in America, as

elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some
civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the
adherence of the United States to the Monroe
Doctrine may force the United States, however reluc-
tantly . . . to the exercise of an international police
power.
”
—quoted in The Growth of the United States
The United States first applied the Roosevelt Analyzing Political Cartoons
Corollary in the Dominican Republic, which had
American Imperialism This cartoon displays Roosevelt’s belief that the
fallen behind on its debt payments to European
United States should “speak softly and carry a big stick” in foreign affairs.
nations. In 1905, worried that the Europeans were In what part of the world did Roosevelt’s quote originate?
getting ready to send troops, Roosevelt sent
American marines to the Dominican Republic to col- Although Taft described his brand of diplomacy as
lect customs tariffs to make the debt payments. “substituting dollars for bullets,” in Nicaragua he
Latin American nations resented the growing used both. In 1911 American bankers began making
American influence in the region. Roosevelt’s succes- loans to Nicaragua to support its shaky government.
sor, William Howard Taft, continued Roosevelt’s The following year, civil unrest forced the
policies, however, with an emphasis on helping Latin Nicaraguan president to appeal for greater assis-
American industry. He believed that if American tance. American marines entered the country,
business leaders supported Latin American develop- replaced the collector of customs with an American
ment, everyone would benefit. The United States agent, and formed a committee of two Americans
would increase its trade, American businesses would and one Nicaraguan to control the customs commis-
increase their profits, and countries in Latin America sions. American troops stayed to support both the
would rise out of poverty and social disorder, and government and customs until 1925.
European nations would have no reason to intervene
in the region. Taft’s policy came to be called dollar
Reading Check Describing What did the Roosevelt
diplomacy. Corollary state?
TM
TM

1. Define: sphere of influence, Open Door 4. Analyzing How did the Open Door 6. Analyzing Graphs Examine the graph
policy, dollar diplomacy. policy and dollar diplomacy affect U.S. on page 409. Why do you think such a
2. Identify: Boxer Rebellion, “Great White relations with other countries? small number of U.S. exports went to
Fleet,” Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, 5. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to China and Japan?
Roosevelt Corollary. summarize the results of the Open
Door policy in China.
Results
3. Continuity and Change Why do you 7. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are
think Latin American nations resented Theodore Roosevelt, and write a speech
Open Door Policy
American influence in the region? justifying the actions that led to the
building of the Panama Canal. Be
specific in your reasons.

Reviewing Key Terms 17. Interpreting Primary Sources After the Spanish-American
War, Carl Schurz, the leader of the liberal wing of the
Republican Party, opposed American expansion abroad. In
1. imperialism 5. sphere of influence the following excerpt, Schurz attacks the arguments for tak-
2. protectorate 6. Open Door policy ing over the Philippine Islands.
3. yellow journalism 7. dollar diplomacy

4. jingoism
“ Taking a general view of the Philippines as a com-
mercial market for us, I need not again argue against
the barbarous notion that in order to have a profitable
Reviewing Key Facts trade with a country we must own it. . . . It is equally
8. Identify: Matthew C. Perry, Queen Liliuokalani, Alfred T. needless to show to any well-informed person that the
Mahan, Henry Cabot Lodge, José Martí, Theodore Roosevelt, profits of the trade with the islands themselves can
“Great White Fleet,” Roosevelt Corollary. never amount to the cost of making and maintaining the
9. Why did the United States seek to become a world power in conquest of the Philippines.
the 1890s? But there is another point of real importance. Many
10. How did yellow journalism contribute to American support of imperialists admit that our trade with the Philippines
the Cuban revolution? themselves will not nearly be worth its cost; but they say
11. What were the provisions of the Treaty of Paris of 1898? that we must have the Philippines as a foothold, a sort
12. Why did President Theodore Roosevelt help negotiate peace of power station, for the expansion of our trade on the
between Japan and Russia? Asiatic continent, especially in China. Admitting this, for
13. What was dollar diplomacy? argument’s sake, I ask what kind of a foothold we
should really need. Coaling stations and docks for our
Critical Thinking fleet, and facilities for the establishment of commercial
14. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy Why did houses and depots. That is all. And now I ask further,
American sugarcane planters in Hawaii revolt against Queen
whether we could not easily have had these things if we
Liliuokalani?
had, instead of making war upon the Filipinos, favored
15. Explaining What was the significance of the year 1898 as a
the independence of the islands. Everybody knows that
turning point for the United States?
we could. We might have those things now for the mere
16. Evaluating Do you think the Panama Canal was worth the
cost in terms of money spent and lives lost? Analyze the asking if we stopped the war and came to a friendly
effects of physical and human geographic factors on the
building of the canal to determine your answer.
understanding with the Filipinos tomorrow. . . .
”
—quoted in The Policy of Imperialism
U.S. Actions
In the Pacific In Latin America
• Expanded Chinese and Japanese markets • At Pan-American Conference, invited Latin American
• Annexed the Midway Islands as refueling depots for countries to trade with U.S.
expanded navy • Supported Cuba’s rebellion against Spain, leading to
• Built coaling stations on Samoan Islands Spanish-American War; victory over Spain gave U.S.
• American business leaders led successful campaign for control over Cuba, Puerto Rico
Hawaiian annexation • Built the Panama Canal
• Victory over Spain gave U.S. control over Guam and • Issued the Roosevelt Corollary stating that the U.S.
the Philippines would intervene in Latin America to maintain stability
U.S. Possessions
HISTORY in the Pacific, 1899
Self-Check Quiz
150°E 180°
a. How does Schurz counter the argument that annexation

RUSSIA
of the Philippines was necessary to make the nation a
commercial market for the United States?
b. What action other than annexation does Schurz suggest ASIA
the United States could have taken to obtain the coaling N
stations, docks, and depots it needed for trade with Asia?
W E
Pacif
18. Organizing Using a graphic organizer similar to the one S
OCEaN
below, list ways that American imperialism affected Hawaii, JAPAN
Midway Islands
Cuba, and the Philippines. CHINA (1867)
Wake I. T
(1899)
U.S. Imperialism Philippines
(1898) Guam Johnston Ato
(1898) (1858)
Howland I.
EQUATOR (1857)
U.S. possessions
Baker I. J
Hawaii Cuba the Philippines with date acquired
(1857)
Amer
Practicing Skills a. Interpreting Maps Approximately how far west is the

island of Guam from the west coast of the United States?
19. Using an Electronic Spreadsheet Enter in a spreadsheet
b. Applying Geography Skills Why did the United States
the land area of the territories that came under U.S. control
acquire so much island territory in the Pacific?
as a result of the Spanish-American War (Puerto Rico, Guam,
and the Philippines). Enter the current land area of the
United States in the spreadsheet. Create an equation to cal-
culate the percentage of land that each territory represents
compared to the United States land area.
Writing Activity
20. Portfolio Writing Imagine that you are Dr. William Gorgas. Standardized
You have just arrived in Havana, where you have been
assigned to address the problems of workers suffering from
Test Practice
yellow fever. Write a letter home describing some of the con-
following question.
ditions, problems, and needs facing you as you search for a
cure. Place the letter in your portfolio. Which of the following statements about the Platt
Amendment is true?
Chapter Activity A It guaranteed that Cuba would be independent by 1915.
21. Evaluating the Validity of a Source Use the library or the B It prevented the United States from intervening in Cuban
internet to find writings by people in support of and against foreign affairs.
the Spanish-American War. Evaluate the authors’ points C It essentially made Cuba a U.S. protectorate.
based on the language and logic they use. Then evaluate the D It opened up territory in Cuba to a variety of foreign
authors’ backgrounds and experience to determine if they powers.
are reliable or objective sources.
Test-Taking Tip: Eliminate answers you know are incorrect.
Geography and History The Platt Amendment laid out conditions desired by the
22. The map on this page shows the expansion of the United United States, and so you can eliminate answers that would
States in 1900. Study the map and answer the following not be beneficial to the United States.
questions.

The Progressive
Movement 1890–1919
Why It Matters
Industrialization changed American society. Cities were crowded with new immigrants, working
conditions were often bad, and the old political system was breaking down. These conditions
gave rise to the Progressive movement. Progressives campaigned for both political and social
reforms for more than two decades and enjoyed significant successes at the local, state, and
national levels.
The Impact Today

Many Progressive-era changes are still alive in the United States today.
• Political parties hold direct primaries to nominate candidates for office.
• The Seventeenth Amendment calls for the direct election of senators.
• Federal regulation of food and drugs began in this period.

The Chapter 13 video, “The Stockyard Jungle,” portrays the horrors
of the meatpacking industry first investigated by Upton Sinclair.
1889
• Hull House 1902
• Maryland workers’ 1904
opens in 1890 • Ida Tarbell’s History of
Chicago compensation laws
• Jacob Riis’s How passed the Standard Oil
the Other Half Company published
Lives published
▲
B. Harrison Cleveland McKinley T. Roosevelt
1889–1893 ▲ 1893–1897 1897–1901 1901–1909
▲ ▲
1890 1900
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1884 1900
• Toynbee Hall, first settlement • Freud’s Interpretation 1902
house, established in London of Dreams published • Anglo-Japanese
alliance formed
1903
• Russian Bolshevik Party established by Lenin
416
Women marching for the vote in New York City, 1912
1905
• Industrial Workers
of the World
founded
1913
1906 1910 • Seventeenth 1920
• Pure Food and • Mann-Elkins Amendment • Nineteenth Amendment
Drug Act passed Act passed ratified ratified, guaranteeing
women’s voting rights HISTORY
▲
Taft Wilson
▲ ▲ 1909–1913 ▲ 1913–1921 ▲ Chapter Overview
information.
1910 1914
• Mexican Revolution • World War I begins
1905 in Europe
• Einstein’s theory of
relativity formulated
417
The Roots of
Progressivism
Progressivism was a diverse response to Organizing As you read about the • Discuss the rise of the Progressive
the problems posed by industrialism and beginnings of progressivism, complete movement.
modern life. a graphic organizer similar to the one • Evaluate the impact of initiative, refer-
below by filling in the beliefs of endum, and recall, and of the
Key Terms and Names progressives. Seventeenth Amendment.
progressivism, muckraker, Jacob Riis,
commission plan, Robert La Follette, Section Theme
direct primary, initiative, referendum, Government and Democracy
Progressive
recall, suffrage, Alice Paul, temperance, Beliefs Progressive reformers focused on political
prohibition, socialism reforms to try to keep the nation true to
its democratic ideals.
✦1890 ✦1900 ✦1910 ✦1920

1890 1901 1913 1920
Jacob Riis’s How the Other Galveston, Texas, adopts Seventeenth Amendment provides Nineteenth Amendment
Half Lives published commission system for direct election of senators gives women the vote
In 1917 suffragist Rose Winslow and several other women, including Alice Paul, founder of
the National Woman’s Party, were arrested for obstructing traffic and blocking sidewalks. The
women had been picketing the White House to draw attention to the fact that women did not
yet have the right to vote in federal elections. After being sentenced to seven months in jail,
Paul, Winslow, and other women prisoners went on a hunger strike. Prison authorities forced
the prisoners to eat. Winslow smuggled details of their plight out to the public:
“ We have been in solitary for five weeks. . . . I have felt quite feeble the last few days—
faint, so that I could hardly get my hair brushed, my arms ached so. But today I am well
again. . . . [Alice Paul] dreaded forcible feeding frightfully, and I hate to think how she must
A police officer arresting
two suffragists in be feeling. . . . I am really all right. If this continues very long I perhaps won’t be. All the offi-
Washington, D.C. cers here know we are making this hunger strike [so] that women fighting for liberty may be
considered political prisoners. . . . [W]e don’t want women ever to have to do this over
again.
”
—quoted in Jailed for Freedom
The Rise of Progressivism

The struggle for the right of women to vote was only one of a series of reform efforts
that transformed American society in the early 1900s. Historians refer to this era in
American history—from about 1890 to 1920—as the Progressive Era.
418 CHAPTER 13 The Progressive Movement

Who Were the Progressives? Progressivism was magazines grew in popular- HISTORY
not a tightly organized political movement with a ity at this time, including
specific set of reforms. Instead, it was a collection of McClure’s, Collier’s, and Student Web
different ideas and activities. Progressives had many Munsey’s. Activity Visit the
different views about how to fix the problems they Muckrakers uncovered American Republic
believed existed in American society. corruption in many areas. Since 1877 Web site at
Progressives generally believed that industrialism Some concentrated on tarvol2.glencoe.com
and urbanization had created many social problems. exposing what they consid- and click on Student
ered to be the unfair prac- Web Activities—
Most agreed that the government should take a
tices of large American Chapter 13 for an
more active role in solving society’s problems.
corporations. In McClure’s, activity on the
Progressives belonged to both major political parties
Progressive movement.
and usually were urban, educated middle-class for example, Ida Tarbell
Americans. Many leaders of the Progressive move- published a series of articles
ment worked as journalists, social workers, educa- critical of the Standard Oil
tors, politicians, and members of the clergy. Company. In Everybody’s Magazine, Charles Edward
Russell attacked the beef industry.
Beginnings of Progressivism Progressivism was Other muckrakers targeted government. David
partly a reaction against laissez-faire economics and its Graham Philips described how money influenced the
emphasis on an unregulated market. After seeing the Senate, while Lincoln Steffens, another McClure’s
poverty of the working class and the filth and crime of reporter, reported on vote stealing and other corrupt
urban society, these reformers began to doubt the free practices of urban political machines. These were
market’s ability to address those problems. At the same later collected into a book, The Shame of the Cities.
time, they doubted that government in its present form Still other muckrakers concentrated on social
could fix those problems. They concluded that govern- problems. In his influential book How the Other Half
ment had to be fixed first before it could be used to fix Lives, published in 1890, Jacob Riis described the
other problems. poverty, disease, and crime that afflicted many
One reason progressives believed people could immigrant neighborhoods in New York City. The
improve society was because they had a strong faith
in science and technology. The application of scien- History
tific knowledge had produced the lightbulb, the tele-
phone, the automobile, and the airplane. It had built Muckrakers McClure’s published Ida Tarbell’s exposé on Standard Oil.
What issues particularly concerned the muckrakers?
skyscrapers and railroads. Science and technology
had benefited people; thus progressives believed
using scientific principles could also produce solu-
tions for society.
The Muckrakers Among the first people to articulate

Progressive ideas was a group of crusading journalists
who investigated social conditions and political cor-
ruption. These writers became known as muckrakers
after a speech by President Theodore Roosevelt:
“ Now, it is very necessary that we should not flinch

from seeing what is vile and debasing. There is filth
on the floor and it must be scraped up with the
muck-rake; and there are times and places where this
service is the most needed of all the services that can
”
be performed. . . .
—Washington, D.C., April 14, 1906
By the early 1900s, American publishers were com-

peting to see who could expose the most corruption
and scandal. A group of aggressive 10¢ and 15¢
muckrakers’ articles led to a general public debate on described how a company could become more effi-
social and economic problems and put pressure on cient by managing time, breaking tasks down into
politicians to introduce reforms. small parts, and using standardized tools.
Efficiency progressives argued that managing a
Reading Check Describing How did the muckrakers modern city required experts, not politicians. They
help spark the Progressive movement? did not want more democracy in government, for
they believed that the democratic process led to com-
promise and corruption. In most American cities, the
mayor or city council chose the heads of city depart-
Making Government Efficient ments. Traditionally, these jobs went to political sup-
There were many different types of progressivism. porters and friends, who often knew little about city
Different causes led to different approaches, and pro- services.
gressives even took opposing positions on how to Efficiency progressives wanted either a commission
solve some problems. plan or a council-manager system. Under the
One group of progressives focused on making commission plan, a city’s government would be
government more efficient. They believed that many divided into several departments, which would each
problems in society could be solved if government be placed under the control of an expert commis-
worked properly. Efficiency progressives took their sioner. These progressives argued that a board of com-
ideas from business. These progressives believed missioners or a city manager with expertise in city
business had become more efficient by applying the services should hire the specialists to run city depart-
principles of scientific management. ments. Galveston, Texas, adopted the commission sys-
The ideas of scientific management had been tem in 1901. Other cities soon followed.
developed in the late 1800s and were popularized by
Frederick W. Taylor in his book The Principles of Reading Check Explaining Why did progressives
Scientific Management, published in 1911. Taylor want to reorganize city government?
A City and a Storm

On September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane devas-
tated the city of Galveston, Texas. About 6,000 people
died. When the political machine that controlled the city
government proved incapable of responding to the disas-
ter, local business leaders convinced the state to let them
take control. In April 1901, Galveston introduced the
commission system of government. Under this system,
Galveston chose five commissioners to replace the
mayor and city council.
Four commissioners were local business leaders.
When the city quickly recovered, reformers in other cities
were impressed. Galveston’s experience seemed to
prove the benefits of
running a city like a
business by dividing its
government into
departments and plac-
ing each under an
expert commissioner.
Many other cities soon
followed, adopting
either the commission
plan or the council-
manager system.

Democracy and Progressivism Follette claimed, “Democracy is based upon knowl-
edge. . . . The only way to beat the boss . . . is to keep
Not all progressives agreed with the efficiency
the people thoroughly informed.”
progressives. Many believed that society needed
Inspired by La Follette, progressives in other states
more democracy, not less. They wanted to make
pushed for similar electoral changes. To force state leg-
elected officials more responsive to voters.
islators to respond to voters, three new reforms were
introduced in many states. The initiative allowed a
“Laboratory of Democracy” Political reform first
group of citizens to introduce legislation and required
came to the state level when Wisconsin voters elected
the legislature to vote on it. The referendum allowed
Republican Robert La Follette to be governor. La
proposed legislation to be submitted to the voters for
Follette used his office to attack the way political par-
approval. The recall allowed voters to demand a spe-
ties ran their conventions. Because party bosses con-
cial election to remove an elected official from office
trolled the selection of convention delegates, they
before his or her term had expired.
also controlled which candidates were chosen to run
for office. La Follette pressured the state legislature to
require each party to hold a direct primary, in which GOVERNMENT
all party members could vote for a candidate to run Direct Election of Senators Another reform the
in the general election. progressives favored affected the federal govern-
La Follette’s great reform success gave Wisconsin ment—the direct election of senators. As originally
a reputation as the “laboratory of democracy.” La written, the United States Constitution directed each
state legislature to elect two senators from that state.
Mayor-Council Form Political machines or large trusts often influenced the
election of senators, who then repaid their supporters
Voters
with federal contracts and jobs. By the early 1900s,
elect muckraker Charles Edward Russell charged that the
Senate had become “only a chamber of butlers for
Mayor City Council industrialists and financiers.”
actions approved by
appoints To counter Senate corruption, progressives called
for the direct election of senators by all state voters.
Heads of City
carry out policy In 1912 Congress passed a direct-election amend-
Departments
ment. Although the direct election of senators was
Source: The World Book Encyclopedia.
intended to end corruption, it also removed one of
the state legislatures’ checks on federal power. In
Commission Form 1913 the amendment was ratified, becoming the
Voters Police Commissioner Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution.
elect Fire Commissioner Reading Check Evaluating What was the impact of
Board of Parks Commissioner the Seventeenth Amendment? What problem was it intended to
Commissioners solve?
Finance Commissioner
Public Works Commissioner
pass ordinances;
control funds carry out policy The Suffrage Movement
In July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia
Mott organized the first women’s rights convention
Council-Manager Form in Seneca Falls, New York. Stanton proposed to the
Voters City Manager delegates that their first priority should be getting
(Chief Administrator) women the right to vote. The movement for women’s
elect
hires voting rights became known as the suffrage
City Council appoints movement. Suffrage is the right to vote.
(makes policy) Woman suffrage was an important issue for pro-
Heads of City Departments gressives. Although the suffrage movement began well
elects
before progressivism emerged, many progressives
Mayor carry out policy joined the movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
CHAPTER 13 The Progressive Movement 421
Early Problems The suffrage movement got off to a wanted to focus on passing a constitutional amend-
slow start. Women suffragists were accused of being ment allowing woman suffrage. The second group
unfeminine and immoral. Several were physically believed that the best strategy was to convince state
attacked. The movement also remained weak governments to give women the right to vote before
because many of its supporters were abolitionists as trying to amend the Constitution.
well. In the years before the Civil War, they preferred This split reduced the movement’s effectiveness. In
to concentrate on abolishing slavery. 1878 a constitutional amendment granting woman
After the Civil War, the Republicans in Congress suffrage was introduced in Congress, but it failed to
introduced the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments pass. Few state governments granted women the right
to the Constitution to protect the voting rights of to vote either. By 1900 only Wyoming, Idaho, Utah,
African Americans. Several leaders of the woman suf- and Colorado had granted women full voting rights.
frage movement had wanted these amendments
worded to give women the right to vote as well. They The Movement Builds Support In 1890 the two
were bitterly disappointed when Republicans refused. groups united to form the National American Woman
The debate over the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Suffrage Association (NAWSA). The movement still
Amendments split the suffrage movement into two did not make significant gains, however, until about
groups: the National Woman Suffrage Association, 1910. Part of the problem was convincing women to
led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, become politically active. As the Progressive move-
and the American Woman Suffrage Association, led ment began, however, many middle-class women con-
by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe. The first group cluded that they needed the vote to promote social
reforms they favored. Many working-
class women also wanted the vote to
ensure passage of labor laws protecting
in History women.
As the suffrage movement grew,
Susan B. Anthony members began lobbying lawmakers,
1820 –1906 organizing marches, and delivering
Susan B. Anthony was born in speeches on street corners. By the
Adams, Massachusetts, to Quaker par- end of 1912, Washington, Oregon,
ents. Quakers were generally more California, Arizona, and Kansas had
supportive of women’s rights than granted women full voting rights. On
some other groups, and so Anthony
March 3, 1913, the day before
was able to receive a good education.
She finished her schooling at the age of President Wilson’s inauguration, suf-
17. Anthony then worked as a teacher fragists marched in Washington, D.C.,
in New York, but she was fired after to draw attention to their cause.
protesting that her pay was one-fifth Alice Paul, a Quaker social worker
the amount of her male colleagues. who headed NAWSA’s congressional
She found another job, however, as a the jury would rule in Anthony’s favor.
He dismissed the jury and fined
committee, had organized the
principal at New York’s Canajoharie
Academy. Between 1848 and 1863, Anthony instead. She refused to pay the Washington march. Paul wanted to
Anthony was involved in both the tem- $100 fine, but the judge decided to let use protests to force President Wilson
perance and abolitionist movements. her go, afraid that appealing the case to take action on suffrage. Her activi-
Her involvement in the drive for might generate sympathy for the suf- ties alarmed other members of
women’s equality began in 1851 after frage movement. NAWSA who wanted to negotiate
she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton. In 1883 Anthony traveled to Europe,
with Wilson. Paul left NAWSA and
Between 1854 and 1860, the duo and she helped form the International
attempted to change discriminatory Council of Women in 1888. This organi- formed the National Woman’s Party.
laws in New York. In 1869 Anthony and zation represented the rights of women Her supporters picketed the White
Stanton organized the National Woman in 48 countries. She died in Rochester, House, blocked sidewalks, chained
Suffrage Association and began pro- New York, in 1906. Though Anthony themselves to lampposts, and went
moting an amendment to grant woman did not live to see her dream of woman on hunger strikes if arrested.
suffrage. Anthony and 12 other women suffrage become reality, the United
In 1915 Carrie Chapman Catt
illegally cast votes in the presidential States government honored her by
election of 1872. They were arrested placing her portrait on a new dollar became NAWSA’s leader. Catt devel-
and convicted, but the judge feared that coin in 1979. oped what she called her “Winning
Plan” to mobilize the suffrage

In
Woman Suffrage, 1869–1920 Motion
WASH.
1910 N.H.
MONT. N. DAK. VT. ME.
1914 MINN.
OREG.
1912
IDAHO S. DAK. WIS. N.Y. MASS.
1896 WYO. 1918 1917
1869 MICH.
1918 R.I.
IOWA PA. N.J. CONN.
NEV. NEBR.
1914 UTAH OHIO DEL.
1870 COLO. ILL. IND.
CALIF. 1893 W.
KANS. MO. VA. VA. MD.
1911 1912 KY.
N.C.
ARIZ. OKLA. TENN.
1912 N. MEX. 1918 ARK.
S.C.
MISS.
ALA. GA.
TEXAS LA.
FLA.
Full woman suffrage before 1920, with

date granted
Partial woman suffrage before 1920 1. Interpreting Maps Which region led the way in grant-
No woman suffrage until ratification of ing woman suffrage?
the Nineteenth Amendment 2. Applying Geography Skills Based on the map, what
1920 border region would you suggest had the least amount of
campaigning for woman suffrage?
movement nation-wide in one final push to gain vot- Social Welfare Progressivism
ing rights. She also threw NAWSA’s support behind
While many progressives focused on reforming
Wilson in the 1916 election. Although Wilson did not
the political system, others focused on social prob-
endorse a woman suffrage amendment, he sup-
lems, such as crime, illiteracy, alcohol abuse, child
ported the Democratic Party’s call for states to give
labor, and the health and safety of Americans.
women the vote.
These social welfare progressives created charities
The Nineteenth Amendment As more states to help the poor and disadvantaged. They also
granted women the right to vote, Congress began to pushed for new laws they hoped would fix social
favor a constitutional amendment. In 1918 the House problems.
of Representatives passed a woman suffrage amend-
ment. Wilson then addressed the Senate, asking it to The Campaign Against Child Labor Probably the
vote for the amendment. Despite his efforts, the most emotional Progressive issue was the cam-
amendment failed to pass by two votes. paign against child labor. Children had always
During the midterm elections of 1918, Catt used worked on family farms, but the factory work that
NAWSA’s resources to defeat two anti-suffrage sena- many children performed was monotonous, and
tors. The following year, in June 1919, the Senate the conditions were often unhealthy. In 1900 over
finally passed the Nineteenth Amendment by just 1.7 million children under the age of 16 worked
more than the two-thirds vote needed. On August 26, outside the home. Reformers established a National
1920, after three-fourths of the states had voted to rat- Child Labor Committee in 1904 to work to abolish
ify it, the Nineteenth Amendment guaranteeing child labor.
women the right to vote went into effect. Muckraker John Spargo’s 1906 book The Bitter Cry
of the Children presented detailed evidence on child
Reading Check Evaluating How successful were labor conditions. He told of coal mines where thou-
women in lobbying to achieve passage of the Nineteenth sands of “breaker boys” were hired at age 9 or 10 to
Amendment? pick slag out of coal and were paid 60¢ for a 10-hour

MOMENT
in HISTORY
YOUTHFUL PROTEST
Two young immigrants march
in a New York City demonstra-
tion against child labor prac-
tices in 1907. Both young
women wear banners pro-
claiming the same message—
one in English, the other in
Yiddish. Such protests helped
publicize the exploitation of
children in dingy, dangerous
“sweatshops” in American
cities. At the dawn of the twen-
tieth century, more than a mil-
lion children—some as young
as eight—labored long hours in
factories.The weight of popular
opinion finally forced state
governments to pass laws
protecting young workers.
day. He described how the work bent their backs City to pass strict building codes dealing with fire haz-
permanently and often crippled their hands. Reports ards and unsafe machinery and working conditions.
like these convinced states to pass laws that set a During the early 1900s, thousands of people died
minimum age for employment and established other or were injured on the job, but they and their families
limits on child labor, such as maximum hours chil- received little compensation. Progressives joined
dren could work. At the same time, many states union leaders to pressure states for workers’ compen-
began passing compulsory education laws, requiring sation laws. These laws established insurance funds
young children to be in school instead of at work. financed by employers. Workers injured in industrial
By the early 1900s, the number of child laborers accidents received payments from the funds.
had begun to decline. For many families, the new Some progressives also favored zoning laws as a
wealth generated by industry enabled them to sur- method of protecting the public. These laws divided a
vive without having their children work. For others, town or city into zones for commercial, residential, or
the child labor and compulsory education laws other development, thereby regulating how land and
meant that wives had to work instead. buildings could be used. Building codes set minimum
standards for light, air, room size, and sanitation, and
Health and Safety Codes Many adult workers also required buildings to have fire escapes. Health codes
labored in difficult conditions. Factories, coal mines, required restaurants and other facilities to maintain
and railroads were particularly dangerous. For clean environments for their patrons.
example, in 1911 a terrible fire swept through Triangle
Shirtwaist Company in New York City. Nearly 150 The Prohibition Movement Many progressives
women workers died, trapped by doors locked from believed alcohol was responsible for many problems
the outside. Outrage at the deaths caused New York in American life. Settlement house workers hated the

effects of drinking on families. Scarce wages were Progressives disagreed, however, over how to
spent on alcohol, and drinking sometimes led to regulate big business. Some believed government
physical abuse and sickness. Many Christians also should break up big companies to restore competi-
opposed alcohol. tion. This idea led to the Sherman Antitrust Act in
Some employers believed drinking hurt workers’ 1890. Others argued that big business was the most
efficiency, while political reformers viewed the saloon efficient way to organize the economy. They pushed
as the informal headquarters of the machine politics instead for the creation of government agencies to
they opposed. The temperance movement, which regulate big companies and prevent them from
advocated the moderation or elimination of alcohol, abusing their power. The Interstate Commerce
emerged from these concerns. Commission (ICC), created in 1887, was an early
For the most part, women led the temperance example of this kind of Progressive thinking.
movement. In 1874 a group of women formed the Some progressives went even further and advo-
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). By cated socialism—the idea that the government
1911 the WCTU had nearly 250,000 members. In 1893 should own and operate industry for the commu-
another organization—the Anti-Saloon League—was nity as a whole. They wanted the government to
formed. At first the temperance movement worked to buy up large companies, especially industries that
reduce alcohol consumption. Later it pressed for affected everyone, such as railroads and utilities.
prohibition—laws banning the manufacture, sale, At its peak, socialism had some national sup-
and consumption of alcohol. port. Eugene Debs, the former American Railway
Union leader, won nearly a million votes as the
Reading Check Examining What actions did
American Socialist Party candidate for president in
progressives take to deal with the issue of child labor? 1912. Most progressives and most Americans, how-
ever, believed in the superiority of the American
system of free enterprise.
Progressives Versus Big Business Efforts to regulate business were focused at the
A fourth group of progressives focused their national level. Congress passed a number of pro-
efforts on regulating big business. Many progres- posals to regulate the economy under presidents
sives believed that wealth was concentrated in the Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow
hands of too few people. In particular, many Wilson.
became concerned about trusts and holding compa-
nies—giant corporations that dominated many Reading Check Evaluating What was the impact of
industries. Eugene Debs and the Socialist Party on the 1912 election?
TM
TM

1. Define: progressivism, muckraker, 5. Evaluating What impact did Susan B. 7. Examining Charts Study the charts
commission plan, direct primary, Anthony have on Progressive era on page 421. Under which system do
initiative, referendum, recall, suffrage, reforms? voters seem to have the most control
temperance, prohibition, socialism. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer over department heads? Why do you
2. Identify: Jacob Riis, Robert La Follette, similar to the one below to list the kinds think so?
Alice Paul. of problems that muckrakers exposed.
3. State what was provided for by the
Nineteenth Amendment to the Problems Exposed
by Muckrakers Writing About History
Constitution.
8. Persuasive Writing Some women in
Reviewing Themes the early 1900s suggested that the
4. Government and Democracy How did Constitution needed an equal rights
initiative, referendum, and recall amendment. Imagine you are living
change democracy in the United States? then. Write a letter to the editor of your
local paper supporting or opposing such
an amendment.

Study and Writing
Taking Notes
Taking notes is a way of recording the impor-
tant parts of something you have read. Taking
notes also helps you recall information. The
guidelines below explain how to get the most out
of your notes.
Learning the Skill

One of the best ways to remember something
is to write it down. Taking notes involves writing
down information in a brief and orderly form.
This helps you remember information and
makes it easier to study.
There are several styles of taking notes, but all Student success relies on good note-taking.
clarify and put information in a logical order.
Keep these guidelines in mind when you are tak-
time: “develop” becomes “dvlp.” Use symbols,
ing notes:
arrows, or sketches: “&” in place of “and.” Use
• Identify the subject and write it at the top of the your shorthand whenever you take notes.
page. In your book, for example, look for chapter
• Make sure your notes are neat so you will be able
or section headings.
to understand them when you study them later.
• Be selective in what information you include in
your notes. For example, anything your teacher Practicing the Skill
writes on the chalkboard or shows you from a
After you have carefully read Section 4 of this
transparency should be included. If your teacher
chapter, follow the general guidelines to taking
emphasizes a point or spends a considerable
notes listed above and create notes for the
amount of time on a given topic, this is also a
subsection “The Limits of Progressivism.”
clue to its importance. Similarly, if your textbook
covers a single topic over several pages, take
notes by seeking the topic sentences of para-
Skills Assessment
graphs on the topic. Be certain to write down all Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
words that are in bold or italicized type. Your 445 and the Chapter 13 Skill Reinforcement Activity
goal is to listen or read carefully, paying attention to assess your mastery of this skill.
to the main ideas or key points. Do not write
down every word your teacher says. Your notes
should consist of the main ideas and supporting Applying the Skill
details on the subject. Taking Notes Have a classmate quiz you on the sec-
• Paraphrase the information. Put it in your own tion on which you took notes. How did you do? Did
words rather than trying to take it down word your notes work well? What can be improved about
for word. In order to save time, you might want them? What would you change?
to develop a personal form of shorthand. For
example, eliminating vowels from words saves Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
426
Roosevelt in Office
With Theodore Roosevelt’s succession to Taking Notes As you read about the • Describe various efforts to regulate
the presidency in September 1901, pro- administration of President Theodore concentrated corporate power.
gressivism entered national politics. Roosevelt, use the major headings of the • Discuss Theodore Roosevelt’s interest in
section to create an outline similar to the environmental conservation.
Key Terms and Names one below.
Square Deal, Northern Securities, United Section Theme
Roosevelt in Office
Mine Workers, arbitration, Hepburn Act, I. Roosevelt Revives the Presidency
Individual Action Progressive goals
Upton Sinclair A. were carried to the national level when
B.
C.
Theodore Roosevelt became president.
D.
II.
✦1900 ✦1902 ✦1904 ✦1906

1901 1902 1903 1906 1906
Theodore Roosevelt becomes president United Mine Workers Roosevelt sets up Upton Sinclair’s The Meat Inspection
after William McKinley’s death go on strike Bureau of Corporations Jungle published Act passed
William McKinley’s assassination brought Teddy Roosevelt to the presidency. Despite the
tragic circumstances, he took to the office with great joy. A man who loved the outdoors and
physical activity, Roosevelt impressed many people as a new kind of president. One visitor
wrote that after spending time with Roosevelt, “you go home and wring the personality out
of your clothes.”
The famous muckraker, Lincoln Steffens, already knew Roosevelt as a fellow reformer.
Steffens went to Washington to see his friend, and this is what he saw:
“ His offices were crowded with people, mostly reformers, all day long. . . . He strode tri-
umphant around among us, talking and shaking hands, dictating and signing letters, and
laughing. Washington, the whole country, was in mourning, and no doubt the President felt
Theodore Roosevelt he should hold himself down; he didn’t; he tried to but his joy showed in every word and
movement. . . . With his feet, his fists, his face and his free words, he laughed at his
luck. . . . And he laughed with glee at the power and place that had come to him.
”
—quoted in Theodore Roosevelt, A Life
Roosevelt Revives the Presidency

Theodore Roosevelt, better known as “Teddy,” took office at age 42—the youngest
person ever to serve as president. Roosevelt was intensely competitive, strong-willed,
and extremely energetic. In international affairs, Roosevelt was a Social Darwinist. He
believed the United States was in competition with the other nations of the world and
that only the fittest would survive. Domestically, however, Roosevelt was a committed

progressive, who firmly believed that government their private interests, some trusts were hurting the
should actively balance the needs of competing public interest. He wanted to find a way to supervise
groups in American society. big business without destroying its economic effi-
“I shall see to it,” Roosevelt declared in 1904, “that ciency. When the New York Sun declared that
every man has a square deal, no less and no more.” Roosevelt was “bringing wealth to its knees,” the
During his second term, his reform programs became president disagreed. “We draw the line against mis-
known as the Square Deal. To Roosevelt, it was not conduct,” he declared, “not against wealth.”
inconsistent to believe in Social Darwinism and During Roosevelt’s first year in office, a fight for
Progressivism at the same time. He believed the control of the Burlington Railroad erupted on the
United States needed to adopt progressive reforms in New York Stock Exchange. On one side was E.H.
order to maintain an efficient society that could com- Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad. On the other
pete successfully against other nations. side were James J. Hill and J.P. Morgan of the Great
Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. The stock
Roosevelt Takes on the Trusts Although he battle almost triggered a financial panic that could
admired competition, Roosevelt was also concerned have plunged the nation into a recession. The three
with efficiency. He believed that trusts and other men ultimately compromised by creating a giant new
large business organizations were very efficient and holding company called Northern Securities.
part of the reason for America’s prosperity. Yet The formation of the Northern Securities Company
Roosevelt remained concerned that in the pursuit of alarmed many Americans, including Roosevelt. The
stock battle that led to its creation seemed a classic
example of private interests acting in a way that
threatened the nation as a whole. Roosevelt decided
Analyzing Political Cartoons that the company was in violation of the Sherman
Corporate Giants This 1904 cartoon portrays Roosevelt as “Jack the Antitrust Act. In early 1902, he ordered his attorney
Giant-Killer,” but he actually restrained very few trusts. Why do you think general to file a lawsuit against Northern Securities.
the scene is set on Wall Street? In 1904 in Northern Securities v. the United States,
the Supreme Court ruled five to four that Northern
Securities had violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The dissenting justices argued that the Sherman
Antitrust Act did not ban companies from buying or
selling stock to each other. They observed that
Northern Securities had not hurt commerce. It had
not tried to keep other companies from competing,
and it had not tried to raise railroad rates. In fact,
rates had fallen on railroads owned by Northern
Securities. Although the court was sharply divided,
Roosevelt declared the decision a great victory.
Newspapers hailed Roosevelt as a “trustbuster,” and
his popularity soared. ; (See page 964 for more informa-
tion on Northern Securities v. the United States.)
John D.
Rockefeller The Coal Strike of 1902 As president,
J.P. Morgan Roosevelt regarded himself as the
nation’s head manager. He believed it
was his job to keep society operating effi-
ciently by preventing conflict between
the nation’s different groups and their
interests. In the fall of 1902, he put these
beliefs into practice.
The previous spring, the United Mine
Workers (UMW) union had called a
James J.
strike of the miners who dug anthracite,
Hill
or hard coal. Nearly 150,000 workers
T. Roosevelt
walked out of eastern Pennsylvania’s anthracite
mines demanding a pay increase, a reduction in work
hours, and recognition for their union.
As the months passed and the strike continued,
coal prices began to rise. To Roosevelt it was another
example of groups pursuing their private interests at
the expense of the nation. If the strike dragged on too
long, the country would face a coal shortage that
could shut down factories and leave many people’s
homes cold with winter fast approaching.
Roosevelt urged the union and the owners to
accept arbitration—a settlement imposed by an out-
side party. The union agreed. The mine owners,
determined to destroy the UMW, did not. One
owner, George Baer, declared, “The rights and inter-
ests of the laboring man will be protected and cared
for not by the labor agitators, but by the Christian
men to whom God in His infinite wisdom has given
the control of the property interests of the country.”
The mine owners’ stubbornness infuriated
Roosevelt, as it did much of the public. Roosevelt
threatened to order the army to run the mines.
History
Fearful of this, the mine owners finally accepted arbi-
tration. By intervening in the dispute, Roosevelt had Miner’s Lot In the early 1900s, miners worked under dangerous conditions for
taken the first step toward establishing the federal little pay. How did Roosevelt respond when they went on strike?
government as an honest broker between powerful
groups in society.
Roosevelt accepted this “gentlemen’s agreement,”
as he called it. Shortly afterward he made similar
The Bureau of Corporations Despite his lawsuit deals with other companies. These arrangements
against Northern Securities and his role in the coal gave Roosevelt the ability to regulate big business
strike, Roosevelt was not opposed to big business. He without having to sacrifice economic efficiency by
believed most trusts benefited the economy and that breaking up the trusts.
breaking them up would do more harm than good.
Instead, Roosevelt proposed the creation of a new Congress Follows In addition to creating the
federal agency to investigate corporations and publi- Department of Commerce and Labor, Congress
cize the results. He believed the most effective way to passed the Expedition Act, which gave federal
keep big business from abusing its power was antitrust suits precedence on the dockets of circuit
through knowledge and publicity of the facts. courts. Then, in 1906, Roosevelt pushed the Hepburn
In 1903 Roosevelt convinced Congress to create Act through Congress. This act was intended to
the Department of Commerce and Labor. Within this strengthen the Interstate Commerce Commission
department would be a division called the Bureau of (ICC). An early effort to regulate the railroad indus-
Corporations, with the authority to investigate cor- try, the ICC had been ineffective because it lacked
porations and issue reports on their activities. sufficient authority.
The following year, the Bureau of Corporations The Hepburn Act tried to strengthen the ICC by
began investigating U.S. Steel, a gigantic holding giving it the power to set railroad rates. The agency
company that had been created in 1901. Worried originally was intended to regulate rates to ensure
about a possible antitrust lawsuit, the company’s that companies did not compete unfairly. At first,
leaders met privately with Roosevelt and offered a railroad companies were suspicious of the ICC and
deal. They would open their account books and tied up its decisions by challenging them in court.
records to the Bureau of Corporations. In exchange, if Eventually, the railroads realized that they could
the Bureau found anything wrong, the company work with the ICC to set rates and regulations that
would be advised privately and allowed to correct limited competition and prevented new competitors
the problem without having to go to court. from entering the industry. Over time the ICC

became a supporter of the railroads’ interests, and by slaughterhouses of Chicago, the powerful book fea-
1920 it had begun setting rates at levels intended to tured appalling descriptions of conditions in the
ensure the industry’s profits. meatpacking industry:
Reading Check Comparing What was the purpose
of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and how successful
“ There would come all the way back from Europe
old sausage that had been rejected, and that was
was it? moldy and white—it would be dosed with borax and
glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made
over again for home consumption. . . . There would
Social Welfare Action be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water
When Roosevelt took office, he was not greatly from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of
concerned about consumer issues, but by 1905 con-
sumer protection had become a national issue. That
rats would race about upon it.
”
year, a journalist named Samuel Hopkins Adams —from The Jungle
published a series of articles in Collier’s magazine Sinclair’s book was a best-seller. It made con-
describing the patent medicine business. sumers ill—and angry. Roosevelt and Congress
Many companies were patenting and marketing responded with the Meat Inspection Act. It required
potions they claimed would cure a variety of ills. federal inspection of meat sold through interstate
Many patent medicines were little more than alcohol, commerce and required the Agriculture Department
colored water, and sugar. Others contained caffeine, to set standards of cleanliness in meatpacking plants.
opium, cocaine, and other dangerous compounds. The Pure Food and Drug Act, passed on the same day
Consumers had no way to know what they were tak- in 1906, prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment
ing, nor did they receive any assurance that the med- of impure or falsely labeled food and drugs.
icines worked as claimed.
Many Americans were equally concerned about Reading Check Summarizing What two pieces of
the food they ate. Dr. W.H. Wiley, chief chemist at the legislation were enacted due to the facts revealed in Upton
United States Department of Agriculture, had issued Sinclair’s The Jungle?
reports documenting the dangerous preservatives
being used in what he called “embalmed meat.”
Then, in 1906, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle.
Based on Sinclair’s close observations of the
Conservation
Roosevelt put his stamp on the presidency most
clearly in the area of environmental conservation.
Realizing that the nation’s bountiful natural resources
were being used up at an alarming rate, Roosevelt
urged Americans to conserve these resources.
An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Roosevelt valued
The Teddy Bear The soft
and cuddly teddy bear was the country’s minerals, animals, and rugged terrain.
named after the gruff and He cautioned against unregulated exploitation of
rugged Theodore (“Teddy”) public lands and believed in conservation to manage
Roosevelt. The idea for the the nation’s resources. As president, Roosevelt
toy stemmed from a hunt- eagerly assumed the role of manager. He argued that
ing trip Roosevelt took to the government must distinguish “between the man
Mississippi in 1902. On who skins the land and the man who develops the
the trip, the president country. I am going to work with, and only with, the
refused to kill a defense- man who develops the country.”
less bear cub. Cartoonist
Clifford Berryman drew a GEOGRAPHY
whimsical reenactment of the scene for the
Washington Post, which in turn inspired Morris Land Development in the West Roosevelt quickly
Michtom, a toy shop owner in Brooklyn, to create the applied his philosophy in the dry Western states,
“teddy bear.” The toy became a runaway success in where farmers and city dwellers competed for scarce
the United States and abroad. water. In 1902 Roosevelt supported passage of the
Newlands Reclamation Act, authorizing the use of

federal funds from public land sales to pay for irriga-
tion and land development projects. Thus it was the
federal government that began the large-scale trans-
formation of the West’s landscape and economy.
Gifford Pinchot Roosevelt also backed efforts to

save the nation’s forests through careful management
of the timber resources of the West. He appointed his
close friend Gifford Pinchot to head the United States
Forest Service. “The natural resources,” Pinchot said,
“must be developed and preserved for the benefit of
the many and not merely for the profit of a few.”
As progressives, Roosevelt and Pinchot both
believed that trained experts in forestry and resource
management should apply the same scientific stan-
dards to the landscape that others were applying to
the management of cities and industry. They rejected
the laissez-faire argument that the best way to pre-
serve public land was to sell it to lumber companies,
who would then carefully conserve it because it was
the source of their profits. With the president’s sup- History
port, Pinchot’s department drew up regulations con-
trolling lumbering on federal lands. Crowd Pleaser Teddy Roosevelt’s energetic speaking style captivated
audiences across the nation. What impact did he have on the office of
Roosevelt took other steps as well to conserve the
the presidency?
nation’s resources. He added over 100 million acres
to the protected national forests, quadrupling their
executive branch of government had dramatically
area, and established 5 new national parks and 51
increased its power. The ICC could set rates, the
federal wildlife reservations.
Agriculture Department could inspect food, the
Bureau of Corporations could monitor business, and
Roosevelt’s Legacy President Roosevelt changed the attorney general could rapidly bring antitrust
the role of the federal government and the nature of lawsuits under the Expedition Act.
the presidency. Increasingly, Americans began to
look to the federal government to solve the nation’s Reading Check Examining How did Roosevelt’s
economic and social problems. Under Roosevelt, the policies help the conservation of natural resources?
TM
TM

1. Define: Square Deal, arbitration. 5. Drawing Conclusions What impact 7. Analyzing Political Cartoons Look at
2. Identify: Northern Securities, United did Roosevelt’s use of the Sherman the cartoon on page 428. Why are the
Mine Workers, Hepburn Act, Upton Antitrust Act have on business? giants depicted as they are? What do
Sinclair. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer they represent? Roosevelt is called Jack
3. Explain what was provided for in the similar to the one below to list the the Giant-Killer. What fairy tale is being
Hepburn Act. results of the Coal Strike of 1902. referred to?

4. Individual Action How did Upton 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
Sinclair contribute to involving the Results of
1902 are living in the early 1900s and that
federal government in protecting Coal Strike you have just read Upton Sinclair’s The
consumers? Jungle. Write a letter to a friend explain-
ing what the novel is about and how it
characterizes the Progressive era.

Geography&History
Clouds Rest
CATHEDRAL RANGE 9,926 ft. (3,025 m)
Yosemite
Point
Eagle
Peak
Upper
Yosemite Falls
1,430 ft. (436 m)
El Capitan
7,569 ft. (2,307 m)
Royal Arches
Yosemite Falls
total drop
2,425 ft. (739 m) Cathedral
Spires
Yosemite Valley
4,000 ft. (1,219 m)
Cathedral Rocks
Early National Parks
Mount Rainier,1899
Bridalveil Fall
Sullys Hill,1904 r 620 ft. (189 m)
Crater Lake,1902
i ve
dR
Yellowstone,1872
Wind Cave,1903 r ce
Me
Yosemite,1890
General Grant (Kings Canyon),1890
Sequoia,1890
Mesa Verde,1906
OUR GROWING HERITAGE
This map of the United States shows 9 of the national parks that existed
Atlantic
Ocean by the end of President Theodore Roosevelt's administration. Roosevelt
established 5 national parks, 4 of which still exist today. He also estab-
Pacific lished 51 wildlife preserves and 150 national forests.
Ocean Gulf of Mexico

The Story of
Yosemite
T
he breathtaking beauty of
Half Dome the Yosemite Valley has
8,836 ft. (2,693 m)
always astounded visitors
to California’s High Sierra.
In 1851 volunteer soldiers
came upon the valley. One officer
felt a “peculiar exalted sensation” as
Nevada Falls he marveled at his surroundings.
594 ft. (181 m)
Glacier Point The officer’s reaction was a
7,214 ft. (2,199 m)
natural one. Carved by glaciers and
rivers, the seven-mile-long valley into
which he and his men rode lies at an President Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir stand
elevation of 4,000 feet (1219 m). atop Glacier Point.
Above them rose the near-vertical
Sentinel
Rock cliffs and great granite monoliths of mountains and glaciers of the park.
El Capitan, Half Dome, and Cathedral His compelling descriptions swayed
Rocks. Down onto the valley floor many influential people. In 1890
poured the waters of Bridalveil Fall. Congress expanded the protected
A dozen other waterfalls spilled over area and made Yosemite an official
sheer cliffs elsewhere in the valley, national park.
some of them— like Yosemite Falls In many ways Yosemite estab-
at 2,425 feet (739 m)—among the lished a pattern for our national park
highest on Earth.Within five years, system. It started programs to teach
horseback parties were coming to visitors about native plants and wild-
gaze at Bridalveil Fall and the face life and was the first park to build a
of El Capitan.The tourists had found museum to help visitors understand
Yosemite. and enjoy the region.
To guarantee that the public In 1903 President Theodore
could continue to enjoy the beauty, Roosevelt visited the park with Muir.
in 1864 President Abraham Lincoln The natural beauty of the valley capti-
k granted the valley to California as a vated the environmentalist president
Cree
a lveil wilderness preserve. In so doing, and stimulated his desire to protect
Brid
Lincoln laid the foundation for vast areas of the country.“We are not
the national park system. (The first building this country of ours for a
official national park,Yellowstone, was day,” declared Roosevelt.“It is to last
not created until eight years later.) By through the ages.” During his presi-
the late 1880s Yosemite was attracting dency Roosevelt enlarged Yosemite,
about 5,000 visitors a year. John Muir established the U.S. Forest Service,
and other conservationists were and put millions of acres of land
anxious to preserve the area. Muir under federal protection. In 1916 the
had spent years tramping through National Park Service was established,
the woods and up and down the and today it manages more than 380
areas, including 57 national parks.
Sightseers admire LEARNING FROM GEOGRAPHY

Yosemite Falls as they
ride along Glacier Point 1. How was the Yosemite Valley formed?
Trail in 1901. Today
some 3.5 million tourists 2. How did the establishment of the
visit the park each year. national park system help to conserve
natural resources?
433
The Taft Administration
President Taft continued with Roosevelt’s Organizing As you read about progres- • Explain how Theodore Roosevelt
Progressive policies, but he did not live sivism in this section, complete a graphic helped Taft get elected.
up to the expectations of many organizer similar to the one below listing • Discuss why progressives were disap-
progressives. Taft’s conflicts with the progressives. pointed with Taft as president.
Key Terms and Names Disputes Between
Section Theme
Joseph G. Cannon, Payne-Aldrich Tariff, Taft and Progressives Continuity and Change Political differ-
Richard Ballinger, syndicate, ences with Roosevelt caused President
insubordination Taft to lose Progressive support, even
though he supported many Progressive
policies.
✦1908 ✦1910 ✦1912

1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
Taft elected president Ballinger-Pinchot Mann-Elkins Antitrust lawsuit filed Roosevelt challenges Taft for
controversy Act passed against U.S. Steel Republican nomination
One evening in January 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt sat chatting with Secretary of
War William Howard Taft and his wife, Nellie, in the second-floor White House library. The
mood was relaxed. Seated comfortably in his easy chair, Roosevelt was talking about a subject
he had often discussed with his guests: the future role of Taft. Roosevelt toyed with a couple of
options. “At one time it looks like the presidency,” he mused, considering a future role for his
trusted lieutenant, “then again it looks like the chief justiceship.”
The Tafts knew that Roosevelt had the power to bring about either of these options.
“Make it the presidency,” interrupted Nellie Taft, always ambitious about her husband’s
career. Taft himself was less convinced that he would make a good chief executive. “Make it
the chief justiceship,” he uttered.
In the end, Taft bowed to the wishes of his wife and his boss. Following George
Washington’s example and honoring his own promise of 1904, Roosevelt decided not to seek
reelection in 1908. Instead, he endorsed an experienced administrator and moderate pro-
William Howard Taft gressive to run for president on the Republican ticket: William Howard Taft.
—adapted from The American Heritage Pictorial
History of the Presidents of the United States
Taft Becomes President

Roosevelt loved “Smiling Bill” Taft like a brother and believed him to be the ideal per-
son to continue his policies. He was, Roosevelt said, a leader who possessed “a scorn of all
that is base and mean, a hearty sympathy with the oppressed [and a] kindly generosity of
nature which makes him feel that all of his countrymen are in very truth his friends and

brothers.” Taft had been Roosevelt’s most trusted lieu- large part of the public will feel as if I had fallen away
tenant. He had served as a judge, as governor of the from your ideals; but you know me better and will
Philippines, and as Roosevelt’s secretary of war. In understand that I am still working away on the same
fact, Taft seemed acceptable to almost everyone.
Thanks to Roosevelt’s efforts, he easily received his
old plan.
”
party’s nomination. His victory in the general election —quoted in The American Heritage Pictorial
in November 1908 was a foregone conclusion. The History of the Presidents of the United States
Democratic candidate, twice-defeated William Roosevelt and Taft were very different people.
Jennings Bryan, lost once more. Roosevelt was a dynamic person who loved the spot-
light and the rough-and-tumble world of politics. He
Taft’s Approach to Government “My dear had grand ideas and schemes but left the details of
Theodore,” Taft wrote to his old friend a couple of administering them to others. Taft was the opposite
weeks after assuming office. “When I am addressed in many ways. He was a skillful administrator and
as ‘Mr. President,’ I turn to see whether you are at my judge. He disliked political maneuvering and pre-
elbow.” The comment was telling. ferred to avoid conflict with others. Unlike Roosevelt,
In that same letter, Taft admitted some of his early who acted quickly and decisively on issues, Taft
fears about his presidency: responded slowly, approaching problems from a
legalistic point of view. “I don’t like politics,” he
“ I have no doubt that when you return you will
find me very much under suspicion. . . . I have not
wrote, “I don’t like the limelight.” Although commit-
ted to many progressive ideas, Taft’s personality and
the prestige which you had. . . . I am not attempting approach to politics quickly brought him into conflict
quite as much as you did . . . and so I fear that a with progressives.
History
Presidential Ritual In 1910 President Taft threw out the first baseball of the season at Lincoln Park in
Washington, D.C., as his wife Nellie looked on. Why do you think presidents often continue this practice today?
Political Uproar Taft’s interior secretary, Richard Ballinger, pictured at left, ignited controversy when he made
nearly one million acres of public land available for development. Progressive Gifford Pinchot, at right, leaked the
story to the press. How was the controversy resolved?
The Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act Like many progres- After discussions with Aldrich and other senators,
sives, Taft believed high tariffs limited competition, however, Taft decided to accept the new tariff.
hurt consumers, and protected trusts. Roosevelt had Progressives felt betrayed and outraged by Taft’s
warned him to stay away from tariff reform because decision: “I knew the fire had gone out of [the
it would divide the Republican Party. Taft, however, Progressive movement],” recalled chief forester
went ahead and called Congress into special session Gifford Pinchot after Roosevelt left office.
to lower tariff rates. “Washington was a dead town. Its leader was gone,
To pass a new tariff, Taft needed the help of and in his place [was] a man whose fundamental
Speaker of the House Joseph G. Cannon. As desire was to keep out of trouble.”
Speaker, Cannon appointed all committees and
decided which bills they handled. By exercising The Ballinger-Pinchot Controversy With Taft’s
almost total control over debate, Cannon could push standing among Republican progressives deterio-
some bills through without discussion and see that rating, a sensational controversy broke out late in
others never came to a vote. Progressives, however, 1909 that helped destroy Taft’s popularity with
wanted to unseat Cannon because he often blocked reformers for good. Many progressives had been
their legislation. unhappy when Taft replaced Roosevelt’s secretary
Taft disagreed with the effort to unseat Cannon. of the interior, James R. Garfield, an aggressive con-
He pressured progressive Republicans into stopping servationist, with Richard A. Ballinger, a more con-
their campaign against Cannon. In exchange, servative corporate lawyer. Suspicion of Ballinger
Cannon quickly pushed the tariff bill through the grew when he tried to make nearly a million acres of
House of Representatives. Taft’s compromise public forests and mineral reserves available for pri-
angered many progressives. The following year, they vate development.
defied the president by joining with House In the midst of this mounting concern, Gifford
Democrats and removing Cannon from power. Pinchot charged the new secretary with having once
Taft further alienated progressives when the tariff plotted to turn over valuable public lands in Alaska to
bill went to the Senate. The powerful head of the a private syndicate, or business group, for personal
Senate Finance Committee, Republican Nelson profit. Pinchot took the charges to the president. Taft’s
Aldrich from Rhode Island, wanted to protect high attorney general investigated the charges and decided
tariffs, as did many other conservative senators. The they were groundless.
result was the Payne-Aldrich Tariff, which cut tariffs Still not satisfied, Pinchot leaked the story to the
hardly at all and actually raised them on some goods. press and asked Congress to investigate. Taft fired

Pinchot for insubordination, or disobedience. The the activities of mining companies, expanded the
congressional committee appointed to study the con- national forests, and protected waterpower sites from
troversy cleared Ballinger. private development.
By signing the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, support- After Taft took office in 1909, Roosevelt left for a
ing Ballinger against Pinchot, and backing Cannon, big-game hunt in Africa followed by a tour of
Taft gave the impression that he had “sold the Square Europe. He did not return to the United States until
Deal down the river.” Popular indignation was so June 1910. Although disturbed by stories of Taft’s
great that the congressional elections of 1910 resulted “betrayal” of progressivism, Roosevelt at first
in a sweeping Democratic victory, with Democrats refused to criticize the president.
taking the majority in the House and Democrats and In October 1911, Taft announced an antitrust law-
Progressive Republicans grabbing control of the suit against U.S. Steel, claiming that the company’s
Senate from the conservatives. decision to buy the Tennessee Coal and Iron
Company in 1907 had violated the Sherman Antitrust
Reading Check Summarizing What problems did
Act. The lawsuit was the final straw for Roosevelt. As
President Taft have with progressives on tariff issues? president, he had approved U.S. Steel’s plan to buy
the company.
Roosevelt believed Taft’s focus on breaking up
Taft’s Progressive Reforms trusts was destroying the carefully crafted system of
Despite his political problems, Taft also had several cooperation and regulation that Roosevelt had estab-
successes. Although Roosevelt was nicknamed the lished with big business through the Bureau of
“trustbuster,” Taft was a strong supporter of competi- Corporations. In November 1911, Roosevelt publicly
tion and actually brought twice as many antitrust criticized Taft’s decision. Roosevelt argued that the best
cases in four years as his predecessor had in seven. way to deal with the trusts was to allow them to exist
In other areas, too, Taft was at least as strong a while at the same time increasing government’s ability
progressive as Roosevelt. Taft established the to regulate them.
Children’s Bureau, a federal agency similar to Having broken with Taft, it was only a matter of
Roosevelt’s Bureau of Corporations. The Children’s time before progressives convinced Roosevelt to
Bureau investigated and publicized problems with reenter politics. In late February 1912, Roosevelt
child labor. Taft also supported the Mann-Elkins Act announced that he would enter the presidential cam-
of 1910, which increased the regulatory powers of paign of 1912 and attempt to replace Taft as the
the ICC. Republican nominee for president.
The Ballinger-Pinchot controversy aside, Taft was
also a dedicated conservationist. His contributions in Reading Check Evaluating How did President Taft’s
this area actually equaled or surpassed those of accomplishments regarding conservation and trustbusting
Roosevelt. He set up the Bureau of Mines to monitor compare to President Roosevelt’s?
TM
TM

1. Define: syndicate, insubordination. 5. Comparing What was the difference 7. Examining Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Joseph G. Cannon, Payne- between Roosevelt and Taft regarding photograph on page 435. Note the for-
Aldrich Tariff, Richard Ballinger. the relationship between the president mal attire of the president and his wife.
3. Describe how Taft helped conservation and Congress? How would you compare the clothes
efforts, alleviated child labor problems, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer the people in the photograph are wear-
and strengthened the ICC. like the one below to list Taft’s ing with today’s style of dress for
Progressive reforms. leisure activities?
Reviewing Themes
4. Continuity and Change How did Taft’s Progressive Reforms Writing About History
replacing Roosevelt’s secretary of the 8. Descriptive Writing Write a magazine
interior cause a dispute between Taft article in which you defend or criticize
and the progressives? President Taft’s administration in terms
of its support of progressivism.

The Wilson Years
Woodrow Wilson pursued a Progressive Categorizing As you read about pro- • Describe Wilson’s economic and social
agenda after his 1912 election victory. gressivism during the Wilson administra- reforms.
tion, complete a chart similar to the one • Evaluate the legacy of the Progressive
Key Terms and Names below by listing Wilson’s Progressive eco- movement.
Progressive Party, New Nationalism, New nomic and social reforms.
Freedom, income tax, Federal Reserve Section Theme
Act, Federal Trade Commission, unfair Economic Reforms Social Reforms Government and Democracy Woodrow
trade practices, National Association for Wilson’s reforms greatly increased the
the Advancement of Colored People federal government’s role in regulating
the nation’s economy.
✦1912 ✦1914 ✦1916

1912 1913 1914 1916
Woodrow Wilson Federal Reserve Federal Trade Keating-Owen Child
elected president Act passed Commission Act passed Labor Act passed
On September 15, 1910, in the Taylor Opera House in Trenton, New Jersey, a young
progressive named Joseph Patrick Tumulty watched as a lean man with iron-gray hair made
his way toward the stage. The man was Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic Party’s
nominee for governor.
Wilson was the choice of the party bosses. As Tumulty recalled, progressives were “feeling
sullen, beaten, and hopelessly impotent.” To Tumulty’s astonishment, Wilson announced: “I
shall enter upon the duties of the office of governor, if elected, with absolutely no pledge of
any kind to prevent me from serving the people of the state with singleness of purpose.”
Tumulty knew that Wilson was declaring his independence from the New Jersey political
machine. It brought the progressives at the convention roaring to their feet. From one came
the cry, “Thank God, at last, a leader has come!”
Two years later, Woodrow Wilson was the Democrats’ nominee for the presidency, an
office they had won only twice since the Civil War. This time they were confident of victory,
for Wilson, a committed progressive, faced a Republican Party wracked by division.
A Woodrow Wilson
election poster —adapted from Wilson: The Road to the White House

The 1912 presidential campaign featured a current president, a former president, and
an academic who had entered politics only two years earlier. The election’s outcome
determined the path of the Progressive movement and helped shape the nation’s path in
the 1900s.

The Republican Party Splits Believing that and did nothing to restore competition. Freedom, in
President Taft had failed to live up to Progressive Wilson’s opinion, was more important than efficiency.
ideals, Theodore Roosevelt informed seven state gov- “The history of liberty,” Wilson declared, “is the his-
ernors that he was willing to accept the Republican tory of the limitation of governmental power. . . . If
nomination. “My hat is in the ring!” he declared. America is not to have free enterprise, then she can
“The fight is on.” have freedom of no sort whatever.”
The struggle for control of the Republican Party
reached its climax at the national convention in Wilson Is Elected As expected, Roosevelt and Taft
Chicago in June. Conservatives rallied behind Taft. split the Republican voters, enabling Wilson to win
Most of the progressives lined up for Roosevelt. the Electoral College and the election with 435 votes,
When it became clear that Taft’s delegates controlled even though he received less than 42 percent of the
the nomination, Roosevelt decided to leave the party popular vote—less than Roosevelt and Taft com-
and campaign as an independent. “We stand at bined. For the first time since Grover Cleveland’s
Armageddon,” he told his supporters, “and we battle election in 1892, a Democrat became president of the
for the Lord.” United States.
Declaring himself “fit as a bull moose,” Roosevelt
Reading Check Summarizing Who were the three
became the presidential candidate for the newly
formed Progressive Party, nicknamed the Bull Moose major candidates in the presidential election of 1912?
Party. Because Taft had alienated so many groups,
the election of 1912 became a contest between two
progressives: the Bull Moose Roosevelt and the Regulating the Economy
Democrat Wilson. The new chief executive lost no time in embarking
on his program of reform. He immediately took charge
Wilson’s Character and Background Woodrow of the government. “The president is at liberty, both in
Wilson entered politics as a firm progressive. As gov- law and conscience, to be as big a man as he can,”
ernor of New Jersey, he pushed one Progressive
reform after another through the statehouse. He
revamped election laws, established utility regula-
tory boards, and allowed cities to change to the com-
missioner form of government. In less than two
years, New Jersey became a model of Progressive
reform.
“New Freedom” Versus “New Nationalism” The

election of 1912 was a contest between two men who
supported progressivism, although they had differ-
ent approaches to reform. Roosevelt accepted the
economic power of the trusts as a fact of life and pro-
posed a more powerful federal government and a
strong executive to regulate them. Roosevelt also out-
lined a complete program of reforms. He favored leg-
islation to protect women and children in the labor
force and supported workers’ compensation for
those injured on the job. He also wanted a federal
trade commission to regulate industry in a manner
similar to the ICC’s authority over railroads.
Roosevelt called his program the New Nationalism.
Wilson countered with what he called the New
Freedom. He criticized Roosevelt’s program as one
that supported “regulated monopoly.” Monopolies,
History
he believed, were evils to be destroyed, not regulated.
Wilson argued that Roosevelt’s approach gave the The New Freedom Woodrow Wilson initially believed that government
federal government too much power in the economy should break up trusts. Why did Wilson favor economic competition?

In
The Federal Reserve System Motion
Portland Seattle Helena

9
12 Minneapolis
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Buffalo
San Francisco 10 Detroit
2 1
7
Salt Lake City Chicago Boston
Omaha
3
Denver
Kansas City
4 New York City
8
Los Angeles Philadelphia
Oklahoma City St. Cincinnati
Louis Louisville Baltimore
Little
Rock 5 Richmond
11
Memphis Nashville
El Paso Dallas Charlotte
Atlanta
Houston
San Antonio
Birmingham
6
Jacksonville
New
Orleans
1. Interpreting Maps Which state has
Miami
the most branch banks?
2. Applying Geography Skills The fed-
12 eral reserve system tied banks closer to
5 Federal Reserve District
local communities. What criteria do
12 Federal Reserve Bank
Federal Reserve Branch Bank you think were used to determine
district sizes and boundaries?
Wilson had once written. “His capacity will set the An important section of the Underwood Tariff Act
limit.” During his eight years as president, Wilson was the provision for levying an income tax, or a
demonstrated his power as he crafted reforms affecting direct tax on the earnings of individuals and corpora-
tariffs, the banking system, trusts, and workers’ rights. tions. The Constitution originally prohibited direct
taxes unless they were apportioned among the states
Reforming Tariffs Five weeks after taking office, on the basis of population. In other words, the states
Wilson appeared before Congress, the first president would be paying the income tax, not individuals, and
to do so since John Adams. He had come to present states with more people would pay more tax. Passage
his bill to reduce tariffs. of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913, however, made
He personally lobbied members of Congress to it legal for the federal government to tax the income
support the tariff reduction bill. Not even Roosevelt of individuals directly.
had taken such an active role in promoting special
legislation. In Wilson’s message to Congress, he
ECONOMY
declared that high tariffs had “built up a set of
privileges and exemptions from competition Reforming the Banks The United States had not had
behind which it was easy . . . to organize monopoly a central bank since the 1830s. During the economic
until . . . nothing is obliged to stand the tests of effi- depressions that hit the country periodically after that
ciency and economy.” time, hundreds of small banks collapsed, wiping out
Wilson believed that the pressure of foreign com- the life savings of many of their customers. The most
petition would lead American manufacturers to recent of these crises had been in 1907.
improve their products and lower their prices. Lower To restore public confidence in the banking sys-
tariff rates, he claimed, would help businesses by tem, Wilson supported the establishment of a Federal
putting them under the “constant necessity to be effi- Reserve system. Banks would have to keep a portion
cient, economical, and enterprising.” of their deposits in a regional reserve bank, which
In 1913 the Democrat-controlled Congress passed would provide a financial cushion against unantici-
the Underwood Tariff and Wilson signed it into law. pated losses.
This piece of legislation reduced the average tariff on At the center of the Federal Reserve system would
imported goods to about 30 percent of the value of be a Board of Governors, appointed by the president.
the goods, or about half the tariff rate of the 1890s. The Board could set the interest rates the reserve

banks charged other banks, thereby indirectly con- Federal Aid and Social Welfare
trolling the interest rates of the entire nation and the
By the fall of 1914, Wilson believed that his New
amount of money in circulation. This gave the Board
Freedom program was essentially complete. As a
the ability to fight inflation by raising interest rates
result, he began to retreat from activism.
and to stimulate the economy during a recession by
The congressional elections of 1914, however, shat-
lowering interest rates. Congress approved the new
tered the president’s complacency. Democrats suf-
system at the end of 1913. The Federal Reserve Act
fered major losses in the House of Representatives,
became one of the most significant pieces of legisla-
and voters who had supported the Bull Moose Party
tion in American history.
in 1912 began returning to the Republicans. Realizing
that he would not be able to rely on a divided oppo-
Antitrust Action During his campaign, Wilson had sition when he ran for re-election in 1916, Wilson
promised to restore competition to the economy by began to support further reforms.
breaking up big business monopolies. Roosevelt In 1916, for example, Wilson signed the first fed-
argued that Wilson’s ideas were unrealistic because eral law regulating child labor. The Keating-Owen
big business was more efficient and unlikely to be Child Labor Act prohibited the employment of chil-
replaced by smaller, more competitive firms. Once in dren under the age of 14 in factories producing goods
office, Wilson’s opinion shifted, and he came to agree for interstate commerce. The Supreme Court
with Roosevelt—but progressives in Congress con-
tinued to demand action against big business.
In the summer of 1914, at Wilson’s request,
Congress created the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) to monitor American business. The FTC had
the power to investigate companies and issue “cease
and desist” orders against companies engaging in
unfair trade practices, or those which hurt competi-
tion. The FTC could be taken to court if a business The NAACP
disagreed with its rulings.
Past
Wilson did not want the FTC to break up big busi-
Violent race riots broke out in 1908
ness. Instead, it was to work with business to limit
in Springfield, Illinois, as immi-
activities that unfairly limited competition. He delib-
grants and African Americans vied
erately appointed conservative business leaders to with other residents for scarce
serve as the FTC’s first commissioners. jobs. In one riot, a mob killed sev-
Wilson’s approach did not satisfy progressives in eral African Americans and
Congress, who responded by passing the Clayton destroyed much property.
Antitrust Act. The act banned tying agreements, Responding to the growing
which required retailers who bought from one com- racial violence in the nation, an
pany to stop selling a competitor’s products. It also integrated group of citizens met
banned price discrimination. Businesses could not in New York City to discuss remedies.
charge different customers different prices. Out of that meeting, the National Association for
Manufacturers could no longer give discounts to the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was born.
chain stores and other retailers who bought a large
volume of goods. Present
Today the NAACP works for such causes as school desegrega-
Before the act passed, labor unions lobbied
tion, fair housing and employment, voter registration, and
Congress to exempt unions from the antitrust laws.
equal health care and income opportunity. It plays a role
The Clayton Antitrust Act specifically declared that in establishing
unions were not unlawful combinations in restraint legal precedents
of trade. When the bill became law, Samuel Gompers, to improve the
head of the American Federation of Labor, called the quality of life for
Clayton Antitrust Act the worker’s “Magna Carta,” African Americans
because it gave unions the right to exist. across the nation.
Reading Check Evaluating What was the impact of
the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment?
declared the law unconstitutional on the grounds The Limits of Progressivism The most conspicu-
that child labor was not interstate commerce and ous limit to progressivism was its failure to address
therefore only states could regulate it. Wilson’s effort, African American reform issues. African Americans
however, helped his reputation with progressive vot- themselves, however, were absorbing the reform
ers. Wilson also supported the Adamson Act, which spirit, which fueled their longstanding desire for
established the eight-hour workday for railroad advancement.
workers, and the Federal Farm Loan Act, which cre- In 1905 W.E.B. Du Bois and 28 other African
ated 12 Federal Land Banks to provide farmers with American leaders met at Niagara Falls to demand full
long-term loans at low interest rates. political rights and responsibilities for African
Reading Check Examining How did the Adamson Americans. They met on the Canadian side of the falls
because no hotel on the American side would accept
Act improve labor conditions in the United States?
them. There they launched what became known as the
Niagara Movement. This meeting was one of many
steps leading to the founding of the National
The Legacy of Progressivism Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) in 1909. Du Bois and other NAACP founders
During his presidency, Wilson had built upon
believed that the vote was essential to bring about an
Roosevelt’s foundation. He expanded the role of the
end to lynching and racial discrimination. “The power
federal government and of the president.
of the ballot we need in sheer self-defense,” Du Bois
said, “else what shall save us from a second slavery?”
A New Kind of Government Progressivism made Despite the failure of most progressives to focus on
important changes in the political life of the United racial issues, Progressive reform helped change
States. Before this era, most Americans did not expect American society in many ways. Although they
the government to pass laws protecting workers or excluded many groups from their efforts, the progres-
regulating big business. In fact, many courts had pre- sives expanded democracy and improved the quality
viously ruled that it was unconstitutional for the gov- of life for millions of men, women, and children. As the
ernment to do so. country entered World War I, however, Americans
By the end of the Progressive era, however, both soon turned from reforming their own society to a cru-
legal and public opinion had shifted. Increasingly, sade to “make the world safe for democracy.”
Americans expected the government, particularly the
federal government, to play a more active role in reg- Reading Check Evaluating How did progressivism
ulating the economy and solving social problems. change American beliefs about the federal government?
TM
TM

1. Define: income tax, unfair trade 5. Forming an Opinion Which of 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
practices. Wilson’s reforms do you consider most photograph on page 443. What details
2. Identify: Progressive Party, New important? Why? do you see in the image that might
Nationalism, New Freedom, Federal 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer have contributed to tainted meat?
Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission, similar to the one below to list the effects When do you think the stamp above
National Association for the progressivism had on American society. the photo began to be used?
Advancement of Colored People.
3. Explain why President Wilson proposed
the establishment of the Federal
Effects of
Reserve System. Progressivism
8. Expository Writing Imagine that you
are a newspaper editor during President
Reviewing Themes Wilson’s administration. Write an article
4. Government and Democracy What on the shortcomings of the Progressive
new federal agencies increased the movement in terms of its attitudes about
government’s power to regulate the race. Provide ideas about how the
economy? movement might have addressed
discrimination and segregation.

from The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
After Jurgis had been there awhile
he would know that the plants were
simply honeycombed with rotten-
ness . . . —the bosses grafted off the
Born in Maryland in 1878, men, and they grafted off each other;
Upton Sinclair spent his life and some day the superintendent
writing about and trying to would find out about the boss, and
change what he saw as wrong in then he would graft off the boss. . . .
the United States. One of his Here was Durham’s, for instance,
most famous novels, The Jungle, owned by a man who was trying to
deals with working conditions make as much money out of it as he
and the rights of immigrants. could, and did not care in the least
The novel tells the story of Jurgis how he did it; and underneath
him . . . were managers and superin- rising in Packingtown, you met a
Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant
tendents and foremen, each one driv- knave. . . . [T]he man who minded
who comes to the United States
ing the man next below him and his own business and did his work—
with his family in the early
trying to squeeze out of him as much why, they would (wear) him out, and
1900s, dreaming of wealth and
work as possible. And all the men of then . . . throw him into the gutter.
freedom. What he finds is
the same rank were pitted against
“Packingtown,” the bustling,
each other. . . . So from top to bottom
filthy stockyards of Chicago. In Analyzing Literature
the place was simply a seething cal-
the following excerpt, Sinclair
dron of jealousies and hatreds; there 1. According to the passage, what is the
describes the system Jurgis
was no loyalty or decency anywhere plant owner’s main goal?
comes to know after gaining his
about it, there was no place in it 2. What does Sinclair mean when he
first job in a meatpacking plant.
where a man counted for anything says, “. . . there was no place in it
Read to Discover against a dollar. . . . where a man counted for anything
What qualities did Sinclair Jurgis would find these things against a dollar. . . .”?
believe a person must have to out for himself, if he stayed there
succeed in Packingtown? long enough; it was the men [like Interdisciplinary Activity
him] who had to do all the dirty Government When it was published, The
Reader’s Dictionary jobs. . . . Jurgis had come there, Jungle was so shocking that it launched a
pitted: set against each other and thought he was going to government investigation of the meatpack-
make himself useful, and rise and ing industry. The investigation eventually
caldron: a large kettle or pot
become a skilled man; but he would led to the establishment of laws regulating
for boiling
soon find out his error—for nobody the industry. Using the Internet, research
knave: a tricky, deceitful person rose in Packingtown by doing good these laws and read about how they are
work. [I]f you met a man who was enforced today. Write a short report on
your findings.

On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 22. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy How did
1. progressivism 10. prohibition Wisconsin governor Robert La Follette help to expand
democracy in the United States?
2. muckraker 11. socialism
23. Analyzing How did Progressive reforms strengthen the
3. commission plan 12. Square Deal cause of woman suffrage?
4. direct primary 13. arbitration 24. Evaluating What was the impact of reform leaders such as
5. initiative 14. syndicate W.E.B. Du Bois and Robert La Follette on American society?
6. referendum 15. insubordination 25. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
below to list the economic, political, and social welfare
7. recall 16. income tax reforms brought about during the Progressive era.
8. suffrage 17. unfair trade practices
9. temperance Progressive Reform
Reviewing Key Facts Economic Political Social Welfare

18. Identify: Robert La Follette, Alice Paul, Hepburn Act, Upton
Sinclair, Payne-Aldrich Tariff, Federal Reserve Act, Federal
Trade Commission.
19. What were the characteristics of the Progressive era?
26. Interpreting Primary Sources Ida Husted Harper was a
20. How did President Roosevelt influence the outcome of the social reformer, a newspaper reporter, and a strong sup-
1902 coal strike? porter of suffrage for women. In the following excerpt, she
21. How did President Wilson attempt to reform the banking examines the attitudes of the time toward the kinds of work
industry? women should do.
Government Reforms
• Commission and city-manager forms of government were adopted.
• Direct primary system let citizens choose office candidates.
• Initiative, referendum, and recall were adopted.
• Seventeenth Amendment gave voters right to elect senators directly.
• Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote.
Basic Beliefs of Progressives
• People could improve society by relying Business Regulation
on science and knowledge.
• Interstate Commerce Commission was strengthened.
• Industrialism and urbanization caused
• Consumer protection laws were passed.
problems.
• Federal Trade Commission was set up to regulate business.
• Government should fix problems.
• Federal Reserve System was set up to control money supply.
• To achieve reform, government itself
had to be reformed.
Social Reforms
• Zoning laws and building codes improved urban housing.
• Child labor laws were passed.
• Workers’ compensation laws were passed.
• Temperance movement worked to ban alcohol.

The Progressive Movement and
HISTORY State Governments 1889–1912
WASH.
Self-Check Quiz 1889 N.H.
MONT. N. DAK. VT. ME.
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at OREG.
1902
1906 MINN.
1902
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— IDAHO
WYO.
S. DAK.
1906
WIS.
1900 MICH.
N.Y. MASS.
R.I.
Chapter 13 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. NEBR. IOWA
1901 PA. N.J. CONN.
NEV. 1906 OHIO 1910
UTAH ILL. IND. DEL.
CALIF. COLO. W.
KANS. MD.
1910 1900 MO.
1904 KY. VA. VA.
1900
N.C.
1900
“ The moment we accept the theory that women must
enter wage-earning occupations only when compelled
ARIZ. N. MEX.
OKLA.
1907 ARK.
1901
TENN.
GA.
MISS. ALA. 1906
S.C.
1890
1904 1906
TEXAS LA.
to do so by poverty, that moment we degrade labor and 1890
lower the status of all women who are engaged in it. FLA.
1904
This theory prevailed throughout past ages, and it Reformers control state legislatures
placed a stigma upon working women which is only Reformers influence state government
beginning to be removed by the present generation. . . . Reformers not effective
1900 Date reformers came to power
There is not, there never has been, an effort ‘to cre-
ate a sentiment that home is no place for a girl.’ A good
home is the one place above all others for a girl, as it is Writing Activity
for a boy. It is her rest, her haven, her protection, but 30. Informative Writing Imagine you are a reporter in 1906,
this does not necessarily imply that she must not assigned to interview Upton Sinclair. Reread pages 430 and
engage in any work outside its limits. . . . 443, then prepare a list of questions to ask him during the
It is wholly impracticable to draw a dividing line interview.
between the employments which are suitable and those
which are unsuitable for women. They have just as much
right as men to decide this question for themselves. . . . 31. The map above shows the relationship between the
Progressive movement and state governments. Study the
It is not intended to argue that every woman
map and answer the questions below.
should leave the home and go into business, but only a. Interpreting Maps Which three states came under the
that those who wish to do so shall have the opportunity, control of reformers before Wisconsin did?
and that men shall no longer monopolize the gainful b. Applying Geography Skills What generalization can you
occupations.
” make about progressives in state governments?
—quoted in The Independent, 1901
a. What views does Ida Harper have on the kinds of work

women should do?
Standardized
b. What kinds of work-related issues do women face today? Test Practice
Practicing Skills following question.
In 1920 women won an important victory when the Nine-
27. Taking Notes Reread the subsection titled “The Coal Strike
teenth Amendment was ratified. What did this amendment
of 1902” on pages 428 and 429. Then use the steps you
accomplish?
learned about taking notes on page 426 to take notes on the
subsection. A It required colleges to accept women.
B It guaranteed child care for workers’ children.
Chapter Activities C It granted women the right to vote.
28. Technology Search the Internet for an article written by a D It guaranteed equal wages for equal work.
muckraker mentioned in the chapter. Using a word proces-
sor, prepare a two-page summary of the article and indicate Test-Taking Tip: Some answers can be eliminated by using
how its contents may have sparked the demand for reform. your own knowledge. For example, you probably know that
29. Research Project Worker safety was an important issue for child care is still an issue for parents today, so it cannot be
progressives. Research three worker safety laws in your state, guaranteed in the Nineteenth Amendment. Therefore, you
and describe how they benefit workers. Present your findings can eliminate answer B.
in a written report.

World War I and
Its Aftermath
1914–1920
Why It Matters
The United States reluctantly entered World War I after German submarines violated American
neutrality. After the war ended, President Wilson supported the Treaty of Versailles, believing its
terms would prevent another war. The U.S. Senate, however, rejected the treaty. It did not want
the country to be tied to European obligations. Instead, Americans turned their attention to the
difficult adjustment to peacetime.
The Impact Today

The experience of World War I had a long-term effect on American history.
• The United States continues to be involved in European affairs.
• The horrors of the conflict helped reshape how people view warfare.

“Cousins: Royalty and World War I,” explains how royal marriages and
complex political alliances contributed to the outbreak of war in Europe.
1913
• Woodrow Wilson begins his
first presidential term
1915
• The Lusitania is sunk
1917
• U.S. enters war
▲
Wilson
1913–1921
▲ ▲
1913 1915 1917
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1914 1915 1916 1917
• Archduke Franz • Italy joins Allies • British suppress • Bolshevik Revolution
Ferdinand in war Easter Rebellion begins in October
assassinated; war • Japan gains in Ireland • Balfour Declaration
begins in Europe rights in Chinese • Battle of the Somme favors setting up a Jewish
territory begins in July homeland in Palestine
446
American soldiers in the 23rd Infantry fire on German
positions in the Argonne Forest.
1918
• Congress passes Sedition Act
• Battle of Argonne Forest
begins in September
• Armistice ends fighting on
November 11 1919
• Race riots and strikes take place in
Northern cities
HISTORY
• Red Scare and Palmer raids target
Communists in the U.S. Harding
▲ ▲ 1921–1923 Chapter Overview
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • British government • Irish Free State
ends Russian-German war creates the Northern established by
1919 Ireland province signed treaty
• Treaty of Versailles
conference begins
447
The United States
Enters World War I
Although the United States tried to Organizing As you read about the start • Discuss the causes and results of
remain neutral, events soon pushed the of World War I, complete a graphic American intervention in Mexico and
nation into World War I. organizer similar to the one below by the Caribbean.
identifying the factors that contributed to • Explain the causes of World War I and
Key Terms and Names the conflict. why the United States entered the war.
Pancho Villa, guerrilla, nationalism,
self-determination, Franz Ferdinand, Section Theme
Factors Contributing
Allies, Central Powers, propaganda, to World War I
Continuity and Change Ties with the
contraband, U-boat, Sussex Pledge, British influenced American leaders to
Zimmermann telegram enter World War I on the side of the
Allies.
✦1914 ✦1915 ✦1916 ✦1917

April 1914 June 1914 July 1914 May 1915 April 1917
U.S. Marines occupy Assassination of Archduke World War I begins Sinking of the United States
Veracruz, Mexico Franz Ferdinand Lusitania enters the war
Edith O’Shaughnessy could not sleep on the rainy night of April 20, 1914. Living at the
American embassy in Mexico City, the wife of diplomat Nelson O’Shaughnessy was well
aware of the growing crisis between Mexico and the United States. Earlier that day, President
Wilson had asked Congress to authorize the use of force against Mexico. In her diary,
O’Shaughnessy described the tensions in the Mexican capital:
“ I can’t sleep. National and personal potentialities [possibilities] are surging through my
brain. Three stalwart railroad men came to the Embassy this evening. They brought reports of
a plan for the massacre of Americans in the street to-night, but, strange and wonderful thing,
a heavy rain is falling. . . . Rain is as potent as shell-fire in clearing the streets, and I don’t
think there will be any trouble.
”
The next day, O’Shaughnessy reported that the conflict had begun: “We are in Mexico, in
full intervention! . . . Marines are due to-day in Vera Cruz. . . .”
Raising the flag at Veracruz —adapted from A Diplomat’s Wife in Mexico
Woodrow Wilson’s Diplomacy

As president, Wilson resolved to “strike a new note in international affairs” and to see
that “sheer honesty and even unselfishness . . . should prevail over nationalistic self-
seeking in American foreign policy.” Wilson strongly opposed imperialism. He also
448 CHAPTER 14 World War I and Its Aftermath

believed that democracy was essential to a nation’s History
stability and prosperity, and that the United States
should promote democracy in order to ensure a Moral Imperialism President Wilson sent
General John Pershing (below) to stop Pancho
peaceful world free of revolution and war. During
Villa’s (right) raids into the United States.
Wilson’s presidency, however, other forces at work at Why was Villa conducting these raids?
home and abroad frustrated his hope to lead the
world by moral example. In fact, Wilson’s first inter-
national crisis was awaiting him when he took office
in March 1913.
The Mexican Revolution From 1884 to 1911, a dicta-

tor, Porfirio Díaz, ruled Mexico. Díaz encouraged for-
eign investment in Mexico to help develop the
nation’s industry. A few wealthy landowners domi-
nated Mexican society. The majority of the people
were poor and landless, and they were increasingly
frustrated by their circumstances. In 1911 a revolution
erupted, forcing Díaz to flee the country.
Francisco Madero, a reformer who appeared to
support democracy, constitutional government, and
land reform, replaced Díaz. Madero, however,
proved to be an unskilled administrator. Frustrated
with Mexico’s continued decline, army officers plot-
ted against Madero. Shortly before Wilson took armed band that uses surprise attacks and sabotage
office, General Victoriano Huerta seized power in rather than open warfare—that burned the town of
Mexico, and Madero was murdered—presumably on Columbus, New Mexico, and killed a number of
Huerta’s orders. Americans. Wilson responded by sending more
Huerta’s brutality repulsed Wilson, who refused than 6,000 U.S. troops under General John J.
to recognize the new government. Wilson was con- Pershing across the border to find and capture
vinced that without the support of the United States, Villa. The expedition dragged on as Pershing failed
Huerta soon would be overthrown. Wilson therefore to capture the guerrillas. Wilson’s growing concern
tried to prevent weapons from reaching Huerta, and over the war raging in Europe finally caused him to
he permitted Americans to arm other political fac- recall Pershing’s troops in 1917.
tions within Mexico. Wilson’s Mexican policy damaged U.S. foreign
relations. The British ridiculed the president’s attempt
Wilson Sends Troops Into Mexico In April 1914, to “shoot the Mexicans into self-government.” Latin
American sailors visiting the city of Tampico were Americans regarded his “moral imperialism” as no
arrested after entering a restricted area. Though they improvement on Theodore Roosevelt’s “big stick”
were quickly released, their American commander diplomacy. In fact, Wilson followed Roosevelt’s
demanded an apology. The Mexicans refused. Wilson example in the Caribbean. During his first term,
used the refusal as an opportunity to overthrow Wilson sent marines into Nicaragua, Haiti, and the
Huerta. He sent marines to seize the Mexican port of Dominican Republic to preserve order and to set up
Veracruz. governments that he hoped would be more stable and
Although the president expected the Mexican democratic than the current regimes.
people to welcome his action, anti-American riots Reading Check Examining Why did President
broke out in Mexico. Wilson then accepted interna-
tional mediation to settle the dispute. Venustiano Wilson intervene in Mexico?
Carranza, whose forces had acquired arms from the
United States, became Mexico’s president.
Mexican forces opposed to Carranza were not The Outbreak of World War I
appeased, and they conducted raids into the United Despite more than 40 years of general peace, ten-
States hoping to force Wilson to intervene. Pancho sions among European nations were building in 1914.
Villa (VEE · yah) led a group of guerrillas—an Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, a number
CHAPTER 14 World War I and Its Aftermath 449

of factors created problems among the powers of
Europe and set the stage for a monumental war.
The Alliance System The roots of World War I

date back to the 1860s. In 1864, while Americans
fought the Civil War, the German kingdom of
Prussia launched the first of a series of wars to
unite the various German states into one
nation. By 1871 Prussia had united Germany
and proclaimed the birth of the German Empire.
Fateful Couple Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife
The new German nation rapidly industrialized Sophia visit Sarajevo the day of the assassination.
and quickly became one of the most powerful nations
in the world. primary emphasis on promoting their homeland’s
The creation of Germany transformed European culture and interests above those of other countries.
politics. In 1870, as part of their plan to unify Nationalism was one of the reasons for the tensions
Germany, the Prussians had attacked and defeated among the European powers. Each nation viewed the
France. They then forced the French to give up terri- others as competitors, and many people were willing
tory along the German border. From that point for- to go to war to expand their nation at the expense of
ward, France and Germany were enemies. To protect others.
itself, Germany signed alliances with Italy and with One of the basic ideas of nationalism is the right
Austria-Hungary, a huge empire that controlled to self-determination—the idea that people who
much of southeastern Europe. This became known as belong to a nation should have their own country
the Triple Alliance. and government. In the 1800s, nationalism led to a
The new alliance alarmed Russian leaders, who crisis in southeastern Europe in the region known as
feared that Germany intended to expand eastward into the Balkans. Historically, the Ottoman Empire and
Russia. Russia and Austria-Hungary were also com- the Austro-Hungarian Empire had ruled the
peting for influence in southeastern Europe. Many of Balkans. Both of these empires were made up of
the people of southeastern Europe were Slavs—the many different nations. As nationalism became a
same ethnic group as the Russians—and the Russians powerful force in the 1800s, the different national
wanted to support them against Austria-Hungary. As groups within these empires began to press for
a result, Russia and France had a common interest in independence.
opposing Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1894 they Among the groups pushing for independence
signed the Franco-Russian Alliance. were the Serbs, Bosnians, Croats, and Slovenes.
These people all spoke similar languages and had
The Naval Race While the other major powers of come to see themselves as one people. They called
Europe divided into competing alliances, Great themselves South Slavs, or Yugoslavs. The first of
Britain remained neutral. Then, in 1898, the Germans these people to obtain independence were the
began to build a navy challenging Great Britain’s his- Serbs, who formed a nation called Serbia between
torical dominance at sea. By the early 1900s, an arms the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires. Serbs
race had begun between Great Britain and Germany, believed their nation’s mission was to unite the
as both sides raced to build warships. The naval race South Slavs.
greatly increased tensions between Germany and Russia supported the Serbs, while Austria-
Britain and convinced the British to establish closer Hungary did what it could to limit Serbia’s growth.
relations with France and Russia. The British refused In 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, which at
to sign a formal alliance, so their new relationship the time belonged to the Ottoman Empire. The Serbs
with the French and Russians became known as an were furious. They wanted Bosnia to be part of their
“entente cordiale”—a friendly understanding. nation. The annexation demonstrated to the Serbs
Britain, France, and Russia became known as the that Austria-Hungary had no intention of letting the
Triple Entente. Slavic people in its empire become independent.
The Balkan Crisis By the late 1800s, nationalism, A Continent Goes to War In late June 1914, the
or a feeling of intense pride of one’s homeland, had heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Archduke
become a powerful idea in Europe. Nationalists place Franz Ferdinand, visited the Bosnian capital

of Sarajevo. As he and his wife rode through Serbian officials who hoped to start a war that
the city, a Bosnian revolutionary named Gavrilo would bring down the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Princip rushed their open car and shot the couple to The Austro-Hungarian government blamed
death. The assassin was a member of a Serbian Serbia for the attack and decided the time had come
nationalist group nicknamed the “Black Hand.” to crush Serbia in order to prevent Slavic national-
The assassination took place with the knowledge of ism from undermining its empire. Knowing an
In
European Alliances, 1914 Motion
60°N
0 500 miles NORWAY
St. Petersburg
0 500 kilometers
SWEDEN (Petrograd)
Lambert Azimuthal North
Equal-Area projection Sea
Moscow
50
UNITED DENMARK Baltic
°N KINGDOM Sea
N
NETH. RUSSIA
London Berlin E
W
BELG. GERMANY S
ATLaNTIC LUX.
OCEaN Paris
Vienna June 28, 1914
FRANCE SWITZ. Budapest Archduke Franz Ferdinand
AUSTRIA- assassinated by Serb nationalist.
HUNGARY
40° PORTUGAL ROMANIA Black Sea
N Sarajevo
Corsica ITALY Bulgaria joined the Central
SERBIA
SPAIN
Fr. BULGARIA Powers in 1915. Romania
joined the Allies in 1916.
Rome MONTENEGRO
Sardinia ALBANIA Constantinople
10°W It.
OTTOMAN
GREECE
SPANISH Italy refused to honor EMPIRE
MOROCCO Central Powers alliance
and joined Allied Powers Sicily
It.
on May 23, 1915.
MOROCCO Greece did not enter Cyprus
Fr. the war until 1917. Crete
TUNISIA Gr.
U.K.
Fr.
ALGERIA
Me d i t e r r a n ean Se a
Fr.
LIBYA
0°
It.
20°E
EGYPT 30°E 40°E
U.K.
Allied Powers
Central Powers
Neutral nations
Initial troop movements 1. Interpreting Maps Which nations comprised the
of Central Powers Central Powers in 1914?
2. Applying Geography Skills What was the name of
the southeastern European region that sparked the
beginning of the war?
June 28 July 28 August 3 August 6

Assassination of Archduke Austria-Hungary Germany declares war on France, Austria-Hungary declares war
Franz Ferdinand declares war on Serbia begins invasion of Belgium on Russia
✦July 1914 ✦August 1914

July 30 August 1 August 4 August 12
Russia begins mobilizing Germany declares Britain declares France and Great Britain
troops in defense of Serbia war on Russia war on Germany declare war on Austria-Hungary

attack on Serbia might trigger a war with Russia, The German plan had one major problem. It
the Austrians asked their German allies for sup- required the German forces to advance through neu-
port. Germany promised to support Austria- tral Belgium in order to encircle the French troops.
Hungary if war erupted. The British had guaranteed Belgium’s neutrality.
Austria-Hungary then issued an ultimatum to the When German troops crossed the Belgian frontier,
Serbian government. The Serbs counted on Russia to Britain declared war on Germany.
back them up, and the Russians, in turn, counted on Those fighting for the Triple Entente were called
France. French leaders were worried that they might the Allies. France, Russia, and Great Britain formed
someday be caught alone in a war with Germany, so the backbone of the Allies along with Italy, which
they were determined to keep Russia as an ally. They joined them in 1915 after the other Allies promised to
promised to support Russia if war began. cede Austro-Hungarian territory to Italy after the war.
On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia What remained of the Triple Alliance—Germany and
immediately mobilized its army, including troops Austria-Hungary—joined with the Ottoman Empire
stationed on the German border. On August 1, and Bulgaria to form the Central Powers.
Germany declared war on Russia. Two days later, it The German plan seemed to work at first. German
declared war on France. World War I had begun. troops swept through Belgium and headed into
France, driving back the French and British forces.
Germany’s Plan Fails Germany had long been pre- Then, to the great surprise of the Germans, Russian
pared for war against France and Russia. It immedi- troops invaded Germany. The Germans had not
ately launched a massive invasion of France, hoping expected Russia to mobilize so quickly. They were
to knock the French out of the war. It would then be forced to pull some of their troops away from the
able to send its troops east to deal with the Russians. attack on France and send them east to stop the
Russians. This weakened the German
forces just enough to give the Allies a
chance to stop them. The Germans
in History drove to within 30 miles (48 km) of
Paris, but stubborn resistance by British
Jeannette Rankin and French troops at the Battle of the
1880 –1973 Marne finally stopped the German
As he addressed the “Gentlemen of advance. Because the swift German
the Congress” on April 2, 1917, attack had failed to defeat the French,
President Woodrow Wilson actually both sides became locked in a bloody
misspoke. Sitting in the chamber listen- stalemate along hundreds of miles of
ing to the president’s request for a dec- trenches that would barely change
laration of war against Germany was
position for the next three years.
Representative Jeannette Rankin—the
first woman ever elected to Congress. The Central Powers had greater suc-
Rankin was born in Missoula, cess on the Eastern Front. German and
Montana, in 1880. She became a social Austrian forces stopped the Russian
worker and participated in the woman attack and then went on the offensive.
suffrage movement. In 1916 she was They swept across hundreds of miles
elected to the U.S. House of of territory and took hundreds of thou-
Representatives from Montana—one of
the few states at that time that allowed In 1940 Rankin ran again for sands of prisoners. Russia suffered
women to vote. As a representative, Congress as a representative from 2 million killed, wounded, or captured
Rankin sponsored legislation to grant Montana. She ran on an isolationist pol- in 1915 alone, but it kept fighting.
federal voting rights for women and to icy and won. In 1941 she was the only
provide health services for them. member of Congress to vote against Reading Check Explaining What
Apart from her title as the first declaring war on Japan and entering incident triggered the beginning of World War I?
woman in Congress, Rankin is remem- World War II.
bered most for her strong pacifism. After leaving Congress in 1943,
She was one of 56 legislators who voted Rankin continued working for peace.
against the nation’s entry into World In 1968, at 87 years of age, she led American Neutrality
War I. “I want to stand by my country,” thousands of women in the March on
When the fighting began, President
she said, “but I cannot vote for war.” Washington to oppose the Vietnam War.
Wilson declared the United States to
be neutral in an attempt to keep the

country from being drawn into a foreign war. “We never for one moment been neutral: we did not know
must be impartial in thought as well as in action,” how to be. From the very start we did everything that
Wilson stated. For many Americans, however, that we could to contribute to the cause of the Allies.”
proved difficult to do. Many American banks began to invest heavily in an
Allied victory. American loans to the cash-hungry
Americans Take Sides Despite the president’s Allies skyrocketed. By 1917 such loans would total
plea, many Americans showed support for one side over $2 billion. Other American banks, particularly in
or the other. This was especially true for recent immi- the Midwest, where pro-German feelings were
grants from Europe. Many of the 8 million German strongest, also lent some $27 million to Germany. Even
Americans, for example, supported their homeland. more might have been lent, but most foreign loans
The nation’s 4.5 million Irish Americans, whose required the approval of William McAdoo, the secre-
homeland endured centuries of British rule, also tary of the Treasury. McAdoo was strongly pro-British
sympathized with the Central Powers. and did what he could to limit loans to Germany. As a
In general, though, American public opinion result, the country’s prosperity was intertwined with
favored the Allied cause. Many Americans valued the military fortunes of Britain, France, and Russia.
the heritage, language, and political ideals they If the Allies won, the money would be paid back; if
shared with Britain. Others treasured America’s his- not, the money might be lost forever.
toric links with France, a great friend to America dur-
ing the Revolutionary War. Reading Check Evaluating How was American
prosperity intertwined with the military fortunes of the Allies?
Pro-British Sentiment One select group of Amer-
icans was decidedly pro-British: President Wilson’s
cabinet. Only Secretary of State William Jennings Moving Toward War
Bryan favored neutrality. The other cabinet members, Although most Americans supported the Allies and
as well as Bryan’s chief adviser, Robert Lansing, and hoped for their victory, they did not want to join the
Walter Hines Page, the American ambassador to conflict. However, a series of events gradually eroded
London, argued forcefully on behalf of Britain. American neutrality and drew the nation into the war
American military leaders also backed the British. firmly on the side of the Allies.
They believed that an Allied victory was the only
way to preserve the international balance of power. The British Blockade Shortly after the war began,
British officials worked diligently to win American the British deployed their navy to blockade
support. One method they used was propaganda, or Germany and keep it from obtaining supplies. The
information designed to influence opinion. Both the British planted mines in the North Sea and forced
Allies and the Central Powers used propaganda, but neutral ships into port for inspections in case they
German propaganda was mostly anti-Russian and were trying to transport
did not appeal to most Americans. British propa- valuable materials to Ger-
ganda, on the other hand, was extremely skillful. many or its neutral neigh-
Furthermore, Britain cut the transatlantic telegraph bors. British officials also HISTORY
cable from Europe to the United States, limiting news expanded their definition of
about the war mainly to British reports. Stories contraband, or prohibited Student Web
arrived depicting numerous German war atrocities, materials, to prevent neutral Activity Visit the
including the charge that Germans used corpses from countries from shipping American Republic
the battlefield to make fertilizer and soap. Although food to Germany. Since 1877 Web site at
many such reports were questionable, enough The Germans knew that tarvol2.glencoe.com
Americans believed them to help sway American the Allies depended on food, and click on Student
support in favor of the Allies. equipment, and other sup- Web Activities—
plies from both the United Chapter 14 for an
ECONOMICS activity on World War I.
States and their overseas
Business Links American business interests also empires. If Germany could
leaned toward the Allies. Companies in the United strangle that trade, it could
States, particularly on the East Coast, had strong ties starve the British and French into surrendering. To get
with businesses in the Allied countries. As business around Britain’s blockade, the Germans deployed
leader Thomas W. Lamont stated, “Our firm had submarines known as U-boats—from the German

word Unterseeboot (meaning “underwater boat”). In Others argued that the passengers traveling on
February 1915, the Germans announced that they ships of foreign nations did so at their own risk.
would attempt to sink without warning any ship they Wilson steered a middle course on the issue of the
found in the waters around Britain. U-boats. He refused to take extreme measures
Germany’s announcement triggered outrage in against Germany, saying that the United States was
the United States and elsewhere. Attacking civilian “too proud to fight.” Nevertheless, he sent several
vessels without warning violated an international diplomatic notes to Germany insisting that its gov-
treaty stipulating that military vessels must reveal ernment safeguard the lives of noncombatants in the
their intentions to merchant ships and make provi- war zones.
sions for the safety of the targeted ship’s crew and Late in March 1916, Wilson’s policy was tested
passengers before sinking it. The Germans claimed when a U-boat torpedoed the French passenger ship
that many merchant ships were actually warships in Sussex, injuring several Americans on board. Although
disguise and that their U-boats would be placed at Wilson’s closest advisers favored breaking off diplo-
great risk if they revealed themselves before firing. matic relations with Germany immediately, the presi-
The issue reached a crisis on May 7, 1915. dent, busy with the crisis in Mexico, chose to issue one
Despite warnings from Germany, the British pas- last warning. He demanded that the German govern-
senger liner Lusitania entered the war zone. A sub- ment abandon its methods of submarine warfare or
merged German submarine fired on the ship, risk war with the United States.
killing nearly 1,200 passengers—including 128 Germany did not want to strengthen the Allies by
Americans. Many Americans were outraged and drawing the United States into the war. It promised
regarded the attack as an act of terrorism, not war. with certain conditions to sink no more merchant
ships without warning. The Sussex Pledge, as it was
called, met the foreign-policy goals of both Germany
and President Wilson by keeping the United States
out of the war a little longer.
Wilson’s efforts to keep American soldiers at home
played an important part in his re-election bid in
1916. Campaigning as the “peace” candidate, his
campaign slogan, “He kept us out of the war,”
helped lead Wilson to a narrow victory over the
Republican nominee, Charles Evans Hughes.
The United States Declares War Following

Wilson’s re-election, events quickly brought the
country to the brink of war. In January 1917, a
German official named Arthur Zimmermann cabled
the German ambassador in Mexico, instruct-
ing him to make an offer to the Mexican gov-
ernment. Zimmermann proposed that Mexico
ally itself with Germany in the event of war
between Germany and the United States. In
return, Mexico would regain its “lost territory
in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona” after the
war. Germany hoped Mexico would tie down
the American forces and prevent them from
being sent to Europe. British intelligence inter-
cepted the Zimmermann telegram. Shortly
History afterward, it was leaked to American news-
papers. Furious, many Americans now con-
The Sinking of the Lusitania In May 1915, German U-boats sank
cluded war with Germany was necessary.
the British passenger liner Lusitania. Among those who drowned were 128
Americans. Here the Los Angeles Tribune reports the attack, and a newspaper Then, on February 1, 1917, Germany resumed
advertisement warns ship passengers to travel the Atlantic at their own risk. unrestricted submarine warfare. German military
Why were the Germans sinking passenger liners? leaders believed that they could starve Britain into

“The world must
be made safe for
democracy.”
—Woodrow Wilson, April 1917
History
Americans Go to War Congress

voted heavily in favor of entering the
European war. Here, excited Americans
wave from an Army recruitment truck.
What events pushed the United States
to finally declare war?
submission in four to six months if their U-boats than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we
could return to a more aggressive approach of sink- have always carried nearest to our hearts—for
ing all ships on sight. Although they recognized that democracy, for the right of those who submit to
their actions might draw the United States into the authority to have a voice in their own governments,
war, the Germans did not believe that the Americans
could raise an army and transport it to Europe in ”
for the rights and liberties of small nations. . . .
time to prevent the Allies from collapsing. —quoted in the Congressional Record, 1917
Between February 3 and March 21, German
U-boats sank six American merchant ships without After a spirited debate, the Senate passed the reso-
warning. Finally roused to action, President Wilson lution on April 4 by a vote of 82 to 6. The House con-
appeared before a special session of Congress on curred 373 to 50 on April 6, and Wilson signed the
April 2, 1917, to ask for a declaration of war against resolution. America was now at war.
Germany.
Reading Check Summarizing How did Germany’s
“ It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful
people into war. . . . But the right is more precious
use of unrestricted submarine warfare lead to American entry
into World War I?
TM
TM

1. Define: guerrilla, nationalism, 5. Synthesizing How did European 7. Analyzing Time Lines Examine the
self-determination, propaganda, nationalism contribute to the outbreak time line on page 451. How does the
contraband, U-boat. of World War I? order in which countries declared war
2. Identify: Pancho Villa, Franz Ferdinand, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer reflect the European alliance system?
Allies, Central Powers, Sussex Pledge, similar to the one below to identify the
Zimmermann telegram. events that led the United States to
3. Name the two alliances that Europe was enter World War I.
divided into at the start of World War I. 8. Expository Writing Imagine that you
Events
are a Mexican citizen living in Mexico
Reviewing Themes between 1914 and 1917. Write a script
U.S. Enters
4. Continuity and Change Why did most World War I for a radio newscast in which you
of President Wilson’s cabinet members express your feelings about American
support the British? actions in Mexico. Include reasons for
your feelings.

The Home Front
To successfully fight the war, the United Taking Notes As you read about how • Analyze how the United States raised
States had to mobilize the entire nation. the United States mobilized for war, use an army and won support for World
the major headings of the section to cre- War I.
Key Terms and Names ate an outline similar to the one below. • Explain how the economy was con-
conscription, War Industries Board, trolled to support the war.
Bernard Baruch, victory garden, Liberty The Home Front
Bond, Victory Bond, Committee on Public I. Building Up the Military Section Theme
A.
Information, espionage B.
Government and Democracy To fight
C. the war, the federal government created
II.
A.
new agencies to mobilize the economy,
B. draft soldiers, and build public support.
✦1917 ✦1918 ✦1919

1917 May 1918 September 1918 1919
Selective Service Act and Sedition Act passed Eugene Debs imprisoned Schenck v. United States
Espionage Act passed
After Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917, young men from across the
nation swamped recruiting offices eager to volunteer for the war. Historian William Langer,
who served in World War I, recalled the enthusiasm of the young recruits:
“ What strikes me most, I think, is the eagerness of the men to get to France and above all
to reach the front. One would think that, after almost four years of war, after the most
detailed and realistic accounts of the murderous fighting . . . to say nothing of the day-to-day
agony of trench warfare, it would have been all but impossible to get anyone to serve without
duress. But it was not so. We and many thousands of others volunteered. Perhaps we were
offended by the arrogance of the German U-boat campaign, and convinced Kaiserism must
be smashed, once and for all. Possibly we already felt that, in the American interest, Western
democracy must not be allowed to go under. But . . . most of us, young, were simply fasci-
World War I
recruiting poster nated by the prospect of adventure and heroism. . . . Here was our one great chance for
excitement and risk. We could not afford to pass it up.
”
—quoted in Doughboy War
Building Up the Military
When the United States declared war against Germany in April 1917, progressives
controlled the federal government. They did not abandon their ideas simply because a
war had begun. Instead, they applied progressive ideas to fighting the war.
Selective Service When the United States entered the war in 1917, the army and
National Guard together had slightly more than 370,000 troops. Although many men
volunteered after war was declared, many felt more soldiers needed to be drafted.

Many progressives believed that conscription— Women in the Military World War I was the first
forced military service—was a violation of demo- war in which women officially served in the armed
cratic and republican principles. Realizing a draft forces, although only in noncombat positions. Women
was necessary, however, Congress, with Wilson’s nurses had served in both the army and navy since
support, created a new system called selective serv- the early 1900s, but as auxiliaries. Before World War I,
ice. Instead of having the military run the draft, the nurses were not assigned ranks, and the women were
Selective Service Act of 1917 required all men not technically enlisted in the army or navy.
between 21 and 30 to register for the draft. A lottery As the military prepared for war in 1917, it faced a
randomly determined the order they were called severe shortage of clerical workers because so many
before a local draft board in charge of selecting or men were assigned to active duty. Early in 1917, the
exempting people from military service. navy authorized the enlistment of women to meet its
The thousands of local boards were the heart of the clerical needs. By the end of the war, over 11,000
system. The members of the draft boards were civil- women had served in the navy. Although most per-
ians from local communities. Progressives believed formed clerical duties, others served as radio opera-
local people, understanding community needs, tors, electricians, pharmacists, and photographers.
would know which men to draft. Eventually about 2.8 The army still did not enlist women. Instead, it
million Americans were drafted. hired them as temporary clerical workers. The only
women to actually serve in the army were in the
Volunteers for War Not all American soldiers Army Nursing Corps. Army nurses were the only
were drafted. Approximately 2 million men volun-
women in the military sent overseas during the war.
teered for military service. Some had heard stories of
Over 20,000 nurses served in the army during the
German atrocities and wanted to fight back. Others
war, including more than 10,000 overseas.
believed democracy was at stake. Many believed they
had a duty to respond to their nation’s call. They had Reading Check Describing How did Congress
grown up listening to stories of the Civil War and the ensure that the military had enough troops to fight the war?
Spanish-American War. They saw this war as a great
adventure and wanted to fight for their country’s
cause. To soldiers such as Justin Klingenberger, “War Organizing Industry
consisted of following the flag over a shell-torn field,
The progressive emphasis on careful planning and
with fixed bayonet . . . pushing the Hun back from
scientific management shaped the federal govern-
trench to trench. . . .” Although the horrors of the war
ment’s approach to mobilizing the American war
soon became clear to the American troops,
their morale remained high, helping to
ensure an Allied victory.
African Americans in the War Of the

nearly 400,000 African Americans who were
drafted, about 42,000 served overseas as
combat troops. African American soldiers
encountered discrimination and prejudice in
the army. They served in racially segregated
units almost always under white officers.
Despite these challenges, many African
American soldiers fought with distinction
in the war. For example, the African
American 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions
fought in bitter battles along the Western
Front. Many of them won praise from both
the French commander, Marshal Henri
Pétain, and the United States commander,
General John Pershing. The entire 369th History
Infantry Regiment won the highly prized Women and War Although not allowed in combat, many women served in auxiliary posi-
French decoration, the Croix de Guerre tions, such as nursing. Here, Birmingham, Alabama, women collect money during a Red Cross
(“war cross”), for gallantry in combat. parade in 1918. In what other capacities did women serve during the war?

economy. To efficiently manage the relationship lies to “Hooverize” by “serving just enough” and
between the federal government and private compa- by having Wheatless Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays,
nies, Congress created special boards. These boards and Porkless Thursdays. Hoover also encouraged
emphasized cooperation between big business citizens to plant victory gardens to raise their own
and government. Business executives, professional vegetables, leaving more for the troops.
managers, and government representatives staffed While Hoover managed food production, the Fuel
the boards. Their goal was to ensure the most efficient Administration, run by Harry Garfield, tried to man-
use of national resources to further the war effort. age the nation’s use of coal and oil. To conserve
energy, Garfield introduced daylight savings time
The War Industries Board One of the first agencies and shortened workweeks for factories that did not
established was the War Industries Board (WIB). make war materials.
Created in July 1917, the WIB’s job was to coordinate
the production of war materials. At first, President Paying for the War By the end of World War I, the
Wilson was reluctant to give the WIB much authority United States was spending about $44 million a
over the economy, but by March 1918, he decided day—leading to a total expenditure of about $32 bil-
industrial production needed better coordination. The lion for the entire conflict. To fund the war effort,
WIB was reorganized and Bernard Baruch was Congress raised income tax rates. Congress also
appointed to run it. Under this Wall Street stockbro- placed new taxes on corporate profits and an extra
ker’s supervision, the WIB told manufacturers what to tax on the profits of arms factories.
produce. It controlled the flow of raw materials, Taxes, however, could not pay for the war. To raise
ordered the construction of new factories, and occa- money, the government borrowed over $20 billion
sionally, with the president’s approval, set prices. from the American people by selling Liberty Bonds
and Victory Bonds. By buying the bonds, Americans
Food and Fuel Perhaps the most successful govern- were loaning the government money. The govern-
ment agency was the Food Administration, run by ment agreed to repay the money with interest in a
Herbert Hoover. This agency was responsible for specified number of years. Posters, rallies, and
increasing food production while reducing civilian “Liberty Loan sermons” encouraged people to buy
consumption. Instead of using rationing, Hoover the bonds as an act of patriotism.
encouraged Americans to save food on their own.
Using the slogan “Food Will Win the War—Don’t Reading Check Summarizing What federal agen-
Waste It,” the Food Administration encouraged fami- cies helped control American industries during the war?
History
Propaganda Posters George Creel’s

Committee on Public Information encouraged
Americans to do all they could to support the
war effort. What is the general theme of
these posters? Do you think the posters
were effective?
Mobilizing the Workforce Federal Mobilization Agencies
While the WIB and other agencies tried to build
Agency Purpose
cooperation between the government and business,
officials knew that they also needed workers to coop- War Industries Organized industry to increase
erate if mobilization was to succeed. To prevent Board efficiency, maximizing production
strikes from disrupting the war effort, the govern- Railroad Assumed temporary control of
ment established the National War Labor Board Administration rail lines to modernize equipment
(NWLB) in March 1918. Chaired by William Howard and increase operating efficiency
Taft and Frank Walsh, a prominent labor attorney, the
Food Supervised agricultural production,
NWLB attempted to mediate labor disputes that
Administration promoted food conservation and
might otherwise lead to strikes.
rationing
The NWLB frequently pressured industry to grant
important concessions to workers, including wage Fuel Increased production of coal and
increases, an eight-hour workday, and the right of Administration oil; maintained conservation of fuel
unions to organize and bargain collectively. In with such innovations as daylight
exchange, labor leaders agreed not to disrupt war savings time
production with strikes or other disturbances. As a National War Maintained cooperation between
result, membership in unions increased by just over Labor Board industry management and labor
one million between 1917 and 1919. unions; acted as mediator to
prevent and quickly settle disputes
Women Support Industry The war increased Committee Provided propaganda to rally
work opportunities for women, who filled industrial on Public citizen support for all aspects
jobs vacated by men serving in the military. These Information of the war effort
included positions in the shipping, manufacturing,
and railroad industries. These new jobs for women,
however, were not permanent. After the war, when
the servicemen returned home, most women 1. Interpreting Charts Which agency
returned to their previous jobs or stopped working. worked with manufacturers and labor
unions?
The Great Migration Begins With the flow of immi- 2. Analyzing How did the Fuel Admini-
grants from Europe cut off and large numbers of white stration’s daylight savings time plan
workers being drafted, the war also opened new doors achieve its goal?
for African Americans. Wartime job openings and high
wages drew thousands of African Americans to facto- Omaha, and other cities to take wartime factory jobs.
ries producing war materials. Encouraged by recruit- Many Mexican Americans faced hostility and dis-
ing agents promising high wages and plentiful work, crimination when they arrived in American cities.
between 300,000 and 500,000 African Americans left Like other immigrants before them, they tended to
the South to settle in Northern cities. This massive pop- settle in their own separate neighborhoods, called
ulation movement became known as the “Great barrios, where they could support each other.
Migration.” It greatly altered the racial makeup of such
cities as Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Detroit. Reading Check Evaluating How permanent were
women’s advances in the wartime workplace?
Mexican Americans Head North African Amer-
icans were not the only group to migrate north dur-
ing the war. Continued political turmoil in Mexico
and the wartime labor shortage in the United States
convinced many Mexicans to head north. Between
1917 and 1920, over 100,000 Mexicans migrated into Ensuring Public Support
Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico, pro- Progressives in the government did not think
viding labor for the farms and ranches of the coordinating business and labor was enough to
Southwest. ensure the success of the war effort. They also
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Mexican believed that the government should take steps to
Americans headed north to Chicago, St. Louis, shape public opinion and build support for the war.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., dissenting:
It is only the present danger of immediate evil or an intent
Abrams v. United States, 1919 to bring it about that warrants Congress in setting a limit to the
The Espionage Act of 1917 made it a crime to “willfully expression of opinion where private rights are not concerned.
utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous Congress certainly cannot forbid all effort to change the mind
or abusive language about the government.” Although the act of the country. Now nobody can suppose that the surreptitious
limited First Amendment freedoms, many Americans believed publishing of a silly leaflet by an unknown man, without more,
winning World War I was more important. ; (See page 962 would present any immediate danger that its opinions would
for more information on Abrams v. the United States.) hinder the success of the government arms or have any appre-
ciable tendency to do so.
In this case, sentences of twenty years’ imprisonment have
Justice John H. Clarke delivered the majority opinion: been imposed for the publishing of two leaflets that I believe
the defendants had as much right to publish as the
It is argued, somewhat faintly, that the acts charged
Government has to publish the Constitution of the United
against the defendants were not unlawful because within
States now vainly invoked by them. . . . I regret that I cannot
the protection of that freedom . . . of speech and of the
put into more impressive words my belief that, in their convic-
press . . . and that the entire Espionage Act is
tion upon this indictment, the defendants were deprived of
unconstitutional. . . .
their rights under the Constitution of the United States.
. . . the plain purpose of their propaganda was to
excite, at the supreme crisis of the war, disaffection, sedi-
tion, riots, and, as they hoped, revolution, in this country
for the purpose of embarrassing, and, if possible, defeat-
Amendment I
ing the military plans of the Government in Europe. . . . —Congress shall make no law respecting
[T]he language of these circulars was obviously intended an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
to provoke and to encourage resistance to the United exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
States in the war, as the third count runs, and the defen- or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably
dants, in terms, plainly urged and advocated a resort to a to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
general strike of workers in ammunition factories for the redress of grievances.
purpose of curtailing the production of ordnance and
munitions necessary and essential to the prosecution of Learning From History
the war. . . . Thus, it is clear not only that some evidence,
1. What were the charges against the
but that much persuasive evidence, was before the jury
defendants?
C19 20C 664118
tending to prove that the defendants were guilty as
2. On what key point did Holmes and
charged. . . .
Clarke disagree?
Selling the War A new government agency, the Civil Liberties Curtailed In addition to using propa-
Committee on Public Information, had the task of ganda and persuasion, the government also passed
“selling” the war to the American people. The head legislation to fight antiwar activities or enemies at
of the CPI was journalist George Creel, who recruited home. Espionage, or spying to acquire secret govern-
advertising executives, commercial artists, authors, ment information, was addressed in the Espionage Act
songwriters, entertainers, public speakers, and of 1917, which established penalties and prison terms
motion picture companies to help sway public opin- for anyone who gave aid to the enemy. This act also
ion in favor of the war. penalized disloyalty, giving false reports, or otherwise
The CPI distributed pamphlets and arranged for interfering with the war effort. The Post Office even
thousands of short patriotic talks, called “four-minute hired college professors to translate foreign periodicals
speeches,” to be delivered at movie theaters and pub- to find out if they contained antiwar messages.
lic halls and gathering places. The Four-Minute Men The Sedition Act of 1918 expanded the meaning
urged audiences to support the war in various ways, of the Espionage Act to make illegal any public
from buying war bonds to reporting draft dodgers to expression of opposition to the war. In practice, it
the proper authorities. allowed officials to prosecute anyone who criticized

the president or the government. Combined, these of men and some women have been tarred and
laws generated over 1,500 prosecutions and 1,000 feathered, and a portion of the press is urging with
convictions. great vehemence more strenuous efforts at detection
A Climate of Suspicion The fear of spies and and punishment.
”
emphasis on patriotism quickly led to the mistreat- —quoted in Echoes of Distant Thunder
ment and persecution of German Americans. To
avoid German-sounding names, advertisers began to The Supreme Court Limits Free Speech Despite
call sauerkraut “Liberty cabbage” and hamburger protests against the government’s tactics, however,
“Salisbury steak.” Many schools dropped German the courts generally upheld the principle behind
language classes from their curricula, and orches- them. Although the First Amendment specifically
tras stopped performing the music of states that “Congress shall make no law . . .
Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, and other abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
German composers. Anti-German feelings press,” the Supreme Court decided other-
sometimes led to violence. Some citizens wise, departing from a strict literal inter-
beat neighbors who were German-born. pretation of the Constitution.
In Collinsville, Illinois, a mob lynched a In the landmark case of Schenck v.
German-born man whom they sus- the United States (1919), the Supreme
pected of disloyalty. Court ruled that an individual’s free-
German Americans were not the only dom of speech could be curbed when
ones under suspicion. Mobs attacked the words uttered constitute a “clear
labor activists, socialists, and pacifists. and present danger.” The Court used
Newspapers ads urged Americans to as an example someone yelling “Fire!”
monitor the activities of their fellow citi- in a crowded theater as a situation in
zens. Americans even formed private George Creel which freedom of speech would be
organizations, such as the American superseded by the theater-goers’ right
Protective League and the Boy Spies of America, to to safety. The Court’s majority opinion stated,
spy on neighbors and coworkers. Secretary of War “When a nation is at war, many things that might be
Newton Baker expressed concern about the growing said in times of peace are such a hindrance to its
intolerance: effort that their utterance will not be endured so
long as [soldiers] fight. . . .” ; (See page 965 for more
“ There is a growing frenzy of suspicion and hostil-
ity toward disloyalty. I am afraid we are going to have
information on Schenck v. the United States.)
a good many instances of people roughly treated on Reading Check Explaining Why did Congress pass
very slight evidence of disloyalty. Already a number the Espionage Act in 1917?
TM
TM

1. Define: conscription, victory garden, 5. Analyzing How did World War I cause 7. Analyzing Posters Examine the
espionage. the federal government to change its posters on page 458. How do these
2. Identify: War Industries Board, Bernard relationship with the business world? images encourage support for the war?
Baruch, Liberty Bond, Victory Bond, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer How effective do you think they would
Committee on Public Information. similar to the one below to identify the be today?
3. Describe the contributions of African effects of the war on the American
Americans during the war. workforce.
Reviewing Themes Effects of War on
U.S. Workforce
4. Government and Democracy How did
are working for the Committee on
government efforts to ensure support
Public Information. Write text for an
for the war conflict with democratic
advertisement or lyrics to a song in
ideals?
which you attempt to sway public opin-
ion in favor of the war.

N O T E B O O K
VERBATIM
“deathMy message was one of

for young men. How odd
to applaud that.
”WOODROW WILSON,
on returning to the White House
after asking Congress for a
declaration of war, 1917
“Waste
Food is Ammunition—Don’t
It
”POSTER FROM U.S. FOOD
ADMINISTRATION,
BROWN BROTHERS
administered by Herbert Hoover
“overI have had a hard time getting

this war. My old world died.
”
RAY STANNARD BAKER,
American soldiers set sail for Europe.
journalist
World War Firsts “forget

Let us, while this war lasts,
our special grievances
Human ingenuity goes to work in the service of war:
and close our ranks shoulder
AERIAL COMBAT, 1914. War takes to the air. Two Allied aircraft chase to shoulder with our own white
two German planes across Britain. fellow citizens and the allied
GAS ATTACKS, 1915. The German High Command admits to using nations that are fighting for
chlorine gas bombs and shells on the field of combat. Deadly mustard
gas is used in 1917.
democracy.
” W.E.B. DU BOIS,
African American scholar
and leader, 1918
GAS MASKS. Issued to Allied soldiers in 1915.
DONKEY’S EARS. A new trench periscope enables soldiers to observe
the battleground from the relative safety of a trench without risking
“become
America has at one bound
a world power in a sense
sniper fire.
BIG BERTHA. Enormous howitzer gun
she never was before.
”
BRITISH PRIME MINISTER
DAVID LLOYD GEORGE,
bombards Paris. “Big Bertha,” named on the U.S. entry into World War I, 1917
after the wife of its manufacturer, is
“mounted
In the camps I saw barrels
BROWN BROTHERS
thought to be located nearly 63 miles

on sticks on which
behind German lines. Moving at night
zealous captains were endeavoring
on railroad tracks, the gun is difficult
to teach their men how to ride
for the Allies to locate.
a horse.
” THEODORE ROOSEVELT,
on touring U.S. military
Color My World training facilities, 1917
LEON GIMPLE/SOCIETE FRANCAISE
Some bright spots in a dark decade:

“as The war was over, and it seemed
if everything in the world were
DE PHOTOGRAPHIE/LIFE
Color newspaper supplements (1914) possible, and everything was new,

3-D films (1915) and that peace was going to be all
Nail polish (1916)
we dreamed about.
”
FLORENCE HARRIMAN,
Red Cross volunteer, in Paris on
Three-color traffic lights (1918) One of the first color photographs
Armistice Day, 1918
Color photography introduced by Eastman Kodak (1914)

A WAR TO END ALL WARS: 1914–1 9 1 8
NUMBERS 1915
How to Make a Doughboy
Take one American infantryman.
$1,040 Average annual
1. Arm with 107 pieces of fighting equipment, income for workers in finance,
including: insurance, and real estate
rifle gas mask
rifle cartridges wire cutters $687 Average income
cartridge belt trench tool for industrial workers (higher
for union workers, lower for
steel helmet bayonet and scabbard
nonunion workers)
clubs grenades
knives
$510 Average income for
2. Add 50 articles of clothing, including 3 retail trade workers
wool blankets and a bedsack.
3. Equip with eating utensils and 11 $355 Average income for
cooking implements. farm laborers
BROWN BROTHERS
4. Train well.
TOTAL COST: $156.30
domestic servants
(not including training and transportation to Europe)

Milestones public school teachers
REPATRIATED, APRIL 10, 1917.

VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN, to
$11.95 Cost of a bicycle
Russia, after an 11-year absence.
The leader of the leftist Bolshevik
party hopes to reorganize his
revolutionary group.
BROWN BROTHERS
BROWN BROTHERS
Jeannette Rankin
CULVER PICTURES
ELECTED, NOVEMBER 7, 1916.

JEANNETTE RANKIN of Montana,
to the U.S. Congress. The first $1.15 Cost of a baseball
Vladimir Lenin woman congressional
SHOT DOWN AND KILLED,
representative explained her victory $1 Average cost of a hotel room
by saying that women “got the vote
APRIL 22, 1918. “THE RED
BARON,” Manfred von Richthofen,
in Montana because the spirit of
pioneer days was still alive.” 39¢ Cost of one dozen eggs
Germany’s ace pilot. Von Richthofen
destroyed more than 80 Allied
aircraft. On hearing of the Red
EXECUTED, OCTOBER 15, 1917.
MATA HARI, in France, for
5¢ Cost of a glass of cola
Baron’s death, English fighter pilot espionage. The famous Dutch
Edward Mannock said, “I hope dancer was sentenced to death 7¢ Cost of a large roll of
he roasted all the way down.” for spying for the Germans. toilet paper

A Bloody Conflict
After four years of fighting, the war in Organizing As you read about the • Discuss the fighting techniques used in
Europe ended in November 1918. battles of World War I, complete a World War I.
graphic organizer similar to the one • Characterize the American response to
Key Terms and Names below by listing the kinds of warfare and the Treaty of Versailles.
“no man’s land,” convoy, Vladimir Lenin, technology used in the fighting.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, armistice, Section Theme
Fourteen Points, League of Nations, Individual Action American troops
Treaty of Versailles, reparations played a major role in helping end the
Warfare and
Technology war, while President Wilson played a
Used in World War I major role in the peace negotiations.
✦1915 ✦1917 ✦1919

July 1916 November 1917 March 1918 September 1918 November 1918
Battle of the Communists seize Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends war Beginning of Battle of the Armistice ends war
Somme begins power in Russia between Russia and Germany Argonne Forest
General John J. Pershing, commander of the American forces in World War I, could not
help but feel a sense of pride and excitement as he watched the Second Battalion of the First
Division’s 16th Infantry march through the streets of Paris on July 4, 1917:
“ . . . The battalion was joined by a great crowd, many women forcing their way into the
ranks and swinging along arm in arm with the men. With wreaths about their necks and bou-
quets in their hats and rifles, the column looked like a moving flower garden. With only a
semblance of military formation, the animated throng pushed its way through avenues of
people to the martial strains of the French band and the still more thrilling music of cheering
”
voices.
—quoted in The Yanks Are Coming
While his men marched through Paris, Pershing raced to Picpus Cemetery, the burial place
of the Marquis de Lafayette, a French noble who had fought in the American Revolution. One
John J. Pershing
of Pershing’s officers, Colonel Charles E. Stanton, raised his hand in salute and acknowledged
the continuing American-French relationship by proclaiming, “Lafayette, we are here!”
Combat in World War I

By the spring of 1917, World War I had devastated Europe and claimed millions of
lives. Terrible destruction resulted from a combination of old-fashioned strategies and
new technologies. Despite the carnage Europeans had experienced, many Americans
believed their troops would make a difference and quickly bring the war to an end.

Trench Warfare The early offensives of 1914
quickly demonstrated that the nature of warfare had “ Many dead Germans along the road. One heap
on a manure pile . . . Devastation everywhere. Our
changed. Troops that dug themselves in and relied
barrage has rooted up the entire territory like a
upon modern rifles and a new weapon—the rapid-
fire machine gun—could easily hold off the attacking ploughed field. Dead horses galore, many of them
forces. On the Western Front, troops dug a network have a hind quarter cut off—the Huns [Germans]
of trenches that stretched from the English Channel
to the Swiss border. The space between the opposing
need food. Dead men here and there.
”
—quoted in The American Spirit
trenches was known as “no man’s land,” a rough,
barren landscape pockmarked with craters from
artillery fire. New Technology As it became clear that charging
To break through enemy lines, both sides began enemy trenches could bring only limited success at
with massive artillery barrages. Then bayonet- great cost, both sides began to develop new technolo-
wielding soldiers would scramble out of their gies to help them break through enemy lines. In April
trenches, race across no man’s land, and hurl 1915, the Germans first used poison gas in the Second
grenades into the enemy’s trenches. The results were Battle of Ypres. The fumes caused vomiting, blindness,
often disastrous. The artillery barrages rarely and suffocation. Soon afterward the Allies also began
destroyed the enemy defenses, and troops crossing using poison gas, and gas masks became a necessary
no man’s land were easily stopped by enemy part of a soldier’s equipment.
machine guns and rifle fire. These kind of assaults In 1916 the British introduced the tank into battle.
caused staggeringly high casualties. In major battles, The first tanks were very slow and cumbersome,
both sides often lost several hundred thousand men. mechanically unreliable, and fairly easy to destroy.
These battles produced horrific scenes of death and They could roll over barbed wire and trenches, but
destruction, as one American soldier noted in his diary: there were usually not enough of them to make a
An American Hero
Although the brutal trench
warfare of World War I led to
many acts of astonishing
bravery, the heroism of one
American, Corporal Alvin York,
captured the nation’s imagina-
tion. Born in 1887, York grew up
poor in the mountains of Tennessee,
where he learned to shoot by hunting wild game.
On October 8, 1918, during the Battle of the
Argonne Forest, York’s patrol lost its way and ended up
behind enemy lines. When a German machine gun
emplacement on a fortified hill fired on the patrol and
killed nine men, York took command and charged the
machine gun. Although the details of the battle are
unclear, when it ended, York had killed between 9 and
25 Germans, captured the machine guns, and taken
132 prisoners. For his actions, he received the Medal of
Honor and the French Croix de Guerre. After returning
home, he used his fame to raise money for the Alvin
York Institute—a school for underprivileged Tennessee
children.
In
Battles of World War I, 1914–1918 Motion
60°N
20°W N 10°W 0° 20°E
NORWAY Allied Powers
W
E Battles of Ypres SWEDEN Petrograd Central Powers
S
3 Oct.–Nov. 1914 (St. Petersburg) Neutral nations
6 Lusitania sunk 4 Apr.–May 1915
1 Tannenberg German unrestricted
May 7, 1915 DENMARK Aug. 1914
a
UNITED submarine warfare zone
Se
50 North
°N KINGDOM ic Allied offensives
Sea Ba lt RUSSIA
X London
Central Powers'
NETH. offensives
Berlin Farthest advance
8 Battle of the Somme GERMANY
July–Nov. 1916 BELG. of Central Powers
LUX. Eastern Line of trench
7 Battle of Verdun
Atlantic Paris Feb.–Dec. 1916
Front
warfare, 1915–1917
Ocean 2 First Battle
of the Marne
Western
Front Vienna
Allied victory
Budapest Central Powers' victory
Sept. 1914 FRANCE SWITZ.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY Indecisive battle
9 Caporetto Italian
PORTUGAL Oct.–Dec. 1917 Caspian
Front Sarajevo ROMANIA Bl a c k Se a
40° Se a
Ad
N ITALY SERBIA
SPAIN at MONTE- Balkan Campaign
ri
ic NEGRO BULGARIA
Rome Sea Constantinople Caucasus
ALBANIA Campaign PERSIA
OTTOMAN
GREECE EMPIRE Mesopotamian
SPANISH
MOROCCO 5 Gallipoli Campaign
Apr. 1915–Jan. 1916 Baghdad
MOROCCO ALGERIA
TUNISIA Palestinian
0 500 miles Me d i t e r r a n e a n Se a
Jerusalem Campaign
0 500 kilometers
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection LIBYA EGYPT
difference. While tanks did help troops, they did not Winning the War at Sea No American troopships
revolutionize warfare in World War I. were sunk on their way to Europe—an accomplish-
World War I also saw the first use of airplanes in ment due largely to the efforts of American Admiral
combat. At first, planes were used mainly to observe William S. Sims. For most of the war, the British pre-
enemy activities. Soon, the Allies and Central ferred to fight German submarines by sending war-
Powers used them to drop small bombs. As technol- ships to find them. Meanwhile, merchant ships would
ogy advanced, they also attached machine guns to race across the Atlantic individually. The British
aircraft to engage in deadly air battles known as approach had not worked well, and submarines had
dogfights. inflicted heavy losses on British shipping.
Sims proposed that merchant ships and troop
Reading Check Describing What new technologies
transports be gathered into groups, called convoys,
were introduced in World War I? and escorted across the Atlantic by warships. If sub-
marines wanted to attack a convoy, they would have
to get past the warships protecting it. The convoy sys-
The Americans and Victory tem greatly reduced shipping losses and ensured that
Wave upon wave of American troops marched American troops arrived safely in Europe. They
into this bloody stalemate—nearly 2 million before arrived during a pivotal time in late 1917.
the war’s end. These “doughboys,” a nickname for
American soldiers, were largely inexperienced, but Russia Leaves the War In March 1917, riots broke
they were fresh, so their presence immediately out in Russia over the government’s handling of the
boosted the morale of Allied forces. war and over the scarcity of food and fuel. On March

In
Western Front, 1914–1918 Motion
0 50 miles 4°E
0 50 kilometers World War I Military Deaths*

52°N
NETHERLANDS
N France
British Empire 1,385,000 Russia
Ypres
Italy 908,400 1,700,000
Oct.–Nov. 1914 W E
e l Apr.–May 1915 650,000
S
a n n July 1917 Antwerp
Ch Romania
Rh
h Neuve Sept. 1914 Allies
335,700
s
ine
Mons
gli
Chapelle Aug. 1914

United States
En
R.
Mar. 1915
BELGIUM 107,000
So Le Cateau GERMANY
m
m e R. Aug. 1914 Others Central Powers
Somme 74,200
July–Nov. 1916 Guise LUX.
Se Aug. 1914 Bulgaria
in Verdun
Somme Offensive Aisne Offensive 87,500
Feb.-Dec. 1916
eR
. 1918 1918
Belleau Wood St. Mihiel Ottoman Germany
June 1918 Argonne Forest Sept. 1918 Empire
Sept.–Nov. 1918 Morhange Austria-Hungary 1,773,000
325,000 1,200,000
Paris Aug. 1914
FRANCE
First Battle * Figures are approximate
Château–Thierry of the Marne
May–June 1918 Sept. 1914
Allied Powers Allied offensives

Central Powers'
Central Powers offensives
Neutral nations Farthest advance
1. Interpreting Maps Where did the majority of World
Allied victory
of Central Powers War I battles occur?
Line of trench
Central Powers' victory warfare, 1915–1917 2. Interpreting Charts Which nation suffered the largest
Indecisive battle Armistice Line, 1918 number of military deaths during World War I?
15, Czar Nicholas II, the leader of the Russian giving up Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories,
Empire, abdicated his throne. Political leadership in and Finland. However, the treaty also removed the
Russia passed into the hands of a provisional, or tem- German army from the remaining Russian lands.
porary, government, consisting largely of moderate With the Eastern Front settled, Germany was now
representatives who supported Russia’s continued free to concentrate its forces in the west.
participation in World War I. The government, how-
ever, was unable to adequately deal with the major The German Offensive Falters On March 21, 1918,
problems, such as food shortages, that were afflicting the Germans launched a massive attack along the
the nation. Western Front, beginning with gas attacks and a bom-
The Bolsheviks, a group of Communists, soon bardment by over 6,000 artillery pieces. German
competed for power in Russia. In November 1917, forces, reinforced with troops transferred from the
Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Russian front, pushed deeply into Allied lines. By
overthrew the Russian government and established a early June, they were less than 40 miles (64 km) from
Communist government. Paris.
Germany’s military fortunes improved with the American troops played an important role in con-
Bolshevik takeover of Russia. Lenin’s first act after taining the German offensive. In late May, as the
seizing power was to pull Russia out of the war and German offensive continued, the Americans launched
concentrate on establishing a Communist state. He their first major attack, quickly capturing the village
accomplished this by agreeing to the Treaty of of Cantigny. On June 1, American and French troops
Brest-Litovsk with Germany on March 3, 1918. blocked the German drive on Paris at the town of
Under this treaty, Russia lost substantial territory, Château-Thierry. On July 15, the Germans launched

one last massive attack in a determined attempt to A Flawed Peace
take Paris, but American and French troops held their
In January 1919, a peace conference began in Paris
ground.
to try to resolve the complicated issues arising from
The Battle of the Argonne Forest With the World War I. The principal figures in the negotiations
German drive stalled, French Marshal Ferdinand were the “Big Four,” the leaders of the victorious
Foch, supreme commander of the Allied forces, Allied nations: President Wilson of the United States,
ordered massive counterattacks all along the front. In British prime minister David Lloyd George, French
mid-September, American troops drove back premier Georges Clemenceau, and Italian prime min-
German forces at the battle of Saint-Mihiel. The ister Vittorio Orlando. Germany was not invited to
attack was a prelude to a massive American offensive participate.
in the region between the Meuse River and the Wilson had presented his plan, known as the
Argonne Forest. General Pershing assembled over Fourteen Points, to Congress in January 1918. The
600,000 American troops, some 40,000 tons of sup- Fourteen Points were based on “the principle of jus-
plies, and roughly 4,000 artillery pieces for the most tice to all peoples and nationalities.” In the first five
massive attack in American history. points, the president proposed to eliminate the gen-
The attack began on September 26, 1918. Slowly, eral causes of the war through free trade, disarma-
one German position after another fell to the advanc- ment, freedom of the seas, impartial adjustment of
ing American troops. The Germans inflicted heavy colonial claims, and open diplomacy instead of secret
casualties on the American forces, but by early agreements. The next eight points addressed the
November, the Americans had shattered the German right of self-determination. They also required the
defenses and opened a hole in the German lines. Central Powers to evacuate all of the countries
invaded during the war, including France, Belgium,
The War Ends While fighting raged along the and Russia. The fourteenth point, perhaps the most
Western Front, a revolution engulfed Austria- important one to Wilson, called for the creation of a
Hungary, and the Ottoman Turks surrendered. Faced “general association of nations” known as the
with the surrender of their allies and a naval mutiny League of Nations. The League’s member nations
at Kiel in early November, the people of Berlin rose in would help preserve peace and prevent future wars
rebellion on November 9 and forced the German by pledging to respect and protect each other’s terri-
emperor to step down. At the 11th hour on the 11th tory and political independence. ; (See page 956 for the
day of the 11th month, 1918, the fighting stopped. text of the Fourteen Points.)
Germany had finally signed an armistice, or cease-
The Treaty of Versailles As the peace talks pro-
fire, that ended the war.
gressed in the Palace of Versailles (vehr·SY), it
Reading Check Explaining What was Vladimir became clear that Wilson’s ideas did not coincide
Lenin’s first goal after controlling Russia in 1917? with the interests of the other Allied governments.
They criticized his plan as too lenient toward
Germany.
History Despite Wilson’s hopes, the terms of peace were
harsh. The Treaty of Versailles, signed by Germany
American Artillery This photo shows some of the materials used to fight
World War I. Artillery shells are piled at the feet of these American soldiers. on June 28, 1919, had weakened or discarded many
What American battle demanded the largest amount of supplies and of Wilson’s proposals. Under the treaty, Germany
artillery pieces? was stripped of its armed forces and was made to
pay reparations, or war damages, in the amount of
$33 billion to the Allies. This sum was far beyond
Germany’s financial means. Perhaps most humiliat-
ing, the treaty required Germany to acknowledge
guilt for the outbreak of World War I and the devas-
tation caused by the war.
The war itself resulted in the dissolution of four
empires: the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire,
which lost territory in the war and fell to revolution
in 1922, the German Empire after the abdication of
the emperor and loss of territory in the treaty, and
Austria-Hungary, which was split into separate
countries. Furthermore, nine new countries were
established in Europe, including Yugoslavia, Poland,
and Czechoslovakia.
While Wilson expressed disappointment in the Global War
treaty, he found consolation in its call for the creation Although World War I was fought mainly in Europe,
of his cherished League of Nations. He returned
it touched the lives of peoples throughout the world,
home to win approval for the treaty.
including those in Africa and India. By the time the war
broke out, much of Africa and India was under the
The U.S. Senate Rejects the Treaty The Treaty
control of European nations. While the British controlled
of Versailles, especially the League of Nations,
much of India, no less than seven European powers
faced immediate opposition from numerous U.S.
had divided up Africa among themselves. As a result
lawmakers. A key group of senators, nicknamed
of living under the rule of Europeans, Africans and
“the Irreconcilables” in the press, assailed the
Indians took part in the great war. About one million
League as the kind of “entangling alliance” that
Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe had warned Indians fought for the British in Europe, while nearly
against. These critics feared that the League might as many Africans served in the French army. The fight-
supersede the power of Congress to declare war ing also spread to Africa, as the Allies fought to seize
and thus force the United States to fight in numer- control of Germany’s African colonies. Why is it
ous foreign conflicts. accurate to characterize World War I as a global
A larger group of senators, known as the conflict?
“Reservationists,” was led by the powerful chairman
of the Foreign Relations committee, Henry Cabot
Lodge. This group supported the League but would House. There, he suffered a stroke and was bedridden
ratify the treaty only with amendments that would for months, isolated from even his closest advisers but
preserve the nation’s freedom to act independently. determined not to compromise with the Senate.
Wilson feared such changes would defeat the basic The Senate voted in November 1919 and again in
purpose of the League and insisted that the Senate March 1920, but it refused to ratify the treaty. After
ratify the treaty without changes. Wilson left office in 1921, the United States negoti-
Convinced that he could defeat his opposition by ated separate peace treaties with each of the Central
winning public support, Wilson took his case directly Powers. The League of Nations, the foundation of
to the American people. Starting in Ohio in September President Wilson’s plan for lasting world peace, took
1919, he traveled 8,000 miles and made over 30 major shape without the United States.
speeches in three weeks. The physical strain of his
tour, however, proved too great. Wilson collapsed in Reading Check Examining What major issues did
Colorado on September 25 and returned to the White Wilson’s Fourteen Points address?
TM
TM

1. Define: convoy, armistice, reparations. 5. Analyzing What impact did John J. 7. Analyzing Maps and Charts Examine
2. Identify: “no man’s land,” Vladimir Pershing and the Battle of the Argonne the map and chart on page 467.
Lenin, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Fourteen Forest have on World War I? Prepare a quiz with questions based on
Points, League of Nations, Treaty of 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to information from both. Give the quiz to
Versailles. list the results of World War I. some of your classmates.
3. List the four nations that dominated the
Paris peace conference in 1919.
Results of 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
Reviewing Themes World War I
are an American soldier fighting in
4. Individual Action Why did President Europe during World War I. Write a let-
Wilson propose his Fourteen Points? ter home describing your situation, and
explain why you are there.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing Information
Why Learn This Skill? American I’ve remained all my life. I can never be any-
thing else but an American, and I must think of the
The ability to analyze information is important in
United States first. And when I think of the United
deciding your position on a subject. For example,
States first in an argument like this, I am thinking of
you need to analyze a political decision to deter-
what is best for the world. For if the United States fails,
mine if you should support it. You would also ana-
the best hope of mankind fails with it. I have never had
lyze a candidate’s position statements to determine
but one allegiance; I cannot divide it now. I have loved
if you should vote for him or her.
but one flag and I cannot share that devotion and give
affection to the mongrel banner invented for a league.
Learning the Skill Internationalism, illustrated by the Bolshevik and by the
To analyze information, use the following steps: men to whom all countries are alike, provided they can
• Identify the topic that is being discussed. make money out of them, is to me repulsive. National I
• Examine how the information is organized. What must remain and in that way I, like all Americans, can
are the main points? render the amplest service to the world.
The United States is the world’s best hope, but if you
• Summarize the information in your own words,
fetter her in the interest through quarrels of other
and then make a statement of your own based on
nations, if you tangle her in the intrigues of Europe, you
your understanding of the topic and on what you
will destroy her powerful good, and endanger her very
already know.
existence.
1 What topic is being discussed?
2 What are the main points of this excerpt from
Read the following infor-
Senator Lodge’s speech?
mation taken from Henry
Cabot Lodge’s On the 3 Summarize the information in this excerpt, and
League of Nations speech. then provide your analysis based on this infor-
Use the steps listed above mation and what you know from the rest of the
to analyze the information chapter.
and answer the questions
that follow. Skills Assessment
I am as anxious as any Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
human being can be to have the United States render page 477 and the Chapter 14 Skill Reinforcement
every possible service to the civilization and the peace Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
of mankind. But I am certain that we can do it best by
not putting ourselves in leading strings, or subjecting
our policies and our sovereignty to other nations. The Applying the Skill
independence of the United States is not only more pre- Analyzing Information Find a short, informative piece
cious to ourselves, but to the world, than any single of news, such as a political candidate’s position paper,
possession. an editorial in a newspaper, or an explanation of a new
I will go as far as anyone in world service that the law that will be enacted soon. Analyze the information
first step to world service is the maintenance of the and make a statement of your own.
United States. You may call me selfish if you will, con-
servative or reactionary, or use any other harsh adjective Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
you see fit to apply. But an American I was born, an CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
470
The War’s Impact
As American society moved from war to Organizing As you read about the war’s • Describe the effects of the postwar
peace, turmoil in the economy and fear aftermath, complete a graphic organizer recession on the United States.
of communism caused a series of domes- similar to the one below to list the effects • Discuss the causes of and reaction to
tic upheavals. of the end of World War I on the the Red Scare.
American economy.
cost of living, general strike, Red Scare, Continuity and Change The postwar
A. Mitchell Palmer, J. Edgar Hoover, Effects of period proved a difficult readjustment
deport World War I period for the United States, in part
on Economy
because of economic turmoil and the
fear of communism.
✦1917 ✦1918 ✦1919 ✦1920

1917 1918 1919 1920
Riots erupt in East House approves Nineteenth Amendment Race riots and strikes erupt in Red Scare and
St. Louis, Illinois giving women the right to vote numerous northern cities Palmer raids
On August 20, 1919, Mary Harris Jones, also known as “Mother” Jones, was
thrown in jail in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The 89-year-old had just finished
delivering a fiery, impassioned speech in an attempt to gain support for steel
unions. Referring to the owners of the big steel companies, she said:
“ Our Kaisers sit up and smoke seventy-five cent cigars and have lackeys with
knee pants bring them champagne while you starve, while you grow old at
forty, stoking their furnaces. You pull in your belts while they banquet. They
have stomachs two miles long and two miles wide and you fill them. . . . If Gary
[chair of U.S. Steel] wants to work twelve hours a day, let him go in the bloom-
ing mill and work. What we want is a little leisure, time for music, playgrounds,
“Mother” Jones
a decent home, books, and the things that make life worthwhile.
”
—quoted in Labor in Crisis
An Economy in Turmoil
The end of World War I brought great upheaval to American society. When the war
ended, government agencies removed their controls from the American economy. This
released pent-up demand in the economy. People raced to buy goods that had been
rationed, while businesses rapidly raised prices they had been forced to keep low during
the war. The result was rapid inflation. In 1919 prices rose at an average of more than 15
percent. Inflation greatly increased the cost of living—the cost of food, clothing, shelter,
and other essentials that people need to survive.

Inflation Leads to Strikes Many companies had joined the shipyard workers and organized a general
been forced to raise wages during the war, but infla- strike. A general strike is a strike that involves all
tion now threatened to wipe out all the gains workers workers living in a certain location, not just workers
had made. While workers wanted higher wages to in a particular industry. The Seattle general strike
keep up with inflation, companies wanted to hold involved more than 60,000 people and paralyzed the
down wages because inflation was also driving up city for five days. Although the strikers returned to
their operating costs. work without making any gains, their actions wor-
During the war, the number of workers in unions ried many Americans because the general strike was
had increased dramatically. By the time the war ended, a common tactic used in Europe by Communists and
workers were better organized and much more capable other radical groups.
of organizing strikes than they had been before. Many
business leaders, on the other hand, were determined The Boston Police Strike Perhaps the most famous
to break the power of the unions and roll back the gains strike of 1919 took place in Boston, when roughly 75
labor had made. These circumstances led to an enor- percent of the police force walked off the job. Riots
mous wave of strikes in 1919. By the end of the year, and looting soon erupted in the city, forcing the gov-
more than 3,600 strikes involving more than 4 million ernor of Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge, to send in
workers had taken place. the National Guard. When the strikers tried to return
to work, the police commissioner refused to accept
The Seattle General Strike The first major strike them. He fired the strikers and hired a new police
took place in Seattle, when some 35,000 shipyard force instead.
workers walked off the job demanding higher wages Despite protests, Coolidge agreed the men should
and shorter hours. Soon other unions in Seattle be fired. He declared, “There is no right to strike
MOMENT
in HISTORY
HERO’S HOMECOMING
A wounded soldier of the
369th Regiment, the Harlem
“Hell-Fighters,” accepts con-
gratulations during a victory
parade through New York City
in 1919. Facing discrimination
within their own army, African
American soldiers at the front
received a warm reception
from their French allies.
“I have never before experi-
enced what it meant really to
be free, to taste real liberty,”
one soldier wrote home,“in a
phrase,‘to be a man.’ ” Two
African American infantry
divisions suffered some 6,000
casualties, but at war’s end,
they still came home to a
segregated American society.

Effects of World War I on the United States
Developments in the War Effects on U.S.
• War-torn economies of Europe • Boom in U.S. economy; emergence of U.S. as
• Russian Revolution world industrial leader
• Industrial demand of wartime • “Red Scare” in postwar U.S.; suspicion
• Sacrifices of wartime; disappointment with Versailles of immigrants
Peace Treaty • Internal migration in U.S., especially African
American migration to Northern cities
• Failure to join League of Nations
World War I had profound effects on the United States.

Interpreting Why did the destruction of European economies
cause an industrial boom in the United States?
against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any- Many African Americans who had moved north dur-
time.” Coolidge’s response brought him to national ing the war were also competing for jobs and hous-
attention and earned him widespread public support. ing. Frustration and racism combined to produce
It also convinced the Republicans to make Coolidge violence. In the summer of 1919, over 20 race riots
their vice presidential candidate in the 1920 election. broke out across the nation.
The worst violence occurred in Chicago. On a hot
The Steel Strike Shortly after the police strike July day, African Americans went to a whites-only
ended, one of the largest strikes in American history beach. Both sides began throwing stones at each other.
began when an estimated 350,000 steelworkers went Whites also threw stones at an African American
on strike for higher pay, shorter hours, and recogni- teenager swimming near the beach to prevent him
tion of their union. Elbert H. Gary, the head of U.S. from coming ashore, and he drowned. A full-scale riot
Steel, refused even to talk to union leaders. Instead, then erupted in the city. Angry African Americans
the company set out to break the union by using anti- attacked white neighborhoods while whites attacked
immigrant feelings to divide the workers. African American neighborhoods. The riot lasted for
Many steelworkers were immigrants. The com- several days. In the end, 38 people died—15 white and
pany blamed the strike on foreign radicals and called 23 black—and over 500 were injured.
for loyal Americans to return to work. Meanwhile, the
Reading Check Analyzing Why did the end of the
company hired African Americans and Mexicans as
replacement workers and managed to keep its steel war lead to race riots?
mills operating despite the strike. Clashes between
company guards and strikers were frequent, and in
Gary, Indiana, a riot left 18 strikers dead. In early The Red Scare
January of 1920, the strike collapsed. The failure of the The wave of strikes in 1919 helped to fuel fears
strike set back the union cause in the steel industry. that Communists were conspiring to start a revolu-
Steelworkers remained unorganized until 1937. tion in the United States. Americans had been
Reading Check Explaining What caused the wave stunned when Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized
power and withdrew Russia from the war.
of strikes in 1919?
Americans had become very anti-German as the war
progressed, and when the Communists withdrew
Russia from the war, they seemed to be helping
Racial Unrest Germany. American anger at Germany quickly
Adding to the nation’s economic turmoil was the expanded into anger at Communists as well.
return of hundreds of thousands of American sol- Americans began to associate communism with
diers from Europe who needed to find employment. being unpatriotic and disloyal.

History
Terror in the Streets After the House of Morgan—a bank in New York City—was damaged by a bomb in 1920,
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer instituted raids on antigovernment activists and many immigrants, often violating
their civil liberties in the process. Whom did Palmer appoint to coordinate these investigations?
Americans had long been suspicious of Communist politicians that were triggered to explode when
ideas. Throughout the late 1800s, many Americans had opened. In June eight bombs in eight cities exploded
accused immigrants of importing radical socialist and within minutes of one another, suggesting a nation-
Communist ideas into the United States and blamed wide conspiracy. One of them damaged the home of
them for labor unrest and violence. Now Communists United States Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
had seized control of an entire nation, and fears surged in Washington, D.C. Most people believed the bomb-
that they would try to incite revolutions elsewhere. ings were the work of Communists or other revolu-
These fears seemed to be confirmed in 1919, when the tionaries trying to destroy the American way of life.
Soviet Union formed the Communist International—
an organization for coordinating the activities of The Palmer Raids Declaring that a “blaze of revo-
Communist parties in other countries. lution” was “burning up the foundations of society,”
Palmer took action. He established a special division
The Red Scare Begins As strikes erupted across within the Justice Department, the General
the United States in 1919, the fear that Communists, Intelligence Division, headed by J. Edgar Hoover.
or “reds,” as they were called, might seize power led This division eventually became the Federal Bureau
to a nationwide panic known as the Red Scare. of Investigation (FBI). From late 1919 to the spring of
Seattle’s mayor, Ole Hanson, spoke for others when 1920, Palmer organized a series of raids on the head-
he condemned the leaders of the Seattle general quarters of various radical organizations. Although
strike as revolutionaries who wanted to “take posses- evidence pointed to no single group as the bombers,
sion of our American government and try to dupli- Palmer’s agents focused on foreign residents and
cate the anarchy of Russia.” immigrants. The authorities detained thousands of
In April the postal service intercepted more than suspects and deported, or expelled from the country,
30 parcels addressed to leading businesspeople and approximately 500 of them.

Palmer’s agents often disregarded the civil liber-
ties of the suspects. Officers entered homes and
offices without search warrants. People were mis-
treated and jailed for indefinite periods of time and
were not allowed to talk to their attorneys.
For a while, Palmer was regarded as a national
hero. His raids, however, failed to turn up any hard
evidence of revolutionary conspiracy. When his dire
prediction that violence would rock the nation on
May Day 1920—a popular European celebration of
workers—proved wrong, Palmer lost much of his
credibility and soon faded from prominence.
The Red Scare greatly influenced people’s atti- A. Mitchell Palmer
tudes during the 1920s. Americans often linked radi- and J. Edgar Hoover
calism with immigrants, and that attitude led to a call
for Congress to limit immigration.
Reading Check Examining After World War I, why “ [Our] present need is not heroics, but healing; not
nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restora-
were Americans suspicious of some union leaders? tion; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but
serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; . . .
not submergence in internationality, but sustainment
An End to Progressivism
Economic problems, labor unrest, and racial ten-
in triumphant nationality.
”
sions, as well as the fresh memories of World War I, all —quoted in Portrait of a Nation
combined to create a general sense of disillusionment Harding’s sentiments struck a chord with voters,
in the United States. By 1920 Americans wanted an and he won the election by a landslide margin of
end to the upheaval. During the 1920 campaign, Ohio over 7 million votes. Americans were weary of more
Governor James M. Cox and his running mate, crusades to reform society and the world. They
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, hoped to put the country’s racial and labor unrest
ran on a platform of keeping alive Woodrow Wilson’s and economic troubles behind them and build a more
progressive ideals. The Republican candidate, Warren prosperous and stable society.
G. Harding, called for a return to “normalcy.” He
urged that what the United States needed was a return Reading Check Explaining How was Harding able
to the simpler days before the Progressive Era reforms: to win the presidential election of 1920?
TM
TM

1. Define: cost of living, general strike, 5. Analyzing How did the Palmer raids 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
deport. deprive some citizens of their civil photograph on page 472. How might
2. Identify: Red Scare, A. Mitchell Palmer, rights? parades such as this one mobilize
J. Edgar Hoover. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer African Americans to work for an end
3. Describe the conditions that African similar to the one below to list the to discrimination?
Americans faced after the end of World causes of the Red Scare in the United
War I. States.
Reviewing Themes Causes
4. Continuity and Change Why did 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
Republican Warren G. Harding win the are a European immigrant working in
Red Scare a factory in the United States in 1919.
election of 1920?
Write a letter to a relative in Europe
explaining economic conditions in
America and why workers are striking.

