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Longman
P e arson Ed ucat io n Limi t e d, 1M 1.',," ,.1 !iw... b~' t) . II. (l"C.II.!'=h.n. Pubh, hrd by l "" I\"1Jn, 1''''''-,: p. 34
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and Associa ted Com panies thro ug ho ut the wor ld. IIl"o' Kal S<K.... ~' .; I'. .l'l Thr G ,.nl('" CoII«tIOn. " .."" Yo,k : p. ~"hom .i
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W'WW. longman.rom by l'r rtl,K....lbll h K. , IWot,; p . 41 1'",,, N......·.. k ·. An,..n c."I'..-.,,' n ; p. 42
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C.<>U""')' of , hr M" """n Il... onul So<io<:r~' ( N'll: no. S- 12l',E): p .\0 110,
A ll righ ts rese rved, no part of th is publication {'"tkot ........JN..,I"",J. h\' C h",lC'S T. Wrbbn . C ,nt,,,,,.ll An ~lo ..... m; p. 50
may be reproduced. sto red in a retrieval sys te m, IInrn"nn lllll" o" I" ", ,,,,, Com p."~· ; p. 52 Annt ~. " . Il. o w n M,I" ., y
o r transmitt ed in any form o r by any mean s, electronic, CoIINt"",. IIm ....n Un"·....." l· l, b, ., y: 1', 53 Foror.-u ~""..-. N . ",..-"I..
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CO NTE N TS
A N EW WO HL D
1 T h c, first Americans 4
2 Ex plo rers fro m Europe H
3 Virg inian beginnings 12
4 Pur itan New Eng land \6
5 Coloniallife in Am erica 20
6 T he roots o f revolution 24
7 Fighting fO T independence 2H
A N EW NATION
8 For m ing rhc, new nati o n .12
9 Years oj' growth 3(,
to Wl'st to rill' Pacifi c 40
t 1 North and South 44
12 Th l , er-n Wa r 50
t 3 Rcconsrruction 54
T W E N TI ET II C E N TU R Y A M EUI C A N S
21 A wa r and a P l' ;I Ct' HH
22 The Roa rin g Twenties 9.2
23 C rash and depre ssion W,
24 Roosevelt 's New Deal 1()()
25 Th (,-' A rsenal of D em ocracy 104
26 Prosp erity and pro blems lOS
27 Blar k A me ricans 11 2
S UP EU POW EU
28 Co ld W:tr ;llld KOrl'J II ()
29 A balan ce of te rr o r 120
30 T hl' Vietnam yea rs 1 2~
31 Am erica's back ya rd 12H
32 An end to Cold W J r? \.12
33 T hl' Am er ican Ccu rury \.1(,
Sourh Au rcri r a. Abo ut 5,000 years later their cJ m p m ade clothing and blan kets from cotton wh ich g rew
fin's we re burning o n till' frozen so ut her n tip o f the Wild III the surroundi ng deserts. O n th eir feet t111'y
cont ine nt. now called Tierra de l Pucgo-c rhc Laud of wore boor-sh aped leather moccasins to pro tect their
Fire. legs aga ins t till' slur p rocks ami cactus plan ts of [he
dese rt. For food they gfl'W crops of maize and beans.
For lJ U Il Y ccmu nes l'arl)' Amerind ians lived as
Irrigatio n made them successfu l as tanners. Lon g
wanderi ng hunrcrs and ga the rers offood. Then a
befo re Europeans came to Anll-rica [he Pueblo were
more sett led way of life bega n. Peo ple livin g in
build ing networks of canals across the deserts to
highland areas of'whar is no w M ex ico found a w ild
bring water to their fields, In one desert valley
grass wit h tiny seeds tha t were good to car. These
modern archaeologists han' traced canals and ditches
people became America 's first farmers. They
which enabled th e Pueblo to irrigate 250.0110 acres of
cul tiva ted the wild g rass with great carl' ro make its
farmland.
seeds larger. Event ually ir beca me Ind ian co rn. o r
maize. O rhcr cultivated plant foods were developed. A people called the Apachc were the neighbors of the
By 5tJ(JO lie Amerindia ns ill Mex ico we re growing Pueblo. The Apache never beca me settled fanners.
and eati ng beans. squash and pl·p pl·rs. They wandered rhc deserts and mountains in small
bands, hunting deer and gJtlll'rillg wild plants. nuts
The Pueblo people of present day A rizona and New
and roo ts. T hey also obta ined food by raid ing their
Mexico were till' best o rganized of till' Amerindian
Pueblo neighbors and stealing It . T he Apache we re
farmi ng peoples. They lived in groups of villages, or
fierce and warlike. and thl"y we re m uc h feared by the
in towns which we re built fo r safcev o n the aides and
Pueblo .
tops ofcliffs. They shared te rraced bu ildi ngs mad e of
adobe (mud and straw) bricks. d ried in the su n. Some
ofthese bu ildings contained as many as HOO rooms. Thl' Butl~lo HUll! by CIr,,,lt l .\1, R" slClI.•i"'t rr"J "m s /",,"i,r.~
crowded to gether on top of one an other . T he Pueblo b"ff"I,'.
A NEW WOIllll
Potlatches
The "potlatch" was a popular cl·rl' m o ny amongst aWdY everything that he owned 10 sho w how
the w ealthy Pacific coast tribes of North America. wealthy he wa s and gain resp ect . To avoid
The w ord means ·' g ift giving. " A modern potlatch disgrace. th e pl,.'rsoll receivin g th e gifts had to give
is a kind o f party at which g uests arc gl\TIl gi fts, back even more. If he failed to do so his entire
but the o rigin al po tlatc h cere mo nies went much fam ily was disgraced.
fur the r. A ch ief or head of a family m ight give
7
2
EXPLOR ERS FR O M E U R OP E
If you ask "Who discovered A mcrica>", rh c answer till' m od ern Am erican stare of Alabam a wh ich reads
that yo u wi ll usually TCCt·jW is "Christopher " In llll' m o ry of Princ e Madoc. a Welsh ex plorer w ho
Columbus." But did he? We hav e seen th at th e Asi;lIl land ed a ll the short'Sof Mo bile Bay in 1170 and lcfr
an rc sro rs of the Amcri udi.ms arrived in Allll'r ic:I long behind. w ith the Indians, the Welsh lnugua gc."
bcto n- Co lu m bus . Was Colu mbus rhcncx t ro
All these stories have th eir suppo rte rs, But only ill
arrive?
the case of th e Vikings haw m od ern sc hol.u-s fo und
In rhc ('C lH lI TIl:S after 1 ~')2 sto ries and k gl..'llds g rew tirm evide nce to su ppo rt th e old legends. III th e 19611s
up abou r o ther adve nturous sea m en having re ached archaeologists unco vered traces of Viking
the New Wo rld long befo re Columbus. Dill' legend scrrlcm crus III bo th Newfoundland ami New
tells how J Buddh ist monk nam ed H oci- Shin sailed Eng land.
fro ru China to Mexico in All 459. Ano ther claims
In Newfoundland rhc archaeologists fo und rhc
that JIl Irish monk named Brend an rhc Bold lauded
fou ndat ions o f hut s bu ilt in Viking SIYk. They also
in America in ... n 551. Yet anorh..: r says th at rhc li rst
fou nd iro n nails and the weight . or "who rl," fro m a
European to reach th e New Wo rld was Lcif Ericson . spindle. These objects we re Im portant pieces of
" LIKky Lcif," J Viking sailor fromlcclan d. And as
ev idence rhar th e Vikings had indeed reac hed
rcrcntlyn s 1953 J. plaq ue w as set up at Mobile Ih y in
,~I' ,~'::ft( J.~ ...i".~ ,~'-I1,(
Sp~"ijll (" " '1Ut$l.
Ame rica. Until th e arrival of Europeans 1I01le ofrhc Why is America called
Ameri ndian tribes knew how to Huh, Iron. And the
spindle w ho rl was exactly like those used in known
uAmerica"
Vikiu~ lands suc h as Iceland , Why did European geographers give th e name
Am er ica to th e lands that Col umbus disco ver ed?
The Viki ll~s were a sea-going people from
Scandinavia innorthe rn Europe, T hey were proud o f Why did- the y not na me rhcm instead after
Columbus?
th eir w arriors and explorers and to ld sto ries called
"sagas" about the m. The sag;1of Lcif Ericson te lls
ho w he sailed from Gre enla nd to th e easte rn coas t of Th e reason is th at to the end of his life C olum bus
North Am er ica in abo ut the yl,.'a r .... 11 1(" 10 . When he bel ieved th at his disco veries were part of ASIa.
found vines with gra pes O il th em g ro w ing there. he TI1l' m an who did most to correc t this mistaken
named the place where 11l' laud ed "V inland th e idea was Amerigo Vcspucci. Vcspucci w as an
Goo d." Italian sailo r from th e city of Flo rence. I)uring the
late 1490s he wrote S0111 e letters in w hich he
Other Viki ngs followed Lcifro Vinlnnd. But the desc ribe d two voya ges of e xplo ration that he had
settlements rhcy m ade th ere did not last. T he nu de along the coasts of Sout h A mcrica. I Ic was
hostility of the local Amerindia ns and the dangers of su re. he w ro te. that the se coasts we re parr of a
the northern seas co m bined to m ake them gIve up new conti nent .
their att empt co colonize Vinlmd. T he Vikin gs sailed Some years later Vcsp ucci's letters w ere read by a
away ami th eir discovery of Vinb nd was forgotten Ger man scholar w ho was rn 'isin g an old geogra-
except by th eir sro rytcllcrs. phy of the wo rld. The lon er s co nvinced th e
It was th e Span ish who beg an th e lasting Euro pean scholar th at Vcspncci W JS cor rect. and th at th e
occupatio n of America. When Columbus retu rned to lands beyond th e Atl ant ic were a Il I.'W co nt inent.
Spain he took back w ith hun somcjcwclrv that he To honor Vcspu cci th ...· scholar nam ed th em
had obtained in America. This jcwclrv was Am erica, using the feminine form of v cspucci's
impo rtant because it was m ade of gold. In the next first name as th e ot her con tinen ts had female
jiflY years thousands of rrcasurc-bungrv Spanish na m es .
A New w o m.»
10
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~_ .
'!'
TIltr"'rlora'i,,,, ,/lidst nlrmrm
"f·~n1m,~,
Thejourneys of 1l11.'n such as de Sore and Coronado Columbus and Cabot - to find lands rich in gold and
gave Spain a claim to a large amo unt of land in North a new sea route to Asia. Vcrrazano sailed [he full
America. They also led to the fou ndi ng o f some of leng th of the east coas t of America. bu t found
the earliest permanent Euro pean scn lcmcnts there. In neith er. Ho we ver , he anchored his shi p in what is
15(lS Spanish settlers founded Sr. Augustine on the now the har bor of New York, T oday a bridge which
coast of prese nt-day Florida. In 16(1) othe r settlers carries his name, the Verra zano Narrows Bridge is
founded Santa Fe in New Me xico . one of the city's most im pressive sig hts.
The growing wealt h of Spain made other European Te n years later ano the r Fren ch explorer. a fisher ma n
nations env io us. Th ey becam e eager to share the fro m Norman dy named Jacq ues Cartier, discovered
riches o f the New World . In 1497 King I Icn rv VII of the Sf. Law rence River . H e return ed to France and
England hired all Italian seaman named j oh n Ca bot repo rted that the forests linin g the river 's shores we re
to explore rhc new lands and to look again fo r J full o f fur- bearing animals and that its w aters were
passagl' to Asia. Cabot sailed far to the north of the full offi sh. The nex t year he sailed further up the
route C olum bus had followe d. Eventua lly he river. reachi ng the site of the present-day cit y of
reached the rocky coast of' Ncwfoundland. At fi rst Montreal. C ar rier failed to find the wa y to Asia that
Cabot thou ght that this was China. A year later he Ill' was looking for . but he gave Prance a claim to
made a second westward crossmg of till' Arlnuti c. w hat would later become C anada.
This time he sailed so ut h along rhc coast of North
C laim ing that you owned land ill the N ew Wo rld
America as f.1T as Chesapeake Bay,
w as one thin g, Actually ma king it you rs w as
Cabot found 110 go ld and no passage to till' East. But somethi ng quite different . Eur opeans cou ld only do
his voyages we re valuable for the Eng lish, In later this by establishing sett leme nts o f'thci r own people.
years Engli sh govcmmcn rs used them to suppo rt Hy the seve nteenth cent ury plent y o f peo ple in
their claims to own mos t of the cas t coas t of North Euro pe we re read y to settle in America. Some hoped
America. to beco me rich by do ing so, Others hoped to fin d
The Frenc h also sent explorers to North America. In safety from religious o r political persecut ion. In the
1524 the French king, Francis I. sent an Italian sailo r hun dred years afte r 1600. Europeans set up many
named Giova nni Vcrrazano for the same purpose J.S colonies III North Am eri ca for reasons like these.
11
3
VIRGIN I AN B E G I N NI N G S
I.
•
,". .--,-,
:\11 th rough rh..., nigh t the storm b lew rhc th ree small TIll' "".I rly yc-ars of th c· JJllleSfO\\'n s...- rrtcmcnr were
ships northwards. For ho urs th c·trig IHn lcd sailors hard ones. This \\";1" partlv th c-faulr of till' s...· nk rs
suuggk-d with wet ro pes and SIUP l'lllg C,lIlYJS sails . rhcmvclvcs. Thc site they had chosen \\";1'. low- lying
A t tls t. ;h &1\\' 1I COIOTl·d th e eastern ski ...,s . th e st o r m andma larial. And although rhcir En glish hom eland
(;)111\.' to an end. Men-dro p ped to rh...' ,it'd:". w a:- m any miles away across a d.mgt·rolls ocean. rhcv
exha usted. Some fell asleep . Exerted sho uts aw o ke failed TO gro\\" ...-noug h food [0 teed rh...-msclvcs. They
them . "Laud! Laud !" The sailors rush ed to thc, sides w ert' to o busy d rea m ing of gold,
ofth.. , ship s. Thcrcc ar last. W :IS rhc lau d f( J T which
T he scrrlcrs had bee n sent 10 j;II Uc-sro wn by J ~r o u p
they h.td heen scarchin g -. Vir ginia. It w as the
of rich London investor s. These investors had
morning Ill' Apri l 2(, in till' vca r \(l07.
torrued rhc Vi rginia C omp.mv. T il...· Com pan y 's
A few weeks later, o n M ay 20. the sailo rs tied their pll rp OSl' w as to "et up co lonies along rhc Ada nt ic
0
sh ips TO rrcc..s o n th e ba nks 01 J b road an d d eep fi ver. C\l;ISt ofN onb Ameri ca. betwe-en }-I .111...1 JXo no rt h
Th c,y named th e n\-CT th e J ames. III honor o tl amcs I. latitud e, It was a JOII1£ stock cOlllpany- th at I". the
king o f Ellgland. rh..., cOlintTy from which tlKy had investo rs paid the COStS of its expeditious and I n
.,c·r sail fivelong months before. J U SI O\'t'T ;1 hu ndred ret ur n wc r...· giv...-n [he right to divide lip any profits it
men went ;lShore. On (he SW;lIllPY banks they bega n madr-, T Ilt' jamestown settlers were cmplovccs of till'
cutting down h ushes and trees and building rough Virgiuu Company. T he Companv'v directors hoped
shdtcrs lor themselves. Uy till' end of lilt' y...-ar t wo rbnr the scrrlcts would li nd pcarlv. silver. or some
out of ...· n·ry t hree ofrhcm wcrc• ...lead . Uti ! thvir little o the r valuable product III Virginia and so bring them
group ofhuts beca me the ti rst lasting English a quirk profit 011 their invcsrmcnr. :\-lost o f all. rhcv
scttlcmc-nr in America. Thcv nam c-d it j.nucsrown . ho ped that the colonists would timl gold ..IS rhc
Spani sh conquistador....s had ...10m' in Mexico.
"
The col()lli~t~ eagerly obeyed th e Com pan y's orders
to search for ~ol d. By d oing so th l')' ho ped ro T he captain and the princess
become rich themselves. There W;IS " no tal k. 110 C apta in J ohn Smith was the most able of the
hope no r w or k, but di g gold, \\,;lsl1 gol d, ]0;1\1 g o ld " , ori gin al j amesto wn scnlcrs. All energetic 27-yl'ar-
wrote one of their k ;llkrs, C ap r.iin J oh n Sm ith . o ld so ldier and explorer, he had already had a life
Andthen the colonists began to die - in OIiCS. III full of ac tion wh c-n he landed there III ](1117. It was
rwos. fin allv III dozens. So me di ed III Amerindian he who o rganized rhc first j amestown co lonists and
attacks. so me ofdisc a~l·". some of sta rva tion. By forced the m 10 work . If he had nor done rha r. the
April 16()X. om of a to tal of 1')7 Eng lish me n who had infan t scr rlcm c-nr would probably have coll apsed.
landed in Vir gin ia on ly finv-rbrcc we re sriII alive.
\Vhell rood supplks ran out Sm ith set off mrc the
"O ur men were des troyed by cruel diseases . ,. wrote
fo rests 10 buy co rn fro m rhc Aml·r indi an s. 011 o ne
a colonist wh o su rviv cd. "swellings. fluxes. burning o f these expeditions he wa s taken prisonc-. A ('-
fevers and by wa rs. Uut most d ied o ttammc . There cording ro a slOry that he rold lar...-r (w hich not
were never Enghshmcn kft in a fo reign co unt ry 111 cvcrvonc believed). the Amerindians were go m g
such IlllSl'T Y as we \\TTl' in Virgi nia." 10 bea t his b rai ns Ollt when Pocaho ntas. the
jnncsrown reached its lowest po int ill rhc wmrc-r o f rwc lvc-vca r-o ld dau ghter of rhc chid. Powhnran,
](,111)- I (, Il l, 0 1 th c• 51 NI wloni'!>ts living in rill' saved his life by shid d ing his body with her O WIL
scrtk-mcut III O ctober ]60'). only sixty were still alive Pocahontas went Oil 10 pla y ;1Il im po rta n t pa rt 111
111 I\ b rch 16 ]1), This W,IS "till' "u n'i ng tim c, .. Stones Virglll la's survjval. bringlll g food to th e starvmg
reached Englmd about s...-rrlcrv who were so settlers Shc-, nc xr under God. " wrote Smith.
dl's pera te for f{)od tha t rhcv d ug up ami ate till' body "was rh · mstrumcnr m prl'Sl'[\·c this colonv from
oran Am eri ndi an they hold k illed duting au att ack. death, f.1 111im' and UHa confusi on. "
Yet new scrrlcr-, counnucd to arr rvc. T hc· Virgutia In 1609 Smith W;IS badly injured in a g un po w der
Company gathered homeless children from th e ex plosion and W ;IS sen t back to England. Fin '
strc-c-ts o f Lo nd on and sc' 111 rh cm o ur to till' r-olonv y('ars later, in 16]-1. Pocahontas m arried the
Then ir sent a hund red (0 11vias from london's tobacco planter John Holte. In )(.16 she travelled
prISons. Such crniaran ts wcrc, oft en unwilling to go. to Eng land with him and wa s pr...·..cure d at court to
The Spanish ambassador in Loudon told ot'rh rcc Kin g. J ailles I. It W ;IS there th.rt rhc porrr.ur you sec
condemned rrunin.ils wh o Wl'H' g iven the choice of here w as pain tc d. Po cah oma.. died of smallpox in
being h;lIlgnl o r S(' 1It to Virgin ia. Two ag rcvd to go. 16 17 wh ile w aiting to board a ..hlp to carrv he r
but the th ird chose to lun g. hack to Virg inia wi th her newborn so n. When the
son grcw up he ret ur ned to Virgi nia. Many
Some Virg lnl;l Clll ig LlIlb s;likd w illin g ly . ho wever. Vir gin ians today claim to he descended fro m hi m
. Fur Illany Eng lish pl'opk th('s l'l';lr1y y('ar~ o f rhe Jnd so from Po caho nt as,
' l'vl'llfl'l'llt h cl'nt ury \\TH' a rillle o fh uugn ;md
suffering, Inco tlles wac low. h UI the p rin', of foo d
and clot hing climbed higha en:ry ye;lT. M m y
people w n e without work . And if rhe crops f:1iled. A. p,'rtrai r c:f
P~ ca l,,"' It1_, .
they ~tar\"l·d. SOllK En g lish pnlpk dec idcd rhat It p ar·lllt'd
\\·a, wo rth nsking the' po ssib ility ofh;lHlships III J"ritrJ:
VirginiJ to escI!'l' fro'lII th e cert;lint y O(thl'lll at lier l'i., il III
L"nJ,,,,.
h0111e. For Virginia had om' g rl"ll all Lletio n th at
England Ja('k ed: pkntifulland . This sec lIIed lIIo re
lmp0rlJ1H than tlK' rq'orts of lh s...·as('. stan ·atio n and
cannibalism thl·rc. In England. as in Eu rope
gl'l1l'Tally. th l' hnd was oWllnl by Ihl' rk h. In
Virgini;l ;1poo r Jlun co uld hore for ;1 fU lll o f his ll\\-n
to fCl'd his t:ull ily.
A N I,w WORLD
14
J VIR(;INl.H" BH-: I NN IN (; S
continued to be hard. '" have eaten more in a day at But their hardshi ps had toughened th e surv ivo rs.
home tha n I have he re for a week ; " wrote a you ng Bu ilding a new homeland III th e stea my river valleys
man nam ed Richard Prcrh o rn c in a letter (Q his o f Vi rgini:I had proved harder and tak en lo nger than
parent s back In England. anyone had expec ted. .Bur thi s first society of English
people over seas had put down living ro ot s into the
The sam e w as true for many in Virginia. Nor was
American so il. Other struggles lay ahead, but by
h unger the on ly problem. D ise ases like malaria and
162-1- o ne thin g w as clear -. Virginia would survive.
wars aga inst the Am erindians continued to ki ll
h und reds ofsettlers. Between 1619 and 1621 about
3.560 people left England (Q settle in Virginia. Before
those ycars wen: ove-r. 3. ()(X) ofth em were de ad. The lost colony
Hut the survivors stayed. In 16 19 there w as all The jamesto wn settlers were not the firs t Eng lish
imporr.mt change- in the- \va)' they we re governed . peopl e to visi t Vir ginia . Twen ty yea rs ear lier the
adventurer Sir Walter Raleig h had sent ships to
Vi rgi nia' s affairs had be en controlled so far by
find land in the N ew Wo rld where English people
governor s sen t ove r by the Virg inia Co m pany. Now
migh t settle. He nam ed the land they visited
th e Compan y allowed a bo dy called the House of
Virginia. in hon o r of Elizab eth , Eng land's un-
Burgesses to be set lip . The burgesses were elected
married Q ueen.
representa tiv es from th e- va rio us small settlements
along Virginia's rivers. T he y met to advise the In J uly 1585, 108 English settlers landed on
governor o n the law s the colony needed. Tho ug h Roa no ke Island, o ff [he coast of what is now th e
few realized it at the time. the Virginia Hou se o f stare of North Carolina. They built houses and a
Bur gesses w as the stan ofan Important tradition in fo rt. planted cro ps and searched - without SUCCl'SS-
American lift,-that people should have a say in fo r gold. But they ran out of food and made
decisions about m anns [hat concern th em . enemies of the local Amerindian inhabitants . In
less than a year they gave up and sailed back ro
The H ou se of Burgesses m er for the first time in
England .
August 1619. In that same month Vir ginia saw
another important beginning. A sma ll D ut ch In 15l:U Ralei gh tried again. H is ships landed 118
warship anch ored at J am esto wn . On bon d were sett lers on Roanoke. including fo u rteen family
rwcnry captured black Africans. The ship's capt ain groups. The co lo nis ts were led by an artist an d
sold them to the- settlers as indentured servant s. ma pruakcr flam ed John White. who had been a
me mber of the 1585 expedition . Among them
The blacks were set to work In the to bacco fields
we re W hite's daughter and her h usband. On
with w hitt' indentured servants from Eng land . Bu r
Aug ust 18th th e cou ple beca me the pa rents of
there w as a very serious d ifference be tween their
Vir ginia Dare. the first English chil d to be ho rn in
posi tio n and th at of th e whites working beside them .
A me rica.
White se rva nts we re indentu red fo r a fix ed number
of year s. T he ir m asters m ig ht (feat th e m badly. bu t In Au gu st Wh ite retu rne d to En gland fo r supplies.
they knvw rhat O lll' day the y would be free. Black T hr ee years passed befo re he w as ab le to return.
se rv ants had no suc h ho pe. T heir indenture W:IS for Wh en his ships reach ed Roan o ke in August 1590,
life. In f.1Ct they we re slaves althougb it was yea rs
c he found th e sen lemcnr desert ed . There wa s 110
before their master s openly admitted the fact. sign of w hat had happened to its people exce pt a
word carve d on a tree- "Croarou." the home of a
T he Viq~ inia Company never m ade a profit. U y 161-l-
frien dly Ind ian chief. fifty milt'S to the so uth.
it had ru n out of money. T he English go ver nmen t
Some believe that the Roanoke settlers we re
put an end to the Company and nu de itself ro:spon-
carried off by Spanish soldiers fro m Flo rida.
siblc for the Virg:inia co lo nists. There we re still \"Cry
Others think that [hey may have decided to go to
few of till' Ill . Fierce Amerindian attack s 1Il 1622 had
live with friendly Indian s on the mai nland. They
destroyed sever al scnlcm cn ts and killed over 350
were never seen. or heard of. again.
culonisrs . Our o f nearl y 10.11011 scnlcrs sent o ut since
1(>4 17. a 1(,2-1- n" IlSlIS shoe..-cd onl y 1.275 sur vrvors.
15
4
PU R ITAN N E W E N G L A N D
"Pilgrims" aTC people who make a journey fo r more plain and simple, or "pure. " Because of rhis
rd i~iolls reaso ns. Bur fo r Arn ericaus th e word has a
th ey w er e called Purit ans. The ideas ofj o hn Ca lvin
spec ial meaning. T o th em it means a small RWUP of app ealed particularly st rongly to them .
English m en and women w ho sailed ;l(TO S,> the Whellj ames I becam e King of Ellgland in 1603 he
Atlant ic Ocean in rhc p:ar 1620. The g roup's wa rned the Puritans th at he: would dri ve th em fro m
me m bers ca me (0 be called the Pilgrims because they the land if th ey did not acce pt his id eas o n religion .
we nt [0 America to find r eli g IOU S freedom. I lis bis ho ps bega n fining the Puritans and pu tting
So nwtimcs Americans call them th e Pi lgrim Fath ers. th em III prison . T o escape this per secutio n. a sma ll
T h is is b..-causc thcv sec them as th e m o st im portant group of them lett England and wcn r to Hol lan d .
ofthe founders of the futu re U nited Su rC'S o f H olland wa s th e o nly co un try in Euro pe whose
America. govern me nt allowed religious freedo m at rhis time .
T he Europe th at the Pilgrim s lett behin d them was T he people o fl lo lland welcomed the little group of
tom by religious qua rrels. For m or e than a th ou sand ex ile... Bu t the Puritans never felt at ho me the re.
years Ro m an Ca tholic C h ristianity had been th e After m uch tho ught and much prayer they deci ded to
religi on o f mosr of its peo ple. By the sixt eenth move again. Som e of the:m- the Pilg rim s - decided to
centu ry, ho w ever. so me Eu ro peans h;1(1begu ll to go to America.
doub t th e teachi ng s of rhc Catho lic Churc h. T h... y
were also g ro w ing angr y at [he wealth and worldly First they returned bridiy [0 England. Here they
persuaded the Virginia Com pany to allow rhcm to
pride of its leade rs.
settle in [he northern pan of its American lands. On
E:lTly in th e ccnr urv a Ge rman m onk nam ed Martin September 16. 1620. the Pilg rim s lcf rhc English
Lut her qua rreled with these leaders. l ie claimed that
ind ivid ual hu man beings did nor need th e Pope o r the
priests of th e Catholic Church to enable th em to The Mayflower C o m pact
spea k to God. A few years later a French lawyer
»a mcd john Calvin put forwa rd sim ilar ideas. Cal vin When [he Pilgrims arrived otT the coas t of
claimed th at each indi vidual W J.S dir ectl y and Ame rica th ey faced m an y danger s and difficulties.
pers onally resp o nsible to God . Bccausc rhcv They did not wa nt to put themselves III further
protested against the rcach ings and custo ms o f rhe danger by qu arreling with one another. Befo re
Ca tholic Church. relig io us refo rm ers like Lut her and landing at Plym o uth, th erefore. they wrote o ur all
C alvin wer e called " Prot estJ llts.·· T heir ideas spread agr eem ent . In this do cument [hey agr eed to w o rk
qu ickly th ro ugh nor thern Europe. together fo r the good o f all. The ag reement was
signed by all fo rty- o ne m en on boa rd the May-
Pew people believed III religious toleration at this .f1111l't'r. It beca me kno wn as the M ayflo we r Com-
rime. In m ost co unt ries peo ple were expected to ha vc pact. In the Compact th e Plym o ut h settlers ag reed
th e same religion JS their ruler. T his was th e case in to SCt up a government- J "civil bod y pohtic't-oo
England. In the I 530s the English king. Hcnrv VIII, m ake "just and cqua l Ia...vs" for thei r new settle-
form ed a national church wi th himself as its head. In m ent. All of [hem . Pilg rims and St ran ger s alike .
the later years of the sixteenth cen tur y m any En glish promised that th ey would obey th ese laws . In th e
people believed th at this Church of Eng land was still difficult years w hic h fo llo we d . th e Mayflower
too much like th e Catholic C hurch. They di sliked th e Compact served th e colonists wel l. It is rcmcm -
powl"r;o f its bishops. T hey dislik ed its elaborate bored today as on e of the: first uuportanr docu-
n'remon ies and th e rich decorarions ofits churc hes. rncu ts in th e history of democratic gove rn m ent 111
l"11l'Y also qucsri oucd m any o f irs teachi ngs. Such America.
people w anted th e Ch urc h of England to beco m e
1(,
" P Ull lr A N NEW ENG L AN D
port of Plym o uth and hea ded fo r Am erica. T hey Bu t rhc Pilg rim s we re determined to succeed. The
were accompanied by a nu mber ofo ther emigrants fifty su rvivors built be tter houses. T hey learned ho w
they called "Strangers." to fish and hunt. Frien dly Amerin d ians gave th em
seed co m and showed th em ho w to plan t it. It was
The Pilgrims' ship was an old trad ing vessel. the
not the end oftheir hardships. but w hen a ship
.\laY.11oll'cr. f or years th e .\ I<1y.fl(lU'f'T had car ried wine
arrived in Plym outh in 1622 and offered to take
across th e nar ro w seas be tv..-een Fran ce and England.
passen ge rs back to En gland . no t o ne o f'rhc Pilgri m s
N ow it la ced a mu ch more dangerous voyage. For
accepted .
sixty-five days the AI<1y.f1(1l1'rTbattled th roug h the
rollin g waves of the no rth Arlami c O cean. At last, 0 11 O ther English Puritans follow ed the Pilg rim s to
No vem ber 9. 1620 . it reached Cape Cod. a sandy Am erica. T en yea rs later a much larger g ro u p o f
hook ofland in what is now th e sta te o f alm ost a thousand colo nists settled nearby in w hat
Massach usett s. becam e rhc Bosto n area . T hese peo ple left En gland [0
escape th e rul e of a new king . Charles I. C harles w as
Cape C od is far to th e no rth of the land g ranted to the
ev en less tolerant than his fathe r j ames had been of
Pilg rims by till' Virgmia C ompany. But th e Pilg rims
people w ho disagreed w ith his policies in reli gion and
did no t ha ve eno ug h food and wa ter , and many were
govc nuucnr.
sick. T hey de cid ed to land at th e best place the y cou ld
find. a ll Decem ber 2 1. 1620. th ey rowed asho re and The Boston settlement pro sper ed fro m the starr. Its
set up ca m p at a place th ey nam ed Plym outh. popu lation g rew q uickly as m ore and more Puritans
left En glan d to escape pe rsecu tio n. M any years later.
"The season it was w int er ," w rote o ne ofth eir
in 169 1. it co m bined v....irh th e Plym outh co lo ny
leade rs. "and those who kno w the w inters of that
under th e nam e of M assachusett s.
country know them to be sha rp and violent w ith
crud and fierc e stor ms;" T he Pilgr im s' chances of T he ideas ofth e M assachusetts Puri tans had a lastin g
surviving were no t hig h. The frozen ground an d the influence o n American so ciety. One o f their fir st
deep sno w made it diffi cu h fo r th e m to build hou ses. lead ers. J olm Winthro p, said that they sho uld build
TIley had very linle food. Befo re sp ring ca me. half of an ideal co mmunity for th e rest of mankin d to learn
the litt le grou p of a hundred set tlers we re dead. fro m . " We shall be like a cit y on a hill. " said
17
A NE W W ORL D
'"
-\ I' U Il IT ,\ N Nrw E ro;CLAro;1l
Thanksgi vi ng
Evcr v year 011 the four th T hu rsda y in November T he Pilg rim s were joined at their feast by local
Am ericans celebrate a holiday called T han ks- Amerindi an s. T nt' Wam pan oag and Pcquamid
giv ing. The firs t people to celebrate this {by WtT{' pe opl e o f the nearby fores ts had sha red corn w ith
the Pilg rim s. In November. 161 1. they sat down the Pilg rim s and shown rbcru the bes t places to
to cat together and to gi ve th anks to God fo r catch fish. Later th e Am eri ndians had g iven seed
ena bling them to survive the hard sh ips of their co m 10 th e English sett lers and sho w n them ho w
first Yt'Jr III Amern-a. to plant cro ps th at would grow we ll III th e
American so il, W itho ut them th ere would ha ve
been no T hanksgiv ing,
'"
5
C O L ON IAL LIF E I N A M E RI C A
- .-5-
T•
A;LA~TJC
aCEA"
The ne ares t colonies to the so uth of New England
w ere called the Middle C olonies. The biggest w -crc
N ew Yo rk and Pen nsyl vani a. A'i> III New England .
m ost o f their peo ple lived by farm ing . But in the
ei t il~ o f N ew York and Philadel phi a there w ere
g ro w ing nu mbers o f cra ftsmen and merchants.
Philade lphia wa s the capital ofPennsylv ania. ll)" 1770
it wa s th e largest cit y in Am eri ca. wi th 2g.000
inh abiranrs.
I'i"'"lSenl'<lbetore
Lid 1650
~ Senled belween
I.S...J 16SO and 1700
,
, "
A Ne w W OItIIJ
Fresh waves ofsettlers pu shed the frontier steadily Beyond the Cumberland Gap lay rich. roll ing
wes twa rds in their sea rch fo r fertile soil. T hey would grasslands. In the years which followed , Boone's
often pass by land that seemed unsuitable for Wilderness Road enabled thousands of settlers to
farming . Because of rhis, frontier farms and villages move with horses, w agons. and cattle inro these
we re often separated by milt'S of unse ttled land. A fertile: lands. They now make up the American
fam ily m ight be a da y's journey from its near est sta tes of Kentucky and Tennessee.
neigh bors. Fo r such reasons the people cffron ticr
ro m munitics had to rely upo n themselves fo r almost
everyth ing th ey needed . They grew their own food
and built their own houses. They made the clot hing
they wore and the tools they used . They developed
their own kinds of music, cntcrrainm cnr. a rt and
form s of religious worship.
A special spirit, or attitude, grew out of th is fron tier
wa y o flife . People needed to be to ugh, ind ependent
and self-reli ant . Yet the y also needed to work
to gether, helping each other with such tasks JS
d earing land and building hou ses and barns. The
com binatio n of these ew e idcas c-a strong belief that
individuals had to help themselves and J need fo r
them to cooperate with aile anorh cr--csrrengrhcncd
the feeling that people were equal and th at nobod y
should have special rights and privileges.
Th e fronti er wa y of life helped democratic ideas to
flourish in Ameri ca. T oda y's Am eri cans like to think
rhar m any of the best values and att itudes of the
modern United Stat es CJn be tr aced back to the Danit/ &>""t tMoni".Il MI/en "" Iht lI'i/J,.",tu R....J
frontier experiences of their pioneer ancestors.
22
5 C O LU N IAL L I H . IN A ."lLRI CA
2J
6
TH E R O OTS OF R EV OLU TI ON
In the: eighteenth cen tury Britain and Prance fough t T he first o f't hcsc explorer'> was Samuel de
several m aj or wars. T he struggle betwee n th em W l '!H Champlain. From 1603 onwards , ChJ.tIIp1J.in
a ll in Europe. Asia and N o rth Am erica. explored the lands on both sides o f th e St. Lawrence
River and set up trading posts there. T he two most
In North Amer ica. France claim ed to O W II Ca nada
impo rtant of these poses late r grew into the cities of
and Lo uisiana. Ca nada. or N ew Fralin ', ex ten ded
Q uebec and Montreal.
no rth fro m th e Sf. L J. \ \'f CIl CT Ri ver and so ut h
towards th e frontie r areas ofth e En gl ish co lo n ies 0 11 The o ther French e xplo rer was Ik nr: La Salle. La
the Atlantic coas t. Lo uisiana. nam ed for th e Frenc h Salk' was J. fur. trade r, explorer and em pire builder all
king, Lo uis X IV. stretched across th e cen ter of the III o ne. ln th e 1670s he ex plo red th e valley of the
continent . It includ ed all th e land s drained by the Mississippi. " lr is ucar fy all so beaut iful and so
Mi ssissippi River and its rnburatic s. fertile," he wrote. "So full of meadows. brooks and
rivers: so abo unding III fish and veniso n that one can
In th e middle of the eig hteent h n ' lH u ry most of the
find here all Chat is needed to support flo ur ishin g
for ests and plains of bot h o f thcsc vas t areas we re still
col on it's. Th e soil w ill produ ce everyt hi ng tha t is
un expl or ed by Europeans. 'n it' French claim to
g rown in France."
own rhcm was based upon journeys ma de in the
previo us cen tury by tw o fam ous ex plo rers. TI,,· HririlJ. "'M"~· <'11 Qu<lH-i.
(, T ill, n oo n 01 REVO L U T IO N
26
(, T ill. HOOTS OF H EVOLFIION
All this o pposi tion forced the British governm ent to T he Brit ish reply to this " BOSlOlI Tea Part y" was to
withdraw the Stamp A ct . But it was determined TO pass a set oflaws to pu nish Massachusett s. Col onis ts
show the colo nists that it had the right TO tax them. soon began calling these laws the " Intolerable Acts."
Parliament passed another law called the D eclaratory Boston har bor was closed to all trade until the tea
Act. This stated that the British governme nt had w as paid for . More soldiers were sent there to keep
"fi.11I power and aut hori ty (o ver) the colonies and order. T he po wer s of the colo nial assembly of
people of Am eri ca in all cases whatsoever; " Massachusett s wac greatly reduced.
In 1767 the British plac.-d new taxes 0 11 tea, paper, O n june 1, 1774, llritish warships rook up position at
paint, and various othe r goo ds that the colonies the mout h of BOSTOn harbo r to make sure that no
imported from abro ad. A special customs office w as ships sailed in or o ut. A few months later, in
set up in Bosron to collect the ne w duties. Again the Septem ber 1774, a gro up of colonial leaders came
colonists refused to pay. Riot s broke out in Boston to geth er III Philadelphia. T hey fo rmed the First
and the Briti sh sent so ldiers to kee p order. It was no t C on tinental Congress to 0 ppOSt' w hat the y saw as
until 1770 , w hen the British removed all the duties British oppression.
C'xcept for the one on tea, that there was less t rouble.
The Continent al Cong ress claimed to be loya l to the
But some co lonists in M assachusett s wer e British kin g. But it called upon all Americans to
determined to keep th e qua rrel go ing. In December support the peop le o f M assachu setts by refusing to
1773, a group of them disguised them selves as buy British goods. M any colonis ts we nt furth er than
Mohawk Am erindians. T hey boa rded British this. T hey began to organize themselves into grou ps
merchant ships in Boston harbor and threw 3-12 cases of part-time so ldiers. or "militias," and TO gather
of tea mro the sea. "l hope that King Geo rge like s salt together w ea.pons and am m unition.
In his tea;" said one of the m.
27
7
FI GHT IN G FO R I N D EP E N D E N C E
O n the night of Ap ril 18. 1775. 700 British soldiers The British soldier s reached C o nco rd <I few hours
m arched silently out o f Bosto n. Their order s we re to later and destroyed so me of th e we apo ns and
.scizc w eapons and am m unitio n that rebellious g un po w der there. But by th e time they set off ro
colo nists had stored III Conco rd. a nearb y [O\ ",T I. retur n to Hosron hund reds more M inut em en had
gathered. Fro m th e th ick woods o n each side o f the
13m th e colo n ists w e re warne d th at th e so ld iers were
Boston road they sho t do wn. on e b y one, 273 British
co rning. Sig nal ligh ts were hung fro m th e spire o f
soldiers. T he soldiers we re still und er arrack w hen
Bosto n's ralles r church and rwo fast ride rs, Paul
they arrived back in Bosto n. A ring ofarmed
Revere and Willia m Dawt"S.jum pcd m ro thei r
A meri cans gathered rou nd the city.
sad dles and galloped o ff wi th the n ew s.
T he next month. May 1775, a second Conti nent al
In th e village of Lexingto n th e British fo und scvc lHy
Cong ress m et in Philadelphia and began to an as an
American m iliti am en, farmers and tradesm en .
A meri can natio nal government. It set up an arm y of
barri ng th eir way. These par t-ri m e so ldie rs w ere
17,000 m en under the comma nd of George
known as "Minu rcm cn.v- Tbis was because th ey had
Washi ngton. Wash ington w as a Virginia landow ne r
prom ised to rake up ar ms im mcdiarcly -c in a
and sur veyo r wi th "ex perience of fightin g in the
m inutc- w he ne ver rhl')' we re need ed.
French and Indian War. T he Cont inenta l C ongress
T he British co mma nde r ordered the M inut em en to also sent rep resent atives ro SC1.,k aid from friendly
return to th eir homes. T hey refused. T I1l'n so meone, European na tion s - especially fro m France, Britain's
no bod y knows w ho , ti red a shot. O ther sho ts carne old enem y .
fro m the lin es of British so ldiers. Eight M inut emen
fell dead. The fi rst sho ts had been fin-d III w hat was itr;,i,l, joIJ ;.-n firi..g " " ,II.. .\f;ru'lno,m " I l1.>:i".I:'"'' i .. l iiS. :\
to beco m e the A me rican War of lndcpcnd cncc. (ourm 'pomry mgr" ";".1: Nsd orr" , ktub by a" tyt· ..·;,,,..u,
IN COXG RESS, JULY 4, '716.
By the following yea r th e fig hting had spread beyo nd J oh n H anco ck o f M assach usett s. Hanco ck picked up
Massach usetts. It had gro w n in to a fu ll-scale w ar. the pen and w rot e his name in large. clear letters-
" large enough," he said, "for King George to read
On July 2, 1776, the Continen tal C o ng ress finally
wi thout his spectacles."
took th e step that mall YAmericans believed w as
inevi table . It n it all po litical tics w ith Britain and The D cciaratiou of JlldCI'ClldCJ1(Cw as m o re than a
declared that " these U ni ted C o lonies an.', and of rig ht statem ent th at the co lo nies we re a ne w nation. It abo
ough t to be, free and independent states." ·1\ v 0 da ys set our the ideas behind th e chan ge that w as bein g
later. on J uly ~, it issued the [)a larati" " of made. It claimed [hat all m en had a natural right to
Independence, " Life, libert y and the pursui t of happiness. " It also
said that govern me nts can only justly claim th e TIght
Th e D edaronon ,~f lndependcnc c is the m ost un po n anr
to rule if they have th e agreement of those they
document in American histo ry. lt was w ritten by
govern - "the consent of the governed . "
Tho ma s j eff erso n. a Landowne r and law yer fro m
Virg inia. Aft er repea ting that th e colonies were now Ideas such as the se were a central part of the-po litical
"free and ind ependent sta tes." it officially na med traditions that the co lon ists' ancesto rs had brought
them the United Slates of America . w it h th em from England. Colonial leaders had also
studied them in the writings ofa n Engli sh political
One o f th e first m embers o f the Conrincnral
thinker named j o hn Locke. M enlike J etTerso n
Cong ress to sign th e D cdaratio n oj bJdl'pmdmlt' w as
co m bined Lo cke's ideas with their o w n l'xpcn encc o f
29
A Nt.w WOR LII
Thomas Paine, the voice of read pans of it to their troops. George Washington
revolution descr ibed its arguments as "sound and un answ er -
able.''
O ne of th..: most influc urial vo ices calling for
American indepe ndence was tha t of an En glish- Later in 1776, as Washin gt on's discouraged ar my
man . H e W;(S a Republican named T homas Paine, retreated from the advancing British, Paine rallied
who immigrated to America in 1774. the Americans wi th a new pamp hlet called The
T w o years later. in a brilliantly written pamphlet Crisis. Its words ate still remem bered in times o f
called CommOIl Sense. Paine beca me om: of the difficulty by Americans today. 'These arc the
first to persuade Americans to make a co m plete times th at rry men' s souls," Paine w rote. "The
break with Br itain . "Ever yt hing that is right o r sum me r sol dier and the sunsh ine patriot w ill, m
reaso nable cries fo r separa tion." he claimed. '''T is this crisis, shri nk fro m the service of his count ry;
time to part! " bu t he that stands /l OW dese rves the love and
thanks of man and woman ." In one of the darkest
eMl l lIIOII S Cl/St' made Paine famous. It had an hours of the war Paine's words hel ped to save
eno rm ous effect on Am erican op inion and pre- Washin gto n 's armie s from melt ing aw ay and
pared people's minds for independence. It was inspired new suppo rters to join th e American
read on fronnc r farms and on city street s. Officers cause.
life in America to produce a new defi nition o f After some early successes . the American s did bad ly
democra tic government. T his new definition said in the w ar against the Bri nsh. Wash ington's army
that governments should cons ist of represent atives w as more o f all armed mob than an effective fighting
elected by the people. It also said that the main reason fo rce. Few of the men had any mili tar y tr aining and
that govern men ts existed w as to protect the rights of many obeyed onl y those orders rhar suited them .
individual citizens. O fficers quarr eled cons tantly ove r th eir rank and
"
.
7 r i Gl ITINC f O il l r.:l ll f't N D EN C L
31
A NEW NATION
8
FORMIN G T HE NEW NATION
T he T reaty of Paris had recognized the U nited States Each ind ivid ual A me rican state had its OW II
as an in de pend ent nation. B'Jt it wa s not one natio n govern ment and behaved vcry much like an
as It is today . In 1783 m ost Americans felt more independent co untry. It mad e its own law s and its
lo ya lt y to their o wn state tha n to the new U nited o w n decisio ns ab out ho w to Hill its affairs. T he first
States. T hey saw themselves fir st as Virginians or big problem that faced th e new U nited States w as
N ew Yo rkers rathe r tha n as Am ericans. ho w to join together these so me times quarrels o m e
little co untries into on e uni ted na tion.
During th e War of Independence the sta res had
ag reed to w or k to geth er in a na tion al C on gr ess to
w hich each sta te sent rcprcseneauves. T he ag ree m ent
tha t set u p this piau for the sta tes to coo perate with
o ne another w as called the Anicks of Confede ratio n.
It had beg uu to o perate in 1781.
U uder th e Articles o f C on fedcrario n th e central
government of the United Stares w as \'er y weak. h
was given cert ain rig ht s. but it had no power to ma ke
those rights effec t ive. C o ngr ess could vot e to set up a
United States army and navy, but it co uld o nly
obtain soldiers an d sailors by asking th e sta tes fo r
them . It could vo te to spend m on ey. but ir had no
power to co llect taxes to raise th e m o m'y. T his
caused serio us problems. W hen. fo r ex ample,
Cong ress need ed mone y to pay debt s owed to
Fran ce, so me states refused to pay.
Wh en th e War o f Independence was over. individual
states bega n to be ha ve m ore and m o re like
ind ep endent nat ions. Some set up tax bar riers against
others. N ew Yo rk placed heavy im port du ties o n
firew ood impo rted from th e neigh bo ring state of
Connecticut and on chickens and eg gs fro m ano ther
neig h bo r. N ew J ersey. In some places states ev en
began fig hting one an ot her to decid e the o w ne rship
of part icula r pieces of fron tier land.
T he weak ness ofits government m ade it di fficult fo r
the new U nited States to win th e respect o r th e hel p
offoreign na tions. The Bri tish felt that th e Am erican
go vernm ent was so weak th at it was no t wort h
n tt p..l.iMit slrnbo.,ls "flht Ilt'U' rut;"" ..•\liss l.i /lnt r h<,ld. fI,,·
dealing w ith. Geo rge III w as sure rhar the Americans
" ' " 'jl.l.( .mJpl"'N lh. I.m"' U'Tt"lh ofv;a,,'Y" 11 Gr,"g.
I f "shi.,.~r.m 's IIro1<l. Thr .1 ",..,;(,... ('<I.ek flits ",·crnr"J. would soon be begging to rej o in the British Em pire .
32
1'1 F O Il ."II N G Til E New N.\TlON
Even Fran ce. the ally of the Americans d uring th e cen tral governme nt. All o f th em were rich men .
Wat of ln dcpcudence. re fu sed to recogniz e Cong ress T hey believed tha t a stro nge r cent ral government
as a real government. Thomas j eff erso n. now th e would pro tect their property and business inter ests.
Am erican rcp rcscnranvc in France, wrote ho m e sadly
The o rigi na l pu rpose of the Constitu tional
that the United States was th e least import ant and
Convcn non was simply to revise the Art icles of
least respected ofall the nations w ith e mbassies in
C on federation. But the delega tes did mort" than th is.
Pans.
They starte d afresh and worked out a co mpletely
Many A me ricans became worried about the future. new sys tem o f government for the U ni ted States.
How could thcv w in the trust ofother nat ions if they They set o ut th e plan for this government in a
refused to pay their debts? H o w could the Count ry do cument called th e C onstitution Ofthe UI/ited S tiltes.
prosper if the states contin ued to q uarrel among
The Constitution gave the U nit ed Sta res a " fede ral"
therusclvcsf George Washing to n w as usually all
system of govern me nt. A federa l system is on e in
optimist. But even he w ro te: " I predict the worst
which the power 10 rule IS shared . A cen tral. o r
cotlSequell ces from a half-s tarved . limping
federal, autho rity has so me of it and till' rest is in the
government, alw ays m ov ing on crut ches and
hand s oflocal autho rities ill th e separate regions tha t
to ttering at eve ry step."
m ake up the co un try.
It was clea r t hat fo r the United Stat es to sur vive there
T he new Co nstitut io n still left th e individual state
would ha vc to be.' changes in the Articlcs of
gov ern ment s wi th a wide range of powers. Hut it
Co nfederat ion . In February 1787, Congress asked
m ade the federal government much stronger than
each state to send delegat es to a meeting o r
befo re. It gan' it the po wer to collect taxes, to
"conven tion;" in Philadelp hia to talk about such
organ ize arm ed fo rces, to ma ke treaties w ith fo reign
changes. T he smallest state, Rh od e Island, refused ,
co untries and to co ntrol tr ade ofall kinds.
but the other twelve ag reed. T he mee ting became
known as the Constitutional Convention. It bega n III The Constitmion ma de arrangements for the election
May I7H7, and fifty-five m en attended. They chose of a nat io nalleader called the Presiden t to take cha rge
Ccorgc Washington 10 lead th eir discuss ions. of th e federal government. He would head th e
"execu tive" side ofthe natio n's government. It
The delegates to the Constitu tional Convention
would be his job to run the country's everyday affairs
disag reed about th e changes th at were needed. So m e
and to sec thai people obeyed th e laws.
were anxious to protect the rights of the indi vidual
stares. At till" same tim e most wa nted a stronger
.'-..
THE LEG ISLATIVE
BRANCH THE JUOIC IA J
BRANCH
' j)
,_ H _.
~~
/ --'""
33
A NEW NATION
George Washington and the into w his key. w hich they then sold . When the
Whiskey Rebellion federal governme nt placed a tax on th e whiskey
t he Pennsylvania farmers refu sed to pay it. They
In 1788 George Washing to n was electe d as the first bu rned do w n the houses of th e federal tax
President of the U nited States. N ew York was collectors. or " revenue agents." w ho tried to
then the country's capital city. O n Ap ril 30, 1789, ma ke them pay.
Washing ton stood on a bakony there and sw ore
a solemn oa th " to preser ve, protect and defend Washingto n sent an army of IS,tXX) me n to
the Constitu tio n of the U nited States." Whe n suppo rt the rights of the federa l government .
the ce remony came to an end he officially took Faced by soldiers, the rebels went ho me quietly.
cont rol o f th e nation's go vern me nt. The Wh iskey Rebellion collapsed wit hout any
figh ting. The soldie rs arrested a few of the leade rs,
Washingto n believed that political parties we re but later the President pardoned them .
har mful. H e said late r that it was " the int erest and
duty o f a w ise people to discourage " them. Even Aft er thi s there was no more organi zed resistance
so , he favo red a strong feder al govern me nt , so he to paying the w hiskey tax. But ma ny fro ntier
tended to go vern in a f ederalist mann er. The way farmers went on making w hiskey that was never
that he dealt with the " Whiskey Rebellion" of taxed . They made it in st ills hidden away in the
1794 w as an exam ple of thi s. w oods. in places that revenue agents could not
find . Such illegal " moonsh ine" whiskey-so called
The main crop grow n by farmers in wes te rn becau se it was often made at night-continues to
Pennsylvania w as corn. Some of thi s they mad e be made to this day.
''rfJide,,(
Wa,hini("ton
rf l'i fwi ug the
troop, at Fori
Cr""I>n-I~ "d,
M~ ryl~"d duri".!!.
fh e IYhi,kcy
Rt""m<'ll.
The law-makin g, or "legislative, " powers of the Representatives, however, would depend upon its
federal go vern ment we re given to a Congress. This populat ion .
was mad e up of representatives elected by the peo ple.
Congress wa s to consis t oftwo part s, the Senate and Finally, the Constitution set up a Supreme Court to
the I louse of Representatives. In the Senate each sta te cont rol the "j udicial" part o f the nation's
would be equally rep resented, with two me mbers, govern me nt. The j ob of the Supre me C ourt w as to
whatever the size ofits population . T he numbe r of mak e decisions in any disagreem ents about the
representatives a state had in the I louse of meaning of the laws and the C onstitu tion.
34
The Constitution made sure rhar there was a "balance T he Court'S new C hiefjusricc. to give him his
ofpo wer" between these th ree mai n parts, or ' official title, was j oh n Marshall. Marshall was a
" branches," of the fede ral government. T o each -le-vear-old lawyer and politician who had fought in
bu nch it gan' powt'rs that the or her two did not the A merican army du ring rhe War o fbrdcpcn dcncc.
have; each had ways ofsro pping w ron gful actions by
either of the other two. T his was to make sure that M arshall was to be Chiefj ust ice of' rhe Supreme
no one person or group could become powerful Court for thirty- five years. But he made his mos t
eno ugh to take complete control ofthe nation 's nnpc rt anr decision as a judge only [\\, 0 years afte r
govcmmcm. The American peo ple had rebelled he was appoi nted . In an 1803 legal case kno wn as
agamst being ruled in an undemocratic fashion by JI<lrbury v. M" disl.l1I , Ma rshall Slated that the Supreme
Britain. T hey did not want to replace the C ourt has the power to decide w heth er part icular
unrepresentative rule of the kin g and parliament in Am erican laws arc acco rdi ng to the C onstitu tion.
Lon don w ith the rule ofa tyranni cal cent ral If the Suprem e C ourt decides that any law is
gove rnment in the U nited States itself " repug nant to the C onsnrunon" thnt is, docs not
-c
JS
9
Y EARS OF GROWTH
36
9 YE""~ Ot GROWTH
O ld Hickory
T he first six Presidents of rhc Un ited Stares we re j ackson rewarded the people who voted for him
all from rich families. Also. all of them came from by int roducing government policies to give them
lo ng-settled states along the Atlantic coast. Then, what they warned. And w hat they wanted above
in 1828. a different sort of President was elected. all were three rhings- cheap money. cheap manu-
His name was Andrew Jackson and he had been factu red goods and cheap land.
born into a poor family on rhc w'estern frontie r. Jackson provided cheap money by encouuglllg
Jackson had commanded the American army at ban ks to make loans at low rates of interest.
the Bank of New Orleans in 1814. By 1828 he He pro vided cheap manufactured goods by re-
was a rich lando..... ner. Bur frontier far mers always ducing import du ties. And he provided chea p land
felt that he was one of them and called him " Ol d by forcing the C herokees and other eastern
Hi cko ry." Hickory is a part icularl y tou gh kind of Amerindians to move west of the Mississipp i.
wood that grows in American forests. Opinion s about Jackson 's motives arc di vided.
Jackson was one of the foun ders of the Democratic Some believe that he was conce rned only abou t
Party. lie said that governme nt sho uld be organ- winning popularity and th e power that went w ith
ized to benefit " the great bod y of the United it. But others say that his po licies of giv ing vo ters
States- the plant er , the farmer, the mechanic and wh ar they wa nted- "Jackson ian dcmocracy"-.
th e laborer." Ir was the votes of such people tha t were an important landmark in maki ng the United
made him President in 1828 and then again in States a mo re genuinely democratic country.
1832.
37
A N t.w NA TION
3R
') Y I' A~ 5 IH G II O W TH
Fo r pur poses o f go vern m ent th e federa l auth o rities give its poi nt of view in Cong ress . When the
div id ed the lands between the Appalachians and the po pu latio n of a te rr itory reached 60,000 it became a
Mississippi into two. T he Oh io Ri ver ma rked the new state, w ith the same rights and powers as the
bo undary be tw een them . T he area south of th e O hio ori ginal thirteen states .
was called th e Sou rhwcsr T err ito ry and that to the
T hese arrangements for go vern ing new territo ries
north th e N o rth west T err ito ry.
were first in troduced by th e Northwest Ord inance of
As the number of peo ple living in them inc reased, 1787. T he plan tha t th e Ordina nce laid dow n for
each of these tw o big terr ito ries was divided ag am co nt roll ing th e g rowth of the U nited States has been
int o smaller o nes. Ohio, Ind iana. Illinois, M ichiga n, follo w ed ever since. T he im po rtance of the pla n is
an d Wisconsin w en- evenruallv m ade out of the th at it m ade su re that th e o rig inal thi rt een sta tes we re
N o rt h w est Terr itory. As each w as for me d it w as not able to control fo r th eir own benefi t lands that
placed under the ru le of a go n'rn o r appointed by w ere settled later. This mea nt th at as the United
Co ng ress. When th e number of w hite males living in States gr ew bigger it w ent on be ing a democra tic
a territory reached 5,000 it co uld elect its own law- unio n of equals.
makin ~ bo rly. It coul d also send a represent ative to
31)
- - 10 - -
W EST TO THE PACIFI C
A41_l'I'_....
"'""'1'...... G«.. _ " """'''''
1842
or
III 1800 th e western boundary the U nited Sta tes the Rocky M ountain s. Its pur ch ase alm ost do ubled
was the Mississippi Rive r. Beyon d its wide and the lan d area o f the United Stares. In rim e, all or pJ.rts
muddy warcrs there w ere g rea t area s of lan d th rough o f th irteen n ew st ares would be for med there.
winch few white peo ple had traveled . The land
T he Lou isian a Purchase W;\S authorize d by Presiden t
s tretched w est to r m o re than 600 miles to the
Tho m as J efferso n, Even before this Jefferson had
foot hills of the Ro ck y M o untains . It w as known at
been planning to send an expedi tion to ex plo re
the time as Lo uisiana.
LOUISian a. He w as a kee n amateur SCien tist an d
lu 1800 Louisian a belo nged to france. The rule r of wanted to kn ow more ab ou t the gccg rap h v, the
France at thi s tim e was Napoleon . who would. SO Ol1 people, the an imals an d the plants of the lands to the
become th e country's emperor. Americans feared w est of the United Sta tes. He als o hoped th at the
that Napoleon migh t sen d Fren ch soldiers an d ex plorers might rind an easy way across N orth
settlers to Lo u isiana and so b lock th e fur th er Am erica to the Pacific Ocean.
westward g ro wth of the United States .
T he expedition was led by M eriw eth er Lew is and
Then th e Am eri can s were vcry luc k y. [11 1803 William Clark. In the spring of 180-1 it s tw ent y-m n c
N ap oleo n was ab out to go to WJ r w ith Britain an d men left th e tr adin g post o f St. Lou is. where the
n eed ed m O llC Y. For fifteen m illion dollars he sol d Misso u ri River tlo ws in from the northwest to meet
Lo uisian a to the United States. " \Vc have liv ed lo ng the M ississippi. T he explorers scr offup th e Missouri
but this is th e noblest work o f our whole lives ," said by bo at. Am on g their supplies rhey earn ed -1,6UO
o ne of th e Am erican repr esen tat ives who signed the need les. 2,800 fishing ho oks. 132 knives an d 72
agreement . piec es of striped "ilk ribbo n, T hey carr ied these
goods to trade With Amerind ian" along th e way .
Lo uisian a st retc hed north fro m the Gulf of M exico to
the Canadian b o rder and wes t fro m the Mississipp i to
40
111 wt.s r 10 11110 I' Al I H C
For months till' explo re rs rowed and sailed their Moun tains to th e undefined bo rde rs ofLouisiana . In
boats up the Missouri , hoping that it would lead 1R05 four co unt ries claim ed to OWI1 O regon - Russia.
rhcm to the Pacific. Some times t1lt'y had to w ade Spain , Britai n and till' United States.
sho ulder-deep in the rive r. pulling th e boats forward
Russia owned Alaska, and Spain rule d C alifornia.
agai nst fast and dangerous cu rre nts. When the
Hut in O regon the British and the AIIlt'Ticans were in
Missouri beca me roo shallow ro fo llow any furt her.
the strongest position , Both already had tr adin g
they m arched lo r ten weeks across th e Ro ck y
pos ts scatt er ed along O regon's coas ts and T1Yt'TS.
Mountains, killing their horses for food and wit h
Soon they had mort'. At thes e posts t raders bought
on ly melted snow to d rink. At la..r they reached the
beaver and o ther anim al furs from Ame rindian and
wcs twa rd-rlowing Colu mbia River . The)" tloarcd
Europ ean trappa'S. Such tr ap pcrs we re called
down it to th e Pacific. O n a pine tree growlllg by rhc
"mountain-men' because rhcv spe llt their lives
sh ore Clark ca rved a message- "Will. C lark. D ec. J.
wa ndering th e m o untains o fO rego n and Cal ifornia
IS05. By land fro m rhc United Scares in It>U4 and
ill search of turs.
ISU5."
By the 183tk the British hold mort' scnlcmcnrs and
Lewis and Clark arrived back in St. l.o uis in larc trading posts III Orego n rhan the Americans.
September 1806. T hey had been J.WJ.y lor [WOand J. Ameri can political k 'Hk rs began (0 fear [hat Britain
half years and had traveled almost 4,000 m iles. T hey w o uld soon gain co mplete control of the area. T o
had failed to find an l'asy overlan d ro ute to the preve nt rbis they made g rcat c tfo rrs to persuade mo rt'
Pacific. bur thcv had sho wn rhar rhc j ourncv was Am ericans to SUr[ farms in O regon .
possible. T hl' y had also brought back much usefu l
informaricn about bot h Lo uisiana and the western At first Americans tr aveling to O regon went by sh ip.
lands rhat lay beyond it, T hey sailed from rhc cast coast po rts of the U nited
Stat es. aro un d South America and up th e long Pacific
These lands bcvond Lo uisiana we re known as coast. Thcjcu m cv was expensive and it lasted (or
Oregon. T hcv stretched from Alaska in rhc north to m onths. Settlers bq~all traveling to O rego n by land
California III the so uth and inland throu gh th e Rocky in IHJ1. They usually set out fro m lnd cpcndcucc.