Reviewing Key Terms 19. What did the American government do to solve the problem
of supplying its troops?
20. What were the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles?
1. guerrilla 9. espionage
21. What were the Palmer raids?
2. nationalism 10. convoy
3. self-determination 11. armistice Critical Thinking
4. propaganda 12. reparations 22. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy Do you
5. contraband 13. cost of living think government action to suppress opposition to World
6. U-boat 14. general strike War I was justified? Why or why not?
7. conscription 15. deport 23. Interpreting Primary Sources On September 12, 1918,
Socialist leader Eugene V. Debs was convicted of violating the
8. victory garden Espionage Act. Debs later spoke to the court at his sentenc-
ing. Read his speech and answer the questions that follow.
Reviewing Key Facts
16. Identify: Pancho Villa, Franz Ferdinand, Zimmermann “ I look upon the Espionage laws as a despotic enact-
ment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and
telegram, Bernard Baruch, Committee on Public Information,
“no man’s land,” Vladimir Lenin, Fourteen Points, League of with the spirit of free institutions. . . . I am opposed to
Nations, A. Mitchell Palmer, J. Edgar Hoover. the social system in which we live. . . . I believe in
17. What factors contributed to the start of World War I in fundamental change, but if possible by peaceful and
Europe? orderly means. . . .
18. What role did American women play in the war effort during I am thinking this morning of the men in the mills
World War I? and factories, . . . of the women who for a paltry wage
Mobilizing for War
Armed Forces Domestic Front

• Congress passed Selective Service Act • War Industries Board controlled war
which required young men ages 21–30 materials and production
to register for the draft • Committee on Public Information
• Employed women in non-combat roles created war propaganda
• Government worked with employers
and labor to ensure production
• Congress passed Espionage and Sedition
Acts to limit opposition to the war
• Congress increased taxes and sold
Liberty Bonds to pay for war
Postwar Problems
• Cost of living greatly increased
• Economic problems led to racial violence and
widespread strikes
• Fear of communism led to Red Scare and Palmer raids
Europe After
HISTORY World War I, 1920
N
Self-Check Quiz
EN
0 500 miles
W
E
ED
AY
S FINLAND
SW
0 500 kilometers
RW
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
Helsinki
NO
Chapter 14 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. North Oslo
Stockholm
Tallinn
Baltic ESTONIA
UNITED Sea Sea
IRELAND KINGDOM LATVIA Riga
Indep. 1922 DENMARK
are compelled to work out their barren lives; of the little 50
°N Dublin Copenhagen E. Prussia
LITHUANIA
Kaunas
children who in this system are robbed of their child- Amsterdam
Danzig Byelorussia
London NETH. Berlin
POLAND
hood and . . . forced into industrial dungeons. . . . In GERMANY
ATLaNTIC Brussels
BELG. SAAR
Warsaw
this high noon of our twentieth century Christian civi- RUSSIA
OCEaN Paris
LUX. Prague
Rhineland CZECH. Bessarabia
lization, money is still so much more important than the Alsace-Lorraine Vienna
FRANCE Budapest
Bern AUSTRIA
flesh and blood of childhood. In very truth, gold is SWITZ.
HUNGARY ROMANIA
Tirol
40 Belgrade Bucharest
”
god. . . . °N
PORTUGAL Corsica
ITALY
YUGOSLAVIA BULGARIA
—quoted in Echoes of Distant Thunder Lisbon
Madrid Fr.
Rome
SPAIN Tirana Sofia
Constantinople
a. According to Debs, what were some problems in
Sardinia ALBANIA
Balearic Is. It. TURKEY
Sp. Med GREECE
American society at this time? How did he believe change ite
r ra Athens
Former Austria-Hungary Sicily
should be brought about? ne
boundary an It.
Former German boundary Se a Crete
b. How did Debs seem to feel about the Espionage Act? Do Former Russian boundary Gr.
Dodecanese
you agree with him? Why or why not? National boundary Island It.
Capital city
0° 10°E 20°E
24. Organizing Use a table like the one below to list the
significant events of each year from 1914 to 1918.
Year Event Significance Chapter Activity

1914 28. Research Project Both the British and the American govern-
1915 ments used propaganda to garner support for the war. Use
1916 the library and other resources to find examples of these
1917 propaganda techniques. Compile your research in an illus-
1918 trated and captioned poster, and display it in the classroom.
Practicing Skills
25. Analyzing Information Read the subsections titled “The
Treaty of Versailles” and “The U.S. Senate Rejects the Treaty” Standardized
on pages 468 and 469. Using the information on these
pages, write an analysis of the effects of the treaty in the
Test Practice
form that it was finally accepted. Directions: Choose the best answer to the
following question.
Geography and History Which of the following was one of the primary causes of
26. The map on this page shows the geographical changes in World War I?
Europe after World War I. Study the map and answer the F A complex set of alliances among European nations
questions below. G The exile of Mexican General Victoriano Huerta
a. Interpreting Maps After World War I, what new coun-
tries were formed using territory that had belonged to H The dissatisfaction of Russian peasants
Austria-Hungary? J The breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
b. Applying Geography Skills What countries acquired Test-Taking Tip: Eliminate answers you know are incorrect.
territory from the former Russian Empire?
For example, the breakup of Austria-Hungary took place
after World War I, so you can eliminate that answer.
Writing Activity Similarly, the exile of Huerta occurred in Mexico, which had
27. Persuasive Writing Take on the role of a newspaper editor little effect on European nations. You also can eliminate that
in 1919. Write an editorial favoring or opposing ratification of answer.
the Treaty of Versailles.

Boom and
Bust 1920–1941
W hy It Matters
After World War I, the United States enjoyed a
time of prosperity and confidence. The decade
of the 1920s saw rising stock prices and
increased consumer spending. It also wit-
nessed cultural innovations such as jazz music
and motion pictures. At the end of the 1920s,
however, several economic problems com-
bined to trigger the Great Depression that
began in 1929. Understanding the events
of these decades will help you understand
American society today. The following
resources offer more information about
this period in American history.
Primary Sources Library Hatbox depicting a

See page 934–935 for primary source New York street scene

Source Document Library CD-ROM to find
additional primary sources about the Roaring
Twenties and the Great Depression.
Sixth Avenue Elevated at Third St.

by John Sloan, 1928
478
“I have no fears for the
future of our country. It is
bright with hope.”
—Herbert Hoover, 1929
The Jazz Age
1921–1929
Why It Matters
The 1920s was an era of rapid change and clashing values. Many Americans believed society
was losing its traditional values, and they took action to preserve these values. Other Americans
embraced new values associated with a freer lifestyle and the pursuit of individual goals.
Writers and artists pursued distinctively American themes, and the Harlem Renaissance gave
African Americans new pride.
The Impact Today

The 1920s left permanent legacies to American culture.
• National celebrities in sports and film emerged.
• Jazz music became part of American culture.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway wrote classics of American literature.
The American Republic Since 1877 Video The

Chapter 15 video, “The Harlem Renaissance,” focuses on Harlem’s lively
arts and music scene and the movement’s contributions to American culture.
1915
• New Ku Klux Klan founded 1921 1922
• Emergency Quota • Antilynching bill
Act passed, limiting passes in House
immigration
1920
• Marcus Garvey leads ▲
Wilson march through Harlem Harding
1913–1921
▲ ▲ 1921–1923 ▲
1915 1920
▼ ▼ ▼
1921
• Ireland becomes an
1917 independent country
• British government’s Balfour 1922
Declaration supports national home • Mussolini and Fascists
for Jewish people in Palestine take power in Italy
480
This photograph of jazz musicians captures the boisterous spirit of the 1920s.
1925
• Scopes trial begins
• F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The
1927
Great Gatsby published
• First feature film with
1924 1926 sound debuts
• National Origins • Langston Hughes’s The • Lindbergh completes first
Act passed Weary Blues published solo transatlantic flight HISTORY
Coolidge Hoover
1923–1929 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ 1929–1933 Chapter Overview
1928 information.
1924 • Chiang Kai-shek elected
• Britain recognizes 1926 president of China
the USSR • Pavlov’s Conditioned
1923 Reflexes published
• Turkish Republic founded
481
A Clash of Values
During the 1920s, clashes between tradi- Organizing As you read about • Explain the rise in racism and nativism
tional and modern values shook the Americans’ reactions to immigrants in in the 1920s.
United States. the 1920s, complete a graphic organizer • Describe the clash of values in the
similar to the one below by filling in the 1920s and the changing status of
Key Terms and Names causes and effects of anti-immigrant women.
anarchist, eugenics, Ku Klux Klan, prejudices.
Emergency Quota Act, flapper, Section Theme
Causes Effects
Fundamentalism, evolution, creationism, Continuity and Change The rapid
police powers, speakeasy changes of the early 1900s challenged
Anti-Immigrant Americans who wanted to preserve
Prejudices
traditional values.
✦1919 ✦1924 ✦1929 ✦1934

1919 1921 1924 1927 1933
Eighteenth Emergency National Origins Sacco and Vanzetti Prohibition repealed
Amendment ratified Quota Act passed Act passed executed
In 1911 Alfred Levitt left a small town in Russia to immigrate to New York City. Like many
immigrants before and since, he had big ambitions, despite his poor English and lack of edu-
cation. He wanted to forget his Russian heritage and become a successful American:
“ My conscious drive when I got here was to escape the rigors of poverty, to become some-
body of importance. This I don’t mean economically, but someone who can justify his pres-
ence on the planet. I wonder: Who am I? What am I here for? At seventeen years, the first
question for me, though, was: What was I going to do? What will I become? . . . I made up
my mind, as young as I was, that I’m going to amount to something in the world, and I’m not
going to continue being one of those who starve.
”
—quoted in Centenarians: The Story of the Twentieth
Century by the Americans Who Lived It
Alfred Levitt (standing)
Levitt did indeed “amount to something.” A successful artist, he lived the rest of his life in
New York City. Twenty of his paintings are part of the permanent collection of the city’s
Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Nativism Resurges
As the 1920s opened, an economic recession, an influx of immigrants, and racial and
cultural tensions combined to create an atmosphere of disillusionment and intolerance.
The fear and prejudice many felt toward Germans and Communists expanded to
include all immigrants. This triggered a general rise in racism and in nativism, the
desire to protect the interests of old-stock Americans against those of immigrants.
482 CHAPTER 15 The Jazz Age

During World War I, immigration to the United Pseudo-Scientific Racism Nativist and racist feel-
States had dropped sharply. By 1921, however, it had ings in the 1920s were reinforced by the beliefs of
returned to prewar levels, with the majority of immi- the eugenics movement. Eugenics is a pseudo-sci-
grants at this time coming from southern and eastern ence (or false science) that deals with improving
Europe. Many Americans saw immigrants as a threat hereditary traits. Developed in Europe in the early
to stability and order. The arrival of millions of immi- 1900s, eugenics emphasized that human inequali-
grants also seemed to pose a threat to the four million ties were inherited and warned against breeding the
recently demobilized military men and women “unfit” or “inferior.” Eugenics fueled the nativists’
searching for work in an economy with soaring argument for the superiority of the “original”
unemployment and rising prices. American stock—white Protestants of northern
As the new immigrants, many of whom were European descent. Political, intellectual, and cul-
unskilled workers, sought to enter the workforce and tural figures like Woodrow Wilson and Henry Cabot
establish a foothold in American life, many of them Lodge embraced eugenics. By doing so, they lent
encountered ethnic and religious prejudices. The authority to racist theories, which reinvigorated the
experience of two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco nativist argument for strict immigration control.
and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, exemplified the prejudices
and fears of the period. Return of the Ku Klux Klan At the forefront of the
movement to restrict immigration was the Ku Klux
The Sacco-Vanzetti Case Shortly after 3:00 P.M. on Klan, or KKK. The old KKK had flourished in the
April 15, 1920, two men shot and killed two employ- South after the Civil War and used threats and vio-
ees of the Slater & Morrill Shoe Company in South lence to intimidate newly freed African Americans.
Braintree, Massachusetts, and robbed the company The new Klan had other targets as well—Catholics,
of its $15,000 payroll. Police subsequently arrested Jews, immigrants, and other groups believed to rep-
Nicola Sacco, a shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, resent “un-American” values.
a fish peddler. William J. Simmons founded the new Ku Klux
The Sacco and Vanzetti case created a furor, as Klan in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1915. A former circuit-
newspapers around the country revealed that the two riding Methodist preacher, Simmons pledged to pre-
immigrants were anarchists, or people who oppose serve America’s white, Protestant civilization. In the
all forms of government. They also discovered that 1920s, Klan publicity claimed that the organization
Sacco owned a gun similar to the murder weapon and was fighting for “Americanism.”
that the bullets used in the murders matched those in The Klan attracted few members until 1920, when
Sacco’s gun. Although no one at the time knew if Simmons hired public relations entrepreneurs
Sacco and Vanzetti were guilty, many people leaped Edward Young Clarke and Elizabeth Tyler, paying
to that conclusion because the two men
were Italian immigrants and anarchists.
Others viewed the case as an example of Analyzing Political Cartoons
prejudice against people based on their New Immigrants This cartoon portrays the feelings of many Americans who were opposed to
ethnic origin and political beliefs. immigration. What comment does the cartoon make about immigrants?
On July 14, 1921, a jury found Sacco
and Vanzetti guilty, and the judge sen-
tenced them to death. Many Americans,
caught up in the antiforeign fever of the
time, applauded the verdict and the
penalty. Over the next six years, lawyers
filed numerous appeals for a new trial,
but all were denied. In April 1927, a spe-
cial Massachusetts commission studied
the case and upheld the verdict. Four
months later, on August 23, 1927, Sacco
and Vanzetti were executed, proclaim-
ing their innocence all the while. ; (See
You’re the Historian on pages 490–491 for more
information on Sacco and Vanzetti.)
them a commission of $8 of every $10 initiation fee GOVERNMENT
for a new Klan recruit. Clarke and Tyler divided the
The National Origins Act of 1924 In 1924 the
nation into regions and paid more than 1,000 “sales-
National Origins Act made immigrant restriction a
people” to promote the Klan. As a result of their
permanent policy. The law also tightened the quota
strategy, membership in the Ku Klux Klan exploded,
system, setting quotas at two percent of each
reaching nearly 4 million by 1924 as it spread beyond
national group residing in the country in 1890. By
the South and into Northern cities.
moving back the year to 1890, an even larger pro-
The Klan began to decline in the late 1920s, how-
portion of the quotas were allotted to immigrants
ever, largely as a result of scandals and power
from northwestern Europe.
struggles involving its leaders. Membership shrank,
A second part of the act, which took effect in
and politicians whom the Klan supported were voted
1929, replaced the 1924 quotas with a limit of
out of office. The sharp reduction in immigrants due
150,000 immigrants admitted per year. In addition,
to new immigration laws further disabled the Klan,
the percentage allotted to each nationality would
depriving it of a major issue. The Klan never again
now be based on the 1920 census. This resulted in
had a major impact on politics.
northwestern European countries accounting for
Reading Check Explaining Why did many 87 percent of the total immigration quota.
Americans oppose immigration after World War I?
Hispanic Immigration to the United States The
immigration acts of 1921 and 1924 reduced the
available labor pool in the United States. While
Controlling Immigration workers and unions rejoiced at the reduction in
After World War I, American immigration poli- competition for jobs, employers desperately
cies changed in response to the postwar recession needed laborers for agriculture, mining, and rail-
and nativist pleas to “Keep America American.” road work. Mexican immigrants helped to fill this
Even big business, which previously favored unre- need.
stricted immigration as a source of cheap labor, now The first wave of Mexican immigration to the
feared the new immigrants as radicals. United States followed the passage of the
In 1921 President Harding signed the Emergency Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902, which pro-
Quota Act, which established a temporary quota sys- vided funds for irrigation projects in the arid
tem, limiting immigration. According to this act, only Southwest. Factory farms soon dominated the land-
three percent of the total number of people in any scape, and they needed large numbers of agricul-
ethnic group already living in the United States, as tural laborers. By 1914 more than 70,000 Mexican
indicated in the 1910 census, could be admitted in a immigrants had poured into the United States,
single year. This theoretically restricted the number many of them fleeing the terror and aftermath of
of immigrants from all countries, but in practice it the Mexican Revolution of 1910.
discriminated heavily against people from southern A larger wave of immigration brought more than
and eastern Europe. Ethnic identity and national ori- 600,000 Mexicans to the United States between 1914
gin thus determined admission to the United States. and the end of the 1920s. The National Origins Act
Henry Curran, the commissioner of Ellis Island of 1924 exempted natives of the Western
from 1922 to 1926, commented on the heartbreak Hemisphere from the quota system. As the demand
caused by the Emergency Quota Act: for cheap farm labor in California and the
Southwest steadily increased, Mexican immigrants
“ The hardest quota cases were those that sepa-
rated families. When part of the family had been born
crossed the border in record numbers.
Reading Check Explaining How did Hispanic
in a country with a quota still open, while the other
part had been born in a country whose quota was immigrants shape the national identity of the United States?
exhausted, the law let in the first part and deported
the other part. Mothers were torn from children, hus- The New Morality
bands from wives. The law came down like a sword
Many groups that wanted to restrict immigration
between them.
” also wanted to preserve what they considered to be
—quoted in Ellis Island: Echoes traditional values. They feared that a “new morality”
from a Nation’s Past was taking over the nation. Challenging traditional

ways of seeing and thinking,
the new morality glorified European Immigration Totals,1890–1920
youth and personal freedom
30°W 20°W 10°W 0° 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E
and influenced various aspects
of American society. 60
°N
Number of People Immigrating
ICELAND to the United States by region,
1890–1920
The New Morality Ideals of 0 500 miles 488,099 2,135,312
In
the loving family and personal 0 500 kilometers
672,223
1,130,656
3,060,151
3,695,828
Motion
satisfaction—views popular- Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
1,195,628 3,859,297
ized in magazines and other N 1914 border
media—influenced popular W
E
views on relationships. As the S NORWAY SWEDEN
loving and emotional aspects
of marriage grew in impor-
tance, the ideas of romance, DENMARK
50 UNITED
pleasure, and friendship °N KINGDOM
became linked to successful
RUSSIAN
marriages. Advice books in the NETH. EMPIRE
1920s dispensed such hints as, GERMAN
EMPIRE
BEL.
“Have lots of pleasure that LUX.
both husband and wife
enjoy . . . and above all, be
FRANCE SWITZ.
good friends.” AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN
EMPIRE
Women in the workforce
40°
also began to define the N
new morality. Many single, ITALY SERBIA

PORTUGAL
SPAIN
working-class women held jobs
simply because they needed the
wages for themselves or for GREECE
their families. For some young,
single women, work was a way
to break away from parental
authority and establish a per- 1. Interpreting Maps Between 1890 and 1920, what
sonal identity. Work also provided the wages that European regions sent more than three million
allowed women to participate in the consumer culture. immigrants to the United States?
Women who attended college in the 1920s often 2. Applying Geography Skills Why were so many people
found support for their emerging sense of indepen- willing to leave their homelands to come to the United
dence. Women’s colleges, in particular, encouraged States?
their students to pursue careers and to challenge tra-
ditional ideas about the nature of women and their glamorous stage and screen stars. In this new culture,
role in society. the carefree, chic “flapper” played a prominent role.
The automobile also played a role in encouraging Though hardly typical of American women at the
the new morality. The nation’s youth loved cars time, the flapper—a young, dramatic, stylish, and
because cars made them more independent and unconventional woman—personified women’s chang-
allowed them to escape the careful watch of their par- ing behavior in the 1920s. The flapper smoked ciga-
ents. Instead of socializing at home with the family, rettes, drank prohibited liquor, and dressed in attire
many youths could now use cars to seek new forms of considered too revealing by previous generations.
entertainment with their friends and to find privacy. While flappers pursued social freedoms, other
women sought financial independence by entering
Women in the 1920s Fashion took on a modern the workforce, many of them as salesclerks, secre-
look during the 1920s, as women “bobbed,” or short- taries, or telephone operators. A few made contribu-
ened, their hair and wore flesh-colored silk stockings. tions in science, medicine, law, or literature. In
It also emphasized the youthful appearance of science, Florence Sabin’s medical research led to a
CHAPTER 15 The Jazz Age 485

• Modern Clothing
Women’s clothing changed significantly
in the 1920s. Hemlines were much
shorter and showed more of the body.
Stylish new hats also emphasized bold
colors and a freer design.
Flappers
Perhaps no other symbol of the 1920s captured the • New Forms of Expression
Rebelling against older, more formal dancing styles,
spirit of the time like the flapper. Psychologist G.
these Charleston dancers perform steps that one
Stanley Hall wrote his observation of a typical flapper:
observer described as
“knock-kneed and
“ She wore a knitted hat, with hardly any brim, of a
flame or bonfire hue; a henna scarf; two strings of pigeon-toed.”
Betty beads, of different colors, twisted together; an
open short coat, with ample pockets; a skirt with ver-
tical stripes. . . . Her stockings were woolen and of
brilliant hue. But most noticeable of all were her high
overshoes, or galoshes. One seemed to be turned
down at the top and entirely unbuckled, while the
other was fastened below and flapped about her trim
ankle in a way that compelled attention.
”
—quoted in We, the American Women
dramatic drop in death rates from tuberculosis. In lit- towns, responded by joining a religious movement
erature, Edith Wharton received the Pulitzer Prize for known as Fundamentalism—a name derived from
her novel The Age of Innocence. Public health nurse a series of pamphlets titled The Fundamentals, pub-
Margaret Sanger, believing that the standard of living lished by oil millionaire Lyman Stewart.
could be improved if families limited the number of
children they had, founded the American Birth Fundamentalist Beliefs Fundamentalists believed
Control League in 1921. This organization became that the Bible was literally true and without error.
Planned Parenthood in the 1940s. In 1928 Margaret They defended the Protestant faith against ideas
Mead, one of the first woman anthropologists, pub- that implied that human beings derived their moral
lished the highly regarded study, Coming of Age in behavior from society and nature, not God. In par-
Samoa, which described life in a Pacific island culture. ticular, Fundamentalists rejected Charles Darwin’s
Reading Check Identifying What political, social, theory of evolution, which said that human beings
had developed from lower forms of life over the
and economic contributions did women make to American course of millions of years. Instead, they believed in
society in the 1920s? creationism—the belief that God created the world
as described in the Bible.
Two popular evangelical preachers, Billy Sunday
The Fundamentalist Movement and Aimee Semple McPherson, stirred Funda-
While many Americans embraced the new moral- mentalists’ passions by preaching traditional reli-
ity, millions more feared that the country was losing gious and moral values in very nontraditional ways.
its traditional values. To these Americans, the mod- A former professional baseball player, Sunday
ern consumer culture, relaxed ethics, and growing drew huge crowds with his rapid-fire sermons
urbanism symbolized the nation’s moral decline. and on-stage showmanship. McPherson conducted
Many of these people, especially those in small rural her revivals and faith healings in Los Angeles in a

the radio, and Darrow’s blistering cross-examination
of Bryan did little for the Fundamentalist cause.
Increasingly, Fundamentalists found themselves
isolated from mainstream Protestantism, and their
commitment to political activism declined.
Reading Check Explaining What were the major
beliefs of Fundamentalists?
Prohibition
The movement to ban alcohol had been building
throughout the late 1800s. By the early 1900s, many
progressives and traditionalists supported prohibi-
tion. Many people believed the prohibition of alcohol
would help reduce unemployment, domestic violence,
• Charleston and poverty. Their support helped pass the Eighteenth
The Charleston, named after
Amendment, which took effect in January 1920.
the city of Charleston, South
To try to enforce the amendment, Congress passed
Carolina, was the dance craze
the National Prohibition Act, also known as the
of the 1920s. Women who
did the Charleston were Volstead Act. Enforcing Prohibition became the
called flappers, perhaps responsibility of the U.S. Treasury Department.
because of the way they Treasury agents had enforced federal tax laws for
flapped their arms while many years, but police powers—a government’s
doing the dance. power to control people and property in the interest
of public safety, health, welfare, and morals—had
generally been reserved for the state governments.
The Eighteenth Amendment granted federal and state
governments the power to enforce Prohibition, mark-
flamboyant theatrical style, using stage sets and cos- ing a dramatic increase in federal police powers.
tumes that expressed the themes of her highly emo- The Treasury Department’s new Prohibition Unit
tional sermons. struggled to enforce Prohibition. During the 1920s,
treasury agents made more than 540,000 arrests, but
The Scopes Trial Evolutionists and creationists Americans persisted in blatantly ignoring the law.
eventually clashed in a historic trial. In 1925 Tennessee People flocked to secret bars called speakeasies,
passed the Butler Act, which outlawed any teaching where they could purchase alcohol. In New York City
that denied “the story of the Divine Creation of man as alone, an estimated 32,000 such bars sold liquor ille-
taught in the Bible,” and taught instead that “man gally. Liquor also was readily available in rural
descended from a lower order of animals.” The
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) advertised for
a teacher who would be willing to be arrested for
teaching evolution. John T. Scopes, a high school biol-
ogy teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, volunteered to be
the test case. He taught evolution and was subse- New Words The youth culture of the twenties pro-
duced a number of new words and phrases that
quently arrested and put on trial.
became a part of their own language. In the mid-
The trial took place in the summer of 1925. William
1920s, partygoers urged fellow dancers to “Get hot!
Jennings Bryan, a three-time Democratic presidential
Get hot!” Young Americans also invented such terms
candidate, was the prosecutor and represented the cre- as beauts, cat’s pajamas, and cat’s whiskers to
ationists. Clarence Darrow, one of the country’s most describe attractive young women. The terms lounge
celebrated trial lawyers, defended Scopes. After eight lizards, jelly beans, and jazzbos described attractive
days of trial, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, young men, while the phrase hard-boiled eggs
although the conviction was later overturned on a described tough guys.
technicality. Parts of the trial had been broadcast over

from Canada and the Caribbean.
Smuggling and the consumption of
liquor by millions helped create an
illegal billion-dollar industry for
gangsters. More than 70 federal
agents were killed while enforcing
Prohibition in the 1920s.
Crime became big business, and
some gangsters had enough money
to corrupt local politicians. Al
Capone, one of the most successful
and violent gangsters of the era, had
many police officers, judges, and
other officials on his payroll.
Capone dominated organized crime
in Chicago, where he ran boot-
legging and other criminal rackets.
Finally, Eliot Ness, the leader of a
special Treasury Department task
force, brought Capone to justice.
The battle to repeal Prohibition
began almost as soon as the
History Eighteenth Amendment was ratified.
Supporters of repeal associated
Prohibition in Action Federal revenue agents carried out the laws of Prohibition by destroying Prohibition with “priggish fanati-
barrels of alcohol. How successful were their enforcement efforts?
cism.” The ratification of the Twenty-
first Amendment in 1933 repealed
America, where bootlegging—the illegal production the Eighteenth Amendment and ended federally-
and distribution of liquor—was common. mandated Prohibition. It was a defeat for the support-
Organized crime specialized in supplying and ers of traditional values and those who favored the use
often running these speakeasies, which popped up all of federal police powers to achieve moral reform.
over the country. The huge profits that could be made
supplying liquor encouraged some people to become Reading Check Analyzing Analyze the reasons for
smugglers, bringing liquor into the United States the adoption of the Eighteenth Amendment.
TM
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1. Define: anarchist, eugenics, flapper, 5. Synthesizing Why were immigrants 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
evolution, creationism, police powers, from Mexico not included in the quota image on this page of the federal agent
speakeasy. system set by the immigration acts? destroying barrels of alcohol. Why do
2. Identify: Ku Klux Klan, Emergency 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer you think the barrels were destroyed in
Quota Act, Fundamentalism. similar to the one below to list the pro- public with a crowd watching?
3. Explain why the Eighteenth visions of the immigration acts passed
Amendment was repealed. in the 1920s.
Reviewing Themes Act Provisions Writing About History

4. Continuity and Change How did the 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine it is the
passage of the Eighteenth Amendment 1920s. Write a letter to your senator to
and the Volstead Act change the federal persuade him or her to either continue
government’s role? to support Prohibition or to work for its
repeal.

Critical Thinking
Synthesizing Information
Why Learn This Skill? Women’s Status in the 1920s
The authors of this book gathered information
from many sources to present a story of how the Economic: Many more women worked in factories
United States came about and how the country’s and other jobs outside the home.
people lived. To combine the information into a Social: Women had much more social freedom,
logical story, the authors used a process called including greater choices in clothing
synthesis. Being able to synthesize information can styles and public behavior.
be a useful skill for you as a student when you
need to gather data from several sources for a Educational: Many women had a high school
report or a presentation. education, and more than ever were
attending college.
Learning the Skill
The skill of synthesizing involves combining and Practicing the Skill
analyzing information gathered from separate Use the graphic organizer and the passage on
sources or at different times to make logical connec- this page to answer the following questions.
tions. Follow these steps to synthesize information:
1 What information is presented in the table?
• Select important and relevant information.
2 What is the main idea of the passage? What
• Analyze the information and build connections. information does the passage add to your
• Reinforce or modify the connections as you knowledge of this topic?
acquire new information. 3 By synthesizing the two sources and using what
Suppose you need to write a research paper on you know from reading Section 1 of this chap-
the status of women in the 1920s. You would need ter, what conclusions can you draw about the
to synthesize what you learn to inform others. You role of women in 1920s society?
could begin by detailing the ideas and information
you already have about the status of women in the Skills Assessment
1920s. A graphic organizer such as the one on this Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
page could help categorize the facts. page 507 and the Chapter 15 Skill Reinforcement
Then you could select an article about women in Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
the 1920s, such as the following:
In 1923 the National Woman’s Party first proposed
an equal rights amendment to the Constitution. This Applying the Skill
amendment stated that “men and women shall have
Synthesizing Information Find two sources of infor-
equal rights throughout the United States and every
mation on the same topic and write a short report. In
place subject to its jurisdiction.” The National Woman’s
your report, answer these questions: What kinds of
party pointed out that legislation discriminating against
sources did you use—primary or secondary? What are
women existed in every state. . . .
the main ideas in these sources? How does each source
Some progressive women reformers, however, opposed
add to your understanding of the topic? Do the sources
the goals of the National Woman’s Party. These progres-
support or contradict each other?
sives favored protective legislation, which had brought
shorter hours and better working conditions for many
women. The efforts of the progressives helped defeat the
equal rights amendment.
489
The Sacco-Vanzetti Case
O
n April 15, 1920, in South Braintree, Massachusetts, armed rob-
bers murdered two factory employees during a payroll holdup.
Police arrested two Italian immigrants and anarchists—Nicola
Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti—as suspects. After a court found the two
men guilty, defense attorneys fought for six years for a new trial. The
attorneys believed the trial had shown signs of prejudice, intimidation,
and dishonesty. Did Sacco and Vanzetti receive a fair trial, or were they
victims of the troubled atmosphere in the United States at the time?
You’re the historian.
Read the following excerpts from testimony and evidence. Then

Painting supporting the accused complete the questions and activities that follow.
The defense produced several people A. Yes, sir. to have better conditions . . . but
who supported the defendants’ alibis. they put him in prison. . . . They
Q. Did you love this country in
When arrested, Nicola Sacco had want the working class to be low
the month of May 1917? [At this
been carrying a pistol. The prosecut- all the times.
time, Sacco had gone to Mexico
ing attorney questioned Captain
to escape military service.] The jury returned a verdict of
Proctor, a Massachusetts State Police
guilty. In the sentencing phase,
ballistics expert, about the gun. A. If you can, Mr. Katzman, if you
Bartolomeo Vanzetti was asked to
give me that, —I could explain.
Q. Captain Proctor, have you an explain why he should not be sen-
opinion as to whether bullet three Q. There are two words you can tenced to death.
was fired from the Colt automatic use, Mr. Sacco, yes or no.
I am suffering because I am a rad-
which is in evidence [Sacco’s A. Yes. ical, and indeed I am a radical. I
pistol]?
[later] have suffered because I am an
A. I have. Italian, and indeed I am an
Q. What did you mean when you
Q. And what is your opinion? Italian. I have suffered more for
said yesterday you loved a free my family and for my beloved
A. My opinion is that it is consis- country? than for myself, but I am so con-
tent with being fired by that pistol.
A. . . .When I came to this coun- vinced to be right that if you
Defense experts, however, testified try I saw there was not what I could execute me two times, and
that in their judgment, bullet three was thinking before. . . . I could if I could be reborn two other
had not been fired from Sacco’s gun. see the best men, intelligent, edu- times, I would live again to do
The defense called on Sacco to testify, cation, they been arrested and what I have done already. . . .
which gave the prosecution an sent to prison and died in You know I am innocent. That is
opportunity to ask Sacco about his prison . . . and Debs, one of the the same words I pronounced
political beliefs. great men in his country, he is in seven years ago. You condemn
Q. Did you say yesterday you prison . . . because he is a social- two innocent men.
love a free country? ist. He wanted the laboring class

Headline announcing
the execution
The Sacco-Vanzetti case aroused Vanzetti replied, he had actually been in jail in St.
indignation among intellectuals from I don’t think I can improve on the Louis and so might obviously be
the 1920s on. They generally agreed alibi which has been established. found out as a perjurer. He told
that the two were found guilty I had better not take the stand. someone about this and was
because they were Italian radicals, relieved of his responsibilities. . . .
not because there was clear evidence Russell also reports that Carlo I asked Tony whether he thought
against them. However, two students Tresca, an anarchist who had sup- Sacco and Vanzetti were really
of the case, Robert Hanson, a local ported the two Italians, told friends guilty, and he replied in much the
historian, and Francis Russell, who that Sacco was guilty, Vanzetti inno- same way as you quote Tresca.
wrote two books on the case, believe cent. Then Russell quotes a “Sacco could have done it but
Sacco and Vanzetti received a fair letter from labor writer Paul Jacobs: Vanzetti was never capable of
trial. Russell cites James Graham, an . . . I had a close friend, Anthony such a thing.”
attorney for Sacco: Ramuglia. . . . One day he came
We spent considerable time with to me and said he had a story he
him [Vanzetti] at the Plymouth wanted me to write. . . . The
County Jail as the case was draw- story was that when he was a Understanding the Issue
ing to a close. . . . Toward the end young man around the anarchist 1. Why did the defense attorneys
of the discussion Mr. Vahey said movement in Boston, he had been believe that the defendants were
to Vanzetti, in substance, “I can approached by one of Sacco’s not given a fair trial?
advise you as to what the District witnesses for his alibi in the 2. Why do you think the prosecution
Attorney may inquire about the restaurant at lunch. My friend questioned Sacco on his political
effect of your failure to take the Tony agreed, and evidently, was beliefs?
stand, but you are the one who carefully coached in what he was 3. After studying the historical context
has to make the decision as to to say, when suddenly he remem- of the case and the frame of refer-
whether you will testify or not.” bered that on the day in question ence of the jury, how might a mod-
ern historian argue that Sacco and
Vanzetti did not receive a fair trial?
Workers showing support for
Sacco (right) and Vanzetti (left) Activities
1. Investigate Check your local library
or the Internet and prepare a report
on the latest information on the case.
2. Create a Simulation Recreate the
trial. Research the testimony and the
people involved in the case. Assign
roles to class members, including wit-
nesses, jury members, a prosecutor,
a defense attorney, and a judge.

Cultural Innovations
An era of exciting and innovative cultural Organizing As you read about the • Describe the explosion of art and litera-
trends, the 1920s witnessed changes in art 1920s, complete a graphic organizer like ture and the disillusionment of 1920s
and literature. This period also saw a dra- the one below by filling in the main char- artists.
matic increase in the country’s interest in acteristics of art, literature, and popular • Summarize the effects of sports,
sports and other forms of popular culture. culture that reflect the era. movies, radio, and music on popular
culture.
Key Terms and Names Cultural Movement Main Characteristics
Bohemian, Carl Sandburg, Eugene Art Section Theme
O’Neill, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Literature Culture and Traditions American cul-
Fitzgerald, mass media Popular Culture ture in the 1920s saw a rise in both the
arts and popular entertainment.
✦1922 ✦1924 ✦1926 ✦1928

1923 1925 1927 1927 1927
Coca-Cola creates F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Babe Ruth hits First feature-length sound Charles Lindbergh makes
the six-pack Great Gatsby published 60 home runs motion picture, The Jazz Singer solo transatlantic flight
On May 20, 1927, a lanky, sandy-haired young man named Charles

Lindbergh took off from an airfield on Long Island, New York, in a small, single-
engine plane called the Spirit of St. Louis and headed east across the Atlantic Ocean. The
next evening—more than 33 hours after Lindbergh left New York—thousands of people
waited anxiously at the small Le Bourget airfield outside Paris, France. Attention was riveted
on the sky, and the spectators strained their eyes as they watched Lindbergh’s small airplane
softly slip out of the darkness. When the plane landed, the crowd ecstatically greeted the
pilot, who had just completed a historic event—the first solo nonstop flight across the
Atlantic Ocean.
In an era when people questioned ideals and heroes, Lindbergh’s historic flight symbol-
Charles Lindbergh and
his Spirit of St. Louis ized American progress in the modern age, and his solo triumph restored Americans’ belief in
the courageous, pioneering individual. American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald said of Lindbergh:
“ A young Minnesotan who seemed to have nothing to do with his generation did a heroic
thing, and for the moment people set down their glasses in country clubs and speakeasies
and thought of their old dreams.
”
—quoted in Echoes of the Jazz Age
Art and Literature

The modern age symbolized by Lindbergh’s historic transatlantic flight was
reflected strongly in American art, literature, and popular culture. During the 1920s,
American artists and writers challenged traditional ideas. These artists explored what

it meant to be “modern,” and they searched for Vincent Millay, in her poem “First Fig,” expressed
meaning in the emerging challenges of the modern women’s freedom and equality and praised a life
world. intensely lived:
Greenwich Village and the South Side Many

“ My candle burns at both ends;
artists, writers, and intellectuals of the era flocked to It will not last the night;
Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and Chicago’s South But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—
Side. As writer Brooks Atkinson noted in a memoir,
”
It gives a lovely light.
“ The Village was no prude . . . no matter what you

did you could hardly be conspicuous. On my street
Several poets of this time had an important impact
on the literary culture. Gertrude Stein, for example,
the middle-aged lady in knickers who aired her cat on was supposed to have been able to make or break a
a pink ribbon twice a day and the rosy-cheeked writer’s career with a few well-placed remarks. Poets
damsel in overalls who split kindling wood on the such as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and William
side walk . . . were hardly more conspicuous than the Carlos Williams used clear, concise images to express
formal citizenry. To become conspicuous you would moments in time.
Some poets concentrated on what they considered
probably have to shoot someone in the street.
” the negative effects of modernism. In his poem “The
—from New York’s Greenwich Village
Hollow Men,” for example, T.S. Eliot described a
The artistic and unconventional, or Bohemian, world filled with empty dreams and “hollow men,”
lifestyle of these neighborhoods offered young artists and he foresaw a world that would end “not with a
and writers new lifestyles. bang but a whimper.”
Among playwrights, one of the most innovative
Modern American Art European art movements was Eugene O’Neill. His plays, filled with bold
greatly influenced the modernists of American art. artistry and modern themes, portrayed realistic
Perhaps most striking was the diverse range of artis- characters and situations, offering a vision of life that
tic styles, each attempting to express the individual, sometimes touched on the tragic.
modern experience. Many novelists, affected by the experiences of
Taking his cue from the bold and colorful World War I, wrote about disillusionment and reevalu-
Impressionism of French artist Paul Cézanne, ated the myths of American heroes. They often created
American painter John Marin drew on nature as well characters who were “heroic antiheroes”—flawed
as the urban dynamics of New York for inspiration, individuals who still had heroic qualities of mind and
explaining, “the whole city is alive; buildings, spirit. Ernest Hemingway, who served as an ambu-
people, all are alive; and the more they move me the lance driver in Italy during World War I, was one such
more I feel them to be alive.” Painter Charles Scheeler writer. His fiction presented a new literary style charac-
applied the influences of photography and the terized by direct, simple, and concise prose, as when he
geometric forms of Cubism to urban and rural wrote about war in such works as For Whom the Bell
American landscapes. Edward Hopper revived the Tolls and A Farewell to Arms.
visual accuracy of Realism
in his haunting scenes. His History Through Art
paintings conveyed a modern
Lonely People Like many of his works, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks depicts isolated people. How do you
sense of disenchantment and think this painting reflects the experience of small-town people who moved to the cities?
isolation.
Poets and Writers Poets

and writers of the 1920s var-
ied greatly in their styles and
subject matter. Chicago poet
Carl Sandburg used com-
mon speech to glorify the
Midwest and the expansive
nature of American life. In
Greenwich Village, Edna St.
John Dos Passos, a critic of America’s capitalist cul- watched and participated in sports and enjoyed
ture, experimented with the form of the novel in his music, theater, and other forms of popular entertain-
innovative trilogy U.S.A., which combined fiction, ment. They also fell in love with radio shows and
biography, news headlines, and prose poems. Sinclair motion pictures.
Lewis wrote about the absurdities of traditional life in
small-town America in his novels Main Street and Baseball, Boxing, and Other Sports Thanks to
Babbitt. F. Scott Fitzgerald, perhaps the most famous radio and motion pictures, sports such as baseball
writer of the era, created colorful, glamorous characters and boxing reached new heights of popularity in the
who chased futile dreams in The Great Gatsby, a novel 1920s. Baseball star Babe Ruth became a national
that poignantly exposed the emptiness and superficial- hero, famous for hitting hundreds of home runs. As
ity of much of modern society. one broadcaster later remarked, “He wasn’t a base-
Reading Check Examining Why did many artists, ball player. He was a worldwide celebrity, an interna-
tional star, the likes of which baseball has never seen
writers, and intellectuals flock to New York City’s Greenwich since.”
Village and Chicago’s South Side during the 1920s? Sports fans also idolized boxer Jack Dempsey.
Dempsey held the title of world heavyweight cham-
pion from 1919 until 1926, when he lost it to Gene
Popular Culture Tunney. When Dempsey attempted to win back the
The economic prosperity of the 1920s provided title in 1927, fans’ enthusiasm for the rematch
many Americans with more leisure time and more reached such a frenzy that one store sold $90,000
spending money, which they devoted to making their worth of radios—an incredible sum at that time—in
lives more enjoyable. Millions of Americans eagerly the two weeks before the event.
MOMENT
in HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT FOR
A NEW ERA
In the 1920s, the United States
developed an almost insatiable
appetite for daredevils and
death-defying stunts. Itinerant
pilots, known as “barnstorm-
ers,” crisscrossed the country
offering airplane rides for
a dollar and performing dan-
gerous aerial maneuvers for
delighted spectators. Some
pilots banded together to form
“flying circuses.” Competition
was fierce as these troupes
dreamed up ever more com-
plex and hair-raising stunts to
thrill audiences. Here, the
“Flying Black Hats” engage in
an airborne tennis match.

Americans eagerly followed other sports and sports victory in the presidential election. Within
figures, too. Newspaper coverage helped generate two years, Americans could turn the dial to more
enthusiasm for college football. One of the most than 400 different radio stations around the country.
famous players of the 1920s was Red Grange of the Most stations in the 1920s played the popular
University of Illinois. Grange was known as the music of the day, such as “Yes! We Have No
“Galloping Ghost” because of his speed and ability to Bananas” and “Lover Come Back Again.”
evade members of opposing teams. Broadcasts such as The Eveready Hour offered
Millions of sports fans also were thrilled by the everything from classical music to comedy.
achievements of Bobby Jones, the best golfer of the In one of the most popular radio
decade, and tennis players Bill Tilden and Helen shows, Amos ‘n’ Andy, the trials
Wills, who dominated world tennis. In 1926 Jones and tribulations of two
became the first golfer to win the U.S. Open and the African American characters
British Open in the same year. In 1927 swimmer (portrayed by white actors)
Gertrude Ederle enchanted Americans when she captured the nation’s atten-
shattered records by swimming the English tion every evening.
Channel in a little over 14 hours. The mass media—radio,
movies, newspapers, and
The Rise of Hollywood Although sports became magazines aimed at a
increasingly popular in the 1920s, nothing quite broad audience—did more
matched the allure of motion pictures. Technology than just entertain. Their
had not yet made sound possible in films, so theaters easy availability to millions
hired piano players to provide music during the fea- helped break down patterns
ture, while subtitles revealed the plot. Audiences of provincialism, or narrow
thronged to see such stars as Mary Pickford, Charlie focus on local interests.
Chaplin, Tom Mix, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria They fostered a sense of
Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and Clara Bow. In 1927 shared national expe-
the first “talking” picture—The Jazz Singer—was pro- rience that helped
duced, and the golden age of Hollywood began. unify the nation
and spread the new
Popular Radio Shows and Music Radio also ideas and attitudes Babe Ruth
enjoyed a large following during the Jazz Age. In of the time.
1920, in one of the first commercial radio broadcasts
in history, listeners of station KDKA in Pittsburgh Reading Check Summarizing How did the
learned the news of Warren G. Harding’s landslide American economy of the 1920s affect popular culture?
TM
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1. Define: Bohemian, mass media. 5. Synthesizing How did World War I 7. Interpreting Art Study the Edward
2. Identify: Carl Sandburg, Eugene influence the literature written during Hopper painting, Nighthawks, on
O’Neill, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott the 1920s? page 493. How do different elements
Fitzgerald. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer of this piece work to convey a sense
3. Describe the main themes of artists similar to the one below to list the effects of isolation?
and writers during the 1920s. of mass media on American culture.
Reviewing Themes Effects
4. Culture and Traditions How did writ- Mass Media

ers, artists, and popular culture of the of 1920s 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
1920s affect traditional ideas in the have moved to New York’s Greenwich
United States? Village in the 1920s. Write a letter to a
friend describing the atmosphere in
your neighborhood.

Religious Freedom in
the United States
Why It Matters During the summer of 1925, a young teacher, John Scopes, was put on
trial for teaching evolution in defiance of Tennessee law. The Scopes trial involved more than a debate
between science and religion. It also involved the constitutional principle of the separation of church and
state. This principle is based on the First Amendment, which states that the federal government cannot
establish an official religion or interfere with a person’s right to practice a religion. In 1926 an appeals court
upheld Tennessee’s law. In 1968, however, the United States Supreme Court ruled that laws banning the
teaching of evolution were unconstitutional because they indirectly helped to establish an official religion.
From early colonial times, Americans have struggled to preserve their right to worship as they choose and to
define the proper relationship between the church and the government.
Steps to . . . Religious refuge for Catholics fleeing persecution, and in 1681

Freedom William Penn, a Quaker, founded Pennsylvania,
promising religious tolerance to all who settled
The American tradition of religious freedom there.
began in the 1600s. England’s government perse-
cuted people who did not worship in the manner Church and State At first the Massachusetts
required by the Church of England. Among the per- Puritans did not practice separation of church and
secuted were Puritans, Catholics, and Quakers, state. Instead they enacted policies that promoted
many of whom moved to America in search of the Puritan faith. For example, taxes supported the
religious freedom. Puritan churches; laws required citizens to attend
church; and only church members were allowed to
Colonial Beginnings In 1620 the Pilgrims estab- vote. People who expressed ideas contrary to
lished the Plymouth colony so that they could prac- Puritan beliefs could be banished.
tice their faith freely. Ten years later, thousands of In the 1630s, Massachusetts banished many people
Puritans, led by John Winthrop, established the for their religious beliefs, including Roger Williams
colony of Massachusetts. In 1634 Lord Baltimore and Anne Hutchinson. Williams, Hutchinson, and
established Maryland as a others joined together to create the colony of Rhode
“The Civil rights of none shall be abridged on

account of religious belief or worship, nor shall
any national religion be established. . . .”
—James Madison
496
Virginia colonists attending Old Bruton Church
Island, where church and state were kept separate religious activities. The free exercise clause forbids
and the government did not try to coerce religious the government from suppressing freedom of reli-
belief. Meanwhile, in 1639, settlers in Connecticut gious worship.
adopted the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut.
These Orders allowed non-church members to vote. Continuing Issues Like many other ideas in the
Constitution, the idea of religious freedom has been
The Great Awakening During the early 1700s, reinterpreted over time. In the 1879 case Reynolds v.
a period of religious revivalism known as the Great United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
Awakening strengthened the idea of religious free- freedom of religion is not absolute. Religious prac-
dom. Ministers began preaching the importance of tices that violate the law or undermine the public
each individual’s commitment to faith. The Great interest, the Court declared, were not protected by
Awakening divided many congregations and led to the First Amendment.
the rise of the Baptists and Presbyterians. It also led One of the most controversial issues has been the
to greater religious tolerance. By the time of the role of religion in the public schools. In 1962, in Engel
American Revolution, the idea of freedom of reli- v. Vitale, the Court ruled that states could not require
gion was widely accepted in the American colonies. official prayers to be recited in schools. In 1963, in
Abingdon School District v. Schempp, the Court also
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom ruled out daily Bible readings in schools. In 1990,
In 1786, shortly after the American Revolution, however, the Court ruled that student groups could
Virginia passed the Statute for Religious Freedom. study the Bible and pray together because they were
Its author, Thomas Jefferson, believed religious tol- private individuals, not school officials. With religion
eration to be one of the most important aspects of a an integral part of many Americans’ lives, the nation
free society. The Virginia statute stated that “all men continues to grapple with the problem of balancing
shall be free to profess… their opinion in matters of freedom of religion with the need to avoid federal
religions, and that the same shall in no wise…affect support of a particular church.
their civil capacities.”
A Constitutional Guarantee American lead-

Checking for Understanding
ers guaranteed religious freedom in the new U.S.
1. How did the Great Awakening promote greater religious
Constitution. The First Amendment states that
tolerance?
“Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- 2. What did the Supreme Court rule in Reynolds v. United States?
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.” This sentence consists of two parts. The Critical Thinking
establishment clause forbids the federal government 1. How has the establishment clause of the First Amendment
from creating an official religion or supporting been applied to public schools?
2. Why do you think freedom of religion is such an important
and controversial right?
African
American Culture
During World War I, the prospect of Organizing As you read about the • Describe the Harlem Renaissance and
employment and greater freedoms African American experience in the 1920s, the rediscovery of African American
spurred the “Great Migration” of African complete a graphic organizer similar to cultural roots.
Americans from the rural South to indus- the one below by filling in the causes and • Explain the increase in African
trial cities in the North. effects of the Harlem Renaissance. American political activism.
Causes Effects
Great Migration, Harlem Renaissance, Groups and Institutions African
Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, jazz, Harlem Americans played stronger political and
Renaissance
Cotton Club, blues, Marcus Garvey cultural roles in the 1920s than they had
in previous decades.
✦1922 ✦1924 ✦1926 ✦1928

1922 1924 1926 1928
Antilynching bill passes in the The Negro League holds Langston Hughes’s Claude McKay’s Home
House but not in the Senate its first world series The Weary Blues published to Harlem published
On August 8, 1922, a young cornet player named Louis Armstrong took the train from
New Orleans to Chicago. His hero, the bandleader Joe “King” Oliver, had sent a telegram
to Armstrong offering him a job. Here, Armstrong recalls his trip:
“ When I got to the station in Chicago, I couldn’t see Joe Oliver anywhere . . . I’d never
seen a city that big. All those tall buildings, I thought they were universities. I said, no,
this is the wrong city. I was just fixing to take the next train back home . . . when a red
cap [train porter] Joe had left word with came up to me. He took me to the Lincoln
Gardens and when I got to the door there and heard Joe and his band wailing so good,
Louis Armstrong
I said to myself, ‘No, I ain’t supposed to be in this band. They’re too good.’
”
The next night, near the end of the show, Oliver let Armstrong perform a solo. Armstrong
later recalled his feelings: “I had hit the big time. I was up North with the greats. I was playing
with my idol, the King, Joe Oliver. My boyhood dream had come true at last.”
—quoted in The African American Family Album
The Harlem Renaissance

Louis Armstrong’s first impressions of Chicago and his desire to fulfill a dream were
probably similar to the first impressions and desires of hundreds of thousands of other
African Americans who joined in what was called the Great Migration from the rural

South to industrial cities in the North. By moving New Orleans tradition of
north, African Americans sought to escape the segre- ensemble or group playing HISTORY
gated society of the South, to find economic opportu- by performing highly imagi-
nities, and to build better lives. After World War I, native solos. He became the Student Web
black populations swelled in large northern cities. first great cornet and trumpet Activity Visit the
The cities were full of nightclubs and music, particu- soloist in jazz music. American Republic
larly in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem— Ragtime also influenced Since 1877 Web site at
the heart and soul of the African American renaissance. the composer, pianist, and tarvol2.glencoe.com
It was there that African Americans created an environ- bandleader Duke Ellington, and click on Student
ment that stimulated artistic development, racial pride, who listened as a teenager to Web Activities—
a sense of community, and political organization. The ragtime piano players in Chapter 15 for an
result was a flowering of African American arts that Washington, D.C. In 1923 activity on the Jazz Age.
became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Ellington formed a small
band, moved to New York,
The Writers Considered the first important writer and began playing in speakeasies and clubs. He soon
of the Harlem Renaissance, Claude McKay emi- created his own sound, a blend of improvisation and
grated from Jamaica to New York. There, he trans- orchestration using different combinations of instru-
lated the shock of American racism into Harlem ments. The Ellington style appeared in such hits as
Shadows, a collection of poetry published in 1922. In “Mood Indigo” and “Sophisticated Lady.”
such poems as “The Lynching” and “If We Must Like many other African American entertainers,
Die,” McKay’s eloquent verse expressed a proud Ellington got his start at the Cotton Club, one of
defiance and bitter contempt of racism—two striking the most famous Harlem nightspots. Years later,
characteristics of Harlem Renaissance writing. reflecting on the music of this era, Ellington said,
One of the most prolific, original, and versatile “Everything, and I repeat, everything had to swing.
writers of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston And that was just it, those cats really had it; they
Hughes. Born in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes became a had that soul. And you know you can’t just play
leading voice of the African American experience in some of this music without soul. Soul is very
the United States. ; (See American Literature on page 503 important.”
for more information on Langston Hughes.)
Harlem Renaissance authors continue to influence History
writers today. Zora Neale Hurston published her
Renaissance Writers Claude McKay wrote about his Jamaican homeland,
first novels, Jonah’s Gourd Vine and Their Eyes Were while Zora Neale Hurston celebrated the courage of African Americans in the
Watching God, in the 1930s. These works influenced rural South. How did these writers contribute to African Americans’ cultural
such contemporary authors as Ralph Ellison and Toni identity?
Morrison. Hurston’s personal and spirited portrayals
of rural African American culture, often set in Florida
where she grew up, were also the first major stories
featuring African American females as central char-
acters. Other notable writers of the Harlem
Renaissance include Countee Cullen, Alain Locke,
Dorothy West, and Nella Larsen.
Jazz, Blues, and the Theater Shortly after Louis

Armstrong arrived in Chicago from New Orleans, he
introduced an improvisational, early form of jazz, a
style of music influenced by Dixieland music and
ragtime, with its ragged rhythms and syncopated
melodies.
In 1925, three years after joining Joe “King”
Oliver’s band, Armstrong awed fellow musicians
with a series of recordings made with his group, the
“Hot Five.” In these recordings, especially in the song
“Cornet Chop Suey,” Armstrong broke away from the

Bessie Smith seemed to symbolize soul. Her emo- O’Neill. In 1928 Robeson gained fame for his work in
tional singing style and commanding voice earned the musical Show Boat. He also often appeared at the
her the title “the Empress of the Blues.” Smith sang of Apollo Theater, another famous entertainment club in
unfulfilled love, poverty, and oppression—the classic Harlem. Robeson’s fame ultimately spread to Europe,
themes of the blues, a soulful style of music that where he became well known as a singer and actor.
evolved from African American spirituals. Born in Perhaps the most daring performer of the era,
Tennessee, Smith started performing in tent shows, Josephine Baker transformed a childhood knack for
saloons, and small theaters in the South. Discovered flamboyance into a career as a well-known singer
by Ma Rainey, one of the first great blues singers, and dancer. Baker performed on Broadway but went
Smith later performed with many of the greatest jazz to Paris to dance in 1925. Baker took Paris by storm,
bands of the era, including those of Louis Armstrong, launching an international career.
Fletcher Henderson, and Benny Goodman. Her first The Harlem Renaissance succeeded in bringing
recorded song, “Down Hearted Blues,” became a international fame to African American arts. It also
major hit in 1923. sparked a political transformation in the United States.
While jazz and blues filled the air during the
Reading Check Analyzing Analyze how African
Harlem Renaissance, the theater arts were also flour-
ishing. Shuffle Along, the first musical written, pro- Americans helped shape the national identity through the use
duced, and performed by African Americans, made of music and literature.
its debut on Broadway in 1921. The show’s success
helped launch a number of careers, including those
of Florence Mills and Paul Robeson.
Paul Robeson, a celebrated singer and actor,
received wide acclaim in the title role of a 1924 New
York production of Emperor Jones, a play by Eugene
History
Harlem Renaissance The growing

fame of African American artists, who
often performed (but could not be
patrons) at Harlem’s “Cotton Club,”
encouraged a flamboyant lifestyle.
What conditions encouraged the
growth of African American art?
African American Politics
The racial pride that sparked the artistic achieve-
ments of the Harlem Renaissance also fueled the politi- Jazz’s Global Roots
cal and economic aspirations of many African Jazz may be an American creation, but its roots
Americans. The postwar years saw the development of stretch across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and Africa.
new attitudes among African Americans, who forged The music Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington helped to
new roles in life and in politics. For many, the sight of make famous originated from the spirituals and work
the 1,300 African American men of the Fifteenth songs of African slaves. These songs were a blend of
Regiment of New York’s National Guard, returning African rhythms and European melodies and harmonies,
from the war and marching through Manhattan and which African slaves encountered after arriving in North
home to Harlem, symbolized these aspirations. W.E.B. America. This music evolved into ragtime during the late
Du Bois, editor of The Crisis, captured the new sense of 1800s and early 1900s. By the 1920s, artists had com-
dignity and defiance of African Americans: bined aspects of ragtime with the uniquely African
American sounds of the blues, and thus jazz was born.
“ We return.
We return from fighting.
Why do you think music often spreads easily across
different cultures?
We return fighting.
Make way for democracy! We saved it in France, and
by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United
Representatives in 1922. The Senate defeated the bill,
”
States of America, or know the reason why. but the NAACP continued to lobby against lynching
—from When Harlem Was in Vogue throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Its ongoing efforts
kept the issue in the news and probably helped to
The Black Vote in the North The Great Migration reduce the number of lynchings that took place.
had a significant impact on the political power of One of the NAACP’s greatest political triumphs
African Americans in the North. As their numbers occurred in 1930 with the defeat of Judge John J.
grew in certain city neighborhoods, African Parker’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The
Americans became a powerful voting bloc that could NAACP joined with labor unions to launch a highly
sometimes sway the outcome of elections. organized national campaign against the North
At election time, most African American voters in Carolina judge, who allegedly was racist and anti-
the North cast their votes for Republicans, the party labor. By a narrow margin, the Senate refused to con-
of Abraham Lincoln. In 1928 African American voters firm Parker’s nomination. His defeat demonstrated
in Chicago achieved a significant political break- that African American voters and lobby groups had
through. Voting as a bloc, they helped elect Oscar finally begun to achieve enough influence to affect
DePriest, the first African American representative in national politics and change decisions in Congress.
Congress from a Northern state. During his three While some people were fighting for integration
terms in Congress, DePriest introduced laws to and improvement in the economic and political posi-
provide pensions to formerly enslaved African tion of African Americans, other groups began to
Americans over 75 years old, to declare Lincoln’s emphasize black nationalism and black pride.
birthday a public holiday, and to fine and imprison Eventually, some began to call for black separation
officials who allowed lynchings of prisoners. from white society.
The NAACP Battles Lynching On the legal front, Black Nationalism and Marcus Garvey A dyna-
the National Association for the Advancement of mic black leader from Jamaica, Marcus Garvey, cap-
Colored People (NAACP) battled valiantly but often tured the imagination of millions of African Americans
unsuccessfully against segregation and discrimination with his call for “Negro Nationalism,” which glorified
against African Americans. Its efforts focused prima- the black culture and traditions of the past.
rily on lobbying public officials and working through Inspired by Booker T. Washington’s call for self-
the court system. reliance, Garvey founded the Universal Negro
From its beginning in 1909, the NAACP lobbied Improvement Association (UNIA), an organization
and protested against the horrors of lynching. The aimed at promoting black pride and unity. The central
NAACP’s persistent efforts led to the passage of message of Garvey’s Harlem-based movement was
anti-lynching legislation in the House of that African Americans could gain economic and

Harlem in a show of support. Garvey told his follow-
ers they would never find justice or freedom in
America, and he proposed to lead them to Africa.
Garvey’s plan to create a settlement in the African
country of Liberia alarmed France and Great Britain,
which governed surrounding territories. In the
United States, the emerging African American
middle class and intellectuals distanced themselves
from Garvey and his push for racial purity and
separation. FBI officials saw UNIA as a dangerous
catalyst for black uprisings in urban areas.
Garvey also alienated key figures in the Harlem
Renaissance by characterizing them as “weak-kneed
and cringing . . . [flatterers of] the white man.”
Garvey was convicted of mail fraud in 1923 and
served time in prison. In 1927 President Coolidge
commuted Garvey’s sentence and used Garvey’s
immigrant status to have him deported to Jamaica.
Garvey’s subsequent attempts to revitalize his move-
ment from abroad failed.
Despite Garvey’s failure to keep his movement
History alive, he inspired millions of African Americans with
Black Nationalism Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement a sense of pride in their heritage and hope for the
Association advocated African American self-reliance and separation from whites future. That sense of pride and hope survived long
and white society. What eventually happened to Garvey and his movement? after Garvey and his “back to Africa” movement was
gone. This pride and hope reemerged strongly dur-
political power by educating themselves. Garvey also ing the 1950s and played a vital role in the civil rights
advocated separation and independence from whites. movement of the 1960s.
In 1920, at the height of his power, Garvey presided
over an international conference in the UNIA Liberty Reading Check Summarizing How did World War I
Hall in Harlem. After the convention, about 50,000 change attitudes among African Americans toward themselves
people, led by Garvey, marched through the streets of and their country?
TM
TM

1. Define: jazz, blues. 7. Synthesizing How did the Great 10. Examining Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Great Migration, Harlem Migration affect the political power of pictures on page 500 of the Cotton Club
Renaissance, Claude McKay, Langston African Americans in the North? and African Americans posing by their
Hughes, Cotton Club, Marcus Garvey. 8. Analyzing How did Duke Ellington car. What are some elements of these
3. Explain how Bessie Smith’s music con- create a new musical style that grew pictures that show African Americans
veyed universal themes. out of the ragtime tradition? adopting parts of the 1920s social
4. Explain the importance of the defeat of 9. Organizing Use a graphic organizer culture?
Judge John Parker’s nomination to the similar to the one below to describe the
U.S. Supreme Court. impact of the Harlem Renaissance on
5. Describe the goals of Marcus Garvey’s U.S. society.
Universal Negro Improvement 11. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
Association. Impact of
witnessed the African American men of
Harlem the Fifteenth Regiment of New York’s
Reviewing Themes Renaissance National Guard, who had come back
6. Groups and Institutions What actions from the war, march through
did the NAACP take to expand political Manhattan and home to Harlem. Write
rights for African Americans? a paragraph describing your feelings
upon seeing these men.
Selected Poems by
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the
Langston Hughes was born in world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins. I, Too
Joplin, Missouri, in 1902. After
I, too, sing America.
high school Hughes went on to My soul has grown deep like the
Columbia University to study rivers. I am the darker brother.
engineering, but he soon They send me to eat in the kitchen
dropped out to pursue his first I bathed in the Euphrates when When company comes,
dawns were young. But I laugh,
love—poetry. Hughes eventu-
I built my hut near the Congo and it And eat well,
ally became known as the “Poet lulled me to sleep. And grow strong.
Laureate of Harlem.” The follow- I looked upon the Nile and raised
ing poems are representative the pyramids above it. Tomorrow,
of Hughes’s work. In “I, Too” I heard the singing of the Mississippi I’ll be at the table
when Abe Lincoln went down to When company comes.
he describes the disenfranchise-
New Orleans, and I’ve seen its Nobody’ll dare
ment many African Americans muddy bosom turn all golden in Say to me,
felt in the United States in the the sunset. “Eat in the kitchen,”
1920s, and their willingness to Then.
stand up and take pride in their I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers Besides,
heritage. In “The Negro Speaks They’ll see how beautiful I am
of Rivers,” Hughes reveals a pro- My soul has grown deep like the And be ashamed—
found love of his heritage. rivers.
I, too, am America.
Read to Discover
What is Hughes’s perception of
the place of African Americans Analyzing Literature
in society at the time he wrote 1. Recall and Interpret How do you think Hughes’s use of punctuation
these poems? and line breaks helps convey his point?
2. Evaluate and Connect Do you think these poems convey a positive
Reader’s Dictionary message or a negative one? Why?
Euphrates: River in the Middle
East Interdisciplinary Activity
Response Writing The poem “I, Too” is a response to Walt Whitman’s
Congo and Nile: Rivers in
poem, “I Hear America Singing.” Using the Internet or other resources,
Africa
find and read Whitman’s poem. In small groups, try to figure out how
lulled: calmed; soothed Hughes’s poem ties in to Whitman’s. Then write your own response poem
to “I Hear America Singing.”

N O T E B O O K
VERBATIM
“government
The great creators of the
. . . thought of
America as a light to the world,
as created to lead the world
in the assertion of the right
of peoples and the rights of
free nations.
” WOODROW WILSON,
in defense of the League of Nations, 1920
“theWedestinies
seek no part in directing
of the Old World.
”
WARREN G. HARDING,
Inaugural Address, 1921
“generation,
Here was a new
...
dedicated more
than the last to
the fear of poverty
BETTMANN/CORBIS
and the worship
CULVER PICTURES
of success; grown
Appreciation up to find . . .
all wars fought,
all faiths in man
LOUIS DANIEL ARMSTRONG Writer Stanley Crouch remembers F. Scott Fitzgerald
Louis Armstrong, a Jazz Age great.
Pops. Sweet Papa Dip. Satchmo. He had perfect pitch and perfect rhythm.
shaken.
” F. SCOTT FITZGERALD,
author, This Side of Paradise
His improvised melodies and singing could be as lofty as a moon flight or as
low-down as the blood drops of a street thug dying in the gutter. The extent
of his influence across jazz and across American music continues to this day. “forThere has been a change
the worse during the past
Not only do we hear Armstrong in trumpet players who represent the year in feminine dress, dancing,
present renaissance in jazz, we can also detect his influence in certain manners and general moral
rhythms that sweep from country-and-western music to rap. standards. [One should] realize
the serious ethical consequences
Louis Daniel Armstrong was born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901. It
was at a home for troubled kids that young Louis first put his lips to the
mouthpiece of a cornet and later, a trumpet.
of immodesty in girls’ dress.
from the PITTSBURGH OBSERVER ”
In 1922 Armstrong went to Chicago, where he joined King Oliver and
his Creole Jazz Band. The band brought out the people and all the “two-legged
[In New York] I saw 7,000,000
animals penned in an
musicians, black and white, who wanted to know how it was truly done. evil smelling cage, . . . streets as
When he first played in New York City in 1924, his improvisations set the
unkempt as a Russian steppe, . . .
city on its head. The stiff rhythms of the time were slashed away by his rubbish, waste paper, cigar
combination of the percussive and the soaring. He soon returned to butts. . . . One glance and you
Chicago, perfected what he was doing, and made one record after another.
Louis Armstrong was so much, in fact, that every school of jazz since has
know no master hand directs.
article in Soviet newspaper PRAVDA ”
describing New York City in 1925
had to address how he interpreted the basics of the idiom—swing, blues,
ballads, and Afro-Hispanic rhythms. His freedom, his wit, and his discipline
give his music a perpetual position in the wave of the future that is the
station of all great art.

T H E JA Z Z AG E : 1 9 2 0 –1 9 2 9
NUMBERS
Hide the Hooch
Ingenious Americans are finding unusual
places to store their liquor under Prohibition:
60,000
Families with radios in 1922
canes rolled newspaper
BROWN BROTHERS
hot water bottles

shoe heels
folds of coats
perfume bottles
9,000,000
Motor vehicles registered in
U.S. in 1920
Milestones $2,467,946
Income tax paid by
EMBARRASSED, 1920. TEXAS Henry Ford in 1924
SENATOR MORRIS SHEPPARD,
a leading proponent of the
Eighteenth Amendment, when 500,000
People who wrote to Henry Ford
a large whiskey still is found on his
in 1924 begging for money
farm.
ERASED, 1922. THE WORD
“OBEY,” from the Episcopal
33.5 Number of hours
Charles Lindbergh spent in his
marriage ceremony, by a vote of nonstop flight from New York
American Episcopal bishops. to Paris on May 20, 1927
DIED, 1923. HOMER
MOREHOUSE, 27, in the 87th 1,800 Tons of ticker tape
hour of a record-setting 90-hour, and shredded paper dropped on
CULVER PICTURES
10-minute dance marathon. Charles Lindbergh in his parade

in New York City
EXONERATED, 1921. EIGHT
CHICAGO WHITE SOX PLAYERS
charged with taking bribes to $16,000 Cost of
throw the 1919 World Series. The MAKING A COMEBACK. SANTA cleaning up after the parade
players were found “not guilty” CLAUS, after falling into low
when grand jury testimony favor in the last decade. Aiming
at children, advertisers are
7,000 Job offers received
disappeared. Newly appointed by Lindbergh
commissioner of baseball Kenesaw marketing St. Nick heavily.
Mountain Landis banned the
“Black Sox” from baseball.
3.5 million
Number of letters received
by Lindbergh
W H AT ’ S N E W
BROWN BROTHERS
Invented This Decade

How did we live without . . .
push-button elevators
neon signs pop-up toasters
oven thermostats flavored yogurt
electric razors car radios
tissues adhesive tape
BROWN BROTHERS
spiral-bound notebooks food disposals

motels water skiing
dry ice automatic potato peeler
zippers self-winding wristwatch Charles Lindbergh

On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 12. Identify: Emergency Quota Act, Fundamentalism, Carl
1. anarchist 7. speakeasy Sandburg, Eugene O’Neill, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, Great Migration, Harlem Renaissance, Claude
2. eugenics 8. Bohemian McKay, Langston Hughes, Marcus Garvey.
3. flapper 9. mass media 13. Why was there a rise in racism and nativism in the 1920s?
4. evolution 10. jazz 14. What actions did Congress and the president take during the
5. creationism 11. blues first half of the 1920s to restrict immigration?
6. police powers 15. What national groups were affected most by the new restric-
tions on immigration?
16. What role did the automobile play in changing the way that
young people in the United States lived and socialized?
17. What was the Fundamentalist movement?
Cultural Changes 18. Why did artists and writers move to Greenwich Village and
Chicago’s South Side in the 1920s?
• The “new morality” emphasized youth and beauty 19. Why was Harlem the center of the African American
• Young people and women gained more independence renaissance?
• The working class enjoyed more leisure time 20. What were two reasons for the rise in African American
• The mass media expanded political activism?
African American Renaissance

Critical Thinking
Harlem Renaissance 21. Analyzing Themes: Groups and Institutions In what ways
• Breakthrough period for African American arts did the new morality change American family life?
• Literature revealed racial pride and contempt of racism
22. Interpreting Why was Charles Lindbergh a symbol of mod-
• Jazz and blues popularized
ern America?
Political Renaissance 23. Determining Cause and Effect Analyze the causes and
• Great Migration created strong African American effects of the changing role of women in the 1920s.
voting blocs in Northern cities
• First African American elected to Congress from a 24. Identifying List three works of American art or literature
Northern state that convey universal themes.
• NAACP battled segregation and discrimination 25. Analyzing Analyze the impact that Clarence Darrow and
William Jennings Bryan had on American society as the
Revitalized Traditional Values lawyers in the Scopes trial.
26. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
• Fundamentalists preached traditional religious values below to list the major organizations and movements of the
• Emphasis on family and moral values 1920s and their goals or purposes.
• Traditionalists supported Prohibition
Organizations/Movements Goals/Purposes
Nativism
• Nativists used eugenics as a pseudo-scientific basis for
ethnic and religious prejudice
• The new Ku Klux Klan targeted African Americans, 27. Interpreting Primary Sources Arna Bontemps was a
Jews, Catholics, immigrants, and other groups they poet who started his writing career during the Harlem
considered to be “un-American” Renaissance. Read the poem and answer the questions
• Congress established immigration quotas that follow.

HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— U.S. Immigration, 1921 and 1925
1921
9 1925
9 5
Canada and
Latin America
A Black Man Talks of Reaping 15% Central Europe
22% Asia
I have sown beside all waters in my day. 1%
Asia Canada and
I planted deep, within my heart the fear 3% Latin America
That wind or fowl would take the grain away. 48% Other
I planted safe against this stark, lean year. Other countries
countries 1%
I scattered seed enough to plant the land 2%
In rows from Canada to Mexico
Northern and
But for my reaping only what the hand Northern and Western Europe
Can hold at once is all that I can show. Western Europe Eastern and Central 27%
16% Southern Eastern and
Europe Europe
Yet what I sowed and what the orchard yields 19% Southern Europe
42% 4%
My brother’s sons are gathering stalk and root,
Small wonder then my children glean in fields Source: Historical Statistics of the United States
They have not sown, and feed on bitter fruit.

Write a letter to a newspaper editor in which you take a posi-
a. What does Bontemps mean by “what the hand can hold
tion on the merits of Garvey’s plan. In your letter, describe
at once is all that I can show” and “bitter fruit”?
how you think this plan will affect the nation and your own
b. What major theme of Harlem Renaissance writing is community.
evident in this poem?
Practicing Skills 32. The circle graphs above show immigration numbers in the
28. Synthesizing Information Read the subsections titled United States in 1921 and 1925. Study the graphs and
“Nativism Resurges” and “Pseudo-Scientific Racism” at the answer the questions below.
beginning of Section 1. What information is presented in the a. Interpreting Graphs What significant changes in immi-
first subsection? The second? Synthesize the information in gration do the circle graphs show?
these two subsections and write a short statement that b. Applying Geography Skills Why did these changes in
describes American attitudes toward immigrants during immigration occur between 1921 and 1925?
the 1920s.
Chapter Activities Standardized

29. Research Project Work with another student to research Test Practice
the art of Georgia O’Keeffe made in the 1920s. Examine how
her efforts reflect the characteristics of the Jazz Age, such as Directions: Choose the best answer to the
experimentation and innovation. Present your findings to the following question.
class. Which of the following events of the 1920s contributed to a
30. American History Primary Source Document Library renewed nativist movement?
CD-ROM Under The Roaring Twenties, read “The Movies” A Economic recession
by Preston William Slossen. Work with a few of your class- B Harlem Renaissance
mates to write an article that compares and contrasts the C Scopes trial
motion picture industry in the 1920s with the motion picture
industry today. D Prohibition
Test-Taking Tip: First you must be clear on the meaning of

Writing Activity nativism. Then use the process of elimination to rule out
31. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you are living during the the answers that do not seem related to the definition of
early 1920s. Marcus Garvey is campaigning to lead African nativism.
Americans to a new settlement to be founded in Liberia.

Normalcy
and
Good Times
1921–1929
Why It Matters
Prosperity was the theme of the 1920s, and national policy favored business. Although farmers
were going through an economic depression, most people remained optimistic about the
economy. The middle class bought on credit the many new convenience products available. One of
the most popular purchases of the day was the automobile, which had a major impact on how
Americans lived.
The Impact Today

Important elements of American life were first seen at this time.
• The automobile remains central to American transportation.
• Credit is a standard means for making purchases.

video, “Tuning in to Radio in the 1920s,” describes the growth of a mass
media culture in the United States and the importance of the radio.
1920
• Women vote in
national election 1923 1924
for the first time • Teapot Dome scandal • Dawes Plan negotiated
erupts with France, Britain, and
1921
• Washington Conference • Ford Motor Company Germany
convenes gains 50 percent of the • Calvin Coolidge
new car market elected president
• Farm Bloc organized in
U.S. Congress • President Harding dies
▲ ▲
Harding Coolidge
▲ 1921–1923 1923–1929 ▲
1921 1923 1925
▼ ▼ ▼
1923 1924 1925
• Hitler’s Munich • Leader of Soviet Union, • Soldier-leader Reza
coup fails Vladimir Lenin, dies Khan pronounced
shah of Iran
508
Opening Night, Ziegfeld Follies by Howard A. Thain captures the excitement
surrounding the opening of a new musical revue in New York City.
1929
1928 • U.S. radio sales
• Kellogg-Briand exceed $800
1927 Pact proposes million
an end to war
• 15 millionth
Model T built
HISTORY
▲
Hoover
▲ ▲ 1929–1933 Chapter Overview
• British General Strike • Lateran Treaties with Italy
paralyzes the British make the Vatican sovereign
economy territory
509
Presidential Politics
Warren Harding’s administration suffered Taking Notes As you read about • Describe the corruption that tainted the
from several scandals. His successor, Presidents Harding and Coolidge, use the Harding administration.
Calvin Coolidge, promised to support major headings of the section to create • Explain how Calvin Coolidge restored
business. an outline similar to the one below. public confidence after assuming the
presidency.
Key Terms and Names Presidential Politics
normalcy, Ohio Gang, Albert B. Fall, I. The Harding Administration Section Theme
A.
Teapot Dome scandal, immunity, B. Government and Democracy The “Ohio
II. Gang” of the Harding administration
Progressive Party, Robert M. La Follette A.
B. created scandals and political upheaval.
✦1920 ✦1922 ✦1924 ✦1926

1920 1923 1924
Women vote in national election for the first time; Teapot Dome scandal; Harding dies; Coolidge elected president
Warren G. Harding elected president Calvin Coolidge becomes president in his own right
In August 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge was taking a short vacation at his
family’s homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. The straitlaced Coolidge went to bed
at 9:00 as usual on August 2, but at 2:30 A.M., his father woke him. “I noticed that his
voice trembled,” Coolidge said later. “I knew that something of the gravest nature had
occurred.” After learning that President Warren G. Harding was dead, Coolidge
dressed hurriedly and went downstairs. Shortly afterward, in a small, sparsely fur-
nished room lit by a flickering kerosene lamp, the elder Coolidge, a farmer and jus-
tice of the peace, got out the family Bible and administered the presidential oath of
office to his son.
Later, while painting a portrait of the new president, artist Charles Hopkinson asked,
Calvin Coolidge (right) “Mr. Coolidge, what was the first thought that came into your mind when you were told that
being sworn in as president Mr. Harding was dead and the presidency was yours?” Coolidge replied, “I thought I could
after his 1924 election
swing it.”
—adapted from Flappers, Bootleggers, “Typhoid Mary” and the Bomb
The Harding Administration

Coolidge assumed the presidency during a time when Americans yearned to go back
to simpler and steadier times after the carnage of World War I. Coolidge’s predecessor,
Warren G. Harding, had tailored his presidency to this goal. The oldest of eight children,
Harding was born in 1865 in Corsica, Ohio. As an adult, he was active in civic and fra-
ternal organizations, and he also published the Marion Daily Star. In 1898 Harding was
elected to the Ohio legislature. He fit in comfortably with the powerful Ohio Republican
510 CHAPTER 16 Normalcy and Good Times

political machine and won election as lieutenant gov- observer of Washington society. She wrote that it was
ernor in 1903. He failed in his bid for governor in common to find the Ohio Gang in the White House
1910 but was elected to the United States Senate four study, and here she describes a typical scene:
years later. After serving one term in the Senate,
Harding ran for and won the presidency in 1920. “ The air [would be] heavy with tobacco smoke,
trays with bottles containing every imaginable brand
A Self-Doubter in the White House With his sil- of whiskey . . . cards and poker chips at hand—a
ver hair and impressive bearing, Harding looked like general atmosphere of waistcoat unbuttoned, feet on
a president, but he thought he lacked the intellectual
qualifications for the job. “I have such a sure under- ”
desk, and spittoons alongside.
—quoted in The Perils of Prosperity, 1914–1932
standing of my own inefficiency,” he once said, “that
I should really be ashamed to presume myself fitted The Ohio Gang did more than drink, smoke, and
to reach out for a place of such responsibility.” play poker with the president. Some members used
Despite such doubts, Harding’s political philoso- their positions to sell government jobs, pardons, and
phy fit in well with the times. He ran on the cam- protection from prosecution. Forbes sold scarce med-
paign slogan to return to normalcy, or a return to ical supplies from veterans hospitals and kept the
“normal” life after the war. Harding’s charm and money for himself, costing the taxpayers over $200
genial manner endeared him to the nation. The quiet million. When Harding learned what was going on,
gloom of President Wilson’s last years was replaced he complained privately that he had been betrayed.
by the open, easygoing atmosphere of the first days He said that he had no troubles with his enemies, but
of the Harding administration. On the day of his elec- his friends were a different story: “They’re the ones
tion, he went out to play a round of golf—a confi- that keep me walking the floor nights!”
dent, relaxed gesture.
GOVERNMENT
The Ohio Gang Harding made several distin-
guished appointments to the cabinet, including for-
mer Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes as Inkwell depicting
secretary of state, former Food Administrator Warren Harding
Herbert Hoover as secretary of commerce, and
business tycoon Andrew Mellon as secretary of History
the treasury.
Return to Normalcy Warren Harding did
Many of Harding’s other appoint-
some of his campaigning from his front porch
ments, however, were disastrous. He in Ohio. Why do you think Harding’s slogan,
gave many cabinet posts and other “Return to Normalcy,” was successful?
high-level jobs to friends and political
allies from Ohio. Harding named
Charles “Doc” Sawyer from Marion,
Ohio, as White House physician, a
post that came with the rank of
brigadier general. Harding made his
boyhood friend Daniel Crissinger
chairman of the Federal Reserve
Board and selected Colonel Charles
R. Forbes—another Ohio acquain-
tance—to head the Veterans Bureau.
Harding felt more comfortable
among his old poker-playing friends,
known as the Ohio Gang, than he
did around such sober and serious
people as Herbert Hoover. Alice
Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter
of Theodore Roosevelt, was a keen
The Coolidge Administration
Just as Harding’s promise of “normalcy” had
appealed to war-weary voters in 1920, the virtue of
Cartoon Symbols Political cartoonists routinely use his successor came as a welcome change from the tur-
symbols to get their message across. Two of the most moil of the Harding administration’s corruption. Born
enduring have been the donkey, representing the on July 4, 1872, John Calvin Coolidge grew up on the
Democrats, and the elephant, representing the Vermont farm that his family had worked for five
Republicans (also known as the GOP, or the Grand generations. While governor of Massachusetts,
Old Party). On November 7, 1874, cartoonist Thomas Coolidge rose to national prominence for his handling
Nast became the first to use the symbols in a cartoon
of the Boston police strike in 1919. Shortly afterward,
that appeared in Harper’s Weekly.
he was asked to run as Harding’s vice president.
“Silent Cal” Takes Over Coolidge was very differ-

In June 1923, amid the scandal in the Veterans ent from Harding. Harding had enjoyed the easy con-
Bureau and rumors of other unethical behavior, versation and company of old friends. Coolidge,
Harding and the First Lady left to tour the West. En joked a critic, could be “silent in five languages.” With
route from Alaska to California, he became ill with his simple and frugal manner, he contrasted not only
what was probably a heart attack. He died in San with Harding but also with the spirit of the time, the
Francisco on August 2, shortly before the news of the booming, materialistic era of the Roaring Twenties.
Forbes scandal broke. Coolidge quickly distanced himself from the
Harding administration. He named Harlan Fiske
The Teapot Dome Scandal Other scandals also Stone, dean of the Columbia Law School, to replace
came to light. Harding’s secretary of the interior, Daugherty as attorney general. He also asked the
Albert B. Fall, secretly allowed private interests to most capable cabinet members—Hughes, Mellon,
lease lands containing U.S. Navy oil reserves at Teapot and Hoover—to stay on.
Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California. In return,
Fall received bribes from these private interests total- Analyzing Political Cartoons
ing more than $300,000. Eventually the Senate investi-
gated what the newspapers named the Teapot Dome Teapot Dome Scandal In this cartoon, Democrats are enjoying the
troubles the Teapot Dome scandal has caused for the GOP elephant.
scandal, and Secretary Fall became the first cabinet
Who is shown being dragged along by the scandal? Why?
officer in history to go to prison.
The last Harding administration scandal involved
Attorney General Harry Daugherty, Harding’s for-
mer campaign manager. It concerned a German-
owned American company that the American
government had seized during World War I as
enemy property. To acquire the company and its
valuable chemical patents, a German agent bribed a
“go-between” politician, and a portion of the bribe
ended up in an Ohio bank account that Daugherty
controlled.
Under investigation by his own Justice Department,
Daugherty refused to turn over requested files and
bank records. He also refused to testify under oath,
claiming immunity, or freedom from prosecution, on
the grounds that he had had confidential dealings with
the president. Daugherty’s actions disgusted the new
president, Calvin Coolidge, who demanded his resig-
nation. The tattered reputation of Harding’s presi-
dency dissolved in scandal and corruption.
Reading Check Describing Why was Harding’s
emphasis on “normalcy” an effective campaign strategy?

Coolidge’s philosophy of government was simple.
He believed that prosperity rested on business lead-
ership and that part of his job as president was to
make sure that government interfered with business
and industry as little as possible. He once said,
“Four-fifths of all our troubles in this life would dis-
appear if we would only sit down and keep still.”
Calmly and cautiously, Coolidge worked to restore
integrity to the presidency. In the year following
Harding’s death and the revelations of scandals,
Coolidge’s presidency avoided crises and continued the
nation’s expanding prosperity. Coolidge easily won the History
Republican Party’s nomination for president in 1924.
Cool Coolidge President Coolidge believed the nation would run more
The Election of 1924 Even though the scandals of smoothly if the government was less involved. How did the public react
the Harding administration presented the to Coolidge’s message on Election Day?
Democrats with a ready-made issue, they lost the
chance for victory. Deeply divided between their percent of the popular vote, or a total of almost 5 mil-
urban Eastern constituency and their rural follow- lion, he and Davis combined could not keep the
ing in the South and West, the Democrats had diffi- Republicans from winning the election. Coolidge
culty agreeing on a nominee. They finally won easily with more than half the popular vote and
compromised on John W. Davis of West Virginia 382 electoral votes.
after 103 attempts to find someone acceptable to a In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper
majority of the delegates. Editors in 1925, Coolidge said, “The chief business of
The Republicans effectively campaigned on the slo- the American people is business. The man who
gan “Keep Cool with Coolidge,” and they urged builds a factory builds a temple. The man who works
Americans to retain the party that favored business. In there worships there.” The Wall Street Journal joy-
his economic policies, Coolidge aligned himself—and ously exclaimed, “Never before, here or anywhere
the government—with prosperity and big business. else, has a government been so completely fused
Not everyone was content to choose between the with business.” By avoiding war, reform, and scan-
Republicans and Democrats. Defectors from both dal, Coolidge promised to give the United States the
parties joined farm, labor, and religious activists to normalcy Harding had failed to deliver.
form the new Progressive Party, nominating
Wisconsin senator Robert M. La Follette as their Reading Check Summarizing How did Calvin
candidate. Although La Follette captured 16.6 Coolidge restore public confidence after becoming president?
TM
TM

1. Define: normalcy, immunity. 5. Interpreting How did the Democrats 7. Analyzing Photographs Examine the
2. Identify: Ohio Gang, Albert B. Fall, lose the chance for victory in the elec- photograph of Calvin Coolidge on this
Teapot Dome scandal, Robert M. tion of 1924? page. How did Coolidge’s actions
La Follette. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer demonstrate effective leadership fol-
3. Evaluate the effects of the Teapot similar to the one below to compare lowing the Harding administration?
Dome scandal on citizens’ views of the and contrast the politics and presiden-
federal government. cies of Harding and Coolidge.
Reviewing Themes Politics Presidency 8. Expository Writing Imagine you are a
4. Government and Democracy How did Harding newspaper reporter during President
the Ohio Gang tarnish the Harding Coolidge Harding’s term. Write an article
Administration? breaking the news of the Teapot Dome
scandal.
CHAPTER 16 Normalcy and Good Times 513

A Growing Economy
The United States experienced stunning Organizing As you read about the • Analyze how the growing importance
economic growth during the 1920s. booming era of the 1920s, complete a of the automobile and other new
graphic organizer to analyze the causes industries improved the U.S. standard
Key Terms and Names of economic growth and prosperity in of living.
mass production, assembly line, Model T, the 1920s. • Analyze the growing economic crisis in
Charles Lindbergh, National Broadcasting Changes in 1920s farming in the 1920s.
Company, Columbia Broadcasting
System, welfare capitalism, open shop Section Theme
Industry Society
Science and Technology New technol-
ogy such as the automobile and radio
helped reshape American lifestyles.
✦1920 ✦1923 ✦1926 ✦1929

1920 1922 1923 1927 1929
First commercial Congress passes Ford gains 50 percent The 15 millionth Ford Model T U.S. radio sales
radio broadcast Fordney-McCumber Act of the new car market rolls off the assembly line exceed $800 million
At around 2:00 A.M. on June 4, 1896, Henry Ford and his friend Jim Bishop read-
ied Ford’s “horseless carriage” for a test. The shop doors were too small for the con-
traption to pass through, so Ford immediately seized a sledgehammer and began
knocking out an opening in the brick. Ford later recalled the scene that followed:
“ Mr. Bishop had his bicycle ready to ride ahead and warn drivers of horse-drawn
vehicles—if indeed any were to be met with at such an hour. . . . I set the choke and
spun the flywheel. As the motor roared and sputtered to life, I climbed aboard and
”
started off. . . .
There were many such trips in the following days. Bishop would bicycle ahead,
stopping at saloons and stores to warn people that they should come out and hold
their horses. Many of the onlookers responded by calling out, “Crazy Henry!” As he
Henry Ford
climbed out of the car, Ford invariably responded, “Yes, crazy. Crazy like a fox.”
—adapted from The Fords: An American Epic
The Rise of New Industries

Although neither Ford nor Bishop realized it at the time, “Crazy Henry’s” horseless
carriage would revolutionize American transportation and with it American society. By
the 1920s, the automobile had become an accepted part of American life. In a 1925 survey
conducted in Muncie, Indiana, 21 out of 26 families who owned cars did not have bath-
tubs with running water. Explaining why her family decided a car was more important
than indoor plumbing, a farm wife said, “You can’t ride to town in a bathtub.”

The automobile was just one part of a rising stan- motion to a minimum. In 1913, Ford installed the first
dard of living that Americans experienced in the moving assembly line at his plant in Highland Park,
1920s. Real per capita earnings, essentially unchanged Michigan. By the following year, workers were build-
during the previous 30 years, soared 22 percent. ing automobiles every 93 minutes. Previously, the
Meanwhile, as Americans’ wages increased, their task had taken 12 hours. By 1925 a Ford car was
work hours decreased. In 1923 U.S. Steel cut its daily rolling off the line every 10 seconds. “The way to
work shift from 12 hours to 8 hours. In 1926 Henry make automobiles,” Ford said, “is to make one auto-
Ford cut the workweek for his employees from six mobile like another . . . to make them come through
days to five, and International Harvester, a maker of the factory all alike, just as one pin is like another pin
trucks, tractors, and other farm machinery, instituted when it comes from the pin factory.”
an annual two-week paid vacation for employees. Ford’s assembly-line product was the Model T—
At the same time, the rise of mass production, or affectionately called the “Tin Lizzie” or “Flivver.” In
large-scale product manufacturing usually done by 1908, the Model T’s first year, it sold for $850. In 1914
machinery, created more supply and reduced con- mass production reduced the price to $490. Three
sumer costs. This formula reshaped the American years later, improved assembly-line methods and a
economy. Within this prosperous and productive high volume of sales brought the price down to $360.
atmosphere, innovation thrived and new industries By 1924 Model Ts were selling for $295, and Ford sold
emerged. millions of them. His business philosophy was
simple: lower the cost per car and thereby increase
TECHNOLOGY
the volume of sales. “Every time I reduce the charge
The Assembly Line Another major industrial for our car by one dollar,” he boasted, “I get a thou-
development enormously increased manufacturing sand new buyers.” In this way, Ford made the auto-
efficiency. First adopted by carmaker Henry Ford, the mobile available to millions of American consumers.
assembly line divided operations into simple tasks Ford also increased his workers’ wages in 1914 to
that unskilled workers could do and cut unnecessary an unprecedented $5 a day and reduced the workday
The 1
Assembly
Line
The idea of an assembly
line had existed before
Henry Ford, but he helped
popularize its use in manu- 3 Automobile bodies were
facturing. Ford combined 2 assembled and dropped onto
the separately-assembled chas-
sub-assembly lines into
sis with a pully.
one continuously moving
line, which was positioned
at waist level to reduce 3
back strain. Ford’s
Highland Park factory fea-
1 Tires were assembled
tured a multistoried assem- and delivered down-
bly line that reduced the stairs using chutes.
construction time of a sin-
gle Model T from 12 hours,
8 minutes to 1 hour, 33 2 Engines and gas tanks In 1914 Ford Motor Company
minutes. How did Ford’s were assembled at other produced 308,162 automo-
assembly technique ends of the factory floor biles—more than all other auto
and delivered to the chassis manufacturers combined.
affect the price of his
sub-assembly..
product?
to eight-hour shifts. Ford took these dramatic steps to The Social Impact of the Automobile Just as he
build up workers’ loyalty and to undercut union had revolutionized manufacturing, Henry Ford was
organizers. the force behind a social revolution related to the
There were strings attached, however, to the wage automobile. He almost single-handedly changed the
increase. Ford created a “Sociological Department,” auto from a toy of the wealthy to an affordable neces-
which set requirements workers had to meet. For sity for the middle class.
instance, the common practice of renting living space Cars revolutionized American life. Although
to nonfamily members was strictly forbidden. many small businesses declined during the 1920s, the
Investigators visited employees’ homes to verify their automobile created new small-business opportuni-
eligibility and to see that they spent their wages in ties for such enterprises as garages and gas stations.
approved ways. Workers who transgressed could be The automobile eased the isolation of rural life, put-
disqualified from extra pay, suspended, or even fired. ting towns within reach of many farmers and the coun-
The low prices made possible by Ford’s mass- tryside a mere ride away for city dwellers. Cars also
production methods not only created an immense enabled more people to live farther from work. An
market for his cars but also spawned imitators. By entirely new kind of consumer and worker, the auto
the mid-1920s, other car manufacturers, notably commuter, appeared. Commuters lived in growing
General Motors and Chrysler, competed success- suburban communities and drove to work in the city.
fully with Ford.
The auto industry spurred growth in other The Consumer Goods Industry Many other new
industries, such as rubber, plate glass, nickel, and goods came on the market to take advantage of rising
lead. Automaking alone consumed 15 percent of the disposable income. Americans bought such innova-
nation’s steel, and the flood of cars stimulated a tions as electric razors, disposable facial tissues,
tremendous expansion of the petroleum industry. frozen foods, and home hair dye.
MOMENT
in HISTORY
ON THE ROAD
The United States first felt the
sweeping impact of the auto-
mobile during the 1920s. Mass
production, pioneered by
Henry Ford with his famous
Model T, reduced costs and put
practical, reliable cars within
the reach of millions of middle-
class Americans. Adventurous
families—like the one shown
here driving an upscale, open
touring car through a giant
Sequoia tree in Yosemite
National Park—set out to ex-
plore the country.They used a
network of roads that had been
little more than rutted wagon
trails two decades earlier.

in History
Bessie Coleman c. 1892–1926 Amelia Earhart 1897–1937
Bessie Coleman was the first African Amelia Earhart, perhaps the world’s
American woman to receive a pilot’s most celebrated woman pilot, saw her
license and the first to become a stunt first airplane at the Iowa State Fair when
pilot. She performed in her first air show she was 10 years old. She was unim-
in September 1922 in Garden City, Long pressed: “It was a thing of rusty wire
Island. and wood and not at all interesting. . . .”
Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, to In her early 20s, however, she attended
an African American mother and a a California “aerial meet,” a fateful
Choctaw father. Too poor to attend col- decision.
lege for more than one term, she moved Known for promoting women’s flying,
to Chicago to become a pilot. No flight school she applied to, how- Earhart seemed destined for celebrity
ever, was willing to admit an African American. With the help of a from early on. By 1932 she was flying solo across the Atlantic.
Chicago publisher, Coleman then went to France to train. Back Earhart’s most daring flight was her last. In 1937 she set out to
home, she championed the African American cause through her fly around the world with her navigator. Two-thirds of the trip was
public statements and impressive flying feats. covered when their plane disappeared. On the trip, she had
Coleman’s achievements inspired the founding of Chicago’s written her husband, “Please know I am quite aware of the
Coffey School of Aeronautics. Its graduates helped train the U.S. hazards. . . . I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must
military’s first African American pilots, the Tuskegee Airmen, who try to do things as men have tried.”
served with distinction in World War II.
Many of the new products were created for the plane. Ailerons made it possible to build rigid wings
home. As indoor plumbing became more common, and much larger aircraft. They are still used on air-
Americans’ concern for hygiene spawned the devel- craft today. In 1912 Curtiss designed the first flying
opment of numerous household cleaning products. boat. In 1919 one of his flying boats became the first
By appealing to people’s health concerns, advertisers aircraft to cross the Atlantic.
were able to convince homemakers to buy cleansers Curtiss’s company began building aircraft, and it
to protect their families from disease. made the first airplane sales in the United States. The
New appliances advertised as labor-savers company grew from a single factory to a huge indus-
changed the home. Electric irons, vacuum cleaners, trial enterprise during World War I, as orders flooded in
washing machines, refrigerators, gas stoves, and from allied governments for his biplanes and engines.
improved glass cookware changed the way people Although Curtiss retired in 1920, his inventions made
cleaned their homes and prepared meals. possible the airline industry that emerged in the 1920s.
Another lucrative category of consumer products After entrepreneurs such as Curtiss started build-
focused on Americans’ concerns with fashion, youth- ing practical aircraft, the federal government began
ful appearance, and success in personal and business to support the airline industry. President Wilson’s
endeavors. Mouthwash, deodorants, cosmetics, and postmaster general had introduced the world’s first
perfumes became popular products in the 1920s. regular airmail service in 1918 by hiring pilots to fly
mail between Washington, D.C., and New York. In
The Airline Industry After the successful flight of 1919 the Post Office expanded airmail service across
the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the avia- the continent. The aviation industry received an eco-
tion industry began to develop rapidly. Leading the nomic boost in 1925 with the passage of the Kelly
way was American inventor Glenn Curtiss. Curtiss Act, which authorized postal officials to contract
owned a motorcycle company in Hammondsport, with private airplane operators to carry mail.
New York. Fascinated by airplanes, he agreed in 1907 In 1926 the aviation industry received another
to become director of experiments at the Aerial boost with the passage of the Air Commerce Act,
Experiment Association, an organization founded by which provided federal aid for building airports. It
Alexander Graham Bell. was the extraordinary transatlantic solo flight of for-
Within a year, Curtiss had invented ailerons—sur- mer airmail pilot Charles Lindbergh in 1927, how-
faces attached to wings that can be tilted to steer the ever, that demonstrated the possibilities of aviation

(NBC) established a permanent network of stations
to distribute daily programs. By 1927 almost 700 sta-
tions dotted the country, and the Federal Radio
Commission had been established to regulate them.
Sales of radio equipment skyrocketed from $12.2 mil-
lion in 1921 to $842.5 million in 1929, by which time
10 million radio sets were in use in the United States.
In 1928 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)
assembled a coast-to-coast network of stations to rival
NBC. The two networks sold advertising time and
hired popular musicians, actors, and comedians from
vaudeville, movies, and the nightclub circuit to appear
on their shows. In 1928 Americans experienced com-
plete coverage of the first presidential election cam-
paign conducted over the airwaves, when the radio
networks sold more than $1 million in advertising
time to the Republican and Democratic Parties.
Reading Check Analyzing How did technological
innovations such as the assembly line impact the nature of work?
Washing machine advertisement The Consumer Society

Higher wages and shorter workdays resulted in a
and won popular support for commercial flight. By decade-long buying spree that kept the economy
the end of 1928, 48 airlines were serving 355 booming. Shifting from traditional attitudes of thrift
American cities. and prudence, Americans in the 1920s enthusiasti-
Advertisers praised the benefits of commercial fly- cally accepted their new role as consumers.
ing for business executives, as in this 1928 ad for the
ECONOMICS
Ford Motor Company’s “Trimotor” plane: “When the
occasion comes for your first time up, it will not be to Easy Consumer Credit One notable aspect of the
‘joy-ride’ in an antiquated and hazardous machine; economic boom was the growth of individual bor-
but far more probably it will be to reach some distant rowing. The prosperity of the 1920s gave many
meeting-place in advance of business competition!” Americans the confidence to go into debt to buy new
consumer goods.
The Radio Industry In 1912 Edwin Armstrong, an Credit had been available before the boom, but
American engineer, invented a special circuit that most Americans had considered debt to be shameful.
made long-range radio Now, however, American attitudes toward debt
transmission of voice and started changing as people began believing in their
music practical. The radio ability to pay their debts over time. Many listened to
HISTORY industry began a few years the sales pitch, “Buy now and pay in easy install-
later. In November 1920, ments,” and racked up debts for the family car,
Student Web the Westinghouse Company radio, furniture, washing machine, and vacuum
Activity Visit the broadcast the news of cleaner. Americans bought 75 percent of their radios
American Republic Harding’s landslide election and 60 percent of their automobiles on the install-
Since 1877 Web site at victory from station KDKA ment plan. Some started buying on credit at a faster
tarvol2.glencoe.com rate than their incomes increased.
in Pittsburgh—one of the
first public broadcasts in his-
Web Activities—
Chapter 16 for an
tory. That success persuaded Mass Advertising When inventor Otto Rohwedder
activity on politics and Westinghouse to open other developed a commercial bread slicer in 1928, he faced
economics in the stations. a problem common to new inventions: the bread slicer
1920s. In 1926 the National was a device that made a product—sliced bread—that
Broadcasting Company no one knew they needed. To create consumers for

their new products, manufacturers turned to advertis- Welfare Capitalism Middle-class Americans were
ing, another booming industry in the 1920s. not the only members of the new consumer society.
Advertisers created appealing, persuasive mes- Industrial workers also prospered in the 1920s, partly
sages that linked their clients’ products with qualities due to rising wages and partly because many corpo-
associated with the modern era, such as progress, rations introduced what came to be called welfare
convenience, leisure, success, fashion, and style. In a capitalism. Companies allowed workers to buy
1924 magazine advertisement for deodorant, the stock, participate in profit sharing, and receive bene-
headline read, “Flappers they may be—but they fits such as medical care and pensions.
know the art of feminine appeal!” An advertisement Benefits programs also made unions seem unnec-
for a prepared spaghetti product told the busy home- essary to many workers. During the 1920s, unions
maker that heating is the same as cooking: “Just one lost both influence and membership. Employers pro-
thing to do and it’s ready to serve.” Advertisers also moted the open shop—a workplace where employ-
preyed on consumers’ fears and anxieties, whether ees were not required to join a union.
they be jarred nerves due to the hectic pace of mod- With benefits covering some of their basic needs,
ern life or insecurities about one’s status or weight. workers were able to spend more of their income.
Many eagerly purchased consumer goods they previ-
The Managerial Revolution By the early 1920s, ously could not afford.
many industries had begun to create modern organi-
Reading Check Analyzing Bias How did advertis-
zational structures. Companies were divided into
divisions with different functions, such as sales, mar- ers try to convince Americans to buy their products?
keting, accounting, and operations. To run these divi-
sions, businesses needed to hire managers. Managers
freed executives and owners from the day-to-day The Farm Crisis Returns
business of running their companies and allowed American farmers did not share in the prosperity
them to develop long-range plans and goals. of the 1920s. As a group, they earned less than one-
The managerial revolution in companies created a third of the average income for workers in the rest of
new career—the professional manager—and compa- the economy. Technological advances in fertilizers,
nies began to hire large numbers of people with man- pesticides, seed varieties, and farm machinery
agerial training from business schools. The large allowed them to produce more, but higher yields
numbers of managers helped to expand the size of without a corresponding increase in demand meant
the middle class, which in turn added to the nation’s that they received lower prices. Between 1920 and
prosperity. Similarly, so many companies relied on 1921, corn prices dropped almost 19 percent, and
new technology to drive their business that engineers
were also in very high demand. They too joined the
ranks of the rapidly growing middle class. Farm Wages
$55
(including room
Monthly Wages
$50
and board)
$45
$40
Percentage of National Income
$35
Generated by Industry, 1919—1928
$30
Finance and Agriculture 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930
Miscellaneous 10.5%
Mining Year
16.1%
2.5% Source: Historical Statistics of the United States:
Colonial Times to 1970.
Government Manufacturing
9.6% 21.9%
Services Contract
11.6% Construction
4.4% 1. Interpreting Graphs How far did farm wages fall
Transportation and between 1920 and 1930?
Trade Other Public Utilities 2. Understanding Cause and Effect What caused the
13.6% 9.8%
decline in wages? Do you think farmers could have
done anything to prevent this?

American farm products. Congress had uninten-
tionally made matters worse when it passed the
Fordney-McCumber Act in 1922. This act raised
tariffs dramatically in an effort to protect
American industry from foreign competition. By
dampening the American market for foreign
goods, it provoked a reaction in foreign markets
against American agricultural products.
Farmers in the United States could no longer sell
as much of their output overseas, and prices
tumbled.
Helping Farmers Some members of

Congress tried to help the farmers sell their
surplus. Every year from 1924 to 1928, Senator
Charles McNary of Oregon and Representative
History Gilbert Haugen of Iowa proposed the McNary-
Haugen Bill, which called for the federal government
Price of Progress With the help of improved technology in the 1920s, farm
production went up—and farm prices and farmers’ income went down. How do to purchase surplus crops and sell them abroad while
you explain this “quiet depression”? protecting the American market with a high tariff.
McNary and Haugen argued that the plan would
immediately raise the domestic price of crops, and it
wheat went from $1.83 a bushel to $1.03. The cost to would aid farmers just as the Fordney-McCumber
farmers of the improved technology, meanwhile, tariffs helped manufacturers.
continued to increase. Congress passed the bill twice, but President
Coolidge vetoed it both times. He argued that with
Changing Market Conditions Many factors con- money flowing to farmers under this law, the farmers
tributed to this “quiet depression” in American agri- would be encouraged to produce even greater sur-
culture. During the war, the government had urged plus volumes, which the government would be
farmers to produce more to meet the great need for unable to sell in glutted overseas markets. American
food supplies in Europe. Many farmers borrowed farmers remained mired in recession throughout the
heavily to buy new land (at inflated prices) and new 1920s. Their problems would only grow worse when
machinery in order to raise more crops. Sales were the Great Depression began in 1929.
strong, prices were high, and farmers prospered. After
the war, however, European farm output rose, and the Reading Check Synthesizing What factors led to
debt-ridden countries of Europe had little to spend on the growing economic crisis in farming in the 1920s?
TM
TM

1. Define: mass production, assembly 5. Identifying Cause and Effect How did 7. Analyzing Advertisements Examine
line, welfare capitalism, open shop. the United States government help spur the advertisement on page 518. How
2. Identify: Model T, Charles Lindbergh, the growth of the airline industry? did the growing consumer culture
National Broadcasting Company, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer impact the nation’s economy?
Columbia Broadcasting System. similar to the one below to list some of
3. Summarize the factors that led to the the new industries that grew in impor-
new consumer society in the United tance during the 1920s. Writing About History
States during the 1920s. 8. Expository Writing Write an article for
a contemporary newspaper analyzing
Reviewing Themes New the impact of Charles Lindbergh’s
4. Science and Technology How did the Industries transatlantic flight on the development
automobile impact American society? of aviation in the United States and the
world.

The Policies of
Prosperity
Economic policies of the United States Organizing As you read about govern- • Explain Andrew Mellon’s economic
government encouraged the prosperity of ment policies in the 1920s, complete a strategies for maintaining prosperity.
the 1920s. graphic organizer similar to the one • Describe how the United States
below by filling in ways the government remained involved in world affairs with-
Key Terms and Names attempted to stimulate economic growth out joining the League of Nations.
supply-side economics, cooperative and prosperity.
individualism, isolationism, Charles G. Section Theme
Dawes, Charles Evans Hughes, Ways to Stimulate Economic Factors After World War I, the
Growth and Prosperity United States had to pay down a large
moratorium, Kellogg-Briand Pact
amount of war debt while maintaining
economic growth.
✦1920 ✦1923 ✦1926 ✦1929

1921 1922 1924 1928
Washington Conference begins Fordney-McCumber Dawes Plan negotiated with Kellogg-Briand Pact signed
discussing naval disarmament Act passed France, Britain, and Germany by 15 nations
After Election Day 1920, President-elect Harding began searching for qualified Americans
for his cabinet. One of the most important posts would be secretary of the treasury. The
nation faced a large national debt, and many worried that the country would not easily pull
out of its postwar recession.
Harding was considering Andrew W. Mellon, a successful banker and industrialist, but
he worried about Mellon’s ties to industry and his relative anonymity. Harding’s campaign
manager, Harry Daugherty, reassured the president with a ringing endorsement of Mellon:
“ A man who can quietly make the millions this modest-looking man has gathered in is
little short of a magician. If there is one thing he knows it’s money. He will make for you
Andrew W. Mellon
the greatest Secretary of the Treasury since Alexander Hamilton. . . .
”
—adapted from Mellon’s Millions
Promoting Prosperity
Harry Daugherty’s confidence in Andrew Mellon proved to be well founded. Mellon
became the chief architect of economic policy in the United States in the 1920s, and he
served as secretary of the treasury in three successive Republican administrations. His
policies encouraged growth and led to a stock market boom.

collect more taxes at a lower rate than it would
if it kept tax rates high. This idea is known today as
supply-side economics.
At Mellon’s urging, Congress dramatically
reduced tax rates. When Mellon took office, most tax-
payers paid 4 percent federal income tax, while
wealthy Americans in the highest bracket paid 73
percent. By 1928 Congress had reduced the rate most
Americans paid to .5 percent and cut the rate for the
wealthiest Americans to 25 percent.
Hoover’s Cooperative Individualism Mellon’s

program was only one part of the government’s
effort to promote economic growth. Secretary of
History Commerce Herbert Hoover also sought to promote
Harding’s Cabinet Some members of Harding’s cabinet (posing here with economic stability in various industries. Hoover tried
the president, seated center, in 1921) were effective administrators. How did to balance government regulation with his own phi-
Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon lower the national debt between losophy of cooperative individualism. This idea
1921 and 1929? involved encouraging manufacturers and distribu-
tors to form their own trade associations, which
ECONOMICS would voluntarily share information with the federal
government. Hoover believed this system would
The Mellon Program Mellon firmly believed that
reduce costs and promote economic efficiency.
the government should apply business principles to
To assist American businesses, Hoover also created
its operations. In 1921 he convinced Congress to cre-
several other agencies. He expanded the Bureau of
ate both the Bureau of the Budget to prepare a uni-
Foreign and Domestic Commerce to find new markets
fied federal budget and the General Accounting
and business opportunities for American companies.
Office to track government spending.
He also established the Bureau of Aviation to regulate
When Mellon took office, he had three major
and support the airline industry and the Federal Radio
goals—to balance the budget, to reduce the govern-
Commission, which set rules regarding the use of
ment’s debt, and to cut taxes. He was convinced that
radio frequencies and the power of radio transmitters.
these policies would promote economic growth and
ensure prosperity. Reading Check Evaluating What government poli-
Mellon began by cutting government spending.
cies were intended to promote economic growth and improve
The federal budget fell from $6.4 billion to less than
business efficiency in the 1920s?
$3 billion in seven years. One major expense was the
interest on the national debt. World War I costs had
raised the debt from $5.7 billion in 1917 to almost $26
billion by 1920. Mellon refinanced the debt to lower Trade and Arms Control
the interest on it and persuaded the Federal Reserve Before World War I the United States had owed
to lower its interest rates as well. These steps, com- billions of dollars more to foreign investors than for-
bined with increased tax revenue from the nation’s eigners owed to Americans. By the end of the war,
economic boom, reduced the debt by $7 billion the situation was reversed. Former wartime allies
between 1921 and 1929. owed the United States more than $10 billion in war
In addition to trimming government spending, debts incurred for food and armaments. By the 1920s
Mellon focused on reducing tax rates. He believed that the United States was the dominant economic power
high taxes reduced the money available for private in the world—its national income far greater than
investment and prevented business expansion. Mellon that of Britain, Germany, France, and Japan com-
further argued that high tax rates actually reduced the bined. This new power presented the United States
amount of tax money the government collected. If with a unique diplomatic challenge.
taxes were lower, businesses and consumers would
spend and invest their extra money, causing the econ- Isolationism In his victory speech after the 1920
omy to grow. As the economy grew, Americans would election, President Harding declared the issue of
earn more money, and the government would actually American involvement in the League of Nations

“deceased.” The majority of Americans, tired of being States had gained nothing. These countries also were
entangled in the baffling, mutually hostile, and dan- receiving reparations—huge cash payments
gerous politics of Europe, favored isolationism. They Germany was required to make as punishment for
simply wanted to be left alone to pursue prosperity. starting the war and causing so much destruction.
The United States, however, was too powerful, too These payments, however, were completely crip-
economically interconnected with other countries, pling the German economy.
and too widely involved in international affairs to It was vital for the United States that European
retreat into isolationism. American delegations par- economies be healthy so that the Europeans could
ticipated in many League conferences. It was United buy American exports and repay their war debts.
States policy to promote peace through agreements Thus, in 1924, Charles G. Dawes, an American
with individual countries rather than doing so banker and diplomat, negotiated an agreement
through the collective efforts of the League. with France, Britain, and Germany by which
American banks would make loans to the Germans
The Dawes Plan The United States’s former war- that would enable them to meet their reparations
time allies had difficulty making the payments on payments. At the same time, Britain and France
their immense war debts. They claimed that high would accept less in reparations and pay more on
American tariffs had closed the American market to their war debts.
their products and hampered their economic recov- Although well intended, the Dawes Plan did little
ery. If they could not sell their products in the United to ease Europe’s economic problems. Britain, France,
States, they could not acquire the money they needed and Germany went through the motions of paying
to pay off their war debts. They also argued that the what they owed while in fact going deeper into debt
United States should be willing to bear more of the to American banks and corporations.
financial burden because it had suffered far fewer
wartime casualties than its allies. The Washington Conference Despite severe eco-
The United States government took the stance that nomic hardship, the major powers were involved in a
American taxpayers should not be asked to assume costly postwar naval arms race. To help halt this arms
the debts of others. American officials argued further race, the United States invited representatives from
that America’s allies had gained new territory as a eight major countries—Great Britain, France, Italy,
result of the victory over Germany, while the United China, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
The Washington Conference, November 1921–February 1922

Treaty Signers Terms Weaknesses
Four-Power Treaty United States, • All agreed to respect the • Mutual defense of other co-signers
Great Britain, France, others’ territory in the Pacific not specified
Japan • Full and open negotiations in
the event of disagreements
Five-Power Treaty United States, • All agreed to freeze naval • No restrictions on the construction of
Great Britain, France, production at 1921 levels and smaller battle craft such as sub-
Japan, Italy halt production of large war- marines and naval destroyers
ships for 10 years • Did not place restrictions on the
• U.S. and Great Britain would ground forces
not build new naval bases in
the western Pacific
Nine-Power Treaty United States, Great • All agreed to preserve equal • No enforcement of the terms of the
Britain, France, Japan, commercial rights to China— “Open Door Policy” specified
Italy, Belgium, China, a reassertion of the “Open
the Netherlands, Door Policy”
Portugal
1. Interpreting Charts Which countries signed the
Five-Power Treaty?
2. Analyzing Why do you think the terms of the
treaties focused on the Pacific region?
Their efforts produced three agreements. In the
Five-Power Naval Limitation Treaty, Britain, France,
Italy, Japan, and the United States essentially formal-
ized Hughes’s proposal. The Four-Power Treaty
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier On March 4,
between the United States, Japan, France, and Britain
1921, Congress approved the burial of an unidentified
recognized each country’s island possessions in the
World War I soldier in Arlington National Cemetery
on a hill that overlooks Washington, D.C. This burial Pacific. Finally, all the participating countries signed
site, which was dedicated on November 11, 1921, is the Nine-Power Treaty, which guaranteed China’s
called the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. independence.
In 1958 two unknown soldiers from World War II As a long-term effort to prevent war, the confer-
and the Korean War were buried alongside the origi- ence had some serious shortcomings. It did nothing
nal unknown soldier. In 1984 a Vietnam War soldier to limit land forces. It also angered the Japanese
was added. because it required Japan to maintain a smaller navy
On the side of the than either the United States or Great Britain. It did,
original tomb are however, give Americans cause to look forward to a
inscribed the words: period of peace, recovery, and prosperity.
“Here rests in honored
glory an American Abolishing War The apparent success of the Wash-
soldier known but to ington Conference boosted the belief that written
God.” The Tomb is agreements could end war altogether. Perhaps the
guarded year-round, highest expression of that idea occurred when U.S.
day and night, regard-
Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French Foreign
less of weather.
Minister Aristide Briand proposed a treaty to outlaw
war. On August 27, 1928, the United States and 14
other nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
Portugal—to Washington to discuss disarmament. Eventually 62 nations ratified it.
The Washington Conference opened on November Though it had no binding force, the pact was
12, 1921. hailed as a victory for peace. It stated that all sign-
In his address to the delegates, Secretary of ing nations agreed to abandon war and to settle all
State Charles Evans Hughes proposed a 10-year disputes by peaceful means. The Kellogg-Briand
moratorium—or pause—on the construction of Pact and the Dawes Plan were perhaps the most
major new warships. He also proposed a list of war- notable foreign policy achievements of the Coolidge
ships in each country’s navy to be destroyed, begin- administration.
ning with some American battleships. The delegates
cheered Hughes’s speech and then entered into Reading Check Identifying Why did the Dawes
lengthy negotiations. Plan fail to ease Europe’s economic problems?
TM
TM

1. Define: supply-side economics, cooper- 4. Evaluating What efforts did the United 6. Analyzing Photographs Study the
ative individualism, isolationism, States make to promote permanent photograph on page 522 of President
moratorium. peace and worldwide economic recov- Harding’s cabinet of advisers. What dif-
2. Identify: Charles G. Dawes, Charles ery? Were these efforts successful? ferences do you see between politics
Evans Hughes, Kellogg-Briand Pact. Explain your answer. and the media then and now?
5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer
Reviewing Themes like the one below to list the major
3. Economic Factors Why did Andrew terms of the treaties resulting from the
Mellon work to reduce federal tax Washington Conference. 7. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are
rates? an American business owner or farmer
Major Terms
of Treaties
in the 1920s. Write a letter to your rep-
resentatives in Congress explaining why
you think cutting tax rates is a good or
bad idea.
Critical Thinking
Distinguishing Fact From Opinion

Imagine that you are watching two candidates For each pair of statements below, determine
for president debate the merits of the college loan which is a fact and which is an opinion. Give a rea-
program. One candidate says, “In my view, the son for each of your choices.
college loan program must be reformed. Sixty 1 a. President Harding was born in Ohio in 1865.
percent of students do not repay their loans on
b. Harding later became the most scandalous
time.”
president in United States history.
The other candidate responds, “College costs
are skyrocketing, but only 30 percent of students 2 a. Harding’s administration suffered numerous
default on their loans for more than one year. I public scandals, including the Teapot Dome
believe we should spend more money on this scandal.
worthy program.” b. Calvin Coolidge was probably disgusted
How can you tell who or what to believe? First, with Harding’s poor performance in the
you must learn to distinguish a fact from an opin- White House.
ion. Then you will be better prepared to evaluate 3 a. Harding stated that the United States needed
the statements that other people make. a return to normalcy, but he did not do any-
thing to help the country.
Learning the Skill b. Coolidge took over the White House after
A fact is a statement that can be proven. In the Harding’s death and led the nation for the
example above, the statement “Sixty percent of stu- next several years.
dents do not repay their loans on time” may be a 4 a. Henry Ford significantly lowered the price of
fact. By reviewing statistics on the number of stu- the automobile with his mass production
dent loan recipients who repay their loans, we can methods.
determine whether the statement is true or false. To b. Ford’s Model T was the most significant
identify potential facts, look for words and phrases invention of the 20th century.
indicating specific people, places, events, dates,
amounts, or times.
An opinion, on the other hand, expresses a per- Skills Assessment
sonal belief, viewpoint, or emotion. Because opin- Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
ions are subjective, we cannot prove or disprove page 527 and the Chapter 16 Skill Reinforcement
them. In the example above, most statements by Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
the candidates are opinions. To identify opinions,
look for qualifying words and phrases such as
I think, I believe, probably, seems to me, may, might,
could, ought, should, in my judgment, and in my view. Applying the Skill
Also, look for expressions of approval or disap- Distinguishing Fact From Opinion In a newspaper,
proval such as good, bad, poor, and satisfactory. Be find a news article and an editorial on the same topic
aware of superlatives such as greatest, worst, finest, or issue. Identify five facts and five opinions from these
and best, and notice words with negative meanings sources.
and implications such as squander, contemptible, and
disgrace. Also, identify generalizations such as none, Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
every, always, and never. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
525
Reviewing Key Terms 18. Evaluating How effective were President Coolidge’s
attempts to distance himself from the Harding administra-
On a sheet of paper, use each of the following terms in a sentence.
tion? Explain your answer.
1. normalcy 6. open shop 19. Forming an Opinion The former World War I allies felt that
2. immunity 7. supply-side economics the United States should have borne more of the financial
3. mass production 8. cooperative individualism burden after the war. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your
answer.
4. assembly line 9. isolationism
20. Identifying Cause and Effect Examine the graph on page
5. welfare capitalism 10. moratorium 519. What caused the trend illustrated in this graph?
21. Interpreting Primary Sources In December 1928, President
Reviewing Key Facts Coolidge delivered his annual State of the Union message to
11. Identify: Albert B. Fall, Teapot Dome scandal, Charles Congress. Read the excerpt and answer the questions that
Lindbergh, Charles G. Dawes, Charles Evans Hughes, follow.
Kellogg-Briand Pact.
12. What was the presidency of Warren G. Harding like? “ The great wealth created by our enterprise and
industry, and saved by our economy, has had the widest
13. How did President Coolidge restore public confidence? distribution among our own people, and has gone out
14. What were four new industries, besides the automobile in a steady stream to serve the charity and the business
industry, that grew in importance during the 1920s? of the world. The requirements of existence have passed
15. How did Henry Ford increase worker loyalty and impact the beyond the standard of necessity into the region of lux-
labor movement? ury. . . . The country can regard the present with satis-
16. What were Andrew Mellon’s strategies for maintaining faction and anticipate the future with optimism.
postwar American prosperity?
The main source of these unexplained blessings lies
in the integrity and character of the American people.
Critical Thinking They have had great faith, which they have
17. Analyzing Themes: Culture and Traditions How did auto- supplemented with mighty works. . . . Yet these remark-
mobiles change the standard of living during the 1920s? able powers would have been exerted almost in vain
Government’s Role Business Innovation New Consumer Society

• Minimal interference with business • Mass production reduced prices • More disposable income
• Cut government spending and debt • Technology such as autos, airplanes, • More leisure time
• Eliminated or reduced taxes and radios led to new industries • Easily available credit
• High tariffs • New consumer goods fueled • Mass advertising
manufacturing boom
Prosperity
HISTORY Cost of a Model T, 1908—1924
$1,000
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at $900
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— $800
$700
$600
without the constant cooperation and careful adminis-
Cost
$500
”
tration of the Federal Government. . . .
$400
—from President Coolidge’s Annual Message
$300
to Congress, December 4, 1928
$200
a. According to Coolidge, how should Americans feel about
the present economy and the future economy? $100
b. Whom does Coolidge credit for U.S. prosperity? 0
22. Organizing Use a graphic organizer like the one below to 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924
list the factors that helped create a new consumer society in Year
the United States during the 1920s.

26. The graph above shows the cost of a new Model T automo-
bile between 1908 and 1924. Study the graph and answer
the questions below.
New Consumer Society a. Interpreting Graphs By how much did the cost of the
Model T drop from 1908 to 1920?
b. Evaluating How was Henry Ford able to lower the price
Practicing Skills of the Model T?
23. Distinguishing Fact From Opinion Read the following
statements. Determine which are facts and which are opin-
ions. Give a reason for each of your choices.
a. American farmers earned less than one-third the average Standardized
income for workers in the rest of the economy in the
1920s. Test Practice
b. President Harding’s choice to appoint Colonel Charles R. Directions: Choose the phrase that best
Forbes to head the Veterans Bureau was his worst deci- completes the following sentence.
sion in office. One of the effects of World War I on the American
c. The Kelly Act authorized postal officials to contract with economy was
private airplane operators to carry mail. A a sharp rise in unemployment.
B stronger government control over industry.
Chapter Activity C a sharp decrease in taxes.
24. American History Primary Source Document Library D the abolition of labor unions, which were seen as
CD-ROM Under The Roaring Twenties, read “Ford and the unpatriotic.
Model T” by Charles E. Sorenson. Work with a few of your
classmates to create a diorama of the first Model T assembly Test-Taking Tip: This question is asking for a cause-and-
line based on the information in the article. effect relationship. Look for an answer that can be directly
related to the needs of a wartime economy. During the war,
Writing Activity it was necessary to produce supplies and munitions for the
25. Persuasive Writing Use the Internet or other resources to armed forces (which also needed more personnel), so
research advertisements and products from the 1920s. Then, answer A must be incorrect. In fact, there were more jobs
based on the style of these advertisements, create an ad for a and fewer workers to fill them, so unemployment is not a
personal-care product that became popular in the 1920s, logical choice.
such as mouthwash, deodorant, cosmetics, or perfume.

The Great
Depression Begins
1929–1932
Why It Matters
Prosperity in the United States seemed limitless before the Great Depression struck.
Overproduction and agricultural problems contributed to the economic catastrophe. President
Hoover looked to voluntary business action and limited government relief as solutions, but these
efforts failed. Meanwhile, millions of Americans lost their jobs and life savings. Artists and
writers depicted this suffering, and many people turned to lighthearted films to escape their
difficult lives.
The Impact Today

Events of this period remain important.
• Hoover’s model of business-government cooperation is still influential.
• John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath and Grant Wood’s painting American Gothic are
permanent artistic legacies.

The Chapter 17 video, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
chronicles Depression-era life in the United States.
October 29, 1929

• Stock market crashes
on Black Tuesday
June 1930
• Hawley-Smoot Tariff
1930 passed
• Grant Wood paints
American Gothic
Hoover
1929–1933 ▲ ▲ ▲
1929 1930 1931
▼ ▼ ▼
1929 1930 1931
• Remarque’s All Quiet on the • Ras Tafari becomes • Gandhi released from prison
Western Front published Emperor Haile Selassie in India, ending second
of Ethiopia passive resistance campaign
against British rule
528
Girls pump for water during a dust storm
in Springfield, Colorado.
October 1931
• National Credit 1932
Corporation created
• Drought sweeps July 1932
Great Plains • Bonus Marchers
forced out of
Washington, D.C.
January 1932
• Reconstruction Finance HISTORY
Corporation created
F. Roosevelt
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ 1933–1945 Chapter Overview
February 1932 information.
1932 • Japan sets up puppet
September 21, 1931 • Salazar becomes government in
• Britain abandons gold premier of Portugal Manchukuo in
standard northern China
529
Causes of the
Depression
Inflated stock prices, overproduction, high Categorizing As you read about the • Describe the characteristics of the
tariffs, and mistakes by the Federal election of 1928, complete a graphic 1920s stock market.
Reserve led to the Great Depression. organizer similar to the one below • Identify the causes of the Great
comparing the backgrounds and issues Depression.
Key Terms and Names of the presidential candidates.
Alfred E. Smith, stock market, bull market, Section Theme
margin, margin call, speculation, Black 1928 Presidential Campaign Economic Factors The Great Depression
Tuesday, installment, Hawley-Smoot Candidate Background Issues was caused by a combination of various
Tariff economic problems and government
policies.
✦November 1928 ✦September 1929 ✦July 1930

November 1928 October 24, 1929 October 29, 1929 June 1930
Herbert Hoover Stocks fall during Black Tuesday stock Congress passes
elected president Black Thursday market crash Hawley-Smoot Tariff
In the years just after the 1929 stock market crash, Annetta Gibson taught English in a
Rockford, Illinois, grade school. As a teacher, Gibson was lucky because she was at least
able to keep her job, unlike many other American workers.
“ Everyone knew that the teachers’ salaries were being held up. . . . The stores
charged anything we wanted, and we’d pay them when we got paid, so it wasn’t too bad.
The one thing that was bad was that we had worked hard at school to get the children
to save. . . . The children would bring, oh, maybe just a few pennies that they would put
in their banks. Some of them had nice little bank accounts when the Depression hit, and
some of them never got their money back. It wasn’t too good a lesson . . . because they
Bank run thought they might as well spend their money as save it and then have it gone.
”
—quoted in Centenarians: The Story of the Twentieth
Century by the Americans Who Lived It

The economic collapse that began in 1929 had seemed unimaginable only a year ear-
lier. In the election of 1928, the presidential candidates vied with each other to paint a
rosy picture of the future. Republican Herbert Hoover declared, “We are nearer to the
final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.”
530 CHAPTER 17 The Great Depression Begins

The Candidates When Calvin Coolidge decided not As the market continued to soar, many investors
to run for president in 1928, he cleared the way for began buying stocks on margin, meaning they made
Herbert Hoover to head the Republican ticket. A suc- only a small cash down payment—as low as 10 per-
cessful engineer and former head of the Food cent of the price. With $1,000 an investor could buy
Administration during World War I, Hoover had also $10,000 worth of stock. The other $9,000 would come
spent over seven years as secretary of commerce in as a loan from a stockbroker, who earned both a com-
the Harding and Coolidge administrations. The mission on the sale and interest on the loan. The bro-
Democrats chose Alfred E. Smith, four-time governor ker held the stock as collateral.
of New York. Smith was an Irish American from New As long as stock prices kept rising, buying on mar-
York’s Lower East Side and the first Roman Catholic gin was safe. For example, an investor who borrowed
ever nominated to run for president. money to buy $10,000 worth of stocks had to wait only
a short time for them to rise to $11,000 in value. The
Campaign Issues By 1928 Prohibition had become a investor could then sell the stock, repay the loan, and
major issue among voters. Because he favored the make $1,000 in profit. The problem came if the stock
ban on liquor sales, Hoover was considered a “dry” price began to fall. To protect the loan, a broker could
in the popular language of the day. Smith, who dis- issue a margin call, demanding the investor repay the
liked the ban, was a “wet.” loan at once. As a result, many investors were very
The candidates’ religious differences sparked a sensitive to any fall in stock prices. If prices fell, they
smear campaign against Smith. Many Protestants had to sell quickly, or they might not be able to repay
were willing to believe that the Catholic Church their loans.
financed the Democratic Party and would rule the Before the late 1920s, the prices investors paid for
United States if Smith got into the White House. stocks had generally reflected the stocks’ true value. If
These slurs embarrassed Hoover, a Quaker, and he a company made a profit or had good future sales
tried to quash them, but the charges seriously dam- prospects, its stock price rose, while a drop in earnings
aged Smith’s candidacy. or an aging product line could send the price down. In
Smith’s biggest problem, however, was the pros- the late 1920s, however, hordes of new investors bid
perity of the 1920s, for which the Republicans took prices up without regard to a company’s earnings and
full credit. Republican candidates promised to con- profits. Buyers, hoping to make a fortune overnight,
tinue the trend with such slogans as “two cars in engaged in speculation. Instead of investing in the
every garage.” Hoover received over 6 million more future of the companies whose shares they bought,
votes than Smith and won the Electoral College in a
landslide, 444 to 87.
On March 4, 1929, an audience of 50,000 stood in History
the rain to hear Hoover’s inaugural speech. Sound Herbert Hoover The nation and its new president felt confident about the
movie cameras covered the inauguration for the first future in early 1929. Why were Americans so optimistic?
time and radios broadcast the address worldwide. “I
have no fears for the future of our country,” Hoover
said. “It is bright with hope.”
Reading Check Examining What campaign issues
led to Herbert Hoover’s election to the presidency?
The Long Bull Market

The wave of optimism that swept Hoover into the
White House also drove stock prices to new highs. The
stock market was established as a system for buying
and selling shares of companies. Sometimes circum-
stances in the stock market lead to a long period of ris-
ing stock prices, which is known as a bull market. In
the late 1920s a prolonged bull market convinced
many Americans to invest heavily in stocks. By 1929
about 3 million Americans, or roughly 10 percent of
households, owned stocks.
Cyclical Effect
The Great Depression
Automobile sales declined.
This loss of demand meant less demand for:
Causes
• Overproduction and low demand Which helped
leads to employee layoffs contribute further to...
• Low wages reduce consumer Textiles Oil
buying power
• High tariffs restrict foreign Unemployment
Steel Rubber
demand for American goods Lower wages
• Unemployment reduces buying
power further
Industry
slowed,
which caused:
Stock Prices, 1920–1932
$350
Annual high
$300 Annual low
Price per Share
$250
1. Interpreting Graphs Stock prices peaked in 1929.
$200 Before this peak, when did they begin to rise sharply?
$150 2. Making Generalizations How did the decline in auto
$100 sales affect many other industries?
$50
0
1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932
Dow-Jones Industrial Averages down here with some cash to cover your margin,”
Source: Standard and Poor’s Security Price Index Record. the broker said. The stock market had plunged. The
dazed comedian had to pay back the money he had
borrowed to buy stocks, which were now selling for
speculators took risks, betting that the market would far less than he had paid.
continue to climb, thus enabling them to sell the stock Other brokers made similar margin calls.
and make money quickly. Frightened customers put their stocks up for sale at a
frenzied pace, driving the market into a tailspin.
Reading Check Summarizing What was the stock
When Marx arrived at the brokerage, he found ticker
market like in the 1920s? tape “knee-deep on the floor.” He further recalled,
“People were shouting orders to sell and others were
frantically scribbling checks in vain efforts to save
The Great Crash their original investments.”
The bull market lasted only as long as investors On October 24, a day that came to be called Black
continued putting new money into it. By the latter Thursday, the market plummeted further. Marx was
half of 1929, the market was running out of new cus- wiped out. He had earned a small fortune from plays
tomers. In September professional investors sensed and films, and now it was gone in the blink of an eye.
danger and began to sell off their holdings. Prices Like many other investors, he was deeply in debt.
slipped. Other investors sold shares to pay the inter- Arthur Marx recalled his father’s final visit to the
est on their brokerage loans. Prices fell further. brokerage, as Groucho looked around and spotted
his broker:
TURNING POINT
Crash! On Monday, October 21, Groucho Marx, the
comic star of stage and screen, was awakened by a
“ He was sitting in front of the now-stilled ticker-
tape machine, with his head buried in his hands.
telephone call from his broker. “You’d better get Ticker tape was strewn around him on the floor, and

the place . . . looked as if it hadn’t been swept out in of the Depression, more than 3,000 banks—over 10
a week. Groucho tapped [him] on the shoulder and percent of the nation’s total—were forced to close.
said, ‘Aren’t you the fellow who said nothing could go Reading Check Evaluating How did bank failures
wrong?’ ‘I guess I made a mistake,’ the broker wearily
contribute to the Great Depression?
replied. ‘No, I’m the one who made a mistake,’
snapped Groucho. ‘I listened to you.’
” The Roots of the Great Depression
—quoted in 1929: The Year of the Great Crash
The stock market crash helped put the economy
The following week, on October 29, a day later
into a recession. Yet the crash would not have led to a
dubbed Black Tuesday, prices took the steepest dive
long-lasting depression if other forces had not been
yet. That day stocks lost $10 to $15 billion in value.
at work. The roots of the Great Depression were
By mid-November stock prices had dropped by over
deeply entangled in the economy of the 1920s.
one-third. Some $30 billion was lost, a sum roughly
equal to the total wages earned by Americans in 1929.
The stock market crash was not the major cause of the
The Uneven Distribution of Income Most econo-
mists agree that overproduction was a key cause of
Great Depression, but it undermined the economy’s
the Depression. More efficient machinery increased
ability to hold out against its other weaknesses.
the production capacity of both factories and farms.
Most Americans did not earn enough to buy up
Banks in a Tailspin The market crash severely
the flood of goods they helped produce. While man-
weakened the nation’s banks in two ways. First, many
ufacturing output per person-hour rose 32 percent,
banks had lent money to stock speculators. Second,
the average worker’s wage increased only 8 percent.
many banks had invested depositors’ money in the
In 1929 the top 5 percent of all American households
stock market, hoping for higher returns than they
earned 30 percent of the nation’s income. By contrast,
could get by using the money for conventional loans.
about two-thirds of families earned less than $2,500 a
When stock values collapsed, the banks lost
year, leaving them little expendable income.
money on their investments, and the speculators
defaulted on their loans. Having suffered serious
losses, many banks cut back drastically on the loans History Through Art
they made. With less credit available, consumers and Wall Street Panic This painting shows the confusion and chaos surrounding
businesses were unable to borrow as much money as the financial industry in October 1929. How does the artist depict a sense of
they had previously. This helped to put the economy disorder?
into a recession.
For some banks, the losses they suffered in the
crash were more than they could absorb, and they
were forced to close. At that time, the government
did not insure bank deposits; therefore, if a bank col-
lapsed, customers lost their savings. The bank fail-
ures in 1929 and early 1930 triggered a crisis of
confidence in the banking system.
News of bank failures worried many Americans.
They began to make runs on the nation’s banks, caus-
ing the banks to collapse. A bank run takes place
when many depositors decide to withdraw their
money at one time, usually for fear the bank is going
to collapse.
Most banks make a profit by lending money
received from depositors and collecting interest on
the loans. The bank holds on to only a fraction of
the depositors’ money to cover everyday business,
such as occasional withdrawals. Ordinarily that
reserve is enough to meet the bank’s needs, but if
too many people withdraw their money, the bank
will eventually collapse. During the first two years
Matters grew worse after June 1930, when Congress
passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff raising the average
tariff rate to the highest level in American history. Rates
went up on more than 900 manufactured items. The
Hawley-Smoot Tariff aimed to protect American manu-
facturers from foreign competition, but it damaged
American sales abroad. Because imports now cost
much more, Americans bought fewer of them. Foreign
Newspaper headline the day countries responded by raising their own tariffs against
after Black Tuesday American products, and this caused fewer American
products to be sold overseas. In 1932 U.S. exports fell to
During the 1920s many Americans bought high-
about one-fifth of what they had been in 1929, which
cost items, such as refrigerators and cars, on the
hurt both American companies and farmers.
installment plan, under which they would make a
small down payment and pay the rest in monthly
installments. Some buyers reached a point where Mistakes by the Federal Reserve Just as con-
paying off their debts forced them to reduce other sumers were able to buy more goods on credit, access
purchases. This low consumption then led manufac- to easy money propelled the stock market. Instead of
turers to cut production and lay off employees. raising interest rates to curb excessive speculation,
The slowdown in retail manufacturing had reper- the Federal Reserve Board kept its rates very low
cussions throughout the economy. When radio sales throughout the 1920s.
slumped, for example, makers cut back on their orders The Board’s failure to raise interest rates signifi-
for copper wire, wood cabinets, and glass radio tubes. cantly helped cause the Depression in two ways.
Montana copper miners, Minnesota lumberjacks, and First, by keeping rates low, it encouraged member
Ohio glassworkers, in turn, lost their jobs. Jobless banks to make risky loans. Second, its low interest
workers had to cut back purchases, further reducing rates led business leaders to think the economy was
sales. This kind of chain reaction put more and more still expanding. As a result, they borrowed more
Americans out of work. money to expand production, a serious mistake
because it led to overproduction when sales were
The Loss of Export Sales Many jobs might have been falling. When the Depression finally hit, companies
saved if American manufacturers had sold more goods had to lay off workers to cut costs. Then the Fed
abroad. As the bull market of the 1920s accelerated, made another mistake. It raised interest rates, tight-
U.S. banks made high-interest loans to stock specula- ening credit. The economy continued to spiral
tors instead of lending money to foreign companies. downward.
Without these loans from U.S. banks, foreign compa-
nies purchased fewer products from American manu- Reading Check Examining How did the decline in
facturers. worldwide trade contribute to the Depression?
TM
TM

1. Define: stock market, bull market, 5. Determining Cause and Effect Why 7. Analyzing Graphs Study the graphs
margin, margin call, speculation, did the stock market crash cause banks on page 532. Note that decreased
installment. to fail? demand for automobiles ultimately led
2. Identify: Alfred E. Smith, Black 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to layoffs. These layoffs further
Tuesday, Hawley-Smoot Tariff. similar to the one below to list the decreased the demand for automobiles.
3. Explain the significance of the year causes of the Great Depression. What do you think might have ended
1929. Causes
this cycle?

4. Economic Factors How did the prac- Great 8. Expository Writing Write an article
Depression
tices of buying on margin and specula- for a financial magazine explaining the
tion cause the stock market to rise? rapid decline of the stock market in
1929 and the reasons for the Black
Tuesday crash.
Life During the
Depression
Many people were impoverished during Taking Notes As you read about life in • Describe how the Great Depression
the Great Depression, but some found the United States during the Great affected American families.
ways to cope with the hard times. Depression, use the major headings of • Discuss how artists portrayed the
the section to create an outline similar to effects of the Depression.
Key Terms and Names the one below.
bailiff, shantytown, Hooverville, hobo, Section Theme
Dust Bowl, Walt Disney, soap opera, Life During the Depression Culture and Traditions Radio and
Grant Wood, John Steinbeck, William I. The Depression Worsens motion pictures provided ways to escape
A.
Faulkner B. the worries that plagued people during
C. the Depression’s early years.
II.
✦1930 ✦1935 ✦1940

1930 1932 1934 1937 1939
Grant Wood paints Drought sweeps Dust storms destroy Walt Disney releases Snow Popular musical The
American Gothic Great Plains 300 million acres White and the Seven Dwarfs Wizard of Oz released
A young girl with the unusual name of Dynamite Garland was living with her family in
Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1930s when her father, a railroad worker, lost his job. Unable to
afford rent, they gave up their home and moved into a two-car garage.
The hardest aspect of living in a garage was getting through the frigid winters. “We would
sleep with rugs and blankets over the top of us,” Garland later recalled. “In the morning
we’d . . . get some snow and put it on the stove and melt it and wash ’round our faces.” When
Garland’s father found a part-time job in a Chinese restaurant, the family “lived on those fried
noodles.”
On Sundays the family looked at houses for sale. “That was a recreation during the
Depression,” said Garland. “You’d go and see where you’d put this and where you could put
that, and this is gonna be my room.” In this way, the family tried to focus on better times.
Movies and radio programs also provided a brief escape from their troubles, but the struggle
to survive left little room for pleasure.
—adapted from Hard Times
An unemployed man
The Depression Worsens
advertising his skills In 1930, 1,352 banks suspended operations across the nation, more than twice the num-
ber of bank failures in 1929. The Depression grew steadily worse during Hoover’s admin-
istration. By 1933 more than 9,000 banks had failed. In 1932 alone some 30,000 companies
CHAPTER 17 The Great Depression Begins 535

MOMENT
in HISTORY
IMAGE OF AN ERA
Lasting a decade, the Great
Depression deprived many
Americans of jobs, land, and
livelihoods. Plummeting crop
prices and farms withering
under drought and dust
clouds forced many families
to take to the road in search
of work, often with little suc-
cess. Dismayed by scenes of
destitution and homelessness,
photographer Dorothea Lange
joined the Resettlement
Administration in 1935.
In 1936 in rural Nipomo,
California, Lange photographed
this “Migrant Mother,” a 32-
year-old woman with seven
children. She had just sold her
car tires to buy food.
went out of business. By 1933 more than 12 million Living in Makeshift Villages Families or individu-
workers were unemployed—about one-fourth of the als who could not pay their rent or mortgage lost
workforce. Average family income dropped from their homes. Some of them, paralyzed by fear and
$2,300 in 1929 to $1,600 a few years later. humiliation over their sudden misfortune, simply
would not or could not move. Their landlord would
Lining Up at Soup Kitchens People without jobs then ask the court for an eviction notice. Court offi-
often went hungry. Whenever possible they joined cers called bailiffs then ejected the nonpaying ten-
bread lines to receive a free handout of food or lined ants, piling their belongings in the street.
up outside soup kitchens, which private charities set Throughout the country, newly homeless people
up to give poor people a meal. put up shacks on unused or public lands, forming
Peggy Terry, a young girl in Oklahoma City during communities called shantytowns. Blaming the presi-
the Depression, later told an interviewer how each day dent for their plight, people referred to such places as
after school, her mother sent her to the soup kitchen: Hoovervilles.
In search of work or a better life, many homeless
“ If you happened to be one of the first ones in line,
you didn’t get anything but water that was on top. So and unemployed Americans began to wander
we’d ask the guy that was ladling out soup into the around the country, walking, hitchhiking, or, most
often, “riding the rails.” These wanderers, called
buckets—everybody had to bring their own bucket to
hobos, would sneak past railroad police to slip into
get the soup—he’d dip the greasy, watery stuff off
open boxcars on freight trains for a ride to some-
the top. So we’d ask him to please dip down to get where else. They camped in “hobo jungles,” usually
some meat and potatoes from the bottom of the situated near rail yards. Hundreds of thousands of
”
kettle. But he wouldn’t do it.
—quoted in Hard Times
people, mostly boys and young men, wandered from
place to place in this fashion.

GEOGRAPHY turn them over to the banks.
The Dust Bowl Farmers soon faced a new disaster.
Then, nearly penniless, many HISTORY
families packed their belong-
Since the beginnings of homesteading on the Great
ings into old cars or trucks Student Web
Plains, farmers had gambled with nature. Their
and headed west, hoping for Activity Visit the
plows had uprooted the wild grasses that held the
a better life in California. American Republic
soil’s moisture. The new settlers then blanketed the
Since many migrants were Since 1877 Web site at
region with wheat fields.
from Oklahoma, they became tarvol2.glencoe.com
When crop prices dropped in the 1920s, however,
known as “Okies.” In and click on Student
Midwestern farmers left many of their fields unculti-
California, they lived in Web Activities—
vated. Then, beginning in 1932, a terrible drought Chapter 17 for an
makeshift roadside camps
struck the Great Plains. With neither grass nor wheat activity on the Great
and remained homeless and
to hold the scant rainfall, the soil dried to dust. From Depression.
impoverished.
the Dakotas to Texas, America’s pastures and wheat
fields became a vast “Dust Bowl.” Reading Check
Winds whipped the arid earth, blowing it aloft Explaining What chain of events turned the once-fertile Great
and blackening the sky for hundreds of miles. When Plains into the Dust Bowl?
the dust settled, it buried crops and livestock and
piled up against farmhouses like snow. No matter
how carefully farm families sealed their homes, dust Escaping the Depression
covered everything in the house. As the drought per- Despite the devastatingly hard times, Americans
sisted, the number of yearly dust storms grew, from could escape—if only for an hour or two—through
22 in 1934 to 72 in 1937. entertainment. Most people could scrape together
Some Midwestern and Great Plains farmers man- the money to go to the movies, or they could sit with
aged to hold on to their land, but many had no chance. their families and listen to one of the many radio pro-
If their withered fields were mortgaged, they had to grams broadcast across the country.
In
Motion
Dust Bowl, 1930s
State with population
loss, 1930–1940
Area with severe loss of topsoil
Area with moderate loss of topsoil N. DAK.
Movement of people
MONT. Fargo
Destination of Dust Bowl emigrants MINN.
S. DAK. Minneapolis
WIS. MICH.
40°N IDAHO WYO.
IOWA
CALIF. Omaha OHIO
N Grand NEBR. ILL. IND.
NEV. W
Cent ral Va
Junction
W
E Denver Kansas City VA. VA. Okies escaping the
UTAH KY.
S Fresno COLO. KANS. Dust Bowl
MO. N.C.
ll e y
Bakersfield Flagstaff Santa Fe Tulsa TENN.

Los Angeles Albuquerque Oklahoma City S.C.
OKLA. ARK.
MISS. ALA.
30°N
PaCIFIC ARIZ. N. MEX. GA.
OCEaN Dallas LA.
0 500 miles
TEXAS Houston
Gulf of
120°W Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection 90°W
1. Interpreting Maps Which states lost

population in the 1930s?
2. Applying Geography Skills Why did
most of the routes shown on the map
lead to cities?
The Hollywood Fantasy Factory Ordinary citizens American political system as the peak of “what
often went to the movies to see people who were rich, man’s carved out for himself after centuries of fight-
happy, and successful. The 60 to 90 million weekly ing for something better than just jungle law.”
viewers walked into a fantasy world of thrills and Gone with the Wind, an elaborately costumed film
romance. Comical screenplays offered a welcome nearly four hours long, topped the Depression-era
release from daily worries. Groucho Marx wise- epics. Its heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, played by British
cracked while his brothers’ antics provoked hilarity actress Vivien Leigh, struggles to maintain her life on
in such films as Animal Crackers. a Georgia plantation during and after the Civil War.
Many European actors, writers, and directors, flee- Romance enters as Clark Gable, playing the master-
ing economic hardship and the threat of dictator- ful Rhett Butler, woos Scarlett. Audiences found
ships, went to Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s. inspiration in Scarlett’s unassailable will to survive.
Two European women emerged as superstars.
Germany’s Marlene Dietrich portrayed a range of On the Air While movie drama captured the imagina-
roles with subtlety. Swedish actress Greta Garbo tion, radio offered entertainment on a more personal
often played a doomed beauty, direct and unhesitat- level. People listened to the radio every day, gathering
ing in her speech and actions. around the big wooden box in the living room. It could
Moviegoers also loved cartoons. Walt Disney have been the voice of the president or a newscaster
produced the first feature-length animated film, that held their attention. More often it was the comedy
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937. Its box of Jack Benny or George Burns and Gracie Allen, or the
office appeal may have spurred MGM two years later adventures of a hero like the Green Hornet.
to produce The Wizard of Oz, a colorful musical that One of the most popular heroes was the Lone
lifted viewers’ spirits. Ranger, who fought injustice in the Old West with the
Even when films focused on serious subjects, they help of his “faithful Indian companion,” Tonto. The
usually contained a note of optimism. In Mr. Smith listener needed only to picture the hero with a black
Goes to Washington, James Stewart plays a naïve mask hiding his identity, as he fired a silver bullet to
youth leader who becomes a senator. He dramati- knock a gun from an outlaw’s hand.
cally exposes the corruption of some of his colleagues Daytime radio dramas carried their stories over
and calls upon his fellow senators to see the from day to day. Programs such as The Guiding Light
depicted middle-class families confronting illness,
conflict, and other problems. These short dramas
allowed listeners to escape into a world more excit-
ing than their own. The shows’ sponsors were often
Hobo Signs The hundreds of thousands of hobos makers of laundry soaps, so the shows were nick-
who roamed the country developed intricate symbols named soap operas.
that they wrote on trees, fences, or buildings to warn While the Depression tore at the fabric of many
or inform other hobos. Many became a part of towns, radio created a new type of community. Even
American folklore. strangers found common ground in discussing the
lives of radio characters.
(a closed eye) This community is indifferent Reading Check Evaluating What movies and radio
toward hobos.
shows entertained Americans during the Depression?
(an open eye) The authorities here are alert;
be careful.
This is a dangerous neighborhood. The Depression in Art

Art and literature also flourished in the harsh
Fresh water and a safe campsite. and emotional 1930s. The homeless and unem-
ployed became the subject of pictures and stories as
This is dangerous drinking water. artists and writers tried to portray life around them.
Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood led the
This is a good place for a handout. regionalist school, which emphasized traditional
American values, especially those of the rural Midwest
You may sleep in the hayloft here. and South. Wood’s most famous painting, American
Gothic, portrays a stern farmer and his daughter in
Source: Hobo Signs.

front of their humble farmhouse. The in History
portrait pays tribute to no-nonsense
Midwesterners while at the same time Dorothea Lange 1895–1965
gently making fun of their severity. Before she had ever used a camera, gazing listlessly out
Novelists such as John Steinbeck Dorothea Lange knew she wanted to be of a tattered tent.
added flesh and blood to journalists’ a photographer. After finishing high Lange took five
reports of poverty and misfortune. Their school, she took a photography course pictures while the
in New York, then traveled around the mother “sat in that
writing evoked both sympathy for their
world. Lange earned her keep by taking lean-to tent with
characters and indignation at social and selling photos. Her trip ended in her children huddled around her, and
injustice. In The Grapes of Wrath, pub- San Francisco. seemed to know that my pictures
lished in 1939, Steinbeck tells the story of In San Francisco, Lange photo- might help her, and so she helped me.”
an Oklahoma family fleeing the Dust graphed homeless people and uncov- In the mid-1930s, Lange traveled
Bowl to find a new life in California. ered the desperation of her subjects. through the Dust Bowl states, capturing
Steinbeck had seen firsthand the plight One day, while driving through the ravages of dust storms. When the
California’s Central Valley, Lange images were reproduced in a best-
of migrant farm families uprooted by noticed a sign: “Pea-Pickers Camp.” selling book, American Exodus, the
the Dust Bowl. After visiting camps of On impulse, she stopped. She state of California created camps to
these families he had a better under- approached a woman and her children shelter migrant workers.
standing of their fears. He described
“people in flight” along Route 66. Inside
one old jalopy sat the members of a fam-
ily, worrying: Southern writer, Thomas Wolfe, used the facts of his
own life to examine the theme of artistic creation in
“ There goes a gasket. Got to go on. Find a nice
place to camp. . . . The food’s getting low, the
such powerful novels as Look Homeward Angel.
While the written word remained powerful, the
money’s getting low. When we can’t buy no more printed image was growing in influence. Magazine
gas—what then? Danny in the back seat wants a cup photographers roamed the nation armed with the
new 35-millimeter cameras, seeking new subjects.
”
a water. Little fella’s thirsty.
Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White’s striking
—from The Grapes of Wrath
pictures, displayed in Fortune magazine, showed the
Other novelists of this time influenced literary ravages of drought. In 1936 Time magazine
style itself. In The Sound and the Fury, for example, publisher Henry Luce introduced Life, a weekly pho-
author William Faulkner shows what his characters tojournalism magazine that enjoyed instant success.
are thinking and feeling before they speak. Using this
stream of consciousness technique, he exposes hid- Reading Check Examining How did artists, photog-
den attitudes of Southern whites and African raphers, and writers, such as John Steinbeck, reflect the charac-
Americans in a fictional Mississippi county. Another teristics of the 1930s?
TM
TM

1. Define: bailiff, shantytown, Hooverville, 5. Making Inferences Why do you think 7. Analyzing Photos Study the photo-
hobo, Dust Bowl, soap opera. Life magazine was so popular during graph on page 536. Think of three
2. Identify: Walt Disney, Grant Wood, the 1930s? adjectives that you would use to
John Steinbeck, William Faulkner. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to describe the people in the photograph.
3. Explain what caused the Dust Bowl list the effects of the Great Depression. Using these adjectives, write a para-
conditions on the Great Plains. graph describing the family pictured.
Effects of the Great Depression
4. Culture and Traditions In what ways 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
did people seek to forget about the are living during the Great Depression.
Depression? Write a journal entry describing a day
in your life.

Geography&History
EL
W Lake Mohave D
O
S
RA
D O
95
N
M
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NT
to Flagstaff
AI
NS
Power line
NEVAD A Boulder
ARIZONA City
Blac
k Ca
nyo
n
93
HOOVER
BL DAM
AC
Boulder
K Boulder
M Islands
O Fortification Hill
U 3718 ft. (1133 m)
N
Sentinel
T
Island
A
IN
KE
S
LA
NA
A R IZ O
A
N E VA D
Callville
C
A
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r
ve
Ri
F
NEVADA
do
a
O
lor
Co
Lake
R
Powell
N Lake
I Mead
A Las
Vegas Hoover Dam
Los Angeles
THE FLOW OF ELECTRICITY
N
Today Hoover Dam generates more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours
W
ARIZONA of electricity per year—enough to keep machines humming and
lights burning for over a million people. More than half of that
E
S
electricity is sent to California; the remainder goes to Nevada and
Arizona (see inset map).

Hoover Dam
A
merican farmers and
settlers in the low-lying
valleys of southern
McCullo California and southwest-
ugh Ran ern Arizona have been tap-
ge
ping the waters of the Colorado River
for more than a century. Thanks to
irrigation canals, the parched desert
515
Henderson valleys became year-round gardens
582
that provided fruit and vegetables
for the nation. At times, however, the
unpredictable river would decrease
River Mo
untains to a trickle. Other times, it became a
raging torrent, destroying all in its
path.The federal government decided
to dam the Colorado to control it.
to In 1931 construction began in Black
Beach t Las Vegas Suspended on ropes, “high scalers” armed with
uc Canyon, whose high rock walls made
Aq ued dynamite and jackhammers prepare the walls of
it an ideal site. Here, on the border Black Canyon to take the concrete of Hoover Dam.
Saddle between Arizona and Nevada, would Such work was hazardous. Twenty-four workers
Island
rise one of the most ambitious engi- fell to their deaths during construction of the dam.
neering projects the world had ever
AD Las Vegas Bay
ME seen: the Hoover Dam. temperatures climbed higher than
Named after President Herbert 120 degrees in the canyon, and even
Hoover, the dam was built in the mid- those who worked at night had to
dle of a forbidding desert. Everything endure temperatures of more than
Swallow
had to be imported, including labor. 85 degrees. Still, the project was
Bay There was no shortage of candidates. completed in less than five years.
The country was in the grips of Lake Mead, the 115-mile-long reser-
the Great Depression; thousands of voir created by the dam, is large
unemployed workers flocked to the enough to hold two years’ worth of
Hoover Dam and Environs remote canyon.To accommodate the average flow of the Colorado
Bay State boundary them, an entire town was built— River—enough to cover the entire
Aqueduct
Boulder City, Nevada. state of New York with one foot of
Road
Power line The new arrivals faced brutal water. The benefits to the Southwest
Urban area conditions. Men worked in three were immense. Hoover Dam created
Scale varies in this perspective shifts around the clock. Summer much-needed employment. It also
provided a regular supply of water,
irrigating over a million acres of
rich agricultural land and producing
hydroelectric power, which has
allowed Southwestern cities to grow.