In the yea r 1810 the re we re 7. "2 mi llion people ill the In th e n orth of the U n ited States far m s were sm aller
United Sta tes. For 1.2 mill ion of these people th e and the climate wa s cooler. Farmers there did no t
words of th e Declaration ofIndependence " tha t all men need slav es to work the lan d fo r th e m. Som e
arc created eq ual" were far fro m true. T hey were no rtherner s oppos ed slavery fo r m oral and religio us
black and they w ere sla ves. reasons also . Many were abo litio n ists - that is, people
who wa nted to en d o r abolish slavery b y law. 13y the
Thomas j efferso n, who w ro te the Declaration of
early nineteenth centur y m an y no rthern states ha d
Independence, owned slaves himself. So did George
passed laws abolish ing slavery insid e their own
Washingto n an d other leaders o f the movemen t for
boundaries. In 180 8 th ey also pe rsua ded Congress to
American ind ependence and freedom. Borh jcffcrson
m ake it illegal for ships to b ring an y new slaves from
and Washing to n had uneasy co nsciences about this.
Africa into the U n it ed Sta tes.
13mo ther big landow ner s in southern states such as
Vi rgmia defe nded slavery . T hey asked what th ey B y th e 1820s so uthern and no rthern politicians w ere
thoug ht was an una nswera ble q uestio n . How could arguin g fiercel y abou t w hether slaver y sho u ld be
th ey cult i va te their field s o f tobacco, ri ce an d cotton perm itt ed in the new terr ito ries that we re then be ing
w ith out slave workers? set tled III the Wes t. T he arg u ment centered o n the
44
II NOR TI I ....x n xo u ru
MIssouri ter rito ry. \vhich was part of the Louis iana idea was stro ngly sup po rted by other so ut he rne rs. It
Purchase. Southern ers argued th at slave labo r sho uld became kn o wn as the "states' righ ts doct rine."
be allowed in Mi sso uri an d all t he othe r lands that
fo r med pan of the Louisiana Purchase. Bo th Cal ho un 's claim w as stro ng ly de nied by Sena tor
abolitionists and o ther northerners objected stro ngly D aniel Webs ter of Massachusetts. T he po wer to
to this. N orth ern farm ers moving west di d not wa nt decide whether the fe-deral au thorities we re acting
to find thcmscl vcs competing fo r land ag ams r righ tly or wrongly belonged to the Sup re me C ourt.
so uthe rne rs who had sian's to do their w ork for said We bster, not to individual states, If states were
th em. Eventually the two sides agreed on a given th e rig ht to disobey the fede ral govern me nt, he
co m pro mise. Slavery would be permi tted in the said, it would become "a mere rope of sand" and lose
Mis souri and Arkansas territories bur banned III lands its power to ho ld rhe country together. Webster's
to th e west and north of M issouri. speech was a wa rn ing to America ns that the stares'
rig hts doctri ne co uld become a serious threat t o the
The Mi sso uri Compro mise, as it was called. did no t unity o f th e United States.
end the di sput es bet ween North and So ut h. By th e
early 1830s another angry argu ment was gomg o n. In the next twenty years the United Stares grew
This tinu- the argument began over im po rt d uties. much bigger. In 1846 it divided the Oregon
N orth ern states favored such d ut ies beca use they T er rit or y wirh Britain . In 18-l8it too k vast areas of
protected their young industries aga inst th e th e Southw est from M exico . Obtaini ng these new
co m petition offoreign manu factu red goods. lands raised again the question that the Mi ssouri
Southern stares o pposed them because so utherne rs Compro mi se of 182n had tried to scnlc-. sho ul d
relied upon fo reign manufacturers for both slaver y be allowed on new American te rritory? Once
necessities and luxuries of ma ny kinds. Im po rt duties aga in so utherners ansvvered "yes." And o nce aga in
would raise the prices of such goods. northerne rs said "no."
During th e argument about import d uti es a southern In 1850 C on gress voted in favo r ofanother
polit ical leader named J oh n C. Calhou n raised a compromise. California was admitted to the U nited
muc h more S~T10US q ues tio n. H e claimed th at a state States as a frce state, while people who lived III Utah
had th e right to disobey any fede ral law if the state and N ew M ex ico we re given th e rig ht to decide for
believed that the law would harm its int erest s. This them selves whether o r not to allo w slaver y.
45
A Nlw NATI ON
46
I I NOll r II AN Il S O UT H
47
A NE\'i NATION
4H
II N OWI I! A S !) SOU TII
H arriet Tubman
Th e mo st famous "conductor" on the U nde r- During the Civil War H arri er Tubma n worked as
grou nd Railro ad v....as a young black woman a nur se. a coo k and a laundress wi th the Union
named H ar riet Tubman. She w as born in 1821 and ar mies fighting in the South. It is also said rhar she
grew up as a slave 011 a plantation in Ma ryla nd. risked her life by traveling behi nd C onfeder ate
In l R49 she esca ped to Philadelphia and joined lines as a sp y.
the Under ground Railroad. Although she could Aft er the C ivil War H arriet Tubman lived in
neither read nor w r-ite, Har riet Tubman had grear Au burn. New Yo rk . Here she worked to hel p
abilities as an orga nizer. Over the next ten yea rs children and old people. using the profits she
she made nineteen tri ps int o slave states and led earned from her autobiography to pay for her
more than 300 me n. women and children to w ork. When she died in 1913, she had already
freedom. On her early trip s she led thc fugi tives to
become a legend.
safety in such no rthern cities as N ew York and
Philadelphia , When the Fugitive Slave Aet o f
1850 made those cities unsafe. she led the peop le in
her carl' to Canada.
49
- - 12 - -
THE CIVI L WAR
On March 4, 1~61. Abraha m Lincol n took th e oath Lincoln called fo r 75.lKXI men to tig ht to save the
ofoffi ce as President of the United States. Less than a U nion. J e fferso n Davis . the newly elected President
mo m h ha d passed si nce rhc fo rmatio n ofthe of the C o nfed erate Slates, ma de J similar ap peal to r
Confederacy. In his inaugural address as President. men to fig ht for the Confederacy. Vol unteers rushed
Lincoln appealed to th e southe rn states to stay in th e fo rw ard in tho usands on both sides.
Un io n . H e promised that he would no t inte rfere w ith
Some peo ple fou nd it d ifficu lt and painful to decide
slavery in any ofthcm. UU! he wa rned th at he would
which side to su pport. T he decis io n so me times sp lit
not allow them to break up the U ni ted Stares b y
families. The SO li o f the co mmander o f th e
seceding. Quoting from his oa th o f office, he rold
Con fede rat e navy was killed figh ting in a Un ion
th em : " Yo u have no oa th registe red in H eaven (Q
ship. Two bro the rs became gene rals - hut on
dest ro y th e government, w hile I have a most so lem n
opposite sides . And three of President Lincoln's own
o ne ( 0 'prese rve. protect and defend' it. "
brothers-in -law died figh ting for the Con fede racy.
T he southern sta res took no notice of Lincol n's
From th e firs t months ofthe wa r U nion wa rshi ps
appeal. On A pri112 Con fede rate guns o pened fire Oil
bloc kaded the ports of th e South. T hey did this to
Port Sumter. a fortres s in th e harbo r of Cha tl cston,
prevent th e Con fede racy fro m selling its co tton
Sou th C arolina, that was occupied by U nited Slates
ab road and fro m obtaiumg foreign supplies.
troo ps. T hese shots m arked the beginning of t he
Am er ican Civil War. In both men and m aterial resources the N o rth wa s
m uch st ronger than tilt' South. It had a population of
twenty- two mi llio n peo ple. Th e South had only milt'
m illion peo ple and 3. 5 mill io n of them w ere slave s.
T he N orth grt' w m or e food crops than the South.
It also had m or e than five tim es th e m an ufactu ring
capacity, inc luding most o f the co unt ry's weapon
facto ries. So th e N orth no t only had more fig ht ing
me n th an the South, it co uld also keep them bett er
suppli ed wi th w eapo ns, clo thing , food and
eve ry thin g else they needed .
llo w eve r, the N o rt h f.1ct,d o ne g reat difficu lty . The
onl y w ay it co uld wi n th e war w as to invade the
South and occupy its land . T he So uth had no suc h
problem . It di d not need to co nq uer th e North to w in
independence. All it had to do WJS to hold o m unt il
th e people of till' North gtt'Wtired offighting . Most
south ern ers bel ieved th at the C o nfederacy cou ld do
th is. It began the w ar wi th a num ber of advantages .
Man y ofth e best officer s in th e pre-wa r ar m y of the
U nited States were so utherners. N o w th ey returned
[ 0 the Confederacy to o rga nize its ar m ies. Most o f
homes. This oft en made them fight with mo re spirit blood y fighting and a siege lasting six weeks ,
tha n the Umon soldiers. Vicksbur g sur rende red to a U nion army led by
General U lysses S. Gram . Its fall was a heavy blow to
Southern er s denied that they were fighting mainly to
the South . Union forces now controlled the whole
preserve slavery. Most were p OOT farmers w ho
length o f the M ississipp i. They had split the
owned no sian's anYWJY. The South w as fighting for
C onfederacy in tw o . It became im possible for
irs independence from the No rth. they said. just as
western Confederate sta res like T exas to send any
their grandfathers had foug ht fo r indepen dence fro m
mo re men and supp lies to the east.
Britain almost a cemu ry earlier.
lim by 186 3 many no rtherners were [ired of the w ar.
T he wa r was fo ug ht in tw o main areas >- in Vir ginia
They were sickened by its hea vy cost III lives and
and the other east coas t stares of the Confederacy,
mone y. General Lee. the Confederate comma nder,
and in the M ississippi valley.
belie ved that if his ar my co uld w in a decis ive victory
In Virgi nia [he U nio n arrrucs suffe red one defeat after on no rthern soil, popular op inion there might force
ano the r III [he fi rst year o f the war. Agam and again the Union governme nt [0 make pe.ace.
they tr ied [0 c.apmn' Richmond. the Confederate
In th e last week o fJu ne 186..1. Lee marched his ar my
capital. Each rim e they we re thro wn back with heavy
north into Pennsylvania. At a sl11311 [Own nam ed
losses. The Confederate fo rces in Virg inia had two
C cnysbur g a Union arllly bloc ked his w.ay. The
grear advantages. The first was that man y river s CUt
battl e w hich followed was the biggest [hat has ever
across the roads leading south to Richmond and so
been foug ht in the United States. In three days of
made the city easier to defend. Th e second was their
fierce fightin g more [hall 5O,()(N) men were killed or
leaders. T w o Confederate gene rals in particular,
wou nd ed . O n the fou rth day Lee broke olTthe battl e
Robe rt E. LI.'.l' and Thomas}. (,'S tonew.all") j .ackson,
and led his men back into [he South. The
showed mu ch mo re skill than the gene rals leading [he
Confederate ar my had suffered a dcrcar fro m which ir
U mon ar IllY.a[ this rime. Jackson got his nickn ame
would neve r reco ver.
" Sto newall" because he stoo d firm against adv ancing
U nion rroops. A fellow officer, enco uragi ng Ius
soldiers shou ted out, " Look, there is Jackso n,
standin g like a stone w all!" The Emancipation Proclamation
T he Nort h's t\l rly defeats in Virg inia discouraged its By the su m mer o f 1862 President Lincoln realized
su pporters. T he flood of volunteers for the arm y that the North w ould only w in the wa r if he could
began to dry up. Recruitment W ;IS not helped by arouse more enthusiasm fo r its cause. On Scprcm-
letters home like th is one, From ;1 lieutenan t in the bcr 22 he issued the Em ancipation Procl amation
U nion arlllY III IM62: wi th this aim . T his Procl amation declared th at
" T he butcher y ofthe boys, the suffe rlllp;s o f the from j anua ry 1, l R6 3, all slaves were to be mad e
unpa id soldiers, wit hout rent s, poo r rations. a sing le free -bu t on ly if they lived in areas that were part
blanker each , w ith no bed but the hard da m p of the Confederacy. T he Proclamation change d
ground -it is these things that kill nu-.' the purpose o f the wa r, Fro m a str uggle to
presern ' rhc Union , it beca me a str uggle both to
Fortunately for the N or th, U nion forces in [he preserve the U nio n and to abolis h slavery.
Mississippi valley had mo re SIKH.'SS. III Ap ril 1861. a
nava l offic er nam ed I >a vid Farr agut sailed U nion At the tim e no t eVl'ryolll' was im pressed by
ships into the mouth o trhc rive r and capt ure d New Lin coln's action . A British leade r. Lord Palmers-
Orleans, the largest city in the Ccnfcdcrncy. At the ton , said th nr all Lincoln had don e was " to abolish
same time other Union forces were fighting their slavery wh ere he w as without power to do so,
way do wn the Mississip pi fro m till" north . w hile pro tecting it wh ere he had the po wer to
destroy it. " Palmcrsron wa s right. But after the
By sp ring 1863, the Union ar mies wer e closing: ill on Emancipation Proclamation everyolle knew rhar it
all im po rtan t Confederate strongho ld on the was onl y a marrcr of time now before slave ry was
Mississippi called Vicksburg, 0 11 J ul y 4, afier mu ch ended eve rywher e in the United Stat es,
51
A NE\'i N.'\TlON
B y I R64 the Confede racy was mnlllng o u t o f almost Gram treated the defeated C o n fed erat e so ld iers
every tili ng -men. eqUlp men r, fo od . m o ney. As fall ge nerousl y. After they had given u p th eir weapoll s
colored th e trees ofth e eas tern wood s. the U n ion and promised never agam to fig ht agalllst the U ni ted
ar m ies moved in to end the w ar. In N o vember 18f:,4, States, he allowed them to go home. H e told them
a U nio n army led by Gene ral Wi lliam T. Sherman they co uld keep th eir ho rses " to help with th e sprmg
began to m arch thro ugh the Con fede rate st ate of ploug hin g." As Lee ro de away. Gran t stoo d in the
Ge o rg ia. Its so ldiers dest royed every thin g III thei r doorway che wing a piece of tobacco an d to ld his
path. T hey tore up railroad track s. burned crops an d m en : " The wa r is o ver. T he reb els arc o ur
'bu ild in gs. drove o ff cattle. O n Decem bc r 22 they co un tr y men again.
occupi ed the city o f Savann ah. T he Confed erac y w as
T he C ivil War gave fin al answers to two quest ions
split again , thi s time fro m cast to west. Aftet
that h ad d ivided the U ni ted States ever since it
capt u tl ng Savann ah, Sher m an tu rn ed no rth . He
beca m e an ind epend ent na tion . It pm an en d to
matched th ro ug h th e C arolinas. b u rn in g and
sla ver y. In lR65 thi s w as abo lishe d ev erywhere ill the
destroyin g aga in as he m ade to r Richmond .
U n ited States by the 13th Amend m en t to the
The Confederate capi tal w as alrea dy in d an ger from Constitu tio n. And it d ecid ed finally th at the U nited
an o the r Union army led by Ge ne ral G rant. By States w as o ne n ation. w hose part s co u ld n o t be
Ma rch 186 5. G rant ha d al most en circled th e city and sep arated .
o n April 2 Lee w as fo rced to aba ndo n it to save his
Bur the w ar left bitter memories. T he U nited Sta tes
army from be ing tra pped. He ma rched south, ho ping
fough t other wa rs later. bu t all were o utsi de its own
to fig ht on from a strong position III the m ountains.
boundaries . The Ci vil War caused terrible
But Gr ant fo llowed d o se be h ind and o the r U nion
destr uction at hor ne. All over the So u th cities an d
sol d iers blocked Lee's way fo rwa rd . Lee was
(;Ir ms lay in ruins . An d more Americans d ied in th is
trapped . O n Apr il 9. 1865, he met G rant in a b ou se in
war th an III any o the r, before or since. By the time
a tiny village called Appomattox an d surren dered his
Lee surrendered to G rant at Appomatt o x. th e dead
ar m y.
o n both Sides to taled 635.000.
52
11 THE CIVI L W.\Jl
53
13 - -
RECONSTRUCTION
o Captain! m y C aptain!
W ah W hitman is perhaps th e mOSI famo us Ame r- his gri ef at th e d eath of th e President by w riting
ican poet o f th e nineteenth cent ur y. D uring the thi s po em . The "fearful trip" in th e o pclllng line is
Civil War he worked in mil itary hospitals, helping rhc Civil War , the "Captain" is Ab raha m Linco ln ,
[0 rake care of wounded soldiers. Whitm an w as a th e "ship" is th e U nited Stares and th e " prize" I S
g n:ar admi rer of Linco ln and in 1B65 he exp ressed peace and natio nal uni ty,
o C aptain! m y Captain! our fearful trip is Fo r yo u rhcy call, rhc swaying mass. th eir
do ne, eager faces turn ing;
The ship has weathcr'd e\'e ry rack . the pnze Here Ca ptain! d ear fathe r!
we so ught is won, T his arm be nea th your head !
The pori is nca r, rhc be lls I hea r, the peo ple all It is so me dream th at o n the dec k,
exul ting, Yo u'vc fallen cold and dead.
While follo w eycs rhc stea dy keel, the vessel
M y Captain docs no r answer, his lip s arc pale
grim and d aring;
and still.
Bu t 0 heart ! heart! heart!
M y fathe r docs not fed m y arm, he has no
() the bleeding drops of red ,
pulse nor will.
W here on the deck m y Captain lies.
T he sh ip IS anchor'd safe and sou nd, its
Fallen cold and dead.
vo yage closed and done,
o Captain ! my Captain! rise up and hear th e From fearful tri p the victo r ship co mes in
bells: wi th object w on :
Rise u p - for you the flag is t1ung - for you the Exult 0 shores, and ring 0 be lls!
bugle t rills. But I w irh mou rnful tread.
For yo u bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths - fo r Walk the deck my Captain lies,
yo u the shores a-crowding. Pallen co ld and d ead .
Walt Whitma n
The ot her 1( >TIll eT Coufcdcrarc states shared this In 1S6::; the Chie,T.!!t' Tribune ncwspaper \....arnc d
att itude. All th eir assemblies passed laws to keep southern ers o f the growing ;lI1ger in the N orth about
blacks III an in fe rior pos ition. Suc h laws were called th e Black Codes:
"Black C o des . " "Fede ra l bayo nets" might have "We tell th e wh ite men of M ississip pi th at the men
ma de th e black s free , bur the ru ling whites intended o f the N orth w ill co nvert th e State of M ississip pi into
them to rem ain u nski lled. un ed uc ated and land less, a fro g po nd befor e rhc y w ill allo w such law s to
with no lega l protection o r rig hts of thei r own . dis g race one foo t ofso il in which the bo nos o f o ur
Black Codes re fused blacks rile vote. said that the y sol d iers sleep and over w hich the Hag cf frccdom
could not StTH' onju rics. forba de rhcm to g Ive waves.':
evidence in court against a wh itt' 11I.111 . In M ississip pi T he feeling s o f the C/tiea,l!(l Trill/mt" were shared b y
blacks were not allowed to b uy or to rvnr farm land . m;JIlY m em bers of the United States Congress. A
III Lo uisia na they had to agn.'t' to work fo r 011e g roup th ere called Rad ical Republicans believed th at
em ployer fora. whole year and co uld be im pri so ned the most important reason fo r figlui ng the C ivil Wa r
and ma d e to do forced labor if they refused . With 110 had been to free the blacks, H avin g won the WJr,
land. no m o n t'y and no protection from rile law , ir th ey were de termi ned that neither they no r th e blacks
was almost as ifblark s were still slaves. were now going to be cheated. They said that
Pr esiden t j o hnso n was treating the defeated white
so utherners roo kind ly and that [he southerners were
55
A Nsw NATION
tak in g advantage o f th is. " They have n o t been The new ly ar rived northerners were referred to b y
punished as they deserve," sai d o ne Radic al southerners who o pposed them as "carpetbaggers."
Rep ub lican . T he na me came from the large. cheap bags made of
carpet ing material in w hich some o f the northern er s
In J u ly 1866, des pite opposition fro m the Presiden t,
carried their belongings. Any white southerners who
Congress passed a C ivil Rig hts Act. It also set up all
cooperated with the carpetbaggers were referred to
o rganizatio n calle d the Freedmen's Bu reau. Bo th
with co n tem pt as "scalawags." T he word
these measures were intended to ensure that b lack s in
"scala wag " still mea ns scoun d rel. or rogue. III the
th e So uth were not cheated of their rights. C ongress
En glish lang uage to day .
then introd uced th e l-tth Amendment to th e
Constitution. T he l-lt h A mend ment gave black s full M ost w hit e southerners su pported the Democra tic
fights of citize ns hip, mel ud ing th e figh t to vote. poli tical pa rt y. T hese southern Democrats claimed
that th e Reconstru ction goverm llellts were
All the fo rmer Confederate st ates except Tennessee
in co m peten t and dishonest. T here was so m e truth in
refu sed to accept the l -lrh Amendment. In March
this claim . M an y of the n ew black m em bers o f the
1867, Cong ress replie d by passing the
state asse mb lies were ine xperienced and poorl y
Reco ns tru ct io n Act . This d ismissed the white
ed u cated . So m e carpetbaggers were thie ves. In
go v er nm en ts of the southe rn states an d placed them
Loui sian a. tor example, one car petbagger official w as
. under military rule. They were tol d th at th ey co uld
accuse d of stealing IOU,OnO dollars from state fun d s in
ag ain have elec ted govern meIHs when the y accep ted
his first year of office.
the 14th Amen d m ent and gan' all black men th e
vo te . Bu t Rec onst ru cti on govern ments also containe d
honest men who tried to Im pro ve the South . T hey
13y 1870 all the southern states had new
passe d !; l\V S to provide care fo r orphans and the
" Reconstruction" govemmcnrs. Most were m ade up
blind . to enco ur age new ind usmcs and the building
of blacks, a few wh ite southerners who were wi llin g
of rail ro ad s. and to bui ld schools for both w h ite an d
to w o rk with them an d white men fro m the North.
black chi ldren.
None o f these Im provements stopped southern
w h ites fr om ha ting Reconstr uc tion . This wa s n ot
because of th e incom petence or di sh on esty of its
go vcmmcms. It was because Reco ns tructi on aim ed
to give b lacks th e same rig h ts th at w hites had .
Southern whites were determined to prevent this .
T hey o rg an ized terrorist groups to make w hi te m en
the masters on ce mo re. T he m ain aim of these g rou ps
was to th reaten and frighten black people and Ptv vvut
them fro m claiming the ir nghts.
The largest and mo st feared terr o rist group wa s a
secret sOCIety called the Ku Kl u x Klan. Its memb ers
d ressed th emselves in wh ite sheets and wore ho o d s to
hid e their faces. They ro de by night through th e
southern count rysi de. beating an d k illing any bla cks
who tr ied to improve their position . T heir sign was a
burni ng wooden cross. w hic h th ey placed o ut side the
homes of their intended victims.
This usc of violence and fear helped white racists to
win bac k control of sta te governments all over the
South . B y 1876 Repu b lican suppo ners of
Rec o nstruc ti o n held power in on ly three southern
13 Itl (;()NSTRL:C T! O )\;
In March 1848, a gro up of w or kmen w as buildin g a over the territo r y hur ried to the go ld fields to mak e
saw mill beside a strea m in Ca lifo rnia for a landovvncr themselves rich.
nam ed John Sutter. O ne day the forem an ill cha rge o f
Uy the spri ng of 1849, people fro m all ove r the world
t he workers saw gol den specks glittering ill till' we re rushing 10 Ca lifo rnia to look for gol d. In 1848
wa te r. Picki ng up a handful of black gravel from the its po pulation was I SJ)()() people. By 1852 the
bed of the strea m. he looked more closely, It was
po pulation wa s more than 250.000. SOllie of the new
go ld! arrivals traveled by sea to t he po rt of San Francisco.
T he fo rem an rushed to te ll Sut ter . Before long the O th ers traveled ove rland, enduring the same kind of
news of his discovery was swcc pmg throu gh hardships tha t faced settlers on the way to Oregon.
C aliforni a. Uy the middle of the summer a go ld rush In the next twenty years gold discoveries att racted
had beg un. The governor o f Ca liforn ia repo rted to fo rtune-seekers to ot her parts of the far West. Uy the
Washi ngton that " mills arc lying idle. fields of w heat
late 1850s th ey we re milling III the mountains of
arc 0Pt'll to cattle and horses, hou ses vacan t and
N evada and Colorado. by the 1860s they had moved
farms going to was te" as men and w omen from all
int o Montana and Wyo ming and by rhc IH70s they
were di gging in the Black I Iills of the Dakota
cou ntry.
The firsr mini ng settlements were just untidy
col lections o f rcuts and huts, scattered along rough
tr acks tha t we re mu dd y in winter and dusty III
summer. But some grew later into perma nen t
co mmun ities. T he present city o f D enver . the capital
of C olorado, began life in this way.
T housands of miles sepa rated these western mining
set tlem ents from the rest o f the United States. Look
:Jt;1 map of the cou nt ry at the end of the C ivil War in
1H()5. You will sec that wh ite settlement in the East
stops a little to the w est of the Mis sissippi and
M issouri rive rs. Beyo nd these last farms. th ou sands
o f miles o f Rat or ge ntly rolling land cove red w ith tall
grass stre tched west to the foo th ills of the Rocky
Mountai ns. Earl y travelers who passed th rough this
regi on described it as a "sea o f grass." for hard ly any
t rees or bushes grew the re. Geogra phers call these
grasslands the G reat Plains. o r the Prairies. of North
Am e rica.
T he G rt'a[ Plains an: generally m uch drie r than the
lands to [he east of the M ississipp i. Rain fall ranges
from about forty inches a yea r on the wett er, eastern
5<
14 MI NE RS , !{ AILR O AI ) S .\Nll CA flU, M L !';
reached the height of its fame between 1875 and Ver y soon meat from the G rear Plains w as feeding
1885. In this per iod o ften yea rs a qu arrer ofa mi llio n peopl e III Europe as we ll as the easte rn U nited States.
T exas cattle tr aveled the tr ail to Dodge C ity . From By 188 1 more than 110 mill ion pou nd s o f Am erican
there they w ent by rail to rhc slaug hte r houses o f beef was being ship ped across the Atlantic Ocean
C hicago and Kansas City. Such cities gre w rich fro m ever y year. The grass of ehc G reat Plains was earn ing
killing wes ter n canle and prepa ring their meat fo r the U nited Sta tes as m uch mon ey as th e gold mi ne s
eating. o f its wester n mountains.
T h c StJmpcdc' by
FrrJm c
Rrmj".t '''''. .--1
COIl·My 'ryi".!? I,>
,o" ln,II,i, herJ of
l~ lIlr
...hid, has
burr j""rrprJ,·J by
Jig/,III I"g,
On the trail
George D uffield was a covvboy. In 1866 he drove a herd of 1,000 Lon ghorn
cattle no rt h from T exas. T he extracts below arc fro m his dia ry:
MayS June 2
Rain pom i ng down in ton"elll.'>. Ra n my norse Hard ra i n and wind storm. Beeoes ran and ]
in to a ditch and got my k nee badly sprained. had to be 011 horseback allllight. Awjul night
May}4 Men lost. Quit tile beenes and go h /lut ing 11«-"11.
Braz os Ri ver. Sunnn ou r cattle and horse.'> and Pou nd our men with Ind ia n !jUide and 195
built raft and mjted our provi sions and blan kets t ee oes 14 miles from ca mp. Almost started not
ami so on O l'eI'. S wam river urith: rope and then lw vi ng ha d a bite to eat f or 6Uhours. Got to
camp about 12:UO. Tired.
hauled wagon OI'er. Lost m ost oj ou r kitchen,
furniture, s uch as crunp kettles. coffee pot, cups, Junel9
et.c. Arl.:an..sus R iver. J:i In d ia ns ca me to herd and
tried to take so me beeves. n Quld lIot let them.
Junel
One d rew h is kni fe m id I my revotcer. Made
Stampede tast 'l igh t a nd a gen eral m ix up a nd
loss ot teece e [caute], Hunt catUe again. .\[en all them teo oe , hutfear they tun-e gonefor others.
tired a nd wa nt to Icat V!.
- - 15 - -
F ARMING THE GREAT PLAIN S
In 1862 Union and Confede rate arrrucs were fighti ng T ran sconti nent al railroad compantes like the Union
so me of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Hut Pacific also provided set tle rs with che ap land . T hese
that same year Congress found ti me to pass a law that companies had been given land beside their tracks by
had nothing to do w ith the war. T he law w as called the government. To inc rease their profits they w ere
the H o m estead Act. keen fo r peo ple to begin farming this land so they
advertised fur set tle rs. T hey did this not only in the
T he Homestead Act offered free far ms
eastern U nited States, bu r as far away as Euro pe.
(rbomcsrcads") in the West ( 0 fam ilies of settlers .
T hey shipped immigrants across the Atla ntic, ga ve
Each homestead co nsiste d o f 160 acres ofland an d
them free railroad transport to th e Wes t and often
any head of a fam ily who was at least twe nty-one
help ed th em to sta rt th eir farms and communities.
y ears of age and an American ci tizen co u ld claim on e.
So could immigrants who inrended to b ecome East of the Mi ssissippi, small famil y farms we re the
ci tizens. All that homesteade rs had to do \\'J5 to usu al w ay of cul tivating the land. Fro m the lH70s
m o ve OIHO a piece of pu blic lan d-c rhat is, lan d o w ned on war ds farms of this sort began to spread over th e
by th e government ~ live 011 it fo r five year s and the Great Plain s. As a boy, H aml in Ga rland was taken to
lan d became theirs. If a family wanted to own its live o n the Plains by his parent s . Years later he
homestead more quickly than this it cou ld buy the rem em bered the firs t sight of the land that was to be
land after only six months for a very lo w price of Ius new ho m e:
Sl.25 an acre.
" Each mi le took LIS farther and fart he r into the
~" ~ LARGE DISCOUNTS FORCASH, '1iioill "I unsettl ed prame unti l in th e aftern oon of the second
B E TTER TERMS -TH A N EVE R ! day, we came to a meadow so wide that its western
rim touched the sky ... The plain w as covered w ith
g rass as tall as ripe wheat and whe n my father
stopped his tea m [of ho rses, pulling the wagon] and
cam e back to us an d said, 'Well, children. he re we arc
o n The Bi g Prairie' , we loo ked around us with awe. "
Buildin g a house was the first task th e homesteaders
faced . They had to do this the msel ves, for the re \·...as
no on e else to do it fo r th em . lim th ey had a
pro blem . What co uld they use as bu ild ing m aterial?
No trees g rew on the plains. only m ile after mile of
long , w avi ng grass.
T he settlers built th eir houses fro m th e m atted roots
of this g rass. T hey cut thi ck pieces ofearth and g rass
roots - "sods" ~ fro m the dry ground and used them
as bui ldin g bricks. This cus to m earned ho me steaders
a ni ckname by which they were often k nown- " sod
busters ."
These sam e tangled grass roots also gave
ho m esteaders a lot of trouble. T he Great Plains had
never befo re been ploughed. T he roots of its gra sses
ill! ...... PREMIUMS FOR IMPROVEMENTS,"'liiII ~ fo rmed a tangled mal at least four inches thick . Whe n
fanners tr ied to cut th ro ugh thi s mat to sow th eir
15 FAR .\IJ:-<' 'I Ill: G REA T I' J.~ INS
63
Y EA RS O F l.RO\I/T11
also carried aw ay th e fanners' crops. This m ade it G rang ers also joined together in coope ra tive
poss ible fo r th e far m ers to sell rhcir pr oduce in far- SOCiet ies. So me of rhcsc coope rat ives tailed became
a\vay places . Befo re th e end o f th e nineteenth ccnrurv the far mers who ran th em lacked business
w heat grown o n rhc Great Plains of North Am enca . ex perience . O thers survive eve n to day. III m any
was feedin g millions of people, not on ly 111 th e western farm ing com munities cooperative
U nited Sta tes but tho usand s o f m iles away III or gani zations still compe te w ith pr ivatel y owned
Europe. firms both to supply the far me r 's need s and to buy
his pro du ce.
Bu t p rairie farm ers still had proble m s. The
I Iomcstcad Act ga vc rhcm lan d.. bu r it failed to give
th em a sure living. On th e well-watered land s cast of
the Mississippi a farmer could easily sup po rt a fa m ily
on a homest ead of 160 acres. O n th e rain- star ved
Great Plains no farmer cou ld m ake a liv ing from a
farm o f th at size. Hi s crops of wh eat were to o sm all:
his animals were too hungry.
Pr airie far me rs worked ha rd to su rvive. "lhev
plou g hed up an d planted more lan d. Bill if d~e rains
failed . the sun burned up their crops and th e p rame
wind s blew away their d usty top soil. leaving the
6-l
15 t' AIL\lIN G TIll : GREAT I'I.AINS
to th e who le nation.
As settlers spread across America, all of th em -
farmers, miners, ran chers, lumberj acks-robbed Yosemite was no t th e United States" first national
th e land and des troyed its reso urces. Trees we re park . That was Yello w sto ne Park . T his is a 3,45H
felled in million s. Rivers and lak es we re choked by square- mile area of volc an ic ro cks and fo rest in th e
w aste from m ines and factories . Vast b uffalo he rds Rock y Mountai ns and it beca me a national park in
were almost en tirely destroyed, as were man y 1872 ,
other w ild an imals, including wolves. sea o rrcrs
Yellowstone is one of th e world's largest w ildlife
and fur seals.
sanctuaries. Bears , mountain sheep, buffalo. m oose
N aturalists were alarnu..-d by this des t ruc tio n. and m o re th an two hundred kinds of birds ma ke
T hey de manded that the government and people their homes there. Its most famous sight, ho w -
of the United Stares should co nser ve (save) the ev er, is "O ld Faithful. " T his is a volcan ic ge yse r
na tion's natural heritage, One of the lead ers of which every hour shoots approximately 10,000
these " conservat ion ists" wa s J ohn Muir. M uir , ga llo ns of wa ter almost 165 feet into th e air.
w ho had been bo rn in Scotland, traveled abou t rhc
When Theodore Roosevelt became President in
American Wc-st studying and describing its natural
1901 he set up more big national pa rk s and forests.
wonders. l ie worked hard to persuade peo ple to
' In 1916 Congress e-stablished the National Parks
pro tect th es e wonders for the benefit of fut ure
Serv ice to loo k after them. The American system
ge nera tions.
of na tjo nal parks became one of the m ost ad m ired
Largely because of M uir's effo rts, big areas of in the w o rld, It has been tak en as an exa m ple by
uns poiled land wer e m ade into public park s. Om' llIany other co uumcs.
l"tlloU'Jlom"
,\'d li""..1P..n,_
65
- - 16- -
THE AM ERINDIANS' LA S T ST AND
W ha t happened to the Ameri ndia ns as white people Fine and m oving words. Six yea rs lat er , howe ver.
sp read across rhe plains and mounta ins of th e American so ld iers found gold in th e Black H ills of
American West? This cha pte r aims to ans we r that So uth Da kota. The Black I !ills we re sacred to the
question. Sio u x an d w hen [he gon' m melH tri ed to buy them,
th e Sio ux refused to sell. "One d ocs not sell the Earth
When the co w boys and homest ead ers arrive d on the
upo n which the people wal k," said a chief nam ed
GTe,at Plains, Amerin dian peoples like the Sioux had
Crazy H o rse. But the Ameri can govern me n t ignored
been ro aming acr oss th em fo r h un d reds o f Y C oUS . T he
the Sioux's refusal. It broke the Fort Laramie treaty
Sioux lived by h u nt ing the b uffalo. In the early par t
and allowed pro specto rs and m iners to en ter th e
ofthe nineteenth cen tu ry.a n esti m ated twelve million
Black H ills. In the w inte r of 1875 tho usands of white
ofthese gentle, hCJ \'Y anima ls wa ndered th e Great
me n poured into the area.
PLUllS. They moved about in herds. So me times these
herds were so big that th ey stretched as far as th e eye By thi s tim e the A mer ind ian peoples of the Great
could see. The buffalo p rov ided the Sioux w ith Plains wer e faring ano ther serious problem. T he
eve rything th at they nccd cd-. foo d. cloth ing, to o ls, buffalo w as begin ning to disa ppea r. M ore and more
homes. of the land that [he big an im als need ed to graze upon
was be ing tak en by ranc hers and farmers. Wo rse still,
In th e 18-Ws wagon trains heading for O regon and
Califo rnia began to cross th e G reat Plains. The wh ite hu n ters wer e shooting down [he b uffalo III
A me rind ians usuall y let the m pass without tr ouble . tho usands. They killed th em fo r th eir hides o r for
T hen railro ad s began to push across th e grasslands. spo rt and left their flesh to rot . In j ust two ye ars
be tween lH72 and 1874 th e hunter s alm o st
T he railroad s carried wh ite pe ople who sta yed o n the
p rairies an d began to plough th em. completely destro yed th e g reat herds. A VIsitor to
the Plains in 1873 des cribed w hat he saw there.
At first th e A merindia ns tried to drive th e " Where th ere we re m yriad s [vast numbers] o f
new co mers away from th eir hu nting grounds . Bu t bu ffa lo the yea r befo re. then' w ere now my riads of
soon th ey saw that this wa s im po ssible . So the y m ade corpses.
treaties w ith ebe govemmcnt in Was hington , gIvm g
up large pieces o f th eir land fo r w hite far me rs to T he Amerind ians co uld not u nd erstand this
settle u pon . In IRS t th e Paw nee peo ple sig ned away beha vior, " Has the w hite man become a child that he
an area th at to day fo r ms most o f th e state of should recklessly kill and no t car?" asked a Kiowa
Nebraska. In 1858 the Sio ux g ave up an area alm o st chief. Bu r th e Amer ican ar m y encouraged th e
as big in So uth D ako ta . In th e H~60s th e Comanche slaug h ter. Genera l Sheridan , the officer \VI1O
and the Kio w a gave u p lands in Kansas, Colorad o commanded the army in the West, saw th e
and T exas. In re tu rn fo r such agreements the ex terminati on o f the buffalo as J way to end
government pr omised to leave the Amerind ians in Amerindian resistance to th e o ccupa tion of their
pea ce o n th e land s th at rem ained theirs . land. "These men rth e buffalo h unte rs I have d one
more in th e last two years to settle [he Ind ian
T he Fort Larami e tr eaty of l868 was typ ical o f these question th an th e en tire reg ular ar m y has do ne in th e
agr eements . So was what happened to it. In this last thirty yea rs, " he wrote. " Sen d th em powd er and
treaty the government decla red th at large areas lead and fo r the sake of lastin g peace let them kill ,
between the Missou ri Riv er and the Rock y skin, an d sell um il th e buffalo es are ex termina ted ."
M ountains belong ed to th e Sioux. It gave a so lem n
p romise that th e lands would remain Siou x properlY As m o re settlers claimed homesteads in th e Wes t the
"as long as [he g rass sho uld gro w and the wa ter Am er ican go vern me nt need ed more land fo r them.
flo w . " T o obta in th is it d ecid ed to fo rce th e Amerindians to
give up their wan d eri ng way o fl ife. It sen t so ld iers to
66
H> 'rue A M F.RIN f)]ANS· L AS '" S" AN D
CriJ//'T'Sl A st SI,md.
drive the Amerindians onto "reser vation s." T hese George Armstron g C uste r. For this reason the battle
reservatio ns we re areas ofla nd tha t w ere usually so is sometimes called "Custe r's Last Stand."
dry or rocky th at rhc go vern me nt thou gh t w hite
The Battle of the Litt le Big I lorn was also the last
settle rs we re never likely to wa nt them.
stand for the Ameri ndians. The Am erican
The Ameri ndians fought back. O ne of their best government and peop le w ere ang ry at th e defeat of
known leaders was Sitt ing Bull o f the Sioux . " We their soldi er s. T hey felt that they had been
lived in om cou nt ry in the wa y our fathers and our hum iliated. More soldiers we re sent w est to hunt
fathers' fath ers lived before us and w e soug ht trouble down Custer 's killers. The Sio ux were to o w eak to
with no men ," he said later. " But the soldiers carne fight back , Wit h the buffalo gOlle, mor e of their
into our cou ntry and fired up on us and we fough t peo ple w ere dyin g t'v ery day o f sta rva tion and
back. Is it so bad to fight in defense of one's country disease. The Sio ux surre nde red and the soldiers
and lo ved OIl CS?" ma rched them aw ay to the reser vations.
The Amer indians wer e outnu m bered and Other Am erindi ans w ere no more fo rtu nate than the
outgunned. Bur they in flicted so me surprising Sioux. By 1890 most of the Am erican West , fro m the
defeats on the Ameri can soldiers. 111ey won their Mississippi River to the Pacific O cean , w as occupied
best kno wn viceorv at the Bartle of the Littl e Big by canle ranchers, farmers, or mi llers . The
Horn in j une 1876, a ll a hill beside the Litt le Big Amerindi ans had not hin g left exce pt the
Horn River 3,000 Sio ux and C heyenne wa r riors led reservations.
by C razy Ilorse su rrounded and killed all 225 men of
The U nited Scares government said that it would
a com pany of Unired SUtCS cava lry, The dead
help and protect the reservation Amerindians. It
included the cavalry men's commander, General
67
Y EA RS 01' G R O WTl I
Gh()$1 n,m.......
promised th em food. ma terials to build ho mes , too ls The G host D an cers ' Song
to cultiv at e the lan d . But the pro mises we re ofte n
Fath er, han ' pit y o n us
broken. T here was g reat suffering 011 the
We arc cr yin g fo r thirst
reserva tions. Ep idemic diseases swept thr o ug h the m ,
All is go ne!
ki lling th eir people.
We have nothing to cat
In lW)() a religious prophet to ld the Sio ux to dance a Fath er , w e arc poor.
special da ncecalled the (;host D ance. l ie rold rhem We arc ve ry po o r.
tha t it"rhey d id so J great miracle would take place . T he buffalo an.. g OlH.'.
Their dead wa rr io rs would conic bark to life, the T hey arc all gone.
buffalo wou ld reru m and ,III rhc wh ite me n would be Take pity 0 11 us, Father,
sw ept awa y by J g rea t Hood . Wl' arc da ncing as yo u w ished
Because yo u co m manded us.
T he Gh osr Dance m o vement W;I S peace ful. But the
We dance hard , w e dan ce lon g-
D ancer s' beliefs w o rr ied the government . So di d the
Have pit y,
farr that SO IlH.. o f the m w aved rifles abo ve their head s
Father, help us
as they danced. It ordered rhc U Ill Y to ar rest the
Yo u arc clo se by in the dark
m o ve men t's leade rs.
Hear us and help us.
O n J cold 1kn.. m ber day in ISt)l)a group ofJSl) T ake aw ay rhc whi te m en
Sio ux , 120 men ami :Do WOIlWll and child ren, left Sen d hac k the buffalo
their rese rva tion. Led by J. chief nam ed Uig Foot , We arc poor and w eak
they set otT to join another g roup nea rby to r safe ty. We call do nothing alo ne
But J. part y ofsoldiers stopped the m on th e WJ.y and H el p us to be what w e: o nce wcrc-.
ma rched th ('111 to all army pos t at Wo unde d Knee H appy hunters of buffalo.
C reek.
(,R
]6 T ill, A MUUN I)JANS' L As r S r A:- n
Next monung the soldias ordered rhc Sioux to give In sp ire of such im p ro vemen ts. Amerind ians
up rhcir g uns. One you ng warrior refused . A sho t remained far behind most other Americans III health,
fJng am, follo we d by manv 1Il0H'. Th e soldier s wealth , ami cduca ticu. Loo k at some facrs from th l'
began shooting do w n th e Sio u x wom en and child ren 1980s. T Il<: une mploym en t rare among Am erin di ans
as well as th e m en. \Vithm miuurcs m ost of th e Sioux w as 39 percent . 1II0 rc than fi ve rimes t he figu re fo r
were dead or badly wounded. MJIlY of the wounded the pop ulatio n as J whole. Ahn ost 25 pl'fcent o f
who craw led aw ay died later in a blizzard th at swe pt A merindian fam ilies wereliving on incomes too low
over the camp. to buy th e food . clo thing , ami ho using rhcy needed
to keep III good health. D iseases like diabet es.
At the tim e Amer icans called what happened at
pneUIllOJllJ, influenz a, and alco hol add iction we re
WO\1tHkd Kn ee a ba nlc. O rhcr peo ple since have
killing twice ,IS marry Amerindia ns as ocher
railed it a m assacre. But whatever the event s at
Americans.
Wounded Knee arc calk-d . o ne thing is cer tain. l-or
the Sio ux th ey m ark ed th e end of aII ho pe ofa return In th e 1970s Amerindians fro m all o ver the Uni ted
to their old w ay o f lit'1.', Staresjoined to gether to tr y to im pro ve their
po sition . 'I'hey fo rmed the American Indian
Hut the Sioux , like o ther Amerindia ns. sur vived . In
Mo vemen t am i in 19T!. th ousands o f th em tr aveled to
1924 Co ngr ess passed the Indian C itizenship Act.
Washin g ton to take part in a pro test ma rch rhar th ey
This recog nized A merindi ans as full citizens of the
called th e " T rail o t'Brokcn Trc. uicv." Th e ncx r Yl'J r a
United Stares and gJH' rhcm till' rig ht to vote. In
group armed wi th rifles occupied the small Sou th
1934 the Ind ian Reo rganizatio n Act encouraged them
D ako ta village th at no w sta nds 011 th e site of the
to set lip their o wn councils to run the affa irs o fthei r
Hartle OfWollllded Kn ee. They stayed there for
rcscr vanons.
seve nty- o ne days. T heir aim was to d raw attentio n to
their dema nd fo r rhe rerum oflands unjustly take n
away from th eir ancestors.
69
.-\lIfr ri",iJ.m ",jlilJ"" .1/
W",,,,,/rJ }(u rr .
Other A llll' rllldlall~ sue d the U nited S[Jtes Am er indians today have different dreams. li m thcv
go-.:lTlllIIl'lIt III court for breaking the old treaties . have not fo rgcncn the old OIil' S . Let the college -
The Siou x, (or example. demanded the retu rn o ft he ed uca ted g reat-grandson ofa famous Apache w arrror
Black I lills. TIll' cou rts decided III their tJS OT and han - the last word:
awa rded them $122.5 million in com pensat ion tor " My generation spen t all their time learn ing the
rhvloss ofrhcir land. M an y Siou x did no r w anr to white III JIl ' S ways. \Ve master,..d rhcm but we lost J
;lCCept the money. however. They con tinued to lo t of our Indian heritage. No w \VC arc rrym g to
dem and the return of rhc s.rcr,-d LInd itsel f. reg3in w hat we lost. "
When he w as a very old 11I311, J survivo r of th e Hartle
of Woun ded Knee na med BIJ('k Elk said goodbye to
the ol d w ay o tlifc o f his peo ple w it h these words :
" I did not kn o w then how much was ended . Whe n
[ loo k back now from this high hill of Illy old age, I
can still see the butc hered WOl11('1I and children lying
heaped and sca ttered all alon g the crooked gu lch as
plain as when I saw rhein w ith ('y('s still yo ung. An d I
can sec that sOllll·thlllg else died there in the bloody
mud . and w as bu ried ill the blizzard . A people' s
dream died there. It w as a beautiful dream."
7U
16 T il t A .\n IlIN lJ l.H;S' L A ST S T A N V
'f'
i
people in other ways, l ie criticized the American
government lo r neglectin g and chea ting the Sirti".~ Rull .
Amerind ians on th e reser vation s. " It is yo ur doi ng
that w e arc here." he to ld a gro up of visiting q uickly gave hint per m ission to go . T he follo w ing
C o ng ressm en, " You sen t li S here and told LIS to year C od y again asked Sitt ing Bull to JOIn him ,
live as you do," He to ld them tha t if the this time on a tour o f Eur ope. Sitt ing Bull refused .
go vernment w an ted th e Amerindians to becom e "I am needed here, " lit" told Cody . " T he re IS more
like white men th en it must supply them with talk of taking our lan ds. "
cools, an im als and wago ns "becaus e tha t is the
When the Ghost Jran ee mo ve ment bega n the
\vay white peo ple m ake a livin g. "
government accuse d Sitti ng Bull of being its
In 1 8H.~ rhe famous sho w m an Buffalo Hill Cod y leader. In December I HtJO, it sent arm ed police-
off ered Sinin g Hull a job. I It- 'wa nte d th e old men to arr est him , As Sitt ing Bull stepped o ut o f
leade r to become o ne of rhc attractions of his the door of hi s cab in o n th e reservat ion o ne o f the
tra velin g Wild West Sho w. T he rese rvatio n auth- policemen shot him dead. T he kill er w as a Sioux .
o rities we re glad to be rid of Sitt ing Bull and one of Sitting Hull's own people.
71
17 - -
I N V E N T O R S AND I N DU S T RI E S
I II I H7(1 Presid ent U lysses S. Grant tr aveled to III rill' six m o n ths thar th c• Exposition was o pen
' I'hiladd phu to o pen ,1 special ex hibi tion. The alm os t tell m illio n people wandered thro ug h thc• hall,
cxh ibiriou wa s called t he Ce nte llnial Exp ositio n. It T hey gazed in wo nd er at its hund reds o f m achines,
had been o rp;anized to cclcbrnrc the U nited St ales' 1-:\ ' l '11 the normal ly pat ro nizing British new spaper
hund red th bir th da y as all indcpcndvnr natio n by T ill' Times was impressed. " T he Am erican invents as
sho w ill!; so me of its achievements . th e Gr eek sculpted and as tilt' Italian pain ted. " it
repo rted . "I t is ge nius,"
The main att ract ion of till' Centennial Expositio n
was till' Machinery H all. This was a big wooden At the lillll' o f the Ce ntennial Exposition. rhc United
building that covered more tha n twel ve acres. Insid...· Stutes was still mainly a fanning count ry, But 1ll the
it visitors could St"\.' suc h recent American invent ions years that followed, American industries g rew
as rhc typewriter and the telephone as wel l as quick lv. The production of coal and iron grew
m achines for rounrlcsv other uses-for sewing. especially fast. T hese we re the most important
gri lUling. sc rewing, pr-inting . drilli ng. pumping, ind ustr ial raw m an -rials in rhc nincrccmh century.
ha mmcring Americans di scovered VJSII1t'W de posi ts of'borh 1Il
tilc Hums and 1890s. In a range oflow hi lls at rh....
w est crn end of Lake Supcnor. (or exam ple. sour.. .
brot hcrs nnm cd Merr itt foun d the g reat Mesabi iron
dcposits. TIll' Mcr rirrs Il U l it' their discovery in IHH7
and rhc Mcvahi SOO Il beca me one of rhc largest
producer s of iro n ore in the world . The ore lay close
to the surface of the g round III horizontal bands up to
500 fc cr thick . It WAS cheap. easy to minc. and
rem arkably fr...... of chemical impurities. Befo re lo ng
Mesabi ore was being processed into high qua lity
steel at only one tenth of rhc previous cost.
Hy II)(XJ ten tim cs more coal was being produced III
th e Un ited States than in IH60. T he ou tput o f iron
w as twent y times higher. T hese incrcascs were bo th
a cause and a resu lt ofa rapid growth o f American
mannfitcturing indusnics in rhcs . . years.
Railroads we re very im po rtant in this grow th o f
manufac turing. Vast amounts of coal and iron we re
used to make steel fo r their rails, locomoti vcs. freight
wagon's and passenger cars. Bur this was not all. The
railroads linked together buyers and seller-s all over
rhc country. Without them big new centers of
industry like Pitt sburgh and Chicago cou ld nor han'
developed . It was the railroads tha t carried cattle to
C hicago from the G reat Plains to keep its huge
slaug hte r houses and meat processing plants busy. It
w as the railroads, roo. th at roo k reapers. wi ndm ills
f'r".<jdnll (;r""1 ,,,,J Emprn" Dt"" PrJr" 1/ ,>jff'<l::ilslal1l1,,' CM/iS,<
and barbe d w rrc fro m C hicago's farm cq uipmc ur
(:""I, '",,,i,1I b',~i",' ill " t,,,I,ill"y 11,,11, facto ries to ho me steader s o n th e praln es.
72
T h omas Edison
Amcricans hav e always been proud o f thei r abilit y
to find prac tical solutions to practica l problems .
Dunng the nin eteenth century th ey developed
thO US:U Il,h. of produets to m ake life easier. safer or
more enj oyable fo r peo ple. Barbed W in.' IS one
example. rhe sewing machine is another.
Up [ 0 till' mid dle of the nineteenth cClUur y the
inventors of such pr od ucts oft en had little scientific
knowledge. Their inventions were based Oil prac-
tical " know- ho w." So lon g- as the in ventions
wo rked. evcryone was satisfied.
TI" .",.!!
Many tun developme nts, however. called fo r all EJiH'" i" I,j,
la"'-".l l"')'.
understanding of basic scientific principles in, lor
exa m ple. clccrricirv. m agn et ism and che mis try .
To do this, o ne thing Ediso n had to de velo p was a
On e man above all o the rs showed J. ll ability to usc
lo ng-last ing. glowing elect ric light bulb , The
such kn o wl edge to solve everyday problems . H is
problem wa s to find ;1 suitable m aterial for the
name W ;IS T ho m as Alva Ediso n .
filament of the bulb. \Vh;u w as needed was a
Edison was born in IlH7 and died in 193 1. He fi lame nt th at wou ld ~J o w brightly when th e
made 1110re th an a tho usand o riginal invcnrions. cur rent of clccrrici rv passed thro ugh it. but w ith -
Edison's labora to ry co nta ined cvery m aterial and out b urni ng o m. Edi so n tri ed platinum, papa,
chemica l th at was then kno wn . \Vcarin g a long, leat her, wood. co tton. SOffit" glowed for m inutes,
whitt, chem ist' s coa t, his finger s stained by chcrm- so me fo r ho urs. but none fo r long eno ug h to
cals and his hair ditty w ith oil and d ust, he would satisfy him. Theil he fou nd th e answcr -c bam boo !
work for days without caring o r sleeping when he When he gave a public dcmonsrrarion of his light
was clos e to solving a problem . bulb the value o f shares in the Edison Electric
Lig ht Com pany rose fro m $100 to $3.000 each.
Some of Edison's sayi ng s became almost as we ll
kn o wn as his inventions. "There is no su bstitute Edison then built co mple te electrical gene rating
fo r hard work" was one o f th em . Somcnmcs he sys tems to pr ovide his bulbs with powcr. H I,'
took this p rinciple too far. On th e day he go t developed d ynam os to prod uce the ctccrriciry.
m arried . for exam ple, he for got his brid e and underground cables to carry it to w here it was
spen t the ni ght working in his laboratory. needed, fus e boxes to m ake it SJrC to usc.
Edison had his greatest success in m aking practical T he Age of Electricity had beg un. Soon electricity
use of electricity, In 1878 he formed the Edison would nor on ly lig ht 'srreers. but heat hou ses,
Electric Light Company. lie had a d ear co m mer- power m achi nes. d rive railroad engines. It wou ld
cial aim - to captu re from gas the huge market for beco me w hat it has rem ained ever sinccc-thc
lighting homes, streets and places o f work. w orld 's chief source o f l'nerg y.
By l HlJO the indu stri es of the U nited Stat es wer e The grow th of A mc rican ind ustr y was o rga niz ed and
earning rbc co un try ma rl' than its far mla nds. In the cont rolled by busin essmen who found the m Ollcy to
t\Vl'lHy years that follo wed. industrial ou tpu t went P;IY tor it. Mmv ofrhcvc men beg an their lives in
0 11 growmg, faster and faste r, By 1913 m o re th an a nt' poveny. Hva mix tu re o f hard w ork and ability , and
thi rd of th e whole world 's mdusrrial prod uct io n was hy igno rin g the rights of others, th ey m ade
pouring fro m the m in es and factories of the United themselves ,..-ealrh y and po werful . T heir adm irers
Stares.
73
V LA U \ o - (;U nW IIi
The g ialll ind ustr ial o rgauizario ns that su ch men favored rhcm. Others hi red privat e armies to cru sh
c reated were known as "corporat iolls," As they g rew any attempt by their workers to obr.un b et ter
bigger and more power ful still. rhcv often bec ame co ndit ions. Their attitude to the ri ~hts of ot her
" trus ts." By the early twcnm-th cen tury trus ts peo ple was summed up in a famou s rem ark of the
cont rolledlarge parts o f AmeriC.11l ind ust ry. One railroad "king" William H . Van derbilt. Vanderbilt
tru st cont rolle d th e steel indu st ry. ano the r the oil was asked w heth er he thou g ht that railroa ds sho uld
industr y, another the meat-packin g industry, an d be run ill the publi c inte rest. "The public be
the re we re lIIany m o rc·. T he biggest tru sts w ere da I1 1IlL'd!" Ill"re plied.
richer than most na tions . By their wealth an d
Tlu- contem ptuous way in w hich leaders ofindusrrv
powcr c-cnd especially their power to decide wages
like Vnnderbih rej ected criticism m ad e people augrv.
and prices -, they co ntro lled the lin's of millions of
It st reng thened th e feelin g th at something o ug ht to
peo ple.
be done to lim it such m en's g rowing pown over th e
Ma n y Americans were alarm ed b y rhc powcr o f th e natio n's life. Manv people carn e to vee thi s m att er as
trusts. The United States was a lan d that was th e m ost imporranr problem facing the- United Sr;Ul'S
supposed to off er equal o pportunities to eve ryo ne. III th e early Yl'ars ofrh... twcnricrh century, Unlcs-,
Yet now it seemed th ar rh e cou ntry wa s co m ing something was don e about it. they feared . th e United
under the-co ntr o l of a handfu l 01 rich and powerful Stares would become a na tion whose Iif(· w as
men who w ere- ab le to do more or less any thing the-y cont rolled bva handful o fnch businessmen.
wis hed . Some bribed politicians to pass laws which
7S
18 - -
THE GOL DEN DOOR
77
Y E A~ S OF G ROWTIl
79
19 - -
REF ORMERS AND PROGR E SSIV E S
clashes between the detectives and the strikers. O ne of the best-known muckrakers was U pton
twent y people we re killed. Sinclair. In 1906 he snacked the meat-packing
ind ustry in his novel The JlIlIglt·. This gan' a
Em ployers and the go\'enulle nr we re not the o nly
ho rrifying descriptio n oflife among im mi g rant
ene m ies labor unions faced. The general public was
workers in th e slaug hte r houses of Chicago. 'The
usually against rhcru. Am er icans had always seen
JIIII,~ lc revealed to many middle-c lass Am ericans a
their co untry as a lan d w here individuals shou ld be
side o f their nat ion's life that they hard ly kn ew
free to IlUpro vo: their lin'S by th eir own effo rts .
existed. The y were shocked to learn w hat we nt into
Many o w ned far ms , sho ps o r sm all manufacturing
th eir break fast sausages. T hey were even m o re
firms. Millions more d ream ed of the da y when th ey
shocked wh en govern me nt inv es tigator s said thar
too wou ld own a farm or a business of their o w n .
w hat Sinclair had written was correct. Here is par t of
Perhaps they m ig ht even beco me rich, as Ca rnegie
th e investigato rs' repo rt o n co ndi tions ill a Chicago
had done! People such as these we re un likely to favor
m eat- packing factory:
org anizations which aim ed to limi t businessmen's
freedom of anio n and o ppo rtu nities. "We saw meat shoveled fro m filt h y w ooden
floors, piled on tables ra rely washed, push ed from
But Am ericans were not complace nt abo ut room to room in ro rrcn boxca rts. in all o f w hich
condit ions in th eir co untry. In rhc carly yt'ars of the pro cessl"s it w as . .. gathering dirt, splinte rs. floor
twentieth ct'ntury a stream of book s and ma gazine filth and th e expectoration [spi t ) o f'tubcrculo us and
articles d rew peo ple's ancurion to a large num bcr of other di seased workers."
national problems. SOllie dealt w ith co nd itions oflife
in the slums of the g reat cities, so me wi th briber y and Repo rts like this shocked and frightened the
corrup tion in government. others w ith the Am erican people. Meat salt'S dropped by half. T he
dishonesty of wealthy businessmen. T he books and m eat com panies begged the government to inspect
articles ofte n brought OIU startling and shoc king th eir prem ises in order to convince people that their
facts. This cause d some people to describe their prod ucts we re tit to cat. Congress quickly passed a
authors w ith contempt 3S "muckrakers." new federa l meat inspection law.
8\
Y EARS OF G RO WTIl
Peo ple began to demand that the nation's leaders ot hc-r people. A hu mori st ofthc time made fun o f this
sho uld deal wi th other scandals exposed by the two-sided atti tude by describing it in these w ords:
mu ckrakers. T his pressure brought about an " The tru sts arc hideous monsters built up by the
Im portant change in American econo mic and enlightened en ter prise of the men that have done so
po litical life. Before 1900 mos t Ame ricans had much to adv ance progfl'SSin our beloved count ry.
believed in " laissez fairc" - the idea that gov ern ments On the onc hand I would sta m p th em un de r foot, on
should interfer e w ith busines s, and w ith people's the other hand , not so fast."
lives in general, as littl e as possible. After 1900 many
Americans becam e " Progressives." A Progressive A good exa mple ofthe "sq uare deal" in action came
was so meone who believed tha t, \...-hcrc necessary. in 1902. Anthracite coal min ers we nt on strike to
the government shou ld take anion to deal with the obtain better wa ges and workin g con ditions. Their
problems of society. employers refused e ven to di scuss the workers'
demands. Then the Presid ent stepped in . l Ic to ld the
Th e Progressive mo vement foun d a leader in the m ine owners that they were being unreasonable. He
Repu blican T heod o re Roo sevelt . Roo seve lt beca me said that unless they ag reed to negot iate with the ir
President in Il)(JI. O ne of his main beliefs was tha t it workers, the federal govern ment would lake con tro l
was the dut y of the President to usc the power of th e of th e coal mi nes. T he threat was eno ug h. The
federa l government to im prove conditions of life for own ers chan ged their atti tud e and the strike was
the people - to sec that the ordinar y man and woman sett led .
got what he called "a squJ.tC deal. "
A no ther example of the "square deal" carne a few
Roosevelt w as part icularly concerne d abo ut the years later. Roo sevelt forced the big railroad
power of the tru sts. H is idea was to give the United co mpa nies to charge all their custo me rs fair rates,
Stat es the best o f boeh worlds. lie wa nted to allow instead o f allowin g large custo me rs like th e oil and
businessm en enoug h freedo m ofaction ro mak e thei r meat-packi ng trusts to pay less than farmers and
fir ms efficient and prosper ous, bur at the same time sma ll businessm en . l ie also supporte d law s which
to prevent them from taking un fair advantage of
82
19 Ib.t OIl ."UI S A f' ll PIl OC.IlESS IVES
compelled manuf acturers o f foo ds and medici nes to Wilson called his policies "The New Freedom. "
make SU Tt' that th eir prod ucts were pu re and har mless T hey we're put lIl to cffccr by a series of laws passed
before selling them . between 19 13 and 191 7. One of Wilson 's first steps
Theodore Roosevelt retired as President in 1909. in was to reduce custo ms duties in o rde r to encourage
19 12 he tr ied to rega in rhc position. hut he was trade between the United States and other
defeated III the presidential elect io n by Wood ro w countries. Then he refo rm ed the banking system
Wilson , the candi date of the Dem ocrat ic Partv. and introdu ced a system of fede ral taxes on 11Igh
incomes. O rhcr laws reduced the powt'rs of the
Although Roosevelt and Wilson belonged to trusts, gavc ma rc righ ts to labor uruons and made it
different poli tical parties. so me o f their ideas were easier for farm ers to borr ow money from rhc federal
very simila r. Wilso n, too, supporte d th e Progressive govern ment to deve lop their land. Many indi vidual
moveme nt. H e had promi sed that when he became states also passed Progressive law s. They forba de
President he would fight "not fo r the man who has factories to em ploy child ren, introduced secrcr
made good (achie ved success I bu t for rhc man who is voting, improved safety at work, and prot ected their
go mg to make good - the man w ho is kn ocking and natural resources.
figh ting at the closed door ofop po rt uni ty, " As
Governo r of the sta te of New Jersey he had fou ght But not all Wilson's plans of reform we re accepted.
successfu lly to make sure that the stare w as run fo r For exam ple, the Senate refused to pass a law giving
the benefit of its people. He had red uced bribery and the federal authorities more control over the buying
corruption theree, and he: had introduced refo rms such and selling of business shares. Anot her law, sto ppmg
as laws to give workers co mpe nsation for injuries at child labor in fa ctori es everywhere. was decla red to
work. be unconstitu tional by the Supreme Court.