Hoover Dam, a major supplier
of hydroelectric power, is more 1. Why did the federal government
than 700 feet (213 m) tall and decide to dam the Colorado River?
contains about 4,360,000
cubic yards of concrete— 2. Why did engineers choose the
enough for a two-lane highway Black Canyon site?
from Los Angeles to Boston.
541
Hoover Responds
President Hoover’s philosophy of Categorizing As you read about • Evaluate President Hoover’s attempts
government guided his response to Hoover’s response to the Depression, to revive the economy.
the Depression. complete a graphic organizer by listing • Analyze the limitations of Hoover’s
his major initiatives and their results. recovery plans.
Key Terms and Names
public works, Reconstruction Finance Major Recovery Plans Section Theme
Corporation, relief, foreclose, Bonus Groups and Institutions President
Army Hoover began using new government
agencies to improve the nation’s slump-
Results Results Results ing economy.
✦1931 ✦1932 ✦1933

October 1931 January 1932 July 1932
National Credit Congress approves Reconstruction Congress passes Emergency Relief and Construction
Corporation created Finance Corporation Act; soldiers rout the Bonus Marchers
In December 1929, Mayor Joseph Heffernan of Youngstown, Ohio, listened impa-

tiently to fellow public officials assembled in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce hall.
He had been called to one of a series of conferences on unemployment that President
Hoover had arranged. At the conference, Heffernan grew restless as he listened to the
other speakers. He felt that it would take too long to pass their confident proposals for
ending unemployment, and by that time, it would be too late to prevent a depression.
He asked the other conference members, “Why not tell people the truth?”
Youngstown business leaders criticized Heffernan for trying to tell his constituents
how bad the economic outlook was. Heffernan later recalled that one of them said to
him, “Don’t emphasize hard times and everything will be all right.”
Joseph Heffernan The man who rebuked Mayor Heffernan expressed what many, including President
Hoover himself, believed in late 1929: The country merely needed to regain its
confidence. As the crisis worsened, Hoover took steps to help the economy recover,
but only within the limits of his philosophy of government.
—adapted from The Great Depression
Promoting Recovery
On Friday, October 25, the day after Black Thursday, President Hoover issued a state-
ment assuring the nation that industry was “on a sound and prosperous basis.” In
March 1930 he told the public that “the worst effects of the crash . . . will have passed
during the next 60 days.” Critics derided his optimism as conditions worsened. Hoover,

however, hoped to downplay the public’s fears. He in the private sector. He urged governors and mayors
wanted to avoid more bank runs and layoffs by urg- throughout the nation to increase public works
ing consumers and business leaders to become more spending.
rational in their decision making. Hoover’s actions did spur construction increases,
but the effort made up for only a small fraction of
Voluntary Efforts and Public Works Despite his the jobs lost in the private sector. The only way the
soothing words, Hoover was seriously worried about government could create enough new jobs would be
the economy. He organized a series of conferences, to massively increase government spending, which
bringing together the heads of banks, railroads, and Hoover refused to do.
other big businesses, as well as labor and govern- The problem was that someone had to pay for pub-
ment officials. lic works projects. If the government raised taxes to
He won a pledge from industry to keep factories pay for them, it would take money away from con-
open and to stop slashing wages. By 1931, however, sumers and hurt businesses that were already strug-
business leaders had abandoned those pledges. gling. If the government decided to keep taxes low and
Hoover’s next step was to increase public works— run a budget deficit instead—spending more money
government-financed building projects. The result- than it collected in taxes—it would have to borrow the
ing construction jobs could replace some of those lost money from banks. If the government did this, less
from Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address, 1933
What Should the Government’s “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no
unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can
Role in the Economy Be? be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government
The government’s role in the economy was an important itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war,
issue in the 1932 presidential election, when the country was but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing
in the throes of the Depression. President Herbert Hoover greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our
explained in a 1928 speech why a limited government role natural resources.
was best, while President Franklin Roosevelt argued in his . . . The task can be helped . . . by national planning for and
inaugural address in 1933 that an expanded government role supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications
was necessary. and other utilities which have a definitely public character. There
are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be
helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
from Hoover’s Madison Square Garden Address, 1928 . . . We now realize as we have never realized before our
interdependence on each other; . . . that if we are to go forward,
“During one hundred and fifty years we have built up a we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for
form of self-government and a social system which is the good of a common discipline.”
peculiarly our own. . . . It is founded upon a particular
conception of self-government in which decentralized local
responsibility is the very base. . . .
Learning From History
During the war we necessarily turned to the govern- 1. Analyzing Arguments What did
ment to solve every difficult economic problem. . . . Hoover fear would happen if gov-
However justified in time of war, if continued in peacetime ernment programs started during
it would destroy . . . our progress and freedom. . . . The World War I were continued after
acceptance of these ideas would have meant the destruc- the war?
tion of self-government through centralization of govern- 2. Making Inferences Do you think
ment. It would have meant the undermining of the Roosevelt would have agreed with
individual initiative and enterprise through which our Hoover’s assessment of the govern-
people have grown to unparalleled greatness.” ment’s role during World War I?
Why or why not?
money would be available for businesses that wanted GOVERNMENT
to expand and for consumers who wanted mortgages
Trying to Rescue the Banks The president asked
or other loans. Hoover feared that deficit spending
the Federal Reserve Board to put more currency into
would actually delay an economic recovery.
circulation, but the Board refused. In an attempt to
The Midterm Election As the congressional elections ease the money shortage, Hoover set up the National
of 1930 approached, most Americans felt that worsen- Credit Corporation (NCC) in October 1931. The NCC
ing unemployment posed a grave threat to their well- created a pool of money to enable troubled banks to
being. Citizens blamed the party in power for the continue lending money in their communities.
stumbling economy. The Republicans lost 49 seats and Hoover then persuaded a number of New York
their majority in the House of Representatives; they bankers to contribute to the NCC. Their contribu-
held on to the Senate by a single vote. tions, however, did not meet the nation’s needs.
By 1932 Hoover concluded that the only way to
Reading Check Examining Why did Hoover oppose provide funding for borrowers was for the govern-
deficit spending? ment to do the lending. He requested that Congress
set up the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
(RFC) to make loans to banks, railroads, and agricul-
Pumping Money Into the Economy tural institutions. By early 1932, the RFC had lent
about $238 million to approximately 160 banks,
Hoover soon turned his attention to the problem
60 railroads, and 18 building-and-loan organizations.
of money. There was very little in the economy now
The RFC was overly cautious, however. It failed to
that so many banks had collapsed. The government,
increase its loans in sufficient amounts to meet the
he believed, had to make sure that banks could make
need, and the economy continued its decline.
loans to corporations so they could expand produc-
tion and rehire workers. Direct Help for Citizens From the start, Hoover
White Angel Breadline In 1932 a wealthy woman nicknamed the strongly opposed the federal government’s participa-
“White Angel” set up a breadline in San Francisco. Dorothea Lange caption in relief—money that went directly to impover-
tured the hopelessness of the Depression in this famous photograph of ished families. He believed that only state and city
the breadline. governments should dole out relief. By the spring of
1932, however, they were running out of money.
In 1932 political support was building for a relief
measure, and Congress passed the Emergency Relief
and Construction Act. Although reluctant, Hoover
signed the bill on July 21. The new act called for $1.5
billion for public works and $300 million in loans
to the states for direct relief. By this time, however,
the new program could not reverse the accelerating
collapse.
Reading Check Summarizing Why did Hoover
oppose the federal government’s participation in relief
programs?
In an Angry Mood
In the months after the Wall Street crash, Americans
had seemed resigned to bad economic news. By 1931,
however, they were growing increasingly discon-
tented, and open acts of revolt began to occur.
Hunger Marches In January 1931, around 500

men and women in Oklahoma City, shouting
angrily about hunger and joblessness, broke into a
grocery store and looted it. Crowds began showing
History
Poverty and Plenty Spattered with milk, dairy farmers are shown here destroying their product in
a vain effort to drive up prices. For the hungry and unemployed, like the families at left, the farmers’
actions were unthinkable. Why did the farmers think their actions would drive up prices?
up at rallies and “hunger marches” held by the to heat their homes in the winter. In Iowa food grow-
American Communist Party, which was eager to ers forcibly prevented the delivery of vegetables to
take advantage of national problems to change the distributors. Georgia dairy farmers blocked high-
American form of government. On December 5, ways and stopped milk trucks, emptying the milk
1932, a freezing day in the nation’s capital, around cans into ditches.
1,200 hunger marchers assembled and chanted,
“Feed the hungry, tax the rich.” Police herded them The Bonus Marchers In appreciation of the World
into a blocked-off area, where they had to spend the War I service of American soldiers and sailors,
night sleeping on the sidewalk or in trucks. The Congress in 1924 had enacted a $1,000 bonus for each
police denied them food, water, and medical treat- veteran, to be distributed in 1945. The economic crisis,
ment until some members of Congress insisted on however, made the wait more difficult. In 1931 Texas
the marchers’ right to petition their government. congressman Wright Patman introduced a bill in the
They were then released and permitted to march to House of Representatives that authorized early pay-
Capitol Hill. ment of the veterans’ bonuses. The bill later passed
the House and moved to the Senate for debate.
Farmers Revolt In the summer of 1932, farmers also In May 1932 several hundred Portland, Oregon,
took matters into their own hands. Beginning in the veterans set off on a month-long march to
boom days of World War I, many farmers had Washington to lobby Congress to pass the legislation.
heavily mortgaged their land to pay for seed, feed, and As they moved east, other veterans joined them until
equipment. After the war, prices sank so low that farm- they numbered about 1,000. Wearing ragged military
ers could not even earn back their costs, let alone make uniforms, they trudged along the highways or rode
a profit. Between 1930 and 1934 creditors foreclosed on the rails, singing old war songs and reminiscing about
nearly one million farms, taking possession of them army days. The press termed the marchers the
and evicting the families. “Bonus Army.”
Some farmers began destroying their crops in a Once in Washington, the marchers camped in
desperate attempt to raise crop prices by reducing Hoovervilles. As weeks went by, additional veter-
the supply. In Nebraska grain growers burned corn ans joined them, until the Bonus Army swelled to

ignored Hoover’s orders to clear the
buildings but to leave the camps alone.
He sent cavalry, infantry, and tanks to
clear the veterans from the city.
A Federal Trade Commission mem-
ber, A. Everette McIntyre, watched as
the infantry “fixed their bayonets and
also fixed their gas masks over their
faces. At orders they brought their bay-
onets at thrust and moved in. The bay-
onets were used to jab people to make
them move.” Soon unarmed veterans
were on the run with 700 soldiers at
their heels. The soldiers tear-gassed
stragglers and burned the shacks. Tear
History gas killed a baby boy.
The nationwide press coverage and
Clearing Out the Bonus Marchers Fierce battles resulted when President Hoover ordered the
Washington, D.C., police to evict the Bonus Army from public buildings and land they had been
newsreel images of veterans under
occupying. How did the public feel when they saw or heard about this event? assault by troops presented an ugly
picture to the public. The routing of
15,000. President Hoover acknowledged the veter- the veterans hounded the president throughout his
ans’ petition rights but refused to meet with them. 1932 re-election campaign.
When the Senate voted the new bonus bill down, Hoover failed to resolve the crisis of the
veterans waiting outside the Capitol began to grumble, Depression, but he did more to expand the economic
until one of their leaders started them singing role of the federal government than any previous
“America.” Gradually their anger cooled, and many president. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation
returned home. A significant number of the marchers, marked the first time the federal government had
however, stayed on since they had no job prospects. established a federal agency to stimulate the econ-
Some moved from the camps to unoccupied buildings omy during peacetime. It was the image of the routed
downtown. Bonus Marchers and the lingering Depression, how-
In late July, Hoover ordered the buildings cleared. ever, that shaped the public’s perception of President
The police made the first try, but one of them pan- Hoover.
icked and fired into a crowd, killing two veterans.
The Washington, D.C., government then called in the Reading Check Evaluating How did Americans
army. Army chief of staff Douglas MacArthur react as the Depression continued?
TM
TM

1. Define: public works, relief, foreclose. 5. Interpreting How did President 7. Picturing History Study the photo-
2. Identify: Reconstruction Finance Hoover’s philosophy of government graphs on page 545. The farmers
Corporation, Bonus Army. guide his response to the Depression? shown would rather dump their milk
3. Summarize three major initiatives 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer than sell it. What did they hope to
taken by Hoover to improve the similar to the one below to list achieve by their actions?
economy and the results of each. American reactions to the Depression.

4. Groups and Institutions What did American
Reactions
business leaders promise Hoover they are a veteran of World War I. Write a
would do to help the economy? Did letter to members of Congress explain-
they keep their promises? ing your circumstances and asking
them to give you your bonus early.

Technology
Building a Database
Why Learn This Skill? Skills Assessment
Do you have a collection of sports cards, CDs, Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
or DVDs? Have you ever kept a list of the names, page 549 and the Chapter 17 Skill Reinforcement
addresses, and phone numbers of friends and rel- Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
atives? If you have collected information and
kept it in a list or file, then you have created a
database.
Learning the Skill

An electronic database is a collection of facts that
are stored in a file on a computer. The information
is organized in fields.
A database can be organized and reorganized in
any way that is useful to you. By using a database
management system (DBMS)—special software
developed for record keeping—you can easily add,
delete, change, or update information. You give
commands to the computer that tell it what to do
with the information, and it follows these com-
mands. When you want to retrieve information, the
computer searches through the file, finds the infor-
mation, and displays it on the screen.

The Great Depression is a well-known period in
American history. Follow these steps to build a
database containing the events that led to the Great
Depression and its effects on the country.
1 Determine what facts you want to include in
your database.
2 Follow instructions to set up fields in the DBMS
that you are using. Then enter each item of data
Applying the Skill
in its assigned field. Building a Database Bring current newspapers or
news magazines to class. Using the steps just described,
3 Determine how you want to organize the facts build a database of current political events in the
in the database—chronologically by the date of
United States. Include a brief explanation of why the
the event, or alphabetically by the name of the
database is organized the way it is and how it might be
event.
used in class.
4 Follow the instructions in your computer pro-
gram to place the information in the order you Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
selected. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
547
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 22. Analyzing Themes: Culture and Traditions Many people
1. stock market 9. Hooverville in the United States were impoverished during the
Depression, yet 60 to 90 million weekly viewers paid to
2. bull market 10. hobo see movies. Why do you think movies were so popular?
3. margin 11. Dust Bowl 23. Evaluating Do you think President Hoover could have done
4. margin call 12. soap opera more to end the Great Depression? Why or why not?
5. speculation 13. public works 24. Identifying What approaches were used in literature and
6. installment 14. relief photography to highlight social problems during the
Depression?
7. bailiff 15. foreclose
25. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
8. shantytown below to list the causes and effects of the Great Depression.
Reviewing Key Facts Causes Effects

16. Identify: Black Tuesday, Hawley-Smoot Tariff, Walt Disney,
Grant Wood, John Steinbeck, Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, Bonus Army.
17. What was the character of the stock market in the late 1920s,
26. Interpreting Primary Sources E.Y. Harburg lived during the
and what caused it to crash?
Great Depression. After he lost his business, he became a
18. How did artists and writers capture the effects of the Great poet and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics to one of the most
Depression? famous songs of the time, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”
19. Why did “Okies” migrate to California during the Great Read an excerpt of the lyrics to this song and answer the
Depression, and what happened to them once they got questions that follow.
there?
20. What three major initiatives did President Hoover take to try
to help the economy of the United States?
“ They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead—
21. What did World War I veterans do to try to get their service Why should I be standing on line
bonuses early? Just waiting for bread?
Stock Market Helps Trigger Depression Underlying Causes of Great Depression

• Bull market encouraged widespread speculation. • Overproduction and low interest rates
• Many investors bought stocks on margin. • Uneven distribution of income, which led to low demand
• Sharp drop in market prices left investors in debt. • Depressed farm sector
• Bank closings left many in debt. • Weak international market with high tariffs
Downward Momentum of the Great Depression
Low Sales
Job Layoffs
Less Income
Fewer Purchases
Lower Sales
More Job Layoffs

HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz
Crop Prices, 1910–1935
Once I built a railroad, made it run,
$2.60 Wheat (price per bushel)
Made it run against time.
$2.20 Corn (price per bushel)
Once I built a railroad, Cotton (price per pound)
Price of Crops
$1.80
Now it’s done—
$1.40
Brother, can you spare a dime?
$1.00
Once I built a tower to the sun. $0.60
Brick and rivet and lime, $0.20
Once I built a tower,
Now it’s done— 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930 1935
Year
Brother, can you spare a dime?
” Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.
a. How was the narrator’s life different before the Great
Depression than it was during it?
b. During the 1932 presidential campaign, the Republicans question 27. Write a short report describing the progress of
tried to discourage the radio networks from playing this the stocks you followed. Create a chart and a graph as a
song. Why do you think they did that? visual aid to present your findings to the class.
Practicing Skills Economics and History

27. Building a Database Use the business section of your local 30. The graph above shows changes in crop prices from
newspaper to prepare a database that lists the prices of three 1910 to 1935. Study the graph and answer the questions
different stocks for one week. Use the following information below.
in your database: a. Interpreting Graphs What trend does this graph show
• Stock symbol about wheat and corn prices in the 1930s?
• Date b. Analyzing Between which 10-year span did the greatest
• Stock price at the end of each day (closing price) increase and decrease in farm prices occur?
Be sure to follow these steps to build your database:
a. Follow instructions in the DBMS that you are using. Then
enter each item in its assigned field. Standardized
b. Determine how you want to organize the information in Test Practice
the database.
Directions: Choose the phrase that best
c. Place the information in the order you choose (by date, completes the following sentence.
alphabetically by symbol, by price, etc.).
A major reason for the collapse of the American economy
d. Check the accuracy of the information. Make necessary after 1929 was
changes.
A high interest rates.
B decreased farm production.
Writing Activity
C low tariffs at home and abroad.
28. Creating a Dictionary Create a dictionary of words and
D overproduction of consumer goods.
phrases that grew out of the Great Depression. If possible,
include pictures or photographs that illustrate the entries. Test-Taking Tip: If you are not sure of the answer, use the
process of elimination. For example, farmers were not pros-
Chapter Activity perous in the 1920s because their huge crops forced down
29. Creative Presentations Analyze the statistical information agricultural prices. Therefore, answer B is incorrect.
you gathered in building the computer database in

Roosevelt and
the New Deal1933–1939
Why It Matters
Unlike Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was willing to employ deficit spending and
greater federal regulation to revive the depressed economy. In response to his requests, Congress
passed a host of new programs. Millions of people received relief to alleviate their suffering, but
the New Deal did not really end the Depression. It did, however, permanently expand the federal
government’s role in providing basic security for citizens.
The Impact Today

Certain New Deal legislation still carries great importance in American social policy.
• The Social Security Act still provides retirement benefits, aid to needy groups, and
unemployment and disability insurance.
• The National Labor Relations Act still protects the right of workers to unionize.
• Safeguards were instituted to help prevent another devastating stock market crash.
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation still protects bank deposits.

video, “Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal,” describes the personal
and political challenges Franklin Roosevelt faced as president.
1928 1931
• Franklin Delano • The Empire State Building 1933
Roosevelt elected opens for business • Gold standard abandoned
governor of New York
• Federal Emergency Relief
1929 Act and Agricultural
• Great Depression begins Adjustment Act passed
▲ ▲
Hoover F. Roosevelt
▲ 1929–1933 ▲ 1933–1945
1928 1931 1934

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1930 1931
• Germany’s Nazi Party wins • German unemployment 1933
1928 107 seats in Reichstag reaches 5.6 million • Adolf Hitler appointed
• Alexander Fleming German chancellor
discovers penicillin
• Surrealist artist Salvador
Dali paints Persistence • Japan withdraws from
of Memory League of Nations
550
In this Ben Shahn mural detail, New Deal planners (at right) design the
town of Jersey Homesteads as a home for impoverished immigrants.
1935
• Supreme Court strikes
down NIRA
• Social Security Act passed
1938
1937 • Fair Labor Standards
• Court-packing bill defeated Act passed
• “Roosevelt recession” begins
HISTORY
information.
1936 1938 1939
• Civil War erupts • Hitler annexes • World War II begins
in Spain Austria
551
Roosevelt Takes Office
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s character Organizing As you read about Franklin • Discuss Franklin Roosevelt’s early
and experiences prepared him for the Roosevelt’s background, complete a political career.
presidency of a nation in crisis. graphic organizer similar to the one • Explain the worsening situation in the
below by listing the early influences and U.S. banking system in the early 1930s.
Key Terms and Names experiences that helped shape Roosevelt
New Deal, polio, gold standard, as a politician. Section Theme
bank holiday Individual Action Franklin Roosevelt’s
Influences and
optimism, determination, and outgoing
Experiences personality shaped his approach to
politics.
✦1905 ✦1915 ✦1925 ✦1935

1905 1910 1921 1928
Franklin Roosevelt and Roosevelt elected to Roosevelt stricken Roosevelt elected
Eleanor Roosevelt marry New York State Senate with polio governor of New York
When Louis Howe was a child in Saratoga Springs, New York, a bicycle accident left his
face scarred. As an adult and a reporter for his father’s newspaper, he cheerfully described
himself as “one of the four ugliest men in the state of New York.” Howe dressed sloppily, per-
haps to demonstrate how little importance he attached to appearance. He worked hard, how-
ever, and was respected for his reporting.
In the winter of 1911, Howe traveled to Albany to interview a Democratic state senator,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt—or FDR, as he was called. Howe found himself fascinated by the
tall, intense young man with the gold-rimmed glasses who paced back and forth in front of
him, earnestly answering his questions. He admired the dashing appearance Roosevelt made.
During the interview Roosevelt declared his intention to challenge the party bosses. The
usually skeptical Howe found himself believing the young legislator.
“I made up my mind,” Howe later recalled, “that nothing but an accident could
keep him from becoming president.”
—adapted from The Crisis of the Old Order
Franklin D. Roosevelt
as a young man
Roosevelt’s Rise to Power

In mid-June 1932, with the country deep in the Depression, Republicans gathered in
Chicago and nominated Herbert Hoover to run for a second term as president. The
mood at the convention was somber. Delegates knew the Depression had turned many
voters against Hoover.
552 CHAPTER 18 Roosevelt and the New Deal

Later that month, the Democrats also met in Roosevelt’s Background Franklin Roosevelt—a
Chicago to choose their own candidate for president. distant cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt—was
It took four ballots and a great deal of negotiating, born in 1882 to a wealthy New York family. Roosevelt
but the party eventually chose the popular governor grew up on his family’s estate at Hyde Park on the
of New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. When he Hudson River. There, Roosevelt learned to hunt, fish,
won the nomination, Roosevelt broke with tradition ride horses, and sail, and he developed his lifelong
by flying to Chicago to deliver the first acceptance commitment to conservation and a love of rural
speech ever made to a nominating convention. America. Roosevelt was educated at Harvard and
Roosevelt’s speech set the tone for his campaign: Columbia Law School. While at Harvard, he became
friends with Theodore Roosevelt’s niece, Eleanor.
Soon afterward, they were married.
“ The appearance before a National Convention of
its nominee for President . . . is unprecedented and Roosevelt was intensely competitive. He enjoyed
unusual, but these are unprecedented and unusual winning and liked to be in control. He also liked
being around people. His charming personality, deep
times. . . . Let it also be symbolic that in so doing I
rich voice, and wide smile expressed confidence and
broke traditions. Let it be from now on the task of our
optimism. He could also be very persuasive. Overall,
Party to break foolish traditions. . . . It is inevitable
FDR’s personality seemed made for a life in politics.
that the main issue of this campaign should revolve
about . . . a depression so deep that it is without FDR’s Early Political Career Shortly after leaving
precedent. . . . Republican leaders not only have law school, Roosevelt plunged into politics. In 1910
failed in material things, they have failed in national he won a seat in the New York State Senate, where he
vision, because in disaster they have held out no earned a reputation as a progressive reformer willing
hope. . . . I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new to stand up to the party bosses. Roosevelt strongly
supported Woodrow Wilson’s presidential campaign
deal for the American people.
” in 1912. After winning the election, Wilson rewarded
—quoted in The Public Papers and Roosevelt by appointing him assistant secretary of
Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt the navy, a position he held through World War I.
The next day, a cartoonist used the

words “new deal” to stand for
Roosevelt’s program. From that point
forward, Roosevelt’s policies for end-
ing the Depression became known as
the New Deal. Roosevelt’s confi-
dence that he could make things bet-
ter contrasted sharply with Hoover’s
apparent failure to do anything effec-
tive. On Election Day, Roosevelt won
the Electoral College in a landslide,
472 votes to 59, and he received
nearly 23 million votes to slightly less
than 16 million for Hoover in the
general election.
History
The Young Roosevelts Franklin Roosevelt and
Eleanor Roosevelt were married in 1905. They were
distantly related through former president Theodore
Roosevelt—her uncle and his cousin. What sort of
childhood did Franklin Roosevelt have growing up
in Hyde Park, New York?
In 1920, hoping his name would win votes, the Governor of New York By the mid-1920s, Roo-
Democrats nominated Roosevelt as their candidate sevelt was again active in the Democratic Party. He
for vice president. After losing the election, became a strong supporter of New York’s governor,
Roosevelt temporarily withdrew from politics. The Alfred E. Smith. When the Democratic Party nomi-
next year he came down with a fever and soon felt nated Smith for president in 1928, Smith urged
numbness in both legs. He had caught the dreaded Roosevelt to run for governor of New York.
and paralyzing disease known as polio. Although Roosevelt campaigned hard to demonstrate that his
there was no cure, Roosevelt refused to give in. He illness had not slowed him down, and he narrowly
began a vigorous exercise program to restore won the election.
muscle control. Eventually, by wearing heavy steel Roosevelt’s policies as governor made him very
braces on his legs, he was able to appear to walk by popular. He cut taxes for farmers and worked to
leaning on a cane and someone’s arm and swinging reduce the rates charged by public utilities. In 1931,
his legs forward by moving his hips. as the Depression worsened, Roosevelt convinced
While recovering from polio, Roosevelt depended the New York legislature to set up a new state
on his wife to keep his name prominent in the New agency to help unemployed New Yorkers. The
York Democratic Party. Although shy, Eleanor agency distributed over $25 million in aid that pro-
Roosevelt became an effective public speaker. Her vided relief to about 10 percent of New York’s
efforts during this time kept her husband’s political families.
career alive. Roosevelt’s popularity in New York paved the
way for his presidential nomination in 1932. Many
Americans applauded his use of the government’s
power to help people in economic distress. Others
believed that his struggle against polio had given
him a better understanding of their hardships.
Perhaps most important, Americans saw in
Roosevelt an energy and optimism that gave them
hope despite the tough economic times. After
Roosevelt became president, his serenity and confi-
Roosevelt Dime dence amazed many people. When one aide com-
Past: Search for a Cure mented on his attitude, Roosevelt replied, “If you
In 1921 Franklin Roosevelt con- had spent two years in bed, trying to wiggle your big
tracted polio, a disease that par- toe, after that anything else would seem easy.”
alyzed his legs. Few people knew
of his physical limitations when
Reading Check Interpreting What events in
he became president. His only free- Roosevelt’s life shaped his ideas and character?
dom from braces came when he swam.
After Roosevelt established a foundation for polio victims at
Warm Springs, Georgia, entertainer Eddie Cantor suggested
that everyone in the country send a dime for polio research to Roosevelt Is Inaugurated
the president. This campaign, which became known as the Although Roosevelt won the presidency in
March of Dimes, produced 150,000 letters a day. In 1945 November 1932, the country’s unemployed and
Congress voted to honor Roosevelt by placing his image on homeless had to endure one more winter as they
the dime. waited for his inauguration on March 4, 1933. All
through the winter, unemployment continued to rise.
Present: A Threat Theater director Harold Clurman later wrote about
Eliminated the fear:
In the early 1950s, Dr. Jonas
Salk discovered the polio
vaccine. Today polio is no “ Yes, we could smell the depression in the air, that
historically cruel winter of 1932–33, which chilled so
longer the threat to health
that it once was. many of us like a world’s end. . . . It was like a raw
wind; the very houses we lived in seemed to be
shrinking, hopeless of real comfort.
”
—quoted in Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal
“ . . . the only thing we have
to fear is fear itself . . .”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt
History
Inspiring Words President Roosevelt used

his first Inaugural Address of March 1933 to
rally the nation’s spirits. What problems had
made the nation anxious and fearful?
Meanwhile, bank runs greatly increased, further had collapsed, wiping out 9 million savings accounts.
threatening the nation’s banking system. Some of the In 38 states, governors declared bank holidays—
bank runs occurred because people feared Roosevelt closing the remaining banks before bank runs could
would abandon the gold standard and reduce the put them out of business.
value of the dollar in order to fight the Depression. By the day of Roosevelt’s inauguration, most of
Under the gold standard, one ounce of gold equaled the nation’s banks were closed. One in four workers
a set number of dollars. To reduce the value of the was unemployed. The economy seemed paralyzed.
dollar, the United States would have to stop exchang- Roosevelt knew he had to restore the nation’s confi-
ing dollars for gold. Many Americans, and many for- dence. “First of all,” the president declared in his
eign investors with deposits in American banks, Inaugural Address, “let me assert my firm belief that
decided to take their money out of the banks and the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. . . . This
convert it to gold before it lost its value. nation asks for action, and action now!”
Across the nation, people stood in long lines with
paper bags and suitcases, waiting to withdraw their Reading Check Summarizing What was the
money from banks. By March 1933, over 4,000 banks nation’s condition when Roosevelt took office?
TM
TM

1. Define: gold standard. 5. Explaining How did FDR’s experiences 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: New Deal, polio, bank as governor of New York prepare him photograph on this page. What did the
holiday. for the presidency? president mean when he said “the only
3. Describe the ways in which early 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer like thing we have to fear is fear itself”?
influences and experiences shaped the one below to list early influences on
Roosevelt as a politician. Roosevelt’s political career. Writing About History
Early Political 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are
Reviewing Themes Influences living during the Depression. In your
4. Individual Action Why did Roosevelt’s hometown, there has been a run on the
election lead to an increase in bank bank. Write a letter to the president
runs? describing this event. In your letter, ask
him to take steps to cure the bank crisis.
CHAPTER 18 Roosevelt and the New Deal 555

The First New Deal
In the first 100 days of Roosevelt’s presi- Sequencing As you read about President • List three programs of the First New
dency, his team initiated a series of laws Roosevelt’s first three months in office, Deal that provided jobs for the
that transformed the United States. complete a time line similar to the one unemployed.
below to record the major problems he • Discuss why New Dealers believed that
Key Terms and Names addressed during this time. sometimes the government needs to
Hundred Days, fireside chats, Securities regulate industry and labor.
and Exchange Commission, Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, March 5, June 16, Section Theme
1933 1933
Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Groups and Institutions FDR’s attempts
Civilian Conservation Corps to end the Depression resulted in many
new government agencies.
✦March 1933 ✦May 1933 ✦July 1933

March 4, 1933 March 31, 1933 May 12, 1933 June 16, 1933
FDR inaugurated Civilian Conservation Federal Emergency Relief Act; National Industrial Recovery Act;
Corps created Agricultural Adjustment Act Glass-Steagall Banking Act; Farm Credit Act
In the 1920s, cowboy and comedian Will Rogers said that his life’s work was “to rescue the
country from the hands of the politicians.” He used his sharp wit to go after these public fig-
ures. A friend of presidents and politicians of both parties, Rogers nevertheless satirized them
mercilessly in public appearances and on the radio.
With FDR, however, Rogers changed his tune: “President Roosevelt closed the banks
before lunch and called Congress into session while he was having dessert. . . . The whole
country is with him. . . . Even if he does what is wrong they are with him, just so he does
something. . . . If he burned down the Capitol, we would cheer and say, ‘Well, we at least got
a fire started anyhow.’ ”
As Roosevelt’s New Deal gained momentum, Rogers praised the resulting flurry of legisla-
tion: “Mr. Roosevelt just makes out a little list of things every morning that he wants
[Congress] to do . . . and the whole country is better off.”
Will Rogers —adapted from Will Rogers: A Biography
The Hundred Days Begins

Roosevelt and his advisers, sometimes called the Brain Trust, came into office burst-
ing with ideas for recovery from the Depression. Roosevelt had no clear agenda. The
previous spring, during his campaign for the presidential nomination, Roosevelt had
revealed the approach he would take as president. “The country needs,” Roosevelt
explained, “bold, persistent experimentation. . . . Above all, try something.”
The new president began to send bill after bill to Congress. Between March 9 and June
16, 1933—which came to be called the Hundred Days—Congress passed 15 major acts to

meet the economic crisis, setting a pace for new legis- Freedom” of Woodrow Wilson. They too blamed large
lation that has never been equaled. Together, these trusts for the Depression, but they believed the govern-
programs made up what would later be called the ment had to restore competition to the economy. These
First New Deal. advisers wanted Roosevelt to support “trust busting”
by breaking up big companies and allowing competi-
Origins of the New Deal The New Deal was not tion to set wages, prices, and production levels. They
based on a clear strategy shaped by a single philoso- also thought the government should impose regula-
phy. Roosevelt was not an intellectual, nor did he have tions on the economy to keep competition fair.
a strong political ideology. He was a practical politi- Reading Check Summarizing What ideas did
cian. FDR was willing to try a variety of approaches
Roosevelt’s advisers support?
both to see whether they worked and whether they
were helping or hurting him politically.
To generate new ideas and programs, Roosevelt
sought advice from a wide range of advisers with
Fixing the Banks and the
experience in academia, business, agriculture, gov- Stock Market
ernment, law, and social work. The president deliber- As the debate over policies and programs swirled
ately chose advisers who disagreed with each other. around him, President Roosevelt took office with
He wanted to hear many different points of view, and one thing clear in his mind. Very few of the pro-
by setting his advisers against one another, Roosevelt posed solutions would work as long as the nation’s
ensured that he alone made the final decision on banks remained closed. The first thing he had to do
what policies to pursue. was restore confidence in the banking system.
A Divided Administration Roosevelt’s advisers The Emergency Banking Relief Act On his very
were divided roughly into three main groups. Despite first night in office, Roosevelt told Secretary of the
their disagreements, most of the advisers had grown Treasury William H. Woodin he wanted an emergency
up in the Progressive Era, and their approaches banking bill ready for Congress in less than five days.
reflected progressive ideas. They generally favored The following afternoon, Roosevelt declared a
some form of government intervention in the econ- national bank holiday, temporarily closing all banks,
omy—although they disagreed over what the govern- and called Congress into a special session scheduled to
ment’s role should be. begin on March 9, 1933.
One group that was very influential during the early On the day Congress convened, the House of
years of Roosevelt’s administration supported the Representatives unanimously passed the Emergency
“New Nationalism” of Theodore Roosevelt. These Banking Relief Act after only 38 minutes of debate.
advisers believed that business and
government should work together
to manage the economy. They had History
been very impressed by business-
government cooperation on the War Presidential Assurances President
Industries Board during World War I. Roosevelt often used radio addresses to calm
the public’s fears during the Great Depression.
They believed that if government At the beginning of his first term, he encour-
agencies worked with businesses to aged Americans to put their money back in
regulate wages, prices, and produc- federally inspected banks. Why do you think
tion, they could lift the economy out the president declared a bank holiday?
of the Depression.
A second group of advisers in the
Roosevelt administration went even
further. They distrusted big business
and blamed business leaders for
causing the Depression. These advis-
ers wanted government planners to
run key parts of the economy.
A third group in Roosevelt’s
administration supported the “New
➤ Recreation
Millions of people each
year fish, swim, ski, white-
The TVA water raft, or go boating on
the reservoirs. Sometimes
Perhaps no New Deal program produced as many visible
the reservoir system is
benefits as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This dam-
referred to as the “Great
building project was a bold venture to control floods, con- Lakes of the South.”
serve forestlands, and bring
electricity to rural America. The
In
TVA created a comprehensive The TVA, 1940 OHIO Motion
plan for developing a vast
INDIANA R.
seven-state region drained by o WEST
hi
the Tennessee and Cumber- ILLINOIS O VIRGINIA
land Rivers and populated MISSOURI KENTUCKY
mainly by poor farmers work- Bowling
Cairo Kentucky Green r land R. VIRGINIA
ing worn-out land. The TVA Paducah Dam be
Cum
n e s see R .
erected 20 dams, employing up Norris Dam
Cherokee Bristol
Dam
to 40,000 workers at a time. Nashville Oak Ridge
NORTH
The agency also reforested mil- Watts Bar Knoxville Douglas CAROLINA
ARKANSAS TENNESSEE Dam Dam
Te n
.
iR
lions of acres, built fertilizer Asheville

Memphis Wilson Chickamauga
lk R .
pp
E Dam
factories and power plants, and
ssi
Dam Chattanooga Little

i ssi
Corinth Huntsville Tennessee R.

strung thousands of miles of
Be
Wheeler
SOUTH
M
ar Dam
wire to bring electricity to rural C r. Guntersville
Dam GEORGIA CAROLINA
families for the first time. MISSISSIPPI
0 100 miles ALABAMA Area supplied with
N power from the TVA
0 100 kilometers Dam
Albers Conic Equal-Area projection W E Steam power plant
LA. S
91°W 89°W 87°W 85°W 83°W
The Senate approved the bill that evening, and pushed for new regulations for both banks and the
Roosevelt signed it into law shortly afterward. The stock market. Roosevelt agreed with their ideas and
new law required federal examiners to survey the threw his support behind the Securities Act of 1933
nation’s banks and issue Treasury Department and the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.
licenses to those that were financially sound. The Securities Act required companies that sold
On March 12, President Roosevelt addressed the stocks and bonds to provide complete and truthful
nation by radio. Sixty million people listened to this information to investors. The following year Congress
first of many “fireside chats,” direct talks FDR held created an independent agency, the Securities and
with the American people to let them know what he Exchange Commission (SEC), to regulate the stock
was trying to accomplish. He told the people that market and prevent fraud.
their money would now be secure if they put it back The Glass-Steagall Act separated commercial bank-
into the banks. “I assure you that it is safer to keep ing from investment banking. Commercial banks
your money in a reopened bank than under the mat- handle everyday transactions. They take deposits,
tress.” When banks opened the day after the speech, pay interest, cash checks, and loan money for mort-
deposits far outweighed withdrawals. The banking gages and other business activities. Under the Glass-
crisis was over. Steagall Act, these banks were no longer permitted to
risk depositors’ money by using it to speculate on the
Regulating Banks and Brokers Although President stock market.
Roosevelt had restored confidence in the banking sys- To further protect depositors, the Glass-Steagall Act
tem, many of his advisers who favored trust-busting also created the Federal Deposit Insurance
and fair competition urged him to go further. They Corporation (FDIC) to provide government insurance

➤ Flood Control The Agricultural Adjustment Act that Roosevelt
In spring 1984, torrential asked Congress to pass was based on a simple idea—
rains would have brought that prices for farm goods were low because farmers
the Tennessee River crest to grew too much food. Under Roosevelt’s program, the
almost 20 feet (6 m) above government would pay farmers not to raise certain
flood level. However, by livestock, such as hogs, and not to grow certain crops,
storing water in reservoirs such as cotton, corn, wheat, and tobacco. The farm
behind dams such as program was administered by the Agricultural
Dawson Dam and releasing Adjustment Administration (AAA).
it slowly, the TVA prevented By the time the AAA was organized, however,
most potential flooding. farmers had already planted their crops for the year
and begun raising the season’s livestock. To prevent
cotton—which was already at a very low price—from
reaching the market, the AAA paid cotton farmers
about $100 million to plow under about 25 percent of
their crop. Similarly, hog producers slaughtered
6 million piglets instead of fattening them for market.
Over the next two years, farmers withdrew mil-
lions of acres from production and received more
than $1 billion in support payments. The program
accomplished its goal: The farm surplus fell greatly
by 1936. Food prices then rose, as did total farm
The TVA’s power facilities include 29 hydroelectric dams, income, which quickly increased by more than 50
11 fossil-fuel plants, 3 nuclear power plants, 4 combustion- percent.
turbine plants, a pumped-storage facility, and 17,000 miles In a nation caught in a Depression, however, raising
of transmission lines. These facilities provide power to food prices drew harsh criticism. Furthermore, not all
nearly 8 million people in the seven-state region. farmers benefited. Large commercial farmers, who
concentrated on one crop, profited more than smaller
farmers who raised several products. Worse, thou-
sands of poor tenant farmers—many of them African
for bank deposits up to a certain amount. By protect-
Americans—became homeless and jobless when land-
ing depositors in this way, the FDIC greatly increased
lords chose their fields to be taken out of production.
public confidence in the banking system.
Reading Check Explaining How did the govern-
A Blueprint for Industrial Recovery The govern-
ment restore confidence in the banking system?
ment turned its attention from farming to manufac-
turing in June 1933, when Roosevelt and Congress
Managing Farms and Industry enacted the National Industrial Recovery Act
Many of Roosevelt’s advisers believed that both (NIRA). The NIRA suspended the antitrust laws and
farmers and businesses were suffering because prices allowed business, labor, and government to cooper-
were too low and production too high. Several advis- ate in setting up voluntary rules for each industry.
ers believed competition was inefficient and bad for These rules were known as codes of fair competi-
the economy. They wanted business and government tion. Some codes set prices, established minimum
to work together and favored the creation of federal wages, and limited factories to two shifts per day so
agencies to manage the economy. production could be spread to as many firms as pos-
sible. Other codes shortened workers’ hours with the
The Agricultural Adjustment Administration goal of creating additional jobs. Another provision in
The nation’s farmers had been hit hard by the the law guaranteed workers the right to form unions.
Depression. One week after calling Congress into Under the leadership of Hugh Johnson, the
special session, Roosevelt announced plans for a new National Recovery Administration (NRA) ran the
farm program. Working closely with the leaders of entire program. Business owners who signed code
the nation’s farm organizations, Secretary of agreements received signs displaying the NRA’s
Agriculture Henry Wallace raced to complete a new symbol—a blue eagle—and the slogan, “We do our
farm bill before planting season began. part.” Since the NRA had limited power to enforce the

codes, it used public opinion to pressure companies the HOLC had foreclosed on more than 100,000
into going along. It urged consumers to buy goods mortgages. Despite these failures, the HOLC helped
only from companies that displayed the blue eagle. refinance one out of every five mortgages on private
The NRA did produce a revival of a few industries, homes in the United States.
but the gains proved short-lived. Small companies
complained, justifiably, that large corporations wrote The Farm Credit Administration Three days after
the codes to favor themselves. More efficient compa- Congress authorized the creation of the HOLC, it
nies disliked price fixing, which limited competition authorized the Farm Credit Administration (FCA) to
and made it hard for them to increase their market begin helping farmers refinance their mortgages.
share by cutting prices. Employers disliked codes that Over the next seven months, the FCA lent four times
gave workers the right to form unions and bargain as much money to farmers as the entire banking sys-
collectively over wages and hours. They also argued tem had done the year before. It was also able to push
that paying high minimum wages forced them to interest rates substantially lower. “I would be with-
charge higher prices to cover their costs. out a roof over my head if it hadn’t been for the gov-
The codes were also very difficult to administer, ernment loan,” wrote one of the millions of farmers
and business leaders often ignored them. It became who were saved by FCA loans.
obvious that the NRA was failing when industrial pro- Although FCA loans helped many farmers in the
duction actually fell after the organization was estab- short term, their long-term value can be questioned.
lished. By the time the Supreme Court declared the FCA loans helped less efficient farmers keep their land,
NRA to be unconstitutional in 1935, it had already lost but giving loans to poor farmers meant that the money
much of its political support. was not available to loan to more efficient businesses in
the economy. Although FCA loans may have slowed
Reading Check Examining What were the provi- the overall economic recovery, they did help many des-
sions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act and the National perate and impoverished people hold onto their land.
Industrial Recovery Act?
Reading Check Identifying What New Deal
programs helped farmers and homeowners?
Providing Debt Relief
While some of Roosevelt’s advisers believed low
prices had caused the Depression, others believed
Spending and Relief Programs
that debt was the main obstacle to economic recov- While many of Roosevelt’s advisers emphasized tin-
ery. With incomes falling, people had to use most of kering with prices and providing debt relief in order to
their money to pay their debts and had little left over cure the Depression, others maintained that the funda-
to buy goods or pay for services. Many Americans, mental cause of the Depression was low consumption.
terrified of losing their homes and farms, deliberately People were simply not buying enough products to
cut back on their spending to make sure they could keep the economy going. The fastest way out of the
pay their mortgages. President Roosevelt responded Depression, these advisers asserted, was to get money
to the crisis by introducing several policies intended directly into the hands of needy individuals.
to assist Americans with their debts. Neither President Roosevelt nor his advisers
wanted simply to give money to the unemployed.
The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation To help They argued that recipients
homeowners pay their mortgages, Roosevelt asked were more likely to main-
Congress to establish the Home Owners’ Loan tain work skills and self-
Corporation (HOLC). The HOLC bought the mort- respect if they earned their
gages of many homeowners who were behind in
their payments. It then restructured them with longer History
terms of repayment and lower interest rates. Roughly
10 percent of the nation’s homeowners received a The NRA Eagle As a symbol
HOLC loan. of the National Recovery
The HOLC did not help everyone. It only made Administration, this eagle
informed consumers about
loans to homeowners who were still employed.
industries that were meeting the
When people lost their jobs and could no longer pay standards of the National
their mortgages, the HOLC foreclosed on their Industrial Recovery Act. How
property, just as a bank would have done. By 1938 successful was the NRA?

The First New Deal, 1933–1935
Agency Established Function
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) March 1933 Employed single men, ages 18–25, for natural resource
conservation
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) May 1933 Built hydroelectric plants and dams aimed at improving
seven Southern states and attracting industry to the South
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) May 1933 Reduced agricultural surplus and raised prices for
struggling farmers
Federal Emergency Relief Agency May 1933 Granted federal money to state and local governments to
(FERA) be used to help the unemployed
National Recovery Administration June 1933 Controlled industrial production and prices with
(NRA) industry-created codes of fair competition
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation June 1933 Guaranteed bank deposits up to $2,500
(FDIC)
Public Works Administration (PWA) June 1933
Provided employment in construction of airports, parks,
Civil Works Administration (CWA) November 1933 schools, and roads
(cancelled 1934)
Securities and Exchange Commission June 1934 Regulated the stock market to avoid dishonest practices
(SEC)
1. Interpreting Charts Which of the programs listed

was cancelled the year after it was established?
money. As a result, Roosevelt urged Congress to 2. Examining What steps did the AAA take to
establish a series of government agencies that would ensure its listed function?
organize work programs for the unemployed.
The CCC The most highly praised New Deal work

relief program was the Civilian Conservation Corps their relief projects. The leader of FERA was Harry
(CCC), which combined Roosevelt’s love of nature Hopkins, whose nervous energy and sarcastic man-
and commitment to conservation with the need to ner put off many people. Despite his personality,
help the unemployed. Beginning in March 1933, the Hopkins became one of the most influential people in
CCC offered unemployed young men 18 to 25 years Roosevelt’s administration.
old the opportunity to work under the direction of Half an hour after meeting with Roosevelt to
the national forestry service planting trees, fighting discuss his new job, Hopkins set up a desk in the
forest fires, and building reservoirs. hallway of his new office. In the next two hours, he
The young men lived in camps near their work spent $5 million on relief projects. When critics
areas and earned $30 a month. By midsummer the charged that some of the projects did not make sense
CCC had created some 1,500 camps. The average in the long run, Hopkins replied, “People don’t eat in
CCC worker returned home after six months to a the long run—they eat every day.”
year of service better nourished than before and with In June 1933, Congress authorized the creation of
greater self-respect. “I weighed about 160 pounds another federal relief agency—the Public Works
when I went there, and when I left, I was 190,” said Administration (PWA). Roosevelt knew that nearly
one. “It made a man of me, all right.” By the time it one-third of the nation’s unemployed were in the
closed down in 1942, the CCC had put 3 million construction industry. To put them back to work, the
young men to work outdoors. PWA began a series of construction projects to build
and improve highways, dams, sewer systems, water-
Public Works and Emergency Relief A few weeks works, schools, and other government facilities.
after authorizing the CCC, Congress established the In most cases, the PWA did not hire workers
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). directly, but instead awarded contracts to construction
FERA did not initially create projects for the unem- companies. By insisting that contractors hire African
ployed. Instead, it channeled money—a half-billion Americans, the agency broke down some of the long-
dollars in all—to state and local agencies to fund standing racial barriers in the construction trades.

500,000 miles of roads, 40,000 school buildings, and
3,500 playgrounds, parks, and playing fields.
The cost of the CWA was huge—the program
spent nearly $1 billion in just five months. A former
colleague remembered Hopkins as “the kind of guy
that seldom wrote a letter. He’d just call and say,
‘Send a million dollars to Arkansas, and five million
to New York. People are in need.’”
Although the CWA helped many people get
through the winter, President Roosevelt was alarmed
at how quickly the agency was spending money. He
did not want Americans to get used to the federal
government providing them with jobs. Warning that
the CWA would “become a habit with the country,”
Roosevelt insisted that it be shut down. “We must not
History take the position,” the president explained, “that we
The Civilian Conservation Corps FDR satisfied both the nation’s need for are going to have a permanent depression in this
employment and his love of nature with the CCC. Workers planted forests, built country.” By early April 1934, Hopkins had shut
reservoirs, and received a monthly salary. In what year did the CCC halt down the CWA and fired the 4 million workers the
operations? agency had hired.
By the end of his first year in office, President
The CWA By the fall of 1933, neither FERA nor the Roosevelt had convinced Congress to pass an aston-
PWA had reduced unemployment significantly. ishing array of programs and policies. The programs
Hopkins realized that unless the federal government passed during the first New Deal did not restore
acted quickly, a huge number of unemployed would prosperity, but they all reflected Roosevelt’s zeal for
be in severe distress once winter began. After action, his willingness to experiment, and his open-
Hopkins explained the situation, President Roosevelt ness to new ideas. Perhaps the most important result
authorized him to set up the Civil Works of the first New Deal was a noticeable change in the
Administration (CWA). spirit of the American people. Roosevelt’s actions
Unlike the PWA, the CWA hired workers directly had inspired hope and optimism, and Americans’
and put them on the federal government’s payroll. faith in their nation had been restored.
That winter the CWA employed 4 million people,
300,000 of them women. Under Hopkins’s direc- Reading Check Identifying What three New Deal
tion, the agency built or improved 1,000 airports, programs provided work relief to the unemployed?
TM
TM

1. Define: fireside chats. 5. Interpreting Did the CCC, CWA, and 7. Analyzing Charts Examine the chart
2. Identify: Hundred Days, Securities and PWA achieve their goals? Explain your on page 561. How did the various agen-
Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit answer. cies listed change the historical role of
Insurance Corporation, Agricultural 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer the federal government?
Adjustment Administration, Civilian like the one below to list the major
Conservation Corps. agencies of the First New Deal.
3. Summarize the different viewpoints of
Roosevelt’s advisers. Writing About History
Roosevelt’s 8. Expository Writing Research the
Reviewing Themes New Agricultural Adjustment Act by reread-
Agencies
4. Groups and Institutions How did the ing the text on page 559. Use library
Glass-Steagall Act and the Federal resources and the Internet to complete
Deposit Insurance Corporation help your research. Then write an article
make the banking industry safer? explaining the benefits and drawbacks
of this piece of legislation.

Study and Writing
Outlining
I. The Hundred Days Begins
To draw a scene, first you would sketch the rough A. Origins of the New Deal
shape, or outline, of the picture. Then you would fill in B. A Divided Administration
this rough shape with details. Outlining written mate- 1. Some advisers wanted government and
rial is a similar process. You begin with the rough business cooperation.
shape of the material and gradually fill in the details. 2. Others wanted government to run the
economy or regulate competition.
Learning the Skill
II. Fixing the Banks and Stock Market
When studying written material, outlining helps A. The Emergency Banking Relief Act
you identify main ideas and group together related 1. All banks closed temporarily.
facts. In writing, it helps you put information in a 2. The banks reopened and were monitored
logical order. by federal examiners.
There are two kinds of outlines—formal and B. Regulating Banks and Brokers
informal. An informal outline is similar to taking 1. The Securities Act ensured complete and
notes. You write only words and phrases needed to truthful investment information.
remember ideas. Under the main ideas, jot down 2. The Glass-Steagall Act separated commer-
related but less important details. This kind of out- cial banking from investment banking.
line is useful for reviewing material before a test.
III. Managing Farms and Industry
A formal outline has a standard format. In a formal
A. The Agricultural Adjustment Administration
outline, label main heads with Roman numerals,
1. Addressed the oversupply of farm
subheads with capital letters, and details with Arabic
products
numerals. Each level must have at least two entries
2. Increased farm income
and should be indented from the previous level. All
B. A Blueprint for Industrial Recovery
entries use the same grammatical form. For example,
1. The National Recovery Administration
if one entry is a complete sentence, all other entries at
established “fair competition” for industry.
that level must also be complete sentences.
2. Set minimum wages for employees
When outlining written material, first read the
3. The codes were difficult to administer
material to identify the main ideas. In textbooks, sec-
and gains were short-lived.
tion heads provide clues to main topics. Next, iden-
tify the subheads. List details that support or explain
subheads underneath the appropriate subhead.
Skills Assessment
Practicing the Skill Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
579 and the Chapter 18 Skill Reinforcement
Study the outline on this page on Roosevelt’s
New Deal. Then answer the following questions.
1 Is this an example of a formal or an informal
outline? Applying the Skill
2 What are the main headings? Outlining Write a formal or informal outline for
3 How do the subheads under “Managing Farm Section 4 of this chapter.
and Industry” relate to the main idea?
4 Give two examples of grammatical inconsis- CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
tency in this outline:
563
The Second New Deal
In 1935 Roosevelt introduced new pro- Organizing As you read about President • Describe the political challenges
grams to help unions, the elderly, and the Roosevelt’s Second New Deal, complete a Roosevelt faced in the mid-1930s.
unemployed. graphic organizer similar to the one • Explain why the Social Security Act is
below by filling in his main legislative still regarded as an important piece of
Key Terms and Names successes during this period. legislation.
deficit spending, American Liberty
League, Works Progress Administration, Legislation Provisions Section Theme
National Labor Relations Board, binding Government and Democracy The
arbitration, sit-down strike, Social Second New Deal was a political
Security Act response to growing criticism from both
the left and the right.
✦April 1935 ✦June 1935 ✦August 1935 ✦October 1935

April 1935 May 1935 July 1935 August 1935 November 1935
Works Progress Supreme Court National Labor Relations Social Security Act John L. Lewis forms Committee
Administration founded strikes down NIRA Act becomes law adopted for Industrial Organization
Harry Hopkins, head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, worked long hours
in his Washington office, a bare, dingy room with exposed water pipes. He preferred this
space to the grandeur of the more conventional offices of high-ranking officials. Here he often
defended the New Deal’s work relief programs when reporters dropped by, and he lashed
out at New Deal critics with headline-making phrases. “Some people just can’t stand to see
others make a decent living,” he said, or, “Hunger is not debatable.”
Sometimes Hopkins went on the road to talk about his job. Once, on a trip to his home
state of Iowa, Hopkins was extolling New Deal policies to a sympathetic audience when a
voice from the crowd shouted, “Who’s going to pay for it?” Without a word Hopkins peeled
off his jacket, loosened his tie, and rolled up his sleeves. Then his voice ripped through the
utter stillness, “You are!”
—adapted from The Politics of Upheaval
Harry Hopkins
Challenges to the New Deal

President Roosevelt appreciated Harry Hopkins’s feistiness. He needed effective
speakers who were willing to contend with his adversaries. Although Roosevelt had
been tremendously popular during his first two years in office, opposition to his poli-
cies had begun to grow.
The New Deal had been in effect for two years, yet the economy had shown only a
slight improvement. Although more than 2 million new jobs had been created, more than
10 million workers remained unemployed, and the nation’s total income remained about
half of what it had been in 1929. As one of Harry Hopkins’s aides reported on a visit to

Houston, Texas, “Nobody seems to
think any more that the thing [the
New Deal] is going to work.”
Criticism From Left and Right

Hostility toward Roosevelt came
from both the right wing and the left
wing of the political spectrum.
People on the right generally
believed the New Deal had imposed
too many regulations on business.
The right wing also included many
Southern Democrats who believed the
New Deal had expanded the federal
government’s power at the expense of
states’ rights.
The right wing had opposed the
New Deal from the beginning, but by Critics From the Left Huey Long and Father Charles Coughlin claimed the
late 1934, the opposition began to increase. To pay for New Deal did not do enough to help the poor.
his programs, Roosevelt had begun deficit spending.
He had abandoned a balanced budget and begun several million votes—enough, they believed, to
borrowing money to pay for his programs. Many ensure a Republican victory.
business leaders became greatly alarmed at the gov-
ernment’s growing deficit. Father Coughlin Huey Long’s challenge to Roo-
In August 1934, business leaders and anti–New sevelt became even more credible when his support-
Deal politicians from both parties joined together to ers were combined with those of Father Charles
create the American Liberty League. Its purpose was Coughlin, a Catholic priest in Detroit. Coughlin had
to organize opposition to the New Deal and “teach a popular radio show that attracted a weekly audi-
the necessity of respect for the rights of person and ence of about 30 to 45 million Americans.
property.” Originally a New Deal supporter, Coughlin had
While criticisms from the right threatened to split become impatient with its moderate reforms. He
the Democratic Party and reduce business support called instead for heavy taxes on the wealthy and
for Roosevelt, another serious challenge to the New nationalization of the banking system. In the spring
Deal came from the left. People on the left believed of 1935, Coughlin organized the National Union for
Roosevelt had not gone far enough. They wanted the Social Justice, which some Democrats feared was the
government to intervene even more dramatically in first step to creating a new political party.
the economy to shift wealth from the rich to middle-
income and poor Americans. The Townsend Plan A third
left-wing challenge to
Huey Long Perhaps the most serious threat from Roosevelt came from Dr.
the left came from Democratic senator Huey Long of Francis Townsend, a former HISTORY
Louisiana. Long captivated audiences with folksy public health official.
humor and fiery oratory. As governor of Louisiana, Townsend proposed that the Student Web
Long had championed the downtrodden. He had federal government pay citi- Activity Visit the
improved schools, colleges, and hospitals, and had zens over age 60 a pension of American Republic
built roads and bridges. These benefits made Long $200 a month. Recipients Since 1877 Web site at
very popular and enabled him to build a powerful would have to retire and tarvol2.glencoe.com
and corrupt political machine. spend their entire pension
Web Activities—
Long’s attacks on the rich gave him a national check each month. He believed
Chapter 18 for an
following, too. His supporters organized some the plan would increase
activity on the New
27,000 “Share Our Wealth” clubs across the country. spending and remove people Deal.
Pollsters estimated that if he ran against Roosevelt from the labor force, freeing up
as a third-party candidate in 1936, Long would win jobs for the unemployed.

Townsend’s proposal attracted millions of support- nation’s recovery, provide economic security to every
ers, especially among the elderly, who mobilized as a American, and ensure his re-election in 1936.
political force for the first time in American history.
Townsend’s program was particularly popular in the The WPA In January 1935, Roosevelt began by asking
West. When combined with Long’s support in the Congress for nearly $5 billion “for work relief and to
Midwest and South and Coughlin’s support among increase employment by providing useful projects.”
urban Catholics in the Northeast, there was a real pos- Much of the money would be given to the Works
sibility of a coalition that would draw enough votes Progress Administration (WPA), a new federal agency
away from Roosevelt to prevent his re-election in 1936. headed by Harry Hopkins. “The big boss is ready to go
places in a big way,” Hopkins told a colleague.
Reading Check Examining What groups of people
Over the next several years, the WPA spent $11
challenged Roosevelt and the New Deal? What concerns did billion. Its 8.5 million workers constructed about
they have? 650,000 miles of highways, roads, and streets,
125,000 public buildings, and more than 8,000 parks.
It built or improved more than 124,000 bridges and
Launching the Second New Deal 853 airports.
Although he remained tremendously popular The WPA’s most controversial program was
with the American people, Roosevelt realized that his “Federal Number One,” a section of the Professional
political support could be undermined by the attacks Projects Division that offered work to artists, musi-
from left and right. He was also disturbed by the fail- cians, theater people, and writers. “They’ve got to eat
ure of the New Deal to generate a rapid economic just like other people,” Hopkins commented to critics
recovery. In 1935 he launched what came to be called of the program. The artists created thousands of
the Second New Deal—another series of programs murals and sculptural works to beautify the walls and
and reforms that he hoped would speed up the halls of public buildings. Musicians established 30
MOMENT
in HISTORY
BRIEF RESPITE FOR FDR

Enjoying a short break from
the pressures of dealing with
the country’s economic woes,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
holds his beloved dog Fala
while chatting with the grand-
daughter of the family garden-
er at his Hyde Park, New York,
estate.The president and his
staff, with the help of the press,
took great pains to conceal his
polio-induced paralysis. He was
never filmed or photographed
being wheeled or carried from
place to place.This rare snap-
shot is one of the few known to
exist that shows Roosevelt
seated in his wheelchair.
The Second New Deal, 1935
Agency/Legislation Function
city symphony orchestras, as
well as hundreds of smaller Works Progress Administration (WPA) Combated unemployment; created jobs
musical groups. The Federal throughout economy
Theater Project financed Rural Electrification Administration (REA) Brought electricity to isolated agricultural areas
playwrights, actors, and
directors. The program also Social Security Act Created unemployment system, disability
funded historians who inter- insurance, old-age pension, and child wel-
viewed former slaves to doc- fare benefits
ument American history.
Public Utility Holding Company Act Eliminated unfair practices and abuses of
utility companies
The Supreme Court’s Role
Banking Act Strengthened the Federal Reserve
When Roosevelt asked Con-
gress to fund the WPA in Resettlement Act Assisted poor families and sharecroppers in
January 1935, he had ex- beginning new farms or purchasing land
pected quick action on the
bill. He quickly discovered
that opposition to his pro-
grams was growing in Con- 1. Interpreting Charts What did the Resettlement Act
gress. The bill creating the try to accomplish?
WPA did not pass until April 1935. By late May, 2. Understanding Cause and Effect How did these acts
Congress was preparing to adjourn for the summer, create a safety net for American citizens?
leaving Roosevelt with very few accomplishments.
Suddenly, the political situation shifted. On May
27, 1935, the Supreme Court unanimously struck
down the National Industrial Recovery Act in
The Rise of Industrial Unions
Schechter v. United States. The Schechter brothers, When the Supreme Court ruled against the NIRA, it
who had a poultry business in Brooklyn, New York, also struck down the section of the law that established
had been convicted in 1933 of violating the NIRA’s labor’s right to organize. President Roosevelt and the
Live Poultry Code. They had sold diseased Democrats in Congress knew that the working-class
chickens and violated the code’s wage-and-hour vote was very important in winning re-election in 1936.
provisions. ; (See page 964 for more about Schechter v. They also believed that unions could help end the
United States.) Depression. They thought that high union wages
In what became known as the “sick chicken would let workers spend more money, thereby boost-
case,” the Court ruled that the Constitution did not ing the economy. Opponents disagreed, arguing that
allow Congress to delegate its powers to the execu- high wages forced companies to charge higher prices
tive branch. Thus it considered the NIRA codes and to hire fewer people. Despite these concerns,
unconstitutional. The decision worried Roosevelt. Congress pushed ahead with new labor legislation.
The ruling suggested that the Court could soon
strike down the rest of the New Deal as well. The National Labor Relations Act In July 1935,
Shortly after the Schechter decision, Roosevelt Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act,
sprang into action. With the Court threatening to also called the Wagner Act after its author, Democratic
strike down the New Deal and with growing chal- senator Robert Wagner of New York. The act guaran-
lenges from the left and right, the president knew he teed workers the right to organize unions without
needed a new series of programs to keep voters’ sup- interference from employers and to bargain collec-
port. He called congressional leaders to a White tively. The law set up the National Labor Relations
House conference. Pounding his desk, he thundered Board (NLRB), which organized factory elections by
that Congress could not go home until it passed his secret ballot to determine whether workers wanted a
new bills. That summer, Congress began what the union. The NLRB then certified the successful unions.
press nicknamed the “second hundred days” and The new law also set up a process whereby dis-
worked feverishly to pass Roosevelt’s programs. satisfied union members could take their com-
plaints to binding arbitration, in which a neutral
Reading Check Examining How did the Supreme party would listen to both sides and decide the
Court’s ruling affect the New Deal? issues. The NLRB was authorized to investigate the

actions of employers and had the power to issue as the press quickly dubbed it. Workers at other
“cease and desist” orders against unfair practices. plants followed suit or carried out traditional strikes.
Bruce Bliven, editor of The New Republic magazine,
The CIO The Wagner Act stimulated a burst of labor was among the few journalists allowed into the plant.
activity. In the mid-1930s, the United Mine Workers Regarding the condition of the strike, he reported:
union, led by John L. Lewis, began working with sev-
eral other unions to organize workers in industries
where unions did not yet exist. They formed the
“ The place was remarkably neat and tidy, at least
as clean as it is under normal conditions. Beds were
Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) in made up on the floor of each car, the seats being
1935.
removed if necessary. . . . I could not see—and I
The CIO set out to organize industrial unions, or
looked for it carefully—the slightest damage done
unions that included all workers in a particular
anywhere to the General Motors Corporation. The
industry, skilled and unskilled. The CIO began by
focusing on the automobile and steel industries— nearly completed car bodies, for example, were as
two of the largest industries in America where work- clean as they would be in the salesroom, their glass
ers were not yet organized into unions. and metal shining.
”
—quoted in The Great Depression
Sit-Down Strikes In late December 1936, officials
at the General Motors auto-body plant in Cleveland, Violence broke out in Flint when police launched a
Ohio, demoted two union men. In an unplanned tear gas assault on one of the smaller plants. The strik-
protest, a shift of 135 workers sat down and ers turned back the attack with whatever was at
launched an unprecedented kind of strike. They hand—door hinges, bottles, stones, and balls of ice.
stopped working but refused to leave the factory. A The police wounded more than a dozen strikers with
few days later, the workers at the company’s plant in gunfire, but the strike held. On February 11, 1937, the
Flint, Michigan, launched their own sit-down strike, company gave in and recognized the CIO’s United
Trying to Improve Working Conditions

Union Membership, 1933–1943
14
12
Members (in millions)
10
0
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
Year
Autoworkers stage a sit-down strike Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.
in 1937 in Flint, Michigan.
1. Interpreting Graphs Approximately how many

people were union members in 1936?
2. Understanding Cause and Effect Why did union
568 CHAPTER 18 Roosevelt and the New Deal membership increase steadily after 1936?
Auto Workers (UAW) as its employees’ sole bargaining an insurance bill. Workers earned the right to receive
agent. The UAW quickly became one of the most pow- benefits because they paid premiums. The legislation
erful unions in the United States. also provided modest welfare payments to other
The United States Steel Corporation, the nation’s needy people, including those with disabilities and
largest steel producer, decided it did not want to poor families with young dependent children.
repeat the General Motors experience. The company The core of Social Security was the monthly retire-
recognized the CIO’s United Steelworkers of ment benefit, which people could collect when they
America, which won a 40-hour workweek and a stopped working at age 65. Another important bene-
10-percent pay raise. Smaller steel producers did not fit, unemployment insurance, supplied a temporary
initially recognize unions, and strikes broke out income to unemployed workers looking for new jobs.
around the country. By 1941, however, the steelwork- Some critics did not like the fact that the money came
ers’ union had contracts with the entire industry. from payroll taxes imposed on workers and employ-
In the late 1930s, workers in other industries also ers, but to Roosevelt these taxes were crucial: “We
sat down at their jobs to gain union recognition. In put those payroll contributions there so as to give the
only six years, total union membership tripled from contributors a legal, moral, and political right to col-
roughly 3 million in 1933 to about 9 million in 1939. lect their pensions and the unemployment benefits.”
In 1938 the CIO changed its name to the Congress of Since the people receiving benefits had already
Industrial Organizations and became a federation of paid for them, he explained, “no politician can ever
industrial unions. scrap my social security program.” What Roosevelt
did not anticipate was that in the future, Congress
Reading Check Examining What provisions did the
would borrow money from the Social Security fund
National Labor Relations Act establish? to pay for other programs while failing to raise pay-
roll deductions enough to pay for the benefits.
The Social Security Act Social Security helped many people, but initially it
left out many of the neediest members of society—
After passing the Wagner Act, Congress began farm and domestic workers. Some 65 percent of all
work on a bill that ranks as one of the most important African American workers in the 1930s fell into these
pieces of legislation in American history. This was the two categories. Nevertheless, Social Security estab-
Social Security Act, which became law in August lished the principle that the federal government
1935. Its major goal was to provide some security for should be responsible for those who, through no
the elderly and for unemployed workers. fault of their own, were unable to work.
With the support of Secretary of Labor Frances
Perkins, Roosevelt and his team spent months Reading Check Explaining How did the Social
preparing the bill. The framers viewed it primarily as Security Act protect workers?
TM
TM

1. Define: deficit spending, binding 5. Analyzing Why is the Social Security 7. Analyzing Graphs Examine the photo
arbitration, sit-down strike, Social Act an important piece of legislation? and graph on page 568. How did suc-
Security Act. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer cessful strikes such as the sit-down
2. Identify: American Liberty League, similar to the one below to list the polit- strike shown in the photograph lead to
Works Progress Administration, ical challenges Roosevelt faced in his a rise in union membership?
National Labor Relations Board. first term.
3. Contrast the ideas of Father Charles
Coughlin, Senator Huey Long, and
Political Challenges
Dr. Francis Townsend. 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are
either a General Motors worker or a
Reviewing Themes member of management during the
4. Government and Democracy How did sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. Write
the New Deal contribute to the growth a letter to your local newspaper
of industrial unions? describing the strike and explaining
your actions during it.

The Role of the Federal
Government
Why It Matters The New Deal dramatically expanded the federal government’s role. To
address the Depression, federal programs were directed at everything from the economy to caring for the
country’s unemployed, aged, and sick. Many critics opposed this new federal activity, and the Supreme
Court struck down several New Deal programs as unconstitutional. At the same time, the Court also issued
decisions that dramatically increased the federal government’s role. The debate over the power and role of
the federal government echoed debates from earlier times in the nation’s history.
Steps To . . . a Strong The Founders saw federalism as a way to forge a

Federal Government strong union while preserving the states as a check
on federal power.
The growth of federal power began with the
writing of the Constitution itself. When the Necessary and Proper Clause The Constitution
American Revolution began, the individual state also gives the federal government implied powers.
governments were very suspicious of centralized These are powers that the government has, even
power. They did not want to create a strong national though they are not written down, because without
government that might endanger their liberties. them the government could not carry out the powers
it has been expressly given.
Federalism In drafting the new Constitution in The basis for implied powers is the
1787, the Founders adopted the idea of federalism. Constitution’s necessary and proper clause (art. 1,
Federalism refers to a system under which power is sec. 8). This clause gives Congress the power to
shared between the national or federal government make laws that are “necessary and proper” for it to
and the state governments. The Constitution execute its powers under the Constitution. The nec-
divides government authority. It gives essary and proper clause has been used many times
the national government specific to expand the federal government’s power.
powers but reserves all other pow- The debate over implied powers began in George
ers to the states or to the people. Washington’s administration in a dispute about the
“The government of the United States, then, though

limited in its powers is supreme; and its laws, when
made in pursuance of the Constitution, form the
supreme law of the land . . . ”
—U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice
John Marshall, 1819
570
The Federal System
Powers of the Powers Shared by National Powers Reserved for
National Government and State Governments State Governments
• Regulate interstate and foreign trade • Collect taxes • Regulate trade within the state
• Raise/support armed forces • Borrow money • Write business/corporate laws
• Declare war/make peace • Make and enforce laws • Establish and maintain public
• Coin and print money • Establish and maintain courts schools
• Grant patents/copyrights • Charter banks • Set up local governments
• Establish federal courts • Provide for public welfare • Pass marriage/divorce laws
• Govern territories and admit new states • Conduct elections
• Set weights/measures • Ratify constitutional
• Establish a postal system amendments
• Regulate immigration
creation of a national bank. Alexander Hamilton unions were unconstitutional because such activi-
believed a bank was convenient and not prohibited ties took place within states, not across state lines.
in carrying out the government’s treasury func- During the New Deal, however, the Supreme
tions, while Thomas Jefferson believed the federal Court’s opinion shifted. In 1937 it ruled in NLRB v.
government could not create a bank since it was Jones and Laughlin Steel that the commerce clause
not absolutely necessary. Washington sided with allowed the federal government to regulate indus-
Hamilton, and the bank was created. try within states.
The Supreme Court, under the leadership of
Chief Justice John Marshall, strongly defended the The Fourteenth Amendment Perhaps the
idea that the necessary and proper clause gave the most dramatic increase in federal power took place
federal government wide-ranging powers. In 1819, following the Civil War. The new Fourteenth
in McCulloch v. Maryland, the Court ruled that the Amendment banned states from depriving people
necessary and proper clause allowed the federal of their life, liberty, or property “without due
government to use any method that was convenient process of law” and prohibited states from denying
for carrying out its express powers, as long as it was people the “equal protection of the laws.” Both the
not specifically forbidden in the Constitution. due process clause and the equal protection clause
have been used repeatedly by the Supreme Court to
The Commerce Clause Another clause in the extend the Bill of Rights to the states and to end seg-
Constitution that has been used to expand the fed- regation of African Americans. As a result, by the
eral government’s power is the commerce clause. late twentieth century, the federal government had
The Constitution gives the federal government the acquired powers far beyond those envisioned in
power to regulate commerce with foreign nations 1787.
and between the states. Over time, the definition of
the word commerce has played an important role in
determining the powers of the federal government. Checking for Understanding
In 1824 the Supreme Court ruled in Gibbons v. 1. What is the necessary and proper clause in the Constitution?
Ogden that the commerce clause meant that any- 2. In what ways did the Supreme Court use the commerce
thing crossing state lines could be regulated by the clause?
federal government. In the late 1800s and early
Critical Thinking
1900s, however, the Court ruled that federal laws 1. Do you agree with Jefferson’s or Hamilton’s view of implied
regulating industry, agriculture, child labor, and powers? Explain.
2. How did the Fourteenth Amendment increase federal power?
The New Deal
Coalition
Backed by a new coalition of voters, Taking Notes As you read about the • Explain the achievements and the
Roosevelt easily won a second term, but New Deal coalition, use the major head- defeats of Roosevelt’s second term.
the opposition of conservatives weakened ings of the section to create an outline • Analyze how the New Deal affected
his ability to achieve additional reforms. similar to the one below. Americans’ sense of security and their
attitude toward the role of government.
Key Terms and Names The New Deal Coalition
Frances Perkins, court-packing, Henry I. Roosevelt’s Second Term Section Theme
A.
Morgenthau, John Maynard Keynes, B. Groups and Institutions The Democratic
broker state, safety net C. Party’s victory in 1936 resulted from a
II.
A. new alignment in politics that lasted for
B. several decades.
✦1936 ✦1937 ✦1938

1936 1937 1937 1938
FDR reelected Court-packing bill defeated; Farm Roosevelt Fair Labor Standards
Tenant Act; National Housing Act Recession begins Act passed
One day in 1932, Emma Guffey Miller, the sister of Democratic senator Joseph Guffey, was
having her nails done at a salon in Pittsburgh. Her manicurist mentioned that Robert Vann,
publisher of the Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African American newspaper, wanted to see the
senator. When Senator Guffey met Vann, Vann told him that the Democrats could win most of
the 280,000 African American votes in Pennsylvania if they made the effort.
Since the Civil War, most African Americans had voted for the Republicans. Now times had
changed. The Depression had hit the African American community very hard, and
Republicans had done little to help. In talks to African American voters, Vann often said, “My
Robert Vann friends, go home and turn Lincoln’s picture to the wall. That debt has been paid in full.”
Guffey was impressed. He persuaded party leaders to appoint Vann to lead “the first really
effective Negro division a Democratic campaign committee ever had.” By 1936 the majority of
African American voters had switched their support to the Democratic Party.
—adapted from The Politics of Upheaval
Roosevelt’s Second Term

The dramatic shift in party allegiance by African Americans was part of a historic
political realignment triggered by FDR’s New Deal. As the election of 1936 approached,
millions of voters owed their jobs, mortgages, or salvaged bank accounts to the New
Deal, and they knew it.

in History
Mary McLeod Bethune Frances Perkins
1875–1955 1882–1965
Mary McLeod Bethune was born From the moment she became FDR’s
into a poor South Carolina family, the secretary of labor at the age of 50,
15th of 17 children. Although she Frances Perkins confronted the chal-
worked from a young age picking cot- lenge of being the first female cabinet
ton and washing clothes, Bethune was member in the nation’s history.
determined to get an education. She Perkins studied social work at
won a scholarship to a seminary in Columbia University. Early in her
North Carolina and later graduated career, she assisted Jane Addams
from the Moody Bible Institute in at Hull House and worked with
Chicago. Bethune then began teaching at the Haines Institute. In Florence Kelley of the Consumers’ League. From her lobbying
1904 she founded a school in Florida for the children of African efforts there, Perkins learned how to deal with politicians.
American railroad workers. “I rang doorbells,” she later recalled. Perkins first met Roosevelt when she worked for the New York
“I wrote articles . . . distributed leaflets, [and] invaded churches, Committee on Safety, lobbying state legislators to limit the work-
clubs, lodges, [and] chambers of commerce.” Gradually she raised week for women to 54 hours. When Roosevelt became governor in
enough money to found the Daytona Normal and Industrial 1928, he appointed Perkins state industrial commissioner.
School, later known as Bethune College. After Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932, he asked Perkins to
Bethune’s efforts gained her a national reputation. In the 1920s, head the Department of Labor. Upon taking the job, Perkins found
she visited the White House to discuss African American affairs. many areas that needed improvement: offices that were run down,
She also became a good friend of Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1936 FDR disorganized files, and lax work schedules, conditions she quickly
appointed her director of the Negro Division of the National Youth remedied.
Administration (NYA), which provided job training for young Given her background, it was fitting that one of Perkins’s major
people. Bethune also founded the National Council of Negro tasks was to head the team that designed the Social Security pro-
Women to support civil rights. In later years, she advised gram. She also supervised implementation of the Fair Labor
Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Standards Act and built up the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The white South, which had been the core of the that women did not need federal government action
Democratic Party, now became just one part of a new to ensure equal treatment, but rather to provide cer-
coalition that included farmers, laborers, African tain protections for them.
Americans, new immigrants, ethnic minorities,
women, progressives, and intellectuals. First Lady The Election of 1936 To oppose Roosevelt, the
Eleanor Roosevelt helped bring about the change in Republicans nominated Kansas Governor Alfred
the African American and women’s vote. She had Landon. Although Landon favored some New Deal
demonstrated strong sympathies toward these policies, he declared it was time “to unshackle initia-
groups, with whom she spoke in her many tours of tive and free the spirit of American enterprise.” As
the country. She recounted her experiences to her the election neared, Landon became more aggressive.
husband and persuaded him to address at least some The New Deal “violates the basic ideals of the
of their problems in his New Deal programs. American system,” he declared. “If we are to pre-
African Americans and women made some mod- serve our American form of government, this admin-
est gains during the New Deal. For example, the istration must be defeated.”
president appointed a number of African Americans Despite Landon’s attacks, Roosevelt and the New
to positions in his administration; informally, they Deal remained overwhelmingly popular with the
became known as the Black Cabinet. Roosevelt also American people. The challenge from left-wing rad-
tried to see that New Deal relief programs did not icals also proved much weaker than expected—pri-
exclude African Americans. marily because Huey Long had been assassinated in
A similar approach guided New Deal policies Louisiana in September of 1935. Long’s supporters
toward women. Roosevelt appointed the first woman joined with those of Father Coughlin and Francis
to a cabinet post, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, Townsend in the summer of 1936 to form a new
and assigned many women to lower-level jobs in the political movement called the Union Party, but
federal bureaucracy. Even so, the general view was without a strong leader, the party had no chance.

On Election Day, Roosevelt swept to victory in one the size of the Court, the scheme created the impres-
of the largest landslides in American history. He sion that the president was trying to interfere with
won more than 60 percent of the popular vote and the Constitution’s separation of powers and under-
carried every state except Maine and Vermont. mine the Court’s independence.
The issue split the Democratic Party. Many
The Court-Packing Plan Although popular opin- Southern Democrats feared Roosevelt’s plan would
ion supported most of the president’s programs, the put justices on the Court who would overturn segre-
Supreme Court saw things differently. In January gation. At the same time, African American leaders
1936, the Court declared the Agricultural Adjustment worried that once Roosevelt set the precedent of
Act to be unconstitutional. With cases pending on changing the Court’s makeup, a future president
Social Security and the Wagner Act, it seemed likely might pack the Court with justices opposed to civil
the Court would strike down nearly all of the major rights. Many Americans believed the plan would
New Deal programs. give the president too much power.
Roosevelt was furious that a handful of jurists, Despite the uproar over the scheme, Roosevelt’s
“nine old men” as he called them, were blocking the actions appeared to force the Supreme Court to back
wishes of a majority of the people. After winning re- down. In April 1937, the Court upheld the Wagner
election, he decided to try to change the political bal- Act, and in May it declared the Social Security Act to
ance on the Supreme Court. Claiming that the Court be constitutional. Shortly afterward, one of the more
was overburdened with work, Roosevelt sent conservative judges resigned, enabling Roosevelt to
Congress a bill to increase the number of justices: If appoint a supporter of the New Deal to the Court.
any justice had served for 10 years and did not retire In mid-July, the Senate quietly killed the court-
within six months after reaching the age of 70, the packing bill without bringing it to a vote. Although
president could appoint an additional justice to the Roosevelt had achieved his goal of changing the
Court. Since four justices were in their 70s and two Court’s view of the New Deal, the fight over the plan
more were in their late 60s, the bill, if passed, would had hurt his reputation with the American people
allow Roosevelt to quickly appoint as many as six and encouraged conservative Democrats in Congress
new justices. to work with Republicans to oppose further New
The court-packing plan, as the press called it, was Deal proposals.
Roosevelt’s first serious political mistake as presi-
ECONOMICS
dent. Although Congress had the power to change
The Roosevelt Recession In late 1937, Roosevelt’s
reputation suffered another blow when unemploy-
History ment suddenly surged. Earlier in the year, the econ-
omy had seemed to be on the verge of full recovery.
Campaigning in 1936 During the 1936 election, FDR’s Democratic Party
brought together farmers, like this North Dakotan, and many other groups of
Industrial output was almost back to the level it had
Americans to form a new coalition of political supporters. This coalition helped reached before the Depression began, and many
give Roosevelt a strong re-election victory. What different groups made up people believed the worst was over.
this coalition? Although unemployment remained high, Roosevelt
decided it was time to balance the budget. Concerned
about the dangers of too much debt, Roosevelt ordered
the WPA and the PWA to be cut significantly. Un-
fortunately, Roosevelt cut spending just as the first
Social Security payroll taxes removed $2 billion from
the economy. Almost immediately the economy plum-
meted. By the end of 1937, about two million people
had been thrown out of work.
The recession of 1937 led to a
debate inside Roosevelt’s adminis-
tration over what to do. Treasury
Secretary Henry Morgenthau
favored balancing the budget and
cutting spending. This would
reassure business leaders and
encourage them to invest in the economy. Harry
Hopkins, head of the WPA, and Harold Ickes, head
of the PWA, both disagreed with Morgenthau and
pushed for more government spending. They
pointed to a new theory called “Keynesianism” to
support their arguments.
Keynesianism was based on the theories of an
influential British economist named John Maynard
Keynes. In 1936 Keynes published a book that dis-
cussed the causes of recessions. He argued that the
government should spend heavily during a reces-
sion, even if it had to run a deficit, in order to jump-
start the economy.
According to Keynesian economics, Roosevelt had
done exactly the wrong thing when he cut back pro-
grams in 1937. At first Roosevelt was reluctant to
begin deficit spending again. Many critics of his poli-
cies had argued that the recession proved the
American people were becoming too dependent on
government spending, and Roosevelt worried they
might be right. Finally, in the spring of 1938, with no
recovery in sight, he asked Congress for $3.75 billion
for the PWA, the WPA, and other programs.
Reading Check Summarizing What events weak-
ened Roosevelt’s reputation in 1937? Analyzing Political Cartoons
Traitor to His Class By 1936 many wealthy Americans believed that FDR
had turned his back on his own upbringing, and they actively worked to prevent
The Last New Deal Reforms his re-election. How did the New Deal change the way many people view
government?
In his second inaugural speech, Roosevelt had
pointed out that despite the nation’s progress in
The National Housing Act One of the president’s
climbing out of the Depression, many Americans still
goals for his second term was to provide better hous-
endured crippling poverty:
ing for the nation’s poor. The Home Owners Loan
Corporation had helped many middle-class citizens,
“ In this nation I see tens of millions of its citi-
zens—a substantial part of its whole population—
but it had not provided housing for those who could
not afford a mortgage. Eleanor Roosevelt, who had
who at this very moment are denied the greater part
toured poverty-stricken regions of Appalachia and
of what the very lowest standards of today call the the Deep South, was among those urging the presi-
necessities of life. . . . I see one-third of a nation ill- dent to do something.
housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. . . . The test of our Senator Wagner, who shared the First Lady’s con-
progress is not whether we add more to the abun- cerns, prepared a new housing bill with Roosevelt’s
dance of those who have much; it is whether we pro- full support. The 1937 National Housing Act estab-
lished the United States Housing Authority, which
vide enough for those who have too little.
” received $500 million to subsidize loans for builders
—quoted in Public Papers and willing to buy blocks of slums and build low-cost
Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt housing.
Despite the president’s idealistic goals, the fight The Farm Security Administration Before the
over the court-packing scheme and the recession of Supreme Court struck it down, the Agricultural
1937 had weakened Roosevelt politically. Although Adjustment Administration had paid many farmers
he pushed ahead with a new series of New Deal pro- to take land out of production to force food prices to
grams, his successes were far more limited than they rise. The price-support program raised farm income,
had been in previous years. but it badly hurt tenant farmers. Landowners often

• Movie Escapism
Movies cost less than 25¢ in many places,
1930s so children could afford to go, too. These
Entertainment children display door prizes handed out
during a matinee in California.
During the Depression, people needed
entertainment more than ever. Movies
topped the list of ways to escape everyday
hardship, but music and dance were pop-
• Dance Craze
Dance marathons got their start in the manic
ular as well. For really cheap entertain- 1920s, but they gained wide popularity in the
ment, one could stay at home and play 1930s. Couples might dance hundreds of hours,
cards or board games. until they were exhausted. The last couple
standing could win substantial prize money.
expelled tenants from the land in order to take it out Roosevelt, meanwhile, became increasingly preoc-
of production. About 150,000 white and 195,000 cupied with the growing international threat posed
African American tenants left farming during the by Germany and Japan. By 1939 the New Deal era
1930s for this reason. had come to an end.
To stop this trend, the Farm Security Admin-
Reading Check Examining What groups did
istration was created in 1937 to give loans to tenants
so they could purchase farms. Over the next four Roosevelt’s last New Deal programs try to help?
years it extended loans of about $1 billion. Members
of Congress, many of whom believed the program
made agricultural problems worse by increasing The Legacy of the New Deal
farm production and driving down prices, kept its In terms of its main goal of ending the Depression,
appropriations at a low level. the New Deal was only a limited success. Unemploy-
ment remained high, and economic recovery was not
The Fair Labor Standards Act In 1938 New complete until after World War II. Even so, the New
Dealers were still trying to reinstate important pro- Deal gave many Americans a stronger sense of secu-
labor regulations to make up for the Supreme Court’s rity and stability.
dismantling of the NIRA in 1935. The Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 provided more protection for The Broker State As a whole, the New Deal tended
workers, abolished child labor, and established a to operate so that it balanced competing economic
40-hour workweek for many workers to come into interests. Business leaders, farmers, workers, con-
effect within three years. sumers, homeowners, and others now looked to gov-
Congress, however, was beginning to turn ernment to protect their interests.
against the New Deal. The recession of 1937 The federal government’s ability to take on this
enabled the Republicans to win many seats in new role was enhanced by two important Supreme
Congress in the midterm elections of 1938. Court decisions. In 1937, in NLRB v. Jones and
Together with conservative Southern Democrats, Laughlin Steel, the Court ruled that the federal gov-
they began blocking further New Deal legislation. ernment had the constitutional authority, under the

working out conflicts among different interests.
This broker role has continued under the adminis-
trations of both parties ever since.
Government’s New Role Probably the biggest

change the New Deal brought about was the new
public attitude toward government. Roosevelt’s pro-
grams had succeeded in creating something of a
safety net for average Americans—safeguards and
relief programs that protected them against economic
• Music and Monopoly disaster. By the time the Roosevelt years were over,
The legendary Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra was one of
many big band orchestras of the 1930s. Whether touring the American people felt that the government had a
the country in one-night gigs or playing on the radio, duty to maintain this safety net even though it
they drew a huge following. Monopoly was a major required a larger, more expensive federal govern-
1930s fad. Players ment than at any time in American history.
of this board game Critics continued to argue that the New Deal
moved pieces made the government too powerful. Another legacy
around, buying and of the New Deal, therefore, is a debate that has con-
developing “prop- tinued to the present over how much the government
erty” in a race to should intervene in the economy or support the dis-
amass a fortune in advantaged.
fake money. Throughout the hard times of the Depression,
most Americans maintained a surprising degree of
confidence in the American system. Journalist
Dorothy Thompson expressed this feeling in 1940:
interstate commerce clause, to regulate production
within a state. In 1942, in Wickard v. Filburn, the Court
used a similar argument to allow the federal govern-
“ We have behind us eight terrible years of a
crisis. . . . Here we are, and our basic institutions
ment to regulate consumption in the states. These are still intact, our people relatively prosperous and
decisions increased federal power over the economy most important of all, our society relatively affection-
and allowed it to mediate between competing
groups. ; (See pages 964 and 965 for more information on ”
ate. . . . No country is so well off.
these Supreme Court cases.)

In taking on this mediating role, the New Deal Reading Check Summarizing What was the legacy
established what some have called the broker state, of Roosevelt’s New Deal?
TM
TM

1. Define: broker state, safety net. 5. Interpreting How did the New Deal 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Frances Perkins, change attitudes toward government? photograph on page 574. What does it
court-packing, Henry Morgenthau, 6. Categorizing Use a chart like the one suggest about Roosevelt’s method of
John Maynard Keynes. below to list the achievements and campaigning?
3. Explain Roosevelt’s court-packing plan defeats of Roosevelt’s second term.
and how it was received.
Achievements Defeats Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
8. Persuasive Writing Write an essay
4. Groups and Institutions What groups evaluating the effectiveness of New
made up the New Deal coalition? Deal measures in ending the
Depression.

On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 16. Analyzing Themes: Economic Factors What caused the
1. gold standard 5. sit-down strike recession in 1937, and how did Keynesian economics explain
this recession?
2. fireside chats 6. Social Security Act
17. Analyzing Choose one of the New Deal programs. Describe
3. deficit spending 7. broker state its goals and evaluate its success.
4. binding arbitration 8. safety net 18. Forming an Opinion Which method should be used to
settle differences between unions and companies—binding
Reviewing Key Facts arbitration or strikes? Explain your answer.
9. Identify: New Deal, bank holiday, Hundred Days, Securities 19. Interpreting Primary Sources In her autobiography,
and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Eleanor Roosevelt wrote about discussions she had with
Corporation, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Works people across the country. Read the excerpt and answer the
Progress Administration, National Labor Relations Board, questions that follow.
Frances Perkins, court-packing, John Maynard Keynes.
10. Why was President Roosevelt reluctant to use deficit spend-
ing to help the American economy recover from the Great
“ This trip to the mining areas was my first contact
with the work being done by the Quakers. I liked the
Depression? idea of trying to put people to work to help themselves.
11. Why did the federal government create work programs dur- The men were started on projects and taught to use
ing the Depression? their abilities to develop new skills. The women were
12. How did the Supreme Court challenge the New Deal? encouraged to revive any household arts they might
13. How did the Wagner Act contribute to the growth of unions? once have known but which they had neglected in the
14. Why did President Roosevelt devise the court-packing plan? drab life of the mining village.
15. What impact did New Deal legislation have on the role of the This was only the first of many trips into the mining
federal government in state commerce? districts but it was the one that started the homestead
Major New Deal Programs

Financial and Debt Agriculture and Industry
• Emergency Banking Relief Act regulated banks. • Agricultural Adjustment Administration paid farmers
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured to limit surplus production.
bank deposits. • National Industrial Recovery Act limited industrial
• Farm Credit Administration refinanced farm mortgages. production and set prices.
• Home Owners’ Loan Corporation financed • National Labor Relations Act gave workers the right to
homeowners’ mortgages. organize unions and bargain collectively.
• Tennessee Valley Authority financed rural electrification
Work and Relief and helped develop the economy of a seven-state region.
• Civilian Conservation Corps created forestry jobs for

young men.
• Federal Emergency Relief Administration funded city Social “Safety Net”
and state relief programs. • Social Security Act provided:
• Public Works Administration created work programs to – income for elderly, handicapped, and unemployed.
build public projects, such as roads, bridges, and schools. – monthly retirement benefit for people over 65

Unemployment, 1933–1940
HISTORY
15
Self-Check Quiz
Unemployed (in millions)

12
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— 9
6
idea [placing people in planned communities with
3
homes, farms, and jobs]. . . . It was all experimental
work, but it was designed to get people off relief, to put
0
them to work building their own homes and to give
1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940
them enough land to start growing food.
”
a. Why did Eleanor Roosevelt like the Quaker project?
Year
b. Based on this excerpt, do you think that Eleanor Roosevelt
supported her husband’s New Deal programs? Explain
your answer.
the SEC. Write a short report explaining how they continue to
20. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer like the one below to affect the lives of U.S. citizens and the U.S. economy today.
list groups of people helped by each program.
New Deal Whom It Economics and History

Agencies Helped 24. Examine the graph above showing unemployment figures,
and then answer the questions below.
NRA
a. Interpreting Graphs What was the difference in unem-
AAA ployment between 1937 and 1938?
b. Analyzing Why did unemployment decline between
FDIC 1933 and 1937? Why did it increase in 1938?
HOLC
CCC
Practicing Skills Standardized

21. Outlining Study the subheads of Section 3, “The Second Test Practice
New Deal,” and Section 4, “The New Deal Coalition,” to
review the sections. Then do the following exercises.
following question.
a. Make a formal outline of Section 3. Pay special attention
to forming complete sentences. Which of the following is true of the bills passed during the
first Hundred Days of FDR’s presidency?
b. Make an informal outline of Section 4.
F They were intended to provide long-term relief to
American citizens.
Writing Activity G They were known as the Second New Deal.
22. Expository Writing Under Economic Crisis and the New H They were designed as temporary measures to restart
Deal on the American History Primary Source Document the economy.
Library CD-ROM, read Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address.
J They were the subject of divisive and protracted debate
Work with another student to write a commentary on the
in Congress.
address and then present it as a radio broadcast to the class.
Your commentary should include opinions about Roosevelt’s Test-Taking Tip: Remember, this question asks for the true
economic ideas. statement. Read through each answer carefully to see if it is
true of FDR’s first Hundred Days. Since answer G refers to
Chapter Activity the Second New Deal, it could not refer to the first Hundred
23. Technology Activity: Researching the Internet Use the Days, so you can eliminate that answer.
Internet to research two New Deal agencies: the FDIC and

Global
Struggles
1931–1960
W hy It Matters
The rise of dictatorships in the 1930s led to
World War II, the most destructive war in the
history of the world. After the war, the fragile
Dog tags
alliance between the United States and the
Soviet Union collapsed into the Cold War—a
period of intense political, economic, and mili-
tary competition. Learning about the events of
this crucial period in our nation’s history will
help you understand the events occurring in
the nation and around the world today. The
following resources offer more information
about this period in American history.

See pages 934–935 for primary source read-
ings to accompany Unit 6.

find additional primary sources about global
struggles.
American soldier
in World War II
580
“More than an end to war,
we want an end to the
beginning of all wars.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1945
A World
in Flames 1931–1941
Why It Matters
After World War I, Europe was unstable. Fascists led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy,
and Adolf Hitler and the Nazis took control of Germany. Meanwhile, Japan expanded its territory
in Asia. As the Nazis gained power, they began a campaign of violence against Jews. When
Germany attacked Poland, World War II began. The United States clung to neutrality until Japan
attacked Pearl Harbor.
The Impact Today

European events of this time serve as lessons for American leaders.
• The danger of ethnic and religious prejudice is more readily recognized than it was before.
• Many American leaders believe that international aggression cannot be ignored.

video, “Holocaust Stories,” presents firsthand accounts from survivors
of the Holocaust.
1932
• Bonus Army arrives
in Washington, D.C.
1931
• Jane Addams awarded 1933
Nobel Peace Prize • Franklin Delano 1935
Roosevelt inaugurated • First Neutrality
Act passed
▲
F. Roosevelt
▲ ▲ 1933–1945
▲
1930 1933 1936
▼ ▼ ▼
1931 1933 1936
• Japan invades • Hitler appointed • Hitler reoccupies
Manchuria chancellor of Germany Rhineland
• Spanish Civil War begins
582
German chancellor Adolf Hitler reviews
a parade of Nazi troops.
1939
• SS St. Louis denied
permission to dock 1941
in United States • Roosevelt and December 7, 1941
Churchill coauthor • Japan attacks Pearl
1940
Atlantic Charter Harbor
• Roosevelt makes
1937
• Neutrality Act
“destroyers-for-bases” HISTORY
deal with Britain
limits trade with
all warring nations
▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
• Munich Conference • World War II • France falls to
appeases Hitler begins with Hitler’s the Nazis
attack on Poland
583
America and the World
In the years following World War I, Taking Notes As you read about the • Describe how postwar conditions con-
aggressive and expansionist governments events in Europe and Asia after World tributed to the rise of antidemocratic
took power in both Europe and Asia. War I, use the major headings of the sec- governments in Europe.
tion to create an outline similar to the • Explain why many Americans supported
Key Terms and Names one below. a policy of isolationism in the 1930s.
Benito Mussolini, fascism, Vladimir Lenin,
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Manchuria, America and the World Section Theme
I. The Rise of Dictators
Neutrality Act of 1935, internationalism A. Global Connections German and
B. Japanese actions in the 1930s led
C.
D. President Roosevelt to work to prevent
II. aggression.
✦1922 ✦1927 ✦1932 ✦1937

1922 1931 1933 1935 1937
Fascist Party takes power Japan takes control Hitler takes power Congress passes first Japan attacks
in Italy; USSR established of Manchuria in Germany Neutrality Act China
In August 1934, American journalist Dorothy Thompson received an urgent call from the
porter at her Berlin hotel. A member of Germany’s secret state police wanted to talk to her.
Thompson had been reporting on Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, and she had written various
anti-Nazi articles for the American press. In one she described the beautiful singing she had
heard at a Hitler youth camp, where thousands of boys ages 10 to 16 marched and sang. The
boys’ lovely voices echoing across the hills stirred Thompson, but the words on an enormous
banner hanging across one hillside chilled her:
“ It was so prominent that every child could see it many times a day. It was white, and
there was a swastika painted on it, and besides that only seven words, seven immense black
Dorothy Thompson
words: YOU WERE BORN TO DIE FOR GERMANY.
”
When Thompson met with the police, they ordered her to leave Germany immediately.
“I, fortunately, am an American,” Thompson observed, “so I was merely sent to Paris. Worse
things can happen to one.”
—quoted in The Women Who Wrote the War
The Rise of Dictators

Less than 20 years before the dictatorial German government expelled Dorothy
Thompson, the future of democracy in Europe seemed bright. When World War I ended
in 1918, President Woodrow Wilson had announced, “Everything for which America
fought has been accomplished.” Wilson had hoped that the United States could “aid in
584 CHAPTER 19 A World in Flames

the establishment of just democracy throughout the do this, the Communists instituted one-party rule,
world.” Instead, the treaty that ended the war, along suppressed individual liberties, and punished oppo-
with the economic depression that followed, con- nents. After Lenin died in 1924, a power struggle
tributed to the rise of antidemocratic governments in began. By 1926, Joseph Stalin had become the new
both Europe and Asia. Soviet dictator. In 1927 Stalin began a massive effort
to industrialize his country. Tolerating no opposition,
Mussolini and Fascism in Italy One of Europe’s the effort brought about the deaths of 8 to 10 million
first major dictatorships arose in Italy. There, a for- peasants who resisted the Communist policies.
mer schoolmaster and journalist named Benito
Mussolini returned from World War I convinced that Hitler and Nazism in Germany Adolf Hitler was
his country needed a strong leader. a fervent anticommunist and an admirer of
In 1919 Mussolini founded Italy’s Fascist Party. Mussolini. Hitler had fought for Germany in World
Fascism was a kind of aggressive nationalism. War I. Germany’s surrender and the subsequent
Fascists believed that the nation was more important Versailles Treaty left him and many other Germans
than the individual. They argued that individualism with a smoldering hatred for the victorious Allies
made countries weak and that a strong government and for the German government that had accepted
led by a dictator was needed to impose order on soci- the peace terms.
ety. Fascists believed a nation became great by The political and economic chaos in postwar
expanding its territory and building up its military. Germany led to the rise of new political parties. One
Fascism was also strongly anticommunist. After of these was the National Socialist German Workers’
the Communist revolution in Russia, many Party, or the Nazi Party. The party did not represent
Europeans feared that Communists, allied with labor the working class, as its name suggested, but was
unions, were trying to bring down their govern- nationalistic and anticommunist. Adolf Hitler was
ments. Mussolini exploited these fears by portraying one of the party’s first recruits.
fascism as a bulwark against the Communists. In November 1923, the Nazis tried to seize
Fascism began to stand for the protection of private power by marching on city hall in Munich,
property and of the middle class. Mussolini also Germany. Hitler intended to seize power locally
offered the working class full employment and social
security. He stressed national prestige, pledging to History
return Italy to the glories of the Roman Empire.
Backed by the Fascist militia known as the Supreme Soviets Joseph Stalin (right) took over control of the Soviet Union
Blackshirts, Mussolini threatened to march on Rome after Lenin’s death in 1924. He was determined to modernize and industrialize
his nation. How many people died while opposing Stalin’s leadership?
in 1922, claiming he was coming to defend Italy
against a Communist revolution. Liberal members of
the Italian parliament insisted that the king declare
martial law. When he refused, the cabinet resigned.
Conservative advisers then persuaded the king to
appoint Mussolini as the premier.
Once in office, Mussolini worked quickly to destroy
democracy and set up a dictatorship. Weary of strikes
and riots, many Italians welcomed Mussolini’s leader-
ship. With the support of industrialists, landowners,
and the Roman Catholic Church, Mussolini—who took
the title of Il Duce, or “The Leader”—embarked on an
ambitious program of bringing order to Italy.
Stalin Takes Over the USSR The Communists

were a much larger force in Russia than in Italy. After
the Russian Revolution began in 1917, the Bolshevik
Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, established Commu-
nist governments throughout the Russian empire. In
1922 they renamed these territories the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). They then pro-
ceeded to establish control over these territories. To
and then march on Berlin, the German capital, but the Nazi paramilitary units were called, began intimi-
the plan failed and Hitler was arrested. dating voters. After the election, the Reichstag, domi-
While in prison, Hitler wrote his autobiography, nated by the Nazis and other right-wing parties, voted
titled Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”). In the book, Hitler to give Hitler dictatorial powers. In 1934 Hitler became
called for the unification of all Germans under one president, which gave him control of the army. He then
government. He claimed that Germans, particularly gave himself the new title of führer, or “leader.” The
blond, blue-eyed Germans, belonged to a “master following year, he began to rebuild Germany’s military,
race” called Aryans. He argued that Germans needed in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
more lebensraum, or living space, and called for
Germany to expand east into Poland and Russia. Militarists Gain Control of Japan In Japan, as in
According to Hitler, the Slavic people of Eastern Germany, difficult economic times helped under-
Europe belonged to an inferior race, which Germans mine the political system. Japanese industries had to
should enslave. Hitler’s prejudice was strongest, import nearly all of the resources they needed to
however, toward Jews. He believed that Jews were produce goods. During the 1920s, Japan did not earn
responsible for many of the world’s problems, espe- enough money from its exports to pay for its
cially for Germany’s defeat in World War I. imports, which limited economic growth and
After his release from prison, Hitler changed his increased unemployment. When the Depression
tactics. Instead of trying to seize power violently, he struck, other countries raised their tariffs. This made
focused on getting Nazis elected to the Reichstag, the the situation even worse.
lower house of the German parliament. When the Many Japanese military officers blamed the coun-
Great Depression struck Germany, many desperate try’s problems on corrupt politicians. Most officers
Germans began to vote for radical parties, including believed that Japan was destined to dominate East
the Nazis and Communists. By 1932 the Nazis were Asia. Many also believed that democracy was “un-
the largest party in the Reichstag. Japanese” and bad for the country.
Many traditional German leaders supported Japanese military leaders and the civilians who
Hitler’s nationalism. They believed that if they supported them argued that the only way for Japan
helped Hitler become leader of Germany legally, they to get needed resources was to seize territory. They
could control him. In 1933 the German president targeted the resource-rich province of Manchuria in
appointed Hitler as chancellor, or prime minister. northern China as the perfect place to conquer.
After taking office, Hitler called for new elections. A group of Japanese officers decided to act without
He then ordered the police to crack down on the the government’s permission. In September 1931, the
Socialist and Communist Parties. Storm Troopers, as Japanese army invaded Manchuria. After the inva-
sion began, the Japanese
government tried to end
History the war, but when the
Meeting of Minds Mussolini and Hitler are shown here meeting in October 1940. What beliefs did they share? Japanese prime minister
began negotiations, officers
assassinated him. From
that point forward, the
military was effectively in
control. Although Japan
still had a civilian gov-
ernment, it now supported
the nationalist policy of
expanding the empire, and
it appointed several mili-
tary officers to serve as
prime minister.
Reading Check
Examining How did postwar
conditions contribute to the
rise of dictatorships in Europe?
America Turns to Neutrality
The rise of dictatorships and militarism after
World War I discouraged many Americans. The sac-
rifices they had made during the war seemed point-
less. Once again, Americans began to support
isolationism, or the belief that the United States
should avoid international commitments that might
drag the nation into another war.
The Nye Committee Isolationist ideas became even

stronger in the early 1930s for two reasons. When the
Depression began, many European nations found it
difficult to repay money they had borrowed during
World War I. In June 1934, all of the debtor nations
except Finland announced they would no longer
repay their war debts.
At about the same time, dozens of books and arti-
cles appeared arguing that arms manufacturers had
tricked the United States into entering World War I.
In 1934 Senator Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota held
hearings to investigate the country’s involvement in
World War I. The Nye Committee documented the
huge profits that arms factories had made during the
war. The report created the impression that these
businesses influenced the United States to go to war.
The European refusal to repay their loans and the
Nye Committee’s findings turned even more History
Americans toward isolationism.
Anti-Fascist Propaganda Spanish general Francisco Franco led the
Legislating Neutrality Worried that growing Ger- Fascist rebellion that received support from Hitler and Mussolini. This
man and Italian aggression might lead to war, poster translates to “The claw of the Italian invader intends to make
slaves of us.” How did the United States respond to these events?
Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1935. Based
on the belief that arms sales had helped bring the
United States into World War I, the act made it illegal month, Japan aligned itself with Germany and Italy
for Americans to sell arms to any country at war. when it signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with
In 1936 a rebellion erupted in Spain after a coali- Germany. The pact required the two countries to
tion of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists was exchange information about Communist groups.
elected. General Francisco Franco led the rebellion. Together Germany, Italy, and Japan became known as
Franco was backed by the Falangists, or Spanish the Axis Powers, although they did not formally
Fascists, army officers, landowners, and Catholic become allies until September 1940.
Church leaders. With the situation in Europe getting worse,
The revolt quickly became a civil war and Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1937. This
attracted worldwide attention. The Soviet Union pro- act continued the ban on selling arms to nations at
vided arms and advisers to the government forces, war, but it also required warring countries to buy
while Germany and Italy sent tanks, airplanes, and nonmilitary supplies from the United States on a
soldiers to help Franco. To keep the United States “cash-and-carry” basis. If a country at war wanted
neutral, Congress passed another neutrality act, ban- goods from the United States, it had to send its own
ning the sale of arms to either side in a civil war. ships to pick up the goods, and it had to pay cash.
Shortly after the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, Loans were not allowed. Isolationists knew that
Hitler and Mussolini signed an agreement pledging attacks on neutral American ships carrying sup-
to cooperate on several international issues. plies to Europe had helped bring the country into
Mussolini referred to this new relationship with World War I. They were determined to prevent it
Germany as the Rome-Berlin Axis. The following from happening again.
CHAPTER 19 A World in Flames 587

GOVERNMENT
Roosevelt and Internationalism When he took
office in 1933, President Roosevelt declared that “our
international relations, though vastly important, are
in point of time and necessity secondary to the estab-
lishment of a sound national economy.” Roosevelt
knew that ending the Depression was his first prior-
ity, but he was not an isolationist. He supported
internationalism, the idea that trade between
nations creates prosperity and helps to prevent war.
Internationalists also believed the United States
should try to preserve peace in the world.
Roosevelt supported internationalism but knew
that the public wanted neutrality. He warned that the
neutrality acts “might drag us into war instead of
keeping us out,” but he did not veto the bills.
Isolationism was too strong to resist.
In July 1937, Japanese forces in Manchuria
launched a full-scale attack on China. Roosevelt
decided to help the Chinese. Since neither China nor
Japan had actually declared war, Roosevelt claimed
the Neutrality Act of 1937 did not apply, and he History
authorized the sale of weapons to China. He warned
Imperial Expansion In 1931 Japan occupied the northeast Chinese
that the nation should not stand by and let an “epi-
province of Manchuria. In 1937 the Japanese invaded all of China, prompt-
demic of lawlessness” infect the world: ing FDR to authorize the sale of arms to the Chinese Army. How did
Roosevelt justify his actions in light of the Neutrality Act?
“ When an epidemic of physical disease starts to
spread, the community . . . joins in a quarantine of Despite Roosevelt’s words, Americans were still
the patients in order to protect the health of the com- not willing to risk another war to stop aggression
munity against the spread of the disease. . . . War is a overseas. “It is a terrible thing,” the president said,
contagion, whether it be declared or undeclared. . . . “to look over your shoulder when you are trying to
There is no escape through mere isolation or lead—and find no one there.”
”
neutrality. . . . Reading Check Evaluating Why did many
—quoted in Freedom from Fear Americans support isolationism?
TM
TM

1. Define: fascism, internationalism. 5. Interpreting Why did antidemocratic 7. Analyzing Art Study the Spanish Civil
2. Identify: Benito Mussolini, Vladimir governments rise to power in postwar War era propaganda poster reproduced
Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Europe and Asia? on page 587. Without being told the
Manchuria, Neutrality Act of 1935. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer phrase, how would you be able to dis-
3. Explain why isolationism was strong in similar to the one below to compare cover the poster’s meaning?
the United States in the early 1930s. the antidemocratic governments that
arose in Europe and Asia. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
4. Global Connections What events Country Dictator Ideology 8. Persuasive Writing Write a newspa-
caused President Roosevelt to become per editorial urging fellow citizens
more of an internationalist? to embrace either isolationism or
internationalism after World War I. Be
certain to include reasons your readers
should back a specific position.

World War II Begins
World War II officially began with the Sequencing As you read about the • Explain why Hitler was able to take
Nazi invasion of Poland and the French events leading up to the beginning of over Austria and Czechoslovakia.
and British declaration of war on World War II, record them by completing • Describe the early events of the war
Germany in September 1939. a time line similar to the one below. and why Britain was able to resist the
Nazis.
Key Terms and Names March Oct. Aug.
1938 1938 1939 Section Theme
Anschluss, appeasement, blitzkrieg, Sept.
1937
Maginot Line, Winston Churchill, Battle 1939 Continuity and Change The desire of
Feb. Sept. March
of Britain 1938 1938 1939 the French and British to avoid another
war helped encourage Hitler’s aggression
in Europe.
✦1938 ✦1939 ✦1940 ✦1941

March 1938 August 1939 September 1939 June 1940 August 1940
Hitler announces German- Hitler and Stalin sign World War II begins France surrenders to Battle of Britain
Austrian unification Nazi-Soviet pact Germany begins
In February 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt sent Undersecretary of State Sumner

Welles to Europe to report on the political situation. A few months earlier, Germany had
invaded Poland, and Roosevelt hoped to negotiate peace before wider hostilities erupted.
In Italy Welles found Mussolini intent on war and judged that “there was not the slightest
chance of any successful negotiation.” In Paris Welles glumly noted the “sullen apathy” in
people’s faces and concluded that France had little will to resist a German onslaught. After
speaking to Hitler, Welles concluded that a negotiated peace settlement was impossible: “It
was only too tragically plain that all decisions had already been made.” In London, Welles did
not feel the sense of doom he had in Paris. The British, he reported, would “fight to the very
last ditch.” Welles later reflected on his mission:
Sumner Welles “ Only one thing could have deflected Hitler from his purpose: the sure knowledge that the
power of the United States would be directed against him if he attempted to carry out his
intention of conquering the world by force. . . . At that time no representative of this govern-
ment could have been authorized to intimate any such thing. . . . My mission, therefore, was a
forlorn hope.
”
—quoted in Roosevelt and Churchill
“Peace in Our Time”

Whether or not the United States could have forced Hitler to negotiate is uncertain.
By 1940 the German army had been rebuilt, and Hitler was bent on conquest. What is
known is that in the years before Welles visited Europe, when the Nazi regime was

population. Since Austrians shared a common cul-
ture and language with Germany, many people had
accepted the Anschluss. In Czechoslovakia, on the
other hand, people spoke several different languages.
In addition, while Austria had an authoritarian
government, Czechoslovakia was a democracy.
Furthermore, Austria had no allies to help it defend
itself, but Czechoslovakia was allied with France and
the Soviet Union.
The Czechs strongly resisted Germany’s demands
for the Sudetenland. France threatened to fight if
Germany attacked, and the Soviet Union also prom-
ised assistance. British prime minister Neville
Chamberlain publicly promised to support France,
Appeasement in Action At Munich in September 1938, Mussolini (second
from left), Britain’s Neville Chamberlain (left), and Hitler (second from right) Britain’s ally.
were among those deciding Czechoslovakia’s fate. To prevent another war, representatives of Britain,
France, Italy, and Germany agreed to meet in Munich
much weaker, European leaders did not try to stop to decide Czechoslovakia’s fate. At the Munich
Hitler. Instead, they vainly tried to buy peace by giv- Conference on September 29, 1938, Britain and
ing in to his demands. France agreed to Hitler’s demands, a policy that
Europe’s leaders had several reasons for believing— came to be known as appeasement. Appeasement is
or wanting to believe—that Hitler could be satisfied the policy of giving concessions in exchange for
and war avoided. First, the shadow of World War I peace. Supporters of appeasement mistakenly
loomed large, making many leaders fearful of another believed that Hitler had a few limited demands. They
bloody conflict. Second, some thought Hitler’s felt that if they gave Hitler what he wanted, he would
demand that all German-speaking regions of Europe be satisfied and war would be avoided. Czech-
be united with Germany was reasonable. Third, many oslovakia was informed that it must give up the
people assumed that the Nazis would be more inter- Sudetenland or fight Germany on its own.
ested in peace once they gained more territory. Chamberlain had gambled that sacrificing part of
Czechoslovakia would satisfy Hitler. He also knew
The Austrian Anschluss Hitler’s first demands that Britain’s military was not ready for war, so he was
concerned Austria and Czechoslovakia. In late 1937 buying time. When Chamberlain returned home he
Hitler stepped up his call for the unification of promised “a peace with honor . . . peace in our time,”
all German-speaking people, including those in but he also began to speed up British rearmament.
Austria and Czechoslovakia. Seizing Austria and The following March, in brazen violation of the
Czechoslovakia would also gain food supplies, Munich agreement, Germany sent troops into
defensible frontiers, and soldiers for Germany. Hitler Czechoslovakia and broke up the country. Slovakia
believed that Germany could only expand its terri- became independent in name, but it was actually a
tory by “resort[ing] to force with its attendant risks.” satellite state under German control. The Czech lands
In February 1938 Hitler threatened to invade became a German protectorate.
German-speaking Austria, his native land, unless
Austrian Nazis were given important government Danzig and the Polish Corridor After the Munich
posts. Austria’s chancellor quickly gave in to this conference, Hitler turned his sights on Poland. In
demand. Several weeks later, the chancellor tried to October 1938 he demanded the return of Danzig, a
put the matter of unification with Germany to a Baltic Sea port with strong German roots, to German
democratic vote. Fearing the outcome, Hitler sent control. Although Danzig was more than 90 percent
troops into Austria in March and announced the German, it had been separated from Germany at the
Anschluss, or unification, of Austria and Germany. end of World War I to give Poland access to the sea.
Hitler also requested a highway and railroad across
The Munich Crisis and Appeasement Shortly the Polish Corridor, which separated western
after Germany annexed Austria, Hitler announced Germany from the German state of East Prussia.
German claims to the Sudetenland, an area of Hitler’s demands on Poland convinced the British
Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking and French that appeasement had failed. On March 31,

1939, the British announced that if Poland went to war that Hitler had made the deal to free himself for war
to defend its territory, Britain and France would come against their countries and Poland. What they did
to its aid. This encouraged the Polish government to not know was that the treaty also contained a secret
refuse Hitler’s demands. deal between Germany and the Soviet Union to
In May 1939, Hitler ordered the German army to divide Poland between them.
prepare to invade Poland. He also ordered his for-
Reading Check Explaining What were three rea-
eign minister to begin negotiations with the USSR. If
Germany was going to fight Britain and France, sons European leaders agreed to a policy of appeasement?
Hitler did not want to have to fight the Soviets too.
The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact When The War Begins

German officials proposed a nonaggression treaty to On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland
the Soviets, Stalin agreed. He believed the best way from the west, and soon after the Soviets invaded
to protect the USSR was to turn the capitalist nations from the east. On September 3, Britain and France
against each other. If the treaty worked, Germany declared war on Germany, marking the start of
would go to war against Britain and France, and the World War II.
USSR would be safe.
On August 23, 1939, Germany and the USSR Blitzkrieg in Poland Poland bravely resisted
signed the nonaggression pact. The Nazi-Soviet pact Germany’s onslaught, but to no avail. The Germans
shocked the world. Communism and Nazism were used a new type of warfare called blitzkrieg, or light-
supposed to be totally opposed to each other. ning war. Blitzkrieg used large numbers of massed
Leaders in Britain and France understood, however, tanks to break through and rapidly encircle enemy
In
Axis Expansion, 1935–1941 Motion
20°W 10°W 0° 20°E FINLAND
NORWAY 194
1
Leningrad
N
SWEDEN
W 2 Germany occupies Baltic ESTONIA
1940
E Rhineland, Sea
1
S March 1936
194
5 Invasion of Poland, LATVIA Moscow

IRELAND North Sept. 1, 1939
UNITED
50
KINGDOM Sea LITHUANIA 41
1940
°N 19
7 Battle of Britain, 1941
Aug. 1940–Oct. 1940 EAST 1941 8 Invasion of USSR,
194 PRUSSIA
0 June 1941
London Berlin 1
1939 194
Atlantic Dunkirk
0 GERMANY
Warsaw UNION OF SOVIET
194 1941 SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
Ocean Paris ET
ENLAND
CZ POLAND 1941
SUD
ECH 194
6 Fall of France, June 1940 1940 FRANCE OSLOVA
KIA
1 Rostov
1940
BE
HUNGARY
SS
Vichy SWITZ. AUSTRIA

A
4 Annexation of
RA
VICHY-FRANCE Sudetenland, Axis nations

BI
194
Sept. 1938 Axis satellite states

3 Austrian Anschluss, 1938
1
ROMANIA
AL
40° c k Se a Axis conquests

Ad
N
YUGOSLAVIA Bl a
UG
Allied control
ri
t BULGARIA
ITALY i c S
a
1941
SPAIN Neutral countries

RT
Rome ea
Axis advance
PO
ALBANIA GREECE International

Me d i t e boundary, Jan. 1938
r r a n e a n Se a TURKEY
1941
Maginot Line
SP. MOROCCO
19
35
1 Italy invades
MOROCCO TUNISIA
Ethiopia,
Oct. 1935
ALGERIA
0 500 miles
1. Interpreting Maps Satellite states were independent in
name, but they were under German control. What was
0 500 kilometers the French satellite state called?
LIBYA 2. Applying Geography Skills Why was Czechoslovakia
physically in danger once the Anschluss took place?
positions. Supporting the tanks were waves of air- troops to Norway, they could block the iron ship-
craft that bombed enemy positions and dropped ments. On April 9, 1940, the attack began, and within
paratroopers to cut their supply lines. Blitzkrieg a month, Germany controlled both countries.
depended on radios to coordinate the tanks and air- With his northern flank secure, Hitler turned his
craft. The Polish army was unable to cope with the attention to France. Hitler planned to go around the
German attack. On September 27, the Polish capital Maginot Line, which protected France’s border with
of Warsaw fell to the Germans. By October 5, 1939, Germany but not France’s border with Belgium and
the Polish army had been defeated. Luxembourg. To get around the Maginot Line, the
Germans would have to invade the Netherlands,
GEOGRAPHY Belgium, and Luxembourg first—which is exactly
what they did. On May 10, Hitler launched a new
The Fall of France In contrast to the war in Poland,
blitzkrieg in the west. While German troops para-
western Europe remained eerily quiet. The Germans
chuted into the Netherlands, an army of tanks rolled
referred to this situation as the sitzkrieg, or sitting
into Belgium and Luxembourg.
war. The British called it the “Bore War,” while
The British and French had expected the German
American newspapers nicknamed it the “Phony
attack. As soon as it began, British and French forces
War.” The British had sent troops to France, but both raced north into Belgium. This was a mistake. Instead
countries remained on the defensive, waiting for the of sending their tanks through the open countryside
Germans to attack. of central Belgium, the Germans sent their main force
After World War I, the French had built a line of through the Ardennes Mountains of Luxembourg
concrete bunkers and fortifications called the and eastern Belgium. The French did not think that
Maginot Line along the German border. Rather than large numbers of tanks could move through the
risk their troops by attacking, the French preferred to mountains, and they had left only a few troops to
wait behind the Maginot Line for the Germans to defend that part of the border. The Germans easily
approach. Unfortunately, this decision allowed smashed through the French lines, then raced west
Germany to concentrate on Poland first before turn- across northern France to the English Channel. The
ing west to face the British and French. British and French armies were still in Belgium and
After taking Poland, Hitler and his generals could not move back into France quickly enough.
decided to attack Norway and Denmark before They were now trapped in Belgium.
invading France. Germany’s industry depended on
iron ore from Sweden that had to be shipped down
Norway’s coast part of the year. If the British sent The Miracle at Dunkirk After trapping the Allied
forces in Belgium, the Germans began to drive them
toward the English Channel. The only hope for
Britain and France was to evacuate their surviving
troops by sea, but the Germans had captured all but
one port, Dunkirk, a small town in northern France
The Battle of Dunkirk Hitler’s invasion of Poland near the Belgian border.
fueled the fears of Americans who preferred not to As German forces closed in on Dunkirk, Hitler sud-
become involved in Europe’s conflict. In contrast, the denly ordered them to stop. No one is sure why he
evacuation from Dunkirk less than a year later gener- gave this order. Historians know that Hitler was nerv-
ated very different reactions. For example, soon after ous about risking his tank forces, and he wanted to
the evacuation, the New York Times wrote: wait until more infantry arrived. Hermann Goering,
the head of the German air force, was also assuring
“ So long as the English tongue survives, the
word Dunkirk will be spoken with reverence. Hitler that aircraft alone could destroy the trapped
For in that harbor, in such a hell as never soldiers. There is also some evidence that Hitler
blazed on earth before, at the end of a lost thought that the British would be more willing to
battle, the rages and blemishes that have hid- accept peace if the Germans did not humiliate them
den the soul of democracy fell away. There, by destroying their forces at Dunkirk.
beaten but unconquered, in shining splendor, Whatever Hitler’s reasons, his order provided a
she faced the enemy.
” three-day delay. This gave the British time to
Indeed, the Battle of Dunkirk would soon help to strengthen their lines and begin the evacuation. Some
lift the United States out of its isolationism. 850 ships of all sizes, from navy warships to small
sailboats operated by civilian volunteers, headed to

MOMENT
in HISTORY
NEVER GIVE IN
Few photographs capture the
British resolve to keep a stiff
upper lip better than this one.
Night after night between
September 1940 and May
1941, German warplanes
rained bombs on London,
Coventry, and other British
cities.The attacks were
intended to destroy British
morale and war production,
but Royal Air Force pilots shot
down bombers faster than
Germany could replace them.
Plucky British civilians, like this
milkman making his rounds
through a debris-strewn
London street, remained
determined to carry on as
usual each morning.
Dunkirk from England. The British had hoped to res- Britain Remains Defiant
cue about 45,000 troops. Instead, when the evacua-
Neither Pétain nor Adolf Hitler anticipated the
tion ended on June 4, an estimated 338,000 British
bravery of the British people or the spirit of their
and French troops had been saved. This stunning
leader, Winston Churchill, who had replaced Neville
success led British newspapers to refer to the evacua-
Chamberlain as prime minister. Hitler fully expected
tion as the “Miracle at Dunkirk.”
the British to negotiate peace after France surren-
The evacuation had its price, however. Almost all
dered. For Winston Churchill, however, peace was
of the British army’s equipment remained at
not an option. The war was a fight to defend civiliza-
Dunkirk—90,000 rifles, 7,000 tons of ammunition,
tion. On June 4, 1940, Churchill delivered a defiant
and 120,000 vehicles. If Hitler invaded Britain, it
speech in Parliament, intended not only to rally the
would be almost impossible to stop him from con-
British people but to alert the isolationist United
quering the country.
States to Britain’s plight:
Three weeks later, on June 22, 1940, Hitler
accepted the French surrender in the same railway
car in which the Germans had surrendered at the “ Even though large tracts of Europe have fallen . . .
we shall not flag or fail. . . . We shall defend our
end of World War I. Germany now occupied much of
island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on
northern France and its Atlantic coastline. To govern
the rest of the country, Germany installed a puppet the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds,
government at the town of Vichy and made Marshal we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall
Philippe Pétain the new government’s figurehead
leader. Pétain predicted that Britain “will have her
fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
”
—quoted in Freedom from Fear
neck wrung like a chicken.”
When Hitler realized that Britain would not sur-
Reading Check Summarizing Why was Germany render, he ordered his commanders to prepare to
able to overtake Poland? invade. Only the choppy waters of the narrow

In June 1940, the German air force, called the
Luftwaffe, began to attack British shipping in the
English Channel. Then, in mid-August, the
Luftwaffe launched an all-out air battle to destroy
the British Royal Air Force. This air battle, which
lasted into the fall of 1940, became known as the
Battle of Britain.
On August 23, German bombers accidentally
bombed London, the British capital. This attack on
civilians enraged the British, who responded by
bombing Berlin the following night. For the first time
in the war, bombs fell on the German capital.
Infuriated, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to stop its
attacks on British military targets and to concentrate
on bombing London.
Hitler’s goal now was to terrorize the British
people into surrendering. The British people
endured, however, hiding out in the city’s subway
tunnels whenever German bombers appeared.
Although the Royal Air Force was greatly out-
numbered, the British had one major advantage.
They had developed a new technology called radar.
Using radar stations placed along their coast, the
History British were able to detect incoming German aircraft
and direct British fighters to intercept them.
Never Surrender Hitler ordered Nazi aircraft to bomb British cities, intending
Day after day, the British fighters inflicted more
to weaken the people’s will. Though shaken, the British, like the dome of St.
Paul’s Cathedral (right), stood firm. What technology allowed the outnum-
losses on the Germans than they suffered. The skill of
bered Royal Air Force to resist the German Luftwaffe? a few hundred pilots saved Britain from invasion.
Praising the pilots, Churchill told Parliament, “Never
English Channel separated Britain from Germany’s in the field of human conflict was so much owed by
powerful army, but getting across the Channel posed so many to so few.” On October 12, 1940, Hitler can-
a major challenge. Germany had few transport ships, celled the invasion of Britain.
and the British air force would sink them if they tried
to land troops in England. To invade, therefore, Reading Check Evaluating Why was Britain able to
Germany first had to defeat the British air force. resist Hitler and the Nazis?
TM
TM

1. Define: appeasement, blitzkrieg. 5. Evaluating Why were the British able 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Anschluss, Maginot Line, to prevent the Germans from invading photographs on pages 593 and 594.
Winston Churchill, Battle of Britain. their country? How do they reflect the British resolve
3. Explain why Hitler was able to take 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to “never surrender”?
over Austria and Czechoslovakia. similar to the one below to list the early
events of the war in Poland and west- Writing About History
Reviewing Themes ern Europe. 8. Expository Writing Using library or
4. Continuity and Change How did the Internet resources, find more informa-
policy of appeasement affect France tion on the German annexation of
and Great Britain? Events Czechoslovakia. Use the information to
write a report detailing the events lead-
ing up to and including the annexation.
Share your report with the class.

The Holocaust
The Nazis believed Jews to be subhuman. Organizing As you read about the • Describe Nazi prejudices against Jews
They steadily increased their persecution Holocaust, complete a graphic organizer and early persecution of German Jews.
of Jews and eventually set up death similar to the one below by listing exam- • Explain the methods Hitler used to try to
camps and tried to kill all the Jews in ples of Nazi persecution of German Jews. exterminate Europe’s Jewish population.
Europe. Section Theme
Key Terms and Names Examples Civic Rights and Responsibilities The
of Nazis systematically deprived Jews of
Holocaust, Shoah, Nuremberg Laws, Persecution
Wannsee Conference, concentration their rights, while other nations refused to
camp, extermination camp accept many Jewish refugees.
✦1933 ✦1936 ✦1939 ✦1942

Autumn 1935 November 1938 June 1939 January 1942
Nuremberg Laws deprive Anti-Jewish violence erupts SS St. Louis denied permission Nazis’ Wannsee Conference de-
German Jews of citizenship during Kristallnacht to dock in the United States termines “final solution” for Jews
Mira Ryczke was born in 1923 to a middle-class Jewish family in Danzig, Poland, a port on
the Baltic Sea. After World War II broke out in September 1939, the Nazis expelled Danzig’s
Jews to Warsaw, where they were forced to live in deplorable conditions in a special area
known as the Warsaw ghetto. In 1943 the Nazis emptied the Warsaw ghetto. The Ryczkes had
to ride for three days in a suffocating cattle car headed for Auschwitz, the infamous Nazi
death camp, and its neighboring camp of Birkenau.
After arriving at the camps, the terrified newcomers learned that a selection was to take
place. When 20-year-old Mira asked what the selection was for, an old-time prisoner pointed
to chimneys on top of a building and replied, “Selected for the gas chambers to go up in
smoke.” Mira later wrote:
“ [W]e were told by the old-timers to try to look strong, healthy, and to walk in an
upright position when our turn came. . . . Because the women I was with were young,
Mira Ryczke
only a few were taken out. Their numbers, tattooed on their left arms, were written down
by the SS, and after a few days during roll call, their tattoo numbers were called out and
these women were marched to the gas chamber.
”
—quoted in Echoes from the Holocaust
Nazi Persecution of the Jews

Mira Ryczke and her family were only a few of the millions of Jews who suffered terri-
ble persecution before and during World War II. During the Holocaust, the catastrophe that
ravaged Europe’s Jews, the Nazis killed nearly 6 million Jews. The Nazis also killed

people were evil no matter what their
religion, occupation, or education.
in History
The Nuremberg Laws After the
Albert Einstein Nazis took power, they quickly moved
1879–1955 to deprive German Jews of many
Among the Jews who left Nazi rights that all citizens had long taken
Germany in the early 1930s was Albert for granted. In September 1935 the
Einstein, whose brilliant scientific theo- Nuremberg Laws took citizenship
ries revolutionized physics. Einstein away from Jewish Germans and
gained international fame in 1919
banned marriage between Jews and
when the Royal Society of London
announced that calculations had sup- other Germans. Two months later,
ported his general theory of relativity. another decree defined a Jew as a
Einstein’s fame increased after he won person with at least one Jewish grand-
the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. parent and prohibited Jews from hold-
Lecture invitations poured in from ing public office or voting. Other laws
around the world. yacht to England. He later settled in forbade Jews from employing female
Einstein never actively practiced Princeton, New Jersey.
Judaism, but he did proudly identify A pacifist who had opposed World
German servants under age 35
himself as a Jew. As anti-Semitism War I, Einstein ironically saw his scien- and compelled Jews with German-
took hold in Germany, Einstein’s tific ideas applied to the creation of a sounding names to adopt “Jewish”
worldwide fame contrasted with the powerful and destructive weapon, the names. Soon the passports of Jews
insults he faced in Berlin for practicing atomic bomb. After the United States were marked with a red “J” to clearly
“Bolshevism [Communism] in physics.” detonated the first atomic bomb in identify them as Jewish.
His public support for Zionism, the combat over Hiroshima, Japan, in
By the summer of 1936, at least half
right of Jews to settle in Palestine 1945, Einstein devoted his final years
(later Israel), aroused further anger to promoting pacifism. The scientist’s of Germany’s Jews were jobless, hav-
among Nazis. greatest legacy, however, would be ing lost the right to work as civil ser-
Soon after Hitler became Germany’s the revolutionary scientific discoveries vants, journalists, farmers, teachers,
chancellor in 1933, Einstein renounced he had made in the early 1900s. As and actors. In 1938 the Nazis also
his citizenship and left Germany for Einstein himself had observed, banned Jews from practicing law and
Belgium. Fears for his life prompted “Politics are for the moment. An
medicine and from operating busi-
friends to take him secretly by private equation is for eternity.”
nesses. With no source of income, life
became very difficult.
Despite worsening conditions, many
millions of people from other groups they considered Jews chose to remain in Germany during the early
inferior. The Hebrew term for the Holocaust is Shoah, years of Nazi rule. Well integrated into German society
meaning “catastrophe,” but it is often used specifi- before this time, they were reluctant to leave and give
cally to refer to the Nazi campaign to exterminate the up the lives they had built there. Many also thought
Jews during World War II. that conditions would surely improve after a time. In
fact, they soon became worse.
Nazi Ideology Once the Nazis took power in
Germany, they acted swiftly to implement the polit- Kristallnacht On November 7, 1938, a young
ical racial policies Hitler had outlined in Mein Jewish refugee named Herschel Grynszpan shot and
Kampf. Although the Nazis persecuted anyone who killed a German diplomat in Paris. Grynszpan’s
dared oppose them, as well as the disabled, father and 10,000 other Jews had been deported from
Gypsies, homosexuals, and Slavic peoples, they Germany to Poland, and the distraught young man
reserved their strongest hatred for the Jews. This was seeking revenge for this act and for the persecu-
loathing went far beyond the European anti- tion of the Jews in general.
Semitism common at the time. Over the centuries, In retaliation for the killing, an infuriated Hitler
people who were prejudiced against Jews had put ordered his minister of propaganda, Joseph
down Jewish religious practices and discriminated Goebbels, to stage attacks against the Jews that
against Jews in many ways. For example, Jews were would appear to be a spontaneous popular reaction
sometimes segregated in ghettos or prohibited from to news of the murder. On the night of November 9,
owning land. For the Nazis, however, all Jewish this plan played out in a spree of destruction.

In Vienna a Jewish child named Frederick Morton possessions. The state also confiscated insurance pay-
watched in terror that night as 10 young Nazi Storm ments owed to Jewish owners of ruined businesses.
Troopers broke into his family’s apartment: The week after Kristallnacht, Nazi interior minister
Hermann Goering added insult to injury by fining
“ They yanked out every drawer in every one of
our chests and cupboards, and tossed each in the air.
the Jewish community to pay for the damage.
“German Jewry,” he proclaimed “shall, as punish-
They let the cutlery jangle across the floor, the clothes ment for their abominable crimes . . . have to make a
scatter, and stepped over the mess to fling the next contribution for one billion marks. . . . I would like to
drawer. . . . ‘We might be back,’ the leader said. On say that I would not like to be a Jew in Germany.”
the way out he threw our mother-of-pearl ashtray
over his shoulder, like confetti. We did not speak or Jewish Refugees Try to Flee Kristallnacht and its
move or breathe until we heard their boots against aftermath marked a significant escalation in the Nazi
policy of persecution against the Jews. Many Jews,
the pavement.
” including Frederick Morton’s family, decided that it
—quoted in Facing History and Ourselves was time to leave and fled to the United States.
The anti-Jewish violence that erupted throughout Between 1933, when Hitler took power, and the start
Germany and Austria that night came to be called of World War II in 1939, some 350,000 Jews escaped
Kristallnacht, or “night of broken glass,” because Nazi-controlled Germany. These emigrants included
broken glass littered the streets afterward. When prominent scientists such as Albert Einstein and
daylight came, more than 90 Jews lay dead, hundreds businesspeople like Otto Frank, who resettled his
were badly injured, and thousands more were terror- family in Amsterdam in 1933. Otto’s daughter Anne
ized. The Nazis had forbidden police to interfere Frank would later keep a diary of her family’s life in
while roving bands of thugs destroyed 7,500 Jewish hiding after the Nazis overran the Netherlands.
businesses and wrecked over 180 synagogues. By 1938 the American consulate in Stuttgart,
The lawlessness of Kristallnacht did not end with Germany, had a backlog of over 100,000 visa applica-
the dawn. Following that night of violence, the tions from Jews trying to leave Germany and come to
Gestapo, the government’s secret police, arrested at the United States. Following the Nazi Anschluss,
least 20,000 wealthy Jews, releasing them only if 3,000 Austrian Jews each day applied for American
they agreed to emigrate and surrender all their visas. Many never received visas to the United States
The Final Solution
Before the war, a Jewish family in Germany poses

for a photograph during a family outing. Few members On Kristallnacht, roaming bands of thugs
of this family would survive the war. destroyed Jewish property and menaced
Jewish families throughout Germany.
or to the other countries where they applied. As a As war loomed in 1939, many ships departed from
result, millions of Jews remained trapped in Nazi- Germany crammed with Jews desperate to escape.
dominated Europe. Some of their visas, however, had been forged or sold
Several factors limited Jewish immigration to the illegally, and Mexico, Paraguay, Argentina, and Costa
United States. First, Nazi orders prohibited Jews from Rica all denied access to Jews with such documents.
taking more than about four dollars out of Germany. So too did the United States.
Second, many countries refused to accept Jewish On May 27, 1939, the SS St. Louis entered the har-
immigrants. In the United States, laws restricted bor in Havana, Cuba, with 930 Jewish refugees on
granting a visa to anyone “likely to become a public board. Most of these passengers hoped to go to the
charge.” American customs officials tended to assume United States eventually, but they had certificates
that this applied to Jews since Germany had forced improperly issued by Cuba’s director of immigra-
them to leave any wealth behind. High unemploy- tion giving them permission to land in Cuba. When
ment rates in the 1930s also made immigration politi- the ships arrived in Havana, the Cuban government,
cally unpopular. Few Americans wanted to raise partly in response to anti-Semitic sentiment stirred
immigration quotas, even to accommodate European up by Nazi propaganda, revoked the certificates and
refugees. The existing immigration policy allowed refused to let the refugees come ashore. For several
only a total of 150,000 immigrants annually, with a days, the ship’s captain steered his ship in circles off
fixed quota from each country. The law permitted no the coast of Florida, awaiting official permission to
exceptions for refugees or victims of persecution. dock at a United States port. Denied such permis-
At an international conference on refugees in 1938, sion, the ship turned back toward Europe on June 6.
several European countries, the United States, and The forlorn passengers finally disembarked in
Latin America stated their regret that they could not France, Holland, Belgium, and Great Britain. Within
take in more of Germany’s Jews without raising their two years, the first three of these countries fell under
immigration quotas. Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda Nazi domination. Many of the refugees brought to
chief Joseph Goebbels announced that “if there is any these countries aboard the SS St. Louis perished in
country that believes it has not enough Jews, I shall the Nazis’ “final solution.”
gladly turn over to it all our Jews.” Hitler also declared
himself “ready to put all these criminals at the dis- Reading Check Analyzing Why did many Jews
posal of these countries . . . even on luxury ships.” remain in Germany even though they were persecuted?
After the war broke out, the Nazis methodically deprived Jews of
their rights, confining many to overcrowded ghettos. After weeks of
fierce resistance, Jews in the Warsaw ghetto were rounded up for
deportation to concentration camps in May 1943.
The Final Solution Germany in 1937. During its operation, over 200,000
prisoners worked 12-hour shifts as slave laborers in
On January 20, 1942, 15 Nazi leaders met at the
nearby factories. Though Buchenwald had no gas
Wannsee Conference, held in a Berlin suburb, to
chambers, hundreds of prisoners died there every
determine the “final solution of the Jewish question.”
month as a result of exhaustion and the horrible liv-
Previous “solutions” had included rounding up
ing conditions.
Jews, Gypsies, and Slavs from conquered areas,
Leon Bass, a young American soldier, described
shooting them, and piling them into mass graves.
viewing a barracks in Buchenwald at the end of the
Another method required forcing Jews and other
war. Built to hold 50 people, the room had housed
“undesirables” into trucks and then piping in
more than 150, with bunks built almost to the ceiling.
exhaust fumes to kill them. These methods, however,
Bass recalled:
had proven too slow and inefficient for the Nazis.
At Wannsee, the Nazis made plans to round up
Jews from the vast areas of Nazi-controlled Europe
“ I looked at a bottom bunk and there I saw one
man. He was too weak to get up; he could just barely
and take them to detention centers known as turn his head. He was skin and bones. He looked like
concentration camps. There, healthy individuals a skeleton; and his eyes were deep set. He didn’t
would work as slave laborers until they dropped utter a sound; he just looked at me with those eyes,
dead of exhaustion, disease, or malnutrition. Most
others, including the elderly, the infirm, and young ”
and they still haunt me today.
children, would be sent to extermination camps, —quoted in Facing History and Ourselves
attached to many of the concentration camps, to be Extermination Camps After the Wannsee Confer-
executed in massive gas chambers. ence, the Nazis built extermination facilities in a
number of the concentration camps, mostly in
Concentration Camps The Nazis had established Poland, to kill Jews more efficiently. At these camps,
their first concentration camps in 1933 to jail political including the infamous Treblinka and Auschwitz,
opponents. After the war began, the Nazis built con- Jews were the Nazis’ main victims. Auschwitz alone
centration camps throughout Europe. housed about 100,000 people in 300 prison barracks.
Buchenwald, one of the first and largest concentra- Its gas chambers, built to kill 2,000 people at a time,
tion camps, was built near the town of Weimar in sometimes gassed 12,000 people in a day. Of the
By 1943 the Nazis had started implementing their

plans to exterminate the Jews. The system of ghettos
was abandoned in favor of herding men, women, and
children onto cattle cars for transport to death camps.
When the war ended, Allied troops managed

to liberate the few surviving inmates of the
death camps—many of whom were too
shocked to believe they were being freed.
Jewish Losses, 1939–1945
In
Motion
0° N DENMARK 20°E
500 Baltic BALTIC RUSSIAN
North
W
E Sea STATES S.S.R.
228,000 107,000
Sea S
NETHERLANDS BYELORUSSIAN
105,000 S.S.R. 1. Interpreting Maps What country had
245,000
50°N GERMANY AND the highest number of Jews in its popu-
BELGIUM AUSTRIA POLAND
40,000 210,000 3,000,000 lation killed?
2. Applying Geography Skills A rela-
UKRAINIAN tively low percentage of Italy’s Jewish
CZECHOSLOVAKIA S.S.R.
155,000 900,000 population died in the Holocaust. From
FRANCE
90,000 this information, how would you com-
HUNGARY
450,000 pare Fascists and Nazis in terms of their
ITALY ROMANIA Jewish policies?
8,000 300,000
YUGOSLAVIA Black
Percentage of Jewish 26,000 Sea In only a few years, Jewish
A
dr
Population Annihilated BULGARIA culture, which had existed in

ia
14,000
ti
83–90 50–60
c
0 200 miles Europe for over 1,000 years,

Se
65–77 11–26
a
Number of Jews 0 200 kilometers had been virtually obliterated

FRANCE GREECE Lambert Azimuthal by the Nazis in the lands they
90,000 killed under Nazi 54,000 Equal-Area projection
racial policies conquered. Despite exhaus-
tive debate, there is still great
controversy about why and
estimated 1,600,000 people who died at Auschwitz, how an event so horrifying as the Holocaust could
about 1,300,000 were Jews. The other 300,000 were have occurred. No consensus has been reached, but
Poles, Soviet prisoners-of-war, and Gypsies. most historians point to a number of factors: the
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, healthy prisoners such German people’s sense of injury after World War I;
as Mira Ryczke were selected for slave labor. Elderly severe economic problems; Hitler’s control over the
or disabled people, the sick, and mothers and children German nation; the lack of a strong tradition of repre-
went immediately to the gas chambers, after which sentative government in Germany; German fear of
their bodies were burned in giant crematoriums. In Hitler’s secret police; and a long history of anti-Jewish
her memoirs, Ryczke described “columns of people prejudice and discrimination in Europe.
marching slowly toward the gas chambers” and “the
horrible stench in the air—the smell of burning human Reading Check Summarizing What methods did
flesh. I have never forgotten that smell.” Hitler use to try to exterminate Europe’s Jewish population?
TM
TM

1. Define: Holocaust, concentration camp, 5. Analyzing What are some factors that 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
extermination camp. attempt to explain the Holocaust? photographs of the Final Solution on
2. Identify: Shoah, Nuremberg Laws, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer pages 597–599. How do the photo-
Wannsee Conference. similar to the one below to list the graphs show the systematic destruction
3. List the groups of people who were methods used to try to exterminate of Jewish life?
persecuted by the Nazis. Europe’s Jewish population.
Reviewing Themes
8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities Do
Extermination of a person living in Germany during
you think the German people or other
Methods Kristallnacht. Write a diary entry
nations could have prevented the
describing the events of that night.
Holocaust? Why or why not?
Include a description of events during
the days following Kristallnacht as well.

America Enters the War
After World War II began, the United Organizing As you read about the • Explain how Roosevelt helped Britain
States attempted to continue its prewar efforts of the United States to stay neutral while maintaining official neutrality.
policy of neutrality. in the war, complete a graphic organizer • Trace the events that led to increasing
similar to the one below by naming two tensions, and ultimately war, between
Key Terms and Names events that shifted American opinion the United States and Japan.
America First Committee, Lend-Lease Act, toward helping the Allies.
hemispheric defense zone, Atlantic Section Theme
Charter, strategic materials Events That Shifted American Individual Action Even while the United
Opinion States was officially neutral, President
Roosevelt found ways to help the British
fight Germany.
✦September 1940 ✦March 1941 ✦August 1941 ✦December 1941

September 1940 March 1941 August 1941 October 1941 December 7, 1941
FDR makes destroyers-for-bases Congress passes Roosevelt and Churchill Germans sink Japan attacks Pearl
deal with Britain Lend-Lease Act sign Atlantic Charter Reuben James Harbor
December 7, 1941, dawned like any other Sunday in Hawaii, where teenager Daniel
Inouye lived with his family. Like other Americans who lived through the experience, Inouye
would never forget what he was doing the moment American isolationism ended:
“ As soon as I finished brushing my teeth and pulled on my trousers, I automatically clicked

on the little radio that stood on the shelf above my bed. I remember that I was buttoning my
shirt and looking out the window . . . when the hum of the warming set gave way to a frenzied
voice. ‘This is no test,’ the voice cried out. ‘Pearl Harbor is being bombed by the Japanese!’
”
The Inouye family ran outside and gazed toward the naval base at Pearl Harbor:
“ And then we saw the planes. They came zooming up out of that sea of gray smoke, flying
north toward where we stood and climbing into the bluest part of the sky, and they came in
Daniel Inouye after twos and threes, in neat formations, and if it hadn’t been for that red ball on their wings, the
joining the U.S. Army’s
rising sun of the Japanese Empire, you could easily believe that they were Americans, flying
442nd Infantry
over in precise military salute.
”
FDR Supports England

The Japanese attack surprised many Americans. Most people had believed that
Germany posed the greatest danger. What Americans did not realize was that the causes
of the Japanese attack could be traced back more than two years to President Roosevelt’s
policies for helping Britain against Germany.

Determined to give Churchill the destroyers,
Roosevelt used a loophole in the provision of the
Neutrality Act that required cash for purchases. In
exchange for the right to build American bases on
British-controlled Newfoundland, Bermuda, and
islands in the Caribbean, Roosevelt sent 50 old
American destroyers to Britain. Since the deal did not
involve an actual sale, the Neutrality Act did not
apply. On September 3, 1940, he announced his
action to an astonished press.
Reading Check Examining How were the Neutrality
Acts revised?
The Isolationist Debate

Widespread public acceptance of the destroyers-
for-bases deal demonstrated a marked change in
American public opinion. The shift began after the
German invasion of France and the rescue of Allied
forces at Dunkirk. By July 1940 most Americans
favored offering limited aid to the Allies.
The Range of Opinion American opinion was
Peace Above All Many Americans were willing to help European democra- hardly unanimous. In fact, beginning in the spring of
cies but did not want to sell them arms. In what ways did the United States 1940, a spirited debate took place between people
assist these nations? who wanted greater American involvement in World
War II and those who felt that the United States
The Neutrality Act of 1939 President Roosevelt should remain neutral.
officially proclaimed the United States neutral two At one extreme was the Fight for Freedom
days after Britain and France declared war on Committee, a group which urged the repeal of all neu-
Germany. Despite this declaration, he was deter- trality laws and wanted stronger action against
mined to do all he could to help the two countries Germany. Closer to the center, the Committee to Defend
in their struggle against Hitler. Soon after the war America by Aiding the Allies, headed by journalist
began, Roosevelt called Congress into a special ses- William Allen White, pressed for increased American
sion to revise the neutrality laws. He asked aid to the Allies but opposed armed intervention.
Congress to eliminate the ban on arms sales to Roosevelt’s destroyers-for-bases deal led to the
nations at war. Public opinion strongly supported founding of the America First Committee, a
the president. Congress passed the new law, staunchly isolationist group that firmly opposed any
but isolationists demanded a price for the revision. American intervention or aid to the Allies. The group
Under the Neutrality Act of 1939, warring nations had many famous members, including aviator
could buy weapons from the United States only Charles Lindbergh, former governor Philip
if they paid cash and carried the arms on their LaFollette, and Senator Gerald Nye.
own ships.
The Election of 1940 The heated debate over neu-
Destroyers-for-Bases Deal In the spring of 1940, trality took place in the midst of the 1940 presidential
the United States faced its first test in remaining election campaign. For months Americans had won-
neutral. In May British Prime Minister Winston dered whether President Roosevelt would follow
Churchill began asking Roosevelt to transfer old long-standing tradition by retiring at the end of his
American destroyers to Britain. Britain had lost second term. With the United States in a precarious
nearly half its destroyers and needed more to protect position, a change of leaders might not be in the
its cargo ships from German submarines and to block country’s best interest. Roosevelt decided to run for
any German attempt to invade Britain. an unprecedented third term.

During the campaign, FDR steered a careful considered Stalin a harsh dictator, he vowed that any
course between neutrality and intervention. The person or state “who fights against Nazism will have
Republican nominee, Wendell Willkie, did the same, our aid.” Roosevelt, too, supported this policy.
promising that he too would stay out of the war but
assist the Allies. The voters re-elected Roosevelt by a The Hemispheric Defense Zone Congressional
wide margin, preferring to stick with a president they approval of the Lend-Lease Act did not solve the
knew during this crisis period. problem of how to get American arms and supplies to
Reading Check Analyzing Why did Roosevelt win Britain. German submarines patrolling the Atlantic
Ocean were sinking hundreds of thousands of tons of
an unprecedented third term in office?
shipping each month, and the British navy simply did
not have enough ships in the Atlantic to stop them.
Roosevelt could not simply order the U.S. Navy to
Edging Toward War protect British cargo ships, since the United States
With the election safely over, Roosevelt expanded was still technically neutral. Instead, he developed
the nation’s role in the war. Britain was fighting for the idea of a hemispheric defense zone. Roosevelt
democracy, he said, and the United States had to declared that the entire western half of the Atlantic
help. Speaking to Congress, he listed the “Four was part of the Western Hemisphere and therefore
Freedoms” for which both the United States and neutral. He then ordered the U.S. Navy to patrol the
Great Britain stood: freedom of speech, freedom of western Atlantic and reveal the location of German
worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. submarines to the British.
; (See page 957 for an excerpt from this speech.)
The Atlantic Charter In August 1941 Roosevelt and
The Lend-Lease Act By December 1940, Great Churchill met face-to-face on board American and
Britain had run out of funds to wage its war against British warships anchored near Newfoundland.
Germany. President Roosevelt came up with a way to During these meetings, the two men agreed on the
remove the cash requirement of the Neutrality Act. text of the Atlantic Charter. It committed the two
With the Lend-Lease Act, the United States would be
able to lend or lease arms to any country considered History
“vital to the defense of the United States.” This act Neutrality Debate The America First Committee strongly opposed the
meant that the United States could send weapons to increasingly weak neutrality of the United States. Here an American soldier
Britain if Britain promised to return or pay rent for confronts an isolationist marching outside the White House. How did
them after the war. the Lend-Lease Act further weaken the nation’s
official neutrality?
The president warned that if Britain fell, an
“unholy alliance” of Germany, Japan, and Italy
would keep trying to conquer the world, and then
“all of us in all the Americas would be living at the
point of a gun.” The president argued that the United
States should become the “great arsenal of democ-
racy” to keep the British fighting and make it unnec-
essary for Americans to go to war.
The America First Committee disagreed, but
Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act by a wide mar-
gin. By the time the program ended, the United States
had contributed more than $40 billion in weapons,
vehicles, and other supplies to the Allied war effort.
While shipments of supplies to Britain began at
once, lend-lease aid eventually went to the Soviet
Union as well. After calling off the invasion of
Britain, Hitler returned to his original goal of carving
out lebensraum for Germany in eastern Europe. In
June 1941, in violation of the Nazi-Soviet pact, Hitler
launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union.
Although Churchill detested communism and
leaders to a postwar world of democracy, non- Japan Attacks the United States
aggression, free trade, economic advancement, and
Despite the growing tensions in the Atlantic, the
freedom of the seas. Churchill later said that FDR
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was what finally
pledged to “force an ‘incident’ . . . which would jus-
brought the United States into World War II.
tify him in opening hostilities” with Germany.
Ironically, Japan’s decision to attack the United States
An incident quickly presented itself. In early
was a direct result of Roosevelt’s efforts to help
September a German U-boat fired on the American
Britain in its war against Germany.
destroyer Greer, which had been radioing the
U-boat’s position to the British. Roosevelt promptly
responded by ordering American ships to follow a America Embargoes Japan Between August 1939
“shoot-on-sight” policy toward German submarines. and December 1941, Roosevelt’s primary goal was
The Germans escalated hostilities the following to help Britain and its allies defeat Germany. He
month, targeting two American destroyers. One of knew that one of the problems Britain faced was the
them, the Reuben James, broke in two after being tor- need to keep much of its navy in Asia to protect
pedoed. It sank into the frigid waters of the North British territories there from Japanese attack. As
Atlantic, where 115 sailors died. As the end of 1941 German submarines began sinking British ship-
grew near, Germany and the United States continued ping, the British began moving warships from
a tense standoff in the North Atlantic. Southeast Asia to the Atlantic, leaving their empire
vulnerable. In response, Roosevelt introduced poli-
Reading Check Evaluating How did the Lend-Lease cies to discourage the Japanese from attacking the
Act help the Allied war effort? British Empire.
In
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941 Motion
PaCIFIC Kaena Point FIRST WAVE

Kahuku Point
OCEaN Opana radar station
4
Kahuku
Waialua Haleiwa Field
Laie SECOND
WAVE
2 Waianae Wahiawa Wheeler Field

7:51, 9:10 A.M.
Ford Island
Naval Air Station
7:55, 9:02 A.M.
Nanakuli
Waipahu Kaneohe
Ewa Marine Corps Pearl Naval Air Station
Air Station Pearl
City 7:53, 8:55 A.M.
7:53, 9:05 A.M. H arb or
Ewa Beach Hickam Field
7:55, 9:05 A.M. Kaneohe
3
1
Battleship Row
O A H U Kailua
First wave of
Japanese aircraft Honolulu
Bellows Field
Second wave of 8:30, 9:00 A.M.
Japanese aircraft N
W
7:51 A.M. Time of initial attack
(First wave) E
S Diamond Head
8:55 A.M. Time of initial attack
(Second wave)
Airfield
Airfield attacked
Radar site
Town
Roosevelt began by putting economic pressure on strike British shipping in the
Japan. Japan depended on the United States for many Strait of Malacca and bomb
key materials, including scrap iron, steel, and espe- Hong Kong and Singapore.
HISTORY
cially oil. Approximately 80 percent of Japan’s oil Roosevelt responded very
Student Web
came from the United States. In July 1940, Congress quickly to the Japanese threat.
Activity Visit the
passed the Export Control Act, giving Roosevelt the He froze all Japanese assets in American Republic
power to restrict the sale of strategic materials the United States, reduced the Since 1877 Web site at
(materials important for fighting a war) to other amount of oil being shipped to tarvol2.glencoe.com
nations. Roosevelt immediately blocked the sale of Japan, and sent General and click on Student
airplane fuel and scrap iron to Japan. Furious, the Douglas MacArthur to the Web Activities—
Japanese signed an alliance with Germany and Italy, Philippines to build up Chapter 19 for an
formally becoming a member of the Axis. American defenses there. activity on Pearl
In 1941 Roosevelt began sending lend-lease aid to Roosevelt made it clear Harbor.
China. Japan had invaded China in 1937, and by that he would lift the oil
1941, it controlled much of the Chinese coast. embargo only if Japan with-
Roosevelt hoped that lend-lease aid would enable the drew from Indochina and made peace with China.
Chinese to tie down the Japanese and prevent them With the war against China now in jeopardy because
from attacking elsewhere. The strategy failed. By July of a lack of oil and other resources, the Japanese mili-
1941, the Japanese had sent troops into southern tary began making plans to attack the resource-rich
Indochina, posing a direct threat to the British British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia. They
Empire. Japanese aircraft were now in position to also decided to seize the Philippines and to attack the
American fleet at Pearl Harbor. They could not risk
leaving the United States with a navy in the Pacific to
oppose their plans. While the Japanese prepared for
war, negotiations with the United States continued,
but neither side would back down. On November 26,
1941, six Japanese aircraft carriers, two battleships,
and several other warships set sail for Hawaii.
1 6:45 A.M.: The destroyer Ward sinks a
Japanese midget submarine near the Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor The Japanese govern-
entrance to Pearl Harbor.
ment appeared to be continuing negotiations with
2 7:02 to 7:39 A.M.: Army radar at Opana the United States in good faith. American intelli-
tracks a cloud of aircraft approaching from gence, however, had decoded Japanese communica-
the north. An officer at Fort Shafter concludes
it is a flight of B-17s due in from California. tions that made it clear that Japan was preparing to
go to war against the United States.
3 7:49 A.M.: The first wave of 183 Japanese On November 27, American commanders at the
planes is ordered to attack. The force includes Pearl Harbor naval base received a war warning
40 torpedo bombers and 49 high-altitude
bombers—each armed with a single from Washington, but Hawaii was not mentioned as
projectile—bound for Battleship Row. a possible target. It was a great distance from Japan to
Other bombers and Zero fighters attack airfields. Hawaii, and Washington officials doubted
4 8:55 A.M.: The second wave of 167 planes Japan would try to launch
renews the attack on airfields and ships. such a long-range attack.
Oil tanks and most ship-repair facilities are The failure to collect suffi-
ignored, an omission the Japanese later regret. cient information and the fail-
ure of the branches of the U.S.
military to share the informa-
Americans responded heroically to Japan’s attack on
tion available left Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor: 16 men received the Medal of Honor,
the nation’s highest award; 5 were awarded the an open target. The result was
Distinguished Service Cross; and 69 received the Silver devastating. Japan’s surprise
Star. The Navy Cross was awarded to another 51, attack on December 7, 1941, sank
including Dorie Miller, World War II’s first recognized or damaged 21 ships of the U.S.
African American hero, who bravely operated an Pacific Fleet, including 8 battle-
antiaircraft gun on his ship during the Japanese attack.
ships, 3 cruisers, 4 destroyers, and

suddenly and deliberately attacked by the naval and
air forces of Japan. . . . I believe I interpret the will of
the Congress and of the people when I assert that we
will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but
Geography and War we will make very certain that this form of treachery
Throughout history, geography has played a key role shall never endanger us again. . . . No matter how
in wars. In 1941, for example, Japan attacked Malaya long it may take us . . . the American people in their
and Indonesia to gain access to oil and rubber. It also righteous might will win through to absolute
wanted control of the Strait of Malacca, an important
waterway linking the Indian Ocean with the South China
victory.
”
—quoted in Franklin D. Roosevelt:
Sea. Geography can also influence a war’s outcome, as it A Rendezvous with Destiny
did in the Vietnam War.
There, miles of dense jungle Malay N
Following the president’s speech, the Senate voted
allowed guerrillas to wage Peninsula South 82 to 0 and the House 388 to 1 to declare war on
China Sea W E Japan.
war first against French S
Strait of
troops and then against Malacca
American forces. Why do Germany Declares War Although Japan was now
0° SINGAPORE at war with the United States, Hitler did not have to
you think the Strait of
Malacca was so Sumatra declare war on the Americans. The terms of the
important?
0 400 miles alliance with Japan specified that Germany only had
0 400 kilometers 110°E to come to Japan’s aid if Japan was attacked, not if
Miller Cylindrical projection
Japan attacked another country. Hitler, however, had
grown frustrated with the American navy’s attacks
on German submarines, and he believed the time had
6 other vessels. The attack also destroyed 188 air- come to declare war.
planes and killed 2,403 Americans. Another 1,178 Hitler greatly underestimated the strength of the
were injured. United States, and he expected the Japanese to easily
On the night of the attack, a gray-faced Roosevelt defeat the Americans in the Pacific. He hoped that by
met with his cabinet to tell them the country now helping Japan now, he could count on Japanese sup-
faced the most serious crisis since the outbreak of port against the Soviet Union once the Americans
the Civil War. The next day, the president asked had been beaten. On December 11, Germany and
Congress to declare war: Italy both declared war on the United States.
Reading Check Examining What finally caused the
“ Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will
live in infamy—the United States of America was United States to become involved in World War II?
TM
TM

1. Define: hemispheric defense zone, 4. Interpreting Why was the United 6. Analyzing Maps Study the map on
strategic materials. States unprepared for Japan’s attack on pages 604–605. Based on the geogra-
2. Identify: America First Committee, Pearl Harbor? phy of Oahu, why was the location of
Lend-Lease Act, Atlantic Charter. 5. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to Pearl Harbor perfect for a naval base?
list how Roosevelt helped Britain while
Reviewing Themes maintaining official neutrality.
3. Individual Action After Roosevelt Writing About History
made the destroyers-for-bases deal Help to Britain 7. Persuasive Writing Take on the role
with Britain, some Americans called of an American in 1940. Write a letter to
him a dictator. Do you think Roosevelt the editor of your newspaper explaining
was right or wrong in his actions? why you think the United States should
Explain your answer. either remain neutral or become
involved in World War II.