In March 1913, Wilson stood be fore the C apitol T he Progres sive mo vement changed and improved
bu ilding in Wash mgton, ehc home o f'rhc U nited A merican life in many ways. But many people still
States Congress. There he: rook rhe oath as President. distr usted too mu ch government "in terfe rence" in
the nation's lift' .
Then he made: a br ief speech about the state of the
country: " Wt' han ' built up a great sys tem of
govcrnmcur." he tol d the crowd which had gathered
to watch th e: Ct'rt' llHmy, " But evil has come with the
good . .. We: han' sq uandere d [w asted] a great part
Theodore Roosevelt and
of w hat we mig ht han' used. We have been proud of conservation
our ind ustr ial ach ie vem ents. bu t w e have no t Perhaps T heod ore: Roosevelt's most rmp c rt anr
hitherto stopped thoughtfully enou gh to count the service to his cou nt ry was to pe rsuade C ong ress to
hum an cost , . , "
pass a number of conservatio n laws. These w ere
O ne ofthese "human costs," Wilsoll believed , had laws to save the count ry's natu ral resources from
been the near dest ruct ion for Illany ordi nary being used up carelessly and greedily.
Am ericans of a fair chance to gt't on in life. Wo rkers, Th e Un ited Sta tes desperately needed such law s in
farmers , owner s ofsm all busincsscs-. people such as the early 1900s. Roosevelt po m rcd ou t that unless
these had seen their oppo rt unities steadily shrin king action w ere taken to slow down the destructio n o f
III recen t yt'ar s ow ing to the continuin g grow th of the
the country's forests, minera l resources and soil
powcr of "bi g bu sin ess" o ver the nation 's economic fert ility, Am t'ricans would soon discover that
life, Despit e Theodore Ro osevelt's attem pts to bri ng mu ch of the natural wealth of th e U ni ted States
the trusts under con trol. th ey we re even mo re had been destroyed for ever.
powerful ill 1913 than they had hCt'11 in I I)()O. Rea l
equalit y ofopportunity seemed in dange r of Congress listened to Roo sevelt's advice. It passed
disappearin g in the Uni ted States. Wilson believed conservation law s under which milli ons of acres o f
that only action by the federa l governmen t could hair land were prot ected and their forest and mi ner al
this process. As President. he was determined to sec weal th preserved fo r the USt' of future generations.
that such act ion was taken.
83
- - 20 - -
AN AMER ICAN EMPIR E
Th.. M .. 1I1"
txp/<H1;'lt i ll II" ,·"""
j,,,rbM- ill l'tbru.:ry.
1898-
Oo januar y 25, 1898, on e of t he most m odern ships In 1867 (he U nited States had bo ug ht Alaska fro m
ill th e United States' nav y steame d int o the harbor Russia. Apart from this it had brought no additional
of l Iavana, Cuba. T he ship was a cruiser called the land un der its rule since gaining co ntro l of C alifo rnia
Maine, A war was being fou ght in Cu ba at thi s time and the Southwe st in the Mexican War of 1846 to
and th e Ma ine had been sent to Havana as a Il:WK In the tl:WOs, however, a new spirit sta rte d to
dem on stration of American power. Three wee ks ente r Ameri can foreign poli cy. These were years
late r, on the nigh t of Februar y 15. J. huge ex plos ion when Brit ain . Pran ce and Ge r many we re busy
shook th e city . The .\faint' WdS blown [0 pieces and claim ing colo nies, fo reign lands whi ch (hey co uld
260 ofits ere....: we re ki lled. rule and expl oi t . Some A meri cans bel ieved that th e
Un ited States should do (he same. Colonies overseas
T o this day. the cause ofth e ex plos io n tha t dest royed
m eant trade. w ealth , po w er and presti ge. " A po licy
th e Maine remain s a m yst er y. Some believe tha t it
of isolation did w ell enoug h (w as all right] when we
was set off by an accident al sparkill the sh ip's
were an em bryo natio n , but to day thing s art'
ma gazin e, or am m u nition store. At the ti m e.
different," said Senato r Orville Piau III 1893. " We
ho w ever . ma ny Americans bel ieve d th at the
arc th e m ost ad vanced and powerful natio n 011 eart h
explosio n had been caused by an enemy m ine.
and our future dem ands an abandonme nt of the
The man who m ade this claim m ost loudly was a poli cy of Isolatio n. Ir is to (he ocean o ur child ren
new sp aper owncr nam ed William Rand olph H earst. must look. as (hey o nce looked to (he bound less
" T I IE WARSHIP .\lA.IS EWAS SPLIT IN T WO wrsr."
HY A N ENEM Y' S INFERNAL [hellishl
Ma ny Ame ricans agreed with Platt . Politicians.
MA C H INE, " read the headline in o ne of his
bu sinessmen. new spaper s and mi ssio nariesj oined
n ~w spapers on Februar y 17. Th c sto ry which
to gether to claim that " the Anglo-Saxon race" - by
fo llowed m ade it clea r that to Hear st the "enemy" III
which the y m eant Americans as well as North
rhc headline was Spain. Most Am erica ns agreed with
Europeans-. had a rig ht and a dut y to brin g w estern
him. T his wa s no t because (hey had any proof. It was
civilization to the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin
because (hey wa nt ed to believe it. Let us see w hy.
20 A N A .YlUlI CAN E.\IPI RE
T he first bar rlc of the Spauish -cA mcrican Wa r was M ost America ns answered th is q ues tion by claim ing
fought in the Phi lippines. Amer ican warships san k a that th ey we re preparing underdeveloped na tions for
Spanish fleet t hat was anchored th ere. A lew w eek s civilizatio n and d em o cracy. "I'm proud of m y
lat er American so ld iers occupied M anila. the ch ief count ry. " said a M etho d ist m inister in New
cit y in th e Philip pines . and Spanish resistan ce cam e to Englan d. "patie ntly teac hing people to govern
an en d. them sel ves and to enjoy th e blessings ofa Christian
Civilizat io n . Su rely this Spanish war has not been a
Ameri can so ldiers also landed III Cuba. In less than
g rab fo r empire. b u t an heroic effort to free the
two w eeks o f fig hting. the Spanish were again
o ppressed and to teach mi llions ofignoraru. debased
d efeated . Other A merican soldiers occu pied Puerto
h um an bei ngs ho w to live."
Rico . anothe r Spanish-owned islan d clo se to C uba.
In J uly th e Spanish government saw it was beaten. T here w as so me truth in the clergyman's claim. T he
lr ask ed the Ameri can s fo r peace. A mericans built schools and hospita ls. constructed
roa d s, provided pure wa ter su pplies and pm an end
Wh en pe ace w as sig ned. Spain g ave most o f its
to k iller d iseases like ma laria and yellow fever in the
o verseas empire to th e U nited Slates - C uba. th e
lands they now rul ed . T hey co ntinued to rule mo st of
Phi lippines. Puert o Rico and a small Pacific island
the m until th e m iddle yea rs o f the century. T he
called Guam . At the same time the U nited States als o
Phi lip pines be came an inde pen de nt co um r y in 1946.
an nexed H aw aii. H aw aii w as a g ro up o f island s in th e
ln 1l,l53 Puerto Ri co bec ame self-gove rn ing. b ut
middle of th e Pacific Ocean . Befo re th is it had been
co nti nu ed to be closely tied to the U nited Stares. In
independe nt . but Am er ican s owned p ro fit able suga r
1959 I Iaw aii was admin cd as th e fiftieth state of the
and pineap ple plan tations th ere.
Union.
In less than a ye ar the U nited States had become a
Cu ba w as treated d iffe rentl y. When C on gress
colon ial pow er. w ith m illions o f non-Americans
de clar ed w ar o n Spain in 18CJ8 it said th at it w as only
under its ru le. So me Am ericans w ere worried by
do ing so to help the C uban peo ple to W ill
thi s. After all. th ey. too . had on ce been a colo nial
ind epend en ce. Whe n the wa r en de d. Cuba was SOO Il
peo ple . In rebelling against British rule they had
declared an ind ep end ent co untry.
claimed t hat colo ni al peoplessho uld be free to rule
them sel ves. So what abo ut the C uba ns? And what Bu t fo r yea rs C uba's ind ependence w asJlISt a
abo u t th e Filip ino s? Filipino s wh o had fou g ht for p retense. Befo re the American s took away th eir
indepen dence fro m Spa in we re soon fig h ting against so ldier s in !1)02 th ey made the Cuban governmen t
Amer ican o ccupatio n tro ops. Ilo w co uld A mericans g rvc th em land at Guanranam o Bay on the C uban
fight ag ainst such people without be ing unfaith ful to coa st. A big A merican naval base W;lS bui lt th ere.
the m o st im po rtant tr adition s and values o f their own T he C ub ans also had to accept a condit ion called the
co un try ? Platt Am endm ent . T his said that th e U ni ted States
86
20 AN A),H.~I(;i\N E.\olPIR E
87
TWENTIETH CENTURY
AMERICANS
- - 21 - -
A WAR A N D A PEA C E
SWORD OF JU5TICB
T he)' saw it as J purdy Eu ropean affair that was n ot
th e-ir co nce rn. When Pr esident Wilso n said that th ey
sho uld be "impartial in thought as w ell as in actio n."
m ost people were read y to agtl"C wi th him.
Hut Americans found it d ifficult to stay imparti al to r
lon g. In the fi rsr days of the war the German
govt:"rnm t"nt sent its arm ies m arching int o neutral
Belg ium . T his shocked man y Americans. They w ere
even m ore shocked wh ennew spape rs printed
rep o n s - ofi:en false or exaggerated - ofGe rman
cruelt y towa rd s Belgian civ ilians.
Fro m th e very begin ning of th e wa r the strong
British na vy pr evented Ge rman ships fro m trading
wi th the Un ited Stat es. But t rade bet w een the United
Sta tes and the Allies g rew q uickly. By 1915
Amer ican facto ries were makin g vast quantities of
\...·capon s and m unit ions an d selling th em to Bri tain
and France.
German leaders were de te rmin ed to sto p this flow of
armament s to their en emi es. T he y annou nced in
Febru ar y 1t.J15, th at they wo uld sink all Allied
m er ch ant ships in th e seas aro und the British Isles.
O n a hazy afternoon in M ay, a big British passenger
In August 1914 , a w ar sta rte d o n the continent of ship called th e L nsitania w as nearing th e en d of its
Europe. It was th e begi nni ng of a struggle that lasted voyage from th e United Stares to Britain. Suddenly.
for more th an four year s, b rou g ht de ath to m illions w ithout any w arning. it was hi t by a torpedo from a
of people and cha nged the hi story of the world . At Ger m an sub ma rine. Within minutes the Lusitania
the tim e people called th e co nflict the Great Wa r. was sinking. M or e than 1.000 passen ger s we nt w ith
Later it w as called the First Wo rld War. it to the bo ttom o f the ocea n. One h undr ed and
rw cnr y-ci ght of th ose passcngers were Americans.
The m ain countries fighting the war were. on o ne
side. France. Great Britain and Ru ssia. T he y w ere T he sinki ng of the LI Hital/ia m ade Americans vcry
kn o w n as rh c Allies. On the o the r side th e m am angry. Some began to think that Germany would d o
88
21 A WAil MW A I' EAC L
anything to wi n the war. Bur most still wanted In the next few weeks Germ an su bma rines sank five
peace. President Wilson made strong prorcsrs TO th e Ame rican ships. W ith German tor ped oes send ing
German governm ent . For a rime the Germans American sailor s to their deat hs in the g rey waters of
stepped the su bm arine attacks. th e Aelamic. Wilsoll felt tha t he had no cho ice. On
Ap ril 2, 1917, he asked Congr ess to decl are war on
In th e autu m n of 1916 American voters re-elected
Wilson 3S President. mainly because he had kept
th em our o f rhc wa r. ln januarv 1917 . W ilson made a The Zimmermann telegram
spee ch to C ong ress. In it he appealed to the warring At the beginning of 1917 mallY Amencans we re
narious of Europe to settle their differences an d m ake
still strongly aga ins t becoming involved in the
"a peace without victory. '·111is. he said, was the First World War. To peo ple o n the Great Plain s. in
only kind of peact'" that co uld las t. T exas o r in Califo rn ia, Euro pe see med very far
Bu r by now American ban ke rs had kill a lor of awa y. European quarrels. t hey believed. we re
m Olley to the All ies. And American m ilitar y sup plies none of their business.
were still po ur ing acro ss th e Arlamic. Germany's war
Then, o n M arch I, 1917, newspapers all over the
leade rs feared that, unless th e flow o f sup plies w as
United Sta tes pri nted a sensa tio nal sto ry. The
stopped, thei r co unt ry would be defeated . Only nine
story claimed char Arthur Zimmerman n. the
days after Wilso n's speech they again o rde red the ir
German Foreign Secretary, had tr ied to persuade
su bmarines to begi n sinking ships sailing towar ds
M ex ico and Japan TO attack th e U ni ted States.
Allied ports. T his rim e th e order included ne utral
vessels. The affair had begun o nJ an uary 16. Z immermann
had sent a secret telegram to the Ge rman ambassa-
d or in M exico . The telegram told the ambassador
to invite the M exi can government to sign an
alliance wi th Ger m an y. T he idea was tha t if th e
United States went to wa r w ith Ge r many, th e
M exican s should attack the America ns from th e
south. M exico 's rew ard would be the return of all
the lands it had lost to the United States in 18..\-8.
Z im me rma nn also wanted Mexico to invite J ap an
to j o in the anti-Am erican alliance.
Zimmermann' s telegram was intercep ted and de-
cod ed by British ag ent s. On February 24, w he n
Americans w ere already ang ry at German y fo r
sta rting submarine attack s agai n, the British gave
Wilso n a copy of the telegr am . Wilson w as
fur io us. He told th e new spapers. People who
wanted to keep the U nited States out of th e wa r.
o
T he Z im merman n telegram tu rn ed Ameri can
U.S A
NEAREST RECRUITING STATION
Y opinion m ore stro ngly in favo r of the Allies. This
was especially true m the previo usly un interested
w estern pa rts of th e co un tr y. T hese we re the very
areas that would have bee n threaten ed m ost if
Z im me r mann's plan had worked.
""
T W F. N TI ETII C EN rUIlY A .\IE RIC.\ NS
90
:!\ A W.'l.R .'l.N II A PEACE
92
22 T uc ROI\ Il I NG TW'Es TlI.s
Yet there were lots of poor Am ericans. A su rn'y in And far mers were find ing it more difficu lt to sell
1929 sho wed that half the A merican peo ple had their prod uce at ho me. Immigration had fallen. so
hardly eno ugh money to buy sufficient food and the nu mber of peo ple needin g food was growing
clot hing . In the indu strial cities of th e Nort h, such as more slowly. All the new cars didn' t help either.
C hicago and Pin sburgb, immigr ant wo rkers still C ars ran a ll gaso line. not on corn and hay like horses.
labored long hou rs for low wages III steel nulls.
A merican farm ers found themselves growlllg
factories and slaug hter houses. In the South
products they could not sell. By 192-1, around
tho usand s of poor farme rs. both black and wh ite,
600 ,000 of them were bankrupt.
worked (ro m sunrise to sunse t to earn barely enough
to live 0 11. The wealth that Repu blicans said would Bur to Amer icans w ho owned shares or "s toc k," III
benefit everybod y neve r reached peop le like these. ind ustrial companies the future loo ked bright. Sales
of consumer goods went on rising. T his meant
The main reason fo r povert y among industrial
bigger profits for the firms that mad e them . T his in
work ers was low wages. Farm ers and farm wo rkers
turn sent up the value of shares in such firms.
had a hard time for di fferent reasons. In the South
lIlallYfarm,.. rs did not own the land the y farmed. In 1928 the American people elect ed a new President .
T hey were sha recro ppers. For rent, a sharecropper Her bert Hoo ver. Hoover was sure that Am erican
gan' rhc landowncr part of what he grl'w - o ften so prosperity would go on growing and that the
much that he was left wi th hardl y enough to feed his povert y in wh ich some Americans stilllived wo uld
family. be remem bered as something in the past. HI.' said that
In the Wcst most farme rs ow ned their land . But they, there wo uld soon be "a chicken in every pot and t wo
too , faced hard tim es. During the First Wo rld War cars 111 eve ry garage."
they had been ab le to sell their w heat to Europe for Look ing at the way their sta nd ard ofliving had risen
high prices. By 1921. howe ver . the cou nt ries of du ring the 1920s. many other Americans thought the
Europe no lo nge r needed so much American food . same.
93
TWE NTI ET H CESTUlty A .\lUll C AN \
The movies
In the 1920s American movies filled the cinema go od or bad it was. A famous star cou ld make any
screens of the worl d . Most were made III I lolly- movie a certai n success . So the studios w ent to
wood , a su burb of the city of Los Ang eles III great len gths to make their actors into stars . T hey
Ca liforn ia. Holl yw ood 's big attraction for film - encouraged fan magazines. They set up special
makers w as its clean air and plen tiful sunshine. publicity departments to get sto ries about their
T he mo vies made the re we re bright and clear. Uy actors into the newspapers.
the 1920s it had beco me the film-m akin g capital of
T he mo vies of rhc 1920s we re silent. They spok e
the w orld.
IIIpictures, not w ords, and so their lan guage was
H ollyw ood movi es we re made by large companies international. All over the wo rld, fro m Berlin co
called studios. T he men who ran these studios Tokyo, from Lon don to Buenos Aires, te ns of
were bu sinessm en and their main aim was to make m illions of people lined up ever y night of the
as much mOlley as poss ible. T hey soo n found tha t week to see their favo rite Ho llywood stars-and ,
one w ay to do this was to sta ndardize their films. wi thout realizin g it. to be Am eric anized.
When audiences had shown tha t they liked a
H ollyw ood movies showed people a w orld that
cert ain kin d of film, the studios made many more
of exac tly the same kind. w as more exci ting, more free. more equa l, than
their own. To most people thi s world of the
Another sure way for a stu dio to make mon ey was movi es remained a dream world, separa te from
to run } its acto rs into "stars." Stars w ere actors real life. Hut to some it became more. It made
who we re so popular that people went in crowds t hem realize. however dimly. that per haps their
to see any film they appeared in, no marrer how own condi tions of life could be im proved.
A I Cap o ne and the bootleggers
In 19 19 the American people voted in favo r of J
new amendm ent to the Consriru rion. The Eig ht-
ccnt h Amendment prohibited rhc making o r
selling of alco holic d rinks in the U nited States.
People who supported " pro hibition" claimed
that it would stop alcoholism and drunkenness
and make the Un ited Stares a healthier. hap pier
country.
But nuny Americans we re not willin g to give up
alcoholic d rinks . Mi llio ns beg an to break the
prohi bition law delibe rately and regularly. JIIegal
dri nking places called "speakeasies' o pened in
basements and backrooms all o ver th e co unt r y.
T he cit y of Chicago had 10,000 of th em . New
York had 32.000.
Speakeasies obtained thei r alcoholic drinks fro m
crim inals called "boodeggers." Boork-ggers
worked together III ga ng s o r " mobs ." T he best-
known mob was one in C hicago led by th e
gan gster ..Scarface.. Al Ca po ne.
Boo tlegging w as a da ngero us business. COTll- ['r"h ibjri,,,, . A (~rif"lIr p,,~rJ ph"l<>gr~ph ,1101I'ingfrdrr~1 ~g",ts
pet ition bet we en rival mobs so metimes caused rx~", i" i".~ ,,, ,,,r '?frllr boult'Sojliq""r thry h~l'r diuo,'rrrJ hidJrn i"
bloody stree t wars. fough t o ut with armored cars
a (~I ,Ir,""" in ....'ru· }'""k harber.
95
- - 23 - -
CR ASH AND DEPR E S SI O N
~~~
--- #
the surprised worker. "Tm jusr was hing w in dows!"
To understand this incident we nee d to loo k at what
had been happening In Wall Street in the rno nrhs and /J)
years before that October afternoon in 1929. ",.:...' ')I
Wall Street is the home of rhc New York Stoc k
Ex change. Here dealers called stockbrokers buy and
sell valuable pieces ofpapcr. The pieces of paper are
share ce rtificates. Each ce rtificate represents a certain
am o unt of money Invested in a company .
Every year in the 192Us the sales of cars, radi os and
other co nsum er goods rose. This mean t bigger Wall Slrul."., of" m fr,,1 ill (o,ly ()(f,,/tv 1929. 11rjj (on ,,,,,, a«u,ouly
p,(dicud Ih( j/lJlk m ..r/:(f (rod, 11'''1 ("xuff(d Ilrrcc u'r(b 1..la
pro fits fo r the firms w hich made them . T his in tu rn
sent up the value ofsha res in such firms.
Ownin g shares III a business gives you the right to a Most of th ese "on the m argin" share buyers w er e
share of its pro fits. But yo u can m ake m oney fro m really ga m blers. T heir idea was to spo t shares tha t
sh ares in ano ther way. Yo u can buy th em at on e would qu ickly rise III value, buy them at o nc price
pri ce, th en , if rhc co m pany docs well, sell th em later and then resell at a higher o ne a fcw wee ks later.
at a high er o ne. They co uld th en pay back the ban k, having m ade a
qu ick pro fit.
Mo re and m o re peo ple we re eager [0 ge t so m e of thi s
easy m o ney. By 1929 buyi ng and selling By the fall of 1929 the urge to buy sha res had
shares - "playi ng th e m arket" - had beco m e alm ost a beco m e a sort o ffcve r. Prices we nt up and up. O ne
national hobby. Yo u co uld sec this fro m th e rise ill visito r to Wall Street was rem ind ed ofa srrccr figh t ,
the number of shares chang ing:hands. In 1923 th e as stock bro kers pushed and scram bled to buy shares
num ber wa s 236 m illio n; by 192M it had g ro wn to for their cus to me rs.
1,125 milli o n. Yet so m e peo pl e began to han' doubts. T he true
Like most ot her things in the U nited States in the value of shares in a busi ness firm depend s up o n its
1920s, you co uld buy shares o n credit. A hund red profi ts. By the fall of 1929 the pro fits being made by
do llars cash w o uld "buy" a tho usand do llars' worth ma ny Am erican fir m s had been decreasing for so me
ofshares from any stockbroker. M any people tim e. If profits were falling. thought m o re caut io us
bo rrowed large amounts of money from th e ban ks to inv esto rs, then sha re prices. too, would SOO I1 fall.
bu y sh ares in thi s way- "on the ma rg in", as it w as Slo w ly, such people began to sell their shares. Day
called. by day the ir num be rs grew. Soon so many peo ple
we re selling shares that prices did start to fall.
96
23 CR .\ SH AND D E P RESSIO N
At first many investors held on to their shares, "What has gone w rong?" peo ple asked . Some
hoping that pnces would rise again. But the L111 blam ed the blindness of politicians for th e Crash,
becam e fast er. A panic began. O n T hur sday, othe rs the gr eed ofin vestors an d stoc k bro ke rs. But it
O cto ber 24. 1929- Black Th ursday - 13 mi llion had a more im po rtant cause. T he fact wa s that by the
shares w ere sold. O n the follo w ing Tuesday, end of th e 1920s not eno ugh people we re buying the
October 29- T er rifying Tuesday - 16.5 m illion were products of America's expa nded ind ustries. Why?
sold . Becau se too littl e of th e U nit ed States' increased
w ealth was finding its way Into the hands of the
By the en d of th e year the valu e of all shares had
country's work er s and farmers. The most im po rt ant
drop ped by S40,000 m illion. T housands of people,
cause of the Wall Street Crash was simply this -that
espec ially those who had borr o we d ro buy o n the
to o few Amcricans w ere earning en ough money to
margin, fou nd th emselves facing debt and ruin .
buy th e goods tha t they th em selves w ere pr oducing .
Some com mitt ed suicide. This w as what the
policemen thoug ht tha t th e w indow cleane r wa s T he Crash ma de people uncertain ab out the future .
planning M an y decided to save any mone y th ey had instead of
spen ding it on suc h thi ngs as new cars and rad ios.
This collapse of American share prices w as known as
Amer ican factories were already making more goods
th e Wall Street C rash. It ma rked the end of the
tha n they could sell. Now they had even fewer
prosperity of th e 1920s.
customers.
CAMEL
~tVER P.... CHEo .. r OM TE D
A nml,/!jlle. UI/employed pN"ple liue "pf "'fo"d ."Ii""s ill "times -"'I''''''', .'\"'Ii· Y"rk . ill ,Iwe"rJy 19305.
97
T W I' NI' I ET II CEN T URY AME RI CA N S
understood th eir trou bles. w ho sy m pathized with system." They wo uld cause people to lose their
thcm -cand , m ost impo rtan t ofall, who sounded as if abilit y to stand 011 the ir o w n feet and bear thei r own
he would do so me thing to help the m. respo nsibilities. If they w ere introdu ced , he
prophesied grimly. "grass will g ro w in the streets of
Roosevelt's main idea w as th at th e fede ral
a hu nd red citil's. a thousand to w ns. " M
government shou ld tak e th e lead III rh c light agains t
the Dep ression . lie told th e American peo ple: " The The m ajori t y of th e Am erican people ig nored
co ulllry needs and dem ands bo ld. perSlSrelJ[ H oo ver 's gloo my warnings. On November 9. 1931,
experi mentation. Abo ve all try so me thing;" l ie they elected Frank lin Roosevelt as the next Pr esid ent
promised rhcm a "New DeJ.I." of th e U nited States by the larg est m ajority in
Ame rican his tory. In o nly six o f rhc nation's forty-
Hoover co nde m ned Roosevel t's poli cies of greater
eight states did H oo ver gain a majority of the votes.
governmem actio n. He was sur e th at such policies
In th e o ther fo rt y- tw o sta res the people chose
would on ly m ake things worse. Thcv would. he
Roosevelt .
said. "des troy th e very fou nda tio ns of our Aml·rican
99
- - 24 - -
R O O S EVELT'S NEW D EA L
YEARS[- ---,--
OF DUS th em to ro t III the fields.
During the H und red D ays. Roosevelt set up the
Ag ricultu ral Adjustment Agency (A AA) to help
the farme rs. T he A AA aimed (0 persuade farme rs
to produ ce less mea t. corn. cotton and o the r mJIIl
nops. The idea was to make such products
scar cer, so that sell ing pr ices would rise and
farmers w o uld be bette r otT. Far me rs w ho ag reed
to gro w les s wert' given money by the govern me nt
to make up for hav ing less to sell.
lUll
IF", km 0" a W.P.•-L p r<>jea ill lilt ",;,lJlt "iliit 1930.,.
The A mer ican people knew both these an d lat er N ew its worker s had bu ilt thousands of m iles of new roads
Deal organizat ions by thei r in itials. Let us loo k m o re and tho usand s of schools and ho sp itals. The W PA
clo sel y at the w ork o f some of these "alphabet even fo un d work for un em plo yed w riters an d artists.
agencies. T he w riters produced g uidebooks to states and cities.
Th e art ists painted p ict ures o n the walls of po st
Roo se vel t belie ved that h is m o st urgen t task was to
offices and o ther pu blic bu ildi ngs.
find people work. He was especially an xio us ab ou t
the young. Tho usan d s were stealing rid es 011 fre ight Alph ab et agencies like the C:CC and the W PA pur
trains and wand ering abour the country sea rching fo r mi llio ns of people to w o rk. Bet ween 1935 and 1941
j obs. Roo sev elt set up th e CCC to hel p them . By the WPA alo ne pro vided eight million j o bs. T his
August 1933, the CCC had already placed 250,000 meant tha t peo ple were ab le to su pp o rt themselves
yo u n g m en III ca mps all over the count ry . They w ere on ce m o re. T he y reg ained their independence and
hard at work cutting fire- lanes throu gh fo rests, self respect . This was not all. The money they were
st reng then in g river banks aga inst floo d ing, planting p aid helped to bring trade back to life . Shops ha d
trees III places where the soil was bein g blown J\va y. cust o m ers ag am . Facto ries became busy once m o re.
Th e government gave th e C C C workers food an d Farmers had someone to buy th eir produce.
she lter and a wage of a dollar a d ay. Many sent this
This w as w hat Ro o sevelt had ho ped for . l ie believed
wage ho m e to help their less fort unate rela tiv es.
tha t putting money IIH O people's pockets was lik e
A later alphabet ag ency w as the Wo rks Pro g ress po ur in g fue l into an engmc th at had stopped to ma ke
Administranon (W PA). Roo sevelt set up the W I' A in it start aga lll. T he engllle co uld th en once more d rive
1<)35 . Like the CCc, it aimed to set people to work the econom ic machinery th at earned the country it s
o n j obs that were useful to th e co m m un ity. 13y 1937 living.
101
TW L N n ETI I CEN Tu n· A~IIII:lC""SS
102
24 H U U 5l V EI.-I \ N EW DEA l.-
Roosevelt help ed industrial workers in orhc r ways. television intcrvicvv , " l ie w as Go d in this countr y."
In 1935 he persuaded Congress to pass a law to Even so. it w as not Roosevelt' s N ew Dea l that ended
proteJ:t their right tojoin labor unions. He hoped this unempl o ym ent in the U nited States. T he Ge rman
would give worke rs J bcrrer chance to ba rgain w ith dictator, Adolfllitler , did that.
em ployers. Hy 1939, despite the N ew Deal. ten m illio n
But so me big cmplovc rs c-Hcnr y Ford w as one- American workers aga in had no jobs . Then. in
hated labo r unio ns. They dis misse d any worke r w ho September 1939. Hi tler 's armies marched into
joined one. St rikcs and figb ring bro ke om in Poland . The Second World War bega n. T he United
indust rial areas o f the cou ntry as uruons struggled to Stat es quickly beca me the main supplier o f \·veapons
w in recognition . To stOp the tr ouble another un ion to the countries fight ing H itler - wh at Roo sevelt
law was passed . T his w as called the Wag ner Act. descri bed as " the arse nal o f dem ocracy." A merican
afte r the man w ho guided it throu gh Congress. T he factories began working all day and all night. The
Wagner Act gave every worke r the right to j oin a number ofpeop le w ithout jobs fell. In 1941 the
un ion , and it set up a body called the Nation al Labor United States joined the w ar itselfand
Board to protect this right . unemplo ym ent disappeared. President Roo sevelt
w as now tOO busy to give atte nt ion to further
Bur despite N ew D eal reforms like these, millions of refor ms at home. " O ld D r. New D eal has to be
Am ericans stil llived in fear. What if their job s replaced by D r. Win- thc- War." he said. His New
disappeared again? Woul d only a breadline stand D eal w as ov er.
bet ween them and starva tion on ce more? " N o, ,.