Critical Thinking
Making Generalizations
Have you heard statements such as “Only tall
people play basketball well,” or “Dogs make better
pets than cats”? Do you accept these statements at
face value, or do you stop and consider whether or
not they are valid?
Learning the Skill

The statements listed above are called generaliza-
tions, which are broad statements about a topic. To
be valid, a generalization must be based on accu-
rate information.
Let’s examine the generalization, “Only tall
people play basketball well.” We can find many
examples of tall basketball players, but there are
also many shorter players who excel at this sport.
In this case, we began with a generalization and
looked for facts to support or disprove it. In other
cases, you will start with a group of facts about a
topic and then make a generalization from these
facts. To make a valid generalization, first collect
information relevant to the topic. This information 3 How does the vote held in Austria relate to the
must consist of accurate facts, not opinions. other facts?
Suppose that you want to make a generalization 4 What generalization can you make about
about the relative danger of airplane travel com- Austria regarding the Anschluss?
pared to automobile travel. First, you would collect
accident statistics involving airplanes and cars. Skills Assessment
Your next step would be to classify the information Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
into categories. Then you would look for relation- 609 and the Chapter 19 Skill Reinforcement
ships between these categories. For example, you Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
might put the airplane and automobile statistics in
separate categories. You might also categorize the
number of accidents and the number of fatalities. Applying the Skill
Finally, you should make a generalization that is Making Generalizations Review the information in
consistent with most of the facts you gathered. the chapter about appeasement as it related to the
countries of Czechoslovakia, France, and Britain. Write
Practicing the Skill a generalization about Czechoslovakia’s role in the
Reread the passage about the Austrian Anschluss appeasement policy. Support your generalization with
on page 590, and then answer these questions. at least five facts.
1 What facts about the Anschluss are presented? Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
2 Organize these facts into categories. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and

607
CD-ROM, Level #, provides instruction and
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 15. Analyzing Themes: Global Connections If Roosevelt’s
1. fascism 6. concentration camp internationalist policy had been fully pursued, do you think it
could have prevented World War II?
2. internationalism 7. extermination camp
16. Evaluating Why were the British able to stop the German
3. appeasement 8. hemispheric defense zone invasion of their country?
4. blitzkrieg 9. strategic materials 17. Determining Cause and Effect How did the rise of dictator-
5. Holocaust ships and the attack on Pearl Harbor cause the United States
to become involved in World War II?
Reviewing Key Facts below to list countries that Hitler and the Nazis seized
10. Identify: Benito Mussolini, Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler. between 1936 and 1940.
11. Where did antidemocratic governments arise in Europe and
Asia after World War I?
12. Why was Austria easier for Hitler to annex than Countries
Czechoslovakia? Seized by Hitler
13. What were four ways that Nazis persecuted Jews? and the Nazis
14. In what three ways did Roosevelt help Britain while maintain-
ing an American policy of neutrality?
Axis
Italy Germany Japan
•Mussolini’s •Hitler’s Nazi Party believed •Military leaders
Fascist Party in all-powerful pushed for territorial
believed in state, territorial expansion
supreme expansion,
•Attacked Manchuria
power of and ethnic
in 1931
the state purity
•Invaded China in 1937 USSR
•Cooperated with •Invaded Poland in 1939, France
Germany from in 1940, and the USSR in 1941 •Attacked Pearl Harbor •Communists, led by
1936 onward in 1941 harsh dictator Joseph Stalin,
created industrial
Allies power
United States Great Britain France •Signed
non-
•Passed Neutrality Acts •Tried to appease Hitler by •Along with Great Britain, aggression
in 1935, 1937, and 1939 allowing territorial tried to appease Hitler pact with Germany in 1939
growth •Declared war
•Gave lend-lease aid to •Received U.S. aid;
Britain, •Declared war on on Germany eventually fought with
China, Germany in 1939 in 1939 after Allies to defeat Germany
and the Poland was
•Resisted German
USSR invaded
attack in 1940
•Declared war on Japan •Occupied by Nazis
•Received U.S. aid through
in 1941 in 1940
lend-lease program and
cash-and-carry provision
Nazi Concentration and
HISTORY Extermination Camps, 1933–1945
0° 60°N 20°E 30°E
Harku
Self-Check Quiz Klooga Valvara
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at N Baltic
Sea
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— W
North Copenhagen E
Chapter 19 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. Sea S
Neuengamme Ravensbrük Stutthof
Amsterdam
Vught Bergen- Sachsenhausen Treblinka
19. Interpreting Primary Sources The America First Committee London BelsenBerlin Warsaw
50°N Sobibor
was one group organized to prevent American involvement Brussels Buchenwald Chelmno Majdanek
in the war. On April 24, 1941, a leading spokesperson for this Theresienstadt Belzec
Paris
committee, aviator Charles Lindbergh, delivered a speech in Natzweiler- Prague Auschwitz-Birkenau
Struthof Dachau Mauthausen
New York. Read the excerpt from his speech and answer the Budapest
Vienna
questions that follow. Bern
Capital city Santa Bucharest
“ War is not inevitable for this country. Such a claim is Nazi concentration camp/ Sabba
death camp
Jasenovac
Belgrade
A
defeatism in the true sense. No one can make us fight
dr
ia
0 200 miles
abroad unless we ourselves are willing to do so. No one
ti
Rome Sofia
c
Se
will attempt to fight us here if we arm ourselves as a great 0 200 kilometers
a
nation should be armed. Over a hundred million people
in this nation are opposed to entering the war. If the prin-
ciples of democracy mean anything at all, that is reason
b. Applying Geography Skills What can you conclude
enough for us to stay out. If we are forced into war against about the extent of the Nazis’ “final solution”?
the wishes of an overwhelming majority of our people, we
will have proved democracy such a failure at home that Chapter Activity
a. Why did Lindbergh favor isolationism?
”
there will be little use fighting for it abroad. 22. Research Project Research and write a short biography of
Winston Churchill. Then describe his career, involvement in
b. How do you think Lindbergh might have felt about isola- World War II, and beliefs to the class.
tionism after the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Writing Activity
Practicing Skills 23. Descriptive Writing Using the Internet and the library, find
20. Making Generalizations Read the passage below and firsthand accounts of Holocaust survivors. Create a report on
answer the questions that follow. these survivors, and present the report to your classmates.
“ Hitler and the Nazis believed the Germanic people

to be superior to all others. He often referred to
Germans as the Aryan race, a completely fictitious racial Standardized
ethnic type. The groups the Nazis held in low regard Test Practice
included homosexuals, the disabled, Gypsies, and Slavic Directions: Choose the phrase that best
peoples. The Nazis reserved their most virulent hatred completes the following statement.
for the Jews, however. . . . For the Nazis, all people who When Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Act in 1941, he said
were ethnically Jewish were completely evil no matter that the United States must become the “arsenal of democ-
”
what their religion, occupation, or education.
a. What facts are presented about the attitude of Hitler and
racy” in order to
A end the Depression.
the Nazis toward Germans and Jews?
B help the Axis powers.
b. What generalization can be made from these facts?
C remain neutral.
D help Great Britain.
21. The map on this page shows Nazi concentration and exter- Test-Taking Tip: An arsenal is a stockpile or storehouse of
mination camps. Study it and answer these questions. weapons. Eliminate any answer that does not relate to using
a. Interpreting Maps In which two countries were most weapons to protect democracy.
of the concentration and extermination camps located?

America
and
World War II
1941–1945
Why It Matters
The United States entered World War II unwillingly and largely unprepared. The American
people, however, quickly banded together to transform the American economy into the most
productive and efficient war-making machine in the world. American forces turned the tide in
Europe and the Pacific, and they played a crucial role in the defeat of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
The Impact Today

Many changes that began in World War II are still shaping our lives today.
• The United Nations was founded.
• Nuclear weapons were invented.
• The United States became the most powerful nation in the world.

video, “Japanese American Internment Camps,” chronicles the
treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
1943
• Detroit race riots
• Zoot suit riots in Los Angeles
1941
• President Roosevelt forbids racial 1942
discrimination in defense industries • Women’s Army
• United States enters World War II Auxiliary Corps
established
▲ • Japanese American
F. Roosevelt relocation ordered
1933–1945 ▲ ▲
1941 1942 1943
▼ ▼ ▼
1941 1942 1943
• Japan attacks Pearl Harbor • Japan takes Philippines; • Battle of Tarawa
and the Philippines MacArthur vows: “I shall return.”
• Germans defeated at
• Americans turn the tide in the Stalingrad
Pacific at the Battle of Midway
• Allied forces land in Italy
610
Allied soldiers landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy
on D-Day—June 6, 1944
1945
• Franklin Roosevelt dies
in office; Harry S Truman
1944 becomes president
• Supreme Court rules in
Korematsu v. the United States
that Japanese American HISTORY
relocation is constitutional ▲
Truman
▲ 1945–1953 Chapter Overview
information.
1944 1945
• Eisenhower leads D-Day invasion • United States drops atomic bomb on Japan
• Battle of Leyte Gulf • World War II ends
611
Mobilizing for War
The United States quickly mobilized its Organizing As you read about American • Explain how the United States mobi-
economy and armed forces to fight World mobilization for World War II, complete a lized its economy.
War II. graphic organizer like the one below by • Describe the issues involved in raising
filling in the agencies the U.S. govern- an American army.
Key Terms and Names ment created to mobilize the nation’s
cost-plus, Reconstruction Finance economy for war. Section Theme
Corporation, Liberty ship, War Production Individual Action The success of the
Board, Selective Service and Training Act, Government Agencies
United States in mobilizing for war was
disfranchise Created to Mobilize due largely to the cooperation of individ-
the Economy ual American citizens.
✦1940 ✦1941 ✦1942 ✦1943

1940 December 7, 1941 1942 1943
Fall of France; Japan attacks Pearl Women’s Army Auxiliary Office of War Mobilization
Selective Service Act Harbor Corps (WAAC) established (OWM) established
Shortly after 1:30 P.M. on December 7, 1941, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox phoned
President Roosevelt at the White House. “Mr. President,” Knox said, “it looks like the Japanese
have attacked Pearl Harbor.” A few minutes later, Admiral Harold Stark, chief of naval opera-
tions, phoned and confirmed the attack.
As Eleanor Roosevelt passed by the president’s study, she knew immediately something
very bad had happened:
“All the secretaries were there, two telephones were in use, the senior military aides were
on their way with messages.” Eleanor also noticed that President Roosevelt remained calm:
“His reaction to any event was always to be calm. If it was something that was bad, he just
became almost like an iceberg, and there was never the slightest emotion that was allowed to
show.”
Turning to his wife, President Roosevelt expressed anger at the Japanese: “I never wanted
Franklin D. Roosevelt to have to fight this war on two fronts. We haven’t got the Navy to fight in both the Atlantic
and Pacific. . . . We will have to build up the Navy and the Air Force and that will mean we
will have to take a good many defeats before we can have a victory.”
—adapted from No Ordinary Time
Converting the Economy

Although the difficulties of fighting a global war troubled the president, British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill was not worried. Churchill knew that victory in mod-
ern war depended on a nation’s industrial power. He compared the American economy
612 CHAPTER 20 America and World War II

to a gigantic boiler: “Once the fire is lighted under it American Industry
there is no limit to the power it can generate.”
Churchill was right. The industrial output of the Gets the Job Done
United States during the war astounded the rest of the By the fall of 1941, much had already been done to
world. American workers were twice as productive as prepare the economy for war, but it was still only par-
German workers and five times more productive than tially mobilized. Although many companies were pro-
Japanese workers. American war production turned ducing military equipment, most still preferred to
the tide in favor of the Allies. In less than four years, make consumer goods. The Depression was ending
the United States achieved what no other nation had and sales were rising. The Japanese attack on Pearl
ever done—it fought and won a two-front war Harbor, however, changed everything. By the summer
against two powerful military empires, forcing each of 1942, almost all major industries and some 200,000
to surrender unconditionally. companies had converted to war production. Together
The United States was able to expand its war pro- they made the nation’s wartime “miracle” possible.
duction so rapidly after the attack on Pearl Harbor in
part because the government had begun to mobilize
ECONOMICS
the economy before the country entered the war.
When the German blitzkrieg swept into France in Tanks Replace Cars The automobile industry
May 1940, President Roosevelt declared a national was uniquely suited to the mass production of mil-
emergency and announced a plan to build 50,000 itary equipment. Automobile factories began to
warplanes a year. Shocked by the success of the produce trucks, jeeps, and tanks. This was critical
German attack, many Americans were willing to in modern warfare because the country that could
build up the country’s defenses. move troops and supplies most quickly usually
Roosevelt and his advisers believed that the best way
to rapidly mobilize the economy was to give industry History Through Art
an incentive to move quickly. As Henry Stimson, the WW II Posters War posters were designed to help encourage and inform the
new secretary of war, wrote in his diary: “If you are American public. How would you have felt to see a poster such as this one?
going to try and go to war, or to prepare for war, in a
capitalist country, you have got to let business make
money out of the process or business won’t work.”
Normally when the government needed military
equipment, it would ask companies to bid for the
contract, but that system was too slow in wartime.
Instead of asking for bids, the government signed
cost-plus contracts. The government agreed to pay a
company whatever it cost to make a product plus a
guaranteed percentage of the costs as profit. Under
the cost-plus system, the more a company produced
and the faster it did the work, the more money it
would make. The system was not cheap, but it did
get war materials produced quickly and in quantity.
Although cost-plus convinced many companies
to convert to war production, others could not afford
to reequip their factories to make military goods. To
convince more companies to convert, Congress gave
new authority to the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation (RFC). The RFC, a government agency
set up during the Depression, was now permitted to
make loans to companies to help them cover the cost
of converting to war production.
Reading Check Analyzing What government poli-

cies helped American industry to produce large quantities of
war materials?
CHAPTER 20 America and World War II 613

won the battle. As General George C. Marshall, Building the Liberty Ships Henry Kaiser’s ship-
chief of staff for the United States Army, observed: yards more than matched Ford’s achievement in air-
craft production. Kaiser’s shipyards built many
“ The greatest advantage the United States enjoyed
on the ground in the fighting was . . . the jeep and
ships, but they were best known for their production
of Liberty ships. The Liberty ship was the basic
the two-and-a-half ton truck. These are the instru- cargo ship used during the war. Most Liberty ships
ments that moved and supplied United States troops were welded instead of riveted. Welded ships were
in battle, while the German army . . . depended on cheap, easy to build, and very hard to sink compared
animal transport. . . . The United States, profiting to riveted ships.
from the mass production achievements of its auto- When a riveted ship was hit, the rivets often came
motive industry . . . had mobility that completely out- loose, causing the ship to fall apart and sink. A welded
ship’s hull was fused into one solid piece of steel. A
classed the enemy.
” torpedo might blow a hole in it, but the hull would not
—quoted in Miracle of World War II come apart. A damaged Liberty ship could often get
Automobile factories did not just produce vehicles. back to port, make repairs, and return to service.
They also built artillery, rifles, mines, helmets, pon-
toon bridges, cooking pots, and dozens of other The War Production Board As American compa-
pieces of military equipment. Henry Ford launched nies converted to war production, many business
one of the most ambitious projects when he created an leaders became frustrated with the mobilization
assembly line for the enormous B-24 bomber known process. Government agencies argued constantly
as “the Liberator” at Willow Run Airport near Detroit. about supplies and contracts and whose orders had
By the end of the war, the factory had built over 8,600 the highest priority.
aircraft. Overall, the automobile industry produced After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt tried to
nearly one-third of the military equipment manufac- improve the system by creating the War Production
tured during the war. Board (WPB). He gave the WPB the authority to set
Switching to Wartime Production
Automobile Production, 1941—1945

4
Automobiles Produced (in millions)
3,779,628
222,862 139 610 70,001
1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

Year
priorities and production goals and to control the dis- introduced the Selective Service and Training Act, a
tribution of raw materials and supplies. Almost plan for the first peacetime draft in American history.
immediately, the WPB clashed with the military. Before the spring of 1940, college students, labor
Military agencies continued to sign contracts without unions, isolationists, and most members of Congress
consulting with the WPB. Finally, in 1943, Roosevelt had opposed a peacetime draft. Opinions changed
established the Office of War Mobilization (OWM) after Germany defeated France. In September
to settle arguments between the different agencies. Congress approved the draft by a wide margin.
Reading Check Explaining What military need led
You’re in the Army Now At first the flood of
to the production of Liberty ships? draftees overwhelmed the army’s training facilities.
Many recruits had to live in tents and use temporary
facilities. The army also endured equipment short-
Building an Army ages. Troops carried sticks representing guns, threw
Converting factories to war production was only stones simulating grenades, and practiced maneu-
part of the mobilization process. If the United States vers with trucks carrying signs that read “TANK.”
was actually going to fight and win the war, the New draftees were initially sent to a reception cen-
country also needed to build up its armed forces. ter, where they were given physical exams and injec-
tions against smallpox and typhoid. The draftees
Creating an Army Within days of Germany’s attack were then issued uniforms, boots, and whatever
on Poland, President Roosevelt expanded the army equipment was available. The clothing bore the label
to 227,000 soldiers. After France surrendered to “G.I.,” meaning “Government Issue,” which is why
Germany in June 1940, two members of Congress American soldiers were called “GIs.”
After taking aptitude tests, recruits were
sent to basic training for eight weeks. They
learned how to handle weapons, load back-
Tank Production, 1941—1945 packs, read maps, pitch tents, and dig
trenches. Trainees drilled and exercised con-
Tanks Produced (in thousands)
30 29,497
stantly and learned how to work as a team.
25 23,884 After the war, many veterans complained
20 that basic training had been useless. Soldiers
17,565 were rushed through too quickly, and the
15 physical training left them too tired to learn
11,184
10 the skills they needed. A sergeant in Italy told
a reporter for Yank magazine that during a
5 4,203
recent battle, a new soldier had held up his
rifle and yelled, “How do I load this thing?”
1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Despite its problems, basic training helped
Year to break down barriers between soldiers.
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970. Recruits came from all over the country, and
training together made them into a unit.
Training created a “special sense of kinship,”
one soldier noted. “The reason you storm the
beaches is not patriotism or bravery. It’s that
sense of not wanting to fail your buddies.”
A Segregated Army Although basic training

1. Interpreting Graphs How does the number of
promoted unity, most recruits did not
tanks produced relate to the number of automo-
encounter Americans from every part of soci-
biles produced in the previous graph?
2. Making Generalizations How do these two ety. At the start of the war, the U.S. military
graphs illustrate the commitment of the United was completely segregated. White recruits did
States to winning the war? not train alongside African Americans.
African Americans had separate barracks,
latrines, mess halls, and recreational facilities.

Once trained, African Americans were organized Many African American leaders combined patriot-
into their own military units, but white officers were ism with protest. In 1941 the National Urban League
generally in command of them. Most military leaders asked its members to encourage African Americans
also wanted to keep African American soldiers out to join the war effort. It also asked them to make
of combat and assigned them to construction and plans for building a better society in the United States
supply units. after the war. The Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African
American newspaper, launched the “Double V”
Pushing for “Double V” Some African Americans campaign. The campaign urged African Americans
did not want to support the war. As one student at a to support the war in order to achieve a double
black college noted: “The Army Jim Crows us. . . . victory—a victory over Hitler’s racism abroad and
Employers and labor unions shut us out. Lynchings America’s racism at home.
continue. We are disenfranchised . . . and spat upon. Under pressure from African American leaders,
What more could Hitler do to us than that?” By President Roosevelt ordered the army air force, navy,
disfranchised, the student meant that African and marines to recruit African Americans, and he
Americans were often denied their right to vote. told the army to put African Americans into combat.
Despite the bitterness, most African Americans He also promoted Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.,
agreed with African American writer Saunders the highest-ranking African American officer, to the
Redding that they should support their country: rank of brigadier general.
“ There are many things about this war I do not

like . . . yet I believe in the war. . . . We know that
African Americans in Combat In early 1941, the
army air force created its first African American unit,
whatever the mad logic of [Hitler’s] New Order there is the 99th Pursuit Squadron. The pilots trained in
no hope for us under it. The ethnic theories of the Tuskegee, Alabama, and became known as the
Hitler ‘master folk’ admit of no chance of freedom. . . . Tuskegee Airmen. In April 1943, after General Davis
This is a war to keep [people] free. The struggle to urged the military to put African Americans into
broaden and lengthen the road of freedom—our own combat as soon as possible, the squadron was sent to
private and important war to enlarge freedom here in the Mediterranean. Commanded by General Davis’s
America—will come later. . . . I believe in this war son, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., the
because I believe in America. I believe in what America squadron fought in North Africa and Sicily, and
helped win the battle of Anzio in Italy.
”
professes to stand for. . . .
In late 1943, Colonel Davis took command of three
—quoted in America at War new squadrons that had trained at Tuskegee. Known
as the 332nd Fighter Group, these squadrons were
ordered to protect American bombers as they flew to
History their targets. The 332nd Fighter Group flew 200 such
missions and did not lose a single bomber to enemy
Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen distinguished themselves in combat, aircraft.
yet they were not allowed to serve in integrated units. In what theater of the African Americans also performed well in the
war did the Tuskegee Airmen serve?
army. The all-African American 761st Tank Battalion
was commended for its service during the Battle of
the Bulge. Fighting in northwest Europe, African
Americans in the 614th Tank
Destroyer Battalion won 8 Silver
Stars for distinguished service, 28
Bronze Stars, and 79 Purple Hearts.
Although the military did not end
all segregation during the war, it did
integrate military bases in 1943 and
steadily expanded the role of African
Americans within the armed forces.
These successes paved the way for
Benjamin President Truman’s decision to fully
O. Davis, Sr. integrate the military in 1948.
Women Join the Armed Forces As in World War I,
women joined the armed forces. The army enlisted
women for the first time, although they were barred
from combat. Instead, as the army’s recruiting slogan
suggested, women were needed to “release a man for
combat.” Many jobs in the army were administrative
and clerical. By assigning women to these jobs, more
men would be available for combat.
Congress first allowed women in the military in
May 1942, when it established the Women’s Army
Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and appointed Oveta Culp
Hobby, an official with the War Department, to serve
as its first director. Although pleased about the estab-
lishment of the WAAC, many women were unhappy
that it was an auxiliary corps and not part of the reg-
ular army. A little over a year later, the army replaced History
the WAAC with the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).
Director Hobby was assigned the rank of colonel. Women Pilots General Barney M. Giles inspects the guard of honor of the
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas.
“You have a debt and a date,” Hobby explained to
Many pilots wore Filfinella patches (right) for good luck. Why do you think the
those training to be the nation’s first women officers. army refused to allow women to fly in combat?
“A debt to democracy, a date with destiny.” The
Coast Guard, the navy, and the marines quickly fol- Of all the major powers involved in the war, the
lowed the army and set up their own women’s units. United States suffered the fewest casualties in combat.
In addition to serving in these new organizations, American troops never adopted the spit-and-
another 68,000 women served as nurses in the army polish style of the Europeans. When they arrived at
and navy. the front, Americans’ uniforms were usually a mess,
and they rarely marched in step. When one
Americans Go to War The Americans who went to Czechoslovakian was asked what he thought of the
war in 1941 were not well trained. Most of the troops sloppy, unprofessional American soldiers, he com-
had no previous military experience. Most of the offi- mented, “They walk like free men.”
cers had never led men in combat. The armed forces
mirrored many of the tensions and prejudices of Reading Check Summarizing How did the status of
American society. Despite these challenges, the women and African Americans in the armed forces change
United States armed forces performed well in battle. during the war?
TM
TM

1. Define: cost-plus, Liberty ship, 5. Evaluating How effectively did 7. Analyzing Graphs Study the graphs of
disfranchise. American industry rally behind the war automobile and tank production on
2. Identify: Reconstruction Finance effort? Give examples to support your pages 614 and 615. Why did automo-
Corporation, War Production Board, opinion. bile production decrease while tank
Selective Service and Training Act. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer production increased?
3. Describe the role of the OWM in the like the one below to list the challenges
war production effort. facing the United States as it mobilized
for war.
4. Individual Action Why do you think 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
African Americans were willing to fight Challenges to of a draftee who has just completed the
Mobilization
in the war even though they suffered first week of basic training. Write a let-
discrimination in American society? ter to your parents telling them about
basic training and what you hope to
accomplish once the training is over.

The Early Battles
By late 1942, the Allies had stopped the Sequencing As you read about the mili- • Analyze how the Allies were able to
German and Japanese advance. tary campaigns of 1942, complete a time fight a war on two fronts and turn the
line similar to the one below to record war against the Axis in the Pacific,
Key Terms and Names the major battles discussed and the victor Russia, and the North Atlantic.
Chester Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, in each. • Explain why Stalingrad is considered
James Doolittle, periphery, George a major turning point of the war.
Patton, convoy system
1942 1943 Section Theme
Individual Action Many American sol-
diers made heroic sacrifices in order to
turn the tide against the Axis Powers.
✦1942 ✦1943 ✦1944

May 1942 June 1942 February 1943 May 1943
Fall of the Philippines; Battle of Midway Germans defeated Germans driven out
Battle of the Coral Sea at Stalingrad of North Africa
On June 4, 1942, Lieutenant Commander James Thach climbed into his F4F Wildcat fighter
plane. Thach knew that the Japanese Zero fighter planes were better than his Wildcat. To
improve his chances against them, he had developed a new tactic he called the “Thach
weave.” At the Battle of Midway, he had his first chance to try it:
“ So we boarded our planes. All of us were highly excited and admittedly nervous. . . . A
very short time after, Zero fighters came down on us—I figured there were twenty. . . . The
air was just like a beehive, and I wasn’t sure that anything would work. And then my weave
began to work! I got a good shot at two Zeros and burned them . . . then Ram, my wingman,
radioed: ‘There’s a Zero on my tail.’ . . . I was really angry then. I was mad because my poor
little wingman had never been in combat before [and] this Zero was about to chew him to
pieces. I probably should have ducked under the Zero, but I lost my temper and decided to
James S. Thach keep my fire going into him so he’d pull out. He did, and I just missed him by a few feet. I
saw flames coming out of his airplane. This was like playing chicken on the highway with
two automobiles headed for each other, except we were shooting at each other as well.
”
—quoted in The Pacific War Remembered
Holding the Line Against Japan

While officers like James Thach developed new tactics to fight the Japanese, the com-
mander of the United States Navy in the Pacific, Admiral Chester Nimitz, began plan-
ning operations against the Japanese navy. Although the Japanese had badly damaged
the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, they had missed the American aircraft carriers,

which were at sea on a mission. The United States break for water would be shot or bayoneted. Then
had several carriers in the Pacific, and Nimitz was they were left there. Finally, it got so bad further along
determined to use them. In the days just after Pearl the road that you never got away from the stench of
Harbor, however, he could do little to stop Japan’s death. There were bodies laying all along the road in
advance into Southeast Asia.
various degrees of decomposition—swollen, burst
The Fall of the Philippines A few hours after they
open, maggots crawling by the thousands. . . .
”
bombed Pearl Harbor, the Japanese attacked —quoted in Death March: The Survivors of Bataan
American airfields in the Philippines. Two days later,
Although the troops in the Bataan Peninsula sur-
Japanese troops landed in the islands. The American
rendered, a small force held out on the island of
and Filipino forces defending the Philippines were
Corregidor in Manila Bay. Finally, in May 1942,
badly outnumbered. Their commander, General
Corregidor surrendered. The Philippines had fallen.
Douglas MacArthur, decided to retreat to the Bataan
Peninsula. Using the peninsula’s rugged terrain,
The Doolittle Raid Even before the fall of the
MacArthur’s troops held out for more than three
Philippines, President Roosevelt was searching for a
months. Gradually, the lack of supplies along with
way to raise the morale of the American people. He
diseases such as malaria, scurvy, and dysentery took
wanted to bomb Tokyo, but American planes could
their toll. Realizing MacArthur’s capture would
reach Tokyo only if an aircraft carrier brought them
demoralize the American people, President
close enough. Unfortunately, Japanese ships in the
Roosevelt ordered the general to evacuate to
North Pacific prevented carriers from getting close
Australia. In Australia MacArthur made a promise:
enough to Japan to launch their short-range bombers.
“I came through, and I shall return.”
In early 1942, a military planner suggested replac-
On April 9, 1942, the weary defenders of Bataan
ing the carrier’s usual short-range bombers with
finally surrendered. Nearly 78,000 prisoners of war
long-range B-25 bombers that could attack from far-
were forced to march—sick, exhausted, and starv-
ther away. Although B-25s could take off from a car-
ing—65 miles (105 km) to a Japanese prison camp.
rier, they could not land on its short deck. After
Thousands died on this march, which came to be
attacking Japan, they would have to land in China.
known as the Bataan Death March. Here one cap-
President Roosevelt put Lieutenant Colonel James
tured American, Leon Beck, recalls the nightmare:
Doolittle in command of the mission. At the end of
March, a crane loaded sixteen B-25s onto the aircraft
“ They’d halt us in front of these big artesian
wells . . . so we could see the water and they
carrier Hornet. The next day the Hornet headed west
across the Pacific. On April 18, American bombs fell
wouldn’t let us have any. Anyone who would make a on Japan for the first time.
Striking Back: The Doolittle Raid, April 18, 1942

The plan for the Doolittle raid was to launch B-25
bombers from aircraft carriers between 450 and 650 miles
from Japan. The planes would bomb selected targets, and
fly another 1,200 miles to airfields in China.
All went well until the Japanese
discovered the carriers more than 150 miles from the
proposed launch site. Instead of canceling the mission, the
bombers took off early. The planes reached
Japan and dropped their bombs, but they Planes arrive
in China
did not have enough fuel to reach the Carriers launch B-25s
friendly airfields in China. The crews were
forced to bail out or crash-land, and only 71
Tokyo is
of the 80 crew members survived. bombed
Nevertheless, the raid provided an instant
boost to sagging American morale.
Battle of Midway, 1942 Course of Enterprise
and Hornet
Course of
Yorktown
9 June 6, 1:31 P.M.
8 June 4, 5:01 P.M. Yorktown Japanese submarine
fliers join Enterprise attack on I-168 torpedoes the
the Hiryu, setting Yorktown, which sinks
it ablaze. the next morning.
Hiryu sinks
Course of
Japanese fleet
7 Yorktown sinks
June 4, noon.
Akagi sinks Soryu sinks Planes from the Hiryu
Kaga sinks attack U.S. carriers.
June 4, Yorktown hit.
6 10:22-10:28 A.M. The ship is abandoned
U.S. Dive-bombers but remains afloat.
score direct hits on
1 June 4, 4:30 A.M. Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu. U.S. Dauntless
Japanese carriers launch dive-bomber
108 warplanes to strike 2 June 4, 6:16 A.M.
U.S. base at Midway. U.S. fighters clash with
attackers.
5 June 4, 9:17 A.M.
Japanese planes return. 4 June 4, 7:08 A.M.
Fleet turns to engage U.S. fliers from Midway begin
U.S. carriers. attacking Japanese fleet.
Midway
Line of U.S. submarines 3 June 4, Islands
stationed 170 miles C 6:30 A.M. (U.S.)
from Midway.
I F I Kure Atoll Japanese begin
C a N
(U.S.) bombing Midway.
P aC E
N
W
E O
S U.S. actions
Japanese actions
1. Interpreting Maps When did Japan launch the attack

on Midway?
2. Applying Geography Skills Why were aircraft carriers
A Change in Japanese Strategy While Americans
so vital to the war in the Pacific?
were overjoyed that the air force had finally struck
back, Japanese leaders were aghast. Doolittle’s
bombs could have killed the emperor. The Doolittle
raid convinced Japanese leaders to change their The Battle of the Coral Sea The Japanese believed
strategy. that they could proceed with two different attacks.
Before the raid, the Japanese Navy had been argu- They thought the United States was unaware of
ing about what to do next. The officers in charge of Japan’s activity and would not be able to respond in
the navy’s planning wanted to cut American supply time. Japan did not know that an American team
lines to Australia by capturing the south coast of of code breakers, based in Hawaii, had already bro-
New Guinea. The commander of the fleet, Admiral ken the Japanese Navy’s secret code for conducting
Yamamoto, wanted to attack Midway Island—the operations.
last American base in the North Pacific west of In March 1942, decoded Japanese messages
Hawaii. Yamamoto believed that attacking Midway alerted the United States to the Japanese attack on
would lure the American fleet into battle and enable New Guinea. In response, Admiral Nimitz sent two
his fleet to destroy it. carriers, the Yorktown and the Lexington, to intercept
After Doolittle’s raid, the planners dropped their the Japanese in the Coral Sea. There, in early May,
opposition to Yamamoto’s plan. The American fleet carriers from both sides launched all-out airstrikes
had to be destroyed in order to protect Tokyo from against each other. Although the Japanese sank the
bombing. The attack on New Guinea would still go Lexington and badly damaged the Yorktown, the
ahead, but only three aircraft carriers were assigned American attacks forced the Japanese to call off their
to the mission. All of the other carriers were ordered landing on the south coast of New Guinea. The
to prepare for an assault on Midway. American supply lines to Australia stayed open.

dealt the Japanese navy a deadly blow. Admiral
Yamamoto ordered his remaining ships to retreat.
The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the
war. The Japanese Navy lost four of its largest carri-
JAPANESE FORCES To destroy the U.S. ers—the heart of its fleet. Just six months after Pearl
Pacific Fleet, crippled by the 1941 attack Harbor, the United States had stopped the Japanese
on Pearl Harbor, Japan plots an occupation of two advance in the Pacific. As Admiral Ernest King, the
Aleutian islands and an invasion of Midway. commander in chief of the U.S. Navy, later observed,
Strategists believe that the twin actions will lure U.S. Midway “put an end to the long period of Japanese
carriers to their doom. Two Japanese carriers and offensive action.” The victory was not without cost,
58 other ships sail for the Aleutians. For Midway,
however. The battle killed 362 Americans and 3,057
Japan commits 4 large carriers, 2 light carriers, 280
Japanese. Afterward, one naval officer wrote to his
planes, 7 battleships, 14 cruisers, 15 submarines,
wife: “Let no one tell you or let you believe that this
42 destroyers, and more than 30 supporting ships.
These include transports carrying 5,000 troops to war is anything other than a grim, terrible business.”
take Midway. Reading Check Explaining Why was the Battle of
Midway considered a turning point?
U.S. FORCES No battleships guard U.S.
carriers sent to Midway to engage the
enemy fleet. Into combat go 3 carriers, including
battle-damaged Yorktown. Protecting them are 8 Turning Back the German Army
cruisers and 16 destroyers. The U.S. has a total of In 1942 Allied forces began to win victories in
360 aircraft, including 234 carrier-based fighters and Europe as well. Almost from the moment the United
small bombers. Based on Midway are 28 fighters, States entered the war, Joseph Stalin, the leader of the
46 small bombers, 31 PBY Catalina scout planes, Soviet Union, urged President Roosevelt to open a
4 Marauder medium bombers, and 17 Flying
second front in Europe. Stalin appreciated the Lend-
Fortresses. Most pilots on Midway have never flown
Lease supplies that the United States had sent, but
in combat.
the Soviet people were still doing most of the fight-
ing. If British and American troops opened a second
front by attacking Germany from the west, it would
TURNING POINT take pressure off the Soviet Union.
The Battle of Midway Back at Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt wanted to get American troops into
code-breaking team that had alerted Nimitz to the battle in Europe, but Prime Minister Churchill urged
attack on New Guinea now learned of the plan to caution. He did not believe the United States and
attack Midway. With so many ships at sea, Admiral Great Britain were ready to launch a full-scale inva-
Yamamoto transmitted the plans for the Midway sion of Europe. Instead Churchill wanted to attack the
attack by radio, using the same code the Americans periphery, or edges, of the German empire. Roosevelt
had already cracked. agreed, and in July 1942 he ordered the invasion of
Admiral Nimitz had been waiting for the opportu- Morocco and Algeria—two French territories indi-
nity to ambush the Japanese fleet. He immediately rectly under German control.
ordered carriers to take up positions near Midway.
Unaware they were heading into an ambush, the The Struggle for North
Japanese launched their aircraft against Midway on Africa Roosevelt decided to HISTORY
June 4, 1942. The island was ready. The Japanese invade Morocco and Algeria
planes ran into a blizzard of antiaircraft fire, and 38 of for two reasons. First, the Student Web
them were shot down. invasion would give the Activity Visit the
As the Japanese prepared a second wave to attack army some experience with- American Republic
Midway, aircraft from the American carriers Hornet, out requiring a lot of troops. Since 1877 Web site at
tarvol2.glencoe.com
Yorktown, and Enterprise launched a counterattack. The More importantly, once
American planes caught the Japanese carriers with American troops were in
Web Activities—
fuel, bombs, and aircraft exposed on their flight decks. North Africa, they would be
Chapter 20 for an
Within minutes three Japanese carriers were reduced to able to help British troops activity on America and
burning wrecks. A fourth was sunk a few hours later. fighting the Germans in World War II.
By nightfall it was apparent that the Americans had Egypt.

in History
Fleet Admiral Chester Admiral Isoroku
W. Nimitz 1885–1966 Yamamoto 1884–1943
Taking command of the Pacific Fleet The son of a schoolmaster, Isoroku
after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto spent his entire adult life in
Admiral Chester Nimitz did not view the military. In the 1930s he was one of
the Japanese attack as a complete dis- the few Japanese leaders who opposed
aster. The United States still had its air- war with the United States. Yamamoto
craft carriers, and base facilities were did so not because he was a pacifist, but
in good repair. Even though the battle because he feared Japan would lose.
fleet was at the bottom of the harbor, When he realized that Japan’s leaders
most of the ships could be retrieved were intent on war, Yamamoto became
and repaired. If the Japanese had attacked convinced that Japan’s only hope lay in launching a surprise attack
the fleet at sea, nothing would have been salvageable. that would destroy the American Pacific Fleet. Although some offi-
Nimitz believed that the only way to win the war was to keep cers opposed his plan, Yamamoto won out, and he planned and
constant pressure on the Japanese. He ordered attacks in early implemented the attack on Pearl Harbor. During the first years of
1942 and firmly backed the Doolittle raid. Nimitz planned the the war, he enjoyed tremendous prestige because of Japanese vic-
American campaigns that turned the tide of war at Midway and tories he helped engineer.
Guadalcanal. Nimitz kept the pressure on the Japanese throughout In April 1943 the admiral took an inspection flight of several
the war, and he signed the Japanese surrender document as the islands. Having already broken the Japanese codes, the Americans
official representative of the United States government in 1945. In knew of the flight. On April 18, American fighters shot down
less than four years, he had taken a badly damaged fleet and Yamamoto’s plane in the South Pacific, and the admiral was killed
made it victorious throughout the Pacific. in the attack.
Egypt was very important to Britain because of the command. Together, the American and British forces
Suez Canal. Most of Britain’s empire, including finally pushed the Germans back. On May 13, 1943, the
India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, and Australia, last German forces in North Africa surrendered.
used the canal to send supplies to Britain. The
German forces in the area, known as the “Afrika The Battle of the Atlantic As American and British
Korps,” were commanded by General Erwin troops fought the German army in North Africa, the
Rommel—a brilliant leader whose success earned war against German submarines in the Atlantic
him the nickname “Desert Fox.” Ocean continued to intensify. After Germany
The British forced Rommel to retreat at the battle declared war on the United States, German sub-
of El Alamein, but his forces remained a serious marines entered American coastal waters. They
threat. On November 8, 1942, the American inva- found American cargo ships to be easy targets, espe-
sion of North Africa began under the command of cially at night when the glow from the cities in the
General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The American night sky silhouetted the vessels. To protect the ships,
forces in Morocco, led by General George Patton, cities on the East Coast dimmed their lights every
quickly captured the city of Casablanca, while evening. People also put up special “blackout cur-
those in Algeria seized the cities of Oran and tains” and drove with their headlights off.
Algiers. The Americans then headed east into By August 1942, German submarines had sunk
Tunisia, while British forces headed west into about 360 American ships along the American coast.
Libya. The plan was to trap Rommel between the So many oil tankers were sunk that gasoline and fuel
two Allied forces. oil had to be rationed. To keep oil flowing, the gov-
When the American troops advanced into the ernment built the first long-distance oil pipeline,
mountains of western Tunisia, they had to fight the stretching some 1,250 miles (2,010 km) from the Texas
German army for the first time. They did not do well. oil fields to Pennsylvania.
At the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the Americans were The loss of so many ships convinced the U.S.
outmaneuvered and outfought. They suffered roughly Navy to set up a convoy system. Under this system,
7,000 casualties and lost nearly 200 tanks. Eisenhower cargo ships traveled in groups and were escorted by
fired the general who led the attack and put Patton in navy warships. The convoy system improved the

situation dramatically. It made it much harder for a
submarine to torpedo a cargo ship and escape with-
out being attacked.
The spring of 1942 marked the high point of the
German submarine campaign. In May and June
alone, over 1.2 million tons of shipping were sunk. Yet
in those same two months, American and British
shipyards built over 1.1 million tons of new shipping.
From July 1942 onward, American shipyards
produced more ships than German submarines
managed to sink. At the same time, American air-
planes and warships began to use new technology,
including radar, sonar, and depth charges, to locate
and attack submarines. As the new technology began
to take its toll on German submarines, the Battle of the
Atlantic slowly turned in favor of the Allies. History
TURNING POINT Halting the German Advance Soviet troops assault German positions in
Stalingrad in November 1942. Why did the Soviet army need to hold on to
Stalingrad In the spring of 1942, before the Battle of the city of Stalingrad?
the Atlantic turned against Germany, Adolf Hitler
was very confident he would win the war. Rommel’s at all cost. Retreat was forbidden. The Germans were
troops were pushing the British back in Egypt. forced to fight from house to house, losing thousands
German submarines were sinking American ships of soldiers in the process.
rapidly, and the German army was ready to launch a On November 23, Soviet reinforcements arrived
new offensive to knock the Soviets out of the war. and surrounded Stalingrad, trapping almost 250,000
Hitler was convinced that the only way to defeat German troops. When the battle ended in February
the Soviet Union was to destroy its economy. In May 1943, 91,000 Germans had surrendered, although
1942, he ordered his army to capture strategic oil only 5,000 of them survived the Soviet prison camps
fields, industries, and farmlands in southern Russia and returned home after the war. The Battle of
and Ukraine. The key to the attack was the city of Stalingrad was a major turning point in the war. Just
Stalingrad. The city controlled the Volga River and as the Battle of Midway put the Japanese on the
was a major railroad junction. If the German army defensive for the rest of the war, the Battle of
captured Stalingrad, the Soviets would be cut off Stalingrad put the Germans on the defensive as well.
from the resources they needed to stay in the war.
When German troops entered Stalingrad in mid- Reading Check Evaluating What did the Allies do
September, Stalin ordered his troops to hold the city to win the Battle of the Atlantic?
TM
TM

1. Define: periphery, convoy system. 5. Analyzing How did code breakers help 8. Examining Maps Study the map of
2. Identify: Chester Nimitz, Douglas stop Japanese advances? Midway on page 620. Why do you think
MacArthur, James Doolittle, George 6. Evaluating How were the Americans the Japanese forces attacked when they
Patton. able to win the Battle of the Atlantic? did?
3. Explain the American strategy in North 7. Organizing Use a graphic organizer
Africa. like the one below to list the reasons Writing About History
the Battle of Midway was a major turn- 9. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
Reviewing Themes ing point in the war. of an American soldier fighting in the
4. Individual Action How did the Pacific in World War II. Write a letter to
Doolittle raid help boost American Battle of Midway
your family explaining what conditions
morale? are like for you and what you hope to
accomplish during the war.

Social Studies
Reading a Thematic Map

Bataan and Corregidor,
In your study of American history, you will often December 1941–May 1942
encounter thematic maps. Knowing how to read a
thematic map will help you get more out of it. Camp
PHILIPPINES
O'Donnell
April 15
Dec. 31
Learning the Skill ZAMBALES
Dec. 31
Military maps use colors, symbols, and arrows to Mt. Arayat

show major battles, troop movements, and defen- Mt. Pinatubo
sive positions during a particular battle or over a

period of time. When reading a military map, fol- MOUNTAINS San Fernando
January 2
low these steps: Jan. 1–4
• Read the map title. This will indicate the location N

Calumpit
and time period covered on the map. January 2
W E
• Read the map key. This tells what the symbols on Subic
Bay S
the map represent. For example, battle sites may Bataan
be indicated by crossed swords or burst shells. Peninsula January 7
Manila
• Study the map itself. This will reveal the actual
Jan. 26– Bay
event or sequence of events that took place. Apr. 3 Manila
Battle of Final Attack Occupied
Notice the geography of the area, and try to the Pockets Apr. 3–8 by Japanese
Jan. 26–Feb. 15
determine how it could affect military strategy. January 2
il 9
Battle of
the Points
A pr
Jan. 23–Feb. 13
• Use the map to draw conclusions. U.S. retreat to Bataan
South Mariveles Japanese forces
Corregidor MacArthur to Australia
China Island “Death March” of
Practicing the Skill Sea May 5–6 U.S. prisoners
12
0 15 miles U.S. defensive line

h
rc
The map on this page shows troop movements in at date shown

Ma
0 15 kilometers Japanese victory

the Philippines from December 1941 to May 1942. USAFFE HQ
Analyze the information on the map, then answer Occupied by Japanese
the following questions.

1 What part of the world does the map show?
2 When did MacArthur leave for Australia? What Applying the Skill
information on the map shows you this?
Reading a Thematic Map Study the map of the Battle
3 Where did the Japanese imprison the survivors of Midway on pages 620–621. Use the information on
of the Bataan Death March? the map to answer the following questions.
4 What geographic features did the Japanese 1. When was the battle fought?
encounter on the Bataan Peninsula?
2. What American aircraft carriers took part in the
battle?
Skills Assessment 3. What was the fate of the Hiryu?
page 651 and the Chapter 20 Skill Reinforcement Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
Activity to assess your mastery of this skill. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
624
Life on the Home Front
World War II placed tremendous Categorizing As you read about the • Describe how the wartime economy
demands on Americans at home and led challenges facing Americans on the home created opportunities for women and
to new challenges for all Americans. front, complete a graphic organizer listing minorities.
opportunities for women and African • Discuss how Americans coped with
Key Terms and Names Americans before and after the war. Also shortages and rapidly rising prices.
Rosie the Riveter, A. Philip Randolph, evaluate what progress still needed to be
Sunbelt, zoot suit, rationing, victory made after the war. Section Theme
garden, E bond Opportunities
Civic Rights and Responsibilities To
win the war, American citizens at home
Before War Af ter War Still Needed
Women
made countless changes in work patterns
African Americans
and lifestyles.
✦1941 ✦1942 ✦1943 ✦1944

June 1941 August 1941 February 1942 June 1943
Executive Order 8802 forbids race discrimination Roosevelt creates the Office Japanese American Race riots in Detroit; zoot
in industries with government contracts of Price Administration relocation ordered suit riots in Los Angeles
Laura Briggs was a young woman living on a farm in Idaho when World War II began.
As with many other Americans, the war completely changed her outlook on life:
“ When I was growing up, it was very much depression times. . . . As farm prices
[during the war] began to get better and better, farm times became good times. . . . We
and most other farmers went from a tarpaper shack to a new frame house with indoor
plumbing. Now we had an electric stove instead of a wood-burning one, and running water
at the sink. . . . The war made many changes in our town. I think the most important is that
aspirations changed. People suddenly had the idea, ‘Hey I can reach that. I can have that. I
can do that. I could even send my kid to college if I wanted to.’
”
—quoted in Wartime America: The World War II Home Front
“Rosie the Riveter” symbolized
new roles for women
Women and Minorities Gain Ground

As American troops fought their first battles against the Germans and Japanese, the
war began to dramatically change American society at home. In contrast to the devasta-
tion the war brought to large parts of Europe and Asia, World War II had a positive
effect on American society. The war finally put an end to the Great Depression.
Mobilizing the economy created almost 19 million new jobs and nearly doubled the
average family’s income.
When the war began, American defense factories wanted to hire white men. With so
many men in the military, there simply were not enough white men to fill all of the jobs.
Under pressure to produce, employers began to recruit women and minorities.

Women in the Defense Plants During the Depres-
sion, many people believed married women should “ I learned that just because you’re a woman and
have never worked is no reason you can’t learn. The
not work outside the home, especially if it meant
job really broadened me. . . . I had always been in a
taking jobs away from men trying to support their
families. Most women who did work were young, shell; I’d always been protected. But at Boeing I found
single, and employed in traditional female jobs. The a freedom and an independence I had never known.
wartime labor shortage, however, forced factories to After the war I could never go back to playing bridge
recruit married women to do industrial jobs that tra- again, being a clubwoman. . . . when I knew there
ditionally had been reserved for men. were things you could use your mind for. The war
Although the government hired nearly 4 million
women for mostly clerical jobs, it was the women in
changed my life completely.
”
—quoted in Eyewitness to World War II
the factories who captured the public’s imagination.
The great symbol of the campaign to hire women was Although most women left the factories after the
“Rosie the Riveter,” a character from a popular song war, their success permanently changed American
by the Four Vagabonds. The lyrics told of Rosie, who attitudes about women in the workplace.
worked in a factory while her boyfriend served in the
marines. Images of Rosie appeared on posters, in African Americans Demand War Work Although
newspapers, and in magazines. Eventually 2.5 million factories were hiring women, they resisted hiring
women went to work in shipyards, aircraft factories, African Americans. Frustrated by the situation,
and other manufacturing plants. For many older mid- A. Philip Randolph, the head of the Brotherhood
dle-class women like Inez Sauer, working in a factory of Sleeping Car Porters—a major union for African
changed their perspective: American railroad workers—decided to take action.
He informed President Roosevelt that
he was organizing “from ten to fifty
thousand [African Americans] to
march on Washington in the interest
in History of securing jobs . . . in national
defense and . . . integration into the
The Navajo Code Talkers military and naval forces.”
1942–1945 In response, Roosevelt issued
When American marines stormed Executive Order 8802, on June 25, 1941.
an enemy beach, they used radios to The order declared, “there shall be no
communicate. Using radios, however,
discrimination in the employment of
meant that the Japanese could inter-
cept and translate the messages. In the workers in defense industries or gov-
midst of the battle, however, there was ernment because of race, creed, color
no time to use a code machine. Acting or national origin.” To enforce the
upon the suggestion of Philip order, the president created the Fair
Johnston, an engineer who had lived Employment Practices Commission—
on a Navajo reservation as a child, the
the first civil rights agency established
marines recruited Navajos to serve as
“code talkers.” minutes that would have taken a code by the federal government since the
The Navajo language was a “hidden machine operator hours to encipher Reconstruction era.
language”—it had no written alphabet and transmit. At the battle of Iwo Jima,
and was known only to the Navajo and code talkers transmitted more than 800 Mexicans Become Farmworkers
a few missionaries and anthropologists. messages during the first 48 hours as
The wartime economy needed work-
The Navajo recruits developed a code the marines struggled to get ashore
using words from their own language under intense bombardment. ers in many different areas. To help
to represent military terms. For exam- Over 400 Navajo served in the farmers in the Southwest overcome
ple, the Navajo word jay-sho, or marine corps as code talkers. Sworn to the labor shortage, the government
“buzzard,” was code for bomber; lotso, secrecy, their mission was not revealed introduced the Bracero Program in
or “whale,” meant battleship; and until many years after the war. In 2001 1942. Bracero is Spanish for worker.
na-ma-si, or “potatoes,” stood for Congress awarded the code talkers the The federal government arranged for
grenades. Congressional Gold Medal to recognize
Code talkers proved invaluable in their unique contribution to the war Mexican farmworkers to help in the
combat. They could relay a message in effort. harvest. Over 200,000 Mexicans came
to the United States to help harvest

Total Population Increase
1940–1950
Migration in the United States, 1940–1950 400,000 and over
200,000–399,999
100,000–199,999
In
Motion 260,000
50,000–99,999
Population migration
San between regions
Francisco 910,000
WEST
Denver NORTH Detroit
Los Angeles New York City
640,000
San Diego 14
0, 00
Washington, D.C.
0
00 65 0,
0 0,0 Memphis 98
00
Fort
Worth Dallas SOUTH
Baton Rouge
1. Interpreting Maps Which region had Houston Mobile
the largest influx of new residents?
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do
you think so many Americans moved
during the 1940s?
fruit and vegetables in the Southwest. Many also almost no privacy, it was better than no housing at
helped to build and maintain railroads. The Bracero all. Nearly two million people lived in government-
Program continued until 1964. Migrant farmworkers built housing during the war.
became an important part of the Southwest’s agri-
cultural system. Racism Explodes Into Violence African Americans
began to leave the South in great numbers during
Reading Check Describing How did mobilizing the World War I, but this “Great Migration,” as historians
economy help end the Depression? refer to it, slowed during the Depression. When jobs
in war factories opened up for African Americans
during World War II, the Great Migration resumed.
A Nation on the Move When African Americans arrived in the crowded
The wartime economy created millions of new cities of the North and West, however, they were often
jobs, but the Americans who wanted these jobs did met with suspicion and intolerance. Sometimes these
not always live nearby. To get to the jobs, 15 million attitudes led to violence.
Americans moved during the war. Although the The worst racial violence of the war erupted in
assembly plants of the Midwest and the shipyards Detroit on Sunday, June 20, 1943. The weather that
of the Northeast attracted many workers, most day was sweltering. To cool off, nearly 100,000
Americans headed west and south in search of jobs. people crowded into Belle Isle, a park on the
Taken together, the growth of southern California Detroit River. Fights erupted between gangs of
and the expansion of cities in the Deep South created white and African American teenage girls. These
a new industrial region—the Sunbelt. For the first fights triggered others, and a full-scale riot erupted
time since the Industrial Revolution began in the across the city. By the time the violence ended, 25
United States, the South and West led the way in African Americans and 9 whites had been killed.
manufacturing and urbanization. Despite the appalling violence in Detroit, African
American leaders remained committed to their
The Housing Crisis Perhaps the most difficult task Double V campaign.
facing cities with war industries was deciding where
to put the thousands of new workers. Many people The Zoot Suit Riots Wartime prejudice erupted else-
had to live in tents and tiny trailers. To help solve the where as well. In southern California, racial tensions
housing crisis, the federal government allocated over became entangled with juvenile delinquency. Across
$1.2 billion to build public housing, schools, and the nation, crimes committed by young people rose
community centers during the war. dramatically. In Los Angeles, racism against Mexican
Although prefabricated government housing Americans and the fear of juvenile crime became
had tiny rooms, thin walls, poor heating, and linked because of the “zoot suit.”

A zoot suit had very baggy, pleated pants and an Pacific, and by the end of the war, 17 Mexican
overstuffed, knee-length jacket with wide lapels. Americans had received the Medal of Honor.
Accessories included a wide-brimmed hat and a long
key chain. Zoot-suit wearers usually wore their hair Japanese American Relocation When Japan
long, gathered into a ducktail. The zoot suit angered attacked Pearl Harbor, many West Coast Americans
many Americans. In order to save fabric for the war, turned their anger against Japanese Americans. Mobs
most men wore a “victory suit”—a suit with no vest, attacked Japanese American businesses and homes.
no cuffs, a short jacket, and narrow lapels. By com- Banks would not cash their checks, and grocers
parison, the zoot suit seemed unpatriotic. refused to sell them food.
In California, Mexican American teenagers adopted Newspapers printed rumors about Japanese spies
the zoot suit. In June 1943, after hearing rumors that in the Japanese American community. Members of
zoot suiters had attacked several sailors, 2,500 soldiers Congress, mayors, and many business and labor
and sailors stormed into Mexican American neighbor- leaders demanded that all people of Japanese ances-
hoods in Los Angeles. They attacked Mexican try be removed from the West Coast. They did not
American teenagers, cut their hair, and tore off their believe that Japanese Americans would remain loyal
zoot suits. The police did not intervene, and the vio- to the United States in the face of war with Japan.
lence continued for several days. The city of Los On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt gave in to
Angeles responded by banning the zoot suit. pressure and signed an order allowing the War
Racial hostility against Mexican Americans did not Department to declare any part of the United States to
deter them from joining the war effort. Approximately be a military zone and to remove anybody they wanted
500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the armed from that zone. Secretary of War Henry Stimson
forces during the war. Most—about 400,000—were declared most of the West Coast a military zone and
Mexican American. Another 65,000 were from Puerto ordered all people of Japanese ancestry to evacuate to
Rico. They fought in Europe, North Africa, and the 10 internment camps.
MOMENT
in HISTORY
BEHIND BARBED WIRE

As wartime hysteria mounted,
the U.S. government rounded
up 120,000 people of Japanese
ancestry—77,000 of whom
were American citizens—and
forced them into internment
camps in early 1942. Given just
days to sell their homes, busi-
nesses, and personal property,
whole families were marched
under military guard to rail
depots, then sent to remote,
inhospitable sites where they
lived in cramped barracks sur-
rounded by barbed wire and
watchtowers. By 1945, with the
tide of war turned, most had
been released, but they did not
get an official apology or finan-
cial compensation until 1988.
Not all Japanese Americans accepted
the relocation without protest. Fred
Korematsu argued that his rights had
been violated and took his case to the
Supreme Court. In December 1944, in
Korematsu v. the United States, the
Supreme Court ruled that the relocation
was constitutional because it was based
not on race, but on “military urgency.”
Shortly afterward, the Court did rule in
Ex Parte Endo that loyal American citizens
could not be held against their will. In early 1945, there-
fore, the government began to release the Japanese
Americans from the camps. ; (See page 963 for more
information on Korematsu v. the United States.)
Despite the fears and rumors, no Japanese
American was ever tried for espionage or sabotage.
Japanese Americans served as translators for the
army during the war in the Pacific. The all-Japanese
100th Battalion, later integrated into the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team, was the most highly
decorated unit in World War II.
After the war, the Japanese American Citizens
League (JACL) tried to help Japanese Americans who History
had lost property during the relocation. In 1988
President Reagan apologized to Japanese Americans Rationing Products War rationing affected everyone. Women painted seams
on behalf of the U.S. government and signed legisla- on their legs to make it appear they were wearing stockings, because silk was
needed to make parachutes instead of stockings. Why was rationing so vital to
tion granting $20,000 to each surviving Japanese
the war effort?
American who had been interned.
Reading Check Comparing Why did racism lead to While the OPA and OES worked to control infla-
tion, the War Labor Board (WLB) tried to prevent
violence in Detroit and Los Angeles in 1943?
strikes that might endanger the war effort. In sup-
port, most American unions issued a “no strike
Daily Life in Wartime America pledge,” and instead of striking, asked the WLB to
Housing problems and racial tensions were seri- serve as a mediator in wage disputes. By the end of
ous difficulties during the war, but mobilization the war, the WLB had helped to settle over 17,000
strained society in many other ways as well. Prices disputes involving more than 12 million workers.
rose, materials were in short supply, and the question
of how to pay for it all loomed ominously over the Blue Points, Red Points The demand for raw
entire war effort. materials and supplies created shortages. The OPA
began rationing, or limiting the availability of, many
ECONOMICS products to make sure enough were available for mil-
Wage and Price Controls As the economy mobi- itary use. Meat and sugar were rationed to provide
lized, the president worried about inflation. Both enough for the army. To save gasoline and rubber,
wages and prices began to rise quickly during the gasoline was rationed, driving was restricted, and
war because of the high demand for workers and raw the speed limit was set at 35 miles per hour.
materials. To stabilize both wages and prices, Every month each household would pick up a
Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration book of ration coupons. Blue coupons, called blue
(OPA) and the Office of Economic Stabilization points, controlled processed foods. Red coupons, or
(OES). The OES regulated wages and the price of red points, controlled meats, fats, and oils. Other
farm products. The OPA regulated all other prices. coupons controlled items such as coffee and sugar.
Despite some problems with labor unions, the OPA When people bought food, they also had to give
and OES were able to keep inflation under control. enough coupon points to cover their purchases.

drippings for extra ration coupons. The scrap drives
were very successful and one more reason for the
success of American industry during the war.
Paying for the War The United States had to pay

for all of the equipment and supplies it needed. The
federal government spent more than $300 billion
during World War II—more money than it had spent
from Washington’s administration to the end of
Franklin Roosevelt’s second term.
To raise money, the government raised taxes.
Because most Americans opposed large tax increases,
Congress refused to raise taxes as high as Roosevelt
requested. As a result, the extra taxes collected cov-
ered only 45 percent of the cost of the war.
To raise the rest of the money, the government
Analyzing Political Cartoons issued war bonds. When Americans bought bonds,
they were loaning money to the government. In
Turning Off the Lights Early in the war, lights from eastern cities silhouetted
ships along the east coast, making them easy targets for German submarines.
exchange for the money, the government promised
Americans were asked to turn out lights or put up dark curtains. What point is that the bonds could be cashed in at some future date
the cartoon making to Americans? for the purchase price plus interest. The most com-
mon bonds were E bonds, which sold for $18.75 and
Victory Gardens and Scrap Drives Americans also could be redeemed for $25.00 after 10 years.
planted gardens to produce more food for the war Individual Americans bought nearly $50 billion
effort. Any area of land might become a garden— worth of war bonds. Banks, insurance companies,
backyards, schoolyards, city parks, and empty lots. The and other financial institutions bought the rest—over
government encouraged victory gardens by praising $100 billion worth of bonds.
them in film reels, pamphlets, and official statements.
Certain raw materials were so vital to the war “V” for Victory Despite the hardships, the over-
effort that the government organized scrap drives. whelming majority of Americans believed the war
Americans collected spare rubber, tin, aluminum, had to be fought. Although the war brought many
and steel. They donated pots, tires, tin cans, car changes to the United States, most Americans
bumpers, broken radiators, and rusting bicycles. Oils remained united behind one goal—winning the war.
and fats were so important to the production of
explosives that the WPB set up fat-collecting stations. Reading Check Evaluating How did rationing affect
Americans would exchange bacon grease and meat daily life in the United States? How did it affect the economy?
TM
TM

1. Define: Sunbelt, rationing, victory 5. Evaluating If you had been a govern- 7. Examining Maps Study the map on
garden. ment official during the war, how would page 627. Which cities had populations
2. Identify: Rosie the Riveter, A. Philip you have proposed paying for the war? over 400,000?
Randolph, zoot suit, E bond. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer 8. Analyzing Photographs Study the
3. Explain how the federal government like the one below to list the results of photograph on page 628. Why were
expanded during the war. increased racial tensions during the war. Japanese Americans interned?
Reviewing Themes Racial Tensions

4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities What Writing About History
changes did American citizens and indus- 9. Persuasive Writing Write a newspaper
Result Result Result
try have to make to adapt to the war? editorial urging fellow citizens to con-
serve resources so that these resources
can be diverted to the war effort.

Pushing the Axis Back
The Allies slowly pushed back the Organizing As you read about the major • Describe the goals of the two major
German and Japanese forces in 1943 battles of 1943 and 1944, complete a offensives the Allies launched in Europe
and 1944. graphic organizer similar to the one below in 1943.
by filling in the names of the battles • Explain the American strategy for push-
Key Terms and Names fought. Indicate whether each battle was ing the Japanese back in the Pacific.
Casablanca Conference, Operation an Allied or an Axis victory.
Overlord, D-Day, Omar Bradley, Section Theme
amphtrac, Guadalcanal, kamikaze Geography and History The United
Pacific Major Battles Europe
States fought the war by landing troops in
1943–1944 Italy and France and island-hopping
across the Pacific toward Japan.
✦1943 ✦1944 ✦1945

January 1943 July 1943 November 1943 June 6, 1944 October 20, 1944
Casablanca The Allies invade Italy Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin D-Day invasion MacArthur returns
Conference meet at Tehran begins to the Philippines
On the morning of June 6, 1944, Lieutenant John Bentz Carroll of the 16th Infantry Regiment
scrambled down a net ladder from his troop ship to a small landing craft tossing in the waves
30 feet (9 m) below. The invasion of France had begun. Carroll’s platoon would be among the
first Americans to land in Normandy. Their objective was a beach, code-named “Omaha”:
“ Two hundred yards out, we took a direct hit. . . . [A machine gun] was shooting a rat-tat-
tat on the front of the boat. Somehow or other, the ramp door opened up . . . and the men
in front were being struck by machine gun fire. Everyone started to jump off into the water.
They were being hit as they jumped, the machine gun fire was so heavy. . . . The tide was
moving us so rapidly. . . . We would grab out on some of those underwater obstructions and
mines built on telephone poles and girders, and hang on. We’d take cover, then make a dash
through the surf to the next one, fifty feet beyond. The men would line up behind those
Men board a poles. They’d say, ‘You go—you go—you go,’ and then it got so bad everyone just had to go
landing craft on D-Day anyway, because the waves were hitting with such intensity on these things.
”
—quoted in D-Day: Piercing the Atlantic Wall
Striking Back at the Third Reich

As Lieutenant Carroll’s experience shows, storming a beach under enemy control can
be a terrifying ordeal. There is no cover on a beach, no place to hide, and no way to turn
back. Launching an invasion from the sea is very risky. Unfortunately, the Allies had no
choice. If they were going to win the war, they had to land their troops in Europe and on
islands in the Pacific.

The first large Allied invasion of the war—the The bombing campaign did not destroy Ger-
attack on North Africa in November 1942—had many’s economy or undermine German morale, but
shown that the Allies could mount a large-scale inva- it did cause a severe oil shortage and wrecked the
sion from the sea. The success of the landings con- railroad system. It also destroyed so many aircraft
vinced Roosevelt that it was again time to meet with factories that Germany’s air force could not replace
Churchill to plan the next stage of the war. In January its combat losses. By the time the Allies landed in
1943, the president headed to Casablanca, Morocco, France, they had total control of the air, ensuring that
to meet the prime minister. their troops would not be bombed.
At the Casablanca Conference, Roosevelt and
Churchill agreed to step up the bombing of Germany. Striking at the Soft Underbelly As the bombing
The goal of this new campaign was “the progressive campaign against Germany intensified, the plan for
destruction of the German military, industrial, and the invasion of Sicily moved ahead as well. General
economic system, and the undermining of the morale Dwight D. Eisenhower was placed in overall com-
of the German people.” The Allies also agreed to mand of the invasion. General Patton and the British
attack the Axis on the island of Sicily. Churchill called General Bernard Montgomery were put in charge of
Italy the “soft underbelly” of Europe and was con- the actual forces on the ground. The invasion began
vinced that the Italians would quit the war if the before dawn on July 10, 1943. Despite bad weather,
Allies invaded their homeland. the Allied troops made it ashore with few casualties.
A new vehicle, the DUKW—an amphibious truck—
Strategic Bombing The Allies had been bombing proved very effective in bringing supplies and
Germany even before the Casablanca Conference. artillery to the soldiers on the beach.
Britain’s Royal Air Force had dropped an average of Eight days after the troops came ashore, American
2,300 tons (2,093 t) of explosives on Germany every tanks led by General Patton smashed through enemy
month for over three years. The United States Eighth lines and captured the western half of the island.
Army Air Force had joined the campaign in the sum- After capturing western Sicily, Patton’s troops
mer of 1942, and they had dropped an additional 1,500 headed east, staging a series of daring end-runs
tons (1,365 t) of bombs by the end of the year. around the German positions, while the British,
These numbers were tiny, however, compared to under Montgomery, attacked from the south. By
the massive new campaign. Between January 1943 and August 18, the Germans had evacuated the island.
May 1945, the Royal Air Force and the United States The attack on Sicily created a crisis within the
Eighth Army Air Force dropped approximately 53,000 Italian government. The king of Italy, Victor
tons (48,230 t) of explosives on Germany every month. Emmanuel, and a group of Italian generals decided
that it was time to get rid of Mussolini. On
July 25, 1943, the king invited the dictator to
History
his palace. “My dear Duce,” the king began,
Softening the Gustav Line Infantrymen fire an 81-millimeter mortar to soften the German “it’s no longer any good. Italy has gone to
Gustav Line near the Rapido River. Why do you think the Allies decided to attack first in Italy bits. The soldiers don’t want to fight any-
rather than in France? more. At this moment, you are the most
hated man in Italy.” The king then placed
Mussolini under arrest, and the new Italian
government began secretly negotiating with
the Allies for Italy’s surrender.
On September 8, 1943, the Italian govern-
ment publicly announced Italy’s surrender.
The following day, American troops landed
at Salerno. Although stunned by the surren-
der, Hitler was not about to lose Italy to the
Allies. German troops went into action at
once. They seized control of northern Italy,
including Rome, attacked the Americans at
Salerno, and put Mussolini back in power.
To stop the Allied advance, the German
army took up positions near the heavily

The Big Three Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill meet at Tehran.
fortified town of Cassino. The terrain near Cassino Landing in France

was steep, barren, and rocky. Instead of attacking such
After the conference in Tehran, Roosevelt headed
difficult terrain, the Allies chose to land at Anzio,
to Cairo, Egypt, where he and Churchill continued
behind German lines. They hoped the maneuver
planning the invasion of France. One major deci-
would force the Germans to retreat. Instead of retreat-
sion still had to be made. The president had to
ing, however, the Germans surrounded the Allied
choose the commander for Operation Overlord—
troops near Anzio.
the code name for the planned invasion. Roosevelt
It took the Allies five months to break through the
wanted to appoint General George C. Marshall,
German lines at Cassino and Anzio. Finally, in late
Chief of Staff for the United States Army, but he
May 1944, the Germans were forced to retreat. Less
depended on Marshall for military advice and did
than two weeks later, the Allies captured Rome.
not want to send him to Europe. Instead, the presi-
Fighting in Italy continued, however, until May 2,
dent selected General Eisenhower to command the
1945. The Italian campaign was one of the bloodiest in
invasion.
the war. It cost the Allies more than 300,000 casualties.
Roosevelt Meets Stalin at Tehran Roosevelt Planning Operation Overlord Knowing that the
wanted to meet with Stalin before the Allies launched Allies would eventually invade France, Hitler had
the invasion of France. In late 1943 Stalin agreed, and fortified the coast. Although these defenses were
he proposed that Roosevelt and Churchill meet him formidable, the Allies did have one advantage—the
in Tehran, Iran. element of surprise. The Germans did not know
The leaders reached several agreements. Stalin when or where the Allies would land. They believed
promised to launch a full-scale offensive against the that the Allies would land in Pas-de-Calais—the
Germans when the Allies invaded France in 1944. area of France closest to Britain. To convince the
Roosevelt and Stalin then agreed to break up Germans they were right, the Allies placed inflated
Germany after the war so that it would never again rubber tanks, empty tents, and dummy landing
threaten world peace. Stalin also promised that once craft along the coast across from Calais. To German
Germany was beaten, the Soviet Union would help spy planes, the decoys looked real, and they suc-
the United States defeat Japan. He also accepted ceeded in fooling the Germans. The real target was
Roosevelt’s proposal to create an international organ- not Pas-de-Calais, but Normandy.
ization to help keep the peace after the war. By the spring of 1944, everything was ready.
Over 1.5 million American soldiers, 12,000 air-
Reading Check Explaining What two major deci- planes, and more than 5 million tons (4.6 million t)
sions did the Allies make at Casablanca? of equipment had been sent to England. Only one

thing was left to do—pick the date and give the last time, shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944,
command to go. The invasion had to begin at night Eisenhower gave the final order: “OK, we’ll go.”
to hide the ships crossing the English Channel. The
ships had to arrive at low tide so that they could see The Longest Day Nearly 7,000 ships carrying more
the beach obstacles. The low tide had to come at than 100,000 soldiers set sail for the coast of
dawn so that gunners bombarding the coast could Normandy on June 6, 1944. At the same time, 23,000
see their targets. Before the main landing on the paratroopers were dropped inland, east and west of
beaches, paratroopers would be dropped behind the beaches. Allied fighter-bombers raced up and
enemy lines. They required a moonlit night in order down the coast, hitting bridges, bunkers, and radar
to see where to land. Perhaps most important of all, sites. As dawn broke, the warships in the Allied fleet
the weather had to be good. A storm would ground let loose with a tremendous barrage of fire. Thousands
the airplanes, and high waves would swamp the of shells rained down on the beaches, code-named
landing craft. “Utah,” “Omaha,” “Gold,” “Sword,” and “Juno.”
Given all these conditions, there were only a few The American landing at Utah Beach went very
days each month when the invasion could begin. The well. The German defenses were weak, and in less
first opportunity would last from June 5 to 7, 1944. than three hours American troops had captured the
Eisenhower’s planning staff referred to the day any beach and moved inland, suffering less than 200
operation began by the letter D. The date for the inva- casualties in the process. On the eastern flank, the
sion, therefore, came to be known as D-Day. Heavy British and Canadian landings also went well. By the
cloud cover, strong winds, and high waves made it end of the day, British and Canadian forces were sev-
impossible to land on June 5. A day later the weather eral miles inland.
briefly improved. The Channel was still rough, but Omaha Beach, however, was a different story.
the landing ships and aircraft could operate. It was a Under intense German fire, the American assault
difficult decision. Eisenhower’s advisers were split almost disintegrated. As General Omar Bradley, the
on what to do. After looking at weather forecasts one commander of the American forces landing at Omaha
Operation Overlord Had Failed?

In what some historians believe was plan. The day before the invasion,
the most important weather prediction however, he wrote the following note
in military history, Group Captain on a small piece of paper—a message
James Stagg, chief meteorologist for he would deliver in the event the
the Royal Air Force, predicted gradual invasion failed. He mistakenly jotted
clearing for Normandy, France, on “July 5” on the bottom and stuck the
June 6, 1944. The prediction was critical note in his wallet.
for General Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Supreme Commander of the Allied
Expeditionary Forces. He had already
“ Our landings in the Cherbourg-
Havre area have failed to gain a
delayed Operation Overlord once. satisfactory foothold and I have
The invasion forces of Operation withdrawn the troops. My decision
Overlord were assembled and ready to to attack at this time and place was
go at a moment’s notice. Everything based upon the best information
depended upon a break in the bad available. The troops, the air and
weather so that the assault would the Navy did all that Bravery and
take the Germans by surprise. devotion to duty could do. If any
Eisenhower trusted the weather blame or fault attaches to the
prediction and believed in the battle attempt it is mine alone.
”
and Utah, grimly watched the carnage, he began advance through the central Pacific by hopping from
making plans to evacuate Omaha. Slowly, however, one island to the next, closer and closer to Japan.
the American troops began to knock out the German Meanwhile, General MacArthur’s troops would
defenses. More landing craft arrived, ramming their advance through the Solomon Islands, capture the
way through the obstacles to get to the beach. Nearly north coast of New Guinea, and then launch an inva-
2,500 Americans were either killed or wounded sion to retake the Philippines.
on Omaha, but by early afternoon Bradley received
this message: “Troops formerly pinned down on GEOGRAPHY
beaches . . . [are] advancing up heights behind Island-Hopping in the Pacific By the fall of 1943,
beaches.” By the end of the day, nearly 35,000 the navy was ready to launch its island-hopping
American troops had landed at Omaha, and another campaign, but the geography of the central Pacific
23,000 had landed at Utah. Over 75,000 British and posed a problem. Many of the islands were coral reef
Canadian troops were on shore as well. The invasion atolls. The water over the coral reef was not always
had succeeded. deep enough to allow landing craft to get to the
Reading Check Summarizing What conditions had shore. If the landing craft ran aground on the reef, the
troops would have to wade to the beach. As some
to be met before Eisenhower could order D-Day to begin?
5,000 United States Marines learned at Tarawa Atoll,
wading ashore could cause very high casualties.
Tarawa, part of the Gilbert Islands, was the
Driving the Japanese Back Navy’s first objective in the Pacific. When the land-
While the buildup for the invasion of France was ing craft hit the reef, at least 20 ships ran aground.
taking place in Britain, American military leaders The marines had to plunge into shoulder-high water
were also developing a strategy to defeat Japan. The and wade several hundred yards to the beach. Raked
American plan called for a two-pronged attack. The by Japanese fire, only one marine in three made it
Pacific Fleet, commanded by Admiral Nimitz, would ashore. Once the marines reached the beach the bat-
tle was still far from over. As reporter Robert
Sherrod wrote, the marines faced savage hand-to-
hand fighting:
“ A Marine jumped over the seawall and began

throwing blocks of fused TNT into a coconut-log
pillbox. . . . Two more Marines scaled the seawall, one
of them carrying a twin-cylindered tank strapped to
their shoulders, the other holding the nozzle of the
flame thrower. As another charge of TNT boomed
inside the pillbox, causing smoke and dust to billow out,
a khaki-clad figure ran out the side entrance. The flame
thrower, waiting for him, caught him in its withering
stream of intense fire. As soon as it touched him, the
[Japanese soldier] flared up like a piece of celluloid. He
was dead instantly . . . charred almost to
nothingness.
”
—from Tarawa: The Story of a Battle
Over 1,000 marines died on Tarawa. Photos of bod-

1. What might have happened if the weather had not ies lying crumpled next to burning landing craft
changed and the troops had landed amidst fog and shocked Americans back home. Many people began to
rain? wonder how many lives it would cost to defeat Japan.
Although many troops died wading ashore, one
2. What if the invasion had been delayed and the element
vehicle had been able to cross the reef and deliver its
of surprise lost?
troops onto the beaches. The vehicle was the LVT—a
boat with tank tracks. Nicknamed the “Alligator,” the

Island-Hopping in the Pacific, 1942–1945
Japanese Empire
and conquests
Farthest extent of
Japan's conquests,
July 1942
Allied forces
Allied victory
Atomic bombing
1. Interpreting Maps Where did the first major battle

between the American and Japanese forces in the
South Pacific take place? Marianas, B-29s could bomb Japan. Admiral Nimitz
2. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think decided to invade three of the Mariana Islands:
Americans adopted the policy of island-hopping? Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. Despite strong Japanese
resistance, American troops captured all three by
August 1944. A few months later, B-29 bombers began
amphibious tractor, or amphtrac, had been invented bombing Japan.
in the late 1930s to rescue people in Florida swamps.
It had never been used in combat, and not until 1941 MacArthur Returns to the Philippines As the
did the navy decide to buy 200 of them. Had more forces under Admiral Nimitz hopped across the cen-
been available at Tarawa, the number of American tral Pacific, General MacArthur’s troops began their
casualties probably would have been much lower. own campaign in the southwest Pacific. The cam-
The assault on the next major objective— paign began with the invasion of Guadalcanal in
Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands—went much August 1942. It continued until early 1944, when
more smoothly. This time all of the troops went MacArthur’s troops finally captured enough islands
ashore in amphtracs. Although the Japanese resisted to surround Rabaul, the main Japanese base in the
fiercely, the marines captured Kwajalein and nearby region. In response the Japanese withdrew their
Eniwetok with far fewer casualties. ships and aircraft from the base, although they left
After the Marshall Islands, the navy targeted the 100,000 troops behind to hold the island.
Mariana Islands. American military planners wanted Worried that the navy’s advance across the central
to use the Marianas as a base for a new heavy bomber, Pacific was leaving him behind, MacArthur ordered
the B-29 Superfortress. The B-29 could fly farther than his forces to leap nearly 600 miles (966 km) past
any other plane in the world. From airfields in the Rabaul to capture the Japanese base at Hollandia on

the north coast of New Guinea. Shortly after
securing New Guinea, MacArthur’s troops seized
the island of Morotai—the last stop before the
Philippines.
To take back the Philippines, the United States
assembled an enormous invasion force. In October
1944, more than 700 ships carrying over 160,000
troops sailed for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines. On
October 20, the troops began to land on Leyte, an
island on the eastern side of the Philippines. A few
hours after the invasion began, MacArthur headed to
the beach. Upon reaching the shore, he strode to a
radio and spoke into the microphone: “People of the
Philippines, I have returned. By the grace of Almighty
God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.”
To stop the American invasion, the Japanese sent
four aircraft carriers toward the Philippines from the
north and secretly dispatched another fleet to the A Triumphant Return In October 1944, Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his
west. Believing the Japanese carriers were leading promise and returned to the Philippines.
the main attack, most of the American carriers pro-
tecting the invasion left Leyte Gulf and headed north desperate, the Japanese commander, believing more
to stop them. Seizing their chance, the Japanese war- American ships were on the way, ordered a retreat.
ships to the west raced through the Philippine Although the Japanese fleet had retreated, the
Islands into Leyte Gulf and ambushed the remaining campaign to recapture the Philippines from the
American ships. Japanese was long and grueling. Over 80,000
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval Japanese were killed; less than 1,000 surrendered.
battle in history. It was also the first time that the MacArthur’s troops did not capture Manila until
Japanese used kamikaze attacks. Kamikaze means March 1945. The battle left the city in ruins and over
“divine wind” in Japanese. It refers to the great 100,000 Filipino civilians dead. The remaining
storm that destroyed the Mongol fleet during its Japanese retreated into the rugged terrain north of
invasion of Japan in the thirteenth century. Manila, and they were still fighting when word came
Kamikaze pilots would deliberately crash their in August 1945 that Japan had surrendered.
planes into American ships, killing themselves but
also inflicting severe damage. Luckily for the Reading Check Describing What strategy did the
Americans, just as their situation was becoming United States Navy use to advance across the Pacific?
TM
TM

1. Define: amphtrac, kamikaze. 5. Analyzing What made the invasion of 7. Examining Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Casablanca Conference, Normandy so important? photograph on this page. What effect
Operation Overlord, D-Day, Omar 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to do you think MacArthur’s return had on
Bradley, Guadalcanal. explain the significance of each leader Philippine morale?
3. Explain why D-Day’s success was so listed below.
vital to an Allied victory.
Leader Significance
Dwight Eisenhower
4. Geography and History How did the George Patton 8. Expository Writing Using library or
geography of the Pacific affect George Marshall Internet resources, find more informa-
American strategy? Omar Bradley tion on one of the battles discussed in
Douglas MacArthur this section. Use the information to write
a report detailing the importance of the
battle. Share your report with the class.

Geography&History
Cottun
to BAYEUX 916th Blay
Line planned for

18th
Vaucelles first-day advance
by American forces Mandeville
916th
Flooded plain
MIDNIGHT SECOND DAY 18th
Trevieres
26th 115th
Mosles
Enemy pulling
back from this Ecrammeville 115th
area, midnight, 18th
June 8, 1944 Canchy
VIN Surrain
MT. CAU
726th 26th 26th Bellefontaine Formigny
Longueville
16th 18th
Extended arrows 115th
MIDNIGHT D-DAY represent advances
MT. CAVALIER 18th 16th on June 8, 1944 Deux
Le Grand Hameau 18th Jumeaux
Huppain Colleville 16th 18th 26th Montigny
Port-en- 16th
Bessin
26th 115th 115th
e
vin
e St. Laurent
vin
Ra
Ra 116th Louvieres
e
Rocky shore vin
Ra e
16th vin 116th
16th Ra
26th Englesqueville
L Vierville
18th
I
F F
E E 115th 116th Rn.
E E
ine
McCook E
Rav
116th 175th
DESTROYER FIRE SUPP sunk G
F Rn.
OR
T
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Carmic
k Barton A
F I
FO
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6: T W
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am A V
F
O
(Pointe de la Percee
EA
E
P
L I SY
RE
E to Port-en-Bessin
P
N D Thompson 7.75 miles)

E
U
Arkans O EA E
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D E REEN DOG
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Leyorges
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LA
s Beach landing
S
subsectors
AT
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Second wave S U P P O
E R T
landing craft I R N
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American
British
UNITED London
Glasg Texas
Canadian KINGDOM Dover ve
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Southampton
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rt Shoreham o
it
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SWORD
N
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SLOW GOING
LD
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Dieppe
h Cha n n el Allied planners had hoped that American slow and painful. The Americans reached
glis
En Cherbourg Le Havre
forces landing at Omaha early on June 6, their first-day objective (dotted blue line on
Se
St.-Lo Caen ne 1944, would advance 5 to 10 miles after 24 map) only after more than two days of bloody
i
0 mi 50 R.
0 km 50 Normandy hours of fighting. Stiff German resistance, fighting. Despite terrible losses, American
Paris
FRANCE however, stopped the invaders cold on the forces successfully carried out one of the
beach. Progress inland was excruciatingly most crucial missions of the war.

A Day for
Heroes
T
he selection of a site for the
largest amphibious landing
in history was one of the
biggest decisions of World
to War II. Allied planners
ISIGNY
916th
needed a sheltered location with flat,
Osmanville
firm beaches and within range of
St. Germain
175th
friendly fighter planes based in
du Pert
England.
La Cambe
Cardonville
There had to be enough roads
and paths to move jeeps and trucks
off the beaches and to accommodate
the hundreds of thousands of
American, Canadian, and British Troops crowd into a landing craft to head across
troops set to stream ashore following the English Channel to Omaha Beach.
the invasion. An airfield and a seaport
that the Allies could use were also To repel the Allies at the water’s
116th
needed. Most important was a edge, the Germans built a fortress atop
to MOISY reasonable expectation of achieving the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc overlooking
the element of surprise. Omaha from the west.They dug
116th
Rn. Five beaches on the northern trenches and guns into the 150-foot
914th
coast of Normandy, France, met all the bluffs lining the beach and along five
Grandcamp
St. Pierre criteria and were chosen as invasion ravines leading off it (see map).
116th sites. On D-Day the attack on four Wading into the surf, the Ameri-
Rn.
German beaches—Utah in the west and Gold, cans advanced toward Omaha Beach.
Rn. cannon set up, Estuary Juno, and Sword in the east (inset, Many men were cut down as the doors
later removed
opposite page)—went according to of their landing craft opened.The sur-
Pointe du Hoc plan. But at Omaha Beach (map), vivors had to cross more than 300
Satterlee between Utah and Gold, the bravery yards across a tidal flat strewn with
and determination of the U.S. 1st man-made obstacles.Winds and a cur-
Talybont
Infantry Division was tested in one of rent pushed landing craft into clumps
D-Day Forces the fiercest battles of the war. as the men moved ashore. As a result,
A-L U.S. Company — 200 men Surrounded at both ends by soldiers ran onto the beach in groups
116th U.S. Battalion — 900 men cliffs that rose wall-like from the sea, and became easy targets. Of the more
Rn. U.S. Rangers Omaha was only four miles long. It than 9,000 Allied casualties on D-Day,
916th German infantry — forces associated was the only sand beach in the area, Omaha accounted for about one-third.
with German battalion
German
however, and thus the only place for Although many died, the Americans
Battleship
resistance point a landing. Unless the Allies were to took control of the beach and fought
Cruiser
German coastal
defense
leave a 20-mile gap between Utah their way inland. As General Omar
Transport
U.S. stronghold
and Gold, they would have to come Bradley later wrote, “Every man who
Landing craft Hedgerows ashore at Omaha Beach. set foot on Omaha Beach that day was a
Landing craft — sunk Town hero.”
Scale varies in this perspective

1. Why did the Allies choose Normandy
as the site of the invasion?
Bandaged and shell-shocked,
infantrymen from the American 1st 2. Why was the landing at Omaha
Division wait to be evacuated after Beach so much more difficult than
landing on Omaha Beach. U.S. leaders expected?
639
The War Ends
The Main Idea Reading Strategy Reading Objectives
The ferocious military campaigns of 1945 Taking Notes As you read about the end • Explain the tactics the Allies used to
finally convinced the Axis powers to sur- of World War II and the organizations set invade Germany and to defeat Japan.
render and the Allies to set up organiza- up to maintain global peace, use the • Outline the reasons the Allies created
tions to prevent another global war. major headings of the section to create the United Nations and held war crimes
an outline similar to the one below. trials.
Key Terms and Names
hedgerow, Battle of the Bulge, V-E Day, The War Ends Section Theme
I. The Third Reich Collapses
Harry S Truman, Curtis LeMay, napalm, A. Groups and Institutions Allied leaders
Manhattan Project, V-J Day, United B. forged plans for an international organi-
II.
Nations, charter A. zation to prevent future wars.
B.
✦1944 ✦1945 ✦1946

December 16, 1944 February 19, 1945 April 12, 1945 May 7, 1945 August 15, 1945
Battle of the Bulge begins American troops Franklin Roosevelt dies; Harry Germany V-J Day, Japan
invade Iwo Jima Truman becomes president surrenders surrenders
In 1945 Captain Luther Fletcher entered the German concentration camp at Buchenwald
with a group of Germans who were being forced to see what their country had done. In his
diary Fletcher described what they witnessed:
“ They saw blackened skeletons and skulls in the ovens of the crematorium. In the yard
outside, they saw a heap of white human ashes and bones. . . . [The] dead were stripped
of their clothing and lay naked, many stacked like cordwood waiting to be burned at
the crematory. At one time 5,000 had been stacked on the vacant lot next to the crema-
tory. . . . At headquarters of the SS troops who ran the place were lamp shades made
from human skin. . . . Often, the guide said, the SS wished to make an example of
someone in killing him. . . . They used what I call hay hooks, catching him under the
Jewish prisoners at a German

chin and the other in the back of the neck. He hung in this manner until he died.
”
—quoted in World War II: From the Battle Front to the Home Front
concentration camp
The Third Reich Collapses

Well before the war ended, President Roosevelt and other Allied leaders were
aware that the Nazis were committing atrocities. In 1943 the Allies officially declared
that they would punish the Nazis for their crimes after the war. Meanwhile,
Roosevelt was convinced that the best way to put an end to the concentration camps
was to destroy the Nazi regime. To do that, he believed the Allies had to dedicate
their resources to breaking out of Normandy, liberating France, and conquering
Germany.

Although D-Day had been a success, it was only the V-E Day: The War Ends in Europe While American
beginning. Surrounding many fields in Normandy and British forces fought to liberate France, the Soviet
were hedgerows—dirt walls, several feet thick, cov- Union began a massive attack on German troops in
ered in shrubbery. The hedgerows had been built to Russia. By the time the Battle of the Bulge ended, the
fence in cattle and crops, but they also enabled the Soviets had driven Hitler’s forces out of Russia and
Germans to fiercely defend their positions. The battle back across Poland. By February 1945, Soviet troops
of the hedgerows ended on July 25, 1944, when 2,500 had reached the Oder River. They were only 35 miles
American bombers blew a hole in the German lines, (56 km) from Berlin.
enabling American tanks to race through the gap. As the Soviets crossed Germany’s eastern border,
As the Allies broke out of Normandy, the French American forces attacked Germany’s western border.
Resistance—French civilians who had secretly organ- By the first week of March, 1945, American troops
ized to resist the German occupation of their coun- had fought their way to the Rhine River, Germany’s
try—staged a rebellion in Paris. When the Allied last major line of defense in the west. Then on March
forces liberated Paris on August 25, they found the 7, American soldiers captured the heights above the
streets filled with French citizens celebrating their town of Remagen. Gazing down at the town, platoon
victory. Three weeks later, American troops were leader Emmet J. Burrows was amazed at what he
within 20 miles (32 km) of the German border. saw. The Ludendorf Bridge across the Rhine was still
intact. The Germans had not blown it up. The
The Battle of the Bulge As the Allies closed in on American troops raced across the bridge, driving
Germany, Hitler decided to stage one last desperate
offensive. His goal was to cut off Allied supplies
History
coming through the port of Antwerp, Belgium. The
attack began just before dawn on December 16, 1944. Soldiers and Friends The Americans and the Soviets join forces in a long-
Six inches (15 cm) of snow covered the ground, and awaited meeting. The alliance is symbolized here by Lieutenants William D.
the weather was bitterly cold. Moving rapidly, the Robertson of the U.S. First Army and Alexander Sylvashko of the First Ukrainian
Army, in a meeting near Torgau on the Elbe River. What was the Allied strat-
Germans caught the American defenders by surprise.
egy during the closing days of the war?
As the German troops raced west, their lines bulged
outward, and the attack became known as the Battle
of the Bulge.
Part of the German plan called for the capture of the
town of Bastogne, where several important roads con-
verged. If the Allies held Bastogne, it would greatly
delay the German advance. American reinforcements
raced to the town, arriving just ahead of the Germans.
The Germans then surrounded the town and
demanded that the Americans surrender. The American
commander sent back a one-word reply: “Nuts!”
Shortly after the Germans surrounded the
Americans, Eisenhower ordered General Patton to
rescue them. Three days later, faster than anyone
expected in the midst of a snowstorm, Patton’s
troops slammed into the German lines. As the
weather cleared, Allied aircraft began hitting German
fuel depots. On Christmas Eve, out of fuel and weak-
ened by heavy losses, the German troops driving
toward Antwerp were forced to halt. Two days later,
Patton’s troops broke through to Bastogne.
Although fighting continued for three weeks, the
United States had won the Battle of the Bulge. On
January 8, the Germans began to withdraw. They had
suffered more than 100,000 casualties and lost many
tanks and aircraft. They now had very little left to
prevent the Allies from entering Germany.

World War II in Europe and Africa, 1939–1945
20°W 10°W 0° 10°E 20°E 30°E 40°E 50°E 60°E
AR
CT
60
IC
°N
CI R
CLE
ICELAND
LAND
Y
N Major Axis powers
N
A
W Greatest extent of Axis control
E
E
Allied or Allied-controlled
E D
R
Supply lines S
FIN
Neutral powers
O
from U.S.
Allied advance
S W
Supply line
ESTONIA Leningrad International boundary, Jan. 1938
North
a
Se
50 Sea LATVIA Moscow
°N IRELAND c
UNITED DENMARK lti LITH. SOVIET UNION
Ba EAST
Atlantic KINGDOM PRUSSIA
Ger. German central
Ocean London NETH. Berlin armies destroyed
May-July, 1944
BELG. GERMANY Warsaw Stalingrad Aral
D-Day
LUX. POLAND Sea
C ZE
Paris C H O SL
June 6, 1944 OVA
FRANCE Vienna KIA
SWITZ. AUSTRIA HUNGARY
C
as
pi
I T A LY ROMANIA
an
40°
N
Bl a c k Se a
Se
PORTUGAL SPAIN YUGOSLAVIA
a
BULGARIA
Aug. 15, 1944 Rome
Nov. 8, 1942 Naples ALBANIA

TURKEY
SPANISH
MOROCCO GREECE IRAN
Sp. LEVANT
STATES Supply line to Soviet Union
FRENCH July 10, 1943
It. Fr. mandate from the Middle East
MOROCCO CYPRUS
Fr. TUNISIA Me d i t U.K. IRAQ
ALGERIA
e r r a n e a n Se a
Fr. PALESTINE KUWAIT
Fr. U.K. mandate
TRANSJORDAN
0 500 miles U.K. mandate
Oct. 23, 1942
Cairo
0 500 kilometers L I B YA SAUDI ARABIA
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection It.
EGYPT
back the German defenders. By the end of the day, Americans and British while continuing to fight the
American tanks were across the Rhine. Hearing the Soviets, but Eisenhower insisted on unconditional
news, General Bradley yelled, “Hot dog . . . this will surrender. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered
bust them wide open.” unconditionally. The next day—May 8, 1945—was
As German defenses crumbled, American troops proclaimed V-E Day, for “Victory in Europe.”
raced east, closing to within 70 miles (113 km) of
Reading Check Explaining Why was the Battle of
Berlin. On April 16, Soviet troops finally smashed
through the German defenses on the Oder River. Five the Bulge such a disastrous defeat for Germany?
days later, they reached the outskirts of Berlin.
Deep in his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler knew the
end was near. On April 30, 1945, he put a pistol in his Japan Is Defeated
mouth and pulled the trigger. His secretary, Martin Unfortunately, President Roosevelt did not live to
Bormann, carried Hitler’s body outside, doused it see the defeat of Germany. On April 12, 1945, while
in gasoline, and set it on fire. Before killing himself, vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia, he suffered a
Hitler chose Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz to be stroke and died. His vice president, Harry S Truman,
his successor. Doenitz tried to surrender to the became president during this difficult time.

In
Motion
Rise and Fall of Axis Powers
20°W 0° 20°E 40°E 20°W 0° 20°E 40°E 20°W 0° 20°E 40°E
N
1939 N
1942 N 1945
E E E
W W W
50° 50° 50°
N S N S N S
40° 40° 40°

N N N
0 1,000 miles 0 1,000 miles 0 1,000 miles
Axis-controlled 0 1,000 kilometers 0 1,000 kilometers 30°N 0 1,000 kilometers

territory 30°N
Bi-Polar Oblique projection Bi-Polar Oblique projection Bi-Polar Oblique projection
Axis Expansion The Axis powers Axis Control At their height, the Axis Axis Collapse The Allies invaded
included Germany, Italy, Austria, and controlled almost all of Europe and Germany from the east and the west.
the Sudetenland. North Africa.
Military and Civilian Deaths WW I WW II

in World War II
Military
Country Military Deaths Civilian Deaths 86% Civilian
Military 54%
USSR 11,000,000 6,700,000 Civilian 46%
14%
Germany 3,250,000 2,350,000
Japan 1,740,000 393,000
China 1,400,000 8,000,000 War Casualties World War II took more lives than
Poland 110,000 5,300,000 any other war in history. More civilians than soldiers
died in the war.
United States 405,000 2,000
Great Britain 306,000 61,000
Italy 227,000 60,000
France 122,000 470,000 1. Interpreting Maps Which European countries
remained neutral during the war?
Source: World War II: A Statistical Survey. (Figures are approximate.) 2. Applying Geography Skills How did the Soviet Union
receive supplies during the war?
The next day, Truman told reporters: “Boys, if
you ever pray, pray for me now. . . . When they
told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like Superfortress bombers that had traveled over 1,500
the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen miles (2,414 km) from new American bases in the
on me.” Despite feeling overwhelmed, Truman Mariana Islands.
began at once to make decisions about the war. At first the B-29s did little damage because they
Although Germany surrendered a few weeks later, kept missing their targets. Japan was simply too far
the war with Japan continued to intensify, and away: By the time the B-29s reached Japan, they did
Truman was forced to make some of the most diffi- not have enough fuel left to fix their navigational
cult decisions of the war during his first six months errors or to adjust for high winds. The solution was
in office. to capture an island closer to Japan, where the B-29s
could refuel. After studying the problem, American
Uncommon Valor on Iwo Jima On November 24, military planners decided to invade Iwo Jima.
1944, bombs fell on Tokyo for the first time since Iwo Jima was perfectly located, roughly halfway
the 1942 Doolittle raid. Above the city flew 80 B-29 between the Marianas and Japan, but its geography

was formidable. At its southern tip was Mount Firebombing Devastates Japan While American
Suribachi, a dormant volcano. The terrain was engineers prepared airfields on Iwo Jima, General
rugged, with rocky cliffs, jagged ravines, and dozens Curtis LeMay, commander of the B-29s based in the
of caves. Volcanic ash covered the ground. Even Marianas, decided to change strategy. To help the
worse, the Japanese had built a vast network of caves B-29s hit their targets, he ordered them to drop bombs
and concrete bunkers connected by miles of tunnels. filled with napalm—a kind of a jellied gasoline. The
On February 19, 1945, 60,000 U.S. Marines landed bombs were designed not only to explode but also to
on Iwo Jima. As the troops leapt from the amphtracs, start fires. Even if the B-29s missed their targets, the
they sank up to their ankles in the soft ash. Meanwhile, fires they started would spread to the intended targets.
Japanese artillery began to pound the invaders. Robert The use of firebombs was very controversial
Sherrod, who had been on Tarawa, was shocked: “[The because the fires would also kill civilians; however,
marines] died with the greatest possible violence. LeMay could think of no other way to destroy Japan’s
Nowhere in the Pacific have I seen such badly mangled war production quickly. Loaded with firebombs, B-29s
bodies. Many were cut squarely in half. Legs and arms attacked Tokyo on March 9, 1945. As strong winds
lay 50 feet (15 m) away from any body.” fanned the flames, the firestorm grew so intense that it
Inch by inch, the marines crawled inland, using sucked the oxygen out of the air, asphyxiating thou-
flamethrowers and explosives to attack the Japanese sands. As one survivor later recalled:
bunkers. More than 6,800 marines were killed before
the island was captured. Admiral Nimitz later wrote
that on Iwo Jima, “uncommon valor was a common
“ The fires were incredible . . . with flames leaping
hundreds of feet into the air. . . . Many people were
virtue.” gasping for breath. With every passing moment the
air became more foul . . . the noise was a continuing
crashing roar. . . . Fire-winds filled with burning
particles rushed up and down the streets. I watched
people . . . running for their lives. . . . The flames
raced after them like living things, striking them
down. . . . Wherever I turned my eyes, I saw
people . . . seeking air to breathe.
”
—quoted in New History of World War II
“uncommon valor History
was a common Planting the Flag Photographer Joe Rosenthal

won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo of five marines
virtue” and a navy medical corpsman raising the flag on
Iwo Jima. How do you think photographs such
as this one affected American morale? Why?
—Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
The Tokyo firebombing killed over 80,000
people and destroyed more than 250,000 build-
ings. By the end of June 1945, Japan’s six most
important industrial cities had been firebombed,
destroying almost half of their total urban area.
By the end of the war, the B-29s had firebombed
67 Japanese cities.
The Invasion of Okinawa Despite the mas-

sive damage the firebombing caused, there were
few signs in the spring of 1945 that Japan was
ready to quit. Many American officials believed
the Japanese would not surrender until Japan
had been invaded. To prepare for the invasion,
the United States needed a base near Japan to
stockpile supplies and build up troops. Iwo Jima
was small and still too far away. After much dis-
cussion, military planners chose Okinawa—
only 350 miles (563 km) from Japan.
American troops landed on Okinawa on
April 1, 1945. Instead of defending the beaches,
the Japanese troops took up positions in the
island’s rugged mountains. To dig the Japanese History
out of their caves and bunkers, the Americans Ship Attacks Kamikaze attacks intensified in 1945, hitting the USS Bunker Hill and many
had to fight their way up steep slopes against other American ships. Why do you think these Japanese kamikaze pilots were willing
constant machine gun and artillery fire. More to fly suicide missions?
than 12,000 American soldiers, sailors, and
marines died during the fighting, but by June 22, Einstein, to sign a letter Szilard had drafted and send
1945, Okinawa had finally been captured. it to President Roosevelt. In the letter Einstein
warned that by using uranium, “extremely powerful
The Terms for Surrender Shortly after the United bombs of a new type may . . . be constructed.”
States captured Okinawa, the Japanese emperor Roosevelt responded by setting up a scientific
urged his government to find a way to end the war. committee to study the issue. The committee
The biggest problem was the American demand for remained skeptical until 1941, when they met with
unconditional surrender. Many Japanese leaders British scientists who were already working on an
were willing to surrender but on one condition—the atomic bomb. The British research so impressed the
emperor had to stay in power. Americans that they convinced Roosevelt to begin a
American officials knew that the fate of the emperor program to build an atomic bomb.
was the most important issue for the Japanese. Most The American program to build an atomic bomb
Americans, however, blamed the emperor for the war was code-named the Manhattan Project and was
and wanted him removed from power. President headed by General Leslie R. Groves. The project’s
Truman was reluctant to go against public opinion. first breakthrough came in 1942, when Szilard and
Furthermore, he knew the United States was almost Enrico Fermi, another physicist, built the world’s
ready to test a new weapon that might force Japan to first nuclear reactor at the University of Chicago.
surrender without any conditions. The new weapon Groves organized a team of engineers and scientists
was the atomic bomb. to build an atomic bomb at a secret laboratory in Los
Alamos, New Mexico. J. Robert Oppenheimer led the
The Manhattan Project In 1939 Leo Szilard, one of team. On July 16, 1945, they detonated the world’s
the world’s top physicists, learned that German sci- first atomic bomb near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
entists had split the uranium atom. Szilard had been
the first scientist to suggest that splitting the atom The Decision to Drop the Bomb Even before the
might release enormous energy. Worried that the bomb was tested, American officials began to debate
Nazis were working on an atomic bomb, Szilard con- how to use it. Admiral William Leahy, chairman of the
vinced the world’s best-known physicist, Albert Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed using the bomb because

it killed civilians indiscriminately. He believed that an Boy,” on Hiroshima, an important industrial city. The
economic blockade and conventional bombing would bomb was dropped at 8:15 A.M. Forty-three seconds
convince Japan to surrender. Secretary of War Henry later, it exploded. Heat, radiation, and an enormous
Stimson wanted to warn the Japanese about the bomb shock wave slammed into Hiroshima.
while at the same time telling them that they could The bomb destroyed 76,000 buildings—about 63
keep the emperor if they surrendered. Secretary of percent of the city. Somewhere between 80,000 and
State James Byrnes, however, wanted to drop the 120,000 people died instantly, and thousands more
bomb without any warning to shock Japan into died later from burns and radiation sickness.
surrendering. Everywhere, as witness Nozaki Kiyoshi recalled,
President Truman later wrote that he “regarded were “horrific scenes”:
the bomb as a military weapon and never had any
doubts that it should be used.” His advisers had “ The center of the city was still burning bright red,
like live charcoal. Roof tiles were popping. We passed
warned him to expect massive casualties if the
United States invaded Japan. Truman believed it was numerous war dead who had been carbonized. . . .
his duty as president to use every weapon available We found five or six half-burned roofless streetcars.
to save American lives. Inside were piles of corpses smoldering under white
The Allies threatened Japan with “prompt and smoke. . . . A young mother lay face down, her baby
utter destruction” if the nation did not surrender tucked under her breast. They looked more like pink
unconditionally, but the Japanese did not reply.
Truman then ordered the military to drop the bomb.
wax dolls than human beings.
”
On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named the Enola —quoted in Senso: The Japanese
Gay dropped an atomic bomb, code-named “Little Remember the Pacific War
A historian opposes Truman’s decision:

Dropping the Atomic Bomb: Historian Gar Alperovitz maintains that Truman possessed
alternatives to the atomic bomb but chose to use the weapon
Was It the Right Decision? in order to force Japan’s surrender before the Soviet Union
More than half a century later, people continue to debate could mount an invasion and subsequently occupy Japanese
what some historians have called the most important event territory.
of the twentieth century—President Truman’s order to drop “Quite simply, it is not true that the atomic bomb was used
the atomic bomb on Japan. Did his momentous decision because it was the only way to save the ‘hundreds of thou-
shorten the war and save lives on both sides, or was it sands’ or ‘millions’ of lives as was subsequently claimed. The
prompted by Truman’s fear that the Soviet Union, poised to readily available options were to modify the surrender terms
invade, would gain control of Japan after the war? and/or await the shock of the Russian attack.
Perhaps it is here, most poignantly, that we
confront our own reluctance to ask the difficult
questions—for even if one were to accept the
most inflated estimates of lives saved by the
atomic bomb, the fact remains that it was an act
of violent destruction aimed at large concentra-
tions of noncombatants.”
—quoted in The Decision to Use the Atomic

Bomb, and the Architecture of an American
Myth
Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomb

The bombing stunned Japan. Three days later, on
August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.
Later that day, the United States dropped another Family Sacrifices Millions of American homes
atomic bomb, code-named “Fat Man,” on the city of proudly displayed banners such as these during the
Nagasaki, killing between 35,000 and 74,000 people. war. The blue star on the
Faced with such massive destruction and the flag indicated that a family
shock of the Soviets joining the war, the Japanese member was serving in the
emperor ordered his government to surrender. On military. A gold star pro-
August 15, 1945—V-J Day—Japan surrendered. On claimed that an individual
the other side of the world, Americans celebrated. had been killed. Many
For American soldiers the news was especially good. homes displayed banners
As one veteran recalled: “We would not be obliged to with several stars, indicat-
run up the beaches near Tokyo assault firing while ing the family had sent
being mortared and shelled. . . . We were going to many members off to war.
live. We were going to grow up to adulthood after
all.” The long war was finally over. The United States
and its allies, after a tremendous effort, had freed
Europe from Nazi tyranny and put an end to
Japanese aggression in Asia. Building a New World
Well before the war ended, President Roosevelt
Reading Check Analyzing What issues did Truman had begun to think about what the world would be
consider before using the atomic bomb? like after the war. The president had wanted to
ensure that war would never again engulf the world.
Creating the United Nations President Roosevelt

believed that a new international political organiza-
A historian defends Truman’s decision:
tion could prevent another world war. In 1944, at the
Historian Herbert Feis argues that Truman’s desire to Dumbarton Oaks Estate in Washington, D.C., dele-
avoid an invasion of Japan, thus saving thousands of lives gates from 39 countries met to discuss the new
on both sides, motivated his decision to drop the bomb. organization, which was to be called the United
“Our right, legal and historical, to use the bomb may Nations (UN).
thus well be defended; but those who made the decision to The delegates at the conference agreed that the UN
use it were not much concerned over these considerations,
would have a General Assembly, where every mem-
taking them for granted. Their thoughts about its employ-
ber nation in the world would have one vote. The UN
ment were governed by one reason which was deemed
imperative: that by using the bomb, the agony of war might would also have a Security Council with 11 members.
be ended more quickly. Five countries would be permanent members of the
The primary and sustaining aim from the start of the Security Council: Britain, France, China, the Soviet
great exertion to make the bomb was military, and the Union, and the United States—the five big powers
impelling reason for the decision to use it was military— that had led the fight against the Axis. These five per-
to end the war victoriously as soon as possible.” manent members would each have veto power.
On April 25, 1945, representatives from 50 coun-
—quoted in Japan Subdued: The Atomic Bomb and the tries came to San Francisco to officially organize the
End of the War in the Pacific United Nations and design its charter, or constitu-
tion. The General Assembly was given the power to
vote on resolutions, to choose the non-permanent
Learning From History members of the Security Council, and to vote on the
UN budget. The Security Council was responsible
1. Which of the above interpretations
do you think is the most valid? Why? for international peace and security. It could investi-
2. Using the Internet or other gate any international problem and propose settle-
resources, find an account of the ments to countries that had disputes with each other.
bombing from the point of a It could also take action to preserve the peace,
Japanese citizen. How does it differ including asking its members to use military force to
from the accounts above, and why? uphold a UN resolution.

Tribunal (IMT). At the Nuremberg trials in Nurem-
berg, Germany, the IMT tried German leaders sus-
pected of committing war crimes.
Twenty-two leaders of Nazi Germany were prose-
cuted at Nuremberg. Three were acquitted and
another seven were given prison sentences. The
remaining 12 were sentenced to death by hanging.
Trials of lower-ranking government officials and mil-
itary officers continued until April 1949. Those trials
led to the execution of 24 more German leaders.
Another 107 were given prison sentences.
Similar trials were held in Tokyo for the leaders of
wartime Japan. The IMT for the Far East charged 25
Japanese leaders with a variety of war crimes.
Significantly, the Allies did not indict the Japanese
emperor. They feared that any attempt to put him
on trial would lead to an uprising by the Japanese
people. Eighteen Japanese defendants were sentenced
to prison. The rest were sentenced to death by hanging.
The war crimes trials punished many of the people
History responsible for World War II and the Holocaust, but
they were also part of the American plan for building
V-J Day Photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured this image of a nurse
a better world. As Robert Jackson, chief counsel for
and a sailor in Times Square during the victory celebration on V-J Day.
Why did this photograph become so famous? the United States at Nuremberg, observed in his
opening statement to the court: “The wrongs we seek
to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so
Putting the Enemy on Trial Although the Allies malignant and so devastating, that civilization can-
had declared their intention to punish German and not tolerate their being ignored because it cannot sur-
Japanese leaders for their war crimes, they did not vive their being repeated.”
work out the details until the summer of 1945. In
early August, the United States, Britain, France, and Reading Check Describing How is the United
the Soviet Union created the International Military Nations organized?
TM
TM

1. Define: hedgerow, napalm, charter. 7. Analyzing If you had been an adviser 9. Examining Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Battle of the Bulge, V-E Day, to President Truman, what advice photograph on page 646 of Hiroshima
Harry S Truman, Curtis LeMay, would you have given him about drop- after the atomic bomb was dropped.
Manhattan Project, V-J Day, United ping the atomic bomb? Give reasons What effect do you think this photo-
Nations. why you would have given this advice. graph may have had on the American
3. List the major campaigns on the 8. Categorizing Using a graphic organ- public? Why?
European and Pacific fronts in 1945. izer like the one below, fill in the struc-
4. Explain how the United States devel- ture of the United Nations.
oped the atomic bomb.
5. Describe the war crimes trials. United Nations
10. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are a
Reviewing Themes war correspondent who has seen the D-
Branch Branch
6. Continuity and Change Why do you Day beaches and Nazi concentration
think the goal of world peace has yet to camps. Write an editorial explaining why
Responsibilities Responsibilities the American sacrifices were necessary
be achieved?
and whether or not Americans have a
civic duty to fight for their country.

frombyFarewell to Manzanar
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston
The following excerpt describes Jeanne Wakatsuki's first impressions as she and her
family arrived at the internment camp.
We drove past a barbed-wire fence,

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston through a gate, and into an open
was born in Inglewood, Cali- space where trunks and sacks and
fornia. In 1942, when she was packages had been dumped from the
seven years old, her family was baggage trucks that drove out ahead
uprooted from their home and of us. I could see a few tents set up,
sent to live at the Manzanar the first rows of black barracks, and
internment camp in California. beyond them . . . rows of barracks
The detainees had committed that seemed to spread for miles across
no crimes. They were detained the plain. People were sitting on car-
simply because of their heritage. tons or milling around . . . waiting to
Farewell to Manzanar is the see which friends or relatives might
story of the Wakatsuki family’s be on this bus. . . . people in our family group; and
attempt to survive the indigni- We had pulled up just in time for our official family “number” was
ties of forced detention and liv- dinner. The mess halls weren’t com- enlarged by three digits—16 plus the
ing behind barbed wire in the pleted yet. . . . They issued us army number of this barracks. We were
United States. mess kits, the round metal kind that issued steel army cots, two brown
fold over, and plopped in scoops of army blankets, each, and some mat-
Read to Discover canned Vienna sausage, canned tress covers, which my brothers
How does Jeanne Wakatsuki string beans, steamed rice that had stuffed with straw.
Houston describe the intern- been cooked too long, and on top of
ment camp that is to be her new the rice a serving of canned apricots.
home? What does her descrip- The caucasian servers were thinking Analyzing Literature
tion remind you of? that the fruit poured over rice would 1. Recall and Interpret How did the
make a dessert. Among the Japanese, food served at the camp show a lack
Reader’s Dictionary of course, rice is never eaten with of understanding of Japanese culture?
barracks: plain and barren sweet foods, only with salty or 2. Evaluate and Connect Why do you
lodgings usually used to savory foods. . . . think the families in the camps were
house soldiers After dinner we were taken to assigned numbers?
milling: wandering Block 16, a cluster of fifteen
savory: seasoned with spices barracks. . . . The shacks were built Interdisciplinary Activity
of one thickness of pine planking Art and Architecture Draw plans for a
covered with tarpaper. . . . We were community memorial for remembering
assigned two of these for the twelve Japanese Americans who were treated
unfairly during World War II.

On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 24. Interpreting Primary Sources Many historians believe that
1. cost-plus 6. Sunbelt 11. hedgerow the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s had its
roots in the Double V campaign and the March on
2. Liberty ship 7. rationing 12. napalm Washington. Alexander Allen, a member of the Urban
3. disfranchise 8. victory garden 13. charter League during the war, believed that World War II was a
4. periphery 9. amphtrac turning point for African Americans. Read the excerpt and
answer the questions that follow.
5. convoy system 10. kamikaze
“ Up to that point the doors to industrial and eco-

nomic opportunity were largely closed. Under the pres-
Reviewing Key Facts
sure of war, the pressures of government policy, the
14. Identify: Selective Service and Training Act, Chester Nimitz,
Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, E bond, Casablanca pressures of world opinion, the pressures of blacks
Conference, D-Day, Manhattan Project, United Nations. themselves and their allies, all this began to change. . . .
15. What was the “Double V” campaign? The war forced the federal government to take a
16. How did the war change patterns of population movement stronger position with reference to discrimination, and
and settlement in the United States? things began to change as a result. There was a tremen-
17. How did the war effort change employment opportunities for dous attitudinal change that grew out of the war. There
women and African Americans? had been a new experience for blacks, and many
18. Why was the Doolittle raid so important to Americans? weren’t willing to go back to the way it was before.
”
19. How did the American government ensure that there were —quoted in Wartime America
enough necessities to supply the war effort?
20. Why did the United States adopt a policy of island-hopping in a. How did the war change the status of African Americans
the Pacific? in American society?
21. Explain the significance of the following dates in American b. Why do you think the war forced the government to take
history: 1941–1945. a stronger position on discrimination in the workplace?
22. Why were the victories on Iwo Jima and Okinawa so vital to 25. Analyzing Themes: Global Connections How did World
the Allies? War II underscore the importance of an international organi-
23. What did the Allies do to punish Axis leaders after the war? zation such as the United Nations?
1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

The Pacific
Japan attacks Pearl The United States defeats The United States The United States retakes The United States
Harbor on December 7. Japan in the Battles of the launches its island- the Philippines. drops atomic bombs;
Coral Sea and Midway. hopping campaign. Japan surrenders on
August 15.
Europe and North Africa
The Allies turn the tide The Allies invade Italy; The Allies invade Germany surrenders
in the Battle of the Germans surrender at Normandy on June 6. unconditionally on
Atlantic. Stalingrad. May 7.
The Home Front

President Roosevelt WAAC is established; OWM is established; The case of Korematsu v. The UN charter is
forbids race discrimination Japanese American Detroit and Zoot Suit Riots United States is decided. signed.
in defense industries. relocation is ordered. occur.
Battle of the Bulge,
HISTORY December 1944–January 1945
Self-Check Quiz U.S. forces

British forces
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at German forces
0 15 miles
NETH.
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— 0 15 kilometers Aachen
Front line at
Chapter 20 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. date shown.
5°E January 16
Liège
BELGIUM
26. Analyzing Effects Do you think the opportunities that us eR
.
Me December 25 December 16
opened up for women during World War II would have Namur Huy
developed if the United States had stayed out of the war?
R.
the
Stavelot N
Explain your answer.
ur
O
S
27. Synthesizing Why do you think the United States was able Ciney W E
Dinant
to successfully fight a war on multiple fronts? Celles Vielsalm E S
Prüm
28. Categorizing Use a concept web similar to the one below La Roche N
Rochefort
to list the major campaigns in the Pacific and in Europe. N
Houffalize
GERMANY
St. Hubert E Clervaux
D Bastogne 50°N
R Wiltz Vianden
A Libramont O
ur
Pacific Europe R.
Neufchâteau Echternach
American units at Bastogne
R.
were encircled on Dec. 19, Trier
and relieved on Dec. 26. LUXEMBOURG
lle
Arlon
FRANCE
Mose
Luxembourg
6°E
Practicing Skills
29. Reading a Thematic Map Study the map of migration pat-
terns on page 627. Then use the steps you learned about Geography and History
reading thematic maps on page 624 to answer the following 33. The map above shows troop movements at the Battle of the
questions. Bulge. Study the map and answer the questions below.
a. Interpreting Maps Which regions had a net loss of a. Interpreting Maps At what location did the Germans
residents to other regions during this period? surround American forces on December 25?
b. Synthesizing Information How were the locations of the b. Applying Geography Skills What geographic features
four fastest growing cities similar? did the Germans encounter as they attacked? What infor-
mation on the map shows you this?
Chapter Activities
30. Research Project Use library or Internet resources to find
information on the United Nations today. Use what you find Standardized
to design an illustrated brochure highlighting the organiza-
tion’s work.
Test Practice
31. Analyzing Geographic Patterns and Distributions Look at
following question.
the chart on Military and Civilian Deaths in World War II
found on page 643. Create a thematic map indicating each Why did Britain and France finally declare war in 1939?
country and the deaths that occurred there. Then write a A Because Germany annexed part of Czechoslovakia
quiz based on the chart about the distribution of casualties B Because Germany invaded Poland
around the world and the patterns this suggests.
C Because Italy invaded France
D Because of the non-aggression pact between Russia and
Writing Activity Germany
32. Persuasive Writing Assume the role of an immigrant who
fled Fascist Europe in 1933 and who has become a U.S. citi- Test-Taking Tip: Use the process of elimination to rule out
zen. You have just read about the proposed United Nations, answers you know are wrong. For example, it is unlikely that
and you want to write your senator to urge that the United a non-aggression pact between Russia and Germany would
States join the organization or boycott it. Choose which cause Britain and France to declare war.
position you support, and write a letter trying to convince
the senator to support your position.

The Cold War
Begins 1945–1960
Why It Matters
After World War II, an intense rivalry developed between the United States and the Soviet
Union—two superpowers with very different political and economic systems. This rivalry, known
as the Cold War, led to a massive buildup of military weapons on both sides. The determination
of American leaders to contain communism also led to the Korean War, in which over 36,500
Americans died.
The Impact Today

The effects of Cold War events are still evident today.
• The NATO alliance works to guarantee the security of many democratic countries.
• The math and science training important to the space race remains an educational priority.

video, “Symbols of the Cold War,” examines the era by focusing
on the crisis of the Berlin airlift.
1947
• Truman Doctrine
1945 declared 1948 1950
• Yalta conference • Berlin airlift begins • McCarthy charges that
• Franklin Roosevelt Communists staff the
1949 U.S. State Department
dies • NATO
established • Korean War begins
▲
Truman
1945–1953 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
1945 1950
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1946 1949
1945 • Orwell’s Animal • People’s Republic of
• Italian women Farm published China established
gain right to vote 1948 1952
• State of Israel created • Britain produces
an atomic bomb
652
During Nixon’s 1959 visit to Moscow, the vice president exchanged angry words with Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev during the “kitchen” debate at an exhibit at the U.S. Trade and Cultural Fair.
1953
• Rosenbergs executed
for treason
• Armistice reached in 1959 1960
Korean War • Khrushchev and • U-2 incident
Eisenhower hold summit HISTORY
▲
Eisenhower
1953–1961 ▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
1953 information.
• Stalin dies 1956
• Suez Canal crisis
• Hungarians rise up against 1957
their Communist government • Soviet Union
launches Sputnik
653
Origins of the Cold War
The detonation of the atomic bomb and Categorizing As you read about the ori- • Explain the growing tensions between
the end of World War II led to disagree- gins of the Cold War, complete a graphic the United States and the Soviet Union
ments among the “Big Three” wartime organizer similar to the one below by fill- at the end of World War II.
Allies and a shift in American attitudes ing in the names of the conferences held • Identify the goals of Stalin’s foreign
toward the Soviet Union. among the “Big Three” Allies and the out- policy immediately after the war.
comes of each.
Conferences Outcomes Global Connections As World War II
Cold War, Potsdam, satellite nation,
iron curtain was ending, the United States and the
Soviet Union began to negotiate to influ-
ence the shape of the postwar world.
✦February 1945 ✦July 1945 ✦December 1945 ✦May 1946

February 1945 April 1945 July 1945 March 1946
Yalta conference held President Potsdam conference Churchill delivers “iron
in the USSR Roosevelt dies convenes in Germany curtain” speech
On April 23, 1945, President Harry S Truman welcomed Soviet Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Molotov into the Oval Office of the White House. Truman had been president for
less than two weeks, but he was determined to get tough with Molotov.
Truman told the Soviet diplomat how disgusted he was with Moscow’s refusal to permit
free elections in Poland, expressing his “deep disappointment” that the Soviet Union was not
carrying out its agreements. Bluntly, he warned Molotov that Soviet defiance would seriously
shake the confidence of the United States and Great Britain in their wartime ally.
Molotov began to explain the Soviet position, but Truman interrupted again and again,
repeating his demand that Stalin “carry out that agreement in accordance with his word.”
Astonished, Molotov blurted out, “I have never been talked to like that in my life!”
“Carry out your agreements,” the president snapped back, “and you won’t get talked to
like that!”
Harry S Truman —adapted from The Cold War: A History
A Clash of Interests
Even before World War II ended, the wartime alliance between the United States and
the Soviet Union had begun to show signs of strain. President Roosevelt had hoped that
a victory over the Axis and the creation of the United Nations would lead to a more
peaceful world. Instead, the United States and the Soviet Union became increasingly
hostile toward each other after the war. This led to an era of confrontation and competi-
tion between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from about 1946 to 1990.
This era became known as the Cold War.
654 CHAPTER 21 The Cold War Begins

Soviet Security Concerns Tensions between the The Yalta Conference
United States and the Soviet Union began to increase
In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin
because the two sides had different goals. As the war
met at the Soviet resort of Yalta to plan the postwar
ended, Soviet leaders became concerned about secu-
world. There, Stalin reaffirmed the Soviet pledge to
rity. Germany had invaded Russia twice in less than
enter the war against Japan after Germany was
30 years. The Soviets wanted to keep Germany weak
defeated. Several agreements reached at Yalta, however,
and make sure that the countries between Germany
later played an important role in causing the Cold War.
and the Soviet Union were under Soviet control.
Although security concerns influenced their think- Poland The first issue discussed at Yalta was what
ing, Soviet leaders were also Communists. They to do about Poland. Shortly after the Germans
believed that communism was a superior economic invaded Poland, the Polish government leaders had
system that would eventually replace capitalism and fled to Britain. In 1944, however, Soviet troops drove
that the Soviet Union should encourage communism back the Germans and entered Poland. As they liber-
in other nations. Soviet leaders also accepted Lenin’s ated Poland from German control, the Soviets
theory that capitalist countries eventually would try encouraged Polish Communists to set up a new gov-
to destroy communism. This made Soviet leaders ernment. This meant there were now two govern-
suspicious of capitalist nations. ments claiming the right to govern Poland, one
Communist and one non-Communist.
American Economic Concerns While Soviet lead- President Roosevelt and Prime Minister
ers focused on securing their borders, American lead- Churchill both argued that the Poles should be free
ers focused on economic problems. Many American to choose their own government. “This is what we
officials believed that the Depression had caused went to war against Germany for,” Churchill
World War II. Without it, Hitler would never have explained, “that Poland should be free and
come to power, and Japan would not have wanted to sovereign.”
expand its empire. Stalin quickly responded to Churchill’s comments.
American advisers also thought the Depression According to Stalin, the Polish government had to be
had been overly severe because countries cut back on friendly to the Soviet Union. It was a matter of “life
trade. They believed that when nations seal them- and death.” Eventually, the three leaders compro-
selves off economically, it forces them to go to war to mised. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to recognize
get the resources they need. By 1945 President the Polish government set up by the Soviets. Stalin
Roosevelt and his advisers were convinced that agreed that the government would include members
economic growth was the key
to world peace. They wanted Germany in Ruins World War II devastated many German cities. Here a woman sits among the ruins of
to promote economic growth Cologne, a northern city on the Rhine River.
by increasing world trade.
Similar reasoning convinced
American leaders to promote
democracy and free enterprise.
They believed that democratic
government with protections
for people’s rights made coun-
tries more stable and peaceful.
They also thought that the free
enterprise system, with private
property rights and limited
government intervention in the
economy, was the best route to
prosperity.
Reading Check
Describing Why did U.S. leaders
promote both international trade
and free enterprise?
of the prewar Polish government and that free elec- four countries would also divide the city of Berlin,
tions would be held as soon as possible. even though it was in the Soviet zone.
Although pleased with the decision to divide
Declaration of Liberated Europe After reaching a Germany, Stalin also wanted to weaken the country
compromise on Poland, Roosevelt, Churchill, and economically. He demanded that Germany pay
Stalin agreed to issue the Declaration of Liberated heavy reparations for the war damage it caused.
Europe. The declaration asserted “the right of all Roosevelt agreed, but he insisted reparations be
people to choose the form of government under based on Germany’s ability to pay. He also sug-
which they will live.” gested, and Stalin agreed, that Germany pay repara-
The Allies promised that the people of Europe tions with trade goods and products instead of cash.
would be allowed “to create democratic institutions The Allies would also be allowed to remove indus-
of their own choice.” They also promised to create trial machinery, railroad cars, and other equipment
temporary governments that represented “all demo- from Germany as reparations.
cratic elements” and pledged “the earliest possible This decision did not resolve the issue. Over the
establishment through free elections of governments next few years, arguments about reparations and eco-
responsive to the will of the people.” nomic policy in Germany increased tensions between
the United States and the Soviet Union. These argu-
Dividing Germany After agreeing to a set of
ments became one of the major causes of the Cold War.
principles for liberating Europe, the conference
focused on Germany. Roosevelt, Churchill, and
Stalin agreed to divide Germany into four zones. Tensions Begin to Rise The Yalta decisions shaped
Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, the expectations of the United States. Two weeks after
and France would each control one zone. The same Yalta, the Soviets pressured the King of Romania into
MOMENT
in HISTORY
AID FOR WAR’S

YOUNGEST VICTIMS
The gift of a new pair of shoes
from the American Red Cross
lights up the face of a young
Austrian refugee. Millions of
people across Europe were
uprooted by almost six years
of fighting that seldom distin-
guished between combatants
and civilians. Millions more fled
as victorious Soviet troops
advanced through Eastern
Europe into Germany at the
end of World War II. The fate
of the refugees became
enmeshed in the growing
power struggle between the
United States and the Soviet
Union, which turned the former
allies into Cold War enemies.

appointing a Communist govern-
ment. The United States accused
the Soviets of violating the Dec-
laration of Liberated Europe.
Soon afterward, the Soviets
refused to allow more than three
non-Communist Poles to serve in
the 18-member Polish govern-
ment. There was also no indication
that they intended to hold free
elections in Poland as promised.
On April 1, President Roosevelt
informed the Soviets that their
actions in Poland were not accept-
able. Eleven days later, with
Soviet-American relations deterio-
rating, President Roosevelt died,
and Vice President Harry Truman
took office.
History
Reading Check Identifying
What did the Allies decide at Yalta? Potsdam Trio Issues about Germany dominated the Potsdam meeting, which was attended by (from left to
right) Britain’s Clement Attlee, President Truman, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. What agreement did they
reach regarding reparations?
Truman Takes Control Stalin and his advisers were equally convinced
Although inexperienced in diplomacy, Truman that they needed reparations from Germany. The war
already had his own views about how to deal with had devastated their economy. Soviet troops had
the Soviets. Truman was strongly anticommunist and begun stripping their zone in Germany of its machin-
suspicious of Stalin. He believed World War II had ery and industrial equipment for use back home, but
begun because Britain had tried to appease Hitler. He Stalin wanted Germany to pay much more.
was determined not to make the same mistake with At the conference, Truman took a firm stand
Stalin. “We must stand up to the Russians,” he told against heavy reparations. He insisted that
Secretary of State Edward Stettinius, the day after Germany’s industry had to be allowed to recover.
taking office. Truman suggested that the Soviets take reparations
Ten days later, Truman did exactly that during from their zone, while the Allies allowed industry to
his meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov. revive in the other zones. Stalin opposed this idea
Truman immediately brought up the issue of since the Soviet zone was mostly agricultural. It
Poland and demanded that Stalin hold free elec- could not provide all of the reparations the Soviets
tions as he promised at Yalta. Molotov took the wanted.
unexpectedly strong message back to Stalin. The To get the Soviets to accept the deal, Truman
meeting marked an important shift in Soviet- offered Stalin a small amount of German industrial
American relations and set the stage for further equipment from the other zones but required the
confrontations. Soviets to pay for part of it with food shipments from
their zone. He also offered to accept the new
The Potsdam Conference In July 1945, with the German-Polish border the Soviets had established.
war against Japan still raging, Truman finally met Stalin did not like Truman’s proposal. At Potsdam,
Stalin at Potsdam, near Berlin. Both men had come to Truman learned that the atomic bomb had been suc-
Potsdam primarily to work out a deal on Germany. cessfully tested, and he told Stalin about the test.
Truman was now convinced that German industry Stalin suspected Truman was trying to bully him into
was critical. Unless Germany’s economy was a deal and that the Americans were trying to limit
allowed to revive, the rest of Europe would never reparations to keep the Soviets weak.
recover, and the German people might turn to com- Despite his suspicions, Stalin had to accept
munism out of desperation. the deal. American and British troops controlled
CHAPTER 21 The Cold War Begins 657

Declaration of Liberated Europe. The presence of the
Divided Europe, 1948 Soviet army in Eastern Europe ensured that eventu-
ally, pro-Soviet Communist governments would be
Communist nations established in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Non-Communist nations
UNITED and Czechoslovakia. “This war is not as in the past,”
KINGDOM Stalin commented. “Whoever occupies a territory
50°
N London NETH. Berlin
EAST Warsaw also imposes his own social system. . . . It cannot be
BELG.GERMANY POLAND
N otherwise.”
Paris LUX. WEST Prague SOVIET
W GERMANY CZECH. UNION The Communist countries of Eastern Europe came
E
Vienna
S FRANCE SWITZ. AUSTRIA Budapest to be called satellite nations. Although not under
HUNGARY direct Soviet control, they had to remain Communist
ROMANIA and friendly to the Soviet Union. They also had to
L
GA
SPAIN YUGOSLAVIA follow policies that the Soviets approved.

0 200 miles ITALY
TU
BULGARIA
Rome As he watched the Communist takeover in Eastern
POR
0 200 kilometers
ALBANIA
GREECE Europe, Winston Churchill coined a phrase to
0° 10°E 20°E
describe what had happened. On March 5, 1946, in a
speech delivered in Fulton, Missouri, Churchill said:
1. Interpreting Maps What nation was divided into

“ From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic,
an iron curtain has descended across the continent.
Communist and non-Communist zones? Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient
2. Applying Geography Skills Why did so many Eastern states of central and Eastern Europe. . . . All are sub-
European nations have Communist governments?
ject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influ-
ence, but to a very high and increasing measure of
Germany’s industrial heartland, and there was no
way for the Soviets to get any reparations except by
control from Moscow.
”
—quoted in The United States and the Origins
cooperating. Nevertheless, the Potsdam conference
of the Cold War, 1941–1947
marked yet another increase in tensions between the
Soviets and the Americans, further paving the way With the iron curtain separating the Communist
for the Cold War. nations of Eastern Europe from the West, the World
War II era had come to an end. The Cold War was
The Iron Curtain Descends Although Truman had about to begin.
won the argument over reparations, he had less suc-
cess on other issues at Potsdam. The Soviets refused Reading Check Explaining How did the Potsdam
to make any stronger commitments to uphold the conference hurt Soviet-American relations?
TM
TM

1. Define: Cold War, iron curtain. 5. Synthesizing Do you think Roosevelt 7. Analyzing Maps Study the map on
2. Identify: Potsdam, satellite nation. could have prevented the Cold War? this page. Why did the Soviet Union
3. Reviewing Facts Why did tensions Why or why not? want the countries on its western
grow between the United States and 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer border to have strong Communist
the Soviet Union after World War II? similar to the one below to list events governments?
that led to the Cold War.
Reviewing Themes
4. Global Connections At Yalta, what
agreement did the “Big Three” come to Writing About History
Events That
about Germany’s future after World Led to Cold War 8. Expository Writing Imagine you are
War II? an adviser to President Truman. Write a
report explaining your interpretation of
Churchill’s iron curtain speech.

The Early
Cold War Years
As the Cold War began, the United States Sequencing As you read about the Cold • Describe the American view of
struggled to oppose Communist aggres- War, complete a time line similar to the the Soviet Union and the policy of
sion in Europe and Asia through political, one below by recording the major events containment.
economic, and military measures. involving the Korean War. • Explain the causes of the Korean War.
George Kennan, containment, Marshall 1945 1951
Global Connections Beliefs about Soviet
Plan, NATO, limited war goals and actions had a lasting effect on
American policies abroad and on the
agencies used to carry them out.
✦1947 ✦1948 ✦1949 ✦1950

March 1947 June 1948 April 1949 October 1949 June 1950
Truman Doctrine Berlin airlift begins NATO forms People’s Republic of Korean War
declared China established begins
Air Force lieutenant Gail Halvorsen was one of the pilots who airlifted supplies into Berlin
in 1948. On one of his days off, he was shooting a home movie outside Berlin’s Tempelhof
Airport and soon drew a crowd of curious boys and girls. As a wartime pilot, Halvorsen had
met children in other cities. They would playfully confront American soldiers, asking, “Any
gum, chum?” While digging into his pockets for gum, Halvorsen had an idea. He said that if
the children would wait at the end of the runway the next day, he would drop candy from
his airplane.
The next day, eager children gathered at the airport. As Halvorsen’s plane flew over-
head, three small white parachutes floated down with a payload of candy. Halvorsen’s
“chocolate bombs” became a routine, earning him the nickname Schokoladenflieger
(“chocolate-flyer”). Other pilots joined in, and by the end of the airlift, American pilots had
dropped 250,000 candy parachutes for the children of Berlin.
Lieutenant Gail
Halvorsen —adapted from Berlin in the Balance
Containing Communism
The early Cold War shaped the politics and economics of many parts of the world,
especially Europe. The airlift of supplies to Berlin, like Halvorsen’s own candy airlift,
reassured Europeans that the United States would help them rebuild their lives, even in
the shadow of growing Soviet hostility.

Causes and Effects of the Cold War
Causes Effects
• Soviet Union controls Eastern Europe after • Marshall Plan provides aid to Western
World War II. Europe.
• Chinese Communists win control of mainland China. • Western nations form NATO; Communist
• United States and Soviet Union explode atomic bombs. nations respond with Warsaw Pact.
• Korean War erupts.
• American and Soviet arms race begins.
• Red Scare leads to hunt for Communists in
the United States.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union dominated postwar politics.
Evaluating What do you think was the most important cause of the Cold War? Why?
Despite the growing tensions between the Soviet Russian expansive tendencies.” Kennan explained
Union and the United States, many American offi- that, in his opinion, the Soviet system had several
cials continued to believe cooperation with the major economic and political weaknesses. If the
Soviets was possible. In late 1945, the foreign minis- United States could keep the Soviets from expanding
ters of the former wartime Allies met first in their power, it was only a matter of time until the
London, then in Moscow, to discuss the future of Soviet system would fall apart. Communism could
Europe and Asia. be beaten without going to war. The Long Telegram
Although Ernest Bevin, the British foreign minis- circulated widely in Truman’s administration. It gave
ter, and James Byrnes, the American secretary of rise to the policy of containment—keeping commu-
state, pushed the Soviets to hold free elections in nism within its present territory through the use of
Eastern Europe, the Soviets refused to budge. “Our diplomatic, economic, and military actions.
relations with the Russians,” Bevin gloomily con-
cluded, “are drifting into the same condition as that Crisis in Iran While Truman’s administration dis-
in which we had found ourselves with Hitler.” cussed Kennan’s ideas, a series of crises erupted in
the spring and summer of 1946. These crises seemed
The Long Telegram Increasingly exasperated by to prove that Kennan was right about the Soviets.
the Soviets’ refusal to cooperate, officials at the State The first crisis began in Iran in March 1946.
Department asked the American Embassy in During World War II, the United States had put
Moscow to explain Soviet behavior. On February 22, troops in southern Iran while Soviet troops occupied
1946, diplomat George Kennan responded with northern Iran to secure a supply line from the Persian
what came to be known as the Long Telegram, a Gulf. After the war, instead of withdrawing as prom-
5,540-word cable message explaining his views of ised, the Soviet troops remained in northern Iran.
Soviet goals. Stalin then began demanding access to Iran’s oil sup-
According to Kennan, the Soviets’ view of the plies. To increase the pressure, Soviet troops helped
world came from a traditional “Russian sense of inse- local Communists in northern Iran establish a sepa-
curity” and fear of the West, intensified by the rate government.
Communist ideas of Lenin and Stalin. Because To American officials, these actions signaled a Soviet
Communists believed that they were in a long-term push into the Middle East. Secretary of State James
historical struggle against capitalism, Kennan Byrnes sent Moscow a strong message demanding that
argued, it was impossible to reach any permanent they withdraw. At the same time, the battleship USS
settlement with them. Missouri sailed into the eastern Mediterranean. The
Kennan therefore proposed what became the basic pressure seemed to work. Soviet forces withdrew, hav-
American policy throughout the Cold War: “a longing been promised a joint Soviet-Iranian oil company.
term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of The Iranian parliament later rejected the plan.

The Truman Doctrine Frustrated in Iran, Stalin for containment. Marshall offered help to all nations
turned to Turkey. There the straits of the Dardanelles planning a recovery program:
were a vital route from Soviet Black Sea ports to the
Mediterranean. For centuries Russia had wanted to “ Our policy is not directed against any country or
doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation
control this strategic route. In August 1946, Stalin
demanded joint control of the Dardanelles with and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a
Turkey. Presidential adviser Dean Acheson saw this working economy in the world so as to permit the
move as the first step in a Soviet plan to control the emergence of political and social conditions in which
Mideast, and he advised Truman to make a show of
force. The president declared, “We might as well find
”
free institutions can exist. . . .
—quoted in Marshall: A Hero for Our Times
out whether the Russians are bent on world con-
quest.” He then ordered the new aircraft carrier The Soviet Union and its satellite nations in
Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the Missouri in protecting Eastern Europe rejected the offer. Instead, the
Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean. Soviets developed their own economic program.
While the United States supported Turkey, Britain This action further separated Europe into compet-
tried to help Greece. In August 1946, Greek ing regions. The Marshall Plan pumped billions of
Communists launched a guerrilla war against the dollars worth of supplies, machinery, and food into
Greek government. For about six months, British Western Europe. Western Europe’s recovery weak-
troops helped the Greeks fight the guerrillas. The ened the appeal of communism and opened new
effort strained Britain’s economy, which was still markets for trade.
weak from World War II. In February 1947, Britain
informed the United States that it could no longer Reading Check Summarizing What were the goals
afford to help Greece. of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan?
On March 12, 1947, Truman went before Congress
to ask for $400 million to fight Communist aggres-
sion in Greece and Turkey. His speech outlined a pol-
icy which became known as the Truman Doctrine. Its The Berlin Crisis
goal was to aid “free peoples who are resisting The Marshall Plan was only one part of the
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by American strategy for rebuilding Europe. President
outside pressures.” Its immediate effects were to sta- Truman and his advisers believed that Western
bilize the Greek government and ease Soviet Europe’s prosperity depended on Germany’s
demands in Turkey. In the long run, it pledged the recovery. The Soviets, however, still wanted
United States to fight communism worldwide. Germany to pay reparations to the Soviet Union.
; (See page 958 for more on the Truman Doctrine.) Eventually, the dispute over Germany brought the
United States and the Soviet Union to the brink
ECONOMICS
of war.
The Marshall Plan Meanwhile, postwar Western
Europe faced grave problems. Economies were in West Germany Is Founded By early 1948, U.S. offi-
ruin, people were near starvation, and political chaos cials had concluded that the Soviets were deliber-
was at hand. The terrible winter ately trying to undermine Germany’s economy. In
of 1946 made things worse. response, the United States, Great Britain, and France
In June 1947, Secretary of announced that they were merging their zones in
State George C. Marshall Germany and allowing the Germans to have their
proposed the European own government. They also agreed to merge their
Recovery Program, or zones in Berlin and to make West Berlin part of the
Marshall Plan, which new German republic.
would give European The new nation was officially called the Federal
nations American aid to Republic of Germany, but it became known as West
rebuild their economies. Germany. West Germany’s economy was completely
Truman saw the Marshall separate from the Soviet zone, which eventually
Plan and the Truman became known as East Germany. West Germany was
Doctrine as “two halves of the not allowed to have a military, but in most respects, it
same walnut,” both essential George Marshall was independent.

NATO initially included 12 countries:
the United States, Canada, Britain, France,
Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, the
Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg , and
Iceland. NATO members agreed to come to
the aid of any member who was attacked.
For the first time in its history, the United
States had committed itself to maintaining
peace in Europe. Six years later, the United
States and its allies decided to allow West
Germany to rearm and join NATO. This
decision alarmed Soviet leaders. They
responded by organizing a military
alliance in Eastern Europe, which became
known as the Warsaw Pact.
Reading Check Evaluating What
triggered the beginning of the Berlin airlift?
History
The Cold War Spreads to
Bucking the Blockade The Berlin airlift became a symbol of American determination to resist
the Soviet Union’s effort to control Berlin. For how many months did American pilots supply East Asia
Berlin with food and supplies? The Cold War eventually spread beyond
Europe. Conflicts also emerged in Asia,
The Berlin Airlift The decision to create West where events in China and Korea brought about a
Germany convinced the Soviets that they would new attitude toward Japan.
never get the reparations they wanted. In late June
1948, Soviet troops cut all road and rail traffic to West Civil War and Revolution in China In China,
Berlin. The blockade provoked a crisis. President Communist forces led by Mao Zedong had been
Truman sent long-range bombers with atomic struggling against the Nationalist government led by
weapons to bases in Britain. General Lucius Clay, the Chiang Kai-shek since the late 1920s. During World
American commander in Germany, warned that if War II, the two sides suspended their war to resist
Berlin fell, West Germany would be next. “If we Japanese occupation. With the end of World War II,
mean to hold Europe against communism, then we however, civil war broke out again. Although Mao
must not budge,” he said. made great gains, neither side could win, and neither
The challenge was to keep West Berlin alive would accept a compromise.
without provoking war with the Soviets. In June To prevent a Communist revolution in Asia, the
1948, Truman ordered the Berlin airlift to begin. United States sent the Nationalist government $2 bil-
For 11 months, cargo planes supplied Berliners lion in aid beginning in the mid-1940s, but it squan-
with food, medicine, and coal. The airlift continued dered this advantage with poor military planning and
through the spring of 1949, bringing in over corruption. By 1949 the Communists had captured
2 million tons of supplies. Stalin finally lifted the the Chinese capital of Beijing and moved southward,
blockade on May 12. The Berlin airlift became a while support for the Nationalists declined.
symbol of American determination to stand by the In August 1949, the State Department discontin-
divided city. ued aid to the Chinese Nationalists. The defeated
Nationalists then fled the Chinese mainland for the
NATO The Berlin blockade convinced many small island of Taiwan (Formosa). The victorious
Americans that the Soviets were bent on conquest. Communists established the People’s Republic of
Both the public and Congress began to support a mili- China in October 1949.
tary alliance with Western Europe. By April 1949, an
agreement had been reached to create the North After the Fall China’s fall to communism shocked
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—a mutual Americans. To make matters worse, in September 1949
defense alliance. the Soviet Union announced that it had successfully

tested its first atomic weapon. Then, early in 1950, the threatening war again. Once the United States lost
People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union China as its chief ally in Asia, it adopted policies to
signed a treaty of friendship and alliance. Many encourage the rapid recovery of Japan’s industrial
Western leaders feared that China and the Soviet economy. Just as the United States viewed West
Union would support Communist revolutions in Germany as the key to defending all of Europe
other nations. against communism, it saw Japan as the key to
The United States kept formal diplomatic relations defending Asia.
with only the Nationalists in Taiwan. It used its
Reading Check Analyzing How did the revolution
veto power in the UN Security Council to keep
representatives of the new Communist China out of in China affect American foreign policy with Japan?
the UN, allowing the Nationalists to retain their seat.
The Chinese revolution brought about a signifi-
cant change in American policy toward Japan. At the The Korean War
end of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur At the end of World War II, American and Soviet
had taken charge of occupied Japan. His mission forces entered Korea to disarm the Japanese troops
was to introduce democracy and keep Japan from stationed there. The Allies divided Korea at the 38th
In
Korean War, 1950–1953 Motion
June 25, 1950–November 24, 1950 SOVIET UNION N SOVIET UNION

UN-held territory, Sept. 15, 1950
W E
North Korean advance
UN counteroffensive S
UN front line, Nov. 24, 1950 CHINA
4 Chinese counteroffensive,
Nov. 26, 1950
CHINA
R i ve r R iv e
r
lu lu
Ya Ya
40°N 40°N
NORTH NORTH
Pyongyang KOREA KOREA Sea of
3 Taken by UN, Sea of Pyongyang Japan
Oct. 19, 1950 Japan
38th Parallel 38th Parallel
5 Armistice line,
Seoul Panmunjom July 27, 1953
2 Liberated by UN, Seoul
Sept. 28, 1950 Inchon
Inchon
1 MacArthur lands,
Sept. 15, 1950
SOUTH
KOREA SOUTH
KOREA
Yellow Yellow Taegu
Sea Sea
0 100 miles
Pusan 0 100 miles
Pusan
0 100 kilometers 0 100 kilometers
Lambert Conformal Conic projection N Lambert Conformal Conic projection
W E JAPAN JAPAN
S
November 24, 1950–July 27, 1953

UN front line, Nov. 24, 1950
Chinese counteroffensive, Nov. 25, 1950
1. Interpreting Maps Along what latitude was Korea Farthest Chinese advance, Jan. 24, 1951
UN advance, Jan. 25, 1951
divided into two nations after World War II?
2. Applying Geography Skills In 130°E
debates over expanding 130°E
the Korean War, why do you think Truman opposed

MacArthur’s request to bomb bridges on the Yalu River? CHAPTER 21 The Cold War Begins 663
Should the War in Korea
Be Expanded?
A controversy between President Harry S Truman and
General Douglas MacArthur began shortly after the outbreak General
of the Korean War. It reached a climax when the president Douglas MacArthur
relieved MacArthur of his command. Truman believed in a addresses Congress, April 19, 1951:
limited war in Korea, while MacArthur wanted total victory.
History teaches with unmistakable emphasis that appeasement
but begets new and bloodier war. . . . Like blackmail, it lays the
basis for new and successively greater demands, until, as in black-
President Harry S Truman defends limited war: mail, violence becomes the only other alternative. Why, my sol-
The Kremlin [Soviet Union] is trying, and has been diers asked of me, surrender military advantage to an enemy in
trying for a long time, to drive a wedge between us and the field? I could not answer.
the other nations. It wants to see us isolated. It wants to It was my constant effort to preserve them and end this savage
see us distrusted. It wants to see us feared and hated by conflict honorably and with the least loss of time and minimum
our allies. Our allies agree with us in the course we are sacrifice of life.
following. They do not believe that we should take the I am closing 52 years of military service. . . . But I still remem-
initiative to widen the conflict in the Far East. If the ber the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that
United States were to widen the conflict, we might well day which proclaimed most proudly that—
have to go it alone. “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” And like the old
If we go it alone in Asia, we may destroy the unity of soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade
the free nations against aggression. Our European allies away—an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him
are nearer to Russia than we are. They are in far greater the light to see that duty. Good-by.
danger. . . . Going it alone brought the world to the dis-
aster of World War II. . . . Learning From History
I do not propose to strip this country of its allies in
the face of Soviet danger. The path of collective security 1. Identifying Central Issues How did
is our only sure defense against the dangers that MacArthur view Truman’s decision
threaten us. to fight a limited war in Korea? How
did Truman see it?
2. Making Inferences On the basis of
what authority did Truman fire
parallel of latitude. Soviet troops controlled the MacArthur?
north, while American troops controlled the south.
As the Cold War began, talks to reunify Korea broke
down. A Communist Korean government was organ- into action. He then called on the United Nations to
ized in the north, while an American-backed govern- act. Truman succeeded because the Soviet delegate
ment controlled the south. Both governments claimed was boycotting the Security Council over its China
authority over all of Korea, and border clashes were policy and was not present to veto the American pro-
common. The Soviet Union provided extensive mili- posal. With the pledge of UN troops, Truman ordered
tary aid to the North Koreans, who quickly built up a General MacArthur to send American troops from
large, well-equipped army. On June 25, 1950, North Japan to the Korean peninsula.
Korean troops invaded into the south, rapidly driving The American and South Korean troops were
back the poorly equipped South Korean forces. driven back into a small pocket of territory near the
port of Pusan. Inside the “Pusan perimeter,” as it
The UN Intervenes Truman saw the Communist came to be called, the troops stubbornly resisted the
invasion of South Korea as a test of the containment North Korean onslaught, buying time for MacArthur
policy and ordered United States naval and airpower to organize reinforcements.

On September 15, MacArthur ordered a daring limited objective, such as
invasion behind enemy lines at the port of Inchon. The containing communism. HISTORY
Inchon landing took the North Koreans by surprise.
Within weeks they were in full retreat back across the Changes in Policy Truman Student Web
38th parallel. Truman then gave the order to pursue chose General Matthew Ridg- Activity Visit the
the North Koreans beyond the 38th parallel. way to replace MacArthur. American Republic
MacArthur pushed the North Koreans north to the By mid-1951, the UN forces Since 1877 Web site at
Yalu River, the border with China. had pushed the Chinese and tarvol2.glencoe.com
North Korean forces back and click on Student
China Enters the War The Communist Chinese across the 38th parallel. The Web Activities—
government saw the advancing UN troops as a threat war then settled down into a Chapter 21 for an
and warned the forces to halt their advance. When series of relatively small bat- activity on the Cold
those warnings were ignored, China launched a mas- tles over hills and other local War.
sive attack across the Yalu River in November. objectives. In November
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops flooded 1951, peace negotiations
across the border, driving the UN forces back across began, but an armistice would not be signed until July
the 38th parallel. 1953. More than 33,600 American soldiers died in
As his troops fell back, an angry MacArthur action in the Korean War, and more than 2,800 died
demanded approval to expand the war against from accidents or from disease.
China. He asked for a blockade of Chinese ports, the The Korean War marked an important turning
use of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces, and the point in the Cold War. Until 1950 the United States had
bombing of Chinese cities with atomic weapons. preferred to use political pressure and economic aid to
contain communism. After the Korean War began, the
Truman Fires MacArthur President Truman re- United States embarked on a major military buildup.
fused MacArthur’s demands because he did not The Korean War also helped expand the Cold War
want to expand the war into China or to use the to Asia. Before 1950 the United States had focused on
atomic bomb. MacArthur persisted. He publicly criti- Europe as the most important area in which to contain
cized the president, saying, “There is no substitute communism. After the Korean War began, the United
for victory.” States became more militarily involved in Asia.
Determined to maintain control of policy and show Defense agreements were signed with Japan, South
that the president commanded the military, an exas- Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Australia.
perated Truman fired MacArthur for insubordination American aid also began to flow to the French forces
in April 1951. MacArthur, who remained popular fighting Communist guerrillas in Vietnam.
despite being fired, returned home to parades and a
hero’s welcome. Despite criticism, Truman remained Reading Check Analyzing How did President
committed to limited war—a war fought to achieve a Truman view the Communist invasion of South Korea?
TM
TM

1. Define: containment, limited war. 5. Evaluating How did the Long Telegram 7. Analyzing Maps Study the maps of
2. Identify: George Kennan, Marshall influence American policy? the Korean War on page 663. When
Plan, NATO. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer did the United Nations control the most
3. Review Facts How did the Truman similar to the one below to list early territory in Korea? When did both sides
Doctrine and the Marshall Plan address conflicts between the USSR and the U.S. finally agree upon an armistice line?
the spread of communism?
Conflicts
Reviewing Themes Between the USSR Writing About History
and the U.S.
4. Global Connections What long-term 8. Persuasive Writing Write a letter to
Cold War strategy did the United States the editor of a newspaper explaining
follow? whether you agree or disagree with
President Truman’s firing of General
MacArthur.

The American
Revolution
Why It Matters The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union stemmed
from a number of factors, from mutual fear and mistrust to a desire by both superpowers to spread their
influence around the world. On another level, however, the effort to contain communism reflected a basic
tradition of Americans first seen in the American Revolution: standing up to tyranny and fighting for
freedom.
The United States was founded on the principles of individual liberty and democratic rule. Since then,
Americans have felt a special duty to promote these ideals and challenge any attempt to undermine them
abroad as well as at home. In confronting the Soviet Union, Americans believed they were carrying on a long
tradition of battling oppression and despotism.
Steps to . . . the American philosopher John Locke, agreeing with Locke that
every citizen enjoyed the natural rights of life, liberty,
Revolution and property.
A central idea behind the American Revolution A government, Adams declared, “has no right to
was that the colonists had a right to rebel because absolute, arbitrary power over the lives of and for-
the British were suppressing their basic rights. tunes of the people. . . . ”
Americans have remained committed to this politi-
cal principle. By contrast, many of these rights—for Thomas Jefferson Perhaps no colonist did more
example, the right to free speech or to own prop- to advance freedom than Thomas Jefferson, one of
erty—were not recognized in the Soviet Union. the main authors of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. When the debate over whether to fight Great
Samuel Adams Few colonists were as unyielding Britain began, Jefferson was one of many who
in their opposition to British rule as Samuel Adams. argued that personal liberty and self-determination
Adams was one the most outspoken of the patriots were worth fighting for.
and the founder of the prominent resist- “We have counted the cost of this contest and
ance group, the Sons of Liberty. He find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery,”
admired the ideas of English Jefferson stated in a 1775 declaration cowritten with
“If we wish to be free; if we mean to preserve inviolate

those inestimable privileges for which we have been so
long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon
the noble struggle in which we have been so long
engaged, . . . we must fight!”
—Patrick Henry, 1775
666
American vs. Soviet Government Systems
U.S. Constitutional System Soviet System
Bill of Rights to protect individual rights with access to Soviet constitution states protections, but they are not
independent judiciary enforced; no independent judiciary
Free elections Government-controlled elections

Representative government at federal, state, and Central Committee of Communist Party in control of
local levels central, state, and local government
Police under party control; active secret police unit to
Police under civilian control
control dissent
Free press State-controlled press
Military under control of elected civilian government Military under control of central leadership of
bodies Communist Party
Extensive private property ownership State ownership of major industries; very limited
private ownership
John Dickinson. “Honor, justice, and humanity for- given occasion for them; therefore, do not think of
bid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we applying any remedy, or of changing any offensive
received from our gallant ancestors, and which our measure. . . .”
[descendants] have a right to receive from us.”
Free Speech and Free Press Free speech and
George Washington During the Revolution, freedom of the press were important freedoms for
George Washington’s duties were mostly military, which the colonists fought. Before the American
but he believed strongly in civilian government. He Revolution, colonists could be charged with sedi-
showed his political beliefs at the end of the tion for criticizing the government. After the
Revolutionary War, when he learned that a group of Revolution, many state constitutions guaranteed
military officers who had not been paid were con- the right to free speech and a free press.
sidering seizing control of the government. He criti- The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 stated
cized the plotters and expressed his disgust with that “the freedom of the press is one of the greatest
the idea of military rule. Such an action, bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but
Washington declared, “has something so shocking by despotic governments.” These ideas led to the
in it that humanity revolts at the idea. . . .” lines in the First Amendment of the Constitution
Washington’s position reflected his commitment to guaranteeing free speech and freedom of the press.
a government by the people. These freedoms are rarely found in Communist
societies or in military dictatorships. Protecting
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin, the these freedoms was one more reason the United
American philosopher, diplomat, and inventor, States opposed the spread of communism.
also supported independence. For a long time,
Franklin was friendly to Great Britain, but he
eventually came to see British rule as oppressive. Check for Understanding
In a satirical 1773 piece entitled Rules by Which a 1. What doctrine of John Locke did Samuel Adams promote?
Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One, 2. What principle did George Washington believe was important
Benjamin Franklin explained that Britain was fol- in the relationship between government and the military?
lowing all the necessary steps to create a colonial
Critical Thinking
rebellion:
1. Why do you think that dictatorships and other tyrannical
“If you are told of discontents in your colonies, forms of governments oppose freedom of the press?
never believe that they are general, or that you have 2. In what ways were the revolutionary leaders mentioned here
similar to American leaders during the Cold War?
The Cold War and
American Society
The Cold War heightened Americans’ Taking Notes As you read about • Describe the new Red Scare.
fears of Communist infiltration and American reaction to the Cold War, use • Discuss how American society reflected
atomic attack. the major headings of the section to fears of the nuclear age.
create an outline similar to the one
Key Terms and Names below. Section Theme
subversion, loyalty review program, Civic Rights and Responsibilities In the
Alger Hiss, perjury, McCarran Act, The Cold War and American Society early part of the Cold War, the fear of
I. A New Red Scare
McCarthyism, censure, fallout, A. The Loyalty Review Program communism led to a hunt for spies and to
fallout shelter B. intolerance and suspicion of people with
C.
D. radical ideas in the United States.
✦1947 ✦1950 ✦1953

March 1947 February 1950 September 1950 June 1953
Loyalty Review Board McCarthy claims to have a list of McCarran Act passed Rosenbergs executed
established Communists in the State Department
In the 1940s, Ruth Goldberg belonged to the Parent-Teacher Association in Queens, New
York. In 1947 she agreed to run for PTA president, but the campaign turned nasty. Because
Goldberg had associated with people with left-wing interests, a rumor spread through the
neighborhood that she was a Communist. Suddenly Goldberg’s quiet life became terrifying.
Callers threatened her, and the local priest denounced her in his sermons. One afternoon,
Goldberg’s eight-year-old son came home in tears. A playmate had told him, “You know,
your mother’s a Red. She should be put up against a wall and shot.”
Looking back much later, Goldberg saw the PTA campaign as part of a bigger and more
complex pattern of distrust and hatred. “It was a small thing, but it was an indication of what
had happened with the Cold War, with this Red specter—that somebody like me could be a
danger to a community.”
Book produced during the Red —adapted from Red Scare
Scare of the 1950s
A New Red Scare

During the 1950s, thousands of ordinary people—from teachers to autoworkers to
high government officials—shared Ruth Goldberg’s disturbing experience. Rumors and
accusations of Communists in the United States and of Communist infiltration of the
government tapped into fears that the Communists were trying to take over the world.

The Red Scare began in September 1945, when a engaged in un-American activities.” Once Com-
clerk named Igor Gouzenko walked out of the Soviet munists were identified, he explained, the public
Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, and defected. Gouzenko would isolate them and end their influence.
carried documents revealing a massive effort by the Hoover’s aim was to expose not just Communists
Soviet Union to infiltrate organizations and govern- but also “Communist sympathizers” and “fellow
ment agencies in Canada and the United States with travelers.” Under Hoover’s leadership, the FBI sent
the specific goal of obtaining information about the agents to infiltrate groups suspected of subversion
atomic bomb. and wiretapped thousands of telephones.
The Gouzenko case stunned Americans. It implied
that spies had infiltrated the American government. Alger Hiss In 1948 Whittaker Chambers, a Time
Soon, however, the search for spies escalated into a magazine editor and former Communist Party mem-
general fear of Communist subversion. Subversion ber, testified to HUAC that several government offi-
is the effort to secretly weaken a society and over- cials were also former Communists or spies.
throw its government. As the Cold War intensified in The most prominent government official named
1946 and early 1947, Americans began to fear that by Chambers was Alger Hiss, a lawyer and diplomat
Communists were secretly working to subvert the who had served in Roosevelt’s administration,
American government. attended the Yalta conference, and taken part in
organizing the United Nations. After Hiss sued him
GOVERNMENT
for libel, Chambers testified before a grand jury that
The Loyalty Review Program In early 1947, just in 1937 and 1938 Hiss gave him secret documents
nine days after his powerful speech announcing the from the State Department. Hiss denied being either
Truman Doctrine, the president established a loyalty a spy or a member of the Communist Party, and he
review program to screen all federal employees. also denied ever having known Chambers.
Rather than calm public suspicion, Truman’s action The committee was ready to drop the investiga-
seemed to confirm fears that Communists had infil- tion until Representative Richard Nixon of California
trated the government and helped increase the fear of convinced his colleagues to continue the hearings to
communism sweeping the nation. determine whether Hiss or Chambers had lied. As
Between 1947 and 1951, over 6 million federal the committee continued to question Hiss, he admit-
employees were screened for their loyalty—a term ted that he had indeed met Chambers in the 1930s.
difficult to define. A person might become a suspect When Chambers continued to claim that Hiss was a
for reading certain books, belonging to various Communist, Hiss sued him, claiming that his accusa-
groups, traveling overseas, or even seeing certain for- tions were unfounded and malicious.
eign films. About 14,000 employees were subject to To defend himself, Chambers produced copies of
intensive scrutiny from the Federal Bureau of secret documents along with microfilm that he had
Investigation (FBI). Some 2,000 employees quit their hidden in a hollow pumpkin on his farm. These
jobs during the check, many under pressure. Another “pumpkin papers,” Chambers claimed, proved that
212 were fired for “questionable loyalty,”
though no actual evidence against them History
was uncovered.
Convicted of Conspiracy Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of transmitting atomic
secrets to Soviet Russia. What sentence did they receive?
HUAC Although the FBI helped screen
federal employees, FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover was not satisfied. In 1947 Hoover
went before the House Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC). Formed in
1938 to investigate both Communist and
Fascist activities in the United States,
HUAC was a relatively minor committee
until Hoover catapulted it to prominence.
Hoover urged HUAC to hold public
hearings on Communist subversion. The
committee, Hoover said, could reveal “the
diabolic machinations of sinister figures
he was telling the truth. A jury agreed and con- messages between Moscow and the United States
victed Hiss of perjury, or lying under oath. collected during the Cold War. The messages con-
firmed extensive Soviet spying and sent federal
The Rosenbergs Another sensational spy case cen- investigators on a massive hunt. To keep the Soviets
tered around accusations that American Communists from learning how thoroughly the United States had
had sold the secrets of the atomic bomb. Many penetrated their codes, authorities chose not to make
people did not believe that the Soviet Union could the intercepted messages public. Not until 1995 did
have produced an atomic bomb in 1949 without help. the government reveal Project Venona’s existence.
This belief intensified the hunt for spies. The Venona documents provided strong evidence
In 1950 the hunt led to Klaus Fuchs, a British scien- that the Rosenbergs were guilty.
tist who admitted sending information to the Soviet
Union. His testimony led the FBI to arrest Julius and The Red Scare Spreads Following the federal gov-
Ethel Rosenberg, a New York couple who were ernment’s example, many state and local govern-
members of the Communist Party. The government ments, universities, businesses, unions, and churches
charged them with heading a Soviet spy ring. began their own efforts to find Communists. The
The Rosenbergs denied the charges but were con- University of California required its 11,000 faculty
demned to death for espionage. Many people members to take loyalty oaths and fired 157 who
believed that they were not leaders or spies, but vic- refused to do so. Many Catholic groups became
tims caught up in the wave of anti-Communist strongly anticommunist and urged their members to
frenzy. Appeals, public expressions of support, and identify Communists within the church.
pleas for clemency failed, however, and the couple The Taft-Hartley Act required union leaders to take
was executed in June 1953. oaths that they were not Communists, but many union
leaders did not object. Instead they launched their own
Project Venona The American public hotly debated efforts to purge Communists from their organizations.
the guilt or innocence of individuals like the The president of the CIO called Communist sympa-
Rosenbergs who were accused as spies. There was, thizers “skulking cowards” and “apostles of hate.” The
however, solid evidence of Soviet espionage, CIO eventually expelled 11 unions that refused to
although very few Americans knew it at the time. In remove Communist leaders from their organization.
1946 American cryptographers working for a project
code-named “Venona” cracked the Soviet spy code of Reading Check Explaining What was the purpose
the time, enabling them to read approximately 3,000 of the loyalty review boards and HUAC?
Hollywood on Trial
One of HUAC’s first hearings focused on
the film industry as a powerful cultural force
that Communists might use and manipulate.
Its interviews routinely began, “Are you now,
or have you ever been, a member of the
Communist Party?” As fear of Communists in
Hollywood spread, producers then drew up
a blacklist and agreed not to hire anyone in
the film industry who was believed to be a
Communist or who refused to cooperate
with the committee. The blacklist created
an atmosphere of distrust and fear.
People could be blacklisted
for making chance remarks,
criticizing HUAC, or knowing
a suspected Communist.
Ten screenwriters, known as the “Hollywood Ten”
Ronald Reagan, head of the Screen (shown here with their lawyers), used their Fifth
Actors Guild at the time, testified Amendment right to protect themselves from self-
that there were Communists in incrimination and refused to testify before HUAC.
Hollywood.
“A Conspiracy So Immense” reporters crowded around him and asked to see his
list of Communists in the state department. McCarthy
In 1949 the Red Scare intensified even further. That
replied that he would be happy to show them the list,
year, the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic
but unfortunately, it was packed in his bag on the
bomb, and China fell to communism. To many
plane. In fact, the list never appeared. McCarthy, how-
Americans these events seemed to prove that the
ever, continued to make charges and draw attention.
United States was losing the Cold War. Deeply con-
cerned, they wanted an explanation as to why their
McCarthy’s Charges Born in 1908 near Appleton,
government was failing. As a result, many continued
Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy studied law and
to believe that Communists had infiltrated the gov-
served in World War II before his first run for the
ernment and remained undetected.
Senate. McCarthy’s 1946 political campaign sounded
In February 1950, soon after Alger Hiss’s perjury
the keynote of his career. Without making any spe-
conviction, a little-known Wisconsin senator gave a
cific charges or offering any proof, McCarthy
political speech to a Republican women’s group in
accused his opponent, Robert M. La Follette, Jr., of
West Virginia. Halfway through his speech, Senator
being “communistically inclined.” Fear of commu-
Joseph R. McCarthy made a surprising statement:
nism, plus McCarthy’s intense speeches, won him
the election.
“ While I cannot take the time to name all the men
in the State Department who have been named as
After becoming a senator, McCarthy continued to
proclaim that Communists were a danger both at
members of the Communist Party and members of a
home and abroad. To some of his audiences, he dis-
spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205 that
tributed a booklet called “The Party of Betrayal,”
were known to the Secretary of State as being mem- which accused Democratic Party leaders of corrup-
bers of the Communist Party and who nevertheless tion and of protecting Communists. Secretary of
are still working and shaping the policy of the State State Dean Acheson was a frequent target.
Department.
” According to McCarthy, Acheson was incompetent
and a tool of Stalin. He wildly accused George C.
—quoted in The Fifties
Marshall, the former army chief of staff and secre-
By the next day, the Associated Press had picked up tary of state, of disloyalty as a member of “a conspir-
the statement and sent it to papers all over the country. acy so immense as to dwarf any previous such
When McCarthy arrived at the Denver airport, ventures in the history of man.”
A number of well-known Hollywood celebrities,

including actors Humphrey Bogart and Lauren
Red Channels, published in 1950, was Bacall (front row), went to Washington to protest
prepared by three ex-FBI agents. The HUAC’s investigation of alleged Communists.
booklet claimed to identify 151 subver-
sive entertainers in radio and television.
History
McCarthy Goes Too Far Army lawyer Joseph Welch listens

to Senator McCarthy during the televised Army-McCarthy hear-
ings. How did televising the hearings affect McCarthyism?
McCarthy was not alone in making such charges. over his veto in 1950. Later Supreme Court cases,
In the prevailing mood of anxiety about communism, however, ensured that the McCarran Act would
many Americans were ready to believe them. never be very effective.
The McCarran Internal Security Act In 1950, with McCarthy’s Tactics After the 1952 election gave the
the Korean War underway and McCarthy and others Republicans control of Congress, McCarthy became
arousing fears of Communist spies, Congress passed chairman of the Senate subcommittee on investiga-
the Internal Security Act, usually called the tions. Using the power of his committee to force gov-
McCarran Act. Declaring that “world Communism ernment officials to testify about alleged Communist
has as its sole purpose the establishment of a totali- influences, McCarthy turned the investigation into a
tarian dictatorship in America,” Senator Pat witch hunt—a search for disloyalty based on flimsy
McCarran of Nevada offered a way to fight “treach- evidence and irrational fears. His tactic of damaging
ery, infiltration, sabotage, and terrorism.” The act reputations with vague and unfounded charges
made it illegal to “combine, conspire, or agree with became known as McCarthyism.
any other person to perform any act which would McCarthy’s theatrics and sensational accusations
substantially contribute to . . . the establishment of a drew the attention of the press, which put him in the
totalitarian government.” The law required all Com- headlines and quoted him widely. When he ques-
munist Party and “Communist-front” organizations tioned witnesses, McCarthy would badger them
to register with the United States attorney general and then refuse to accept their answers. His tactics
and publish their records. The act also created other left a cloud of suspicion that McCarthy and others
restrictions for Communists. For example, they could interpreted as guilt. Furthermore, people were
not get passports to travel abroad. afraid to challenge him for fear of becoming targets
The McCarran Act did not stop there. In case of a themselves.
national emergency, it allowed the arrest and deten-
tion of Communists and Communist sympathizers. McCarthy’s Downfall In 1954 McCarthy began to
Unwilling to punish people for their opinions, look for Soviet spies in the United States Army.
Truman vetoed the bill, but Congress easily passed it Alerted to his intentions, the army conducted its

own internal investigation and found no spies or Later that year, the Senate passed a vote of
any suspicion of espionage. Furious at the denial, censure, or formal disapproval, against McCarthy—
McCarthy took his investigation onto television. He one of the most serious criticisms it can level against
questioned and challenged officers in a harsh voice, a member. His influence gone, McCarthy faded from
harassing them about trivial details and accusing public view. Although he remained in the Senate, he
them of misconduct. had little influence. He died in 1957, a broken and
During weeks of televised Army-McCarthy embittered man.
hearings in the spring of 1954, millions of
Reading Check Evaluating What were the effects of
Americans watched McCarthy bully witnesses. His
popular support started to fade. Finally, to strike McCarthyism?
back at the army lawyer, Joseph Welch, McCarthy
brought up the past of a young lawyer in Welch’s
firm who had been a member of a Communist-front Life During the Early Cold War
organization during his law school years. Welch, The Red Scare and the spread of nuclear weapons
who was fully aware of the young man’s past, now had a profound impact on life in the 1950s. Fear of
exploded at McCarthy for possibly ruining the communism and of nuclear war dominated life for
young man’s career: “Until this moment, I think I ordinary Americans as well as for government lead-
never really gauged your cruelty or your reckless- ers throughout the era.
ness. . . . You have done enough. Have you no
sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no Facing the Bomb Already upset by the first Soviet
sense of decency?” atomic test in 1949, Americans were shocked when
Spectators cheered. Welch had said aloud what the USSR again successfully tested the much more
many Americans had been thinking. One senator on powerful hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, in 1953. This
the committee, Stuart Symington of Missouri, was also was less than a year after the United States had tested
repelled: “The American people have had a look at you its own H-bomb.
for six weeks. You are not fooling anyone.” McCarthy Americans prepared for a surprise Soviet attack.
had lost the power to arouse fear. Newspaper head- Schools set aside special areas as bomb shelters. In
lines repeated, “Have you no sense of decency?” bomb drills, students learned to duck under their
History
Signs of the Times During the Cold War, the media often gave survival
tips for the nuclear holocaust many saw just around the corner. At right, a
California resident works on his fallout shelter. How did such fears affect
American politics?
Popular Culture in the Cold War Worries about
nuclear war and Communist infiltration filled people’s
imaginations. Cold War nightmares soon appeared in
Cold War Words The development of nuclear films and popular fiction.
weapons and artificial satellites created not only new Matt Cvetic was an FBI undercover informant
anxieties but also new words and expressions. who secretly infiltrated the Communist Party in
“Sputnik,” the name of the Soviet satellite, started Pittsburgh. His story captivated magazine readers in
its own language trend, as words gained a -nik end- the Saturday Evening Post in 1950 and came to the
ing for a foreign-sounding effect. One new word, screen the next year as I Was a Communist for the FBI.
beatnik, described a young person influenced by the Another suspense film, Walk East on Beacon (1951),
style of Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac and Allen features the FBI’s activities in an espionage case. In
Ginsberg. Another word, peacenik, was used to 1953 television took up the theme with a series about
describe a peace activist. an undercover FBI counterspy who was also a
The atomic bomb test on Bikini Atoll gave the Communist Party official. Each week, I Led Three
Nuclear Age two new words: fallout, the term for the Lives kept television viewers on edge.
harmful radiation left over after an atomic blast, and In 1954 author Philip Wylie published Tomorrow!
bikini, a skimpy swimsuit that French designers This novel describes the horrific effects of nuclear
promised would produce an “explosion” on the beach.
war on an unprepared American city. As an adviser
on civil defense, Wylie had failed to convince the fed-
eral government to play a strong role in building
bomb shelters. Frustrated, he wrote this novel to edu-
desks, turn away from the windows, and cover cate the public about the horrors of atomic war.
their heads with their hands. These “duck-and- At the same time these fears were haunting
cover” actions were supposed to protect them from Americans, the country was enjoying postwar pros-
a nuclear bomb blast. perity and optimism. That spirit, combined with
“Duck-and-cover” might have made people feel McCarthyism, witch hunts, fears of Communist infil-
safe, but it would not have protected them from tration, and the threat of atomic attack, made the
deadly nuclear radiation. According to experts, for early 1950s a time of contrasts. As the 1952 election
every person killed outright by a nuclear blast, four approached, Americans were looking for someone or
more would die later from fallout, the radiation left something that would make them feel secure.
over after a blast. To protect themselves, some fami-
lies built backyard fallout shelters and stocked them Reading Check Describing How did the Cold War
with canned food. affect life in the 1950s?
TM
TM

1. Define: subversion, perjury, censure, 6. Interpreting Why did McCarthy ini- 8. Analyzing Photographs Study the
fallout, fallout shelter. tially receive a lot of support for his photograph on page 672 of the
2. Identify: loyalty review program, Alger efforts to expose Communists? Army-McCarthy hearings. From their
Hiss, McCarran Act, McCarthyism. 7. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to postures, how would you describe the
3. Explain the goals of Project Venona. list the causes and effects of the new attitude of army lawyer Joseph Welch
4. Review Facts What did the McCarran Red Scare. toward Senator Joseph McCarthy? Do
Act propose to do? Causes Effects you think Welch respects McCarthy’s
presentation?
Reviewing Themes
5. Civic Rights and Responsibilities
How did McCarthyism and the Red Writing About History
Red
Scare change American society and Scare 9. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are a
government? newspaper editor during the McCarthy
hearings. Write an editorial supporting
or condemning Senator McCarthy.
Defend your position.

Eisenhower’s Policies
As president, Eisenhower developed Organizing As you read about • Evaluate Eisenhower’s military policy
plans to reduce world tensions while con- Eisenhower’s presidency, complete a known as the “New Look.”
taining and competing with communism. graphic organizer similar to the one • Debate the effectiveness of
below by filling in aspects of Eisenhower’s foreign policy.
Key Terms and Names Eisenhower’s “New Look”.
massive retaliation, Sputnik, brinkman- Section Theme
ship, covert, Central Intelligence Agency, Science and Technology Nuclear tech-
Eisenhower´s nology enabled Eisenhower to change
developing nation, military-industrial “New Look”
complex American military policy, while new
missile technology marked the beginning
of the space age.
✦1952 ✦1955 ✦1958 ✦1961

July 1953 October 1956 October 1956 October 4, 1957 May 1960
Armistice in Hungarian Suez Canal crisis Soviet Union U-2 incident
Korean War revolution launches Sputnik
On May 1, 1960, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers sat in the cockpit of his U-2 spy plane, fly-
ing at more than 60,000 feet over Afghanistan. His mission was to fly over suspected Soviet
missile bases and photograph them.
As Powers passed over the forbidden border into the Soviet Union, he felt a familiar thrill.
“There was no abrupt change in topography,” he remembered, “yet the moment you crossed
the border, you sensed the difference. . . . Knowing there were people who would shoot you
down if they could created a strange tension. . . . I wondered how the Russians felt, knowing
I was up here, unable to do anything about it. . . . I could imagine their frustration and rage.”
Suddenly, Powers heard a dull thump. A surface-to-air missile exploded nearby in a flash
of orange. The plane’s wings snapped off, leaving the spinning aircraft plummeting down
towards the earth. Powers screamed, “I’ve had it now!”
The downing of Powers’s plane set off one of the major confrontations of the Cold War
during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
—adapted from May-Day: The U-2 Affair
Francis Gary Powers
Eisenhower’s “New Look”

By the end of 1952, many Americans were ready for a change in leadership. The Cold
War had much to do with that attitude. Many Americans believed that Truman’s foreign
policy was not working. The Soviet Union had acquired the atomic bomb and consoli-
dated its hold on Eastern Europe. China had fallen to communism, and American troops
had been sent across the Pacific to fight in the Korean War.

Tired of the criticism and uncertain he could win, the nation in a way which will exhaust our econ-
Truman decided not to run again. The Democrats omy,” Eisenhower declared. A “New Look” in
nominated Adlai Stevenson, governor of Illinois. The defense policy was needed. Instead of maintaining a
Republicans chose Dwight D. Eisenhower, the gen- large and expensive army, the nation “must be pre-
eral who had organized the D-Day invasion. pared to use atomic weapons in all forms.” Nuclear
Despite Stevenson’s charming personality and weapons, he said, gave “more bang for the buck.”
skilled speech making, he had no chance against a
national hero who had helped win World War II. Massive Retaliation The Korean War had con-
Americans were looking for someone they could vinced Eisenhower that the United States could not
trust to lead the nation in its Cold War struggle contain communism by fighting a series of small
against communism. Eisenhower won in a landslide. wars. Such wars were unpopular and too expensive.
Instead, they had to be prevented from happening in
“More Bang for the Buck” The Cold War shaped the first place. The best way to do that seemed to be
Eisenhower’s thinking from the moment he took to threaten to use nuclear weapons if a Communist
office. Eisenhower was convinced that the key to vic- state tried to seize territory by force. This policy came
tory in the Cold War was not simply military might to be called massive retaliation.
but also a strong economy. The United States had to The new policy enabled Eisenhower to cut mili-
show the world that free enterprise could produce a tary spending from $50 billion to $34 billion. He did
better and more prosperous society than commu- this by cutting back the army, which required a lot of
nism. At the same time, economic prosperity would money to maintain. At the same time, he increased
prevent Communists from gaining support in the America’s nuclear arsenal from about 1,000 bombs in
United States and protect society from subversion. 1953 to about 18,000 bombs in 1961.
As a professional soldier, Eisenhower knew the
costs associated with large-scale conventional war. The Sputnik Crisis The New Look’s emphasis on
Preparing for that kind of warfare, he believed, nuclear weapons required new technology to deliver
would cost far too much money. “We cannot defend them. In 1955 the air force unveiled the huge B-52
The 1 The plutonium core provides the radiation

from plutonium essential for a fusion reaction.
Hydrogen
Bomb
The atomic bomb dropped
on Hiroshima in 1945 had uranium shield
an explosive force of 20,000
tons of TNT. As devastating Plutonium 239
as that bomb was, the High explosive
hydrogen bomb was expo- charges
nentially more powerful. 1
Designed by Edward Teller
and Stanislaw Ulam, the
hydrogen test bomb, nick- 3
named “Mike,” was first det- 2
onated on November 1,
1952. Its explosive force was
equal to 10 million tons of 2 The primary device sets off a smaller atomic 3 In the secondary device, the fusion process
TNT. How did the two explosion that creates x-ray radiation pressure. begins when pressure builds inside the bomb
explosive devices combine casing from the release of radiation.
to create an explosion?

bomber, which was designed to fly across continents
and drop nuclear bombs anywhere in the world.
Because bombers could be shot down, Eisenhower
also began development of intercontinental ballistic
missiles (ICBMs) that could deliver bombs anywhere
in the world. He also began a program to build sub-
marines capable of launching nuclear missiles.
As the United States began to develop long-range
nuclear missiles, Americans were stunned to dis-
cover the Soviet Union had already developed their
own. On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched
Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.
This technological triumph alarmed Americans, who
took it as a sign that the United States was falling
behind the Soviet Union in missile technology.
Eisenhower insisted he was not worried just
because the Soviets “put one small ball into the air.” “So Russia Launched a Satellite, but Has It Made Cars With Fins Yet?”
Members of Congress, on the other hand, feared the
nation was falling behind in scientific research. The
following year, Congress created the National Analyzing Political Cartoons
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to
Cold War Worries The speaker here is comparing American prosperity with
coordinate research in rocket science and space explo- the Soviets’ launching of Sputnik. What is the cartoonist’s intent?
ration. It also passed the National Defense Education
Act (NDEA), which provided funds for education
and training in science, math, and foreign languages. Several times, however, President Eisenhower felt
compelled to threaten nuclear war during a crisis.
Reading Check Summarizing How did Eisenhower
alter the nature of defense spending?
The Korean War Ends During his campaign for the
presidency, Eisenhower had said, “I shall go to
Korea,” promising to end the costly and increasingly
Brinkmanship In Action unpopular war. On December 4, 1952, just weeks
President Eisenhower’s apparent willingness to after his election, he kept his promise. Bundled
threaten nuclear war to maintain the peace worried against the freezing Korean winter, the president-
some people. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, elect talked with frontline commanders and their
however, the dominant figure in the nation’s foreign troops.
policy in the 1950s, strongly defended the policy: Eisenhower became convinced that the ongoing
battle was costing too many lives and bringing too
few victories. “Small attacks on small hills,” the for-
“ You have to take chances for peace, just as you
must take chances in war. Some say that we were mer general declared, “[will] not end this war.” The
brought to the verge of war. Of course we were president then quietly let the Chinese know that the
brought to the verge of war. The ability to get to the United States might continue the Korean War “under
circumstances of our own choosing”—a hint at
verge without getting into the war is the necessary
nuclear attack.
art. . . . If you try to run away from it, if you are
The threat to go to the brink of nuclear war seemed
scared to go to the brink, you are lost. We’ve had to to work. In July 1953, negotiators signed an armistice.
look it square in the face. . . . We walked to the brink The battle line between the two sides, which was very
and we looked it in the face. We took strong near the prewar boundary, became the border
action.
” between North Korea and South Korea. A “demilita-
rized zone” (DMZ) separated them. There was no vic-
—quoted in Rise to Globalism
tory, but the war had at least stopped the spread of
Critics called this brinkmanship—the willingness communism in Korea—the goal of containment.
to go to the brink of war to force the other side to American troops are still based in Korea, helping
back down—and argued that it was too dangerous. South Korea defend its border.

The Taiwan Crisis Shortly after the war ended, a East was to prevent Arab nations from aligning with
new crisis erupted in Asia. Although the Chinese the Soviet Union. To build support among Arabs,
Communists had taken power in mainland China, the Dulles offered to help Egypt finance the construction
Chinese Nationalists still controlled Taiwan and sev- of a dam on the Nile River. The Egyptians eagerly
eral small islands along China’s coast. accepted the American offer.
In the fall of 1954, China threatened to seize two of The deal ran into trouble in Congress, however,
the islands from the Nationalists. Eisenhower saw because Egypt had bought weapons from Communist
Taiwan as part of the “anticommunist barrier” in Czechoslovakia. Dulles was forced to withdraw the
Asia. When China began shelling the islands and offer. A week later, Egyptian troops seized control of
announced that Taiwan would soon be liberated, the Suez Canal from the Anglo-French company that
Eisenhower asked Congress to authorize the use of had controlled it. The Egyptians intended to use the
force to defend Taiwan. canal’s profits to pay for the dam.
Eisenhower then warned the Chinese that any The British and French responded quickly to the
attempt to invade Taiwan would be resisted by Suez Crisis. In October 1956, British and French troops
American naval forces stationed nearby. He and Dulles invaded Egypt. Eisenhower was furious with Britain
hinted that they would use nuclear weapons to stop an and France. He declared they had made a “complete
invasion. Soon afterward, China backed down. mess and botch of things.” The situation became even
more tense when the Soviet Union threatened rocket
The Suez Crisis The year after Eisenhower went to attacks on Britain and France and offered to send
the brink of war with China, a serious crisis erupted troops to help Egypt. Eisenhower immediately put
in the Middle East. Eisenhower’s goal in the Middle American nuclear forces on alert, noting, “If those
In
NATO and the Warsaw Pact, 1955 Motion
NORWAY FINLAND
Oslo Helsinki
N
W Stockholm Baltic
E North Sea
SWEDEN
S Sea Moscow
50 Dublin DENMARK
°N
IRELAND UNITED Copenhagen
KINGDOM
Amsterdam
London NETH. SOVIET UNION
Berlin
Brussels EAST POLAND Warsaw
Atlantic Bonn GERMANY 0 500 miles
BELGIUM
Ocean CZ E Prague 0 500 kilometers
Paris LUX. WEST CHO Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
GERMANY SLOVAKIA
Vienna
FRANCE Bern
AUSTRIA Budapest
SWITZ.
HUNGARY
ROMANIA
A Belgrade Bucharest
40° dr
L
N
GA
ANDORRA ia Black Sea

ti YUGOSLAVIA
RTU
Madrid ITALY c BULGARIA

Lisbon Se
a Sofia
PO
SPAIN Rome
Tirana TURKEY
10°W ALBANIA Ankara
Me
dit GREECE
er
ra
ne
"Iron Curtain" an
Communist nations not in Warsaw Pact Se
a
Warsaw Pact countries
0° 20°E
Non-Communist nations not in NATO
NATO countries By the mid-1950s, two powerful military alliances, NATO
Capital and the Warsaw Pact, were facing each other in Europe.
Applying Geography Skills How many European nations
had Communist governments in 1955?
fellows start something, we may have to hit them—
and if necessary, with everything in the bucket.”
Under strong American pressure, the British and
French called off their invasion. The Soviet Union
had won a major diplomatic victory, however, by
supporting Egypt. Soon afterward, other Arab
nations began accepting Soviet aid as well.
Reading Check Identifying What was
brinkmanship?
Fighting Communism Covertly

President Eisenhower relied on brinkmanship on
several occasions, but he knew it could not work in
all situations. It could prevent war, but it could not,
for example, prevent Communists from staging revo-
lutions within countries. To prevent Communist
uprisings in other countries, Eisenhower decided to
use covert, or hidden, operations conducted by the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Containment in Developing Nations Many of the

CIA’s operations took place in developing nations—
nations with primarily agricultural economies. Many
of these countries blamed European imperialism and
American capitalism for their problems. Their leaders
looked to the Soviet Union as a model of how to in-
dustrialize their countries. They often threatened to History
nationalize, or put under government control, foreign Distinguished Brothers John Foster Dulles (right) became secretary of state
businesses operating in their countries. under Eisenhower; his brother Allen Dulles (center) was director of the CIA in
American officials feared that these leaders might the 1950s. With what policy is John Foster Dulles associated?
align their nations with the Soviet Union or even
stage a Communist revolution. One way to stop de- The following year, the CIA acted to protect
veloping nations from moving into the Communist American-owned property in Guatemala. In 1951
camp was to provide them with financial aid, as Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán won election as president of
Eisenhower had tried to do in Egypt. In some cases, Guatemala with Communist support. His land
however, where the threat of communism seemed reform program took over large estates, including
stronger, the CIA staged covert operations to over- those of the American-owned United Fruit Company.
throw anti-American leaders and replace them with In May 1954, Communist Czechoslovakia delivered
pro-American leaders. arms to Guatemala. The CIA responded by arming
the Guatemalan opposition and training them at
Iran and Guatemala Two examples of covert oper- secret camps in Nicaragua and Honduras. Shortly
ations that achieved American objectives took place after these CIA-trained forces invaded Guatemala,
in Iran and Guatemala. By 1953 Iranian prime minis- Arbenz Guzmán left office.
ter Mohammed Mossadegh had already nationalized
the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. He seemed ready to Uprising in Hungary Covert operations did not
make an oil deal with the Soviet Union. In 1953 always work as Eisenhower hoped. In 1953 Stalin
Mossadegh moved against the pro-American Shah of died, and a power struggle began in the Soviet
Iran, who was temporarily forced into exile. Dulles Union. By 1956 Nikita Khrushchev had emerged as
quickly sent agents to organize street riots and the leader of the Soviet Union. That year, Khrushchev
arrange a coup that ousted Mossadegh, and the Shah delivered a secret speech to Soviet leaders. He
returned to power. attacked Stalin’s policies and insisted there were

many ways to build a Communist society. Although Berlin, Dulles announced, NATO would respond, “if
the speech was secret, the CIA obtained a copy. With need be by military force.” Brinkmanship worked
Eisenhower’s permission, the CIA arranged for it to again, and Khrushchev backed down.
be broadcast to Eastern Europe. To try to improve relations, Eisenhower invited
Many Eastern Europeans had long been frustrated Khrushchev to visit the United States in late 1959.
with Communist rule. Hearing Khrushchev’s speech The visit went well, and the two leaders agreed to
further discredited communism. In June 1956, riots hold a summit in Paris in 1960. A summit is a formal
erupted in Eastern Europe. By late October, a full- face-to-face meeting of leaders from different coun-
scale uprising had begun in Hungary. Although tries to discuss important issues.
Khrushchev was willing to tolerate greater freedom Shortly before the summit was to begin, the Soviet
in Eastern Europe, he had never meant to imply that Union shot down the American U-2 spy plane piloted
the Soviets would tolerate an end to communism in by Francis Gary Powers. At first, Eisenhower claimed
Eastern Europe. Soon after the uprising began, Soviet that the aircraft was a weather plane that had strayed
tanks rolled into Budapest, the capital of Hungary, off course. Then Khrushchev dramatically produced
and crushed the rebellion. the pilot. Eisenhower refused to apologize, saying the
flights had protected American security. In response,
Reading Check Explaining Why did Eisenhower
Khrushchev broke up the summit.
use covert operations? In this climate of heightened tension, President
Eisenhower prepared to leave office. In January
1961, he delivered a farewell address to the nation.
Continuing Tensions In the address, he pointed out that a new relation-
The uprising in Hungary forced Khrushchev to ship had developed between the military establish-
reassert Soviet power and the superiority of ment and the defense industry. He warned
communism. Previously, he had supported Americans to be on guard against the immense
“peaceful coexistence” with capitalism. Now he influence of this military-industrial complex in a
accused the “capitalist countries” of starting a democracy. Although he had avoided war and kept
“feverish arms race.” In 1957, after the launch of communism contained, Eisenhower admitted to
Sputnik, Khrushchev boasted, “We will bury some frustration: “I confess I lay down my official
capitalism. . . . Your grandchildren will live under responsibility in this field with a definite sense of
communism.” disappointment. . . . I wish I could say that a lasting
In late 1958 Khrushchev demanded that the United peace is in sight.”
States, Great Britain, and France withdraw their troops
from West Berlin. Secretary of State Dulles rejected Reading Check Evaluating Why did Eisenhower
Khrushchev’s demands. If the Soviets threatened warn Americans about the military-industrial complex?
TM
TM

1. Define: massive retaliation, brinkman- 5. Interpreting Do you think 7. Analyzing Maps Study the map on
ship, covert, developing nation, Eisenhower’s foreign policy was page 678. How many nations belonged
military-industrial complex. successful? Why or why not? to NATO? How many nations belonged
2. Identify: Sputnik, Central Intelligence 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to the Warsaw Pact? Which nations did
Agency. similar to the one below to list not belong to either NATO or the
3. Reviewing Facts What was the signifi- Eisenhower’s strategies for containing Warsaw Pact?
cance of the Soviet Union’s launching of Communism.
Sputnik in 1957?
Strategies for
Containing
Reviewing Themes Communism
4. Science and Technology How did 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine you
technology shape Eisenhower’s military are a member of Eisenhower’s cabinet.
policy? Defend or attack brinkmanship as a
foreign policy tactic. Be sure to provide
specific reasons for your point of view.

Critical Thinking
Making Decisions
Suppose you have been given the choice of tak-
ing an art class or a music class during your free
period during school. How will you decide which
class to take?
Learning the Skill

When you make a decision, you are making a
choice between alternatives. In order to make that
choice, you must be informed and aware. There are
five key steps you should follow that will help you
through the process of making decisions.
• Identify the problem. What are you being asked
to choose between?
• Gather information to identify and consider
various alternatives that are possible. President Truman and Dean Acheson
• Determine the consequences for each alternative.

Identify both positive and negative consequences.
3 The Marshall Plan for rebuilding war-torn
Western Europe is approved.
• Evaluate the consequences. Consider both the
positive and negative consequences for each
4 President Truman relieves General Douglas
MacArthur of his command because of
alternative.
insubordination.
• Determine which alternative seems to have more
positive than negative consequences. Then make Skills Assessment
your decision.
Decisions throughout history have affected the
outcome of events and defined history as we know
it today. Identify the alternatives and describe their Applying the Skill
consequences for each of the following events that
Making Decisions Use a newspaper or magazine to
occurred after World War II. Each of these events
find a current issue that directly affects your life.
took place as a result of a decision made by a per-
Identify the issue, and then review the facts and what
son or a group of people.
you already know about the issue. Identify various
1 Britain and the United States recognize the alternatives and determine the consequences for each.
Soviet-backed government that takes control in Use this information to evaluate both positive and neg-
Poland. ative consequences. Make a sound decision about
2 The United States orchestrates the Berlin airlift which alternative would be best for you, and write a
to assist residents of West Berlin after Stalin cuts paragraph defending your decision.
off surface transportation bringing supplies
from the West. Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
681
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 21. Analyzing Themes: Global Connections How did the
1. Cold War 9. fallout shelter Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan cause the United
States to change its foreign policy goal of isolationism?
2. iron curtain 10. massive retaliation
22. Evaluating How did the Korean War affect American
3. containment 11. brinkmanship
domestic and international policy?
4. limited war 12. covert
5. subversion 13. developing nation below to list the causes of the Cold War.
6. perjury 14. military-industrial
7. censure complex Causes of
Cold War
8. fallout
Reviewing Key Facts

15. Identify: Potsdam, Marshall Plan, NATO, McCarthyism.
16. How did Stalin’s postwar foreign policy goals add to the
growing tensions between the United States and the USSR? 24. Interpreting Primary Sources Margaret Chase Smith, a
17. Why were NATO and the Warsaw Pact formed? Republican from Maine, was elected to the Senate in 1948.
As a newcomer and the only woman in the Senate, she had
18. What was the long-term strategy of the United States during
very little power. Smith was upset by Joseph McCarthy’s
the Cold War?
accusations, but she hoped her senior colleagues would
19. What were the effects of the new Red Scare on federal reprimand him. When they failed to do so, Smith made her
employees? “Declaration of Conscience” speech. Read the excerpt and
20. What was President Eisenhower’s “new look” for the military? answer the questions that follow.
The Cold War

Soviet Union Western Allies
• To create a protective sphere of Communist • To contain the spread of communism by
countries along European border General Goals supporting capitalist democratic governments
• To promote the spread of communism
• Occupied Eastern European nations and saw • Expected free elections to occur in Soviet-
In Europe
that Communist governments were established controlled Eastern Europe
• Sought access to oil in Iran • Forced Soviet withdrawal from Iran
• Aided Communists in Greece and pressured In the Middle East • Pledged aid to halt Soviet threats to Turkey
Turkey for access to the Mediterranean and Greece
• Communists seize power in China in 1949 • Aided China’s Nationalist government
• China and Soviet Union signed treaty of • Dedicated money and troops to establish
friendship and alliance democratic stronghold in Japan
• Communist North Korea invaded South Korea In Asia • United Nations troops sent to fight for
to start Korean War South Korea in Korean War
• Chinese troops fought for North Korea
• Promoted development of high-technology • Focused on the development of advanced
At Home
weapons and surveillance technology weapons
The Occupation of Berlin After
HISTORY World War II, 1945
N
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at W E
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— S Tegel

EAST
GERMANY
Brandenburg Gate
“ As a United States Senator, I am not proud of the
way in which the Senate has been made a publicity plat-
Gatow
West
Berlin East
Berlin
form for irresponsible sensationalism. I am not proud of Tempelhof
the reckless abandon in which unproved charges have
been hurled from this side of the aisle. I am not proud
of the obviously staged, undignified countercharges that
Airports
have been attempted in retaliation from the other side
American sector
of the aisle. . . . I am not proud of the way we smear British sector 0 5 miles
outsiders from the Floor of the Senate and hide behind French sector
0 5 kilometers
the cloak of congressional immunity. . . . Soviet sector Albers Conic Equal-Area projection
As an American, I am shocked at the way

Republicans and Democrats alike are playing directly
into the Communist design of ‘confuse, divide, and
conquer’. . . . I want to see our nation recapture the
strength and unity it once had when we fought the 28. The map above shows the occupation of Berlin after World
War II. Study the map and answer the questions below.
enemy instead of ourselves.
”
a. With whom is Smith angry, and why?
a. Interpreting Maps How was West Berlin’s location a dis-
advantage? How did Stalin use this disadvantage against
b. According to Smith, who is really dividing the nation? the Western Allies?
b. Applying Geography Skills What transportation advan-
tage did West Berlin have over East Berlin? How did the
Practicing Skills United States use this advantage when West Berlin was
stranded?
25. Making Decisions Study the text on the Truman Doctrine
on page 661. Then use the steps you learned about making
decisions on page 681 to identify the alternatives the presi-
dent had in making a decision to ask for aid to fight Soviet
aggression in Turkey and Greece. Create a graphic organizer Standardized
to list the alternatives you have identified.
Test Practice
Chapter Activity completes the following sentence.
26. Technology Activity: Developing a Multimedia One historical lesson of McCarthy’s approach is the realiza-
Presentation Use the Internet and other resources to find tion that
out more about American popular culture during the Cold A loyalty oaths prevent spying.
War. Then create a multimedia report about popular culture B communism is influential in prosperous times.
at this time, and present your report to the class. Your report C Communist agents had infiltrated all levels of the U.S.
could discuss films, books, and magazine articles. government.
D public fear of traitors can lead to false accusations and
unfair consequences.
Writing Activity
27. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you have witnessed the Test-Taking Tip: Think about the definition of McCarthyism,
crowds giving General MacArthur a hero’s welcome. Write the use of unsubstantiated accusations to discredit people.
an opinion piece for a magazine justifying his reception or Which of the answers relates best to this definition?
criticizing it because of his disagreement with Truman.

Postwar America
1945–1960
Why It Matters
After World War II, the country enjoyed a period of economic prosperity. Many more Americans
could now aspire to a middle-class lifestyle, with a house in the suburbs and more leisure time.
Television became a favorite form of entertainment. This general prosperity, however, did not
extend to many Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, or people in Appalachia.
The Impact Today

The effects of this era can still be seen.
• The middle class represents a large segment of the American population.
• Television is a popular form of entertainment for many Americans.

video, “America Takes to the Roads,” describes the cultural impact of the
automobile and its importance to the growing baby boom generation.
1946
• Series of work strikes
plagues country
1948
• Truman elected
1947 president
1944 • Levittown
• GI Bill enacted construction
begins
Truman
▲ 1945–1953 ▲ ▲ ▲
1944 1948 1952
▼ ▼ ▼
1946 1948 1952
• Juan Perón elected • South Africa • Scientists led by Edward
president of introduces apartheid Teller develop hydrogen
Argentina bomb
684
These confident newlyweds capture the prosperous
1953 attitude of postwar America.
• Lucille Ball gives birth
in real life and on her
television show
1955 1956
• Salk polio vaccine • Elvis Presley 1957
becomes widely appears on The • Estimated 40 million television
available Ed Sullivan Show
• Federal Highway
sets in use in United States
1958
HISTORY
▲
Eisenhower Act passed • Galbraith’s The Affluent
1953–1961 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ Society published Chapter Overview
• Gamal Abdel • Suez Canal • USSR launches
Nasser takes crisis erupts Sputnik I and
power in Egypt Sputnik II satellites
685
Truman and
Eisenhower
After World War II, the Truman and Categorizing As you read about the • Explain the Truman administration’s
Eisenhower administrations set out to Truman and Eisenhower administrations, efforts on the domestic front.
help the nation adjust to peacetime. complete a graphic organizer similar to • Describe President Eisenhower’s
the one below by listing the characteris- domestic agenda.
Key Terms and Names tics of the postwar economy of the United
GI Bill, closed shop, right-to-work law, States. Section Theme
union shop, featherbedding, “Do-Nothing Economic Factors Following World
Congress,” Fair Deal, dynamic Characteristics War II, the federal government supported
of a Postwar Economy
conservatism, Federal Highway Act programs that helped the economy make
the transition to peacetime production.
✦1944 ✦1947 ✦1950 ✦1953

1944 1946 1948 1952
Congress passes Strikes take place Harry S Truman wins Dwight D. Eisenhower wins
GI Bill across the country presidential election presidential election
As World War II ended, Robert Eubanks was worried as he prepared for his discharge
from the army. He had joined the army because, as an African American, it was hard for him
to find a job that paid well. Then he heard about something known as the GI Bill, a govern-
ment program that paid veterans’ tuition for college and provided a living allowance.
Eubanks took advantage of the program and enrolled at the Illinois Institute of
Technology. He earned three degrees on the GI Bill and eventually became a professor at the
University of Illinois.
Years later Eubanks recalled how his life was changed by the bill. “It’s very hard to explain
how things were during the 1940s,“ he said. “The restrictions on blacks then were rough. The
GI Bill gave me my start on being a professional instead of a stock clerk.”
—adapted from When Dreams Came True
Army fatigues and

college diploma Return to a Peacetime Economy
After the war many Americans feared the return to a peacetime economy. They wor-
ried that after military production halted and millions of former soldiers glutted the
labor market, unemployment and recession might sweep the country.
Despite such worries, the economy continued to grow after the war as increased con-
sumer spending helped ward off a recession. After 17 years of economic depression and
wartime shortages, Americans rushed out to buy the luxury goods they had long desired.
686 CHAPTER 22 Postwar America

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, popularly held irresponsible unions in
called the GI Bill, further boosted the economy. The check just as the Wagner Act
HISTORY
act provided generous loans to veterans to help them of 1935 had restrained anti-
establish businesses, buy homes, and attend college. union activities and employ-
Student Web
ers. Labor leaders called the
Activity Visit the
American Republic
Inflation and Strikes The postwar economy was act a “slave labor” law and
not without its problems. A greater demand for insisted that it erased many tarvol2.glencoe.com
goods led to higher prices, and this rising inflation of the gains that unions had and click on Student
soon triggered labor unrest. As the cost of living rose, made since 1933. Web Activities—
workers across the country went on strike for better Chapter 22 for an
Reading Check
pay. Work stoppages soon affected the automobile, activity on postwar
electrical, steel, and mining industries. Explaining Why did Truman America.
Afraid that the nation’s energy supply would be veto the Taft-Hartley Act?
drastically reduced because of the striking miners,
President Truman forced the miners to return to
work after one strike that had lasted over a month. Truman’s Domestic Program
Truman ordered government seizure of the mines The Democratic Party’s loss of members in the 1946
while pressuring mine owners to grant the union elections did not dampen President Truman’s spirits
most of its demands. The president also halted a or his plans. Shortly after taking office, Truman had
strike that shut down the nation’s railroads by threat- proposed a series of domestic measures that sought to
ening to draft the striking workers into the army. continue the work done as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s
New Deal. During his tenure in office, Truman worked
Republican Victory Labor unrest and high prices to push this agenda through Congress.
prompted many Americans to call for a change. The
Republicans seized upon these sentiments during the Truman’s Legislative Agenda Truman’s proposals
1946 congressional elections, winning control of both included the expansion of Social Security benefits;
houses of Congress for the first time since 1930. the raising of the legal minimum wage from 40¢ to
Disgusted with the rash of strikes that was crippling 75¢ an hour; a program to ensure full employment
the nation, the new conservative Congress quickly set through aggressive use of federal spending and
out to curb the power of organized labor. Legislators investment; public housing and slum clearance; long-
proposed a measure known as the Taft-Hartley Act, range environmental and public works planning;
which outlawed the closed shop, or the practice of and a system of national health insurance.
forcing business owners to hire only union members. Truman also boldly asked Congress in February
Under the law, states could pass right-to-work laws, 1948 to pass a broad civil rights bill that would
which outlawed union shops (shops in which new
workers were required to join the union). The measure The GI Bill African American soldiers review the benefits of the GI Bill, which
included loans to attend college and to buy homes.
also prohibited featherbedding, the practice of limit-
ing work output in order to create more jobs.
Furthermore, the bill forbade unions from using their
money to support political campaigns. When the bill
reached Truman, however, he vetoed it, arguing:
“ . . . [It would] reverse the basic direction of our

national labor policy, inject the government into pri-
vate economic affairs on an unprecedented scale, and
conflict with important principles of our democratic
society. Its provisions would cause more strikes, not
fewer.
”
The president’s concerns did little to sway

Congress, which passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947
over Truman’s veto. Its supporters claimed the law
CHAPTER 22 Postwar America 687

protect African Americans’ right to vote, abolish poll Perhaps the only one who gave Truman a chance
taxes, and make lynching a federal crime. He also to win was Truman himself. “I know every one of
issued an executive order barring discrimination in those 50 fellows,” he declared about the writers
federal employment, and he ended segregation in the polled in Newsweek. “There isn’t one of them has
armed forces. enough sense to pound sand in a rat hole.” Ignoring
Most of Truman’s legislative efforts, however, met the polls, the feisty president poured his efforts into
with little success, as a coalition of Republicans and an energetic campaign. He traveled more than 20,000
conservative Southern Democrats defeated many of miles by train and made more than 350 speeches.
his proposals. While these defeats angered Truman, Along the way, Truman attacked the majority
the president soon had to worry about other matters. Republican Congress as “do-nothing, good-for-
nothing” for refusing to enact his legislative agenda.
The Election of 1948 As the presidential election of Truman’s attacks on the “Do-Nothing Congress”
1948 approached, most observers gave Truman little did not mention that both he and Congress had been
chance of winning. Some Americans still believed very busy dealing with foreign policy matters.
that he lacked the stature for the job, and they viewed Congress had passed the Truman Doctrine’s aid pro-
his administration as weak and inept. gram to Greece and Turkey, as well as the Marshall
Divisions within the Democratic Party also Plan. It had also created the Department of Defense
seemed to spell disaster for Truman. At the and the CIA and established the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Democratic Convention that summer, two factions as a permanent organization. The 80th Congress,
abandoned the party altogether. Reacting angrily to therefore, did not “do nothing” as Truman charged,
Truman’s support of civil rights, a group of Southern but its accomplishments were in areas that did not
Democrats formed the States’ Rights, or Dixiecrat, affect most Americans directly. As a result, Truman’s
Party and nominated South Carolina governor charges began to stick, and to the surprise of almost
Strom Thurmond for president. At the same time, everyone, his efforts paid off.
the party’s more liberal members were frustrated by With a great deal of support from laborers, African
Truman’s ineffective domestic policies and critical of Americans, and farmers, Truman won a narrow but
his anti-Soviet foreign policy. They formed a new stunning victory over Dewey. Perhaps just as remark-
Progressive Party, with Henry A. Wallace as their able as the president’s victory was the resurgence of
presidential candidate. In addition, the president’s the Democratic Party. When the dust had cleared
Republican opponent was New York governor after Election Day, Democrats had regained control of
Thomas Dewey, a dignified and popular candidate both houses of Congress.
who seemed unbeatable. After polling 50 political
writers, Newsweek magazine declared three weeks GOVERNMENT
before the election, “The landslide for Dewey will
The Fair Deal Truman’s State of the Union message
sweep the country.”
to the new Congress repeated the domestic agenda
he had put forth previously. “Every segment of our
History population and every individual,” he declared, “has
African Americans Rally for Truman During the 1948 election, President a right to expect from . . . government a fair deal.”
Truman spoke at many rallies similar to this one in New York City. What legisla- Whether intentional or not, the president had coined
tive proposals by President Truman built African American political support? a name—the Fair Deal—to set his program apart
from the New Deal.
The 81st Congress did not completely embrace
Truman’s Fair Deal. Legislators did raise the legal
minimum wage to 75¢ an hour. They also approved
an important expansion of the Social Security system,
increasing benefits by 77 percent and extending them
to 10 million additional people. Congress also passed
the National Housing Act of 1949, which provided
for the construction of more than 800,000 units of
low-income housing, accompanied by long-term rent
subsidies.
Congress refused, however, to pass national health
insurance or to provide subsidies for farmers or
In
A victorious Truman holds a paper that
WASH. N.H. incorrectly predicted a Dewey victory.
8 VT. 4 ME.
MONT. N. DAK. MINN. 3 5
OREG. 4 4 11 MASS.
6 WIS. N.Y.
IDAHO S. DAK. 16
4 WYO. 4 12 MICH. 47 R.I.
3 19 PA. 4
NEV. NEBR. IOWA CONN.
10 OHIO 35 8
3 UTAH 6 ILL. IND. 25 W.
4 COLO. 28 13 VA. VA. N.J.
CALIF. 6 KANS. MO. KY. 8 16
25 8 11 DEL.
15 11
N.C.
ARIZ. N. MEX. OKLA. TENN.
1
14 MD. 3
4 10 ARK. 11 S.C. 8
4 9 ALA. GA. 8
MISS. 11 12
TEX. LA. 9
23 10
FLA.
8

Electoral Popular Political
Truman 303 24,179,345 Democrat
1. Interpreting Maps How many electoral votes did
Dewey 189 21,991,291 Republican
President Truman receive?
Thurmond 39 1,176,125 States´ Rights
2. Applying Geography Skills Where did Strom
Wallace 0 1,157,326 Progressive
Thurmond enjoy strong political support?
federal aid for schools. In addition, legislators opposed known as “Ike,” promised to end the war in Korea. “I
Truman’s efforts to enact civil rights legislation. like Ike” became the Republican rallying cry.
Eisenhower’s campaign soon came under fire as
Reading Check Describing What was the impact of
reports surfaced that Richard Nixon had received gifts
the election of 1948? from California business leaders totaling $18,000 while
he was a senator. For a while, it looked as if Nixon
might be dropped from the ticket. In a nationwide
The Eisenhower Years speech broadcast on radio and television, Nixon
In 1950 the United States went to war in Korea. insisted the funds had been used for legitimate political
The war consumed the nation’s attention and purposes. He did admit that his family had kept one
resources and basically ended Truman’s Fair Deal. gift, a cocker spaniel puppy named “Checkers.” He
By 1952, with the war a bloody stalemate and his declared, “The kids love the dog, [and] regardless
approval rating dropping quickly, Truman declined about what they say about it, we’re going to keep it.”
to run again for the presidency. With no Democratic This so-called “Checkers speech” won praise from
incumbent to face, Republicans pinned their hopes much of the public and kept Nixon on the ticket.
of regaining the White House on a popular World Eisenhower won the election by a landslide, carry-
War II hero. ing the Electoral College 442 votes to 89. The
Republicans also gained an eight-seat majority in the
The Election of 1952 Dwight Eisenhower decided House, while the Senate became evenly divided
to run as the Republican nominee for president in between Democrats and Republicans.
1952. His running mate was a young California
senator, Richard Nixon. The Democrats nominated Ike as President President Eisenhower had two
Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, a witty and elo- favorite phrases. “Middle of the road” described his
quent speaker who had the support of leading liber- political beliefs, which fell midway between conser-
als and organized labor. vative and liberal. He also referred to the notion of
The Republicans adopted the slogan: “It’s time for “dynamic conservatism,” which meant balancing
a change!” The warm and friendly Eisenhower, economic conservatism with some activism.

The Interstate System, 2000
Interstate Highways
As Cold War tensions rose, American
officials realized that the ability to move
troops and military equipment across
the country quickly and efficiently
Interstate
could very well determine whether highways (free)
the nation could survive attack. Interstate
highways (toll)
Since the haphazard system of two-
lane highways that crisscrossed
America could not handle such a task, the
Eisenhower administration proposed a More Efficient Distribution of Goods ➤
41,000-mile network of multi-lane inter- The interstates made the distribution of goods faster and more
state highways. The interstate system efficient. In the 1990s, trucks moved more than 6 billion tons of
changed American life in several signifi- goods each year, nearly half of all commercial transports in the
cant ways. United States. Most of these trucks used interstates.
Eisenhower wasted little time in showing his priations for the TVA fell from
conservative side. The new president’s cabinet $185 million to $12 million.
appointments included several business leaders. In some areas, President Eisenhower took an activist
Under their guidance, Eisenhower ended govern- role. For example, he advocated the passage of two
ment price and rent controls, which many conser- large government projects. During the 1950s, as the
vatives had viewed as unnecessary federal control number of Americans who owned cars increased, so
over the business community. The Eisenhower too did the need for greater and more efficient travel
administration viewed business growth as vital to routes. In 1956 Congress responded to this growing
the nation. The president’s secretary of defense, for- need by passing the Federal Highway Act, the largest
merly the president of General Motors, declared to public works program in American history. The act
the Senate that “what is good for our country is appropriated $25 billion for a 10-year effort to construct
good for General Motors, and vice versa.” more than 40,000 miles (64,400 km) of interstate high-
Eisenhower ’s conservatism showed itself in ways. Congress also authorized construction of the
other ways as well. In an attempt to curb the federal Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway to connect the Great
budget, the president vetoed a school construction Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean through a series of locks
bill and agreed to slash government aid to public on the St. Lawrence River. Three previous presidents
housing. Along with these cuts, he supported some had been unable to reach agreements with Canada to
modest tax reductions. build this waterway to aid international shipping.
Eisenhower also targeted the federal govern- Through Eisenhower’s efforts, the two nations finally
ment’s continuing aid to businesses, or what he agreed on a plan to complete the project.
termed “creeping socialism.” Shortly after taking
office, the president abolished the Reconstruction Extending the New Deal Although President
Finance Corporation (RFC), which since 1932 had Eisenhower cut federal spending and worked to limit
lent money to banks, railroads, and other large the federal government’s role in the nation’s econ-
institutions in financial trouble. Another omy, he also agreed to extend the Social Security
Depression-era agency, the Tennessee Valley system to an additional 10 million people. He
Authority (TVA), also came under Eisenhower ’s also extended unemployment compensation to an
economic scrutiny. During his presidency, appro- additional 4 million citizens and agreed to increase

➤ Suburbanization and Urban Sprawl
The interstate system contributed to the growth of suburban
communities and the eventual geographic spread of center-
less cities. Using the interstates, suburbanites could com-
mute to their jobs miles away.
A New Road Culture ➤

The interstates created an automobile society. In 1997, $687 bil-
lion were spent on private automobiles compared to $22.8 billion
for public transit. Additionally, chains of fast food restaurants and
motels replaced independent operators across the country.
The interstate highways drastically decreased the time it took to travel

Travel Times:
across the continent. In 1919 a young Dwight D. Eisenhower joined 294 Washington, D.C.,
other members of the army to travel the 2,800 miles from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco
to San Francisco. They made the trip in 62 days, averaging 5 miles per
hour. During World War II, General Eisenhower was impressed with the
modern design of Germany’s freeway system, the Autobahn. “The old
convoy,” he said, “had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways,
but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the 2,800 mile trip took 62 days in 1919
land.” Wide lanes and controlled entrance and exit points allowed cars to 2,800 mile trip takes 4 1/2 days today
travel at much higher speeds. Using the interstate highways, Eisenhower’s
trip would now take 41⁄2 days.
the minimum hourly wage from 75¢ to $1 and to con- policies would continue. In the meantime, however,
tinue to provide some government aid to farmers. most Americans focused their energy on enjoying
By the time Eisenhower ran for a second term in what had become a decade of tremendous prosperity.
1956—a race he won easily—the nation had success-
fully completed the transition from a wartime to a Reading Check Evaluating What conservative
peacetime economy. The battles between liberals and and activist measures did Eisenhower take during his
conservatives over whether to continue New Deal administration?
TM
TM

1. Define: closed shop, right-to-work law, 4. Interpreting In what ways did the Taft- 6. Analyzing Maps Study the map on
union shop, featherbedding, dynamic Hartley Act hurt labor unions? page 689. Which parts of the country
conservatism. 5. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer did Dewey win? Why do you think
2. Identify: GI Bill, “Do-Nothing to compare the agendas of the Truman he did so well in these areas?
Congress,” Fair Deal, Federal Highway and Eisenhower administrations.
Act.
Agendas Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
3. Economic Factors How did President Truman Eisenhower
of a member of Congress during the
Eisenhower aid international shipping
Truman administration. Write a speech
during his administration?
in which you try to persuade the 81st
Congress to either pass or defeat
Truman’s Fair Deal measures.

The Affluent Society
The postwar economic boom brought Sequencing As you read about • Explain the reasons for and the effects
great changes to society, including the American society in the 1950s, complete of the nation’s economic boom.
ways many Americans worked and lived. a time line similar to the one below by • Describe changes to the American fam-
recording the scientific and technological ily that took place during the 1950s.
Key Terms and Names breakthroughs of the time.
John Kenneth Galbraith, white-collar, Section Theme
blue-collar, multinational corporation, Continuity and Change Americans
franchise, David Riesman, Levittown, 1946 1958 became avid consumers in the atmos-
baby boom, Jonas Salk phere of postwar abundance.
✦1946 ✦1950 ✦1954 ✦1958

1947 1950 1955 1958
Construction of David Riesman’s The Salk polio vaccine John Kenneth Galbraith’s The
Levittown begins Lonely Crowd published becomes widely available Affluent Society published
In the summer of 1951, Kemmons Wilson traveled with his family from Memphis,
Tennessee, to Washington, D.C. He noticed that some of the motels they stayed in were ter-
rible. Each added a $2 charge per child to the standard room price, and many were located
far from restaurants, forcing travelers back into their cars to search for meals.
Frustrated, Wilson decided to build a motel chain that would provide interstate travel-
ers with comfortable lodgings. They would be located near good family restaurants and
allow kids to stay free. Together with a group of investors, Wilson began building the
Holiday Inn motel chain. Families loved his motels, and soon Holiday Inns were sprouting
up all over the country.
Wilson said he never doubted the success of his endeavor. “I like to think that I’m
so . . . normal that anything I like, everybody else is going to like too,” he said. “The
idea that my instincts are out of line just doesn’t occur to me.” His prosperity mirrored
a growing affluence in the nation. This time of prosperity made the shortages of the
Great Depression and World War II a distant memory.
Kemmons Wilson
on magazine cover —adapted from The Fifties
American Abundance
Wilson’s motel chain proved successful largely because the 1950s was a decade of
incredible prosperity. In 1958 economist John Kenneth Galbraith published The
Affluent Society, in which he claimed that the nation’s postwar prosperity was a new
phenomenon. In the past, Galbraith said, all societies had an “economy of scarcity,”

meaning that a lack of resources and overpopula- Some social observers recognized this phenomenon
tion had limited economic productivity. Now, the and disapproved of it. In his 1950 book, The Lonely
United States and a few other industrialized Crowd, sociologist David Riesman argued that this
nations had created what Galbraith called an conformity was changing people. Formerly, he
“economy of abundance.” New business tech- claimed, people were “inner-directed,” judging them-
niques and improved technology enabled these selves on the basis of their own values and the esteem
nations to produce an abundance of goods and of their families. Now, however, people were becom-
services for their people—all of which allowed ing “other-directed,” concerning themselves with win-
many of them to enjoy a standard of living never ning the approval of the corporation or community.
before thought possible. In his 1956 book The Organization Man, writer
William H. Whyte, Jr., assailed the similarity many
The Spread of Wealth Some critics accused business organizations cultivated in order to keep any
Galbraith of overstating the situation, but the facts individual from dominating. “In group doctrine,”
and figures seemed to support his theory. Between Whyte wrote, “the strong personality is viewed with
1940 and 1960, the average income of American fam- overwhelming suspicion,” and the person with ideas
ilies roughly tripled. Americans in all income brack- is considered “a threat.”
ets—poor, middle-class, and wealthy—experienced
this rapid rise in income. The dramatic rise in home The New Consumerism The conformity of the
ownership also showed that the income of average 1950s included people’s desires to own the same new
families had risen significantly. Between 1940 and products as their neighbors. With more disposable
1960, the number of Americans owning their own income, Americans bought more luxury items, such as
homes rose from about 43 to about 62 percent. refrigerators, washing machines, vacuum cleaners,
Accompanying the country’s economic growth and air conditioners. Americans also bought a variety
were dramatic changes in work environments. of labor-saving machines. As House and Garden maga-
Mechanization in farms and factories meant that fewer zine boasted in a 1954 article, coffeemakers, blenders,
farmers and laborers were needed to provide the pub- and lawn trimmers “[replaced] the talents of caretaker,
lic with food and goods. As a result, more Americans gardener, cook, [and] maid.”
began working in what are called white-collar jobs,
such as those in sales and management. In 1956, for
the first time, white-collar workers outnumbered
blue-collar workers, or people who perform physical
labor in industry.
Multinationals and Franchises Many white-collar

employees worked for large corporations. As these
businesses competed with each other, some expanded
overseas. These multinational corporations located
themselves closer to important raw materials and
benefited from a cheaper labor pool, which made
them more competitive.
The 1950s also witnessed the rise of franchises, in
which a person owns and runs one or several stores
of a chain operation. Because many business leaders
believed that consumers valued dependability and
familiarity, the owners of chain operations often
demanded that their franchises present a uniform “He never wastes a minute, J.P.—that’s his lunch.”
look and style.
The Organization Man Like franchise owners, Analyzing Political Cartoons

many corporate leaders also expected their employees
The Organization Man In the 1950s, more and more people worked
to conform to company standards. In general, corpora- in white-collar corporate jobs. Some social critics worried that this develop-
tions did not desire free-thinking individuals or people ment emphasized conformity. In what other ways did society encourage
who might speak out or criticize the company. people to conform?

The Baby Boom
27 soon other communities similar to Levittown
sprang up throughout the United States.
26
Suburbs became increasingly popular throughout
Live Births (per 1,000 people)
25 the 1950s, accounting for about 85 percent of new

24
home construction. The number of suburban dwellers
doubled, while the population of cities themselves
23 rose only 10 percent. Reasons for the rapid growth of
22 suburbia varied. Some people wanted to escape the
crime and congestion of city neighborhoods. Others
21 viewed life in the suburbs as a move up to a better life
20 for themselves and their children. In contrast to city
life, suburbia offered a more picturesque environ-
19
ment. As developers in earlier periods had done, the
18 developers of the 1950s attracted home buyers with
17
promises of fresh air, green lawns, and trees.
Affordability became a key factor in attracting
1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970
Year home buyers to the suburbs. Because the GI Bill
offered low-interest loans, new housing was more
affordable during the postwar period than at any
other time in American history. Equally attractive
was the government’s offer of income tax deductions
1. Interpreting Graphs When did the for home mortgage interest payments and property
rapid rise in population shown here taxes. For millions of Americans, the suburbs came to
reach its peak?
symbolize the American dream. They owned their
2. Analyzing Cause and Effect What
homes, sent their children to good schools, lived in
factors contributed to this rapid rise in
births? safe communities, and enjoyed economic security.
Nevertheless, some social commentators, such as
architect Lewis Mumford and writer John Keats,
viewed such plain and identical-looking communities
Accompanying the nation’s spending spree was the as another sign of conformity. “You too can find a box
growth of more sophisticated advertising. Advertising of your own,” wrote Keats, “inhabited by people
became the fastest-growing industry in the United whose age, income, number of children, problems,
States, as manufacturers employed new marketing habits, conversations, dress, possessions, perhaps
techniques to sell their products. These techniques even blood types are almost precisely like yours.”
were carefully planned to whet the consumer’s Reading Check Interpreting What were two causes
appetite. The purpose of these advertisers was to influ-
and effects of the economic boom of the 1950s?
ence choices among brands of goods that were essen-
tially the same. According to the elaborate advertising
campaigns of the time, a freezer became a promise of
plenty, a second car became a symbol of status, and a The 1950s Family
mouthwash became the key to immediate success. In addition to all the other transformations taking
place in the nation during the 1950s, the American
The Growth of Suburbia Advertisers targeted
family also was changing. Across the country, many
their ads to consumers who had money to spend.
families grew larger, and more married women
Many of these consumers lived in the nation’s grow- entered the workforce.
ing suburbs that grew up around cities.
Levittown, New York, was one of the earliest of The Baby Boom The American birthrate exploded
the new suburbs. The driving force behind this after World War II. From 1945 to 1961, a period known
planned residential community was Bill Levitt, who as the baby boom, more than 65 million children were
mass-produced hundreds of simple and similar- born in the United States. At the height of the baby
looking homes in a potato field 10 miles east of New boom, a child was born every seven seconds.
York City. Between 1947 and 1951, thousands of Several factors contributed to the baby boom. First,
families rushed to buy the inexpensive homes, and young couples who had delayed marriage during

World War II and the Korean War could now marry, computers—known as ENIAC (Electronic Numerical
buy homes, and begin their families. In addition, the Integrator and Computer)—to make military calcula-
government encouraged the growth of families by tions. Several years later, a newer model called
offering generous GI benefits for home purchases. UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) would
Finally, on television and in magazines, popular cul- handle business data and launch the computer revo-
ture celebrated pregnancy, parenthood, and large lution. The computer, along with changes and
families. improvements in communication and transportation
systems, allowed many Americans to work more
Women in the Fifties Many women focused on quickly and efficiently. As a result, families in the
their traditional role of homemaker during the 1950s. 1950s had more free time, and new forms of leisure
Even though 8 million American women had gone to activity became popular.
work during the war, the new postwar emphasis on
having babies and establishing families now discour- Medical Miracles The medical breakthroughs of
aged women from seeking employment. Many the 1950s included the development of powerful
Americans assumed that a good mother should stay antibiotics to fight infection; the introduction of new
home to take care of her children. drugs to combat arthritis, diabetes, cancer, and heart
“Let’s face it, girls,” declared one female writer in
Better Homes and Gardens in April 1955, “that wonder-
ful guy in your house—and in mine—is building
your house, your happiness and the opportunities
that will come to your children.” The magazine
advised stay-at-home wives to “set their sights on a
happy home, a host of friends and a bright future
through success in HIS job.”
Despite the popular emphasis on homemaking, The Incredible Shrinking Computer
however, the number of women who held jobs out-
side the home actually increased during the 1950s. Past: The First Computer
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was
Most women who went to work did so in order to the first large-scale digital computer. Operating from 1946
help their families maintain their comfortable to 1955, its primary function was to provide data for the
lifestyles. By 1960 nearly one-third of all married military. It weighed more than 30 tons and took up 1,800
women were part of the paid workforce. square feet—more than some houses!
Reading Check Evaluating What were three factors

that contributed to the baby boom?
Technological Breakthroughs
As the United States underwent many social
changes during the postwar era, the nation also wit-
nessed several important scientific advances. In
medicine, space exploration, and electronics, American
scientists broke new ground during the 1950s.
Advances in Electronics The electronics industry Present: Modern Marvels

made rapid advances after World War II. In 1947 Modern computers are very small and
three American physicists—John Bardeen, Walter H. very fast. Many personal comput-
Brattain, and William Shockley—developed the ers now fit easily in a briefcase or
backpack. They are also more
transistor, a tiny device that generated electric sig-
efficient. While the ENIAC could
nals and made it possible to miniaturize radios and perform approximately 5,000
calculators. calculations per second, the
The age of computers also dawned in the postwar typical home computer
era. In 1946 scientists working under a U.S. Army performs about 70
contract developed one of the nation’s earliest million calculations
per second—14,000
times faster!
History Because no one knew what caused the disease, par-
ents searched for ways to safeguard their families each
Polio Epidemic In the 1940s and 1950s, Americans were very concerned
summer. Some sent their children to the country to
about the wave of polio cases that struck so many young children. Here, devices
known as iron lungs help polio patients breathe. How did people try to safe- avoid excessive contact with others. Public swimming
guard against the spread of the disease? pools and beaches were closed. Parks and play-
grounds across the country stood deserted.
Nevertheless, the disease continued to strike. In 1952 a
disease; and groundbreaking advances in surgical record 58,000 new cases were reported.
techniques. Polio, however, continued to baffle the Finally, a research scientist named Jonas Salk
medical profession. developed an injectable vaccine that prevented
Periodic polio epidemics had been occurring in polio. Salk first tested the vaccine on himself, his
the United States since 1916. The disease had even wife, and his three sons. It was then tested on 2 mil-
struck the young Franklin Roosevelt and forced him lion schoolchildren. In 1955 the vaccine was declared
to use a wheelchair. In the 1940s and 1950s, however, safe and effective and became available to the gen-
polio struck the nation in epidemic proportions. eral public. The results were spectacular. New cases
Officially known as infantile paralysis because it of polio fell to 5,700 in 1958 and then to 3,277 in 1960.
generally targeted the young, the disease brought a American scientist Albert Sabin then developed an
wave of terror to the country. No one knew where or oral vaccine for polio. Because it was safer and more
when polio would strike, but an epidemic broke out convenient than Salk’s injection vaccine, the Sabin
in some area of the country each summer, crippling vaccine became the most common form of treatment
and killing its victims. People watched helplessly against the disease. In the years to come, the threat
while neighbors fell sick. Many died, and those who of polio would almost completely disappear.
did not were often confined to iron lungs—large
metal tanks with pumps that helped patients Conquering Space After the Soviet Union launched
breathe. If they eventually recovered, they were Sputnik, the world’s first space satellite, in October
often paralyzed for the rest of their lives. 1957, the United States hastened to catch up with its

Cold War rival. Less than four
months later, on January 31, 1958,
the United States launched its own
satellite from Cape Canaveral,
in History
Florida. Reporter Milton Bracker Dr. Jonas Salk
described the jubilant scene: 1914 –1995
The man who developed the vaccine
“As the firing command neared, a
deadly silence fell on those who were
for one of the nation’s most feared dis-
eases almost did not go into medicine.
watching. In the glare of the search- Jonas Salk enrolled in college as a pre-
lights, a stream of liquid oxygen could law student but soon changed his mind.
“My mother didn’t think I would make
be seen venting like a lavender cloud a very good lawyer,” Salk said, “proba-
from the side of the seventy-foot bly because I could never win an argu-
rocket. . . . At fourteen and one-half ment with her.” Salk switched his major
seconds after time zero, after the to premed and went on to become a can remember how the staff used to kid
research scientist. Dr. Salk—kidding in earnest—telling
priming fuel had ignited almost invisi- Salk initially directed the search for a him to hurry up and do something.”
bly, the main stage engine came to cure to the dreaded ailment of polio at Salk became famous for his break-
life with an immeasurable thrust of the University of Pittsburgh’s Virus through vaccine. The shy doctor, how-
Research Laboratory. Every so often, ever, did not desire fame. About his
flame in all directions. . . . With thou-
Salk would make rounds in the over- becoming a celebrity, Salk observed
sands of eyes following it, the rocket crowded polio wards of nearby that it was “a transitory thing and you
dug into the night and accelerated as Municipal Hospital, where nurses wait till it blows over. Eventually people
its sound loudened. Spectators on described their feelings of pity and will start thinking, ‘That poor guy,’ and
helpless rage as paralyzed children leave me alone. Then I’ll be able to get
near-by beaches pointed and craned cried for water. As one nurse said, “I back to my laboratory.”
their necks and cried, ‘There it is!’ and
began to cheer.
”
—quoted in Voices from America’s Past “You are whisked . . . from an ocean on one side of
the continent to an ocean on the opposite side in less
Meanwhile, engineers were building smoother time than it takes the sun to trace a 90-degree arc
and faster commercial planes. Poet Carl Sandburg across the sky.”
wrote about taking the first American jet flight from
New York to Los Angeles. The trip took only five and Reading Check Examining What medical and tech-
a half hours. “You search for words to describe the nological advances met specific needs in the late 1940s and
speed of this flight,” wrote an amazed Sandburg. 1950s?
TM
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1. Define: white-collar, blue-collar, multi- 5. Interpreting What caused the advertis- 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
national corporation, franchise, baby ing industry boom in the 1950s? photograph on page 696 of children
boom. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer suffering from polio. What do you think
2. Identify: John Kenneth Galbraith, David similar to the one below to list the it was like to live in such an environ-
Riesman, Levittown, Jonas Salk. causes and effects of the economic ment? Do Americans today face similar
3. Describe how and why the suburbs boom of the 1950s. medical fears?
became popular places to live. Boom

Causes Effects
4. Continuity and Change How was the 8. Descriptive Writing Write an article
affluent society of the United States in for a magazine such as Better Homes
the 1950s different from previous and Gardens describing changes the
decades? American family underwent during the
1950s.

Popular Culture
of the 1950s
During the carefree and prosperous Categorizing As you read about the • Explain the characteristics of the new
1950s, Americans turned to television, popular culture of the 1950s, complete a youth culture.
new forms of music, cinema, and litera- graphic organizer similar to the one • Discuss the contributions of African
ture to entertain themselves. below comparing new forms of mass Americans to 1950s culture.
media during the 1950s.
New Forms of Mass Media Description
Ed Sullivan, Alan Freed, Elvis Presley, gen- Culture and Traditions The 1950s
eration gap, Jack Kerouac, Little Richard added such elements as rock ’n’ roll
music and sitcom television to modern
culture.
✦1955 ✦1956 ✦1957 ✦1958

1955 1956 1957 1958
The quiz show The $64,000 Elvis Presley appears on the Ed Sullivan 40 million television sets in TV quiz show scandals
Question debuts Show; Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” published use in the United States begin to surface
In 1953 Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, were starring in one of the most
popular shows on American television, I Love Lucy. In January, Ball had a baby—both in real
life and on her show. Her pregnancy and the birth of her baby became a national event that
captivated her audience. A pre-filmed segment of the show showed Lucy and her husband
going to the hospital to have the baby, and the show was broadcast only a few hours after the
real birth. More than two-thirds of the nation’s television sets tuned in, an audience of around
44 million viewers. Far fewer people watched the next day when television broadcast a presi-
dential inauguration.
I Love Lucy was so popular that some people actually set up their work schedules around
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz the show. Marshall Field’s, which had previously held sales on the same night the show was
on, eventually switched its sales to a different night. A sign on its shop window explained,
“We love Lucy too, so we’re closing on Monday nights.” A relatively new medium, television
had swept the nation by the mid-1950s.
—adapted from Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television
The New Mass Media

Although regular television broadcasts had begun in the early 1940s, there were few
stations, and sets were expensive. By the end of the 1950s, however, the small, black-
and-white-screened sets sat in living rooms across the country. Television’s popularity

forced the other forms of mass media—namely besides the half-hour situation comedy. Many of the
motion pictures and radio—to innovate in order to early television comedy shows, such as those starring
keep their audiences. Bob Hope and Jack Benny, were adapted from popular
old radio shows. Benny enjoyed considerable televi-
The Rise of Television Popularity During World sion success with his routines of bad violin playing
War II, televisions became more affordable for con- and stingy behavior.
sumers. In 1946 it is estimated there were between Television watchers in the 1950s also relished
7,000 and 8,000 sets in the entire United States. By action shows. Westerns such as Hopalong Cassidy, The
1957 there were 40 million television sets in use. Over Lone Ranger, and Gunsmoke grew quickly in popular-
80 percent of households had televisions. ity. Viewers also enjoyed police programs such as
By the late 1950s, television news had become an Dragnet, a hugely successful show featuring Joe
important vehicle for information. Television advertis- Friday and his partner hunting down a new criminal
ing spawned a growing market for many new prod- each week.
ucts. Advertising, after all, provided television with Variety shows such as Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the
the money that allowed it to flourish. As one critic con- Town provided a mix of comedy, opera, popular song,
cluded, “Programs on television are simply a device to dance, acrobatics, and juggling. Quiz shows attracted
keep the advertisements and commercials from large audiences, too, after the 1955 debut of The
bumping loudly together.” Televised athletic events $64,000 Question. In this show and its many imitators,
gradually made professional and college sports one of two contestants tried to answer questions from sepa-
the most prominent sources of entertainment. rate glass-encased booths. The questions, stored
between shows in a bank vault, arrived at the studio
Comedy, Action, and Games Early television pro- at airtime in the hands of a stern-faced bank execu-
grams fell into several main categories including tive flanked by two armed guards. The contestants
comedy, action and adventure, and variety-style enter- competed head-to-head, with the winner returning
tainment. Laughter proved popular in other formats the following week to face a new challenger.
TV Nation
Television programming depicted a narrow view of
American culture in the 1950s. Most television shows
during these years centered around a common image of
American life—an image that was predominantly white,
middle-class, and suburban, epitomized by the popular
situation comedy The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie and
Such shows also reinforced traditional gender roles, Harriet
showing fathers working and mothers staying home to
raise children and take care of the house.
Westerns were also popular at the time, especially
The Lone Ranger, in which a mysterious masked man
helped people in distress. The Howdy
Doody Show, which featured
Buffalo Bob and his freckle-faced
marionette, was the first net-
work kids’ show to run
five days a week, the first tel-
evision show ever broadcast Tonto and the
Lone Ranger
in color, and the first show
ever to air more than 1,000
continuous episodes.
Howdy Doody
glasses that gave the impression that a monster or a
knife was lunging directly at them from off the
screen. Viewers, however, soon tired of both the
glasses and the often ridiculous plots of 3-D
Quick and Easy Eats Along with the television
movies.
came . . . TV dinners! Capitalizing on the television
Cinemascope, movies shown on large, panoramic
boom of the 1950s, these frozen individual meals
offered an entrée, a side dish or two, and a dessert, screens, finally gave Hollywood a reliable lure. Wide-
all on an aluminum tray divided into compartments. screen spectacles like The Robe, The Ten Command-
Not everyone actually ate TV dinners in front of ments, and Around the World in 80 Days cost a great
the television, but the meals were popular because deal of money to produce. These blockbusters, how-
they offered convenience. Noted one food industry ever, made up for their cost by attracting huge audi-
executive of the time, “When Mary Smith rushes ences and netting large profits. The movie industry
home from work late in the afternoon, she wants to also made progress by taking the “if you can’t beat
buy food that not only will ’em, join ’em” approach. Hollywood eventually
look pretty on the table began to film programs especially for television and
but is something she can also sold old movies, which could be rebroadcast
get ready in the half hour cheaply, to the networks.
before her husband Like television, the films of the fifties for the most
comes home for dinner.” part adhered to the conformity of the times. Roles for
single women who did not want families were few
and far between. For example, each of Marilyn
In 1956 the quiz show Twenty-One caused an Monroe’s film roles featured the blond movie star as
uproar across the nation after Charles Van Doren, a married, soon to be married, or unhappy that she
young assistant professor with a modest income, was not married.
won $129,000 during his weeks on the program. The Movies with African Americans routinely por-
viewing public soon learned, however, that Van trayed them in stereotypical roles, such as maids, ser-
Doren and many of the other contestants had vants, or sidekicks for white heroes. Even when
received the answers to the questions in advance. African Americans took leading roles, they were
Before a congressional committee in 1959, Van Doren often one-dimensional characters who rarely showed
admitted his role in the scandal and apologized to his human emotions or characteristics. African American
many fans, saying, “I was involved, deeply involved, actor Sidney Poitier resented having to play such
in a deception.” In the wake of the Twenty-One fraud, parts:
many quiz shows went off the air.
“ The black characters usually come out on the
screen as saints, as the other-cheek-turners, as peo-
Hollywood Adapts to the Times As the popular-
ity of television grew, movies lost viewers. ple who are not really people: who are so nice and
“Hollywood’s like Egypt,” lamented producer David good. . . . As a matter of fact, I’m just dying to play
Selznick in 1951. “Full of crumbling pyramids.”
While the film business may not have been collaps-
”
villains.
—quoted in The Fifties: The Way We Really Were
ing, it certainly did suffer after the war. Attendance
dropped from 82 million in 1946 to 36 million by
1950. By 1960, when some 50 million Americans Radio Draws Them In Television also lured away
owned a television, one-fifth of the nation’s movie radio listeners and forced the radio industry, like
theaters had closed. Hollywood, to develop new ways to win back audi-
Throughout the decade, Hollywood struggled ences. After television took over many of radio’s con-
mightily to recapture its audience. “Don’t be a cepts of comedies, dramas, and soap operas, for
‘Living Room Captive,’” one industry ad pleaded. example, many radio stations began to specialize in
“Step out and see a great movie!” When contests, presenting recorded music, news, talk shows,
door prizes, and an advertising campaign announc- weather, public-service programming, and shows for
ing that “Movies Are Better Than Ever” failed to specific audiences.
lure people out of their homes, Hollywood began to As a result of this targeted programming, radio
try to make films more exciting. Between 1952 and stations survived and even flourished. Their num-
1954, audiences of 3-D films received special bers more than doubled between 1948, when 1,680

stations were broadcasting to the nation, and 1957, Ohio, radio disc jockey Alan Freed noticed white
when more than 3,600 stations filled the airwaves. teenagers buying African American rhythm and blues
records and dancing to the music in the store. A week
Reading Check Identifying How did the television
later, Freed won permission from his station manager
industry affect the U.S. economy? to play the music on the air. Just as the disc jockey had
suspected, the listeners went crazy for it. Soon, white
artists began making music that stemmed from these
The New Youth Culture African American rhythms and sounds, and a new
While Americans of all ages embraced the new form of music, rock ’n’ roll, had been born.
mass media, some of the nation’s youth rebelled With a loud and heavy beat that made it ideal for
against such a message. During the 1950s, a number dancing along with lyrics about romance, cars, and
of young Americans turned their backs on the con- other themes that spoke to young people, rock ’n’ roll
formist ideals adult society promoted. Although grew wildly popular among the nation’s teens.
these youths were a small minority, their actions Before long boys and girls around the country were
brought them widespread attention. In general, these rushing out to buy the latest hits from such artists as
young people longed for greater excitement and free- Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and Bill Haley and the
dom, and they found an outlet for such feelings of Comets. In 1956 teenagers found their first rock ’n’
restlessness in new and controversial styles of music roll hero in Elvis Presley. Presley, who had been born
and literature. in rural Mississippi and grown up poor in Memphis,
Tennessee, eventually claimed the title of “King of
Rock ’n’ Roll In the early 1950s, rock ’n’ roll Rock ’n’ Roll.”
emerged as the distinctive music of the new genera- While in high school, Presley had learned to play
tion. In 1951 at a record store in downtown Cleveland, guitar and sing by imitating the rhythm and blues
MOMENT
in HISTORY
THE KING OF ROCK

Elvis Presley, shown here sign-
ing autographs after a per-
formance in Houston, took
American youth in the 1950s
by storm. Parents, on the
other hand, were less than
thrilled with his music—a
blend of African American-
inspired rhythm and blues
and early rock ’n’ roll—and
his hip-swiveling gyrations
on stage. For Presley’s first
appearance on The Ed Sullivan
Show, the host insisted that
cameras show him only from
the waist up. Elvis added to his
fame by starring in a string of
films that audiences loved but
critics panned.

The rock ’n’ roll hits that teens bought in record
numbers united them in a world their parents did
not share. Thus in the 1950s rock ’n’ roll helped to
create what became known as the generation gap, or
the cultural separation between children and their
parents.
The Beat Movement If rock ’n’ roll helped to create

a generation gap, a group of mostly white artists who
called themselves the beats highlighted a values gap
in the 1950s United States. The term beat may have
come from the feeling among group members of
being “beaten down” by American culture, or from
jazz musicians who would say, “I’m beat right down
to my socks.”
The beats sought to live unconventional lives as
Jack Kerouac
fugitives from a culture they despised. Beat poets,
writers, and artists harshly criticized what they con-
music he heard on the radio. By 1956 Elvis had a sidered the sterility and conformity of American life,
record deal with RCA Victor, a movie contract, and the meaninglessness of American politics, and the
public appearances on several television shows. At emptiness of popular culture.
first the popular television variety show host Ed In 1956, 29-year-old beat poet Allen Ginsberg
Sullivan refused to invite Presley on, insisting that published a long poem called “Howl,” which blasted
the rock ’n’ roll music was not fit for a family- modern American life. Another beat member, Jack
oriented show. When a competing show featuring Kerouac, published On the Road in 1957. Although
Presley upset his own high ratings, however, Kerouac’s book about his freewheeling adventures
Sullivan relented. He ended up paying Presley with a car thief and con artist shocked some readers,
$50,000 per performance for three appearances, the book went on to become a classic in modern
more than triple the amount he had paid any other American literature.
performer. Reading Check Summarizing How did rock ’n’ roll
The dark-haired and handsome Presley owed his
help create the generation gap?
wild popularity as much to his moves as to his music.
During his performances he would gyrate his hips
and dance in other suggestive ways that shocked
many in the audience. Presley himself admitted the African American Entertainers
importance of this part of his act: While artists such as Jack Kerouac rejected
American culture, African American entertainers
“ I’m not kidding myself. My voice alone is just an
ordinary voice. What people come to see is how I use
struggled to find acceptance in a country that often
treated them as second-class citizens. With a few
it. If I stand still while I’m singing, I’m dead, man. I notable exceptions, television tended to shut out
might as well go back to driving a truck.
” African Americans. In 1956, NBC gave a popular
African American singer named Nat King Cole his
—quoted in God’s Country: America in the Fifties
own 15-minute musical variety show. In 1958, after
Not surprisingly, parents—many of whom listened 64 episodes, NBC canceled the show after failing to
to Frank Sinatra and other more mellow and main- secure a national sponsor for a show hosted by an
stream artists—condemned rock ’n’ roll as loud, African American.
mindless, and dangerous. The city council of San African American rock ’n’ roll singers had more
Antonio, Texas, actually banned rock ’n’ roll from the luck gaining acceptance. The talented African
jukeboxes at public swimming pools. The music, the American singers and groups who recorded hit
council declared, “attracted undesirable elements songs in the fifties included Chuck Berry, Ray
given to practicing their gyrations in abbreviated Charles, Little Richard, and the Drifters. The latter
bathing suits.” A minister in Boston complained that years of the 1950s also saw the rise of several
“rock and roll inflames and excites youth.” African American women’s groups, including the

Little Richard
Fats Domino
History
African American Entertainers Rhythm and blues music provided the

roots of the 1950s rock ’n’ roll sound. Did African American rock ’n’ roll
artists experience the same acceptance as artists like Elvis Presley? Why
or why not?
Crystals, the Chiffons, the Shirelles, and the music transformed generations of rock ’n’ roll bands
Ronettes. With their catchy, popular sound, these that were to follow him and other pioneers of rock.
groups became the musical ancestors of the famous Despite the innovations in music and the eco-
late 1960s groups Martha and the Vandellas and nomic boom of the 1950s, not all Americans were part
the Supremes. of the affluent society. For much of the country’s
Over time, the music of the early rock ’n’ roll artists minorities and rural poor, the American dream
had a profound influence on music throughout the remained well out of reach.
world. Little Richard and Chuck Berry, for example,
provided inspiration for the Beatles, whose music Reading Check Evaluating What impact did
swept Britain and the world in the 1960s. Elvis’s American rock ’n’ roll artists have on the rest of the world?
TM
TM

1. Define: generation gap. 5. Comparing How did the themes of tel- 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Ed Sullivan, Alan Freed, Elvis evision shows of the 1950s differ from photographs on pages 698 and 699.
Presley, Jack Kerouac, Little Richard. the themes of the literature of the beat Many people have criticized these tele-
3. Explain what happened to motion pic- movement? vision programs for presenting a one-
tures and radio when television became 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer sided view of American life. Do you
popular. similar to the one below to list the agree with this criticism? Why or why
styles of music and literature that made not?
Reviewing Themes up the new youth culture of the 1950s.
4. Culture and Traditions What roles did
African Americans play in television and New Youth Writing About History
rock ’n’ roll? Culture
8. Expository Writing Imagine you are a
beat writer in the 1950s. Explain to your
readers how the themes you write
about are universal themes that could
apply to everyone.

N O T E B O O K
VERBATIM
“ It will make a wonderful place

for the children to play in, and it
will be a good storehouse, too.
MRS. RUTH CALHOUN, ”
mother of three, on her backyard
fallout shelter, 1951
“ Riddle: What’s college?

That’s where girls who are above
cooking and sewing go to meet
a man they can spend their lives
cooking and sewing for.
”
ad for Gimbel’s department store
campus clothes, 1952
“ Radioactive poisoning
of the atmosphere and hence
annihilation of any life on Earth
has been brought within the range
of technical possibilities.
”
BETTMANN/CORBIS
ALBERT EINSTEIN,
physicist, 1950
Profile
JAMES DEAN had a brief but spectacular career as a film star. His
“ If the television craze
continues with the present level
role in Rebel Without a Cause made him an icon for American youth of programs, we are destined to
in the mid-50s. In 1955 Dean was killed in a car crash. He was 24.
“I guess I have as good an insight into this rising generation as any
have a nation of morons.
”
DANIEL MARSH,
President of Boston University, 1950
other young man my age. Therefore, when I do play a youth, I try
to imitate life. Rebel Without a Cause deals with the problems
of modern youth. . . . If you want the kids to come and see the picture,
“ Every time the Russians throw
an American in jail, the House
you’ve got to try to reach them on their own grounds. If a picture is Un-American Activities Committee
psychologically motivated, if there is truth in the relationships in it, throws an American in jail to
then I think that picture will do good.”
—from an interview for Rebel Without a Cause
get even.
” MORT SAHL,
comedian, 1950s
WINNERS & LOSERS

POODLE CUTS THE DUCKTAIL
Short, curly hairstyle gains wide Banned in several Massachusetts
popularity and acceptance schools in 1957
TV GUIDE COLLIER’S
New weekly magazine achieves The respected magazine loses
circulation of 6.5 million by 1959 circulation, publishes its final
edition on January 4, 1957
PALMER PAINT COMPANY LEONARDO DA VINCI’S

OF DETROIT THE LAST SUPPER
ARCHIVE PHOTOS
Sells 12 million paint-by-number kits Now everyone can paint their own
SUPER STOCK
ranging from simple landscapes and portraits copy to hang in their homes
Poodle Cut to Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper The Ducktail

AN AGE OF PROSPERITY: 1945–1960
1 9 5 0 s WO R D P L AY NUMBERS 1957
Translation, Please!
Match the word to its meaning. 3¢ Cost of first-class
Teen-Age Lingo postage stamp
1. cool a. a dull person, an outsider
2. hang loose b. worthy of approval 19¢ Cost of loaf of bread
3. hairy c. formidable
4. yo-yo d. don’t worry answers: 1. b; 2. d; 3. c; 4. a 25¢ Cost of issue of
Sports Illustrated
Be Prepared 35¢ Cost of movie ticket

“Know the Bomb’s True Dangers.
Know the Steps You Can Take to
Escape Them!—You Can Survive.” 50¢ Cost of gallon of
Government pamphlet, 1950 milk (delivered)
DIGGING YOUR OWN BOMB SHELTER?

Better go shopping. Below is a $2.05 Average hourly wage
BETTMANN/CORBIS
list of items included with the $3,000

Mark I Kidde Kokoon, designed to $2,845 Cost of new car
accommodate a family of five for a
three- to five-day underground stay.
Bomb Shelter
air blower chemical toilet first aid kit

radiation detector toilet chemicals waterless hand
POPPERFOTO/ARCHIVE PHOTO
protective apparel (2 gallons) cleaner
suit bunks (5) sterno stove
face respirator mattresses and canned water
radiation charts (4) blankets (5) (10 gallons)
hand shovel combi- air pump (for canned food (meat,
nation (for digging blowing up powdered milk,
out after the blast) mattresses) cereal, sugar, etc.) $5,234 Median income
gasoline driven incandescent paper products for a family of four
generator bulbs (2) 40 watts
gasoline (10 gallons) fuses (2) 5 amperes $19,500
Median price to buy a home
clock—non-electric
American
( )
MILLIONS
Scene, 1950–1960
35.5 4.0 3.8 6.6 5.8
24.3
2.0 2.8
1.8
1.5
1950 1960 1950 1960 1950 1960 1950 1960 1950 1960
Children 5–14 Girl Scouts & Brownies Bicycle Production National Forest Campers Outboard Motors in Use

The Other Side of
American Life
Not everyone in the United States pros- Taking Notes As you read about social • Identify those groups that found them-
pered during the nation’s postwar boom, problems in the United States in the 1950s, selves left out of the American eco-
as millions of minorities and rural whites use the major headings of the section to nomic boom following World War II.
struggled daily with poverty. create an outline similar to the one below. • Explain the factors that contributed to
the poverty among various groups.
Key Terms and Names The Other Side of American Life
I. Poverty Amidst Prosperity Section Theme
poverty line, Michael Harrington, urban A.
renewal, Bracero program, termination B. Continuity and Change For some
C.
policy, juvenile delinquency D. groups, poverty continued during the
E. apparent abundance of the 1950s.
II.
✦1953 ✦1956 ✦1959 ✦1962

1953 1955 1959 1962
Federal government institutes termination Rudolf Flesch’s Why Johnny A Raisin in the Sun Michael Harrington’s The
policy directed at Native Americans Can’t Read published opens on Broadway Other America published
In 1959 Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, opened on Broadway. The play
told the story of a working-class African American family struggling against poverty and
racism. The title referred to a Langston Hughes poem that wonders what happens to an unre-
alized dream: “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” Hansberry’s play won the New York
Drama Critics Circle Award for the best play of the year. Reflecting later upon the play’s
theme, she wrote:
“ Vulgarity, blind conformity, and mass lethargy need not triumph in the land of Lincoln
and Frederick Douglass. . . . There is simply no reason why dreams should dry up like raisins
or prunes or anything else in the United States. . . . I believe that we can impose beauty on
Lorraine Hansberry
”
our future.
—adapted from To Be Young, Gifted, and Black
Poverty Amidst Prosperity

The booming 1950s saw a tremendous expansion of the middle class. In 1950, about
1 in 3 Americans were poor. By 1959, only 1 in 5 were poor. Despite these dramatic
gains, about 30 million people still lived below the poverty line, a figure set by the gov-
ernment to reflect the minimum income required to support a family. Such poverty

remained invisible to most Americans, who assumed often in the name of urban improvement, the
that the country’s general prosperity had provided wrecking ball destroyed poor people’s homes to
everyone with a comfortable existence. The writer make way for roadways, parks, universities, tree-
Michael Harrington, however, made no such lined boulevards, or shopping centers.
assumptions. During the 1950s, Harrington set out to
chronicle poverty in the United States. In his book, African Americans Many of the citizens left behind
The Other America, published in 1962, he alerted those in the cities as families fled to the suburbs were
in the mainstream to what he saw in the run-down African American. The large number of African
and hidden communities of the country: American inner city residents resulted largely from the
migration of more than 3 million African Americans
“ Tens of millions of Americans are, at this very
moment, maimed in body and spirit, existing at levels
from the South to the North between 1940 and 1960.
Many African Americans had migrated in the
beneath those necessary for human decency. If these hopes of finding greater economic opportunity and
people are not starving, they are hungry, and some- escaping violence and racial intimidation. For many
times fat with hunger, for that is what cheap foods of these migrants, however, life proved to be little
do. They are without adequate housing and educa- better in Northern cities. Fewer and fewer jobs were
available as numerous factories and mills left the
tion and medical care.
” cities for suburbs and smaller towns in order to cut
—from The Other America their costs. Long-standing patterns of racial discrimi-
nation in schools, housing, hiring, and salaries in the
The poor included single mothers and the elderly;
North kept inner-city African Americans poor. The
minority immigrants such as Puerto Ricans and
last hired and the first fired for good jobs, they often
Mexicans; rural Americans, black and white; and
remained stuck in the worst-paying occupations. In
inner city residents, who remained stuck in crowded
1958 African American salaries, on average, equaled
slums as wealthier citizens fled to the suburbs.
only 51 percent of what whites earned.
Poverty also gripped many Americans in the nation’s
Appalachian region, which stretches from
Pennsylvania to Georgia, as well as Native History
Americans, many of whom endured grinding
Inner-City Poverty This young African American girl in Chicago’s inner
poverty whether they stayed on reservations or city struggles to fill a bowl with water that has frozen due to lack of heat.
migrated to cities. Why did the numbers of poor in the country’s inner cities grow in the
1950s?
ECONOMICS
The Decline of the Inner City The poverty in the
1950s was most apparent in the nation’s urban cen-
ters. As white families moved to the suburbs, many
inner cities became home to poorer, less educated
minority groups. The centers of many cities deterio-
rated, because as the middle class moved out, their
tax money went with them. This deprived inner cities
of the tax dollars necessary to provide adequate pub-
lic transportation, housing, and other services.
When government tried to help inner city resi-
dents, it often made matters worse. During the 1950s,
for example, urban renewal programs tried to elimi-
nate poverty by tearing down slums and erecting new
high-rise buildings for poor residents. The crowded,
anonymous conditions of these high-rise projects,
however, often created an atmosphere of violence.
The government also unwittingly encouraged the res-
idents of public housing to remain poor by evicting
them as soon as they began to earn any money.
In the end, urban renewal programs actually
destroyed more housing space than they created. Too
Poverty and racial discrimination also deprived laborers] work ten-eleven-twelve hour days in tem-
many African Americans of other benefits, such as peratures over one hundred degrees. Sometimes
decent medical care. Responding to a correspondent there is no drinking water. . . . Women and children
who had seen A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry work on ladders and with hazardous machinery.
wrote, “The ghettos are killing us; not only our Babies are brought to the field and are placed in ‘cra-
dreams . . . but our very bodies. It is not an abstrac- dles’ of wood boxes.”
tion to us that the average [African American] has a Away from the fields, many Mexican families
life expectancy of five to ten years less than the aver- lived in small, crudely built shacks, while some did
age white.” Several African American groups, such not even have a roof over their heads. “They sleep
as the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality where they can, some in the open,” Harrington noted
(CORE), pressed for greater economic opportunity about one group of migrant workers. “They eat when
for African Americans. In general, however, these they can (and sometimes what they can).” The nation
organizations met with little success. would pay little attention to the plight of Mexican
farm laborers until the 1960s, when the workers
Hispanics African Americans were not the only began to organize for greater rights.
minority group that struggled with poverty. Much of
the nation’s Hispanic population faced the same
Native Americans Native Americans also faced
problems. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the
challenges throughout the postwar era of prosperity.
Bracero program brought nearly 5 million Mexicans
By the middle of the 1900s, Native Americans—who
to the United States to work on farms and ranches in
made up less than one percent of the population—
the Southwest. The Braceros were temporary contract
were the poorest group in the nation. Average annual
workers, and many later returned home. Some came
family income for Native American families, for exam-
with their families, however, and about 350,000 set-
ple, was $1,000 less than that for African Americans.
tled permanently in the United States.
After World War II, during which many Native
These laborers, who worked on large farms
American soldiers had served with distinction, the
throughout the country, lived a life of extreme
U.S. government launched a program to bring Native
poverty and hardship. They toiled long hours for
Americans into mainstream society—whether they
little pay in conditions that were often unbearable. As
wanted to assimilate or not. Under the plan, which
Michael Harrington noted, “[The nation’s migrant
became known as the termination policy, the federal
government withdrew all official recognition of the
History Native American groups as legal entities and made
them subject to the same laws as white citizens. At
Vocational Training Native American Franklin Beaver learns to become a
stone mason at this vocational school sponsored by the U.S. Indian Bureau. the same time, the government encouraged Native
Why was the government trying to bring Native Americans into mainstream Americans to blend in to larger society by helping
society? them move off the reservations to cities such as
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Although the idea of integrating Native Americans
into mainstream society began with good intentions,
some of its supporters had more selfish goals.
Speculators and developers sometimes gained rich
farmland at the expense of destitute Native American
groups.
Most Native Americans found termination a dis-
astrous policy that only deepened their poverty. In
the mid-1950s, for example, the Welfare Council of
Minneapolis described Native American living con-
ditions in that city as miserable. “One Indian family
of five or six, living in two rooms, will take in rela-
tives and friends who come from the reservations
seeking jobs until perhaps fifteen people will be
crowded into the space,” the council reported.
During the 1950s, Native Americans in Minneapolis
could expect to live only 37 years, compared to 46
History flour-and-dried-milk paste of surplus foods. . . . The
men who are no longer needed in the mines and the
Poverty in Appalachia This mining family lived in the kind of extreme
farmers who cannot compete . . . have themselves
poverty that was often overlooked in the 1950s. Eight people lived in this
three-room house lined with newspaper. Why was infant mortality so become surplus commodities in the mountains.”
high in Appalachia? A host of statistics spoke to Appalachia’s misery.
Studies revealed high rates of nutritional deficiency
and infant mortality. Appalachia had fewer doctors
years for all Minnesota Native Americans and 68 per thousand people than the rest of the country, and
years for other Minneapolis residents. Benjamin the doctors it did have were older than their counter-
Reifel, a Sioux, described the widespread despair parts in other areas. In addition, schooling in the
that the termination policy produced: region was considered even worse than in inner city
slums.
“ The Indians believed that when the dark clouds of
war passed from the skies overhead, their rising tide Reading Check Identifying Which groups of people
of expectations, though temporarily stalled, would were left out of the country’s economic boom of the 1950s?
again reappear. Instead they were threatened by ter-
mination. . . . Soaring expectations began to plunge.
Termination took on the connotation of extermination Juvenile Delinquency
for many.
” During the 1950s, many middle-class white
Americans found it easy to ignore the poverty and
—quoted in The Earth Shall Weep
racism that afflicted many of the nation’s minorities,
since they themselves were removed from it. Some
Appalachia The nation’s minorities were not the social problems, however, became impossible to
only people dealing with poverty. The picturesque ignore.
streams and mountains of Appalachia hid the ruined One problem at this time was a rise in, or at least a
mines, scarred hills, and abandoned farms of impov- rise in the reporting of, juvenile delinquency—anti-
erished families who had dwelled in these hills for social or criminal behavior of young people. Between
generations. 1948 and 1953, the United States saw a 45 percent rise
During the 1950s, 1.5 million people abandoned in juvenile crime rates. A popular 1954 book titled
Appalachia to seek a better life in the nation’s cities. 1,000,000 Delinquents correctly calculated that in the
They left behind elderly and other less mobile resi- following year, about 1 million young people would
dents. “Whole counties,” wrote one reporter who vis- get into some kind of criminal trouble. Car thefts
ited the region, “are precariously held together by a topped the list of juvenile crimes, but people were

and racial lines—the majority of car thieves, for
example, had grown up in middle-class homes.
Most teens, of course, steered clear of gangs,
drugs, and crime. Nonetheless, the public
tended to stereotype young people as juvenile
delinquents, especially those teens who favored
unconventional clothing, long hair, or street
slang.
Many parents were also growing concerned
over the nation’s educational system. As baby
boomers began entering the school system, they
ignited a spurt in school construction. During the
1950s, school enrollments increased by 13 mil-
Rebelling Against Conformity This biker, one of the Louisville “Outlaws,” fits the
stereotype of the 1950s juvenile delinquent.
lion. School districts struggled to erect new build-
ings and hire new teachers. Nevertheless,
also alarmed at the behavior of young people who shortages sprang up in both buildings and the people
belonged to street gangs and committed muggings, to staff them.
rape, and even murder. Americans’ education worries only intensified in
Americans could not agree on what had triggered 1957 after the Soviet Union launched the world’s first
the rise in delinquency. Experts blamed it on a host space satellites, Sputnik I and Sputnik II. Many
of reasons, including poverty, lack of religion, tele- Americans felt they had fallen behind their Cold War
vision, movies, comic books, racism, busy parents, a enemy and blamed what they felt was a lack of techni-
rising divorce rate, and anxiety over the military cal education in the nation’s schools. Life magazine
draft. Some cultural critics claimed that young proclaimed a “Crisis in Education,” and offered a grim
people were rebelling against the hypocrisy and warning: “What has long been an ignored national
conformity of their parents. Conservative commen- problem, Sputnik has made a recognized crisis.” In the
tators pinned the blame on a lack of discipline. wake of the Sputnik launches, efforts began to improve
Doting parents, complained Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, math and science education in the schools. Profound
had raised bored children who sought new thrills, fears about the country’s young people, it seemed,
such as “alcohol, marijuana, even murder.” Liberal dominated the end of a decade that had brought great
observers preferred to pinpoint social causes, blam- progress for many Americans.
ing teen violence on poverty and feelings of
hopelessness among underprivileged youths. Reading Check Evaluating How did many
Delinquency in the 1950s, however, cut across class Americans feel about the education system of the 1950s?
TM
TM

1. Define: poverty line, urban renewal, 5. Interpreting What were some possible 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
termination policy, juvenile reasons for a dramatic rise in juvenile photograph on this page. What in the
delinquency. delinquency in the 1950s? photograph might attract young people
2. Identify: Michael Harrington, Bracero 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to this type of life? Why would others
program. similar to the one below to list the groups oppose such a life?
3. Evaluate how the federal government’s of Americans who were left out of the
termination policy affected Native country’s postwar economic boom.
Americans.
Reviewing Themes Groups of 8. Expository Writing Using library or
Low-Income
4. Continuity and Change Why did urban Americans Internet resources, find information
renewal fail the poor of the inner cities? about juvenile delinquency in the United
States today to write a report. Compare
today’s problems with those of the
1950s. Share your report with the class.

Study and Writing
Writing a Journal
Why Learn This Skill? thousands of eyes following it, the rocket dug into
Journal writing is personal writing with a casual the night and accelerated as its sound loudened.
style. The style in which you write is not as impor- Spectators on nearby beaches pointed and craned
tant as what you write about—your experiences, their necks and cried, ‘There it is!’ and began to
interests, and feelings. Journal writing can help you cheer.”
generate new ideas, and it can also give you a 1 What is particularly interesting about this
clearer picture of your thoughts and help you put description?
them in order. 2 What are your feelings as you read the excerpt?
3 Note the descriptive phrases and details that
Learning the Skill make the event come to life. Try to use similar
A journal is a written account that records what techniques when writing in your journal.
you have learned or experienced. In a journal you 4 Draw a map or other visual to help you under-
can express your feelings about a subject, summa- stand the situation described here.
rize key topics, describe difficulties or successes in
solving particular problems, and draw maps or
other visuals. To help you get started writing in
your journal, follow these steps.
• Jot down notes or questions about a specific topic
or event as you read your textbook. Then look for
details and answers about it as you continue
reading.
• Describe your feelings as you read a selection or
look at a photograph. Are you angry, happy, frus-
trated, or sad? Explain why you are reacting in
this way. Cover from a
World War II
• Ask yourself if drawing a map or flowchart journal
would help you understand an event better. If so, Skills Assessment
draw in your journal.
Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
Practicing the Skill Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
The following excerpt is a journal entry describ-
ing the launching of the nation’s first satellite in
1958. Read the excerpt, and then use the following Applying the Skill
questions to help you write entries in your own Writing a Journal Imagine that you have had the
journal. chance to take part in a great adventure—for instance,
“As the firing command neared, a deadly silence serving in the armed forces during a war overseas or
fell on those who were watching. . . . At fourteen participating in a spaceflight. Make notes for a journal
and one-half seconds after time zero, after the entry describing what you have done and seen.
priming fuel had ignited almost invisibly, the main
stage engine came to life with an immeasurable Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
thrust of flame in all directions. . . . With CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
711
Reviewing Key Terms 20. How did the scientific discovery of the transistor affect
communications?
21. Which groups of Americans found themselves left out of the
1. closed shop 9. franchise postwar economic boom?
2. right-to-work law 10. baby boom
3. union shop 11. generation gap Critical Thinking
4. featherbedding 12. poverty line 22. Analyzing Themes: Continuity and Change How has mass
media changed since the 1950s?
5. dynamic conservatism 13. urban renewal
23. Evaluating What factors led to a rise in juvenile delinquency
6. white-collar 14. termination policy in the United States during the 1950s?
7. blue-collar 15. juvenile delinquency 24. Comparing and Contrasting Harry S Truman was a
8. multinational corporation Democrat, and Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Republican. How
were the domestic agendas of these two presidents different?
Reviewing Key Facts How were they similar?
16. Identify: GI Bill, Fair Deal, John Kenneth Galbraith, David 25. Interpreting Primary Sources George Gallup, one of the
Riesman, Ed Sullivan, Alan Freed, Elvis Presley, Jack Kerouac, nation’s first pollsters, spoke at the University of Iowa in 1953
Michael Harrington. about the importance of mass media in the United States.
Read the excerpt and answer the questions that follow.
17. What were three characteristics of the economy of the
United States after World War II? “ One of the real threats to America’s future place in
the world is a citizenry which duly elects to be enter-
18. What were two reasons for the economic boom of the
1950s? tained and not informed. From the time the typical citi-
19. What caused many Americans to move to the suburbs in the zen arises and looks at his morning newspaper until he
1950s? turns off his radio or television set before going to bed,
Signs of Prosperity Signs of Inequality

• The GI Bill provided loans to millions of war • Workers went on strike for higher wages.
Economy veterans. • Truman’s civil rights bill did not pass.
• Consumer spending increased rapidly. • Eisenhower cut back New Deal programs.
• More Americans owned homes than ever before.
• The U.S. population grew dramatically. • Financially able people moved from crowded
Population • The number of working women increased. cities to new suburbs.
Patterns • Many poor people remained in cities that now
faced major economic and social problems.
• Medical breakthroughs included the polio • Many poor people in inner cities and rural
Science, vaccine, antibiotics, and treatments for heart areas had limited access to health care.
disease, arthritis, cancer, and diabetes.
Technology,
and Medicine • Improvements in communication,
transportation, and electronics allowed
Americans to work more efficiently.
• Popular culture included new forms of music, • African Americans and other minorities were,
Popular radio, cinema, and literature. for the most part, not depicted on television.
Culture • Television replaced radio as the nation’s newest • Many television programs promoted
form of mass media. stereotypical gender roles.
HISTORY Suburban Dwellers, 1910—1980
50
Percent of Total Population

Self-Check Quiz 45
35
30
25
20
he has unwittingly cast his vote a hundred times for 15
entertainment or for education. Without his knowing it, 10
he has helped to determine the very character of our 5
0
three most important media of communication—the
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980
”
press, radio, and television. . . .
Year
—quoted in Vital Speeches of the Day Source: The First Measured Century.
a. According to Gallup, what is a threat to the future of the

United States in the world?
b. How do American citizens determine what is read, seen,
and heard in the mass media? 30. Research Project Work with a small group to research
advertisements from the 1950s. Write a report comparing
26. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one and contrasting advertisements from that decade with adver-
below to list the changes to the American family during the tisements today. Present one or more of the advertisements
1950s. along with your comparisons to your class.
Changes to American Family

31. The graph above shows the number of suburban dwellers in
the United States as a percentage of the total population.
Study the data displayed in the graph and answer the ques-
tions below.
a. Interpreting Graphs What trend in the percentage of
Practicing Skills suburban dwellers does this graph show?
27. Writing a Journal Imagine that you are Dr. Jonas Salk, and b. Understanding Cause and Effect How might the trend
you realize that you have just discovered the world’s first of suburban dwellers shown on this graph have affected
successful polio vaccine. Write a journal entry that describes life in suburbs and cities?
how you feel about this accomplishment and what impact it
will have on the world.
Writing Activity Standardized

28. Writing a Book Report Read one of the books about Test Practice
American society in the 1950s, such as Why Johnny Can’t Directions: Choose the phrase that best
Read or The Other America. Write a book report explaining completes the following statement.
the main concepts of the book and whether or not the issues
are similar to or different from the main issues in American Which of the following did the Eisenhower administration
society today. work to achieve?
F Fixing wage and price controls
Chapter Activities G Defeating the Federal Highway Act
29. American History Primary Source Document Library H Repealing right-to-work laws
CD-ROM Read the speech “On Television” by Newton J Extending the Social Security system
Minow, under The Postwar World. Working with a few of
your classmates, evaluate whether television has improved Test-Taking Tip: Pay careful attention to the wording of the
since Minow’s critical assessment. Has television content question. Note that three of the four answer choices were
changed since the 1950s? If so, how? Present your findings not part of Eisenhower’s programs.
and comparisons to your class.

A Time of
Upheaval 1954–1980
W hy It Matters
From a presidential assassination to massive
governmental programs, from the Vietnam
War to the civil rights movement, the
post–World War II decades immensely
affected the lives of Americans. The nation
struggled to put its social and political ideals
into practice while fighting military wars over-
seas and social wars at home. Understanding
how these events unfolded provides a window
to the world you live in today. The following
resources offer more information about this
period in American history.
Primary Sources Library Poster from the

See pages 936–937 for primary source March on Washington

find additional primary sources about this
eventful era.
Mural on building in
Davenport, Iowa
714
“What we won when all of our
people united . . . must not now
be lost in suspicion, distrust,
selfishness, and politics. . . .”
—Lyndon Johnson, 1968
The
New Frontier
and the
Great Society
1961–1968
Why It Matters
President John F. Kennedy urged Americans to work for progress and to stand firm against the
Soviets. Cold War tensions and the threat of nuclear war peaked during the Cuban missile crisis.
Kennedy’s assassination changed the nation’s mood, but President Lyndon Johnson embraced
ambitious goals, including working toward the passage of major civil rights legislation and
eradicating poverty.
The Impact Today

Initiatives introduced in this era remain a part of American society.
• Medicaid and Medicare legislation provides major health benefits for elderly and
low-income people.
• The Head Start program provides early educational opportunities for disadvantaged children.

video, “A New Frontier: The Space Race,” explores the dramatic history
of the American space program.
November 1963
• Kennedy
assassinated;
Lyndon Johnson
April 1961 becomes president
• Bay of Pigs invasion December 1961
• Presidential Commission June 1963
on the Status of Women • Kennedy visits
created Berlin Wall
October 1962
• Cuban missile crisis
▲
Kennedy L. Johnson
1961–1963 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ 1963–1969
1960 1962 1964
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1959 April 1961
• Cuban revolution • Eichmann goes on August 1961 1964
brings Castro to trial for crimes • Construction of • South Africa’s
power against Jews Berlin Wall Nelson Mandela
begins sentenced to life
in prison
716
President John F. Kennedy at his inaugural ball in 1961
March 1968
• Lyndon Johnson
announces that he will
July 1965 October 1966 not run for re-election
• Congress establishes • Fair Packaging and
Medicare and Labeling Act passed
Medicaid programs HISTORY
• Indira Gandhi becomes • Student riots
prime minister of India paralyze France
717
The New Frontier
John F. Kennedy encountered both Categorizing As you read about the • Summarize Kennedy’s economic
success and setbacks on the domestic presidency of John F. Kennedy, complete policies.
front. a graphic organizer similar to the one • Explain why Congress often did not
below by filling in the domestic support Kennedy’s proposals.
Key Terms and Names successes and setbacks of Kennedy’s
missile gap, New Frontier, Earl Warren, administration. Section Theme
reapportionment, due process Civic Rights and Responsibilities The
Successes Setbacks Supreme Court made decisions that pro-
tected individual rights, including the
“one man, one vote” decision.
✦1960 ✦1961 ✦1962 ✦1963

1960 1961 1962 1963
John Kennedy defeats Richard Kennedy creates Presidential Commission Supreme Court issues Kennedy signs Equal
Nixon for the presidency on the Status of Women Baker v. Carr ruling Pay Act for women
On September 26, 1960, at 9:30 P.M. eastern standard time, streets all across the
United States grew strangely still. An estimated 75 million people sat indoors, focused
on their television sets, where they saw two men standing behind lecterns. One was
John F. Kennedy, and the other was Richard M. Nixon.
For the first time, thanks to the wonders of television, two presidential candidates
were coming right into the nation’s living rooms to debate. Americans were
enthralled: “You hear each man directly,” observed one. “There’s nothing between
you and what he says,” added another. “You can see which man gets rattled easily.”
The man who seemed to get rattled easily was Nixon. Kennedy, the Democratic
nominee, looked healthy, strong, and confident. Nixon, the Republicans’ choice, came
across as tired and frazzled. “He appeared ill,” one viewer commented. In fact, Nixon had
been ill recently. Kennedy had a glowing tan, while Nixon’s face was pale and drawn,
shadowed by the stubble of a beard. As one observer noted, “Nixon’s eyes darted around,
perspiration was clearly noticeable on his chin, and with the tight shots . . . these things
were more obvious.”
—adapted from The Great Debate
John F. Kennedy and Richard
Nixon in the 1960 debate

The television debates of the 1960 presidential election had enormous impact. Following
the first debate, the media focused more strongly on the appearance of the candidates.
Suddenly the whole country seemed to have become experts on makeup and tele-
718 CHAPTER 23 The New Frontier and the Great Society

vision lighting. One Republican leader even won- warned that the Democrats’ fiscal policies would
dered if the Democrats had supplied Nixon’s makeup. boost inflation, and that only he had the necessary
With that debate, the era of television politics had foreign policy experience to guide the nation.
begun. Though television had been used in cam- Kennedy came under scrutiny about his religion.
paigns as early as 1948, it was not until the 1960 elec- The United States had never had a Catholic president,
tion that a large majority of voters used the medium and many Protestants had concerns about Kennedy.
as a voting tool. The nation itself seemed on the brink Kennedy decided to confront this issue openly in a
of a new age. Having lived through a decade of speech. “I believe in an America where the separation
unprecedented prosperity and the onset of the Cold of the church and state is absolute,” he said, “where
War and the atomic age, Americans looked to the no Catholic prelate would tell the president, should
future with excitement and anxiety. he be a Catholic, how to act.”
Both candidates shared the desire to lead the The four televised debates strongly influenced the
nation through the challenges of a new decade, but outcome of the election, one of the closest in
they differed in many ways. Kennedy, a Catholic, American history. Kennedy won the popular vote by
came from a wealthy and influential Massachusetts 119,000 out of 68 million votes cast and the Electoral
family. Nixon, a Quaker, was a Californian from a College by 303 votes to 219. In several states only a
financially struggling family. Kennedy seemed out- few thousand votes could have swung the Electoral
going and relaxed, while Nixon struck many as for- College numbers the other way.
mal and even stiff in manner.
Reading Check Identifying What were two main
issues of the 1960 presidential election?
A New Kind of Campaign Compared to earlier cam-
paigns, the 1960 presidential race made new use of tel-
evision, with both major parties spending substantial
amounts of money on television ads. The Democrats The Kennedy Mystique
spent over $6 million in television and radio spots, Despite his narrow victory, John F. Kennedy, com-
while the Republicans spent more than $7.5 million. monly referred to as JFK, captured the imagination of
Not everyone was happy with this new emphasis the American public as few presidents before him
on image. Television news commentator Eric Sevareid had. During the campaign, many had been taken
complained that the candidates had become “pack- with Kennedy’s youth and optimism. The new presi-
aged products,” and he stated that “the Processed dent strongly reinforced this impression when he
Politician has finally arrived.” gave his Inaugural Address.
Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961, was crisp and
The Main Issues The campaign centered on the cold in Washington, D.C. At the site of the ceremony,
economy and the Cold War. Although the candidates a crowd gathered, wrapped in coats and blankets. As
presented different styles, they differed little on these Kennedy rose to take the oath of office, he wore nei-
two issues. Both promised to boost the economy, and ther a coat nor a hat. During his speech, the new pres-
both portrayed themselves as “Cold Warriors” deter- ident declared, “The torch has been passed to a new
mined to stop the forces of communism. generation,” and he called on his fellow citizens to
Kennedy argued that the nation faced serious take a more active role in making the United States a
threats from the Soviets. In Cuba, Fidel Castro was better place. “My fellow Americans,” he exclaimed,
allying himself with the Soviet Union. At home, many “ask not what your country can do for you—ask
people lived in fear of a Soviet nuclear attack. what you can do for your country.”
Kennedy voiced his concern about a suspected Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline, their children
“missile gap,” in which the United States lagged Caroline and John, and their large extended family
behind the Soviets in weaponry. (Decades later, seemed to have been created for media coverage.
Americans learned that, in fact, the only area where the Reporters followed the family everywhere.
Soviet Union was briefly ahead was in rocketry). The
nation, Kennedy argued, had grown complacent and Kennedy tie clasp (left) and Nixon pendant
aimless. “It is time to get this country moving again.” from 1960 presidential campaign
Nixon countered that the United States was on the
right track under the current administration. “I’m
tired of hearing our opponents downgrade the
United States,” the vice president said. Nixon also
would soon find that transforming lofty ideals into
real legislation was no easy task on Capitol Hill.
Kennedy Struggles With Congress Although the

Democratic Party enjoyed large majorities in both
houses of Congress, Kennedy was unable to push
through many of his domestic programs. Kennedy had
trailed Nixon in many Democratic districts and had
not helped many Democrats get elected. Those who
did win, therefore, did not feel they owed him any-
thing. As one Democrat in Congress told U.S. News &
World Report, “A good many [congressional representa-
tives] were elected in 1960 in spite of his presence on
the ticket rather than because his name was there.” As
History a result, legislators found it easy to follow their own
The Kennedy White House Jacqueline Kennedy (center right) brought
interests rather than those of the president.
youthful elegance and style to the White House. Why do you think the media In addition, Republicans as well as conservative
scrutinized the First Family so much? Southern Democrats—who were responsible for hold-
ing the Democratic majority in Congress—viewed the
Kennedy himself was a master of the media, particu- New Frontier as too big and too costly. Senator Everett
larly television. He was the first to broadcast his press Dirksen, Republican minority leader from Illinois,
conferences live on television. claimed that Kennedy’s efforts to increase the power
The Kennedy charisma inspired many of his staff and reach of the federal government would push the
members. His press secretary, Pierre Salinger, put this nation down an ominous path.
feeling into words: In the end, Congress defeated a number of JFK’s
proposals, including health insurance for the elderly,
“ None of us will ever have a better job as long as
we live. . . . The big plus—the fringe benefit that
a Department of Urban Affairs, and federal aid to
education. The president often resisted calls to push
made it all worthwhile—was JFK himself. . . . Our harder for his agenda. He decided not to fight every
faith in him and in what he was trying to do was battle on Capitol Hill and preferred to reserve his
absolute, and he could impart to our work together a bargaining power for issues that were both truly
sense of challenge and adventure—a feeling that he important and winnable.
was moving, and the world with him, toward a better
ECONOMICS
time.
” Strengthening the Economy Kennedy did achieve
—quoted in With Kennedy
some victories in Congress, particularly in his efforts
Reading Check Summarizing In what ways did to improve the nation’s economy. The American
John F. Kennedy inspire the nation? economy, which had soared through much of the
1950s, had slowed by the end of the decade. From
1960 to 1961, the growth rate of the gross national
Success and Setback on the product was only 2 percent, while the unemploy-
ment rate hovered near 7 percent of the workforce,
Domestic Front the second-highest figure since World War II.
Not everyone in the nation fell for the Kennedy In an effort to increase growth and create more
mystique. His high culture, elite Northeast jobs, Kennedy advocated the New Deal strategy of
upbringing, and Catholicism irritated some deficit spending, first implemented during Franklin
Americans. Congress also was less than taken with Roosevelt’s presidency. The new president convinced
the new president. Upon entering office, President Congress to invest more funds in defense and in space
Kennedy set out to implement a legislative agenda, exploration. Such spending did indeed create more
which became known as the New Frontier. He jobs and stimulate economic growth. Reluctant to rely
hoped to increase aid to education, provide health too heavily on deficit spending, which tends to cause
insurance to the elderly, create a Department of inflation, Kennedy also sought to boost the economy
Urban Affairs, and help migrant workers. He by increasing business production and efficiency. In

addition, his administration asked businesses to hold Warren Court Reforms
down prices and labor leaders to hold down pay
During the Kennedy years, the Supreme Court also
increases.
took an active role in social issues. In 1953 President
Prodded by Secretary of Labor Arthur Goldberg,
Eisenhower had nominated Earl Warren, the popular
labor unions in the steel industry agreed to reduce
Republican governor of California, to become Chief
their demands for higher wages. In 1962, however,
Justice of the United States. More so than previous
several steel companies raised prices sharply.
courts, the Warren Court took an activist stance, help-
The president threatened to have the Department
ing to shape national policy by taking a forceful stand
of Defense buy cheaper steel from foreign companies
on a number of key issues of the day.
and instructed the Justice Department to investigate
whether the steel industry was guilty of price-fixing.
GOVERNMENT
In response to Kennedy’s tactics, the steel companies
backed down and cut their prices. To achieve this vic- “One Man, One Vote” One of the Warren Court’s
tory, however, the president had strained his rela- more notable decisions had a powerful impact on
tions with the nation’s business community. who would hold political power in the United States.
In an effort to get the economy moving, Kennedy This decision concerned reapportionment, or the way
also adopted supply-side ideas and pushed for a cut in in which states draw up political districts based on
changes in population. By 1960 many more
tax rates. When opponents argued that a tax cut would
Americans resided in cities and suburbs than in rural
only help the wealthy, Kennedy asserted that lower
areas. Yet many states had failed to restructure their
taxes meant businesses would have more money to
electoral districts to reflect that change.
expand, which would create new jobs and benefit
In Tennessee, for example, a rural county with only
everybody. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” Kennedy
2,340 voters had 1 representative in the state assem-
explained, as a way to illustrate how tax cuts would
bly, while an urban county with 133 times more voters
stimulate the economy and help all Americans.
had only 7. The vote of a city dweller counted for less
Congress refused to pass the tax cut because many
than the vote of a rural resident. Some Tennessee vot-
members feared it would cause inflation. However,
ers took the matter to court.
they did support Kennedy’s request to raise the
The Baker v. Carr case reached the Supreme Court
minimum wage and his proposal for an Area
after a federal court ruled that the issue should be
Redevelopment Act and a Housing Act. These two pro-
grams provided funds to poor areas. They helped to
clear slums, create jobs, and build low-income housing.
Women’s Rights Kennedy also helped women

make strides during the 1960s. Although Kennedy Camelot In December 1960, Camelot, a musical
never appointed a woman to his cabinet, a number of starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, opened
women worked in prominent positions in his admin- on Broadway in New York City. The Kennedys
istration, including Esther Peterson, assistant secre- attended the show, which told the legend of the
tary of labor and director of the Women’s Bureau of heroism of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
the Department of Labor. Table, and so enjoyed it that they listened to the
Kennedy advanced women’s rights in other ways as music often. The president’s favorite song included
well. In 1961 he created the Presidential Commission the lines: “Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a
on the Status of Women. The commission called for spot, for one brief shining moment that was known
federal action against gender discrimination and as Camelot.”
affirmed the right of women to equally paid employ- In later years, the Kennedy presidency became
ment. Kennedy responded by issuing an executive known as “Camelot,” largely because of Mrs.
Kennedy. Shortly after the president’s death in 1963,
order ending gender discrimination in the federal civil
she told a journalist that all she could think about
service, and in 1963 he signed the Equal Pay Act for
was the president’s favorite line. She went on to say:
women. The commission also sparked the creation of “There’ll be great presidents again, . . . but there’ll
similar groups on the state level and inspired many never be another Camelot again.” Journalist
women to work together to further their interests. Theodore H. White later wrote that “all she could
repeat was, ‘Tell people there will never be that
Reading Check Evaluating Why did Kennedy have Camelot again.’”
difficulty getting his New Frontier legislation passed?
CHAPTER 23 The New Frontier and the Great Society 721

Major Decisions of the Warren Court, 1954–1967
Civil Rights
Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Segregation in public schools unconstitutional
Baker v. Carr (1962) Established that federal courts can hear lawsuits
seeking to force state authorities to redraw
electoral districts
Reynolds v. Sims (1964) State legislative districts should be equal in population
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964) Desegregation of public accommodations established in
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is legal
Loving v. Virginia (1967) States may not ban interracial marriage
Due Process
Mapp v. Ohio (1961) Unlawfully seized evidence is inadmissible at trial
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) Suspects are entitled to court-appointed attorney
if unable to afford one on their own
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) Accused has the right to an attorney during police questioning
Miranda v. Arizona (1966) Police must inform suspects of their rights during the
arrest process
Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech
Engel v. Vitale (1962) State-mandated prayer in school banned
Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) State-mandated Bible readings in school banned
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) Celebrities may sue the media for libel only in certain
circumstances
1. Interpreting Charts Analyze the effects Brown v.

Board of Education and Reynolds v. Sims had on the
solved by legislation. The Fourteenth Amendment nation.
specifically gives Congress authority to enforce vot- 2. Summarizing What three major areas of policy did
ing rights. In 1962 the Supreme Court ruled that the the Warren Court’s decisions affect?
federal courts did have jurisdiction and sent the mat-
ter back to the lower courts. ; (See page 962 for more
information on Baker v. Carr.) applied only to the federal government. Many states
Two years later, in June 1964, the Supreme Court had their own bill of rights, but some federal rights
ruled in Reynolds v. Sims that the current apportion- did not exist at the state level. The Fourteenth
ment system in most states was indeed unconstitu- Amendment specifically stated that “no state
tional. In a decision that helped to promote the shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop-
principle of “one man, one vote,” the Warren Court erty without due process of law.” Due process means
required state legislatures to reapportion electoral dis- that the law may not treat individuals unfairly, arbi-
tricts so that all citizens’ votes would have equal trarily, or unreasonably, and that courts must follow
weight. The Court’s decision was a momentous one, proper procedures and rules when trying cases. Due
for it shifted political power throughout the country process ensures that all people are treated the same
from rural and often conservative areas to urban areas, by the court system. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court
where more liberal voters resided. The Court’s decision ruled in several cases that upholding due process
also boosted the political power of African Americans meant applying the federal bill of rights to the states.
and Hispanics, who typically lived in cities. ; (See page In 1961 the Supreme Court ruled in Mapp v. Ohio
964 for more information on Reynolds v. Sims.) that state courts could not consider evidence
obtained in violation of the federal Constitution. In
Extending Due Process In a series of historic rul- Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Court ruled that a
ings in the 1960s, the U.S. Supreme Court began to defendant in a state court had the right to a lawyer,
use the Fourteenth Amendment to apply the Bill of regardless of his or her ability to pay. The following
Rights to the states. Originally, the Bill of Rights year, in Escobedo v. Illinois, the justices ruled that a

suspect must be allowed access to a lawyer and must
be informed of his or her right to remain silent before
being questioned by the police. Miranda v. Arizona
(1966) went even further, requiring that authorities
immediately give suspects a fourfold warning. The
warning consisted of informing suspects that they
have the right to remain silent, that anything they say
can and will be used against them in court, that they
have a right to a lawyer while being questioned, and
that if they cannot afford a lawyer, the court will
appoint one for them. Today these warnings are
known as the Miranda rights. ; (See pages 963–964 for
more information on Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright,
Escobedo v. Illinois, and Miranda v. Arizona.)
Many citizens and police departments and even Activist Court The Warren Court poses for its official portrait in 1962,
some of the Supreme Court justices accused the with Chief Justice Earl Warren front and center.
Warren Court of favoring criminals. Others cheered
the decisions, seeing them as promoting the rights As with most rulings of the Warren Court, these
of all citizens, even the less privileged. decisions delighted some and deeply disturbed
others. What most people did agree upon, however,
Prayer and Privacy The Supreme Court also was the Court’s pivotal role in shaping national
handed down decisions affecting the relationship policy. The Warren Court, wrote New York Times
between church and state. The Court applied the columnist Anthony Lewis, “has brought about
First Amendment to the states in Engel v. Vitale (1962). more social change than most Congresses and most
In this ruling, the Court decided that states could not Presidents.”
compose official prayers and require those prayers to From the political arena to the legal system to
be recited in state public schools. The following year, people’s everyday lives, the Warren Court indeed left
in Abington School District v. Schempp, it ruled against its imprint on the nation. Meanwhile, away from the
state-mandated Bible readings in public schools. domestic arena, President Kennedy worked to make
Weighing in on another controversial issue, the Court his mark on the country’s foreign affairs during a time
ruled in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) that prohibit- of rising Cold War tensions.
ing the sale and use of birth control devices violated
citizens’ constitutional right to privacy. ; (See pages Reading Check Examining What was the signifi-
962–963 for more information on these Supreme Court cases.) cance of the Warren Court’s “One Man, One Vote” ruling?
TM
TM

1. Define: missile gap, reapportionment, 5. Interpreting In what way was the 1960 7. Analyzing Charts Study the chart of
due process. presidential election a turning point in Warren Court decisions on page 722.
2. Identify: New Frontier, Earl Warren. campaign history? How did the Court expand the rights of
3. Summarize the progress made for 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer the accused? Were these sound deci-
women’s rights during Kennedy’s similar to the one below to list the sions? Why or why not?
administration. economic policies of the Kennedy
administration.
Reviewing Themes
4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities Writing About History
Name three decisions of the Warren Economic 8. Expository Writing In his Inaugural
Court that protected civil rights. Policies
Address, President Kennedy asked his
fellow Americans to “Ask what you can
do for your country.” Respond to this
statement in an essay.

JFK and the Cold War
As president, John F. Kennedy had to Sequencing As you read about the crises • Describe Kennedy’s plan for the armed
confront the challenges and fears of the of the Cold War, complete a time line forces.
Cold War. similar to the one below to record the • Explain how the Cold War influenced
major events of the Cold War in the late foreign aid and the space program.
Key Terms and Names 1950s and early 1960s.
flexible response, Peace Corps, space Section Theme
race, Berlin Wall, Warren Commission Science and Technology During the
Jan. Aug.
1959 1963 Cold War, the nation devoted much of its
scientific and technological resources to
competing with the Soviet Union, espe-
cially in getting to the moon.
✦1961 ✦1962 ✦1963 ✦1964

April 1961 May 1961 October 1962 September 1963 November 22, 1963
Bay of Pigs invasion Kennedy informs Congress of Cuban missile crisis Senate ratifies Limited Kennedy assassinated
moon expedition goal Test Ban Treaty
Like millions of other Americans in late October 1962, Tami Gold was having trouble con-
centrating on anything. For several tension-filled days that fall, the world seemed headed for
nuclear destruction. U.S. officials had discovered that the Soviet Union had placed missiles in
Cuba—a mere 90 miles (145 km) from the shores of the United States. When the Soviets
refused to remove the weapons, a bitter weeklong standoff ensued in which the two super-
powers hurled threats and warnings at each other and moved to the brink of nuclear war.
Gold, then a seventh-grade student in Long Island, New York, recalled the events of one
particular day:
“ I remember I was in the bathroom of the school . . . when they had said over the loud
speaker . . . that everyone had to return to their homerooms immediately and get instruction
from their homeroom teacher. And it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life, it
was like the sensation that our country could go to war and I didn’t understand at all what it
was about, but the fact that the country could go to war at any moment was really really
Emergency water supplied
by Department of Defense
present. . . . It was chilling, it was scary, it was really nauseating. . . .
”
—quoted in Collective Memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy Confronts Global Challenges

The Cuban missile crisis, as the standoff came to be called, may have been the most
dramatic foreign policy episode Kennedy faced. It was not the only one, however. As
Kennedy entered the White House, the nation’s dangerous rivalry with the Soviet
Union continued to intensify.

Kennedy appeared ready to stand up to the To improve relations between the United States
Soviets. Upon taking the oath of office, the new pres- and Latin America, President Kennedy proposed an
ident devoted much of his Inaugural Address to the Alliance for Progress, a series of cooperative aid
role of the United States in a divided world: projects with Latin American governments. The
alliance was designed to create a “free and prosper-
“ Let the word go forth from this time and
place . . . that the torch has been passed to a new
ous Latin America” that would be less likely to sup-
port Communist-inspired revolutions.
generation of Americans—born in this century, tem- Over a 10-year period, the United States pledged
pered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, $20 billion to help Latin American countries establish
proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to wit- better schools, housing, health care, and fairer land
ness or permit the slow undoing of those human distribution. The results were mixed. In some coun-
rights to which this nation has always been commit- tries—notably Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and the
ted. . . . Let every nation know, whether it wishes us Central American republics—the alliance did pro-
mote real reform. In others, governing rulers used the
well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any bur-
money to keep themselves in power.
den, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose
any foe, to assure the survival and the success of The Peace Corps Another program aimed at helping
”
liberty.
—quoted in Let the Word Go Forth
less developed nations fight poverty was the Peace
Corps, an organization that sent young Americans to
perform humanitarian services in these countries.
A More Flexible Response Kennedy took office at a After rigorous training, volunteers spent two
time of growing global instability. Nationalism was years in countries that had requested assistance.
exploding throughout the developing world, and the They laid out sewage systems in Bolivia and trained
Soviet Union actively supported “wars of national lib- medical technicians in Chad. Others taught English or
eration.” Newsweek magazine wrote that the “greatest helped to build roads. By late 1963 thousands of Peace
single problem that faces John Kennedy is how to Corps volunteers were serving in over 30 countries.
meet the aggressive power of the Communist bloc.” Today, the Peace Corps is still active and remains one
Kennedy felt that Eisenhower had relied too heav- of Kennedy’s most enduring legacies.
ily on nuclear weapons, which could only be used in
extreme situations. To allow for a “flexible response” TECHNOLOGY
if nations needed help against Communist move-
ments, the president pushed for a buildup of conven- The Cold War Moves Into Space In 1961 Yuri
tional troops and weapons. Gagarin, a Soviet astronaut, became the first person to
In adopting this plan, Kennedy supported the orbit the earth. Again, as in 1957 when they launched
Special Forces, a small army unit created in the 1950s Sputnik, the first satellite, the Soviets had beaten the
to wage guerrilla warfare in limited conflicts. United States in the space race. President Kennedy
Kennedy expanded it and allowed the soldiers to worried about the impact of the flight on the Cold
wear their distinctive “Green Beret” headgear. War. Soviet successes in space might convince the
world that communism was better than capitalism.
Aid to Other Countries One area of the world where “Is there any place we can
Kennedy wanted to renew diplomatic focus was Latin catch them?” Kennedy asked
America. Conditions in much of Latin American soci- Vice President Johnson.
ety were not good: Governments were often in the After consulting experts,
HISTORY
hands of the wealthy few and many of their citizens Johnson gave Kennedy an
lived in extreme poverty. In some Latin American idea. Less than six weeks Student Web
countries, these conditions spurred the growth of left- after the Soviet flight, the
Activity Visit the
American Republic
wing movements aimed at overthrowing their govern- president appeared before
ments. When the United States was involved in Latin Congress. “Whatever man-
tarvol2.glencoe.com
America, it was usually to help existing governments kind must undertake, free and click on Student
stay in power in order to prevent Communist move- men must fully share,” Web Activities—
ments from flourishing. Poor Latin Americans resented Kennedy announced. “I be- Chapter 23 for an
this intrusion, just as they resented American corpora- lieve that this nation should activity on the New
tions that had business operations in their countries, a commit itself to achieving Frontier.
presence that was seen as a kind of imperialism. the goal, before this decade

The Space Program
In 1962 President Kennedy responded to those
who questioned the nation’s effort to reach the
moon: “But why, some say, the moon? Why
choose this as our goal? And they may well ask,
why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35
years ago, fly the Atlantic? . . . We choose to Buzz Aldrin on the moon, July 1969
go to the moon. We choose to go to the
moon in this decade and do the other things,
New Products ➤
not because they are easy, but because they
By the time Neil Armstrong and Buzz
are hard, because that goal will serve to
Aldrin walked on the moon, NASA had
organize and measure the best of our spent over $33 billion. Since then, the
energies and skills, because that challenge space program has greatly benefited
is one that we are willing to accept, one Americans. Space research has led to
we are unwilling to postpone, and one many new products, technologies, and
which we intend to win. . . .” manufacturing processes.
The Saturn V moon rocket is the

most powerful rocket ever built.
is out, of landing a man on the moon.” Armstrong announced: “That’s one small step for
Kennedy’s speech set in motion a massive effort by man, one giant leap for mankind.” American technol-
NASA and American industry to produce the neces- ogy and determination had reached out across
sary technology. In early 1962 John Glenn became the 238,000 miles to put men on the moon. America had
first American to orbit the earth. By 1965 American won the space race and decisively demonstrated its
spacecraft had begun carrying two men at a time into technological superiority over the Soviet Union.
orbit. Three years later the United States launched
Reading Check Examining What global challenges
three men into orbit in a capsule called Apollo. Apollo
was launched using the Saturn V, the largest and most did Kennedy face during his presidency?
powerful rocket ever built. Standing 363 feet (111 m)
tall, the Saturn V was capable of giving both Apollo
and the lunar module—which astronauts would use Crises of the Cold War
to land on the moon—enough velocity to escape President Kennedy’s efforts to combat Communist
Earth’s gravitational pull and reach the moon. influence in other countries led to some of the most
On July 16, 1969, a Saturn V lifted off a launch pad intense crises of the Cold War. At times these crises
in Florida carrying three American astronauts: Neil left Americans and people in many other nations
Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael wondering whether the world would survive.
Collins. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin boarded
their lunar module, named Eagle, and headed down The Bay of Pigs The first crisis occurred in Cuba,
to the moon. After a few tense minutes, Armstrong only 90 miles (145 km) from American shores. There,
radioed the NASA flight center in Texas: “Houston . . . Fidel Castro had overthrown the corrupt Cuban dic-
the Eagle has landed.” tator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Almost immediately,
Armstrong opened the hatch and climbed down to Castro established ties with the Soviet Union, insti-
the surface, becoming the first human being to walk tuted drastic land reforms, and seized foreign-owned
on the moon. As he set foot on the lunar soil, businesses, many of them American. Cuba’s alliance

➤
Assistance for People With Disabilities
The NASA tele-operator and robot technology was used to develop a voice-
controlled wheelchair and manipulator. Using a minicomputer, the wheel-
chair responds to 35 single-word voice commands, helping physically
challenged people perform tasks like picking up packages, opening
doors, and turning on appliances.
Increased Safety ➤
Remote-controlled robots reduce human
injury levels because they can perform
hazardous tasks men and women used
to carry out. Robots can also perform
operations no human being ever could,
such as volcano research on the Puna
Ridge of Kilauea, Hawaii.
A communications satellite now in develop-

ment will provide better telephone, television, and
data service between western Europe, the Americas,
and Africa. Another communications satellite has improved
ship-to-shore communications, which used to be interrupted
frequently by bad weather.
with the Soviets worried many Americans. The plot to overthrow a neighbor’s government and
Communists were now too close for comfort, and made the United States look weak and disorganized.
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had indicated he
would strengthen Cuba’s military. The Berlin Wall Goes Up Still reeling from the Bay
Fearing that the Soviets would use Cuba as a of Pigs fiasco, Kennedy faced another foreign policy
base to spread revolution throughout the Western challenge in June 1961 when he met with
Hemisphere, President Eisenhower authorized the Khrushchev in Vienna, Austria. Khrushchev wanted
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to secretly train to stop the flood of Germans pouring out of
and arm Cuban exiles, known as La Brigada, to Communist East Germany into West Berlin. He
invade the island. The invasion was intended to demanded that the Western powers recognize East
ignite a popular uprising against Castro. Germany and that the United States, Great Britain,
When Kennedy became president, his advisers and France withdraw from Berlin, a city lying com-
approved the plan. In office fewer than three pletely within East Germany. Kennedy refused and
months and trusting his experts, Kennedy agreed reaffirmed the West’s commitment to West Berlin.
to the operation with some changes. On April 17, Khrushchev retaliated by building a wall through
1961, 1,400 armed Cuban exiles landed at the Bay Berlin, sealing off the Soviet sector. Guards posted
of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. The invasion along the wall shot at anyone trying to escape from
was a disaster. La Brigada’s boats ran aground on the East. For nearly 30 years afterward, the Berlin
coral reefs, Kennedy cancelled their air support to Wall stood as a visible symbol of the Cold War divi-
keep United States involvement a secret, and the sion between East and West.
expected popular uprising never happened. Within
two days, Castro’s forces killed or captured almost The Cuban Missile Crisis By far the most terrifying
all the members of La Brigada. The outcome crisis of the Kennedy era occurred the next year. Once
alarmed Kennedy. The action exposed an American again, the crisis dealt with Cuba. Over the summer of

1962, American intelligence agencies learned that nuclear war than at any time since World War II.
Soviet technicians and equipment had arrived in Cuba. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had
On October 22, President Kennedy announced on tele- been forced to consider the consequences of such a
vision that American spy planes had taken aerial pho- war. In the following months, each country seemed
tographs showing that the Soviet Union had placed ready to work to lessen world tensions. In August
long-range missiles in Cuba. Enemy missiles stationed 1963, the United States and the Soviet Union con-
so close to the United States posed a dangerous threat. cluded years of negotiation by agreeing to a treaty
Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to stop the to ban the testing of nuclear weapons in the
Soviets from delivering more missiles, and he atmosphere—the first step toward mutual arms
demanded that they dismantle existing missile sites. reduction since the beginning of the Cold War.
As Soviet ships headed toward the blockade, In the long run, however, the missile crisis had
Americans braced themselves for war. ominous consequences. The humiliating retreat the
After a flurry of secret negotiations, the Soviet United States forced upon the Soviet leadership con-
Union offered a deal. It would remove the missiles if tributed to Nikita Khrushchev’s fall from power in
the United States promised not to invade Cuba and to October 1964. Perhaps more important, the crisis
remove its missiles from Turkey near the Soviet border. gave the Soviets evidence of their military inferiority
Neither Kennedy nor Khrushchev wanted nuclear and helped produce a dramatic Soviet arms buildup
war. “Only lunatics . . . who themselves want to per- over the next two decades. This buildup contributed
ish and before they die destroy the world, could do to a comparable military increase in the United States
this,” wrote the Soviet leader. On October 28, the in the early 1980s.
leaders reached an agreement. Kennedy publicly
Reading Check Summarizing How was the Cuban
agreed not to invade Cuba and privately agreed to
remove the Turkish missiles; the Soviets agreed to missile crisis resolved?
remove their missiles from Cuba. The world could
breathe again.
The Death of a President
The Impact of the Cuban Missile Crisis The Soon after the Senate ratified the test ban treaty,
Cuban missile crisis brought the world closer to John F. Kennedy’s presidency came to a shocking and
History
Cold War Peak Fears of communism peaked during the

Cuban missile crisis. Routine reconnaissance flights over Cuba
revealed the construction of missile sites, fueling facilities, and
launch pads. What steps did Kennedy take to deal with the
crisis?
tragic end. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy and his
wife traveled to Texas with Vice President Lyndon
Johnson for a series of political appearances. As the
presidential motorcade rode slowly through the
crowded streets of Dallas, gunfire rang out. Someone
had shot the president twice—once in the throat and
once in the head. Horrified government officials sped
Kennedy to a nearby hospital, where he was pro-
nounced dead moments later.
Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of killing
Kennedy, appeared to be a confused and embittered
Marxist who had spent time in the Soviet Union. He
himself was shot to death while in police custody
two days after the assassination. The bizarre situa-
tion led some to speculate that the second gunman,
local nightclub owner Jack Ruby, killed Oswald to
protect others involved in the crime. In 1964 a
national commission headed by Chief Justice Warren
concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. The
report of the Warren Commission left some ques-
tions unanswered, and theories about a conspiracy to
kill the president have persisted, though none has
gained wide acceptance.
In the wake of the assassination, the United States History
and the world went into mourning. Americans across
the land sobbed in public. Thousands traveled to A Final Salute John F. Kennedy, Jr. (right) bravely salutes his father’s coffin
during the state funeral. How did people around the world react to JFK’s
Washington, D.C., and waited in a line that stretched
assassination?
for several miles outside the Capitol in order to walk
silently past the president’s flag-draped casket.
Millions of others spent hours in front of their televi- wave of emotion that followed the president’s death,
sions, simply watching people file past the casket. his successor, Lyndon Johnson, set out to implement
John F. Kennedy served as president for little more the programs Kennedy had left behind.
than 1,000 days. Yet his powerful personality and
active approach to the presidency made a profound Reading Check Evaluating How did Kennedy’s
impression on most Americans. Aided by the tidal presidency end?
TM
TM

1. Define: flexible response, space race. 5. Interpreting What was the role of for- 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Peace Corps, Berlin Wall, eign aid in the relations between the photographs on pages 726–727.
Warren Commission. United States and Latin America? Explain how space exploration has led
3. Explain the goals of the Alliance for 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to other innovations that have affected
Progress. similar to the one below to list the pro- our daily lives and standard of living.
grams that Kennedy used to reduce the
Reviewing Themes threat of nuclear war and to try to stem
4. Science and Technology What was communism. Writing About History
Kennedy’s goal for the United States
in the space race?
Programs 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
of an American citizen during the
Cuban missile crisis. Write a journal
entry describing the mood of the
country during that time.

N O T E B O O K
VERBATIM
“them?
Is there any place we can catch
What can we do? Are we
working 24 hours a day? Can we go
around the moon before them?
”
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY,
to Lyndon B. Johnson, after hearing
that Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin
had orbited the earth, 1961
“ It was quite a day. I don’t know

what you can say about a day when
you see four beautiful sunsets. . . .
This is a little unusual, I think.
COLONEL JOHN GLENN, ”
in orbit, 1962
“Americans
There are tens of millions of
BETTMANN/CORBIS
who are beyond the
welfare state. Taken as a whole
Eyewitness there is a culture of poverty . . .
bad health, poor housing, low
On May 22, 1964, PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON delivered a speech in levels of aspiration and high levels
Ann Arbor, Michigan, outlining his domestic agenda that would become of mental distress. Twenty percent
known as “The Great Society.” Speechwriter and policy adviser Richard
Goodwin watched the speech on videotape the next morning back in
of a nation, some 32,000,000.
MICHAEL HARRINGTON, ”
Washington. He recalls his reaction: The Culture of Poverty, 1962
Then, with the cheers, at first muted as if the audience were surprised
at their own response, then mounting toward unrestrained, accepting “I have a dream.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING,
1963
delight, Johnson concluded: “There are those timid souls who say . . . we
are condemned to a soulless wealth. I do not agree. We have the power
to shape civilization. . . . But we need your will, your labor, your hearts. . . .
So let us from this moment begin our work, so that in the future men
“ I don’t see an American
dream; . . . I see an American
nightmare . . . Three hundred and
will look back and say: It was then, after a long and weary way, that man ten years we worked in this country
turned the exploits of his genius to the full enrichment of his life.”
Watching the film in the White House basement, almost involuntarily
without a dime in return.
”
MALCOLM X,
1964
I added my applause to the tumultuous acclaim coming from the sound
track. . . . I clapped for the President, and for our country.
“abundance
The Great Society rests on
and liberty for all. It
W H A T I S A P I P, A N Y W A Y ? demands an end to poverty and
Match these rock ’n’ roll headliners with their supporting acts.
racial injustice.
”
LYNDON B. JOHNSON,
1964
1. Paul Revere and a. the Union Gap
2. Martha and
3. Gary Puckett and
b. the Supremes
c. the Miracles
“of Inan 1962, the starving residents
isolated Indian village
received 1 plow and 1,700 pounds
4. Gladys Knight and
5. Smokey Robinson and
d. the Vandellas
e. the Raiders
of seeds. They ate the seeds.
”
PEACE CORPS AD,
1965
6. Diana Ross and f. the Pips
answers: 1. e ; 2. d; 3. a; 4. f; 5. c; 6. b

NEW FRONTIERS: 1961–1968
Space Race NUMBERS

Want to capture some of the glamour and excitement of space
exploration? Create a new nickname for your city. You won’t be the first. 7% of African American adults
registered to vote in Mississippi
CITY NICKNAME in 1964 before passage of the
Danbury, CT Space Age City Voting Rights Act of 1965
Muscle Shoals, AL Space Age City
Houston, TX Space City, USA
67% of African American
adults in Mississippi registered
Galveston, TX Space Port, USA to vote in 1969
Cape Kennedy, FL Spaceport, USA
Blacksburg, VA Space Age Community
70% of white adults
registered to vote in 1964,
RALPH MORSE/TIMEPIX
Huntsville, AL Rocket City, USA nationwide
Space City, USA
Space Capital of the Nation
Space Capital of the World
John Glenn,
first American 90% of white adults
to orbit Earth registered to vote nationwide
in 1969
Milestones 57 Number of days senators

PERFORMED IN ENGLISH, 1962. PICKETED, 1968. The Miss filibustered to hold up passage
THE CATHOLIC MASS, following America Pageant in Atlantic City, by of the Civil Rights Bill in 1964
Pope John XXIII’s Second Vatican protesters who believe the contest’s
Council. “Vatican II” allows the emphasis on women’s physical 14 1/2 Hours duration of
Latin mass to be translated into beauty is degrading and minimizes all-night speech delivered by
local languages around the world. the importance of women’s intellect. Senator Robert Byrd before a
cloture vote stopped the filibuster
ENROLLED, 1962. JAMES
MEREDITH, at the University of
Mississippi, following a Supreme 72% of elementary and
high school teachers approve
Court ruling that ordered his
of corporal punishment as a
admission to the previously disciplinary measure in 1961
segregated school. Rioting and
a showdown with state officials
who wished to bar his enrollment
preceded Meredith’s entrance
HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS
to classes.
BROKEN, 1965. 25-DAY FAST BY
CÉSAR CHÁVEZ, labor organizer.
His protest convinced others to
join his nonviolent strike against
the grape growers; shoppers
boycotted table grapes in sympathy.
STRIPPED, 1967. MUHAMMAD
$80–90 Weekly pay for a
AP
ALI, of his heavyweight champion

title, after refusing induction into clerk/typist in New York in 1965
the army following a rejection of REMOVED, 1968. TOY GUNS,
his application for conscientious from the Sears, Roebuck
Christmas catalog after the
$200 Rent for a two-
objector status. The boxer was bedroom apartment at Broadway
arrested, given a five-year assassinations of Martin Luther and 72nd Street on New York
sentence, and fined $10,000. King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. City’s Upper West Side in 1965

The Great Society
Lyndon Johnson succeeded John F. Organizing As you read about Lyndon • Explain what inspired Johnson’s Great
Kennedy as president and greatly Johnson’s presidency, complete a graphic Society programs.
expanded Kennedy’s agenda with far- organizer similar to the one below to list • Identify several specific health
reaching programs in many areas. the social and economic programs started and employment programs of the
during his administration. Johnson administration.
Key Terms and Names
consensus, war on poverty, VISTA, Great Section Theme
Society, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Johnson’s Government and Democracy In a time
Robert Weaver Programs of prosperity, President Johnson won
support for extending government aid to
the poor and elderly.
✦November 1963 ✦June 1964 ✦January 1965 ✦August 1965

November 1963 August 1964 November 1964 July 1965
Johnson becomes president Congress enacts Economic Johnson wins election Congress passes Medical Care Act,
upon Kennedy’s death Opportunity Act as president establishing Medicare and Medicaid
In 1961, 61-year-old John Rath lived in a sparsely furnished room in Chicago. In the room
sat a stove, a sink, a package of cereal, and a tiny icebox. The plaster on the wall was crum-
bling, the ceiling was cracked, and the window shades were smudged. Telling his story to an
interviewer, Rath said:
“ I come home to an empty room. I don’t even have a dog. No, this is not the kind of life I
would choose. If a man had a little piece of land or something, a farm, or well . . . anyway,
you’ve got to have something. You sit down in a place like this, you grit your teeth, you follow
me? So many of them are doing that, they sit down, they don’t know what to do, they go out.
I see ’em in the middle of the night, they take a walk. Don’t know what to do. Have no home
”
environment, don’t have a dog, don’t have nothing . . . just a big zero.
—quoted in Division Street: America
Urban poverty
in Chicago
Johnson Takes the Reins

John Rath’s life was not the image that many Americans had of their country in the
mid-1960s. The United States that President Lyndon Johnson inherited from John F.
Kennedy appeared to be a booming, bustling place. From new shopping malls to new
roads with new cars to fill them, everything in the country seemed to shout prosperity.
Away from the nation’s affluent suburbs, however, was another country, one inhabited
by the poor, the ill-fed, the ill-housed, and the ill-educated. Writer Michael Harrington
examined the nation’s impoverished areas in his 1962 book, The Other America. Harrington
claimed that while the truly poor numbered almost 50 million, they remained largely

hidden in city slums, in rural areas, in the Deep South, personable politician than of the elegant society man.
and on Native American reservations. Finding it difficult to gain acceptance from the
Harrington’s book moved many Americans and Eastern establishment in the nation’s capital, he often
inspired both President Kennedy and his successor, reveled in his rough image.
Lyndon Johnson, to make the elimination of poverty Johnson had honed his style in long years of pub-
a major policy goal. The nation was prosperous, and lic service. By the time he became president at age 55,
many leaders had come to believe that the economy he already had 26 years of congressional experience
could be managed so that prosperity would be per- behind him. He had been a congressional staffer, a
manent. They believed the federal government could member of the U.S. House of Representatives, a U.S.
afford to fund a new antipoverty program. senator, Senate majority leader, and vice president.
Lyndon Johnson decided to continue with As he moved up the political ladder, Johnson
Kennedy’s plan soon after taking office. Immediately developed a reputation as a man who got things
after President Kennedy was pronounced dead, offi- done. He did favors, twisted arms, bargained, flat-
cials whisked Johnson to the airport. At 2:38 P.M. on tered, and threatened. The tactics he used to per-
November 22, 1963, he stood in the cabin of Air Force suade others became known throughout Washington
One, the president’s plane, with Jacqueline Kennedy as the “Johnson treatment.” Several writers described
on one side of him and his wife, Lady Bird, on the this often overpowering and intimidating style:
other. Johnson raised his right hand, placed his left
hand on a Bible, and took the oath of office.
Johnson knew that he had to assure a stunned
“ The Treatment could last ten minutes or four
hours. . . . Its tone could be supplication, accusation,
public that he could hold the nation together, that he cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint, the hint
was a leader. He later recalled the urgency with of threat. It was all these together. . . . Interjections
which he had to act: from the target were rare. Johnson anticipated them
“ A nation stunned, shaken to its very heart, had to

be reassured that the government was not in a state
of paralysis . . . that the business of the United States History
would proceed. I knew that not only the nation but Home on the Range Born
the whole world would be anxiously following every and raised in Texas, President
move I made—watching, judging, weighing, balanc- Johnson loved to get back to his
ranch in the Texas hill country.
ing. . . . It was imperative that I grasp the reins of
How does this image contrast
power and do so without delay. Any hesitation or with those of his predecessors?
wavering, any false step, any sign of self-doubt, could
have been disastrous.
”—quoted in Lyndon Johnson
and the American Dream
Days after the assassination, Johnson appeared

before Congress and urged the nation to move on.
“The ideas and ideals which [Kennedy] so nobly rep-
resented must and will be translated into effective
action,” he stated. “John Kennedy’s death commands
what his life conveyed—that America must move
forward.”
Johnson’s Leadership Style Lyndon Baines Johnson

was born and raised in the “hill country” of central
Texas, near the banks of the Pedernales River. He
remained a Texan in his heart and in his life.
Johnson’s style posed a striking contrast with
Kennedy’s. He was a man of impressive stature who
spoke directly, convincingly, and even roughly at
times. His style was more that of a persuasive and
before they could be spoken. He moved in close, his he had in fact known hard times. He had also seen
face a scant millimeter from his target, his eyes extreme poverty firsthand in a brief career as a
widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and teacher in a low-income area. Johnson understood
falling. From his pocket poured clippings, memos, sta- suffering, and he believed deeply in social action. He
felt that a wealthy, powerful government could and
tistics. Mimicry, humor, and the genius of analogy
should try to improve the lives of its citizens.
made The Treatment an almost hypnotic experience
Kennedy himself had said of Johnson, “He really
and rendered the target stunned and helpless.
” cares about this nation.” Finally, there was Johnson’s
—from Lyndon Johnson: The Exercise of Power ambition. He wanted to achieve great things so that
history would record him as a great president.
With every technique he could think of, Johnson Attacking poverty was a good place to begin.
sought to find consensus, or general agreement. His Plans for an anti-poverty program were already in
ability to build coalitions had made him one of the place when Johnson took office, and he knew that he
most effective and powerful leaders in the Senate’s would be able to command strong support for any
history. program that could be linked to Kennedy. In his State
of the Union address to Congress in 1964, barely
A War on Poverty As president, Johnson used his seven weeks after taking office, President Johnson
considerable talents to push through a number of told his audience: “Unfortunately, many Americans
Kennedy’s initiatives. Before the end of 1964, he won live on the outskirts of hope, some because of their
passage of a tax cut, a major civil rights bill, and a poverty and some because of their color and all too
significant anti-poverty program. many because of both.” Johnson concluded his
Why was this powerful man so concerned about speech by announcing that his administration was
poor people? Johnson liked to exaggerate the poor declaring an “unconditional war on poverty in
conditions of his childhood for dramatic effect, but America.”
History
Rural Poverty Photographs such as this one of Alice

Mae Wyatt and her children—6-year-old Sally and
17-month-old Henry—shocked many Americans and won
support for Johnson’s programs. Why was the president
so concerned about poverty?
“. . . many Americans
live on the outskirts
of hope . . .”
—Lyndon Johnson
By the summer of 1964, Johnson had convinced
Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act. The
act established a wide range of programs aimed at
creating jobs and fighting poverty. It also created a
new government agency, the Office of Economic
Opportunity (OEO) to coordinate the new programs.
Many of the new programs were directed at young
Americans living in the inner city. The Neighborhood
Youth Corps provided work-study programs to help
underprivileged young men and women earn a high
school diploma or college degree. The Job Corps tried
to help young unemployed people find jobs. One of
the more dramatic programs introduced was VISTA
(Volunteers in Service to America), which was
essentially a domestic Peace Corps. VISTA put young
people with skills and community-minded ideals to
work in poor neighborhoods and rural areas to help
people overcome poverty.
The Election of 1964 As early as April 1964, Fortune History

magazine declared, “Lyndon Johnson has achieved a
breadth of public approval few observers would have Conservative Stance Senator Barry Goldwater’s conservative ideas were not
believed possible when he took office.” Johnson had very popular in 1964, and they posed little challenge to President Johnson. How
little time to enjoy such praise, for he was soon to run many states did Goldwater win?
for the office he had first gained through a tragic event.
Johnson’s Republican opponent in the 1964 presi- The Great Society was Johnson’s vision of the
dential election was Barry Goldwater of Arizona, a more perfect and equitable society the United
senator known for his outspoken conservatism. He States could and should become. According to Bill
set the tone for his campaign when he accepted his Moyers, who served as Johnson’s press secretary,
party’s nomination, declaring, “Extremism in the Johnson admired Franklin Roosevelt and wanted to
defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you fulfill FDR’s mission. To do that would require a
also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no program that would be on the same large scale as
virtue!” the New Deal.
Few Americans were ready to embrace Goldwater’s Johnson’s goals were consistent with the times for
message, which was too aggressive for a nation nerv- several reasons. The civil rights movement had
ous about nuclear war. On Election Day, Johnson won brought the grievances of African Americans to the
in a landslide, winning all but five southern states and forefront, reminding many that greater equality of
Arizona. “For the first time in my life,” he said later, “I opportunity had yet to be realized. Economics also
truly felt loved by the American people.” supported Johnson’s goal. The economy was strong,
Reading Check Examining What inspired the war and many believed it would remain so indefinitely.
There was no reason, therefore, that poverty could not
on poverty?
be significantly reduced—especially when some had
so much and others had so little.
Johnson first elaborated on the goals of the Great
The Great Society Society during a speech at the University of Michigan.
After his election, Johnson began working with It was clear that the president did not intend only to
Congress to create the “Great Society” he had prom- expand relief to the poor or to confine government
ised during his campaign. In this same period, major efforts to material things. The president wanted, he
goals of the civil rights movement were achieved said, to build a better society for all, a society “where
with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, . . .
which barred discrimination of many kinds, and the where the city of man serves not only the needs of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which ensured African body and the demands of commerce but the desire for
Americans’ right to vote. beauty and the hunger for community. . . .”