Roosevelt told them. In 1935 he broug ht in a law Roosevelt's effo rts as " D r. Will-the-War" wore him
called the Social Security Act . One part ga\T out . By 1945 he w as a sick man . A few wee ks befo re
govern me nt pen sion s to peo ple unable to provide for the end o f the war, O il the morning of Ap ril 12, he
rhc msclves c- old people, w idows and the blind . for suffered a stroke. Withi n hour s he was dead . H is Vice
example. Anot her part gave the U nited States its first President. H ar ry T ru man . took ove r as President of
system ofunem ploymc nt insur ance . The mon ey to the U nited Scares.
pay fo r these benefits came from special taxes paid by By this time nearly all Am eri cans were bet ter off tha n
bot h workers and e m ploye rs. T he un employment they had been in the da rk days of the Depression.
sche me did not cover all workers at first. But in later Some argued that this was due mainly to the comi ng
years more and more w ere pro tecte d by it. of wa r. ti nt many thought the main cause was the
Not all American s suppo rted Roosevelt 's N ew Deal New D eal. Peo ple stillarg ue about this. But there is
poli cies. Some said rhar the count ry could not affor d no ar gu ment abou t the imp ortance of the Nl'\V D eal
the money tha t he was spending. Others said that in ot her w ays.
much of rhc mon cy w as being wasted anyway. They T he N ew Deal alter ed Am ericans' ideas about the
feared. roo, that Roosevelt's policies would make righ t ful work of their national govcnunenr. Before
people idle and sto p them standing on their own feet. the N ew Deal mo st thou gh t of the gove rn ment as a
" You can' t make the world all planned and soft." kin d of policema n. It w as there j ust to keep order,
complained o ne businessman . " The strongest and while factor y o wners and business men got 011 with
best sur vive - tha t's the law o f nature after all." makin g the count ry richer . T he D epression
But such cr iticism s mad e lit tle differ ence to weak ened this belie f Roosevelt taught Amer icans to
Roosevelt' s populari ty w ith the vo ters . T o millions look to th e gO'it"rn mellt to sec that eve ryone had a
of Americans he w as the man wh o had given the m fair chance to obtain what he called " the good tlungs
Jobs and saved their homes and far ms. In 1936 they of life." Many Ameri cans still rem ember him with
re-elected hi m President by the largest maj ority of respect and affection.
votes in the couu erv's history. As one wit pm it.
" Ev eryone was aga inst the N ew Deal but the
voters." Thirty years later a N ew Yo rk taxi dri ver
still remem ber ed how many Am ericans felt about
Roosevelt III those years. " Roosevelt?" he said III a
103
- - 25- -
THE AR S ENAL OF D EM O CR A C Y
Then. in 1939, w ar broke o m in Europe. Uy th e The in ternmen t o f the Issei and the Ni sei was
summer of 19-10 Hitler's arm ies had overrun all of more than unj ust. All the e vidence seems to sho w
western Europe, O nly Urirain < c xbausrcd and sho rt that it wa s llllllt'cessdry. Tho usands o f Ni sei foug ht
of w eap on s - still de fied them. With Hitler the mas ter bravely in the American arm y. And not one
of Euro pe, and his ally. Ja pan, beco m ing ever j apanese Am eri can was con victed ofan act of dis-
stronger ill Asia, Am ericans saw a t las t the da ngerous loyalt y to th e United Stares during rhc whole of
pos ition of rhc U nit ed States, san d wiched between th e W J.T ,
the tw o .
Roosevelt had alread y per su aded Congress to Lend Lease gave Roosevelt the Tight to supply
ap pro vt' rhc Iirvt peace time mi litary conscription in mili tar y equi pme nt and o ther goods to Brnain
Am erican histo ry and to suspen d th e N cu rraliey wi tho ut paym ent . He could do the same fo r dny
Acts. N o w he scm Britain all the mil itary t'qu lpment co untry w hose defense he considered occcsserv (Q the
th at th e Un ited Stares co uld sparcc rifles. g Ulls. safet y 011ht, U ni ted Stares. Am erican gu ns, food and
ship s. Early ill 19-1 1 the British ran o ur o f mo ne y. In ~l ircraft crossed th e Atla nt ic Ocean in large quanti ties.
M arch Roosevelt persuaded Congress to acce pr his T he y played a viral pan in helpin g Britain to
Len d Lease PLIn. co nt inue to tight agamse Hitler. When I{itlcr attacked
H"
"1,,,J~P"" t'Jt' ,111.1(1" 1m P""rl
Holrb.'r, H.z,,·~ii ,
the Sov iet U nion in june IY41, Roosevelt used rhc it-and must make it impossible for the Americans to
L\:m{ Lease scheme to send aid to the Russians, too. usc their Pacific battle Nl'l't to stop them .
Fightin g was also taking place in Asia at this time. ( ) II Decem bcr 7, 1941 , j apanese w arplanes roaredin
japanese forces had in vade d Man churia III 1931 and over Pearl I lnrbor. H aw aii, the A merica n navy's
C hina in )lJ37, In July 19·H, they also occu pied the main base in the Pacific Ocean. Their bombs and
French colony o flndoch ina. This alarmed th e torpedoes sank or badly damaged eight American
American government. h saw the growing power of battleships, blew up hund reds of aircraft and killed
ja pan as a threat both to peace in Asia and to over 1,000 men.
Am erican trading in terests. Ever since the 1937
Whcn the Pear l Har bor attack took place, the U nited
att ack on C hina the United States had been reducing
States and Japan w ere still at peace, T he United Stares
its t'xp ort~ to J apan ofgo ods tha t wert' useful in
declared war 0 11 December R. 194 1. Since Germ any
war - aircra ft and che micals. fo r exam ple. N ow , in
w asj apan 's ally. H itler then declar ed wa r on the
jul y IlJ4l , it sto pped all shipments o f oil.
U nited Scan-s. T he wa r in Eur ope and the wa r in Asia
j apan fared disaster . It imported 80 percent ofits o il became one wa r. Britain, the Soviet Union and the
fro m th o: U nited States, Witho ut this Americ:In oil its U nited States (t he Allies) were the mam count ries on
indu stries would be paralyzed . "japan IS like a tish III o ne side. Ge rmany and j apan (the Ax is) were the
a po nd fro m which the wan-t IS being drained awa y.' main countr ies on the other,
a senior naval officer told Em pero r l Iirohiro .
Th e U nited Stares govern ment orga nized the whole
In O ctober. Gener al Hido ki T oj o became j apan's Amer ican eco nom y to w ards winn ing the w ar. It
Prime Minister. T oj o was well know n for his belief placed controls on w ages and prices, and Int roduced
tha t a sharp USt' afforce W:IS often rhc bcsr way to high income taxes. Gasoline and some foods were
solve disag reements. This had earned him . rationed . Factories stopped producing consumer
nickname- the Razor. T he re was plen ty of oil in goods such as automobiles and wash ing machines.
Southeast Asia. Tojo decided that japan mus t seize and started making tanks, bombers and other wa r
103
TWENTIE TH CH.n:IlY A ..IlItICASS
" T he w ar ?" the former Red Cross worker said to the D urin g th ese years of prosperity th e Uni ted States
interviewer. " T he w ar was fun for A merica. " A was led first by Pr esident T ru m an (1945 - 53), th en
st range th ing to say . yo u m ay think. lim Ame ricans by Preside nt E isenho we r (1953 - ( 1). III IW)1 a new
w er e the only people III the w or ld th at th e Seco nd President called J ohn F. Kenn ed y (1t)61- 3) w as
Worl d War had m ade better o ff. T heir hom es had not elected.
been bo mbed o r their land fo ug ht over. Busy
wartime facto ries had given them good wa ges. Ken ned y to ld the A merican people th at th ey were
facing a " ne w fro ntier;" aile w ith bo th opport uni ties
in the years th at followed the w ar A me ricans became and problems. One big pro blem III their own
be tte r otTstill. Betw een 1947 and 1971 rhc val ue of co unt ry was po vert y, Although most Am e ricans
th eir wages in buying po wer - their " real inco m es' as were well-off m illion s ofothers were too poor to
th is is callcd c-morc than do ubled. A m ericans bo ug ht lead decent lives. Some we re crowded together in
more ho uses, cars. telev ision sets. consum er goods of cit y slums. O thers lived in places like old coal -
every kind. They beca me th e most prosperou s prod uci ng districts where the mi nes had close d.
peo ple the world had ever seen. As early as 19W.
55 percent ofall famili es o wned w ashing ma chines. Kenned y was a D em ocrat. as Roosevelt had been. He
75 percent o vvned car s, 90 percent had television sets tr ied to help [he poor with go vern nu'm m oney and
and nea rly all had refr igerato rs. food , H e also w anted to help e ther groups w ho we re
IOH
::!(, PIl 0 SPERIT'I' fr.NO 1' 1l0 llLB1S
109
not ge tting J. fair dea l. like blac k America ns. Hut
before Kenn ed y could do J.11 these things he was sho t The Watergate affair
an d killed. This happened while he was driving
On the night ofJune 17, 1972, po lice in Washing ton
th ro ug h the streets of Dallas in November 1% 3.
arrested five burglars. They caught the burglars
Lyndon U.Johnson (1% 3 - 9) took over from in side the D em ocratic Pa rty's nation al headq uar ters
Kennedy as President. Johnson had been Kennedy's in the Waterga te office build ing, Jou rna lists o n the
Vice Pr esident . He had spent years as a member of Washj",~rol/ POSI newsp aper sta rted to look int o the
C o ngr ess, ma king political friends and winning bur glary, They d isco vered th at the bu rgla rs had
influe nce there, I Ic used this influence: to speed up been paid to steal in forma tion to di scred it President
Kenn ed y's plans for reform. One of hi s firs t actions N ixon 's Dem o cratic opponents.
was to persuade Congress to pass Kenn ed y's plan to
In Febru ary 1973, th e Sen ate set u p a co m m ittee to
Impro ve the position of American blac ks. In 1%4
look into the Water g.ate affair. Its m ccnngs were
rhis beca me law as the C ivil Rig hts Act.
bro adcast live o n televisio n. D ay by day vie wers
Johnson also pro mised the American people a .. "var wa tched th e co mm ittee un cover a netwo rk of lies
0 11 pover ty;" I Ic set up systems of health care for the and dishonesty at the very hea rt of th e nat ion's
elderly (Medica re) and for th e poo r (Me dic aid). l ie gove rmll t'nt. Nixon vowed time an d t ime agai n
also increased federal aid to education. l it' said that that Itt' had kno wn not hing ab o ut the Water gate
he w ant ed to turn the U nited States into " the gre at break-in, Um as the inves tigano ns "vent 0 11, fewer
so ciet y" - ;1 cou nt ry w here everyone received fair and and fewer people believed him. M an y began [0
dece nt trearm cn r. de m and tha t he sho uld be Impeached fo r m isu smg
his po wer s as Pr esident .
llm J o hn so n himselfcaused his plans to fail. In the
lata 1960s he involved the U nited States mo re an d T he en d came in August 1974. A tape record ing
more: deeply in war in Vietnam. The h uge cost of th e m ade in Nixon 's office proved that he had known
war forced Johnson to give up many ofhis plans fo r all about the Waterga te affair. His im peach ment
improvements. Riots and protests flared up all over and even im prisonment now seemed ce rtai n. T o
the co untry - against the war, aga inst poVCrty, avoid this, Ni xon resigned as Preside nt of the
against co ntinuing racial injustice. United States part way thr o ug h his te rm of
offi cc -. the first man eve r to do so.
By 1% 8 tilt' A merican people were bitterly div ided.
M an y blamed johnson for the country's problems . T o man y people at home and abroad the Water gate
He became so unpopular that he decided not even to affair see med to sho w d early that the A me rican
try to get re-elected. In 1969 he ga"·t' u p the po litical sys tem bad gone rotten. Bur it w as pans
Pr esid en cy and retired . of that very system - th e new spap t'rs, th e law
courts, th e Congress- which broug ht the misdeeds
Richard N ixo n (1969-74) wa s elected to take of the President and his adviser s to lig ht. T hey
J oh nso n's place as Pr esident. N ixon was a showed that not eve n the hi ghest in th e land w as
Republican. lie "vas m uch less interest ed th an abo ve th e law.
Kenne d y and j ohnso n in help in g the poor. T he
gove rn me nt was paymg om m or e than enough Iro nically, it was N ixon himsd f who perhaps bes t
money 011 welfare schemes alre ad y, he said. I Ic sum me d u p this aspect of th e Watcrgate affair.
believed that people should overcome hardship by Sho rtly befo re his resignatio n he said:
th eir own efforts. "Some people will say that Watergate dem o n-
strates th e bank ru ptcy of th e Am erican sys tem. I
In November 1972. the American people re-elected
believe precisely th e o ppos ite is tru e. Water gate
Nixon. The mam reason fo r this was th at by th en he
represen ted a series of illegal acts, It w as the
was close to ge tting the United Sta tes out of the
system that brought th ese facts to lift' and that will
hated wa r III Vietnam. A cease-fi re was finally signed
bring those g uilty to j ust ice,"
in j.anuar y 1973. Arrangements were made for all
A me rican fighnng men to come ho m e. The
American people fdt a huge sense of relief
110
26 P RO S P l lll l" .\ :'111) PR O IlIBIS
,,-"
,,~ .....
. 1"" ~_~fS" -~""",,,,,::,,:,
___-c- ~_v
~. ..7 4J_ 't-,...._
~_ ~,
.
.i ,a"""" l!Jut"l'proJrd i" Iilr Brifish pr",5 d" ri",( Ihe II--atng"tr ~ffoJir.
[ 'YrsiJrm .' ·ix<'1I h"s brm :<I"I>MJ by IIrr.."m pm <'jlllr W,,-,hin~ lOn
P<)SI '~ i"VfitiX"liv"j(tlln,,,Ii$u .
It was Nixon 's moment of g reatest triumph. But Reagan was deter mined to make the U nited Sta tes
soon he was in trouble. HlC was accu sed o f bein g str onger than its old rival. the So viet U nion. l ie
involved in an illegal plan to discredit his po litical spent many millions of dollars on developin g
opponents. called th e "Wa rergarc Affair. " Congr ess powerful new missiles and on resea rch II U O weapo1l s
threatened to put hi m 011 trial- " im peach" him - for to knock out ene my missiles fro m space.
misusing his powers. To avoid this. Nixon resigned
Many people at home and abroa d criticized Reagan.
as President.
So me said that he w as unfeeling. O ther s believed that
Nixon was followed as President first by Cc rald Ford he w as incompetent. Still others called him a
(1974 - 7) and then by Jimmy Carter ( 19n - 81). dangerous warmonger. But Reag an's policies -
Neith er Ford no t Ca rter won muc h success or includ ing the spending on w eapon s- helped more
popularity as Presid ent. O ne reason fo r this was that A me ricans eo fmdjobs. Businessmen made bigger
both fou nd it difficult to com rolinflano n. T he profits . Most Amcr iransc-all exce pt the poorest of
United States now im ported lot s ofoi l. Afte r an the m - beca me better off This helped to mak e
Ar ab- Israeli war in 1973 international oil prices rose Reagan pop ular, So did his relaxed and friendl y
steeply. T hese oil-price in creases caused general ma nner. which came ove r well on televis ion.
inflation. By 1980 prices in the United States were
Reagan w as popular for another reason. too . Aftt'r
rising by 13.5 per cent a year and this was making life
[he shame of Vietnam and Water gate his simple
difficult for many people.
"stand on your own feet and act tou gh " polici es
In 1980 Am ericans elected a President they ho ped m ade many Americans feel proud o f their country
would mak e a better job of ru nni ng the country . l ie again. In 19H4 they re-elec ted him as President by one
was a for mer film actor named Ronald Reagan . Like of the biggest majorities in American history. He was
N ixon, Reagan was a Republican . At home, he still popular . and for m uch the same reasons. when
showed little sym pathy fo r the poor. H e said that he his second term as President end ed in 1989.
aim ed to make Americans depend less a ll
go vernme nt help and more on self-help. Abroad .
III
- - 27 - -
BLA CK AMERI C A N S
"?" up and live o ut th ese truths that all men arc crea ted
eq ual. I have a d ream that o ne day on the red hills of
Geo rgia the so ns of fo rmer slaves and the sons of
form er slaveho lders will be able to sit down to gether
at th e table ofbrorherhood. I have a dream tha t my
fou r link' child ren w ill one day live in a nation where
HI.uk1', ISll'I1X' ·'S choose ,/,(i, ,,",'II .'(",.' " " ~U"(j .!/irr,I". ,.lU{(S.' '!( rhe th ey will nor be judged by th e color of th eir skin bur
;\f ('m.~{",,,'r y /"',. h"yH>II.
by th e co ntent of th eir character. "
were admi tted. So began a lon g srr ugglc for equal
rig hts in cducarion . It w as still go ing 01l 111 0re than
thirt y Yl'a rs later.
Another landmar k in th e black struggle cam e on
Decem ber I. 1955 . A black woman named Rosa
Par ks gOt all a bus in the Strictly seg regated souther n
cit y of Mou rgorucr v. Alabam a. She too k a scat
to w ards the hack of th e bus, as bla cks we re suppo sed
to do. But the n w hite workers and sho ppers tilled up
th e fro nt sectio n of th e bus and th e driver o rde red her
to g rvc up her sear. M rs. Parks decided that she
would no r be treated in that w ay. She refused to
move.
Mrs. Par ks was arres ted . 13mth e black peo ple of
Montgom er y suppo rted her. The N ational
Asso ciation for rhc Advancem ent of Colored Peo ple
(NAAC P) helped them to per suade a judge to re-lease
M rs. Parks from j ail. T hen they sta rred a campaign
to end segre gation 0 11 buses. Led by a yo ung
clergymen named Martin Luther King. they began to
stop using, or "boycott. " the city's bus services. The
boy cott went o n for a year. Finally. 111 N o vember
1956. th e Supreme C ourt declared th at seg regatio n
on public buses was unconstitutio nal. M on rgo mcrvs
publi c transp o rt sys tem wa s deseg regated .
Th e success of the Mont gomer y bus boycott
encouraged blac ks in ot her places to act together
against seg regation. They bo vco ncd stores where
black workers were refused jobs. refused to pay rent
untillandlo rds im proved housi ng co ndi tions. and
he-ld "si t- ins" in restaurants th at would 1I0t serve
black customers. T hey achieved m an y success es.
113
TWENTI ETH CHH URY A .\lER I C AN $
Black is beautiful
In the 1960s black America ns began taking new But black pri de and racial awareness showed itself
pride in th eir A frican ancestry. It became fashion- in more t han dre ss and appearance. Schools we re
able to take Afr ican names, to wea r lo ng African set up to reach black children th e histo ry, languages
robes and sh or t African jackets called "dashcks." and custo m s of th eir Afncan ances to rs. One of the
Bushy African hairsrv lcs became th e fashion for most striking ven tures was a ballet school fo unded
black Am erica and we re even adopted by white by a young dancer nam ed Arrh ur M itchell. In
youngsters. Before long th e m ost freq uently seen Mitchell's school, you ngsters from the stree ts of
and heard slo gan in America was the three words: N ew . Yo rk's Harlem learned to create new and
"Black is beaut iful. " exci ting dance s which combined the techniq ues of
classical Euro pean ballet w ith the beat of African
drums. Wi thin a few years they had become
internation ally famous as th e Dance Theater of
H arlem, playing to full theaters all over the world.
Arthur Mi tchell was a dancer, no t a polit ician. His
wa ys of trying to im pro ve the positi on of his
fellow bla cks we re very different fro m Ma rtin
Luther Kin g 's. Yet Ius und erlying view of peo ple,
of the ir ho pes and needs, was no t so different. "I
used to be full of anger." Mitchell told a re porter
w hen th e D ance Theater o f Harlcm visite d London
in 1976, "but no t any m ore. Screams and yells
don't get you anywhere. I disco vered that black o r
wh ite, g reen or purple, all kids arc the same .
People arc th e same. I don' t thi nk of myself as a
black m an, first and fo rem os t. I'm just a man w ho
Tile D""u Thca/IT of H ,, /em. happens to be black ."
115
SUPERPOWER
- - 28 - -
C OLD WAR AND K OR EA
In France and ltJ.ly com mumsr parti e, won lots of By then containment was kx.'mg tes ted III Asia also.
sup port by promi sing reforms to make th ings bett er. T he rest w as raking place III Kor ea. Before the
T his worried President Truman. In the sum me r of Second Wo rld War, Korea had been ruled byjapan.
1947 his govern ment put forwa rd J. scheme that he WhenJ apJ.1l surrendered in 1945. the no rt h o f Korea
hoped would help Europe's peopl e and also make w as occup ied by Soviet for ces and the som h by
commun ism less app ealing to them . T he scheme \VJ.S Americans. The bou ndary between the two areas
called the Marshall Plan. afier Gener al George w as the earth's 38th par allel of lat itud e.
Marshall. the Secr etary of Srarc who annou nced it.
T he United Stat es had plcnev of all rhc things tha t
Euro pe needed in i l H 7 - food. fuel, raw materials,
machines. T he tr ouble w as that Europ e was too poor
to buy the m. To solve this problem Marshall offered
to give European count ries the go ods they needed .
Marshall offered help to rhc Sov iet Union, too . But a
Soviet new spaper described his scheme J.S"a plan fo r
Interference in the home affairs o f other counn-ics. "
Stalin refused to have anything to do with it. I Ie also
made sure that 110t1':.' o f the coun rrres on the Sov iet
U nion's side of rhe Iron C urtain accepte d help either.
But million s ofdollars' worth of American food , raw
materials and machiner y star ted to po ur IIUO w este rn
Europe, It was like giving a d ying pt'rson a blood
transfusion. By the rime the Ma rshall Plan ended III
1952 , western Euro pe was back on its feet and
begi nnin g to prosper.
117
SU l' t.RI'OWUl
A irlift to Berlin
By 1948 th e Wes tern Allies were eage r to rebu ild
th e Germ an eco no m y . Without Germ an ind ust rial
production and Co rm an cus tomers fo r their go ods
ot he r Eur o pean natio ns were find ing it ve ry
d ifficult to revi ve their o w n economics. But
before this problem could be so lved, something
had to be done abo ut Germa n money. In 19-18 th is
w as alm ost w orthless. An ordinary factory w o rker
then earned be t wee n 75 and 100 m arks a we ek . One
cig nrcnc would ha n ' cos t twent y-five ma rks .
In J unc 1948, th e Western Allies an no unced that
in their ZO IlL' S th ey we re calling III all the o ld
m o ney and m aki ng a fresh starr w ith IlL'W cur-
rt'n cy. T he Russians w ere fur ious. Stalin's Foreign
M inister. M olo to v, had already attacked the
Weste rn plan s to rebuild Germany's ind ust ries.
N o w he complained that th e currency scheme was
a pla n "to co nvert wes tern Germa ny int o a base Hrrli'lm gruti",~ 01 l '.5. pLmeJllring Ihe Berlin oIirlili,
for extending th e influence of American imperial- ':( WIX-49.
In 1948 the occupation of Korea ended. T he Soviet Pr esident T ru man scm American soldiers and
arm y left be hind a communist government in the wa r planes fro m J apan to fight for the South Koreans.
nor th and the Am ericans set up a govern me nt Then he per su aded the United Natio ns
fricndl y to themselv es in the so uth. Both these O rga nizat ion. wh ich had taken the place o f the
governm ent s claim ed the rig ht to rule all of th e pre- w ar Leag ue of Na tio ns. to suppo rt his action.
co un try. In J une 1950. th e Nort h Ko reans de cid ed to Sixteen nation s eve ntu ally sent troo ps to fight in th e
set tle the m atter. Their so ld iers crossed th e 3Hth U nited N ations ' fo rces in Ko rea. Hur th e wa r was
parallel III a full- scale invasion of South Ko rea. really all American affai r. Nine out of every ten
118
~ l:l C O LI) W AR A NlJ K UREA
120
29 A B .\L A N C E O f T E ~ ~ () ~
to let th e o ther side get too far ahead III space m odule, wa iting for the ir return .
technology would enda nger thei r security . Earth-
The final cou ntdown started five days befo re blast
orbiting satell ites co uld be used to take sp y
off At last, on J uly 16, 1% 9. burning 4\12 tons of
photogr aph s. More frig hte ning st ill, roc kets cap-
fue l a secon d, a huge 5,000 to n roc ket ros e slo w ly
able o f carrying people lIlto spa ce co uld also be
fro m its launching pad on a roaring col um n of
used to carr y nuclear w arheads .
flame. Five days later millio ns o ftelevis ion view ers
Up to the mid- 1960s each side matched the ot her's all over th e world watched Ar m strong and Aldnn
achirvcmc nrs III th e space race. But then the step down all t o th e sur face of the m oo n.
Americans sta rted to d raw ahead. Fina lly , th ey
Th e two me n spe nt three hours collecting roc k
were read y for th e m ission to put the first men 011
sam ples and setti ng up scientific m strurucnrs on
the moon -c Ap ollo I I.
th e moon's surface to sen d inform atio n back to
T he Ap ollo 11 spacecra ft wa s launched fro m Cape earth after they left. T hen they rej oined C ollins in
Canaveral o n the coas t o f Florida. It carri ed three th e co mmand m od ule. T hree days later th ey
me n as its crew ~ N eil Armstro ng, Ed w ard "Buzz " splash ed dow n safely in the Pacific O cean and
Ald rin and Michael C ollins. T he firs t tw o would helicopters carr ied them o ff to a heroes" welc ome.
necessary they would d ro p nuclear bo m bs on the earth satellite, th e Sputnik. Sp utnik did not worry
Soviet U nio n and China. Hy the m id- 1950s the rhc Americans. Bur the rocket th at car ned it into
United States had a po werful force of nuclear space did. A rocket powerful enough to do that co uld
bombers read y to do this. O n airfields all round. the also carry an l l-bomb to its target.
world giant American planes we re cons tan tly on the
Th e Am erican government bega n to speed LIp w or k
alert . ready to take ofTat a m o m ent's noti ce.
on rockets of its own . Soon it had a whole rang e of
Most Americans supported D ulles's ma ssive bomb- carr ying rockets called "nuclear missiles ."
retaliation policy at first. T hen, on O cto her4, 1957, Th e biggest were the Int er-C o nt inental Ballistic
the So viet Union sent into space the w orl d's first M issiles. T hese we re kept in underground forts all
121
S U P I,Il P O WUl
over the United Sratcs. rcadv to carry their d eadl y Presiden t Eisenhower welcomed Khr ushche v's talk
wa rheads far II UO the Soviet Union. The Polaris. of peaceful coexistence. He invited th e 50Vlt'[ leader
ano the r missile. was carried by nuclear-powered to visit th e U ni ted Sta tes. Afterwards t he two men
subma rines cruising d eep beneat h th e oceans. ag reed to hold a summit meeting in Paris to work o m
so lut ions to so me of their differences.
By the en d of the 1950s the United Sta tes and the
So viet U m on had enough nuclear missiles to kill The Paris su mmit never even started. As till' lead ers
everybod y o n earth. It is 1I0 t sur p rising th at people w ert' 0 11 th eir way ther e in M ay 196 0, a R ussian
spoke ofa "balanc e of rcrro r. " Both Russian an d mis sile shot d o w n an American aircraft ove r th e
American leaders carne to sec th at in a full-scale war Soviet Union . The airrr:lft was a U-2 spy plane,
between their two count ries the re co uld be 110 spe cially d esigned to take photog rap hs o f m ilitary
wi nn er , T hey would simply des troy one ano ther. tar gets fro m the edge o f space. Krush chcv ang rily
accused Eisen ho wer of planning for wa r while
Ni kira Khrushchev. the nun who took Stalin's place
talking peace. H e went angrily bac k to the Sevier
as leader of rhe Soviet Union, real ized this. l ie o nce
U nio n. He seemed to be furio us. Bu t maybe he was
said that capitalist and co mmunist co untries would
rather pleased at hav ing made the Americans loo k
only really ag ree "when shrim ps learned to w histle."
lik e hypocrites. In any case, the Paris sum mi t
Bur in a world of l l- bo rnbs he bel ieved rhar they had
m eet ing was over before it even started.
to tr y to live peacefu lly, side by side. In place o f Cold
Wa r threats he suggested "peaceful coex isten ce. "
122
Crisis over Cuba
ranks, and aircratr. Kennedy grew worried and
o rdered a dose watch to be kept on Cuba.
On Sunday, O cto ber 1..1-, 1962 , an American U- 2
spy plane flew high over the island raking pho to-
graphs . They showed Russian missile launching
sites bein g bui lt. What had happ ened w as this :
Ever since th e U -2 incident of 1% 0 Khrushch ev
_....._.....
, .,.'-",
-. ... - "balance ofterror" strongly In favor of the United
Scates. When Castro asked for help, Khr ushchev
saw a cha nce to level up the balance of [error. lie
wo uld rhrearcn the United States from miss ile
bases on its own doorstep- Cuba.
C uba is an islan d natio n only nin et y miles from
Kenn edy was shocked by the U-2 ph ot ographs.
rhccoast ofthe U nit ed States. In 1951J a revolution -
" T his IS the w eek I better earn m y salary," he said
ary reformer named Fidel Castro took o ver its
grimly. Some adv isers wanted him to send bom-
government. Cuba's ban ks, railroads and many
bers to destro y the missile bases. H e also thou ght
other businesses were owned by Americans at rlus
about send ing American soldiers to captu re them .
rime. So, too, were many of its big sugar
But instea d he ordered Amcrican ships and aircra ft
plantations.
to set up a blockade. They we re to stop any Soviet
Castro needed money to make changes III Cuba. ships carrying more missile equipment ro Cuba.
To obtain ir he began to take over American-
Kenned y then told Khrushchev to take away the
owned businesses. In the op inion of rhc U nit ed
Soviet missiles and destroy the bases. He warned
States government this was stealing American
that any missile fared from Cuba would be treated
propt'rry. Not only this, but Castro seemed to be
as a direct Soviet attack on the United States and
organizing a com mun ist state right on the door-
o rdered 156 lon g-r ange missiles aimed at th e
step of the United States.
Soviet Union to be made ready [Q fa re,
In 1960 President Eisenhower agreed to gi ve
For tell terrifying da ys in O ctober 1<)62, the wo rld
weapons an d ships to refugees from C ub a w ho
trembled on the edge o f nucl ear war. People
wanted to overthrow Cas tro . Wh l'n Eisen hower
wai ted in fear fo r the next news flash on their
retired in J anuar y. IlJ61, the plan was supported
rad ios and televisions.. Finally Khru shchev ordered
also by the new President, Joh n F. Kennedy.
his techn icians in Cuba to destroy the lau nching
On April 17, 1961, a fo rce of lAW ant i-Castro sires and retu rn rhe missiles ro t he Soviet U nio n .
Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's sou th In return, Kenn edy called off rhe blockade and
coast. Castro had ranks and 20,000 men waiting, promised to leave Cuba alone. Privately. he also
Within days the invaders we re all ca ptured or ag reed to .rcmovc American missiles sited on the
killed. But Castro believed [hat Kennedy would bo rder of the Soviet Union in T urkey, T he mo st
attack again, so he asked the Sevier Union for dangerous crisis of the Cold War was over.
help. Khrushchev sent him shiploads of rifles,
12J
- - 30 --
THE V I ET NAM Y EARS
One of the land marks of Washing toll • D .C. , is a 'I'Ill' nex t step was supposed to be the election of o ne
m assive building of white m arble. It is a m em oria l to go ve rn m ent fo r th e w hole co untry. Bur th e clccno n
Abraha m Linco ln . C lose by . alm ost hidden in a never took place -. mainl y beca use the go vern me nt of
hollo w in t he ground. stand s ano the r me morial. This South Vietn am feared th at H o Chi Minh and his
m emorial is not to one m an b ur to m an y. It is a lo ng co m m urusts would Will . 110 C hi Minh set out (0
wall of poli shed black marble and 0 11 it are carved unite Vietnam by war. He o rde red sabotage and
m any tho usand s cfna mcs. T he: names arc those of terro rism against So uth Vietn am . As part of their
yo ung A meri cans who died in rhc Vietn am War. worldwide plan to con tai n com munism, the
Am er icans had already helped the French aga ins t 110 .
Viet nam is in Southeast Asia. Once: it w as ruled by
Now they sent w eapons and adv isers to (he
Prance. Bu t in 1 95 ~ th e French we re d riven out by
governm ent of So uth Vietna m.
the soldiers of a co m m un ist leade r named H o Chi
M inh. Like Ko rea, Vietn am w as th en di vided in tw o.
C ommunists ruled th e N orth J.Il J no n-co m munists
th e South.
124
30 T il E VIHNAM YE A ll S
Cont ain ment was especially im portant to th e By n o w th e United States had a new leader ,
A merica ns in Vietn am. This was becau se of an Idea Pr esident Lynd o n B . Johnson. J o h nso n faced a
th at P residen t Eisen ho w er called th e "do mino di fficul t ch o ice. l ie could leave Vie tn am and let the
theory. " The domino theory went like th is: Asia has co mm umsts take over, or he co uld send m American
a lot of unsettled countries . If o n e o f them ~ Vietnam , sol die rs to try to s[Op th em. J oh nson was [00 wa rned
say- fell under com munist rule, others w o u ld ab o ut the d o mino theory - and [0 0 p rou d - [0 m ake
follow . T hey wo uld be knocked over one by o ne , th e first choice . He h ad already ordered A merican
like a li m' o f falli ng dom inoes. aircr aft to bomb railways and bridges in N orth
Viet nam . N o w h e scm in American so ldiers. By 1968
Americans were especially afraid th at com munist
ov er .') 00 ,000 were fig hting In South Vietna m . The
Chin a might try to la ke control in Southeast As ia as
Russ ians an d the C h inese sent more weap ons and
th e Soviet U n ion had done in eas te rn Eu ro pe. So, III
supplies to 110 Chi M in h . Thousands m o re o flus
the !tJ.')os and early 19605, first P resident Eisenhower
comm unist tro op s ma rc he d so uth to d o battl e wi th
an d th en Presid en t Ken ned y poured A merica n
the American s.
money and we apons int o So uth Vietnam . Kenne dy
sen t sold iers. too- nor to fig ht , the m selves, bu t to The Vie tn am War was one o f ambushes and sudd en
advise and tr ain the South Vietnam ese force s. att acks . Aft er an attack the Vietcong would melt
aw ay in th e jungle. or tu rn into peacefu l villag ers .
By th e early 1960s , however. it w as d ear th at th e
Ordin ar y villagers helped and protected the
government of So urh Vie tn am was lo sing the wa r.
Vietcon g . So metim es they did (h is o ut of fear,
110 Chi Mi nh had a g ue rilla army o f 1OO, O(Xl men
sometim es out o f sympathy. "The people arc th e
fighting III South Vie tnam by then. T he se g uerill as
water , o u r armies arc the fish . " o ne Vietcong leader
were called the Vietcong . Many we re com m u m st s
said.
from the North who ha d marched lIUO the South
alo ng secret j u ngle trails. Bv 19().') th e Vietco n g A g uerilla war like th is mean t that th e Americans
co ntrolled large areas of South Viet nam. T he oftell h ad n o enemy to strike back at. As o ne sold ier
count ry' s A m erican- backed government w as close to put it, to fin d the Vietcong was "like trying to
collapse. iden tify tea rs III a bucket o f water."
12.')
S C PER PO W UI
Am erican fig hting men grew ang ry and fru strat ed. husbands III Vietnam . By th e end of the 1960s ma ny
They sprayed vast areas of countryside with deadl y Am ericans were sick and ashamed of the killing and
che m icals [0 dest ro y the Vietco ng's supply trails. the des truct io n. "L . B.J ., L. U.] ., how m all)' kids have
T hey bu rne d down villages w hich w ere suspe cted of yo u killed today?" shouted ang ry dem o nstr ato rs.
sh elterin g Vietco ng soldiers. Uur the fighting we nt President j ohnson saw that by sending Am er ican
on . It co ntinued even w hen Joh nso n stepped up or
so ldiers to fig ht in Vietna m he had led the Uni ted
"escalated" the w ar by bo mbing cities in N o rth
States m to a trap. T he war was destro yin g his
Viet nam to try to force the co m munists to m ake co unt ry's good name in [he world and setti ng its
peace. people against one another. In 1968 he stopped the
Film reports of the suffering in Vietnam were show n bo mbing of N o rt h Vietnam and sta rred to loo k for
all over the w o rld on televisi on . For the first tim e in w ays of m aking peace.
hiseo rv people far away from any fi ghtin g w ere able In 1% 9 Richard Ni xo n was elected to replace-
to Sloe m their o wn homes the ho rr o r and cru elt y of Jo hnso n as President . Like J o hn so n, he wanted to end
m odern ' var. Milli o ns began to believe rhar rhc th e Vietnam War. Bu t he, too, wa nted to do so
Am eri cans were cruel and bull ying monste rs. without th e Am ericans loo king as if th ey had been
The w ar caused bitte r disagree m ents in th e U nited beaten .
States. C o untless fam ilies los t so ns, .bro thers, and
126
30 'ru e VIETN,.."I Y E,\R S
Bob D ylan
So ngs of protest have played a part in American Oh. the First World War , boys.
life for many years. These have been songs about lt came and it went,
the concerns of farmers, miners . co w bo ys. un ion The reaso n fo r figh tin g
members. AU have had a common purpose - to I never did get.
express and to relieve people's feelings on subjects Hut I learned to accep t it,
that are important to them. Th eir w rite rs and Accept it \v·ith pride ,
pe rfor mers have sometimes hoped that the songs For yo u don't count the dead
might even help to change people's attitudes. When God's on your side.
In the 1960s a young w riter and singer named Bob I' ve learned to hate Russians
D ylan used prot est songs to support the anti- w ar All through m y w hole life.
movem ent o f the time. ll y the 1'J7()s D ylan had be- If anot her w ar starts
come a very popular-and vcry rich - int ernational It's them we must fight.
entertainer. Hut in the 1% 0s he was more than T o hate thc m and fear them ,
th is. For many young peop le he was the vo ice of T o TUn and to hid e,
th e conscience of their generation. H is lyrics. And accept it all bravely
often set to old runes, we re ironic com me nts on With God on my side.
what he saw as the deceit and hy pocrisy of those
Hut now w e gOt weapons
who held power. These vers es from his song With:
Of the chemical dust,
G od IllI Our Side are typical:
If fire them we're forc ed to
O h. the history books rell it. T hen fire them we mu st.
Th ey tell it so well. One push of the bu rton
The cavalries charged. And a shot the world wide,
The Indians fdl. And you neve r ask questions
The cavalries charged. When Cod's on your side.
The Indians died.
Oh the eou mry was young
With God on its side.
N ixon worked ou t a plan to achiev e this. H e called it 1973. By M arch 11)73. the last Am erican soldiers had
the "Victna miza tion" of the war. H e set om to left Vietn am .
st ren gthen the Sout h Vietn amese army to make it
Bur the real end of the Vietna m War came in May
seem strong enoug h to defend Sout h Vietn am
1975. As frig htened Vietnamese supporte rs of the
wi thout hel p. This gave him an excuse to sta rt
Am eri cans scr am bled for the last places on rescue
wi thd rawing American fight ing men fro m Vietnam .
helicopters. victorious commun ist tanks rolled mro
N ixon then sent H enr y Kissin ger, his adviser on Saigon, the capital city of South Vietn am . T he
fo reign affairs, to secret talks wi th N ort h Vietnamese com munists marked their victory by given Saigo n a
and Russian leaders in Moscow. In retu rn for a cease- new nam e. They called it Ho Chi Minh C ity .
fire he offe red to w ithdraw all American troops from
In Korea. tw ent y years earlier, the Am er icans had
Vietn am w ithin six months. When the North
claim ed that they had made containment work. In
Vietn amese were slow to ag ree he started bombing
Vietn am they knew , and so di d eve ryone else. th at
their cities again in order to "persuade" them . A sort
they had failed .
of agreement was finally put together in January
127
- - 31- -
AM ERI CA'S BA CK YARD
Reagan a nd th e Sa ndinistas
Nicaragua is a country in Ce ntra l A me rica. In the
1970s it was ruled by a right-wing dictato r named
Somoza, who had close tics with the United
States. Left-wing rebels organized a guerilla ar my
to fight Somoza. The rebels called themselves
Sandinistas, after a guerilla leader named Ces ar
Augusto Saudino. who had fought agai nst the
Ame rican occupation of Ni caragua during the
.1 pitSln ill .\f""".~wa. ,'\·i{",,,.~u,, p r~l"ims'Jt..r Hr"!!"" is "'" his ,,'ar
1920s and 19.30s. ""', bu' ,lit rn ,,,J,,,iCOll is lint '(>It''r.
The Sandinisras were suppo rted by peasants,
At first the U nited States govern me nt welcomed
workers. pri ests and many business peo ple. In
the Sandinistas. Presid ent Ca rte r offe red them
1979 they drove Sornoza from the country and set
economic aid. Hut w hen Ronald Reagan became
up a new government . They promised the people
President in 1981 thi s poli cy changed,
of Nicaragua land reform. social justice and
democratic govern me nt. Reagan believed that the Sandin istas wer e under
rhc influen ce of the Sov iet U nion and C ub a. Soon
he was describing their govern me nt as a rom-",
m un ist dictatorship. Its aim. he said, w as to spread
revolution to other parts of Ce ntral America and
he gave mon ey and weapons to rebels who w ere
tryi ng to overthrow it. M ost peopl e called the
rebels "conrras" from the Spanish word for
"count er-revolution aries." Presid ent Reagan .
how ever, called them "freedom fighters."
Many Americans criticized Reagan's policies.
T hey warned that his enmi ty was forcing the
Sandioistas into the arms of the Soviet Union.
O ther Am ericans supported the President. They
believed that the safety of the United States
depended on stopping Sandin isra ideas from
spreadin g to other nea rby cou nt ries.
In Febru ar y 1990 an election was held in Nicara-
gua. When the Saudinisras lost , they handed over
power to a new govern ment w hose leader s were
A I\'ic~,~J.:u~ " e",,,,,, ,tbt/willt Rtdq t ",ju j/t wpplird by tilt U.S .
more acceptable (0 the United Stat es and hopes for
peace increased.
As soo n as the w ar ended fresh calls of " Yankee, go But hardship and hunger conti nued ( 0 be
hom e" were heard . T o t ry to red uce ant i-A merican wid espr ead in Latin A me rica. In mos r countries
feeling, in 1945 the United Sta tes rook rhc lead in there, extremes o f'povc rtv fo r the 1t.1any and wea lth
sett ing up the Organization o f American Stares for the few existed side by side. Oppressive
(O AS). Th e id ea of the OA S was to encourage the governments controlled by the rich and backed by
countries o f Larin America to cooperate with one sold ier s di d litt le to improve the lives of the people.
another. and with the United States, as partners. O ne
ofirs alms was to im prove living stan dards.
129
SUPERP OW ER
American Hispanics
In 1950 the population of the: U nited State s About 60 percent of the United States res ident
included fewer than fou r million resident " His - I Iispanics came originally from Mexi co . The
panics" - that is. people originating from Spanish- remainder came fro m other Latin American
speaking countries. By the mid 1980s this number count ries, such as Cuba and Colo mbia. The
had increased to 17.6 million and was still rising newcomers ' usual reasons for coming were the
fast . In some pans of the United States , especially same as those of earlier im migrant s from EUTOpe-
in the South and West, it became more co m mo n ro cscape from poveny or political persecution in
to hear Spa nish being spoken on the streets than their homelands.
English.
T he increase in the number of llispanics w as
partl y the resul t of an importa nt change in the
Am er ican immigratio n sys tem. T he old im mi-
gration law s, which dated back ro the 1Y20s, had
favored Eu ropeans. But III 1965 a new law said
that w hat would coun t in the fut ure was w ho
applied first.
T he result was a big increase in im mi gration fro m
non- Euro pean countries. By the IY80s the U nited
States was officially accepting 270. ()(XJ newcomers
a year. Forty percent of rhcsc w ere coming from
Asia and another forty percent from Latin
America.
Many other immigrants entered the United Scares
w ithout permission. In 1985 the go ve rn ment
estima ted that the country had between two and
ten million of these illegal immigrants, half a
million of wh om had arrived In the previous yea r.
M any we re Hisp anics. who had waded across the
shallow Rio G rande Riv er tha t formed the bo rde r
bet w een the U nited States and Mexico . Fo r
obviou s reason s, people w ho entered the U nited
States in this way \vere called "wctbacks."
Refor mers accused the U nited Stat es of help ing to In later years American governments went on
keep these gro ups of weal th y tyrants in power. There inter fering in Lat in A merican affairs. Sometimes they
was so me truth in this. T he Am erican gove rn ment interfered op enl y, someti mes in more secret ways.
often seemed more concerned with suppressing In 19( 5 1)resident Johnson sent 22,000 American
co mmun ism in Larin America than w ith improving marmcs to the Dominican Republic to Sto p a leade r
conditio ns o f life there. In 1954, for exa m ple, the he distrusted fro m regaini ng power. In 1Y73 C IA
Am erican secret ser vice (the C entral Intelli gence agents helped gene rals in C hile to ove rth row
Agen cy, o r C IA) encouraged the overt hro w ofa President Allend e. Allende W3S sy mpathe tic toward s
reforming govern ment in Guatemala. When com m unist ideas and had nationalized so me
Gu atemala 's depo sed Presid ent asked the United Am er ican-owned mining com panies.
Na tions to look into this , the Am ericans used their
Action s like these help to explain w hy ma ny Latin
Sccunry Council vera ro prevcnt an invest igation .
A mer icans conti nued to dislike their N or th
130
31 A.\IU ICA "s B ACK Y AND
the Alliance for Pro gress. m an y people SdW littl e poor - na tions to help themselves. All members of
basic difference between th e attitude of the U ni ted the Peace Corps were volunteers. wh o ag reed to
Slates to ward s Latin Am erica and the att itu de of th e work for two yedrs in the poor co untr ies of Asia.
Soviet U nio n towards eastern Europe. In o ne way o r Afr ica and Latin America.
another, bo th sll pl'rpowers seemed determined to
protl'cr their O WI1 int erests by cont ro lling th eir Some Americans disliked th e schem e. They
smaller neig hbors . said th at the ide a of send ing immature young
Americans to show th e people of distant lands
ho w to live was both nai ve and arrogant. But
ot hers th ou gh t th e scheme wort hwhile and ex-
citin g. "These kids rep resent so me thing m any of
us thought had disappea red from America." said
a New York psychologist. " - thl' o ld fro nti er
spirit .:'
131
- - 32 - -
A N E N D T O C OLD W AR?
" They talk abo ut who los t and w ho wo n . H u m an T he horline p roved its value in 1967 . WJr brok e out
reason WO Il. Mankind won. ,. T hese.' words we re between Israel and Egypt. Th e United $tJ.h.·S WJS
spoken by the Soviet lead er, Khrush che v. after th e friend ly w ith Israel. and the Soviet Union ..virh
C u ban M issile C risis of1962. P resident Ken ned y felr Egypt. Hur both took grea r care not to let these
the same. Both men knew that for ten d ays the y h ad fr ien d sh ip, d rag them into figh tin g one another.
been close to bringing death to millions of peo ple.
ll )' then Kenn ed y w as dead and Khrushchev had
T hey began work ing ha rd er to m ak e suc h da ngero us
been rcm oved from pOWt:r. llut new American and
situat io ns less likely.
Russian leaders w en t Oil tr ying to red uce te nsion.
In Augu st 1 ~63 , th e U nite d State s and the Sov iet Ev en the lon g and bloody w ar in Vietn am W ;\ S not
Union sign ed a treat y a g n: c lIlg to sto p testing ne w allowed to int erfere with "detente; " as these m ovcs
nuclear we apo ns in th e at mo sp here o r u nd er w ater . were called.
They also set up a special telephone link bet ween
Wash in g to n and M o sco w. On this "Hotline"
American and So viet leaders cou ld ta lk direc tly to
o m: anot he r. In futu re any d an gero us cri sis would be
dealt w ith more quickly and wit h less risk of
Prf l idm l Six"".fUffi"Jl. .\f" :<c.. wcili,,,',u a"n'".( hil I'isif I,' II'f S,,,,ifl
misunderstand ing. {i ll i.." , 1972.
132
3::! AN EI'\;1110 CO LD W AR ?
133
S U P F RPO \t' ER
Henry Kissinger
In 1938 a fifteen-year-old Jew ish bo y was forced
to flee from Ger ma ny w ith his parents in o rder to
escape imprisonmem in one of Hitl er 's concen-
tration camps. The family wen t to live in the
U nited Stares where the boy got a job cleaning
bristles in a shaving-brush factory. H e w as clever
and hardworki ng. however. and we nt on to
become a brilliant student at Harvard Univcrsnv.
Ju st over thirty year s later he became the Secretary
of State of the United Stares. I lis name was Henry
Kissinger.
Kissinger's rise to importa nce bega n when Richard
N ixon became President III 1% 9. He became
Ni xon's personal adviser in all rhc United Sta tes'
deali ngs with the Clost of the world. In 1973
Kissinger officially became Sccrcra rv of State, a
po sition he held until J imm y Carter beca me
President in 1977.
All thro ugh the t'arly and middle 1970s Kissinger
played a central part in shaping American fo reign H nlry ~js.<i".( ..... 11.t IN"" ",h" sh"pnl ""J Ji,rcrtd .-imn-ilolrrJ;' .ci.(rr
p..ji q J'" "'....-j, <>i'/it / ')701,
poli cy. H e helped to form and direct the Nixon
go vernment's policy 111 the later years o f the "I thin k he carne our of it with a kind of burning
Vietna m WJr . l ie prepared the W3Y for detente need fo r order. People in these experiences have a
w ith commu nist China . l ie worked to bring peace real 1Jle-lllo ry o f chaos. o f violence and bru tality,
between the United States ally Israel and its Arab like the- world is collapsing under ehcm. Kissinger.
neighbors. more than mo st , would probably agree that
disorder is worse tha n inj ustice."
SOllie- people believed rhnr Kissinge r's bo yhood
exper iences in Germ any played an important part Kissinger's cri tics saw him ;IS a showman . ,v'hose
III fo rming his ideas about th e kind o f wo rld he achievem ents were more appuellt than real . llis
wanted to shape as Secre tary of State. One nun admirers believed that he w as one of the most
w ho knew hun said: effective stat esmen of the tw entiet h ccnturv .
By the mi ddle o f the 19&15 Pres ident Reagan had N uclear Force (lN F) treaty .
incr eased Am erican m ilitary st reng th so much tha t he In the IN F treat y both coun trie s agreed tha t w ithin
was ready to start talki ng seriously about slowing three yea rs they would dest ro y all their land-based
down the arms rare. The SO,'lC"t Union was ready, mediu m and shorter rang e nuclear mi ssiles. President
too. In 1985 a new leader. Mikhail Go rbachcv. had Reagan gave Oorbachcv a pair ofcutll inks to
co me to power ther e. Gorbachcv believed that the celebrate the signing of the tr eaty. To symbol ize their
huge cost of the arms ran' was crippling rhc Soviet tw o countries turning awa y from wa r and towards
U nion's ccouomv and he w as eager to reduce it . peacc. the cufflink s showe d sw ords bein g bea ten int o
III December J'-JK?'. Oorbach cv t;an-Icd w ith his wife ploug hshares.
to the United Stan-s . There, in Washin gton. he and
Pn -sidcm Reagan signed the Intermedi ate Range
134
32 AN Ev u f o C OLD WAR?
In M ay ] IJHH, Gorbachcv began (0 w ithd raw Sov iet Such de velo pment s raised ho pes that a new time of
tro ops {rom A {~llJ tl is tau. T he follo wing year peaceful cooperat ion m ight no w be possible between
brough t even bigger changes. All over cent ral and the So viet U nion an d the United Sta tes. " I belie ve
eas tern Europe th e co mmunist po litical sys tems that fut ur e generatio ns w ill look bac k to thi s tim e and
imposed by Stal in in the yea rs after rhc Second Wo rld sec it as a turning point in w orld histo ry." th e British
War crumbled J.WJ.y. while Go rbachc v'v Soviet Prim e M inister M argaret Th at cher had said after a
U nio n loo ked o n w ithout interfering, count ries such visit to Washing to n in 1988. " We arc not III a co ld
as H ungary. Po lan d. East Germ an y, and war 1I0W.
Czechoslovakia 'Oct u p multi- pa rty sys tems an d held
Hy IIJlXI most people believed that she was righ t.
tree electio ns.
St,..i", It"J<7, .\likl,,,i/ (;,.""',h...., ,j",,,,i"g Pu.;iJ"'t Rtol~" fltJ SqIl,JUJ"ri".( hi, ..i.;it
t.' .\1"_,,-,,..,, 19118.
13S
- - 33 - -
TH E AM ERICAN CENT URY
IJcn ims and ho t dogs. sk yscra pers and su pe rma rket s. Most early Am erican televi sion progr allls were
mass p ro duction and ro ck mll sic - w hat do all these co ncer ned w ith entertain me nt. C o m ed y and galliC
hav e in common ? Onc thi ng is tha t they can be found shows, sto n es about policem en and detectives. the
today :111over th e world. A no the r IS th at all of th em ad vent ures of fictionnl western heroes like tlu- Lo ne
were born III th e U nited States. The cou n try which Ib llgn - all these wen' ver y popular. T he m ain
fo r most ofits e xistence had been an impo rte r of pu rpose ofsuch prog ram s was to attract large
influences has beco me in the twentieth centu ry J audiences of "viewers." Ma nu factu rin g fin ns th en
m ajor exporte r of them . In m an y areas o f life, paid television co mpanies like N BC and C BS lot s of
American popular tastes and an irudcs have 111 0 11l' y to show adve rtisemen ts tor their prod ucts
conquered the wo rld. w hile the program s were being broa dcast. o r
" televised ."
You 113\'1,.' read ea rlie r about ehc pJ.rt th at Ameri can
m o vies played in this process. Afrcr th e Second By till' )1)(,Os filme d television prog ram s had become
Wo rld War rhe sp rea ding of Ameri can influence w as au nnpo rtJ.m A me rican ex po rt. Other count ries
co nt inued by a po werful new fo rce-television . As fo un d it cheaper to bu y American program s th an [0
ca rl y as 1947, around 17U.O()UAmerican families had ma ke th eir own. Soo n suc h expo rte d prog ra m s we re
televisio n sets fiickcnng i ll their living rO Ol 115 . being wa tched by viewers all o ver th e worl d . One of
T ho usands m o re w ere waiting for set s to be the most popular w as " I Lo ve Lucy," a ]lJ5l)<,
deliv ered . Soon m illions o f people were o rganiz ing co m ed y ser ies fcanmng a red -hair ed r-omcdi cn uc
their activitie s aro un d rhc prog ra m s 011 television tha t nam ed Lucille Ball. Whl'n Lucille BJ.II died ill Ap ril
cvcnmg , l lJH'1, '" LO\'c Lucy" wa s still being televised. It had
been seen by then in seventy -ni ne ditf..rent co untries
and had become th e most wa tched televisio n sh o w
ever.
In music. th e process o f Am ericaniz ation co uld be
seen m ost d earl y in the huge inrcrnanonal popula rirv
o f rock . Rock began as "re ck- and -roll", a m usic that
w as firsr played 111 th e 1951Js. It cam e from til('
Am eri can South. and co m bined black blues w ith th e
country music of w o rking class whites to produce a
he:l vilYrhy thmi c- "rocking " - soun d th at appealed
especia lly [0 young peo ple.
Many of rock and roll's first stars we re black
perform ers such as C huck Berry and Little Richard.
But the unchallenged " King" of roc k-and-roll w as a
yo ung southern w hite nam ed Elvis Presley. In )'156
Presley's reco rdi ngs were at th e to p of the Am crican
popularity list - th e "hit parade" - e n 'ry wee k from
August to Decem ber. 13y th e end ofthe decade he
had beco me an internatio nal su perstar.
T o rock-and-roll cn rhusiasrs. Presley came to
symbolize a ncvv culture of youth . Am o ng o ther
thin gs, this cult ure deve lo ped its o w n vocabulary,
W ;ly S of dress ing, even hair st yles. Mo re signific lll tly
33 T IiIO A.\ I UlILt\ N CENT U R Y
fo r till' futu re. it bl.:~;111 to rlJ l'l'l socia lly app roved
ideas and WJys ofbcbaviug.
Uy rhc 1970s rock-and-roll had blen ded with the
protest so ngs of rhc 1960s to become rork, ;1m usic
that was harder and less escapist. Ho ck became an
int ern ation alas well as 311 American phen o m en on,
0111.' th at mi llion s o fyc uugcr people worldwide saw
as their natu ral cultu ral language. A large pa n of its
ap peal wa s th at it sym bolized opposition to offi cially
approved ide as and stan dards ev en mort." strong ly
than its ancestor. rock-and-rol l. had done in the
1950'S.
T he Americaniz ation ofpopular tas te and hab its wa s
not res tricted to cnrcrtainmcnr. The g rowing
popularity ofham burgcr s, fried chicke n and other
easily prepa red " fast food" sp read American eating
habits all O Hr the world. Blue jeans and T - sh irts
Americanized the dress 01 people on every co nt ine nt.
And supe rm ark ets Americanized the cvcrvdav
cx penellcl' 01 sho pping for millions.
H"isl'rt ,l t y. ,lit " Ki".~·· "f'Ml:.....J.'" f1 .
137
The first supermarkets appeared ill the U nited States America n cit ies in these years - gro ups of ta ll,
in the IY50s , With th eir huge variety of foods and shining bui ldings w ith outer walls of glJss and metal.
ot her cons umer goods, supermarkets g;l \'l' shoppers 13y the 1980s such bu ildings we re dominating city
a m uch wider range ofchoices. In the lY50s many center s all over the world. To ma ny people they we re
Americans S;l\V their loaded shelves and full freezers images ofla rc-ewc nnctb-ccnrury modcmitv, Yet
as viviblc proofo f the superiority of the Am erican their ori gins can be (faced back more than a hundred
wa y of organ izing a nation's economi c life. Not years to the Am erican Midw est.
surp risingly, wh en the Sov iet leade r Kh rushchev
D ur ing the t H80s a num be r of high, na rrow
visited the Un ited Sta tes in 195Y, one of till' places he
build ings began to rise in the cente r of Chicago.
was taken to visit was a supermarket!
Sim ilar buildings - so tall rhar people called them
When superma rkets proved a commercial success in "skyscrapers" - were soon rising over ether
the Un ited Stares they quickly spread to other Am erican cities. In the first half of the twentieth
prosperous countries, first in Europe and then III ceIllury thcv became one of the principal visual
o ther parts of the world So did another feature of sy mbols of the modern United States.
138
33 T ill A"I EIIIC.~N C E S T URY
139
Additional info rmation on
illustrations
P;l~l' 5 TIll' Buffalo H uut by Charles M . Ru s~1 1. Itussdl Page 4(, A con te mpora ry engra ving.
W;l S Jcowbov wh o taught hunsclf'to paint . and he ()age 48 A co nte m porary po rtrait o f D red Sco u b y Lo ui';
became one o f the best know n an ises o f the A me r ican Sch ulze.
Wl'st . Sloe also th e pa il1l in ~ 0 11 page -l l . P a ~e 49 T ill' U"dl'~l!romJ d R.JiIrt'.Jdby C harl es T . Wehber.
Page 7 (1') Blackfo ot A r ncriudian tc pc-c-s p aint ed b y the A con tempo rary nineteenth-centur y pain ting.
Gcr uuu artist Karl Bod mer. In the noos Bo dm er l"lgl' 54 A contem po r;lr y tOng rJ ving.
followed the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition Page 5H A co ntemporar y eng ra ving.
acmss the G reat Plains to the Ro ck y M oun ta ins. l' ;lgl' 60 The G o/Jrn Spih' by M o rt Kunstlc r (sec no tes to
Page 7 (B) JI,tida l/ldian PM/del, by M o rr Kiinstkr. T his is pag e 7).
a twcutict h-ceuru ry re-c reatio n by Kiinatler w ho carrws 1).lge 61 The SlUmpl'dr b y Frederic Remingto n. painted ill
ou t detaile d research ( 0 make his hisro rrcal paiunugv as I<)(IR Re mi ng ton spent man y year s painting and
accu rate as possible. See also pain tings 0 11 r ages 22• .30, dr awing ill the Am er ican Wes t. Sec also paint ings on
(,(J and 99. pJgl'S63 and 68.
Page 1) This is an Azt ec d ra wing o f an even t in the PJ ge 63 (I) A (ro.", rll( Comi,,~tJt . •• U'tslWoJrd I/'~ COIlTSf '!j
Sp anish con q Ue-51 o f l\kxico during the exped ition of J::mp jr~ T oJ kn irs II dY" by Fan n y Palm er. An idealised
NUllO"" Guzman in 15]0 when the T'lascalans aided t he hand-colored litho grap h o f till' o pe ning and sct rlcme ut
Spaniard s in punishin g anothe r tribe wh ich had hanged a o f the We-st (186l:l).
Spaniard. T he- draw ing is from the long-destro yed Page 63 (B) Th e hdl l~r rill' Cou'bI'y hy Fred eric
Lit'lI70 de T lascala can vas. Rem ing to n (SCI: no tes til p;lge 61).
Page 17 A romanticized impresvion o f the landing o f t he I':lge 65 A late ninctccnth-c eururv paint ing o f
Pilg r im Fathers b y a uin ctccn th-c emu ry arrist. Yellowsto ne N at io nal Park b v Thomas Mo ran .
Page IH Pilgrims gOlllg to ch urch painted b y Geo rge H . Page (,7 All im pression bya r onrc rn po rar v artis t.
Boughton ill H167. Pag" (,8 C host Dm/a',s b y f rederic Rem ing ton {secnotes
Page I'J An im pression of rhc firsr T hank sg ivin g b y a to pag lo6 t ). This paint ing of 1890 sho ws O gullala Siou x
nincnx-nth-cen turya rt is t . performing t he G hos t IJau r c ar th e Pille n id gcoInd ian
(';lge 2t1 A co nte m po rary painting o f Philadelph ia hy Agenc y. Sou th Dako ta.
Peter C oo per. Page 76 T ill' {],Il'rili"o'o! 4 1lil' StoJ lU~ of Ubmy. A
Pag e 11 D,m id &xliiI' b y Mo rt Kun srler (see not es to paglo contem po ra ry pain ting by Fran cis G . Mayer.
7). Page n A hand-c olored contempora ry photo graph.
Pa ge 24 A co nte mpora ry eng raving. I' age 78 (I) An C:.J. r1 y twcntieth-centurv photograph.
Page 16 (I) A cOnlcmporny En glis h ca rroou sho win g Page 7M (B) C liff D " 'l'lfrrs by Geo rge Bello ws.
the bu n a1o f rhc Sump Act . Written on t he coffin arc the Page 8C1 (n) A hand-colored photog raph from the early
words, " n o m in 1765, D ied in 1766_" I ')()(J,..
Page 16 (B) An im p re-ssion o f rhc Bos ton 'I'ca Party b y a Page H1 TI ,e S trikl' by n o be n Koehler _T Ill' artist's
ninct cc nrh-ccm u r v artis t. rep rese nt atio n oft he ten sio ns be tween labo r an d capital
Page ,}O Rl'aJill.~ th; lJ u /ar.uioll of Indl'pt."IlJrIlu 10 thr ill rhc late niuerccnth centu ry.
T rp"p. b y Mo rt Kiina tlc r (sec notes to page 7). Page H4 A co nk mpo ta ry p rin t.
Page 31 A COn tl>mporny po rt rait l' dj.!;l' H(, A contemporar y painti ng.
Page 34 A co n tem po rary paint ing b y J ames Peale. Pagc HH A British propaj.!;anda pos te r making us,' of the
l' ;lgl' 36 An im p ressio n by a uiru-reen th-c cn turv artist. sin k ing ofth e L usit.llli.l in 1'J15 to aro use American
Page JH A t"o me m po rar y paint ing. sympath ies.
Page J<) A co nte mp orar y eugraving. Page 91 A con tem pora ry painting by Sir William Orpcn
Page 4 1 Indidlli IJjS(Ill'frill.~ u:wis and C lark b y C harles M . o f the sign ing oft he Vcrsadlcs pt"ace treaty .
Russell (Set'no tes [0 page 5). Page 91 A magaZilll· l'over of 1916.
Page 42 Sftri'l<~ Trapsj"r & oJl'fJ' by Alfred Ja coh M iller. Pagl' ')I) Th /" n..ltl f~ 4 . -l.1IoJ(PSliu J-"/oJ I; hy Mo rt Klinstkr (sec
Miller sket ched the A merindians and moullu ill-mell o f no t e~ to pJg c'7).
th e It ock y M O U llt;l lllS wh ilc ru\'c1ing the\"c in the 1K30 s . \' Jglo112 A photo graph o f .. sect io n o f the Herlin Wall
PJ.g e 43 1111(:11 II'~~'''' Tr uifs U'C'T~ D im b y Char k~ M . eo venod wi th g uffiti. T he guffiri artist Ius p..illkd ;l
R lI ~)dl (see not e-s to page 5). view o f Easl Bt"rlin th ro ugh .. sk ull-s h.J.pl'd hole in rhe
P;lgC44 A co m em porary n inctct'nth-c t."Iltu ry eng r;l\'lng. wall.
l' J.g<' 45 A conte m po rary nineteen th-c elll u ry Iithogr;lph.