This ambitious vision encompassed a multitude of he was a young man, education was a personal pas-
programs. In the three years between 1965 and 1968, sion. Vice President Hubert Humphrey once said that
more than 60 programs were passed. Among the Johnson “was a nut on education. . . . [He] believed
most significant programs were Medicare and in it, just like some people believe in miracle cures.”
Medicaid. Health care reform had been a major issue The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
since the days of Harry Truman. By the 1960s, public 1965 granted millions of dollars to public and private
support for better health care benefits had solidified. schools for textbooks, library materials, and special
Medicare had especially strong support since it was education programs. Efforts to improve education
directed at the entire elderly population—in 1965, also extended to preschoolers, where Project Head
around half of those over the age of 65 had no health Start, administered by the Office of Economic
insurance. Opportunity, was directed at disadvantaged children
Johnson convinced Congress to set up Medicare as a who had “never looked at a picture book or scribbled
health insurance program funded through the Social with a crayon.” Another program, Upward Bound,
Security system. Medicare’s twin program, Medicaid, was designed to provide college preparation for low-
financed health care for welfare recipients, those who income teenagers.
were living below the poverty line. Like the New Improvements in health and education were only
Deal’s Social Security program, both programs created the beginning of the Great Society programs. Because
what have been called “entitlements,” that is, they enti- of the deterioration of inner cities, Johnson told
tle certain categories of Americans to benefits. Today, Congress that “America’s cities are in crisis.”
the cost of these programs has become a permanent Conditions in the cities—poor schools, crime, slum
part of the U.S. budget. housing, poverty, and pollution—blighted the lives of
Great Society programs also strongly supported those who lived there. Johnson urged Congress to act
education. For Johnson, who had taught school when on several pieces of legislation addressing this issue.
Major Great Society Programs

Consumer and
Health and Welfare Education The “War on Poverty” Environmental Protection
Medicare (1965) estab- The Elementary and The Office of Economic The Water Quality Act and
lished a comprehensive Secondary Education Act Opportunity (1964) over- Clean Air Acts (1965)
health insurance program (1965) targeted aid to saw many programs to supported development of
for all elderly people; students and funded related improve life in inner cities, standards and goals for
financed through the Social activities such as adult including Job Corps, an water and air quality.
Security system. education and education education and job training
counseling. program for at-risk youth.
Medicaid (1965) funded Higher Education Act Housing and Urban The Highway Safety Act
by federal and state govern- (1965) supported college Development Act (1965) (1966) supported highway
ments, provided health and tuition scholarships, student established new housing safety by improving federal,
medical assistance to loans, and work-study subsidy programs and made state, and local coordination
low-income families. programs for low- and federal loans and public and by creating training
middle-income students. housing grants easier to standards for emergency
obtain. medical technicians.
Child Nutrition Act Project Head Start (1965) Demonstration Cities The Fair Packaging and
(1966) established a school funded a preschool and Metropolitan Labeling Act (1966)
breakfast program and program for the Development Act (1966) required all consumer
expanded the school lunch disadvantaged. helped revitalize urban areas products to have true and
program and milk program through a variety of social informative labels.
to improve poor children´s and economic programs.
nutrition.
1. Interpreting Charts What was the purpose of the

Office of Economic Opportunity?
2. Evaluating Which Great Society program do you
think had the most impact on American society? Why?
MOMENT
in HISTORY
YOUTH’S HELPING
HAND
In 1965 VISTA (Volunteers in
Service to America) was
created as part of President
Johnson’s war on poverty.
Roused by the social con-
sciousness of the early 1960s,
thousands of students and
young people focused their
energy into working with
local agencies in low-income
communities around the
nation. One of VISTA’s basic
themes was to help local
communities mobilize their
own resources. Since 1993
VISTA has been a part of the
AmeriCorps network of
service programs.
One created a new cabinet agency, the Department of the United States to newcomers from all parts of
Housing and Urban Development, in 1965. Its first Europe, as well as from Asia and Africa.
secretary, Robert Weaver, was the first African
Reading Check Summarizing What were the Great
American to serve in a cabinet. A broad-based pro-
gram informally called “Model Cities” authorized Society programs?
federal subsidies to many cities nationwide. The
funds, matched by local and state contributions, sup-
ported an array of programs, including transporta- Legacy of the Great Society
tion, health care, housing, and policing. Since many The Great Society programs touched nearly every
depressed urban areas lacked sufficient or affordable aspect of American life and improved thousands if not
housing, legislation also authorized about $8 billion millions of lives. In the years since President Johnson
to build houses for low- and middle-income people. left office, however, debate has continued over
One notable Great Society measure changed whether or not the Great Society was truly a success.
the composition of the American population: the In many ways, the impact of the Great Society was
Immigration Reform Act of 1965. For a brief time, this limited. In his rush to get as much done as he could,
act maintained a strict limit on the number of immi- Johnson did not calculate exactly how his programs
grants admitted to the United States each year: 170,000 might work. As a result, some of them did not work
from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the as well as people had hoped. Furthermore, the pro-
Western Hemisphere. It did, however, eliminate the grams grew so quickly they were often unmanage-
national origins system established in the 1920s, which able and difficult to evaluate.
had given preference to northern European immi- Cities, states, and groups eligible for aid began to
grants. The new measure opened wider the door of expect immediate and life-changing benefits. These

in History to the present, however. These include
Medicare and Medicaid, two cabinet
Esther Peterson agencies—the Department of Trans-
1906–1997 portation and the Department of
In the 1930s, Boston employers asked Peterson then Housing and Urban Development
women who sewed aprons for them to encouraged (HUD)—and Project Head Start.
switch from square pockets to a more Kennedy to create Overall, the programs provided some
difficult heart-shaped pocket, but they a Presidential important benefits to poorer commu-
did not offer any increase in pay. Esther Commission on the nities and gave political and adminis-
Peterson, a local teacher and outspoken Status of Women to focus
trative experience to minority groups.
advocate for women’s rights, led the attention on working women.
workers in a strike for more money. The Under President Johnson, Peterson An important legacy of the Great
women won their pay raise. For 60 years, served as Special Assistant for Society was the questions it pro-
Esther Peterson continued to use her tact Consumer Affairs, where she worked duced, questions Americans continue
and will to fight for women’s rights, trade on consumer concerns. Lynda Johnson to consider. How can the federal gov-
unions, and consumers. Robb, daughter of President Johnson, ernment help its disadvantaged citi-
Born in Provo, Utah, as Esther described Peterson this way: “She had
zens? How much government help
Eggertsen, Peterson became a teacher a velvet hammer and talked people into
in the 1930s. She taught milliners, tele- doing what was right, even if we didn’t can a society have without weakening
phone operators, and garment workers know it at the time.” Peterson contin- the private sector? How much help
at the innovative Bryn Mawr Summer ued to use her “velvet hammer” for the can its people receive without losing
School for Women Workers in Industry. public good throughout her long life. motivation to fight against hardships
In 1961 President Kennedy selected her At the time of her death at the age of on their own?
to serve as Assistant Secretary of Labor 91, she was actively promoting senior Lyndon Johnson came into office
and Director of the Women’s Bureau. citizens’ health issues.
determined to change the United
States in a way few other presidents
had attempted. If he fell short, it was
expectations often left many feeling frustrated and perhaps that the goals he set were so
angry. Other Americans opposed the massive growth high. In evaluating the administration’s efforts, the
of federal programs and criticized the Great Society New York Times wrote, “The walls of the ghettos are
for intruding too much into their lives. not going to topple overnight, nor is it possible to
A lack of funds also hurt the effectiveness of Great wipe out the heritage of generations of social, eco-
Society programs. The programs themselves were nomic, and educational deprivation by the stroke of
expensive enough. When Johnson attempted to fund a Presidential pen.”
both his grand domestic agenda and the increasingly
costly war in Vietnam, the Great Society eventually Reading Check Evaluating What was the impact of
suffered. Some Great Society initiatives have survived the Great Society?
TM
TM

1. Define: consensus, war on poverty. 5. Interpreting What were three legacies 7. Photographs Study the photograph on
2. Identify: VISTA, Great Society, of the Great Society? page 734. Why do you think pictures
Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, Robert 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer such as this one would help build sup-
Weaver. similar to the one below to list five port for the war on poverty?
3. Describe how the Great Society pro- Great Society initiatives that have sur-
grams were inspired. vived to the present.
Reviewing Themes Great Society Initiatives Writing About History

4. Government and Democracy How did 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
Johnson’s war on poverty strive to of a biographer. Write a chapter in a
ensure greater fairness in American biography of Lyndon Johnson in which
society? you compare and contrast his leader-
ship style to that of John Kennedy.

Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Why Learn This Skill? Congress.” Use that information and the steps listed
Imagine you have just done poorly on a chemistry on this page to answer the following questions.
exam. You wonder why you cannot do better since 1 What problem did
you always go to class, take notes, and study for Kennedy encounter
exams. In order to improve your grades, you need to as he tried to pass
identify the specific problem and then take actions domestic policy leg-
to solve it. islation through
Congress?
Learning the Skill 2 What options were

available to the pres-
There are six key steps you should follow that
ident in facing this
will help you through the problem-solving process.
opposition? What
• Identify the problem. In the case listed above, were the advantages
you know that you are not doing well on and disadvantages?
chemistry exams.
3 Explain the solution
• Gather information. You know that you always Kennedy imple-
go to class and take notes. You study by yourself mented to solve his
for about two hours each day for two or three problem.
days before the exam. You also know that you
4 Evaluate the effectiveness of Kennedy’s
sometimes forget details or get confused about
solution. Was it successful? How do you deter-
things as you are taking the exam.
mine this?
• List and consider possible solutions. For
example, instead of studying by yourself, you
might try studying with a friend or a group. You Skills Assessment
might also study for shorter timespans to avoid Complete the Practicing Skills questions on
overloading yourself with information. page 743 and the Chapter 23 Skill Reinforcement
• Consider the advantages and disadvantages of Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
each solution.
• Now that you have listed and considered the
possible options, you need to choose the best Applying the Skill
solution to your problem. Choose what you think Problem Solving The conservation club at your school
is the right solution, and carry it out. has no money to continue its recycling project. The
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the solution. This school district allocated money to the club at the begin-
will help you determine if you have solved the ning of the year, but that money has been spent. As a
problem. If you earn better scores on the next few member of the club, you have been asked to join a
chemistry tests, you will know that you have committee to save the conservation club and its proj-
solved your problem. ects. Write an essay describing the problem, the list of
options and their advantages and disadvantages, a
solution, and an evaluation of the chosen solution.
Reread the material in Section 1 on page 720 Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
under the heading “Kennedy Struggles with CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and

739
CD-ROM, Level #, provides instruction and
The Bill of Rights
Why It Matters In 1962 Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested for breaking into a Florida pool
hall. When he asked for a lawyer, the judge refused. Defendants in Florida were not entitled
to a court-appointed lawyer except in death penalty cases. Gideon then appealed to the Supreme
Court, arguing that the Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guaranteed the right to a lawyer. In 1963, in
Gideon v. Wainright, the Supreme Court decided that the Sixth Amendment applied to both state and federal
courts. The court ruled that having a lawyer in a criminal case is a fundamental right.
For over 200 years, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights,
have protected the rights of Americans. Five of the amendments specify rights Americans have in
federal court. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court extended many of these rights to the state and
local levels.
Steps To . . . the Bill of Rights that kings could not give rights
During the Middle Ages, kings had great power, to people. Instead, every per-
but to pass a new law they usually obtained the con- son was born with rights that
sent of a council of important nobles. This custom of the government could not
ruling with “noble consent” was not written into violate. John Locke was an
law until 1215. advocate of this new idea.
His book, Two Treatises of
From Liberties to Rights In 1215 King John of Government, became very
England faced a rebellion of many of the English influential in the American The Magna
nobles. Under pressure, he signed the Magna colonies. Carta
Carta. In this document the king promised “to all In 1688 the English
freemen of our kingdom . . . all the underwritten Parliament helped remove King James II from the
liberties, to be had and held by them and their throne in what was known as the Glorious
heirs, of us and our heirs forever.” After 1215 the Revolution. Before the new king and queen took the
English king was expected to rule in throne, Parliament demanded they accept the
accordance with the Magna Carta. English Bill of Rights. The English Bill of Rights
When the Enlightenment began strongly influenced American ideas. When the
in the 1600s, a new idea of rights American Revolution began, revolutionaries
emerged. Several writers argued accused the British of violating many of these rights.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all

men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pur-
suit of Happiness.”
—Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
740
Origins of the Bill of Rights
Magna Carta English Bill Virginia Virginia Statute American Bill of
Basic Rights (1215) of Rights (1689) Declaration for Religious Rights (1791)
of Rights (1776) Freedom (1786)
No state religion
Freedom of worship limited
Freedom of speech
Right to petition limited
Right to bear arms
No quartering troops in private

homes without permission
No searches and seizures

without a specific search warrant
Government cannot take away life,
liberty, or property unless it follows
proper court procedures (due process)
Right to a speedy public trial by jury
and to a lawyer
No excessive bail, fines, or cruel and

unusual punishment
The American Revolution In the 1760s, in restricting free speech or freedom of the press was
order to stop smuggling in the American colonies, prominent in the First Amendment.
the British began sending accused smugglers to vice
admiralty courts. These courts had no juries. In the Putting Rights Into the Constitution When
Declaration of Independence, Americans accused the Constitution was drafted, it did not include a list
the British of “depriving us . . . of the benefits of of rights because supporters believed the new federal
trial by jury” as guaranteed in the Magna Carta and government’s checks and balances would protect
the English Bill of Rights. Americans later wrote the people’s rights. When the Constitution was submit-
Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Bill of Rights to ted to the states for ratification, however, opponents
prevent similar abuses by the American federal argued that without a list of rights, the Constitution
government. would lead to a tyrannical federal government.
Also to stop smuggling, the British issued “writs George Mason, who drafted Virginia’s Declaration
of assistance” authorizing officials to search private of Rights, was a leader of the opposition. To get the
property as they saw fit. Americans later wrote the Constitution ratified, supporters promised a Bill of
Fourth Amendment to prevent officials from con- Rights. In September 1789, James Madison prepared
ducting searches without specific search warrants. 12 amendments to the Constitution. In wording these
amendments, Madison relied heavily on Virginia’s
Free Speech In England, free speech was limited Declaration of Rights. Ten of the amendments were
by laws against sedition. Sedition is the encourag- ratified. Together, they make up the Bill of Rights.
ing of opposition to the government. The only
exception applied to Parliament. The English Bill of
Rights stated that “freedom of speech . . . in parlia- Checking for Understanding
ment, ought not to be . . . questioned.” 1. How many rights are in the Bill of Rights?
The Founders of the United States knew that 2. Which amendments in the Bill of Rights protect rights the
the American Revolution could not have hap- British violated in the 1760s?
pened had they been unable to make speeches or
Critical Thinking
print their ideas in newspapers. When the Bill of
1. Which right do you think is the most important? Why?
Rights was submitted, a ban on any federal law
2. Do Americans have any other rights other than those listed in
the Bill of Rights? What are they?
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 18. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy Why
1. missile gap 5. space race were Medicare and Medicaid landmark pieces of legislation
in American history?
2. reapportionment 6. consensus
19. Evaluating In the 1960 presidential debate, most radio lis-
3. due process 7. war on poverty teners thought Nixon had won, while most television viewers
4. flexible response thought Kennedy had. Why do you think this was so?
20. Drawing Conclusions How did Kennedy help prevent
Reviewing Key Facts Communist movements from flourishing in Latin America?
8. Identify: New Frontier, Earl Warren, Peace Corps, Warren 21. Analyzing President Kennedy was unable to pass civil rights
Commission, Great Society, Head Start. legislation. What were some of the factors that allowed
9. How was the 1960 presidential election a new kind of President Johnson to push civil rights forward after
campaign? Kennedy’s assassination?
10. What main issues did Nixon and Kennedy discuss in their tel- 22. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one
evised debate? below to list the crises of the Cold War during the Kennedy
administration.
11. How close was the outcome of the 1960 presidential election
between Nixon and Kennedy?
Crises
12. What was Kennedy’s response to the steel industry’s decision
to raise prices sharply?
13. What were three measures Kennedy took to strengthen the
economy?
14. What were three programs set up by Kennedy to reduce the
threat of nuclear war and to try to stem communism?
15. What inspired President Johnson’s war on poverty? 23. Evaluating How did the Warren Court decisions in Baker v.
16. What was the purpose of Medicare, passed during Johnson’s Carr and Reynolds v. Sims affect voting power in the nation?
administration? 24. Interpreting Primary Sources Although the standard of
17. Which Great Society initiatives are still in effect today? living for most Americans rose dramatically throughout the
The New Frontier and the Great Society

Domestic Programs Foreign Policy Supreme Court Cases
• Office of Economic Opportunity fights • “Flexible response” policy • Reynolds v. Sims boosts voting
illiteracy, unemployment, and disease. maintains opposition to power of urban dwellers,
• Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits race communism. including many minorities.
discrimination and social segregation. • U.S. pledges aid to struggling • Extension of due process gives
• Voting Rights Act protects the right Latin American nations. more protection to people
to vote. • Peace Corps offers humanitarian accused of crimes.
• Medicare and Medicaid Acts provide aid in poor countries. • Court rules that states could not
federal medical aid to the elderly • Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the require prayer and Bible readings
and poor. Soviet Union eases Cold War in public schools.
• Elementary and Secondary Education tensions.
Act increases aid for public schools.

HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz
1960s, some Americans remained mired in poverty. Reread In

the excerpt on page 732 in which John Rath discusses his Election of 1960 Motion
personal experiences with coping with poverty in his
sparsely furnished room in Chicago. Then answer the WASH. N.H. 4
9
MONT. VT. 3 ME.
following questions. N. DAK. MINN. 5
OREG. 4 4 11
a. What does Rath think might help him to have some 6
IDAHO S. DAK. WIS. N.Y. MASS. 16
WYO. MICH.
purpose in his life? 4
3
4 12
20
45
R.I. 4
IOWA PA. CONN. 8
NEV. NEBR.
b. What does Rath mean when he says: “You sit down in a 3 UTAH 6 10 OHIO
ILL. IND. 25 W.
32 N.J. 16
COLO. VA. VA.
place like this, you grit your teeth. . . .”? CALIF. 4
6 KANS. MO.
27 13
KY. 8 12
DEL. 3
32 8 13 10 MD. 9
1 11 N.C.
ARIZ. OKLA. TENN. 14
N. MEX. ARK.
Practicing Skills 4
4 7
8 ALA. GA. 8
S.C.
MISS. 6 5 12
TEX. LA. 8
25. Problem Solving Reread the passage on pages 727–728 24 10
titled “The Cuban Missile Crisis.” Use that information to FLA.
ALASKA 10
answer the following questions. 3
a. What problem did Kennedy encounter in Cuba?
b. What options were available to the president in this Presidential Election, 1960
situation? What were the advantages and disadvantages HAWAII Electoral Popular Political
3
of each option?
HAWAII Kennedy 303 34,227,096 Democrat
c. Explain the solution Kennedy used to resolve the Cuban 3
Nixon 219 34,107,646 Republican
missile crisis.
Byrd 15 501,643 Independent
d. Was Kennedy’s solution successful? Why or why not?
Chapter Activity
26. Technology Activity: Using the Internet Search the
Internet to check the status of Great Society programs today.
Find out how these programs have changed since they
were initiated. Make a chart showing the provisions of the
programs in the 1960s compared to the provisions of the Standardized
programs today. Test Practice
Writing Activity Directions: Choose the best answer to the
following question.
27. Expository Writing Assume the role of a historian. Evaluate
Which of the following was an effect of a ruling by the
the effectiveness of Kennedy’s New Frontier and Johnson’s
Warren Court?
Great Society programs. Write an article for a historical jour-
nal explaining the successes and setbacks of each president’s A State-mandated Bible readings allowed in schools
policy agendas. B Extended rights for people accused of crimes
C Unlawfully seized evidence is admissible at trial
Geography and History D Increased state authority at the expense of federal
28. The map on this page shows the results of the presidential authority
election of 1960. Study the map and answer the questions
below. Test-Taking Tip: Use the process of elimination to answer
a. Interpreting Maps Which regions of the country this question. The Warren Court expanded individual civil
supported Kennedy? Which regions supported Nixon? liberties and the power of the judicial branch. Eliminate
b. Applying Geography Skills What would have happened answers that go against these ideas.
if Kennedy had lost New York to Nixon?

The Civil Rights
Movement 1954–1968
Why It Matters
In the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans made major strides. They began by challenging
segregation in the South. With the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
achieved national and worldwide recognition. His peaceful resistance inspired many,
especially students. After King’s assassination, the civil rights movement shifted focus.
Many people in the movement began to see economic opportunity as the key to equality.
The Impact Today

Changes brought about by the civil rights movement are still with us.
• Civil rights legislation provides protection against discrimination for all citizens.
• Economic programs for inner-city residents by government and social service
agencies continue.

video, “The Civil Rights Movement,” chronicles the milestones of the
movement to win rights for African Americans.
1957
• Eisenhower sends
1955 troops to a Little Rock,
• Rosa Parks refuses Arkansas, high school to
1960
to give up bus seat; ensure integration
• Sit-in
Montgomery bus protests
1954
boycott begins in begin
• Brown v. Board of
Alabama
Education ruling issued
by Supreme Court
Eisenhower Kennedy
1953–1961 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ 1961–1963
1953 1957 1961
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1955 1958 1960
• West Germany • Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago • France successfully tests
admitted to NATO awarded Nobel Prize for nuclear weapons
Literature 1959
• Mary Leakey discovers 1.7 million-year-old
hominid skull fragment in Tanzania
744
Americans march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery
in support of the civil rights movement.
1968
• Civil Rights Act of
1963 1968 passed
• Over 200,000 civil rights • Martin Luther King,
supporters march on 1965 Jr., assassinated
Washington, D.C. • Malcolm X assassinated
• Race riots erupt in Los Angeles HISTORY
▲ neighborhood of Watts
Johnson
1963–1969 ▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
information.
1963
• Organization of 1965 1967
African Unity formed • China’s Cultural • Arab-Israeli War brings
• Kenya becomes an Revolution begins many Palestinians
independent nation under Israeli rule
745
The Movement Begins
After World War II, African Americans Organizing As you read about the birth • Explain the origin of the Southern
and other supporters of civil rights chal- of the civil rights movement, complete a Christian Leadership Conference.
lenged segregation in the United States. graphic organizer similar to the one • Discuss the changing role of the federal
below by filling in the causes of the civil government in civil rights enforcement.
Key Terms and Names rights movement.
separate-but-equal, de facto segregation, Section Theme
NAACP, sit-in, Thurgood Marshall, Linda Civil Rights Government and Democracy In the
Movement
Brown, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1950s, African Americans began a move-
Southern Christian Leadership ment to win greater social equality.
Conference
✦1954 ✦1955 ✦1956 ✦1957

1954 1955 1956 1957
Brown v. Board of Education Rosa Parks refuses to give up bus Group of 101 Southern members of Southern Christian Leadership
of Topeka, Kansas, decision seat in Montgomery, Alabama Congress sign Southern Manifesto Conference formed
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks left her job as a seamstress in Montgomery,

Alabama, and boarded a bus to go home. In 1955 buses in Montgomery reserved seats
in the front for whites and seats in the rear for African Americans. Seats in the middle
were open to African Americans, but only if there were few whites on the bus.
Rosa Parks took a seat just behind the white section. Soon all of the seats on the bus
were filled. When the bus driver noticed a white man standing at the front of the bus, he
told Parks and three other African Americans in her row to get up and let the white man
sit down. Nobody moved. The driver cautioned, “You better make it light on yourselves
and let me have those seats.” The other three African Americans rose, but Rosa Parks did
not. The driver then called the Montgomery police, who took Parks into custody.
News of the arrest soon reached E.D. Nixon, a former president of the local chapter of the
Rosa Parks
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Nixon wanted to chal-
lenge bus segregation in court, and he told Parks, “With your permission we can break down
segregation on the bus with your case.” Parks told Nixon, “If you think it will mean something
to Montgomery and do some good, I’ll be happy to go along with it.”
—adapted from Parting the Waters: America in the King Years
The Origins of the Movement

When Rosa Parks agreed to challenge segregation in court, she did not know that her
decision would launch the modern civil rights movement. Within days of her arrest,
African Americans in Montgomery had organized a boycott of the bus system. Mass
746 CHAPTER 24 The Civil Rights Movement

protests began across the nation. After decades of Court Challenges Begin The
segregation and inequality, many African Americans civil rights movement had HISTORY
had decided the time had come to demand equal been building for a long time.
rights. Since 1909, the National Student Web
The struggle would not be easy. The Supreme Association for the Advance- Activity Visit the
Court had declared segregation to be constitutional ment of Colored People American Republic
in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The ruling had estab- (NAACP) had supported Since 1877 Web site at
lished the “separate-but-equal” doctrine. Laws seg- court cases intended to over- tarvol2.glencoe.com
regating African Americans were permitted as long turn segregation. Over the and click on Student
as equal facilities were provided for them. years, the NAACP achieved Web Activities—
After the Plessy decision, laws segregating African some victories. In 1935, for Chapter 24 for an
Americans and whites spread quickly. These laws, example, the Supreme Court activity on the civil
nicknamed “Jim Crow” laws, segregated buses and ruled in Norris v. Alabama that rights movement.
trains, schools, restaurants, swimming pools, parks, Alabama’s exclusion of
and other public facilities. Jim Crow laws were com- African Americans from
mon throughout the South, but segregation existed juries violated their right to equal protection under the
in other states as well. Often it was left up to each law. In 1946 the Court ruled in Morgan v. Virginia that
local community to decide whether to pass segrega- segregation on interstate buses was unconstitutional.
tion laws. Areas without laws requiring segregation In 1950 it ruled in Sweatt v. Painter that state law schools
often had de facto segregation—segregation by cus- had to admit qualified African American applicants,
tom and tradition. ; (See page 964 for more information even if parallel black law schools existed. ; (See pages
on Plessy v. Ferguson.) 964–965 for more information on these cases.)
MOMENT
in HISTORY
AMERICAN
SEGREGATION
In an Oklahoma City streetcar
station in 1939, a man takes
a drink from a water cooler
labeled “COLORED.” Racially
segregated facilities—waiting
rooms, railroad cars, lavatories,
and drinking fountains—were
prevalent all across the South.
Under the so-called Jim Crow
system,African Americans
were legally entitled to
“separate-but-equal” educa-
tion, housing, and social serv-
ices. In practice, however, only a
small percentage of public funds
earmarked for schools, streets,
police, and other expenses
found its way to African
American neighborhoods.
CHAPTER 24 The Civil Rights Movement 747

New Political Power In addition to a string of court The Civil Rights Movement Begins
victories, African Americans enjoyed increased politi-
When World War II ended, many African Amer-
cal power. Before World War I, most African Americans
ican soldiers returned home optimistic that their
lived in the South, where they were largely excluded
country would appreciate their loyalty and sacrifice.
from voting. During the Great Migration, many moved
In the 1950s, when change did not come as quickly as
to Northern cities, where they were allowed to vote.
hoped, their determination to change prejudices in
Increasingly, Northern politicians sought their votes
the United States led to protests and marches—and
and listened to their concerns.
to the emergence of the civil rights movement.
During the 1930s, many African Americans bene-
fited from FDR’s New Deal programs. Thus they Brown v. Board of Education After World War II,
began supporting the Democratic Party, giving it the NAACP continued to challenge segregation in
new strength in the North. This wing of the party the courts. From 1939 to 1961, the NAACP’s chief
was now able to counter Southern Democrats, who counsel and director of its Legal Defense and
often supported segregation. Education Fund was the brilliant African American
attorney Thurgood Marshall. After World War II,
The Push for Desegregation During World War II,
Marshall focused his efforts on ending segregation in
African American leaders began to use their
public schools.
new political power to demand more rights.
In 1954 the Supreme Court decided to combine
Their efforts helped end discrimination in
several different cases and issue a general ruling on
factories that held government contracts and
segregation in schools. One of the cases involved a
increased opportunities for African Americans in
young African American girl named Linda Brown,
the military.
who was denied admission to her neighborhood
In Chicago in 1942, James Farmer and George
school in Topeka, Kansas, because of her race. She
Houser founded the Congress of Racial Equality
was told to attend an all-black school across town.
(CORE). CORE began using sit-ins, a
With the help of the NAACP, her parents then sued
form of protest first used by union
the Topeka school board.
workers in the 1930s. In 1943
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unani-
CORE attempted to desegregate
mously in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of
restaurants that refused to
Topeka, Kansas, that segregation in public schools was
serve African Americans.
unconstitutional and violated the equal protection
Using the sit-in strategy,
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice
members of CORE went to
Earl Warren summed up the Court’s decision when he
segregated restaurants. If
wrote: “In the field of public education, the doctrine of
they were denied service,
separate but equal has no place. Separate educational
they sat down and refused
facilities are inherently unequal.” ; (See pages 959 and
to leave. The sit-ins were
962 for information on Brown v. Board of Education.)
intended to shame restaurant
managers into integrating The Southern Manifesto The Brown decision
their restaurants. Using marked a dramatic reversal of the ideas expressed
these protests, CORE suc- in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Brown v. Board of
cessfully integrated many Education applied only to public schools, but the rul-
restaurants, theaters, and ing threatened the entire system of segregation.
other public facilities in Although it convinced many African Americans
Chicago, Detroit, Denver, that the time had come to challenge other forms
and Syracuse. of segregation, it also angered many white
Southerners, who became even more determined to
Reading Check
defend segregation, regardless of what the Supreme
Examining How had the ruling Court ruled.
in Plessy v. Ferguson contributed Although some school districts in border states
to segregation? integrated their schools in compliance with the
Court’s ruling, anger and opposition was a far more
Separate but Unequal Linda Brown’s court case common reaction. In Washington, D.C., Senator
ended decades of official segregation in the South. Harry F. Byrd of Virginia called on Southerners to

History
Car Pool Pick-Up Station During the months

of the Montgomery bus boycott, African Americans
walked or volunteered their own cars as free taxis
for other protesters. Why did African Americans
choose to boycott the city bus system?
adopt “massive resistance” against the ruling. Across Manifesto had no legal standing, the statement encour-
the South, hundreds of thousands of white aged white Southerners to defy the Supreme Court.
Americans joined citizens’ councils to pressure their
local governments and school boards into defying The Montgomery Bus Boycott In the midst of the
the Supreme Court. Many states adopted pupil uproar over the Brown v. Board of Education case, Rosa
assignment laws. These laws created an elaborate set Parks made her decision to challenge segregation of
of requirements other than race that schools could public transportation. Outraged by Parks’s arrest,
use to prevent African Americans from attending Jo Ann Robinson, head of a local organization called
white schools. the Women’s Political Council, called on African
The Supreme Court inadvertently encouraged Americans to boycott Montgomery’s buses on the
white resistance when it followed up its decision in day Rosa Parks appeared in court.
Brown v. Board a year later. The Court ordered school The boycott was a dramatic success. That after-
districts to proceed “with all deliberate speed” to end noon, several African American leaders formed the
school segregation. The wording was vague enough Montgomery Improvement Association to run the
that many districts were able to keep their schools boycott and to negotiate with city leaders for an end
segregated for many more years. to segregation. They elected a 26-year-old pastor
Massive resistance also appeared in the halls of named Martin Luther King, Jr., to lead them.
Congress. In 1956 a group of 101 Southern members of On the evening of December 5, 1955, a meeting
Congress signed the Southern Manifesto, which was held at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr.
denounced the Supreme Court’s ruling as “a clear King was pastor. In the deep, resonant tones and
abuse of judicial power” and pledged to use “all lawful powerful phrases that characterized his speaking
means” to reverse the decision. Although the Southern style, King encouraged the people to continue their

protest. “There comes a time, my
friends,” he said, “when people
get tired of being thrown into the in History
abyss of humiliation, where they
experience the bleakness of nag- Thurgood Marshall
ging despair.” He explained, how- 1908–1993
ever, that the protest had to be Over his long lifetime, Thurgood
peaceful: Marshall made many contributions to
the civil rights movement. Perhaps his
most famous accomplishment was rep-
“ Now let us say that we are not
advocating violence. . . . The only
resenting the NAACP in the Brown v.
Board of Education case.
weapon we have in our hands this Marshall’s speaking style was both
evening is the weapon of protest. If simple and direct. During the Brown
case, Justice Frankfurter asked
we were incarcerated behind the
Marshall for a definition of equal.
iron curtains of a communistic “Equal means getting the same thing,
nation—we couldn’t do this. If we at the same time and in the same Marshall became the first African
were trapped in the dungeon of a place,” Marshall answered. American on the Supreme Court when
Born into a middle-class Baltimore President Lyndon Johnson appointed
totalitarian regime—we couldn’t do family in 1908, Marshall earned a law him in 1967. On the Court, he remained
this. But the great glory of American degree from Howard University Law a voice for civil rights. In his view, the
democracy is the right to protest for School. The school’s dean, Charles Constitution was not perfect because it
Hamilton Houston, enlisted Marshall to had accepted slavery. Its ideas of liberty,
”
right!
work for the NAACP. Together the two justice, and equality had to be refined.
—quoted in Parting the Waters: laid out the legal strategy for challeng- “The true miracle of the Constitution,”
America in the King Years ing discrimination in many arenas of he once wrote, “was not the birth of the
American life. Constitution, but its life.”
King had earned a Ph.D. in theol-
ogy from Boston University. He
believed that the only moral way to
end segregation and racism was through nonviolent affirmed the decision of a special three-judge panel
passive resistance. He told his followers, “We must use declaring Alabama’s laws requiring segregation on
the weapon of love. We must realize that so many buses to be unconstitutional.
people are taught to hate us that they are not totally
Reading Check Describing What was the ruling in
responsible for their hate.” African Americans, he
urged, must say to racists and segregationists: “We will Brown v. Board of Education?
soon wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and in
winning our freedom we will so appeal to your heart
and conscience that we will win you in the process.” African American Churches
King drew upon the philosophy and techniques of Martin Luther King, Jr., was not the only promi-
Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi, who had used non- nent minister in the bus boycott. Many of the other
violent resistance effectively against British rule in leaders were African American ministers. The boy-
India. Like Gandhi, King encouraged his followers to cott could not have succeeded without the support of
disobey unjust laws. Believing in people’s ability to the African American churches in the city. As the civil
transform themselves, King was certain that public rights movement gained momentum, African
opinion would eventually force the government to American churches continued to play a critical role.
end segregation. They served as forums for many of the protests and
Stirred by King’s powerful words, African planning meetings, and they also mobilized many of
Americans in Montgomery continued their boycott the volunteers for specific civil rights campaigns.
for over a year. Instead of riding the bus, they After the Montgomery bus boycott demon-
organized car pools or walked to work. They strated that nonviolent protest could be successful,
refused to be intimidated, yet they avoided vio- African American ministers led by King established
lence. Meanwhile Rosa Parks’s legal challenge to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
bus segregation worked its way through the courts. (SCLC) in 1957. The SCLC set out to eliminate seg-
Finally, in December 1956, the Supreme Court regation from American society and to encourage

African Americans to register to vote. Dr. King had to pull together. Publicly, he refused to endorse
served as the SCLC’s first president. Under his the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Privately, he
leadership, the organization challenged segrega- remarked, “I don’t believe you can change the hearts
tion at the voting booths and in public transporta- of men with laws or decisions.”
tion, housing, and public accommodations. Despite his belief that the Brown v. Board of
Education decision was wrong, Eisenhower felt he
Reading Check Summarizing What role did African had to uphold the authority of the federal govern-
American churches play in the civil rights movement? ment, including its court system. As a result, he
became the first president since Reconstruction to
send federal troops into the South to protect the con-
Eisenhower and Civil Rights stitutional rights of African Americans.
President Eisenhower sympathized with the goals
of the civil rights movement, and he personally dis- Crisis in Little Rock In September 1957, the school
agreed with segregation. Following the precedent set board in Little Rock, Arkansas, won a court order to
by President Truman, he ordered navy shipyards and admit nine African American students to Central
veterans’ hospitals to be desegregated. High, a school with 2,000 white students. Little Rock
At the same time, however, Eisenhower disagreed was a racially moderate Southern city, as was most of
with those who wanted to roll back segregation the state of Arkansas. A number of Arkansas commu-
through protests and court rulings. He believed that nities, as well as the state university, had already
people had to allow segregation and racism to end begun to desegregate their schools.
gradually as values changed. With the nation in the The governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, was
midst of the Cold War, he worried that challenging believed to be a moderate on racial issues, unlike many
white Southerners on segregation might divide the other Southern politicians. Faubus was determined to
nation and lead to violence at a time when the country win re-election, however, and so he began to campaign
History
Crisis in Little Rock Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Eckford (in sunglasses at right) braves an angry
crowd of Central High School students in Arkansas. How did Governor Orval Faubus react to
attempts to integrate the high school?
as a defender of white supremacy. He ordered troops high school. The law had been upheld, but the
from the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the nine troops were forced to remain in Little Rock for the
African American students from entering the school. rest of the school year.
The next day, as the National Guard troops surrounded
the school, an angry white mob joined the troops to New Civil Rights Legislation The same year that the
protest the integration plan and to intimidate the Little Rock crisis began, Congress passed the first civil
African American students trying to register. rights law since Reconstruction. The Civil Rights Act
Television coverage of this episode placed Little of 1957 was intended to protect the right of African
Rock at the center of national attention. Faubus had Americans to vote. Eisenhower believed firmly in the
used the armed forces of a state to oppose the right to vote, and he viewed it as his responsibility to
authority of the federal government—the first such protect voting rights. He also knew that if he sent a
challenge to the Constitution since the Civil War. civil rights bill to Congress, conservative Southern
Eisenhower knew that he could not allow Faubus to Democrats would try to block the legislation. In 1956
defy the federal government. After a conference he did send the bill to Congress, hoping not only to
between Eisenhower and Faubus proved fruitless, split the Democratic Party but also to convince more
the district court ordered the governor to remove African Americans to vote Republican.
the troops. Instead of ending the crisis, however, Several Southern senators did try to stop the Civil
Faubus simply left the school to the mob. After the Rights Act of 1957, but the Senate majority leader,
African American students entered the school, Democrat Lyndon Johnson, put together a compro-
angry whites beat at least two African American mise that enabled the act to pass. Although its final
reporters and broke many of the school’s windows. form was much weaker than originally intended, the
The mob came so close to capturing the terrified act still brought the power of the federal government
African American students that the police had to into the civil rights debate. The act created a civil
take them away to safety. rights division within the Department of Justice and
The mob violence finally pushed President gave it the authority to seek court injunctions against
Eisenhower’s patience to the breaking point. Federal anyone interfering with the right to vote. It also cre-
authority had to be upheld. He immediately ordered ated the United States Commission on Civil Rights to
the U.S. Army to send troops to Little Rock. By investigate allegations of denial of voting rights. After
nightfall 1,000 soldiers of the elite 101st Airborne the bill passed, the SCLC announced a campaign to
Division had arrived. By 5:00 A.M. the troops had register 2 million new African American voters.
encircled the school, bayonets ready. A few hours
later, the nine African American students arrived in Reading Check Explaining Why did President
an army station wagon, and they walked into the Eisenhower intervene in the civil rights controversy?
TM
TM

1. Define: separate-but-equal, de facto 5. Interpreting Do you think the civil 7. Examining Photographs Study the
segregation, sit-in. rights movement would have been suc- photograph of Central High School
2. Identify: NAACP, Thurgood Marshall, cessful in gaining civil rights for African students on page 751. How would you
Linda Brown, Martin Luther King, Jr., Americans without the help of the describe Elizabeth Eckford’s demeanor
Southern Christian Leadership NAACP and the SCLC? Explain. compared to those around her? What
Conference. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer might this tell you about her character?
3. State the outcome of the Brown v. similar to the one below to list the
Board of Education case. efforts made to end segregation. Writing About History
8. Expository Writing Take on the role of
Reviewing Themes
an African American soldier returning to
4. Government and Democracy Why did Efforts to End the United States after fighting in World
the role of the federal government in Segregation
War II. Write a letter to the editor of
civil rights enforcement change? your local newspaper describing your
expectations of civil rights as an
American citizen.

Challenging Segregation
African American citizens and white Organizing As you read about chal- • Evaluate the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
supporters created organizations that lenges to segregation in the South, com- • Summarize the efforts to establish
directed protests, targeted specific plete a cause/effect chart like the one voting rights for African Americans.
inequalities, and attracted the attention below.
of the mass media and the government. Section Theme
Cause Effect
Science and Technology The civil rights
Key Terms and Names Sit-In Movement
movement gained momentum in the
Freedom Riders
Jesse Jackson, Ella Baker, Freedom early 1960s due to national television
African American support
Riders, filibuster, cloture, Civil Rights Act of Kennedy coverage.
of 1964, poll tax African American voter
registration
✦1960 ✦1962 ✦1964 ✦1966

May 1961 Spring 1963 August 28, 1963 July 1964 1965
Freedom Riders attempt to desegre- Martin Luther King, Jr., March on Washington President Johnson signs Voting Rights
gate interstate buses in the South jailed in Birmingham Civil Rights Act of 1964 Act passed
In the fall of 1959, four young African Americans—Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair, Jr., David
Richmond, and Franklin McCain—enrolled at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical
College in Greensboro. The four freshmen became close friends and spent evenings talking
about the civil rights movement. In January 1960, McNeil told his friends that he thought the
time had come to take action, and he suggested a sit-in at the whites-only lunch counter in
the nearby Woolworth’s department store.
“All of us were afraid,” Richmond later recalled, “but we went and did it.” On February 1,
1960, the four friends entered the Woolworth’s. They purchased school supplies and then sat
at the lunch counter and ordered coffee. When they were refused service, Blair said, “I beg
your pardon, but you just served us at [the checkout] counter. Why can’t we be served at the
counter here?” The students stayed at the counter until it closed, then announced that they
would sit at the counter every day until they were given the same service as white customers.
As they left the store, the four were excited. McNeil recalled, “I just felt I had powers
within me, a superhuman strength that would come forward.” McCain was also energized,
Four North Carolina college
saying, “I probably felt better that day than I’ve ever felt in my life.”
students after they participated in
a lunch counter sit-in —adapted from Civilities and Civil Rights
The Sit-In Movement

News of the daring sit-in at the Woolworth’s store spread quickly across Greensboro.
The following day, 29 African American students arrived at Woolworth’s determined to
sit at the counter until served. By the end of the week, over 300 students were taking part.

Starting with just four students, a new mass move- attend a convention at Shaw University in Raleigh,
ment for civil rights had begun. Within two months, North Carolina. At the convention, Baker urged stu-
sit-ins had spread to 54 cities in 9 states. Sit-ins were dents to create their own organization instead of join-
staged at segregated stores, restaurants, hotels, ing the NAACP or the SCLC. Students, she said, had
movie theaters, and swimming pools. By 1961 sit-ins “the right to direct their own affairs and even make
had been held in more than 100 cities. their own mistakes.”
The sit-in movement brought large numbers of The students agreed with Baker and established
idealistic and energized college students into the civil the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
rights struggle. Many African American students had (SNCC). Among SNCC’s early leaders were Marion
become discouraged by the slow pace of desegrega- Barry, who later served as mayor of Washington,
tion. Students like Jesse Jackson, a student leader at D.C., and John Lewis, who later became a member of
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, Congress. African American college students from all
wanted to see things change. The sit-in offered them across the South made up the majority of SNCC’s
a way to take matters into their own hands. members, although many whites also joined.
At first the leaders of the NAACP and the SCLC Between 1960 and 1965, SNCC played a key role in
were nervous about the sit-in movement. They desegregating public facilities in dozens of Southern
feared that students did not have the discipline to communities. SNCC also began sending volunteers
remain nonviolent if they were provoked enough. into rural areas of the Deep South to register African
For the most part, the students proved them wrong. Americans to vote. The idea for what came to be
Those conducting sit-ins were heckled by bystanders, called the Voter Education Project began with Robert
punched, kicked, beaten with clubs, and burned with Moses, an SNCC volunteer from New York. Moses
cigarettes, hot coffee, and acid—but most did not pointed out that the civil rights movement tended to
fight back. They remained peaceful, and their heroic focus on urban areas. He urged SNCC to fill in the
behavior grabbed the nation’s attention. gap by helping rural African Americans. Moses him-
self went to rural Mississippi, where African
Reading Check Examining What were the effects of
Americans who tried to register to vote frequently
the sit-in movement? met with violence.
Despite the danger, many SNCC volunteers
headed to Mississippi and other parts of the Deep
SNCC South. Several had their lives threatened, and others
As the sit-ins spread, student leaders in different were beaten. In 1964 local officials in Mississippi bru-
states realized that they needed to coordinate their tally murdered three SNCC workers as the workers
efforts. The person who brought them together was attempted to register African American voters.
Ella Baker, the 55-year-old executive director of the One SNCC organizer, a former sharecropper
SCLC. In April 1960, Baker invited student leaders to named Fannie Lou Hamer, had been evicted from
her farm after registering to vote. She was then
arrested in Mississippi for urging other African
Americans to register, and she was severely beaten
History by the police while in jail. She then helped organize
Sit-Ins Fight Segregation African American students challenged Southern the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and she
segregation laws by demanding equal service at lunch counters. How did the challenged the legality of the segregated Democratic
NAACP initially feel about the sit-in movement? Party at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Reading Check Explaining What role did Ella Baker
play in forming SNCC?
The Freedom Riders

Despite rulings outlawing segregation in inter-
state bus service, bus travel remained segregated in
much of the South. In 1961 CORE leader James
Farmer asked teams of African Americans and
whites to travel into the South to draw attention to
the South’s refusal to integrate bus ter-
minals. The teams became known as the
Freedom Riders.
In early May 1961, the first Freedom
Riders boarded several southbound
interstate buses. When the buses carrying
them arrived in Anniston, Birmingham,
and Montgomery, Alabama, angry white
mobs attacked them. The mobs slit the
bus tires and threw rocks at the windows.
In Anniston, someone threw a firebomb
into one bus, although fortunately no one
was killed.
In Birmingham the riders emerged
from a bus to face a gang of young men History
armed with baseball bats, chains, and Riding Into Danger On May 14, 1961, Freedom Riders were driven from their bus outside of
lead pipes. They beat the riders Anniston, Alabama, when angry townspeople set the bus on fire. Which civil rights protest
viciously. One witness later reported, organization coordinated the Freedom Riders?
“You couldn’t see their faces through
the blood.” The head of the police in
Birmingham, Public Safety Commissioner Theophilus other programs he wanted through Congress, and
Eugene (“Bull”) Connor, explained that there had been that any attempt to push through new civil rights leg-
no police at the bus station because it was Mother’s Day, islation would anger them.
and he had given many of his officers the day off. FBI Kennedy did, however, name approximately 40
evidence later showed that Connor had contacted the African Americans to high-level positions in the fed-
local Ku Klux Klan and told them he wanted the eral government. He also appointed Thurgood
Freedom Riders beaten until “it looked like a bulldog Marshall to a judgeship on the Second Circuit
got a hold of them.” Appeals Court in New York—one level below the
The violence in Alabama made national news, Supreme Court and the highest judicial position an
shocking many Americans. The attack on the African American had attained to that point.
Freedom Riders came less than four months after Kennedy also created the Committee on Equal
President John F. Kennedy took office. The new pres- Employment Opportunity (CEEO) to stop the federal
ident felt compelled to do something to get the vio- bureaucracy from discriminating against African
lence under control. Americans when hiring and promoting people.
Reading Check Summarizing What was the goal of
the Freedom Riders?
The Justice Department Takes Action Although
President Kennedy was unwilling to challenge
Southern Democrats in Congress, he allowed the
Justice Department, run by his brother Robert, to
John F. Kennedy and Civil Rights actively support the civil rights movement. Robert
While campaigning for the presidency in 1960, Kennedy tried to help African Americans register to
John F. Kennedy promised to actively support the vote by having the civil rights division of the Justice
civil rights movement if elected. His brother, Robert Department file lawsuits throughout the South.
F. Kennedy, had used his influence to get Dr. King When violence erupted against the Freedom
released from jail after a demonstration in Georgia. Riders, the Kennedys came to their aid as well,
African Americans responded by voting overwhelm- although not at first. At the time the Freedom Riders
ingly for Kennedy. Their votes helped him narrowly took action, President Kennedy was preparing for a
win several key states, including Illinois, which meeting with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the
Kennedy won by less than 9,000 votes. Once in office, Soviet Union. Kennedy did not want violence in the
however, Kennedy at first seemed as cautious as South to disrupt the meeting by giving the impres-
Eisenhower on civil rights, which disappointed sion that his country was weak and divided.
many African Americans. Kennedy knew that he After the Freedom Riders were attacked in
needed the support of many Southern senators to get Montgomery, the Kennedys publicly urged them to

stop the rides and give everybody a “cooling off” angry white mob attacked the campus, and a full-
period. James Farmer replied that African Americans scale riot erupted. The mob hurled rocks, bottles,
“have been cooling off now for 350 years. If we cool bricks, and acid at the marshals. Some people fired
off anymore, we’ll be in a deep freeze.” Instead he shotguns at them. The marshals responded with tear
announced that the Freedom Riders planned to head gas, but they were under orders not to fire.
into Mississippi on their next trip. The fighting continued all night. By morning, 160
To stop the violence, President Kennedy made a marshals had been wounded. Reluctantly Kennedy
deal with Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, a ordered the army to send several thousand troops to
strong supporter of segregation. If Eastland would the campus. For the rest of the year, Meredith
use his influence in Mississippi to prevent violence, attended classes at the University of Mississippi
Kennedy would not object if the Mississippi police under federal guard. He graduated the following
arrested the Freedom Riders. Eastland kept the August.
deal. No violence occurred when the buses arrived
in Jackson, Mississippi, but the riders were Violence in Birmingham The events in Mississippi
arrested. frustrated Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil
The cost of bailing the Freedom Riders out of jail rights leaders. Although they were pleased that
used up most of CORE’s funds, which meant that the Kennedy had intervened to protect Meredith’s rights,
rides would have to end unless more money could be they were disappointed that the president had not
found. When Thurgood Marshall learned of the situ- seized the moment to push for a new civil rights law.
ation, he offered James Farmer the use of the When the Cuban missile crisis began the following
NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund’s huge bail bond month, civil rights issues dropped out of the news,
account to keep the rides going. and for the next several months, foreign policy
When President Kennedy returned from his meet- became the main priority at the White House.
ing with Khrushchev and found that the Freedom Reflecting on the problem, Dr. King came to a dif-
Riders were still active, he changed his position and ficult decision. It seemed to him that only when vio-
ordered the Interstate Commerce Commission to lence and disorder got out of hand would the federal
tighten its regulations against segregated bus termi- government intervene. “We’ve got to have a crisis to
nals. In the meantime, Robert Kennedy ordered the bargain with,” one of his advisers observed. King
Justice Department to take legal action against agreed. In the spring of 1963, he decided to launch
Southern cities that were maintaining segregated bus demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, knowing
terminals. The continuing pressure of CORE and the they would probably provoke a violent response. He
actions of the ICC and the Justice Department finally believed it was the only way to get President
produced results. By late 1962, segregation in inter- Kennedy to actively support civil rights.
state travel had come to an end. The situation in Birmingham was volatile. Public
Safety Commissioner Bull Connor, who had
James Meredith As the Freedom Riders were try- arranged for the attack on the Freedom Riders, was
ing to desegregate bus terminals, efforts continued to now running for mayor. Eight days after the protests
integrate Southern schools. On the very day John F. began, King was arrested and held for a time in soli-
Kennedy was inaugurated, an African American air tary confinement. While in prison, King began writ-
force veteran named James Meredith applied for a ing on scraps of paper that had been smuggled into
transfer to the University of Mississippi. Up to that his cell. The “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” that he
point, the university had avoided complying with the produced is one of the most eloquent defenses of
Supreme Court ruling ending segregated education. nonviolent protest ever written.
In September 1962, Meredith tried to register at the In his letter, King explained that although the pro-
university’s admissions office, only to find Ross testers were breaking the law, they were following a
Barnett, the governor of Mississippi, blocking his higher moral law based on divine justice. To the
path. Although Meredith had a court order directing charge that the protests created racial tensions, King
the university to register him, Governor Barnett argued that the protests “merely bring to the surface
stated emphatically, “Never! We will never surrender the hidden tension that is already alive.” Injustice, he
to the evil and illegal forces of tyranny.” insisted, had to be exposed “to the light of human
Frustrated, President Kennedy dispatched 500 conscience and the air of national opinion before it
federal marshals to escort Meredith to the campus. can be cured.” ; (See page 936 for more on “Letter From a
Shortly after Meredith and the marshals arrived, an Birmingham Jail.”)

After King was released, the protests, which had represent him . . . then who among us would be con-
been dwindling, began to grow again. Bull Connor tent to have the color of his skin changed and stand
responded with force, ordering the police to use in his place?
clubs, police dogs, and high-pressure fire hoses on One hundred years of delay have passed since
the demonstrators, including women and children.
President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs,
Millions of people across the nation watched the
their grandsons, are not fully free. . . . And this
graphic violence on television. Outraged by the bru-
nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be
tality and worried that the government was losing
control, Kennedy ordered his aides to prepare a new fully free until all its citizens are free. . . . Now the
civil rights bill. time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise.
”
Reading Check Evaluating How did President —from Kennedy’s White House Address,
June 11, 1963
Kennedy help the civil rights movement?
TURNING POINT
The March on Washington Dr. King realized that
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Kennedy would have a very difficult time pushing
Determined to introduce a civil rights bill, his civil rights bill through Congress. Therefore, he
Kennedy now waited for a dramatic opportunity to searched for a way to lobby Congress and to build
address the nation on the issue. Shortly after the vio- more public support. When A. Philip Randolph sug-
lence in Birmingham had shocked the nation, gested a march on Washington, King agreed.
Alabama’s governor, George Wallace, gave the presi- On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 demonstra-
dent his chance. Wallace was committed to segrega- tors of all races flocked to the nation’s capital. The audi-
tion. At his inauguration, he had stated, “I draw a ence heard speeches and sang hymns and songs as
line in the dust . . . and I say, Segregation now! they gathered peacefully near the Lincoln Memorial.
Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” On Dr. King then delivered a powerful speech outlining
June 11, 1963, Wallace personally stood in front of the his dream of freedom and equality for all Americans:
University of Alabama’s
admissions office to block the History
enrollment of two African
Americans. He stayed until Forcing Change Birmingham police used high-pressure hoses to force civil rights protesters to stop their
federal marshals ordered him marches. Why did King’s followers offer no resistance?
to stand aside.
President Kennedy seized
the moment to announce his
civil rights bill. That evening,
he went on television to speak
to the American people about
a “moral issue . . . as old as
the scriptures and as clear as
the American Constitution”:
“ The heart of the question

is whether . . . we are going
to treat our fellow Americans
as we want to be treated. If
an American, because his skin
is dark, cannot eat lunch in a
restaurant open to the public,
if he cannot send his children
to the best public school avail-
able, if he cannot vote for
the public officials who will
“I have a
dream”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
History
A Dream Deferred The 1963 March on Washington was the emotional high point of the civil rights movement.
Its nonviolent atmosphere and Dr. King’s eloquent speech made it one of the most momentous American events
of the twentieth century. What significant legislation resulted from the March on Washington?
continued to do what they could to slow the bill

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise
up and live out the true meaning of its creed . . . that
down, dragging out their committee investigations
and using procedural rules to delay votes. ; (See page
all men are created equal. . . . I have a dream that 960 for an excerpt from Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.)
one day . . . the sons of former slaves and the sons
of former slave owners will be able to sit together at
The Civil Rights Bill Becomes Law Although the
the table of brotherhood. . . . I have a dream that my civil rights bill was likely to pass the House of
four little children will one day live in a nation where Representatives, where a majority of Republicans
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but and Northern Democrats supported the measure, it
by the content of their character. I have a dream . . . faced a much more difficult time in the Senate. There,
when all of God’s children, black men and white men, a small group of determined senators would try to
Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be block the bill indefinitely.
able to join hands and sing . . . ‘Free at last, Free at In the U.S. Senate, senators are allowed to speak
for as long as they like when a bill is being debated.
last, Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’
” The Senate cannot vote on a bill until all senators
—quoted in Freedom Bound: A History of have finished speaking. A filibuster occurs when a
America’s Civil Rights Movement small group of senators take turns speaking and
refuse to stop the debate and allow a bill to come to a
King’s speech and the peacefulness and dignity of vote. Today a filibuster can be stopped if at least 60
the March on Washington had built momentum for senators vote for cloture, a motion which cuts off
the civil rights bill. Opponents in Congress, however, debate and forces a vote. In the 1960s, however, 67

senators had to vote for cloture to stop a filibuster. The Struggle for Voting Rights
This meant that a minority of senators opposed to
Even after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed,
civil rights could easily prevent the majority from
voting rights were far from secure. The act had
enacting new civil rights laws.
focused on segregation and job discrimination, and it
Worried the bill would never pass, many African
did little to address voting issues. The Twenty-fourth
Americans became even more disheartened. Then
Amendment, ratified in 1964, helped somewhat by
President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas,
eliminating poll taxes, or fees paid in order to vote,
on November 22, 1963, and his vice president,
in federal (but not state) elections. African Americans
Lyndon Johnson, became president. Johnson was
still faced hurdles, however, when they tried to vote.
from Texas and had been the leader of the Senate
As the SCLC and SNCC stepped up their voter regis-
Democrats before becoming vice president. Although
tration efforts in the South, their members were often
he had helped push the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and
attacked and beaten, and several were murdered.
1960 through the Senate, he had done so by weaken-
Across the South, bombs exploded in African
ing their provisions and by compromising with other
American businesses and churches. Between June
Southern senators.
and October 1964, arson and bombs destroyed 24
To the surprise of the civil rights movement,
African American churches in Mississippi alone.
Johnson committed himself wholeheartedly to get-
Convinced that a new law was needed to protect
ting Kennedy’s program, including the civil rights
African American voting rights, Dr. King decided to
bill, through Congress. Unlike Kennedy, Johnson was
stage another dramatic protest.
very familiar with how Congress operated, having
served there for many years. He knew how to build
The Selma March In January 1965, the SCLC and
public support, how to put pressure on members of
Dr. King selected Selma, Alabama, as the focal point
Congress, and how to use the rules and procedures to
for their campaign for voting rights. Although
get what he wanted.
African Americans made up a majority of Selma’s
In February 1964, President Johnson’s leadership
began to produce results. The civil rights bill passed
the House of Representatives by a majority of 290 to
130. The debate then moved to the Senate. In June, Voting Rights In the early 1960s, African Americans
focused on increasing their political power.
after 87 days of filibuster, the Senate finally voted to
end debate by a margin of 71 to 29—four votes over
the two-thirds needed for cloture. On July 2, 1964,
President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964
into law.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most compre-
hensive civil rights law Congress had ever enacted. It
gave the federal government broad power to prevent
racial discrimination in a number of areas. The law
made segregation illegal in most places of public
accommodation, and it gave citizens of all races and
nationalities equal access to such facilities as restau-
rants, parks, libraries, and theaters. The law gave the
attorney general more power to bring lawsuits to
force school desegregation, and it required private
employers to end discrimination in the workplace. It
also established the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) as a permanent agency in the
federal government. This commission monitors the
ban on job discrimination by race, religion, gender,
and national origin.
Reading Check Examining How did Dr. King lobby

Congress to expand the right to participate in the democratic
process?

population, they comprised only 3 percent of regis- days later, he appeared before a nationally televised
tered voters. To prevent African Americans from reg- joint session of the legislature to propose a new vot-
istering to vote, Sheriff Jim Clark had deputized and ing rights law.
armed dozens of white citizens. His posse terrorized
African Americans and frequently attacked demon- The Voting Rights Act of 1965 On August 3, 1965,
strators with clubs and electric cattle prods. the House of Representatives passed the voting
Just weeks after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize rights bill by a wide margin. The following day, the
in Oslo, Norway, for his work in the civil rights Senate also passed the bill. The Voting Rights Act of
movement, Dr. King stated, “We are not asking, we 1965 authorized the attorney general to send federal
are demanding the ballot.” King’s demonstrations examiners to register qualified voters, bypassing
in Selma led to approximately 2,000 African local officials who often refused to register African
Americans, including schoolchildren, being Americans. The law also suspended discriminatory
arrested by Sheriff Clark. Clark’s men attacked and devices such as literacy tests in counties where less
beat many of the demonstrators, and Selma quickly than half of all adults had been allowed to vote.
became a major story in the national news. The results were dramatic. By the end of the year,
To keep pressure on the president and Congress to almost 250,000 African Americans had registered as
act, Dr. King joined with SNCC activists and organ- new voters. The number of African American elected
ized a “march for freedom” from Selma to the state officials in the South also increased, from about 100
capitol in Montgomery, a distance of about 50 miles in 1965 to more than 5,000 in 1990.
(80 km). On Sunday, March 7, 1965, the march began. The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The SCLC’s Hosea Williams and SNCC’s John Lewis marked a turning point in the civil rights movement.
led 500 protesters toward U.S. Highway 80, the route The movement had now achieved its two major leg-
that marchers had planned to follow to Montgomery. islative goals. Segregation had been outlawed, and
As the protesters approached the Edmund Pettus new federal laws were in place to prevent discrimi-
Bridge, which led out of Selma, Sheriff Clark ordered nation and protect voting rights.
them to disperse. While the marchers kneeled in After 1965 the movement began to shift its focus. It
prayer, more than 200 state troopers and deputized began to pay more attention to the problem of
citizens rushed the demonstrators. Many were beaten achieving full social and economic equality for
in full view of television cameras. This brutal attack, African Americans. As part of that effort, the move-
known later as “Bloody Sunday,” left 70 African ment turned its attention to the problems of African
Americans hospitalized and many more injured. Americans trapped in poverty and living in ghettos
The nation was stunned as it viewed the shocking in many of the nation’s major cities.
footage of law enforcement officers beating peaceful
demonstrators. Watching the events from the White Reading Check Summarizing How did the Twenty-
House, President Johnson became furious. Eight fourth Amendment affect African American voting rights?
TM
TM

1. Define: Freedom Riders, filibuster, 5. Evaluating How did protesting and 7. Examining Photographs Study the
cloture, poll tax. lobbying lead to the passage of the photographs in this section. What
2. Identify: Jesse Jackson, Ella Baker, Voting Rights Act of 1965? elements of the photographs show the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. 6. Sequencing Use a time line like the sacrifices African Americans made in
3. Describe the provisions of the Civil one below to show relative chronology the civil rights movement?
Rights Act of 1964 aimed at ending of events in the civil rights movement.
segregation and racial discrimination. Writing About History
Feb. 1960 Sept. 1962 July 1964 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
Reviewing Themes of a journalist for the student news-
4. Science and Technology How did tele- paper of a college in 1960. Write an
May 1961 Aug. 1963 March 1965
vision help the civil rights movement? article for the newspaper describing the
sit-in movement taking place across the
country.

New Issues
In the mid-1960s, civil rights leaders began Organizing As you read about the • Describe the division between Dr.
to understand that merely winning political changing focus of the civil rights move- Martin Luther King, Jr., and the black
rights for African Americans would not ment, complete a chart similar to the one power movement.
address the problem of African Americans’ below. Fill in five major violent events • Discuss the direction and progress of
economic status. and their results. the civil rights movement after 1968.
Key Terms and Names Event Result Section Theme
racism, Chicago Movement, Richard Daley, Civic Rights and Responsibilities In the
black power, Stokely Carmichael, late 1960s, the civil rights movement tried
Malcolm X, Black Panthers to address the persistent economic
inequality of African Americans.
✦1965 ✦1966 ✦1967 ✦1968

1965 1966 1967 1968
Watts riots break out in Los Angeles; Chicago Movement fails Kerner Commission studies Dr. Martin Luther
Malcolm X assassinated problems of inner cities King, Jr., assassinated
Thursday, July 12, 1965, was hot and humid in Chicago. That evening Dessie Mae
Williams, a 23-year-old African American woman, stood on the corner near the firehouse at
4000 West Wilcox Street. A firetruck sped out of the firehouse, and the driver lost control. The
truck smashed into a stop sign near Williams, and the sign struck and killed her.
African Americans had already picketed this firehouse because it was not integrated.
Hearing of Williams’s death, 200 neighborhood young people streamed into the street, sur-
rounding the firehouse. For two nights, rioting and disorder reigned. Angry youths threw
bricks and bottles at the firehouse and nearby windows. Shouting gangs pelted police with
rocks and accosted whites and beat them. Approximately 75 people were injured.
African American detectives, clergy, and National Guard members eventually restored
order. Mayor Richard Daley then summoned both white and black leaders to discuss the
area’s problems. An 18-year-old man who had been in the riot admitted that he had lost his
head. “We’re sorry about the bricks and bottles,” he said, “but when you get pushed, you
shove back. Man, you don’t like to stand on a corner and be told to get off it when you got
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
marching with protesters in nowhere else to go.”
Chicago —adapted from Anyplace But Here
Problems Facing Urban African Americans

Civil rights leaders had made great progress in the decade following the Montgomery
bus boycott, but full equality still eluded many African Americans. Until 1965 the civil
rights movement had focused on ending segregation and restoring the voting rights of

African Americans in the South. These were goals that the suburbs. Many African Americans found them-
could be achieved through court decisions and by selves channeled into low-paying jobs. They served as
convincing Congress to pass new laws. custodians and maids, porters and dock workers, with
Despite the passage of several civil rights laws in little chance of advancement. Those who did better
the 1950s and 1960s, racism—prejudice or discrimi- typically found employment as blue-collar workers in
nation toward someone because of his or her race— factories, but very few advanced beyond that. In 1965
was still common in American society. Changing the only 15 percent of African Americans held profes-
law could not change people’s attitudes immediately, sional, managerial, or clerical jobs, compared to 44
nor could it help those African Americans trapped in percent of whites. Almost half of all African
poverty in the nation’s big cities. American families lived in poverty, and the median
In 1965 nearly 70 percent of African Americans income of an African American family was only 55
lived in large cities. Many had moved from the South percent of that of the average white family. African
to the big cities of the North and West during the American unemployment was typically twice that of
Great Migration of the 1920s and 1940s. There, they whites.
often found the same prejudice and discrimination Poor neighborhoods in the nation’s major cities
that had plagued them in the South. Many whites were overcrowded and dirty, leading to higher rates of
refused to live with African Americans in the same illness and infant mortality. At the same time, the
neighborhood. When African Americans moved into crime rate increased in the 1960s, particularly in low-
a neighborhood, whites often moved out. Real estate income neighborhoods. Incidents of juvenile delin-
agents and landlords in white neighborhoods refused quency rose, as did the rate of young people dropping
to rent or sell to African Americans, who often found out of school. Complicating matters even more was a
it difficult to arrange for mortgages at local banks. rise in the number of single-parent households. All
Even if African Americans had been allowed to poor neighborhoods suffered from these problems,
move into white neighborhoods, poverty trapped but because more African Americans lived in poverty,
many of them in inner cities while whites moved to their communities were disproportionately affected.
Many African Americans living in urban poverty
knew the civil rights movement had made enormous
gains, but when they looked at their own circum-
stances, nothing seemed to be changing. The move-
ment had raised their hopes, but their everyday
problems were economic and social, and therefore
harder to address. As a result, their anger and frustra-
tion began to rise—until it finally erupted.
The Watts Riot Just five days after President

Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, a race riot
broke out in Watts, an African American neighbor-
hood in Los Angeles. Allegations of police brutality
had served as the catalyst of this uprising, which
lasted for six days and required over 14,000 members
of the National Guard and 1,500 law officers to restore
order. Rioters burned and looted entire neighbor-
hoods and destroyed about $45 million in property.
They killed 34 people, and about 900 suffered injuries.
More rioting was yet to come. Race riots broke out
in dozens of American cities between 1965 and 1968.
It seemed that they could explode at any place and at
any time. The worst riot took place in Detroit in 1967.
Burning, looting, and skirmishes with police and
Analyzing Political Cartoons National Guard members resulted in 43 deaths and
“Perilous Going” This political cartoon highlights the problems that over 1,000 wounded. Eventually the U.S. Army sent
American cities were experiencing in the mid-1960s. Why did riots break in tanks and soldiers armed with machine guns to get
out in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts? control of the situation. Nearly 4,000 fires destroyed

1,300 buildings, and the damage
in property loss was estimated at
$250 million. The governor of
Michigan, who viewed the smol-
dering city from a helicopter,
remarked that Detroit looked like
“a city that had been bombed.”
GOVERNMENT
The Kerner Commission In
1967 President Johnson appointed
the National Advisory Commission
on Civil Disorders, headed by History
Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois, to
Anger in Chicago When Dr. King
study the causes of the urban riots
refocused the civil rights movement
and to make recommendations to on the North, some white Americans
prevent them from happening protested. What did King do to
again in the future. The Kerner draw attention to slum conditions
Commission, as it became known, in Chicago?
conducted a detailed study of the
problem. The commission blamed
white society and white racism for
the majority of the problems in the inner city. “Our improve conditions for Chicago’s poor, invited Dr.
nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one King to visit the city. Dr. King and his staff had
white—separate and unequal,” it concluded. never conducted a civil rights campaign in the
The commission recommended the creation of North. By focusing on the problems that African
2 million new jobs in the inner city, the construction Americans faced in Chicago, Dr. King believed he
of 6 million new units of public housing, and a could call greater attention to poverty and other
renewed federal commitment to fight de facto segre- racial problems that lay beneath the urban
gation. President Johnson’s war on poverty, how- race riots.
ever, which addressed some of the same concerns for To call attention to the deplorable housing condi-
inner-city jobs and housing, was already underway. tions that many African American families faced, Dr.
Saddled with massive spending for the Vietnam King and his wife Coretta moved into a slum apart-
War, however, President Johnson never endorsed the ment in an African American neighborhood in
recommendations of the commission. Chicago. Dr. King and the SCLC hoped to work with
local leaders to improve the economic status of
Reading Check Explaining What was the federal
African Americans in Chicago’s poor neighborhoods.
government’s response to the race riots in Los Angeles and The Chicago Movement, however, made little
Detroit? headway. When Dr. King led a march through the all-
white suburb of Marquette Park to demonstrate the
need for open housing, he was met by angry white
The Shift to Economic Rights mobs similar to those in Birmingham and Selma.
By the mid-1960s, a number of African American Mayor Richard Daley ordered the Chicago police to
leaders were becoming increasingly critical of Martin protect the marchers, but he wanted to avoid any
Luther King’s nonviolent strategy. They felt it had repeat of the violence. He met with Dr. King and pro-
failed to improve the economic position of African posed a new program to clean up the slums.
Americans. What good was the right to dine at Associations of realtors and bankers also agreed to
restaurants or stay at hotels if most African promote open housing. In theory, mortgages and
Americans could not afford these services anyway? rental property would be available to everyone,
Dr. King became sensitive to this criticism, and in regardless of race. In practice, very little changed.
1965 he began to focus on economic issues.
In 1965 Albert Raby, president of a council Reading Check Describing How did Dr. King and
of community organizations that worked to SCLC leaders hope to address economic concerns?

Black Power can . . . create in the community an aroused and
continuing black consciousness. . . . Black people
Dr. King’s failure in Chicago seemed to show that
must do things for themselves; they must get . . .
nonviolent protests could do little to change economic
problems. After 1965 many African Americans, espe- money they will control and spend themselves; they
cially young people living in cities, began to turn away must conduct tutorial programs themselves so that
from King. Some leaders called for more aggressive
forms of protest. Their new strategies ranged from
”
black children can identify with black people.
—from the New York Review of Books,
armed self-defense to the suggestion that the govern- September 1966
ment set aside a number of states where African
Americans could live free from the presence of whites. Black power also stressed pride in the African
As African Americans became more assertive, they American cultural group. It emphasized racial distinc-
placed less emphasis on cooperation with sympa- tiveness rather than cultural assimilation—the process
thetic whites in the civil rights movement. Some by which minority groups adapt to the dominant cul-
African American organizations, including CORE ture in a society. African Americans showed pride in
and SNCC, voted to expel all whites from leadership their racial heritage by adopting new Afro hairstyles
positions within their organizations, believing that and African-style clothing. Many also took on African
African Americans alone should determine the names. In universities, students demanded that
course and direction of their struggle. African and African American Studies courses be
Many young African Americans called for black adopted as part of the standard school curriculum. Dr.
power, a term that had many different meanings. A King and some other leaders criticized black power as
few interpreted black power to mean that physical self- a philosophy of hopelessness and despair. The idea
defense and even violence were acceptable in defense was very popular, however, in the poor urban neigh-
of one’s freedom—a clear rejection of Dr. King’s philos- borhoods where many African Americans resided.
ophy. To most, including Stokely Carmichael, the
leader of SNCC in 1966, the term meant that African Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam By the early
Americans should control the social, political, and eco- 1960s, a man named Malcolm X had become a symbol
nomic direction of their struggle: of the black power movement that was sweeping the
nation. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, he
experienced a difficult childhood and adolescence. He
“ This is the significance of black power as a slogan.
For once, black people are going to use the words drifted into a life of crime, and in 1946, he was convicted
they want to use—not just the words whites want to of burglary and sent to prison for six years.
Prison transformed Malcolm. He began to educate
hear. . . . The need for psychological equality is the
himself, and he played an active role in the prison
reason why SNCC today believes that blacks must
debate society. Eventually he joined the Nation of
organize in the black community. Only black people Islam, commonly known as the Black Muslims, who
were led by Elijah Muhammad. Despite their name,
the Black Muslims do not hold the same beliefs as
mainstream Muslims. The Nation of Islam preached
black nationalism. Like Marcus Garvey in the 1920s,
Black Muslims believed that African Americans
should separate themselves from whites and form
their own self-governing communities.
Shortly after joining the Nation of Islam, Malcolm
Little changed his name to Malcolm X. The “X” stood
History as a symbol for the family name of his African ances-
tors who had been enslaved. Malcolm argued that his
Malcolm X Makes His Point
true family name had been stolen from him by slav-
Once the most visible
spokesperson for the Nation of ery, and he did not intend to use the name white soci-
Islam, Malcolm X originally dis- ety had given him.
agreed with Dr. King’s passive The Black Muslims viewed themselves as their own
protest tactics. What did the nation and attempted to make themselves as econom-
“X” in his name symbolize? ically self-sufficient as possible. They ran their own
businesses, organized their own schools, established
their own weekly newspaper (Muhammad Speaks), and
encouraged their members to respect each other and
to strengthen their families. Although the Black
Muslims did not advocate violence, they did advocate
self-defense. Malcolm X was a powerful and charis-
matic speaker, and his criticisms of white society and
the mainstream civil rights movement gained national
attention for the Nation of Islam.
By 1964 Malcolm X had broken with the Black
Muslims. Discouraged by scandals involving the
Nation of Islam’s leader, he went to the Muslim holy
city of Makkah (also called Mecca) in Saudi Arabia.
After seeing Muslims from many different races wor-
shipping together, he concluded that an integrated
society was possible. In a revealing letter describing
his pilgrimage to Makkah, he stated that many whites
that he met during the pilgrimage displayed a spirit
of brotherhood that gave him a new, positive insight
into race relations.
After Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam, he
continued to criticize the organization and its leader,
Elijah Muhammad. Because of this, three organiza-
tion members shot and killed him in February 1965
while he was giving a speech in New York. Although
Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam before his death, History
his speeches and ideas from those years with the
Black Power U.S. athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos give the black power
Black Muslims are those for which he is most remem-
salute during the medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.
bered. In Malcolm’s view, African Americans may How did black power supporters demonstrate their belief in the movement?
have been victims in the past, but they did not have to
allow racism to victimize them in the present. His
ideas have influenced African Americans to take facilities. Eldridge Cleaver, who served as the minis-
pride in their own culture and to believe in their abil- ter of culture, articulated many of the organization’s
ity to make their way in the world. objectives in his 1967 best-selling book, Soul on Ice.
Reading Check Describing What caused a division
The Black Panthers Malcolm X’s ideas influenced a between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the black power
new generation of militant African American leaders movement?
who also preached black power, black nationalism,
and economic self-sufficiency. In 1966 in Oakland,
California, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge The Assassination of
Cleaver organized the Black Panther Party for Self-
Defense, or the Black Panthers, as they were known. Martin Luther King, Jr.
They considered themselves the heirs of Malcolm X, By the late 1960s, the civil rights movement had
and they recruited most of their members from poor fragmented into dozens of competing organizations
urban communities across the nation. with philosophies for reaching equality. At the same
The Black Panthers believed that a revolution was time, the emergence of black power and the call by
necessary in the United States, and they urged African some African Americans for violent action angered
Americans to arm themselves and confront white soci- many white civil rights supporters. This made further
ety in order to force whites to grant them equal rights. legislation to help blacks economically less likely.
Black Panther leaders adopted a “Ten-Point Program,” In this atmosphere, Dr. King went to Memphis,
which called for black empowerment, an end to racial Tennessee, to support a strike of African American
oppression, and control of major institutions and sanitation workers in March 1968. At the time, the
services in the African American community, such SCLC had been planning a national “Poor People’s
as schools, law enforcement, housing, and medical Campaign” to promote economic advancement for

there with you, but I want you to know tonight that
we as a people will get to the Promised Land.”
Dr. King’s assassination touched off both
national mourning and riots in more than
100 cities, including Washington, D.C. The
Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who had
served as a trusted assistant to Dr. King for
many years, led the Poor People’s
Campaign in King’s absence. The demon-
stration, however, did not achieve any of the
major objectives that either King or the SCLC
had hoped it would.
History In the wake of Dr. King’s death, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The act
Atlanta Mourns Martin Luther King, Jr. The nation joined Coretta Scott
contained a fair housing provision outlawing dis-
King (right) in sorrow following the assassination of her husband in 1968. Why
was King in Memphis at the time of his death? crimination in housing sales and rentals and gave the
Justice Department authority to bring suits against
such discrimination.
all impoverished Americans. The purpose of this
Dr. King’s death marked the end of an era in
campaign, the most ambitious one that Dr. King
American history. Although the civil rights move-
would ever lead, was to lobby the federal govern-
ment continued, it lacked the unity of purpose and
ment to commit billions of dollars to end poverty
vision that Dr. King had given it. Under his leader-
and unemployment in the United States. People of
ship, and with the help of tens of thousands of dedi-
all races and nationalities were to converge on the
cated African Americans, many of whom were
nation’s capital, as they had in 1963 during the
students, the civil rights movement transformed
March on Washington, where they would camp out
American society. Although many problems remain
until both Congress and President Johnson agreed to
to be resolved, the achievements of the civil rights
pass the requested legislation to fund the proposal.
movement in the 1950s and 1960s dramatically
On the evening of April 4, 1968, as he stood on his
improved life for African Americans, creating new
hotel balcony in Memphis, Dr. King was assassinated
opportunities where none had existed before.
by a sniper. Ironically, he had told a gathering at a
local African American church just the previous
night, “I’ve been to the mountaintop. . . . I’ve looked Reading Check Summarizing What were the goals
over and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get of the Poor People’s Campaign?
TM
TM

1. Define: racism, black power. 6. Identifying Cause and Effect What 8. Analyzing Political Cartoons The car-
2. Identify: Chicago Movement, Richard were the effects of the assassination of toon on page 762 suggests that the vio-
Daley, Stokely Carmichael, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? lence of the mid-1960s was as bad as
Black Panthers. 7. Categorizing Using a graphic organ- the violence of the Vietnam War going
3. Explain the goals of the Nation of Islam izer like the one below, list the main on at the same time. What images does
in the 1960s. views of the three leaders listed. the cartoonist use to compare violence
4. Summarize the findings of the Kerner at home with the violence of the war?
Commission. Leader Views
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reviewing Themes Malcolm X Writing About History
5. Civic Rights and Responsibilities Eldridge Cleaver
How was the Civil Rights Act of 1968 a reporter in the late 1960s. Imagine
designed to help end discrimination? you have interviewed a follower of Dr.
King and a Black Panther member.
Write out a transcript of each interview.

Study and Writing
Preparing a Bibliography
Why Learn This Skill? Other Sources:
When you write research reports, you should For other kinds of sources, adapt the format for
include a list of the sources used to find your infor- book entries as needed.
mation. This list, called a bibliography, allows you to
credit the sources you cited and supports the Practicing the Skill
report’s accuracy. Review the sample bibliography below from a
report on Martin Luther King, Jr. Then answer the
Learning the Skill questions that follow.
A bibliography is a list of sources used in a Patrick, Diane. Martin Luther King, Jr. New York:
research report. These sources include books; arti- Franklin Watts, 1990.
cles from newspapers, magazines, and journals; Franklin, John H. “Jim Crow Goes to School: The
interviews; and other sources. Genesis of Legal Segregation in Southern
There are two main reasons to write a bibliogra- Schools.” South Atlantic Quarterly, 57 (1956):
phy. First, those who read your report may want to pp. 225–235.
learn more about the topic. Second, a bibliography
Washington, James Melvin, ed. A Testament of Hope:
supports the reliability of your report.
The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr.
A bibliography follows an established format. The
San Francisco: Harper & Row.
entry for each source contains all the information
needed to find that source, including the author, King, Jr., Martin Luther. Time for Freedom has Come.
title, page numbers, publisher information, and pub- New York Times Magazine (Sept. 10, 1961).
lication date. You should document this information 1 Are the bibliography entries in the correct
as you carry out your research. If you neglect this order? Why or why not?
step early in your research, you must locate your 2 What is missing from the second book listing?
sources again in order to credit them in your report.
3 What features are missing from the second arti-
You should arrange bibliographic entries alpha-
cle listing?
betically by the author’s last name. The following
are acceptable formats, followed by sample entries.
Skills Assessment
Note that all lines after the first line are indented.
Books:
Author’s last name, first name. Full Title. Place of Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
publication: publisher, copyright date.
Hay, Peter. Ordinary Heroes: The Life and Death of
Chana Szenes, Israel’s National Heroine. New
York: Paragon House, 1986.
Applying the Skill
Articles:
Preparing a Bibliography Put together a bibliography
Author’s last name, first name. “Title of Article.” of at least five sources that you could use for a report
Name of Periodical in which article appears, vol- on the civil rights movement. Include books, periodi-
ume number (date of issue): page numbers. cals, and any other sources you wish.
Watson, Bruce. “The New Peace Corps in the New
Kazakhstan.” Smithsonian, Vol. 25 (August Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
1994): pp. 26–35. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
767
Reviewing Key Terms 12. Why was the decision in Brown v. Board of Education a
significant step toward ending segregation?
13. What was the role of SNCC in the civil rights movement?
1. separate-but-equal 6. cloture
14. How did the government react to race riots in cities such as
2. de facto segregation 7. poll tax Los Angeles and Detroit?
3. sit-in 8. racism 15. What were two changes in the focus of the civil rights move-
4. Freedom Riders 9. black power ment in the mid-1960s?
5. filibuster
Critical Thinking
Reviewing Key Facts 16. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities Do
10. Identify: NAACP, Thurgood Marshall, Linda Brown, Martin you agree with the viewpoint of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Luther King, Jr., Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or with that of the Black Panthers concerning the civil rights
Jesse Jackson, Chicago Movement, Stokely Carmichael, movement? Explain your answer.
Malcolm X. 17. Evaluating Why did the civil rights movement make fewer
11. What event led to the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama? gains after 1968?
Major Events in Civil Rights Movement

1963 1965
• Birmingham • Voting Rights Act ensures
1954 1957 demonstrations African Americans of
• Brown v. Board of • SCLC is formed to and the March on the right to vote.
Education attacks fight segregation Washington help • Watts riot sparks
school segregation. and encourage build support for the several years
African Americans civil rights movement. of urban racial violence.
• Separate-but-equal
doctrine in to vote.
• Splinter groups within the civil
education is ruled • Eisenhower sends rights movement advocate
unconstitutional. army troops to more aggressive means of
Little Rock, Arkansas. gaining racial equality.
1954 1961 1968
1964 1968
1955 • Twenty-fourth • Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Rosa Parks inspires 1961 Amendment assassinated.
Montgomery bus • Freedom Rides abolishes poll tax. • Civil Rights Act of 1968
boycott. begin. • Civil Rights Act of outlaws discrimination
1960
1964 outlaws in the sale and rental
• Sit-ins begin
discrimination of housing.
and spread to
based on race, gender,
over 100 cities.
religion, or national
• SNCC is formed origin, and gives
and leads fight equal access to
against segregated public facilities.
public facilities.
Route of the Freedom In
HISTORY Riders, 1961 Motion
CANADA 70°W
N.Y. MASS.
Self-Check Quiz WIS. MICH. R.I.
IOWA PA. N.J. 40
°N
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— OHIO CONN.
Chapter 24 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. Washington, D.C. DEL.
ILL. IND.
W. MD.
MO. VA. VA. Dep. May 4, 1961
18. Making Generalizations Why was the sit-in movement con- KY.
sidered a major turning point in the civil rights movement? Greensboro N
Arr. May 14
19. Organizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the one TENN. Dep. May 20 N.C. E W
below to compare examples of civil rights legislation. ARK. ALA. Atlanta
S
S.C.
Birmingham
Anniston Atlantic
Civil Rights Legislation Provisions MISS.
Jackson GA.
Montgomery
Ocean
LA. Selma 30°N
Civil Rights Act 1957 0 200 miles
Arr. May 20
Twenty-Fourth Amendment Arr. May 24 Dep. May 24
FLA. 0Lambert200 kilometers
and 25 Azimuthal
Equal-Area projection
Voting Rights Act
90°W 80°W
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1968
and 1960s. Your group should choose a specific topic, move-
ment leader, or time period to write about. Use your script to
Practicing Skills produce a documentary to present to the other groups in your
class.
20. Preparing a Bibliography Review the following bibliogra-
phy for a report on the civil rights movement. Then answer
the questions that follow.
Chapter Activity
Fairclough, Adam. Martin Luther King, Jr. Athens and 23. Examining Interviews Work with a classmate to research
London: University of Georgia Press, 1995. interviews with Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. Take
notes on the different points of view of these civil rights lead-
Juan Williams. Eyes on the Prize. New York: Viking Penguin, ers, and then prepare a chart illustrating similarities, differ-
Inc., 1987. ences, and any bias which shapes their beliefs.
Patterson, James T. Grand Expectations, The United States,
1945–1974. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Bontemps, Arna, and Jack Conroy. Anyplace but Here. Standardized
Columbia: University of Missouri Press. (NO PUB DATE)
a. The entries presented above are not listed in the correct
Test Practice
order. Using just the names of the authors, put them in Directions: Choose the phrase that best
the correct order. completes the following statement.
b. What is incorrect in the Patterson listing? One difference between the strategies of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., and some later civil rights groups was that King
c. Rewrite the Juan Williams listing correctly.
was committed to
A ending discrimination in housing and unemployment.
B using only nonviolent forms of protest.
21. The map on this page shows routes of Freedom Riders. Study
the map and answer the questions below. C demanding equal rights for African Americans.
a. Interpreting Maps Which states did the Freedom Riders D gaining improvements in living conditions for African
travel through? What was their final destination? Americans.
b. Applying Geography Skills Why do you think the Test-Taking Tip: If you read this question carefully, you will
Freedom Riders faced protests during this trip?
notice that it asks for one difference in civil rights strategies.
Three of the answer choices will represent common goals.
Writing Activity Be careful to read through all the choices to find the one
22. Writing a Script Work in small groups to write a script for that represents a different type of strategy.
a documentary on the civil rights movement in the 1950s

The
Vietnam War
1954–1975
Why It Matters
The Vietnam War created very bitter divisions within the United States. Supporters argued that
patriotism demanded that communism be halted. Opponents argued that intervening in Vietnam
was immoral. Many young people protested or resisted the draft. Victory was not achieved,
although more than 58,000 American soldiers died. After the war, the nation had many wounds
to heal.
The Impact Today

Changes brought about by the war are still evident in the United States today.
• The nation is reluctant to commit troops overseas.
• The War Powers Act limits a president’s power to involve the nation in war.

video, “Vietnam: A Different War,” explores the causes and the
impact of this longest war in American history.
1954
• Vietminh defeat French 1964 1965
• Geneva Accords signed • Congress passes Gulf • U.S. combat troops
of Tonkin Resolution arrive in Vietnam
▲ Eisenhower Kennedy L. Johnson

1953–1961 1961–1963 1963–1969 ▲ ▲
1955 1960 1965
▼ ▼ ▼
1955 1964
• Khrushchev is • Japan introduces first
dominant leader high-speed passenger train
in USSR 1958
• De Gaulle heads France’s
Fifth Republic
770
The dedication ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
1967 in Washington, D.C., November 13, 1982
• March on the
Pentagon takes place 1973
1968 • Cease-fire signed
• Tet offensive with North Vietnam 1975
• Students protest at • Evacuation of last
Democratic National Americans from Vietnam
Convention in 1970
Chicago • National Guard troops kill HISTORY
students at Kent State
Nixon University Ford
▲ ▲ 1969–1974 ▲ ▲ 1974–1977 ▲ Chapter Overview
1971 information.
• Pakistani civil war leads to
1967 1968 independent Bangladesh
• First heart • Soviets repress 1975
transplant Czechoslovakia’s rebellion • Civil war breaks
performed out in Angola
771
The United States
Focuses on Vietnam
American efforts to stop the spread of Organizing As you read about the • Describe the nationalist motives of
communism led to U.S. involvement in increasing involvement of the United Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.
the affairs of Vietnam. States in Vietnam, complete a graphic • Explain the origins of American involve-
organizer similar to the one below by ment in Vietnam during the 1950s.
Key Terms and Names providing reasons that the United States
Ho Chi Minh, domino theory, guerrilla, aided France in Vietnam. Section Theme
Dien Bien Phu, Ngo Dinh Diem Government and Democracy American
involvement in Vietnam was a reflection
Reasons for U.S.
Support of France
of Cold War strategy.
✦1946 ✦1950 ✦1954 ✦1958

1946 1950 1954 1956
French-Vietminh The United States supplies Vietminh defeat French at Dien Bien Ngo Dinh Diem refuses to participate
War begins military aid to France Phu; Geneva Accords signed in Paris in nationwide elections in Vietnam
In 1965 the first major battle between American and North Vietnamese soldiers took place
in the Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam. During the battle, a platoon of American soldiers was
cut off and surrounded. Lieutenant Joe Marm’s platoon was among those sent to rescue the
trapped Americans. When his men came under heavy fire, Marm acted quickly: “I told the
men to hold their fire. . . . Then I ran forward. . . . That’s the principle we use in the infantry,
‘Lead by your own example.’” Marm raced across open ground and hurled grenades at the
enemy, and although he was shot in the jaw, he managed to kill the troops firing at his men.
For his extraordinary bravery, Lieutenant Marm received the Medal of Honor:
“ I feel I’m the recipient of the medal for the many, many brave soldiers whose deeds go
unsung. . . [T]he medal is as much theirs as it is mine. It’s always tough to get men to go into
Lieutenant Joe Marm
battle, but we were a tight unit, and there were Americans out there that we were trying to
get to. We’re all in it together, and we were fighting for each other and for our guys. . . . I had
the best soldiers. . . . They were fearless, and they were just great Americans and they’re
going to go down in history.
” —quoted in The Soldiers’ Story
Early American Involvement in Vietnam

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, most Americans knew little about Vietnam. During
this time, however, American officials came to view the nation as increasingly important
in the campaign to halt the spread of communism.
772 CHAPTER 25 The Vietnam War

The Growth of Vietnamese Nationalism When expel the Japanese forces. Soon afterward, the United
the Japanese seized power in Vietnam during World States began sending military aid to the Vietminh.
War II, it was one more example of foreigners ruling
the Vietnamese people. China had controlled the The United States Supports the French With the
region off and on for hundreds of years. From the late Allies’ victory over Japan in August 1945, the
1800s until World War II, France ruled Vietnam and Japanese surrendered control of Indochina. Ho Chi
neighboring Laos and Cambodia—a region known Minh and his forces quickly announced that Vietnam
collectively as French Indochina. was an independent nation. He even crafted a
By the early 1900s, nationalism had become a pow- Vietnam Declaration of Independence. Archimedes
erful force in Vietnam. The Vietnamese formed several Patti, an American officer stationed in Vietnam at the
political parties to push for independence or reform of time, helped the rebel leader write the document.
the French colonial government. One of the leaders of When a translator read aloud the opening—“All men
the nationalist movement was Nguyen Tat Thanh— are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator
better known by his alias, Ho Chi Minh, or “Bringer of with certain inalienable rights; among these are
Light.” He was born in 1890 in central Vietnam. As a liberty, life, and the pursuit of happiness”—Patti sud-
young man, Ho Chi Minh taught at a village school. At denly sat up, startled, recognizing the words as very
the age of 21, he sailed for Europe on a French similar to the American Declaration of Independence.
freighter, paying his passage by working in the galley.
During his travels abroad, including a stay in the
Soviet Union, Ho Chi Minh became an advocate of Indochina, 1959
communism. In 1930 he returned to Southeast Asia,
where he helped found the Indochinese Communist 0 200 miles
Party and worked to overthrow French rule.
0 200 kilometers CHINA
Ho Chi Minh’s activities made him a wanted man. Miller Cylindrical projection N
He fled Indochina and spent several years in exile in
W E
the Soviet Union and China. In 1941 he returned to
Vietnam. By then Japan had seized control of the NORTH S
BURMA VIETNAM
country. Ho Chi Minh organized a nationalist group 1948 1954 Hanoi
called the Vietminh. The group united both
Communists and non-Communists in the struggle to 20°N
LAOS Gulf of
1954
Tonkin
History Vientiane
Rural Economy Most of Vietnam’s people live in the country’s low-lying
17°N
fertile lands near the Red River delta in the north and the Mekong River
Rangoon
delta in the south. What does the image below suggest about the use
THAILAND
of human labor in the country’s agricultural economy? Never a European
colony
Bangkok
CAMBODIA
1954
Phnom SOUTH
Penh VIETNAM
1954
Saigon
Gulf of
10°N
Thailand
South
China Sea
1954 Date of independence
100°E
1. Interpreting Maps What three countries border North

and South Vietnam?
2. Applying Geography Skills A mountain chain extends
nearly 800 miles (1,290 km) from North to South
Vietnam. How do you think this terrain aided the
Vietnamese guerrillas who were fighting U.S. troops?
Two events convinced the Truman administration
“I stopped him and turned to Ho in amazement
and asked if he really intended to use it in his decla-
to help France—the fall of China to communism, and
the outbreak of the Korean War. Korea, in particular,
ration. . . . Ho sat back in his chair, his palms convinced American officials that the Soviet Union
together with fingertips touching his lips ever so had begun a major push to impose communism on
lightly, as though meditating. Then, with a gentle East Asia. Shortly after the Korean War began,
smile he asked softly, ‘Should I not use it?’ I felt Truman authorized a massive program of military
sheepish and embarrassed. Of course, I answered, aid to French forces fighting in Vietnam.
On taking office in 1953, President Eisenhower
why should he not?
” —quoted in The Perfect War continued to support the French military campaign
against the Vietminh. By 1954 the United States was
France, however, had no intention of seeing paying roughly three-fourths of France’s war costs.
Vietnam become independent. Seeking to regain their During a news conference that year, Eisenhower
colonial empire in Southeast Asia, French troops defended United States policy in Vietnam by stress-
returned to Vietnam in 1946 and drove the Vietminh ing what became known as the domino theory—the
forces into hiding in the countryside. By 1949 French belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, so too
officials had set up a new government in Vietnam. would the other nations of Southeast Asia:
The Vietminh fought back against the French-
dominated regime and slowly increased their control “ You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock
over the first one, and what will happen to the last
over large areas of the countryside. As fighting
between the two sides escalated, France appealed to one is the certainty that it will go over very
the United States for help. quickly. . . . Asia, after all, has already lost 450 mil-
The request put American officials in a difficult lion of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship, and
position. The United States opposed colonialism. It
had pressured the Dutch to give up their empire in ”
we simply can’t afford greater losses. . . .
—quoted in America in Vietnam
Indonesia, and it supported the British decision to give
India independence in 1947. In Vietnam, however, the
Reading Check Summarizing Why did Ho Chi
independence movement had become entangled with
the Communist movement. American officials did not Minh lead a resistance movement against France?
think France should control Vietnam, but they did not
want Vietnam to be Communist either.
The Vietminh Drive Out the French
Despite significant amounts of aid from the
History United States, the French struggled against the
Nationalist Leader Ho Chi Minh was already involved in fighting for Vietnam’s Vietminh, who consistently frustrated the French
independence when this photograph was taken in 1946. What foreign country with hit-and-run and ambush tactics. These are the
was he opposing at that time? tactics of guerrillas, irregular troops who usually
blend into the civilian population and are often diffi-
cult for regular armies to fight. The mounting casual-
ties and the inability of the French to defeat the
Vietminh made the war very unpopular in France.
Finally, in 1954, the struggle reached a turning point.
TURNING POINT
Defeat at Dien Bien Phu In 1954 the French com-
mander ordered his forces to occupy the mountain
town of Dien Bien Phu. Seizing the town would
interfere with the Vietminh’s supply lines and force
them into open battle.
Soon afterward, a huge Vietminh force sur-
rounded Dien Bien Phu and began bombarding the
town. “Shells rained down on us without stopping
like a hailstorm on a fall evening,” recalled one
French soldier. “Bunker after bunker,
trench after trench collapsed, burying
under them men and weapons.” On May
7, 1954, the French force at Dien Bien Phu
fell to the Vietminh. The defeat convinced
the French to make peace and withdraw
from Indochina.
Geneva Accords Negotiations to end the

conflict were held in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Geneva Accords temporarily divided
Vietnam along the 17th parallel, with Ho
Chi Minh and the Vietminh in control of
North Vietnam and a pro-Western regime
in control of the South. In 1956 elections
were to be held to reunite the country
under a single government. The Geneva
Conference also recognized Cambodia’s
independence. (Laos had gained inde-
pendence the previous year.) History
Shortly after the Geneva Accords parti-
Last Stand French troops assemble a tank near the Dien Bien Phu airfield shortly before their
tioned Vietnam, the French finally left.
defeat by the Vietminh. How did this defeat influence French policy in Indochina?
The United States almost immediately
stepped in and became the principal pro-
tector of the new government in the South, led by a north would not allow genuinely free elections, and
nationalist leader named Ngo Dinh Diem (NOH DIHN that Ho Chi Minh would almost certainly have won as
deh·EHM). Like Ho Chi Minh, Diem had been edu- a result. Eisenhower supported Diem and increased
cated abroad, but unlike the North Vietnamese American military and economic aid to South
leader, Diem was pro-Western and fiercely anti- Vietnam. In the wake of Diem’s actions, tensions
Communist. A Catholic, he welcomed the roughly between the North and South intensified. The nation
one million North Vietnamese Catholics who seemed headed toward civil war, with the United
migrated south to escape Ho Chi Minh’s rule. States caught in the middle of it.
When the time came in 1956 to hold countrywide
elections, as called for by the Geneva Accords, Diem Reading Check Examining What was the effect of
refused. He knew that the Communist-controlled the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu?
TM
TM

1. Define: domino theory, guerrilla. 5. Interpreting Why do you think the 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Ho Chi Minh, Dien Bien Phu, United States supported the govern- Vietnam scene on page 773. How
Ngo Dinh Diem. ment of Ngo Dinh Diem? would you describe the contrast
3. Explain the goals of the Vietminh. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer between American and Vietnamese
like the one below to list provisions of societies? How do you think this con-
Reviewing Themes the Geneva Accords. trast influenced American thinking
4. Government and Democracy Why did toward the war?
Ngo Dinh Diem refuse to hold country- Geneva Accords Provisions
wide elections in Vietnam in 1956? Writing About History
8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
of a Vietnamese peasant in the 1940s.
Write a journal entry on your feelings
toward the French.
CHAPTER 25 The Vietnam War 775

Going to War
in Vietnam
After providing South Vietnam with much Taking Notes As you read about the • Describe how President Johnson deep-
aid and support, the United States finally beginnings of the Vietnam War, use the ened American involvement in Vietnam.
sent in troops to fight as well. major headings of the section to create • Discuss how the Vietcong and the
an outline similar to the one below. North Vietnamese were able to frustrate
Key Terms and Names the American military.
Vietcong, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Going to War in Vietnam
napalm, Agent Orange, Ho Chi Minh trail I. American Involvement Deepens Section Theme
A.
B. Science and Technology American
II. military procedures differed significantly
A.
B. from those of the Vietcong troops.
✦1963 ✦1964 ✦1965 ✦1966

1963 1964 1965
Number of American military advisers in Congress passes Gulf of The United States begins bombing North Vietnam;
South Vietnam reaches around 15,000 Tonkin Resolution first American combat troops arrive in Vietnam
Marlene Kramel joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1965 when she was 21, and she went to
Vietnam the following year. She was working in a makeshift hospital on what was a particu-
larly quiet night. Most of the patients who filled the beds that evening were suffering from
malaria.
Suddenly, a row of helicopters roared in from over the horizon, carrying wounded from a
nearby battle. As the casualties came in on stretchers, the hospital turned chaotic. Doctors ran
about the facility screaming orders and frantically trying to treat patients.
The only nurse on duty at the time, Kramel felt overwhelmed by the confusion. “Every one
of the doctors is yelling for me,” she recalled. “I didn’t know what to do next. ‘Start this. Do
that.’ Everybody’s yelling at me. I couldn’t do enough.” Things happened so quickly that night,
she insisted, that she could not remember most of it. “I can’t remember blood, even. I can
only remember, ‘What am I going to do?’ And the doctors moving at tremendous speed. And
Marlene Kramel I’m there. And I’m not able to move fast enough. . . . That’s all I remember.”
—adapted from The Living and the Dead
American Involvement Deepens

The steps that led to the chaos and casualties Marlene Kramel experienced in 1966
began in the mid-1950s when American officials decided to support the government of
South Vietnam in its struggle against North Vietnam. After Ngo Dinh Diem refused to

hold national elections, Ho Chi
Minh and his followers began an
armed struggle to reunify the
nation. They organized a new
guerrilla army, which became
known as the Vietcong. As fight-
ing began between the Vietcong
and South Vietnam’s forces,
President Eisenhower increased
American aid, and sent hun-
dreds of military advisers to
train South Vietnam’s army.
Despite the American assis-
tance, the Vietcong continued to
grow more powerful, in part
because many Vietnamese
opposed Diem’s government,
and in part because of the
Vietcong’s use of terror. By 1961 History
the Vietcong had assassinated Self-Immolation On June 11, 1963, flames erupted around a Buddhist monk as he set himself on fire to
thousands of government offi- protest government religious policies. What policies did Ngo Dinh Diem take toward Buddhism?
cials and established control
over much of the countryside. In response Diem strategic hamlets, partly to protect them from the
looked increasingly to the United States to keep Vietcong, and partly to prevent them from giving aid
South Vietnam from collapsing. to the Vietcong. The program proved to be extremely
unpopular. Many peasants resented being uprooted
Kennedy Takes Over On taking office in 1961, from their villages, where they had worked to build
President Kennedy continued the nation’s policy of farms and where many of their ancestors lay buried.
support for South Vietnam. Like presidents Truman
and Eisenhower before him, Kennedy saw the The Overthrow of Diem Diem made himself even
Southeast Asian country as vitally important in the more unpopular by discriminating against Buddhism,
battle against communism. one of the country’s most widely practiced religions.
In political terms, Kennedy needed to appear In the spring of 1963, Diem, a Catholic, banned the tra-
tough on communism, since Republicans often ditional religious flags for Buddha’s birthday. When
accused Democrats of having lost China to commu- Buddhists took to the streets in protest, Diem’s police
nism during the Truman administration. Kennedy’s killed 9 people and injured 14 others. In the demon-
administration sharply increased military aid and strations that followed, a Buddhist monk set himself
sent more advisers to Vietnam. From 1961 to late on fire, the first of several to do so. The photograph of
1963, the number of American military personnel in his self-destruction appeared on television and on the
South Vietnam jumped from about 2,000 to around front pages of newspapers around the world. It was a
15,000. stark symbol of the opposition to Diem.
American officials believed the Vietcong contin- In August 1963, American ambassador Henry
ued to grow because Diem’s government was unpop- Cabot Lodge arrived in Vietnam. He quickly learned
ular and corrupt. They urged him to create a more that Diem’s unpopularity had so alarmed several
democratic government and to introduce reforms to Vietnamese generals that they were plotting to over-
help Vietnam’s peasants. Diem introduced some lim- throw him. When Lodge expressed American sympa-
ited reforms, but they had little effect. thy for their cause, the generals launched a military
One program Diem introduced, at the urging of coup. They seized power on November 1, 1963, and
American advisers, made the situation worse. The executed Diem shortly afterward.
South Vietnamese created special fortified villages, Diem’s overthrow only made matters worse.
known as strategic hamlets. These villages were pro- Despite his unpopularity with some Vietnamese,
tected by machine guns, bunkers, trenches, and barbed Diem had been a respected nationalist and a capable
wire. Vietnamese officials then moved villagers to the administrator. After his death, South Vietnam’s

government grew increasingly weak and unstable. Politics also played a role in Johnson’s Vietnam
The United States became even more deeply policy. Like Kennedy, Johnson remembered that
involved in order to prop up the weak South many Republicans blamed the Truman administra-
Vietnamese government. Coincidentally, three tion for the fall of China to communism in 1949.
weeks after Diem’s death, President Kennedy was Should the Democrats also “lose” Vietnam, Johnson
also assassinated. The presidency, as well as the feared, it might cause a “mean and destructive
growing problem of Vietnam, now belonged to debate that would shatter my Presidency, kill my
Kennedy’s vice president, Lyndon Johnson. administration, and damage our democracy.”
Reading Check Examining What was the main goal
of the Vietcong? TURNING POINT
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution On August 2,
1964, President Johnson announced that North
Johnson and Vietnam Vietnamese torpedo boats had fired on two
Initially President Johnson exercised caution and American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days
restraint regarding the conflict in Vietnam. “We seek later, the president reported that another similar
no wider war,” he repeatedly promised. At the same attack had taken place. Johnson was campaigning
time, Johnson was determined to prevent South for the presidency and was very sensitive to accusa-
Vietnam from becoming Communist. “The battle tions of being soft on communism. He insisted that
against communism,” he declared shortly before North Vietnam’s attacks were unprovoked and
becoming president, “must be joined . . . with immediately ordered American aircraft to attack
strength and determination.” North Vietnamese ships and naval facilities. Johnson
The Vietnam War

As the war in Vietnam dragged on, a clear division of
American opinion emerged. In January 1966, George W. George W. Ball:
Ball, undersecretary of state to President Johnson, delivered
an address to indicate “how we got [to Vietnam] and why we “[T]he conflict in Vietnam is a product of the great shifts and
must stay.” George F. Kennan, former ambassador to Russia, changes triggered by the Second World War. Out of the war,
testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that two continent-wide powers emerged—the United States and
same year, arguing that American involvement in Vietnam the Soviet Union. The colonial systems through which the
was “something we would not choose deliberately if the nations of Western Europe had governed more than a third of
choice were ours to make all over again today.” the people of the world were, one by one, dismantled.
. . . [E]ven while the new national boundaries were still
being marked on the map, the Soviet Union under Stalin
exploited the confusion to push out the perimeter of its power
and influence in an effort to extend the outer limits of
Communist domination by force or the threat of force.
The bloody encounters in [Vietnam] are thus in a real sense
battles and skirmishes in a continuing war to prevent one
Communist power after another from violating internationally
recognized boundary lines fixing the outer limits of Communist
dominion.
. . . The evidence shows clearly enough that, at the time of
French withdrawal . . . the Communist regime in Hanoi never
intended that South Vietnam should develop in freedom.
. . . In the long run our hopes for the people of South
Vietnam reflect our hopes for people everywhere. What we
seek is a world living in peace and freedom.”
did not reveal that the American warships had been advisers were stationed in South Vietnam. The
helping the South Vietnamese conduct electronic attacks began in the fall of 1964 and continued to
spying and commando raids against North Vietnam. escalate. After a Vietcong attack on a base at Pleiku in
Johnson then asked Congress to authorize the use February 1965 left 7 Americans dead and more than
of force to defend American forces. Congress agreed 100 wounded, President Johnson decided to respond.
to Johnson’s request with little debate. Most mem- Less than 14 hours after the attack, American aircraft
bers of Congress agreed with Republican Repre- assaulted North Vietnam.
sentative Ross Adair of Indiana, who defiantly After the airstrikes, one poll showed that
declared, “The American flag has been fired upon. Johnson’s approval rating on his handling of
We will not and cannot tolerate such things.” Vietnam jumped from 41 percent to 60 percent. The
On August 7, 1964, the Senate and House passed president’s actions also met with strong approval
the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the pres- from his closest advisers, including Secretary of
ident to “take all necessary measures to repel any Defense Robert McNamara and National Security
armed attack against the forces of the United States Adviser McGeorge Bundy.
and to prevent further aggression.” With only two There were some dissenters in the White House,
dissenting votes, Congress had, in effect, handed its chief among them Undersecretary of State George
war powers over to the president. ; (See page 961 for Ball, a long-time critic of U.S. policy in Vietnam. He
more on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.) warned that if the United States got too deeply
involved in Vietnam, it might become difficult to get
The United States Sends in Troops Shortly after out. “Once on the tiger’s back,” he warned, “we can-
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the not be sure of picking the place to dismount.”
Vietcong began to attack bases where American Most of the advisers who surrounded Johnson,
however, firmly believed the nation had a duty to
halt communism in Vietnam, both to maintain stabil-
ity in Southeast Asia and to ensure the United
States’s continuing power and prestige in the world.
George F. Kennan: In a memo to the president, Bundy argued:
“Vietnam is not a region of major military and industrial
importance. It is difficult to believe that any decisive devel- “ The stakes in Vietnam are extremely high. The
American investment is very large, and American
opments of the world situation would be determined in nor-
mal circumstances by what happens on that territory. . . . responsibility is a fact of life which is palpable in the
Even a situation in which South Vietnam was controlled atmosphere of Asia, and even elsewhere. The interna-
exclusively by the Vietcong, while regrettable . . . would not, tional prestige of the U.S. and a substantial part of
in my opinion, present dangers great enough to justify our
direct military intervention.
our influence are directly at risk in Vietnam.
”
. . . To attempt to crush North Vietnamese strength to a —quoted in The Best and the Brightest
point where [it] could no longer give any support for
In March 1965, Johnson expanded American
Vietcong political activity in the South, would . . . have the
effect of bringing in Chinese forces at some point. involvement by shifting his policy to a sustained
. . . Our motives are widely misinterpreted, and the spec- bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The cam-
tacle emphasized and reproduced in thousands of press paign was named Operation Rolling Thunder. That
photographs and stories . . . produces reactions among mil- month the president also ordered the first combat
lions of people throughout the world profoundly detrimen- troops into Vietnam. American soldiers were now
tal to the image we would like them to hold of this country.” fighting alongside the South Vietnamese troops
against the Vietcong.
Learning From History Reading Check Describing How did politics play a
1. Recognizing Ideologies How do role in President Johnson’s Vietnam policy?
the two speakers assess the value of
Vietnam and its people to the United
States?
2. Making Inferences Why does
A Bloody Stalemate Emerges
George Kennan believe that the By the end of 1965, more than 180,000 American
United States government got combat troops were fighting in Vietnam. In 1966 that
involved in Vietnam when it did? number doubled. Since the American military was
How does he feel about this
involvement? CHAPTER 25 The Vietnam War 779
MOMENT
in HISTORY
AMERICA’S LONGEST
WAR
Clinging to his M-16 rifle, a
wounded American Marine is
shown after being pulled to
safety by a fellow soldier. In the
late 1950s, American military
advisers were sent to help the
South Vietnamese army fight
guerrillas known as the
Vietcong, who were receiving
weapons, supplies, and training
from Communist North
Vietnam.The dense jungles of
Vietnam made fighting the
guerrillas very difficult. By 1968
about 500,000 U.S. troops were
fighting in the increasingly
unpopular war. American
forces finally withdrew in
March 1973.
extremely strong, it marched into Vietnam with great was a sheer physical impossibility to keep the enemy
confidence. “America seemed omnipotent then,” said from slipping away whenever he wished,” one
Philip Caputo, one of the first marines to arrive. “We American general said. Journalist Linda Martin
saw ourselves as the champions of a ‘cause that was noted, “It’s a war where nothing is ever quite certain
destined to triumph.’” and nowhere is ever quite safe.”
To counter the Vietcong’s tactics, American troops
went on “search and destroy” missions. They tried to
Frustrating Warfare Lacking the firepower of the find enemy troops, bomb their positions, destroy
Americans, the Vietcong used ambushes, booby
their supply lines, and force them out into the open
traps, and guerrilla tactics. Ronald J. Glasser, an
for combat.
American army doctor, described the devastating
American forces also sought to take away the
effects of one booby trap:
Vietcong’s ability to hide in the thick jungles by liter-
ally destroying the landscape. American planes
“ Three quarters of the way through the tangle, a
trooper brushed against a two-inch vine, and a dropped napalm, a jellied gasoline that explodes on
contact. They also used Agent Orange, a chemical
grenade slung at chest high went off, shattering the
that strips leaves from trees and shrubs, turning
right side of his head and body. . . . Nearby troopers
farmland and forest into wasteland.
took hold of the unconscious soldier and, half carry-
ing, half dragging him, pulled him the rest of the way
A Determined Enemy United States military lead-
through the jungle.
” —quoted in Vietnam, A History ers underestimated the Vietcong’s strength. They also
misjudged the enemy’s stamina. American generals
The Vietcong also frustrated American troops by believed that continuously bombing and killing large
blending in with the general population in the cities numbers of Vietcong would destroy the enemy’s
and the countryside and then quickly vanishing. “It morale and force them to give up. The guerrillas,

Vietnam War Deaths, 1965–1972
In
however, had no intention of surrendering, and they 16 Motion
were willing to accept huge losses in human lives. Total
Number of Deaths (in thousands)

14 Killed in
In the Vietcong’s war effort, North Vietnamese sup-
action
port was a major factor. Although the Vietcong forces 12 Died of
were made up of many South Vietnamese, North wounds
Vietnam provided arms, advisers, and significant lead- 10 Missing,
presumed
ership. Later in the war, as Vietcong casualties 8 dead
mounted, North Vietnam began sending regular North
Vietnamese Army units to fight in South Vietnam. 6
North Vietnam sent arms and supplies south by 4
way of a network of jungle paths known as the
Ho Chi Minh trail. The trail wound through the 2
countries of Cambodia and Laos, bypassing the bor- 0
der between North and South Vietnam. Because the 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972
trail passed through countries not directly involved
Year
in the war, President Johnson refused to allow a full- Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States.
scale attack on the trail to shut it down.
North Vietnam itself received military weapons
and other support from the Soviet Union and
1. Interpreting Graphs How many American sol-
China. One of the main reasons President Johnson
diers were killed in action in 1968?
refused to order a full-scale invasion of North
2. Generalizing By 1970, how much had the total
Vietnam was his fear that such an attack would number killed dropped from the peak number of
bring China into the war, as had happened in deaths in 1968?
Korea. By placing limits on the war, however,
Johnson made it very difficult to win. Instead of
conquering enemy territory, American troops were casualties continued to mount. By the end of 1966, more
forced to fight a war of attrition—a strategy of than 6,700 American soldiers had been killed.
defeating the enemy forces by slowly wearing them As the number of Americans killed and wounded
down. This strategy led troops to conduct grisly continued to grow, the notion of a quick and decisive
body counts after battles to determine how many victory grew increasingly remote. As a result, many
enemy soldiers had been killed. citizens back home began to question the nation’s
Bombing from American planes killed as many involvement in the war.
as 220,000 Vietnamese between 1965 and 1967.
Nevertheless, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops Reading Check Describing What tactics did the
showed no sign of surrendering. Meanwhile, American United States adopt to fight the Vietcong?
TM
TM

1. Define: Vietcong, napalm. 5. Analyzing Why did fighting in Vietnam 7. Analyzing Photographs Look closely
2. Identify: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, turn into a stalemate by the mid-1960s? at the photograph on page 777 of
Agent Orange, Ho Chi Minh trail. 6. Sequencing Complete a time line simi- Buddhist monk Reverend Quang Duc.
3. Explain how the Gulf of Tonkin lar to the one below to fill in events What in the photograph suggests that
Resolution affected the powers of leading to American involvement in this event was planned by Buddhists to
Congress and the presidency. Vietnam. protest their treatment in South
Vietnam?
Reviewing Themes August 1963
November 1,
August 2, 1964
4. Science and Technology Why did the
1963 Writing About History
United States use napalm and Agent 8. Persuasive Writing Imagine that you
February are a member of Congress in August
Orange in its fight against the Vietcong? August 7, 1964
1965
March 1965
1964. Write a statement supporting or
opposing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Incident in the Gulf of Tonkin
I
n 1964 the Vietcong in South Vietnam were trying to topple the gov-
ernment and unite the country under communism. To prevent this,
the United States had already committed money, supplies, and advis-
ers. President Johnson asked Congress to authorize using force after
reports that North Vietnam had made unprovoked attacks on U.S. war-
ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution. Had the warship USS Maddox provoked the attack? Was
Johnson fully informed of events in the Gulf? You’re the historian.
Read the following excerpts, then answer the

questions and complete the activities that follow.
President Lyndon Johnson
The sources advising President with 5-inch gunfire. . . . The PT decision to provoke or accept a
Johnson on the Gulf of Tonkin inci- boats were driven off, with one major escalation of the
dent included the navy and the seen to be badly damaged and not Vietnamese war.
Defense Department. These excerpts moving. . . . President Johnson: Do they want a
suggest how difficult it was to know No casualties or damage were war by attacking our ships in the
what had happened—and also how sustained by the Maddox or the middle of the Gulf of Tonkin?
tension influenced the American aircraft.
interpretation. U.S. Intelligence Agency Director
—from a press release of Rowan: Do we know for a fact
August 2, 1964 that the North Vietnamese provo-
U.S. Navy Commander John Herrick
of the USS Maddox: cation took place?
National Security Council Meeting:
I am being approached by high- Secretary McNamara: The North Secretary McNamara: We will
speed craft with apparent inten- Vietnamese PT boats have contin- know definitely in the morning.
tion of torpedo attack. I intend to ued their attacks on the two U.S. —August 2, 1964
open fire in self-defense if destroyers in international waters
Secretary Rusk:
necessary. in the Gulf of Tonkin. . . .
We believe that present OPLAN
—from a cable of August 2, 1964 Secretary Rusk: An immediate and 34-A activities are beginning to
U.S. Defense Department: direct action by us is necessary. rattle Hanoi [capital of North
While on routine patrol in interna- The unprovoked attack on the Vietnam], and the Maddox incident
tional waters . . . the U.S. destroyer high seas is an act of war for all is directly related to their effort to
Maddox underwent an unpro- practical purposes. . . . resist these activities. We have no
voked attack by three PT-type CIA Director McCone: The pro- intention of yielding to pressure.
boats in . . . the Tonkin Gulf. posed U.S. reprisals will result in —from a top secret telegram
The attacking boats launched three sharp North Vietnamese military to Ambassador Maxwell
torpedoes and used 37-millimeter action, but such actions would Taylor (South Vietnam),
gunfire. The Maddox answered not represent a deliberate August 3, 1964

Secretary McNamara
Two days after the alleged attack, the except for apparent attempt to Secretary McNamara: Nothing was
Turner Joy joined the Maddox in ambush at beginning. done until it was reevaluated.
the Gulf. On the night of August 4, —from two cables of Senator Fulbright: He says
1964, the two destroyers experienced August 4, 1964 “Suggest complete reevaluation
a series of events they interpreted as a before any further action.” Now
President Johnson:
second attack. However, Commander that is a very strong recommen-
The initial attack on the destroyer
Herrick later revised this report. dation from a man on the scene
Maddox, on August 2, was
President Johnson referred to the in charge of the operation. . . .
repeated today by a number of
“repeated” attacks later when he Both committees, except for the
hostile vessels attacking two U.S.
asked Congress for war powers. Senator from Oregon [Morse],
destroyers with torpedoes. The
Commander Herrick: destroyers and supporting air- unanimously accepted your testi-
Review of action makes many craft acted at once on the orders I mony then as the whole story,
contacts and torpedoes fired gave after the initial act of aggres- and I must say this raises very
appear doubtful. Freak weather sion. . . . Repeated acts of violence serious questions about how you
effects on radar and overeager against the Armed Forces of the make decisions to go to war.
sonarmen may have accounted United States must be met not
for many reports. No actual only with alert defense, but with
visual sightings by Maddox. positive reply.
Suggest complete evaluation
before any further action. . . .
—in a television and radio Understanding the Issue
address, August 4, 1964 1. What statement by Rusk suggests the
Turner Joy also reports no actual
In 1968 Senator William Fulbright United States may have provoked the
visual sightings or wake. . . .
opened an investigation into the attack on the Maddox?
Entire action leaves many doubts
1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. The 2. Do you think President Johnson was
following exchange took place misled by his advisers? Explain.
between Senator Fulbright and 3. How soon after the alleged attacks
Secretary McNamara. did the president address the
American people? Did the United
Secretary McNamara: I don’t believe
States rush to judgment in this case?
Commander Herrick in his cable
Explain.
stated that he had doubt that the
attack took place. He questioned Activities
certain details of the attack. . . . 1. Investigate What were the conclu-
Secondly, his doubts were resolved sions of the Fulbright investigations
that afternoon before the retalia- into the Gulf of Tonkin incident?
tory action was taken. Check sources, including the Internet.
Senator Fulbright: I think he went 2. Discuss Research and review
further than that. He advised you American decisions to go to war in
not to do anything until it had 1898, 1917, and 1941. What were
been reevaluated. . . . It is a very the concerns? Do you think the
strong statement. nation made the right decisions?
Vietcong guerrillas

Vietnam Divides
the Nation
Main Idea Reading Strategy Reading Objective
The experience of Vietnam produced Organizing As you read about • Analyze why support for the war began
sharp divisions between Americans who Americans’ reactions to the Vietnam War, to weaken.
supported the war and those who did not. complete a graphic organizer like the one • Describe the motives of those in the
below to list the reasons for opposition to antiwar movement.
Key Terms and Names the war.
William Westmoreland, credibility gap, Section Theme
teach-in, dove, hawk, Tet offensive Reasons for Civic Rights and Responsibilities Many
Opposition to Americans protested their country’s
Vietnam War
involvement in the Vietnam War.
✦1965 ✦1966 ✦1967 ✦1968

1965 1966 1967 January 1968
Teach-ins on college Senate Foreign Relations Committee March on the Tet offensive
campuses begin begins Vietnam hearings Pentagon
Martin Jezer, a 27-year-old copywriter living in New York City, had never considered him-
self a radical. “I campaigned for Lyndon Johnson in 1964,” he recalled. As his opposition to
the war in Vietnam grew, however, Jezer decided to stage a public protest.
On April 15, 1967, he and dozens of other young men gathered with their military draft
cards in New York’s Central Park. Before an audience of reporters, photographers, FBI offi-
cials, and citizens, the men pulled out matches and lighters and burned the cards.
“ We began singing freedom songs and chanting, ‘Resist! Resist!’ and ‘Burn Draft Cards,
Not People’. . . . People in the audience were applauding us, shouting encouragement. Then
Antiwar activists burn draft some guys began to come out of the audience with draft cards in hand. They burned them.
cards at the Pentagon in 1972
Alone, in pairs, by threes they came. Each flaming draft card brought renewed cheering and
more people out of the crowd. . . . Some of the draft card burners were girls, wives, or girl-
”
friends of male card burners. . . . It lasted this way for about half an hour.
—quoted in The Vietnam War: Opposing Viewpoints
A Growing Credibility Gap

Jezer’s protest was just one of many, as American opposition to the Vietnam War
grew in the late 1960s. When American troops first entered the Vietnam War in the
spring of 1965, many Americans had supported the military effort. A Gallup poll

published around that time showed that 66 percent People who opposed the war did so for different
of Americans approved of the policy in Vietnam. As reasons. Some saw the conflict as a civil war in which
the war dragged on, however, public support began the United States had no business. Others viewed
to drop. Suspicion of the government’s truthfulness South Vietnam as a corrupt dictatorship and insisted
about the war was a significant reason. Throughout that defending that country was immoral and unjust.
the early years of the war, the American commander
in South Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, Anger at the Draft Young protesters especially
reported that the enemy was on the brink of defeat. focused on what they saw as an unfair draft system.
In 1967 he confidently declared that the “enemy’s At the beginning of the war, a college student was
hopes are bankrupt” and added, “we have reached often able to defer military service until after gradua-
an important point where the end begins to come tion. By contrast, young people from low-income
into view.” families were more likely to be sent to Vietnam
Contradicting such reports were less optimistic because they were unable to afford college. This
media accounts, especially on television. Vietnam meant minorities, particularly African Americans,
was the first “television war,” with footage of combat made up a disproportionately large number of the
appearing nightly on the evening news. Day after soldiers in Vietnam. By 1967, for example, African
day, millions of people saw images of wounded and Americans accounted for about 20 percent of
dead Americans and began to doubt government American combat deaths—about twice their propor-
reports. In the view of many, a credibility gap had tion of the population within the United States. That
developed, meaning it was hard to believe what the number would decline to roughly match their popu-
Johnson administration said about the war. lation proportion by the war’s end.
Congress, which had given the president a nearly
free hand in Vietnam, soon grew uncertain about the
war. Beginning in February 1966, the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee held “educational” hearings on
Vietnam, calling in Secretary of State Dean Rusk and
other policy makers to explain the administration’s
war program. The committee also listened to critics
such as American diplomat George Kennan.
Although Kennan had helped create the policy of
containment, he argued that Vietnam was not strate-
gically important to the United States.
Reading Check Explaining Why was the Vietnam
War the first “television war”?
An Antiwar Movement Emerges

As casualties mounted in Vietnam, many people
began to protest publicly against the war and to
demand that the United States pull out. Although
many other Americans supported the war, oppo-
nents of the conflict received the most attention.
Teach-Ins Begin In March 1965, a group of faculty

members and students at the University of Michigan
abandoned their classes and joined together in a
teach-in. Here, they informally discussed the issues
surrounding the war and reaffirmed their reasons for
opposing it. The gathering inspired teach-ins at many
campuses. In May 1965, 122 colleges held a “National Dark Passage One particular phrase came to represent the govern-
Teach-In” by radio for more than 100,000 antiwar ment’s claims that it was on the verge of ending the Vietnam War: “the
demonstrators. light at the end of the tunnel.” Why did many people become skeptical
about such government claims?
History
Flower Power Student antiwar protests ranged from violent confrontation to this
peaceful but dramatic demonstration near the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. What
were some reasons many people opposed the war?
The high number of African Americans and poor report when called for induction. Some fled the coun-
Americans dying in Vietnam angered African try, moving to Canada, Sweden, or other nations.
American leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Others stayed and went to prison rather than fight in
Early on, King had refrained from speaking out against a war they opposed.
the war for fear that it would draw attention from the Between 1965 and 1968, officials prosecuted more
civil rights movement. In April 1967, however, he than 3,300 Americans for refusing to serve. The draft
broke his silence and publicly condemned the conflict: became less of an issue in 1969 when the government
introduced a lottery system, in which only those with
low lottery numbers were subject to the draft.
“ Somehow this madness must cease. I speak as a
child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Protests against the war were not confined to col-
Vietnam and the poor of America who are paying the lege campuses. Demonstrators held public rallies and
marches in towns across the country. In April 1965,
double price of smashed hopes at home and death
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a left-wing
and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the
student organization, organized a march on
world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we Washington, D.C., that drew more than 20,000 partic-
have taken. I speak as an American to the leader of ipants. Two years later, in October 1967, a rally at
my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. Washington’s Lincoln Memorial drew tens of thou-
The initiative to stop must be ours.
” sands of protesters as well.
Anger over the draft also fueled discussions of vot-
—quoted in A Testament of Hope
ing age. Many draftees argued that if they were old
As the war escalated, American officials increased enough to fight, they were old enough to vote. In 1971
the draft call, putting many college students at risk. the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution was
An estimated 500,000 draftees refused to go. Many ratified, giving all citizens age 18 and older the right
publicly burned their draft cards or simply did not to vote in all state and federal elections.

Hawks and Doves In the face of growing opposi- them. General Westmoreland boasted that the
tion to the war, President Johnson remained deter- Communists’ “well-laid plans went afoul,” while
mined to continue fighting. The president was not President Johnson triumphantly added that the
alone in his views. Although the antiwar protesters enemy’s effort had ended in “complete failure.”
became a vocal group, they did not represent major- In fact, the North Vietnamese had scored a major
ity opinion on Vietnam. In a poll taken in mid-1967, political victory. The American people were shocked
about 68 percent of the respondents favored continu- that an enemy supposedly on the verge of defeat could
ing the war, compared to about 32 percent who launch such a large-scale attack. When General
wanted to end it. Of those Americans who supported Westmoreland requested 206,000 troops in addition to
the policy in Vietnam, many openly criticized the the 500,000 already in Vietnam, it seemed to be an
protesters for a lack of patriotism. admission that the United States could not win the war.
By 1968 the nation seemed to be divided into two To make matters worse, the mainstream media,
camps. Those who wanted the United States to with- which had tried to remain balanced in their war cover-
draw from Vietnam were known as doves. Those age, now openly criticized the effort. Walter Cronkite,
who insisted that the United States stay and fight then the nation’s most respected television newscaster,
came to be known as hawks. As the two groups announced after Tet that it seemed “more certain than
debated, the war took a dramatic turn for the worse, ever that the bloody experience in Vietnam is to end in
and the nation endured a year of shock and crisis. a stalemate.”
Public opinion no longer favored the president. In
Reading Check Explaining What led to the passage the weeks following the Tet offensive, the president’s
of the Twenty-sixth Amendment? approval rating plummeted to a dismal 35 percent,
while support for his handling of the war fell even
lower, to 26 percent.
1968: The Pivotal Year Johnson Leaves the Presidential Race With the
The most turbulent year of the chaotic 1960s was war growing increasingly unpopular and Johnson’s
1968. The year saw a shocking political announce- credibility all but gone, some Democrats began look-
ment, a pair of traumatic assassinations, and a vio- ing for an alternative candidate to nominate for presi-
lent political convention. First, however, the nation dent in 1968. In November 1967, even before the Tet
endured a surprise attack in Vietnam. disaster, a little-known liberal senator from Minnesota,
Eugene McCarthy, became the first dove to announce
TURNING POINT his candidacy against Johnson. In March 1968,
McCarthy stunned the nation by winning more than
The Tet Offensive On January 30, 1968, during Tet,
40 percent of the votes in the New Hampshire primary
the Vietnamese New Year, the Vietcong and North
Vietnamese launched a massive surprise attack. In this
Tet offensive, the guerrilla fighters attacked virtually
all American airbases in South Vietnam and most of
the South’s major cities and provincial capitals.
The bloodiest battle took place at Hué, South
Vietnam’s third largest city. The Communist forces The Peace Symbol This familiar symbol of the
seized much of the city, and it took American and 1960s was originally designed to stand for the fight
South Vietnamese troops almost four weeks to for nuclear disarmament. Created by British artist
Gerald Holtom in 1958, the symbol was first used at
drive them out. Afterward, American troops found
a British demonstration against a research center for
mass graves. The Communist forces had massacred
the development of nuclear weapons. It combined
the city’s political and religious leaders as well
the semaphore for the letters “N” and “D,” standing
as many foreigners, intellectuals, and others associ- for nuclear disarmament. Semaphore is
ated with South Vietnam’s government. Nearly 3,000 a system of visual signaling using
bodies were found. Thousands more remained two flags, one held in each hand.
missing. N is two flags held in an upside-
Militarily, Tet turned out to be a disaster for the down V, and D is one flag
Communist forces. After about a month of fighting, pointed straight up and the
the American and South Vietnamese soldiers other pointed straight down.
repelled the enemy troops, inflicting heavy losses on
In
The Tet Offensive, 1968 Motion
CHINA
NORTH
VIETNAM
Hanoi
N
20°N
W E
Gulf of
S Tonkin
LAOS
Me
Demilitarized
ko
ng
Zone
R.
Hue
Khe Sanh Da Nang
THAILAND Hoi An
Chu Lai
Places attacked during Quang Ngai
Tet Offensive Kontum
Ho Chi Minh Trail Qui Nhon
Ban Me Tuy An
CAMBODIA Thuot Tuy Hoa
A view of the U.S. embassy in Saigon after it was
American Embassy bombed during the Tet offensive.
attacked, Bien Nha Trang
January 31, 1968 Hoa Xuan Da Lat
Loc SOUTH
Gulf of Saigon VIETNAM
Thailand Phan Thiet
My Tho Tan An
Can Tho
10°N 1. Interpreting Maps Most of the Ho Chi Minh Trail lies
Ben Tre South
0 200 miles Mekong within which countries?
Delta China Sea
0 200 kilometers
2. Applying Geography Skills How broad was the Tet
Vinh Long
Miller Cylindrical projection 110°E offensive, and why did this shock Americans?
and almost defeating the president. Realizing that gunned down on June 5 in a California hotel just after
Johnson was vulnerable, Senator Robert Kennedy, winning the state’s Democratic primary. The assassin
who also opposed the war, quickly entered the race for was Sirhan Sirhan, an Arab nationalist apparently
the Democratic nomination. angry over the candidate’s pro-Israeli remarks a few
With the division in the country and within his own nights before.
party growing, Johnson addressed the public on televi- The violence that seemed to plague the country at
sion on March 31, 1968. He stunned viewers by stating, every turn in 1968 culminated with a chaotic and
“I have concluded that I should not permit the presi- well-publicized clash between protesters and police
dency to become involved in the partisan divisions that at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
are developing in this political year. Accordingly, I shall Thousands of protesters descended on the August
not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my convention, demanding that the Democrats adopt an
party for another term as your President.” antiwar platform.
On the third day of the convention, the delegates
A Season of Violence Following Johnson’s an- chose Hubert Humphrey, President Johnson’s vice
nouncement, the nation endured even more shocking president, as their presidential nominee. Meanwhile,
events. In April James Earl Ray was arrested for in a park not far from the convention hall, the pro-
killing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an event which led testers and police began fighting. A full-scale riot
to riots in several major cities. Just two months later, soon engulfed the streets of downtown Chicago. As
another assassination rocked the country—that of officers tried to disperse demonstrators with tear gas
Robert Kennedy. Kennedy, who appeared to be on and billy clubs, demonstrators taunted the authori-
his way to winning the Democratic nomination, was ties with the chant, “The whole world is watching!”

Nixon Wins the Presidency The violence and Opposition to the Vietnam War
chaos now associated with the Democratic Party ben-
In
efited the 1968 Republican presidential candidate, Motion
Against U.S. Involvement

70 Tet
Percentage of People
Richard Nixon. Although defeated in the 1960 elec- offensive
60
tion, Nixon had remained active in national politics. First
50
A third candidate, Governor George Wallace of U.S. troops
Alabama, also decided to run in 1968 as an indepen- 40 in Vietnam Cease-
fire signed
dent. Wallace, an outspoken segregationist, sought to 30 First
attract those Americans who felt threatened by the withdrawal
20 of U.S. troops
civil rights movement and urban social unrest.
Public opinion polls gave Nixon a wide lead over
Humphrey and Wallace. Nixon’s campaign promise 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
to unify the nation and restore law and order Year
Source: Public Opinion, the Gallup Poll.
appealed to Americans who feared their country was
spinning out of control. Nixon also declared that he
had a plan for ending the war in Vietnam, although
he did not specify how the plan would work.
At first Humphrey’s support of President 1. Interpreting Graphs During what two years was
Johnson’s Vietnam policies hurt his campaign. After opposition to the war lowest? What event
occurred around that time?
Humphrey broke with the president and called for a
2. Generalizing In what year did opposition to
complete end to the bombing of North Vietnam, he
the Vietnam War peak? How was this sentiment
began to move up in the polls. A week before the logically related to the withdrawal of American
election, President Johnson helped Humphrey by troops?
announcing that the bombing of North Vietnam had
halted and that a cease-fire would follow.
Johnson’s announcement had come too late. In the Speaking to reporters after his election, Nixon
end, Nixon’s promises to end the war and restore recalled seeing a young girl carrying a sign at one of
order at home were enough to sway the American his rallies that said: “Bring Us Together.” This, he
people. On Election Day, Nixon defeated Humphrey promised, would be his chief goal as president.
by more than 100 electoral votes, although he won Nixon also vowed to implement his plan to end the
the popular vote by a slim margin of just over 43 per- Vietnam War.
cent to Humphrey’s 42.7. Wallace helped account for
the razor-thin margin by winning 46 electoral votes Reading Check Explaining Why did President
and more than 13 percent of the popular vote. Johnson not run for re-election in 1968?
TM
TM

1. Define: credibility gap, teach-in, dove, 5. Synthesizing Why did support of the 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
hawk. Vietnam War begin to dwindle by the photograph on page 786. The phrase
2. Identify: William Westmoreland, Tet late 1960s? “flower power” was a slogan of the hip-
offensive. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer pie movement. Explain what you think
3. Summarize three important events that similar to the one below to list the the phrase meant to hippies and how
occurred in 1968. effects of the Tet offensive. the slogan was used to express opposi-
tion to the war.
Reviewing Themes
4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities Effects of Writing About History
Tet Offensive
Why did many people believe that the 8. Expository Writing Imagine that you
Vietnam War reflected racial and eco- are living in 1968. Write a paragraph for
nomic injustices in the United States? the local newspaper in which you
explain your reasons for either support-
ing or opposing the Vietnam War.

The War Winds Down
After nearly eight years of fighting in Organizing As you read about the end • Explain the events of Nixon’s first
Vietnam, the United States withdrew its of the Vietnam War, complete a graphic administration that inspired more
forces. organizer similar to the one below by list- antiwar protests.
ing the steps that President Nixon took to • Summarize the major lessons the
Key Terms and Names end American involvement in Vietnam. United States learned from the
Henry Kissinger, linkage, Vietnamization, Vietnam War experience.
Pentagon Papers, War Powers Act Steps Nixon Took
Section Theme
Government and Democracy The
Vietnam War led to changes in the
way the U.S. military is deployed.
✦1969 ✦1971 ✦1973 ✦1975

1969 1972 1973 1975
Secret peace negotiations between Nixon initiates Cease-fire signed Evacuation of the last
the U.S. and North Vietnam begin Christmas bombings Americans from Vietnam
On the evening of April 29, 1975, Frank Snepp, a young CIA officer, scrambled up to
the American embassy rooftop to catch one of the last helicopters out of Saigon.
Throughout that day, Snepp had witnessed the desperation of the South Vietnamese
people as they besieged the embassy grounds in an to effort escape the approaching
Communist army. Now he was leaving. Later, he recalled the scene:
“ The roof of the Embassy was a vision out of a nightmare. In the center of the dimly
lit helo-pad a CH-47 was already waiting for us, its engines setting up a roar like a
primeval scream. The crew and controllers all wore what looked like oversized football
helmets, and in the blinking under-light of the landing signals they reminded me of
grotesque insects rearing on their hindquarters. Out beyond the edge of the building a
Phantom jet streaked across the horizon as tracers darted up here and there into the
Frank Snepp
”
night sky.
—quoted in Decent Interval
Nixon Moves to End the War

Frank Snepp was one of the last Americans to leave Vietnam. Shortly after taking
office, President Nixon had taken steps to end the nation’s involvement in the war, but
the final years of the conflict would yield much more bloodshed and turmoil.
As a first step, Nixon appointed Harvard professor Henry Kissinger as special assis-
tant for national security affairs and gave him wide authority to use diplomacy to end the
conflict. Kissinger embarked upon a policy he called linkage, which meant improving

relations with the Soviet Union and China—suppliers War, viewed the massacre at My Lai as a symbol of the
of aid to North Vietnam—so he could persuade them dilemma his generation faced in the conflict:
to cut back on their aid.
Kissinger also rekindled peace talks with the
North Vietnamese. In August 1969, Kissinger
“ To kill on military orders and be a criminal, or to
refuse to kill and be a criminal is the moral agony of
entered into secret negotiations with North America’s Vietnam war generation. It is what has
Vietnam’s negotiator, Le Duc Tho. In their talks, forced upward of sixty thousand young Americans,
which dragged on for four years, Kissinger and Le draft resisters and deserters to Canada, and created
Duc Tho argued over a possible cease-fire, the return one hundred thousand military deserters a year in
of American prisoners of war, and the ultimate fate
of South Vietnam.
this country and abroad.
”
Meanwhile, Nixon cut back the number of Amer- —quoted in Who Spoke Up?
ican troops in Vietnam. Known as Vietnamization,
this process involved the gradual withdrawal of U.S. The Invasion of Cambodia Sparks Protest
troops while South Vietnam assumed more of the Americans heard more startling news when Nixon
fighting. On June 8, 1969, Nixon announced the with- announced in April 1970 that American troops had
drawal of 25,000 soldiers. Nixon refused to view this invaded Cambodia. The troops wanted to destroy
troop withdrawal as a form of surrender. He was Vietcong military bases there.
determined to maintain a strong American presence Many viewed the Cambodian invasion as a widen-
in Vietnam to ensure bargaining power during peace ing of the war, and it set off many protests. At Kent
negotiations. In support of that goal, the president State University on May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guard
increased airstrikes against North Vietnam and soldiers, armed with tear gas and rifles, fired on
began bombing Vietcong sanctuaries in neighboring demonstrators without an order to do so. The soldiers
Cambodia. killed four students and wounded at least nine others.
Reading Check Identifying When did secret negoti- Ten days later, police killed two African American stu-
dents during a demonstration at Jackson State
ations with the North Vietnamese begin?
College in Mississippi.
History
Turmoil at Home Continues
Even though the United States had begun National Trauma When members of the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State University
demonstrators, the event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges
scaling back its involvement in Vietnam, the
and universities to close. How does this image connect with the phrase “the war at home”?
American home front remained divided and
volatile as Nixon’s war policies stirred up
new waves of protest.
Massacre at My Lai In November 1969,

Americans learned of a horrifying event.
That month, the media reported that in the
spring of 1968, an American platoon
under the command of Lieutenant William
Calley had massacred possibly more than
200 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians
in the hamlet of My Lai. Most of the vic-
tims were old men, women, and children.
Calley eventually went to prison for his
role in the killings.
Most American soldiers acted responsibly
and honorably throughout the war. The
actions of one soldier, however, increased the
feeling among many citizens that this was a
brutal and senseless conflict. Jan Barry, a
founder of the Vietnam Veterans Against the
The Pentagon Papers In addi-
tion to sparking violence on cam-
puses, the invasion of Cambodia in History
cost Nixon significant congres-
sional support. Numerous legisla- Roy P. he was raised by
tors expressed outrage over the Benavidez his uncle.
president’s failure to notify them A tough life
1935–1998
of the action. In December 1970, made Benavidez a
Roy P. Benavidez fighter. In May 1968
an angry Congress repealed the received the Medal while fighting in
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which of Honor, the nation’s Vietnam, Benavidez
had given the president near com- highest award for hero- rescued members of his
plete power in directing the war ism, for his actions in Special Forces group
in Vietnam. the Vietnam War. Growing who were surrounded by
Support for the war weakened up, Benavidez worked on the enemy. Wounded three
the streets selling empty soda times while getting to the
further in 1971 when Daniel bottles and cleaning a local men by helicopter, he stayed
Ellsberg, a disillusioned former stockyard. His father’s family had with them some eight hours,
Defense Department worker, been vaqueros (cowboys from preparing an evacuation. Then
leaked what became known as Mexico), immigrating in the while carrying the men to
the Pentagon Papers to the New 1830s during the Texas War for the rescue helicopters, he
York Times. The documents re- Independence. His mother, a was attacked from behind but
Yaqui Native American, was born in managed to kill his attacker. Only after
vealed that many government
northern Mexico. Both parents died loading all the dead and wounded did
officials during the Johnson by the time Benavidez was seven, and Benavidez himself board a helicopter.
administration privately ques-
tioned the war while publicly
defending it.
The documents contained details of decisions that Democratic candidate, was an outspoken critic of the
were made by the presidents and their advisers with- war. He did not appeal to many middle-class
out the consent of Congress. They also showed how Americans, however, who were tired of antiwar
the various administrations acted to deceive protesters. When the votes were cast, Nixon won re-
Congress, the press, and the public about the situa- election in a landslide.
tion in Vietnam. The Pentagon Papers confirmed
what many Americans had long believed: The gov-
ernment had not been honest with them. The Two Sides Reach Peace Just weeks after the
presidential election, the peace negotiations broke
Reading Check Evaluating What did the Pentagon
down. South Vietnam’s president, Nguyen Van
Papers confirm for many Americans? Thieu, refused to agree to any plan that left North
Vietnamese troops in the South. Kissinger tried to
win additional concessions from the Communists,
The United States Pulls but talks broke off in mid-December.
The next day, to force North Vietnam to resume
Out of Vietnam negotiations, the Nixon administration began the
By 1971 polls showed that nearly two-thirds of most destructive air raids of the entire war. In what
Americans wanted to end the Vietnam War as became known as the “Christmas bombings,”
quickly as possible. In April 1972, President Nixon American B-52s dropped thousands of tons of bombs
dropped his longtime insistence that North on North Vietnamese targets for 12 straight days,
Vietnamese troops had to withdraw from South pausing only on Christmas day.
Vietnam before any peace treaty could be signed. In the wake of the bombing campaign, the United
In October, less than a month before the 1972 States and North Vietnam returned to the bargaining
presidential election, Henry Kissinger emerged from table. Thieu finally gave in to American pressure and
his secret talks with Le Duc Tho to announce that allowed North Vietnamese troops to remain in the
“peace is at hand.” South. On January 27, 1973, the warring sides signed
A month later, Americans went to the polls to an agreement “ending the war and restoring the
decide on a president. Senator George McGovern, the peace in Vietnam.”

The United States promised to withdraw the rest
of its troops, and both sides agreed to an exchange of “ It took a while for me to recognize that I did suf-
fer some psychological problems in trying to deal
prisoners of war. The parties did not resolve the issue
of South Vietnam’s future, however. After almost with my experience in Vietnam. The first recollection
eight years of war—the longest war in American his- I have of the effect took place shortly after I arrived
tory—the nation ended its direct involvement in back in the States. One evening . . . I went to see a
Vietnam. movie on post. I don’t recall the name of the movie or
what it was about, but I remember there was a sad
South Vietnam Falls The United States had barely part, and that I started crying uncontrollably. It hadn’t
pulled out its last troops from Vietnam when the dawned on me before this episode that I had . . . suc-
peace agreement collapsed. In March 1975, the North
Vietnamese army launched a full-scale invasion of
ceeded in burying my emotions.
”
—quoted in Touched by the Dragon
the South. Thieu desperately appealed to
Washington, D.C., for help. One reason it may have been harder for some
President Nixon had assured Thieu during the Vietnam veterans to readjust to civilian life was that
peace negotiations that the United States “[would] many considered the war a defeat. Many Americans
respond with full force should the settlement be vio- wanted to forget the war. Thus, the sacrifices of many
lated by North Vietnam.” Nixon, however, had veterans often went unrecognized. There were rela-
resigned under pressure following the Watergate scan- tively few welcome-home parades and celebrations
dal. The new president, Gerald Ford, asked for funds after the war.
to aid the South Vietnamese, but Congress refused. The war also lingered for the American families
On April 30, the North Vietnamese captured whose relatives and friends were classified as
Saigon, South Vietnam’s capital, and united Vietnam
under Communist rule. They then renamed Saigon History
Ho Chi Minh City.
Desperate Pleas When President Ford ordered all Americans to leave
Reading Check Explaining Why did the peace talks Vietnam immediately in April 1975, many Saigon residents stormed the U.S.
embassy pleading for rescue. When did the North Vietnamese take control
break down in December 1972?
of Saigon?
The Legacy of Vietnam

“The lessons of the past in Vietnam,” President
Ford declared in 1975, “have already been learned—
learned by Presidents, learned by Congress, learned
by the American people—and we should have our
focus on the future.” Although Americans tried to
put the war behind them, Vietnam left a deep and
lasting impact on American society.
The War’s Human Toll The United States paid a

heavy price for its involvement in Vietnam. The war
had cost the nation over $170 billion in direct costs
and much more in indirect economic expenses. More
significantly, it had resulted in the deaths of approxi-
mately 58,000 young Americans and the injury of
more than 300,000. In Vietnam, around one million
North and South Vietnamese soldiers died in the con-
flict, as did countless civilians.
Even after they returned home from fighting,
some American veterans, as in other wars, found it
hard to escape the war’s psychological impact. Army
Specialist Doug Johnson recalled the problems he
faced on returning home:
prisoners of war (POWs) or missing in action (MIA).
Despite many official investigations, these families
were not convinced that the government had told the
truth about POW/MIA policies in the last years of The War’s Refugees
the war. Another of the Vietnam War’s enduring legacies was
The nation finally began to come to terms with the the wave of human migration and resettlement it
war almost a decade later. In 1982 the nation dedi- prompted. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s,
cated the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, between 1.5 and 2 million people fled the newly installed
D.C., a large black stone wall inscribed with the Communist regimes in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
names of those killed and missing in action in the war. These men, women, and children became known as
“It’s a first step to remind America of what we did,” “boat people” because their main route of escape was
veteran Larry Cox of Virginia said at the dedication of by sea. More than half of these refugees came to the
the monument. United States. Between 1980 and 1990, the Vietnamese
population of the United States more than doubled from
GOVERNMENT about 245,000 to almost 615,000. Why do you think
the United States was willing to accept so many
The War’s Impact on the Nation The war also left
refugees from the Vietnam War?
its mark on the nation as a whole. In 1973 Congress
passed the War Powers Act as a way to reestablish
some limits on executive power. The act required
the president to inform and the courts have tended to avoid the issue as a
Congress of any commitment strictly political question. In general, the war shook
of troops abroad within 48 the nation’s confidence and led some to embrace a
HISTORY hours and to withdraw them new kind of isolationism. In the years after the war,
in 60 to 90 days unless many Americans became more reluctant to intervene
Student Web Congress explicitly approved in the affairs of other nations.
Activity Visit the the troop commitment. On the domestic front, the Vietnam War increased
American Republic The legislation addresses Americans’ cynicism about their government. Many
Since 1877 Web site at the struggle between the felt the nation’s leaders had misled them. Together
tarvol2.glencoe.com
executive and legislative with Watergate, a scandal that broke as the war was
branches over what checks winding down, Vietnam made Americans more wary
Web Activities—
and balances are proper in of their leaders.
Chapter 25 for an
activity on the matters of war and foreign
policy. No president has Reading Check Describing How did the Vietnam
Vietnam War.
recognized this limitation, War affect Americans’ attitudes toward international conflicts?
TM
TM

1. Define: linkage, Vietnamization. 5. Analyzing Why did the invasion of 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Henry Kissinger, Pentagon Cambodia cost President Nixon photograph on page 793 of South
Papers, War Powers Act. congressional support? Vietnamese citizens attempting to enter
3. Describe what happened in Vietnam in 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer the U.S. embassy. How do you think
1975 after the United States withdrew. similar to the one below to list the effects this image affected American attitudes
of the Vietnam War on the nation. toward the war? Why do you think so?
Reviewing Themes
4. Government and Democracy Why did Writing About History
Congress pass the War Powers Act? Effects of Vietnam War 8. Descriptive Writing Imagine that you
How did this act reflect a struggle are a college student in 1970. Write a
between the legislative and executive journal entry expressing your feelings
branches? about the events at Kent State
University and Jackson State College.

Social Studies
Conducting an Interview
Why Learn This Skill? • Transcribe the interview. Convert your written or
Suppose that your friends went to see a concert, tape-recorded notes into a transcript, a written
but you were unable to attend. How would you record of the interview presented in a question-
find out how the show was? and-answer format.
Learning the Skill Practicing the Skill

Imagine you are assigned to interview someone
You probably would not normally think of ask-
who participated in or is old enough to remember
ing your friends questions about a concert as con-
the events that occurred during the Vietnam War.
ducting an interview, but that is exactly what you
are doing. Interviews are an excellent way of col- 1 What kind of background information might
lecting important facts and opinions from people. you gather?
Interviews allow you to gather information from 2 What are some broad categories of questions
people who witnessed or participated in an event you might ask based on what you know about
firsthand. For example, William Prochnau inter- the person you are interviewing and what you
viewed many different people and used the results know about the war?
to write his book Once Upon a Distant War, which 3 What are some general questions you might
examines the way the press covered the Vietnam want to ask within these broad categories?
War. To conduct an interview with someone, follow Consider the responses you might get to these
these steps. general questions, and formulate follow-up
questions for each.
• Make an appointment. Contact the person and
explain why you want to conduct the interview, Skills Assessment
what kinds of things you hope to learn, and how
Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
you will use the information. Discuss where and
when you will conduct the interview, and ask if
you may use a tape recorder.
• Gather background information. Find out about the

education, career, and other accomplishments of Applying the Skill
the person you want to interview. Research the Conducting an Interview The Vietnam War probably
topics you wish to discuss. included some people you know—your parents,
grandparents, aunts, uncles, or neighbors. Even if they
• Prepare questions. Group questions into subject were not directly involved with the conflict, they proba-
categories. Begin each category with general bly remember what the United States was like during
questions and move toward more specific ques- the war. Use the questions you developed above to
tions. Formulate each question carefully. If the interview one or more of these people. Ask about their
answer could be simply yes or no, rephrase the experiences regarding Vietnam, including their atti-
question. tudes toward the war and its many related issues, past
and present. Summarize your findings in a short report
• Conduct the interview. Introduce yourself and or in a comparison chart.
restate the purpose of the interview. Ask ques-
tions and record responses accurately. Ask Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
follow-up questions to fill gaps in information. CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
795
On a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence. 11. Identify: Ho Chi Minh, Tet offensive.
1. domino theory 6. teach-in 12. How did President Eisenhower defend American policy in
Vietnam?
2. guerrilla 7. dove
13. When did the number of American military personnel begin
3. Vietcong 8. hawk
to increase in Vietnam?
4. napalm 9. linkage 14. How did Vietnamese peasants respond to the strategic ham-
5. credibility gap 10. Vietnamization lets program?
15. What actions made Ngo Dinh Diem an unpopular leader in
South Vietnam?
16. What was the effect of the Tet offensive on Americans?
17. How did Richard Nixon benefit from the chaos in the nation
in 1968?
American Involvement in Vietnam 18. What did the Pentagon Papers reveal?
Roots of the Conflict Critical Thinking
• Eisenhower financially supported French war
19. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities How
against Vietnam
did Americans show their frustration with the direction the
• Geneva Accords established North and South Vietnam country was taking in 1968?
• U.S.-backed leader of South Vietnam refused national 20. Analyzing How do you think the use of chemicals such as
elections, fearing defeat by Communist opponent Agent Orange and napalm by the United States affected
• Kennedy sharply increased military aid and presence in Vietnamese feelings toward Americans and the war?
South Vietnam 21. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to list the reasons the
• Johnson escalated U.S. involvement and gained United States became involved in Vietnam and the effects the
war powers after the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin war had on the nation.
Effects
Full-Scale War Causes

U. S. Involvement
• President Johnson responded to a Vietcong attack with in Vietnam
aggressive airstrikes; American people applauded
his actions
• U.S. committed over 380,000 ground troops to fighting in 22. Interpreting Primary Sources In the 1960s many young
Vietnam by the end of 1966 Americans enlisted or were drafted for military service. Some
believed they had a duty to serve their country. Many had no
Opposition to the War clear idea of what they were doing or why. In the following
excerpt, a young man interviewed for Mark Baker’s book
• American people questioned the government’s honesty
Nam presents his thoughts about going to war.
about the war, creating the so-called “credibility gap”
• Wartime economy hurt domestic spending efforts
• President Nixon was elected largely on promises to end
“ I read a lot of pacifist literature to determine
whether or not I was a conscientious objector. I finally
the war and unite the divided country concluded that I wasn’t. . . .
The one clear decision I made in 1968 about me and
The End of the War the war was that if I was going to get out of it, I was
• Nixon withdrew troops but increased airstrikes going to get out in a legal way. I was not going to
• American troops pulled out after a 1973 peace agreement defraud the system in order to beat the system. I wasn’t
• Congress passed the War Powers Act to limit the power going to leave the country, because the odds of coming
of the president during times of war back looked real slim. . . .
HISTORY The Vietnam War
CHINA
Self-Check Quiz N
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at W E

tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— S
Chapter 25 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. Dien Bien Phu
Hanoi Haiphong
With all my terror of going into the Army . . . there 20°N
was something seductive about it, too. I was seduced by LAOS NORTH
World War II and John Wayne movies. . . . I had been, as VIETNAM Gulf of
Tonkin
we all were, victimized by a romantic, truly uninformed
view of war.
” Khe Sanh
Demilitarized Zone
17th Parallel
—quoted in Nam THAILAND Invasion of Laos Quang Tri
Feb. 8–March, 1971 Hue
a. What options did the young man have regarding going Da Nang Da Nang
Ho
Tam Ky
to war? Major U.S. and
Chi
Chu Lai My Lai Massacre
South Vietnamese
March 16, 1968
b. Do you think World War II movies gave him a realistic
Minh Tr ail
troop movements
view of what fighting in Vietnam would be like? Major North
Vietnamese Pleiku
supply lines Qui Nhon
Practicing Skills CAMBODIA SOUTH
U.S. bases
VIETNAM
Invasion of Cambodia
23. Conducting an Interview Review the material on page 795 May 1–June 29, 1970
Ban Me Thuot
about interviewing. Then follow these steps to prepare for an Nha Trang
Phnom Penh Phoc Binh
interview with President Johnson on his Vietnam policies.
a. Study Section 2 of this chapter on the president’s Vietnam Gulf of Saigon
policies and conduct library or Internet research on this Thailand Long Binh
subject. Mekong South 10°N
Can Tho Delta China
b. Prepare a list of 10 questions to ask the president. 0 150 miles Khanh Hung
Sea
Quan Long
0 150 kilometers
Geography and History Miller Cylindrical projection 110°E
24. The map on this page shows supply routes and troop move-
ments during the Vietnam War. Study the map and answer
the questions below.
a. Interpreting Maps What nations besides North and Standardized
South Vietnam were the sites of battles or invasions?
Test Practice
b. Analyzing Why did the Ho Chi Minh Trail pass through
Laos and Cambodia instead of South Vietnam? Directions: Choose the phrase that best
completes the following statement.
Chapter Activity The purpose of the War Powers Act was to ensure that the
president would
25. Evaluating Bias A person’s life experiences often influence his
A have greater authority over the military.
or her arguments one way or another, creating a biased opin-
ion. Reread the speeches in Different Viewpoints on pages B consult Congress before committing troops to extended
778–779. What might have influenced the points of view of conflicts.
George Ball and George Kennan? Create a cause-and-effect C have the authority to sign treaties without Senate
chart showing possible reasons for their biases and effects their approval.
experiences have had on their political opinions. D have a freer hand in fighting the spread of communism.
Writing Activity Test-Taking Tip: After Vietnam and Watergate, Congress

26. Portfolio Writing Many songs and pieces of literature wanted legislation to limit the president’s power during
have been written on the Vietnam War. Find examples of wartime. Three of the answers actually do the opposite,
these. Then write an original poem or song lyrics in which giving the president more power. You can eliminate these
you present antiwar or pro-war sentiments about the three answers.
Vietnam War. Include your work in your portfolio.

The Politics
of Protest 1960–1980
Why It Matters
Protest characterized the 1960s. Young people often led the civil rights and antiwar movements.
Some of them wanted to change the entire society and urged more communal, less materialistic
values. Young people were not the only protesters, however. Using the civil rights movement as
a model, women, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans also organized to gain greater
recognition and equality.
The Impact Today

Changes of the 1960s still affect our lives today.
• Women are visible in many more leadership roles in government and business.
• Hispanic political organizations represent a growing segment of the population.
• The cultural traditions of Native Americans receive greater recognition.

video, “Behind the Scenes with César,” profiles the role that César
Chávez played in the United Farm Workers organization.
1966
• National Organization for
Women (NOW) organized
1962 1969
• Rachel Carson’s Silent • Woodstock
1963 music festival
Spring published • Betty Friedan’s 1970
held in New • First Earth Day
The Feminine York
Mystique observed
published
▲ ▲ ▲
Eisenhower Kennedy L. Johnson Nixon
1953–1961 1961–1963 1963–1969 ▲ 1969–1974 ▲
1960 1965 1970
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1962 1964 1966 1968
• China and Soviet Union • China becomes • Indira Gandhi • Soviet Union halts
have diplomatic world’s fifth becomes prime democratic uprising
disagreements nuclear power minister of India in Czechoslovakia
798
Labor leader César Chávez meeting with farmworkers
1972
• Use of pesticide DDT banned
1973
• Supreme Court issues
Roe v. Wade ruling
• AIM and government clash at 1979
Wounded Knee, South Dakota • Nuclear accident at HISTORY
Three Mile Island
Ford Carter
▲ ▲ 1974–1977 1977–1981 ▲ Chapter Overview
• Britain imposes • End of the Portuguese • Ayatollah Khomeini leads
direct rule on empires in Africa Islamic overthrow of Iran
Northern Ireland
799
The Student Movement
and the Counterculture
During the 1960s, many of the country’s Taking Notes As you read about the stu- • Explain the origins of the nation’s youth
young people raised their voices in dent movement and culture of the 1960s, movement.
protest against numerous aspects of use the major headings of the section to • Define the goals of serious members of
American society. create an outline similar to the one below. the counterculture.
Key Terms and Names The Student Movement and the Counterculture Section Theme
I. The Growth of the Youth Movement
Port Huron Statement, Tom Hayden, A. Government and Democracy Although
counterculture, commune, B. protest movements often challenged the
C.
Haight-Ashbury district, Jimi Hendrix II. opinions and values of many Americans,
A. the courts protected the protesters’ rights
B.
of self-expression under the Constitution.
✦1961 ✦1964 ✦1967 ✦1970

1962 1964 August, 1969
Students for a Democratic Society Free Speech Movement begins; 400,000 young people gather
deliver Port Huron Statement the Beatles embark on their first U.S. tour at Woodstock music festival
On December 2, 1964, Mario Savio, a 20-year-old philosophy student at the

University of California at Berkeley, stood before a supportive crowd at the school’s
administration building. The massive “sit-in” demonstration was the climax of a month-
long battle between school officials and students over unpopular campus policies. Facing
the crowd, Savio urged them to continue pressuring school officials. In his speech he called
the university a cold and heartless “machine” that deserved to be shut down.
“ There’s a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick
at heart, that you . . . can’t even tacitly take part,” he declared. “And you’ve got to put your
bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels . . . you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to
indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free the
machine will be prevented from working at all.
”
Mario Savio —quoted in Decade of Shocks
The Growth of the Youth Movement

The 1960s was one of the most tumultuous and chaotic decades in United States history.
The decade also gave birth to a conspicuous youth movement, which challenged the
American political and social system and conventional middle-class values. Perhaps no
other time in the nation’s history witnessed such protest.
800 CHAPTER 26 The Politics of Protest

The Roots of the Movement The roots of the 1960s students. College life empowered young people with
youth movement stretched back to the 1950s. In the a newfound sense of freedom and independence. It
decade after World War II, the nation’s economy also allowed them to meet and bond with others who
boomed, and much of the country enjoyed a time of shared their feelings about society and fears about
peace and prosperity. Prosperity did not extend to all, the future. It was on college campuses across the
however, and some, especially the artists and writers nation where the protest movements would rage the
of the “beat” movement, had openly criticized loudest.
American society. They believed it valued conformity
over independence and financial gain over spiritual Students for a Democratic Society Some youths
and social advancement. Meanwhile, such events as were concerned most about the injustices they saw in
the growing nuclear arms race between the United the country’s political and social system. In their
States and the Soviet Union made many more of the view, a few wealthy elites controlled politics, and
nation’s youth uneasy about their future. Writer Todd wealth itself was unfairly divided. These young peo-
Gitlin, who was a senior at the Bronx High School of ple formed what came to be known as the New Left.
Science in 1959, recalls the warning that the editors of (The “new” left differed from the “old” left of the
his student yearbook delivered. 1930s, which had advocated socialism and commu-
nism.) A prominent organization of this group was
“ In today’s atomic age . . . the flames of war
would write finis not only to our civilization, but to
the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). It
defined its views in a 1962 declaration known as the
our very existence. Mankind may find itself unable to Port Huron Statement. Written largely by Tom
rise again should it be consumed in a nuclear pyre of Hayden, editor of the University of Michigan’s stu-
its own making. In the years to come, members of dent newspaper, the declaration called for an end to
this class will bear an ever-increasing responsibility apathy and urged citizens to stop accepting a country
run by big corporations and big government.
”
for the preservation of the heritage given us.
SDS groups focused on protesting the Vietnam
—from The Sixties
War, but they also addressed such issues as poverty,
Concern about the future led many young people campus regulations, nuclear power, and racism.
to become more active in social causes, from the civil
rights movement to President Kennedy’s Peace
Corps. The emergence of the
youth movement grew out of
the huge numbers of people of
the postwar “baby boom”
generation. By 1970, 58.4 per-
cent of the American popula-
tion was 34 years old or
younger. (By comparison,
those 34 or younger in 2000
represented an estimated 48.9
percent.)
The early 1960s saw another
phenomenon that fueled the
youth movement—the rapid
increase in enrollment at col-
leges throughout the nation.
The economic boom of the
1950s led to a boom in higher
education, since more families
could afford to send their chil-
dren to college. Between 1960 History
and 1966, enrollment in 4-year Youth Movement The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) worked to address many of the problems they
institutions rose from 3.1 mil- saw in the 1960s. Made up primarily of college students, the group was suspicious of the motives of adults.
lion to almost 5 million Where did the SDS begin its reform crusade?
CHAPTER 26 The Politics of Protest 801

building. Early the next morning, California
Governor Pat Brown sent in 600 police officers to
break up the demonstration. Police arrested more
than 700 protesters.
The arrests set off a new and even larger protest
movement. Within a few days, thousands of Berkeley
students participated in a campus-wide strike, stop-
ping classes for two days. Much of the faculty also
voiced its support for the Free Speech Movement. In
the face of this growing opposition, the administra-
tion gave in to the students’ demands shortly before
the Christmas recess.
The following week, the Supreme Court vali-
dated the students’ First Amendment rights to free-
dom of speech and assembly on campus. In a
unanimous vote, the Court upheld the section of the
History Civil Rights Act assuring these rights in places offer-
ing public accommodations, which, by definition,
The Counterculture Commonly known as “hippies,” members of the coun-
included college campuses. The Berkeley revolt was
terculture separated themselves from society in the 1960s by trying to create
their own culture of love and tolerance. What western city was a focal point one of the earliest outbursts in a decade of campus
of the hippie culture? turmoil. The tactics the protesters used there—aban-
doning classes and occupying buildings—would
In 1968, for example, SDS leaders assisted in an serve as a model for college demonstrators across
eight-day occupation of several buildings at the country.
Columbia University in New York City to protest Reading Check Synthesizing What were three
the administration’s plan to build a new gym in an
reasons for the growth of the youth movement of the 1960s?
area that served as a neighborhood park near
Harlem.
The Free Speech Movement Another group of The Counterculture

protesters who captured the nation’s attention were While a number of young Americans in the 1960s
members of the Free Speech Movement, led by sought to challenge the system, others wanted to
Mario Savio and others at the University of leave it and build their own society. Throughout the
California at Berkeley. The issue that sparked the decade, thousands of mostly white youths turned
movement was the university’s decision in the fall of away from their middle- and upper-class existence
1964 to restrict students’ rights to distribute litera- and created a new lifestyle—one that promoted the
ture and to recruit volunteers for political causes on virtues of flamboyant dress, rock music, drug use,
campus. The protesters, however, quickly targeted and free and independent living. With their alterna-
more general campus matters and drew in more and tive ways of life, these young men and women
more supporters. formed what became known as the counterculture
Like many college students, those at Berkeley were and were commonly called “hippies.”
disgruntled with the practices at their university.
Officials divided huge classes into sections taught by Hippie Culture Originally, hippie culture repre-
graduate students, while many professors claimed sented a rebellion against the dominant culture in
they were too busy with research to meet with stu- the United States. This included a rejection of
dents. Faceless administrators made rules that were Western civilization, of rationality, order, and the tra-
not always easy to obey and imposed punishments ditional values of the middle class. At its core, the
for violations. Isolated in this impersonal environ- counterculture held up a utopian ideal: the ideal of a
ment, many Berkeley students found a purpose in the society that was freer, closer to nature, and full of
Free Speech Movement. love, empathy, tolerance, and cooperation. Much of
The struggle between school administrators and this was in reaction to the 1950s American stereotype
students peaked on December 2, 1964, with the of the man in the gray flannel suit who led a con-
sit-in and Savio’s famous speech at the administration stricted and colorless life.

When the movement grew larger, many of the new- The Counterculture Declines After a few years,
comers did not always understand these original ideas the counterculture movement began to deteriorate.
of the counterculture. For them, what mattered were Some hippie communities in the cities soon turned
the outward signs that defined the movement—long into seedy and dangerous places where muggings
hair, Native American headbands, cowboy boots, long and other criminal activity became all too frequent.
dresses, shabby jeans, and the use of drugs such as The glamour and excitement of drug use soon
marijuana and LSD. Drug use, especially, came to be waned, especially as more and more young people
associated with the hippie culture. became addicted or died from overdoses. In addition,
Many hippies desired to literally drop out of a number of the people involved in the movement
society by leaving home and living together with had gotten older and moved on in life. Upon witness-
other youths in communes—group living arrange- ing the decline of Haight-Ashbury, one writer dis-
ments in which members shared everything and missed the one-time booming urban commune as
worked together. A number of hippies established “the desperate attempt of a handful of pathetically
communes in small and rural communities, while unequipped children to create a community out of a
others lived together in parks or crowded apart- social vacuum.” In the end, most of the young men
ments in the nation’s large cities. One of the most and women of the counterculture, unable to establish
popular hippie destinations became San Francisco’s an ideal community and unable to support them-
Haight-Ashbury district. By the mid-1960s, thou- selves, gradually returned to mainstream society.
sands of hippies had flocked there.
Reading Check Summarizing What were the core
ideals of members of the counterculture?
New Religious Movements In their rejection of
materialism, many members of the counterculture
embraced spirituality. This included a broad range of
beliefs, from astrology and magic to Eastern religions Impact of the Counterculture
and new forms of Christianity. In the long run, the counterculture did change
Many of the religious groups centered around American life in some ways. Over time, mainstream
authoritarian leaders. In these groups, the leader America accepted many of these changes.
dominated others and controlled their lives, some-
times to the point of arranging marriages between Fashion The counterculture generation, as one
members. Religion became the central experience in observer of the 1960s noted, dressed in costumes
the believer’s life. The authoritarian figure was a sort rather than in occupational or class uniforms. The
of parent figure, and believers formed an extended colorful, beaded, braided, patched, and fringed gar-
family that took the place of the family into which a ments that both men and women wore turned the
member had been born. This could lead to painful fashion industry upside down. The international
conflicts. Some parents accused religious sects of fashion world took its cues from young men and
using mind-control methods; some attempted to
recapture and “deprogram” their children.
Two new religious groups that attracted consider-
able attention beginning in the 1960s were the
Unification Church and the Hare Krishna move-
ment. Both were offshoots of established religions, New 1960s Words During the 1960s, Americans
and both came from abroad. Members of the coined a host of new words and phrases. The word
Unification Church were popularly known as hippie, used to describe members of the counter-
culture, probably originated from the 1930s term
“Moonies,” after their Korean-born founder, the
hep, for “those in the know.” Other people believe
Reverend Sun Myung Moon. He claimed to have had
hippie may have evolved from the 1950s word hip-
a vision in which Jesus told Moon that he was the next ster, which referred to members of the beatnik
messiah and was charged with restoring the movement.
Kingdom of God on Earth. The Hare Krishnas traced Hippies themselves introduced a few terms to
their spiritual lineage to a Hindu sect that began in the country. They often uttered the phrase far out
India in the 1400s and worshiped the god Krishna. In to indicate anything that was very good or very bad.
dress, diet, worship, and general style of living, Hare Individuals who rejected the free-living counter-
Krishnas tried to emulate these Hindu practitioners of culture lifestyle were considered straight or square.
another time and place.

women on the street. As a result, men’s clothing longer hair on men and more individual clothing for
became more colorful, and women’s clothing became both genders became generally accepted. What was
more comfortable. once clothing of defiance was now mainstream.
Protesters often expressed themselves with their
clothing. The counterculture adopted military sur- Art During the 1960s, one art critic observed, the dis-
plus attire not only because it was inexpensive, but tinctions between traditional art and popular art, or
also because it expressed rejection of materialist val- pop art, dissolved. Pop art derived its subject matter
ues and blurred the lines of social class. For the same from elements of popular culture, such as photo-
reasons, clothing of another age was recycled, and graphs, comic books, advertisements, and brand-
worn-out clothing was repaired with patches. Ethnic name products. Artist Andy Warhol, for example,
clothing was popular for similar reasons. Beads and used images of famous people, such as Marilyn
fringes imitated Native American costumes, while Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, and repeated them over
tie-dyed shirts borrowed techniques from India and and over. Warhol also reproduced items such as cans
Africa. of soup, making the pictures as realistic as possible.
Perhaps the most potent symbol of the era was Roy Lichtenstein used frames from comic strips as his
hair. A popular 1967 musical about the period inspirations. He employed the bold primary colors of
was titled, fittingly, Hair. Long hair on a young man red, yellow, and black, and put words like blam and
was the ultimate symbol of defiance. Slogans pow into his paintings in comic book fashion.
appeared, such as “Make America beautiful—give a Pop artists expected these symbols of popular cul-
hippie a haircut.” School officials debated the accept- ture to carry some of the same meaning as they did in
able length of a student’s hair—could it curl over the their original form. The artists sometimes referred to
collar or not? Once the initial shock wore off, however, themselves as only the “agents” of the art and said it
MOMENT
in HISTORY
WOODSTOCK NATION
In August 1969, more than
400,000 young people
descended on a 600-acre
farm in upstate New York for
what was billed as “three
days of peace and music.”
Organizers of the Woodstock
Music and Art Fair were over-
whelmed by the turnout.
Massive traffic jams, supply
shortages, inadequate first aid
and sanitation facilities, and
torrential rainfall did not
dampen the joyous spirit of
the crowd. People shared their
food and blankets, bathed in
the rain, and listened to an
amazing collection of some
of the greatest musicians of
the 1960s.

was up to the observer to give
meaning to the work and thus
become part of it.
Music and Dance Counter-

culture musicians hoped that
their music, rock ’n’ roll, would
be the means of toppling the
establishment and reforming
society. This did not happen
because rock music was
absorbed into the mainstream, History Through Art
where it brought material suc-
cess worth billions of dollars to Pop Art Artists like Roy Lichtenstein mocked certain aspects of American life by using common examples of
commercial art, such as comics and advertisements. What statement is this piece of art making?
performers, promoters, and
record companies.
One of the most famous rock groups, the Beatles, At festivals such as Woodstock, in upstate New
took the country by storm in 1964. “Beatlemania” York in August 1969, and Altamont, California, later
swept the country, inspiring hundreds of other that year, hundreds of thousands of people got
rock ’n’ roll groups both in Great Britain and the together to celebrate the new music. Though the fast-
United States. paced, energetic beat of rock ‘n’ roll was made for
Many of the new groups combined rock ’n’ roll dancing, the style of dancing had changed dramati-
rhythms with lyrics that expressed the fears and cally. Each person danced without a partner,
hopes of the new generation and the widening rift surrounded by others who also danced alone—a per-
between them and their parents. Bob Dylan pro- fect metaphor for the counterculture, which stressed
vided these lyrics, as did the Beatles and many other individuality within the group.
musicians, while spirited performers like Janis Joplin Headline-grabbing events such as Woodstock
made the songs come alive. made it difficult for the nation to ignore the youth
The use of electrically amplified instruments also movement. By this time, however, other groups in
drastically changed the sound and feel of the new society were also raising their voices in protest. For
music. One master of this new sound was example, many women began renewing their genera-
Jimi Hendrix, a guitarist from Seattle. Hendrix lived tions-old efforts for equality, hoping to expand upon
overseas and achieved stardom only after returning the successes gained during the early 1900s.
to the United States with the influx of musicians from
Great Britain. His innovative guitar playing contin- Reading Check Evaluating What lasting impact did
ues to influence musicians today. the counterculture have on the nation?
TM
TM

1. Define: counterculture, commune. 5. Contrasting How were hippies differ- 8. Analyzing Photographs Look closely
2. Identify: Port Huron Statement, Tom ent from members of the New Left? at the photograph of a group of hippies
Hayden, Haight-Ashbury district, Jimi 6. Analyzing Why did the counterculture and their bus on page 802. How does
Hendrix. movement decline? the bus itself represent values of the
3. Summarize two legacies of the coun- 7. Organizing Use a graphic organizer counterculture?
terculture movement. similar to the one below to list the
causes of the youth movement.
Reviewing Themes
4. Government and Democracy How did
Causes Writing About History
Youth Movement 9. Descriptive Writing Imagine you are a
the U.S. Supreme Court validate the
actions of the members of the Free journalist in the 1960s. Write an article
Speech Movement? in which you visit a commune and
describe the hippie culture you see.

The Feminist Movement
During the 1960s and 1970s, a large Categorizing As you read about the • Describe the workplace concerns that
number of American women organized women’s movement, use a graphic fueled the growth of the women’s
to push for greater rights and opportuni- organizer similar to the one below to movement.
ties in society. compare the ideas of the two organiza- • Identify major achievements of the
tions that formed when the women’s women’s movement.
Key Terms and Names movement split.
feminism, Equal Pay Act, Equal Section Theme
Employment Opportunity Commission, Organization Ideas Civic Rights and Responsibilities
Betty Friedan, National Organization for Women organized to claim their rights
Women, Title IX, Phyllis Schlafly and responsibilities as citizens and
employees.
✦1963 ✦1970 ✦1977 ✦1984

1963 1966 1973 1982
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Women activists Roe v. Wade decision Equal Rights
Mystique published form NOW ensures abortion rights Amendment fails
In 1960 the housewife-oriented magazine Redbook asked readers to send examples of

“Why Young Mothers Feel Trapped.” Some 24,000 women responded. One of them was
Herma Snider, a housewife and mother of three in Nevada. Snider wrote that as a high school
and college student, she had dreamed of a career in journalism. After getting married and
having three children, that dream died.
“Cemented to my house by three young children,” she wrote, “there were days in which I
saw no adult human being except the milkman as he made his deliveries and spoke to no
one from the time my husband left in the morning until he returned at night.” She added,
“Each night as I tucked my sons into bed, I thanked God that they would grow up to be men,
that they would able to teach, write, heal, advise, travel, or do anything else they chose.”
Desperate for greater fulfillment in her life, Snider eventually took a job as a part-time
A 1960s-era
hotel clerk. About this decision, she said:
women’s magazine
“ My cashier’s job is not the glamorous career I once dreamed of. And I know that it can be
said that my solution is not a solution at all, merely an escape. But it seems to me that when
the demands of children and household threaten to suffocate you, an escape is a solution.
”
—quoted in The Female Experience: An American Documentary
A Weakened Women’s Movement

Herma Snider was not alone. Although many women were content to be homemak-
ers, by the early 1960s scores of them had grown dissatisfied with their roles. At the
same time, those who worked outside the home were recognizing their unequal status

as reflected in lower pay and fewer opportunities. as cleaning women and hospital attendants. As more
These developments led to the rise of a new feminist women entered the workforce, the protest against
movement in the 1960s. inequities grew louder.
Feminism, the belief that men and women Women had also gained a better understanding of
should be equal politically, economically, and their inequality in society from their experiences in
socially, had been a weak and often embattled force the civil rights and antiwar movements. Often they
since the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment were restricted to menial tasks and rarely had a say
guaranteeing women’s voting rights in 1920. Soon in any policy decisions. From the broader perspec-
after the amendment’s passage, the women’s move- tive, the women’s movement was part of the 1960s
ment split into two camps. One group, the League quest for rights.
of Women Voters, tended to promote laws to protect
women and children, such as limiting the hours GOVERNMENT
they could work. The National Woman’s Party Fighting for Workplace Rights Two forces helped
(NWP), on the other hand, opposed protective legis- bring the women’s movement to life again. One was
lation for women. The NWP believed it reinforced the mass protest of ordinary women. The second was
workplace discrimination. In 1923 the NWP per- a government initiative: the President’s Commission
suaded members of Congress to introduce the first on the Status of Women, established by President
Equal Rights Amendment aimed at forbidding fed- Kennedy and headed by Eleanor Roosevelt. The
eral, state, and local laws from discriminating on the commission’s report highlighted the problems of
basis of gender. Since the women’s movement was women in the workplace and helped create networks
divided, however, Congress could afford to ignore of feminist activists, who lobbied Congress for
the amendment. women’s legislation. In 1963, with the support of
The onset of World War II provided women with labor, they won passage of the Equal Pay Act, which
greater opportunity, at least temporarily. With many in most cases outlawed paying men more than
men enlisted in the army, women became an inte- women for the same job.
gral part of the nation’s workforce. When the war Congress gave women another boost by including
ended, however, many women lost their jobs to the them in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a measure origi-
returning men. nally designed to fight racial bias. Title VII of the act
Despite having to return to their domestic work, outlawed job discrimination by private employers
many women gradually reentered the labor market. not only on the basis of race, color, religion, and
By 1960 they made up almost 40 percent of the
nation’s workforce. Yet many people continued to
believe that women, even college-educated women, History
could better serve society by remaining in the home Perfect Home, Perfect Wife This image of a proud wife in her spotless
to influence the next generation of men. kitchen reflects some of the traditional ideas of the 1950s and 1960s. What did
the women’s movement criticize about these ideas?
Reading Check Examining How did World War II
affect women?
The Women’s Movement

Reawakens
By the early 1960s, many women were increas-
ingly resentful of a world where newspaper ads sep-
arated jobs by gender, clubs refused them
memberships, banks denied them credit, and, worst
of all, they often were paid less for the same work.
Generally, women found themselves shut out of
higher-paying and prestigious professions such as
law, medicine, and finance. Although about 40 per-
cent of American women were in the workforce in
the 1960s, three-fourths of them worked in lower
paying and routine clerical, sales, or factory jobs, or

Friedan’s book became a best-seller.
Many women soon began reaching out to
one another, pouring out their anger and
sadness in what came to be known as
consciousness-raising sessions. While
they talked informally about their
unhappiness, they were building the
base for a nationwide movement.
The Time Is NOW In June 1966,

Friedan returned to a thought that she
and others had been considering, the
need for women to form a national
organization. On the back of a napkin,
she scribbled down her intentions “to
take the actions needed to bring
women into the mainstream of American society,
now . . . in fully equal partnership with men.” Friedan
and others then set out to form the National
History
Organization for Women (NOW).
The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan’s best-selling book (right) exposed NOW soon leapt off the napkin and into the head-
a sense of dissatisfaction that many women experienced but were reluctant to lines. In October 1966, a group of about 300 women
speak about openly. What political organization stemmed from women’s and men held the founding conference of NOW. “The
growing sense of unfulfillment?
time has come,” its founders declared, “to confront
with concrete action the conditions which now pre-
national origin, but also of gender. This measure vent women from enjoying the equality of opportu-
became decisive legal basis for advances made by nity and freedom of choice which is their right as
the women’s movement. individual Americans and as human beings.”
The federal agency charged with administering The new organization began by demanding greater
the new law, the Equal Employment Opportunity educational opportunities for women. The group also
Commission (EEOC), was officially operating in July focused much of its energy on aiding women in the
1965. Government administrators projected that in its workplace. NOW leaders denounced the exclusion of
first year, the EEOC would receive approximately women from certain professions and from most levels
2,000 charges of unlawful employment practices. of politics. They lashed out against the practice of
Instead, the Commission actually received almost paying women less than men for equal work, a prac-
9,000 separate charges in its first year of operation. tice they claimed the Equal Pay Act had not elimi-
nated.
The Feminine Mystique Many date the women’s The efforts to pass the Equal Rights Amendment
movement from the publication of Betty Friedan’s The pushed the organization’s membership over 200,000.
Feminine Mystique in 1963. Friedan had traveled By July 1972, the movement even had a magazine of
around the country interviewing the women who had its own, Ms., which kept readers informed on
graduated with her from Smith College in 1942. She women’s issues. The editor of the new magazine was
found that while most of these women reported having Gloria Steinem, an author and public figure who
everything they could want in life, they still felt unful- was one of the movement’s leading figures.
filled. Friedan described these feelings in her book:
Reading Check Identifying What two forces helped
“ The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many
years in the minds of American women. . . . Each
bring the women’s movement to life again?
suburban wife struggled with it alone. As she made

the beds, shopped for groceries . . . chauffeured Cub Successes and Failures
Scouts and Brownies . . . she was afraid to ask even
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the women’s
of herself the silent question—‘Is this all?’
” movement fought to enforce Title VII of the Civil
—from The Feminine Mystique Rights Act, lobbied to repeal laws against abortion,

and worked for legislation against gender discrimina- permitted in the early stages of pregnancy, but after
tion in employment, housing, and education. Along the middle of the 1800s, when states adopted statu-
the way, it experienced success as well as failure. tory law, abortion was prohibited except to save the
life of the mother. Women who chose to have an
Striving for Equality in Education One of the abortion faced criminal prosecution.
movement’s notable achievements was in education. In the late 1960s, some states began adopting more
Kathy Striebel’s story highlighted the discrimination liberal abortion laws. For example, several states
female students often faced in the early 1970s. In allowed abortion if carrying a baby to term might
1971, Striebel, a high school junior in St. Paul, endanger the woman’s mental health or if she was a
Minnesota, wanted to compete for her school’s swim victim of rape or incest. The big change came with
team, but the school did not allow girls to join. the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade. The
Kathy’s mother, Charlotte, was a member of the local Supreme Court ruled that state governments could
NOW chapter. Through it, she learned that St. Paul not regulate abortion during the first three months of
had recently passed an ordinance prohibiting gender pregnancy, a time that was interpreted as being
discrimination in education. She filed a grievance within a woman’s constitutional right to privacy.
with the city’s human rights department, and offi- During the second three months of pregnancy, states
cials required the school to allow Kathy to swim. could regulate abortions on the basis of the health of
Shortly after joining the team, Kathy beat out one the mother. States could ban abortion in the final
of the boys and earned a spot at a meet. As she stood three months except in cases of a medical emergency.
on the block waiting to swim, the opposing coach Those in favor of protecting abortion rights
declared that she was ineligible to compete because cheered Roe v. Wade as a victory, but the issue was far
the meet was outside St. Paul and thus
beyond the jurisdiction of its laws.
“They pulled that little girl right off
the block,” Charlotte Striebel recalled
angrily. in History
Recognizing the problem, leaders of
the movement pushed lawmakers to Shirley Chisholm
enact federal legislation banning gen- 1924 –2005
der discrimination in education. In 1972 Shirley Chisholm once remarked,
Congress responded by passing a law ”Of my two ‘handicaps,’ being female
known collectively as the Educational put more obstacles in my path than
Amendments. One section, Title IX, being black.” Her attempts to over-
come these obstacles propelled the
prohibited federally funded schools
Brooklyn, New York, native into the
from discriminating against girls and national spotlight and provided
young women in nearly all aspects of its encouragement for other women and
operations, from admissions to athlet- African Americans attempting to over-
ics. Many schools implemented this come discrimination.
new law slowly or not at all, but women Chisholm first gained national
prominence when she defeated two programs, and she cosponsored a bill to
now had federal law on their side. guarantee an annual income to families.
other candidates for Congress from
New York’s 12th District in 1968. Upon In 1972 Chisholm ran for the
her swearing in, she became the first Democratic nomination for president.
Roe v. Wade One of the most impor- She campaigned extensively and
African American woman to serve in
tant goals for many women activists entered primaries in 12 states, winning
the United States Congress.
was the repeal of laws against abor- In Congress Chisholm became an 28 delegates and receiving 152 first bal-
tion. Until 1973, the right to regulate ardent defender of several causes. An lot votes at the convention.
abortion was reserved to the states. opponent of the seniority system, she She returned to Congress after the
This was in keeping with the original protested the ways that party leaders convention and continued her crusade
assigned House members to commit- to help women and minorities for sev-
plan of the Constitution, which
tees and was instrumental in changing eral more terms. She declined to run
reserved all police power—the power for re-election in 1982, citing the diffi-
them. Chisholm was an early opponent
to control people and property in the of arms sales to South Africa’s racist culties of campaigning for liberal issues
interest of safety, health, welfare, and regime. She also worked on education in an increasingly conservative political
morals—to the state. Early in the issues and to increase day care atmosphere.
country’s history, some abortion was

divorce cases or the right to have single-gender col-
leges. Another fear was that women would be sub-
jected to the military draft. One outspoken opponent
was Phyllis Schlafly, who organized the Stop-ERA
campaign. The ERA finally failed in 1982.
The Impact of the Women’s Movement Despite

the failure of the ERA, the women’s movement
would ultimately bring about profound changes in
society. Since the 1970s, many more women have
pursued college degrees and careers outside of the
home than did so in previous decades. Since the
women’s movement began, two-career families are
much more common than they were in the 1950s and
History 1960s, although a need for greater family income
may also be a factor. Employers began to offer
Opposing Viewpoints The Equal employees options to help make work more compat-
Rights Amendment had strong support, but
ible with family life, including flexible hours, on-site
it also had strong opposition, led by Phyllis
Schlafly. How many states ratified the ERA?
child care, and job-sharing.
Even though the women’s movement helped
from settled. The decision gave rise to the right-to-life change social attitudes toward women, an income
movement, whose members consider abortion gap between men and women still exists. A major rea-
morally wrong and advocate its total ban. After the son for the income gap is that most working women
Roe v. Wade ruling, the two sides began an impas- still hold lower-paying jobs such as bank tellers,
sioned battle that continues today. ; (For more informa- administrative assistants, cashiers, schoolteachers,
tion on Roe v. Wade, see page 964.) and nurses. Also, many women choose to leave or
reduce their hours at work to bear and care for their
The Equal Rights Amendment In 1972 Congress children. It is in professional jobs that women have
passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). To made the most dramatic gains since the 1970s. By the
become part of the Constitution, this amendment to end of the 1900s, women made up roughly one-fourth
protect women against discrimination had to be rati- of the nation’s doctors and lawyers.
fied by 38 states. Many states did so—35 by 1979—but
there was significant opposition to the amendment as Reading Check Summarizing What successes and
well. Some people feared the ERA would take away failures did the women’s movement experience during the late
some traditional rights, such as the right to alimony in 1960s and early 1970s?
TM
TM

1. Define: feminism, Title IX. 5. Synthesizing What two events weak- 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Equal Pay Act, Equal ened the women’s movement? photo on page 807 of a housewife in
Employment Opportunity Commission, 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer her kitchen. Think about depictions of
Betty Friedan, National Organization for similar to the one below to list the housewives in modern television or
Women, Phyllis Schlafly. major achievements of the women’s magazine advertisements you have
3. Summarize Shirley Chisholm’s political movement. seen. How would you compare the
contributions. photo on page 807 with today’s images?

4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities 8. Persuasive Writing Take on the role
Achievements
How have women’s rights improved of a supporter or opponent of the ERA.
since the 1960s? Write a letter to the editor of your local
newspaper to persuade people to
support your position.

from The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
In the following excerpt, the narrator of the story, writing in a secret journal, is
describing her “illness” and how her husband John and others feel about it.
John is practical in the extreme. He

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was a has no patience with faith, an intense
prominent American social critic horror of superstition, and he scoffs
and feminist writer in the late openly at any talk of things not to be
1800s and early 1900s. In her felt and seen and put down in figures.
most famous work, The Yellow John is a physician, and perhaps—(I
Wallpaper (1899), she presents would not say it to a living soul, of
course, but this is dead paper and a
the story of a woman diagnosed
great relief to my mind)—perhaps that
with hysteria, for whom a doctor
is one reason I do not get well faster.
has prescribed total rest. Cut off
You see he does not believe I am
from any intellectual activity, the
sick!
woman is slowly driven mad by
And what can one do? I did write for a while in spite of
her “cure.”
If a physician of high standing, them; but it does exhaust me a good
In this work, Gilman makes a
and one’s own husband, assures deal—having to be so sly about it, or
statement against a common
friends and relatives that there is else meet with heavy opposition.
belief of the time—that women
really nothing the matter with one
were generally unfit for scholar-
but temporary nervous depression—
ship. The story remained
a slight hysterical tendency—what is Analyzing Literature
obscure for almost 50 years but one to do? 1. What is the main idea in this passage?
was rediscovered in the 1970s. It My brother is also a physician, and How does it support the author’s
has become a staple of many also of high standing, and he says the point?
college literary courses. same thing. 2. Does the narrator think this remedy
So I take phosphates or phos- will help her? Why or why not? What
Read to Discover
pites—whichever it is, and tonics, clues can you find about how the
How does the narrator feel
and journeys, and air, and exercise, narrator feels about her illness?
about her “illness”? How does
and am absolutely forbidden to
her opinion differ from that of
“work” until I am well again. Interdisciplinary Activity
her physician and her family?
Personally, I disagree with their Science Using the Internet and other
Reader’s Dictionary ideas. resources, research some ways that dis-
scoff: make fun of Personally, I believe that congenial eases and illnesses were treated in the
work, with excitement and change, 1800s and 1900s. Do we still use these
phosphates: a carbonated would do me good. treatments today? Create a chart showing
drink, often used as medicine But what is one to do? the progression of treatment for some of
in the 1800s and early 1900s
the illnesses you researched.
congenial: agreeable; pleasant

New Approaches to
Civil Rights
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Sequencing As you read about the civil • Describe the goal of affirmative action
minority groups developed new ways to rights movement’s new approaches, com- policies.
improve their status in the United States. plete a time line similar to the one below • Analyze the rise of Hispanic and Native
to record new groups and their actions. American protests.
Key Terms and Names
affirmative action, Allan Bakke, busing, 1968 Section Theme
Jesse Jackson, Congressional Black 1966 1971 Civic Rights and Responsibilities
Caucus, César Chávez, La Raza Unida, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native
1969
bilingualism, American Indian Movement Americans organized to fight discrimina-
tion and to gain access to better educa-
tion and jobs.
✦1965 ✦1969 ✦1973

1966 1968 1969 1973
Hispanic Americans form United Kerner Commission reports Hispanic leaders form Native Americans and government
Farm Workers of America on racism in the United States La Raza Unida clash in South Dakota
In 1968 Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt, along with other Native Americans in Minneapolis,
were struggling to earn a living. The Bellecourts decided to take a stand against their condi-
tions. Spurred by the 1960s protest movements and by reawakened pride in their culture, the
brothers helped organize the American Indian Movement (AIM). AIM’s goal was to combat
discrimination and brutality by the local police. Vernon recalled how AIM worked:
“ They got a small grant from the Urban League of Minneapolis to put two-way radios in
their cars and to get tape recorders and cameras. They would listen to the police calls, and
when they heard . . . that police were being dispatched to a certain community or bar, they’d
show up with cameras and take pictures of the police using more than normal restraint on
people. . . . AIM would show up and have attorneys ready. Often they would beat the police
back to the station. They would have a bondsman there, and they’d start filing lawsuits
against the police department.
”
Vernon Bellecourt —quoted in Native American Testimony
Fighting for Greater Opportunity

At a time of heightened protest in the United States, Native Americans began raising
their voices for reform and change. Other groups did as well. During the 1960s and early
1970s, Hispanic Americans organized to improve their status in society. In the wake of the

assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., African
Americans continued their fight for greater civil rights,
now focusing more on access to jobs.
Affirmative Action By the end of the 1960s, many

African American leaders expressed a growing sense
of frustration. Although most legal forms of racial dis-
crimination had been dismantled, many African
Americans felt there had been little improvement in
their daily lives. In the eyes of leading civil rights
activists, the problems facing most African Americans
lay in their lack of access to good jobs and adequate
schooling. As a result, leaders of the civil rights move-
ment began to focus their energies on these problems. History
As part of their effort, civil rights leaders looked
to an initiative known as affirmative action. Equal Opportunity Allan Bakke graduated from medical school after the
Enforced through executive orders and federal poli- Supreme Court overturned the University of California’s use of specific racial
quotas. How did the Bakke case affect affirmative action?
cies, affirmative action called for companies and
institutions doing business with the federal govern-
California Medical School at Davis turned down the
ment to actively recruit African American employees
admission of a white applicant named Allan Bakke for
with the hope that this would lead to improved
a second time. When Bakke learned that slots had been
social and economic status. Officials later expanded
set aside for minorities, he sued the school. Bakke
affirmative action to include other minority groups
argued that by admitting minority applicants, some of
and women.
whom had scored lower than Bakke on their exams, the
Supporters of the policy argued that because so few
school had discriminated against him due to his race.
companies hired from these groups in the past, they
In 1978, in University of California Regents v. Bakke,
had had little chance to develop necessary job skills. If
the Supreme Court, in a 5 to 4 ruling, declared that
businesses opened their doors wider to minorities,
the university had indeed violated Bakke’s rights.
more of them could begin building better lives.
On the other hand, it ruled that schools could use
In one example of affirmative action’s impact,
racial criteria as part of their admissions process so
Atlanta witnessed a significant increase in minority
long as they did not use “fixed quotas.” While Bakke
job opportunities shortly after Maynard Jackson
was not a strong and definitive ruling, the Court had
became its first African American mayor in 1973.
nevertheless supported affirmative action programs
When Jackson took office, less than one percent of all
as constitutional. ; (See page 964 for more information on
city contracts went to African Americans, even
University of California Regents v. Bakke.)
though they made up about half of Atlanta’s popula-
The debate over affirmative action continued
tion. Jackson used the expansion of the city’s airport
through the 1980s, and by the mid-1990s, opponents
to redress this imbalance by opening the bidding
had begun organizing politically to end affirmative
process for airport contracts more widely to minority
action programs. In 1995 the University of
firms. Through his efforts, small companies and
California’s Board of Regents voted to end the use of
minority firms took on 25 percent of all airport con-
race in its admissions policy. The push to end the uni-
struction work, earning them some $125 million in
versity’s affirmative action program was led by Ward
contracts.
Connerly, an African American board member and
business owner. Connerly strongly believed that
Challenges to Affirmative Action Affirmative affirmative action treated people unequally.
action programs did not go unchallenged. Critics Connerly went on to lead the campaign for
viewed them as a form of “reverse discrimination.” Proposition 209, an amendment to California’s con-
They claimed that qualified white workers were kept stitution that banned the state from giving preferen-
from jobs, promotions, and a place in schools because tial treatment on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity,
a certain number of such positions had been set aside or national origin. After Californians voted in favor
for minorities or women. of Proposition 209 in 1996, citizens in other states
One of the more notable challenges to affirmative increased their efforts to ban affirmative action pro-
action came in 1974, after officials at the University of grams. The debate continues to the present.

History
New African American Leadership Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson both worked with Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., in the civil rights movement. Young went on to become the first African American ambassador to the
United Nations, while Jackson has become a prominent member of the Democratic Party. What group of African
American members of Congress became influential in the 1970s?
Equal Access to Education By the early 1970s, To ensure desegregated schools, local govern-
African American leaders also had begun to push ments resorted to a policy known as busing, trans-
harder for educational improvements. In the 1954 case porting children to schools outside their
of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the neighborhoods to achieve greater racial balance.
Supreme Court had ordered an end to segregated pub- The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of
lic schools. In the 1960s, however, many schools busing in the 1971 case, Swann v. Charlotte-
remained segregated as local communities moved Mecklenburg Board of Education. ; (See page 965 for
slowly to comply with the Court. Since children nor- more information on Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of
mally went to neighborhood public schools, segrega- Education.)
tion in schooling reflected the race segregation of Many whites responded to busing by taking their
neighborhoods. White schools were usually far supe- children out of public schools. Nearly 20,000 white
rior to African American schools, as Ruth Baston of the students left Boston’s public system for parochial and
NAACP noted in 1965 after visiting Boston schools: private schools. By late 1976, African Americans,
Hispanics, and other minorities made up the major-
“ When we would go to white schools, we’d see
these lovely classrooms with a small number of chil-
ity of Boston’s public school students. This “white
flight” also occurred in other cities.
dren in each class. The teachers were permanent.
We’d see wonderful materials. When we’d go to our New Political Leaders In their struggle for equal
schools, we’d see overcrowded classrooms, children opportunity, African Americans found new politi-
sitting out in the corridors. And so then we decided cal leaders in people such as Jesse Jackson. In 1971
Jackson founded People United to Save Humanity,
that where there were a large number of white stu-
or PUSH, a group aimed at registering voters,
dents, that’s where the care went. That’s where the
developing African American businesses, and
books went. That’s where the money went.
” broadening educational opportunities. In 1984 and
—quoted in Freedom Bound 1988, Jackson sought the Democratic presidential

nomination. Although both attempts were unsuc- (UFW). The union’s com-
cessful, Jackson did win over millions of voters. bined strength ensured that HISTORY
African Americans also became more influential in the boycott would continue.
Congress. In 1971 African American members of The boycott ended in 1970, Student Web
Congress reorganized an existing organization into when the grape growers Activity Visit the
the Congressional Black Caucus in order to more finally agreed to a contract to American Republic
clearly represent the concerns of African Americans. raise wages and improve Since 1877 Web site at
Another leader who emerged was Louis Farrakhan working conditions. tarvol2.glencoe.com
of the Nation of Islam. In 1994, he helped organize the and click on Student
Growing Political Activism Web Activities—
Million Man March, a gathering of African American
The League of United Latin Chapter 26 for an
men in Washington, D.C. to promote self-reliance and
American Citizens, or activity on protest
community responsibility.
LULAC, founded in Corpus movements.
Reading Check Examining What were the goals of Christi, Texas, in 1929, had
affirmative action policies? long worked for Mexican
American rights in the court system, in hiring, and in
Hispanic Americans Organize education. In 1954 LULAC brought the landmark
Hispanic Americans also worked for greater case of Hernandez v. the State of Texas to the Supreme
rights in this period. In 1960 about 3 million Court, winning the right of Mexican Americans to
Hispanics lived in the United States. This number serve on juries.
increased rapidly after the passage of the Immi- Hispanic Americans became more politically
gration Act of 1965. active during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969 José Angel
Hispanics came to the United States from coun- Gutiérrez organized a new political party in Texas
tries such as Cuba and Mexico to flee repressive called La Raza Unida, or “the United People.” The
political regimes or to find jobs and better lives. The group mobilized Mexican American voters to push
largest group was Mexican Americans, many of for job training programs and greater access to finan-
whom arrived during and after World War II to work cial institutions.
on huge farms in the South and West. One issue both Hispanic students and political
Many Hispanics arrived illegally, sometimes leaders promoted was bilingualism, the practice of
crossing the U.S.-Mexican border with the help of teaching immigrant students in their own language
“coyotes,” often unscrupulous guides who charged
huge sums of money for their services. Because they
lacked legal protection, they were often exploited
by employers, working under poor conditions for
U.S. Hispanic Population Growth
little pay. Since 1980
César Chávez and the UFW One notable Hispanic Mexican 65.9% Cuban 4.3%
Population (in millions)
35
American campaign was the effort to win rights for Puerto Rican 9.6% All other 20.0%
30
farmworkers. Most Mexican American farm laborers
25
earned little pay, received few benefits, and had no
20
job security. In the early 1960s, César Chávez and
15
Dolores Huerta organized two groups that fought 10
for farmworkers. In 1965 the groups cooperated in a 5
strike against California growers to demand union 0
recognition, increased wages, and better benefits. 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000
When employers resisted, Chávez enlisted college Year
students, churches, and civil rights groups to organize Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States.
a national boycott of table grapes, one of California’s
largest agricultural products. An estimated 17 million
citizens stopped buying them, and industry profits
tumbled. 1. Interpreting Graphs The U.S. Hispanic popula-
Under the sponsorship of the American Federation tion is made up of which main groups?
of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization 2. Drawing Conclusions Why have Hispanic
Americans experienced growing political influ-
(AFL-CIO), in 1966 Chávez and Huerta merged their
ence in recent years?
two organizations into one—the United Farm Workers

in History
Dolores Huerta José Angel Gutiérrez
1930– 1944 –
Dolores Huerta began her career as As a young social activist, José Angel
an elementary school teacher, but she Gutiérrez set out to organize Mexican
soon left, believing that she could do Americans from Crystal City, Texas,
more good for Mexican Americans into a political force. In 1970 his newly
outside the classroom. “I couldn’t founded political party, La Raza Unida,
stand seeing kids come to class hungry participated in local elections. Over the
and needing shoes,” she said. “I next few years, Mexican Americans
thought I could do more by organizing gained control of Crystal City’s school
farmworkers than by trying to teach system and government.
their hungry children.” As La Raza Unida gained a more national following, Gutiérrez
In the early 1950s, Huerta helped found the Stockton, became a prominent figure. He eventually stepped away from the
California, chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO). political scene, serving first as a judge and then as a college profes-
This grassroots group led voter registration drives, pushed for sor. Gutiérrez found it difficult to stay away from politics, however,
improved public services, and fought for legislation on behalf of and in 1993, he ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat. After
low-income workers. that, he established his own legal center. Looking upon Gutiérrez’s
It was through her work with the CSO that Huerta met César career, one historian said, “He represents the new breed of
Chávez. Together, they organized farmworkers into a union and Chicano professionals produced by the colleges and universities,
fought for better wages and working conditions. but he is still a Chicano with the old dream of revolution.”
while they also learned English. Many Hispanics was $1,000 less than that of African Americans. The
argued they would be at a competitive disadvantage Native American unemployment rate was 10 times the
with native English speakers unless they had school- national rate. Joblessness was particularly high on
ing in their native language. Congress supported reservation lands, where nearly half of all Native
their arguments, passing the Bilingual Education Americans lived. Most urban Native Americans suf-
Act in 1968. This directed school districts to set up fered from discrimination and from limited education
classes for immigrants in their own language as they and training. The bleakest statistic of all showed that
were learning English. life expectancy among Native Americans was almost
In recent years there has been some movement seven years below the national average. To improve
away from bilingualism in states with large Hispanic conditions, many Native Americans began organizing
populations. Some educators argue that total immer- in the late 1960s and 1970s.
sion in English is the soundest road to educational
success. Some American voters opposed bilingual A Protest Movement Emerges In 1961 more than
education, believing it makes it more difficult for a 400 members of 67 Native American groups gath-
child to adjust to American culture and that it was ered in Chicago to discuss ways to address their
costly besides. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, numerous problems. They issued a manifesto,
upheld bilingualism in 1974. known as the Declaration of Indian Purpose, call-
ing for policies to create greater economic opportu-
Reading Check Explaining How did Hispanic
nities on reservations.
Americans increase their economic opportunities in the 1960s? Unlike other groups demanding more assimilation
into mainstream society, many Native Americans
wanted greater independence from it. They took a step
Native Americans Raise toward this goal in 1968 when Congress passed the
Indian Civil Rights Act. It guaranteed reservation resi-
Their Voices dents the protections of the Bill of Rights, but it also
Native Americans in 1970 were one of the nation’s recognized the legitimacy of local reservation law.
smallest minority groups, constituting less than one Native Americans who viewed the government’s
percent of the U.S. population. Few minority groups, reform efforts as too modest formed more militant
however, had more justifiable grievances than the groups, such as the American Indian Movement
descendants of America’s original inhabitants. The (AIM). Typically, such groups employed a more com-
average annual family income of Native Americans bative style. In 1969 AIM made a symbolic protest by

occupying the abandoned federal water rights they sought. The Pueblo
prison on Alcatraz Island in San of Taos, New Mexico, regained prop-
Francisco Bay for 19 months, claiming erty rights to Blue Lake, a place
ownership “by right of discovery.” sacred to their religion. In 1980, a fed-
A more famous and violent protest eral court settled a claim of the
occurred later at Wounded Knee, Passamaquoddy and the Penobscot
South Dakota, where federal troops groups. The government paid the
had killed around 150 Sioux in groups $81.5 million to relinquish
1890. In February 1973, AIM members their claim on land in the state of
seized and occupied the town of Maine. The two groups purchased
Wounded Knee for 70 days. They de- 300,000 acres with the money and
manded radical changes in the admin- invested much of the remainder.
istration of reservations and that the Other court decisions gave Native
government honor its long-forgotten American groups authority to impose
Native American
treaty obligations to Native Amer- taxes on businesses on their reserva-
high school student
icans. A brief clash between the occu- tions and to perform other sovereign
piers and the FBI killed two Native functions.
Americans and wounded several on both sides. Since Native Americans first began to organize,
Shortly thereafter, the siege came to an end. many reservations have dramatically improved their
economic conditions by actively developing busi-
Native Americans Make Notable Gains The nesses, such as electric plants, resorts, cattle ranches,
Native American movement fell short of achieving all and oil and gas wells. More recently, gambling casinos
its goals, but it did win some notable victories. In 1975 have become a successful enterprise. Because of rul-
Congress passed the Indian Self-Determination and ings on sovereignty, Native Americans in some areas
Educational Assistance Act, which increased funds for are allowed to operate gaming establishments under
Native American education and expanded local con- their own laws even though state laws prevent others
trol in administering federal programs. More Native from doing so. In these ways, Native Americans have
Americans also moved into policy-making positions tried to regain control of their economic future, just as
at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the agency pushed other American minorities did in the 1960s and 1970s.
for more Native American self-determination.
Through the federal court system, Native Reading Check Analyzing What conditions led
Americans also won a number of the land and Native Americans to organize in the 1960s?
TM
TM

1. Define: affirmative action, busing, 5. Synthesizing Why have African 7. Analyzing Graphs Study the graph on
bilingualism. Americans become significantly more page 815 of U.S. Hispanic population
2. Identify: Allan Bakke, Jesse Jackson, influential in the U.S. Congress since growth since 1980. The largest percent-
Congressional Black Caucus, César the early 1970s? age of Hispanics is represented by
Chávez, La Raza Unida, American 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer Mexican Americans. What was the
Indian Movement. similar to the one below to identify civil approximate percentage growth for
3. Analyze how the Bakke case, along rights leaders and their causes during Hispanic Americans from 1980 to 2000?
with other cases, affected affirmative the 1960s and 1970s.
action.
Civil Rights Leaders Causes Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
8. Expository Writing Write a magazine
4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities article about the conditions that gave
How did the Supreme Court support rise to the Native American protest
civil rights during the 1970s? Cite two movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In
court cases and their decisions. your article, discuss the movement’s
goals and activities.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing Primary Sources

Why Learn This Skill? such institution to provide any special services to such
To determine what happened in the past, histori- person because of his blindness or visual impairment.
ans do some detective work. They comb through 1 When was this document written?
bits of evidence from the past to reconstruct events. 2 Who is affected by this legal document?
These bits of written and illustrated historical evi-
3 What is the purpose of this legal requirement?
dence are called primary sources.
4 Why do you think this document was written?
Learning the Skill
Skills Assessment
Primary sources are records of events made by
the people who witnessed them. They include let-
ters, diaries, photographs, news articles, and legal
documents.
Primary sources yield several important kinds of
information. Often they give detailed accounts of
events. However, the account reflects only one per-
spective. For this reason, you must examine as
many perspectives as possible before drawing any
conclusions. To analyze primary sources, follow
these steps.
• Identify the author of the source.
• Identify when and where the document was
written.
• Read the document for its content and try to
answer the five “W” questions: Who is it about?
What is it about? When did it happen? Where
did it happen? Why did it happen?
• Determine what kind of information may be
missing from the primary source.

The primary source that follows is a small part of
a United States legal document. Read the source,
and then answer the questions. Applying the Skill
Title IX, Education Amendments of 1972, Analyzing Primary Sources Find a primary source
Section 1684. Blindness or visual impairment; from your past—a photo, a report card, an old news-
prohibition against discrimination paper clipping, or your first baseball card. Bring this
No person in the United States shall, on the grounds of source to class and explain what it shows about that
blindness or severely impaired vision, be denied admis- time in your life.
sion in any course of study by a recipient of Federal
financial assistance for any education program or activ- Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
ity; but nothing herein shall be construed to require any CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
818
Saving the Earth
During the 1960s and 1970s, environ- Organizing As you read about the • Explain the origins of the environmen-
mental issues became a significant nation’s environmental problems in the tal movement.
concern for many Americans. 1960s and 1970s, complete a graphic • Identify the significant measures taken
organizer by including actions taken to to combat environmental problems.
Key Terms and Names combat these problems.
Rachel Carson, smog, Environmental Section Theme
Protection Agency, fossil fuel, Three Mile Groups and Institutions Increased
Island, Ralph Nader awareness of environmental issues
Actions
Taken
inspired a grassroots campaign to
protect nature.
✦1962 ✦1968 ✦1974 ✦1980

1962 1965 1970 1972 1979
Rachel Carson’s Silent Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at First Earth Day celebrated; U.S. bans use of Nuclear accident at
Spring published Any Speed published EPA established pesticide DDT Three Mile Island
In 1966 Carol Yannacone of Patchogue, a small community on Long Island, New York,
learned that officials were using a powerful pesticide, DDT, as part of a mosquito control oper-
ation in a local lake. Alarmed that the pesticide would poison lakes and streams, Yannacone
and her husband, Victor, an attorney, contacted several local scientists, who confirmed their
suspicions. The Yannacones then successfully sued to halt the use of the pesticide.
The Yannacones had discovered a new strategy for addressing environmental concerns.
The legal system, Victor Yannacone insisted, was the one place where facts and evidence, not
politics and emotions, would decide the outcome:
“ A court . . . is the only forum in which a full inquiry into questions of environmental sig-
nificance can be carried on. . . . Only on the witness stand, protected by the rules of evidence
though subject to cross-examination, can a scientist be free of the harassment of legislators
seeking re-election of higher political office; free from the glare of the controversy-seeking
media; free from unsubstantiated attacks of self-styled experts representing vested economic
Spraying pesticides interests and yet who are not subject to cross examination.
”
—quoted in Since Silent Spring
The Beginnings of Environmentalism

Shortly after the Yannacones’ court victory, the scientists involved in the case estab-
lished the Environmental Defense Fund and used its contributions for a series of legal
actions across the country to halt DDT spraying. Their efforts led to a nationwide ban on
the use of the pesticide in 1972.

bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay
over the fields and woods and marsh.
”
—from Silent Spring
Silent Spring became one of the most controversial

and powerful books of the 1960s. It sold nearly half a
million copies within six months of its publication
and was widely discussed. The chemical industry
was outraged and began an intense campaign to dis-
credit Carson and her arguments. Nonetheless, many
Americans took Carson’s warnings to heart and
began to focus on environmental issues.
Reading Check Identifying What natural resources
did environmental groups want to protect?
The Environmental Movement

During the 1960s, Americans began to feel that
environmental problems plagued every region of the
nation. In the Northwest, timber companies were
cutting down acres of forestland. Smog, or fog made
History heavier and darker by smoke and chemical fumes,
was smothering major cities. In 1969 a major oil spill
The Power of One Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, sounded a warning
off Santa Barbara, California, ruined miles of beach
note for the environment. Her concern over how humans affect the environ-
ment helped start a new reform movement. What pesticide in particular and killed scores of birds and aquatic animals. A dike
worried Carson? project in the Florida Everglades indirectly killed mil-
lions of birds and animals. Meanwhile, pollution and
garbage had caused nearly all the fish to disappear
The effort to ban DDT was only one aspect of a from Lake Erie. By 1970 a growing number of citizens
larger environmental movement that took shape in were convinced that the time had come to do some-
the 1960s and 1970s. During this period, a growing thing about protecting the environment.
number of Americans began to focus on environmen-
tal issues. They argued that pesticides had damaged A Grassroots Effort Begins Many observers point
wildlife and that pollution had fouled the nation’s air to April 1970 as the unofficial beginning of the envi-
and water. ronmental movement. That month, the nation held
The person who sounded the loudest alarm bell its first Earth Day celebration, a day devoted to
was not a political leader or prominent academic, but addressing the country’s environmental concerns.
a soft-spoken marine biologist, Rachel Carson. The national response was overwhelming. In thou-
Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring assailed the increas- sands of colleges and secondary schools and in hun-
ing use of pesticides, particularly DDT. She con- dreds of communities, millions of Americans
tended that while pesticides curbed insect participated in activities to show their environmental
populations, they also killed birds, fish, and other awareness, from picking up litter to demonstrating
creatures that might ingest them. Carson warned against air pollution.
Americans of a “silent spring,” in which there would Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, who had
be few birds left to usher spring in with their songs. In put forth the idea of an Earth Day celebration, com-
her book, she imagined such a scene from a fictitious mented on the event: “The people cared and Earth
town: Day became the first opportunity they ever had to
join in a nationwide demonstration to send a mes-
“ There was a strange stillness. The birds, for
example—where had they gone? Many people spoke
sage to the politicians—a message to tell them to
wake up and do something.”
of them, puzzled and disturbed. . . . On the mornings After Earth Day, the grassroots effort intensified.
that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of Citizens formed local environmental groups, while
robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other nonprofit organizations such as the Sierra Club, the

Audubon Society, and the Wilderness Society gained first by local and state officials, the residents refused
prominence. These organizations worked to protect to back down, and by 1978 they had made their strug-
the environment and promote the conservation of gle known to the entire nation. That year, in the face of
natural resources. In 1970 activists started the mounting public pressure and evidence of the dan-
Natural Resources Defense Council to coordinate a gers posed by the dump, the state permanently relo-
nationwide network of scientists, lawyers, and cated more than 200 families.
activists working on environmental problems. In 1980, after hearing protests from the families
who still lived near the landfill, President Carter
GOVERNMENT declared Love Canal a federal disaster area and
The Government Steps In With the environmental moved over 600 remaining families to new locations.
movement gaining public support, the federal gov- In 1983 Love Canal residents sued the company that
ernment took action. In 1970 President Nixon signed had created the dump site and settled the case for
the National Environmental Policy Act, which created $20 million. The site was cleaned up by sealing the
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The waste within an underground bunker and burning
EPA took on the job of setting and enforcing pollution homes located above the dumping ground.
standards, promoting research, and coordinating
anti-pollution activities with state and local govern-
Concerns Over Nuclear Energy During the 1970s,
a number of citizens expressed concern over the
ments. The agency also monitored other federal agen-
growth of nuclear power. As nuclear power plants
cies with respect to their impact on the environment.
began to dot the nation’s landscape, the debate over
The Clean Air Act also became law in 1970 over
their use intensified. Supporters of nuclear energy
President Nixon’s veto. This act established emissions
hailed it as a cleaner and less expensive alternative to
standards for factories and automobiles. It also
fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which
ordered that all industries comply with such stan-
are in limited supply. Opponents warned of the risks,
dards within five years.
particularly the devastating consequences of an acci-
In following years, Congress passed two more pieces
dental radiation release into the air.
of significant environmental legislation. The Clean
The debate moved to the nation’s forefront in
Water Act (1972) restricted the discharge of pollutants
shocking fashion in 1979. In the early hours of March
into the nation’s lakes and rivers, and the Endangered
28, one of the reactors at the Three Mile Island
Species Act (1973) established measures for saving
nuclear facility outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
threatened animal species. Over time these laws reduced
overheated after its cooling system failed. While plant
smog and cut pollution levels in many lakes and rivers.
Love Canal Despite the flurry of federal environmen- History

tal legislation, Americans continued to mobilize on the
community level throughout the 1970s. One of the Environmental Awareness Numerous oil spills and events such as
Earth Day have brought environmental concerns to the attention of
most powerful displays of community activism
Americans. What issues does the Sierra Club address?
occurred in a housing development near Niagara Falls,
New York, known as Love Canal.
In the 1970s, residents of Love
Canal noticed a rising number of
health problems in their commu-
nity, including nerve damage, blood
diseases, cancer, miscarriages, and
birth defects. They soon learned
that their community sat atop a
decades-old toxic waste dump.
Over time its hazardous contents
had leaked into the ground.
Led by a local woman, Lois
Gibbs, the residents joined
together and demanded that the
government take steps to address
these health threats. Hindered at
Solar 1 Solar arrays or panels are made
Energy up of thousands of PV cells and
capture the sun’s rays.
Concerns in the 1970s
about the environment and
safe energy led to a strong
interest in solar energy.
Sunlight is composed of
photons, particles of solar
energy. The use of photo-
2 This magnification
voltaic (PV) cells allows shows the composition
solar energy to be used for of a PV cell.
a wide range of energy 3 This schematic shows a cross-
section of a cell and how its
needs, from powering gen-
electrons respond to sunlight to
erators to running agricul-
create a flow of electricity.
tural water pumps or simple
calculators. Why was
solar power seen as an
environmentally friendly
power source?
officials scrambled to fix the problem, low levels of value in reducing disease, however, most nations fol-
radiation escaped from the reactor. lowed the U.S. example and banned the pesticide.
Officials evacuated many nearby residents, while Soon afterward, cases of malaria and typhus began to
others fled on their own. Citizens and community rise again worldwide.
groups expressed outrage in protest rallies. Officials The debate over DDT demonstrated the difficulty
closed down the reactor and sealed the leak. The in balancing the costs and benefits of environmental
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency regulations. Supporters of nuclear power have
that regulates the nuclear power industry, eventually pointed out that coal-fired power plants also put peo-
declared the plant safe. ple at risk. Miners regularly develop black lung dis-
The accident at Three Mile Island had a powerful ease and die in mining accidents while mining coal
impact and left much of the public in great doubt for power plants. Coal-fired plants also pollute the
about the safety of nuclear energy. Such doubts have air. Yet requiring power plants, cars, and factories to
continued. Since Three Mile Island, 60 nuclear power reduce their air pollution may drive up the cost of
plants have been shut down or abandoned, and no goods. This can lead to fewer jobs and more poverty,
new facilities have been built since 1973. and make more products unaffordable to people of
modest means. Environmental regulations can also
The Debate Over Environmentalism The environ- clash with people’s property rights. As a result, the
mentalist movement that emerged in the 1970s led to environmentalist movement became increasingly
a new political debate in American society. As envi- controversial in the 1980s and 1990s, as interest
ronmentalists began proposing regulations they groups, business leaders, and politicians took sides
believed would help the environment, opponents in the debate over the costs and benefits of environ-
began arguing that the regulations had hidden costs. mentalist policies. The debate has continued to shape
One controversial issue involved DDT. The World politics to the present day.
Health Organization has estimated that DDT saved
Reading Check Summarizing What is the environ-
25 million lives worldwide by killing disease-spread-
ing pests such as mosquitoes and lice. Despite DDT’s mental movement’s main goal?

The Consumer Movement Nader’s efforts received an accidental boost from
an unlikely source: the auto industry. Shortly after his
During the 1960s and 1970s, a number of citizens
book came out, a car company hired private detectives
also questioned the quality and safety of the many
to follow Nader in an attempt to uncover information
new “technologically advanced” products flooding
that might discredit him. The detectives found noth-
the market. In an atmosphere of protest and overall
ing, and when this corporate spying incident came to
distrust of authority, more and more buyers de-
light, the publicity pushed Unsafe at Any Speed up the
manded product safety, accurate information, and a
bestseller list. As a result, the public became much
voice in government formulation of consumer policy.
more aware of auto safety issues. Nader sued the car
Perhaps the most notable figure of this new con-
company for invasion of privacy and used the settle-
sumer protection movement was Ralph Nader, a
ment money to fund several consumer organizations.
young lawyer from Connecticut. In the early 1960s,
Nader’s efforts helped spur Congress to pass the
Nader noted what he considered an alarmingly high
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in
number of automobile fatalities. He presented his
1966. The act set mandatory safety standards and
findings in a 1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed. Nader
established a procedure for notifying car owners
charged car manufacturers with putting style, cost,
about defects. For the first time, the automobile
and speed ahead of safety. He also challenged one of
industry was subject to federal safety regulations.
the auto industry’s long-held claims that drivers
Carmakers had to incorporate safety standards into
were to blame for most auto accidents:
their car designs so that auto crashes would be less
devastating. Requirements that called for the installa-
“ The American automobile is produced exclusively to
the standards which the manufacturer decides to estab-
tion of seat belts, door locks, safer fuel tanks, and
other improvements have since saved hundreds of
lish. It comes into the marketplace unchecked. When a
thousands of lives and prevented millions of injuries.
car becomes involved in an accident, the entire investi- Nader’s success led to calls for a closer examina-
gatory, enforcement and claims apparatus that makes tion of numerous other consumer goods during the
up the post-accident response looks almost invariably to 1960s and 1970s. Organizations lobbied Congress
driver failure as the cause. . . . Accommodated by and state legislatures to pass laws regulating such
superficial standards of accident investigation, the car products as dangerous toys, flammable fabrics, and
manufacturers exude presumptions of engineering potentially unsafe meat and poultry.
excellence and reliability, and this reputation is accepted
Reading Check Describing What was the impact of
by many unknowing motorists.
” the consumer protection movement?
—from Unsafe at Any Speed
TM
TM

1. Define: smog, fossil fuel. 5. Evaluating Which environmental issue 7. Analyzing Posters Examine the “Love
2. Identify: Rachel Carson, Environmental do you think is the most pressing prob- It or Leave It” poster on page 821. This
Protection Agency, Three Mile Island, lem the environment faces today? phrase was first used by Vietnam War
Ralph Nader. Explain your response. supporters, directed toward critics of
3. List three measures taken to combat 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer the war and referring to the United
environmental problems in the 1960s similar to the one below to list the States instead of the earth. How has the
and 1970s. environmental laws passed in the 1970s phrase been adapted here?
and explain their purposes. Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
4. Groups and Institutions What groups Environmental Legislation Purpose 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
lobbied for government legislation to of an investigative reporter and describe
protect the environment in the 1960s the environmental disaster at either
and 1970s? Love Canal or Three Mile Island. Explain
how community activism brought the
issue to the nation’s attention.

Geography&History
Engines are made in Canada,

close to the automotive assembly
centers of the United States.
CANADA
GERMANY
Transmissions are manufac-

tured in Mexico, where labor UNITED STATES
costs are relatively low. Bowling Green, KY
MEXICO
ECUADOR
Light and durable balsa wood

floor plates are produced in
Ecuador, because the wood
is abundant there.
The production of a GM Chevrolet Corvette in Bowling Green, Kentucky,

requires the assembly of components from around the world: an engine
from Canada, a transmission from Mexico, balsa wood floor plates from
Ecuador, switches from Germany, circuit boards from several Asian
nations, and brakes from Australia.

Global Cars
T
he globalization of the
world economy since the
end of World War II has
revolutionized the way in
A German factory produces very which industries and cor-
high quality switches that can easily
be shipped to the United States. porations operate.Tremendous
advances in technology, communica-
tions, and the transport of goods
have enabled corporations to turn
more and more often to manufactur-
ing facilities and resources around
JAPAN the world.The car industry is a good
Circuit boards are assembled example of this trend.
with parts from Japan, Thailand, For decades American automak-
and Singapore. A worker assembles a Corvette at a plant in
ers have operated assembly plants
Bowling Green, Kentucky.
in foreign countries, including Brazil,
THAILAND Poland, India, and China. Car compa- Technological advances have also
nies have also established plants made manufacturing more efficient.
abroad that manufacture particular For example, automakers can keep
components, which are then assem- track of parts and suppliers so that
bled in an American factory. As the essential components can be
shown on the world map on the left, delivered to factories from anywhere
SINGAPORE foreign manufacturers build major in the world “just in time” to assem-
components of the Chevrolet ble the finished product.
Corvette and ship them to Bowling Multinational corporations now
Green, Kentucky. There, workers account for about two-thirds of the
assemble the parts—along with some world’s trade in products. Global cor-
1,900 others manufactured by about porations have become enormous,
AUSTRALIA 400 suppliers—into the finished car. and the largest ones are wealthier
The process of finding part suppliers than entire countries.The income of
outside of the company, known as General Motors, for instance, rivals
“outsourcing,” is one way multina- gross national products of the mid-
tional corporations try to gain a com- sized economies of nations such as
petitive advantage over their rivals. South Africa,Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.
Companies contract with foreign The auto industry has come a
suppliers that meet a combination of long way since Henry Ford perfected
criteria, including cost, quality, and assembly line production techniques
ease of delivery. that made cars affordable for the
An Australian company with manufac- Computers and the Internet have mass market.Today’s automakers have
turing facilities in the United States made worldwide communication dra- adopted global assembly lines, apply-
provides the premier brake pads matically easier, faster, and cheaper. ing Ford’s innovations—standardized
needed in high-performance vehicles. job tasks and division of labor—
across international boundaries.

Cars are shipped all over the
world. Here, Japanese cars are 1. What three criteria are considered
unloaded from a large container in decisions about suppliers?
ship in Baltimore, Maryland.
2. Why might geography no longer be
as big a factor as it once was in the
location of a production plant?

Reviewing Key Terms 14. How did Native Americans expand their political rights and
economic opportunities in the 1960s and 1970s?
15. How did the environmental movement begin?
1. counterculture 6. busing
2. commune 7. bilingualism Critical Thinking
3. feminism 8. smog 16. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities
4. Title IX 9. fossil fuel Choose a minority group discussed in this chapter, and
explain how this group worked to gain civil rights and to
5. affirmative action improve its status in American society during the 1960s and
1970s.
Reviewing Key Facts 17. Organizing Use a graphic organizer to list the protest move-
10. Identify: Tom Hayden, Haight-Ashbury district, Jimi Hendrix, ments of the 1960s and 1970s and their goals.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Betty Friedan,
National Organization for Women, Allan Bakke, Jesse Movement Goals
Jackson, Congressional Black Caucus, La Raza Unida,
American Indian Movement, Rachel Carson, Environmental
Protection Agency, Ralph Nader.
11. How did Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 promote
women’s equality?
12. How did Betty Friedan stimulate the feminist movement?
13. Why were some conservatives opposed to the Equal Rights
Amendment?
Speaking Out for Equality

Environmental and
Youth Movement Women’s Movement Minority Groups Consumer Groups
Protests Status Quo Regains Momentum Continue the Fight New Concerns Emerge
• Grows out of earlier • Fights for equal economic • Expand on earlier success • First Earth Day sparks
“beat” movement rights in workplace and and speed up access to widespread awareness of
• Becomes increasingly society previous gains environmental issues
influential as “baby boom” • Demands equal • Affirmative Action • Federal government
generation matures opportunities in education advocates equality in work establishes pollution
• Protests injustices facing • Roe v. Wade expands environment for minority standards and begins
African Americans, the access to abortion and disadvantaged groups monitoring environmental
poor, and the disadvantaged • Native Americans gain problems
• Free Speech Movement more power on • State and federal
establishes tactics of reservations and fight legislatures pass laws
boycotting college classes discrimination, regulating the safety
and occupying buildings unemployment, police standards for a wide variety
brutality, and poverty of consumer products
• Hippie counterculture
rebels against system, • Hispanic Americans lobby
visualizes utopian ideals for better working
conditions and job training
HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz In
Motion
ERA Ratification,
1972–1982
CANADA
WASH. N.H.
VT.
MONT. N. DAK. ME.
MINN.
18. Evaluating In what ways did the counterculture movement OREG.
IDAHO S. DAK. WIS. N.Y. MASS.
change American society? 40°N WYO. MICH.
R.I.
IOWA PA.
NEV. NEBR. CONN.
19. Drawing Conclusions Why do you think so many protest UTAH ILL.
IND. OHIO
W.
N.J.
CALIF. COLO.
VA. VA.
movements emerged in the United States during the 1960s KANS. MO.
KY. DEL.
N.C. MD.
and 1970s? ARIZ. N.MEX.
OKLA. ARK.
TENN.
S.C. 70°W
30°N MISS. GA. Atlantic
ALA.
Practicing Skills Pacific
MEXICO
TEX. LA. Ocean
Ocean N
20. Analyzing Primary Sources Reread “An American Story” 120°W 0 500 miles
FLA.
E
at the beginning of Section 2 on page 806. Then answer the 80°W
W
0 500 kilometers S
questions below. Date Ratified: Albers Conic
1972 Equal-Area projection
a. Whose opinion is expressed in this letter?
1973 ALASKA
b. When was this letter written? In what publication did it 1974
appear? 1975 HAWAII
1977
c. What role in society is the writer discussing? What is her Did not ratify
opinion of this role?

Chapter Activities
24. The map above shows the states that ratified the Equal Rights
21. American History Primary Source Document Library Amendment between 1972 and 1982. Study the map and
CD-ROM Under Struggle for Civil Rights, read “Delano answer the questions below.
Grape Workers, A Proclamation.” Research the opinions of a. Interpreting Maps How many states had ratified the
other groups opposed to the grape boycott. Using the infor- Equal Rights Amendment by 1977?
mation you have gathered, work with a few of your class-
mates to create a two-minute television advertisement to b. Applying Geography Skills What conclusion can you
persuade Americans to join or condemn the grape boycott. draw about the distribution of states that did not approve
In your presentation, you should use facts you learned about the ERA?
the boycott.
22. Creating a Database, Thematic Model, and Quiz Use the
Internet and other resources to research student protests in
Standardized
the 1960s and 1970s. Create a database of these protests Test Practice
that clearly depicts where, when, and why the protests took Directions: Choose the phrase that best
place. Then create a thematic model of this information by completes the following sentence.
labeling the locations of the protests on a map of the United
Congress did not act on the first proposed Equal Rights
States. Finally, create a quiz for your classmates by writing
Amendment because
five questions about the geographic distribution of the
protests and the patterns this might suggest. F the amendment did not do enough to protect women
and children.
Writing Activity G the National Woman’s Party opposed the amendment.
23. Persuasive Writing Use library and Internet resources to H the amendment lacked support due to a divided
learn about the predictions scientists are making on how women’s movement.
future population growth and distribution will affect the J the amendment did not address discrimination by gender.
physical environment. Pay special attention to the evidence
that these scientists use and the types of predictions that Test-Taking Tip: Use the process of elimination to help
each makes. Is there agreement or disagreement in the sci- answer this question. For example, since the intent of the
entific community about population growth and its environ- Equal Rights Amendment was to reduce discrimination by
mental effects? Present the findings of your research in a gender, you can rule out answer J.
written report.

A Changing
Society
1968–Present
W hy It Matters
A reassessment of postwar developments
marked the last three decades of the twentieth
century. The Cold War ended and political
boundaries were redrawn. The United States
remained a global force, but the role of the
federal government was diminished in the
wake of scandal and a renewed conservatism.
As the United States entered a new century,
the nation continued to redefine itself. The
country’s social diversity posed new challenges Handheld computer
and stylus
and provided new strength to the nation.
Understanding the shifts of this period will help
prepare you for your future. The following
resources offer more information about this
time in American history.

See pages 936–939 for primary source

find additional primary sources about the
changes in recent years of American history. New Yorkers celebrate the
millennium, January 1, 2000
828
“I was not elected to
serve one party, but to
serve one nation.”
—George W. Bush, 2001
Politics and
Economics 1971–1980
Why It Matters
The protests of the 1960s were passionate and sometimes violent. The nation elected President
Nixon on a promise to uphold the values of what Nixon called “Middle America.” In foreign
policy, Nixon charted a new path with a historic visit to China. At home he introduced “New
Federalism.” In 1974 the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign. Presidents Ford and Carter
faced an economic downturn and a major energy crisis.
The Impact Today

Experiences of the 1970s have had an impact today.
• The Watergate scandal has left many Americans less confident in political leaders.
• The Department of Energy, created by President Carter, still exists as a cabinet-level agency.

video, “The Watergate Break-In,” examines the circumstances
surrounding this scandal.
1973 1974
• Roe v. Wade Supreme • Nixon resigns
1972 Court decision
• Nixon visits China and legalizes abortion • Gerald Ford becomes
the Soviet Union president
• Senate Watergate
• Watergate burglars arrested investigations begin
at Democratic National • OPEC price increases
Committee headquarters cause inflation ▲
Nixon Ford
1969–1974
▲ ▲ 1974–1977
1971 1974
▼ ▼ ▼
1971 1973 1974
• People’s Republic of • Britain, Ireland, and Denmark • India becomes world’s
China admitted to UN join Common Market sixth nuclear power
830
President Nixon with Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (on Nixon’s right) during Nixon’s
historic visit to China in 1972
1975 1979
• President Ford signs • Iranian revolutionaries seize
Helsinki Accords U.S. embassy in Tehran
1976
• Jimmy Carter
elected president HISTORY
Carter
▲ ▲ 1977–1981 ▲ Chapter Overview
• Mao Zedong dies • Human rights manifesto signed by • Sandinista guerrillas
241 Czech activists and intellectuals overthrow dictatorship of Somoza
• Margaret Thatcher becomes
prime minister of Great Britain
831
The Nixon
Administration
President Nixon sought to restore law and Organizing As you read about President • Describe Nixon’s domestic agenda.
order and traditional values at home and Nixon’s administration, complete a • Discuss Nixon’s foreign policy
to ease Cold War tensions abroad. graphic organizer by listing his domestic achievements.
and foreign policies.
Southern strategy, revenue sharing, Nixon’s Administration Global Connections One of President
impound, Henry Kissinger, détente, Nixon’s most dramatic accomplishments
summit Domestic Policy Foreign Policy
was changing the relationship between
the United States, Communist China, and
the Soviet Union.
✦1968 ✦1970 ✦1972 ✦1974

1968 1969 February 1972 May 1972
Nixon wins Nixon proposes Family Nixon visits China Moscow hosts
presidential election Assistance Plan American-Soviet summit
Millions of Americans saw police and demonstrators clash on the streets of Chicago at
the Democratic National Convention in late August 1968. Many television viewers were out-
raged at the police tactics they saw. G.L. Halbert, however, was not one of them. To make
his support of police efforts public, Halbert wrote a letter to Newsweek magazine:
“ Congratulations to Mayor Daley and the Chicago police on their tough handling of the
yippies, Vietniks, and newsmen. If more mayors and police departments had the courage to
Students and police clash crack down on those who carry only the flags of our enemies and newsmen who consistently
at the 1968 Democratic slant their coverage of events in favor of those who would undermine and disrupt our coun-
National Convention
try, there would be greater freedom for the majority of Americans rather than greater law-
lessness for the few. It is a tragedy that such individuals are allowed to cringe behind our
constitutional guarantees after they have wreaked destruction by their agitation.
”
—quoted in Newsweek, September 16, 1968
Appealing to Middle America

The views expressed by G.L. Halbert were not unusual. While they did not shout as
loudly as the protesters, many Americans supported the government and longed for an
end to the violence and turmoil that seemed to plague the nation in the 1960s. The pres-
idential candidate in 1968 who appealed to many of these frustrated citizens was
832 CHAPTER 27 Politics and Economics

Richard Nixon, a Republican. Nixon aimed many of The Southern Strategy One of the keys to Nixon’s
his campaign messages at these Americans, whom he victory was his surprisingly strong showing in the
referred to as “Middle America” and the “silent South. Even though the South had long been a
majority.” He promised them “peace with honor” in Democratic stronghold, Nixon had refused to con-
Vietnam, law and order, a streamlined government, cede the region. To gain Southern support, Nixon
and a return to more traditional values at home. had met with powerful South Carolina senator Strom
Thurmond and won his backing by promising sev-
The Election of 1968 Nixon’s principal opponent in eral things: to appoint only conservatives to the fed-
the 1968 presidential election was Democrat Hubert eral courts, to name a Southerner to the Supreme
Humphrey, who had served as vice president under Court, to oppose court-ordered busing, and to choose
Lyndon Johnson. Nixon also had to wage his campaign a vice presidential candidate acceptable to the South.
against a strong third-party candidate, George (Nixon ultimately chose Spiro Agnew, governor of
Wallace, an experienced Southern politician and the border state of Maryland.)
avowed supporter of segregation. In a 1964 bid for the Nixon’s efforts paid off on Election Day. Large
Democratic presidential nomination, the former numbers of white Southerners deserted the
Alabama governor had attracted considerable support. Democratic Party, granting Humphrey only one
On Election Day, Wallace captured an impressive victory in that region—in Lyndon Johnson’s home
13.5 percent of the popular vote, the best showing of state of Texas. While Wallace claimed most of the
a third-party candidate since 1924. Nixon managed a states in the Deep South, Nixon captured Virginia,
victory, however, receiving 43.4 percent of the popu- Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Senator
lar vote to Humphrey’s 42.7 and 301 electoral votes Strom Thurmond’s support delivered his state of
to Humphrey’s 191. South Carolina for the Republicans as well.
In
WASH. N.H. 4
9 ME.
MONT. N. DAK. VT. 3
4 4
OREG. 4
MINN.
6 10
IDAHO S. DAK. WIS. N.Y.
43 MASS. 14
4 WYO. 4 12 MICH. R.I. 4
3 21
IOWA PA. CONN. 8
NEV. NEBR. 9 29 N.J. 17
OHIO
3 UTAH 5 ILL. IND. 26 W. DEL. 3
4 COLO. 26 13 VA. VA.
CALIF. 6 KANS. MO. MD. 10
40 7 12
7 12 KY. 9 Washington, D.C.
N.C. 3
ARIZ. N. MEX. OKLA. TENN. 11 12 1
5 8 ARK. S.C.
4 6 8
ALA. GA. Presidential Election, 1968
MISS. 10 12
TEX. LA. 7 Electoral Popular Political
25 10
FLA.
ALASKA 14 Nixon 301 31,785,480 Republican
3
Humphrey 191 31,275,166 Democrat
Wallace 46 9,906,473 Independent
HAWAII
4
1. Interpreting Maps What regions provided Nixon with
solid support?
2. Applying Geography Skills Nixon barely won the
popular vote. How did he win so many electoral votes?
CHAPTER 27 Politics and Economics 833

Following his victory, Nixon set out to attract even accused criminals. Nixon openly criticized the Court
more Southerners to the Republican Party, an effort and its chief justice, Earl Warren. The president
that became known as the Southern strategy. Toward promised to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court with
this end, the president fulfilled his agreements with judges who would support the rights of law enforce-
Thurmond and took steps to slow desegregation. ment over the rights of suspected criminals.
During his tenure, Nixon worked to overturn several When Chief Justice Warren retired shortly after
civil rights policies. He reversed a Johnson adminis- Nixon took office, the president replaced him with
tration policy, for example, that had cut off federal Warren Burger, a respected conservative judge. He
funds for racially segregated schools. also placed three other conservative justices on the
Court, including one from the South. The Burger
A Law-and-Order President Having also won the Court did not reverse Warren Court rulings on the
presidency with a promise of law and order, Nixon rights of criminal suspects. It did, however, refuse to
immediately set out to battle crime in America. His expand those rights further. For example, in Stone v.
administration specifically targeted the nation’s anti- Powell (1976), it agreed to limits on the rights of
war protesters. Attorney General John Mitchell defendants to appeal state convictions to the federal
declared that he stood ready to prosecute “hard-line judiciary. The Court also continued to uphold capital
militants” who crossed state lines to stir up riots. punishment as constitutional. ; (See page 965 for more
Mitchell’s deputy, Richard Kleindienst, went even information on Stone v. Powell.)
further with the boast, “We’re going to enforce the
law against draft evaders, against radical students, The New Federalism President Nixon’s Re-
against deserters, against civil disorders, against publican constituency also favored dismantling a
organized crime, and against street crime.” number of federal programs and giving more control
Nixon also went on the attack against the recent to state and local governments. Nixon called this
Supreme Court rulings that expanded the rights of New Federalism. He argued that it would provide
the government agencies that were
closest to the citizens the opportunity
to address more of their issues.
in History “I reject the patronizing idea that
government in Washington, D.C., is
Romana Acosta inevitably more wise and more effi-
Bañuelos 1925– cient than government at the state or
On her first day of business in down- local level,” Nixon declared. “The idea
town Los Angeles, California, Romana that a bureaucratic elite in Washington
Acosta Bañuelos made $36 selling tor- knows what’s best for people . . . is
tillas. That was in 1949. She made great really a contention that people cannot
strides after that, becoming a success- govern themselves.” Under the New
ful businessperson and serving as U.S.
Federalism program, Congress passed
treasurer in the 1970s.
Born in 1925 in a small town in a series of revenue-sharing bills that
Arizona to Mexican American immi- granted federal funds to state and
grants, Bañuelos spent part of her employed about 400 people and had local agencies.
childhood on a relative’s small ranch in sales of some $12 million annually. Although revenue sharing was
Mexico. Rising early, she tended the Bañuelos worked at more than intended to give state and local agen-
crops and helped her mother make accumulating wealth. She contributed cies more power, over time it gave the
empanadas (Mexican turnovers) to sell to scholarships for Mexican American
to local restaurants. “My mother was
federal government new power. As
students, especially those interested in
the type of woman that taught us how business, which Bañuelos believes is an states came to depend on federal
to live in any place and work with what important path to political influence. funds, the federal government could
we have.” With a number of partners, she also impose conditions on the states.
That lesson inspired Bañuelos to start founded the Pan-American National Unless they met those conditions, their
her own business when she returned to Bank. It too was successful. funds would be cut off.
the United States at the age of 19. Bañuelos’ success and community
While he worked to limit federal
Gradually her business grew, and by leadership led to President Nixon’s
the mid-1960s, it was thriving. In 1979 appointing her as U.S. Treasurer in government responsibilities, Nixon
Romana’s Mexican Food Products 1971. also sought to increase the power of
the executive branch. Nixon did not

build many strong relationships in Congress. His
lack of camaraderie with lawmakers and the fact that
the Republican Party controlled neither house led to
struggles with the legislative branch. Nixon often
“Ping-Pong Diplomacy” In April 1971, nearly a
responded by trying to work around Congress and
year before President Nixon made his historic trip
use greater executive authority. For instance, when
there, Communist China welcomed a different kind
Congress appropriated money for programs he of U.S. delegation—the American ping-pong team.
opposed, Nixon impounded, or refused to release, When the team received their surprise invitation,
the funds. The Supreme Court eventually declared Time magazine called it “the ping heard round the
the practice of impoundment unconstitutional. world.” The nine
players, four
The Family Assistance Plan One federal program officials, and two
Nixon sought to reform was the nation’s welfare sys- spouses who arrived
tem—Aid to Families with Dependent Children on the Chinese
(AFDC). The program had many critics, Republican mainland were the
and Democratic alike. They argued that AFDC was first Americans to
structured so that it was actually better for poor enter China since
people to apply for benefits than to take a low-paying the Communist
job. A mother who had such a job, for example, takeover in 1949.
would then have to pay for child care, sometimes
leaving her with less income than she had on welfare.
There was also great inequity among states since
that included historic encounters with both China
each was allowed to develop its own guidelines.
and the Soviet Union, Nixon set out to leave his
In 1969 Nixon proposed replacing the AFDC with
mark on the world stage.
the Family Assistance Plan. The plan called for pro-
viding needy families a guaranteed yearly grant of
Nixon and Kissinger In a move that would greatly
$1,600, which could be supplemented by outside
influence his foreign policy, Nixon chose as his
earnings. Many liberals applauded the plan as a sig-
national security adviser Henry Kissinger, a former
nificant step toward expanding federal responsibility
Harvard professor. As a teenager Kissinger had fled
for the poor. Nixon, however, presented the program
to the United States from Germany with his family in
in a conservative light, arguing it would reduce fed-
1938 to escape Nazi persecution of Jews. He had
eral supervision and encourage welfare recipients to
served as a foreign policy consultant for Presidents
become more responsible.
Kennedy and Johnson. Though Secretary of State
Although the program won approval in the House
William Rogers technically outranked him, Kissinger
in 1970, it soon came under harsh attack. Welfare
soon took the lead in helping shape Nixon’s foreign
recipients complained that the federal grant was too
policy.
low, while conservatives, who disapproved of guar-
Nixon and Kissinger shared views on many
anteed income, also criticized the plan. Such opposi-
issues. Both believed simply abandoning the war in
tion led to the program’s defeat in the Senate.
Vietnam would damage the United States’s position
Reading Check Evaluating What impact did third- in the world. Thus they worked toward a gradual
withdrawal. Nixon and Kissinger also believed
party candidate George Wallace have on the 1968 election?
in shaping a foreign policy rooted in practical
approaches rather than ideologies. They felt the
nation’s decades-long anticommunist crusade had
Nixon’s Foreign Policy created a foreign policy that was too rigid and often
Despite Nixon’s domestic initiatives, a State worked against the nation’s interests. While both
Department official later recalled that the president leaders wanted to continue to contain communism,
had a “monumental disinterest in domestic poli- they believed that engagement and negotiation with
cies.” Nixon once expressed his hope that a “com- Communists offered a better way for the United
petent cabinet” of advisers could run the country. States to achieve its international goals. As a sur-
This would allow him to focus his energies on the prised nation watched, Nixon and Kissinger put their
subject that truly fascinated him, foreign affairs. philosophy into practice by forging friendlier rela-
Embarking on an ambitious foreign policy agenda tions with the Soviet Union and China.

play. This “multipolar” world of the future demanded
a different approach to American foreign policy.
With Kissinger’s help, Nixon fashioned an
approach called détente, or relaxation of tensions,
between the United States and its two major Com-
munist rivals, the Soviet Union and China. In explain-
ing détente to the American people, Nixon said that
the United States had to build a better relationship
with its main rivals in the interests of world peace:
“ We must understand that détente is not a love

fest. It is an understanding between nations that have
opposite purposes, but which share common inter-
ests, including the avoidance of a nuclear war. Such
an understanding can work—that is, restrain aggres-
sion and deter war—only as long as the potential
aggressor is made to recognize that neither aggres-
”
sion nor war will be profitable.
—quoted in The Limits of Power
Nixon Visits China Détente began with an effort to

improve American-Chinese relations. Since 1949,
when a Communist government came to power in
China, the United States had refused to recognize the
Communists as the legitimate rulers. Instead, the
American government recognized the exiled regime
on the island of Taiwan as the Chinese government.
Having long supported this policy, Nixon now set
out to reverse it. He began by lifting trade and travel
restrictions and withdrawing the Seventh Fleet from
defending Taiwan.
After a series of highly secret negotiations
Analyzing Political Cartoons between Kissinger and Chinese leaders, Nixon
Arms Buildup Anxiety The urgent need to negotiate a reduction in nuclear announced that he would visit China in February
arms is demonstrated in this 1970 cartoon. When was the SALT I agreement 1972. During the historic trip, the leaders of both
finally signed? nations agreed to establish “more normal” relations
between their countries. In a statement that epito-
The Establishment of Détente The Soviet Union mized the notion of détente, Nixon told his Chinese
was not initially pleased when Nixon, a man with a hosts during a banquet toast, “Let us start a long
history of outspoken anticommunist actions, became march together, not in lockstep, but on different
president. The Washington correspondent for the roads leading to the same goal, the goal of building a
Soviet newspaper Izvestia, Yuri Barsukov, had called world structure of peace and justice.”
the election “unwelcome news for Moscow” and pre- In taking this trip, Nixon hoped not only to
dicted that Soviet leaders “would have to deal with a strengthen ties with the Chinese, but also to encour-
very stubborn president.” age the Soviets to more actively pursue diplomacy.
Things did not turn out that way, however. Nixon Since the 1960s, a rift had developed between the
was still a staunch anticommunist, but he came to Communist governments of the Soviet Union and
reject the notion of a bipolar world in which the China. Troops of the two nations occasionally
superpowers of the United States and the Soviet clashed along their borders. Nixon believed détente
Union confronted one another. He believed the with China would encourage Soviet premier Leonid
United States needed to understand the growing role Brezhnev to be more accommodating with the
that China, Japan, and Western Europe would soon United States.

U.S.-Soviet Tensions Ease Nixon’s feelings about
the Soviets proved correct. Shortly after the public
learned of U.S. negotiations with China, the Soviets
proposed an American-Soviet summit, or high-level
diplomatic meeting, to be held in May 1972. On May
22, President Nixon flew to Moscow for a weeklong
summit. Thus, he became the first American presi-
dent since World War II to visit the Soviet Union.
Before Nixon’s visit, Secretary of Commerce
Maurice Stans spent 11 days in the Soviet Union. In
his visits to a tractor plant, a steel mill, and an oil
field, Stans recalled, “It was as friendly a meeting as
if I were representing California and negotiating
with the state of Arizona.” Before leaving, however,
Stans requested a favor from his Soviet host, Alexei
Kosygin:
“ ‘There is one thing I hope you will take care of:

on the highway into Moscow there is a great big bill-
History
board with the United States pictured as a vicious
killer, with a sword in one hand and a gun in the Détente Discussion Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev listens to President
Nixon during Brezhnev’s June 1973 visit to Washington, D.C. On June 22 the
other, killing people all over the world. I don’t think
two signed an agreement on the prevention of nuclear war. What does the
that will be a good entrance for President Nixon, and word détente mean?
”
the sign ought to come down.’ He said, ‘It will.’
“the United States and the Soviet Union had their
—quoted in Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency
best relationship of the whole Cold War period.”
During the historic Moscow summit, the two President Nixon indeed had made his mark on the
superpowers signed the first Strategic Arms world stage. As he basked in the glow of his 1972 for-
Limitation Treaty, or SALT I, a plan to limit nuclear eign policy triumphs, however, trouble was brewing
arms the two nations had been working on for years. on the home front. A scandal was about to engulf his
Nixon and Brezhnev also agreed to increase trade presidency and plunge the nation into one of its
and the exchange of scientific information. greatest constitutional crises.
Détente profoundly eased tensions between the
Soviet Union and the United States. By the end of Reading Check Summarizing What were the
Nixon’s presidency, one Soviet official admitted that results of the 1972 American-Soviet summit?
TM
TM

1. Define: impound, détente, summit. 5. Evaluating How did Nixon’s China visit 7. Analyzing Political Cartoons Study
2. Identify: Southern strategy, revenue affect Soviet relations? the cartoon on page 836. What is the
sharing, Henry Kissinger. 6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer artist’s message about the impact of the
3. Describe Nixon’s New Federalism similar to the one below to describe arms buildup on the average citizen in
policy. how President Nixon established both the Soviet Union and the United
détente in the countries listed. States?
Reviewing Themes
4. Global Connections What were the China Writing About History
results of Nixon’s policy of détente? Soviet Union
a member of President Nixon’s staff.
Write a press release explaining Nixon’s
domestic and foreign policies.

The Watergate Scandal
During his second term, President Nixon Taking Notes As you read about the • Describe the character of Richard Nixon
became embroiled in a scandal that ulti- Watergate scandal, use the major head- and the attitude of his White House.
mately forced him to resign. ings of the section to create an outline • Explain the Watergate scandal and dis-
similar to the one below. cuss its effects.
Key Terms and Names
Sam J. Ervin, John Dean, executive privi- The Watergate Scandal
Section Theme
lege, impeach, Federal Campaign Act I. The Roots of Watergate Government and Democracy The
Amendments A. Watergate scandal intensified the linger-
B.
C. ing distrust of government that had
II. grown in the United States during the
A.
B. Vietnam War.
✦June 1972 ✦March 1973 ✦December 1973 ✦September 1974

June 1972 May 1973 October 1973 August 1974
Burglars arrested in Democratic National Senate begins Watergate Battle over White House tapes Nixon resigns
Committee headquarters at Watergate complex investigation leads to “Saturday Night Massacre”
As Bob Woodward, a young reporter for the Washington Post, sat in a Washington,
D.C., courtroom on the morning of June 17, 1972, he was in a rather foul mood. His
editor had ruined his Saturday by calling him in to cover a seemingly insignificant but
bizarre incident. In the early hours of that morning, five men had broken into the
Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in the city’s Watergate
apartment-office complex.
Woodward sat toward the back of the courtroom listening to the bail proceedings
for the five defendants. At one point, the judge asked each man his occupation. One of
the men, James McCord, answered that he was retired from government service.
“Where in government?” asked the judge.
“CIA,” McCord whispered.
Woodward sprang to attention. Why was a former member of the Central
Reporters Bob Woodward Intelligence Agency involved in what seemed to be nothing more than a burglary?
and Carl Bernstein
Over the next two years, Woodward and another reporter, Carl Bernstein, would investi-
gate this question. In so doing they uncovered a scandal that helped bring about a grave
constitutional crisis and eventually forced the president to resign.
—adapted from All the President’s Men
The Roots of Watergate

The scandal known as Watergate originated from the Nixon administration’s
attempts to cover up its involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National
Committee (DNC) headquarters, along with other illegal actions committed during

Nixon’s re-election campaign. While the affair began opponent, South Dakota sen-
with the burglary at the Watergate complex, a num- ator George McGovern, was HISTORY
ber of scholars attribute the scandal in large part to viewed as too liberal on
the character of Richard Nixon and the atmosphere many issues. Student Web
that he and his advisers created in the White House. At the same time, Nixon’s Activity Visit the
hold on the presidency was American Republic
Nixon and His “Enemies” Richard Nixon had uncertain. Despite the high Since 1877 Web site at
fought hard to become president. He had battled approval ratings for the tarvol2.glencoe.com
back from numerous political defeats, including a president’s summit meet- and click on Student
loss to John Kennedy in the 1960 presidential elec- ings in Beijing and Moscow, Web Activities—
tion, to win the presidency in 1968. Along the way, the unpopular Vietnam War Chapter 27 for an
however, Nixon had grown defensive, secretive, and still raged. Nixon staffers activity on the 1970s.
often resentful of his critics. also remembered how close
In addition, Nixon had become president during a the margin of Nixon’s 1968
time when the United States was still very much at victory had been. Seeking to gain an edge in every
war with itself. Race riots and protests over the way they could, Nixon’s team engaged in a host of
Vietnam War continued to consume the country. In subversive tactics, from spying on opposition rallies
Nixon’s view, these protesters and other “radicals” to spreading rumors and false reports.
were out to bring down his administration. Nixon These tactics included an effort to steal informa-
was so consumed with his opponents that he com- tion from the Democratic Party’s headquarters. In the
piled an “enemies list” filled with people—from early hours of June 17, 1972, five Nixon supporters
politicians to members of the media—whom he con- broke into the party’s office at the Watergate complex
sidered a threat to his presidency. in Washington, D.C. They had intended to obtain any
sensitive campaign information and to place wire-
Mounting a Re-election Fight As Nixon’s re- taps on the office telephones. While the burglars
election campaign got underway in 1972, many in his were at work, a security guard making his rounds
administration expressed optimism about winning a spotted a piece of tape holding a door lock. The
second term. The president had just finished tri- guard ripped off the tape, but when he passed the
umphant trips to China and the Soviet Union. In door later, he noticed that it had been replaced. He
May, former Alabama governor George Wallace, quickly called police, who arrived shortly and
who had mounted a strong third-party cam- arrested the men.
paign in 1968, had dropped his bid for
another run at the White House after The Cover-Up Begins In the wake of the Watergate
an assassin’s bullet paralyzed him. break-in, the media discovered that one of the burglars,
Meanwhile, Nixon’s Democratic James McCord, was not only an ex-CIA official but also
a member of the Committee for the Re-election of the
President (CRP). Reports soon surfaced that the bur-
glars had been paid to execute the break-in from a
secret CRP fund controlled by the White House.
History
Watergate Hotel The hotel gave its name
to the scandal that brought down President
Nixon. Hotel guard Frank Willis, pictured
here, reported to police the evidence of a
break-in at the Democratic National
Committee headquarters there. What was
Nixon’s response to the break-in?

As questions swirled about a possible White largest margins in history with nearly 61 percent of
House connection to the burglary, the cover-up the popular vote compared to 37.5 percent for George
began. Administration officials destroyed incriminat- McGovern. The electoral vote was 520 votes for
ing documents and provided false testimony to Nixon and 17 for McGovern.
investigators. Meanwhile, President Nixon stepped
Reading Check Examining Why did members of
in. While the president may not have ordered the
break-in, he did order a cover-up. With Nixon’s con- the CRP break into the Democratic National Committee
sent, administration officials asked the CIA to inter- headquarters?
vene and stop the FBI from inquiring into the source
of the money paid to the burglars. Their justification
was that such an investigation would threaten The Cover-Up Unravels
national security. Shortly after his triumphant re-election, an exu-
All the while, the White House strongly denied berant and confident Nixon told his cabinet and staff
any involvement in the break-in. Nixon’s press secre- that 1973 “can be and should be the best year ever.”
tary dismissed the incident as a “third-rate burglary In a matter of months, however, the Watergate affair
attempt,” while the president himself told the would erupt, and the coming year would be one of
American public, “The White House has had no the president’s worst.
involvement whatever in this particular incident.”
The strategy worked. Most Americans believed The First Cracks Show In 1973 the Watergate bur-
President Nixon. Despite efforts by the media, in par- glars went on trial. Under relentless prodding from
ticular the Washington Post, to keep the story alive, federal judge John J. Sirica, McCord agreed to coop-
few people paid much attention to the Watergate erate with both a grand jury investigation and with
affair during the 1972 presidential campaign. On the Senate’s Select Committee on Presidential
Election Day, Nixon won re-election by one of the Campaign Activities, which had been recently estab-
lished under Senator Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina.
History McCord’s testimony opened a floodgate of confes-
sions, and a parade of White House and campaign
Sitting in Judgment Representative Barbara Jordan from Texas was an out-
officials exposed one illegality after another over the
spoken member of the House Judiciary Committee. What was this committee’s
role in the impeachment process? next several months. Foremost among the officials
was counsel to the president John Dean, a member of
the inner circle of the White House who leveled alle-
gations against Nixon himself.
A Summer of Shocking Testimony In June 1973,

John Dean testified before Senator Ervin’s committee
that former Attorney General John Mitchell had
ordered the Watergate break-in and that Nixon had
played an active role in attempting to cover up any
White House involvement. As a shocked nation
absorbed Dean’s testimony, the Nixon administra-
tion strongly denied the charges.
A standoff ensued for the next month, as the
Senate committee attempted to determine who was
telling the truth. Then, on July 16, the answer
appeared unexpectedly. On that day, White House
aide Alexander Butterfield testified that Nixon had
ordered a taping system installed in the White
House to record all conversations. The president
had done so, Butterfield said, to help him write his
memoirs after he left office. For members of the
committee, however, the tapes would tell them
exactly what the president knew and when he
knew it.
History
High Political Drama After resigning his office on August 9, 1974,
President Nixon and his family say goodbye to aides and friends on the
White House lawn. On the capital’s streets, a reader takes in the news
in the Washington Post, the newspaper that started the Watergate
investigation. Who replaced Nixon as president?
GOVERNMENT
The Case of the Tapes All the groups investigating
the scandal sought access to the tapes. Nixon refused, Nixon Resigns In an effort to quiet the growing out-
pleading executive privilege—the principle that rage over his actions, President Nixon appointed a
White House conversations should remain confiden- new special prosecutor, Texas lawyer Leon Jaworski,
tial to protect national security. A special prosecutor who proved no less determined than Cox to obtain
appointed by the president to handle the Watergate the president’s tapes. In April 1974, Nixon released
cases, Archibald Cox, took Nixon to court in October edited transcripts of the tapes, claiming that they
1973 to force him to give up the recordings. Nixon, proved his innocence. Investigators felt otherwise
clearly growing desperate, ordered Attorney General and went to court again to force Nixon to turn over
Elliot Richardson, and then Richardson’s deputy, to the unedited tapes. In July the Supreme Court ruled
fire Cox. Both men refused and resigned in protest. that the president had to turn over the tapes them-
Solicitor General Robert Bork finally fired Cox, but selves, not just the transcripts. With nowhere else to
the incident, nicknamed the “Saturday Night appeal, Nixon handed over the tapes.
Massacre” in the press, badly damaged Nixon’s rep- Several days later, the House Judiciary
utation with the public. Committee voted to impeach Nixon, or officially
The fall of 1973 proved to be a disastrous time for charge him of presidential misconduct. The commit-
Nixon for other reasons as well. His vice president, tee charged that Nixon had obstructed justice in the
Spiro Agnew, was forced to resign in disgrace. Watergate cover-up; misused federal agencies to
Investigators had discovered that Agnew had taken violate the rights of citizens; and defied the author-
bribes from state contractors while he was governor ity of Congress by refusing to deliver tapes and
of Maryland and that he had continued to accept other materials that the committee had requested.
bribes while serving in Washington. Gerald Ford, the The next step was for the entire House of
Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Representatives to vote whether or not to impeach
became the new vice president. Nixon then had to the president.
defend himself against allegations about his own As the nation held its collective breath in antic-
past financial dealings. ipation, investigators finally found indisputable

evidence against the president. One of the unedited means for appointing an independent counsel to
tapes revealed that on June 23, 1972, just six days investigate and prosecute wrongdoing by high gov-
after the Watergate burglary, Nixon had ordered the ernment officials.
CIA to stop the FBI’s investigation of the break-in. Despite these efforts, Watergate left many
With this news, even the president’s strongest sup- Americans with a deep distrust of their public offi-
porters conceded that impeachment and conviction cials. Speaking some 20 years after the Watergate
in the Senate now seemed inevitable. On August 9, affair, Alexander Haig, a former high-level Nixon
1974, Nixon resigned his office in disgrace. Gerald aide, said the scandal had produced, “a fundamental
Ford took the oath of office and became the nation’s discrediting of respect for the presidency . . . [and] a
38th president. new skepticism about politics, in general, which
every American feels to this day.” On the other hand,
Reading Check Explaining What was the signifi-
some Americans saw the Watergate affair as proof
cance of John Dean’s testimony before the Senate committee? that in the United States, no person is above the law.
As Bob Woodward observed:
The Impact of Watergate “ Watergate was probably a good thing for the
country; it was a good, sobering lesson. Account-
Upon taking office, President Ford urged
ability to the law applies to everyone. The problem
Americans to put the Watergate affair behind them
with kings and prime ministers and presidents is that
and move on. “Our long national nightmare is over,”
he declared. The effects of the scandal, however, they think that they are above it, and there is no
endured long after Richard Nixon’s resignation. accountability, and that they have some special rights,
The Watergate crisis prompted a series of new and privileges, and status. And a process that says:
laws intended to limit the power of the executive No. We have our laws and believe them, and they
branch. In the 1970s Congress passed a number of
laws aimed at reestablishing a greater balance of
apply to everyone, is a very good thing.
”
—quoted in Nixon: An Oral History of His Presidency
power in government. The Federal Campaign Act
Amendments limited campaign contributions and After the ordeal of Watergate, most Americans
established an independent agency to administer attempted to put the affair behind them. In the years
stricter election laws. The Ethics in Government Act ahead, however, the nation encountered a host of
required financial disclosure by high government new troubles, from a stubborn economic recession to
officials in all three branches of government. The FBI a heart-wrenching hostage crisis overseas.
Domestic Security Investigation Guidelines restricted
the bureau’s political intelligence-gathering activi- Reading Check Evaluating Why did Congress pass
ties. After Watergate, Congress also established a new laws after the Watergate scandal?
TM
TM

1. Define: executive privilege, 5. Evaluating How did the discovery of 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
impeach. the White House tapes change the photograph on page 841. How would
2. Identify: Sam J. Ervin, John Dean, Watergate cover-up investigation? you describe the scene of Nixon’s leave-
Federal Campaign Act Amendments. 6. Organizing Using a graphic organizer taking? What in the photo suggests that
3. Evaluate the effects of the Watergate similar to the one below, fill in the this is a formal occasion? Why do you
scandal on the way American citizens effects of the Watergate scandal. think this ceremony might be important
viewed the federal government. for the nation?

Effects of
4. Government and Democracy How did Watergate 8. Descriptive Writing Take on the role
the Watergate scandal alter the balance Scandal of a television news analyst. Write a
of power between the executive and script in which you explain the
legislative branches of government? Watergate scandal and analyze the
factors that led to the scandal.

Ford and Carter
During the 1970s, Presidents Gerald Ford Organizing As you read about the • Explain the reasons for economic
and Jimmy Carter attempted to lead the administrations of Presidents Ford and troubles in the United States during
United States through both domestic and Carter, complete a graphic organizer list- the 1970s.
foreign crises. ing the causes of economic problems in • Discuss Jimmy Carter’s domestic and
the 1970s. foreign policies.
Key Terms and Names
Causes
inflation, embargo, stagflation, Helsinki Section Theme
Accords, Department of Energy Economic Economic Factors A weakening
Problems economy and growing energy crisis
in the 1970s
marred the terms of Ford and Carter.
✦1973 ✦1975 ✦1977 ✦1979

1973 1974 1976 1979
OPEC price increases cause President Ford pardons Jimmy Carter wins Iranian revolutionaries seize
inflation in the United States Richard Nixon presidential election U.S. embassy in Iran
On a sunny February day in 1977, Ellen Griffith and her fiancé, Roger Everson, both of
Nashville, Tennessee, sat together in a place where neither of them dreamed they would
be—the state unemployment office. Just a month before, Griffith, a 20-year-old salesclerk in
a shopping center, and Everson, 21, had been excitedly making wedding plans. Now, with
Everson laid off and Griffith on a reduced work schedule, the young couple had decided to
put their future plans on hold. “It cost something to get married, you know,” said Everson.
What had landed the two in this predicament was a one-two punch of a particularly bit-
ter winter and an energy shortage that had gone on for much of the decade. The brutally cold
Lines of jobseekers at
an unemployment office weather in the Midwest and East had increased the demand for oil and fuel, already in short
supply throughout the country. In response, the government had asked numerous companies
and shops to conserve energy by cutting back on their business hours. As a result, Griffith
saw her work schedule slashed from 40 hours per week to 20 hours.
As the couple sat stoically in the unemployment office waiting for their names to be called,
Griffith wondered how she would pay her bills on her reduced salary and whatever she might
be able to get from the state. “I just feel like we’ve been rained on,” she said glumly.
—adapted from the New York Times, February 3, 1977
The Economic Crisis of the 1970s

Since the end of World War II, the American economy had been the envy of the world.
During the 1950s and 1960s, many Americans enjoyed remarkable prosperity and had
come to assume it was the norm. This prosperity rested in large part on easy access to

raw materials around the world and a strong manu- embargo, or stop shipping, petroleum to countries that
facturing industry at home. By the 1970s, however, supported Israel, namely the United States and some
both conditions began to disappear. Western European nations. OPEC also raised the price
of crude oil by 70 percent, and then by another 130 per-
A Mighty Economic Machine Slows The nation’s cent a few months later.
economic troubles began in the mid-1960s, when Even before the oil embargo, President Nixon and
President Johnson significantly increased federal Congress had tried to protect the American people from
deficit spending in an attempt to fund both the rising world oil prices by imposing a complex system of
Vietnam War and his Great Society program without price controls. These controls forced oil companies to
raising taxes. This pumped large amounts of money charge consumers low prices for gasoline and heating
into the economy, which spurred inflation, or a rise oil, even though the price of imported crude oil was ris-
in the cost of goods. ing. Oil companies could afford to do this because some
Rising costs of raw materials due to greater com- of the oil they bought came from low-priced domestic
petition for them was another cause of inflation. In sources. After OPEC raised its prices, however, the
particular, the rising cost of oil dealt a strong blow to price controls created an oil shortage. There was not
the nation’s economy. More than any other nation, enough cheap oil available domestically to supply
the United States based its economy on the easy demand, and oil companies could no longer afford to
availability of cheap and plentiful fossil fuels and pay world oil prices and still make a profit. If there had
had become heavily dependent on imports from the been no price controls, gasoline prices would have
Middle East and Africa. risen—but there would not have been an oil shortage.
For years, the Organization of Petroleum Although the embargo ended a few months after
Exporting Countries (OPEC) sold oil for its mem- it began, oil prices continued to rise. OPEC raised
ber countries. Prices remained low until the early prices three more times in the 1970s and again in
1970s, when OPEC decided to use oil as a political 1980. By that time, the price of a barrel of crude oil
and economic weapon. In 1973 the Yom Kippur War had risen from $3 in 1973 to $30 in 1980. The dra-
was raging between Israel and its Arab neighbors. matic increase helped accelerate inflation through-
Tension had existed between Israel and the Arab out the American economy.
world ever since the founding of modern Israel in
1948. Since most Arab states did not recognize
ECONOMICS
Israel’s right to exist, U.S. support of Israel made
American relations with Arab states uneasy. A Stagnant Economy Another economic problem
Now OPEC announced that its members would was the decline of the manufacturing sector. In the
years following World War II, the
History United States had dominated
international trade, but by the
A Scarce Commodity Americans had to schedule their lives around the availability of gasoline during the 1970s, it faced increased interna-
OPEC oil embargo. Why did OPEC institute the embargo?
tional competition. Many manu-
facturing plants were now
decades old and less efficient than
the newer plants that Japan and
European industrial nations built
after the war.
These factors forced many facto-
ries to close, and millions of work-
ers lost their jobs. The result was a
growing pool of unemployed and
underemployed workers.
Thus in the early 1970s President
Nixon faced a new and puzzling
economic dilemma that came to be
known as “stagflation,” a combina-
tion of rising prices and economic
stagnation. Economists who
Coping With Shortages Cartoonist Brant Parker reflected the public’s frustration over the oil shortages of the
1970s. What message does the cartoonist convey with the statement “the figs are next”?
emphasized the demand side of economic theory, edged his bland personality. “I’m a Ford, not a
including supporters of Keynesianism, did not think Lincoln,” he said. Still, the new president boasted
that inflation and recession could occur at the same excellent credentials, including a degree from Yale
time. They believed that demand drives prices and that Law School, naval service during World War II, and
inflation would only occur in a booming economy service in the House of Representatives since 1949.
when demand for goods was high. As a result, they did His fellow Republicans had elected him as minority
not know what fiscal policy the government should leader in 1965. Ford would need to draw on all his
pursue. Increased spending might help end the reces- experience during his time in office.
sion, but it would increase inflation. Raising taxes
might slow inflation but would prolong the recession. Ford Pardons Nixon On September 8, 1974, Ford
Nixon decided to focus on controlling inflation. announced that he would grant a “full, free, and
The government moved first to cut spending and absolute pardon” to Richard Nixon for any crimes he
raise taxes. The president hoped that higher taxes “committed or may have committed or taken part in”
would prompt Americans to spend less, which while president. “This is an American tragedy in
would ease the demand on goods and drive down which we all have played a part,” he told the nation.
prices. Congress and much of the public, however, “It could go on and on and on, or someone must
protested the idea of a tax hike. Nixon then tried to write the end to it.”
reduce consumer spending by getting the Federal Ford insisted he was acting not out of sympathy
Reserve Board to raise interest rates. When this for Nixon, but in the public interest. Ford’s position
failed, the president tried to stop inflation by was that he wanted to avoid the division that charges
imposing a 90-day freeze on wages and prices and against Nixon and a public trial would create.
then issuing federal regulations limiting future Nonetheless, the pardon aroused fierce criticism.
wage and price increases. This had little success. Ford’s approval ratings soon plunged from 71 per-
cent to 50 percent.
Reading Check Explaining How did President
Nixon attempt to stop stagflation? Ford Tries to “Whip” Inflation By 1975 the Amer-
ican economy was in its worst recession since the
Great Depression, with unemployment at nearly nine
Ford Takes Over percent. Rejecting the notion of mandatory wage and
When Nixon resigned in 1974, the nation’s infla- price controls to reduce inflation, Ford requested vol-
tion rate was still high, despite many efforts to untary controls. Under a plan known as WIN—Whip
reduce prices. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate Inflation Now—he urged Americans to cut back on
was over five percent. It would now be up to Gerald their oil and gas consumption. The plan stirred up
Ford to confront stagflation. little enthusiasm and eventually failed. The president
Most Americans considered Gerald Ford a decent then turned to cutting government spending and
and honest if not particularly dynamic leader. When advocating higher interest rates to curb inflation.
he became vice president, Ford had readily acknowl- This too failed.

The Election of 1976 As the 1976
presidential election approached,
Americans were pessimistic and
unsure of the future. With rising
inflation and unemployment, many
citizens were undergoing an ad-
verse change of lifestyle. There were
equally serious problems in foreign
affairs. Political turmoil in developing
nations threatened world stability, while
the Soviet Union was pursuing an aggressive
foreign policy. Americans therefore looked to elect a
man who could meet these challenges.
The presidential race pitted Gerald Ford against
James Earl Carter, Jr., or Jimmy Carter, as he liked to
be called. Carter was somewhat of a political outsider.
A former governor of Georgia, Carter had no national
political experience. Nonetheless, he had won the
Democratic primary with an inspiring and well-
organized campaign. Carter sought to take advantage
of his outsider image, promising to restore morality
and honesty to the federal government. He also
History promised new programs for energy development, tax
reform, welfare reform, and national medical care.
Reassuring Presence After the turmoil of Watergate, President Gerald Ford, More than the programs he proposed, it was
shown here with First Lady Betty Ford, was a comforting leader, but he was Carter’s image as a moral and upstanding individual
unable to solve the problem of inflation. Through what methods did Ford try
that attracted most supporters. Ford meanwhile char-
to “whip inflation now”?
acterized Carter as a liberal whose social program
As Ford attempted to revive the economy, he also spending would produce higher rates of inflation
attempted to limit federal authority, balance the and require tax increases.
budget, and keep taxes low. Ford vetoed more than In the end, Carter edged Ford with 50.1 percent of
50 bills that the Democratic-led Congress passed dur- the popular vote to Ford’s 47.9 percent, while captur-
ing the first two years of his administration. ing 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240. On Inauguration
Day, to demonstrate his man-of-the-people style,
Ford’s Foreign Policy In foreign policy, Ford contin- Carter declined the traditional limousine ride and
ued Nixon’s general strategy. Ford kept Kissinger on walked from the Capitol to the White House.
as secretary of state and continued to pursue détente Reading Check Examining What steps did
with the Soviets and the Chinese. In August 1975 he
President Ford take to try to control inflation?
met with leaders of NATO and the Warsaw Pact to
sign the Helsinki Accords. Under the accords, the par-
ties recognized the borders of Eastern Europe estab-
lished at the end of World War II. The Soviets in return Carter Battles the Economic Crisis
promised to uphold certain basic human rights, Carter devoted much of his domestic agenda to
including the right to move across national borders. trying to fix the economy. At first he tried to end the
The subsequent Soviet failure to uphold these basic recession and reduce unemployment by increasing
rights turned many Americans against détente. government spending and cutting taxes. When infla-
Ford also encountered problems in Southeast Asia. tion surged in 1978, he changed his mind. He delayed
In May 1975, Cambodia seized the Mayaguez, an the tax cuts and vetoed the spending programs he
American cargo ship traveling near its shores, claim- had himself proposed to Congress. He then tried to
ing that it had been on an intelligence-gathering mis- ease inflation by reducing the money supply and
sion. Calling the ship’s seizure an “act of piracy,” Ford raising interest rates. His main focus, however, was
dispatched U.S. Marines to retrieve it. Cambodia on the energy crisis. In the end, none of his efforts
released the crew before the marines arrived. succeeded.

A “War” Against Consumption Carter felt that the out to Washington’s legislative leaders. As a result,
nation’s most serious problem was its dependence on Congress blocked many of his energy proposals.
foreign oil. In one of his first national addresses, he Carter also failed to translate his ideas into a con-
tried to rally Americans to support what he termed a crete set of goals to inspire the nation. He offered no
“war” against rising energy consumption. “Our unifying theme for his administration, but instead
decision about energy will test the character of the followed a cautious middle course that left people
American people and the ability of the President and confused. By 1979 public opinion polls showed that
Congress to govern this nation,” Carter stated. Carter’s popularity had dropped lower than
Carter proposed a national energy program to con- President Nixon’s during Watergate.
serve oil and to promote the use of coal and renewable Reading Check Summarizing To what did
energy sources such as solar power. He persuaded
President Carter devote much of his domestic agenda?
Congress to create a Department of Energy and also
asked Americans to make personal sacrifices to reduce
their energy consumption. Most of the public com- Carter’s Foreign Policy
plied as best they could, although many ignored the
In contrast to his uncertain leadership at home,
president’s suggestion.
Carter’s foreign policy was more clearly defined. A
At the same time, many business leaders and
man of strong religious beliefs, Carter argued that the
economists urged the president and Congress to
United States must try to be “right and honest and
deregulate the oil industry. The regulations, first
truthful and decent” in dealing with other nations.
imposed as part of President Nixon’s price control
Yet it was on the international front that President
plan, limited the ability of oil companies to pass on
Carter suffered one of his most devastating defeats.
OPEC price increases to American consumers. As a
result, oil companies found it difficult to make a History
profit, and they lacked the capital to invest in new
domestic oil wells. These regulations, combined Change of Pace Jimmy Carter underscored his campaign image of being a
with OPEC price increases, helped create the energy new kind of politician by walking to the White House after his inauguration.
What about Carter’s image in 1976 might have been appealing to the public?
crisis of the 1970s. Carter agreed to support deregu-
lation but insisted on a “windfall profits tax” to pre-
vent oil companies from overcharging consumers.
The tax, however, conflicted with the basic idea of
deregulation, which was to free up corporate capital
for use in searching for new sources of oil. In the
end, Carter’s contradictory plan did not solve the
country’s energy crisis.
In the summer of 1979, instability in the Middle
East produced a second major fuel shortage and
deepened the nation’s economic problems. Under
increasing pressure to act, Carter made several pro-
posals in a television address. The speech was
notable for Carter’s bleak assessment of the national
condition. He complained about a “crisis of confi-
dence” that had struck “at the very heart and soul of
our national will.” The address became known as the
“malaise” speech, although Carter had not specifi-
cally used that word. Many Americans interpreted
the speech not as a timely warning but as Carter
blaming the people for his failures.
Carter’s Leadership Problems In retrospect, Pres-

ident Carter’s difficulties in solving the nation’s eco-
nomic problems lay in his inexperience and inability
to work with Congress. Carter, who was proud of
his outsider status, made little effort to reach

MOMENT
in HISTORY
HOSTAGE TO TERROR
Bound and blindfolded,
American diplomat Jerry
Miele is led out of the U.S.
embassy in Tehran, Iran, after
militants stormed the building
on November 4, 1979. Ten
months earlier, an Islamic fun-
damentalist revolution had
overthrown the Shah of Iran,
a staunch American ally.
President Carter’s decision to
allow the ailing Shah to seek
medical treatment in the
United States led to the
embassy takeover. Of the
Americans taken captive, 52
were held for more than a year.
The crisis contributed to
Carter’s defeat in the presiden-
tial election in 1980.
Morality in Foreign Policy Carter had set the tone Asian nation of Afghanistan in December 1979. Carter
for his foreign policy in his inaugural speech, when responded by imposing an embargo on the sale of
he announced, “Our commitment to human rights grain to the Soviet Union and boycotting the 1980
must be absolute. . . . The powerful must not perse- Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. Under the Carter
cute the weak, and human dignity must be administration, détente virtually collapsed.
enhanced.” With the help of his foreign policy
team—including Andrew Young, the first African Triumph and Failure in the Middle East It was in
American ambassador to the United Nations—Carter the volatile Middle East that President Carter met his
strove to achieve these goals. greatest foreign policy triumph and his greatest fail-
The president put his principles into practice in ure. In 1978 Carter helped broker a historic peace
Latin America. To remove a major symbol of U.S. treaty, known as the Camp David Accords, between
interventionism in the region, he moved to give the Israel and Egypt, two nations that had been bitter
Panamanians control of the Panama Canal. The enemies for decades. The treaty was formally signed
United States had built and run the canal since 1903. in 1979. Most other Arab nations in the region
In 1978 the president won Senate ratification of two opposed the treaty, but it marked a first step to
Panama Canal treaties, which transferred control of achieving peace in the Middle East.
the canal to Panama on December 31, 1999. Just months after the Camp David Accords,
Most dramatically, Carter singled out the Soviet Carter encountered a crisis in Iran. The United States
Union as a violator of human rights. He strongly con- had long supported Iran’s monarch, the Shah,
demned, for example, the Soviet practice of imprison- because Iran was a major oil supplier and a buffer
ing people who protested against the government. against Soviet expansion in the Middle East. The
Relations between the two superpowers suffered a fur- Shah, however, had grown increasingly unpopular
ther setback when Soviet troops invaded the Central in Iran. He was a repressive ruler and had

introduced Westernizing reforms to Iranian society.
The Islamic clergy fiercely opposed the Shah’s
reforms. Opposition to the Shah grew, and in
January 1979 protesters forced him to flee. An
Islamic republic was then declared. The Islamic State
The new regime, headed by religious leader In establishing an Islamic republic, the Ayatollah
Ayatollah Khomeini, distrusted the United States Khomeini created a state in which the codes and beliefs
because of its ties to the Shah. In November 1979, rev- of Islam guide politics and thus direct nearly every aspect
olutionaries stormed the American embassy in of life. Mullahs, or Islamic religious leaders, became
Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage. The militants political leaders as well, which allowed them to impose
threatened to kill the hostages or try them as spies. Islamic codes on Iranian citizens. In a religious state, reli-
The Carter administration tried unsuccessfully to gious practices are not a matter of choice but the law of
negotiate for the hostages’ release. In April 1980, as the land. Politics and religion have joined forces in other
pressure mounted, Carter approved a daring rescue parts of the Islamic world as well. In 1996 a group known
attempt. To the nation’s dismay, the rescue mission as the Taliban transformed Afghanistan into an Islamic
failed when several helicopters malfunctioned and state. From insisting that men grow beards to forbidding
one crashed in the desert. Eight servicemen died in women to work outside the home, Afghanistan’s leaders
the accident. Hamilton Jordan, President Carter’s enforced a social order based on an interpretation of
chief of staff, described the gloomy atmosphere in the Islam. What long-held American principle does the
White House the day after the crash: creation of a religious state violate?
“ I arrived at the White House a few minutes before

the President went on television to tell the nation
The crisis continued into the fall of 1980. Every
about the catastrophe. He looked exhausted and night, news programs reminded viewers how many
careworn. . . . The mood at the senior staff meeting days the hostages had been held. The president’s
was somber and awkward. I sensed that we were all inability to free the hostages cost him support in the
uncomfortable, like when a loved one dies and 1980 presidential election. Negotiations with Iran
friends don’t quite know what to say. . . . After the continued right up to Carter’s last day in office.
meeting, I wandered around the White House. . . . Ironically, on January 20, 1981, the day Carter left
My thoughts kept returning to the bodies [of the office, Iran released the Americans, ending their 444
days in captivity.
servicemen] in the desert.
” Reading Check Summarizing What was President
—quoted in Crisis: The Last Year
of the Carter Presidency Carter’s main foreign policy theme?
TM
TM

1. Define: inflation, embargo, stagflation. 5. Evaluating Do you think President 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: Helsinki Accords, Department Ford should have pardoned Richard photograph on page 848. What effect
of Energy. Nixon? Why or why not? do you think images such as this one
3. Identify the achievement and failure 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- had on Americans who were living or
President Carter experienced in the izer similar to the one below by listing traveling in other countries?
Middle East during his administration. the ways that President Carter applied
his human rights ideas to his foreign
Reviewing Themes policy.
4. Economic Factors How did President Writing About History
Carter attempt to deal with the nation’s 8. Expository Writing Write an essay
energy crisis? Carter’s Human Rights identifying what you believe to be
Foreign Policy
President Carter’s most important for-
eign policy achievement. Explain your
choice.

The “Me” Decade:
Life in the 1970s
In the midst of widespread cynicism Categorizing As you read about life in • Explain the emergence of new spiritual
about their leaders and concerns about the United States in the 1970s, complete movements and religions.
the economy, Americans sought fulfill- a graphic organizer similar to the one • Discuss social changes of the 1970s.
ment and escape during the 1970s. below by listing the changes that
occurred in family life during that time.
New Age movement, guru, Culture and Traditions Even after the
transcendental meditation, All in Changes in turbulent 1960s, American culture contin-
the Family, disco Family Life ued changing to reflect new trends and
ideas.
✦1970 ✦1973 ✦1976 ✦1979

1971 1974 1977
All in the Family Good Times Disco mania peaks with release of Saturday Night
debuts debuts Fever; The Complete Book of Running published
As the United States prepared to celebrate its bicentennial on July 4, 1976, a reporter
asked Stoyan Christowe for his views on the state of the nation on the eve of its 200th birth-
day. The 77-year-old Vermont resident acknowledged that the United States was “in pretty
bad shape,” but added that the country would turn around—as it always had.
“ I believe in this country. I’ve always believed in it. There is a quotation by Benjamin
Franklin, in a letter to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Franklin talked of a
cornfield during a drought, and how the cornstalks have shriveled and curled, and it was a
sad sight. And then, he said a thunderstorm came along, spilling rain, and a day or two after,
the sun came out, and the corn came to life, and it was a delight. . . . I know we’re going
through a kind of turmoil now, but the country is okay. . . . My faith in this country was
never shaken. Like that cornfield—the sun will shine again, and the rains will come, and
”
brother, those cornstalks will revive, and it will be a beautiful sight.
Cover of Stoyan —quoted in Newsweek, July 4, 1976
Christowe’s book
The Search for Fulfillment

Like Stoyan Christowe, many Americans in the 1970s believed that the United States
would eventually move beyond the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War, and the coun-
try’s nagging economic problems. In the meantime, some Americans sought ways to get

on with their daily lives. As a way of coping with inspired by the Eastern belief in reincarnation, which
anxious times, they sought escape, laughter, and ful- taught that people could be reborn many times until
fillment in a wide range of fads, entertainment, and reaching perfection. Awareness of former lives was
spiritual movements. supposed to bring knowledge of the true inner self.
Writer Tom Wolfe labeled the 1970s the “me
decade,” referring to the idea that many Americans Transcendental Meditation Many Americans who
grew more self-obsessed in this decade as they strove were dissatisfied with established religions sought new
for greater individual satisfaction. Indeed, the most religions. A number of these new religions originated
popular books of the period included such titles as in Asia and centered on the teachings of gurus, or mys-
I’m OK, You’re OK; How to Be Your Own Best Friend; tical leaders. One of the more well-known gurus was
and Looking Out for Number One. Journalist Richard Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. A native of India, Maharishi
Michael Levine argued that in light of the growing
moved to the United States in 1959, where he led a spir-
feelings of despair and cynicism about American soci-
itual movement known as transcendental meditation.
ety, it was little wonder that many people turned
Maharishi worked in relative obscurity until 1967,
inward. “In the damp, late autumn of 1973, it did not
when the wildly popular rock group the Beatles began
take a religious fanatic in a tattered overcoat to sense
to explore his teachings. Their attention brought an
that the real Kingdom lay within, things being as rot-
American following. Transcendental meditation sug-
ten as they were without,” he wrote. In their quest for
gested daily meditation and the silent repetition of
self-improvement, many Americans were willing to
spiritual mantras as a way of achieving peak intelli-
embrace new movements.
gence, harmony, and health. If all the people on Earth
The New Age Movement Disenchanted with the practiced transcendental meditation, its advocates
conventional religions of their parents, some young believed, the world would enjoy peace.
men and women sought fulfillment through the host
of secular movements and activities that made up Changing Families The search for fulfillment had
the New Age movement. New Age enthusiasts an impact on many American families. The cam-
embraced the idea that people were responsible for paigns of the era, especially the women’s movement,
and capable of everything from self-healing to creat- began to change how many women viewed their
ing the world. They believed spiritual enlightenment roles as wives and mothers. By 1970, 60 percent of
could be found in common practices, not just in tradi- women between the ages of 16 and 24 had joined the
tional churchgoing. They tried activities such as
yoga, martial arts, and chanting to achieve fuller spir-
itual awareness. Kathy Smith, a college student dur-
ing the 1970s, recalled how she and others claimed to
find “Zen,” or enlightenment, in running and other
physical activities:
“ They were beginning to understand how exercise

affects your soul, how it affects your being. People
started getting in the ‘Zen’ of things: the Zen of tennis,
the Zen of working out, the Zen of motorcycle repair,
the Zen of running. I, like many others, started con-
necting physical activity to the spiritual side. People
also started looking at yoga and tai chi, and not only
the stretching aspects of these disciplines but the
mental aspects. Now they were working the body, the
mind, and the spirit.
”
—quoted in The Century
East Meets West Beatles George
The New Age movement took many different paths
Harrison (left) and John Lennon (right)
to transform individuals and society. Some New Agers helped Maharishi Mahesh Yogi gain
extolled the power of crystals and gemstones to fame when they embraced his tran-
improve life; others touted astrology. Some were scendental meditation movement.
• Bee Gees
Disco fans around the country and
the world danced to the sounds of
the Australian group the Bee Gees.
The movie Saturday Night Fever
featured their music and cata-
pulted them into the limelight.
Disco
The counterculture of the 1960s pro- • Fashion
vided music designed to raise people’s New styles of clothing, first associated
with disco patrons, became common
consciousness of social issues. The disco
for everyone. Men wore brightly pat-
music of the 1970s, with its simple lyrics
terned synthetic shirts, bell-bottom
and intense beats, was designed simply pants, and platform shoes or boots.
to entertain. By the end of the decade, Women wore wildly patterned
millions of people throughout the nation dresses or jumpsuits with high
and the world were dancing under flash- heels or boots.
ing disco lights.
labor force. Between 1970 and 1980, women aged 25 meaningful career at its center. Actress Mary Tyler
to 34 had the largest annual percentage growth in the Moore played the main character, Mary Richards,
workforce. who had left a small town for a big-city job as a tele-
These changes in turn led to changes in family life. vision news producer. Mary sparred with her gruff
With women increasingly active outside the home, but caring boss, despaired over the shallowness of
smaller families became the norm. The birthrate fell the blow-dried news announcer, and had adventures
to an all-time low in 1976, and parents and their chil- with friends. Mary also went on dates but never got
dren began spending less time together. A greater around to marrying.
number of families also split apart, as the divorce rate The debut of the sitcom All in the Family in
doubled from 2.5 divorces per thousand people in January 1971 marked an even bigger turning point in
1966 to 5 per thousand 10 years later. television programming. The show took risks by
Reading Check Summarizing What were the basic confronting potentially volatile social issues and by
featuring a controversial hero, the blue-collar and
beliefs of the New Age movement? bigoted Archie Bunker. Archie called his wife Edith
“Dingbat” and his liberal son-in-law “Meathead.” He
also mocked his feminist daughter and various ethnic
Cultural Trends in the 1970s groups. Though Archie prided himself on being the
Popular culture in the 1970s reflected many of the man of the house, he never won any arguments with
changes taking place in society. Television now some- his liberal family or his African American neighbors.
times portrayed women in independent roles or took By carefully mixing humor and sensitive issues
on formerly taboo subjects such as racism, poverty, and by not preaching to its audience, All in the Family
and abortion. Meanwhile, Americans listened and provided viewers with a way to examine their own
danced to new forms of music and sought fun feelings about issues such as racism. Producer
and escape in a variety of new fads. Norman Lear claimed that the show “holds a mirror
up to our prejudices. . . . We laugh now, swallowing
TURNING POINT
just the littlest bit of truth about ourselves. . . .”
Television in the 1970s The decade opened with a Several years later, Archie Bunker’s African
revolutionary new situation comedy on Saturday American neighbors became the stars of another
nights. Unlike earlier sitcoms, The Mary Tyler Moore television series, The Jeffersons. George Jefferson, like
Show featured an unmarried woman with a Archie, was opinionated and prejudiced but

American and Latin nightclubs. There, disc jockeys
played recorded dance music with a loud and per-
sistent beat. The fast pace and easy rhythm attracted
fans, but disco also seemed well suited for the “me
generation.” Unlike rock ’n’ roll, disco allowed the
people dancing to it to assume greater prominence
than the music. As the co-owner of a popular dis-
cotheque in New York described the phenomena,
“Everybody secretly likes to be on center stage and
here we give them a huge space to do it all on.”
Gus Rodriguez, who had moved with his family
from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn 20 years earlier, recalled
going to discos with his friends in the mid-1970s:
• Saturday Night Fever

John Travolta played the role of Tony Manero in this 1977 “ We would go to the discos several times a week,
but the weekends were always the best. Getting ready
film. By day Tony worked as a clerk in a Brooklyn store.
At night, however, he transformed himself into a disco to go out was sort of a ritual, especially on Saturdays.
star. A popular success, the film showed Tony as a young During the day you would go buy that shirt, or that
working-class kid with a dream to escape his ordinary belt, or those platform shoes, all of which seemed
existence. Life at the disco provided a road to that escape. incredibly important at the time. You had to have a
particular type of look. And we all dressed the same
way. We would call each other up to coordinate what
color suits everybody was wearing—who’s wearing
ultimately likable. The Jeffersons portrayed African
the powder-blue suit, who’s wearing the white suit,
Americans in a new light: as successful and
respected. Maude, another spin-off from All in the who’s wearing this, who’s wearing that. And then we
Family, featured Edith Bunker’s feminist cousin, who would carefully iron everything so it was just so.
”
had recently remarried after her third divorce. The —quoted in The Century
strong-willed Maude did not need to depend on her
new husband, Walter. This popular program drew Disco mania reached its peak after the 1977 movie,
intense controversy in 1972 when Maude made the Saturday Night Fever. In the film, a middle-class
difficult decision to have an abortion.
All in the Family Many Americans saw a little of themselves in the characters
Maude’s African American maid, Florida, gener- of this popular sitcom.
ated another series in 1974. Starring Esther Rolle as
Florida, Good Times portrayed an African American
family struggling to raise three children in a low-
income housing development in Chicago.
Music of the 1970s The music of this period

reflected the end of the 1960s youth and protest move-
ments. The hard-driving rock of the tumultuous 1960s
gave way to softer sounds. “The fading out of ear-
numbing, mind-blowing acid rock,” Time commented
in 1971, “is related to the softening of the youth revolu-
tion.” The music became more reflective and less polit-
ical, reflecting a desire to seek fulfillment from within.
“These days, nobody wants to hear songs that have a
message,” said a member of the rock group Chicago.
Popular entertainers in tune with the new meditative
atmosphere included singers Barry Manilow and John
Denver and the bands ABBA and the Eagles.
The 1970s also saw the rise of disco music. The
disco craze of the later 1970s began in African
Meanwhile, millions of drivers bought citizens
band (“CB”) radios for their vehicles. This radio
system allowed drivers to talk to each other over a
two-way frequency within a range of a few miles.
Put on a Happy Face Throughout the 1960s and Many truck drivers installed the radios in an effort to
1970s, the nation experienced a “button craze” as
warn each other of police and speed traps. Soon,
people expressed themselves by pinning buttons with
however, average drivers had purchased them,
slogans to their clothing. The most popular button
mostly for entertainment purposes. Drivers adopted
actually said nothing at all. In 1971 Americans began
buying a yellow button with a their own CB name, or “handle,” and talked to each
simple smile on it. By the fall other using CB jargon and code words.
of 1971, marketers esti- Fitness was another trend during the “me
mated that more than 20 decade,” as many Americans turned to exercise to
million smile buttons improve the way they felt and looked. One popular
had been sold, making it type of exercise in the 1970s was aerobics. Physician
the most popular fad Kenneth H. Cooper popularized the exercise concept
item since the hula hoop. in his 1968 book Aerobics. It was a way to achieve car-
diovascular fitness without the drudgery and isola-
tion that often accompanies physical exercise. This
new way to stay fit while having fun and interacting
Italian American teenager played by John Travolta socially with others quickly gained popularity. By the
transformed himself into a white-suited disco king mid-1970s, men and women were dancing in gyms
each Saturday night. The movie’s soundtrack sold across the country. Running also attracted a wide fol-
millions of copies and spurred a wave of disco open- lowing, as scores of Americans began pounding the
ings across the country and around the world. pavement to stay fit and trim. In a testament to the
popularity of running, athlete Jim Fixx’s work The
Fads and Fashions In addition to disco, the nation Complete Book of Running was a bestseller following
embraced many other fads during the 1970s. its publication in 1977.
Americans by the millions bought T-shirts that bore By the end of the 1970s, a number of these fads and
personalized messages, while teenagers flew down trends began to fade. A decade in which Americans
suburban and city streets on skateboards. Obsessed came to recognize their country’s vulnerability and its
with self-discovery, a number of Americans slipped limits had ended. As the new decade dawned,
mood rings on their fingers to get in touch with their Americans looked forward to regaining confidence in
innermost feelings. Supposedly, the ring’s color their country and optimism in their own futures.
changed to match the wearer’s ever-changing mood.
Blue, for example, signaled happiness and bliss, Reading Check Examining What was the impact of
while gray denoted nervousness and anxiety. disco music on American society?
TM
TM

1. Define: guru, transcendental 5. Analyzing How did television in the 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
meditation, disco. 1970s reflect society at that time? photographs in the “What Life Was
2. Identify: New Age movement, All in 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- Like” feature on pages 852–853. How
the Family. izer similar to the one below by listing has popular music and fashion changed
3. Summarize the basic beliefs of follow- the cultural trends of the 1970s. since the 1970s?
ers of transcendental meditation.
Reviewing Themes
Cultural Trends
8. Descriptive Writing View a television
4. Culture and Traditions What new cul- of the 1970s program that was popular in the 1970s.
tural trends affected American society Write a description of the program and
in the 1970s? explain how it reflected society at that
time.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing Secondary Sources

This textbook, like many other history books, is a
secondary source. Secondary sources draw from
primary sources to explain a topic. The value of a
secondary source depends on how its author uses
primary sources. Learning to analyze secondary
sources will help you figure out whether those
sources are presenting a complete and accurate
picture of a topic or event.
Learning the Skill President Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon visiting the
Great Wall of China during their historic 1972 trip.
To determine whether an author uses primary
sources effectively, ask these questions:
Pravda also blamed China, stating on June 17 that
• Are there references to primary sources in the “Soviet-American confrontation . . . is the cherished
text, footnotes, or acknowledgments? dream of Peking.” On the whole, U.S. officials were not
• Who are the authors of the primary sources? displeased by the Kremlin’s anger and concern: perhaps
What insights or biases might these people have? it would make Soviet leaders more anxious to conclude
• Is the information from the primary sources inter- the SALT negotiations and more inclined to show
woven effectively to support or describe an event? restraint in the Third World.
• Are different kinds of primary sources consid- 1 What kind of primary source does Levering use
ered? Do they represent varied testimony? twice in this passage?
• Is the interpretation of the primary sources 2 Do you think this kind of primary source has
sound and logical? any possible weaknesses?
3 Would the use of government documents
Practicing the Skill strengthen the author’s argument? Why or why
In the following excerpt from The Cold War, not?
1945–1987, author Ralph B. Levering discusses
President Carter’s China policy. Carter sent his Skills Assessment
national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, to Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
China to encourage better relations and thus put 857 and the Chapter 27 Skill Reinforcement
pressure on the Soviets. As you read, identify the pri- Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
mary sources Levering uses to make his argument.
During his trip to Peking, Brzezinski did everything he
could to please the Chinese leaders. . . . He stressed repeat- Applying the Skill
edly the evil nature of the Soviet Union. . . . Upon his Analyzing Secondary Sources Find and read an in-
return, Brzezinski told a New York Times reporter that depth article in a newspaper. Then list the primary
the trip was intended to “underline the long-term strategic sources the article uses and analyze how reliable you
nature of the United States’ relationship to China.” think they are.
. . . Soviet leaders were deeply concerned. An editorial
in Pravda on May 30, 1978, stated that Brzezinski Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
“stands before the world as an enemy of détente.” CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
855
Reviewing Key Terms 19. Evaluating What impact did cultural phenomena such as
disco music, the use of CB radios, and exercise trends have
on the U.S. economy?
1. impound 7. embargo 20. Forming an Opinion Alexander Haig stated that the
2. détente 8. stagflation Watergate scandal led to “a fundamental discrediting of
3. summit 9. guru respect for the presidency . . . [and] a new skepticism about
4. executive privilege 10. transcendental meditation politics, in general, which every American feels to this day.”
5. impeach 11. disco Do you agree with his statement? Why or why not?
6. inflation 21. Interpreting Primary Sources When the Arab-Israeli War
of 1973 developed into a stalemate, the Arab nations
Reviewing Key Facts imposed an oil embargo on the United States, the chief sup-
porter of Israel. Because Arab countries supplied much of the
12. Identify: Southern strategy, Sam J. Ervin, OPEC, New Age oil used in the United States, the embargo created an energy
movement. crisis. The excerpt below is taken from an article in the
13. What were the main aspects of President Nixon’s domestic December 3, 1973, issue of U.S. News & World Report. It
and foreign policies? details the growing energy problems that the United States
14. What was the impact of the Watergate scandal on the was facing at that time. Read the excerpt and answer the
American people? questions that follow.
15. Why did President Nixon freeze wages and prices in the early
1970s?
“ Evidence of the full dimensions of the energy crisis in this
country is becoming more clear each day.
16. What factors caused economic problems in the United States • Electric-power brownouts, even blackouts, are predicted
in the 1970s? for many parts of the U.S. before the end of the year.
17. What changes in family life occurred in the United States in • Voltage reduction of 5 percent from 4 P.M. to 8 P.M. each
the 1970s? day was ordered starting November 26 in all six New
England States, where fuel shortages threaten homes,
Critical Thinking schools, factories. . . .
• As a first step to cut gasoline use, President Nixon was
18. Analyzing Themes: Government and Democracy How did
reportedly ready to order closing of service stations
the Watergate scandal affect the relationship among the
nationwide from 9 P.M. Saturday to midnight Sunday on
three branches of government?
weekends. . . .
Uniting a Scandal and Challenging

Divided Country Economic Turmoil Traditional Values
• Nixon’s conservative politics • Watergate scandal • New Age movement advocates
appeal to “Middle America.” brings down Nixon. self-fulfillment.
• Nixon begins pulling ground troops • Congress enacts • More women join the workforce.
out of Vietnam. new laws to limit • Television shows prominently
• Tensions with presidential power. feature African Americans and
Soviet Union and • Inflation, energy crisis, independent women;
China ease. and foreign competition cause address sensitive
• Nixon signs treaty economic slowdown. issues such as
limiting nuclear arms. • Ford and Carter fail to revive economy. racism and abortion.

HISTORY Inflation, 1960–1992
Self-Check Quiz 14
Annual Percentage Change

in Consumer Price Index
tarvol2.glencoe.com and click on Self-Check Quizzes— 10
Chapter 27 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. 8
6
4
• Immediate rationing of gasoline and fuel oil is being
2
urged on the President by top oil-industry executives. . . .
0
One major piece of legislation . . . directs the President
to take measures necessary to reduce the nation’s energy 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1992
demands by 25 percent within four weeks. Year
Speed limits would be cut nationally; lighting and heat-
ing of public and commercial buildings would be cur-
tailed; home-owners would be given tax deductions to Writing Activity
winterize their homes. . . . 25. Persuasive Writing Imagine you are an aide to President
Other pending measures would impose year-round day- Nixon during the early 1970s. Nixon has just returned from
light saving time and would open naval oil reserves for his historic mission to China to establish diplomatic relations
”
intensive exploration. . . .
a. What proposals did the U.S. government make to deal
with the Communist nation. Write a press release on the
president’s trip for reporters, explaining the reasons Nixon
with the energy crisis? reversed American policy and the expected benefits from
doing so.
b. What lessons do you think the United States might have
learned from the crisis?
22. Categorizing Complete a chart similar to the one below by Economics and History
listing the attempts each president made to strengthen the
26. The graph above shows inflation rates in the United States
nation’s economy.
from 1960 to 1992. Study the graph and answer the ques-
President Attempts to Strengthen Economy tions below.
a. Interpreting Graphs How did the nation’s inflation rate
Nixon change between 1965 and 1980?
Ford
b. Determining Cause and Effect What factor was most
Carter
important in causing this change?
Practicing Skills
23. Analyzing Secondary Sources Examine the Bob Woodward Standardized
quotation on Watergate’s impact on page 842. Then use the
steps you learned on the subject of analyzing secondary
Test Practice
sources on page 855 to answer the following questions. Directions: Choose the phrase that best
a. Who is Bob Woodward, and how was he related to the completes the following sentence.
Watergate scandal? As a political conservative, President Nixon wanted to
b. How knowledgeable or reliable do you think Woodward A increase federal spending on welfare programs.
is as a source? Why do you think so? B take more aggressive federal action to speed
desegregation.
Chapter Activity
C return power to state governments.
24. Researching Artifacts One useful way of learning about cul-
D appoint activist-minded justices to the Supreme Court.
tures of different periods is by examining artifacts from the
era. Many of these artifacts can be found in museums and Test-Taking Tip: Think of the meaning of political conser-
art galleries, while others may be found in your own home. vative: someone who believes that the federal government’s
What sorts of artifacts could you find about the 1970s? What role in society should be limited. Choose the answer that
would they tell you about the culture and lifestyle of that era? best reflects this meaning.
Create a chart listing possible artifacts and how they repre-
sent the 1970s.
Resurgence of
Conservatism
1980–1992
Why It Matters
The 1980s saw the rise of a new conservatism. President Reagan, standing for traditional values
and smaller government, symbolized this movement. While tax cuts and new technologies fueled
an economic boom, Reagan embarked on a massive military buildup and expanded efforts to
contain communism. During President George Bush’s term, the United States fought the Persian
Gulf War, and the Cold War came to a dramatic end with the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Impact Today

Developments of the Reagan era are still visible today.
• The struggle between conservative and liberal ideas often defines American politics.
• Foreign policy has greatly changed because of the fall of the Soviet Union.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act has opened up doors for disabled citizens.

video, “Tear Down This Wall!” describes the history of the Berlin Wall,
one of the Cold War’s most powerful symbols.
1979
• Jerry Falwell’s
“Moral Majority” 1983
movement begins • U.S. Marine barracks
1981 bombed in Lebanon
• American hostages
released in Iran
▲ ▲ • Launch of Columbia,
Carter Reagan
first space shuttle
1977–1981 1981–1989 ▲
1979 1982 1985
▼ ▼ ▼
1980 1985
1979 • War begins between • Mikhail Gorbachev
• Iranian revolution Iran and Iraq becomes leader of
establishes Islamic republic Soviet Union
• Soviets invade Afghanistan
858
President Reagan at the Berlin Wall in 1987
1986
• Iran-Contra scandal enters the news
1987 1991
• INF Treaty between U.S. and USSR • Persian Gulf War
reduces land-based intermediate- occurs between Iraq
range nuclear missiles and UN coalition
1988
• More than 35,000 cases of
AIDS diagnosed for the year HISTORY
G. Bush
▲ ▲ ▲ 1989–1993 ▲ Chapter Overview
1986 information.
• Dictatorship of Ferdinand 1989
Marcos overthrown in the • Tiananmen Square protests for
Philippines democracy break out in China 1990 1991
• Several Communist governments • Germany reunified • Soviet Union
in Eastern Europe collapse into one nation dissolves
859
The New Conservatism
In the 1980s, discontent with government Taking Notes As you read about the rise • Explain how discontent with govern-
and changes in society resulted in the rise of a new conservative coalition in the ment led to a conservative shift in
of a new conservative coalition. United States, use the major headings of Americans’ political convictions.
the section to create an outline similar to • Describe how the nation’s population
Key Terms and Names the one below. shifts led to a change in voting patterns.
liberal, conservative, William F. Buckley,
Sunbelt, Billy Graham, televangelist, The New Conservatism
Section Theme
Moral Majority I. Conservatism and Liberalism Economic Factors High taxes as well as
A.
B. economic and moral concerns led the
II. country toward a new conservatism.
A.
✦1965 ✦1970 ✦1975 ✦1980

1964 1972 1976 1979 1980
Conservative Barry Goldwater Nixon wins Reagan challenges Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Reagan wins
is defeated for presidency re-election Ford for nomination Majority” movement begins presidential election
Midge Decter, a New Yorker and a writer for the conservative publication Commentary,
was appalled at the terror that hit her city on a hot July night in 1977. On the night of July 13,
the power failed in New York City. Street lights went dark. Elevators, subways, and air condi-
tioners stopped running. The blackout left millions of people in darkness, and looting and
arson rocked the city.
City officials and the media blamed the lawlessness on the anger and despair of youth in
neglected areas. “They were just waiting for something like this so they could go berserk,”
said Lydia Rivers, a Brooklyn resident. Decter, however, had other ideas about who was to
blame for the terror in her city:
Midge Decter “ The answer is that all those young men went on their spree of looting because they had
been given permission to do so. They had been given permission to do so by all the papers
and magazines, movies and documentaries—all the outlets for the purveying of enlightened
liberal attitude and progressive liberal policy—which had for years and years been proclaim-
ing that race and poverty were sufficient excuses for lawlessness. . . .
”
—quoted in Commentary, September 1977
Conservatism and Liberalism

Midge Decter’s article blaming liberalism for the riots in New York during the 1977
blackout exemplifies a debate in American politics that continues to the present day. On
one side of the debate are people who call themselves liberals; on the other side are those
who identify themselves as conservatives. Liberal ideas generally dominated American
860 CHAPTER 28 Resurgence of Conservatism

politics for much of the 1900s, but conservative ideas The more the government regulates the economy,
gained significant support among Americans in the conservatives argue, the more it will have to regulate
1970s. In 1980 Ronald Reagan, a strong conservative, every aspect of people’s behavior. Ultimately, conser-
was elected president. vatives fear, the government will so restrict people’s
economic freedom that Americans will no longer be
Liberalism In American politics today, people who able to improve their standard of living and get
call themselves liberals believe several basic ideas. In ahead in life.
general, liberals believe that the government should Many conservatives believe that religious faith is
regulate the economy to protect people from the vitally important in sustaining society. They believe
power of large corporations and wealthy elites. most social problems result from issues of morality
Liberals also believe that the government, particu- and character—issues, they argue, that are best
larly the federal government, should play an active addressed through commitment to a religious faith
role in helping disadvantaged Americans, partly and through the private efforts of individuals and
through social programs and partly by putting more communities helping those in need. Despite this gen-
of society’s tax burden on wealthier people. eral belief, conservatives do support the use of the
Although liberals favor government intervention governmental police powers to regulate social behav-
in the economy, they are suspicious of any attempt by ior in some instances.
the government to regulate social behavior. They are Reading Check Contrasting How do liberal and
strong supporters of free speech and privacy, and
conservative opinions about government differ?
they are opposed to the government supporting or
endorsing religious beliefs, no matter how indirectly.
They believe that a diverse society made up of many
different races, cultures, and ethnic groups tends to Conservatism Revives
be more creative and energetic. During the New Deal era of the 1930s, conserva-
Liberals often support high taxes on the wealthy, tive ideas had lost much of their influence in national
partly because they believe taxes weaken the power politics. In the years following World War II, how-
of the rich and partly because the government can ever, conservatism began to revive.
transfer the wealth to other Americans to keep soci-
ety more equal. They believe that most social prob- Conservatism and the Cold War Support for con-
lems have their roots in economic inequality. servative ideas began to revive for two major reasons,
both related to the Cold War. First, the struggle against
Conservatism Unlike liberals, conservatives gener- communism revived the debate about the role of the
ally have a fundamental distrust of the power of gov- government in the economy. Some Americans believed
ernment, particularly the federal government. They that liberal economic ideas were slowly leading the
support the original intent of the Constitution and United States toward communism and became deter-
believe that governmental power should be divided mined to stop this trend. They also thought the United
into different branches and split between the state States had failed to stop the spread of Soviet power
and federal levels to limit its ability to intrude into because liberals did not fully understand the need for a
people’s lives. strong anticommunist foreign policy.
Conservatives believe that if the government regu- At the same time, many Americans viewed the
lates the economy, it makes the economy less effi- Cold War in religious terms. Communism rejected
cient, resulting in less wealth and more poverty. They religion and emphasized the material side of life. To
believe that the free enterprise system is the best way Americans with a deep religious faith, the struggle
to organize society. They often argue that if people against communism was a struggle between good
and businesses are free to make their own economic and evil. Liberalism, which emphasizes economic
choices, there will be more wealth and a higher stan- welfare, gradually lost the support of many religious
dard of living for everyone. Americans, who increasingly turned to conservatism.
For this reason, conservatives generally oppose high
taxes and government programs that transfer wealth Conservatives Organize In 1955 a young conser-
from the rich to those who are less wealthy. They vative named William F. Buckley founded a new
believe that taxes and government programs discour- conservative magazine called National Review.
age investment, take away people’s incentive to work Buckley’s magazine helped to revive conservative
hard, and reduce the amount of freedom in society. ideas in the United States. Buckley debated in front
CHAPTER 28 Resurgence of Conservatism 861

of college students and appeared on radio and tele- economy expanded, Americans living in those
vision shows, spreading conservative ideas to an regions began to view the federal government differ-
even wider audience. ently from people living in the Northeast.
Within the Republican Party, conservatives,
particularly young conservatives, began to Sunbelt Conservatism Industry in the
push their ideas and demand a greater role Northeast was in decline, leading to the
in party decision-making. In 1960 some region’s nickname—the Rust Belt. This
90 young conservative leaders met at region had more unemployed people
Buckley’s family estate and founded than any other, and its cities were often
Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), congested and polluted. These problems
an independent conservative group, to prompted Americans in the Northeast to
push their ideas and to support conser- look to the federal government for pro-
vative candidates. grams and regulations that would help
By 1964 the new conservative move- them solve their problems.
ment had achieved enough influence with- In contrast, Americans in the Sunbelt
in the Republican Party to enable the William F. Buckley opposed high taxes and federal regulations
conservative Barry Goldwater to win that threatened to interfere with their region’s
the nomination for president. To the dismay growth. Many white Southerners were also
of the conservatives, however, President Johnson angry with the Democrats for supporting civil rights,
easily defeated Goldwater and won the election in which they interpreted as an effort by the federal gov-
a landslide. ernment to impose its policies on the South.
Reading Check Explaining Why did conservatism When Barry Goldwater argued in 1964 that the
federal government was becoming too strong, many
revive in the 1950s?
Southerners agreed. For the first time since
Reconstruction, they began voting Republican in
large numbers. Although Goldwater lost the elec-
Conservatism Gains Support tion, his candidacy showed Republicans that the best
Conservatism could not have become a mass way to attract Southern votes was to support conser-
movement if Americans had not responded to conservative policies.
vative ideas. The events of the late 1960s and 1970s Americans living in the West also responded to
played an important role in convincing Americans to conservative attacks on the size and power of the fed-
support conservatism. After Goldwater’s huge loss in eral government. Westerners were proud of their
1964, American society moved decisively in a conser- frontier heritage and spirit of “rugged individual-
vative direction. ism.” They resented federal environmental regula-
tions that limited ranching, controlled water use, and
GEOGRAPHY restricted the development of the region’s natural
The Rise of the Sunbelt One of the problems fac- resources. Western anger over such policies inspired
ing conservatives in the 1950s and early 1960s was the “Sagebrush Rebellion” of the early 1970s—a
that they generally split their votes between the widespread protest led by conservatives against fed-
Republicans and the Democrats. Two regions of the eral laws hindering the region’s development.
country, the South and the West, were more conser- By 1980 the population of the Sunbelt had surpassed
vative than other areas. Southern conservatives, the Northeast. This gave the conservative regions of
however, generally voted for the Democrats, while the country more electoral votes and therefore more
conservatives in the West voted Republican. This influence in shaping party policies. With Southerners
meant that the party that won the heavily populated shifting their votes to the Republican Party, conserva-
Northeast would win the election. Since the tives could now build a coalition to elect a president.
Northeast strongly supported liberal ideas, both par-
ties were pulled toward liberal policies. Suburban Conservatism As riots erupted and
This pattern began to change during World War II, crime soared during the 1960s and 1970s, many
when large numbers of Americans moved south and Americans moved to suburbs to escape the chaos of
west to take jobs in the war factories. The movement the cities. Even there, however, they found the quiet
to the South and West—together known as the middle-class lifestyle they desired to be in danger.
Sunbelt—continued after the war. As the Sunbelt’s The rapid inflation of the 1970s had caused the

Rise of the Sunbelt, 1950–1980
WASH.
2,378,963
4,132,000 CANADA
OREG. MONT. N. DAK. ME.