140
IND EX
.-\hilelle eo atom ic bom b s 106, 107, 109, 26, 27.29, .lO. C h rk . Willi,lIll 40, 4 1. 42
abolitionis ts -1-1. -IS, -17 116, 119 3 1,39, 4 1, 42, 51. 79 , ea. so. C le men c<'au, (; eurgc, '}O
An . ofCo ng re.s : Austra lia 107 92. ](i.J,1 16, 118 w "l ind ust ry 72, 82, 108
Ci vil Rights A n (11166) 56 amo mo hile indust rv 75, 92 Bro wn . Jo hn 47. 411 C ody. ButTalo Bill 7 1
C ivil Rights ACI (l9&J) 110. Azte cs 10 ' Browll v , T opeka de cision C o ld War 116-1 17. 120 - 123 ,
114 (1')54)S 7. 112 13:-
h lbil ive S!JI'(' An (1850) -17, " balance of terr o r" 122, 123 hu ffalo -l, 6, 59, 66. 67, 6H C olombia il7, 131
49 ren. Lucille 136 colonies I L 12. 15
Im m ig rJtion At't (192-1) 7') ban ks and han king 83 C,bOl,J oh n 11 Colorado (Matl') 43, 5S, 66
l"d ian Citizenship Act (192-1) barbed wir<' 63. M ( :a lholl n, Senato r J o hn C. 45 Colorado River lO
W banks; CJli fom id 41. -13. 4S. 511. S9, Colu mb ia Hivn 4 1
Indi an Removal Act ( 1830) of the Bulge ( 19H ) lO(, (,(), 79, 89, 94, 10-1 Columbus, Christoplw r 4. H, 9,
36.3S of the Cora! Sea ( I ')-12 ) 107 Ca lifo rni a (;ol d Ru. h (1849) 58 m. 11
Ind ian Ih 'o rg aniz J!ion An o f'Geetvsburg ( I 803) 51 Calvin.john 16 t'om binl' harvesters 6-1
(193-1) (,9 u f Lexing to n ( I 77S) 211 C anada 4. 11. 24,25,3 1, 39, Cm ",,,~,, Sm,e 30
Neu tr , lit y Ans (1930s ) J(i.J ofthe Lnrlc Big 110m (1876) 43,47,71 comm uni sb dnd co m munism
Social Security ACI (1935) 67.71 C anary Islan ds 4 93, 109. 116,ll7,l l H. 119,
IIIJ u f M id way (19-12) 107 Cd pe Ca na ve ral 121 120 . 122, 124. 123, 131. 133
Wagm'r Ar t (1936) 103 of N ew O rIt-allS (18H) 37, Cap e C od 17 Concord 2H
Ada,,,,, P re~ide nt J oh n 35 .'<} Capone. AI 95 Conft'CIcrate St ates o f Am er io
Adam" SJlllu d 27 of San Ja cint o (1836} -I3 C arn eg il" A ndrt'w 74 , 80. 8 1 (Co n fed er acy} 49. SO. S1. S2.
Afg hani. , ,,, 133, 135 of Sara t<>ga (1777) 3 1 C arolina . N orth and SOll1h 11'. 55. 5(,. 60. 62
Afric, and Alri can s 15, -I-I. li-l. o f Vicksb ur g (1863) 51 22 , 50,52 C o ng ress , First C o ntinental
115, 131 o f Wou nded Kne e (l ll90) (,9, " carpet hagg n " 56 (1774) 27
Agri cu llll ral Adj ust ment 70 Ca rler , Pt esident J im m y 110. C ong ress, Se,;-ond Co ntin enta l
Admini, tratio n (AAA) H. J ofYorkro wn (178 1) 31 129, 134 (1775) 2X. 29
Alabama 8 Bayof l'igs in cident( I% I) 123 C arrier . J acrlul" 11 C o ng ress, Stamp Act (1765) 2(,
Abska -l, -Il.-I2 Belg iu m 88 C ",tro, Fidel 123 Congres., U nited Statl" 3 1, 33,
Aldrin , Edward " Buzz" 12 1 Ber ing Strai t 4 cattle and catl lcnl<'n 611, 61, 63 , 3-1,38, 39, -1-1, -15 , -18, 55, 56,
Allend e, Presid ent of Chile 130 Berlin blockade ;m d air lift 64 59.69. 79.1l1 .1l3. ll9. 9 1. ~2.
Alli an ce fm I'rugre,s 131 (1948- 49) 118, 119 catt le lO W'" 60 100. 103, 10-1, Ill. 114, 133
alphabet agencie s 101. 102 Bt'rlin Wall I n cattle trai ls 60, 6 1 Conneninn 32
amendm e,," . Con ~ t i t ut iona l Big Foo l, C hief 68, 69 C entenni al Expositio n (11'7(.) wn'luist"dorrs 10, 13
35, 52, 5-1 , 56 . 57, 95 Bill o f Rig ht. (179 1) 35 72 COllSI;lUtion oftht, Uni ted
Am erican Federatio n of la bo r BlJ<'k (neg ro) Amnicam " 'f Centra l Intell igenc e Age ncy States 33 -35
(AI:L)HI al.,,,slave s and slave ry 54, 55, (CI A) J]O C o nstituti ona l C on vent ioll
Am er ican Indi an M o vement 69 se. 57. 112-Il S Cm tral Pacific Railroad 59. (.0 (171l7} 33
Ameri canizatio n 136 - 139 BlJ<'k Codes 55 C ham plain, Sam ud de 24 COllSUlller good, 92, 96. 105,
Amer ind ian, 4 - 7, 9 . W . 13.
15, 17, 19,22, 25 , .36, 59,
Bla,;-k Elk 70
Bh d. H ill>. Dakota .~ Il , 66 , 70
Ch Jrks I, King of Englan d 17
Chu le' to n SO
".
containment pol icy 109. 11("
69 -7 1 mack Mu slim s 114 Ch erokee Amerindians 36 -37 119
Apa d ", Amer india ns 5. 70 Black I'own Ill{}ve lllt·nt 114 C1w. apeake Bay 11 Coolidge, President Calvin S.
A pollo pro gr am 121 bonus arm y {I 932} 99 Chica go 61, 72. 78, 80. 93. 112. vz
Appalachian M o un lain s 22, 25, B"ont'. D aniel zz . 311 114. U S Comwalli <. Gene ral Lor d 3 1
36, 311, 39 Boot h, J o hn Wilke, 54 Cll i'dg~ 1'rib'me, T ile 55 Conk, I le man 10
Appo mato x 52, 5-1 Bootlegge" 95 Ch ile U II. U 1 COUo" 2 1. -1-1. 46
Arizrma 5, 4.' Bo sto n . Massach u'dt' 17, 20, China and the Ch inese 8, I I. CO tlO" gin 46
Ar mst ron g. N eil 12 1 2 1. 26, 27, 28, 3 1, 47 59. 79. as. S7, 11 i.J. 105, It)'). cowboys 60. 61, 63
arsen al of democracy 103 Bos to n Ma,sane (1770) 27 11'),12 1. 125, 133 Crazy H ,, ", c. Ctuerco 67
Arricles of C"nl....d eratio n 32. Bo sto n T ea Par ly (1773) 27 C h i.ho!'" T rail (~ ) C ri.,j" TIle 30
33 bo un ty hu nter s 47 C h urc hill, Wins to n 106, 116 C u ba and the C ubans ll4. ll5.
A. ia and Asians -l, S. 11.2-1.8-1. b'l'ad line, 'JB C ivil Right . movement 57, 86,87,1 23. 1211. U O, 131. 132
105, 117, 124, 125, 131 Brend an th e Bold 8 112, 1U C u ban Mis sile C risis (1962)
Atlanti c Oc ean -I, 10, I I. 20, "hrink ma",h ip " 120 Ci v ilian Conser vatio n Corps 123, 132
22, 31, -12.43. 6 1. 62 Britai n and the British 2-1, 25, (C c q teo. W I Cu m ber land Gap 22
141
IN IH .x
Cusler . G..n.. r~IG('Org .. Fo<:h. G.." ..rl l90 110 Ch i Minh 124. 12.=;. 127 j l pln l nd the j ~p~n<'s" 79. 89.
Armseron g 67 ford . l' n..,id<'IlI G.:rl ld II I Hoe i_Sbin 8 93. 1(I.j, 1U5. 117
C7...:hoslov~k i l 119 Ford. H enr y 75, 103 Ho lb nd It>. 19 J..fT..rson. T homas 29 . 33. 39.
foreig n policy and rebrions, Holl ywood '.4 '-'1.44
D D~ y (194 4) roe U nired Seares 31. 32, 33, 39, Hn me<rc.1d Aer (18102) and J..'n77
Dlkm ~ 6. 71 .jj). 42. 43. S-4_!i7 , XX -91 . h"nI\"'l e~ <k'" 62. 6.3. 6-.l johnso n. Pr eside... r An dr....... 5.-.
D l ne.: Theater of H~ rl~'m 115 li ~- Hl7. 116- 119,1 20- I 2.3. HOnlC'Sru d 51 ce1St rike (l lrJ2) 5j
Dar e. Virginil IS 12" -1 27.1~ - 131. 1 32-135 80 j oh nson . ViC'C Preside nt and
0 1,·is. jd"f<non 50 Forr l.:lrl m ie Tr ea l)· ( I~) 66 Hoo ve r. Presid ene H.·rb,:n ')3. I'tC">idcllll. yndon B. I W. 1H.
D 1WC'S . Willu m 28 fon Sumter ineid\'Ilt (11)(,1) 50 98,99 125, 126. nil
Dr(/".",;,,,, of 'ndtprndrn{<' Founrl in ofYOlllh . 111.. 10 Hoo \"..r\·il1es 'J'J Johnson , Phil1 p 13<)
(1776) 29. 31. 44 frlne.: and th e Frcn ch II, 24. Ho use of Repr<"S(Tl1.1ri\·C'S . J udin .11review. po wer of35
Ix x:b tl m ry An (1766) 27 25, 28. 31. 33, 39,40, 76,88, Vnitcd 51.11<.'5 .~ J "".l:lr. n ,t SI
De Loon. Po nce 10 'JO. vt. 92, lOS. 116 . 124 HouslOn, Gl'nerl l Sam 43
De m' K" lic Parr y 37, 56, 57, Fran cis I. KlIlg o ( frl nce I I IIlld so n lt i \"~' I <). 21 " m,~, " 7, ..\!i, (K.
83, ')!i, W~. 1to Fl.1nkhn . Benjamin 31 Hu ghes, Lang' IOIl I I.. Km \ as C il\' (, I
Dcmocranc Ih'pu bli<;m I'l n y Freedmen's Bureau 56 I lundred J)l~"'i . T he H-.J K..uucdv . "'r<-sid<'n!jolm f.
35 fro ntier 22• .'6-H, 59 Hun garim Hising (1956) 120 IUK un 1"',1 2,>, 125, 131,
Denver 5!i Fugit i\'e Shve Act (IH50) 47, 49 h ydrngcn (II) bombs 120 1J2
lkp rl'"i,,,, , Th l',)8 -99, 100 , fur r r~de ~ lId lr,l,!ers 41 Ken! Smc Univcrcirv inri d" n!
103 Illino is 39 (1')70) 12(, .
D ~ Sm o, f I.'mlndo 10 Garriso n , Willi,lIll Llov d 47 iuuuigr JIll S ln d i [llllligr~ riun KenlUck y 22
d,' t"n te 132, I.U, 134 C;arbn c.l, H amlin 62 . 76 -79.1lO. ')J. 130 Kh ru\ hche\", Nikiu 122, 123,
Detroit 112. 114 George Ill , King o f EngLm d I" Cl S 10 132. 13Ji
DudJ,:" Ci lY (~ l , 61 25.27. .1 2 ind entured sc rvams 14 King . R" \"erend Martin Luthe r
" Dollar Diplomacy" 87 Georgia IS. 20. 21, 22. 36, .18, Indq ><:ndeIlC" (o\Ii••ouri) 41, 42 j 7, 11J . 114. 115
DominiCln Rl'pu blic 85 , 130 -«', .52. llJ India n Ciri z.'n ship Au (1'124 ) Ki" inger . II..... H~· 127. 133. 13..
" do m ino theory" 125 Cor ma n 1),:m,,'u .11i<- lkpub lic (,9 Ku Klux Kbn 51,
Dougbs, Se".110 r St<'p hm 47. ( F...." G..rnun y) 118. 122 Indil n co rn (nu ize) 5
G,:nnall\' .1nd th.. ( ;<"rnu ns 18.
"
D ulles, j o hn f~Ier 121.1
D r b n. Uo b 127
76.79.88.89.90, 91, 92. 102.
W-I.1II5. 1O(" IH•. Ill't,I22,
Indian Re moval An (1830) .36.
3>1
Indil n Ikorl'l:~n i~.1lion ....cr
labor uni"n, SlI. Il l. lU, 103
l....flyM re. ,\ hr'lu is J •.31
lJ.ke Superior 72
IJ.> (1934) 69 t.... Salle. Ik n c 24, as
Edison. ThomlS AI.... 73 ( ri.."tl}"~bur~
Ad dre<s ( IS1'>3) 53 Imli m T<:rrito r\· .36 l.:I,in Am..ric~ lnd Llr in
Ei"':T1 ho \n ·r. Gctlt"rl l l nd Gen vsbu rg, I:lJok o f( 11l63) 51 Indim a 39 . Am eri cl n. S-4, ss. X7.
Pr C'S iJ Clll Dwi J,:hl D . 106. G hosr lhne.:68 . 71 In dll ns U'<, AIII<'rindiln s 12X-131
1011. W',l. 112. 119. 120. 122. Glidd c:n, j oseph 04 lndochiru 1U5 Le.1gue oiNl lion ~91 . 118
12.3, 125 go ld 1, 9. W, 11 .1 2.13.58.61 Ind usrril l Rcvolu nonJx 1_ee, General Ro bert E. 51. 52.
e1.-.;-rricily 73 Com pcrs. Samuel HI ind usrry 3!i. 39, 5(1, rz-r s. so.
Ellis Isb nd 77. 7!i
Ernll1CipJl ion l' ro<-IJ rnl n o n
Gorbach~\· . Mik h l lll34. 135
Gl.1nd Ca nyon 10
92,93,97. 'JlI
Inr.·rconlin""1.11 Ihlli"i<;
"
Lend Lea..... Plan 1U-l-. 105
l ewis ~ nd Cla rk E" p.: d itio n
(HI62) 51 G rlnd f~l ber clmS<.'S 57 M i~~ib (IC BMs) 121 ( l l'lI.l4 - 1l6} .jjI- " 1
England and the En glish I I. Grln ~<'1"!1 and ( ' rl llg<·r laws (04 Inro lerahle A ct~ (177" ) 27 L..wi s. Meriwether .... , 41, 42
12.13,14,15,17, 18, 20 Grlnl. G.."erll and i'resid"nr Irelan d and the l ri ~h 18. 59. 76, L ibc." /pr. T ile H
En gb nd, Church 01' ](, Vl)'sse<S. 51, 52, 72 79 Lincoln. I'r <'sidelll Ah.aham
Erin o n, Lei!" S, 9 Gre JI A1lL<'ricJn D<'scrr ..2 Irun C:Urlli n 116, 117. I I'), --»1.50 .51, 53, 5", 55, 124
Eur o p" md Europea ns 4. 5. 9. G r..al Lakes 74 120, 135 LilhuJllil 77
10,1 1, If" 1'), 2 1. 22. 24, .19, Gr"ll Plains 6. 40-4.1, ~ x , ~9 . iron induslr y 72, xu Lin le Ro(k in(;,km (1 <).~ 7 ) 112
62 , 79. 11 1. !!4, 85, 88, 90 , <)1. 62 ,63,u" , (K', 72 , 8~ Iro'l u<J i- A n 1<'r i (( d i ~", 6 Lo<'k~ , John 2'1
104, 116. 117. 119 Grn 'nland 'J .solanomse and isolanouism London (Eng b nd) 12. 13, 31
e"plorers and <'xpIUrJlion 4. Guatemala 130 H". H4 L" sAngelcs'J", II "
8 - 11.22.40 -41.42 Israel 132, 1]-1 Louis X IV. King o f France 2..
I bida AfIl\'r india [l' 7 I ,, ~i W-l- Louis XV I, Kinl;of hllKe31
1'1" gUi. David 51 Hl nC<Kk , j o hn 2'J Italy ~ lId the Ir~ l i Ans", 9. I\, Lou isburg 2.~
farms and fJrmers 22..Y>••H . Harlem 114.115 HII.9J. 106 Lou isi.1'U 24. 25. 31. -o. " I, 55,
41. 62 -M, t>S , 72, 73, SI . S2. Hlrpcr s F.:rry Raid ( I H59) -.l8 ;7
93.97, 98. roo . 101 f1l \\Jii se. lOS, 107 j ad . so n, GClI~·rJI .1nd President Lo well. jJlllcs Hus.....1155
"flSl food " 137 Helm. William Randolph 83 Andrew 37,39 Lal$jr~ "j" . T he sinking (1915) 8lI
F..de..1Emcrgcn cv Itd ici fk'llry VII. King uf England II j ackso n, Reve rend jesse II .. t Ullier , ~hrtin 16
Adm inisrUl ion (FERA) 100 Hiroh i,o . F.mpcrorofjapan j ackson. G.:nerd Th om,,-s Iyn<;hing 57
Fed erl l G"rm l n Re public 105 " SlOnn "'l W' 51
(WC'S t Ger mln )') n a. 122 Hi ros hima. bo mbi ng of(I<)-I 5) "j acksoniJn d"'m(>c rlcy" 37 Ma( An hu r. Gm "'ul D ou glas
f"d <·..1g<l\·l'nl IllClll.3J. 45, 57. 107. 1211 jan".., I. Kill]:: of Eng land 12. I I'J
8J llisp anic Ame riolls 130 13.16. 17 Mador. Pnncc li
I'e,k u lisl Pa rtv 35 H ider. Ado li lU3. 1M. lOS, j l m.... Ri v..r 12. H. 21 .\I" j" e. Th.. inndmt (1898) s..
F10 rid J 10. 15. '31 116. 134 j ames to wn 12. IJ, 14, 15.76 majz.. j, 6
1-l2
]ND EX
M an hall all leland 19 New Mexico 5. 11.4.>. 4') P!cs, y v. r"~~~" «'" decisio n Sal\U Fe 11
Ma" hatt an Proj'XI 106, 107 Ncw Netherlands 19 (1896) 57 SaulO~a , Bau l" of (ln7) 31
"manifest desriny" ~2. H New Orleans 25. 5 1 Ply mout h 16. 17 Savannah 52
Mao Zed" " g II'J, I3J N .·w World. Th e 4. 8. I I Pocaho m as II "<cab w ag" 51",
,\l~rb"ry v . .\f<ldis,," decicion "'ew York Ci ly 11, IH, 21), 21. Po land and the Po lC'S 79. 1113 ScanJ inal"ia 9. 79
(I80J) 35 31. ~. ~'1. 76. 77. 78. 80. 95, Po b ris missile 122 Scott. Deed 48
Mu shalL Chid"Jumc(,john J5 96,11'" Po lk. Presidentja mes K. 43 S<:ag ram Buildinlt 1]9
Marshall Plan 117. 131 "" 'w York colony and sta te 20, Po pulist I'au y M segreg ation. ucial57. 112
Muybnd4'J 21. Jl .J4 potlatch ceremon y 7 Scn~le, United States 34. 83.
lIIass prodacnou 7~ , 75, 92 N cwfoundland 8. I I pm'eny 93 91. 110
!>.1aSSKhuseus 17. 1M, 20, n. N;c aultuaS5. 12H.129. 131 Po whalJ n. Chid 13 = llers and 'i('t l1ell1 enl 9. 11.
29 Ni ...-i1lJ.1 "puirie schooner<" ~J 12.1 3.14.15.1 6-19.21. 22.
massi\ '(' rnaliation po licy 1211 Ni"on. PrC'Sidnlt Ri<;:ha rd M. I' n."idem . ofiicc of U nited 23. )(,. 38.41 .42.43.59.
.\!.>Yfl,',,·rr, "l"lrrl6, 17 1l 0.111.12t..I27,l28,133. StatC'i3J.35 62 - M. 65, 66
i\byflow N Compact It. 1}< l' r('S lcy. Ekis I.M, "Seven Ci ries ofCold. The" 10
McCarthy. Serutor jos.:ph 109 N ormandy innsion (1944) 106 l' ro gn."sin ' lIlu' ·Clll'"1l182, a3 Sherid~ n. Gm eul Ph ilip 66
~1edicaid and Mnlicar(' 110 N orah Albllli<;: Tr eaty
.\lrlling P,' I. Tn r 7'J ( )rjo:anizu iun (N AT O) 119
prohibition 95
Pro mo nt ory I'o inl . U tah fill .,
ShcTtTUn. (;,:neul William T.
,-
...ksahi Hi lls 72, 74 N ort h C arolina 15 Pro testan ts 16 Shin ncrU<"k Am erindians 19
Ml'xico and the Mexicans 5. K. N on h. lord 31 Pueblo Am erin dians 5 Siberi a 4
10. IJ. ~], 45. K'J, lJU N ort h Wcst Ordinanee (1787) Puerlo Hico 10, 86 Si"ru N en cla Mouu t.ains59
....lichi!: an 39 31>••19 Pulitz er .jo<.eph16 Sinclau, U pt on lol l
Middl"C- Co lon iC'S 20 N ort hwes t T crrieorv 39 PuritanS 16, 1101 Sioux Am er india n, 6. 59. 66,
miners SS, 65 nude..r w e"pons 120- 123 «r. toM. (fl. 70. 71
....1inuil. Peter 19 Qu,kcrs 1M Sitti ng Bull. Chief67. 71
Minutem<"T> ~ "0 Carl..in ~ my C ..pt ain!" 55 Quebec 24, 25 , kysrr..pers Llll. 139
Missis.,ip pi River f ,. W. 24. 25. ()hio (slJle) 3'J. 126 Slater. Sam ucl 3li
~ l. ,V" ]7. 40.51. SS. 59. 60, O hio River 25. 36. 38. 39 uilroads 5'J, fill. 62. M . 72. 75. slavcs ..nd staveev 15. ::!I.
62,M,67 Okinaw a 1Il7 82 -l-I -49, 51, (~I .
.\lis.,iiSipp i « tate) 54, 55 Oklaho ma 10. 38 Ih lcigh, Sir Walter 1.~ Smith. CaplainJohn 13
~l i "ouri C umprom iS('( 18211) O J"Culion Owrlord (19+4) range war" 63 So..-iely o f Friends 18
45.47 106 Reagan. Pr("<ident Ronald 111. ":.oJ bu"ers " h2
1I.lissouriRiver -1(1, 41, 58. 66 ()rq;on "'1. "'2.....~. 51i. 59. (-,6 129. 134, 135 So ulh Am erica lrc ~/!" Lalin
Missu uri T ermor y 45 O reg on l"uil42 Reconsrmcnon period 51",. 57 Am ..ric.a 5
,"l itchdl. Arthur liS Org..ni7Jtion of Amerinn n ~p l1 blicJll I' au y 4S, 56, M2 , Soul h C..rolina 18. 48, 50, 52
."lohawk !tin'r 22 Stal.,>(O AS) LN 92.93. III Sou th D~kulJ (-,6
MonrOC' Docmue (IK21) M5 res...rv.a tio llS, Amerin dian (,7. Sout hern Colonies 21
Monroe, l 'rl.,.iJ ~n t J.llnc:s .16. \'a<1l;c (k""n 7, 42, 39, 60, 67. 68.71 SO\"i<:1 Union 105, 106. 109,
K~ 8(" 106. 107, 120 Revere, Paul 27, 28 111.11 6,117,120. 12 \. 122.
.'vIo111gomn)· bu, bu r coll I' ~ i n e , T ho mas .>ll l~ hoJc I,land IK. 33 12.1. LN . 1]1. 13::!. 133. 134,
(\955 -5(,) ILl l' A i. IJn 131 Rich mond 5 1, 52 US
Montr~all1. 24, 25 P~nall1a 4. li7 l{nallnk c Island 15 s r~ce race 121
moon lamlill)l: (1<J(",) 121 Pm am a CallJI87 rock-and- ro ll 136, 137 Spam ,nd the Spanish 4. 9. 10.
mOUnlain-m,'n 41 Par ks, Ros, 113 n o<;: kefe ller joh" D . 74 15, 41,42,84. 85, 86
movies and movie makin g '14 l'arliJ t11 m t (Hriti>h) 26 norky Mountains (" 40, 41, 42, ..,pc·. kc"i,.... 95
Muir, John 65 PHVlllrk el 31:\ 58, 59, 60 , (-,6 Sl'lIIni k 121
" "JCe e or p.1 J I Rohe , M;"', "a n der 139 Square Deal. T he 82
N agasaki, bo",lJillgof (I'J45j Pearl I hrhor mar k (1941) 104, Rolfe.J ohn 13 SI. l o Ul ' 40, 41
107 1115 Rottlmd , Gen,'ra] Lrwiu ](16 Sulin 116,117, 118,119, 122
Nap oleon 14() Penn. William 18 Roosevelt, Eleano r 112 Sramp An (1765) 26. 27
Nati"" al Associa lioll for the l" 'n ns ylva" ia 1M, 2(l, 22, 51, 74 Hu",~vch , President l'r mkhn Stamp Acr Cong ress (1765) 2(,
Ad vaucer uene of Colo red Pcqua mid Amerindians 19 n. 98, 99, 1((1-103, 104, 106. 'lars. movie 94
Pco pk (NA ACP) IIJ Peru III lOS, 121i smcs' rights donrine 45
national park< (,5 Phibdelphia zo. 21, 28, 49 Roo sevelt. Ptesi,klll Theodore SlalUe of1.ihc:ny 76
Nat ional R~co vn y Ph ilip pine, K5.l:\6. 106. 107 65. az. liJ, M7 Sto ck Exchan ge. N ew York 96
Ad ministratio n (N RA) lI MI Pill·. Zl'b"lon 42 Roosevelt's Corollar y (I 'J04) 1S5 S1 O<"ks and share~ 83. 96, 97
Nav igation Ans25 Pikes Pe..k 42 lt ussia and the Ru"i.an' lTr <1ls" sup.:rm arkelS 137, LlH
N eb raska hI. l' ilKTim Falhn, (Pilgrims) 16. So viel Union 41, 88, 'J3 Sup reme Court. U niled Sta t.'S'
Nl'utrality Acts (l93Us) 104 17.19. zo 3~ . .15. 45. 4S, 57. 112. IlJ
Nevada 45, 58 Pill , William the Elder 25 SJcm and Vam.,tli ca...: ( I'J21ls) Sutl er. John 5101
New Am't~rJam 1M l'illshurgh 72. 7101. 80, 93,1 12 93
New lJt.'al, TI\{" IOlJ-103 Pizar ro. Francisco 10 Saint Au gu,tille 10, 11 T aft.l'r.....idc"Il1 William H_87
New En!!;l>nd 20. 21 planle '" ..nd plamuions 14. 21. SAint La wn'nee lti \'l"T I I l ek,·i ~ion 136
New Frttdo m , Th e 83
New Hampshire :!ll
Newje~y 32, 8.3
'"
Plan Amendmem (1901) S6
Pbtl. SC11JlOr Orville 84
San Fu ncisco 5ll
SAn Sal...dor 4
Sandnusta mo vement 129
T '"IlI l''>scr 22
T ennessec Valley Authori ly
n -VA j IIMI, 102
l.J.J
I NO F.X
Th~ (cher. ,"'h r~nt"t 135 Union P~ri fi c Railr oad 59, 60, 59.60. 76 W~ us riot (1965) 114
T oj o , C;',ncul Hidck i leIS 62 Ame rio.. lndcpcn J ....ce Wd "t<T. SClumr Ih " id 45
T r ~i1 o f' B ro kenT rN tics (1972) U nit<,d N .llions ( )r~~ ll in tio" (1775-8J) 28 - 31. 33. 38 Wn l. Am("rinn 4t1_ ·n, 58-61.
,') (U N O) 118. D U, 1.13 Arab- Israeli (1'){,7) 132 62-65.66. (,7
T rail of T ears ( 18~) J8 Uuh 43. 45 Fim Wo rld (1914- 18) W<",l Indies 20
treaties: 88-91 ,92 Wh<.'" at 62, 64
I'o r! brarnk (11l6H) 66 French and Ind ian/ S<: vcn Whi skey Rcbclbon (17'J4) ., 4
Inte rmed iate R~ llge Nudea r Vanderbilt. Williall ' II, 75 Yea rs (175(,- (,» 25. 28. 31 Whil(",J uh" IS
Fu rcc (IN F) ( I'JH7) n t 135 Veu zzano. (;io vann i II Korean (1950-53) 109 . Whitman , wsn 55
Pa ris (1783)31. 32, 36 Vcs pucri , Am" rigu ') 117 - 119 Whitn<,\,. Eli 4(" 74
Sl rnq;ic Ar ms Lirnitanon vieco .. g 125. 126 Mexican - Am eri can (1R46- W ildo:-~('Ss Rw d 22. 3X
{S,U n 1972 133 Vik ing s H. '}
Vinb..d9
~) 43 Williams . R~... r IS
Tnl Ban ( 196.3) 132 S«ond Wo rld (1939 - 45) Wilso n. i'T..... idmt Woodrow
V irgini~ 12. I.l. 14. 15.2 1. 22. un. lOS. 112, 116. 120 .
TrulTun, Via:- i'r<'>oiJ (.·nt ~n d Ill. sa, R9. 90. 91
Pres ide.. t Harr y S. 103. 107. 26, 31. 4-4, ~ , SO. 51. 54 128.136 Winl hrop,John 17
lUK 109. 112. Ill>, 117. 118. Vir ~inia Com rany 12, 14. 15. Spanish -A merican (1S'hl) Wisronsin 39
119 , 120 16, 17 HS- Xl, Wo rks Pr~r('S~
T ruman DOd rin,' I Il> Vi<.'"mam (1'J5?-75) 110. I l l. Admin islratio n (WI' A) 101
tru sts, i.. dus lri~l 75, H2 wago n lr~i n s 43 124 -127, 134
Tubma.. , H arriet 49 W~ll SU<'CI ')(, Washingto.. , D.C. 39 , 54, 66. Ydlowswn c I'~ r k 65
T urkey 123. 131 W~II St reet Crash ( In')) W,- 97 !lJ, 110, 114, 134, U 5 Yosemite Park 65
Walpole. Sir Ro bnt 25 Wash ington. (; .,..<,r,,- I and
Wam panog Am" rin d ians 19 Pr<'S iJ en t G<'Urge 28, 30. 3 1, Z.angwill . h rad 7')
U 2 in<i dm ( (1'J60) 122 wars: 33. 44 Zhou En bi 133
Undcr~round Ra,lrN d 47. 49 AllI<.'" rican C h' il ( IXl, I - 65) lY02,llillgloll Po.' , Tltt 110 Zi m me rm an tdt.1i:r.am (1917)
ullem plo y mcnt 98. 1U3. us 48.49, SO-53. 55. 57. 58. Wat<'rg at<, affair 110. III
'"
All lilussnued Hi.ltory oJthe US A e xplores th e developme nt of the U nited Stares
fro m its o rigins as a land inhabited by scattered Amerindian tribes to the
culturally d iverse but united country that we sec today.
Ma king extensive use of co ntempo rar y quotations, it examines the con rribu non
ma de by famous figu res such as Washington,. Lincoln , and Edison, and also the
pans played by th e less famous - ho peful carly settle rs from Euro pe, black slaves
on southern co tton plantations, student protesters against the Vietn am War.
All llluurated H istory oJthe US A shows how, in a little over t'NO hundred years.
the United States has developed fro m sma ll begi nnings into the most po werful
nation o n earth with far-reachi ng influence on the lives of people thro ug ho ut
the world.
ISBN 0-582-74921-2
Pearson
Education
www.longman.com
'II I