1,521,341
2,633,000 IDAHO MINN. VT.
588,637 N.H.
944,000
WYO. S. DAK. WIS. N.Y.
290,529
MASS.
40°
N 470,000 MICH. R.I.
NEV. CONN.
106,083
800,000 NEBR. IOWA PA. N.J.
UTAH OHIO
688,862
1,461,000
COLO. ILL. IND. DEL.
CALIF.
1,325,089
2,890,000
W. MD.
10,586,223 KANS. VA. VA.
MO.
23,668,000 KY.
ARIZ. N.C.
749,587
2,718,000 N. MEX. TENN.
681,187 OKLA.
1,303,000 ARK. S.C.
GA.
MISS. ALA.
30°N 3,444,578
5,463,000
TEX. LA.
7,711,194
PaCIFIC 14,229,000
FLA. ATLaNTIC
OCEaN 2,771,305
9,746,000 OCEaN
Sunbelt states
749,587 Population (1950) N
944,000 Population (1980) MEXICO Gulf of
120°W W E Mexico
Percent growth S
CANCER
(1 bar equals 50% growth)
0 500 miles T R OP I C OF
20°N Population shown only for states
having 50% or more population 0 500 kilometers
growth between 1950 and 1980
Lambert Azimuthal Equal-area projection
110°W 1. Interpreting
90°W Maps What Sunbelt80°W
states have more
than 8 million residents?
2. Applying Geography Skills Nevada has the highest
percentage growth in population for the time period
buying power of the average middle-class family shown. Looking at its 1950 population, how would you
to shrink while taxes remained high. explain this large percentage increase?
Many Americans resented the taxes they had to pay
for New Deal and Great Society programs when they
themselves were losing ground economically. By the Americans of deep religious faith, the events of the
late 1970s, Americans had begun to rebel against these 1960s and 1970s were shocking. The Supreme Court
high taxes. In 1978 Howard Jarvis, a conservative decision in Roe v. Wade, which established abortion as
activist, launched the first successful tax revolt in a constitutional right, greatly concerned them. Other
California with Proposition 13, a referendum on the Supreme Court decisions that limited prayer in pub-
state ballot that greatly reduced property taxes. lic schools and expanded the rights of people accused
Soon afterward anti-tax movements appeared in of crimes also drew criticism from religious groups.
other states, and tax cuts quickly became a national ; (See page 964 for more information on Roe v. Wade.)
issue. For many Americans, the conservative argu- The feminist movement and the push for the
ment that the government had become too big meant Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) further alarmed
simply that taxes were too high. As conservatives religious Americans because it seemed to represent
began to call for tax cuts, middle-class Americans an assault on the traditional family. Many religious
flocked to their cause. people were also shocked by the behavior of some
university students in the 1960s, whose contempt
The Religious Right While many Americans turned for authority seemed to indicate a general break-
to conservatism for economic reasons, others were down in American values and morality. These con-
drawn to it because they feared American society had cerns helped expand the conservative cause into a
lost touch with its traditional values. For many mass movement.

“televangelists,” as they were nicknamed,
included Marion “Pat” Robertson, who founded
Jerry Falwell (below) and the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Jerry
Pat Robertson (right)
Falwell, who used his television show The Old-Time
Gospel Hour to found a movement that he called the
“Moral Majority.” Using television and mail cam-
paigns, the Moral Majority built up a network of
ministers to register new voters who backed conser-
vative candidates and issues. Falwell later claimed to
have brought in 2 million new voters by 1980.
A New Coalition By the end of the 1970s, the new

conservative coalition of voters had begun to come
together in the United States. Although the mem-
bers of this coalition were concerned with many
different issues, they were held together by a com-
mon belief that American society had somehow lost
its way.
The Watergate scandal, high taxes, and special
Although religious conservatives included people interest politics had undermined many Americans’
of many different faiths, the largest group within the faith in their government. Rising unemployment,
social conservative movement was evangelical rapid inflation, and the energy crisis had shaken
Protestant Christians. Evangelicals believe they are their confidence in the economy. Riots, crime, and
saved from their sins through conversion (which drug abuse suggested that society itself was falling
they refer to as being “born again”) and a personal apart. The retreat from Vietnam, the hostage crisis in
commitment to follow Jesus Christ, whose death and Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan made
resurrection reconciles them to God. the nation look weak and helpless internationally.
After World War II, a religious revival began in the Many Americans were tired of change and
United States. Protestant ministers such as Billy upheaval. They wanted stability and a return to
Graham and Oral Roberts built national followings. what they remembered as a better time. For some,
By the late 1970s, about 70 million Americans the new conservatism and its most prominent
described themselves as “born again.” Christian spokesperson, Ronald Reagan, offered hope to a
evangelicals owned their own newspapers, maga- nation in distress.
zines, radio stations, and television networks.
Television in particular allowed evangelical minis- Reading Check Summarizing Why did many
ters to reach a large nationwide audience. These Americans begin to support the conservative movement?
TM
TM

1. Define: liberal, conservative, 5. Analyzing How did Christian evangeli- 7. Analyzing Maps Study the map of the
televangelist. cals contribute to a growing conserva- Sunbelt on page 863. What impact
2. Identify: William F. Buckley, Sunbelt, tive national identity? would the migration patterns shown
Billy Graham, Moral Majority. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer have on representation in the U.S.
3. Explain why evangelical Protestant similar to the one below to list conser- House of Representatives?
Christians began to support conserva- vative beliefs.
tive issues.
Conservative Beliefs Writing About History
Reviewing Themes 8. Persuasive Writing Many conserva-
4. Economic Factors What kind of econ- tives believe that “government that
omy did conservatives want? governs least, governs best.” Write a
paragraph supporting or opposing this
statement.

The Reagan Years
The presidency of Ronald Reagan Organizing As you read about the • Explain President Reagan’s economic
brought a new conservative attitude to Reagan presidency, complete the recovery plan.
government. graphic organizer below by filling in the • Discuss Reagan’s policies toward the
major points of the supply-side theory Soviet Union.
Key Terms and Names of economics.
supply-side economics, Reaganomics, Section Theme
budget deficit, Sandra Day O’Connor, Supply-Side Theory Global Connections President Reagan
William Rehnquist, Geraldine Ferraro, believed the United States should take
contra, Iran-Contra scandal, Oliver North, strong action to resist Communist influ-
Mikhail Gorbachev ence overseas.
✦1980 ✦1983 ✦1986 ✦1989

1980 1983 1984 1986 1987
Reagan elected Terrorists bomb U.S. Marine Reagan reelected Iran-Contra Reagan and Gorbachev
president barracks in Lebanon scandal breaks sign INF Treaty
In 1926 when he was 15 years old, Ronald Reagan earned $15 a week as a lifeguard at
Lowell Park on the Rock River in Illinois. Being a lifeguard, Reagan later wrote, taught him
quite a bit about human nature:
“ Lifeguarding provides one of the best vantage points in the world to learn about people.
During my career at the park, I saved seventy-seven people. I guarantee you they needed sav-
ing—no lifeguard gets wet without good reason. . . . Not many thanked me, much less gave
me a reward, and being a little money-hungry, I’d done a little daydreaming about this. They
”
felt insulted. I got to recognize that people hate to be saved. . . .
—quoted in Where’s the Rest of Me?
The belief that people did not really want to be saved by someone else was one of the
ideas that Ronald Reagan took with him to the White House. It fit with his philosophy of
self-reliance and independence.
A young Ronald Reagan
The Road to the White House

Ronald Reagan grew up in Dixon, Illinois, the son of an Irish American shoe sales-
man. After graduating from Eureka College in 1932, Reagan worked as a sports broad-
caster at an Iowa radio station. In 1937 he took a Hollywood screen test and won a
contract from a movie studio. Over the next 25 years, he made over 50 movies. As a
broadcaster and actor, Reagan learned how to speak publicly and how to project an
image, skills that proved invaluable when he entered politics.

California governor Ronald Reagan:
Carter and Reagan on Government “The American people, the most generous people on earth,
As President Carter sought re-election in 1980, he had to deal who created the highest standard of living, are not going to
with inflation, unemployment, and an energy crisis. He urged accept the notion that we can only make a better world for oth-
Americans to make sacrifices so that the government could solve ers by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can
these problems. His opponent, Ronald Reagan, disagreed. Reagan have no business leading the nation.
argued that Americans should trust themselves, not the govern- I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself
ment, to solve their problems. under mediocre leadership that drifts from one crisis to the
next, eroding our national will and purpose.
“Trust me” government asks that we concentrate our hopes
President Jimmy Carter: and dreams on one man; that we trust him to do what’s best
for us. My view of government places trust not in one person
“[A] president cannot yield to the shortsighted demands, no or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and
matter how rich or powerful the special interests might be that parties. The trust is where it belongs—in the people.”
make those demands. And that is why the president cannot
bend to the passions of the moment, however popular they —from his acceptance speech at the Republican National
might be. And that is why the president must sometimes ask for Convention, July 17, 1980
sacrifice when his listeners would rather hear the promise of
comfort.
. . . The only way to build a better future is to start with reali-
ties of the present. But while we Democrats grapple with the real
challenges of a real world, others talk of a world of tinsel and
make-believe.
. . . A world of good guys and Learning From History
bad guys, where some politicians
shoot first and ask questions later. 1. Recognizing Ideologies How
No hard choices. No sacrifice. do the two candidates differ regard-
No tough decisions. It sounds too ing the role of government in solving
good to be true—and it is.” the nation’s problems?
2. Making Inferences Ronald Reagan
—from his acceptance speech at won the election of 1980. What part
the Democratic National of his speech do you think may have
Convention, August 14, 1980 had the most influence on voters?
Why?
Moving to Conservatism In 1947 Reagan became conservative. Over and over again, Reagan said
president of the Screen Actors Guild—the actors’ later, he heard stories from average Americans about
union. As head of the union, he testified about com- how high taxes and government regulations made it
munism in Hollywood before the House Un- impossible for them to get ahead.
American Activities Committee. Reagan had been a By 1964 Reagan had become such a popular
staunch Democrat and supporter of the New Deal, national speaker that Barry Goldwater asked him to
but his experience in dealing with Communists in make a televised speech on behalf of Goldwater’s
the union began shifting him toward conservative presidential campaign. Reagan’s speech greatly
ideas. impressed several wealthy entrepreneurs in
In 1954 Reagan became the host of a television California. They convinced Reagan to run for gover-
program called General Electric Theater and agreed to nor of California in 1966 and helped finance his cam-
be a motivational speaker for the company. As he paign. Reagan won the election and was reelected in
traveled around the country speaking to workers, 1970. Ten years later, he won the Republican presi-
secretaries, and managers, he became increasingly dential nomination.

The Election of 1980 Reagan’s campaign appealed monetarists, argued that inflation was caused by too
to Americans who were frustrated with the economy much money in circulation. They believed the best
and worried that the United States had become weak solution was to raise interest rates. Another group
internationally. Reagan promised to cut taxes and supported supply-side economics. They argued that
increase defense spending. He won the support of the economy was weak because taxes were too high.
social conservatives by calling for a constitutional Supply-side economists believed that high taxes
amendment banning abortion. During one debate with took too much money away from investors. If taxes
Carter, Reagan asked voters, “Are you better off than were cut, businesses and investors could use their
you were four years ago?” On Election Day, the voters extra capital to make new investments, and busi-
answered “No.” Reagan won nearly 51 percent of the nesses could expand and create new jobs. The result
popular vote and 489 electoral votes, easily defeating would be a larger supply of goods for consumers,
Carter in the Electoral College. For the first time since who would now have more money to spend because
1954, Republicans also gained control of the Senate. of the tax cuts.
Reagan combined monetarism and supply-side
Reading Check Describing What event jump- economics. He encouraged the Federal Reserve to
started Ronald Reagan’s political career as a conservative leader? keep interest rates high, and asked Congress to pass a
massive tax cut. Critics called his approach
Reaganomics or “trickle-down economics.” They
Reagan’s Domestic Policies believed Reagan’s policy would help corporations
and wealthy Americans, while only a little bit of the
Ronald Reagan believed the key to restoring the
wealth would “trickle down” to average Americans.
economy and overcoming problems in society was to
Reagan made deals with conservative Democrats
get Americans to believe in themselves again. He
in the House and moderate Republicans in the Senate.
expressed this idea in his Inaugural Address:
Eventually Congress passed a 25 percent tax rate cut.
“ We have every right to dream heroic

dreams. . . . You can see heroes every day going in Cutting Programs Cutting tax rates meant the gov-
and out of factory gates. Others, a handful in number, ernment would receive less money. This would
produce enough food to feed all of us. . . . You meet increase the budget deficit—the amount by which
expenditures exceed income. To keep the deficit under
heroes across a counter. . . . There are entrepreneurs
control, Reagan proposed cuts to social programs.
with faith in themselves and faith in an idea who cre-
Welfare benefits, including the food stamp program
ate new jobs, new wealth and opportunity. . . . Their and the school lunch program, were cut back.
patriotism is quiet but deep. Their values sustain our Medicare payments, student loans, housing subsidies,
national life.
” and unemployment compensation were also reduced.
After a struggle, Congress passed most of these
—from Reagan’s First Inaugural Address
cuts. The fight convinced Reagan that he would never
Reagan also explained that Americans should not get Congress to cut spending enough to balance the
look to Washington for answers: “In this present cri- budget. He decided that cutting taxes and building
sis, government is not the solution to our problem. up the military were more important than balancing
Government is the problem.” the budget. He accepted the
high deficit as the price of
ECONOMICS getting his other programs
Reaganomics Reagan’s first priority was the econ- passed. HISTORY
omy, which was suffering from stagflation—a combi-
nation of high unemployment and high inflation. Deregulation Reagan be- Student Web
According to most economists, the way to fight lieved that burdensome gov- Activity Visit the
unemployment was to increase government spend- ernment regulations were American Republic
ing. Increasing spending, however, made inflation another cause of the econ-
tarvol2.glencoe.com
worse. Stagflation puzzled many economists, who omy’s problems. His first act
did not expect inflation and high unemployment to as president was to sign an
Web Activities—
occur at the same time. executive order eliminating Chapter 28 for an
Conservative economists offered two competing price controls on oil and activity on the 1980s.
ideas for fixing the economy. One group, known as gasoline. Critics argued that

getting rid of controls would drive prices up, but in Court by nominating Sandra Day O’Connor to be the
fact, they began to fall. The falling energy prices freed first woman on the Supreme Court.
up money for businesses and consumers to spend In 1986 Chief Justice Warren Burger retired. Reagan
elsewhere, helping the economy to recover. chose the most conservative associate justice, William
Other deregulation soon followed. The National Rehnquist, to succeed him. He then named Antonin
Highway Traffic and Safety Administration reduced Scalia, also a conservative, to fill the vacancy left by
its demand for air bags and higher fuel efficiency for Rehnquist. In 1987 Reagan’s nomination of Robert
cars. The Federal Communications Commission Bork to the Court led to a bitter confirmation fight in
abandoned efforts to regulate the new cable televi- the Senate. Liberals argued that Bork’s opinions on
sion industry. Carter had already begun deregulating issues were too extreme, and they managed to block
the airline industry, and Reagan encouraged the his confirmation. Anthony Kennedy, a moderate,
process, which led to price wars, cheaper fares, and ultimately became the new associate justice.
the founding of new airlines.
Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, Reagan Wins Re-election As the 1984 election
increased the amount of public land corporations approached, the growing economy made Reagan
could use for oil drilling, mining, and logging. Watt’s very popular. Democrats nominated Jimmy Carter’s
decisions angered environmentalists, as did the vice president, Walter Mondale. He chose as his run-
Environmental Protection Agency’s decisions to ease ning mate Representative Geraldine Ferraro, the first
regulations on pollution control equipment and to woman to run for vice president for a major party.
reduce safety checks on chemicals and pesticides. Instead of arguing issues with his opponent,
Reagan emphasized the good economy. In an over-
The Economy Booms In 1983 the economy finally whelming landslide, he won about 59 percent of the
began to recover. By 1984 the United States had popular vote and all the electoral votes except those
begun the biggest economic expansion in its history from Mondale’s home state of Minnesota and the
up to that time. The median income of American District of Columbia.
families climbed steadily, rising 15 percent by 1989.
Sales of goods and services shot upward. Five million
Reading Check Explaining What is supply-side
new businesses and 20 million new jobs were cre- economics?
ated. By 1988 unemployment had fallen to about 5.5
percent, the lowest since 1973.
Reagan Builds Up the Military
Shifting the Judicial Balance Reagan did not apply Reagan did not limit his reforms to the domestic
his conservative ideas only to the economy. He also scene. He adopted a new Cold War foreign policy
tried to bring a strict constructionist outlook to the fed- that rejected both containment and détente. Reagan
eral judiciary. Reagan wanted judges who followed called the Soviet Union “the focus of evil in the mod-
the original intent and wording of the Constitution ern world” and “an evil empire.” In his view, the
rather than those who interpreted and expanded its United States should not negotiate with or try to con-
meaning. He also changed the face of the Supreme tain evil. It should try to defeat it.
The Attempt to Kill the President, March 30, 1981

Barely two months after the inauguration, on
March 30, 1981, John Hinckley tried to kill
President Reagan in a misguided attempt to
impress actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley fired six
shots as Reagan left a hotel in Washington, D.C.
One bullet bounced off the president’s rib and
lodged near his heart. Another bullet seriously
wounded press secretary Jim Brady. Reagan’s
John Hinckley (center) recovery was long,
but he stayed
upbeat. His jaunty
reply to his wife,
“Honey, I forgot to
duck,” won the
affection of many.
Peace Through Strength In Reagan’s
opinion, the only option open to the in History
United States in dealing with the Soviet
Union was “peace through strength”— Justice Sandra Day
a phrase he used during his campaign. O’Connor 1930–
The military buildup Reagan launched When a Supreme Court vacancy for the position
was the largest peacetime buildup in opened up in 1981, President Reagan and became its
American history. It cost about $1.5 tril- decided to fulfill his campaign promise first woman major-
lion over five years. to name the first woman justice. He ity leader in 1972.
Reagan and many of his advisers chose Sandra Day O’Connor, an O’Connor won election as superior
believed that if the Soviets tried to Arizona appeals court judge. court judge in 1974 and was later
When Reagan called O’Connor to appointed to the appeals court.
match the American buildup, it might ask to nominate her, she was sur- Her nomination to the Supreme
put so much pressure on their econ- prised. “I was overwhelmed and, at Court had strong support from Justice
omy they would be forced to either first, speechless,” O’Connor said. William Rehnquist—a classmate at
reform their system or collapse. In “After a moment I managed to tell him Stanford Law School—and Arizona
1982 Reagan told students at Eureka that I would be honored.” senator Barry Goldwater. O’Connor’s
College that massive Soviet defense O’Connor grew up on the Day fam- nomination was opposed by the Moral
ily’s Lazy B Ranch in Arizona. Unlike Majority because she had supported
spending eventually would cause the
most Supreme Court justices, she also the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and
Communist system to collapse: had broad political experience. After refused to back an antiabortion amend-
earning a law degree in 1952, she ment or criticize the Roe v. Wade deci-
“ The Soviet empire is faltering
because rigid centralized control has
found that most law firms would not
hire a woman—except as a legal secre-
sion. Others, however, praised her legal
judgment and conservative approach to
tary. She went into public service, had the law. As a moderate conservative,
destroyed incentives for innovation, three sons, and practiced law privately. she quickly became an important
efficiency, and individual achievement. Appointed to a state senatorial swing-vote on the Court, between more
But in the midst of social and economic vacancy in 1969, she successfully ran liberal and more conservative justices.
problems, the Soviet dictatorship has
forged the largest armed force in the
world. It has done so by preempting The Reagan Doctrine
the human needs of its people and in the end, this
Building up the military was only part of Reagan’s
course will undermine the foundations of the Soviet
military strategy. He also believed the United States
system.
” should support guerrilla groups who were fighting to
—quoted in Ronald Reagan overthrow Communist or pro-Soviet governments.
This policy became known as the Reagan Doctrine.
A Growing Deficit Reagan’s military buildup drove Aid to the Afghan Rebels Perhaps the most visible
the federal budget deficit higher and higher. At the example of the Reagan Doctrine was in Afghanistan.
same time, however, increased military spending In late December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded
helped expand the economy by providing jobs in Afghanistan to support a Soviet-backed government.
defense industries. Originally, Reagan had hoped to The Soviets soon found themselves fighting Afghan
offset the cost of the buildup by cutting other govern- guerrillas known as the mujahadeen.
ment programs. He also hoped, as supply-side econo- President Carter sent about $30 million in military
mists had predicted, that the economic boom would aid to the Afghan guerrillas, but Reagan sent $570
lead to an increase in total tax revenue collected. million more. The Soviets were soon trapped in a sit-
As the economy grew in the 1980s, the amount of uation similar to the American experience in
money the government collected in taxes did rise Vietnam. They could not defeat the Afghan guerril-
steadily, but it was not nearly enough. With Congress las. As casualties mounted, the war put additional
unwilling to cut other programs, Reagan’s defense strain on the Soviet economy. In 1988 the Soviets
spending pushed the annual budget deficit from $80 agreed to withdraw.
billion to over $200 billion.
Nicaragua and Grenada Reagan was also con-
Reading Check Describing How did Reagan’s Cold cerned about Soviet influence in Nicaragua. Rebels
War military policy affect the nation’s economy? known as the Sandinistas had overthrown a

the National Security Council (NSC). He and other
Military Spending and the Deficit, senior NSC and CIA officials testified before
1980–1992 Congress and admitted to covering up their actions,
including shredding documents to destroy evidence.
40 In
Motion President Reagan had approved the sale of arms to
In Hundreds of Billions of Dollars
35 Total Federal Expenses Iran, but the congressional investigation concluded

30 National Defense that he had not been informed about the diversion of
Federal Debt the money to the contras. To the end, Reagan insisted
25
he had done nothing wrong, but the scandal tainted
20 his second term in office.
15
Reading Check Identifying What was the Reagan
10
Doctrine?
5
0
New Approaches to Arms Control
As part of the military buildup, Reagan decided to
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
19
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Year 19 place nuclear missiles in Western Europe to counter

Sources: Departments of Commerce and Treasury; Office of Management Soviet missiles in Eastern Europe. This decision trig-
and Budget. gered a new peace movement. Tens of thousands of
protesters pushed for a “nuclear freeze”—a halt to
1. Interpreting Graphs How much money C was06C 66 118 the deployment of new nuclear missiles.
spent on national defense in 1986? Reagan offered to cancel the deployment of the
2. Analyzing Why is the federal debt shown rising new missiles if the Soviets removed their missiles
at a faster rate than that of the other two figures from Eastern Europe. He also proposed Strategic
combined? Arms Reduction Talks (START) to cut the number of
missiles on both sides in half. The Soviets refused
pro-American dictator in Nicaragua in 1979. The and walked out of the arms control talks.
Sandinistas set up a socialist government. They also
accepted Cuban and Soviet aid and began supporting “Star Wars” Despite his decision to deploy missiles
antigovernment rebels in neighboring El Salvador. in Europe, Reagan generally disagreed with the mili-
In response, the Reagan administration began tary strategy known as nuclear deterrence, sometimes
secretly arming an anti-Sandinista guerrilla force called “mutual assured destruction.” This strategy
known as the contras, from the Spanish word for assumed that as long as the United States and Soviet
“counterrevolutionary.” When Congress learned of Union could destroy each other with nuclear weapons,
this policy, it banned further aid to the contras. they would be afraid to use them.
Aiding the contras was not Reagan’s only action in Reagan believed that mutual assured destruction
Latin America. In 1983 radical Marxists overthrew was immoral because it depended on the threat to
the left-wing government on the tiny Caribbean kill massive numbers of people. He also felt that if
island of Grenada. In October, Reagan sent in nuclear war did begin, there would be no way to
American troops. The Cuban and Grenadian soldiers defend the United States. In March 1983, Reagan
were quickly defeated and a new anticommunist proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
government was put in place. This plan, nicknamed “Star Wars,” called for the
development of weapons that could intercept and
The Iran-Contra Scandal Although Congress had destroy incoming missiles.
prohibited aid to the Nicaraguan contras, individuals
in Reagan’s administration continued to illegally A New Soviet Leader In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev
support the rebels. These officials secretly sold became the leader of the Soviet Union and agreed to
weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of resume arms control talks. Gorbachev believed that
American hostages being held in the Middle East. the Soviet Union had to reform its economic system
Profits from these sales were then sent to the contras. or it would soon collapse. It could not afford a new
News of the illegal operations broke in November arms race with the United States.
1986. One of the chief figures in the Iran-Contra Reagan and Gorbachev met in a series of summit
scandal was Marine Colonel Oliver North, an aide to meetings. The first of these were frustrating for both,

as they disagreed on many issues. Gorbachev prom-
ised to cut back Soviet nuclear forces if Reagan
would agree to give up SDI, but Reagan refused.
Reagan then challenged Gorbachev to make
reforms. In West Berlin, Reagan stood at the
Brandenburg Gate of the Berlin Wall, the symbol of
divided Europe, and declared: “General Secretary
Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity
for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe . . . tear
down this wall!”
Relations Improve By 1987 Reagan was convinced

that Gorbachev did want to reform the Soviet Union
and end the arms race. While some politicians dis-
trusted the Soviets, most people welcomed the Cold
War thaw and the reduction in the danger of nuclear
war. In December 1987 the two leaders signed the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. It
was the first treaty to call for the destruction of
nuclear weapons.
No one realized it at the time, but the treaty History
marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
Superpower Summits During the 1980s, President Reagan and Premier
With an arms control deal in place, Gorbachev felt
Gorbachev met several times to discuss nuclear arms reductions. What
confident that Soviet military spending could be Reagan defense proposal did Gorbachev want to eliminate before
reduced. He pushed ahead with economic and beginning arms reduction talks?
political reforms that eventually led to the collapse
of communism in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet
Union. Reagan revolution. Well, I’ll accept that, but for me
With the economy booming, the American mili- it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a
tary strong, and relations with the Soviet Union rediscovery of our values and our common sense.”
rapidly improving, Ronald Reagan’s second term
came to an end. As he prepared to leave office, Reading Check Interpreting What was the signifi-
Reagan assessed his presidency: “They called it the cance of the INF Treaty?
TM
TM

1. Define: supply-side economics, budget 5. Forming an Opinion Do you think that 7. Analyzing Graphs Study the graph on
deficit, contra. SDI (Star Wars) is a good idea? Why or page 870 detailing the amount of
2. Identify: Reaganomics, Sandra Day why not? money spent by the federal govern-
O’Connor, William Rehnquist, Geraldine 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer ment from 1980 to 1992. What relation-
Ferraro, Iran-Contra scandal, Oliver similar to the one below to list the ship do you see between military
North, Mikhail Gorbachev. ways that the Reagan doctrine was spending and the national debt?
3. List the groups that Ronald Reagan implemented.
appealed to in the 1980 presidential
election.
Reagan
Doctrine Writing About History
Reviewing Themes
4. Global Connections What was 8. Expository Writing Take on the role of
President Reagan’s stance on foreign a newspaper editorial writer during the
policy? Reagan administration. Write an article
in which you present your opinion of
Reagan’s plans for a military buildup.

Geography&History
Urban America
on the Move
ince the end of World War II, Many city planners have mixed
S millions of Americans have

abandoned older cities to
find better lives—safer neigh-
borhoods, bigger homes,
better schools, and better jobs. Many
found what they were seeking in the
suburbs. Cities have grown into metro-
emotions about continued growth,
and some—like those of Phoenix,
Arizona—have tried to curb it. Such
efforts have been dubbed “smart
growth.” Proponents of smart growth
seek to improve conditions in existing
communities and to limit the spread
politan areas that have continued to of urbanization in outlying and rural
expand farther and farther into for- areas. Specifically, they encourage
merly rural regions. developers to build housing and busi-
The map at right shows patterns nesses in city centers rather than in
of recent population growth in the the suburbs.They promote the preser-
United States.The yellow and red areas vation of undeveloped areas and parks
represent growth since 1993, showing near metropolitan regions. Smart
suburbs radiating out from the cities. growth advocates endorse expanding
A lot of growth has taken place in the public transportation, combining
Sunbelt states of the South and residential and commercial areas, and
Southwest, helped by the spread of building pedestrian-friendly communi-
air-conditioning.The Atlanta region, for ties as ways to reduce reliance on the
example, has more than doubled its automobile.
population to 3.3 million in the last With smarter growth, cities
30 years. It is now so big—and can channel development in ways
congested—that residents drive an that maintain quality of life and make
average of 34 miles (55 km) per day. existing communities more inviting. Existing development as of 1993
Intense
Such rapid urban growth, or Faced with long commutes on con- Moderate
“sprawl,” has brought a variety of cul- gested highways, some suburban resi- Development since 1993
Intense
tural, social, and economic problems. dents are now opting to return to the Moderate
In central cities and older suburbs, it cities that were so readily abandoned
has resulted in deteriorating infrastruc- after the Second World War.
ture and a shortage of affordable hous-
ing. In the newer suburbs, growth has
increased traffic and taxes and has
resulted in declining air quality and
a loss of open space.
LEARNING FROM GEOGRAPHY Urban sprawl, traffic congestion,

1. Why did many Americans move to high ozone levels, and skyrocketing
the suburbs after World War II? property taxes are part of the price
Atlanta has paid for rapid growth.
2. In what parts of the country are
cities growing fastest?
872
AUSTIN
Like many Sunbelt cities, Austin, Texas (right), has
experienced rapid growth in recent years, much of
it fueled by an influx of high-tech companies. By
2010 its population—about 465,000 in 1990—is
expected to reach 800,000.
Atlanta
Austin
ATLANTA
One of the fastest-growing regions in the
country, metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia (right),
is already larger in area than the state of
Delaware. Atlanta’s expansion into the sur-
rounding counties since 1993 is shown at
right in yellow and red.

Life in the 1980s
The 1980s was a decade characterized Organizing As you read about life in the • Discuss the importance of money to
by wealth, but it was also a time of 1980s, complete a graphic organizer simi- the culture of the 1980s.
renewed activism. lar to the one below by listing the kinds • Explain the growth in social activism
of social issues that the United States during the decade.
Key Terms and Names faced in this decade.
yuppie, AIDS, Sierra Club, American Section Theme
Association of Retired Persons, space Science and Technology Achievements
shuttle, space station in space and technology during the 1980s
Social Issues symbolized the optimism many associ-
in the 1980s
ated with the Reagan era.
✦1981 ✦1984 ✦1987 ✦1990

1981 1985 1986 1988
MTV goes on “Live Aid” rock Space shuttle More than 35,000 cases of
the air concert benefit Challenger explodes AIDS diagnosed for the year
In the 1980s many young, ambitious professionals entered the heady world of finance.
Julie Katzman, in her twenties, was on the fast track:
“ I constantly spent my time at the firm. I mean, all the time. I worked probably eighty
hours a week. At the end of the summer, that Labor Day weekend, I got involved in another
huge acquisition. That weekend I worked two and a half days without sleeping, and from
that point until early December I didn’t work a single week less than a hundred hours. You
spend all your time working. You’re kind of wiped out, but there’s a lot of fulfillment.
Finance traders at work
”
There’s an incredible adrenaline rush. This is what you live on. You live on the highs.
—from Sleepwalking Through History
A Decade of Indulgence
Cultural commentators and the media in the 1980s portrayed American society as
one of wealth and success. Stories emphasized the limousines, yachts, corporate jets,
and designer gowns of the wealthy. Status symbols such as expensive watches and lux-
ury cars became important. Popular television shows such as Dallas and Dynasty glam-
orized the lives of the very wealthy.
By late 1983, the economy had revived after the 1981 recession. News stories
described young stockbrokers, speculators, and real estate developers making multimil-
lion-dollar deals. Hundreds of companies were bought and sold. Real estate and stock
values soared. Developer Donald Trump said: “I don’t do it for the money. I’ve got
enough, much more than I’ll ever need. I do it to do it. Deals are my art form. Other peo-

ple paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful stores, and he was one of the first retailers to use a
poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals.” computer database to track inventory and sales. By
1985 he was the richest person in the United States.
Yuppies The new moneymakers were young, ambi- Others soon copied Walton’s approach. By the late
tious, and hardworking. Journalists called them 1970s, retailers had begun to build huge “super-
yuppies, from “young urban professionals.” Many stores” that enabled them to sell large quantities of
worked in law or finance. They rewarded themselves goods very quickly at very low prices. One such
with expensive stereo systems and luxury cars. They entrepreneur was Arthur Blank, who grew up in a
bought designer clothes and ate in upscale restaurants. tiny one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York.
The rapid economic growth and emphasis on accu- Blank studied accounting and worked hard as a man-
mulating wealth in the 1980s was partly caused by the ager. In 1978 he opened Home Depot, a chain of giant
baby boom. By the 1980s, many baby boomers had fin- home-improvement stores. In 1983 Richard Schulze,
ished college, entered the job market, and begun build- a former air force officer, used his technical training
ing their careers. Young people entering the workforce to found Best Buy, a huge discount retailer of con-
often placed an emphasis on acquiring goods and get- sumer electronics. Dozens of other entrepreneurs
ting ahead in their jobs. Because baby boomers were so started discount stores in other industries. Their
numerous, their concerns tended to shape the culture. innovations created millions of new jobs in the 1980s
The strong economic growth of the 1980s benefited and helped fuel the era’s rapid economic growth.
nearly everyone, but because much of it happened in
Reading Check Identifying Who were yuppies?
industries that employed large numbers of middle-
and upper-class professionals, it shifted the distribu-
tion of the nation’s income. From 1967 to 1986, the top
5 percent of Americans earned between 15.6 and 17.5 Technology and the Media
percent of the nation’s total income. In the late 1980s, In the 1980s, other entrepreneurs began transform-
their share of the nation’s income began to rise. By the ing the news and entertainment industry. Until the
mid-1990s, the top 5 percent of Americans earned late 1970s, television viewers were limited to three
well over 21 percent of the nation’s income. national networks and public television. In 1970 a 32-
year-old businessman named Ted Turner used
A Retail Revolution While news commentators in money from the billboard business he had inherited
the 1970s and 1980s focused on inflation, the energy from his father to buy a failing television station in
crisis, corporate mergers, and yuppies, several entre- Atlanta, Georgia. Turner then pioneered a new type
preneurs worked on pioneering a new approach to of broadcasting by creating WTBS in 1975. WTBS was
retailing—or selling products to consumers—that the first “superstation”—a television station that sold
greatly reduced prices for Americans. low-cost sports and entertainment programs via
This new type of retailing, known as discount satellite to cable companies throughout the nation.
retailing, began in the 1960s. Discount retailers sell Turner’s innovation changed broadcasting and
large quantities of goods at very low prices, trying to helped spread cable television across the country.
sell the goods quickly so as to turn over their entire Dozens of networks soon appeared. Many of the new
inventory in a short period of time. By selling a lot of networks specialized in one type of broadcasting,
products at low prices, they could make more money such as sports, movies, or news. In 1980 Turner him-
than traditional retailers who sold fewer products at self founded the Cable News Network (CNN)—the
higher prices. During the 1960s, many new discount first 24-hour all-news station in the nation.
retailers were founded, including K Mart, Woolco, Other new stations focused on a specific audience,
Target, and Wal-Mart. Annual sales by discount such as churchgoers, shoppers, or minorities. In 1980
stores grew from about $2 billion in the mid-1960s to entrepreneur Robert Johnson created Black
nearly $70 billion by 1985. Entertainment Television (BET). Johnson was born
The most successful discount retailer was Sam into a poor family in rural Mississippi, the ninth of ten
Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart. Walton grew up in children. Hard work and determination enabled him
poverty in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma during the to earn a master’s degree from Princeton University.
Great Depression. He was a plainspoken man who Johnson believed television had tremendous power to
worked 16-hour days and stressed the importance of promote African American businesses and culture. In
cost cutting and good customer service. He developed 1978, at age 32, he developed a plan to produce televi-
a system of distribution centers to rapidly resupply his sion programs for African Americans. His enthusiasm

won him the support of several investors, and BET, $3 billion with the release of games such as PacMan
the first and largest black-owned company on cable and Space Invaders. Video arcades became the new
television, began broadcasting in 1980. spot for young people to meet. By the mid-1980s, new
In 1981 music and technology merged, and Music technology allowed home video games to compete
Television (MTV) went on the air. MTV mixed songs with arcade games in color and speed. Home video
and video images to create music videos. Music videos game sales rose dramatically in the 1990s.
were like fast-moving short films, with costumes,
Reading Check Describing What forms of enter-
makeup, and choreography. MTV was an instant hit,
though its videos were often criticized for violence and tainment gained popularity in the 1980s?
sexual content. Many performers began to produce
videos with their new albums. Music videos boosted the
careers of artists such as Madonna and Michael Jackson. A Society Under Stress
Rap music was another new sound of the 1980s. Although the 1980s were prosperous, many social
This musical style originated in local clubs in New problems continued to plague the nation.
York City’s South Bronx. Emphasizing heavy bass
and very rhythmic sounds, rap artists did not usually Crime and Drugs Ongoing problems with drug
sing but rather spoke over the music and rhythmic abuse in the 1980s made many city neighborhoods
beats. Rap’s lyrics frequently focused on the African dangerous. Drug users often committed crimes in
American experience in the inner city. While rap was order to get money for drugs, and dealers backed by
initially popular among East Coast African street gangs fought to protect their territory. Cocaine
Americans, it has grown in popularity, becoming a use increased, especially a concentrated form, crack
multimillion-dollar industry. cocaine, which made users hostile and aggressive.
While the music industry was changing, new forms First Lady Nancy Reagan tried to discourage teen
of entertainment also developed, including video drug use with her “Just Say No” campaign. Many
games. The first video arcade game, called Pong, was young people, however, continued to use drugs,
released in 1972. In the early 1980s, sales reached about especially marijuana and amphetamines. Drug use
spread from cities to small towns and rural areas.
History
Problems With Alcohol Abuse of alcohol was also a
Homelessness During the 1980s, many people began living on the serious concern. Teenagers with fake identification
streets in makeshift shelters of boxes and rags. A lack of low-income cards could easily buy alcoholic beverages. Although
housing and care for the mentally ill contributed to the problem. How do teen alcohol use declined during the 1980s, thousands
you think the country’s general prosperity influenced people to think of alcohol-related auto accidents involved young
about this problem?
people. In 1980 Mothers Against Drunk Driving
(MADD), a grassroots organization, was founded to
look for effective solutions to underage drinking and
drunk driving. In 1984 Congress cut highway funds to
any state that did not raise the legal drinking age to 21.
All states quickly complied.
A Deadly Epidemic In 1981 researchers identified a

disease which caused seemingly healthy young men
to become sick and die. They named it “acquired
immune deficiency syndrome,” or AIDS. AIDS
weakens the immune system, lowering resistance to
illnesses such as pneumonia and several types of can-
cer. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is spread
through bodily fluids. In the United States, AIDS was
first noticed among homosexual men. Soon AIDS
began to spread among heterosexual men and women
as well. A few people got the disease from blood trans-
fusions. Other victims included drug users who shared
needles and, through them, infected blood. Many peo-
ple were infected by sexual partners. By 1988 the
History
Silent Witness The AIDS Quilt remembers those who have died from
AIDS. Comprising more than 40,000 panels, it was first displayed near the
Washington Monument. What lesson do visitors take
away from the enormous size of
the quilt?
Centers for Disease Control had identified more than

100,000 AIDS cases in the United States.
Reading Check Evaluating What social problems
did Americans face in the 1980s?
more, cut more timber.” Congress, under pressure
from environmental groups, blocked many of Watt’s
Social Activism plans. Worried about Watt’s program, many new
AIDS increased the visibility of the country’s gay members joined groups such as the Sierra Club.
and lesbian community, but some homosexuals had The environmental movement born in the 1970s
been defending their civil rights since the 1960s. On continued to grow in the 1980s. Environmentalists
June 27, 1969, New York City police raided a were active in protesting nuclear power plants and
Greenwich Village nightclub called the Stonewall protecting fragile wetlands. Communities started
Inn. The police had a history of raiding the nightclub recycling programs. Activists became concerned
and targeting its patrons because of their sexual ori- about the ozone layer and rain forests.
entation. Frustration among the gay and lesbian
onlookers led to a riot. The Stonewall riot marked Artists Become Activists In the 1980s, ministers,
the beginning of a gay activist movement. Soon after, politicians, and others targeted and criticized rock
organizations such as the Gay Liberation Front tried musicians as promoters of drug use and other negative
to increase tolerance of homosexuality and media behavior. Still, singers, actors, and other entertainers
coverage of gays and lesbians. often organized benefit concerts to help others. In hits
Although the 1980s witnessed the rise of a powerful such as “Born in the USA,” Bruce Springsteen sang
conservative movement, liberal organizations and about working-class Americans. A social activist, he
social activists continued to push their agenda as well, gave concerts to benefit food banks and the homeless.
particularly on issues involving the environment and To help starving people in Ethiopia, Irish rocker
developing nations. In addition, elderly Americans Bob Geldof organized musicians in England to pres-
began to organize politically for the first time. ent “Band Aid” concerts in 1984. The next year, the
event grew into “Live Aid.” Musicians including Paul
Environmental Activism Grows Trying to promote McCartney, Madonna, The Who, and Tina Turner par-
environmental protection during the Reagan years ticipated in the musical benefits. Its theme song, “We
was frustrating for environmental activists. Secretary Are the World,” was a best-seller. The same year,
of the Interior James Watt encouraged development country singer Willie Nelson organized “Farm Aid”
on public lands, saying, “We will mine more, drill to help American farmers going through hard times.

Other Groups Become Activists One noticeable 1981, the first space shuttle, Columbia, lifted off its
political change in the 1980s was the stronger pres- launch pad in Florida. On board were two astro-
ence of senior citizens. Decades of improvements in nauts: John Young and Robert Crippen. John Young
medicine had resulted in more Americans surviving was a hero to many Americans. He had flown three
to an older age. In addition, the birthrate had times in the 1960s and commanded the Apollo 16 mis-
declined, so younger people represented a smaller sion to the moon in 1972. After the shuttle landed
proportion of the population. The fact that more successfully, Young remarked to the crowd: “We’re
Americans were receiving Social Security payments really not too far, the human race isn’t, from going to
created budget pressures for the government. the stars.”
Older Americans became politically active, oppos- Young and Crippen’s flight demonstrated the
ing cuts in Social Security or Medicare. Because they shuttle’s capabilities. Previously astronauts had been
tended to vote in large numbers, senior citizens military pilots, but the shuttle could function as an
became an influential interest group. Their major lob- orbiting laboratory, and civilians could now be astro-
bying organization was the American Association of nauts. In 1983 Sally Ride became the first American
Retired Persons (AARP). woman in space, and after her flight, female astro-
nauts became increasingly common.
Reading Check Summarizing What issues did In January 1986, disaster struck. The shuttle
environmental activists focus on in the 1980s? Challenger exploded after liftoff, killing everyone on
board: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik,
Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and
A New Era in Space Christa McAuliffe. Although Americans mourned
President Reagan, like many Americans, saw space the lost lives, President Reagan reminded everyone
as an exciting frontier. Improved technology and new that the exploration of space required bravery:
exploration programs rekindled the nation’s excite-
ment for space exploration.
“ The Challenger Seven were aware of the dangers,
but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. . . .
The Space Shuttle After Americans reached the
moon, the National Aeronautics and Space Admin- They had that special grace, that special spirit that
istration (NASA) began work on the space shuttle— says, ‘Give me a challenge and I'll meet it with joy.’
a reusable spacecraft with wings that could rocket They had a hunger to explore the universe and dis-
into space and then glide back to Earth. On April 12, cover its truths. . . . We’ve grown used to the idea of
space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve
only just begun. We’re still pioneers. . . .
[S]ometimes painful things like this hap-
in History pen. It’s all part of the process of explo-
ration and discovery. It’s all part of taking
Franklin R. Chang-Diaz a chance and expanding man’s horizons.
1950– The future doesn’t belong to the faint-
Born in Costa Rica, Franklin R. His goal of be-
Chang-Diaz dates his fascination with coming an astronaut
hearted; it belongs to the brave.
”
space to hearing about the Sputnik came true in 1980 —from Speaking My Mind
launching in 1957. His mother told him when NASA selected
that a new star, made by humans, had him for the space
shuttle program.
In June 1986, a presidential com-
been placed in the heavens. This con-
vinced him, he said later, to become In the following mission reported that defective seals
“a space explorer.” years, Chang-Diaz in the rocket boosters had caused the
Chang-Diaz managed to save enough worked as part of explosion. Engineers fixed the prob-
money—$50—to immigrate to the the astronaut support crew and in early lem, and in September 1988, the shut-
United States at the age of 18. He went space station design studies. tle resumed operations.
to Hartford, Connecticut, where he had His first spaceflight came in January
relatives. After completing high school 1986 on the space shuttle Columbia.
and college, he went on to earn a doc- In the late 1980s and 1990s, Chang- A Home in Space Between Sep-
torate in applied plasma physics and Diaz flew a number of shuttle tember 1988 and December 2002, the
fusion technology at MIT in 1977. missions.
shuttle completed 87 missions. It

First Female Astronaut Dr. Sally Ride
(below) was accepted into the astronaut
program in 1978. She became the first
American woman to orbit the earth when
she flew aboard the space shuttle
Challenger in June 1983. The space
shuttle Discovery is shown on the right.
December 1998, and the station’s first crew arrived in

October 2000. By December 2002 the shuttle had com-
placed many satellites in orbit, including the Hubble pleted 16 missions to the space station.
Space Telescope in 1990. This telescope gave Seventeen years after the Challenger disaster,
astronomers the ability to look farther into space than tragedy struck again. On February 1, 2003, the shuttle
ever before. Columbia came apart while reentering the earth’s
One reason NASA built the shuttle was to provide atmosphere. All seven crew members were killed. As
transportation to space stations—manned orbiting people around the world mourned, NASA began
platforms that serve as a base of operations for space investigating the accident. Speaking to the nation,
research. The United States had launched the space President George W. Bush proclaimed, “Mankind is
station Skylab in 1973, but it stayed in orbit only until led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspira-
1979. In 1986 President Reagan announced that the tion of discovery and the longing to understand.” The
United States would build a new space station. president then promised that American space explo-
In the years following Reagan’s announcement, the ration would continue.
space station became an international project, and 16
nations helped create the International Space Station. Reading Check Describing How was the space
Shuttle astronauts began assembling the station in shuttle different from previous spacecraft?
TM
TM

1. Define: yuppie, space shuttle, space 5. Comparing How do the social prob- 7. Examining Diagrams Study the illus-
station. lems the United States faces today tration on page 875. What elements
2. Identify: AIDS, Sierra Club, American compare with those the nation faced in of the diagram depict the concept of
Association of Retired Persons. the 1980s? materialism?
3. Summarize the causes for which sev- 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer
eral musicians held concert benefits in similar to the one below to list the
the 1980s. changes in entertainment in the 1980s. 8. Persuasive Writing Choose one of the
social problems of the 1980s. Write a
Reviewing Themes Changes in Entertainment letter to members of your favorite
4. Science and Technology What new band asking them to perform a concert
innovations occurred in the nation’s to benefit your cause. Your letter
space program in the 1980s? should include reasons the cause is
important.

Critical Thinking
Analyzing News Media

Every citizen needs to be aware of current issues
and events in order to make good decisions when
exercising citizenship rights. To stay informed,
people use a variety of news sources,
including print media, broadcast media,
and electronic media.
Learning the Skill

To get an accurate profile of current
events, you must learn to think critically
about the news. The steps below will help
you think critically.
• First, think about the source of the news story.
Reports that reveal sources are more reliable than
those that do not. If you know the sources, you
can evaluate them. 3 Did either of the articles reflect a bias toward
one viewpoint or the other? List any unsup-
• Many news stories analyze and interpret events.
ported statements.
Such analyses may be more detailed than other
reports, but they also reflect a reporter’s biases. 4 Was the news reported on the scene or second-
Look for biases as you read or listen to news hand? Do the articles seem to represent both
stories. sides fairly?
• Ask yourself whether the news is even-handed 5 How many sources can you identify in the
and thorough. Is it reported on the scene or articles? List them.
secondhand? Does it represent both sides of the
issue? How many sources are used? The more Skills Assessment
sources cited for a fact, the more reliable it Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
usually is. 889 and the Chapter 28 Skill Reinforcement

Follow the steps below to analyze two types of Applying the Skill
print media. Analyzing News Media Think of an issue in your
1 Find two articles, one in a current newspaper community or in the nation on which public opinion is
and the other in a newsmagazine, on a decision divided. Read newspaper features and editorials and
made by the president or Congress on a topic monitor television reports about the issue. Can you
such as Social Security, education, or taxes. identify any biases? Which reports more fairly repre-
sent the issue? Which reports are the most reliable?
2 What points were the articles trying to make?
Were the articles successful? Can the facts be Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive Workbook
verified? CD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and
880
The End of the
Cold War
President George Bush’s foreign policy Categorizing As you read about the • Identify the events that brought an end
commanded broad support, but his administration of President Bush, com- to the Cold War.
domestic agenda did not. plete a chart similar to the one below by • Explain the domestic challenges facing
describing U.S. foreign policy in each of the Bush administration.
Key Terms and Names the places listed on the chart.
perestroika, glasnost, Boris Yeltsin, Section Theme
Tiananmen Square, Saddam Hussein, Place Foreign Policy Economic Factors The deficit and an
downsizing, capital gains tax, H. Ross Soviet Union economic slowdown hurt George Bush’s
Perot, grassroots movement China attempt to win re-election in 1992.
Panama
Middle East
✦1989 ✦1990 ✦1991 ✦1992

May, 1989 November, 1989 August, 1990 January, 1991 December, 1991
Tiananmen Square Berlin Wall falls Iraq invades Persian Gulf War Soviet Union
protests begin Kuwait begins collapses
On October 31, 1990, General Colin Powell, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, and other high-ranking officials met with President
George Bush. In August the country of Iraq had invaded neighboring Kuwait. American troops
had been rushed to the Middle East in response. Now the president had to decide whether to
go to war.
General Brent Scrowcroft, a close adviser to Bush, began the meeting: “Mr. President,
we are at a Y in the road. Down one branch we can continue sanctions. . . . Down the
other branch we . . . go on the attack.” Powell then presented the plan for attacking Iraq.
Several advisers gasped at the numbers, which called for over 500,000 American troops.
“Mr. President,” Powell began, “I wish . . . that I could assure you that air power alone could
do it but you can’t take that chance. We’ve gotta take the initiative out of the enemy’s hands
if we’re going to go to war.” Cheney later recalled that Bush “never hesitated.” He looked
Colin Powell
up from the plans and said simply, “Do it.”
—adapted from Triumph Without Victory and PBS Frontline Gulf War Interviews
George Bush Takes Office

The war in the Persian Gulf was only one of many international crises that confronted
President George Bush after his election in 1988. Fortunately, Bush’s strength was in for-
eign policy. In the 1970s, he had served as ambassador to the UN and as the nation’s first

Revolution in Eastern Europe,
1989–1993 abilities, but Bush had Reagan’s
Reval endorsement, and with the
NORWAY ESTONIA
N 5 Baltic States became economy still doing well, few
independent, 1991
W SWEDEN LATVIA Americans wanted to switch
E
Riga parties. Bush won 54 percent of
S DENMARK
LITHUANIA the popular vote and defeated
4 Germany reunited, 1990 Vilnius RUSSIA Dukakis 426 to 111 in the Elec-
RUSSIA
UNITED Elb toral College. Democrats, how-
e Minsk
KINGDOM BELARUS ever, kept control of Congress.
R.
NETH. POLAND
GERMANY Berlin Vi
s 1 Democratic elections, 1989 Reading Check
0° Warsaw
tul
BELG. 3 Berlin Wall
a R.
50°N
torn down, Kiev Describing What kind of strategy did
PragueNov. 1989 Dn
the Bush campaign use in the 1988
6 Czechoslovakia separated, 1993 iepe
Se LUX. CZECH r R.
election?
R.
REPUBLIC UKRAINE
ine
SLOVAKIA
in
R
.
Rh
FRANCE LIECH. Bratislava MOLDOVA

Loire R.
SWITZ. AUSTRIA Budapest ROMANIA
Ljubljana
HUNGARY 2 Non-Communist
Chisinau
The Cold War Ends
governments Almost immediately after
SLOVENIA Zagreb created, 1989
CROATIA
SAN MARINO Belgrade taking office, President Bush
BOSNIA & .Bucharest
HERZEGOVINA D an u b e R Black had to draw on his foreign pol-
MONACO Sarajevo Sea icy experience. With the help
Corsica ITALY YUGOSLAVIA BULGARIA
Fr. Sofia of Secretary of State James
Mediterranean ALBANIA Skopje 30°E TURKEY Baker, the president steered
Sea Sardinia Tirana MACEDONIA 0 300 miles
40 °N It. the United States through an
GREECE 0 300 kilometers era of sweeping change that
10°E 20°E Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection
resulted from the sudden end
of the Cold War.
1. Interpreting Maps Which Eastern European countries
abandoned communism first? Gorbachev’s Reforms As president, Bush contin-
2. Applying Geography Skills Why was the fall of ued Reagan’s policy of cooperation with Soviet
communism in East Germany significant? leader Mikhail Gorbachev. By the late 1980s, the
Soviet economy was suffering from years of ineffi-
cient central planning and huge expenditures on the
diplomatic envoy to the People’s Republic of China. arms race. To save the economy, Gorbachev insti-
He then headed the CIA from 1976 to 1977 before tuted perestroika, or “restructuring,” and allowed
becoming vice president in 1981. some private enterprise and profit-making.
When Ronald Reagan left office, few Americans The other principle of Gorbachev’s plan was
were thinking about foreign policy. They wanted a glasnost, or “openness.” It allowed more freedom
continuation of Reagan’s domestic policies—low taxes of religion and speech, allowing people to discuss
and less government action. When Bush accepted the politics openly.
Republican nomination in 1988, he reassured Ameri-
cans with this promise: “Read my lips: No new taxes.” Revolution in Eastern Europe Protests in Poland
The Democrats hoped to regain the White House in had led to the first independent trade union,
1988 by promising to help working-class Americans, Solidarity, in 1980. It was suspended a year later, but
minorities, and the poor. One candidate, civil rights with Gorbachev’s support, glasnost spread to Eastern
leader Jesse Jackson, tried to create a “rainbow coali- Europe. In 1989 peaceful revolutions replaced Com-
tion”—a broad group of minorities and the poor—by munist rulers with democratic governments in Poland,
speaking about homelessness and unemployment. Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria.
He finished second in the primaries, the first African The spreading revolution soon reached East Ger-
American to make a serious run for the nomination. many, and at midnight on November 9, 1989, guards
The Democrats’ final choice was Massachusetts at the Berlin Wall opened the gates. Within days,
governor Michael Dukakis. The Bush campaign por- bulldozers leveled the hated symbol of Communist
trayed him as too liberal, unpatriotic, and “soft on repression. Within a year, East and West Germany
crime.” The Democrats questioned Bush’s leadership had reunited.

The Soviet Union Collapses As Eastern Europe The “New World Order”
abandoned communism, Gorbachev faced mounting
After the Cold War, the world became increasingly
criticism from opponents at home. In August 1991, a
unpredictable. In a phrase made popular by President
group of Communist officials and army officers
Bush, a “new world order” was developing. While
staged a coup—an overthrow of the government.
trying to redefine American foreign policy, Bush faced
They arrested Gorbachev and sent troops into
crises in China, Panama, and the Middle East.
Moscow.
In Moscow, Russian president Boris Yeltsin defied
the coup leaders from his offices in the Russian Tragedy in Tiananmen Square Despite the col-
Parliament. About 50,000 people surrounded the lapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the
Russian Parliament to protect it from troops. Soviet Union, China’s Communist leaders were
President Bush telephoned Yeltsin to express the sup- determined to stay in power. China’s government
port of the United States. Soon afterward, the coup had relaxed controls on the economy, but it contin-
collapsed, and Gorbachev returned to Moscow. ued to repress political speech and dissent. In May
The defeat of the coup brought change swiftly. All 1989, Chinese students and workers held demonstra-
15 Soviet republics declared their independence from tions for democracy. In early June, government tanks
the Soviet Union. Yeltsin outlawed the Communist and soldiers crushed their protests in Tiananmen
Party in Russia. In late December 1991, Gorbachev Square in Beijing—China’s capital. Many people
announced the end of the Soviet Union. Most of the were killed and hundreds of pro-democracy activists
former Soviet republics then joined in a federation were arrested. Many were later sentenced to death.
called the Commonwealth of Independent States. These events shocked the world. The United States
and several European countries halted arms sales and
Reading Check Explaining Why did Mikhail reduced their diplomatic contacts with China. The
Gorbachev institute the policy of perestroika? World Bank suspended loans. Some congressional
MOMENT
in HISTORY
A CITY REUNITED
Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall
served to stem the mounting
tide of immigration from
Communist East Germany into
the democratic western sector
of the city. The wall also stood
as a symbol of Cold War
tensions between the world’s
superpowers. As reforms
sparked by Mikhail Gorbachev
swept through Eastern Europe,
however, East German citizens
began pressuring their govern-
ment to open its borders. On
November 9, 1989, the gates
were thrown open, and East and
West Berliners finally mingled
freely. With great enthusiasm,
they took hammers and chisels
to the wall and tore down the
hated symbol of division.
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow shipping lane between
the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, and the Arabian Sea.
Most of the crude oil produced in the Middle East passes
through the Strait of Hormuz. In 1997 about 14 million
barrels of crude oil passed through the Strait every day.
Million Barrels per Day

Since the waterway is only about 40 miles (64 km) 30
25 25.9
across at its widest point, it is possible that a country
20
might block or hamper passage of ships. During the
15 14.6
1980s, the United States began escorting oil tankers 10 8 7.6 6.4 7.7 7.8
through the Strait to protect them from Iranian 5
attacks. If the passage were ever closed, oil would 0
have to be shipped
lf
ica
ica
str sia
ric
Se
Gu
nio
Au t A
er
er
a
overland by pipeline—
Af
rth
ali
tU
an
Am
Am
d as
No
rsi
vie
an the
rth
h
a much more expen- Pe
ut
So
ou
No
So
er
,S
nd
rm
sive option.
ina
la
Fo
Ch
ra
nt
Ce
Region
Source: Estimated
Source: World Oil Production
Energy Information in 2000,
Administration.
Energy Information Administration.
The Persian Gulf countries consist of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq,

Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. They may hold
as much as 70 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves.
leaders urged even stronger sanctions, but President

Bush resisted these harsher measures, believing that
trade and diplomacy would eventually moderate The Persian Gulf War President Bush faced per-
China’s behavior. haps his most serious crisis in the Middle East. In
August 1990, Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, sent
Panama While President Bush struggled to deal his army to invade oil-rich Kuwait. American offi-
with global events elsewhere, a crisis developed in cials feared the invasion was only the first step and
Panama. In 1978 the United States had agreed to give that Iraq’s ultimate goal was to capture Saudi Arabia
Panama control over the Panama Canal by the year and its vast oil reserves.
2000. Because of the canal’s importance, American President Bush persuaded other UN member
officials wanted to make sure Panama’s government countries to join a coalition to stop Iraq. Led by the
was both stable and pro-American. United States, the United Nations first imposed eco-
By 1989 Panama’s dictator, General Manuel nomic sanctions on Iraq and demanded the Iraqis
Noriega, had stopped cooperating with the United withdraw. The coalition forces included troops from
States. He also aided drug traffickers, cracked down the United States, Canada, Europe, and Arab nations.
on opponents, and harassed American military per- The UN set a deadline for the Iraqi withdrawal, or
sonnel defending the canal. In December 1989, Bush the coalition would use force to remove them.
ordered American troops to invade Panama. The Congress also voted to authorize the use of force if
troops seized Noriega, who was sent to the United Iraq did not withdraw.
States to stand trial on drug charges. The troops then Iraq refused to comply with the UN deadline,
helped the Panamanians hold elections and organize and on January 16, 1991, the coalition forces
a new government. launched Operation Desert Storm. Dozens of cruise

War in the Persian Gulf, 1991
In
N Motion 50°E
W
TURKEY Iraq and occupied territory
E Allied against Iraq
S Neutral countries
Mosul Iraqi SCUD attacks
Irbil Allied air attacks
Iraqi troop placements
T igri
SYRIA Allied troop buildup
IRAQ
sR
Beirut Allied troop movement
.
Euphr
LEBANON Damascus
te
Major oil fields
a
Haifa s
R. Baghdad
Tel Aviv-Yafo
ISRAEL Amman
2 Operation Desert Storm IRAN
Jerusalem begins, January 16, 1991
An
As Samawah Nasiriyah 3 Allied ground war
EGYPT JORDAN
➤
Burning oil fields in Kuwait Basra against Iraqi troops,

30°N As Salman February 23–26, 1991
Kuwait
Persian Gulf War ➤ 1 Buildup of Allied troops begins City
Oil was an important factor in the Gulf War. along Saudi Arabia/Iraq border, KUWAIT
August 1990–February 1991
In August 1990, Iraq invaded its oil-rich Persian
4 Cease-fire declared Gulf
neighbor, Kuwait. To repel this aggression Red by President Bush, BAHRAIN
and to prevent oil reserves from falling Sea February 27, 1991 Dhahran Manama
under the control of Iraqi dictator Saddam 0 400 miles QATAR
SAUDI Doha
Hussein, President Bush sent troops to the 0 400 kilometers ARABIA Riyadh
area. Working with troops from other Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area projection U.A.E.
nations, American forces expelled Hussein’s
troops from Kuwait.
missiles and thousands of laser-guided bombs fell economy. As the Persian Gulf crisis began, the econ-
on Iraq, destroying its air defenses, bridges, omy plunged into a recession and unemployment
artillery, and other military targets. After about six rose rapidly.
weeks of bombardment, the coalition launched a
massive ground attack. Waves of tanks and troop
carriers smashed through Iraqi lines and encircled ECONOMICS
the Iraqi forces defending Kuwait. The Economy Slows The recession that began in
The attack killed thousands of Iraqi soldiers. 1990 was partly caused by the end of the Cold War.
Hundreds of thousands more surrendered. Fewer As the Soviet threat faded, the United States began
than 300 coalition troops were killed. Just 100 hours reducing its armed forces and canceling orders for
after the ground war began President Bush military equipment. Thousands of soldiers were
declared victory. “Kuwait is liberated,” he released, and defense industry workers were laid off.
announced. Iraq accepted the coalition’s cease-fire Across the nation, other companies also began
terms. American troops returned home to cheering downsizing—laying off workers and managers to
crowds celebrating the U.S. victory in the first become more efficient. The nation’s high level of debt
large-scale war since Vietnam. made the recession worse. Americans had borrowed
Reading Check Examining Why did President Bush heavily during the 1980s and now faced paying off
large debts.
take action when Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait?
In addition, the huge federal deficit forced the
government to borrow money to pay for its pro-
grams. This borrowing kept money from being avail-
Domestic Challenges able to expanding businesses. The government also
President Bush spent much of his time dealing had to pay interest on its debt, money that might oth-
with foreign policy, but he could not ignore domestic erwise have been used to fund programs or jump-
issues. He inherited a growing deficit and a slowing start the economy.

Gridlock in Government Shortly after taking office, he blamed congressional Democrats for the gridlock
Bush tried to improve the economy. He called for a cut that seemingly paralyzed the nation’s government.
in the capital gains tax—the tax paid by businesses The Democrats nominated Arkansas governor Bill
and investors when they sell stocks or real estate for a Clinton, despite stories that questioned his character
profit. Bush believed the tax cut would encourage and his failure to serve in Vietnam. Calling himself a
businesses to expand. Calling the idea a tax break for “New Democrat” to separate himself from more lib-
the rich, Democrats in Congress defeated it. eral Democrats, Clinton promised to cut middle-
Aware that the growing federal deficit was hurting class taxes and spending and to reform the nation’s
the economy, Bush broke his “no new taxes” cam- health care and welfare programs. His campaign
paign pledge. After meeting with congressional lead- repeatedly blamed Bush for the recession.
ers, he agreed to a tax increase in exchange for cuts in Many Americans were not happy with either Bush
spending. This decision turned many voters against or Clinton. This enabled an independent candidate,
Bush. They blamed him both for the tax increase and billionaire Texas businessman H. Ross Perot, to make
for trying to cut social programs. a strong challenge. Perot stressed the need to end
deficit spending. His no-nonsense style appealed to
Extending Rights Although President Bush and many Americans. A grassroots movement—groups
Democrats in Congress disagreed on economic of people organizing at the local level—put Perot on
issues, they cooperated on other legislation. One the ballot in all 50 states.
example was the Americans with Disabilities Act Bill Clinton won the election with 43 percent of
(ADA), signed by Bush in 1990. The legislation the popular vote and 370 electoral votes. The
forbade discrimination in workplaces and public Democrats also retained control of Congress. Bush
places against people who were physically or men- won 37 percent of the popular vote, while Perot
tally challenged. The law had widespread effect. received 19 percent—the best showing for a third-
Access ramps were added to buildings, closed- party candidate since 1912—but no electoral votes.
captioned television became more commonplace, As the first president born after World War II, the
and wheelchair lifts were installed on city buses. 46-year-old Clinton was the first person from the
Reading Check Summarizing Why did President “baby boom” generation to enter the White House. It
was his task to revive the economy and guide the
Bush lose popularity as the 1992 election approached?
United States in a rapidly changing and increasingly
technological world.
The 1992 Election
Although the recession had weakened his popu- Reading Check Evaluating Why did some people
larity, Bush won the Republican nomination. Bush vote for H. Ross Perot in 1992? How successful was his election
promised to address voters’ economic concerns, and campaign as a third-party candidate?
TM
TM

1. Define: perestroika, glasnost, 5. Analyzing How did the United States 7. Studying Maps Examine the map on
downsizing, capital gains tax, grassroots and its Western allies finally achieve page 885. Which nations have signifi-
movement. victory in the Cold War? cant oil resources?
2. Identify: Boris Yeltsin, Tiananmen 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer
Square, Saddam Hussein, H. Ross Perot. similar to the one below to list the
3. Describe how Mikhail Gorbachev tried causes of the recession of the early Writing About History
to reform the Soviet government. 1990s.
Reviewing Themes Budget Economic Foreign are traveling in West Germany in 1989
Problems Problems Developments when the Berlin Wall is being torn
4. Economic Factors How did the econ-
omy affect the 1992 election? down. Write a letter back home to
describe the event and the feelings of
the German people. Also include your
reaction to the situation and how you
think it will affect the United States.

from Hunger of Memory
by Richard Rodriguez
I grew up victim to a disabling Spanish. . . . But I couldn’t do it.

confusion. As I grew fluent in Pocho then they called me. Sometimes
English, I no longer could speak playfully, teasingly, using the tender
Spanish with confidence. I continued diminutive—mi pochito. Sometimes
Richard Rodriguez
to understand spoken Spanish. And not so playfully, mockingly, Pocho.
Hispanic Americans are the
in high school, I learned how to read (A Spanish dictionary defines that
fastest-growing minority in the
and write Spanish. But for many word as an adjec-
United States. Hispanics cherish
years I could not pronounce it. A tive meaning “col-
their heritage, and many speak
powerful guilt blocked my spoken orless” or “bland.”
only Spanish among their
words; an essential glue was missing But I heard it as a
friends and family. Most of their
whenever I’d try to connect words to noun, naming the
children’s teachers, however,
form sentences. . . . Mexican-American
speak only English. As a result,
When relatives and Spanish- who, in becoming
Hispanic students often find speaking friends of my parents came an American, for-
school confusing and humiliat- to the house, my brother and sisters gets his native
ing. Hispanic American Richard seemed reticent to use Spanish, but society. . . .)
Rodriguez describes his struggle at least they managed to say a few
to become educated in his auto- necessary words before being
biography, Hunger of Memory. excused. . . . I was cursed with guilt.
In this excerpt, Rodriguez Each time I’d hear myself addressed
describes the difficulties he in Spanish, I would be unable to
encountered at home after he respond with any success. I’d know
became comfortable speaking the words I wanted to say, but I
English at school. couldn’t manage to say them. Analyzing Literature
I would try to speak, but everything I
Read to Discover 1. Recall and Interpret What do you
said seemed to me horribly angli-
What is the reaction of Richard’s think Richard meant when he said
cized. My mouth would not form the
relatives to his reluctance to that “an essential glue was missing”
words right. . . .
speak Spanish to them? whenever he tried to speak Spanish?
It surprised my listeners to hear
2. Evaluate and Connect Why did
me. They’d lower their heads, better
Reader’s Dictionary Richard’s relatives nickname him
to grasp what I was trying to
reticent: reluctant Pocho?
say. They would repeat their ques-
anglicized: made to sound tions in gentle, affectionate voices.
English Interdisciplinary Activity
But by then I would answer in
Journalism Interview a bilingual friend,
diminutive: shorter or more English. No, no, they would say, we
relative, or classmate about when and
affectionate version want you to speak to us in
where they use each of the languages they
speak. Write a transcript of the interview.

Reviewing Key Terms 22. Synthesizing How did conservatives gain political power
in the 1980s?
23. Forming an Opinion On what part of the liberal-
1. liberal 8. space shuttle conservative spectrum would you place yourself? Why?
2. conservative 9. space station 24. Interpreting Primary Sources President Ronald Reagan
3. televangelist 10. perestroika addressed the American people for the last time at the end of
his presidency in 1988. The following is an excerpt from that
4. supply-side economics 11. glasnost
address:
5. budget deficit 12. downsizing
6. contra 13. capital gains tax
7. yuppie 14. grassroots movement
“ It’s been quite a journey this decade, and we held
together through some stormy seas. And at the end,
together, we are reaching our destination. . . . The way I
see it, there were two great triumphs, two things that I’m
Reviewing Key Facts proudest of. One is the economic recovery, in which the
15. Identify: William F. Buckley, William Rehnquist, Mikhail people of America created—and filled—19 million new
Gorbachev, AIDS, Boris Yeltsin, Saddam Hussein, H. Ross jobs. The other is the recovery of our morale. America is
Perot.
respected again in the world and looked to for
16. Why did people in the Sunbelt tend to be conservative? leadership. . . .
17. What three steps did President Reagan take to improve the Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on
economy?
something, the people will produce less of it. So, we cut
18. What social issues did the United States face in the 1980s? the people’s tax rates, and the people produced more
19. What event triggered the Persian Gulf War? than ever before. The economy bloomed. . . . Common
20. What economic problems did President George Bush face sense told us that to preserve the peace, we’d have to
during his administration? become strong again after years of weakness and confu-
sion. So, we rebuilt our defenses, and this New Year we
Critical Thinking toasted the new peacefulness around the globe. . . .
21. Analyzing Themes: Global Connections What event Countries across the globe are turning to free markets
brought an end to the Cold War in the 1980s? What effect did and free speech and turning away from the ideologies of
that have on U.S. policies and on the U.S. economy? the past. . . .
Resurgence of Reagan’s Agenda The Bush Years

Conservative Politics • Supply-side economics emphasizes • Communism collapses in Eastern
large tax cuts. Europe and the Soviet Union.
• The Cold War promotes a strong foreign
policy and an emphasis on minimal • Reagan’s administration takes a strong • The uncertainty of a ”New World Order”
government intervention in economics. anti-Communist stance in Latin America, replaces the dualism of the Cold War.
the Caribbean, and the Middle East. • The Persian Gulf War drives Bush’s
• Cold War fears of communism
encourage religious Americans to turn • Reagan and Gorbachev begin new popularity to its highest level.
to conservative ideas. nuclear arms reductions. • A domestic economic recession
• Barry Goldwater wins the 1964 • Military spending drives the growing weakens Bush’s re-election campaign.
Republican presidential nomination. budget deficit to record levels.
• The growth of the Sunbelt increases
conservative support.
888 CHAPTER # Chapter Title
HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz
Visit the American Republic Since 1877 Web site at The Election of 1992
Chapter 28 to assess your knowledge of chapter content. WASH. N.H. 4
11 MONT. ME.
N. DAK. VT. 3 4
OREG. 3 3 MINN.
7
[O]ne of the things I’m proudest of in the past eight IDAHO S. DAK. 10 WIS. N.Y.
MASS.12
4 WYO. 3 11 MICH. 33
years [is] the resurgence of national pride that I called 3 18 R.I. 4
NEBR. IOWA PA. CONN. 8
NEV. OHIO
7 23 N.J. 15
the new patriotism. This national feeling is good, but it 4 UTAH 5 ILL. IND. 21 W.
5 COLO. 22 12 VA.VA. DEL. 3
CALIF. 8 KANS. MO. KY. 5 MD. 10
won’t count for much, and it won’t last unless it’s 54 6 11 8
13
N.C. Washington, D.C.
grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge. . . . ARIZ. OKLA. TENN. 11 14 3
8 N. MEX. 8 ARK. S.C.
5 6 ALA. GA. 8
An informed patriotism is what we want. . . . Let’s MISS. 9
LA. 7 13
TEX.
start with some basics: more attention to American his- 32 9
FLA.
”
tory and greater emphasis on civic ritual. . . .
ALASKA
3
25
—from Speaking My Mind
a. What did Reagan believe were his greatest accomplish- Presidential Election, 1992
ments as president?
Electoral Popular Political
b. What did Reagan believe would promote patriotism in the HAWAII
nation? Do you agree with his belief? Why or why not? 4 Clinton 370 44,908,254 Democrat
Bush 168 39,102,343 Republican
Perot 0 19,741,065 Independent
below to list the domestic and foreign issues faced by the
Reagan and Bush administrations.
Issues Reagan Bush
Administration Administration 29. The map above shows the results of the 1992 presidential
election. Study the map and answer the questions below.
Domestic
a. Interpreting Maps How far short did President Bush fall
Foreign in the race for Electoral College votes?
b. Applying Geography Skills Bill Clinton won his
strongest support in which region of the nation?
Practicing Skills
26. Analyzing News Media Choose one current issue or event
and compare its coverage in two different media. Which
medium supplies the most facts? Is the coverage that is pro- Standardized
vided by both media consistent? What are the advantages Test Practice
and disadvantages of each medium? Write a two-page analy-
sis comparing the two media, including a conclusion about
completes the following sentence.
which one is better.
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was proposed to
strengthen the military by
Writing Activity A preventing the expansion of Communist countries.
27. Writing a Report Research the status today of the inde- B reemphasizing the use of infantry troops in future wars.
pendent republics formed from the Soviet Union. Find out
about their political, social, and economic situations. Present C developing weapons that would intercept and destroy
your findings in a written report. incoming nuclear missiles.
D severely reducing the number of American troops sta-
tioned worldwide.
Chapter Activity
28. Creating a Thematic Graph Using a scale of 1 to 10, evalu- Test-Taking Tip: Eliminate answers that do not make sense.
ate how successful each president was in dealing with the Reducing the number of American troops (answer D), for
issues you listed in question 25. Create a thematic graph example, probably would not strengthen the military.
depicting each president’s success rate per issue.

Into a New
Century 1992–present
Why It Matters
During the 1990s, a technological revolution transformed society. President Clinton pushed for
budget cuts, health care and welfare reforms, and global trade. He also worked for peace in the
Middle East and the Balkans. In 2000 George W. Bush won the presidency. He supported tax
cuts, a new energy program, increased trade, and a missile defense system. After terrorists killed
thousands of people in the United States, the new president launched a war on terrorism.
The Impact Today

Major developments of the era continue to influence modern society.
• The use of the Internet is widespread in commerce, schools, and government.
• The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) continues to shape economic relations
between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
• The debate between conservatives and liberals continues in the United States.

“America’s Response to Terrorism,” examines how ordinary Americans responded to the
terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
1996
• Bill Clinton reelected
1995
1993 • Budget impasse shuts
1998
down federal government
• Mosaic, the first • House of
popular Web • Oklahoma City bombing Representatives 1999
browser, is released impeaches President • Senate
Clinton acquits
▲
G. Bush Clinton Clinton
1989–1993 1993–2001 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲
1990 1994 1998
▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼
1993 1995 1997
1992 • Israeli-Palestinian 1994 • Cease-fire • Britain returns control
• Earth Day peace accord signed • Multiracial elections signed in of Hong Kong to China
summit held in held in South Africa; Bosnian war
• European Union Nelson Mandela
Rio de Janeiro, launched
Brazil elected president
• U.S., Mexico, and
890 Canada inaugurate
NAFTA
President Bush greets the soldiers of Ft. Campbell, Kentucky in March 2004.
2001
2000 • Terrorist attacks destroy 2003 2004
• Electoral crisis World Trade Center and • Space shuttle Columbia • George W. Bush
delays naming of damage Pentagon explodes during reentry reelected
43rd president
• U.S. led coalition 2005
launches war on Iraq • Hurricane Katrina
floods New Orleans
HISTORY
▲
G.W. Bush
▲ 2001– ▲ ▲ ▲ Chapter Overview
2000 2003 2004 2005 information.
• Mexico’s election of • Serbian prime minister • Sudan government and • London
Vicente Fox ends 71 years Zoran Djindjic rebels reach agreement to subway
of single-party rule assassinated end 21-year civil war system
• Devastating tsunami hits bombed
southeast Asia
891
The Technological
Revolution
The introduction of the first electronic Categorizing As you read about the • Describe the evolution of the computer
digital computer in 1946 launched a tech- computer age, complete a chart similar to from scientific tool to household
nological revolution. the one below to describe products that appliance.
revolutionized the computer industry. • Evaluate how the computer has
Key Terms and Names revolutionized science, medicine, and
ENIAC, integrated circuit, Silicon Valley, How It Revolutionized communications.
Computer Industry
microprocessor, Bill Gates, software,
telecommute, Internet, biotechnology, Microprocessors Section Theme
Apple II
James Watson, Francis Crick, DNA Economic Factors The computer has
Macintosh
helped reshape the nation’s economy.
Windows
✦1993 ✦1999 ✦2005

1993 1999 2001 2004
Mosaic, the first popular Over 86 million Americans Human Genome Project New Jersey allows medical
Web browser, introduced own cell phones maps the human genome research on embryonic stem cells
After years as a magazine editor and television news commentator, Michael

Kinsley jumped into the new technology of the Internet in 1996, by agreeing to edit
an online magazine called Slate. “I was determined,” Kinsley said, “to be on the next
train to pull out of the station no matter where it was going—provided that I was the
engineer.”
Soon newspaper and print magazines were also developing Web resources.
Television stations also used the Internet to update news stories, allowing consumers
to access news when and how they wanted. As Kinsley explained:
“ Web readers surf. They go quickly from site to site. If they really like a particular
site, they may visit it often, but they are unlikely to devote a continuous half-hour or
more to any one site. . . . This appears to be in the nature of the Web and not some-
Michael Kinsley thing that is likely to change.
”
—from “Slate Goes Free,” Slate, February 13, 1999
The Rise of the Compact Computer

The development of a computer capable of supporting publications such as Slate
began at the end of World War II. The world’s first electronic digital computer, called
ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), went into operation in
892 CHAPTER 29 Into a New Century

February 1946. ENIAC weighed over 30 tons and was Machines (IBM) introduced
the size of a small house. In early 1959, Robert Noyce its own compact machine, HISTORY
designed the first integrated circuit—a complete which it called the “Personal
electronic circuit on a single chip of silicon—which Computer” (PC). Apple re- Student Web
made circuits much smaller and very easy to manu- sponded in 1984 with the rev- Activity Visit the
facture. Noyce’s company was located south of San olutionary Macintosh, a new American Republic
Francisco. As new companies sprang up nearby to model featuring a simplified Since 1877 Web site at
make products using integrated circuits, the region operating system using on- tarvol2.glencoe.com
became known as Silicon Valley. screen graphic symbols called and click on Student
In 1968 Noyce and colleague Gordon Moore icons, which users could Web Activities—
formed Intel, for “Integrated Electronics,” a company manipulate with a hand- Chapter 29 for an
that revolutionized computers by combining on a operated device called a activity on the techno-
single chip several integrated circuits containing both mouse. logical revolution.
memory and computing functions. Called micro-
processors, these new chips further reduced the size Bill Gates and Microsoft
of computers and increased their speed. As Jobs and Wozniak were creating Apple, 19-year-
old Harvard dropout Bill Gates co-founded
Computers for Everyone Using microprocessor Microsoft to design PC software, the instructions
technology, Stephen Wozniak and his 20-year-old used to program computers to perform desired tasks.
friend Steven Jobs set out to build a small computer In 1980 IBM hired Microsoft to develop an operating
suitable for personal use. In 1976 they founded Apple system for its new PC. Gates quickly paid a Seattle
Computer and completed the Apple I. The following programmer $50,000 for the rights to his software,
year they introduced the Apple II, the first practical and with some refinements, it became MS-DOS
and affordable home computer. (Microsoft Disk Operating System).
Apple’s success sparked intense competition in the In 1985 Microsoft introduced the “Windows” oper-
computer industry. In 1981 International Business ating system, which enabled PCs to use the mouse-
activated, on-screen graphic icons that the Macintosh
had popularized. Soaring sales and rising Microsoft
History
stock values made Gates a billionaire at the age of 31.
Apple Founders In 1984 Apple president John Sculley (center), along Compact computers became essential tools in vir-
with Steve Jobs (left) and Steve Wozniak, show off their new briefcase- tually every kind of business. By the late 1990s, many
sized Apple IIc computer. On what basic technology do personal workers began to “telecommute”—use computers
computers rely?
and electronic mail to do their jobs from home via
computer. The creation of wireless handheld devices
and laptop computers has made computer use even
more convenient. Now Internet access is available in
a great deal more places and the use of the Internet is
becoming much more commonplace.
Reading Check Describing How was Microsoft
different from other computer companies?
The Telecommunications
Revolution
A parallel revolution in communications coin-
cided with the growing impact of computers. In the
1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the government loosened
telecommunications regulations, allowing more com-
panies to compete in the telephone and television
industries. In 1996 Congress passed the Tele-
communications Act. This act allowed telephone
companies to compete with each other and to send
CHAPTER 29 Into a New Century 893

television signals, but it also permitted cable transport protocol (http) and new software known as
television companies to offer telephone service. Such Web browsers, the Internet rapidly expanded. Users
developments spurred the creation of new technolo- could now click on Internet links using their com-
gies such as Web-enabled cellular phones and other puter mouse and easily jump from Web site to Web
mixing of data-platforms. site. Internet use expanded by almost 300 percent
between 1997 and 2000.
Reading Check Explaining How did deregulation
The Internet also spawned a “dot-com” economy
affect the telecommunications industry? (from the common practice of using a business name
as a World Wide Web address, followed by “.com”).
Seemingly rich with promise, a wide variety of
The Rise of the Internet dot.com companies made millions of dollars for
Digital electronics also made possible a new stock investors without ever earning actual profit
worldwide communications system. The Internet let from operations. Internet-related stocks helped fuel
computer users post and receive information and the prosperity of the 1990s but dropped dramatically
communicate with each other. It had its roots in a in 2000, raising questions about the ultimate prof-
computer networking system that the U.S. Defense itability of online companies.
Department’s Advanced Research Project Agency Reading Check Explaining How did the Internet
established in 1969. Known as ARPANET, this sys-
tem linked government agencies, defense contrac- expand business opportunities?
tors, and scientists at various universities, enabling
them to communicate with each other by electronic
mail. In 1985 the National Science Foundation Breakthroughs in Biotechnology
funded several supercomputer centers across the Computers greatly assisted scientists engaged
country. This paved the way for the Internet, a global in biotechnology—the managing of biological
information system that operated commercially systems to improve human life. Computers made
rather than through the government. it possible to study and manipulate genes and
At first, Internet users employed different types of cells at the molecular level. Through biotechnology,
information. With the development of the hypertext researchers developed new medicines, animal growth
Magnetic 1 A large cylindrical

Resonance magnet with a mag-
cylindrical magnet
netic field 30,000
Imaging times stronger than
One extension of computer the earth’s magnetic
technology is magnetic reso- field surrounds the
nance imaging (MRI). An patient.
MRI allows physicians to
diagnose certain diseases,
abnormalities, and injuries
without resorting to x-rays 2 Radio signals are
or surgery. An MRI unit is transmitted within computer
made up of a large cylindri- the machine and
cal magnet, devices for pass through the
transmitting and receiving patient’s body.
radio signals, and a com-
radio signals
puter. Why do you think
3 A computer converts
physicians prefer MRIs
the radio signals
over x-rays and surgery? into precise images
of the body’s internal
structure.
hormones, genetically engineered
plants, and industrial chemicals.
in History
Unraveling the Secrets of Life The
Jerry Yang
1968–
first steps toward biotechnology came
in 1953, when American molecular Jerry Yang was born in Taiwan in them. He nick-
1968 and immigrated with his family to named the list
biologist James Watson and his San Jose, California, when he was 10 “Jerry’s Guide to the
British colleague, Francis Crick, deci- years old. Yang is a cofounder of World Wide Web,” and
phered the structure of deoxyribo- Yahoo!, one of the world’s best-known he posted it on the Internet.
nucleic acid (DNA). DNA is the gateways to information and consumer Inquiries to the site boomed, and
genetic material in cells that deter- goods on the Web. It is estimated that Yang and Filo concluded that they had
mine all forms of life. by the late 1990s, around 40 million found an untapped market. With the
people were visiting the Yahoo! Web help of a loan from an imaginative ven-
Once scientists learned how to read
site every month. ture capitalist, Yahoo! was born. Yang
the message of DNA, their new knowl- The company developed out of says they chose the name because it
edge improved medical research and Yang’s desire to be able to find good suggested the sort of “Wild West” char-
provided law enforcement with new Web sites quickly. At Stanford acter of the Internet. The mission for
methods of identification. Further University, he and cofounder David Filo Yahoo! was not just to collect Web sites
research has assisted genetic engineer- were doctoral students sharing office but to organize them into convenient
space in a trailer. They also shared categories, such as news, sports, games,
ing for plants, animals, and humans.
information on their favorite Web sites, and weather. Yahoo! became a popular
and Yang began compiling a list of gateway, or “portal,” to the Web.
The Human Genome Project Super
computers have also helped map the
human genome, the DNA sequence
for the human species. Real advances began in fetal stem cells to become other tissue to help cure
earnest at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in persistent diseases or improve organ replacement.
1990 after NIH made its data available to all scientists The federal government has federal money on stem
on the Internet. It hoped to prevent any single nation cell research, but new studies from Harvard
or private laboratory from limiting the use of genome University may indicate that similar “reprogram-
findings. In February 2001, the project completed its ming” techniques can be applied to skin cells rather
first map of the human genome. Since this important than fetal stem cells.
medical advance, medical research has grown even
more sophisticated. Today doctors, religious experts, Reading Check Explaining How did computers
and politicians debate the advisability of human assist the development of biotechnology?
cloning and the possibilities of “reprogramming”
TM
TM

1. Define: microprocessor, software, 5. Analyzing How have advances in 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
telecommute, Internet, DNA. telecommunications and the rise of the crowd in the photograph of George W.
2. Identify: ENIAC, integrated circuit, Internet affected the standard of living Bush at Ft. Campbell on page 891.
Silicon Valley, Bill Gates, biotechnology, in the United States? How would you describe the attitudes
James Watson, Francis Crick. 6. Organizing Complete a graphic reflected in the faces of the people
3. Explain how scientific discoveries in organizer similar to the one below by photographed?
biotechnology have improved people’s listing developments that led to the
lives. technological revolution.

4. Economic Factors How have personal Technological
Revolution
8. Descriptive Writing Write two para-
computers transformed the workplace?
graphs describing the ways that you
and your family use the Internet and
how your way of life would be different
without it.

The Clinton Years
Although President Clinton struggled with Taking Notes As you read about the • Describe the difficulties and successes
Republicans in Congress and faced administration of President Clinton, use of Bill Clinton’s two terms as president.
impeachment, several major economic the major headings of the section to cre- • Discuss the nation’s involvement in
and social reforms were achieved during ate an outline similar to the one below. world affairs during the Clinton
his presidency. presidency.
The Clinton Years
Key Terms and Names I. Clinton’s Agenda Section Theme
A.
AmeriCorps, Contract with America, B. Economic Factors The United States,
Kenneth Starr, perjury, ethnic cleansing, C. along with much of the industrialized
D.
Dayton Accords II. world, experienced economic prosperity
in the 1990s.
✦1993 ✦1995 ✦1997 ✦1999

1993 1994 1995 1998 1999
Israeli-Palestinian Republicans win both Federal government shuts House impeaches Senate acquits Clinton;
peace accord houses of Congress down during budget impasse Clinton NATO aircraft bomb Serbia
Bill Clinton was the third-youngest person ever to serve as president and the first of the
“baby boom” generation to reach the Oval Office. Clinton brought with him a team of young
energetic advisers. In the early weeks of the administration, Clinton’s team spent many
hours at the White House adjusting to their new life. In early 1993, they began discussing
plans for Clinton’s new economic strategy for paying down the deficit and reducing interest
rates. George Stephanopoulos, an aide to the president, remembers their inexperienced
beginnings:
“ The president presided over the rolling Roosevelt Room meetings in shirtsleeves, with
glasses sliding down the end of his nose. . . . Clinton let everyone have a say, played us off
against one another, asked pointed questions, and took indecipherable notes. But the
reminders of who we were and what we were doing was never far away. Late one night, we
ordered pizzas. When they arrived, the president grabbed a slice with the rest of
us . . . [b]ut just before he took his first bite, [a secret service] agent placed a hand on his
George Stephanopoulos shoulder and told him to put it down. The pie hadn’t been screened. . . .
”
—quoted in All Too Human
Clinton’s Agenda
Clinton’s first years in office were filled with grandiose plans and the difficult reali-
ties of politics. The new president put forth an ambitious domestic program focusing on
five major areas: the economy, the family, education, crime, and health care.

Raising Taxes, Cutting Spending As he had prom- had enough support to pass. Faced with public oppo-
ised in his election campaign, Clinton focused first on sition, Clinton’s plan died without ever coming to
the economy. The problem, in the president’s view, a vote.
was the federal deficit. Under Reagan and Bush, the
deficit had nearly quadrupled, adding billions of dol- Families and Education Clinton did manage to push
lars annually to the national debt. High deficits several major pieces of legislation through Congress.
forced the government to borrow large sums of During his campaign, he had stressed the need to help
money to pay for its programs and helped to drive American families. His first success was the Family
up interest rates. Medical Leave Act. This law gave workers up to 12
Clinton believed that the key to economic growth weeks per year of unpaid family leave for the birth or
was to lower interest rates. Low interest rates would adoption of a child or for the illness of a family member.
enable businesses to borrow more money to expand Clinton also persuaded Congress to create the
and create more jobs. Low rates would also make it AmeriCorps program. This program put students to
easier for consumers to borrow money for mort- work improving low-income housing, teaching chil-
gages, car loans, and other items, which in turn dren to read, and cleaning up the environment.
would promote economic growth. AmeriCorps volunteers earned a salary and were
One way to bring interest rates down was to awarded a scholarship to continue their education.
reduce the federal deficit. In early 1993, Clinton sent
Crime and Gun Control Clinton had promised to
Congress a deficit reduction plan. In trying to cut the
get tough on crime during his campaign. He had also
deficit, however, Clinton faced a serious problem.
strongly endorsed new gun-control laws. Despite
About half of all government spending went to enti-
strong opposition from many Republicans and the
tlement programs, such as Social Security, Medicare,
National Rifle Association (NRA), the Democrats in
and veterans’ benefits. Entitlement programs are
Congress passed a gun-control law known as the
very hard to cut because so many Americans depend
Brady Bill. The bill imposed a waiting period before
on them.
people could buy handguns. It also required gun
Faced with these constraints, Clinton decided to
dealers to have police run a background check on a
raise taxes, even though he had promised to cut taxes
person’s criminal record before selling them a hand-
during his campaign. Clinton’s plan raised tax rates
gun. The following year, Clinton introduced his first
for middle- and upper-income Americans and placed
anticrime bill. The bill provided states with extra
new taxes on gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas. The
funds to build new prisons and put 100,000 more
tax increases were very unpopular, and Republicans in
police officers on the streets.
Congress refused to support them. Clinton pressured
Democrats, and after many amendments, a modified Reading Check Explaining Why did President
version of Clinton’s plan narrowly passed. Clinton’s proposed health care plan fail?
Stumbling on Health Care During his cam- History

paign, Clinton had promised to reform the U.S.
High Hopes The Clintons entered the White House in 1993 determined to change the
health care system. An estimated 40 million United States for the better. It took time for them to adjust to life in Washington, and many
Americans, or roughly 15 percent of the nation, of their ambitious plans were defeated in Congress. What legislative proposal was given
did not have private health insurance. The to the First Lady to oversee?
president appointed a task force headed by his
wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton—an unprece-
dented role for a first lady. The task force
developed a plan that guaranteed health bene-
fits for all Americans, but it put much of the
burden of payment of these benefits on
employers. Small-business owners feared they
could not afford it. The insurance industry and
doctors’ organizations also opposed the plan.
Republicans opposed the plan as being com-
plicated, costly, and reliant on government con-
trol. Congressional Democrats were divided.
Some supported alternative plans, but no plan
Republican budget proposals,
claiming they cut into social
programs too much. Gingrich
believed that if Republicans
stood firm, the president
would back down. Otherwise,
the entire federal govern-
ment would shut down for lack
of funds. Clinton, however,
refused to budge.
By standing firm against
Republican budget proposals
and allowing the government to
History shut down, Clinton regained
much of the support he had lost
Republicans Triumphant As a result of the 1994 midterm con- in 1994. The Republicans in
gressional elections, the Republican Party gained control of the House
Congress realized they needed
and the Senate for the first time since the 1950s. Newt Gingrich (at
podium) helped lead a group of young GOP congressional represen- to work with the president to
tatives in passing the Contract with America legislation. How success- pass legislation. Soon afterward,
ful was the Contract with America legislation? Explain. they reached an agreement with
Clinton to balance the budget.
In the months before the
1996 election, the president and
The Republicans Gain Control the Republicans worked
together to pass new legisla-
of Congress tion. In August Congress passed the Health
Despite his successes, Clinton was very unpopular Insurance Portability Act. This act improved cover-
by late 1994. Instead of cutting taxes, he had raised age for people who changed jobs and reduced dis-
them, and he had not fixed health care. Although the crimination against people with preexisting illnesses.
economy was improving, many companies were still Later that month Congress passed the Welfare
downsizing. Several personal issues involving Reform Act, which limited people to no more than
President Clinton further weakened public confi- two consecutive years on welfare and required them
dence in him. These factors convinced many to work to receive welfare benefits. Welfare reform
Americans to vote Republican in 1994. had become a major issue by the mid-1990s because
of growing evidence that welfare programs trapped
The Contract With America As the 1994 midterm people in poverty by giving them incentives to stay
elections neared, congressional Republicans, led by unemployed and to have children without getting
Newt Gingrich of Georgia, created the Contract with married. Despite all the money spent on antipoverty
America. This program proposed 10 major changes, programs, the percentage of Americans in poverty
including lower taxes, welfare reform, tougher anti- had changed very little. Both the Republican-led
crime laws, term limits for members of Congress, and Congress and President Clinton agreed that the wel-
a balanced budget amendment. Republicans won a fare system needed reforms to encourage people to
stunning victory—for the first time in 40 years, they go back to work.
had a majority in both houses of Congress. Reading Check Identifying What two reforms did
In their first 100 days in office, House Republicans Clinton and Congress agree to support?
passed almost the entire Contract with America, but
they soon ran into trouble. The Senate defeated several
proposals, including the balanced budget amendment, The 1996 Election
while the president vetoed others. As the 1996 campaign began, Clinton took credit
for the economy. The economic boom of the 1990s
The Budget Battle In 1995 the Republicans lost more was the longest sustained period of growth in
momentum when they clashed with the president over American history. Unemployment and inflation fell
the new federal budget. Clinton vetoed several to their lowest levels in 40 years. The stock market

soared, wages rose, crime rates fell, and the number time, despite their differences, the president and
of people on welfare declined. With the economy Congress continued to shrink the deficit. In 1997, for
booming, Clinton’s popularity climbed rapidly. the first time in 24 years, the president was able to
The Republican Party nominated Senator Bob submit a balanced budget to Congress. Beginning in
Dole of Kansas, the Republican leader in the Senate, 1998, the government began to run a surplus—that
to run against Clinton. Dole promised a 15 percent is, it collected more money than it spent.
tax cut if elected and tried to portray Clinton as a tax-
and-spend liberal. Putting Children First During his second term,
H. Ross Perot also ran again as a candidate. This Clinton’s domestic agenda shifted toward children’s
time he ran as the candidate of the Reform Party, issues. He began by asking Congress to pass a $500-
which he had created. Once again Perot made the per-child tax credit. He also signed the Adoption and
deficit the main campaign issue. Safe Families Act and asked Congress to ban cigarette
President Clinton won re-election, winning a lit- advertising aimed at children. In August 1997, Clinton
tle more than 49 percent of the popular vote and signed the Children’s Health Insurance Program—a
379 electoral votes. Dole received slightly less than plan to provide health insurance for children whose
41 percent and 159 electoral votes. Perot won about parents could not afford it.
8.4 percent of the vote—less than half of what he Clinton also continued his efforts to help students.
had received in 1992. Despite Clinton’s victory, “I come from a family where nobody had ever gone
Republicans retained control of Congress. to college before,” Clinton said. “When I became
Reading Check Explaining Why do you think president, I was determined to do what I could to
give every student that chance.” To help students, he
President Clinton won re-election in 1996? asked for a tax credit, a large increase in student
grants, and an expansion of the Head Start program
for preschoolers.
Clinton’s Second Term
During Clinton’s second term, the economy con- Clinton Is Impeached The robust economy and his
tinued its expansion. As people’s incomes rose, so high standing in the polls allowed Clinton to regain the
too did the amount of taxes they paid. At the same initiative in dealing with Congress. By 1998, however,
Impeaching the President

The Constitution gives Congress the power
to remove a president from office “upon
impeachment for and Conviction of, Treason,
Bribery, or other High Crimes and
Misdemeanors.” The House of Representatives
has the sole power over impeachment—the
formal accusation of wrongdoing in office. If the
majority of the House votes to impeach the
president, the Senate conducts a trial. A two-
thirds vote of those present is needed for con-
viction. When the impeachment proceeding
involves a president, the chief justice of the
United States presides.
AA somber Presidentand
somber President andMrs.
Mrs.
Clinton after the
Clinton after the decision
decisionfor
for
Chief Justice William Rehnquist being sworn in for the impeachment trial in the Senate impeachment
impeachment waswasreached
reached
he had become entangled in a serious scandal that country’s first democratically elected president in
threatened to undermine his presidency. many decades. Aristide sought refuge in the United
The scandal began in Clinton’s first term, when he States. The new rulers of Haiti used violence, even
was accused of arranging illegal loans for murder, to suppress the opposition. Seeking to
Whitewater Development—an Arkansas real estate restore democracy, the Clinton administration con-
company—while he was governor of that state. vinced the United Nations to impose a trade
Attorney General Janet Reno decided that an inde- embargo on Haiti. The embargo created a severe
pendent counsel should investigate the president. A economic crisis in that country. Thousands of
special three-judge panel appointed Kenneth Starr, a Haitian refugees fled to the United States in small
former federal judge, to this position. boats, and many died at sea.
In early 1998, a new scandal emerged involving a Determined to put an end to the crisis, Clinton
personal relationship between the president and a ordered an invasion of Haiti. Before the troops arrived,
White House intern. Some evidence suggested that however, former president Jimmy Carter convinced
the president had committed perjury, or had lied Haiti’s rulers to step aside.
under oath, about the relationship. The three-judge
panel directed Starr to investigate this scandal
Peacekeeping in Bosnia and Kosovo The United
as well. In September 1998, after examining the evi-
States also was concerned about mounting tensions
dence, Starr sent his report to the Judiciary
in southeastern Europe. During the Cold War,
Committee of the House of Representatives. Starr
Yugoslavia had been a single federated nation made
argued that Clinton had obstructed justice, abused
up of many different ethnic groups under a strong
his power as president, and committed perjury.
Communist government. In 1991, after the collapse
After the 1998 elections, the House began
of communism, Yugoslavia split apart.
impeachment hearings. Clinton’s supporters charged
In Bosnia, one of the former Yugoslav republics, a
that Starr’s investigation was politically motivated.
vicious three-way civil war erupted between
Clinton’s accusers argued that the president was
Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croatians, and
accountable if his actions were illegal.
Bosnian Muslims. Despite international pressure, the
On December 19, 1998, the House of Repre-
fighting continued until 1995. The Serbs began what
sentatives passed two articles of impeachment, one
they called ethnic cleansing—the brutal expulsion of
for perjury and one for obstruction of justice. The
an ethnic group from a geographic area. In some
vote split almost evenly along party lines, and the
cases, Serbian troops slaughtered the Muslims
case moved to the Senate for trial. On February 12,
instead of moving them.
1999, the senators cast their votes. The vote was 55 to
The United States convinced its NATO allies
45 that Clinton was not guilty of perjury, and 50–50
that military action was necessary. NATO war-
on the charge of obstruction of justice. Although both
planes attacked the Serbs in Bosnia, forcing them to
votes were well short of the two-thirds needed to
negotiate. The Clinton administration then
remove the president from office, Clinton’s reputa-
arranged peace talks in Dayton, Ohio. The partici-
tion had suffered.
pants signed a peace plan known as the Dayton
Reading Check Examining What events led to the Accords. In 1996 some 60,000 NATO troops, includ-
impeachment of President Clinton? ing 20,000 Americans, entered Bosnia to enforce
the plan.
In 1998 another war erupted, this time within the
Clinton’s Foreign Policy Serbian province of Kosovo. Kosovo has two major
ethnic groups—Serbs and Albanians. Many of the
While attracting worldwide attention, the
Albanians wanted Kosovo to separate from Serbia.
impeachment drama did not affect world affairs. The
To keep Kosovo in Serbia, Serbian leader Slobodan
collapse of the Soviet Union virtually ended the
Milosevic ordered a crackdown. The Albanians
struggle between communism and democracy, but
then organized their own army to fight back.
small bloody wars continued to erupt around the
Worried by reports of Serbian violence against
world. On several occasions President Clinton used
Albanian civilians, President Clinton convinced
force to bring an end to regional conflicts.
European leaders that NATO should again use
force to stop the fighting. In March 1999, NATO
The Haitian Intervention In 1991 military lead- began bombing Serbia. The bombing convinced
ers in Haiti overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Serbia to pull its troops out of Kosovo.

Peacemaking in the Middle East Despite the
overwhelming defeat Iraq suffered in the Persian
Gulf War, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remained
in power and continued to make threats against
Iraq’s neighbors. In 1996 Iraq attacked the Kurds, an
ethnic group whose homeland lies in northern Iraq.
To stop the attacks, the United States fired cruise mis-
siles at Iraqi military targets.
Relations between Israel and the Palestinians
were even more volatile. In 1993 Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation
Organization leader Yasir Arafat reached an agree-
ment. The PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist,
and Israel recognized the PLO as the representative
of the Palestinians. President Clinton then invited
Arafat and Rabin to the White House, where they
History
signed the Declaration of Principles—a plan for cre-
ating a Palestinian government. Middle East Conflict The struggle over control of the Israeli/Palestinian areas
Opposition to the peace plan emerged on both intensified in the 1990s. Although President Clinton directed many negotiations
sides. Radical Palestinians exploded bombs in Israel to attempt to resolve the conflict, the region remained a very dangerous place.
Which leaders agreed to a framework for peace in 1993?
and in 1995 a right-wing Israeli assassinated Prime
Minister Rabin.
In 1998 Israeli and Palestinian leaders met with Clinton Leaves Office As he prepared to leave
President Clinton at the Wye River plantation in office, President Clinton’s legacy was uncertain. He
Maryland to work out details of the withdrawal of had balanced the budget and presided over the great-
Israeli troops from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. est period of economic growth in American history.
This agreement, however, failed to settle the status of Clinton’s presidency was marred, however, by the
Jerusalem, which both sides claimed. impeachment trial, which had divided the nation and
In July 2000, President Clinton invited Arafat and widened the divide between liberals and conserva-
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to reach an agree- tives. In the election of 2000, that division would lead
ment, but these talks failed. Beginning in October, to the closest election in American history.
violence started to break out between Palestinians
and Israeli soldiers. The region was as far from peace Reading Check Identifying In what three regions of
as ever. the world did Clinton use force to support his foreign policy?
TM
TM

1. Define: perjury, ethnic cleansing. 5. Analyzing Why was President Clinton 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
2. Identify: AmeriCorps, Contract with able to win re-election in 1996? photographs on page 899 of Clinton’s
America, Kenneth Starr, Dayton 6. Categorizing Complete a chart similar impeachment trial. What elements in
Accords. to the one below by explaining the the photograph reflect the seriousness
3. Explain why the federal government foreign policy issues facing President of the occasion?
shut down in 1995. Clinton in each of the areas listed.

4. Economic Factors What government Region Issue
policies helped create the U.S. Latin America
of a member of Congress. Write a letter
prosperity of the 1990s? Southeastern Europe
in which you attempt to persuade other
Middle East
lawmakers to vote either for or against
the impeachment of President Clinton.
Provide reasons for your position.

An Interdependent
World
As the world adjusted to a new era, it Organizing Complete a graphic organ- • Explain the development of regional
faced the advantages and disadvantages izer like the one below to chart the major economic blocs around the world.
of growing economic globalization and political and economic problems facing • Assess environmental issues that have
the end of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry. the world at the turn of the century. become important internationally.
trade deficit, North American Free Trade Global Connections Economic, health,
Global
Agreement, euro, nuclear proliferation, Concerns and environmental developments in
global warming, Kyoto Protocol recent years have led to the world’s
nations becoming more interdependent.
✦1993 ✦1996 ✦1999 ✦2002

1993 1994 2000 2001 2002
European Union United States, Mexico, and U.S. gives permanent China becomes Treaty of Moscow
launched Canada inaugurate NAFTA trade status to China member of WTO signed
It was an important breakthrough when President Clinton appointed Madeleine Albright in 1996 to be
the first woman to serve as secretary of state. Born in Czechoslovakia, Albright immigrated to the
United States as a young girl. She earned a Ph.D. in Russian studies from Columbia University. Her
tough-talking approach as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations earned her the nation’s top for-
eign policy job.
As secretary of state, Albright dealt with everything from peace negotiations in the Middle
East to improving trade relations with China. She also championed women’s rights in devel-
oping countries. Here, she expresses her views on women’s rights:
“ [Halting violence against women] is a goal of American foreign policy around the world,
where abuses range from domestic violence . . . to forcing young girls into prostitution. Some
say all this is cultural, and there’s nothing we can do about it. I say it’s criminal, and we each
”
have a responsibility to stop it.
Madeleine Albright —quoted in Madeleine Albright and the New American Diplomacy
The New Global Economy

In the latter part of the 1900s, American leaders became more concerned with many
global issues. Economies around the world had become much more interdependent.
Computer technology and the Internet played a big role in forging a global economy.

Selling American-made goods abroad had long been NAFTA faced competing regional trade blocs in
important to American prosperity. By the 1970s, how- Europe and Asia. In 1993 the European Union (EU)
ever, serious trade deficits had mounted—Americans was created to promote economic and political cooper-
purchased more from foreign nations than American ation among many European nations. The EU created
industry and agriculture sold abroad. The United a common bank and the euro, a common currency for
States found it necessary to compete harder in the member nations. The organization also removed trade
global marketplace by streamlining industry, using barriers between its members and set policies on
new technology, and opening new markets. imports from nations outside the community.
From World War II to the present, Republican and EU rules tended to favor imports from the
Democratic administrations have both tried to lower European nations’ former colonies in Asia, Africa,
barriers to international trade. They reasoned that the and the Pacific over competing products from the
U.S. economy benefited from the sale of American United States. The EU also banned scientifically mod-
exports, and that the purchase of imports would keep ified food, such as hormone-treated beef from the
consumer prices, inflation, and interest rates low for United States. American exporters argued that hor-
Americans. Opponents warned that the global econ- mones were a safe way to accelerate livestock growth
omy might cost the United States industrial jobs as rates and produce leaner meat. They protested that
manufacturing shifted to lesser-developed nations European fears lacked a scientific basis.
with few environmental regulations and cheap labor. The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
By the 1990s, the debate between supporters of free was an attempt to create a Pacific trade community to
trade and those who wanted to limit trade to protect rival the European Union. APEC represented the
industries had become an important part of fastest-growing region in the world and controlled 47
American politics. percent of global trade in 2001. APEC began as a
Regional Blocs One means

of increasing international History
trade was to create regional
trade pacts. In 1994 the A Busy Border NAFTA greatly increased
trade across the Texas-Mexico border
North American Free Trade
(below). It also led to the building of
Agreement (NAFTA) joined foreign-owned factories, known as
Canada, the United States, maquiladoras, in Mexico near the
and Mexico in a free-trade American border to take advantage of
zone. With NAFTA in opera- low Mexican wages. The maquiladora
tion, exports of American pictured at right is located in Tijuana.
goods to both Canada and How did NAFTA affect both the
United States and Mexico?
Mexico rose dramatically.
From 1993 to 2000, it is esti-
mated that combined exports
to those two countries rose
from $142 to $290 billion, an
increase of 104 percent.
One concern of many
Americans was that indus-
trial jobs would go to Mexico,
where labor costs were lower.
Although some jobs were lost
to Mexico, unemployment
rates in the United States fell
during this period and wages
rose. Many American busi-
nesses upgraded their tech-
nology, and workers shifted
to more skilled jobs or to the
service industry.

MOMENT
in HISTORY
TERRORISM IN THE
HEARTLAND
A couple comforts each other
after placing flowers on one of
the 168 chairs that form part of
the Oklahoma City National
Memorial. The site was dedi-
cated on April 19, 2000—five
years to the day after Timothy
McVeigh detonated a massive
bomb outside the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in
downtown Oklahoma City.
Most of the 168 killed and hun-
dreds injured were government
employees, but 19 children
attending a day-care facility in
the building also died in the
blast. A jury found McVeigh
guilty, and he was executed in
2001.
forum to promote economic cooperation and lower the bill passed in late 2000. In 2001 China joined
trade barriers, but major political differences kept its the WTO.
members from acting together. Even with these steps toward the global commu-
nity, many American officials demand that China
The World Trade Organization Central to the must do more to repair its history of human rights
effort to promote a global economy was the World abuses and address the problem of selling pirated
Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO adminis- versions of copyrighted materials. Critics of China
tered international trade agreements and helped also argue that American manufacturers should not
settle trade disputes. American supporters of the be threatened by low-cost goods imported from
WTO cited benefits for U.S. consumers, including Chinese factories.
cheaper imports, new markets, and copyright protec- Reading Check Explaining Why was the European
tion for the American entertainment industry. On the
Union (EU) created in 1993?
other hand, the United States had no veto power in
the WTO and poorer nations could outvote it.
Issues of Global Concern
Trade With China China’s huge population offered Although the end of the Cold War had reduced the
vast potential as a market for American goods, but threat of nuclear war between the United States and
many Americans had strong reservations about the Soviet Union, it also increased fears that nuclear
China’s record on human rights, and they worried weapons might fall into the wrong hands. Equally
about its threats to invade Taiwan. President Clinton worrisome were efforts by several nations, including
pressed Congress to grant China permanent normal Pakistan, North Korea, and Iraq, to acquire nuclear
trade relation status, hoping to bring the nation weapons and long-range missiles. Beginning in the
into the world community. Despite opposition from 1980s, nations also began to be concerned about the
labor unions, conservatives, and environmentalists, environment.

TECHNOLOGY large ozone “hole” over Antarctica. In 1987 the
United States and 22 other nations agreed to phase
Nuclear Proliferation When Russia agreed to
out the production of CFCs and other chemicals that
reduce its nuclear arsenal, fears arose that some of its
might be weakening the ozone layer.
weapons or radioactive material could be stolen or
sold on the black market. In response, the U.S. pro-
Global Warming In the early 1990s, another global
vided funds to Russia to assist in the reduction of its
environmental issue developed when some scientists
nuclear stockpile.
found evidence of global warming—an increase in
Other efforts were made to reduce the threat of
average world temperatures over time. Such a rise in
nuclear proliferation, or the spread of nuclear
temperature could eventually lead to more droughts
weapons to new nations. Congress passed legislation
and other forms of extreme weather. A furious debate
that cut aid and imposed sanctions on nations seeking
is now underway among scientists over how to
to acquire such weapons. In 1996 President Clinton
measure changes in the earth’s temperature and
signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, but
what the results mean.
the Senate refused to ratify it to avoid limiting
Many experts believe carbon dioxide emissions
American nuclear research. The 2002 Treaty of Moscow
from factories and power plants caused global warm-
aimed at further reductions of U.S. and Russian
ing, but others disagree. Some question whether global
nuclear weapons. The treaty stated that by the end of
warming even exists. The issue is very controversial
2012 the total number of strategic nuclear warheads
because the cost of controlling emissions would affect
possessed by each country could not exceed 2,200.
the global economy. Developing nations trying to
Iran and North Korea caused concern in the interna-
industrialize would be hurt the most, but economic
tional community by taking steps to reinvigorate their
growth in wealthier nations would be hurt, too.
nuclear energy programs. While both countries insist
Concern about global warming led to an interna-
that nuclear power is only used for fuel, the United
tional conference in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997. Thirty-
States and the European Union have demanded that
eight nations and the EU signed the Kyoto Protocol
these nations undergo close scrutiny to ensure these
promising to reduce emissions, but very few put it
programs do not lead to nuclear weapons.
into effect. President Clinton did not submit the
Kyoto Protocol to the Senate for ratification because
Concern About Ozone In the 1980s, scientists dis-
most senators were opposed to it. In 2001 President
covered that chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons
George W. Bush withdrew the United States from
(CFCs) had the potential to deplete the earth’s
the Kyoto Protocol, citing flaws in the treaty.
atmosphere of ozone. Ozone is a gas in the atmos-
phere that protects life on Earth from the cancer-
Reading Check Identifying What is the ozone layer,
causing ultraviolet rays of the sun. In the late 1980s,
public awareness of the ozone issue increased dra- and why is it important?
matically when stories appeared documenting a
TM
TM

1. Define: trade deficit, euro, nuclear 5. Analyzing Do you think the new global 7. Analyzing Photographs Study the
proliferation, global warming. economy has helped or hurt the United photograph on page 904 of the
2. Identify: North American Free Trade States? Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Agreement, Kyoto Protocol. 6. Organizing Complete a graphic organ- What do the empty chairs represent?
3. Describe the international response to izer similar to the one below by listing How has the memorial helped relatives
concerns about global warming. and describing the regional trade blocs of the victims?
that formed in the 1990s.
Reviewing Themes
Regional Trade Blocs
4. Global Connections Why was China Writing About History
an important factor in world trade? 8. Expository Writing Decide which
issue of global concern today is the
most serious. In an essay, explain why
you think it is the most serious problem,
and provide some possible solutions.

America Enters
a New Century
The closest presidential election in Organizing As you read about the 2000 • Describe the unusual circumstances
American history served as the prelude to presidential election, complete a graphic surrounding the outcome of the 2000
the new century. The new president initi- organizer similar to the one below by presidential election.
ated an ambitious program. charting the key post-election events cul- • Evaluate the programs President
minating in George W. Bush’s victory. George W. Bush initiated.
Key Terms and Names
Al Gore, George W. Bush, Ralph Nader, Bush’s Section Theme
Victory
chad, strategic defense Government and Democracy The 2000
presidential election was very close, and
the outcome was controversial.
✦Aug. 2000 ✦Dec. 2000 ✦Mar. 2001 ✦June 2001

August 2000 November 2000 December 2000 January 2001 June 2001
Republicans nominate Bush; Election takes place; Gore concedes George W. Bush Bush signs tax cut
Democrats nominate Gore recounts begin in Florida election to Bush inaugurated as president bill into law
The 2000 presidential election was very close. Two candidates battled over the Electoral
College votes of one state—Florida. The election remained undecided for more than a
month. Though this election was a spectacle of demonstrations and detailed ballot evalua-
tions, some people tried to put it all in perspective. May Akabogu-Collins, an American citizen
originally from Nigeria, contrasted the “turmoil” and “chaos” of the election with the transfer
of power in other parts of the world:
“ America should be grateful that this election was as wild as it gets. Some of us originally
came from places where heads would have rolled during a similar crisis. So far, not a gunshot
has been heard on account of the balloting, and you call this ‘wild’? An election held in
Nigeria in 1993 led to the President-elect’s being thrown in jail for trying to assume office and
May Akabogu-Collins ultimately to his mysterious death. Going to court to decide who won this contest is, in my
”
opinion, as civilized as it gets.
—quoted in Time, December 11, 2000
A New President for a New Century

The close election of 2000 was, in some ways, another legacy of Bill Clinton’s years in
power. Clinton’s presidency had left the country deeply divided. Many people were
pleased with the economy but disappointed with the president’s personal behavior. As

the election approached, the Republicans and the The 2000 Campaign The election campaign
Democrats both tried to find candidates who would revolved around the question of what to do with sur-
appeal to a broad cross-section of society. plus tax revenues. Both Bush and Gore agreed that
Social Security needed reform, but they disagreed on
The Candidates Are Chosen The Democrats nom- the details. Both promised to cut taxes, although Bush
inated Vice President Al Gore for president in 2000. proposed a much larger tax cut than Gore. Both men
As his running mate, Gore chose Senator Joseph also promised to improve public education and to
Lieberman from Connecticut, the first Jewish support plans to help seniors pay for prescription
American ever to run for vice president on a major drugs.
party ticket. The healthy economy helped Gore, who stressed
The Republican contest for the presidential nomi- that the Clinton-Gore administration had brought
nation came down to two men: Governor George W. prosperity to the nation. Many voters, however, were
Bush of Texas, son of former president George Bush, concerned with what they perceived as a decline in
and Senator John McCain of Arizona, a former navy moral values among the nation’s leaders. Bush
pilot and prisoner of war in North Vietnam. Most promised to restore dignity to the White House.
Republican leaders endorsed Bush, who was also Frustrated by the similarities between Bush and
popular with conservative Republicans. He easily Gore, well-known consumer advocate Ralph Nader
won the nomination, despite some early McCain vic- entered the race as the nominee of the Green Party.
tories in the primaries. Bush chose former defense Nader was known for his strong environmentalist
secretary Richard Cheney as his vice presidential views and his criticism of the power of large corpora-
running mate. tions. Nader argued that both Bush and Gore were
History
A Tense Wait During the unprecedented wait for

a winner in the 2000 presidential election, candidate
George W. Bush (right) waits with his father, the
41st president. The outcome of the election
depended on the vote counts in which state?
The Florida Election, 2000

Bars represent the number of votes by which Bush led in Florida, in 15-minute intervals.
Gore has lead for Over next two hours, Florida called “undecided” Networks call Bush Bush’s lead shrinks
15 minutes. AP, Bush lead builds to around 10:30 P.M. winner in Florida— to 1,655 votes;
networks call him nearly 150,000 votes. Bush lead soon begins and president-elect— state again called
A controversial punch 160,000 winner of Florida. to shrink. just after 2:15 A.M. a toss-up.
ballot from West Palm
140,000
Beach, Florida Gore declared
120,000 winner
100,000 Winner
80,000 undecided
Bush declared
60,000 winner
40,000
20,000
0
-20,000
7 P.M. 8 P.M. 9 P.M. 10 P.M. 11 P.M. Midnight 1 A.M. 2 A.M. 3 A.M. 4 A.M. 5 A.M.
Source: Associated Press.
In
The Election of 2000 Motion After the machine recount
showed Bush still ahead, a bat-
tle began over the manual
WASH.
11 N.H. recounts. Most Florida ballots
MONT. N. DAK. VT. 4 ME.
3 3 3 4
OREG. MINN.
required voters to punch a hole.
7 10 The little piece of cardboard
IDAHO WIS. MASS.
4 S. DAK. N.Y. 12
WYO. 3 11 33 punched out of the ballot is
3 MICH. R.I.
IOWA 18 4
NEBR. PA. called a chad. The problem for
NEV. 7 23 CONN.
4 5 OHIO N.J. 8
UTAH ILL. IND. 21 W. 15 vote counters was how to count
5 COLO. 22 12
CALIF. KANS. VA. VA. MD. DEL.
54 8 MO. KY. 5 10 3
a ballot when the chad was still
6 11 13
8
N.C. D.C. partially attached. On some,
ARIZ. OKLA. TENN. 11 14 2*
8 N. MEX. 8 ARK. S.C.
the chad was still in place, and
5 6
GA. 8 the voter had left only a dimple
MISS. ALA. 13
7 9 on the surface of the ballot.
TEX. LA.
32 9 When looking at the ballots,
FLA.
25 vote counters had to determine
HAWAII what the voter intended—and
4
different counties used differ-
ent standards.
ALASKA Electoral Popular Political Under state law, Florida
3 Candidate Vote Vote Party officials had to certify the
Bush 271 50,456,002 Republican results by a certain date. When
Gore 266 50,999,897 Democrat
it became clear that not all of
* 1 elector from Washington, D.C., abstained. the recounts could be finished
in time, Gore went to court to
overturn the deadline. The
Florida Supreme Court agreed
1. Interpreting Maps Which single New England state did
to set a new deadline. At Bush’s request, the United
George W. Bush win in the election?
States Supreme Court then intervened in the case to
2. Applying Geography Skills Though Gore won less than
decide whether the Florida Supreme Court had acted
half of the states, the election was extremely close. Why?
unconstitutionally.
While lawyers for Bush and Gore prepared their
dependent on campaign funds from large companies arguments for the Supreme Court, the hand recounts
and were unwilling to support policies that favored continued. Despite having more time, not all of the
American workers and the environment. counties where Gore wanted recounts were able to
meet the new deadline. On November 26, Florida
officials certified Bush the winner by 537 votes.
A Close Vote The 2000 election was one of the clos-
est in American history. Gore narrowly won the pop- Bush v. Gore Although Bush had been declared the
ular vote. He received 48.4 percent of the vote to 47.9 winner in Florida, Gore’s lawyers headed back to
for Bush. To win the presidency, however, candidates court arguing that thousands of ballots were still
have to win a majority of state electoral votes, not the uncounted. The Florida Supreme Court ordered all
overall popular vote. Florida counties to begin a hand recount of ballots
Neither candidate had the 270 electoral votes rejected by the counting machines. As counting
needed to win. The election came down to the Florida began, the United States Supreme Court ordered the
vote—both men needed its 25 electoral votes. recount to stop until it had issued its ruling.
The results in Florida were so close that state law On December 12, in Bush v. Gore, the United
required a recount of the ballots using vote-counting States Supreme Court ruled 7–2 that the hand
machines. There were, however, thousands of ballots recounts in Florida violated the equal protection
that had been thrown out because the counting clause of the Constitution. The Court argued that
machines could not discern a vote for president. Gore because different vote counters used different stan-
immediately asked for a hand recount of ballots in dards, the recount did not treat all voters equally.
several strongly Democratic counties. ; (See page 962 for more information on Bush v. Gore.)

Both federal law and the Constitution require the public schools were doing a poor job. Although
electoral votes for president to be cast on a certain Congress refused to give federal funds to private
day. If Florida missed that deadline, its electoral schools, it did vote in favor of annual reading and
votes would not count. The Court ruled 5–4 that math tests in public schools for grades 3–8.
there was not enough time left to conduct a manual President Bush also focused on Medicare reform.
recount that would pass constitutional standards. By the summer of 2002, Congress introduced a bill
This ruling left Bush the certified winner in Florida. adding presciption drug benefits to this health care
The next day, Gore conceded the election. program. The bill remained mired in controversy
until it was finally passed in November 2003.
Reading Check Analyzing Why did the U.S. Congress also reacted to a rash of corporate scan-
Supreme Court stop the manual recounts in Florida? dals. For example, at one large energy trading com-
pany, Enron, corporate leaders cost investors and
employees billions of dollars before the company
Bush Becomes President went bankrupt. The federal government tightened
On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush became the accounting regulations and toughened penalties for
43rd president of the United States. In his inaugural dishonest executives.
address, Bush promised to improve the nation’s pub- Shortly after taking office, President Bush asked
lic schools, to cut taxes, to reform Social Security and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to conduct a
Medicare, and to build up the nation’s defenses. comprehensive review of the nation’s military. The
After taking office, the president’s first priority president wanted to increase military spending, but
was to cut taxes to try to boost the economy. During he also wanted new military programs designed to
the election campaign, the economy had begun to meet the needs of the post–Cold War world.
slow. The stock market dropped sharply, and many One military program Bush strongly favored was
new Internet-based companies went out of strategic defense—the effort to develop missiles and
business. Many other businesses laid off thousands other devices that could shoot down nuclear missiles.
of workers. Despite opposition from some Bush argued that missile defense was needed
Democrats, Congress passed a large $1.35 trillion because many unfriendly nations were developing
tax cut to be phased in over 10 years. In the summer the technology to build nuclear missiles.
of 2001, Americans began receiving tax rebate As the debate about the nation’s military pro-
checks that put about $40 billion back into the econ- grams continued in the summer of 2001, a horrific
omy in an effort to prevent a recession. event changed everything. On September 11, 2001,
Soon after Congress passed the tax cut plan, terrorists crashed passenger jets into the World Trade
President Bush proposed two major reforms in edu- Center and the Pentagon. A new war had begun.
cation. He wanted public schools to hold annual
standardized tests, and he wanted to allow parents to Reading Check Explaining What was President
use federal funds to pay for private schools if their George W. Bush’s first priority when he took office?
TM
TM

1. Define: chad, strategic defense. 5. Forming an Opinion Do you think the 7. Interpreting Graphs Study the graph
2. Identify: Al Gore, George W. Bush, 2000 presidential election was decided on page 907. By how many votes was
Ralph Nader. fairly? Why or why not? Gore leading when news networks
3. Reviewing Facts What did the 6. Organizing Complete a graphic declared him the winner in Florida?
Supreme Court decide in Bush v. Gore? organizer similar to the one below by What was Bush’s lead when networks
listing President Bush’s goals when he declared him to be the winner?
Reviewing Themes took office.
4. Government and Democracy What
caused the vote-count controversy in
Florida in the 2000 election? Bush 8. Persuasive Writing Take on the role
Goals
of a Supreme Court justice. Write a
statement explaining how you voted in
Bush v. Gore.

Social Studies
Reading a Cartogram
On most maps, land areas are drawn in propor-
Population Density by
tion to their actual surface areas on the earth. On Region in the U.S., 1996
some maps, however, a small country may appear
much larger than usual, and a large country may
look much smaller. The shapes of the countries Northeast
Midwest
may also look different.
Learning the Skill

Maps that distort country size and shape are
West
called cartograms. In a cartogram, country size
reflects some value other than land area, such as
People per
population or gross national product. For example, square mile
on a conventional map, Canada appears much 106.9
larger than India. In a cartogram showing world 317.9
population, however, India would appear larger 82.6 South
than Canada because it has a much larger popula- 33.4
tion. The cartogram is a tool for making visual Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970;
comparisons. At a glance, you can see how each U.S. Census Bureau.
country or region compares with another in a par-

ticular value.
To use a cartogram, first read the title and key to
identify what value the cartogram illustrates. Then
Skills Assessment
examine the cartogram to see which countries or Complete the Practicing Skills questions on page
regions appear. Find the largest and smallest coun- 921 and the Chapter 29 Skill Reinforcement
tries. Compare the cartogram with a conventional Activity to assess your mastery of this skill.
land-area map to determine the degree of distor-
tion of particular countries. Finally, draw conclu-
sions about the topic.
Applying the Skill
Practicing the Skill Reading a Cartogram Find statistics that compare
some value for different states or countries. For
Study the cartogram shown on this page, and
example, you might compare the number of farms in
then answer these questions.
each state or the annual oil consumption of countries
1 What is the subject of the cartogram? on one continent. Be creative in your choice. Convert
2 Which region appears largest on the cartogram? these statistics into a simple cartogram. Determine the
Which appears smallest? relative size of each country or state according to the
3 Compare the cartogram to the map of the chosen value. For example, if the United States
United States found in the Atlas. Which region consumes five times more oil than Canada, then the
is the most distorted in size compared to a land- United States should appear five times larger.
area map?
4 Provide a brief explanation for this distortion.
910
The War on Terrorism
After suffering the worst terrorist attack As you read about America’s war on • Describe the development of Middle
in its history when airplanes crashed terrorism, complete a graphic organizer East terrorism.
into the Pentagon and the World Trade similar to the one below to show the dif- • Explain the response of the United
Center, the United States launched a ferent reasons terrorists attack States to the terrorist attacks on the
massive effort to end international Americans. World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
terrorism.
Section Theme
Key Terms and Names Causes of Global Connections International
terrorism, state-sponsored terrorism, Terrorism terrorists targeted Americans in order
Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, anthrax to coerce the United States.
✦1980 ✦1990 ✦2000

1979 1988 1998 2001
Soviet Union invades Al-Qaeda is Bombs explode at U.S. embassies Attacks on the Pentagon
Afghanistan organized in Kenya and Tanzania and World Trade Center
At 8:45 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time on September 11, 2001, a Boeing 767 passenger jet
slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. As people below
gazed in horror, a second plane collided with the South Tower. Soon afterward, a third plane
crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. At 9:50 A.M., the South Tower collapsed in a
billowing cloud of dust and debris. The North Tower fell about 40 minutes later. The falling
towers killed thousands of people, burying them beneath a vast mound of rubble.
The airplanes did not crash accidentally. Hijackers deliberately crashed them into the
buildings. Hijackers also seized a fourth airplane, United Airlines Flight 93, probably hop-
ing to crash it into the White House or the Capitol. Many passengers on Flight 93 had cell
phones. After hearing about the World Trade Center, four passengers—Todd Beamer,
Thomas Burnett, Jeremy Glick, and Mark Bingham—decided to do something. An oper-
Todd Beamer ator listening over a cell phone heard Todd Beamer’s voice: “Are you ready, guys? Let’s
roll.” Soon afterward, Flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. At that moment, Vice
President Dick Cheney was in a bunker under the White House. After hearing that
Flight 93 had crashed, he said, “I think an act of heroism just took place on that plane.”
—adapted from Let’s Roll: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Courage
September 11, 2001

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, killed all 266 passengers and crewmembers
on the four hijacked planes. Another 125 people died in the Pentagon. In New York City,
nearly 3,000 people died. More Americans were killed in the attacks than died at Pearl
Harbor or on D-Day in World War II.

History
Transcending Tragedy Although

the destruction of the World Trade
Center (lower right) and the attack
on the Pentagon (right) shocked
Americans, people responded rapidly
to the crisis. Across the nation,
images such as that of firefighters
raising a flag in the ruins of the
World Trade Center (left) inspired
Americans. Many lined up to
donate blood. Others raised money
and collected food, blankets, and other sup-
plies for the victims and rescue workers. On
what date did the attacks occur?
The attacks on the World Trade Center and the create a pure Islamic society. Muslims who support
Pentagon were acts of terrorism. Terrorism is the use these movements are referred to as fundamentalist
of violence by nongovernmental groups against civil- militants. Although the vast majority of Muslims
ians to achieve a political goal. Terrorist acts are believe terrorism is contrary to their faith, militants
intended to instill fear in people and to frighten their began using terrorism to achieve their goals.
governments into changing their policies. American support of Israel also angered many in
the Middle East. In 1947 the UN divided British-con-
Middle East Terrorism Although there have been trolled Palestine into two territories to provide a
many acts of terrorism in American history, most ter- home for Jews. One part became Israel. The other part
rorist attacks on Americans since World War II have was to become a Palestinian state, but fighting
been carried out by Middle Eastern groups. The rea- between Israel and the Arab states in 1948 left this ter-
son Middle Eastern terrorists have targeted ritory under the control of Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.
Americans can be traced back to events early in the The Palestinians wanted their own nation. In the
twentieth century. 1950s, they began staging guerrilla raids and ter-
As oil became important to the American econ- rorist attacks against Israel. Since the United States
omy in the 1920s, the United States invested heavily gave military and economic aid to Israel, it became
in the Middle East oil industry. This industry brought the target of Muslim hostility. In the 1970s, several
great wealth to the ruling families in some Middle Middle Eastern nations realized they could fight
Eastern kingdoms, but most of the people remained Israel and the United States by providing terrorist
poor. Some became angry at the United States for groups with money, weapons, and training. When
supporting the wealthy kingdoms and families. a government secretly supports terrorism, this is
The rise of the oil industry increased the Middle called state-sponsored terrorism. The governments
East’s contact with Western society. As Western ideas of Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Iran have all sponsored
spread through the region, many Muslims—follow- terrorism.
ers of the region’s dominant religion—feared that
their traditional values and beliefs were being weak- A New Terrorist Threat In 1979 the Soviet Union
ened. New movements arose calling for a strict inter- invaded Afghanistan. In response, Muslims from
pretation of the Quran—the Muslim holy book—and across the Middle East headed to Afghanistan to join
a return to traditional Muslim religious laws. the struggle against the Soviets. Among them was a
These Muslim movements wanted to overthrow 22-year-old Muslim named Osama bin Laden. Bin
pro-Western governments in the Middle East and Laden came from one of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest

families. He used his wealth to support the Afghan America Unites
resistance. In 1988 he founded an organization called
The attack on the Cole and the attempted bombing
al-Qaeda (al KY·duh), or “the Base.” Al-Qaeda
of Seattle were overshadowed by the close presiden-
recruited Muslims and channeled money and arms to
tial election of 2000 and the policies of President
the Afghan resistance.
George W. Bush’s new administration. Then, on
Bin Laden’s experience in Afghanistan convinced
September 11, 2001, terrorists struck again, hijacking
him that superpowers could be beaten. He also
four American passenger planes and executing the
believed that Western ideas had contaminated
most devastating terrorist attack in history.
Muslim society. He was outraged when Saudi Arabia
allowed American troops on Saudi soil after Iraq Citizens Respond to the Crisis The attacks on the
invaded Kuwait. World Trade Center and the Pentagon shocked
Operating first from Sudan and then from Americans, but they responded rapidly to the crisis.
Afghanistan—then under the control of Muslim fun- Firefighters and medical workers from other cities
damentalists known as the Taliban—bin Laden dedi- headed to New York to help. Across the nation,
cated himself and al-Qaeda to driving Westerners, Americans donated blood, raised money, and collected
and especially Americans, out of the Middle East. In food, blankets, and other supplies. Within weeks,
1998 he called on Muslims to kill Americans. Soon Americans had donated over one billion dollars. From
afterward, bin Laden’s followers set off bombs at the around the world came sympathy. “We are all Ameri-
American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Over cans!” wrote one French journalist.
200 people died in the attacks, including 12 Ameri- Everywhere across the nation, Americans put up
cans, and more than 5,400 were injured. flags to show their unity and resolve. They held can-
Shortly after these bombings, President Clinton dlelight vigils and prayer services as they searched for
ordered cruise missiles launched at terrorist facilities ways to help. If the terrorists had hoped to divide
in Afghanistan and Sudan. The attacks did not deter Americans, they failed. As the Reverend Billy Graham
bin Laden. In 1999 al-Qaeda terrorists were arrested noted at a memorial service: “A tragedy like this could
while trying to smuggle explosives into the United have torn our country apart. But instead it has united
States in an attempt to bomb Seattle. In October 2000, us and we have become a family.”
al-Qaeda terrorists crashed a boat loaded with explo-
sives into the USS Cole, an American warship, while it A National Emergency The American government
was docked in the Middle Eastern country of Yemen. reacted quickly by grounding civilian airlines and
alerting the armed forces. On September 14, President
Reading Check Explaining What are the three Bush declared a national emergency. Congress voted
main reasons certain Muslims became angry with the to authorize the use of force to fight the terrorists.
United States? Intelligence sources and the FBI quickly identified
American Heroes
After two hijacked aircraft slammed into the twin towers of the
World Trade Center on September 11, survivors in the building headed
down smoky, dust-choked stairways to escape. Yet even as thousands
of people streamed out of the buildings, hundreds more headed into
the blazing structures, fully aware of the danger they faced.
The people climbing the staircases into the burning buildings were
New York City firefighters and rescue workers. When the towers col-
lapsed, over 300 firefighters died. The tragedy at the World Trade
Center reminded everyone that these men and women who daily risk
their lives to save others are true American heroes whose sacrifices
must not be forgotten.
Major Terrorist Attacks Affecting Americans, 1970–2005
120°W 60°W 0° 60°E 120°E
In
Motion
60°N
N
NORTH 6
PaCIFic 5
AMERICA W
7 E
EUROPE 3 ASIA
Ocean
8 12
S
14 2 30°N
4 1
9
0 3,000 miles ATLantIC PaCIFic
0 3,000 kilometers Ocean AFRICA 11 Ocean
Winkel Tripel projection
EQUATOR
SOUTH 0°
AMERICA
indian
10
Ocean 13
1 1970 Terrorists hijack airplanes to Jordan 8 1995 Truck bomb destroys a federal building in Oklahoma
City; kills 168, injures more than 500 AUSTRALIA
2 1979 Fifty-two Americans held hostage in
Iran for more than a year 9 1996 Bomb at U.S. complex in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, kills 30°S
19 American soldiers
3 1983 Bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in
Beirut, Lebanon, kills 241 10 1998 Bombings at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
kill more than 200
4 1985 TWA flight 847 hijacked; hostages 11 2000 Bomb kills 17 American sailors and injures 39 60°S
held for 17 days in Beirut, Lebanon aboard USS Cole
5 1986 Bombing at West Berlin dance club; 12 2001 Hijacked airliners crash into the World Trade
kills 3, injures 150 Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, killing
thousands
6 1988 Bomb on Pan Am flight 103 kills 270
in Lockerbie, Scotland 13 2002 Bombs in Indonesia kill over 200
7 1993 Bomb at World Trade Center kills 6 14 2005 Attacks kill American civilians helping to rebuild Iraq
the attacks as the work of Osama bin Laden and the Nation—this generation—will lift a dark threat of
al-Qaeda network.
President Bush decided the time had come to end
violence from our people and our future. . . .
”
—President George W. Bush, Address to Joint Session
the threat of terrorism in the world. He issued an
of Congress, September 20, 2001
ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan,
demanding they turn over bin Laden and his sup-
porters and close all terrorist camps. He also Reading Check Outlining What steps did the
declared that although the war on terrorism would president take in response to the terrorist attacks?
start by targeting al-Qaeda, it would not stop there.
“It will not end,” he announced, “until every terror-
ist group of global reach has been found, stopped, A New War Begins
and defeated.” Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned
The president also announced that the United Americans that “this will be a war like none other our
States would no longer tolerate states that aided nation has faced.” The enemy, he explained, “is a
terrorists. “From this day forward,” he proclaimed, global network of terrorist organizations and their
“any nation that continues to harbor or support terror- state sponsors, committed to denying free people the
ism will be regarded by the United States as a hos- opportunity to live as they choose.” Military force
tile regime.” The war, President Bush warned, would would be used to fight terrorism, but other means
not end quickly, but it was a war the nation had to would be used as well.
fight:
Fighting Terrorism At Home In an effort to protect
“ Great harm has been done to us. We have suf-
fered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have
the American people from further terrorist attacks,
President Bush called on Congress to create the
found our mission and our moment. . . . Our Department of Homeland Security to merge the

dozens of federal agencies working to prevent terror- cine, and other supplies to Afghan refugees. The
ism. Among the oranizations that the new depart- United States also sent aid to a coalition of Afghan
ment controls are the Coast Guard, the Border Patrol, groups, known as the Northern Alliance, which had
the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the been fighting the Taliban.
Customs Service, and the Federal Emergency The American bombing campaign quickly shattered
Management Agency. the Taliban’s defenses. The Northern Alliance then
President Bush also asked Congress to pass legisla- launched a massive attack and by early December, the
tion to help law enforcement agencies track down ter- Taliban regime had collapsed. The United States and
rorist suspects. Congress acted with unusual speed, its allies then began helping Afghan leaders create a
and the president signed the antiterroism bill— new government. In January of 2004, Afghanistan
known as the USA Patriot Act—into law in October adopted a new constitution that granted equality for
2001. The new law allowed secret searches to avoid men and women and defined the country as an Islamic
tipping off suspects in terrorism cases. It also allowed Republic. In October, Hamid Karzai became the
authorities to obtain a single nationwide search war- first democratically-elected leader of Afghanistan.
rant that could be used anywhere. The law also made Parliamentary elections were set for September 2005.
it easier to wiretap suspects, and it allowed authori- American and allied troops remained in Afghanistan
ties to track e-mail and seize voice mail. Although to act as peacekeepers and continue hunting for bin
Congress sought to balance Americans’ rights with Laden and other al-Qaeda terrorists.
the need to increase security, civil libertarians worried
that the new law eroded the Fourth Amendment’s Weapons of Mass Destruction The United States
protection against unreasonable search and seizure. grew concerned that groups such as al-Qaeda might
acquire nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.
Bioterrorism Strikes America On October 5, 2001, These weapons of mass destruction could kill tens of
a new terrorist attack began when a Florida newspa- thousands of people at once.
per editor died from anthrax. Anthrax is a type of In his state of the union speech in January 2002,
bacteria that has been used to create biological President Bush warned that an “axis of evil,” which
weapons and if not treated with antibiotics it can kill he identified as Iraq, Iran, and North Korea, posed a
quickly. grave threat to the world. Each of these countries had
Soon, anthrax was found in news organizations and been known to sponsor terrorism and was suspected
government offices, in
some cases brought in
Airport Security Airline passengers, such as these at Denver International Airport, had to wait in long lines to go
through the mail. The through checkpoints when American airports increased security measures after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
FBI investigated the
attacks, but appre-
hended no suspects.
Government agencies
responded by adopt-
ing rigorous measures
to screen their mail.
War in Afghanistan
On October 7, 2001,
the United States be-
gan bombing targets in
Afghanistan to attack
al-Qaeda’s camps and
the Taliban’s mili-
tary forces. President
Bush explained that
Islam and the Afghan
people were not
the enemy, and he
pledged food, medi-

of trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. izing the use of force. President Bush then argued that
The president promised to take strong action: “The the Iraq threat justified a preemptive war—a war
United States of America will not permit the world’s launched to prevent rather than to respond to an
most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the attack. The United States, Great Britain, and about 30
world’s most destructive weapons.” other countries prepared for war.
Months later, North Korea announced that it had On March 20, 2003, the U.S.-led coalition attacked
restarted its nuclear program. The Bush administra- Iraq. Over the next six weeks, the Iraqi army dis-
tion exerted diplomatic pressure to persuade the solved as soldiers refused to risk their lives for Hus-
North Korean government to stop the program, but sein. The coalition forces quickly seized control of the
the North Koreans argued that they needed the country, and on May 1, President Bush declared that
weapons to protect themselves from a U.S. attack. the major combat was over. About 140 Americans, and
several thousand Iraqis, had died. American troops
Reading Check Explaining What is the Department captured Saddam Hussein by the end of the year.
Yet both the controversy over Iraq and the fighting
of Homeland Security?
continued. U.S. forces found no evidence that Iraq
possessed weapons of mass destruction, and a seri-
Confronting Iraq ous link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda was
not discovered. The United States also lacked suffi-
President Bush considered Iraq a more immediate
cient forces in Iraq to prevent the widespread looting
threat than North Korea in developing and distribut-
that broke out after Hussein’s government fell. The
ing weapons of mass destruction. Iraq’s dictator,
lawlessness that followed the war encouraged radi-
Saddam Hussein, had already used chemical weapons
cal religious factions within Iraq and terrorits who
twice, once in Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s and
entered the country to target American troops and
again in 1988 against the Kurds, an ethnic minority in
consultants from coalition countries. More Americans
northern Iraq who had rebelled against Hussein’s
died in Iraq after President Bush had declared the
regime. After the Gulf War in 1991, UN inspectors
end of combat than during the war itself.
found evidence that Iraq had developed biological
As casualties and costs mounted, President Bush
weapons and was working on a nuclear bomb.
sought help from the UN and other countries to sta-
Pressure on Iraq In the summer of 2002, President bilize and rebuild Iraq. In April 2005, Iraq’s Transi-
Bush called for a regime change in Iraq. In September tional National Assembly selected Ibrahim al-Ja’afari
he asked for a UN resolution demanding that Iraq as Iraq’s prime minister.
give up its weapons of mass destruction. He made it Writing the draft of Iraq’s constitution exposed
clear, though, that the United States would act with the divisions within the country. The Kurds and
or without UN support. He asked Congress to Shiite Muslims presented a draft document in
authorize the use of force against Iraq, and Congress August 2005, but the Sunni Muslims disagreed with
granted his request. the new federal structure, which would decentralize
During the congressional elections of 2002, Iraq’s government and give new powers to local
Democrats focused on the nation’s faltering econ- provincial councils. The Sunnis, who governed Iraq
omy, but President Bush made national security his during Saddam Hussein’s regime, believed federal-
chief theme. His vigorous campaigning helped ism would greatly reduce their influence.
Republicans add seats in the House of Repre-
sentatives and regain a slim majority in the Senate. Reading Check Summarizing Why did President
Bush decide to confront Iraq?
War and Its Aftermath Soon after the elections, the
United Nations approved a new resolution that set a
deadline for Iraq, but the Bush administration doubted The 2004 Elections
its effectiveness. The administration believed that The war on terrorism and the war in Iraq domi-
Saddam Hussein had hidden weapons of mass nated the election of 2004. In the wake of the terrorist
destruction that were ready or nearly ready for use. attacks, President Bush won widespread support for
Bush also believed that Hussein had ties to al-Qaeda. his firm determination to wage war on terrorism.
Many of America’s traditional allies in Europe wanted
to give the inspectors more time, and refused to sup- The Kerry Challenge President Bush and Vice
port a resolution from the UN Security Council author- President Cheney won nomination for a second term

without challenge. After pri- health coverage. Although a
mary campaigns that focused Catholic, Kerry differed with
largely on the war in Iraq, church leaders on many social
Democrats nominated Massa- issues, including abortion.
chusetts senator John Kerry While the events of
and North Carolina senator September 11, 2001, had
John Edwards. united the nation emotionally,
Kerry’s Vietnam War ser- the country remained as
vice was a dominant campaign divided politically as it had
issue. He had enlisted in the been during the 2000 election.
Navy and fought in Vietnam, President Bush drew his sup-
where he was decorated for port from the Southeast and
valor. Kerry returned from Making a point President Bush debates Democratic Party nomi- Southwest, as well as from
Vietnam convinced of the nee John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election campaign. rural areas and outer suburbs.
war’s futility and became an Senator Kerry’s base was in
outspoken critic. His experiences in Vietnam made the Northeast and on the West Coast, along with cities
him leery of sending American troops into combat. and inner suburbs. Both candidates devoted most of
their campaigning to a few “battleground” states in
A Choice for a Divided Nation In policies and the Midwest and in Florida, where voters’ opinions
personalities, Bush and Kerry offered the nation a were the most narrowly divided.
sharp choice. President Bush pledged to continue
cutting taxes and building a strong national defense. Bush Wins a Second Term Both parties saw voter
He opposed abortion and endorsed a constitutional turnout as the key to the victory. On Election Day the
amendment to ban same-sex marriages. His support- Republicans best succeeded in mobilizing their core
ers saw him as someone who operated on fixed supporters. President Bush took the lead in the popu-
moral and religious principles, trusted his instincts, lar vote and a majority in the Electoral College. His
and steadfastly followed a course of action once he victory helped preserve the Republican majorities in
made a decision. Congress. “We are led, by events and common sense,
Senator Kerry criticized what he considered Bush’s to one conclusion,” President Bush asserted in his
single-mindedness, insisting that a president must be second inaugural address: “The survival of liberty in
able to focus on more than one issue at a time. He our land increasingly depends on the success of lib-
pledged to address domestic economic problems erty in other lands.” The best hope for peace in our
while pursuing the war on terrorism. Kerry promised world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.”
to strengthen Social Security and to raise taxes on the
wealthiest individuals in order to fund health-care Reading Check Summarizing Which issues divided
insurance for the millions of Americans who lacked the country during the 2004 presidential election?
TM
TM

1. Define: terrorism, state-sponsored 5. Interpreting What factors have con- 7. Examining Maps Study the map on
terrorism. tributed to the rise of Middle Eastern page 914 of terrorist attacks. In what
2. Identify: Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, terrorist groups? region of the world did most of the
anthrax. 6. Organizing Use a graphic organizer attacks take place?
3. Explain how the United States similar to the one below to list the
responded to the attacks on New York reasons why President Bush declared Writing About History
City and Washington, D.C. war on Iraq. 8. Persuasive Writing The attacks on
New York City and Washington, D.C.,
Reviewing Themes
convinced many Americans that more
4. Global Connections Why does security was needed, even if it meant
War on Iraq
American foreign policy anger Islamic giving up some freedoms. Write a letter
fundamentalists in the Middle East? to a newspaper explaining why you are
for or against increased security.

Representative
Government
Why It Matters Bill Daley, the chairperson of Vice President Al Gore’s presiden-
tial campaign, was frantically trying to reach the vice president. It was 2:00 A.M. on Wednesday
morning, November 8, 2000, the day after the presidential election. The election had come down
to the vote counts in one state—Florida—and the votes in Florida were showing George W. Bush
as having a significant lead. Gore was preparing to publicly concede the election. Daley, however,
had heard that the latest Florida counts showed Bush’s lead shrinking to below one percent.
There would have to be a recount. When Daley finally got Gore on the phone, Daley shouted,
“Whatever you do, do not go out on the stage.”
As the debate began in Florida over how to recount the ballots, Daley stressed that “techni-
calities should not determine the presidency of the United States; the will of the people should.”
The dispute over how to recount the ballots in Florida mattered deeply to both candidates and
to the American people, because it involved one of the basic ideas of the American system of Ballot box
government—that officials are elected to represent the needs and wishes of the people.
Steps To . . . Representative power to pass laws for the colony. The Virginia
Company, however, had the power to disallow laws
Government passed by the Burgesses.
The United States has a representative government Despite this limitation on its authority, the
in which citizens elect representatives to speak for House of Burgesses changed Virginia from a
them on political matters. The roots of American rep- company-run colony into a partially self-governing
resentative government date back to the colonial era. colony where elected representatives made the
laws. Later on, Virginia became a royal colony,
Virginia House of Burgesses The first repre- ruled by a governor appointed by the king. To keep
sentative body in colonial America was the Virginia settlers’ support, the king allowed the House of
House of Burgesses. The House was comprised of Burgesses to continue to meet. This established the
two elected representatives, or burgesses, from each tradition of representative government in the
of 10 of Virginia’s settlements. The body had the colonies.
“The right of voting for representatives is the primary

right by which other rights are protected. To take away
this right is to reduce a man to [the] slavery . . . of
being subject to the will of another. . . .”
—Thomas Paine, 1795
918
people. Colonial govern-
ments were not truly
representative, however,
because the king chose
the governors and gave
them the power to veto
laws passed by the
assemblies. Although
the governors were
powerful, the assemblies
could control them by
refusing to vote for new
taxes. The American
Revolution was partly
caused by Britain’s chal-
lenge to this system.
When Britain began tax-
ing the colonies directly,
it endangered the power
Virginia House of Burgesses of the local assemblies. Americans insisted that
taxation without representation violated their
The Mayflower Compact The Mayflower rights.
Compact was an agreement signed in November
1620 by the male passengers aboard the Mayflower The U.S. Constitution These ideas of represen-
before they came ashore at Plymouth. The signers tative government and limited government would
agreed to form a civil government that represented be bound together in the document that has gov-
the wishes of the majority. The compact called for erned the nation as a whole for more than 200 years:
government leaders to “enact, constitute, and frame the U.S. Constitution. The Federalists, or those who
such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitu- supported the Constitution during its ratification
tions . . . as shall be thought most meet and conven- process, strongly believed in representative govern-
ient for the general good of the colony. . . .” ment. Indeed, the authors of the Federalist Papers,
the collection of famous essays written in support of
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut The the Constitution, preferred a government one step
notion of representative government took another removed from the common people, whom they
step forward in 1639 when several towns along insisted “seldom judge or determine right.” The fact
the Connecticut River joined together to create a that the Constitution placed political power “in the
government. They laid out the structure of this hands of the representatives of the people,” the
government in the Fundamental Orders of authors stated, “is the essential, and, after all, only
Connecticut—the first written constitution in efficacious security for the rights and privileges of
American history. The document, which consisted the people.”
of a preamble and eleven orders, gave citizens the
right to elect the governor, judges, and representa-
tives to make laws. The Orders also introduced
the idea of limited government. For example, citi- Checking for Understanding
1. What is a representative government?
zens could call the legislature into session if the
2. What was significant about the formation of the Virginia House
governor refused to do so. The legislature could
of Burgesses?
also remove officials from power for misbehavior.
Critical Thinking
Colonial Assemblies By the time of the 1. Do you think a written constitution is preferrable to a constitu-
American Revolution, most British colonies in tion based on tradition? Explain.
America had local assemblies elected by the 2. Would you rather live under a representative government or
in a direct democracy, where people govern themselves by
voting directly on all issues? Explain.
Reviewing Key Terms 22. Evaluating What developments in the Middle East explain
the rise of terrorist groups that want to attack Americans?
23. Analyzing Points of View Read the excerpt below about
1. microprocessor 8. euro global warming, then answer the questions that follow.
2. software 9. nuclear proliferation
3. telecommute 10. global warming “ The world is getting warmer, and by the end of the
21st century could warm by another 6 degrees Celsius
4. Internet 11. chad
(10.8 degrees Fahrenheit) . . . . And climate scientists at
5. perjury 12. strategic defense the heart of the research are now convinced that human
6. ethnic cleansing 13. terrorism action is to blame for some or most of this warming. . . .
7. trade deficit 14. state-sponsored terrorism Everywhere climatologists look—at tree-ring pat-
terns, fossil successions in rock strata, ocean-floor cor-
Reviewing Key Facts ings . . . they see evidence of dramatic shifts from cold
15. Identify: ENIAC, Silicon Valley, AmeriCorps, Contract with to hot to cold again . . . . None of these ancient shifts
America, Kenneth Starr, NAFTA, Kyoto Protocol, Al Gore, can be blamed on humans . . . . There is still room for
George W. Bush, Ralph Nader, Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda. argument about the precise role of the sun or other nat-
16. How did compact computers transform the workplace? ural cycles in the contribution to global warming. . . .
17. What advances in biotechnology occurred in the 1990s? Richard S. Lindzen, a leading meteorologist at the
18. After his election in 1992, how did President Clinton propose Massachusetts Institute of Technology said . . . the pic-
to strengthen the nation’s economy? ture of a consensus about global warming was ‘mislead-
19. What regional trade blocs were formed in the 1990s to ing to the public and even to scientists . . . .’ But most
increase international trade? climate scientists . . . now believe that the climate is
20. Which state was significant in the 2000 presidential election? being influenced by human beings.
”
—from World Press Review, February 2001
Critical Thinking
21. Analyzing Themes: Global Connections What foreign- a. According to the article, what two points of view exist
policy challenges did President Clinton face? Do you think about global warming?
he handled the situations effectively? Why or why not? b. Why is the debate on global warming important?
The Technological The Clinton Years War on Terrorism

Revolution • A new global economy emerges based • Terrorists destroy the World Trade
• Personal computers grow on regional trade blocs. Center and attack the Pentagon.
faster and more powerful. • The ozone layer and global warming • Bush organizes a global coalition and
• Communications deregu- become major environmental issues. launches a new war on terrorism.
lation expands cellular • Clinton and Congress cut spending; • War in Iraq ends the regime of Saddam
phone usage. reform welfare and health care. Hussein, but new insurgents resist the
• The Internet provides a • U.S. economy grows rapidly; federal coalition’s military presence.
worldwide network of budget is balanced. • Afghanistan forms new government
information. • U.S. tries to end violence in Haiti, the following democratic elections.
• Biotechnology research Middle East, and the Balkans. • Iraq establishes transitional government
increases knowledge of • Scandal and impeachment tarnish the and begins drafting new constitution.
human genetics. Clinton administration.
HISTORY
Self-Check Quiz
American Diversity, 2000
Percent of Total Population

80 75.1%
24. Categorizing Complete the graphic organizer below by list- 70
ing changes in communications, politics, the economy, and 60
population that occurred in the United States by the end of 50
the 1900s. 40
30
Change 20
12.3% 12.5%*
10
Communications 3.7% 0.9% 5.5% 2.4%
0
Politics White African Hispanic Asian and Native Others Multiracial
American Pacific American
Economy Islander
Population Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
*Percentages add to more than 100 percent because Hispanics may be of any race.
Practicing Skills
25. Reading a Cartogram Create a cartogram that reflects the Geography and History
importance of each state in the Electoral College. Research
29. The graph above shows the diverse population of the United
the number of votes held by each state, and alter the size of
States at the beginning of the new century. Study the graph
each state to roughly show that state’s number of available
and answer the questions below.
votes. Create questions that refer to the information you
a. Interpreting Graphs Why is getting accurate data on the
present in your cartogram.
Hispanic population difficult?
b. Making Generalizations How will population diversity
Chapter Activities affect government in the future?
26. Applying Chronology Skills Absolute chronology refers to
specific dates, while relative chronology looks at when some-
thing occurred with reference to when other things occurred.
Practice relative chronology by listing the presidents of the Standardized
twentieth century in the order they served as president. Then
practice absolute chronology by giving the dates of their Test Practice
terms in office. Directions: Choose the phrase that best
27. Researching Election Results Study the 2000 election completes the following sentence.
map and chart on page 908. Then use library or Internet The Contract with America involved
resources to research statistics on the 1996 presidential F a commitment by Russia to eliminate land-based
election. Using the 2000 election map and chart as a guide, nuclear weapons.
create a similar thematic map and chart of the 1996 election. G a campaign promise by President Clinton to create a
Create questions about your map and chart that would help national health care system for all Americans.
a classmate understand the data you have compiled.
H a legislative agenda promoted by the Republican Party
in 1994.
Writing Activity J programs intended to increase the size and readiness of
28. Informative Writing Research the changing roles of the the military.
federal and state governments as a result of recent legislative
reforms, including gun control and welfare reforms. Based Test-Taking Tip: This question requires that you remember
on your research, write a short paper predicting how the role details of a specific program. Use the process of elimination
of the federal government and the state governments might if you are unsure. Does the Contract with America sound
change in order to implement the legislative programs. like a foreign policy agreement between two countries?
Present your predictions to the class.

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The English

The Impact Today

The American Republic Since 1877 Video

1580 1620 1660

1681 1692 c. 1740

✦1500 ✦1540 ✦1580 ✦1620

England Takes Interest in America

42 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

European Explorations and Settlements, 1497–1682

S Santa Fe 1679–82 to 8–42

1. Interpreting Maps According to the Balboa 1513

2. Applying Geography Skills In what 0 1,000 kilometers

and Cartier concentrate their efforts?

England Returns to America

44 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 45

46 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 47

✦1620 ✦1640 ✦1660 ✦1680

The Pilgrims Found Plymouth Colony

48 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 49

50 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

In 1644 these two towns joined Portsmouth and N

Reading Check Explaining Why were Roger

Williams and Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts? Portsmouth, 1623

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

52 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

✦1640 ✦1670 ✦1700 ✦1730

The English Civil War and the Colonies

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 53

Comparing European Colonies in the Americas, c. 1700

nations—the colony would be a “holy experiment.” H FLO

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 55

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

56 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

Understanding the Parts of a Map In

rose. It is the direction marker that shows the cardi- E

you to visualize the extent of an area and to measure

✦1620 ✦1660 ✦1720 ✦1760

58 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 59

a seat in the House of Burgesses. The assembly imme-

60 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

African Culture Crosses the Ocean: A Woman’s Song

Sudbury, Massachusetts, c. late 1600s

on each family's size, wealth, and status.

Cranberry 4 Most families, such as John Goodnow's,

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 63

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

64 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

✦1680 ✦1700 ✦1720 ✦1740

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 65

66 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

0 200 kilometers MAINE

Population (in thousands)

Atlantic Source: Colonial America to 1763.

1. Interpreting Maps What ethnic

68 CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America

Checking for Understanding Critical Thinking Analyzing Visuals

CHAPTER 2 The English Arrive in America 69

The American Colonies

Small farms, lumber Most people organized as